Chicago – When a film tries to be philosophical, it easily can devolve into heavy handedness. But the exception is the latest from writer/director Paolo Sorrentino, the richly presented “Youth.” It treads upon many definitions of the title, and lands upon all of them, because that’s life.
Rating: 5.0/5.0
Sorrentino’s last feature film was the underrated “This Must Be the Place” (2011), another meditative work that featured Sean Penn. This film features older actors Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel and Jane Fonda as representatives of different life phases in their golden age, each searching for something that remains a bit elusive. The great young actor Paul Dano adds his particular spice, this time in a reactive character rather than a antagonist, and he handles one of the most surprising scenes with perfect energy. The film is awash with imagery that fortifies the director’s point of view in the story, and...
Rating: 5.0/5.0
Sorrentino’s last feature film was the underrated “This Must Be the Place” (2011), another meditative work that featured Sean Penn. This film features older actors Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel and Jane Fonda as representatives of different life phases in their golden age, each searching for something that remains a bit elusive. The great young actor Paul Dano adds his particular spice, this time in a reactive character rather than a antagonist, and he handles one of the most surprising scenes with perfect energy. The film is awash with imagery that fortifies the director’s point of view in the story, and...
- 12/12/2015
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Olivier Assayas’ Cloud of Sils Maria will open European Film Promotion’s (Efp) second edition of its WestWind showcase of European cinema in Moscow’s Formula Kino Horizont Cinema tonight.
German actor Lars Eidinger, who appears in the French-us co-production with Kristen Stewart and Juliette Binoche, will come from the shooting of Alexey Uchitel’s historical drama-thriller Mathilde (working title) to attend the screening for a Q&A.
Clouds of Sils Maria was shown at last week’s International Media Forum in St Petersburg and will be released theatrically in Russia by Cinema Prestige.
Running until Oct 19, Efp’s event will present 11 European films to Moscow audiences, including two Oscar candidates - Germany’s Beloved Sisters by Dominik Graf and the Czech Republic’s Fair Play by Andrea Sedlackova - as well as Rok Bicek’s Class Enemy, Ragnar Bragason’s Metalhead and Petra Volpe’s Dreamland.
Other talent attending WestWind include Slovenian director Bicek, actresses [link=nm...
German actor Lars Eidinger, who appears in the French-us co-production with Kristen Stewart and Juliette Binoche, will come from the shooting of Alexey Uchitel’s historical drama-thriller Mathilde (working title) to attend the screening for a Q&A.
Clouds of Sils Maria was shown at last week’s International Media Forum in St Petersburg and will be released theatrically in Russia by Cinema Prestige.
Running until Oct 19, Efp’s event will present 11 European films to Moscow audiences, including two Oscar candidates - Germany’s Beloved Sisters by Dominik Graf and the Czech Republic’s Fair Play by Andrea Sedlackova - as well as Rok Bicek’s Class Enemy, Ragnar Bragason’s Metalhead and Petra Volpe’s Dreamland.
Other talent attending WestWind include Slovenian director Bicek, actresses [link=nm...
- 10/15/2014
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Berlin-based sales and production company Picture Tree International (Pti) has secured distribution rights to four new titles ahead of this year’s European Film Market (Efm).
The fledgling outfit, which will be represented at the Efm with a stand for the first time, has world sales rights for German blockbuster Suck Me Shakespeer (Fack Ju Göthe) which has sold more than six million tickets and made in excess of $60m to become Germany’s most successful box office release of 2013.
The Constantin Film release will receive the Audience Award at the Bavarian Film Awards in Munich tonight (Friday). Pti will market the film’s TV rights in cooperation with Red Arrow, the international sales arm of ProSiebenSat.1.
Pti will also bring Damian John Harper’s feature debut Los Ángeles, which will have its world premiere in the Berlinale’s Forum. Inspired by the Us-born director’s experiences spent during a year in a small Southern Mexican village...
The fledgling outfit, which will be represented at the Efm with a stand for the first time, has world sales rights for German blockbuster Suck Me Shakespeer (Fack Ju Göthe) which has sold more than six million tickets and made in excess of $60m to become Germany’s most successful box office release of 2013.
The Constantin Film release will receive the Audience Award at the Bavarian Film Awards in Munich tonight (Friday). Pti will market the film’s TV rights in cooperation with Red Arrow, the international sales arm of ProSiebenSat.1.
