The Daily brings together all the film news you need to know, updated throughout the day.
David Hudson
The Daily is written by David Hudson -- contact him at thedaily (at) ifc dot com.
February 2009
Shorts, 2/28.
By David Hudson on 02/28/2009
"Martin Provost's 'Séraphine,' the story of early 20th-century French painter (and cleaning lady) Séraphine de Senlis, took home no less than 7 Césars [Friday night], including best film, best original screenplay, and best actress for Yolande Moreau in the title role," reports Andre Soares. Also at the Alternative Film Guide, Massimo David has the full list of nominees and winners. "Séraphine" screens this Friday and the following Sunday, by the way, as part of "Rendez-Vous with French Cinema" in New York. "I'm currently teaching a course that highlights some of the instances in which fine books have been adapted into... MORE »
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Fests and events, 2/28.
By David Hudson on 02/28/2009
Previewing BAMcinématek's "Focus on IFC Films" for Artforum, Melissa Anderson focuses herself on Philippe Garrel's "Frontier of Dawn" and Christophe Honoré's "La Belle Personne": "The two films are wildly different: Garrel, the dreamiest and most melancholy of the post-New Wave masters, introduces a supernatural dea ex machina, while Honoré's work, loosely based on the 17th-century novel 'La Princesse de Clèves,' plays like a Gallic Gossip Girl. What unites them is their star, the tousle-haired beauty Louis Garrel." "Frontier of Dawn" has also screened in the "Film Comment Selects" series, running through Thursday. For Acquarello, it "represents an amalgam of the... MORE »
"Frankly, My Dear"
By David Hudson on 02/28/2009
Molly Haskell's "Frankly, My Dear: 'Gone With the Wind' Revisited" is "an earnest work of moviegoer remembrance that's also affectionate scholarship," writes Armond White in the New York Times Book Review. "Haskell's argument is mounted on feminist principles that at first glance seem antithetical to a film widely regarded as prefeminist fluff. She contends that 'themes centering on women' are 'always an inferior subject matter to socially conscious critics of literature and film.' After 70 years of 'GWTW' bashing, a creditable critic finally says, 'Not so fast!'" "Haskell is a major talent, an artist among critics who, in her early... MORE »
Shorts, 2/27.
By David Hudson on 02/27/2009
"Spectacles of suffering and sex, Finnish director Teuvo Tulio's films are so similar in construction and theme that they run together like one long soap opera composed of a scattershot jumble of bucking horses, whores, crying babies, sailors, farmers, beer halls, weasel-faced men and zaftig, wild-eyed women." Anna Bak-Kvapil in The Auteurs' Notebook: "His style can be Eisensteinian, with expressionistic montages of the shining faces of the proletariat intercut with kittens, crucifixes, or half-smoked cigarettes, but he adores Hollywood, mimicking in his own over-enthusiastic way, Cukor, Lubitsch and Von Sternberg." Nathaniel R presents "77 Appropriate Ways to Celebrate Elizabeth Taylor's... MORE »
"Robert Blecker Wants Me Dead"
By David Hudson on 02/27/2009
[Updated through 2/28] "Robert Blecker is an New York Law School professor and outspoken proponent of the death penalty," writes Nick Schager in Slant, "and the 'me' referred to by 'Robert Blecker Wants Me Dead' is Daryl Holton, who in 1997 cold-bloodedly murdered his four children with an AK-47 and with whom Blecker formed an uneasy relationship in the years leading up to Holton's 2007 execution. Only serviceably shot on cruddy DV but smartly refusing to embrace either side of the capital punishment issue, Ted Schillinger's documentary focuses squarely on Blecker, whose support for the death penalty comes from a... MORE »
Fests and events, 2/27.
By David Hudson on 02/27/2009
"Nearly 30 years after his death, Alfred Hitchcock remains the great master of British cinema, but a fascinating new exhibition at Berlin's Film Museum reveals how much this quintessentially English director owed to his apprenticeship in Berlin." William Cook in the Guardian: "'Casting a Shadow: Alfred Hitchcock & His Workshop' shows that although Hitchcock spent almost all his working life in Britain and America, his early career in Berlin had an enduring influence on his cinematic style." Through May 10. The Venice International Film Festival has announced that Ang Lee will head up its International Jury. September 2 through 12.... MORE »
"Dillinger Is Dead"
By David Hudson on 02/27/2009
[Updated] "Even the gas mask designed by Glauco (Michel Piccoli), the central figure in Marco Ferreri's 1969 'Dillinger Is Dead,' offers little protection against the toxicity of materialism and bourgeois living that hangs thick in the movie's petrified 60s air," writes Scott Foundas in the Voice. "A signature love-it-or-hate-it provocation from the Italian ringmaster best known for giving us the gorging gastronomes of 'La Grande bouffe' and the self-castrating Gérard Depardieu of 'The Last Woman,' the rarely screened Dillinger (which plays at BAM this week in a new 35mm print) unfolds almost entirely within the confines of Glauco's mod apartment,... MORE »
"Crossing Over"
By David Hudson on 02/27/2009
"'Crossing Over' is an LA-based ensemble social-problem melodrama for people who thought 'Crash' was a bit too subtle," writes David Edelstein in New York. "'Crossing Over' couldn't be better intentioned or more timely," writes Dana Stevens in Slate. "But it also couldn't be preachier or more reductive of the issues it proposes to explore: assimilation, transnationalism, post-9/11 governmental paranoia. In the end, the movie's let's-examine-this-from-all-sides approach is simply muddled: After making the case that America's treatment of its immigrants is only one step removed from Abu Ghraib, [director Wayne] Kramer asks us to get all choked up about the 'sublime... MORE »
Shorts, 2/26.
By David Hudson on 02/26/2009
"To be or not to be is rarely for De Niro's characters the question; the non-being is usually taken as some form of given," writes Tony McKibbin in Film International. "We needn't only think of 'Raging Bull' but also 'Taxi Driver,' 'New York, New York,' 'The Last Tycoon,' 'The King of Comedy,' 'Once Upon Time in America' and 'Casino' as well; and an interesting variation of it in 'The Deer Hunter.' What matters is the nothingness over the being, and De Niro's suspiciousness, jealousy and hubris can be understood through this impossible non-being." "Alexander Korda's Private Lives" is a box... MORE »
Fests and events, 2/26.
By David Hudson on 02/26/2009
"Quickly becoming a favorite among the US and even international documentary community, the True/False Film Festival gets underway tonight here in Columbia, MO with a slate of just over 40 titles screening through the weekend." Brian Brooks interviews co-founders Paul Sturtz and David Wilson for indieWIRE. "An uneasy feeling of sexual shame permeates 'Inferno of First Love' (1968), a film by Hani Susumu playing in the Japan Society's Japanese New Wave series, 'Shinjuku Ecstasy,'" writes Anna Bak-Kvapil in the Tisch Film Review. "Available in America only on VHS, censored and re-titled 'Nanami,' the chance to see an unedited 'Inferno of... MORE »
Shorts, 2/25.
By David Hudson on 02/25/2009
"How accurate was Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' about the future?" asks Martin Belam. Via Ideas. Chris MaGee lists "Our Top Ten Favorite Japanese Horror Films." "Studios that are trying to fill 2010 release slates are weighing spec packages that would give them either an Adam McKay-directed action comedy starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, or a drama that will reunite Matt Damon with his 'Bourne Ultimatum' scribe George Nolfi," reports Variety's Michael Fleming. Also, Tatiana Siegel reports that Diablo Cody is producing an adaptation of SG Browne's upcoming novel "Breathers: A Zombie's Lament." And: Cate Blanchett will play Maid... MORE »
Fests and events, 2/25.
By David Hudson on 02/25/2009
"With raw and shocking footage of worldwide atrocities, the movies featured in this year's Human Rights Watch International Film Festival speak multitudes - even when their narrators are silent." A preview from Louis Peitzman in the San Francisco Bay Guardian. Today through March 26 at the Pacific Film Archive and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. "The fable of catching a tiger by the tail only to be bitten back serves as a wry allegory for the modern day booming economy of Ireland, dubbed the Celtic tiger, in John Boorman's 'The Tiger's Tail,'" writes Acquarello. Also: "An early cursory... MORE »
"Watchmen," round 1.
