The lineup for the 77th Cannes Film Festival has officially been unveiled. As of right now, 19 films will be competing for the prestigious top prize, the Palme d’Or. The festival will be running from May 14 through the closing ceremony on May 25 in the small town on the French Riviera. This year’s jury will be led by Greta Gerwig, fresh off of her success writing and directing “Barbie,” which earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. The remaining members of the jury have yet to be announced.
Having an idea of a filmmaker’s history at the festival can sometimes help give us an insight as to who could be in the best position to take home the Palme. For example, two of this year’s entries come from filmmakers who have previously claimed the Palme. Another five are from directors who have won prizes in official...
Having an idea of a filmmaker’s history at the festival can sometimes help give us an insight as to who could be in the best position to take home the Palme. For example, two of this year’s entries come from filmmakers who have previously claimed the Palme. Another five are from directors who have won prizes in official...
- 4/18/2024
- by Charles Bright
- Gold Derby
There’s just so much summer in “The Tsugua Diaries” — great lashings of sunlight warming and slightly melting every 16mm frame, tangles of hyper-green foliage that seem to sweat in the heat, a generally horny, indolent air of human mischief — that you’d be forgiven for assuming “Tsugua” is some idyllic holiday spot you’ve never heard of, the best-kept secret on the Algarve. As with many elements of Miguel Gomes and Maureen Fazendeiro’s woozy, insouciant experiment, however, a longer look reveals something both surprising and simple. “Tsugua” is simply “August” spelled backwards, which certainly ties into the film’s humid seasonality, and also clues us into its modus operandi.
Everything unfolds backwards in this film about filmmaking under curious circumstances, only gradually revealing the motivations and points of view driving the enterprise, and playfully withholding any sense of what it might all be about. “The Tsugua Diaries” is...
Everything unfolds backwards in this film about filmmaking under curious circumstances, only gradually revealing the motivations and points of view driving the enterprise, and playfully withholding any sense of what it might all be about. “The Tsugua Diaries” is...
- 10/15/2021
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Miguel Gomes’s docu-fantasy hybrid is an epic, experimental compendium of stories reflecting on austerity politics and Portugal
British audiences now have a chance to sample the exotic and mysterious miscellany in the first of three feature-length movie episodes from Portuguese auteur Miguel Gomes: a docu-fantasy hybrid, epically and experimentally proportioned and very loosely inspired by The Arabian Nights. Volume 1, entitled The Restless One, is an opaque compendium of stories – like the ones Scheherazade told to stave off her own death – all responding in indirect ways to the miseries forced on Portugal by austerity, as if by a social-realist Buñuel with a bit of the novelist José Saramago’s existential musing; the same kind of absurdism and deadly serious political scepticism.
Gomes’s previous movies, Our Beloved Month of August (2008) and Tabu (2012), were eccentric hothouse flowers of cinema, and rather joyful in intent. The Arabian Nights looks darker and sadder and angrier.
British audiences now have a chance to sample the exotic and mysterious miscellany in the first of three feature-length movie episodes from Portuguese auteur Miguel Gomes: a docu-fantasy hybrid, epically and experimentally proportioned and very loosely inspired by The Arabian Nights. Volume 1, entitled The Restless One, is an opaque compendium of stories – like the ones Scheherazade told to stave off her own death – all responding in indirect ways to the miseries forced on Portugal by austerity, as if by a social-realist Buñuel with a bit of the novelist José Saramago’s existential musing; the same kind of absurdism and deadly serious political scepticism.
Gomes’s previous movies, Our Beloved Month of August (2008) and Tabu (2012), were eccentric hothouse flowers of cinema, and rather joyful in intent. The Arabian Nights looks darker and sadder and angrier.
- 4/21/2016
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
There are a multitude of reasons why any film may get unfairly overlooked. It could be a lack of marketing resources to give it a substantial push, or, due to a minuscule roll-out, not enough critics and audiences to be the champions it might require. It could simply be the timing of the picture itself; even in the world of studio filmmaking, some features take time to get their due. With an increasingly crowded marketplace, there are more reasons than ever that something might not find an audience and, as with last year, we’ve rounded up the releases that deserved more attention.
Note that all the below films made less than $1 million at the domestic box office at the time of posting (VOD figures are not accounted for, as they normally aren’t made public) and are, for the most part, left out of most year-end conversations. Sadly, most...
Note that all the below films made less than $1 million at the domestic box office at the time of posting (VOD figures are not accounted for, as they normally aren’t made public) and are, for the most part, left out of most year-end conversations. Sadly, most...
- 12/23/2015
- by TFS Staff
- The Film Stage
This is a reprint of our review from the 2015 Cannes Directors' Fortnight. The biggest and most ambitious movie at Cannes this year isn’t an expensive blockbuster ("Mad Max: Fury Road") or a conceptually demanding animated film ("Inside Out"). It’s “Arabian Nights,” a six-hour, three-part project, variously described as a trilogy and as just one movie, shot entirely on film and inspired very, very loosely by the classic collection of fairy tales (also known as “1001 Nights.") The film is the latest from Portuguese helmer Miguel Gomes, who came to the attention of cinephiles with docudrama hybrid “Our Beloved Month Of August,” and then more prominently with “Tabu,” the widely acclaimed, wildly original black-and-white Murnau homage released in 2012. I loved the latter, and have been dying to see what Gomes would get up to next, and the answer doesn’t disappoint: it’s as successful as it is ambitious, and it's one of the most.
- 12/16/2015
- by Oliver Lyttelton
- The Playlist
I’ve come to the reluctant conclusion that there’s no way for me personally to really break down Miguel Gomes’ Arabian Nights trilogy without going through it segment by segment — “reluctant” because this could be too long, for both me and you, the reader, but it must be done. Gomes’ previous two features Our Beloved Month of August and Tabu are vital, terrific, and whatever other approbatory adjectives you want to throw at them; he is, no doubt, a major director, and will be so again. Arabian Nights is not a major movie, but rather a messy sketchbook stuffing disparate short- and medium-length films into an unwieldily […]...
- 12/3/2015
- by Vadim Rizov
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
I’ve come to the reluctant conclusion that there’s no way for me personally to really break down Miguel Gomes’ Arabian Nights trilogy without going through it segment by segment — “reluctant” because this could be too long, for both me and you, the reader, but it must be done. Gomes’ previous two features Our Beloved Month of August and Tabu are vital, terrific, and whatever other approbatory adjectives you want to throw at them; he is, no doubt, a major director, and will be so again. Arabian Nights is not a major movie, but rather a messy sketchbook stuffing disparate short- and medium-length films into an unwieldily […]...
- 12/3/2015
- by Vadim Rizov
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Tales of a Tale of Tales: Gomes’s Three-Part Epic Is A Monument To The Plight Of Portugal’s Working Class
There may be more traditionally successful films released in 2015, but there won’t be any as monolithic, impassioned, euphoric, mad, or aesthetically and socially important as Arabian Nights. For the three-volume, 383-minute ode to the people struggling through Portugal’s current economic crisis, Miguel Gomes appropriates the mythological and formal conceits of the centuries-old collection of Arabic folk tales of the same name, in which Scheherazade spends a thousand and one nights distracting her new husband, the Persian king Shahryar, with alluring stories so that he will not kill her. Rather than using any of the actual tales included in the collection, Gomes spent a year (Summer 2013 to Summer 2014) making up eight of his own, each with its own distinct tone, visual style, characters, degree of collaboration with locals,...
There may be more traditionally successful films released in 2015, but there won’t be any as monolithic, impassioned, euphoric, mad, or aesthetically and socially important as Arabian Nights. For the three-volume, 383-minute ode to the people struggling through Portugal’s current economic crisis, Miguel Gomes appropriates the mythological and formal conceits of the centuries-old collection of Arabic folk tales of the same name, in which Scheherazade spends a thousand and one nights distracting her new husband, the Persian king Shahryar, with alluring stories so that he will not kill her. Rather than using any of the actual tales included in the collection, Gomes spent a year (Summer 2013 to Summer 2014) making up eight of his own, each with its own distinct tone, visual style, characters, degree of collaboration with locals,...
