Production has begun in Sardinia on Italian director Louis Nero’s futuristic drama Milarepa, starring Harvey Keitel. The US’ Orwo Studios is handling sales to the film and talking to buyers at the EFM.
Keitel joins a cast that also includes F. Murray Abraham, Angela Molina, Iazua Larios, Al Yamagouchi, Michael Ronda and Bruno Bilotta.
Milarepa takes place in a ‘no tech’ future and follows the story of a young girl who must disguise herself as a boy in order to exact revenge on her father’s family for enslaving her and her mother. The story is inspired by a...
Keitel joins a cast that also includes F. Murray Abraham, Angela Molina, Iazua Larios, Al Yamagouchi, Michael Ronda and Bruno Bilotta.
Milarepa takes place in a ‘no tech’ future and follows the story of a young girl who must disguise herself as a boy in order to exact revenge on her father’s family for enslaving her and her mother. The story is inspired by a...
- 2/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
Tótem, Mexico’s submission for this year’s Oscars, drops a bomb on you before the opening credits have even rolled. A mother, Lucia (Iazua Larios) and her daughter, Sol (Naíma Sentíes, luminescent), are goofing around in a public restroom. The seven-year-old girl is sitting on a toilet, unable — or maybe she’s simply refusing — to heed nature’s call. Tired of waiting for her to finish up, Mom ends up peeing in the sink, to the sound of much mutual laughter. The kid tries on a giant, curly, rainbow-colored wig.
- 1/28/2024
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
"A luminous and soul-nourishing microcosm." Janus Films + Sideshow have revealed an official US trailer for an acclaimed Mexican drama titled Tótem. It initially premiered at the 2023 Berlin Film Festival earlier this year, one of the few great films at the festival that should've won the top prize. Mexican director Lila Avilés's film Totem is about a family getting ready for a birthday party, told through the eyes of a young girl. Seven-year-old Sol spends the day at her grandfather's home, helping with the preparations for a surprise party for her ailing father. Throughout the day, chaos slowly takes over, fracturing the family's foundations. Sol will embrace the essence of letting go as a release for existence. It's a wonderfully soulful, touching film about family and life on this planet - don't skip over this one. The ensemble cast features Naíma Sentíes, Monserrat Marañon, Marisol Gasé, Saori Gurza, Teresita Sánchez,...
- 11/14/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
One of our festival highlights earlier this year, Lila Avilés’ Tótem is now preparing for a U.S. release to kick off 2024 following an awards-qualifying. Mexico’s Oscar entry marks the director’s follow-up to The Chambermaid and follows a family over the course of a single, meaningful day, mainly from the perspective of 7-year-old Sol (Naíma Sentíes), as her mother (Montserrat Marañón) and extended relatives prepare for the birthday party of the girl’s father (Mateo Garcia). Ahead of a January 26, 2024 release for the Berlinale and Nd/Nf selection from Sideshow and Janus Films, the first U.S. trailer has now arrived.
Rory O’Connor said in his review, “The characters of Tótem don’t just appear onscreen; they take it over. From the top there’s the patriarch Roberto (Alberto Amador), who speaks using an electrolarynx and, when not dryly cajoling his flock, enjoys pruning a handsome Bonsai. There...
Rory O’Connor said in his review, “The characters of Tótem don’t just appear onscreen; they take it over. From the top there’s the patriarch Roberto (Alberto Amador), who speaks using an electrolarynx and, when not dryly cajoling his flock, enjoys pruning a handsome Bonsai. There...
- 11/14/2023
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Mexico has selected the Berlin competition title Tótem, the latest film from Lila Avilés, as its entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 2024 Oscars.
The family drama is Avilés’s second film after the award-winning feature debut The Chambermaid, which debuted in Toronto in 2018 and then traveled the international festival circuit before being selected as Mexico’s Oscar submission.
