The poisonous playbooks of populist politics are compellingly dramatized in Lucas Belvaux's This Is Our Land (Chez Nous), a thinly veiled assault on France's far-right Front National, which hits cinemas two months before the republic's keenly contested presidential election. Starring Emilie Dequenne as a small-town nurse recruited as a mayoral candidate by a fictional reactionary party, this tenth feature by versatile Belgian director/co-writer Belvaux (best known for 2009 kidnapping-themed hit Rapt) has already stirred controversy at home and will likely translate such publicity into healthy box-office returns upon its Feb. 22 release.
Extensive theatrical play...
Extensive theatrical play...
- 2/6/2017
- by Neil Young
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Not My Type (Pas son Genre)
Director: Lucas Belvaux
Writer: Lucas Belvaux
Producer: Agat Films’ Patrick Sobelman
U.S. Distributor: Rights Available
Cast: Emilie Dequenne, Loic Corbery, Anne Coesens
Belvaux is, unfortunately, one of those exciting director’s that isn’t often discussed in the Us, though he’s directed an enjoyable trilogy of films starring Catherine Frot (a great actress that doesn’t receive the attention she deserves in the English speaking realm) and a 2009 thriller, Rapt. While his last film, 2012′s 38 Hours (also known as One Night) was a bit dry, (though some last minute cast changes with Charlotte Gainsbourg dropping out may have upset proceedings) we’re looking forward to his latest offering based on the Philippe Vilain novel.
Gist: Clement, a young Parisian philosophy professor, is transferred to Arras for a year. Far from Paris and its nightlife, he doesn’t know what to do with his free time.
Director: Lucas Belvaux
Writer: Lucas Belvaux
Producer: Agat Films’ Patrick Sobelman
U.S. Distributor: Rights Available
Cast: Emilie Dequenne, Loic Corbery, Anne Coesens
Belvaux is, unfortunately, one of those exciting director’s that isn’t often discussed in the Us, though he’s directed an enjoyable trilogy of films starring Catherine Frot (a great actress that doesn’t receive the attention she deserves in the English speaking realm) and a 2009 thriller, Rapt. While his last film, 2012′s 38 Hours (also known as One Night) was a bit dry, (though some last minute cast changes with Charlotte Gainsbourg dropping out may have upset proceedings) we’re looking forward to his latest offering based on the Philippe Vilain novel.
Gist: Clement, a young Parisian philosophy professor, is transferred to Arras for a year. Far from Paris and its nightlife, he doesn’t know what to do with his free time.
- 2/5/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
A delegation of creators, artists, performers and directors members of the coalition of the 6200 creators who have submitted a petition to the European Parliament will be in Strasbourg next Tuesday, June 11.
A press conference is scheduled from 5pm to 5:30pm at the European Parliament.
This press conference aims to defend the massive European Parliament vote in favor of the exclusion of cultural and audiovisual services, including online services, from the EU-usa trade agreement and to update on the state of negotiations on the eve of the Council Foreign Affairs that will take place on June 14, 2013.
To date, the following creators, members of the delegation, confirmed their presence in Strasbourg:
Bérénice Bejo (French Actress, Best Actress Award at Cannes for The Past by Asghar Farhadi, César for Best Actress for The Artist by Michel Hazanavicius)
Costa Gavras (writer, director and producer Franco-Greek, President of the French Cinematheque, won 11 awards including a Palme d’Or, an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, an Ours d’Or, a Cesar for Best Original Screenplay)
Lucas Belvaux (Belgian actor and director, author of An Amazing Couple, Cavale, After life, Rapt, 38 Witnesses)
Daniele Luchetti (Italian actor and director, Camera d'Or at Cannes for Domani Accadrà, author of La Nostra Vita)
Cristian Mungiu (writer, director and producer in Romania, won the Palme d'Or for 4 Months, 3 Weeks)
Radu Mihaileanu (Romanian writer and director, won a Cesar for Best Original Screenplay for Va, vis et deviens)
There are 6200 creators petitioners, and they invite whomever to participate in the press conference next Thursday June 11th at 5pm.
Contact:
Anaïs Benfedda
benf.anais[a]gmail.com...
A press conference is scheduled from 5pm to 5:30pm at the European Parliament.
This press conference aims to defend the massive European Parliament vote in favor of the exclusion of cultural and audiovisual services, including online services, from the EU-usa trade agreement and to update on the state of negotiations on the eve of the Council Foreign Affairs that will take place on June 14, 2013.
To date, the following creators, members of the delegation, confirmed their presence in Strasbourg:
Bérénice Bejo (French Actress, Best Actress Award at Cannes for The Past by Asghar Farhadi, César for Best Actress for The Artist by Michel Hazanavicius)
Costa Gavras (writer, director and producer Franco-Greek, President of the French Cinematheque, won 11 awards including a Palme d’Or, an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, an Ours d’Or, a Cesar for Best Original Screenplay)
Lucas Belvaux (Belgian actor and director, author of An Amazing Couple, Cavale, After life, Rapt, 38 Witnesses)
Daniele Luchetti (Italian actor and director, Camera d'Or at Cannes for Domani Accadrà, author of La Nostra Vita)
Cristian Mungiu (writer, director and producer in Romania, won the Palme d'Or for 4 Months, 3 Weeks)
Radu Mihaileanu (Romanian writer and director, won a Cesar for Best Original Screenplay for Va, vis et deviens)
There are 6200 creators petitioners, and they invite whomever to participate in the press conference next Thursday June 11th at 5pm.
Contact:
Anaïs Benfedda
benf.anais[a]gmail.com...
- 6/8/2013
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Each week within this column we strive to pair the latest in theatrical releases to worthwhile titles currently available on Netflix Instant Watch. This week we offer alternatives to Men in Black 3, Moonrise Kingdom and The Intouchables.
Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones reprise their roles as agent J and agent K in the time-traveling tale that features Josh Brolin as 1960- era K. Jemaine Clement co-stars; Barry Sonnenfeld directs.
Like your sci-fi funny?
Futurama (1999) The Simpsons creator Matt Groening took his observational and absurd humor into space for this witty and wacky cartoon series. 21st century pizza boy Philip J. Fry stumbles into a cryogenic tube and wakes up 1000 years later, where he discovers a world peopled with jaded robots, noble mutants, and bizarre aliens. Each week offers a new misadventure and plenty of jokes that reward re-watching. Billy West and Katey Sagal co-star. Seasons 1-6 now streaming.
Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones reprise their roles as agent J and agent K in the time-traveling tale that features Josh Brolin as 1960- era K. Jemaine Clement co-stars; Barry Sonnenfeld directs.
Like your sci-fi funny?
Futurama (1999) The Simpsons creator Matt Groening took his observational and absurd humor into space for this witty and wacky cartoon series. 21st century pizza boy Philip J. Fry stumbles into a cryogenic tube and wakes up 1000 years later, where he discovers a world peopled with jaded robots, noble mutants, and bizarre aliens. Each week offers a new misadventure and plenty of jokes that reward re-watching. Billy West and Katey Sagal co-star. Seasons 1-6 now streaming.
- 5/24/2012
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
Each week within this column we strive to pair the latest in theatrical releases to worthwhile titles currently streaming on Netflix Instant Watch. This week we offer alternatives to War Horse, Pariah, & A Separation.
With the Academy Awards eligibility deadline about to hit, three Oscar hopefuls do battle at the box office, including Steven Spielberg‘s latest epic, a gritty indie from Brooklyn, NY, and an Iranian thriller that’s drawing worldwide notice.
Based on Michael Morpurgo’s children’s novel and its resulting Broadway hit, Spielberg’s War Horse centers on the bond between a young man and his horse. With its posh pedigree, this drama is looking to win more than audience attention. [Full Review.]
Oscar loves a good war story:
The English Patient (1996) This epic World War II-set romance scored 12 Oscar nominations and took home nine, including honors for writer-director Anthony Minghella and star Juliette Binoche, not to mention Best Picture.
With the Academy Awards eligibility deadline about to hit, three Oscar hopefuls do battle at the box office, including Steven Spielberg‘s latest epic, a gritty indie from Brooklyn, NY, and an Iranian thriller that’s drawing worldwide notice.
Based on Michael Morpurgo’s children’s novel and its resulting Broadway hit, Spielberg’s War Horse centers on the bond between a young man and his horse. With its posh pedigree, this drama is looking to win more than audience attention. [Full Review.]
Oscar loves a good war story:
The English Patient (1996) This epic World War II-set romance scored 12 Oscar nominations and took home nine, including honors for writer-director Anthony Minghella and star Juliette Binoche, not to mention Best Picture.
- 12/29/2011
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
Neil Moritz is remaking Robert A. Heinlein‘s Starship Troopers with Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz writing the screenplay. Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz are the screenwriters of Thor and X-Men: First Class. This does not imbue me with that much hope as Thor was severely flawed and X-Men: First Class had some issues as well.
On the original Starship Troopers and future releases:
The original film, released in 1997, was a moderate theatrical success but lives on in the hearts of its fans (myself included) and in numerous direct to DVD sequels. A new animated film, Starship Troopers Invasion, from the acclaimed director of Appleseed Shinji Aramaki, will be released next year.
Two questions asked of what the remake will consist of, with the writer’s answers following them:
1. Will they go back to the Heinlein source material or draw from Verhoeven’s film?
Heinlein’s book is...
On the original Starship Troopers and future releases:
The original film, released in 1997, was a moderate theatrical success but lives on in the hearts of its fans (myself included) and in numerous direct to DVD sequels. A new animated film, Starship Troopers Invasion, from the acclaimed director of Appleseed Shinji Aramaki, will be released next year.
Two questions asked of what the remake will consist of, with the writer’s answers following them:
1. Will they go back to the Heinlein source material or draw from Verhoeven’s film?
Heinlein’s book is...
- 12/3/2011
- by filmbook
- Film-Book
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Dec. 6, 2011
Price: DVD $29.95, Blu-ray $34.95
Studio: Kino Lorber
Yvan Attal gets put through the ringer in the French thriller Rapt.
Inspired by the 1978 kidnapping of French industrialist Edouard-Jean Empain, Rapt is an acclaimed 2009 French drama-thriller film written and directed by actor/filmmaker Lucas Belvaux.
The movie kicks off when wealthy industrialist Stanilas Graff (Yvan Attal, Leaving) is kidnapped in a daring daylight operation and held ransom for 50 million Euros. As his family scrambles to raise the funds, his multi-national company is more concerned with massaging public opinion and limiting their financial exposure.
Before long, the unsavory details of Graff’s personal life are splashed over the tabloids. He is revealed to be an inveterate gambler, adulterer and worse, and with this disgrace, the private urgency to free him disappears. It’s left to the police to secure his escape. For Graff, however, the world he might return...
Price: DVD $29.95, Blu-ray $34.95
Studio: Kino Lorber
Yvan Attal gets put through the ringer in the French thriller Rapt.
Inspired by the 1978 kidnapping of French industrialist Edouard-Jean Empain, Rapt is an acclaimed 2009 French drama-thriller film written and directed by actor/filmmaker Lucas Belvaux.
The movie kicks off when wealthy industrialist Stanilas Graff (Yvan Attal, Leaving) is kidnapped in a daring daylight operation and held ransom for 50 million Euros. As his family scrambles to raise the funds, his multi-national company is more concerned with massaging public opinion and limiting their financial exposure.
