Posts Tagged ‘One Film Wonder’

October 2nd, 2009

Penelope Cruz returns in November to North American screens in Pedro Almodovar’s “Broken Embraces.”

Tim Murphy of New York Magazine finds “Precious” star Gabby Sidibe “living the life.”

Lars von Trier — the vuvuzela of world cinema — arrives stateside later this month with the graphic and divisive “Antichrist.”

The Vancouver Sun’s Randy Shore asks, “Did you hear the one about the first nations’ comedy?”

One Film Wonder: Barbara Loden was a celebrated stage actress who only appeared in three films, most notably as Ginny Stamper, the older, promiscuous sister of Warren Beatty’s Bud in 1961’s “Splendor in the Grass, directed by her future husband, Elia Kazan, whom she married in 1968. She won the Tony for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in 1964 for her portrayal of Maggie in Arthur Miller’s “After the Fall.”

In 1970, Loden wrote and directed “Wanda,” her only feature-film work behind the camera, and starred in the title role. In his March 1971 review, The New York Times’ Roger Greenspun remarked that “Loden’s film, by the time you are through with it, has, rather surprisingly, some of the look of classical moviemaking.” Thirty-five years later, Dave Kehr in the same paper lauded the film a “masterpiece” which

“had the bad luck to be doubly ahead of its time. Politically, it was guilty of premature post-feminism. The story about a youngish housewife (played by Ms. Loden) from Pennsylvania coal mining country who walks away from her husband and two children to take up with a mean-spirited petty thief (Michael Higgins) is hardly a parade of positive role models. And formally, the film — shot in 16-millimeter by Nicholas Proferes, using the lightweight equipment that was then driving the cinéma vérité documentary movement — goes far beyond the jittery, performance-centered style associated with that era’s independent films, like John Cassavetes’s 1968 “Faces.”

Barbara Loden died of breast cancer in 1980 at the age of 48.

Posted in Beyond the Reel | Tagged Antichrist, Arthur Miller, Barbara Loden, Broken Embraces, Dave Kehr, Discussing Mr. Darcy, Elia Kazan, Faces, Gabby Sidibe, John Cassavetes, Lars von Trier, Michael Higgins, New York Magazine, Nicholas Proferes, One Film Wonder, Pedro Almodovar, Penelope Cruz, Precious, Randy Shore, Roger Greenspun, Splendor in the Grass, The New York Times, The Vancouver Sun, Tim Murphy, Wanda, Warren Beatty | Comments (0)

September 25th, 2009

In “London River,” Brenda Blethyn and Sotigui Kouyaté portray strangers, each brought to the capital city to find their children in the aftermath of a terrorist attack in 2005, who become unified in their search. Rachid Bouchareb’s latest film debuted in North America at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month.

GQ discovers that “Spike Jonze Will Eat You Up.”

Coming next month from the “Napoleon Dynamite” and “Nacho Libre” creative team of Jared Hess and Jerusha Hess, “Gentlemen Broncos” stars Michael Angarano as a home-schooled, fledgling writer and Jemaine Clement (“Flight of the Conchords”) as an idolized but plagiarizing science fiction novelist.

Gendy Alimuring of LA Weekly chats to “Audrey Tautou, After Amelie.”

One Film Wonder: Filmed primarily in 1972 by director George Barry, but not fully completed until 1977, the uproariously titled “Death Bed: The Bed That Eats” faded into the deepest fringes, unreleased. But more than two decades later a surreptitious print circulated, and a voracious underground appreciation finally saw the cult film released officially on DVD in 2003. Starring William Russ in the first role of a career spanning presently 105 appearances, “Death Bed,” immortalized in a Patton Oswalt routine, is the only film directed by Barry, who has reportedly operated a used-books business in the Detroit area for years.

Posted in Beyond the Reel | Tagged Audrey Tautou, Brenda Blethyn, Death Bed: The Bed That Eats, Flight of the Conchords, Gendy Alimuring, Gentlemen Broncos, George Barry, GQ, Jared Hess, Jemaine Clement, Jerusha Hess, LA Weekly, London River, Michael Angarano, Nacho Libre, Napoleon Dynamite, One Film Wonder, Patton Oswalt, Rachid Bouchareb, Sotigui Kouyaté, Spike Jonze, William Russ | Comment (1)

September 18th, 2009

Adam Scott and Joel Bissonnette portray reunited brothers in the day-in-the-life road movie “Passenger Side,” directed by Matt Bissonnette (”Looking for Leonard”), and debuting currently at the Toronto International Film Festival.

“Amreeka” director Cherien Dabis chats to Michael Archer of Guernica about “her feel-good (sort of) movie, Palestinians in the Windy City, and how personal experiences can trump political arguments.” “Amreeka,” which stars Nisreen Faour and Melkar Muallem as a mother and teenage son who move from the West Bank to rural Illinois, will continue to open in wider release throughout North America in September and October.

