The BBC is celebrating the art of the literary adaptation by screening a variety of classics on BBC Four. More details here.
The BBC is quite rightly celebrated for its rich history of book to screen adaptations, such as the iconic 1995 version of Jane Austen’a Pride And Prejudice to Cbbc’s hugely successful adaptation of Dame Jacqueline Wilson’s Tracy Beaker series.
It has now put together a season of 14 adaptations from the BBC archive, some of which have rarely been seen since their original broadcast.
The dramas are:
The Great Gatsby
Toby Stephens, Mira Sorvino and Paul Rudd lead the cast in this 2000 BBC adaptation of F Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel on the American dream in the jazz age.
Small Island
Naomie Harris, Ruth Wilson, David Oyelowo, Benedict Cumberbatch and Ashley Walters star in this 2009 TV version of Andrea Levy’s novel focusing on the lives and...
The BBC is quite rightly celebrated for its rich history of book to screen adaptations, such as the iconic 1995 version of Jane Austen’a Pride And Prejudice to Cbbc’s hugely successful adaptation of Dame Jacqueline Wilson’s Tracy Beaker series.
It has now put together a season of 14 adaptations from the BBC archive, some of which have rarely been seen since their original broadcast.
The dramas are:
The Great Gatsby
Toby Stephens, Mira Sorvino and Paul Rudd lead the cast in this 2000 BBC adaptation of F Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel on the American dream in the jazz age.
Small Island
Naomie Harris, Ruth Wilson, David Oyelowo, Benedict Cumberbatch and Ashley Walters star in this 2009 TV version of Andrea Levy’s novel focusing on the lives and...
- 2/6/2024
- by Jake Godfrey
- Film Stories
From Distant Voices, Still Lives to Benediction, the lyrical work of the late director was suffused with the ‘ecstasy’ of cinema – and his fraught Liverpool childhood
Last month, British cinema lost one of its greatest and most distinctive screen poets. From an astonishing trilogy of early short films (Children; Madonna and Child; Death and Transfiguration – all available on BFI Player) to his final feature, Benediction (2021), Terence Davies seamlessly blended personal recollections with wider universal truths. His subjects ranged from autobiographically inspired portraits of postwar working-class life in Liverpool to sweeping literary adaptations and intimate portraits of real-life authors, most remarkably the American poet Emily Dickinson, brilliantly played by Cynthia Nixon in A Quiet Passion, 2016. Yet each of his films felt deeply, distinctly personal. No wonder Jack Lowden, who played Siegfried Sassoon in Benediction, told me that after immersing himself in his subject’s diaries in preparation for the role, he...
Last month, British cinema lost one of its greatest and most distinctive screen poets. From an astonishing trilogy of early short films (Children; Madonna and Child; Death and Transfiguration – all available on BFI Player) to his final feature, Benediction (2021), Terence Davies seamlessly blended personal recollections with wider universal truths. His subjects ranged from autobiographically inspired portraits of postwar working-class life in Liverpool to sweeping literary adaptations and intimate portraits of real-life authors, most remarkably the American poet Emily Dickinson, brilliantly played by Cynthia Nixon in A Quiet Passion, 2016. Yet each of his films felt deeply, distinctly personal. No wonder Jack Lowden, who played Siegfried Sassoon in Benediction, told me that after immersing himself in his subject’s diaries in preparation for the role, he...
- 11/4/2023
- by Mark Kermode
- The Guardian - Film News
Terence Davies, the accomplished and thoughtful director behind such films as Distant Voices, Still Lives, The House Of Mirth and, most recently, Benediction, about World War II poet Siegfried Sassoon, had died. Davies, who began his career making autobiographical short films but switched to literary adaptations and dramas, which nevertheless kept an emotionally affecting through line. Dying at home after a short illness, Davies was 77.
Born in Liverpool to a large Catholic family (which informed much of his early film work), Davies spent a decade as a clerk before attending Coventry Drama School, and starting to make short films. He followed that up with the National Film School. His three initial shorts are Children, Madonna And Child and Death And Transfiguration all tackled autobiographical stories of emotion and religion.
When he started making feature films, his first two efforts, Distant Voices, Still Lives and The Long Day Closes were also inspired by his life,...
Born in Liverpool to a large Catholic family (which informed much of his early film work), Davies spent a decade as a clerk before attending Coventry Drama School, and starting to make short films. He followed that up with the National Film School. His three initial shorts are Children, Madonna And Child and Death And Transfiguration all tackled autobiographical stories of emotion and religion.
When he started making feature films, his first two efforts, Distant Voices, Still Lives and The Long Day Closes were also inspired by his life,...
- 10/8/2023
- by James White
- Empire - Movies
Terence Davies, the critically beloved British writer-director who had his international art-house breakthrough with two deeply autobiographical films set in his native Liverpool, England, Distant Voices, Still Lives and The Long Day Closes, has died. He was 77.
Davies’ official Instagram account confirmed the news Saturday morning, noting that the filmmaker died peacefully at home after a short illness.
Much of Davies’ work is infused with personal emotional experience, reflecting in subtle ways on growing up as a gay, Catholic man in Liverpool in the 1950s and ’60s. The filmmaker directly addressed his childhood in his 2008 feature documentary, Of Time and the City.
Premiering to great acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival that year, the doc recalled both Davies’ own family life and that of the city, using archival footage, his own commentary voiceover, classical music tracks, film clips and excerpts from poetry and literature in an assemblage by turns caustically funny and melancholy,...
Davies’ official Instagram account confirmed the news Saturday morning, noting that the filmmaker died peacefully at home after a short illness.
Much of Davies’ work is infused with personal emotional experience, reflecting in subtle ways on growing up as a gay, Catholic man in Liverpool in the 1950s and ’60s. The filmmaker directly addressed his childhood in his 2008 feature documentary, Of Time and the City.
Premiering to great acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival that year, the doc recalled both Davies’ own family life and that of the city, using archival footage, his own commentary voiceover, classical music tracks, film clips and excerpts from poetry and literature in an assemblage by turns caustically funny and melancholy,...
- 10/7/2023
- by Christy Piña
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Terence Davies, the British filmmaker known for “Distant Voices, Still Lives,” “The Deep Blue Sea” and “The Long Day Closes,” has died. He was 77.
The news of Davies’ death was shared on his official Instagram page: “It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of Terence Davies, who died peacefully at home after a short illness, today on 7th October 2023.”
Davies was admired for his period films as well as his early autobiographical trilogy about growing up in Liverpool.
“Being in the past makes me feel safe because I understand that world,” he told the Guardian in 2022.
Though his films were widely recognized for their sensitive depictions of gay life, Catholicism and other frequent themes, they didn’t amass a huge number of awards, which he considered in his typically philosophical way. “It would have been nice to be acknowledged by Bafta. Again, there’s also part of...
The news of Davies’ death was shared on his official Instagram page: “It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of Terence Davies, who died peacefully at home after a short illness, today on 7th October 2023.”
Davies was admired for his period films as well as his early autobiographical trilogy about growing up in Liverpool.
“Being in the past makes me feel safe because I understand that world,” he told the Guardian in 2022.
Though his films were widely recognized for their sensitive depictions of gay life, Catholicism and other frequent themes, they didn’t amass a huge number of awards, which he considered in his typically philosophical way. “It would have been nice to be acknowledged by Bafta. Again, there’s also part of...
- 10/7/2023
- by Michaela Zee
- Variety Film + TV
Terence Davies, the Liverpool-born director of autobiographical memory pieces like “The Long Day Closes” and “Distant Voices, Still Lives,” has died. He was 77. The English filmmaker passed away peacefully in his home after a short illness on October 7, as confirmed on his official social media pages.
Davies directed several masterpieces in his lifetime, from the sorrowful “The Deep Blue Sea” starring Rachel Weisz as an eternally unhappy seeker of love to his debut feature “Distant Voices,” built on his own closeted working-class British upbringing. You could even say the same about his last film, “Benediction,” starring Jack Lowden as the queer poet Siegfried Sassoon, wrapped around by a coterie of Bright Young Things. He received great acclaim for films like “A Quiet Passion,” starring Cynthia Nixon as the reclusive poet Emily Dickinson, as well as the Edith Wharton adaptation “House of Mirth,” led by Gillian Anderson. Serious actors loved working with him,...
