Le quai de Ouistreham
Emmanuel Carrère’s first feature, La Moustache (starring Vincent Lindon and Emmanuelle Devos) was adapted from his own novel and premiered at Cannes in Directors’ Fortnight. It’s been a long fifteen years since his debut. Recently, his novel Limonov was planned as director Pawel Pawlikowski’s next project, which has since stalled. Carrère has decided to adapt (alongside Helene Devynck) the non-fiction work by Florence Aubenas, Le quai de Ouistreham (Between Two Worlds) with Juliette Binoche as his lead. Produced by Olivier Delbosc, David Gauquie and Julien Deris, the project is lensed by Cesar nominee Patrick Blossier.
Gist: Binoche stars as Marianne Winckler, a writer who lives as a job seeker for six months while spending time with other women operating between unstable periods of unemployment.…...
Emmanuel Carrère’s first feature, La Moustache (starring Vincent Lindon and Emmanuelle Devos) was adapted from his own novel and premiered at Cannes in Directors’ Fortnight. It’s been a long fifteen years since his debut. Recently, his novel Limonov was planned as director Pawel Pawlikowski’s next project, which has since stalled. Carrère has decided to adapt (alongside Helene Devynck) the non-fiction work by Florence Aubenas, Le quai de Ouistreham (Between Two Worlds) with Juliette Binoche as his lead. Produced by Olivier Delbosc, David Gauquie and Julien Deris, the project is lensed by Cesar nominee Patrick Blossier.
Gist: Binoche stars as Marianne Winckler, a writer who lives as a job seeker for six months while spending time with other women operating between unstable periods of unemployment.…...
- 1/5/2021
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Le quai de Ouistreham
It’s been fifteen years since writer Emmanuel Carrère’s 2005 narrative debut La Moustache. Just as his own novel Limonov has been set for director Pawel Pawlikowski’s next project, Carrère has decided to adapt (alongside Helene Devynck) the non-fiction work by Florence Aubenas, Le quai de Ouistreham (Between Two Worlds), for his next project, securing Juliette Binoche as his lead. Produced by Olivier Delbosc, David Gauquie and Julien Deris, the project is lensed by Cesar nominee Patrick Blossier (Costa-Gavras’ 2002 Amen.). Carrère’s first feature, La Moustache, was adapted from his own novel and premiered at Cannes in Directors’ Fortnight, starring Vincent Lindon and Emmanuelle Devos.…...
It’s been fifteen years since writer Emmanuel Carrère’s 2005 narrative debut La Moustache. Just as his own novel Limonov has been set for director Pawel Pawlikowski’s next project, Carrère has decided to adapt (alongside Helene Devynck) the non-fiction work by Florence Aubenas, Le quai de Ouistreham (Between Two Worlds), for his next project, securing Juliette Binoche as his lead. Produced by Olivier Delbosc, David Gauquie and Julien Deris, the project is lensed by Cesar nominee Patrick Blossier (Costa-Gavras’ 2002 Amen.). Carrère’s first feature, La Moustache, was adapted from his own novel and premiered at Cannes in Directors’ Fortnight, starring Vincent Lindon and Emmanuelle Devos.…...
- 1/2/2020
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Cannes has announced the full list of actors, filmmakers and other artists on jury duty at this year’s edition of the festival, with the likes of Barry Jenkins, Cristian Mungiu and Joachim Lafosse joining the already-announced jurors. That includes Uma Thurman, who’s serving as President of the Un Certain Regard section, as well as Athina Rachel Tsangari, Maren Ade, Pedro Almodóvar, Park Chan-wook, Jessica Chastain, Will Smith and Fan Binbing.
Monica Bellucci will serve as master of ceremonies for opening and closing night of the festival, which runs from May 17–28.
Read More: Cannes: ‘Dogtooth’ Made Yorgos Lanthimos One of the Most Exciting Filmmakers in the World, and He’s Just Getting Started
Un Certain Regard Jury
The Un Certain Regard Jury will award its prizes to the winners, chosen from its selection of 18 films, during the Closing Ceremony on Saturday, May, 27th in the Debussy Theatre. The opening film is Barbara,...
Monica Bellucci will serve as master of ceremonies for opening and closing night of the festival, which runs from May 17–28.
Read More: Cannes: ‘Dogtooth’ Made Yorgos Lanthimos One of the Most Exciting Filmmakers in the World, and He’s Just Getting Started
Un Certain Regard Jury
The Un Certain Regard Jury will award its prizes to the winners, chosen from its selection of 18 films, during the Closing Ceremony on Saturday, May, 27th in the Debussy Theatre. The opening film is Barbara,...
- 5/14/2017
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Paris-based company reshuffles sales team as Carole Baraton steps down as head of sales.
Wild Bunch will launch sales on new films by Jean-Luc Godard, Christian Carion, Michel Ocelot, Raymond Depardon as well as a feel-good, Senegal-set drama starring Omar Sy at Unifrance’s upcoming Rendez-vous with French Cinema in Paris (Jan 12-16).
The event will also mark the first outing for the company’s reconfigured sales team following Carole Baraton’s decision to step down as head of sales to set-up her own company.
Baraton’s long-time territories the Us, France and the UK will be carved up between the sales team, now consisting of Silvia Simonutti, Emilie Serres, Olivier Barbier, recent hire Fanny Beauville and Esther Devos for festivals.
Notably, Beauville will co-handle Canada and the Us in partnership with La’s Creative Artist Agency (CAA), working closely with the agency’s film finance and sales group co-chief Roeg Sutherland and his team.
Bilingual...
Wild Bunch will launch sales on new films by Jean-Luc Godard, Christian Carion, Michel Ocelot, Raymond Depardon as well as a feel-good, Senegal-set drama starring Omar Sy at Unifrance’s upcoming Rendez-vous with French Cinema in Paris (Jan 12-16).
The event will also mark the first outing for the company’s reconfigured sales team following Carole Baraton’s decision to step down as head of sales to set-up her own company.
Baraton’s long-time territories the Us, France and the UK will be carved up between the sales team, now consisting of Silvia Simonutti, Emilie Serres, Olivier Barbier, recent hire Fanny Beauville and Esther Devos for festivals.
Notably, Beauville will co-handle Canada and the Us in partnership with La’s Creative Artist Agency (CAA), working closely with the agency’s film finance and sales group co-chief Roeg Sutherland and his team.
Bilingual...
- 12/27/2016
- ScreenDaily
Costa-Gavras sets his focus on right-wing political terror in the American heartland, where FBI agent Debra Winger finds farmer Tom Berenger at the head of a clan of murderous white supremacists. Our friends and neighbors! Betrayed Blu-ray Olive Films 1988 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 127 min. / Street Date April 19, 2016 / available through the Olive Films website / 29.98 Starring Debra Winger, Tom Berenger, John Heard, Betsy Blair, John Mahoney, Ted Levine, Jeffrey DeMunn, Albert Hall, David Clennon, Robert Swan, Richard Libertini. Cinematography Patrick Blossier Film Editor Joële Van Effenterre Original Music Bill Conti Written by Joe Eszterhas Produced by Irwin Winkler Directed by Costa-Gavras
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Filmmaker Cost-Gavras occupies a high roost where political activism is concerned. His most popular films 'Z', Stage of Siege, The Confession and Missing put strong values before wide audiences in the Nixon and Reagan years, when few major filmmakers would go near such touchy subjects. 1988's Betrayed is...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Filmmaker Cost-Gavras occupies a high roost where political activism is concerned. His most popular films 'Z', Stage of Siege, The Confession and Missing put strong values before wide audiences in the Nixon and Reagan years, when few major filmmakers would go near such touchy subjects. 1988's Betrayed is...
- 8/6/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
The Returned (original French title: Les Revenants)
Written by Fabrice Gobert, Emmannuelle Carrère, Fabien Adda, Nathalie Saugeon
Directed by Fabrice Gobert (episodes 1-4) and Frédéric Mermoud (episodes 5-8)
Premiered on November 26th 2012 on Canal+
Satisfying the hunger of movie and television consumers in dire need of original content grows more difficult with each and every passing year. Not only do the people who produce content want to release more of the same, but the very fact of the matter is that nearly every story has already been told. What bold, creative new ideas can emerge in this early 21st century, where the quantity of the content grows exponentially at a dizzying rate? Making a television show that looks, sounds, and most importantly feels like no other is no small order. One option is to genre mash; that is, splicing two or more disparate genres together to make something that, while familiar,...
