NEGROMANCER 2.0: France

Showing posts with label France. Show all posts

Friday, April 24, 2015

Dark Horse Comics to Translate Geof Darrow's "Bourbon Thret"

Pour diffusion immédiate: Darrow, C’Est Toujours Fou!

When it was originally published in France in the 1980’s, Geof Darrow’s cult classic graphic novel BOURBON THRET was promoted by publisher Aedena with the tagline “Darrow C’Est Fou!” which translates to Darrow it’s crazy! Next year Dark Horse Comics will finally publish the first ever American edition of Darrow’s BOURBON THRET, which features the introduction of the chainsaw wielding Shaolin Cowboy. The book will be released in the same gorgeous oversized format as Dark Horse Comics’ recently released SHAOLIN COWBOY: SHEMP BUFFET hardcover.

“Darrow c’est fou,” confirmed Dark Horse President & Publisher Mike Richardson. “ I couldn't be more excited to introduce the first ever Shaolin Cowboy adventure to an American audience next year.”

BOURBON THRET features the first appearance of the Shaolin Cowboy, whose ultra violent, ultra detailed and unforgettable zombie filled stories have been published by Dark Horse Comics . Darrow was living in France when he created Bourbon Thret, but his inspiration for the character’s name from traveling in Japan where he saw t-shirts with phrases like “The Sunny Catches The Day.”

Darrow explains, “In Japan, they’d put random words on t-shirts or whatever because they liked the way the words looked together, just an odd combination of two things that have nothing to do with each other. And I just came up with this thing. Bourbon. Thret. It sounded odd and unexpected to me. I only changed his name later to the Shaolin Cowboy for his American debut after Frank Miller warned me to not to use the word cowboy. It won’t sell, he said. And that’s how Bourbon Thret became the Shaolin Cowboy.”

Almost the entire Dark Horse edition of BOURBON THRET will be recolored by the award winning colorist Dave Stewart. When it was originally published, BOURBON THRET was colored by a team of colorists and Darrow was unsatisfied with the look of the pages, with the very notable exception of the work done by Studio Herge (TIN TIN.) The Studio Herge pages are not being recolored for the new edition, but the rest of the material will be colored by Stewart.

Dark Horse will announce an official publication date for the book later this year.

About Dark Horse
Founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson, Dark Horse Comics has proven to be a solid example of how integrity and innovation can help broaden a unique storytelling medium and establish a small, homegrown company as an industry giant. The company is known for the progressive and creator-friendly atmosphere it provides for writers and artists. In addition to publishing comics from top talent, such as Frank Miller, Mike Mignola, Neil Gaiman, Brian Wood, Gerard Way, Felicia Day, and Guillermo del Toro, and comics legends, such as Will Eisner, Neal Adams, and Jim Steranko, Dark Horse has developed its own successful properties, such as The Mask, Ghost, Timecop, and SpyBoy. Its successful line of comics and products based on popular properties includes Mass Effect, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Aliens, Conan, EVE Online, Halo, Serenity, Game of Thrones, and Domo. Today Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent comic book publisher in the US and is recognized as one of the world’s leading publishers of both creator-owned content and licensed comics material.

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Saturday, February 21, 2015

Cesar Awards Name "Timbuktu" as Best Picture of 2014 - Complete List of Winners

Friday, February 20, 2015

2015 Cesar Award Nominations - Complete List

First given out in 1975, the César Award is the national film award of France. Some even think of the César Award as the French equivalent of the American Academy Awards (Oscars). The nominations are selected by the members of the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma, and the award ceremony is held in Paris each February. The name of the award comes from the late sculptor César Baldaccini, and the trophies are actual sculptures of the artist.

The nominations for the 40th Cesar Awards were announced Friday, January 28, 2015. The 40th Cesar Awards will be presented on Friday, February 20, 2015 in Paris.

The 2015 / 40th Cesar Award nominees (for the year in 2014) – complete list:

Best Film
Les Combattants, dir: Thomas Cailley
Eastern Boys, dir: Robin Campillo
La Famille Bélier, dir: Eric Lartigau
Saint Laurent, dir: Bertrand Bonello
Hippocrate, dir: Thomas Lilti
Sils Maria, dir: Olivier Assayas
Timbuktu, dir: Abderrahmane Sissako

Best Director
Céline Sciamma, Bande De Filles
Thomas Cailley, Les Combattants
Robin Campillo, Eastern Boys
Thomas Lilti, Hippocrate
Bertrand Bonello, Saint Laurent
Olivier Assayas, Sils Maria
Abderrahmane Sissako, Timbuktu

Best Actress
Juliette Binoche, Sils Maria
Catherine Deneuve, Dans La Cour
Marion Cotillard, Deux Jours, Une Nuit
Emilie Dequenne, Pas Son Genre
Adèle Haenel, Les Combattants
Sandrine Kiberlain, Elle L’Adore
Karin Viard, La Famille Bélier

Best Actor
Pierre Niney, Yves Saint Laurent
Romain Duris, Une Nouvelle Amie
Gaspard Ulliel, Saint Laurent
Guillaume Canet, La Prochaine Fois Je Viserai Le Coeur
Niels Arestrup, Diplomatie
François Damiens, La Famille Bélier
Vincent Lacoste, Hippocrate

Best Supporting Actress
Marianne Denicourt, Hippocrate
Claude Gensac, Lulu Femme Nue
Izïa Higelin, Samba
Charlotte Le Bon, Yves Saint Laurent
Kristen Stewart, Sils Maria

Best Supporting Actor
Eric Elmosnino, La Famille Bélier
Jérémie Renier, Saint Laurent
Guillaume Gallienne, Yves Saint LAurent
Louis Garrel, Saint Laurent
Reda Kateb, Hippocrate

Best Newcomer (Female)
Lou de Laâge, Respire
Joséphine Japy, Respire
Louane Emera, La Famille Bélier
Ariane Labed, Fidelio, L’Odyssée D’Alice
Karidja Touré, Bande De Filles

Best Newcomer (Male)
Kevin Azaïs, Les Combattants
Ahmed Dramé, Les Héritiers
Kirill Emelyanov, Eastern Boys
Pierre Rochefort, Un Beau Dimanche
Marc Zinga, Qu’Allah Bénisse La France

Best Original Screenplay
Les Combattants
La Famille Bélier
Hippocrate
Sils Maria
Timbuktu

Best Adapted Screenplay
La Chambre Bleue
Diplomatie
Pas Son Genre
Lulu Femme Nue
La Prochaine Fois Je Viserai Le Coeur

Best Foreign Film
Winter Sleep, dir: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Boyhood, dir: Richard Linklater
12 Years A Slave, dir: Steve McQueen
Deux Jours, Une Nuit, dirs: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
Mommy, dir Xavier Dolan
Ida, dir: Pawel Pawlikowski
The Grand Budapest Hotel, dir: Wes Anderson

Best Debut Feature
Les Combattants
Elle L’Adore
Fidelio, L’Odyssée D’Alice
Party Girl
Qu’Allah Bénisse La France

Best Score
Bande De Filles
Bird People
Les Combattants
Timbuktu
Yves Saint-Laurent

Best Editing
Les Combattants
Hippocrate
Party Girl
Saint-Laurent
Timbuktu

Best Cinematography
La Belle Et La Bête
Saint-Laurent
Sils Maria
Timbuktu
Yves Saint Laurent

Best Set Design
La Belle Et La Bête
La French
Saint-Laurent
Timbuktu
Yves Saint Laurent

Best Costumes
La Belle Et La Bête
La French
Saint-Laurent
Une Nouvelle Amie
Yves Saint Laurent

Best Documentary
Caricaturistes – Fantassins De La Démocratie
Les Chèvres De Ma Mère
La Cour De Babel
National Gallery
Salt Of The Earth

Best Sound
Bande De Filles
Bird People
Les Combattants
Saint Laurent
Timbuktu

Best Animated Film
Minuscule – La Vallée Des Fourmis Perdues, dirs: Thomas Szabo and Hélène Giraud
Jack Et La Mécanique Du Coeur, dir: Stéphane Berla
Le Chant De La Mer, dir: Tomm Moore

Best Short Film
Aïssa
La Femme De Rio
Inupiluk
Les Jours D’Avant
Où Je Mets Ma Pudeur
La Virée A Paname

Best Animated Short
Bang Bang!
La Bûche De Noël
La Petite Casserole D’Anatole
Les Petits Cailloux

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Sunday, January 11, 2015

Review: "Taken 2" Does Not Suffer from Middle Film Blues

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 1 (of 2015) by Leroy Douresseaux

Taken 2 (2012)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: France; Language: English
Running time: 92 minutes (1 hour, 32 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and some sensuality
DIRECTOR: Olivier Megaton
WRITERS: Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen (based on characters created by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen)
PRODUCER: Luc Besson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Romain Lacourbas (director of photography)
EDITORS: Camille Delamarre and Vincent Tabaillon
COMPOSER: Nathaniel Méchaly

ACTION/THRILLER

Starring: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Rade Shergedgia, Leland Orser, Jon Gries, D.B. Sweeney, and Luke Grimes

The subject of this movie review is Taken 2, a 2012 French thriller, directed by Olivier Megaton, produced by Luc Besson, and starring Liam Neeson. The film is a sequel to the 2008 film, Taken. In Taken 2, retired CIA operative Bryan Mills finds himself facing off against the father of a man he killed while hunting for his kidnapped daughter in Paris (as seen in the first film).

