“All his major works feel as fresh and relevant as when they were made.”
Leading festival heads and UK industry figures have been paying fulsome tribute to Terence Davies, one of the titans of UK cinema who died at the weekend aged 77.
British Film Institute (BFI) chief executive Ben Roberts said that Davies was an inspirational figure to him. He discovered Davies’ work when he was 17 years old and saw a clip of The Long Day Closes on the BBC Film show presented by Barry Norman.
“I was just immediately mesmerised by it. There was something about how his films...
Leading festival heads and UK industry figures have been paying fulsome tribute to Terence Davies, one of the titans of UK cinema who died at the weekend aged 77.
British Film Institute (BFI) chief executive Ben Roberts said that Davies was an inspirational figure to him. He discovered Davies’ work when he was 17 years old and saw a clip of The Long Day Closes on the BBC Film show presented by Barry Norman.
“I was just immediately mesmerised by it. There was something about how his films...
- 10/9/2023
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
BFI’s Ben Roberts and Cannes head Thierry Fremaux among those to praise Davies, who died aged 77 this weekend.
Leading festival heads and UK industry figures have been paying fulsome tribute to Terence Davies, one of the titans of UK cinema who died at the weekend aged 77.
British Film Institute (BFI) chief executive Ben Roberts said that Davies was an inspirational figure to him. He discovered Davies’ work when he was 17 years old and saw a clip of The Long Day Closes on the BBC Film show presented by Barry Norman.
“I was just immediately mesmerised by it. There was...
Leading festival heads and UK industry figures have been paying fulsome tribute to Terence Davies, one of the titans of UK cinema who died at the weekend aged 77.
British Film Institute (BFI) chief executive Ben Roberts said that Davies was an inspirational figure to him. He discovered Davies’ work when he was 17 years old and saw a clip of The Long Day Closes on the BBC Film show presented by Barry Norman.
“I was just immediately mesmerised by it. There was...
- 10/9/2023
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
Jean Luc-Godard, who died Tuesday at the age of 91, was widely known as the King of the French New Wave. Since coming onto the scene in the 1960s, his seminal films such as “Breathless,” “Masculin, Feminin” and “Pierrot Le Fou,” introduced avante-garde techniques that have been since been replicated by innumerable filmmakers in the following decades.
In addition to a scathing intellectualism and stubborn stance against “the establishment”, the Franco-Swiss director was best known for changing the rules of cinema — his use of long-takes, jump-cuts and actor asides are just a few of the innovative practices he employed in his films that are still used to this day.
Thankfully, Godard left behind dozens of unforgettable films, many of which have been restored on Criterion. Below, check out some of Godard’s best films to celebrate the late director:
‘Pierrot le fou’ Courtesy of Amazon
Godard perfects the Pop Art color...
In addition to a scathing intellectualism and stubborn stance against “the establishment”, the Franco-Swiss director was best known for changing the rules of cinema — his use of long-takes, jump-cuts and actor asides are just a few of the innovative practices he employed in his films that are still used to this day.
Thankfully, Godard left behind dozens of unforgettable films, many of which have been restored on Criterion. Below, check out some of Godard’s best films to celebrate the late director:
‘Pierrot le fou’ Courtesy of Amazon
Godard perfects the Pop Art color...
- 9/14/2022
- by Anna Tingley
- Variety Film + TV
From "Modern Lusts," Berghahn 2020, 340PPErnest Borneman not only wrote the greatest detective novel set in the movie-business, with one of the best titles, The Face on the Cutting-Room Floor (1937), but was also a screenwriter, editor, producer, distributor and director who worked closely with two cinema colossi, John Grierson and Orson Welles. He was also a painter, musician, revered jazz critic and historian of African-American life, a radical agitator and sexologist whose stated aim was to destroy the patriarchy. Modern Lusts, the first biography of this protean polymath, reveals a man who did everything, knew everyone, and remained in the forefront of avant-garde art and politics, Black liberation and sexual freedom, like some ultra-woke Zelig. Never in the field of human culture was so much done, so many met, now known to so few.Born in Berlin in 1915, Borneman attended Karl Marx school and by 15 had met Brecht, with whom he collaborated over the decades,...
- 12/23/2020
- MUBI
Caroline Champetier shot Kevin Macdonald's (seen here with his Black Sea star Jude Law) Howard Hawks: American Artist and Adam Simon's Sam Fuller documentary, produced by Tim Robbins and Colin MacCabe, The Typewriter, The Rifle And The Movie Camera for the British Film Institute Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Caroline Champetier told me that she understood the "language of cinematography" after seeing the way Vilmos Zsigmond "lit" Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye, starring Elliott Gould. In our conversation the importance of a Robert Bresson ending, Ingmar Bergman's influence, and lessons from Jean Renoir, Roberto Rossellini and Jean-Luc Godard come to light.
On Benoît Jacquot's La Désenchantée, La Fille Seule and À Tout De Suite: "Each time he was in love with the girl. It's a good way to make a good movie, to be in love." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Caroline's work with Arnaud Desplechin (La Sentinelle); Anne Fontaine (The Innocents,...
Caroline Champetier told me that she understood the "language of cinematography" after seeing the way Vilmos Zsigmond "lit" Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye, starring Elliott Gould. In our conversation the importance of a Robert Bresson ending, Ingmar Bergman's influence, and lessons from Jean Renoir, Roberto Rossellini and Jean-Luc Godard come to light.
On Benoît Jacquot's La Désenchantée, La Fille Seule and À Tout De Suite: "Each time he was in love with the girl. It's a good way to make a good movie, to be in love." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Caroline's work with Arnaud Desplechin (La Sentinelle); Anne Fontaine (The Innocents,...
- 1/18/2018
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Studio: Remembering Chris Marker is a new hardcover release from Or Books that marries an introduction by Ben Lerner and an essay from Colin MacCabe with photos from Adam Bartos to create a beautiful tribute to the late filmmaker-artist Chris Marker (1912-2012). Colin MacCabe's interactions with Marker began in an atypical way in 2002. An acquaintance gave MacCabe a VHS copy of The Magic Face. As Marker was obsessed with the film, the tape served as MacCabe's proverbial ticket to a meeting with Marker at his Parisian apartment. Over the course of many years and many subsequent visits, the MacCabe-Marker friendship became increasingly strong as MacCabe assisted Marker in his numerous cinematic and artistic projects. Thus, Studio's central essay is more personal than analytical, which...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 7/10/2017
- Screen Anarchy
Colin MacCabe in a Chris Marker Cats Go Barack T-shirt Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
The Seasons In Quincy: Four Portraits Of John Berger co-director Colin MacCabe and photographer Adam Bartos will be joined by Ben Lerner and Experimenter director Michael Almereyda for an In Chris Marker's Studio panel discussion following the screenings of Marker's Cat Listening To Music (Chat Écoutant La Musique), Ouvroir, Second Life featuring Guillaume-en-Égypte and excerpts from Agnès Varda's Agnès De Ci De Là Varda at Metrograph in New York.
Michael Almereyda's Escapes subject Hampton Fancher at BAMcinemaFest Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Almereyda's two latest films, Marjorie Prime (starring Lois Smith, Jon Hamm, Geena Davis, Tim Robbins) and his Hampton Fancher documentary Escapes will be released this summer in the Us.
Marker's Sans Soleil, Tokyo Days and his Le Joli Mai with Pierre Lhomme will be shown as part of the series celebrating another cat man.
The Seasons In Quincy: Four Portraits Of John Berger co-director Colin MacCabe and photographer Adam Bartos will be joined by Ben Lerner and Experimenter director Michael Almereyda for an In Chris Marker's Studio panel discussion following the screenings of Marker's Cat Listening To Music (Chat Écoutant La Musique), Ouvroir, Second Life featuring Guillaume-en-Égypte and excerpts from Agnès Varda's Agnès De Ci De Là Varda at Metrograph in New York.
Michael Almereyda's Escapes subject Hampton Fancher at BAMcinemaFest Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Almereyda's two latest films, Marjorie Prime (starring Lois Smith, Jon Hamm, Geena Davis, Tim Robbins) and his Hampton Fancher documentary Escapes will be released this summer in the Us.
