The Holdovers director Alexander Payne (in Nirvana T-shirt) with Anne-Katrin Titze on Westward The Women: “It’s as though Jean Renoir and Akira Kurosawa got together to make a Western.”
In the first instalment with Alexander Payne on his intricately layered Golden Globe-nominated The Holdovers (screenplay by David Hemingson with an Oscar-shortlisted score by Mark Orton) we started out discussing a film he recommended, William A Wellman’s Westward The Women (screenplay by Frank Capra and Charles Schnee), starring Robert Taylor and Denise Darcel with a formidable supporting cast of women, led by Hope Emerson.
Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa) and Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) with Mary Lamb (Da'Vine Joy Randolph)
From there we touched upon his longtime collaborators, Wendy Chuck and Nathan Carlson, production designer Ryan Warren Smith, a scene between (Golden Globe-nominated) Paul Giamatti and Carrie Preston leading to Slavoj Žižek’s comment in Sophie Fiennes’s The Pervert’s Guide To Ideology...
In the first instalment with Alexander Payne on his intricately layered Golden Globe-nominated The Holdovers (screenplay by David Hemingson with an Oscar-shortlisted score by Mark Orton) we started out discussing a film he recommended, William A Wellman’s Westward The Women (screenplay by Frank Capra and Charles Schnee), starring Robert Taylor and Denise Darcel with a formidable supporting cast of women, led by Hope Emerson.
Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa) and Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) with Mary Lamb (Da'Vine Joy Randolph)
From there we touched upon his longtime collaborators, Wendy Chuck and Nathan Carlson, production designer Ryan Warren Smith, a scene between (Golden Globe-nominated) Paul Giamatti and Carrie Preston leading to Slavoj Žižek’s comment in Sophie Fiennes’s The Pervert’s Guide To Ideology...
- 12/24/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Sophie Fiennes with Anne-Katrin Titze on Slavoj Žižek: “I absolutely love working with him. Just being immersed in those ideas.”
From her short, Lars From 1 - 10, with Lars von Trier on Dogma 95, to Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami with Grace Jones; The Pervert's Guide To Ideology and The Pervert's Guide To Cinema with Slavoj Žižek; Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow with Anselm Kiefer; a short in Hopper Stories (commissioned by Arte France and produced by Didier Jacob), inspired by the Edward Hopper painting First Row Orchestra, and now the remarkable documentary T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets, starring Ralph Fiennes - Sophie Fiennes is one of the most discerning and astute filmmakers on the subjects she chooses to document.
Slavoj Žižek Cantor Film Center at NYU on October 14, 2015 Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Slavoj Žižek's musings on our enjoyment of ideology, and the fact that stepping out of it hurts, were...
From her short, Lars From 1 - 10, with Lars von Trier on Dogma 95, to Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami with Grace Jones; The Pervert's Guide To Ideology and The Pervert's Guide To Cinema with Slavoj Žižek; Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow with Anselm Kiefer; a short in Hopper Stories (commissioned by Arte France and produced by Didier Jacob), inspired by the Edward Hopper painting First Row Orchestra, and now the remarkable documentary T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets, starring Ralph Fiennes - Sophie Fiennes is one of the most discerning and astute filmmakers on the subjects she chooses to document.
Slavoj Žižek Cantor Film Center at NYU on October 14, 2015 Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Slavoj Žižek's musings on our enjoyment of ideology, and the fact that stepping out of it hurts, were...
- 4/22/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Above: Original French release poster for Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles. Designer unknown.Jeanne Dielman wins again! Posted on the day that Chantal Akerman’s masterpiece was announced as the surprise come-from-behind winner of Sight and Sound’s decennial Greatest Films of All Time poll, the original poster for the film racked up close to 3,000 likes on my Movie Poster of the Day Instagram (helped perhaps by being paired with this photo of Akerman pensively smoking in front of the same poster back in the day). I have no doubt that any poster for the film posted on that day would have gotten a lot of attention, but I’d like to believe that some of the likes were for the poster itself: unassuming yet elegant (like Jd herself), foregrounding that radically mundane title, and containing nothing surplus to requirements, just Mrs. Dielman at her dining room table, waiting patiently,...
- 4/6/2023
- MUBI
April is the cruelest month, but evidently not for one-man shows starring Oscar nominee Ralph Fiennes.
The “Schindler’s List” and “Harry Potter” star’s sister Sophie Fiennes directs a film version of “T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets,” the stage production he brought to London and throughout the UK back in 2021. During the lockdown, Fiennes committed to memory the “Wasteland” poet’s four epic poems written during World War II about man’s relationship to time and the divine. His performance, praised as “magnetic” by The Telegraph, was filmed at the end of his run.
IndieWire shares the exclusive trailer for the film version, opening April 28 at the IFC Center in New York City, courtesy of Kino Lorber. An expansion in theaters nationally will follow.
Fiennes’ filmed performance of Eliot’s masterworks is a co-production between The Bath Theatre Royal and Royal & Derngate, Northampton and Lone Star Productions, Amoeba Film and Lonely Dragon Films.