Davies directed several masterpieces in his lifetime, from the sorrowful “The Deep Blue Sea” starring Rachel Weisz as an eternally unhappy seeker of love to his debut feature “Distant Voices,” built on his own closeted working-class British upbringing. You could even say the same about his last film, “Benediction,” starring Jack Lowden as the queer poet Siegfried Sassoon, wrapped around by a coterie of Bright Young Things. He received great acclaim for films like “A Quiet Passion,” starring Cynthia Nixon as the reclusive poet Emily Dickinson, as well as the Edith Wharton adaptation “House of Mirth,” led by Gillian Anderson. Serious actors loved working with him,...
- 10/7/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Prolific German actor Thomas Kretschmann, star of movies including The Pianist, King Kong and the upcoming Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny, is to play seminal and controversial German composer Richard Wagner in a new English-language biopic.
The movie will chart the journey of Richard and Cosima Wagner as they arrive in Venice following the prèmiere of Parsifal in 1882. The plot will turn on an alternative history, as it will see Wagner’s father-in-law, Franz Liszt, follow the couple soon after as news of a comet headed towards earth launches Wagner into composing one final piece of music.
Marton Csokas (The Equalizer) will play fellow-composer Liszt in the project which is being sold at Berlin’s EFM by Motus Studios.
Daniel Graham (Prizefighter: The Life Of Jem Belcher) is writer-director and the team is aiming to shoot in Venice in late spring, 2023.
Emanuele Moretti (Assassin Club) is producing...
The movie will chart the journey of Richard and Cosima Wagner as they arrive in Venice following the prèmiere of Parsifal in 1882. The plot will turn on an alternative history, as it will see Wagner’s father-in-law, Franz Liszt, follow the couple soon after as news of a comet headed towards earth launches Wagner into composing one final piece of music.
Marton Csokas (The Equalizer) will play fellow-composer Liszt in the project which is being sold at Berlin’s EFM by Motus Studios.
Daniel Graham (Prizefighter: The Life Of Jem Belcher) is writer-director and the team is aiming to shoot in Venice in late spring, 2023.
Emanuele Moretti (Assassin Club) is producing...
- 2/18/2023
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
If you’ve been putting off watching the terrifically adventurous Brendan Fraser-led “The Mummy” again, now’s the time to prioritize it. The 1999 film is one of a bevy of movies leaving HBO Max in June, the full list of which you can read below.
Also leaving HBO and HBO Max this month is a bevy of Tyler Perry’s Madea movies, “Rounders,” “She’s All That” and “Real Steel.”
If you’re looking to prioritize some selections, “Presumed Innocent” is one of Harrison Ford’s most underrated films (featuring one of his best performances) and the Melissa McCarthy/Jason Bateman comedy “Identity Thief” is good for some solid laughs.
Check out the full list of what’s leaving HBO Max below.
Also Read:
Here’s What’s New on HBO and HBO Max in June 2022
June 9:
12 Strong, 2018
June 30:
2 Guns, 2013
20 Feet From Stardom, 2013 (HBO)
All Dogs Go To Heaven,...
Also leaving HBO and HBO Max this month is a bevy of Tyler Perry’s Madea movies, “Rounders,” “She’s All That” and “Real Steel.”
If you’re looking to prioritize some selections, “Presumed Innocent” is one of Harrison Ford’s most underrated films (featuring one of his best performances) and the Melissa McCarthy/Jason Bateman comedy “Identity Thief” is good for some solid laughs.
Check out the full list of what’s leaving HBO Max below.
Also Read:
Here’s What’s New on HBO and HBO Max in June 2022
June 9:
12 Strong, 2018
June 30:
2 Guns, 2013
20 Feet From Stardom, 2013 (HBO)
All Dogs Go To Heaven,...
- 6/3/2022
- by Adam Chitwood
- The Wrap
The war poet’s life provides rich material for director Terence Davies to explore his preoccupations with sexuality, religion and the search for redemption
Terence Davies, the writer-director behind such modern classics as Distant Voices, Still Lives, The Long Day Closes and more recently Sunset Song, has long been one of the great poets of British cinema. It’s perhaps unsurprising therefore that his films have occasionally focused on the lives of poets: Emily Dickinson in 2016’s A Quiet Passion, and now Siegfried Sassoon in Benediction. Davies’s portrait of Dickinson was a heartfelt paean to a creative talent who went largely unrecognised in her own lifetime. His account of Sassoon’s tribulations is more unforgiving, confronting us with a contradictory character locked in his own private hell – keenly attuned to the horrors of war, yet seemingly unable to change either himself or the world around him, whether through art or action.
Terence Davies, the writer-director behind such modern classics as Distant Voices, Still Lives, The Long Day Closes and more recently Sunset Song, has long been one of the great poets of British cinema. It’s perhaps unsurprising therefore that his films have occasionally focused on the lives of poets: Emily Dickinson in 2016’s A Quiet Passion, and now Siegfried Sassoon in Benediction. Davies’s portrait of Dickinson was a heartfelt paean to a creative talent who went largely unrecognised in her own lifetime. His account of Sassoon’s tribulations is more unforgiving, confronting us with a contradictory character locked in his own private hell – keenly attuned to the horrors of war, yet seemingly unable to change either himself or the world around him, whether through art or action.
- 5/22/2022
- by Mark Kermode Observer film critic
- The Guardian - Film News
"Friends may come, friends may go. Enemies are always faithful." Roadside Attractions has revealed the official US trailer for an indie film from the UK titled Benediction, the latest feature from award-winning British filmmaker Terence Davies. This first premiered at the 2021 Toronto Film Festival last fall, and it also played at last year's San Sebastián and London Film Festivals. The film tells the life story of English poet, writer and soldier Siegfried Sassoon - who struggled with the horrors of war of The Great War in England. His poetry was inspired by experiences on the Western Front, and he became one of the leading war poets of the era. Adored by members of the aristocracy as well as stars of London's literary and stage world, he embarked on affairs with several men as he attempted to come to terms with his homosexuality. The cast features Jack Lowden and Peter Capaldi...
- 4/13/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
After a flurry of films with 2011’s The Deep Blue Sea, 2015’s Sunset Song, and 2016’s A Quiet Passion, British director Terence Davies is finally back this year with Benediction. Capturing the life of World War I poet Siegfried Sassoon, starring Jack Lowden, he was known for his epic, satirical poems detailing trench warfare and the horrors of a war in which he fought bravely but spoke out against. He was also a closeted gay man in Britain, where those in power considered his sexual identity a crime. The U.K. trailer has now dropped ahead of a release there while we’re awaiting a U.S. release from Roadside Attractions.
C.J. Prince said in his review, “Time is everything in a Terence Davies film. In Benediction, his biopic about English poet Siegfried Sassoon (Jack Lowden), he eventually covers his subject’s marriage to Hester Gatty (Kate Phillips). There...
C.J. Prince said in his review, “Time is everything in a Terence Davies film. In Benediction, his biopic about English poet Siegfried Sassoon (Jack Lowden), he eventually covers his subject’s marriage to Hester Gatty (Kate Phillips). There...
- 2/11/2022
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
The Fever (Maya Da-Rin)
The Fever, director-cum-visual artist Da-Rin’s first full-length feature project, puts a human face to a statistic that hardly captures the genocide Brazil is suffering. This is not just a wonderfully crafted, superb exercise in filmmaking, a multilayered tale that seesaws between social realism and magic. It is a call to action, an unassuming manifesto hashed in the present tense but reverberating as a plea from a world already past us, a memoir of sorts. – Leonardo G. (full review)
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
French New Wave
Dive into one of the most fertile eras of moving pictures with a new massive 45-film series on The Criterion Channel dedicated to the French New Wave. Highlights include Le...
The Fever (Maya Da-Rin)
The Fever, director-cum-visual artist Da-Rin’s first full-length feature project, puts a human face to a statistic that hardly captures the genocide Brazil is suffering. This is not just a wonderfully crafted, superb exercise in filmmaking, a multilayered tale that seesaws between social realism and magic. It is a call to action, an unassuming manifesto hashed in the present tense but reverberating as a plea from a world already past us, a memoir of sorts. – Leonardo G. (full review)
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
French New Wave
Dive into one of the most fertile eras of moving pictures with a new massive 45-film series on The Criterion Channel dedicated to the French New Wave. Highlights include Le...
