The World Premiere of THE COMEDIAN from Sony Pictures Classics and Cinelou Films will play as a Special Screening of AFI FEST 2016 presented by Audi. The film stars Oscar® winner Robert De Niro, along with Leslie Mann, Oscar® nominee Danny DeVito, Edie Falco, Veronica Ferres, Charles Grodin, Oscar® winner Cloris Leachman, Patti LuPone and Oscar® nominee Harvey Keitel. Written by Art Linson, directed by Oscar® winner Taylor Hackford and produced by Art Linson, John Linson, Mark Canton, Courtney Solomon and Taylor Hackford.
In THE COMEDIAN, an aging comic icon, Jackie (De Niro) has seen better days. Despite his efforts to reinvent himself and his comic genius, the audience only wants to know him as the former television character he once played. Already a strain on his younger brother (DeVito) and his wife (LuPone), Jackie is forced to serve out a sentence doing community service for accosting an audience member. While there, he meets Harmony (Mann), the daughter of a sleazy Florida real estate mogul (Keitel), and the two find inspiration in one another, resulting in surprising consequences.THE COMEDIAN will screen on Friday, November 11, at the Egyptian Theatre.
AFI FEST takes place November 10–17, 2016, in the heart of Hollywood. Screenings, Galas and other events will be held at the TCL Chinese Theatre, the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres, the Egyptian Theatre and The Hollywood Roosevelt. The full festival lineup and schedule will be unveiled in October.
Go to AFI.com for details to purchase Patron Packages, which include access to Galas and other high-demand films and events. Individual tickets will be available on AFI.com beginning November 1.
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s Virtuosos Award is going off tonight at the Arlington Theater in Santa Barbara at 8PM!
SBIFF Executive Director Roger During noted,
“This year has been monumental in the breadth of talent breaking through in distinct and emotional roles. We are excited to honor both new and familiar faces, and look forward to celebrating them and their contribution to the craft.”
This year’s recipients include Aaron Taylor Johnson (Nocturnal Animals), Dev Patel (Lion), Janelle Monáe (Hidden Figures, Moonlight), Mahershala Ali (Moonlight), Naomie Harris (Moonlight), Ruth Negga (Loving), Simon Helberg (Florence Foster Jenkins), and Stephen Henderson (Fences). The Award presentation, which will be moderated for the seventh year by Dave Karger, will take place February 4, 2017 at the Arlington Theatre at the 32nd edition of the festival, which runs February 1 to February 11, 2017.
The diverse group will be recognized for their breakthrough roles in 2016 and careers thus far. Aaron Taylor Johnson delivers a fearless and menacing performance as the villainous sociopath Ray Marcus in the psychological thriller Nocturnal Animals. Based on the true story of Saroo Brierley, Dev Patel brings an emotional sentimentality and soulful depth to his role in Lion. Janelle Monáe has had a banner year with star-making performances as Mary Jackson in the biographical drama Hidden Figures along with the brilliantly crafted Moonlight, in which she brings sensitivity and sincerity to the role of Teresa. In Moonlight, Mahershala Ali gives a captivating and moving turn as Juan, a man struggling to find his place in the world, and Naomie Harris mesmerizes with her touching and harrowing performance as the mother of a young man navigating his sexuality. Ruth Negga delivers a mesmerizing and resilient portrayal of Mildred Loving in the biographical drama, Loving. Simon Helberg won critical raves and audiences’ hearts with his charming performance opposite Meryl Streep as Cosme McMoon – the very expressive pianist in Florence Foster Jenkins. After decades on Broadway, renowned character actor Stephen Henderson reprises the role of Jim Bono in Denzel Washington’s upcoming Fences, which earned the actor a Tony nomination.