For “Rage,” an intimate glimpse into the fashion world, filmmaker Sally Potter (“Orlando”) assembled a superlative cast, including Steve Buscemi, Judi Dench, Eddie Izzard, David Oyelowo, and Dianne Wiest. But special awe must be bestowed on the stunning, almost unrecognizable Jude Law. Described as “the world’s first multi-venue interactive premiere,” the film debuts later this month, even on phones.

In a wonderful, wide-ranging interview with Kira Cochrane of The Guardian, Judi Dench says she was drawn to “Rage” because “I like to do something that’s not expected, or predictable. I had to learn to smoke a joint, and I set my trousers alight.”

One Film Wonder: Born in Paris in 1942, Claudine Longet moved to Las Vegas in 1960 as the lead dancer in the Folies Bergère revue. Married to singer Andy Williams from 1961 to 1975, she made intermittent guest appearances on American television shows until she was cast as Michelle Monet, the sweet Hollywood newcomer who befriends Peter Sellers’ smitten Hrundi Bakshi in Blake Edwards’ 1968 romp, “The Party.” Later the same year, she had a role in a film titled “Massacre Harbor,” before returning to television parts in shows such as “Love, American Style” and “The Streets of San Francisco.” She also enjoyed a modestly chart-successful singing career during the late 60s. Her final appearance was in the 1975 made-for-TV movie “The Legendary Curse of the Hope Diamond,” as Marie Antoinette.

On March 21, 1976, Longet shot and killed her boyfriend, former U.S. Olympic ski racer Vladimir “Spider” Sabich, in Aspen, Colorado. Charged with reckless manslaughter, she was convicted of a lesser offense, misdemeanor criminal negligence, and served 30 days in jail. Longet would later marry her defense attorney.

Posted in Beyond the Reel | Tagged Adam Scott, Amreeka, Andy Williams, Blake Edwards, Cherien Dabis, Claudine Longet, David Oyelowo, Dianne Wiest, Eddie Izzard, Guernica, Joel Bissonnette, Jude Law, Judi Dench, Kira Cochrane, Looking for Leonard, Love American Style, Massacre Harbor, Matt Bissonnette, Melkar Muallem, Michael Archer, Nisreen Faour, One Film Wonder, Orlando, Passenger Side, Peter Sellers, Rage, Sally Potter, Steve Buscemi, The Guardian, The Legendary Curse of the Hope Diamond, The Party, The Streets of San Francisco, Toronto International Film Festival | Comments (0)

September 11th, 2009

Inspired by his young daughter’s question, “Daddy, how come I don’t have good hair?” Chris Rock in November travels the globe in the Roadside Attractions documentary “Good Hair” to contemplate the roots of her query.

Juliette Binoche “Talks Paris and Dancing” with The Village Voice.

A hellaciously impressive cast — including George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey and J.K. Simmons — cavorts in a too-crazy-not-to-be-true tale about military psychics in Grant Heslov’s “The Men Who Stare at Goats.” Based on Jon Ronson’s 2005 book detailing stupefying U.S. Army supernatural intel techniques, “Goats” opens in November.

In an absorbing interview about “Crude,” Marshall Fine discovers how, after initial reluctance, for the director of the seminal documentaries “Brother’s Keeper” and “Paradise Lost,” the legal battle waged against the nefarious decades-long assault by Texaco on Ecuador’s Amazonian rainforest became “the movie Joe Berlinger had to make.” “Crude” opens today, with a steadily widening release in North America through the rest of the year.

One Film Wonder: For the first 20 films of her Hollywood career, Dorothy Comingore was known professionally as Linda Winters, if she was known at all (nine of the roles were “uncredited.”). In 1941, at the age of 28, she appeared in her 21st movie for the first time under her given name. It was a significant role as the mistress who becomes the second wife of the film’s megalomaniacal protagonist; the film was “Citizen Kane,” the movie critically regarded as the greatest American motion picture of all time. Orson Welles cast Comingore as the unrefined Susan Alexander Kane, the reluctant singer for whom Charles Foster Kane built an opera house. In a notable performance, Comingore inhabited the role with a palpable pathos and a memorably shrill, henpecking delivery; she is particularly effective in the somber scenes at the “El Rancho” nightclub after Kane’s death. Comingore made only three more films until she was blacklisted in 1951 following her appearance before the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

Posted in Beyond the Reel | Tagged Brother's Keeper, Chris Rock, Citizen Kane, Crude, Dorothy Comingore, Ewan McGregor, George Clooney, Good Hair, Grant Heslov, J.K. Simmons, Jeff Bridges, Joe Berlinger, Jon Ronson, Juliette Binoche, Kevin Spacey, Linda Winters, Marshall Fine, One Film Wonder, Orson Welles, Paradise Lost, Roadside Attractions, The Men Who Stare at Goats, The Village Voice | Comments (0)

September 4th, 2009

Based on the novel by Robert Kaplow set during the Mercury Theatre’s famed production of Julius Caesar in 1937, “Me and Orson Welles,” the latest film from Richard Linklater, opens in November.