The “Schindler’s List” and “Harry Potter” star’s sister Sophie Fiennes directs a film version of “T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets,” the stage production he brought to London and throughout the UK back in 2021. During the lockdown, Fiennes committed to memory the “Wasteland” poet’s four epic poems written during World War II about man’s relationship to time and the divine. His performance, praised as “magnetic” by The Telegraph, was filmed at the end of his run.
IndieWire shares the exclusive trailer for the film version, opening April 28 at the IFC Center in New York City, courtesy of Kino Lorber. An expansion in theaters nationally will follow.
Fiennes’ filmed performance of Eliot’s masterworks is a co-production between The Bath Theatre Royal and Royal & Derngate, Northampton and Lone Star Productions, Amoeba Film and Lonely Dragon Films.
- 4/5/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Oscar nominee and BAFTA winner Ralph Fiennes’ hit London stage production Four Quartets is getting a screen version directed by his sister Sophie Fiennes (The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema).
WestEnd Films is launching international sales on the project at the upcoming Cannes market.
Early in the pandemic, No Time to Die, Harry Potter and Schindler’s List star Fiennes set himself the challenge of committing T.S. Eliot’s classic poem Four Quartets to memory. The result was an acclaimed stage version which ran to packed houses across England and at the Harold Pinter Theater in London.
Written by Eliot in the shadow of the Second World War, the ever-relevant poem is a searching examination of who – and what – we are.
The idea for the film, which is currently in post, was developed alongside the rehearsals for the stage production. Martin Rosenbaum (The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology), Shani Hinton (Grace...
WestEnd Films is launching international sales on the project at the upcoming Cannes market.
Early in the pandemic, No Time to Die, Harry Potter and Schindler’s List star Fiennes set himself the challenge of committing T.S. Eliot’s classic poem Four Quartets to memory. The result was an acclaimed stage version which ran to packed houses across England and at the Harold Pinter Theater in London.
Written by Eliot in the shadow of the Second World War, the ever-relevant poem is a searching examination of who – and what – we are.
The idea for the film, which is currently in post, was developed alongside the rehearsals for the stage production. Martin Rosenbaum (The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology), Shani Hinton (Grace...
- 5/6/2022
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Line-up also includes the new project from two-time Oscar nominee Lucy Walker.
Danish documentary festival Cph:dox has revealed the 35 projects set to be presented at Cph:forum, its financing and co-production event that will take place online-only from April 26-30.
Scroll down for full list of titles
The selection includes new projects from two-time Oscar nominee Lucy Walker (Waste Land), Sundance winners Mads Brügger (Cold Case Hammarskjöld) and Eugene Jarecki (The House I Live In), Berlin Crystal Bear winner Geneviève Dulude-De Celle (A Colony) and Venice Horizons winner Lech Kowalski (East Of Paradise).
Further notable filmmakers include Radu Ciorniciuc, whose Acasa,...
Danish documentary festival Cph:dox has revealed the 35 projects set to be presented at Cph:forum, its financing and co-production event that will take place online-only from April 26-30.
Scroll down for full list of titles
The selection includes new projects from two-time Oscar nominee Lucy Walker (Waste Land), Sundance winners Mads Brügger (Cold Case Hammarskjöld) and Eugene Jarecki (The House I Live In), Berlin Crystal Bear winner Geneviève Dulude-De Celle (A Colony) and Venice Horizons winner Lech Kowalski (East Of Paradise).
Further notable filmmakers include Radu Ciorniciuc, whose Acasa,...
- 3/3/2021
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Filmmaker Tabitha Jackson has been named the incoming director of the Sundance Film Festival, succeeding outgoing director John Cooper.
Sundance, America’s premiere festival and sales market for global independent film, elevates Jackson from her previous role as director of the Sundance Institute’s documentary film program. Cooper, who vacates the role after 11 years, has been named director emeritus.
Jackson will work closely with programming chief Kim Yutani and senior leadership to craft the festival’s overall vision and strategy. She comes out ahead of over 700 applicants, festival executive director Keri Putnam told Variety, who scoured international art and non-profit organizations for the role.
“Tabitha is fiercely devoted to independent artists, has been a visionary member of the Sundance Institute’s leadership team for the last 6 years. Her authenticity, experience and perspective will serve her well in leading the festival forward as a beacon for independent artists and audiences,” said Putnam.
Sundance, America’s premiere festival and sales market for global independent film, elevates Jackson from her previous role as director of the Sundance Institute’s documentary film program. Cooper, who vacates the role after 11 years, has been named director emeritus.
Jackson will work closely with programming chief Kim Yutani and senior leadership to craft the festival’s overall vision and strategy. She comes out ahead of over 700 applicants, festival executive director Keri Putnam told Variety, who scoured international art and non-profit organizations for the role.
“Tabitha is fiercely devoted to independent artists, has been a visionary member of the Sundance Institute’s leadership team for the last 6 years. Her authenticity, experience and perspective will serve her well in leading the festival forward as a beacon for independent artists and audiences,” said Putnam.