- 1/7/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Exclusive: Sk Global and Gail Berman’s The Jackal Group have teamed to develop, finance and produce a series adaptation of Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s international bestseller Before the Coffee Gets Cold.
In a competitive situation, Sk Global has acquired the rights to the novel which was published last year. Originally adapted from Kawaguchi’s own stage play by the same name, Before the Coffee Gets Cold is set in a Tokyo back alley where a café has served carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. Local legend says that this shop offers something else very unique for patrons: the chance to travel back in time – but only for the time it takes for their coffee to get cold. With faces both familiar and new, the story follows patrons who visit to take advantage of Café Funiculi Funicula’s time-traveling offer and revisit moments with family, friends and lovers...
In a competitive situation, Sk Global has acquired the rights to the novel which was published last year. Originally adapted from Kawaguchi’s own stage play by the same name, Before the Coffee Gets Cold is set in a Tokyo back alley where a café has served carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. Local legend says that this shop offers something else very unique for patrons: the chance to travel back in time – but only for the time it takes for their coffee to get cold. With faces both familiar and new, the story follows patrons who visit to take advantage of Café Funiculi Funicula’s time-traveling offer and revisit moments with family, friends and lovers...
- 10/26/2021
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
In multiple interviews over the years, British filmmaker Terence Davies has baldly stated that being gay has ruined his life: “I hate it, I’ll go to my grave hating it … it has killed part of my soul,” he said in 2011, adding that his sexuality is the reason he remains single and celibate. Davies’ professed loneliness and sensitivity has bled through many of his films, wistfully entrenched as they often are in an unattainable past, most recently in a series of female-centered character studies: his swooningly melodramatic, cut-glass adaptation of Terence Rattigan’s “The Deep Blue Sea,” his amber-cast farm drama “Sunset Song” and his mannered, internalized Emily Dickinson portrait “A Quiet Passion.” Yet Davies has never directly addressed homosexuality in his oeuvre, for all its queer undercurrents; that it’s so openly and sensually a part of his intricate, intensely felt new film “Benediction” is the first of its many surprises.
- 9/19/2021
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
The 69th San Sebastian Film Festival has confirmed its first crop of Competition titles, including Terence Davies’ Benediction starring Jack Lowden and Peter Capaldi.
The movie chronicles different moments in the life of Siegfried Sassoon, a soldier and anti-war poet who survived the First World War. This will be British director Davies’ third time competing for the Golden Shell – San Seb’s top award – following The Deep Blue Sea in 2011 and Sunset Song in 2015.
Also on the early list is the latest film from Lucile Hadzihalilovic, who previously bagged the San Seb New Directors Award with her debut, Innocence, in 2004, while her second feature, Evolution, landed the Special Jury Prize in the Official Selection in 2015. She returns this year with Earwig. Based on the novel by Brian Catling, it tells the story of Albert, a man employed to look after Mia, a girl with teeth of ice.
Claudia Llosa, winner...
The movie chronicles different moments in the life of Siegfried Sassoon, a soldier and anti-war poet who survived the First World War. This will be British director Davies’ third time competing for the Golden Shell – San Seb’s top award – following The Deep Blue Sea in 2011 and Sunset Song in 2015.
Also on the early list is the latest film from Lucile Hadzihalilovic, who previously bagged the San Seb New Directors Award with her debut, Innocence, in 2004, while her second feature, Evolution, landed the Special Jury Prize in the Official Selection in 2015. She returns this year with Earwig. Based on the novel by Brian Catling, it tells the story of Albert, a man employed to look after Mia, a girl with teeth of ice.
Claudia Llosa, winner...
- 7/19/2021
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
The 69th edition of the festival will run from September 17-25.
Features from Terence Davies and Lucile Hadzihalilovic will play in the Official Selection of the 69th San Sebastian Film Festival (September 17-25), which has announced its first titles today.
Davies will compete for the Golden Shell for best film with Benediction, his biopic of soldier and anti-war poet Siegfried Sassoon, which shot last autumn starring Screen Star of Tomorrow 2014 Jack Lowden, alongside Simon Russell Beale and Peter Capaldi.
French director Hadzihalilovic’s third feature Earwig is based on Brian Catling’s novel of the same name, and tells the...
Features from Terence Davies and Lucile Hadzihalilovic will play in the Official Selection of the 69th San Sebastian Film Festival (September 17-25), which has announced its first titles today.
Davies will compete for the Golden Shell for best film with Benediction, his biopic of soldier and anti-war poet Siegfried Sassoon, which shot last autumn starring Screen Star of Tomorrow 2014 Jack Lowden, alongside Simon Russell Beale and Peter Capaldi.
French director Hadzihalilovic’s third feature Earwig is based on Brian Catling’s novel of the same name, and tells the...
- 7/19/2021
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
September’s 69th San Sebastian Festival has announced its first nine Competition contenders led by Palme d’Or winner Laurent Cantet (“The Class”) and English auteur Terence Davies (“Sunset Song”) but packed out by six female directors.
Two at least are already sparking anticipation: Lucile Hadzihalilovic, a French genre auteur backed like Palme d’Or winner “Titane” by Wild Bunch; and “As in Heaven,” the debut feature of Denmark’s Tea Lindeburg’s, which is generating good word-of-mouth.
The Competition features two other first features, a sign, like last week’s Cannes, of a new generation of filmmakers breaking through to rapid best fest attention.
San Sebastian’s national Competition titles, traditionally featuring some of the strongest Spanish titles of the year, are announced at the end of July.
More details to come.
First 2021 San Sebastian Film Festival Competition Titles
“Arthur Rambo.”
“Benediction,”
“Camila Comes out Tonight,”
“Blue Moon,”
“Fever Dream,...
Two at least are already sparking anticipation: Lucile Hadzihalilovic, a French genre auteur backed like Palme d’Or winner “Titane” by Wild Bunch; and “As in Heaven,” the debut feature of Denmark’s Tea Lindeburg’s, which is generating good word-of-mouth.
The Competition features two other first features, a sign, like last week’s Cannes, of a new generation of filmmakers breaking through to rapid best fest attention.
San Sebastian’s national Competition titles, traditionally featuring some of the strongest Spanish titles of the year, are announced at the end of July.
More details to come.
First 2021 San Sebastian Film Festival Competition Titles
“Arthur Rambo.”
“Benediction,”
“Camila Comes out Tonight,”
“Blue Moon,”
“Fever Dream,...
- 7/19/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
One of the previous decade’s great cinematic was receiving back-to-back Terence Davies films with Sunset Song and A Quiet Passion. Now it looks like a repeat is in store as the director is prepping another production just after finishing his last. Following a pandemic-related delay, he recently wrapped the Jack Lowden-led biopic Benediction, about World War I poet Siegfried Sassoon, and now has announced plans for what he’ll direct next.
Davies will write and helm an adaptation of Stefan Zweig’s novel The Post Office Girl, published posthumously in 1982. One of Wes Anderson’s inspirations for The Grand Budapest Hotel, the book is set in post-wwi and follows a female post-office clerk who lives outside Vienna. “Stefan Zweig’s novel set in post-war Austria sows the seeds for the rise of fascism, the end of the Empire, and ultimately the Second World War. This is a story...
Davies will write and helm an adaptation of Stefan Zweig’s novel The Post Office Girl, published posthumously in 1982. One of Wes Anderson’s inspirations for The Grand Budapest Hotel, the book is set in post-wwi and follows a female post-office clerk who lives outside Vienna. “Stefan Zweig’s novel set in post-war Austria sows the seeds for the rise of fascism, the end of the Empire, and ultimately the Second World War. This is a story...
- 1/20/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
One of our greatest working directors has wrapped production on his latest film. Following 2011’s The Deep Blue Sea, 2015’s Sunset Song, and 2016’s A Quiet Passion, British director Terence Davies was set to begin shooting Benediction, about World War I poet Siegfried Sassoon, earlier this year, but the pandemic halted plans. He was able to recently resume and now the film has wrapped.
