We’ve been keeping you up to speed on all of the foreign language film submissions, so the official AMPAS press release is something of an afterthought at this point. But here’s the news from Wilshire Blvd.
We have 66 films on our list, including Mongolia’s “By the Will of Genghis Khan.” I’m not sure why it’s not on the release but perhaps something happened under our radar.
I sat down this morning to watch Lance Bangs and Spike Jonze’s “Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak,” which originally aired on HBO last night, expecting little more than a swift, arbitrary look at the author and perhaps a nice companion piece to Jonze’s adaptation of “Where the Wild Things Are.” Boy was I in for a surprise.
The film (which is on Oscar’s short list for documentary shorts) is instantly one of the 2009’s great joys, a compelling, insightful study from the perspective of the genuine article. And Sendak is indeed the genuine article, a directly honest man who has transformed his take on the world into profound art for most of his 81 years. And at that healthy old age, he seems equally awed by, and bored with, the realities of the world.
Filming began in 2003 at Sendak’s home in Connecticut. The seasons zip back and forth, spring sunshine to winter snowdrift, as Bangs and Jonze piece together the meat of Jonze’s conversations with the author. The title stems from Sendak’s opinion that there should be no demarcation when it comes to age. “I don’t believe in childhood,” he says. “Like, ‘You mustn’t tell them that,’ ‘You mustn’t tell them that.’ You tell them anything you want…If it’s true, you tell them.”
Perhaps the most predictable news of the season comes today by way of Anne Thompson at indieWIRE. She reports that Terrence Malick’s heavily anticipated film “The Tree of Life” will not be ready for release this year:
Apparition had tentatively scheduled a December 25 release for River Road’s 50s period film, which stars Sean Penn and Brad Pitt. But Apparition chief Bob Berney says that a year-end opening was “wishful. It’s definitely not going to come out this year.” That’s because it won’t be finished in time. Berney still hasn’t seen the film.
And…onward…
• Pete Hammond digs into the truth about “Amelia” and potential new found hope in a recent re-edit. [Notes on a Season]
• The Rome film fest gets with it, structures a “women in contemporary cinema” theme around this year’s festivities. [The Independent]
• Variety’s Peter Debruge has a bit of mash-up fun with the “Antichrist” and “Fantastic Mr. Fox” trailers. [YouTube]
We’ve seen a lot of posters for “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” highlighting its starry male cast, and they’ve mostly left me cold. So is it a coincidence that this new design — which places relative newcomer Lily Cole in the spotlight — is the one that finally does it for me? Or am I just being a man about this?
You may remember that back in March I raved about “Red Riding,” the British TV adaptation of David Peace’s quartet of Yorkshire-set crime novels that IFC will soon be distributing theatrically in the U.S.
Specifically, I flipped for the first installment of the three-film series, Julian Jarrold’s “1974” — an exquisitely textured mood piece, with vivid turns from Andrew Garfield and Rebecca Hall, that remains one of the best films I’ve seen this year on any size screen.
Six months later, Americans got to see what British critics had been gushing about since the spring (David Thomson overexcitedly stated that the films excelled “The Godfather” in the pantheon of crime cinema), as “Red Riding” played to a very warm reception in Telluride. (Even if Kris wasn’t entirely won over.)
Now the buzz continues with the announcement that Columbia has acquired remake rights to the project, with director Ridley Scott and screenwriter Steven Zaillian in line to compress Peace’s mammoth narrative into a single feature film. (As a feat of adaptation, expect comparisons to what Curtis Hanson and Brian Helegeland took on James Ellroy’s L.A. Quartet.) Scott will also produce via his Scott Free production company.
Thanks to regular reader Jonathan for alerting us yesterday to the news that the Dutch have backtracked on their Best Foreign Language Film award, after their first selection, “The Silent Army,” was disqualified by the Academy. Martin Koolhoven’s well-regarded Second World War drama “Winter in Wartime” will compete in its place.
“The Silent Army” was an unpopular selection in the first place, having been extensively recut after an initial critical mauling, and prompting complaints from Dutch industry insiders that it had too much English dialogue to qualify. In the end, however, it was the former rather than the latter issue that led to its disqualification — the initial cut of “Army” was released in 2008, and Academy rules forbid new edits of previous years’ releases from competing.
