Prototype (Blake Williams)The 36th Vancouver Film Festival recently wrapped, and with it, the second year of the Future//Present program, a selection of eight features (and a number of shorts) dedicated to emerging Canadian filmmakers. If the inaugural edition had the task of distinguishing itself from the rest of the festival's True North “stream,” this year's offered the opportunity to cement its relevancy and expand its vision. That's something for which the admirably varied program proved more or less able, albeit with higher highs and lower lows than in 2016, which speaks, at least, to chances being taken (something that can't necessarily be said of the festival's programming in general). Taken on the whole, there are—beyond the uniting sensibility of critic and programmer Adam Cook—filmmaking trends that one could identify, and patterns that one could connect, for better and for worse, to the larger contemporary arthouse scene. But the most successful selections,...
- 10/20/2017
- MUBI
Last year the The Globe & Mail released an article entitled "What is Wrong with the Canadian Film Industry?" that outlined the problems facing our country’s cinema: low box-office numbers, a crisis of English-Canadian identity, an inability to compete with Hollywood entertainments etc., etc. Focused entirely on the industry, the piece fails to mention the resurgence that had been taking root for quite some time. 2015 was an important year for Canadian cinema, but while Room, Hyena Road and Wet Bum ate up the article’s word count, three of the year’s great Canadian films by emerging directors went unnoticed: Isiah Medina’s 88:88, Kurt Walker’s Hit 2 Pass, and Kazik Radwanski’s How Heavy This Hammer. Equating cinema with ‘content,’ a product to be bought and sold, the article is as much a reflection of the problems with Canadian cinema as an exposition of it. But this insidious...
- 11/29/2016
- MUBI
Did you ever wonder what the characters of Matt Groening's Futurama would look like in the real world? Thanks to a new fan film, you won't have to. You might also never sleep again. Maybe it's just me but the trailer for this fan film (called Fan-o-Rama) is Freaking Me Out. Honestly though, this group from Cinema Relics really went the extra mile. The sets specifically are giving me a Pee-wee's Playhouse vibe, but it's those prosthetics/masks that are really getting me. See for yourself. A little more background info from their site: In the year 2014 one man, Dan Lanigan, in addition to other men, and some women, set out on a quest to become the first person in his family to create a live-action Futurama fan film. He is now regarded by most of his immediate kin as the foremost authority on the subject. This is his story.
- 7/19/2016
- by Jill Pantozzi
- Hitfix
A movie that’s about movies in the most skewer-happy sense, Joel and Ethan Coen‘s Hail, Caesar! is bound to inspire any number of comparisons and spot-the-reference games among discerning viewers. Not all of these are obvious. Despite the fact that I’m thinking about Jerry Lewis for half of any given day, I can’t say I made the same connections raised in the latest installment of Little White Lies‘ video-essay series, “Under the Influence,” where Adam Cook examines Lewis’ second directorial effort, The Errand Boy, and those curious ways it overlaps with the Coens‘ latest picture. Although the latter is hardly mentioned therein, fans of either should notice commonalities in their respective humor, intents, and scopes, even past the obvious fact of being set at movie studios. If nothing else, keep these in mind as a very fine double-feature to hold at home.
For more Coen-related material,...
For more Coen-related material,...
- 3/7/2016
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Florida TV news journalist Christine Chubbuck shot herself live on the air in 1974. More than 40 years later, actress Kate Lyn Sheil and documentary filmmaker Robert Greene have made Kate Plays Christine, an attempt to figure out the motivation behind Chubbuck’s suicide. But they do so via rather unconventional means. We spoke with Sheil and Greene at Sundance, where the film premiered, to talk about the film and how they used fake performance to explore real-life performance, as well as how we perceive both.
The Film Stage: When and how did each of you first learn about Christine Chubbuck and what happened to her?
Kate Lyn Sheil: I first heard about it for this project.
Robert Greene: It was probably 10 years ago, maybe more. A friend of mine told me the story, and I had sort of like everybody else’s reaction to it: “Holy shit”’ and also,...
The Film Stage: When and how did each of you first learn about Christine Chubbuck and what happened to her?
Kate Lyn Sheil: I first heard about it for this project.
Robert Greene: It was probably 10 years ago, maybe more. A friend of mine told me the story, and I had sort of like everybody else’s reaction to it: “Holy shit”’ and also,...
- 2/1/2016
- by Daniel Schindel
- The Film Stage
Director Andrew Haigh (left) and actor Tom Courtenay of 45 Years.In his reflection on love and politics Alain Badiou argues that rarely in the cinema has there been a filmmaker who tried to discuss love and its complexity within the family structure. Cinema has always been more interested in reflecting upon this question in the hazardous encounter of two young adults. However, as Badiou argues, love is not only the emotion that happens after a hazardous encounter; it is also the emotion that we feel when we live together for a long period of time. Andrew Haigh’s drama 45 Years, which premiered in competition at the Berlin International Film Festival in February, where both its lead actors, takes on Badiou’s implicit challenge by reflecting upon love in the form of a couple (played by Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay, who each one won Best Acting awards at Berlin) that have lived together for 45 years.
- 12/23/2015
- by Amir Ganjavie
- MUBI
Rushes collects news, articles, images, videos and more for a weekly roundup of essential items from the world of film.NEWSFinally! New to the Criterion Collection is Edward Yang's A Brighter Summer's Day, one of the most important yet hard-to-see films of the 1990s. Also included in the recent announcement were Jacques Rivette's Paris Belongs to Us and Les Blank's A Poem Is a Naked Person.There's a new Kickstarter for "first publication on the films of Ola Balogun, the pioneer of Nigerian cinema, analysing/discovering his magical cinema."FESTIVALSThe Berlin International Film Festival Poster: The Golden Bear on the prowl! Meanwhile, more films for the Berlinale have been announced, as well as the theme—"Traversing the Phantasm"—for the essential Forum Expanded section.The 2016 Locarno Film Festival isn't until next August but we're already tantalized for their newly revealed retrospective, "Beloved and Rejected," dedicated to post-WW2 German...
- 12/23/2015
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Hope you've seen Adam Cook's excellent piece here in Keyframe on Agnès Varda's Jane B. par Agnès V. and Kung-fu Master!, both from 1988, and Kevin B. Lee's video, 33 Jane Bs by Agnès Varda. Today, we gather more reviews, starting with Glenn Kenny in the New York Times: "Of all the filmmakers associated with the French New Wave, Ms. Varda wears the liberties demanded by that alliance most lightly; she never seems to be showing off. Her work always, it appears, derives directly from her way of seeing, and her admiration of Jane Birkin is unequivocal." » - David Hudson...
