Gallo, Ozon, Reichardt, Schnabel, Hellman, Kechiche, Coppola, etc, Screening at Venice

The complete line-up of the 67th Venice Film Festival was announced yesterday, with twenty-two films competing for the the Golden Lion, the festival's highest honor which was awarded to Samuel Maoz's Lebanon last year. Not paying attention to films in production has its benefits; quite a few of the filmmakers presenting their works this year came as a pleasant surprise. Among those surprises: Kelly Reichardt's Meek's Cutoff which re-teams the director with her Wendy & Lucy star Michelle Williams; a brand new film written, directed, starring, composed and edited (naturally) by Vincent Gallo called Promises Written in Water; Pablo Larraín's follow-up to Tony Manero, Post mortem; Abdellatif Kechiche's Vénus noire [Black Venus], his first film since La graine et le mulet [The Secret of the Grain] which won a Special Jury Prize at the 2007 fest; Tran Anh Hung's adaptation of Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood; and Road to Nowhere, the first feature-length film from Monte Hellman in twenty-one years (following, uh, Silent Night, Deadly Night 3) which stars two former "It" girls Shannyn Sossamon and Dominique Swain. Gallo will also be presenting a short entitled The Agent as part of the Horizons sidebar, which–like Promises–stars Sylvester Stallone's son Sage. Other high profile filmmakers in competition: Sofia Coppola with Somewhere; Julian Schnabel with Miral; François Ozon with Potiche; Tom Tykwer with Drei [Three]; Tsui Hark with Detective Dee and the Mystery of Phantom Flame; Takashi Miike with 13 Assassins; Darren Aronofsky with Black Swan; and Álex de la Iglesia with Balada triste de trompeta [A Sad Trumpet Ballad]. Four Italian films will be screening in competition, and unfortunately the national titles have proven to be the weakest entries in recent history. The sore thumb of the lot appears to be Barney's Version, whose fine cast feels overshadowed by the fact that the last film outing from the director, Richard J. Lewis, was a direct-to-video sequel to the buddy-cop-and-dog classic K-9 (starring, uh, Jim Belushi). Tran Anh Hung and Darren Aronofsky are the only past Golden Lion winners in competition, for Cyclo in 1995 and The Wrestler in 2008 respectively. The competition line-up can be found below. The festival runs from 1-11 September.

- 13 Assassins, d. Takashi Miike, Japan
- Attenberg, d. Athina Rachel Tsangari, Greece, w. Yorgos Lanthimos
- Balada triste de trompeta [A Sad Trumpet Ballad], d. Álex de la Iglesia (Dance with the Devil), Spain/France, w. Carmen Maura, Fernando Guillén Cuervo, Antonio de la Torre
- Barney's Version, d. Richard J. Lewis, Canada/Italy, w. Dustin Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Rosamund Pike, Minnie Driver
- Black Swan, d. Darren Aronofsky, USA, w. Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder, Bruce Greenwood, Scott Speedman
- Detective Dee and the Mystery of Phantom Flame, d. Tsui Hark (Once Upon a Time in China), China/Hong Kong, w. Andy Lau, Carina Lau, Li Bingbing, Tony Leung Ka-Fai
- Drei [Three], d. Tom Tykwer, Germany, w. Devid Striesow
- Happy Few, d. Antony Cordier (Douches froides), France, w. Marina Foïs, Élodie Bouchez, Roschdy Zem, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Jean-François Stévenin
- Meek's Cutoff, d. Kelly Reichardt, USA, w. Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood, Will Patton, Zoe Kazan, Paul Dano, Shirley Henderson
- Miral, d. Julian Schnabel, France/Israel/UK/Italy/USA, w. Hiam Abbass, Freida Pinto, Willem Dafoe, Vanessa Redgrave, Alexander Siddig, Stella Schnabel
- Noi credevamo, d. Mario Martone (L'odore del sengue), Italy/France, w. Luigi Lo Cascio, Toni Servillo
- Norwegian Wood, d. Tran Anh Hung, Japan, w. Rinko Kikuchi
- La passione, d. Carlo Mazzacurati (La lingua del santo), Italy, w. Stefania Sandrelli
- La pecora nera, d. Ascanio Celestini, Italy, w. Maya Sansa
- Post mortem, d. Pablo Larraín, Chile/Mexico/Germany
- Potiche, d. François Ozon, France/Belgium, w. Catherine Deneuve, Gérard Depardieu, Fabrice Luchini, Karin Viard, Judith Godrèche, Jérémie Renier
- Promises Written in Water, d. Vincent Gallo, USA, w. Gallo
- Road to Nowhere, d. Monte Hellman (Two-Lane Blacktop), USA, w. Shannyn Sossamon, Dominique Swain, John Diehl, Fabio Testi
- Silent Souls, d. Aleksei Fedorchenko (First on the Moon), Russia
- La solitudine dei numeri primi [The Solitude of Prime Numbers], d. Saverio Costanzo (In Memory of Me), Italy/France/Germany, w. Filippo Timi, Isabella Rossellini
- Somewhere, d. Sofia Coppola, USA, w. Stephen Dorff, Elle Fanning, Benicio del Toro, Michelle Monaghan, Benicio Del Toro
- Vénus noire [Black Venus], d. Abdellatif Kechiche, France/Italy/Belgium, w. Olivier Gourmet