Pti will also bring Damian John Harper’s feature debut Los Ángeles, which will have its world premiere in the Berlinale’s Forum. Inspired by the Us-born director’s experiences spent during a year in a small Southern Mexican village...
- 1/17/2014
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Beats Being Dead (Dreileben – Etwas Besseres als den Tod)
Written by Christian Petzold
Directed by Christian Petzold
Germany, 2011
Part of a triptych of films all revolving around a similar incident, Christian Petzold’s Beats Being Dead not only begins the loose Dreileben trilogy, but also picks up where the director left off with his own work.
Johannes (Jacob Matschenz) is studying to be a doctor while working as a nurse at an isolated clinic. Quiet and tentative, Johannes is infatuated when he runs into Ana (Luna Mijovic), a temperamental, impetuous maid. As their fledgling romance blossoms, a dangerous killer escapes from the mental ward of the hospital. In their sparsely populated area and against a backdrop of pervasive police sirens, Johannes and Ana navigate newfound feelings.
As with 2008’s Jerichow, director Petzold tells a tightly contained narrative that exudes more sexual tension than pure sexuality. A member of the “Berlin...
Written by Christian Petzold
Directed by Christian Petzold
Germany, 2011
Part of a triptych of films all revolving around a similar incident, Christian Petzold’s Beats Being Dead not only begins the loose Dreileben trilogy, but also picks up where the director left off with his own work.
Johannes (Jacob Matschenz) is studying to be a doctor while working as a nurse at an isolated clinic. Quiet and tentative, Johannes is infatuated when he runs into Ana (Luna Mijovic), a temperamental, impetuous maid. As their fledgling romance blossoms, a dangerous killer escapes from the mental ward of the hospital. In their sparsely populated area and against a backdrop of pervasive police sirens, Johannes and Ana navigate newfound feelings.
As with 2008’s Jerichow, director Petzold tells a tightly contained narrative that exudes more sexual tension than pure sexuality. A member of the “Berlin...
- 10/28/2011
- by Neal Dhand
- SoundOnSight
★★★★☆ Conceived from an extended email discussion on the current state of German cinema, the Dreileben trilogy brings together three of the nations finest filmmakers - Christian Petzold, Dominik Graf and Christoph Hochhäusler - each bringing their own unique style of storytelling to the individual chapters. The 'Dreileben' of the title is a small fictional German town, surrounded by dense forest, where a number of events transpire after the escape of a convicted child molester from a secure hospital, highlighted in Dreileben 1: Beats Being Dead (2011).
Petzold's contribution to the trilogy is a sharply-shot, well-paced character drama as young hospital intern Johannes (Jacob Matschenz) falls for enigmatic Bosnian immigrant Ana (Luna Mijovic), whom he meets at a petrol station (moments before being punched in the face by her biker boyfriend). Their early relationship is tentative yet tender, with Ana eventually moving out from her mother's flat and in with her new lover.
Petzold's contribution to the trilogy is a sharply-shot, well-paced character drama as young hospital intern Johannes (Jacob Matschenz) falls for enigmatic Bosnian immigrant Ana (Luna Mijovic), whom he meets at a petrol station (moments before being punched in the face by her biker boyfriend). Their early relationship is tentative yet tender, with Ana eventually moving out from her mother's flat and in with her new lover.
- 10/15/2011
- by Daniel Green
- CineVue
The 49th New York Film Festival has announced their Masterworks and Special Anniversary screenings that will show between the festival’s seventeen days, September 30th – October 16th. The Masterworks program and the festival’s additional programming will provide audiences with exciting opportunities to explore new film-making styles and storytelling events. To learn more about the Masterworks and Anniversary films, please check out below for full synopsis and details.
Masterworks And Special Anniversary Screenings
Masterworks: The Gold Rush
Chaplin’s personal favorite among his own films, The Gold Rush (1925), is a beautifully constructed comic fable of fate and perseverance, set in the icy wastes of the Alaskan gold fields. Re-released by Chaplin in 1942 in a recut version missing some scenes, and with added narration and musical score, The Gold Rush will be presented in a new restoration of the original, silent 1925 version. In this frequently terrifying and always unpredictable universe of...
