Las Vegas' annual independent film festival, CineVegas, is the latest casualty of the economy. After hosting its 11th annual festival this year, CineVegas, failed to generate enough sponsors to make a 2010 festival viable. CineVegas president Robin Greenspun said that this cancellation does not necessarily signal the demise of the festival.
Given the current economic climate and the pressures it has created, we made the difficult decision to put CineVegas on hiatus for the coming year. CineVegas has become such a well-respected film festival, and rather than allow the economy to affect its level of quality we have opted to put the event on hold. Sundance's Trevor Groth acted as artistic director for CineVegas, putting together programming that combined commercial films, bizarre indies, and films about Las Vegas.
We are very sad to be announcing this hiatus, but it is our hope to keep the CineVegas brand alive and relaunch the festival once the economy recovers.
Given the current economic climate and the pressures it has created, we made the difficult decision to put CineVegas on hiatus for the coming year. CineVegas has become such a well-respected film festival, and rather than allow the economy to affect its level of quality we have opted to put the event on hold. Sundance's Trevor Groth acted as artistic director for CineVegas, putting together programming that combined commercial films, bizarre indies, and films about Las Vegas.
We are very sad to be announcing this hiatus, but it is our hope to keep the CineVegas brand alive and relaunch the festival once the economy recovers.
- 9/28/2009
- by BrentJS Sprecher
- Reelzchannel.com
A sure sign of the troubled economic times, CineVeags has been canceled for 2010. I have spoken to other festival programmers about this very concern over the past year, year-and-a-half, and there's no question that regional festivals are feeling the sting, even if weekend box office revenues are still quite healthy.
The CineVegas announcement came this Friday (via IndieWire), with Festival President Robin Greenspun saying in a statement, "Given the current economic climate and the pressures it has created, we made the difficult decision to put CineVegas on hiatus for the coming year.”
“CineVegas has become such a well respected film festival, and rather than allow the economy to affect its level of quality we have opted to put the event on hold,” added Greensupn.
The CineVegas announcement came this Friday (via IndieWire), with Festival President Robin Greenspun saying in a statement, "Given the current economic climate and the pressures it has created, we made the difficult decision to put CineVegas on hiatus for the coming year.”
“CineVegas has become such a well respected film festival, and rather than allow the economy to affect its level of quality we have opted to put the event on hold,” added Greensupn.
- 9/27/2009
- by Colin Boyd
- GetTheBigPicture.net
Organisers of Las Vegas' CineVegas Film Festival have been forced to scrap the event due to a lack of funds.
The festival, which celebrates innovative U.S. films, has been put on hiatus for 2010 due to America's current turbulent economy.
Festival President Robin Greenspun said in a statement on Friday the decision was made due to "the current economic climate and the pressures it created".
Greenspun added he hopes to relaunch the festival - which is chaired by Dennis Hopper and celebrated its eleventh anniversary in June - in 2011 if the economy recovers.
The festival, which celebrates innovative U.S. films, has been put on hiatus for 2010 due to America's current turbulent economy.
Festival President Robin Greenspun said in a statement on Friday the decision was made due to "the current economic climate and the pressures it created".
Greenspun added he hopes to relaunch the festival - which is chaired by Dennis Hopper and celebrated its eleventh anniversary in June - in 2011 if the economy recovers.
- 9/26/2009
- WENN
Bad news out of the Nevada desert: The CineVegas Film Festival is taking a year's hiatus until 2011. "Given the current economic climate and the pressures it has created, we made the difficult decision to put CineVegas on hiatus for the coming year. CineVegas has become such a well-respected film festival, and rather than allow the economy to affect its level of quality we have opted to put the event on hold," fest president Robin Greenspun said in a statement. The previously annual event had developed into one of the best-regarded regional festivals in the country under the leadership of artistic director Trevor Groth (also Sundance's new director of programming, which can't help matters), Greenspun, and chairman/chief mascot Dennis Hopper; Movieline will always have the misty, black-and-white memories of last June's fest. It will be missed.
- 9/25/2009
- Movieline
There will be no 2010 CineVegas Film Festival. Festival President Robin Greenspun and Artistic Director Trevor Groth announced today that the event will be cancelled due to the economic downturn. “Given the current economic climate and the pressures it has created, we made the difficult decision to put CineVegas on hiatus for the coming year,” Greenspun said in a statement. “CineVegas has become such a well respected film festival, and rather …...