Written by Fabrice Gobert, Emmannuelle Carrère, Fabien Adda, Nathalie Saugeon
Directed by Fabrice Gobert (episodes 1-4) and Frédéric Mermoud (episodes 5-8)
Premiered on November 26th 2012 on Canal+
Satisfying the hunger of movie and television consumers in dire need of original content grows more difficult with each and every passing year. Not only do the people who produce content want to release more of the same, but the very fact of the matter is that nearly every story has already been told. What bold, creative new ideas can emerge in this early 21st century, where the quantity of the content grows exponentially at a dizzying rate? Making a television show that looks, sounds, and most importantly feels like no other is no small order. One option is to genre mash; that is, splicing two or more disparate genres together to make something that, while familiar,...
- 6/12/2014
- by Edgar Chaput
- SoundOnSight
The Returned begins tonight in the Us and we caught up with Fabrice Gobert, creator of the French horror series for our latest Q&A feature. For those unfamiliar with Les Revenants, he provides details on its creation and his reaction to its worldwide popularity. He also teases what’s coming up in season two…
Thank you for taking the time to talk with us. People use these term “zombie” when describing “The Returned,” but they aren’t like what we see from George Romero and in “The Walking Dead.” Can you tell our readers what makes your “zombies” different from what audiences are used to seeing?
Dead People in “Les Revenants” are very different from what they are in Romero’s movie… They are hungry of food and not of humans. They want to live normally and to take their place back. In fact, they don’t even know...
Thank you for taking the time to talk with us. People use these term “zombie” when describing “The Returned,” but they aren’t like what we see from George Romero and in “The Walking Dead.” Can you tell our readers what makes your “zombies” different from what audiences are used to seeing?
Dead People in “Les Revenants” are very different from what they are in Romero’s movie… They are hungry of food and not of humans. They want to live normally and to take their place back. In fact, they don’t even know...
- 10/31/2013
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
Interview Louisa Mellor 5 Jun 2013 - 07:00
We chat to The Returned’s director and producer about zombies, French fantasy TV, genre, style, Mogwai, and more…
“No tradition, status: non-existent” is the unequivocal reply from film and television producer Caroline Benjo when I ask her about the status of fantasy and sci-fi television in France. “A bit of Franju in the seventies perhaps, with L’Homme Sans Visage…”. Writer and director Fabrice Gobert agrees, “It’s not a very developed genre in French television. Perhaps it’s a question of culture”.
That culture is changing, chiefly thanks to Benjo and Gobert, the producer and director of Canal Plus’ Les Revenants, which arrives on Channel 4 this weekend as The Returned.
A supernatural series about people coming back from the dead that’s part emotional drama, part fantasy, and part crime thriller, The Returned met with critical acclaim in France last year...
We chat to The Returned’s director and producer about zombies, French fantasy TV, genre, style, Mogwai, and more…
“No tradition, status: non-existent” is the unequivocal reply from film and television producer Caroline Benjo when I ask her about the status of fantasy and sci-fi television in France. “A bit of Franju in the seventies perhaps, with L’Homme Sans Visage…”. Writer and director Fabrice Gobert agrees, “It’s not a very developed genre in French television. Perhaps it’s a question of culture”.
That culture is changing, chiefly thanks to Benjo and Gobert, the producer and director of Canal Plus’ Les Revenants, which arrives on Channel 4 this weekend as The Returned.
A supernatural series about people coming back from the dead that’s part emotional drama, part fantasy, and part crime thriller, The Returned met with critical acclaim in France last year...
- 6/4/2013
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
The French moviemaker Dominik Moll has followed his admirable Hitchcockian thriller Harry, He's Here to Help and the impressive Pinteresque psychological drama Lemming, with a respectful version of Matthew G Lewis's notorious 1796 gothic drama about a 16th-century Spanish monk led astray by an evil emissary and doing a deal with Satan himself. Vincent Cassel, looking like a priest out of a Zurbarán painting, is a formidable presence, and the picture is atmospherically lit by Patrick Blossier, but it's a rather dull offering – tasteful horror for the carriage trade.
