sundance

A Surge In Serge Gainsbourg’s legend

Except for the time Meryl Streep played a rabbi, the coolest man with an accent on screen, as of next week, will be Serge Gainsbourg. The French composer of hypnotic jazz-pop in the 1960s is the subject of GAINSBOURG: A HEROIC LIFE, in which Eric Elmosnino plays the guy complete with all his quirks and multitalents.

Not Bollywood: Satyajit Ray’s THE MUSIC ROOM

Director Satyajit Ray separated himself from mainstream Indian cinema with PATHER PANCHALI, which premiered at Cannes (at midnight, during a party for Akira Kurosawa) in 1956. Still, several influential critics made it to the screening and championed the film’s originality and vision. It was completely unlike other Indian films in that there was no melodramatic [...]

UNCLE BOONMEE and an A+ for Originality

As Cannes 2011 approaches, it was nice to have the opportunity to see last year’s Palme d’Or winner on the big screen: Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES. Tim Burton was last year’s head of the jury — if you see this film, you’ll see the affinity here – UNCLE is a slow, strange, plot-less journey, relying on visuals and a slow-burn Ozu-like filmmaking that gets better as it goes. The sprinkling of visual surprises feel shocking in comparison to the rest of the material. There are some strange, visceral and unforgettable images, right up Burton’s alley. It’s a real treat in terms of originality — promises abound here that you’ve never seen anything like it before.

THE WHITE RIBBON

When the townspeople of a rural village in Northern Germany cannot find the culprit responsible for the fall that injured their doctor and killed his horse, they let it go. And when a farmer’s wife is killed in a seemingly work-related accident, they again look the other way. But once the Baron’s son is found beaten and hung upside down and the midwife’s son has been dragged into the forest to have his eyes gauged out, people start to talk. When this last victim is discovered he has a note pinned to his chest that recounts the Old Testament adage, “For the sins of the father, you, though guiltless, must suffer.” Is it God punishing this staunch, repressed Protestant town, or is there someone amongst them who is to blame?

Cannes loves Campion

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 [...]

Don’t See TYSON or He’ll Get in Trouble

Director James Toback introduces Mike Tyson at a dinner for the documentary, “Tyson,” at the Sundance Film Festival.

Clearly moved by the growing interest in the docu since its Cannes preem, Tyson addressed the diners: “I’m really very humbled. I had no idea it’d get to this magnitude. I was looking forward to selling bootleg DVDs… I told James it might be a foreign movie because of the language I’d be using.”