Shorts, 3/12.

By David Hudson on 03/12/2009

Film Comment's posted a new piece from the current issue, Amy Taubin's on Damien Chazelle's debut feature, "Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench": "An ingenious, enchanting hybrid of an old-fashioned Hollywood-style musical and a vérité cityscape, the film was shot in 16mm black-and-white on a shoestring budget that was stretched to accommodate the orchestral arrangements of Justin Hurwitz's lilting tunes and swingy score. It's the latest in a series of brainy, innovative fiction films displaying a bent for urban ethnography nurtured in Harvard's undergraduate film program. Among the others: Gordon Eriksen and John O'Brien's 'The Big Dis' (89) and Andrew Bujalski's 'Funny Ha Ha' (02)."

"Presided by Agnieszka Holland, the Polish Film Academy presented the 11th Eagles Annual National Film Awards," reports Dorota Hartwich for Cineuropa. Among the major winners are Malgorzata Szumowska's '33 Scenes from Life" (Best Film, Editing and Score), Waldemar Krzystek's "Little Moscow" (five awards in all), "Four Nights with Anna" (Best Director, Jerzy Skolimowski; and Best Cinematography, Adam Sikora) and Michal Rosa's "Scratch" (Best Actor, Krzysztof Stroinski; and Best Actress, Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieslak). Related: Geoffrey Macnab talks with Skolimowski for the Guardian.

In "Jerichow," "[Christian] Petzold reverses traditional economic cliches, procuring a narrative that trades on German class anxiety rather than on a simple description of racism," writes Michael J Anderson. "Here, it is the Islamic immigrant who has the upper hand in a new Germany... Power, as it does nearly everywhere, comes from economic rather than social status - and it is a power that is leaving the Europe of old behind."

Andrew Grant has a bit of an update on the first round of the auction that may determine where the rights to films New Yorker Films once owned the rights to will go.

Kristin Thompson observes connections "between techniques of ancient Egyptian art and those of continuity film editing."

In the new issue of Offscreen, dedicated, as mentioned earlier, in large part to Timothy Barnard's new translation of André Bazin's "What is Cinema?," Robert Robertson looks into the collaboration between Sergei Eisenstein and Sergei Prokoviev: "According to Eisenstein, he and Prokofiev would always 'bargain' for a long time before it was decided who should be first to make the next decisive audiovisual step."

Juan Antonio Bayona ("The Orphanage") will direct the third "Twilight" flick, "Eclipse." Dave McNary reports for Variety, where Ali Jaafar has details on an adaptation of Alex von Tunzelmann's "Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire." William Nicholson ("Gladiator") will write the screenplay; Joe Wright ("Atonement") will direct. And Michael Fleming has first word on Alexandre Aja's ("Haute tension") next project; "The Contractor" is "set in a world where the US government can no longer afford to fight wars and authorizes private contractors to send a band of elite soldiers on missions around the world."

And: "'Super, Girls!,' Jian Yi's humdinger of a docu, follows a handful of young women auditioning for the 2006 edition of the vastly popular, soon-to-be-banned Super Girl contest, the Chinese equivalent of 'American Idol,'" writes Ronnie Scheib. "Offering a slew of artless sociopolitical insights about the new generation of post-capitalist youth (out of the mouths of babes), the pic proves as entertaining as it is revelatory, thanks to the girls' openness and extraordinary exuberance."

The latest addition to Scott Tobias's "New Cult Canon" at the AV Club: "Beau Travail."

"'The Wild Bunch' is certainly Sam Peckinpah's clearest, most heartfelt and poetic statement of his deeply-held belief that we are born animals, and that if we become human at all, it is by learning - from others and from our own experiences," writes Robert C Cumbow in the Parallax View. "We are not what nature or God makes us, but what we make of ourselves."

30 years on, Bob Westal talks with Robert Benton about "Kramer vs Kramer" at Premium Hollywood.

José Teodoro talks with critic David Thomson for Stop Smiling. On a related note, Flickhead argues that "Have You Seen...? A Personal Introduction to 1000 Films" should "find a permanent home in the private library of every cinephile's bathroom."

Interviews to catch up with: Chicagoist Rob Christopher talks with Stephen Cone about two quite different films of his, "The Christians" and the one he's working on now, "In Memoriam: A Comedy."

At the Rumpus, Chris Read talks with an old friend (they met at summer camp in 1977), Zack Snyder.

For indieWIRE, Eric Hynes interviews Leo Carax: "I feel that cinema is my country. But it's not my business. I haven't worked enough, and I don't get along with people enough to make it my business. Sometimes I feel like there should be an obligation to produce people like me. There shouldn't be a choice." More from Leo Goldsmith at Reverse Shot, where he also talks with Michel Gondry and Gabrielle Bell.

Kimberly Lindbergs has found Fabien Champion's conversation with Claudia Cardinale and Alexandre Styker for Café Babel.

"Ava DuVernay's hip-hop documentary 'This Is the Life' is a reclamation project of sorts for a cash-poor but influential West Coast movement that sprouted from the Good Life, a South LA health food store," writes Robert Abele in the Los Angeles Times. More from Ernest Hardy in LA Weekly.

"'Taken,' an action thriller starring Liam Neeson, is the first US megahit for French film mogul Luc Besson. And Besson is working hard to make sure it won't be the last." Carol Matlack reports for BusinessWeek.

"I've only seen a few [of] Buñuel's cheap Mexican productions, but as a fan of Ulmer and 1930s - 1940s Poverty Row, they really do something for me," writes Erich Kuersten at Bright Lights After Dark. "'Susana' is no exception, despite the drubbing some fans give it."

At Flavorpill, Adam Eisenberg lists the "Top 10 Directorial Tag-Team Efforts."

"For months, two of Hollywood's biggest talent agencies, Endeavor and William Morris, have quietly been talking merger," report the New York Times' Brooks Barnes and Michael Cieply. "Endeavor has momentum, the William Morris Agency has depth, and a combined entity would challenge a leadership position long held by the dominant Creative Artists Agency."

"Reid Rosefelt, film guy, has come up with a very clever site called SpeedCine based around the idea of being a one-stop shop for legal online downloading," notes David Poland. Filmmaker's Scott Macaulay is bullish on the idea and notes that Anne Thompson has spoken with Rosefelt about the service. Scott Kirsner hopes it all plays out the way Rosefelt plans; and Rosefelt responds in a comment.

Big, big DVD roundup: Peter Sobczynski at Hollywood Bitchslap.

Offline reading tip. "There is a link now available to download the 125-page transcript (in the form of a .pdf document) of the original 1978 story conference between Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan for a little film called 'Raiders of the Lost Ark,'" notes the Mystery Man. Via Waxy.

Online viewing (and showing!) tip. Just catching up with this: the Rotten Tomatoes Show on Current TV.

[Photo: "Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench," Damien Chazelle, 2009]

Tags: Damien Chazelle, Polish Cinema