Miscellania: Claude Chabrol (RIP), Venice (Post-Mortem), TIFF (First Impressions)

As you've undoubtedly heard, the French auteur Claude Chabrol passed away at 80. Both The Telegraph and Glenn Kenny have fine obits for your reading pleasure and if you can read French, Le Monde collects testimonials from many cinematic luminaries to honor him. I didn't know his career as well as I should but I quite liked both L'Enfer (1994) and the recent Ludivine Sagnier love/murder triangle A Girl Cut in Two. (The two of them are pictured to your left.) The prolific director's Le Beau Serge was the first French New Wave offering and we should all probably program ourselves mini-fests to catch up on his best work. Any suggestions? I'm reading these titles a lot: The Cry of the Owl, Les Biches and Le Boucher. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to catch up with any of his Isabelle Huppert collaborations either. Here's his available filmography from Netflix, LOVEFilm or GreenCine, depending on your rental pleasure.

A much less permanent goodbye, is the Venice Festival Post Mortem. Venice will be back next year... perhaps I should start saving those non-existent pennies? In Contention's Guy Lodge says arrivederci with some thoughts on the surprise jury decisions. But a lot of people are crying foul or, rather, "favoritism!" since Tarantino once dated Sofia Coppola and is also friends with Monte Hellman, who received a special award.

a disturbing still from Balada Triste de Trompeta

CineEuropa also shares a few interesting words from the double winner writer/director Alex de la Iglesias the man behind the "political slasher" Balada Triste de Trompeta aka The Last Circus. It sounds like he was on the (happy) defensive as early as the awards ceremony. His film was not one of the festival's well received entries, at least not critically.

Meanwhile TIFF is in full swing.

My day is a little crowded today with off blog happenings to investigate everything, but for now a few links. The Mickey Rourke / Megan Fox Passion Play has been declared a head-scratcher, Robert Redford's Lincoln assassination aftermath drama (aka The Conspirator) is actually getting good press and has modern political resonance. Unfortunately, it still needs a distributor to win Oscar buzz. Speaking of Oscar buzz, Miranda Richardson's definitely going to get it (the buzz I mean... not neccessarily the statue) for Made in Dagenham since the early reviews all single her out. Sally Hawkins could be a Best Actress contender as well but that awful snubbing for Happy Go Lucky might indicate that they just don't respond to her. I've adjusted my supporting actress page because it didn't look right to me anyhow and the virtual ink hadn't yet dried. Excitement is also building for the premiere of Rabbit Hole tomorrow -- here's a pic I hadn't seen from the set.

Finally...
Are you joining us for the next "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" roundups? All you have to do is...

1. watch the movie
2. post your favorite single image to your twitpic, blog, site, or other online shareable space and we'll link up.
   

Consider it an eye-candy focused mini blogathon each week. I've included the "instant watch" options if available for Netflix. Otherwise you have plenty of time to rent.

09/15 Pandora's Box (1929) instant watch
09/22 Se7en (1995, exact 15th anniversary!)
09/29 La Dolce Vita (1960) instant watch
10/06 Requiem for a Dream (2000, exact 10th anniversary!)
10/13 ...and then maybe a horror film for a possible Season 1 HMWYBS finale ... but which? (Trying to decide if we'll have the stamina to keep it up. Perhaps we should go monthly? Certainly more participation would invigorate. hint hint.)

Add your discerning eyeballs to ours to honor these fine movies.
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Venice Awards: Somewhere, Black Swan, Barney's Version, Miral

Festivals tend to have more than one jury so let's deal with the sidebar prizes first, before we get to the main competition jury, headed by Quentin Tarantino. But a little preview: Natalie Portman went home empty-handed for Black Swank but Mila Kunis didn't. Interesssssssting.

Various Sidebars

Europa Cinema Award: This honor comes from the Venice Days sidebar and the winning film was Bertrand Blier's Le Bruit des Glacons (The Clink of the Ice), a dark French comedy about an alcoholic dealing with cancer.

The Queer Lion: This prize focuses on the way films portray gay characters and themes. The winner was En el futuro (In the Future), a 62 minute black and white film directed by Mauro Andrizzi. None of the summaries seem to tell you what it's about. Hmmmm. It played in the Orizzonti sidebar of the festival. Guess they didn't like the disturbing sapphic tryst angle of Black Swan all that much.

Brian Award: Here's another highly specialized honor. This award was chosen by the "Italian Union of Rational Atheists and Agnostics." The winning film was Roberta Torre's I Baci Mai Dati (The Kisses Never Given) about a poverty stricken girl who performs miracles.

Golden Lion Cub: This is not to be confused with the top prize which is called The Golden Lion. The Cub is voted on by "schoolchildren" -- of which age I do not know -- and was given to Richard J Lewis's adaptation of the bestseller Barney's Version. Paul Giamatti plays Barney who the official synopsis calls "politically incorrect, impulsive, irascible and fearlessly blunt." so you know you've got a showy Best Actor Oscar contender there. Dustin Hoffman is his difficult father, Rosamund Pike his dream girl and Minnie Driver his ex-wife. Does Giamatti have another Sideways on his hands in terms of adult appeal and future awards play? And why would schoolchildren like it? Curious.

UNICEF Award: Julian Schnabel's political message movie Miral took this. The film, which opened to mixed response, looks at the Israel-Palestine problem through the life of a Palestinian orphan, played by Freida Pinto. Hiam Abbas co-stars. The film is supposed to arrive in December from the Weinsteins but it could be a hard sell given the always divisive topic. It's quite a personal project for Schabel as it's based on the book written by Schnabel's real life girlfriend, writer Rula Jebreal and his daughter Stella Schnabel also acts in the film. She's also in Basquiat and Before Night Falls.