HorrorPeriod and historicalDramaVincent CasselPhilip French
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds...
HorrorPeriod and historicalDramaVincent CasselPhilip French
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds...
- 4/28/2012
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Dominik Moll has not been prolific, The Monk (2011) being only his fourth feature film. But on the strength of the three films widely seen, there is little doubt that he is one of the most inventive of filmmakers and among the greatest storytellers to have come out of world cinema. Moll is primarily known for two ingenious thrillers – With a Friend like Harry (2000) and Lemming (2005). Both these films take suspense to a new high in as much they have us gripped from start to finish without our guessing till the very end the direction the narrative is likely to take.
Lemming, for instance, begins bafflingly with a young couple discovering that their kitchen drain is clogged. When the husband opens up the drain, he discovers a Lemming (a Scandinavian rodent believed by Malthusians to commit mass suicide). Both these films include the motifs of murder but setting Moll apart from...
Lemming, for instance, begins bafflingly with a young couple discovering that their kitchen drain is clogged. When the husband opens up the drain, he discovers a Lemming (a Scandinavian rodent believed by Malthusians to commit mass suicide). Both these films include the motifs of murder but setting Moll apart from...
- 12/27/2011
- by MK Raghvendra
- DearCinema.com
The Monk (Le Moine)
Directed by Dominik Moll
Written by Dominik Moll and Anne-Louise Trividic, from the novel by Matthew Lewis
France, 2011
Dominik Moll’s The Monk is so redolent with Gothic gloom, overweening piety and suppressed lust that it’s almost in danger of self-combusting. It’s held together by a towering performance from Vincent Cassel, who recently played French gangster Jacques Mesrine, and seems to exude menace without even trying.
From the moment a baby is left to be pecked by crows outside a Capuchin monastery in Spain, you know we’re in very dark territory. Despite an ominous birthmark on his shoulder, the unfortunate boy is taken in and raised by the monks. Ambrosio grows up to be a man of unimpeachable virtue and religious zeal and a beacon of hope for worshippers like beautiful young Antonia (Joséphine Japy). But things start to unravel when Ambrosio ignores...
Directed by Dominik Moll
Written by Dominik Moll and Anne-Louise Trividic, from the novel by Matthew Lewis
France, 2011
Dominik Moll’s The Monk is so redolent with Gothic gloom, overweening piety and suppressed lust that it’s almost in danger of self-combusting. It’s held together by a towering performance from Vincent Cassel, who recently played French gangster Jacques Mesrine, and seems to exude menace without even trying.
From the moment a baby is left to be pecked by crows outside a Capuchin monastery in Spain, you know we’re in very dark territory. Despite an ominous birthmark on his shoulder, the unfortunate boy is taken in and raised by the monks. Ambrosio grows up to be a man of unimpeachable virtue and religious zeal and a beacon of hope for worshippers like beautiful young Antonia (Joséphine Japy). But things start to unravel when Ambrosio ignores...
- 10/31/2011
- by Susannah
- SoundOnSight
NEW YORK -- Cedric Kahn's adaptation of a Georges Simenon novel makes for a classy and clever French thriller. Jean-Pierre Darroussin's performance as a browbeaten husband is entertaining, and Kahn's script brings wit and imagination to a straightforward story. Kahn ("L'ennui", "Roberto Succo") allows his characters room to breathe, and the film consequently transcends its genre foundations to become an engrossing drama.
"Red Lights" premiered in competition at Berlin and also played the recent Tribeca Film Festival in New York. Wellspring will release the film Stateside in August.
The story, transposed from the United States to France, starts with miserable husband Antoine (Darroussin) bickering with his disinterested wife, Helene (Carole Bouquet). He hits the bottle, even though he has to drive from Paris to the south of France. When Antoine stops off at a roadside bar for a drink, Helene disappears to take the train. He tries to follow in the car but can't keep up, and spends the rest of the night with a surly and violent hitchhiker. Come morning, Antoine's wife still hasn't arrived at her destination. Where is she -- and who exactly was that hitchhiker?
