Never Coming to a Cinema Near You - Arthouse Cinema 2015

I'm really hoping that Panahi's Taxi is a remake of the Queen Latifah remake.

It seems to have been a really great Berlinale this year, which is great for me, since Berlin is the only big festival before CPH:PIX, which means I get to see them soon! Many many of these I really look forward to. Also, I'm just going to go ahead and link to (a translation of) what I wrote about Closed Curtain in 2013.

I'm really hoping that Panahi's Taxi is a remake of the Queen Latifah remake.

― Eric H., Saturday, February 14, 2015 3:52 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i just hope there's a cameo from reverend jim

makhmalbaf's the president deserves more attention than it's had IMO. i put it as no. 1 in my ballot for the film poll on ILE.

hasn't shown up in the US. The Gardener barely did.

makhmalbaf's the president

(Hopefully) At yer local arthouse in '15

Did Panahi employ Brazilian models for Taxi remake?

Saw From What Is Before yesterday, which is maybe even better than Norte. The quote of the top of this thread is a cretinous and inaccurate caricature of the film's actual content. It's partly about a country hurtling towards a social/political 'cataclysm', so a sense of foreboding and impending tragedy is present almost from the start (like Dumont's L'il Quinquin, it also uses cattle mutilation to signify something rotten in the body politic) and given the historical backdrop - the declaration of martial law by Marcos in 1972 - it's not exactly unexpected that things end pretty unhappily for most of the main characters, or that economic and political oppression makes many of them act 'badly' (or at least unwisely).

I quite like the fact that Diaz is something of a divisive figure, but his eye for landscape, his ear for the sounds of nature, seem to me undeniable, and not the work of a bullshitter or a charlatan. His credit at the end reads Produced.Directed.Written.Edited.Photographed - so I think he means it, man.

re: Diaz. It seems - from a couple of reviews I've seen - that people are trying to reconcile themselves to the fact he is not going to be making eight hour plus epics that cannot be screened anywhere but festivals anymore. And I'm guessing that if you are someone who is making things that are much shorter that certain elements yer bog standard art house reviewer is expecting to find will be missing. Looks like Diaz is also challenging himself by doing this although I haven't read any interviews.

Certainly look forward to seeing more.

also uses cattle mutilation to signify something rotten in the body politic

This was used quite often in art cinema in the 70s wasn't it? I was trying to get a list of these for an ILF poll.

The Straub link above didn't have its programme published when I linked. I thought it would be old films but its actually Straub's new film (programme 2) so really looking forward to catching it.

What I wrote about From What is Before in january.

I don't think the quote at top is entirely untrue, what I can't forget of FWiB is def the 'masterful 3.5 hours of time, nature'. The way all the characters come together in the first part, some of them wandering out of the wilderness, like wandering out of pre-history, while others - religion! - arrive by boat from the outside. That shot where the healers come wandering along the mountain. And the dancing!

Coincidentally, I finally got that Straub-Huillet dvd I ordered due to this thread. Haven't had a chance to watch it yet. Isn't that exciting information?

Sissako's Timbuktu is certainly worth seiing, but i don't find the filmmaking as forceful as it should be at times. The violence only does upsets once or twice.

sorry about my mangled autoedits

There's Harvard SEL films at DAFilm until March 29th. Manakamana! Iron Ministry! Leviathan, apparantly, at some point.

http://dafilms.com/event/203-sensory_ethnography_lab/

Also, Copenhagen Architecture Festival, where I work, begin this thursday, if anyone happens to be in Copenhagen... We have a clash I'm pretty proud of, showing Pedro Costa's Colossal Youth, Jonas Mekas' As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty and a talk on West-African cinema with short by Djibril Diop Mambety at the same time. Now, I'm 'proud' even though it's not me that have curated it, but still. That's some good films showing at the same time in Copenhagen!

things get serious in NYC this week: Jauja, Amour Fou, La Sapienza all opening.

Yeah, that's a good week. All of those are must sees, btw. Especially Amour Fou.

i don't have time for all 3 in one week(end), so two better run awhile.

OK, Amour Fou might be the best new film i've seen in a year and a half.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFZ51k96r4U

whew!

