Animated feature world premiered at Toronto earlier this month.
Poland is submitting animated featureThe Peasants as its candidate for best International feature film for next year’s Academy Awards.
Co-directors Dk Welchman and Hugh Welchman used the same painting animation technique as in their previous film Loving Vincent forThe Peasants.
The Peasants had its world premiere in the Special Presentations section at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month, with international sales being handled by New Europe Film Sales.
Last weekend saw The Peasants win its first ever audience prize in Poland when festival-goers at the Polish Film Festival...
Poland is submitting animated featureThe Peasants as its candidate for best International feature film for next year’s Academy Awards.
Co-directors Dk Welchman and Hugh Welchman used the same painting animation technique as in their previous film Loving Vincent forThe Peasants.
The Peasants had its world premiere in the Special Presentations section at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month, with international sales being handled by New Europe Film Sales.
Last weekend saw The Peasants win its first ever audience prize in Poland when festival-goers at the Polish Film Festival...
- 9/25/2023
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
It’s hard to believe that it’s now over 60 years since Roman Polanski teamed with Jerzy Skolimowski for the landmark 1962 Polish thriller Knife in the Water. But it’s even harder to believe that these two giants of international cinema reunited more recently to pool their braincells and come up with The Palace, the most terrible, joyless farce since the heyday of the ’70s British sex comedy. Forget for a moment, if you can, the furor surrounding Polanski’s controversial status as a fugitive from justice and concentrate instead on the fact that the Venice Film Festival, in its infinite wisdom, went ahead and booked this entirely dreadful offering anyway, deeming it somehow worthy of a prestigious Out of Competition slot.
The setting is The Palace, a plush Alpine hideaway where the jet set of Europe are gathering to see in the year 2000. There are fears that the Y2K...
The setting is The Palace, a plush Alpine hideaway where the jet set of Europe are gathering to see in the year 2000. There are fears that the Y2K...
- 9/3/2023
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
Setting aside all the necessary caveats about art and artists, Roman Polanski’s “The Palace” throws a greater fact into stark relief. For all the digital ink we spill, journalists and critics are more often than not responsive to wider industry forces, and in Polanski’s case – as in the wider European industry — something has definitely shifted.
Heck, you could even the place the specific date to Feb. 28, 2020 – the night Polanski’s Venice Grand Jury Prize winner “An Officer and a Spy” won best director at France’s Cesar awards, prompting boos, a few notable walkouts, and a clash between protesters and police out in the streets. Two weeks prior, the French academy’s board of directors resigned in scandal.
So the fact that Polanski’s 2019 film has yet to find U.S. distribution is not a particular surprise; the fact that his follow-up, “The Palace,” has had similar tough...
Heck, you could even the place the specific date to Feb. 28, 2020 – the night Polanski’s Venice Grand Jury Prize winner “An Officer and a Spy” won best director at France’s Cesar awards, prompting boos, a few notable walkouts, and a clash between protesters and police out in the streets. Two weeks prior, the French academy’s board of directors resigned in scandal.
So the fact that Polanski’s 2019 film has yet to find U.S. distribution is not a particular surprise; the fact that his follow-up, “The Palace,” has had similar tough...
- 9/2/2023
- by Ben Croll
- The Wrap
For an admirer of his work, writing about a new movie by Roman Polanski is like facing a minefield of unsolvable questions: Can this film be judged like the others given the director’s criminal record and tarnished reputation? Is it possible to praise a work of art if certain parts of an artist’s life are reprehensible, or should the two be separated? Should Polanski still be allowed to make movies? Should this movie even be written about?
Those questions would be harder to answer if Polanski, who’s now 90, made something on the level of say, Chinatown or Rosemary’s Baby. Or even something like The Tenant or Frantic or Repulsion or his debut feature, Knife in the Water, which came out over 60 years ago and earned him his first Oscar nomination.
But the director’s latest, The Palace, leaves little room for ambiguity. It’s the worst thing...
Those questions would be harder to answer if Polanski, who’s now 90, made something on the level of say, Chinatown or Rosemary’s Baby. Or even something like The Tenant or Frantic or Repulsion or his debut feature, Knife in the Water, which came out over 60 years ago and earned him his first Oscar nomination.
But the director’s latest, The Palace, leaves little room for ambiguity. It’s the worst thing...
- 9/2/2023
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Though his personal tragedies and demons have sometimes overshadowed his work, there’s no denying the impact Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski has had on cinema.
Born in 1933 in Paris and raised in Poland, Polanski’s childhood was marked by tragedy when he was separated from his parents during the Holocaust. As a child, he escaped the Krakow ghetto after his mother was killed in an Auschwitz gas chamber. When the war ended, he was reunited with his father and returned home.
He turned to filmmaking as a student, making his directorial debut with the international hit “Knife in the Water” (1962), which earned an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. His followup, the psychological thriller “Repulsion” (1965), was an even bigger hit, and he was soon drafted by Hollywood to direct the occult horror film “Rosemary’s Baby” (1968), which earned him a Best Adapted Screenplay bid.
It was during this time that he married Sharon Tate,...
Born in 1933 in Paris and raised in Poland, Polanski’s childhood was marked by tragedy when he was separated from his parents during the Holocaust. As a child, he escaped the Krakow ghetto after his mother was killed in an Auschwitz gas chamber. When the war ended, he was reunited with his father and returned home.
He turned to filmmaking as a student, making his directorial debut with the international hit “Knife in the Water” (1962), which earned an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. His followup, the psychological thriller “Repulsion” (1965), was an even bigger hit, and he was soon drafted by Hollywood to direct the occult horror film “Rosemary’s Baby” (1968), which earned him a Best Adapted Screenplay bid.
It was during this time that he married Sharon Tate,...
- 8/12/2023
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Odds are low we’ll watch Roman Polanski’s The Palace through strictly legal means in the United States, those of us who maintain interest instead waiting for The.Palace.2023.1080p.BluRay.x264-ea.mkv.torrent. But with a Venice premiere right around the corner and Italian release set for September 28 (one day after another director returns) we have a dubbed trailer and first clip.
Co-written by Eo‘s Jerzy Skolimowski (some 60 years since Knife in the Water) and Ewa Piaskowska, Polanski’s comedy is set in Switzerland’s stunning Gstaad Palace on New Year’s Eve 1999 with throw-a-dart casting that suggests chaos of the highest order. These first two previews play into that wholesale: while Rourke dubbed into Italian is simply a demonic experience, the subtle long take in this full clip again shows Polanski’s mastery of space finding dividends in an ongoing relationship with Dp Paweł Edelman.
Co-written by Eo‘s Jerzy Skolimowski (some 60 years since Knife in the Water) and Ewa Piaskowska, Polanski’s comedy is set in Switzerland’s stunning Gstaad Palace on New Year’s Eve 1999 with throw-a-dart casting that suggests chaos of the highest order. These first two previews play into that wholesale: while Rourke dubbed into Italian is simply a demonic experience, the subtle long take in this full clip again shows Polanski’s mastery of space finding dividends in an ongoing relationship with Dp Paweł Edelman.
- 8/2/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
You can pre-set your Twitter (er, X?) alerts to outrage.
The 80th Venice Film Festival unveiled an impressive and — SAG-AFTRA and Wag strike-permitting — star-studded lineup on Tuesday, that should draw international critics and press in droves to the Lido again this year.
But controversy will also again be part of the 2023 Biennale, thanks to a selection of movies from directors nearly as well known for their scandals as for their films.
Roman Polanski new feature, The Palace, scored an out-of-competition slot, as did Coup de Chance, the latest feature from Woody Allen. And Luc Besson will premiere his new feature, DogMan, in competition in Venice. All three filmmakers have been the focus of abuse allegations and, in the wake of #MeToo, the targets of online attacks and cancellation campaigns. Though Polanski, who fled the U.S. in 1978 after being convicted of sexually assaulting a teen girl, is the only one...
The 80th Venice Film Festival unveiled an impressive and — SAG-AFTRA and Wag strike-permitting — star-studded lineup on Tuesday, that should draw international critics and press in droves to the Lido again this year.
But controversy will also again be part of the 2023 Biennale, thanks to a selection of movies from directors nearly as well known for their scandals as for their films.