By David Hudson on 02/25/2009
[Updated through 2/27] At Hitfix, Drew McWeeny recalls visiting "Paul Greengrass in London to see how development on 'Watchmen' was going." The cast was stellar; Paramount launched an official site. "This was after Darren Aronofsky had already come and gone. And sure enough... it fell apart." But now he's seen the "Watchmen" that actually got made. Twice. "The first viewing was pretty much two hours and 45 minutes of me shouting inside my own head 'OHMYGOD, IT'S WATCHMEN!' over and over and over.... The second viewing, I was over the shock. I sat down to watch it as a movie,... MORE »
"Birdsong"
By David Hudson on 02/25/2009
[Updated through 2/27] "'Birdsong' ('El Cant dels Ocells'), a lovely and strange new film by the Catalan director Albert Serra, is less a retelling of the Nativity story than a dream about it, filtered in lovely black and white through a sensibility that recalls Luis Buñuel and Samuel Beckett." AO Scott in the New York Times. "An intractable practitioner of droll minimalism, Serra is somewhat more absurdist than such fellow film-fest uncompromisers as Portugal's Pedro Costa or Argentina's Lisandro Alonso," writes in the Voice. "Or, perhaps, as 'Birdsong' is a mechanism built to ensure that the spectators share the protagonists'... MORE »
"Examined Life"
By David Hudson on 02/25/2009
[Updated through 2/26] "Examined Life" is "very much a follow-up to Astra Taylor's 'Zizek!,' a 2005 documentary that allowed the Lacanian cultural theorist to hold forth on a variety of topics," writes Louis Proyect, self-described "Unrepentant Marxist" and no fan of Slavoj Zizek, nor, for that matter, the other seven philosophers featured in the doc: "Despite the underwhelming character of their reflections, I have nothing but admiration for Taylor's movie-making skills and urge others to see the movie, whatever their feelings about 'theory' and its postmodernist abuses." "Taylor's emphasis is on moral philosophy and, although her film's structure is not... MORE »
Shorts, 2/24.
By David Hudson on 02/24/2009
"To its many devotees, 'Watchmen' is untouchable, unimprovable, sacrosanct," writes Adam Rogers, profiling Zack Snyder for a "Watchmen" package in Wired that includes interviews with Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (video) and another video on creating Rorschach. "'The literati were less hard on the Coen brothers for changes they made to 'No Country for Old Men' than the geeks will be on me for changes I make to "Watchmen,"' Snyder says. 'There are no more fierce fans than geekdom.'" Related: IFC's Matt Singer lists "Ten Performances We Can't Wait to Watch This Spring." David Thomson "maintains his preeminence by pleasing... MORE »
Fests and events, 2/24.
By David Hudson on 02/24/2009
"P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center presents 'Kenneth Anger,' the first major survey of the filmmaker's body of work at a US museum in over a decade." On view through September 14. Today's the last day to catch "Made in USA" and/or "Two or Three Things I Know About Her" at Film Forum in New York, but "Godard in the 1960s" runs on at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, through March 7. At the House Next Door, Miriam Bale interviews Richard Brody, author of "Everything is Cinema: The Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard." "Last week saw the launch of Kinoteka, the... MORE »
DVDs, 2/24.
By David Hudson on 02/24/2009
The French Connection (1971) and "The French Connection II (1975) are out in a Blu-ray edition today; for the New York Times, Dave Kehr accompanied William Friedkin as he revisited the original's locations to shoot some of the supplementary material: "Walking his young crew members through the setup to the chase scene Mr Friedkin effortlessly remembered exactly where he'd positioned his camera all those years ago. Here, he said, is where Popeye [Doyle, Gene Hackman] enters the courtyard; here's where he takes cover behind a tree when a bullet meant for him strikes a bystander; here's where he jumps a... MORE »
"The Whole Shootin' Match"
By David Hudson on 02/24/2009
[Updated through 2/25] "Eagle Pennell's 'The Whole Shootin' Match' is one of those films you hear about later than you should have and don't manage to see until even later than that," writes Michael Tully at Hammer to Nail. "But with the film's long overdue DVD release this week (compliments of Mark Rance's new imprint Watchmaker Films), you have no more excuses. Accompanied by the feature-length 2007 documentary 'The King of Texas,' Pennell's first short 'A Hell of a Note,' a rare 1981 interview with Pennell by Rance, and a bonus CD of music from 'The Whole Shootin' Match' and... MORE »
Shorts, 2/23.
By David Hudson on 02/23/2009
"My friend Michael Brennan is a painter and instructor of color theory at Pratt Institute." Damon Smith has posted "an annotated list Michael distributed to his students about the use of color in film. I like the way he's organized it in terms of contrasts, specifically, and find his epigrammatic notes on Ford, Ray, Powell, and others not just insightful, but fascinating, too, as a window onto a working artist's way of seeing." The three Salvador Dalí biopics in the works "reveal just how much Hollywood has succumbed to a newfound 'Dalímania' two decades after the painter's death," writes Jerome... MORE »
Fests and events, 2/23.
By David Hudson on 02/23/2009
"This past weekend and throughout the waning days of Black History Month, the Brooklyn Academy of Music showcases the best of last fall's New York African Diaspora Film Festival, the country's oldest festival devoted to representations of Africans and their extra continental descendants," notes Brandon Harris. "A wide range of works by both northern, middle eastern and sub-Saharan Africans are on display, along with work by such African-American notables as Charles Burnett and Giancarlo Esposito." Reverse Shot carries on reviewing films in the "Film Comment Selects" series. Adam Nayman on "The Mugger": "The notion of the gentleman thief - the... MORE »
Sight & Sound. March 09.
By David Hudson on 02/23/2009
A Stanley Kubrick season opens at BFI Southbank on Saturday and runs through March 25, occasioning a rare online sampling of Sight & Sound's cover package. "Few Kubrick films have been well, or even usefully reviewed on their original release (Philip Strick's notice of '2001' in Sight & Sound is an honourable exception) because they need a couple of viewings to percolate," writes Kim Newman. "Coming after the controversial, futurist 'A Clockwork Orange,' which has many similarities in its plot arc with 'Barry Lyndon,' the 'new Kubrick' seemed tame in its retreat to history, to proper buttons on uniforms, to... MORE »
New Yorker Films, 1965 - 2009.
By David Hudson on 02/23/2009
[Updated through 2/25] "With rumors swirling all weekend among industry insiders, New Yorker Films, the venerable film distribution company, confirmed today that it is closing its doors. They made the announcement via a simple statement on their website," reports Eugene Hernandez at indieWIRE. "Founded in 1965 by Dan Talbot, New Yorker has a legendary legacy, boasting a long-standing track record in international film distribution, bringing a staggering number of international auteurs to this country's movie theaters over more than four decades. The company's crucial role in establishing a lasting film culture in this country cannot be underestimated." Back in December... MORE »
Oscars. The day after.
By David Hudson on 02/23/2009
[Updated through 2/24] A sweep, a few mild surprises and at least one too many musical numbers. For an overview of all the Oscar-winners, turn to the Playlist, which does a damn fine job of living up to its name. Here's a first round of first impressions with further updates to follow throughout the day. "'Slumdog Millionaire' has won one of those extraordinary Oscar-night landslides: a film whose aura of success and feelgood word-of-mouth manages to replicate itself virally inside the heart and mind of every Academy Award voter." Peter Bradshaw in the Guardian: "Oscarology is not an exact science... MORE »
Shorts, fests, 2/22.
By David Hudson on 02/22/2009
Wildgrounds posts a list of Akira Kurosawa's top 100 films. Via Chris MaGee. "Iceland's star filmmaker Baltasar Kormákur is in advance preparation on his biggest project ever, the $50-$70m English-language 'Vikingr,' most of which will be shot in Iceland," reports Annika Pham for Cineuropa. Jonathan Rosenbaum offers first impressions of "Helsinki, Forever," by Peter von Bagh, "prolific film critic, film historian, and professor, onetime director of the Finnish Film Archive and current artistic director of two unique film festivals, the Midnight Sun Film Festival (held in Sodankylä, above the Arctic Circle, during what amounts to one very long day in... MORE »
Oscars and Spirits (and Razzies and more).