- 12/3/2015
- by Blake Williams
- IONCINEMA.com
The title Arabian Nights conjures up very specific images. Itself a collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian tales best known for stories like Aladdin’s Wonderful Lamp, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and The Seven Voyages Of Sinbad The Sailor (all of which were not a part of the original versions but added in later translations), the tales have been fodder for visual arts ranging from centuries old paintings to the very earliest efforts from the fathers of cinema, like George Melies. The inspiration for musical pieces coming as early as 1800 and helping inspire literature icons like Marcel Proust and James Joyce, these stories have become some of the most recognizable folk tales in all of world history. And yet, few adaptations have been quite like the loose one (if by loose one means connected almost in name only) director Miguel Gomes has given the world.
Volume one of Gomes’ latest masterpiece,...
Volume one of Gomes’ latest masterpiece,...
- 12/2/2015
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
Spectre is the longest Bond ever and The Hateful Eight 70mm event is over three hours, but the most epic cinematic event of the fall will be experiencing Miguel Gomes‘ Tabu follow-up Arabian Nights. Clocking in at 6 hours and 21 minutes and spread across three separate films, technically, it captures fictional stories “from the miserable reality he is immersed in,” some quite hilarious, others not so much.
Set to debut in December at NYC’s Film Society of Lincoln Center — more dates to come here, thanks to Kino Lorber — Gomes stopped by there during the New York Film Festival to give, fittingly, three separate talks. Over the 80 or so minutes, he touches on a variety aspects of the year-long shoot, notably how he came across the stories to pull in and the on-the-fly adaptation process. If you’ve managed to see the films on the festival circuit, it’s a must-watch...
Set to debut in December at NYC’s Film Society of Lincoln Center — more dates to come here, thanks to Kino Lorber — Gomes stopped by there during the New York Film Festival to give, fittingly, three separate talks. Over the 80 or so minutes, he touches on a variety aspects of the year-long shoot, notably how he came across the stories to pull in and the on-the-fly adaptation process. If you’ve managed to see the films on the festival circuit, it’s a must-watch...
- 10/21/2015
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
While Cannes, Toronto, and Venice premiere some of the year’s best films, no annual cinematic event is better curated than the New York Film Festival, which kicks off this weekend. Those attending will witness, over two weeks, some of the best features this year — and next — have to offer.
A simple copy-and-pasting of the line-up would suffice, but we’ve done our best to narrow it down to 25 selections that are the most worth your time. For honorable mentions, we’re looking forward to the stellar line-up of revivals, including The King of Comedy, All That Jazz, Blow Out, Rocco and His Brothers, Ran, Heaven Can Wait, and The Boys from Fengkuei.
We’ve also reviewed a few titles (The Forbidden Room, My Mother, Chevalier) that we were a bit cooler on. Lastly, the festival announced a sneak preview screening of Ridley Scott‘s The Martian, and one can read our review here.
A simple copy-and-pasting of the line-up would suffice, but we’ve done our best to narrow it down to 25 selections that are the most worth your time. For honorable mentions, we’re looking forward to the stellar line-up of revivals, including The King of Comedy, All That Jazz, Blow Out, Rocco and His Brothers, Ran, Heaven Can Wait, and The Boys from Fengkuei.
We’ve also reviewed a few titles (The Forbidden Room, My Mother, Chevalier) that we were a bit cooler on. Lastly, the festival announced a sneak preview screening of Ridley Scott‘s The Martian, and one can read our review here.
- 9/23/2015
- by TFS Staff
- The Film Stage
The Vancouver International Film Festival has announced its most anticipated films in the Gala and Special Presentation categories. The films selected represent a true showcase of international cinema, while highlighting homegrown talent in the world's largest showcase of Canadian films during the 34th annual festival running from September 24th to October 9th.
John Crowley's "Brooklyn" starts the festival off in the Opening Night Gala spot. Marc Abraham's "I Saw the Light" holds the Closing Night Gala position with a feature on the life of country star Hank Williams. The film was produced by Vancouver's Bron Studios. Canadian productions remain a crucial part of the festival, Philippe Falardeau's "My Internship in Canada" will open the Canadian Images program, while Patricia Rozema's "Into the Forest" will occupy the BC Spotlight Awards Gala spot.
In 2015, Vancouver audiences will be exposed to 355 films from 70 countries. With 32 World Premieres, 33 North American Premieres and 53 Canadian Premieres, this year's festival promises to be a feast for Canadian film lovers.
The full line-up and ticket are available at viff.org. Here are some highlights:
Opening Gala "Brooklyn" (John Crowley, U.K/Ireland/Canada)
Lured from Ireland by the American Dream, Eilis (Saoirse Ronan) instead lands in a hardscrabble reality of cramped boarding houses and grungy dancehalls. As homesickness grips her, she's also torn between two admirers (Domhnall Gleeson and Emory Cohen). With Nick Hornby scripting, John Crowley crafts a stirring 50s-era immigration tale that also serves as an exhilarating profile of female empowerment.
Closing Gala "I Saw the Light" (Marc Abraham,USA) Having played gods and monsters with aplomb, Tom Hiddleston takes centre stage as country music legend/renegade Hank Williams. In turns as rambunctious as a barn dance and as reflective as a ballad, Marc Abraham's film chronicles Williams' rapid ascent to stardom and the tragedy of a career cut short by substance abuse. Laid to rest at only 29, Williams left behind a truly remarkable body of work. Handling the singing chores himself, Hiddleston does the man—and his music—proud.
Canadian Images Opening Film My Internship in Canada (Philippe Falardeau, Canada)
Philippe Falardeau ("Monsieur Lazhar") returns with an energetic, laugh-out-loud political comedy that couldn't be more timely. Steve Guibord (Patrick Huard, brilliant) is an independent Quebec MP traveling to his northern riding with a new Haitian intern. Soon after finding themselves caught in the crossfire of activists, miners, truckers, politicians and aboriginal groups, it turns out that Guibord somehow holds the decisive vote in a national debate that will decide whether Canada will go to war in the Middle East! The fabulous Suzanne Clément co-stars.
BC Spotlight Awards Gala "Into the Forest" (Patricia Rozema, Canada)
The BC coastal forest is in all its glory as a father and his two daughters drive off to their remote and idyllic getaway home. They have little sense at first of the growing apocalypse that they are leaving in their wake. It will come to them. Ellen Page, Evan Rachel Wood, Max Minghella, Callum Keith Rennie and Michael Eklund star in this Patricia Rozema-directed adaptation of Jean Hegland's novel.
Spotlight Gala "Beeba Boys" (Deepa Mehta, Canada/India)
Mix propulsive bhangra beats, blazing Ak-47s, bespoke suits, solicitous mothers and copious cocaine, and you have the heady, volatile cocktail that is Deepa Mehta's latest film, an explosive clash of culture and crime. Jeet Johar (Indian star Randeep Hooda) and his young, charismatic Sikh crew vie to take over the Vancouver drug and arms trade in this all-out action/drama. Blood is spilled, heads are cracked, hearts are broken and family bonds are pushed to the brink.
Special Presentations "Arabian Nights" ("Miguel Gomes," Portugal)
Miguel Gomes' ("Tabu," "Our Beloved Month of August") astonishing three-volume, six-hour epic draws inspiration from the tales of Scheherazade (here played by Crista Alfaiate) and once again uses a fascinating combination of reality and fiction to comment on Portugal's past, present and future.
"Dheepan" (Jacques Audiard, France)
Jacques Audiard's ("A Prophet," "Rust and Bone") latest dramatic inquiry into life on society's margins is an alternately gripping and tender love story about the eponymous former Tamil fighter (Antonythasan Jesuthasan) and his improvised family, who exchange war in Sri Lanka for violence of another kind in Paris.
"High-Rise" (Ben Wheatley, U.K)
Ben Wheatley's bold adaptation of Jg Ballard's novel takes no prisoners. This scorching satire on class, hedonism and depravity in an imploding luxury apartment building is an even more apocalyptic class polemic than "Snowpiercer". Throw in exquisitely unsettling turns from Tom Hiddleston and Jeremy Irons, a string quartet cover of Abba's 1975 hit "Sos," an orgy or two and spice with cannibalism, and you have a tour de force of astonishing architectural ambition.
"Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words" (Stig Björkman, Sweden ), Canadian Premiere
Casablanca , Notorious, Voyage to Italy... That Ingrid Bergman, three-time Oscar winner, is one of filmdom's all-time greats is inarguable. Narrated by Swedish (and now Hollywood) star Alicia Vikander, Stig Björkman's intimate exploration of Bergman's personal and professional life benefits immensely from the cooperation of Bergman's daughter Isabella Rossellini, who allowed him access to never-before-seen private footage, notes, letters, diaries and interviews. The result is a rich and multicolored portrait of this extraordinary human being—in her own words.
"Louder Than Bombs" (Joachim Trier, U.S.A/France)
When a war photographer (Isabelle Huppert) dies on assignment, her husband (Gabriel Byrne) struggles to mount a retrospective while dealing with his grieving sons (Jesse Eisenberg, Devin Druid) and her combative colleague (David Strathairn). Joachim Trier ("Oslo, 31st August") poses tough questions about family, marital responsibility and balancing one's calling and kin.
"Room" (Lenny Abrahamson, Ireland, Canada, U.K)
Directed by Lenny Abrahamson and based on the best-selling Man Booker Prize-nominated novel by Irish-Canadian author Emma Donoghue, this is the story of five-year old Jack, who lives in an 11-by-11-foot room with his mother. Since it's all he's ever known, Jack believes that only "Room" and the things it contains (including himself and Ma) are real. Then reality intrudes and Jack's life is turned on its head... A remarkable and disturbing work.
"A Tale of Three Cities" (Mabel Cheung, Hong Kong/China)
A rousingly entertaining movie romance, this historical drama tells the deeply moving story of kung fu superstar Jackie Chan's parents. Both grew up in China's tumultuous 20th century, swept by war, revolution and resistance. When charismatic customs officer Fang (Lau Ching-wan) meets impoverished young widow Chen (Tang Wei), an unbreakable bond is forged. Together, their love endures through extraordinary adventures, as they head towards a future in Hong Kong.
"This Changes Everything" (Avi Lewis, Canada)
Naomi Klein ("Shock Doctrine") has risen to prominence around the world as one of Canada's most forceful and relevant public intellectuals. Her cogent call to direct action has inspired youth, helped chart roadmaps for social progressives and environmentalists, and yet worried those who believe that her critique of capitalism plays into the hands of right wingers who think climate change is a socialist plot. Join us, Naomi Klein and director Avi Lewis for this special presentation of "This Changes Everything."
"Youth" (Paolo Sorrentino, Italy/France/Switzerland/U.K)
Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel and Rachel Weisz anchor Paolo Sorrentino's gorgeous follow-up to The Great Beauty. Fred (Caine), a retired composer, and friend Mick (Keitel), a film director, are sojourning in a stunning Swiss alpine spa. Surrounded by bodies old and young, supple and sagging, they reconsider their pasts–while Sorrentino choreographs the action with exquisite control.
Canadian Images Special Presentations "Hyena Road" (Paul Gross, Canada)
In Paul Gross' film, ripped from the headlines, a sniper, who has never allowed himself to think of his targets as human, becomes implicated in the life of one of them. An intelligence officer, who has never contemplated killing, becomes the engine of a plot to kill. A legendary Mujahideen warrior, who had put war behind him, is now deeply involved. Three different men, three different worlds, three different conflicts, yet all stand at the intersection of modern warfare.
"Remember" (Atom Egoyan, Canada)
Atom Egoyan returns with a completely original take on the darkest chapter of horror in the last century. Christopher Plummer plays a man who's looking for the person who might be responsible for wiping out his family, as he strains to seize the evanescent memories of long-ago brutality. The all-star cast includes Henry Czerny, Martin Landau and Bruno Ganz. Benjamin August's screenplay will keep you guessing until the very end.
John Crowley's "Brooklyn" starts the festival off in the Opening Night Gala spot. Marc Abraham's "I Saw the Light" holds the Closing Night Gala position with a feature on the life of country star Hank Williams. The film was produced by Vancouver's Bron Studios. Canadian productions remain a crucial part of the festival, Philippe Falardeau's "My Internship in Canada" will open the Canadian Images program, while Patricia Rozema's "Into the Forest" will occupy the BC Spotlight Awards Gala spot.
In 2015, Vancouver audiences will be exposed to 355 films from 70 countries. With 32 World Premieres, 33 North American Premieres and 53 Canadian Premieres, this year's festival promises to be a feast for Canadian film lovers.
The full line-up and ticket are available at viff.org. Here are some highlights:
Opening Gala "Brooklyn" (John Crowley, U.K/Ireland/Canada)
Lured from Ireland by the American Dream, Eilis (Saoirse Ronan) instead lands in a hardscrabble reality of cramped boarding houses and grungy dancehalls. As homesickness grips her, she's also torn between two admirers (Domhnall Gleeson and Emory Cohen). With Nick Hornby scripting, John Crowley crafts a stirring 50s-era immigration tale that also serves as an exhilarating profile of female empowerment.
Closing Gala "I Saw the Light" (Marc Abraham,USA) Having played gods and monsters with aplomb, Tom Hiddleston takes centre stage as country music legend/renegade Hank Williams. In turns as rambunctious as a barn dance and as reflective as a ballad, Marc Abraham's film chronicles Williams' rapid ascent to stardom and the tragedy of a career cut short by substance abuse. Laid to rest at only 29, Williams left behind a truly remarkable body of work. Handling the singing chores himself, Hiddleston does the man—and his music—proud.
Canadian Images Opening Film My Internship in Canada (Philippe Falardeau, Canada)
Philippe Falardeau ("Monsieur Lazhar") returns with an energetic, laugh-out-loud political comedy that couldn't be more timely. Steve Guibord (Patrick Huard, brilliant) is an independent Quebec MP traveling to his northern riding with a new Haitian intern. Soon after finding themselves caught in the crossfire of activists, miners, truckers, politicians and aboriginal groups, it turns out that Guibord somehow holds the decisive vote in a national debate that will decide whether Canada will go to war in the Middle East! The fabulous Suzanne Clément co-stars.
BC Spotlight Awards Gala "Into the Forest" (Patricia Rozema, Canada)
The BC coastal forest is in all its glory as a father and his two daughters drive off to their remote and idyllic getaway home. They have little sense at first of the growing apocalypse that they are leaving in their wake. It will come to them. Ellen Page, Evan Rachel Wood, Max Minghella, Callum Keith Rennie and Michael Eklund star in this Patricia Rozema-directed adaptation of Jean Hegland's novel.
Spotlight Gala "Beeba Boys" (Deepa Mehta, Canada/India)
Mix propulsive bhangra beats, blazing Ak-47s, bespoke suits, solicitous mothers and copious cocaine, and you have the heady, volatile cocktail that is Deepa Mehta's latest film, an explosive clash of culture and crime. Jeet Johar (Indian star Randeep Hooda) and his young, charismatic Sikh crew vie to take over the Vancouver drug and arms trade in this all-out action/drama. Blood is spilled, heads are cracked, hearts are broken and family bonds are pushed to the brink.
Special Presentations "Arabian Nights" ("Miguel Gomes," Portugal)
Miguel Gomes' ("Tabu," "Our Beloved Month of August") astonishing three-volume, six-hour epic draws inspiration from the tales of Scheherazade (here played by Crista Alfaiate) and once again uses a fascinating combination of reality and fiction to comment on Portugal's past, present and future.
"Dheepan" (Jacques Audiard, France)
Jacques Audiard's ("A Prophet," "Rust and Bone") latest dramatic inquiry into life on society's margins is an alternately gripping and tender love story about the eponymous former Tamil fighter (Antonythasan Jesuthasan) and his improvised family, who exchange war in Sri Lanka for violence of another kind in Paris.
"High-Rise" (Ben Wheatley, U.K)
Ben Wheatley's bold adaptation of Jg Ballard's novel takes no prisoners. This scorching satire on class, hedonism and depravity in an imploding luxury apartment building is an even more apocalyptic class polemic than "Snowpiercer". Throw in exquisitely unsettling turns from Tom Hiddleston and Jeremy Irons, a string quartet cover of Abba's 1975 hit "Sos," an orgy or two and spice with cannibalism, and you have a tour de force of astonishing architectural ambition.
"Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words" (Stig Björkman, Sweden ), Canadian Premiere
Casablanca , Notorious, Voyage to Italy... That Ingrid Bergman, three-time Oscar winner, is one of filmdom's all-time greats is inarguable. Narrated by Swedish (and now Hollywood) star Alicia Vikander, Stig Björkman's intimate exploration of Bergman's personal and professional life benefits immensely from the cooperation of Bergman's daughter Isabella Rossellini, who allowed him access to never-before-seen private footage, notes, letters, diaries and interviews. The result is a rich and multicolored portrait of this extraordinary human being—in her own words.
