With her forceful feature debut Playground, Laura Wandel takes an intimate, intense look at the intricacies of abuse at school from a child’s point of view. Following 7-year-old Nora and her big brother Abel, Belgium’s Oscar short-listed drama is a microcosm of the cycles of bullying and violence playing out across the world.
“Wandel pulls no punches in her depiction, and both Leklou and Vanderbeque deliver performances well beyond their years. (A child’s ability to embark on roles this psychologically draining will never cease to amaze.),” Jared Mobarak said in his review. “With only 70 minutes at its disposal, Playground pushes forward with powerful intent. Not a second can be wasted. Not a single glance can be unmoored from the bigger picture. That sacrifice above is thus the catalyst for Abel’s rapid descent into abuse from those who know him and those who don’t.”
With the...
“Wandel pulls no punches in her depiction, and both Leklou and Vanderbeque deliver performances well beyond their years. (A child’s ability to embark on roles this psychologically draining will never cease to amaze.),” Jared Mobarak said in his review. “With only 70 minutes at its disposal, Playground pushes forward with powerful intent. Not a second can be wasted. Not a single glance can be unmoored from the bigger picture. That sacrifice above is thus the catalyst for Abel’s rapid descent into abuse from those who know him and those who don’t.”
With the...
- 2/16/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Film Movement has acquired U.S. rights to rising Belgian filmmaker Laura Wandel’s critically acclaimed feature debut “Playground” (“Un Monde”) which opened at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard and won the Fipresci award. Paris-based Indie Sales represents the film in international markets.
Tackling the timely issue of school bullying, “Playground” went on to play at the San Sebastian and the BFI film festivals. The heart-wrenching film follows 7-year-old Nora (Maya Vanderbeque) and her older brother Abel (Günter Duret) going back to school. When Nora witnesses Abel being bullied by other kids, she rushes to protect him by warning their father, but Abel forces her to remain silent. Caught in a conflict of loyalty, Nora will ultimately try to find her place, torn between children’s and adult’s worlds.
“The film is utterly unique — what Laura has accomplished with these children is an incredible feat of filmmaking,” said Michael Rosenberg,...
Tackling the timely issue of school bullying, “Playground” went on to play at the San Sebastian and the BFI film festivals. The heart-wrenching film follows 7-year-old Nora (Maya Vanderbeque) and her older brother Abel (Günter Duret) going back to school. When Nora witnesses Abel being bullied by other kids, she rushes to protect him by warning their father, but Abel forces her to remain silent. Caught in a conflict of loyalty, Nora will ultimately try to find her place, torn between children’s and adult’s worlds.
“The film is utterly unique — what Laura has accomplished with these children is an incredible feat of filmmaking,” said Michael Rosenberg,...
- 10/14/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Gregoire Melin’s Kinology, the Paris-based company handling Leos Carax’s and Mia Hansen-Love’s next films, has added a string of ambitious new films from a mix of emerging and seasoned directors.
Kinology has launched sales on “A Girl’s Room,” a stylish psychological thriller directed by Finnish up-and-coming helmer Aino Suni; “The Divide,” a stars-packed film by French director Catherine Corsini (“Three Worlds”); “Third Grade” by veteran director Jacques Doillon (“Ponette”); and “Morning Calm,” a director-driven sprawling thriller by Denis Dercourt. All films are now in post and Kinology is showing first images, teasers or trailers to buyers at the UniFrance Rendez-Vous With French Cinema, which kicked off Jan. 13.
Suni’s feature debut, “A Girl’s Room,” follows Elina, a 17-year-old aspiring Finnish rapper forced to leave her home for the south of France after her mother finds a French boyfriend. There, she is drawn to her new stepsister Sofia,...
Kinology has launched sales on “A Girl’s Room,” a stylish psychological thriller directed by Finnish up-and-coming helmer Aino Suni; “The Divide,” a stars-packed film by French director Catherine Corsini (“Three Worlds”); “Third Grade” by veteran director Jacques Doillon (“Ponette”); and “Morning Calm,” a director-driven sprawling thriller by Denis Dercourt. All films are now in post and Kinology is showing first images, teasers or trailers to buyers at the UniFrance Rendez-Vous With French Cinema, which kicked off Jan. 13.
Suni’s feature debut, “A Girl’s Room,” follows Elina, a 17-year-old aspiring Finnish rapper forced to leave her home for the south of France after her mother finds a French boyfriend. There, she is drawn to her new stepsister Sofia,...