By David Hudson on 02/22/2009
[Updated] As somewhat widely reported (choose your listings: Jason Guerrasio, Filmmaker; Ambrose Heron; Hot Splice; Peter Martin, Cinematical; Peter Knegt and Brian Brooks, indieWIRE; Movie City News), Darren Aronofsky's "The Wrestler" won Best Feature, Best Male Lead (Mickey Rourke) and Best Cinematography (Maryse Alberti) at last night's Spirit Awards. Aronofsky himself, though, lost out to Tom McCarthy ("The Visitor") for Best Director; Woody Allen won Best Screenplay for "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," which also scored Best Supporting Female (Penélope Cruz); Melissa Leo won Best Female Lead for "Frozen River," which also picked up the Piaget Producers Award for Heather Rae; "Milk"... MORE »
Fests and events, 2/21.
By David Hudson on 02/21/2009
Andrew Chan opens Reverse Shot's special section on Film Comment Selects with, naturally enough, a review of the film that's opened the series: "Imagine each of us arrives in this life equipped with a kino-eye, and that we're given the task of producing a mix-tape of our favorite sights and impressions. Michael Almereyda has turned in his first draft of the assignment, 'Paradise,' and it's a film intoxicated by the exponential possibilities of its form.... Repeated viewings of 'Paradise' reveal a transfixing and richly patterned patchwork, but on the first try it feels like alien territory, and it can be... MORE »
Spirits and Oscars.
By David Hudson on 02/21/2009
[Updated] With the presentations of the Spirit Awards tonight (to be webcast here) and the Oscars tomorrow night, "awards season," the three months the movie industry spends congratulating itself each and every year, finally draws to a close. By now you know who's nominated for which Oscar. But look over the collection of 20 reviews of films up for Spirit Awards in various categories at Hammer to Nail and you'll find a far more interesting batch. As Michael Tully writes, "This list should prove as a forceful reminder of just how exciting a year 2008 was for independent cinema." "Who... MORE »
Shorts, 2/20.
By David Hudson on 02/20/2009
"The significance of ['The Whole Shootin' Match'] lies, for many, in the fact that this low-budget, made-in-Austin-by-Austin-people film impressed Robert Redford sufficiently that it inspired him to found the Sundance Institute, and morph the Park City Film Festival, where Redford first saw it, into the You-Know-What Film Festival." Glenn Kenny in The Auteurs' Notebook: "But to tout 'Shootin' Match' o'ermuch as The Film That Invented Sundance is to give some people a reason to look at it askance. And to tout it as a great example of regional filmmaking does not misrepresent the work, but tends to lead some to... MORE »
Fests and events, 2/20.
By David Hudson on 02/20/2009
"Working exclusively with appropriated footage for over a decade, [Gustav] Deutsch has become one of the major living practitioners of a tradition in avant-garde cinema stretching back to the works of Bruce Conner and Joseph Cornell," writes Ed Halter for Artforum. "A major retrospective at the Austrian Film Museum properly situates Deutsch in the materialist vein of fellow Viennese filmmakers like Peter Kubelka, Kurt Kren and Peter Tscherkassky. What distinguishes Deutsch from his forebears is his historical place at the tail-end of celluloid's reign: His practice thereby intersects with the increased role of archives in greater film culture, both conceptually... MORE »
Oscars, 2/20.
By David Hudson on 02/20/2009
Salon's Andrew O'Hehir sorts through the films in the foreign language category and he has a clear favorite: "Waltz with Bashir": "If I were running the Academy, it would be up for this prize along with best animated feature (where it was eligible but not nominated), best documentary (not technically eligible) and, hell, best picture and best director too. There are many other reasons we should all be grateful that I am not running the Academy." Related: In the Japan Times, Mark Schilling talks with Yojiro Takita about "Departures." "I don't propose to provide a full survey of [Mickey] Rourke's... MORE »
"Must Read After My Death"
By David Hudson on 02/19/2009
[Updated through 2/21] "Everything is different in hindsight," writes Cullen Gallagher at Hammer to Nail. "Perspective allows us to see things more clearly. And this is precisely what is missing in Morgan Dews's piercing documentary 'Must Read After My Death,' and also what makes the film so singular, so touching and traumatic to watch." The film "is based on the audio diaries and home movies of Dews's grandmother, Allis, which the director discovered after her passing in 2001. More than just family mementos, the audiotapes documented the emotional and psychological near-collapse of Allis's family in the 1960s." "An artful arranger... MORE »
Shorts, 2/19.
By David Hudson on 02/19/2009
"Gene died ten years ago on February 20, 1999," writes Roger Ebert. "He is in my mind almost every day. I don't want to rehearse the old stories about how we had a love/hate relationship, and how we dealt with television, and how we were both so scared the first time we went on Johnny Carson that, backstage, we couldn't think of the name of a single movie, although that story is absolutely true. Those stories have been told. I want to write about our friendship." As an addendum, a video tribute, "Remembering Gene Siskel," in three parts. Paul Morrissey... MORE »
Fests and events, 2/19.
By David Hudson on 02/19/2009
"Godard in the 1960s" opens today at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and runs through March 7; in the Phoenix, Jeffrey Gantz riffs on "two or three things to remember about Jean-Luc." "With lower budgets and limited effects, there are several gems at [the Nevermore Film Festival] that put Hollywood to shame by doing more with less," writes Zack Smith in the Independent Weekly. This weekend at the Carolina Theatre in Durham. Steve Erickson previews "Film Comment Selects" for Artforum: "This year's edition may be the first whose revivals are more exciting than its new films." Tomorrow through March... MORE »
Oscars (and other awards), 2/19.
By David Hudson on 02/19/2009
Film Studies for Free presents "'Oscar Studies' for Free!" "Are you going to the Oscars?" Hannah Pool asks Anil Kapoor ("Slumdog Millionaire") in the Guardian. "Yes. I'm looking forward to it. It's my first time at the Oscars. It was my first time at the Baftas, the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild, my first English film, my first everything." In Time, Mark Harris watches Kate Winslet campaign for her Oscar- which he feels she deserves: "Winslet has become not only the finest actress of her generation but in many ways also the perfect actress for this moment." Related: Gregory Ellwood... MORE »
Shorts, 2/18.
By David Hudson on 02/18/2009
"To properly sing [William] Wellman's praises (and they deserve to be sung) requires a shift in focus from the imagined man to an evident work," writes Andrew Tracy at Moving Image Source: "'Gallant Journey,' from 1946, one of the most moving and lyrical of American films, made with a gentle selflessness that stands at quite striking odds with Wellman's colorfully hard-bitten reputation." Rick Poynor and Adrian Shaughnessy carry on talking movies at Design Observer. "How did the Mekas brothers end up on the cover of a sci-fi mag?" Mike Everleth has the answer to that one. "'Pa-ra-da,'" Marco Pontecorvo's moving... MORE »
Fests and events, 2/18.
By David Hudson on 02/18/2009
"Like some unholy combination of 'The Man with a Movie Camera' (1929) and 'The Day of the Locust' (1975), 'The Savage Eye' (1959) is a kino-essay on American desolation penned by three directors (Joseph Strick, Sidney Meyers and blacklisted Ben Maddow) and as many cinematographers (Jack Couffer, Helen Levitt and a young Haskell Wexler)," writes Max Goldberg. More from Dennis Harvey at SF360. Tonight at 7:30 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. Back in the Bay Guardian: Cheryl Eddy on Stacy Peralta's "Crips and Bloods: Made in America," opening at the Roxie on Friday. In... MORE »
Oscars (and other awards), 2/18.
By David Hudson on 02/18/2009
The only Oscar preview you need, really: AS Hamrah for n+1. "Announced 80 years ago this week, the first-ever Academy Awards for the 1927-1928 business year were decided upon not by a large voting pool but a small cabal of judges in a smoke-filled room, handpicked by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences founder (and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio chief) Louis B Mayer. The surprising thing is that the winners really were some of the best cinematic achievements of the year." Brian Darr at Daily Plastic. Somewhat related and very much ongoing: "The Silence After Sound: Hollywood's Last Silent Movies" at... MORE »
Andrzej Wajda. "Katyn" and "Tatarak"
By David Hudson on 02/18/2009
[Updated through 2/21] Andrzej Wajda's "Katyn," which premiered at the Berlinale last year, opens today for a two-week run at New York's Film Forum. This year's Berlinale saw the premiere of Wajda's latest, "Tatarak" ("Sweet Rush," which I missed), and a roundup follows. "Purportedly undertaken to 'proclaim' the details of the Katyn forest massacre (wherein the lives of over 20,000 Polish intelligentsia and upper echelon armed forces commanders, including the director's father, were systematically terminated by Soviet soldiers at Stalin's behest in 1940), ['Katyn'] trudges dazedly through the barbed no man's land between historical reenactment, familial drama, and gritted-teeth polemic,"... MORE »
Shorts, 2/17.
