Dynamite Warrior
Yes, the time has come for the Toronto International Film Festival to stop teasing and finally announce the remaining titles for this year’s edition of the festival. You want ‘em? You got ‘em. Hit the link below to download the complete list.
Marcel Sarmien and Gadi Harel’s DeadGirl is one of the great unknowns of the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival. It will receive it’s world premiere at the upcoming fest and producers have been playing very coy with details, imagery and footage from the film so far. The very small number of people who have seen it already assure me that it’s pretty spectacular but beyond that they’ve all been sworn to secrecy so we haven’t had much to say about the film until now. The fine lads over at Bloody Disgusting have just scored the first still from the film and while it doesn’t show much it shows enough to raise the interest level ...
A horror/thriller about two teenagers who make a shocking discovery that not only threatens their friendship but also their lives. In a forgotten room of an abandoned asylum, they find a beautiful woman tied to a bed, and soon come to realize she is anything but dead.
It’s already one of my most anticipated titles at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival and this new clip from Fabrice du Welz’s upcoming Vinyan only serves to further whet the appetite. The marketing on this has been impeccable so far ... despite the film makers having concerns about the picture clearing the censors in France thanks to it’s graphic content the promotional materials so far have generally chosen to simply hint at what lies within rather than spelling it out explicitly. I like.
Unable to accept the the loss of their son in the 2005 Tsunami, Jeanne and Paul Bellmer have remained in Phuket. Desperately clinging to the fact that his body was never recovered, Jeanne has convinced herself that the boy was kidnapped by traffickers in the chaos that followed the catastrophe… that her son is still alive. Paul is sceptical, but cannot bring himself to shatter his wife’s last hope. Bribing the sinister Mr Gao to take them by boat to the pirate-infested jungles of the Thai/Burmese border, the traumatized couple embark on a quest that will plunge them through paranoia and betrayal, ever deeper into an alien universe, a supernatural realm where the dead are never truly dead, and where nightmares, obsession and horrifying reality converge.
Check the new clip and the theatrical trailer below the break.
Continue Reading "A New Clip From Fabrice Du Welz’s VINYAN!"...
Quoth the sales agent on this one which - like all Charlie Kaufman films - defies easy synopsis:
Theater director Caden Cotard is mounting a new play. Fresh off of a successful theatrical run in his hometown of Schenectady, New York, Caden decides to trade in the suburban spectators and local theater for the cultured audiences and bright footlights of Broadway. Awarded a “Genius” grant and determined to create a piece of brutal realism and honesty, something into which he can put his whole self, he gathers an ensemble cast into a warehouse in Manhattan’s theater district. He directs them in a celebration of the mundane, instructing each to live out their constructed lives in a small mockup of the city outside.
As the city inside the warehouse grows, Caden’s own life veers wildly off the tracks. The shadow of his ex-wife Adele, a celebrated painter who left him years ago for Germany’s art scene, sneers at him from every corner. Somewhere in Berlin, his daughter Olive is growing up under the questionable guidance of Adele’s friend, Maria. Caden is helplessly driving his marriage to actress Claire into the ground while neglecting his second daughter. Sammy Barnathan, the actor Caden hires to play himself within the play, is a bit too perfect for the part, and makes it difficult for Caden to revive his relationship with the alluringly candid box office girl, Hazel. Meanwhile, his therapist, Madeline Gravis, is better at plugging her best-seller than counseling him. And a mysterious condition begins systematically shutting down each of his autonomic functions, one by one.
As the years rapidly fold into each other, Caden buries himself deeper into his masterpiece. Populating the cast and crew with doppelgangers, he steadily blurs the line between the world of the play and that of his own deteriorating reality. As he pushes the limits of his relationships, both personally and professionally, a change in creative direction arrives in Millicent Weems, a celebrated theater actress who may offer Caden the break he needs.
By seamlessly blending together subjective points-of-view with traditional narrative structures, writer/director Charlie Kaufman has created a world of superbly unsteady footing. His richly developed cast of characters flutter between moments of warm intimacy and frightful insecurity, creating a script that brings to life all the complex and beautiful nuances of shared life and artistic creation. Synecdoche, New York is, as its definition states: a part of the whole or the whole used for the part, the general for the specific, the specific for the general.
While there does not appear to be an official trailer for the film just yet a trio of clips have turned up in France and I’ve loaded all three into the Twitch Player so you can get your first look at one of American cinema’s most unique minds at work. Check them below the break.
Continue Reading "Three Clips From Charlie Kaufman’s SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK"...
Dare I say that the TIFF Trailer Park - the most complete collection of trailers for films participating in the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival - is starting to look rather robust? Why yes, yes I do. While I’ve still got some hunting to do a good number of trailers have just been added to the Special Presentations, Discovery, Vanguard and Visions sections for your perusal. So what are you waiting for? Peruse!
The latest film from Darren Aronofsky has just been announced at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival and what better way to celebrate than with new stills! There were a pair of images from the film released earlier, but those were both quiet shots taken from a relative distance. This new trio gets much more up close and personal, including close up images of Rourke in full on wrestling mode and Tomei ‘dancing’ for the ‘gentlemen’. Hit the link below to check them out!
A once hugely successful professional wrestler in the late 80’s, Randy “The Ram” Robinson now ekes out a living performing for diehard wrestling fans in high school gyms and community centers around New Jersey. Estranged from his daughter, unable to sustain any real relationships, Randy lives for the thrill of the show, the adrenalin rush of combat and the adoration of his remaining fans.
But, when he suffers a heart attack in the middle of a bout, Randy’s doctor tells him he needs to lay off the steroids and stop wrestling. For good.