"Louder Than Bombs" (Joachim Trier, U.S.A/France)
When a war photographer (Isabelle Huppert) dies on assignment, her husband (Gabriel Byrne) struggles to mount a retrospective while dealing with his grieving sons (Jesse Eisenberg, Devin Druid) and her combative colleague (David Strathairn). Joachim Trier ("Oslo, 31st August") poses tough questions about family, marital responsibility and balancing one's calling and kin.
"Room" (Lenny Abrahamson, Ireland, Canada, U.K)
Directed by Lenny Abrahamson and based on the best-selling Man Booker Prize-nominated novel by Irish-Canadian author Emma Donoghue, this is the story of five-year old Jack, who lives in an 11-by-11-foot room with his mother. Since it's all he's ever known, Jack believes that only "Room" and the things it contains (including himself and Ma) are real. Then reality intrudes and Jack's life is turned on its head... A remarkable and disturbing work.
"A Tale of Three Cities" (Mabel Cheung, Hong Kong/China)
A rousingly entertaining movie romance, this historical drama tells the deeply moving story of kung fu superstar Jackie Chan's parents. Both grew up in China's tumultuous 20th century, swept by war, revolution and resistance. When charismatic customs officer Fang (Lau Ching-wan) meets impoverished young widow Chen (Tang Wei), an unbreakable bond is forged. Together, their love endures through extraordinary adventures, as they head towards a future in Hong Kong.
"This Changes Everything" (Avi Lewis, Canada)
Naomi Klein ("Shock Doctrine") has risen to prominence around the world as one of Canada's most forceful and relevant public intellectuals. Her cogent call to direct action has inspired youth, helped chart roadmaps for social progressives and environmentalists, and yet worried those who believe that her critique of capitalism plays into the hands of right wingers who think climate change is a socialist plot. Join us, Naomi Klein and director Avi Lewis for this special presentation of "This Changes Everything."
"Youth" (Paolo Sorrentino, Italy/France/Switzerland/U.K)
Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel and Rachel Weisz anchor Paolo Sorrentino's gorgeous follow-up to The Great Beauty. Fred (Caine), a retired composer, and friend Mick (Keitel), a film director, are sojourning in a stunning Swiss alpine spa. Surrounded by bodies old and young, supple and sagging, they reconsider their pasts–while Sorrentino choreographs the action with exquisite control.
Canadian Images Special Presentations "Hyena Road" (Paul Gross, Canada)
In Paul Gross' film, ripped from the headlines, a sniper, who has never allowed himself to think of his targets as human, becomes implicated in the life of one of them. An intelligence officer, who has never contemplated killing, becomes the engine of a plot to kill. A legendary Mujahideen warrior, who had put war behind him, is now deeply involved. Three different men, three different worlds, three different conflicts, yet all stand at the intersection of modern warfare.
"Remember" (Atom Egoyan, Canada)
Atom Egoyan returns with a completely original take on the darkest chapter of horror in the last century. Christopher Plummer plays a man who's looking for the person who might be responsible for wiping out his family, as he strains to seize the evanescent memories of long-ago brutality. The all-star cast includes Henry Czerny, Martin Landau and Bruno Ganz. Benjamin August's screenplay will keep you guessing until the very end.
- 9/6/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Jang Kun-jae’s third feature is an unusual project, comparable in recent memory only to Miguel Gomes’ singular Our Beloved Month of August (2008), in that it is divided into two distinct halves, the first with an overriding documentary feel, the second using actors from the first to narrate a fiction.
The film takes place in the near-abandoned village of Gojō in the Nara Prefecture of south-central Japan. A young Korean film-maker (Im Hyeong-gook) is visiting with his interpreter (Kim Se-byeok) to research the area and interview locals, and the film’s opening is straight documentary, with credits rolling over a long-held, static shot of a barely-bustling café full of old people, followed by a table interview with the proprietors. The film style adheres closer to something one might wish to call typical east-Asian slow narrative fiction thereafter, however, with lengthy, static shots of people talking, or thinking, frequently with their back to the camera.
The film takes place in the near-abandoned village of Gojō in the Nara Prefecture of south-central Japan. A young Korean film-maker (Im Hyeong-gook) is visiting with his interpreter (Kim Se-byeok) to research the area and interview locals, and the film’s opening is straight documentary, with credits rolling over a long-held, static shot of a barely-bustling café full of old people, followed by a table interview with the proprietors. The film style adheres closer to something one might wish to call typical east-Asian slow narrative fiction thereafter, however, with lengthy, static shots of people talking, or thinking, frequently with their back to the camera.
- 6/18/2015
- by Tom Newth
- SoundOnSight
Read More: 2015 Indiewire Cannes Bible The latest film from acclaimed Portuguese auteur Miguel Gomes ("Our Beloved Month of August," "Tabu") is his most ambitious work by far. Divided into three feature-length "volumes" — "The Restless One," "The Desolate One," and The Enchanted One" — "Arabian Nights" is a six-hour epic consisting of interwoven stories. Taking its namesake from the famous ancient collection of folktales, the film makes it clear early on that this is not an adaptation despite being inspired by the book's structure, in which the beautiful Scheherazade (played here by Crista Alfaiate) tells a fantastical tale every evening for 1001 nights to distract the tyrannical king from killing her. If the movie's cumbersome running time appears intimidating, its episodic nature makes it easily digestible, and here at the Cannes Film Festival it has been presented on three separate days — a fine way to experience...
- 5/22/2015
- by Adam Cook
- Indiewire
The biggest and most ambitious movie at Cannes this year isn’t an expensive blockbuster ("Mad Max: Fury Road") or a conceptually demanding animated film ("Inside Out"). It’s “Arabian Nights,” a six-hour, three-part project, variously described as a trilogy and as just one movie, shot entirely on film and inspired very, very loosely by the classic collection of fairy tales (also known as “1001 Nights.") The film is the latest from Portuguese helmer Miguel Gomes, who came to the attention of cinephiles with docudrama hybrid “Our Beloved Month Of August,” and then more prominently with “Tabu,” the widely acclaimed, wildly original black-and-white Murnau homage released in 2012. I loved the latter, and have been dying to see what Gomes would get up to next, and the answer doesn’t disappoint: it’s as successful as it is ambitious, and it's one of the most remarkable, distinctive, and magical films of the festival so.
- 5/20/2015
- by Oliver Lyttelton
- The Playlist
Variety‘s Jay Weissberg says: Miguel Gomes’ devotees will delight in how “Arabian Nights” takes structural elements from “Our Beloved Month of August” as well as ...
- 5/18/2015
- by Ryan Adams
- AwardsDaily.com
Miguel Gomes — the wildly talented director of Tabu and Our Beloved Month of August — will be premiering his new film at Cannes. Technically, Arabian Nights might be considered three separate films, since it’s six hours long and in three volumes. As The New York Times‘ Rachel Donadio explained in a fine profile last year, the film examines the Portuguese recession and its fallout on citizens through a dozen stories. The trailer is lively.
- 5/12/2015
- by Vadim Rizov
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Miguel Gomes — the wildly talented director of Tabu and Our Beloved Month of August — will be premiering his new film at Cannes. Technically, Arabian Nights might be considered three separate films, since it’s six hours long and in three volumes. As The New York Times‘ Rachel Donadio explained in a fine profile last year, the film examines the Portuguese recession and its fallout on citizens through a dozen stories. The trailer is lively.
- 5/12/2015
- by Vadim Rizov
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Benoit Poelvorde and Yolande Moreau in Jaco Van Dormael’s The Brand New Testament
The final major piece of the Cannes Film Festival jigsaw was put in place today (21 April) when the Directors’ Fortnight (La Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) listed its full line-up of 19 titles (including the three part Arabian Nights).
Arabian Nights by Portugal’s Michel Gomes, lasts more than six hours and, with no other likely contenders, looks set to be the longest film in Cannes this year. Previously Gomes was in the Fortnight with Our Beloved Month Of August premiered there seven years ago.
