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The brilliance of ‘Blindness’
CANNES, France — Director Fernando Mereilles’ “Blindness” has broken the traditional opening-day jinx in Cannes.
Usually, the first movie of the fest is a real stinker. But “Blindness” got the show off to a good start Wednesday, with redemption emerging from an apocalypse.
Julianne Moore stars as the wife of a doctor who’s the only person in an unnamed city who escapes the mysterious ailment of sudden blindness.
When her husband, played by Mark Ruffalo, becomes blind early in the outbreak, she accompanies him to a quarantined dormitory by pretending to be blind herself. As the epidemic spreads, hundreds of people are crammed into disgusting, filty quarters, and Moore becomes a reluctant leader, trying to help the victims navigate the nightmare of complete social breakdown.
The movie, based on the prize-winning novel by Nobel winner Jose Saramago, explores the efforts of people to maintain their dignity among the most horrific of circumstances.
Gael Garcia Bernal, in a sinister turn, stars as an emergent gang leader within the dormitory.
Meirelles said he was drawn to the script because it shows “the fragility of our civilization” and strips the veneer off of our niceties.
Because of the subject matter, which includes a revolting mass rape scene, Meirelles said he was surprised that “Blindness” was chosen to lead off the festival. “I still don’t think this is the best film to open the festival,” he said. But festival organizers, well-aware of the usually hostile reception to opening-night films, obviously wanted to change course.
Their strategy worked.
It’s hard to watch “Blindness” and not be reminded of the irrationality that accompanied the beginning of the spread of AIDS in the early ’80s, as well as other recent epidemics. “We play civilized, sophisticated people because we have food and other necessities,” Meirelles said. “But once we lose that, our society collapses, and the question becomes: How do we start again?”
The movie co-stars Danny Glover, who serves as a narrator during the last part of the film, as well as Alice Braga and Don McKellar, who wrote the script.
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How about a connection?
Mia A. Farrell, a partner with Laboratoire in Los Angeles, is working at the American Pavilion, and she’s a frequent visitor to Austin, having grown up in Houston.
She’s trying to arrange a high-speed phone line for me here in Cannes so that I can do a couple of broadcasts on the festival for National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered.”
She’s working with a nice British chap, Chris Burton, who is representing the high-speed broadband service Skype.
Haven’t heard yet from NPR on whether the computer-based broadcast will work. But I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
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Longhorn needs a ticket
CANNES, France — A big shout-out to the University of Texas comes from Alicia Kamath, a student in the radio/television/film sequence.
She’s working at the American Pavilion, just behind the Palais. She says she’s hoping to score some tickets to a nighttime screening at the Lumiere so she can get dressed up and walk the red carpet.
In case anyone in Cannes wants to give her some, she’s just inside the entrance at the pavilion, checking badges.
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Penn spices up news media conference
CANNES, France — The annual news conference of the Cannes jury, which will decide the top prizes at the end of the 61st festival this year, is usually a dull affair. But jury president Sean Penn spiced things up Wednesday.
He attacked the “inane supidity” of President Bush, said he was encouraged by the kind of support that Democratic hopeful Barack Obama was generating. But he also warned that, if elected, Obama would have to become “a greater man than he’s ever been” to keep people from becoming disillusioned.
As usual, the media raised questions about whether favoritism, personal politics and cultural biases would play a role in this year’s jury deliberations.
Penn, of course, has been the target of bloggers who contend that he has a conflict of interest because his friend, director Clint Eastwood, has “Changeling” in competition for the Palme d’Or this year. Penn won a best actor Oscar for his role in the Eastwood-directed “Mystic River.”
Penn said such notions were insulting and that the jury would listen to the hearts and minds of this year’s films. He also joked that Eastwood has directed and starred in scores of movies, but that “the bastard only offered me one.”
Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron got a laugh when he dryly responded to the same question of bias. “I’m rooting for the Mexican movies,” he said.
Other members of this year’s jury are: German actress Alexandra Maria Lara, French director Rachid Bouchareb, American actress Natalie Portman, Iranian director Marjane Satrapi, Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Italian actor Sergio Castellitto and French actress Jeanne Balibar.
Penn got another laugh when he was reminded that he once said he was averse to movie awards and that he wouldn’t want to be on a Cannes jury because he would have to stay “wise and sober for 12 days.”
Said Penn: “How many days here do I have left?”
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Trying to catch it all at Cannes
The Nice airport is jam-packed, the crowds are already strolling the Croisette, hundreds of journalists are lining up for credentials outside the Palais, and the Cannes Film Festival is getting ready to kick off Wednesday.
The screening schedule is always withheld from journalists until you get here, and it always causes a few moans.
Some of the most highly regarded flicks will be screening at 8:30 a.m. They include Clint Eastwood’s “Changeling” and “Linha De Passe” from Walter Salles.
Then there are the inevitable conflicts. You can’t see Atom Egoyan’s “Adoration” without missing the press conference for Steven Soderbergh’s “Che.”
But that’s par for the course in Cannes. Too may films, too little time. “Wendy and Lucy,” the Kelly Reichardt flick that did well at South by Southwest, screens in the Un Certain Regard program at 10 p.m. Thursday, May 22.
But it’s going up against Paolo Sorrentino’s “Il Divo,” a controversial look at the Italian reign of Giulio Andreotti. But it will be possible to catch an earlier screening of the Sorrentino flick, if people are so inclined.
Overall, the lineup looks good, with lots of Brazilian and Mexican movies, plus the usual French suspects.
The festival kicks off Wednesday with Brazilian Fernando Meirelles’ “Blindness,” followed by Israeli director Ari Folman’s “Waltz With Bashir.” Then the festival takes an early turn toward Hollywood-style comic relief with the Thursday screening of the animated “Kung Fu Panda.”
Stay tuned for updates Wednesday.
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Favorites shine at Paramount summer series
We just got our hands on the Paramount Theatre’s 2008 Summer Film Classics calendar, and, just like every year, we’re going crazy circling must-see movies.
It kicks off May 22 with (of course) “Casablanca” and “Key Largo” — a Bogie feast! — and rolls on with golden noirs “Laura,” “Out of the Past” and “Chinatown”; Hal Ashby gems “Harold & Maude” (starring my new best friend Bud Cort), “The Landlord” and “Shampoo”; and, well, we love it all.
Here’s a ticker-tape title tease: “Gimme Shelter,” “California Split,” “Picnic,” “Diva,” “Children of Paradise,” “Frankenstein,” “Blazing Saddles,” “The Red Shoes,” “Vertigo,” “Peeping Tom,” “Repulsion,” “Drums Along the Mohawk,” “Solaris,” “Planet of the Apes,” tons of classic Warner Bros. cartoon shorts and dozens more.
Check out the schedule and ticket info HERE.
‘Last Year at Marienbad’ on the big, big screen — woo-hoo!
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Heather Graham in town shooting
Heather Graham, Amber Heard and Jennifer Coolidge are in Austin filming the indie dark-comedy “Ex-Terminators,” directed by John Inwood, who has several episodes of TV’s “Scrubs” on his CV.
According to a publicist for ABC Pest and Lawn Services (!!), the film is taking advantage of ABC’s pest facilities, because the movie is “about a small pest control company that manages to ‘off’ (people’s) exes — ex-husbands, ex-boyfriends, etc.”
Shooting started this week at the ABC offices in Austin and will roll for several more.
See the film’s IMDB.com page HERE.
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Does the new Indy stink? Ask Harry
Austin’s own Ain’t-It-Cool crew have seen the future of Indiana Jones, and it looks dreary.
Wily spy reviewers for Harry Knowles’ feared movie site caught industry screenings of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” and they aren’t great, with declarations like: “this is the Indiana Movie that you were dreading” and “Lucas, Spielberg, and Ford are trying far too hard to give everyone what they think that they want.”
Here are links to two of three AIC Indy reviews, which do contain spoilers: Review #1, Review #2.