Early in Taken 2, former CIA operative, Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson), is still trying to find ways to get closer to his daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace). This time, it is by helping her pass her driving test, which she has already failed at least twice. Meanwhile, Bryan's ex-wife and Kim's mother, Lenore (Famke Janssen), is having severe marital problems. All three of them are about to have worse problems than they expect.

Over in Europe, specifically in Tropojë, Albania, funerals are being held for the Parisian-based, Albanian mobsters Bryan killed for kidnapping Kim in the first film. Murad (Rade Shergedgia) is a mob boss and the father of Marko, one of the dead men. Bryan killed Marko by electrocution, and Murad vows to capture Bryan, to bring him to the men's graves, and to kill him there. They track Bryan to Istanbul, Turkey, where he is vacationing with Lenore and Kim. Murad and company launch an attack and are able to abduct Bryan and Lenore. Before Bryan can kick their attackers' asses, however, Kim will have to free his ass.

I had put off seeing Taken for about three years. I saw it shortly before Taken 2 was released. I put off seeing Taken 2 for three years, and decided to see it in time for the release of Taken 3. When I finally saw Taken, I had to admit that it easily surpassed my expectations. Taken was and remains a terrific thriller, a feisty little revenge flick that plays like a big-time, big studio thriller.

Now, that I have finally seen Taken 2, I have to admit that it surpassed my expectations. It received such negative reviews that I avoided seeing it in a movie theater. Taken 2 is not quite as good as Taken, but it isn't far off. Like the original, Taken 2 strains credulity, and Liam Neeson's Bryan Mills does stuff that takes him into the fantasy realm of Jason Bourne films. In this sequel, Bryan seems a little less human and more robotic than he was in the original movie.

Still, I like that Maggie Grace's Kim plays a bigger part. Here, Grace approaches playing the action sidekick with the same terrified energy she used to play the first film's victim. Yeah, Taken 2 is still a Liam Neeson vehicle, but it seems less so because of what Maggie Grace and even Famke Janssen (an underrated actress) bring to the film. The always good Rade Shergedgia (whose last name seems to have multiple spellings) manages to steal quite a bit of this film for himself. So I am once again taken in by a Taken film. Taken 2, like the first, is a tasty fast-food film.

7 of 10
B+

Sunday, January 11, 2015

The text is copyright © 2015 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Saturday, January 3, 2015

National Society of Film Critics Names Godard's "Goodbye to Language" as Best Picture of 2014

The National Society of Film Critics was founded in New York City in 1966 and its membership is currently comprise of 56 of the country’s most prominent movie critics. Known for their highbrow tastes, these critics form one of the most prestigious film groups on the United States. Current members include some of my favorite film critics, like David Edelstein and J. Hoberman, among others. The late Roger Ebert, my favorite critic, was also a member. The society has produced several anthologies about movies, including the must-have for film fans, Produced and Abandoned: The Best Films You’ve Never Seen (1990).

The National Society of Film Critics on Saturday, January 3, 2015, chose Jean-Luc Godard’s 3-D film, Goodbye to Language, as Best Picture of the Year 2014.

Here is a list of the National Society of Film Critics 2014 winners and runners-up, with vote counts from the final round.

BEST PICTURE
*1. Goodbye to Language 25 (Jean-Luc Godard)
2. Boyhood 24 (Richard Linklater)
3. Birdman 10 (Alejandro G. Iñárritu)
3. Mr. Turner 10 (Mike Leigh)

BEST DIRECTOR
*1. Richard Linklater 36 (Boyhood)
2. Jean-Luc Godard 17 (Goodbye to Language)
3. Mike Leigh 12 (Mr. Turner)

BEST NON-FICTION FILM
*1. Citizenfour 56 (Laura Poitras)
2. National Gallery 19 (Frederick Wiseman)
3. The Overnighters 17 (Jesse Moss)

BEST SCREENPLAY
*1. The Grand Budapest Hotel 24 (Wes Anderson)
2. Inherent Vice 15 (Paul Thomas Anderson)
2. Birdman 15 (four co-writers)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
*1. Mr. Turner 33 (Dick Pope)
2. The Immigrant 27 (Darius Khondji)
3. Goodbye to Language 9 (Fabrice Aragno)

BEST ACTOR
*1.Timothy Spall 31 (Mr. Turner)
2. Tom Hardy 10 (Locke)
3. Joaquin Phoenix 9 (Inherent Vice)
3. Ralph Fiennes 9 (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

BEST ACTRESS
*1. Marion Cotillard 80 (The Immigrant; Two Days, One Night)
2. Julianne Moore 35 (Still Alice)
3. Scarlett Johansson 21 (Lucy; Under the Skin)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
*1. J.K. Simmons 24 (Whiplash)
2. Mark Ruffalo 21 (Foxcatcher)
3. Edward Norton 16 (Birdman)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
*1. Patricia Arquette 26 (Boyhood)
2. Agata Kulesza 18 (Ida)
3. Rene Russo 9 (Nightcrawler)

FILM HERITAGE AWARD
1. To Ron Magliozzi, associate curator, and Peter Williamson, film conservation manager, of the Museum of Modern Art, for identifying and assembling the earliest surviving footage of what would have been the first feature film to star a black cast, the 1913 “Lime Kiln Field Day” starring Bert Williams.

2. To Ron Hutchinson, co-founder and director of The Vitaphone Project, which since 1991 has collected and restored countless original soundtrack discs for early sound short films and features, including the recent Warner Bros. restoration of William A. Seiter’s 1929 “Why Be Good?”

DEDICATION: The meeting was dedicated to the memory of two distinguished members of the Society who died in 2014: Jay Carr and Charles Champlin.

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Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Hayao Miyazaki and Harry Belafonte Among New Governors Awards and Oscar Statuette Recipients

Harry Belafonte, Jean-Claude Carrière, Hayao Miyazaki And Maureen O'Hara To Receive Academy's Governors Awards

LOS ANGELES, CA — The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted Tuesday night (August 26, 2014) to present Honorary Awards to Jean-Claude Carrière, Hayao Miyazaki and Maureen O’Hara, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to Harry Belafonte. All four awards will be presented at the Academy’s 6th Annual Governors Awards on Saturday, November 8, 2014, at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center®.

“The Governors Awards allow us to reflect upon not the year in film, but the achievements of a lifetime,” said Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs. “We’re absolutely thrilled to honor these outstanding members of our global filmmaking community and look forward to celebrating with them in November.”

Carrière, who began his career as a novelist, was introduced to screenwriting by French comedian and filmmaker Pierre Étaix, with whom he shared an Oscar® for the live action short subject “Heureux Anniversaire (Happy Anniversary)” in 1962. He received two more nominations during his nearly two-decade collaboration with director Luis Buñuel, for the screenplays for “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” and “That Obscure Object of Desire.” Carrière also has collaborated notably with such directors as Volker Schlöndorff (“The Tin Drum”), Jean-Luc Godard (“Every Man for Himself”) and Andrzej Wajda (“Danton”). He earned a fourth Oscar nomination for “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” with director Philip Kaufman.

Miyazaki is an artist, writer, director, producer and three-time Oscar nominee in the Animated Feature Film category, winning in 2002 for “Spirited Away.” His other nominations were for “Howl’s Moving Castle” in 2005 and “The Wind Rises” last year. Miyazaki gained an enormous following in his native Japan for such features as “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind,” “Laputa: Castle in the Sky,” “My Neighbor Totoro” and “Kiki’s Delivery Service” before breaking out internationally in the late 1990s with “Princess Mononoke.” He is the co-founder of Studio Ghibli, a renowned animation studio based in Tokyo.

O’Hara, a native of Dublin, Ireland, came to Hollywood in 1939 to star opposite Charles Laughton in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” She went on to appear in a wide range of feature films, including the swashbucklers “The Black Swan” and “Sinbad the Sailor,” the dramas “This Land Is Mine” and “A Woman’s Secret,” the family classics “Miracle on 34th Street” and “The Parent Trap,” the spy comedy “Our Man in Havana” and numerous Westerns. She was a favorite of director John Ford, who cast her in five of his films, including “How Green Was My Valley,” “Rio Grande” and “The Quiet Man.”

