Never Coming to a Theater Near You - Arthouse Cinema 2016

looks like Sweaty Betty might be worth pouncing on

http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/sweaty-betty

i do recommend... was kinda blindsided by the (v necessary) subtitles and the mosdtly emo soundtrack. Line of the year potential at 0:52.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrOLvo1yegU

always down for new Greenaway

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f1Zu7oOJe0

I quite liked that. I'm not a huge fan of Greenaway by any means, but I like his latest stuff, and Eisenstein in Guanajuato is probably his best in a while.

def recommend the new P Garrel, which i caught at NYFF

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JMz9RD9QJI

is Louis in it nude?

retire that plz

Second that recommendation. What should one see of Garrel? Looooong filmography. Le Revelateur and J'entends Plus la Guitare are both a lot more intense than his latest comedies.

intensity is oft overrated

re: Garrel, seen one or two things, never stuck enough to investigate more.

Intensity and comedy don't go together bcz er, comedy cuts that out?

yeah I don't think he's ever made an essential film, and they evaporate a couple days after viewing. I've liked many of them though: A Burning Hot Summer, I Don't Hear the Guitar Anymore, etc.

Has anyone seen Regular Lovers? That one should be good.

Recent three-part interview with Garrel starts here:

http://filmmakermagazine.com/96612-a-conversation-with-philippe-garrel-part-1/#.VpzeUa_nmM8

I was bored by Regular Lovers, tho it was the first Garrel film i saw.

The average American would not recognize Jealousy as a comedy because it features a suicide attempt but not explosive diarrhea. I would not recognize this last one as a comedy cuz it's not.

"Essential" films... have there been five this century? Two? No time to wait on that. (oh no, for God's sake don't start nominating them... I always forget where i am...)

for God's sake don't start nominating them

We will be doing that soon enough..

This Japanese manifesto about Garrel was one of the most interesting things I've read recently: Nouvelle Vague Manifesto; or, How I Became a Disciple of Philippe Garrel It's by Shinji Aoyama, who directed Eureka from 2000 (I just borrowed that on DVD, looking forward to seeing it). Apparently, Garrel was considered one of the most essential directors in Japan in the nineties, along with Moretti, Kiarostami and Desplechin. 'Anti-cinema.' I love hearing this kind of dispatches from other cinematic cultures.

No, not Kiarostami, Kaurismaki. Embarassing...

Got tickets for Gothenburg International Film Festival, and a place to stay! So next friday and eight days ahead, Weerasethakul, Akerman, Tsangari, Sokurov, focus on Nollywood, loads of Chinese, Middle Eastern, etc. It's way too much, I've already had to drop plans for rewatching Arabian Nights.

i love Eureka.

And he's gay, right

Wrong thread -- or the right one?

I saw Son of Saul today and am in neither the hate nor love camp. Casts a pretty solid spell for long stretches, then wanders into an inexplicable aesthetic funk. It probably deserves a thread as lots of ppl figure to see it if it achieves its Holocauscar destiny.

I had the same reaction.

Same. The picture's inert for too long.

Bought a ten-ticket package for the Glasgow Film Festival next month - Arabian Nights (counts as 3!), Le Belle Equipe/La Fin Du Jour/Panique (mini-Julien Duvivier season - Gabin, Michel Simon - good enough for me), Talvar, No Home Movie, Mountains May Depart, Heart of a Dog.

Eisenstein in Guanajuato opened in NY & LA today, will jump on it cuz i have no confidence it'll run a month.

pls report back

Fort Buchanan, a 65-minute pansexual army-base soap opera shot by an American on 16mm in France (with dialogue literally appropriated from a Lifetime TV series). It's good.

https://www.fandor.com/keyframe/the-16mm-magic-of-fort-buchanan

Berlin:

Honorary Golden Bear – Michael Ballhaus
Golden Bear – Fire at Sea by Gianfranco Rosi
Jury Grand Prix (Silver Bear) – Death in Sarajevo by Danis Tanović
Alfred Bauer Prize (Silver Bear) – A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery by Lav Diaz
Silver Bear for Best Director – Mia Hansen-Løve for Things to Come
Silver Bear for Best Actress – Trine Dyrholm for The Commune
Silver Bear for Best Actor – Majd Mastour for Hedi
Silver Bear for Best Script – Tomasz Wasilewski for United States of Love
Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution for Cinematography – Mark Lee Ping-Bing for Crosscurrent
Best First Feature Award – Mohamed Ben Attia for Hedi

Alfred Bauer prize to the 8 hour b/w film seems most obvious thing ever.

