With all the TIFF 2007 film announcements that have been pouring in over the past few days, it is curious to hear about a title featuring multitude of big name American actors which has languished undistributed in North America since first showing on these shores in 2005. Romance & Cigarettes (which was well received in these parts, see link below) was financed by the Coen Brothers and directed by John Turturro (his third film as director).
“The over-the-top story line follows a Queens construction worker who gets in trouble when his wife discovers he has a lusty mistress. The characters break into songs ranging from James Brown to Engelbert Humperdinck to Bruce Springsteen.”
James Gandolfini, Kate Winslet, Susan Sarandon, Steve Buscemi, Christopher Walken, Mary-Louise Parker, Eddie Izzard and the tragically underused and unknown Bobby Cannavale (who just radiated good natured comraderie in The Station Agent a few years ago then was frighteningly intimidating in Fast Food Nation recently) all singing and dancing in modern day New York. Sounds like a lot of fun to me. John Turturro is self-releasing it on a single screen in New York (NY Film Forum) on September 7th (that is almost 2 years to the day since its first festival screening) to see if it has any chance for a wider theatrical release from MGM. You see, much of the delay was due to the slicing up of MGM a couple of years ago, this one just fell between the cracks of a hacked up corporate entity. Sony, who has the DVD rights, expects to put out a DVD release sometime in 2008, but for those who do not want to wait (none of you left at this point, unless this is your first time hearing about the film), A British (R2) DVD has been out for some time now.
[Source: Reuters via Mad About Movies]
[Fantasia info page here.]
As any regular reader of this site will know I am a big fan of Denmark’s Anders Thomas Jensen. The hugely prolific writer has been involved in most of the major Scandanavian films of the past decade, has maintained a staggering level of quality across his many genre hopping films, and is now increasingly turning his eye towards the director’s chair. Jensen had a pair of film’s present in the 2004 edition of the Toronto Film Festival – the absolutely spectacular Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself, which he wrote, and the very strong Green Butchers, which he both wrote and directed – and so I was greatly pleased and not at all surprised to see his latest winning acclaim at festivals the world over.
As you might expect from the title Adam’s Apples—available on DVD here— has some rather metaphysical leanings tied in to the normal Jensen blend of existentialism, absurdism, and jet black comedy. While he has flirted with religious ideas in the past with Adam’s Apples Jensen moves well beyond batting eyelids at the spiritual and goes ahead and invites God home for a drink or two while he slips into something more comfortable.
Continue Reading "Fantasia Report: Adam’s Apples Review"...
The DVD release of Terry Gilliam’s Tideland finally hits shelves February 27th and I’ve managed to get an early peek at it. While the film has greatly divided audiences I’m very much on the positive side of the fence and am pleased to say it has received a DVD release loaded with features although the North American editions feature one major flaw. Here’s the review I wrote when the film played at the Toronto International Film Festival with some added notes on the DVD release.
After a long absence Terry Gilliam made a not-so-triumphant return just a few weeks ago with the middling—if you listen to the critics—Brothers Grimm, a film that bore the marks of heavy handed studio meddling from the cast to the script and right on down to the principal crew. While it was nice to simply see Gilliam working again it would have been far, far better to see him allowed to shoot his own film his own way. Well, wait no longer. With Tideland Gilliam is well and truly back.
Continue Reading "Tideland Review"...
Great Gravy! Just a reminder to the Twitch faithful that Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey opened in theatres across Canada [B.C, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec] this past Friday. Even if your brush with metal music came way back in the day when Public Enemy did that song with Anthrax you must see this film. It is just awesome! Read my TIFF review here.
Watch the trailer: Quicktime Hi and Lo through the website or the devil’s software, RealMedia via Movie Television.
FOR TRAILERS, SEE THE BOTTOM OF THIS ARTICLE
Robin Aubert’s Saint Martyrs of the Damned (Saints-Martyrs-des-Damnés) is scheduled to be screened at the 24th Brussels International Festival of Fantastic Film (BIFFF) in Belgium on March 19th at 8:30 p.m. (20.30). The movie was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on September 10th and 12th of last year. It was released theatrically in Québec by Christal Films Distribution Inc. on October 14th of last year. It’s scheduled to be released on DVD (NTSC, region 1, French w/o subtitles) in Canada by Christal Films on February 28th.
Continue Reading "BIFFF: Robin Aubert’s SAINT MARTYRS OF THE DAMNED (SAINTS-MARTYRS-DES-DAMNÉS), w/ François Chénie"...
