Sticking to the thriller genre that’s been his stomping ground on both the big and small screen, Stephan Rick’s second English-language film “The Good Neighbor” is a remake of his 2011 German-language debut feature of the same title. The setting has changed, but the story remains largely untouched. Now Luke Kleintank and Jonathan Rhys Meyers play new acquaintances whose shared complicity in an accidental death creates increasingly unsavory conflict.
Competent performances and a slick veneer make this revamp go down easily enough. Still, one wishes Rick had placed more emphasis on Hitchcockian suspense, rather than trusting the slow-moving tale will hold us via plot and character complexities that really aren’t particularly evident.
American journalist David (Kleintank of the series “FBI: International” and “Man in the High Castle”) has accepted a job with the “European Press Network” in Riga in the wake of a bad relationship breakup. While he gets settled,...
Competent performances and a slick veneer make this revamp go down easily enough. Still, one wishes Rick had placed more emphasis on Hitchcockian suspense, rather than trusting the slow-moving tale will hold us via plot and character complexities that really aren’t particularly evident.
American journalist David (Kleintank of the series “FBI: International” and “Man in the High Castle”) has accepted a job with the “European Press Network” in Riga in the wake of a bad relationship breakup. While he gets settled,...
- 6/16/2022
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
Sometimes the music can make or break the movie, and Jenny Slate-starring comedy-drama The Sunlit Night certainly has great music behind it. Directed by David Wnendt and scored by Enis Rotthoff, The Sunlit Night premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last year and finally received a VOD release last month. Now Scoring Records is set to release The Sunlit Night soundtrack this […]
The post Get an Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Making of ‘The Sunlit Night’ Score appeared first on /Film.
The post Get an Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Making of ‘The Sunlit Night’ Score appeared first on /Film.
- 8/6/2020
- by Hoai-Tran Bui
- Slash Film
Quirky dramedies can be an absolute delight. Especially when the actor or actress in the lead role can react properly to the quirk on display, the possibilities for quality cinema are strong. Independent cinema is littered with examples of this. Unfortunately, the indie film world is also filled with efforts that just don’t work, allowing the quirk to overtake the actual story on display. Opening today, The Sunlit Night is sadly closer to that sort of a production than one that fully works. A solid performance in the central role from Jenny Slate does paper over some of the issues, but the final result is just too uneven to actually recommend. The movie is a dramedy that eventually develops into a romance. Frances (Slate) is an aspiring painter struggling to make it in New York City. Her parents (both working artists) and sister live in a small apartment in Queens,...
- 7/17/2020
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
Violent movies are nothing new to cinema. In fact, when done well, there’s an undeniably visceral thrill to seeing unspeakable acts in real life perpetrated in film. Video games have made a literal fortune with this sort of content, be it any number of shooting games, the Grand Theft Auto franchise, etc. Opening this week, the action comedy Guns Akimbo tries to merge the two formats, while attempting to satirize our silence obsessed culture. Unfortunately, it’s so ineptly handled that it comes closer to being offensive than it does to being a biting satire. This is one of 2020’s worst efforts, by far. The movie imagines a world where a game called Skizm has taken the country by storm. Social media users flock to their screens to watch two individuals fight to the death, as it all gets telecast like gladiatorial combat. Miles (Daniel Radcliffe) has no interest in it,...
- 2/27/2020
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
“Have you learned nothing from video games?” asks one character during a momentary lull from noisy mayhem in “Guns Akimbo.” It’s the wrong question for this movie, whose makers have clearly learned from little else. Those wanting to kiss a few brain cells goodbye may enjoy this bombastic, crassly jokey action cartoon with Daniel Radcliffe as a dweeb who finds himself unpleasantly designated a new player in the unsimulated kill-or-die game he’s been watching online.
Jason Lei Howden’s Kiwi-German co-production should do a bit better than last year’s vaguely similar Tiff-premiering enterprise “Nekrotronic,” but it still seems primarily a streaming item.
