It’s probably an overstatement to call writer-director Ryan Martin Brown’s feature debut, Free Time, a “generation-defining movie.” Shot in 10 days with a cast of relative unknowns, the micro-budget comedy has more or less passed under the radar, premiering at a bunch of midlevel festivals and receiving a limited release in select U.S. cities. (It’s currently playing the Quad in N.Y. and the Landmark Westwood in L.A.)
And yet there’s something very much of the now in this cleverly concocted and occasionally hilarious tale of Generation Z malaise, which follows a disgruntled 20-something office worker who quits his job to join the post-pandemic great resignation, only to realize he has no idea what to do with himself once he’s out of work. Clocking in at a breezy 78 minutes, it’s the kind of down-and-dirty NYC indie we see less and less of nowadays,...
And yet there’s something very much of the now in this cleverly concocted and occasionally hilarious tale of Generation Z malaise, which follows a disgruntled 20-something office worker who quits his job to join the post-pandemic great resignation, only to realize he has no idea what to do with himself once he’s out of work. Clocking in at a breezy 78 minutes, it’s the kind of down-and-dirty NYC indie we see less and less of nowadays,...
- 4/2/2024
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Aaron Katz, the American director, has done an amazing job with his 2017 film Gemini. The mystery thriller stars faces like Zoe Kravitz and Lola Kirke, who have graced the screen with their amazing performances. The plot revolves around a superstar, Heather, and her secretary, Jill. Things take an awry turn when Heather gets murdered and Jill takes up the charge to search for the murderer of her boss. Will Jill be able to unravel the mystery of Heather’s murder? Did Heather really die, or was it someone else? Let’s find the answers to these questions!
Spoiler Alert
What Bond Did Heather And Jill Share?
Despite being Heather’s secretary, Jill shared a very close bond with her. They were good friends, and Jill was always very protective of Heather. She followed Heather everywhere, and never once did we see them lashing out at each other. Jill feels responsible...
Spoiler Alert
What Bond Did Heather And Jill Share?
Despite being Heather’s secretary, Jill shared a very close bond with her. They were good friends, and Jill was always very protective of Heather. She followed Heather everywhere, and never once did we see them lashing out at each other. Jill feels responsible...
- 1/1/2024
- by Debjyoti Dey
- Film Fugitives
Welcome to The B-Side, from The Film Stage. Here we talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between. But sometimes we talk to filmmakers! About filmmakers!
Today we talk to up-and-coming writer/director Andrew Adams whose debut feature American Meltdown is making a robust festival run as we speak!
He joins us to spearhead our first incarnation of “The First Frame:” a B-Side segment in which we examine the first films of legendary filmmakers. The three pictures we focus on today are My Best Friend’s Birthday by Quentin Tarantino, Sour Grapes by Larry David, and Barking Dogs Never Bite by Bong Joon-ho.
We discuss our love for these three masters, the seeds of their genius in each of their debuts (as well as each piece’s shortcomings), and the strange connection between all three of them.
Today we talk to up-and-coming writer/director Andrew Adams whose debut feature American Meltdown is making a robust festival run as we speak!
He joins us to spearhead our first incarnation of “The First Frame:” a B-Side segment in which we examine the first films of legendary filmmakers. The three pictures we focus on today are My Best Friend’s Birthday by Quentin Tarantino, Sour Grapes by Larry David, and Barking Dogs Never Bite by Bong Joon-ho.
We discuss our love for these three masters, the seeds of their genius in each of their debuts (as well as each piece’s shortcomings), and the strange connection between all three of them.
- 10/9/2023
- by Dan Mecca
- The Film Stage
Exclusive: Mckenna Grace (A Friend of the Family) and Asher Angel (Shazam! films) are set to star in Alloy Entertainment’s teen romance 99 Days, based on the New York Times bestselling novel of the same name by Katie Cotugno, which we were first to tell you was in development.
Martha Stephens is attached to direct from a script she co-wrote with Shannon Bradley-Colleary, her screenwriter for the 2019 drama To the Stars. Leslie Morgenstein and Elysa Koplovitz Dutton will produce through Alloy Entertainment, which also produced the book, with Architect to launch worldwide sales at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival.
99 Days marks Alloy’s follow-up to Purple Hearts, the smash hit YA romance, starring Sofia Carson and Nicholas Galitzine, which remains in the Global Top 10 of the most-watched movies ever on Netflix. The film tells the story of Molly (Grace), who is facing one long, hot summer vacation back at Star...
Martha Stephens is attached to direct from a script she co-wrote with Shannon Bradley-Colleary, her screenwriter for the 2019 drama To the Stars. Leslie Morgenstein and Elysa Koplovitz Dutton will produce through Alloy Entertainment, which also produced the book, with Architect to launch worldwide sales at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival.
99 Days marks Alloy’s follow-up to Purple Hearts, the smash hit YA romance, starring Sofia Carson and Nicholas Galitzine, which remains in the Global Top 10 of the most-watched movies ever on Netflix. The film tells the story of Molly (Grace), who is facing one long, hot summer vacation back at Star...
- 5/12/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired North American rights to Japanese director Kôji Fukada’s drama Love Life.
The film world premiered in Competition in Venice last year (you can check out the Deadline reveal of a first clip here) and went on to play at multiple festivals including Toronto and London.
The acquisition announcement followed hot on the heels of news that the film had been selected for the Museum of The Moving Images (MoMI) First Look Festival, running in New York from March 15 to 19.
Oscilloscope will release the film this year.
The film stars Fumino Kimura as Taeko, a woman living a peaceful life with her husband (Kento Nagayama) and young son.
A tragic accident brings Taeko’s ex-husband, who is the father of her son, back into her life. He is deaf, down on his luck and homeless. To deal with her own pain and guilt, she throws herself into helping him out,...
The film world premiered in Competition in Venice last year (you can check out the Deadline reveal of a first clip here) and went on to play at multiple festivals including Toronto and London.
The acquisition announcement followed hot on the heels of news that the film had been selected for the Museum of The Moving Images (MoMI) First Look Festival, running in New York from March 15 to 19.
Oscilloscope will release the film this year.
The film stars Fumino Kimura as Taeko, a woman living a peaceful life with her husband (Kento Nagayama) and young son.
A tragic accident brings Taeko’s ex-husband, who is the father of her son, back into her life. He is deaf, down on his luck and homeless. To deal with her own pain and guilt, she throws herself into helping him out,...
- 2/10/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
The Paris-based outfit also co-produced the Italian coming-of-age drama.
Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired US and Canadian distribution rights and Curzon has taken UK rights to Italian coming-of-age story Amanda sold by co-producer and Paris-based international sales house Charades.
The debut feature of writer/director Carolina Cavalli premiered in Venice’s Horizons Extra section in September before screening in Toronto’s Contemporary World Cinema section.
The film follows the titular character, a wealthy, self-absorbed, combative woman in her twenties who is feeling lost after studying abroad, and sets out to rekindle a childhood friendship with a woman who has become a sullen shut-in.
Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired US and Canadian distribution rights and Curzon has taken UK rights to Italian coming-of-age story Amanda sold by co-producer and Paris-based international sales house Charades.