Tótem stars newcomer Naíma Sentíes as a 7-year-old girl navigating the strange atmosphere of a special surprise party being held for her dying artist father, from whom she herself feels temporarily estranged.
Further cast members include stars Montserrat Marañon (Bardo), Marisol Gasê, Saori Gurza, Mateo García Elizondo, Teresita Sánchez, Francisco Maldonado, Iazua Larios and Alberto Amador. The picture was produced by Tatiana Graullera, Avilés, and Louise Riousse.
After playing Berlin, Tótem made its North American bow at New Directors/New Films and played Telluride earlier this month,...
The family drama is Avilés’s second film after the award-winning feature debut The Chambermaid, which debuted in Toronto in 2018 and then traveled the international festival circuit before being selected as Mexico’s Oscar submission.
Tótem stars newcomer Naíma Sentíes as a 7-year-old girl navigating the strange atmosphere of a special surprise party being held for her dying artist father, from whom she herself feels temporarily estranged.
Further cast members include stars Montserrat Marañon (Bardo), Marisol Gasê, Saori Gurza, Mateo García Elizondo, Teresita Sánchez, Francisco Maldonado, Iazua Larios and Alberto Amador. The picture was produced by Tatiana Graullera, Avilés, and Louise Riousse.
After playing Berlin, Tótem made its North American bow at New Directors/New Films and played Telluride earlier this month,...
- 9/28/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
"When will the world end?" An early promo trailer has debuted for an acclaimed indie film from Mexico titled Tótem, one of the few truly excellent films from the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year. It should've won the Golden Bear, in my opinion, but they skipped over this one entirely. Mexican director Lila Avilés’s Berlinale Competition film Totem is about a family getting ready for a birthday party, told through the eyes of a young girl. Seven-year-old Sol spends the day at her grandfather's home, helping with the preparations for a surprise party for her ailing father. Throughout the day, chaos slowly takes over, fracturing the family's foundations. Sol will embrace the essence of letting go as a release for existence. It's a wonderfully soulful, touching film about family and life on this planet. With Naíma Sentíes, Monserrat Marañon, Marisol Gasé, Saori Gurza, Teresita Sánchez, Mateo García Elizondo,...
- 6/6/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Exclusive: Paris-based Alpha Violet has posted fresh sales on Mexican director Lila Avilés’s family drama Tótem, which world premiered in competition at the Berlinale to acclaim in February.
In new deals, the film has been acquired for Japan (Bitters End), China (Beijing Hugoeast Media), Germany (Piffl Medien), Greece (Cinobo), Poland (New Horizon Associations), Italy (Officine Ubu) and Romania (August Film).
Previously announced deals include to North America (Sideshow and Janus Films), UK (New Wave), Spain (Adso Films), Taiwan (Hooray Films), Benelux (Vedette Film) and Ex-Yugo (McF Megacom Film).
The film was warmly received at Berlin and went on to win the Ecumenical Jury Prize.
It is produced by Tatiana Graullera, Avilés and Louise Riousse.
The movie is the second film from Avilés after award-winning feature debut The Chambermaid, which debuted in Toronto in 2018 and then travelled the international festival circuit before being selected as Mexico’s Oscar submission.
In new deals, the film has been acquired for Japan (Bitters End), China (Beijing Hugoeast Media), Germany (Piffl Medien), Greece (Cinobo), Poland (New Horizon Associations), Italy (Officine Ubu) and Romania (August Film).
Previously announced deals include to North America (Sideshow and Janus Films), UK (New Wave), Spain (Adso Films), Taiwan (Hooray Films), Benelux (Vedette Film) and Ex-Yugo (McF Megacom Film).
The film was warmly received at Berlin and went on to win the Ecumenical Jury Prize.
It is produced by Tatiana Graullera, Avilés and Louise Riousse.
The movie is the second film from Avilés after award-winning feature debut The Chambermaid, which debuted in Toronto in 2018 and then travelled the international festival circuit before being selected as Mexico’s Oscar submission.
