In Contention

Category: Daily

  • Campion: women directors need more armor

    Jane CampionThat Jane Campion is one of three female auteurs competing for the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year is seen as a relative step up for the fairer sex compared to years past, though by any logical standards, a 3-to-17 ratio is still an indication of a globally male-biased industry.

    Campion, however, has an interesting take on the matter: though she blames studio sexism to an extent, though she thinks women themselves have some responsibility for the situation. Noting that the imbalance begins as early as the film school stage, she wondered at a Cannes press conference whether her female peers are more easily deterred by criticism:

    I would love to see more women directors because they represent half of the population and gave birth to the whole world … Without them the rest are not getting to know the whole story. I think women don’t grow up with the kind of criticism that men grow up with. We are more sensitively treated. It is quite harsh when you first experience the world of film-making — you have to have a tough skin. My suspicion is that women are not used to that. We must put on our coats of armour and get going because we need them [female directors].

    I’m neither agreeing nor disagreeing, but from a successful auteur who has endured her share of criticism in past years, it’s an interesting perspective. Thankfully, considering the wealth of high-profile female-directed projects in the wings this year — from “Bright Star” to “The Hurt Locker” to “An Education” — things may be looking up.

    Meanwhile, strong reviews for Campion’s film continue to pour in; Todd McCarthy calls it an “impressive return” for Jane Campion, and amps up the buzz for star Abbie Cornish. U.S. distribution rights were snapped up a few days ago by ex-Picturehouse chief Bob Berney and Bill Pohlad’s new outfit.

  • ‘Red Cliff’ finally making its way Stateside

    Tony Leung in Red CliffI’ve been wondering what became of “Red Cliff,” John Woo’s lavish historical epic set third century Han Dynasty China. The big-budget project broke Chinese box-office records and was tipped to be a crossover foreign-language hit last year, but never surfaced in the West.

    Now news comes from Cannes that U.S. rights to the film have finally been acquired by Magnet Releasing, the genre division of Magnolia Pictures. Magnet are planning a fall release for the visually spectacular Tony Leung starrer, which was shown in two parts in Asia, but will be presented in a combined cut Stateside:

    “Colossal in every regard, Red Cliff is undoubtedly one of the most exciting films to come out of China in a long time,” Magnet’s senior vice-president Tom Quinn said. “John Woo has delivered a provocative, jaw-dropping, andmoving epic. Mainstream audiences and die hard Woo fans alike are in for a big treat.”

  • The Brits get it

    Samantha Morton in Synecdoche, New YorkOf course, the film is very old news to all of you Stateside, but allow me a moment to say how proud I am that my fellow Englishmen — well, the critics among them, at least — have embraced Charlie Kaufman’s stunning “Synecdoche, New York” with open arms.

    The film opens today in the UK to a raft of rave reviews from the local broadsheets, including rare five-star notices from the Guardian and the Telegraph. Here’s a sample of Peter Bradshaw’s awestruck review:

    The film is either a masterpiece or a massively dysfunctional act of self-indulgence and self-laceration. It has brilliance, either way: surreal, utterly distinctive, witty, gloomy in the manner that his fans will recognise and adore, but with a new epic confidence, absorbing the influences of Fellini and Lynch … At the end of it all, you will feel as if you have lived through some crazy tragedy, swum a chlorinated Hellespont of tears. It is not for everyone, but is utterly extraordinary in its way. If Charlie Kaufman never does anything again, this will stand as his cracked monument.

    I always suspected that the film would probably play better across the pond than in the States — though to be fair, it’s not as if the film doesn’t have it share of American devotees. But I’m so pleased to see a clearer consensus emerging on the film this time around — perhaps if there had been similar unanimity of praise on its U.S. release, the film wouldn’t have got quite so buried in awards season. (I’m not deluding myself into thinking the film could have been a major player, but the fact that there was nothing for, say, Samantha Morton all season still really smarts.)

    Anyway, the rehabilitation begins here. Hurrah.