- 10/18/2015
- Keyframe
Hope you've seen Adam Cook's excellent piece here in Keyframe on Agnès Varda's Jane B. par Agnès V. and Kung-fu Master!, both from 1988, and Kevin B. Lee's video, 33 Jane Bs by Agnès Varda. Today, we gather more reviews, starting with Glenn Kenny in the New York Times: "Of all the filmmakers associated with the French New Wave, Ms. Varda wears the liberties demanded by that alliance most lightly; she never seems to be showing off. Her work always, it appears, derives directly from her way of seeing, and her admiration of Jane Birkin is unequivocal." » - David Hudson...
- 10/18/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
Adam Cook, in a dispatch to Brooklyn Magazine, writes that How Heavy This Hammer, Kazik Radwanski’s followup to his debut feature, Tower, "is "a low-key, understated character portrait of a middle-aged family man named Erwin (Erwin Van Cotthem) who seems casually ambivalent towards life… "On a narrative level, there’s not too much going on here… but Radwanski’s sensitive and empathetic approach effectively brings the viewer into this mundanity and helping us understand the silent pressures and tensions of this unremarkable man and his existential woes." We're collecting more reviews, all of them quite positive so far. » - David Hudson...
- 9/18/2015
- Keyframe
Adam Cook, in a dispatch to Brooklyn Magazine, writes that How Heavy This Hammer, Kazik Radwanski’s followup to his debut feature, Tower, "is "a low-key, understated character portrait of a middle-aged family man named Erwin (Erwin Van Cotthem) who seems casually ambivalent towards life… "On a narrative level, there’s not too much going on here… but Radwanski’s sensitive and empathetic approach effectively brings the viewer into this mundanity and helping us understand the silent pressures and tensions of this unremarkable man and his existential woes." We're collecting more reviews, all of them quite positive so far. » - David Hudson...
- 9/18/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
Dear Fern,It truly is wonderful to resume this festival correspondence with you. My last trip resulted in a monologue, and I'm very glad to have you here with me to tell of impressions and experiences both shared and divergent. You ask how I'm able to write on all these films across all these festivals (and surely so many others write so much better on so much more), but really it is your words I'm most eager to encounter, as you are not in the film festival "scene": your lovely erudition and insight comes from within, from love, knowledge and talent, rather than an attachment to the centripetal force of festival trends.While my travels to Berlin, Cannes and Locarno this year may have allowed me cross some heavy-hitting big names or otherwise greatly anticipated films off my list (Toronto is playing The Assassin, Arabian Nights, In the Shadow of Women,...
- 9/11/2015
- by Daniel Kasman
- MUBI
Rushes collects news, articles, images, videos and more for a weekly roundup of essential items from the world of film.Above: The stellar trailer for Yorgos Lanthimos' English-language debut, The Lobster. Daniel Kasman loved it at Cannes, where it picked up a prize.New issues of Film Comment and Cinema Scope are out, which many articles available online. Additionally, Cinema Scope has been publishing extensive pre-coverage of the Toronto International Film Festival's program online.Via Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Twitter: "Midnight talk with Tsai Ming-Liang. Dream, Buddhism, Piracy, an aspiration to do nothing."As the world seems to go into paroxysms of desire for new Star Wars toys, we give in a bit, charmed by this photo of Leia and Han in a deleted sandstorm scene from Return of the Jedi. Above: Another trailer, far more cryptic, this time for Jerzy Skolimowski's 11 Minutes, the long-awaited follow up to his severe and impressive Essential Killing.
- 9/8/2015
- by Notebook
- MUBI
With the Mad Max video game releasing today (September 1) in North America and later this week in the UK, reviews for the open-world extravaganza are dropping faster than a gang of War Boys without any blood bags.
If it's even half as good as Mad Max: Fury Road, then Just Cause developer Avalanche Software will be staring at a surefire hit.
Mad Max game vs Mad Max Fury Road: What are the biggest similarities & differences between the two?
Early reviews are mixed for the Mad Max video game, with some critics calling it "exciting, thrilling fun", while others describe it as shallow and repetitive. We'll have our own review up later this week.
Brandin Tyrrel - IGN
"Mad Max is a juxtaposition of exciting, thrilling fun set in a world of disgusting, primal depravity - like a singing telegram informing you of a death in the family, or an ice-cream...
If it's even half as good as Mad Max: Fury Road, then Just Cause developer Avalanche Software will be staring at a surefire hit.
Mad Max game vs Mad Max Fury Road: What are the biggest similarities & differences between the two?
Early reviews are mixed for the Mad Max video game, with some critics calling it "exciting, thrilling fun", while others describe it as shallow and repetitive. We'll have our own review up later this week.
Brandin Tyrrel - IGN
"Mad Max is a juxtaposition of exciting, thrilling fun set in a world of disgusting, primal depravity - like a singing telegram informing you of a death in the family, or an ice-cream...
- 9/1/2015
- Digital Spy
In 2012, Jem Cohen's feature film Museum Hours received critical acclaim, and earned Cohen a wider audience, partly for having ventured into narrative storytelling—while still upholding the same principles of his past work. His latest film, Counting, is partly a return to the mode he has long been recognized for. Divided into fofteem distinct, poetically intermeshing chapters, it is an essayistic travelogue in the spirit of the late Chris Marker (who receives an explicit dedication).>> - Adam Cook...
- 8/10/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
In 2012, Jem Cohen's feature film Museum Hours received critical acclaim, and earned Cohen a wider audience, partly for having ventured into narrative storytelling—while still upholding the same principles of his past work. His latest film, Counting, is partly a return to the mode he has long been recognized for. Divided into fofteem distinct, poetically intermeshing chapters, it is an essayistic travelogue in the spirit of the late Chris Marker (who receives an explicit dedication).>> - Adam Cook...
