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As a small child, motherless Grace started keeping snails in a jar, writing names on their shells and watching their life cycle — mate, breed, die — with loving fascination. “They were my friends,” she muses in voiceover in Memoir of a Snail, which this week had its premiere at the Annecy International Animation Festival. “I knew they’d never leave me, hurt me — or die.” Moments before, we saw Gracie’s huge ovoid eyes, spill over with tears as the aged Pinkie, her only human companion, breathed her final death rattle. “I’m so alone,” says Grace, not for the first time. “Goddamn life! Such a stupid, stupid puzzle!”
Pathos laid on with a shovel, you may be thinking — but you would be wrong. Following 2009’s Mary and Max, Memoir of a Snail is only the second Claymation feature from Australia’s Adam Elliot, who won an Oscar for his short...
Pathos laid on with a shovel, you may be thinking — but you would be wrong. Following 2009’s Mary and Max, Memoir of a Snail is only the second Claymation feature from Australia’s Adam Elliot, who won an Oscar for his short...
- 6/14/2024
- by Stephanie Bunbury
- Deadline Film + TV
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When you’re looking for more than defiant princesses, Minions, and martial arts-wielding animals, indie animation is where you can experience something outside the box. Fortunately, Madman and IFC Films are here to present the Memoir of a Snail teaser trailer, which previews a wonderfully strange-looking animated feature from Academy Award-winning director Adam Elliot.
In the Memoir of a Snail teaser trailer, Grace Pudle is separated from her twin brother Gilbert following their parents’ deaths. Unfortunately for Grace, things don’t get much better after that, and the only one who will listen to her tragic tale is a garden snail named Sylvia.
Here’s the official synopsis for Memoir of a Snail:
“Grace Pudel is a lonely misfit with an affinity for collecting ornamental snails and an intense love for books. At a young age, when Grace is separated from her twin brother Gilbert, she falls into a spiral of anxiety and angst.
In the Memoir of a Snail teaser trailer, Grace Pudle is separated from her twin brother Gilbert following their parents’ deaths. Unfortunately for Grace, things don’t get much better after that, and the only one who will listen to her tragic tale is a garden snail named Sylvia.
Here’s the official synopsis for Memoir of a Snail:
“Grace Pudel is a lonely misfit with an affinity for collecting ornamental snails and an intense love for books. At a young age, when Grace is separated from her twin brother Gilbert, she falls into a spiral of anxiety and angst.
- 6/10/2024
- by Steve Seigh
- JoBlo.com
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"Life isn't about looking backwards, Gracie, it's about living forwards." Madman Films in Australia has unveiled the first trailer for the stop-motion animated film Memoir of a Snail, the latest creation from Australian animation filmmaker Adam Elliot. He won an Oscar in 2004 for his short Harvie Krumpet, but he is best known for his exceptional stop-motion film Mary and Max, which premiered at Sundance 2009. He's back again 15 years later with his second feature, which is premiering at the 2024 Annecy Film Festival before screening at the Melbourne Film Festival soon, too. A bittersweet memoir of a melancholic woman called Grace Pudel - a hoarder of snails, romance novels, and guinea-pigs. Set in 1970s Australia, Grace’s life is troubled by misfortune & loss. After their mom dies during pregnancy, she and her twin brother, Gilbert, are raised by their paraplegic-alcoholic former juggler father, Percy. Despite a life filled with love, tragedy strikes...
- 6/10/2024
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
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There’s a single brief shot in Memoir of a Snail showing a sleepy koala lounging in a tree fork that exemplifies the incredible attention even to the most casually observed details in this proudly analogue assembly of thousands of handcrafted objects. It also serves to show the very specific Australian-ness of Adam Elliot’s second feature, a young-adult chronicle of outsider existence that would feel intimately personal even without the meta aspect of a principal character who aspires to be a stop-motion animator.
With its morbid, often brashly salty sense of humor — we’re barely into it before learning that a homeless alcoholic voiced by Eric Bana is in fact a former magistrate defrocked for masturbating in court — and its refusal to shrink away from the darkness of death, depression, cruelty, loneliness and misshapen naked bodies, this is unlikely to be a parent-approved entertainment for young children.
Connoisseurs of...
With its morbid, often brashly salty sense of humor — we’re barely into it before learning that a homeless alcoholic voiced by Eric Bana is in fact a former magistrate defrocked for masturbating in court — and its refusal to shrink away from the darkness of death, depression, cruelty, loneliness and misshapen naked bodies, this is unlikely to be a parent-approved entertainment for young children.
Connoisseurs of...
- 6/10/2024
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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You could call Adam Elliot the Australian Nick Park. But while the British Wallace and Gromit creator and his Aardman studio have gone from award-winning claymation shorts to big-budget animation features made with the likes of Dreamworks (Chicken Run, Flushed Away) and Netflix (Chicken Run: The Dawn of the Nugget, the upcoming Wallace and Gromit movie), back in Melbourne, Elliot has kept things small.
His entire filmography: The three shorts Uncle (1996), Cousin (1999), and Brother (2000), two mid-length films Harvie Krumpet (2003) and Ernie Biscuit (2015) and his two features: Mary and Max in 2009 and Memoir of a Snail, together clock in at around 4 hours. You can become an Elliot completist in a single afternoon binge.
Three decades into his career, with an Oscar to his name (best animated short for Harvie Krumpet in 2004), Elliot continues to tell the same sort of stories: Semi-autobiographical dark and funny tales of outsiders, mostly living in 1970s Australia,...
His entire filmography: The three shorts Uncle (1996), Cousin (1999), and Brother (2000), two mid-length films Harvie Krumpet (2003) and Ernie Biscuit (2015) and his two features: Mary and Max in 2009 and Memoir of a Snail, together clock in at around 4 hours. You can become an Elliot completist in a single afternoon binge.
Three decades into his career, with an Oscar to his name (best animated short for Harvie Krumpet in 2004), Elliot continues to tell the same sort of stories: Semi-autobiographical dark and funny tales of outsiders, mostly living in 1970s Australia,...
- 6/10/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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“Norway” director Yannis Veslemes’ “She Loved Blossoms More,” which will world premiere at the Tribeca Festival, has unveiled its first teaser.
The film follows three brothers who build an unusual time machine in order to bring their long-dead mother back to life. When their delusional father comes into the picture, the experiments go awry, and they descend into a psychedelic hellscape where the past and present fuse in a comedic yet disturbing exploration of grief.
“Norway” had an extended festival run including Karlovy Vary and Fantasporto and won a Fipresci prize at Thessaloniki.
“She Loved Blossoms More” is produced by Fenia Cossovitsa (“Two Tickets to Greece”) and executive producers include Christos V. Konstantakopoulos (“The Lobster”), Ant Timpson (“Come to Daddy”) and Andreas Zoupanos Kritikos (“Knock at the Cabin”).
The cast includes Panos Papadopoulos, Julio Giorgos Katsis, Aris Balis, Sandra Abuelghanam Sarafanova, Alexia Kaltsiki and Dominique Pinon.
Veslemes is also a...
The film follows three brothers who build an unusual time machine in order to bring their long-dead mother back to life. When their delusional father comes into the picture, the experiments go awry, and they descend into a psychedelic hellscape where the past and present fuse in a comedic yet disturbing exploration of grief.
“Norway” had an extended festival run including Karlovy Vary and Fantasporto and won a Fipresci prize at Thessaloniki.
“She Loved Blossoms More” is produced by Fenia Cossovitsa (“Two Tickets to Greece”) and executive producers include Christos V. Konstantakopoulos (“The Lobster”), Ant Timpson (“Come to Daddy”) and Andreas Zoupanos Kritikos (“Knock at the Cabin”).
The cast includes Panos Papadopoulos, Julio Giorgos Katsis, Aris Balis, Sandra Abuelghanam Sarafanova, Alexia Kaltsiki and Dominique Pinon.
Veslemes is also a...
- 6/6/2024
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
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Unspooling May 18 as part of an overall Swiss Focus at the Marché du Film, Solothurn Film Festival Goes to Cannes marks the first collaboration between the long-standing Swiss festival and the Cannes market, but also a first for many of the talents and producers carefully picked for the event.
Two of Switzerland’s top documentary filmmakers Jacqueline Zünd, winner of a 2019 Crystal Bear nominated for “Where We Belong,” and Nicholas Steiner, director of “Above & Below”, ranked among Variety reviewer Peter Debruge’s Top 10 films of 2015, are set to attract buyers, sales agents and programmers’ attention with their star-stubbed fiction debuts.
In “Do You Believe in Angels, Mr Drowak,” Steiner has hired Karl Markovics, star of the 2008 Oscar winner “The Counterfeiters”, rising acting talent Lune Wedler, Lars Eidinger and Dominique Pinon.
“After two cinematic documentaries that ran worldwide and an original Netflix series [“Dig Deeper-The Disappearance of Birgit Meier”], I was excited to create this technically demanding,...
Two of Switzerland’s top documentary filmmakers Jacqueline Zünd, winner of a 2019 Crystal Bear nominated for “Where We Belong,” and Nicholas Steiner, director of “Above & Below”, ranked among Variety reviewer Peter Debruge’s Top 10 films of 2015, are set to attract buyers, sales agents and programmers’ attention with their star-stubbed fiction debuts.
In “Do You Believe in Angels, Mr Drowak,” Steiner has hired Karl Markovics, star of the 2008 Oscar winner “The Counterfeiters”, rising acting talent Lune Wedler, Lars Eidinger and Dominique Pinon.
“After two cinematic documentaries that ran worldwide and an original Netflix series [“Dig Deeper-The Disappearance of Birgit Meier”], I was excited to create this technically demanding,...
- 5/18/2024
- by Annika Pham
- Variety Film + TV
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Exclusive: The in-demand Sarah Snook has boarded Oscar-winning Australian director Adam Elliot’s upcoming stop-motion drama Memoir of a Snail as the lead voice and narrator.
Snook will voice the feature animation’s protagonist Grace Puddle, a lonely misfit who hoards ornamental snails and is addicted to romance novels.
Paris-based sales and production company Charades and London-based production and financing studio Anton, which announced last Cannes that they were co-selling the movie, have released a fresh image for the production in the lead-up to the EFM where they will show a new promo.
Memoir of a Snail (c) Arenamedia
News of Snook’s casting comes as the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning Succession star sets forth on a 14-week run of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture Of Dorian Gray at London’s Theatre Royal in which she plays all 26 characters.
Memoir of a Snail marks Snook’s first lead voice role in a feature animation.
Snook will voice the feature animation’s protagonist Grace Puddle, a lonely misfit who hoards ornamental snails and is addicted to romance novels.
Paris-based sales and production company Charades and London-based production and financing studio Anton, which announced last Cannes that they were co-selling the movie, have released a fresh image for the production in the lead-up to the EFM where they will show a new promo.
Memoir of a Snail (c) Arenamedia
News of Snook’s casting comes as the Emmy and Golden Globe-winning Succession star sets forth on a 14-week run of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture Of Dorian Gray at London’s Theatre Royal in which she plays all 26 characters.
Memoir of a Snail marks Snook’s first lead voice role in a feature animation.
- 2/9/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow and Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
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Alien and Aliens are two of the most highly respected and beloved sci-fi horror films ever made… and all of the films that have followed have either been divisive in one way or another, or just flat-out poorly received. One of the least popular entries in the franchise is the 1997 installment Alien: Resurrection (watch it Here), which put some fans off with its wild and weird tone and its crazy ideas. Decades down the line, Alien: Resurrection director Jean-Pierre Jeunet is currently doing the press rounds to promote a theatrical re-release of his very popular 2001 romantic comedy Amélie, and JoBlo’s own Tyler Nichols took the opportunity to ask him about the making of his Alien sequel. Here’s how it went:
Tyler Nichols: I’m also a big horror fan, so I have to ask you about your work on Alien: Resurrection. Because I still think of the underwater...
Tyler Nichols: I’m also a big horror fan, so I have to ask you about your work on Alien: Resurrection. Because I still think of the underwater...
- 2/2/2024
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
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Studiocanal are proud to release Delicatessen the wonderfully dark, critically acclaimed surreal comedy from directors Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, in a sumptuous new 4K restoration, and making its Uhd debut.
Directors Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro dazzling fantasy adventure The City Of Lost Children was released earlier this year by Studiocanal.
Delicatessen is set in a distant, apocalyptic future, conventional society has reached a state of collapse. Grain is now used as currency and meat has become a rare commodity. Meanwhile an unemployed clown finds work as a maintenance man in a squalid apartment block situated above a butcher’s shop.
Having fallen in love with the owner’s daughter he soon discovers the sinister truth behind the ominous landlord’s unsavoury intentions. Between blossoming romance and disappearing tenants his only hope for survival could be the members of a subterranean militia of vegetarian freedom fighters. Or is it too late already?...
Directors Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro dazzling fantasy adventure The City Of Lost Children was released earlier this year by Studiocanal.
Delicatessen is set in a distant, apocalyptic future, conventional society has reached a state of collapse. Grain is now used as currency and meat has become a rare commodity. Meanwhile an unemployed clown finds work as a maintenance man in a squalid apartment block situated above a butcher’s shop.
Having fallen in love with the owner’s daughter he soon discovers the sinister truth behind the ominous landlord’s unsavoury intentions. Between blossoming romance and disappearing tenants his only hope for survival could be the members of a subterranean militia of vegetarian freedom fighters. Or is it too late already?...
- 10/19/2023
- by Peter 'Witchfinder' Hopkins
- Horror Asylum
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Exclusive: Paris-based sales and production company Charades and London-based production and financing studio Anton are partnering on the worldwide sales of Oscar-winning Australian director Adam Elliot’s upcoming stop-motion drama Memoir Of A Snail.
The poignant tale of a young lonely misfit is the second feature after the award-winning 2019 animation Mary And Max for Elliot, who won an Oscar for the 2004 short Harvey Krumpet.
