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Hypnotic insanity of the finest order, Panos Cosmatos' Beyond the Black Rainbow is one of the true highlights of this year's Tribeca Film Festival. Playing in the genre-centric Cinemania program, Cosmatos' debut is a nightmarish acid trip with myriad cinematic influences— Stanley Kubrick, David Cronenberg, Dario Argento, John Carpenter and Ken Russell are merely a few of its most prominent spiritual ancestors—and yet one that melds and warps its many '70s and '80s sci-fi and fantasy elements into something distinctively unsettling. Nick Schager interviewed Cosmatos for GC Daily. Read more >> |
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In This Dispatch:
- What's New: Blow Out, Lucky, and more.
- What We're Watching: Somewhere, Ricky, Summer in Genoa.
- Explore: Tribeca '11 Critics' Notebook.
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Terrific essay from critic Michael Sragow on this Brian De Palma film, which is out today courtesy Criterion: "The genius of Blow Out is that in it De Palma finally let real life intersect with his dreamworlds... The emotion-filled imagery in Blow Out is as galvanizing as the film’s satiric humor and mesmeric techniques. Just as Hitchcock’s techniques cleared a path for De Palma, De Palma’s audacity has paved the road, or at least broadened the way, for the up-front film noir surrealism of David Lynch and the go-for-broke perfectionism of David Fincher." |
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Jeffrey Blitz’s ( Spellbound) "breezy documentary looks at a handful of lottery winners to see how a sudden influx of hyper-wealth changed their lives," writes Erin Donovan. "Even if you can’t buy into the notion that people win the lottery For A Reason, Lucky dismantles the idea that sudden wealth merely emboldens the greater or weaker elements of a person’s character." Adds Scott Weinberg: "Shot slick and cut cleanly, with nifty animated interstitials full of interesting jackpot stats...a fun little documentary that shows the joys and the unexpected stresses of sudden mega-wealth." |
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The big epiphany in Somewhere comes during a slow zoom out from Johnny Marco ( Stephen Dorff) and daughter Cleo ( Elle Fanning) tanning poolside at West Hollywood's Chateau Marmont. The low-ebb plot—vacant action star Johnny takes care of his daughter for a few weeks and realizes he's been a lousy dad, or maybe a waste of space—reaches its climax here, with the two naturally bonding and experiencing a new kind of mutual contentment. As a viewer, you could ignore that obvious intent and get annoyed by the context: you're watching a Hollywood star hang out in an expensive locale, cocooned by unnaturally perfect California weather and accompanied on the soundtrack with a Strokes demo, a band--like writer-director Sofia Coppola... Read more >> |
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Seeing Ricky -- Francois Ozon’s mysterious little fable of an unusual baby and the family into which it comes -- a second time, I liked the film better than in my first encounter back in November of 2009 at BAM’s preview of new French films. Among the movie’s many delights in this age of multi-million-dollar special effects, is a creation so simple yet endearing and splendid: the special effect in question is just a baby. But what a baby. The meaning that Ozon hopes to provide via this little wonder is another matter, and part of the movie's charm and weight comes from the fact that the writer/director leaves quite a bit of his message open-ended. Ricky is also a film of ideas... Read more >> |
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Michael Winterbottom's "beautifully raw, wonderfully acted Summer in Genoa sometimes observes when it could analyze, and the film draws a bit too much suspense from children in danger," writes Matt Pais in Chicago Tribune. "Yet many of those situations stem from the sense of drifting, numb and frozen, through life that no longer seems real after tragedy. Through guilt and sorrow you can feel the distance between these family members, and you know a movie like this is working when it holds you tight and nervous in every moment." Colin Firth and Hope Davis star.
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In a new critics' notebook on GC Daily, Steve Dollar reports from the Tribeca Film Festival,where he digs through the festival catalog for a few films that deserve seeking out - including Bombay Beach (Israel), Turn Me On, Goddammit (Norway) and She Monkeys (Sweden). More >> Some notes on films at the 54th SFIFF and Werner Herzog's cave film are among the pieces coming to GC Daily soon.
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