Before long, the unsavory details of Graff’s personal life are splashed over the tabloids. He is revealed to be an inveterate gambler, adulterer and worse, and with this disgrace, the private urgency to free him disappears. It’s left to the police to secure his escape. For Graff, however, the world he might return...
- 11/18/2011
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Chicago – The kidnapped industrialist is pretty sure that he heard the voice somewhere before. He’s just not sure where. Perhaps it was at a poker game. Perhaps it belonged to one of the faceless men that watched stealthily as he recklessly risked his fortune on the gambling table. Now the odds are clearly stacked against the industrialist, who hears the familiar voice coming from the masked face of his captor.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
That’s the enticing setup for “Rapt,” an abduction thriller that gets more interesting as it glides along, culminating in a final half hour that achieves an altogether different and more resonant darkness. Belgian filmmaker Lucas Belvaux loosely based his original screenplay on the 1978 abduction of Baron Édouard-Jean Empain, and anyone familiar with the baron’s story will more or less know the outcome of this tense yarn.
Read Matt Fagerholm’s full review of “Rapt” in our reviews section.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
That’s the enticing setup for “Rapt,” an abduction thriller that gets more interesting as it glides along, culminating in a final half hour that achieves an altogether different and more resonant darkness. Belgian filmmaker Lucas Belvaux loosely based his original screenplay on the 1978 abduction of Baron Édouard-Jean Empain, and anyone familiar with the baron’s story will more or less know the outcome of this tense yarn.
Read Matt Fagerholm’s full review of “Rapt” in our reviews section.
- 9/1/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Title: Rapt Writer-director: Lucas Belvaux Starring: Yvan Attal, Anne Consigny, Andre Marcon The differences between French cinema and Hollywood studio offerings are various and sundry, but perhaps best illustrated by something like Rapt, a sprawling and inventive kidnap drama which doesn’t so much deliver an adrenaline shot of nervy thrills as steadily ooze disquieting tension over the course of its two-hour running time. Watching this superb high-wire balancing act unfold, one is struck by the myriad ways American thrillers typically angle for car chases and other jolts of immediacy, even if it doesn’t always make sense within the confines of the narrative. So when word of a planned English-language remake of Rapt broke not...
- 8/14/2011
- by bsimon
- ShockYa
(thanks to The Film Doctor) Salon’s Andrew O’Herir calls Rapt a “Hitchcockian fable.” The ice-blond “good wife,” Françoise (Anne Consigny, in a classic Grace Kelly part), is in...
- 7/9/2011
- by Ryan Adams
- AwardsDaily.com
Although released in Europe in 2009, French director Lucas Belvaux's tense kidnapping thriller "Rapt" arrives on these shores with startling immediacy. The story of a wealthy industrialist (Yvann Attal) kidnapped by anonymous thugs for ransom, it emphasizes the media scrutiny of his many affairs that go public during the weeks he spends in captivity. Alienated from the comfort zone that money and power provide, he remains helpless to defend himself, ...
- 7/8/2011
- Indiewire
Lucas Belvaux’s first U.S. release since the interlocking trilogy of On The Run, An Amazing Couple, and After Life, Rapt is less a thriller than a horror movie in which Yvan Attal’s dissolute industrialist is both monster and Final Girl. A profligate gambler and womanizer with a direct line to the French president, Attal seems to have it all, which makes him the ideal target for a gang of kidnappers looking to extort €50 million from his wife and colleagues. Their faces shrouded in balaclavas even when Attal is blinded by a pair of blacked-out goggles, the ...
- 7/7/2011
- avclub.com
Rapt Click here to read the review! Yvan Attal’s committed, complex turn as the kidnapped titan of finance is greater than its confines; plot demands never allow his character to fully come to monstrously detached life. A richer and more unusual movie would have done away with the genre exercises and instead started with the moral question mark that this one finishes with.
- 7/6/2011
- IONCINEMA.com
In A Better World, Oscar-winning director, Susanne Bier has some interesting plans for the future. But at this moment, Danish helmer has signed on to direct a remake of Rapt, the French kidnapping thriller inspired by a true story about a corporate chairman who is held for ransom by organized criminals.
The original 2009 movie, directed by Lucas Belvaux, was a successful one. It was nominated for 4 César Awards in 2010, including Best Film, and as you already know we’re talking about the French equivalent of an Oscar.
This time, Bier is in charge for directing a remake, and she has almost finished the script with her In a Better World co-writer Anders Thomas Jensen.
Here’s a description: “On a morning like any other a powerful business man, Stanislas Graff, is kidnapped outside his luxurious apartment building by a gang of thugs. From there begins a terrifying ordeal that will last for several weeks.
The original 2009 movie, directed by Lucas Belvaux, was a successful one. It was nominated for 4 César Awards in 2010, including Best Film, and as you already know we’re talking about the French equivalent of an Oscar.
This time, Bier is in charge for directing a remake, and she has almost finished the script with her In a Better World co-writer Anders Thomas Jensen.
Here’s a description: “On a morning like any other a powerful business man, Stanislas Graff, is kidnapped outside his luxurious apartment building by a gang of thugs. From there begins a terrifying ordeal that will last for several weeks.
- 3/1/2011
- by Fiona
- Filmofilia
From favela to fabulous at the Oscars, and how the French have turned the 'remake' tables on America
From trash to triumph
Tonight's Oscars sees a rags to riches tale to rival that of the kids from Slumdog Millionaire in 2008. British documentary maker Lucy Walker is nominated for Waste Land, about the rubbish pickers of Jardim Gramacho, a favela on the world's largest rubbish dump, just north of Rio de Janeiro. Lucy's using her "date" ticket to invite one of the stars of her film to the Oscars. Tiao Santos will travel from his favela to the Kodak theatre after a frantic battle for visas and a panic to get him a black tie outfit. Tiao is now president of the Association of Pickers, a society his mother helped form and one which has seen the health of the favela workers improve immeasurably. Born in the favela, Tiao has been...
