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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August 14th, 2009
Peter Greenaway, one of cinema’s most enigmatic and striking auteurs, returns to U.S. screens in October with “Rembrandt’s J’accuse,” his labyrinthine account of the intrigue behind the 17th century artist’s “The Night Watch.”
In an extract from her new autobiography which appears this week in Granta, journalist Lynn Barber writes about how the short memoir of her life as a 16-year-old in 1961, published by Granta in 2003, became a major film and meditates on the perils of writing from memory. Directed by Lone Scherfig, written by Nick Hornby and starring Peter Sarsgaard and Carey Mulligan, “An Education” arrives in the States in October.
Opening in New York today and then gradually moving across North America , “Cloud 9,” the latest film from director Andreas Dresen, examines a 67-year-old married woman’s intimate relationship with her 76-year-old lover.
Isabelle Huppert chats openly with The Telegraph in conjunction with the release of her latest film, “Home.” Huppert — described by the paper with the dynamic bon mot, “French cinema’s most beloved psychopath” — revels in her penchant for provocative roles, noting that in a hypothetical, atypical role she might have to revert to type because “half-way through my romantic comedy I probably wouldn’t be able to stop myself from doing something a little bit,” she bites her lip, “bleak - or dark.”
One Film Wonder: In 1984, Woody Allen starred in his madcap “Broadway Danny Rose” in the titular role of a luckless talent agent whose prize client is lounge singer Lou Canova, played by Nick Apollo Forte. Mia Farrow’s Tina Vitale joins the fun, as do the mob. The 71-year-old Forte is still an active performer with an official website where he describes himself as a “Pianist, Banjo, Vocalist & Composer – Actor, Humorist & Entertainer.” There is a link on his website to purchase the only movie in which he has appeared.
Posted in Beyond the Reel |
Tagged An Education, Andreas Dresen, Broadway Danny Rose, Carey Mulligan, Cloud 9, Granta, Home, Isabelle Huppert, Lone Scherfig, Lynn Barber, Mia Farrow, Nick Apollo Forte, Nick Hornby, One Film Wonder, Peter Greenaway, Peter Sarsgaard, Rembrandt’s J’accuse, The Telegraph, Woody Allen |
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