Darroussin is pretty much in every scene, and he accompanies his gradual descent into fear with a nuanced humor unusual in thrillers. Antoine is an everyday man who rises to the challenges that the open road brings, and Darroussin's twitchy mannerisms and sweaty brow make him an eminently sympathetic character.
Technically, "Red Lights" has a lot to offer. Much of the film takes place inside a car, but Kahn and cinematographer Patrick Blossier keep things interesting by continually varying the shots. Shocks are well placed and nicely underplayed, and explanatory dialogue is kept to a minimum right up until the denouement.
"Red Lights" premiered in competition at Berlin and also played the recent Tribeca Film Festival in New York. Wellspring will release the film Stateside in August.
The story, transposed from the United States to France, starts with miserable husband Antoine (Darroussin) bickering with his disinterested wife, Helene (Carole Bouquet). He hits the bottle, even though he has to drive from Paris to the south of France. When Antoine stops off at a roadside bar for a drink, Helene disappears to take the train. He tries to follow in the car but can't keep up, and spends the rest of the night with a surly and violent hitchhiker. Come morning, Antoine's wife still hasn't arrived at her destination. Where is she -- and who exactly was that hitchhiker?
Darroussin is pretty much in every scene, and he accompanies his gradual descent into fear with a nuanced humor unusual in thrillers. Antoine is an everyday man who rises to the challenges that the open road brings, and Darroussin's twitchy mannerisms and sweaty brow make him an eminently sympathetic character.
Technically, "Red Lights" has a lot to offer. Much of the film takes place inside a car, but Kahn and cinematographer Patrick Blossier keep things interesting by continually varying the shots. Shocks are well placed and nicely underplayed, and explanatory dialogue is kept to a minimum right up until the denouement.
NEW YORK -- Cedric Kahn's adaptation of a Georges Simenon novel makes for a classy and clever French thriller. Jean-Pierre Darroussin's performance as a browbeaten husband is entertaining, and Kahn's script brings wit and imagination to a straightforward story. Kahn ("L'ennui", "Roberto Succo") allows his characters room to breathe, and the film consequently transcends its genre foundations to become an engrossing drama.
"Red Lights" premiered in competition at Berlin and also played the recent Tribeca Film Festival in New York. Wellspring will release the film Stateside in August.
The story, transposed from the United States to France, starts with miserable husband Antoine (Darroussin) bickering with his disinterested wife, Helene (Carole Bouquet). He hits the bottle, even though he has to drive from Paris to the south of France. When Antoine stops off at a roadside bar for a drink, Helene disappears to take the train. He tries to follow in the car but can't keep up, and spends the rest of the night with a surly and violent hitchhiker. Come morning, Antoine's wife still hasn't arrived at her destination. Where is she -- and who exactly was that hitchhiker?
Darroussin is pretty much in every scene, and he accompanies his gradual descent into fear with a nuanced humor unusual in thrillers. Antoine is an everyday man who rises to the challenges that the open road brings, and Darroussin's twitchy mannerisms and sweaty brow make him an eminently sympathetic character.
Technically, "Red Lights" has a lot to offer. Much of the film takes place inside a car, but Kahn and cinematographer Patrick Blossier keep things interesting by continually varying the shots. Shocks are well placed and nicely underplayed, and explanatory dialogue is kept to a minimum right up until the denouement.
"Red Lights" premiered in competition at Berlin and also played the recent Tribeca Film Festival in New York. Wellspring will release the film Stateside in August.
The story, transposed from the United States to France, starts with miserable husband Antoine (Darroussin) bickering with his disinterested wife, Helene (Carole Bouquet). He hits the bottle, even though he has to drive from Paris to the south of France. When Antoine stops off at a roadside bar for a drink, Helene disappears to take the train. He tries to follow in the car but can't keep up, and spends the rest of the night with a surly and violent hitchhiker. Come morning, Antoine's wife still hasn't arrived at her destination. Where is she -- and who exactly was that hitchhiker?
Darroussin is pretty much in every scene, and he accompanies his gradual descent into fear with a nuanced humor unusual in thrillers. Antoine is an everyday man who rises to the challenges that the open road brings, and Darroussin's twitchy mannerisms and sweaty brow make him an eminently sympathetic character.
