Cinematicalhttp://www.cinematical.comCinematicalhttp://www.cinematical.com/media/feedlogo.gifCinematicalhttp://www.cinematical.comen-usCopyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only.Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Cinevegas 2010 Cancelled - Who Else is Hurting?http://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/27/cinevegas-2010-cancelled-who-else-is-hurting/http://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/27/cinevegas-2010-cancelled-who-else-is-hurting/http://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/27/cinevegas-2010-cancelled-who-else-is-hurting/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

You couldn't turn a corner in Telluride this year without hearing a festival manager or volunteer gushing thanks to the festival's many sponsors for continuing to support Telluride despite, to quote Charlie Kaufman, today's wintry economic climate. Telluride, a posh film industry mainstay, appeared to weather the storm: the $680 "Festival Passes" -- the most common, middle-of-the-road choice for Telluride pass-holders (passes run from around $300 to over $3000) -- didn't sell out for the first time in recent memory, but the festival was well-attended, the movies plentiful, and apart from the speech-making, the only sign of trouble was that Omaha Steaks provided flatiron instead of sirloin for the event's annual Labor Day picnic.

Some of the less entrenched film events apparently are not so lucky. The increasingly popular CineVegas, for example, recently announced a hiatus for 2010, so that regular attendees -- of whom Cinematical is one (or more) -- had better make other plans for next June. Part of the problem, as The Hollywood Reporter notes, is that unlike Telluride and a great many other film festivals, CineVegas is not a non-profit, which makes sponsorships harder to come by.

Still, though CineVegas may have been minor compared to Toronto, Sundance, etc., it was certainly a major regional player. Several of the lower-profile events with which I'm familiar -- the San Francisco International Film Festival, the Mill Valley Film Festival, the Philadelphia Film Festival -- have gone ahead as planned this year. (The latter was affected by a feud among two major Philly film scene heavyweights, but that's neither here nor there.) The Hollywood Reporter article linked above notes a number of other events that have felt the pinch, though it only cites one other one -- the Jackson Hole Film Festival -- that was canceled entirely for budgetary reasons. How have festivals, repertory venues, and indie art houses fared in your neck of the woods?

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]]>cinevegasEugene NovikovSun, 27 Sep 2009 20:03:00 ESTExclusive Images from 'The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans'http://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/14/the-bad-lieutenant-remake-movie-photos/http://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/14/the-bad-lieutenant-remake-movie-photos/http://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/14/the-bad-lieutenant-remake-movie-photos/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,



Cinematical has just received these exclusive stills from Werner Herzog's kinda-sorta remake of Abel Ferrara's dirty, foul-mouthed 1992 film starring Harvey Keitel as a sick, sadistic, drug-addicted cop who's investigating the rape of a young nun. Updated for the "We'll Try Anything Twice" generation, Herzog's The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans stars Nicolas Cage as our dirty, violent, sex-charged corrupt cop who's apparently in charge of investigating the killings of five Senegalese immigrants when he's not busy breaking the law in a variety of disgusting and distasteful ways.

The film, which screened at the Telluride Film Festival and is about to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, seems to be drawing a number of fascinating reactions from critics. Our own Eugene Novikov had this to say in his review: "If you're a fan of this genre, this could be your chance to watch a smart filmmaker take it in some strange and interesting directions; if you're not, this is your chance to watch a smart filmmaker make fun of it. If you've been following Nic Cage's increasingly intense scenery-chewing over the last couple years, this is your chance to see it taken to its logical conclusion and beyond. Herzog occasionally makes The Bad Lieutenant feel frivolous, but it's rarely less than fascinating."

Check out a bunch of exclusive images from the film below, and look for it to hit theaters later this year.

