Father Geek here with Edgard's Euro-AICN for this Monday. Once again he and Ozymandias along with Grozilla's great interview have put together a wonderful read for the start of the workweek. Buuuuut first, here's a piece that found its way to Father Geek's desk this morning...
A loyal and fellow aicner reporting here from Merry old England on a new
film which was just released here called SEXY BEAST. Sexy Beast is a British
movie and directorial debut of Jonathan Glazer, who hell he? you may ask,
well hes' a talented guy whos' cut his teeth in videos for Radiohead and
Blur as well as a fantastic Guiness advert.This as I mention is his first
feature length picture and bloody hell is it good, the premise is that
retired gangster Gary dove (played by Ray Winstone)is reluctantly
persuaded(needless to say violently) into "doing one last job" by a
psychotic figure from his past, played impecabbly by Ben Kingsley (more on
him later). Naturally this pisses Gary off a bit, having as he does the joys
of sunning himself 24 hours a day in his villa on the costa del sol where he
assumed he and his wife would be rid of his murky past.
Now hold on a minute you say, Isn't this just yet another fucking attrocious
"cockney gangster" caper following desperatley in the wake of snatch , well
no thankfully it isn't, whereas most of the so called imitators of Guy
Ritchie have created dull, lifeless pictures entirely reliant upon violence
and image, Sexy beast is an altogether different movie in that its'
performances are universally excellent.The splendor of the picture owing
much to the directors keen flair for mixing strange images with dazzlingly
quick pace and stunning visuals. There are comedy elements ranging from
slapstick to the down right surreal (including winstones' reccurring Bunny
Rabbit nightmare)which help to break up the tension created by the
appearance of Don "Malky" Logan (Kingsley), a performance so physically
threatening and downright disturbing that the audience cringes every scene
he's in.Ben Kingsley is without a doubt one scary bastard in this movie (to
the point where it becomes unimaginable that he was once advocating peaceful
resistance in Gahndi)masterfully portraying the desperations of a lunatic so
astonishingly well that every scene he's in ignites with raw energy.
Winstone too is in fine form (despite playing yet again the hardman role)
playing a likeable criminal unable to control the circumstances he is forced
into.The film culminates in a breathtakingly shot underwater heist which
emphasises Glazers' meticulous eye for visual detail.
This is a fantastically shot and acted movie,well paced and never dull,
whilst the script may not be truly outstanding it's the stunning visual set
pieces which make it a must see. Ignore any prejudice you may have towards
the tired Brit-gangster culture and go see it,think of it as a british
version of the Sopranos (i.e it has depth underneath the gloss) and you'll
walk out of the cinema a whole lot happier than when you went in.
4 out of !!!!!
JED
Father Geek back just long enough to say, "Here's Edgard..."
EURO AICN
Good mooooooooooooorning AICN.... Edgard here with a
late Euro AICN... sorry about this; I was in London
for my work the last 2 days... I stupidly hurt myself
(shit happens), and one thing after another, I am late
on my Euro AICN weekly duty... sorry... but I think
you will think it was worth the wait as we got from
our top spy Grozilla a great interview with French
director Christophe Gans (director of BROTHERHOOD OF
THE WOLVES... did we mention this film already ?).
What else ? A link to the new Besson production, some
news from Norway and of course a festival of important
Q&A in the Ozy News section (What does Sylvester
Stallone like to do ? Will Chris O'Donnell come back
as Robin ? What can you see during the Berlin Festival
?). So let's not waste more time chit-chatting...
FRANCE
* From Screendaily, some news on the next film by
director Claude Lelouch : John Malkovich has joined
the cast of Claude Lelouch’s next film, And Now Ladies
And Gentlemen (aka T For Thriller), which will also
mark the big-screen debut of French singer Patricia
Kass. Malkovich – who has lately been seen in several
French productions, including Manuel de Oliviera’s La
Lettre, Raoul Ruiz’s Le Temps Retrouve and most
recently in TF1’s high-budget mini-series Les
Miserables – replaces Dustin Hoffman. Additional cast
include Lelouch’s life partner Alessandra Martinez as
well as Yvan Attal and Francis Huster. The title – a
thriller which mixes romance and musical numbers in
typical Lelouch style – is to start shooting as of
early April in the UK, US, France and Morocco for two
months. The musical score, which is to play a
prominent role in the film, is to be created by
Academy Award-winning composers Michel Legrand and
Francis Lai, with lyrics by Boris Bergman. (Note from
Edgard : we talked about this project a few months ago
when Dustin Hoffman was linked to it... it seems it's
no more the case).