Technically, "Red Lights" has a lot to offer. Much of the film takes place inside a car, but Kahn and cinematographer Patrick Blossier keep things interesting by continually varying the shots. Shocks are well placed and nicely underplayed, and explanatory dialogue is kept to a minimum right up until the denouement.
- 6/22/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The medium is the story in Warner Bros.' "Mad City", as an invasively smarmy TV news reporter tailors a hostage situation to bolster his career. Starring John Travolta and Dustin Hoffman, this Warner Bros. release is an ambitious tale of media manipulation and personal breakdown.
In a slug line, it's "Broadcast News" meets "Dog Day Afternoon", not a bad combo, but under Costa-Gavras' grim, staccato direction, "Mad City" is strictly yesterday's news.
No doubt about it, producer Arnold Kopelson has smartly assembled an all-star movie unit, but "Mad City"'s parts are far greater than their sum. It's a tricky call for the marketers, whether to platform this topical, serious-minded film to sophisticated audiences, who will consider it old hat, or to launch it wide based on its star draws, and then watch it tumble through negative word-of-mouth.
Either way, "Mad City"'s boxoffice population will reflect bright flight -- brainy viewers heading away toward more challenging and entertaining filmic regions. "Mad City"'s best region may be on the left bank side of Europe, where Costa-Gavras is greatly regarded as a political filmmaker and the United States generally is thought of as a media circus.
Undeniably, in this age of paparazzi pestilence, "Mad City" is timely. Dustin Hoffman stars as Brackett, a loose-cannon, prima-donna TV news reporter who has been sent down from the network to the journalistic bush leagues for past transgressions. It's his all-consuming desire to make it back to the network, and, he feels, he needs just one big story to do it.
Brackett's opportunity comes in an unexpected package, when he is relegated to a puff story about a natural history museum going under financially. While on the assignment, a disgruntled ex-employee, Sam Travolta) barges in with a shotgun, ostensibly to plead with the museum director (Blythe Danner) to get back his old job as a security guard. Blam, Sam: his gun goes off accidentally, and, worse, straight into the gut of the on-duty guard. Bad luck for the guard but good luck for the vainglorious Brackett, who is inside the story for an exclusive.
You don't have to have just watched the latest inane freeway chase on Channel 2 to guess what happens next. Unfortunately, Tom Matthews' screenplay unfolds like a New York Times story: predictable, plodding, pedantic and personality-deficient. Through Brackett's interviews with Sam, we're presented a capsule portrait of the hostage-taker, a schlub who has reached his melting point.
Unfortunately, we learn about as much as this crazed cluck as we do in 20-second TV news bits about those postal workers who go berserk with guns. Yet, because the hostages are kids, the story loses a deeper psychological and political perspective. While it's fun to watch Travolta goof around with the kiddies, the narrative is largely unchallenging.
The serioso posture of the film's themes are further lunked up by an array of stereotypical backdrop characters, including an old warhorse station manager (Robert Prosky); a drippy, local news anchor (William Atherton), an ingenue, cub reporter (Mia Kirshner), a patrician museum director (Danner), a two-faced network anchor star (Alan Alda), as well as sharkish, 20-something network honchos. All perform admirably, given the constricted dimensions of their prototype characters.
For their roles, Hoffman and Travolta acquit themselves capably, given the deficiencies of the writing. Hoffman is, not surprisingly, well-cast as the bantam news hound, a cross between Carl Bernstein and Geraldo Rivera. Travolta is less lucky in his blubbering, blue-collar role. His worker-character is, alas, -- tubby, dumb and friendly. Kind of like one of those generic "Mr. Goodwrench"-type guys in the TV commercials for car parts. Although Travolta's inherent good-naturedness truly comes across, and we come to feel sorry for the character, this overblown story is, through all its staccato furor, the story of a big puppy dog overcome by the snarling, evil pack of wolves, i.e. the press.
