KEN Russell is as outrageous as his movies.
At the Istanbul Film Festival for a tribute, the portly, white-haired director showed off his pirouetting skills (he once was a dancer), passed around a plate of cookies, then regaled an audience with stories about the making of such outlandish gems as “Tommy,” “Altered States” and “The Devils.”
But times have changed for the British director.
Thirty years after attracting attention with “Women in Love” – for which he got an Oscar nomination and Glenda Jackson received a Best Actress laurel – he’s been reduced to shooting movies on video in his own backyard, using relatives and neighbors in the cast.
“[Producers] think if you’re over 20, you’re over the hill,” fumed the spry 76-year-old, who has three ex-wives, a current (much younger) wife and eight children to support.
“All the film companies are owned by either Japanese or soft-drink companies or anonymous business people. Instead of three people to go through, there are 3,000 – and you never get to see them.”
Six of Russell’s films were among the 200 or so at the Istanbul festival, unreeling on five screens in the ancient Turkish city’s European quarter and one on its Asian side.
The offerings ranged from “Citizen Kane” and “American Splendor” to obscure Turkish items.
Fighting jet lag, Cine File vowed to see as many films as possible during his five days at the festival, which ended last weekend.
(He saw 10, while dozing through a few more.)
He was especially impressed by Marco Bellocchio’s “Good Morning, Night,” a finely wrought drama about the kidnapping and murder of Italian politician Aldo Moro by Red Brigade radicals in 1978.
Look for it to hit New York this summer.
Two imports from Argentina proved noteworthy: Martin Rejtman’s “The Magic Gloves,” a black comedy about what happens after a cabby and his girlfriend call it quits, and Alejandro Chomski’s “Today and Tomorrow,” in which a sweet young woman turns to prostitution to pay her rent.
The top prize went to “Goodbye Dragon Inn,” Taiwanese fave Tsai Ming-Liang’s chronicle of the last day of a once-thriving movie theater. It should reach our shores later this year.
Annoyed by sitting through commercials before the start of a movie? Be glad you don’t live in Istanbul.
Each festival showing was preceded by 20 ads jammed into 15 minutes.
To avoid them, a lot of moviegoers waited in the lobby for the real show to begin. Sounds like a practice New Yorkers should adopt.
V.A. Musetto is film editor of The Post. He can be e-mailed at [email protected].