An actor, producer, singer and lifelong activist, Belafonte began performing in theaters and nightclubs in and around Harlem, where he was born. From the beginning of his film career, he chose projects that shed needed light on racism and inequality, including “Carmen Jones,” “Odds against Tomorrow” and “The World, the Flesh and the Devil.” He was an early supporter of the Civil Rights Movement, marching and organizing alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. and often funding initiatives with his entertainment income. Belafonte was named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 1987 and currently serves on the boards of the Advancement Project and the Institute for Policy Studies. His work on behalf of children, education, famine relief, AIDS awareness and civil rights has taken him all over the world.

The Honorary Award, an Oscar statuette, is given “to honor extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences, or for outstanding service to the Academy.”

The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, also an Oscar statuette, is given “to an individual in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry.”

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Cannes 2014 Winners - Complete List; Palme d'Or Goes to "Winter Sleep"

The 67th annual Cannes Film Festival was held in Cannes, France from May 14 to May 25, 2014. The closing ceremony and the 2014 awards ceremony were held on Saturday, May 24, 2014.

I’ve included a list of winners from the “In Competition” categories; this is the main competition in which films compete for the festival’s top prize, the “Palme d’Or” (Golden Palm). I’ve included the winners from other Cannes award competitions, including “Un Certain Regard” and the “Golden Camera.”

The “Grand Prix” is the second most prestigious prize given at Cannes, after the Palme d’Or. The competition known as “Un Certain Regard” is a part of Cannes that runs parallel to the competition for the Palme d’Or.

The winner of the Palme d’Or at the 67th annual Cannes Film Festival is Winter Sleep. This is a film from Turkisk director, Nuri Bilge Ceylan. Winter Sleep focuses on a self-absorbed Anatolian hotelier and his uneasy relationships with those around him. Ceylan is a previous Cannes winner. He received the Grand Prix in 2002 (Distant) and 2011 (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia) and best director in 2008 (Three Monkeys). Winter Sleep is only the second film by a Turkish director to win the Palme d’Or, after Yilmaz Guney and Serif Goren’s The Way won in 1982.

American Bennett Miller won the best director award for his film, Foxcatcher, which is based on a true story.

2014/67th Cannes Film Festival winners:

IN COMPETITION

FEATURE FILMS:

Palme d’Or: “Winter Sleep” (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey-Germany-France)

Grand Prix: “The Wonders” (Alice Rohrwacher, Italy-Switzerland-Germany)

Director: Bennett Miller, “Foxcatcher” (U.S.)

Actor: Timothy Spall, “Mr. Turner” (Mike Leigh, U.K.-France-Germany)

Actress: Julianne Moore, “Maps to the Stars” (David Cronenberg, Canada-Germany)

Jury Prize (tie): “Mommy” (Xavier Dolan, Canada) and “Goodbye to Language” (Jean-Luc Godard, France)

Screenplay: Andrey Zvyagintsev and Oleg Negin, “Leviathan” (Russia)

OTHER PRIZES

Camera d’Or: “Party Girl” (Marie Amachoukeli, Claire Burger, Samuel Theis)

SHORT FILMS:

Short Films Palme d’Or: “Leidi” (Simon Mesa Soto)

Short Films Special Mention: “Aissa” (Clement Trehin-Lalanne)

Ecumenical Jury Prize: “Timbuktu” (Abderrahmane Sissako, Mauritania-France)

UN CERTAIN REGARD

Un Certain Regard Prize: “White God” (Kornel Mundruczo, Hungary-Germany-Sweden)

Jury prize: “Force Majeure” (Ruben Ostlund, Sweden-France-Denmark-Norway)

Special Prize: “The Salt of the Earth” (Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, France-Italy)

Ensemble: “Party Girl” (Marie Amachoukeli, Claire Burger, Samuel Theis, France)

Actor: David Gulpilil, “Charlie’s Country” (Rolf de Heer, Australia)

DIRECTORS’ FORTNIGHT

Art Cinema Award: “Les Combattants” (Thomas Cailley, France)

Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers Prize: “Les Combattants”

Europa Cinemas Label: “Les Combattants”

CRITICS’ WEEK

Grand Prize: “The Tribe” (Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, Ukraine)

Visionary Prize: “The Tribe”

Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers Prize: “Hope” (Boris Lojkine, France)

FIPRESCI

Competition: “Winter Sleep”

Un Certain Regard: “Jauja” (Lisandro Alonso, Denmark-U.S.-Argentina)

Directors’ Fortnight: “Les Combattants”

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

2014 Cannes Film Festival Jury Announced

On Monday (April 28, 2014), the 2014 Cannes Film Festival (Festival de Cannes 2014) announced the names of jury members for the 2014 edition of the festival. Jane Campion, who previously won the festival’s highest honor, the Palme d’Or (the Golden Palm), is jury president.

The 2014 Cannes Film Festival runs from Wednesday, May 14, 2014 to Sunday, May 25, 2014, with the closing ceremony and awards handed out Saturday, May 24, 2014.

2014 Cannes Film Festival: THE JURY

• Jane CAMPION – President
• (Director, Screenwriter, Producer – New Zealand)

• Carole BOUQUET (Actress – France)

• Sofia COPPOLA (Director, Screenwriter, Producer – United States)

• Leila HATAMI (Actress – Iran)

• JEON Do-yeon (Actress – South Korea)

• Willem DAFOE (Actor – United States)

• Gael GARCIA BERNAL (Actor, Director, Producer – Mexico)

• JIA Zhangke (Director, Screenwriter, Producer – China)

• Nicolas Winding REFN (Director, Screenwriter, Producer – Denmark)

Jury Member biographies are provided courtesy of the festival:

Carole Bouquet, Actress (France)
After her film debut in 1977 with Luis Buñuel in That Obscure Object of Desire, Bouquet alternated between arthouse and blockbuster productions. A Bond Girl in 1981 in For Your Eyes Only, she worked with Bertrand Blier on Buffet Froid (1979) and Too Beautiful For You (1989) for which she won the César for Best Actress. She appeared in Le jour des idiots by Werner Schroeter, Michel Blanc’s Dead Tired and Embrassez qui vous voudrez, Lucie Aubrac by Claude Berri, L’Enfer by Danis Tanovic, Nordeste by Juan Diego Solanas (Festival de Cannes 2005) and Unforgivable by André Téchiné.

Sofia Coppola, Director and screenwriter (United States)
Coppola’s first feature film, The Virgin Suicides (1999) was selected for the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes, where it met with international critical acclaim. Four years later, after several Oscar nominations for Lost in Translation, including Best Director, she walked off with the Best Screenplay award. Her third film, Marie-Antoinette was selected in Competition at Cannes in 2006. After picking up a Golden Lion in Venice for Somewhere (2010), Sofia Coppola opened Un Certain Regard with her last film The Bling Ring at the Festival de Cannes in 2013.

Leila Hatami, Actress (Iran)
Born in Tehran into a family of filmmakers, she started out acting in films directed by her father, Ali Hatami, before starring in Dariush Mehrjui’s Leila (1998) which brought her to national attention. It was Asghar Farhadi who established her on the world stage with A Separation (Golden Bear at the 2011 Berlin Festival). She picked up the Best Actress award in Karlovy Vary for her role in Ali Mosaffa’s Last Step in 2012.

Jeon Do-yeon, Actress (South Korea)
The first Korean actress to receive the Best Actress award at the Festival de Cannes for her role in Secret Sunshine by Lee Chang-dong (2007), Jeon Do-yeon started out as a television actress before turning exclusively to cinema. Her major films include I Wish I Had a Wife by Ryoo Seung, My Mother, The Mermaid by Park Jin-pyo and The Housemaid by Im Sang-soo, presented at Cannes in 2010. A massive celebrity in her country, she has just finished shooting Memories of the Sword by Park Heung-sik.

Willem Dafoe, Actor (United States)
Twice nominated for an Oscar, for Oliver Stone’s Platoon and Shadow of the Vampire, Dafoe has appeared in 80 films including Grand Budapest Hotel by Wes Anderson, Light Sleeper by Paul Schrader, The Last Temptation of Christ by Martin Scorsese, Antichrist by Lars von Trier and The English Patient by Anthony Minghella. He will soon be appearing in A Most Wanted Man by Anton Corbijn and Pasolini by Abel Ferrara. A co-founder of the Wooster Group – an experimental theatre collective – he is currently on tour with Bob Wilson’s play The Old Woman.