From trash to triumph
Tonight's Oscars sees a rags to riches tale to rival that of the kids from Slumdog Millionaire in 2008. British documentary maker Lucy Walker is nominated for Waste Land, about the rubbish pickers of Jardim Gramacho, a favela on the world's largest rubbish dump, just north of Rio de Janeiro. Lucy's using her "date" ticket to invite one of the stars of her film to the Oscars. Tiao Santos will travel from his favela to the Kodak theatre after a frantic battle for visas and a panic to get him a black tie outfit. Tiao is now president of the Association of Pickers, a society his mother helped form and one which has seen the health of the favela workers improve immeasurably. Born in the favela, Tiao has been...
- 2/27/2011
- by Jason Solomons
- The Guardian - Film News
Director/Writer Susanne Bier is remaking Lucas Belvaux‘s 2009 Rapt. With writer Anders Thomas Jensen assisting in penning the remake, their film follows the same storyline of Belvauz’s film. Rapt‘s plot synopsis: “Inspired by a true story, Rapt follows a corporate chairman who is held for ransom by a group of highly organized criminals while family, the corporation and the police are pitted against each other.” Rapt‘s hostage aspect seems to have shades of The Disappearance of Alice Creed and Inside Man to it. ”Patrick Milling Smith, John Hart (Revolutionary Road) and Greg Shapiro (The Hurt Locker) are producing with Brian Carmody exec producing for Smuggler”. When questioned about the film, Patrick Milling Smith expounded about what the central issues are with the film.
Milling Smith tells me: “The underlying story is definitely a high stakes thriller but at its core it is about human struggle. We...
Milling Smith tells me: “The underlying story is definitely a high stakes thriller but at its core it is about human struggle. We...
- 2/24/2011
- by filmbook
- Film-Book
While she's currently getting ready to walk the red carpet this Sunday and is likely getting her acceptance speech ready as her latest film "In a Better World" is highly expected to take home the Best Foreign Film Oscar, director Susanne Bier isn't wasting any time lining up her next project. Deadline reports that Anders Thomas Jensen, Bier's longtime collaborator who has previously penned "Brothers," "After the Wedding" and "Open Hearts," is nearly done with the screenplay for "Rapt," a remake of the recent Cesar-nominated French thriller. Based on a true story, the film centers on "a corporate chairman who…...
- 2/23/2011
- The Playlist
Real-life couple Charlotte Gainsbourg and Yvan Attal will once again share the lead, this time in Belgian director Lucas Belvaux eighth feature film which is set to begin filming next month in the North of France in Le Havre. Titled Une nuit (One Night) this sees thesps Nicole Garcia and Natacha Régnier (who starred in the Cannes selected La Raison du plus faible) fill out the supporting roles. Attal starred in Belvaux's last picture Rapt (2009) which will be released stateside on July 12th. Gist: Inspired by Didier Decoin's novel "Est-ce ainsi que les femmes meurent?", this is the story of a wife (Charlotte Gainsbourg) who discovers that her husband is one of the witnesses of a crime scene. Worth Noting: The Gainsbourg-Attal pair of previously starred together in such films as My Wife is an Actress (2001) and in ...And They Lived Happily Ever After (2004). Do We Care?: Like...
- 1/10/2011
- IONCINEMA.com
Like any good kidnapping scheme, Lorber Films are planning ahead. Lorber have announced the pick-up of a 2009 Rotterdam preemed thriller which was picking up dust. Lucas Belvaux's Rapt will receive a middle of summer 2011 release on July 12th. This stars the overrated Yvan Attal, and underrated Anne Consigny. Gist: Inspired by the 1978 kidnapping of French French industrialist Édouard-Jean Empain (read wiki entry), this is about a rich businessman (played by Attal) is brutally kidnapped. While he physically and mentally degenerates in imprisonment, the kidnappers, police and the board of the company of which he is director negotiate his ransom. During the ordeal, much of Graff’s hidden dealings and love affairs come to the surface, forcing his family to question his loyalty. No this is not some recent plot line from the South Americas. Worth Noting: Lucas Belvaux is most famous for his 2002 trilogy: After the Life, An Amazing...
- 11/5/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
U.S. theatrical rights to Belgian actor-director Lucas Belvaux's French thriller "Rapt," have gone to Lorber Films, of Kino Lorber Inc. "Rapt" is scheduled to open in New York on July 12, 2011, at Film Forum, with plans to expand nationwide shortly thereafter. Belvaux's film, which had its U.S. premiere earlier this year at the Lincoln Center as part of their Rendez-Vous With French Cinema series, was inspired by the 1978 ...
- 11/4/2010
- Indiewire
Lorber Films has secured U.S. rights to Belgian director/actor Lucas Belvaux's French thriller "Rapt" and scheduled a theatrical release that starts in New York next July. Starring is Yvan Attal ("Munich," "My Wife is an Actress") as a kidnapped millionaire being held for ransom. Also in the cast are Anne Consigny ("The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"), André Marcon ("The Page Turner") and veteran Françoise Fabian ("Belle de Jour"). The film first screened in the U.S. at the Film Society of Lincoln Center as part of the Rendez-vous with French Cinema series.