Other significant directors in the mix include Belgium’s Jaco Van Dormael with The Brand New Testament, a religious satire with god played by Benoit Poelvoode and Yolande Moreau and Catherine Deneuve in the cast, and Japan’s Takashi Miike with Yakuza Apocalypse: The Great War Of The Underworld (in a special screening slot...
The final major piece of the Cannes Film Festival jigsaw was put in place today (21 April) when the Directors’ Fortnight (La Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) listed its full line-up of 19 titles (including the three part Arabian Nights).
Arabian Nights by Portugal’s Michel Gomes, lasts more than six hours and, with no other likely contenders, looks set to be the longest film in Cannes this year. Previously Gomes was in the Fortnight with Our Beloved Month Of August premiered there seven years ago.
Other significant directors in the mix include Belgium’s Jaco Van Dormael with The Brand New Testament, a religious satire with god played by Benoit Poelvoode and Yolande Moreau and Catherine Deneuve in the cast, and Japan’s Takashi Miike with Yakuza Apocalypse: The Great War Of The Underworld (in a special screening slot...
- 4/21/2015
- by Richard Mowe
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Arabian Nights
Director: Miguel Gomes// Writers: Miguel Gomes, Telmo Churro, Mariana Ricardo
Miguel Gomes’ 2012 film Tabu managed to elevate the Portugeuse filmmaker’s international status when it picked up two awards at the Berlin film festival that year, and had a hand in at last making his 2008 Cannes premiered sophomore feature Our Beloved Month of August at last available for DVD consumption in the Us. Experimentally inclined, Gomes next tackles the famed Arabian nights tale but abandons all except for the structure to depict a modern Portugal in peril under Troika control. It’s the most ambitious treatment of the material since Pasolini adapted Arabian Nights back in 1974. We’ll be expecting stunning musical interplay and visually innovative sequences.
Cast: Carloto Cotta, Joana de Verona, Adriano Luz
Producer: O Som e a Fúria
U.S. Distributor: Rights available
Release Date: Rumored to be aiming for a Spring 2015 release, we’re...
Director: Miguel Gomes// Writers: Miguel Gomes, Telmo Churro, Mariana Ricardo
Miguel Gomes’ 2012 film Tabu managed to elevate the Portugeuse filmmaker’s international status when it picked up two awards at the Berlin film festival that year, and had a hand in at last making his 2008 Cannes premiered sophomore feature Our Beloved Month of August at last available for DVD consumption in the Us. Experimentally inclined, Gomes next tackles the famed Arabian nights tale but abandons all except for the structure to depict a modern Portugal in peril under Troika control. It’s the most ambitious treatment of the material since Pasolini adapted Arabian Nights back in 1974. We’ll be expecting stunning musical interplay and visually innovative sequences.
Cast: Carloto Cotta, Joana de Verona, Adriano Luz
Producer: O Som e a Fúria
U.S. Distributor: Rights available
Release Date: Rumored to be aiming for a Spring 2015 release, we’re...
- 1/7/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Toying with narrative form seems to be director Miguel Gomes’s forte. Our Beloved Month Of August turned the documentation of a musically inclined rural village into a humorous deconstruction the filmmaking process, never revealing what might or might not be real. With his latest, Tabu (double 2012 Berlin Film Festival winner: Alfred Bauer Award and a Fipresci award), the boundaries of reality are never breached, but the gear shifting narrative is no less inventive and quite a bit more emotionally engaging than his last go round. This time he takes us into the life of a Lisbon dwelling gambling addict retiree who’s implicit previous life in the African foot hills regarding Mount Tabu holds memories of her peak of passion and regret, but this tail, at first caustically withholding and later spryly romantic, is full of rich misdirection that deftly plays with the ideas of loyalty and repression with surprising verve.
- 11/5/2013
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Nb: Films by Robert Beavers, Peter Hutton, and Luther Price were unavailable for preview. However, I said some very nice things about these men and their work in general over at The Dissolve.
In years past, I have attempted to present this extended article as a preview; my aim has been to send it off into the world either the day before of the day of Tiff's kick-off. That has proven impossible this year, and, dear reader, I am heartily sorry for having offended thee... But the fact that Wavelengths is a beat that is becoming harder and harder for one person to adequately cover is undoubtedly a sign of good health. Since last year, when Tiff enfolded the former Visions section (a space for formally adventurous narrative features) into Wavelengths (Tiff's experimental showcase), not only has interest in the section grown exponentially. The section can now more fully reflect...
In years past, I have attempted to present this extended article as a preview; my aim has been to send it off into the world either the day before of the day of Tiff's kick-off. That has proven impossible this year, and, dear reader, I am heartily sorry for having offended thee... But the fact that Wavelengths is a beat that is becoming harder and harder for one person to adequately cover is undoubtedly a sign of good health. Since last year, when Tiff enfolded the former Visions section (a space for formally adventurous narrative features) into Wavelengths (Tiff's experimental showcase), not only has interest in the section grown exponentially. The section can now more fully reflect...
- 9/9/2013
- by Michael Sicinski
- MUBI
Following on from 2008's Our Beloved Month of August, Portuguese director Miguel Gomes returned victoriously last year with monochrome marvel and Berlin Film Festival hit Tabu (2012), an engaging, provocative and poetic drama set both in Portugal and in an unnamed African location. To celebrate Tabu's home entertainment release on 14 January, we've kindly been provided with Three Blu-ray copies of the film to give away to our loyal readers, courtesy of our good friends at New Wave Films. This is an exclusive competition for our Facebook and Twitter fans, so if you haven't already, 'Like' us at facebook.com/CineVueUK or follow us @CineVue before answering the question below.
Read more »...
Read more »...
- 1/17/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
#10: The Cabin in the Woods (107 points)
Written by Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard
Directed by Drew Goddard
USA, 2012
Like Scream, it’s a self-aware slasher film, but where Scream was happy simply to turn the genre’s bloody glove inside out and examine the stitching, The Cabin in the Woods has more complicated ambitions. If Scream is a bloody glove turned inside out, then The Cabin in the Woods is a Russian nesting doll described by H. P. Lovecraft and carved by M. C. Escher. Like Hitchcock’s Psycho and Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom, The Cabin of the Woods isn’t just about killing, it is about watching (and filming) killing. Our sympathies are torn between the victims being watched and the watchers, including an action sequence modelled loosely on the Psycho car burial. What is perhaps most horrifying is that the watchers are almost bored, like a...
Written by Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard
Directed by Drew Goddard
USA, 2012
Like Scream, it’s a self-aware slasher film, but where Scream was happy simply to turn the genre’s bloody glove inside out and examine the stitching, The Cabin in the Woods has more complicated ambitions. If Scream is a bloody glove turned inside out, then The Cabin in the Woods is a Russian nesting doll described by H. P. Lovecraft and carved by M. C. Escher. Like Hitchcock’s Psycho and Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom, The Cabin of the Woods isn’t just about killing, it is about watching (and filming) killing. Our sympathies are torn between the victims being watched and the watchers, including an action sequence modelled loosely on the Psycho car burial. What is perhaps most horrifying is that the watchers are almost bored, like a...
- 12/29/2012
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Like a lot of late (oft-fetish) objects of cinephilia (cf. Django Unchained, Holy Motors, You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet, the films of Gabriel Abrantes, even, or perhaps most of all, This Is Not a Film), Miguel Gomes' Tabu is a sutured fantasy, that is, with the seams showing: all calculating formal frameworks for cute fantasy only end up referring back to their production history (as documentary), as well as the same national history the self-contained storyline was supposed to shield against. Of course the point is simple: stories are cultural products, and as in the African documentaries of Salzar's chief propagandist, António Lopes Ribeiro, Gomes' stories end up revealing everything they're designed to evade. Until its late swerve into unremitting pastiche, the point when cultural history collapses into a Forrest Gump crime scene, Tabu, like so many Portuguese films with their cheap resources and love letter narrators, straddles the...
- 12/28/2012
- by David Phelps
- MUBI
by Vadim Rizov
Miguel Gomes' third feature Tabu is as different from his first two (as yet, he has no recurring stylistic tics) as it is from any other film this year. What it shares with 2004's severely patience-testing The Face You Deserve (which prompted one interviewer to ask, verbatim, "what the fuck") and 2008's delightful Our Beloved Month of August is severe structural separation. The Face You Deserve morphs into a different movie after 20 minutes, while August playfully/evasively morphs from a quasi-documentary about itself to an overtly staged narrative halfway through.
