More TIFF-ying
And the parade of titles goes on… here are some more to consider…
Page Eight – Distributorless Rachel Weisz movie #3 also happens to be occasional-direcror David Hare’s first in 14 years. The espionage drama’s lead is the great Bill Nighy and the spectacular supporting cast includes Michael Gambon, Ralph Fiennes, and Judy Davis. This is the closing night gala… which is not a good thing at TIFF. But let’s hope the movie is a lot better than the slot. (Edinburgh review)
The festival’s take…
Page Eight David Hare, United Kingdom
Johnny Worricker (Bill Nighy) is a long-serving M15 officer. His boss and best friend Benedict Baron (Michael Gambon) dies suddenly, leaving behind him an inexplicable file, threatening the stability of the organization. Meanwhile, a seemingly chance encounter with Johnny’s striking next-door neighbour and political activist Nancy Pierpan (Rachel Weisz) seems too good to be true. Set in London and Cambridge, Page Eight is a contemporary spy film which addresses intelligence issues and moral dilemmas peculiar to the new century. Also stars Ralph Fiennes and Judy Davis.
The IT Girl of a couple years ago, Rebecca Hall, gets the crap scared out of her…
The Awakening Nick Murphy, United Kingdom World Premiere
Haunted by the death of her fiancé, Florence Cathcart is on a mission to expose all séances as exploitative shams. However, when she is called to a boys’ boarding school to investigate a case of the uncanny, she is gradually forced to confront her skepticism in the most terrifying way, shaking her scientific convictions and her sense of self to the very core. Haunting and moving in equal measure, The Awakening is a sophisticated psychological/supernatural thriller in the tradition of The Others and The Orphanage, but with its own unique and thrilling twist. Starring Rebecca Hall, Dominic West and Imelda Staunton.
AND IN SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
The previously discussed Whit Stillman comeback
Damsels in Distress Whit Stillman, USA North American Premiere
Damsels in Distress is a comedy about a trio of beautiful girls as they set out to revolutionize life at a grungy American university – the dynamic leader Violet Wister (Greta Gerwig), principled Rose (Megalyn Echikunwoke) and sexy Heather (Carrie MacLemore). They welcome transfer student Lily (Analeigh Tipton) into their group, which seeks to help severely depressed students with a program of good hygiene and musical dance numbers. The girls become romantically entangled with a series of men – including smooth Charlie (Adam Brody), dreamboat Xavier (Hugo Becker), the mad frat-pack of Frank (Ryan Metcalf) and Thor (Billy Magnussen) – who threaten the girls’ friendship and sanity.
Missing Clive Owen? He’s an a creepy thriller.
Intruders Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, Spain World Premiere
Juan and Mia, two children who live in different countries, are visited every night by a faceless intruder – a terrifying being that wants to get hold of them. These presences become more powerful and start ruling their lives as well as their families’. Anxiety and tension increase when their parents also witness these apparitions. Starring Clive Owen.
I am a fan of Kassovitz as a director, as well as as an actor. He’s much more political than people realize.
Rebellion Mathieu Kassovitz, France World Premiere April
1988, Ouvea island, New Caledonia, a French colony. Thirty policemen are kidnapped by locals fighting for their independence. Three hundred members of the French army special forces unit are immediately sent on a mission to fix the situation. An encounter of two cultures: Philippe Legorjus, head of the unit, versus Alphonse Dianou, head of the rebels. Together, they’ll fight to resolve the situation through mutual trust and dialogue over violence. Except that they’re at the heart of the most-tense presidential elections in French history – when issues at stake are purely political, rules of law and order are not exactly moral.
What they leave out here is that the film stars Monica Bellucci and Louis Garrel, the director’s son and the third member of the trio from Bertolucci’s The Dreamers.
That Summer Philippe Garrel, France/Italy/Switzerland North American Premiere
A couple living together in Paris – he’s a painter, she’s a film actress – befriends a couple of film extras who fall in love with each other. All four go to Rome where their relationships undergo profound changes as emotions shift and change.
Many have been waiting for the Saoirse Ronan/Alesis Bledel buddy-assassin movie! But who saw it coming from ivy league, Oscar-winning Precious screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher? (And who else would title a movie based on characters from a little-seen musical?) The only thing more shocking would be if it was really great. (People are still trying to forget What’s Wrong With Virginia, last year’s Oscar-winning screenwriter directing debut) But it will probably sell for the US regardless, given the numbers for Hanna earlier this year.
Violet & Daisy Geoffrey Fletcher, USA World Premiere
Violet & Daisy, the whimsical story of a teenager’s surreal and violent journey through New York City, follows Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan (Hanna, Atonement, The Lovely Bones) as Daisy. With her volatile partner-in-crime Violet, played by Alexis Bledel (Sin City, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, The Gilmore Girls), the two young assassins face a series of opponents, including one unusually mysterious man (James Gandolfini), in a life-altering encounter. The film, written and directed by Oscar-winning screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher (Precious), also stars Oscar nominee Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Danny Trejo.
I have very high hopes for this one, given the director’s pedigree and the melodramatic (and beloved) source material.
Wuthering Heights Andrea Arnold, United Kingdom North American Premiere
A Yorkshire hill farmer on a visit to Liverpool finds a homeless boy on the streets. He takes him home to live as part of his family on the isolated Yorkshire moors where the boy forges an obsessive relationship with the farmer’s daughter. Starring James Howson and Kaya Scodelario.