Virtuosos Award
honoring:
Aaron Taylor Johnson (Nocturnal Animals)
Dev Patel (Lion)
Janelle Monáe (Hidden Figures, Moonlight)
Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)
Naomie Harris (Moonlight)
Ruth Negga (Loving)
Simon Helberg (Florence Foster Jenkins)
and Stephen Henderson (Fences)
Moderated by Dave Karger Saturday February 4, 2017
Arlington Theatre
Prior recipients for the award include Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton, Elizabeth Banks, Paul Dano, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Géza Röhrig, Jacob Tremblay, Chadwick Boseman, Ellar Coltrane, Logan Lerman, David Oyelowo, Rosamund Pike, J.K. Simmons, Jenny Slate, Ann Dowd, Elle Fanning, Ezra Miller, Eddie Redmayne, Omar Sy, Quvenzhane Wallis, Demian Bichir, Rooney Mara, Melissa McCarthy, Shailene Woodley, Andy Serkis, Patton Oswalt, Andrew Garfield, John Hawkes, Lesley Manville, Hailee Steinfeld, Jacki Weaver, Emily Blunt, Carey Mulligan, Saoirse Ronan, Gabourey Sidibe, Michael Stuhlbarg, Casey Affleck, Marion Cotillard, Viola Davis, Rosemarie DeWitt, Sally Hawkins, Richard Jenkins, Melissa Leo, James McAvoy, Ellen Page, Amy Ryan, Michael Shannon, Michael B. Jordan, Brie Larson, Jared Leto, and June Squibb.
(Source: press release sbiff.org)
Quick, imagine the most insufferable movie you can. Would it be almost three hours long? Focus on barely recognizable teens engaged in barely legal activities? With lots of close-ups of insects and filth and general decay? Oh, and would Shia LaBeouf inexplicably be there, too, along with the worst rat-tail haircut in the history of rat-tail haircuts?
If so, then we have all just collectively imagined the new drama American Honey. But while the film does indeed feature all those queasy elements – plus copious nudity, enough racially tinged profanity to rival a Quentin Tarantino script and more, more, more – it is also something of a miracle: a hypnotizing work of profound artistry that paints an exquisitely devastating, emotionally exhausting portrait of America’s lost youth.
Of course, knowing that American Honey is an Andrea Arnold film makes all the difference – there is no other filmmaker working today who can spin such scenes of skeezy misery into high art. From her early short film Wasp to her features Red Road, Fish Tank and a bold retelling of Wuthering Heights, the British director has proved herself to be the reigning champion of what I’m going to haphazardly dub Squalor Cinema – films that aggressively explore the corners of society that most moviegoers would rather ignore, but are all the more mesmerizing for their ability to reveal intense slivers of overwhelming beauty between the cracks.
Arnold’s work is a kind of controlled chaos – impulsive, raw and ultimately rewarding – which is no surprise given how the filmmaker tends to operate. “I remember I was at Sundance for Wuthering Heights in 2012, and I was supposed to go back home to start on making [American Honey]. The driver was taking me to the airport, and suddenly the sun came out over the mountains of Utah, and it was so staggering and I thought, ‘What the hell am I doing?’” Arnold says over the phone from London. “I was going to make a film about America and I hadn’t spent any time here, so how am I going to write about it if I don’t see it? So I got to the airport, rented a car and took a road trip.”
That impromptu road trip would be the first of many for Arnold as she crisscrossed the United States for several years, travelling up and down both coasts and through Middle America in an effort to flesh out an idea she had been sitting on since reading a 2007 New York Times article about “mag crews” – ragtag groups of itinerant teens who sold magazine subscriptions door to door, when not partying to excess in cheap motels.
“I tried to go to places where either the mag kids could come from – these small towns with endless horizons, a lot of space between them with nothing to do – and where they went to sell,” Arnold, 55, says. “And I started to experience what it was like for kids on those crews. I hung out with them, and then at some point, we started casting them.”
Although it was a slow process, it was an intense one, with Arnold and her crew eventually collecting a dozen or so mostly amateur actors to populate her crew of reckless, raging teens. Even the film’s lead actress, the spellbinding first-time performer Sasha Lane, was found by happy accident on a beach in Panama City, Fla.
“There was another girl who was cast for quite a long time, but about three weeks before production, she had personal reasons why she shouldn’t go through with it. So I got on an airplane, and just hung out on the beach,” Arnold says. “We found Sasha three or four days in, and it was complete luck. She turned out to be amazing, and I rewrote the part for her as we went along, every single day, just sitting in my hotel room with my laptop as we tried to keep going.”
The only experienced actors to appear in the film are Riley Keough (The Girlfriend Experience, Mad Max: Fury Road) as the mag crew’s conniving boss, and LaBeouf, as the group’s top salesman, a volatile charmer who takes an interest in Lane’s naive newcomer, Star. (On working with the notoriously erratic LaBeouf, Arnold is beyond diplomatic: “I’m somebody who likes people who have personality, and he’s got lots of personality. I make my own mind up about people when I meet them, so I didn’t have any qualms about that.”)
Despite their air of celebrity, though, Keough and LaBeouf are quickly stripped of any presumed marquee sheen by Arnold, with both actors expertly disappearing into the rest of the awkward and irrepressible ensemble. And together, under Arnold’s empathetic eye, the cast paints a devastating portrait of an oft-ignored generation, what might otherwise be dismissed as American trash.
Which is where the complications begin. Ever since American Honey premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this past spring, certain critical corners have worked hard to dismiss Arnold’s work as mere poverty porn, a fetishization of rural misery. But that argument ignores both Arnold’s own background and her artistic process.
Born to a 16-year-old single mother in the housing projects of Dartford, Kent, near London, Arnold grew up in much the same circumstances as the female protagonists across her filmography – isolated and desperate for an escape, of any sort. For Wasp’s Zoë, that exit plan comes in the form of a chance encounter with an old boyfriend. For FishTank’s Mia, it’s her mother’s charming new boyfriend. For AmericanHoney’s Star, it’s LaBeouf’s charming predator. But for Arnold herself, it was, perhaps unbelievably, the dance floor: At 17, she won a spot at London’s Laban Dance Centre, which eventually led to her attending the American Film Institute in Los Angeles.
Simply put, Arnold knows just how important that rare combination of determination and luck are involved in escaping one’s lot, and as a result, her work never resorts to sentimentality or exploitation. It’s partly why she shoots in a 4:3 ratio, which looks like a square on the big screen: Arnold’s films emphasize only the people in the frame, rather than their surroundings – which make for intensely personal narratives that are rooted in respect and emotional autonomy. It’s a humanist method of filmmaking that separates the people from the societal clichés that might otherwise define them.
Plus, she does her research. “I had only spent time in New York and L.A., which seem like islands to the rest of America, so I knew I had to explore,” Arnold says of her various road trips. “It was kind of surprising, and one of the things that shocked me were the amount of drugs everywhere. I was going to areas looking for a certain kind of demographic, so it was a specific thing that I was doing, and I don’t want to say [drugs] were everywhere.
“But these areas have been decimated by industry closings, shops are all closed,” she continues. “It’s a kind of time gone by, and you can see it because the buildings are still there. There’s plenty of people still living in these towns, but there’s not much to do for work. Which is important – where do you go from there?”
It’s a question that Arnold must now face as well, as her responsibilities for promoting, and at times defending, American Honey wind down after so many years. Like a good deal of her big-screen colleagues, she has dabbled in the world of premium television, recently directing three episodes of Amazon’s hit series Transparent. But that doesn’t mean she’s abandoning the world of film, either.
“It was quite freeing and liberating, to be working on something that was already there, that was not totally my responsibility toward the cast and the crew,” she says. “But I still want to do my own work – I can’t help myself once one film is finished, I feel another gnawing away at me. I have to go after it. It’s like an addiction.”
*Featured Photo: Andrea Arnold, right, writer/director of American Honey and cast member Sasha Lane. Director Andrea Arnold discovered American Honey’s lead actress Sasha Lane by happy accident on a beach in Panama City, Fla.
The American Film Institute (AFI) announced that AFI FEST 2016 presented by Audi will honor actress Annette Bening with a Tribute and Centerpiece Gala screening at the festival.
The Tribute will celebrate her extraordinary career and will include a conversation with the actress followed by A24 and Annapurna Pictures’ 20TH CENTURY WOMEN (DIR Mike Mills) on Wednesday, November 16.
Jacqueline Lyanga, AFI Fest President (Photo credit: Indiewire)
“Annette Bening is a modern-day icon of American cinema,” said Jacqueline Lyanga, AFI FEST Director. “She brings her characters to life with an emotional intelligence that is luminous and powerful. In 20TH CENTURY WOMEN, she finds one of her richest roles yet, delivering a strong performance that anchors the film’s terrific ensemble cast.”
Bening is a four-time Academy Award® nominee for her indelible performances in THE GRIFTERS (1990), AMERICAN BEAUTY (1999), BEING JULIA (2004) and THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT (2010). Her other credits include VALMONT (1989), BUGSY (1991), THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT (1995), GINGER & ROSA (2012) and AFI FEST 2016 Opening Night film RULES DON’T APPLY (2016). She has won BAFTA, Golden Globe and SAG Awards, and garnered Emmy® and Tony® nominations for her television and stage work, respectively.