Roman Polanski new feature, The Palace, scored an out-of-competition slot, as did Coup de Chance, the latest feature from Woody Allen. And Luc Besson will premiere his new feature, DogMan, in competition in Venice. All three filmmakers have been the focus of abuse allegations and, in the wake of #MeToo, the targets of online attacks and cancellation campaigns. Though Polanski, who fled the U.S. in 1978 after being convicted of sexually assaulting a teen girl, is the only one...
- 7/25/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Polish filmmaker Jerzy Skolimowski, whose sixty-year career in cinema has included the highest honors of the Berlin, Venice and Cannes film festivals, received an invitation to attend China’s Shanghai International Film Festival earlier this year while he was in Los Angeles for the Academy Awards, where his latest movie, Eo, was nominated for an Oscar. Skolimowski says he accepted the surprise invite — which included serving as Shanghai’s jury president for the festival’s 30th-anniversary edition — for reasons both “very private and a little sentimental.”
Skolimowski, 85, revealed those reasons on stage Friday at the Shanghai Grand Theater, during the festival’s opening ceremony.
“My father was born in North East China over 100 years ago, where my grandfather, the famous Polish architect, Kazimierz Skolimowski, devoted himself to designing the urban plan for one of the great cities 1,000 kilometers from here,” Skolimowski said during his brief remarks before the mostly Chinese crowd.
Skolimowski, 85, revealed those reasons on stage Friday at the Shanghai Grand Theater, during the festival’s opening ceremony.
“My father was born in North East China over 100 years ago, where my grandfather, the famous Polish architect, Kazimierz Skolimowski, devoted himself to designing the urban plan for one of the great cities 1,000 kilometers from here,” Skolimowski said during his brief remarks before the mostly Chinese crowd.
- 6/13/2023
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Kohn’s Corner is a weekly column about the challenges and opportunities of sustaining American film culture.
This week provided a confluence of contentious developments for the film industry, and I’m not talking about the ongoing writers strike. First reviews of “The Flash” dropped ahead of the movie’s release and while they’re definitely mixed, the movie doesn’t seem destined for the dustbin despite its ostracized lead. Ezra Miller’s assault charges haven’t gone away, but that hasn’t deterred Warner Bros. from hurtling toward the theatrical release plan and mitigating Miller’s scandal however it can.
Miller, of course, stayed out of the spotlight while the studio ramped up buzz. Tracking for the June 16 release in the unremarkable $70 million-$75 million range, which means it may not be the summer’s most profitable blockbuster. However, the hype machine ensured that audiences won’t cancel “The Flash” alongside its troubled star.
This week provided a confluence of contentious developments for the film industry, and I’m not talking about the ongoing writers strike. First reviews of “The Flash” dropped ahead of the movie’s release and while they’re definitely mixed, the movie doesn’t seem destined for the dustbin despite its ostracized lead. Ezra Miller’s assault charges haven’t gone away, but that hasn’t deterred Warner Bros. from hurtling toward the theatrical release plan and mitigating Miller’s scandal however it can.
Miller, of course, stayed out of the spotlight while the studio ramped up buzz. Tracking for the June 16 release in the unremarkable $70 million-$75 million range, which means it may not be the summer’s most profitable blockbuster. However, the hype machine ensured that audiences won’t cancel “The Flash” alongside its troubled star.
- 6/10/2023
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
The Shanghai International Film Festival, China’s most prestigious movie industry event, kicks off its 30th-anniversary edition Friday night. It will be the first version of the festival that’s easily accessible to the global film community since 2019, after the past three editions were either canceled or rendered difficult to attend by strict Covid-19 travel restrictions at the time.
This year, film stars from at home and afar will descend on China’s commercial capital to celebrate the ongoing comeback of China’s movie business. Jason Statham will lend some Hollywood star power to the proceedings when he walks the red carpet for the festival’s opening ceremony Friday night in promotion of his upcoming Warner Bros. blockbuster sequel, Meg 2: The Trench, which opens Aug. 4 and co-stars Chinese leading man Wu Jing. European film legend, Jerzy Skolimowski of Poland — who wrote Roman Polansky’s landmark Knife in the Water...
This year, film stars from at home and afar will descend on China’s commercial capital to celebrate the ongoing comeback of China’s movie business. Jason Statham will lend some Hollywood star power to the proceedings when he walks the red carpet for the festival’s opening ceremony Friday night in promotion of his upcoming Warner Bros. blockbuster sequel, Meg 2: The Trench, which opens Aug. 4 and co-stars Chinese leading man Wu Jing. European film legend, Jerzy Skolimowski of Poland — who wrote Roman Polansky’s landmark Knife in the Water...
- 6/9/2023
- by Patrick Brzeski and Mathew Scott
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Keep track of all the submissions for best international feature at the 2023 Academy Awards.
Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.
A shortlist of 15 finalists is...
Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.
A shortlist of 15 finalists is...
- 9/2/2022
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
Writer, director and actress Rebecca Miller discusses a few of her favorite films with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Personal Velocity: Three Portraits (2002)
The Ballad Of Jack And Rose (2005)
The Private Lives Of Pippa Lee (2009)
Maggie’s Plan (2015)
Explorers (1985)
The Way We Were (1973)
Battleship Potemkin (1925)
Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (1953)
Annie Hall (1977)
Repulsion (1965)
Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Knife In The Water (1962)
The Tenant (1976)
Cries and Whispers (1972)
Persona (1966)
The Magician (1958)
Hour Of The Wolf (1968)
The Virgin Spring (1960)
The Seventh Seal (1957)
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
The Exorcist (1973)
The Shining (1980)
La Dolce Vita (1960)
Regarding Henry (1991)
Angela (1995)
Badlands (1973)
Casino (1995)
On The Waterfront (1954)
My Dinner with Andre (1981)
Jules and Jim (1962)
The Bitter Tears Of Petra von Kant (1972)
Wings Of Desire (1987)
The Killer Inside Me (1976)
The Killer Inside Me (2010)
Married To The Mob (1988)
Blue Velvet (1986)
Dune (1984)
Imitation Of Life (1934)
Imitation Of Life (1959)
Written On The Wind (1956)
Magnificent Obsession (1954)
All That Heaven Allows...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Personal Velocity: Three Portraits (2002)
The Ballad Of Jack And Rose (2005)
The Private Lives Of Pippa Lee (2009)
Maggie’s Plan (2015)
Explorers (1985)
The Way We Were (1973)
Battleship Potemkin (1925)
Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (1953)
Annie Hall (1977)
Repulsion (1965)
Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
Knife In The Water (1962)
The Tenant (1976)
Cries and Whispers (1972)
Persona (1966)
The Magician (1958)
Hour Of The Wolf (1968)
The Virgin Spring (1960)
The Seventh Seal (1957)
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
The Exorcist (1973)
The Shining (1980)
La Dolce Vita (1960)
Regarding Henry (1991)
Angela (1995)
Badlands (1973)
Casino (1995)
On The Waterfront (1954)
My Dinner with Andre (1981)
Jules and Jim (1962)
The Bitter Tears Of Petra von Kant (1972)
Wings Of Desire (1987)
The Killer Inside Me (1976)
The Killer Inside Me (2010)
Married To The Mob (1988)
Blue Velvet (1986)
Dune (1984)
Imitation Of Life (1934)
Imitation Of Life (1959)
Written On The Wind (1956)
Magnificent Obsession (1954)
All That Heaven Allows...
- 5/11/2021
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Roman Polanski will soon return behind the camera on “The Palace” a drama set in Switzerland that is co-written with fellow Polish auteur Jerzy Skolimowski.
The new Polanski project, which the director is expected to start shooting this fall, was announced Thursday during a lineup presentation by Rai Cinema, the film arm of Italian public broadcaster Rai.
“The Palace” is set on New Year’s Eve in 1999, “which is the epilogue of an entire millennium,” said Rai Cinema chief Paolo Del Brocco. The film is situated “in a big hotel immersed in the Swiss Alps where the lives of the guests and those who work for them intersect,” the exec added, noting that he only recently received the screenplay and isn’t allowed to say more.
The Polanski pic is being lead-produced by Italian actor-producer Luca Barbareschi via his Eliseo Entertainment company.
Barbareschi was also a producer on Polanski’s “An Officer and a Spy,...
The new Polanski project, which the director is expected to start shooting this fall, was announced Thursday during a lineup presentation by Rai Cinema, the film arm of Italian public broadcaster Rai.
