Edited by Adam Cook
News.
- Liu Chia-liang (also known as Lau Kar-leung), the legendary Hong Kong martial artist, actor, and filmmaker, has passed away at the age of 78 (1934-2013). For the time being, it appears that one of his masterpieces, Eight-Diagram Pole Fighter, is streaming on YouTube (though in Mandarin). Also make sure to watch the stunning credit fight sequence above from Executioners From Shaolin. Another legend, science fiction master Richard Matheson, the author of numerous books, screenplays and stories, has passed away at the age of 87. We're also still processing the shocking news of James Gandolfini's death last week at the age of 51. Make sure to browse David Hudson's roundup of remembrances of the great actor at The Keyframe Daily.
- The Locarno Film Festival has announced Baltasar Kormákur’s 2 Guns and Pascal Plisson’s On the Way to School as its opening and closing films for this coming August, as well as the anthology the fest is publishing in accordance with their George Cukor retrospective, which, if last year's book on Otto Preminger is any indication, is something we can't wait to get our hands on.
Finds.
- Above: an Echoes-style post on Tumblr by Neil Bahadur comparing Roberto Rossellini's Voyage to Italy with James Gray's Two Lovers.
- Writing for Cinema Scope Online, Adam Nayman has some choice words for Sofia Coppola's latest:
"The Bling Ring is more of a room-tone movie, key of 'ambient cynicism'—it’s hard to make out any relevant opinions or attitudes through the even, faintly hectoring drone. Even if the tone is a little too spiky to be taken for mere mute acquiescence to the social conditions it describes, it’s not full-throated enough as either a celebration or a denunciation."
- Above: it seems The Criterion Collection is dropping some hints about a potential release of Mulholland Drive. More from David Lynch: an interview over at The Independent on music and his fading relationship with cinema.
- At his blog, Peter Bogdanovich is publishing "The Raoul Walsh File":
"We're going to go through all the movies I saw 1952-1970 which Walsh had anything to do with, 72 in all, listed in the order they were seen. The ratings and comments are from the card-file I kept through those years."
- Above: an amazing outtake from Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master (pay particular attention to Joaquin Phoenix throughout).
- David Bordwell has a new piece on the relationship between industry and art when looking at Hollywood cinema.
From the archives.
- Again via Neil Bahadur, footage from Edward Yang's unfinished last film, The Wind.