- 9/25/2009
- Indiewire
New York -- What happens in Vegas won't happen in Vegas.
CineVegas, the annual June bacchanal of quirky indies and crowd-pleasing comedies amid the slot machines, has announced it will go on hiatus in 2010, with its future beyond that remaining murky.
"Given the current economic climate and the pressures it has created, we made the difficult decision to put CineVegas on hiatus for the coming year, fest president Robin Greenspun said Friday. "CineVegas has become such a well-respected film festival, and rather than allow the economy to affect its level of quality we have opted to put the event on hold."
A rep added that as a privately run festival and not a nonprofit, the festival depended heavily on sponsorship, and those sponsors are simply not there as they once were. The Palms, Stella Artois, Southwest Airlines and Netflix were among the fest's sponsors this past year.
Reps weren't ruling...
CineVegas, the annual June bacchanal of quirky indies and crowd-pleasing comedies amid the slot machines, has announced it will go on hiatus in 2010, with its future beyond that remaining murky.
"Given the current economic climate and the pressures it has created, we made the difficult decision to put CineVegas on hiatus for the coming year, fest president Robin Greenspun said Friday. "CineVegas has become such a well-respected film festival, and rather than allow the economy to affect its level of quality we have opted to put the event on hold."
A rep added that as a privately run festival and not a nonprofit, the festival depended heavily on sponsorship, and those sponsors are simply not there as they once were. The Palms, Stella Artois, Southwest Airlines and Netflix were among the fest's sponsors this past year.
Reps weren't ruling...
- 9/25/2009
- by By Steven Zeitchik
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
NEW YORK -- Satan comes to Earth in Mikhail Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita, and he will return to the big screen in the adaptation from Stone Village Pictures and producer Scott Steindorff.
The Los Angeles-based production company has optioned the late Russian writer's once-banned book, an inspiration for Rolling Stones' Sympathy for the Devil, in a low- to mid-six figure against a low-seven figure deal.
SVP president Steindorff will produce the film. SVP partners Chris Law, Danny Greenspun, Robin Greenspun and execs Scott Lastati and Dylan Russell will executive produce alongside Michael Lang. It's one of several SVP adaptations, including Love in the Time of Cholera and the upcoming True Believer.
Master and Margarita begins in pre-WWII Moscow, where the devil appears as a mysterious man who insinuates himself into a literary crowd. Amid a series of deaths and disappearances, the devil brings together the title characters, a despairing novelist and his devoted but married lover. The story shifts to the setting of the master's rejected novel, Jerusalem in the time of Pontius Pilate, and then to a supernatural world where Satanic forces have taken over Margarita's life.
The Los Angeles-based production company has optioned the late Russian writer's once-banned book, an inspiration for Rolling Stones' Sympathy for the Devil, in a low- to mid-six figure against a low-seven figure deal.
SVP president Steindorff will produce the film. SVP partners Chris Law, Danny Greenspun, Robin Greenspun and execs Scott Lastati and Dylan Russell will executive produce alongside Michael Lang. It's one of several SVP adaptations, including Love in the Time of Cholera and the upcoming True Believer.
Master and Margarita begins in pre-WWII Moscow, where the devil appears as a mysterious man who insinuates himself into a literary crowd. Amid a series of deaths and disappearances, the devil brings together the title characters, a despairing novelist and his devoted but married lover. The story shifts to the setting of the master's rejected novel, Jerusalem in the time of Pontius Pilate, and then to a supernatural world where Satanic forces have taken over Margarita's life.
- 2/19/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
This review was written for the theatrical release of "Love in the Time of Cholera".SAN FRANCISCO -- "Love in the Time of Cholera", Mike Newell's handsomely appointed but disappointing adaptation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's complicated, sprawling novel retains the essential flavor of the book. Audiences are likely to split into two camps: Fans will mourn what's left out; and those unfamiliar with the book might find the film mannered and slowgoing.
The filmmakers, Oscar-winning screenwriter Ronald Harwood ("The Pianist") and Newell aim for a lush romantic fantasy about enduring love spanning 50 years in late-19th century Colombia. Instead, they create an overheated melodrama with abundant complications and hammy acting.
