Producer Pierre-Olivier Bardet has become a hero to filmmakers who rock the boat – feature and documentary revolutionaries who work in ways that he says are “completely unique,” as he puts it: Albert Serra, Frederick Wiseman, Wang Bing and Alexandr Sokurov.
And it’s hard to imagine anyone else who would have agreed to produce an English version of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” directed by Kenneth Branagh (after Francis Ford Coppola and several luminaries declined the project), set in World War I.
But for Bardet, the fascination of working with those who reject the usual conventions of filmmaking is what drives him – which is a key reason he was honored at this year’s Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival for his contribution to cinema by the Czech producers association.
Bardet’s new film with Serra, focused on the rituals of bullfighting in Spain, is likely to push boundaries still further,...
And it’s hard to imagine anyone else who would have agreed to produce an English version of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” directed by Kenneth Branagh (after Francis Ford Coppola and several luminaries declined the project), set in World War I.
But for Bardet, the fascination of working with those who reject the usual conventions of filmmaking is what drives him – which is a key reason he was honored at this year’s Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival for his contribution to cinema by the Czech producers association.
Bardet’s new film with Serra, focused on the rituals of bullfighting in Spain, is likely to push boundaries still further,...
- 10/28/2023
- by Will Tizard
- Variety Film + TV
Last time Benoît Magimel appeared in the Cannes competition, a vision in Albert Serra’s Pacifiction, he played a foreign diplomat who stalked an island of French Polynesia like a trashy king. If Serra’s otherworldy film told a cautionary tale about feckless Euro-decadence, Magimel’s latest is more like a revelry. Adapted from Marcel Rouf’s 1924 novel The Passionate Epicure, The Pot-au-Feu is a film about the pleasures of preparing food and consuming it, the idea of cooking as an act of giving and even of love––if a leitmotif exists in this film’s script, it is the sigh of ecstasy.
The Pot-au-Feu is directed by Tran Anh Hung, a Vietnamese filmmaker who broke out at Cannes in 1993 with The Smell of Green Papaya. For Pot-au-Feu, Magimel stars as Dodin Bouffant, a restaurant owner and famed gourmet––or, as one character christens him, “the Napoleon of the culinary...
The Pot-au-Feu is directed by Tran Anh Hung, a Vietnamese filmmaker who broke out at Cannes in 1993 with The Smell of Green Papaya. For Pot-au-Feu, Magimel stars as Dodin Bouffant, a restaurant owner and famed gourmet––or, as one character christens him, “the Napoleon of the culinary...
- 6/20/2023
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
Kohn’s Corner is a weekly column about the challenges and opportunities of sustaining American film culture.
Chances are that if you care about international cinema, you care about the French New Wave. A loose collective of young directors who came to define their country’s cinema as the 1950s gave way to the ’60s, the French New Wave gave cinema permission to be audacious and uncompromising while bolstering its style and personality. It was cool with purpose.
Jacques Rozier, the last living member of the Nouvelle Vague, died this week at 96. Rozier was a blind spot for me, but the French New Wave was my guide to grasping what the movies could be.
As a teenager, Jean-Luc Godard’s “Breathless” got me excited about the possibilities of the movies like nothing that came before. Francois Truffaut’s “The 400 Blows” was a formative encounter with the expansive possibilities of the coming-of-age story.
Chances are that if you care about international cinema, you care about the French New Wave. A loose collective of young directors who came to define their country’s cinema as the 1950s gave way to the ’60s, the French New Wave gave cinema permission to be audacious and uncompromising while bolstering its style and personality. It was cool with purpose.
Jacques Rozier, the last living member of the Nouvelle Vague, died this week at 96. Rozier was a blind spot for me, but the French New Wave was my guide to grasping what the movies could be.
As a teenager, Jean-Luc Godard’s “Breathless” got me excited about the possibilities of the movies like nothing that came before. Francois Truffaut’s “The 400 Blows” was a formative encounter with the expansive possibilities of the coming-of-age story.
- 6/17/2023
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Segundo Premio will tell the story of influential rock indie group Los Planetas.
Catalan director Isaki Lacuesta, a double Golden Shell winner at San Sebastian for Between Two Waters (2018) and The Double Steps (2011), is set to start shooting his new feature, musical Segundo Premio (English working title: Saturn Return).
The film is a co-production between La Terraza Films, Áralan Films, Ikiru Films and BTeam prods from Spain and France’s Capricci Films.
Although is not a biopic, Segundo Premio will tell the story of Los Planetas, an influential Spanish indie rock group. It will depict “a very special period of...
Catalan director Isaki Lacuesta, a double Golden Shell winner at San Sebastian for Between Two Waters (2018) and The Double Steps (2011), is set to start shooting his new feature, musical Segundo Premio (English working title: Saturn Return).
The film is a co-production between La Terraza Films, Áralan Films, Ikiru Films and BTeam prods from Spain and France’s Capricci Films.
Although is not a biopic, Segundo Premio will tell the story of Los Planetas, an influential Spanish indie rock group. It will depict “a very special period of...
- 3/10/2023
- by Emilio Mayorga
- ScreenDaily
Segundo Premio will tell the story of influential rock indie group Los Planetas.
Catalan director Isaki Lacuesta, a double Golden Shell winner at San Sebastian for Between Two Waters (2018) and The Double Steps (2011), is set to start shooting his new feature, musical Segundo Premio (English working title: Saturn Return).
The film is a co-production between La Terraza Films, Áralan Films, Ikiru Films and BTeam prods from Spain and France’s Capricci Films.
Although is not a biopic, Segundo Premio will tell the story of Los Planetas, an influential Spanish indie rock group. It will depict “a very special period of...
Catalan director Isaki Lacuesta, a double Golden Shell winner at San Sebastian for Between Two Waters (2018) and The Double Steps (2011), is set to start shooting his new feature, musical Segundo Premio (English working title: Saturn Return).
The film is a co-production between La Terraza Films, Áralan Films, Ikiru Films and BTeam prods from Spain and France’s Capricci Films.
Although is not a biopic, Segundo Premio will tell the story of Los Planetas, an influential Spanish indie rock group. It will depict “a very special period of...
- 3/10/2023
- by Emilio Mayorga
- ScreenDaily
Pitched somewhere between Apocalypse Now (1979), the early films of Alan J. Pakula, and Jacques Rivette’s Noroît (1976), Albert Serra’s loose, languorous 165-minute Pacifiction is, like all of the miscellania he has produced for cinema and elsewhere over the years, unlike anything else you can get your eyes on. Tedious, enchanting, and overlong, Serra’s magical, Graham Greene-like follow-up to Liberté (2019) is another diametric opposite in a career built on decisive variations and provocative contrasts. Serra’s orgiastic last film began with the slowly fading light of sunset and ended with it reappearing with the rising of the sun; in between, masked libertines tugged clumsily and fitfully at each other’s organs in lick-after-lick, grind-after-grind, and fuck-after-fuck of a protracted outdoor sex bonanza. That film was set entirely within the confines of a forest, in which aristocrats first elaborate on their most depraved sexual fantasies and then bask in some version of them.
- 8/11/2022
- MUBI
by Cláudio Alves
The last days of the 75th Cannes Film Festival saw the premiere of many buzzy titles, including some that were declared Palme d'Or frontrunners on the spot. Albert Serra celebrates his first stint in the Main Competition with Pacification, a film that might not be for everyone but will undoubtedly satisfy the director's fans. Hirokazu Kore-eda returns after Shoplifters with another found-family crowd-pleaser, Broker. Lukas Dhont's Close reduced many to tears, but I'm not convinced. His debut was similarly acclaimed in Cannes, only to receive much-deserved backlash when seen by wider audiences. Kelly Reichardt seems to have delivered a low-key marvel with the Portland-set Showing Up, starring frequent collaborator Michelle Williams. Finally, Léonor Serraille closed the competition screenings with her sophomore feature, Mother and Son.
