Festival Circuit 2017

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DarkImbecile
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#201 Post by DarkImbecile » Thu Aug 31, 2017 2:35 pm

Telluride 2017 lineup announced.

Any suggestions about which of the restorations to prioritize? I haven't seen any of these:
TFF wrote:Additional film revival programs, all newly restored, include THE BAKER’S WIFE (d. Marcel Pagnol, France, 1938); THE COTTON CLUB ENCORE (d. Francis Ford Coppola, U.S., 1984/2017); KEAN, OR DISORDER AND GENIUS (d. Aleksandr Volkoff, France, 1924), with the Mont Alto Orchestra; and SUCH IS LIFE (d. Carl Junghan, Czechoslovakia, 1929).
The Coppola is said to have 20-30 minutes of new footage in this cut, so that's probably a yes, but I'm not familiar with Volkoff or Junghan and have only seen one Pagnol.

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knives
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#202 Post by knives » Thu Aug 31, 2017 2:40 pm

Kean is really great. If I remember correctly it is in one of the Flicker Alley sets.

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zedz
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#203 Post by zedz » Thu Aug 31, 2017 3:45 pm

DarkImbecile wrote:Telluride 2017 lineup announced.

Any suggestions about which of the restorations to prioritize? I haven't seen any of these:
TFF wrote:Additional film revival programs, all newly restored, include THE BAKER’S WIFE (d. Marcel Pagnol, France, 1938); THE COTTON CLUB ENCORE (d. Francis Ford Coppola, U.S., 1984/2017); KEAN, OR DISORDER AND GENIUS (d. Aleksandr Volkoff, France, 1924), with the Mont Alto Orchestra; and SUCH IS LIFE (d. Carl Junghan, Czechoslovakia, 1929).
The Coppola is said to have 20-30 minutes of new footage in this cut, so that's probably a yes, but I'm not familiar with Volkoff or Junghan and have only seen one Pagnol.
A redone Cotton Club will almost surely be out on disc, or even in limited theatrical distribution, soon enough. The silent films might never be seen again, so I'd definitely prioritize them. The Pagnol used to be fairly well known, and is presumably a big French studio restoration, so I'd say it's at least 50/50 that we'll eventually see this on home video with English subs.

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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#204 Post by Ishmael » Thu Aug 31, 2017 4:04 pm

zedz wrote:The Pagnol used to be fairly well known, and is presumably a big French studio restoration, so I'd say it's at least 50/50 that we'll eventually see this on home video with English subs.
The Baker's Wife is mentioned in Catcher in the Rye. Holden takes his little sister to see it. Naturally, "it killed her" (p. 67). It's just a fleeting reference, though, so I don't know whether this trivia increases the film's chances of getting a home video release (presumably with "Phoebe Caulfield's favorite movie! It really is!" in big letters on the cover). But at the very least, this supports your point that it was once fairly well known.

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domino harvey
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#205 Post by domino harvey » Thu Aug 31, 2017 4:10 pm

They should screen it on a double feature bill with Dear Wife

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DarkImbecile
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#206 Post by DarkImbecile » Fri Sep 08, 2017 12:25 pm

Telluride 2017: For my own use, I'll continue to add links to more thoughts about each of these as time allows, but wanted to give a quick impression of each in the meantime. TFF, by the way, is fantastic: well-organized, very solid variety of films and filmmakers, and very accommodating schedule-wise, all in a charming town packed with cinephiles. I'll be doing everything I can to attend annually from here on out.

In order of viewing from Friday to Monday:

Wormwood (Errol Morris) - A - See here.

Darkest Hour (Joe Wright) - C- - See here.

Loveless (Andrey Zvyagintsev) - A- - See here.

A Man of Integrity (Mohamed Rasoulof) - B - See here.

Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig) - A- - See here.

Downsizing (Alexander Payne) - B

The Shape of Water (Guillermo Del Toro) - A- - See here.

Hostiles (Christian Bale Tribute) (Scott Cooper) - B+ - See here.

Land of the Free (Camilla Magid) - B

The Venerable W. (Barbet Schroeder) - C - See here.