- 11/4/2010
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Eyes Wide Open; The Special Relationship; The Ghost; Rapt; Robin Hood: Extended Cut; Cop Out
There may well be precedents, but I honestly can't remember the last time I saw a movie about a passionate gay relationship played out amid Jerusalem's orthodox Hasidic community. It says a lot about Eyes Wide Open (2009, 12, Peccadillo), however, that the apparent novelty of its subject matter (which has provoked the inevitable moniker "a Jewish Brokeback Mountain") never overshadows the haunting power of the film. Zohar Strauss stars as Aaron, the married butcher who invites enigmatic student Ezri (Ran Danker) into his home and business with emotionally and socially disruptive results. Religion and dawning sexuality clash as the two men embark upon a furtive, forbidden relationship under the mournful eye of Aaron's increasingly estranged wife, to the mounting hostility of the strictly demarcated community.
Demonstrating an unfussy empathy for his subjects, director Haim Tabakman...
There may well be precedents, but I honestly can't remember the last time I saw a movie about a passionate gay relationship played out amid Jerusalem's orthodox Hasidic community. It says a lot about Eyes Wide Open (2009, 12, Peccadillo), however, that the apparent novelty of its subject matter (which has provoked the inevitable moniker "a Jewish Brokeback Mountain") never overshadows the haunting power of the film. Zohar Strauss stars as Aaron, the married butcher who invites enigmatic student Ezri (Ran Danker) into his home and business with emotionally and socially disruptive results. Religion and dawning sexuality clash as the two men embark upon a furtive, forbidden relationship under the mournful eye of Aaron's increasingly estranged wife, to the mounting hostility of the strictly demarcated community.
Demonstrating an unfussy empathy for his subjects, director Haim Tabakman...
- 9/18/2010
- by Mark Kermode
- The Guardian - Film News
Despite strong showings from Inception, Shrek and Twilight, the UK box office is down 45% on this time last year
The winner
Given its position as the only major blockbuster this summer not based on previously existing characters, it's fair to say there's a lot riding on the success of Inception. If it fails, that's another nail in the coffin of original stories – hits big, and the major studios might be more willing to fish for movie ideas outside their preferred ponds of comic-books, videogames, fantasy literature, TV shows and theme park rides.
We don't anticipate a rush to fund that $150m passion project from, say, Darren Aronofsky, but the Christopher Nolan original screenplay business is certainly one that Hollywood will be happy to be in. A £5.91m opening for Inception – exactly in line with its Us debut of $61.8m – is a great result for a film whose characters were not previously familiar to audiences,...
The winner
Given its position as the only major blockbuster this summer not based on previously existing characters, it's fair to say there's a lot riding on the success of Inception. If it fails, that's another nail in the coffin of original stories – hits big, and the major studios might be more willing to fish for movie ideas outside their preferred ponds of comic-books, videogames, fantasy literature, TV shows and theme park rides.
We don't anticipate a rush to fund that $150m passion project from, say, Darren Aronofsky, but the Christopher Nolan original screenplay business is certainly one that Hollywood will be happy to be in. A £5.91m opening for Inception – exactly in line with its Us debut of $61.8m – is a great result for a film whose characters were not previously familiar to audiences,...
- 7/20/2010
- by Charles Gant
- The Guardian - Film News
The Belgian-born film-maker Lucas Belvaux is best known for his 2002 Trilogie, a three-part film more palimpsest than trilogy, in which the same overlapping events are viewed first as a thriller, then as a romantic farce and finally as a melodrama on the theory that our lives are like genre movies. It revolves around a ruthless terrorist (played by Belvaux himself) returning to the beautiful French city of Grenoble after 15 years in jail, and the overall effect suggests Odd Man Out rewritten by Alan Ayckbourn.
His new film, Rapt, a taut thriller set in and around Paris, begins with the kidnapping of Stanislas Graff (Yvan Attal), the handsome boss of a multi-billion conglomerate based in Paris. To establish their seriousness, the brutal abductors, never seen unmasked, send a severed finger along with a ransom demand for €50m. But there is conflict between Graff's apparently loving family, his conspiratorial associates and the cops,...
His new film, Rapt, a taut thriller set in and around Paris, begins with the kidnapping of Stanislas Graff (Yvan Attal), the handsome boss of a multi-billion conglomerate based in Paris. To establish their seriousness, the brutal abductors, never seen unmasked, send a severed finger along with a ransom demand for €50m. But there is conflict between Graff's apparently loving family, his conspiratorial associates and the cops,...
- 7/17/2010
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Inception (12A)
(Christopher Nolan, 2010, Us) Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Ken Watanabe, Marion Cotillard. 148 mins
Nolan pushes the mega-budget cerebral action thriller to its limits here, and possibly beyond, with a multilayered onslaught that could leave you exhilarated, exhausted, or possibly in need of a new brain. The fiendishly complex plot imagines a world where corporate spies can raid your dreams to steal, or plant, ideas. Thus, DiCaprio assembles his team and orchestrates a risky psychic heist involving dreams within dreams within dreams; something like Ocean's Eleven meets Synecdoche, New York, multiplied by James Bond. Even if it follows the logic of the Hollywood blockbuster more than an actual dream, this boldly goes where no blockbuster has gone before. And there's nothing your brain can do to stop it.
Bluebeard (15)
(Catherine Breillat, 2009, Fra) Lola Créton, Daphné Baiwir, Dominique Thomas. 80 mins
Charles Perrault's wife-slaying fairytale has been rich territory...
(Christopher Nolan, 2010, Us) Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Ken Watanabe, Marion Cotillard. 148 mins
Nolan pushes the mega-budget cerebral action thriller to its limits here, and possibly beyond, with a multilayered onslaught that could leave you exhilarated, exhausted, or possibly in need of a new brain. The fiendishly complex plot imagines a world where corporate spies can raid your dreams to steal, or plant, ideas. Thus, DiCaprio assembles his team and orchestrates a risky psychic heist involving dreams within dreams within dreams; something like Ocean's Eleven meets Synecdoche, New York, multiplied by James Bond. Even if it follows the logic of the Hollywood blockbuster more than an actual dream, this boldly goes where no blockbuster has gone before. And there's nothing your brain can do to stop it.