That Sam's hostages are primarily little kids also diminishes the depth of the storyline: i.e. the Stockholm Syndrome, where captives tend to bond with their captors, is completely wasted. Having Sam cuddle up to kids is, alas, lazy dramaturgy and superficial psychodynamics. Most woefully, the relationship between the manipulative newsman and the dunderheaded assailant never develops beyond a predatory level as the slimy newsman circles his prey; incredibly, the story line climaxes with a character reversal that is largely unbelievable, given all that we have seen before.
Aesthetically, Costa-Gavras' film is comparable to an academic publication -- you know those weighty theories published by university presses who think brown-paper-bag wrappings and no gloss or glitter somehow dignify their findings.
Compositionally, "Mad City" is dullsville, but it is also abrasive: Charged with tight shots, propelled by a quick clip, painted with dull colors and muddied with odd fluty music, it's ramrodded with all the incendiary firepower of groundbreaking developments. Through all its bombastic fury, we half expect the junta to come running up the stairs and swarm the palace, er, museum. Under such shrill direction, the film soon snaps under its own strident gait. It seems likely that Costa-Gavras has no sense of humor -- a necessary punctuation for as tightly wound a story as this one -- and the film's utter relentlessness soon trips it up. How do you say "loosen up" in Greek?
Ultimately, "Mad City" is more ornery than mad. It's so stiff that even when it wanders into "Network" territory, it does not seem to recognize any story dimension other than its preachy, evil-media cant.
This rigid work, like fellows with top hats, seems ripe for comic leveling. Paging the Zucker brothers ... Leslie Nielsen.
MAD CITY
Warner Bros.
An Arnold Kopelson production
in association with Punch Prods.
A Costa-Gavras film
Producers Arnold Kopelson, Anne Kopelson
Director Costa-Gavras
Screenwriter Tom Matthews
Story Tom Matthews, Eric Williams
Executive producers Stephen Brown,
Jonathan D. Krane, Wolfgang Glattes
Director of photograhy Patrick Blossier
Production designer Catherine Hardwicke
Editor Francoise Bonnot
Music Thomas Newman
Costume designer Deborah Nadoolman
Casting Amanda Mackey Johnson,
Cathy Sandrich
Sound designer Bertrand Lenclos
Color/stereo
Cast:
Sam John Travolta
Brackett Dustin Hoffman
Laurie Mia Kirshner
Hollander Alan Alda
Lou Potts Robert Prosky
Mrs. Banks Blythe Danner
Dohlen William Atherton
Lemke Ted Levine
Miss Rose Tammy Lauren
Running time -- 120 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
In a slug line, it's "Broadcast News" meets "Dog Day Afternoon", not a bad combo, but under Costa-Gavras' grim, staccato direction, "Mad City" is strictly yesterday's news.
No doubt about it, producer Arnold Kopelson has smartly assembled an all-star movie unit, but "Mad City"'s parts are far greater than their sum. It's a tricky call for the marketers, whether to platform this topical, serious-minded film to sophisticated audiences, who will consider it old hat, or to launch it wide based on its star draws, and then watch it tumble through negative word-of-mouth.
Either way, "Mad City"'s boxoffice population will reflect bright flight -- brainy viewers heading away toward more challenging and entertaining filmic regions. "Mad City"'s best region may be on the left bank side of Europe, where Costa-Gavras is greatly regarded as a political filmmaker and the United States generally is thought of as a media circus.
Undeniably, in this age of paparazzi pestilence, "Mad City" is timely. Dustin Hoffman stars as Brackett, a loose-cannon, prima-donna TV news reporter who has been sent down from the network to the journalistic bush leagues for past transgressions. It's his all-consuming desire to make it back to the network, and, he feels, he needs just one big story to do it.
Brackett's opportunity comes in an unexpected package, when he is relegated to a puff story about a natural history museum going under financially. While on the assignment, a disgruntled ex-employee, Sam Travolta) barges in with a shotgun, ostensibly to plead with the museum director (Blythe Danner) to get back his old job as a security guard. Blam, Sam: his gun goes off accidentally, and, worse, straight into the gut of the on-duty guard. Bad luck for the guard but good luck for the vainglorious Brackett, who is inside the story for an exclusive.