This has already been released on disc in the UK. I must've missed whatever theatrical run it had here.

I was one of about 3 people laughing in the theater at the best joke.

Ward, It was on the GFT for a few showings immediately prior to the GFF

really need to see amour fou

would love to hear what you thought of the eugene green, frederik; i liked it but remember leaving the theatre just overwhelmed by what digital had done to his style

& congrats on your programming, too. seeing as i was moving ahead in a theatre was really revelatory for me; are you pitching it as having a pronounced architectural bent? i can see it.

jed - thanks, then I definitely missed it - think I was annoyed that it wasn't a new print of Rivette's Amour Fou!

Missed it too :-(

This is a free screen of it @ the austrian cultural institute, might be my last chance to catch it in a screen that is bigger than a laptop.

http://www.acflondon.org/film/cineclub/amour-fou

Amour Fou is also running in LA... and opening in Miami, Seattle etc next month. Looks done in NY after tomorrow tho, which would be atrocious.

http://www.filmmovement.com/theatrical/index.asp?MerchandiseID=400

(Hausner's 2010 film Lourdes is also well worth seeing, but didn't prepare me for this.)

@schlump: If you're interested in all the premieres, it's Jauja, Amour Fou and La Sapienza. The short version of La Sapienza is that I had no idea who Green was, and was very positively surprised by the film, even though I thougth it was a bit old fashioned and that it's themes have bene pondered better other places recently. Of course, it being about architects discussing architecture, I am quite receptive to all that stuff after having worked at CAF a couple of years.

And thanks! We had a great weekend, though I only managed to see the films at the place I worked at. Jean Rouch' Petit a Petit is pretty great, and I need to see more Raymond Depardon. The Mekas belonged to a category on 'nostalgia' on how time and longing infects our surroundings - we also showed Colossal Youth in that category. I got to see half an hour of the film, and I need to see it, but it'll be on a screening link plugged into my tv. Sigh.

Also, so glad you liked Amour Fou, Morbs! I'm really looking forward to rewatching that at PIX next month, and rumours have it it will get distributed here sometime this summer. I could see it a lot of times. I love how so many of the images are ever so slightly off-kilter, as if the servants have made up the houses completely symmetrical, but then the inhabitants have moved all the chairs just a bit. There is just an amazing mood in that film.

also the Vermeerish color and lighting... there's a cut to a robin's egg-blue room at one point that looks animated for a couple of seconds. Def put me in mind of Rohmer too.

oh, wow, i'd forgotten hausner made lourdes. with elina lowensohn! i liked it.

& thanks for the la sapienza rundown. his very distinct mode comes across even more interestingly & surprisingly in the portuguese nun, i think.

http://www.goethe.de/ins/gb/lon/ver/en13760070v.htm

Really hope to see The State I am in. Goethe is the best value for money cinema in London. Three quid a pop.

The only Hausner I've seen is Hotel - wasn't that impressed, but this looks great. Helps that I've read some von Kleist back in December.

This film might inspire some HvK book burnings.

thanks for posting about those screenings

hotel wasn't that good, but lourdes was really powerful (and also oddly funny in places)

new curzon bloomsbury (ie the old renoir) is opening this week btw, lots of smaller screens with the aim of letting films play for longer apparently (ie more chance of catching something like amour fou), though im not that big a fan of tiny 40-50 people cinemas, they all seem to have little care spent on their design (eg the bfi studio which is quite a bad place to watch anything i find)

so has anyone seen Jauja? Looks like the last day in NYC...

This film might inspire some HvK book burnings.

Haha. But, no. His stories are still great.

Really hope to see The State I am in.

Ooh, don't miss Gespenster, if you haven't already seen it. That and Jerichow are both better than State.

I'm at CPH:PIX so I'm blogging about films again. Yesterday it was Hill of Freedom by Hong Sang-soo, Greenery Will Bloom Again by Ermanno Olmi and Da Sweet Blood of Jesus by Spike Lee. The new Hong was a slight dissapointment, while the other two were positive surprises. But, uhm, the Hong was still by far the best one... I'll mostly write in Danish this time, but every now and then I'll do English-language posts, if anyone's interested.

I want one of those jobs where you travel around to festivals and figure out what's best for the festival at home.

just loved the hong

Preferred Our Sunhi last year. But I'm def a fan.

http://www.goethe.de/ins/gb/lon/ver/en13760070v.htm

Really hope to see The State I am in. Goethe is the best value for money cinema in London. Three quid a pop.

― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 24 March 2015 11:38 (3 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yes actually, i've gotten on this lately and there is literally nowhere decent although the LA rebellion season at tate modern looks worth it, i've been wanting to see bush mama and the burnett films for quite a while and also £5 but honestly seeing films in london is really difficult and disheartening and the bfi rarely helps

heyo plax!

HALLO

the rio is great, if confined to the bigger arthouse releases out at the time - their double bills are usually fun/good

the la rebellion season is looking excellent, cant believe billy woodberry's movies have not been picked up by the bfi (though the sunday seminar event was a bit shabby); tate and ica prob best places for experimental stuff

tate never shows films though it is v irritating why do they even have a screening room

I know I'm not an impartial observer, but Danish film is kinda ridiculously strong at the moment - as in, some very good films by coincidence are premiering these few months. In Your Arms by Samanou Acheche Sahlstrøm won the big prize at Gothenburg. Bridgend by Jeppe Rønde has just premiered here in competition at PIX and will premiere in Britain soon and is dark and tough and beautiful. And best of all is Limbo by Anna Sofie Hartmann, also at PIX, who has been educated by the Berlin Filmschool, and whose film should be sought out by everyone who liked Strange Little Cat and Amour Fou.

And all those three are debut features! That is very very unique for Danish film, that three such great debut features will premiere in such a short span of time. Feels good!

well, haven't even read about em here.

whoa awesome that the la rebellion series is touring internationally! some amazing stuff there

i saw 'jauja' last year, was sort of on the fence about it tbh

I did see Jauja the other night, 6/10

i'm slightly confused about why the la rebellion thing is at the tate, its being funded by some evil sounding swiss cultural institute

i dunno but one issue i have with programmes like LA rebellion and when they had the anand pathwardhan season last year is that it becomes stuck into this art film context when actually, these films (and anands) are far, far more than just art films - they are bigger than that, but you wouldnt know from the way they are contextualised, discussed and presented (at least to my eyes). the discussions between those putting them on and the filmmakers are interesting but also kind of lame, like theres something obvious not really being spoken about.

but hey, at least i get to see them.

well, haven't even read about em here.

― the increasing costive borborygmi (Dr Morbius), 15. april 2015 03:33 (10 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Right, and you'll probably have to wait for a long time, if they ever come to the states... It's not just that they're small Danish productions, but also that nothing in the Danish system seems prepared for a film like Limbo. It's produced by the Berlin Film School, made with amateur volunteers, and while critics seem to like that it's different, they also seem kinda confused - if they choose to review it at all. It might never get anywhere. But it's really exciting for me to see Denmark portrayed in this way, hopefully it's the beginning of something more.

field niggas = kind of film i would have to book online to avoid saying the title at the desk.

saw quite a few really great little movies at the london film fest this year - kothnodi, paulina, chevalier, others i cant think of right now. evolution, im not sure about. i think she ran out of ideas and padded a lot of it out TBH. but it had some lovely moments. they were just nearly all stretched to the point of boredom. and she didnt quite explore the concept enough either. bit dissapointing. johnnie to's the office, also looked stunning, started off brilliantly, but then seemed to lose it (or me at least) as i started to get very confused about WTF was going on and to whom and why i was meant to care. started to dart all over the place and end up in sort of lazy sentimentalish territory. or maybe i was just too tired.

looking forward to seeing gaspar noes love in a few weeks too.

FN is the kind of film that will likely be booked at single-screen cinemas/museums.

its only at the ICA in london. title seems like a shortcut to provocation TBH.

The Glaagow Film Theatre has a small season of new French films this month - any recommendations among these?