Just hours before Vincent Lindon's jury announces its choices, the Cannes at Home miniseries comes to an end with Serra's The Death of Louis Xiv,...
The last days of the 75th Cannes Film Festival saw the premiere of many buzzy titles, including some that were declared Palme d'Or frontrunners on the spot. Albert Serra celebrates his first stint in the Main Competition with Pacification, a film that might not be for everyone but will undoubtedly satisfy the director's fans. Hirokazu Kore-eda returns after Shoplifters with another found-family crowd-pleaser, Broker. Lukas Dhont's Close reduced many to tears, but I'm not convinced. His debut was similarly acclaimed in Cannes, only to receive much-deserved backlash when seen by wider audiences. Kelly Reichardt seems to have delivered a low-key marvel with the Portland-set Showing Up, starring frequent collaborator Michelle Williams. Finally, Léonor Serraille closed the competition screenings with her sophomore feature, Mother and Son.
Just hours before Vincent Lindon's jury announces its choices, the Cannes at Home miniseries comes to an end with Serra's The Death of Louis Xiv,...
- 5/28/2022
- by Cláudio Alves
- FilmExperience
Another filmmaker who was invited to his first Palme d’Or race, Albert Serra has been to the Croisette first in the Directors’ Fortnight with Honor de cavalleria (2006) and El cant dels ocells (2008), and then showcased The Death of Louis Xiv (out of Comp) and Liberte (Un Certain Regard). Pacifiction was a surprise last minute addition to the comp – it stars Benoît Magimel in contemporary French Polynesia.
How does one solve writer’s block. Head back home. Far, far away. What awaits is uncertainty and a multitude of players with other agendas.
A good chunk of our jury found a way to program the film in their schedule — but we have at least three jury members who’ll be catching the film on reprise day.…...
How does one solve writer’s block. Head back home. Far, far away. What awaits is uncertainty and a multitude of players with other agendas.
A good chunk of our jury found a way to program the film in their schedule — but we have at least three jury members who’ll be catching the film on reprise day.…...
- 5/28/2022
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Competition titles from Hirokazu Kore-eda, Lukas Dhont and Albert Serra face our jurors.
Albert Serra’s Pacifiction and Lukas Dhont’s Close landed mid-pack on Screen’s Cannes jury grid, while Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Broker disappointed our jurors.
Serra’s Pacifiction averaged 2.6, it tells the story of a high commissioner on the French Polynesian island of Tahiti, navigating local concern about French nuclear testing. The film took five threes (good) and two ones (poor) from our jurors. Le Monde’s Mathieu Macheret awarded the Catalan filmmaker a four (excellent) whilst Positif’s Michel Ciment gave it a zero (bad).
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Albert Serra’s Pacifiction and Lukas Dhont’s Close landed mid-pack on Screen’s Cannes jury grid, while Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Broker disappointed our jurors.
Serra’s Pacifiction averaged 2.6, it tells the story of a high commissioner on the French Polynesian island of Tahiti, navigating local concern about French nuclear testing. The film took five threes (good) and two ones (poor) from our jurors. Le Monde’s Mathieu Macheret awarded the Catalan filmmaker a four (excellent) whilst Positif’s Michel Ciment gave it a zero (bad).
Click...
- 5/27/2022
- by Melissa Kasule
- ScreenDaily
Benoît Magimel’s French high commissioner confronts the end of his personal Eden in Tahiti, in Albert Serra’s distinctive film
Albert Serra’s bizarre epic is a cheese-dream of French imperial tristesse, political paranoia and an apocalyptic despair. It is a nightmare that moves as slowly and confidently as a somnambulist, and its pace, length, and Serra’s beautiful widescreen panoramic framings – in which conventional drama is almost camouflaged or lost – may divide opinion. I can only say I was captivated by the film and its stealthy evocation of pure evil.
Admirers of Serra’s previous movies The Death of Louis Xiv and Liberté will know what an uncompromisingly original and startling film-maker he is. That distinctiveness is certainly on display with this new spectacle, but with intriguing new hints of David Lynch and Nicolas Winding Refn. (Refn famously directed Agatha Christie’s Marple on British TV; perhaps Albert...
Albert Serra’s bizarre epic is a cheese-dream of French imperial tristesse, political paranoia and an apocalyptic despair. It is a nightmare that moves as slowly and confidently as a somnambulist, and its pace, length, and Serra’s beautiful widescreen panoramic framings – in which conventional drama is almost camouflaged or lost – may divide opinion. I can only say I was captivated by the film and its stealthy evocation of pure evil.
Admirers of Serra’s previous movies The Death of Louis Xiv and Liberté will know what an uncompromisingly original and startling film-maker he is. That distinctiveness is certainly on display with this new spectacle, but with intriguing new hints of David Lynch and Nicolas Winding Refn. (Refn famously directed Agatha Christie’s Marple on British TV; perhaps Albert...
- 5/26/2022
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Catalan artist and director Albert Serra returns to Cannes Film Festival Official Competition with a rarity for him, a contemporary feature film, not what we have come to expect from this filmmaker who usually works in period pieces. And even though he is not French he has made a fascinating movie all in French and set in the colorful French Polynesia island of Tahiti.
It works on many levels, taking its time in two hours and forty five minutes to create a portrait of an enigmatic man named De Roller (Benoit Magimel) who seems to say whatever thought pops in his head at any given moment, an odd duck not necessarily playing with reality, or so it appears. He is the top ranking French official in the Islands, the High Commissioner of the Republic who mainly describes himself to the locals as just a...
It works on many levels, taking its time in two hours and forty five minutes to create a portrait of an enigmatic man named De Roller (Benoit Magimel) who seems to say whatever thought pops in his head at any given moment, an odd duck not necessarily playing with reality, or so it appears. He is the top ranking French official in the Islands, the High Commissioner of the Republic who mainly describes himself to the locals as just a...
- 5/26/2022
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
Films Boutique has acquired four films set to world premiere at Cannes, including Albert Serra (“The Death of Louis Xiv”)’s “Pacifiction” which will compete in the 75th edition’s Official Selection.
The Berlin-based international sales banner has also acquired rising Morrocan helmer Maryam Touzani (“Adam”)’s “The Blue Caftan” and Costa Rican director Ariel Escalante Meza’s “Domingo and the Mist” which will both play in Un Certain Regard; as well as Portuguese filmmaker João Pedro Rodrigues (“The Ornithologist”)’s “Will-o’-The-Wisp,” set for Directors’ Fortnight.
“Pacifiction” stars Cesar-winning French actor Benoit Magimel (“Peaceful”) as a calculating French government official working in the French Polynesian island of Tahiti. While investigating on a mysterious submarine, he navigates the high end ’establishment,’ and mingles with locals in underground venues.
Serra was last in Cannes with his 2019 feature film “Liberté” which won the jury prize at Un Certain Regard.”‘Pacifiction’ is a...
The Berlin-based international sales banner has also acquired rising Morrocan helmer Maryam Touzani (“Adam”)’s “The Blue Caftan” and Costa Rican director Ariel Escalante Meza’s “Domingo and the Mist” which will both play in Un Certain Regard; as well as Portuguese filmmaker João Pedro Rodrigues (“The Ornithologist”)’s “Will-o’-The-Wisp,” set for Directors’ Fortnight.