- 8/10/2015
- Keyframe
Rushes collects news, articles, images, videos and more for a weekly roundup of essential items from the world of film.Above: The trailer for Alejandro González Iñárritu's The Revenant, his follow-up to Birdman.Mubi has signed its first theatrical deal, to distribute Miguel Gomes' beautiful three-part epic Arabian Nights in the UK.The big news of the week is the theft of F.W. Murnau's head. No kidding.At Film Comment, Portuguese master Pedro Costa, subject of a retrospective at New York's Film Society of Lincoln Center, has written on Howard Hawks' Land of the Pharaohs, which Costa has selected to show in his carte blanche program there.Above: Tony Zhao's Every Frame a Painting series of video essays continues with Chuck Jones - The Evolution of an Artist."The sheer amount of Woody Allen films means that each one—especially the less sensational among them—seems to lose its identity.
- 7/22/2015
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Hou Hsiao-hsien. Photo by Yao Hung-i.The Assassin, Taiwanese master Hou Hsiao-hsien's first film in eight years, was one of the most sublime revelations at the Cannes Film Festival this May, where the film premiered and took home the Best Director prize. We wrote about the film, enraptured, during the festival:"This film, decades in the making, feels like the condensation and purification of something long lived with by all involved. It is a nüxia (woman knight) story, loosely based on a Tang dynasty tale, and it is spoken in guwen, a very classical, literary style of Chinese. And yet for his lady assassin Hou has chosen his most modern of performers, Shu Qi, his pop muse from 2001's Millennium Mambo onward, and so we see the young embodiment of Taiwanese modern woman transported into a past of courtly rules and manners, etiquette and architecture binding and restrictive for all,...
- 7/16/2015
- by Daniel Kasman
- MUBI
Rushes collects news, articles, images, videos and more for a weekly roundup of essential items from the world of film.Above: Nastassja Kinski & Jean-Pierre Léaud are on the poster for the 2015 Venice Film Festival.At the New York Times, A.O. Scott and Manohla Dargis are in dialogue reflecting on feminism and summer movies.There's a new festival in the works from producer/distributor Karin Chien, critic/curator Shelly Kraicer, and filmmaker/anthropologist J.P. Sniadecki: "Cinema on the Edge! Bestof the Beijing Indie Film Festival." With the 2014 Biff thwarted, these three are essentially transposing the festival and its films to New York this summer. They've launched a Kickstarter to support the venture.Above: Lauren Bacall in a 1943 issue of Harper's Bazaar. Via bettybecallbeauty.Film Comment's latest issue is out, and much of it is available to read online, including Kent Jones on Horse Money, reports from Cannes and Tribeca,...
- 7/8/2015
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Narrated by Bob Balaban, Hitchcock/Truffaut tells the story of the relationship of these two directors, with excerpts from the audiotapes, and a handful of interviews with contemporary filmmakers who expound on their own love for Hitchcock, and the book’s value. Among them are Martin Scorsese, James Gray, David Fincher, Wes Anderson, Olivier Assayas, Arnaud Desplechin, and Kyoshi Kurosawa. >> -Adam Cook...
- 7/5/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
Narrated by Bob Balaban, Hitchcock/Truffaut tells the story of the relationship of these two directors, with excerpts from the audiotapes, and a handful of interviews with contemporary filmmakers who expound on their own love for Hitchcock, and the book’s value. Among them are Martin Scorsese, James Gray, David Fincher, Wes Anderson, Olivier Assayas, Arnaud Desplechin, and Kyoshi Kurosawa. >> -Adam Cook...
- 7/5/2015
- Keyframe
The films of Sean Baker are each guided foremost by person and place, finding the intersection between both that defines lives. In 2004’s Take Out, co-directed by Shih-Ching Tsou, the film follows as Ming Ding (Charles Jang), a Chinese food delivery worker, tries to pay off an $800 debt by running as many orders as possible in a single day. Ming is an ill-adjusted immigrant: quiet, timid and intimidated by the claustrophobic surroundings of the fragmented stretch of New York he navigates uneasily on his bicycle between the restaurant and his destinations. Shot mostly in tight on faces—by Sean Baker himself, who was also cinematographer on the follow-up Prince of Broadway>> - Adam Cook...
- 6/28/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
The films of Sean Baker are each guided foremost by person and place, finding the intersection between both that defines lives. In 2004’s Take Out, co-directed by Shih-Ching Tsou, the film follows as Ming Ding (Charles Jang), a Chinese food delivery worker, tries to pay off an $800 debt by running as many orders as possible in a single day. Ming is an ill-adjusted immigrant: quiet, timid and intimidated by the claustrophobic surroundings of the fragmented stretch of New York he navigates uneasily on his bicycle between the restaurant and his destinations. Shot mostly in tight on faces—by Sean Baker himself, who was also cinematographer on the follow-up Prince of Broadway>> - Adam Cook...
- 6/28/2015
- Keyframe
Rushes collects news, articles, images, videos and more for a weekly roundup of essential items from the world of film.Above, the trailer for Denis Villeneuve's thriller Sicario, which premiered in competition in Cannes.Cinema Scope #63 is about to hit newstands, but a lot of it can be read online: Mark Peranson on Cannes and Miguel Gomes, Adam Cook talks with Corneliu Porumboiu, Jordan Cronk on The Assassin, Chuck Stephens on Gregory Markopoulous, Christoph Huber on Mad Max: Fury Road, and more.Author William Gibson recounts his encounters with Chris Marker's La Jetée.James Horner, the composer of scores for such Hollywood films as 48 Hrs, Aliens, and Titanic, has died at the age of 61.Federic Babina has made a series of "Archidirector" illustrations, imagining houses designed in the style of filmmakers like David Lynch and Stanley Kubrick.Sight & Sound has exclusive images from the production of Ben Rivers' new movie,...
- 6/24/2015
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Rushes collects news, articles, images, videos and more for a weekly roundup of essential items from the world of film.Above: Bound to get taken offline by the time you read this, hurry up and watch Star War Wars: All 6 Films At Once (Full Length)Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory visit the famed closet of the Criterion Collection and recount their experiences encountering Godard's Weekend and films by Antonioni.At the invaluable chrismarker.org, Chris Marker's short film 2084 (1984) has been remixed.At its premiere at the Berlinale, Queen of the Desert, Werner Herzog's long-awaited return to epic filmmaking, garnered an unfortunate, uneven response. Now the full trailer for the film is out, and we hope it grows in our estimation upon re-viewing. As a recap, read impressions from Daniel Kasman and Adam Cook, as well as our interview with long-time Herzog cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger about working on the film.
