Jacques Audiard’s Dheepan might have claimed Cannes most coveted prize, but the Palme d’Or moment belongs to Hungarian filmmaker László Nemes. Truly a groundbreaking masterpiece that takes the audience into the heart of the darkness of the Holocaust, his Grand Jury Prize winning feature debut immerses the viewer into a visceral, hellish nightmare. Nominated for and tipped as the heavy favorite in the Academy Award’s Best Foreign film category, sturdy and stellar sound and camerawork aided by Géza Röhrig’s praiseworthy performance, Nemes’ Son of Saul is a wallop of a sensorial experience. Here is my brief sit down with the helmer and lead.
Yama Rahimi: How did this project came about?
László Nemes: I read these writings by the Sonderkommando members that were put in the ground before the rebellion that triggered the project. These writings were giving incredible insight into the here and now of the extermination.
Yama Rahimi: How did this project came about?
László Nemes: I read these writings by the Sonderkommando members that were put in the ground before the rebellion that triggered the project. These writings were giving incredible insight into the here and now of the extermination.
- 2/28/2016
- by Yama Rahimi
- IONCINEMA.com
Final grades were officially tallied up after the repeat screenings on Sunday, and while the 1-2-3-4 positions haven’t changed, Todd Haynes’ Carol further cemented it’s status as the best from the 2015 In Comp class with a final 3.9 grade.
We’d like to once again thank our group of sixteen: Nicholas Bell, Blake Williams and Yama Rahimi from Ioncinema.com were joined by Christophe Beney, Dave Calhoun, Per Juul Carlsen, Paola Casella, Mike D’Angelo, Jean-Philippe Guerand, Carlos F. Heredero, Aaron Hillis, Fabien Lemercier, Marc-André Lussier, Liu Min, Isabelle Regnier and Cédric Succivalli. We already look forward to next year with Haneke, Pedro, Dolan and the Dardennes in the mix. Click on the grid below for a larger version.
We’d like to once again thank our group of sixteen: Nicholas Bell, Blake Williams and Yama Rahimi from Ioncinema.com were joined by Christophe Beney, Dave Calhoun, Per Juul Carlsen, Paola Casella, Mike D’Angelo, Jean-Philippe Guerand, Carlos F. Heredero, Aaron Hillis, Fabien Lemercier, Marc-André Lussier, Liu Min, Isabelle Regnier and Cédric Succivalli. We already look forward to next year with Haneke, Pedro, Dolan and the Dardennes in the mix. Click on the grid below for a larger version.
- 5/26/2015
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
The race for the Palme d’Or officially begins today. It’s day 2 at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival which means the press core and as per usual, our Cannes Critics’ Panel are already in game mode. New this year to the our sweet sixteen group (you can follow them all on twitter) areMarc-André Lussier (La Presse), Jean-Philippe Guerand (Le Film Français), Aaron Hillis (the proprietor of Video Free Brooklyn who needs no introduction — penning for Filmmaker Magazine & Vice), and joining Ioncinema.com stalwarts Nicholas Bell and Blake Williams we find Yama Rahimi. Looks for grades on all nineteen Main Comp offerings plus as added bonus: Gaspar Noé’s Love.
The first film to uncork the ’15 edition is a filmmaker who is technically more synonymous with the Toronto Int. Film Festival than the French riviera. This nonetheless marks Hirokazu Kore-eda‘s fifth trip to Cannes with his last picture Like Father,...
The first film to uncork the ’15 edition is a filmmaker who is technically more synonymous with the Toronto Int. Film Festival than the French riviera. This nonetheless marks Hirokazu Kore-eda‘s fifth trip to Cannes with his last picture Like Father,...
- 5/14/2015
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Continuing in the tradition of Patricia Highsmith’s set of globetrotters and vacationing daytrippers who dip their toes not only in foreign backdrops, but in tend to find themselves in the most inconvenient of situations, it is the American novelist’s 1964 novel that finds a suitor in British-Iranian writer (and now turned director in his own right) Hossein Amini.
Working with players such as Viggo Mortensen, Oscar Isaac and Kirsten Dunst, Amini, whose long list of creds include Michael Winterbottom’s Jude, Iain Softley’s The Wings of the Dove, Shekar Kapur’s The Four Feathers, Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive and the upcoming Our Kind of Traitor, takes a stab at the thriller-genre with the sun-drenched Greece and Turkey as the conniving backdrop with The Two Faces of January, which opened August 28th and is still running in its limited engagement. Here is my interview with Amini which took...
Working with players such as Viggo Mortensen, Oscar Isaac and Kirsten Dunst, Amini, whose long list of creds include Michael Winterbottom’s Jude, Iain Softley’s The Wings of the Dove, Shekar Kapur’s The Four Feathers, Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive and the upcoming Our Kind of Traitor, takes a stab at the thriller-genre with the sun-drenched Greece and Turkey as the conniving backdrop with The Two Faces of January, which opened August 28th and is still running in its limited engagement. Here is my interview with Amini which took...