The division in Tabu is less porous and more pointed. First, a prologue (narrated by Gomes) about a colonial expedition instigated "by order of the king and Bible," headed by a pith-hatted explorer. "Taciturn and melancholy, the sad figure wanders," Gomes intones in deadpan over images of the stone-faced explorer and his native bearers, a scene...
Miguel Gomes' third feature Tabu is as different from his first two (as yet, he has no recurring stylistic tics) as it is from any other film this year. What it shares with 2004's severely patience-testing The Face You Deserve (which prompted one interviewer to ask, verbatim, "what the fuck") and 2008's delightful Our Beloved Month of August is severe structural separation. The Face You Deserve morphs into a different movie after 20 minutes, while August playfully/evasively morphs from a quasi-documentary about itself to an overtly staged narrative halfway through.
The division in Tabu is less porous and more pointed. First, a prologue (narrated by Gomes) about a colonial expedition instigated "by order of the king and Bible," headed by a pith-hatted explorer. "Taciturn and melancholy, the sad figure wanders," Gomes intones in deadpan over images of the stone-faced explorer and his native bearers, a scene...
- 12/27/2012
- GreenCine Daily
Behold the courage of Portuguese filmmaker Miguel Gomes: hoping to do a film in the vein of “Meet Me In St. Louis,” he and a crew traveled to the small Arganil Municipality in the country to begin work on a movie featuring a small family band -- that is until the movie’s investor died before signing on the dotted line. Instead of calling it a day, Gomes pressed on and made “Our Beloved Month of August,” a doc/fiction hybrid that captured the essence of the lively environment while commenting on the fragility and banality of a film production. It’s a special, beautiful beast of a movie that unfortunately didn’t see much of a release. Luckily, Gomes has quickly followed up with the brilliant “Tabu” (which we gave an A-grade review to out of Tiff). Beginning with a rather conventional opening chapter titled 'Lost Paradise,...
- 12/26/2012
- by Christopher Bell
- The Playlist
Tabu, a film that playfully evokes the golden age of silent cinema, took home the Fipresci Jury Prize and Alfred Baeur Prize for Artistic Innovation at this year's Berlin Film Festival. Its director, Miguel Gomes, along with Pedro Costa, Manoel de Oliveira and other notable filmmakers working today in Portugal, is the driving force behind Portuguese cinema's opposition to the economically strapped government's austerity measure that cut funding for its small but vibrant film industry. The subject dominated our brief conversation at this year's New York Film Festival. As a great admirer of Portuguese cinema, his insights on the matter were very informative and helpful to understand the state of their struggle.Twitch: Seeing your last film, Our Beloved Month Of August and now Tabu, I...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 12/26/2012
- Screen Anarchy
I don’t’ share the popular opinion that 2012 has been a terrible year in film. It hasn’t been as strong as previous years but 2012 gave us such gems as Holy Motors, The Master, Berberian Sound Studio, Tabu, Skyfall and Moonrise Kingdom, to name a few. As with every year, I thought it appropriate to highlight some of the year’s most memorable individual moments, scenes, and sequences, from movies that may or may not have made our individual year-end lists. Which is no small feat considering just how insane the release calendar has become.
We are keeping out credit sequences since we feel it is an art form in itself.
Honourable Mentions:
The Deep Blue Sea – The underground flashback.
Oslo, August 31st – The cafe scene.
Miss Bala – The extended take during the shoot out .
Universal Solider 4 – The opening shotgun sequence.
Universal Solider 4 – The fight in the sport retail store.
We are keeping out credit sequences since we feel it is an art form in itself.
Honourable Mentions:
The Deep Blue Sea – The underground flashback.
Oslo, August 31st – The cafe scene.
Miss Bala – The extended take during the shoot out .
Universal Solider 4 – The opening shotgun sequence.
Universal Solider 4 – The fight in the sport retail store.
- 12/18/2012
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Behold the courage of Portuguese filmmaker Miguel Gomes: hoping to do a film in the vein of “Meet Me In St. Louis,” he and and a crew traveled to the small Arganil Municipality in the country to begin work on a movie featuring a small family band -- that is until the movie’s investor died before signing the dotted line. Instead of calling it a day, Gomes pressed on and made “Our Beloved Month of August,” a doc/fiction hybrid that captured the essence of the lively environment while commenting on the fragility and banality of a film production. It’s a special, beautiful beast of a movie that unfortunately didn’t see much of a release. Luckily, Gomes has quickly followed up with the brilliant “Tabu” (which we gave an A-grade review to out of Tiff). Beginning with a rather conventional opening chapter titled 'Lost Paradise,...
- 10/18/2012
- by Christopher Bell
- The Playlist
Portuguese director Miguel Gomes's "Tabu" has come away from the 39th Ghent Film Festival with the Grand Prix for best film, the international festival jury announced Wednesday. Gomes, whose previous work includes "Our Beloved Month of August" and "The Face You Deserve," enchanted critics from the get-go when "Tabu," a poetic, black-and-white portrait of colonialism, premiered in February at the Berlin film festival. In naming the winner, the jury, which was chaired by U.S. critic Joan Dupont, cited a "highly original approach to a mysterious love story" and a "creative reflection on colonial history." Other Grand Prix recipients in recent years include Andrey Zvyagintsev's "Elena" and Feo Aladag's "When We Leave." "Tabu" screened last week at the New York Film Festival and will open in theaters via Adopt Films December 26. Check out Eric Kohn's review from...
- 10/17/2012
- by Chris Pomorski
- Indiewire
Festival du Nouveau Cinéma ’12: ‘Tabu’ an exquisitely-cut gem, and perhaps the best film of the year
Tabu
Directed by Miguel Gomes
Written by Miguel Gomes
Portugal, 2012
With his third feature, Portuguese critic-turned-auteur Miguel Gomes has proven himself to be a director in complete control of his craft. Tabu is a film of artistic cool – breaking classic genre conventions in the most crafty and affectionate way by consistently subverting the narrative in a beautiful dreamlike style. The film is divided into two parts: The first section is set in modern day Lisbon and titled Paradise Lost. It follows Aurora, an elderly cranky woman who spends her last days suffering from paranoia and the emotional burden of a troubled past. The second section, titled Paradise, is set in Mozambique in the 1960s, and tells the story of her uncontrollable and obsessive relationship with a man named Venturo, deep in the jungles of Africa. These two chapters are preceded by an enigmatic prologue, which turns out to be a...
Directed by Miguel Gomes
Written by Miguel Gomes
Portugal, 2012
With his third feature, Portuguese critic-turned-auteur Miguel Gomes has proven himself to be a director in complete control of his craft. Tabu is a film of artistic cool – breaking classic genre conventions in the most crafty and affectionate way by consistently subverting the narrative in a beautiful dreamlike style. The film is divided into two parts: The first section is set in modern day Lisbon and titled Paradise Lost. It follows Aurora, an elderly cranky woman who spends her last days suffering from paranoia and the emotional burden of a troubled past. The second section, titled Paradise, is set in Mozambique in the 1960s, and tells the story of her uncontrollable and obsessive relationship with a man named Venturo, deep in the jungles of Africa. These two chapters are preceded by an enigmatic prologue, which turns out to be a...
- 10/9/2012
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Today we have a new teaser poster for Tabu movie, the Jury Prize winner at this years Berlin Film Festival.
Acclaimed director Miguel Gomes (“Our Beloved Month of August”) returns with a sumptuous, eccentric two-part tale centered on Aurora, shown first as an impulsive, cantankerous elderly woman in present-day Lisbon.
When Aurora is hospitalized, she sends her neighbor, Pilar, to pass word of her grave condition to Gian Luca, a man of which no one has ever heard her speak. Pilar’s quest to fulfill her friend’s wish transports us to Africa fifty years earlier, before the start of the Portuguese Colonial War. We see Aurora again, this time as the gorgeous, smoldering wife of a wealthy young farmer, involved in a forbidden love affair with Gian Luca, her husband’s best friend. Their moving, poetic tale is conveyed through the older Gian Luca’s suave voiceover, combined with the lush,...
Acclaimed director Miguel Gomes (“Our Beloved Month of August”) returns with a sumptuous, eccentric two-part tale centered on Aurora, shown first as an impulsive, cantankerous elderly woman in present-day Lisbon.