The debut feature of writer/director Carolina Cavalli premiered in Venice’s Horizons Extra section in September before screening in Toronto’s Contemporary World Cinema section.
The film follows the titular character, a wealthy, self-absorbed, combative woman in her twenties who is feeling lost after studying abroad, and sets out to rekindle a childhood friendship with a woman who has become a sullen shut-in.
- 11/3/2022
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
Rediance has sold the film to Oscilloscope.
Oscilloscope has acquired North American rights to Ann Oren’s Piaffe, which debuted in Locarno this summer and is currently playing in the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera competition at San Sebastian.
The company is planning a theatrical release in 2023; Rediance represents world sales on the title.
Piaffe is Oren’s fiction feature debut. It follows a woman who develops an obsession with foleying the perfect sound for a commercial featuring a horse.
The German- and English-language title was produced by Kristof Gerega, Sophie Ahrens and Fabian Altenried of Schuldenberg Films.
Oscilloscope head of acquisitions Aaron Katz...
Oscilloscope has acquired North American rights to Ann Oren’s Piaffe, which debuted in Locarno this summer and is currently playing in the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera competition at San Sebastian.
The company is planning a theatrical release in 2023; Rediance represents world sales on the title.
Piaffe is Oren’s fiction feature debut. It follows a woman who develops an obsession with foleying the perfect sound for a commercial featuring a horse.
The German- and English-language title was produced by Kristof Gerega, Sophie Ahrens and Fabian Altenried of Schuldenberg Films.
Oscilloscope head of acquisitions Aaron Katz...
- 9/20/2022
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired U.S. rights to “Stanleyville,” starring “Goodnight Mommy’s” Susanne Wuest, ahead of the film’s world premiere at this month’s Fantasia Film Festival.
One of the high-profile Fantasia deal announcements, the pick-up, brokered with Yellow Veil Pictures, will see Oscilloscope open “Stanleyville” in U.S. theaters this Winter.
“Stanleyville” marks the feature film debut of Canadian actor-turned-director Maxwell McCabe-Lokos, who has appeared in a slew of movies and TV series, including “Antibirth,” “Lars and the Real Girl,” “The Incredible Hulk” and “Tin Star.”
Directed by Bruce McDonald, McCabe-Lokos’ first feature screenplay, “The Husband,” which he starred in, premiered at Toronto 2013. His directorial debut, 2016 short “Ape Sodom,” and 2017 short “Midnight Confession” were also both selected for Toronto.
Written by McCabe-Lokos and Rob Benvie, who also took a co-scribe credit on “Midnight Confession,” “Stanleyville” brings McCabe-Lokos’ satirical vision of the state of the modern world to...
One of the high-profile Fantasia deal announcements, the pick-up, brokered with Yellow Veil Pictures, will see Oscilloscope open “Stanleyville” in U.S. theaters this Winter.
“Stanleyville” marks the feature film debut of Canadian actor-turned-director Maxwell McCabe-Lokos, who has appeared in a slew of movies and TV series, including “Antibirth,” “Lars and the Real Girl,” “The Incredible Hulk” and “Tin Star.”
Directed by Bruce McDonald, McCabe-Lokos’ first feature screenplay, “The Husband,” which he starred in, premiered at Toronto 2013. His directorial debut, 2016 short “Ape Sodom,” and 2017 short “Midnight Confession” were also both selected for Toronto.
Written by McCabe-Lokos and Rob Benvie, who also took a co-scribe credit on “Midnight Confession,” “Stanleyville” brings McCabe-Lokos’ satirical vision of the state of the modern world to...
- 8/2/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Year after year since its inception, Salem Horror Fest has made big strides to set itself apart from other events by focusing on education, diverse guests and diverse programming. Today, they have announced an wonderful opportunity through their new partnership with The George A. Romero Foundation that will pair new filmmakers with experts, including Mynette Louie, Travis Stevens, and Jenn Wexler:
Salem, Ma - April 20, 2021 - Salem Horror Fest has announced a new partnership with The George A. Romero Foundation to support independent genre filmmakers in honor of the Master of Horror’s work and legacy.
“We are excited to partner with the Salem Horror Fest as part of our commitment to support a new generation of filmmakers and artists inspired by George’s legacy. Salem’s history and reputation as a Halloween town is the perfect backdrop to tell new scary stories with a social thread,” said Suzanne Desrocher-Romero,...
Salem, Ma - April 20, 2021 - Salem Horror Fest has announced a new partnership with The George A. Romero Foundation to support independent genre filmmakers in honor of the Master of Horror’s work and legacy.
“We are excited to partner with the Salem Horror Fest as part of our commitment to support a new generation of filmmakers and artists inspired by George’s legacy. Salem’s history and reputation as a Halloween town is the perfect backdrop to tell new scary stories with a social thread,” said Suzanne Desrocher-Romero,...
- 4/20/2021
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
Exclusive: Here’s a hot new transatlantic project to start 2021: The Morning Show star Gugu Mbatha-Raw is set to be cast as the lead in a BBC adaptation of Jp Delaney’s best-selling psychological thriller The Girl Before.
Deadline can reveal that 42, the UK production outfit behind Netflix’s The English Game and the Emmy-winning BBC/Netflix animation Watership Down, is behind the four-part BBC One series, which will shoot this year. The Girl Before originally was optioned for a feature by Universal Pictures in 2015, with Ron Howard attached to direct, but now looks set to make its screen debut on television in 2021
42 is in the advanced stages of bringing onboard a U.S. co-production partner, and sources said that HBO Max is the front-runner. The WarnerMedia streamer has made its presence felt in the UK co-production space recently, boarding series such as Russell T Davies’ upcoming Channel 4...
Deadline can reveal that 42, the UK production outfit behind Netflix’s The English Game and the Emmy-winning BBC/Netflix animation Watership Down, is behind the four-part BBC One series, which will shoot this year. The Girl Before originally was optioned for a feature by Universal Pictures in 2015, with Ron Howard attached to direct, but now looks set to make its screen debut on television in 2021
42 is in the advanced stages of bringing onboard a U.S. co-production partner, and sources said that HBO Max is the front-runner. The WarnerMedia streamer has made its presence felt in the UK co-production space recently, boarding series such as Russell T Davies’ upcoming Channel 4...
- 1/7/2021
- by Jake Kanter and Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Oscilloscope Laboratories is about to get angsty. The Adam Yauch indie film company has acquired North American rights to Jessie Barr’s coming-of-age drama Sophie Jones executive produced by Nicole Holofcener. The film is slated to be released in the first quarter of 2021.
Inspired by true experiences of grief, girlhood, and growing up, Sophie Jones paints a portrait of the titular 16-year-old (played by the director’s cousin Jessica Barr) who is shocked by the untimely death of her mother. As she struggles with her loss and the challenges of being a teen, Sophie tries everything she can to feel something again, while holding herself together.
“Sophie Jones has been a true labor of love and I’m beyond thrilled that the film has found its home with Oscilloscope,” said Jessie Barr, who was also a Sundance Fellow. “This is a dream come true. Oscilloscope’s love for filmmakers,...
