Emily Nussbaum dove into Top of the Lake for this week’s New Yorker and loved what she found. “‘Top of the Lake’ is a trip worth taking–visually magnetic, but also funny, sexy, disorienting, and emotional.” The complete review is behind the paywall, but we’ve got some of the best details for you. Peter Mullan gets…
In Sundance Channel’s original series Top of the Lake, premiering tonight at 9PM, Paradise is a slice of land that betrays its name. But, according to USA Today, “For seven weeks, it’s going to be a fabulous place to visit. And come Emmy time, a hard place to top.”
The Los Angeles Times is as excited as we are about tonight’s premiere of Top of the Lake (only on Sundance Channel at 9PM). They say star Elisabeth Moss (Detective Robin Griffin) is a “pleasure” and can’t wait to see where the series will go.
This past Sunday, an eager crowd of critics and fans devoted a full day — from 9 till 5 — at Park City’s classic Egyptian Theater to watching Jane Campion’s TOP OF THE LAKE in its entirety. The screening of the seven-part series was a Sundance Film Festival first and despite the serious time commitment, audiences were left thrilled by the event.
It’s quickly appearing on critics’ must-see lists — and it hasn’t even premiered yet. TOP OF THE LAKE, the seven-part Sundance Channel original series from Oscar-winning director Jane Campion, is screening in its entirety today at Park City’s Egyptian Theater — the first television series to ever do so, a fact that in itself is getting critics talking.
Today in Park City, we’ve got the premiere of a Sundance Channel original that’s already generating plenty of buzz, plus Nicole Kidman in Chan-Wook Park’s first English language film. Check ‘em out, plus more premieres below!
TOP OF THE LAKE 9:00A Egyptian Theatre
12 years old and 5 months pregnant, Tui Mitcham walks into a freezing lake … then disappears. Detective Robin Griffin returns home to investigate, but it’s not a simple missing persons case. In this breathtaking but remote mountain town, there are evil forces as powerful as the land itself. Jane Campion (THE PIANO) directs Sundance Channel’s own TOP OF THE LAKE, an all-new original series premiering first at the Sundance Film Festival.
For the first time ever, a television series will screen as part of the Sundance Film Festival’s Premieres lineup. Sundance Channel’s original series TOP OF THE LAKE will screen in its entirety on Sunday, January 20th at the Egyptian Theater in Park City and will be followed by a Q&A with the creators and cast, including Oscar-winning writer and director Jane Campion (THE PIANO), and co-stars Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men) and Holly Hunter (THE PIANO). But that’s not all! Our new series RECTIFY will also debut at a private screening in Park City during the festival. Both shows are already popping up on critics’ must-see lists. Read on for more about these two new Sundance Channel originals and make sure to check back during the Festival (January 17th-27th) for daily updates.
TOP OF THE LAKE, the highly-anticipated mini-series written and directed by OscarÂŽ winner Jane Campion (THE PIANO, PORTRAIT OF A LADY), will debut its first two hour-long installments on Monday, March 18, 2013 at 9P.
Filmed in the remote mountains of New Zealand, the seven-part series will air Monday nights and stars three time EmmyÂŽ Award nominated actress and SAGÂŽ Award winner Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men, ON THE ROAD); OscarÂŽ winner Holly Hunter, who reunites with Campion after their memorable collaboration on the THE PIANO, and BAFTAÂŽ nominee Peter Mullan (WAR HORSE, TRAINSPOTTING). Australian director Garth Davis also joined Campion to work on the series, along with co-writer, Gerard Lee (SWEETIE).
SUNDANCE CHANNELâS TOP OF THE LAKE TO PREMIERE AT THE 2013 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL AS THE FIRST LONG-FORM SCRIPTED SERIES TO SCREEN AS AN OFFICIAL SELECTION
Created By Jane Campion, Holly Hunter And Elisabeth Moss Star In This Seven-Part Series The Networkâs Scripted Television Series RECTIFY From Ray McKinnon Will Debut In Park City In Private Screening
Sundance Channel today announced that two of their highly anticipated original scripted series, TOP OF THE LAKE and RECTIFY will debut during the 2013 Sundance Film Festival taking place in Park City Utah in January. TOP OF THE LAKE will screen in the premiere category, marking the first time the Sundance Film Festival has included a scripted long form series in their lineup. The seven-part series will screen in its entirety on Sunday, January 20th at the Egyptian Theater in Park City and will be followed by a Q&A with the creators and cast. Campion will also participate in a discussion of the creative appeal of working in long-form episodic narrative as part of a Festival panel titled âPower of Story: The New Face of Independent Voiceâ on January 19.