- 6/17/2015
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Rushes collects news, articles, images, videos and more for a weekly roundup of essential items from the world of film.The New York Film Festival has revealed that Robert Zemeckis's much-anticipated 3D quasi-heist film The Walk will open the 2015 event. The newly released full trailer can be watched above.Famed writer Jean Gruault has died at the age of 90. Gruault had written scripts for François Truffaut (Jules and Jim), Jacques Rivette (The Nun), Alain Resnais (Mon oncle d'Amérique), and others, including writing the novel on which Valérie Donzelli's Cannes competitor this year, Marguerite & Julien, was based.We're crossing our fingers that Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight will make 50+ cinemas in the U.S. equipped to project 70mm.This week is a trailer bonanza, including Mistress America, the new Noah Baumbach collaboration with actress Greta Gerwig after Frances Ha.This Long Century has published several new pieces, including...
- 6/10/2015
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Abel Ferrara’s longstanding status as an outsider in the American independent film scene finds a way of being reaffirmed just about every time he makes a movie. Whether it’s trouble with releases, hustling for financing, legal problems, producing and shooting in Europe (he lives in Rome), controversies over censorship or, now with his next potential project, Siberia, this singular rebel has turned to Kickstarter to raise $500,000. Following in the footsteps of Spike Lee, crowdfunding makes sense for a director of Ferrara’s generation. He’s a well-established auteur, with a difficult production history that’s just as well documented. His fan base is largely dedicated and cinephilic. Somehow, the man never compromises his vision, no matter what the context of his films’ making is—and some of his boldest work has come in the last couple years with Welcome to New York and Pasolini.>> - Adam Cook...
- 6/9/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
Abel Ferrara’s longstanding status as an outsider in the American independent film scene finds a way of being reaffirmed just about every time he makes a movie. Whether it’s trouble with releases, hustling for financing, legal problems, producing and shooting in Europe (he lives in Rome), controversies over censorship or, now with his next potential project, Siberia, this singular rebel has turned to Kickstarter to raise $500,000. Following in the footsteps of Spike Lee, crowdfunding makes sense for a director of Ferrara’s generation. He’s a well-established auteur, with a difficult production history that’s just as well documented. His fan base is largely dedicated and cinephilic. Somehow, the man never compromises his vision, no matter what the context of his films’ making is—and some of his boldest work has come in the last couple years with Welcome to New York and Pasolini.>> - Adam Cook...
- 6/9/2015
- Keyframe
For the Hollywood Reporter's Jordan Mintzer, Apichatpong Weerasethakul's "leisurely paced" Cemetery of Splendour "features some of the Thai auteur’s trademark surreal beauty, though doesn’t necessarily pack the same punch as movies like Syndromes and a Century or Palme d’Or winner Uncle Boonmee Who May Recall Past Lives." But others are won over. Notes Adam Cook at Movie Mezzanine: "Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, his regular DoP, was hired to work on Miguel Gomes’s Arabian Nights, so Weerasethakul teams up instead with rising talent Diego Garcia. His crisp, clear cinematography gives the film a sharp sense of the vibrant, textured surroundings." We've got the trailer, a clip, and we're gathering more reviews. » - David Hudson...
- 5/19/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
For the Hollywood Reporter's Jordan Mintzer, Apichatpong Weerasethakul's "leisurely paced" Cemetery of Splendour "features some of the Thai auteur’s trademark surreal beauty, though doesn’t necessarily pack the same punch as movies like Syndromes and a Century or Palme d’Or winner Uncle Boonmee Who May Recall Past Lives." But others are won over. Notes Adam Cook at Movie Mezzanine: "Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, his regular DoP, was hired to work on Miguel Gomes’s Arabian Nights, so Weerasethakul teams up instead with rising talent Diego Garcia. His crisp, clear cinematography gives the film a sharp sense of the vibrant, textured surroundings." We've got the trailer, a clip, and we're gathering more reviews. » - David Hudson...
- 5/19/2015
- Keyframe
It’s been nearly twenty years since Arnaud Desplechin’s My Sex Life…Or How I Got Into An Argument premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Since then, its star Mathieu Amalric has become among the most internationally recognized French actors, and Arnaud Desplechin has become one of contemporary French cinema’s most acclaimed directors. The protagonist of that film, Paul Dedalus, Amalric’s romantic philosopher professor, is again the protagonist in My Golden Days (the superior French title is “Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse”), which has just debuted in the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes. Now Paul is an anthropologist living in Tajikstan, about to take a new job with Foreign Affairs and move back to Paris. However, he runs into passport trouble at the airport. He ends up in an interrogation room to sort it out—and the real interrogation begins: of his own memories. Divided into three chapters,...
- 5/19/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
It’s been nearly twenty years since Arnaud Desplechin’s My Sex Life…Or How I Got Into An Argument premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Since then, its star Mathieu Amalric has become among the most internationally recognized French actors, and Arnaud Desplechin has become one of contemporary French cinema’s most acclaimed directors. The protagonist of that film, Paul Dedalus, Amalric’s romantic philosopher professor, is again the protagonist in My Golden Days (the superior French title is “Trois souvenirs de ma jeunesse”), which has just debuted in the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes. Now Paul is an anthropologist living in Tajikstan, about to take a new job with Foreign Affairs and move back to Paris. However, he runs into passport trouble at the airport. He ends up in an interrogation room to sort it out—and the real interrogation begins: of his own memories. Divided into three chapters,...
- 5/19/2015
- Keyframe
We are excited to be now showing the most recent Golden Leopard Winner at the Locarno Film Festival, Lav Diaz's From What Is Before.Writing from Locarno last summer, Adam Cook describes the film as "an extraordinary way to begin a film festival":"Beginning free of dialogue, the early parts of the film are defined by the landscapes of its Filipino countryside setting. Traversing these landscapes are figures that will become characters over the next few hours, as detail by detail is slowly divulged as the film gracefully, surprisingly unfolds."Lav Diaz was kind enough to answer a few questions we sent him.Mubi: What film for you is unforgettable?Lav Diaz: There are many. But early on, two films emancipated me, the way I look at cinema, extending to the way I look at life. These are Manila, In the Claws of Neon, by Lino Brocka,...