LION OF THE FUTURE: This prize is also known as the "Luigi De Laurentiis" and the jury headed by Fatih Akin (Soul Kitchen, Head On) unanimously chose a film from Turkey by Seren Yüce called Cogunluk (Majority).

CONTRACOMPTO ITALIANO PRIZE: Aureliano's 20 Sigarette. The Italiano jury also gave a special prize to the actor Vinicio Marchioni for the same film.

Orrizonti Jury

ORIZZONTI FEATURE: The top honor went to Nicolás Pereda's Verano de Goliat

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE: Noël Burch and Allan Sekula's The Forgotten Space.

ORRIZONTI MEDIUM-LENGTH: Roee Rosen's Tse (Out)
ORRIZONTI SHORT: Peter Tscherkassky's Coming Attractions
VENICE SHORT FILM NOMINEE: This is another short award that has something to do with putting the film in the running for the European Film Awards. It went to David O'Reilly's The External World
SPECIAL MENTION: Laura Amelia Guzmán and Israel Cárdenas' Jean Gentil.

Tarantino's Jury. Main Competition

GOLDEN LION: The top prize went to Sofia Coppola's Hollywood story Somewhere.
BEST DIRECTOR: Alex de la Iglesia for Balada Trista de Trompeta
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE: Jerzy Skolimowski's Essential Killing
BEST ACTOR: Vincent Gallo for Essential Killing (It's interesting that he won. Guy Lodge at In Contention predicted him as sort of a Tarantino rebel call over more potentially Oscary players like Paul Giamatti. Well done, Guy.
BEST ACTRESS: Ariana Labed for the Greek film Attenberg

Actresses Evangelia Randou and Ariana Labed at Venice (top)
and in a film still from Attenberg (bottom)

"No Natalie Portman?!?", the American internet screams in bewilderment, as it so strangely always expects Americans to win at international ceremonies. Ariana Labed, the one in fuchsia above, plays a sexual innocent participating in an experiment with three other adults in a film that's drawing comparisons to last year's Greek festival sensation Dogtooth. Dogtooth's director is the producer and also acts in this film.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Mikhail Krichman for Silent Souls (Ovsyanki) by Aleksei Fedorchenko
BEST SCREENPLAY Alex de la Iglesia for Balada Trista de Trompeta
SPECIAL LION: This was a jury prize for "overall work" to Monte Hellman


And finally, Tarantino's jury gave the MARCELLO MASTROIANNI AWARD which is a prize for "Young Actor of Actress" to Mila Kunis for Black Swan. Hmmm, should we expect to see the ascending Mila Kunis in the next Quentin Tarantino picture?

Venice Red Carpet: The Town, Potiche, Meek's Cutoff

Toronto kicked off last night but before we get to our coverage there -- we'll be hearing from the same folks who covered Toronto for The Film Experience last year -- Venice is starting to wrap up. Awards will be announced before you know it.

The most 'Hollywood' Venice premiere was probably The Town which brought out the happy familiar faces of Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm and last year's Best Actor nominee Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker).


Is it just me or is it always a bit odd to see Jon Hamm smiling? He's smiling so much lately and with that career you'd be smiling too. But it's so UnDraper! These townies had prophetic reason to be happy. Reviews were kind. Here's a sampling:

• Cinema Blend "bigger by nearly every measure" [than Gone Baby Gone]
  
• Newsweek "Affleck’s heist movie is part of a career turnaround so amazing that he looks like the new Clint Eastwood"

One of the most exciting things for cinephiles about film festivals is that they tend to be more auteur-focused than any other movie event.

Tykwer, Miike, Ozon and Guadagino

Tom Tykwer was promoting his latest Drei, a film about a bisexual love triangle between a long time couple and the man they both fall for (unbeknownst to each other). Obsessed With Film called it "punchy and inventive" but wasn't completely bowled over. Tykwer has yet to recapture the type of international enthusiasm that greeted his breakthrough Run Lola Run (1998) but every few years or so we get another good looking movie like Perfume or The International.

Takashi Miike makes a new movie as often as I write a blog post. At least it seems that way. He's twice or thrice as prolific as Woody Allen. The man behind violent sensations like Audition and Ichi the Killer (and many others with less staying power) was premiering 13 Assassins.

François Ozon is one of the best directors of eye candy movies in the world with a gorgeous filmography that includes 8 Women, Water Drops on Burning Rocks and 5x2 among other gems. He's also sweet to look at offscreen. I'm just saying. The gay auteur was in Venice to premiere Potiche, his latest confection starring a starry buffet for hungry francophiles: Catherine Deneuve, Karin Viard, Sergi Lopez, Gerard Depardieu, Judith Godreche among others. Yum yum. Ultimate Addict was totally entertained citing its "snappy, hilarious dialogue" and calling Deneuve "a joy to watch" though you can cut and paste that description into every Deneuve review, n'est-ce pas?

Luca Guadagnino, Tilda's I Am Love director was also in town. He's on Tarantino's competition jury. I include him because I am nuts for I Am Love and his proposed Auntie Mame remake with Tilda in the lead is the greatest movie ever made that doesn't actually exist yet. Ohmygod I want to see that like three years ago. Please make it. If only I were a multi-millionaire and could fund the project myself. This is why I should have been born rich instead of poor. I could have supported so many worthwhile creative endeavors. (Sigh)

Michelle, Tilda, Paz and the immortal Deneuve

But we mustn't forget the actresses beautifying the red carpet.