You don't have to have just watched the latest inane freeway chase on Channel 2 to guess what happens next. Unfortunately, Tom Matthews' screenplay unfolds like a New York Times story: predictable, plodding, pedantic and personality-deficient. Through Brackett's interviews with Sam, we're presented a capsule portrait of the hostage-taker, a schlub who has reached his melting point.
Unfortunately, we learn about as much as this crazed cluck as we do in 20-second TV news bits about those postal workers who go berserk with guns. Yet, because the hostages are kids, the story loses a deeper psychological and political perspective. While it's fun to watch Travolta goof around with the kiddies, the narrative is largely unchallenging.
The serioso posture of the film's themes are further lunked up by an array of stereotypical backdrop characters, including an old warhorse station manager (Robert Prosky); a drippy, local news anchor (William Atherton), an ingenue, cub reporter (Mia Kirshner), a patrician museum director (Danner), a two-faced network anchor star (Alan Alda), as well as sharkish, 20-something network honchos. All perform admirably, given the constricted dimensions of their prototype characters.
For their roles, Hoffman and Travolta acquit themselves capably, given the deficiencies of the writing. Hoffman is, not surprisingly, well-cast as the bantam news hound, a cross between Carl Bernstein and Geraldo Rivera. Travolta is less lucky in his blubbering, blue-collar role. His worker-character is, alas, -- tubby, dumb and friendly. Kind of like one of those generic "Mr. Goodwrench"-type guys in the TV commercials for car parts. Although Travolta's inherent good-naturedness truly comes across, and we come to feel sorry for the character, this overblown story is, through all its staccato furor, the story of a big puppy dog overcome by the snarling, evil pack of wolves, i.e. the press.
That Sam's hostages are primarily little kids also diminishes the depth of the storyline: i.e. the Stockholm Syndrome, where captives tend to bond with their captors, is completely wasted. Having Sam cuddle up to kids is, alas, lazy dramaturgy and superficial psychodynamics. Most woefully, the relationship between the manipulative newsman and the dunderheaded assailant never develops beyond a predatory level as the slimy newsman circles his prey; incredibly, the story line climaxes with a character reversal that is largely unbelievable, given all that we have seen before.
Aesthetically, Costa-Gavras' film is comparable to an academic publication -- you know those weighty theories published by university presses who think brown-paper-bag wrappings and no gloss or glitter somehow dignify their findings.
Compositionally, "Mad City" is dullsville, but it is also abrasive: Charged with tight shots, propelled by a quick clip, painted with dull colors and muddied with odd fluty music, it's ramrodded with all the incendiary firepower of groundbreaking developments. Through all its bombastic fury, we half expect the junta to come running up the stairs and swarm the palace, er, museum. Under such shrill direction, the film soon snaps under its own strident gait. It seems likely that Costa-Gavras has no sense of humor -- a necessary punctuation for as tightly wound a story as this one -- and the film's utter relentlessness soon trips it up. How do you say "loosen up" in Greek?
Ultimately, "Mad City" is more ornery than mad. It's so stiff that even when it wanders into "Network" territory, it does not seem to recognize any story dimension other than its preachy, evil-media cant.
This rigid work, like fellows with top hats, seems ripe for comic leveling. Paging the Zucker brothers ... Leslie Nielsen.
MAD CITY
Warner Bros.
An Arnold Kopelson production
in association with Punch Prods.
A Costa-Gavras film
Producers Arnold Kopelson, Anne Kopelson
Director Costa-Gavras
Screenwriter Tom Matthews
Story Tom Matthews, Eric Williams
Executive producers Stephen Brown,
Jonathan D. Krane, Wolfgang Glattes
Director of photograhy Patrick Blossier
Production designer Catherine Hardwicke
Editor Francoise Bonnot
Music Thomas Newman
Costume designer Deborah Nadoolman
Casting Amanda Mackey Johnson,
Cathy Sandrich
Sound designer Bertrand Lenclos
Color/stereo
Cast:
Sam John Travolta
Brackett Dustin Hoffman
Laurie Mia Kirshner
Hollander Alan Alda
Lou Potts Robert Prosky
Mrs. Banks Blythe Danner
Dohlen William Atherton
Lemke Ted Levine
Miss Rose Tammy Lauren
Running time -- 120 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 10/27/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.