- 4/23/2015
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Edited by Adam Cook
The lineup for this year's New Directors/New Films, "presented jointly by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and The Museum of Modern Art," has been announced. "For the Birds": Richard Brody picks on the Academy Awards. There's an intriguing new film journal on the scene: "The Completist," authored by Rumsey Taylor. Head over to the site to read his "Statement of Intentions". Described as being "roughly quarterly", we're looking forward to future instalments. In Film Comment, Tanner Tafelski writes on the films of John Korty:
"Carroll Ballard, Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Philip Kaufman, and Michael Ritchie all are, or were, San Francisco–based filmmakers. Yet none of these people seem to be Bay Area filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, Abel Ferrara, or Spike Lee are New York filmmakers. Avant-garde cinema, on the other hand, has a rich history with the West Coast in general,...
The lineup for this year's New Directors/New Films, "presented jointly by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and The Museum of Modern Art," has been announced. "For the Birds": Richard Brody picks on the Academy Awards. There's an intriguing new film journal on the scene: "The Completist," authored by Rumsey Taylor. Head over to the site to read his "Statement of Intentions". Described as being "roughly quarterly", we're looking forward to future instalments. In Film Comment, Tanner Tafelski writes on the films of John Korty:
"Carroll Ballard, Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Philip Kaufman, and Michael Ritchie all are, or were, San Francisco–based filmmakers. Yet none of these people seem to be Bay Area filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, Abel Ferrara, or Spike Lee are New York filmmakers. Avant-garde cinema, on the other hand, has a rich history with the West Coast in general,...
- 2/25/2015
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Below you will find our total coverage of the 2015 Berlin International Film Festival. New interviews will be added to the index as they are published.
Correspondences
Between Adam Cook and Daniel Kasman
#1
Introduction by Daniel Kasman
#2
Adam Cook continues the festival introduction
#3
Daniel Kasman on Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson's The Forbidden Room, Jafar Panahi's Taxi
#4
Adam Cook on Jem Cohen's Counting, Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson's The Forbidden Room, Jafar Panahi's Taxi
#5
Daniel Kasman on Berlin Critics' Week, Nathalie Nambot and Maki Berchache's Brûle la mer, Kevin B. Lee's Transformers: The Premake, Alex Ross Perry's Queen of Earth
#6
Adam Cook on Pablo Larraín's The Club, Kidlat Tahimik's Balikbayan #1 Memories of Overdevelopment Redux III, Andrew Haigh's 45 Years, Wim Wenders' Everything Will Be Fine
#7
Daniel Kasman on Werner Herzog's Queen of the Desert, Patricio Guzmán's The Pearl...
Correspondences
Between Adam Cook and Daniel Kasman
#1
Introduction by Daniel Kasman
#2
Adam Cook continues the festival introduction
#3
Daniel Kasman on Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson's The Forbidden Room, Jafar Panahi's Taxi
#4
Adam Cook on Jem Cohen's Counting, Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson's The Forbidden Room, Jafar Panahi's Taxi
#5
Daniel Kasman on Berlin Critics' Week, Nathalie Nambot and Maki Berchache's Brûle la mer, Kevin B. Lee's Transformers: The Premake, Alex Ross Perry's Queen of Earth
#6
Adam Cook on Pablo Larraín's The Club, Kidlat Tahimik's Balikbayan #1 Memories of Overdevelopment Redux III, Andrew Haigh's 45 Years, Wim Wenders' Everything Will Be Fine
#7
Daniel Kasman on Werner Herzog's Queen of the Desert, Patricio Guzmán's The Pearl...
- 2/24/2015
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Taxi
The Notebook's Adam Cook and Daniel Kasman have been covering the Berlin International Film Festival since its opening day, and the 2015 awards have just been announced. The jury this year consisted of Darren Aronofsky, Daniel Brühl, Bong Joon-ho, Martha de Laurentiis, Claudia Llosa, Audrey Tautou, and Matthew Weiner.
Golden Bear
Taxi (Jafar Panahi)
Our takes: 1, 2
Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize
The Club (Pablo Larraín)
Our takes: 1, 2
Alfred Bauer Prize
Ixcancul Volcano (Jayro Bustamente)
Our take: 1
Best Director
Radu Jude (Aferim)
Malgorzata Szumowska (Body)
Best Actress
Charlotte Rampling (45 Years)
Our take: 1
Best Actor
Tom Courtenay (45 Years)
Our take: 1
Best Script
Patricio Guzmán (The Pearl Button)
Our take: 1
Outstanding Artistic Contribution
"Sturla Brandth Grøvlen for the camera in Victoria"
"Evgeniy Privin and Sergey Mikhalchuk for the camera in Under Electric Clouds"...
The Notebook's Adam Cook and Daniel Kasman have been covering the Berlin International Film Festival since its opening day, and the 2015 awards have just been announced. The jury this year consisted of Darren Aronofsky, Daniel Brühl, Bong Joon-ho, Martha de Laurentiis, Claudia Llosa, Audrey Tautou, and Matthew Weiner.
Golden Bear
Taxi (Jafar Panahi)
Our takes: 1, 2
Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize
The Club (Pablo Larraín)
Our takes: 1, 2
Alfred Bauer Prize
Ixcancul Volcano (Jayro Bustamente)
Our take: 1
Best Director
Radu Jude (Aferim)
Malgorzata Szumowska (Body)
Best Actress
Charlotte Rampling (45 Years)
Our take: 1
Best Actor
Tom Courtenay (45 Years)
Our take: 1
Best Script
Patricio Guzmán (The Pearl Button)
Our take: 1
Outstanding Artistic Contribution
"Sturla Brandth Grøvlen for the camera in Victoria"
"Evgeniy Privin and Sergey Mikhalchuk for the camera in Under Electric Clouds"...
- 2/14/2015
- by Notebook
- MUBI
From the Berlin International Film Festival, Adam Cook and Daniel Kasman continue our series of festival dialogues. Terrence Malick's Knight of Cups had its world premiere in the Berlinale's Competition.
Daniel Kasman: I must admit it's a bit difficult to begin speaking of this overwhelming film so immediately after seeing it, and especially in the atmosphere here in Berlin of almost immediate derision. I remember the boos that instantly followed the final shot of The Tree of Life's in Cannes and here I'd swear I felt that negative energy going into the giant Berlinale Palast, the anticipation of yet more Malick. Whatever that means. Few still describe well his method as a filmmaker, and whatever you may think of his last film, To the Wonder, it certainly revealed more about how Terrence Malick, a very unique filmmaker, thinks about cinema as a language, and how his cinema "works"—moves,...