By David Hudson on 02/17/2009
"Manhattan's Museum of Modern Art served as the glamorous venue for last night's world premiere of Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's much anticipated Bollywood spectacular 'Delhi 6,' starring Abhishek Bachchan and Sonam Kapoor. In addition to the director and composer AR Rahman (who is currently being showered with awards for his score for 'Slumdog Millionaire), the luminous stars were on hand to greet the crowd." And Jürgen Fauth's got photos of the event, too. "There is a press blackout on reviewing the 'Watchmen' movie until March 6," blogs Matt Selman for Time. "However, I've seen the movie, and I'm not press.... MORE »
Vanity Fair. Hollywood issue.
By David Hudson on 02/17/2009
"We've read a lot of articles about the making of 'The Godfather' by now, and if you follow these links the way we tell you to, so have you," writes Phil Nugent at Screengrab. "The special fascination of [Mark] Seal's account is the emphasis it places in the actual (ahem) Mafia's role in almost preventing the movie from getting made, in its getting made, and the enthusiasm for it that overtook them once it was finished." As part of Vanity Fair's package, there's a video interview with Seal as well as a selection of Steve Schapiro's photos from the... MORE »
DVDs, 2/17.
By David Hudson on 02/17/2009
"While a more contemporary viewing of 'How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman' might be inclined to consider it alongside a more recent wave of Western films addressing the perspectives of Amerindian/native populations, much of [director Nelson Pereira] dos Santos's most-discussed film is referential within the context of its culture and time," writes Philip Cartelli. Also in Film International, Robert Murphy: "The films of Carl Theodor Dreyer are ideal for the DVD medium." Plus, Kevyn Knox on "Glitterbox": "It is through this quartet of out-of-the-ordinary films, as well as a slew of historical interviews with not just Jarman himself but... MORE »
Oscars, 2/17.
By David Hudson on 02/17/2009
The Film Experience Oscar Symposium, hosted by Nathaniel R, has been called to order: Timothy Brayton, Ed Gonzalez, Karina Longworth, Erik Lundegaard and Kris Tapley. "The Oscars are in six days. Are you as bored as we are?" asks the Playlist. "David Carr started the 'If I Ran The Academy' meme listing 10 things you would change in this year's Oscars if you had magical powers and then Jeff Wells joined in." Naturally, the 'list is in, too. Oscar predictions: In New York, "Mr Statistics, Nate Silver, goes for the gold," while at Movie City News, the Gurus of... MORE »
Fests and events, 2/17.
By David Hudson on 02/17/2009
"A major shift in the festival world this morning as Sundance Film Festival director Geoff Gilmore announced that he is joining Tribeca Enterprises as the Chief Creative Officer for the company." Eugene Hernandez has the first round of details at indieWIRE. From Gilmore's statement announcing the move: "I believe that Tribeca Enterprises is well positioned to develop a film organization that can create a new paradigm for the future.... I've had a wonderful nineteen years at Sundance and will always be grateful to Bob Redford. For me this is a big decision, a huge change and an enormous opportunity."... MORE »
Berlinale. "Pink"
By David Hudson on 02/17/2009
As the final credits rolled, Andrew Grant murmured, "What a strange little film." Agreed. Days later, though, and heaven knows, many more films later, we were still talking about it. We agreed that we both probably liked it, but at the same time, each of us conceded that we also didn't really know what to make of "Pink." The director himself, Rudolf Thome, likens it to "a film from another planet. Anyone who can't engage with the way the story unfolds or with the holes in the story and the humor that lies hidden within it, has no hope... MORE »
Shorts, 2/16.
By David Hudson on 02/16/2009
"Looking back, it's surprising how long we'd known each other before it emerged that we shared an obsession for film." Design Observer runs the first part of an email conversation between contributors Rick Poynor and Adrian Shaughnessy. "The original 'Yatterman was a goofy 70s television anime considered slightly risque and trashy for the times," writes Grady Hendrix, and Takashi Miike's remake is "a massive day-glo rail of cocaine that hits your brain like the Accela Express and kick starts your pleasure centers[;] this flick is far smarter than it has any right to be and it pops the pip... MORE »
Fests and events, 2/16.
By David Hudson on 02/16/2009
The Mexico City International Contemporary Film Festival: Tomorrow through March 1. Michael Guillen is posting thoughts as he watches films in the "Josef von Sternberg: Eros and Abstraction" series running at Pacific Film Archive through Sunday. SFMOMA's 12-film Chantal Akerman series runs through the end of the month; Glen Helfand has an overview at SF360. Vince Keenan's coverage of Noir City Northwest is off and running. The Seattle event's on through Thursday. Starting this weekend, the IFC Center will be screening seven "Cronenberg Classics" on Friday and Saturday at midnight. "The five films that fall between 'Crash' and 'Naked... MORE »
Awards and Oscars, 2/16.
By David Hudson on 02/16/2009
"John Woo's historical war epic 'Red Cliff,' about a battle among warlords in 3rd century China, received 15 nominations - out of 19 categories - for the 2009 Hong Kong Film Awards, including best picture and best actor (Tony Leung)," reports Irene Young, who's got the full list at the Alternative Film Guide. "'Red Cliff,' by the way, is also up for an Asian Film Award for best picture, while Woo himself managed to get a best director nod." "With six wins, Steve McQueen's 'Hunger' was the big winner at the 2009 Irish Academy Awards." Deborah Arthur lists the... MORE »
Wrapping Berlinale 09.
By David Hudson on 02/15/2009
Introducing his Berlinale roundup for the Observer, Sight & Sound editor Nick James notes that "more film buyers than ever turned up and talked shop, and the film programme itself was better than usual. But the sense of financial peril remained." His own favorite: the "brilliantly atmospheric" "Katalin Varga." Neil Young presents his terrific festival scorecard in the Auteurs' Notebook. One category: "Celebrities glimpsed." He spotted two, while I spotted only one this year, Anamaria Marinca, lost in thought as she made her way down the stairs of the Berlinale Palast. The sighting put a full stop to my... MORE »
Shorts, 2/14.
By David Hudson on 02/14/2009
In "A Matter of Life and Death: The Brain Revealed by the Mind of Michael Powell," Diane Broadbent Friedman argues that the film "is a complex neurological study of a psychologically normal man who believes that a heavenly tribunal has sentenced him to death." That quote comes from Glenn Kenny, who claims the book "isn't just an absolute must for any Archers fan. I believe it should prove illuminating for science wonks who insist that popular entertainments always get the technical stuff wrong - here's an exception that may prove the rule." "There are good movies and bad movies... MORE »
Berlinale. The Bears.
By David Hudson on 02/14/2009
The International Jury of this year's Berlinale, presided over by Tilda Swinton, has awarded the festival's top prize, the Golden Bear, to Claudia Llosa's "La teta asustada" ("The Milk of Sorrow"). Well-chosen; and it's evidently a unanimous decision, too. The Jury Grand Prix (Silver Bear) goes to two films: Adrián Biniez's "Gigante" and Maren Ade's "Alle Anderen" ("Everybody Else"). More Silver Bears: Asghar Farhadi (best director, "About Elly"), the outstanding Birgit Minichmayr (best actress, "Alle Anderen"), Sotigui Kouyaté (best actor, "London River"; he stopped the show, by the way, with a marathon acceptance speech that actually went over quite... MORE »
Fests and events, 2/14.
By David Hudson on 02/14/2009
To begin with an online viewing tip: "This Friday we [opened] Agnès Varda's 'Lions Love' as part of our '69' series," notes Adam at the Northwest Film Forum blog, Hot Splice. "A film rarely seen in the US, it did however screen at the New York Film Festival in 1969. Also screening in the festival and as part of our program was Susan Sontag's 'Duet for Cannibals.' Varda and Sontag were interviewed together for New York television by Jack Kroll." At indieWIRE, Peter Knegt has the lineup for this year's edition of New Directors / New Films, running March... MORE »
"Two Lovers"
By David Hudson on 02/12/2009
"If there are, as Steven Soderbergh is fond of saying, three types of filmmakers - those who don't know what they're doing, those who know what they're doing and you like what they're doing, and those who know what they're doing but you don't like what they're doing - then until recently, I would have placed James Gray squarely in the third category." LA Weekly's Scott Foundas explains how Gray's won him over: "Loosely adapted from Dostoevsky's short story 'White Nights,' 'Two Lovers' is an unexpectedly delicate romantic drama that charts the gradually deepening affection of two damaged people:... MORE »
"Gomorrah"
By David Hudson on 02/12/2009
"'Gomorrah' doesn't intend to do much in the way of formal innovation," writes Michael Joshua Rowin in Reverse Shot, "but this year's Cannes Grand Prix winner might very well make its influence felt in its direct and unpretentious approach toward the nefarious activities of the Camorra, the enormous mafia empire that, according to the film's closing titles, is responsible for the murder of some 4,000 people in the last 30 years, and has such formidable financial muscle that it's even claimed a stake in the reconstruction of Ground Zero." "['Gomorrah's'] vision of the bleak, ruined, urban-cum-rural landscape of Naples... MORE »
Berlinale, 2/12.
By David Hudson on 02/12/2009
"Film after film in the 59th Berlinale, which began last Thursday and concludes on Sunday, has sounded some version of an internationalist message - the world is shrinking, the world is flat, we are the world - as if filmmakers were measuring the worth and seriousness of their work mainly in terms of geographic scope." What follows is a terrific roundup from Dennis Lim for the International Herald Tribune. Uh-oh... I wonder if I'll get a chance to catch Neil Young's Exhibits A and B, the two films he makes sound mighty appealing in the Auteurs' Notebook today. Starting... MORE »
Shorts, 2/12.
By David Hudson on 02/12/2009
"I've never worked harder or had more fun and, in a very real way, I'm sorry I completed them, because I miss writing them." Forthcoming from Nick Rombes: "Cinema in the Digital Age" and "A Cultural Dictionary of Punk: 1974 - 1982." "[F]our uniquely superb blaxploitation films, largely forgotten to history, deserve rediscovery by new audiences and fresh eyes," argues Matt Singer here at IFC. "'Edward Ford' was, according to online, and quite possibly unreliable, sources, written in 1979, by a then 19 or 20 year old calling himself Lem Dobbs," writes Ben Slater. "It has been described by... MORE »
Fests and events, 2/12.
By David Hudson on 02/12/2009
"In the midst of our ongoing 'Two Germanys on Film' program, nestled on the second half of this Saturday night's double-bill, you'll find [Straub/Huillet's] 'Not Reconciled," notes Bernardo Rondeau at LACMA. "The title alone could itself be a spot-on summation of the series's themes. But its lucid density and brute materialism make it something of a UFO among everything else in the series." Which runs through February 21. "The Uncanny Cinema of William Friedkin" runs at Harvard Film Archive from tomorrow through February 22. Michael Atkinson in the Boston Phoenix: "When Friedkin called the shots on his films, they... MORE »
"Confessions of a Shopaholic"
By David Hudson on 02/12/2009
"Whatever else it is," writes David Edelstein in New York, "the aggressively silly romantic comedy 'Confessions of a Shopaholic' is in sync with the curve: Its theme is addiction to spending, its suspense tied to maxed-out credit cards and a bulldoggish bill collector. If the movie didn't pander so madly to the audience for 'Sex and the City' and 'Legally Blonde,' it might have been a comedy touchstone instead of a cringeworthy footnote." But for Nick Schager, writing in Slant, "If you gave Bernie Madoff custody of your life savings mere days before the FBI knocked on his door... MORE »
"The International"
By David Hudson on 02/12/2009
"Tom Tykwer's 'The International' is an expertly crafted load of hokum," writes Sean Burns in the Philadelphia Weekly. "It's goofy as hell, suffering from broad missteps that typically befall recently imported European art-film directors whenever they attempt to tackle the Hollywood genre product." "[E]ven classed up with Clive Owen and Naomi Watts, the story - inspired by an actual late-80s/early-90s scandal - seems slightly confused and dated; with idiots getting fat off bailouts, the idea of bankers who command global hit squads suggests a competence worthy of nostalgia." Ben Kenigsberg in Time Out New York. Updated through 2/15.... MORE »
Berlinale, 2/11.
By David Hudson on 02/11/2009
Heavens, another big roundup - 11 films - from Kevin Lee in the Auteurs' Notebook, where Daniel Kasman considers John Cook's "Slow Summer" and Andrew Bujalski's "Beeswax." "David O'Reilly's 'Please Say Something' has been announced as the winner of the Golden Bear for best short film," reports Peter Knegt at indieWIRE, where Eugene Hernandez talks with So Yong Kim ("Treeless Mountain") and Bradley Rust Gray ("The Exploding Girl"). You may have noticed that I'm skipping out on quite a few Competition entries this year, and I hope to be able to write about the films I've been catching instead... MORE »
Shorts, fests, etc, 2/11.
By David Hudson on 02/11/2009
"As Berlin draws to a close, selectors at the Cannes Film Festival are facing such a deluge of films from the world's greatest auteurs that many will no doubt be rejected from official selection." As Mike Goodridge reports in Screen, names in the running include Pedro Almodóvar, Lars von Trier, Michael Haneke, Fatih Akin, Ang Lee, Jim Jarmusch, Todd Solondz, the Coens, Michael Moore, Steven Soderbergh, Terry Gilliam, Neil Jordan, Alejandro Amenabar, Ken Loach, Andrea Arnold, Sylvain Chomet, Bruno Dumont, Claire Denis, Gaspar Noé, Cristian Mungiu, Margarethe Von Trotta, Park Chan-wook, Tsai Ming-Liang, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Johnnie To, Tian Zhuangzhuang,... MORE »
"Great Speeches from a Dying World"
By David Hudson on 02/11/2009
"Somewhat miraculously walking the tightrope between ambition and exploitation of its homeless Seattle subjects," writes Bill Weber in Slant, "'Great Speeches from a Dying World' grounds the life-and-death struggles of the downtrodden in the quotidian: where to sleep, how to get clean, who to love." "Each subject recites a famous discourse that relates directly or indirectly to his or her personal biography," writes Stephen Holden in the New York Times. "Half the time, the speaker (who may be reading from a teleprompter or reciting from memory; it isn't clear which) doesn't make a strong emotional connection to the material,... MORE »
Berlinale. "Rage"
By David Hudson on 02/10/2009
"Rage" might have worked. Once you've seen the stills, you've pretty much grasped the concept: Actors, most of them pretty big names (and most famously already, Jude Law in drag), have each created characters involved in some way with the launch of a new line by Merlin, a fashion designer played by Simon Abkarian. The lighting's bright, the backdrop, one solid color for each character, brighter. Each addresses an unseen and unheard interviewer, Michelangelo, who listens a bit, cuts to the next brief soliloquy, and posts each day's worth of footage on his blog.... MORE »
Berlinale, 2/10.
By David Hudson on 02/10/2009
Shane Danielsen rages in indieWIRE: "Five days into the 2009 Berlinale, and amid grumblings of discontent from critics ('Twenty films so far,' said one colleague, 'and I haven't seen one thing I'd champion') and a pronounced lack of enthusiasm among buyers, one sensed a new tone to proceedings: if the program couldn't entertain us, then by god it was going to improve us. Indeed, if Berlin 09 will be remembered for anything, it will be for its eagerness to tell us, with every ounce of anguished sincerity it could muster, the bleeding obvious." "Not for the first time, a... MORE »
Shorts, fests, etc, 2/10.
By David Hudson on 02/10/2009
"Characters in Fellini's films often end up at the beach where they seem to arrive at some sort of self-realization that is intuitive and physical; the relationship between them and the sea seems to act as a catalyst for a certain kind of knowledge." George Porcari in CineAction. FilmInFocus runs the speech Tony Kushner delivered when presenting the Best Picture award at the New York Film Critics Circle dinner on January 5. Also: an excerpt from Richard Brody's "Everything Is Cinema: The Working Life of Jean-Luc Godard" and Nick Dawson talks with Sean Pecknold about the future of stop... MORE »
Berlinale. "Mammoth"
By David Hudson on 02/10/2009
As you may have heard - from indieWIRE's Eugene Hernandez, for example - Lukas Moodysson's "Mammoth" was met by critics here in Berlin on Sunday with a rowdy round of boos, followed by tentative counter-wave of applause, which only fired up the boos again. I'm with the boos. Some films are simply bad; others are downright offensive. "Mammoth" is "Babel" on tranquilizers. It's got the original's globe-hopping down, but it's a much lazier storyteller. It's also got Gael Garcia Bernal, here playing Leo, a family guy who can afford to remain stuck in adolescence because he's struck it mighty... MORE »
DVDs, 2/10.
By David Hudson on 02/10/2009
"A literal drawing-room comedy with apocalyptic overtones, 'Exterminating Angel' is, as Buñuel himself noted, a disaster movie of sorts, albeit one concerned less with the struggle for survival than with the descent into barbarism," writes Dennis Lim in the Los Angeles Times. "Like much of Buñuel's religious-themed work, ['Simon of the Desert'] could be considered blasphemous, but its vision of faith and devotion, while dryly amused, is not unsympathetic." More from Marsha Kinder at Criterion's Current. Earlier: Dave Kehr in the New York Times. Glenn Kenny's Tuesday Morning Foreign Region DVD Report in the Auteurs' Notebook: "Although even the... MORE »
Shorts, fests, etc, 2/9.
By David Hudson on 02/09/2009
Vorspannkino: at the KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin through April 19. "Indiefest is up and running, and as usual Jason Watches Movies is the go-to site to get the latest screening reports." So begins Brian Darr's big, big roundup of recent and upcoming goings on in the San Francisco Bay Area. "SXSW Presents: Fantastic Fest @ Midnight": "In addition to the Official SXSW 'Midnighters' we announced previously, we'll be screening six new premieres, exclusive to SXSW, which will serve as a kind of sampler of the midnight genre programming Fantastic Fest has made its signature." At SF360,... MORE »
Berlinale. "Storm" and "The Wondrous World of Laundry"
By David Hudson on 02/09/2009
Hans-Christian Schmid has brought two films to the Berlinale this year, his Competition entry, "Storm," which might be described as a legal thriller for anyone who does not find "legal thriller" to be an oxymoron, and a documentary, "The Wondrous World of Laundry" (the title works better in German: "Die wundersame Welt der Waschkraft"). In 2003, Schmid was in Competition with "Distant Lights," a multi-narrative feature set along the border of Germany and Poland, and in "Laundry," he returns, specifically to Gryfino, a small Polish town that literally washes Berlin's dirty linens. Schmid doesn't overplay the contrasts between the... MORE »
Berlinale, 2/9.
By David Hudson on 02/09/2009
"[N]ow that I have a better sense of the festival's low-key but adventurous character, I can't help seeing it as a hopeful barometer of the year ahead in movies," writes Stephanie Zacharek in her first roundup for Salon. Kevin Lee posts ten quick reviews in the Auteurs' Notebook, where Daniel Kasman reviews Margot Benacerraf's 1959 documentary "Araya," "a great pleasure to both see and hear," and "In the Electric Mist," "a curoisity, with a sting lurking somewhere within, but the film twists and turns so much, [Bertrand] Tavernier dodging something, I know not what, that the gun's sight never... MORE »
Berlinale. "Beeswax"
By David Hudson on 02/09/2009
It's a welcome experience, but an odd one nonetheless, seeing such a SXSW sort of film in Berlin in the dead of winter. Andrew Bujalski's "Beeswax" is even set in Austin and features a few recognizable faces from the local filmmaking scene: both Zellner brothers have small roles; so does Kyle Henry; but the stroke of casting that almost comes at us as a dare is that of the new SXSW Film producer herself, Janet Pierson, who - I mean, let's just go ahead and get this out of way - is quite believable as a family friend ready... MORE »
Short shorts, 2/8.
By David Hudson on 02/08/2009
"As expected, Danny Boyle's 'Slumdog Millionaire' led this year's Orange British Academy Film Awards," reports Peter Knegt, who's got the full list of winners at indieWIRE. "The film earned seven awards - best picture, best director, best adapted screenplay, best editing, best score, best sound, and best cinematography." The Writers Guild of America has announced the winners of its awards: Dustin Lance Black's "Milk" is this year's best original screenplay; Simon Beaufoy wins for "Slumdog Millionaire" (adapted), Ari Folman for "Waltz with Bashir" (documentary). Related: Folman lists his "five most essential movies" in Newsweek. Considering Oscar: Michael J Anderson... MORE »
Berlinale. "About Elly"
By David Hudson on 02/08/2009
Think of Iranian cinema and you may be thinking of ascetic realism or schmaltzy realism, but not usually the sort of realism peopled with characters most westerners would recognize as pretty much like themselves. "Persepolis" might have counted as the exception that proves the rule if it were indeed an Iranian film, as opposed to a film made by an Iranian in France filtering a cast of liberal, well-educated, borderline secular Iranians through memories a couple of decades old. Still, you could sense in many reviews appearing in the States and Europe a yearning to pass out "Persepolis" DVDs... MORE »
Berlinale. "Gigante"
By David Hudson on 02/08/2009
Most of the action in Adrián Biniez's "Gigante" is set in a sprawling supermarket in Montevideo, Uruguay, and much of it is seen via the surveillance cameras security guard Jara (Horacio Camandule) monitors on the night shift. Jara's into heavy metal and works weekends as a bouncer at the local disco, but at heart, he's a gentle giant whose routine is finally broken up the night he spots one of the women in an army of supermarket floor-moppers accidently knock over a tower of paper towels. The sight's good for a laugh until her boss waddles over and threatens... MORE »
Berlinale. "Treeless Mountain"
By David Hudson on 02/08/2009
Revisiting the reviews I gathered back in September when So Yong Kim's "Treeless Mountain" premiered in Toronto, and keeping in mind that its story of two very young sisters trying to understand why their mother would hand them off to their aunt, then trying to cope when the aunt turns out to be an alcoholic cheat, is semi-autobiographical, I'm thinking: Well, yes, only a heartless cad could remain unmoved. Of course I was moved. So much so that I felt guilty wondering while watching: Is the director depending too heavily on a combination of happenstance and long lenses to... MORE »
Berlinale, 2/7.
By David Hudson on 02/07/2009
So far, five of the films competing for Silver and Golden Bears at this year's Berlinale have screened for the press, and I've missed two, either because I've opted for films screening in other sections (the Forum, primarily), for blogging or for actually talking face-to-face with real, live people. Entries with quick impressions on those I have seen, regardless of section, are coming soon, but for now: short roundups on those two and other random notes. "An inwardly and outwardly scarred Danish service woman back from a tour of duty in Iraq provides 'Little Soldier' [site] with a rock-solid... MORE »
Short shorts, 2/7.
By David Hudson on 02/07/2009
Midnight Eye editors and contributors write up their choices for the best Japanese films of 2008; and the Readers Poll is open. Also: Rea Amit interviews Inuhiko Yomota and a new round of reviews: Dean Bowman on Yasutomo Chikuma's "Now, I..." and Yoshihiro Ito's "Vortex & Others" and Simon Cotterill on Satoshi Miki's "Turtles Are Surprisingly Fast Swimmers." This is the week for the New York Times Magazine's Oscar issue. Lynn Hirschberg introduces the portfolio of photographs by Paolo Pellegrin and then there are profiles: Tom Perrota on Kate Winslet, Christopher Buckley on Frank Langella, Chip Kidd on Robert... MORE »
Berlinale. "Ricky"
By David Hudson on 02/06/2009
The best way to approach "Ricky" [site], François Ozon's wonderful little fable inspired by Rose Tremain's short story "Moth," is the way indieWIRE's Eugene Hernandez did: walk in knowing nothing. I doubt the central conceit will remain under wraps for long - in his review for Variety, for example, Boyd van Hoeij simply assumes it might not be a surprise. Which is fine. It was for me, though, and I do think my ignorance allowed me to appreciate the dread-inducing moments in the first act: What is wrong with this baby? What's it going to do to this family?... MORE »
Shorts, 2/6.