Inspired by true experiences of grief, girlhood, and growing up, Sophie Jones paints a portrait of the titular 16-year-old (played by the director’s cousin Jessica Barr) who is shocked by the untimely death of her mother. As she struggles with her loss and the challenges of being a teen, Sophie tries everything she can to feel something again, while holding herself together.
“Sophie Jones has been a true labor of love and I’m beyond thrilled that the film has found its home with Oscilloscope,” said Jessie Barr, who was also a Sundance Fellow. “This is a dream come true. Oscilloscope’s love for filmmakers,...
- 1/5/2021
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
The 16th annual The Black List was announced this morning by Desus Nice and The Kid Mero, and below are the rankings of the year’s hot unproduced (or on the verge of being produced) screenplays. Leading this year’s list with 29 votes is Sophie Dawson’s Headhunter, which follows a high-functioning cannibal who selects his victims based on their Instagram popularity. However, he finds his habits shaken by a man who wants to be eaten.
Many of the scripts on the list have moved forward and are in the works including Randall Green’s coming-of-age comedy The Black Belt (15 votes), which has Chris Pratt starring and producing, for Monarch Media. Meanwhile, Taraji P. Henson is set to star in and direct Cat Wilkins’ Two-Faced (25 votes) for Bron Studios. This will mark the Oscar nominee’s first time in the director’s chair for a feature.
Apple landed Brian Gatewood...
Many of the scripts on the list have moved forward and are in the works including Randall Green’s coming-of-age comedy The Black Belt (15 votes), which has Chris Pratt starring and producing, for Monarch Media. Meanwhile, Taraji P. Henson is set to star in and direct Cat Wilkins’ Two-Faced (25 votes) for Bron Studios. This will mark the Oscar nominee’s first time in the director’s chair for a feature.
Apple landed Brian Gatewood...
- 12/14/2020
- by Anthony D'Alessandro and Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Gugu Mbatha-Raw (The Morning Show), Kiernan Shipka (Mad Men) and Riverdale’s Cole Sprouse are attached to star in Blood Ties, a drama based on a Nathan Heller article in the New Yorker. Aaron Katz (Gemini) wrote the script and will direct.
Automatik’s Fred Berger (La La Land) is producing.
Mbatha-Raw plays Detective Reese Rezek, who obsessively investigates the brutal murders of Nancy and Derek Haysom, a seemingly ordinary couple in suburban Virginia. As Reese unravels dark possibilities behind their deaths, two suspects emerge: their daughter, Lizzy (Shipka), and her boyfriend, Jens (Sprouse). Before they can be arrested, the young couple flees for Europe, drawing Reese into an international manhunt and a years-long search for the truth that spanned from 1985-91.
Endeavor Content is handling worldwide sales and introducing the project at the Toronto Film Festival market.
Katz is repped by CAA, Grandview, and im Gilio at Sloane,...
Automatik’s Fred Berger (La La Land) is producing.
Mbatha-Raw plays Detective Reese Rezek, who obsessively investigates the brutal murders of Nancy and Derek Haysom, a seemingly ordinary couple in suburban Virginia. As Reese unravels dark possibilities behind their deaths, two suspects emerge: their daughter, Lizzy (Shipka), and her boyfriend, Jens (Sprouse). Before they can be arrested, the young couple flees for Europe, drawing Reese into an international manhunt and a years-long search for the truth that spanned from 1985-91.
Endeavor Content is handling worldwide sales and introducing the project at the Toronto Film Festival market.
Katz is repped by CAA, Grandview, and im Gilio at Sloane,...
- 9/10/2020
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
Sometimes a film contains a single scene that feels like its main reason for being. In Sonejuhi Sinha’s grimy-glamorous crime thriller feature debut “Stray Dolls,” it comes late on: Riz (Geetanjali Thapa), a newly arrived undocumented immigrant from India who is working as a maid in a dead-end motel, is in a phone booth at night talking to her mom back home. “Yes I’m fine,” she natters brightly in Nepali. “I’ve just been for a swim. There’s a pool. It’s shaped like a, like a…” she tries to remember the word, waving the gun in her blood-spattered hand around in a squiggle, “…kidney bean.” Needless to say, there is no pool, she is not fine and those are the very least of her lies.
As that image suggests, “Stray Dolls” is a genre picture with a twist, although the immigrant experience subtext is undernourished within...
As that image suggests, “Stray Dolls” is a genre picture with a twist, although the immigrant experience subtext is undernourished within...
- 4/10/2020
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Barry Jenkins and Adele Romanski know more than most about getting difficult stories to large audiences. Jenkins’ “Moonlight,” which he and Romanski produced through their production company Pastel, came together on a $1.5 million budget and ultimately grossed over $65 million in addition to winning Best Picture. Since then, the company — co-founded by Sara Murphy and Mark Ceryak — has supported a handful of other filmmakers, including Aaron Katz’s L.A. neo-noir “Gemini.” Their most recent credit comes out this week on VOD, but it wasn’t supposed to work out that way.
Eliza Hittman’s “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” won prizes in Sundance and Berlin before Focus Features released it in early March — days before theaters closed nationwide. The Universal subsidiary is now following a strategy it applied to movies like “The Invisible Man” and “The Hunt” by pushing “Never Rarely” into VOD on Friday.
More from IndieWireFocus Features Sends 'Never...
Eliza Hittman’s “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” won prizes in Sundance and Berlin before Focus Features released it in early March — days before theaters closed nationwide. The Universal subsidiary is now following a strategy it applied to movies like “The Invisible Man” and “The Hunt” by pushing “Never Rarely” into VOD on Friday.
More from IndieWireFocus Features Sends 'Never...
- 4/1/2020
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
This weekend will be a little more retro and lo-fi with the release of Oscilloscope Laboratories’ forthcoming comedy VHYes from writer and director Jack Henry Robbins. In limited release, the pic is a new take on the found footage genre — and it’s all shot entirely on VHS.
For those of you who aren’t familiar, VHS is a form of media that was developed in the late ’70s and grew increasingly popular in the ’80s. It’s like streaming, but all in a clunky black plastic case that you insert in a machine and it plays on your television. It’s like a video with a retro Instagram filter.
VHYes follows 12-year-old Ralph (Mason McNulty) mistakenly records home videos and his favorite late-night shows over his parents’ wedding tape. The result is a nostalgic wave of vignettes of home shopping clips, censored pornography, dramas, music, horror and nefarious true-crime...
For those of you who aren’t familiar, VHS is a form of media that was developed in the late ’70s and grew increasingly popular in the ’80s. It’s like streaming, but all in a clunky black plastic case that you insert in a machine and it plays on your television. It’s like a video with a retro Instagram filter.
VHYes follows 12-year-old Ralph (Mason McNulty) mistakenly records home videos and his favorite late-night shows over his parents’ wedding tape. The result is a nostalgic wave of vignettes of home shopping clips, censored pornography, dramas, music, horror and nefarious true-crime...
- 1/17/2020
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
Producers Mollye Asher (“The Rider”), Mynette Louie (“The Tale”) and Derek Nguyen (director of “The Housemaid”) announced the launch of a new production company on Tuesday called The Population.
The group will focus on producing film and TV projects by or about women, people of color, the Lgbtqia+ community and other underrepresented groups. Producer Mary Jane Skalski will serve as senior advisor to The Population.