Daniel Kasman: I must admit it's a bit difficult to begin speaking of this overwhelming film so immediately after seeing it, and especially in the atmosphere here in Berlin of almost immediate derision. I remember the boos that instantly followed the final shot of The Tree of Life's in Cannes and here I'd swear I felt that negative energy going into the giant Berlinale Palast, the anticipation of yet more Malick. Whatever that means. Few still describe well his method as a filmmaker, and whatever you may think of his last film, To the Wonder, it certainly revealed more about how Terrence Malick, a very unique filmmaker, thinks about cinema as a language, and how his cinema "works"—moves,...
- 2/10/2015
- by Notebook
- MUBI
In today's roundup of news and views: Philippe Garrel and Luc Moullet at DC's. Peter Bogdanovich has opened up his file on Jean Renoir. Christoph Huber tells us how he rediscovered Vittorio De Sica. 3:am's posted two short pieces by Clément Rosset, one on Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes (1938), the other on Robert Bresson’s L’Argent (1983). Two very fine career surveys: Steven Hyden on Gene Hackman at Grantland and Nathan Rabin on Philip Seymour Hoffman at the Dissolve. Jonathan Rosenbaum's posted his 1998 review of James Benning's Utopia. Plus Adam Cook on Michael Mann and more. » - David Hudson...
- 2/5/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
In today's roundup of news and views: Philippe Garrel and Luc Moullet at DC's. Peter Bogdanovich has opened up his file on Jean Renoir. Christoph Huber tells us how he rediscovered Vittorio De Sica. 3:am's posted two short pieces by Clément Rosset, one on Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes (1938), the other on Robert Bresson’s L’Argent (1983). Two very fine career surveys: Steven Hyden on Gene Hackman at Grantland and Nathan Rabin on Philip Seymour Hoffman at the Dissolve. Jonathan Rosenbaum's posted his 1998 review of James Benning's Utopia. Plus Adam Cook on Michael Mann and more. » - David Hudson...
- 2/5/2015
- Keyframe
It has been about six months since my last entry in this supposedly regular column. There are various excuses I could make as to why, but rather than dwell on the past, I'd like to usher this "Long Voyage Home" onward into the future, in the trailblazing spirit of Michael Mann. I couldn't avoid writing on Blackhat, a film that I found as viscerally and formally thrilling as anything I've seen at the cinema in recent memory (and that includes Jean-Luc Godard's Adieu au langage). I've seen it three times and plan to see it at least once more on the big screen before its (likely brief, considering its box office numbers) run ends. It has taken me multiple viewings to get closer to understanding all of Blackhat's moving parts, a journey in itself that I eagerly plan to continue.
A textbook auteur case study, Michael Mann’s...
A textbook auteur case study, Michael Mann’s...
- 1/31/2015
- by Adam Cook
- MUBI
How would you program this year's newest, most interesting films into double features with movies of the past you saw in 2014?
Looking back over the year at what films moved and impressed us, it is clear that watching old films is a crucial part of making new films meaningful. Thus, the annual tradition of our end of year poll, which calls upon our writers to pick both a new and an old film: they were challenged to choose a new film they saw in 2014—in theatres or at a festival—and creatively pair it with an old film they also saw in 2014 to create a unique double feature.
All the contributors were given the option to write some text explaining their 2014 fantasy double feature. What's more, each writer was given the option to list more pairings, with or without explanation, as further imaginative film programming we'd be lucky to catch...
Looking back over the year at what films moved and impressed us, it is clear that watching old films is a crucial part of making new films meaningful. Thus, the annual tradition of our end of year poll, which calls upon our writers to pick both a new and an old film: they were challenged to choose a new film they saw in 2014—in theatres or at a festival—and creatively pair it with an old film they also saw in 2014 to create a unique double feature.
All the contributors were given the option to write some text explaining their 2014 fantasy double feature. What's more, each writer was given the option to list more pairings, with or without explanation, as further imaginative film programming we'd be lucky to catch...
- 1/5/2015
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Edited by Adam Cook
Above: the incredible new issue of Cinema Comparat/ive Cinema is online now under the theme of "Manny Farber: Systems of Movement". Among the included pieces is a conversation on Farber between Kent Jones and Jean-Pierre Gorin. As a welcome break from the Best of 2014 overload, David Bordwell & Kristin Thompson continue their tradition of instead focusing their attention on the best films of the year...90 years ago:
"These lists are our way of calling attention to important silent films that some readers may have overlooked. In one case here we point out a largely forgotten film that deserves to be better known, in the hope that an archive will take the hint. With the proliferation of silent-film festivals, of DVD and Blu-ray releases with restored prints and supplemental material, and of TCM’s eclectic screenings of foreign and silent titles, there seems to be considerably...
Above: the incredible new issue of Cinema Comparat/ive Cinema is online now under the theme of "Manny Farber: Systems of Movement". Among the included pieces is a conversation on Farber between Kent Jones and Jean-Pierre Gorin. As a welcome break from the Best of 2014 overload, David Bordwell & Kristin Thompson continue their tradition of instead focusing their attention on the best films of the year...90 years ago:
"These lists are our way of calling attention to important silent films that some readers may have overlooked. In one case here we point out a largely forgotten film that deserves to be better known, in the hope that an archive will take the hint. With the proliferation of silent-film festivals, of DVD and Blu-ray releases with restored prints and supplemental material, and of TCM’s eclectic screenings of foreign and silent titles, there seems to be considerably...
- 12/31/2014
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Edited by Adam Cook
Above: One of the best short films of the year, Person to Person, directed by Dustin Guy Defa for The New Yorker.
The surprise trailer for Terrence Malick's new film, Knight of Cups, dropped this week, as did news it would premiere at the Berlinale in 2015. Above: no, Godard's Goodbye to Language didn't top Film Comment's Best of 2014 list, it finished 2nd to Richard Linklater's Boyhood, but at this rate we'll be leading with pictures from Boyhood every week with how many lists it's topping. Below are Film Comment's Top 10 of 2014 as well as their Top 10 Undistributed films of 2014. They have larger lists for your perusal here and here.
"1. Boyhood (Richard Linklater, USA)
2. Goodbye to Language (Jean-Luc Godard, France)
3. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, USA)
4. Ida (Pawel Pawlikowski, Poland)
5. Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer, UK)
6. Stranger By the Lake (Alain Guiraudie, France)
7. Citizenfour (Laura Poitras,...
Above: One of the best short films of the year, Person to Person, directed by Dustin Guy Defa for The New Yorker.