Danis Tanović still at that vein, huh

Louis Garrel's directorial debut may be the worst feature i've endured in the last several years

2015 movies I just saw at an African Film Fest:

I did see on opening night of the Fest a very good Ethiopian movie called Lamb (in Amharic with English subtitles) , about a half-Jewish Ethiopian kid in a rural mountainous part of the country with a pet lamb. The kid's mother died from the drought, and the movie then follows issues relating to the kid, his father and relatives. Some old testament bible analogies included (although these Abraham/Isaacaspect and the kid's half-Jewishness is not highlighted broadly). Lots of great Ethiopian music on the soundtrack. Cutesy kid and animal stuff balanced by realistic rituals and anger and violence.

I also saw Necktie Youth, a South African film about middle class white and black youth (soundtrack of pop dancey stuff was not that memorable). Emphasis is nearly entirely on the spoiled youngins. Brief bit with an older taxi driver showed that featuring more varied points of view (older plus more poor and less educated) would have made the movie more rounded, but that was apparently not the director's aim.

an affluent group of adolescent friends living in the city of Johannesburg, South Africa are shocked by the live streamed suicide of a young girl in her parent's family home. A year and some months after the incident, two disillusioned new generation Zulu youths, Jabz and his best friend September rummage through the sleepy manicured northern suburbs of Johannesburg in search of answers, drugs, distraction and salvation.

I was at that Lamb screening. It was good! Far better than Difret, the last Ethiopian film I saw (this was only my second). Had tickets to see The Price of Love on Saturday but was too ill, so hoping to see it on Wednesday night. Annoyed I was also too ill to see the Sembene afternoon yesterday afternoon.

Any other hot tips? Crumbs looked interesting but I'm going to have to miss it.

He, I think most people have only seen Difret and Lamb. It's pretty new with Ethiopian films in the west. If they're showing The Boda Boda Thieves or Eye of the Storm I would go to those.

Boda Boda Thieves playing the late show on Wednesday night. That's a big ask for my friend.

I'm interested in two other music related films showing at the Fest--

Thurs 3-17- “They Will Have to Kill Us First” movie doc at the AFI at 7:15pm (Malian musicians trying to survive despite extremists

Fri 3-18-- “Rain The Color Blue With A Little Red In It” at the AFI (a Tuareg nomad in the desert Purple Rain homage)

Someone told me the latter will likely be showing at Filmfest DC as well (in April)

I wish I had seen this one:

MORBAYASSA

Thirty-year-old Bella (singer Fatoumata Diawara, previously seen in Oscar®-nominated TIMBUKTU) works in a mafia-run cabaret in Dakar, struggling to accept the limitations of her miserable life. Having given up her daughter for adoption 15 years prior, Bella is wracked with guilt over her past actions. But when she meets Yélo, a fellow Guinean, working for the UN, she has a chance for redemption as the two set out to find her daughter and rebuild a life worth living. This inspiring drama celebrating the female spirit comes from filmmaker Cheick Fantamady Camara (CLOUDS OVER CONAKRY, 2008 New African Film Festival). Official Selection, 2015 Seattle, FESPACO and Zanzibar Film Festivals. DIR/SCR/PROD Cheick Fantamady Camara; SCR Marc Gautron, Catherine Foussadier. France/Guinea, 2015, color, 124 min, DCP. In French with English subtitles. NOT RATED

plus this doc:

“Beats of the Antonov” (Sudanese farmers who sing to deal with their war woes)

http://www.tadias.com/01/14/2016/ethiopia-film-lamb-makes-american-debut-gets-u-s-distributor/

Lamb will have a one-off showing at the Environmental Film Fest in the DC are, Tues March 22nd at the Atlantic Plumbing Theatres near the 930 Club

“Rain The Color Blue With A Little Red In It” was a little slow and some of the acting isn't the best, but I still liked this adapted homage to Purple Rain

“They Will Have to Kill Us First” movie doc about Malian and Tuareg musicians was both depressing and inspiring

saw My Golden Days with Desplechin Q&A after. It's good, and eccentrically shaped, tho with about 15 minutes left i just wanted to yell 'just forget her goddammit' at Young Amalric character.