Taken on its own terms, the film would have been well served if the veteran team behind it had been ruthless in jettisoning material. The film's prestigious literary pedigree, international cast and Oprah's Book Club imprimatur will help make it a solid draw for the Art House crowd.
When teenager Florentino (Unax Ugalde), a clerk with ghostly pallor and a knack for writing ardent love letters, spies Fermina (Giovanna Mezzogiorno), it's love at first sight. That passion will remain unrequited until the two are in the final chapter of their lives. Fermina's Father John Leguizamo in a broad performance) disapproves and whisks her away to the countryside. He plans to marry his daughter up. He succeeds when she catches the eye of Juvenal (Benjamin Bratt), a worldly doctor whom Fermina marries after rejecting Florentino's overtures.
Playing a pretentious lout, Leguizamo, chomping on a cigar, utters the film's worst, anachronistic dialogue. Bratt, whose accent is more Pepe Le Pew than cultivated aristocrat, has the second-worst batch of lines in a scene where he promises his sexually inexperienced wife "a lesson in love."
Meanwhile, Florentino (played as an adult by Javier Bardem) rises to the top of his uncle's shipping company. He carries the torch for Fermina over the next half-century and consoles himself with hundreds of sexual conquests, dutifully recorded a la Casanova. Years later, Juvenal dies, and Florentino declares his love to the grieving Fermina on the day of the funeral. The film starts with Juvenal's death, flashes back and then forward again -- shifts adeptly handled by Harwood and editor Mick Audsley.
In a touching section toward the end, Fermina relents, and the pair finally consummate their love. "Cholera" is at its most sage and romantic in its portrayal of mature marriage, older love and sexuality.
Shot on location in vibrant Cartagena, the film's strong suit is aesthetic. Cinematographer Alfonso Beato, designer Wolf Kroeger and costume designer Marit Allen evoke aged exotic locales, rugged rural settings and dimly lit period interiors. A closing, aerial image has a breathtaking, spiritual beauty.
LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA
New Line
Stone Village Pictures
Credits:
Director: Mike Newell
Screenwriter: Ronald Harwood
Producer: Scott Steindorff
Executive producers: Danny Greenspun, Robin Greenspun, Andrew Molaski, Chris Law, Michael Nozik, Dylan Russell, Scott LaStaiti
Director of photography: Alfonso Beato
Production designer: Wolf Kroeger
Music: Antonio Pinto, Shakira
Co-producer: Brantley M. Dunaway
Costume designer: Marit Allen
Editor: Mick Audsley
Cast:
Florentino: Javier Bardem
Teenage Florentino: Unax Ugalde
Fermina: Giovanna Mezzogiorno
Juvenal: Benjamin Bratt
Hildebranda: Catalina Sandino Moreno
Uncle Leo: Hector Elizondo
Lotario: Liev Schreiber: Transito: Fernanda Montenegro
Sara: Laura Harring
Lorenzo: John Leguizamo
Running time -- 139 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
The filmmakers, Oscar-winning screenwriter Ronald Harwood ("The Pianist") and Newell aim for a lush romantic fantasy about enduring love spanning 50 years in late-19th century Colombia. Instead, they create an overheated melodrama with abundant complications and hammy acting.
Taken on its own terms, the film would have been well served if the veteran team behind it had been ruthless in jettisoning material. The film's prestigious literary pedigree, international cast and Oprah's Book Club imprimatur will help make it a solid draw for the Art House crowd.
When teenager Florentino (Unax Ugalde), a clerk with ghostly pallor and a knack for writing ardent love letters, spies Fermina (Giovanna Mezzogiorno), it's love at first sight. That passion will remain unrequited until the two are in the final chapter of their lives. Fermina's Father John Leguizamo in a broad performance) disapproves and whisks her away to the countryside. He plans to marry his daughter up. He succeeds when she catches the eye of Juvenal (Benjamin Bratt), a worldly doctor whom Fermina marries after rejecting Florentino's overtures.
Playing a pretentious lout, Leguizamo, chomping on a cigar, utters the film's worst, anachronistic dialogue. Bratt, whose accent is more Pepe Le Pew than cultivated aristocrat, has the second-worst batch of lines in a scene where he promises his sexually inexperienced wife "a lesson in love."