- 10/24/2014
- by Yama Rahimi
- IONCINEMA.com
French based Afghan novelist turned director Atiq Rahimi adapted his second novel for the screen which puts him in a small circle of authors adapting their own material twice….from book form to the big screen. Set during an unspecified era, a young Afghan woman finds solace in her own comatose husband whom she imagines as her own magical stone that she can tell her secrets and desires. Rahimi who won the highest literature prize in France for his novel, the Prix Goncourt adapted his novel with legendary writer Jean-Claude Carrière helping him to open the mostly monologue driven novel for cinematic interpretation. Rahimi who also adapted his first novel “Earth and Ashes” for the screen, makes for a stronger case his second time out. With The Patience Stone, he cuts deep into the hypocrisy of the male dominated Afghan culture to shed light on the plight of Afghan women...
- 8/16/2013
- by Yama Rahimi
- IONCINEMA.com
Lebanese writer/director Ziad Doueiri (West Beirut – ’98, Lila Says- ’04) finally returns behind the camera for his third feature, an adaptation of the novel by Algerian writer Yasmina Khadra. A successful Arab surgeon living in Israel finds his life shattered when he finds his wife was involved in a suicide bombing thus sending him on a journey full of unintentional discovery. A thoroughly profound, layered and complex film, the Israeli and Palestinian conflict provides the backdrop for what is essentially a thriller with a love story at its core. With Ali Suliman in a dramatically anchor-heavy lead role, and equally strong perfs from supporting players Reymond Amsalem and Uri Gavriel, according to our four-star review, “this is perhaps the most humanistic take on the never-ending conflict to ever be presented on the screen, definitely an important and compelling film.” The Attack [06.21 - NYC and Washington] received its world premiere showing at Tiff last fall where...
- 8/5/2013
- by Yama Rahimi
- IONCINEMA.com
Two young fathers find themselves pinned down by the antagonistic forces that define their choices and ultimately shape and foreshadow the future. In The Place Beyond the Pines, writer/director Derek Cianfrance’s ambitious third feature, there is a common thread full of moral ambiguities regardless of which side of the law his characters dwell in. The epic drama about fathers and sons sees Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper lead a stellar supporting cast of Dane DeHaan, Ray Liotta, Eva Mendes, Ben Mendelsohn, Harris Yulin, Rose Byrne, Bruce Greenwood and Emory Cohen, and the pairing portray complex, layered characters. The film had its premiere at the 2012 edition of the Toronto Int Film Festival, and Focus Features will release the saga in theaters this Friday, March 29th. I sat down with Derek during his whirlwind press tour for the film.
Yama Rahimi: “Epic” and “Saga” are a pair of descriptive...
Yama Rahimi: “Epic” and “Saga” are a pair of descriptive...
- 3/25/2013
- by Yama Rahimi
- IONCINEMA.com
French writer and director Benoît Jacquot gives an intimate look at the last days of monarchy during the beginning of the French Revolution. A young woman’s eagerness to please the Queen gets her in danger when she’s assigned a secret mission that could get her killed. Jacquot wisely avoids what’s already known by focusing on the intimate details of the last days of Versailles where Marie Antoinette is involved in a love triangle with two other women. It’s a beautiful and intimate period drama with a contemporary feel for authenticity. The solid cast includes Léa Seydoux as the naive reader to Diane Kruger’s Marie Antoinette. The supporting cast includes Virginie Ledoyen, Xavier Beauvois and Noémie Lvovsky. “Farewell, My Queen” (Les adieux à la reine) opened the San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF55) where I sat down with the filmmaker. Cohen Media Group open the film in theaters tomorrow.
- 7/12/2012
- by Yama Rahimi
- IONCINEMA.com
A thirty-something couple decide to take another step towards cementing their relationship by adopting a homeless cat --- which leads them to re-examine their life and their relationship. Much like her debut film "Me and You and Everyone We Know," Miranda July's sophomore effort centers around quirky characters with undeniably charms --- think of a Solondz-lite world that is less confrontational and accentuated on whimsical traits. A rom com with atypical rom com characteristics, this Sundance/Berlin Film Festival preemed The Future was picked up by Roadside Attractions and released on the last weekend of July and is currently expanding in theaters nationwide. Here's our sit-down with the writer-director-actress-artist and, the voice of Paw Paw. Yama Rahimi: How did this project started? Miranda July: It started, the first kernel of it, when I was editing the first movie which was a very dark time for me. Actually...
- 8/10/2011
- IONCINEMA.com
There really is no film-centric event that can compare to the Cannes Film Festival. Part marketplace for movies from around the world, part competition for some of the best filmmakers working today, and overall a fantastic showcase for hidden cinematic treasures for all cinephiles to enjoy. In addition to all that there’s the over-the-top glamour, stars, celebrities and the insanely beautiful setting of the south of France to wrap it all together into one of the most awe-inspiring film festivals in existence. Over the course of my 10 days there, I met a plethora of interesting people while consuming a total of 22 films both in competition, un certain regard and in the marketplace. And trust me when I say that I barely scratched the surface.
