Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI, and sign up for our weekly email newsletter by clicking here.NEWSKristen Stewart in Olivier Assayas's Personal Shopper (2016).The next film directed by Kirsten Johnson (Cameraperson and Dick Johnson is Dead) will star Kristen Stewart as…Susan Sontag. Based on Ben Moser’s Pulitzer Prize-winning biography Sontag: Her Life, the project will have some hybrid-doc elements, as we might expect from Johnson: according to Screen Daily, Johnson will film an interview with the actress about her preparation for the role at the Berlinale, where Stewart is jury president.Richard Ayoade will direct and star in an adaptation of George Saunders’s The Semplica Girl Diaries, with casting currently underway.New Spanish Cinema luminary Carlos Saura died last week aged 91. His best-known films depicted and critiqued life under the Franco dictatorship, like La Caza...
- 2/15/2023
- MUBI
Dear Danny,Ah, puzzle films. Many of my most deeply moving cinematic memories—think of Resnais or Ruiz or Wong—have come from such works, where the intricacy and even obscurity of storytelling jostles and fuses with the frankness of emotions. La La Land has little use for puzzles, unless they’re part of the technical complications that go into the choreography of its slam-bang musical numbers. (Why have the introductory highway hoedown just unfold in one take, when you can also include Matrix-style camera swivels to capture bicycle pirouettes in mid-air?) No, Damien Chazelle’s goal in his follow-up to Whiplash is a boldly direct one: to flood the screen with charm, to bring down the house with joy. Walking into my screening after having had my fair share of dour and difficult festival entries, I could scarcely think of a nobler aim for cinema. Less than twenty minutes later,...
- 9/16/2016
- MUBI
Quickcard Review
Fados
Directed by: Carlos Saura
Cast: Lila Downs, Carlos Do Carmo, Lura
Running Time: 1 hr 30 mins
Rating: Unrated
Release Date: May 30, 2009
Plot: Fados is a collection of performance pieces of “fados”, a kind of Portugese folk song. The pieces come together to give an idea of this musical style that reflects the history of the people of Portugal, Brazil, and Portugal’s former African colonies.
Who’s It For? If you know what a fado is, you may like this film. Or if you like modern dance on film.
Expectations: I expected a documentary about the culture of Fados. So I was surprised.
Overall
Fados is a beautiful, well-directed film. Saura brings together years of experience making films featuring music to create beautiful backdrops for his individual songs, or fados. Unfortunately, it was really, really boring. If I didn’t have to watch this for a review, I...
Fados
Directed by: Carlos Saura
Cast: Lila Downs, Carlos Do Carmo, Lura
Running Time: 1 hr 30 mins
Rating: Unrated
Release Date: May 30, 2009
Plot: Fados is a collection of performance pieces of “fados”, a kind of Portugese folk song. The pieces come together to give an idea of this musical style that reflects the history of the people of Portugal, Brazil, and Portugal’s former African colonies.
Who’s It For? If you know what a fado is, you may like this film. Or if you like modern dance on film.
Expectations: I expected a documentary about the culture of Fados. So I was surprised.
Overall
Fados is a beautiful, well-directed film. Saura brings together years of experience making films featuring music to create beautiful backdrops for his individual songs, or fados. Unfortunately, it was really, really boring. If I didn’t have to watch this for a review, I...
- 5/29/2009
- by Megan Lehar
- The Scorecard Review
400 Screens, 400 Blows is a weekly column that takes an in-depth look at the films playing below the radar, beneath the top ten, and on 400 screens or less.
This week I was thinking of two very different movies, both in need of a boost. One of my favorites of 2009 so far is Fados (1 screen), which I saw last year, but has happily received a theatrical release this year. Director Carlos Saura generally makes movies with music and dancing as a main theme, such as in his Oscar nominated films Carmen (1983) and Tango (1998). He's not mentioned very often with the names of the world's greatest filmmakers, but his films have recently earned the distinction of a Criterion DVD release (Cría cuervos) and a Criterion Eclipse DVD box set. Fados is more or less a collection of music videos, all performed in the Portuguese fado style. The music is very sentimental, passionate and sad,...
This week I was thinking of two very different movies, both in need of a boost. One of my favorites of 2009 so far is Fados (1 screen), which I saw last year, but has happily received a theatrical release this year. Director Carlos Saura generally makes movies with music and dancing as a main theme, such as in his Oscar nominated films Carmen (1983) and Tango (1998). He's not mentioned very often with the names of the world's greatest filmmakers, but his films have recently earned the distinction of a Criterion DVD release (Cría cuervos) and a Criterion Eclipse DVD box set. Fados is more or less a collection of music videos, all performed in the Portuguese fado style. The music is very sentimental, passionate and sad,...
- 4/17/2009
- by Jeffrey M. Anderson
- Cinematical
Release Date: Feb. 27
Director: Carlos Saura
Cinematography: Jose Luis Lopez-Linares and Eduardo Serra
Starring: Carlos Do Carmo, Mariza, Catarina Moura, Argentina Santos, Maria da Nazare
Studio/Run Time: New Yorker Films, 88 mins.