Gallery: The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

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]]>cinematicalnicolas cageNicolasCageThe Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New OrleansTheBadLieutenant:PortOfCallNewOrleanstiff09werner herzogWernerHerzogErik DavisMon, 14 Sep 2009 13:37:00 ESTTIFF Review: The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleanshttp://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/14/the-bad-lieutenant-port-of-call-new-orleans-movie-review/http://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/14/the-bad-lieutenant-port-of-call-new-orleans-movie-review/http://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/14/the-bad-lieutenant-port-of-call-new-orleans-movie-review/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,



It's no secret that Nicolas Cage has been going off the deep end of late. His performances have become increasingly unhinged and harebrained; you never know when the character he's playing will suddenly become apoplectic over something that seems -- no matter what it is, in comparison to the reaction it draws -- relatively minor. This almost singlehandedly ruined this year's Knowing, at heart a decent science-fiction flick rendered nearly unwatchable by Cage's fevered overacting. It's no coincidence that Cage hasn't done a "serious" dramatic performance in more than three years. I shudder to think what that would now look like.

All of which makes me think that Werner Herzog is even smarter than people give him credit for. Having cast Cage in his "remake" of Abel Ferrara's Bad Lieutenant (I put "remake" in scare quotes as Herzog claims to never have seen Ferrara's film, and the new one has nothing to do with it beyond sharing some bare plot elements), he lets the actor go truly all-out. In The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Cage, playing the titular Lieutenant Terence McDonagh, interrupts himself, has roundtable discussions with himself, cheers himself on, punctuates conversations with non sequitur chuckles and handclaps, and gets hugely angry. It's a completely absurd performance -- and, God willing, a way for the actor to let off steam and return to the more nuanced, settled acting he used to do.

Continue reading TIFF Review: The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

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]]>nicolas cageNicolasCageshea whighamSheaWhighamtelluride film festival 2009TellurideFilmFestival2009the bad lieutenant: port of call new orleansTheBadLieutenant:PortOfCallNewOrleanstiff09toronto international film festival 2009TorontoInternationalFilmFestival2009val kilmerValKilmerwerner herzogWernerHerzogEugene NovikovMon, 14 Sep 2009 11:45:00 ESTTIFF Review: Up in the Airhttp://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/11/tiff-review-up-in-the-air/http://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/11/tiff-review-up-in-the-air/http://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/11/tiff-review-up-in-the-air/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

Sometimes it seems like one of Hollywood's main goals is to make people without spouses and children feel really bad about themselves. If that sort of thing bothers you, I would recommend passing on Up in the Air, which is as strident about the notion that a life without a family is worthless as any movie I've ever seen. Fortunately, it is also brisk, funny, and not enslaved to genre conventions. Parts of the film, in fact, approach comic brilliance. The reason that the film's message-mongering doesn't grate, I think, is that we really do feel sorry for the protagonist - an obsessive frequent flier who begins to realize that his life is an empty, lonely shell of rationalizations and self-delusions.

In some respects, Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) approaches caricature: not only is he wifeless, childless and practically homeless - he has a barren studio in Omaha and spends 320 days a year on the road - but he fires people for a living and occasionally gives motivational speeches urging people to "empty their backpacks" and rid themselves of commitment. But there's a kernel of truth to him, in the sense that there is something compelling, almost romantic about transience. His world of luxury hotels and airline perks - and a hot frequent flier girlfriend (Vera Farmiga) with whom he sleeps with when their paths cross but who asks for nothing more - actually seems kind of cool.

Continue reading TIFF Review: Up in the Air

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]]>anna kendrickAnnaKendrickgeorge clooneyGeorgeClooneyjason reitmanJasonReitmantelluride09tiff09up in the airup in the air reviewUpInTheAirUpInTheAirReviewEugene NovikovFri, 11 Sep 2009 16:02:00 ESTTelluride Review: Paranormal Activityhttp://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/11/telluride-review-paranormal-activity/http://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/11/telluride-review-paranormal-activity/http://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/11/telluride-review-paranormal-activity/#commentsFiled under: , ,



Once the novelty of the first-person, subjective-camera horror flicks (Blair Witch, Cloverfield, Quarantine, Diary of the Dead, etc,) wore off for me, I started having logistical issues with the genre. After a while, you can't help but start paying attention to the inherent implausibility of the characters as persistent, skilled camerapeople who keep rolling when any reasonable person would have ditched the damn camcorder long ago. That may seem insanely picky, but it's what happens when the same flawed device is foisted on me time and again.