  • 5/15 Web Round-up

    (from left) Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. in The Soloist• In the wake of the new “Nine” trailer, Ryan Adams takes a look at the story’s awards ancestry. [Awards Daily]

    • Helen O’Hara on the trouble with romantic comedies and how to fix them.  Screw it, I kind of want to see “The Proposal.” [Empire]

    • Andrew O’Hehir on why the original “Star Trek” series still matters. [Beyond the Multiplex]

    • Linda Milazzo takes a mean-spirited cheap shot at “The Soloist.” [The Huffington Post]

    • Lauren Wissot talks to “Girlfriend Experience” star Sasha Grey. [Spout Blog]

    • George Johnson wonders why a 200-year-old conspiracy theory still haunts the Vatican. [Slate]

    • David Thomson remembers the great James Mason, who would have been 100 today. [The Guardian]

    • Nat Rogers: “Nine reasons I must see ‘Nine’ NOW.” [The Film Experience]

    • Gill Pringle chats with Dustin Hoffman about acting in love stories. [The Independent]

  • Whirlwind weekend

    It’s times like this I’m so thankful for our contributors here at In Contention.  You may have noticed a somewhat thin post count and commentary on my part the last couple of days.  Chalk it up to family being in town and a little ceremony I’ll be attending later this morning.  Yes, I’m finally picking up that Masters degree I’ve been striving for the last two years.  Luckily, Cannes news has been coming fast and furious and Guy has been Johnny on the spot, so my shortcomings have (hopefully) gone unnoticed, but I thought I’d offer up something akin to an excuse.  And yes, you got me: I figured I’d toot my own horn.  It’s never too early in the morning to be full of yourself.

    Anyway, a few more posts this morning (including a review of “Up” if I can get around to it) and I’m outta here for the rest of the day (and likely, the weekend).  Pretty stoked for our commencement speaker.  Enjoy the Cannes smorgasbord.

  • ‘Bright Star’ twinkles at Cannes

    Ben Whishaw and Abbie Cornish in Bright StarDoes the comeback begin here? This morning gave critics their first look at Jane Campion’s Keats biopic “Bright Star” — the director’s first feature in six years, and her first foray into period drama since “The Portrait of a Lady” — and early reactions indicate a genuine return to form.

    The New York Times claims there were “few dry eyes” at the press screening of the tragic romance, while Screen International’s Allan Hunter goes so far as to suggest the film “match(es) the haunting intensity” of “The Piano,” which of course landed Campion the Palme d’Or 16 years ago. Like that masterpiece, he thinks this film could also be awards-bound, not least for the lead performances of Abbie Cornish and Ben Whishaw:

    Beautifully crafted in every department from the composure of the camerawork to the precision of the costume and production design, Bright Star is a film to savour. Campion ensures that its pictorial appeal is matched by an emotional engagement thanks to a universally fine cast.

    (Cornish) captures all the youthful impetuosity of the English Fanny and portrays her as a young woman trying to maintain control of a life torn apart by all the fresh emotions and new sensations that she is experiencing. It is a performance that should win her awards season consideration and emphatically underlines why she is one of the most highly regarded performers of her generation. Great expectations now also attend the performances of Ben Whishaw and he is equally impressive as John Keats, making the poet an entirely human figure.

    I couldn’t be more pleased to hear that Campion is back in some critics’ good books, and I can’t say how excited I am at the possibility of Cornish finally cashing in on her “next big thing” buzz; the Australian blew me away in “Somersault” four years ago, but has never found a vehicle of that standard since. Here’s hoping.

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  • Spacey offers his services

    AwardsDaily has passed on some talk that Kevin Spacey has his eye on hosting next year’s Academy Awards, suggesting starting a Twitter campaign to make it happen.

    He’s obviously being flippant, but it strikes me as a damn fine idea. Of course, Spacey’s not the first person to suggest he might be the man for the job. I give you the words of one Mr. Kristopher Tapley:

    Think about it.  The guy knows how to put together a production.  He knows how to carry the heavy weight of an undertaking like the Oscars.  His work managing the Old Vic in London should attest to that.  But what’s more, he’s the right mixture of jazz hands and well-postured presentation that an Oscar host needs to be. That’s my pick anyway.