While only a few films rubbed me the wrong way (Sleeping Beauty, Michael) the majority seriously impressed my cinematic tastes. There were a few films I wish I had seen,...
While only a few films rubbed me the wrong way (Sleeping Beauty, Michael) the majority seriously impressed my cinematic tastes. There were a few films I wish I had seen,...
- 5/31/2011
- by Raffi Asdourian
- The Film Stage
Updated.
Monitoring @thedailyMUBI, I find it fascinating to see which news items, long reads or quick diversions become, for lack of a handier word, "hits," spreading via retweets like wildfire through the Twitterverse. The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw scored one yesterday with his list of Palme d'Or winners over the past decade, to which he adds "the name of the film that I think should have won" and his "'Palme of Palme' award: the best Palme d'Or winner in the new century." To anyone with an eye on Un Certain Regard: you'll want to check this list as a guide to Bradshaw's tastes — he's a member of the jury, presided over by Emir Kusturica.
Also in the Guardian: "At last year's Cannes film festival, there was an outcry," writes Charlotte Higgins: "there was not a single woman in competition for the Palme d'Or. British director Alicia Duffy screened her debut feature in the Directors' Fortnight strand,...
Monitoring @thedailyMUBI, I find it fascinating to see which news items, long reads or quick diversions become, for lack of a handier word, "hits," spreading via retweets like wildfire through the Twitterverse. The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw scored one yesterday with his list of Palme d'Or winners over the past decade, to which he adds "the name of the film that I think should have won" and his "'Palme of Palme' award: the best Palme d'Or winner in the new century." To anyone with an eye on Un Certain Regard: you'll want to check this list as a guide to Bradshaw's tastes — he's a member of the jury, presided over by Emir Kusturica.
Also in the Guardian: "At last year's Cannes film festival, there was an outcry," writes Charlotte Higgins: "there was not a single woman in competition for the Palme d'Or. British director Alicia Duffy screened her debut feature in the Directors' Fortnight strand,...
- 5/11/2011
- MUBI
British helmer Tom Hooper's winning streak should continue well past tomorrow's night date at the Oscars. With The King's Speech, he might have produced one of the best films about a British Royal -- which is quite an impressive accomplishment when you consider that the Monarch's history is longer than film history. Hooper and writer David Seidler tap into a story so rich and complex that we should be thankful that no one attempted to bring it to screen beforehand. I sat down with the filmmaker before the Oscar nominations were announced. Yama Rahimi: I was first introduced to your work with Longford (2006) which in turn drove me to check out your 2008 outing The Damned United. I was wondering how do you go about choosing your projects? Tom Hooper: That film is very well loved but hardly made any money at Us box office. The King's Speech...
- 2/26/2011
- IONCINEMA.com
Canadian cinematographer Thomas Burstyn makes his feature debut as a director along with his wife Sumner as his writer and producer with this lush documentary set in New Zealand's rugged Ruahine Mountains. This Way of Life is about the Karena family -- a family that would make plenty others envious. They have no material wealth but what they do have is a unique lifestyle with their six beautiful children and an entourage of wild horses that brings them so close to the nature that it's as far from materialistic world as you can get. While the parents suffer from the pressures of family and the society, the kids live a happy existence close to the nature and close to another. The Burstyns choose the right family and story to tell how much we've lost over the past century -- a direct connection with nature. Yama Rahimi: How did this project came about?...
- 1/5/2011
- IONCINEMA.com
Unless you've been living under a rock, Amir Bar-Lev's The Tillman Story does more than connect the dots from simple AP press releases, it sheds light on Pat Tillman from a more detailed, personalized, human perspective. For those living under that rock, Tillman was a professional NFL football player who passed on the opportunity to make millions by playing with a pigskin, by joining the army to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. Unfortunately the uniqueness of this story had more to do with how the Bush administration took it upon themselves to cover-up the circumstances of his death and essentially spin it as a propaganda tool --- essentially pouring more salt on the wounds of the Tillman family. Bar-Lev along with the Tillman family and other witnesses depict the fallen soldier as a complex human being and try to illuminate the circumstances surrounding his death while paying tribute to...
- 8/26/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
Bestowed with the top honor at the Venice Film Festival, Lebanon is a powerful, gut-wrenching, claustrophobic, timeless antiwar film from Israel by writer/director Samuel Maoz. The story, set entirely in a tank on the first day of the first Lebanon war in 1982 shows how the four young men experience the horrors of war. While the setting is specific, the story is universal and could easily be the backdrop for any country, and any war. Based on Moaz's own experiences, Lebanon gives a singular vision and point of view on how he experienced the war - an experience that is engraved in the filmmaker and will surely be will surely be ingrained in future patrons of film. [This interview was conducted as part of the 53rd Sfiff]. Yama Rahimi: Can you tell me how this project came about? Samuel Maoz: Well it's my own personal story. I was the gunner, Shmulik which is the nickname for Samuel in Hebrew.