I had some of the same objections to Paranormal Activity, which screened at Telluride in advance of a planned release by Paramount, and nearly two years after it first premiered at Screamfest in Los Angeles. But the movie is so skillful in every other way -- and so much fun -- that I essentially told myself to shut the hell up. Oren Peli's feature debut, the story of a woman haunted by a relentless and malevolent demon, is a terrific companion piece to this year's Drag Me to Hell, with Sam Raimi's old-fashioned horror chops replaced by the masterful execution of a conceptual gimmick.

Continue reading Telluride Review: Paranormal Activity

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]]>drag me to hellDragMeToHellkatie featherstonKatieFeatherstonoren peliOrenPeliparanormal activityParanormalActivitytelluride 2009telluride film festivalTelluride2009TellurideFilmFestivalEugene NovikovFri, 11 Sep 2009 13:32:00 ESTTelluride Review: The Roadhttp://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/08/the-road-movie-review/http://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/08/the-road-movie-review/http://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/08/the-road-movie-review/#commentsFiled under: , , ,



Just before the kid was born, the world burned. We don't know why, and the characters don't talk about it -- perhaps they don't quite know themselves, or maybe they've decided that it no longer matters. The Boy's universe is grey, full of ash, dust, and the ruins of a civilization he never saw. This is all he knows. His mother, seeing no point in going on, killed herself shortly after his birth. She was not alone. Many of those who didn't take their own lives were soon murdered by the desperate and hungry.

Skip ahead nine or ten years. The kid and his father wander the barren roadways heading south toward the coast for no clear reason other than that it gives them a tangible goal toward which to strive. (And there's always the hope that the ocean will be something other than gray.) Every day is a knock-down, drag-out fight for survival. They run, hide, starve, and fight off attackers who want their food, or their clothes, or, at one point, their flesh.

I set the stage like this not to horrify you or to gross you out, but to give you a sense of the relentless, pervasive grimness of The Road -- and then to turn around and say that The Road may be the most profoundly optimistic and life-affirming film you will see this year. Those who have read Cormac McCarthy's novel of the same name won't be surprised by this. John Hillcoat's faithful, near-perfect adaptation beautifully captures McCarthy's synthesis of all-encompassing darkness and enduring hope.

Continue reading Telluride Review: The Road

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]]>cormac mccarthyCormacMccarthyjohn hillcoatJohnHillcoatkodi smit-mcpheeKodiSmit-mcpheetelluride 2009telluride film festivalTelluride2009TellurideFilmFestivalthe roadTheRoadviggo mortensenViggoMortensenEugene NovikovTue, 08 Sep 2009 09:03:00 ESTLive From Telluride: Hooked on 'Red Riding'http://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/07/live-from-telluride-hooked-on-red-riding/http://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/07/live-from-telluride-hooked-on-red-riding/http://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/07/live-from-telluride-hooked-on-red-riding/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,



If you've ever been to a film festival, you know the age-old dilemma: do I opt for early sneaks of high-profile releases that will roll out all over the country in a few months, or do I try to catch the obscurities that I may never see again? For me, this choice is frequently dictated by reviewing obligations, but even when it is not, I tend to opt for the former, as I am both impatient and -- sadly -- skeptical of the unfamiliar. I don't know what happened to me at Telluride this year, but for some reason I decided to commit to a trilogy of films made for British television at the expense of several higher-profile options that I will now have to see when they hit theaters later this fall.

Let this be a lesson to you. Red Riding -- the trilogy to which I'm referring -- is, collectively, the greatest thing I've seen since I discovered the first season of Twin Peaks on DVD. Granted, featuring actors like Peter Mullan, Andrew Garfield, David Morrissey, Paddy Considine and Mark Addy, and directed by name-brand filmmakers Julian Jarrold, James Marsh and Anand Tucker, this isn't some ultra-independent obscurity. But man, am I grateful for the Telluride powers-that-be for bringing it here, and for whatever possessed me to check out the first one on Saturday morning.