  • IFC gets rights to UK sensation ‘Red Riding’

    Andrew Garfield in Red Riding: 1974Here’s some fantastic news. You may remember that, a couple of months ago, I totally flipped for “Red Riding,” a trilogy of British TV movies deftly adapted from David Peace’s quartet of crime novels about the Yorkshire Ripper murders of the 70s and early 80s.

    Actually, to be specific, I went crazy for the first film in the trilogy, Julian Jarrold’s “1974,” a haunting, exquisitely realized mood piece with a sterling cast led by rising Brit stars Andrew Garfield and Rebecca Hall — the latter’s sad, sensual performance even topping her breakthrough work in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.” The next two films, helmed by Oscar-winner James Marsh and Anand Tucker respectively, were strong pieces of work too, but it’s Jarrold’s film that I can’t shake from my system.

    Anyway, I said at the time that the film belonged on a bigger screen, and I’ve got my wish. Fresh from their acquisition of another outstanding Brit TV effort, Oliver Hirschbiegel’s Sundance winner “Five Minutes of Heaven,” IFC has picked up the U.S. rights to the entire trilogy:

    IFC plans to release The Red Riding Trilogy this autumn in theatres and on demand through its IFC In Theaters platform following a festival circuit run.

    IFC Entertainment president Jonathan Sehring called The Red Riding “an absolutely thrilling work of cinema and one of the great true crime adaptations of recent times.

    So justice is done. You’ll see what I mean in the fall. A brief taster after the cut.

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  • Scorsese saves ‘Red Shoes’

    The Red ShoesI’m willing to lay a substantial bet that there won’t be a better film screened at this year’s Cannes festival that the brand-new restoration of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s 1948 ballet-drama-cum-fairytale “The Red Shoes.” Easily one of the most exquisitely designed works ever put to celluloid, and a jewel in the crown of the great (and recently departed) DP Jack Cardiff’s career, it’s a film I’ve loved since childhood that never fails to show me something new upon each visit.

    The fully restored print will be introduced tomorrow on the Croisette by Martin Scorsese, who arranged and funded the restoration with his longtime editor (and, of course, Powell’s widow) Thelma Schoonmaker. Anyone familiar with Scorsese’s career likely knows the deep affinity the director has for Powell and Pressburger’s work, and there’s a nice piece in today’s Guardian in which he discusses the influence the British team had on his own creative development, as well as his personal friendship with Powell himself:

    I had to explain to him that his work was a great source of inspiration for a whole new generation of film-makers – myself, Spielberg, Paul Schrader, Coppola, De Palma. We would talk about his films in Los Angeles often. They were a lifeblood to us, at a time when the films were not necessarily immediately available. He had no idea this was all happening.

    Apparently, Scorsese and Schoonmaker plan to restore more works in the Powell/Pressburger canon down the line. Bless them. For my part, I’ll be seeing the restoration at next month’s Edinburgh Film Festival. There’s something to look forward to.

  • Mixed critical response for ‘Tetro’

    Alden Ehrenreich in TetroFollowing its Cannes premiere, Francis Ford Coppola’s “Tetro” has been greeted with something of a collective shrug by the critical community. Most of the reviews appear to follow the lead of Todd McCarthy’s mixed Variety take, in which he praised the cinematography and the performance of relative newcomer Alden Ehrenreich, but largely dismissed it as “a work of modest ambition and appeal … the pale product of an over-tilled field.”

    Screen International’s Lee Marshall is slightly more enthusiastic, crediting the cast with saving “all but the most cringeworthy lines,” and declaring — not entirely in a negative way — that the film has the “melodramatic sweep and overwrought tone of an opera libretto.” indieWIRE’s Eric Kohn also sits squarely in the middle, suggesting the film has the look and feel of a promising debut effort, but is only “mildly interesting” from a director of Coppola’s stature.

    Only Kirk Honeycutt at the Hollywood Reporter sounds really enthused about the film, despite some reservations:

    As a critic, it feels good to write positively about one of the American cinema’s lost directors… “Tetro” erases that memory (of “Youth Without Youth”). It has style to burn, eye-catching acting by an international cast and a story that harkens back to many literary classic with its themes of a family torn apart, brothers in conflict and a son’s rivalry with a towering father figure.