Gael García Bernal, Actor, director and producer (Mexico)
Bernal first came to public attention in Iñárritu’s Amorres Perros, soon followed by Y Tu Mamá También by Alfonso Cuarón. He then featured in films directed by some of the greats of international cinema, such as The Motorcycle Diaries by Walter Salles, Pedro Almodóvar’s Bad Education, The Science of Sleep by Michel Gondry, Babel by Gonzalez Iñárritu, and The Limits of Control by Jim Jarmusch. In 2005, he founded his Canana production company with Diego Luna and in 2010, after a few short films, directed his first feature film, Deficit, selected at La Semaine de la Critique at Cannes.

Nicolas Winding Refn, Director, screenwriter and producer (Denmark)
His first film, Pusher (1996), written and directed at the age of 24, immediately became a cult movie and he shot to fame throughout the world. He then directed Bleeder (1999), Fear X (2003), Pusher II & III (2004 & 2005), Bronson (2008) and Valhalla Rising (2009), all characteristic of the style that came to be dubbed "Refn-esque". In 2011, Drive was presented at the Festival de Cannes and won the Best Direction prize, awarded by the Jury presided by Robert De Niro. His last film, Only God Forgives, featured in Competition at Cannes in 2013.

Jia Zhangke, Director, screenwriter and producer (China)
After first studying art Jia Zhangke, born in 1970, attended the Beijing Film Academy in the 1990s. After the success of his first film, Xao Wu (1998), he directed Platform (Zhantai, 2000) and Unknown Pleasures (Ren xiao yao, 2002) selected for Venice and Cannes respectively. Still Life picked up the Golden Lion in Venice in 2006. He also presented 24 City at the Festival de Cannes, in Competition in 2008 and I Wish I Knew for Un Certain Regard in 2010. Last year, A Touch of Sin garnered the Best Screenplay prize awarded by the Jury presided by Steven Spielberg.

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Saturday, March 1, 2014

"Me, Myself and Mum" Dominates 2014 Cesar Awards - Complete Winners List

The 39th Cesar Awards were presented on Friday, February 28, 2014 in Paris. An honorary Cesar is traditionally handed out to a foreign actor for their body of work. This year’s honoree is Scarlett Johansson. The César Award is the national film award of France, the country’s equivalent of the Oscars.

The 2014 / 39th Cesar Award winners (for the year in 2013) – complete list:

Best Film:
Me, Myself and Mum

Best Director
Roman Polanski for Venus in Fur

Best Foreign Film
The Broken Circle Breakdown, director Felix van Groeningen

Best Actress:
Sandrine Kiberlain for 9 Month Stretch

Best Actor:
Guillaume Gallienne for Me, Myself and Mum

Best Supporting Actress:
Adele Haenel for Suzanne

Best Supporting Actor:
Neils Arestrup for Quai d'Orsay

Most Promising Actress (Newcomer):
Adele Exarchopoulos for Blue Is the Warmest Color

Most Promising Actor (Newcomer):
Pierre Deladonchamps for Stranger by the Lake

Best Original Screenplay:
Albert Dupontel for 9 Month Stretch

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Guillaume Gallienne for Me, Myself and Mum

Best Original Music:
Martin Wheeler for Michael Kohlhaas

Best Sound:
Jean-Pierre Duret, Jean Mallet and Melissa Petitjean for Michael Kohlhaas

Best Cinematography:
Thomas Hardmeier for The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet

Best Editing:
Valerie Deseine for Me, Myself and Mum

Best Costume:
Pascaline Chavanne for Renoir

Best Production Design (Décor):
Stephane Rozenbaum for L'Ecume des Jours

Best Documentary:
Sur le Chemin de l'Ecole, director Pascal Plisson

Best First Film:
Me, Myself and Mum, director Guillaume Gallienne

Best Short Film:
Avant Que de Tout Perdre, director Xavier Legrand

Best Animated Feature Film:
Loulou l'Incroyable Secret, director Eric Omond

Best Animated Short Film:
Mademoiselle Kiki et les Montparnos, director Amelie Harrault

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Sunday, February 23, 2014

2014 Cesar Award Nominations - Complete List

by Leroy Douresseaux

First given out in 1975, the César Award is the national film award of France. Some even think of the César Award as the French equivalent of the American Academy Awards (Oscars). The nominations are selected by the members of the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma, and the award ceremony is held in Paris each February. The name of the award comes from the late sculptor César Baldaccini, and the trophies are actual sculptures of the artist.

The nominations for the 39th Cesar Awards were announced Friday, January 31, 2014.

The 39th Cesar Awards will be presented on Friday, February 28, 2014 in Paris, just two days before the Oscars at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles. Cesar-winning actor, Francois Cluzet (The Intouchables), will host the ceremony at the Chatelet Theater, with fellow Cesar-winner, Cecile de France (Hereafter), serving as mistress of ceremonies.

An honorary Cesar is traditionally handed out to a foreign actor for their body of work. Kevin Costner received the prize in 2013. This year’s honoree is Scarlett Johansson.

The 2014 / 39th Cesar Award nominees (for the year in 2013) – complete list:

Best Film:
9 Month Stretch
Me, Myself and Mum
Stranger by the Lake
Jimmy P.
The Past
Venus in Fur
Blue Is the Warmest Color

Best Director
Albert Dupontel for 9 Month Stretch
Guillaume Gallienne for Me, Myself and Mum
Alain Guiraudie for Stranger by the Lake
Arnaud Desplechin for Jimmy P.
Asghar Farhadi for The Past
Roman Polanski for Venus in Fur
Abdellatif Kechiche for Blue Is the Warmest Color

Best Foreign Film
The Broken Circle Breakdown, director Felix van Groeningen
Blancanieves, director Pablo Berger
Blue Jasmine, director Woody Allen
Dead Man Talking, director Patrick Ridremont
Django Unchained, director Quentin Tarantino
La Grande Bellezza, director Paolo Sorrentino
Gravity, director Alfonso Cuaron

Best Actress:
Fanny Ardant for Les Beaux Jours
Berenice Bejo for The Past
Catherine Deneuve for Elle S'En Va
Sara Forestier for Suzanne
Sandrine Kiberlain for 9 Month Stretch
Emmanuelle Seigner for Venus in Fur
Lea Seydoux for Blue Is the Warmest Color

Best Actor:
Mathieu Amalric for Venus in Fur
Michel Bouquet for Renoir
Albert Dupontel for 9 Month Stretch
Gergory Gadebois for Mon Ame Par Toi Guerie
Guillaume Gallienne for Me, Myself and Mum
Fabrice Luchini for Alceste a Bicyclette
Mads Mikkelsen for Michael Kohlhaas

Best Supporting Actress:
Marisa Borini for A Castle in Italy
Francoise Fabian for Me, Myself and Mum
Julie Gayet for Quai d'Orsay
Adele Haenel for Suzanne
Geraldine Pailhas for Young & Beautiful

Best Supporting Actor:
Neils Arestrup for Quai d'Orsay
Patrick Chesnais for Les Beaux Jours
Patrick d'Assumcao for Stranger by the Lake
Olivier Gourmet for Grand Central
Francois Damiens for Suzanne

Most Promising Actress (Newcomer):
Lou de Laage for Jappeloup
Pauline Etienne for La Religieuse
Adele Exarchopoulos for Blue Is the Warmest Color
Goshifteh Farahni for Syngue Sabour - Pierre de Patience
Marine Vacth for Young & Beautiful

Most Promising Actor (Newcomer):
Paul Bartel for Les Petits Princes
Pierre Deladonchamps for Stranger by the Lake
Paul Hamy for Suzanne
Vincent Macaigne for La Fille du 14 Juillet
Nemo Schiffman for Elle S'En Va

Best Original Screenplay:
Albert Dupontel for 9 Month Stretch
Philippe Le Guay for Alceste a Bicyclette
Alain Guiraudie for Stranger by the Lake
Asghar Farhadi for The Past
Katelle Quillevere and Mariette Desert for Suzanne

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Guillaume Gallienne for Me, Myself and Mum
Arnaud Desplechin for Jimmy P.
Antonin Baudry, Christophe Blain and Bertrand Tavernier for Quai d'Orsay
David Ives and Roman Polanski for Venus in Fur
Abdellatif Kechiche and Ghalya Lacroix for Blue Is the Warmest Color

Best Original Music:
Jorge Arriagada for Alceste a Bicyclette
Loik Dury and Christophe "Disco" Minck for Chinese Puzzle
Etienne Charry for L'Ecume des Jours
Martin Wheeler for Michael Kohlhaas
Alexandre Desplat for Venus in Fur

Best Sound:
Marc-Antoine Beldent, Loic Prian and Olivier Do Huu for Me, Myself and Mum
Philippe Grivel and Nathalie Vidal for Stranger by the Lake
Jean-Pierre Duret, Jean Mallet and Melissa Petitjean for Michael Kohlhaas
Lucien Balibar, Nadine Muse and Cyril Holtz for Venus in Fur
Jerome Chenevoy, Fabien Pochet and Jean-Paul Hurier for Blue Is the Warmest Color