Bluebeard (15)
(Catherine Breillat, 2009, Fra) Lola Créton, Daphné Baiwir, Dominique Thomas. 80 mins
Charles Perrault's wife-slaying fairytale has been rich territory...
- 7/16/2010
- by The guide
- The Guardian - Film News
A kidnapping drama from Belgian director Lucas Belvaux that is an intriguing, unusual take on the genre, writes Peter Bradshaw
Lucas Belvaux is the Belgian actor-turned-director best known for his Trilogy of 2002: an ambitious, tricksy set of three separate but interlocking movies that formed a kind of Venn diagram of stories and characters. He also directed the unwieldy 2006 crime drama The Law of the Weakest, a Full-Montyish story of unemployed guys having a crack at robbery. Rapt is his best film so far – an intriguing, elegant movie that is a knight's-move away from being a conventional thriller. Yvan Attal plays Stanislas Graff, a wealthy businessman who moves in the highest political circles, and yet he is a secret womaniser and gambler who has lost vast amounts at cards. His family are horrified when Graff is kidnapped, but his company's board only agrees with some reluctance to "advance" his wife...
Lucas Belvaux is the Belgian actor-turned-director best known for his Trilogy of 2002: an ambitious, tricksy set of three separate but interlocking movies that formed a kind of Venn diagram of stories and characters. He also directed the unwieldy 2006 crime drama The Law of the Weakest, a Full-Montyish story of unemployed guys having a crack at robbery. Rapt is his best film so far – an intriguing, elegant movie that is a knight's-move away from being a conventional thriller. Yvan Attal plays Stanislas Graff, a wealthy businessman who moves in the highest political circles, and yet he is a secret womaniser and gambler who has lost vast amounts at cards. His family are horrified when Graff is kidnapped, but his company's board only agrees with some reluctance to "advance" his wife...
- 7/15/2010
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Predators (15)
(Nimród Antal, 2010, Us) Adrien Brody, Alice Braga, Topher Grace, Laurence Fishburne, Danny Trejo. 107 mins.
Twenty-three years and three sequels after the original, the sub-Alien sci-fi movie at last gets a proper follow-up, and even if Brody barely has the bulk to fill one of Schwarzenegger's combat boots, this serves up the semi-guilty action pleasures you'd demand. Brody is one of a gang of random human badasses who wind up in a strange jungle and realise they're now training material for apprentice alien badasses. So who will survive to be the, er, worst ass?
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (12A)
(David Slade, 2010, Us) Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner. 124 mins.
Another teen-conquering exercise in sexless erotica, but at least there's an actual film around it this time. A new vampire threat and Bella's love triangle won't be enough to entice newcomers, but fans will enjoy the unconsummated fantasy thrills they crave.
(Nimród Antal, 2010, Us) Adrien Brody, Alice Braga, Topher Grace, Laurence Fishburne, Danny Trejo. 107 mins.
Twenty-three years and three sequels after the original, the sub-Alien sci-fi movie at last gets a proper follow-up, and even if Brody barely has the bulk to fill one of Schwarzenegger's combat boots, this serves up the semi-guilty action pleasures you'd demand. Brody is one of a gang of random human badasses who wind up in a strange jungle and realise they're now training material for apprentice alien badasses. So who will survive to be the, er, worst ass?
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (12A)
(David Slade, 2010, Us) Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner. 124 mins.
Another teen-conquering exercise in sexless erotica, but at least there's an actual film around it this time. A new vampire threat and Bella's love triangle won't be enough to entice newcomers, but fans will enjoy the unconsummated fantasy thrills they crave.
- 7/9/2010
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
With three in the Director's Fortnight and one in the Main Comp for good measure, Films Distribution are making a significant contribution to Cannes this year – my money is on Katell Quillevere's Un Poison Violent (see pic above) but Wang Xiaoshuai, Jean-Stéphane Bron's doc on white collar crimes that hinder the working man and an immigrant tale gone wrong portrait from Olivier Masset-Depasse could make this a great year for the distributor. Something to look forward to in the near future: Yann Samuell's next effort. - With three in the Director's Fortnight and one in the Main Comp for good measure, Films Distribution are making a significant contribution to Cannes this year – my money is on Katell Quillevere's Un Poison Violent (see pic above) but Wang Xiaoshuai, Jean-Stéphane Bron's doc on white collar crimes that hinder the working man and an immigrant...
- 5/12/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
With three in the Director's Fortnight and one in the Main Comp for good measure, Films Distribution are making a significant contribution to Cannes this year – my money is on Katell Quillevere's Un Poison Violent (see pic above) but Wang Xiaoshuai, Jean-Stéphane Bron's doc on white collar crimes that hinder the working man and an immigrant tale gone wrong portrait from Olivier Masset-Depasse could make this a great year for the distributor. Something to look forward to in the near future: Yann Samuell's next effort. Chongqing Blues (Rizhao Chongqing) by Wang Xiaoshuai - Completed Cleveland Vs Wall Street by Jean-Stéphane Bron - Completed Illegal by Olivier Masset-depasse - Completed L'amour Fou by Pierre Thoretton - Completed With Love... From The Age Of Reason (L'ÂGE De Raison) by Yann Samuell - Completed A Cat In Paris (Une Vie De Chat) by Alain Gagnol - Production Family Tree (L'arbre Et La FORÊT...
- 5/11/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
First, the good news. Rendez-Vous with French Cinema 2010 offers a handful of works that are marvels of craft, among them "Mademoiselle Chambon" by Stephane Brize and "Les Regrets" by Cedric Kahn, two wildly different takes on love. A third triumph is "Rapt," a masterful thriller by Lucas Belvaux about the kidnapping of an industrialist that transcends the genre to expose the rot within the power elite. Along with the intimist ...
