A look at what's new on DVD today:
"A Prophet" (2009)
Directed by Jacques Audiard
Released by Sony Pictures Classics
Audiard's ("The Beat That My Heart Skipped") ridiculously cool prison drama well earns its over two-and-a-half hour runtime -- the transformation of relative newcomer lead Tahar Rahim from illiterate mouse to underworld kingpin never seems forced or unnatural. Rahim's impressive, as is Niels Arestrup as the head of the jail's Corsican mob, but overshadowing both is the film's portrait of a multicultural (if criminal) population that looks nothing like the cast of your average French import. (Matt Singer's review from February.)
"After.Life" (2009)
Directed by Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo
Released by Starz/Anchor Bay
Christina Ricci is dead! But she's not dead. Unless she died! Or did she? In Wojtowicz-Vosloo's feature debut (following her acclaimed 2001 short "Pâté"), Liam Neeson plays a funeral director who's either a sadist plays elaborate mindgames on Ricci's character, or...
"A Prophet" (2009)
Directed by Jacques Audiard
Released by Sony Pictures Classics
Audiard's ("The Beat That My Heart Skipped") ridiculously cool prison drama well earns its over two-and-a-half hour runtime -- the transformation of relative newcomer lead Tahar Rahim from illiterate mouse to underworld kingpin never seems forced or unnatural. Rahim's impressive, as is Niels Arestrup as the head of the jail's Corsican mob, but overshadowing both is the film's portrait of a multicultural (if criminal) population that looks nothing like the cast of your average French import. (Matt Singer's review from February.)
"After.Life" (2009)
Directed by Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo
Released by Starz/Anchor Bay
Christina Ricci is dead! But she's not dead. Unless she died! Or did she? In Wojtowicz-Vosloo's feature debut (following her acclaimed 2001 short "Pâté"), Liam Neeson plays a funeral director who's either a sadist plays elaborate mindgames on Ricci's character, or...
- 8/3/2010
- by Alison Willmore
- ifc.com
Do you prefer actors who works from the inside out or the outside in?Michele Mulroney and Kieran MulroneyLos Angeles; co-directors and co-screenwriters, 'Paper Man'Good work is good work, no matter how you get there. However, it's thrilling to witness character-building based on externals. An actor puts on a piece of wardrobe and suddenly his or her posture changes. Those tangible, external choices are satisfying because, as a director, you can actually participate in the actor's often mysterious process by picking out the shoes you think that character might wear. We're big on the physicality of a character. It provides such an important shorthand in the visual medium we work in.In "Paper Man," for example, Emma Stone had a very specific way of walking—dragging her feet—which she developed for the character of Abby. It spoke volumes about how this girl was stuck, emotionally speaking. Similarly,...
- 4/13/2010
- backstage.com
Horror is such a male dominated genre, it's always refreshing to talk to a female horror director and I always jump at the chance when the opportunity arises. Such was the case with Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo and her chilling thriller After.Life which hits theaters tomorrow from Anchor Bay. We took some time to chat with Agnieszka about her A-list cast, being influenced by Polanski and Argento and why death scares her so much. FEARnet: Can you tell us how After.Life, your first feature length film came about? Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo: I was still in school, I made Pâté my freshman year, and it won a bunch of awards and opened many doors for me. I got an agent very quickly, and I was offered stuff...
- 4/9/2010
- FEARnet
Here's a movie that's flown under most people's radars, which is a little odd considering the players involved. After.Life is one of those promising-sounding, unusual premises that has quality actors, a first-time director, and will ultimately live or die on the strength of the story. Alas, there is no trailer yet, but the poster is down below.
Here's IMDb's synopsis:
After a horrific car accident, Anna (Christina Ricci) wakes up to find the local funeral director Eliot Deacon (Liam Neeson) preparing her body for her funeral. Confused, terrified, and feeling still very much alive, Anna doesnt believe shes dead, despite the funeral director's reassurances that she is merely in transition to the afterlife. Eliot convinces her he has the ability to communicate with the dead and is the only one who can help her. Trapped inside the funeral home, with nobody to turn to except Eliot, Anna is forced to...