Meanwhile, Florentino (played as an adult by Javier Bardem) rises to the top of his uncle's shipping company. He carries the torch for Fermina over the next half-century and consoles himself with hundreds of sexual conquests, dutifully recorded a la Casanova. Years later, Juvenal dies, and Florentino declares his love to the grieving Fermina on the day of the funeral. The film starts with Juvenal's death, flashes back and then forward again -- shifts adeptly handled by Harwood and editor Mick Audsley.
In a touching section toward the end, Fermina relents, and the pair finally consummate their love. "Cholera" is at its most sage and romantic in its portrayal of mature marriage, older love and sexuality.
Shot on location in vibrant Cartagena, the film's strong suit is aesthetic. Cinematographer Alfonso Beato, designer Wolf Kroeger and costume designer Marit Allen evoke aged exotic locales, rugged rural settings and dimly lit period interiors. A closing, aerial image has a breathtaking, spiritual beauty.
LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA
New Line
Stone Village Pictures
Credits:
Director: Mike Newell
Screenwriter: Ronald Harwood
Producer: Scott Steindorff
Executive producers: Danny Greenspun, Robin Greenspun, Andrew Molaski, Chris Law, Michael Nozik, Dylan Russell, Scott LaStaiti
Director of photography: Alfonso Beato
Production designer: Wolf Kroeger
Music: Antonio Pinto, Shakira
Co-producer: Brantley M. Dunaway
Costume designer: Marit Allen
Editor: Mick Audsley
Cast:
Florentino: Javier Bardem
Teenage Florentino: Unax Ugalde
Fermina: Giovanna Mezzogiorno
Juvenal: Benjamin Bratt
Hildebranda: Catalina Sandino Moreno
Uncle Leo: Hector Elizondo
Lotario: Liev Schreiber: Transito: Fernanda Montenegro
Sara: Laura Harring
Lorenzo: John Leguizamo
Running time -- 139 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 11/12/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
SAN FRANCISCO -- Love in the Time of Cholera, Mike Newell's handsomely appointed but disappointing adaptation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's complicated, sprawling novel retains the essential flavor of the book. Audiences are likely to split into two camps: Fans will mourn what's left out; and those unfamiliar with the book might find the film mannered and slowgoing.
The filmmakers, Oscar-winning screenwriter Ronald Harwood (The Pianist) and Newell aim for a lush romantic fantasy about enduring love spanning 50 years in late-19th century Colombia. Instead, they create an overheated melodrama with abundant complications and hammy acting.
Taken on its own terms, the film would have been well served if the veteran team behind it had been ruthless in jettisoning material. The film's prestigious literary pedigree, international cast and Oprah's Book Club imprimatur will help make it a solid draw for the Art House crowd.
When teenager Florentino (Unax Ugalde), a clerk with ghostly pallor and a knack for writing ardent love letters, spies Fermina (Giovanna Mezzogiorno), it's love at first sight. That passion will remain unrequited until the two are in the final chapter of their lives. Fermina's Father John Leguizamo in a broad performance) disapproves and whisks her away to the countryside. He plans to marry his daughter up. He succeeds when she catches the eye of Juvenal (Benjamin Bratt), a worldly doctor whom Fermina marries after rejecting Florentino's overtures.
Playing a pretentious lout, Leguizamo, chomping on a cigar, utters the film's worst, anachronistic dialogue. Bratt, whose accent is more Pepe Le Pew than cultivated aristocrat, has the second-worst batch of lines in a scene where he promises his sexually inexperienced wife "a lesson in love."
Meanwhile, Florentino (played as an adult by Javier Bardem) rises to the top of his uncle's shipping company. He carries the torch for Fermina over the next half-century and consoles himself with hundreds of sexual conquests, dutifully recorded a la Casanova. Years later, Juvenal dies, and Florentino declares his love to the grieving Fermina on the day of the funeral. The film starts with Juvenal's death, flashes back and then forward again -- shifts adeptly handled by Harwood and editor Mick Audsley.
In a touching section toward the end, Fermina relents, and the pair finally consummate their love. Cholera is at its most sage and romantic in its portrayal of mature marriage, older love and sexuality.