Led by Jack Lowden he plays Sassoon, marking Davies’ second biopic of a poet, immediately following his Emily Dickinson film. Sassoon was known for his epic, satirical poems detailing trench warfare and the horrors of a war in which he fought bravely but spoke out against. He was also a closeted gay man in Britain, where those in power considered his sexual identity a crime.
The film, which has debuted its first image above via Deadline, also stars Peter Capaldi as Sassoon in his older years,...
Led by Jack Lowden he plays Sassoon, marking Davies’ second biopic of a poet, immediately following his Emily Dickinson film. Sassoon was known for his epic, satirical poems detailing trench warfare and the horrors of a war in which he fought bravely but spoke out against. He was also a closeted gay man in Britain, where those in power considered his sexual identity a crime.
The film, which has debuted its first image above via Deadline, also stars Peter Capaldi as Sassoon in his older years,...
- 11/2/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The November 2020 lineup for The Criterion Channel has been unveiled, toplined by a Claire Denis retrospective, including the brand-new restoration of Beau travail, along with Chocolat, No Fear, No Die, Nenette and Boni, Towards Mathilde, 35 Shots of Rum, and White Material.
There will also be a series celebrating 30 years of The Film Foundation, featuring a new interview with Martin Scorsese by Ari Aster, as well as a number of their most essential restorations, including films by Jia Zhangke, Ritwik Ghatak, Luchino Visconti, Shirley Clarke, Med Hondo, and more.
There’s also David Lynch’s new restoration of The Elephant Man, retrospectives dedicated to Ngozi Onwurah, Nadav Lapid, and Terence Nance, a new edition of the series Queersighted titled Queer Fear, featuring a new conversation between series programmer Michael Koresky and filmmaker and critic Farihah Zaman, and much more.
See the lineup below and learn more on the official site.
There will also be a series celebrating 30 years of The Film Foundation, featuring a new interview with Martin Scorsese by Ari Aster, as well as a number of their most essential restorations, including films by Jia Zhangke, Ritwik Ghatak, Luchino Visconti, Shirley Clarke, Med Hondo, and more.
There’s also David Lynch’s new restoration of The Elephant Man, retrospectives dedicated to Ngozi Onwurah, Nadav Lapid, and Terence Nance, a new edition of the series Queersighted titled Queer Fear, featuring a new conversation between series programmer Michael Koresky and filmmaker and critic Farihah Zaman, and much more.
See the lineup below and learn more on the official site.
- 10/27/2020
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Regional fund established in response to Covid-19 crisis.
The UK’s Liverpool Film Office (Lfo) has revealed the first 15 projects to benefit from a new fund, created in response to the Covid-19 crisis.
More than £158,000 worth of funding has been awarded to a mix of established producers in the region as well as projects from burgeoning female and Bame-led companies. The money comes from the Lfo’s Film and TV Development Fund, which was set up a month into lockdown, using resources from Liverpool City Region’s (Lcr) strategic investment fund.
The projects include the first foray into TV drama for Hurricane Films,...
The UK’s Liverpool Film Office (Lfo) has revealed the first 15 projects to benefit from a new fund, created in response to the Covid-19 crisis.
More than £158,000 worth of funding has been awarded to a mix of established producers in the region as well as projects from burgeoning female and Bame-led companies. The money comes from the Lfo’s Film and TV Development Fund, which was set up a month into lockdown, using resources from Liverpool City Region’s (Lcr) strategic investment fund.
The projects include the first foray into TV drama for Hurricane Films,...
- 7/28/2020
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
First Stage Studios, led by Sean Connery’s son Jason and BAFTA-winning producer Bob Last, has won a Screen Scotland tender to run a large-scale film and TV studio space in Edinburgh.
Screen Scotland plans to invest £1 million ($1.3 million) towards the initial set up, refurbishment and running costs of the studio space in Port of Leith on the outskirts of the city.
The studio sits on an 8.6 acre site, and has already hosted international productions, including Marvel’s “Avengers: Infinity War.” The facility has the potential for five sound stages of between 50ft and 100ft in height, as well as production and office space and a backlot for production set-builds and crew, tech and unit base parking.
Scotland has long suffered from a lack of significant studio space, and Screen Scotland said the new facility would benefit both the indigenous sector and the country’s ability to attract high-value international productions.
Screen Scotland plans to invest £1 million ($1.3 million) towards the initial set up, refurbishment and running costs of the studio space in Port of Leith on the outskirts of the city.
The studio sits on an 8.6 acre site, and has already hosted international productions, including Marvel’s “Avengers: Infinity War.” The facility has the potential for five sound stages of between 50ft and 100ft in height, as well as production and office space and a backlot for production set-builds and crew, tech and unit base parking.
Scotland has long suffered from a lack of significant studio space, and Screen Scotland said the new facility would benefit both the indigenous sector and the country’s ability to attract high-value international productions.
- 3/10/2020
- by Tim Dams
- Variety Film + TV
Siegfried Sassoon biopic to begin shooting next month.
Bankside Films has taken worldwide sales rights to Terence Davies’ upcoming biopic Benediction, which will see Jack Lowden star as First World War poet Siegfried Sassoon.
The London-based sales agent will be introducing the project to buyers for the first time at the European Film Market (Efm) in Berlin this week.
Shooting is set to begin in March in the West Midlands on the film, which will explore the turbulent life of Sassoon – a war poet who survived the horrors of the Western Front and was decorated for his bravery but who...
Bankside Films has taken worldwide sales rights to Terence Davies’ upcoming biopic Benediction, which will see Jack Lowden star as First World War poet Siegfried Sassoon.
The London-based sales agent will be introducing the project to buyers for the first time at the European Film Market (Efm) in Berlin this week.
Shooting is set to begin in March in the West Midlands on the film, which will explore the turbulent life of Sassoon – a war poet who survived the horrors of the Western Front and was decorated for his bravery but who...
- 2/21/2020
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
British director Terence Davies had quite a previous decade with three stellar dramas: 2011’s The Deep Blue Sea, 2015’s Sunset Song, and 2016’s A Quiet Passion. After a brief respite he’s now preparing his next feature Benediction for a shoot this spring and has found his lead.
Jack Lowden has been cast as World War I poet Siegfried Sassoon, marking Davies’ second biopic of a poet, immediately following his Emily Dickinson film. Sassoon was known for his epic, satirical poems detailing trench warfare and the horrors of a war in which he fought bravely but spoke out against. He was also a closeted gay man in Britain, where those in power considered his sexual identity a crime.
Lowden tells Cineuropa, “Sassoon had this huge life, and Terence has got it all down.” Davies added, “He knew everybody – in the 20th century, there isn’t a single person you can...
Jack Lowden has been cast as World War I poet Siegfried Sassoon, marking Davies’ second biopic of a poet, immediately following his Emily Dickinson film. Sassoon was known for his epic, satirical poems detailing trench warfare and the horrors of a war in which he fought bravely but spoke out against. He was also a closeted gay man in Britain, where those in power considered his sexual identity a crime.
Lowden tells Cineuropa, “Sassoon had this huge life, and Terence has got it all down.” Davies added, “He knew everybody – in the 20th century, there isn’t a single person you can...
- 1/21/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
UK production outfit Emu Films is producing Davies’ biopic of Siegfried Sassoon, one of the leading British poets of World War I. Jack Lowden will play World War I poet Siegfried Sassoon in Terence Davies’ upcoming biographical film Benediction. Often considered one of Britain’s best living directors, this movie marks Davies’ return to filmmaking following a productive spell where he premiered Sunset Song at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival and A Quiet Passion at the 2016 Berlinale soon after. His second biopic of a leading poet, after A Quiet Passion’s portrayal of Emily Dickinson, Benediction will detail Sassoon’s rise to acclaim for his unsparing, often satirical descriptions of trench warfare. After serving with the Royal Welch Fusiliers, where he was known as “Mad Jack” on account of his suicidal feats of bravery, he spoke out against the war and narrowly escaped being court-martialled. Lowden...
