Topic: european film
Beetlemania: Josef Hader, in German Gems' "The Bone Man," searches for a lost VW and thoroughly entertains in the process.
Beyond 'Berlin,' Eggers Brings out New German Gems
The moving arrow anoints a new hot spot of contemporary cinema every few years, and then moves on. In the last two decades, professional and amateur trendspotters have singled out Hong Kong, Iran, South Korea, Argentina, Japan (for J-horror, mostly), Romania and Israel. The magic number seems to be three; that is, three different (and preferably young) directors garnering major festival prizes in the same year denotes a wave.
That’s as likely an explanation as any for why Germany never makes the cool list, despite a steady stream of topnotch films.
topics: european film, international film, world cinema
more
Complex relationships: Ingrid Bergman stars in Rossellini's "Voyage in Italy" (1953), which anticipates the modernist alienation of Antonioni movies like "La Notte." (Photo courtesy Larsen Assoc.)
PFA offers a look at the exiled Ingrid Bergman
Before Ingrid Bergman, European starlets exported to Hollywood tended to be exotics, femmes fatales, mystery women—always the “other,” whether a grand tragedienne like Garbo or a vamp like Pola Negri.
Bergman was the first girl next door whose door happened to originate several thousand miles from Anytown, U.S.A. Even when she played “bad girls,” the American public trusted she was really above reproach. When they decided otherwise, she was virtually exiled for some years—sent back to Europe, where (diehard American Puritans imagined) such fallen women belonged.
topics: actors, european film, genre films, hollywood, immigration, italian cinema
more
Sweating in the dark: "You, the Living" director Roy Andersson gives viewers an aesthetic workout. (Photo courtesy SFFS)
Roy Andersson—and reality—elucidated
Roy Andersson’s Studio 24 in Stockholm, situated only steps away from posh Östermalmstorg Square, is like a parallel universe in atmosphere and aesthetics. The fact that the most internationally prominent of Sweden’s working-class film directors is operating in one of Stockholm’s most elite neighborhoods is ironic. Or perhaps that’s where he’s needed the most.
Bits and pieces of the beautifully designed props from his most recent film You, the Living (which plays the SFFS Screen at the Sundance Kabuki beginning Friday), randomly decorate the studio.
topics: activism, critics, directors, documentary film, european film, features, world cinema
more
RECENT COMMENTS
Where can I buy the sound track of lo sono l’amore – I …
(Toronto International Film Festival, from bottom feeders to Topp Twins) by Patricia C. Lamar
Amy, 1)I only just saw your "Deliver Us From Evil" on Sundance cable channel. …
(Amy Berg, director of "Deliver Us From Evil") by Bob Drake
I am seeking seed money (early stage start up development financing) for a …
(SFFS carries on Film Arts Foundation's legacy with new filmmaker services programs) by Diego Thornton
Amen! to the last paragraph! A well-written critique. I can’t wait to …
(Chilean film "The Maid" liberates a genre) by Barbara Johansson
Loved the event and did a quick write-up of it in my blog. …
(Gries is the word) by Bucky