Far From Heaven (Ed Lachman Tribute) (Todd Haynes) - B+

First Reformed (Paul Schrader) - A-

Hostages (Rezo Gigineishvili) - B

The Cotton Club Encore (Francis Ford Coppola) - A-

Lean on Pete (Andrew Haigh) - B-
Last edited by DarkImbecile on Thu Mar 22, 2018 4:39 pm, edited 3 times in total.

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Ribs
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#207 Post by Ribs » Sat Sep 09, 2017 10:46 am

And now apparently the Boston bombing recovery movie Stronger is also really good. Wherefore art thou embarrassing misfires?

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rohmerin
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#208 Post by rohmerin » Sat Sep 09, 2017 3:02 pm

Another Mexican. Del Toro Leone d'oro, Charlotte Rampling best actress.

https://ep01.epimg.net/cultura/imagenes ... corte1.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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lacritfan
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#209 Post by lacritfan » Sat Sep 09, 2017 5:07 pm

Official Awards of the 74th Venice Film Festival

GOLDEN LION for Best Film to:
THE SHAPE OF WATER by Guillermo del Toro (USA)

SILVER LION - GRAND JURY PRIZE to:
FOXTROT by Samuel Maoz (Israel, Germany, France, Switzerland)

SILVER LION - AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTOR to:
Xavier Legrand for the film JUSQU’À LA GARDE (France)

COPPA VOLPI for Best Actress:
Charlotte Rampling in the film HANNAH by Andrea Pallaoro (Italy, Belgium, France)

COPPA VOLPI for Best Actor:
Kamel El Basha in the film THE INSULT by Ziad Doueiri (Lebanon, France)

AWARD FOR BEST SCREENPLAY to:
Martin McDonagh for the film THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI by Martin McDonagh (Great Britain)

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE to:
SWEET COUNTRY by Warwick Thornton (Australia)

MARCELLO MASTROIANNI AWARD for Best Young Actor or Actress to:
Charlie Plummer in the film LEAN ON PETE by Andrew Haigh (Great Britain)

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willoneill
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#210 Post by willoneill » Mon Sep 18, 2017 2:19 pm

I saw 9 movies at TIFF, but I don't see a thread for a single one of them, so I'll just post all my thoughts here (individually) and if they have to be moved, I'll just apologize in advance to the mods.

EDIT: There was a thread for Battle of the Sexes; here's my post

Mudbound (Dee Rees)

B+ - This is definitely an actor’s showcase piece, and all of the key performers are very good in it, especially Carey Mulligan, Jason Mitchell, and Mary J. Blige. But it suffers from the problem of the filmmakers trying to put the entire novel (I assume) into the film. This makes the film seems to cluttered, and not all of the key characters have their arcs sewn up in a satisfactory way. There are characters we meet that pop up again in ways that strain credulity (I’m thinking of the guy who bought the house Jason Clarke tries to rent near the beginning). Also, Jonathan Banks’ as the racist patriarch is a bit too much of a caricature.
Last edited by willoneill on Mon Sep 18, 2017 2:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#211 Post by willoneill » Mon Sep 18, 2017 2:24 pm

Kings (Deniz Gamze Ergüven)

D - God, what a mess. Ergüven's follow-up to Mustang isn't nearly as good as that film, in part because it isn't as focused as that film. If Kings had focused on the group of kids that Halle Berry fosters, and how they experience the Rodney King riots going on around them, I think that could have been a very powerful film. The best moments in Kings are when it does exactly that. However, the film spends too much time on Berry and Daniel Craig (because stars = budget, right?), who's relationship is all over the place, as is Craig's personality. The film is also tonally inconsistent, especially in parts of the third act where it almost like slapstick comedy.

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willoneill
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#212 Post by willoneill » Mon Sep 18, 2017 2:29 pm

Félicité (Alain Gomis)

B - I mostly liked Félicité, which won some awards at the Berlin Film festival earlier this year. The music is great and the characters all come off as genuine. I did find the film a bit long though, partially because of my own expectations. The film had been described and recommended to me as the story of a nightclub singer whose son is in an accident and she needs to raise money to pay for his treatment. Those scenes are quite good and very engrossing. However, this actually only covers the first hour of the film. The second hour is spent on Félicité's blossoming relationship with a local drunk and handyman, and while I found that story managed to avoid your typical movie cliches, it still dragged on a bit.

