NW Suburban directors lauded at Cedar Rapid film fest

Local filmmakers win!A Reel Life salute goes to film directors from Schaumburg and Palatine who picked up top honors - called Eddy Awards - at last weekend's Cedar Rapids Independent Film Festival in Marion, Iowa.Schaumburg's Brad Hansen won a first place award in Pro-Am Features for his John Hughes-inspired teen road movie "Drivers Ed Mutiny." It's a surprisingly touching comedy/drama about three Northwest suburban high school students who commandeer a drivers ed car for an unauthorized trip to Los Angeles. (The filmmakers did a lot of traveling for this one.)A second place award in the Pro-Am category went to CNGM Pictures' "Coasting," a romantic comedy with a sassy twist. It was directed by Palatine's Fremd High School grad Mike Noens (now living in Chicago), but the award was accepted by co-producer Steve Coulter, another Fremd alumnus.(As a matter of professional disclosure, I should point out that portions of "Coasting" were shot at my home.)Many Northwest suburban residents were involved in both productions, presented at Cedar Rapids' 10th annual film festival. Congratulations to them all.Paolo hits Geneva festHollywood cinematographer and Schaumburg High School grad Paolo Cascio is home this week to visit his parents, screen his 2008 short "Almost Perfect" and conduct a seminar for students at his alma mater, Chicago's Columbia College. Tonight, Cascio will present his short at the Geneva Film Festival, then conduct a QA session afterward.On Tuesday, I sat down with Casio for lunch and asked him to identify the secret to shooting good movies."Technology is always changing," the 46-year-old bachelor said. "And some people think they always have to have the latest innovation to be good at something."To say that buying the best camera will make you a better photographer is like walking into a dealership and buying a Ferrari so it will make you an instant Formula One race car driver. It doesn't work that way."The greatest tool a cinematographer has isn't sitting on a truck. It's his creativity. It's about being able to have ideas and communicating them to a director and collaborating with his crew to get a story told."Cascio has worked on local movies such as "The Untouchables," "Groundhog Day," "Planes, Trains and Automobiles," plus "Gladiator" and "The Babe." He also did reshoots for "Gigli," but not even those could save that movie.Go to genevafilmfestival.org for details about Cascio's Geneva appearance and the rest of the fest that runs through Sunday.Reel Life review: 'Eclipse'Conor McPherson's "Eclipse" tells a quietly moving, well-acted and literate drama about grief and ghostly memories, then he sabotages his own work by inserting shots of scary dead people seemingly imported from some vastly inferior horror schlock fest.Ciaran Hinds stars as Michael Farr, a quiet Irishman raising two kids after cancer kills his wife. He is confused when he wakes up at night to mysterious sounds, and thinks he sees the ghost of his father-in-law (Jim Norton), even though he's alive and residing in an assisted home.That's not all.Farr is also disturbed by the recurring visions of a black-eyed, bloodied dead dad-in-law, first in his car, then in the floor boards of his closet. (It's probably better not to explain this.) These certainly liven up the movie's leisurely pace, but they also frighten us right out of the movie's properly contemplative mood."Eclipse" works far better as an economically told domestic drama about a classic romantic triangle. Farr volunteers at an annual local literature festival attended by Lena Morelle (Iben Hjejle), a writer of ghost novels, and Nicholas Holden (a superbly cast Aidan Quinn), a constantly drunk American bully hiding behind the facade of an enlightened literary soul.Farr and Morelle strike up a meaningful relationship, much to the disapproval of the still-married Holden, who seeks to rekindle an affair with Morelle from their last book tour together.Quinn is exceptional as the self-loathing American, plying subtle layers of selfishness and manipulation onto his de facto protagonist.The always-watchable Hinds brings a sense of world-weary tragedy to his father figure, while Hjejle strikes the right emotions to be utterly believable as a reluctant writer of ghostly novels. "Eclipse" also packs enough shots of the Irish countryside and skies to qualify as a tourism commercial. It opens Friday at the Renaissance Place in Highland Park. Rated R for language, frightening images. 88 minutes.False20001125Matt Trifilo of Chicago, left, Brian Gerber of Wheeling, Brad Hansen of Schaumburg and Tom Haigh of Arlington Heights accept a Gold Eddy award for the Collateral Damage production of "Drivers Ed Mutiny." False