When Aurora is hospitalized, she sends her neighbor, Pilar, to pass word of her grave condition to Gian Luca, a man of which no one has ever heard her speak. Pilar’s quest to fulfill her friend’s wish transports us to Africa fifty years earlier, before the start of the Portuguese Colonial War. We see Aurora again, this time as the gorgeous, smoldering wife of a wealthy young farmer, involved in a forbidden love affair with Gian Luca, her husband’s best friend. Their moving, poetic tale is conveyed through the older Gian Luca’s suave voiceover, combined with the lush,...
- 9/20/2012
- by Allan Ford
- Filmofilia
As I mentioned in the preface to the first part of my Wavelengths preview (the one focusing on the short films), there are significant changes afoot in 2012. Until last year, the festival had a section known as Visions, which was the primary home for formally challenging cinema that nevertheless conformed to the basic tenets of arthouse and/or “festival” cinema (actors, scripting, 70+minute running time, and, once upon a time, 35mm presentation). This year, Wavelengths is both its former self, and it also contains the sort of work that Visions most likely would have housed. While in some respects this can seem to result in a kind of split personality for the section, it also means that Wavelengths, which has often been described as a sort of “festival within the festival,” has moved front and center. Films that would’ve occupied single slots in the older avant-Wavelengths model, like the...
- 9/12/2012
- MUBI
“When history is what it should be, it is an elaboration of cinema.” —Ortega y Gasset
“The key for me is finding some rhythm of the film, not so much in the plot from a traditional sense but, rather, from its internal rhythm.” —Matías Piñeiro
1
There are works of art that affect in bulk, all at once; these are the aesthetic experiences that unify, that impose boundaries on the license of eye and ear. Other works of art achieve a dissociated and dissociating stylistic program; these are the works that cannot be experienced or understood as feats of synthesis, or as products of a single point of view.
While much of the art of the past century might be described as an effort toward a radical disaffiliation of elements—word and image, depth and surface, form and content—awareness of a quarrelsome relationship between two presumably incompatible ways of making...
“The key for me is finding some rhythm of the film, not so much in the plot from a traditional sense but, rather, from its internal rhythm.” —Matías Piñeiro
1
There are works of art that affect in bulk, all at once; these are the aesthetic experiences that unify, that impose boundaries on the license of eye and ear. Other works of art achieve a dissociated and dissociating stylistic program; these are the works that cannot be experienced or understood as feats of synthesis, or as products of a single point of view.
While much of the art of the past century might be described as an effort toward a radical disaffiliation of elements—word and image, depth and surface, form and content—awareness of a quarrelsome relationship between two presumably incompatible ways of making...
- 8/20/2012
- MUBI
In 2009, the best film in Competition at the Berlinale was Maren Ade's Everyone Else (Fwiw, it came away with 1.5 Silver Bears, the 1 for Best Actress Birgit Minichmayr, the .5 for tying with Adrián Biniez's Gigante for the Jury Grand Prix; the Golden Bear that year went to Claudia Llosa's The Milk of Sorrow). Three years on (!), the trio that made Everyone Else worth talking up to this day (see, for example, Kevin B Lee's new video essay on a key scene at Fandor; see, too, Mike D'Angelo on the same scene a year ago at the Av Club) is back in Competition, albeit in three different films. Lars Eidinger has drawn the shortest straw, taking on the lead in Hans-Christian Schmid's rather dismal Home for the Weekend. Minichmayr's fared better opposite Jürgen Vogel in Matthias Glasner's new film, though I seriously doubt many of us will...
- 2/18/2012
- MUBI
A head-scratchingly lyrical immersion into colonialist metaphor and historical memory, Portuguese director Miguel Gomes' third feature "Tabu" reaches for the dreamlike experiences of Apichatpong Weerasethakul's oeuvre with a bold structure that defies genre specifics. At the same time, for all its confusing and erratic qualities, Gomes ("Our Beloved Month of August") has made a decisively cinematic work, tapping into classic film traditions while subverting them with consistent narrative invention. Not to be confused with the F.W. Murnau movie of the same name, "Tabu" nonetheless borrows the expressionistic style of the earlier film's period, using luxurious black-and-white photography to alternately drain the life out of a boring world and transcend it with the magic realism of the alternate reality that eventually takes over. Gomes breaks his movie into two very different parts: The first, entitled "A Lost Paradise," serves...
- 2/15/2012
- Indiewire
Another charmingly eccentric exercise in meta-fiction from Portugal’s offbeat new directing star Miguel Gomes, Tabu chooses to explore its characters without following narrative rules, or rather, by reshuffling hackneyed tropes from film and novels to turn them into strange, modern entertainment. Gomes’s freedom to play with familiar bits and pieces will once again earn the film critic-turned-director (Our Beloved Month of August) wide critical praise, which could push this oddity into more adventurous art house circles not afraid of its black-and-white cinematography and old-fashioned square format. And yet, fun as it generally is, there
read more...
read more...
- 2/14/2012
- by Deborah Young
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Nina Hoss in Christian Petzold's Barbara
"An additional ten world premieres will be screening in the Competition program of the Berlinale 2012," the festival's announced today:
Aujourd'hui
France/Senegal
By Alain Gomis (L'Afrance, Andalucia)
With Saül Williams, Aïssa Maïga, Djolof M'bengue
"What goes on inside the head of a man who knows he has only 24 hours to live?" begins a report from the Afp. "Franco-Senegalese director Alain Gomis takes viewers through this final day."
Barbara
Germany
By Christian Petzold (Yella, Jerichow, Dreileben)
With Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld
The synopsis from The Match Factory: "East Germany. Barbara has requested a departure permit. It is the summer of 1978. She is a physician and is transferred, for disciplinary reasons, to a small hospital far away from everything in a provincial backwater. Her lover, a foreign trade employee at Mannesmann that she met on a spring night in East Berlin, is working on her escape.
"An additional ten world premieres will be screening in the Competition program of the Berlinale 2012," the festival's announced today:
Aujourd'hui
France/Senegal
By Alain Gomis (L'Afrance, Andalucia)
With Saül Williams, Aïssa Maïga, Djolof M'bengue
"What goes on inside the head of a man who knows he has only 24 hours to live?" begins a report from the Afp. "Franco-Senegalese director Alain Gomis takes viewers through this final day."
Barbara
Germany
By Christian Petzold (Yella, Jerichow, Dreileben)
With Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld
The synopsis from The Match Factory: "East Germany. Barbara has requested a departure permit. It is the summer of 1978. She is a physician and is transferred, for disciplinary reasons, to a small hospital far away from everything in a provincial backwater. Her lover, a foreign trade employee at Mannesmann that she met on a spring night in East Berlin, is working on her escape.
- 1/9/2012
- MUBI
A Portuguese film festival will be held in Goa with selection of contemporary films on November 5-6, 2011. The venue for the festival is Maquinez Palace; Auditorium I, Panaji.
The films to be screened as part of this festival are Miguel Gomes’s Aquele Querido Mês de Agosto (Our beloved Month of August), Telmo Martins’s Um Funeral à Chuva (A Funeral In the Rain), Alberto Seixas Santos’ E o Tempo Passa (And Time Goes By), Marco Martins’ Alice, João Salaviza’s Arena and Sandro Aguilar’s A Zona (The Zone).
This festival will be organized by the Entertainment Society of Goa in association with the Semana da Cultura Indo-Portuguesa, the Consulate General of Portugal, Goa, and Instituto Camões, Portugal.
For more information on the film schedule, log on to the www.iffigoa.org website.
The films to be screened as part of this festival are Miguel Gomes’s Aquele Querido Mês de Agosto (Our beloved Month of August), Telmo Martins’s Um Funeral à Chuva (A Funeral In the Rain), Alberto Seixas Santos’ E o Tempo Passa (And Time Goes By), Marco Martins’ Alice, João Salaviza’s Arena and Sandro Aguilar’s A Zona (The Zone).
This festival will be organized by the Entertainment Society of Goa in association with the Semana da Cultura Indo-Portuguesa, the Consulate General of Portugal, Goa, and Instituto Camões, Portugal.
For more information on the film schedule, log on to the www.iffigoa.org website.
