Father Geek reporting in with Edgard's new Euro-AICN column for this Monday morning. Lots of trailers and clips, some news, a review or two, and a great shot of our man Edgard in his best Rebel With a Cause pose at the end of this week's regular report from Paris, France...
EURO AICN
Hello, hello... Edgard here with a brand new Euro edition of AICN News... Yesterday evening I took my Euro editor responsibility very seriously and I decided to skip my usual saturday's evening party to watch the Cesar ceremony (aka the French Oscar's)... well I just know next time that I will party instead... well I should know better, it's not new that awards ceremony are often long and boring; but you can always hope for some actor to make an angry statement about some species in danger or a sound editor complaining about how his job is unfair and blablabla... but here... nothing, no complains, no tears, no mean jokes about politicians, no stunts, not much laugh (the joke-award for Best Background Actor was the only one that made me smile)... everything was done correctly, in a polite and "clean" way. Of course, some will argue that at least it was a simple ceremony, far from the show that is the Oscar ceremony (here there's no palm tree, no arrival of the stars, no fancy dresses, no musical or song breaks, and especially no long "thank you" speeches)... here it's direct, quick and efficient... and boring too... especially there was no great surprise on the winners... you will find a brief report here below... I have to say that the only Award ceremony I like is the MTV Movie Awards... but again it doesn't make very serious for a movie to get "Best Kiss" or "Best Villain"... oh well....
SPAIN
Well I know they're a lot of Guillermo Del Toro's fans out there, so here's something that might interest you all... Beautiful(but it's quite short and in Spanish): Here you can see a flash teaser for "The Devil's Backbone", Guillermo Del Toro´s new tense chiller to be released in April. Just Click Here and enjoy the great spooky images.
FRANCE
* So the Cesar ceremony was yesterday... the two winners are LE GOUT DES AUTRES ("The Taste of Others"; 4 awards : Best Film, Script - A. Jaoui/JP. Bacri, Actor and Actress, both in a second role) and HARRY - UN AMI QUI VOUS VEUT DU BIEN ("Harry is here to help"; also 4 awards : Best Director - Dominik Moll, Actor - Sergi Lopez, Sound and Editing). Cesar for Best Actress goes to Dominique Blanc (STAND BY); Best Foreign Film was IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE (Wong Kar Wai). Three honorary Cesar's were given to Agnes Varda, Charlotte Rampling and Darry Cowl. Let's just note that LE GOUT DES AUTRES is also nominated for the Oscar of Best Foreign Film... so if you have a chance, don't miss it !! (HARRY UN AMI... is also an excellent film you shouldn't miss).
* This week died one of the most important French director, Robert Enrico. His most notorious film is probably LE VIEUX FUSIL ("The Old Gun", 1975 - with Romy Schneider and Philippe Noiret) which happened to be the first film that received a Cesar for Best Film.
* After being banned from cinema, the very controversial film BAISE-MOI (literally FUCK ME, but weirdly translated for the international by RAPE ME... not exactly the same meaning...) is now released on video in France (but only for rent, not sale... go figure also). Dima managed to see it and sent me his opinion on it : To be honest I liked BAISE-MOI on a pure philosophical level. As a teenager I often miss the touch of female body so I absolutely freaked out when I saw that BAISE-MOI features my favourite porn star Karen Bach (who happens to be a truly great low-key actress by the way). Also I think that BAISE-MOI is the movie Don Siegel would have made out of CHARLIE`S ANGELS concept. It is the ultimate exploitation of the mindless chicks with guns concept. As an orthodox movie buff I find nice girls with guns to be the essence of exploitation cinema. And BAISE-MOI delivers. Oh, boy it does. Of course this rant is two dymensional-it is the sophistic use of movie knowledge in order to approve my fettish. The style is raw, the attitude is dirty, the shots are cool and outcome is enjoyable if predictable. This movie is what CHARLIE`S ANGELS should have been...Check it out, especially if you are a Karen bach afficionado.
God bless, Dima
* The French website "Premiere" is a real gold mine of good trailers, making-of or interviews... so here's a festival of cool links if you're interested to see the first images of some European films. And thanks to Matthieu for the info...
- Let's start with several little making-of from ENEMY AT THE GATES... these are images taken directly on set, so you get to feel how it was there and see the impressive settings... Direct link : Is Right Here.
- Then the new film directed by Patrice Chéreau (La Reine Margot). It's called INTIMACY, it's in english and it won the Golden Bear at the Berlinfilm festival. Check it out here: By Clicking .
- We've also posted the trailer and some clips from the new controversial Catherine Breillat film, after "Romance". It's called A MA SOEUR and you can check it out here: Click Now.