* Kev from Canada reminded us about the new film
produced by Luc Besson, YAMAKASI (released here in
March). Trailers are available on his official website
(the Luc Besson website, not Kevin's) at:
Their Site
The reason of our silence so far is that as usual with
Besson there's no press coverage before the release of
the film. All we know is that it follows a group of
people running on top of buildings (and yes, they're
called the Yamakasi's)... As soon as we know more we
will let you know of course...
* So here's this long interview of Christophe Gans,
director of the much awaited BROTHERHOOD OF THE
WOLVES... A big thank you to Grozilla for this. Also
Grozilla confirmed that the trailer (or teaser) of THE
LORD OF THE RINGS COULD be attached to this film...
Grozilla insisted on "COULD" as some copies will run
with the LOTR trailer (it looks like the distributor
fears that the public mixes LOTR and BROTHERHOOD as
the visual universe is similar...). Also there's a
spoiler warning below as one of Gans' answers is
giving away some plot details on the ending...
* Your film is awaited in a way that only few films
are. Even since the beginning of the shooting, way
before any image could be seen...
C.G : I guess the movie has become the "beast" itself
: it became mixed up with its subject. I¹m all right
with that. We all know there¹s a kind of frustration
with Genre film in France. I¹m aware of that : there
will be a strong conditioned chauvinistic reflex about
the fact that this kind of cinema hasn¹t existed here
since thirty years, the fact of making suddenly one
film like this one, made with a lot of money and that
could arouse people. It fills an empty case. Now the
first who fantasised about this film is me. I wanted
it to be a fantastical film, that people could see and
say : wow, that¹s movie ! This movie has no other goal
that to entertain people and giving them some
surprises which are not necessarily stupid. In France,
we have consider for too long the entertainment cinema
for a deeply stupid one. Anyway my film isn¹t a film
with a message, if it was it¹d lose his entertaining
qualities.
* Theses days French producers want to make B movies
as the flavour of the month. There¹s a movie
collection called B movies in development which use,
contrary to your film, the economic constraint which
was the base of B movies.
C.G : There we¹ll see if there¹s brilliant new people.
It¹s under constraint that things can see the day. But
these collection could also be just the cradle of
movies who will badly imitate genre film. Let¹s hope
some true directors will appear among those ones.
* Aren't afraid of becoming the symbol of this rebirth
of French genre film ?
C.G : A journalist asked me if I was interested of
becoming the Bernard Borderie for the 2000¹s (NDR
Borderie was a French filmmaker who directed some
popular caper epics in the late 50-60¹s like the
Angelique serie) as if it was an insult but I think
it¹s a great reference to be in touch with. I¹ve never
had the pretension to be the new Orson Welles, if I
can only be the guy who makes movies which can be
referred to Borderie¹s that¹s fine with me. Everybody
here knows, by my past as a journalist, that it¹s this
kind of movies I always liked and stand up for. I
really don¹t see anything wrong to be the emblem of
the French genre movies. The right question to ask is
: could this genre exist here and now ? There¹s still
a temptation here to reduce any genre to an author or
a name. Look at Luc Besson, he became a genre on its
own. Am I the next one ? I think it would be sad but
who knows, maybe on my next movies people will say :
oh, it¹s a Gans film so it has to contents monsters
and guys jumping on the ceiling !! I¹m well aware of
the reflexes brought by the press and the filmgeeks
that create this threat.
* "Brotherhood.." mixes many influences. Is for you
the Genre film a logical melting pot ?
C.G : I make interbreeding, multi-ethnic cinema, which
stands at the cross of many cultures. I¹m interested
in staying opened on anything that surrounded me, to
invite as many kind of cultures as possible in my
work. Filmmaking means to me to be very open-minded,
that¹s my job.
* Your love for films is incredibly well visually
translated in your films, how do you share it, pass it
on to your actors ?
(SPOILER AT THE END OF THIS ANSWER
!!)
C.G : Using Samuel LeBihan (the new Jeune premier in
french cinema) in fight scenes is no more a challenge
to me than John Woo using a cantopop star as Leslie
Cheung in gunfights. Cheung can¹t kick higher that 20
cm over the ground, although we could see him flying
with guns in each hand. That¹s the director¹s work to
make us believe that this singer, who is by the way an
excellent actor, is able to shoot anybody and jumping
in the air at the same time. Actors have to learn
anything : riding horses and make believe they can
fight. Then it¹s the director¹s responsibility to make
the audience believe it. Besides I care to the notion
of choreographed fights in "Brotherhood" more than
martial arts fights. True, both are tied because of
Hong Kong cinema which is the latest example of using
the choreography in films, but some Douglas Fairbanks
or Errol Flynn¹s movies made in the 20¹s or 30¹s are
as well choreographed and get nothing in common with
martial arts films. I tried to guest the dramaturgy
part of the martial arts movies where the choreography
is more used to represent a mental moment than a
physical one. In the same order I like to think that
the fights are a theatrical vision of something lived
from the inside of the character. Athletes know that
when you¹re entering a ring or a tatami, the feeling
of space is modified, it became subjective. Here¹s an
example : why DeFronsac (Le Bihan) uses twin swords in
the final part of the film ? Because he became a
double man : Mani (Mark Dacascos) and himself. That¹s
why he also wear Mani¹s war painting. That¹s my way of
expressing my own logic which doesn¹t always need
words.
* Since "Crying Freeman", the European press tied you
with a new batch of French filmmakers, as Besson or
Kounen who seem to be fascinated by American movies.
Isn¹t it a misunderstanding as "Brotherhood" claims
for Europeans and Asians influences ?
C.G : Indeed. The bridge between Asian cinema and ours
is anyway easier to build than between ours and
American one. Because we¹re sharing common
mythologies. To start with those about dragons and
Knights, which are the basic subjects of Brotherhood.
For me anything that deals with knighthood and
apocalyptic end of an age, with melancholy tied with
the loss of fears and of the heroes who protect us
from those are important to illustrate. Because we
could find them in a kind of common patrimony between
Asia and Europe. I guess it¹s born from the
historical heritage of both cultures although there¹s
no proof of link between them : we still don¹t know
why the dragon exist in our culture and in the Asian
one, add to it we¹ve got the same representation of it
with different meanings. To them it¹s a positive
thing, to us a negative one. This common patrimony is
here to keep alive some mythologies that people always
liked in books, movies or now in videogames. It¹s
constantly regenerate and given to an audience always
younger than before, an audience which is oddly less
and less educated on the arts which were used before
: a teenage kid will necessary live "Brotherhood" on
another level than a sixty year old guy, because their
references are not the same. I hope anyway that they
could get the story the same way because the
mythologies I put on screen are immortals.
* Videogame is obviously an influence of "Brotherhood"
?
C.G : I play videogame. I collect games and game
machines. I¹m interested in the language they¹re
developing. We know that since three years videogame
bring more money than movies. What leads to think that
today cinema is to videogame what books were to cinema
on the last century. I think that movie industry
doesn¹t get much to appropriate videogame with dumb
movies like "Mortal Kombat", it must better consider
videogame as a concrete threat, an adversary who could
kill it. Directors have to integrate that an idea
could be understood by other ways and by people who
dont¹ get references in movies. I¹m a filmnerd :
cinema is king and dominates my life, I don¹t wanna
see it disappear. Because of that I need to be
interested in any forms of artistic expression even
the growing ones. That¹s why I came to Manga and
Japanime which are for me the missing links between
movies and videogame. They anticipated the videogame
phenomenon by dealing in foreground with notions as
speed, cybernetic... It¹s logical that after coming
close to manga with Crying Freeman, I had to do the
same with videogame in "Brotherhood". It¹s my tribute
to mythologies which are dearest to me. Anyway
"Brotherhood" stands on truly French culture : The
Beast of Gevaudan happened in a important time in our
history which fed the French revolution. I hope any
kid could get these important things because he¹ll
found in this film some reference which could make him
like the story and from there its meaning.
* What do you think of movies like "Matri"x, which can
be seen as an American cousin of your movies in its
ways to infiltrate as many influences as it can and
keeping it¹s American identity ?
C.G : Even if I like some parts in it, I found it
tremendously boring, filled with too long scenes of
explanation speeches. The biggest trouble with this
film is that it¹s already as old as the hills. Knowing
that it¹s a deeply
perishable film makes me uncomfortable. I found it
very close to Besson¹s filmmaking in its need to show
style more than identity, often at the detriment of
the script. Originally, in genre films, directors
weren¹t always the scriptwriters as often now in
France. As you are concerned, I feel a visceral need
to be in touch with writing. You could call
"Brotherhood" a command film. I tried to make its
script mine as people like Walsh or Curtiz did in the
40¹s. See what they made of dull scripts the studios
gave them.. After the long abortion of "Nemo", it was
incredibly satisfying of working on a script written
by someone else than me. Stephane Cabel, the writer,
had the idea of a movie about the end of dragons. I
just added the idea of a movie about the end of
knights tied with these dragons. We both led the
script on a story which explains how they both were
taken by history. I need to debate with other people
when I write, that allows me to create subplots,
little things which are sometimes gratuitous but
crystallise my own logic, my phantasm of the film.