And SlashFilm.com nicely sums up the AIC reactions with bullet lists and more HERE.
The new Indy pic opens wide May 22
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Austin-made comedy debuts this weekend
“When is Tomorrow,” Austin filmmaker Kevin Ford and longtime friend Eddie Steeple’s locally made buddy comedy, premieres Saturday and Sunday at the Alamo Ritz, before moving to the Alamo South next week.
Steeples, best known as “Crabman” on TV’s “My Name is Earl,” performs stand-up before the weekend screenings. Ford will also be there.
Read our interview with Ford here, and find ticket info here.
Here’s the trailer:
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Dobie cuts in half its art-film slate
Here’s a report we wrote that runs in Friday’s American-Statesman Movies section:
When we think of the Dobie Theatre, in all its Escherian angles, movie-set auditoriums and defiantly indie programming, Hollywood piffle doesn’t come to mind.
The first house to run “Slacker” and the birthplace of the Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival; where the tiny doc “Hands On a Hard Body” played for more than a year and Quentin Tarantino launched his QT fests, the Dobie has been Austin’s art-film bulwark for better than a decade.
But as chain theaters roll out flashier presentations and the Alamo Drafthouse expands its programming and singular in-house perks (cocktails, sir?), the four-screen art house on the Drag has taken a hit, with ticket sales sagging badly enough that action must be taken. And that action is action, as in corpulent Hollywood action movies, and more. Opening today at the Dobie: “Speed Racer” and “What Happens in Vegas.” Coming soon: “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.” (Already on the marquee: comedy blockbuster “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.”)
It’s been “increasingly difficult” to compete even with arthouse brethren like the Arbor because the Dobie remains obstinately low-tech, Dobie manager Dan Cofer says. So from now on expect a 50-50 mix of the Dobie’s customary indie/foreign films and major Hollywood fare. Cofer says this is a local issue and not symptomatic of the nationwide Landmark chain, which bought the theater in 1999.
(Photo borrowed from Kat Candler’s blog, available HERE)
“The Dobie’s a funky, old-school art house, a relic of an earlier time,” Cofer explains. High-definition projection, deafening sound systems, stadium seats and restaurant-style menus have burnished the general movie-going experience. Meanwhile, “the Dobie just stays the same,” Cofer says.
Though we bemoan a shrunken slate of locally shown boutique films, it’s understood that survival is paramount.
“It’s not necessarily a bad sign. In some ways I’d like to stick to our guns as a 100-percent art house,” Cofer says. “But if bringing in these films can keep us alive, I’m all for it.”
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Criterion goes Blu
While we still haven’t jumped to Blu-Ray — just bought a new regular player last year, curses — we love hearing that our favorite DVD distributor The Criterion Collection is adding the format in October to its distinguished library of some of the best and most important films ever made. Think high-def. Think totally rad. And they’ll be priced the same as their standard editions.
Announced Blu-Ray titles so far: “The Third Man,” “Bottle Rocket” (yesss), “Chungking Express,” “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” “The Last Emperor” (yawnnn), “El Norte,” “The 400 Blows,” “Gimme Shelter,” “The Complete Monterey Pop,” “Contempt,” “Walkabout,” “For All Mankind” and “The Wages of Fear.”
A reminder that the thesis projects of select UT film students will screen for FREE from 12 to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Alamo Ritz. Be there early for seats.
They describe it like this:
The eclectic group of 11 films (includes): the satirical comedy of director Gabe Evans’ “Le Grand Voyage de Giovanni,” a picaresque tale of film movement mockery; Lucas Amann’s “Popsicle,” a dark tale concerning a nefarious puppeteer; Sergio Carvajal’s multicultural mini-epic “Lo Que Daria Por Volver,” an examination of the concept of one’s identity; Molly Green’s dark comedy “That’s Not Funny,” shedding some light on why we find misfortune in others’ lives humorous.
