Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Phantom Thread - trailer


Phantom Thread (2017) -the new movie by the talented American director Paul Thomas Anderson- is a feverish romantic drama set in the London fashion scene of the 1950's, starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Vicky Krieps and Lesley Manville.

Anderson wrote the script himself, directed the film and also took care of the cinematography.

Watch the trailer below:




Genre: romantic drama

Saturday, August 26, 2017

Tess - movie clip


Below, you can enjoy a clip from the visually stunning and delicate 1979 romantic drama Tess by the Polish director and master storyteller Roman Polanski.

The film won three Academy Awards, for:
- Best Cinematography, by Ghislain Cloquet and Geoffrey Unsworth;
- Best Costume Design, by Anthony Powell;
- and Best Art Direction, by Pierre Guffroy and Jack Stephens.

Based on the famous 1891 feminist novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman by the English writer Thomas Hardy, the movie is set in Hardy's fictional English countryside Wessex during the 1880s, and stars the beautiful german actress Nastassja Kinski as the poor and unfortunate country girl Tess, Leigh Lawson as the rich and arrogant seductor Alec, and Peter Firth as the young poetic farmer and love interest Angel. 

Firth is not shown in the clip below, but Kinski and Lawson are.




Genre: historical drama / romance

Grizzly Man - full movie


Directed by the acclaimed German filmmaker Werner Herzog, Grizzly Man is a fascinating 2005 documentary about the adventures of the quirky American nature and animal lover Timothy Treadwell in the remote Katmai National Park and Preserve on the Alaska Peninsula. As the title Grizzly Man indicates, Timothy Treadwell had a very dangerous passion...

To watch the full documentary, click the link "Watch on Odnoklassniki" in the video screen below, then click the play button, and in the lower right corner on the settings button and on "Quality" to select 720p or 1080p for higher quality.




Genre: documentary / biopic / adventure / animals / nature

Saturday, August 19, 2017

All aboard for an iconic western!

Stagecoach  by John Ford     ★★★★



The iconic 1939 black and white western Stagecoach by the legendary American director John Ford is one of the most influential films of all time. Orson Welles -a legendary filmmaker in his own right- once stated that Stagecoach is a perfect blueprint for making a good movie and that watching it is like going to film school. Reportedly, Welles watched Stagecoach about 40 times in preparation for his own (even more influential) masterpiece Citizen Kane (1941): Welles' brilliant directorial film debut, released two years after Stagecoach.

Adventurous

The enduring legacy of Stagecoach, which is considered a timeless classic by movie lovers around the world, is largely due to the captivating screenplay (written by Dudley Nichols), combining adventure, comedy, drama and subtle romance. 

Based on the 1937 short story The Stage to Lordsburg by the prolific writer of western fiction Ernest Haycocox, the film is set in 1880 and follows a stagecoach from Tonto, Arizona to Lordsburg, New Mexico, through the territory of the rebellious Apache leader Geronimo and his indians, who are on the warpath...

The action-packed stagecoach chase,
with Yakima Canutt as stunt double for starring actor John Wayne.
 

Misfits

The stagecoach is driven by Buck (played by Andy Devine) and carries eight, seemingly incompatible passengers:

- the young cowboy and fugitive Henry aka the Ringo Kid (played by John Wayne);
- the marshal Curly Wilcox (George Bancroft), who takes the Ringo Kid in custody;
- the pregnant young lady Lucy Mallory (Louise Platt);
- the gentleman gambler Hatfield (John Carradine);
- the prostitute Dallas (Claire Trevor);
- the flamboyant alcoholic Doc Josiah Boone (Thomas Mitchell);
- the timid whiskey salesman Samuel Peacock (Donald Meek);
- and the unreliable banker Henry Gatewood (Berton Churchill).

From left to right: Buck, Curly, Hatfield,
Peacock, Lucy, Dallas and the Ringo Kid.

Director John Ford doesn't hide his sympathy for the social misfits in his Stagecoach, preferring the authenticity of the brave Ringo Kid, the lonely prostitute Dallas, the well-mannered gambler Hatfield and the happy-go-lucky drunk Doc Boone to the hypocrisy of so called 'respectable citizens' like the banker, who turns out to be nothing more than a coward and a thief.

Dallas keeps her pride while she's being
chased out of town by the Law & Order Leage.

In one of the first sequences, Ford makes fun of the women of the Law & Order Leage in Tonto, who chase the prostitute Dallas and the drunk Doc Boone out of town. Ford exposes these women of the Law & Order Leage for what they really are: uptight and biased social justice warriors with misguided moral standards, who judge people, without really knowing them, by their appearance and reported reputation instead of by their true character. This nonconformist critique of bourgeois puritanism runs through the film as its underlying theme, which shouldn't surprise anyone, since Ford himself was an old-fashioned, cigar-smoking and whiskey-drinking man, who loathed political correctness.

Hilarious interaction between the alcoholic Doc Boone (left)
and the whiskey salesman Samuel Peacock.