Mike Mills’ 20TH CENTURY WOMEN, set in Santa Barbara 1979, follows Dorothea Fields (Annette Bening), a determined single mother in her mid-50s who is raising her adolescent son Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann) at a moment brimming with cultural change and rebellion. When Dorothea enlists the help of two younger women in Jamie’s upbringing — free-spirited punk artist Abbie (Greta Gerwig) and savvy, provocative teen neighbor Julie (Elle Fanning) — a makeshift family forms that will mystify and inspire them for the rest of their lives.
The Opening Night Gala will be the World Premiere of RULES DON’T APPLY (DIR Warren Beatty) on Thursday, November 10. Isabelle Huppert will be honored with a Tribute on Sunday, November 13, followed by a Centerpiece Gala screening of ELLE (DIR Paul Verhoeven).
In celebration of the 30th edition of the festival, a trio of diverse female trailblazers are featured in both the festival’s 2016 key art and programming lineup. AFI FEST will spotlight Dorothy Dandridge, the first African American nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award®; Ida Lupino, a pioneering director, writer, producer and actress who became the first woman to direct a film noir; and Anna May Wong, the first Chinese-American actress to rise to international prominence.
LOS ANGELES, Oct 13 — Yemen is competing for an Academy Award for best foreign language film for the first time, one of 85 countries submitting entries including Paul Verhoeven’s Elle and Pedro Almodovar’s Julieta, organisers announced Tuesday.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which presents the Oscars, will consider Yemeni director Khadija al-Salami’s I Am Nojoom, Age 10 and Divorced — which explores the culture of child brides — it said in a statement.
The entries for Best Foreign Language Film also include Dutch director Verhoeven’s Elle, a transgressive thriller starring French actress Isabelle Huppert, and Afterimage, by the legendary Polish director Andrzej Wajda, who died Sunday.
Wajda portrayed the last years of avant-garde painter Wladyslaw Strzeminski, who battled Stalinist orthodoxy, in a film some see as a metaphor for present-day Poland under the conservative Law and Justice Party.
Mexico’s Jonas Cuaron, son of star director Alfonso Cuaron, directed his country’s entry, the thriller Desierto, while Spain entered Almodovar’s Julieta, a vibrant portrait of a woman confronting crisis.
Switzerland submitted the animated My Life as a Zucchini, by Claude Barras, and Italy sent Gianfranco Rosi’s Fire at Sea, a documentary about migrants’ lives, focusing on the Italian island of Lampedusa.
The academy will make a preliminary cut later this year before announcing five finalists in January.
The 89th Oscars ceremony is set for February 26, 2017.
Hungary’s Son of Saul, by director Laszlo Nemes, won the prestigious award this year. — AFP
Writer/director Paolo Sorrentino unleashed a pilot of the first two episodes of a new, fictional, ten-part series titled, “The Young Pope,” at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival.
Jude Law plays the primary character, Lenny Belardo, aka Pius XIII, the first American Pope in history. Young and charming, his election appears to be the result of a simple yet effective media strategy orchestrated on behalf of the College of Cardinals. But appearances can be deceptive. And above all, in the place and among the people who have chosen the great mystery of God as their guiding compass. The place is the Vatican and the people are the hierarchical leaders of the Catholic Church. And, young Lenny Belardo, raised in an orphanage, proves to be the most mysterious and contradictory of them as Pius XIII. Shrewd yet naïve, ironic and pedantic, primeval yet modern, melancholy and ruthless, doubting yet resolute, Pius XIII is evoking a God he can give to mankind. And to himself.
Sorrentino is bound to shock the sensibilities of some of his Catholic viewers with the imagery in the opening sequence. He opens with a baby in a dimly lit St. Peter’s Square crawling over a sea of other babies until we see a man emerge from beneath the pile. A cut is made to Lenny awakening from a sleep and donning the attire of a Catholic Pope. As Lenny leaves his dressing area Sorrentino makes effective use of slow motion as he shows Lenny gracing the Vatican personnel with his presence. He glides across screen from left to right with non-diagetic music to the admiration and respect of the on-lookers until sitting upon his papal chair. He embodies a pious pose while envisioning a lovely topless blonde sitting in a green pasture as he presumably, as a young boy, looks on. He comes to and makes his way to the Papal Balcony where a deafening roar is heard from a rain-soaked crowd waiting to hear his Holiness.