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More good stuff from the Austin Film Society
Early heads up on three cool events by AFS:
- Fresh off wrapping his feature “Me and Orson Welles” in London, Richard Linklater will present his new documentary “Inning by Inning: A Portrait of a Coach,” a profile of heroic UT baseball coach Augie Garrido, June 3 at the Paramount. Details to be announced. More about the movie HERE.
Austin-made comedy “Baghead” will be presented by its makers Mark and Jay Duplass at 9:30 p.m. June 12 outside at the Star Hill Ranch. Details coming later.
AFS’ Essential Cinema presents “Making the World Laugh: Global Comedy,” a nine-film series featuring works from France, Israel, Argentina, Hong Kong and beyond, including “Kung Fu Hustle,” “The Band’s Visit,” “Rolling Family,” a new print of Chaplin’s late classic “Monsieur Verdoux” and more. June 3 - July 29 at the Alamo South.
Info on all of the above can be found soon HERE.
Lastly, my favorite movie-related link of the day, RIGHT HERE.
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Here comes Cannes
The opening-night movie at the Cannes Film Festival has traditionally been a stinker that screens out of competition. Think “The Da Vinci Code.”
But this year, the movie that kicks off the festival May 14 will actually be in competition for the Palme d’Or and has the probability of being worthwhile. Fernando Meirelles’ “Blindness” is based on the prize-winning novel by Jose Saramago and focuses on a town that comes down with a mysterious case of sudden blindness, leaving everyone sightless except for one woman.
Meirelles, a Brazilian who works in multinational productions, is a noted director, having done such standouts as “City of God” and “The Constant Gardener.” And he has assembled a great cast. Julianne Moore, one of the nicest women in show business and one of the most talented, stars as the woman who can see. Mark Ruffalo plays her husband, a doctor.
I first met Meirelles in Cannes a few years ago when he brought “City of God” to the festival. It was a searing tale of life on the streets of Sao Paolo, where Meirelles grew up.
He’s quite gracious and, thankfully, fluent in English. “Blindness” has been one of the most anticipated art films of the year, so it’s good to see that he made the competition.
Stay tuned for more posts, which will be coming daily starting next Tuesday, when I land in the south of France.
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B-there for Texas b-boy documentary
Marcy Garriott’s “Inside the Circle,” the Texas b-boy doc that won a 2007 SXSW Audience Award, was not only picked up for distribution by Cinema Libre Studio in Los Angeles, but it’s having a special screening May 12 at the Alamo Ritz and tix are only two bucks.
The film’s trailer and more about the screening HERE. And the movie’s own site HERE.
Bits and bites:
- The original Rambo movie, “First Blood,” will have a special one-night showing in theaters nationwide, including at four Austin-area joints.
Screening of the digitally remastered, high-def version is at 7:30 p.m. May 15 at Tinseltown Pflugerville, Southpark Meadows, Metropolitan and Gateway.
Expect a look at an alternate ending of the movie, too, “that could have changed Rambo’s theatrical history forever, presented for the first time in movie theaters,” plus an interview with Sylvester Stallone. In other words: Everything you’ll find on the upcoming DVD.
Get the tickets at theater box offices or at www.FathomEvents.com.
- UT grad and one-time Yellow Rose server Renee Zellweger has signed up for a new Lifetime movie, “Living Proof,” co-starring Harry Connick Jr., who’s also in her upcoming movie “Chilled in Miami.” It’s a breast-cancer medical drama based on real events.
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Short film contests
Fire off your digital short movie to the SXSWclick Festival, where you can win prizes and make a calling card for future fame and glory.
There are five categories and celebrity jurors, and the deadline in June 13. Winners will screen at SXSW next March.
Details and entry stuff HERE.
Reel Women presents another round of the popular 48-Hour Film Project, during which contestant teams write, shoot, edit and score a short movie in a single weekend.
Organizers don’t know what kind of film you’ll make, and either do you. Not until you draw for your genre June 20. Films are due June 22. All movies will screen for the public at the Arbor, and a wealth of awards will be bestowed.
Register (bring moola; it ain’t cheap) and get more HERE.
