Gaudi Afternoon
Directed by Susan Seidelman
Spain
SOUTH FLORIDA PREMIERE
As in her classic 80s film Desperately Seeking Susan, acclaimed
director Susan Seidelman once again has created a comic mystery movie
that both entices and surprises. Living in Barcelona, American
translator Cassandra Reilly (two time Oscar nominee Judy Davis, who
recently channeled Judy Garland in a television biopic) rapidly discovers
that nothing is what it appears to be in the home of architect Antoni
Gaudi's elaborately designed buildings. Femme fatale Frankie
Stevens (Marcia Gay Harden, nominated this year for an Academy Award
for her role in Pollack) is convinced that her husband has
mysteriously disappeared in this Spanish city, and Cassandra is the
woman who can help her find him. Though at first the offer is rebuffed,
the chance to earn some easy money proves too tempting, and the chase
is on.
Making use of her amateur sleuthing skills, Cassandra attempts to
unravel Frankie's secret past, and finds herself embroiled in a complex,
gender-bending series of twisting stories and plotlines. There's
a dysfunctional couple, the sensual April and the elusive Bernadette,
played by Oscar-nominated actress Juliette Lewis (Cape Fear, Natural
Born Killers) and art-house darling Lili Taylor (I Shot Andy
Warhol, this year's Julie Johnson). There are double
crossing families, mistaken identities and a kidnapping plot as well.
This warm and witty detective tale asks us to question what makes
a family, what makes us female or male, and ultimately Cassandra,
alone in a foreign place, must herself solve a deeply hidden secret
before she is able to confront her own past.
$45 Ticket includes film screening, and both Festival Awards and
Salvation party with VIP entry
$35 Ticket includes film screening and Salvation after-party only
with VIP entry
$25 Film screening only