“Pacifiction” stars Cesar-winning French actor Benoit Magimel (“Peaceful”) as a calculating French government official working in the French Polynesian island of Tahiti. While investigating on a mysterious submarine, he navigates the high end ’establishment,’ and mingles with locals in underground venues.
Serra was last in Cannes with his 2019 feature film “Liberté” which won the jury prize at Un Certain Regard.”‘Pacifiction’ is a...
- 5/6/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Son of the White Mare (1981)Pioneering Hungarian filmmaker Marcell Jankovics has died. Known for his fantastical and folkloric animations, Jankovics' films like Johnny Corncob (1973) and Son of the White Mare (1981) helped place Hungarian animation on the map. Last year, Jankovics discussed his recently re-released Son of the White Mare with Christopher L. Inoa. Amazon has bought MGM for $8.45 billion. Mike Hopkins, senior VP of Prime Video and Amazon Studios, has announced plans to reimagine MGM's "treasure trove of [intellectual property]," which includes 12 Angry Men, Basic Instinct, and Raging Bull. Cristian Mungiu will be the Jury President for this year's International Critics' Week at Cannes. The festival's lineup is set to be announced on June 7. Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese has started production on his next film, supported by the International Film Festival Rotterdam's Hubert Bals Fund.
- 6/2/2021
- MUBI
Following his star turn in “Jauja,” a major hit at the 2014 Cannes Festival, Viggo Mortensen will re-team with Argentine director Lisandro Alonso on “Eureka,” one of the boldest upcoming art films from Latin America.
Mortensen, who takes the lead role in “Eureka’s” first part, will be joined by France’s Chiara Mastroianni, a Cesar Award best actress nominee this year for “On a Magical Night,” and Portugal’s Maria de Medeiros (“Pulp Fiction”).
In a nod towards “Jauja,” Mortensen once more takes the role of a father, here Murphy, searching for a daughter, again played by Denmark’s Viilbjørk Malling Agger, who has been kidnapped in “Eureka” by an outlaw, Randall. Despite the actors reprising similar roles, the film is not a sequel.
In addition, the setting for Part 1 of “Eureka,” entitled “Western,” is no longer Argentina’s Patagonia but a lawless township in 1870 on the U.S.-Mexico border,...
Mortensen, who takes the lead role in “Eureka’s” first part, will be joined by France’s Chiara Mastroianni, a Cesar Award best actress nominee this year for “On a Magical Night,” and Portugal’s Maria de Medeiros (“Pulp Fiction”).
In a nod towards “Jauja,” Mortensen once more takes the role of a father, here Murphy, searching for a daughter, again played by Denmark’s Viilbjørk Malling Agger, who has been kidnapped in “Eureka” by an outlaw, Randall. Despite the actors reprising similar roles, the film is not a sequel.
In addition, the setting for Part 1 of “Eureka,” entitled “Western,” is no longer Argentina’s Patagonia but a lawless township in 1870 on the U.S.-Mexico border,...
- 8/4/2020
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Above: Honor of the KnightsDespite his infamous reputation as an iconoclastic provocateur, the films of Catalan director Albert Serra always seem to come from a place of sincere allurement. The big-wigged canonical figures that have spearheaded his endeavors since his breakthrough in 2006’s Honor of the Knights are, without exception, stripped of their mythical flare and reduced to their most primordial essence. Shown decadent, aimless, and impotent, Serra’s camera lurks behind the characters in an invasive manner that favors framing corporeality and minutiae over traditional characterization. The most basic elements of these iconic on-screen presences are more than enough to showcase a deeper and underlying existential turmoil. Such thematic through lines can be traced all the way back to the filmmaker’s aforementioned riff on Cervantes. Surprisingly in tune with what is generally considered “the first modern novel,” Serra’s deconstruction of The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La...
- 5/8/2020
- MUBI
Catalan director Albert Serra rejoices in oddball period pieces, from the outré Casanova biopic “The Story of My Death” to the slow-burn “The Death of Louis Xiv,” which delivers exactly that for two hours straight. Yet Serra’s work has a poetic charm percolating beneath its provocative exteriors, as if the very idea of merging the formalities of the past with vulgar flourishes registers as a grand historical punchline: Serra gives us the semblance of an old Eurocentric world as it likes to remember itself, but tosses in sex and bodily fluids that make it resonate in more immediate, visceral terms. His filmography amounts to an alternately gross and kinky history lesson.
To that end, “Liberté” is the movie he’s been building toward for the better part of a decade. Serra’s blend of elegant visuals and provocative subject matter reaches his apex with a lush, haunting movie almost...
To that end, “Liberté” is the movie he’s been building toward for the better part of a decade. Serra’s blend of elegant visuals and provocative subject matter reaches his apex with a lush, haunting movie almost...
- 5/1/2020
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Here’s a sentence even the most daring of cinephiles don’t often come across in official marketing materials: “What begins as an evening of strategizing on the proliferation of libertinage, descends into a Sadean night of pansexual one-upmanship.” And yet who else but filmmaker Albert Serra could craft a film that doesn’t just tease such a premise, but actually delivers on it.
The Catalan director’s latest film debuted at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, where it picked up a special jury prize in the Un Certain Regard section. In the months that followed, the film went on to play both Tiff and Nyff. Dripping with all the period details one would expect from the man who made “The Death of Louis Xiv,” Serra’s film follows a group of expelled libertines, tossed out of Louis XVI’s court and meant to find their own way, who...
The Catalan director’s latest film debuted at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, where it picked up a special jury prize in the Un Certain Regard section. In the months that followed, the film went on to play both Tiff and Nyff. Dripping with all the period details one would expect from the man who made “The Death of Louis Xiv,” Serra’s film follows a group of expelled libertines, tossed out of Louis XVI’s court and meant to find their own way, who...
- 4/21/2020
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Close-Up is a feature that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Nobuhiro Suwa's The Lion Sleeps Tonight (2017), which is receiving an exclusive global online premiere on Mubi, is showing from May 28 – June 26, 2019 in Mubi's Luminaries strand.From the charged realism of his first feature, the raw, bristling relationship drama 2/Duo (1997), to his most recent, the tender ode to lost love and bygone youth, The Lion Sleeps Tonight (2017), the sublimely understated work of Nobuhiro Suwa comprises a rich, but mostly unexposed pocket of contemporary Japanese cinema. Between the filmmaker’s formal command and his direction of beautifully organic, often improvised performances, Suwa’s films have enjoyed critical acclaim, but only of the amnesiac variety—praised and then summarily forgotten. Despite the accessibility promised by digital platforms, most of us today will find the bulk of his work is entirely unattainable through traditional means, a seemingly arbitrary punishment for an auteur well-worth discovering.
- 6/4/2019
- MUBI
Also working on Vitor Gonçalve’s ‘The Owl’s Journey’.
Prolific Portuguese production outfit Rosa Filmes, one of the producers on Albert Serra’s Un Certain Regard selection Liberté, is preparing a raft of new features, including new films with Serra, Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz (also a Cannes regular) and The Inbetweeners producer Christopher Young.
This activity comes as Portugal’s production incentive (a cash rebate system worth up to 30%) is making the country significantly more attractive as a coproduction partner. Since the start of 2018, the new rebate has made €36m available for production.
The Diaz project, which has the working title Magellan,...
Prolific Portuguese production outfit Rosa Filmes, one of the producers on Albert Serra’s Un Certain Regard selection Liberté, is preparing a raft of new features, including new films with Serra, Filipino filmmaker Lav Diaz (also a Cannes regular) and The Inbetweeners producer Christopher Young.
This activity comes as Portugal’s production incentive (a cash rebate system worth up to 30%) is making the country significantly more attractive as a coproduction partner. Since the start of 2018, the new rebate has made €36m available for production.
