Edited by Adam Cook
In the wake of the devastating loss of one of our greatest actors, countless remembrances of Philip Seymour Hoffman have flooded the internet. Here is a small sampling:
- Above: illustrations of Hoffman via Daniel Clowes.
- For The Grid, Adam Nayman writes on the actor's best performances:
"It’s been said that the best actors are the ones who make it look easy. But Philip Seymour Hoffman was the opposite of self-effacing—he was incandescent. His acting had the sort of glow that could illuminate dim movies and burn holes through the middle of vivid ones."
- Above: from Nelson Carvajal, a reel of some of Hoffman's greatest on-screen moments.
- For The New Yorker, Richard Brody pays tribute:
"Genius, whether at its most constructive or destructive, its most sublime or its most repugnant, is unnatural; Hoffman lived for great art, and it’s impossible to escape the idea that he died for it. The complete price of his nearly superhuman ability has yet to be reckoned.
- Carlo Chatrian, the artistic director of the Locarno Film Festival, reflects on his experience at Sundance:
"Park City is at its best at dawn. When the first rays of the sun color the tree-studded slopes pink. In that moment of hesitation between night and day one might also think that the cable-cars, the nocturnal lights, still on, and those artificial slopes for unlikely jumps might all be an illusion. The town sleeps and the crystalline air prompts a quickening of the pace, a cue to make for the gentle inclines of the Wasatch mountains. But it is only an impression. The fantastical and omnipresent blue jackets worn by the volunteers appear in the most unexpected places. They await you at the bus stop or at an intersection with smiles that seem surprisingly unaffected by the freezing cold. They direct you to the cinema you need, sometimes even accompanying you right to your seat."
- Matthew McConaughey and Ken Watanabe are set to star in Gus Van Sant's Sea of Trees.
- Above: the Criterion Collection's new poster for Sam Taylor and Fred Newmeyer's The Freshman.
- The True/False Film Fest has announced a new "Pay the Artists!" program. "The heads of the 10-year-old Columbia, MO-based festival (which runs February 27 – March 2), initiated the patronage program as a way of helping to sustain the documentary film ecosystem, and this year will be offering $450 to the filmmaking teams who attend the festival. (T/F already covers travel, accommodation and food expenses.) It is Sturtz and Wilson’s hope that in the next few years, this amount will increase to $1,000." Read more here, via Filmmaker Magazine.
- For Film Comment's blog, Max Nelson writes on the series (running today through the 16th) at the Lincoln Center entitled "Martin Scorsese Presents: Masterpieces of Polish Cinema".
- Above: via Kevin B. Lee, Tag Gallagher's incredible video essay on John Ford's Stagecoach.
- For The New York Times, J. Hoberman highlights Liliana Cavani’s I Cannibali and other new home video releases.