Marker's Sans Soleil, Tokyo Days and his Le Joli Mai with Pierre Lhomme will be shown as part of the series celebrating another cat man.
- 7/3/2017
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The Okja actor joins a refreshing celebration of the late Ways of Seeing writer – plus a hilarious lesson in how to ride a motorbike
One year before he died at the age of 90, art critic and author John Berger was the subject of this musingly celebratory quartet of documentary essay-portraits, now on UK release – almost the cinematic equivalent of a Festschrift.
Its writers, directors and contributors feature Berger’s circle of friends, prominent among them the writer and producer Colin MacCabe and the actor Tilda Swinton. Intimate interviews and conversations are interspersed with clips of Berger in his handsome prime, the dazzling broadcaster and creator of the television series and critical work Ways of Seeing; MacCabe contrives some Godardian flourishes.
Continue reading...
One year before he died at the age of 90, art critic and author John Berger was the subject of this musingly celebratory quartet of documentary essay-portraits, now on UK release – almost the cinematic equivalent of a Festschrift.
Its writers, directors and contributors feature Berger’s circle of friends, prominent among them the writer and producer Colin MacCabe and the actor Tilda Swinton. Intimate interviews and conversations are interspersed with clips of Berger in his handsome prime, the dazzling broadcaster and creator of the television series and critical work Ways of Seeing; MacCabe contrives some Godardian flourishes.
Continue reading...
- 6/21/2017
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Rome Open City, Paisan, Germany Year Zero: Filmed mostly on the streets in newly-liberated territory, Roberto Rossellini’s gripping war-related shows are blessed with new restorations but still reflect their rough origins. The second picture, the greater masterpiece, looks as if it were improvised out of sheer artistic will.
Roberto Rosselini’s War Trilogy
Rome Open City, Paisan, Germany Year Zero
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 500 (497, 498, 499)
1945-1948 / B&W / 1:37 & 1:33 flat full frame / 302 minutes / Street Date July 11, 2017 / available from the Criterion Collection 79.96
Starring: Aldo Fabrizi, Anna Magnani; Dots Johnson, Harriet White Medin; Edmund Moeschke, Franz-Otto Krüger.
Cinematography: Ubaldo Arata; Otello Martelli; Robert Julliard.
Film Editor: Eraldo Da Roma
Original Music: Renzo Rossellini
Written by Sergio Amidei, Alberto Consiglio, Federico Fellini; Klaus Mann, Marcello Pagliero, Alfred Hayes, Vasco Pratolini; Max Kolpé, Carlo Lizzani.
Directed by Roberto Rossellini
Criterion released an identical-for-content DVD set of this trilogy in 2010; the new Blu-ray...
Roberto Rosselini’s War Trilogy
Rome Open City, Paisan, Germany Year Zero
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 500 (497, 498, 499)
1945-1948 / B&W / 1:37 & 1:33 flat full frame / 302 minutes / Street Date July 11, 2017 / available from the Criterion Collection 79.96
Starring: Aldo Fabrizi, Anna Magnani; Dots Johnson, Harriet White Medin; Edmund Moeschke, Franz-Otto Krüger.
Cinematography: Ubaldo Arata; Otello Martelli; Robert Julliard.
Film Editor: Eraldo Da Roma
Original Music: Renzo Rossellini
Written by Sergio Amidei, Alberto Consiglio, Federico Fellini; Klaus Mann, Marcello Pagliero, Alfred Hayes, Vasco Pratolini; Max Kolpé, Carlo Lizzani.
Directed by Roberto Rossellini
Criterion released an identical-for-content DVD set of this trilogy in 2010; the new Blu-ray...
- 6/19/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Exclusive: Films focus on production designer Kristi Zea and artist John Berger.
Kino Lorber has acquired all North American rights from UK outfit Taskovski Films to documentary Everybody Knows… Elizabeth Murray, directed by acclaimed production designer Kristi Zea known for her work on The Silence Of The Lambs and The Departed.
The film follows painter Murray’s struggle to break through establishment art world barriers.
Meryl Streep and art world luminaries Roberta Smith, Paula Cooper, Jennifer Bartlett and Vija Celmins read journal entries from single mother Murray. Philip Glass composed the score.
Taskovski Films has finalised a deal with Curzon Artificial Eye for UK rights to Berlinale 2016 selection The Seasons In Quincy: Four Portraits Of John Berger, directed by Tilda Swinton.
Swinton, Colin MacCabe, Christopher Roth and Bartek Dziadosz worked more than five years on the profile of the late art critic, writer and painter Berger.
Meanwhile, the company is closing a deal for North America on [link...
Kino Lorber has acquired all North American rights from UK outfit Taskovski Films to documentary Everybody Knows… Elizabeth Murray, directed by acclaimed production designer Kristi Zea known for her work on The Silence Of The Lambs and The Departed.
The film follows painter Murray’s struggle to break through establishment art world barriers.
Meryl Streep and art world luminaries Roberta Smith, Paula Cooper, Jennifer Bartlett and Vija Celmins read journal entries from single mother Murray. Philip Glass composed the score.
Taskovski Films has finalised a deal with Curzon Artificial Eye for UK rights to Berlinale 2016 selection The Seasons In Quincy: Four Portraits Of John Berger, directed by Tilda Swinton.
Swinton, Colin MacCabe, Christopher Roth and Bartek Dziadosz worked more than five years on the profile of the late art critic, writer and painter Berger.
Meanwhile, the company is closing a deal for North America on [link...
- 5/23/2017
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
The Criterion Collection will venture to the Zone this July, and much more, as they’ve announced their new titles for the month. Andrei Tarkovsky‘s long-rumored sci-fi masterpiece Stalker will arrive with a new 2K restoration. The release will also include a new interview with author Geoff Dyer and newly translated English subtitles. Also arriving in July is Albert Brooks‘ satirical comedy Lost in America, featuring a new conversation with the director and Robert Weide, as well as interviews with the cast and crew.
One of the most notable releases of the month is Robert Bresson‘s masterful final film L’argent, which tracks a counterfeit bill through Paris, and the people it touches. Lastly, Roberto Rossellini‘s powerful War Trilogy is getting a much-deserved Blu-ray upgrade with new versions of Rome Open City, Paisan, and Germany Year Zero. Check out the high-resolution cover art below and full release details.
One of the most notable releases of the month is Robert Bresson‘s masterful final film L’argent, which tracks a counterfeit bill through Paris, and the people it touches. Lastly, Roberto Rossellini‘s powerful War Trilogy is getting a much-deserved Blu-ray upgrade with new versions of Rome Open City, Paisan, and Germany Year Zero. Check out the high-resolution cover art below and full release details.
- 4/17/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Tilda Swinton with John Berger in The Seasons In Quincy: Four Portraits Of John Berger
Colin MacCabe is the co-director of The Derek Jarman Lab-produced documentary The Seasons In Quincy: Four Portraits Of John Berger with Tilda Swinton, Christopher Roth and Bartek Dziadosz. When I spoke with Colin last year at Film Forum my first question to him was concerning John's health. I first met John Berger in 1991 in Munich at a workshop he was giving at the Kammerspiele theater. We had a conversation about rhubarb and I asked him to sign his book And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief As Photos. The book had been a gift from a friend in Paris who inscribed it to me with the words "My heart as long as forever."
Colin MacCabe on John Berger: "He was the best and most reliable of friends ..." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Although I opened the book...
Colin MacCabe is the co-director of The Derek Jarman Lab-produced documentary The Seasons In Quincy: Four Portraits Of John Berger with Tilda Swinton, Christopher Roth and Bartek Dziadosz. When I spoke with Colin last year at Film Forum my first question to him was concerning John's health. I first met John Berger in 1991 in Munich at a workshop he was giving at the Kammerspiele theater. We had a conversation about rhubarb and I asked him to sign his book And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief As Photos. The book had been a gift from a friend in Paris who inscribed it to me with the words "My heart as long as forever."