Radcliffe’s Miles is a stereotypical 21st-century nerd living alone in an action-figure-crammed flat, whose only girlfriend is the ex he’s still stuck on (Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Nova), and who’s bullied by a frat-bro boss at his job working for a company...
Jason Lei Howden’s Kiwi-German co-production should do a bit better than last year’s vaguely similar Tiff-premiering enterprise “Nekrotronic,” but it still seems primarily a streaming item.
Radcliffe’s Miles is a stereotypical 21st-century nerd living alone in an action-figure-crammed flat, whose only girlfriend is the ex he’s still stuck on (Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Nova), and who’s bullied by a frat-bro boss at his job working for a company...
- 9/14/2019
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
In “The Sunlit Night,” Rebecca Dinerstein shows that she can write funny breakups, awkward Jewish family gatherings, and sweet-and-sour wedding speeches. One doubts she had to go all the way to the Norwegian Arctic to develop that skill, but at least her pilgrimage paid off in the form of the kind of personal writing sample — a twee running-from-romance-only-to-find-it comedy set at that far Northern remove — that, while unlikely ever to be produced, might easily score her work on the staff of a sitcom.
Except her screenplay (first published as a novel) did get produced, and now exists as the kind of movie that Sundance audiences love (the opening-night crowd laughed in all the right places) but hardly anyone goes to see in general release. Stranger still, it has been directed by German director David Wnendt — whose last film, “Wetlands,” was an outrageous celebration of the many things that can be...
Except her screenplay (first published as a novel) did get produced, and now exists as the kind of movie that Sundance audiences love (the opening-night crowd laughed in all the right places) but hardly anyone goes to see in general release. Stranger still, it has been directed by German director David Wnendt — whose last film, “Wetlands,” was an outrageous celebration of the many things that can be...
- 1/27/2019
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
The movies are becoming an increasingly vital source for stories about black life in America, but a film like “Dara Ju” is a valuable reminder that the medium is still just beginning to scratch the surface. Of course, white audiences, whom the western arts have conditioned to perceive race in largely monolithic terms, are the only ones who need reminding; the rest require only fair representation. Despite its clumsiness and its steadily increasing penchant for clichés, Anthony Onah’s debut feature has something to offer for both demographics. By respecting the specificity of a character who has seldom appeared on screen, its best moments provide a compellingly lucid testament to the idea that living in this country is a never-ending negotiation between who you are and who you might become. Some Americans have the luxury of ignoring that, of going through the motions on auto-pilot. Seyi Ogunde (Aml Ameen) is not one of those Americans.
- 3/13/2017
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Hosted at one of Hollywood's most iconic venues, The Egyptian Theater, the German Currents Film Festivals brings to Los Angeles an outstanding selection of new cinematic works screening here for the first time. Now in its 7th edition this annual celebration of German-Language is co-presented by the Goethe Institut Los Angeles and the American Cinematheque, in cooperation with Austrian Consulate General and the Consulate General of Switzerland; with support of German Films, Deutsche Welle (Dw), The Friends of Goethe and Elma.
The festival includes narrative feature, documentaries, shorts, and family-friendly films that form part of the 4 day celebration from October 4th-7th. One of the highlights of the program is More Than Honey, which was recently chosen as the Swiss entry for the Foreign Language Academy Award, read more Here, which will be closing the festival on Monday night.