AFI Fest is right around the corner here in Los Angeles. Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox” has already been announced as the opening night gala. Today’s release reveals that Tom Ford’s “A Single Man” will close out the fest.
Additionally, tributes have been announced for Viggo Mortensen (his second festival tribute of the season, FYI) and Christopher Plummer (shrewd move by Sony Classics to get that). Terry Gilliam’s “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” will be the centerpiece gala.
The film schedule has been revealed, which is the usual blend of other festival titles that have played elsewhere throughout the year, but one key screening for me is a 50th anniversary celebration of Alfred Hitchcock’s “North by Northwest.” William Friedkin will be moderating a Q&A with the film’s stars, Eva Marie Saint and Martin Landau. That’s a priority.
The stop-motioned animated “A Town Called Panic” is on the docket, a film we told you last week won’t be qualified for this year’s animated feature film Oscar race. Devin Faraci at CHUD recently flipped for the film.
“City of Life and Death,” “Fish Tank,” “The Hole,” “Mother,” “Looking for Eric,” “Vincere,” and “Youth in Revolt” will be my catch-up titles, stuff I’ve missed along the way. Other selections include “Precious,” “The Road” and “The Last Station.”
Read the full press release after the jump…
The two posters released for Lee Daniels’s “Precious” so far have been, most seem to agree, top tier stuff. Beautiful artistic renderings of the film’s themes and atmosphere. Here is the teaser one-sheet and then the follow-up.
But Lionsgate would be savvy to throw down some bones for this iPhone doodle Nathaniel Rogers put together while waiting on a screening of the film last night and, I don’t know, find a place for it in the marketing. It’s gorgeous. Just saying. Nat says he was nervous going in because being a blog straggler on a flick that has been praised to the high heavens can be weirdly stressful. Thankfully, it seems the film withstood the hype for him.
By the way — what the heck app is this?
We’re slowly rounding out the list of honorees at this year’s Hollywood Film Festival, a slate of “winners” that I’d be inclined to call the result of, well, hard-working publicists getting the word out on their clients rather than honest-to-God consideration of artistic merit, but hey, tis the season.
Today, Hilary Swank has been announced as the recipient of the Hollywood Actress Award for her work in the upcoming (and, nine days before released, still unscreened outside of a handful of people) “Amelia.” She joins Robert De Niro and Julianne Moore in the major acting awards camp. We’re still waiting on the announcement of the Hollywood Supporting Actor Award.
The gala ceremony will take place October 26 in Beverly Hills. Also right around the corner is the Gotham Awards. We’re wading out into it now. Check out the full list of presently announced Hollywood Film Fest winners after the jump.
• Dave Karger, in a slow news week, digs up the old “‘Hangover’ for Best Pic” notion. No. [Oscar Watch]
• Jeff Wells face-to-face with “Fantastic Mr. Fox” director Wes Anderson. [Hollywood Elsewhere]
• Susan King talks to editing legend Anne V. Coates, whose career was showcased at the Academy last night. [Los Angeles Times]
I’m already on the record as thinking “Broken Embraces” is distinctly minor Almodóvar, but I’ll be damned if this sleek new trailer (available on Apple here) doesn’t foreground all its most beguiling features in one lovely package. If the film only had as much to say as it does to show, we’d have something truly special here.
(Apologies for the “Fantastic Mr. Fox” review that appeared prematurely here as a result of embargo confusion. It will be reposted later today.)
There may have been silence on my end these past few days, but I assure you it hasn’t been for lack of activity. The days leading up to the London Film Festival — which officially kicks off tonight with the world premiere of Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox” — have been crammed with press screenings and assorted admin duties.
Yesterday, meanwhile, was given over to the film’s extraordinarily elaborate, and most enjoyable, press junket, staged across a range of picturesque locations in Roald Dahl’s home village of Great Missenden, an hour’s train ride from London. (More on that later.) Fox has spared no effort or expense in the launch for this unusual film, which culminates tonight with the LFF Opening Gala party at the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea.
…it’s because it is. Consider this an open thread. Thoughts on “Zombieland?” “A Serious Man?” “An Education?” My favorites in theaters right now.
(And yes, a post was removed. Sorry for breaking up the conversation it had kicked up.)