The Diaz project, which has the working title Magellan,...
- 5/14/2019
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
Personalien
The multifaceted and indefatigable Catalonian director Albert Serra turns to more contemporary climes with his latest project Personalien, a portrait of an episode from the life of Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Starring Lluis Serrat and Xavier Grataos, the film is being produced by Montse Triola, and Fabrizio Ferraro through Andergraun Films. Serra is a well-known auteur on the festival circuit, a director of instant note following the premiere of Quixotic/Honor de Cavelleria in the Directors’ Fortnight, where he returned in 2008 with Birdsong. Notably, Serra won the Golden Leopard in Locarno with 2013’s Story of My Death and screened out-of-competition with his superb The Death of Louis Xiv, which starred Jean-Pierre Leaud.…...
The multifaceted and indefatigable Catalonian director Albert Serra turns to more contemporary climes with his latest project Personalien, a portrait of an episode from the life of Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Starring Lluis Serrat and Xavier Grataos, the film is being produced by Montse Triola, and Fabrizio Ferraro through Andergraun Films. Serra is a well-known auteur on the festival circuit, a director of instant note following the premiere of Quixotic/Honor de Cavelleria in the Directors’ Fortnight, where he returned in 2008 with Birdsong. Notably, Serra won the Golden Leopard in Locarno with 2013’s Story of My Death and screened out-of-competition with his superb The Death of Louis Xiv, which starred Jean-Pierre Leaud.…...
- 1/4/2019
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Tijuana Bible
French filmmaker Jean-Charles Hue travels abroad for his long-awaited third feature Tijuana Bible. Philippe Braunstein and Axel Guyot (who also co-wrote) produced the film through Les Films d’Avalon, co-produced by Ad Vitam. English actor Paul Anderson stars alongside Mexico’s Adriana Paz and Noe Hernandez with Dp Jonathan Ricquebourg lenses. Hue’s 2011 debut The Lord’s Ride premiered in Rotterdam and his 2014 follow-up Eat Your Bones went to the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes. Perhaps there is a tie-in with his Directors’ Fortnight preemed short Tijuana Tales (2017).
Gist: Iraq war veteran Nick (Anderson) lives in Tijuana’s Zona Norte where he meets Ana (Paz), naïve young woman searching for her missing brother, Ricardo.…...
French filmmaker Jean-Charles Hue travels abroad for his long-awaited third feature Tijuana Bible. Philippe Braunstein and Axel Guyot (who also co-wrote) produced the film through Les Films d’Avalon, co-produced by Ad Vitam. English actor Paul Anderson stars alongside Mexico’s Adriana Paz and Noe Hernandez with Dp Jonathan Ricquebourg lenses. Hue’s 2011 debut The Lord’s Ride premiered in Rotterdam and his 2014 follow-up Eat Your Bones went to the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes. Perhaps there is a tie-in with his Directors’ Fortnight preemed short Tijuana Tales (2017).
Gist: Iraq war veteran Nick (Anderson) lives in Tijuana’s Zona Norte where he meets Ana (Paz), naïve young woman searching for her missing brother, Ricardo.…...
- 1/2/2019
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Albert Serra, after portraying The Death of Louis Xiv, reincarnates the infamous monarch in a modern neon-red purgatory. The familiar face of Jean Pierre-Leaud is replaced by that of frequent Serra collaborator and non-professional actor Lluís Serrat. To describe Roi Soleil as a film would be imprecise; rather, the piece is a filmed performance–an installation–of the agony of the Sun King in a Lisbon gallery. The narrative, like in Serra’s previous work, is fairly straightforward yet abstractly rendered: a more rotund iteration of King Louis–who seems to expand as the piece progresses–suffers from what could most accurately be described as a stomachache, yet continues to shovel food into his mouth in spite of a clear discomfort. He begins erected upright, standing, watching over an anonymous, industrial space–a masterless domain– before taking a fall and continuing his feast laterally. The sounds of his discomfort–sometimes funny in a crude way,...
- 10/9/2018
- by Jason Ooi
- The Film Stage
The prevalence of social media has lent itself to a normalization of portraiture and the gaze, which no longer seems to appreciate the immense detail of the face that had once made the cinema a special medium. Photos on Facebook or Instagram feeds and the ways with which mainstream cultures celebrate beauty have stripped excitement from the specificities of appearance–to be scrolled through quickly and absorbed aimlessly without observation. Wrinkles and quirks, expressions and latent emotions represented are never contemplated, seemingly wasted on peripheral glances. Tsai Ming-liang, in his newest feature, Your Face, conducts a simple experiment in which moving images are primed on the intricacies of the face without distraction. Setting–often easier to connect with in a modern context–is erased almost entirely, as twelve faces are situated in front of a simple black backdrop.
The film serves as a semi-extension on Andy Warhol’s famous “Screen Tests,...
The film serves as a semi-extension on Andy Warhol’s famous “Screen Tests,...
- 10/8/2018
- by Jason Ooi
- The Film Stage
56th New York Film Festival Projections line-up announced by Anne-Katrin Titze - 2018-08-13 21:31:25
Albert Serra, the director of The Death Of Louis Xiv (La Mort De Louis Xiv), starring Jean-Pierre Léaud, has Roi Soleil, featuring Lluís Serrat in the 56th New York Film Festival Projections line-up Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
The Film Society of Lincoln Center has announced the 56th New York Film Festival Projections line-up which runs from October 4 through October 7.The program will screen seven feature films: Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt's Diamantino; Albert Serra's Roi Soleil; Jodie Mack's The Grand Bizarre; James Benning's 11 x 14; Ted Fendt's Classical Period; Tsai Ming-liang's Your Face, and Dora García's Second Time Around (Segunda Vez).
There will also be five programs of shorts, an Ericka Beckman Program and a Quantification Trilogy by Jeremy Shaw.
Projections is curated by Dennis Lim (Fslc Director of Programming) and Aily Nash (independent curator). Shelby Shaw and Dan Sullivan are Program Assistants.
“This year’s Projections lineup brings together established artists,...
The Film Society of Lincoln Center has announced the 56th New York Film Festival Projections line-up which runs from October 4 through October 7.The program will screen seven feature films: Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt's Diamantino; Albert Serra's Roi Soleil; Jodie Mack's The Grand Bizarre; James Benning's 11 x 14; Ted Fendt's Classical Period; Tsai Ming-liang's Your Face, and Dora García's Second Time Around (Segunda Vez).
There will also be five programs of shorts, an Ericka Beckman Program and a Quantification Trilogy by Jeremy Shaw.
Projections is curated by Dennis Lim (Fslc Director of Programming) and Aily Nash (independent curator). Shelby Shaw and Dan Sullivan are Program Assistants.
“This year’s Projections lineup brings together established artists,...
- 8/13/2018
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
After taking a metatextual look at Jean-Pierre Léaud’s legacy with perhaps his most acclaimed film yet, The Death of Louis Xiv, Albert Serra will be turning his sights on another cinematic icon for his next feature. The divisive Catalan filmmaker is preparing a fall shoot for his new film Personalien, which will capture a specific moment in the life of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Cineuropa reports.
Starring Lluis Serrat and Xavier Grataós, the film will capture the prolific German director, albeit not during a film shoot but rather during the staging of a Berlin-set play as he confronts his ambitions and personal demons. Fassbinder, who died in 1982 at the age of 37 from a drug overdose, begin his career with work in the theater, mounting over a dozen plays alongside the 40+ films/series he directed.
See Also: Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s 10 Favorite Films
Ahead of a likely 2019 premiere, check out the synopsis and first images below.