Is there a reason absolutely NOBODY is screening ON THE ROAD anywhere during this festival season, and why it’s not on any film blogger’s or festival’s radar? Is it not the most anticipated Oscar movie of 2011? Or is too far off/not completed?
It’s not expected until 2012, Lex. And I don’t believe it has a US distributor yet.
Ugh, that’s pretty crushing, as I was more excited about it than any year-end movie… or any movie ever. Thought it was coming out 11/25, but guess not.
Anyway, didn’t Wuthering Heights just come out three months ago with Fassbender and Wasikowska? Don’t these things ever get old?
On a shallow note, I’m a pretty big fan of Saoirse and Alexis Bledel both… and I wouldn’t have correctly called that unflattering pic as being either of them in under 30 guesses.
Violet and Daisy sounds intriguing….. could be great, could be awful, I’m looking forward to it none the less.
That would be Jane Eyre, Lex.
There was a BBC version of WH a couple of years ago with Tom Hardy. I’d like to see it. Seems to be streaming on Netflix
Anyone know what happened to What’s Wrong with Virginia? Bizarre to me that this is not an awards season pic for someone.
Heard that What’s Wrong With Virginia Wolfe isn’t very good. Not very well received at TIFF last yr. If people disliked in Toronto, it’s pretty much DOA in terms of any awards.
What a drag, I had the highest hopes for that. Some of my favorite filmmakers making that thing happen.
Good performances… seriously unfocused idea. Hard to sit through, especially since Connelly was actually quite funny and some others quite good too
I read a little while back that Dustin Lance Black took his time and re-configured and re-edited the entire film after its poor reception in Toronto. Don’t know what’s going on with it now, though.
I always like the various adaptations of literary classics. They’re kind of like how in theater there are various new stagings of the same text, and depending on the director and the actors there is a different life aurua and style to it. Along similar lines, we have high profile new TV and film adaptations of GREAT EXPECTATIONS coming up as well, which should be interesting.
I think ON THE ROAD is in good hands but I would be personally terrified if I was in charge of that adaptation. I love that novel but while sections of it are filmic (can’t wait for the jazz scene(s)) it’s extremely literary and episodic in nature. I’m looking forward to it and curious as to what they’re going to do. Kind of bummed the wait is so long, though.
I don’t care about Kareeruaoouac at all, I just know that You Know Who is nude in it and does threesomes. I am going to need Thorazine to make it through the screening.
How does Dustin Lance Black do all that stuff? Like write important screenplays and stuff, about Milk or Hoover or Virginia Woolf? This might be a TOTAL MISPERCEPTION on my end, but I thought he was some scrappy male model street kid… How does he know how to write all this important sociopolitical historical stuff? Have any of you guys ever tried writing a SCREENPLAY? It’s like SUPER HARD because you can see fragments of images in your mind, but coming up with dialogue is IMPOSSIBLE, and connecting PLOT POINTS is so damned boring… I can’t even imagine on top of that adding that you’re writing about REAL PEOPLE and your work will be vetted for historical accuracy… I’ve tried to write 29 different scripts over the last 17 years, and I can never make it past page 4, because I run out of steam. How do you WRITE A SCRIPT about J Edgar Hoover, especially when you’re a 19-year-old Abercrombie model?
I’m almost 40 and other than Bananas and Bob Hoskins, I barely know who J Edgar even WAS.
I will say that I thought DLB was substantially younger than he is from seeing him when he won the Oscar. MILK is a really wonderful peice of screenwriting. It’s a great example of tradtional Hollywood writing at its best, sticking to a 3 act stucture but focused on character and theme as well.
As someone who has written screenplays (not professionally or with any tangible success), I actually find dialouge to be one of the more enjoyable parts of the process. Lex, even though it’s boring and tedious, have you tried plotting beforehand, even if just mentally? I don’t even know how many unfinished screenplays that only got up to page 30 or so I had written before I had actually finished one. I suggest either powering through and writing 6 plus pages a day, or having a detailed roadmap. The fact that you think visually is actually a great skill set for movie writing, since that’s such a large part, and something that I often have trouble remembering to do during the process.
I’ve never written any history based things that required research but wouldn’t it naturally give you a bit of a plot, the aspect that I find the absolute hardest. I mean, the historical record is the historical record, and it would seem reasonable to assume that some kind of tangible story would eventually emerge through the research.
are any of these movies going to get a dp/30 now you know
about them ?
Damsels in Distress = Bridesmades ? 100 million .. plus
getting Greta do a dp/30 seems easy
Alexis Bledel – i hated Post Grad …really a tv actor ..
can she make the jump into real movies with real movie stars..
Is Page 8 really distributorless? I thought it was just made for TV. It’s airing on PBS this fall, anyway.
PBS has TV rights here… but rather unusual to take a film to a festival without the ambition of converting a theatrical. HBO does it more often than PBS, but there’s really no upside if you’re just going to put it on PBS Masterpiece anyway.
I read a good thriller a few years ago called THE INTRUDERS by Michael Marshall. The plot to that Clive Owen film sounds awfully similar but I can’t find any mention if this is an adaptation of the novel or not.
Anyone know?