Colin MacCabe on John Berger: "He was the best and most reliable of friends ..." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Although I opened the book...
- 1/9/2017
- by Anne-Katrin Titze and Colin MacCabe
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Handsome Devil to kick-off the event, Mad To Be Normal picked as Closing Film Gala.
The opening and closing night films of the Glasgow Film Festival (15-26 February) have been announced.
The European premiere of Handsome Devil, a coming-of-age story staring Sherlock and Spectre star Andrew Scott, will be the Opening Gala on 15 February. Scott stars alongside Fionn O’Shea and Nicholas Galitzine and John Butler (The Stag) directs. Radiant Films International is handling international sales for this title.
The world premiere of Mad To Be Normal (pictured below) will close the festival on festival on 26 February. David Tennant plays renowned Scottish psychiatrist R.D. Laing, with the Doctor Who star confirmed to attend the event.
Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men), Michael Gambon (the Harry Potter series) and Gabriel Byrne (The Usual Suspects) co-star, with Robert Mullan (We Will Sing) directing.
The festival will also host the Scottish premiere of The Seasons in Quincy: Four Portraits Of John Berger...
The opening and closing night films of the Glasgow Film Festival (15-26 February) have been announced.
The European premiere of Handsome Devil, a coming-of-age story staring Sherlock and Spectre star Andrew Scott, will be the Opening Gala on 15 February. Scott stars alongside Fionn O’Shea and Nicholas Galitzine and John Butler (The Stag) directs. Radiant Films International is handling international sales for this title.
The world premiere of Mad To Be Normal (pictured below) will close the festival on festival on 26 February. David Tennant plays renowned Scottish psychiatrist R.D. Laing, with the Doctor Who star confirmed to attend the event.
Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men), Michael Gambon (the Harry Potter series) and Gabriel Byrne (The Usual Suspects) co-star, with Robert Mullan (We Will Sing) directing.
The festival will also host the Scottish premiere of The Seasons in Quincy: Four Portraits Of John Berger...
- 1/5/2017
- ScreenDaily
Academy Award-winning actress Tilda Swinton has partnered with directors Bartek Dziadosz, Colin MacCabe and Christopher Roth to create “The Seasons in Quincy: Four Portraits of John Quincy,” a series of short films that tell the story of British Booker Prize-winning author and intellectual John Berger. Swinton also appears in the shorts.
Read More: Tilda Swinton Addresses ‘Doctor Strange’ Whitewashing Controversy and Marvel’s Commitment to Diversity
“The Seasons in Quincy” is five years in the making and is composed of four episodic shorts. The films attempt to inform the audience about Berger’s life while also presenting the material in a style similar to that of his works and literature. Berger is best known for his experimental novel “G.” which won the 1972 Booker Prize as well as the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, but he is also well known for his literary criticism, plays and screenplays.
The series is set...
Read More: Tilda Swinton Addresses ‘Doctor Strange’ Whitewashing Controversy and Marvel’s Commitment to Diversity
“The Seasons in Quincy” is five years in the making and is composed of four episodic shorts. The films attempt to inform the audience about Berger’s life while also presenting the material in a style similar to that of his works and literature. Berger is best known for his experimental novel “G.” which won the 1972 Booker Prize as well as the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, but he is also well known for his literary criticism, plays and screenplays.
The series is set...
- 10/11/2016
- by Casey Coit
- Indiewire
Friends of Don Ranvaud remember the recently passed producer-sales agent-academic. “He was guided by ideals in a world where this is becoming rarer,” Salles tells Geoffrey Macnab.
Don Ranvaud was one of the most colourful figures on the international film circuit, a globe-trotting producer-sales agent-journalist-academic whose methods were sometimes chaotic but who inspired enormous affection and loyalty. Following his death last weekend, figures from across the industry have paid tribute to him.
“Don was a passionate, inspiring friend, and all of us who had the privilege to collaborate with him in Brazil are shocked and saddened by his disappearance,” director Walter Salles told Screen. “Don’s whole life revolved around cinema, and it is telling that he passed away in a film festival [Ranvaud suffered a hear attack at the Montreal Film Festival on September 5].
“What interested him was the humanity in films, what we could learn from the story and its characters. Don was vital for Central Station coming to life, as well as...
Don Ranvaud was one of the most colourful figures on the international film circuit, a globe-trotting producer-sales agent-journalist-academic whose methods were sometimes chaotic but who inspired enormous affection and loyalty. Following his death last weekend, figures from across the industry have paid tribute to him.
“Don was a passionate, inspiring friend, and all of us who had the privilege to collaborate with him in Brazil are shocked and saddened by his disappearance,” director Walter Salles told Screen. “Don’s whole life revolved around cinema, and it is telling that he passed away in a film festival [Ranvaud suffered a hear attack at the Montreal Film Festival on September 5].
“What interested him was the humanity in films, what we could learn from the story and its characters. Don was vital for Central Station coming to life, as well as...
- 9/9/2016
- by geoffrey@macnab.demon.co.uk (Geoffrey Macnab)
- ScreenDaily
Colin MacCabe on shooting Berger: "John absolutely refused to plan things." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Author, artist, self-declared storyteller John Berger is the focus of the intricately woven strands that make up The Seasons In Quincy: Four Portraits Of John Berger. Produced by The Derek Jarman Lab as a quartet of individual film essays, directed by Tilda Swinton, Christopher Roth, Bartek Dziadosz and Colin MacCabe, the combination allows for fascinating interplay of concerns.
On the opening day in New York, Colin MacCabe and I had a conversation that led from Berger's kitchen to Ken Loach's I, Daniel Blake, The Spectre Of Hope on Sebastião Salgado, Chris Marker, Neil Jordan collaborator Patrick McCabe, Isaac Julien, Roland Barthes, Jacques Derrida, Martin Heidegger, the editing by Christopher Roth and the cinematography of Bartek Dziadosz, apples, raspberries and cows, Brexit and Northern Ireland.
Tilda Swinton: "As soon as we finished the first one,...
Author, artist, self-declared storyteller John Berger is the focus of the intricately woven strands that make up The Seasons In Quincy: Four Portraits Of John Berger. Produced by The Derek Jarman Lab as a quartet of individual film essays, directed by Tilda Swinton, Christopher Roth, Bartek Dziadosz and Colin MacCabe, the combination allows for fascinating interplay of concerns.
On the opening day in New York, Colin MacCabe and I had a conversation that led from Berger's kitchen to Ken Loach's I, Daniel Blake, The Spectre Of Hope on Sebastião Salgado, Chris Marker, Neil Jordan collaborator Patrick McCabe, Isaac Julien, Roland Barthes, Jacques Derrida, Martin Heidegger, the editing by Christopher Roth and the cinematography of Bartek Dziadosz, apples, raspberries and cows, Brexit and Northern Ireland.
Tilda Swinton: "As soon as we finished the first one,...
- 9/2/2016
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Elfin Rita Tushingham makes a smash film debut as Shelagh Delaney's dispirited working class teen, on her own in Manchester and unprepared for the harsh truths of life. It's one of the best of the British New Wave. A Taste of Honey Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 829 1961 / B&W / 1:66 widescreen / 100 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date August 23, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Rita Tushingham, Dora Bryan, Paul Danquah, Murray Melvin, Robert Stephens. Cinematography Walter Lassally Film Editor Anthony Gibbs Original Music John Addison Written by Tony Richardson and Shelagh Delaney adapted from her stage play Produced and directed by Tony Richardson
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
The British New Wave got a real shot in the arm with 1961's A Taste of Honey. A stubbornly realistic drama about life in the lower working classes of Manchester, it was adapted from a near-revolutionary play by Shelagh Delaney, produced by Joan Littlewood. Here in...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
The British New Wave got a real shot in the arm with 1961's A Taste of Honey. A stubbornly realistic drama about life in the lower working classes of Manchester, it was adapted from a near-revolutionary play by Shelagh Delaney, produced by Joan Littlewood. Here in...