The Population will also premiere the film “I Carry You With Me (Te Llevo Conmigo)” by director Heidi Ewing at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and is in post-production on Josef Kubota Wladyka’s “Catch the Fair One.” The Population also has several other projects in development including a feminist horror film based on a true survival story in Mexico and a true-crime series set among the Asian American and working-class communities in Detroit.
Also Read: 'First Cow' Director Kelly Reichardt Wins...
The group will focus on producing film and TV projects by or about women, people of color, the Lgbtqia+ community and other underrepresented groups. Producer Mary Jane Skalski will serve as senior advisor to The Population.
The Population will also premiere the film “I Carry You With Me (Te Llevo Conmigo)” by director Heidi Ewing at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and is in post-production on Josef Kubota Wladyka’s “Catch the Fair One.” The Population also has several other projects in development including a feminist horror film based on a true survival story in Mexico and a true-crime series set among the Asian American and working-class communities in Detroit.
Also Read: 'First Cow' Director Kelly Reichardt Wins...
- 1/7/2020
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
“Our goal is to change the status quo of who gets to make movies.”
Producers Mynette Louie, Mollye Asher and Derek Nguyen have launched The Population to champion diverse storytelling and are developing a Mexico survival story and a crime series set in Detroit’s Asian American and working class communities.
While the projects are in their infancy, the track record of the three co-founders is likely to inspire the kinds of content creators The Population wants to support: stories in film and television by or about women, people of colour, Lgbtqia+, and other underrepresented groups.
The first film on...
Producers Mynette Louie, Mollye Asher and Derek Nguyen have launched The Population to champion diverse storytelling and are developing a Mexico survival story and a crime series set in Detroit’s Asian American and working class communities.
While the projects are in their infancy, the track record of the three co-founders is likely to inspire the kinds of content creators The Population wants to support: stories in film and television by or about women, people of colour, Lgbtqia+, and other underrepresented groups.
The first film on...
- 1/7/2020
- by 36¦Jeremy Kay¦54¦
- ScreenDaily
IndieWire does its best to sort the jewels from the junk and keep readers up to speed on the film, TV, and digital media that’s worth their time, but not even the most avid consumers of pop culture can find room for it all on their radars. The sheer volume of stuff has made it almost impossible for people to even keep tabs on the stuff they know they want to watch; at a time when a week can feel like a year, that great new indie you read about on Monday can feel like a distant memory by the time you finally get a chance to go see it on Friday.
With that in mind, we give you the IndieWire Watch List, a new weekly feature that takes everything the site’s critics and editors are currently obsessed with and collects it all together in one place. From...
With that in mind, we give you the IndieWire Watch List, a new weekly feature that takes everything the site’s critics and editors are currently obsessed with and collects it all together in one place. From...
- 6/14/2019
- by David Ehrlich, Kate Erbland, Ben Travers, Chris O'Falt, Hanh Nguyen, Zack Sharf and Steve Greene
- Indiewire
Sometimes, telling an immersive story set in another world means being removed from your own, even if only for a week. The team behind the new six-episode fiction podcast “Earth Break: A Few Suggestions For Survival, With Additional Hints and Tips About How to Make Yourself More Comfortable During the Alien Apocalypse” got to do just that.
“We recorded on five consecutive days. And I’m so glad we did it that way,” director Aaron Katz told IndieWire. “We got to this intense place where our reality was this show for that week.”
In the show that eventually emerged from that process, Jenny Slate, who extensive voicework credits including “Big Mouth” and “Bob’s Burgers,” stars as Lynn Gellert, the sole survivor of an alien invasion who is recording her efforts to stay alive for an audience she knows she may not ever meet.
“Earth Break” takes some of its cues from a found-audio premise,...
“We recorded on five consecutive days. And I’m so glad we did it that way,” director Aaron Katz told IndieWire. “We got to this intense place where our reality was this show for that week.”
In the show that eventually emerged from that process, Jenny Slate, who extensive voicework credits including “Big Mouth” and “Bob’s Burgers,” stars as Lynn Gellert, the sole survivor of an alien invasion who is recording her efforts to stay alive for an audience she knows she may not ever meet.
“Earth Break” takes some of its cues from a found-audio premise,...
- 6/5/2019
- by Steve Greene
- Indiewire
The Tribeca Film Festival has announced the full lineup of films for its 18th edition, which includes new films directed by Jared Leto, Christoph Waltz, Antoine Fuqua, Werner Herzog, Abel Ferrera and more.
This year’s slate is also among the most diverse and inclusive that the festival has ever put forward. All three competition categories are evenly split among men and women, and female directors account for 40 percent of the films on the feature slate. That’s slightly down from 2018’s record 46 percent of films directed by women, but this year also has 29 percent people of color directors and 13 percent who identify as Lgbtqia.
Among the 103 films from 124 filmmakers to be screened, Jared Leto will debut his documentary, “A Day in the Life of America,” which was filmed in every state in the country across a single 4th of July holiday. Christoph Waltz is making his directorial debut on “Georgetown,...
This year’s slate is also among the most diverse and inclusive that the festival has ever put forward. All three competition categories are evenly split among men and women, and female directors account for 40 percent of the films on the feature slate. That’s slightly down from 2018’s record 46 percent of films directed by women, but this year also has 29 percent people of color directors and 13 percent who identify as Lgbtqia.
Among the 103 films from 124 filmmakers to be screened, Jared Leto will debut his documentary, “A Day in the Life of America,” which was filmed in every state in the country across a single 4th of July holiday. Christoph Waltz is making his directorial debut on “Georgetown,...
- 3/5/2019
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
The bible belt of early 1960s rural Oklahoma wasn’t a great time and place in America for outsiders. And this god-fearing country is certainly no place for two girls that may be slowly falling in love and calling too much public attention to all the time they’re spending together. Director Martha Stephens (co-director of 2014 Sundance film “Land Ho!” with Aaron Katz) adapts Shannon Bradley-Colleary‘s screenplay on intolerance and class-warfare in pre-sexual revolution America into an artfully visual feast, but one that unfortunately plods along at an uneven pace into heavy-handedness as the drama intensifies.
Continue reading ‘To The Stars’ Is A Beautiful, But Familiar, Coming Of Age Tale [Sundance Review] at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘To The Stars’ Is A Beautiful, But Familiar, Coming Of Age Tale [Sundance Review] at The Playlist.
- 2/6/2019
- by Jordan Ruimy
- The Playlist
2018 was an unexpectedly fine year for B&W features, “Roma,” “Cold War” and the underseen “1985” being obvious examples. But hopes that the trend might continue into the new year aren’t encouraged by “To the Stars,” a liftoff-resistant period drama that starts like a slightly cartoonish teenage version of lesbian date-night favorite “Desert Hearts,” then gradually plods toward an excess of retro-potboiler melodrama.
Blogger/journalist Shannon-Bradley Colleary’s first produced screenplay hits so many obvious marks so heavily that you can imagine this tale originating from a vintage drugstore paperback with the sell-line “Prejudice and Passions Explode in a Town Without Pity!” It all might have worked nonetheless if handled as a sort of semi-tongue-in-cheek empowerment fairy tale, and there are moments when director Martha Stephens (who previously co-helmed “Land Ho!” with Aaron Katz) seems to be aiming thataway. But only moments. Too often, “To the Stars” is earnest in that...
