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#203 | September 25, 2007 |
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It's hard to believe that Robert Benton has only directed eleven features since his debut in 1972, as his films have been so much a part of the cinematic culture. With his writing partner David Newman, he wrote what is arguably the seminal American film of the 1960s, Bonnie and Clyde, earning his first of five Oscar nominations for screenwriting. He later won Academy Awards for directing and scripting Kramer vs. Kramer and for his original screenplay for Places From the Heart. Such neglected films as The Late Show and Bad Company, his first foray into directing, have a humanity and a character as vivid now as they were more than thirty years ago. Sean Axmaker spoke with the director - pictured above with Morgan Freeman and Greg Kinnear, to talk about his latest film Feast of Love, and a lot more. Read article >> |
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In This Dispatch:
- What's New: Black Book, Mouth to Mouth, and much more.
- What We're Watching: Cruising, Cinema16 and Thieves.
- Explore: Toronto and NYFF.
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Paul Verhoeven returned to form - in more ways than one - for this Europe-set WWII thriller. "[He] should not be so misunderstood, since his films are efforts to tell simple truths, usually in the simplest cinematic language, writes David D'Arcy introducing his interview with the director. "The truths are painfully simple in the case of Black Book, which looks at survival and betrayal in the Dutch resistance to the Germans, as World War II was drawing to a close and the Dutch were preparing to govern themselves once again." Adds Premiere's Glenn Kenny: "Verhoeven's best film since RoboCop: audacious, smart, shamelessly entertaining." |
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"In the late 1980s I joined a cult. Mouth to Mouth is an attempt to understand how that could have happened," wrote Canadian filmmaker Alison Murray, as way of introducing her impressive if messy feature debut. Reviewing the film for GreenCine, Craig Phillips called it "an imperfect but striking effort, is of a wholly different universe and energy" and Ellen Page ( X-3, Hard Candy) plays the lead "with ferocity." |
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Reviewer James Van Maanen returns to William Friedkin's cult curio after its recent DVD release to give it another try, and finds the once controversial film "ridiculous...From the second scene onwards, the heavily expository dialog, coupled with some terrible acting, simply embarrasses. As the film proceeds, it becomes clear that there is little "plot" per se, almost no sense of development, and the dialog remains dead--flat, expositional, and devoid of the quirks of speech that might make it seem real." But, hey, judge for yourself, and then write/rant about it here. Read Full Review >> |
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One of the few consistent DVD series devoted to short films from around the world, Cinema16's DVDs showcase everything the fascinating early works of some of the world's greatest directors to award-winning films from its most exciting new filmmakers, but the problem for those of us in the States is that their discs have previously been unavailable in region 1 format. This new two-disc collection focusing on European filmmakers changes that - it's actually region 0, or "all-region" but will play in US machines - and may be their best yet. Roy Andersson's WORLD OF GLORY, a contemporary classic, is certainly one of the most important films to come from Sweden in the past twenty years but only one of many highlights from this stellar collection by the UK-based Cinema16. Read full review >> |
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Some period pieces seem to be all about the art direction and costume design, every scene dripping with flourishes that seem to call attention to themselves - a plumed hat, say, or streams of 1947 Hudson Coupes driving by in an establishing shot. In Thieves Like Us, Robert Altman seems to be going for a different kind of verisimilitude, with dirt being more prevalent than heavily manicured and it feels like Altman could have a mere two cars on hand and he'd make it work. More than anything, the single most impressive thing about the movie is how much it feels like the Depression.
Read full review >> |
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Our award-winning blog GreenCine Daily's piling up a ton of write-ups looking at both the Toronto and New York Film Festivals, previewing oodles of intriguing films screening at these prestigious events, including Married Life (at right). Read more >>
Look for a bunch of great podcasts from the NYFF at the Daily starting the end of this week, too! |
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Congrats to the winners of our Eastern Promises contest. These two lucky folks will receive Eastern Promises t-shirts and soundtracks: John Rippy and Jesada Homchand. |
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Collecting Shorts
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