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Sukiyaki Western Django, Django and Dream Demon: Jim Hemphill’s Home Video Recommendations
Django
Japanese horror and action master Takashi Miike is one of those directors who’s so prolific that it’s easy to take him for granted; ever since he caught American cinephiles’ attention in 1999 with Audition and Dead or Alive, he’s been cranking out something close to a half-dozen movies each year, releasing his kinetically supercharged orgies of style and violence faster than some viewers can keep up with them. While I wouldn’t try to make the case that all 100-plus Miike productions are masterpieces, when he’s firing on all cylinders – as with Audition, or last year’s First Love – he’s one of the most surprising and entertaining filmmakers on the planet. His 2007 Western Suriyaki Western Django is a case… Read more
Hirokazu Kore-eda on the Lightness of Catherine Deneuve, Long Takes and Shooting The Truth
The Truth
Hirokazu Kore-eda became one of world cinema's leading directors in a series of films that over 20 years have examined family life with uncanny insight and sensitivity. After winning the Palme d’Or at the 71st Cannes Film Festival for Shoplifters, Kore-eda wrote, directed and edited The Truth (La Vérité), his first foreign-language feature. Starring Catherine Deneuve as Fabienne, a renowned French movie star, and Juliette Binoche as her daughter Lumir, a writer, the movie explores their relationship during the shooting of an art-house film. Ethan Hawke plays Hank, Lumir's husband, an actor and recovering alcoholic. The Truth screened at the Venice Film Festival in 2019. It screens virtually starting July 3. Filmmaker spoke with Kore-eda by phone earlier this spring. Thanks… Read more
Back to One, Episode 114: Daisy Edgar-Jones
(Photo: Joseph Sinclair)
She’s barely in her twenties, yet Daisy Edgar-Jones has given us a 12-part acting technique masterclass in the form of her portrayal of Marianne in Hulu’s hit series Normal People. Every state of emotion, every point of transformation is reached with striking authenticity, stemming from this complex character. It’s a timeless performance for the ages. In this episode, she breaks down some of that work, talks about her love of acting with accents, the importance of creative chemistry, how she manages her acting insecurities, and much more. Back To One can be found wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Stitcher. And if you're enjoying what you are hearing, please subscribe and rate us! Follow Back To One on… Read more
Sundance Film Festival Director Tabitha Jackson Outlines 2021 Plans
Photo: Kelsey Doyle
With the future of pre-vaccine festivals still up in the air, Sundance Film Festival's Director, Tabitha Jackson, has sent out an announcement (not quite, as she says) as to what next year might look like. The letter is posted in full below. Dear Friends, As we plan for our 2021 Festival — my first in the Director’s chair — and with submissions now open, I wanted to give you an early insight into how we are thinking. This is not an announcement, but rather an invitation into the process of building something together this year. There are very few certainties in these uncertain times, but we are lucky to have as our North Star a well-defined and decades-long mission of championing the… Read more
Tokyo Olympiad, Blood on the Moon and When the Daltons Rode: Jim Hemphill’s Home Video Recommendations
Tokyo Olympiad
Ever since the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, the International Olympic Committee has commissioned films of the games to be produced in collaboration with their host countries; though many of them are relatively traditional sports documentaries, there are a handful – such as the experimental anthology film Visions of Eight, which chronicles the 1972 Summer Olympics via segments by Arthur Penn, Milos Forman, John Schlesinger, and other major directors – that are cinematically significant even for viewers who couldn’t care less about anything athletic. The best of the Olympic films that I’ve seen is Kon Ichikawa’s 1965 masterpiece Tokyo Olympiad, a nearly three-hour portrait of the 1964 Summer Games that uses every technique in Ichikawa’s arsenal – slow-motion, impressionistic sound design,… Read more
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