The characters in director Fatih Akin’s movies are flawed, they use drugs, they take a contrarian approach to life, they survive life rather than live it (and they listen to fantastic music). While studying the humanities in college Katja (Diane Kruger, in a very strong performance) enjoyed the instant gratification of chemicals and fell for her drug dealer, the virile and handsome Nuri ... more >
Archives for May 2017
ARCHIVES
CANNES FESTIVAL, Diane Kruger the surefire winner of the acting prize for “In The Fade”? We say yes!
A film about sorrow and justice
Diane Kruger and Numan Acar
Directed by Fatih Akin
CANNES FESTIVAL, Safdie Brothers aim for Palme D’Or with GOOD TIME
New York City breaks bad again
Robert Pattinson and Benny Safdie
Directed by Josh and Benny Safdie
A24, an independent film studio, is like Weinstein or Focus but for the millenial set: their films are possessed of an edge and an immediacy, to say nothing of quality, that isn’t seen very often these days in the film market. "Good Time," which debuted this morning, is the latest title to come out of this studio. In this new film directed by Ben and Josh Safdie about a bank robbery gone wrong ... more >
CANNES FESTIVAL, Christopher Doyle gets Excellence in Cinematography award
Doyle studied film at university in Hong Kong
Every year at the Cannes Festival the “Pierre Angénieux ExcelLens in Cinematography” award is given to a director of photography whose work has marked cinema. In 2013 the award was given to Philippe Rousselot, Vilmos Zsigmond got it in 2014 and Roger A. Deakins in 2015, followed by Peter Suschitzky the year after that. This year, which marks seventy for the Cannes Festival, cinematographer ... more >
CANNES FESTIVAL, “Krotkaya” (“A Gentle Creature”)
Slot Machine / Haut et Court
Vasilina Makovtseva, Valeriu Andriuta and Sergei Kolesov
Directed by Sergei Loznitsa
There’s something mildly sadistic about a master-filmmaker botching his own, brilliant, film with an underwhelming ending, such as that which Sergei Loznitsa did with “Krotkaya” (“A gentle creature” in the Russian original). A woman whose husband is in prison gets the care package she’d sent to her husband returned to her. A delivery attempt was made, person is no longer at that jail cell. In ... more >
CANNES FESTIVAL, “Tesnota”
A film from the Sokurov School of filmmaking
Darya Zhovner, Olga Dragunova and Artem Tsypin
Directed by Kantemir Balagov
The first thing that I noticed while watching Kantemir Balagov’s new film “Tesnota” (“Closeness” in the original russian) is the performance by lead actress Darya Zhovner. Her Ilana, the character from whose point of view the film is told, is a tomboy who works in her step-father’s garage and whiles away the days hanging out with her boyfriend. Zhovner, for whom this film represents a first role ... more >
CANNES FESTIVAL, “The Beguiled”
Based on the 1971 Don Siegel remake
Kirsten Dunst and Nicole Kidman
Directed by Sofia Coppola
*"The Beguiled" has earned Sofia Coppola the BEST DIRECTING award at the 2017 Cannes Festival* Ever since “Marie Antoinette” filmmaker Sofia Coppola has seemed to suffer from indolence, and that was the case again with “The Beguiled,” her new film debuting today in Cannes. I could not get into this movie in spite of its bravura visual palette, its many funny moments and primo cast composed ... more >
Roger Moore, the actor who played James Bond, dead at 89
Roger Moore, third actor in the James Bond franchise, died at age 89. Considered the most suave personification of the legendary secret agent, the actor thought there were worse labels to wear the rest of one’s life. As a matter of fact, he considered himself incredibly lucky to have been selected to step into the uninimitable Sean Connery's shoes whom he wisely didn’t try to copy, becoming his ... more >