외출
April Snow - KOREA 2005
Wechul (lit. Going Out)
105 Minutes - 35mm Panoramic 1.85:1 - Colour
Produced by: 블루스톰 (Blue Storm)
Distributed By: 쇼이스트 (Show East)
International Sales: 쇼이스트 (Show East)
Opening Day: 09/08/2005
Rating: 18 and Over
Box Office: 802,193 Nationwide Admissions
DVD - Korean Version (English Subtitles)
DVD - Japanese Regular Version (Japanese Subtitles)
DVD - Japanese Premium 5Disc Edition (Japanese Subtitles)
DVD - HK Version (English Subtitles)
OST
Official Website
Theatrical Trailer (Downloadable, Windows Media)
Movie Stills/Posters
Note: The review contains spoilers.
Continue Reading "[KOREAN DVD REVIEWS] 외출 (April Snow)"...
Since Twitch’s previous article on Robin Aubert’s Saint Martyrs of the Damned (Saints-Martyrs-des-Damnés), a second downloadable teaser trailer for and six downloadable clips from the movie have been added to the official subsite for it (see the bottom of this article). Also, there’s a downloadable English-subtitled version of the first teaser trailer on the website of the international sales agent for the movie, Max Films Inc. (see the bottom of this article).
The screenplay for Saint Martyrs of the Damned was written by Aubert. The movie stars François Chénier as Flavien Juste, Isabelle Blais as ‘Tite-Fille’ (’Little Girl’ or ‘Missy’), Monique Mercure as Malvina 1, Monique Miller as Malvina 2, Patrice Robitaille as Armand Despas, Alexis Martin as the garage owner/mechanic (le garagiste), the late Hubert Loiselle as Faustin, Pierre Collin as Raoul Bösh, Mathilde Lavigne as Mélanie Blackburn, Alec Poirier as Quentin (a.k.a. ‘Peanut’), David Savard as Méchant, Renaud Lacelle-Bourdon as Sulveux, Luc Senay as Barnabé, Sylvie Boucher as Rosy, André Lacoste as Émile, Carl Hennebert as Médé, Germain Houde as White, and Michel Forget as Maire.
Saint Martyrs of the Damned was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on September 10th and 12th of last year. It was released theatrically in Québec by Christal Films Distribution Inc. on October 14th of last year.
Below is a description of Saint Martyrs of the Damned from this page for the movie on the TIFF website.
Continue Reading "Update on Robin Aubert’s SAINT MARTYRS OF THE DAMNED (SAINTS-MARTYRS-DES-DAMNÉS), w/ François Ché"...
If you’ve heard anything at all about Ang Lee’s new film “Brokeback Mountain”, your information is probably two-fold. First off, its “gay cowboy” storyline makes it a very likely lightning rod for controversy. And secondly, it is a very, very well made film. The degree of controversy garnered is yet to be fully determined, but I can concur on the second point that it is indeed very well made, if also one the saddest films I’ve seen in quite some time. Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhal, two viable sad sack working stiffs if ever there were any, bring a unique and delicate blend of angst and rural authenticity to their roles as Wyoming sheep wranglers in the 1960s and seventies. Their performances are consistent and tremendous, even as they slowly (but suddenly) fall for one another while on the job. If the main characters in this film are guilty of anything, their greatest sin is betrayal, not practicing homosexuality. The question, however, of the nature of the betrayal (or betrayals) at hand is something left up to the viewer. (More on that later.) There’s no getting around it, “Brokeback Mountain” would be a hard sell even if it were a hetrosexual love story. Lee and company took a big chance with this, and as awkward and weird as a “gay cowboy movie” (an unfair label, really) sounds, this is a subtle and naturalistic endeavor of human emotion, wrong doing, and tragedy that is peppered with some of the finest performances of the year.
Continue Reading "Brokeback Mountain REVIEW"...
This fine cinematic gem is Michael Winterbottoms assured return to form after the failed experiment that was 9 Songs. Tristram Shandy is a must for both fans of British Comedy and Charlie Kaufman-style meta-films. Oh yea, and it does the Mockumentary genre proud too. Todd’s TIFF2005 review here.
The film gets a UK release on January 20th, 2006 and a limited North American release on January 27, 2006.
Trailer (Embedded Quicktime)
Interview with Steve Coogan and two Clips (buried in the nightmare that is iFilm)
Via MovieWeb.
Well here you go. You read about it from Todd and Kurt during TIFF and here is a lovely trailer in glorious Quicktime for you. Commence blood letting… now!
Quicktime: Small, Medium and Large.
And be sure to visit the official site.
Tsui Hark’s latest 七劍 (Seven Swords) recently opened quite a hotly debated discussion on Twitch, but if you didn’t participate because you hadn’t seen the film, here’s your chance to watch it. Of course it’s been released in Hong Kong before, but as this is released by enterOne in Korea, you can expect an excellent DVD.
More good news, too, as this will be the full 152 Minutes Hong Kong cut and not the 118 Minutes version screened in Korea (called the International Version, don’t know if this is the one that made Festival runs recently, including TIFF). And, again, amongst the screenshots of the very pretty Menu DVD Prime just posted, you’ll certainly be interested about this one. Yes, English subtitles confirmed.