Out of competition, you'll find directorial efforts from both the Affleck brothers. The elder will follow his well-received (but, still, not that good) Gone Baby Gone with The Town, a crime thriller about a Boston-area gang of thieves. Casey's directorial debut is I'm Still Here, a documentary that received a lot of press last year which follows Joaquin Phoenix's retirement from acting to pursue a career as a rapper. In addition to 13 Assassins, Takashi Miike's Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City will premiere, likely as part of the festival's midnight screenings, which will open with Robert Rodriguez's star-and-"star"-studded Machete. Julie Taymor's return to Shakespeare, The Tempest, will close this portion. Below you'll find a selection of the films playing out of competition.

- 1960, d. Gabriele Salvatores (I'm Not Scared), Italy
- The Child's Eye 3D, d. Oxide Pang, Danny Pang, Hong Kong/China
- I'm Still Here, d. Casey Affleck, USA, w. Joaquin Phoenix
- The Last Movie, d. Dennis Hopper, USA, w. Hopper, Tomas Milian, Samuel Fuller, Sylvia Miles, Peter Fonda, Kris Kristofferson, Henry Jaglom, John Phillip Law, Michelle Phillips, Dean Stockwell, Russ Tamblyn, Toni Basil
- Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen, d. Andrew Lau, Hong Kong/China, w. Donnie Yen, Shu Qi
- A Letter to Elia, d. Martin Scorsese, Kent Jones, USA
- Lope, d. Andrucha Waddington (House of Sand), Spain/Brazil, w. Leonor Watling, Pilar López de Ayala, Sonia Braga, Luis Tosar
- Machete, d. Robert Rodriguez, USA, w. Danny Trejo, Michelle Rodriguez, Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba, Lindsay Lohan, Cheech Marin, Jeff Fahey, Steven Seagal, Don Johnson, Rose McGowan, Tom Savini
- Passione, d. John Turturro, Italy
- Přežít svůj život [Surviving Life], d. Jan Švankmajer, Czech Republic/Slovakia
- Raavanan, d. Mani Ratnam, India, w. Aishwarya Rai
- Reign of Assassins, d. John Woo, Su Chao-Bin, China/Hong Kong/Taiwan, w. Michelle Yeoh, Kelly Lin
- Shock Labyrinth 3D, d. Takashi Shimizu (Ju-on), Japan
- Showtime, d. Stanley Kwan (Lan yu), China, w. Carina Lau, Tony Leung Ka-Fai
- Sorelle mai, d. Marco Bellocchio, Italy
- The Tempest, d. Julie Taymor, USA, w. Helen Mirren, Russell Brand, Alfred Molina, Djimon Hounsou, David Strathairn, Chris Cooper, Alfred Molina, Alan Cumming, Ben Whishaw
- That Girl in Yellow Boots, d. Anurag Kashyap (Dev.D), India
- The Town, d. Ben Affleck, USA, w. Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Blake Lively
- Vallanzasca - Gli angeli del male, d. Michele Placido (Romanzo criminale), Italy/France, w. Kim Rossi Stuart, Filippo Timi, Moritz Bleibtreu, Paz Vega
- Zebraman 2: Attack on Zebra City, d. Takashi Miike, Japan

The Horizons portion of this year's selection will open with La belle endormie [Sleeping Beauty], another fairy tale adaptation from Catherine Breillat following last year's Barbe Bleue; like its predecessor, La belle endormie was produced by Arte Télévision and employs a cast of unknowns. Hong Sang-soo's Oki's Movie will close the section; Oki's Movie is Hong Sang-soo's second film to premiere in 2010 following Ha Ha Ha, which was awarded the Un Certain Regard Prize at Cannes in May. Not a whole lot of information was available about the rest of the films (some of them shorts), but I listed below the films from directors I knew. And following that is a selection of the films screening as part of the Venice Days, one of the festival's autonomous sidebars.