- 2/2/2020
- by Matt Donnelly
- Variety Film + TV
After nine days of films, episodics, events, premieres and snow, Sundance is winding down and its ending with huge news as the Park City fest has announced Tabitha Jackson as the new Director of the Sundance Film Festival.
Jackson, who joined the Sundance Institute as the Director of the Documentary Film Program in 2013, will take the torch from John Cooper, who announced he was stepping down from the post last June. Sundance 2020 was Cooper’s last fest as director. Jackson will oversee the Festival’s overall vision and strategy while leading a senior team in close collaboration with Director of Programming, Kim Yutani. Cooper will take on the newly-created role of Emeritus Director. He will oversee special projects including preparations for the Institute’s 40th anniversary in 2021.
“I founded Sundance Institute with the clear mission of celebrating and supporting independent artists, said Sundance Institute founder Robert Redford in a statement,...
Jackson, who joined the Sundance Institute as the Director of the Documentary Film Program in 2013, will take the torch from John Cooper, who announced he was stepping down from the post last June. Sundance 2020 was Cooper’s last fest as director. Jackson will oversee the Festival’s overall vision and strategy while leading a senior team in close collaboration with Director of Programming, Kim Yutani. Cooper will take on the newly-created role of Emeritus Director. He will oversee special projects including preparations for the Institute’s 40th anniversary in 2021.
“I founded Sundance Institute with the clear mission of celebrating and supporting independent artists, said Sundance Institute founder Robert Redford in a statement,...
- 2/2/2020
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
David Zellner and Nathan Zellner with Anne-Katrin Titze: "We love Westerns and we always wanted to do one but we didn't want to just copy what's been done before." Photo: Ally Navolio
The Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter creators are back this time with a Western. David Zellner and Nathan Zellner's latest, shot by Adam Stone, stars Robert Pattinson, Mia Wasikowska, and a horse named Butterscotch with Robert Forster, Joseph Billingiere, and a Barrel Of Laughs cameo by Nichols' longtime composer David Wingo.
David Zellner (Parson Henry) and Nathan Zellner (Rufus Cornell) sat down with me for a Damsel conversation that took us through Sophie Fiennes' The Pervert's Guide To Ideology (in which Slavoj Žižek says that Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver is a remake of John Ford's The Searchers), Hayao Miyazaki's Totoro, Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate, a scene from Jane Campion's The Piano, the Zen-like Butterscotch played by Daisy,...
The Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter creators are back this time with a Western. David Zellner and Nathan Zellner's latest, shot by Adam Stone, stars Robert Pattinson, Mia Wasikowska, and a horse named Butterscotch with Robert Forster, Joseph Billingiere, and a Barrel Of Laughs cameo by Nichols' longtime composer David Wingo.
David Zellner (Parson Henry) and Nathan Zellner (Rufus Cornell) sat down with me for a Damsel conversation that took us through Sophie Fiennes' The Pervert's Guide To Ideology (in which Slavoj Žižek says that Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver is a remake of John Ford's The Searchers), Hayao Miyazaki's Totoro, Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate, a scene from Jane Campion's The Piano, the Zen-like Butterscotch played by Daisy,...
- 6/22/2018
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Géza Röhrig with Anne-Katrin Titze at Lincoln Plaza Cinemas for the opening of Son of Saul (Saul fia), directed by László Nemes Photo: Aimee Morris
Earlier this month, László Nemes introduced me to Géza Röhrig at a brunch in honour of Danny Boyle's Steve Jobs, written by Aaron Sorkin, starring Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen and Jeff Daniels. We spoke about Claude Lanzmann, the unfortunate timing of Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List for Stanley Kubrick's The Aryan Papers, critiquing Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds and Roberto Benigni's Life Is Beautiful, Slavoj Žižek in The Pervert's Guide To Ideology on Robert Wise's The Sound Of Music and a whisper from Albert Camus to Elie Wiesel.
Géza explained why Robert De Niro or Jack Nicholson would not have had an advantage over him playing Saul Ausländer. The Mirroring Evil: Nazi Imagery/Recent Art exhibit in New York...
Earlier this month, László Nemes introduced me to Géza Röhrig at a brunch in honour of Danny Boyle's Steve Jobs, written by Aaron Sorkin, starring Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen and Jeff Daniels. We spoke about Claude Lanzmann, the unfortunate timing of Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List for Stanley Kubrick's The Aryan Papers, critiquing Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds and Roberto Benigni's Life Is Beautiful, Slavoj Žižek in The Pervert's Guide To Ideology on Robert Wise's The Sound Of Music and a whisper from Albert Camus to Elie Wiesel.
Géza explained why Robert De Niro or Jack Nicholson would not have had an advantage over him playing Saul Ausländer. The Mirroring Evil: Nazi Imagery/Recent Art exhibit in New York...