The Lotus and 3 Marys Entertainment production directed by Nicola Abbatangelo will be set in 1920s New York. Shooting on the musical The Land of Dreams, which is already earning a name for itself “the Italian La La Land” and which is directed by Nicola Abbatangelo, the thirty-something Molise filmmaker and author of the award-winning musical short Beauty, is currently underway in Bulgaria. Shot and sung in English, the film boasts an international cast: Belorussian actress Caterina Shulha (currently touring cinemas in Into the Labyrinth), England’s George Blagden, Scottish actor Kevin Guthrie (Sunset Song), Ryan Reid, Nathan Amzi and Italy’s Paolo Calabresi, Marina Rocco, Carla Signoris, Stefano Fresi and Edoardo Pesce (the winner of the Best Supporting Actor David di Donatello award for Dogman). The Land of Dreams is produced by Marco Belardi on behalf of Lotus Production (Leone Film Group), as...
- 10/31/2019
- Cineuropa - The Best of European Cinema
Documentaries often make us look at difficult facts in a way that provokes further conversation, action or interrogation. But then there is “Tell Me Who I Am,” which gradually unmasks a disturbing truth so resolutely and unnervingly that it requires no further dialogue, just recovery for both the audience and its central protagonist.
Drawing from a startling real life story, director Ed Perkins plants audiences inside a film where mounting mystery climaxes to unsettling concern as we watch an amnesiac grapple with the horrifying reality that is his life.
And it all starts with deceit. Through voiceover and in-person interviews, Perkins begins to unravel 55-year-old Alex Lewis’ shadowy past to the point where he can recall it in his own words — at age 18, as he’s waking up from a coma following a tragic motorcycle accident that resulted in him losing his memory. As traumatic as the event was, Alex...
Drawing from a startling real life story, director Ed Perkins plants audiences inside a film where mounting mystery climaxes to unsettling concern as we watch an amnesiac grapple with the horrifying reality that is his life.
And it all starts with deceit. Through voiceover and in-person interviews, Perkins begins to unravel 55-year-old Alex Lewis’ shadowy past to the point where he can recall it in his own words — at age 18, as he’s waking up from a coma following a tragic motorcycle accident that resulted in him losing his memory. As traumatic as the event was, Alex...
- 10/16/2019
- by Candice Frederick
- The Wrap
After his first four films–Crazy Heart, Out of the Furnace, Black Mass, and Hostiles–fell into the prestige drama territory, Scott Cooper is loosening up a bit for his next feature, diving into full-on horror with Antlers. Produced by Guillermo del Toro, Fox Searchlight have now debuted the first trailer ahead of an early 2020 release.
The film follows a small-town Oregon teacher (Keri Russell) and her brother (Jesse Plemons), the local sheriff, who discover that a young student (Jeremy T. Thomas) is harboring a dangerous secret with frightening consequences. Shot by Florian Hoffmeister, cinematographer of Terence Davies’ Sunset Song and The Deep Blue Sea, the trailer has no shortage of compelling imagery.
Also starring Jt Corbitt, Graham Greene, Scott Haze, Rory Cochrane, and Amy Madigan, see the trailer and poster below.
Antlers opens in early 2020.
The film follows a small-town Oregon teacher (Keri Russell) and her brother (Jesse Plemons), the local sheriff, who discover that a young student (Jeremy T. Thomas) is harboring a dangerous secret with frightening consequences. Shot by Florian Hoffmeister, cinematographer of Terence Davies’ Sunset Song and The Deep Blue Sea, the trailer has no shortage of compelling imagery.
Also starring Jt Corbitt, Graham Greene, Scott Haze, Rory Cochrane, and Amy Madigan, see the trailer and poster below.
Antlers opens in early 2020.
- 8/20/2019
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
As a model, Agyness Deyn walked runways for Chanel and graced the cover of British Vogue, but never trained as an actor. You’d never guess, judging by her kinetic performance as swaggering bass player Marielle Hell in Alex Ross Perry’s punk rock epic “Her Smell.” Since officially retiring from modeling in 2012, she learned on the job — not a bad tactic, considering she’s worked with pedigree directors like Terence Davies and the Coen brothers in her relatively short career.
It was on Davies’ “Sunset Song,” in which she plays a farmer’s daughter dealing with abusive men and impending war, that Scottish actor and director Peter Mullan taught her the art of leaving a character’s darkness on the set. While shooting in Luxembourg, she opted to share a car with Mullan every morning, where she wisely picked his brain.
“That was one of my biggest roles that I’ve played,...
It was on Davies’ “Sunset Song,” in which she plays a farmer’s daughter dealing with abusive men and impending war, that Scottish actor and director Peter Mullan taught her the art of leaving a character’s darkness on the set. While shooting in Luxembourg, she opted to share a car with Mullan every morning, where she wisely picked his brain.
“That was one of my biggest roles that I’ve played,...
- 4/17/2019
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
Trailer for 30th Anniversary Theatrical Restoration of Terence Davies’ ‘Distant Voices, Still Lives’
“All great stories have two things in common: they’re simple, they’re not complicated, and they’re filmic. Look at all the great westerns: the story is dead simple, but what is done with it, that’s the magic,” Terence Davies told us during the release of Sunset Song. Indeed, the great English director’s filmography is full of masterful work that gets immediately to the essence of human emotion through its simplicity and sweeping cinematic touch. One of his greatest films has now undergone a 4K restoration for a theatrical release this month.
Released thirty years ago this year, the BFI National Archive has restored Terence Davies’ Distant Voices, Still Lives, which tells the 1940s-set story of a family growing up in Liverpool with shades of the director’s own upbringing. Featuring a commanding performance from Pete Postlethwaite and some of the most gorgeous passages committed to celluloid,...
Released thirty years ago this year, the BFI National Archive has restored Terence Davies’ Distant Voices, Still Lives, which tells the 1940s-set story of a family growing up in Liverpool with shades of the director’s own upbringing. Featuring a commanding performance from Pete Postlethwaite and some of the most gorgeous passages committed to celluloid,...
- 8/12/2018
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
There’s a fair amount of pressure on Debra Granik’s new indie: Every film she’s taken to Sundance has been a winner, starting with her short “Snake Feed” in 1998. In 2004, her celebrated drama “Down to the Bone” brought awards for both her and then-up-and-coming actress Vera Farmiga. And 2010’s “Winter’s Bone” went on to earn four Oscar nominations, including one for Best Picture and another for the film’s little-known lead, Jennifer Lawrence.
So yeah, comparisons will be made. But are they fair? Not really. It would be unlikely for any director to achieve the same sort of commercial triumph twice in a row. But it would also be understandably tempting to try.
So kudos to this subtle and intelligent filmmaker, for avoiding the enticement to lock in awards by hitting easy targets. Even the title is suggestive of Granik’s restrained approach: “Leave No Trace” is gentle and intimate and personal,...
So yeah, comparisons will be made. But are they fair? Not really. It would be unlikely for any director to achieve the same sort of commercial triumph twice in a row. But it would also be understandably tempting to try.
So kudos to this subtle and intelligent filmmaker, for avoiding the enticement to lock in awards by hitting easy targets. Even the title is suggestive of Granik’s restrained approach: “Leave No Trace” is gentle and intimate and personal,...
- 6/28/2018
- by Elizabeth Weitzman
- The Wrap
The BBC and Amazon have offered the first glimpse of John Malkovich as Hercule Poirot in the forthcoming adaptation of The ABC Murders. The two broadcasters have also rounded out the cast with filming now underway.
Shirley Henderson (Harry Potter), Kevin McNally (Pirates Of The Caribbean), Gregor Fisher (Love Actually) and Jack Farthing (Poldark) will join Malkovich, Rupert Grint, Tara Fitzgerald and Andrew Buchan in the Mammoth Screen and Agatha Christie Limited production.
A number of guest stars include Karen Westwood (The Alienist), Lizzy McInnerny (The Crown), Anya Chalotra (Wanderlust), Eve Austin (In The Flesh), Christopher Villiers (Hetty Feather), Suzanne Packer (Keeping Faith), Michael Shaeffer (Rogue One), Cyril Nri (Cucumber), Henry Goodman (Genius: Einstein), Tamzin Griffin (A Fantastic Fear Of Everything), Ian Pirie (Sunset Song), Shane Attwooll (Dark River) and Terenia Edwards (Peter Rabbit).