Horizons

- The Agent, d. Vincent Gallo, USA, w. Sage Stallone, Gallo
- La belle endormie [Sleeping Beauty], d. Catherine Breillat, France
- Better Life, d. Isaac Julien, UK/China, w. Maggie Cheung
- Cold Fish, d. Sion Sono, Japan
- Guest, d. José Luis Guerin, Spain
- The Leopard, d. Isaac Julien, UK/Italy
- A Loft, d. Ken Jacobs, USA
- News from Nowhere, d. Paul Morrissey, USA
- Oki's Movie, d. Hong Sang-soo, South Korea
- Painéis de São Vicente de Fora, Visão Poética, d. Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal, w. Ricardo Trêpa
- Red Earth, d. Clara Law, Hong Kong/China

Venice Days

- L'amour buio, d. Antonio Capuano (Luna rossa), Italy, w. Valeria Golino
- Le bruit des glaçons [The Clink of Ice], d. Bertrand Blier (Beau-père), France, w. Jean Duhardin, Albert Dupontel
- Cirkus Columbia, d. Danis Tanović (No Man's Land), Bosnia & Herzegovina/France/UK/Slovenia/Germany/Belgium/Serbia, w. Miki Manojlović, Mira Furlan
- Hitler à Hollywood [Hitler in Hollywood], d. Frédéric Sojcher, w. Maria de Medeiros, Micheline Presle
- Incendies, d. Denis Villeneuve (Polytechnique), Canada/France, w. Lubna Azabal
- Noir océan, d. Marion Hänsel (The Quarry), w. Adrien Joliver
- La vida de los peces, d. Matías Bize (En la cama), Chile, w. Santiago Cabrera, Blanca Lewin

The Decade List: 50 (More) Honorable Mentions

I don't plan on offering realtime stats of the process of elimination I'm going to be going through, but I've officially axed 50 titles from the list that's now sitting at around 165. In previous months' updates, I'd included other honorable mentions that were certainly not going to make the 100, some annotates, some not. You can find them for 2000, 2001, 2002 and an assorted one including films from 2002-2004. These are not what one might assume to be 101-150, as I still have close to 70 more that I need to eliminate before finalizing the 100, but are of some merit nonetheless. Listed alphabetically.

20 Centimeters [20 centímetros], 2005, d. Ramón Salazar, Spain/France
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, 2007, d. Andrew Dominik, USA/Canada
Away from Her, 2006, d. Sarah Polley, Canada
Bad Education [La mala educación], 2004, d. Pedro Almodóvar, Spain
Beeswax, 2009, d. Andrew Bujalski, USA
Before I Forget [Avant que j'oublie], 2007, d. Jacques Nolot, France
The Boss of It All [Direktøren for det hele], 2006, d. Lars von Trier, Denmark/Sweden/Iceland/Italy/France/Norway/Finland/Germany
The Bridge, 2006, d. Eric Steel, USA/UK
Captain Ahab [Capitaine Achab], 2007, d. Philippe Ramos, France/Sweden
The Cats of Mirikitani, 2006, d. Linda Hattendorf, USA

City of God [Cidade de Deus], 2002, d. Fernando Meirelles, Kátia Lund, Brazil/France
Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul [Istanbul hatirasi - Köprüyü geçmek], 2005, d. Fatih Akin, Turkey/Germany
Dave Chappelle's Block Party, 2005, d. Michel Gondry, USA
Enduring Love, 2004, d. Roger Michell, UK
The Exterminating Angels [Les anges exterminateurs], 2006, d. Jean-Claude Brisseau, France
Far from Heaven, 2002, d. Todd Haynes, USA/France
Fast Food Nation, 2006, d. Richard Linklater, USA/UK
The Girlfriend Experience, 2009, d. Steven Soderbergh, USA
Great World of Sound, 2007, d. Craig Zobel, USA
Home, 2008, d. Ursula Meier, Switzerland/France/Belgium

