April 16th, 2010
The first film completed by Merchant Ivory Productions since the death of producer Ismail Merchant in 2005, The City of Your Final Destination is the latest work from director James Ivory. Based on the Peter Cameron novel, with a screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, the motion picture, which opens today, stars Norma Aleandro, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Anthony Hopkins and Laura Linney.
Jeremy Sheldon reveals “Cinema’s Invisible Art” in Granta.
The debut film from director Duncan Ward, Boogie Woogie boasts a massive ensemble cast — Gillian Anderson, Alan Cumming, Heather Graham, Danny Huston, Christopher Lee, Joanna Lumley, Charlotte Rampling, Amanda Seyfried, and Stellan Skarsgård, et al. Based on the novel by Danny Moynihan, who also wrote the script, Boogie Woogie will be released in North America beginning April 23.
Steven Zeitchik at the L.A. Times blog, 24 Frames, muses “If you thought ‘Bad Lieutenant’ was nutty…”
One Film Wonder: An acclaimed soprano of the first half of the twentieth century, Jarmila Novotná appeared in only one film which was a not a musical, based on a musical theme or cast her in a singing role. Born in Prague in 1907, Novotná debuted at the city’s opera house in 1925, before embarking on a singing career throughout Europe. During the 1930s, while based in Berlin and Vienna, she starred in a succession of music-based films. Novotná began a 16-year reign in 1940 at New York City’s Metropolitan Opera.
In 1948, following a 12-year gap since her last film, Novotná starred in her only non-singing, non-musical role in Fred Zinnemann’s The Search. She portrayed Hannah Malik, a Czech concentration camp survivor, who seeks the son she been separated from in post-World War II Germany. Starring Montgomery Clift as a G.I. helping the young Czech boy (Ivan Jandl) locate Malik, The Search, which was filmed on-location in war-ravaged German cites, was a critical and audience favorite. Following The Search, she appeared in 1951’s The Great Caruso and made a number of television appearances during the decade. Novotná retired from her singing career in 1956 and died in New York City in 1994.
Posted in Beyond the Reel |
Tagged 24 Frames, Alan Cumming, Amanda Seyfried, Anthony Hopkins, Boogie Woogie, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Charlotte Rampling, Christopher Lee, Danny Huston, Danny Moynihan, Duncan Ward, Fred Zinnemann, Gillian Anderson, Granta, Heather Graham, Ismail Merchant, Ivan Jandl, James Ivory, Jarmila Novotná, Jeremy Sheldon, Joanna Lumley, LA Times, Laura Linney, Merchant Ivory Productions, Montgomery Clift, Norma Aleandro, One Film Wonder, Peter Cameron, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Stellan Skarsgård, Steven Zeitchik, The City of Your Final Destination, The Great Caruso, The Search |
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October 30th, 2009
The tireless Clint Eastwood returns in December with “Invictus,” which chronicles the five years from Nelson Mandela’s release from prison to his prominent role as President of South Africa to unify South Africa through the hosting of the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Morgan Freeman portrays Mandela and Matt Damon plays Francois Piennar, the victorious South African team captain.
Mark Macaskill of The Times discovers that “Robert Carlyle fans can buy a role in his new film.”
Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, and Kodi Smit-McPhee appear in November in the film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road,” directed by John Hillcoat, who helmed 2005’s vastly impressive “The Proposition.”
“Antichrist” star Charlotte Gainsbourg reveals to Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle that “on the balance, all the naked things and the sex scenes were nothing compared to the grieving scenes.”
One Film Wonder: In 1980, South African director Jamie Uys made “The Gods Must Be Crazy,” which centered on Xi, a Saho bushman in the Kalahari Desert, who discovers a soft drink bottle and embarks on a journey to discard it. As “The Gods Must Be Crazy” was financed with South African government funds at a time of an international embargo, the film was marketed as a Botswanan film. Describing the work as a “highly popular and distorted film,” Canadian anthropologist Richard Lee noted in his book “The Dobe, Ju/hoansi” that “The Gods Must Be Crazy” inaccurately “tried to portray the Ju/’hoansi as pristine hunter-gatherers ‘untouched’ by civilization.” The film became a world-wide sensation. In North America, interest began in midnight movie houses, with the movie earning expanding distribution in 1984 and grossing more than $30 million.
Xi was portrayed by N!xau, a San, one of the indigenous peoples living in the region classified presently as South Africa and Namibia. Born circa 1944, he was paid a reported few hundred dollars for his performance in the film. For the 1989 sequel, “The Gods Must Be Crazy II,” he negotiated a purported salary in the hundreds of thousands. N!xau appeared in only 4 other films, each one of them a sequel in the “The Gods Must Be Crazy” franchise; the last three, which were not directed by Uys, were set in Hong Kong and filmed in Cantonese. A herdsman, he returned to Tsumkwe in the Otjozondjua region of Namibia to live on his farm with his family. N!xau died in 2003.
Posted in Beyond the Reel |
Tagged Antichrist, Charlize Theron, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Clint Eastwood, Cormac McCarthy, Invictus, Jamie Uys, John Hillcoat, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Mark Macaskill, Matt Damon, Mick LaSalle, Morgan Freeman, N!xau, One Film Wonder, Robert Carlyle, San Francisco Chronicle, The Gods Must Be Crazy, The Gods Must Be Crazy II, The Proposition, The Road, The Times, Viggo Mortensen |
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