'80s period piece, so he got Roxanne Shante to cut a new track for end credits.

Roxanne, Roxanne... back at 46 or something! Awesome

from Japan, Happy Hour. No US distro yet? I generally prefer at-home options now for single-sit 5-hour films.

http://filmmakermagazine.com/97860-happy-hour-the-best-317-minutes-of-new-directorsnew-films-2016/#.VvWageIrJhE

times loved it too.

gonna see embrace of the serpent tonight, looks good

Embrace the Serpent has got future midnight head film written all over it, but it's very good anyhow. (Especially before they reach the Messiah.)

that made it to a theatre 2.5 hours away from me. fuckin Batman + Supes taking away art-film slots from the one Regal that shows them.

yes it was an eye popper

man, i thought embrace the serpent was great all the way!
april and the twisted/extraordinary world and born to be blue, not so much.

I just felt i'd seen a lot of what was in the third act of EotS before, not that it was bad.

sorry i left of outta the title

there were definite "LET THE INFINITE IN" 3rd act stuff that was a little old when 2001 did it but I thought it was artful and well handled.
i'd say it's the best or second best film made this year that i've seen tho'

btw it has grossed almost $1M in the US! A HIT.

“Rain The Color Blue With A Little Red In It” was a little slow and some of the acting isn't the best, but I still liked this adapted homage to Purple Rain

This Tuaregs in Niger movie is gonna be shown again (twice) at another DC fest, Filmfest DC between April 14 and the 24th

Next weekend I'll have three days in a row where I'm watching Out 1 pt 1 on Saturday, Out 1 pt 2 on Sunday, and The Assassin on monday. That's a good few days :)

Surprisingly promising Cannes program this year. Ade, Mendonca Filho, Puiu, and, yay, Guiraudie. And a bunch of usual suspects, many of whom I have hopes for.

Yay, Dumont and Mungiu

Perhaps a few more coming? 20 already, which is more than the last few years.

v strong less obvious picks, wonder how every usual palmes suspect's entry is tho. i feel like the surplus that makes it a large group is just unpromising American films, cf sean penn ~helmed~ dramas

Dumont is a plague.

With a bit of luck he will infect The BFG

I kinda don't get how Nicholas Winding Refn got so big that half the newswires from Cannes seem to feature pictures from his film. The wisdom on Drive was that it was a commercial dissapointment, and most people hated Only God Forgives. And yet apparently there's still a bunch of clicks in writing about him?

I mean, I like it. I liked Only God Forgives. I saw Bleeder the other day, and it really is one of the best uses of Copenhagen on film. He does certain things really well. But somehow, someway, he became a world director, three time Cannes participant, even when the second was called a flop and the third is divisive.

Quainzaine:

Divines - Houda Benyamina
Dog Eat Dog - Paul Schrader
L’Économie du couple - Joachim Lafosse
L’Effet aquatique - Sólveig Anspach
La Pazza Gioia - Paolo Virzì
Les Vies de Thérèse - Sébastien Lifshitz
Ma vie de courgette - Claude Barras
Mean Dreams - Nathan Morlando
Mercenaire - Sacha Wolff
Neruda - Pablo Larraín
Poesía Sin Fin - Alejandro Jodorowsky
Raman Raghav 2.0 - Anurag Kashyap
Risk - Laura Poitras
Tour de France - Rachid Djaïdani
Two Lovers and a Bear - Kim Nguyen
Wolf and Sheep - Shahrbanoo Sadat

"The wisdom on Drive was that it was a commercial dissapointment."

It was not some huge crossover indie hit, but it was only a commercial disappointment if your expectations were that it was fated to be.

I think Refn's appeal maybe has more to do with his personality than his films (and certainly their commercial successes) anyway.

A mate of mine got his movie "The Transfiguration" selected for the 'un certain regard' section. Delighted for him.

Showing at Filmfest DC tonight and later this week:

Rain the Color of Blue with a Little Red in It

The Tuareg people who live in the Sahara desert region of Niger don’t have a word for purple, which is why first-time director Christopher Kirkley’s adaptation of Prince’s Purple Rain is called Rain the Color of Blue with a Little Red in It . Starring singer/guitarist Mdou Moctar, this leisurely paced effort substitutes tea-drinking rituals for the flash and sex of its 1984 Minneapolis predecessor and is the first full-length movie to be voiced completely in the Tuareg language Tamasheq. While the film’s plot, with its father/son tension and battle of the bands ending, is a tad simplistic—and the acting a bit wooden—this Afro-groove celebration of Tuareg culture is nonetheless unique and endearing.

