Our top choices for TIFF 2010:
Loading ... | indieWIRE - The Jerusalem Post is quoting an Israeli television report that Israel’s submission for best foreign-language Oscar consideration, “The Band’s Visit” — which recently screened at the Toronto International Film Festival — has been disqualified from the race for “containing too much English-language dialogue.” indieWIRE has attempted to gain independent confirmation from the film’s U.S. distributor Sony Pictures Classics as well as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. A Sony Classics insider told indieWIRE tonight that the distributor is awaiting a discussion with the Academy on the pending matter… [Full Story] |
Archive for 2007
‘Lars and the Real Girl’ Reaches Out to Church Leaders – Cinematical
Thursday, October 11th, 2007
Cinematical - Craig Gillespie’s upcoming film, Lars and the Real Girl, has inspired intrigue and curiosity for months now because it’s a hard film to peg. Initially, it looked to be a black comedy full of quirk and strangeness, as a man begins to date a Real Doll, rather than finding a living, breathing real girl. The trailer didn’t help matters, seeming much more comedic than dramatic, but as I said in my review from TIFF: “While the title insinuates that it’s a wacky comedy, it’s actually a smart, well-crafted, and heart-wrenching film that smoothly discusses the intricacies of loss and depression.”
Now the film is further subverting expectations with it’s marketing plan. Reuters reports that church leaders will be involved in the film’s promo screenings, which will come out before the film goes into wide release on October 26 (it hits LA and NYC theaters this week). SKE distribution head Bingham Ray says: “We’ve found an enormous response from mainstream Christian groups. Some pastors may discuss the film as part of their sermons.” Usually, films that target church groups have a distinct religious message that includes themes, or icons, like Evan Almighty or The Passion of the Christ… [Full Story]
Brian De Palma and Magnolia Pictures Argue Over ‘Redacted’ Images – Cinematical
Wednesday, October 10th, 2007
Cinematical - In January, we brought you word of Brian De Palma’s newest film, the Iraq war drama called Redacted. Coming from the term used to describe text that has been edited with black bars, the drama details the Al-Mahmudiyah Incident — where soldiers murdered a young Iraqi girl’s parents and younger sister before gang-raping and murdering her as well. The film is currently surfing the film fest circuit, and our Ryan Stewart reviewed it at TIFF. Now the film is being redacted itself.
At the end of his film, the director included disturbing images that were never published by the press, which he had found online. Mark Cuban and Magnolia want them removed. During a recent press conference at the New York Film Festival, IFC captured an argument between De Palma and Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles over the dispute. When De Palma starts to discuss the removal of the images, and his fight to keep them, Bowles jumped in from the back row to argue with him over them, before the film’s producer, Jason Kliot, also came on stage to give his two cents. De Palma, meanwhile looks like he can’t wait to get out of there and explode… [Full Story]
If you missed it at TIFF, please watch this doc – Toronto Star
Monday, October 8th, 2007
Toronto Star, Canada - …At TIFF ‘07, one of the least-hyped and most rewarding movies was a 55-minute documentary called Please Vote for Me, in which a class of 8-year-olds in Wuhan, China, get their first taste of democracy, choosing by secret ballot which of three candidates will assume the position of class monitor, with a mandate to keep order while the teacher is out and report any violation of the rules.
It turns into a cut-throat competition, but for the eavesdropping audience this intimate look at China in transition is both educational and hugely entertaining.
Now here’s the good news for everyone who missed it at the festival, where it earned a standing ovation. Tonight at 10 p.m., you can see it on CBC Newsworld, which is airing it as part of a spectacularly ambitious series with the umbrella title Why Democracy?, which will be seen by millions via broadcast partners around the globe… [Full Story]
The Cult of the Lads From Manchester – New York Times
Saturday, October 6th, 2007
New York TimesNew York Times, United States - IAN CURTIS, the frontman of the beloved post-punk British band Joy Division, has been dead 27 years, longer than he was alive, but his moment in the film spotlight has only now arrived. Mr. Curtis hanged himself on May 18, 1980, two months shy of his 24th birthday and on the eve of what would have been his band’s first American tour. The Joy Division story, a sacred narrative to legions of cultish fans (and a natural for the movies, complete with doomed, charismatic hero), is now the subject of two new films, the biopic “Control” and the documentary “Joy Division.”
