This year’s 12th edition of the Scary Movies festival at Film at Lincoln Center premiered Ari Aster’s extended version of “Midsommar” this past Saturday.
Un Certain Regard Award: Karim Ainouz, “The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao”
Jury Prize: Oliver Laxe, “The Fire Will Come”
Best Director: Kantemir Balagov, “Beanpole”
Best Performance: Chiara Mastroianni, “On a Magical Night”
Un Certain Regard Heart Prize: Michael Angelo Covino, “The Climb” & Monia Chokri, “A Brother’s Love”
Special Jury Prize: Albert Serra, “Liberte”
Special Jury Mention: Bruno Dumont, “Joan of Arc”
A 76-year-old Harrison Ford is supposed to play Indiana Jones in a fifth installment due to be released in 2021. He will 78 by that time. Steven Spielberg is set to direct, right after he completes production of his “West Side Story” remake.
Read moreLuca Guadagnino has many short films under his belt. However, this year’s “The Staggering Girl,” which just premiere at Cannes, broke his croissette cherry: “I’m a Venice man,” he tells IndieWire’s Anne Thompson. “I am a nouvelle vague person, this is my first time. I felt at home. Maybe this is the beginning of a new phase for me.”
Read moreAbdellatif Kechiche‘s “Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo” is a 212-minute cinematic revolution. It means to destroy our notion of what a movie should be in 2019, and the fact that the film was included in Cannes competition is a message in itself from Thierry Fremaux and the gang.
Read moreA film like “Booksmart” lives and dies by its two central performances. Beannie Feldstein (Lady Bird) and Kaitlyn Dever (Short Term 12), respectively, play Molly and Amy, two upcoming high school graduates that have built up their own hermit-like worldview together. It’s not like they are anything like the central character in Bo Burnham’s “Eighth Grade” who had to fend her miserable experience all by herself, no, Molly and Amy are two peas in a pod, they are the kind of inseperable friends that complete each other’s sentences and are content with hanging out in their rooms instead of going out and socializing with the rest of their classroom. And yet, they do have a rapport with the rest of their classmates, it’s very apparent in the classroom sequences where the cliches that may have once been apparent in John Hughes and teen movies from the ‘90s completely evaporate. There is no bully, there is no jock, there is no cool kid, the stereotypes are not there and that is incredibly refreshing to witness.
Read moreDaniel Craig’s ankle has, most probably, not been given enough rest time, at least based on my decent knowledge of how these things work. The Bond producers are claiming that it will just be two weeks before Craig is back on the set of Bond 25. As we all know, a Bond movie these days requires a lot of Bourne-esque activity, a 51-year-old Craig recovering from this injury and running/jumping/diving etc. in such a limited recovery time-frame is unusual, but I’m all eyes and ears. Maybe they’ll pump his ankle with some tranquilizers or maybe they’ll just freeze it, who knows.
Read moreMore to come …
Arnaud Desplechin‘s “Oh, Mercy!” (aka Roubaix, une lumiere) was an unexceptional police procedural — a pilot episode for “C.S.I Roubaix” as many critics have called it. A real shame since I absolutely love Desplechin. Then again, his last two films, also counting “Ismail’s Ghosts” have been absolute failures. At some point I really wasn’t sure if this was a serious statement from Desplechin or if he was actually pulling an all-time of a joke on us.
This is my final day of screenings today, unless I decide to go ahead and watch an 8:30am of Justine Triet’s “Sibyl” tomorrow. On tap are two films with the highest of potential. Abdelatif Kechiche’s “Mektoub: Intermezzo” which is said to be a near four-hour film taking place in dance clubs, which is supposed to have a 25 minute cunnilingus scene and Marco Bellocchio’s “The Traitor,” a Godfather-style Italian epic. Some feel-good cinema ahead in the next 24 hours.