“The Palace” is set on New Year’s Eve in 1999, “which is the epilogue of an entire millennium,” said Rai Cinema chief Paolo Del Brocco. The film is situated “in a big hotel immersed in the Swiss Alps where the lives of the guests and those who work for them intersect,” the exec added, noting that he only recently received the screenplay and isn’t allowed to say more.
The Polanski pic is being lead-produced by Italian actor-producer Luca Barbareschi via his Eliseo Entertainment company.
Barbareschi was also a producer on Polanski’s “An Officer and a Spy,...
- 4/29/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Writer, director, producer, editor, cinematographer, and actor Larry Fessenden chats with hosts Joe Dante & Josh Olson about some of his favorite movies.
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Habit (1995)
Jakob’s Wife (2021)
Phantom Thread (2017)
The Last Winter (2006)
Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957)
The Crawling Eye (1958)
The Reptile (1966)
Peeping Tom (1960)
Casablanca (1942)
Jaws (1975)
Man Of A Thousand Faces (1957)
Scarlet Street (1945)
Suspicion (1941)
Rope (1948)
The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Night Of The Living Dead (1968)
Frankenstein (1931)
The Wolf Man (1941)
Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
Dracula (1931)
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Taxi Driver (1976)
Mean Streets (1973)
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
Playtime (1973)
The Thing (1982)
The Howling (1981)
An American Werewolf In London (1981)
An American Werewolf In Paris (1997)
I Was A Teenage Werewolf (1957)
Ginger Snaps (2001)
The Terminator (1984)
The Wolfman (2010)
Van Helsing (2004)
The Mummy (2017)
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994)
The Invisible Man (1933)
The Invisible Man (2020)
Amazon Women On The Moon (1987)
Wendigo (2001)
Fargo (1996)
Raising Arizona (1987)
Seven (1995)
Man Bites Dog...
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Habit (1995)
Jakob’s Wife (2021)
Phantom Thread (2017)
The Last Winter (2006)
Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957)
The Crawling Eye (1958)
The Reptile (1966)
Peeping Tom (1960)
Casablanca (1942)
Jaws (1975)
Man Of A Thousand Faces (1957)
Scarlet Street (1945)
Suspicion (1941)
Rope (1948)
The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Night Of The Living Dead (1968)
Frankenstein (1931)
The Wolf Man (1941)
Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
Dracula (1931)
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Taxi Driver (1976)
Mean Streets (1973)
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
Playtime (1973)
The Thing (1982)
The Howling (1981)
An American Werewolf In London (1981)
An American Werewolf In Paris (1997)
I Was A Teenage Werewolf (1957)
Ginger Snaps (2001)
The Terminator (1984)
The Wolfman (2010)
Van Helsing (2004)
The Mummy (2017)
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994)
The Invisible Man (1933)
The Invisible Man (2020)
Amazon Women On The Moon (1987)
Wendigo (2001)
Fargo (1996)
Raising Arizona (1987)
Seven (1995)
Man Bites Dog...
- 4/27/2021
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Severin continues to impress with their incredible box set releases and their latest announcement was an instant pre-order for me: a collection of five remastered Christopher Lee movies and a rarely seen, Christopher Lee-hosted, anthology horror TV series:
(Los Angeles, CA) On May 25th, Severin Films is releasing a box set of buried gems from one of cinema’s most seminal figures - Sir Christopher Lee. He remains one of the most beloved horror/fantasy icons in US/UK pop culture history, but Christopher Lee delivered several of the most compelling, acclaimed and bizarre performances of his entire career in 1960s Europe. The Eurocrypt Of Christopher Lee brings together five of these Lee classics - the 1964 gothic shocker Crypt Of The Vampire; the 1964 cult hit Castle Of The Living Dead co-starring an unknown Donald Sutherland; 1962's celebrated Sherlock Holmes And The Deadly Necklace; 1967's lurid favorite The Torture Chamber Of Dr.
(Los Angeles, CA) On May 25th, Severin Films is releasing a box set of buried gems from one of cinema’s most seminal figures - Sir Christopher Lee. He remains one of the most beloved horror/fantasy icons in US/UK pop culture history, but Christopher Lee delivered several of the most compelling, acclaimed and bizarre performances of his entire career in 1960s Europe. The Eurocrypt Of Christopher Lee brings together five of these Lee classics - the 1964 gothic shocker Crypt Of The Vampire; the 1964 cult hit Castle Of The Living Dead co-starring an unknown Donald Sutherland; 1962's celebrated Sherlock Holmes And The Deadly Necklace; 1967's lurid favorite The Torture Chamber Of Dr.
- 2/12/2021
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
David Bowie is presented as a very human superhero alien in a cinematic graphic novel.
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Bowie: Stardust, Rayguns, & Moonage Daydreams begins with a forward by Neil Gaiman called "If We Can Sparkle He May Land Tonight." It recounts the author's first contact with the third kind. David Bowie's songs were stories, he remembers, like the Gilbert and Sullivan ditties Gaiman preferred over rock and roll in his youth. He bonded with the rock star over the science fiction undercurrent in the music and image, and glorified him in his mind. Among his favorite memories is trekking to Victoria Station where the Thin White Duke arrived by special train before the 1975 Isolar Tour. Gaiman remembers the faux Bowies at the station, and the Station to Station albums scattered about to distract Bowie fans. The rest of the world was distracted by a blurred photograph which made it look...
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Bowie: Stardust, Rayguns, & Moonage Daydreams begins with a forward by Neil Gaiman called "If We Can Sparkle He May Land Tonight." It recounts the author's first contact with the third kind. David Bowie's songs were stories, he remembers, like the Gilbert and Sullivan ditties Gaiman preferred over rock and roll in his youth. He bonded with the rock star over the science fiction undercurrent in the music and image, and glorified him in his mind. Among his favorite memories is trekking to Victoria Station where the Thin White Duke arrived by special train before the 1975 Isolar Tour. Gaiman remembers the faux Bowies at the station, and the Station to Station albums scattered about to distract Bowie fans. The rest of the world was distracted by a blurred photograph which made it look...
- 1/8/2020
- Den of Geek
Some movies just don’t get the respect they deserve, which cues pushy reviewers to sing their praises. Forget everything you’ve read and give this Roman Polanski picture a chance — it’s the classiest Halloween treat ever, a lavish blend of Hammer horror, slapstick comedy and wistful romance — plus a vampire horde more balefully scary than a carload of zombies. It’s the beloved Sharon Tate’s best picture, and its vampire king is an original apart from Bela Lugosi and Chris Lee’s Draculas — an aristocratic one-percenter on a satanic mission to put all of humanity in a graveyard of the undead. Warners’ Panavision-Metrocolor restoration is drop-dead beautiful. And they’ve even revived Frank Frazetta’s original ‘jolly chase’ poster art.
The Fearless Vampire Killers or: Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1967 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 107 91 min. / Dance of the Vampires, Your...
The Fearless Vampire Killers or: Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck
Blu-ray
Warner Archive Collection
1967 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 107 91 min. / Dance of the Vampires, Your...
- 10/8/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Arrow Video have announced that hit horror Harpoon (which is screening at Grimmfest this weekend) will premiere exclusively on its Cult Film video-on-demand service The Arrow Video Channel from 18th October, just in time for Halloween. The Arrow Video Channel is now available to UK customers of Apple TV channels in the Apple TV app on iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and select Samsung smart TVs, in addition to Amazon Prime Video subscribers.
Hot on the heels of its UK Premiere at Arrow Video FrightFest where it received critical acclaim, Harpoon is written, directed and edited by Rob Grant, Produced by Michael Peterson and Kurtis David Harder and stars Munro Chambers, Emily Tyra, Christopher Gray with narration by Brett Gelman.
With his perfect family and perfect upbringing, Richard (Christopher Gray) appears to have it all. So when he thinks that his long-term girlfriend, Sasha (Emily Tyra), and best friend, Jonah (Munro Chambers), are having an affair,...
Hot on the heels of its UK Premiere at Arrow Video FrightFest where it received critical acclaim, Harpoon is written, directed and edited by Rob Grant, Produced by Michael Peterson and Kurtis David Harder and stars Munro Chambers, Emily Tyra, Christopher Gray with narration by Brett Gelman.