Best Cinematography:
Thomas Hardmeier for The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet
Claire Mathon for Stranger by the Lake
Jeanne Lapoirie for Michael Kohlhaas
Mark Ping Bing Lee for Renoir
Sofian el Fani for Blue Is the Warmest Color

Best Editing:
Christophe Pinel for9 Month Stretch
Valerie Deseine for Me, Myself and Mum
Jean-Christophe Hym for Stranger by the Lake
Juliette Welfling for The Past
Camille Toubkis, Albertine Lastera and Jean-Marie Langelle for Blue Is the Warmest Color

Best Costume:
Florence Fontaine for L'Ecume des Jours
Madeline Fontaine for The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet
Olivier Beriot for Me, Myself and Mum
Anina Diener for Michael Kohlhaas
Pascaline Chavanne for Renoir

Best Production Design (Décor):
Stephane Rozenbaum for L'Ecume des Jours
Aline Bonetto for The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet
Sylive Olive for Me, Myself and Mum
Yan Arlaud for Michael Kohlhaas
Benoit Barouh for Renoir

Best Documentary:
Comment J'ai Deteste les Maths, director Olivier Peyon
Le Dernier des Injustes, director Claude Lanzmann
Il Etait une Foret, director Luc Jacquet
La Maison de la Raido, director Nicolas Philibert
Sur le Chemin de l'Ecole, director Pascal Plisson

Best First Film:
La Bataille de Solferino, director Justine Triet
La Cage Doree, director Ruben Alves
En Solitaire, director Christophe Offenstein
La Fille du 14 Julliet, director Antonin Peretjatko
Me, Myself and Mum, director Guillaume Gallienne

Best Short Film:
Avant Que de Tout Perdre, director Xavier Legrand
Bambi, director Sebastien Lifshitz
La Fugue, director Jean-Bernard Marlin
Les Lezards, director Vincent Mariette
Marseille la Nuit, director Marie Monge

Best Animated Feature Film:
Ayay de Yopougon, directors Marguerite Aboute and Clement Oubrerie
Loulou l'Incroyable Secret, director Eric Omond
My Mommy is in America and She Met Buffalo Bill, directors Marc Boreal and Thibaut Chatel

Best Animated Short Film:
Lettres de Femmes, director Augusto Zanovello
Mademoiselle Kiki et les Montparnos, director Amelie Harrault

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Friday, February 7, 2014

Review: "Vampyr" is Imaginative and Striking

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 160 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Vampyr – Der Traum des Allan Grey (1932)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: France/Germany; Language: German
Running time: 72 minutes (1 hour, 12 minutes)
DIRECTOR: Carl Theodor Dreyer
WRITERS: Christen Jul and Carl Theodor Dreyer
PRODUCERS: Julian West and Carl Theodor Dreyer
CINEMATOGRAPHERS: Rudolph Maté and Louis Née
EDITOR: Paul Falkenberg
COMPOSER: Wolfgang Zeller

FANTASY/HORROR

Starring: Julian West, Maurice Schutz, Rena Mandel, Sybille Schmitz, Jan Hieronimko, Henriette Gérard, Albert Bras, N. Babanini, and Jane Mora

The subject of this movie review is Vampyr or Vampyr – Der Traum des Allan Grey (Vampire: The Dream of Allan Grey), a 1932 French-German horror film from Danish director, Carl Theodor Dreyer. The film is based on elements taken from the short story collection, In a Glass Darkly, by author J. Sheridan Le Fanu. The film is noted for being financed by the star of the film, Nicolas de Gunzburg, who acted under the name, “Julian West.” Vampyr follows a traveler, who is obsessed with the supernatural, as he visits a village that is under the curse of a vampire.

Allan Gray (Julian West), a holiday reveler, stops in the eerie European village of Courtempierre, where he takes a room at a small inn. Later that night, an elderly gentleman awakens Allan when he enters Allan’s room and leaves a parcel. He writes on the package, “To be opened in the event of my death.” Gray later witnesses the man’s murder, so he opens the package and discovers several pages of writings on the “vampyr.” Gray later learns that a strange supernatural killer is on the loose, and that the culprit may be someone highly respected in the village.

Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Vampyr –Der Traum des Allan Grey (or simply, Vampyr) is still considered by some film aficionados to be one of the great cinematic horror movies. The film’s one big flaw is that it was shot cheaply using an experimental sound process, so the quality of the soundtrack leaves so much to be desired. Still, the dreamy-like photography combined with the surreal, illusory and trancelike imagery more than make up for sound deficiencies.

Vampyr contains some truly creepy and skin-crawling visuals, including an extended sequence in which the hero witnesses his body in a coffin being carried past the massive old village church and into the graveyard. Julian West’s performance, which sees him spend much time either listless or in a somnambulant state, adds to this film’s otherworldly quality. Vampyr is a must see for movie buffs who love horror flicks, especially vampire films.

7 of 10
B+

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Updated: Friday, February 07, 2014

The text is copyright © 2014 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

Sunday, December 8, 2013

"The Great Beauty" Tops 2013 European Film Awards

by Amos Semien

Director Paolo Sorrentino’s La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty), an Italian and French co-production, was the big winner at the 26th European Film Awards. The film won four awards, including best picture, director, and actor (for Toni Servillo). This year’s Cannes winner, Blue is the Warmest Color, did not win any awards. Although the European Film Awards are the European continent’s equivalent of the Academy Awards (Oscars), they have practically no bearing on the Oscar race.

26th European Film Awards (2013) – Complete list of winners:

European Film:
LA GRANDE BELLEZZA (The Great Beauty)

European Director:
Paolo Sorrentino for LA GRANDE BELLEZZA (The Great Beauty)

European Actress:
Veerle Baetens in THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN

European Actor:
Toni Servillo in LA GRANDE BELLEZZA (The Great Beauty)

European Screenwriter:
François Ozon for DANS LA MAISON (In the House)

European Comedy:
Love Is All You Need, Susanne Bier, Denmark

European Discovery - Prix FIPRESCI:
Oh Boy!, Jan Ole Gerster, Germany

European Animated Feature Film:
The Congress, Ari Folman, Israel, Germany, Poland, Luxembourg, France and Belgium

European Documentary:
The Act of Killing, Joshua Oppenheimer, Denmark, Norway and UK

European Short Film:
Dood Van Een Schaduw (Death of a Shadow), Tom Van Avermaet, Belgium and France, 20'

Carlo di Palma European Cinematographer Award:
Asaf Sudry for Lemale et Ha'Halal (Fill The Void), Israel

European Editor:
Cristiano Travaglioli for La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty), Italy and France

European Production Designer:
Sarah Greenwood for Anna Karenina, UK

European Composer:
Ennio Morricone for The Best Offer, Italy

European Costume Designer:
Paco Delgado for Blancanieves, Spain and France

European Sound Designer:
Matz Müller and Erik Mischijew for Paradies: Glaube (Paradise: Faith), Austria, Germany and France

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

76 Nations Compete for Five 2013 Foreign Film Oscar Nominations

76 Countries In Competition For 2013 Foreign Language Film Oscar®

BEVERLY HILLS, CA – A record 76 countries have submitted films for consideration in the Foreign Language Film category for the 86th Academy Awards®. Moldova and Saudi Arabia are first-time entrants; Montenegro is submitting for the first time as an independent country.