Here‘s the rest of the screenshoots right from DVD Prime.
The DVD released today.
Looks like we’ll have to do another of those ‘Decide our next DVD Review’ polls come next Xmas. If you already added DVDs for 웰컴 투 동막골 (Welcome To Dongmakgol) and 친절한 금자씨 (Sympathy For Lady Vengeance) to you Christmas list… leave some space, as Hur Jin-Ho’s latest is coming to DVD. And that’s Mid-December again, like the other two.
Although details about the extras haven’t been released yet, enterOne is hard at work producing the special features. But the Korean edition of 외출 (April Snow), which comes out about two weeks before the uber mammoth Japanese release and will cost about 1/10 of its price, will feature different content.
But what’s this mysterious huge R2J release? Well, here’s some details: 5 Discs (FIVE!) in a huge, gorgeous (and HEAVY! 5kg) white box; various booklets, postcards and mini photobooks with Japanese okasan’s favourite star Yonsama and his partner in crime Son Ye-Jin; a personally autographed card by Son, Bae and director Hur; a mini Yonsama framed photo; a large-sized poster of the film made with special cloth (I think it’ll be like the posters in the Damo Special Edition); 2 Memorial mini lobby cards, the script of the film in Japanese, and the original Korean version of the program for the film.
Disc 1: The film, various promotional trailers and an audio commentary with director and staff. Korean DD5.1/Japanese DD5.1 and Japanese subs ONLY.
Disc 2: a 100 Minutes Making Of Documentary.
Disc 3: A collection of previously unreleased Images, photos from the set and more, lasting 55 Minutes.
Disc 4: A 115 Minutes special interview with Bae, produced for this DVD only. He’ll talk about his career, his life, and more.
Disc 5: 75 Minutes from the poster shoot and various other images.
The DVD, out on December 29, is already available for preorder at YesAsia.
Read Kurt’s review from the latest TIFF.
Via DVD Prime
How long did we wait… but it’s finally here. Park Chan-Wook and Co. are in the process of adding their finishing touches to the upcoming DVD release of 친절한 금자씨 (Sympathy For Lady Vengeance), Park’s final installment of his trilogy of vengeance. There’s good news and bad news.
Good news first: both versions of the film will be available in the two discs set: the full colour version, and the one which will gradually turn into black and white. Extra features look quite juicy as well. There will be three separate commentary tracks: one with director Park Chan-Wook, DP Jung Jung-Hoon and production designer Jo Hwa-Sung; another will feature Park and star Lee Young-Ae, and a final one will be a solo commentary by Film2.0’s Kim Young-Jin. They also said that they plan to record a commentary with foreign critics, although no more details were announced about that. The commentary recording started today in Shinsa-Dong, and after that marketing will begin.
Extra features? 2 and a half hours worth, entitled ‘Revenge and Mercy’. They will feature interviews with director, cast and crew, an extensive making of documentary and deleted scenes. They’ll also add a short film of about 10-20 minutes, featuring young people who desire to become film directors.
Audio will be DD5.1 and DTS, with English and Korean subtitles. And even more important, considering the current state the Korean DVD market is in, Park (who’s a big DVD aficionado) announced the price will be in line with other releases, and they won’t repeat the 올드보이 (Oldboy) UE debacle. So no SE, LE, UE, FE.. but just this, and the boxset including the entire trilogy, which will release early next year.
The bad news? The fact we’ll have to wait for mid December to get this bad boy. Looks like a nice Christmas gift, too.
Via Film2.0
Well, here it is, the big summary of the ridiculous amount of time spent watching films at the just completed Toronto Film Festival. I sent a request out to Mack, Kurt and Mathew yesterday to give all of the films a brief (no more than two sentence) summary and a score out of ten, with instructions to be harsh. I then averaged everything out and ranked all of the films seen by score. Our big winner? No surprise there, it’s SPL with Pusher II close behind.
This is all completely subjective, of course, and is meant purely as a snapshot of our collective festival experience more than any comprehensive guide. And for those of you wondering, the toughest judge amongst us? Definitely Mack. Ouch.
Continue Reading "The Big Toronto Film Festival Wrap Up"...
This has turned up this morning, and having just started playing it, it does look a little long for a teaser. There also seems to be a ‘Making Of’ featurette at the Official Site too. Seems that although between all of them, our writers at TIFF managed to miss out on this one; by the way, lets hear a round of applause of all that writing they managed to put together. Special “hemeroid cushions” in the post to all of them right now.
‘Tsotsi’ Official Site (with Making Of and Teaser Trailer - click ‘Trailers’ and see options at top).
via Coming Soon.