Masterworks And Special Anniversary Screenings
Masterworks: The Gold Rush
Chaplin’s personal favorite among his own films, The Gold Rush (1925), is a beautifully constructed comic fable of fate and perseverance, set in the icy wastes of the Alaskan gold fields. Re-released by Chaplin in 1942 in a recut version missing some scenes, and with added narration and musical score, The Gold Rush will be presented in a new restoration of the original, silent 1925 version. In this frequently terrifying and always unpredictable universe of...
- 8/28/2011
- by Christopher Clemente
- SoundOnSight
Screened at the Berlin International Film Festival
BERLIN -- In her brave first feature, Bosnian writer-director Jasmila Zbanic tackles the theme of war's aftermath. The past haunts the movie's present as painful memories worm their way into the daily activities of people going about their lives. Everything looks normal, but every glance and gesture tell you that "normal" went out of business a long time ago.
A schoolchild will speak with pride about his or her late father being a "shaheed" or war martyr. People eagerly flock to postmortem identifications whenever new mass graves are discovered in hopes of claiming the body of a loved one whose fate remains unknown.
Future festival dates loom for "Grbavica" though most likely wider exposure will come with European TV sales.
Mirjana Karanovic, known for her roles in films by Emir Kusturica, plays Esma, a mother who lives with her 12-year-old daughter Sara (newcomer Luna Mijovic) in Sarajevo's Grbavica district. The neighborhood, heavily damaged and then used as an internment camp during the 1990s Yugoslav wars, is still undergoing reconstruction. Unable to make ends meet on government aid, Esma takes a waitress job in a nightclub along with a day job in a shoe factory. She attends therapy sessions in a local women's center, but does so mostly to collect additional aid.
Sara develops a friendship with a male classmate (Kenan Catic) when they discover each has lost a father in the war. A school trip is coming up, for which Esma must find the money. Sara can go free if she provides a certificate proving her father died a shaheed. Only her mother is determined to pay full price, as the red tape in securing the document is too great. Sara gradually comes to realize her mother has never told her the truth about the war years.
Zbanic's script delicately intertwines the overwhelming hurt of the past with the quotidian details of her characters' lives. A friendship Esma strikes up with a male co-worker (Leon Lucev) at the club finds its bonds in the past. Even the film's music expresses the conflicting realities in the Balkans: Sensitive, God-fearing ilahijes music contrasts with popular "turbo folk" songs, originating in Serbia, that appeal to aggressiveness and machismo.
Zbanic and cinematographer Christine Maier shoot naturally so as to capture the sense of a fake and often failed veil of normalcy drawn over too many horrible secrets.
BERLIN -- In her brave first feature, Bosnian writer-director Jasmila Zbanic tackles the theme of war's aftermath. The past haunts the movie's present as painful memories worm their way into the daily activities of people going about their lives. Everything looks normal, but every glance and gesture tell you that "normal" went out of business a long time ago.
A schoolchild will speak with pride about his or her late father being a "shaheed" or war martyr. People eagerly flock to postmortem identifications whenever new mass graves are discovered in hopes of claiming the body of a loved one whose fate remains unknown.
Future festival dates loom for "Grbavica" though most likely wider exposure will come with European TV sales.
Mirjana Karanovic, known for her roles in films by Emir Kusturica, plays Esma, a mother who lives with her 12-year-old daughter Sara (newcomer Luna Mijovic) in Sarajevo's Grbavica district. The neighborhood, heavily damaged and then used as an internment camp during the 1990s Yugoslav wars, is still undergoing reconstruction. Unable to make ends meet on government aid, Esma takes a waitress job in a nightclub along with a day job in a shoe factory. She attends therapy sessions in a local women's center, but does so mostly to collect additional aid.
Sara develops a friendship with a male classmate (Kenan Catic) when they discover each has lost a father in the war. A school trip is coming up, for which Esma must find the money. Sara can go free if she provides a certificate proving her father died a shaheed. Only her mother is determined to pay full price, as the red tape in securing the document is too great. Sara gradually comes to realize her mother has never told her the truth about the war years.
Zbanic's script delicately intertwines the overwhelming hurt of the past with the quotidian details of her characters' lives. A friendship Esma strikes up with a male co-worker (Leon Lucev) at the club finds its bonds in the past. Even the film's music expresses the conflicting realities in the Balkans: Sensitive, God-fearing ilahijes music contrasts with popular "turbo folk" songs, originating in Serbia, that appeal to aggressiveness and machismo.