Blogger/journalist Shannon-Bradley Colleary’s first produced screenplay hits so many obvious marks so heavily that you can imagine this tale originating from a vintage drugstore paperback with the sell-line “Prejudice and Passions Explode in a Town Without Pity!” It all might have worked nonetheless if handled as a sort of semi-tongue-in-cheek empowerment fairy tale, and there are moments when director Martha Stephens (who previously co-helmed “Land Ho!” with Aaron Katz) seems to be aiming thataway. But only moments. Too often, “To the Stars” is earnest in that...
- 1/27/2019
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
Sundance has always been pretty gay. Whether the festival was supporting queer filmmakers to lead the indie film boom of the ’90s, ushering in the dawn of the New Queer Cinema, or unofficially partnering with OutFest to share programmers and titles, Park City has always been fertile ground in which Lgbtq cinema can thrive. This year brings fewer solely queer offerings than previous years, but the program still has plenty to look forward to.
This year’s program marks the first in Kim Yutani’s new role as director of programming. Formerly a senior programmer for the festival, Yutani began her career at OutFest, where she lived and breathed queer films in her roles as artistic director and director of programming. Yutani reports to festival director John Cooper, another out and gay power player in independent film.
When Sundance released its first round of programming, it boasted that 40 percent, or...
This year’s program marks the first in Kim Yutani’s new role as director of programming. Formerly a senior programmer for the festival, Yutani began her career at OutFest, where she lived and breathed queer films in her roles as artistic director and director of programming. Yutani reports to festival director John Cooper, another out and gay power player in independent film.
When Sundance released its first round of programming, it boasted that 40 percent, or...
- 1/23/2019
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
To the Stars
Moving from the lopapeysa fitted, John Cassavetes Award winning Land Ho! to an Oklahoma Land Rush, Martha Stephens (profiled in our Sundance Trading Card) confidently steps into her fourth feature film, To the Stars. In what could be black & white splendor, after Passenger Pigeons, Pilgrim Song and her bonafide hit (a tandem with Aaron Katz) from Sundance 2014, Stephens shot in Oklahoma last May on a coming-of-ager project. The first project that she has not penned (cred goes to Shannon Bradley-Colleary), this sees Moonrise Kingdom actress Kara Hayward in perhaps her loftiest role to date.…...
Moving from the lopapeysa fitted, John Cassavetes Award winning Land Ho! to an Oklahoma Land Rush, Martha Stephens (profiled in our Sundance Trading Card) confidently steps into her fourth feature film, To the Stars. In what could be black & white splendor, after Passenger Pigeons, Pilgrim Song and her bonafide hit (a tandem with Aaron Katz) from Sundance 2014, Stephens shot in Oklahoma last May on a coming-of-ager project. The first project that she has not penned (cred goes to Shannon Bradley-Colleary), this sees Moonrise Kingdom actress Kara Hayward in perhaps her loftiest role to date.…...
- 1/22/2019
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
As 2018 winds down, like most cinephiles, we’re looking to get our hands on the titles that may have slipped under the radar or simply gone unseen. With the proliferation of streaming options, it’s thankfully easier than ever to play catch-up for those films you missed in a theater (or never came to your town), and to assist with the process, we’re bringing you a rundown of the best titles of the year available to watch.
Curated from the Best Films of 2018 So Far list we published for the first half of the year, it also includes films we’ve enjoyed the past few months and some we’ve recently caught up on. This is far from a be-all, end-all year-end feature (that will come at the end of the year), but rather something that will hopefully be a helpful tool for readers to have a chance to seek out notable,...
Curated from the Best Films of 2018 So Far list we published for the first half of the year, it also includes films we’ve enjoyed the past few months and some we’ve recently caught up on. This is far from a be-all, end-all year-end feature (that will come at the end of the year), but rather something that will hopefully be a helpful tool for readers to have a chance to seek out notable,...
- 10/24/2018
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’re highlighting the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and an archive of past round-ups here.
Eighth Grade (Bo Burnham)
If comedy is best pulled from trauma, there are few moments in one’s life more distressingly rich to mine from than middle school. Comedian-turned-director Bo Burnham, now more than a decade removed for proper reflection, depicts the specific time period with all the spot-on crippling anxiety and all-consuming awkwardness in his modest but affecting directorial debut Eighth Grade. – Jordan R. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Gemini (Aaron Katz)
Gemini is also a fantastic neo-noir set in the Thief-inspired Los Angeles of Drive, an upside-down city, as captured in the surrealistic opening credits by cinematographer Andrew Reed, where morals have all but vanished,...
Eighth Grade (Bo Burnham)
If comedy is best pulled from trauma, there are few moments in one’s life more distressingly rich to mine from than middle school. Comedian-turned-director Bo Burnham, now more than a decade removed for proper reflection, depicts the specific time period with all the spot-on crippling anxiety and all-consuming awkwardness in his modest but affecting directorial debut Eighth Grade. – Jordan R. (full review)
Where to Stream: Amazon, iTunes, Google
Gemini (Aaron Katz)
Gemini is also a fantastic neo-noir set in the Thief-inspired Los Angeles of Drive, an upside-down city, as captured in the surrealistic opening credits by cinematographer Andrew Reed, where morals have all but vanished,...
- 9/28/2018
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
ReFrame, the coalition formed by Women in Film and the Sundance Institute, and IMDbPro have added 22 more titles to the list of movies earning the ReFrame Stamp, which recognize standout, gender-balanced films. The program launched June 8 with 12 films on the list from a group comprising the top 100 domestic-grossing films of 2017, with Warner Bros’ Wonder Woman, Universal’s Girls Trip, A24’s Lady Bird and Fox’s The Post among them.
The stamp progam has since been expanded to studio and independent films that have U.S. domestic theatrical or streaming distribution. Newcomers unveiled today include Warners’ recent hit Crazy Rich Asians, IFC’s Mary Shelley and Spc’s Glenn Close starrer The Wife among 2018 releases, and Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart and Justin Baldoni’s Five Feet Apart among 2019 pics. (See the full list of new films below.)
The stamp is intended as a mark of distinction for projects that have...
The stamp progam has since been expanded to studio and independent films that have U.S. domestic theatrical or streaming distribution. Newcomers unveiled today include Warners’ recent hit Crazy Rich Asians, IFC’s Mary Shelley and Spc’s Glenn Close starrer The Wife among 2018 releases, and Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart and Justin Baldoni’s Five Feet Apart among 2019 pics. (See the full list of new films below.)
The stamp is intended as a mark of distinction for projects that have...
- 8/28/2018
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.
The Endless (Aaron Moorhead & Justin Benson)
To resolve is to settle, finding the determination to do something rather than simply wait for something to happen to you. A resolution isn’t therefore a firm ending. On the contrary, it serves to provide beginnings. That decision has the potential to set you onto a path towards freedom either from the danger of outside forces or the complacency rendering you immobile within.