In the Loop, 2009, d. Armando Iannucci, UK
The Incredibles, 2004, d. Brad Bird, USA
Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis, 2006, d. Mary Jordan, USA
Jackass Number Two, 2006, d. Jeff Tremaine, USA
The King, 2005, d. James Marsh, UK/USA
Last Life in the Universe, 2003, d. Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, Thailand/Japan
Man Push Cart, 2005, d. Ramin Bahrani, USA
Manderlay, 2005, d. Lars von Trier, Denmark/Sweden/UK/France/Netherlands/Germany
Milk, 2008, d. Gus Van Sant, USA
Next Door [Naboer], 2005, d. Pål Sletaune, Norway/Sweden/Denmark

Punch-Drunk Love, 2002, d. Paul Thomas Anderson, USA
Quiet City, 2007, d. Aaron Katz, USA
Read My Lips [Sur mes lèvres], 2001, d. Jacques Audiard, France
Rejected, 2000, d. Don Hertzfeldt, USA
Requiem, 2006, d. Hans-Christian Schmid, Germany
Rubber Johnny, 2005, d. Chris Cunningham, UK
Silent Light [Stellet licht], 2007, d. Carlos Reygadas, Mexico/France/Netherlands/Germany
Solaris, 2002, d. Steven Soderbergh, USA
Somersault, 2004, d. Cate Shortland, Australia
Son frère, 2003, d. Patrice Chéreau, France

Starting Out in the Evening, 2007, d. Andrew Wagner, USA
Tetro, 2009, d. Francis Ford Coppola, USA/Italy/Spain/Argentina
Time of the Wolf [Le temps du loup], 2003, d. Michael Haneke, France/Austria/Germany
Times and Winds [Beş vakit], 2006, d. Reha Erdem, Turkey
Vinyan, 2008, d. Fabrice Du Welz, France/Belgium/UK/Australia
Wendy and Lucy, 2008, d. Kelly Reichardt, USA
X2, 2003, d. Bryan Singer, USA/Canada
XXY, 2007, d. Lucía Puenzo, Argentina/France/Spain
Yeast, 2008, d. Mary Bronstein, USA
Yella, 2007, d. Christian Petzold, Germany

The Decade List: Old Joy (2006)

Old Joy - dir. Kelly Reichardt

I often wish I could speak of most films without categorization, without placing them in the context of others. Whether that context be some unorganized but critically declared movement or in relation to its nationality or its director's body of work, I always resort to those trappings, and maybe that comes with watching as many films as I do. While a bulk of my appreciation for Kelly Reichardt's Old Joy stems from my dissatisfaction with American independent and faux-"indie" cinema, I imagine I would have felt just as strongly if I didn't have a background in film.

The best way for me to describe Old Joy is to compare it to a hauntingly bittersweet song, one which you're compelled to listen to on repeat for whatever length of time. It flows like music, and while the literal music of Yo La Tengo's score compliments the film beautifully, Reichardt is the composer of Old Joy's particular melody. It, more than anything else, strikes this deeply personal emotion from within and does so in the simplest, most bewitching of ways.

While the specific sentiment is quite recognizable, Reichardt's gracefulness lures it out of the film in such a way that it hits you like something strange and new, but somehow still familiar. Films like Old Joy, ones that take on a feeling and movement more akin to musical arrangements than cinematic narratives, use the specifics of story only to guide their melody. And if that melody is as good as Old Joy's is, it lingers, and with memory, becomes all-the-more enchanting.

With: Daniel London, Will Oldham, Tanya Smith
Screenplay: Jonathan Raymond, Kelly Reichardt
Cinematography: Peter Sillen
Music: Yo La Tengo
Country of Origin: USA
US Distributor: Kino

Premiere: January 2006 (Sundance Film Festival)

Awards: Producers Award - Neil Kopp (Independent Spirit Awards)

2009 Notebook: Vol 8

Vicky Cristina Barcelona is the second film I've watched twice this year, and though I know I'm not alone in my love for it, I just can't seem to get enough of it. It made sense to watch it again to, sort of, get the best of both worlds, as Almodóvar and Allen have been my go-tos when nothing new looks remotely appealing. I'm still having problems with the labeling of the films (On the Bus, for example, should fall somewhere between "Good" and "Middle-of-the-Road"), but hopefully that'll work itself out. I'm going to try to do a fair amount of writing today, so check back.

