Forest Whitaker as Idi Armin in The Last King of Scotland, honoured at the Courmayeur Noir in Festival last night. Photography: c.FoxSearch/Everett/Rex Features
And the verdict was... Alpha Dog.
The Nick Cassavetes movie did, as I expected, seduce the jury and was given the Courmayeur Noir in Festival best film award. And my own personal fave, Todd Robinson's Lonely Hearts, came away empty-handed.
I also suspect some compromises were reached between the British and Italian factions of the jury, and the other two prizes were both honourable: French actress Deborah Francois was given the best actor award for her quietly sinister turn as the vengeful pianist in The Page Turner and the jury's special prize went to the Icelandic film Children. The audience award was shared between The Last King of Scotland and the French spoof spy movie OSS 117:Le Caire Nid d'Espions, which has already swept the board at its native box office.
Cassavetes' loud and pacy tale of California kids gone wrong was flashy and in your face but, for me, lacked subtlety and was very much sub-Larry Clark with a larger budget and better soundtrack. Ace crime writer Elmore Leonard agreed with me about the understated virtues of the Todd Robinson film, and even instructed his film agent to find out if Robinson might be interested in a future Leonard adaptation, so I'm in a minority of at least two - which is fine with me as I'm in good company.
The awards evening had its share of farce with announcements duplicated in a variety of languages to the extent that Jury President Peter James was once left speechless and nonplussed as his interpreter had omitted to inform him the text he had prepared had already been read out by Giorgio Gosetti, the festival director. Moreover, the event soon lost any sense of gravitas when veteran Polish actor Jan Nowicki almost collapsed under the sheer weight of the best actor award which he was to present as the confusion reigned around him (the award in question is a heavy piece of wall; don't ask...).
But then previous last evenings here have often proven equally curious, what with mimes in local costumes miming for what seemed forever, emotive Italian ballad singers and even a murder mystery involving all the diners at the closing dinner which was, of course, won by the English table who had understood nothing and just stuck a pin at random on the list of names.
The out of competition closing film was Tony Scott's Déjà Vu, a slick thriller set in New Orleans and filmed before and after the Katrina havoc. Nice twists, superb editing and the obligatory Denzel-Washington-takes-his-shirt-off scene. And then it was off to the Edelweiss bar where the festival staff and lingering guests cut the cake commemorating the festival's 16th installment. When I began coming to this 'noir' festival my hair was similarly dark; now, it's gone grey. No mystery there, then.