The Endless (Aaron Moorhead & Justin Benson)
To resolve is to settle, finding the determination to do something rather than simply wait for something to happen to you. A resolution isn’t therefore a firm ending. On the contrary, it serves to provide beginnings. That decision has the potential to set you onto a path towards freedom either from the danger of outside forces or the complacency rendering you immobile within.
- 6/29/2018
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Exclusive: Managers Jeremy Platt and Ben Rowe have joined Grandview. They start today as partners, the first added to the partner roster since the company’s inception. Founded in 2014 by Matt Rosen and Jeff Silver, Grandview alsois partnered with the Brian Kavanaugh Jones and Fred Berger-run production shingle Automatik. The two divisions run autonomously.
Rowe joins from Oasis Media Group, where he worked with David Lonner for nine years. Previously, Rowe was an agent in the Motion Picture Literary department at Wma, where he started his career. Rowe’s client list includes Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane), Justin Simien (Dear White People), Jake Schreier (Paper Towns), Hannah Fidell (Long Dumb Road), Aaron Katz (Gemini) and writers Gina Welch, Chuck MacLean (City on a Hill), and Rory Haines & Sohrab Noshirvani (The Informer).
Jeremy Platt joins from Plattform, the company he created in 2014. His clients include...
Rowe joins from Oasis Media Group, where he worked with David Lonner for nine years. Previously, Rowe was an agent in the Motion Picture Literary department at Wma, where he started his career. Rowe’s client list includes Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane), Justin Simien (Dear White People), Jake Schreier (Paper Towns), Hannah Fidell (Long Dumb Road), Aaron Katz (Gemini) and writers Gina Welch, Chuck MacLean (City on a Hill), and Rory Haines & Sohrab Noshirvani (The Informer).
Jeremy Platt joins from Plattform, the company he created in 2014. His clients include...
- 5/7/2018
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
Welcome to “Playback,” a Variety / iHeartRadio podcast bringing you exclusive conversations with the talents behind many of today’s hottest films.
Filmmaker Aaron Katz has been making movies for 10 years in the independent space. He lived in New York for most of that time, cranking out projects like “Quiet City” and “Cold Weather” before the award-winning “Land Ho!” opened even more doors. His latest film is “Gemini,” a stylish, Hollywood-set neo-noir that, for Katz, was partly a way of wrangling with a love-hate relationship with the City of Angels.
Listen to this week’s episode of “Playback” below. New episodes air every Thursday.
Click here for more episodes of “Playback.”
“One of the reasons to make this movie is to confront my conflicted feelings about it and sort of live in the tradition of movies and books that both celebrate and have a lot of trepidation about Hollywood,” he says.
Filmmaker Aaron Katz has been making movies for 10 years in the independent space. He lived in New York for most of that time, cranking out projects like “Quiet City” and “Cold Weather” before the award-winning “Land Ho!” opened even more doors. His latest film is “Gemini,” a stylish, Hollywood-set neo-noir that, for Katz, was partly a way of wrangling with a love-hate relationship with the City of Angels.
Listen to this week’s episode of “Playback” below. New episodes air every Thursday.
Click here for more episodes of “Playback.”
“One of the reasons to make this movie is to confront my conflicted feelings about it and sort of live in the tradition of movies and books that both celebrate and have a lot of trepidation about Hollywood,” he says.
- 4/19/2018
- by Kristopher Tapley
- Variety Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSWith Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina in Pierrot le fou on the official poster for the 71st Cannes Film Festival, all signs point to Jean-Luc Godard's new film, Le livre d'image, premiering there this May.Isao Takahata—the master filmmaker, animator, and co-founder of Studio Ghibli—has sadly left us. Jasper Sharp has penned a thoughtful, thorough obituary for The Guardian.The Czech New Wave director Juraj Herz has also died, reports Czech Journal.Hirokazu Kore-eda's highly productive filmmaking pace continues with a new project, and The Playlist reports that Juliette Binoche, Catherine Deneuve, and perhaps even Ethan Hawke, are aboard.Recommended VIEWINGTerry Gilliam's decades-in-the-making dream project, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, is finally near. Above is the raucous first trailer led by the aptly paired duo of Jonathan Pryce and Adam Driver.
- 4/11/2018
- MUBI
Aaron Katz’s Gemini opens with a vertiginous upside-down shot of palm trees against a saturated indigo sky—a postcard-perfect Los Angeles, inverted. The camera lingers for a few minutes and then tilts slowly back to earth, as if emerging from a psychedelic stupor. It’s an excellent introduction to Katz’s beguiling neo-noir. Although rife with wry nods to familiar tropes and meta-commentary on the making of mysteries, Gemini is not so much an ironic perversion of the genre as a woozy, Instagram-y evocation. It resurrects the ghosts of L.A. noirs past and filters them through a neon-slicked lens, constructing a sleek thriller around distinctly millennial themes of celebrity and identity. Katz is known primarily for being one of the originators of the mumblecore movement—a verbose, low-key brand of cinema whose predilection for non-events and naturalistic banter seems almost antithetical to the demands of genre filmmaking.
- 4/5/2018
- MUBI
In Gemini, Aaron Katz weaves a neo-noir mystery so provocative that you wish it went on far longer than it does, and that is because as with all good mysteries, the suspects, alibis and investigation become much more fascinating than solving the case. In the film, Zoe Kazan plays Heather, a young, rebellious superstar who is shot dead in her mansion one night, leaving her personal assistant and best friend Jill (Lola Kirke) as the prime suspect. Jill easily slinks away from Detective Ahn’s (John Cho) sight, and a pursue ensues as they both try to find the culprit.
Using stylized cinematography and some truly inventive art direction, Gemini takes place in a Los Angeles of movie dreams, a tempting but slightly menacing location where sex, intrigue and deceit ooze from each turn. Gemini is also endless entertaining, as Katz gives into genre tropes which he manipulates to create...
Using stylized cinematography and some truly inventive art direction, Gemini takes place in a Los Angeles of movie dreams, a tempting but slightly menacing location where sex, intrigue and deceit ooze from each turn. Gemini is also endless entertaining, as Katz gives into genre tropes which he manipulates to create...
- 4/4/2018
- by Jose Solís
- The Film Stage
His fifth feature, and the first following his co-directed (with Martha Stephens) breakthough comedy Land Ho!, Gemini returns writer/director Aaron Katz to the character-based neo-noir of his earlier Cold Weather but with the cloudy Portland grays of that film replaced here with a sunlit sensuality befitting the picture’s L.A. setting. Indeed, shooting in his new hometown for the first time, Katz looks for inspiration to the kind of ’80s thrillers — American Gigolo and Bad Influence in particular — that found their treacheries and ambiguities within the city’s sunlit highways, dark nightclubs and oversized mansions. And while city geography is […]...
- 3/31/2018
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
His fifth feature, and the first following his co-directed (with Martha Stephens) breakthough comedy Land Ho!, Gemini returns writer/director Aaron Katz to the character-based neo-noir of his earlier Cold Weather but with the cloudy Portland grays of that film replaced here with a sunlit sensuality befitting the picture’s L.A. setting. Indeed, shooting in his new hometown for the first time, Katz looks for inspiration to the kind of ’80s thrillers — American Gigolo and Bad Influence in particular — that found their treacheries and ambiguities within the city’s sunlit highways, dark nightclubs and oversized mansions. And while city geography is […]...