Suddenly, the rain stops, the clouds clear and the sun shines forth and again the crowd roars. Lenny as Pius XIII begins a most dynamic and appropriate speech on how he serves God and how he serves the audience before switching it up telling the audience to indulge in forbidden pleasures and desires including masturbation, gay marriage and a free and liberated lifestyle. At this point, his Secretary of State tells Pius he is not the Pope, that the Secretary of State is Pope and that Pius XIII is excommunicated. A cut is made to Lenny awakening from a sleep. From here Sorrentino takes the viewer on a wild ride as he delves into the psychological state of the young pope through moments of Belardo’s introspection and through his interactions with his subordinates.
Cinematographer Luca Bigazzi creates a plethora of luscious visuals throughout the seamless show. Laura Rosenthal and Annamaria Sambucco have compiled a stellar cast. The cast does look the parts with thanks to the work of Carlo Poggioli and Luca Canfora. The musical score by Lele Marchitelli keeps pace with the action. The production design is exquisite and is handled by Ludovica Ferrario. The editing is seamless. Cristiano Travaglioli is credited with editing.
set of “The young Pope” by Paolo Sorrentino.10/22/2015 sc. 264 ep. 2In the picture Dyane Keaton.Photo by Gianni Fiorito
set of “The young Pope” by Paolo Sorrentino. 10/22/2015 sc. 264 ep. 2 In the picture Cécile De France. Photo by Gianni Fiorito
set of “The young Pope” by Paolo Sorrentino.09/11/2015 sc.219 – ep 2 in the picture Silvio Orlando.Photo by Gianni Fiorito
set of “The young Pope” by Paolo Sorrentino. 08/10/2015 sc.210 – ep. 2 in the picture Paolo Sorrentino. Photo by Gianni Fiorito
All in all, the Young Pope proved to be highly entertaining. Law brings style and swagger to the role of Lenny. Silvio Orlando brings to life the machinations and cajoling of Secretary of State, Cardinal Voiello, and Cecele De France adds nicely to the film’s rich muse-en-scene with cinematographic in close ups as the Vatican Marketer, Sofia Dubois. Last and certainly not least, Diane Keaton solidly depicts Sister Mary adding a much needed grounding presence as Sorrentino is not pulling any punches with his attempts for humor. Nevertheless, it is a delightful production with interesting dialogue and a dark, ominous and foreboding first Papal Speech.
My recommendation is don’t miss a chance to see ‘The Young Pope.’
The Young Pope is a joint Sky, HBO, CANAL+ production and will be broadcast on Sky Atlantic in 5 countries: in Italy from October 21st, in UK, Germany, Ireland and Austria from late October, and in France on CANAL+ from late October. Early indications for the US market is February 2017.
LOS ANGELES, CA (OCTOBER 10, 2016) – The Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) and the Broadcast Television Journalists Association (BTJA) have announced the nominees for the inaugural Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards. The winners will be presented their awards at a gala event on Thursday, November 3, 2016 at BRIC, in Brooklyn, New York.
Broadcast Film Critics Association and Broadcast Television Journalist Association’s Joey Berlin. (Photo: zimbio.com)
BFCA and BTJA President Joey Berlin said,
“It is an amazing time for documentaries, with the ever-increasing number of platforms enabling producers to reach enthusiastic and growing audiences for non-fiction storytelling. This is clearly demonstrated in the depth and quality of our inaugural nominees. We have a wealth of brilliant creators who are bringing to light some of the most entertaining and illuminating stories being told today. Indeed, documentary filmmaking is modern investigative journalism. We look forward to celebrating all these fine and important achievements at the first Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards gala on November 3rd.”
13th, 30 For 30: O.J.: Made in America and Gleason lead the nominations this year with five each. 13th has been nominated for Best Documentary Feature, Best Political Documentary, Best Documentary Feature (TV/Streaming), Ava DuVernay for Best Director (TV/Streaming) and Best Song in a Documentary.
The nominations for O.J.: Made in America include Best Documentary Feature, Ezra Edelman for Best Direction of a Documentary Feature, Best Limited Documentary Series, Best Political Documentary and Best Sports Documentary.
Gleason received nominations for Best Documentary Feature, Clay Tweel for Best Direction of a Documentary Feature, Best Song in a Documentary, Best Sports Documentary, in addition to the Most Compelling Living Subject of a Documentary honor for Steve Gleason.