To discuss the film and interact with La audiences some of the filmmakers will also be in attendance:
Rayna Campbell - lead actress, Layla Fourie (North American Premiere)
Matt Sweetwood - director, Beerland (La Premiere)
Jan Ole Gerster - director, Oh Boy
Ennis Rotthoff - composer, Measuring The World (Us Premiere)
For more information click Here
For tickets and information about the Egyptian Theater click Here
Gala Opening Night - Us Premiere
Friday, October 4, At 7:30 Pm Egyptian Theatre
Measuring The World (Die Vermessung Der Welt)
Directed by Detlev Buck
Two of the greatest minds of the 19th century, mathematician Carl Friederich Gauss (Florian David Fritz) and scientist Alexander von Humboldt (Albrecht Abraham Schuch), dedicate their studies to measuring and comprehending the world they live in. Based on Daniel Kehlmann's best-selling novel of the same name, this visually stunning epic is a playful re-imagining of the great men’s lives. Humboldt, a man with a passion for global exploration, is contrasted with Gauss, a man who experiences his world through mathematical theories and figures. Humboldt, aided by his colleague, Aimé Bonpland, travels the globe physically engaging the world he wishes to understand, applying modern, scientific thinking to comparatively unknown regions. Though he remains in the same destitute community for much of his life, Gauss’ interior journey of mathematical discovery proves to be just as rich and visually stunning as Humboldt’s adventures in remote areas of the world. Fact and fiction are mixed, often to humorous effect, to chronicle the findings of two very different men who nevertheless sought the same answers. Measuring The World was nominated for two German Film Awards in 2013, and the film has won Best Costume Design and Best Make-up Design awards at the 2013 Austrian Film Awards.
In Person: Composer Enis Rotthoff
Germany / Austria (2012), 123 min. In German, French, Spanish with English Subtitles
Saturday, October 5, At 7:30 Pm Egyptian Theatre
Double Feature
Oh Boy
Directed by Jan Ole Gerster
Jan Ole Gerster's wry and vibrant feature debut Oh Boy, which swept the 2013 German Film Awards, paints a day in the life of Niko, a twenty-something college dropout going nowhere fast. Niko lives for the moment as he drifts through the streets of Berlin, curiously observing everyone around him and oblivious to his growing status as an outsider. Then on one fateful day, through a series of absurdly amusing encounters, everything changes: his girlfriend rebuffs him, his father cuts off his allowance, and a strange psychiatrist dubiously confirms his 'emotional imbalance'. Meanwhile, a former classmate insists she bears no hard feelings toward him for his grade-school taunts when she was “Roly Poly Julia,” but it becomes increasingly apparent that she has unfinished business with him. Unable to ignore the consequences of his passivity any longer, Niko finally concludes that he has to engage with life. Shot in timeless black and white and enriched with a snappy jazz soundtrack, this slacker dramedy is a love letter to Berlin and the Generation Y experience.
In Person: Director Jan Ole Gerster
Germany (2012), 85 min. In German with English subtitles
Us Distributor: Music Box Films
Saturday, October 5 At 9:30 Pm Egyptian Theatre
Double Feature - L.A. Premiere
Beerland
Directed by Matt Sweetwood
Matt Sweetwood hails from the Midwest. Though he has lived in Germany for over ten years, the people and their culture remain a mystery to him. He undertakes a last-ditch attempt to figure the place out: by exploring the heart of German culture, their beer. If he delves into their rites and rituals, explores all the contradictions and stereotypes, will that make him, finally, a part of them? The infinite variety of beers, breweries and beer fests, the age-old history of beer, is more overwhelming than the American ever imagined. The trail of his research leads him to places far off the beaten tourist path, light-years away from the Oktoberfest. He encounters people whose dialect he barely understands. Amazingly, he finds that a country as small a Germany is subdivided into a thousand different tongues and customs, with beer as the common thread. He discovers a land full of oddities and contradictions. The Germans are deathly serious and silly at the same time, tradition-bound and weirdly visionary. Ultimately, he forms a real bond with them, finding friends where he least expected them.
In Person: Director Matt Sweetwood
Germany (2012), 85 min. In German and English with English Subtitles
Kindermatinee
Sunday, October 6 - 2:00 Pm Egyptian Theatre
The Adventures of Huck Finn (Die Abenteuer Des Huck Finn)
Directed by Hermine Huntgeburth
A lively German language adaptation of Mark Twain’s classic satire. Huck Finn, having found treasure with his best friend Tom Sawyer, is now chafing in the shoes and starched shirts that come with his new wealthy lifestyle. He’d like nothing more than to kick off his shoes and run wild along the river. He gets his chance when his drunken father (August Diehl) arrives and demands a share of Huck’s money. Huck decides to escape downriver and he brings along Jim, the house slave who has recently discovered that he will be handed over to a slave trader. The two travel the Mississippi River on a makeshift raft, hoping to outrun Huck’s violent father and find a place where Jim can be accepted as a free man. Twain’s timeless adventure is exuberantly brought to the screen in a film that can be enjoyed by the whole family.