The partners have unveiled a first image as well as some first members of international voice cast featuring Jacki Weaver (Yellowstone), Kodi Smit-McPhee (Elvis), Dominique Pinon, Magda Szubanski, and Eric Bana (The Dry).
The lead cast has yet to be announced.
The animated feature is produced by Arenamedia, with Liz Kearney (Paper Planes) as producer, and Robert Connolly (The Dry) and Robert Patterson as Executive Producers.
The film is currently shooting in Melbourne, Australia, with an expected release date...
The poignant tale of a young lonely misfit is the second feature after the award-winning 2019 animation Mary And Max for Elliot, who won an Oscar for the 2004 short Harvey Krumpet.
The partners have unveiled a first image as well as some first members of international voice cast featuring Jacki Weaver (Yellowstone), Kodi Smit-McPhee (Elvis), Dominique Pinon, Magda Szubanski, and Eric Bana (The Dry).
The lead cast has yet to be announced.
The animated feature is produced by Arenamedia, with Liz Kearney (Paper Planes) as producer, and Robert Connolly (The Dry) and Robert Patterson as Executive Producers.
The film is currently shooting in Melbourne, Australia, with an expected release date...
- 5/4/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
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The deaths of Newt, Corporal Dwayne Hicks, and Ellen Ripley in 1992’s Alien 3 created a significant obstacle to the franchise’s continuation. Five years later, Alien: Resurrection answered this problem by resurrecting central heroine Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) as a clone, spliced with xenomorph DNA thanks to the alien queen embryo gestating within the actual Ripley before her death. How Resurrection handled this pesky problem, and the return of the xenomorphs proved extremely divisive upon release, with one notable, unifying exception: the mesmerizing underwater chase sequence.
Resurrection takes place two centuries after Alien 3 and follows the mercenary crew of the starship Betty. The mercs deliver their human payload to the Usm Auriga, a military ship deep into their extensive scientific study of the xenomorphs. So much so that they’ve cloned Ripley numerous times over and have full-grown xenomorphs in captivity, which happen to break free while the Betty crew are on board,...
Resurrection takes place two centuries after Alien 3 and follows the mercenary crew of the starship Betty. The mercs deliver their human payload to the Usm Auriga, a military ship deep into their extensive scientific study of the xenomorphs. So much so that they’ve cloned Ripley numerous times over and have full-grown xenomorphs in captivity, which happen to break free while the Betty crew are on board,...
- 12/1/2022
- by Meagan Navarro
- bloody-disgusting.com
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Jean-Pierre Jeunet was hailed a hero in France for directing 1997’s Alien Resurrection – the divisive (if misunderstood) fourth Alien film. “It was like I’d won the World Cup alone,” says Jeunet, who also directed the human butchery black comedy Delicatessen and later Amelie. “I had five stars on every magazine. Even I thought, man, it’s too much! The script is not so good... it’s a little bit stupid!”
Alien Resurrection, which premiered on 6 November 1997, was less celebrated elsewhere (“The American people hate it!” laughs Jeunet) and remains shorthand for the series’ critically dubious crash into franchise fodder – a comically dark space romp in which Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley is reborn as a part-alien superwoman and almost smooches with a human-alien hybrid, the much-ridiculed “Newborn”, which also happens to be her grandchild.
Alien Resurrection was a tough gig from the start. At the end of 1992’s Alien 3...
Alien Resurrection, which premiered on 6 November 1997, was less celebrated elsewhere (“The American people hate it!” laughs Jeunet) and remains shorthand for the series’ critically dubious crash into franchise fodder – a comically dark space romp in which Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley is reborn as a part-alien superwoman and almost smooches with a human-alien hybrid, the much-ridiculed “Newborn”, which also happens to be her grandchild.
Alien Resurrection was a tough gig from the start. At the end of 1992’s Alien 3...
- 10/29/2022
- by Tom Fordy
- The Independent - Film
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![Jean-Pierre Jeunet](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjE2Mjg3MTE2NF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwOTUzMzk1._V1_QL75_UY207_CR2,0,140,207_.jpg)
Jean-Pierre Jeunet put his stamp across the 1990s and 2000s with a unique blend of zany personality, thoughtful character portraits, and sharp, multi-dimensional humor. So much was running in films like Delicatessen and The City of Lost Children, both co-directed with Marc Caro, that they could have boiled over, yet somehow remained focused works that played completely as the ownerships of their creators. After a brief misfire when stepping into the world of Hollywood blockbusters with 1997’s Alien: Resurrection—an early forebear of the “indie director to studio tentpole” pipeline that gobbles up every promising young filmmaker these days—Jeunet found his peak as a solo director in the early aughts: Amélie and A Very Long Engagement brought his particular style into a new era with remarkable sophistication and retention of his characteristic charm.
Then a curious thing happened. Despite being a beloved international director arguably at the height of his career,...
Then a curious thing happened. Despite being a beloved international director arguably at the height of his career,...
- 2/11/2022
- by Mitchell Beaupre
- The Film Stage
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![Delicatessen (1991)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNGJkNWZkNWItNjUzMS00MzNkLTg2NWItNzViNDQ0ZjQ4NmZhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjUzOTY1NTc@._V1_QL75_UY207_CR2,0,140,207_.jpg)
After earning much acclaim for his early features Delicatessen, Amélie, and The City of Lost Children, it’s now been nearly a decade since the last fully-fledged feature from Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2013’s The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet. The French director is now returning next month with his Netflix movie Bigbug and the full trailer has now arrived.
Starring Dominique Pinon, Elsa Zylberstein, Isabelle Nanty, Youssef Hajdi, Alban Lenoir, and François Levantal, the sci-fi comedy is set in the year 2045 in which a group of bickering suburbanites find themselves stuck together when an android uprising causes their well-intentioned household robots to lock them in for their own safety. With a characteristically vibrant palette, the director doesn’t seem to be breaking any new ground, but hopefully it’s a fun, satirical romp.
See the trailer below.
Bigbug arrives on Netflix on February 11.
The post Bigbug Trailer: Jean-Pierre Jeunet Stages...
Starring Dominique Pinon, Elsa Zylberstein, Isabelle Nanty, Youssef Hajdi, Alban Lenoir, and François Levantal, the sci-fi comedy is set in the year 2045 in which a group of bickering suburbanites find themselves stuck together when an android uprising causes their well-intentioned household robots to lock them in for their own safety. With a characteristically vibrant palette, the director doesn’t seem to be breaking any new ground, but hopefully it’s a fun, satirical romp.
See the trailer below.
Bigbug arrives on Netflix on February 11.
The post Bigbug Trailer: Jean-Pierre Jeunet Stages...
- 1/17/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
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Having highlighted 30 films we guarantee are worth seeing this year and films we hope get U.S. distribution, we now venture into the unknown. One expects more pandemic-related delays, but there’s still plenty of currently under-the-radar movies that will hopefully make a mark in 2022.
Though the majority lack a set release—let alone confirmed festival premiere—most have wrapped production and will likely debut at some point in 2022. Be sure to check back for updates over the next twelve months (and beyond).
100. Babylon (Damien Chazelle; Dec. 25)
Damien Chazelle’s obsession with the magic of cinema seems to be reaching its natural apex: a detailed recreation of the era where silent film transitioned to sound. For collaborating with the biggest cast of his career, including Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, this should mark a big leap for the Oscar-winning filmmaker. Chazelle’s greatest strength is his ability to capture the...
Though the majority lack a set release—let alone confirmed festival premiere—most have wrapped production and will likely debut at some point in 2022. Be sure to check back for updates over the next twelve months (and beyond).
100. Babylon (Damien Chazelle; Dec. 25)
Damien Chazelle’s obsession with the magic of cinema seems to be reaching its natural apex: a detailed recreation of the era where silent film transitioned to sound. For collaborating with the biggest cast of his career, including Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, this should mark a big leap for the Oscar-winning filmmaker. Chazelle’s greatest strength is his ability to capture the...
- 1/7/2022
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
![Image](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNTM2M2VhMzYtMWJmZC00ZWE3LTg3ZmMtMzlkOGJkNzA3YTFjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTE0MzQwMjgz._V1_QL75_UX500_CR0,2,500,281_.jpg)
Bigbug Trailer — Jean-Pierre Jeunet‘s Bigbug (2022) movie trailer has been released by Netflix. The Bigbug trailer stars Dominique Pinon, Isabelle Nanty, Claude Perron, Francois Levantal, Youssef Hajdi, Elsa Zylberstein, Claire Chust, and Alban Lenoir. Crew Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Guillaume Laurant wrote the screenplay for Bigbug. Raphaël Beau created the music for the film. Thomas [...]
Continue reading: Bigbug (2022) Movie Trailer: Four Robots Take Their Masters Hostage in Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Dystopian Film...
Continue reading: Bigbug (2022) Movie Trailer: Four Robots Take Their Masters Hostage in Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Dystopian Film...
- 1/1/2022
- by Rollo Tomasi
- Film-Book
![Image](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYTk0MmFkZGUtZWVjMi00MDVlLWI3NDUtMTlkMmUzZjQwZWI5XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTE0MzQwMjgz._V1_QL75_UY281_CR22,0,500,281_.jpg)
Academy Award-nominated “Amelie” and “A Very Long Engagement” director Jean-Pierre Jeunet hasn’t released a feature film since 2013’s “The Young and Prodigious T. S. Spivet.” But the always visually bonkers director of films including the swooningly odd “Delicatessen” and the gonzo “Alien Resurrection” is back with his latest film, “Bigbug.” The artificial intelligence comedy is hitting Netflix on February 11, and the streamer has released a first trailer for the film. Watch below.
Here’s the appropriately weird synopsis, courtesy of Netflix:
In 2050, artificial intelligence is everywhere. So much so that humanity relies on it to satisfy its every need and every desire – even the most secret and wicked…
In a quiet residential area, four domestic robots suddenly decide to take their masters hostage in their own home. Locked together, a not-quite-so-blended family, an intrusive neighbour and her enterprising sex-robot are now forced to put up with each other in an increasingly hysterical atmosphere!
Here’s the appropriately weird synopsis, courtesy of Netflix:
In 2050, artificial intelligence is everywhere. So much so that humanity relies on it to satisfy its every need and every desire – even the most secret and wicked…
In a quiet residential area, four domestic robots suddenly decide to take their masters hostage in their own home. Locked together, a not-quite-so-blended family, an intrusive neighbour and her enterprising sex-robot are now forced to put up with each other in an increasingly hysterical atmosphere!
- 12/27/2021
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
![Image](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNDlkNzFiOTktN2RiYS00OTdhLTk0OWYtYjM4NjhlNWZjYzM0XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTE0MzQwMjgz._V1_QL75_UY281_CR56,0,500,281_.jpg)
Watch the Trailer for Mandibles: "When simple-minded friends Jean-Gab and Manu find a giant fly trapped in the boot of a car, they decide to train it in the hope of making a ton of cash."
Written and Directed by Quentin Dupieux
Starring Gregoire Ludig, David Marsais, Adele Exarchopoulos, India Hair, Romeo Elvis,
Coralie Russier, and Bruno Lochet
Magnet Releasing will release Mandibles everywhere July 23rd, 2021
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Third Killer Shorts Screenwriting Competition Announced: "Calling all horror writers! The third annual Killer Shorts Horror Short Screenplay Competition is accepting entries from July 1st, 2021.
The Killer Short Contest celebrates horror short screenwriters from around the world, connecting them with managers, producers, and filmmakers. The Top 10 scripts will be read by a star-studded panel of judges, with over $5,000 worth of prizes up for grabs including Final Draft 12 screenwriting software, Shudder subscriptions, career consultations, memberships to Stan Winston’s School of Creative Arts,...
Written and Directed by Quentin Dupieux
Starring Gregoire Ludig, David Marsais, Adele Exarchopoulos, India Hair, Romeo Elvis,
Coralie Russier, and Bruno Lochet
Magnet Releasing will release Mandibles everywhere July 23rd, 2021
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Third Killer Shorts Screenwriting Competition Announced: "Calling all horror writers! The third annual Killer Shorts Horror Short Screenplay Competition is accepting entries from July 1st, 2021.
The Killer Short Contest celebrates horror short screenwriters from around the world, connecting them with managers, producers, and filmmakers. The Top 10 scripts will be read by a star-studded panel of judges, with over $5,000 worth of prizes up for grabs including Final Draft 12 screenwriting software, Shudder subscriptions, career consultations, memberships to Stan Winston’s School of Creative Arts,...
- 6/30/2021
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
![Image](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjkwMWRmNWQtNmE4Mi00MWJjLThiZWYtNTgzMDYwMzE5ODQwXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTE0MzQwMjgz._V1_QL75_UX500_CR0,2,500,281_.jpg)
Betty Blue (The Criterion Collection) Blu-ray Contest — FilmBook is running a Claudine (The Criterion Collection) contest for one copy of the Oscar-nominated film. Betty Blue, directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix, stars Jean-Hugues Anglade, Béatrice Dalle, Gérard Darmon, Consuelo de Haviland, Clémentine Célarié, Jacques Mathou, Vincent Lindon, Jean-Pierre Bisson, Dominique Pinon, Claude [...]
Continue reading: Contest: Betty Blue (1986) Blu-ray (The Criterion Collection): The Jean-Hugues Anglade & Béatrice Dalle Romance Film...
Continue reading: Contest: Betty Blue (1986) Blu-ray (The Criterion Collection): The Jean-Hugues Anglade & Béatrice Dalle Romance Film...
- 12/16/2020
- by Rollo Tomasi
- Film-Book
![Image](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNjI3NDNjYjMtZjQzMy00NGZlLTk1MmItMTdlODY0MzhlYTk4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTE0MzQwMjgz._V1_QL75_UX500_CR0,0,500,281_.jpg)
Israel Horovitz, a playwright, screenwriter and director whose career was tarnished by sexual assault allegations in the late 2010s, died from cancer on Monday at his Manhattan home, his wife told The New York Times. He was 81.