But at the end ther¹s still Stéphane¹s touch in
"Brotherhood" mostly in the words used by the
characters.
* Do you make genre film to keep alive some part of
childhood ?
C.G : Definitely. "Brotherhood" is a very melancholic
film. The last sequences are born from it. This film
express reference and at the end I mean that it¹s all
over. It¹s about all the feelings I lived when I was
thirteen. At this age we live films on an animal way,
not consciously. Meanwhile I became a film critic,
then a director. I can now analyse and debate on my
ideas, my feelings but I don¹t want to theorise them,
I just want to find them back as I felt them then. I
made this movie for a very special audience : the kid
I was when I was thirteen. And without being
regressive as some people do with movies. Look at
Lucas with these stupid Ewoks in "Return of the Jedi".
I¹m more the kind of still being in mourning for
Sergio Leone, Mario Bava, Fellini and many other¹s
deaths. Everyday I¹m haunted by the idea of a great
European cinema educated and popular at the same time
has disappeared.
* Did you definitely gave up "Nemo" ?
C.G : Yes. I worked too much on this project : I could
even see it edited in my mind. It was quite ready to
be shot : I spent time in Hawaii and New Orleans to
check locations and then the producers refused the guy
I wanted for the Nemo¹s part. It fell apart. At the
end it didn¹t get made because of loss of desire.
It¹s like a love relation, when you start it you
always hope it will stand. It¹s still a good script,
but I feel too much bitter about it.
A huge thank you to Grozilla for this interview....
NORWAY
* This was sent to us by Koola_Norway.... : On a
Norwegian Internet site (filmmagasinet.no) it was
published a story about the cancelling of the new
Oliver Stone movie, BEYOND BORDERS, with Angelina
Jolie, Ralph Fiennes and STELLAN SKARSGARD, who is the
source of this info. He told the magazine that "the
studio did not want to offer Oliver Stone the
cash/size of budget that he found necessary.."
Skarsgard adds: " For me that means my springtime is
quite free, considering the fact that I had to turn
down a lot of projects to be in this Oliver
Stone-movie. But right now I am travelling to LA to
shoot some extra scenes for THE GLASS HOUSE, which I
filmed this autumn.
And to add some more here from Scandinavia: Lars von
Triers next epic, Dogville, will be filmed in
Trollhättan, Sweden, ONLY. That's the same place that
some scenes in Dancer in the Dark was filmed. Stellan
Skarsgard wil also be in this flick.
So, that's it for now. My Internet site is
www.filmlisten.no, the one and only INDEPENDENT
movieplace in Norway.
until next time...
Koola_Norway
OZYMANDIAS CORNER
OK kids - first off in case you were snoozing or lost
it in among the deluge of impossibly cool stories in
midweek on the site there's already been a midweek
Euro AICN with my review of top new Irish movie About
Adam, Hannibal, Guy Ritchie and a whole bunch of other
stuff - check it at
This Site
Anyhew.... There's more on the Stuart Townsend/Queen
Of The Damned/record deal story I told you about last
week at Moviemate, a tres cool new Irish movie
review/article site. Check it out here
Just Click
As well as that ananova.com has the story that all
serious movie lovers around the world have been
waiting for:
Sly muscles out of films.
Sylvester Stallone has ruled out a return to the
silver screen. He told German magazine Amica he was
having the time of his life with his family. Sly added
that he did not want to spend any more time away from
them. "I am sad about the times in the last ten months
when I was filming and only saw my family face to face
a couple of times in between a hundred interview
appointments. I won't be back," he said. "I have more
fun with my daughters than say, with John Travolta,"
he
said.
And as if that wasn't enough get ready to cheer long
and hard a second time from the same source!!!!:
Chris O'Donnell will not be reprising his role as
Robin when the next Batman adventure swings into
action. The American actor says he has "paid his dues"
in the role of the Caped Crusader's right-hand man. On
a visit to London to promote his new mountaineering
thriller Vertical Limit the 30-year-old O'Donnell says
he believes it's time to move on. He was panned by the
critics alongside George Clooney and Arnold
Schwarzenegger for turning 1997's Batman Forever into
one of the turkeys of that year. A close friend told
Ananova: "It's not that he's afraid of getting
involved again. George Clooney won't be back and
neither will he. He has made two Batman movies and
thinks it's time for a new set of actors.