By David Hudson on 02/06/2009
Robert Gottlieb in the New York Review of Books on "Douglas Fairbanks" by Jeffrey Vance with Tony Maietta: "At times it approaches hagiography, but it tells you a lot about its hero, and it's generously illustrated - crucial for a performer whose impact was so overwhelmingly physical." "Like Alex Cox, if a movie maker had ripped me off as blatantly as Jarmusch did to [Rudy] Wurlitzer with 'Dead Man' I would've been cooling my heels in a lawyer's office faster than you can say 'quick and quiet cash settlement to keep this out of court,'" writes Rodger Jacobs in... MORE »
Fests and events, 2/6.
By David Hudson on 02/06/2009
"Stalker" opens at the BFI Southbank in London on Tuesday. Novelist Geoff Dyer in the Guardian: "The starkness of its conception did not prevent the production traumas that seem integral to the creation myths of other favorites: the likes of 'Apocalypse Now' and 'Fitzcarraldo'.... Sound recordist Vladimir Sharun believes the deaths from cancer of Tarkovsky (in 1986), his wife Larissa and Anatoly Solonitsyn (who plays the Writer) were all due to contamination from a chemical plant upstream from the set. The film itself has become synonymous both with cinema's claims to high art and a test of the viewer's... MORE »
Berlinale, 2/6.
By David Hudson on 02/06/2009
Peter Knegt writes indieWIRE's first roundup. A Forum Expanded blog launches. The Iron Sky team lands in Berlin. So do Jean-Michel Frodon and Eugenio Renzi, but at the moment at least, the Cahiers crew is blogging strictly in French. Iranian actress Pegah Ahangarani will be blogging (in English) for Deutsche Welle. The Berlinale in the trades: the Hollywood Reporter, Screen Daily and Variety. Online listening tip. "'I'm Gonna Explode' ('Voy a explotar') is the audacious third feature from Gerardo Naranjo ('Drama/Mex,' 'Malachance'), a rising Mexican auteur who was also previously seen as the star and co-writer of Azazel Jacobs's... MORE »
"Life. Support. Music."
By David Hudson on 02/06/2009
"If you can get past the excruciating title, with its forced uplift and intimation of immobility, "Life. Support. Music." is a blessedly nimble journey from loss to reclamation," writes Jeannette Catsoulis in the New York Times. "The film's subject, Jason Cringler, was a 34-year-old LES clubrock fixture, sought-after session axeman, and expectant father when, at a gig one night, he had a big ol' brain-bleeding aneurysm, leaving his body curled and clenched like a Pompeii victim," explains Nick Pinkerton in the Voice. "The grinding struggle to regain the simplest motor skills was recorded by Jason's medical personnel. Entrusted with... MORE »
"Lithuania and the Collapse of the USSR"
By David Hudson on 02/06/2009
"After five decades of filming himself, his family, and assorted luminaries of pop and underground culture, the original home-movie mix master (and this paper's first film critic), Jonas Mekas, ventures no further than his living room for his latest time-memory opus," writes Scott Foundas in the Voice. "At 286 minutes, 'Lithuania and the Collapse of the USSR' is a vacuum-tube epic composed almost entirely of TV news footage videotaped by Mekas right off the screen as he was watching it, from the moment his Baltic homeland declared its independence in March of 1990 to its induction into the United... MORE »
"Chocolate"
By David Hudson on 02/06/2009
"The world may not have needed a Thai-language martial-arts hybrid of 'Kill Bill' and 'Rain Man,' but by God, it's got one now," writes Jim Ridley in the Voice. "[D]irector Prachya Pinkaew's follow-up to the mighty Muay Thai epics 'Ong-Bak' and 'The Protector' offers more of everything: more score-settling for the West's Asian-action culture thievery, more maudlin interludes, and more knees, fists, and elbows to the skull than the oeuvres of Bruce Lee and Vince McMahon combined." "'Chocolate' is dedicated to 'the unconditional love given to all the special children in the world,' which is a cheeky way to... MORE »
Berlinale. "Love Exposure"
By David Hudson on 02/06/2009
"Savage, overwhelming, baroque and opulent, in 'Love Exposure' ["Ai no mukidashi"] he composes the extremes of human behavior into an ecstatic passion choreographed to religious music, the Bolero, the funeral march and the Japanese band Yura Yura Teikoku's J-Pop music." Yes, the catalogue description of Sono Sion's new one certainly makes it sound like a grand time. But I'm here to tell you there are better ways to spend four hours. That's right, four hours. To be fair, Sono does keep things moving along and, much of the time, you well and truly do not know what might happen... MORE »
Berlinale. "The International"
By David Hudson on 02/05/2009
"Sometimes a man meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it." Then there's one about the bridges one comes upon in life: cross them or burn them? At some point, the critic sitting next to me couldn't hold it in anymore and something of a cross between a spew and a guffaw opened the floodgates: everyone else was given free license to giggle at each and every "fortune cookie line" (nice one, whoever that was I overheard) that followed. And there are plenty. How Clive Owen manages to keep a straight face throughout "The International" [site]... MORE »
"Coraline"
By David Hudson on 02/05/2009
Another one divides the crowd into almost equal halves... "Children's books respect the intelligence of their audience - why can't children's movies?" asks Peter Keough in the Boston Phoenix. "The genre has gravely declined. Case in point: 'Coraline,' which Henry Selick adapted from the weird and funny Neil Gaiman novel. Last week, Gaiman, the author also of the brilliant 90s comics series 'The Sandman,' won the Newbery Medal, the most prestigious award in American children's literature, for his scary and wonderful novel 'The Graveyard Book.' For his part, Selick has collaborated with Tim Burton in the creepy and satisfying... MORE »
"He's Just Not That Into You"
By David Hudson on 02/05/2009
Margy Rochlin meets director Ken Kwapis for the New York Times: "'He's Just Not That Into You,' though it boasts a marquee-busting roster of A-list Hollywood names including Jennifer Aniston and Ben Affleck, fits into his gentle niche. Based on the book of the same name by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo, which offers humorous counsel for women who waste their time with unresponsive men, the movie, written by Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein ('Never Been Kissed'), is a romantic comedy about how hard it can be for the lovelorn to read others' true feelings accurately." "If all you... MORE »
"Fanboys"
By David Hudson on 02/05/2009
"The rise of the Internet has helped the geeks inherit the Earth," writes Nick Schager at Screengrab, "a development celebrated by 'Fanboys,' a rather formulaic road-trip comedy colored by 'Star Wars' mania. Thanks to having its theatrical release delayed for more than a year, Kyle Newman's film took on something of a mythic stature in the far corners of the 'net, as the holdup made it seem like a case study in the mainstream's condescending disrespect for all things geeky. Now that the wait is over, however, the truth seems more plain: 'Fanboys' struggled to garner a slot at... MORE »
Fests and events, 2/5.
By David Hudson on 02/05/2009
The 32nd Portland International Film Festival opens today and runs through February 21; Shawn Levy introduces the Oregonian's guide. Dennis Harvey has more on SF Indiefest, this time at SF360. More from Michael Hawley. Tonight through February 22. "'Back Door to Heaven' (1939), which concludes UCLA's 'Hollywood on the Hudson' series on Saturday, is the strangest artifact by a Hollywood director you're ever likely to find," writes Philippe Garnier in LA Weekly. "Those who have never attended the annual festival of Oscar-nominated live-action and animated shorts should be advised: Don't expect all 10 entries to be mini-masterpieces," writes Tim... MORE »
Cargo 01. The Berlinale begins.
By David Hudson on 02/05/2009
For some, the Berlinale begins when the first star promenades down the red carpet. For others, the defining moment finally comes with the opening credits of the opening film. German-speaking cinephiles, though, have been anticipating for a couple of months now a signal unique to this year's edition: the launch of Cargo, a new print magazine devoted to film, media and culture. Yes, print. In these, of all days. The risk, though, is more than justified over the 96 pages I'm fondling right now. More than in the feel (and smell!) of the fine quality paper, of course, the... MORE »
Bright Lights. 63.