Horovitz’s best-known plays include “Line,” “Park Your Car in Harvard Yard,” “The Primary English Class,” “The Widow’s Blind Date,” “What Strong Fences Make” and “The Indian Wants the Bronx.”
In 2017, nine women accused Horovitz of sexual misconduct in a New York Times article. Some of the women were actresses in plays he had directed or employed. One woman alleged he had raped her and another alleged he assaulted her when she was 16.
Horovitz responded to the accusations in the Times and apologized, saying he had “a different memory of some of these events. I apologize with all my heart to any woman who has ever felt compromised by my actions, and...
Horovitz’s best-known plays include “Line,” “Park Your Car in Harvard Yard,” “The Primary English Class,” “The Widow’s Blind Date,” “What Strong Fences Make” and “The Indian Wants the Bronx.”
In 2017, nine women accused Horovitz of sexual misconduct in a New York Times article. Some of the women were actresses in plays he had directed or employed. One woman alleged he had raped her and another alleged he assaulted her when she was 16.
Horovitz responded to the accusations in the Times and apologized, saying he had “a different memory of some of these events. I apologize with all my heart to any woman who has ever felt compromised by my actions, and...
- 11/12/2020
- by Carmel Dagan
- Variety Film + TV
![Image](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNDlhNjljMjgtYjBkMS00ODE3LWJiMGQtNjMyNDI3M2E4MTQ1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTE0MzQwMjgz._V1_QL75_UY207_CR3,0,140,207_.jpg)
![Image](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNDlhNjljMjgtYjBkMS00ODE3LWJiMGQtNjMyNDI3M2E4MTQ1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTE0MzQwMjgz._V1_QL75_UY207_CR3,0,140,207_.jpg)
Stars: Kristanna Loken, Michelle Ryan, Dominique Pinon, Delphine Chaneac, John Robinson,Tiphaine Daviot, Sebastien Lalanne, Dorylia Calmel, Slimane Baptiste Berhoun, Loup Denis Elion, Julien Pestel, Florent Dorin, Thierry Fremont | Written and Directed by Guillaume Lubrano, François Descraques
I’ve been a fan of horror anthology films for a long time, since the first time I laid eyes upon freaky treats like Creepshow and such, so I’m always intrigued when another pops up, in this case a French horror anthology that started life as a TV series, but has been reshuffled into an anthology feature here.
Dark Stories takes five horror stories and injects them into our veins with horror, suspense and thrills galore, with alien life, zombies, ghosts and ghouls to tickle the taste buds of any horror lover, it manages to change pace and tone regularly to keep things from becoming tedious or samey, which I thought really set it apart.
I’ve been a fan of horror anthology films for a long time, since the first time I laid eyes upon freaky treats like Creepshow and such, so I’m always intrigued when another pops up, in this case a French horror anthology that started life as a TV series, but has been reshuffled into an anthology feature here.
Dark Stories takes five horror stories and injects them into our veins with horror, suspense and thrills galore, with alien life, zombies, ghosts and ghouls to tickle the taste buds of any horror lover, it manages to change pace and tone regularly to keep things from becoming tedious or samey, which I thought really set it apart.
- 9/8/2020
- by Chris Cummings
- Nerdly
![Image](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZjgyZTFiMzgtOGQwZi00OWVjLTgzNGItYzdiOGRmZTA0NzkxXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTE0MzQwMjgz._V1_QL75_UY281_CR60,0,500,281_.jpg)
FrightFest, the UK horror festival that was forced to move online this year because of pandemic disruption, has unveiled a lineup for its 21st edition (August 27-31) including seven world premieres.
The event opens with the UK premiere of Sky Sharks, which features Nazi zombie-piloted airborne killer sharks.
World premieres include Logan Thomas’s There’s No Such Thing As Vampires, Patrick Rea’s I Am Lisa, Ruben Pla’s The Horror Crowd, G-Hey Kim’s Don’t Click, Toby Watts’ Playhouse, Airell Anthony Hayles and Sam Casserly’s They’re Outside, and Francesco Giannini’s Hall.
Industry-focused events will include a panel hosted by Den Of Geek’s UK editor Rosie Fletcher about how the horror genre has been affected by the pandemic.
All online film screenings will be geo-locked to UK audiences and available through FrightFest’s website.
“We will desperately miss seeing all of you in person...
The event opens with the UK premiere of Sky Sharks, which features Nazi zombie-piloted airborne killer sharks.
World premieres include Logan Thomas’s There’s No Such Thing As Vampires, Patrick Rea’s I Am Lisa, Ruben Pla’s The Horror Crowd, G-Hey Kim’s Don’t Click, Toby Watts’ Playhouse, Airell Anthony Hayles and Sam Casserly’s They’re Outside, and Francesco Giannini’s Hall.
Industry-focused events will include a panel hosted by Den Of Geek’s UK editor Rosie Fletcher about how the horror genre has been affected by the pandemic.
All online film screenings will be geo-locked to UK audiences and available through FrightFest’s website.
“We will desperately miss seeing all of you in person...
- 7/28/2020
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
![Image](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZmVmNmZiOWMtNDcwYy00ZGQxLWFhNzMtMDNmZDA0MDM1MWJjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTE0MzQwMjgz._V1_QL75_UX500_CR0,26,500,281_.jpg)
The Spaniard is directing this psychological thriller based on the famous novel by France’s Amélie Nothomb; it will star Marta Nieto, Tomasz Kot, Athena Strates and Dominique Pinon. Toro, a movie toplined by Mario Casas, Luis Tosar and José Sacristán, was released four years ago, and nine years have passed since the futuristic Eva collected three Goya Awards after first being unveiled at the Sitges Film Festival in 2011. At that same Catalonian gathering, which specialises in fantasy and horror fare, but at its upcoming edition, set to unspool in autumn this year, audiences will get the chance to see the new film by Kike Maíllo, who directed both of the aforementioned flicks. This one will bear the international title A Perfect Enemy, and it is an adaptation of the best-selling novel The Enemy's Cosmetique by French author Amélie Nothomb. It stars an international cast comprising Spanish actress Marta Nieto.
![Image](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BODQ4YTRiYTAtZjE3Zi00ZDZmLTk0ODEtNmM3NDk4NDg3NzRkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTE0MzQwMjgz._V1_QL75_UX500_CR0,26,500,281_.jpg)
Even tantalizing glimpses of 20th-century Anglo-Irish modernist Eileen Gray’s most iconic designs, including scenes shot in the seminal E-1027, a seaside villa she built for her former lover Jean Badovici on France’s Côte d’Azur, fail to compensate for the rest of the treacle comprising “The Price of Desire.” Essentially a recounting of how envious Swiss architect Le Corbusier effectively undermined Gray’s artistry and for many years obscured her place in the design pantheon, this tedious 2014 production from Irish multi-hyphenate Mary McGuckian (“Man on the Train”) receives a belated digital and on-demand release via Giant Pictures on June 2.
Gray’s remarkable life, talent and legacy receives more inspiring treatment in “Gray Matters,” a companion documentary helmed at the same time by Marco Antonio Orsini, available on iTunes.
“It’s the price of desire,” quips the collector queried about the unprecedented $28 million she pays for Gray’s sensual...
Gray’s remarkable life, talent and legacy receives more inspiring treatment in “Gray Matters,” a companion documentary helmed at the same time by Marco Antonio Orsini, available on iTunes.
“It’s the price of desire,” quips the collector queried about the unprecedented $28 million she pays for Gray’s sensual...
- 6/2/2020
- by Alissa Simon
- Variety Film + TV
![Tomasz Kot and Athena Strates in A Perfect Enemy (2020)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMDQ0YTg2YTAtY2QyNS00M2I1LWI1ZjUtNjYxYzVlNzI2N2Q1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA0MjU0Ng@@._V1_QL75_UY207_CR5,0,140,207_.jpg)
![Tomasz Kot and Athena Strates in A Perfect Enemy (2020)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMDQ0YTg2YTAtY2QyNS00M2I1LWI1ZjUtNjYxYzVlNzI2N2Q1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA0MjU0Ng@@._V1_QL75_UY207_CR5,0,140,207_.jpg)
Shoot is underway on Euro co-production thriller A Perfect Enemy starring Tomasz Kot (Cold War), Athena Strates (The Good Liar), Marta Nieto (Madre) and Dominique Pinon (Delicatessen).
The English-language film follows a sophisticated and successful businessman who is approached in an airport by a chatty woman with sinister intentions. Cameras are due to roll until February 2020 in Reus, Barcelona, Paris and Frankfurt.
From Spanish firm Sábado Películas, French outfit The Project Film Club and German’s Barry Films, the feature is an adaptation of novel Cosmétique de l’Ennemi by Amélie Nothomb, which was translated into 24 languages.
Spanish helmer Kike Maíllo directs. Screenplay comes from Cristina Clemente (Eva), Fernando Navarro (Verónica) and Maíllo. It marks the filmmaker’s third film. His debut Eva was awarded a Spanish Academy Goya Award for Best New Director.
Also aboard are Rtve, TV3, Treehouse Pictures and recently-launched Paris-based international sales firm Pulsar Content. The film is supported by Icaa,...
The English-language film follows a sophisticated and successful businessman who is approached in an airport by a chatty woman with sinister intentions. Cameras are due to roll until February 2020 in Reus, Barcelona, Paris and Frankfurt.
From Spanish firm Sábado Películas, French outfit The Project Film Club and German’s Barry Films, the feature is an adaptation of novel Cosmétique de l’Ennemi by Amélie Nothomb, which was translated into 24 languages.
Spanish helmer Kike Maíllo directs. Screenplay comes from Cristina Clemente (Eva), Fernando Navarro (Verónica) and Maíllo. It marks the filmmaker’s third film. His debut Eva was awarded a Spanish Academy Goya Award for Best New Director.
Also aboard are Rtve, TV3, Treehouse Pictures and recently-launched Paris-based international sales firm Pulsar Content. The film is supported by Icaa,...
- 12/16/2019
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
As fizzy as a freshly poured glass of Perrier-Jouët, though considerably less complex, writer-director Alexis Michalik’s “Cyrano, My Love” . Part fancifully fictional account of the play’s conception, and part “Waiting for Guffman”-style depiction of the wild antics behind its first production, “Cyrano” was released in France earlier this year, and its undemanding immersion into flashy Belle Époque settings and farcical hijinks with the thinnest topcoat of literary credibility could well earn it an audience Stateside.
According to Michalik’s telling, twentysomething playwright Edmond Rostand (Thomas Solivérès) is a talented wordsmith who nonetheless couldn’t be more out of step with the theatrical tastes of 1890s Paris. Fastidiously mustachioed, stubbornly highbrow and eternally agitated, we’re introduced to him as his latest play has just folded, with a passer-by helpfully identifying him to a companion as “a young poet who writes flop plays.”
A few years later, Edmond...
According to Michalik’s telling, twentysomething playwright Edmond Rostand (Thomas Solivérès) is a talented wordsmith who nonetheless couldn’t be more out of step with the theatrical tastes of 1890s Paris. Fastidiously mustachioed, stubbornly highbrow and eternally agitated, we’re introduced to him as his latest play has just folded, with a passer-by helpfully identifying him to a companion as “a young poet who writes flop plays.”
A few years later, Edmond...
- 10/18/2019
- by Andrew Barker
- Variety Film + TV
![Jean-Pierre Jeunet](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjE2Mjg3MTE2NF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwOTUzMzk1._V1_QL75_UY207_CR2,0,140,207_.jpg)
![Jean-Pierre Jeunet](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjE2Mjg3MTE2NF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwOTUzMzk1._V1_QL75_UY207_CR2,0,140,207_.jpg)
Jean-Pierre Jeunet is going back to his roots. While visiting Los Angeles for a retrospective of several of his films at the American Cinematheque and the USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, the idiosyncratic French director shared details of his plans to make a mockumentary about the production of his beloved 2001 romantic comedy “Amelie” in anticipation of the movie’s 20th anniversary.
Jeunet, whose last completed feature was 2013’s “The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet,” also revealed that he was in the early stages of developing a sci-fi animated feature and a futuristic comedy.
“The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet” received a botched released in the U.S. in 2015 after distributor Harvey Weinstein decided to shelve it as retaliation for the director’s refusal to make cuts.
Since then, Jeunet has been trying to get a project off the ground with mostly discouraging results. “I’ve been fighting to make a...
Jeunet, whose last completed feature was 2013’s “The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet,” also revealed that he was in the early stages of developing a sci-fi animated feature and a futuristic comedy.
“The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet” received a botched released in the U.S. in 2015 after distributor Harvey Weinstein decided to shelve it as retaliation for the director’s refusal to make cuts.
Since then, Jeunet has been trying to get a project off the ground with mostly discouraging results. “I’ve been fighting to make a...
- 5/6/2019
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Indiewire
![Kierston Wareing](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTM3MzQ0NDAzMV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMDQ2NTY5OA@@._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,6,140,207_.jpg)
![Kierston Wareing](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTM3MzQ0NDAzMV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMDQ2NTY5OA@@._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,6,140,207_.jpg)
Cast includes Kierston Wareing, Dominique Pinon and Frank Leboeuf.
Film Seekers has added Spanish filmmaker Alberto Sciamma’s travel comedy I Love My Mum to its slate ahead of the upcoming American Film Market.
Written and directed by Sciamma, whose previous films include 2015’s Blood Trap and 2003’s Jericho Mansions, I Love My Mum centres Olga and her son Ron, who accidentally exile themselves from England to Morocco. They must find their way across the Mediterranean in an absurd attempt to immigrate back home.
The cast includes Kierston Wareing (Fish Tank), Dominique Pinon (Amélie), former football star Frank Leboeuf, Aida Folch...
Film Seekers has added Spanish filmmaker Alberto Sciamma’s travel comedy I Love My Mum to its slate ahead of the upcoming American Film Market.
Written and directed by Sciamma, whose previous films include 2015’s Blood Trap and 2003’s Jericho Mansions, I Love My Mum centres Olga and her son Ron, who accidentally exile themselves from England to Morocco. They must find their way across the Mediterranean in an absurd attempt to immigrate back home.