As part of the gala awards ceremony the BFCA and BTJA will be honoring this year’s Most Compelling Living Subject of a Documentary. Honorees are as follows:
– Danny Fields – Danny Says (Magnolia/Outre Films)
– Iggy Pop – Gimme Danger (Magnolia/Amazon)
– Kirsten Johnson – Cameraperson (Janus Films/Fork Films/Big Mouth Productions)
– Owen Suskind – Life, Animated (A&E IndieFilms/The Orchard/Motto Pictures/Roger Ross Williams Productions)
– Sharon Jones – Miss Sharon Jones! (Cabin Creek Films/Starz Digital Media)
– Steve Gleason – Gleason (Open Road/Amazon/Exhibit A)
– Kate PlaysChristine (Grasshopper Film/4th Row Films/Faliro House Productions/Prewar Cinema Productions)
– Life, Animated (A&E IndieFilms/The Orchard/Motto Pictures/Roger Ross Williams Productions)
– Nuts (Amazon/mTuckman Media/Cartuna/Gland Power Films)
– Tower (Kino Lorber/ITVS/Meredith Vieira Productions/GTS Films/Diana DiMenna Film
– Under The Sun (Icarus Films/Vertov Studio/Saxonia Entertainment/Hypermarket Film)
Qualified members of BFCA and BTJA will choose the winners from amongst the nominees in voting October 31 – November 1.
About CRITICS’ CHOICE AWARDS
The Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards are presented in concert with the Critics’ Choice Awards. The Critics’ Choice Awards are bestowed annually by the BFCA and BTJA to honor the finest in cinematic and television achievement. The BFCA is the largest film critics’ organization in the United States and Canada, representing more than 300 television, radio and online critics. BFCA members are the primary source of information for today’s film-going public. BTJA is the collective voice of almost 100 journalists who regularly cover television for TV viewers, radio listeners and online audiences. Historically, the ‘Critics’ Choice Awards’ are the most accurate predictor of the Academy Award nominations.
A&E Networks will again partner with the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) and the Broadcast Television Journalists Association (BTJA) as the exclusive home to the ‘22nd Annual ‘Critics’ Choice Awards’. Accolades for the finest achievements in both movies and television will be presented Sunday, December 11 at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California, and will again be seen live on A&E, 8pm-11pm ET. For more information, visit: www.CriticsChoice.com
About CRITICS’ CHOICE DOCUMENTARY AWARDS
The inaugural Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards will honor the finest achievement in documentary features and non-fiction television. The awards are determined by a committee of BFCA and BTJA members with a background and expertise in the documentary field. The debut awards ceremony will take place, November 3, 2016 in Brooklyn, New York.
The Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) is the largest film critics organization in the United States and Canada, representing more than 300 television, radio and online critics. The Broadcast Television Journalists Association (BTJA) is a partner organization to the BFCA and includes TV, radio and Internet journalists who cover television on a regular basis. For more information, visit: www.CriticsChoice.com
Writer/Director Rebecca Zlotkowski ( Grand Central, Belle epine) presented her latest work Planetarium , a mixture of drama, fantasy and mystery, to a rousing ovation at the Sala Darsena Theatre during the 73rd Venice International Film Festival. In attendance with Zlotkowski were two of the film’s stars, Natalie Portman and Lily-Rose Depp, who teamed up to portray the infamous American Barlow sisters, believed to possess the ability to connect with ghosts. Zlotkowski bases her film on a trio of 19th century American sisters who played an important role in the creation of spiritualism, the Fox Sisters.
The film opens with a plush, sensuous cabaret scene with Laura Barlow, played convincingly by Oscar-winning (Black Swan) Natalie Portman, exhorting a rather attentive audience to pay attention to and to witness a medium, Kate Barlow, played refreshingly by Lily-Rose Depp (The Dancer, Yoga Hosers) as she will communicate with the other side. Young Kate Barlow begins breathing as a drum beat permeates. As Kate’s breathing intensifies so does the drum beat until a connection is made with the ritualistic feel of Wicca and in a resultant style of a séance. The seeker is mystified and the audience is wowed as Kate creates a communicative voice from the other side.