The surprise trailer for Terrence Malick's new film, Knight of Cups, dropped this week, as did news it would premiere at the Berlinale in 2015. Above: no, Godard's Goodbye to Language didn't top Film Comment's Best of 2014 list, it finished 2nd to Richard Linklater's Boyhood, but at this rate we'll be leading with pictures from Boyhood every week with how many lists it's topping. Below are Film Comment's Top 10 of 2014 as well as their Top 10 Undistributed films of 2014. They have larger lists for your perusal here and here.
"1. Boyhood (Richard Linklater, USA)
2. Goodbye to Language (Jean-Luc Godard, France)
3. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, USA)
4. Ida (Pawel Pawlikowski, Poland)
5. Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer, UK)
6. Stranger By the Lake (Alain Guiraudie, France)
7. Citizenfour (Laura Poitras,...
- 12/30/2014
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Edited by Adam Cook
Senses of Cinema's last issue of 2014 is now online—though we can still anticipate their epic annual Best of the Year poll (our personal favorite among the great many out there). Among the impressive wealth of content is a piece on the late, great Harun Farocki, and an amazing assortment of festival reports. Another major new issue is #61 of Cinema Scope, and you can read several of the articles online (including our own Daniel Kasman on Episode of the Sea)—but you're best off to pick up the print copy if you want to enjoy everything the magazine has to offer (such as my piece on Dumb and Dumber To)! The A.V. Club and The Dissolve are among the latest to contribute Best of 2014 lists, which you can find here and here. Scott Foundas is one of several writers for Variety to provide an end of year list,...
Senses of Cinema's last issue of 2014 is now online—though we can still anticipate their epic annual Best of the Year poll (our personal favorite among the great many out there). Among the impressive wealth of content is a piece on the late, great Harun Farocki, and an amazing assortment of festival reports. Another major new issue is #61 of Cinema Scope, and you can read several of the articles online (including our own Daniel Kasman on Episode of the Sea)—but you're best off to pick up the print copy if you want to enjoy everything the magazine has to offer (such as my piece on Dumb and Dumber To)! The A.V. Club and The Dissolve are among the latest to contribute Best of 2014 lists, which you can find here and here. Scott Foundas is one of several writers for Variety to provide an end of year list,...
- 12/30/2014
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Edited by Adam Cook
Above: if you are fortunate enough to be in the vicinity of MoMA between now and November 21st, you may want to consider visiting their Bill Morrison exhibition. David Ehrlich of The Playlist interviews Mia Hansen-Løve about her new film Eden, as well as her next project. In a web exclusive piece for Sight & Sound, Michael Pattison writes on experimental films from the London Film Festival and 25Fps in Zagreb:
"All art is by its very nature experimental. In the face of an increasingly standardised narrative cinema, one defining feature of the experimental mode might be miscellany. Festival programmes celebrating ‘experimental cinema’ subsequently accommodate everything from the impenetrably personal to the familiarly abstract.
More than most, when housed together, such works demand an omnivorously receptive sensibility: preferences are fine, but one’s sustained appreciation of this genre seemingly depends upon how long one is able to keep an open mind.
Above: if you are fortunate enough to be in the vicinity of MoMA between now and November 21st, you may want to consider visiting their Bill Morrison exhibition. David Ehrlich of The Playlist interviews Mia Hansen-Løve about her new film Eden, as well as her next project. In a web exclusive piece for Sight & Sound, Michael Pattison writes on experimental films from the London Film Festival and 25Fps in Zagreb:
"All art is by its very nature experimental. In the face of an increasingly standardised narrative cinema, one defining feature of the experimental mode might be miscellany. Festival programmes celebrating ‘experimental cinema’ subsequently accommodate everything from the impenetrably personal to the familiarly abstract.
More than most, when housed together, such works demand an omnivorously receptive sensibility: preferences are fine, but one’s sustained appreciation of this genre seemingly depends upon how long one is able to keep an open mind.
- 10/15/2014
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Edited by Adam Cook
Above: there is no news this week more monumental than that of the return of Twin Peaks. In 2016, we'll have nine new episodes, all directed by David Lynch. The 72nd issue of Senses of Cinema is now online, and amidst a plethora of content, features an amazing dossier on "one of the true legends of Australian screen culture," John Flaus. Also included is a piece by Tony McKibbin on a new Alain Robbe-Grillet box set—and in Mubi Us, we're currently hosting a retrospective on the Robbe-Grillet featuring Trans-Europ-Express, L'immortelle, Eden and After, and Successive Slidings of Pleasure. Writing for Reverse Shot, Adam Nayman offers his two cents on Mia Hansen-Love's Eden:
"Time is a weapon in the movies of Mia Hansen-Løve. The gaping narrative holes in the middles of All Is Forgiven, The Father of My Children, and Goodbye First Love are exit wounds,...
Above: there is no news this week more monumental than that of the return of Twin Peaks. In 2016, we'll have nine new episodes, all directed by David Lynch. The 72nd issue of Senses of Cinema is now online, and amidst a plethora of content, features an amazing dossier on "one of the true legends of Australian screen culture," John Flaus. Also included is a piece by Tony McKibbin on a new Alain Robbe-Grillet box set—and in Mubi Us, we're currently hosting a retrospective on the Robbe-Grillet featuring Trans-Europ-Express, L'immortelle, Eden and After, and Successive Slidings of Pleasure. Writing for Reverse Shot, Adam Nayman offers his two cents on Mia Hansen-Love's Eden:
"Time is a weapon in the movies of Mia Hansen-Løve. The gaping narrative holes in the middles of All Is Forgiven, The Father of My Children, and Goodbye First Love are exit wounds,...
- 10/14/2014
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Here is an index of all our past and present coverage relevant to this year's Nyff lineup.