- 3/3/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Cast led by newcomer Naíma Sentíes in first role.
Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired North American rights to Lila Avilés’ Berlin Competition selection Tótem.
‘Totem’: Berlin Review
The Ecumenical Jury Prize winner follows a family in crisis as a young girl from a large Mexican family prepares for her father’s surprise birthday party.
The cast is led by newcomer Naíma Sentíes in her first role alongside Montserrat Marañon, Marisol Gasê, Saori Gurza, Mateo García Elizondo, Teresita Sánchez, Francisco Maldonado, Iazua Larios and Alberto Amador.
Tatiana Graullera, Avilés and Louise Riousse produced the Limerencia Films, Laterna, Paloma Productions and Alpha Violet production,...
Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired North American rights to Lila Avilés’ Berlin Competition selection Tótem.
‘Totem’: Berlin Review
The Ecumenical Jury Prize winner follows a family in crisis as a young girl from a large Mexican family prepares for her father’s surprise birthday party.
The cast is led by newcomer Naíma Sentíes in her first role alongside Montserrat Marañon, Marisol Gasê, Saori Gurza, Mateo García Elizondo, Teresita Sánchez, Francisco Maldonado, Iazua Larios and Alberto Amador.
Tatiana Graullera, Avilés and Louise Riousse produced the Limerencia Films, Laterna, Paloma Productions and Alpha Violet production,...
- 2/28/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Sideshow & Janus Films have snapped up North American rights for Mexican director Lila Avilés’s family drama Tótem following its world premiere in competition at the Berlinale last week.
The movie is the second film from Avilés after award-winning feature debut The Chambermaid, which debuted in Toronto in 2018 and then travelled the international festival circuit before being selected as Mexico’s Oscar submission.
Tótem stars newcomer Naíma Sentíes as a seven-year-old girl navigating the strange atmosphere of a special surprise party being held for her dying artist father, from whom she herself feels temporarily estranged.
Further cast members include stars Montserrat Marañon (Bardo), Marisol Gasê, Saori Gurza, Mateo García Elizondo, Teresita Sánchez, Francisco Maldonado, Iazua Larios and Alberto Amador.
The picture is produced by Tatiana Graullera, Avilés and Louise Riousse.
“We were fans of Lila Avilés’ The Chambermaid, but we were not prepared for the overwhelming...
The movie is the second film from Avilés after award-winning feature debut The Chambermaid, which debuted in Toronto in 2018 and then travelled the international festival circuit before being selected as Mexico’s Oscar submission.
Tótem stars newcomer Naíma Sentíes as a seven-year-old girl navigating the strange atmosphere of a special surprise party being held for her dying artist father, from whom she herself feels temporarily estranged.
Further cast members include stars Montserrat Marañon (Bardo), Marisol Gasê, Saori Gurza, Mateo García Elizondo, Teresita Sánchez, Francisco Maldonado, Iazua Larios and Alberto Amador.
The picture is produced by Tatiana Graullera, Avilés and Louise Riousse.
“We were fans of Lila Avilés’ The Chambermaid, but we were not prepared for the overwhelming...
- 2/28/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired North American rights to the Berlin-premiering family drama “Tótem,” written and directed by “The Chambermaid” helmer Lila Avilés.
Winner of the festival’s Ecumenical Jury Prize, the film follows seven-year-old Sol, who spends the day at her grandfather’s home, helping her aunts Nuri and Alejandra with the preparations for a surprise party they’re throwing for her father, Tonatiuh, who is terminally ill. However, as night descends, a strange and chaotic atmosphere takes over, shattering the bonds that hold the family together, and Sol will come to understand that her world will change dramatically.
Sideshow and Janus Films are planning a theatrical release later this year.
“Intimate, emotionally rich Berlin competition entry ‘Tótem’ immerses audiences in a boisterous family gathering,” wrote Variety’s Peter DeBruge about the film.
