Norwegian writer-director Halfdan Ullmann Tondel takes some big swings with his first feature Armand, not all of which connect, but the ambition and risk-taking are largely impressive.
A single-setting drama that unfolds in an echo-filled elementary school after hours, it stars Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World) as local celebrity Elisabeth, the mother of never-met Armand, a first-grade boy who is accused by his classmate Jon, also never seen, of sexual abuse.
When the boys’ teacher and key school staffers call a meeting with parents to decide the next steps, Elisabeth clashes with Jon’s parents, Sarah (Ellen Dorrit Petersen) and Anders (Endre Hellestveit), although not all is as it seems. The basic setup recalls, among other stories about accusations, Roman Polanski’s adaptation of stage play Carnage, but Armand gets much weirder as it goes on, with choreographed dance sequences and melodramatic revelations that feel contrived and...
A single-setting drama that unfolds in an echo-filled elementary school after hours, it stars Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World) as local celebrity Elisabeth, the mother of never-met Armand, a first-grade boy who is accused by his classmate Jon, also never seen, of sexual abuse.
When the boys’ teacher and key school staffers call a meeting with parents to decide the next steps, Elisabeth clashes with Jon’s parents, Sarah (Ellen Dorrit Petersen) and Anders (Endre Hellestveit), although not all is as it seems. The basic setup recalls, among other stories about accusations, Roman Polanski’s adaptation of stage play Carnage, but Armand gets much weirder as it goes on, with choreographed dance sequences and melodramatic revelations that feel contrived and...
- 5/22/2024
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Ahead of touching down at the Berlin Film Festival, Black Bear manager Philip Westgren shared with THR about why the shutdown Templehof airport is a must-see stop and where you can escape the festival frenzy for a nice steam.
What’s your state of mind heading into the European Film Market?
I like this year’s lineup which, next to more established names, contains a number of younger global filmmakers with interesting looking films. Strong voices will always find a way to break through and Berlin is still one of the places where that magic happens.
What’s your favorite, only-in-Berlin moment from festivals/markets past?
Running into Michael Barker at the Berlin airport the day after I began working with [The Teacher’s Lounge director] Ilker Çatak. When I brought up Ilker and his film The Teachers’ Lounge, Michael’s eyes knowingly lit up and he said, “Now there’s a director to get into business with.
What’s your state of mind heading into the European Film Market?
I like this year’s lineup which, next to more established names, contains a number of younger global filmmakers with interesting looking films. Strong voices will always find a way to break through and Berlin is still one of the places where that magic happens.
What’s your favorite, only-in-Berlin moment from festivals/markets past?
Running into Michael Barker at the Berlin airport the day after I began working with [The Teacher’s Lounge director] Ilker Çatak. When I brought up Ilker and his film The Teachers’ Lounge, Michael’s eyes knowingly lit up and he said, “Now there’s a director to get into business with.
- 2/15/2024
- by Mia Galuppo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Making main competition at the 49th Huelva Ibero-American Film Festival in Spain, “Prison in the Andes” (“Penal Cordillera”) trains a spotlight on the scandalous imprisonment of five high-ranking officers of General Augusto Pinochet’s brutal military junta.
We find these men serving out their sentences amounting to some 800 hundred years in a well-appointed mansion with a pool, gardens and aviaries in the Andes foothills and where their so-called guards wait on them hand and foot. At times, violence erupts among the guards, who are virtual prisoners themselves.
“I wanted the story to be a metaphor for Chilean society,” said its writer-director Felipe Carmona who chose to make this tale of misplaced justice his debut feature. While the facts around the case are depicted in the film, he has inserted elements of fantasy and fictional scenes to bring the story to life, imagining the conversations they would have had among themselves.
We find these men serving out their sentences amounting to some 800 hundred years in a well-appointed mansion with a pool, gardens and aviaries in the Andes foothills and where their so-called guards wait on them hand and foot. At times, violence erupts among the guards, who are virtual prisoners themselves.
“I wanted the story to be a metaphor for Chilean society,” said its writer-director Felipe Carmona who chose to make this tale of misplaced justice his debut feature. While the facts around the case are depicted in the film, he has inserted elements of fantasy and fictional scenes to bring the story to life, imagining the conversations they would have had among themselves.
- 11/10/2023
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
A24's summer horror hit "Talk to Me" is absolutely devastating, but the movie is even sadder when you know the true story behind it. Danny and Michael Philippou crafted a supernatural narrative for their debut feature film, but they also brought in a bit of real life experience.
Mia (Sophie Wilde) is struggling to cope with the passing of her mother when she discovers a way to commune with the dead through holding an embalmed hand. Holding hands is a central motif in the film -- it's both the way characters lift each other out of hard times and get pulled further into darkness. But believe it or not, the hand itself was not even in the first iteration of the story. However, the hand quickly fell into place with the other concepts the co-writers had in mind for the movie.
Danny Phillippou explained in an interview with Indiewire:...
Mia (Sophie Wilde) is struggling to cope with the passing of her mother when she discovers a way to commune with the dead through holding an embalmed hand. Holding hands is a central motif in the film -- it's both the way characters lift each other out of hard times and get pulled further into darkness. But believe it or not, the hand itself was not even in the first iteration of the story. However, the hand quickly fell into place with the other concepts the co-writers had in mind for the movie.
Danny Phillippou explained in an interview with Indiewire:...
- 11/1/2023
- by Shae Sennett
- Slash Film
Steven Pasquale and Jeremy Shamos started working on the new Stephen Sondheim musical, Here We Are, seven years ago, while others, like Denis O’Hare, were asked to join the project last summer.
But for everyone now starring in the show, which opened Off-Broadway at The Shed on Oct. 22, joining the project was an immediate yes, largely due to the novelty of being in a new Sondheim piece, which ended up being the composer’s first new show in decades, as well as his last.
“I know all [his] shows. I know the music. I didn’t even have to read it. I said yes before I read it,” said Bobby Cannavale, who is part of the show’s ensemble cast, which also includes David Hyde Pierce, Micaela Diamond and Rachel Bay Jones.
Here We Are, which features a book by David Ives and direction by Joe Mantello, is based on two surrealist films by Luis Buñuel,...
But for everyone now starring in the show, which opened Off-Broadway at The Shed on Oct. 22, joining the project was an immediate yes, largely due to the novelty of being in a new Sondheim piece, which ended up being the composer’s first new show in decades, as well as his last.
“I know all [his] shows. I know the music. I didn’t even have to read it. I said yes before I read it,” said Bobby Cannavale, who is part of the show’s ensemble cast, which also includes David Hyde Pierce, Micaela Diamond and Rachel Bay Jones.
Here We Are, which features a book by David Ives and direction by Joe Mantello, is based on two surrealist films by Luis Buñuel,...
- 10/29/2023
- by Caitlin Huston
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
In the penultimate song in Stephen Sondheim’s musical “Sunday in the Park with George,” Dot implores the artist George to “give us more to see.” The late maestro has done so himself one last time with the world premiere of his final musical, “Here We Are,” which opened Off-Broadway at The Shed on Oct. 22. Written with dramatist David Ives, the musical takes inspiration from two Luis Buñuel films – “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” and “The Exterminating Angel” – that it marries with one set of characters.
Tony Award-winner Joe Mantello played an integral role in the show’s development and directs its first production. He has assembled an unrivaled ensemble to take on the roles of the unimaginably affluent characters who spend the first act trying to find a restaurant in which to have brunch, and who in the second act find themselves unable to leave after their meal.
Tony Award-winner Joe Mantello played an integral role in the show’s development and directs its first production. He has assembled an unrivaled ensemble to take on the roles of the unimaginably affluent characters who spend the first act trying to find a restaurant in which to have brunch, and who in the second act find themselves unable to leave after their meal.
- 10/23/2023
- by David Buchanan
- Gold Derby
“Sometimes people leave you halfway through the wood,” Cinderella sings in “No One Is Alone,” Stephen Sondheim’s clear-eyed reassurance of support and survival at the end of Into the Woods. Sondheim himself, who passed away in November 2021, left artistic companions, including book writer David Ives and director Joe Mantello, halfway through a wood they were constructing together: the musical Here We Are, now playing off-Broadway at the Shed’s Griffin Theater. With his final offering, Sondheim sends one last jolt of structural inventiveness coursing through the veins of the musical theater form. Here We Are may not operate on the grand scale of Sweeney Todd or Into the Woods or Follies, but it is, to quote the composer-lyricist, small and funny and fine.