Germany (2012), 101 min. In German with English Subtitles
Film Workshops
Sunday, October 6 - 1:00 - 1:50 Pm & 4:00 - 4:50 Pm
Join the Echo Park Film Center for an afternoon of cinematic exploration and education with the Epfc "Filmcicle" in the courtyard of the Egyptian Theatre. The "Filmcicle" is a bicycle powered cinema and school on 3 wheels. Using traditional analog motion picture film we encourage audience members - young and old - to spend some time with us creating cinematic wonder.
www.echoparkfilmcenter.org
Sunday, October 6 At 5:00 Pm Egyptian Theatre
Double Feature - Us Premiere
Gold
Directed by Thomas Arslan; starring Nina Hoss
Official selection (competition) at the 2013 Berlin International Film Festival, Gold is a Western about seven German immigrants who set out in search of gold in the backwoods of British Columbia during the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898. Each have their motives: an older couple seeking security, a father (Lars Rudolph) hoping to help his impoverished family, an unpleasant newspaperman (Uwe Bohm) chronicling the journey, and a mysterious packer (Marko Mandic) with a past to outrun. The last to join is Emily Mayer (Nina Hoss), a metropolitan woman whose delicate demeanor masks a steely determination to survive. Assembled by a deceptively confident businessman of questionable motives, the settlers must travel through a relatively uncharted stretch of Canadian wilderness to reach their goal, the gold fields of Dawson. As the path grows more treacherous, betrayals come to light and desperate choices are made. Following in the footsteps of McCabe and Mrs. Miller and Meek’s Cutoff, Gold is an epic that offers an unconventional take on the well-worn Western genre.
Germany (2013), 101 min. In German with English Subtitles
Sunday, October 6, At 7:00 Pm Egyptian Theatre
Double Feature - North American Premiere
Layla Fourie
Directed by Pia Marais
Winner of the Jury Special Mention at the 2013 Berlin International Film Festival, Layla Frourie is a film about Layla, who is a single mother living with her son in Johannesburg and getting by with casual work. After training as a polygraph operator she manages to secure a job with a company specialising in lie detectors and security. On her way to her new workplace she is involved in an accident which will fundamentally change her life. Layla becomes entangled in a web of lies and deceit. The truth could lead to the loss of her son. For her third feature film Pia Marais - who has lived in Berlin for many years - returned to South Africa where she grew up to make this classic thriller. She uses the genre to take a look at a country which still bears the scars of apartheid. In this way, everyday life in South Africa enhances the tension in the screenplay which she co-wrote with Horst Markgraf. Almost casually, Layla Fourie develops into a political thriller which takes the audience into the paranoia, fear and mistrust of a society that is still profoundly affected by racial conflict.
Germany (2013), 108 min. In English
In Person: lead actress Rayna Campbell
Monday, October 7 At 7:30 Pm Egyptian Theatre
Double Feature - L.A. Premiere
The Shine of the Day (Der Glanz Des Tages)
Directed by Tizza Covi & Rainer Frimmel
Philip (Philip Hochmair) is is a young and successful actor working for the most important theatres in Vienna and Hamburg with a committed and single-minded approach to his craft. During a season in which he is busy with a production of Buchner’s Woyzeck, Philip is visited by the elderly Walter (Walter Saabel), who introduces himself as the uncle he’s never met. Walter is a former circus artist and the two men soon bond over stories of their careers. These two entertainers, both at different stages in their lives, learn from each other’s experiences. As his conversations with Walter grow more philosophical, Philip slowly emerges from his once isolated lifestyle. He is even inspired to enlist Walter’s assistance in helping a Moldavian neighbor with an immigration issue. The actors, though not related, essentially play themselves and the largely improvised script was developed around their personal experiences. The result is a rare onscreen friendship that feels warm and sincere. Co-directors Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel draw on their documentary filmmaking background to create a naturalistic atmosphere in which these performances can flourish.