Continue reading Live From Telluride: Hooked on 'Red Riding'

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]]>andrew garfieldAndrewGarfieldred ridingRedRidingtelluride 2009telluride film festivalTelluride2009TellurideFilmFestivalEugene NovikovMon, 07 Sep 2009 20:03:00 ESTTelluride Review: Coco Before Chanelhttp://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/07/telluride-review-coco-before-chanel/http://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/07/telluride-review-coco-before-chanel/http://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/07/telluride-review-coco-before-chanel/#commentsFiled under: , ,



The only thing worse than the biopic - as a general rule my least favorite genre - is the biopic of someone to whom nothing interesting actually happens. Coco Before Chanel is astonishing in this respect. The title is perfectly clear: this is a movie about Coco Chanel before she became a fashion icon and built her Parisian empire. What this translates to in reality is a movie about a period in the title character's life during which nothing occurs. I've been sitting here trying to think of a more dramatically inert film than this one. I'm at a loss.

Look, I think it's wonderful that Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel revolutionized fashion, refused to surrender her independence, and eventually made a fortune. It's just that we don't see any of that here, at least not depicted in any compelling way. Coco Before Chanel is interesting, if at all, as a historical point of reference. If you've always wondered where Coco Chanel "came from," and would like to see her "roots" depicted by the numbers, the movie might work for you. But insight? Narrative drive? No.

Coco (Audrey Tautou) - so nicknamed because of a rowdy song she used to sing with her sister when the two were barmaids - worked as a tailor and tried to make it as an actress and singer. When that didn't work, she moved in with an aging millionaire playboy named Balsan (Benoit Poelvoorde), who was more than happy to provide for her handsomely in exchange for companionship and the occasional roll in the hay. Careful to avoid romantic commitments, Coco eventually also took up with a handsome Englishman (Alessandro Nivola), who was more solicitous of her creative pursuits (hatmaking, mostly) than Balsan. She dared design herself a dress sans corset. Eventually she moved to Paris, and the rest is history.

Continue reading Telluride Review: Coco Before Chanel

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]]>alessandro nivolaAlessandroNivolaaudrey tautouAudreyTautoucoco before chanelCocoBeforeChaneltelluride 2009Telluride2009Eugene NovikovMon, 07 Sep 2009 11:03:00 ESTTelluride Review: The White Ribbonhttp://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/06/telluride-review-the-white-ribbon/http://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/06/telluride-review-the-white-ribbon/http://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/06/telluride-review-the-white-ribbon/#commentsFiled under: , , ,



You may know Michael Haneke as the fiery, audience-disdaining provocateur of Funny Games - the subtitled original or the American shot-by-shot remake, no matter. And if so, you may understandably want to steer clear of further efforts by the filmmaker. After all, most sane people don't go to the movies to spend two hours getting yelled at by a crazy Austrian. Even Caché, which I actually thought was quite good, could feel awfully haughty -- like it was somehow above having a plot that's comprehensible on a literal level, without having to stretch for abstract explanations and metaphors.

The White Ribbon, which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, has been described - and, in some circles, condemned - as a "departure" for Haneke. That's true. Though the film's dogged austerity and formal precision will be familiar to cinephiles, The White Ribbon features an honest-to-goodness story, one that works on its own terms and as a typically cynical allegory. Armed with a plot, Haneke's talents and style prove richly rewarding. This is one of the year's best films: a tense, foreboding creeper with devastating insight into human nature and why ordinary people sometimes do (or acquiesce to) some very bad things.


Continue reading Telluride Review: The White Ribbon

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]]>michael hanekeMichaelHaneketelluride film festivalTellurideFilmFestivalthe white ribbonTheWhiteRibbonEugene NovikovSun, 06 Sep 2009 12:03:00 ESTTelluride Review: The Last Stationhttp://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/05/telluride-review-the-last-station/http://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/05/telluride-review-the-last-station/http://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/05/telluride-review-the-last-station/#commentsFiled under: , ,



Circa 1910, Lev Tolstoy was the most renowned writer and thinker in Russia. The man was so worshipped that he spawned his own political and philosophical movement - Tolstoyanism - that won over scores of fanatically devoted adherents who followed Tolstoy in rejecting notions of private property, condemning sexual intercourse, and embracing what can be described as an idiosyncratic form of communism, with a somewhat creepy religious bent. "I don't believe that Tolstoy is Christ," says one particularly revolting character in The Last Station, a fictionalized chronicle of Tolstoy's last days. "Christ is Christ. But I believe that he is a prophet."