- 12/20/2015
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Bringing his own unique brand of philosophy to the cinema, Slavoj Žižek has been the force behind "The Pervert's Guide to Cinema" and "The Pervert's Guide to Ideology," which deconstruct the movies you love in ways you never expected. And even in a brief visit to the offices of The Criterion Collection, he provides quick dissections on a handful of efforts. Calling himself a "corrupted theorist," Žižek rifles through a bunch of movies including Ang Lee's "The Ice Storm" (which he has a personal connection to), Ernst Lubitsch's "Trouble In Paradise" (apparently a great critique of capitalism), Lars von Trier's "Antichrist" (because he has a duty to the filmmaker) and more. It's damn entertaining, and Žižek closes things out by explaining why he likes Criterion and the special features (because sometimes they are better than the actual movie). Check it all out below.
- 9/26/2014
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Frauke Finsterwalder's Finsterworld co-written with Christian Kracht celebrates words of lore as well as colloquial rhythms and structures of non-communication.
In part 2 of my conversation with director Frauke Finsterwalder and co-sreenwriter Christian Kracht on Finsterworld, we go beyond Slavoj Žižek's The Pervert's Guide To Ideology, Klaus Theweleit's Male Fantasies, Berlin architecture, Joseph Beuys, Kubrick's The Shining, Adorno, the beauty of Margit Carstensen and the legacy of "Gesichtswurst".
Anne-Katrin Titze: Let's talk about Margit Carstensen. Did you take her work with Rainer Werner Fassbinder into account when casting her?
Frauke Finsterwalder and Christian Kracht on the legacy of Gesichtswurst: "Also, the image of that sandwich, that's a mutual obsession." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Frauke Finsterwalder: I was thinking of Fassbinder's TV movie Martha (1974). That's the one where she gets abused by Karlheinz Böhm. It wasn't released until much later. They have this abusive relationship and finally she escapes from him and crashes her car.
In part 2 of my conversation with director Frauke Finsterwalder and co-sreenwriter Christian Kracht on Finsterworld, we go beyond Slavoj Žižek's The Pervert's Guide To Ideology, Klaus Theweleit's Male Fantasies, Berlin architecture, Joseph Beuys, Kubrick's The Shining, Adorno, the beauty of Margit Carstensen and the legacy of "Gesichtswurst".
Anne-Katrin Titze: Let's talk about Margit Carstensen. Did you take her work with Rainer Werner Fassbinder into account when casting her?
Frauke Finsterwalder and Christian Kracht on the legacy of Gesichtswurst: "Also, the image of that sandwich, that's a mutual obsession." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Frauke Finsterwalder: I was thinking of Fassbinder's TV movie Martha (1974). That's the one where she gets abused by Karlheinz Böhm. It wasn't released until much later. They have this abusive relationship and finally she escapes from him and crashes her car.
- 6/25/2014
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Here's your Martha Stewart-esque craft tip for the month, physical media lovers: Did you know that a scratched DVD can be polished with just a dab of toothpaste? Stay away from extra-whitening product (you don't want to bleach your Criterions!), but when mixed with water and wiped clean with a microfiber cloth, a smudge of Colgate will make your discs sparkle and Sandra Bullock will stop freezing before she's torn apart by space wolves at the end of "Gravity." Sorry, was that a spoiler? We'll be more careful in the February podcast below... Podcast Intro Music: Mogwai, "Hungry Face" Special Guest #1: Chuck Klosterman on "The Pervert's Guide to Ideology" and "Crimes and Misdemeanors" Intro Music: Los Straitjackets, "My Heart Will Go On" Chuck Klosterman is a bestselling author and culture critic who currently serves as "The Ethicist" for the New York Times Magazine. His latest book is a...
- 2/26/2014
- by Aaron Hillis
- The Playlist
Decadence, violence, love and space – Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw shares his fantasy award nomination list for 2013
• The 2012 Braddies
Awards season is now upon us and here, as every year, is my personal fantasy award nomination list for 2013, whimsically called the Braddies, which covers the period running from the beginning of the calendar year to the present. There are 10 nominations in eight categories: film, director, actor, actress, supporting actor, supporting actress, screenplay and documentary.
The reader is invited to nominate the winner in the comments section below, and perhaps to note omissions and evidence that the list betrays suggestions of sociocultural bias.
I like to think that these awards will one day evolve into an actual ceremony with chrome-and-glass statuettes, sponsorship from Sky Atlantic and a televised evening presided over by Dara Ó Briain or Mariella Frostrup. But until then, it exists in a world of fantasy only. And so,...
• The 2012 Braddies
Awards season is now upon us and here, as every year, is my personal fantasy award nomination list for 2013, whimsically called the Braddies, which covers the period running from the beginning of the calendar year to the present. There are 10 nominations in eight categories: film, director, actor, actress, supporting actor, supporting actress, screenplay and documentary.
The reader is invited to nominate the winner in the comments section below, and perhaps to note omissions and evidence that the list betrays suggestions of sociocultural bias.
I like to think that these awards will one day evolve into an actual ceremony with chrome-and-glass statuettes, sponsorship from Sky Atlantic and a televised evening presided over by Dara Ó Briain or Mariella Frostrup. But until then, it exists in a world of fantasy only. And so,...
