Well folks, it's me, Father Geek, back again from deep in the sultry heart of Texas with an all new Euro-AICN Column to start off the work week for your information and enjoyment. Sooooooo... Let's get right to it...
Here's our editor from the beautiful and romantic "Left Bank" in Paris, Edgard...
EURO AICN
Hi folks... Edgard here with the latest news from Euro-Land - Very soon actually we will get to use our new Euro-Money... but that's another story and you probably really don't care... but, why are there no movies about the Euro ?... I mean you could imagine tons of stories about it : terrorists stealing all the Euro money from the Euro bank to destroy the Euro economy; bank robbers stealing all the Euro money to get hyper rich... man, I should write a script about it... something like "Forget Dollars, Think Euro !"... Oh well... Anyway the big news today is the return of your favourite reviewer of all time, the one and only Ethan !! Back from vacations (so long I actually thought he had retired) with two reviews... so enjoy and don't forget to argue with him in the Talk Backs, he likes it... For the rest is your usual : two festivals are over now, so it was awards time today... plus a tidbit news on the MATRIX 2, on Pierce Brosnan, and from Robert, our man in Italia, a link to some WAR OF THE WORLDS design drawings.. Enjoy...
FESTIVAL RESULTS
* VENISE FILM FESTIVAL : (From Screendaily) Puzzling critics who had expected something more meaty to win, Mira Nair’s lighthearted and thoroughly entertaining Monsoon Wedding took the top prize, the Golden Lion, in Venice’s traditionally auteur dominated competition section. Meanwhile Laurent Cantet’s Time Out (L’Emploi Du Temps), the story of a man who invents a fictional life for himself after losing his job, took the Golden Lion in the newly elevated Cinema Of The Present Section. Austrian drama Hundstage, which deeply divided critics, but had the merit of keeping them talking almost from the first day, took the Grand Jury prize in the competition section, while Damien Odoul’s Deep Breath (Le Souffle) and the rather less talked about Seafood (Haixian) shared the equivalent award in the Cinema Of The Present. That seemed typical of a roster of prizes that ignored many of the widely expected favourites. Leaving empty handed from the Venezia 58 competition stand were Alejandro Amenabar’s The Others, Walter Salles’ Behind The Sun, Andre Techine’s Loin and Ken Loach’s The Navigators as well as Clare Peploe’s The Triumph Of Love, which was judged worthy of being bought by Paramount Classics for much of the world. In the Cinema Of The Present section surprising omissions included Zhang Yang’s Quitting, Sandra Goldbacher’s Me Without You and Jill Sprecher’s Thirteen Conversations About One Thing. The Coppa Volpi acting prizes went to Italians Luigi Lo Casto and Sandra Ceccarelli both for The Light Of My Eyes (Luce Diei Mei Occhi), a film which scored lowest in a poll of Italian daily newspaper critics. The result was roundly booed by the press corps in the closing ceremony’s overspill room.
More happily received were the best screenplay award to Alfonso and Carlos Cuaron for Your Mother As Well (Y Tu Mama Tambien) and the Marcello Mastroianni prize for best newcomers which was earned by the same film’s male stars Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna. Earlier in the day a series of smaller prizes went to a predominantly French group of pictures. For films in the main Venezia 58 section, the FIPRESCI jury gave its prize to Wild Innocence (Sauvage Innocence) by veteran French director Philippe Garrel. In the Cinema Del Presente and Critics’ Week sections FIPRESCI rewarded Damien Odoul’s Deep Breath (Le Souffle) as its top film. The Critics’ Week section was won by local Italian film Sailing Home (Tornando A Casa), a film about the desperate plight of Sicilian fishermen a first feature by Vincenzo Marra. The Future Film Festival awarded its digital prize for the best special effects and best use of digital technology to Steven Spielberg’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence. The jury cited it appropriately enough with "intelligence and artificiality". There was a special mention too for Eric Rohmer’s The Lady And The Duke (L’Anglaise Et Le Duc), which curiously uses digital effects to give a stagey effect to scenes from France’s late 18th century France’s ancien regime.
* DEAUVILLE AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL Prize Winners:
"Grand Prix du Jury" : HEDWIG & THE ANGRY INCH (directed by John Cameron Mitchell)
"Prix du Jury" : GHOST WORLD (directed by Terry Zwigoff)
"Prix d'Interpretation" : Thora Birch (in Ghost World)
"Prix du Public" : JUMP TOMORROW (directed by Joel Hopkins)
ITALY
* From Robert : I just received a Concept Art image of War of the Worlds from Pendragon Pictures. This is the link: Just Click Here To see it.
FRANCE
* Good news for French people about THE MATRIX RELOADED: after the confirmation a few weeks ago about Monica Bellucci's involvment in the most awaited sequel(s) ever, French actor Lambert Wilson (last seen in JET SET) will also be part of the two cyber films... In what role ? Don't know yet... but I could imagine him very well as one of the new bad guys...