With his perfect family and perfect upbringing, Richard (Christopher Gray) appears to have it all. So when he thinks that his long-term girlfriend, Sasha (Emily Tyra), and best friend, Jonah (Munro Chambers), are having an affair,...
- 10/2/2019
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Roman Polanski celebrates his 86th birthday on August 18, 2019. Though his personal tragedies and demons have sometimes overshadowed his work, there’s no denying the impact this Oscar-winning director has had on cinema. In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 15 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.
Born in 1933 in Paris and raised in Poland, Polanski’s childhood was marked by tragedy when he was separated from his parents during the Holocaust. As a child, he escaped the Krakow ghetto after his mother was killed in an Auschwitz gas chamber. When the war ended, he was reunited with his father and returned home.
He turned to filmmaking as a student, making his directorial debut with the international hit “Knife in the Water” (1962), which earned an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. His followup, the psychological thriller “Repulsion” (1965), was an even bigger hit, and he...
Born in 1933 in Paris and raised in Poland, Polanski’s childhood was marked by tragedy when he was separated from his parents during the Holocaust. As a child, he escaped the Krakow ghetto after his mother was killed in an Auschwitz gas chamber. When the war ended, he was reunited with his father and returned home.
He turned to filmmaking as a student, making his directorial debut with the international hit “Knife in the Water” (1962), which earned an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. His followup, the psychological thriller “Repulsion” (1965), was an even bigger hit, and he...
- 8/18/2019
- by Zach Laws and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
Some low-voltage thrillers are so thoroughly predictable as they meander toward an obvious outcome, they generate far more impatience than suspense. Exhibit A: “Dead Water,” a tepid VOD-ready melodrama that strikes faint echoes of Roman Polanski’s “Knife in the Water” and Phillip Noyce’s “Dead Calm” while ponderously padding 60 or so minutes of plot to feature length. Time and again, you may find yourself thinking, “Come on, come on, let’s get going.” And if you’re in the privacy of your home, well, thoughts may inspire irritably spoken words.
It doesn’t help much that director Chris Helton provides little in the way of distinctive visual stratagems or subtly ominous subtext during the long setup for his tale of a weekend yacht cruise that turns deadly. And it doesn’t help at all that, as the host of the excursion, Casper Van Dien is so transparently sleazy from the get-go,...
It doesn’t help much that director Chris Helton provides little in the way of distinctive visual stratagems or subtly ominous subtext during the long setup for his tale of a weekend yacht cruise that turns deadly. And it doesn’t help at all that, as the host of the excursion, Casper Van Dien is so transparently sleazy from the get-go,...
- 7/28/2019
- by Joe Leydon
- Variety Film + TV
Oscar winner John Kahrs (“Paperman”) has made the most ambitious Vr short yet from Google Spotlight with “Age of Sail,” which has been converted for Best Animated Short consideration. The great breakthrough was believably capturing the open ocean for this adventure in the North Atlantic about an old sailor (Ian McShane) who rescues a Victorian girl (Cathy Ang). (Watch the short below.)
“It’s very much like the Grand Canyon,” said Kahrs. “You go there
and your spatial perception is astounding. And then you can show a picture and it’s not the same. The open ocean can have that high stakes drama as vast as David Lean’s ‘Lawrence of Arabia.’ But all the portrayals I’ve seen of the open ocean are nothing like it. So I thought it would be cool for Vr being in the waves.”
So Kahrs studied the pioneering Vr work at Google Spotlight,...
“It’s very much like the Grand Canyon,” said Kahrs. “You go there
and your spatial perception is astounding. And then you can show a picture and it’s not the same. The open ocean can have that high stakes drama as vast as David Lean’s ‘Lawrence of Arabia.’ But all the portrayals I’ve seen of the open ocean are nothing like it. So I thought it would be cool for Vr being in the waves.”
So Kahrs studied the pioneering Vr work at Google Spotlight,...
- 1/2/2019
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
Bergman’s sensually brilliant 1966 film about a mute actress and her psychiatric nurse is an endlessly questioning and mysterious disquisition on identity
Here, for the centenary of Ingmar Bergman’s birth, is a rerelease of one of his fiercest, strangest, most sensually brilliant and unclassifiable pictures: Persona, from 1966. This was last revived in British cinemas 14 years ago, and I have in the past been agnostic about what I felt were contrivances and rather atypical attempts to engage with the Godardian spirit of the times.
Revisited now, the movie actually more suggests the Roman Polanski of Knife in the Water and Repulsion. Yet more than that, it forces on the audience its own utter uniqueness. It is stark, spare, endlessly questioning and self-questioning, a movie whose enigmas and challenges multiply, like the heads of Hydra.
Continue reading...
Here, for the centenary of Ingmar Bergman’s birth, is a rerelease of one of his fiercest, strangest, most sensually brilliant and unclassifiable pictures: Persona, from 1966. This was last revived in British cinemas 14 years ago, and I have in the past been agnostic about what I felt were contrivances and rather atypical attempts to engage with the Godardian spirit of the times.
Revisited now, the movie actually more suggests the Roman Polanski of Knife in the Water and Repulsion. Yet more than that, it forces on the audience its own utter uniqueness. It is stark, spare, endlessly questioning and self-questioning, a movie whose enigmas and challenges multiply, like the heads of Hydra.
Continue reading...
- 12/29/2017
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
A breezy five-episode compilation movie about swindles plays out in five film capitals, under the eye of five different directors including Claude Chabrol and Jean-Luc Godard. But Roman Polanski’s Amsterdam segment couldn’t be included, which is a shame. It’s in B&W ‘scope, and everybody gets to bring their favorite cameraman and composer along.
The World’s Most Beautiful Swindlers
Blu-ray
Olive Films
1964 / B&W / 2:35 widescreen / 95 108, 124 min. / Street Date April 25, 2017 / Les plus belles escroqueries du monde / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98
Starring: Mie Hama, Ken Mitsuda, Nicole Karen, Gabriella Giorgelli, Jan Teulings, Arnold Gelderman, Guido Giuseppone, Giuseppe Mannajuolo, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Catherine Deneuve, Francis Blanche, Sacha Briquet, Jean-Louis Maury, Philomène Toulouse, Charles Denner, Jean-Luc Godard, Jean Seberg, László Szabó.
Cinematography: Raoul Coutard, Tonino Delli Colli, Jerzy Lipman, Asakazu Nakai, Jean Rabier
Film Editor:
Original Music: Serge Gainsbourg, Pierre Jansen, Krzysztof Komeda, Michel Legrand, Keitaro Miho, Piero Umiliani...
The World’s Most Beautiful Swindlers
Blu-ray
Olive Films
1964 / B&W / 2:35 widescreen / 95 108, 124 min. / Street Date April 25, 2017 / Les plus belles escroqueries du monde / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98
Starring: Mie Hama, Ken Mitsuda, Nicole Karen, Gabriella Giorgelli, Jan Teulings, Arnold Gelderman, Guido Giuseppone, Giuseppe Mannajuolo, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Catherine Deneuve, Francis Blanche, Sacha Briquet, Jean-Louis Maury, Philomène Toulouse, Charles Denner, Jean-Luc Godard, Jean Seberg, László Szabó.
Cinematography: Raoul Coutard, Tonino Delli Colli, Jerzy Lipman, Asakazu Nakai, Jean Rabier
Film Editor:
Original Music: Serge Gainsbourg, Pierre Jansen, Krzysztof Komeda, Michel Legrand, Keitaro Miho, Piero Umiliani...
- 5/16/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Lionsgate has released the first-look image from Roman Polanski’s thriller-drama “Based on a True Story,” which marks the French-Polish director’s first film in four years. The film, whose original title in French is “D’après une histoire vraie” and stars Eva Green and Emmanuelle Seigner, will show at the Cannes Films Festival, which will run May 17 – 28.
Read More: Roman Polanski Compares Court to Nazis for Rejecting Motion to Avoid Further Jail Time
The film is an adaptation of Delphine de Vigan’s novel of the same name. Polanski wrote the script with writer and “Personal Shopper” director Olivier Assayas. “Based on a True Story” follows a Parisian writer (Seigner) who gets romantically involved with an obsessed admirer (Green) who tries to impose influence on her.
Read More: The Films of Roman Polanski, Ranked Worst to Best
During his embattled five-decade career, Polanski has helmed a long list of acclaimed films,...