“Tótem” is produced by Tatiana Graullera, Avilés and Louise Riousse. The film introduces young actor...
Winner of the festival’s Ecumenical Jury Prize, the film follows seven-year-old Sol, who spends the day at her grandfather’s home, helping her aunts Nuri and Alejandra with the preparations for a surprise party they’re throwing for her father, Tonatiuh, who is terminally ill. However, as night descends, a strange and chaotic atmosphere takes over, shattering the bonds that hold the family together, and Sol will come to understand that her world will change dramatically.
Sideshow and Janus Films are planning a theatrical release later this year.
“Intimate, emotionally rich Berlin competition entry ‘Tótem’ immerses audiences in a boisterous family gathering,” wrote Variety’s Peter DeBruge about the film.
“Tótem” is produced by Tatiana Graullera, Avilés and Louise Riousse. The film introduces young actor...
- 2/28/2023
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
Tótem, the 2023 Berlinale competition title that amassed solid reviews and eventually won the festival’s Ecumenical Jury Prize, has found a home in North America.
Frequent art house distribution bedfellows Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired the feature, from Mexican filmmaker Lila Avilés and the follow-up to The Chambermaid. A theatrical release later this year is planned.
The family drama — produced by Tatiana Graullera, Lila Avilés and Louise Riousse — introduces newcomer Naíma Sentíes in her first role and also stars Montserrat Marañon (Bardo), Marisol Gasê, Saori Gurza, Mateo García Elizondo, Teresita Sánchez (The Chambermaid, Dos Estaciones), Francisco Maldonado, Iazua Larios and Alberto Amador. Tótem follows 7-year-old Sol, who spends the day at her grandfather’s home, helping her aunts Nuri and Alejandra with the preparations for a surprise party they are throwing for her father, Tonatiuh. As daylight fades, a strange and chaotic atmosphere takes over, shattering the bonds that hold the family together.
Frequent art house distribution bedfellows Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired the feature, from Mexican filmmaker Lila Avilés and the follow-up to The Chambermaid. A theatrical release later this year is planned.
The family drama — produced by Tatiana Graullera, Lila Avilés and Louise Riousse — introduces newcomer Naíma Sentíes in her first role and also stars Montserrat Marañon (Bardo), Marisol Gasê, Saori Gurza, Mateo García Elizondo, Teresita Sánchez (The Chambermaid, Dos Estaciones), Francisco Maldonado, Iazua Larios and Alberto Amador. Tótem follows 7-year-old Sol, who spends the day at her grandfather’s home, helping her aunts Nuri and Alejandra with the preparations for a surprise party they are throwing for her father, Tonatiuh. As daylight fades, a strange and chaotic atmosphere takes over, shattering the bonds that hold the family together.
- 2/28/2023
- by Alex Ritman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Presented largely from the point of view of two children, Mexican director Lila Avilés’ intimate, emotionally rich Berlin competition entry “Tótem” immerses audiences in a boisterous family gathering, where a handful of adult siblings have gathered to celebrate the birthday of their brother, a painter named Tonatiuh (Mateo Garcia). “Tona” is barely seen for most of the movie, confined to a back room where he refuses visitors. Naturally, this confuses 7-year-old Sol (Naíma Sentíes), who spends the day wandering the house alone, building a pillow fort in the living room or collecting snails in the garden.
“Sometimes I feel like my dad doesn’t love me when he says he doesn’t want to see me,” Sol confides to her father’s trusted nurse, Cruz. Your heart can’t help but break a little in that moment, for by this time, Avilés has already provided enough clues for us to...
“Sometimes I feel like my dad doesn’t love me when he says he doesn’t want to see me,” Sol confides to her father’s trusted nurse, Cruz. Your heart can’t help but break a little in that moment, for by this time, Avilés has already provided enough clues for us to...