Here We Are adapts two films by Luis Buñuel. The first act riffs on 1972’s The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. Ives borrows the basic premise...
Here We Are adapts two films by Luis Buñuel. The first act riffs on 1972’s The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. Ives borrows the basic premise...
- 10/23/2023
- by Dan Rubins
- Slant Magazine
Two-time Oscar-winning filmmaker Alexander Payne shared his passion for film and his thoughts on contemporary American cinema with the audience at the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon where he is premiering his eighth feature film, “The Holdovers,” under the French title “Winter Break,” on October 15th.
In a conversation skilfully led and translated by Los Angeles-based French film journalist Didier Allouch, Payne drew laughs from the Lumière crowd when he explained that the secret to making good films was “keeping your budgets low.”
“John Huston approached Luis Buñuel one day and asked him, ‘How is it that you make these wonderful films, like “Viridiana” and “The Exterminating Angel”?’ And Buñuel replied, ‘How much money do you make and how much money do you think I make?’” said Payne with a smile.
While he made no secret of his distaste for Hollywood blockbusters and said it was still possible to make movies like “Sideways,...
In a conversation skilfully led and translated by Los Angeles-based French film journalist Didier Allouch, Payne drew laughs from the Lumière crowd when he explained that the secret to making good films was “keeping your budgets low.”
“John Huston approached Luis Buñuel one day and asked him, ‘How is it that you make these wonderful films, like “Viridiana” and “The Exterminating Angel”?’ And Buñuel replied, ‘How much money do you make and how much money do you think I make?’” said Payne with a smile.
While he made no secret of his distaste for Hollywood blockbusters and said it was still possible to make movies like “Sideways,...
- 10/16/2023
- by Lise Pedersen
- Variety Film + TV
Stephen Sondheim has almost never been more popular than in the two years since his passing in November 2021. In that time, celebrated revivals of “Company,” “Into the Woods,” and “Sweeney Todd” have come to Broadway, and successful remounting of “Assassins” and “Merrily We Roll Along” have played Off-Broadway, which is a testament to the enduring appeal of his works.
This fall will once again spotlight Sondheim. The tremendously successful Off-Broadway run of “Merrily” starring Jonathan Groff, Lindsay Mendez, and Daniel Radcliffe opens on Broadway on October 10, which will mark the first remounting since its original, unsuccessful run in 1981. In addition, his final musical “Here We Are,” which is based on two Luis Buñuel films—“The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” and “The Exterminating Angel”—will have its highly-anticipated world premiere Off-Broadway, opening on October 22.
In honor of another “season of Sondheim,” take a look back at every single Tony...
This fall will once again spotlight Sondheim. The tremendously successful Off-Broadway run of “Merrily” starring Jonathan Groff, Lindsay Mendez, and Daniel Radcliffe opens on Broadway on October 10, which will mark the first remounting since its original, unsuccessful run in 1981. In addition, his final musical “Here We Are,” which is based on two Luis Buñuel films—“The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” and “The Exterminating Angel”—will have its highly-anticipated world premiere Off-Broadway, opening on October 22.
In honor of another “season of Sondheim,” take a look back at every single Tony...
- 9/29/2023
- by David Buchanan
- Gold Derby
Updated, 11:20 Am: The producers of Here We Are have announced the cast for the first production of Stephen Sondheim’s final musical.
Francois Battiste, Tracie Bennett, Bobby Cannavale, Micaela Diamond, Amber Gray, Jin Ha, Rachel Bay Jones, Denis O’Hare, Steven Pasquale, David Hyde Pierce, and Jeremy Shamos are set for the show, which opens September 28 for a limited Off Broadway engagement at The Shed.
Read details of the show below.
Previously, March 16: Stephen Sondheim’s final, long-awaited musical Here We Are will make its world premiere September 28 in a strictly limited Off Broadway engagement to be directed by two-time Tony winner Joe Mantello.
Formerly known as Square One, the final musical composed by Sondheim before his death in 2021 will be staged at The Shed, the Manhattan arts center that opened in 2019.
Additional information including specific production dates and casting will be announced soon. Producer Tom Kirdahy made the premiere announcement today.
Francois Battiste, Tracie Bennett, Bobby Cannavale, Micaela Diamond, Amber Gray, Jin Ha, Rachel Bay Jones, Denis O’Hare, Steven Pasquale, David Hyde Pierce, and Jeremy Shamos are set for the show, which opens September 28 for a limited Off Broadway engagement at The Shed.
Read details of the show below.
Previously, March 16: Stephen Sondheim’s final, long-awaited musical Here We Are will make its world premiere September 28 in a strictly limited Off Broadway engagement to be directed by two-time Tony winner Joe Mantello.
Formerly known as Square One, the final musical composed by Sondheim before his death in 2021 will be staged at The Shed, the Manhattan arts center that opened in 2019.
Additional information including specific production dates and casting will be announced soon. Producer Tom Kirdahy made the premiere announcement today.
- 7/17/2023
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
“Now I’m through with land and the land’s through with me,” says world-weary mariner Donkeyman (Arthur Shields) in The Long Voyage Home, succinctly expressing the dichotomy that runs through John Ford’s 1940 drama. Adapted by Dudley Nichols from four of Eugene O’Neill’s one-act plays, the film is deeply concerned with the threshold between land and sea.
Even when in port, the men working on the SS Glencairn are largely confined to the British cargo ship, and for logical reasons, such as police and military restrictions during wartime. Yet, through the aura of despondence and alienation so strongly established by Gregg Toland’s almost spectral cinematography, the men’s entrapment takes on a metaphysical significance not unlike that of the bourgeois individuals unable to exit the dining room in Luis Buñuel’s The Exterminating Angel.
For all the isolation and deprivation endured by the sailors, The Long Voyage Home is,...
Even when in port, the men working on the SS Glencairn are largely confined to the British cargo ship, and for logical reasons, such as police and military restrictions during wartime. Yet, through the aura of despondence and alienation so strongly established by Gregg Toland’s almost spectral cinematography, the men’s entrapment takes on a metaphysical significance not unlike that of the bourgeois individuals unable to exit the dining room in Luis Buñuel’s The Exterminating Angel.
For all the isolation and deprivation endured by the sailors, The Long Voyage Home is,...
- 7/11/2023
- by Derek Smith
- Slant Magazine
Stephen Sondheim’s final musical will have its world premiere in New York this fall.
The musical, which was formerly known as Square One and is now titled Here We Are, is inspired by two Luis Buñuel films, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and The Exterminating Angel. Joe Mantello (Wicked, Assassins) directs the musical, which features a book by David Ives.
Performances will begin in September for a strictly limited engagement off-Broadway at The Shed’s Griffin Theater.
Sondheim, who died in November 2021 at the age of 91, had been working on this project for years. A production of a musical, created by Ives and Sondheim, was set to premiere off-Broadway at The Public Theater in 2017, but never made it to the stage.
In September 2021, the legendary composer told Stephen Colbert that he was writing Square One with Ives and hoped to stage it in the next season. In what...
The musical, which was formerly known as Square One and is now titled Here We Are, is inspired by two Luis Buñuel films, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and The Exterminating Angel. Joe Mantello (Wicked, Assassins) directs the musical, which features a book by David Ives.
Performances will begin in September for a strictly limited engagement off-Broadway at The Shed’s Griffin Theater.
Sondheim, who died in November 2021 at the age of 91, had been working on this project for years. A production of a musical, created by Ives and Sondheim, was set to premiere off-Broadway at The Public Theater in 2017, but never made it to the stage.
In September 2021, the legendary composer told Stephen Colbert that he was writing Square One with Ives and hoped to stage it in the next season. In what...
- 3/16/2023
- by Caitlin Huston
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
We’ve covered Venice (currently ongoing) and TIFF (beginning this week), so last but definitely not least in our analysis of the fall film festivals and their overall impact on awards season is the New York Film Festival, Film at Lincoln Center’s annual celebration of cinema that’s going into its 60th edition.
SEEBrendan Fraser stuns in ‘The Whale’ at Venice Film Festival: There were ‘visible tears as audience members left the screening’
The very first New York Film Festival took place in 1963 with the opening night film being “The Exterminating Angel” by Luis Buñuel, and over the next 59 years, the festival carefully balanced contemporary world cinema with the work of prominent American and Canadian filmmakers.
One of the reasons the New York Film Festival is so important is because there are a ton of motion picture academy voters living in New York City, who will have their first...
SEEBrendan Fraser stuns in ‘The Whale’ at Venice Film Festival: There were ‘visible tears as audience members left the screening’
The very first New York Film Festival took place in 1963 with the opening night film being “The Exterminating Angel” by Luis Buñuel, and over the next 59 years, the festival carefully balanced contemporary world cinema with the work of prominent American and Canadian filmmakers.
One of the reasons the New York Film Festival is so important is because there are a ton of motion picture academy voters living in New York City, who will have their first...
- 9/7/2022
- by Edward Douglas
- Gold Derby
Entering the “likely a money-laundering scheme for Spanish businessmen” part of his European travelogue era, Woody Allen turns uniquely narrow-minded and bitter with Rifkin’s Festival, which takes aim at the film culture that’s both alienated and abandoned him this past decade. Exciting though it is to see the proverbial gloves come off, the hands, sadly, don’t get very dirty.
Beginning on the therapist couch, film critic, professor, and failed novelist Mort Rifkin recounts the story of how he accompanied his wife Sue (Gina Gershon) to the prestigious San Sebastián International Film Festival, where she was handling publicity for Philippe (Louis Garrel), a socially conscious, classic-American-cinema-loving filmmaker diametrically opposed to Mort’s own cinephilic principles. It’s hard to pinpoint what straw man Allen’s exactly going after here—perhaps Phillippe is just a stand-in for all the millennial A24 directors who’ve pissed him off in recent years—but regardless,...
Beginning on the therapist couch, film critic, professor, and failed novelist Mort Rifkin recounts the story of how he accompanied his wife Sue (Gina Gershon) to the prestigious San Sebastián International Film Festival, where she was handling publicity for Philippe (Louis Garrel), a socially conscious, classic-American-cinema-loving filmmaker diametrically opposed to Mort’s own cinephilic principles. It’s hard to pinpoint what straw man Allen’s exactly going after here—perhaps Phillippe is just a stand-in for all the millennial A24 directors who’ve pissed him off in recent years—but regardless,...
- 1/27/2022
- by Ethan Vestby
- The Film Stage
Writer/director Guillermo del Toro discusses a few of his favorite movies with Josh and Joe.
Show Notes:
Movies Referenced In This Episode
Nightmare Alley (2021)
Nightmare Alley (1947) – Stuart Gordon’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Drive My Car (2021)
Wicked Woman (1953) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022)
Modern Times (1936)
City Lights (1931)
The Great Dictator (1940)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Dennis Cozzalio’s review, Dennis Cozzalio’s Muriel Awards capsule review
Vertigo (1958) – Dan Ireland’s trailer commentary, Brian Trenchard-Smith’s review
The Man Who Would Be King (1975) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary
Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)
The Young And The Damned (1950)
Gone With The Wind (1939)
The Golem (1920) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Sunrise: A Song Of Two Humans (1927)
Alucarda (1977)
Greed (1924) – Dennis Cozzalio’s Muriel Awards capsule review
Taxi Driver (1976) – Rod Lurie’s trailer commentary
District 9 (2009) – John Sayles...
Show Notes:
Movies Referenced In This Episode
Nightmare Alley (2021)
Nightmare Alley (1947) – Stuart Gordon’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review
Drive My Car (2021)
Wicked Woman (1953) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022)
Modern Times (1936)
City Lights (1931)
The Great Dictator (1940)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Dennis Cozzalio’s review, Dennis Cozzalio’s Muriel Awards capsule review
Vertigo (1958) – Dan Ireland’s trailer commentary, Brian Trenchard-Smith’s review
The Man Who Would Be King (1975) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary
Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)
The Young And The Damned (1950)
Gone With The Wind (1939)
The Golem (1920) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review
Sunrise: A Song Of Two Humans (1927)
Alucarda (1977)
Greed (1924) – Dennis Cozzalio’s Muriel Awards capsule review
Taxi Driver (1976) – Rod Lurie’s trailer commentary
District 9 (2009) – John Sayles...
- 1/25/2022
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
After a hiatus as theaters in New York City and beyond closed their doors during the pandemic, we’re delighted to announce the return of NYC Weekend Watch, our weekly round-up of repertory offerings. While many theaters are still focused on a selection of new releases, there’s a handful of worthwhile repertory screenings taking place.
Anthology Film Archives
One of the great filmmakers, experimental or otherwise, is given a major retrospective—it’s Michael Snow Season.
Spectacle
A muse of Godard and Rivette, Juliet Berto made her directorial debut with the crime film Neige; long unavailable, it’s been restored and screens this Saturday.
Film at Lincoln Center
A series on Danny Glover and Louverture Films features Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives on 35mm, Zama, and more.
IFC Center
As World of Wong Kar-wai keeps going, Death Proof (on 35mm), Showgirls, Lost Highway, Mulholland Dr., House,...
Anthology Film Archives
One of the great filmmakers, experimental or otherwise, is given a major retrospective—it’s Michael Snow Season.
Spectacle
A muse of Godard and Rivette, Juliet Berto made her directorial debut with the crime film Neige; long unavailable, it’s been restored and screens this Saturday.
Film at Lincoln Center
A series on Danny Glover and Louverture Films features Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives on 35mm, Zama, and more.
IFC Center
As World of Wong Kar-wai keeps going, Death Proof (on 35mm), Showgirls, Lost Highway, Mulholland Dr., House,...
- 12/2/2021
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Taking “eat the rich” to literal extremes that Luis Buñuel only dreamed of (and famously lamented omitting from “The Exterminating Angel”), Lee Haven Jones’ “The Feast” is a severe Welsh-language horror romp so unsubtle about its class allegory that it might as well pre-chew the human flesh it eventually mama-birds into your mouth. Anyone grossed out by that visual should probably steer clear of the film itself, as . Of course, the rest of you sickos have stomached enough slop over the years to know that a degree of obviousness can be a good thing when it comes to certain fare, just as it can when it comes to certain meals; after all, is the joy of eating a cheeseburger not that every bite reminds you that you’re eating a cheeseburger? That it frees your mind to relish the ketchup?
If “The Feast” is a bit fancier and less satisfying...
If “The Feast” is a bit fancier and less satisfying...
- 11/17/2021
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Stephen Sondheim is at work on a new musical that he hopes to stage next season, the legendary Broadway composer told Stephen Colbert on The Late Show last night.
Few details were given – including whether the show is intended for Broadway or Off Broadway – but Sondheim did say the musical is being written with playwright David Ives and is titled Square One.
Sondheim and Ives most recently collaborated on a since-canceled Off Broadway musical production about Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel and was inspired by two Buñuel movies, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) and The Exterminating Angel (1962). Workshopped in 2016 with plans for a 2017 production at The Public Theater. The...
Few details were given – including whether the show is intended for Broadway or Off Broadway – but Sondheim did say the musical is being written with playwright David Ives and is titled Square One.
Sondheim and Ives most recently collaborated on a since-canceled Off Broadway musical production about Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel and was inspired by two Buñuel movies, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) and The Exterminating Angel (1962). Workshopped in 2016 with plans for a 2017 production at The Public Theater. The...
- 9/16/2021
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Though New York moviegoing is (sort of) getting back to normal, we’ve only now filled one of the biggest spots: Metrograph have announced a return of their theater and commissary on October 1, while Metrograph At Home programming will continue through their site and Metrograph TV app.
The lineup, currently handled by new programmer-at-large Nellie Killian, doesn’t seem to have missed a step: there’s the cool factor of Żuławski’s Possession restored in 4K, the auteurist cred of a four-film Eastwood series, new releases like Bulletproof and Labyrinth of Cinema, the high art of an Amos Vogel tribute—precisely what we’ve missed for, God help us, 18 months.
Health and safety guidelines can be found here, and a highlight of October programming below.
Opens October 1
Possession (1981)
New 4K Restoration of Andrzej Żuławski’s Hallucinatory Masterpiece
Banned upon its original release in 1981, Andrzej Żuławski’s stunningly choreographed nightmare of...
The lineup, currently handled by new programmer-at-large Nellie Killian, doesn’t seem to have missed a step: there’s the cool factor of Żuławski’s Possession restored in 4K, the auteurist cred of a four-film Eastwood series, new releases like Bulletproof and Labyrinth of Cinema, the high art of an Amos Vogel tribute—precisely what we’ve missed for, God help us, 18 months.
Health and safety guidelines can be found here, and a highlight of October programming below.
Opens October 1
Possession (1981)
New 4K Restoration of Andrzej Żuławski’s Hallucinatory Masterpiece
Banned upon its original release in 1981, Andrzej Żuławski’s stunningly choreographed nightmare of...
- 9/9/2021
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
If you’re a film nerd putting together a late summer reading list, look no further. There are a number of books here that could qualify as “beach reads,” chief among them a new novel from Quentin Tarantino. Others might be a tad heavy to lug to the beach, but they will be just as enticing at home. So let’s go swimming in a deep roundup of new books on filmmaking.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino (Harper Perennial)
Only Quentin Tarantino could return to a film just two years later and radically change the order of things, remove numerous noteworthy scenes while expanding others, devote a shocking number of pages to Lancer plot summaries, embark on a headline-grabbing press tour, and still emerge with a book as successful as Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. As with any creation from Tarantino, there are moments of real reader discomfort here,...
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino (Harper Perennial)
Only Quentin Tarantino could return to a film just two years later and radically change the order of things, remove numerous noteworthy scenes while expanding others, devote a shocking number of pages to Lancer plot summaries, embark on a headline-grabbing press tour, and still emerge with a book as successful as Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. As with any creation from Tarantino, there are moments of real reader discomfort here,...
- 7/28/2021
- by Christopher Schobert
- The Film Stage
Writer, director, producer Nicole Holofcener joins podcast hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante to discuss some of her favorite films.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Enough Said (2013)
True Romance (1993)
Coming Home (1978)
Bound for Glory (1976)
Hal (2018)
The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946)
The Cowboys (1972)
Harold And Maude (1971)
Conrack (1974)
Norma Rae (1979)
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Miller’s Crossing (1990)
Naked (1993)
The Short And Curlies (1987)
Short Cuts (1993)
Nashville (1975)
McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)
Heaven Can Wait (1978)
Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
The Father (2020)
Carnal Knowledge (1971)
Sex, Lies And Videotape (1989)
Jaws (1975)
Abbott and Costello Meet The Mummy (1955)
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
World Without End (1956)
Boogie Nights (1997)
Blue Velvet (1986)
Goodfellas (1990)
Adaptation (2002)
Synecdoche, New York (2008)
Lolita (1962)
The Shining (1980)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Paths of Glory (1957)
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
12 Angry Men (1957)
A Serious Man (2009)
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)
The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001)
Intolerable Cruelty (2003)
Capote (2005)
A History of Violence (2005)
The 400 Blows...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Enough Said (2013)
True Romance (1993)
Coming Home (1978)
Bound for Glory (1976)
Hal (2018)
The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946)
The Cowboys (1972)
Harold And Maude (1971)
Conrack (1974)
Norma Rae (1979)
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Miller’s Crossing (1990)
Naked (1993)
The Short And Curlies (1987)
Short Cuts (1993)
Nashville (1975)
McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)
Heaven Can Wait (1978)
Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
The Father (2020)
Carnal Knowledge (1971)
Sex, Lies And Videotape (1989)
Jaws (1975)
Abbott and Costello Meet The Mummy (1955)
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
World Without End (1956)
Boogie Nights (1997)
Blue Velvet (1986)
Goodfellas (1990)
Adaptation (2002)
Synecdoche, New York (2008)
Lolita (1962)
The Shining (1980)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Paths of Glory (1957)
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
12 Angry Men (1957)
A Serious Man (2009)
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)
The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001)
Intolerable Cruelty (2003)
Capote (2005)
A History of Violence (2005)
The 400 Blows...
- 3/16/2021
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
“I was running a fever of rage over how badly the [Covid-19] response was being handled by the federal government,” says the Oscar- and Emmy-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney on The Hollywood Reporter‘s Awards Chatter podcast as we discuss what inspired his latest documentary, Totally Under Control, which he directed with his Jigsaw Productions colleagues Ophelia Harutyunyan and Suzanne Hillinger.
The trio began work on the film last spring with the goal of determining if the deadly mistakes of President Donald Trump and his administration had been avoidable, and then sharing their findings with the world before the Nov. 3 presidential election. Says Gibney, “It felt like if that was true, and we’re in an election year, then this is important information for voters to have.”
* * *
You can listen to the episode here. The article continues below.
Past guests include Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey, Lorne Michaels, Barbra Streisand, George Clooney, Meryl Streep,...
The trio began work on the film last spring with the goal of determining if the deadly mistakes of President Donald Trump and his administration had been avoidable, and then sharing their findings with the world before the Nov. 3 presidential election. Says Gibney, “It felt like if that was true, and we’re in an election year, then this is important information for voters to have.”
* * *
You can listen to the episode here. The article continues below.
Past guests include Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey, Lorne Michaels, Barbra Streisand, George Clooney, Meryl Streep,...
- 11/11/2020
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
New York Film Festival closing-night selection “French Exit” is that rare gem of 2020: a high-profile new movie that nobody has seen. Released by Sony Pictures Classics, it is a close collaboration between two old friends, author-turned-screenwriter Patrick DeWitt and director Azazel Jacobs (“The Lovers”). The director lured Michelle Pfeiffer and Lucas Hedges to star in this comedy confection, adapted by DeWitt from his novel about a once-wealthy widow who leans on her handsome 20-something son for support. When she decamps to Paris with wads of cash after selling off all her worldly goods, it’s understood that her son will accompany her, leaving behind his one-time fiancee (Imogen Poots).
“What’s special about the film,” said NYFF head programmer Dennis Lim at Friday’s virtual press conference, “was its unusual, unpredictable tone. It’s surreal and dark and deadpan, and also heartfelt, as some changes happen moment to moment.
“What’s special about the film,” said NYFF head programmer Dennis Lim at Friday’s virtual press conference, “was its unusual, unpredictable tone. It’s surreal and dark and deadpan, and also heartfelt, as some changes happen moment to moment.
- 10/9/2020
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
New York Film Festival closing-night selection “French Exit” is that rare gem of 2020: a high-profile new movie that nobody has seen. Released by Sony Pictures Classics, it is a close collaboration between two old friends, author-turned-screenwriter Patrick DeWitt and director Azazel Jacobs (“The Lovers”). The director lured Michelle Pfeiffer and Lucas Hedges to star in this comedy confection, adapted by DeWitt from his novel about a once-wealthy widow who leans on her handsome 20-something son for support. When she decamps to Paris with wads of cash after selling off all her worldly goods, it’s understood that her son will accompany her, leaving behind his one-time fiancee (Imogen Poots).
“What’s special about the film,” said NYFF head programmer Dennis Lim at Friday’s virtual press conference, “was its unusual, unpredictable tone. It’s surreal and dark and deadpan, and also heartfelt, as some changes happen moment to moment.
“What’s special about the film,” said NYFF head programmer Dennis Lim at Friday’s virtual press conference, “was its unusual, unpredictable tone. It’s surreal and dark and deadpan, and also heartfelt, as some changes happen moment to moment.
- 10/9/2020
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Palme d’Or winning producer Luis Miñarro (“Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives”) is set to direct his fifth feature, ”Impalpable” (a working title), produced by Miñarro’s label, Barcelona-based Eddie Saeta, one of Spain’s most prominent arthouse shingles.
Written by Miñarro, “Impalpable” follows a series of characters who take a bus to an unspecified destination. The situation becomes gradually
stranger as the bus make no stops. Nor can the passengers descend.
“Impalpable”‘s cast will include Naomi Kawase, Geraldine Chaplin and Spain’s Lola Dueñas (“The Sea Inside”) and Francesc Orella (“Julia’s Eyes”), among others.
By chance, though with foresight, ”I first thought of this project before the pandemic. It’s a homage to Luis Buñuel’s ‘The Exterminating Angel,’” Miñarro told Variety. Over three days and two nights, its characters get to know one another, as the audience enters the minds of main characters, unleashing...
Written by Miñarro, “Impalpable” follows a series of characters who take a bus to an unspecified destination. The situation becomes gradually
stranger as the bus make no stops. Nor can the passengers descend.
“Impalpable”‘s cast will include Naomi Kawase, Geraldine Chaplin and Spain’s Lola Dueñas (“The Sea Inside”) and Francesc Orella (“Julia’s Eyes”), among others.
By chance, though with foresight, ”I first thought of this project before the pandemic. It’s a homage to Luis Buñuel’s ‘The Exterminating Angel,’” Miñarro told Variety. Over three days and two nights, its characters get to know one another, as the audience enters the minds of main characters, unleashing...
- 9/20/2020
- by Emilio Mayorga
- Variety Film + TV
The earliest Charles Burnett film to survive is his second, Several Friends (1969); the first is lost. Several Friends ambles in and out of a day in the lives of different friend groups who don’t intersect but are bound by a looming sense that, for reasons big enough to know but too abstract to confront, they can’t seem to get where they’re trying to go. This sense of a confinement beyond comprehension and just short of being acknowledged has something akin to Luis Buñuel’s The Exterminating Angel, where aristocrats find themselves inexplicably bound to a dinner party. There are no barriers between them and the exit, not so much as a locked door, but whenever the ne’er do wells get up to go, they find themselves turning back. Other than the obvious class differences, there is a key distinction between the two films. In Several Friends,...
- 7/6/2020
- MUBI
Right now, in this galaxy… featuring Lloyd Kaufman, Brad Simpson, Gilbert Hernandez, Grant Moninger and Blaire Bercy.
Please support the Hollywood Food Coalition. Text “Give” to 323.402.5704 or visit https://hofoco.org/donate!
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Mondo Keazunt (1955)
The Human Tornado (1976)
Gigot (1962)
The Hustler (1961)
How to Commit Marriage (1969)
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Touch of Evil (1958)
The Last Man On Earth (1963)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
The Omega Man (1971)
I Am Legend (2007)
Panic In Year Zero! (1962)
Dogtooth (2009)
The Entity (1983)
Shelf Life (1993)
The Killers (1964)
The Next Voice You Hear… (1950)
Donovan’s Brain (1953)
Talk About A Stranger (1952)
Julius Caesar (1950)
They Saved Hitler’s Brain (1968)
The Exterminating Angel (1962)
The Jerk (1979)
Kings Row (1942)
Santa Fe Trail (1940
Bedtime For Bonzo (1951)
The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter (19468)
Point Blank (1967)
House of Wax (1953)
Black Shampoo (1976)
A History Of Violence (2005)
Return To Oz (1985)
Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987)
The Anderson Tapes (1971)
Psycho (1960)
Two Evil Eyes (1990)
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three...
Please support the Hollywood Food Coalition. Text “Give” to 323.402.5704 or visit https://hofoco.org/donate!
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Mondo Keazunt (1955)
The Human Tornado (1976)
Gigot (1962)
The Hustler (1961)
How to Commit Marriage (1969)
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Touch of Evil (1958)
The Last Man On Earth (1963)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
The Omega Man (1971)
I Am Legend (2007)
Panic In Year Zero! (1962)
Dogtooth (2009)
The Entity (1983)
Shelf Life (1993)
The Killers (1964)
The Next Voice You Hear… (1950)
Donovan’s Brain (1953)
Talk About A Stranger (1952)
Julius Caesar (1950)
They Saved Hitler’s Brain (1968)
The Exterminating Angel (1962)
The Jerk (1979)
Kings Row (1942)
Santa Fe Trail (1940
Bedtime For Bonzo (1951)
The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter (19468)
Point Blank (1967)
House of Wax (1953)
Black Shampoo (1976)
A History Of Violence (2005)
Return To Oz (1985)
Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987)
The Anderson Tapes (1971)
Psycho (1960)
Two Evil Eyes (1990)
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three...
- 5/15/2020
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
The star and the writer/director of Sea Fever talk about a diverse array of influential films in a double episode.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Sea Fever (2020)
Soldier (1998)
Unforgiven (1992)
Blade Runner (1982)
Gladiator (2000)
The Ice Harvest (2005)
Wonder Woman (2017)
Ordet (1955)
Ditte, Child of Man (1946)
Frances (1982)
The Accused (1988)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
My American Uncle (1980)
8 ½ (1963)
Ikiru (1952)
Heaven’s Gate (1980)
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)
Europa (1991)
Diva (1981)
The Sacrifice (1986)
Saturday Night Fever (1977)
The Party (1968)
Westworld (1973)
The Searchers (1956)
Alien (1979)
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
The Exterminating Angel (1962)
Contagion (2011)
Idiocracy (2006)
The Company of Wolves (1984)
Mona Lisa (1986)
King Kong (1933)
Arrival (2016)
In The Cut (2003)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
Mandy (2018)
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Dune (1984)
Dune (2020… maybe)
Bright Star (2009)
Basic Instinct (1992)
Innerspace (1987)
American Gigolo (1980)
Thelma and Louise (1991)
Wild Things (1998)
Ginger Snaps (2000)
Life of Pi (2012)
Hulk (2003)
Die Hard (1988)
The Hurt Locker (2009)
Psycho (1960)
1917 (2019)
Shane (1953)
Other Notable Items
Brendan McCarthy
David Peoples
Kurt Russell
Lars Von Trier
Carl Theodor Dreyer
Bjarne Henning-Jensen...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Sea Fever (2020)
Soldier (1998)
Unforgiven (1992)
Blade Runner (1982)
Gladiator (2000)
The Ice Harvest (2005)
Wonder Woman (2017)
Ordet (1955)
Ditte, Child of Man (1946)
Frances (1982)
The Accused (1988)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
My American Uncle (1980)
8 ½ (1963)
Ikiru (1952)
Heaven’s Gate (1980)
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)
Europa (1991)
Diva (1981)
The Sacrifice (1986)
Saturday Night Fever (1977)
The Party (1968)
Westworld (1973)
The Searchers (1956)
Alien (1979)
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
The Exterminating Angel (1962)
Contagion (2011)
Idiocracy (2006)
The Company of Wolves (1984)
Mona Lisa (1986)
King Kong (1933)
Arrival (2016)
In The Cut (2003)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
Mandy (2018)
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Dune (1984)
Dune (2020… maybe)
Bright Star (2009)
Basic Instinct (1992)
Innerspace (1987)
American Gigolo (1980)
Thelma and Louise (1991)
Wild Things (1998)
Ginger Snaps (2000)
Life of Pi (2012)
Hulk (2003)
Die Hard (1988)
The Hurt Locker (2009)
Psycho (1960)
1917 (2019)
Shane (1953)
Other Notable Items
Brendan McCarthy
David Peoples
Kurt Russell
Lars Von Trier
Carl Theodor Dreyer
Bjarne Henning-Jensen...
- 4/28/2020
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Movies to watch when you’re staying in for a while, featuring recommendations from Dana Gould, Daniel Waters, Scott Alexander, and Allison Anders.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Destroy All Monsters (1969)
Planet Of The Apes (1968)
Beneath The Planet of the Apes (1970)
Escape From The Planet Of The Apes (1971)
Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes (1972)
Battle For The Planet Of The Apes (1973)
Suparpie
The Wizard Of Oz (1939)
Hello Down There (1969)
Koyaanisqatsi (1982)
Thirteen Days (2000)
Stalker (1979)
Last Year At Marienbad (1961)
No Exit (1962)
The Exterminating Angel (1962)
Sleeper (1973)
The Tenant (1976)
Final Cut: Ladies And Gentlemen (2012)
The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990)
La classe américaine (1993)
The Sex Adventures of a Single Man a.k.a. The 24 Hour Lover (1968)
The Omega Man (1971)
Soylent Green (1973)
Knives Out (2019)
The Hunt (2020)
Banana Split (2020)
The Cocoanuts (1929)
Animal Crackers (1930)
Monkey Business (1931)
Horse Feathers (1932)
Duck Soup (1933)
A Night At The Opera (1935)
The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant (1971)
Susan Slade (1961)
My Blood Runs Cold...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Destroy All Monsters (1969)
Planet Of The Apes (1968)
Beneath The Planet of the Apes (1970)
Escape From The Planet Of The Apes (1971)
Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes (1972)
Battle For The Planet Of The Apes (1973)
Suparpie
The Wizard Of Oz (1939)
Hello Down There (1969)
Koyaanisqatsi (1982)
Thirteen Days (2000)
Stalker (1979)
Last Year At Marienbad (1961)
No Exit (1962)
The Exterminating Angel (1962)
Sleeper (1973)
The Tenant (1976)
Final Cut: Ladies And Gentlemen (2012)
The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990)
La classe américaine (1993)
The Sex Adventures of a Single Man a.k.a. The 24 Hour Lover (1968)
The Omega Man (1971)
Soylent Green (1973)
Knives Out (2019)
The Hunt (2020)
Banana Split (2020)
The Cocoanuts (1929)
Animal Crackers (1930)
Monkey Business (1931)
Horse Feathers (1932)
Duck Soup (1933)
A Night At The Opera (1935)
The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant (1971)
Susan Slade (1961)
My Blood Runs Cold...
- 3/27/2020
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
. Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s “The Platform” is not a subtle film. But these are unsubtle times, with unsubtle problems, and the most alarming thing about this grimly affecting Spanish allegory — which literalizes capitalism’s dehumanizing verticality with twice the gross-out terror of “Parasite,” and almost half of that masterpiece’s furious grace — is that it sometimes doesn’t seem like an allegory at all.
Like “Cube,” “Saw,” and even “The Exterminating Angel” before it, “The Platform” is the sort of (largely) single-location horror movie that’s defined by its premise. Somewhere in the not-so-distant-future — or perhaps a Camus-esque alternate version of now — hundreds of people are trapped in a narrow cement skyscraper that has more levels than any of the prisoners housed there could ever hope to count. The company that owns the place has branded it a “Vertical Self-Management Center,” but its occupants refer to it only as “The Pit,...
Like “Cube,” “Saw,” and even “The Exterminating Angel” before it, “The Platform” is the sort of (largely) single-location horror movie that’s defined by its premise. Somewhere in the not-so-distant-future — or perhaps a Camus-esque alternate version of now — hundreds of people are trapped in a narrow cement skyscraper that has more levels than any of the prisoners housed there could ever hope to count. The company that owns the place has branded it a “Vertical Self-Management Center,” but its occupants refer to it only as “The Pit,...
- 3/17/2020
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Mexico’s Arturo Ripstein, who began his career as an A.D. on Luis Buñuel’s 1962 “The Exterminating Angel,” is back, bringing his latest collaboration with screenwriter Paz Alicia Garciadiego, a black and white film that picks up on most all of the director’s hallmarks.
A weighty drama, “Devil Between the Legs” dives from the get-go into unsettling territory as it follows the strained relationship of a married couple in their old age that struggles between desire, jealousy, violence and love. Beatriz (skillfully portrayed by Sylvia Pasquel) endures the wrath of her husband (Alejandro Suárez) while playing along to fulfill his fantasies. This dark love relationship unspools in the confines of a shabby house under the gaze of a maid. The film, that plays with a 19th century Spanish and high high-contrast cinematography, eludes naturalism to deliver a reminder of the complexities of human relationships in a modern world...
A weighty drama, “Devil Between the Legs” dives from the get-go into unsettling territory as it follows the strained relationship of a married couple in their old age that struggles between desire, jealousy, violence and love. Beatriz (skillfully portrayed by Sylvia Pasquel) endures the wrath of her husband (Alejandro Suárez) while playing along to fulfill his fantasies. This dark love relationship unspools in the confines of a shabby house under the gaze of a maid. The film, that plays with a 19th century Spanish and high high-contrast cinematography, eludes naturalism to deliver a reminder of the complexities of human relationships in a modern world...
- 9/12/2019
- by Emiliano Granada
- Variety Film + TV
One of England’s most distinguished concert composers tried his hand at film music for the first time this year, and the result was the charming and period-appropriate music for Keira Knightley in “Colette,” about the turn-of-the-century French novelist.
Thomas Adès is well known in the U.K. for his operas “The Exterminating Angel” and “The Tempest,” as swell as his orchestral piece “Asyla” and his violin concerto “Concentric Paths.” But “Colette,” he tells Variety, “is my first foray into this world. I love film, and I’m fascinated by the art of scoring, so it felt quite natural to do this.”
Adès’ involvement was prompted by an innocent query from his friend, director Wash Westmoreland: “1890s Paris… was that an interesting time for classical music?” His response —that it’s among the two or three most exciting periods in music history, along with a list of 40 key works — led...
Thomas Adès is well known in the U.K. for his operas “The Exterminating Angel” and “The Tempest,” as swell as his orchestral piece “Asyla” and his violin concerto “Concentric Paths.” But “Colette,” he tells Variety, “is my first foray into this world. I love film, and I’m fascinated by the art of scoring, so it felt quite natural to do this.”
Adès’ involvement was prompted by an innocent query from his friend, director Wash Westmoreland: “1890s Paris… was that an interesting time for classical music?” His response —that it’s among the two or three most exciting periods in music history, along with a list of 40 key works — led...
- 11/1/2018
- by Jon Burlingame
- Variety Film + TV
It’s hard to pinpoint the exact moment where Joel Potrykus decided to blow off the Hollywood studio projects sent his way and instead make wacky movies like “Relaxer,” which takes place in a living room and revolves around a guy playing “Pacman” on the brink of Y2K. But it might have been around the time that time someone suggested he direct a sequel to the found footage party movie “Project X.” He’d reached a breaking point.
“I was offered all these scripts for, like, sequels to mid-level successful movies, and I was like, ‘Why?’” Potrykus said in an interview with IndieWire at the SXSW Film Festival in March. “It’s like painting something and then handing off to someone so they can paint over it. Why spend all that time? I have a job that pays well, so I’m not making movies for money.”
Potrykus teaches...
“I was offered all these scripts for, like, sequels to mid-level successful movies, and I was like, ‘Why?’” Potrykus said in an interview with IndieWire at the SXSW Film Festival in March. “It’s like painting something and then handing off to someone so they can paint over it. Why spend all that time? I have a job that pays well, so I’m not making movies for money.”
Potrykus teaches...
- 6/27/2018
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Close-Up is a feature that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Pere Portabella's Nocturno 29 (1968) is showing May 9 - June 8, 2018 in the many countries around the world as part of the series The Directors' Fortnight.Pere Portabella’s Nocturno 29 arrives at the beginning of his directorial career, the film being his first feature after the short No compteu amb els dits (1967). Together, these form the start of a filmography marked with the political charge and deliberate abstraction that were hallmarks of Spain’s so-called Barcelona School. There is a tendency among film writing to see films of the Barcelona School in light of ‘authorial intention’—that is, as a deposit of a social relationship brought about by a specific time and place. Yet one can also view the film individually as a collection of unique iconography pertaining to Spanish class consciousness in its own right.The film is, ostensibly, about...
- 5/23/2018
- MUBI
Great cinema is sometimes grand themes, dramatic camerawork, and sophisticated montage; or, it’s a guy playing “Pac Man” for 90 minutes. Joel Potrykus’ “Relaxer,” the latest wacky gambit from the Michigan-based provocateur, finds the “Buzzard” director reteaming with his perennial star Joshua Burge, again taking a cartoonish lowbrow approach to acerbic social critique. Set on the eve of Y2K, “Relaxer” exclusively takes place in the confines of a living room, where Burge’s character endures prolonged attempts to reach an impossible high score on the the aforementioned video game, while enduring hardships that include milk vomit, fecal matter, overheated cartridges, and rat poison. It’s a grotesque downward spiral, both hilarious and mesmerizing, but above all elevated by its insights into the depraved final gasp of the analog age.
Media scholar Neil Postman diagnosed the ills of entertainment media in his aptly titled 1985 tome “Amusing Ourselves to Death;” that...
Media scholar Neil Postman diagnosed the ills of entertainment media in his aptly titled 1985 tome “Amusing Ourselves to Death;” that...
- 3/10/2018
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Four late films by Luis Buñuel are showing from February 22 - March 28, 2018 in the United States in the retrospective Buñuel.“Chance governs all things.”—Luis Buñuel, My Last SighStriving for the surprising has always been a prevailing part of Luis Buñuel’s aesthetic practice. At first, this endeavor manifest itself in overtly incongruous visual terms, with the succession of shocking and often inexplicable images that dominate his earliest efforts, namely Un chien andalou (1929) and L'âge d'or (1930). After these two surrealist masterworks, though, both of which Buñuel made in collaboration with the movement’s eminent enforcer, Salvador Dalí, the director’s output went in a decidedly more systematic direction. The films Buñuel made in Mexico, twenty of them from the late 1940s into the early 1960s, could at times be just as provocative as anything else filling his filmography, but their formal and tonal constitution was comparatively tame and, dare one say it regarding Buñuel,...
- 2/21/2018
- MUBI
At a time when the world is changing at an unquantifiable pace, when menacing world powers threaten everything we hold dear, we often look to the movies to bring the chaos into focus. In 2017, even the best escapism came with a dose of harsh truths about struggles facing civilization today, and the best movies went to places woefully ignored by the culture at large. When the mood of the moment is #resist and the future often looks more like a fake-news frenzy than the audacity of hope, the resilience of this art form is in sync with the zeitgeist.
I stand by the credo that anyone who thinks this was a bad year for the movies simply hasn’t seen enough of them. As the years progress, my own year-end tallies continue to grow. I offered 16 highlights at the end of 2016; here are 17 for 2017. Watch them all, try to make...
I stand by the credo that anyone who thinks this was a bad year for the movies simply hasn’t seen enough of them. As the years progress, my own year-end tallies continue to grow. I offered 16 highlights at the end of 2016; here are 17 for 2017. Watch them all, try to make...
- 12/1/2017
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
DC Comics’ “Justice League” (Warner Bros.) opened to just shy of $100 million. That makes it the seventh best opening for 2017, just $7 million shy of DC’s “Wonder Woman,” which would seem a reasonable box-office launch.
But the movie marks a disappointment in relation to its $300-million production cost–before worldwide marketing expenses. Yet again, DC and Warners seem to be whiffing this crucial Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman franchise at bat against rival Disney/Marvel– which just delivered a home run with “Thor: Ragnarok.”
Nonetheless “Justice League” boosted the weekend — with help from a surprisingly strong showing for family heart-tugger “Wonder” (Lionsgate) — to more than $200 million total box office. That’s more than $40 million ahead of last year, when “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” debuted to $79 million.
Boasting a robust ensemble of familiar superheroes and fresh franchise entries including Aquaman, the epic was expected to reach $110 million or better.
But the movie marks a disappointment in relation to its $300-million production cost–before worldwide marketing expenses. Yet again, DC and Warners seem to be whiffing this crucial Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman franchise at bat against rival Disney/Marvel– which just delivered a home run with “Thor: Ragnarok.”
Nonetheless “Justice League” boosted the weekend — with help from a surprisingly strong showing for family heart-tugger “Wonder” (Lionsgate) — to more than $200 million total box office. That’s more than $40 million ahead of last year, when “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” debuted to $79 million.
Boasting a robust ensemble of familiar superheroes and fresh franchise entries including Aquaman, the epic was expected to reach $110 million or better.
- 11/19/2017
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Indiewire
Leading fall Oscar contenders “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” (Fox Searchlight) and “Lady Bird” (A24) continue to pull crowds as they both expand after limited openings. They are the top performers by far among specialized films this weekend, including the platform debut of “Roman J. Israel, Esq.” (Sony).
The Denzel Washington legal drama had a modest debut in four New York/Los Angeles theaters before its wider release on Wednesday. The fate of Dee Rees’ acclaimed “Mudbound” (Netflix) is the compelling story of the weekend. The ’40s southern farm drama opened in a handful of big city theaters parallel to its home-viewing debut, with grosses unreported by Netflix. We are estimating its performance based on limited indications from several theaters.
Also getting strong reviews for its New York-Los Angeles debut, the Chilean Oscar submission “The Fantastic Woman” (Sony Pictures Classics) opened for a qualifying week with no grosses reported. It...
The Denzel Washington legal drama had a modest debut in four New York/Los Angeles theaters before its wider release on Wednesday. The fate of Dee Rees’ acclaimed “Mudbound” (Netflix) is the compelling story of the weekend. The ’40s southern farm drama opened in a handful of big city theaters parallel to its home-viewing debut, with grosses unreported by Netflix. We are estimating its performance based on limited indications from several theaters.
Also getting strong reviews for its New York-Los Angeles debut, the Chilean Oscar submission “The Fantastic Woman” (Sony Pictures Classics) opened for a qualifying week with no grosses reported. It...
- 11/19/2017
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Indiewire
Present Laughter, Pokemon the Movie and Follies top our November Events listPresent Laughter, Pokemon the Movie and Follies top our November Events listScott Goodyer11/1/2017 10:06:00 Am
November is here and this month's Event Cinema lineup is enough to keep the oncoming winter chill away! We've got a wide variety of different screenings, from ballet and Broadway to anime, to warm your hearts.
November 2nd: Present Laughter
The great actor Kevin Kline stars in the Broadway hit Present Laughter, which follows Garry Essendine, a self-indulgent actor who receives a visit from a young admirer, initiating a parade of intruders and interruptions, including his ex-wife, his manager and an aspiring playwright.
Watch the trailer below and for tickets - click here!
November 5th: Pokemon the Movie: I Choose You!
This special event explores Ash and Pikachu’s first meeting and their adventures as they search for the Legendary Pokémon Ho-Oh. The...
November is here and this month's Event Cinema lineup is enough to keep the oncoming winter chill away! We've got a wide variety of different screenings, from ballet and Broadway to anime, to warm your hearts.
November 2nd: Present Laughter
The great actor Kevin Kline stars in the Broadway hit Present Laughter, which follows Garry Essendine, a self-indulgent actor who receives a visit from a young admirer, initiating a parade of intruders and interruptions, including his ex-wife, his manager and an aspiring playwright.
Watch the trailer below and for tickets - click here!
November 5th: Pokemon the Movie: I Choose You!
This special event explores Ash and Pikachu’s first meeting and their adventures as they search for the Legendary Pokémon Ho-Oh. The...
- 11/1/2017
- by Scott Goodyer
- Cineplex
This short article is in the spirit of the crowded ad-mat advertising blurbs that, once upon a time, would show up in the newspaper for horror related features. The particular composite above is a fantasy, but since all films back then were for General Audiences, a stack like it is entirely credible. Here, it’s an excuse for a trio of personal Savant anecdotes, vividly remembered from fifty-odd years ago.
Not Bad! Charlie Largent assembled this convincing triple bill ad paste-up,
customized for San Bernardino in 1964.
Don’t listen to Gen X’ers or Millennials, kids: the Real era to be an adolescent moviegoer was in the 1950s and 1960s, when downtown movie palaces had regular Saturday kiddie matinees, just as seen in the nostalgic Joe Dante movie. Theaters in most towns functioned as ad hoc babysitters, with kids dropped off in clumps. In many cases the oldest squab in...
Not Bad! Charlie Largent assembled this convincing triple bill ad paste-up,
customized for San Bernardino in 1964.
Don’t listen to Gen X’ers or Millennials, kids: the Real era to be an adolescent moviegoer was in the 1950s and 1960s, when downtown movie palaces had regular Saturday kiddie matinees, just as seen in the nostalgic Joe Dante movie. Theaters in most towns functioned as ad hoc babysitters, with kids dropped off in clumps. In many cases the oldest squab in...
- 10/28/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Despite the postmortems for Darren Aronofsky’s critically-polarizing and commercially disastrous “mother!,” there’s no denying the power of the extraordinary Victorian house at its center. It’s a pivotal character that pits Him (Javier Bardem) against Mother (Jennifer Lawrence) in the allegorical battle for the planet’s survival.
For production designer Philip Messina (“The Hunger Games”), creating the octagonal house offered the most unique experience in world building. “What was amazing to me was how, more than any other film, it was a symbiotic relationship between camera moves and set,” said Messina, who collaborated closely with Aronofsky’s long-time cinematographer Matthew Libatique.
“I’ve never done theater, but it reminded me how the staging of actors and sets worked,” Messina added. “This was all one environment and I knew what the camera would be doing.”
The Meaning of “mother!”
However, even though Aronofsky has been open with the press in describing “mother!
For production designer Philip Messina (“The Hunger Games”), creating the octagonal house offered the most unique experience in world building. “What was amazing to me was how, more than any other film, it was a symbiotic relationship between camera moves and set,” said Messina, who collaborated closely with Aronofsky’s long-time cinematographer Matthew Libatique.
“I’ve never done theater, but it reminded me how the staging of actors and sets worked,” Messina added. “This was all one environment and I knew what the camera would be doing.”
The Meaning of “mother!”
However, even though Aronofsky has been open with the press in describing “mother!
- 9/21/2017
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
While we’d begrudge you from going down the rabbit hole of explainer articles for mother!, the chance to listen to writer-director Darren Aronofsky discuss the film with his F CinemaScore brethren William Friedkin is something not to pass up. Recently gathering at the Director’s Guild of America following a screening of his divisive biblical horror film, their full 34-minute talk is now available to listen to.
They work through a number of topics, from Aronofsky’s initial inspiration of Luis Buñuel’s The Exterminating Angel, the main allegories of climate change and biblical tales (no word on the artist metaphor), writing the original script in five days, and how Paramount gave him the money (“It came down to the number and Jennifer Lawrence.”)
Being that this was at the DGA, he also touched on more technical aspects, including three months of rehearsal with the main cast, then he...
They work through a number of topics, from Aronofsky’s initial inspiration of Luis Buñuel’s The Exterminating Angel, the main allegories of climate change and biblical tales (no word on the artist metaphor), writing the original script in five days, and how Paramount gave him the money (“It came down to the number and Jennifer Lawrence.”)
Being that this was at the DGA, he also touched on more technical aspects, including three months of rehearsal with the main cast, then he...
- 9/21/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Reviews for “mother!” have called it everything from “sickening” to “a berserk feast of filth,” but the most shocking thing about Darren Aronofsky’s wildly divisive new movie is that it’s hilarious. You wouldn’t expect to laugh so much during a movie that includes more disturbing Wtf moments than you can count, but “mother!” shatters expectations. As A.O. Scott puts in his review for the New York Times: “Don’t listen to anyone who natters on about how intense or disturbing it is; it’s a hoot!”
Aronofsky is the farthest thing from a comedic filmmaker. Take one look at “Requiem for a Dream” or “Black Swan” and you’re more likely to recoil from shock and discomfort than crack up. “mother!’s” grand statements on the history of humanity and its relationship to the Earth make it a successor to “The Fountain” and “Noah,” but Aronofsky’s...
Aronofsky is the farthest thing from a comedic filmmaker. Take one look at “Requiem for a Dream” or “Black Swan” and you’re more likely to recoil from shock and discomfort than crack up. “mother!’s” grand statements on the history of humanity and its relationship to the Earth make it a successor to “The Fountain” and “Noah,” but Aronofsky’s...
- 9/20/2017
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
Writer-director Darren Aronofsky has said that the screenplay for mother! poured out of him, penning it in just a few days, faster than his usual pace.
But despite its free-flowing creation, the script still has some concrete inspirations.
"There were a lot of influences. The Giving Tree was a big influence, actually. The film is kind of a horror version of The Giving Tree," he told The Hollywood Reporter at mother!'s U.S. premiere in New York earlier this week. "There was Luis Bunuel's The Exterminating Angel, where he basically took a slice of society and made...
But despite its free-flowing creation, the script still has some concrete inspirations.
"There were a lot of influences. The Giving Tree was a big influence, actually. The film is kind of a horror version of The Giving Tree," he told The Hollywood Reporter at mother!'s U.S. premiere in New York earlier this week. "There was Luis Bunuel's The Exterminating Angel, where he basically took a slice of society and made...
- 9/15/2017
- by Hilary Lewis
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
An elemental Western about inherited sins and the difference between honor and pride, Arturo Ripstein's Time to Die follows a man who, having served 18 years in jail to pay for killing a man, finds the victim's sons now believe he owes his life as well. Said to be the first produced screenplay by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who wrote it with Carlos Fuentes, it was also the directing debut of Ripstein, who had just helped his father Alfredo Ripstein produce Luis Buñuel's The Exterminating Angel. Finally seeing American release and beautifully restored, the involving picture is no museum piece; it...
- 9/15/2017
- by John DeFore
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
After polling critics from around the world for the greatest American films of all-time, BBC has now forged ahead in the attempt to get a consensus on the best comedies of all-time. After polling 253 film critics, including 118 women and 135 men, from 52 countries and six continents a simple, the list of the 100 greatest is now here.
Featuring canonical classics such as Some Like It Hot, Dr. Strangelove, Annie Hall, Duck Soup, Playtime, and more in the top 10, there’s some interesting observations looking at the rest of the list. Toni Erdmann is the most recent inclusion, while the highest Wes Anderson pick is The Royal Tenenbaums. There’s also a healthy dose of Chaplin and Lubitsch with four films each, and the recently departed Jerry Lewis has a pair of inclusions.
Check out the list below (and my ballot) and see more on their official site.
100. (tie) The King of Comedy (Martin Scorsese,...
Featuring canonical classics such as Some Like It Hot, Dr. Strangelove, Annie Hall, Duck Soup, Playtime, and more in the top 10, there’s some interesting observations looking at the rest of the list. Toni Erdmann is the most recent inclusion, while the highest Wes Anderson pick is The Royal Tenenbaums. There’s also a healthy dose of Chaplin and Lubitsch with four films each, and the recently departed Jerry Lewis has a pair of inclusions.
Check out the list below (and my ballot) and see more on their official site.
100. (tie) The King of Comedy (Martin Scorsese,...
- 8/22/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The thirteenth edition of Santiago International Film Festival, Sanfic (August 20–27, 2017), the largest film festival in Chile, will present more than 100 international and Chilean films, including productions shown and awarded in festivals such as Cannes, Berlin and Venice. Among the feature films will be 7 world and 14 Latin American premieres.
Sanfic (Santiago International Film Festival) is opening the festival to international press this year with Variety Dailies and important international guests for their Sanfic Industry section. Guest attending include Kim Yutani (Sundance programmer), Javier Martin (Berlinale delegate), Molly O ́Keefe (Tribeca Film Institute — fiction features) and Estrella Araiza (Industry director of Guadalajara Iff), to name a few. Matt Dillon is its special guest along with the renowned director of photography Rainer Klausmann.
The Summit starring Ricardo Darín, Dolores Fonzi and Erica Rivas, with an appearance of Christian Slater and renowned Chilean actors Paulina Garcia and Alfredo Castro
The opening film of the...
Sanfic (Santiago International Film Festival) is opening the festival to international press this year with Variety Dailies and important international guests for their Sanfic Industry section. Guest attending include Kim Yutani (Sundance programmer), Javier Martin (Berlinale delegate), Molly O ́Keefe (Tribeca Film Institute — fiction features) and Estrella Araiza (Industry director of Guadalajara Iff), to name a few. Matt Dillon is its special guest along with the renowned director of photography Rainer Klausmann.
The Summit starring Ricardo Darín, Dolores Fonzi and Erica Rivas, with an appearance of Christian Slater and renowned Chilean actors Paulina Garcia and Alfredo Castro
The opening film of the...
- 7/30/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
'Under the Volcano' screening: John Huston's 'quality' comeback featuring daring Albert Finney tour de force As part of its John Huston film series, the UCLA Film & Television Archive will be presenting the 1984 drama Under the Volcano, starring Albert Finney, Jacqueline Bisset, and Anthony Andrews, on July 21 at 7:30 p.m. at the Billy Wilder Theater in the Los Angeles suburb of Westwood. Jacqueline Bisset is expected to be in attendance. Huston was 77, and suffering from emphysema for several years, when he returned to Mexico – the setting of both The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The Night of the Iguana – to direct 28-year-old newcomer Guy Gallo's adaptation of English poet and novelist Malcolm Lowry's 1947 semi-autobiographical novel Under the Volcano, which until then had reportedly defied the screenwriting abilities of numerous professionals. Appropriately set on the Day of the Dead – 1938 – in the fictitious Mexican town of Quauhnahuac (the fact that it sounds like Cuernavaca...
- 7/21/2017
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Aaron, Travis and Tim Leggoe dig into the world of Terry Zwigoff, the Barnes & Noble Sale, predictions and wish lists for October Criterion releases, reactions to the Sean Baker episode, and plenty more. We also have announced a contest so listen carefully.
Episode Notes
8:00 – Sean Baker Reactions
19:00 – Barnes & Noble
30:00 – October Predictions
47:00 – Ghost World
1:10 – Short Takes (The Exterminating Angel, Summer Interlude, Crumb)
1:21:30 – FilmStruck
Episode Links Barnes & Noble Criterion Sale Thora Birch: How Hollywood’s Darling Disappeared Janus Films – The Human Condition Tweet Criterion Close-Up 23: Breaker Morant and Mister Johnson Episode Credits Aaron West: Twitter | Website | Letterboxd Tim Leggoe: Blog | Letterboxd | Twitter Travis Trudell: Twitter | Instagram Criterion Now: Twitter | Facebook Group Criterion Cast: Facebook | Twitter
Music for the show is from Fatboy Roberts’ Geek Remixed project.
Episode Notes
8:00 – Sean Baker Reactions
19:00 – Barnes & Noble
30:00 – October Predictions
47:00 – Ghost World
1:10 – Short Takes (The Exterminating Angel, Summer Interlude, Crumb)
1:21:30 – FilmStruck
Episode Links Barnes & Noble Criterion Sale Thora Birch: How Hollywood’s Darling Disappeared Janus Films – The Human Condition Tweet Criterion Close-Up 23: Breaker Morant and Mister Johnson Episode Credits Aaron West: Twitter | Website | Letterboxd Tim Leggoe: Blog | Letterboxd | Twitter Travis Trudell: Twitter | Instagram Criterion Now: Twitter | Facebook Group Criterion Cast: Facebook | Twitter
Music for the show is from Fatboy Roberts’ Geek Remixed project.
- 7/17/2017
- by Aaron West
- CriterionCast
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