- 8/2/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
The 53rd San Francisco International Festival opened late last week with Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Micmacs -- a film that evokes an inner child's sensibility and emphasizes the more whimsical qualities that can be found in smaller doses in the French filmmaker's previous work. With colorful characters and plenty of verve, the visually alluring comedy tells the tale of a man who, after falling victim to a random gun shot, plots his revenge with his friends (a group of society's rejects) who take pleasure in dismantling two rival weapon manufacturers. A treasure full of wonders, this original "anti-war" remark sees Jeunet use comedian Dany Boon (Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis) in a comedy of manners mode that merits a comparison to one of cinema's early silver-screen legend. Sfiff runs until the 6th of May. Yama Rahimi: In this film you manage to merge successfully the whimsical and fantastical with a political message.
- 5/28/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
Words were my enemy, so it was a very tough two months preparation without a word which was to get them to experience inside the tank. So I talked about the experience then I locked them each separately in a dark containers for few hours. Instead of telling them about the claustrophobic experience, I let them experience it. - Bestowed with the top honor at the Venice Film Festival, Lebanon is a powerful, gut-wrenching, claustrophobic, timeless antiwar film from Israel by writer/director Samuel Maoz. The story, set entirely in a tank on the first day of the first Lebanon war in 1982 shows how the four young men experience the horrors of war. While the setting is specific, the story is universal and could easily be the backdrop for any country, and any war. Based on Moaz's own experiences, Lebanon gives a singular vision and point of view on how...
- 5/6/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
I'm a great fan of Bae Doona and always wanted to work with her. I know this was a difficult role but the language wouldn't be a problem for her. So I gave the offer to her as my first choice. When I think of it now, I don't think any of the Japanese actress we have could have done the role, so she's the only one. - Japanese writer and director Hirokazu Kore-eda returns to a thematic subject matter he knows well: loneliness and emptiness. This time out, he does so via the point of view of an inflatable sex toy and once again, Kore-eda manages to make compelling observation, grafting an original essay that is both warm and fuzzy, but tragic, contemporary and extreme -- in many regards it's a portrait full of heart and humor that will resonate with many. It's the Pinocchio-like tale of an air...
- 5/4/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
Japanese writer and director Hirokazu Kore-eda returns to a thematic subject matter he knows well: loneliness and emptiness. This time out, he does so via the point of view of an inflatable sex toy and once again, Kore-eda manages to make compelling observation, grafting an original essay that is both warm and fuzzy, but tragic, contemporary and extreme -- in many regards it's a portrait full of heart and humor that will resonate with many. It's the Pinocchio-like tale of an air doll used for sexual pleasure by a lonely man, and then comes to life, indexes what makes humans human and falls for a video store clerk. Korean actress Bae Doona is pitch perfect as the air doll, she physically and emotionally gets into character which makes for a rich and satisfying observation about the human condition. To give enough substance to such an exaggerated premise is no easy task,...
- 5/3/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
At the beginning when we have the concept of the story. Once we know we have a revenge story, we open the book of details and see what we can use. For example the story of the sugar and coffee or the mine in the football field which I had in mind for 20 years. I have boxes of ideas and details like that. It's pre-occupation to have a rich movie. For some people it's too much and too many details. - The 53rd San Francisco International Festival opened late last week with Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Micmacs -- a film that evokes an inner child's sensibility and emphasizes the more whimsical qualities that can be found in smaller doses in the French filmmaker's previous work. With colorful characters and plenty of verve, the visually alluring comedy tells the tale of a man who, after falling...
- 4/28/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
My mentor was Kim Ki-young, a Korean master of the 60's and 70's. His movies are very unique and grotesque. If he were in Spain, he would be like Luis Buñuel. Martin Scorsese presented his "The Housemaid" at the Cannes Classics. - Writer-slash-director Bong Joon-ho (The Host) delivers his most mature work to date, a brilliant character study that revolves around a desperate, valiant mother who attempts to save her only son framed for murder. Joon-ho's films continue to amaze, here, he once again changes up the tone and the mechanics of the common narratives we commonly associate with genre films from Korea, and with Mother, Joon-ho holds the viewer's attention from the very first frame till the very last, fusing dramatic currents with not so common murder mystery elements. At the core of the film lies an astonishing performance by actress Kim Hye-ja, reminding us that greatness comes in the unlikeliest of packages.
- 3/6/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
There's a history that I want to forget because I used to be somebody else that I want to put behind me. It happens to be the history that my brother Marc wants to hold onto. He's very nostalgic and sentimental person. One of the things that was surprising to me is the extent Marc was holding to our childhood instead of latching into being the grandson of Welles. - A spellbinding documentary that's proves that life is indeed stranger than fiction, when filmmaker Kimberly Reed decided to attend her 20th high school reunion as a woman after a gender change, she thought it would be an exploration of self and her journey of self-discovery. She found out that her troubled adopted brother traced his family tree, linking himself as the grandchild of Hollywood legends Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth. Prodigal Sons is an uncensored rollercoaster ride of...
