For a minute there, it was looking like Magnolia might pull an upset and stroll away into the verdant forests of South America with that rascally upstart Che Guevara, with director Steven Soderbergh trailing behind with a HandyCam to catch all the post-nuptial action.
But either IFC walked in with a barbarian club slung over one shoulder or the outfit simply knows how to sweet talk a revolutionary (and important skill, which you might be able to bone up on by watching Monkey Warfare) because Soderbergh’s slightly trimmed (12 minutes were cut after Cannes, and the first chapter was slightly tweaked) two-part opus Che will now bear the IFC label. New York and LA get the obligatory one-week Oscar qualifying lap in December, then other markets can set aside their old Rage Against The Machine albums and suck up to Che in January. The film will also bow on demand in January.
The big question — one film or two? — appears to be mostly resolved. Anne Thompson says IFC will run the film(s) as a four-hour presentation with intermission (call it back to back screenings, if you like) during the Oscar lap. The first film, The Argentine, will the open in January and the second, The Guerilla, after Oscar announcements. Those might only hit fifteen or twenty markets, so be ready to fire up the On Demand if you live in the sticks.