- We've posted the full trailer for LES MORSURES DE L'AUBE (Bites of the Dawn), a good upcoming french film with vampires, starring Guillaume Canet and Asia Argento. Here's the link: Just Click Here.
UK
* From Screendaily, some news of the next film from cult director David Cronenberg (hopefully not Basic Instinct 2... although it would have been interesting to see the result) : Having departed as the director of Basic Instinct 2, David Cronenberg is back aboard the long-gestating psycho-thriller Spider (...) Ralph Fiennes, originally attached to star opposite Miranda Richardson when the film was announced in October 2000 as a UGC production, also remains involved; Richardson's status, however is not known. The story, adapted by Patrick McGrath from his novel, tells of a man's search for the truth about his past. The original budget was pegged at $12m. Scheduled to shoot this summer in the UK and Canada, Spider would be one of the first SAG-approved "strike" productions, by dint of its backers and shooting locations. Under the guidelines issued by the guilds, foreign national SAG members such as Fiennes can participate in a production so long as it is shot entirely overseas and the production is completely foreign financed. Just as importantly, in terms of being approved by SAG, no distribution rights have been pre-sold to a US company. (...)
* Some info on an upcoming British film that could be controversial if not done right... historical stories are always tricky, especially when it's about recent facts (recent means not 300 years ago) : In a move bound to trigger controversy, UK public funding body the Film Council is likely to invest in Portman Film and Granada Film's Bloody Sunday, a feature about the real-life shooting of 13 unarmed civilians by members of the Parachute Regiment in Northern Ireland. The project, being made through Jim Sheridan's company Hell's Kitchen, is expected to be one of the larger productions backed by the Council's low-budget National Lottery production fund, the New Cinema Fund. Shooting is scheduled to start this month in Derry and Dublin on the project, which charts the events of a single day in 1972, a turning point in the Northern Ireland Troubles which drove many young men into the ranks of the IRA and helped fuel 25 years of violence. "We hope the film we make will be non-partisan, dispassionate and humane," said writer-director Paul Greengrass, who has re-teamed with producer Mark Redhead after their collaboration on the acclaimed TV drama The Murder of Stephen Lawrence. Bloody Sunday stars Waking Ned's James Nesbitt as civil rights activist and MP Ivan Cooper, and Nicholas Farrell as Brigadier McCellan. Greengrass, whose feature credits include The Theory Of Flight, aims to lay out the complex dynamics of a struggle. "It will not be a film that tells simplistic truths," he said. "The style will be hyper-realistic, as if we had been able to field at least four crews to Derry on that fateful day." Don Mullan, author of influential book Eyewitness Bloody Sunday, is acting as consultant and co-producer. Sheridan, director of In The Name Of The Father and My Left Foot, will executive produce with Hell's Kitchen partner Arthur Lappin and Pippa Cross of Granada. (Source : Screendaily)
* And now from www.empireonline.co.uk some news of another cult director : Ken Russell...
Poor Ken Russell: The 73-year old director of such luminary art house romps as "Lair of the White Worm" and "Women in Love", in which Oliver Reed famously wrestled naked with Alan Bates, has decided he is so unbankable as a director he has resorted to financing his films himself and shooting them in his garage. According to Variety, Russell has spent £20,000 of his own money on a parodic eight part adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe’s classic short story, The Fall of the House of Usher, entitled "The Fall of The Louse of Usher". Russell, who plays the mad Dr Calahari, filmed the movie in the garage of his Hampshire home and employed members of his own family as his crew. And, fans of Russell’s 1970 movie, "The Devils", should be in for a treat if the film is ever seen (it has been shot in 10 minute segments with a view to broadcasting them on the internet, although no deals have yet been struck): The Fall of the Louse of Usher features lots of blood. Oh, and topless nuns too.
IRELAND
* And now a couple of info from our friends at Showbiz Ireland...
- Irish pop princess Samantha Mumba has secured her first film role. The 18 year old Dubliner got past her last screen test on Monday and has secured the role in Stephen Spielberg's new movie which will be his version of the HG Wells classic The Time Machine. Samantha will not be the only Irish based star in the film as Jeremy Irons who also lives in Ireland will play as her co-star in the film...
- Lisa Cannon Reviews Chocolat with Juliette Binoche, Dame Judi Dench, and Johnny Depp. Maybe it was Depp's Oirish accent but this was one movie Lisa couldn't swallow...