Starring Lluis Serrat and Xavier Grataós, the film will capture the prolific German director, albeit not during a film shoot but rather during the staging of a Berlin-set play as he confronts his ambitions and personal demons. Fassbinder, who died in 1982 at the age of 37 from a drug overdose, begin his career with work in the theater, mounting over a dozen plays alongside the 40+ films/series he directed.
See Also: Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s 10 Favorite Films
Ahead of a likely 2019 premiere, check out the synopsis and first images below.
- 8/6/2018
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Despite a filmography that includes over 20 features, it’s only been in recent years that prolific South Korean director Hong Sangsoo has gotten his due in terms of U.S. distribution. This can be greatly attributed to Cinema Guild, who have released all three of his 2017 features: On the Beach at Night Alone, Claire’s Camera, and The Day After. We’re thrilled to now exclusively announce that the company has picked up Grass following its premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year. Set for a release in 2019, read their synopsis below.
For his 22nd feature as director, Hong delivers a delicious cinematic riddle only he could concoct. In the corner of a small café, Areum (Kim Minhee) sits typing on her laptop. At the tables around her, other customers enact the various dramas of their lives. A young couple charge each other with serious crimes, an...
For his 22nd feature as director, Hong delivers a delicious cinematic riddle only he could concoct. In the corner of a small café, Areum (Kim Minhee) sits typing on her laptop. At the tables around her, other customers enact the various dramas of their lives. A young couple charge each other with serious crimes, an...
- 8/2/2018
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.Recommended VIEWINGWe're very much in love with Zama, Lucrecia Martel's long-anticipated return to filmmaking. The new trailer calls us back to our encounter of the film at Toronto last year and our conversation with the director.We all know that Rainer Werner Fassbinder made a lot—a whole lot—of films in his all too brief 15 years of activity, but it's truly remarkable how new (old) work of his keeps appearing. First there was the revelation of World on a Wire (1973) and now another made-for-tv epic has been restored and is being re-released, Eight Hours Are Not a Day (1972-1973). We wonder what other future delights and provocations Rwf has in store for us!Recommended READINGDoll & EmAt The Guardian, Lili Loofbourow takes a look at how stories about women are perceived and received differently than those about men.
- 3/15/2018
- MUBI
Pastiches, homages, and carbon copies of films made years, decades, and movements ago clog today’s cinema. Art house fare as diverse and varied as Clouds of Sils Maria (2014), Queen of Earth (2015), The Death of Louis Xiv (2016), The Untamed (2016), and First Reformed (2017) all draw from a—now sizeable—history of cinema, for better or for worse. Add Valeska Grisebach’s Western to the batch. Eleven years since her previous work, Longing (2006), Grisebach returns to cinema with a slow-boiling film that injects the DNA of the western genre into a narrative concerning inter-European relations. And to be sure, Grisebach had some movies in mind while making Western (a few low-key nods to My Darling Clementine here and there), but as she told Daniel Kasman on this site, “it was more like they were traveling with [her] while [she] was making the film.” Western isn’t so much an homage as a muted mutation.
- 2/13/2018
- MUBI
One of the most electrifying, thrilling, and funny films of the year was Safdies’ Good Time, featuring Robert Pattinson in a career-best performance. While it didn’t exactly ignite the box-office, as the crime drama is now available to stream we hoped it would spur more year-end conversation and that looks to be the case. It’s now topped Film Comment’s best films of 2017, an eclectic list which also includes personal favorite such as A Quiet Passion, Nocturama, Personal Shopper, Dawson City: Frozen Time, Phantom Thread, and more.
In related news, Benny and Josh Safdie have found a new major project. THR reports the duo will remake Walter Hill’s 1982 buddy comedy 48 Hrs., which starred Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte. Scripting the project will be Josh Safdie, frequent collaborator Ronald Bronstein, and Jerrod Carmichael. There’s no word yet on casting or how updated the plot will be (the...
In related news, Benny and Josh Safdie have found a new major project. THR reports the duo will remake Walter Hill’s 1982 buddy comedy 48 Hrs., which starred Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte. Scripting the project will be Josh Safdie, frequent collaborator Ronald Bronstein, and Jerrod Carmichael. There’s no word yet on casting or how updated the plot will be (the...
- 12/15/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
As 2017 winds down, like most cinephiles, we’re looking to get our hands on the titles that may have slipped under the radar or simply gone unseen. With the proliferation of streaming options, it’s thankfully easier than ever to play catch-up, and to assist with the process, we’re bringing you a rundown of the best titles of the year available to watch.
Curated from the Best Films of 2017 So Far list we published for the first half of the year, it also includes films we’ve enjoyed the past few months and some we’ve recently caught up on. This is far from a be-all, end-all year-end feature (that will come at the end of the year), but rather something that will hopefully be a helpful tool for readers to have a chance to seek out notable, perhaps underseen, titles from the year.
Note that we’re going by U.
Curated from the Best Films of 2017 So Far list we published for the first half of the year, it also includes films we’ve enjoyed the past few months and some we’ve recently caught up on. This is far from a be-all, end-all year-end feature (that will come at the end of the year), but rather something that will hopefully be a helpful tool for readers to have a chance to seek out notable, perhaps underseen, titles from the year.
Note that we’re going by U.
- 10/25/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.
Carol (Todd Haynes)
From the first note of Carter Burwell‘s magnificent score and opening shot of Edward Lachman’s ravishing cinematography — introducing a Brief Encounter-esque opening bookend — Todd Haynes transports one to an intoxicating world of first love and its requisite heartbreak. Carol excels at being many things: a romantic drama; a coming-of-age story; an exploration of family dynamics and social constructs of the time; an acting...
Carol (Todd Haynes)
From the first note of Carter Burwell‘s magnificent score and opening shot of Edward Lachman’s ravishing cinematography — introducing a Brief Encounter-esque opening bookend — Todd Haynes transports one to an intoxicating world of first love and its requisite heartbreak. Carol excels at being many things: a romantic drama; a coming-of-age story; an exploration of family dynamics and social constructs of the time; an acting...
- 9/22/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
(Aotn)-Smt Heads, you’ve never thought of yourself as a rat, we’re sure… But tonight, maybe it’s time to think about rats. Especially as you ponder the latest documentary offering from Cinema Guild Pictures, “Rat Film.”
Yes, “Rat Film” is what it sounds like. Yet you’ve never seen a film like it, either. Check out the trailer, right here:
Rat Film: Rats, Maps, and Extermination in an American City.
Across walls, fences, and alleys, rats not only expose our boundaries of separation but make homes in them. Rat Film is a feature-length documentary that uses the rat—as well as the humans that love them, live with them, and kill them–to explore the history of Baltimore. “There’s never been a rat problem in Baltimore, it’s always been a people problem.”
Rat Film director Theo Anthony is a writer, photographer, and filmmaker currently based in Baltimore,...
Yes, “Rat Film” is what it sounds like. Yet you’ve never seen a film like it, either. Check out the trailer, right here:
Rat Film: Rats, Maps, and Extermination in an American City.
Across walls, fences, and alleys, rats not only expose our boundaries of separation but make homes in them. Rat Film is a feature-length documentary that uses the rat—as well as the humans that love them, live with them, and kill them–to explore the history of Baltimore. “There’s never been a rat problem in Baltimore, it’s always been a people problem.”
Rat Film director Theo Anthony is a writer, photographer, and filmmaker currently based in Baltimore,...