I've read enough Tolstoy to know that the guy was essentially a crackpot. The main problem with The Last Station is that the movie - which wants badly to portray the man as sympathetic - spends most of its running time madly equivocating on this score. Certainly its depiction of his politics does Tolstoy no favors: his worldview appears as illogical and fanatical as it apparently was in real life. At the urging of his advisors, the man robs his wife of 48 years of the rights to his bestsellers, which he is convinced "belong to the people." When asked why his family shouldn't profit from what is, after all, his work, he says that if peasants had money, they wouldn't spend it on footservants - to which his wife, Countess Sofia Andreevna Tolstoya, reasonably replies that they would probably spend it on liquor.

Continue reading Telluride Review: The Last Station

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]]>christopher plummerChristopherPlummerhelen mirrenHelenMirrenjames mcavoyJamesMcavoypaul giamattiPaulGiamattithe last stationTheLastStationEugene NovikovSat, 05 Sep 2009 13:03:00 ESTWhat They're Showing at Telluride This Weekendhttp://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/04/what-theyre-showing-at-telluride-this-weekend/http://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/04/what-theyre-showing-at-telluride-this-weekend/http://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/04/what-theyre-showing-at-telluride-this-weekend/#commentsFiled under: ,

You've got to admire a festival that attracts hordes of particularly picky movie fiends with a secret lineup year after year. If you're not aware, Colorado's Telluride Film Festival does things a little differently than the other biggies. Rather than releasing their film list early, and allowing attendees to peruse and ponder the choices, they release it as the fest kicks off, banking on blind faith and great movie taste -- a risk which seems to always pay off.

Telluride runs through Labor Day, and the lineup has finally hit. This year, it's led by John Hillcoat's Proposition follow-up The Road, which Variety just pummeled. Star Viggo Mortensen is being honored with a tribute, and that's only the tip of the iceberg. We've got films that include Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Coco Before Chanel with Audrey Tatou, Todd Solondz's latest -- Life During Wartime, the Red Riding Trilogy (four novels adapted by Julian Jarrold, James Marsh, and Anand Tucker), Jane Campion's Bright Star, and maybe even Jason Reitman's Up in the Air.

How's that for a festival? It's a nice reminder of the worthy fare that exists between the cracks of mainstream mediocrity. Check out the whole lineup over at indieWIRE.

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]]>Cinematicalfilm festivalFilmFestivalTellurideTelluride 2009 lineupTelluride2009LineupMonika BartyzelFri, 04 Sep 2009 09:03:00 ESTIcelandic Thriller 'Jar City' Getting an American Remakehttp://www.cinematical.com/2008/10/06/icelandic-thriller-jar-city-getting-an-american-remake/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/10/06/icelandic-thriller-jar-city-getting-an-american-remake/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/10/06/icelandic-thriller-jar-city-getting-an-american-remake/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Iceland has a more robust film industry than you might expect from a small island nation of only 320,000 people, but still, it ain't exactly Hollywood. So when an Icelandic film gains worldwide attention, it's newsworthy.

Such is the case with Jar City, an excellent mystery thriller that Cinematical's Kim Voynar raved about last year at Telluride. It's the highest-grossing film in the country's history, from one of its most successful (and prolific directors), and it won a top prize at the 2007 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

And now it gets the ultimate honor: an American remake! (There may have been sarcasm in the word "honor.") According to The Hollywood Reporter, Overture Films has bought the remake rights and will employ the original writer/director, Baltasar Kormákur, as a producer. No word yet on who will direct the U.S. version, but a writer has been attached: Michael Ross, who wrote Turistas and who THR says is also penning the Near Dark remake.

The Icelandic setting will be changed, of course, to its logical American counterpart: Louisiana. No, really. I'm curious to see how the story transfers, since some of its details relate to the insularity of those small Icelandic communities. Also, I loved that the detective in the original was a total badass despite looking like a nerdy college professor. (That's him in the picture.) I hope they keep that element for the remake. William H. Macy would be perfect.

As far as I can determine, this is the first time an Icelandic film has officially gotten an American remake. If anyone knows differently, let me know. Otherwise, I'm marking this as a historic first for our friends in the North Atlantic.