Here's IMDb's synopsis:
After a horrific car accident, Anna (Christina Ricci) wakes up to find the local funeral director Eliot Deacon (Liam Neeson) preparing her body for her funeral. Confused, terrified, and feeling still very much alive, Anna doesnt believe shes dead, despite the funeral director's reassurances that she is merely in transition to the afterlife. Eliot convinces her he has the ability to communicate with the dead and is the only one who can help her. Trapped inside the funeral home, with nobody to turn to except Eliot, Anna is forced to...
- 3/2/2010
- by TK
Directed by Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo
Written by Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo, Paul Vosloo & Jakub Korolczuk
Featuring Liam Neeson, Christina Ricci, Justin Long
Review by Hal MacDermot
Do the dead live, or are the living dead? What does it mean to be dead anyway? Great questions, but I’m not sure if Agnieszka Wojtowicz really manages to answer them. After.life is her first feature, a psychological thriller, and despite some top notch talent in the persons of Liam Neeson, Christina Ricci and Justin Long, the film never lives up to potential. Liam Neeson’s performance as scary funeral-director-guy is the saving grace...
Anna (Christina Ricci) wakes up after a car accident and finds herself being prepared for burial in Eliot Deacon’s (Liam Neeson) funeral home. It seems that Eliot has a gift for conversing with the dead, and that’s why he can talk with her. He tells us that his role is...
Written by Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo, Paul Vosloo & Jakub Korolczuk
Featuring Liam Neeson, Christina Ricci, Justin Long
Review by Hal MacDermot
Do the dead live, or are the living dead? What does it mean to be dead anyway? Great questions, but I’m not sure if Agnieszka Wojtowicz really manages to answer them. After.life is her first feature, a psychological thriller, and despite some top notch talent in the persons of Liam Neeson, Christina Ricci and Justin Long, the film never lives up to potential. Liam Neeson’s performance as scary funeral-director-guy is the saving grace...
Anna (Christina Ricci) wakes up after a car accident and finds herself being prepared for burial in Eliot Deacon’s (Liam Neeson) funeral home. It seems that Eliot has a gift for conversing with the dead, and that’s why he can talk with her. He tells us that his role is...
- 11/9/2009
- by Superheidi
- Planet Fury
Year: 2009
Directors: Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo
Writers: Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo & Paul Vosloo & Jakub Korolczuk
IMDb: link
Trailer: link
Review by: Hal MacDermot
Rating: 5 out of 10
Do the dead live, or are the living dead? What does it mean to be dead anyway? Great questions, but I’m not sure if Agnieszka Wojtowicz really manages to answer them. After.life is her first feature, a psychological thriller, and despite some top notch talent in the persons of Liam Neeson, Christina Ricci and Jason Long, the film never lives up to potential. Liam Neeson’s performance as scary funeral director guy is the saving grace.
Anna (Christina Ricci) wakes up after a car accident and finds herself being prepared for burial in Eliot Deacon’s (Liam Neeson) funeral home. It seems that Eliot has a gift for conversing with the dead, and that’s why he can talk with her. He tells us that his role...
Directors: Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo
Writers: Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo & Paul Vosloo & Jakub Korolczuk
IMDb: link
Trailer: link
Review by: Hal MacDermot
Rating: 5 out of 10
Do the dead live, or are the living dead? What does it mean to be dead anyway? Great questions, but I’m not sure if Agnieszka Wojtowicz really manages to answer them. After.life is her first feature, a psychological thriller, and despite some top notch talent in the persons of Liam Neeson, Christina Ricci and Jason Long, the film never lives up to potential. Liam Neeson’s performance as scary funeral director guy is the saving grace.
Anna (Christina Ricci) wakes up after a car accident and finds herself being prepared for burial in Eliot Deacon’s (Liam Neeson) funeral home. It seems that Eliot has a gift for conversing with the dead, and that’s why he can talk with her. He tells us that his role...
- 11/8/2009
- QuietEarth.us
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