- 9/22/2017
- by Jason Stewart
- Age of the Nerd
Author: Guest
Spanish director Albert Serra’s telling of the final weeks of Louis Xiv is a remarkable insight into the longest reigning monarch in France’s history. Adapted from contemporary memoirs, Jean-Pierre Léaud, (who was thrust into the French cinema scene, courtesy of his work with François Truffaut, after appearing in Truffaut’s first feature,The 400 Blows), lends his cult status to Serra’s re-telling and takes on the ambitious role of the waning Sun King.
As the King slowly succumbs to gangrene, his valets, doctors and members of the court surround him as he continues to fulfil duties in order to keep up the pretence to the public that he is in good health. His condition worsens over the coming days until he falls into a coma and dies.
The film feels like it spans a wealth of dead time, and at first glance could be perceived...
Spanish director Albert Serra’s telling of the final weeks of Louis Xiv is a remarkable insight into the longest reigning monarch in France’s history. Adapted from contemporary memoirs, Jean-Pierre Léaud, (who was thrust into the French cinema scene, courtesy of his work with François Truffaut, after appearing in Truffaut’s first feature,The 400 Blows), lends his cult status to Serra’s re-telling and takes on the ambitious role of the waning Sun King.
As the King slowly succumbs to gangrene, his valets, doctors and members of the court surround him as he continues to fulfil duties in order to keep up the pretence to the public that he is in good health. His condition worsens over the coming days until he falls into a coma and dies.
The film feels like it spans a wealth of dead time, and at first glance could be perceived...
- 7/12/2017
- by Guest
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
2017 has now crossed the halfway mark, so it’s time to take a look back at the first six months and round up our favorite titles thus far. While the end of this year will bring personal favorites from all of our writers, think of the below 28 entries as a comprehensive rundown of what should be seen before heading into a promising fall line-up.
Do note that this feature is based solely on U.S. theatrical releases from 2017, with many currently widely available on streaming platforms or theatrically. Check them out below, as organized alphabetically, followed by honorable mentions and films to keep on your radar for the remaining summer months. One can also see the list on Letterboxd.
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (Steve James)
Steve James’ filmography has long been about finding entry into larger conversations through intimate portraits. The director’s landmark debut, Hoop Dreams, and latter-day...
Do note that this feature is based solely on U.S. theatrical releases from 2017, with many currently widely available on streaming platforms or theatrically. Check them out below, as organized alphabetically, followed by honorable mentions and films to keep on your radar for the remaining summer months. One can also see the list on Letterboxd.
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (Steve James)
Steve James’ filmography has long been about finding entry into larger conversations through intimate portraits. The director’s landmark debut, Hoop Dreams, and latter-day...
- 7/3/2017
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Hungry for fresh nourishment, specialty audiences flocked to new World War II drama “The Zookeeper’s Wife” (Focus Features), directed by Niki Caro and starring Jessica Chastain.
While smart-house moviegoers can be discerning — see Fox Searchlight’s “Wilson” — the holocaust drama overcame modest reviews to score in wider initial release. The dearth of other product should help Focus to find bigger success ahead.
Read More: ‘The Zookeeper’s Wife’ Director Niki Caro Has a Plan for Fighting Hollywood’s Gender Gap
New openings finding niche interest were led by “David Lynch – The Art Life” (Janus) as smaller films continue to struggle.
At a time of dwindling movie ad revenue, streaming service Netflix took out two full-page ads for five films in both the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. They touted four Sundance debuts: “The Discovery” starring Robert Redford and Rooney Mara, which played limited theatrical dates with no grosses reported,...
While smart-house moviegoers can be discerning — see Fox Searchlight’s “Wilson” — the holocaust drama overcame modest reviews to score in wider initial release. The dearth of other product should help Focus to find bigger success ahead.
Read More: ‘The Zookeeper’s Wife’ Director Niki Caro Has a Plan for Fighting Hollywood’s Gender Gap
New openings finding niche interest were led by “David Lynch – The Art Life” (Janus) as smaller films continue to struggle.
At a time of dwindling movie ad revenue, streaming service Netflix took out two full-page ads for five films in both the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. They touted four Sundance debuts: “The Discovery” starring Robert Redford and Rooney Mara, which played limited theatrical dates with no grosses reported,...
- 4/2/2017
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Indiewire
I was standing outside the hotel room of a movie icon, unsure quite what I would find on the find on the other side of the door. It was the final day of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, and after a week of frantic coordinating with various schedulers, I’d finally managed to land an interview with Jean-Pierre Léaud. He had just played the lead role in “The Death of Louis Xiv,” and still endured the impact of enacting his death for the cameras.
Léaud became one of international cinema’s most famous faces at 14, when he starred in Francois Truffaut’s seminal French New Wave debut “The 400 Blows.” As the adolescent Antoine Doinel, who spends much of the movie acting out at school and at home while witnessing the dissolution of his parents’ marriage, Léaud quickly became the defining face of angst-riddled youth. The movie’s memorable closing freeze-frame...
Léaud became one of international cinema’s most famous faces at 14, when he starred in Francois Truffaut’s seminal French New Wave debut “The 400 Blows.” As the adolescent Antoine Doinel, who spends much of the movie acting out at school and at home while witnessing the dissolution of his parents’ marriage, Léaud quickly became the defining face of angst-riddled youth. The movie’s memorable closing freeze-frame...
- 3/31/2017
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
The 400 Blows. Courtesy of ShutterstockFor many directors, casting decisions are a crucial part of the writing process. They set the parameters in which the character can develop itself. Fundamentally, a good casting decision can make a character transcend its own scripted ambitions into wonderful, unexpected territories. But bad casting, as we know, can cripple not just a character’s potential but the entire film. It’s hard to talk about casting choices as creative decisions since they are so ingrained within certain creative impulses—the decision of choosing a particular actor over another can be based on mere gut feeling, a hunch, or an intellectual response. But of course, it can also depend (as it often does in large budget films) on an actor’s status, reputation or his or her monetary value. As we get to know actors, we see them typecast or cast against type but sometimes...
- 3/31/2017
- MUBI
Starting this week, the Film Society of Lincoln Center hosts a retrospective of the 57-year career of one of the most iconic figures of modern cinema: Jean-Pierre Léaud. The child who grew up and grew old before our eyes, Léaud will forever be associated with one film above all, François Truffaut’s The 400 Blows, made when he was only 14, and its character, Antoine Doinel, who he, in many ways, created. In a letter to his friend Helen Scott in 1962 Truffaut wrote, “I would prefer a film to change its meaning along the way rather than have an actor ill at ease. Jean-Pierre wasn’t the character I had intended for The 400 Blows.” When the Film Society first fêted Léaud, in 1994, in the series “Growing Up with Jean-Pierre Léaud: Nouvelle Vague’s Wild Child” (programmed by my future wife no less), the actor had only just turned 50. Léaud...
- 3/31/2017
- MUBI
by Bill Curran
Laying in regal and rotting repose, the glorious tendrils of a white M-shaped wig framing his ashen face, King Louis Xiv of France, in the year 1717, spends his final days dying atop luxurious satins and attended to by hand-wringing bureaucrats and a largely silent wife in Albert Serra’s (you guessed it) The Death of Louis Xiv.
As far as “death trip” movies go, Louis Xiv is a quintessential ordeal. Like moths around the flame, the films in this still-thriving trend announce the demise (or prolonged distress) of their subjects up front, with imminence and duration the focus, often with a titular clue to the narrative framework: The Passion of the Christ, Last Days, 12 Years a Slave, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days, 127 Hours, Day Night Day Night, Hunger, Two Days, One Night, and Son of Saul, to name but a few...