- 12/6/2013
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
It's a relatively quiet week for new releases and rep screenings, but with the F1 crowd making traffic through Austin a slow-moving experience, maybe that's just as well. You can venture away from downtown to join the Austin Film Society at the Marchesa over the next week for some top-notch bookings that would have otherwise skipped over our fair city completely. On Saturday afternoon, they've got Andrew Dosunmu's Mother Of George, an acclaimed film that debuted at Sundance earlier this year about a Nigerian couple living in Brooklyn who cannot have a child of their own.
At Berkeley is another movie that nobody else would dare to bring to town. This 4-hour documentary from legendary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman details four months on campus at the University of Southern California at Berkeley. It has one screening only on Sunday at noon and it will feature a Skype Q&A with Wiseman after the film.
At Berkeley is another movie that nobody else would dare to bring to town. This 4-hour documentary from legendary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman details four months on campus at the University of Southern California at Berkeley. It has one screening only on Sunday at noon and it will feature a Skype Q&A with Wiseman after the film.
- 11/15/2013
- by Matt Shiverdecker
- Slackerwood
Evil nuns, big hammers and a boutique micro-brewery: it's all kicking off at the movies this weekend
What should I see?
It's a bumper week for new releases - in the UK at least. Top choice is Philomena, in which Steve Coogan and Judi Dench potter about in search of her long lost son, batting away red tape and obstructive Sisters as they go. We review that, as well as the excellent Gloria (post-divorce dating in Chile) and the pretty good Drinking Buddies (sexual tension between best mates) in this week's Guardian Film Show. Also on the slate: Thor: The Dark World, in which out hero goes nuts with a mallet, and Tom Hiddleston has some unflattering hair.
None of them appeal? You might also like to check out Berlin winner Child's Pose, the reissue of Herzog's Nosteratu (which Peter bigged up yesterday), Hollywood hellraiser documentary Milius, and Japanese curio Cutie and the Boxer.
What should I see?
It's a bumper week for new releases - in the UK at least. Top choice is Philomena, in which Steve Coogan and Judi Dench potter about in search of her long lost son, batting away red tape and obstructive Sisters as they go. We review that, as well as the excellent Gloria (post-divorce dating in Chile) and the pretty good Drinking Buddies (sexual tension between best mates) in this week's Guardian Film Show. Also on the slate: Thor: The Dark World, in which out hero goes nuts with a mallet, and Tom Hiddleston has some unflattering hair.
None of them appeal? You might also like to check out Berlin winner Child's Pose, the reissue of Herzog's Nosteratu (which Peter bigged up yesterday), Hollywood hellraiser documentary Milius, and Japanese curio Cutie and the Boxer.
- 11/1/2013
- The Guardian - Film News
Your reaction to The Pervert's Guide to Ideology, the latest cine-lecture from Sophie Fiennes and Slavoj Zizek, will depend almost entirely upon your response to Zizek himself, a Slovenian philosopher whose appearance suggests a homeless lumberjack on speed. Yoking together disparate topics with critical theory, Zizek's fixation is revealing the social and psychological prejudices latent in pop culture. The film features Zizek parsing a number of films and their relations to history; keeping us visually stimulated, Fiennes has Zizek inhabiting the set of each film as he discusses it. In essence, the film is a lecture, but Zizek's associative thinking and understanding of the applicability of psychoanalysis makes it a lecture like no other. Linking West Side ...
- 10/30/2013
- Village Voice
Why is it easier for us to visualize the end of the human race, than the end of the free-market capitalism? This is the driving question behind the latest collaboration between Slavoj Žižek, the superstar philosopher/psychoanalyst/cultural critic of our time and director Sophie Fienne's in their new documentary, The Pervert's Guide to Ideology. It's their second film since widely successful The Pervert's Guide to Cinema in 2006. Clocking at 136 minutes, Ideology is arguably less entertaining than its predecessor despite the charming presence of the famed philosopher in several iconic movie backdrops, gesticulating wildly and sounding like the Eastern European Sylvester the Cat. But this film is a denser, more serious examination of our consumerist society that asks many of the important questions of our...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 10/29/2013
- Screen Anarchy
Liberace's glitter is only slightly dimmed by DVD, while Mubi's curatorial brand of streaming is a treat for cinephiles
In Europe, Steven Soderbergh's Behind the Candelabra (Entertainment One, 15) premiered in the rarefied glow of the Cannes film festival. In the Us it did so on the glowing screens of a million living rooms, courtesy of risk-taking TV producer HBO. Technically, then, we're finally seeing it in its intended format, though this marvellous, diamond-iced biopic of Mr Entertainment himself – Vegas concert pianist Liberace – seems conceived for the largest screen possible. (I doubt the master of excess would approve of this rather sparse Blu-ray package, which includes only a Soderbergh-free making-of featurette.)
The small screen may dull the rhinestones, but not the grace notes of Michael Douglas's witty, desolate lead turn. Fortysomething Matt Damon, meanwhile, is improbably vulnerable as Scott Thorson, the teen toyboy inappropriately adopted by the closeted...