The 2013 submissions are:

Afghanistan, "Wajma – An Afghan Love Story," Barmak Akram, director;
Albania, "Agon," Robert Budina, director;
Argentina, "The German Doctor," Lucía Puenzo, director;
Australia, "The Rocket," Kim Mordaunt, director;
Austria, "The Wall," Julian Pölsler, director;
Azerbaijan, "Steppe Man," Shamil Aliyev, director;
Bangladesh, "Television," Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, director;
Belgium, "The Broken Circle Breakdown," Felix van Groeningen, director;
Bosnia and Herzegovina, "An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker," Danis Tanovic, director;
Brazil, "Neighboring Sounds," Kleber Mendonça Filho, director;
Bulgaria, "The Color of the Chameleon," Emil Hristov, director;
Cambodia, "The Missing Picture," Rithy Panh, director;
Canada, "Gabrielle," Louise Archambault, director;
Chad, "GriGris," Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, director;
Chile, "Gloria," Sebastián Lelio, director;
China, "Back to 1942," Feng Xiaogang, director;
Colombia, "La Playa DC," Juan Andrés Arango, director;
Croatia, "Halima’s Path," Arsen Anton Ostojic, director;
Czech Republic, "The Don Juans," Jiri Menzel, director;
Denmark, "The Hunt," Thomas Vinterberg, director;
Dominican Republic, "Quien Manda?" Ronni Castillo, director;
Ecuador, "The Porcelain Horse," Javier Andrade, director;
Egypt, "Winter of Discontent," Ibrahim El Batout, director;
Estonia, "Free Range," Veiko Ounpuu, director;
Finland, "Disciple," Ulrika Bengts, director;
France, "Renoir," Gilles Bourdos, director;
Georgia, "In Bloom," Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Gross, directors;
Germany, "Two Lives," Georg Maas, director;
Greece, "Boy Eating the Bird’s Food," Ektoras Lygizos, director;
Hong Kong, "The Grandmaster," Wong Kar-wai, director;
Hungary, "The Notebook," Janos Szasz, director;
Iceland, "Of Horses and Men," Benedikt Erlingsson, director;
India, "The Good Road," Gyan Correa, director;
Indonesia, "Sang Kiai," Rako Prijanto, director;
Iran, "The Past," Asghar Farhadi, director;
Israel, "Bethlehem," Yuval Adler, director;
Italy, "The Great Beauty," Paolo Sorrentino, director;
Japan, "The Great Passage," Ishii Yuya, director;
Kazakhstan, "Shal," Yermek Tursunov, director;
Latvia, "Mother, I Love You," Janis Nords, director;
Lebanon, "Blind Intersections," Lara Saba, director;
Lithuania, "Conversations on Serious Topics," Giedre Beinoriute, director;
Luxembourg, "Blind Spot," Christophe Wagner, director;
Mexico, "Heli," Amat Escalante, director;
Moldova, "All God’s Children," Adrian Popovici, director;
Montenegro, "Ace of Spades - Bad Destiny," Drasko Djurovic, director;
Morocco, "Horses of God," Nabil Ayouch, director;
Nepal, "Soongava: Dance of the Orchids," Subarna Thapa, director;
Netherlands, "Borgman," Alex van Warmerdam, director;
New Zealand, "White Lies," Dana Rotberg, director;
Norway, "I Am Yours," Iram Haq, director;
Pakistan, "Zinda Bhaag," Meenu Gaur and Farjad Nabi, directors;
Palestine, "Omar," Hany Abu-Assad, director;
Peru, "The Cleaner," Adrian Saba, director;
Philippines, "Transit," Hannah Espia, director;
Poland, "Walesa. Man of Hope," Andrzej Wajda, director;
Portugal, "Lines of Wellington," Valeria Sarmiento, director;
Romania, "Child’s Pose," Calin Peter Netzer, director;
Russia, "Stalingrad," Fedor Bondarchuk, director;
Saudi Arabia, "Wadjda," Haifaa Al Mansour, director;
Serbia, "Circles," Srdan Golubovic, director;
Singapore, "Ilo Ilo," Anthony Chen, director;
Slovak Republic, "My Dog Killer," Mira Fornay, director;
Slovenia, "Class Enemy," Rok Bicek, director;
South Africa, "Four Corners," Ian Gabriel, director;
South Korea, "Juvenile Offender," Kang Yi-kwan, director;
Spain, "15 Years Plus a Day," Gracia Querejeta, director;
Sweden, "Eat Sleep Die," Gabriela Pichler, director;
Switzerland, "More than Honey," Markus Imhoof, director;
Taiwan, "Soul," Chung Mong-Hong, director;
Thailand, "Countdown," Nattawut Poonpiriya, director;
Turkey, "The Butterfly’s Dream," Yilmaz Erdogan, director;
Ukraine, "Paradjanov," Serge Avedikian and Olena Fetisova, directors;
United Kingdom, "Metro Manila," Sean Ellis, director;
Uruguay, "Anina," Alfredo Soderguit, director;
Venezuela, "Breach in the Silence," Luis Alejandro Rodríguez and Andrés Eduardo Rodríguez, directors.

The 86th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 16, 2014, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2013 will be presented on Oscar Sunday, March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® and televised live on the ABC Television Network. The presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Review: "Unleashed" is Brutal (Happy B'day, Bob Hoskins)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 74 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Unleashed (2005) – USA title
Running time: 102 minutes (1 hour, 42 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong violent content, language, and some sexuality/nudity
DIRECTOR: Louis Leterrier
WRITER: Luc Besson
PRODUCERS: Luc Besson, Steve Chasman, and Jet Li
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Pierre Morel
EDITOR: Nicolas Trembasiewicz
COMPOSERS: Neil Davidge, Massive Attack

DRAMA/MARTIAL ARTS/CRIME

Starring: Jet Li, Morgan Freeman, Bob Hoskins, and Kerry Condon

The subject of this movie review is Unleashed, a 2005 martial arts and crime film from writer Luc Besson and director Louis Leterrier. The film was a French, British, and American co-production and was originally released under the title, Danny the Dog, but released in the United States as Unleashed. The film centers on a man who has been enslaved by the mob since childhood and trained to act like a human attack dog, but who one day escapes his captors and attempts to start a new life.

On and beneath the mean streets of Glasgow, Bart (Bob Hoskins) destroys those who won’t pay their debts to him. The fiery gangster has a nearly unbeatable weapon he uses to encourage debtors to pay him what they owe, one he also uses to put would-be rivals in their place. This secret weapon is Bart’s enforcer, Danny (Jet Li), a martial arts fighter of near supernatural ability. Danny has been kept a prisoner, for all practical purposes, by his “Uncle Bart” since he was a boy. “Danny the Dog” wears a collar and lives the simple existence that Bart has crudely and cruelly fashioned for him; Danny can’t even remember his origins. When Bart pulls his collar off, that’s the signal for Danny to attack, and he will either maim or kill – always as Bart dictates.

However, a chance encounter with a soft-spoken, blind piano tuner, Sam (Morgan Freeman), offers Danny a chance to find out what kindness and compassion are. When a gangland coup inadvertently frees him, Danny finds his way back to Sam and begins to live with the kindly old soul and his daughter, Victoria (Kerry Condon). They open their home and hearts to him, but the past comes knocking back into Danny’s life. Now, he has to fight the mob to protect his new family and keep from returning to his old one.

Luc Besson is the French director of flashy action films such as The Fifth Element, but he has also produced a number of martial arts inflected films, including The Transporter franchise. He went directly to the Hong Kong source for his Jet Li vehicle, Danny the Dog, known for its American release as Unleashed. [I do not know if this film was re-edited and shortened by a few minutes, in addition to the name change, for its U.S. release.] Unleashed is one of the few really good English-language martial arts dramas to hit the screen since Bruce Lee’s films in the early 1970’s. What makes this film a solid and compelling production in which the drama is equal to the martial arts sequences is having two fine dramatic actors: Morgan Freeman, who is arguably the best American actor working today, and Bob Hoskins, a superb character actor who is too often an afterthought.

Freeman does his wise old black man routine, but this time with a twist. Sam is a man of culture with impeccable taste. He is a man who savors life, and his other senses so deeply drink of life that it is as if he weren’t blind. Kind yet vigilant, he is the ultimate father figure – protector and encourager. Hoskins gives his Bart many flavors. On one hand, he plays the gangster as a petty and petulant hood looking for his share; on the other hand, he is all too human in his cruelty. There isn’t a whiff of the supernatural or paranormal about what Bart does; he is just a bad man.

Jet Li is the star, and even Jet fans like myself must face up to the fact that Li isn’t a great actor when he has to speak English. He is, however, a great performer regardless of the language he speaks. Those all-around, all-star abilities that a movie star must have – a blend of the physical, the mental, and the spiritual – he has. Li lights up the screen every time he’s on, and he always draws attention to himself, no matter how many good actors may be on screen with him. A human dynamo, Jet Li is truly a martial artist and a film artist.

Unleashed is quite good, but falters in the end – letting the drama whither on the vine so that Li and his adversaries can have their big, final confrontation, and what a confrontation it is. The film plays at being an epic, but Besson’s script can’t be bothered with developing conflicts and motivations; we’re here to see Li fight and the script focuses on giving us that. Watching that final battle makes me wonder when Li is going to get his “Crouching Tiger,” but in the meantime, we can enjoy Li’s best English language effort… yet.

7 of 10
B+

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Updated: Saturday, October 26, 2013

The text is copyright © 2013 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this site for syndication rights and fees.