Both were made with the cooperation of those who best knew Mr. Curtis. “Control,” the feature directing debut of the portrait photographer Anton Corbijn, is loosely based on “Touching From a Distance,” a 1995 memoir by Mr. Curtis’s widow, Deborah, of their life together. “Joy Division,” directed by the music-video veteran Grant Gee and written by the author and critic Jon Savage, takes a panoramic approach, combining archival footage with revealing interviews of firsthand observers and Mr. Curtis’s surviving bandmates, who went on to form New Order… [Full Story]
Beyond 'portraying gay cowboys for America' – Globe and Mail
Saturday, October 6th, 2007
Exclaim!Globe and Mail, Canada - In his latest offering, Lee takes on sex and suspense in the mannered world of Japanese-occupied China. It’s a period, Lee says, that he has spent most of his life obsessed with, if only because it is so rarely depicted.
“It’s a part of history that’s regarded as shameful in China and Taiwan. The country was occupied and people lived under a collaborated government. Most people there have never seen images from that time – certainly not moving images. It’s a taboo that’s just opened.”
While much advance ink has been spilled on the graphic nature of the sex (and it is fairly explicit), Lee says the idea of exposing the behind-the-scenes politics of Chinese history for an international audience seemed far more shocking in the broader scheme of his career.
“It’s very scary,” he says, laughing. “A lot more scary than portraying gay cowboys for America.”
While it may be difficult at first to see any similarities between Lee’s films, on closer inspection, a theme does emerge – specifically, that of the outsider or imposter. Just like the star-crossed lovers in Brokeback Mountain, the coupling in Lust, Caution occurs between two people with much to hide from their society and each other… [Full Story]
Related Articles
• Lust, Caution (Ang Lee) - Exclaim!
[View all 3 related]
Festival runs put 'Clayton' on awards voters' radar – Hollywood Reporter
Thursday, October 4th, 2007
Hollywood Reporter, United States - With the awards season under way, films that spent the early fall premiering or playing on the festival circuit are opening now and hoping for that magical combination of boxoffice and critical success that can generate Oscar and Golden Globes consideration.
One potential contender is the thriller “Michael Clayton,” written and directed by Tony Gilroy — who wrote the three “Bourne” franchise thrillers — opening Friday in New York, L.A. and Toronto and going wide Oct. 12. A Warner Bros. Pictures presentation in association with Samuels Media and Castle Rock Entertainment, the Mirage Enterprises/Section Eight production stars George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton and Sydney Pollack. It was produced by Sydney Pollack, Jennifer Fox, Steven Samuels and Kerry Orent and executive produced by Steven Soderbergh, George Clooney, James Holt and Anthony Minghella.
“Clayton” premiered at the 33rd annual Deauville Film Festival in early September and played at the 64th annual Venice Film Festival and the 32nd annual Toronto International Film Festival. It’s been attracting the kind of global media attention and favorable festival buzz that creates the preawareness to put it on awards voters’ radar as a film they’ll make time to see… [Full Story]
Former stripper sells comedy pitch – Reuters
Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007
Javno.hrReuters - Universal has snapped up “Girly Style,” a pitch from a scribe who could claim to be the only writer in town to have started out as a stripper.
While the studio is keeping the plot details under wraps, it is understood that “Girly” is a female-driven comedy set at a college.
It comes from Diablo Cody, whose comedic memoir, “Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper,” was published by Gotham in December.
Cody sold “Juno,” her first screenplay, to Mandate Pictures in 2005. That film, starring Ellen Page as a pregnant teen, was the runner-up for the Audience Award at the recent Toronto International Film Festival and is generating awards buzz in advance of its December 14 release… [Full Story]
Related Articles
• The Bounce: Who's up, who's down in Hollywood - Minneapolis Star Tribune (subscription)
• Universal's 'Girly' girl is writer Cody - Hollywood Reporter
[View all 11 related]
'My Kid' docu examines prodigy painter – Hollywood Reporter
Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007
Hollywood Reporter, United States - We tend to think of documentaries as focusing on geopolitical issues of devastating significance, but that’s not always so.
A case in point is Sony Pictures Classics’ “My Kid Could Paint That,” opening Friday in New York and L.A., which examines the fascinating story of 4-year-old prodigy painter Marla Olmstead. After attracting media attention, Marla became an internationally known celebrity, selling more than $300,000 worth of her abstract paintings. But did she actually paint them herself? Five months into Marla’s new stardom, an expose on “60 Minutes” strongly suggested that her amateur painter father had done or, at least, had had a hand in finishing Marla’s paintings. Suddenly Marla’s career was on hold and collectors’ interest in her work began to fade.
“My Kid” premiered last January at the Sundance Film Festival, where it was well-received and generated considerable interest. When it screened in September at the Toronto International Film Festival it also was met with a very positive reception… [Full Story]
Brian De Palma Explains Himself – Village Voice
Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007
Village VoiceVillage Voice, NY - "Brian De Palma—known for his perverse tales of voyeurism and violence, from Body Double to Scarface—may have found his dream subject in the Iraq War.
