Rage is a 2009 satirical mystery art film written and directed by Sally Potter, starring Jude Law and Judi Dench. The filmmakers said that the film created a new genre in filmmaking, called "naked cinema".
Premise
A young blogger at a New York City fashion house shoots behind-the-scenes interviews on his cell phone.
Cast
Jude Law as Minx
Steve Buscemi as Frank
Judi Dench as Mona Carvell
John Leguizamo as Jed
Dianne Wiest as Miss Roth
Eddie Izzard as Tiny Diamonds
Riz Ahmed as Vijay
Bob Balaban as Mr. White
Lily Cole as Lettuce Leaf
Patrick J. Adams as Dwight Angel
David Oyelowo as Homer
Adriana Barraza as Anita de Los Angeles
Simon Abkarian as Merlin
Jakob Cedergren as Otto
Release
The film premiered at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival and was nominated for the Golden Berlin Bear.
The DVD was released on September 22, 2009, in the US, and September 28, 2009, in the UK. A special edition version of the DVD was released through the official Rage website.
Babelgum premiered the film on mobile phones and internet at the same time as the cinema and DVD release. Babelgum released Rage in the UK, North America, Australia, Italy, France, Germany and Spain.
Rage is the world’s first feature film to debut on mobile phones. The movie was to be shown in seven episodes, beginning on September 21, 2009. The online screening began on September 28, 2009.
Rage had its New York screen premiere on September 21, 2009, at “The Box”.
Reception
The film was widely panned by critics, with criticism mostly focusing on its acting, direction, plot, script and length, as well as that it did not achieve its satirical intentions. On Rotten Tomatoes it has an approval rating of 29% based on reviews from 7 critics.
It has been described as 'lame' and an 'indignant annoyance' by Leslie Felperin of Variety and 'claustrophobic, repetitive and mostly ludicrous' by Richard Mowe of Boxoffice Magazine.
In a rare positive review, Caryn James of Newsweek said 'you see how pertinent Potter is to the topsy-turvy world of filmmaking today, how smoothly she blends the cutting edge and the mainstream, how underappreciated she has been.'
References
External links
Sally Potter Official website
Gallery Rage, sallypotter.com, accessed February 26, 2009.
Sally Potter at New York Times, accessed November 4, 2008. POLL: Which Actor Makes the Best Lady?, People, originally posted February 4, 2009, accessed April 9, 2009. Kevin Maher, Sally Potter explains why her new film will go direct to our mobile phones, timesonline.co.uk, September 19, 2009. Melissa Silverstein, Interview with Sally Potter, Director of Rage, huffingtonpost.com, September 29, 2009.