Michelle Williams is sharing a closet with Carey Mulligan? They're like twin pixie fashionistas. Michelle was in town for her role as Kelly Reichardt's (Wendy & Lucy) main muse, this time in the western Meek's Cutoff.

• Time Out London "just as rich, nuanced, mysterious and low key as anything she's made."
• Guardian "far from action packed, but still gripping."
  

Tilda Swinton appears magically wherever there are A list festivals. It's a rule of the cinema nature ...a benevolent one, too.

Paz Vega. Remember her? Would Spanglish jog your memory or have you tried to forget it?
She's in town with the Italian drama Vallanzasca.

Anyway... we could do this all day. But the question is now who will take the prizes from Tarantino's jury? Guy Lodge has predictions. Will Natalie Portman's psycho ballerina win her the Best Actress prize? Will a non-English language picture rise to the top, forcing the media to note that not all movies are from Hollywood? Venice pulls the curtains closed tomorrow.

Venice Red Carpet: Somewhere, Norwegian Wood, Miral, Reign of Assassins

The Venice Film Festival progresses. Day 4 of 11 today. So let's pretend we're there for a moment and check in. You can't have a good glitzy A list international film festival without immortals like Catherine Deneuve showing up (pictured left). Why is she shielding her eyes for she is brighter than the sun. All in all things seem to be going well. Take the premiere of Black Swan for example. Opening films don't often make that much of a splash, divisive or otherwise.

Another big question mark film of the 2010 film season is Sofia Coppola's Somewhere (trailer discussion). It's her follow up to the poorly received but delicious Marie Antoinette (2006). She's back to the present day for this film about an actor (Stephen Dorff) visited by his daughter (Elle Fanning) at the Chateau Marmont.

The reviews have been mixed but more than most filmmakers I trust not any reviews about her work. Her girlish dreamy haze tends to cloud judgment. But here are a few...

• In Contention "thoroughly beguiling"
• Evening Standard "no big dramatic moments, just a series of sequences"
• Obsessed With Film "ever bit as poignant as Lost in Translation, if not as fresh."
• Thompson on Hollywood "should play well for the young smart-house set."
  

Somewhere premiere: Sofia Coppola, Stephen Dorff, Laura Chiatta, Elle Fanning

Italian actress Laura Chiatta (The Family Friend) is also in Somewhere's cast which is why I included her here. Mostly because her lipstick is transporting me back to the early Aughts. It's all I can see. Is she wearing anything else?

I don't expect that the film will win Oscar traction (low key efforts rarely do and a late December release for a contemplative film won't help. Coppola whispers and Oscar hears only Oscar-bait shouting in the holiday months) but I'm still so excited to see it. Coppola is three for three in my book. Will this make four for four?

On to other films...

International Divas: Yeoh, Abbas, Kikuchi, Campbell

Michelle Yeoh, in town for Reign of Assassins, is a goddess. You knew that already. Her latest star vehicle was bought earlier this summer by the Weinstein Co which probably means we'll never see it (you know how they do). But since we can't look at the film, let's look at those shoes. The shoes... Gah! They're probably worth more than most people make in a year and she can probably kill those multiple assassins tailing her with them. Incidentally, Yeoh is also an assassin in the movie. What is with the cinema's complete fixation on assassins as protagonists? It's easy to understand them as villains but so many of them are actually the heroes of their movies. I shutter to think what this means about the human condition.

• Hollywood Reporter "lush visual treat... with crossover potential."
• Film Biz Asia "a rich gallery of characters
  
• Screen Daily "absorbing and entertaining."
• MovieWeb (the trailer... note: you have to watch an ad first)
  

Hiam Abbas was in Venice for the premiere of Julian Schnabel's Miral but curiously Freida Pinto, "Miral" herself, was not. Maybe she saw some unflattering reviews coming.

• Obsessed with Film "cravenly seeking approval"
• Telegraph "It’s terribly earnest, and characters often speak dialogue that resembles a history lecture"
• Thompson on Hollywood "Pinto, while gorgeous is not an expressive actress."
  

I should note here that none of the negatives lobbed Miral's way in reviews tend to be awards season negatives with Oscar, given that earnest lectures and films which needily cry for approval are fixtures of every awards season. And nobody seemed to have a problem with Freida Pinto's inexpressiveness as an actress in Slumdog Millionaire -- don't try to tell me that's a new development.We just barely dodged that supporting actress nomination I think. And it would have been one of those semi-regular headscratchers for being "the girlfriend."

Norwegian Wood, another prestige adaptation of a novel, also premiered. Rinko Kikuchi, the most famous member of its ensemble cast (credit that Babel Oscar nomination), hit the red carpet. I don't understand this look at all. But it definitely reminds me of a expensive monochromatic version of that awful ruffled confusing short skirted thing Peach turned out on Project Runway two nights back. Oh, Peach... wwyt?

• Variety "lovely but listless"
• Indie Movies Online "the story is not quite as peerlessly handled by Tran as the aesthetic presentation"

Finally, I included Naomi Campbell in this roundup because I cannot for the life of me, imagine her actually sitting down to watch movies, only strutting through flashbulbs towards them. I know she's been in a few movies but has she actually ever seen one?