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willoneill
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#213 Post by willoneill » Mon Sep 18, 2017 2:41 pm

Manhunt (John Woo)

B+ - This was billed as a return to form for John Woo (to his classic Hong Kong crime film style), and it is very much so, while also simultaneously coming off as a bit of a self-homage in certain scenes (I'm looking at you, random bird coop of doves). In fact, in some ways, it even seems like spoof from time to time. It's certainly not as great as The Killer or Hard Boiled, but I still had a great time. I don't know if anyone has any further information on this, but I heard a rumour that this will be Woo's last film, and that he didn't come to Toronto himself with the film because he is actually quite ill. If that is unfortunately so, I think this was a fitting send-off.

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willoneill
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#214 Post by willoneill » Mon Sep 18, 2017 2:58 pm

Beast (Michael Pearce)

A - Beast was my most satisfying surprise of TIFF. I saw on based on the recommendations of a friend of a friend (who was one of the TIFF programmers), and it didn't disappoint. Beast is about a socially troubled young woman (Jessie Buckley from Taboo) who meets an intriguing stranger one morning (Johnny Flynn from The Clouds of Sils Maria) and a romance develops. Then suspicions are raised that he might be responsible for several unsolved brutal sexual assaults and murders. This all seems like typical thriller material, and the film often follows the standard cliches, but ends up turning them all on their head. The look and the sounds of the films are incredible, and both leads do things with their characters that seem almost antithetical to what an ordinary thriller would do.

I think this will be playing next at the London Film Festival, and I recommend it.

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willoneill
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#215 Post by willoneill » Mon Sep 18, 2017 3:06 pm

Chappaquiddick (John Curran)

B+ - Yet another installment of "White Privilege: The Movie". I had of course heard of the Chappaquiddick scandal, but I'll admit I didn't know anything beyond Ted Kennedy drove a car off a bridge and let a young woman drown inside it. What I didn't know is the context around the incident, and how the events unfolded over the week between the crash, and Kennedy's televised address. For instance, the crash happened two days before the moon landing, which definitely helped alleviate some pressure from the press. Another interesting part of the film is that Kennedy managed to make mistake after mistake after mistake, and still essentially got away with the crime (hence my obvious white privilege comment).

Jason Clarke plays Kennedy, and is solid in his portrayal. He also thankfully doesn't overdue the stereotypical Kennedy/Massachusetts accent. I really liked Ed Helms as Kennedy cousin Joe Gargan, who is the moral centre of the film (which apparently estranged him from the family). And Bruce Dern shows up as a nearly silent Joseph Kennedy Sr., who only says two words in the whole film (the word "alibi", twice). Overall, a fairly solid portrayal of the incident, the cover-up, and the fall-out.

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willoneill
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#216 Post by willoneill » Mon Sep 18, 2017 3:10 pm

I Am Not a Witch (Rungano Nyoni)

B- - This film from Zambia is about a young girl (maybe 7 or 8) who is accused of witchcraft by her village, and is taken into state custody as part of their witch program. I assume the film is a satire (I certainly hope so). This is a film where I thought most of the individual scenes worked quite well, but it never really added up to much for me. I think part of it has to do with the film not clearly explaining how the government witch program works. You get pieces of the mechanism in several scenes, but I still found it confusing. One of the funniest bits of satire, however, is the talk show sequence, but even that fizzles out.

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willoneill
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#217 Post by willoneill » Mon Sep 18, 2017 3:21 pm

Hostiles (Scott Cooper)

A+ - This was my last screening, and the best film I saw at TIFF. Hostiles is a western about Christian Bale whose final military assignment is to escort an infamous chief (Wes Studi) back to his homeland in Wyoming after being released from military custody by President Benjamin Harrison. This isn't a very action packed western; it's definitely more of a slow burn. I think some might criticize the pacing as disjointed, but I thought the film worked well in showing how Christian Bale's philosophy evolves over the course of the journey. Bale is excellent, especially how he demonstrates his character's changing views without being obvious about it. I've seen some reviews that criticize the film as just showing Native Americans as only either bloodthirsty villains or noble sages. While the Comanche villains are definitely one-note, I would disagree that Studi and his character's family are entirely noble, particularly
SpoilerShow
in the way Studi and his son brutally murder the Comanches.
I actually find them to just be an ordinary family trying to go home, and the film is better for that.