The New Favorites

Les corps ouverts - dir. Sébastien Lifshitz - 1998 - France - N/A - with Yasmine Belmadi, Pierre-Loup Rajot, Margot Abascal, Mohamed Damraoui, Malik Zidi, Dora Dhouib, Sébastien Lifshitz

The Good

L'important c'est d'aimer [The Main Thing Is to Love] - dir. Andrzej Żuławski - 1975 - Mondo Vision - France/Italy/West Germany - with Romy Schneider, Fabio Testi, Jacques Dutronc, Claude Dauphin, Klaus Kinski, Roger Blin, Gabrielle Doulcet

Martyrs - dir. Pascal Laugier - 2008 - France - The Weinstein Company - with Morjana Alaoui, Mylène Jampanoï, Catherine Bégin, Robert Toupin, Patricia Tulasne, Isabelle Chasse, Juliette Gosselin, Xavier Dolan-Tadros

On the Bus - dir. Dustin Lance Black - 2001 - USA - 10% Productions

The Bad

Too Much Flesh - dir. Pascal Arnold, Jean-Marc Barr - 2000 - France - N/A - Jean-Marc Barr, Élodie Bouchez, Rosanna Arquette, Ian Brennan, Ian Vogt

Revisited: The Old Favorites

Bugcrush - dir. Carter Smith - 2006 - USA - Strand Releasing - with Josh Barclay Caras, Donald Eric Cumming, David Tennent, Eleonore Hendricks, Alex Toumayan, Billy Price

Old Joy - dir. Kelly Reichardt - 2006 - USA - Kino - with Daniel London, Will Oldham, Tanya Smith

Vicky Cristina Barcelona - dir. Woody Allen - Spain/USA - 2008 - MGM/Weinstein Company - with Javier Bardem, Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johansson, Penélope Cruz, Patricia Clarkson, Chris Messina, Kevin Dunn, Pablo Schreiber

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown [Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios] - dir. Pedro Almodóvar - 1988 - Spain - MGM/Sony Pictures - with Carmen Maura, Julieta Serrano, María Barranco, Antonio Banderas, Rossy de Palma, Kiti Manver, Fernando Guillén

Revisited: Les Autres

Party Girl - dir. Daisy von Scherler Mayer - 1995 - USA - First Look - with Parker Posey, Guillermo Díaz, Sasha von Scherler, Omar Townsend, Anthony DeSando, Donna Mitchell, Liev Schreiber

DVD Updates

Just a few DVD release updates for you. Sony has lined up dates for both of their foreign language Oscar hopefuls, Laurent Cantet's The Class [Entre les murs] and Ari Folman's Waltz with Bashir, for 14 April and 28 April, respectively. As Rachel Getting Married, I've Loved You So Long and Seven Pounds have shown us, the dates will likely change by a week or two. Miramax also announced their Oscar hopeful Doubt for 14 April.

The most exciting news I have to offer comes from Facets, as they have a number of great stuff lined up for May. Firstly, they've announced a two-disc edition of Hans-Jürgen Syberberg's Ludwig, Requiem for a Virgin King [Ludwig - Requiem für einen jungfräulichen König], which makes for a fine comparison/companion piece to Visconti's Ludwig, which was released by Koch Lorber last year. Harry Baer stars as Ludwig II, alongside Ingrid Caven as Lola Montez. Facets will also be releasing Martin Meissonnier's documentary The Real Joan of Arc [Vraie Jeanne, fausse Jeanne], which explores the history and mythology of Jeanne d'Arc, Helma Sanders-Brahms' Earthquake in Chile [Erdbeben in Chili], Stanislav Stanojevic's Subversion, Jerzy Kawalerowicz's Quo Vadis?, which co-stars Boguslaw Linda, Ning Ying's On the Beat and the documentary Inquiring Nuns, in which a pair of Chicago-based nuns ask people on the street if they're happy. All street on 26 May.

Synkronized USA will be releasing two recent French films on 5 May: Antoine Santana's A Song of Innocence [La ravisseuse] and Cheyenne Carron's Twisted Souls [Écorchés]. A Song of Innocence stars Isild Le Besco (who also starred in Santana's Un moment de bonheur), Émilie Dequenne, Grégoire Colin and Anémone; Twisted Souls features Vincent Martinez and Sagamore Stévenin (Romance). Synkronizes titles are usually delayed, so keep that in mind. Lifesize Home Entertainment will also be releasing another film starring Émilie Dequenne, entitled Écoute le temps (also known as Fissures). Mathieu Demy also stars.

Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy, starring Michelle Williams, will be released by Oscilloscope on 5 May, along with Koch Lorber's release of Ole Bornedal's Just Another Love Story [Kærlighed på film]. Magnolia has set 2 June for James Gray's Two Lovers, and finally, Lionsgate is releasing the second season of Mad Men on 7 July. That's all for now.