Quickly, Laura finds out the cabaret is closing as it can’t make ends meet despite the additional revenue generators from private dances, bar drinks and the kitchen preparations. With impeccable timing Laura is introduced to a powerful French film producer, Andre Korben, played by Emmanuel Salinger (Oublie-moi, Don’t Forget You’re Going To Die). Korben propositions the sisters. He invites them for a seance house call and then negotiates a deal for them to stay with him at his estate for an extended, indefinite period of time. He closes the deal by telling Laura he wants to use the sisters to direct the first real ghost film. However, he also has other notions. He acts towards Kate in an inappropriate manner subjecting her to multiple brain monitoring devices and practically pines over her. In addition, he does multiple séances with her as she calls out for his deceased wife. It goes so far as Kate embodying the wife so Korben can kiss her to restore passion to their relationship. Korben then claims he’s falling in love with his wife through Kate. Meanwhile, Laura is acting in Korben’s studio film on location unaware of Korben’s actions with Kate. Soon, however, Kate’s health begins declining and she is bound by weakness to her bed never to recover.
Planetarium is a beautifully shot film with very good acting. George Lechaptois was the film’s Cinematographer. Interestingly, Zlotkowski draws much of the story line from history. In addition to the Fox sisters, Zlotkowski’s use of the powerful film producer as a jew during the 1930’s allowed her to address the period’s anti-semitism. The Fox sisters’ benefactor was actually a banker, who had one of the Fox sisters embody his deceased wife for an entire year during the Victorian era while their new doctrine of spiritualism was sweeping through the intellectual circles of Europe.
Unmistakably, Zlotkowski paid attention to details with the film’s mise-en-scene to create a look and feel of the 1930’s and to her vision of spiritualism. Zlotkowski shared screenwriting credits with Robin Campillo. The costuming, very representational of the time period, was handled by Anais Romand. Makeup was done by Sarai Fiszel. Hairstyles were coiffed by Catherine LeBlanc-Careas and the Artistic Director was Partel Oliva. The film was produced by Frédéric Jouve (Les Films du Velvet) and co-produced by Les Films du Fleuve, Kinology, France 3 Cinéma, Proximus, RTBF (Télévision Belge).
This was one of my favorite viewing experiences of the Venice Film Festival. Shortly after I had taken my seat, Zlotkowski, Portman and Depp all made a grand entrance into the Sala Darsena theater to a standing ovation. The energy in the theater was unmistakable. At times, however, I felt the narrative of Planetarium drifted a tad bit. Nevertheless, Zlotkowski covered a lot of territory and she did it with convincing style. Warmly recommended.
*Photos from Planetarium and featured photo of Ms. Zlotkowski are courtesy of (ASAC Images/Biennale Cinema di Venezia)
The Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) is pleased to announce that the recipients of SAMURAI Award for 2016 are Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese (Silence, The Departed, Taxi Driver) and Cannes award-winning director Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Journey to the Shore, Tokyo Sonata, Cure). The SAMURAI Award, now in its third year, commends achievements by veteran filmmakers who continue to create groundbreaking films that carve paths to a new era in cinema.
Kiyoshi Kurosawa, winner of 3rd Samurai Award for the 29th Tokyo International Film Festival (Photo courtesy of tiff_jp.net)
The SAMURAI Award Ceremony will be held on November 3 (Thu), 2016 during the Closing Ceremony of the 29th TIFF. To commemorate the event, the 3rd SAMURAI Award Special Talk “In Person: Kiyoshi Kurosawa” will also be held on the same day. At this event, we will look back at Kurosawa’s outstanding career and discuss the many challenges he has faced during his journey in filmmaking.
Martin Scorcese, winner of 3rd Samurai Award for the 29th Tokyo International Film Festival. (Photo courtesy of tiff-jp.net)
Due to the director’s schedule, Martin Scorsese will not be able to attend the ceremony, but Kiyoshi Kurosawa will be present at the ceremony to receive the award.
The 29th TIFF will be held from Oct.25 to Nov.3, 2016 at Roppongi Hills, EX Theater Roppongi and other theaters in Tokyo.
(Source: Press release provided by tiff-jp.net)
*For further information or inquiries, please contact: TIFF Public Relations Division
Jude Law plays the primary character, Lenny Belardo, aka Pius XIII, the first American Pope in history. Young and charming, his election appears to be the result of a simple yet effective media strategy orchestrated on behalf of the College of Cardinals. But appearances can be deceptive. And above all, in the place and among the people who have chosen the great mystery of God as their guiding compass. The place is the Vatican and the people are the hierarchical leaders of the Catholic Church. And, young Lenny Belardo, raised in an orphanage, proves to be the most mysterious and contradictory of them as Pius XIII. Shrewd yet naïve, ironic and pedantic, primeval yet modern, melancholy and ruthless, doubting yet resolute, Pius XIII is evoking a God he can give to mankind. And to himself.