IRELAND
* From ShowBizIreland : Pierce Brosnan is on his way back to Ireland again but, thankfully this time it's not for another wedding. The original Navan man is due back to start work on a new film for his production company Irish Dreamtime. Brosnan will shoot the film in Ireland over the next two months andwill be finished before Christmas, as he has to start filming Bond 20 movie in January. The yet untitled film will be a drama based on a true story and will be produced by Brosnan and his business partner Beau St Claire, the former girlfriend of the late great actor Donal McCann. The actor has also (as we told you he would last month) given part of the HELLO! money from the pictures of his wedding in May to charity. Speaking exclusively to ShowBizireland.com from LA, Brosnan's close friend and publicist Dick Guttman said, "Pierce met the Dalai Lama and wanted to give something to the young of Tibet. He donated $400,000 to build a school there so the young can learn skills like metalwork." Brosnan himself said when he donated the money, "I was touched by the Tibetan people and their culture, which is surviving under great duress." In the meantime another one of Brosnan's close friends from LA, the actor Scott Glenn, star of Silence of the Lambs and Vertical Limit is due in Ireland next month to shoot a new TV movie in Connemara.
* No sooner did we tell you on Monday that the 007 star Pierce Brosnan was coming back then he arrived. The actor jetted into Dublin on Tuesday with his wife Keely Shaye Smith for a three day visit to discuss his next venture with his production company Irish Dreamtime. The actor was in town to see if it was possible for him to make his new movie, a true drama based movie, in Ireland before the end of the year when he has to go off to film the next Bond movie. Speaking exlusivly to ShowBizIreland.com from LA, the actor's publisict said, "Pierce is spending a few days in Ireland to actually see if the movie can be made in the time he has here. He will have to shoot between October and December. This is very important as he has to start Bond 20 in January no matter what." The actor was staying in his favourite Dublin hotel The Merrion and left for LA yesterday.
REVIEWS
ABSOLUTE HUNDRED
by Ethan
Respect for the appreciated AICN readers from the muddy banks of Danube. Your vicious critic Ethan is alive and kicking, hitting back with the comment on the fresh Serbian flick ABSOLUTE HUNDRED. After relishing the success of Alejandro Amenabar`s THE OTHERS, I realized that Europe has a lot to offer to American movie buffs. This is why I guess you should keep an eye on European production so you can be hip when Euro favs end up with Hollywood three-picture deals.
ABSOLUTE HUNDRED is the debut feature of famous Serbian video clip director Srdan Golubovic. It can fit this year`s QT 5 because it is a revenge flick about a young air rifle champion who starts to gun down his brother`s villanious friends and enemies. The pitch sounds solid. Still, don`t get jiggy with it. Golubovic`s film tries to simulate the urban anger and frustration of Kassovitz`s (LA HAINE, ASSASSIN (S)) early work but his accomplishement is far from adequate and gritty.
The script is flawed, cliche-ridden, mediocre and derrivative. Even though the movie manages to last for almost two hours without being painfully boring. I must add that I had the chance to read the early draft of the ABSOLUTE HUNDRED script (which was worse than the shooting draft) so it maybe spoiled the movie for me. Anyway, the resolution of the movie and spoilers are pretty much irrelevant because we are talking about the by-the-numbers urban-drama-turned-revenge flick here. The script`s main virtue is the crafty standard narrative developed from the story which isn`t great but it`s passable. Cliches make this picture work because if writers had nothing new to offer it`s good to rely on some heavily abused shit. Also, there aren`t too many dialogues so characters don`t get stuck in spoken word sessions.
First writers` mistake is the character development which takes us nowhere. These characters must be defined by what they do. Not by citing their traumas and frustrations that are not the subject of the movies. Vigilante flicks are all about justice, decisions and actions. Subplots and dialogues are Woody Allen not Lee Marvin stuff. Golubovic slacks in the violence and sex department so the movie comes off as an urban drama with a vigilante edge. Golubovic`s staging and direction are hip. This means video clip editing, lots of cutting overkill and fashion show shots. Hip style doesn`t fit into the revenge genre because it softens up the story and goes for the set-pieces instead of substance. This is why ABSOLUTE HUNDRED suffers from the GET CARTER remake syndrome. Aleksandar Ilic`s cinematography is fine but too articulate and fancy for the big screen. Ilic is very competent and I hope that he will shake off the videoclip background in the future. Andrej Acin`s music is aggressive but functional since it overcomes the deficit of visual energy.
Now, you guess why the hell do I bother to report about it? Well, maybe because it`s one of the best Serbian movies made this year. In the end it comes off as a decent piece of conservative storytelling that is absent in Serbian cinema. By the way, Americans will love it...
God bless,
Ethan
NO MAN`S LAND
by Ethan
I`ve seen NO MAN`S LAND on this year`s Herceg Novi Festival and I never meant to comment on it but suddenly I saw `NO MAN`S LAND release in US` bandwagon so I had to react on it. I agree that many fine European releases haven`t been seen by American audience. For example, Amenabar`s TESIS or Mateo Gil`s NADIE CONOCE A NADIE. Anyway, I don`t think that NO MAN`S LAND can setle that score. It is a poorly done anti-war-wise-ass flick with zero attitude and lots of plagiarism. The concept is concocted by stealing from Boorman`s masterpiece HELL IN PACIFIC and Srdjan Dragojevic`s PRETTY VILLAGE, PRETTY FLAME. See these two instead.
It is a story about the Serb and Muslim soldiers stuck in the booby-trapped trench during the recent unpleasantness in Bosnia. These two guys then go on a `been there, done that` verbal rampage while a couple of UN soldiers try to save them. Production values are minimum, direction is stagy, script is utterly predictable and if it weren`t for political reasons this movie would end up as an unsuccessful TV feature in Balkans. Danis Tanovic`s feature is irrationally overhyped and you should avoid it at all costs. If you see it don`t get fooled by the raving backround comments. Cannes Festival officials lost their minds a long time ago.
Take care,
Ethan
That's it for now from Europe, this is Edgard in Paris signing off...
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