- 2/25/2023
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
The characters of Tótem don’t just appear onscreen; they take it over. From the top there’s the patriarch Roberto (Alberto Amador), who speaks using an electrolarynx and, when not dryly cajoling his flock, enjoys pruning a handsome Bonsai. There are his daughters Alejandra (Marisol Gasé), who we meet mid-phonecall, mid-ciggie, and covered in hair dye, and Nuria (Montserrat Marañon); their children, the young Marthe (Saori Gurza) as well as a gamer and a stroppy teen whose names I lost track of. There is Alejandra’s brother, an artist named Tona (played by the screenwriter Mateo García Elizondo), and his partner Lucia (Iazua Larios), with whom he has a daughter, Sol (Naíma Sentíes). This lively ensemble are joined here and there by a mystic, a party of friends, a cat named Monsi, two dogs, three snails, a parrot, a scorpion, enough plants to fill a modest botanical garden, and a pestering drone.
- 2/21/2023
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
Mexican writer-director Lila Aviles’ justly acclaimed 2018 debut The Chambermaid unfolded in a fancy Mexico City hotel whose rooms the titular heroine was always striving to clean, perpetually trying to erase the evidence of guests. Her follow-up, Totem, in the main competition at this year’s Berlinale, also unfurls mostly in one large space, but it’s a kind of looking-glass inversion of Chambermaid’s clinical austerity. This time, the environment is not an anonymous hostelry, but a well-loved, thoroughly lived-in family home teeming with relatives, clutter, pets, foodstuffs and memories that drift through the sunlight like dust motes.
Noisy, joyous and as exhausting as the multi-generational bash at the heart of its story, Totem packs a hefty wallop for a film that’s only 95 minutes, and should further solidify Aviles’ reputation as an auteur with a unique vision and remarkable skills with actors, especially non-professionals.
True to her name, eight-...
Noisy, joyous and as exhausting as the multi-generational bash at the heart of its story, Totem packs a hefty wallop for a film that’s only 95 minutes, and should further solidify Aviles’ reputation as an auteur with a unique vision and remarkable skills with actors, especially non-professionals.
True to her name, eight-...
- 2/21/2023
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
GameStop: Rise of the Players, Adrien Brody passion project Clean, Cannes winner Compartment No. 9, Danish upscale restaurant drama A Taste of Hunger, Michel Franco’s Sundown and Woody Allen’s latest Rifkin’s Festival hit theatres crowded by Oscar contenders in a specialty market consumed by awards season (and as a major storm looks set to pummel the Northeast).
There’s more new content than the market has seen in many weeks, although these can be hard frames for indie distributors to find available screens. But it’s easier now than it will be after Feb. 8 and a crush of actual Oscar nominees, said one distribution executive. “We’re going in,...
There’s more new content than the market has seen in many weeks, although these can be hard frames for indie distributors to find available screens. But it’s easier now than it will be after Feb. 8 and a crush of actual Oscar nominees, said one distribution executive. “We’re going in,...
- 1/28/2022
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
"You left me with all of our problems." Bleecker Street has debuted the official US trailer for Sundown, the latest one-of-a-kind film made by acclaimed Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco. This premiered at the 2021 Venice Film Festival last year, where it earn some rave reviews along with some negative reviews. But that's expected for a divisive film like this. Described as a "suspenseful jolt from writer/director Michel Franco," the film is about a wealthy man who inexplicably decides to stay in Mexico after his family leaves. He drifts around in scenes without any dialogue, mostly sitting on the beach emotionless. Tim Roth stars, with Charlotte Gainsbourg, Iazua Larios, Henry Goodman, Albertine Kotting McMillan, and Samuel Bottomley. I wrote a glowing review of this from Venice, because I was really shook by the film - there's something peculiar and fascinating about it, underneath all the layers, showing someone dealing with the arresting guilt of wealth.
- 1/4/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
The director of after-school special turned social horror movie “After Lucia” and harrowing class-uprising thriller “New Order” takes on a more relaxed vibe for his latest film, “Sundown.” That doesn’t make the new film from Mexican filmmaker Michael Franco any less bewildering in its story of a man who abandons his life to live beachside in Acapulco. If anything, “Sundown” is even more opaque than the director’s recent efforts. Watch the first trailer for the film below.