In Europe, Steven Soderbergh's Behind the Candelabra (Entertainment One, 15) premiered in the rarefied glow of the Cannes film festival. In the Us it did so on the glowing screens of a million living rooms, courtesy of risk-taking TV producer HBO. Technically, then, we're finally seeing it in its intended format, though this marvellous, diamond-iced biopic of Mr Entertainment himself – Vegas concert pianist Liberace – seems conceived for the largest screen possible. (I doubt the master of excess would approve of this rather sparse Blu-ray package, which includes only a Soderbergh-free making-of featurette.)
The small screen may dull the rhinestones, but not the grace notes of Michael Douglas's witty, desolate lead turn. Fortysomething Matt Damon, meanwhile, is improbably vulnerable as Scott Thorson, the teen toyboy inappropriately adopted by the closeted...
- 10/12/2013
- by Guy Lodge
- The Guardian - Film News
After a quiet period at the box office, Britain's favourite movie remains unchanged for the first time since July
• Read Mark Kermode's review of Prisoners
• Read the archive of Charles Gant's UK box office reports
The winner
After a pretty dismal frame at the UK box office, Prisoners, starring Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal, retained the top spot, with a 17% decline from the previous weekend. It marks the end of a long run where fresh titles conquered the chart summit each week – The Wolverine, The Smurfs 2, Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, Kick-Ass 2, Elysium, One Direction: This Is Us, About Time, Insidious Chapter 2 and Rush. Prisoners is the first film to land consecutive number one chart placements since Monsters University back in July.
Jackman has now spent seven weeks at the UK chart summit, with Prisoners, The Wolverine and Les Miserables.
The runner-up
Following its very strong opening in Scotland the previous weekend,...
• Read Mark Kermode's review of Prisoners
• Read the archive of Charles Gant's UK box office reports
The winner
After a pretty dismal frame at the UK box office, Prisoners, starring Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal, retained the top spot, with a 17% decline from the previous weekend. It marks the end of a long run where fresh titles conquered the chart summit each week – The Wolverine, The Smurfs 2, Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, Kick-Ass 2, Elysium, One Direction: This Is Us, About Time, Insidious Chapter 2 and Rush. Prisoners is the first film to land consecutive number one chart placements since Monsters University back in July.
Jackman has now spent seven weeks at the UK chart summit, with Prisoners, The Wolverine and Les Miserables.
The runner-up
Following its very strong opening in Scotland the previous weekend,...
- 10/9/2013
- by Charles Gant
- The Guardian - Film News
"What is this? Is that what I think it is?" Slavoj Žižek husks while approaching a monochrome gadget in the corner of the room. He stares at the object before jumping back aghast. It's a premium lager tap system. Clearly ruffled by its presence, the Slovene philosopher launches into a sprawling and hilarious critique on capitalist theory all down to the existence of this one functioning machine. His response rate is almost infinite. If you don't interject, it seems he will never break to inhale. But, on the release of The Pervert's Guide to Ideology (2012), CineVue were able to cover how one of this generation's great thinkers feels on the series' progression, the issues with improvisation and the death of film theory.
Tom Watson: Did you find it a struggle to establish a dichotomy between film language and public speaking?
Slavoj Žižek: The origin of this technique is a modest one.
Tom Watson: Did you find it a struggle to establish a dichotomy between film language and public speaking?
Slavoj Žižek: The origin of this technique is a modest one.
- 10/8/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
★★★★☆ "I already am eating from the trash can. The name of this trash can is 'ideology." These are the opening words to psychoanalytic critic and cultural philosopher Slavoj Žižek's The Pervert's Guide to Ideology (2013), a new entry in his growing Pervert's Guide series. Escalating from the analysis of fantasy and reverie in cinematic construction, Žižek delivers a full-bodied, genuinely humorous account of ambiguity and austerity. The concept of ideology as a sociopolitical tool used to appropriate a system of ideals has been barked from every intellect's pedestal for centuries, but here is given fresh impetus by our able host.
It's Žižek's evident zeal and vigour in his filmic examples that enable his ponderous ramblings to fly beyond that of a stodgy specimen of public speaking. Using excerpts from classic Hollywood movies including The Sound of Music (1965) and John Carpenter's criminally undervalued They Live (1988), Žižek refuses to hold his audience's hand with vocal linearity.
It's Žižek's evident zeal and vigour in his filmic examples that enable his ponderous ramblings to fly beyond that of a stodgy specimen of public speaking. Using excerpts from classic Hollywood movies including The Sound of Music (1965) and John Carpenter's criminally undervalued They Live (1988), Žižek refuses to hold his audience's hand with vocal linearity.