Also in case you haven't had a chance to check it out
yet the BBC Online have a good pre-Berlin look at
what's happening:
Ridley Scott's follow-up to Silence of the Lambs,
Hannibal, is among 16 world premieres to take place at
next month's Berlin Film Festival. A new version of
Fritz Lang's 1927 silent classic Metropolis will also
appear at the event, which runs from 7 to 18 February.
The festival will open on the city's Potsdamer Platz
with a screening of Enemy At The Gates, French
director Jean-Jacques Annaud's World War II epic about
the battle of Stalingrad, which stars Jude Law and
Joseph Fiennes. Also competing for the festival's
Golden Bear prize are Spike Lee's Bamboozled and
Steven Soderbergh's drug-war drama Traffic, which is
heavily tipped for success at Sunday's Golden Globes.
Dame Judi Dench in Chocolat Hollywood's two other
entries are Gus Van Sant's Finding Forrester, starring
Sean Connery, and Sean Penn's The Pledge, which
features Jack Nicholson. Quills, by Philip Kaufman and
starring Kate Winslet, will join Hannibal in being
shown out of competition.
Hannibal follows 10 years after Silence of the Lambs,
which took five Oscars. Sir Anthony Hopkins reprises
his role as serial killer Hannibal Lecter, but
Julianne Moore replaces Jodie Foster as FBI agent
Clarice Starling. It is due for UK release on 16
February.
British entries : Entries from the UK and Ireland
include Lasse Hallstrom's Chocolat, starring Johnny
Depp, and The Claim, directed by Michael Winterbottom.
Mike Nichol's Wit and John Boorman's The Tailor of
Panama are also in competition. In all, 24 feature
films and 11 short films are competing for the Golden
and Silver Bears, with a nine-strong jury led by US
director Bill Mechanic. This year's festival will
also pay tribute to the late Stanley Kubrick, with a
three-part documentary on his life by Jan Harlan being
screened, as well as a showing of a re-mastered 2001:
A Space Odyssey. Kubrick's 1957 film Paths of Glory
will also be shown as part of a tribute to Kirk
Douglas. The veteran actor will be given an honorary
Golden Bear for his lifetime of achievement in the
film industry.
Our guy Robert is on the case in Italia:
Hy Ozy just a little information for your Euro
column...
Roger Spottiswoode is preparing his new film, The
Spire, focused on the construction of gothic
cathedrals in the Europe of XIV century. He concluded
a deal with the French studio President Film, which
will provide the money for the movie. President Films
will try to divide the costs with other companies.
Now, they have to choice the cast. I'll let you know
as soon as possible...
Robert Bernocchi
Popcorn.co.uk (on top of those great shots from the
Spidey shoot!) has:
'Snatch' and 'Lock, Stock' star Jason Statham is going
up in the Hollywood world. The British actor tells
Popcorn he's just signed up to star opposite Jet Li
and Delroy Lindo in 'The One'. Speaking to Popcorn at
the US premiere of 'Snatch', Statham explained: "I've
just got a movie today, so it's even more of an
exciting day than I actually anticipated." The actor
also says he has a "great part" in the movie, although
doesn't seem to have worked out the plot yet, asking:
"Have you got half an hour? It's a complicated
thing." Luckily, we can tell you that the $48m project
is an action/sci-fi thriller based on the idea that
there are multiple universes with similar people to us
living in each of them. Lindo and Statham are set to
play agents who have to patrol these universes, making
sure no one moves across them. Their biggest test
comes when they have to try and prevent a renegade Jet
Li from trying to kill his multiple personalities. The
film is due to begin production at the end of January
in Los Angeles, and is expected to be released in
August. Writer-director James Wong ('Final
Destination') has signed up to helm the project.
As per usual if you have any Ireland/UK goss this week
or spot anything you think we might be interested in
mail me at ozymandias@dublin .com
L8r,
Ozymandias
Ain't It Cool News - Ireland/UK Office,
Penthouse Suite,
Ozymandias Towers,
Dublin,
Ireland.
As for me that's it also... once again sorry for the
delay... have a good week all and don't forget we need
to hear from you; so send us any comments, ideas,
reports, reviews... at euroaicn@yahoo.com
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