Tues., April 19, 6:30 p.m., E Street Cinema; Sat., April 23, 9:15 p.m., E Street Cinema

well, this was astonishing; go in knowing as little as you can i say

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaKUaqJHYeI

on Minervini's Southern 'docufictions'

https://thefilmstage.com/features/the-films-of-roberto-minervini-capturing-a-complicated-portrait-of-the-american-south/

aferim is one of the best films ive seen in a long time. set in the 1800s, with a brilliant sense of the period and place, a little bit like a western, full of humour, *life*, and tragedy, but never striving too hard to make its points. the humour in fact just makes the serious points its making even sharper and more powerful. its also quite timely, and makes you wonder if people/society can ever really change that much. really want to see what his other two films are like now. shame its not getting a wider release from the looks of things, just a few weeks at bfi southbank. basically, another example of why modern cinema programming/programmers/audiences are all equally disappointing.

hmm, looks like its been on DVD for about 6 months already! odd :|

morbs thank you for the louisiana recommendation, really loved it

going to see the new hong sang soo film on saturday at the fancy metrograph place. reviews are good

so has anyone seen Happy Hour?

http://www.filmcomment.com/blog/film-week-happy-hour/

Yeah, I saw it in Gothenburg. It's quite good, the extended setpieces are the best thing about it. But I was perhaps slightly disappointed that it wasn't the masterpiece I'd hoped it would be. Anyone seen earlier Hamaguchi?

I found it equally compelling and irritating.

Pinkerton:

http://reverseshot.org/archive/entry/2233/happy_hour

Yeah, that's kinda how I felt as well. That scene with the reading, though, right?

possibly my least favorite

apparently that story was supposed to be godawful, right?

I honestly have no idea... The scene is so weird. I didn't really get the sense that the husband was showing a better side of himself, he keeps talking about himself rather than the story in question.

no, Men Are Creeps was a steady theme.

anyone seen this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8HY-6F4Y_I

That Venezuelan Golden Lion winner, From Afar. It's actually really good guys, even though Guillermo Arriaga is involved. Great as an aesthetic portrait of the isolation felt in a society with nothing inbetween the utmost private and the completely public, shades of Pablo Larrain and even Lucretia Martels great The Headless Woman, I think. As a gay film it's admittedly more problematic, though. Still, worth seeing.

Diaz wins top prize at Venice with a short one - hope this gives it a chance of a wider release

http://variety.com/2016/film/news/the-woman-who-left-by-filipino-auteur-lav-diaz-wins-venice-film-festival-golden-lion-complete-list-of-winners-1201856697/

Diaz wasn't who I was rooting for originally - probably Larrain or Konchalovsky - but I kinda love how it played out. Filmtwitter was just an echo chamber for the first week, when all the American prestige films came out before Toronto. Tom Ford? Stylish genius! Damien Chazelle? Better than Demy! Villeneuve? Sci-fi masterpiece. Malick? Hum... Then came the second week, and it all died down. I didn't even see anyone talk about Konchalovsky, and he was considered a frontrunner, ended up winning a Silver Lion, and his Postman's White Nights was a great great award winner a few years back. So to see the jury - led by Sam Mendes - give out the main award to the four hour b/w low-budget one, that's great.

There's no hope of a release in Denmark, though. I really hope that both Diaz' 2016 films will be shown at CPH:PIX next month, but I'm kinda worried they're going completely mainstream. The opening film is Dr Strange...

So has anyone seen FuoccoAmare, the winner from Berlin? It's pretty fucked up. I was quite surprised to find it's not the humanistic documentary I was promised, in fact, it's one of the most inhumane documentaries I've seen in a long time (the Italians live pointless and banal lives, while the Africans are depicted only as this swarm on the periphery of the continent, I think they're compared to a squid fisherman's catch at one point. It's quite explicitly racist, though that's the point (that they're denied their humanity)) It's not really about immigrants, as much as it's about European pathologies, I think. I'm a bit shellshocked, actually.

it's playing NYFF next week, opening NY/LA later in October

https://www.kinolorber.com/film/fireatsea

hoping to catch this a/g thang this weekend

https://www.fandor.com/keyframe/deborah-stratmans-illinois-parables