- 3/12/2010
- Indiewire
Paris -- French film promotion organization Unifrance will spread the creme-de-la-creme of Gallic films and talent over the Big Apple when the 15th annual Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in New York satiates Manhattan's appetite for Gallic cinema on March 11th at Lincoln Center.
A selection of films will screen for the public at the Walter Reade Theater and the IFC Center in Manhattan and the Bam in Brooklyn, and Unifrance is hoping positive buzz for the titles will spark sales for the nine titles in the lineup still seeking Us buyers.
Christian Carion's "L'Affaire Farewell," a NeoClassics title stateside, will open the fest with Carion and the film's star Guillaume Canet set to join the opening festivities.
The Rendez-Vous will feature screenings of several titles nominated for this year's Cesar Awards including best film nominees Philippe Lioret's "Welcome," Xavier Giannoli's "In the Beginning" and Lucas Belvaux's "Rapt.
A selection of films will screen for the public at the Walter Reade Theater and the IFC Center in Manhattan and the Bam in Brooklyn, and Unifrance is hoping positive buzz for the titles will spark sales for the nine titles in the lineup still seeking Us buyers.
Christian Carion's "L'Affaire Farewell," a NeoClassics title stateside, will open the fest with Carion and the film's star Guillaume Canet set to join the opening festivities.
The Rendez-Vous will feature screenings of several titles nominated for this year's Cesar Awards including best film nominees Philippe Lioret's "Welcome," Xavier Giannoli's "In the Beginning" and Lucas Belvaux's "Rapt.
- 3/9/2010
- by By Rebecca Leffler
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
"A Prophet" from director Jacques Audiard won nine awards at the 35th annual Cesar Awards. The Oscar nominated film for best foreign language took home best French film of the year, director, screenplay, editing, cinematography, production design, best actor, and most promising actor (best male newcomer) for Tahar Rahim. Niels Arestrup won best supporting actor also for "A Prophet."
Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino" was named best foreign film of the year, beating out last year's Oscar winner "Slumdog Millionaire" and this year's blue contender, "Avatar."
Meanwhile, "Avatar's" Sigourney Weaver presented Harrison Ford with a Cesar of Honor award. Aw...
Here's the list of nominees and winners of the 35th annual Cesar Awards (winners are highlighted):
Best Film
A l.Origine, Xavier Giannoli
Le Concert, Radu Mihaileanu
Les Herbes Folles, Alain Resnais
La Journee de la Jupe, Jean-Paul Lilienfeld
Rapt, Lucas Belvaux
Un Prophete, Jacques Audiard
Welcome, Philippe Lioret...
Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino" was named best foreign film of the year, beating out last year's Oscar winner "Slumdog Millionaire" and this year's blue contender, "Avatar."
Meanwhile, "Avatar's" Sigourney Weaver presented Harrison Ford with a Cesar of Honor award. Aw...
Here's the list of nominees and winners of the 35th annual Cesar Awards (winners are highlighted):
Best Film
A l.Origine, Xavier Giannoli
Le Concert, Radu Mihaileanu
Les Herbes Folles, Alain Resnais
La Journee de la Jupe, Jean-Paul Lilienfeld
Rapt, Lucas Belvaux
Un Prophete, Jacques Audiard
Welcome, Philippe Lioret...
- 2/28/2010
- by Manny
- Manny the Movie Guy
No surprises at the 35th Cesars, as A Prophet cleaned up in all major categories it was nominated in: Best Film, Best Director (Audiard), Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography (Stephane Fontaine), Best Editing (Juliette Welfling), Best Art Direction (Michel Barthelemy) and last but not least, one of my top 5 performance of the year, Niels Arestrup won for Best Supporting... - No surprises at the 35th Césars, as A Prophet cleaned up in all major categories it was nominated in: Best Film, Best Director (Audiard), Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography (Stephane Fontaine), Best Editing (Juliette Welfling), Best Art Direction (Michel Barthelemy) and last but not least, one of my top 5 performance of the year, Niels Arestrup won for Best Supporting -- he of course won best supporting in The Beat that My Heart Skipped. The revelation of the year Tahar Rahim won a pair of awards...
- 2/28/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
Tahar Rahim in A Prophet (Roger Arpajou / Sony Pictures Classics) The Cesar winners will be announced on Feb. 27. Meilleur Film / Best Film A L’Origine / In The Beginning, Edouard Weil and Pierre-Ange Le Pogam; directed by Xavier Giannoli Le Concert / The Concert, Alain Attal; directed by Radu Mihaileanu Les Herbes Folles / Wild Grass, Jean-Louis Livi; directed by Alain Resnais La JOURNÉE De La Jupe / Skirt Day, Bénédicte Lesage and Ariel Askénazi; directed by Jean-Paul Lilienfeld Rapt, Patrick Sobelman, Diana Elbaum et Sébastien Delloye; directed by Lucas Belvaux * Un PROPHÈTE / A Prophet, Pascal Caucheteux, Grégoire Sorlat et Marco Cherqui; directed by Jacques Audiard Welcome, Christophe Rossignon; directed [...]...
- 2/28/2010
- by Steve Montgomery
- Alt Film Guide
Smuggler Films has acquired the rights to remake the 2009 French thriller film “Rapt,” which was about the 1978 kidnapping of French CEO and heir to the Empain Schneider Dynasty, Baron Edouard-Jean Empain. Smuggler’s version is tentatively titled “Abduction.” “Rapt” was released in France this past fall, and was nominated for a Cesar Award for best picture. Smuggler’s Patrick Milling Smith says - “‘Rapt’ is a high stakes thriller propelled by multiple agendas that could not be more timely. It has it all: kidnapping, mistresses, the avarice of corporate culture and the tabloid exposure of a family living a lie. Lucas Belvaux’s original is a film that does not take the easy route [...]...