At the Empire blog, Helen O’Hara asks “Is low-budget sci-fi actually at an advantage?”

Director Margarita Jimeno spent more than five years following the Gypsy punk band, Gogol Bordello, around the world from their earliest rumblings in New York City to international notoriety. From Hoptza Films, “Gogol Bordello Non-Stop” opens later this month.

Jen Phillips of Mother Jones chats with directors Sara Ziff and Ole Schell about “the ugly side of the modeling biz” exposed in their documentary, “Picture Me: A Model’s Diary.”

One Film Wonder: In 1952, three years after his astounding “The Bicycle Thief,” Vittorio De Sica released the heart-rending neorealist classic, “Umberto D.” The title role of Umberto Domenico Ferrari, a pensioner brought to the brink in post-war Rome, was played by Carlo Battisti, a 70-year-old renowned professor of glottology — the science of linguistics — at the University of Florence, appearing in his only film role. Umberto’s closest companion in his dog, Flike. The powerful, wrenching film was not released in the United States for several years; it earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Writing (Motion Picture Story) in 1956 for Cesare Zavattini.

Posted in Beyond the Reel | Tagged Carlo Battisti, Cesare Zavattini, Empire, Gogol Bordello Non-Stop, Helen O'Hara, Hoptza Films, Jen Phillips, Margarita Jimeno, Me and Orson Welles, Mother Jones, Ole Schell, One Film Wonder, Picture Me: A Model's Diary, Richard Linklater, Robert Kaplow, Sara Ziff, The Bicycle Thief, Umberto D., Vittorio De Sica | Comments (0)

August 28th, 2009

Scott Eyman of the Palm Beach Post chats with Rod Taylor, star of “The Time Machine” and “The Birds,” who believed himself retired until Quentin Tarantino rang him up.

“The Most Dangerous Man in America” will be released in September by filmmakers Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith as they chronicle “Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers.”

With the Toronto International Film Festival still two weeks away, the Globe and Mail has unveiled its “Mob Blog.”

Coming in September from producers Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov, “9″ is the CGI-meets-a-stop motion-vibe feature length film from director Shane Acker based on his Academy Award-nominated short starring stitch-punks.

One Film Wonder: Michael Jackson revolutionized the small screen. In the early 1980s his videos, bursting with iconic images, became television events; they possessed a transformational popularity which shamed MTV into forever altering its playlist. Two of the greatest auteurs in American screen history directed his videos: In 1986 Francis Ford Coppola helmed “Captain EO” and in the following year Martin Scorsese filmed “Bad.” But Jackson appeared in only three feature films, two of which were a 30-second cameo as Agent M in 2002’s “Men in Black II” and a similarly tangential appearance as Agent MJ in 2004’s “Silly Movie 2″ or, as its alternately known, “Miss Castaway and the Island Girls.”

In 1978, a year prior to the release of “Off the Wall,” and before he eased not so easily down the road to superstardom, a 20-year-old Jackson starred as Scarecrow in the extravagant film adaptation of the Broadway musical, “The Wiz.” Co-starring Diana Ross as Dorothy, the loquacious Nipsey Russell as Tinman, Ted Ross as Lion and Richard Pryor in the title role, the film teamed Jackson with another directing luminary, Sidney Lumet. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards (Cinematography, Art Direction, Costume Design and Original Song). However, “The Wiz” was a box office disappointment as the $24 million movie earned just $13.6 million.

Posted in Beyond the Reel | Tagged 9, Bad, Captain EO, Diana Ross, Francis Ford Coppola, Judith Ehrlich, Martin Scorsese, Men in Black II, Michael Jackson, Miss Castaway and the Island Girls, Nipsey Russell, Off the Wall, One Film Wonder, Palm Beach Post, Quentin Tarantino, Richard Pryor, Rick Goldsmith, Rod Taylor, Scott Eyman, Shane Acker, Sidney Lumet, Silly Movie 2, Ted Ross, The Birds, The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The Time Machine, The Wiz, Tim Burton, Timur Bekmambetov, Toronto Globe and Mail, Toronto International Film Festival | Comments (0)

August 21st, 2009

In October, Freestyle Releasing will deliver Katherine Dieckmann’s “Motherhood” starring Uma Thurman and Minnie Driver.

Courtney Young assays “Tyler Perry’s Gender Problem” in The Nation.