- 2/22/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
I never wanted to make a biopic about Tolstoy. The film I saw was about the tragic comedy about marriage, about the difficulty living with love and impossibility of living without love. - With a pair of Best Supporting Oscar noms in the bank, writer/director Michael Hoffman (Restoration) makes a smashing comeback with this breath of fresh air take on the last days of celebrated Russian writer Leo Tolstoy and his wife Sofya. An examination of the complexities of love and marriage that excels -- Hoffman brings out the best in thesps Christopher Plummer, Helen Mirren, Paul Giamatti and James McAvoy by allowing the foursome to delve into a full range of emotions that afflict the human condition. Simply put, The Last Station is an accurate portrait of one the greatest writers in literature as he deals with his legacy and what has come between him and the love of his life.
- 2/7/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
"Carey Mulligan was found by our casting director. We looked at a lot of girls but I had a good idea of who Jenny should be." - Following in the footsteps of fellow Danish filmmakers (the Biers, the Bornedals and the von Triers) who move between English-language film fair and projects in their native tongue, Lone Scherfig has parlayed her experiences in smaller fair meant for a more “localized” audience into a a smashing coming-of-age film set in 1960's London where a teen girl embraces adulthood via the charm of a man twice her age. Since debuting An Education to plenty of praise at Sundance, the best known for Italian for Beginners filmmaker receives a report card that is graded by critics with A and high B's. Lead by Carey Mulligan in one of those star making performances that is being cross referenced with big names from silver screen's vault,...
- 12/13/2009
- by Ioncinema.com Staff
- IONCINEMA.com
The film is pure bliss, Tilda Swinton is not surprisingly, spot on and who knew, fluent in Italian and as I had remarked and so does this Magnolia Pictures press release, it falls into Visconti territory (The Leopard/Death in Venice). - Thanks to a couple of buyer friends and our West Coast correspondent Yama Rahimi for sending me into the last screening for Luca Guadagnino’s I Am Love - the film is pure bliss, Tilda Swinton is not surprisingly, spot on and who knew, fluent in Italian and as I had remarked and so does this Magnolia Pictures press release, it falls into Visconti territory (The Leopard/Death in Venice). Magnolia Films (who've worked with Swinton this summer with the difficult to market title Erick Zonca's Julia) have picked up the rights to the pic - another post-tiff pick up that demonstrates the new wait and see trend in buyers.
- 12/13/2009
- by Ioncinema.com Staff
- IONCINEMA.com
- [Editor's Note: This was originally published during the 2008 edition of the AFI Film Festival.] Writer-director Fernando Eimbcke (Duck Season) delivers a poignant, and yet subtle coming-of-age story with his second feature film, Lake Tahoe. Set in a quiet coastal town, this tells the story of a teenage boy dealing with the grief of his father's death, but on the outset the narrative takes its time in letting the gem unravel into such territory. Instead of getting explosion of emotions, we see the characters implode with a loss of speech. Eimbcke innovates with a language and landscape of his own, telling a story that's loosely based on Vittorio De Sica's The Bicycle Thief. Eimbcke joins the lead of promising international and in the same token, Mexican filmmakers in contemporary cinema - something that Fipresci have established early on as they set up a special screening of Lake Tahoe at Cannes this past May. I met with up Fernando Eimbcke at the ArcLight Theater in Hollywood.
- 7/10/2009
- IONCINEMA.com
- Last year Wild Bunch had problems finding a buyer at their price (which was probably anywhere close from 8 to 12 million for Che (obviously parts I and II packaged together), Synecdoche, New York ending up going to Sony Pictures Classics at perhaps a rebate and James Gray's Two Lovers ended up going back into Magnolia Film's starting rotation (2929 Productions were looking for a sale). While there are no American casualties this year, there are some prestige titles and some definite art-house pictures patiently waiting for a home. Here is a grouping of films that at some point should find a buyer but for reason X, Y and Z still haven't. So much ink has been spilt on the fate of Terry Gilliam's fantasy film since the moment that Heath Ledger passed away. Despite the trio of actors who came on board to save the adventure film, The Imaginarium
- 6/12/2009
- IONCINEMA.com
- Gael Metroz makes a stunning debut with this documentary that traces a Swiss traveller and writer Nicolas Bouvier's route from Geneva all the way to Sri Lanka. While a lot has changed since the peaceful times of the 50's, Metroz has to leave Bouvier's course to find the essence of Bouvier and the region he loved and wrote about that made Metroz and many others to dream about. Metroz narrates his stunningly filmed footage through many places Bouvier travelled with great affection and insight that makes this film outstanding. The documentary also offers a different picture of the region in the news despite the ordeals of the three decades of war. Gael wasn't present at San Franciso Film Festival because he's currently shooting a film in Pakistan about the Kalash people that are featured in the film. I met with the producers Francine Lusser and Gérard Monier. Yama Rahimi
- 5/12/2009
- IONCINEMA.com
