When the film you’ve always wanted to make gets shut down by unconvinced producers, you have two choices: you still try to make it, or you make it. This is the case for Marc (Pierre Niney), an impressionable thirtysomething filmmaker, in Michel Gondry’sThe Book of Solutions. In an attempt to get his bearings, the bipolar Marc decides to get off his meds and take all the footage (plus his small crew) to his aunt’s house in the beautiful French countryside in the hope of finishing the film on his terms. The creative juices are flowing, but the work is arduous: how can one keep a seemingly doomed project together when everything is falling apart?
Gondry has retained the playful tone and occasional despair found in his equally whimsical Mood Indigo and The Science of Sleep, even as his newest is, by comparison, more rooted in the realities...
Gondry has retained the playful tone and occasional despair found in his equally whimsical Mood Indigo and The Science of Sleep, even as his newest is, by comparison, more rooted in the realities...
- 5/23/2023
- by Savina Petkova
- The Film Stage
Filming of the project will take place between Lanzarote, Hamburg and Luxembourg from February 2021 until the beginning of April. Luxembourg's Laura Schroeder is now preparing her new project, a drama entitled Maret. The helmer, an alumna of the Sorbonne and of Beaconsfield's National Film and Television School, is best known for Barrage (2017), Luxembourg's bid for the best foreign language film at the 90th Academy Awards. The script of Maret, penned by the director herself, follows the titular woman, played by German actress Susanne Wolff. A groundbreaking brain surgery to be performed in a clinic in Lanzarote may be her only hope to get her memory back. The problem is: does she really want to remember the person she once was? The technical crew attached to the project includes DoP Laurent Brunet, editor Andrew Bird, composer Pascal Schumacher, sound designer Carlo Thoss, production designer Christina Schaffer,...
- 12/24/2020
- Cineuropa - The Best of European Cinema
Other winners included Ladj Ly’s Les Miserables for best international feature.
At its awards ceremony last night (August 1), Jerusalem Film Festival (Jff) presented Yaron Shani’s Love Trilogy: Chained with the Haggiag award for best Israeli feature while Ladj Ly’s Les Miserables won the Jerusalem Foundation award for best international feature.
Chained follows an Israeli policeman whose marriage and masculinity are threatened after he is accused of sexual assault by two teenage boys. A Berlinale premiere in February, it’s the second film in Shani’s Love Trilogy following Stripped, which first showed in Venice Horizons last September.
At its awards ceremony last night (August 1), Jerusalem Film Festival (Jff) presented Yaron Shani’s Love Trilogy: Chained with the Haggiag award for best Israeli feature while Ladj Ly’s Les Miserables won the Jerusalem Foundation award for best international feature.
Chained follows an Israeli policeman whose marriage and masculinity are threatened after he is accused of sexual assault by two teenage boys. A Berlinale premiere in February, it’s the second film in Shani’s Love Trilogy following Stripped, which first showed in Venice Horizons last September.
- 8/2/2019
- by Edna Fainaru
- ScreenDaily
Don’t call it a wave just yet, but Israel has emerged as a mini-hotbed for wry comedies of late. “Tel Aviv on Fire” picks up where “One Week and a Day” left off, with writer-director Sameh Zoabi delivering on a setup you’re unlikely to have seen before: a lush soap opera about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that gives the film its title.
Much of the drama is set on the show’s, well, set, shifting between the “fake” and “real” stories with ease — and, the longer things go on, blurring the line between the two as art imitates life (and vice versa).
Navigating that porous border is Salam (Kais Nashif), a Palestinian who recently landed his “Tel Aviv” gig thanks to a producer on the show who just happens to be his uncle. Initially hired to punch up the dialogue, he falls upwards into a staff-writing position. His inexperience...
Much of the drama is set on the show’s, well, set, shifting between the “fake” and “real” stories with ease — and, the longer things go on, blurring the line between the two as art imitates life (and vice versa).
Navigating that porous border is Salam (Kais Nashif), a Palestinian who recently landed his “Tel Aviv” gig thanks to a producer on the show who just happens to be his uncle. Initially hired to punch up the dialogue, he falls upwards into a staff-writing position. His inexperience...