The cast includes Kierston Wareing (Fish Tank), Dominique Pinon (Amélie), former football star Frank Leboeuf, Aida Folch...
- 10/28/2018
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
With thirteen nominations under its belt, “The Shape Of Water” is the current frontrunner to win big on Oscar night. Almost everyone has swooned for Guillermo del Toro‘s lovely blend of fantasy, romance, monster movie, and classical filmmaker, however, there’s one director with a bone to pick.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet has accused del Toro of stealing a scene from his 1991 film “Delicatessen,” and essentially replicating it in “The Shape Of Water.” The sequence in question involves Dominique Pinon and Karin Viard dancing in unison on a bed, while an old musical plays in the background on the television.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet has accused del Toro of stealing a scene from his 1991 film “Delicatessen,” and essentially replicating it in “The Shape Of Water.” The sequence in question involves Dominique Pinon and Karin Viard dancing in unison on a bed, while an old musical plays in the background on the television.
- 2/6/2018
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
"You're in danger carrying this trust..." An official international trailer from France has debuted for the latest Roman Polanski drama titled Based on a True Story, which first premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this year. Most of the reviews were mixed to negative, despite two great performances, the story is redundant and bland and the film never amounts to much. Based on a True Story is about a famous writer, played by Emmanuelle Seigner, going through a tough time who hires a ghost writer to help her with her work. However, it turns out "L", played by Eva Green, is more of an obsessive admirer who actually has an ulterior motive. The full cast includes Vincent Perez, Damien Bonnard, Dominique Pinon, Noémie Lvovsky, and Camille Chamoux. This is worth watching just for Eva Green, but that's about all I can say. Here's the first international trailer for Roman Polanski...
- 9/22/2017
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Director Ermanno Olmi’s The Legend Of The Holy Drinker (1988) Starring Rutger Hauer will be available on Blu-ray from Arrow Academy September 26th
Winner of the prestigious Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival, The Legend Of The Holy DRINKERr is another classic from the great Italian director Ermanno Olmi (Il posto, The Tree of Wooden Clogs).
Adapted from the novella by Joseph Roth, the film tells the story of Andreas Kartack, a homeless man living under the bridges of Paris. Lent 200 francs by an anonymous stranger, he is determined to pay back his debt but circumstances – and his alcoholism – forever intervene.
Working with professional actors for the first time in more than 20 years, Olmi cast Ruger Hauer as Andreas and was rewarded with an astonishing performance of subtlety and depth. Hauer is joined by a superb supporting cast, including Anthony Quayle (Lawrence of Arabia), Sandrine Dumas (The Double Life of Veronique...
Winner of the prestigious Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival, The Legend Of The Holy DRINKERr is another classic from the great Italian director Ermanno Olmi (Il posto, The Tree of Wooden Clogs).
Adapted from the novella by Joseph Roth, the film tells the story of Andreas Kartack, a homeless man living under the bridges of Paris. Lent 200 francs by an anonymous stranger, he is determined to pay back his debt but circumstances – and his alcoholism – forever intervene.
Working with professional actors for the first time in more than 20 years, Olmi cast Ruger Hauer as Andreas and was rewarded with an astonishing performance of subtlety and depth. Hauer is joined by a superb supporting cast, including Anthony Quayle (Lawrence of Arabia), Sandrine Dumas (The Double Life of Veronique...
- 9/6/2017
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
![Caitríona Balfe and Sam Heughan in Outlander (2014)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTU1NDc3NzYxN15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMTgyMjQyNjM@._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,1,140,207_.jpg)
![Caitríona Balfe and Sam Heughan in Outlander (2014)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTU1NDc3NzYxN15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMTgyMjQyNjM@._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,1,140,207_.jpg)
“Outlander” fans will be watching the Saturn Awards very closely this year, as Starz’s romance epic is nominated in four categories: Best Fantasy Series, Best TV Actor for Sam Heughan, Best TV Actress for Caitriona Balfe and Best TV Guest Performer for Dominique Pinon. However, HBO’s rival genre series “Game of Thrones” is also nominated […]...
- 6/27/2017
- by Marcus James Dixon
- Gold Derby
Ken McMullen directs this modern update of Shakespeare’s most famous play.
TrustNordisk has boarded sales for Ken McMullen’s Hamlet Revenant, which will star Mikkel Boe Folsgaard as a contemporary Hamlet and Maria Boda asOphelia, alongside an all-star cast including Ian McKellen, Gabriel Byrne, Connie Nielsen, Lambert Wilson, Dominique Pinon and Lex Shrapnel.
The film will begin shooting later this year.
France’s Albatros Films produces in co-production with Germany’s Twenty Twenty Vision Filmproduktion, Italy’s Filmexport Group, Denmark’s SequoiaPictures and Zdf in co-operation with Arte with the support of ArtKoCo.
London-based Ken McMullen has credits including Arrows of Time, Partition, Lucky Man and Zina.
The screenplay by McMullen, adapted from Shakespeare’s most famous play, is set in present times and will “brings to the surface the violence anddestructive instincts that haunt the human psyche,” the filmmakers said. They added the film would have a “haunting and atmospheric visual aesthetic.”
Read more:
‘McKellen: Playing The Part...
TrustNordisk has boarded sales for Ken McMullen’s Hamlet Revenant, which will star Mikkel Boe Folsgaard as a contemporary Hamlet and Maria Boda asOphelia, alongside an all-star cast including Ian McKellen, Gabriel Byrne, Connie Nielsen, Lambert Wilson, Dominique Pinon and Lex Shrapnel.
The film will begin shooting later this year.
France’s Albatros Films produces in co-production with Germany’s Twenty Twenty Vision Filmproduktion, Italy’s Filmexport Group, Denmark’s SequoiaPictures and Zdf in co-operation with Arte with the support of ArtKoCo.
London-based Ken McMullen has credits including Arrows of Time, Partition, Lucky Man and Zina.
The screenplay by McMullen, adapted from Shakespeare’s most famous play, is set in present times and will “brings to the surface the violence anddestructive instincts that haunt the human psyche,” the filmmakers said. They added the film would have a “haunting and atmospheric visual aesthetic.”
Read more:
‘McKellen: Playing The Part...
- 5/17/2017
- by [email protected] (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
![Ian McKellen at an event for The Prisoner (2009)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTQ2MjgyNjk3MV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNTA3NTY5Mg@@._V1_QL75_UY207_CR7,0,140,207_.jpg)
![Ian McKellen at an event for The Prisoner (2009)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTQ2MjgyNjk3MV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNTA3NTY5Mg@@._V1_QL75_UY207_CR7,0,140,207_.jpg)
Ian McKellen, Gabriel Byrne and Connie Nielsen are set to star in Hamlet Revenant, directed by Ken McMullen. Mikkel Boe Følsgaard, Lambert Wilson, Dominique Pinon and Lex Shrapnel also join the cast for the title, which TrustNordisk is shopping to buyers along the Croisette. Story is an adaptation of Shakespeare's iconic play Hamlet and follows a character caught amidst treasonous political upheavals, family crisis, sexual tensions and ambiguous friendships: a vortex of…...
- 5/17/2017
- Deadline
Claude Lelouch on Howard Hawks's Bringing Up Baby and his own La Bonne Année as films to watch to cheer you up: "Very good choices!" Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
The Cannes Film Festival is gearing up for tomorrow's opening night screening of Arnaud Desplechin's Ismael’s Ghosts (Les Fantômes D'Ismaël) starring Mathieu Amalric, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Marion Cotillard with Louis Garrel and Alba Rohrwacher, and a score by Grégoire Hetzel. Claude Lelouch with Un Homme Et Une Femme, starring Anouk Aimée and Jean-Louis Trintignant, in 1966 had won Palme d'Or honours and with Pierre Uytterhoeven, a Best Screenplay Oscar.
Mr and Mrs Gallois (Charles Denner and Judith Magre) with Simon (Jean‑Louis Trintignant) in Le Voyou: "One must learn how to detect cheaters."
Driving with Fanny Ardant, Dominique Pinon, and Audrey Dana in Roman De Gare, Abbas Kiarostami and cars, Un + Une in India with Jean Dujardin and Elsa Zylberstein,...
The Cannes Film Festival is gearing up for tomorrow's opening night screening of Arnaud Desplechin's Ismael’s Ghosts (Les Fantômes D'Ismaël) starring Mathieu Amalric, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Marion Cotillard with Louis Garrel and Alba Rohrwacher, and a score by Grégoire Hetzel. Claude Lelouch with Un Homme Et Une Femme, starring Anouk Aimée and Jean-Louis Trintignant, in 1966 had won Palme d'Or honours and with Pierre Uytterhoeven, a Best Screenplay Oscar.
Mr and Mrs Gallois (Charles Denner and Judith Magre) with Simon (Jean‑Louis Trintignant) in Le Voyou: "One must learn how to detect cheaters."
Driving with Fanny Ardant, Dominique Pinon, and Audrey Dana in Roman De Gare, Abbas Kiarostami and cars, Un + Une in India with Jean Dujardin and Elsa Zylberstein,...
- 5/16/2017
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
![Ian McKellen at an event for The Prisoner (2009)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTQ2MjgyNjk3MV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNTA3NTY5Mg@@._V1_QL75_UY207_CR7,0,140,207_.jpg)
![Ian McKellen at an event for The Prisoner (2009)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTQ2MjgyNjk3MV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNTA3NTY5Mg@@._V1_QL75_UY207_CR7,0,140,207_.jpg)
Ian McKellen, Gabriel Byrne and Connie Nielsen have signed on to star in Hamlet Revenant, a new adaptation of the iconic Shakespeare play, which British artist and filmmaker Ken McMullen will direct.
Danish actor Mikkel Boe Folsgaard, best known for his break-out performance as a real-life Danish king in the Oscar-nominated A Royal Affair, and more recently seen in this year's Danish Oscar nominee Land of Mine, will play Hamlet in the new version, which is set to begin shooting in the second half of 2017. Newcomer Maria Boda will play Ophelia. The cast also includes Lambert Wilson, Dominique Pinon...
Danish actor Mikkel Boe Folsgaard, best known for his break-out performance as a real-life Danish king in the Oscar-nominated A Royal Affair, and more recently seen in this year's Danish Oscar nominee Land of Mine, will play Hamlet in the new version, which is set to begin shooting in the second half of 2017. Newcomer Maria Boda will play Ophelia. The cast also includes Lambert Wilson, Dominique Pinon...
- 5/16/2017
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
![Alien (1979)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOGQzZTBjMjQtOTVmMS00NGE5LWEyYmMtOGQ1ZGZjNmRkYjFhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjUzOTY1NTc@._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,2,140,207_.jpg)
![Alien (1979)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOGQzZTBjMjQtOTVmMS00NGE5LWEyYmMtOGQ1ZGZjNmRkYjFhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjUzOTY1NTc@._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,2,140,207_.jpg)
The genius of the “Alien” franchise — and the temptation to continue it ad infinitum — is that each of its installments has been so markedly different. From the ominously sparse thriller that first introduced the world to the Xenomorphs, to the steroidal orgy of muscles and machine guns and alien mucus that James Cameron fashioned out of its sequel, to the fascinatingly garbled industrial sludge of “Alien 3,” and so on… this series has proven to be as endlessly adaptable as the extraterrestrial monster that inspired its title.
So, when people complain that “Alien: Covenant” isn’t an “Alien” movie, it’s hard to know what they mean. Apart from strong women, two-mouthed nightmares, and the dark promise of outer space, there isn’t much that runs through this series and ties it together as a stylistically coherent whole. On the contrary, the saga is defined by its flair for change,...
So, when people complain that “Alien: Covenant” isn’t an “Alien” movie, it’s hard to know what they mean. Apart from strong women, two-mouthed nightmares, and the dark promise of outer space, there isn’t much that runs through this series and ties it together as a stylistically coherent whole. On the contrary, the saga is defined by its flair for change,...
- 5/15/2017
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
![Somewhere Beautiful (2014)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMGUwYTcwY2QtN2I3OC00MzY1LTkxNzYtOGExOWZhNTdiZGJmXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTMzMzgzNjY@._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,3,140,207_.jpg)
![Somewhere Beautiful (2014)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMGUwYTcwY2QtN2I3OC00MzY1LTkxNzYtOGExOWZhNTdiZGJmXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTMzMzgzNjY@._V1_QL75_UX140_CR0,3,140,207_.jpg)
“Somewhere Beautiful,” Albert Kodagolian’s tribute to Atom Egoyan’s classic “Calendar,” is a movie with layers, that’s for sure.
Shot on 16mm and 35mm film, Kodagolian split filming time between Argentina and Los Angeles, telling two different, intimate stories about human connection.
Read More: ‘The Little Hours’ Red Band Trailer: Aubrey Plaza and Alison Brie Are Nuns Gone Wild in Jeff Baena’s Sundance Comedy
In South America, the story revolves around a love triangle and a photographer’s doomed relationship. In California, Kodagolian creates an alternate reality of his own life when he films himself caring for his two-year-old daughter as his marriage collapses. Egoyan was deeply involved in the making of the film, creating a collaborative relationship with Kodagolian throughout.
French film star Dominique Pinon stars in the film, along with Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz, Pablo Cedron, Maria Alche, and Robyn Buck.
“Somewhere Beautiful” opens in...
Shot on 16mm and 35mm film, Kodagolian split filming time between Argentina and Los Angeles, telling two different, intimate stories about human connection.
Read More: ‘The Little Hours’ Red Band Trailer: Aubrey Plaza and Alison Brie Are Nuns Gone Wild in Jeff Baena’s Sundance Comedy
In South America, the story revolves around a love triangle and a photographer’s doomed relationship. In California, Kodagolian creates an alternate reality of his own life when he films himself caring for his two-year-old daughter as his marriage collapses. Egoyan was deeply involved in the making of the film, creating a collaborative relationship with Kodagolian throughout.