- 3/31/2018
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
“Gemini” by venerable indie director Aaron Katz (“Land Ho!,” “Cold Weather”), is a mélange of noir references, striking L.A. visuals, and ambiguous characters. The film follows personal assistant Jill (Lola Kirke) after she is unwittingly caught up in the murder of her best friend/famous actress boss, Heather (Zoë Kravitz). An inscrutable detective (John Cho) throws Jill’s world into disarray, and she embarks on an unprecedented adventure to figure out what happened.
- 3/31/2018
- by Lena Wilson
- The Playlist
The idea that Los Angeles is a city of angels run by devils – that this is where people go to make their dreams come true and where dreams go to die – is, by this point, a completely overplayed cliché. (One based in truth, some might argue, but still.) But the notion that Hollywood, as both a place and a concept, remains a great place to stage a murder mystery? There's still fertile ground to be tilled on the corner of Fountain and Fairfax. Exhibit A: Gemini, a chilled exercise in...
- 3/31/2018
- Rollingstone.com
Lola Kirke is unhappy with Anthony Lane’s review of “Gemini” for the New Yorker, but it isn’t because he didn’t like her performance in the mystery/thriller directed by Aaron Katz. Rather, it’s due to a passage in which Lane comments on the appearance of Kirke’s character, calling it “hardly flattering.”
“Dear Anthony Lane, my costume was no oversight, it was intentional — however the desired effect was not to make me appear unsightly — rather, it was show you that a woman is powerful and beautiful in the big jeans and baggy gray tops you so abhor,” Kirke writes on Instagram.
The offending excerpt refers to Kirke’s character’s “big jeans,” “baggy gray top,” and “the haircut from hell — brown bangs cut straight across, as if by a six-year-old with blunt scissors.” (Lane seems to be a fan of Kirke herself, writing that the actress...
“Dear Anthony Lane, my costume was no oversight, it was intentional — however the desired effect was not to make me appear unsightly — rather, it was show you that a woman is powerful and beautiful in the big jeans and baggy gray tops you so abhor,” Kirke writes on Instagram.
The offending excerpt refers to Kirke’s character’s “big jeans,” “baggy gray top,” and “the haircut from hell — brown bangs cut straight across, as if by a six-year-old with blunt scissors.” (Lane seems to be a fan of Kirke herself, writing that the actress...
- 3/30/2018
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
A fairly crowded pack of new specialties hads to theaters this weekend, including features directed by veterans and newcomers. Lynn Shelton tapped multihyphenate Jay Duplass to star (and co-write) along with Edie Falco in her latest, Outside In, which will play limited runs in L.A. and New York ahead of an on-demand launch. Roadside Attractions/Stage 6, meanwhile, are bringing to this side of the Atlantic the Brit comedy Finding Your Feet with Timothy Spall, Loanna Lumley and Imelda Staunton, set for more than a dozen runs in its opening weekend before expanding to about 500 locations in April. Alan Cumming and Zachary Booth star in Vincent Gagliostro’s directorial debut After Louie, which is opening with a New York exclusive via Freestyle Digital Media, and Andie MacDowell and Chris O’Dowd star in Russell Harbaugh’s Love After Love, which is getting a day-and-date release via Sundance Selects.
Other limited...
Other limited...
- 3/30/2018
- by Brian Brooks
- Deadline Film + TV
In “Gemini,” Aaron Katz regards Los Angeles the way many transplant filmmakers seem to: intrigued, repulsed and yet hopelessly in love. The allure resides in L.A.’s visible, unapologetic contradictions. No one wants you here, but everyone is quick to say, “Hello, hi, happy to have you” in anticipation of a time where they may need you. Relationships are transactional; people, disposable. Katz understands this dubiousness from the get-go, beginning with the relationship between assistant (Lola Kirke as Jill) and starlet (Heather, played by Zoe Kravitz). The power dynamic is present, but not dominating. Jill is composed, honest and eager to...
- 3/28/2018
- by Sam Fragoso
- The Wrap
Confident visuals and strong performances from Zoë Kravitz and Lola Kirke can’t quite paper over the novella-thin plot of a crime in Tinseltown
The relationship between personal assistant and Hollywood star has been curiously under-explored on the big screen, despite the myriad of tantalizing possibilities that the intimate yet drastically uneven connection stirs up. In 2001’s America’s Sweethearts, Julia Roberts played second fiddle to her glamorous movie star sister, played by Catherine Zeta-Jones, yet it was within the framework of a superficial, dull romantic comedy. Much better was 2014’s Clouds of Sils Maria, which offered a deeper dive into the day-to-day life of Kristen Stewart’s aide to Juliette Binoche’s actor. But in neo-noir Gemini, writer-director Aaron Katz has wisely realized the dark potential of this pairing and imagined what murderous intrigue would add to an already complex alliance.
Related: Zoë Kravitz: 'You're just supposed to assume...
The relationship between personal assistant and Hollywood star has been curiously under-explored on the big screen, despite the myriad of tantalizing possibilities that the intimate yet drastically uneven connection stirs up. In 2001’s America’s Sweethearts, Julia Roberts played second fiddle to her glamorous movie star sister, played by Catherine Zeta-Jones, yet it was within the framework of a superficial, dull romantic comedy. Much better was 2014’s Clouds of Sils Maria, which offered a deeper dive into the day-to-day life of Kristen Stewart’s aide to Juliette Binoche’s actor. But in neo-noir Gemini, writer-director Aaron Katz has wisely realized the dark potential of this pairing and imagined what murderous intrigue would add to an already complex alliance.
Related: Zoë Kravitz: 'You're just supposed to assume...
- 3/28/2018
- by Benjamin Lee
- The Guardian - Film News
Once a staple of Hollywood cinema, the film noir has seemingly become almost solely the realm of independent fare. Studio honchos just don’t fawn over them like they used to. You can argue about whether that’s a bad thing or not, but that’s just the way it is currently. The likes of Brick, for example, showcase that small scale versions are still perfectly done. This week, a new indie noir comes out that deserves to find an audience. It’s Gemini, a modern noir that occasionally subverts the genre in pretty interesting ways. In some ways, it’s exactly what you’d expect. In others, it really goes in a different direction. The movie is a Hollywood set noir, though one that’s definitely on the unique side. Jill LeBeau (Lola Kirke) is an assistant to actress Heather Anderson (Zoë Kravitz), and the two clearly share a friendship as well.
- 3/27/2018
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
Gemini Neon Reviewed by: Harvey Karten Director: Aaron Katz Screenwriter: Aaron Katz Cast: Lola Kirke, Zoe Kravitz, John Cho, Ricki Lake, Greta Lee, Michelle Forbes Screened at: Dolby88, NYC, 2/28/18 Opens: March 30, 2018 If you want to be an actor, you must realize that 95% of thespians at any given time are unemployed (or […]
The post Gemini Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Gemini Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 3/25/2018
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
Earlier today the folks at the Northwest Film Center announced the full line-up for this year’s Portland International Film Festival, and have published a Pdf for all to read online. The printed copies will be making their way around town this week.