Action auteur John Woo (pictured left) received the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement and was also there as co-director of Reign of Assassins (with Chao-Bin Su, who also wrote the film).

Quentin Tarantino is the head of the Venice jury so we'll see what his jury does with their cups and statues next weekend. Stay tuned.

Venice: Black Swan Haunting

I've been freaking out about Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan ever since the day the trailer debuted and it's not healthy. I mean what if the trailer is better than the movie? Lord knows that's happened before. Since I don't want to know any plot details, I'm avoiding reviews like the plague (even from people I love) since you can trust virtually no one to be spoiler free these days. Even when they are, you end up knowing too much and having too many voices in your head before you see a film. But I haven't been able to help looking at various Venice born tweets.


Mostly though I've watched the trailer too many times and fear that there's no way that I can last another three months until the release without the movie becoming too familiar before a first viewing. Oh cruel world!

Take the following image for an example.


Now, sure, the first time through you're all "OMG, Natalie Portman is masturbating!" but the sixteenth time through don't tell me that you weren't, like, "That bedroom is possessed! And not by hormones."

Now the IMDB claims that the production design / art direction team is Thérèse DePrez (The Reader) David Stein (Eternal Sunshine) and Tora Peterson (After.Life) but that's only half the story. I suspect they were merely the chanting disciples at the Rosemary's Baby style f***-fest between Frank, freed from his Donnie Darko wormhole, and Mariah Carey somewhere betwixt her Butterfly and Charm Bracelet LPs. This room is their devil child. And it is sick.

Don't even try to count the number of stuffed animal species and the sheer volume of girlish ghastliness from every surface; the cow in a tutu is the least of the evil spirits.

I don't mean to frighten you.

As a mental tonic, here's Natalie Portman's untroubled gorgeousity on her first day in Venice. And why should she be troubled. She's already earning sensational reviews.


As any Oscar pundit worth their weight knows, that doesn't necessarily mean Oscar will be doing pliés with her come 2011. People always equate great reviews with Oscar nominations but the equation is not half that simple. For one thing there are usually dozens upon dozens upon dozens of people who win great reviews in a year. These things just SEEM like they equate months before the actual awards season gets underway. Plus, AMPAS has trouble with movies that people refer to as "deranged" or "visionary" or "on acid". They just do.

We're optimistic about the movie -- but Oscar less so. Still, you never know. Aronofsky's career momentum from The Wrestler (2008) could definitely help. So... stay tuned.
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Randomness: Drew, Deneuve, Emmys

<---- A photo from the premiere of Going the Distance that I saw at I Need My Fix. Is this pose, caught foregrounded against a rainbow subtle "Box Office" halo, some sort of sign from god that this Justin Long / Drew Barrymore romcom is going to be huge? Hmmmm. Drew is so impossible not to love but I'm hoping that one day she gets and nails a movie role as good as her Grey Gardens outing. Her movie roles are always so samey-samey and GG sure let her stretch her wings beautifully. Won't one of our A list directors give her a real big screen opportunity? The Barrymore dynasty hasn't been in the Oscar mix since, what, 1944?

Slant Magazine sizes up the Emmy rosters with should and could wins. Great read, dependably bitchy. But I must say that I think Christina Hendricks deserves the Supporting Actress win over Elisabeth Moss for Mad Men. Moss has such rich material constantly and does a tremendous job. But Hendricks is just constantly elevating the shit out of what, in lesser hands, could be one of the show's most surface characters. P.S. I don't get the hate for 30 Rock... Sure it's increasingly uneven. But it's still goddamn funny in its best moments.
The Wrap Christina Hendrick still models for friends? So cool.
Towleroad The Switch, Fela, celebrity forgiveness chart and more.
MNPP The Fog or The Mist? It's a question of the utmost importance. Condensation forever!
Dark Eye Socket a follow up to that "what do you look for in a movie?" question we were just chatting about.

And reader Patrick sent me this image of Catherine Deneuve from François Ozon's new film Potiche which will play at Venice (god, I wish I was going to the Venice Festival. This AND Black Swan?) with this amusing note "trying to to be the new Sue Sylvester..." ha.


I'd don a track suit to hang with Catherine Deneuve any day any time any where. But especially in Venice. Wouldn't you?

Have you any movie plans this weekend?
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Red Carpet: Venice, Toronto and Tilda x 7

Which stars have been out and about this past week? Whole galaxies of them. I've collected a few randomly for this edition of the red carpet lineup. It's but a tiny fraction of the luminaries since we're now in the thick of festival season. Telluride is behind us, Venice wraps today, and Toronto just kicked off. And that's just the big ones.


Nicholas Hoult and Julianne Moore hit Venice for the premiere of A Single Man (see previous post). An Education's Carey Mulligan, quickly emerging as the one to beat for Best Actress, is going to be fought over fiercely when it comes to dressing for the Oscars, just watch. She wore this Prada 09 Fall/Winter collection piece for her film's Toronto premiere. Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly and her perpetually Oscar snubbed husband Paul Bettany were also in Toronto promoting the Charles Darwin biography / marital drama Creation.

Finally, Venice had the cast of the sci-fi drama Mr. Nobody starring Jared Leto as a 120 year-old man. And, what do you know, Sarah Polley came. Polley sightings are exciting since she's not exactly a red carpet staple. But --and it feels so weird to say this given my actress predilections -- I'd rather she get back behind the camera very soon as a writer/director. Away From Her was just fine filmmaking.

What else ya got, Sarah?