Austria (2012), 101 min. In German with English Subtitles
Monday, October 7 At 9:15 Pm Egyptian Theatre
Double Feature
More Than Honey
Directed by Markus Imhoof
Winner of multiple awards, including 2013 German Film Award (Lola) for Best Documentary film, More Than Honey, directed by Oscar-nominated director Markus Imhoof (The Boat Is Full) tackles the vexing issue of why bees, worldwide, are facing extinction. With the tenacity of a man out to solve a world-class mystery, he investigates this global phenomenon, from California to Switzerland, China and Australia. Exquisite macro-photography of the bees (reminiscent of Microcosmos) in flight and in their hives reveals a fascinating, complex world in crisis. Writes Eric Kohn in Indiewire: "Imhoof captures the breeding of queen bees in minute detail, ventures to a laboratory to witness a bee brainscan, and discovers the dangerous prospects of a hive facing the infection of mites. In this latter case, the camera's magnifying power renders the infection in sci-fi terms, as if we've stumbled into a discarded scene from David Cronenberg's The Fly." This is a strange and strangely moving film that raises questions of species survival in cosmic as well as apiary terms.
Switzerland/Germany/Austria (2012), 90 min. In English and German w/English subtitles
Us Distributor: Kino Lorber...
The festival includes narrative feature, documentaries, shorts, and family-friendly films that form part of the 4 day celebration from October 4th-7th. One of the highlights of the program is More Than Honey, which was recently chosen as the Swiss entry for the Foreign Language Academy Award, read more Here, which will be closing the festival on Monday night.
To discuss the film and interact with La audiences some of the filmmakers will also be in attendance:
Rayna Campbell - lead actress, Layla Fourie (North American Premiere)
Matt Sweetwood - director, Beerland (La Premiere)
Jan Ole Gerster - director, Oh Boy
Ennis Rotthoff - composer, Measuring The World (Us Premiere)
For more information click Here
For tickets and information about the Egyptian Theater click Here
Gala Opening Night - Us Premiere
Friday, October 4, At 7:30 Pm Egyptian Theatre
Measuring The World (Die Vermessung Der Welt)
Directed by Detlev Buck
Two of the greatest minds of the 19th century, mathematician Carl Friederich Gauss (Florian David Fritz) and scientist Alexander von Humboldt (Albrecht Abraham Schuch), dedicate their studies to measuring and comprehending the world they live in. Based on Daniel Kehlmann's best-selling novel of the same name, this visually stunning epic is a playful re-imagining of the great men’s lives. Humboldt, a man with a passion for global exploration, is contrasted with Gauss, a man who experiences his world through mathematical theories and figures. Humboldt, aided by his colleague, Aimé Bonpland, travels the globe physically engaging the world he wishes to understand, applying modern, scientific thinking to comparatively unknown regions. Though he remains in the same destitute community for much of his life, Gauss’ interior journey of mathematical discovery proves to be just as rich and visually stunning as Humboldt’s adventures in remote areas of the world. Fact and fiction are mixed, often to humorous effect, to chronicle the findings of two very different men who nevertheless sought the same answers. Measuring The World was nominated for two German Film Awards in 2013, and the film has won Best Costume Design and Best Make-up Design awards at the 2013 Austrian Film Awards.