Archetypes

In addition to the entertaining story and the crispy dialogues, Stagecoach also features beautiful cinematography (by Bert Glennon), including wide shots of the impressive landscapes (one of Ford's trademarks), a fitting, Oscar-winning musical score (based on old American folk songs) and fine acting, with a breakthrough performance by the young John Wayne as the Ringo Kid in Wayne's first starring role, delicate acting by Claire Trevor as the disillusioned prostitute Dallas, and funny performances by Donald Meek as the soft-spoken whiskey salesman Samuel Peacock and by Thomas Mitchell as the sympathetic drunk Doc Boone (which earned Mitchell an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor). 

The famous shot that introduced John Wayne's
breakthrough role of the Ringo Kid to the world.

A wide shot of Monument Valley in Utah.
Today, almost 80 years after Stagecoach established some of the most recognizable archetypes in the western genre -the hooker with the heart of gold, the dandyish gambler, the funny town drunk, the exciting stagecoach chase, the impressive vistas of Monument Valley in Utah, et cetera...- these archetypes have long since become clichés. Well, now you know where they came from before they were clichés, and why they became clichés: they were at the heart of John Ford's Stagecoach and they worked like a charm. 

Joeri Naanai

Stagecoach - USA - 1939.

Cast: John Wayne, Claire Trevor, Thomas Mitchell, Donald Meek, Louise Platt, John Carradine, George Bancroft, Andy Devine and Berton Churchill.

Genre: western / adventure



Tuesday, August 15, 2017

mother! - trailer


After his disappointing Bible epic Noah (2014), the talented American director Darren Aronofsky, who rose to fame in 2000 with his gripping junkie drama Requiem for a Dreamhas now completed a new religious and enviromental allegory, wrapped in a mysterious and bizarre psychological horror thriller, titled mother! (2017). 

The psychological horror thriller genre fits Aranofsky well as a director, which is evident from his fascinating 2010 ballet drama and psychological horror thriller Black Swan (read our review). Therefore, we can't wait to watch mother!, especially because Aronofsky wrote the screenplay himself and because the cast includes very good actors, namely Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ed Harris, Domhnall Gleeson and Kristen Wiig.

Watch the trailer of mother! below:




Genre: psychological thriller / horror / mystery / drama / religion

Suburbicon - trailer


We are eager to watch the new black comedy crime movie and anti-racist drama Suburbicon (2017), because the original draft of the screenplay was written by the brilliant filmmaking duo Joel and Ethan Coen, the movie was directed by Hollywood actor George Clooney (who has already proven himself as a director with his solid 2011 political drama The Ides of March) and the cast of Suburbicon includes the fine actors Matt Damon, Julianne Moore and Oscar Isaac.

Watch the trailer of Suburbicon below:




Genre: black comedy / crime / mystery / drama

Monday, March 27, 2017

The Middle Ages in Technicolor

The Adventures of Robin Hood     ★★★★
by Michael Curtiz & William Keighley 



England, 1191. On the way back from a crusade, the English King Richard I (aka Richard Lionheart) is taken hostage by the Duke of Austria. King Richard's unreliable brother Prince John (played by Claude Rains) takes advantage of the situation by usurping the English throne and commissioning Sir Guy of Guisborne (Basil Rathbone) to impose high taxes on the fearful people in England. The Saxon nobleman Sir Robin of Locksley (Hollywood star Errol Flynn), however, isn't afraid of Prince John. On the contrary: Sir Robin of Locksley becomes the mischivious rebel Robin Hood and gathers other freedom fighters in the forests of Sherwood, to start a guerrilla uprising against the tyrannical Prince John...

From left to right: 
Olivia de Havilland as Maid Marian, 
Claude Rains as Prince John, 
and Basil Rathbone as Sir Guy of Guisborne.


Old fashioned family entertainment

The Adventures of Robin Hood is a delightful 1938 adventure movie by the Hollywood directors Michael Curtiz and William Keighley. The film offers enough old fashioned entertainment to please young and old alike: sprightly swordplay, witty dialogue, excellent performances by most of the cast members, romance between Robin Hood and his love interest Lady Marian (played by Olivia de Havilland), and beautiful costumes and sets, all shot in radiant Technicolor

The film won three Acadamy Awards, for:
- Best Art Direction and Color, by Carl Jules Weyl;
- Best Editing, by Ralph Dawson;
- and Best Music, by Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

Olivia de Havilland as Lady Marian,
and Errol Flynn als Robin Hood.

The screenplay, which is based on old English folklore about a legendary Medieval heroic outlaw called Robyn Hode, has little to do with historical accuracy, but who cares! The Adventures of Robin Hood is the kind of exciting adventure movie that awakens the rebel kid in ourselves. Rewatching it recently, I felt once again what I felt when I saw the movie for the first time on tv in my childhood: the irresistible urge to go and hide somewhere in the forest with a couple of friends, build a treehouse together and use our secret hideout as a base camp from which we would fight the injustice in the world. My childhood buddies and I failed miserably, ofcourse, because the world is still full of injustice today. But at least we built a (small) treehouse.   

Joeri Naanai

The Adventures of Robin Hood - USA - 1938.

Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone, Claude Rains, Alan Hale and Eugene Pallette.

Genre: adventure / historical drama / romance / action



Dancing on a volcano

Black Swan  by Darren Aronofsky     ★★★★



With Black Swan -a fascinating ballet drama and psychological thriller that premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2010- the American filmmaker Darren Aronofsky has once again proven himself as a very talented director, tackling interesting topics, such as overbearing parenting, ambition, jealousy, identity, obsession, self-sacrifice and insanity.

Duel

The excellent screenplay of Black Swan (written by Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz and John McLaughlin) is based on The Understudyan intriguing story by Andres Heinz about the rivalry between two ambitious female dancers in a New York ballet company. 

The company's artistic director and choreographer (played by the French actor Vincent Cassel) wants to stage his own version of Tchaikovsky's famous 19th century Russian ballet Swan Lake and is looking for a new female dancer to replace Beth (Winona Ryder) as prima ballerina. The young, devoted, but insecure and inhibited dancer Nina (Natalie Portman) is under pressure from her overbearing and meddling mother (played by Barbara Hershey) to get the part. Once a ballerina herself, Nina's mother hopes to compensate for the failure of her own ballet career with the future success of her dancing daughter. Nina, however, faces stiff competition from Lilly (Mila Kunis): a new, extroverted and attractive ballerina, who is also prepared to go all the way to become the troup's new dance star.

Alter ego's

Natalie Portman as Nina.
The lead part in Swan Lake requires the physical, dance technical, artistic, mental and emotional abilities to express not only the innocence and grace of the White Swan, but also the sensual seduction and unscrupulous cunning of the Black Swan. The role of the White Swan fits Nina like a glove, but her polar opposite Lilly seems the perfect personification of the Black Swan. Pushing herself to outshine Lilly, Nina has to explore the dark side of her own soul in order to embody the Black Swan. In turn, Lilly uses her feminine, sassy charm to curry favor with the artistic director. During their fierce artistic and psychological duel, the two ballerinas get entangled in a dangerous web of intrigue, in which ambition, jealousy, betrayal and a ruthless drive for perfection push Nina to the brink of madness, leading to a surprising finale that gives the film new meaning...

Reality or fiction?

Following in the footsteps (pun intented) of brilliant dance films in which on- and offstage action intermingle, such as The Red Shoes (1948) by the English duo Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, and Carmen (1983) by the Spanish director Carlos Saura, the lines between reality and fiction are blurred in Black SwanThis results in a compelling, genre-transcending film that balances between an artistic dance movie, a psychological coming-of-age-drama, an erotic thriller and a postmodern fairy tale with horror elements. The film is skilfully edited (by Andrew Weisblum), in such a way that the viewer can keep track of (but still wonders) what's going on, without revealing too much too soon, while the story of the Swan Lake ballet gradually unfolds parallel to Nina's confusing (on- and offstage) exploration of her own feelings and identity, which mirrors narrative techniques in The Red Shoes and Carmen

Lots of mirrors and reflections are shown in Black Swan, because at its core this is a film about the self-reflexive search of a girl for her own identity as she's becoming a woman and full blown ballerina. Nina wants to break free from her domineering mother, and stand on her own two feet. But while desperately trying to (re)discover herself, Nina is also afraid to lose herself. Still, she finds the courage to delve into deep, dark passions that go far beyond her own artistic ambitions and touch the essence of human desires. Thus, the erotic dimensions of the intelligent, layered screenplay emerge in the dance scenes and in other scenes that show Nina's budding sexuality while she tries to overcome her prudish shyness.


Pygmalion

Thanks to her acting ànd dancing skills, Natalie Portman won an Academy Award for her demanding and convincing portrayal of Nina's transformation. And the charismatic Ukrainian actress Mila Kunis, perfectly cast in her supporting role of the unfathomable Lilly, won the Marcello Mastrioni Award for Best Emerging Actress at the 2010 Venice Film Festival, where Black Swan was first hown as the opening film. Vincent Cassel, however, lacks charisma in his role of the ruthless artistic director and choreographer who plays his dancers against each other and molds them like a modern day Pygmalion.

Mila Kunis as Lilly.

Visual flair

In the final sequences of Black Swan, during the intense onstage performance of the Swan Lake ballet, the atmospheric cinematography (by Matthew Libatique), the expressive costumes (designed by Amy Westcott) and the evocative make-up are reminiscent of the cinematic magic in the visually stunning classic The Red Shoes: still the most beautiful dance film ever. 

Most of the other scenes in Black Swan are shot in a more sober and realistic cinéma vérité style, which contributes to the credibility of the contemporary setting, but sometimes at the expense of the enchantment in this fable. Yet, even in those scenes, Black Swan is visually interesting enough in its unique and surprisingly thrilling retelling of Tchaikovsky's timeless fairy tale.

Joeri Naanai

Black Swan - USA - 2010.

Cast: Natalie Portman, Vincent Cassel, Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey and Winona Ryder.

Genre: dance / psychological drama / erotic thriller / horror