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]]>baltasar kormakurBaltasarKormakuricelandicelandicjar cityJarCitymichael rossMichaelRossEric D. SniderMon, 06 Oct 2008 19:15:00 EST'Flash' Foe Ford Clears Up About Wipershttp://www.cinematical.com/2008/10/04/flash-foe-ford-clears-up-about-wipers/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/10/04/flash-foe-ford-clears-up-about-wipers/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/10/04/flash-foe-ford-clears-up-about-wipers/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

In this weekend's well-meaning docudrama, Flash of Genius, Greg Kinnear portrays an inventor who struggled for years to sue car manufacturing behemoth Ford and get them to admit that they helped themselves to his patent on the intermittent windshield wiper. (Eugene reviewed it back at Telluride, and I basically agree with his assessment.)

Despite the real-life case being settled a couple of decades ago, Ford has taken this current opportunity to point out the factual inaccuracies in the movie that they've taken issue with, doing so in the form of this handy timeline, without causing any sort of formal stir, as covered in this accompanying text. Especially considering that the film's subject, Robert Kearns, passed away over three years ago, I doubt it would (and hope it won't) come to any sort of renewed head.

Maybe in thirty years or so, we'll get a movie about a blogger battling impossible odds to get all the facts straight on either side of a movie in which an inventor battled impossible odds to get just some facts straight. Now, to just work the word 'Genius' back into the title...

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]]>bob kearnsBobKearnsflash of geniusFlashOfGeniusford motor companyFordMotorCompanygreg kinnearGregKinnearintermittent wiperIntermittentWiperrobert kearnsRobertKearnswindshield wipersWindshieldWipersWilliam GossSat, 04 Oct 2008 14:32:00 ESTTelluride Review: The Good, the Bad, the Weirdhttp://www.cinematical.com/2008/09/04/telluride-review-the-good-the-bad-the-weird/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/09/04/telluride-review-the-good-the-bad-the-weird/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/09/04/telluride-review-the-good-the-bad-the-weird/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,



Under no circumstances is Ji-woon Kim's The Good, the Bad, the Weird a great movie, but I found myself genuinely impressed with it. The pitch - "Korean comic spaghetti western" - sounded like the sort of ultra-hip, insubstantial, self-consciously campy Asian actioner I've grown tired of; I kept flashing back to Riyuhei Kitamura's much-hyped but totally useless Versus, an acquired taste I haven't acquired. I needn't have worried. Though Kim's western pastiche may be insubstantial, it's anything but a drag. It's masterfully directed, legitimately funny, and legitimately fun, thoroughly enjoyable even at an excessive 129 minutes.

Though you may think you're here to see how Kim (whom you may remember from his terrific horror entry A Tale of Two Sisters) plays with the western genre, you're really here for the action sequences. There are two spectacular ones: the rollicking train robbery that opens the film, and a later all-stops-out chase scene involving several gangs of bandits and the Japanese army. These aren't the sort of scenes that bring you to the edge of your seat, but rather the sort that put a steady, delighted grin on your face. Unapologetically goofy, absurdly attenuated, brilliantly paced, and backed by a rousing musical score, they alone make the film worth sitting through.

Continue reading Telluride Review: The Good, the Bad, the Weird

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]]>byung-hun leeByung-hunLeeji-woon kimJi-woonKimkang-ho sungKang-hoSungthe good the bad the weirdTheGoodTheBadTheWeirdwoo-sung jungWoo-sungJungEugene NovikovThu, 04 Sep 2008 14:02:00 ESTTelluride Wrap: Goodbye, Telluride, Hello Torontohttp://www.cinematical.com/2008/09/03/telluride-wrap-goodbye-telluride-hello-toronto/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/09/03/telluride-wrap-goodbye-telluride-hello-toronto/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/09/03/telluride-wrap-goodbye-telluride-hello-toronto/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

In spite of the writer's strike keeping several larger films that otherwise would have been on the Telluride slate out of this year's fest, and the absence of Cannes Palm d'or winner The Class, which many had hoped to see here (that film is opening the upcoming New York Film Festival, and so was unable to play at Telluride), the 35th Telluride Film Festival was a solid success.