Little Know Fact: In late May of 1960 all of the world's major film festivals met for a wild orgy at Cannes. Just as La Dolce Vita was handed the Palme D'Or, Tilda Swinton was conceived. Cannes herself, heavy with child, fled to England and gave birth to Tilda not five months later (everything happens quickly at festivals). It's totally true! For Tilda is the film festival anthropomorphized: the rush of celebrity, the discovery of the exotic, the air of the international and the thrill of the avant garde. Festivals just don't feel complete without her, do they?

She was all over Venice last week (I've repurposed the photos from Zimbio). Witness...

Tilda's Venice palette: baggy black (a la 07 Oscars), earth tones, white.

I wonder if she'll show up in Toronto? While in Venice, she was promoting Lo Sono L'Amore, an Italian drama. Longtime Swintonites should note that a reunion with her Teknolust director is currently in development. It's called Gene to the Fourth and the actress would play a woman seeking eternal life through scientific experiments. But first, and as early as April, Swinton is set to go before the cameras as Die Blutgräfin (The Blood Countess). Yes, that's the same vampiric Hungarian role that Julie Delpy played in the unreleased film The Countess, a film I'm starting to feel I'll never have the opportunity to see.
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Denis, Rivette, and Moore!: Venice Lineup Announced

Robert here, noticing that the Venice Film Festival announced the lineup for it's 66th installment on Thursday. Here's the in-competition list, with a few bits I managed to find about each film.

Baaria (Opening Film) dir. Giuseppe Tornatore
The director of Cinema Paradiso gives us a three-generation spanning epic about his Italian hometown.

Soul Kitchen dir. Fatih Akin (pictured)
Akin directed the terrific Head-On and The Edge of Heaven (if you haven't seen either or both, do now). He re teams with Birol Unel from Head-On for a comedy about culture and gender clash.

La Doppia Ora dir. Giuseppe Capotondi
It's been tough finding information on this as Venice's website (nor IMDb) has much at the moment. I can tell tell you is that it's a freshman effort, it's Italian, and it's fun to say... La Doppio Ora!

Yi ngoi (Accident) dir. Cheang Pou-Soi
A Hong Kong crime film about a policeman getting in too deep as he attempts to take down an Assassins gang.

Persecution dir. Patrice Chereau
The newest film from the director of Queen Margot and Intimacy is a tumultuous love story. No word on whether there will be explicit scenes but it stars Charlotte Gainsbourg so a man can dream can't he?

Lo Spazio Bianco (White Space) dir. Francesca Comencini
This Italian film deals with the tenuous empty time (ala white space) a mother spends between the premature birth of her baby and its removal from an incubator.

White Material dir. Claire Denis
While us Denis fans in the states are still anticipating her last movie 35 Rhums, she's moved onto her next. This one stars Isabelle Huppert and Isaak de Bankole and involves a French coffee grower in Africa during a time of great conflict. Those unfamiliar with Denis probably shouldn't expect any action sequences.

Mr. Nobody dir. Jaco van Dormael (pictured)
Here's a film about a 120 year old man who is the last mortal living in a world of immortals. I'm already sold. Jared Leto and Sarah Polley star.

A Single Man dir. Tom Ford
Ford's first film stars Colin Firth as a gay college professor dealing with the death of his lover. Julianne Moore also stars. I smell lots and lots of potential.

Lourdes dir. Jessica Hausner
Hasuner's films have been staples on the festival circuits (though still relatively unknown among wider audiences). Lourdes (which will also play Toronto) is about a wheelchair-bound woman who, wouldn't you know it, travels to Lourdes in the hope of a miracle.

Bad Lieutenant: Port Of New Orleans dir. Werner Herzog
Nicolas Cage stars as a wild flailing police lieutenant who totters on the edge of sanity... as directed by Werner Herzog. This will either be a horrible disaster or a fantastic disaster, or a total masterpiece. It'll certainly be something.

The Road dir. John Hillcoat
Remember back when Esquire called this the most important film of the year? We'll soon see.

Ahasin Wetei (Between Two Worlds) dir. Vimukhti Jayasundara
I look forward to finding out more about this film from award-winning short director Jayasundara. Meanwhile, here's a picture of him at some event with Miranda July. Cool.

El Mosafer (The Traveller) dir. Ahmed Maher
Word is, Maher's been trying to make this project his entire career. It's described as: "Set in three different time periods, “El Mosafer” traces the life of one man over three days in three different years: 1948 in Suez, 1973 in Alexandria and 2001 in Cairo."[src] I figured no paraphrasing of mine could do better.

Levanon (Lebanon) dir. Samuel Maoz
A semi-autobiographical picture about four soldiers at the start of the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

Capitalism: A Love Story dir. Michael Moore (pictured)
Unfortunately there's not much on the internet about either this film or director. Apparently he's a documentarian of some sort who people don't feel strongly about one way or the other. Seriously though if Moore's latest is like the rest of his films it stands to be controversial, sad, and true (mostly).

Zanan-e-bedun-e mardan (Women Without Men) dir. Shirin Neshat
Neshat is an acclaimed photographer whose been delving into film recently. Her latest is about a group of women who band together to form their own personal rural utopia.

Il Grande Sogno (The Big Dream) dir. Michele Placido
This film is set in 1968. I wish I could have found more than that. It's Italian and despite what Quentin Tarantino might have you believe, that country has been turning out some really good cinema lately.

36 Vues Du Pic Saint Loup dir. Jacques Rivette
Rivette's latest is a biopic about author Raymond Roussel. And considering it's Rivette behind the wheel, I'm guessing it's not your standard biopic.