- 10/5/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Filth | Sunshine On Leith | The Perverts Guide To Ideology | For Those In Peril | How I Live Now | The Crash Reel | Thanks For Sharing | Camp 14 | The To Do List | Emperor
Filth (18)
(Jon S Baird, 2013, UK) James McAvoy, Jamie Bell, Eddie Marsan, Imogen Poots. 97 mins
Drugs, sleaze, sex, Scots, Irvine Welsh – is it 1996 again? This is just as energetic as Trainspotting, but less hip and more theatrically grim, wallowing in the debauchery and mania of a copper bent way out of shape. The only subtlety to be found is on the face of McAvoy, whose committed performance holds it all together.
Sunshine On Leith (PG)
(Dexter Fletcher, 2013, UK) George MacKay, Kevin Guthrie. 100 mins
It worked for Abba, so why not the Proclaimers? Basing an Edinburgh love story around their music turns out to be a fine idea.
The Pervert's Guide To Ideology (15)
(Sophie Fiennes, 2013, UK) 133 mins
Slavoj Žižek gives an absorbing, annotated...
Filth (18)
(Jon S Baird, 2013, UK) James McAvoy, Jamie Bell, Eddie Marsan, Imogen Poots. 97 mins
Drugs, sleaze, sex, Scots, Irvine Welsh – is it 1996 again? This is just as energetic as Trainspotting, but less hip and more theatrically grim, wallowing in the debauchery and mania of a copper bent way out of shape. The only subtlety to be found is on the face of McAvoy, whose committed performance holds it all together.
Sunshine On Leith (PG)
(Dexter Fletcher, 2013, UK) George MacKay, Kevin Guthrie. 100 mins
It worked for Abba, so why not the Proclaimers? Basing an Edinburgh love story around their music turns out to be a fine idea.
The Pervert's Guide To Ideology (15)
(Sophie Fiennes, 2013, UK) 133 mins
Slavoj Žižek gives an absorbing, annotated...
- 10/5/2013
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
You daily film news bulletin, fresh from the grinder
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All over the planet, filmgoers are getting ready to fork out for the latest films - here's where you can find out whether they're any good.
• We've got a bunch of British films to look over this week, kicking off with Sunshine on Leith, the Proclaimers-soundtracked musical directed by Dexter "Get Babyface!" Fletcher. With three big stars from Peter Bradshaw, it's clear Fletcher is becoming a proper film director. Another Scottish-set film, For Those in Peril, gets a decent three stars, hot from its Cannes premiere, while How We Live Now, starring Saoirse Ronan and directed by Kevin Macdonald, is similarly awarded. Incredible as it may seem, All Three films feature a young man called George MacKay, who is accorded an interview in Film & Music to mark the achievement.
• Not so well liked (and, strangely, not featuring George) is Filth,...
Tgif!
All over the planet, filmgoers are getting ready to fork out for the latest films - here's where you can find out whether they're any good.
• We've got a bunch of British films to look over this week, kicking off with Sunshine on Leith, the Proclaimers-soundtracked musical directed by Dexter "Get Babyface!" Fletcher. With three big stars from Peter Bradshaw, it's clear Fletcher is becoming a proper film director. Another Scottish-set film, For Those in Peril, gets a decent three stars, hot from its Cannes premiere, while How We Live Now, starring Saoirse Ronan and directed by Kevin Macdonald, is similarly awarded. Incredible as it may seem, All Three films feature a young man called George MacKay, who is accorded an interview in Film & Music to mark the achievement.
• Not so well liked (and, strangely, not featuring George) is Filth,...
- 10/4/2013
- The Guardian - Film News
From Robert Redford's ex-radical in The Company You Keep to the uncomfortably intimate father-son relationship in A Woman's Way, cinema has a habit of reframing family relationships
• Interview: Pervert's Guide to Ideology director Sophie Fiennes
• Peter Bradshaw reviews The Pervert's Guide to Ideology
Ideology in Hollywood? You don't have to look for it, because it always finds you. In The King's Speech the cause of the king-to-be's stuttering is precisely his inability to assume his symbolic function and identify with his title. He displays little common sense, seriously accepting that one is a king by divine will; and the task of the Australian coach is to render him stupid enough to accept his sovereignty as natural property. In the film's key scene, the coach sits on the throne. The furious king asks him how he dare do this, to which he replies: "Why not? Why should you have the...
• Interview: Pervert's Guide to Ideology director Sophie Fiennes
• Peter Bradshaw reviews The Pervert's Guide to Ideology
Ideology in Hollywood? You don't have to look for it, because it always finds you. In The King's Speech the cause of the king-to-be's stuttering is precisely his inability to assume his symbolic function and identify with his title. He displays little common sense, seriously accepting that one is a king by divine will; and the task of the Australian coach is to render him stupid enough to accept his sovereignty as natural property. In the film's key scene, the coach sits on the throne. The furious king asks him how he dare do this, to which he replies: "Why not? Why should you have the...