    The film is more than a little self-conscious …Yet somehow the piece comes off as derivative but also original. While living and working in Argentina to make this film, he absorbed enough local color to imagine a fresh, authentic tale of stymied creativity — a subject he certainly would be familiar with — and familial conflict.

    Probably not the comeback that some people were hoping for. But then, some people will consistently hope for the impossible.

  • ‘The Road’ gets a trailer

    Spooky. The minute I post my delayed Page to Screen discussion of the “The Road,” the film’s trailer finally pops up online. I’m going to try this tactic again in the future. Anyway, here it is.

    As that first Esquire review warned us the other day, the marketers appear to have made the curious decision to sell this as a propulsive action piece. I’m not sure who they imagine will fall for that angle, but don’t panic just yet.

  • The ‘Up’ crew Tweets from The Croisette

    Guy is handling all of the Cannes updating splendidly, so I’ll just impede on his turf this once.  I don’t know if readers have kept up with or even been privy to the consistent Twitter updates coming from “Up” co-director Pete Docter in Cannes, but it’s a nice way to feel like you’re right there with the crew.  Things are kind of slow right now — lots of talk about interviews and the like.  But the photos from the big opening night after party were ace.

    Here’s a shot of the full spread — credited to Getty Images — with two more (one of the tents made up like the home of the film’s main character and a cool/bizarre candid of Pixar honcho John Lasseter) after the jump.  As always, you can keep up with In Contention and my general day-to-day silliness here.

    Up party at the 62nd International Cannes Film Festival

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  • ‘A Christmas Carol’ poster

    I was a big fan of Robert Zemeckis’s “The Polar Express” in 2004, but “2007’s “Beowulf” didn’t work for me very much.  I had some major issues with the way 3D was used in the film.  But I’ve been very excited for “A Christmas Carol” ever since the project was announced.

    I’ve stood on the sidelines and watched Jim Carrey’s career spiral out of control in the wake of his career-best performance in “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”  2005’s “Fun with Dick and Jane” and last year’s “Yes Man” are just incredibly impotent comedies that didn”t give Carrey, a bona fide star, the chance to shine.  “The Number 23,” meanwhile — well, just don’t get me started on that unfortunate project.  It’s all very sad.  Maybe this film will light up his career once again.

    The poster for “A Cristmas Carol” has finally hit, and I expect it to be the first of many (since Carrey will be taking on four characters in the film — great opportunity for marketing).  Take a look:

    A Christmas Carol

  • 5/14 Web Round-up

    (from left) Adrian Brody and Mark Ruffalo in The Brothers Bloom• A little news from my homeland: Michael Cieply reports on Durham, North Carolina finally getting its Hollywood day in the sun. [The Carpetbagger]

    • Revisiting Stephen Frears’s “The Queen” on the basis of entertainment and history. [The Guardian]

    • Rachel Abramowitz profiles new “Angels & Demons” starlet Ayelet Zurer. [Los Angeles Times]

    • Director Frank Darabont’s 223 favorite movies. [Empire]

    • Kim Voynar wonders where the muscle-bound estrogen is at the multiplexes this summer. [Movie City News]

    • Brooks Barnes reports on “Kung Fu Panda”‘s transition from animated film to Nickelodeon TV series. [New York Times]

    • Maria Puente on the many visions of Salvador Dali on film. [USA Today]

    • The home of “Slumdog Millionaire” star Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail has been demolished. [Wall Street Journal]

    • In honor of the “unbearable start” of “The Brothers Bloom,” Christopher Campbell writes up a list of 10 films ruined by voice-over narration. [Spout Blog]

  • Teenage star of ‘Fish Tank’ wows Cannes

    Katie Jarvis in Fish TankOnly two films in so far, but it seems we have a formidable contender for the festival’s top honors in the shape of Andrea Arnold’s “Fish Tank.” The film has just screened for the press, and Arnold — who won the bronze-medal Jury Prize in 2006 with her debut feature “Red Road” — has evidently built on that success, but it seems the real revelation is the film’s 17 year-old star, Katie Jarvis.

    A non-professional making her screen debut, Jarvis is unable to attend the festival, having just given birth to her first child in her Essex hometown. But even in her absence, the young lady is generating enough to buzz to plant her as a strong contender for the Best Actress  award. IndieWire’s Eugene Hernandez calls her “the first major acting discovery” of the festival, while Screen International’s Allan Hunter gushes:

    Following in the wake of Kate Dickie’s extraordinary performance in Red Road, newcomer Katie Jarvis is every bit as impressive as Mia, finding the vulnerability of the teenager without recourse to sentimentality or surrendering any of her anger or sarcasm. It is a performance that should win her a lot of attention and add profile to a film that will have to fight for its audience.

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  • Gilliam wants “another award for Heath”

    Heath Ledger in The Imaginarium of Doctor ParnassusIt may not be in the Competition lineup, but Terry Gilliam’s “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” is surely one of the most eagerly — and curiously — awaited films of the Cannes festival. The bulk of the interest, of course, rests on the unfinished final screen performance of Heath Ledger, and how (or, indeed, if) Gilliam’s audacious strategy of completing the late thesp’s characterisation with contributions from three other actors will work.

    All will be revealed when the film makes its Cannes debut next Friday, but for now, Gilliam talks up “Parnassus” in an interesting interview with the Times of London — and the famously bolshy director minces no words when it comes to his awards hopes from the film:

    The planned release date for Doctor Parnassus is in the autumn. “We want to be in that last third for the Academy Awards! Maybe we’ll get another award for Heath. We’re going to get as many awards as possible for him, long after he’s gone.”

    Meanwhile, he’s confident that Jude Law, Johnny Depp and Colin Farrell’s continuation of Ledger’s role is a success, both in terms of artistry and commercial viability:

    We were lucky because we have a magic mirror in this movie. Not every movie has a magic mirror. So you can very genuinely say that these other actors are different aspects of the character that Heath plays. And it works. The point was, we’ve got to keep going. It was a bit like half being there, but apparently on autopilot I can still do a few things … It’s a hard thing to do, walk into a character and take over. But they did it.

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  • Can’t win ’em all

    UpSo as is the norm with Pixar productions, “Up” is apparently capturing the heart of virtually every critic it encounters. Jeff Wells offered a few mild caveats, but he was largely won over as well. So I was interested to read Kaleem Aftad’s three-star review in the Independent, which offers the first hard-and-fast criticism of the film I’ve seen to date:

    Watching with tinted glasses cannot hide the deficiencies of this adventure. It is increasingly apparent that Pixar is a company that operates best when dealing with nostalgia. Like the outfit’s previous film, WALL-E, Up is superb in setting up characters and a world that hankers over memories of yesteryear, but once the adventure moves into its obligatory action denouement, it enters a world of stereotypes that disappoints.

    Indeed, action sequences have been Pixar’s Achilles’ heel, with overly long and tedious effects letting down Cars and The Incredibles. In Up, the blockbuster moments that should be of Around the World in 80 Days proportions are instead surprisingly uninventive.

    Apart from the kooky animals (nowhere near as endearing as The Jungle Book ones), the destination is a boring land of plateaus and uninspiring forests. Muntz pops up as a Wizard of Oz-inspired villain. The nostalgic past is replaced by a horrible sentimental present that lacks emotional punch.

    Not having seen the film, I have no idea how valid these jabs are, but it’s useful to get some perspective. Interestingly, unlike several critics who are signficantly more enthusiastic about the film, Aftad has no problem whatsoever with the film’s 3-D element, justifying it on the grounds that it emphasises “optical reality rather than just an eye-popping spectacle.”

    In contrast, the Guardian’s Xan Brooks, who loves the film, sides with Roger Ebert, complaining: “It’s a film that was always going to come in three dimensions, no matter what digital wizardry they garnished it with.”

  • ‘Nine’ trailer

    Well, it looks every bit as glossy and gaudy as you might have expected (even more so in Apple HD), though it’s a tease, really: there’s little sense of the movie beneath the flash and sizzle. The only player amid the impressive ensemble that is even vaguely showcased is Judi Dench, but if her entire performance is in the amusing, imperiously tart register of that first speech, I sense a seventh nomination in the works. Otherwise, there’s not much here to go on, but enjoy the show: