Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.
NEWS
Nicolas Roeg on the set of The Man Who Fell to Earth
- This is a rather tragic week in cinema history, with the passing of filmmakers Nicolas Roeg and Bernardo Bertolucci, screenwriter and playwright William Goldman, and character actor Ricky Jay. We will miss these visionaries and their singular artistry.
- In partnership with U.K. charity Changing Faces, which aims to "remove the stigma around disfigurement," the BFI has announced it will no longer provide funding to films that feature "facially-scarred villains." This initiative is in addition to the institution's new diversity commitment.
RECOMMENDING VIEWING
- A stunning trailer for Jean-Luc Godard's The Image Book, premiering soon in U.K. cinemas on December 2nd, and on MUBI there starting December 3rd.
- For Filmkrant, Cristina Álvarez López & Adrian Martin's latest video essay on the use of archival imagery as dreams and hallucinations in Marco Bellocchio's Good Morning, Night.
RECOMMENDED READING
Last Tango in Paris
- In the wake of Bernardo Bertolucci's death and the re-consideration of his legacy, K. Austin Collins questions how cinephiles should consciously and ethically grapple with Maria Schneider's sexual assault on the set of Last Tango in Paris, as it is "impossible to separate the joys of [Bertolucci's] work from the flaws." For Time, Stephanie Zacharek writes on the matter: "A movie demands that we juggle multiple ideas at once. We have to be ready for new ones to enter the mix later."
- Jezebel's Hazel Cills investigates the rumored sexual relationship between Queen Anne and Sarah Churchill (as fictionalized in Yorgos Lanthimos's The Favourite) in an interview with biographer Anne Somerset.
Green Book
- Jourdain Searles examines Peter Farrelly's Green Book and its "sense of self-importance." Searles finds issue with the film's broad simplification of history, and instead wonders what the film might have been like if it had received the "full Farrelly brothers comic treatment."
- The latest "Break the Internet" issue of Paper Magazine includes an illuminating profile of Amanda Bynes, now a fashion student eager to return to acting after a string of scandals. Bynes's recollection of her highly lauded early career offers several insights on the physical and mental struggles of child actors in a demanding industry.
- A roundtable discussion for Toronto Now features critics Adam Nayman, Lisa Jackson, Radheyan Simonpillai, and Shane Belcourt on the Coen brothers' The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, and its "treatment of indigenous people."
- For Reverse Shot, Kit Duckworth reviews Julian Schnabel's At Eternity's Gate, eloquently navigating the "celestial terrain" of the film and its formal dedication to "the act of painting."
RECOMMENDED LISTENING
- The DGA Theater has released a number of thoughtful talks by directors of this year's buzzworthy titles, as moderated by friends, mentees, and compatriots. You can listen to the rest of the talks, compiled by podcast The Director's Cut, here.
RECENTLY ON THE NOTEBOOK
- Scout Tafouya's video essay on the dislocation and seedy space of David Cronenberg's Cosmopolis, "his first film since eXistenZ to have the claustrophobic setting and scope of his early classics."
- Leonardo Goi reviews Patrick Wang's A Bread Factory, and its broad-ranging questions "from the volatility of public funding for the arts to the David vs. Goliath struggle between independent arts center and giant corporate-backed art institutes."
EXTRAS AND RE-DISCOVERIES
- We're looking forward to Luca Guadagnino's Call Me By Your Name sequel!
is this real pic.twitter.com/soDzcRWIpq
— søcks (@thegoodwar) November 25, 2018