- 1/15/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Caroline Champetier on Barbara Sukowa as Hannah Arendt in Margarethe von Trotta's film: "I thought it was a beautiful ingenious idea to give her this part." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Cinematographer Caroline Champetier has worked with Benoît Jacquot, Xavier Beauvois, Jacques Rivette, Arnaud Desplechin, Anne Fontaine, Cédric Anger, Jacques Doillon, Leos Carax, André Téchiné, Barbet Schroeder, Philippe Garrel, Patricia Mazuy, Chantal Akerman, Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub, Claude Lanzmann, and Kevin Macdonald on his Howard Hawks documentary. Her films with these directors include La Fille Seule, Of Gods And Men, Le Pont Du Nord, La Sentinelle, Tokyo! with Denis Lavant, The Innocents, Le Tueur, Ponette, Alice Et Martin, Terror's Advocate, Night Wind, Of Women And Horses, Toute Une Nuit, Too Early/Too Late, and The Last Of The Unjust respectively.
On Margarethe von Trotta: "She had exactly the idea for the beginning of the movie." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
The...
Cinematographer Caroline Champetier has worked with Benoît Jacquot, Xavier Beauvois, Jacques Rivette, Arnaud Desplechin, Anne Fontaine, Cédric Anger, Jacques Doillon, Leos Carax, André Téchiné, Barbet Schroeder, Philippe Garrel, Patricia Mazuy, Chantal Akerman, Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub, Claude Lanzmann, and Kevin Macdonald on his Howard Hawks documentary. Her films with these directors include La Fille Seule, Of Gods And Men, Le Pont Du Nord, La Sentinelle, Tokyo! with Denis Lavant, The Innocents, Le Tueur, Ponette, Alice Et Martin, Terror's Advocate, Night Wind, Of Women And Horses, Toute Une Nuit, Too Early/Too Late, and The Last Of The Unjust respectively.
On Margarethe von Trotta: "She had exactly the idea for the beginning of the movie." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
The...
- 10/27/2017
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of film critics two questions and publishes the results on Monday. (The answer to the second, “What is the best film in theaters right now?”, can be found at the end of this post.)
This week’s question: In honor of “The Florida Project,” which has just started its platform release across the country, what is the greatest child performance in a film?
Jordan Hoffman (@JHoffman), The Guardian, Vanity Fair
I can agonize over this question or I can go at this Malcolm Gladwell “Blink”-style. My answer is Tatum O’Neal in “Paper Moon.” She’s just so funny and tough, which of course makes the performance all the more heartbreaking. She won the freaking Oscar at age 10 for this and I’d really love to give a more deep cut response, but why screw around? Paper Moon is a perfect film and she is the lynchpin.
This week’s question: In honor of “The Florida Project,” which has just started its platform release across the country, what is the greatest child performance in a film?
Jordan Hoffman (@JHoffman), The Guardian, Vanity Fair
I can agonize over this question or I can go at this Malcolm Gladwell “Blink”-style. My answer is Tatum O’Neal in “Paper Moon.” She’s just so funny and tough, which of course makes the performance all the more heartbreaking. She won the freaking Oscar at age 10 for this and I’d really love to give a more deep cut response, but why screw around? Paper Moon is a perfect film and she is the lynchpin.
- 10/9/2017
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Screen’s chief critic and reviews editor Fionnuala Halligan dissects this year’s Competition films.
Welcome to the “huge party” of Cannes 70. If the Official Selection this year is a “lab”, the formula isn’t quite complete - Thierry Fremaux announced 18 films which will compete for the Palme D’Or today, implying that three have yet to arrive (he also hinted that a glaring absence, that of a film from China for the second consecutive year, may yet be rectified; nothing was said however about the absence of a major Hollywood studio thus far).
Read more:
Cannes 2017: Official Selection in full
A total of 1,930 films viewed, the selection process running through to 3am: Cannes 70 will be a “meeting, a vision of the world, and a promise of a better life together”. No small ambition, but the line-up has been warmly greeted by cineastes. Clearly, it isn’t a same-old-names Cannes habitues Competition, although [link=nm...
Welcome to the “huge party” of Cannes 70. If the Official Selection this year is a “lab”, the formula isn’t quite complete - Thierry Fremaux announced 18 films which will compete for the Palme D’Or today, implying that three have yet to arrive (he also hinted that a glaring absence, that of a film from China for the second consecutive year, may yet be rectified; nothing was said however about the absence of a major Hollywood studio thus far).
Read more:
Cannes 2017: Official Selection in full
A total of 1,930 films viewed, the selection process running through to 3am: Cannes 70 will be a “meeting, a vision of the world, and a promise of a better life together”. No small ambition, but the line-up has been warmly greeted by cineastes. Clearly, it isn’t a same-old-names Cannes habitues Competition, although [link=nm...
- 4/13/2017
- by finn.halligan@screendaily.com (Fionnuala Halligan)
- ScreenDaily
Victoire Thivisol, "Ponette" Criminally underseen "Ponette" is one of the most haunting and poignant meditations on death and childhood to ever grace the screen. When four-year-old Ponette's mother is killed in a car accident, Ponette's father drops her off at her cousins' remote cottage in the French countryside. Ponette, stunned and unable to comprehend the magnitude of her loss, begins to ask the big questions. Her inquiring child's mind is fraught with a grief-stricken child's philosophy. Director Jacques Doillon cast extraordinary four-year-old Victoire Thivisol as Ponette, who carries the weight of the film on her slight shoulders. Thivisol's performance displays the soul, nuance and depth of a seasoned actor. Thivisol's range is incredible: In some heartrending scenes, she tearfully refuses to accept her mother's death; in others, she playfully navigates the landscape of childhood, with its perennial sense of wonder. Much of the film lives on Ponette's face.
- 10/15/2015
- by Indiewire
- Indiewire
It’s 1940, and the Nazi invasion of France is fully under way. A mother, father, a five-year-old girl and her tiny dog are among a throng of refugees fleeing Paris and jamming roads across the French countryside while German planes drop bombs and strafe their path with a relentless rain of machine gun fire. Soon the girl will be completely alone, her parents and that beloved dog all cut down in front of her eyes. But before she even has the chance to process what has happened (if she even can—on the most immediate level, she believes they’re only asleep), she’s given a ride by an older couple, one of whom cruelly flings the animal’s corpse, the only thing the girl has been able to save of her now-devastated familiar world, into a creek. The girl, Paulette (Brigitte Fossey), jumps off their wagon, retrieves the dog...
- 8/27/2015
- by Dennis Cozzalio
- Trailers from Hell
This is a talk given by French director of photography Caroline Champetier at the La Roche-sur-Yon International Film Festival in October 2012, originally published in two parts on the festival’s site (www.fif-85.com). This translation is being published with their kind permission. This year's festival will take place from October 16-21, Kelly Reichardt will be the guest of honor. Many thanks to Emmanuel Burdeau, programmer of the festival, Jordan Mintzer and Caroline Champetier.
Caroline Champetier: I’ve always tried to take a step back from what I’m doing. The more I work, however, the less I’m able to deal with this exercise. I just finished production on Claude Lanzmann’s The Last of the Unjust and have barely said goodbye to David Teboul, a young director who I worked with on Cinq avenue Marceau (2002), a film I think very highly of and that’s about Yves Saint Laurent’s last collection.
Caroline Champetier: I’ve always tried to take a step back from what I’m doing. The more I work, however, the less I’m able to deal with this exercise. I just finished production on Claude Lanzmann’s The Last of the Unjust and have barely said goodbye to David Teboul, a young director who I worked with on Cinq avenue Marceau (2002), a film I think very highly of and that’s about Yves Saint Laurent’s last collection.
- 9/20/2013
- by Ted Fendt
- MUBI
Each week within this column we strive to pair the latest in theatrical releases to worthwhile titles currently available on Netflix Instant Watch. This week we offer alternatives to 21 Jump Street, Jeff Who Lives at Home and The Kid With a Bike.
In theaters this Friday a star-studded comedy based on a TV drama will face off against an indie dramedy starring TV comedians, and a tender yet tough coming-of-age drama out of Cannes. But if this isn’t enough to satisfying your craving for cop capers, quirky comedy and touching foreign features, we’ve got you covered with a selection of the best titles Now Streaming.
Inspired by the popular ’80s TV drama, this R-rated comedy stars Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as two undercover cops sent back to high school to bust a drug ring. Brie Larson and Ice Cube co-star.
Like your cops crass and comedic?
Dragnet...
In theaters this Friday a star-studded comedy based on a TV drama will face off against an indie dramedy starring TV comedians, and a tender yet tough coming-of-age drama out of Cannes. But if this isn’t enough to satisfying your craving for cop capers, quirky comedy and touching foreign features, we’ve got you covered with a selection of the best titles Now Streaming.
Inspired by the popular ’80s TV drama, this R-rated comedy stars Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as two undercover cops sent back to high school to bust a drug ring. Brie Larson and Ice Cube co-star.
Like your cops crass and comedic?
Dragnet...
- 3/15/2012
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
Once upon a time, child stardom was the road to dysfunction and ruined youth; but Hollywood's new brood of young actors are smart, talented and in complete control
In the last few weeks you can't have failed to be aware of Will Smith's pint-sized 12-year-old son Jaden; he's been unleashed at film premieres from Beijing to Berlin. Sometimes he's even worn a little Michael Jackson outfit. Smith Jr is promoting the remake of The Karate Kid; he stars, mum and dad are producers. To casual observers that might look a lot like the Smith dynasty are simply installing generation 2.0. But it turns out that Jaden Smith is actually pretty good; he plays everykid with as much charm as his dad ever did. And now The Karate Kid is a bona fide international hit, Jaden is likely to join the growing bunch of child actors – scarily professional and highly talented...
In the last few weeks you can't have failed to be aware of Will Smith's pint-sized 12-year-old son Jaden; he's been unleashed at film premieres from Beijing to Berlin. Sometimes he's even worn a little Michael Jackson outfit. Smith Jr is promoting the remake of The Karate Kid; he stars, mum and dad are producers. To casual observers that might look a lot like the Smith dynasty are simply installing generation 2.0. But it turns out that Jaden Smith is actually pretty good; he plays everykid with as much charm as his dad ever did. And now The Karate Kid is a bona fide international hit, Jaden is likely to join the growing bunch of child actors – scarily professional and highly talented...
- 7/26/2010
- by Cath Clarke, Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
I was writing up my little filmbytes column for popbytes and decided to spotlight Jennifer Lawrence as a rising star.
I'm very curious as to whether or not tiny Roadside Attractions can push Winter's Bone towards Oscar as relentlessly as "Ree Dolly*" pursues her missing film dad. Jennifer is the film's best Oscar bet but perhaps it could go further than just Best Actress? For a gritty rural drama that doesn't exactly coddle its audience, I was surprised to learn recently that the movie has already grossed $3 million in a month's time. That's impressive. That means people, and not just critics, like it. When both civilians and critics like things, AMPAS voters often figure they might ought to watch it.
But how's this for a statistic? If Jennifer Lawrence, who is currently 19, does secure a robust campaign and then a Best Actress nomination in January, she'll be the second youngest nominee ever in that category.
I'm very curious as to whether or not tiny Roadside Attractions can push Winter's Bone towards Oscar as relentlessly as "Ree Dolly*" pursues her missing film dad. Jennifer is the film's best Oscar bet but perhaps it could go further than just Best Actress? For a gritty rural drama that doesn't exactly coddle its audience, I was surprised to learn recently that the movie has already grossed $3 million in a month's time. That's impressive. That means people, and not just critics, like it. When both civilians and critics like things, AMPAS voters often figure they might ought to watch it.
But how's this for a statistic? If Jennifer Lawrence, who is currently 19, does secure a robust campaign and then a Best Actress nomination in January, she'll be the second youngest nominee ever in that category.
- 7/21/2010
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
If the debilitating after-effects of a stroke weren't bad enough (she miraculously gave birth to not one (The Last Mistress) but two films when you add the Nyff selection Bluebeard) now comes word that the Bad Love (a project which she mentioned to us the last time she came to Nyff for a film), a remake of Breillat's own film, is Doa. - Thanks to Fin De Cinema's Joe Bowman for piecing together an update on provocatrice filmmaker Catherine Breillat. If the debilitating after-effects of a stroke weren't bad enough (she miraculously gave birth to not one (The Last Mistress) but two films when you add the Nyff selection Bluebeard) now comes word that the Bad Love (a project which she mentioned to us the last time she came to Nyff for a film), a remake of Breillat's own film, is Doa. It would have starred model Naomi Campbell,...
- 12/13/2009
- by Ioncinema.com Staff
- IONCINEMA.com
- The majority of his films don't find U.S distribution (perhaps his films are simply too "French") but audiences might remember him as the helmer of Le petit criminel, Ponette and most recently, Raja. Just by reading the plot outline, I think busy bee director Jacques Doillon might find a taker for Aux Quatre Vents (To the Four Winds). Counting on a stellar cast, written by Doillon, the film centres on a playwright (Pascal Greggory) who invites some actors to his secluded house to prepare a play. But the combined presence of his ex-wife (Julie Depardieu) and her lover (Louis Garrel), as well as the playwright’s assistant and mistress (Agathe Bonitzer), makes this a particularly turbulent day, in which romantic and creative rivalries become entangled. For some reason, I'm thinking of Ils se marièrent et eurent beaucoup d'enfants as I write this (probably because of the Birkin connection
- 7/7/2009
- IONCINEMA.com
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