The film also stars a potent Charlotte Gainsbourg, Iazua Larios, Henry Goodman, Albertine Kotting McMillan, and Samuel Bottomley.
Here’s the official synopsis: “Neil and Alice Bennett are the core of a wealthy family on vacation in Mexico with younger members Colin and Alexa until a distant emergency cuts their trip short. When one relative disrupts the family’s tight-knit order, simmering tensions rise to the fore in this suspenseful jolt from writer/director Michel Franco.
The film also stars a potent Charlotte Gainsbourg, Iazua Larios, Henry Goodman, Albertine Kotting McMillan, and Samuel Bottomley.
Here’s the official synopsis: “Neil and Alice Bennett are the core of a wealthy family on vacation in Mexico with younger members Colin and Alexa until a distant emergency cuts their trip short. When one relative disrupts the family’s tight-knit order, simmering tensions rise to the fore in this suspenseful jolt from writer/director Michel Franco.
- 1/4/2022
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Bleecker Street has landed North American rights to “Sundown,” a suspenseful drama about family and privilege.
Filmmaker Michel Franco (” After Lucia”) wrote and directed the movie, which will be released in theaters sometime in 2022.
“Sundown” — starring Tim Roth, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Iazua Larios and Henry Goodman — follows a wealthy British family on a vacation abruptly cut short in Acapulco. When one relative disrupts the family’s tight-knit order, simmering tensions threaten to expose long-gestating rifts.
It premiered at Venice Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival to solid reviews. Variety’s chief film critic Peter Debruge praised “Sundown,” calling it the “high-minded director’s most successful film to date.”
“‘Sundown’ is an intricate, unconventional puzzle — a mystery, complete with murder, in which the solution isn’t nearly so important as the process of putting it all together,” Debruge wrote in his review.
Franco says he hopes the movie sparks a dialogue.
Filmmaker Michel Franco (” After Lucia”) wrote and directed the movie, which will be released in theaters sometime in 2022.
“Sundown” — starring Tim Roth, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Iazua Larios and Henry Goodman — follows a wealthy British family on a vacation abruptly cut short in Acapulco. When one relative disrupts the family’s tight-knit order, simmering tensions threaten to expose long-gestating rifts.
It premiered at Venice Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival to solid reviews. Variety’s chief film critic Peter Debruge praised “Sundown,” calling it the “high-minded director’s most successful film to date.”
“‘Sundown’ is an intricate, unconventional puzzle — a mystery, complete with murder, in which the solution isn’t nearly so important as the process of putting it all together,” Debruge wrote in his review.
Franco says he hopes the movie sparks a dialogue.
- 10/26/2021
- by Rebecca Rubin
- Variety Film + TV
Bleecker Street has acquired North American rights to Sundown, the latest film from Mexican writer-director Michel Franco that world premiered this fall at the Venice Film Festival. A 2022 theatrical release in the U.S. is in the works for the tense family drama.
Tim Roth reunites with Franco (he starred in Franco’s 2015 pic Chronic) to star in Sundown with Charlotte Gainsbourg, Iazua Larios and Henry Goodman. Roth and Gainsbourg play Neil and Alice, the core of a wealthy British family on vacation in Acapulco with younger members Colin (Samuel Bottomley) and Alexa (Albertine Kotting McMillan) until a distant emergency cuts their trip short. When one relative disrupts the family’s tight-knit order, simmering tensions rise to the fore revealing long-gestating rifts.
Franco, Cristina Velasco L. and Eréndira Núñez Larios are producers in the Teorema production, a co-production with Film I Väst, CommonGround Pictures and Luxbox. Roth and Lorenzo Vigas are executive producers.
