We might be closing in on the musical for people who don’t like musicals (which will do until we find an outright cure for their curious condition).
Over the last couple of years, Sin Nombre director Cary Funkunaga has been working on “a musical or an opera of some kind” with Zach Condon and Owen Pallett. Condon is a member of the band Beirut and was a contender to score Sin Nombre, while Pallett is a member of the amazingly named Owen Pallett (okay, they used to be called Final Fantasy, so I get the need for a name change) and has also been one of the many members of Arcade Fire. Pallett has also written music for John Cameron Mitchell’s upcoming Rabbit Hole. Pallett and Condon have already made music together, but I don’t know it - critiques in the comments would be welcome.
Fukunaga has now revealed what the premise of the film is, and the only way that it’s not a little surprising is if you think he’s past being surprising now, having skipped from Sin Nombre to Jane Eyre in a single step.
Read More »
Oh, this is some good stuff. I was a little surprised recently when the announcement came down that Cary Fukunaga, who directed the very excellent Sin Nombre, would adapt Charlotte Bronte’s classic novel Jane Eyre as his next film. But I liked Sin Nombre so much that I’ll watch anything Fukunaga does at this point. Especially now that he’s likely to have Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender in the lead roles. Read More »
This is a bit unexpected; there have been a lot of possible next projects in the works for Sin Nombre director Cary Fukunaga. None of them were a new adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s novel Jane Eyre. But the deal to put Fukunaga in the director’s chair for a new film version of the oft-adapted novel is reportedly close to finished. And thinking about the idea further, I’ve realized that it actually may be quite a good fit for the promising new filmmaker. Read More »
If Sin Nombre was Cary Joji Fukunaga’s 7th or 8th film, it would be evidence of a maturing and brilliant director with a firm grasp on his craft, hitting his stride during the course of an already-flourishing career. That Sin Nombre is Fukunaga’s directorial and writing debut is nothing short of astonishing. Every element of this film shines: the gritty performances, the gorgeous cinematography, and the minimal, yet effective true-to-life script. A stunning accomplishment to behold, Sin Nombre is one of my favorite films of 2009 so far.
You can hear my interview with Cary Fukunaga by downloading it (right-click and “Save As”) or playing it in your browser:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
You can also subscribe to the /Filmcast using the following links:
The movie tells two parallel stories that eventually become intertwined. In the first, we find a young man named Casper (Edgar Flores), who is chafing against the responsibilities of gang life. Although he identifies as part of the Mara Salvatrucha gang, he isn’t as committed as some of his colleagues and constantly tries to keep his gang life separate from his personal life. At the beginning of the film, Casper recruits a young boy, Smiley (Kristian Ferrer), to the gang, and through the latter, we witness some of the horrors of gang initiation and socialization. As Smiley is given more responsibilities, he and Casper are eventually given tasks that will brutally test each of them in different ways. The second story involves Sayra (Paulina Gaitan), a teenager from Honduras whose absentee father suddenly re-enters her life when he’s deported from the United States. Determined to return to his family in New Jersey at all costs, Sayra’s father brings Sayra and her brother along with him on the punishing and treacherous three-week journey through Mexico to the U.S. southern border.
Read More »