- [Editor's note: This was originally published on 02.15.2009] A powerful documentary about a 14 acre garden in Los Angeles that was at the center of a decade long dispute, The Garden details how a piece of land in South Central which was once considered a wasteland by the owner, good for garbage or warehouses by the city, but was turned into a lush garden by a mostly Latino community. After a dubious deal between the city and the owner, the gardeners are driven out but not without a fight which is at heart of this film by multi-tasking writer and director Scott Hamilton Kennedy. With a story as complex and rich as you would expect it in any piece of great literature full with noble characters, shady characters and everything in between. The complex documentary film (one of the five Academy Award nominees for Best Doc) equally works as a social commentary of culture clashes between the powerful rich and helpless poor,
- 5/4/2009
- IONCINEMA.com
- [Editor's note: This was originally published during the 22nd Edition of the AFI Film Festival.] The 22nd edition of the AFI Film Festival opened with Doubt, a last minute replacement for The Soloist which Dreamworks pulled from its November release date in the midst of a very crowded award season. Along with the Nyff and London’s BFI film fest, the AFI Fest acts as a year-end festival that benefits from being set in a easily maneuverable city and is set during a strategically interesting time of the year. These festivals celebrate the best in cinema from previous Euro fest heavyweights such as Cannes, Berlin and Venice but they carry their own clout – adding some world premieres of their own to the mix. Located in Hollywood, the fest acts as a great launching pad for award season, and for obvious reasons is a place where you could run into Hollywood's major players -- at any given screening you could be sitting next to a prominent voice in the industry,
- 4/30/2009
- IONCINEMA.com
- [Editor's note: This interview took place and was originally published during the 31st edition of the Mill Valley Film Festival.] Further proof that the Israeli cinema is thriving, and continues to deliver thought-provoking portraits, the Mill Valley Film closed with the smashing film Lemon Tree. The drama demonstrates that Israeli and Palestinian can live and work together, at least in the artistic community. The situation is made more complicated due to politics and bureaucracy of the region. It's the second collaboration between writer/director Eran Riklis and Israeli-Palestinian actress Hiam Abbass after the internationally renowned The Syrian Bride. In Lemon Tree, a Palestinian widow fights the Israeli Establishment to save her lemon grove after the Defense Minister moves in next door. The film shows that the Israeli mindset is so far off from the Palestinians – this despite being so geographically close. It's a clash of polar opposites where there's hardly any room left for human connection. The two lonely women at the center of the story have so much
- 4/14/2009
- IONCINEMA.com
- The word “unusual” comes to mind when describing Waltz with Bashir. Part documentary film and part animation, Ari Folman merges surrealist imagery with realism, mixes docu-tools like archive footage and talking heads with vivid, not vomit inducing rotoscope techniques and punk rock music. Though innately political (Folman’s pieced archive of friend’s personal memories does describe the Sabra and Shatila massacres) this oeuvre is far from politicized, instead the Israeli filmmaker is more interested in how the memory both protects and reminds us about a past that would have preferably been better avoided. Never has plunging into one’s own psychosis offered such pulsating results and not surprisingly, the need to categorize the film may hinder its chances at receiving the year end award recognition when measured up against the best animated film being a Pixar picture and the best documentary film being the tale about a tightrope
- 12/25/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
- Artist-turned-filmmaker Steve McQueen makes a stunning debut – easily one of the best filmmaking debuts in recent years. Since its premiere at Cannes, the Camera D’or winning Hunger has picked up numerous film festival accolades and critical praise due to the filmmaker’s approach – one that powerfully uses the tools of filmmaking, one that exploits the frame as a larger canvas and one that does not compromise any of emotional content for the sake of art. It's set in 1981 where Ira prisoners are brutally treated at a prison without having a political status. To protest their condition, the leader Bobby Sands starves himself to death. An extremely difficult film to stomach, but a must for true cinephiles, Hunger is first rate in all departments and benefits from a tour de force performance by Michael Fassbender. I had he chance to speak to Steve McQueen in a phoner interview earlier this month.
- 12/17/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
- On the outset, The Class is deceptive and microscopic enough in nature that that you won’t feel the film’s powerful grip until you’re reminded of how invested you are in the plight of several of the film’s characters. Stitched together by a cast of non-professional actors, the Palme d’or-winning picture is a multi-ethnic milieu set within the limitations of an institution and within the timeline constraints of a full school year. Based on the novel by François Bégaudeau who wrote the script and stars as the film’s lead, the film is specific in its setting, but the story is timeless, universal and stretches way beyond the storyline’s settings – it could easily take place in your neck of the concentrate jungle. Director Laurent Cantet’s demonstrates the daily grind of one teacher taking on a group of very opinionated youths. Cultures clash, and feelings get hurt.