French film star Dominique Pinon stars in the film, along with Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz, Pablo Cedron, Maria Alche, and Robyn Buck.
“Somewhere Beautiful” opens in...
- 4/19/2017
- by Allison Picurro
- Indiewire
Claude Lelouch with Anne-Katrin Titze on Quentin Tarantino and Le Voyou: "He told me if he hadn't seen that film he wouldn't have made Pulp Fiction." Photo: Sylvie Sergent
On the afternoon of the Focus on French Cinema screenings at the French Institute Alliance Française in New York of Un + Une (One Plus One) with Jean Dujardin, Elsa Zylberstein, Christophe Lambert and Alice Pol, and Un Homme Et Une Femme (A Man And A Woman), starring Anouk Aimée and Jean-Louis Trintignant, I met with the director/screenwriter Claude Lelouch at his hotel.
Disguises in La Bonne Année (Happy New Year) with Lino Ventura and Charles Gérard, kidnapping in Le Voyou (The Crook) with Trintignant and Christine Lelouch, traveling with Fanny Ardant, Dominique Pinon, and Audrey Dana in Roman De Gare (Crossed Tracks), influencing Terrence Malick, Abbas Kiarostami and cars, Howard Hawks's Bringing Up Baby, Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, dogs versus cats,...
On the afternoon of the Focus on French Cinema screenings at the French Institute Alliance Française in New York of Un + Une (One Plus One) with Jean Dujardin, Elsa Zylberstein, Christophe Lambert and Alice Pol, and Un Homme Et Une Femme (A Man And A Woman), starring Anouk Aimée and Jean-Louis Trintignant, I met with the director/screenwriter Claude Lelouch at his hotel.
Disguises in La Bonne Année (Happy New Year) with Lino Ventura and Charles Gérard, kidnapping in Le Voyou (The Crook) with Trintignant and Christine Lelouch, traveling with Fanny Ardant, Dominique Pinon, and Audrey Dana in Roman De Gare (Crossed Tracks), influencing Terrence Malick, Abbas Kiarostami and cars, Howard Hawks's Bringing Up Baby, Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, dogs versus cats,...
- 3/30/2017
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
This week the world’s longest continually running film festival opened its doors for a monumental 70th occasion. Edinburgh International Film Festival may be old, but its content is as fresh as ever. Running June 15-26, the diverse lineup consists of new local and international work alongside a finely curated set of retrospective screenings. Spread across 20 different ‘Strands’ Edinburgh brings a wealth of cinema to Scotland’s historic capital. Offering more than just films, the Eiff offers visitors the chance to join in the conversation with an array of special guests. Actors Dominique Pinon and Kim Cattrall, legendary British producer Jeremy Thomas (Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, The Last Emperor, Naked Lunch, the list goes on…) and director Kevin Smith will all be present talking about works...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 6/18/2016
- Screen Anarchy
This week the world’s longest continually running film festival opened its doors for a monumental 70th occasion. Edinburgh International Film Festival may be old, but its content is as fresh as ever. Running June 15-26, the diverse lineup consists of new local and international work alongside a finely curated set of retrospective screenings. Spread across 20 different ‘Strands’ Edinburgh brings a wealth of cinema to Scotland’s historic capital. Offering more than just films, the Eiff offers visitors the chance to join in the conversation with an array of special guests. Actors Dominique Pinon and Kim Cattrall, legendary British producer Jeremy Thomas (Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, The Last Emperor, Naked Lunch, the list goes on…) and director Kevin Smith will all be present talking about works...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 6/18/2016
- Screen Anarchy
Every week we dive into the cream of the crop when it comes to home releases, including Blu-ray and DVDs, as well as recommended deals of the week. Check out our rundown below and return every Tuesday for the best (or most interesting) films one can take home. Note that if you’re looking to support the site, every purchase you make through the links below helps us and is greatly appreciated.
The Apu Trilogy (Satyajit Ray)
Although it premiered 60 years ago this week at the Museum of Modern Art, Satyajit Ray‘s Pather Panchali remains among both the most accomplished of debuts and cinema’s most universally relatable experiences. Accentuating the basics of human emotions to result in the most complex of reactions, Ray’s subsequent trilogy of films follows the hardships of a Bengali boy as he passes into adulthood, a delicately powerful tale of transition that’s now been gloriously restored.
The Apu Trilogy (Satyajit Ray)
Although it premiered 60 years ago this week at the Museum of Modern Art, Satyajit Ray‘s Pather Panchali remains among both the most accomplished of debuts and cinema’s most universally relatable experiences. Accentuating the basics of human emotions to result in the most complex of reactions, Ray’s subsequent trilogy of films follows the hardships of a Bengali boy as he passes into adulthood, a delicately powerful tale of transition that’s now been gloriously restored.
- 11/17/2015
- by TFS Staff
- The Film Stage
Stars: Scott Adkins, Michael Jai White, Michelle Lee, John Rhys-Davies, Karl E. Landler, Dominique Pinon, James Marsters, Jimmy Jean-Louis | Directed by Guillaume Lubrano | Series created by Guillaume Lubrano
Heavy Metal, aka Metal Hurlant, has long been considered one of the definitive anthology comics of all time – telling some of the most fascinating sci-fi and fantasy stories ever comitted to print and inspiring writers and artists alike. Created by Jean Giraud (better known under his legendary moniker, Mœbius) and Philippe Druillet, Metal Hurlant was one of the first examples of the “mature” comic as we known it today. Debuting in 1974 and spanning 146 issues, the anthology book inspired both the animated Heavy Metal in 1981 and its sequel in 2000 – a sequel which was a star vehicle for iconic scream queen and Penthouse Pet Julie Strain (who would reprise her role in the video game Heavy Metal F.A.K.K.2). However it was...
Heavy Metal, aka Metal Hurlant, has long been considered one of the definitive anthology comics of all time – telling some of the most fascinating sci-fi and fantasy stories ever comitted to print and inspiring writers and artists alike. Created by Jean Giraud (better known under his legendary moniker, Mœbius) and Philippe Druillet, Metal Hurlant was one of the first examples of the “mature” comic as we known it today. Debuting in 1974 and spanning 146 issues, the anthology book inspired both the animated Heavy Metal in 1981 and its sequel in 2000 – a sequel which was a star vehicle for iconic scream queen and Penthouse Pet Julie Strain (who would reprise her role in the video game Heavy Metal F.A.K.K.2). However it was...
- 10/12/2015
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
An object is never just an object in a Jean-Pierre Jeunet film, every artifact visible in his frames represents a piece of his wondrous imagination transmuted into its tangible form. Assertively, Jeunet refers to the collection of elements that compose a film not as a toolbox, but as a toy box in which every vibrant component serves a purpose to create a greater treasure. The auteur revels in the enchanting playfulness of his craft and propels it to new inventive heights with painstaking artistry. Each magical thought populates his worlds like unexpected gifts waiting to be continuously discovered with every viewing.
Such meticulously devotion for detail is as prevalent in the physical elements that construct his narrative as in the characters that emanate from his boundless ingenuity. Delightfully offbeat and adorned with endearingly eccentric qualities, they are all idiosyncratic children of his dark preoccupations and uplifting fantasies. From Amélie Poulain and her mission to spread joy, to Louison’s quirky quest for love in “Delicatessen,” or Mathilde’s unbreakable hope in “A Very Long Engagement," and even T.S. Spivet’s desire to use his genius for practical purposes to bond with his family. Each one struggling to achieve a triumph much bigger than themselves, while roaming Jeunet’s sublimely beautiful spaces.
Jeunet is magician who channels his visionary powers into stylistic marvels and poignant storytelling. Therefore, when after several years of arduous work he releases a new feature, it becomes a major event for cinema lovers around the world. Unsurprisingly, when I found out his most recent film was finally being in released stateside an overwhelming feeling of excitement took over me. However, it was strange that I had not heard anything about this release until the week of. It was only when searching that week’s releases that “The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet” appeared – two years after its original release in most countries.
On The Weinstein Company’s official site there was no mention of the film, neither on their Facebook page, YouTube channel, or Twitter account. It was as if they had no association with Jeunet’s film, yet it was well known that the company had acquired the rights early on. The director had been verbal about the uncertainty of the film’s U.S. release due to Harvey Weinstein’s desire to create his own cut of the film. Still, I refused to believe that a film by such an important filmmaker could simply be quietly dumped into theaters without any effort to promote it.
TWC never replied to any of my emails, and every PR person and fellow journalist I asked had no idea the film was even scheduled to open that week on Friday July 31st. After tracking down Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s French representatives, they pointed me to Gaumont, the French distributor and sales agent that handled the film. Both mentioned that neither they nor Mr. Jeunet were even aware of the U.S. release. “As you know, the worst or the best can happen with TWC. For this release we definitely face the worst,” added one them.
It’s outrageous and insulting to think that a filmmaker of Jeunet’s caliber still has to endure a distributor’s pressures to reedit a film or face retribution that directly affects the release of his work in a major market. Unfortunately, in the spectrum of Harvey Weinstein’s vengeful antics this has not been the worst. Regardless of whether or not critics dislike Olivier Dahan's “Grace of Monaco,” it’s ludicrous to think that the film that opened the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, starring Nicole Kidman, and bought by one of the U.S. most important distributors, could end up premiering on Lifetime. This paints a scary picture for filmmakers, as it seems that in order to receive a successful release from certain distributors they must compromise their artistic integrity.
To discuss this terrible occurrence and the film itself, Mr. Jeunet graciously agreed to speak with me via Skype from Europe. Despite the circumstances, it was a dreamlike experience to have the opportunity to chat with one of cinema’s greatest directors, whose films have filled so many with mesmerizing wonder.
Once I had introduced myself and thanked him for his time, Mr. Jeunet began the interview inquiring about the release of his latest film "The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet," which is ironically his most American work to date and has been blatantly disowned by its U.S. distributor.
Read More: Jeunet's Disarmingly Imaginative 'The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet' Analyzes American Duality with Dark Undertones and Awe-Inspiring 3D Cinematography
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: Have you seen the film?
Aguilar: Yes, I've seen it twice now.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: Did you see it in 3D?
Aguilar: Yes, I was lucky enough to be able to see it on the big screen and in 3D
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: Where did you see it?
Aguilar: I went to the only theater in L.A. playing the film in 3D, the Downtown Independent.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: How many theaters in L.A. are playing "T.S. Spivet"? Is it only playing in one theater?
Aguilar: I think about 4 or 5 theaters in total, but only one of those played it in 3D.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: But there was no advertisement, no commercials, no promotion, no nothing, right? So I suppose the theaters were empty.
Aguilar: Yes, sadly there were only a few people there. I'm not sure if you are aware but the U.S trailer for the film came out on Thursday July 30th, just a day before the release. Nobody knew about the release as there were no press screening, a press release, or even any mention of the film in The Weinstein Company’s website. I found out the film was opening by chance. TWC was not replying to any press inquiries related to your film. Were you aware of any of this?
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: Absolutely not. We learned about this by chance because they have a contract with Netflix. The contract says that you have to release the film in 100 theaters, no more and no less. This is the only reason they released the film, to keep that contract and keep a good relationship with Netflix. It's also probably because Harvey Weinstein is still pissed off because I refused to reedit my film. "T.S. Spivet" is a fake American movie because it's a movie produced in Europe and Canada, so I have the final cut. I always choose this specifically to avoid this kind of problem, but with Mr. Weinstein you never avoid this kind of problem, of course [Laughs]. You know, we had exactly the same story with "Delicatessen," a long time a go. With "Amelie" he wanted me to reedit it, but because it was a success he decided to release the film in the same version as Europe. He wanted Caro and me to reedit "Delicatessen" but we said, "Ok. We have another idea for a modification, you cut our names out of the credits," so they never cut "Delicatessen" either. However, "Delicatessen" only became a success on video because it had a very bad theatrical release. But this release of "T.S. Spivet" is just a caricature. [Laughs].
Aguilar: This is your most American film, which could have had a better chance with audiences here in the U.S. It's in English and you have big names like Helena Bonham Carter and Judy Davis. It's a shame the release took so long and was handled like this.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: It was an American movie. Kyle Catlett, the kid, is from New Jersey. He is an American kid. It's a pity because this is my only American movie and it was not distributed in the U.S. Now it's being distributed but not under good conditions. It's also a pity because when Harvey Weinstein signed the deal he said, "We will do something even better than with 'Amelie'" and when he learned I didn't want to modify the film he gave up because he wanted to reedit the film. He needs that to survive. He is like a dog who needs to pee on a tree.
Aguilar: What did he want you to cut or modify? Was it about the darker undertones in the film?
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: We don't know! It's a question of principle. He doesn't even know it himself probably. He needs to give the film to an American editor and say, "Do something!" There is not a specific problem, he just needs to reedit the film. He does that with every movie except "The Artist." You know why? Michel Hazanavicius told me it was because the score was part of the entire film and matched the entire film. If Harvey Weinstein had reedited the film he would have had to rerecord the whole score one more time and it would have been very expensive. So he didn't reedit the film [Laughs]. It was very clever of Hazanavicius in fact.
Aguilar: Were you angry that the film wasn't getting released in the U.S. for so long?
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: I was very sad, not angry, but very sad. Now it's been two years and I accept it. You can never deal with Mr. Weinstein. Of course I didn't do that, it was Gaumont the French distributor. Other U.S. distributors wanted "T.S. Spivet" and when they told me that Weinstein wanted it I told them, "Be careful, because we know him and he will want to reedit." They said, "No, no, he will respect your film. He knows that. He won't touch a frame." Of course, he cheats all the time.