The Northwest Film Center is proud to reveal the 41st Portland International Film Festival (Piff 41) lineup. This year’s Festival begins on Thursday, February 15th and runs through Thursday, March 1st. Our Opening Night selection is the new comedy The Death of Stalin from writer/director Armando Iannucci (Veep, In the Loop). The film, adapted from the graphic novel by Fabien Nury, stars Steve Buscemi, Olga Kurylenko, Jason Isaacs, and Michael Palin. The Death of Stalin will screen simultaneously on Opening Night at the Whitsell Auditorium, located in the Portland Art Museum (1219 Sw Park Ave) and on two screens at Regal Fox Tower 10 (846 Sw Park Ave).
Check...
The Northwest Film Center is proud to reveal the 41st Portland International Film Festival (Piff 41) lineup. This year’s Festival begins on Thursday, February 15th and runs through Thursday, March 1st. Our Opening Night selection is the new comedy The Death of Stalin from writer/director Armando Iannucci (Veep, In the Loop). The film, adapted from the graphic novel by Fabien Nury, stars Steve Buscemi, Olga Kurylenko, Jason Isaacs, and Michael Palin. The Death of Stalin will screen simultaneously on Opening Night at the Whitsell Auditorium, located in the Portland Art Museum (1219 Sw Park Ave) and on two screens at Regal Fox Tower 10 (846 Sw Park Ave).
Check...
- 1/30/2018
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
Quick takes from the now-wrapped 61st London Film Festival.
Blade of the Immortal
Legendary filmmaker Takashi Miike’s 100th film — and he’s only been working since the early 1990s — is an interminable samurai gorefest. And not in a good way. Based on the manga series by Hiroaki Samura, Blade of the Immortal is the tale of Manji (Takuya Kimura), a swordsman in shogunate Japan who, you guessed it, cannot die after an 800-year-old witch feeds him “blood worms,” drawing him back from a nasty death, in the wake of a gruesome battle. (Why does she save/curse him? No one seems to know.) Fifty years later, he takes up the revenge cause of young Rin (Hana Sugisaki: When Marnie Was There), orphaned when samurai of a lawless dojo attacked her family. She reminds him of his dead sister (Sugisaki plays the sister too), the lawless dojo must be stopped,...
Blade of the Immortal
Legendary filmmaker Takashi Miike’s 100th film — and he’s only been working since the early 1990s — is an interminable samurai gorefest. And not in a good way. Based on the manga series by Hiroaki Samura, Blade of the Immortal is the tale of Manji (Takuya Kimura), a swordsman in shogunate Japan who, you guessed it, cannot die after an 800-year-old witch feeds him “blood worms,” drawing him back from a nasty death, in the wake of a gruesome battle. (Why does she save/curse him? No one seems to know.) Fifty years later, he takes up the revenge cause of young Rin (Hana Sugisaki: When Marnie Was There), orphaned when samurai of a lawless dojo attacked her family. She reminds him of his dead sister (Sugisaki plays the sister too), the lawless dojo must be stopped,...
- 10/26/2017
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
The American Film Institute (AFI) has announced the films that will be featured in their New Auteurs and American Independents sections at the upcoming AFI Fest 2017 presented by Audi. Selections include a number of lauded features from around the festival circuit, including Cannes offerings like “I Am Not a Witch,” SXSW favorites like “Gemini” and “Mr. Roosevelt,” the Sundance breakout “Thoroughbreds,” and Joseph Kahn’s Toronto Midnight Madness favorite “Bodied,” among others.
Highlighting first- and second-time feature film directors, New Auteurs is designed as the festival’s platform for upcoming filmmakers from all over the world to showcase their new films. This year, the section includes 11 films, nine of which come from female directors. Similarly, AFI Fest’s American Independents section aims to represent the best of this year’s independent filmmaking. Pushing boundaries of form and content across narrative and documentary cinema, this section includes 11 films from both fresh...
Highlighting first- and second-time feature film directors, New Auteurs is designed as the festival’s platform for upcoming filmmakers from all over the world to showcase their new films. This year, the section includes 11 films, nine of which come from female directors. Similarly, AFI Fest’s American Independents section aims to represent the best of this year’s independent filmmaking. Pushing boundaries of form and content across narrative and documentary cinema, this section includes 11 films from both fresh...
- 10/16/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Director Aaron Katz (Cold Weather, Dance Party USA) is back with a film about the entrenched weirdness of his adopted city. Gemini stars Zoe Kravitz as Heather, a beautiful movie star hounded by paparazzi, and Jill (Lola Kirke), her personal assistant who takes care of Everything for her --- but at what cost? Heather is also stalked by fans, they show up at dinners and even at her home. She's also threated by her verbally abusive ex-boyfriend Devin (appropriate), who we only get to hear on the phone and by conjecture of other characters. Played by the intense Reeve Carney (Dorian Gray on Penny Dreadful), we only get to see this character in two scenes. Hi background is not spelled out for us, but he...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 9/25/2017
- Screen Anarchy
Last fall, Barry Jenkins was a little-known filmmaker with one feature under his belt, 2008’s “Medicine for Melancholy.” Then he premiered future best picture winner “Moonlight” at the 2016 Telluride Film Festival and everything changed. At the 2017 edition, he returned the favor, not only introducing a series of short film programs at the festival as he has for years, but also by presenting another rising filmmaker to the world.
Read More:‘Lady Bird’ Trailer: Saoirse Ronan Delivers Her Greatest Work in Greta Gerwig’s Brilliant Directorial Debut
Just a few hours after receiving a standing ovation for one of his short film programs, Jenkins took the stage at the Chuck Jones Cinema for the world premiere of “Lady Bird,” the coming-of-age comedy that marks the solo directorial debut of veteran actress Greta Gerwig. There was a practical connection between “Lady Bird” and “Moonlight,” in that both movies share A24 as a distributor.
Read More:‘Lady Bird’ Trailer: Saoirse Ronan Delivers Her Greatest Work in Greta Gerwig’s Brilliant Directorial Debut
Just a few hours after receiving a standing ovation for one of his short film programs, Jenkins took the stage at the Chuck Jones Cinema for the world premiere of “Lady Bird,” the coming-of-age comedy that marks the solo directorial debut of veteran actress Greta Gerwig. There was a practical connection between “Lady Bird” and “Moonlight,” in that both movies share A24 as a distributor.
- 9/5/2017
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSWe are devastated by the death of performer and director Jerry Lewis this week at the age of 91, one of the 20th century's greatest—and most inspiring—artists. Dave Kehr for The New York Times has penned an excellent obituary, and it's worth revisiting Christoph Huber's 2013 coverage of the Viennale's epic retrospective of Lewis's work as an actor and a filmmaker. Last year, Adrian Curry published a selection of the international poster designs for Lewis's films.The Locarno Festival wrapped last week, with the top prize going to Chinese documentarian Wang Bing's Mrs. Fang. We were at the festival covering it day by day, including its retrospective of Hollywood genre director Jacques Tourneur (Cat People, Out of the Past). See all the awards and read our coverage from the Swiss film festival.Recommended VIEWINGThe...
- 8/23/2017
- MUBI
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