Malkovich says, “I’m honored to have been asked to play Hercule Poirot. It’s a...
Shirley Henderson (Harry Potter), Kevin McNally (Pirates Of The Caribbean), Gregor Fisher (Love Actually) and Jack Farthing (Poldark) will join Malkovich, Rupert Grint, Tara Fitzgerald and Andrew Buchan in the Mammoth Screen and Agatha Christie Limited production.
A number of guest stars include Karen Westwood (The Alienist), Lizzy McInnerny (The Crown), Anya Chalotra (Wanderlust), Eve Austin (In The Flesh), Christopher Villiers (Hetty Feather), Suzanne Packer (Keeping Faith), Michael Shaeffer (Rogue One), Cyril Nri (Cucumber), Henry Goodman (Genius: Einstein), Tamzin Griffin (A Fantastic Fear Of Everything), Ian Pirie (Sunset Song), Shane Attwooll (Dark River) and Terenia Edwards (Peter Rabbit).
Malkovich says, “I’m honored to have been asked to play Hercule Poirot. It’s a...
- 6/21/2018
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Five episodes were provided prior to broadcast.
Bring yourself back online.
The brainchild of Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy’s cerebral interpretation of Michael Crichton’s 1973 sci-fi western, Westworld became the most-watched first season of an original series in HBO history, earning the network a bevy of accolades, and vindicating the Time Warner division’s $100 million gamble.
In season 1, Arnold’s labyrinth of consciousness provided visitors with an unparalleled look at the inherent humanity of Artificial Intelligence and the dangers of playing god. “The Maze,” or so it is dubbed by those above-the-line, appropriately delivered twists and turns, luring both the guests and hosts on a “voyage of self-discovery.”
At season’s end, Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) shepherded the robot revolt against humanity, killing countless Delos’ executives and the park’s co-creator, Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins), thereby initiating his last narrative. The finale had its pièce de résistance deadened, however,...
Bring yourself back online.
The brainchild of Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy’s cerebral interpretation of Michael Crichton’s 1973 sci-fi western, Westworld became the most-watched first season of an original series in HBO history, earning the network a bevy of accolades, and vindicating the Time Warner division’s $100 million gamble.
In season 1, Arnold’s labyrinth of consciousness provided visitors with an unparalleled look at the inherent humanity of Artificial Intelligence and the dangers of playing god. “The Maze,” or so it is dubbed by those above-the-line, appropriately delivered twists and turns, luring both the guests and hosts on a “voyage of self-discovery.”
At season’s end, Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood) shepherded the robot revolt against humanity, killing countless Delos’ executives and the park’s co-creator, Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins), thereby initiating his last narrative. The finale had its pièce de résistance deadened, however,...
- 4/17/2018
- by Joseph Falcone
- We Got This Covered
Sam Worthington transforms into a superhuman on the rampage in the new trailer from Signature Entertainment for sci-thriller, The Titan.
Lennert Ruff’s sci-fi action thriller explores how conflict and adaptation can impact the human race in irretrievable ways when faced with the direst of situations.
Also in trailers – Ed Helms, Jon Hamm & Jeremy Renner star in first look trailer for Tag
The Titan Poster
The film stars Sam Worthington (Avatar, Terminator Salvation) and Taylor Schilling (Orange is the New Black), Nathalie Emmanuel (Game of Thrones), Agyness Deyn (Sunset Song) and two-time Academy Award® nominee Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton, Snowden).
The Titan is available in cinemas and on Digital HD from 13th April 2018
The Titan Official Synopsis
When Earth’s resources start rapidly depleting, the human race is faced with the threat of swift and inevitable extinction. As the clock ticks down, and options become increasingly limited, space exploration emerges as mankind’s last hope.
Lennert Ruff’s sci-fi action thriller explores how conflict and adaptation can impact the human race in irretrievable ways when faced with the direst of situations.
Also in trailers – Ed Helms, Jon Hamm & Jeremy Renner star in first look trailer for Tag
The Titan Poster
The film stars Sam Worthington (Avatar, Terminator Salvation) and Taylor Schilling (Orange is the New Black), Nathalie Emmanuel (Game of Thrones), Agyness Deyn (Sunset Song) and two-time Academy Award® nominee Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton, Snowden).
The Titan is available in cinemas and on Digital HD from 13th April 2018
The Titan Official Synopsis
When Earth’s resources start rapidly depleting, the human race is faced with the threat of swift and inevitable extinction. As the clock ticks down, and options become increasingly limited, space exploration emerges as mankind’s last hope.
- 3/21/2018
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
A year of uncertainty–to put it lightly–at every waking moment, 2017 won’t be remembered fondly. Offering brief moments of solace, the best cinema of the year included both escapism and a glimpse of humanity that was undetectable when looking at headlines. It was also the rare year that didn’t ramp up in quality in latter months; in fact, only one film in my top 10 actually premiered in the fall, with a trio of others getting theatrical releases during that time.
It hurt to leave off Lady Bird, The Untamed, The Other Side of Hope, Ex Libris – The New York Public Library, and the year’s best blockbuster, Okja, but when all is said and done, here are the 15 films that most resonated with me this year. Along with the below feature, one can see a vague ranking of all ~150 films I’ve viewed here, as well as...
It hurt to leave off Lady Bird, The Untamed, The Other Side of Hope, Ex Libris – The New York Public Library, and the year’s best blockbuster, Okja, but when all is said and done, here are the 15 films that most resonated with me this year. Along with the below feature, one can see a vague ranking of all ~150 films I’ve viewed here, as well as...
- 1/2/2018
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
British detective shows and apocalyptic dramas: two great tastes that taste great together. At least from the looks of “Hard Sun,” the newest series from Hulu and the BBC, that combination might work well in the new year.
Jim Sturgess and Agyness Deyn star as a pair of detectives stuck in a race against the clock, as they’re caught in a prophetic scheme that proves the world will end in five years. It’s the kind of fatalist-adjacent premise you’d expect from Neil Cross, the writer/creator of “Luther,” a show that saw its share of twisted inevitabilities. (Nikki Amuka-Bird, another “Luther” vet, pops up here on screen as well.)
Read More:‘Marvel’s Runaways’ Review: Hulu’s First Foray Into the World of Comics is Ambitious, Complex, and Fun
Deyn last starred in Terence Davies’ “Sunset Song,” while Sturgess is making his TV return after 2016’s AMC series “Feed the Beast.
Jim Sturgess and Agyness Deyn star as a pair of detectives stuck in a race against the clock, as they’re caught in a prophetic scheme that proves the world will end in five years. It’s the kind of fatalist-adjacent premise you’d expect from Neil Cross, the writer/creator of “Luther,” a show that saw its share of twisted inevitabilities. (Nikki Amuka-Bird, another “Luther” vet, pops up here on screen as well.)
Read More:‘Marvel’s Runaways’ Review: Hulu’s First Foray Into the World of Comics is Ambitious, Complex, and Fun
Deyn last starred in Terence Davies’ “Sunset Song,” while Sturgess is making his TV return after 2016’s AMC series “Feed the Beast.
- 12/20/2017
- by Steve Greene
- Indiewire
Hard to believe, but December is nearly upon us, and that means we have a brand new batch of Digital and VOD releases to look forward to over the next few weeks. And for those of you looking to indulge in some non-holiday cinematic delights next month, there seems to be quite a variety of films hitting VOD and other digital platforms to keep you cozy inside your home, away from the brutality of winter and its harsh elements.
December’s releases kick off on the 1st with Somebody’s Darling, and December 5th is one of the busiest days of the month with six different titles making their digital bow: The Gatehouse, The Doll Master, Apocalypse Road, Flashburn, K-shop, and The White King. Then, just a few days later, IFC Midnight is releasing the psychological thriller Kaleidoscope, and on December 12th, both The Cutlass and Flatliners (2017) come home.
IFC Midnight...
December’s releases kick off on the 1st with Somebody’s Darling, and December 5th is one of the busiest days of the month with six different titles making their digital bow: The Gatehouse, The Doll Master, Apocalypse Road, Flashburn, K-shop, and The White King. Then, just a few days later, IFC Midnight is releasing the psychological thriller Kaleidoscope, and on December 12th, both The Cutlass and Flatliners (2017) come home.
IFC Midnight...
- 12/1/2017
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
Cynthia Nixon as Emily Dickinson and Jennifer Ehle as her sister Vinnie, in Terrence Davies’ A Quiet Passion. © A Quiet Passion/Hurricane Films/Courtesy of Music Box Films.
Early in A Quiet Passion, we see the young Emily Dickinson being expelled from a women’s college for her defiant, free-thinking attitude. It is not how we usually see the poet portrayed, and one of the refreshing aspects of director Terence Davies’s insightful, surprising biography.
Those expecting a depressing, claustrophobic slog through the life of Emily Dickinson will be very surprised by A Quiet Passion. Davies presents a witty young Emily, who is irresistibly energetic and frankly laugh-out loud funny. Cynthia Nixon turns in a stellar performance as Dickinson, in this wonderful drama from the acclaimed British director of House Of Mirth and last year’s Sunset Song. If you only know the actress from Sex In The City, this role will be a revelation.
Early in A Quiet Passion, we see the young Emily Dickinson being expelled from a women’s college for her defiant, free-thinking attitude. It is not how we usually see the poet portrayed, and one of the refreshing aspects of director Terence Davies’s insightful, surprising biography.
Those expecting a depressing, claustrophobic slog through the life of Emily Dickinson will be very surprised by A Quiet Passion. Davies presents a witty young Emily, who is irresistibly energetic and frankly laugh-out loud funny. Cynthia Nixon turns in a stellar performance as Dickinson, in this wonderful drama from the acclaimed British director of House Of Mirth and last year’s Sunset Song. If you only know the actress from Sex In The City, this role will be a revelation.
- 5/12/2017
- by Cate Marquis
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
04.27.17: This list is now final. While I may in the future see additional films that were released in the awards year of 2016, no more films will be added to this list. (I may add links to reviews of films listed here.)
This ranking includes only new theatrical releases viewed for the awards year of 2016 (for eligibility for the Academy Awards and the Ofcs and Awfj awards); some films released in the UK without Us releases (and so ineligible for those awards this year) may also be included, for my own bookkeeping purposes. Links go to my review. Numbers after each entry are Date First Viewed/NYC Release Date/London Release Date; year is 2016 unless otherwise noted.
worth paying multiplex prices for
[5 stars]
Arrival (10.10/11.11/11.10)
La La Land (10.07/12.09/01.13.17)
A Monster Calls (10.06/12.23/01.01.17)
The Lobster (07.16.15/05.13/10.16.15)
Zootropolis (aka Zootopia) (02.22/03.04/03.25)
A Bigger Splash (10.08.15/05.04/02.12)
Miss Sloane (11.20/11.25/05.12.17)
London Road (06.03.15/09.09/06.12.15)
The Girl with All the Gifts (07.26/02.24.17/09.23)
I, Daniel Blake...
This ranking includes only new theatrical releases viewed for the awards year of 2016 (for eligibility for the Academy Awards and the Ofcs and Awfj awards); some films released in the UK without Us releases (and so ineligible for those awards this year) may also be included, for my own bookkeeping purposes. Links go to my review. Numbers after each entry are Date First Viewed/NYC Release Date/London Release Date; year is 2016 unless otherwise noted.
worth paying multiplex prices for
[5 stars]
Arrival (10.10/11.11/11.10)
La La Land (10.07/12.09/01.13.17)
A Monster Calls (10.06/12.23/01.01.17)
The Lobster (07.16.15/05.13/10.16.15)
Zootropolis (aka Zootopia) (02.22/03.04/03.25)
A Bigger Splash (10.08.15/05.04/02.12)
Miss Sloane (11.20/11.25/05.12.17)
London Road (06.03.15/09.09/06.12.15)
The Girl with All the Gifts (07.26/02.24.17/09.23)
I, Daniel Blake...
- 4/27/2017
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
As giant apes and mutant loners battle it out at the box office, the multiplex can still spare a screen or two for a love story. Okay, albeit a love story set during a time of violent conflict. Yes, it’s a romance in the trenches, a war-time story of love. But which war (unfortunately we’ve got too many to choose from). World War II was the backdrop for two big flicks last year, Allied and Hacksaw Ridge (mainly in the first half before the near constant carnage). No, this new film goes back a tad further, to that “war to end all wars” World War I. We’ve got to go back a couple of years for that, with 2014’s Testament Of Youth and 2015’s Sunset Song. And while they focused on the great battles on European soil, this new film explores a much warmer climate, in the arid desert lands of Turkey.
- 3/10/2017
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
One of the most striking, accomplished, and affecting films of last year was Terence Davies‘ Sunset Song — and, thankfully, one won’t have to wait long to see his follow-up. After premiering at last year’s Berlin International Film Festival and hitting Tiff, A Quiet Passion is coming to the U.S. this spring, hence a new trailer. The film chronicles the life and work of Emily Dickinson, here played by Cynthia Nixon. Also starring Jennifer Ehle, Keith Carradine, and Emma Bell, we now have a beautiful new U.K. trailer.
In our review, we said, “Nixon excels in this choice role, bringing bags of warmth and spirit to Dickinson while retaining the ability to wield a sharp edge whenever called upon. The actress’ famously open, aghast expressions are used to great effect in Passion‘s more comedic moments, of which there are surprisingly many. As usual, Davies works from his own screenplay,...
In our review, we said, “Nixon excels in this choice role, bringing bags of warmth and spirit to Dickinson while retaining the ability to wield a sharp edge whenever called upon. The actress’ famously open, aghast expressions are used to great effect in Passion‘s more comedic moments, of which there are surprisingly many. As usual, Davies works from his own screenplay,...
- 2/24/2017
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Terence Davies‘ upcoming biopic “A Quiet Passion” has a new UK trailer, bringing viewers a taste of the drama that follows the story of famed American poet Emily Dickinson played by Cynthia Nixon of “Sex and the City” fame.
The drama takes us into the life of Dickinson, with Davies delivering his third straight woman-led drama, following 2011’s “The Deep Blue Sea” and 2015’s “Sunset Song.” Here’s the official synopsis:
The story of 19th century American poet Emily Dickinson is brought to vivid life, in a remarkably sensitive biopic by director Terence Davies, exploring her early days as a young schoolgirl, through to her later years as a recluse.
Continue reading Cynthia Nixon Gets Poetic As Emily Dickinson In New Trailer For Terence Davies’ ‘A Quiet Passion’ at The Playlist.
The drama takes us into the life of Dickinson, with Davies delivering his third straight woman-led drama, following 2011’s “The Deep Blue Sea” and 2015’s “Sunset Song.” Here’s the official synopsis:
The story of 19th century American poet Emily Dickinson is brought to vivid life, in a remarkably sensitive biopic by director Terence Davies, exploring her early days as a young schoolgirl, through to her later years as a recluse.
Continue reading Cynthia Nixon Gets Poetic As Emily Dickinson In New Trailer For Terence Davies’ ‘A Quiet Passion’ at The Playlist.
- 2/23/2017
- by Jay Hunter
- The Playlist
As this year’s awards season comes to an end this weekend, if history has proven anything, it’s that one must not judge a film’s legacy by the amount of trophies or box-office it receives. In fact, it’s often quite the contrary: as the years go on, under-appreciated (or even initially mis-understood) films start to find an audience and are prime for a re-evaluation. A new video essay explores this process, primarily through three paramount examples, and how time is perhaps the only thing that matters.
Coming from Andrew Saladino’s The Royal Ocean Film Society, the five-minute video essay The Story of the Re-Evaluated is a brief overview of this, showing the initial reception of Michael Cimino‘s ambitious flop Heaven’s Gate, Michael Powell‘s dark character study Peeping Tom, and Eric von Stroheim‘s studio-mangled Greed, and how these films have been re-embraced.
In the end,...
Coming from Andrew Saladino’s The Royal Ocean Film Society, the five-minute video essay The Story of the Re-Evaluated is a brief overview of this, showing the initial reception of Michael Cimino‘s ambitious flop Heaven’s Gate, Michael Powell‘s dark character study Peeping Tom, and Eric von Stroheim‘s studio-mangled Greed, and how these films have been re-embraced.
In the end,...
- 2/23/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon plays the great 19th century American poet Emily Dickinson in the new film from British director Terence Davies, of Sunset Song and House of Mirth renown. Dickinson, who lived almost all her life in Amherst, Massachusetts, only published a handful of poems herself; she only became known as a major writer after her death in 1886, when her sister found hundreds of her poems.
•A Quiet Passion is released on 7 April in the UK.
Continue reading...
•A Quiet Passion is released on 7 April in the UK.
Continue reading...
- 2/20/2017
- by Guardian Staff
- The Guardian - Film News
Terence Davies is apparently finding having the “moment” he’s been rightly deserving for almost thirty years.
After having a quiet period from The House of Mirth in 2000 to his underrated documentary Of Time And The City in 2008, Davies has given us three new films in the subsequent nine years, including two that are arriving in theaters damn near one year apart. Sunset Song arrived to grandiose notices (including a rave by your’s truly) in the first half of 2016, and thankfully the director has returned with a film that’s arguably one of his best yet.
Entitled A Quiet Passion Davies jumps from the fictional world created by author Lewis Grassic Gibbon that was Sunset Song and into the real world of legendary scribe Emily Dickinson. Cynthia Nixon stars as the beloved 19th-century poet, as we see her go from teenage religious skeptic to something far less bright eyed and bushy tailed,...
After having a quiet period from The House of Mirth in 2000 to his underrated documentary Of Time And The City in 2008, Davies has given us three new films in the subsequent nine years, including two that are arriving in theaters damn near one year apart. Sunset Song arrived to grandiose notices (including a rave by your’s truly) in the first half of 2016, and thankfully the director has returned with a film that’s arguably one of his best yet.
Entitled A Quiet Passion Davies jumps from the fictional world created by author Lewis Grassic Gibbon that was Sunset Song and into the real world of legendary scribe Emily Dickinson. Cynthia Nixon stars as the beloved 19th-century poet, as we see her go from teenage religious skeptic to something far less bright eyed and bushy tailed,...
- 2/15/2017
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
Terence Davies to Catherine Marchand: "I don't want them to look as though they'd just come from costume." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Terence Davies, the esteemed director of The House Of Mirth; Distant Voices, Still Lives; The Deep Blue Sea; The Long Day Closes, and Sunset Song spoke with me on the costume designs by Catherine Marchand for his latest film A Quiet Passion, starring Cynthia Nixon as Emily Dickinson with Jennifer Ehle as her sister Vinnie. Catherine Bailey, Keith Carradine, Duncan Duff, Joanna Bacon, Benjamin Wainwright, Sara Vertongen, Emma Bell, Jodhi May, and Noémie Schellens head a dandy supporting cast.
Hearing Claire Bloom read Dickinson, kidney disease, and Jean-Pierre Léaud in Albert Serra's The Death Of Louis Xiv come up in the second part of a series on my journey with Terence Davies.
Cynthia Nixon plays the scenes of the attacks beautifully. Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Anne-Katrin Titze: A word about the costumes.
Terence Davies, the esteemed director of The House Of Mirth; Distant Voices, Still Lives; The Deep Blue Sea; The Long Day Closes, and Sunset Song spoke with me on the costume designs by Catherine Marchand for his latest film A Quiet Passion, starring Cynthia Nixon as Emily Dickinson with Jennifer Ehle as her sister Vinnie. Catherine Bailey, Keith Carradine, Duncan Duff, Joanna Bacon, Benjamin Wainwright, Sara Vertongen, Emma Bell, Jodhi May, and Noémie Schellens head a dandy supporting cast.
Hearing Claire Bloom read Dickinson, kidney disease, and Jean-Pierre Léaud in Albert Serra's The Death Of Louis Xiv come up in the second part of a series on my journey with Terence Davies.
Cynthia Nixon plays the scenes of the attacks beautifully. Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Anne-Katrin Titze: A word about the costumes.
- 2/11/2017
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Hulu has boarded Hard Sun, a pre–apocalyptic crime drama from Luther creator Neil Cross, which has cast Jim Sturgess (Cloud Atlas) and Agyness Deyn (Sunset Song) as the leads. The six-episode Hard Sun, originally commissioned by BBC One in December 2015, will now be a Hulu original in association with the BBC. Set in contemporary London, Hard Sun centers on detectives Robert Hicks (Sturgess) and Elaine Renko (Sunset Song), partners and enemies who seek to enforce the law…...
- 1/6/2017
- Deadline TV
If it were only about the numbers, the top specialized movies of 2016 would be a simple story: “Hell Or High Water” earned the most at $27 million, but “La La Land” will wind up making a magnitude more. Both are released by Lionsgate. The end.
However, if 2016 taught us anything it’s that the landscape for specialized releases is incredibly complex. Is Lionsgate a specialty distributor or minimajor? Should we only look at those films that were independently made? (Then we can fight over what that means.) Is it only for films that opened in limited release, then expanded slowly? Should we only consider theatrical releases? Do all documentaries qualify? What about subtitled films?
The top-grossing documentary was “Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party,” released by the faith-and-family label Quality Flix; it took in $13 million, more than triple Michael Moore’s “Where to Invade Next.” The short...
However, if 2016 taught us anything it’s that the landscape for specialized releases is incredibly complex. Is Lionsgate a specialty distributor or minimajor? Should we only look at those films that were independently made? (Then we can fight over what that means.) Is it only for films that opened in limited release, then expanded slowly? Should we only consider theatrical releases? Do all documentaries qualify? What about subtitled films?
The top-grossing documentary was “Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party,” released by the faith-and-family label Quality Flix; it took in $13 million, more than triple Michael Moore’s “Where to Invade Next.” The short...
- 12/23/2016
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Indiewire
It’s always an interesting exercise to arrive at the end of a year and take stock of the films that it produced, to squint for as much perspective as you can and see what the movies might have been saying to us, or to each other. Given the, uh, unique events of the last 12 months (or even just the last four weeks), it might take a little while longer than usual for us to have a clear sense of what the landscape really looked like. Will these films offer us rare insight into turbulent times, or — like much of what was released in theaters just prior to 9/11 — will they seem like relics from a more innocent world?
With that in mind, I thought it might be fun to get a bit more granular than usual, and to highlight individual moments from my 25 favorite films of the year (and, at least for the moment,...
With that in mind, I thought it might be fun to get a bit more granular than usual, and to highlight individual moments from my 25 favorite films of the year (and, at least for the moment,...
- 12/6/2016
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Ddi to launch sales on feature from The Railway Man screen-writer Frank Cottrell Boyce.
Double Dutch International has boarded worldwide sales rights to UK comedy Triple World Score starring Golden Globe winner Bill Nighy (Love Actually).
Carl Hunter’s directorial debut is being produced by Sunset Song and A Quiet Passion duo Sol Papadopoulos and Roy Boulter under their Hurricane Films banners along with Sarada McDermott.
Andrea Gibson and Mary McLeod from Gibson & MacLeod serve as executive producers.
The original screenplay, which comes from The Railway Man and Millions screen-writer Frank Cottrell Boyce, follows Alan (Nighy), a tailor who closes up shop to move in with his surly son Peter and grandson Jack. There is distance between Alan and Peter as he blames his father for the disappearance of his brother Michael.
Meanwhile, Alan and Jack begin to bond over their favourite game. Conflict builds to a tipping point when Alan is convinced that an online...
Double Dutch International has boarded worldwide sales rights to UK comedy Triple World Score starring Golden Globe winner Bill Nighy (Love Actually).
Carl Hunter’s directorial debut is being produced by Sunset Song and A Quiet Passion duo Sol Papadopoulos and Roy Boulter under their Hurricane Films banners along with Sarada McDermott.
Andrea Gibson and Mary McLeod from Gibson & MacLeod serve as executive producers.
The original screenplay, which comes from The Railway Man and Millions screen-writer Frank Cottrell Boyce, follows Alan (Nighy), a tailor who closes up shop to move in with his surly son Peter and grandson Jack. There is distance between Alan and Peter as he blames his father for the disappearance of his brother Michael.
Meanwhile, Alan and Jack begin to bond over their favourite game. Conflict builds to a tipping point when Alan is convinced that an online...
- 11/1/2016
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
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