The Posters of the 52nd New York Film Festival
by Adrian Curry
Adieu au langage (Jean-Luc Godard)
by Daniel Kasman
Beloved Sisters (Dominik Graf)
by Adam Cook
New: Beloved Sisters (Dominik Graf)
by Daniel Kasman
Clouds of Sils Maria (Olivier Assayas)
by Daniel Kasman
New: Gone Girl (David Fincher)
dialogue between Daniel Kasman and Doug Dibbern
New: Heaven Knows What (Josh & Bennie Safdie)
by Doug Dibbern
Jauja (Lisandro Alonso)
by Daniel Kasman
Life of Riley (Alain Resnias)
by Boris Nelepo
Interview with Alex Ross Perry
by Ricky D'Ambrose
Narccissists and Close-Ups: Alex Ross Perry's Listen Up Philip
by Ignatiy Vishnevetsky
Listen Up Philip (Alex Ross Perry)
by Adam Cook
Notes for David Cronenberg's Maps to the Stars
by Marie-Pierre Duhamel
Misunderstood (Asia Argento)
by Doug Dibbern
Mr. Turner (Mike Leigh)
by...
The Posters of the 52nd New York Film Festival
by Adrian Curry
Adieu au langage (Jean-Luc Godard)
by Daniel Kasman
Beloved Sisters (Dominik Graf)
by Adam Cook
New: Beloved Sisters (Dominik Graf)
by Daniel Kasman
Clouds of Sils Maria (Olivier Assayas)
by Daniel Kasman
New: Gone Girl (David Fincher)
dialogue between Daniel Kasman and Doug Dibbern
New: Heaven Knows What (Josh & Bennie Safdie)
by Doug Dibbern
Jauja (Lisandro Alonso)
by Daniel Kasman
Life of Riley (Alain Resnias)
by Boris Nelepo
Interview with Alex Ross Perry
by Ricky D'Ambrose
Narccissists and Close-Ups: Alex Ross Perry's Listen Up Philip
by Ignatiy Vishnevetsky
Listen Up Philip (Alex Ross Perry)
by Adam Cook
Notes for David Cronenberg's Maps to the Stars
by Marie-Pierre Duhamel
Misunderstood (Asia Argento)
by Doug Dibbern
Mr. Turner (Mike Leigh)
by...
- 10/1/2014
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Below you will find our total coverage of the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival, including a round up on experimental short films, reviews, and the festival-spanning dialog between our two main critics at Tiff. More interviews will be added to the index as they are published.
Correspondences
Between Fernando F. Croce and Daniel Kasman
#1
Fernando F. Croce on Pedro Costa's Horse Money, Lisandro Alonso's Jauja, and Olivier Assayas' Clouds of Sils Maria
#2
Daniel Kasman on Pedro Costa's Horse Money, Peter Ho-Sun Chan's Dearest, Roy Andersson's A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence, Takashi Miike's Over Your Dead Body, and Sono Sion's Tokyo Tribe
#3
Fernando F. Croce on Sono Sion's Tokyo Tribe, Jessica Hausner's Amour Fou, Johnnie To's Don't Go Breaking My Heart 2, and Abel Ferrara's Pasolini
#4
Daniel Kasman on Alexandre Larose's brouillard passage #14, Friedl vom Gröller's...
Correspondences
Between Fernando F. Croce and Daniel Kasman
#1
Fernando F. Croce on Pedro Costa's Horse Money, Lisandro Alonso's Jauja, and Olivier Assayas' Clouds of Sils Maria
#2
Daniel Kasman on Pedro Costa's Horse Money, Peter Ho-Sun Chan's Dearest, Roy Andersson's A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence, Takashi Miike's Over Your Dead Body, and Sono Sion's Tokyo Tribe
#3
Fernando F. Croce on Sono Sion's Tokyo Tribe, Jessica Hausner's Amour Fou, Johnnie To's Don't Go Breaking My Heart 2, and Abel Ferrara's Pasolini
#4
Daniel Kasman on Alexandre Larose's brouillard passage #14, Friedl vom Gröller's...
- 9/16/2014
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Alleluia
Dear Fern,
Aye!—you make my festival experience sound like a superhuman toil! If anything, I'm seeing less than you, as you get the pleasures of catching up with the crème de la crème of Cannes. It seems like I see a lot because I'm often reporting on a slew of shorts, but remember, the Wavelengths shorts programs so central to my (any many others') Tiff experience are only four strong, over nearly as soon as they start, the Monday after the festival's opening night. Don't you see what I'm actually doing here? I'm luxuriating in your taking the pressure off me, handling all the much anticipated films by the big auteurs while I get to relax, scribbling notes in the margin about the smaller movies: you make my life easier! That being said, there are still some major films I need to tell you about, to begin wrapping the festival experience up.
Dear Fern,
Aye!—you make my festival experience sound like a superhuman toil! If anything, I'm seeing less than you, as you get the pleasures of catching up with the crème de la crème of Cannes. It seems like I see a lot because I'm often reporting on a slew of shorts, but remember, the Wavelengths shorts programs so central to my (any many others') Tiff experience are only four strong, over nearly as soon as they start, the Monday after the festival's opening night. Don't you see what I'm actually doing here? I'm luxuriating in your taking the pressure off me, handling all the much anticipated films by the big auteurs while I get to relax, scribbling notes in the margin about the smaller movies: you make my life easier! That being said, there are still some major films I need to tell you about, to begin wrapping the festival experience up.
- 9/15/2014
- by Daniel Kasman
- MUBI
From the Toronto International Film Festival, Adam Cook and Daniel Kasman continue our series of festival dialogues. Johnnie To's Don't Go Breaking My Heart 2 had its world premiere in Tiff's Special Presentations section.
Adam Cook: Here we are again, talking To. It's frustrating how many times I've encountered a dismissive attitude towards Johnnie To's romantic comedies. I realize even the director himself disassociates from them, but, and especially with his most recent works, the rom-coms have been as formally intricate and as impressively crafted as his more revered crime films. As everyone was praising Drug War, it was Romancing in Thin Air that stood out for me. Before that there was Don't Go Breaking My Heart (written on here by Ignatiy Vishnevetsky), an impossibly entertaining love triangle in the big city movie, that while over the top and silly, had some of To's most impressive images...
Adam Cook: Here we are again, talking To. It's frustrating how many times I've encountered a dismissive attitude towards Johnnie To's romantic comedies. I realize even the director himself disassociates from them, but, and especially with his most recent works, the rom-coms have been as formally intricate and as impressively crafted as his more revered crime films. As everyone was praising Drug War, it was Romancing in Thin Air that stood out for me. Before that there was Don't Go Breaking My Heart (written on here by Ignatiy Vishnevetsky), an impossibly entertaining love triangle in the big city movie, that while over the top and silly, had some of To's most impressive images...
- 9/13/2014
- by Adam Cook
- MUBI
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