The French have arrived - the annual Rendezvous with French Cinemaopened at Lincoln Center this week. And on the very same night over at BAM Cinematek in Brooklyn, Werner Herzog was "in flight" expounding on the eclectic choices of music in his films. I managed to see and shoot both, thanks to the efficient NYC subway system.
Chiara Mastroianni
First it was the Opening night arrivals at Lincoln Center, which most notably - well, for me at least - included two actresses - Chiara Mastroianni (daughter of Catherine Deneuve & Marcello Mastroianni), and Carole Bouquet (longtime face of Chanel No.5, whose career stretches from acting as a James Bond girl (For Your Eyes Only) to working with Luis Bunuel (That Obscure Object of Desire).
Carole Bouquet
Then it was out to BAM in Brooklyn to see Werner Herzog. Well that in itself would be a pretty legendary night. To hear Herzog talking with Paul Holdengraber (director of Live from NYPL)for over an hour about music, while showing clips from his films, pretty much made my subway ride well worth it. You could see the glint in Herzog's eyes, when asked which clip he wanted to end the night on - he chose the blues harmonica "Dancing Chicken" scene from his 1978 film Stroszek.
On this rainy, chilly, "is Spring ever arriving" weekend in New York City, I am advising everyone I know that if you're going to see just one movie on the "big screen" this spring, Incendies which opened yesterday in NYC is the one. SEE THIS MOVIE!
I saw it a few weeks ago at the New Directors/New Films Festival (where I photographed the director Denis Villeneuve) and have been raving about it to everyone ever since. It was Canada's entry into the Academy Awards Best Foreign Film category, which doesn't come close to describing a film set mostly within civil war ravaged Lebanon over the last 30 years, with a twisted personal story too incredible, heartbreaking and shocking to describe here.
director Denis Villeneuve with friend, in NYC last month
This is the teaser from the movie's press kit: "When notary Lebel sits down with Jeanne and Simon Marwan to read from their mother Narwal's will the twins are stunned to receive a pair of envelopes - one for the father they thought was dead and another for a brother they didn't know existed."
That's the setup which takes them and the viewer to current day Lebanon, on a gut wrenching quest through their mother's history - which by the way she never told them about back in Canada. What they find out, and how they find it out, is simply amazing. The performance by actress Lubna Azabal as the mother (pictured at the top of this post) is incredible. Expect to leave the theater totally drained.
Check out the trailer and I dare you to miss this film!
Now if that's not enough movie for you to see this weekend, here are two more:
In Brooklyn at BAM Cinematek, they are showing a retrospective by Japanese director Kaneto Shindo. I never saw any of his films until last night, which just happened to be the director's 99th birthday. The film I saw was The Naked Island, which was made in 1960, but never released in the US till now. This film is pure cinema, made in black and white, with sound but no dialogue, starring the director's wife, the actress Nobuko Otowa. Shindo's films are being presented at BAM by Benicio Del Toro, who just happens to be a major fan of Kaneto Shindo, which should be enough to convince you to get yourself out to Brooklyn. One of the other great films they are showing this weekend is Children of Hiroshima, a fiction film,made 4 years after the bomb was dropped, also with Nobuko Otowa. No sleep till Brooklyn.
Jerry Schatzberg, Paz de la Huerta, and Benicio Del Toro last night at BAM
Not enough for you??? How about going to IFC and seeing Beautiful Darling,the documentary film about the Warhol star Candy Darling. I saw this one at last year's New Directors/New Films Festival, and it's taken a year to hit the screens. Directed by James Rasin, the story is told by Jeremiah Newton, Candy Darling's roommate and executor. There are plenty of talking head interviews, and Chloe Sevigny reads from the star's diaries. Candy Says - see this film.
Me myself and eye have been a long time gone from these pages, so there's a lot of catching up to do. Where do I start? Well it's got to be this shot of Joan Jett and Jessica Alba, taken after BAM Cinematek's tribute to Susan Sarandon, at Susan Sarandon's ping pong club Spin New York. This shot kind of reminds me of the pictures that used to make the back page of Creem Magazine in the 70's - unlikely pairings backstage at rock shows. Joan looks fantastic (not that different from when I photographed her with the Runaways onstage at CBGB's in 1977).
A few minutes later, Susan Sarandon and Jessica Alba were playing ping pong. No Joan Jett didn't partake.
And Susan Sarandon looked just as fabulous as her former Rocky Horror Picture Show self, glaring from behind her during the publicity shots for the event out at BAM.
John Turturro showed up for a screening of the film he directed "Romance and Cigarettes".
And Todd Oldham made sure to get his picture taken with Joan Jett. I squeezed an image of Susan Sarandon into the backdrop. Kool Kats.
Olivier Assayas is a gem of a director. And his latest film "Carlos" is a gem of a film - all 330 minutes of it. Actor Edgar Ramirez plays the part of the notorious 1970's terrorist "Carlos the Jackal" (wikipedia him here). What Olivier Assayas directs here is not really an all consuming bio of Carlos, but a fast paced tour through the 1970's terrorist cells of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, as they existed through the end of the cold war into the 1980's.