Shot on location in vibrant Cartagena, the film's strong suit is aesthetic. Cinematographer Alfonso Beato, designer Wolf Kroeger and costume designer Marit Allen evoke aged exotic locales, rugged rural settings and dimly lit period interiors. A closing, aerial image has a breathtaking, spiritual beauty.
LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA
New Line
Stone Village Pictures
Credits:
Director: Mike Newell
Screenwriter: Ronald Harwood
Producer: Scott Steindorff
Executive producers: Danny Greenspun, Robin Greenspun, Andrew Molaski, Chris Law, Michael Nozik, Dylan Russell, Scott LaStaiti
Director of photography: Alfonso Beato
Production designer: Wolf Kroeger
Music: Antonio Pinto, Shakira
Co-producer: Brantley M. Dunaway
Costume designer: Marit Allen
Editor: Mick Audsley
Cast:
Florentino: Javier Bardem
Teenage Florentino: Unax Ugalde
Fermina: Giovanna Mezzogiorno
Juvenal: Benjamin Bratt
Hildebranda: Catalina Sandino Moreno
Uncle Leo: Hector Elizondo
Lotario: Liev Schreiber: Transito: Fernanda Montenegro
Sara: Laura Harring
Lorenzo: John Leguizamo
Running time -- 139 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
The filmmakers, Oscar-winning screenwriter Ronald Harwood (The Pianist) and Newell aim for a lush romantic fantasy about enduring love spanning 50 years in late-19th century Colombia. Instead, they create an overheated melodrama with abundant complications and hammy acting.
Taken on its own terms, the film would have been well served if the veteran team behind it had been ruthless in jettisoning material. The film's prestigious literary pedigree, international cast and Oprah's Book Club imprimatur will help make it a solid draw for the Art House crowd.
When teenager Florentino (Unax Ugalde), a clerk with ghostly pallor and a knack for writing ardent love letters, spies Fermina (Giovanna Mezzogiorno), it's love at first sight. That passion will remain unrequited until the two are in the final chapter of their lives. Fermina's Father John Leguizamo in a broad performance) disapproves and whisks her away to the countryside. He plans to marry his daughter up. He succeeds when she catches the eye of Juvenal (Benjamin Bratt), a worldly doctor whom Fermina marries after rejecting Florentino's overtures.
Playing a pretentious lout, Leguizamo, chomping on a cigar, utters the film's worst, anachronistic dialogue. Bratt, whose accent is more Pepe Le Pew than cultivated aristocrat, has the second-worst batch of lines in a scene where he promises his sexually inexperienced wife "a lesson in love."
Meanwhile, Florentino (played as an adult by Javier Bardem) rises to the top of his uncle's shipping company. He carries the torch for Fermina over the next half-century and consoles himself with hundreds of sexual conquests, dutifully recorded a la Casanova. Years later, Juvenal dies, and Florentino declares his love to the grieving Fermina on the day of the funeral. The film starts with Juvenal's death, flashes back and then forward again -- shifts adeptly handled by Harwood and editor Mick Audsley.
In a touching section toward the end, Fermina relents, and the pair finally consummate their love. Cholera is at its most sage and romantic in its portrayal of mature marriage, older love and sexuality.
Shot on location in vibrant Cartagena, the film's strong suit is aesthetic. Cinematographer Alfonso Beato, designer Wolf Kroeger and costume designer Marit Allen evoke aged exotic locales, rugged rural settings and dimly lit period interiors. A closing, aerial image has a breathtaking, spiritual beauty.
LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA
New Line
Stone Village Pictures
Credits:
Director: Mike Newell
Screenwriter: Ronald Harwood
Producer: Scott Steindorff
Executive producers: Danny Greenspun, Robin Greenspun, Andrew Molaski, Chris Law, Michael Nozik, Dylan Russell, Scott LaStaiti
Director of photography: Alfonso Beato
Production designer: Wolf Kroeger
Music: Antonio Pinto, Shakira
Co-producer: Brantley M. Dunaway
Costume designer: Marit Allen
Editor: Mick Audsley
Cast:
Florentino: Javier Bardem
Teenage Florentino: Unax Ugalde
Fermina: Giovanna Mezzogiorno
Juvenal: Benjamin Bratt
Hildebranda: Catalina Sandino Moreno
Uncle Leo: Hector Elizondo
Lotario: Liev Schreiber: Transito: Fernanda Montenegro
Sara: Laura Harring
Lorenzo: John Leguizamo
Running time -- 139 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 11/12/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- The makers of Penelope pull off a contemporary fairy tale without being a) a cartoon or b) childish or c) cloying or d) sophomoric. The movie, ably directed by newcomer Mark Palansky, is smart about its characters and the not-quite-real world they inhabit. Christina Ricci, who stars as a cursed princess, and James McAvoy, who is her rumpled, nearly penniless Prince Charming, play the characters in Leslie Caveny's screenplay with straightforward earnestness. The result is an entertaining comedy for young girls and older girls who still like a good romantic fable.