- 8/15/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
“Everything But The Kitchen Sink”
By Raymond Benson
In the late 1950s, a film movement emerged in Britain known as “Free Cinema.” Some of the U.K.’s most celebrated filmmakers of the 1960s and 70s were among its practitioners—Lindsay Anderson, Karel Reisz, Lorenza Mazzetti, and Tony Richardson. The directors made low budget, short documentaries about the working class with an almost deliberate “non commercial” sensibility. It was radical and exciting, and it was a precursor to the British New Wave that dovetailed with the French New Wave that was so influential on filmmakers everywhere.
Many of the pictures of the British New Wave, released between 1959 and 1964, focused on characters described as “angry young men,” and the films themselves were referred to by critics and theorists as “kitchen sink dramas.” This was because the movies were presented in a harsh, realistic fashion and were indeed about the gritty, working...
By Raymond Benson
In the late 1950s, a film movement emerged in Britain known as “Free Cinema.” Some of the U.K.’s most celebrated filmmakers of the 1960s and 70s were among its practitioners—Lindsay Anderson, Karel Reisz, Lorenza Mazzetti, and Tony Richardson. The directors made low budget, short documentaries about the working class with an almost deliberate “non commercial” sensibility. It was radical and exciting, and it was a precursor to the British New Wave that dovetailed with the French New Wave that was so influential on filmmakers everywhere.
Many of the pictures of the British New Wave, released between 1959 and 1964, focused on characters described as “angry young men,” and the films themselves were referred to by critics and theorists as “kitchen sink dramas.” This was because the movies were presented in a harsh, realistic fashion and were indeed about the gritty, working...
- 8/13/2016
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
The first and most powerful Holocaust reassessment extends the horror with the assertion that, in 1955, its reality is already fading from the world memory. Alain Resnais uses the form of the art movie and his own essay-film innovations to communicate the yawning wound in the human consciousness. Night and Fog Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 197 1955 / Color & B&W / 1:33 flat full frame / 32 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date July 19, 2016 / 39.95 Narrator Michel Bouquet Cinematography Ghislain Cloquet, Sacha Vierny Assistant Directors André Heinreich, Jean-Charles Lauthe, Chris Marker Film Editor Alain Resnais Original Music Hanns Eisler Written by Jean Cayrol Produced by Anatole Dauman, Samy Halfon, Philippe Lifchitz Directed by Alain Resnais
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Although I review more than my share of grim shows about the Holocaust, I don't think I have an unusually morbid curiosity; subjects like the Shoah and The Bomb are important problems difficult to fully understand.
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Although I review more than my share of grim shows about the Holocaust, I don't think I have an unusually morbid curiosity; subjects like the Shoah and The Bomb are important problems difficult to fully understand.
- 7/17/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The Ways of Seeing writer is celebrated by Swinton and her fellow admirers in an unorthodox four-part documentary that visits him at his Alpine home
Here is an impressively high-minded documentary about writer John Berger – conceived, apparently, by Tilda Swinton in the same spirit as the 2008 film Derek about film director Derek Jarman. The Seasons in Quincy does indeed come across as a reverential love letter to a mentor and father figure, though Swinton is not solely responsible for the result. Produced via Birkbeck college’s Derek Jarman Lab, Quincy comprises four films about Berger: one directed by Swinton, another by Derek producer Colin MacCabe, and the other two by Christopher Roth and Bartek Dziadosz. It’s fair to say, however, there are no strict boundaries: people cross over and pop up in their collaborators’ films, filling different roles as the need arises. But the focus, of course, is Berger – still,...
Here is an impressively high-minded documentary about writer John Berger – conceived, apparently, by Tilda Swinton in the same spirit as the 2008 film Derek about film director Derek Jarman. The Seasons in Quincy does indeed come across as a reverential love letter to a mentor and father figure, though Swinton is not solely responsible for the result. Produced via Birkbeck college’s Derek Jarman Lab, Quincy comprises four films about Berger: one directed by Swinton, another by Derek producer Colin MacCabe, and the other two by Christopher Roth and Bartek Dziadosz. It’s fair to say, however, there are no strict boundaries: people cross over and pop up in their collaborators’ films, filling different roles as the need arises. But the focus, of course, is Berger – still,...
- 2/16/2016
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
Is there any contemporary filmmaker — or any artist invested in the creation of images — who hasn’t been influenced, at least on some level, by the British writer John Berger? His Ways of Seeing, a semiotics-tinged analysis of imagery ranging from European oil painting to 20th century advertising, is a seductive and accessible introduction to critical theory, feminist film criticism and Marxist cultural commentary. Premiering at the Berlin Film Festival is the anthology film, The Seasons in Quincy: Four Portraits of John Berger. Conceived of by Swinton and producer and literary critic Colin McCabe, the film captures the 89-year-old […]...
- 2/16/2016
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Don Cheadle’s Miles Davies’ biopic to get international premiere.
The Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 11-21) has unveiled the eight-strong line-up for its Berlinale Special strand, which includes recent works by contemporary filmmakers and biopics of renowned personalities.
The programme includes the world premiere of Terence Davies’ drama biopic A Quiet Passion, which stars Sex and the City’s Cynthia Nixon as the celebrated American poet Emily Dickinson, charting her life from her early days as a young schoolgirl to her later years as a reclusive artist. Jennifer Ehle (Fifty Shades Of Grey) and Keith Carradine (Nashville) co-star.
The line-up also includes the international premiere of Miles Ahead, Don Cheadle’s directorial debut in which he also stars as jazz pioneer Miles Davis in late 1970s Manhattan, dealing with sycophants, industry executives, career highs and lows and memories of the love of his life, Frances Taylor.
Pernilla August’s A Serious Game will also world premiere...
The Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 11-21) has unveiled the eight-strong line-up for its Berlinale Special strand, which includes recent works by contemporary filmmakers and biopics of renowned personalities.
The programme includes the world premiere of Terence Davies’ drama biopic A Quiet Passion, which stars Sex and the City’s Cynthia Nixon as the celebrated American poet Emily Dickinson, charting her life from her early days as a young schoolgirl to her later years as a reclusive artist. Jennifer Ehle (Fifty Shades Of Grey) and Keith Carradine (Nashville) co-star.
The line-up also includes the international premiere of Miles Ahead, Don Cheadle’s directorial debut in which he also stars as jazz pioneer Miles Davis in late 1970s Manhattan, dealing with sycophants, industry executives, career highs and lows and memories of the love of his life, Frances Taylor.
Pernilla August’s A Serious Game will also world premiere...
- 1/18/2016
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
GeniusThe films included in the lineup for the 2016 Berlin International Film Festival, taking place between February 11 - 21, are starting to be announced.Opening FILMHail, Caesar! (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, USA)COMPETITIONBoris without Béatrice (Denis Côté, Canada)Genius (Michael Grandage, UK/USA)Alone in Berlin (Vincent Perez, Germany/France/UK)Midnight Special (Jeff Nichols, USA)Zero Days (Alex Gibney, USA)Berlinale SPECIALThe Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble (Morgan Neville, USA)The Seasons in Quincy: Four Portraits of John Berger (Colin MacCabe, Christopher Roth, bartek Dziadosz, Tilda Swinton, UK)Where to Invade Next (Michael Moore, USA)PANORAMAJá, Olga Hepnarová (Tomáš Weinreb, Petr Kazda, Czech Republic/Poland/Slowak Republic/France)Junction 48 (Udi Aloni, Israel/Germany/USA)Les Premiers, les Derniers (Bouli Lanners, France/Belgium)Maggie's Plan (Rebecca Miller, USA)Nakom (Kelly Daniela Norris, Tw Pittman, Ghana/USA)Remainder (Omer Fast, United Kingdom/Germany)S one strane (Zrinko Ogresta,...
- 12/17/2015
- by Notebook
- MUBI
To celebrate the past year of Criterion Collection releases, Ryan is joined by David Blakeslee, Scott Nye, Aaron West, Arik Devens and Keith Enright to discuss their favorite releases of 2015.
Subscribe to the podcast via RSS or in iTunes
Corrections: In the episode, I should have had Aaron go before Arik, since I said I was going alphabetically.
Episode Links & Notes Favorite Covers Arik Odd Man Out by Eric Skillman Aaron Hiroshima mon amour by Sarah Habibi David Moonrise Kingdom by Michael Gaskell Keith Day for Night by Roman Muradov Process post Ryan The Black Stallion by Nicolas Delort Scott Blind Chance by Gérard Dubois Favorite Supplement Arik 65 Revisited Aaron Un tournage a la campagne David Interview with Gregor Dorfmeister, author of The Bridge Keith Reflections on … My Beautiful Laundrette – Colin MacCabe and Stephen Frears Ryan Restoring the Apu Trilogy by kogonada Scott Interview with Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne on Two Days,...
Subscribe to the podcast via RSS or in iTunes
Corrections: In the episode, I should have had Aaron go before Arik, since I said I was going alphabetically.
Episode Links & Notes Favorite Covers Arik Odd Man Out by Eric Skillman Aaron Hiroshima mon amour by Sarah Habibi David Moonrise Kingdom by Michael Gaskell Keith Day for Night by Roman Muradov Process post Ryan The Black Stallion by Nicolas Delort Scott Blind Chance by Gérard Dubois Favorite Supplement Arik 65 Revisited Aaron Un tournage a la campagne David Interview with Gregor Dorfmeister, author of The Bridge Keith Reflections on … My Beautiful Laundrette – Colin MacCabe and Stephen Frears Ryan Restoring the Apu Trilogy by kogonada Scott Interview with Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne on Two Days,...
- 12/17/2015
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
GeniusThe films included in the lineup for the 2016 Berlin International Film Festival, taking place between February 11 - 21, are starting to be announced.Opening FILMHail, Caesar! (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, USA)COMPETITIONBoris without Béatrice (Denis Côté, Canada)Genius (Michael Grandage, UK/USA)Alone in Berlin (Vincent Perez, Germany/France/UK)Midnight Special (Jeff Nichols, USA)Zero Days (Alex Gibney, USA)Berlinale SPECIALThe Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble (Morgan Neville, USA)The Seasons in Quincy: Four Portraits of John Berger (Colin MacCabe, Christopher Roth, bartek Dziadosz, Tilda Swinton, UK)Where to Invade Next (Michael Moore, USA)...
- 12/11/2015
- by Notebook
- MUBI
With Coens‘ Hail, Caesar! set to open the 66th Berlin International Film Festival early next year, we now have a glimpse at some of the other titles making their premieres there. Perhaps most notably there’s Jeff Nichols‘ highly-anticipated Midnight Special (see the trailer here), which will hit U.S. theaters around a month after its premiere, as well as Genius, which stars Colin Firth, Jude Law, and Nicole Kidman. Also including new films from Denis Côté, Alex Gibney, and more, check out the new titles below and return for our coverage.
Competition
(all world premieres)
Boris without Béatrice (Canada)
Denis Côté
Cast: James Hyndman, Simone-Elise Girard, Denis Lavant, Isolda Dychauk, Dounia Sichov
Genius (UK-us)
Michael Grandage
Cast: Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Laura Linney, Guy Pearce, Dominic West
Alone in Berlin (Ger-Fra-uk)
Vincent Perez
Cast: Brendan Gleeson, Emma Thompson, Daniel Brühl, Mikael Persbrandt
Midnight Special (Us)
Jeff Nichols
Cast: Michael Shannon,...
Competition
(all world premieres)
Boris without Béatrice (Canada)
Denis Côté
Cast: James Hyndman, Simone-Elise Girard, Denis Lavant, Isolda Dychauk, Dounia Sichov
Genius (UK-us)
Michael Grandage
Cast: Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Laura Linney, Guy Pearce, Dominic West
Alone in Berlin (Ger-Fra-uk)
Vincent Perez
Cast: Brendan Gleeson, Emma Thompson, Daniel Brühl, Mikael Persbrandt
Midnight Special (Us)
Jeff Nichols
Cast: Michael Shannon,...
- 12/11/2015
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Last week, the Berlinale announced that its 66th edition would be opening with Joel Coen and Ethan Coen's Hail, Caesar!, a comedy about a Hollywood studio fixer starring Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill, Scarlett Johansson, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton and Channing Tatum. Today, the festival announces a first round of eight titles, including Jeff Nichols's Midnight Special, Denis Côté's Boris sans Béatrice, Michael Grandage's Genius with Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Laura Linney, Guy Pearce and Dominic West—and Colin MacCabe, Christopher Roth, Bartek Dziadosz and Tilda Swinton's The Seasons in Quincy: Four Portraits of John Berger. » - David Hudson...
- 12/11/2015
- Keyframe
Last week, the Berlinale announced that its 66th edition would be opening with Joel Coen and Ethan Coen's Hail, Caesar!, a comedy about a Hollywood studio fixer starring Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill, Scarlett Johansson, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton and Channing Tatum. Today, the festival announces a first round of eight titles, including Jeff Nichols's Midnight Special, Denis Côté's Boris sans Béatrice, Michael Grandage's Genius with Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Laura Linney, Guy Pearce and Dominic West—and Colin MacCabe, Christopher Roth, Bartek Dziadosz and Tilda Swinton's The Seasons in Quincy: Four Portraits of John Berger. » - David Hudson...
- 12/11/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
Michael Grandage’s Genius, starring Colin Firth, Jude Law and Nicole Kidman; Jeff Nichols’ Midnight Special; new Alex Gibney doc to world premiere at festival.
The first nine films for the 66th Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 11-21) Competition and Berlinale Special programme have been revealed.
The Competition titles - all world premieres - include Genius, the debut feature of celebrated British theatre director Michael Grandage, which stars Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Laura Linney, Guy Pearce and Dominic West.
Adapted by playwright and screenwriter John Logan (Skyfall) from A. Scott Berg’s book, Genius tells the true story of the complex relationship between literary giant Thomas Wolfe (Law) and Scribner’s iconic editor Max Perkins (Firth).
Also in Competition is Midnight Special, the anticipated new feature from Jeff Nichols, director of Mud and Take Shelter. The film centres on a father and son who go on the run after the dad learns his child possesses...
The first nine films for the 66th Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 11-21) Competition and Berlinale Special programme have been revealed.
The Competition titles - all world premieres - include Genius, the debut feature of celebrated British theatre director Michael Grandage, which stars Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Laura Linney, Guy Pearce and Dominic West.
Adapted by playwright and screenwriter John Logan (Skyfall) from A. Scott Berg’s book, Genius tells the true story of the complex relationship between literary giant Thomas Wolfe (Law) and Scribner’s iconic editor Max Perkins (Firth).
Also in Competition is Midnight Special, the anticipated new feature from Jeff Nichols, director of Mud and Take Shelter. The film centres on a father and son who go on the run after the dad learns his child possesses...
- 12/11/2015
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Writing for Criterion, Colin MacCabe sketches the evolution of Jean-Luc Godard's thinking and art from 1968 to 1980, the year Every Man for Himself was released. Girish Shambu remembers the late film historian, scholar and critic, Gilberto Perez. Peter Davis, whose mother, Tess Slesinger, was nominated for an Oscar for her screenplay for Elia Kazan's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, argues that Hollywood didn't used to be so male. Also in the Nation, Stuart Klawans reviews Clint Eastwood's American Sniper and John Boorman's Queen and Country. Plus Mark Cousins's 50-week film course and much more in today's roundup of news and views. » - David Hudson...
- 2/20/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
Writing for Criterion, Colin MacCabe sketches the evolution of Jean-Luc Godard's thinking and art from 1968 to 1980, the year Every Man for Himself was released. Girish Shambu remembers the late film historian, scholar and critic, Gilberto Perez. Peter Davis, whose mother, Tess Slesinger, was nominated for an Oscar for her screenplay for Elia Kazan's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, argues that Hollywood didn't used to be so male. Also in the Nation, Stuart Klawans reviews Clint Eastwood's American Sniper and John Boorman's Queen and Country. Plus Mark Cousins's 50-week film course and much more in today's roundup of news and views. » - David Hudson...
- 2/20/2015
- Keyframe
If you're reading this you're likely a fan of the Criterion Collection, which also means as much as you may be interested to know what new titles are coming to the collection in February 2015, if you aren't yet aware, Barnes & Noble is currently having their 50% of Criterion sale right now, click here for more on that. However, if you're already hip to the sale, let's have a look at the new titles that were just announced. The month will begin on February 3 with a new film from Jean-Luc Godard, his 1980 feature Every Man for Himself starring Jacques Dutronc, Nathalie Baye and Isabelle Huppert. It's a film Godard refers to as a second debut and is described as an examination of sexual relationships, in which three protagonists interact in different combinations. The release includes a new high-definition digital restoration, a short video titled Le scenario created by Godard to secure financing for the film,...
- 11/17/2014
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
+“Sometimes the class struggle is also the struggle of one image against another image, of one sound against another sound. In a film, this struggle is against images and sounds.”
- British Sounds
There was something in the air when Jean-Luc Godard took up the political banner of the late 1960s and shifted his filmmaking focus in terms of storytelling style and stories told, and in a general sense of formal reevaluation and reinvention. Always considered something of the enfant terrible of the French Nouvelle Vague, Godard was keen from the start to experiment with the conventional norms of cinematic aesthetics, from the jarring jump cuts of Breathless (1960), to the self-conscious playfulness of A Woman is a Woman (1961), to the genre deviations of Band of Outsiders (1964) and Made in USA (1966). But Godard was still, at a most basic level, operating along a fairly conventional plane of fictional cinema, one with...
- British Sounds
There was something in the air when Jean-Luc Godard took up the political banner of the late 1960s and shifted his filmmaking focus in terms of storytelling style and stories told, and in a general sense of formal reevaluation and reinvention. Always considered something of the enfant terrible of the French Nouvelle Vague, Godard was keen from the start to experiment with the conventional norms of cinematic aesthetics, from the jarring jump cuts of Breathless (1960), to the self-conscious playfulness of A Woman is a Woman (1961), to the genre deviations of Band of Outsiders (1964) and Made in USA (1966). But Godard was still, at a most basic level, operating along a fairly conventional plane of fictional cinema, one with...
- 10/17/2014
- by Jeremy Carr
- SoundOnSight
Tess
Written by Gérard Brach, Roman Polanski, and John Brownjohn
Directed by Roman Polanski
France/UK, 1979
Roman Polanski revealed an exceptional eye for gripping visual design in his earliest films. In those works, like Knife in the Water, Cul-de-sac, Repulsion, Rosemary’s Baby and, somewhat later, The Tenant, most of this pictorial construction was derivative of themes, and subsequent depictions of, confinement, claustrophobic paranoia, and severely taut antagonism. In terms of visual and narrative scope, Chinatown opened things up somewhat, but it was with Tess, his 1979 adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s “Tess of the d’Urbervilles,” that Polanski significantly broadened his canvas to encompass the sweeping tale of the Victorian era loves and conflicts of this eponymous peasant girl.
Polanski speaks to this distinction during an interview in the newly released Criterion Collection Blu-ray/DVD of Tess. In discussing the film for the French TV program Cine regards, the director...
Written by Gérard Brach, Roman Polanski, and John Brownjohn
Directed by Roman Polanski
France/UK, 1979
Roman Polanski revealed an exceptional eye for gripping visual design in his earliest films. In those works, like Knife in the Water, Cul-de-sac, Repulsion, Rosemary’s Baby and, somewhat later, The Tenant, most of this pictorial construction was derivative of themes, and subsequent depictions of, confinement, claustrophobic paranoia, and severely taut antagonism. In terms of visual and narrative scope, Chinatown opened things up somewhat, but it was with Tess, his 1979 adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s “Tess of the d’Urbervilles,” that Polanski significantly broadened his canvas to encompass the sweeping tale of the Victorian era loves and conflicts of this eponymous peasant girl.
Polanski speaks to this distinction during an interview in the newly released Criterion Collection Blu-ray/DVD of Tess. In discussing the film for the French TV program Cine regards, the director...
- 2/28/2014
- by Jeremy Carr
- SoundOnSight
What do you remember of your childhood? Other than major events, the majority of your memories are probably vaguely defined and few films have more deftly captured that hazy recollection of youth than Terence Davies’ riveting “The Long Day Closes.” More of an art piece than a traditional narrative, the film, recently added to The Criterion Collection, may first seem slow but becomes transfixing in the deliberate way that its creator doesn’t seek to replicate history but his memory of it.
Rating: 4.5/5.0
With dozens of songs, many of them in their entirety (we hear three before a line of dialogue), and some still shots that have the beauty of an artist’s eye, “The Long Day Closes” is a beautifully conceived and executed. A mother singing quietly to herself as she makes tea, the reflection of rain on a boy’s ceiling, the escape of the cinema — “The Long Day Closes...
Rating: 4.5/5.0
With dozens of songs, many of them in their entirety (we hear three before a line of dialogue), and some still shots that have the beauty of an artist’s eye, “The Long Day Closes” is a beautifully conceived and executed. A mother singing quietly to herself as she makes tea, the reflection of rain on a boy’s ceiling, the escape of the cinema — “The Long Day Closes...
- 1/30/2014
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Feb. 25, 2014
Price: Blu-ray/DVD $39.95
Studio: Criterion
Nastassja Kinski is Tess
This multiple-Oscar-winning 1979 period film drama Tess by the great Roman Polanski (Carnage, The Ghost Writer) is an exquisite, richly layered adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles.
A strong-willed peasant girl (Cat People’s Nastassja Kinski, in a star-making breakthrough performance) is sent by her father to the estate of some local aristocrats to capitalize on a rumor that their families are from the same line. This fateful visit commences an epic narrative of sex, class, betrayal, and revenge, which Polanski unfolds with deliberation and finesse.
With its earthy visual textures, achieved by two world-class cinematographers—Geoffrey Unsworth (Cabaret) and Ghislain Cloquet (Au hasard Balthazar)—Tess is a work of great pastoral beauty and vivid storytelling.
Criterion’s Blu-ray/DVD Combo release of the film includes the following features:
• New 4K digital restoration,...
Price: Blu-ray/DVD $39.95
Studio: Criterion
Nastassja Kinski is Tess
This multiple-Oscar-winning 1979 period film drama Tess by the great Roman Polanski (Carnage, The Ghost Writer) is an exquisite, richly layered adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles.
A strong-willed peasant girl (Cat People’s Nastassja Kinski, in a star-making breakthrough performance) is sent by her father to the estate of some local aristocrats to capitalize on a rumor that their families are from the same line. This fateful visit commences an epic narrative of sex, class, betrayal, and revenge, which Polanski unfolds with deliberation and finesse.
With its earthy visual textures, achieved by two world-class cinematographers—Geoffrey Unsworth (Cabaret) and Ghislain Cloquet (Au hasard Balthazar)—Tess is a work of great pastoral beauty and vivid storytelling.
Criterion’s Blu-ray/DVD Combo release of the film includes the following features:
• New 4K digital restoration,...
- 11/21/2013
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Jan. 28, 2014
Price: Blu-ray/DVD Combo $39.95
Studio: Criterion
Leigh McCormack stars in 1992's The Long Day Closes.
The 1992 family drama The Long Day Closes is generally regarded as one of the finest works by the British writer/director Terence Davies (The Deep Blue Sea), one of Britain’s most respected filmmakers.
This autobiographical film takes on the perspective of a quiet, movie-loving boy named Bud (Leigh McCormack, in his one and only film role) growing up lonely in Liverpool in the 1950s. Rather than employ a straightforward narrative, Davies jumps in and out of time, swoops into fantasies and fears, summons memories and dreams.
An evocative, movie-and-music–besotted portrait of the artist as a young man, The Long Day Closes fuses clips and audio from classic movies into Bud’s childhood and brings it all to elegant life.
Criterion’s Blu-ray/DVD Combo release of the PG-...
Price: Blu-ray/DVD Combo $39.95
Studio: Criterion
Leigh McCormack stars in 1992's The Long Day Closes.
The 1992 family drama The Long Day Closes is generally regarded as one of the finest works by the British writer/director Terence Davies (The Deep Blue Sea), one of Britain’s most respected filmmakers.
This autobiographical film takes on the perspective of a quiet, movie-loving boy named Bud (Leigh McCormack, in his one and only film role) growing up lonely in Liverpool in the 1950s. Rather than employ a straightforward narrative, Davies jumps in and out of time, swoops into fantasies and fears, summons memories and dreams.
An evocative, movie-and-music–besotted portrait of the artist as a young man, The Long Day Closes fuses clips and audio from classic movies into Bud’s childhood and brings it all to elegant life.
Criterion’s Blu-ray/DVD Combo release of the PG-...
- 11/7/2013
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Apart from the three sneak screening titles that will stir up the buzz in the coming days, Julie Huntsinger and Tom Luddy’s 40th edition of the Telluride Film Festival excels in bringing a concentration of solid docus from the likes of Errol Morris and Werner Herzog who this year cuts the ribbon on a theatre going by his name and introduces Death Row, a pinch of Berlin Film Fest items (Gloria, Slow Food Story, Fifi Howls from Happiness) Palme d’Or winner (this year Abdellatif Kechiche will be celebrated), upcoming Sony Pictures Classics items (Tim’s Vermeer, The Lunchbox), Venice to Telluride to Tiff titles (Bethlehem, Tracks and Under the Skin), the latest Jason Reitman film (Labor Day) and the barely known docu-home-movie whodunit (by helmers Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine) The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden which features narration from the likes of Cate Blanchett, Diane Kruger and Connie Nielsen.
- 8/28/2013
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Chicago – In the early ’70s, Pier Paolo Pasolini made three adaptations of medieval literature that reflected the truly adult filmmaking language gaining popularity at the time. So many European filmmakers would try to copy the nudity, sexual humor, and scatological slapstick of Pasolini’s “Trilogy of Life” that the films that inspired a wave of bad movies were somtimes lumped in with them. Criterion goes a long way to correct the historical record with their glorious box set for “Trilogy of Life.”
Rating: 4.5/5.0
1971’s “The Decameron,” 1972’s “The Canterbury Tales,” and 1974’s “Arabian Nights” make up “Trilogy of Life” and that third word in the title is exactly what they contain — energetic life. Pasolini was late in his too-brief career at this point (he would only make “Salo” after these three before his murder) and he was throwing caution and taste to the wind, asking audiences to readdress well-known stories from a new perspective.
Rating: 4.5/5.0
1971’s “The Decameron,” 1972’s “The Canterbury Tales,” and 1974’s “Arabian Nights” make up “Trilogy of Life” and that third word in the title is exactly what they contain — energetic life. Pasolini was late in his too-brief career at this point (he would only make “Salo” after these three before his murder) and he was throwing caution and taste to the wind, asking audiences to readdress well-known stories from a new perspective.
- 12/2/2012
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Nov. 13, 2012
Price: DVD $79.95, Blu-ray $79.95
Studio: Criterion
Ninetto Davoli enjoys the sweet smell of life in Pasolini's The Decameron.
Italian poet, philosopher and filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini’s (Salò) Trilogy of Life, from the early 1970s, consists of his film renditions of a trio of masterpieces of pre-modern world literature: Giovanni Boccaccio’s The Decameron, Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, and One Thousand and One Nights (which is often referred to as The Arabian Nights).
The late Pasolini’s comedy-drama movies are now considered to be most uninhibited and extravagant works, a brazen and bawdy triptych that sets out to challenge consumer capitalism and celebrate the human body while commenting on contemporary sexual and religious mores and hypocrisies.
Definitely not for all tastes, the films offer heaping doses of Pasolini’s scatological humor and his rough-hewn sensuality, most of which leave all modern standards of decency behind.
Price: DVD $79.95, Blu-ray $79.95
Studio: Criterion
Ninetto Davoli enjoys the sweet smell of life in Pasolini's The Decameron.
Italian poet, philosopher and filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini’s (Salò) Trilogy of Life, from the early 1970s, consists of his film renditions of a trio of masterpieces of pre-modern world literature: Giovanni Boccaccio’s The Decameron, Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, and One Thousand and One Nights (which is often referred to as The Arabian Nights).
The late Pasolini’s comedy-drama movies are now considered to be most uninhibited and extravagant works, a brazen and bawdy triptych that sets out to challenge consumer capitalism and celebrate the human body while commenting on contemporary sexual and religious mores and hypocrisies.
Definitely not for all tastes, the films offer heaping doses of Pasolini’s scatological humor and his rough-hewn sensuality, most of which leave all modern standards of decency behind.
- 8/23/2012
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
In a piece for Design Observer on "The Enduring Influence of Richard Hollis," Rick Poynor suggests that the graphic and book designer, writer and lecturer "is probably best known for his books Graphic Design: A Concise History (1994) and Swiss Graphic Design (2006)," but I'd imagine that most of us first encountered Hollis's work the day we first picked up a copy of John Berger's Ways of Seeing (see, too, of course, the recent roundup on the television series). The impact of that layout, with the opening lines of text beginning right there on the cover, incorporated as a visual component, and the way that, in turn, as Hollis himself notes, "images behave almost as text" is unforgettable: "This is an attempt to replicate the experience of the television viewer, who looks and listens at the same moment."
Back to Poynor:
In 1981, working at a book production company called Reproduction Drawings,...
Back to Poynor:
In 1981, working at a book production company called Reproduction Drawings,...
- 4/7/2012
- MUBI
"One of the major works of Jean-Luc Godard, the eight-part essay film Histoire(s) du Cinéma has revealed itself slowly over a period of more than 30 years, as a sort of intellectual striptease." In the New York Times, Dave Kehr traces the histories of the making, reception and distribution of Histoire(s), which sees a release this week on two discs from Olive Films. For Kehr, Histoire(s) "is a sort of associational machine, as dense and obscure as any of the Symbolist poetry that also serves as one of Mr Godard's reference points, but one that also solicits the viewer's participation in connecting the dots and filling in the blanks." The work is also "a tragic account of the 20th century: a century of staggering atrocities, which the aesthetic glories of the motion picture medium (or any other art form) were unable to prevent, and may, in Mr Godard's view,...
- 12/4/2011
- MUBI
Chicago – Movies don’t get much more personally influential than Krzysztof Kieslowski’s “Blue,” “White,” and “Red,” collectively known as the “Three Colors” trilogy, and recently released in one gorgeous box set from The Criterion Collection. As we all do, I was a bit concerned that perhaps my memory of these films had been enhanced with time, but I found the opposite — they’re even better with age and stand as one of the best film achievements of not just their era but of all time. I can’t say enough about Kieslowski’s talent as a director and, while some may point to the “Decalogue” films or “The Double Life of Veronique,” I’ve always considered “Three Colors” to be the greatest accomplishment of one of history’s greatest directors. And Criterion has done one of their most notable acquisitions justice with one of their best releases of the year.
- 11/28/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – Not all movies are similar in what they demand of the viewer. Obviously, a light mainstream romantic comedy requires a different level of commitment than a French period piece, but even art movies have varying degrees of viewer requirements. Even within the Criterion Collections, there are shorter, easier films and then there are releases like “Carlos,” a stellar epic that runs close to six hours and is accompanied by extensive, elaborate special features. This is the kind of release you’ll need to set aside more than just a day to appreciate. And it’s good enough that you may even want to watch it twice. Better set aside a week.
Blu-Ray Rating: 4.5/5.0
“Carlos” is, in some estimations, the best modern film about terrorism. There have been several epic examinations of influential madmen recently, including the acclaimed “Mesrine,” but few have had the instant impact of “Carlos.” With a...
Blu-Ray Rating: 4.5/5.0
“Carlos” is, in some estimations, the best modern film about terrorism. There have been several epic examinations of influential madmen recently, including the acclaimed “Mesrine,” but few have had the instant impact of “Carlos.” With a...
