Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.
NEWS
Above: Sylvia Kristel in Emmanuelle (1974).
- Audrey Diwan, whose film Happening won last year's Golden Lion at Venice, will be directing an English-language adaptation of the erotic novel Emmanuelle. The film will star Léa Seydoux in the titular role, which was first played by the great Sylvia Kristel. Ahead of this new iteration of Emmanuelle, we also recommend reading Abbey Bender's reappraisal of the subversive softcore series.
- Lynne Ramsay has announced her next feature: an adaptation of Margaret Atwood's short story Stone Mattress, starring Julianne Moore and Sandra Oh. The story takes place on a cruise into the Arctic Passage, where protagonist Verna (to be played by Moore) encounters a man from her past.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING
- The trailer for Three Thousand Years of Longing, George Miller's first film since 2015's Mad Max: Fury Road. An adaptation of A.S. Byatt's short story "The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye," the film stars Tilda Swinton as a scholar, and Idris Elba as the Djinn who offers her three wishes. Read editor Daniel Kasman's review of the film here.
- NEON has released a teaser for Brett Morgen's Moonage Daydream, a "cinematic odyssey" that recently premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Notably, this is the only film officially sanctioned by the Bowie estate, which gave Morgen full access to master recordings and other unreleased archival footage.
- The trailer for Christos Nikou's 2020 film Apples, which takes place during a mysterious pandemic that causes sudden amnesia. Read our review by Leonardo Goi here.
- Alicia Vikander takes center stage in the official teaser for Olivier Assayas' English-language limited series remake of his 1996 film Irma Vep. Vikander stars as Mira, an American actress looking to rejuvenate her career by playing the role of Irma Vep in a remake of Les Vampires.
- The official trailer for De Humani Corporis Fabrica (or The Fabric of the Human Body), the latest by Verena Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor. Shot in several Paris hospitals, the film uses footage from medical tools (such as ultrasounds and microscope cameras) to investigate the inside of the human body.
- The official trailer for the new restoration of Jean Eustache's The Mother and the Whore, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 1973.
- The official trailer for Ali Abbasi's Cannes title Holy Spider, based on the true story of the Iranian Spider Killer. In a statement, Abbasi said that his "intention was not to make a serial killer movie. I wanted to make a movie about a serial killer society."
- NEON's trailer for Beba is a dreamy first look at artist Rebeca "Beba" Huntt's inquisitive self-portrait, which was filmed over the course of 8 years.
- The music video for Oliver Sims' "Hideous" is an excerpt from a 22-minute short by Yann Gonzalez, which recently premiered at Cannes Critics' Week.
RECOMMENDED READING
Above: Leslie Cheung in Happy Together (1997).
- For GQ, Raymond Ang writes on the legacy of the one and only Leslie Cheung, speaking to a number of artists—including filmmakers Stanley Kwan and Isabel Sandoval—inspired by Cheung's exuberant embrace of his queerness.
- In an interview with Deadline, James Gray (whose Armageddon Time premiered at Cannes) discusses why studios "should be willing to lose money for a couple of years on art film divisions."
- Film Comment has published an excerpt from Dennis Lim's book on Hong Sang-soo for Fireflies Press, which explores Hong's oeuvre through his 2005 film Tale of Cinema.
- An excerpt of Lim and Hong's recent Q&A, from the career-spanning retrospective The Hong Sangsoo Multiverse, can be found at the New Yorker. Topics discussed include what it means to be a born artist, fake movies, and apples painted by Cézanne.
- "United in creating something under bewildering circumstances, everyone seems to be having the time of their lives." Melissa Anderson reviews Maureen Fazendeiro and Miguel Gomes' The Tsugua Diaries.
- For Film Comment, Tommasin Fonseca writes on the underlying complexities of Ninja Thyberg's Pleasure.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING
- In a new episode of SMOKING, the Saint Laurent podcast, Gaspar Noé discusses the making of his film Lux Æterna.
- The Film Comment podcast has the full "Hong show" with Dennis Lim, a special live conversation with the NYFF artistic director about all things Hong.
- Entitled Jason's Mates, Peter Strickland's new radio drama for BBC Radio 4 is a political satire surrounding the actions of a corrupt mayor.
RECENTLY ON THE NOTEBOOK
- Our Cannes coverage has begun! Read about the latest from David Cronenberg, Ruben Östlund, James Gray, Mia Hansen-Løve and more, by critics Leonardo Goi, Lawrence Garcia, and editor Daniel Kasman.
- Benediction director Terence Davies shares his Moviegoing Memories.
- Kelli Weston writes on One Shot that encapsulates Kasi Lemmon's 1997 film Eve's Bayou, the story of a young Black girl's awakening.
- Leonardo Goi interviews Michelangelo Frammartino about his Venice prizewinner Il buco, a reenactment of a real-life descent down one of the world’s deepest caves.
- The latest entry in Jonah Jeng's Action Scene column is on the opening fight of Abhinav Kashyap’s Dabangg, which manifests a sense of power at multiple levels.
- In a career-spanning interview, Matthew Thrift speaks to filmmaker Mike Hodges about everything from making classics like Get Carter to fiascos like Omen II.
- Ela Bittencourt writes on the skillfully paced "pausas," or suspensions, of Tatiana Huezo's Prayers for the Stolen, which is now showing exclusively on MUBI in many countries in the series The New Auteurs.
EXTRAS
- Sid Lowe of the Guardian has made the connection between Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti and the fateful football game between Pier Paolo Pasolini and Bernardo Bertolucci. Then a 15-year-old youth player, Ancelotti was recruited by Bertolucci to join the game, eventually leading team Novecento to win against team Saló.