Aguilar: Now tell me about the film. I know it's been two years, so hopefully you remember the details. But since you never got the chance to do any U.S. press for the films, I'm sure people want to know more. How did you become aware of the book? It feels like a perfect match. It's like if the book was written exactly for your sensibilities.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: I have a reader. He read the book and said it was for me. I was in Australia shooting some commercials and he send me the book and told me, "Read as soon as as possible because it's a book for you." Maybe it was a book too much for me because it's very close to my own preoccupations. I knew it wasn't going to be too easy because the main character is a kid and it's not a film for kids. That's probably the reason it wasn't a huge success everywhere. It's always the same story with films with kids, like the Stephen Daldry movie,"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," or the Terry Gilliam's movie, "Time Bandits." Every time that you have the main character be a kid it's not so easy.
Aguilar: I feel there's a connection between T.S. Spivet and Amelie Poulain. They both have this broken relationship with their parents after a tragic event and they are both incredibly creative. Is that something that drew you into the book?
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: Yeah. You know, when I met Reif Larsen, the author of the novel, he told me, "When I saw 'Amelie' I had the feeling that someone had scratched my head." We have he same feelings, we use the same references, and we are now very close. He is kind of like a son to me.
Aguilar: Do you feel like you gravitate to these type of characters and stories whether you are writing them or adapting them?
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: It's very difficult to find a story for a feature because you are going to spend 3 or 4 years of your life on it. In some ways the story of T.S is always the same story of all my films. It's a story of a kid fighting against a monster. That's the theme of all my films. But this one was an opportunity to make something different for me because it was in English and with big American landscapes. It was also the opportunity to shoot in 3D because T.S. Spivet's objects or creations were an opportunity to create something original in 3D, so I was very happy to make this adaptation.
Aguilar: Tell me about working in 3D. It feels like today films use it in a gratuitous way or simply for commercial purposes, but in "T.S. Spivet" there is a specific reason for its use and it's always motivated by the story.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: Absolutely, it was part of the concept from the beginning. During the writing and during the storyboard process I was thinking about 3D. It wasn't just a commercial reason because it's complicated, especially when you are picky. You spend a lot of time on it and you lose some time on set, you lose some time during the post-production to fix every detail to avoid, for example, anything that could cause headaches. We made something, I would say, almost perfect technically, although it's never perfect but it's not bad. We had the stereographer Demetri Portelli, he worked on "Hugo," the Scorsese movie.
Aguilar: So you got the best of the best in terms of 3D
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: Yes, and we got every award related to 3D. We got three or four awards. One from the Advance Imaging Society, one from Camerimage, one Lumiere Award, and we got the French César for the Cinematography. We got a lot of awards for both the cinematography and the use of 3D.
Aguilar: For me the film is about a certain American duality, the one driven by intellectual pursuits, modernity, and invention, and the other that's more traditional, rural, and almost mythical. T.S.'s father is a cowboy and his mother is a scientist, but he is in between these two realities. .
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: Yes. In someways I am T.S. Spivet because, like him, I love to draw sketches and to create some inventions. Sometimes I win an award like he does. I don't take the train - I'm afraid of trains - but I take an airplane to get my award and, like T.S., I like to go back to my ranch to draw sketches because I love doing that. I'm a lot like T.S. Spivet, but I'm not a genius.
Aguilar: It's also a film about American culture and some of its negative aspects. There is evidently a certain commentary about the culture of guns in this country, but there is also the talk show sequence, which is very much about how the media seeks conflict and exploits emotions as an spectacle.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: The guns especially are very American, but I didn't think about that when I made the film. But then, when you have an accident or a event involving guns happening in the U.S. almost every week, I realized I was speaking about that. The TV aspect is not only in the U.S., it's everywhere, even in France now. They are interested in controversy, scandal, polemic. That's everywhere now.
Aguilar: Tell about the production design, which is always perfect in your films. Every frame in every film you make is packed with so many whimsical details.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: I love that. I love to spend a lot of time to prepare and to create some objects just for the film. Now all these things are in my office in Paris. I have a collection of objects from all my films. I love details and I love to invent and be picky with everything. It's a kind of toy box. Orson Welles spoke about his electric train. It's kind of like a Meccano set in which everything is about making the most beautiful film you can. In this box you have the costumes, the dialogue, the music, the production design, you have everything, and the game is to use everything to build this toy.
Aguilar: Regarding "T.S. Spivet," were you concerned about the fact that one of the main plot points in the story is a young boy's death? Did you worry about how this would be perceived by the audience?
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: That was something in the book that I knew from the beginning wouldn't be easy. Of course, when you speak about the death of a kid it's not easy, especially for kids. But I accepted that because I was very moved by the speech at the end of the novel. That was a big moment to shoot with Kyle Catlett.
Aguilar: Dominique Pinon is in this film as in every one of your films. You always find a great role to include him.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: He can speak like an American because he was a student in the U.S, so I didn't see any reason not to include Dominique Pinon because he surprises me every time. This time it was very difficult because he only had two days and he came from Paris to do it. We shot for two nights and he came back for the premiere of the film in Paris tight before his theater play. Just in case Ron Perlman was ready to replace Dominique Pinon.
Aguilar: Kyle Catlett is incredibly charming in the film. How did you find the ideal young actor to play T.S. Spivet?
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: It's always the same story. You see thousands of kids and suddenly you have a surprise in front of you, by Skype now of course. My first reaction was, "He is too small, too little, too young. He is not T.S. Spivet" But when you have a kid who is a world champion in martial arts, he speaks five languages, and who is able to cry on command, you think, " Oh my God, this is an interesting kid. I have to meet him!" Little by little he became T.S. Spivet
Aguilar: Can you tell me about shooting the Amazon TV pilot, "Casanova."? I can't wait to see what you did with this story.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: Yes. It's finished. They are be close to releasing it on Amazon. If I understand the rules of the game, if the spectators are happy with it they vote on the internet and say, "We want to see the first season of the series." If they don't say that it will be dead [Laughs]. Those are the rules of the game with Amazon, they are used to doing that. It's strange because they spent $10 million dollars to make something beautiful, and it's a project that makes me think about "Barry Lyndon" or "Dangerous Liaisons." I shot it like if it was a feature, thinking about the details, the costumes, and it was with my usual crew, almost everybody, and we made something beautiful. The director of photography is Pierre Gill, who was in charge of Second Unit in "T.S Spivet."
Aguilar: Diego Luna is the protagonist of "Casanova," and this is your first time working with him. How did that go?
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: I had a great relationship with him. We became friends. Every night we were watching soccer together - the Champions League. He is a great actor and a good guy.
Aguilar: Are you working on a new feature film at all or are you waiting for the right project?
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: I was expecting an idea from you [Laughs].
Aguilar: You've worked in French and English, now you need to make a Jean-Pierre Jeunet film in Spanish.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: Sure [Laughs]. I'm looking for something but it's very difficult because I would like to surprise myself. I always try to find something new and it's not so easy.
Aguilar: What's your take on the current state of cinema? TV is becoming more important and cinema is changing rapidly.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: There are so many movies now. When you want to watch a movie on VOD you have some many films to chose from, it's crazy. Now it's so difficult to make something that will endure like "Delicatessen" or "Amelie." Now it's very difficult because you have so many films. But I continue to think that I have to work just for my pleasure, which is very selfish in fact.
Aguilar: After so many years making films and facing all the struggles it involves, why are you still in love with cinema?
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: It's a pleasure to make. I also make something else just for the pleasure of it, and you can find it on my official site, which is English as well. In the news section you will find some pictures of animals I make with stuff found in nature. My wife finds some sticks, wood, or leaves, and I make animals out of them and it's the same process. It's a pleasure to make. Except with my animals I don't need financiers, I don't need money, I don't need a producer, and I don't need Harvey Weinstein to kill it. It's just a pleasure to make.
Aguilar: It's so unfortunate that the "T.S. Spivet" didn't get the released it deserved becasue of someone's control issues
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: It's a question of honor for him. He wants to reedit. He needs to reedit.
Aguilar: At least those lucky enough to see it will see your version. You've kept your creative integrity.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: Exactly. People will see it on Netflix maybe, in 2D unfortunately, but it will be my film. It won't be Harvey Weinstein's movie.
"The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet" is still playing in select theaters around the country.
Such meticulously devotion for detail is as prevalent in the physical elements that construct his narrative as in the characters that emanate from his boundless ingenuity. Delightfully offbeat and adorned with endearingly eccentric qualities, they are all idiosyncratic children of his dark preoccupations and uplifting fantasies. From Amélie Poulain and her mission to spread joy, to Louison’s quirky quest for love in “Delicatessen,” or Mathilde’s unbreakable hope in “A Very Long Engagement," and even T.S. Spivet’s desire to use his genius for practical purposes to bond with his family. Each one struggling to achieve a triumph much bigger than themselves, while roaming Jeunet’s sublimely beautiful spaces.
Jeunet is magician who channels his visionary powers into stylistic marvels and poignant storytelling. Therefore, when after several years of arduous work he releases a new feature, it becomes a major event for cinema lovers around the world. Unsurprisingly, when I found out his most recent film was finally being in released stateside an overwhelming feeling of excitement took over me. However, it was strange that I had not heard anything about this release until the week of. It was only when searching that week’s releases that “The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet” appeared – two years after its original release in most countries.
On The Weinstein Company’s official site there was no mention of the film, neither on their Facebook page, YouTube channel, or Twitter account. It was as if they had no association with Jeunet’s film, yet it was well known that the company had acquired the rights early on. The director had been verbal about the uncertainty of the film’s U.S. release due to Harvey Weinstein’s desire to create his own cut of the film. Still, I refused to believe that a film by such an important filmmaker could simply be quietly dumped into theaters without any effort to promote it.
TWC never replied to any of my emails, and every PR person and fellow journalist I asked had no idea the film was even scheduled to open that week on Friday July 31st. After tracking down Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s French representatives, they pointed me to Gaumont, the French distributor and sales agent that handled the film. Both mentioned that neither they nor Mr. Jeunet were even aware of the U.S. release. “As you know, the worst or the best can happen with TWC. For this release we definitely face the worst,” added one them.
It’s outrageous and insulting to think that a filmmaker of Jeunet’s caliber still has to endure a distributor’s pressures to reedit a film or face retribution that directly affects the release of his work in a major market. Unfortunately, in the spectrum of Harvey Weinstein’s vengeful antics this has not been the worst. Regardless of whether or not critics dislike Olivier Dahan's “Grace of Monaco,” it’s ludicrous to think that the film that opened the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, starring Nicole Kidman, and bought by one of the U.S. most important distributors, could end up premiering on Lifetime. This paints a scary picture for filmmakers, as it seems that in order to receive a successful release from certain distributors they must compromise their artistic integrity.
To discuss this terrible occurrence and the film itself, Mr. Jeunet graciously agreed to speak with me via Skype from Europe. Despite the circumstances, it was a dreamlike experience to have the opportunity to chat with one of cinema’s greatest directors, whose films have filled so many with mesmerizing wonder.
Once I had introduced myself and thanked him for his time, Mr. Jeunet began the interview inquiring about the release of his latest film "The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet," which is ironically his most American work to date and has been blatantly disowned by its U.S. distributor.
Read More: Jeunet's Disarmingly Imaginative 'The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet' Analyzes American Duality with Dark Undertones and Awe-Inspiring 3D Cinematography
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: Have you seen the film?
Aguilar: Yes, I've seen it twice now.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: Did you see it in 3D?
Aguilar: Yes, I was lucky enough to be able to see it on the big screen and in 3D
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: Where did you see it?
Aguilar: I went to the only theater in L.A. playing the film in 3D, the Downtown Independent.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: How many theaters in L.A. are playing "T.S. Spivet"? Is it only playing in one theater?
Aguilar: I think about 4 or 5 theaters in total, but only one of those played it in 3D.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: But there was no advertisement, no commercials, no promotion, no nothing, right? So I suppose the theaters were empty.
Aguilar: Yes, sadly there were only a few people there. I'm not sure if you are aware but the U.S trailer for the film came out on Thursday July 30th, just a day before the release. Nobody knew about the release as there were no press screening, a press release, or even any mention of the film in The Weinstein Company’s website. I found out the film was opening by chance. TWC was not replying to any press inquiries related to your film. Were you aware of any of this?
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: Absolutely not. We learned about this by chance because they have a contract with Netflix. The contract says that you have to release the film in 100 theaters, no more and no less. This is the only reason they released the film, to keep that contract and keep a good relationship with Netflix. It's also probably because Harvey Weinstein is still pissed off because I refused to reedit my film. "T.S. Spivet" is a fake American movie because it's a movie produced in Europe and Canada, so I have the final cut. I always choose this specifically to avoid this kind of problem, but with Mr. Weinstein you never avoid this kind of problem, of course [Laughs]. You know, we had exactly the same story with "Delicatessen," a long time a go. With "Amelie" he wanted me to reedit it, but because it was a success he decided to release the film in the same version as Europe. He wanted Caro and me to reedit "Delicatessen" but we said, "Ok. We have another idea for a modification, you cut our names out of the credits," so they never cut "Delicatessen" either. However, "Delicatessen" only became a success on video because it had a very bad theatrical release. But this release of "T.S. Spivet" is just a caricature. [Laughs].
Aguilar: This is your most American film, which could have had a better chance with audiences here in the U.S. It's in English and you have big names like Helena Bonham Carter and Judy Davis. It's a shame the release took so long and was handled like this.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: It was an American movie. Kyle Catlett, the kid, is from New Jersey. He is an American kid. It's a pity because this is my only American movie and it was not distributed in the U.S. Now it's being distributed but not under good conditions. It's also a pity because when Harvey Weinstein signed the deal he said, "We will do something even better than with 'Amelie'" and when he learned I didn't want to modify the film he gave up because he wanted to reedit the film. He needs that to survive. He is like a dog who needs to pee on a tree.
Aguilar: What did he want you to cut or modify? Was it about the darker undertones in the film?
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: We don't know! It's a question of principle. He doesn't even know it himself probably. He needs to give the film to an American editor and say, "Do something!" There is not a specific problem, he just needs to reedit the film. He does that with every movie except "The Artist." You know why? Michel Hazanavicius told me it was because the score was part of the entire film and matched the entire film. If Harvey Weinstein had reedited the film he would have had to rerecord the whole score one more time and it would have been very expensive. So he didn't reedit the film [Laughs]. It was very clever of Hazanavicius in fact.
