Authors — Sarah Salovaara
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Cannes Announces Un Certain Regard and Critics Week Awards
Ahead of Saturday’s Competition ceremony, the Cannes Film Festival sidebars Un Certain Regard and Critics Week have announced their prizewinners. Critics are often want to beat the drum for various UCR selections, decrying their supposed relegation from the main slate, and this year was no different. Hotly tipped titles such as Lisandro Alsono’s Jauja and Jessica Hausner’s Amour Fou nonetheless went home empty-handed, as Kornél Mundruzcó’s more divisive White God scooped up the Prix d’Un Certain Regard. Also the source of critical contention was the opening night selection Party Girl, whose writing-directing trio comprised of Marie Amachoukeli, Claire Burger, Samuel Theis received an ensemble prize. Over in the Critics […]
by Sarah Salovaara on May 23, 2014 -
Trailer Watch: Olivier Assayas’ Clouds of Sils Maria
The premise for Olivier Assayas’ Clouds of Sils Maria is a ripe one. An aging actress, cast opposite the role that provided her breakout decades prior, is now tormented by her young colleague and the passage of time. Looks can be deceiving, but the trailer, released today ahead of tomorrow’s Cannes premiere, hints less towards introspection and more towards camp. Perhaps it’s the peculiar pairing of Juliette Binoche and the stunningly one-note Kristen Stewart, but the plot mechanizations wherein Binoche’s new role mimics her lust for the Stewart assistant character feel a bit trite. Here’s hoping Assayas proves me wrong.
by Sarah Salovaara on May 22, 2014 -
Godard Excuses Himself from Cannes with “Letter in Motion to Gilles Jacob and Thierry Fremaux
More than half a century since Breathless, Godard still enjoys his fair share of devotees despite a descent into overwrought provocations. Rather than field befuddled questions following the premiere of his 3-D talking dog opus Goodbye to Language after its Cannes premiere this morning, the filmmaker recused himself from promotion with the above. Opening with the official seal of “Khan Khanne,” the “Letter in Motion to Gilles Jacob and Thierry Fremaux,” fashions clips from Godard’s own work, asides from Hannah Arendt, and ruminations on these “other worlds” he now inhabits. I began trying to draw out what little French I understand before noticing that Indiewire had translated the […]
by Sarah Salovaara on May 21, 2014 -
Indiegogo Campaign: Once I Was: The Hal Ashby Story
Nick Dawson, former Managing Editor at Filmmaker, is serving as an advisor to what will be the first ever Hal Ashby documentary. With the blessing of the Ashby estate, Amy Scott will render a definitive portrait of the revered yet unsung director behind Harold and Maude, The Last Detail, Shampoo, and Being There, to be titled Once I Was: The Hal Ashby Story. The Indiegogo video alone features appearances from John C. Reilly and Jane Fonda, with additional interviews with Robert Downey, Rudy Wurlitzer and Jerome Hellman still to come. Prizes include a plethora of prints from the Hashby estate, criterions, memberships to Cinefamily and Film Forum and […]
by Sarah Salovaara on May 21, 2014 -
Watch: Visual Effects from 1878 to Now
Recently, someone on my Twitter feed ruminated that directors used to proudly point out instances of visual effects, where today, they are want to highlight in camera effects. The times they are a changin’. This supercut from Jim Casey neatly considers the evolution of VFX across 136 years, from 1878 to today. With glimpses of Le Voyage dans la Lune and Metropolis to Gravity and Inception, the aesthetic beauty of the films has arguably improved, if at the expense of the overall storytelling. I’m still scratching my head over last year’s rapturous response to Gravity, which merely proved that 3-D could be artful, even if the script was still pedestrian.
by Sarah Salovaara on May 20, 2014 -
Smartphone Cinematography: Viable Gimmick?
Making its way on the festival circuit since last fall’s Raindance is a film called I Play With The Phrase Each Other, which purports to be the first-ever feature comprised entirely of cell phone calls. It is, rather fittingly, shot on an iPhone and rendered in attractive black-and-white hues that belie its format. In addition to serving as a nice narrative tie-in, the filmmakers choice of camera was also likely dictated by budgetary constraints (or, perhaps as more likely, an Apple tie-in.) Still, it’s remarkable that a lucrative automobile giant like Bentley Motors would shoot their latest ad campaign on a consumer phone like […]
by Sarah Salovaara on May 19, 2014 -
Trailer Watch: Land Ho!
While Christopher Nolan’s co-opted eyeballs with the trailer to what is sure to be another portentous sci-fi jaunt, a nice tonic is to be found in this glimpse of Aaron Katz and Martha Stephens’ Sundance charmer, Land Ho! Paul Eenhoorn and Earl Lynn Nelson star as a couple of ex-brother-in-laws who take to Reykjavik to “get their groove back.” Damping down the epiphanies and life crises that accompany most riffs on the road movie, Land Ho! finds its subtle grace in situational hilarity. Sony Pictures Classics will release the film stateside on July 11.
by Sarah Salovaara on May 16, 2014 -
The Narrative Agent: Camera or Actor?
In conjunction with his workshop tour, commercial director-d.p. Vincent Laforet has been making the publicity rounds, conducting interviews with several outlets, including our own Michael Murie. In the majority of these discussions, Laforet emphasizes the importance and motivation of camera movement. “Generally speaking, in modern cinema,” he told Murie, “you rarely see stationary cameras. Audiences want to see movement, and it’s really important to have dynamic movement to retain people’s attention.” Such a sentiment is more or less ripped straight from the Hollywood rulebook: the more visually dazzling (booming, parallax, etc.) a story can be, the better it is. In the majority of […]
by Sarah Salovaara on May 15, 2014 -
Trailer Watch: Mike Leigh’s Mr. Turner
One of several high profile titles premiering this week at Cannes, Mike Leigh’s Mr. Turner explores the late career of the eccentric 19th century British painter. Foremost regarded for his alternately bleak and hilarious portraits of middle class London, it will be interesting to see Leigh tackle a (period steeped) biopic. Of course, character driven narratives are Leigh’s bread and butter, given his now widely imitated scripting process in which the fruits of rehearsals are folded into the pages. Starring frequent collaborator Timothy Spall, the film premieres tomorrow in Competition and will be released by Sony Pictures Classics on December 10. Watch the trailer […]
by Sarah Salovaara on May 14, 2014 -
Watch David Lynch’s Animated 2002 Series Dumbland
Shortly after the release of his masterpiece Mulholland Drive, David Lynch took a little downtime to create an early incarnation of the webseries: the aptly titled Dumbland. A profane series of vignettes centered around an irascible man, the bizarrely hilarious episodes feature Lynch’s own chicken scratch and characteristically strong sound design. You can watch all eight of them above, and be sure to stick around for the dancing ants featured in the final episode.
by Sarah Salovaara on May 13, 2014