It's a twist on Beauty and the Beast, the twist being that this time the young woman is the beast. Many years ago, a young and fecund male in the wealthy Wilhern family shamed a young servant girl and failed to do right by her. The girl's mother, a witch, gave the family a curse that its next girl baby would be born with a pig's snout that can only be cured when one of her own kind loves her.
As luck with have it, the family went through generations of male children before Penelope (Ricci) was born. Actually Penelope is pretty cute except for the snout. She is hardly ugly enough to have blue-blooded suitors flinging themselves through glass windows to escape the family mansion. But then, blue bloods are so finicky.
When Penelope was a baby, gutter journalists such as Lemmon (Peter Dinklage) so hounded the family in pursuit of the truth behind the rumors of deformity that her parents, Jessica (Catherine O'Hara) and Franklin (Richard E. Grant), faked her death. So Penelope grew up in regal isolation in an attic bedroom filled with wonderful toys, a swing and false scenery. Now when the family seeks suitors for Penelope of "her own kind," all must sign agreements not to disclose what they see.
However, one suitor, the insufferable Edward Vanderman (Simon Woods), escapes before signing the agreement. The police lock him up for lunatic babbling about a pig-faced woman, but Lemmon picks up the scent. Lemmon, determined to get his scoop, and Edward, desperate to rehabilitate his reputation as mentally unbalanced, hire a "down-and-out blue blood," Max (McAvoy), to pose as a prospective suitor and take a photograph of Penelope for Page One.
Max is rather charmed by Penelope, though, so he never delivers that shot. Yet he too, for reasons the movie coyly reveals later, will not ask for her hand. Fed up with a life of rejection, Penelope flees her home and, with a scarf disguising her deformity, is determined to live in the outside world.
She makes friends with swaggering Annie Reese Witherspoon, one of the film's producers) and things are going just fine until her parents track her down. When Penelope refuses to return to her old life and decides to go public with her curse, the movie cleverly turns into a satiric take on celebrity culture.
Ricci, playing against type with refreshing results, treats Penelope's voyage of discovery without any winks or nods to the audience. Her Penelope is a sweet-natured, surprisingly well-adjusted woman, who yearns for love. Her real problem is not the snout but overprotective parents.
McAvoy's Max labors under a curse, albeit a self-imposed one: He has drifted away from his musical talents due to an addiction to gambling. He thus is Penelope's soul mate, a person looking to overcome a poor self-image so that he might reclaim his life.
The rest of the cast deliver fine comic performances, especially O'Hara and Grant as the wrong-headed parents, Woods as the clueless snob and Dinklage as the tough-on-the-outside reporter.
Palansky shot the film in London, but brought in French cinematographer Michel Amathieu, New Zealand production designer Amanda McArthur and British costume designer Jill Taylor to turn the city into a fairytale world. Interiors are bright and colorful, everything is freshly scrubbed and the skyline a romantic mix of many places. There is timelessness to the city, where things are modern yet journalists write on manual typewriters and the Wilherns' telephones have rotary dials.
PENELOPE
Stone Village Productions presents a TYPE A Films/Tatira Active production in association with Grosvenor Park Media
Credits:
Director: Mark Palansky
Writer: Leslie Caveny
Producers: Reese Witherspoon, Scott Steindorff, Jennifer Simpson
Executive producers: Robin Greenspun, Danny Greenspun, Andrew Molasky, Chris Curling, Christian Arnold-Beutel
Director of photography: Michel Amathieu
Production designer: Amanda McArthur
Costumes: Jill Taylor
Music: Joby Talbot
Editor: Jon Gregory.