Laying in regal and rotting repose, the glorious tendrils of a white M-shaped wig framing his ashen face, King Louis Xiv of France, in the year 1717, spends his final days dying atop luxurious satins and attended to by hand-wringing bureaucrats and a largely silent wife in Albert Serra’s (you guessed it) The Death of Louis Xiv.
As far as “death trip” movies go, Louis Xiv is a quintessential ordeal. Like moths around the flame, the films in this still-thriving trend announce the demise (or prolonged distress) of their subjects up front, with imminence and duration the focus, often with a titular clue to the narrative framework: The Passion of the Christ, Last Days, 12 Years a Slave, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days, 127 Hours, Day Night Day Night, Hunger, Two Days, One Night, and Son of Saul, to name but a few...
- 3/30/2017
- by Bill Curran
- FilmExperience
It was the German-born medievalist Ernst Kantorowicz who popularized the king’s two bodies as a way of understanding the early European state. The idea was that, when the legitimacy of governance rested on a single crowned head, the king became a double figure—an incorporeal body politic that symbolized the divine continuity of absolute power, but also a man who could get indigestion, die, and be succeeded. To put it more simply: There were many kings, but there was always a king. The Death Of Louis Xiv, which dramatizes (a word used very loosely here) the last days of France’s longest reigning monarch, is in part an ironic riff on this concept, for the Sun King believed more than anyone in his divine right to power, but died of gangrene; furthermore, as if to prove Kantorowicz’s thesis, he held court almost until the moment he lost consciousness...
- 3/30/2017
- by Ignatiy Vishnevetsky
- avclub.com
Director: Albert Serra Written by: Albert Serra, Thierry Lounas Cast: Jean-Pierre Leáud, Patrick D’Assumçao, Marc Susini, Irène Silvagni, Bernard Belin, Jacques Henric Opens: March 31, 2017 Percy Shelley’s poem “Ozymandias” will surely come to mind while you’re watching this picture. The key words: And on the pedestal these words appear: “My name is Ozymandias, king […]
The post The Death of Louis Xiv Movie Review: King Louis learns that life is finite appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post The Death of Louis Xiv Movie Review: King Louis learns that life is finite appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 3/26/2017
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
"Your majesty appears to be most discomfited." An official Us trailer has arrived for a French film titled The Death of Louis Xiv, or La mort de Louis Xiv, made by filmmaker Albert Serra. The film had its big world premiere at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival last summer. As historically accurate as they could possibly get, the film tells the story of the French monarch, played by actor Jean-Pierre Léaud. After returning from a hunting expedition in 1715, King Louis Xiv felt a sharp pain in his leg. He begins to die of gangrene, surrounded by loyal followers. Described as "a wry neoclassical chamber drama, a work of pure magic". The cast includes Patrick d'Assumçao, Marc Susini, Bernard Belin, Irène Silvagni, and Vicenç Altaió. Here's the official trailer (+ poster) for Albert Serra's The Death of Louis Xiv, direct from Vimeo: Versailles, August 1715. Back from hunting, Louis Xiv (a magisterially bewigged...
- 3/3/2017
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Paul Verhoeven’s Elle, Albert Serra’s The Death of Louis XIV, Alain Guiraudie’s Staying Vertical and Stephane Brize’s surprise Louis Delluc Prize-winner A Woman’s Life lead this year’s Lumiere nominations with four nominations each in the main categories.
All are in the running for best film and best director, with additional mentions in the acting categories.
Stephanie di Giusto’s The Dancer also scored four nominations in various acting and cinematography categories as well as a best first film nom, while Bertrand Bonello’s terrorism drama Nocturama and Lea Fehner’s acting troupe comedy Les Ogres scored three each.
Divines, which was...
All are in the running for best film and best director, with additional mentions in the acting categories.
Stephanie di Giusto’s The Dancer also scored four nominations in various acting and cinematography categories as well as a best first film nom, while Bertrand Bonello’s terrorism drama Nocturama and Lea Fehner’s acting troupe comedy Les Ogres scored three each.
Divines, which was...
- 1/21/2017
- by Rhonda Richford
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Jean-Pierre Léaud to Anne-Katrin Titze: "In terms of what you felt, I can understand that and I felt something similar." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Albert Serra's confined and vast The Death of Louis Xiv (La Mort De Louis Xiv), co-written with Thierry Lounas (producer of Abel Ferrara's Pasolini, with Willem Dafoe as Pier Paolo Pasolini) stars Jean-Pierre Léaud as the Sun King himself during the final weeks of his life. Patrick d’Assumçao, Marc Susini and Irène Silvagni as Madame de Maintenon (played by Isabelle Huppert in Patricia Mazuy's Saint-Cyr - The King's Daughters) head a brooding supporting cast.
Courtiers come and go for business. The doctor places a glass eye on the king's forehead for diagnosis. Medicine in the 18th century is "not an exact science". Based on the writings of Saint-Simon, medical records, and other notes from court, Albert Serra's film focuses on potent details...
Albert Serra's confined and vast The Death of Louis Xiv (La Mort De Louis Xiv), co-written with Thierry Lounas (producer of Abel Ferrara's Pasolini, with Willem Dafoe as Pier Paolo Pasolini) stars Jean-Pierre Léaud as the Sun King himself during the final weeks of his life. Patrick d’Assumçao, Marc Susini and Irène Silvagni as Madame de Maintenon (played by Isabelle Huppert in Patricia Mazuy's Saint-Cyr - The King's Daughters) head a brooding supporting cast.
Courtiers come and go for business. The doctor places a glass eye on the king's forehead for diagnosis. Medicine in the 18th century is "not an exact science". Based on the writings of Saint-Simon, medical records, and other notes from court, Albert Serra's film focuses on potent details...
- 10/7/2016
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The death of a king, the death of cinema: in Albert Serra’s La mort de Louis Xiv we watch French New Wave legend Jean-Pierre Léaud embody the Sun King as a living body sinking into the shadows, slipping away while his attendants, doctors and sycophants carefully tend to him as if all will be fine. But will it? An actor synonymous with the 1960s re-invention of cinema, made in close collaboration with such epoch-defining directors as François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, and Jacques Rivette, Léaud is now 71, five years younger than the age the most ambitious, powerful, and famous of French kings died of gangrene. The title spoils the fun on purpose: Albert Serra’s film is not about what happens; rather, it’s paying homage a king among men, the fading into the dark of a man inseparable from modern cinema.Those familiar with this Catalan director’s radical...
- 9/10/2016
- MUBI
Nigerian metropolis Lagos is the focus of the eighth City To City showcase at the Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff) as top brass anoint two international Rising Stars.
Tiff’s latest line-up announcement also featured extra selections in Galas and Special Presentations, among them Walter Hill’s (Re)Assignment, Philippe Falardeau’s The Bleeder, David Leveaux’ The Exception (pictured), Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or winner I, Daniel Blake and Terry George’s drama The Promise.
A vibrant crop of Contemporary World Cinema entries includes Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Aquarius, Danis Tanović’s Death In Sarajevo, Marie Noëlle’s Marie Curie, The Courage Of Knowledge and Akin Omotoso’s Vaya.
Hirokazu Kore-eda brings After The Storm to the Masters showcase, alongside Marco Bellocchio’s Sweet Dreams, Pedro Almodóvar’s Julieta, Cristian Mungiu’s Graduation, Gianfranco Rosi’s Berlin Golden Bear winner Fire At Sea and Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Once Again.
Rounding out the...
Tiff’s latest line-up announcement also featured extra selections in Galas and Special Presentations, among them Walter Hill’s (Re)Assignment, Philippe Falardeau’s The Bleeder, David Leveaux’ The Exception (pictured), Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or winner I, Daniel Blake and Terry George’s drama The Promise.