The fest scored sneak previews of Danny Boyle's hotly anticipated Slumdog Millionaire, which was very well received by audiences, and gave North American premieres to some films that you'll likely be hearing about come Oscar time, including I've Loved You So Long, Flame and Citron, and Adam Resurrected, and Everlasting Moments.

Continue reading Telluride Wrap: Goodbye, Telluride, Hello Toronto

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]]>danny boylefeaturedhappy-go-luckyive loved you so longIveLovedYouSoLongkristin scott thomasKristinScottThomasmike leighMikeLeighslumdog millionaireSlumdogMillionairetelluride film festivalTellurideFilmFestivaltiff2008Kim VoynarWed, 03 Sep 2008 22:02:00 ESTTelluride Roundup: 'Slumdog Millionaire,' 'I've Loved You So Long,' and Morehttp://www.cinematical.com/2008/09/03/telluride-roundup-slumdog-millionaire-ive-loved-you-so-lon/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/09/03/telluride-roundup-slumdog-millionaire-ive-loved-you-so-lon/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/09/03/telluride-roundup-slumdog-millionaire-ive-loved-you-so-lon/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

The Telluride Film Festival has wrapped up and we're gearing up for our non-stop coverage of the Toronto International Film Festival, which starts tomorrow. Just in case you missed any of our coverage from the Telluride Film Festival, here's a roundup of what we saw there. Most of these films will also be playing at Toronto as well; if you attended Telluride or are going to TIFF, be sure to let us know which films you love or hate -- we always enjoy hearing what our smart Cinematical cinephiles think about the films they catch at fests.

Slumdog Millionaire (dir. Danny Boyle): Fans of director Danny Boyle's work will find much to appreciate in his latest film, Slumdog Millionaire, a sweeping, hopeful story about a boy in the slums of India who becomes an instant celebrity after he wins millions on India's version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? ... read more

Continue reading Telluride Roundup: 'Slumdog Millionaire,' 'I've Loved You So Long,' and More

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]]>american violetAmericanVioletdanny boyleeverlasting momentsEverlastingMomentsflame citronFlameCitronflash of geniusFlashOfGeniushappy-go-luckyive loved you so longIveLovedYouSoLongkristin scott thomasKristinScottThomassally hawkinsSallyHawkinsslumdog millionaireSlumdogMillionairetelluride film festivalTellurideFilmFestivaltiff2008toronto international film festivalTorontoInternationalFilmFestivalKim VoynarWed, 03 Sep 2008 20:32:00 ESTTelluride Review: Adam Resurrectedhttp://www.cinematical.com/2008/09/03/telluride-review-adam-resurrected/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/09/03/telluride-review-adam-resurrected/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/09/03/telluride-review-adam-resurrected/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , ,

Adam Resurrected, adapted by Noah Stollum Stollman from the book of the same name by Yoram Kaniuk and directed by Paul Schrader, is a darkly abstract and haunting film featuring Jeff Goldblum in his finest, most layered performance ever. Goldblum portrays Adam Steiner, a tragic clown shattered by the horrors of the Holocaust. A clown and ringleader of his own highly successful circus act in pre-War Berlin, Adam finds himself, his wife, and their two young daughters caught in the roundup of Jews. Ironically, his audience was once full of soldiers in Nazi uniforms; now the very people Adam spent his life making happy are just as happy to see him and his family exterminated.

Adam in the present is a prisoner of his memories of those terrible years, and now resident ringleader of a fictional asylum for Holocaust survivors in the Israeli desert. He's a man with a fractured soul, and as a result of his unrelenting anguish and guilt, he astounds the doctors in charge of the asylum by the ability of his mind to make his body bleed and even grow malignant tumors as he repeatedly dies and is reborn.

Continue reading Telluride Review: Adam Resurrected

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]]>adam resurrectedAdamResurrectedjeff goldblumpaul schradertelluride film festivalTellurideFilmFestivaltiff2008toronto international film festivalTorontoInternationalFilmFestivalKim VoynarWed, 03 Sep 2008 20:02:00 ESTTelluride Review: Everlasting Momentshttp://www.cinematical.com/2008/09/03/telluride-review-everlasting-moments/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/09/03/telluride-review-everlasting-moments/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/09/03/telluride-review-everlasting-moments/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , ,

For the cinephile, discovering a new film by famed Swedish director Jan Troell (one of this year's Telluride tributees) is a lot like eating a perfectly made truffle after a lifetime of mass-produced candy bars. His latest effort, Everlasting Moments, was like that for me; it's that rare cinematic experience that you settle back, bite into, and then savor as the subtle richness of the film cleanses the palate and fills the soul.