Cast:
Penelope: Christina Ricci
Max: James McAvoy
Jessica Wilhern: Chatherine O'Hara
Franklyn Wilhern: Richard E. Grant
Lemon: Peter Dinklage
Annie: Reese Witherspoon
Edward Vanderman: Simon Woods
Jake: Michael Feast
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 104 minutes...
It's a twist on Beauty and the Beast, the twist being that this time the young woman is the beast. Many years ago, a young and fecund male in the wealthy Wilhern family shamed a young servant girl and failed to do right by her. The girl's mother, a witch, gave the family a curse that its next girl baby would be born with a pig's snout that can only be cured when one of her own kind loves her.
As luck with have it, the family went through generations of male children before Penelope (Ricci) was born. Actually Penelope is pretty cute except for the snout. She is hardly ugly enough to have blue-blooded suitors flinging themselves through glass windows to escape the family mansion. But then, blue bloods are so finicky.
When Penelope was a baby, gutter journalists such as Lemmon (Peter Dinklage) so hounded the family in pursuit of the truth behind the rumors of deformity that her parents, Jessica (Catherine O'Hara) and Franklin (Richard E. Grant), faked her death. So Penelope grew up in regal isolation in an attic bedroom filled with wonderful toys, a swing and false scenery. Now when the family seeks suitors for Penelope of "her own kind," all must sign agreements not to disclose what they see.
However, one suitor, the insufferable Edward Vanderman (Simon Woods), escapes before signing the agreement. The police lock him up for lunatic babbling about a pig-faced woman, but Lemmon picks up the scent. Lemmon, determined to get his scoop, and Edward, desperate to rehabilitate his reputation as mentally unbalanced, hire a "down-and-out blue blood," Max (McAvoy), to pose as a prospective suitor and take a photograph of Penelope for Page One.
Max is rather charmed by Penelope, though, so he never delivers that shot. Yet he too, for reasons the movie coyly reveals later, will not ask for her hand. Fed up with a life of rejection, Penelope flees her home and, with a scarf disguising her deformity, is determined to live in the outside world.
She makes friends with swaggering Annie Reese Witherspoon, one of the film's producers) and things are going just fine until her parents track her down. When Penelope refuses to return to her old life and decides to go public with her curse, the movie cleverly turns into a satiric take on celebrity culture.
Ricci, playing against type with refreshing results, treats Penelope's voyage of discovery without any winks or nods to the audience. Her Penelope is a sweet-natured, surprisingly well-adjusted woman, who yearns for love. Her real problem is not the snout but overprotective parents.
McAvoy's Max labors under a curse, albeit a self-imposed one: He has drifted away from his musical talents due to an addiction to gambling. He thus is Penelope's soul mate, a person looking to overcome a poor self-image so that he might reclaim his life.
The rest of the cast deliver fine comic performances, especially O'Hara and Grant as the wrong-headed parents, Woods as the clueless snob and Dinklage as the tough-on-the-outside reporter.
Palansky shot the film in London, but brought in French cinematographer Michel Amathieu, New Zealand production designer Amanda McArthur and British costume designer Jill Taylor to turn the city into a fairytale world. Interiors are bright and colorful, everything is freshly scrubbed and the skyline a romantic mix of many places. There is timelessness to the city, where things are modern yet journalists write on manual typewriters and the Wilherns' telephones have rotary dials.
PENELOPE
Stone Village Productions presents a TYPE A Films/Tatira Active production in association with Grosvenor Park Media
Credits:
Director: Mark Palansky
Writer: Leslie Caveny
Producers: Reese Witherspoon, Scott Steindorff, Jennifer Simpson
Executive producers: Robin Greenspun, Danny Greenspun, Andrew Molasky, Chris Curling, Christian Arnold-Beutel
Director of photography: Michel Amathieu
Production designer: Amanda McArthur
Costumes: Jill Taylor
Music: Joby Talbot
Editor: Jon Gregory.
Cast:
Penelope: Christina Ricci
Max: James McAvoy
Jessica Wilhern: Chatherine O'Hara
Franklyn Wilhern: Richard E. Grant
Lemon: Peter Dinklage
Annie: Reese Witherspoon
Edward Vanderman: Simon Woods
Jake: Michael Feast
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 104 minutes...
- 9/15/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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