Frustrated with the lack of disturbing images out of Iraq, De Palma set out to “show the other side,” he says, with Redacted (screening at the New York Film Festival, October 10 and 11). A mishmash of fictionalized fragments, including a soldier’s video footage, YouTube clips, and a French documentary, the digital film tells the story of American soldiers who rape and murder an Iraqi girl. “We have all these infomercials created by the Bush administration,” says De Palma of mainstream media’s war coverage. “But if you go on the Web and read soldiers’ blogs or look at the pictures, you go, ‘Whoa!’ You see a whole different story.”
“You have to look at the pictures,” De Palma says several times during our conversation at the Toronto International Film Festival, where his film created equal numbers of defenders (”a brilliant film with a passionate payload of political conviction”) and detractors (”tedious,” “nauseating,” “as stridently performed as a high-school play”). At the Venice International Film Festival, De Palma walked away with the Best Director prize; at Telluride, audience members reportedly stormed out during the film’s rape scene… [Full Story]
‘Lars and the Real Girl’ Reaches Out to Church Leaders – Cinematical
Thursday, October 11th, 2007 | Cinematical - Craig Gillespie’s upcoming film, Lars and the Real Girl, has inspired intrigue and curiosity for months now because it’s a hard film to peg. Initially, it looked to be a black comedy full of quirk and strangeness, as a man begins to date a Real Doll, rather than finding a living, breathing real girl. The trailer didn’t help matters, seeming much more comedic than dramatic, but as I said in my review from TIFF: “While the title insinuates that it’s a wacky comedy, it’s actually a smart, well-crafted, and heart-wrenching film that smoothly discusses the intricacies of loss and depression.” |
Brian De Palma and Magnolia Pictures Argue Over ‘Redacted’ Images – Cinematical
Wednesday, October 10th, 2007 | Cinematical - In January, we brought you word of Brian De Palma’s newest film, the Iraq war drama called Redacted. Coming from the term used to describe text that has been edited with black bars, the drama details the Al-Mahmudiyah Incident — where soldiers murdered a young Iraqi girl’s parents and younger sister before gang-raping and murdering her as well. The film is currently surfing the film fest circuit, and our Ryan Stewart reviewed it at TIFF. Now the film is being redacted itself. |
If you missed it at TIFF, please watch this doc – Toronto Star
Monday, October 8th, 2007 | Toronto Star, Canada - …At TIFF ‘07, one of the least-hyped and most rewarding movies was a 55-minute documentary called Please Vote for Me, in which a class of 8-year-olds in Wuhan, China, get their first taste of democracy, choosing by secret ballot which of three candidates will assume the position of class monitor, with a mandate to keep order while the teacher is out and report any violation of the rules. |
The Cult of the Lads From Manchester – New York Times
Saturday, October 6th, 2007New York Times | New York Times, United States - IAN CURTIS, the frontman of the beloved post-punk British band Joy Division, has been dead 27 years, longer than he was alive, but his moment in the film spotlight has only now arrived. Mr. Curtis hanged himself on May 18, 1980, two months shy of his 24th birthday and on the eve of what would have been his band’s first American tour. The Joy Division story, a sacred narrative to legions of cultish fans (and a natural for the movies, complete with doomed, charismatic hero), is now the subject of two new films, the biopic “Control” and the documentary “Joy Division.” |
Beyond 'portraying gay cowboys for America' – Globe and Mail
Saturday, October 6th, 2007Exclaim! | Globe and Mail, Canada - In his latest offering, Lee takes on sex and suspense in the mannered world of Japanese-occupied China. It’s a period, Lee says, that he has spent most of his life obsessed with, if only because it is so rarely depicted. Related Articles |
Festival runs put 'Clayton' on awards voters' radar – Hollywood Reporter
Thursday, October 4th, 2007 | Hollywood Reporter, United States - With the awards season under way, films that spent the early fall premiering or playing on the festival circuit are opening now and hoping for that magical combination of boxoffice and critical success that can generate Oscar and Golden Globes consideration. |
Former stripper sells comedy pitch – Reuters
Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007Javno.hr | Reuters - Universal has snapped up “Girly Style,” a pitch from a scribe who could claim to be the only writer in town to have started out as a stripper. Related Articles |
'My Kid' docu examines prodigy painter – Hollywood Reporter
Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007 | Hollywood Reporter, United States - We tend to think of documentaries as focusing on geopolitical issues of devastating significance, but that’s not always so. |
Brian De Palma Explains Himself – Village Voice
Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007Village Voice | Village Voice, NY - "Brian De Palma—known for his perverse tales of voyeurism and violence, from Body Double to Scarface—may have found his dream subject in the Iraq War. |