Based on the real-life story of Troell's wife's grandmother, the film takes us through the life of Maria Larsson (Maria Heiskanen, in a remarkable performance), a belabored mother of a large brood in the early days of the 20th century who finds renewed passion and intellectual independence through a Contessa camera she wins in a lottery. The camera sits for many years unused until one day, Maria takes it into the shop of the local photographer, Sebastien Pederson (Jesper Christensen), to sell it to help pay the rent.

The kindly Pederson shows Maria how to use the camera, and once she starts using it, she begins to see the world through a whole new lens. Finding herself unable to resist continuing to learn and improve her eye as a photographer, Maria becomes obsessed with capturing the little moments of life around her through the miraculous ability to capture living moments in still images.

Continue reading Telluride Review: Everlasting Moments

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]]>everlasting momentsEverlastingMomentsjan troelltelluride film festivalTellurideFilmFestivaltiff2008toronto international film festivalTorontoInternationalFilmFestivalKim VoynarWed, 03 Sep 2008 13:02:00 ESTLive From Telluride: Wrapping Uphttp://www.cinematical.com/2008/09/02/live-from-telluride-wrapping-up/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/09/02/live-from-telluride-wrapping-up/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/09/02/live-from-telluride-wrapping-up/#commentsFiled under: , ,

A few stray thoughts from the end of the festival, hopefully of general interest. I still have one more review in the pipeline, which should come tomorrow afternoon.

- I am even more gung-ho about Slumdog Millionaire than Kim. It sort of ruined the last day and a half of the festival, because I've been unable to think about much else. I want to see it at least a dozen more times, immediately.

- I need to say something about With a Little Help from Myself, François Dupeyron's follow-up to the arthouse hit Monsieur Ibrahim. It's a respectable, low-key drama set in a French housing project, featuring a justly-acclaimed performance by Félicité Wouassi as a woman working to keep her head above water and her family together despite a seemingly infinite number of obstacles. It gets a bit too cute at points -- there's a subplot regarding the protagonist's sex-starved neighbor that is the epitome of "neither here nor there" -- but it's mostly the sort of solid, unpretentious film I greet with open arms at festivals. There's enough buzz about Wouassi that if you live in a city, you'll surely see it at a theater near you sooner rather than later.

Continue reading Live From Telluride: Wrapping Up

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]]>adam resurrectedAdamResurrectedflame citronFlameCitronfrancois dupeyronFrancoisDupeyronken loachKenLoachkissesmonsieur ibrahimMonsieurIbrahimslumdog millionaireSlumdogMillionairetelluridetelluride film festivalTellurideFilmFestivaltiff2008with a little help from myselfWithALittleHelpFromMyselfEugene NovikovTue, 02 Sep 2008 14:32:00 ESTExclusive Clip: 'Happy-Go-Lucky'http://www.cinematical.com/2008/09/02/exclusive-clip-happy-go-lucky/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/09/02/exclusive-clip-happy-go-lucky/http://www.cinematical.com/2008/09/02/exclusive-clip-happy-go-lucky/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,



Happy-Go-Lucky, the newest film by director Mike Leigh, has been getting high praise at the Telluride Film Festival for Sally Hawkins' performance as Poppy, a primary school teacher with an optimistic nature. In this clip (see below), Poppy is taking a driving lesson from Scott (Eddie Marsan), a tightly wound driving instructor who's Poppy's polar opposite. The scenes between Poppy and Scott are some of the best and funniest in the film; this one will give you a little taste of it. Happy-Go-Lucky plays at the Toronto International Film Festival before opening in limited release October 10. You can read our full review of the film from Telluride right here.

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]]>cinematicaleddie marsanEddieMarsanhappy-go-luckymike leighMikeLeighsally hawkinsSallyHawkinstiff2008Kim VoynarTue, 02 Sep 2008 12:32:00 EST