Fashion Week Reality Check

Supporters of Brooke Geahan's Accompanied Literary Society took a break from the whirlwind that has been Fashion Week to attend the New York premiere of In the Valley of Elah, starring Tommy Lee Jones, Susan Sarandon and Charlize Theron and written directed by Paul Haggis, the man responsible for the Best Film of 2004, Crash. His newest is loosely based on the article "Death and Dishonor," by Mark Boal, first published in Playboy in May 2004, and recounts the tale of a father's search for answers to shed light on the murder of his son, just returned from service in Iraq. A particularly haggard-looking Jones turns in a standout performance as the soldier's anguished ex-military dad and Theron does her empathetic best as the local police detective whose determined efforts to crack the case are thrown off course by the army's investigators as well as her sexist male colleagues. The film is intense, but is an absolute a must-see. I'm putting money on Haggis garnering another Academy Award nomination. Following the screening, attendees decamped to Jour et Nuit, where silent and a live auctions were held for the benefit of a new cultural center in downtown Manhattan. Among the items on offer were a stay at Casa Genotta, onetime home of Eugene O'Neill on Sea Island, Georgia, and dinner with a Victoria's Secret model (plus two of her equally bubbly friends). %%showphotos [setid=72157602749707995]%%