Edited by Adam Cook
News.
- I can barely muster the energy to care, but I can't help but be drawn to the ugly buzz surrounding Cannes darling Blue is the Warmest Color and its collaborators (and I still haven't even seen the darn thing). The Playlist collects some new words from director Abdellatif Kechiche regarding his rocky feelings about starlet Léa Seydoux and the film itself:
"According to me, the film shouldn't be released, it has been soiled too much. The Palme d'Or had been a brief moment of happiness; then I've felt humiliated, dishonored, I felt rejected, I live it like I'm cursed."
- Above: the Viennale has released the trailer for its 2013 edition entitled Illusions & Mirrors, directed by Shirin Neshat, starring Natalie Portman, and shot by Darius Khondji.
Finds.
- Rejoice! Every time David Bordwell unveils a new piece in "Observations on film art", it's a much-needed dose of sanity in the cinephile blogosphere. In his latest, he examines Wong Kar-wai's The Grandmaster (multiple versions, no less) with characteristic attentiveness:
"He could be our von Sternberg, were it not for his nervous pace, his habit of teasingly chopping off his pretty shots. Despite his mood-drenched frames, he betrays almost no interest in staging conversations in complex ways. Wong is, in sum, a very cutting-centered director."
- Above: the new poster for Roman Polanski's Venus in Fur.
- David Davidson has a piece over at Toronto Film Review wherein he writes on Mark Peranson's two directorial efforts, Waiting for Sancho (2008) and the newly premiered La última película. On the latter, Davidson does a good job of contextualizing the film with its influences and references. Speaking of Peranson, Scott Macaulay of Filmmaker Magazine found some time in Toronto to chat with him about his film.
- Jonathan Romney's "Film of the Week" at Film Comment's blog is Denis Villeneuve's Prisoners.
- Above: an excerpt from a new interview with Martin Scorsese on Roberto Rossellini conducted for the Criterion Collection's new Rossellini box set.
From the archives.
- Occasioned by the new Viennale trailer, here are a few of our favorites from the last few years: