October 9th, 2009
The majestic and too-often ill-fated filmmaker Terry Gilliam presents “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” at the end of the year.
In his discussion of Jon Blair’s’ Brazilian documentary “Dancing with the Devil,” Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian sees “Olympian dreams and favela realities collide in Rio de Janeiro.”
Michael Kimmelman of The New York Times details how “A New Film Focuses France on the ‘Disgrace’ of Its Overcrowded Prisons.” Directed by Jacques Audiard, “A Prophet” arrives in North America in December.
Sebastian Gutierrez, whose “Women in Trouble” starring Carla Gugino and Joseph Gordon-Levitt opens in November, recently shared his “Top Five Films” with Film School Rejects, noting, “These Are My Top 5 Today. Ask me tomorrow, and the list would surely have Blue Velvet, Buñuel and something with Marcello Mastroianni in it.”
One Film Wonder: Eva Le Gallienne was an esteemed theater director, producer and actress, first appearing on the London stage in 1914 and lastly on Broadway in 1981. In between, she founded the Civic Repertory Theatre in the 1920s and the American Repertory Theater in the 1940sr .She appeared in only three films, including “Prince of Players” in 1955 and “The Devil’s Disciple” in 1959. For her third, “Resurrection,” which co-starred Ellen Burstyn, Sam Shepard and Richard Farnsworth, she was nominated in the spring of 1981 for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her portrayal of Grandma Pearl. At the time, Le Gallienne was the oldest nominee in Oscar history.
Posted in Beyond the Reel |
Tagged A Prophet, Carla Gugino, Dancing with the Devil, Ellen Burstyn, Eva Le Gallienne, Film School Rejects, Jacques Audiard, Jon Blair, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Kimmelman, One Film Wonder, Peter Bradshaw, Prince of Players, Richard Farnsworth, Sam Shepard, Sebastian Gutierrez, Terry Gilliam, The Devil's Disciple, The Guardian, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, The New York Times, Women in Trouble |
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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 |
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