- 11/2/2011
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
If you took the time to blink at all in the last couple of months, you likely missed some pretty awesome production news: Miguel Gomes is making a film called Tabu. Gomes' sophomore film Our Beloved Month of August tore up the high-arthouse circuits beginning with its 2008 Directors' Fortnight premiere, finally hitting limited North American screens in 2010 via FiGa Films before succumbing to what will surely be a protracted life of being worshipped by a small, vocal following. See, Our Beloved is the kind of rigorous, stream-of-conscious essay film on filmmaking, music, performance, and Argentinian folkiness that is simultaneously impossible to advertise, and impossible to dismiss. My initial viewing left me frustrated, bewildered, and enthralled in its docu-fiction, reality-music video tailspin, and I've been starving for his next turn, if only to find out where in the world he could go next. With filming set to wrap in Spring sometime,...
- 4/7/2011
- IONCINEMA.com
With 2010 only a week over, it already feels like best-of and top-ten lists have been pouring in for months, and we’re already tired of them: the ranking, the exclusions (and inclusions), the rules and the qualifiers. Some people got to see films at festivals, others only catch movies on video; and the ability for us, or any publication, to come up with a system to fairly determine who saw what when and what they thought was the best seems an impossible feat. That doesn’t stop most people from doing it, but we liked the fantasy double features we did last year and for our 3rd Writers Poll we thought we'd do it again.
I asked our contributors to pick a single new film they saw in 2010—in theaters or at a festival—and creatively pair it with an old film they saw in 2010 to create a unique double feature.
I asked our contributors to pick a single new film they saw in 2010—in theaters or at a festival—and creatively pair it with an old film they saw in 2010 to create a unique double feature.
- 1/10/2011
- MUBI
From a remake of the 1969 western True Grit to a delirious movie-melodrama about a ballerina hoping to play the lead in Swan Lake, there's something for all tastes here
127 Hours
Watch from between your fingers, or hide under the seat: James Franco plays a mountain climber with an awful decision to make when his arm gets trapped under an enormous boulder. This true story, directed by Danny Boyle, has had cinema audiences wincing, yelping, moaning and rocking back and forth in distress.
Out on 5 January.
The King's Speech
Awards bait it may be, but this movie is carried off with terrific panache. Colin Firth plays the unhappy George VI in 1930s Britain, crucified with shame at his stammer; Geoffrey Rush is Leonard Logue, the outspoken Australian speech therapist who is the only man who can help. Helena Bonham Carter is Queen Elizabeth (to be known, decades later, as the Queen Mother).
Out on 7 January.
127 Hours
Watch from between your fingers, or hide under the seat: James Franco plays a mountain climber with an awful decision to make when his arm gets trapped under an enormous boulder. This true story, directed by Danny Boyle, has had cinema audiences wincing, yelping, moaning and rocking back and forth in distress.
Out on 5 January.
The King's Speech
Awards bait it may be, but this movie is carried off with terrific panache. Colin Firth plays the unhappy George VI in 1930s Britain, crucified with shame at his stammer; Geoffrey Rush is Leonard Logue, the outspoken Australian speech therapist who is the only man who can help. Helena Bonham Carter is Queen Elizabeth (to be known, decades later, as the Queen Mother).
Out on 7 January.
- 1/3/2011
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
We've got less than a month until top ten lists for 2010 are due. Which means we've got less than a month to catch up on all the films we missed. In an effort to make sure I don't overlook anything in my own personal movie cramming session, I posted this message to Twitter earlier this afternoon:
Finish this sentence: "The movie you need to see before making your 2010 best-of list is ____________."
The responses I got, from professional critics and amateur enthusiasts, created such an impressive list, that I thought it was worth sharing. Obviously there are holes, and the nature of my question to Twitter means massive hits like "Inception" didn't get mentioned. But this is a good place to start catching up, and I'm more than willing to make this a living document. If there are movies you think deserve to be added, send me a message on Twitter.
Finish this sentence: "The movie you need to see before making your 2010 best-of list is ____________."
The responses I got, from professional critics and amateur enthusiasts, created such an impressive list, that I thought it was worth sharing. Obviously there are holes, and the nature of my question to Twitter means massive hits like "Inception" didn't get mentioned. But this is a good place to start catching up, and I'm more than willing to make this a living document. If there are movies you think deserve to be added, send me a message on Twitter.
- 11/17/2010
- by Matt Singer
- ifc.com
The 24th Guadalajara Film Festival Awards went to Gerardo Tort's Viaje Redondo (Round Trip) and Peruvian Claudia Llosa's La teta asustada (The Milk of Sorrow) in the Mexican and Latin American feature film sections, respectively. Voy a explotar (I'm Going to Explode) from Canana, directed by Gerardo Naranjo won for first work in the Latin American section, even though it was actually his second work. Naranjo's first work was Drama/Mex. Carlos Enderle's Cronicas Chilanga won for Mexican first work, Mexican screenplay, and best actor award going to Patricio Castillo. Other winners included La passion de Gabriel, Corazon del Tiempo for best director, and Retorno a Hansala also for best director. The special jury prize went to Aquele Querido Mes de Agosto (This Dear Month of August). At the Coproduction Meetings awards went to Sergio Teubal for his project El dedo and to Leandro Fabrizzi of Puerto Rico for Filiberto.
During the days of the festival, The red carpet was unfurled for the world debut of The Perfect Game by William Dear and producers David Salzberg and Christian Tureaud. Encounters with the media were held for the movies Corazón del tiempo, Niño Pez, La Última y nos Vamos, and Amor sin Fin.
Otra Película de Huevos y un Pollo by brothers Rodolfo and Gabriel Riva Palacios surprised many as the film chosen to inaugurate FLCG24.
Encounters with the media were held for the feature films Voy a Explotar, Camino which won six Goya prizes, including best movie, best director and best actress, and Rabioso Sol Rabioso Cielo.
The keynote speech Sunday March 22 under the aegis of IV Digital Space in Guadalajara will be a lecture by Peter Broderick, The New World of Distribution.
Broderick, President of Paradigm Consulting, is known as one of the leading experts in the development of creative strategies for digital distribution. His innovative viewpoints have contributed to both producers and filmmakers multiplying audiences and revenue and successfully taking advantage of the opportunities offered by the digital age.
The first day's activities included Gerardo Tort presenting his movie Viaje Redondo, director and scriptwriter Alicia Scherson and star Diego Noguera presenting the Chilean movie Turistas to the press, a competitor in the Ibero-American Feature-length Fiction category.
The Gala event featured Sólo Quiero Caminar, and afterward the Guadalajara Prize was awarded to Guadalajara's own actor, director and producer Gael Garcia Bernal. Special event Cinelandia began with Manu Chao presenting the films that have touched his life, including Los Olvidados by Luis Buñuel and Princesas by fellow Spaniard Fernando Leon de Aranoa. ...
During the days of the festival, The red carpet was unfurled for the world debut of The Perfect Game by William Dear and producers David Salzberg and Christian Tureaud. Encounters with the media were held for the movies Corazón del tiempo, Niño Pez, La Última y nos Vamos, and Amor sin Fin.
Otra Película de Huevos y un Pollo by brothers Rodolfo and Gabriel Riva Palacios surprised many as the film chosen to inaugurate FLCG24.
Encounters with the media were held for the feature films Voy a Explotar, Camino which won six Goya prizes, including best movie, best director and best actress, and Rabioso Sol Rabioso Cielo.
The keynote speech Sunday March 22 under the aegis of IV Digital Space in Guadalajara will be a lecture by Peter Broderick, The New World of Distribution.
Broderick, President of Paradigm Consulting, is known as one of the leading experts in the development of creative strategies for digital distribution. His innovative viewpoints have contributed to both producers and filmmakers multiplying audiences and revenue and successfully taking advantage of the opportunities offered by the digital age.
The first day's activities included Gerardo Tort presenting his movie Viaje Redondo, director and scriptwriter Alicia Scherson and star Diego Noguera presenting the Chilean movie Turistas to the press, a competitor in the Ibero-American Feature-length Fiction category.
The Gala event featured Sólo Quiero Caminar, and afterward the Guadalajara Prize was awarded to Guadalajara's own actor, director and producer Gael Garcia Bernal. Special event Cinelandia began with Manu Chao presenting the films that have touched his life, including Los Olvidados by Luis Buñuel and Princesas by fellow Spaniard Fernando Leon de Aranoa. ...
- 3/23/2009
- Sydney's Buzz
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