Edgar Ramirez
Shown last week to audiences at the NY FIlm Festival the same way it was shown last spring at the Cannes Film Festival - in it's full 330 minute format - the film was a real event (it was also shown this week on Sundance Channel in three parts). To be able to see a 5 1/2 hour film projected on a superior screen like the one at Alice Tully Hall is to understand why the NY Film Festival is so important. In France, when "Carlos" was shown last spring at Cannes, there was much debate about whether this five and a half hour film was even a film (that's so French). Its scheduled appearance on French television last spring had to be pushed back so it could be shown at Cannes, where it was ultimately deemed by the powers that be, not to be a 'film' and therefore had to be shown out of competition. And yet, in this era of digital filmmaking, Olivier Assayas actually shot "Carlos" on real film - and in 16 real countries.
Many of the actors in the film were present for a Q&A with Assayas after the film. And the next day Assayas himself sat down for an event titled "The Cinema Inside Me", where the former Cahiers de Cinema critic showed film clips and discussed some of his cinematic influences. One from an unnamed Dario Argento film, was a long scene in a gothic castle, where a pretty girl searching for her keys spends an extended sequence reaching and later swimming under water as her elusive keys seem to fall deeper into an abyss. Assayas marvelled at the absurdity of spending 10 minutes film time on what would normally be a 1 minute scene - and the evidence of the filmmakers pure love of cinema in doing so. This from a man who just made a 330 minute film. He also showed another long clip - a glorious final sequence from Jean Renoir's 1954 film French Can Can with Jean Gabin.
Olivier Assayas
Assayas has been making films of all types and genres for over 15 years. The subject last month of a NY Times Magazine profile, BAM Cinematekis now running a series of his films titled "Post Punk Auteur". Check out the schedule - Assayas will be present on Monday October 18th, after a screening of Demonlover (from 2002). On October 23rd and 24th, BAM will be showing the full version of Carlos (BAM has already shown the great Summer Hours from 2008 - go immediately to netflix and rent it there).You can also catch the full version of Carlos in Manhattan at the IFC Cinemas. from October 15th thru November 2nd. Olivier Assayas will be present for the screenings this weekend October 15-16-17.
Edgar Ramirez plays Carlos
Personal note: About 3 1/2 hours into Carlos, be on watch for a sequence built around the great Dead Boys song "Sonic Reducer". And at the end of Summer Hours Assayas makes great use of the song "Little Cloud" by the Incredible String Band. Post Punk Auteur indeed.
Saturday at BAM Cinematek was the night of the living Romero. In town for a preview screening of his new film "Survival of the Dead", George Romero entered the post screening hall to thunderous applause. Watching him waving back to fans as he carefully made his way down the steep balcony staircase to the stage, the ultra tall Romero reminded me very much of Joey Ramone. Dressed in black and cool to the max, his modesty, honesty, and humor shined right through everything he said.
This new film was all action and gore right from the start. Everyone there - though admittedly true fans - loved all the twists and turns of this sixth installment in the 'Dead' series. An excited George Romero sounded like he was ready to make three more of these films right now. In an engaging talk after the film he talked about his love of his "slow undead creatures", the kind you can easily get away from. What these undead in fact do, he said, is expose the very human flaws of those who manage to allow themselves to get caught and eaten by them. Brilliant.
Meanwhile, next door at Brooklyn Academy of Music, the streets were lined with mobile video trucks that were there to broadcast a concert by The National, while Brooklyn hipster music fans roamed the streets like it was their night of the living dead. But where it was really happening was at the Cinematek, where the legend, George Romero, a very talented director who has done things his way for a very long time, showed he is still at the top of his game, and ready to go higher.
Just that tagline alone should be enough to convince you to buy a ticket to Korean director Bong Joon-ho's new film, 'Mother'. Look at that boy in the poster, that only a mother could love. He's accused of murder, and he's - I'm sorry Sarah Palin - somewhat retarded. So his mother is the only one going to bat for him. And she spends most of the film relentlessly tracking down the real killer - with an intensity that only a mother can muster. Established Korean actress Hye-ja Kim keeps the whole train rolling from the opening shot. Don't miss the begining!
You may have seen director Bong Joon-ho's 2006 film"The Host", in which a slimy undersea creature created by toxic chemical dumping in a Korean river, goes into shark attack mode on the city of Seoul, resulting in Bong Joon-ho being called the Steven Speilberg of Korea. When that movie had it's premiere screening at the 2006 New York Film Festival, Alice Tully Hall was packed with the local Korean community for the midnight screening - they definitely knew what was up.
This Friday February 26, Bam Cinematek in Brooklyn is bringing this very cool director to town for a screening of "Mother" in advance of it's March 12th opening, and a five day retrospective of his films. You better not miss it. Snow or no snow, I'll be going out there tonight to see his great early film "Memories of Murder". I saw "Mother" this past fall at the 2009 NY Film Festival, where I took these pictures of Bong Joon - ho. I'll be back there tomorrow to hear him talk in person. You be there or be square.