This is one of my favorite films of 2017 (assuming it doesn't get released in 2018), but I don't think it will be an audience favorite. It's just too brutal at times. Hopefully Bale will get some recognition though. And it has, in my view, a subtle yet wonderful final shot that adds a tinge of hope to the whole ordeal.

I have a lot more to say about this one, but I'll probably wait to see if others see it, and write about it, since I still can't organize all of my thoughts yet.

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knives
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#218 Post by knives » Mon Sep 18, 2017 3:28 pm

willoneill wrote:I Am Not a Witch (Rungano Nyoni)

B- - This film from Zambia is about a young girl (maybe 7 or 8) who is accused of witchcraft by her village, and is taken into state custody as part of their witch program. I assume the film is a satire (I certainly hope so). This is a film where I thought most of the individual scenes worked quite well, but it never really added up to much for me. I think part of it has to do with the film not clearly explaining how the government witch program works. You get pieces of the mechanism in several scenes, but I still found it confusing. One of the funniest bits of satire, however, is the talk show sequence, but even that fizzles out.
I can't speak for the film at large, but witches is still a pretty major problem at least in west Africa. Allison Berg's Witches in Exile is a decent enough look at a refugee camp for witches.

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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#219 Post by accatone » Tue Sep 19, 2017 4:18 am

Viennale-Trailer 2017: HANS (by Abel Ferrara)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmILjrQyyRU" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

After Mekas, Lynch, JLG and others (if i remember correctly). This is dedicated to Hans Hurch, the festival director who passed away in July. I have never attended the festival but from its programming it almost always looks very very interesting! I also love and own many of "their" book publications.

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rohmerin
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#220 Post by rohmerin » Sat Sep 30, 2017 4:22 pm

James Franco has just won San Sebastian Golden shell for best film with The disaster artist, film that everybody has loved ! ? (sic)
Is he Spaniard in origin? He looks Spaniard.

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knives
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#221 Post by knives » Sat Sep 30, 2017 9:50 pm

He's Portuguese decent.

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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#222 Post by perkypat » Sun Oct 01, 2017 12:49 pm

accatone wrote:Viennale-Trailer 2017: HANS (by Abel Ferrara)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmILjrQyyRU" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

After Mekas, Lynch, JLG and others (if i remember correctly). This is dedicated to Hans Hurch, the festival director who passed away in July. I have never attended the festival but from its programming it almost always looks very very interesting! I also love and own many of "their" book publications.
I went 3 years ago, and will be there this year. Programming is interesting and eclectic. Festival is totally English friendly,the cinemas are pleasant and all withi walking distance. Tickets were pretty easy to come by. Vienna is a lovely city as well. Recommended.

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mfunk9786
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#223 Post by mfunk9786 » Thu Oct 19, 2017 11:14 am

Figured maybe this would be a good place to pose this question since the zedzes and yoshimoris of the world might be able to weigh in: LQ and I are conflicted between seeing Custody (French title is Jusqu'à la garde) and Thoroughbreds (which are scheduled at the same time) at the Philadelphia Film Festival. Anyone have a preference, or at least an opinion on either one of those films they can share?

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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#224 Post by yoshimori » Thu Oct 19, 2017 11:26 am

Haven't seen either, but, if you can wait, Focus Features is supposed to release Thoroughbreds in Spring 2018.

[And if you're taking recommendations for stylish, early-Taviani-but-better-esque feminist folktales, I'd point to Indonesian director Mouly Surya's Marlina: the Murderer in 4 Acts. Trailer].

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zedz
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Re: Festival Circuit 2017

#225 Post by zedz » Thu Oct 19, 2017 10:50 pm

I haven't seen either of those films, unfortunately, but I've also seen Marlina the Murderer in 4 Acts. I didn't adore it, but it was stylish, atmospheric and pulpishly enjoyable. On Body and Soul is worth a look too: a very dark, very weird rom-com, beautifully shot and full of elements that will repel a large chunk of the audience for quirky rom-coms! The Desert Bride is very well done, but it's familiar festival territory. Most of the others I've seen should be known quantities by now.

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