AFI FEST SHUFFLES DECK TO LEAD OFF OPENING WEEKEND

After clearing a last-minute pre-festival hurdle following Paramount’s late decision to pull initial opening night film The Soloist — now rescheduled for March next year — AFI Fest kicked off Oct. 30 with Miramax’s hastily drafted Doubt as the replacement world premiere.

Although still unfinished, director John Patrick Shanley’s dour inquisition of a suspected pedophile priest, resolutely played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, received a receptive response.

Adapted from Shanley’s original Broadway stage production, the film may ultimately play as too austere and theatrical for many viewers when it opens Dec. 12, although Meryl Streep’s impressive performance as a crusading nun looks likely to attract awards attention. The screening was relocated from the renowned Cinerama Dome to the main Arclight multiplex after Shanley reportedly balked at projecting the film on the dome’s massive curved screen.

IFC Film’s Che held down opening weekend’s Centerpiece gala slot at the historic Grauman’s Chinese Theater in the heart of Hollywood. Presented as a double-feature (referred to simply as Part One and Part Two in the program notes) and running nearly four-and-a-half hours, the epic biopic provides generous detail on the political motives and military campaigns that brought Fidel Castro to power.

Ironically however, director Steven Soderbergh’s faithful interpretation of historical events results in a fairly prosaic visual style that’s effective but unremarkable, while Benicio Del Toro’s role paradoxically sheds little light on Che’s personal motivations for fomenting revolution, despite a career-defining performance.

The festival concludes Nov. 9 with the world premiere of Defiance, co-writer/director Ed Zwick’s Nazi-resistance period drama, staring Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber.