Summer movie season has officially begun at multiplexes everywhere, but the start of June also brings four indie titles to digital platforms. Our pick is a quiet drama that reaches beyond the standard mother-daughter dynamics commonly seen onscreen.
The contender to watch this week: “Monica”
After breakthrough supporting parts in “Transparent” and “Hustlers,” Trace Lysette finally gets the lead role she has deserved. Lysette is enchanting in “Monica,” playing a transgender massage therapist who reluctantly returns home to care for her estranged mother (Patricia Clarkson). After premiering at last year’s Venice Film Festival and gaining a fair amount of indie cred during its theatrical rollout in May, this is the type of movie that could very well show up on the Independent Spirit Awards’ roster. Rent it on VOD.
Other contenders:
“BlackBerry“: If “Air” and “Tetris” didn’t scratch your itch for juicy corporate heroism, here comes the...
The contender to watch this week: “Monica”
After breakthrough supporting parts in “Transparent” and “Hustlers,” Trace Lysette finally gets the lead role she has deserved. Lysette is enchanting in “Monica,” playing a transgender massage therapist who reluctantly returns home to care for her estranged mother (Patricia Clarkson). After premiering at last year’s Venice Film Festival and gaining a fair amount of indie cred during its theatrical rollout in May, this is the type of movie that could very well show up on the Independent Spirit Awards’ roster. Rent it on VOD.
Other contenders:
“BlackBerry“: If “Air” and “Tetris” didn’t scratch your itch for juicy corporate heroism, here comes the...
- 6/3/2023
- by Matthew Jacobs
- Gold Derby
A24 follows You Hurt My Feelings last weekend with dual-language romance Past Lives, starting a platform release on four screens in New York and LA including Q&As led by talent who have been champions of the film, including Steve Buscemi, Jodie Turner-Smith and Lulu Wang. Expanding this month.
The Sundance premiering pic by Celine Song, starring Greta Lee, Teo Yoo and John Magaro, has a 97% with critics on Rotten Tomatoes – Deadline review here — and 89% with audiences. It’s part of Alamo Drafthouse Recommends film series and has sold out, or nearly so, screenings in LA, Austin, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Chicago and Denver.
Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are parted after Nora’s family emigrates from South Korea. Two decades later, they are reunited in New York for one fateful week, confronting notions of destiny, love, and the choices that make a life. Playwright Song,...
The Sundance premiering pic by Celine Song, starring Greta Lee, Teo Yoo and John Magaro, has a 97% with critics on Rotten Tomatoes – Deadline review here — and 89% with audiences. It’s part of Alamo Drafthouse Recommends film series and has sold out, or nearly so, screenings in LA, Austin, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Chicago and Denver.
Nora and Hae Sung, two deeply connected childhood friends, are parted after Nora’s family emigrates from South Korea. Two decades later, they are reunited in New York for one fateful week, confronting notions of destiny, love, and the choices that make a life. Playwright Song,...
- 6/2/2023
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
"In a year or two this area will be insane." Greenwich Ent. has revealed an official US trailer for an indie dark comedy from Israel titled Concerned Citizen, from filmmaker Idan Haguel. This first premiered at the 2022 Berlin Film Festival last year in the Panorama section, and it's getting a limited released in the US this June. It centers around Ben, a politically liberal, gay man who tries to improve his neighborhood in the slums of south Tel Aviv by planting a tree on his street. Idan Haguel stars in this story about a gay middle-class couple whose desire for self-realisation begins to narrow their worldview, bringing their deep-seated prejudices to light. A deftly told parable about the mechanisms of gentrification which, with a hint of satire, raises an uncomfortable question: exactly how tolerant are we? Well, the answer probably is: not very much. Also starring Ariel Wolf, Shlomi Bertonov,...
- 5/5/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Berlin-based sales outfit M-Appeal has closed sales on Berlin Panorama title “Concerned Citizen” – Idan Haguel’s satirical feature on privilege and prejudice set in Tel Aviv – for several additional territories.
Distribution in the U.K. and Ireland will be handled by Peccadillo Pictures; Arti Film will be distributing the film in Benelux, with a nationwide theatrical release at selected cinemas planned later in the year; Tongariro Releasing has taken the rights for Poland, planning a festival run and theatrical release in arthouse cinemas for summer 2022; and Queer Kino has come on board to handle the film in the Czech Republic, where it will have a national premiere at Mezipatra Queer Film Festival and a theatrical release is planned for early 2023.
Following its world premiere at the Berlinale in February, the film has already been picked up for distribution in North America (Greenwich Entertainment), and Germany and Austria (Salzgeber).
“Concerned Citizen” follows Ben,...
Distribution in the U.K. and Ireland will be handled by Peccadillo Pictures; Arti Film will be distributing the film in Benelux, with a nationwide theatrical release at selected cinemas planned later in the year; Tongariro Releasing has taken the rights for Poland, planning a festival run and theatrical release in arthouse cinemas for summer 2022; and Queer Kino has come on board to handle the film in the Czech Republic, where it will have a national premiere at Mezipatra Queer Film Festival and a theatrical release is planned for early 2023.
Following its world premiere at the Berlinale in February, the film has already been picked up for distribution in North America (Greenwich Entertainment), and Germany and Austria (Salzgeber).
“Concerned Citizen” follows Ben,...
- 5/13/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Greenwich Entertainment has taken North American rights to dark comedy-drama “Concerned Citizen,” which had its world premiere in the Panorama section of the Berlinale. Salzgeber has taken the rights for Germany and Austria. Berlin-based sales outfit M-Appeal is selling the film.
Idan Haguel’s film, a satirical parable on the insidious ways in which privilege can unleash the prejudice within, centers on Ben, who thinks of himself as a liberal and enlightened gay man, living in the perfect apartment with his boyfriend Raz. All that’s missing to complete the picture is a baby, which the couple are trying to make a reality.
Meanwhile, Ben decides to improve his up-and-coming neighborhood in gritty south Tel Aviv by planting a new tree on his street. But his good deed soon triggers a sequence of events that leads to the brutal police arrest of an Eritrean immigrant. The guilt trip that ensues...
Idan Haguel’s film, a satirical parable on the insidious ways in which privilege can unleash the prejudice within, centers on Ben, who thinks of himself as a liberal and enlightened gay man, living in the perfect apartment with his boyfriend Raz. All that’s missing to complete the picture is a baby, which the couple are trying to make a reality.
Meanwhile, Ben decides to improve his up-and-coming neighborhood in gritty south Tel Aviv by planting a new tree on his street. But his good deed soon triggers a sequence of events that leads to the brutal police arrest of an Eritrean immigrant. The guilt trip that ensues...
- 3/25/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Most films dealing with the topic of gentrification either focus on the perspective of the victims of this process – excluded, marginalised, deprived of their voice – or relegate the topic to the background, as colour for a completely different story, using well-established narrative patterns. In his Concerned Citizen, Idan Haguel paves a completely new path, playing with a mixture of melodrama, black comedy and socially involved cinema.
Ben (Shlomi Bertonov) and his partner (Ariel Wolf) live in a slum in southern Tel Aviv. The couple, however, are not part of this marginalised world, belonging in every respect to a privileged part of society – a wealthy, well-to-do gay couple are in the process of looking for a surrogate for their planned child. The director strongly uses contrasts, at the very beginning of the film juxtaposing the pedantic purity and carelessness of the fulfilled love in which Ben functions, with the anxiety of the neighborhood.
Ben (Shlomi Bertonov) and his partner (Ariel Wolf) live in a slum in southern Tel Aviv. The couple, however, are not part of this marginalised world, belonging in every respect to a privileged part of society – a wealthy, well-to-do gay couple are in the process of looking for a surrogate for their planned child. The director strongly uses contrasts, at the very beginning of the film juxtaposing the pedantic purity and carelessness of the fulfilled love in which Ben functions, with the anxiety of the neighborhood.
- 2/14/2022
- by Mateusz Tarwacki
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Dark comedy-drama “Concerned Citizen,” which has its world premiere in the Panorama section of the Berlinale, has debuted its trailer. Berlin-based sales outfit M-Appeal will be selling the film during the European Film Market.
The film, a satirical parable on the insidious ways in which privilege can unleash the prejudice within, centers on Ben, who thinks of himself as a liberal and enlightened gay man, living in the perfect apartment with his boyfriend Raz. All that’s missing to complete the picture is a baby, which the couple are trying to make a reality.
Meanwhile, Ben decides to improve his up-and-coming neighborhood in gritty south Tel-Aviv by planting a new tree on his street. But his good deed soon triggers a sequence of events that leads to the brutal police arrest of an Eritrean immigrant. The guilt trip that ensues will fundamentally challenge Ben’s vision of himself and his society,...
The film, a satirical parable on the insidious ways in which privilege can unleash the prejudice within, centers on Ben, who thinks of himself as a liberal and enlightened gay man, living in the perfect apartment with his boyfriend Raz. All that’s missing to complete the picture is a baby, which the couple are trying to make a reality.
Meanwhile, Ben decides to improve his up-and-coming neighborhood in gritty south Tel-Aviv by planting a new tree on his street. But his good deed soon triggers a sequence of events that leads to the brutal police arrest of an Eritrean immigrant. The guilt trip that ensues will fundamentally challenge Ben’s vision of himself and his society,...