Tim Roth reunites with Franco (he starred in Franco’s 2015 pic Chronic) to star in Sundown with Charlotte Gainsbourg, Iazua Larios and Henry Goodman. Roth and Gainsbourg play Neil and Alice, the core of a wealthy British family on vacation in Acapulco with younger members Colin (Samuel Bottomley) and Alexa (Albertine Kotting McMillan) until a distant emergency cuts their trip short. When one relative disrupts the family’s tight-knit order, simmering tensions rise to the fore revealing long-gestating rifts.
Franco, Cristina Velasco L. and Eréndira Núñez Larios are producers in the Teorema production, a co-production with Film I Väst, CommonGround Pictures and Luxbox. Roth and Lorenzo Vigas are executive producers.
- 10/26/2021
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
After last year’s explosively angry New Order, the prolific Mexican director Michel Franco returns to the Venice Film Festival with Sundown, the minor-key story of a man who decides to abandon his life in favor of getting drunk and shacking up with a cheerful local woman in Acapulco. It is his second collaboration with British actor Tim Roth who plays Neil and who sinks into hazy irresponsibility with the ease of a backpacker who has mastered getting into a hammock. Charlotte Gainsbourg as Neil’s sister is his nervy counterpoint.
It is clear enough that Gainsbourg’s Alice Bennett is permanently wired tight. On holiday with Neil and her two teenage children Colin and Alexa (Samuel Bottomley and Albertine Kotting McMillan), she can’t leave her phone alone. While cocktails are served to their suite from mid-morning, she is also slipping down the odd pill. It emerges that she runs the family business,...
It is clear enough that Gainsbourg’s Alice Bennett is permanently wired tight. On holiday with Neil and her two teenage children Colin and Alexa (Samuel Bottomley and Albertine Kotting McMillan), she can’t leave her phone alone. While cocktails are served to their suite from mid-morning, she is also slipping down the odd pill. It emerges that she runs the family business,...
- 9/6/2021
- by Stephanie Bunbury
- Deadline Film + TV
The characters in Michel Franco’s “Sundown” are on a luxurious Mexican holiday in which they swim in the clear sea and their private infinity pool, take a regal interest in the local singers and cliff divers, and lie flat out on sun loungers on their hotel suite’s terrace while a waiter brings them their morning margaritas. It’s relaxing for them, but absolutely nerve-frazzling for anyone who saw Franco’s last film, “New Order,” a traumatizingly gory drama in which a high-society wedding turned into a bloodbath, and things got more stressful from there.
Sure enough, it doesn’t take long for trouble to come to this particular paradise, but “Sundown” is quieter and more oblique than “New Order.” It’s smaller, too, in terms of its cast and its scope. That film’s merciless depiction of a city imploding in revolution and counter-revolution thrilled some viewers and offended others,...
Sure enough, it doesn’t take long for trouble to come to this particular paradise, but “Sundown” is quieter and more oblique than “New Order.” It’s smaller, too, in terms of its cast and its scope. That film’s merciless depiction of a city imploding in revolution and counter-revolution thrilled some viewers and offended others,...
- 9/5/2021
- by Nicholas Barber
- Indiewire
Violence in Mexico was one of the dominant themes of the press conference for Michel Franco’s Venice competition title “Sundown” on Sunday, with the director and stars Tim Roth, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Iazua Larios in attendance.
Set in the seemingly tranquil Mexican resort city Acapulco, Roth and Gainsbourg play members of a wealthy British family whose vacation there is cut short by a distant death and an existential crisis comes to the fore. Larios plays an Acapulco native who is key to the narrative.
“We have a huge problem in Mexico with violence every day,” said Larios.
Franco is not shy of depicting violence in his films, including in his previous film “New Order,” which won the Silver Lion and the Leoncino d’Oro Agiscuola Award at the 2020 Venice Film Festival. The violence in “Sundown” is comparatively muted and is restricted to short, sharp shocks.
“I do think Mexicans,...