The last 12 days at Cannes have left me missing a few notable press screenings, most importantly, at least for commercial reasons, would be Guy Ritchie’s “Aladdin,” which is not being treated very kindly by critics. However, the biggest surprise for me with these reviews is how most critics actually don’t mind Will Smith’s Genie and that the bigger problems lie elsewhere in Ritchie’s live-action remake. Regardless, the early score for Aladdin is at 58% and this seems to be another Will Smith bomb. How many more chances is this guy going to be given?
Read more30-year-old Xavier Dolan, returns to his native Quebec for “Matthias & Maxime.”
Read morePeople are underestimating the potential of Tim Miller’s upcoming Terminator movie, a sort of back-to-the-basics approach by producer James Cameron and Miller to bring the franchise back to its glory days (the first two films). Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton are back. What more do you need? Also, don’t, for a second, think Cameron is the mastermind behind the whole film; Yes, Miller is credited as director but you very much need to see this film as a directorial duet. Cameron and Miller are the co-directors.
Read moreAs per Variety:
“Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Kenneth Branagh will appear in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming film, “Tenet.”
“Clémence Poésy, Dimple Kapadia, Michael Caine are also joining the cast that includes John David Washington, Elizabeth Debicki, and Robert Pattinson.”
“Tenet,” which is being filmed on location across seven countries, is an action epic evolving from the world of international espionage.”
“Nolan is directing from his own original screenplay and will use a mix of Imax and 70mm film to bring the story to the big screen.”
“Nolan’s behind-the-scenes creative team includes director of photography Hoyte van Hoytema, production designer Nathan Crowley, editor Jennifer Lame, costume designer Jeffrey Kurland, and visual effects supervisor Andrew Jackson. The score is being composed by Ludwig Göransson.”
In the latest Dardenne brothers movie, a young Arabic boy gets indoctrinated by a local Imam's teachings and tries to commit a heinous act.
Read moreQuentin Tarantino was just 6 years old and living in Los Angeles when Charles Manson sent his gang of toxified flower children to murder Tate and four others at the home she shared with husband Roman Polanski. At the time of her death, she was eight-and-a-half months pregnant. There is absolutely no chance that Tarantino doesn’t remember that time, even at a young age. The Manson murders are credited as changing the landscape of American society and culture.
Read moreFox Searchlight has just nabbed the rights to distribute Terrence Malick's "A Hidden Life," a film so perplexing that even at the "high-brow" Cannes Film Festival there were hundreds of walkouts at the initial press screening on Monday afternoon. Don’t believe me? I was there. The film itself is incredibly problematic — you can read my review of it here. Regardless, this shows Fox must be in don’t-give-a-damn mode when it comes to buying, a now-or-never attitude towards nabbing a few Oscars before they are officially Disney property next year. However, Malick's latest film might not do it for them.
Sexual self-discovery is at the rendezvous in Celine Sciamma’s “Portrait of A Lady on Fire,” a sumptuously made 121 minute triumph which simmers with slow-burn until it breaks your heart tenth fold. It is, as we speak, the leading contender to win the Palme D’or next weekend in what has been a Cannes filled with Good movies, but not great ones.
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Shame on whoever didn’t send me an email invitation which read "Confidential" in the subject line today.
Read moreConsider this very good news. The fact that Quentin Tarantino has asked Cannes journos to refrain from revealing key plot points for tomorrow’s big premiere “Once Upon A Time in Hollywood” is, essentially, proving my theory that the trailer gave absolutely none of the key plot away.
Read moreI will give Gaspar Noe’s “Lux Aeterna” a decent amount of ink here despite its out-of-competition slot and the fact that it is only 51 minutes in length. The man is no doubt a provocateur, but an immensely talented one at that.
Read moreI had hoped that Terrence Malick‘s “A Hidden Life” would finally be the movie to bring the auteur back into tip-top shape, after a trio of bad movies (“To the Wonder,” “Knight of Cups,” “Song to Song”), however, alas,that is not the case. The story of Franz Jagerstatter (August Diehl), the Austrian farmer that refused to fight for the Germans during World War II, is fascinating one, but Malick decides to self-indulge yet again; Clocking in at close to three hours, the film is an hour too long. Someone really needs to tell him to hire an actual editor,
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