Read More: Roman Polanski Compares Court to Nazis for Rejecting Motion to Avoid Further Jail Time
The film is an adaptation of Delphine de Vigan’s novel of the same name. Polanski wrote the script with writer and “Personal Shopper” director Olivier Assayas. “Based on a True Story” follows a Parisian writer (Seigner) who gets romantically involved with an obsessed admirer (Green) who tries to impose influence on her.
Read More: The Films of Roman Polanski, Ranked Worst to Best
During his embattled five-decade career, Polanski has helmed a long list of acclaimed films,...
- 5/3/2017
- by Yoselin Acevedo
- Indiewire
Earlier this week, Roman Polanski’s heavy-hitting lawyer Harland Braun made a move to put a close to the horrific child rape case that unfolded in 1977, leading to the French-Polish filmmaker’s controversial plea deal and his fleeing the country.
Per TMZ, Braun “has asked an L.A. County Superior Court judge to unseal a long-secret transcript of the testimony of the prosecutor in the Polanski case. Braun believes the secret testimony supports Polanski’s claim that he cut a deal to serve only 48 days behind bars for raping a 13-year-old girl in 1977, and the judge signed off. Polanski actually spent 42 days in Chino State Prison and was released. But Judge Laurence Rittenband allegedly reneged on the deal and told prosecutors he decided Polanski should spend up to 50 years in prison.”
Read More: IndieWire and FilmStruck’s ‘Movies That Inspire Me’: Jody Hill Looks at Roman Polanski’s Debut,...
Per TMZ, Braun “has asked an L.A. County Superior Court judge to unseal a long-secret transcript of the testimony of the prosecutor in the Polanski case. Braun believes the secret testimony supports Polanski’s claim that he cut a deal to serve only 48 days behind bars for raping a 13-year-old girl in 1977, and the judge signed off. Polanski actually spent 42 days in Chino State Prison and was released. But Judge Laurence Rittenband allegedly reneged on the deal and told prosecutors he decided Polanski should spend up to 50 years in prison.”
Read More: IndieWire and FilmStruck’s ‘Movies That Inspire Me’: Jody Hill Looks at Roman Polanski’s Debut,...
- 2/17/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
As we head into the final weeks of the year, when you might have extra days off for a chill evening of movie watching, allow the directors from our “Movies That Inspire Me” (presented in partnership with FilmStruck) to offer heartfelt advice as to what you should eat.
Read More: Watch: ‘Jackie’ Director Pablo Larraín Discusses ‘Movies That Inspire Me’ in New IndieWire Video Series Presented by FilmStruck
Though most of the questions we’ve asked our distinguished collection of interview subjects have focused on the films that shaped their careers and lives, we also asked our filmmakers to share some of their go-to movie food.
Some of the standards earn mentions: wine, cocktails, cheese, and popcorn all came up. But a few of the other responses might surprise you.
If you’d like to hear more from the filmmakers we spoke to, you can find all of our conversations...
Read More: Watch: ‘Jackie’ Director Pablo Larraín Discusses ‘Movies That Inspire Me’ in New IndieWire Video Series Presented by FilmStruck
Though most of the questions we’ve asked our distinguished collection of interview subjects have focused on the films that shaped their careers and lives, we also asked our filmmakers to share some of their go-to movie food.
Some of the standards earn mentions: wine, cocktails, cheese, and popcorn all came up. But a few of the other responses might surprise you.
If you’d like to hear more from the filmmakers we spoke to, you can find all of our conversations...
- 12/21/2016
- by Steve Greene
- Indiewire
Roger Ross Williams is the director of the uplifting documentary “Life, Animated,” but he also has an affinity for films that explore the darker side of the human condition. And who better to embody that sensibility than Lars von Trier?
Read More: Watch: ‘Jackie’ Director Pablo Larraín Discusses ‘Movies That Inspire Me’ in New IndieWire Video Series Presented by FilmStruck
Von Trier’s filmography often lends itself to less-than-cheery characterization, but his 1996 film “Breaking the Waves” is particularly harrowing. Starring Emily Watson and Stellan Skarsgård as a married couple whose life is changed irrevocably by an oil rig accident, the film follows their inner turmoil and physical trials as they try to find a way to persevere.
As part of our ongoing series of filmmaker discussions (presented with FilmStruck), Williams spoke with us about the film’s depiction of autism and the ways that misunderstandings can lead to humanity’s darker nature.
Read More: Watch: ‘Jackie’ Director Pablo Larraín Discusses ‘Movies That Inspire Me’ in New IndieWire Video Series Presented by FilmStruck
Von Trier’s filmography often lends itself to less-than-cheery characterization, but his 1996 film “Breaking the Waves” is particularly harrowing. Starring Emily Watson and Stellan Skarsgård as a married couple whose life is changed irrevocably by an oil rig accident, the film follows their inner turmoil and physical trials as they try to find a way to persevere.
As part of our ongoing series of filmmaker discussions (presented with FilmStruck), Williams spoke with us about the film’s depiction of autism and the ways that misunderstandings can lead to humanity’s darker nature.
- 12/19/2016
- by Steve Greene
- Indiewire
As part of our ongoing partnership with FilmStruck, we’re celebrating Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker’s thrilling inside look at Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign, “The War Room.”
Oscar-winning documentarian Roger Ross Williams, who’s now on the 2017 documentary shortlist for “Life, Animated,” said he’s still shocked by the directors’ unprecedented access to a campaign that “got really dirty.”
Read More:IndieWire and FilmStruck’s ‘Movies That Inspire Me’: Jody Hill Looks at Roman Polanski’s Debut, ‘Knife in the Water’
“It was the first time we really got to see warts-and-all of a campaign and the sort-of brilliance of the strategists who are real stars of that film,” said Williams in the clip below.
Read More: IndieWire and FilmStruck’s ‘Movies That Inspire Me’: Nicole Holofcener Explains How ‘High Hopes’ Earns Its Title
“The War Room” is available on FilmStruck, as are other Pennebaker docs including “Don’t Look Back,...
Oscar-winning documentarian Roger Ross Williams, who’s now on the 2017 documentary shortlist for “Life, Animated,” said he’s still shocked by the directors’ unprecedented access to a campaign that “got really dirty.”
Read More:IndieWire and FilmStruck’s ‘Movies That Inspire Me’: Jody Hill Looks at Roman Polanski’s Debut, ‘Knife in the Water’
“It was the first time we really got to see warts-and-all of a campaign and the sort-of brilliance of the strategists who are real stars of that film,” said Williams in the clip below.
Read More: IndieWire and FilmStruck’s ‘Movies That Inspire Me’: Nicole Holofcener Explains How ‘High Hopes’ Earns Its Title
“The War Room” is available on FilmStruck, as are other Pennebaker docs including “Don’t Look Back,...
- 12/17/2016
- by Liz Calvario
- Indiewire
Roman Polanski has made films spanning continents and generations. But Jody Hill prefers the filmmaker’s first feature, a story as simple as two men, a woman, and a sailboat.
Read More: Watch: ‘Jackie’ Director Pablo Larraín Discusses ‘Movies That Inspire Me’ in New IndieWire Video Series Presented by FilmStruck
“Knife in the Water” follows a couple who, on their way to the lake for a day of sailing, pick up a hitchhiker and invite him to join them. What transpires between the three of them out on the water is a carefully choreographed dance of attraction, recklessness, and isolation.
Hill spoke with us about the danger and tension that drew him to the film at a young age.
This is our second conversation with Hill as part of our “Movies That Inspire Me” series, presented in partnership with FilmStruck. (If you missed him talking about the classic rock doc “Gimme Shelter,...
Read More: Watch: ‘Jackie’ Director Pablo Larraín Discusses ‘Movies That Inspire Me’ in New IndieWire Video Series Presented by FilmStruck
“Knife in the Water” follows a couple who, on their way to the lake for a day of sailing, pick up a hitchhiker and invite him to join them. What transpires between the three of them out on the water is a carefully choreographed dance of attraction, recklessness, and isolation.
Hill spoke with us about the danger and tension that drew him to the film at a young age.
This is our second conversation with Hill as part of our “Movies That Inspire Me” series, presented in partnership with FilmStruck. (If you missed him talking about the classic rock doc “Gimme Shelter,...
- 12/14/2016
- by Steve Greene
- Indiewire
StardustExile can take many forms. Several major filmmakers from Poland famously followed the Chopin route to France—Walerian Borowczyk, Andrzej Żuławski, to a degree even Krzysztof Kieślowski—while their pugilistic peer Jerzy Skolimowski, as well as Roman Polanski, was ranging even further across Europe and beyond. But the comically-oriented writer-director Andrzej Kondratiuk—an early Polanski co-conspirator, who died in June aged 79—found voluntary geographical exile without leaving his own country. He was able to renew his creative energies in rural isolation, seeking, gaining and retaining true independence amid a political system founded upon collective, communal effort. Kondratiuk’s five-decade career is thus a consistently idiosyncratic and enigmatic one, encompassing eight theatrical features, several shorts and five TV-movies. Among the latter is the work for which he’s now best known—at least at home—the raucous and irresistibly-titled black-and-white superhero/comicbook spoof Hydro-Riddle (Hydrozagadka, 1972), which after hostile initial reactions has...
- 12/6/2016
- MUBI
Today we’re launching a new video series of which we’re extremely proud: It’s “Movies That Inspire Me,” presented by FilmStruck. We’ve interviewed a host of great directors, all of whom have taken films to the Sundance Film Festival, about their favorite classic films streaming on FilmStruck from the Turner Classic Movies and Criterion Collection. And the conversations we’ve had are surprising as well as, yes, inspiring.
First up is Pablo Larraín. Currently the director of Oscar contenders “Jackie” and “Neruda,” he brought “No” to Sundance in 2012. His first inspiration is John Cassavetes’ “A Woman Under The Influence” (which you can watch on FilmStruck here.)
Upcoming is Larraín talking about the music of Krzysztof Kieslowski’s “Three Colors: Blue,” as well as appearances by Jody Hill (“The Foot Fist Way,” “Eastbound & Down”), who talks about his love for the Maysles’ Bros. “Gimme Shelter” and Roman Polanski...
First up is Pablo Larraín. Currently the director of Oscar contenders “Jackie” and “Neruda,” he brought “No” to Sundance in 2012. His first inspiration is John Cassavetes’ “A Woman Under The Influence” (which you can watch on FilmStruck here.)
Upcoming is Larraín talking about the music of Krzysztof Kieslowski’s “Three Colors: Blue,” as well as appearances by Jody Hill (“The Foot Fist Way,” “Eastbound & Down”), who talks about his love for the Maysles’ Bros. “Gimme Shelter” and Roman Polanski...
- 12/5/2016
- by Dana Harris
- Indiewire
Pablo Larraín (Courtesy: Andrew Cowie/Afp)
By: Carson Blackwelder
Managing Editor
There’s one director this year that has a chance at being a major crossover success by having two separate films nominated in both the best picture and best foreign language film categories: Pablo Larraín. This filmmaker has Jackie as well as Neruda and could join an elite group of directors who been able to have films — or even one film — in both of these major categories.
Jackie, which stars Natalie Portman as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, is considered a frontrunner in the Oscars race this year by this site’s namesake, The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg. Neruda, which follows an inspector who hunts down Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, is Chile’s submission for best foreign language film this year and is considered a major threat in that contest. This would be a great feat — especially for someone who,...
By: Carson Blackwelder
Managing Editor
There’s one director this year that has a chance at being a major crossover success by having two separate films nominated in both the best picture and best foreign language film categories: Pablo Larraín. This filmmaker has Jackie as well as Neruda and could join an elite group of directors who been able to have films — or even one film — in both of these major categories.
Jackie, which stars Natalie Portman as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, is considered a frontrunner in the Oscars race this year by this site’s namesake, The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg. Neruda, which follows an inspector who hunts down Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, is Chile’s submission for best foreign language film this year and is considered a major threat in that contest. This would be a great feat — especially for someone who,...
- 11/17/2016
- by Carson Blackwelder
- Scott Feinberg
“No one does it to you like Roman Polanski” – a tagline that would take on some rather unfortunate new contexts only a few years after its unveiling, or the rare bit of marketing to properly sell an artist? Answer: both. But we’ll only focus on the second point, our impetus being a new, Cristina Álvarez López– and Adrian Martin-helmed video essay on some of the director’s close-quarter thrillers as a “cinema of invasion.”
Even this well-learned Polanski admirer, one who could fire off more than a few examples of how the assorted films — Knife in the Water, Repulsion, Cul-de-sac, Rosemary’s Baby, The Tenant, Frantic, Bitter Moon, and The Ghost Writer — overlap, was impressed and, more importantly, surprised by the connections drawn here. Taking full advantage of both the material at hand and ways of bringing them closer together (disassociated sound, split-screen), Álvarez López and Martin’s...
Even this well-learned Polanski admirer, one who could fire off more than a few examples of how the assorted films — Knife in the Water, Repulsion, Cul-de-sac, Rosemary’s Baby, The Tenant, Frantic, Bitter Moon, and The Ghost Writer — overlap, was impressed and, more importantly, surprised by the connections drawn here. Taking full advantage of both the material at hand and ways of bringing them closer together (disassociated sound, split-screen), Álvarez López and Martin’s...
- 10/25/2016
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Though director Roman Polanski’s next film was set to tackle the Dreyfus affair, the 1890s French political scandal involving a Captain of the French Army who was convicted of passing secrets to the Germans, it has so far failed to get off the ground. But now The Film Stage reports that Polanski will adapt Delphine de Vigan’s novel “Based on a True Story,” with a script from writer-director Olivier Assayas. The novel tells the story of a writer who goes through a rough time after the release of their latest book, and their relationship with an admirer who tries to impose influence on the writer.
Read More: Roman Polanski Will Not Be Extradited to U.S.
Polanski is best known for his numerous acclaimed films during his five-decade career. Some of these include “Knife in the Water,” “Repulsion,” “Cul-de-Sac,” “Rosemary’s Baby,” “Macbeth,” “Chinatown,” and “The Pianist.” His...
Read More: Roman Polanski Will Not Be Extradited to U.S.
Polanski is best known for his numerous acclaimed films during his five-decade career. Some of these include “Knife in the Water,” “Repulsion,” “Cul-de-Sac,” “Rosemary’s Baby,” “Macbeth,” “Chinatown,” and “The Pianist.” His...
- 7/18/2016
- by Vikram Murthi
- Indiewire
Raro Video resurrects an exploitation goodie masquerading as another bit of cheap Eurosleaze, Hitch Hike (aka Autostop Rosso Sangue) a 1977 thriller from Italian director Pasquale Festa Campanile. Like a tawdry version of an early Polanski effort, it’s a significant anomaly of its ilk for several reasons, the most notable being its director, usually known as a fixture of 1970’s Italian-style comedy (aka commedia all’italiana). Adapted from the novel The Violence and the Fury by Peter Kern, it’s headlined by Franco Nero, French actress Corinne Clery (the title character from infamous The Story of O, 1975) and grindhouse staple David Hess (The Last House on the Left, 1972), while predictable story elements spiked with moments of brutal violence should be enough to rejuvenate interest in a title not often screened in the Us (despite its initial box office success in Europe).
Walter Mancini (Franco Nero), a bitter, alcoholic journalist, is...
Walter Mancini (Franco Nero), a bitter, alcoholic journalist, is...
- 3/15/2016
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Displaying a transparency that few filmmakers of his fame and / or caliber would even bother with, Steven Soderbergh has, for a couple of years, been keen on releasing lists of what he watched and read during the previous twelve months. If you’re at all interested in this sort of thing — and why not? what else are you even doing with your day? — the 2015 selection should be of strong interest, this being a time when he was fully enmeshed in the world of creating television.
He’s clearly observing the medium with a close eye, be it what’s on air or what his friends (specifically David Fincher and his stillborn projects) show him, and how that might relate to his apparent love of 48 Hours Mystery or approach to a comparatively light slate of cinematic assignments — specifically: it seems odd that the last time he watched Magic Mike Xxl, a...
He’s clearly observing the medium with a close eye, be it what’s on air or what his friends (specifically David Fincher and his stillborn projects) show him, and how that might relate to his apparent love of 48 Hours Mystery or approach to a comparatively light slate of cinematic assignments — specifically: it seems odd that the last time he watched Magic Mike Xxl, a...