A celebration of music on film
In Carlos Saura’s eighth film about music, he tackles the obscure and archaic Fado, a form of song that remains in its purest form just two guitarists and a singer. Fados explores its past in Lisbon and the cultural heritage that surrounds the music. But this isn’t a History Channel-style documentary—Saura treats us to the form’s legacy through song, dance and recreation in what ultimately amounts to a series of music videos. Fados is a clear descendent of his 1995 film Flamenco, which was also a series of musical vignettes shot on a soundstage. The film takes the concept further in every way possible, though, by littering the shots with mirrors,...
Director: Carlos Saura
Cinematography: Jose Luis Lopez-Linares and Eduardo Serra
Starring: Carlos Do Carmo, Mariza, Catarina Moura, Argentina Santos, Maria da Nazare
Studio/Run Time: New Yorker Films, 88 mins.
A celebration of music on film
In Carlos Saura’s eighth film about music, he tackles the obscure and archaic Fado, a form of song that remains in its purest form just two guitarists and a singer. Fados explores its past in Lisbon and the cultural heritage that surrounds the music. But this isn’t a History Channel-style documentary—Saura treats us to the form’s legacy through song, dance and recreation in what ultimately amounts to a series of music videos. Fados is a clear descendent of his 1995 film Flamenco, which was also a series of musical vignettes shot on a soundstage. The film takes the concept further in every way possible, though, by littering the shots with mirrors,...
- 4/2/2009
- Pastemagazine.com
[An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] Adorned in oranges, purples, and golds, and unfolding on shimmering soundstages flanked by scrims and screens of varying sizes, “Fados” creates a universe unto itself, an enclosed festival space meant to stand in for an entire world of song. This is the norm for the brilliant Spanish director Carlos Saura, who for nearly thirty years has built a parallel film career (to his more conventional …...
- 3/4/2009
- Indiewire
Some homegrown interloping mixes with a strong international showing this week to give an overall balance to what's playing at your local multiplex. Comic book fans can salivate over "Watchmen," arthouse fans can enjoy a Louis Garrel double bill, and a Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse-inspired serial killer movie bridges the gap.
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"12"
A best foreign language Oscar nominee from 2008, Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov's interpretation of the Reginald Rose's 1954 play "Twelve Angry Men" puts a contemporary political spin on this classic tale of passion and prejudice. Tasked with discerning the guilt of a young Chechen boy accused of brutally murdering his military officer father, Sergei Makovetsky plays the lone voice of dissent voting for acquittal. As the audience witnesses the boy's unfortunate childhood in flashbacks, Makovetsky's mysterious juror preaches rationality and reason as he attempts to convince a room...
Download this in audio form (MP3: 10:31 minutes, 14.5 Mb)
"12"
A best foreign language Oscar nominee from 2008, Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov's interpretation of the Reginald Rose's 1954 play "Twelve Angry Men" puts a contemporary political spin on this classic tale of passion and prejudice. Tasked with discerning the guilt of a young Chechen boy accused of brutally murdering his military officer father, Sergei Makovetsky plays the lone voice of dissent voting for acquittal. As the audience witnesses the boy's unfortunate childhood in flashbacks, Makovetsky's mysterious juror preaches rationality and reason as he attempts to convince a room...
- 3/2/2009
- by Neil Pedley
- ifc.com
Cologne, Germany -- Politics, big and small, are the themes running through this year's nominees for the Prix Arte -- the European Film Academy's best documentary award.
Political films of all stripes will be in the running for Europe's top docu prize, from resurgent Russian nationalism in Mikhail Morozov's "Durakovo -- Village of Fools" to African dictatorship in Klaarte Quirijns' "The Dictator Hunter"; from a private look at the former Czech president in Pavel Kotecky and Miroslav Janek's "Citizen Havel" to "Shadow of the Holy Book," Arto Halonen's comic criticism of crony capitalism.
Other nominees include "Children. As Times Flies," Thomas Heise's picture of social deprivation in eastern Germany; "Rene," a 20 years-in-the-making portrait of a petty criminal from Czech director Helena Trestikova; and "The Mother," Antoine Cattin and Pavel Kostomarov's look at a woman raising her family on a Russian farm away from her violent husband.
Political films of all stripes will be in the running for Europe's top docu prize, from resurgent Russian nationalism in Mikhail Morozov's "Durakovo -- Village of Fools" to African dictatorship in Klaarte Quirijns' "The Dictator Hunter"; from a private look at the former Czech president in Pavel Kotecky and Miroslav Janek's "Citizen Havel" to "Shadow of the Holy Book," Arto Halonen's comic criticism of crony capitalism.
Other nominees include "Children. As Times Flies," Thomas Heise's picture of social deprivation in eastern Germany; "Rene," a 20 years-in-the-making portrait of a petty criminal from Czech director Helena Trestikova; and "The Mother," Antoine Cattin and Pavel Kostomarov's look at a woman raising her family on a Russian farm away from her violent husband.
