Steven Soderbergh's Che was expected to be one of the biggest players at this year's Cannes Film Festival, but the two-part, four-hour, totally unusual biopic of Che Guevara was written off by some reviewers as too strange, and no studios offered to distribute it.
But now, just before it debuts in North America at the New York Film Festival, Che has found a home at IFC. Variety writes that the film will receive a one-week run in L.A. and New York in December to qualify for awards consideration, and then will hit theaters as well as IFC's Video On Demand service in January.
It's a double-edged sword for Che, once considered to be a potentially career-defining project for star Benicio del Toro and Soderbergh's opportunity to return to art house-- and Oscar-- glory. Now it seems the movie might be rendered an artsy curiosity, only for the really dedicated film buffs, not to mention the really patient ones. Unless critical consensus rallies around it between now and December, the awards-qualifying run might wind up being beside the point.
But hey, at least people beyond the film festival circuit will get to see it at all. IFC's dual theatrical release and on-demand program has been a huge boon for the truly small indies that might not be seen otherwise, so we'll see how it works for a movie that has a lot more name recognition and attention going with it.