- 2/8/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
The program announcements continue for the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival this week, with the full Panorama line-up now confirmed.
Adding to the initial titles unveiled back in April are films including Alain Guiraudie’s Nobody’s Hero, which opens the strand this year.
Also confirmed today were the titles that will participate in the Berlinale Series Market and Co-Pro Series event this year.
Taking part in Berlinale Series Market Selects will be The Fear Index, the upcoming show from Left Bank Pictures that is set to star Josh Hartnett, as well as projects from Keshet, Viaplay and Globo. See the full lists below.
Tomorrow, Berlin chiefs Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek will unveil the 2022 Competition line-up at an event that kicks off at 11Am Cet.
Panorama Additions:
Aşk, Mark ve Ölüm
Germany
by Cem Kaya
World premiere / Panorama Dokumente
Baqyt (Happiness)
Kazakhstan
by Askar Uzabayev
with Laura Myrzakhmetova,...
Adding to the initial titles unveiled back in April are films including Alain Guiraudie’s Nobody’s Hero, which opens the strand this year.
Also confirmed today were the titles that will participate in the Berlinale Series Market and Co-Pro Series event this year.
Taking part in Berlinale Series Market Selects will be The Fear Index, the upcoming show from Left Bank Pictures that is set to star Josh Hartnett, as well as projects from Keshet, Viaplay and Globo. See the full lists below.
Tomorrow, Berlin chiefs Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek will unveil the 2022 Competition line-up at an event that kicks off at 11Am Cet.
Panorama Additions:
Aşk, Mark ve Ölüm
Germany
by Cem Kaya
World premiere / Panorama Dokumente
Baqyt (Happiness)
Kazakhstan
by Askar Uzabayev
with Laura Myrzakhmetova,...
- 1/18/2022
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Berlin-based sales outfit M-Appeal has acquired world sales rights to “Concerned Citizen,” the sophomore title from Israeli writer-director Idan Haguel. The film was selected Tuesday to have its world premiere in the Panorama section at next month’s Berlinale (Feb. 10-16).
The film, which stars Shlomi Bertonov and Ariel Wolf, centers around Ben, a politically liberal, gay man who tries to improve his neighborhood in the slums of south Tel Aviv by planting a tree on his street. This triggers a sequence of events that results in him getting mixed up in the brutal police arrest of an immigrant. The guilt trip that ensues challenges Ben’s self-image and threatens to destroy his relationship and aspirations of fatherhood. A satirical parable on the insidious ways in which privilege can unleash the prejudice within.
“The story is told with an undertone of wry humor throughout,” M-Appeal said in a statement,...
The film, which stars Shlomi Bertonov and Ariel Wolf, centers around Ben, a politically liberal, gay man who tries to improve his neighborhood in the slums of south Tel Aviv by planting a tree on his street. This triggers a sequence of events that results in him getting mixed up in the brutal police arrest of an immigrant. The guilt trip that ensues challenges Ben’s self-image and threatens to destroy his relationship and aspirations of fatherhood. A satirical parable on the insidious ways in which privilege can unleash the prejudice within.
“The story is told with an undertone of wry humor throughout,” M-Appeal said in a statement,...
- 1/18/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
French auteur Alain Guiraudie’s political drama “Nobody’s Hero” has been set as the opener of the 2022 Berlin Film Festival’s multifaceted Panorama strand, which has announced its full lineup.
The latest feature from Guiraudie, who is best known for his 2016 “Staying Vertical,” takes place in Clermont-Ferrand, central France, where a terrorist attack triggers some paranoid dynamics involving a young homeless man, a middle-aged sex worker and her married lover who have taken refuge in a building. The film’s cast comprises actor-director Noémie Lvovsky, Jean-Charles Clichet and Doria Tillier.
The ten-title Panorama Dokumente strand, which runs concurrently with the feature films, comprises previously announced transgender-themed doc “Nel Mio Nome” (“Into My Name”) by Italian director and producer Nicolò Bassetti. Elliot Page has come on board as executive producer to support the doc which observes gender transition from a female to a male identity of four characters within a...
The latest feature from Guiraudie, who is best known for his 2016 “Staying Vertical,” takes place in Clermont-Ferrand, central France, where a terrorist attack triggers some paranoid dynamics involving a young homeless man, a middle-aged sex worker and her married lover who have taken refuge in a building. The film’s cast comprises actor-director Noémie Lvovsky, Jean-Charles Clichet and Doria Tillier.
The ten-title Panorama Dokumente strand, which runs concurrently with the feature films, comprises previously announced transgender-themed doc “Nel Mio Nome” (“Into My Name”) by Italian director and producer Nicolò Bassetti. Elliot Page has come on board as executive producer to support the doc which observes gender transition from a female to a male identity of four characters within a...
- 1/18/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
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