- All About Them (Bonnell)
- The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun (Sfar)
- Diary of a Chambermaid (Jacquot)
- Tokyo Fiancee (Liberski)
- A Perfect Man (Gozian)
- Standing Tall (Bercot)
- The Anarchists (Wajeman)
- Macadam Stories (Benchetrit)
- Microbe & Gasoline (Gondry)
- The Sweet Escape (Podalydes)
- All Cats are Grey (Dellicour)
- The Measure of a Man (Brize)
- Family for Rent (Ameris)
- Wild Life (Kahn)
- SK1 (Tellier)
- My King (Maiwenn)

I really want to see The Measure of a Man, but that's all I can say, have seen none of them.

To mark the 20th anniversary of the murder of Yitzhak Rabin, CPHDOX showed Rabin, the Last Day yesterday. Has anyone seen it? I don't really know what to say, it's a powerful story, but I'm not sure the drama-scenes doesn't take away from the power of it. Also, Benjamin Netanyahu comes off spectacularly awful in it, I have a feeling that Amos Gitai probably knew what he was doing, with that.

wild life was really good.

I saw all three parts of Gomes' Arabian Nights yesterday. That is one wild and weird experience... Overlong and boring in parts, but heartily recommended.

this indie western w/ Kurt Russell, Richard Jenkins came and went in a flash in NYC... showing on VOD

http://filmmakermagazine.com/96324-if-you-move-in-a-hasty-manner-ill-put-a-bullet-in-you-s-craig-zahler-on-bone-tomahawk/

looking forward to the new jafar panahi film, which im going to see tomorrow... i thought this is not a film was somewhat overrated (if accurately evaluated in its title ho ho), but this one looks good, if only because i doubt you can go wrong with the format.

i liked it better than his last one.

I think Taxi is merely good. The girl drove me mad.

Good, as in better than Girlhood.

The little girl in Taxi is wonderful, and really the key to the whole film ("sordid realism").

I recommend this humble indie tree-selling dramedy, Christmas, Again (shot by the ubiquitous Sean Price Williams):

http://www.moma.org/calendar/film/1598?locale=en

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZGHw3uJJAk

Pinkerton on Nathan Silver’s Stinking Heaven, a tale of rehabbed junkies set in “Passaic, New Jersey 1990” (when i lived there!)

http://www.artforum.com/film/#entry56672

Bone Tomahawk was really good!

seeing that at MoMA in 2 weeks w/ director q&a

finally caught The Lobster, which turned out to be essentially Animal Farm meets OKCupid. Considerably funnier and less oppressive than I was expecting

should we have a 2016 thread?

Sissako's Timbuktu is certainly worth seiing, but i don't find the filmmaking as forceful as it should be at times. The violence only does upsets once or twice.

― touch of a love-starved cobra (Dr Morbius), Monday, March 16, 2015 1:57

Finally saw this and also saw it on some year-end top lists (Bob Mondello, NPR & others). Worth seeing but main characters still didn't seem fleshed out enough.

that gunshot in the marsh though

terrible and heartbreaking even if one saw it coming. People buried in sand and stoned was pretty upsetting too.

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-35220419

The US National Society of Film Critics has named Spotlight the best film of 2015.

Timbuktu, by Mauritanian director Abderrahmane Sissako, won best foreign language film.

I've never seen Sissako's earlier effort: "Bamako", mentioned below--

http://www.alternet.org/culture/2015-years-best-movies-classic-screen-romance-ghosts-auschwitz-delusional-tv-stardom

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon

Yes, African director Abderrahmane Sissako’s wry, rich, tragic and spectacular tale of life under the rule of Islamic militants in northern Mali’s legendary “library city” was nominated for the foreign-language Oscar last year. (It didn’t win, but I don’t begrudge “Ida” the prize.) That’s because the academy’s rules make no sense; “Timbuktu” did not play anywhere in the United States until late January of 2015. I have previously argued that a confluence of talent and circumstance have rendered Sissako — who was born in Mauritania, raised in Mali, educated in Russia and now lives in France — a figure of unique cultural importance. Far more to the point, he’s a great artist: Watch “Timbuktu” and then “Bamako,” his outrageous Brechtian assault against the Western banks and financial powers, and find out how his films speak to the mind, the heart and the spirit all at once.

I saw Tale of Tales yesterday and it's pretty amazing. So many beautiful shots. And it has a nice light touch when it comes to any interconnections between the different stories.