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Saturday, August 10, 2013

Review: "Solomon Kane" Raises a Little Cain

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 53 (of 2013) by Leroy Douresseaux

Solomon Kane (209)
Running time: 104 minutes (1 hour, 44 minutes)
MPAA – R for violence throughout
DIRECTOR: Michael J. Bassett
WRITERS: Michael J. Bassett (based upon the character created by Robert E. Howard)
PRODUCERS: Paul Berrow and Samuel Hadida
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Dan Laustsen (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Andrew MacRitchie
COMPOSER: Klaus Badelt

FANTASY/ACTION

Starring: James Purefoy, Max von Sydow, Pete Postlethwaite, Alice Krige, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Patrick Hurd-Wood, Philip Winchester, Anthony Wilks, Ben Steel, Rory McCann, Tomas Tobola, Mackenzie Crook, and Jason Flemyng

Solomon Kane is a 2009 dark fantasy and action film, starring James Purefoy in the title role. The film was produced by a consortium of production companies from the countries of the Czech Republic, France, and the United Kingdom. Solomon Kane first opened in France in December 2009, but did not open in theatres in the United States until September 2012.

The movie features Solomon Kane, a pulp magazine-era fictional character created by Robert E. Howard (who also created Conan the Barbarian). Solomon Kane first appeared in publication in the August 1928 issue of Weird Tales in the short story, “Red Shadows.” In Howard’s original stories, Kane traveled through Europe and Africa, vanquishing evil.

Solomon Kane the movie acts as an origin story for the character, and opens in North Africa, in the year 1600. English mercenary Solomon Kane (James Purefoy) leads the crew of his ship into battle against the occupiers of a fortress town. It is there that Kane learns that his soul is bound for Hell. He renounces violence and lives in seclusion before being forced out into the world at large again.

Kane meets William Crowthorn (Pete Postlethwaite) and his wife, Katherine (Alice Krige). They are Puritans, and with their three children, are planning to immigrate to the New World. After the Crowthorns’ daughter, Meredith (Rachel Hurd-Wood), is kidnapped by the followers of a sorcerer named Malachi (Jason Flemyng), Kane is once again forced to fight in order to save the girl and perhaps gain the redemption of his soul.

I think Solomon Kane’s writer-director Michael J. Bassett wanted this movie to be like the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Instead, what Bassett created is like a straight-to-DVD, sword-and-sorcery movie, with only a few moments that suggest LoTR’s epic fantasy. Solomon Kane isn’t bad, but it isn’t particularly good, mainly because it is inconsistent.

For instance, James Purefoy gives a mostly good performance as Solomon Kane. However, the screenplay is clumsy and repetitive when it comes to developing Kane’s character. Plus, I think Purefoy is miscast as Kane. I would prefer someone taller, leaner, and certainly more dour and gaunt than the pretty Purefoy.

The main villains, Malachi and the Masked Rider (Malachi’s henchman), are superb adversaries, but the two, especially Malachi, are mostly relegated to the background. Bassett is so determined to focus on Kane’s story that he misses how two great villains can create the kind of potent conflict that invigorates a drama.

Solomon Kane is a fantasy film that has the action, brutality, and violence of other films like it, but lacks the flair of other supernatural action films like Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters and Underworld. The pacing is sometime dry and stiff, which makes the movie feel a bit too long, but if you like the supernatural action genre, Solomon Kane is worth watching – as a rental.

5 of 10
C+

Friday, August 09, 2013

Monday, July 29, 2013

Review: "Belle de jour" is Trippy and Dream-Like (Remembering Luis Buñuel)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 29 (of 2003) by Leroy Douresseaux

Belle de Jour (1967)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: France/Italy; Language: French
Running time: 101 minutes (1 hour, 41 minutes)
DIRECTOR: Luis Bunuel
WRITERS: Jean-Claude Carriere and Luis Bunuel (from the novel by Joseph Kessel)
PRODUCERS: Henri Baum, Raymond Hakim, and Robert Hakim
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Sacha Vierny
EDITOR: Louisette Hautecoeur
BAFTA Awards nominee

DRAMA

Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Jean Sorel, Michel Piccoli, Geneviève Page, Pierre Clémenti, and Francoise Fabian

The subject of this movie review is Belle de jour, a 1967 film from director Luis Buñuel. A co-production of France and Italy, this film is based on the 1928 novel, Belle de jour, written by French journalist and novelist, Joseph Kessel. The film focuses on a sexually frigid young housewife who decides (or is compelled) to spend her midweek afternoons working as a prostitute.

Severine Serizy (Catherine Deneuve) really loves her husband Pierre (Jean Sorel). However, he doesn’t arouse her, so she can’t be intimate with him. She entertains numerous, vivid erotic fantasies to satisfy herself. One day she happens upon the intriguing notion of prostitution. Before long, she is working as prostitute, named “Belle de Jour,” at a brothel in the afternoons entertaining all manner of weird and unusual clientele. She remains chaste in her marriage, but one of her clients, who falls madly in lust with her, becomes a danger to her tranquil domesticity.

Some may find Belle de jour’s eroticism dry. Director Luis Bunuel (The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie) shows Severine’s fantasies to us as surrealistic plays, and Bunuel is considered the father of cinematic surrealism. It’s an interesting method in that it forces us to pay close attention to the film, mostly in the hopes that we might catch a flashing image of Ms. Deneuve’s beautiful flesh, anything to satisfy our desires to possess Severine. Certainly, Belle de jour doesn’t blind us with the blunt images of raw sexuality early 21st audiences have not only come to expect in their movies, but often demand. Bunuel and his screenwriting partner Jean-Claude Carriere fashioned the story so that we can truly understand Severine’s sexual frustrations. She’s obsessed with being satisfied, and she driven to find ways to satisfy herself, and in a cathartic fashion we become anxious that she find satisfaction.

In the hands of a lesser talent, this movie would bore us to tears, but Ms. Deneuve encompasses her character’s unrequited lusts. While her character can’t be physically intimate with her husband, Ms. Deneuve’s performance is spiritually intimate with her audience. She takes us in and makes us part of her; we feel everything she feels, desires what she seeks, and feel all the danger, confusion, and strangeness her job as a prostitute create in her. Ms. Deneuve makes Severine more than just a character; Severine is our adventure into the border world between real, physical sex and surrealistic and fantastic longing.

Bunuel creates a film that has a rich and vivid dream world, one that is both undeniably real and suddenly ethereal. He makes Severine’s escapades through the myriad worlds of lust and longing an adventure as interesting as Alice’s through Wonderland. It’s a strange film; sometimes, I couldn’t help but wonder what was happening. I was confused when some of Severine’s fantasies went from episodes of titillation to scenes of harsh punishment. Belle de jour both frustrated and intrigued me. I won’t call the film perfect, but it’s certainly an enjoyable example of how powerful and confusing film images can be. Like a dream, a movie sometimes has a way of not giving you what you saw and thought you were getting. Both a movie and a dream can stay with you even when you’re unsatisfied them. You wonder about them and dry to decipher them. Any movie that can be so like a dream deserves to be seen.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
1969 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Actress” (Catherine Deneuve)

Updated: Monday, July 29, 2013

Monday, May 27, 2013

"Blue is the Warmest Color" Wins 2013 Palme d'Or

by Lucy Troy

The 66th annual Cannes Film Festival was held in Cannes, France from May 15 to May 26, 2013. I’ve included a list of winners of the “In Competition” categories, the main competition in which films compete for the festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or. I’ve included the winners from three other competitions: “Un Certain Regard,” “Cinefondation,” and the “Golden Camera.”

The “Grand Prix” is the second most prestigious prize given at Cannes, after the Palme d’Or. The competition known as “Un Certain Regard” is a part of Cannes that runs parallel to the competition for the Palme d’Or.

Steven Spielberg headed the jury for the main competition. Twenty films competed for the Palme d’Or. Jane Campion was the head of the jury for the Cinefondation and Short Film sections.

The lesbian romance and drama, Blue is the Warmest Color: The Life of Adele, won the Palme d’Or. Joel and Ethan Coen’s 1960s folk tale, Inside Llewyn Davis, took the second prize, the Grand Prix.

In an unusual move, the jury gave the Palme d’Or not just to Blue is the Warmest Color’s director, Abdellatif Kechiche, but also to the film’s two stars, Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux. Adele Exarchopoulos portrays a 15-year-old girl whose life is changed when she falls in love with an older woman, played by Lea Seydoux. The three-hour film caught headlines and gained notoriety for its lengthy, graphic sex scenes.