Life During Wartime dir. Todd Solondz
Solondz's new movie has been described as a "dark comedy of sexual obsession" [src] and a companion piece to Happiness and Welcome to the Dollhouse. Solondz fans should be excited... hooray for sexual obsession!

Tetsuo The Bullet Man dir. Shinya Tsukamoto (pictured)
This is the third film in Tsukamoto's underground cyberpunk Tetsuo film series. I can't personally claim to have seen any of them but know that the first, Tetsuo The Iron Man is about a man who finds himself transforming into metal. I'm told it's weird... in a good way.

Lei wangzi (Prince of Tears) dir. Yonfan
Chinese director Yonfan gives us an exploration of friendship between four individuals in socially unresty 1960's Taiwan.

Hopefully that spread some interest around, and my apologies for the more sketchy summaries.

Golden Lions in the Ring

Could The Wrestler, the new unexpected Darren Aronofsky movie starring Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei have Oscar in its future? It just won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival which is big news indeed. Mickey Rourke is the kind of storied celebrity that could keep the press humming and you need the press for real Oscar runs. As for Marisa Tomei, she's always fabulous and a possibility too with the right movie / right role. I actually broke the news of her involvement in this film on my podcastinterview weeks before the trades published her casting... only I didn't know it was news ;) Silly me!

Best Film (Golden Lion): The Wrestler by Darren Aronofsky (US)
Best Director: Aleksei German for Paper Soldier (Russia) the true story of the Soviet Union's
'first man in space' mission in the 60s.

Best Actor: Silvio Orlando in Il Papa di Giovanna, a Mussolini-era drama.
Best Actress: Dominique Blanc in L'Autre as an independent but jealous woman.
Best Young Actor or Actress (The Marcello Mastroianni Award): Jennifer Lawrence in The Burning Plain by Guillermo Arriaga (both of them pictured right).
Special Jury Prize and Screenplay Prize: Teza by Haile Gerima (Ethiopia / Germany)
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Death Life in Venice

The cinema lives! Whenever I get fatigued by summer explosions and men in tights, I just remind myself: the festivals are coming, the festivals are coming. The auteurs will soon return . My good friend Boyd @ the great European Films has the Venice lineup for you. It looks yummy. Not only do we have the new Coen Bros (I love their comedies, I do) but a new toon from the master Hayao Miyazaki and a new flick from Darren Aronofsky --we didn't even have to wait that long this time --and that's just scratching the surface of what will be there. My oh my. Which film are you most looking forward to?

Notes from Venice - Ang Lee strikes again

update 01/22/08. This post is suddenly getting hit from web searches. I'm not sure why. The news is true. Heath Ledger has died. So, so sad.

This is an old post about his appearance at the Venice Film Festival where he was calling himself "Keith Ledger"

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Boyd from European Films here, reporting from the Venice Film Festival.

Ang Lee has done it again! He has again won the Golden Lion, the Venice Film Festival's top prize, just two years after Brokeback Mountain, but now with a drama set on another continent and in another language: Se jie (Lust Caution), a war-time drama set in an occupied Shanghai in which a theatre student (Wei Tang) is asked to seduce a high-placed official (Tony Leung) who collaborates openly with the occupiers. The film also won the prize for Best Cinematography for DOP Rodrigo Prieto, the same man who shot Brokeback Mountain.

Besides this Taiwanese-US co-production, US films won several other prizes, including Brian De Palma's Redacted (Best Director); Todd Haynes's I'm Not There (Best Actress for Cate Blanchett, Special Jury Prize) and Andrew Dominik's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, which was awarded the Best Actor Coppa Volpi for Brad Pitt.

Neither Pitt nor Blanchett were present, though Blanchett's co-star Heath Ledger accepted the Best Actress award on her behalf. Ledger was in top shape, rocking the red carpet with the coolest pair of socks ever before apologizing for not being Cate Blanchett but "just this dirtbag" when accepting the award. He later referred to himself in Cate's thank-you note he read out loud as "Keith Ledger". Funny man.

If anything, like with Brokeback Mountain, Lust, Caution just got a serious Oscar boost after early mixed-to-positive reviews. (From my Lust, Caution review: "An uncompromising and incredibly seductive piece of filmmaking that is too long but has so many good elements going for it that it is hard to really care that on certain points the director seems to have thrown caution to the wind.")

Check out European Films for a full list of 2007 Venice Film Festival winners.

Notes from Venice - Queer Lions & awards...

Boyd from European Films here, reporting on the Venice Film Festival before it wraps tonight. (Note: your visits to my home base fried my server, but things should be okay again now, though the site could be running slower than usual. Thanks to all for understanding and stopping by.)

First awards: Queer & Not so Queer (unless you consider all Europeans as Queer)
US indie The Speed of Life (Superheroes) from Ed Radtke won the first ever Queer Lion at the Venice Film Festival, one of the first collateral awards handed out before the official Golden Lion awards ceremony this evening. The prize is given to a film that accurately depicts or deals with homosexual characters or themes. It is, if you will, the Venetian version of Berlin's long-established Teddy Award, which has helped such filmmakers as Pedro Almodovar and Gus van Sant earn early recognition before entering the arthouse mainstream. The Queer Lion special mention went to Kenneth Branagh's Sleuth (my review). In the picture above, the man behind the Queer Lion, Daniel Casagrande, shows off the plaque with the name of the winner on it (photo courtesy of Fabrizio Maltese).