Forced out of show business, Randy begins to evaluate the state of his life. He tries to reconnect with his daughter and strikes up a wary romance with an aging stripper, Pam. For a while, things work out. But try as he might to resist, the pull of the spotlight is too much for him and Randy attempts once again to fight his way back into the ring.
Big, big announcements from the Toronto International Film Festival today with the complete Visions, Vanguard and Discovery sections announced. What have we got? Vinyan! Sauna! Tears for Sale (Charleston and Vendetta)!, $9.99! It’s going to be a good year ... complete announcements below the break!
Continue Reading "TIFF Announces Visions, Vanguard and Discovery Programs!"...
Soderbergh! Boyle! Aronofsky! Winterbottom! Schroeder! Johnson! Smith! Kaufman! The Toronto International Film Festival just announced a slew of Special Presnetations titles and there are a load of exciting ones in there. I had figured that John Hillcoat’s The Road would be appearing in this lineup - which it doesn’t - but it’s hard to complain considering what all does. You’ll find the complete announcement below the break!
With Liu Fendou’s Ocean Flame about to have its North American premiere as part of the Toronto International Film Festival interest is running high on the unusual underworld drama. Produced by Simon Yam - who also has a support role - the film tells the story of one of the most wildly dysfunctional romantic relationships possible. Here’s how TIFF describes it:
Recently released from prison, shameless blackmailer Yao relives the story of how he came to meet and fall in love with Li Chuan, a waitress at a quaint beachfront coffee shop. Pulling her out of her simple existence, Yao quickly lures Li Chuan into his criminal world, forcing her to join his prostitution ring in order to keep him in her life. As romance gives way to jealousy and heartache, Yao’s actions lead to fatal consequences – consequences he must desperately find peace with so many years later.
Yes, that’s what you should do with someone you love: turn them into a prostitute. Ouch. The film has drawn a Cat III rating in Hong Kong so you know it’s not pulling back from the difficult material and the English subtitled trailer is looking impressive. Take a look at it below the break.
Continue Reading "Trailer For Cat III Hong Kong Drama OCEAN FLAME"...
As the list of announced titles for the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival grows, so does the selection of TIFF related movie trailers in the TIFF Trailer Park! Want to check out the latest docs? The newest Gala announcement? A selection of Japanese animation? We got it all in there, and lots more all sorted out according to the relevant programs. If you want to know which films are worth hitting, this is your place to start. Fifteen more titles added in the most recent update, so get in there and get browsing.
And if anybody out there could figure out how to download the trailers for Kore-Eda’s Still Walking and Jia Zhang Ke’s 24 City and upload them into the player here, I’d be most appreciative. I’m all out of ideas, myself.
As the opening of the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival draws nearer expect a fistful of major announcements to come rolling down the line over the next couple weeks, the first of which came today in the form of a slew of Asian and Spanish language titles. The big guns? Mamoru Oshii’s Sky Crawlers, Takeshi Kitano’s Achilles and the Tortoise and Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s Still Walking. Check the complete announcements below the break!
Continue Reading "TIFF Announces Asian And Spanish-Language Titles! Oshii! Kitano! Kore-Eda!"...
While a major round of searching for freshly released trailers for films involved in the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival lies in my near future today saw a trio of big titles added to our growing library of TIFF-related trailers. How big? How about Jonathan Demme’s Rachel Getting Married, one of the festival’s Gala presentations? Not enough? How about Ed Harris’ western Appaloosa? Still not enough? Well then, how about the Michael Cera starring rom-com Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist? That last one got the longest look from me not just because I’m a sucker for Cera but also because it plays in a lot of ways - and I mean a LOT of ways - like a dry run for Cera’s upcoming role in the lead of Edgar Wright’s adaptation of Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life.
You’ll find all three trailers below the break, or hit the link below to launch the full Trailer Park.
It is one of the most polarizing films in the career of Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar Wai, and one of the most sought after thanks to the lack of a presentable DVD release anywhere in the world up until very recently. And so news that the notoriously revisionist director was returning to his sole martial arts picture, Ashes of Time, to re-edit and shape it into the form he says was his original intention was generally met with excitement and anticipation. With the film now rolling out on the festival circuit - it’s coming here to Toronto as part of the Toronto International Film Festival in September - those who were hoping for something more linear than the original cut are generally leaving disappointed while others are leaving enthused by the chance to finally see a master’s work properly presented. Regardless of which camp you’re in you’ll still most likely be rather pleased to check out the official trailer, which has finally appeared on the scene. The international sales promo for this leaked a while back in low quality but this trailer is much higher resolution and much more focused and to the point. You can check it out below the break.
Continue Reading "The Official Trailer For Wong Kar Wai’s ASHES OF TIME REDUX Arrives!"...
The Shaolin Temple. Just naming the place immediately conjures up images in the minds of any martial arts fan, the legendary birth place of Chinese kung fu featuring large in scores of films. Even casual fans know of it, and yet it’s easy to forget that the Shaolin Temple is a real place, populated by real people learning the ancient arts. Just announced as part of the Toronto International Film Festival, Alexander Lee’s The Real Shaolin tracks the lives of four people entering the temple to train, following the demands of the ancient way of life. It’s compelling stuff, fascinating both as history in action and human drama and it’s amazing to see the lengths people are willing to go in pursuit of their dreams. Check out the trailer for the film below the break.
Okay, documentary fans, the big doc announcement has just arrived fromt he Toronto International Film Festival and there are some fascinating titles coming to the big fest. The Dungeons and Dragons one grabbed my attention, as did The Real Shaolin, and David Guggenheim’s rock-doc it Might Get Loud. Lots to dig in to, find the complete announcement below the break.
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