- 1/6/2016
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Here are a handful of links that I think are worth reading today, for discerning Criterion Collection fan.
Articles
Over on his Criterion Reflections blog, David has just posted his review of Mikio Naruse’s Scattered Clouds:
Since a couple years have passed between my last viewing of a Naruse film (1964’s Yearning, back in 2013, though not reviewed anywhere), I was thus quite eager to sit down and take in Scattered Clouds, available on Criterion’s Hulu channel (and only there, as no version of it on disc is anywhere to be found for the Region 1 market, anyway.)
Don’t miss the Criterion Collection As Haiku blog’s latest entry, on Lonesome.
Jonathan Rosenbaum has republished his review of Whit Stillman’s Metropolitan on his blog, adding:
Even though this is favorable, I think I underestimated the achievement of this first feature; reseeing it a quarter of a century later,...
Articles
Over on his Criterion Reflections blog, David has just posted his review of Mikio Naruse’s Scattered Clouds:
Since a couple years have passed between my last viewing of a Naruse film (1964’s Yearning, back in 2013, though not reviewed anywhere), I was thus quite eager to sit down and take in Scattered Clouds, available on Criterion’s Hulu channel (and only there, as no version of it on disc is anywhere to be found for the Region 1 market, anyway.)
Don’t miss the Criterion Collection As Haiku blog’s latest entry, on Lonesome.
Jonathan Rosenbaum has republished his review of Whit Stillman’s Metropolitan on his blog, adding:
Even though this is favorable, I think I underestimated the achievement of this first feature; reseeing it a quarter of a century later,...
- 10/6/2015
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
Jerzy Skolimowski knows how to rattle an audience. He's the co-writer behind Roman Polanski's "Knife In The Water," his last feature "Essential Killing" cast Vincent Gallo as an Afghan Pow, and now he's back on the festival circuit with "11 Minutes." And it looks like one that you can only dare to ignore. Starring Richard Dormer, Wojciech Mecwaldowski, Andrzej Chyra, Dawid Ogrodnik, and Paulina Chapko captures various slices of life in Warsaw all in eleven minute fragments, with everything pulling together for a grand finale. Sounds like a one that will be a lot of fun to see how it's pulled off. Here's the official synopsis: After a seventeen-year break from filmmaking in the 1990s and 2000s, one of the major figures of Polish cinema returned to his native country and emerged with 2008's wonderful Four Nights with Anna, heralding the resurrection of a protean artist. Firmly ensconced back in Poland,...
- 8/28/2015
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Exclusive: UK sales outfit to handle Venice-bound thriller starring Richard Dormer.
London-based Hanway Films is to handle sales on Jerzy Skolimowski’s Venice-bound thriller 11 Minutes, starring Richard Dormer (Good Vibrations, Fortitude).
The Poland-Ireland co-production is Skolimowski’s fourth film to play in competition at Venice and follows the same 11 minutes in the lives of several different characters: young and old, prosperous and destitute.
Dormer plays the lead role of a film director in the English and Polish-language production, alongside Agata Buzek, Beata Tyszkiewicz and Mateusz Kościukiewicz.
Skolimowski’s wife and regular producer Ewa Piaskowska produces for the duo’s Skopia Film with Andrew Lowe and Ed Guiney co-producing for Element Pictures.
The Irish Film Board and Element Pictures are among backers of the project after previously collaborating on the director’s most recent outing, Essential Killing.
Essential Killing was also repped by HanWay and played at Venice in 2010, where it picked up the Special Jury Prize, CinemAvvenire...
London-based Hanway Films is to handle sales on Jerzy Skolimowski’s Venice-bound thriller 11 Minutes, starring Richard Dormer (Good Vibrations, Fortitude).
The Poland-Ireland co-production is Skolimowski’s fourth film to play in competition at Venice and follows the same 11 minutes in the lives of several different characters: young and old, prosperous and destitute.
Dormer plays the lead role of a film director in the English and Polish-language production, alongside Agata Buzek, Beata Tyszkiewicz and Mateusz Kościukiewicz.
Skolimowski’s wife and regular producer Ewa Piaskowska produces for the duo’s Skopia Film with Andrew Lowe and Ed Guiney co-producing for Element Pictures.
The Irish Film Board and Element Pictures are among backers of the project after previously collaborating on the director’s most recent outing, Essential Killing.
Essential Killing was also repped by HanWay and played at Venice in 2010, where it picked up the Special Jury Prize, CinemAvvenire...
- 8/3/2015
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
From Craig Zobel, director of 2012’s most uncomfortable movie, Compliance, comes a post-apocalyptic take on a most awkward situation: The three’s a crowd thriller. Based on a novel by Robert C. O’Brien, Z For Zachariah is set in a post-apocalyptic landscape, but is seemingly more in the tradition of films like Knife in the Water and Dead Calm. “In the…
The post Z For Zachariah Trailer: Three’s a Crowd in the Post-Apocalypse appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.
The post Z For Zachariah Trailer: Three’s a Crowd in the Post-Apocalypse appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.
- 6/4/2015
- by Samuel Zimmerman
- shocktillyoudrop.com
His first name may translate as "cool breeze over the mountains" but it's more a case of "shitstorm in the kitchen" for Keanu Reeves in exploitation homage Knock Knock. The Eli Roth home-invasion thriller has a new trailer to watch below.Knock Knock finds Reeves as a seemingly happily married man living with his wife (Ignacia Allamand) when two beautiful young women (Lorenza Izzo and Ana de Armas) show up. They seduce him and end up wrecking his perfect life. With knives and guns and whatever else comes to hand. Ouch.It's another chance to see Reeves doing genre work, with John Wick's success - and planned sequel - showing there's plenty of appetite for that. On this evidence, though, he's on the receiving end of the majority of the punishment, until the tables, presumably, get turned.Roth has billed this one as a "psychosexual thriller" in the spirit...
- 5/22/2015
- EmpireOnline
Film director Martin Scorsese has long been a champion of classic European cinema, and has recently overseen a project restoring some of Poland's greatest films to their former glory. Here we see the work done on three of the country's finest: Knife in the Water, directed by Roman Polanski; A Short Film About Killing, directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski; and Man of Iron, directed by Andrzej Wajda. All three are screened as part of the Martin Scorsese Presents: Masterpieces of Polish Cinema section of the Kinoteka Polish Film Festival, at the Filmhouse in Edinburgh and the BFI Southbank in London. For full details and screenings, click here.
• Read Scorsese's appreciation of Polish cinema Continue reading...
• Read Scorsese's appreciation of Polish cinema Continue reading...
- 4/21/2015
- by Guardian Staff
- The Guardian - Film News
Macbeth
Written by Roman Polanski and Kenneth Tynan
Directed by Roman Polanski
UK, 1971
Following the success of Rosemary’s Baby in 1968, and prior to what is arguably still his greatest film, Chinatown (1974), Roman Polanski made three curious filmmaking choices. One was the international coproduction and rarely discussed What? (1972), one was the racing documentary Weekend of a Champion (1972), and the third, which actually came before these two, was Macbeth (1971). It is obviously not that a Shakespearean adaptation in itself is unusual, but rather that it so seemingly diverted from the films that were garnering the young Polanski his worldwide acclaim: taut thrillers like The Knife in the Water (1962), Repulsion (1965), Cul-De-Sac (1966), and Rosemary’s Baby. Yet in Macbeth, there are a number of characteristic Polanski touches — in story and style — harkening back to these previous works and in many ways pointing toward those to come.
Don’t be fooled by the Playboy...
Written by Roman Polanski and Kenneth Tynan
Directed by Roman Polanski
UK, 1971
Following the success of Rosemary’s Baby in 1968, and prior to what is arguably still his greatest film, Chinatown (1974), Roman Polanski made three curious filmmaking choices. One was the international coproduction and rarely discussed What? (1972), one was the racing documentary Weekend of a Champion (1972), and the third, which actually came before these two, was Macbeth (1971). It is obviously not that a Shakespearean adaptation in itself is unusual, but rather that it so seemingly diverted from the films that were garnering the young Polanski his worldwide acclaim: taut thrillers like The Knife in the Water (1962), Repulsion (1965), Cul-De-Sac (1966), and Rosemary’s Baby. Yet in Macbeth, there are a number of characteristic Polanski touches — in story and style — harkening back to these previous works and in many ways pointing toward those to come.