- 8/1/2019
- by Michael Nordine
- The Wrap
Fans of his work may revel in the high-concept surrealism of director Michel Gondry’s filmography, while other audiences not attuned to his style may find it abundantly aimless and self-referential. Either way you look, Gondry’s filmography, music video and commercial entries reflect the work of an undeniably smart, adventurous filmmaker. His latest film “Microbe & Gasoline” reflects a bit of a departure for the 53-year-old director: There are still houses on cars and planes flying backward, but unlike the fantasy intrinsic to films like “The Science of Sleep” or “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” this story involves two young teens (largely drawn from Gondry’s youth) constructing their dreams into reality for themselves.
What does it mean to show these dreams cinematically? How can a director get there? And how is the understated “Microbe & Gasoline” still as much a Michel Gondry movie as he’s ever made?
Last week,...
What does it mean to show these dreams cinematically? How can a director get there? And how is the understated “Microbe & Gasoline” still as much a Michel Gondry movie as he’s ever made?
Last week,...
- 7/5/2016
- by Russell Goldman
- Indiewire
Craig here, continuing a look at films showing at the 54th BFI London Film Festival.
I much admired Chad filmmaker Mahamat-Saleh Haroun's Daratt/Dry Season from 2007 (it took the #4 spot in my year-end list for that year), and he’s triumphed again with his fourth feature, A Screaming Man/Un homme qui crie. Made in the same refined and frank vein as Daratt, this new film follows Adam (Youssouf Djaoro), a pool cleaner and former swimming champion who works at an exclusive N'Djamena hotel with the assistance of his son, Abdel (Diouc Koma). After a job reshuffle Adam loses his job to Abdel; he sinks into depression fuelled by anger and humiliation, and so takes unexpected action. His situation worsens, just as civil war engulfs the country and rebel armies infiltrate the area.
Much of the film’s drama is underplayed. Haroun’s camera focuses on Adam in a curious,...
I much admired Chad filmmaker Mahamat-Saleh Haroun's Daratt/Dry Season from 2007 (it took the #4 spot in my year-end list for that year), and he’s triumphed again with his fourth feature, A Screaming Man/Un homme qui crie. Made in the same refined and frank vein as Daratt, this new film follows Adam (Youssouf Djaoro), a pool cleaner and former swimming champion who works at an exclusive N'Djamena hotel with the assistance of his son, Abdel (Diouc Koma). After a job reshuffle Adam loses his job to Abdel; he sinks into depression fuelled by anger and humiliation, and so takes unexpected action. His situation worsens, just as civil war engulfs the country and rebel armies infiltrate the area.
Much of the film’s drama is underplayed. Haroun’s camera focuses on Adam in a curious,...
- 10/20/2010
- by Craig Bloomfield
- FilmExperience
Chicago – Her eyes are always looking forward, as if they possess the ability to peer into the parallel dimension next door. She feels most alive in the presence of nature, and feels great joy in recreating images of god’s creation. Her closest acquaintances seem to be of an otherworldly essence, and she acknowledges them every time her twinkly gaze is directed toward the sky.
There’s a great mystery about what goes on in the mind of Séraphine Louis, a middle-aged cleaning lady who harbors a primal compulsion to create art. She takes raw material from her natural surroundings (such as blood and clay), combines them with paint, and produces images of striking power. There’s an intensity about her imagery that frightens her, as mundane objects like fruit and flowers take on an unsettling life of their own. Her work would eventually be categorized as “naïve” because of its simplicity,...
There’s a great mystery about what goes on in the mind of Séraphine Louis, a middle-aged cleaning lady who harbors a primal compulsion to create art. She takes raw material from her natural surroundings (such as blood and clay), combines them with paint, and produces images of striking power. There’s an intensity about her imagery that frightens her, as mundane objects like fruit and flowers take on an unsettling life of their own. Her work would eventually be categorized as “naïve” because of its simplicity,...
- 4/6/2010
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Release Date: June 12
Director: Martin Provost
Writers: Marc Abdelnour and Martin Provost
Cinematographer: Laurent Brunet
Starring: Yolande Moreau, Ulrich Tukur, Anne Bennent, Geneviève Mnich
Studio/Run Time: Music Box Films, 125 mins.