In Person: Composer Enis Rotthoff
Germany / Austria (2012), 123 min. In German, French, Spanish with English Subtitles
Saturday, October 5, At 7:30 Pm Egyptian Theatre
Double Feature
Oh Boy
Directed by Jan Ole Gerster
Jan Ole Gerster's wry and vibrant feature debut Oh Boy, which swept the 2013 German Film Awards, paints a day in the life of Niko, a twenty-something college dropout going nowhere fast. Niko lives for the moment as he drifts through the streets of Berlin, curiously observing everyone around him and oblivious to his growing status as an outsider. Then on one fateful day, through a series of absurdly amusing encounters, everything changes: his girlfriend rebuffs him, his father cuts off his allowance, and a strange psychiatrist dubiously confirms his 'emotional imbalance'. Meanwhile, a former classmate insists she bears no hard feelings toward him for his grade-school taunts when she was “Roly Poly Julia,” but it becomes increasingly apparent that she has unfinished business with him. Unable to ignore the consequences of his passivity any longer, Niko finally concludes that he has to engage with life. Shot in timeless black and white and enriched with a snappy jazz soundtrack, this slacker dramedy is a love letter to Berlin and the Generation Y experience.
In Person: Director Jan Ole Gerster
Germany (2012), 85 min. In German with English subtitles
Us Distributor: Music Box Films
Saturday, October 5 At 9:30 Pm Egyptian Theatre
Double Feature - L.A. Premiere
Beerland
Directed by Matt Sweetwood
Matt Sweetwood hails from the Midwest. Though he has lived in Germany for over ten years, the people and their culture remain a mystery to him. He undertakes a last-ditch attempt to figure the place out: by exploring the heart of German culture, their beer. If he delves into their rites and rituals, explores all the contradictions and stereotypes, will that make him, finally, a part of them? The infinite variety of beers, breweries and beer fests, the age-old history of beer, is more overwhelming than the American ever imagined. The trail of his research leads him to places far off the beaten tourist path, light-years away from the Oktoberfest. He encounters people whose dialect he barely understands. Amazingly, he finds that a country as small a Germany is subdivided into a thousand different tongues and customs, with beer as the common thread. He discovers a land full of oddities and contradictions. The Germans are deathly serious and silly at the same time, tradition-bound and weirdly visionary. Ultimately, he forms a real bond with them, finding friends where he least expected them.
In Person: Director Matt Sweetwood
Germany (2012), 85 min. In German and English with English Subtitles
Kindermatinee
Sunday, October 6 - 2:00 Pm Egyptian Theatre
The Adventures of Huck Finn (Die Abenteuer Des Huck Finn)
Directed by Hermine Huntgeburth
A lively German language adaptation of Mark Twain’s classic satire. Huck Finn, having found treasure with his best friend Tom Sawyer, is now chafing in the shoes and starched shirts that come with his new wealthy lifestyle. He’d like nothing more than to kick off his shoes and run wild along the river. He gets his chance when his drunken father (August Diehl) arrives and demands a share of Huck’s money. Huck decides to escape downriver and he brings along Jim, the house slave who has recently discovered that he will be handed over to a slave trader. The two travel the Mississippi River on a makeshift raft, hoping to outrun Huck’s violent father and find a place where Jim can be accepted as a free man. Twain’s timeless adventure is exuberantly brought to the screen in a film that can be enjoyed by the whole family.
Germany (2012), 101 min. In German with English Subtitles
Film Workshops
Sunday, October 6 - 1:00 - 1:50 Pm & 4:00 - 4:50 Pm
Join the Echo Park Film Center for an afternoon of cinematic exploration and education with the Epfc "Filmcicle" in the courtyard of the Egyptian Theatre. The "Filmcicle" is a bicycle powered cinema and school on 3 wheels. Using traditional analog motion picture film we encourage audience members - young and old - to spend some time with us creating cinematic wonder.
www.echoparkfilmcenter.org
Sunday, October 6 At 5:00 Pm Egyptian Theatre
Double Feature - Us Premiere
Gold
Directed by Thomas Arslan; starring Nina Hoss
Official selection (competition) at the 2013 Berlin International Film Festival, Gold is a Western about seven German immigrants who set out in search of gold in the backwoods of British Columbia during the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898. Each have their motives: an older couple seeking security, a father (Lars Rudolph) hoping to help his impoverished family, an unpleasant newspaperman (Uwe Bohm) chronicling the journey, and a mysterious packer (Marko Mandic) with a past to outrun. The last to join is Emily Mayer (Nina Hoss), a metropolitan woman whose delicate demeanor masks a steely determination to survive. Assembled by a deceptively confident businessman of questionable motives, the settlers must travel through a relatively uncharted stretch of Canadian wilderness to reach their goal, the gold fields of Dawson. As the path grows more treacherous, betrayals come to light and desperate choices are made. Following in the footsteps of McCabe and Mrs. Miller and Meek’s Cutoff, Gold is an epic that offers an unconventional take on the well-worn Western genre.