Don’t be fooled by the Playboy...
- 9/30/2014
- by Jeremy Carr
- SoundOnSight
Venus In Fur is from American playwright David Ives’ Tony Award-winning play, a two-character S&M tale set in New York. Now comes the film version, which is set in Paris and is in French. C’est quoi ce bordel? It’s the latest movie directed by 80-year old perv Roman Polanksi who has cast his pretty 46-year old French wife Emmanuelle Seigner in the lead. Venus In Fur is a kinky backstage tango that never quite sizzles, but it’s still an entertaining and often funny riff on the issues of sex and power. I just wish it had been filmed in English.
Venus In Fur opens with stage writer-director Thomas (Mathieu Amalric) alone in a Paris theater after a long day of auditioning actresses for his new play, an adaptation of an 18th century erotic tale that explores the explosive relationship between a domineering mistress and her submissive male subject/slave.
Venus In Fur opens with stage writer-director Thomas (Mathieu Amalric) alone in a Paris theater after a long day of auditioning actresses for his new play, an adaptation of an 18th century erotic tale that explores the explosive relationship between a domineering mistress and her submissive male subject/slave.
- 7/17/2014
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
★★★★☆There could be an argument for three being the most cinematic of numbers. Some would argue two, others one, but it surely has to be three; it's better than two because it simply isn't about unity but disunity in flux: pure dramatic tension that constantly seems ready to spill out of control but never really does. Inherent inside of the trio set is tension, claustrophobia (internal or external), displacement and the continued threat of isolation onset or offset by sex: the proverbial elephant in the corner. These are the elements of the film les trois camarades which pulsate through all treble cinema, whether they be Bande à Part, Culdesac, Knife in the Water, American Buffalo and, of course, Jules et Jim.
- 6/24/2014
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
This is another edition of Short Starts, where we present a weekly short film(s) from the start of a filmmaker or actor’s career. Today marks both the U.S. theatrical release of Venus and Fur and the 40th anniversary of the U.S. theatrical release of Chinatown. So, let’s just consider it Roman Polanski day. In honor of the occasion, we should just skip his latest (see our review for why) and hold off on watching his 1974 classic for the billionth time. How many of you have seen his early short films? They’re available in proper form on Criterion’s two-disc DVD set for Polanski’s first feature, Knife in the Water, and they can also be found on YouTube. For the latter, there are no English subtitles, but that only matters for one or two that have very minimal dialogue. For the most part, they’re all really “silent” films. Nine...
- 6/20/2014
- by Christopher Campbell
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Tomorrow, more than a year after its Cannes Competition premiere, Roman Polanski's "Venus in Fur" finally opens in Us theaters. It's the 20th narrative feature of a career that now spans six decades, so a list themed around the Oscar-winning director's work seemed in order. Given that "Venus in Fur" -- Polanski's third film, after "Death and the Maiden" and "Carnage," to replicate the scale and pace of an intimate stage production -- is based so explicitly around notions of performance, and the push-pull relationship between actor and director, a selection of his most successful actorly collaborations seemed the obvious way to go. Like so many auteurs celebrated for their own idiosyncratic style, Polanski's facility with actors isn't discussed as frequently as his formal abilities and preoccupations, yet he's always had the knack for drawing surprising work out of established stars and newcomers alike -- often casting actors intriguingly out of their element,...
- 6/19/2014
- by Guy Lodge
- Hitfix
Tess
Written by Gérard Brach, Roman Polanski, and John Brownjohn
Directed by Roman Polanski
France/UK, 1979
Roman Polanski revealed an exceptional eye for gripping visual design in his earliest films. In those works, like Knife in the Water, Cul-de-sac, Repulsion, Rosemary’s Baby and, somewhat later, The Tenant, most of this pictorial construction was derivative of themes, and subsequent depictions of, confinement, claustrophobic paranoia, and severely taut antagonism. In terms of visual and narrative scope, Chinatown opened things up somewhat, but it was with Tess, his 1979 adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s “Tess of the d’Urbervilles,” that Polanski significantly broadened his canvas to encompass the sweeping tale of the Victorian era loves and conflicts of this eponymous peasant girl.
Polanski speaks to this distinction during an interview in the newly released Criterion Collection Blu-ray/DVD of Tess. In discussing the film for the French TV program Cine regards, the director...
Written by Gérard Brach, Roman Polanski, and John Brownjohn
Directed by Roman Polanski
France/UK, 1979
Roman Polanski revealed an exceptional eye for gripping visual design in his earliest films. In those works, like Knife in the Water, Cul-de-sac, Repulsion, Rosemary’s Baby and, somewhat later, The Tenant, most of this pictorial construction was derivative of themes, and subsequent depictions of, confinement, claustrophobic paranoia, and severely taut antagonism. In terms of visual and narrative scope, Chinatown opened things up somewhat, but it was with Tess, his 1979 adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s “Tess of the d’Urbervilles,” that Polanski significantly broadened his canvas to encompass the sweeping tale of the Victorian era loves and conflicts of this eponymous peasant girl.
Polanski speaks to this distinction during an interview in the newly released Criterion Collection Blu-ray/DVD of Tess. In discussing the film for the French TV program Cine regards, the director...
- 2/28/2014
- by Jeremy Carr
- SoundOnSight
Exclusive: Essential Killing partners Element, Ifb on board, targeting spring 2014 shoot.
Polish auteur Jerzy Skolimowski is preparing what he describes to Screen as a “catastrophic thriller” to shoot in 2014.
While production details are being kept under wraps, Skolimowski’s wife and regular creative collaborator Ewa Piaskowska confirmed that the production is aiming for a late April 2014 shoot.
The film is currently being produced under Skolimowski and Piaskowska’s Skopia Film banner, with Element Pictures currently on board as co-producer and an offer of backing from the Irish Film Board.
In its latest round of funding the Ifb pledged €150,000 production support to the project, which will also look to draw funding from other sources.
Both the Ifb and Element collaborated with the feted Skolimowski on his latest film as director, 2010 thriller Essential Killing, starring Vincent Gallo and Emmanuelle Seigner.
That film won three awards at Venice and was sold widely by HanWay, with Tribeca...
Polish auteur Jerzy Skolimowski is preparing what he describes to Screen as a “catastrophic thriller” to shoot in 2014.
While production details are being kept under wraps, Skolimowski’s wife and regular creative collaborator Ewa Piaskowska confirmed that the production is aiming for a late April 2014 shoot.
The film is currently being produced under Skolimowski and Piaskowska’s Skopia Film banner, with Element Pictures currently on board as co-producer and an offer of backing from the Irish Film Board.
In its latest round of funding the Ifb pledged €150,000 production support to the project, which will also look to draw funding from other sources.
Both the Ifb and Element collaborated with the feted Skolimowski on his latest film as director, 2010 thriller Essential Killing, starring Vincent Gallo and Emmanuelle Seigner.
That film won three awards at Venice and was sold widely by HanWay, with Tribeca...
- 11/27/2013
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Steve Apkon, Kent Jones, Joanne Koch and Richard Peña Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze In celebrating the New York Film Festival at 50 (1963-2012), what do Luis Buñuel's Exterminating Angel, Alain Resnais' Muriel, Chris Marker's Le Joli Mai, and Roman Polanski's Knife In The Water have in common? How about Lucrecia Martel's haunting La Ciénaga, Michael Moore's Roger And Me as first time filmmakers and Last Tango In Paris, In The Realm Of The Senses, The Marriage Of Maria Braun, Barfly, and This Is Not A Film?
New York Film Festival Gold: A 50th Anniversary Celebration Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze Jacob Burns Film Center Founder & Executive Director Steve Apkon moderated the discussion between Richard Peña, director of the New York Film Festival from 1988 to 2012, Joanne Koch, who was the executive director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, and Kent Jones, the present New York Film Festival Director of Programming,...
New York Film Festival Gold: A 50th Anniversary Celebration Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze Jacob Burns Film Center Founder & Executive Director Steve Apkon moderated the discussion between Richard Peña, director of the New York Film Festival from 1988 to 2012, Joanne Koch, who was the executive director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, and Kent Jones, the present New York Film Festival Director of Programming,...
- 9/13/2013
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
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