The Polish film Sztuczki (Tricks) from Andrzej Jakimowski was awarded the Europa Cinemas Label, a prize that helps a European film with distribution in other European countries - a necessity because of the glut of US films on most European screens and the problems local films have to travel beyond their own borders. Past winners of the prize include Anton Corbijn's musical biopic Control, the documentary Darwin's Nightmare and the Romanian comedy 12:08 East of Bucharest.

Both The Speed of Life and Sztuczki are about manipulating the world, the former by having NYC street kids stealing cameras and creating new and faraway worlds with the obtained footage, the later by having Polish country kids make bets with or sacrifice to fate to obtain a desired result. Visually, both films are from two different worlds: the dirty smudges of VHS-quality necessary for Radtke's semi-autobiographic film are the complete opposite of Sztuczki's lyrical cinematography that bathes the Polish countryside in burnished summer yellows and browns during the day and cool blues and rich blacks during the night-time sequences.

Lion speculation
I won't spend too much time on this now, since in two hours this post will be obsolete. Favorites for top prizes are four at the moment: Paul Haggis's In the Valley of Elah (I wonder what wager he's made with fate to be considered so awardable?); French immigrant drama La graine et le mulet (The Secret of the Grain); Russian legal drama 12, a remake of the Sidney Lumet film 12 Angry Men from 1957, and De Palma's Iraqi war drama Redacted. Outsider options: Greenaway's Rembrandt pic Nightwatching and Ang Lee's Se jie (Lust, Caution). [update: WINNERS ANNOUNCED]

Personal Favorites
Films I cannot wait to see again: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Atonement, La fille coupée en deux (The Girl Cut in Two), Se jie (Lust, Caution), Sügisball (Autumn Ball).
Films I wouldn't mind seeing again: En la ciudad de Sylvia, Sztuczki, Un baiser, s'il vous plait, The Nines, Nessuna qualità agli eroi.

Notes (and a Plea) from Venice - Day 7/8

Boyd from European Films here, reporting on the ongoing Venice Film Festival

Mood: tired
Weather: sunny but not particularly warm
Films seen: Cassandra's Dream, The Nines, La graine et le mulet, Un baiser - s'il vous plaît, The Darjeeling Limited, Hotel Chevalier, Il dolce e l'amaro, En la ciudad de Sylvia, Der Freischwimmer, Mal nascida, Sukiyaki Western Django, Désengagement
People currently on the same square mile of earth as I am: Peter Greenaway, Manoel de Oliveira, Amos Gitai, Tsai Ming-Liang, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Tim Burton, Johnny Depp.

A Plea from Venice:

Dear directors (and dear editors of the aforementioned),

Life is short. Please remember this when putting your films together. Life is short. Repeat after me: Life is short. Life is short. Life is short.

Directors! What has happened to you? If the new films presented at the 2007 Venice Film Festival are any indication, anything shorter than 80 minutes is considered a short film, and anything shorter than 100 a medium-length feature. Don't you think viewers and especially critics don't have anything better to do?

Here is the evidence for my case:

Atonement: 123 minutes
Se jie (Lust, Caution): 156 minutes
Sad vacation: 136 minutes
Michael Clayton: 119 minutes
In the Valley of Elah: 120 minutes
Les amours d'Astrée et de Céladon - 109 minutes
Empire II - 180 minutes
Hotel Meina - 110 minutes
Cléopatra - 116 minutes
Cassandra's Dream - 108 minutes
La fille coupée en deux - 115 minutes The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - 155 minutes
La Graine et le mulet - 151 minutes
I'm Not There - 135 minutes
Sukiyaki Western Django - 121 minutes
Désengagement - 115 minutes
Freischwimmer - 110 minutes
Nightwatching - 134 minutes
and the list goes on...

Do you really think we have nothing else to do in life? That we have no friends, no family, no TV set, no internet connection? What is wrong with you people? If you want to mirror life in your films, please remember what I said earlier: life is short.

In the list above, there are only two films that merit every single minute of their running time: Atonement and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Both are historical epics and benefit from the long running time (in Atonement's case it should ideally have been even a bit longer; it's closing section is handled too quickly). All the other filmmakers have committed what might be a minor infraction if you are out on your semi-weekly multiplex visit, but what turns out to be something on the level of a crime against humanity if you are at a film festival.

If all the films above would have been shortened by just ten minutes, I would have had three whole hours of my life back, in which I could have: a) seen two medium-length films, b) watched the restored copy of D.W. Griffith's Intolerance playing here in Venice, c) gone out for a nice Italian meal d) gone for a swim in the Mediterranean and a nice Italian snack.

So, my dear directors, pleas bear this in mind when putting together your next film. Less is more. Life is short. Critics also like solid food instead of straw-fed Red Bull and coffee. And a dip in the Med is more than they could ever hope for. After any of the above occurrences (or -- God forbid -- a combination of them) , they might even be more mildly inclined towards your movies as they will not review them in a state of lethargy or somnambulance.

Thank you for your future consideration.

(a sleep-depraved) Boyd
editor of european-films.net and
TFE guest blogger from Venice

NB: Note to the editors working with the directors: If you feel that the film you are working on is too long, please advise the director to "jump straight into the story" (read: chop of the endless city-, landscape or other useless shots at the beginning) and to go for an "enigmatic" ending (read: chop ten to twenty minutes of the ending).