- 2/18/2010
- by Costa Koutsoutis
- ShockYa
Smuggler Films has picked up remake rights to the 2009 French thriller "Rapt," about the 1978 kidnapping of Baron Edouard-Jean Empain, a French CEO and heir to the Empain Schneider Dynasty.
Smuggler is planning on mounting an American version called "Abduction."
Released in France last fall, "Rapt" has been nominated for a Cesar Award for best picture.
"'Rapt' is a high stakes thriller propelled by multiple agendas that could not be more timely. It has it all: kidnapping, mistresses, the avarice of corporate culture and the tabloid exposure of a family living a lie. Lucas Belvaux's original is a film that does not take the easy route with any of its narratives and unflinchingly honest characters and we are left the richer for that," Patrick Milling Smith, co-founder of Smuggler Films, said.
Smuggler is planning on mounting an American version called "Abduction."
Released in France last fall, "Rapt" has been nominated for a Cesar Award for best picture.
"'Rapt' is a high stakes thriller propelled by multiple agendas that could not be more timely. It has it all: kidnapping, mistresses, the avarice of corporate culture and the tabloid exposure of a family living a lie. Lucas Belvaux's original is a film that does not take the easy route with any of its narratives and unflinchingly honest characters and we are left the richer for that," Patrick Milling Smith, co-founder of Smuggler Films, said.
- 2/17/2010
- by By Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Jacques Audiard’s prison drama “A Prophet” led France’s Cesar Award nominations, taking an impressive 13 nods including best film, best director, and both best actor and most promising male newcomer nominations for the film’s star Tahar Rahim. “A Prophet” joined Xavier Giannoli’s “In The Beginning” (which took 11 nominations itself), Radu Mihaileanu’s “The Concert,” Alain Resnais’s “Wild Grass,” Lucas Belvaux’s “Rapt” and Philippe Lioret’s “Welcome” in the best film category. Also …...
- 1/22/2010
- Indiewire
Paris – French Academy members got serious on Friday with two politically charged dramas heading the major categories for the 35th annual Cesar Awards that will see Jacques Audiard's "A Prophet" go head to head with Philippe Lioret's "Welcome." The nominees were announced Friday at a press conference in Paris.
While no one can foresee the winners, "A Prophet" looks bound to triumph with Jacques Audiard's prison drama nominated for 13 awards including best film, best director and a best actor and most promising male newcomer nod for the film's breakout star Tahar Rahim.
Academy voters also gave a hearty reception to Phillipe Lioret's "Welcome" with 10 nods and Xavier Giannoli's "In the Beginning" with 11 nominations.
Radu Mihaileanu's "The Concert" was also music to voters' ears with the tragicomedy about a washed-up former conductor of the Bolshoi orchestra who travels to Paris to make his career comeback scoring six nominations.
While no one can foresee the winners, "A Prophet" looks bound to triumph with Jacques Audiard's prison drama nominated for 13 awards including best film, best director and a best actor and most promising male newcomer nod for the film's breakout star Tahar Rahim.
Academy voters also gave a hearty reception to Phillipe Lioret's "Welcome" with 10 nods and Xavier Giannoli's "In the Beginning" with 11 nominations.
Radu Mihaileanu's "The Concert" was also music to voters' ears with the tragicomedy about a washed-up former conductor of the Bolshoi orchestra who travels to Paris to make his career comeback scoring six nominations.
- 1/22/2010
- by By Rebecca Leffler
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Paris -- European distributors, French sales agents and international press will break bread and cheese Wednesday as state film promotion organization Unifrance's 12th annual's Rendez-Vous with French cinema kicks off in Paris.
But don't expect to hear any American accents.
More than 400 film distribution execs and 120 journalists from 26 countries will join French sales reps, directors and talent for a five-day sampling of the best of Gallic cinema. U.S. buyers, however, will have to wait until Unifrance's stand-alone event in March in New York in order to sample the latest in Gallic big screen fare due to the Paris event's impossible timing.
"Were it not for Sundance running concurrently with the Paris Rdv and Berlin just a few weeks later, we're sure more American buyers would come. From talking with them, we get the strong impression they'd like to -- they're certainly welcome!" Unifrance's stateside executive director John Kochman said in an interview.
But don't expect to hear any American accents.
More than 400 film distribution execs and 120 journalists from 26 countries will join French sales reps, directors and talent for a five-day sampling of the best of Gallic cinema. U.S. buyers, however, will have to wait until Unifrance's stand-alone event in March in New York in order to sample the latest in Gallic big screen fare due to the Paris event's impossible timing.
"Were it not for Sundance running concurrently with the Paris Rdv and Berlin just a few weeks later, we're sure more American buyers would come. From talking with them, we get the strong impression they'd like to -- they're certainly welcome!" Unifrance's stateside executive director John Kochman said in an interview.
- 1/12/2010
- by By Rebecca Leffler
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Similar to the Golden Globes because it is a foreign group of film journalists who conduct the voting (though I'm sure they have no mandate to prefer films loaded in stars), this year's the 15th Lumiere Awards has a pair of films in the top tier that recently that duked it out for the Louis Delluc award. Philippe Lioret's Welcome (which just got picked up by Film Movement this week) and Jacques Audiard's A Prophet (a Spc release next February) received five and four noms respectively. - Similar to the Golden Globes because it is a foreign group of film journalists who conduct the voting (though I'm sure they have no mandate to prefer films loaded in stars), this year's the 15th Lumière Awards has a pair of films in the top tier that recently that duked it out for the Louis Delluc award. Philippe Lioret...
- 12/18/2009
- IONCINEMA.com
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