Zbanic and cinematographer Christine Maier shoot naturally so as to capture the sense of a fake and often failed veil of normalcy drawn over too many horrible secrets.
- 2/13/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Screened at the Berlin International Film Festival
BERLIN -- In her brave first feature, Bosnian writer-director Jasmila Zbanic tackles the theme of war's aftermath. The past haunts the movie's present as painful memory worms its way into the daily activities of people going about their lives. Everything looks normal, but every glance and gesture tell you that "normal" went out of business a long time ago.
A school child will speak with pride about his or her late father being a "shaheed" or war martyr. People eagerly flock to post-mortem identifications whenever new mass graves are discovered in hopes of claiming the body of a loved one whose fate remains unknown.
Future festival dates loom for "Grbavica" although most likely wider exposure will come with European TV sales.
Mirjana Karanovic, best known for her roles in films by Emir Kusturica, plays Esma, a mother who lives with her 12-year-old daughter Sara (newcomer Luna Mijovic) in Sarajevo's Grbavica district. The neighborhood, heavily damaged and then used as an internment camp during the 1990s Yugoslav wars, is still undergoing reconstruction.
Unable to make ends meet on government aid, Esma takes a waitress job in a nightclub along with a day job in a shoe factory. She attends therapy sessions in a local women's center, but does so mostly to collect additional aid.
Sara develops a friendship with a male classmate (Kenan Catic) when they discover each has lost a father in the war. A school trip is coming up, for which Esma must find the money. Sara can go free if she provides a certificate proving her father died a shaheed. Only her mother is determined to pay full price, as the red tape in securing the document is too great. Sara gradually comes to realize her mother has never told her the truth about the war years.
Zbanic's script delicately intertwines the overwhelming hurt of the past with the quotidian details of her characters' lives. A friendship Esma strikes up with a male co-worker (Leon Lucev) at the club finds its bonds in the past. Even the film's music expresses the conflicting realities in the Balkans: Sensitive, God-fearing ilahijas music contrasts with popular "turbo folk" songs, originating in Serbia, that appeal to aggressiveness and machismo.
Zbanic and cinematographer Christine Maier shoot naturally so as to capture the sense of a fake and often failed veil of normalcy drawn over too many horrible secrets.
Coop 99/Deblokada...
BERLIN -- In her brave first feature, Bosnian writer-director Jasmila Zbanic tackles the theme of war's aftermath. The past haunts the movie's present as painful memory worms its way into the daily activities of people going about their lives. Everything looks normal, but every glance and gesture tell you that "normal" went out of business a long time ago.
A school child will speak with pride about his or her late father being a "shaheed" or war martyr. People eagerly flock to post-mortem identifications whenever new mass graves are discovered in hopes of claiming the body of a loved one whose fate remains unknown.
Future festival dates loom for "Grbavica" although most likely wider exposure will come with European TV sales.
Mirjana Karanovic, best known for her roles in films by Emir Kusturica, plays Esma, a mother who lives with her 12-year-old daughter Sara (newcomer Luna Mijovic) in Sarajevo's Grbavica district. The neighborhood, heavily damaged and then used as an internment camp during the 1990s Yugoslav wars, is still undergoing reconstruction.
Unable to make ends meet on government aid, Esma takes a waitress job in a nightclub along with a day job in a shoe factory. She attends therapy sessions in a local women's center, but does so mostly to collect additional aid.
Sara develops a friendship with a male classmate (Kenan Catic) when they discover each has lost a father in the war. A school trip is coming up, for which Esma must find the money. Sara can go free if she provides a certificate proving her father died a shaheed. Only her mother is determined to pay full price, as the red tape in securing the document is too great. Sara gradually comes to realize her mother has never told her the truth about the war years.
Zbanic's script delicately intertwines the overwhelming hurt of the past with the quotidian details of her characters' lives. A friendship Esma strikes up with a male co-worker (Leon Lucev) at the club finds its bonds in the past. Even the film's music expresses the conflicting realities in the Balkans: Sensitive, God-fearing ilahijas music contrasts with popular "turbo folk" songs, originating in Serbia, that appeal to aggressiveness and machismo.
Zbanic and cinematographer Christine Maier shoot naturally so as to capture the sense of a fake and often failed veil of normalcy drawn over too many horrible secrets.
Coop 99/Deblokada...
- 2/12/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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