- 12/4/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
- French auteur Arnaud Desplechin weaves a rich tapestry of pitch perfect performances for a collection of emotionally charged sequences in his latest film which curiously unfolds like a classic novel. With the help of some of the best actors in French cinema including his frequent collaborators Catherine Deneuve, Mathieu Amalric (Kings and Queen), Emmanuelle Devos and Anne Consigny, A Christmas Tale centers on the matriarch of the family, played by the impeccable Deneuve, who discovers that her cancer will require a donor which makes her upcoming gathering for the holidays with her own dysfunctional family a bit more out of the ordinary. What Desplechin delivers is not an easy task by any means, he brings vision and bravura to every detail of the film that's extraordinary capturing a family that feuds lovingly over past and present events. One of the more dynamic, energetic French films in recent years, this
- 11/13/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
- Unless you are a connoisseur of French cinema or very familiar with the filmography of Raoul Ruiz, for many of you there are good chances that the name and face of Elsa Zylberstein hardly rings a bell – but this may change this year if the buzz continues to build from art-house circuit success and critical approval into potential year-end kudos for film that won a pair of prizes at the Berlin film festival. In author-turned-director Philippe Claudel’s "Il y a longtemps que je t'aime" a.k.a I've Loved You So Long, Zylberstein plays the younger sister role of Léa who is reunited with her older sis Juliette (Kristin Scott-Thomas), who after 15 years in prison returns to her hometown of Nancy. A couple of weeks back I had the chance to interview the filmmaker and now I had a sit down with one of his two muses. Here is my interview with…
- 11/5/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
- Author-turned-director Philippe Claudel makes a calculated and self-assured debut in a tale about how guilt and the act of bonding occurs when a pair of sisters confront a fifteen year gap brought about by an unplanned prison sentence. Instead of opting for flashy visuals, Claudel avoids clichés and stays focused on the characters and peels away the layers from leads Kristin Scott Thomas and Elsa Zylberstein's characterizations. Both actresses deliver pitch-perfect perfs and as award season creeps in on both sides of the Atlantic, Scott Thomas can count on undoubtedly garnering further lead roles (in both her native tongue and adopted second language) that are given to those who experience a career revival of this magnitude. In the chaotic fall schedule, I've Loved You So Long is a film performance not to be missed. Philippe Claudel Yama Rahimi: Tell us about your inspiration for this story and
- 10/23/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
- With a double-dose of Charlie Kaufman in Spike Jonze’s Adaptation, we had come to terms with the notion that we couldn’t get any closer into the mindset of one of the most brilliant screenwriters of our time, but with Synecdoche, New York we are pleasantly reminded that there is more to what makes Charlie Kaufman tick when he also happens to find his way behind the camera. This is 100% Kaufman – a film where you get an uncompromising look into the blue print of the human condition -- this comes across as a distinguishable classic and it has yet to make its theatrical run in the public domain. Watching it five months later, I’ve had time to think about the film and this time out, focused on the richness of its details and the accompanying multiple layers of the key characters. Kaufman did not set himself up
- 10/22/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
- At the Mill Valley Film Festival this year, Brit filmmaker Mike Leigh’s latest film became the centerpiece as part of a tribute to thesp Sally Hawkins whose life won't be the same after the year-end award ceremonies have come and gone. As Leigh did previously with David Thewlis, Brenda Blethyn and Imelda Staunton, Happy-Go-Lucky is a great example of how an overlooked actor can take hold of a particular role and with the proper guidance, can make great strides, collect accolades and appreciation, and parlay this into further gut-wrenching, illuminating, heart-warming perfs. Hawkins’s contagious character of Poppy will most likely connect with audiences and leave an impression much in the same way that archetypes like career launch pad roles such as Audrey Tautou in Amelie, Kate Winslet in Heavenly Creatures and Toni Collette in Muriel's Wedding. Leigh's idiosyncratic and much talked about filmmaking process has more often than not,
- 10/16/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
- [Note: This interview was originally published during our coverage of the 2007 AFI Festival.] This intriguing documentary about good intentions gone wrong is about Muthana Mohamed, a young Iraqi film student, who has been given a golden opportunity to escape the war and be part of actor/director Liev Schreiber's film (Everything Is Illuminated) in Prague. Operation Filmmaker raises questions about the film maker's responsibility to "real" people in general in an age where reality shows get people to sign away their rights to be part of the Hollywood dream.After his stint as a Pa, Muthana is expected to return to Iraq but as the situation in Iraq worsens, he decides to stay without any money to everybody's obvious disappointment - a Hollywood ending this is not. The cast and crew return to Hollywood without any consideration or responsibility for the young man except for Nina Davenport who was there to document his journey. A filmmaker with a dilemma, Davenport tries
- 6/3/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
- A couple of weeks ago, Yama Rahimi attended the Indian Film Festival in Los Angeles (from April 22nd to the 27th). Now in its 6th edition, the festival works at promoting a greater appreciation of Indian cinema by showcasing films about India and the diverse perspectives of the Indian Diaspora. Here is his coverage.Yama Rahimi: How did you get involved with the festival?Christina Marouda: I came up with the idea of starting an Indian Film Festival in Los Angeles six and half years ago since this is our 6th year because I worked with couple of International film festivals and my background was marketing and distributing films as well as programming films. I realized that there wasn't a platform for Indian films. You would see one or two films that were shown at some festivals every other year but even that in my opinion wasn't a
