Above: La pivellina.
The recently wrapped Los Angeles Film Festival succeeded in reinventing itself—a new location in "revitalized" downtown with a new artistic director, David Ansen (the thirty-year veteran critic of Newsweek)—but it produced mixed results. Gone were the kind of established names of world cinema favored by previous artistic director Rachel Rosen, whose final program last year boasted rare works by Wang Bing, Pere Portabella, Miguel Gomes, and many others. Claire Denis was perhaps Laff's only recognized master this year (outside of revivals), and herWhite Material is already secured for distribution.
Instead, Laff emphasized emerging filmmakers and attempted to strike a balance between "popular" and "art house" fare, offering an accessible selection of films from around the globe. Ansen's most interesting choices were the smaller films he championed, such as the Georgian character study Street Days, which he personally introduced and then sat through after some minor projection problems occurred,...
The recently wrapped Los Angeles Film Festival succeeded in reinventing itself—a new location in "revitalized" downtown with a new artistic director, David Ansen (the thirty-year veteran critic of Newsweek)—but it produced mixed results. Gone were the kind of established names of world cinema favored by previous artistic director Rachel Rosen, whose final program last year boasted rare works by Wang Bing, Pere Portabella, Miguel Gomes, and many others. Claire Denis was perhaps Laff's only recognized master this year (outside of revivals), and herWhite Material is already secured for distribution.
Instead, Laff emphasized emerging filmmakers and attempted to strike a balance between "popular" and "art house" fare, offering an accessible selection of films from around the globe. Ansen's most interesting choices were the smaller films he championed, such as the Georgian character study Street Days, which he personally introduced and then sat through after some minor projection problems occurred,...
- 7/19/2010
- MUBI
Burt Lancaster in Luchino Visconti‘s The Leopard (top); Marko Zaror in Ernesto Diaz Espinosa‘s Mandrill (upper middle); Elsa Daniel in Leopoldo Torre Nilsson‘s The Fall (lower middle); Jennifer Arnold‘s A Small Act (bottom) Luchino Visconti‘s restored The Leopard, Ernesto Diaz Espinosa‘s Mandrill, Leopoldo Torre Nilsson‘s The Fall, and Jennifer Arnold‘s A Small Act are some of the highlights at the 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival on Saturday, June 26. Starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon, and Claudia Cardinale, Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or winner Il Gattopardo / The Leopard (1963) is considered by some to be Visconti’s masterpiece. Set in mid-19th century Sicily, The Leopard explores the foibles of an old-school patriarch (Lancaster) intent on preserving his family’s prestige. An all-around sumptuous production, The Leopard was beautifully shot by Giuseppe Rotunno. (The long ballroom sequence is particularly striking.) Mandrill is described as an...
- 6/25/2010
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Andres Escobar in Jeff Zimbalist and Michael Zimbalist‘s The Two Escobars (top); Guy Marchand in Jacques Martineau and Olivier Ducastel‘s Family Tree (middle); Elsa Daniel in Leopoldo Torre Nilsson‘s The House of the Angel (bottom) Below are a few highlights at the Los Angeles Film Festival on Friday, June 18: Following a screening of Pink Floyd: The Wall, The Dark Knight‘s and the upcoming Inception‘s filmmaker Christopher Nolan will talk with film critic Elvis Mitchell about the influence of Alan Parker‘s 1982 feature/music video on his work. John Kastner‘s Canadian documentary Life with Murder shows how the parents of a murdered young woman do what they can to protect their son, the accused murderer, while Jeff Zimbalist and Michael Zimbalist‘s documentary The Two Escobars shows how sports, big money, and tribalism can be an explosive mix. The two Escobars in question...
- 6/18/2010
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
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