Aguilar: Were you angry that the film wasn't getting released in the U.S. for so long?
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: I was very sad, not angry, but very sad. Now it's been two years and I accept it. You can never deal with Mr. Weinstein. Of course I didn't do that, it was Gaumont the French distributor. Other U.S. distributors wanted "T.S. Spivet" and when they told me that Weinstein wanted it I told them, "Be careful, because we know him and he will want to reedit." They said, "No, no, he will respect your film. He knows that. He won't touch a frame." Of course, he cheats all the time.
Aguilar: Now tell me about the film. I know it's been two years, so hopefully you remember the details. But since you never got the chance to do any U.S. press for the films, I'm sure people want to know more. How did you become aware of the book? It feels like a perfect match. It's like if the book was written exactly for your sensibilities.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: I have a reader. He read the book and said it was for me. I was in Australia shooting some commercials and he send me the book and told me, "Read as soon as as possible because it's a book for you." Maybe it was a book too much for me because it's very close to my own preoccupations. I knew it wasn't going to be too easy because the main character is a kid and it's not a film for kids. That's probably the reason it wasn't a huge success everywhere. It's always the same story with films with kids, like the Stephen Daldry movie,"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close," or the Terry Gilliam's movie, "Time Bandits." Every time that you have the main character be a kid it's not so easy.
Aguilar: I feel there's a connection between T.S. Spivet and Amelie Poulain. They both have this broken relationship with their parents after a tragic event and they are both incredibly creative. Is that something that drew you into the book?
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: Yeah. You know, when I met Reif Larsen, the author of the novel, he told me, "When I saw 'Amelie' I had the feeling that someone had scratched my head." We have he same feelings, we use the same references, and we are now very close. He is kind of like a son to me.
Aguilar: Do you feel like you gravitate to these type of characters and stories whether you are writing them or adapting them?
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: It's very difficult to find a story for a feature because you are going to spend 3 or 4 years of your life on it. In some ways the story of T.S is always the same story of all my films. It's a story of a kid fighting against a monster. That's the theme of all my films. But this one was an opportunity to make something different for me because it was in English and with big American landscapes. It was also the opportunity to shoot in 3D because T.S. Spivet's objects or creations were an opportunity to create something original in 3D, so I was very happy to make this adaptation.
Aguilar: Tell me about working in 3D. It feels like today films use it in a gratuitous way or simply for commercial purposes, but in "T.S. Spivet" there is a specific reason for its use and it's always motivated by the story.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: Absolutely, it was part of the concept from the beginning. During the writing and during the storyboard process I was thinking about 3D. It wasn't just a commercial reason because it's complicated, especially when you are picky. You spend a lot of time on it and you lose some time on set, you lose some time during the post-production to fix every detail to avoid, for example, anything that could cause headaches. We made something, I would say, almost perfect technically, although it's never perfect but it's not bad. We had the stereographer Demetri Portelli, he worked on "Hugo," the Scorsese movie.
Aguilar: So you got the best of the best in terms of 3D
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: Yes, and we got every award related to 3D. We got three or four awards. One from the Advance Imaging Society, one from Camerimage, one Lumiere Award, and we got the French César for the Cinematography. We got a lot of awards for both the cinematography and the use of 3D.
Aguilar: For me the film is about a certain American duality, the one driven by intellectual pursuits, modernity, and invention, and the other that's more traditional, rural, and almost mythical. T.S.'s father is a cowboy and his mother is a scientist, but he is in between these two realities. .
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: Yes. In someways I am T.S. Spivet because, like him, I love to draw sketches and to create some inventions. Sometimes I win an award like he does. I don't take the train - I'm afraid of trains - but I take an airplane to get my award and, like T.S., I like to go back to my ranch to draw sketches because I love doing that. I'm a lot like T.S. Spivet, but I'm not a genius.
Aguilar: It's also a film about American culture and some of its negative aspects. There is evidently a certain commentary about the culture of guns in this country, but there is also the talk show sequence, which is very much about how the media seeks conflict and exploits emotions as an spectacle.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: The guns especially are very American, but I didn't think about that when I made the film. But then, when you have an accident or a event involving guns happening in the U.S. almost every week, I realized I was speaking about that. The TV aspect is not only in the U.S., it's everywhere, even in France now. They are interested in controversy, scandal, polemic. That's everywhere now.
Aguilar: Tell about the production design, which is always perfect in your films. Every frame in every film you make is packed with so many whimsical details.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: I love that. I love to spend a lot of time to prepare and to create some objects just for the film. Now all these things are in my office in Paris. I have a collection of objects from all my films. I love details and I love to invent and be picky with everything. It's a kind of toy box. Orson Welles spoke about his electric train. It's kind of like a Meccano set in which everything is about making the most beautiful film you can. In this box you have the costumes, the dialogue, the music, the production design, you have everything, and the game is to use everything to build this toy.
Aguilar: Regarding "T.S. Spivet," were you concerned about the fact that one of the main plot points in the story is a young boy's death? Did you worry about how this would be perceived by the audience?
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: That was something in the book that I knew from the beginning wouldn't be easy. Of course, when you speak about the death of a kid it's not easy, especially for kids. But I accepted that because I was very moved by the speech at the end of the novel. That was a big moment to shoot with Kyle Catlett.
Aguilar: Dominique Pinon is in this film as in every one of your films. You always find a great role to include him.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: He can speak like an American because he was a student in the U.S, so I didn't see any reason not to include Dominique Pinon because he surprises me every time. This time it was very difficult because he only had two days and he came from Paris to do it. We shot for two nights and he came back for the premiere of the film in Paris tight before his theater play. Just in case Ron Perlman was ready to replace Dominique Pinon.
Aguilar: Kyle Catlett is incredibly charming in the film. How did you find the ideal young actor to play T.S. Spivet?
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: It's always the same story. You see thousands of kids and suddenly you have a surprise in front of you, by Skype now of course. My first reaction was, "He is too small, too little, too young. He is not T.S. Spivet" But when you have a kid who is a world champion in martial arts, he speaks five languages, and who is able to cry on command, you think, " Oh my God, this is an interesting kid. I have to meet him!" Little by little he became T.S. Spivet
Aguilar: Can you tell me about shooting the Amazon TV pilot, "Casanova."? I can't wait to see what you did with this story.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: Yes. It's finished. They are be close to releasing it on Amazon. If I understand the rules of the game, if the spectators are happy with it they vote on the internet and say, "We want to see the first season of the series." If they don't say that it will be dead [Laughs]. Those are the rules of the game with Amazon, they are used to doing that. It's strange because they spent $10 million dollars to make something beautiful, and it's a project that makes me think about "Barry Lyndon" or "Dangerous Liaisons." I shot it like if it was a feature, thinking about the details, the costumes, and it was with my usual crew, almost everybody, and we made something beautiful. The director of photography is Pierre Gill, who was in charge of Second Unit in "T.S Spivet."
Aguilar: Diego Luna is the protagonist of "Casanova," and this is your first time working with him. How did that go?
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: I had a great relationship with him. We became friends. Every night we were watching soccer together - the Champions League. He is a great actor and a good guy.
Aguilar: Are you working on a new feature film at all or are you waiting for the right project?
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: I was expecting an idea from you [Laughs].
Aguilar: You've worked in French and English, now you need to make a Jean-Pierre Jeunet film in Spanish.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: Sure [Laughs]. I'm looking for something but it's very difficult because I would like to surprise myself. I always try to find something new and it's not so easy.
Aguilar: What's your take on the current state of cinema? TV is becoming more important and cinema is changing rapidly.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: There are so many movies now. When you want to watch a movie on VOD you have some many films to chose from, it's crazy. Now it's so difficult to make something that will endure like "Delicatessen" or "Amelie." Now it's very difficult because you have so many films. But I continue to think that I have to work just for my pleasure, which is very selfish in fact.
Aguilar: After so many years making films and facing all the struggles it involves, why are you still in love with cinema?
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: It's a pleasure to make. I also make something else just for the pleasure of it, and you can find it on my official site, which is English as well. In the news section you will find some pictures of animals I make with stuff found in nature. My wife finds some sticks, wood, or leaves, and I make animals out of them and it's the same process. It's a pleasure to make. Except with my animals I don't need financiers, I don't need money, I don't need a producer, and I don't need Harvey Weinstein to kill it. It's just a pleasure to make.
Aguilar: It's so unfortunate that the "T.S. Spivet" didn't get the released it deserved becasue of someone's control issues
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: It's a question of honor for him. He wants to reedit. He needs to reedit.
Aguilar: At least those lucky enough to see it will see your version. You've kept your creative integrity.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: Exactly. People will see it on Netflix maybe, in 2D unfortunately, but it will be my film. It won't be Harvey Weinstein's movie.
"The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet" is still playing in select theaters around the country.
- 8/9/2015
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
Galloping into America’s heartland on a one-of-a-kind mechanical horse forged out materialized magical-realist fantasies, and wearing idiosyncratic boots drenched in saturated hues, French auteur Jean-Pierre Jeunet hand-crafted an adorably bittersweet and disarmingly imaginative odyssey in his most recent feature. Adapted from Reif Larsen's debut novel, "The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet" is imprinted with the director's unmistakable stylistic signature and it's thematically in sync with most works in his singular oeuvre. His whimsical eye for composition, production design, and overall aesthetic are magnified by the use of 3D cinematography in a story that touches on the duality of American identity via a heartwarming title character.
There was no one between than T.S. Spivet to serve as Jeunet’s exploratory vehicle into the United States, and given the filmmaker’s incomparable track record of visually marvelous journeys, he has the ideal sensibilities for the task of turning the book’s pages into live-action wonders. T.S. (Kyle Catlett) is a 10-year-old prodigy living an isolated Midwestern ranch with his atypical family. Like the director's most widely beloved character, Amélie Poulain, T.S. also feels disconnected from his parents after a tragic accident that killed his dizygotic twin Layton (Jakob Davies).
Obsessed with discovering a rare insect known as the “tiger monk beetle,” his mother Dr. Claire (Helena Bonham Carter) is emotionally out of touch with the family and finds refuge in her possibly-purposeless search. Meanwhile, T.S.’s father (Callum Keith Rennie), a straight-faced macho cowboy, is even less expressive. He refuses to discuss the incident or reassure his remaining son that he shouldn't feel guilty. The boy’s sister, Gracie (Niamh Wilson), is also not a reliable a source of comfort,as she a teenager captivated by the appeal of beauty pageants regardless of how these objectify women - a fact that her mother constantly reiterates.
Finding practical uses for abstract scientific concepts is T.S.’s strength, yet his extraordinary intelligence also alienates him from his loved ones. Not only does he live near the town of Divide, Montana, but his whole existence is marked by a divisive duality that places him at the intersection between academic brilliance and the unassuming rural lifestyle. His brother Layton was a country boy like his father, and together they enjoyed shooting their rifles, riding horses, and working the land. Being T.S.’s interest the opposite of that and more in tune with his mother’s pursuits, he feels ostracized.
Instinctively, when the Smithsonian’s Baird Award comes calling after Tecumseh Sparrow - which is what T.S. stands for - designs the first-ever perpetual motion machine, the young inventor has to lie about his age to Ms. Jibsen (a deliciously evil Judy Davis), the museum’s fame-hungry representative. Without informing his clueless family, T.S. embarks on a cross-country voyage to claim the prestigious decoration. Carrying a suitcase full of essential research tools, the skeleton of a dead sparrow that is said to have been found on the floor when he was born, a teddy bear, and his mother’s diary, the young Spivet is ready to catch a train ride This is by far not a conventional children’s adventure.
By employing his masterful ability to embed detailed imagery into all elements within the frame, Jeunet transforms every person and landscape T.S. encounters in his trip into an opportunity to juxtapose two versions of America. There is an America that thrives on innovation and another one that prides itself in tradition. The tiny hero leaves behind endless grasslands for geometrically perfect skyscrapers but finds himself perpetually stuck between the place where he needs to go to fulfill his potential and the place he calls home.
Polarizing concepts are not only visible in T.S. complex personal struggle, but they are also reflected in the way the director handles the risky tone of the film. Moments that veer into sentimental territory are countered balance with dark undertones that might prove harsh for some viewers, but which are necessary to paint a sophisticated picture of childhood without relying on simplistic and Disney-approved conventions. Death is real, guns are dangerous objects, parents are imperfect beings, and those who dare to challenge the norm are often misunderstood. But for all its truthful blows, Jeunet’s film is always adorned with gleeful innocence. Even its occasional plot missteps are redeemed by the genuinely delightful protagonist and the filmmaker’s decision to stay true to his playful nature.
It took a while for Jean-Pierre Jeunet and 3D cinematography to come together, but now that it’s happen it’s clear this technology was created for his wildly inventive mind. As T.S. dishes out incredibly specific facts about his world, nature’s processes, or unbelievable discoveries, these come to life in the form of animated diagrams that are prime material for cleverly used 3D. Though “The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet” is as astonishingly beautiful in 2D, when watched through the stereoscopic viewers (the more technical denomination for 3D glasses that T.S. would probably use), the artist’s intention is even more spectacular. It’s a luscious visual delicacy with a vibrant color palette and endless surprises along the way.
Inspired and in full form, Jeunet’s eye-popping elegance is unforgettable, but it wouldn’t be as touching without the correct sparrow looking for his pine tree thousands of miles away. Catlett’s performance is endearing, offbeat, and without the slightest sign of cynicism. T.S. is not an improbably naïve caricature, but a compassionate kid troubled by burdens beyond his age. He feels guilty over his brother’s death and doesn’t believe his father will ever love as much. Those emotional turn him from an inapproachable erudite into a child in need of guidance not from books but his unconditional family.