An untrained painter discovered in rural France
Stories about lowly domestic workers who turn out to have secret artistic abilities or who bear an unrecognized burden for the community often rub me the wrong way. It’s inherently joyful to watch a person blossom before skeptical eyes, but something about the attitude of a film that assumes the worst about its characters—both the servant and the people who ignore her until the truth is revealed—feels condescending. The difference between a real examination of inequality and a flattering tug at the heartstrings is often found at a story’s edges, brought out through subtlety and finesse. On the one side is Babette’s Feast (1987), charming and heartwarming for unclear reasons,...
Director: Martin Provost
Writers: Marc Abdelnour and Martin Provost
Cinematographer: Laurent Brunet
Starring: Yolande Moreau, Ulrich Tukur, Anne Bennent, Geneviève Mnich
Studio/Run Time: Music Box Films, 125 mins.
An untrained painter discovered in rural France
Stories about lowly domestic workers who turn out to have secret artistic abilities or who bear an unrecognized burden for the community often rub me the wrong way. It’s inherently joyful to watch a person blossom before skeptical eyes, but something about the attitude of a film that assumes the worst about its characters—both the servant and the people who ignore her until the truth is revealed—feels condescending. The difference between a real examination of inequality and a flattering tug at the heartstrings is often found at a story’s edges, brought out through subtlety and finesse. On the one side is Babette’s Feast (1987), charming and heartwarming for unclear reasons,...
- 6/19/2009
- Pastemagazine.com
On Friday, February 27, the winners of the 34th Cesar Awards have been unveiled in a gala ceremony held at Theatre du Chatelet in Paris and "Seraphine" took the top honor as well as the most nods on the night. The Martin Provost's biopic about Gallic painter Seraphine de Senlis, which had collected 9 nominations from the French top awards which is equivalent to the Oscars, won the Best Film and five other kudos.
For the Best Film title, "Seraphine" best over other nominees that include Laurent Cantet's "The Class", Philippe Claudel's "I've Loved You So Long" and Jean-Francois Richet's "Mesrine". Apart from nabbing the Best Film kudo, the biopic had also grabbed Best Actress for Yolande Moreau, Best Original Screenplay for Provost, Best Original Score for Michael Galasso, Best Cinematography for Laurent Brunet and Best Costume Design for Madeline Fontaine.
Meanwhile, "Mesrine", which had dominated the nominations with 10 counts,...
For the Best Film title, "Seraphine" best over other nominees that include Laurent Cantet's "The Class", Philippe Claudel's "I've Loved You So Long" and Jean-Francois Richet's "Mesrine". Apart from nabbing the Best Film kudo, the biopic had also grabbed Best Actress for Yolande Moreau, Best Original Screenplay for Provost, Best Original Score for Michael Galasso, Best Cinematography for Laurent Brunet and Best Costume Design for Madeline Fontaine.
Meanwhile, "Mesrine", which had dominated the nominations with 10 counts,...
- 2/28/2009
- by AceShowbiz.com
- Aceshowbiz
A day following the announcement of the 81st Academy Awards' nominees, the French Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have uncovered their official selections for the 34th Cesar Awards. On Friday, January 23, gangster movie "Mesrine" has been given ten nominations for the France's top awards, including Best Picture and Best Director for Jean-Francois Richet.
Apart from the two mentioned gongs, "Mesrine", which is the third highest grossing French film in 2008, also garnered a Best Actor nod for leading actor Vincent Cassel. It also collected two more counts in the category of Adapted Screenplay for Abdel Raouf Dafri and Jean-Francois Richet, and of Cinematography for Robert Gantz.
In the foreign film nominations, Sean Penn's "Into the Wild" and Paul Thomas Anderson's "There Will Be Blood" were put in competition with Bouli Lanners' "Eldorado", Matteo Garrone's "Gomorra", Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne's "Lorna's Silence", James Gray...
Apart from the two mentioned gongs, "Mesrine", which is the third highest grossing French film in 2008, also garnered a Best Actor nod for leading actor Vincent Cassel. It also collected two more counts in the category of Adapted Screenplay for Abdel Raouf Dafri and Jean-Francois Richet, and of Cinematography for Robert Gantz.
In the foreign film nominations, Sean Penn's "Into the Wild" and Paul Thomas Anderson's "There Will Be Blood" were put in competition with Bouli Lanners' "Eldorado", Matteo Garrone's "Gomorra", Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne's "Lorna's Silence", James Gray...
- 1/24/2009
- by AceShowbiz.com
- Aceshowbiz
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.