A vibrant crop of Contemporary World Cinema entries includes Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Aquarius, Danis Tanović’s Death In Sarajevo, Marie Noëlle’s Marie Curie, The Courage Of Knowledge and Akin Omotoso’s Vaya.
Hirokazu Kore-eda brings After The Storm to the Masters showcase, alongside Marco Bellocchio’s Sweet Dreams, Pedro Almodóvar’s Julieta, Cristian Mungiu’s Graduation, Gianfranco Rosi’s Berlin Golden Bear winner Fire At Sea and Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Once Again.
Rounding out the...
- 8/16/2016
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Nigerian capital Lagos is the focus of the eighth City To City showcase at the Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff) as top brass anoint two international Rising Stars.
Tiff’s latest line-up announcement also featured extra selections in Galas and Special Presentations, among them Walter Hill’s (Re)Assignment, Philippe Falardeau’s The Bleeder, David Leveaux’ The Exception (pictured), Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or winner I, Daniel Blake and Terry George’s drama The Promise.
A vibrant crop of Contemporary World Cinema entries includes Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Aquarius, Danis Tanović’s Death In Sarajevo, Marie Noëlle’s Marie Curie, The Courage Of Knowledge and Akin Omotoso’s Vaya.
Hirokazu Kore-eda brings After The Storm to the Masters showcase, alongside Marco Bellocchio’s Sweet Dreams, Pedro Almodóvar’s Julieta, Cristian Mungiu’s Graduation, Gianfranco Rosi’s Berlin Golden Bear winner Fire At Sea and Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Once Again.
Rounding out the...
Tiff’s latest line-up announcement also featured extra selections in Galas and Special Presentations, among them Walter Hill’s (Re)Assignment, Philippe Falardeau’s The Bleeder, David Leveaux’ The Exception (pictured), Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or winner I, Daniel Blake and Terry George’s drama The Promise.
A vibrant crop of Contemporary World Cinema entries includes Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Aquarius, Danis Tanović’s Death In Sarajevo, Marie Noëlle’s Marie Curie, The Courage Of Knowledge and Akin Omotoso’s Vaya.
Hirokazu Kore-eda brings After The Storm to the Masters showcase, alongside Marco Bellocchio’s Sweet Dreams, Pedro Almodóvar’s Julieta, Cristian Mungiu’s Graduation, Gianfranco Rosi’s Berlin Golden Bear winner Fire At Sea and Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Once Again.
Rounding out the...
- 8/16/2016
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The two faces of Jean-Pierre Léaud: (left) as the young rebel with a cause in his first film The 400 Blows and the veteran actor today Photo: Cannes Film Festival
French actor and New Wave icon Jean-Pierre Léaud, who started his career in François Truffaut’s The 400 Blows (Les 400 Coups) will receive an honorary Palme d’or at the closing ceremony of the Festival’s 69th edition on Sunday 22 May.
Léaud made his first appearance on the Croisette in 1959 as the young and rebellious hero Antoine Doinel, a character who continued through Antoine Et Colette (1962), Baisers Volés (Stolen Kisses) (1968), Domicile Conjugal (Bed And Board) (1970) and L'Amour En Suite (Love On The Run) (1979).
Other previous recipients of the honorary Palme include Agnès Varda in 2015 as well as Clint Eastwood, Manoel de Oliveira, Woody Allen and Bernardo Bertolucci in recent years.
Leaud stars as King Louis Xiv in Spanish director...
French actor and New Wave icon Jean-Pierre Léaud, who started his career in François Truffaut’s The 400 Blows (Les 400 Coups) will receive an honorary Palme d’or at the closing ceremony of the Festival’s 69th edition on Sunday 22 May.
Léaud made his first appearance on the Croisette in 1959 as the young and rebellious hero Antoine Doinel, a character who continued through Antoine Et Colette (1962), Baisers Volés (Stolen Kisses) (1968), Domicile Conjugal (Bed And Board) (1970) and L'Amour En Suite (Love On The Run) (1979).
Other previous recipients of the honorary Palme include Agnès Varda in 2015 as well as Clint Eastwood, Manoel de Oliveira, Woody Allen and Bernardo Bertolucci in recent years.
Leaud stars as King Louis Xiv in Spanish director...
- 5/10/2016
- by Richard Mowe
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
As one of the highest profile events on the film festival calendar, the announcement of the film selection for the Cannes Film Festival is always greatly anticipated. A broad range of cinema is always guaranteed, and this year is no exception. With Mad Max: Fury Road director George Miller already known to be President of the 2016 Cannes competition Jury, we can now take a look at the feature films that will be included in the festival – which runs from May 11th to May 22nd, 2016.
Familiar names – such as Paul Verhoeven, Park Chan-Wook, Ken Loach, Sean Penn, Pedro Almodovar, Nicolas Winding Refn and Jim Jarmusch – will be among those competing for prestigious acknowledgement from the Jury, while several directorial debuts feature as entries in Un Certain Regard – from filmmakers such as Stephanie Di Giusto, Maha Haj and Michael O’Shea.
Opening Film
Cafe Society (Woody Allen)
Official Competition
Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade...
Familiar names – such as Paul Verhoeven, Park Chan-Wook, Ken Loach, Sean Penn, Pedro Almodovar, Nicolas Winding Refn and Jim Jarmusch – will be among those competing for prestigious acknowledgement from the Jury, while several directorial debuts feature as entries in Un Certain Regard – from filmmakers such as Stephanie Di Giusto, Maha Haj and Michael O’Shea.
Opening Film
Cafe Society (Woody Allen)
Official Competition
Toni Erdmann (Maren Ade...
- 4/14/2016
- by Sarah Myles
- We Got This Covered
The line-up of the 69th Cannes Film Festival in full.
At a press conference this morning, Cannes chief Thierry Frémaux and president Pierre Lescure revealed 49 films selected for inclusion in this year’s festival, set to run May 11-22.
The annoncement was delayed by a peaceful protest at the Ugc Normandie movie theatre on the Champs-Elysees in Paris. A tweet from the festival said: “Due to an intervention of Entertaintement workers, the announcement of the Selection is slightly delayed. Stay with us!”
As previously announced, Woody Allen’s Café Society will open the festival on May 11.
Also previously announced, the competition jury will be presided over by Australian director George Miller, whose Oscar-winning Mad Max: Fury Road received its world premiere at Cannes last year.
Competition
Jury chair: George Miller
Toni Erdmann, Maren Ade (Germany)Julieta, Pedro Almodóvar (Spain)American Honey, Andrea Arnold (UK)Personal Shopper, Olivier Assayas (France)The Unknown Girl (La Fille Inconnue), Jean-Pierre Dardenne & [link...
At a press conference this morning, Cannes chief Thierry Frémaux and president Pierre Lescure revealed 49 films selected for inclusion in this year’s festival, set to run May 11-22.
The annoncement was delayed by a peaceful protest at the Ugc Normandie movie theatre on the Champs-Elysees in Paris. A tweet from the festival said: “Due to an intervention of Entertaintement workers, the announcement of the Selection is slightly delayed. Stay with us!”
As previously announced, Woody Allen’s Café Society will open the festival on May 11.
Also previously announced, the competition jury will be presided over by Australian director George Miller, whose Oscar-winning Mad Max: Fury Road received its world premiere at Cannes last year.
Competition
Jury chair: George Miller
Toni Erdmann, Maren Ade (Germany)Julieta, Pedro Almodóvar (Spain)American Honey, Andrea Arnold (UK)Personal Shopper, Olivier Assayas (France)The Unknown Girl (La Fille Inconnue), Jean-Pierre Dardenne & [link...
- 4/14/2016
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
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