Embargoed!

So, I saw a movie last night. Yeah, right, big surprise, I know. It was a very good film; in fact, I'd say it was an excellent film. It's from one of the world's greatest filmmakers and contains an absolutely superb lead performance from an actor who continues to impress me. I have the feeling that not everyone will be as enamored of the film as I am, but for serious film lovers, I feel it will be a must-see. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it will probably be one of the best films of 2007.

It's name? I can't tell you.

While I am obviously not a working journalist, in order to attend this advance screening I had to promise some people that I would not write a review of the film I saw until its actual release date. I'm sure that others will probably jump the gun, but I was told there was an embargo on reviews and I'm going to stick to it because I promised I would. Am I thrilled with this? Not really. I'd love to tell you about this movie, since I liked it so much and because the director is my favorite director of all time, but a promise is a promise. And I keep my promises.

It's a very odd thing that it's all come to this, but a lot of the studios are really sticking to this whole embargo thing and I'm not quite sure why. If a picture is good, like this one certainly is, wouldn't you want people to know about it? It isn't like they're hiding something or are ashamed of the film, but I guess the studios feel that advance reviews, no matter what they say, are to a film's detriment. I can understand if getting word out too far in advance would confuse people to think a film's coming out earlier than it actually is, but this waiting... I don't get it. Are they trying to not give away the film's surprises? Do they want to make people savor the suspense of know if the film is good or not? Gets me. All I know for sure is, I'm not writing about it for the next two weeks. Doesn't mean I can't talk about it, but posting a review? Nope, sorry, folks.

So who's spoiled things for the rest of us? Ain't It Cool? Variety? Can't say. It isn't like there was some big news-making, embargo-breaking review that went up that got the studios all in a huff. I think they're just flexing some power, showing everyone who's boss, even though this is a film for which reviews matter and you want to start spreading good word. And it's going to show at one of the big film festivals very soon, so then the word of mouth will go from there and then the reviews will hit and what are you going to do? What happens to poor little old me when everyone else breaks the embargo and reviews start hitting before release date? I have the feeling I'll be told some time in the next week or so that it will be OK to talk, but I'd like to tell you about it all now, while it's still fresh in my mind and I'm still excited about it. But I can't and I won't. Sorry folks, but that's the review game in August of 2007; strange but true.

Me and my promises. Oh well, I guess you'll all just have to wait.