As the eternally distracted Dr. Claire, Bonham Carter delivers a handful of high notes, as does the rest of the supporting cast. However, a standout cameo comes from Dominique Pinon. He makes an appearance as a drifter by the name of “Two Clouds," to relay some rudimentary knowledge to T.S. only to have his thoughts pragmatically dismantled by the boy genius. Their shared screen time is brief but truly noteworthy. Pinon is perhaps Jeunet's favorite thespian as he has appeared in every single one of his features to date.
Boundless originality within a familiar framework defines “The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet,” and while it will certainly be as schismatic as the notion is confronts, it’s certain to be a rewarding pleasure for those fascinated with the director’s unorthodox filmmaking approach. Heartfelt storytelling and precise technique can coexist, just as scientific achievements and rural wisdom are not mutually exclusive. Intellectual obscurity only occurs in the indiscriminate separation of the two. Jeunet wants to find that utopian balance in which even the most theoretical of concepts can be connected to the more preciously mundane and often irrational aspects of life. Under Jeunet’s brush even T.S.’s most impressive invention eventually serves a functional purpose that ties his passion for empirical knowledge to the inner strength of his untainted heart.
Early in the film a museum lecturer (Mairtin O'Carrigan) asks his audience, “Those who pushed the boundaries of science were they not all poets? What if imagination started when science ended?” He asks those questions to prove that though most innovations feel implausible at first, there is always someone with enough disregard for impossibility to pursue such ventures. The dreamer and the scientist are one and the same.That’s how one can understand a visionary like Jeunet, as one of cinema’s finest Da Vincis whose voice manages to make the cerebral and the visceral sing in unison.
"The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet" is now playing across the U.S.
There was no one between than T.S. Spivet to serve as Jeunet’s exploratory vehicle into the United States, and given the filmmaker’s incomparable track record of visually marvelous journeys, he has the ideal sensibilities for the task of turning the book’s pages into live-action wonders. T.S. (Kyle Catlett) is a 10-year-old prodigy living an isolated Midwestern ranch with his atypical family. Like the director's most widely beloved character, Amélie Poulain, T.S. also feels disconnected from his parents after a tragic accident that killed his dizygotic twin Layton (Jakob Davies).
Obsessed with discovering a rare insect known as the “tiger monk beetle,” his mother Dr. Claire (Helena Bonham Carter) is emotionally out of touch with the family and finds refuge in her possibly-purposeless search. Meanwhile, T.S.’s father (Callum Keith Rennie), a straight-faced macho cowboy, is even less expressive. He refuses to discuss the incident or reassure his remaining son that he shouldn't feel guilty. The boy’s sister, Gracie (Niamh Wilson), is also not a reliable a source of comfort,as she a teenager captivated by the appeal of beauty pageants regardless of how these objectify women - a fact that her mother constantly reiterates.
Finding practical uses for abstract scientific concepts is T.S.’s strength, yet his extraordinary intelligence also alienates him from his loved ones. Not only does he live near the town of Divide, Montana, but his whole existence is marked by a divisive duality that places him at the intersection between academic brilliance and the unassuming rural lifestyle. His brother Layton was a country boy like his father, and together they enjoyed shooting their rifles, riding horses, and working the land. Being T.S.’s interest the opposite of that and more in tune with his mother’s pursuits, he feels ostracized.
Instinctively, when the Smithsonian’s Baird Award comes calling after Tecumseh Sparrow - which is what T.S. stands for - designs the first-ever perpetual motion machine, the young inventor has to lie about his age to Ms. Jibsen (a deliciously evil Judy Davis), the museum’s fame-hungry representative. Without informing his clueless family, T.S. embarks on a cross-country voyage to claim the prestigious decoration. Carrying a suitcase full of essential research tools, the skeleton of a dead sparrow that is said to have been found on the floor when he was born, a teddy bear, and his mother’s diary, the young Spivet is ready to catch a train ride This is by far not a conventional children’s adventure.
By employing his masterful ability to embed detailed imagery into all elements within the frame, Jeunet transforms every person and landscape T.S. encounters in his trip into an opportunity to juxtapose two versions of America. There is an America that thrives on innovation and another one that prides itself in tradition. The tiny hero leaves behind endless grasslands for geometrically perfect skyscrapers but finds himself perpetually stuck between the place where he needs to go to fulfill his potential and the place he calls home.
Polarizing concepts are not only visible in T.S. complex personal struggle, but they are also reflected in the way the director handles the risky tone of the film. Moments that veer into sentimental territory are countered balance with dark undertones that might prove harsh for some viewers, but which are necessary to paint a sophisticated picture of childhood without relying on simplistic and Disney-approved conventions. Death is real, guns are dangerous objects, parents are imperfect beings, and those who dare to challenge the norm are often misunderstood. But for all its truthful blows, Jeunet’s film is always adorned with gleeful innocence. Even its occasional plot missteps are redeemed by the genuinely delightful protagonist and the filmmaker’s decision to stay true to his playful nature.
It took a while for Jean-Pierre Jeunet and 3D cinematography to come together, but now that it’s happen it’s clear this technology was created for his wildly inventive mind. As T.S. dishes out incredibly specific facts about his world, nature’s processes, or unbelievable discoveries, these come to life in the form of animated diagrams that are prime material for cleverly used 3D. Though “The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet” is as astonishingly beautiful in 2D, when watched through the stereoscopic viewers (the more technical denomination for 3D glasses that T.S. would probably use), the artist’s intention is even more spectacular. It’s a luscious visual delicacy with a vibrant color palette and endless surprises along the way.
Inspired and in full form, Jeunet’s eye-popping elegance is unforgettable, but it wouldn’t be as touching without the correct sparrow looking for his pine tree thousands of miles away. Catlett’s performance is endearing, offbeat, and without the slightest sign of cynicism. T.S. is not an improbably naïve caricature, but a compassionate kid troubled by burdens beyond his age. He feels guilty over his brother’s death and doesn’t believe his father will ever love as much. Those emotional turn him from an inapproachable erudite into a child in need of guidance not from books but his unconditional family.
As the eternally distracted Dr. Claire, Bonham Carter delivers a handful of high notes, as does the rest of the supporting cast. However, a standout cameo comes from Dominique Pinon. He makes an appearance as a drifter by the name of “Two Clouds," to relay some rudimentary knowledge to T.S. only to have his thoughts pragmatically dismantled by the boy genius. Their shared screen time is brief but truly noteworthy. Pinon is perhaps Jeunet's favorite thespian as he has appeared in every single one of his features to date.
Boundless originality within a familiar framework defines “The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet,” and while it will certainly be as schismatic as the notion is confronts, it’s certain to be a rewarding pleasure for those fascinated with the director’s unorthodox filmmaking approach. Heartfelt storytelling and precise technique can coexist, just as scientific achievements and rural wisdom are not mutually exclusive. Intellectual obscurity only occurs in the indiscriminate separation of the two. Jeunet wants to find that utopian balance in which even the most theoretical of concepts can be connected to the more preciously mundane and often irrational aspects of life. Under Jeunet’s brush even T.S.’s most impressive invention eventually serves a functional purpose that ties his passion for empirical knowledge to the inner strength of his untainted heart.
Early in the film a museum lecturer (Mairtin O'Carrigan) asks his audience, “Those who pushed the boundaries of science were they not all poets? What if imagination started when science ended?” He asks those questions to prove that though most innovations feel implausible at first, there is always someone with enough disregard for impossibility to pursue such ventures. The dreamer and the scientist are one and the same.That’s how one can understand a visionary like Jeunet, as one of cinema’s finest Da Vincis whose voice manages to make the cerebral and the visceral sing in unison.
"The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet" is now playing across the U.S.
- 8/4/2015
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
Andrew Gower (“The Village”) has been cast as Prince Charles Edward Stuart in the upcoming second season of Starz's historical, time-traveling romance series "Outlander".
The new season will be based on Diana Gabaldon's second novel in the series, "Dragonfly in Amber". In this version, Stuart is the young heir to the exiled Catholic royal dynasty and is plotting his return to the throne with the help of his Jacobite supporters. With an unabashed taste for alcohol and women, Charles Stuart is hell-bent on glory.
Also joining the cast this year is Robert Cavanah ("Wuthering Heights") as Jamie’s Scottish wine merchant cousin who lives in Paris, Romann Berrux ("Detectives") as a young French pickpocket fiercely loyal to the Frasers, Dominique Pinon as the apothecary Master Raymond, Stanley Weber ("Borgia") as French Court member Le Comte St. Germain, and Rosie Day ("The Seasoning House") as Silas Hawkins' niece and...
The new season will be based on Diana Gabaldon's second novel in the series, "Dragonfly in Amber". In this version, Stuart is the young heir to the exiled Catholic royal dynasty and is plotting his return to the throne with the help of his Jacobite supporters. With an unabashed taste for alcohol and women, Charles Stuart is hell-bent on glory.
Also joining the cast this year is Robert Cavanah ("Wuthering Heights") as Jamie’s Scottish wine merchant cousin who lives in Paris, Romann Berrux ("Detectives") as a young French pickpocket fiercely loyal to the Frasers, Dominique Pinon as the apothecary Master Raymond, Stanley Weber ("Borgia") as French Court member Le Comte St. Germain, and Rosie Day ("The Seasoning House") as Silas Hawkins' niece and...
- 6/11/2015
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
This spring, let your imagination run free. Sci-fi fantasy and comic book fans will have the chance to embark on a unique journey beyond space, time and known worlds that await us when the highly celebrated live-action, sci-fi anthology Metal Hurlant Chronicles: The Complete Series debuts for the first time on Blu-ray™ and DVD on April 14, 2015 from Shout! Factory. This highly anticipated home entertainment collection will be available at Walmart stores nationwide and at Amazon.com
Visionary writer-director Guillaume Lubrano brings his faithful, well-crafted adaption of the world renowned comics anthology Métal Hurlant (also known internationally as Heavy Metal Magazine) to live-action with a star-studded cast including Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner), Scott Adkins (Expendables 2) Michael Biehn (Aliens), Kelly Brook (Piranha 3D), David Belle (Prince of Persia), John Rhys-Davies (Raiders of the Lost Ark), Joe Flanigan (Stargate: Atlantis), James Marsters (Buffy The Vampire Slayer), Dominique Pinon (Alien: Resurrection), Michelle Ryan...
Visionary writer-director Guillaume Lubrano brings his faithful, well-crafted adaption of the world renowned comics anthology Métal Hurlant (also known internationally as Heavy Metal Magazine) to live-action with a star-studded cast including Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner), Scott Adkins (Expendables 2) Michael Biehn (Aliens), Kelly Brook (Piranha 3D), David Belle (Prince of Persia), John Rhys-Davies (Raiders of the Lost Ark), Joe Flanigan (Stargate: Atlantis), James Marsters (Buffy The Vampire Slayer), Dominique Pinon (Alien: Resurrection), Michelle Ryan...
- 4/8/2015
- by Robert Greenberger
- Comicmix.com
Can't make it to the Valentine's Day Cannibal Holocaust feast at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema this Saturday? Don't sweat it, because now available from Mondo is the vinyl soundtrack and a new poster for the influential Italian horror film, along with a blood-dripping Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives that's also fittingly been released today. And that's just the first of three news items in our latest horror round-up, as we also look at Shout! Factory's Metal Hurlant Chronicles: The Complete Series Blu-ray and the newly unveiled final special features of Shout! Factory label Scream Factory's Class of 1984.
Cannibal Holocaust & Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives: Now available from Mondo:
"Cannibal Holocaust by Jock. 24"x36" screen print. Hand numbered. Edition of 250. Printed by D&L Screenprinting. $50"
"Cannibal Holocaust (Variant) by Jock. 24"x36" screen print. Hand numbered. Edition of 100. Printed by D&L Screenprinting. $75"
"Cannibal Holocaust LP.
Cannibal Holocaust & Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives: Now available from Mondo:
"Cannibal Holocaust by Jock. 24"x36" screen print. Hand numbered. Edition of 250. Printed by D&L Screenprinting. $50"
"Cannibal Holocaust (Variant) by Jock. 24"x36" screen print. Hand numbered. Edition of 100. Printed by D&L Screenprinting. $75"
"Cannibal Holocaust LP.
- 2/13/2015
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
This spring, let your imagination run free. Sci-fi fantasy and comic book fans will have the chance to embark on a unique journey beyond space, time and known worlds that await us when the highly celebrated live-action, sci-fi anthologyMETAL Hurlant Chronicles: The Complete Series debuts for the first time on Blu-ray™ and DVD on April 14, 2015from Shout! Factory.
Visionary writer-director Guillaume Lubrano brings his faithful, well-crafted adaption of the world renowned comics anthology Métal Hurlant (also known internationally as ‘Heavy Metal’ Magazine) to live-action with a star-studded cast including Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner), Scott Adkins (Expendables 2) Michael Biehn (Aliens), Kelly Brook (Piranha 3D), David Belle (Prince of Persia), John Rhys-Davies (Raiders of the Lost Ark), Joe Flanigan (Stargate: Atlantis), James Marsters (Buffy The Vampire Slayer), Dominique Pinon (Alien: Resurrection), Michelle Ryan (Doctor Who) and Michael Jai White (Spawn).
The last fragment of a living planet, reduced to dust by the destructive madness of its habitants,...
Visionary writer-director Guillaume Lubrano brings his faithful, well-crafted adaption of the world renowned comics anthology Métal Hurlant (also known internationally as ‘Heavy Metal’ Magazine) to live-action with a star-studded cast including Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner), Scott Adkins (Expendables 2) Michael Biehn (Aliens), Kelly Brook (Piranha 3D), David Belle (Prince of Persia), John Rhys-Davies (Raiders of the Lost Ark), Joe Flanigan (Stargate: Atlantis), James Marsters (Buffy The Vampire Slayer), Dominique Pinon (Alien: Resurrection), Michelle Ryan (Doctor Who) and Michael Jai White (Spawn).
The last fragment of a living planet, reduced to dust by the destructive madness of its habitants,...
- 2/13/2015
- by ComicMix Staff
- Comicmix.com
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