Germany (2013), 101 min. In German with English Subtitles
Sunday, October 6, At 7:00 Pm Egyptian Theatre
Double Feature - North American Premiere
Layla Fourie
Directed by Pia Marais
Winner of the Jury Special Mention at the 2013 Berlin International Film Festival, Layla Frourie is a film about Layla, who is a single mother living with her son in Johannesburg and getting by with casual work. After training as a polygraph operator she manages to secure a job with a company specialising in lie detectors and security. On her way to her new workplace she is involved in an accident which will fundamentally change her life. Layla becomes entangled in a web of lies and deceit. The truth could lead to the loss of her son. For her third feature film Pia Marais - who has lived in Berlin for many years - returned to South Africa where she grew up to make this classic thriller. She uses the genre to take a look at a country which still bears the scars of apartheid. In this way, everyday life in South Africa enhances the tension in the screenplay which she co-wrote with Horst Markgraf. Almost casually, Layla Fourie develops into a political thriller which takes the audience into the paranoia, fear and mistrust of a society that is still profoundly affected by racial conflict.
Germany (2013), 108 min. In English
In Person: lead actress Rayna Campbell
Monday, October 7 At 7:30 Pm Egyptian Theatre
Double Feature - L.A. Premiere
The Shine of the Day (Der Glanz Des Tages)
Directed by Tizza Covi & Rainer Frimmel
Philip (Philip Hochmair) is is a young and successful actor working for the most important theatres in Vienna and Hamburg with a committed and single-minded approach to his craft. During a season in which he is busy with a production of Buchner’s Woyzeck, Philip is visited by the elderly Walter (Walter Saabel), who introduces himself as the uncle he’s never met. Walter is a former circus artist and the two men soon bond over stories of their careers. These two entertainers, both at different stages in their lives, learn from each other’s experiences. As his conversations with Walter grow more philosophical, Philip slowly emerges from his once isolated lifestyle. He is even inspired to enlist Walter’s assistance in helping a Moldavian neighbor with an immigration issue. The actors, though not related, essentially play themselves and the largely improvised script was developed around their personal experiences. The result is a rare onscreen friendship that feels warm and sincere. Co-directors Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel draw on their documentary filmmaking background to create a naturalistic atmosphere in which these performances can flourish.
Austria (2012), 101 min. In German with English Subtitles
Monday, October 7 At 9:15 Pm Egyptian Theatre
Double Feature
More Than Honey
Directed by Markus Imhoof
Winner of multiple awards, including 2013 German Film Award (Lola) for Best Documentary film, More Than Honey, directed by Oscar-nominated director Markus Imhoof (The Boat Is Full) tackles the vexing issue of why bees, worldwide, are facing extinction. With the tenacity of a man out to solve a world-class mystery, he investigates this global phenomenon, from California to Switzerland, China and Australia. Exquisite macro-photography of the bees (reminiscent of Microcosmos) in flight and in their hives reveals a fascinating, complex world in crisis. Writes Eric Kohn in Indiewire: "Imhoof captures the breeding of queen bees in minute detail, ventures to a laboratory to witness a bee brainscan, and discovers the dangerous prospects of a hive facing the infection of mites. In this latter case, the camera's magnifying power renders the infection in sci-fi terms, as if we've stumbled into a discarded scene from David Cronenberg's The Fly." This is a strange and strangely moving film that raises questions of species survival in cosmic as well as apiary terms.
Switzerland/Germany/Austria (2012), 90 min. In English and German w/English subtitles
Us Distributor: Kino Lorber...
- 10/4/2013
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
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.