By David Hudson on 02/04/2009
Editor Gary Morris is "surprised to see how much sheer testosterone is in this issue. Yes, we can almost call this the Man issue of Bright Lights." With the Berlinale opening tomorrow, I've got some last-minute scrambling to do, and so can't savor one of my very favorite film journals with the usual leisure. But you, right now, can go grab a mindful of Colm O'Shea on Charlie Kaufman and Madison Brookshire on "Synecdoche, New York," Michael Stern on Jerry Lewis, Angelos Koutsourakis on John Cassavetes, Alan Vanneman on Charlie Chaplin, DJM Saunders on Ken Loach, Dan Callahan on... MORE »
Shorts, 2/4.
By David Hudson on 02/04/2009
"Al Pacino will play the title role in 'King Lear,' an adaptation of the Shakespeare play that will be directed by Michael Radford," reports Michael Fleming in Variety. Also: Dade Hayes and Dave McNary report that the Weinstein Co has optioned the rights to Gerald Clarke's "Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland." Reviews of the book: George Hodgman (EW), Monica Stark (January) and Vanessa Thorpe (Observer); and CNN has an excerpt. Wolfgang Becker will be directing an adaptation of Daniel Kehlmann's novel "Ich und Kaminski" with Daniel Brühl in the lead. The two last worked together on "Good... MORE »
Fests and events, 2/4.
By David Hudson on 02/04/2009
"For the American people, the first five years of the Great Depression - 1930 through 1934 - were the worst of times and the really worst of times," writes J Hoberman in the Voice. "For the American movie industry, the period would also bring the worst of economic times. In another way, though, it was the best. The early 30s were the days of 'Breadlines & Champagne,' as Film Forum has dubbed its month-long, all-35mm celebration of the pre-Code, the Socially Conscious, and the Screwball - three manifestations of the richest period in Hollywood history." Also: "A Dozen Great... MORE »
"Our City Dreams"
By David Hudson on 02/04/2009
"New York City offers inspiration and haven to five female artists in 'Our City Dreams,' a lyrical documentary about the intersection of location and imagination," writes Jeannette Catsoulis in the New York Times. "Candid and unpretentious, [Chiara] Clemente's film posits personal experience as the main thrust of creativity, envisioning a city kept artistically alive by people willing to offer not just aesthetic objects, but pieces of their lives." Fernando F Croce in Slant. "The director - daughter of painter Francesco, the focus of her first film, the short 'Three Worlds' - starts with the youngest of her subjects, the... MORE »
DVDs, 2/3.
By David Hudson on 02/03/2009
Lionsgate releases two boxed sets today, "Alec Guiness" and "Peter Sellers," each featuring five films from the actors' early careers in Britain. "As a bonus," notes Dave Kehr in the New York Times, "the gods of coincidence have come up with two more releases: from Sony, Carol Reed's 1959 Guinness vehicle, 'Our Man in Havana,' with a story and screenplay by Graham Greene, and from Warner Home Video, Hal Ashby's 1979 'Being There,' which would prove to be Sellers's last critical triumph before his death the following year." But it's in the Lionsgate sets that one can see that... MORE »
Fests and events, 2/3.
By David Hudson on 02/03/2009
"Torn Curtain: The Two Germanys on Film" runs at LACMA through February 21. Doug Cummings has so far seen Wolfgang Staudte's "The Murderers Are Among Us" (1946) and Helmut Käutner's "In Those Days" (1947) and notes that "while they make some strides in acknowledging the past and their current historical moment, they seem stymied by their commercial intents and social pressures, making them less like exposés and more like coping strategies." The series will be followed by another occasioned by LACMA's "Art of Two Germanys" exhibition (through April 19), the Wende Museum's "Wende Flicks: Last Films from East Germany,"... MORE »
Shorts, 2/3.
By David Hudson on 02/03/2009
Dan Callahan at the House Next Door on Terence Stamp: "He has always been drawn to arty sex films, from a Laura Antonelli vehicle ('The Divine Nymph [1975]) to Pasolini's 'Teorema' (1968), which brazenly presents Stamp As Sex Object, the camera worshiping his compact body and small, round, exquisitely formed face, with its killer blue eyes flashing out over his largish nose and tiny, rosebud mouth. Repeated close-ups of Stamp's crotch in 'Teorema' basically bring about the total destruction of the bourgeoisie; politically, sexually and spiritually, Stamp is an icon of the most idealistic side of the 60s, a... MORE »
Fests and events, 2/2.
By David Hudson on 02/02/2009
Wednesday sees the beginning of a new San Francisco Cinematheque season with a screening of Ken Jacobs's "Razzle Dazzle." At SF360, a former director of the Cinematheque, Steven Jenkins, talks with the new one, Jonathan Marlow, about what he envisions for, as Jenkins puts it, "the nation's premier proponent and exhibitor of avant-garde work." Michael Hawley previews SFFS Screen's new season. "For the benefit of some of our younger readers, it would be great for you to begin by talking a bit about Positif itself; its history, mission, when you yourself began there, and so on." Glenn Kenny talks... MORE »
Awards, 2/2.
By David Hudson on 02/02/2009
"Benicio del Toro and Penélope Cruz were among the big winners at Spain's prestigious Goya Awards," reports the BBC. "'Camino,' which focuses on the Opus Dei religious order, won best film, along with five other awards, including best director for Javier Fesser." Massimo David has the full list of nominees and winners. The Skandies countdown begins. "'Hunger, Turner prize-winner Steve McQueen's harrowing account of the final days of the IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands, was the surprise winner of the best film prize at the Evening Standard British Film awards last night," reports Ben Child in the Guardian.... MORE »
SXSW. Lineup.
By David Hudson on 02/02/2009
"Over 9 days, from March 13 - 21, 108 features, including 54 world premieres, will screen over various sections and sidebars," announces the SXSW Film Festival. And here's that full lineup. Highlighting the panels as well, indieWIRE's Brian Brooks spots several titles from this year's Sundance lineup, but many of the premieres will spark interest on a first once-over. One question that'll leap to mind, this being SXSW and all, is, Will the mumblecrowd be representing? Of course, but having recently seen Andrew Bujalski's "Beeswax" (more later), I suspect that, as each of the young filmmakers associated with the... MORE »
Senses of Cinema. 49.
By David Hudson on 02/02/2009
Editors Rolando Caputo and Scott Murray know this new issue of Senses of Cinema's late, but they've been working on a new site for the journal, which they hope to unveil with the next issue, the big 50th. What's more, #49 here doesn't look as if it were edited overnight. Ian Christie tells the story behind the discovery of a fragment of "Living London," probably shot around 1905 or so; you might also want to poke around the London Project, "intended to study in detail the growth of the London-based film industry during the period 1895-1914, undertaking new empirical... MORE »
Wrapping Sundance 09.
By David Hudson on 02/01/2009
A week after the awards were handed out (Slamdance's, too), it's time to gather up all the notes, polish them off and wrap up this year's edition of the Sundance Film Festival - before the Berlinale begins in earnest. Let's start with a round of lists: indieWIRE has conducted a poll of over 30 critics and bloggers attending the festival and, as Peter Knegt notes, the films to top the lists of narratives and documentaries happen to also be the winners of the Audience Awards: "Push" and "The Cove," respectively. Salon's Andrew O'Hehir presents his "'Beyond the Multiplex' grand... MORE »
Sundance 09. Index.
By David Hudson on 02/01/2009
So what I've done here should be fairly obvious, but just in case: All titles link to the appropriate page in the Sundance Film Festival guide; films that already have entries here at the Daily are marked as you'd expect; I've tried to find at least a little something on all the others; and the lineup's divided into the festival's sections and listed alphabetically. US Documentary Competition "Art & Copy" (Daily). "What separates Dana and Hart Perry's intensely personal and deeply moving 'Boy Interrupted' from more traditional depictions of parental loss is the overwhelming sense of inevitability that haunts... MORE »
DGA. Awards.
By David Hudson on 02/01/2009
The Directors Guild of America has presented its Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film award to Danny Boyle for "Slumdog Millionaire." As Peter Knegt notes at indieWIRE, "This gives 'Slumdog' another award to add to its Producers Guild of America Award, Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble Cast, and both Golden Globe and Critic's Choice Award for Best Picture." Besides a slew of TV awards, there's also one for documentaries, and Ari Folman's won it for "Waltz with Bashir." Related: Anthony Kaufman recently "spoke with Danny Boyle, David Fincher, Ron Howard, Chris Nolan and Gus Van Sant for... MORE »
Recent Comments
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