- 10/10/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
"A specter is haunting Carlos (both the film and its title character)," writes Budd Wilkins in Slant, "the specter of Che Guevara gazing down from his iconic poster like a pop-cultural patron saint, an image glimpsed often in early scenes, most notably on the wall of the Rue Toullier apartment where, in part one's most stunning set piece, Carlos (Édgar Ramírez) guns down three French Secret Service agents and the man who betrayed him. Comparisons between the two men, and consequently the films that tell their stories, are therefore inevitable. Whereas Steven Soderbergh's two-part Che tarted up its revolutionary philosophy in formalist finery, losing the resonance of personal passions and leeching away any sense of urgency or momentum in the name of rigor, Olivier Assayas's bigger and bolder three-part saga infuses the geopolitical thriller with both dynamism and detail, an always precarious yet thrillingly executed tightrope act of balance.
- 9/27/2011
- MUBI
Release Date: Nov. 15, 2011
Price: DVD $59.95, Blu-ray $79.95
Studio: Criterion
Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Blue, White and Red receive the Criterion treatment this November.
Legendary Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Three Colors trilogy, a boldly cinematic trio of stories about love and loss, was a defining event of the art house boom of the 1990s. The films — Blue (1993), White (1993) and Red (1994) — were named for the colors of the French flag and stand for the tenets of the French Revolution: liberty, equality and fraternity. But that only hints at the film’s beauty, richness and humanity.
Set in Paris, Warsaw and Geneva, Blue, White, and Red (Kieślowski’s final film) range from tragedy to drama to comedy. They follow a group of ambiguously interconnected people experiencing profound personal disruptions.
Marked by intoxicatingly lush cinematography and memorable performances by such actors as Juliette Binoche (Chocolat), Julie Delpy (Guilty Hearts), Irène Jacob (Beyond the Clouds) and...
Price: DVD $59.95, Blu-ray $79.95
Studio: Criterion
Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Blue, White and Red receive the Criterion treatment this November.
Legendary Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Three Colors trilogy, a boldly cinematic trio of stories about love and loss, was a defining event of the art house boom of the 1990s. The films — Blue (1993), White (1993) and Red (1994) — were named for the colors of the French flag and stand for the tenets of the French Revolution: liberty, equality and fraternity. But that only hints at the film’s beauty, richness and humanity.
Set in Paris, Warsaw and Geneva, Blue, White, and Red (Kieślowski’s final film) range from tragedy to drama to comedy. They follow a group of ambiguously interconnected people experiencing profound personal disruptions.
Marked by intoxicatingly lush cinematography and memorable performances by such actors as Juliette Binoche (Chocolat), Julie Delpy (Guilty Hearts), Irène Jacob (Beyond the Clouds) and...
- 8/15/2011
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
The 5½ hour film/TV miniseries Carlos, an epic, intensely detailed biographical account of the life of the infamous international terrorist Ilich Ramírez Sanchez—also known as Carlos the Jackal—is coming to Blu-ray and DVD from Criterion on Sept. 27.
Ilich Ramírez Sanchez is international terrorist Carlos.
Directed by Olivier Assayas (Summer Hours), the film follows the life of the one of Carlos (Édgar Ramírez, The Bourne Ultimatum), one of the 20th Century’s most-wanted fugitives, as he commits himself to violent left-wing activism throughout the Seventies and Eighties, orchestrating bombings, kidnappings, and hijackings in Europe and the Middle East.
Assayas portrays Carlos not as a criminal mastermind but as a symbol of political shifts around the world in the body of a swaggering global gangster.
The Blu-ray and DVD of the crime-drama movie—which carry the list prices of $49.95 each—will contain the following features:
• New digital transfer, supervised and...
Ilich Ramírez Sanchez is international terrorist Carlos.
Directed by Olivier Assayas (Summer Hours), the film follows the life of the one of Carlos (Édgar Ramírez, The Bourne Ultimatum), one of the 20th Century’s most-wanted fugitives, as he commits himself to violent left-wing activism throughout the Seventies and Eighties, orchestrating bombings, kidnappings, and hijackings in Europe and the Middle East.
Assayas portrays Carlos not as a criminal mastermind but as a symbol of political shifts around the world in the body of a swaggering global gangster.
The Blu-ray and DVD of the crime-drama movie—which carry the list prices of $49.95 each—will contain the following features:
• New digital transfer, supervised and...
- 6/23/2011
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Updated through 12/5.
"It would be a fool who thought they had all the necessary competences to comment fully on this extraordinarily rich oeuvre which is constitutively allusive," wrote Colin MacCabe in the preface to Godard: A Portrait of the Artist at 70, a preface in which he explains why commenting fully is precisely not what he's set out to do in his book. This is the year Jean-Luc Godard turns 80 and it seems we've spent much of it wrestling with that oeuvre and the man and with each other over what to make of both.
"It would be a fool who thought they had all the necessary competences to comment fully on this extraordinarily rich oeuvre which is constitutively allusive," wrote Colin MacCabe in the preface to Godard: A Portrait of the Artist at 70, a preface in which he explains why commenting fully is precisely not what he's set out to do in his book. This is the year Jean-Luc Godard turns 80 and it seems we've spent much of it wrestling with that oeuvre and the man and with each other over what to make of both.
- 12/5/2010
- MUBI
Innovative film-makers have fallen by the wayside in the search for box-office success. This is our chance to rethink UK cinema
Whichever way you look at it, the announcement by the culture secretary Jeremy Hunt that the UK Film Council is to be abolished makes for uncomfortable reading. The organisation, which employs 75 people, has funded over 900 productions since its formation in 2000. Andrew Pulver, over at the Guardian's film blog, rightly describes the announcement as a "hammer blow" to the country's film industry, one that seems particularly bizarre as it was one of the few areas of the arts that actually saw a return on its investment. While the government has said it will continue to make lottery money available for films, it is not clear who will distribute this money, or how it will be distributed.
We should not, though, let the shock of this announcement stop us seeing the...
Whichever way you look at it, the announcement by the culture secretary Jeremy Hunt that the UK Film Council is to be abolished makes for uncomfortable reading. The organisation, which employs 75 people, has funded over 900 productions since its formation in 2000. Andrew Pulver, over at the Guardian's film blog, rightly describes the announcement as a "hammer blow" to the country's film industry, one that seems particularly bizarre as it was one of the few areas of the arts that actually saw a return on its investment. While the government has said it will continue to make lottery money available for films, it is not clear who will distribute this money, or how it will be distributed.
We should not, though, let the shock of this announcement stop us seeing the...
- 7/27/2010
- by Daniel Trilling
- The Guardian - Film News
Peter Bradshaw peeks at the strange legacy of Hitchcock's famous film
Fifty years ago, all America was convulsed by a low-budget, violent movie in black and white, featuring a motel bathroom with shockingly visible flushing lavatory and a grisly murder scene of unparalleled ingenuity and cinematic flair: Psycho. Nowadays, such a film would be expected to come from a young hotshot, but this was directed by the 61-year-old Alfred Hitchcock, a figure known for elegance and high production values and as the star of a popular TV show, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, but also as someone beginning a gentle career decline. Instead, Psycho sensationally jolted Hitchcock's reputation up to a higher level, and as the owner of a profit-percentage in the film, he became staggeringly wealthy as few studio directors could ever dream of being.
The career of fellow Englishman Michael Powell had been destroyed by his own transgressive chiller, Peeping Tom,...
Fifty years ago, all America was convulsed by a low-budget, violent movie in black and white, featuring a motel bathroom with shockingly visible flushing lavatory and a grisly murder scene of unparalleled ingenuity and cinematic flair: Psycho. Nowadays, such a film would be expected to come from a young hotshot, but this was directed by the 61-year-old Alfred Hitchcock, a figure known for elegance and high production values and as the star of a popular TV show, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, but also as someone beginning a gentle career decline. Instead, Psycho sensationally jolted Hitchcock's reputation up to a higher level, and as the owner of a profit-percentage in the film, he became staggeringly wealthy as few studio directors could ever dream of being.
The career of fellow Englishman Michael Powell had been destroyed by his own transgressive chiller, Peeping Tom,...
- 4/2/2010
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
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