Hollywood Buddha
dir. Caland
Opens Fri Dec 3
Clinton St. Theater
The accepted worldview of Los Angeles is as follows: It’s brimming with superficial, tanned, nipped and tucked Hollywood types who only worship money. However, director Philippe Caland has taken this clichéd theme and, with a deft spin, written a sweet and funny homage to Tinsel Town. Hollywood Buddha proves that Hollywood–as superficial as she may be–has her heart squarely in the right place.
Caland himself stars as the tanned protagonist, a shallow Hollywood director who has fallen so deeply down on his luck that he’s living in a tent outside his uncompleted dream mansion. For years he’s unsuccessfully been trying to sell a controversial film called Dead Girl, in which a lovesick man has sex with his dead girlfriend. (And yes, Dead Girl is an actual Caland-produced film–starring Anne Parillaud and Val Kilmer, it’s never been released in the states.) Unable to pay his construction workers and investors, Philippe desperately tries to turn his luck around–by renting a $2,000 a month statue of Buddha.
And while this plot description plays like your standard screwball L.A. comedy, Hollywood Buddha is anything but. The comedy is gentle, and Caland plays his character thoughtfully, slowly transforming from callow Hollywood shithead to a person who believably achieves some measure of enlightenment by “opening himself to the universe.”
If there are any warnings to be levied, the first 20 minutes of Buddha feels somewhat disjointed, and Caland’s character takes a bit of getting used to. However, when the groove is found, Hollywood Buddha becomes a mesmerizing tribute to the search for one’s self-betterment. And if you’re wondering how much of this film is based on Caland’s actual life–why don’t you ask him yourself? This up and coming director will be on hand at the Clinton Street to introduce his film and answer your questions on Friday and Saturday nights (Dec 3 and 4). Plus, he’ll be hosting an open casting call this weekend for his next feature film–and what better way to improve one’s life than starring in a movie?