Full Review and Full Story: http://www.ShowBizIreland.com
GERMANY
* News about European animated films are quite rare, so when we have one we can't let it go... Here it is, from Screendaily : Europe’s most expensive animated feature, SIMSALA GRIMM, is finally poised to go into production in May under the direction of cartoon veteran Gerd Hahn. Drawn from a Russian fairy tale, the long-in-development theatrical version sees the return of the evil characters from the eponymous TV series who attempt to take over the land of Simsala. Represented internationally by Dutch company Greenlight International, the $30m film is fully financed by Berlin Animation Film which amassed a DM170m production fund. The fund, which closed in late 1999, has been used to bankroll seven TV series and will be exhausted when it has paid out for the feature. The screenplay has been through several stages of development and is now being given a final polish by Eric Hansen and Astrid Ule. "The series was sold in over 130 territories worldwide either for TV and/or video. I have absolutely no doubt of the demand," said Rick van Den Heuvel, Greenlight president and CEO. "With the budget assured and the script now nearly completed, the key elements we need to secure now are some top US voice cast and a triple-A artist for the music." Production will take place at the Berlin-based Hahn Studios, using a mixture of cell animation and digitally generated images. Greenlight has been enjoying recent success with its feature documentary Armani: A Man of All Seasons. It has secured theatrical releases through Comstock for Japan, Mirovision for Korea and also in Germany.
REVIEW
BROTHER
Reviewed by Dima
With his latest movie BROTHER, Takeshi Kitano is back in the gangster movie arena. After a couple of strange, esotheric and unsatisfying works, Kitano returned to his own homecourt. BROTHER is an old-school gangster movie that reaches into the healthiest springs of cinematic heritage. The character-driven gangster pics that used to come out of Warner Bros. in the 30s and 40s had only a couple of followers in the nineties. I can recall De Palma`s CARLITO`S WAY and Julien Temple`s cult favourite BULLET... The rest of the gangster movie genre was heavily influenced by Martin Scorsese`s masterpiece `GOODFELLAS` so the orthodox fans had to feast on video leftovers. The main difference lies in the fact that Scorsese`s movies were excellent epic mob lifestories while Warner Bros-flicks were pure exploitation tales of movie gangsters. Kitano`s pic is a typical fable of an up-and-coming mob boss that willingly sacrifices everything and everyone to become the greatest gangster in town. This Warner Bros.-inspired fable is painted by Kitano`s Japanese sensiblity and philosophy. Thus Kitano takes us deeper into the world of Yakuza mob and interprets their traditions and methods on the streets of Los Angeles. The Yakuza gangster culture interacts with the African-American and Latino ethnical gangs and so this is the movie where whites are completely absent. All of the characters are coloured criminals. Each one of those criminal traditions is presented in the smooth movie fashion, without any documentary touches. With the use of this method Kitano manages to paint a big meta-cinematic canvas that reaches from Hawks and Walsh to Melville and maybe even Mario Van Peebles. Yet the outcome is the pure philosophical standpoint that compares the Japanese and African-American culture. This project shows the greatness of the true genre cinema where authors present their ideas in great entertaining fashion. BROTHER is the typical multi-layered work where ideology resides underneath the entertaining surface.
Kitano made this movie as an international co-production. This provided him with a decent cast. Kitano feels great in the titular role. His acting makes him look like Chow Yun-Fat`s older brother. A guy not to be fucked with. Omar Epps is decent. Yet I think Epps belongs to the second echelon of African-American acting talent. The whole community of A young African-American male leads is in crisis since all of those guys look the same, act like freaks, speak broken English and try to look hip. There are no obvious successors to Wesley Snipes or Denzel Washington who are actors that know how to speak and act properly. The cameo of James Shigeta , Mr. Takagi from DIE HARD certainly pleased me.
Kitano`s movie fails to be extraordinary. It is too linear even for my orthodox views. It has even some troubles with pacing. The greatest shortcoming is the simple-minded ending with Omar Epps over-acting and spoiling everything. Like David Bowie sang once- `All The Pretty Things Go To Hell` or something like that.
If you compare Kitano`s BROTHER with contemporary Hollywood crime capers and noirs it is pretty extraordinary. It is full of great black humour, violence and it takes no prisoners when it comes to crowd-pleasing. This movie has its own visual laws and it breathes in its own special rhytm. People that are destined to die actually die in this movie and Kitano avoids all the corporate bullshit. Even though BROTHER was founded by Sony`s loot. I hope that Sony will market it in the right way because this movie is way more significant than CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON. I hope people will see this movie. It isn`t perfect but its pretty decent and refreshing. Finally Sony could release a truly great film after all those embarassments like CHARLIE`S ANGELS, THE SIXTH DAY and CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON. BROTHER may redeem their celluloid sins.
God bless, Ethan
Well... that's about it for this Euro AICN column... if you too have some information, review or just question... please send your mail to the EURO AICN offices here in Paris at : EuroAICN@yahoo.com
Father Geek back again... many of you over the last year have written me wanting to see a picture of our hardworking, goodlooking Paris based Euro-AICN editor-in-chief sooooooo here he is...
Easy to see now how he can keep typing up all those Euro-reports.
