Posted on Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011 by Russ Fischer
One of the most enticing films that may well play Cannes this year — and, yes, one of the more frightening ones, too — is Pedro Almodovar‘s reunion with Antonio Banderas, The Skin I Live In.
The film is based on a novel called Tarantula that is nominally about a plastic surgeon who takes revenge upon the man who raped his daughter. But the novel sounds a lot more uncomfortable than a simple revenge film, because the surgeon also happens to keep his wife confined in their house, in which he forces her monthly into degrading sexual encounters with other men. Messed-up stuff, and definitely not what we’ve come to expect from Pedro Almodovar.
We’ve seen one poster for the film already that used a classic scientific illustration style to present one view of the film. Now there are some more posters, which position it much more explicitly as some sort of horror thriller. Read More »
What is Page 2? Page 2 is a compilation of stories and news tidbits, which for whatever reason, didn’t make the front page of /Film. After the jump we’ve included 30 different items, fun images, videos, casting tidbits, articles of interest and more. It’s like a mystery grab bag of movie web related goodness. If you have any interesting items that we might’ve missed that you think should go in /Film’s Page 2 – email us!
Posted on Thursday, September 16th, 2010 by Russ Fischer
It’s been a big Toronto Film Festival for Harvey Weinstein, as The Weinstein Company picked up films like Dirty Girl, Sarah’s Key and the surprise hit of the fest, Submarine. But there’s another Harvey-related buy that might not make him as happy: IFC has picked up Unauthorized: The Harvey Weinstein Project, a documentary about the industry titan.
The Barry Avrich-directed and produced film is said by IFC to be “a powerful, uncensored, no-holds-barred account that traces Weinstein’s path from concert promoter on the cold streets of Buffalo to his first trip to the Cannes Film Festival, where he arrived with one pair of pants and closed his first movie deal, to winning an Oscar, and breaking the bank with his first $100 million film.” Avrich previously claimed the film would be balanced, rather than a hatchet job.
The film isn’t yet finished, and a release date hasn’t been reported.[Deadline]
After the break, sales deals for John Cameron Mitchell’s Rabbit Hole, the Korean thriller I Saw the Devil, and pre-sales for Almodovar’s next and Dredd. Read More »
Posted on Wednesday, June 9th, 2010 by Russ Fischer
Pedro Almodovar has been casting his next film La piel que habito (The Skin I Live In) and got things off to a big start by including Antonio Banderas, with whom the director has not worked since 1990. Now Almodovar has hired actresses Elena Anaya (Sex and Lucia) and Marisa Paredes. Both actresses have worked with Almodovar before; this will be the sixth film under the director for Paredes.
The film is about “a plastic surgeon’s revenge on the man who raped his daughter,” leading to the supposition that Banderas plays the surgeon and Anaya his daughter. Refer back to our last piece on the film for a long synopsis of the novel on which the movie is based, as it hints at how weird and uncomfortable this project might be. Can’t wait. [Variety]
After the break, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark has a new Mary Jane, and Dexter gets a (slightly) unusual, possibly spoilerish cast member. Read More »
Posted on Wednesday, May 5th, 2010 by Russ Fischer
Antonio Banderas and director Pedro Almodovar have made several movies together, but none since Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down in 1990. Now the pair are finally set to reunite in a film called La Piel que Habito (The Skin I Live In), which Almodovar calls “a terror film without screams or scares.” Read More »
Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: I celebrate all levels of trailers and hopefully this column will satisfactorily give you a baseline of what beta wave I’m operating on, because what better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? Some of the best authors will tell you that writing a short story is a lot harder than writing a long one, that you have to weigh every sentence. What better medium to see how this theory plays itself out beyond that than with movie trailers?
The Damned United Trailer
The one name I will always remember from the trip I took to Ireland in 2002 is Roy Keane. Part of Ireland’s soccer team, he caused quite a kerfuffle when he spoke out about Irish players being treated unfairly during their run for the 2002 World Cup. It led newscasts, it was on every paper and it was the subject people most wanted talk about. I learned a lot about football/soccer on that holiday as I saw people’s home adorned in green, white, and orange bunting as if Christmas really was coming in June.
I know how this sport can grip an entire country and this trailer gets that passion down on film. Read More »
The newly arrived teaser trailer for Pedro Almodovar‘s Broken Embracesis a thing of beauty, elegance, wit, rich emotion and mystery – five of the top six items on the shopping list of any Pedro Almodovar fan. This gorgeous thing is about as good as teaser trailers get. There’s nothing more I can hope to communicate that the trailer won’t say far more effectively – and aside from the frame you see above, wordlessly.
If you only watch one video online through your computer this week, make it this one. I’ve positioned it below the break to save the servers from melting. The plot of the film is being kept under rather opaque and well secured wraps, but there’s enough in the trailer to give you a clear indication.
Posted on Thursday, February 19th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
Entertainment Weekly just published their list of the 25 Greatest Active Film Directors. It’s one of those really annoying slideshow stories, so we’ve done the legwork and printed the entire shortlist after the jump. Read More »
