Say you’ve been hailed as Denmark’s next great hope. You burst on to the scene with a dazzling debut. You followed that up with an equally acclaimed sophomore film (Bleeder) then went overseas to try your luck in North America (Fear X). What do you do next? If you’re Nicolas Winding Refn you go back to what made you famous in the first place and you do it even better. In late 2004 Refn released Pusher II: With Blood On My Hands, a sequel to his acclaimed ‘96 debut, and as dazzling as the original Pusher was this is unquestionably better.

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Steve Buscemi’s Lonesome Jim was one of my favorite films at this year’s Philadelphia Film Festival and, thankfully, some footage is finally starting to leak out ... a pair of scenes from Buscemi’s smart, funny and teminally depressed romantic comedy have turned up on the French site Allocine. Check ‘em out.

Clip One (downloadable Quicktime)
Clip Two (downloadable Quicktime)

Turns out I wasn;t the only Twitch type at the just concluded Philadelphia Film Festival ... turns out regular reader and sometimes contributor Collin Armstrong was there as well and he’s chimed in with a trio of excellent reviews ... et voila:

I took in the last few days of the Philadelphia Film Festival, and it turns out Todd and I ended up seeing a lot of the same pics while there (not sure whether or not we were at the same screenings). Since he’s gone into detail on THE PROMISE, SOUNDLESS, SURVIVE STYLE 5+, QUIET AS A MOUSE, CUTIE HONEY, KONTROLL, STRATOSPHERE GIRL, and KARAOKE TERROR, I’ll offer up the bulk of my thoughts on the pics I caught that he didn’t – the new Alex de la Iglesia offering FERPECT CRIME, blaxploitation documentary MACKED, HAMMERED, SLAUGHTERED, AND SHAFTED, and the Spanish comedy ONLY HUMAN.

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Well, you know what they say about good things and ending and this one has. Today was the final day of the Philadelphia Film Festival and, just as soon as I’m done writing this, I need to pack my stuff up so I can hit the road bright and early in the morning. Today was another three film day and, once again, all three were excellent. On the slate: the live action adaptation of Cutie Honey, German hitman film Soundless and the well nigh unclassifiable Survive Style 5+.

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Well, only one day left to my time in Philadelphia. Today was the second last day of screenings and I caught three very different films: an Italian period drama set shortly after the fall of Rome, an meditative Icelandic fable, and the latest directorial effort from indie icon Steve Buscemi - a dark absurdist comedy. The first was solid viewing, the latter two both excellent. Having Buscemi present to introduce his film and follow it up with a Q&A certainly didn’t hurt things, either ...

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Oh, poor Malcolm McDowell ... how did he ever get roped into making this? Today was a bit of a down day here: with little jumping off the schedule shouting “Watch me! Watch me!” Canfield and I spent the day poking around Philadelphia a bit with our host and meeting up with a friend who had recently moved into the city before catching our sole screening of the day. David Grieco’s Evilenko is based on the true story of a Russian serial killer who hypnotized, raped, killed and ate more than fifty children over a nearly twenty year span. The premise is certainly there for a gripping film as well as a strong lead actor in McDowell but first time writer-director Grieco turns in a film that provoked more than a few unintended laughs thanks to a film filled with ludicrous dialogue and a seemingly endless array of staggeringly flat performaces.

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So the count now stands at three days, eleven films. Thus far I’m having a ridiculously high success rate with ten solid films against only one dog. Not bad. Rounding up today’s viewing after this morning’s viewing of Off Beat was Chan Wook Park’s Oldboy - first time seeing it projected and with an audience - plus a pair of German films in Stratosphere Girl and Quiet as a Mouse.

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I had originally hoped to be screening Woman is the Future of Man right now but the festival’s tight schedule and the fact that Woman plays on the opposite end of town as Off Beat - which I just saw - and Oldboy - which I’ll be seeing next - pretty much ruled that out, so I’m taking advantage of the bit of time off to jump online in the library next to the lovely Bridge Theater where I’ve been for most of my screenings ... this place is absolutely one of the best movie theaters I’ve ever been in. Reclining leather seats, stadium seating, fantastic screens and audio, wood panelled throughout and a swanky bar upstairs ... what more do you need, really?

Now, when I first was digging up trailers for films at the festival Off Beat was a marginal choice for viewing. The German flick from a first time director tells the story of a young paramedic named Paul who is haunted by recurrent nightmares of the car accident that killed his parents when he was still just a boy. The trailer had style, yeah, but something left me with the feeling that this was one of those cases where the trailer would be better than the actual film. Wrong. Absolutely completely wrong. I’ve seen two debut films so far and writer-director Hendrick Holzemann is every bit as impressive as UNO’s Aksel Hennie. If these two young talents are any indication of what’s out there then the future of European film is in very, very good hands ...

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So, two days and seven films in the books thus far. Today started well with The Far Side of the Moon and two of the three later screenings were similarly strong but, alas, my string of quality film experiences here ended at five ... here we go ...

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Got a little bit of time to fill here between screenings so I figured I’d hop online and throw down a couple words about this morning’s screening, Robert Lepage’s The Far Side of the Moon. I’m tempted to go off on a rant about the irony of someone from Toronto needing to go to Philadelphia to see a Canadian film but suffice it to say that the Canadian film industry is mighty screwed up when a film this good has virtually no chance of ever being widely screened outside of Quebec ...

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Well, here I am in Philadelphia. I rolled up to my friend Scott’s place last night around eleven then hit the city proper early this morning to track down my press badge and catch a couple flicks before heading to the train station to pick up Canfield who’s here covering the festival for another site. A bit of dinner, a bit of time exploring the city then another film before heading to bed. Three very different films today and all of them were excellent ... if these three are an indicator of the quality of stuff I’ll be seeing here then I’m in for a very good trip ... read on for details.

And, incidentally, if you’re in the market for a bit of new music Scott - the guy I’m staying with here - runs an excellent little record label and mail order shop here. The shop stocks a LOT more than just his own releases, too ... check it out ...

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