There’s already been plenty of buzz about the biggest movies to emerge from the Venice Film Festival thus far — if you haven’t heard of them yet, you will soon enough. There’s Terrence Malick’s typically abstruse TO THE WONDER; Spike Lee’s Michael Jackson tribute BAD 25; Paul Thomas Anderson’s Scientology-inspired THE MASTER; and our own Robert Redford’s THE COMPANY YOU KEEP.
image via Slant Magazine
That springtime film festival somewhere in the south of France is now fully under way, and we’re sad to spread the word: there are no female-directed films in competition at Cannes this year. Not that things are much better here in the US. Only five percent of the past year’s big, studio films were helmed by ladies. What gives?
Sundance Channel announced today it has signed with BBC Worldwide to co-produce Jane Campionâs TOP OF THE LAKE, an original scripted project. The seven part mini-series will be directed by OscarÂŽ winner Jane Campion (The Piano, Portrait of a Lady) and Australian director Garth Davis, and written by Jane Campion and Gerard Lee (Sweetie). The project stars SAGÂŽ winner and three time EmmyÂŽ nominated actress Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men, On the Road). Holly Hunter, who won a Best Actress OscarÂŽ for her performance in Campionâs The Piano, also stars alongside BAFTAÂŽ nominee Peter Mullan (War Horse, Trainspotting) and AFI Award winning actor David Wenham (The Lord of the Rings, Australia).
The announcement comes on the heels of two Emmy Award nominations and a Golden Globe Award for Sundance Channelâs first scripted drama CARLOS, as well as the recently announced scripted dramas RECTIFY and APPROPRIATE ADULT. Produced by Academy AwardÂŽ winners Emile Sherman and Iain Canning (The Kingâs Speech, Shame) of See-Saw Films, and Philippa Campbell (Black Sheep) of Escapade Pictures, TOP OF THE LAKE is a powerful and haunting mystery about the search for happiness in a paradise where honest work is hard to find. Set in the remote mountains of New Zealand, the story follows the disappearance of a five months pregnant 12-year-old named Tui who was last seen standing chest deep in a frozen lake. In this classic mythic struggle, investigating detective, Robin Griffin (Moss), must lose herself in order to find the missing girl. During the investigation, she collides with Matt Mitcham (Mullan), Tuiâs father, a local drug lord, and G.J (Hunter), a guru at a local womenâs camp. Robin will find this the case that tests her limits and sends her on a journey of self-discovery.
I loved Cary Fukunagaâs recent take on the classic JANE EYRE. (Heâs pictured above with his Director of Photography Adriano Goldman.) And in addition to the deft direction, Moira Buffiniâs adaptation is searingly concise and dramatic â it never feels like a stuffed-to-the-gills adaptation. But what I really want to talk about here is the cinematography, which is revelatory. The last two âclassicâ films Iâve seen, this and Jane Campionâs BRIGHT STAR (not classic literature but based on Andrew Motionâs biography of John Keats) have both blown me away in terms of visual approach. (See my post from fall â10 on BRIGHT STAR here.) Both eschew traditional coverage and framing in service of something more dynamic â a fluid, organic camera approach that plays mightily with depth of field, creative frames, and in short, ways of seeing. (Or, the DP and crew are not just there to document or illuminate the actors. The camera absolutely dances with performance â enhancing, contrasting, participating, rejecting — story.) The effect? Something that feels more modern, more present, more emotionally important â itâs not homework, itâs art.
Like my colleague Lisa, who wrote recently on this subject, I too saw Jane Campionâs BRIGHT STAR. What innovation ⌠Campion truly takes luscious to a new level. One element far more subtle than butterflies and tree tops, though, that I noticed right away and has been on my mind since, is how Campion twists traditional portraiture and cinematography composition by using the center of the frame. The center of the frame? Who cares! Well, to some geeks out there, including me, itâs absolutely notable.
I confess that Iâm a long term fan of film director/writer Jane Campion. Her work has staying power for me â everything from her short films PEEL and A GIRLâS OWN STORY, and their stylized but penetrating look at relationships, to her later more sophisticated and moving THE PIANO. However her last film IN THE CUT was disappointing. I say this reluctantly because I deeply appreciate how headlong and with what boldness Campion throws herself into every project, so when one of these experiments fail, I donât take any pleasure in it. I just want to see her move on. And now that itâs been six years since that Meg Ryan debacle, I was a little concerned. Would she make another film and how would she get it financed in todayâs climate? Would she have to compromise with a big name star who was just not quite right? Thus itâs with relief and pleasure that I saw BRIGHT STAR at its preview this week.
Australian director Jane Campion is back in the spotlight at the 62nd Annual Cannes Film Festival where her new film, BRIGHT STAR, premiered Friday. The film centers on the last two years of poet John Keats’s short life (he died of tuberculosis at the age of 25) as seen through the eyes of his young…