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Up until now, Josh Hartnett has been viewed as a, well, not exactly pretty-boy but certainly a cute-boy actor.
Many critics would rather point to his pedestrian work in, say, "Pearl Harbor" than his powerful turn as the Iago equivalent in "O."
Very few of those critics have seen "Mozart & the Whale."
Not that they've had a chance to. The little movie, which was filmed two years ago in Spokane, is just now being released, and even then on a limited basis only: five screens total in Spokane, Spokane Valley, Coeur d'Alene and Pullman.
Those who have seen it tend to like Hartnett. As for the rest of the film. ...
Truth is, it may not get anything close to a wide release. "Mozart & the Whale," simply stated, has the feel of a straight-to- video project.
Or something that wouldn't play much past the film-festival circuit.
Not that the filmmakers don't have sterling credentials. Screenwriter Ron Bass won a screenwriting Oscar for 1989's "Rain Man." Norwegian director Petter Naess gave us a fine little 2001 film titled "Elling."
And Spokane-based North By Northwest Productions provided much of the crew, which included several of the guys responsible for the company's most successful film, 1999's "The Basket."
But some mixes just don't fit smoothly. And...