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Mike Judge ‘Extract’-s laughs
No word yet if he’ll make it in Austin, but Mike Judge is writing and directing the comedy “Extract,” with Jason Bateman in the lead.
The hometown humorist filmed his two prior features, the cult smash “Office Space” and the unjustly neglected “Idiocracy,” in Austin.
Bateman will play an extract plant owner beset by workplace and personal troubles, including a cheating wife. “Extract” will be the first feature from Ternion Productions, the new company Judge formed with John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky, according to Variety.
Judge, Altschuler and Krinsky write and produce the animated Fox show “King of the Hill” and are working on “The Goode Family,” an animated sitcom for ABC that will premiere next year.
Judge, Bateman
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Austin Movies Inc.: ‘The Goree Girls’
“Goree Girls” — A big maybe. DreamWorks is producing an adaptation of Skip Hollandsworth’s Texas Monthly article about a falsely convicted woman who forms an all-female band in a Texas prison. Jennifer Aniston could star, and Texas writer-director John Lee Hancock (“The Alamo”) is rewriting Margaret Nagle’s script.
Austin Movies Inc. Updates: Keeping checking this page. Add your reports and thoughts in the commentary block.
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Austin Movies Inc.: Untitled Alejandro Escovedo documentary
Untitled Alejandro Escovedo documentary — Director Jonathan Demme (“Stop Making Sense,” “Silence of the Lambs”) should be in town soon to film Escovedo in concert at Las Manitas Avenue Cafe for a documentary about the Austin musical wonder, according to several sources.
Austin Movies Inc. Updates: Keeping checking this page. Add your reports and thoughts in the commentary block.
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Austin Movies Inc.: ‘Kick the Can’
“Kick the Can” — A drama directed by Sol Tryon, whose comedy “The Living Wake” made a small splash at last year’s Austin Film Festival. Jesse Eisenberg, star of “Living Wake,” and Mark Webber, who starred in the Ethan Hawke-directed films “The Hottest State” and “Chelsea Walls” lead the cast. After opening an office in Austin and scouting for locations, the production is now in hiatus.
Austin Movies Inc. Updates: Keeping checking this page. Add your reports and thoughts in the commentary block.
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Austin Movies Inc.: ‘Whip It!’
“Whip It!” — Austin native Shauna Cross joined a roller-derby team when she moved to Los Angeles after graduating from the University of Texas. She funneled her experiences into the young-adult novel “Derby Girl” which is the basis for her script, an Austin-set roller-derby dramedy. Drew Barrymore directs, and “Juno“‘s Ellen Page stars. Shooting is rumored to start this summer in Austin, but no solid deals have been inked yet.
Austin Movies Inc. Updates: Keeping checking this page. Add your reports and thoughts in the commentary block.
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Austin Movies Inc.: ‘The Sno Cone Stand Inc.’
“The Sno Cone Stand Inc.” — Three 20-something stockbrokers want to bust out of the corporate rut and make a buck, so, of course, they open the confectionery kiosk of the title. The low-budget Austin comedy by first-time feature filmmaker Travis Knapp stars Morgan Fairchild and Tony Sirico of ‘The Sopranos,’ with cameos by local luminaries Michael and Susan Dell, Ruthie Foster and street-corner spectacle Leslie Cochran. No release date on the movie, which was made last year in town. www.thesnoconestand.com.
Austin Movies Inc. Updates: Keeping checking this page. Add your reports and thoughts in the commentary block.
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As much as I’m sure we’d love to take the credit, Kelly’s new film “Wendy and Lucy” did not screen at SXSW. “The Pleasure of Being Robbed,” however, did premiere at SXSW and will screen at Cannes in the Directors
... read the full comment by Matt Dentler | Comment on Trying to catch it all at Cannes Read Trying to catch it all at Cannes
The second review is a fake. The guy admits it on his forum at stallioncornell.com/board.
... read the full comment by Stallion Cornell | Comment on Does the new Indy stink? Ask Harry Read Does the new Indy stink? Ask Harry
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