- 10/3/2013
- by Slavoj Žižek
- The Guardian - Film News
Bicycle Film Festival | Hitchcock's East End | The Pervert's Guide To Ideology | Grimmfest
Bicycle Film Festival, London
More than just a film festival, this is a focal point for a global cycling movement – fuelled in this country by civic concern, sporting endeavour and the joy of human-powered transport. You'll find all of them here, in long and short films that include everything from global bike travelogues to cycle-centric stories to portraits of professionals (Danish doc Moonrider is a highlight), not to mention niche concerns like Siberian BMX and bike polo. And it's not just about sitting down and watching. Events include a London cycling symposium, and a women-only "Velojam" at the Herne Hill velodrome next Saturday.
Barbican, EC2, Fri to 6 Oct
Hitchcock's East End, London
It's difficult to imagine a director who came further than Hitchcock: from East End poverty to Hollywood's top table. But Leytonstone has been gradually reclaiming its...
Bicycle Film Festival, London
More than just a film festival, this is a focal point for a global cycling movement – fuelled in this country by civic concern, sporting endeavour and the joy of human-powered transport. You'll find all of them here, in long and short films that include everything from global bike travelogues to cycle-centric stories to portraits of professionals (Danish doc Moonrider is a highlight), not to mention niche concerns like Siberian BMX and bike polo. And it's not just about sitting down and watching. Events include a London cycling symposium, and a women-only "Velojam" at the Herne Hill velodrome next Saturday.
Barbican, EC2, Fri to 6 Oct
Hitchcock's East End, London
It's difficult to imagine a director who came further than Hitchcock: from East End poverty to Hollywood's top table. But Leytonstone has been gradually reclaiming its...
- 9/28/2013
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
Blue Jasmine | Prisoners | Greedy Lying Bastards | Mister John | Hannah Arendt | Runner Runner | It's A Lot | Girl Most Likely | Smash & Grab: The Story Of The Pink Panther | Austenland
Blue Jasmine (12A)
(Woody Allen, 2013, Us) Cate Blanchett, Alec Baldwin, Peter Sarsgaard. 98 mins
In the downward trajectory of late-era Allen comes a startling spike to remind us how great he still can be, especially when it comes to women's roles. This show belongs to Blanchett, playing a Manhattan one-percenter brought down to earth. Propped up by alcohol, drugs and her sister, she's an accident that's already happening, and a magnificent, tragicomic creation.
Prisoners (15)
(Denis Villeneuve, 2013, Us) Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Dano. 153 mins
A kidnapping case refuses to crack in this weighty, slippery whodunit.
Greedy Lying Bastards (12A)
(Craig Scott Rosebraugh, 2012, Us) 90 mins
Climate-change deniers get a dose of their own medicine, as this impassioned doc lays out a history of hypocrisy.
Mister John (15)
(Christine Molloy,...
Blue Jasmine (12A)
(Woody Allen, 2013, Us) Cate Blanchett, Alec Baldwin, Peter Sarsgaard. 98 mins
In the downward trajectory of late-era Allen comes a startling spike to remind us how great he still can be, especially when it comes to women's roles. This show belongs to Blanchett, playing a Manhattan one-percenter brought down to earth. Propped up by alcohol, drugs and her sister, she's an accident that's already happening, and a magnificent, tragicomic creation.
Prisoners (15)
(Denis Villeneuve, 2013, Us) Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Dano. 153 mins
A kidnapping case refuses to crack in this weighty, slippery whodunit.
Greedy Lying Bastards (12A)
(Craig Scott Rosebraugh, 2012, Us) 90 mins
Climate-change deniers get a dose of their own medicine, as this impassioned doc lays out a history of hypocrisy.
Mister John (15)
(Christine Molloy,...
- 9/28/2013
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
It's not often that a philosopher and cultural critic gains something resembling celebrity status, but then again, there are few philosophers and cultural critics as magnetic as Slavoj Žižek. He has certainly transcended academic borders and his infectious personality played a bit part in the success of "The Pervert's Guide to Cinema," his 2006 outing with documentary filmmaker Sophie Fiennes, that investigated the very language of cinema itself. And now they've teamed up to tackle cinema once more time from a different angle. "The Pervert's Guide To Ideology," as the title suggets, finds Zizek exploring how films reinforce prevailing ideologies, and where cinema and philosophy intersect. We've got the exclusive, eye-catching new poster for the film below, and it comes from noted designer Akiko Stehrenberger. She is a Clio Award winning artist whose memorable film artwork includes Michael Haneke’s U.S. remake of "Funny Games," the illustrated one sheet for Xan.
- 7/31/2013
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Doc NYC, a New York documentary festival, is currently screening its third edition at the IFC Center and the Sva Theater. The festival, which this year has an especially impressive program, runs through November 15. Below are reviews of three of this year's selections.The Pervert's Guide To Ideology (Sophie Fiennes)Director Sophie Fiennes and superstar philosopher Slavoj Zizek re-team in this follow-up to their 2006 collaboration The Pervert's Guide to Cinema, and this new film is as riveting, funny, and profound as its predecessor. The formula is pretty much the same: Zizek, with his inimitably passionate, excitable demeanor, holds forth in an almost non-stop monologue, during which he analyzes numerous films to build his arguments. Fiennes puts it all together with a witty, stylish flair, the...
- 11/11/2012
- Screen Anarchy
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