Set in the seemingly tranquil Mexican resort city Acapulco, Roth and Gainsbourg play members of a wealthy British family whose vacation there is cut short by a distant death and an existential crisis comes to the fore. Larios plays an Acapulco native who is key to the narrative.
“We have a huge problem in Mexico with violence every day,” said Larios.
Franco is not shy of depicting violence in his films, including in his previous film “New Order,” which won the Silver Lion and the Leoncino d’Oro Agiscuola Award at the 2020 Venice Film Festival. The violence in “Sundown” is comparatively muted and is restricted to short, sharp shocks.
“I do think Mexicans,...
- 9/5/2021
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
In the Mexican film Tekuani: The Golden God (aka Tekuani, The Guardian) three friends who work together as independent rescue workers are having a rough go of it. They help people who are trapped underground or in remote regions of the country, and their reward is often no more than a chicken or a turkey. Carlos (Manuel Uriza) is a family man, and he's beginning to buckle under the financial pressure. His wife is none too happy about his inability to provide for her and their children, and the bills are mounting rapidly. So when the team arrives in a dense, hilly forest where a woman named Itzel (Iazua Larios) wants them to find her brother -- a guide who took a tourist group out...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 11/19/2014
- Screen Anarchy
News.
Studio Ghibli has announced that both Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata's new films will be released in Japan next summer.
Raya Martin and Mark Peranson are currently filming a project in Mexico titled La ultima pelicula starring Alex Ross Perry:
"The fiction-documentary hybrid takes place in the context of the pending Mayan Apocalypse, when a filmmaker and his guide traverse the Mexican countryside with the goal of making the last movie, a contemporary update of the acid Western. Alex Ross Perry, Gabino Rodriguez and Iazua Larios star in the project, which takes inspiration from the myths of the American West constructed by filmmakers Sam Peckinpah, Monte Hellman and Dennis Hopper."
Film Comment has announced its top 50 films of the year (topped by Holy Motors), as well as the top 50 undistributed films of the year, a list which includes Traveling Light by Notebook contributor Gina Telaroli. Indiewire has...
Studio Ghibli has announced that both Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata's new films will be released in Japan next summer.
Raya Martin and Mark Peranson are currently filming a project in Mexico titled La ultima pelicula starring Alex Ross Perry:
"The fiction-documentary hybrid takes place in the context of the pending Mayan Apocalypse, when a filmmaker and his guide traverse the Mexican countryside with the goal of making the last movie, a contemporary update of the acid Western. Alex Ross Perry, Gabino Rodriguez and Iazua Larios star in the project, which takes inspiration from the myths of the American West constructed by filmmakers Sam Peckinpah, Monte Hellman and Dennis Hopper."
Film Comment has announced its top 50 films of the year (topped by Holy Motors), as well as the top 50 undistributed films of the year, a list which includes Traveling Light by Notebook contributor Gina Telaroli. Indiewire has...
- 12/19/2012
- by Adam Cook
- MUBI
Raya Martin (“Indepencia”) and Mark Peranson (“Waiting for Sancho”) are co-directing “La Ultima Pelicula,” a film that begins principal photography Dec. 16 in Yucatán, Mexico. The pair also wrote the screenplay for the film. The fiction-documentary hybrid takes place in the context of the pending Mayan Apocalypse, when a filmmaker and his guide traverse the Mexican countryside with the goal of making the last movie, a contemporary update of the acid Western. Alex Ross Perry, Gabino Rodriguez and Iazua Larios star in the project, which takes inspiration from the myths of the American West constructed by filmmakers Sam Peckinpah, Monte Hellman and Dennis Hopper. Read More: Video: Derek Cianfrance and Gael Garcia Bernal Talk To Indiewire Pablo Cruz of Canana Films is producing the micro-budgeted project along with Peranson and Martin. Dox: Lab and Denmark’s Cph:dox are also producing. "We knew about Mark’s...
- 12/13/2012
- by Jay A. Fernandez
- Indiewire
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