Reviews:

Though I've seen a lot more, I haven't been able to review much (or very extensively) for the past two days, since I've had about a dozen interviews that will be published in the upcoming weeks at european-films.net.

What I can give you are the two reviews of highly anticipated titles that both come with reservations: Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited and, as promised, Woody Allen's Cassandra's Dream. Both star stars and are too long but should appeal to fans of the directors. The links above are to the medium-length reviews on european-films.net.

The score board:

On the score board published in the festival daily, the French film La graine et le mulet (The Secret of the Grain) is currently the top choice of both the Italian critics and the Italian audience so far, with Branagh's Sleuth in second place for the audience and the critics placing their bets on Rohmer's Les amours d'Astrée et de Céladon. My personal top three of festival films so far: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Atonement and Se
jie (Lust, Caution).

Tim Burton & Sweeney Todd:

Earlier today, US director Tim Burton received the Career Golden Lion from the hands of an actor completely unknown to the director until the time of the ceremony: Captain Jack (the two bearded and bespectacled men can be see in the picture above, courtesy of Fabrizio Maltese). In honor of the director, the festival declared September 5 "Tim Burton Day" and screened the 3D version of The Nightmare Before Christmas and the first eight minutes of Sweeney Todd, which I haven't seen but which I have been told were quite out of the ordinary (not that anything less would have been acceptable from Burton).

The director walked down the red carpet with his rotund partner Helena Bonham Carter (she is eating lots a the moment but has good reason: she's pregnant), who plays the pie-baking Mrs Lovett in the adaptation of the Sondheim musical about the demon barber. Johnny Depp plays the sharp-cutting title character.

Notes from Venice - Day 5/6

Boyd from European Films here, reporting on the ongoing Venice Film Festival

Mood: tired
Weather: hot but cloudy
Films seen: Cassandra's Dream, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Nines, La graine et le mulet, Un baiser - s'il vous plaît, The Darjeeling Limited, Hotel Chevalier
Gripe of the day: Brad Pitt's sunglasses
People currently on the same square mile of earth as I am: Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Adrien Brody, Bill Murray, Todd Haynes, Richard Gere, Jason Schwartzman, Tim Burton, Joan Chen, Toni Servillo, Terence Howard, Sam Shepard

Last night the Venice Film Festival hosted the gala premieres of two films that had the boys and girls lining the red carpet screaming their lungs out: Woody Allen's Cassandra's Dream with Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford with Casey Affleck and Brad Pitt, who graced the red carpet with Angelina Jolie. (During the latter film's premiere I was in another building half a mile away and I could still hear the deafening screams floating into the room on the gentle sea breeze. "Oh! It must be half past nine," I thought.)

Earlier yesterday, Brad Pitt's sunglasses caused an uproar with attending photographers when during a photo opportunity for accredited picture-takers he refused to take his sunglasses off and then maliciously passed them on to Casey Affleck before he could have his mug shot taken. A voluntary photography boycott seemed to be in the air for the evening premiere, but things had apparently calmed down by then, as photographers clicked away like mad when the Royal Couple also known as Brangelina finally walked down the red carpet.

So what about the movies? The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (full review) is a magnificent motion picture that will appeal more to the fans of Terence Malick than those of Clint Eastwood. In my review I compared it to both Zodiac and a suspension bridge in that it stars of with a violent episode before going into calmer (read: character psychology) waters and then arriving at the titular act of violence that must certainly rank with the most exciting scenes of the year. How director Andrew Dominik succeeds in making the killing of a man cleaning a picture on a wall so exciting you will have to see for yourself, though a clear mixture of cunning mise-en-scene and a slow build-up that only a 155-minute picture can afford must at least be partially held responsible.

Pitt is in fine form, though at 40+ he looks a bit wrinkly for 34-year-old James (even Pitt gets older, yikes!) and Affleck is truly great, looking at the serious possibility he might get an acting nomination at the Oscars before his older brother Ben. People voting in the technical categories will also love this film, which looks absolutely stunning (gorgeous cinematography? check. great production design? check. period costumes. check! lovely make-up and hair? check) and also features a great, sombre score from Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. The film seems to be too artistically inclined and too long to go for a Best Picture win, but it could turn out to go home with most Oscars a la Memoirs of a Geisha a few years back, simply because it is a stunning production all the way and could win a heap of statuettes in those categories.

Woody Allen's Cassandra's Dream (cast pictured above, courtesy of Fabrizio Maltese) is a funny case. Just a couple of weeks ago I reviewed the new Chabrol film La fille coupée en deux (The Girl Cut in Two), explaining that the two filmmakers both had a glory period that belongs to the past in common, as well as the fact that they seem unable to live without making movies and still churn out one a year of varying quality. As such, Allen made something of come-back with his extremely well-received Match Point, and, I wrote, Chabrol's latest could be considered his Match Point, a "deliciously dark and well-observed tale that marks a fine return to form."

Imagine my surprise when I saw Cassandra's Dream, which feels like a Chabrol film transplanted to London as directed by an American (which it is). Is there some mutual cross-pollination going on between the two directors? Coincidence or not, the latest films from both masters premiered yesterday one after the other in Venice. A full review of Cassandra's Dream is forthcoming, but let's just say for the moment that it's pretty dark and pretty funny, and again reminds everyone why this character actor will never go out of business.

(A not unimportant note on the Chabrol: Ludivine Sagnier becomes not only prettier by the day but is also clearly growing as an actress. Plus, Benoît Magimel is irresistible as a slimy, fey and delusional heir with too much money and not enough good manners.)