- 10/16/2008
- by By Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
- edro Almodóvar and Guillermo del Toro you can both breathe a sign of relief. Spanish cinema is rejuvenated. The split-screen/drama that was premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at last year's Cannes (I'm guilty for having fallen asleep to this one: victim of watching one too many films and not necessarily the film itself) has walked away from Spain's equivalent to the Oscar with top honors: Best Film and Best Director. Jaime Rosales' La Soledad (Solitary Fragments) (two parallel urban stories highlighting the fragility and simplicity of human existence) beat out the heavy favorite The Orphanage (the Picturehouse-released pic that investigates the power the dead have over the living, especially over children in the most imaginative and vulnerable stages). For a full list of the winners: scroll below. Picture"Solitary Fragments," Jaime Rosales ACTRESSMaribel Verdu, "Seven Billiards Tables" ACTORAlberto San Juan, "Under the Stars" DIRECTORJaime Rosales,
- 2/4/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
NEW DELHI -- Romanian director Cristian Mungiu's 2007 Cannes Palme d'Or winner "4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days" will open the 38th annual International Film Festival of India in Goa being held Nov. 23-Dec. 3.
The IFFI is organized by New Delhi-based government body Directorate of Film Festivals and the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting in collaboration with the Government of Goa. Organizers also said that Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan will inaugurate the festival.
The festival will close with Carlos Saura's Spanish-Portuguese musical "Fados" and will host an Ingmar Bergman retrospective, with screenings of classics like "Autumn Sonata" and "Fanny and Alexander" among others. The IFFI also will celebrate the birth centenary of "the first lady of the Indian screen," 1930s actress Devika Rani.
Details about festival jury members will be announced soon.
The IFFI is organized by New Delhi-based government body Directorate of Film Festivals and the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting in collaboration with the Government of Goa. Organizers also said that Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan will inaugurate the festival.
The festival will close with Carlos Saura's Spanish-Portuguese musical "Fados" and will host an Ingmar Bergman retrospective, with screenings of classics like "Autumn Sonata" and "Fanny and Alexander" among others. The IFFI also will celebrate the birth centenary of "the first lady of the Indian screen," 1930s actress Devika Rani.
Details about festival jury members will be announced soon.
- 11/14/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
- The final tally and full list of films presented at this year's Tiff have been announced today and hardcore cinephiles will have many options available to them out of the 261 film selected. With a massive slate comes massive headache. What to choose? Where to begin? I’ll be examining the selections – and hopeful offer you readers some cool coverage on films that won't be popping into theaters weeks and/or months from now. Our provisional coverage begins with preview pages listed below - simply click on the links for more info (we'll be updating the list daily) - and hopefully will have every angle covered. Galas: "Across the Universe," Julie Taymor, U.S."The Days of Darkness (L'Âge des ténèbres)," Denys Arcand, Canada"Blood Brothers," Alexi Tan, Taiwan/China/Hong Kong"Caramel," Nadine Labaki, Lebanon/France"Cassandra's Dream," Woody Allen, Britain"Cleaner," Renny Harlin, U.S."Closing the Ring,
- 9/6/2007
- IONCINEMA.com
MADRID -- Those who missed out on Pascal Ferran's Lady Chatterley at Berlin, Anton Corbijn's Control at Cannes or Etger Keret and Shira Geffen's Camera d'Or-winning Jellyfish will have another chance to see them at the 55th San Sebastian International Film Festival, organizers said Thursday.
The films will join five others from previous festivals in the Zabaltegi-Pearls section. Zabaltegi-Pearls will compete for the TCM Audience Award, which carries a 70,000 ($94,930) for the importer of the winning film. A second prize of 35,000 will go to the European film obtaining the most votes from the audience at the end of each screening.
Barbet Schroeder's Terror's Advocate, Nadine Labaki's Lebanese beauty salon-centered Caramel, Frank Oz's family drama Death at a Funeral, Pen-ek Ratanaruang's Ploy and Julian Schnabel's "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" round out the showcase's slate.
Zabaltegi-Pearls also will offer special screenings of Carlos Saura's music-based Fados, screening in Toronto; a restored version of Richard Lester's Beatles movie Help; and Lou Reed's Berlin, Schnabel's tribute to Lou Reed's 2005 live performance of his mythical album.
The films will join five others from previous festivals in the Zabaltegi-Pearls section. Zabaltegi-Pearls will compete for the TCM Audience Award, which carries a 70,000 ($94,930) for the importer of the winning film. A second prize of 35,000 will go to the European film obtaining the most votes from the audience at the end of each screening.
Barbet Schroeder's Terror's Advocate, Nadine Labaki's Lebanese beauty salon-centered Caramel, Frank Oz's family drama Death at a Funeral, Pen-ek Ratanaruang's Ploy and Julian Schnabel's "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" round out the showcase's slate.
Zabaltegi-Pearls also will offer special screenings of Carlos Saura's music-based Fados, screening in Toronto; a restored version of Richard Lester's Beatles movie Help; and Lou Reed's Berlin, Schnabel's tribute to Lou Reed's 2005 live performance of his mythical album.
- 8/24/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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