Need evidential proof that Nicholas Cage is the greatest comedic actor of all-time!? See Next NOW!
Seriously, look at the recent track record; Wicker Man, Ghost Rider, and now this cinematic tour de force. It can only get better from here.
That seemingly constant confused look on his face, it’s no gimmick, he seriously has no idea how he still gets work.
Here are some more of those awesome covers! (more…)
Michel Gondry has done a commercial for Motorola. Check it out here.
Yes, HOTEL CHEVALIER with Natalie Portman and Jason Schwartzman, the prelude to Wes Anderson’s latest THE DARJEELING LIMITED, is available for free (I know, amazing) from iTunes.
After watching it, I felt like it was a good move on Anderson’s part, a simple dialogue between to characters that is meant to set-up intrigue but not really explain anything. From HOTEL CHEVALIER, I would expect Schwartzman’s character to be the main focus in DARJEELING, but you never know. The 13-minute short whetted my palette, and left me with my interests perked. It was good to see Schwartzman back in Anderson’s arms, and Portman was alright, I just hope she doesn’t bust out her “crying face” for a change. See for yourself!
If you have iTunes, click here to be directed to the free download.
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This short film has been all over the internet the last week or two, so why not here as well?
It’s a sort of encapsulation/promotional piece for Naomi Klein’s book The Shock Doctrine (a sampling of which can be read here). Klein is credited as one of the directors, along with Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) and his son Jonas. The book and its ideas sound interesting, though I have to say the film is bit heavy handed - but I suppose it does its job if it makes people curious or angry - or scared - enough to research the content further.
At the same time, I’m always suspicious of this sort of political harangue, however well-intentioned; Klein may not be as obnoxious (nor as funny) as someone like Michael Moore, but I bet she makes a fine living at this, and from her bio it appears that none of her politics were born of real experience - rather she has a family history of academic, institutionalized activism. I get the impression (of course I could be totally wrong) she’s one of those people who go on and on about the rights of “workers” yet she’s never flipped a burger or stood at an assembly line in her life. And I thought Cuaron’s overrated Children of Men had all sorts of problems - from its illogical scientific premise and confused political message to its entirely “Hollywood” conclusion.
Not that I doubt - God forbid! - the sincerity of anyone involved in this project. I just think that they should be subject to as much questioning and criticism as those they’ve targeted. Still, a short film like this is a very clever way to market a book, and it’s tempting to consider other such author/director pairings…
At any rate, Klein will be making some Pacific Northwest appearances in the coming month - the schedule is here - perhaps you can attend one of her talks and interrogate her yourself. I’d like to think she would welcome it.
New trailer here for Southland Tales, the next film by Richard “Donnie Darko” Kelly; article and interview here.
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I watched two new farces — both of which hit DVD today — the French The Valet and Lars von Trier’s The Boss of it All.
The Valet is your standard French farce — it’s a light and frothy confection without reason to mull it over afterward. In it, a billionaire CEO hires a hapless valet to pose as the boyfriend of the CEO’s supermodel mistress in order to trick the CEO’s wife into thinking that there’s actually nothing going on between the CEO and the supermodel.
The valet and his slacker roommate will almost certainly be played by Michael Cera and Jonah Hill, respectively, in the American remake (which I just made up). Mostly, I watched it because I’m a fan of Daniel Auteuil (here playing the CEO), who always looks like a big, confused bird to me, whether he’s doing comedy (like this or, say, The Closet) or drama (like Cache).
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The Boss of it All is pretty funny (in a deadpan sort of way), which is a bit of a surprise coming from the director of Dancer in the Dark and Breaking the Waves. A tech firm owner wants to be beloved by his employees, so he invents a fictional boss to blame bad news on. When an Icelandic firm wants to buy the company, he’s forced to hire an out-of-work actor to portray the fictional “boss of it all.” Hijinks, inevitably, ensue.
I’m more interested in Lars von Trier’s working methods than his actual movies, most of the time. I like his ideas about forcing limitations on art (on excellent display in his tongue-in-cheek Dogma manifesto). My favorite of his films, not coincidentally, is The Five Obstructions, a documentary in which von Trier challenges fellow filmmaker Jørgen Leth to remake his own short film five times, with a different set of “obstructions” each time. It’s fascinating to watch von Trier’s manipulativeness — for which he’s well known — give way to an expression of love and respect, free of the distancing techniques he commonly employs.
In The Boss of it All, von Trier introduces the Automavision process, a distancing technique if there ever was one. This process allows a computer to decide how to tilt or pan the camera. The camera then holds still, they shoot a take, and the camera resets and they do it again. The resulting film, then, is filled with jump cuts between various oddly-framed shots.
It’s is an exercise in deliberate obfuscation, totally at odds with the content. I’m not sure that it does the movie any favors, honestly, but it’s obviously what von Trier wants — he further distances both the audience and himself from the movie by introducing it and apologizing for making a movie that’s “not worth a moment’s reflection.” I’ll admit, I’ve spent more time since thinking about the Automavision than about the actual plot — maybe that was von Trier’s plan all along.