Rupert Everett stars as Head Mistress Camilla Fritton in “St. Trinian’s,” the latest film adaptation based on the cartoons of Ronald Searle, which comes to American screens in October.

Ed Potton of The Times discovers “The World According to Don Cheadle.”

One Film Wonder: In 1986, famed saxophonist Dexter Gordon starred in Bertrand Tavernier’s poignant “Round Midnight” as expatriate saxophonist Dale Turner searching for redemption in 1950s Paris. It was a portrayal of art closely imitating life. A Bebop pioneer, Gordon lived and worked in Europe after an earlier bedevilment by drug addiction but returned to America in the 1970s to tour to rapturous acclaim. Gordon appeared in only two other films in his lifetime — an uncredited role as a “saxophone player” in 1955’s “Unchained” and in a 1968 flick titled “I Love, You Love” from experimental Swedish director Stig Björkman — but earned an Academy Award nod as Best Actor in his third, which features appearances by notable jazz musicians such as Bobby Hutcherson, Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock, who won an Oscar for Best Original Score.

Posted in Beyond the Reel | Tagged Bertrand Tavernier, Bobby Hutcherson, Courtney Young, Dexter Gordon, Don Cheadle, Ed Potton, Freestyle Releasing, Herbie Hancock, I Love You Love, Katherine Dieckmann, Minnie Driver, Motherhood, One Film Wonder, Ronald Searle, Round Midnight, Rupert Everett, St. Trinian's, Stig Björkman, The Nation, The Times, Tyler Perry, Uma Thurman, Unchained, Wayne Shorter | Comments (0)

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 | Comments (0)

August 7th, 2009

Yes Men, They Can. “The Yes Men Fix the World” opened in the UK today. They’ll begin fixing U.S. theaters in October.

In Filmmaker Magazine, Esther B. Robinson uncovers “A Filmmaker’s Glamorous Life” as she learns that many of today’s working filmmakers have day jobs too.

The Coen Brothers will release the existential black comedy, “A Serious Man,” in October.

Marc Savlov of The Austin Chronicle finds A First-Class Seat to Stargazing chatting to the principals of the space travel documentary “Man on a Mission.”

One Film Wonder: At the 1959 Cannes Film Festival, “Araya” by Margot Benacerraf shared the International Critics Prize with Alain Resnais’ “Hiroshima, Mon Amour.” Milestone Films has restored Benacerraf’s evocatively shot film, which illustrates life in a Venezuelan salt mining village, during its 50th anniversary year. The 82-year-old Benacerraf has been influentially immersed in supporting and promoting Venezuelan art for decades but “Araya” remains the director’s only feature-length film.

Posted in Beyond the Reel | Tagged A Serious Man, Alain Resnais, Araya, Esther B. Robinson, Ethan Coen, Filmmaker Magazine, Hiroshima Mon Amour, Joel Coen, Man on a Mission, Marc Savlov, Margot Benacerraf, Milestone Films, One Film Wonder, The Austin Chronicle, The Yes Men, The Yes Men Fix the World | Comments (0)

July 31st, 2009

With “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans,” can Werner Herzog resurrect the legitimate film career of Nicolas Cage, who for the past five years has been almost exclusively gorging on turgid blockbusters while morphing at Mach speed into the physical likeness of something akin to Klaus Kinski’s younger brother?

Delving into the world of a “no budget” production company, John Patterson of The Guardian is Seeking Asylum: the rise of Hollywood’s Z-movies.

Director Chan-wook Park of “Old Boy” notoriety returns to the States this year with “Thirst,” a priest as vampire opus.

Jarvis Cocker chats to Wes Anderson in Interview about a multitude of topics, including Anderson’s forthcoming stop motion animation feature, “The Fantastic Mr. Fox.”

One Film Wonder: Director Jean-Jacques Beineix cast Wilhelmenia Fernandez in the titular role for his stylish and absorbing 1981 thriller, “Diva.” As opera singer Cynthia Hawkins, she is stalked and then befriended by an obsessive fan immersed in international political and criminal intrigue. Born in Philadelphia, Fernandez, who is also known professionally as Wilhelmenia Wiggins Fernandez, was a respected soprano when chosen by Beineix for her only feature-film performance. In the subsequent years, she has traveled the word performing in operas and recitals and has made numerous recordings, most notably of George Gershwin and African-American spirituals.

Posted in Beyond the Reel | Tagged Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Chan-wook Park, Diva, Interview, Jarvis Cocker, Jean-Jacques Beineix, John Patterson, Klaus Kinski, Nicolas Cage, Old Boy, One Film Wonder, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Guardian, Thirst, Werner Herzog, Wes Anderson, Wilhelmenia Fernandez | Comment (1)

Subscribe to RSS