2013/66th Cannes Film Festival winners:

FEATURE FILMS:

Palme d'Or:
LA VIE D'ADÈLE - CHAPITRE 1 & 2 (Blue is the Warmest Color: The Life of Adele) directed by Abdellatif Kechiche

Grand Prix:
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS directed by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen

Award for Best Director:
Amat Escalante for HELI

Award for Best Screenplay:
JIA Zhangke for TIAN ZHU DING (A Touch of Sin)

Award for Best Actress:
Bérénice Bejo in LE PASSÉ (THE PAST) directed by Asghar Farhadi

Award for Best Actor:
Bruce Dern in NEBRASKA directed by Alexander Payne

Jury Prize:
SOSHITE CHICHI NI NARU (Like Father, Like Son) directed by Kore-Eda Hirokazu

Vulcain Prize for an artist technician, awarded by the C.S.T.:
GRIGRIS directed by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun

SHORT FILMS:

Palme d'Or - Short Film:
SAFE directed by Byoung-Gon Moon

Short Film Special Distinction Ex-aequo:
• HVALFJORDUR (WHALE VALLEY) directed by Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson
• 37°4 S directed by Adriano Valeio

UN CERTAIN REGARD:

Prize of Un Certain Regard:
L'IMAGE MANQUANTE (The missing picture) directed by Rithy Panh

Jury Prize - Un Certain Regard:
OMAR directed by Hany Abu-Assad

Directing Prize of Un Certain Regard:
L'INCONNU DU LAC (Stranger by the Lake) directed by Alain Guiraudie

A Certain Talent Prize:
LA JAULA DE ORO played by Diego Quemada-Diez

Avenir Prize:
FRUITVALE STATION directed by Ryan Coogler

CINEFONDATION:

1st Prize Cinéfondation:
NEEDLE directed by Anahita Ghazvinizadeh

2nd Prize Cinéfondation:
EN ATTENDANT LE DÉGEL (Waiting for the Thaw) directed by Sarah Hirtt

3rd Prize Cinéfondation Ex-aequo:
• ÎN ACVARIU (IN THE FISHBOWL) directed by Tudor Cristian Jurgiu
• PANDY (PANDAS) directed by Matúš Vizár

GOLDEN CAMERA:

Caméra d'or:
ILO ILO directed by Anthony Chen

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Review: Still Taken with Original "Taken"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 3 (of 2013) by Leroy Douresseaux

Taken (2008)
Running time: 93 minutes (1 hour, 33 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, disturbing thematic material, sexual content, some drug references and language
DIRECTOR: Pierre Morel
WRITERS: Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen
PRODUCER: Luc Besson
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Michel Abramowicz (director of photography)
EDITOR: Frédéric Thoraval
COMPOSER: Nathaniel Méchaly

ACTION/THRILLER

Starring: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Xander Berkeley, Leland Orser, Jon Gries, David Warshofsky, Holly Valance, Olivier Rabourdin, Gerard Watkins, Arben Bajraktaraj, Nicolas Giraud, and Katie Cassidy

The subject of this movie review is Taken, a 2008 French thriller produced by Luc Besson and starring Liam Neeson. The film was released in January of 2009 in the United States. Taken follows a retired CIA agent through Paris as he tries to find his kidnapped daughter.

Former CIA operative Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) wants to be closer to his daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace), whom he calls “Kimmie.” The 17-year-old lives with her mother, Lenore (Famke Janssen), and her wealthy stepfather, Stuart (Xander Berkeley). Bryan has a rocky relationship with Lenore, who pressures him not to be overprotective of Kim. That’s why Bryan reluctantly signs a permission slip that allows Kim to travel to Paris, France with her older friend, Amanda (Katie Cassidy).

Not long after the girls arrive in Paris, they are kidnapped by a group of men. Bryan races to Paris to find Kim, but her kidnappers are ruthless, murderous men who hide in Paris’ shadowy criminal underworld. Now, he must rely on old skills as he races through Paris’ darker districts to save his daughter before she disappears forever. Heaven help anyone who gets in his way.

I had put off seeing Taken for about four years, and, now that I’ve seen it, I can say that it easily surpassed my expectations. Taken is a terrific thriller. It is a feisty little revenge flick that plays like a big-time, big studio thriller. I think that there are a few holes in the plot and even some things that the characters do in the movie that poke credulity. It is not enough to stop me from enjoying the movie.

Perhaps, this film was not meant to be a Liam Neeson vehicle, but it became one because of Neeson’s fierce performance. He is genuine as a daddy both desperate to make up for lost time with his daughter and resolved to let no one and no thing get in the way of him finding his stolen child. Neeson does the best killer-robot-like-action dude. When other actors take on that kind of character, they can sometimes seem too cold and/or too stiff: either inadvertently (Wesley Snipes in Blade: Trinity) or because of limited acting range (Chuck Norris – pick a movie).

I must also say that, once again, the Luc Besson slick-shiny-cool action movie generator has produced another pop movie hit. Director Pierre Morel plows through this script’s inanities like a chef determined to make the best meal that he can out of Big Mac ingredients. His resulting dish, Taken, is actually quite tasty.

8 of 10
A

Monday, January 14, 2013

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Black Film Critics Circle Chooses "Zero Dark Thirty"

The Black Film Critics Circle (BFCC) chose Zero Dark Thirty as the best film of 2012. The group was founded in 2010 and is a membership organization comprised of film critics of color from daily newspapers, weekly newspapers, magazines, radio, television and qualifying on-line publications.

2012 Black Film Critics Circle:

Best Film: "Zero Dark Thirty"

Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow, "Zero Dark Thirty"

Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, "Lincoln"

Best Actress: Jessica Chastain, "Zero Dark Thirty"

Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, "Django Unchained"

Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway, "Les Misérables"

Best Adapted Screenplay: "Argo"

Best Original Screenplay: "Django Unchained"

Best Animated Film: "Rise of the Guardians"

Best Foreign Film: "The Intouchables" (from France)

Best Documentary: "The Central Park Five"

Best Ensemble: "Lincoln"

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Review: Entire Cast Powers "The Return of Martin Guerre" (Happy B'day, Gerard Depardieu)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 43 (of 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Le Retour de Martin Guerre (1982)
The Return of Martin Guerre (1983) – U.S. title
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: France; Language: French
Running time: 122 minutes (2 hours, 2 minutes)
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR: Daniel Vigne
WRITERS: Jean-Claude Carrière, Natalie Zemon Davis, and Daniel Vigne (from the novel The Wife of Martin Guerre by Janet Lewis)
CINEMATOGRAPHER: André Neau
EDITOR: Denise de Casabianca
COMPOSER: Michel Portal
Academy Award nominee

DRAMA/MYSTERY/HISTORICAL

Starring: Gérard Depardieu, Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu, Nathalie Baye, Roger Planchon, Maurice Jacquemont, Isabelle Sadoyan, Rose Thiéry, Maurice Barrier, Stéphane Peau, Sylvie Méda, and Tchéky Karyo

The subject of this movie review is Le Retour de Martin Guerre, a 1982 French film directed by Daniel Vigne and starring Gérard Depardieu. The film was released as The Return of Martin Guerre in the United States in 1983.

Gérard Depardieu plays a man who returns home to his village after being absent for nine years. He claims to be Martin Guerre, who left as a selfish boy (Stéphane Peau) and has returned older and also more caring towards his wife, Bertrande de Rols (Nathalie Baye), whom he abandoned nearly a decade before. The villagers, especially Martin’s relatives, have their doubts as to whether this man who claims to be Martin Guerre is really who he says he is. But when Martin stakes a claim on his rightful inheritance and property, his Uncle Pierre Guerre (Maurice Barrier) makes an attempt on Martin’s life and files a formal complaint with authorities. What follows is an intense trial that must reveal all the truths.

Le Retour de Martin Guerre or The Return of Martin Guerre may not be remembered as the best of French cinema, but Daniel Vigne’s (a French television series director whose credits also include the TV series, “Highlander”) film captures its medieval French setting with stunning results. The rural atmosphere of the 16th Century village is palatable even as digital images. The costumes and sets are so convincing that they’re on the same level as the art direction and costumes in big, expensive Hollywood productions.

The actors all give bravura performances, and even Depardieu, screen hog that he is, is unable to steal the spotlight from his supporting performers, especially Roger Planchon as the justice Jean de Caros and Maurice Barrier as Martin’s uncle. I did, however, find the script a bit soft. Much of the story is told second hand, even some parts that would work better visually, and the romantic center of this film remains unrequited and oblique. But what is on the screen is so well done, so accomplished, and is as mesmerizing as the most intense mysteries and courtroom dramas that you can’t take your eyes off the screen. I recommend this to anyone who doesn’t mind reading subtitles because it’s as good as the best big Hollywood studio dramas.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
1984 Academy Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Costume Design” (Anne-Marie Marchand)

1985 BAFTA Awards: 1 nomination: “Best Foreign Language Film” (Daniel Vigne of France)

1983 César Awards, France: 3 wins: “Best Music-Meilleure musique” (Michel Portal), Best Original Screenplay-Meilleur scénario original et dialogues” (Jean-Claude Carrière and Daniel Vigne), and “Best Production Design-Meilleurs décors” (Alain Nègre); 1 nomination: “Most Promising Actor-Meilleur jeune espoir masculine” (Dominique Pinon)

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