- 5/6/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
- A couple of weeks ago, Yama Rahimi attended the Indian Film Festival in Los Angeles (from April 22nd to the 27th). Now in its 6th edition, the festival works at promoting a greater appreciation of Indian cinema by showcasing films about India and the diverse perspectives of the Indian Diaspora. Here is his coverage. Outrageously funny and insightful, Liz Mermin's documentary explores the make-up of Bollywood filmmaking by sampling it on the set of "Shootout at Lokhandwala" with the real incident on which the film is based and the real life court drama of a Bollywood star undergoes. Regardless of a viewer's knowledge of the Bollywood (it's tradition, style and form), the docu offers a behind the scenes of the film where the director outshines the big stars, where cops imitate Hollywood cop films like "Dirty Harry", and how one of the longest running court cases in India's
- 5/6/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
- A couple of weeks ago, Yama Rahimi attended the Indian Film Festival in Los Angeles (from April 22nd to the 27th). Now in its 6th edition, the festival works at promoting a greater appreciation of Indian cinema by showcasing films about India and the diverse perspectives of the Indian Diaspora. Here is his coverage. A stunning homage to the 50's and 60's of Hindi cinema before it was called Bollywood which will seem to the Western audience like a remake of "A Star is Born". Writer/director Sudhir Mishra captures the essence of the time. Instead of one particular star, he references almost all the stars and leaves it to the audience to figure out who was who from the Guru Dutts and Raj Kapoors to Waheeda Rehmans and the Meena Kumaris. Mishra sets the perfect cast in Soha Ali Khan and Shiney Ahuja in the leads, both of
- 5/6/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
- A couple of weeks ago, Yama Rahimi attended the Indian Film Festival in Los Angeles (from April 22nd to the 27th). Now in its 6th edition, the festival works at promoting a greater appreciation of Indian cinema by showcasing films about India and the diverse perspectives of the Indian Diaspora. Here is his coverage. Bollywood A-list cinematographer and art house director Santosh Sivan is one of the few directors who has the double duty of lensing as well as directing his own films. He returns with another stunning film after The Terrorist left us craving for more of his talent. This film based on a short Israeli film called "Yellow Asphalt: Red Roofs" is about the conflict an Indian man who's torn between his loyalty to the British and his native villagers after he witnesses his boss having an illicit affair with a married maid that threatens his existence
- 5/6/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
- There's no sophomore slouch for actor-turned-writer and director Tom McCarthy. After The Station Agent, he returns with a mature and complex tale, lined with rich performances from veteran actors Richard Jenkins and the internationally renowned Hiam Abbass who makes her U.S. film acting debut. The story about a lonely professor whose path is crossed with several immigrant inhabitants of the culturally diverse New York city is both an original and an involving film that that stimulates the senses. The Visitor is political film without being preachy, romantic without being cheesy, and entertaining without being dumb. Written by McCarthy, this showcases real people with real problems that you hear about but rarely see on the big screen. Fluidly directed by McCarthy who has no difficulty in sliding behind the camera, this small, independent film allows actors like Jenkins and Abbass to excel in their lead roles. Anybody looking for
- 4/7/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
- First Run/Icarus Films have announced the acquisition of an unconventional, docu tale about a good-deed-gone-wrong that was spawned when actor-turned-director Liev Schreiber was filming Everything Is Illuminated. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize for “Best Documentary” at the 2007 AFI Fest in Los Angeles (see Ioncinema.com's coverage and interview by Yama Rahimi here), a Special Jury Prize at the 2007 Chicago International Film Festival, and a prize from the Rotterdam Film Festival, Nina Davenport's Operation Filmmaker will receive it theatrical debut this summer (June 4th) at NYC's IFC Center with more openings in other cities to follow. The docu takes place in the wake of "Operation Iraqi Freedom," American actor had an idealistic notion: to rescue an Iraqi film student from the rubble of his country and bring him to the West to intern on a Hollywood movie (Everything Is Illuminated). It promised to be a heartwarming tale,
- 1/30/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
- “Late Bloomers,” a film about daring to live out personal passions in the autumn of life, focuses on women resisting the role of subservience thrust upon them in Swiss society. The film has foreshadowed this European country’s political turn-around in a charming social comedy. The term “late bloomers” has become a popular catch-phrase in Switzerland, referring to women in their later years who have the courage to follow their dreams, even where those dreams conflict with traditional societal constraints. With a well-cast and gorgeous setting in the the idyllic world famous Emmental, the Swiss entry for the Academy Awards Foreign Film consideration is a crowd pleaser with a winning formula à la Chocolat or television's The Golden Girls. Late Bloomers is about a widowed woman who fulfills her lifelong dream of opening a Lingerie shop in her conservative village where her son is the priest and everybody knows each other.
- 1/14/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
- Every year there's a film (or two) that elevates the viewer experience to the next level. That higher ground is an inspiring one and in film terms - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Le Scaphandre et le papillon) is an example of the power of art; what art is supposed to do and its relevance to our lives. Based on a novel Jean-Dominique Bauby (who blinked the book to an interpreter after a stroke left him paralyzed with only one blinking eye), if this would have happened to just about anybody else, people would scream euthanasia - but Bauby used his imagination to inspire us. Julian Schnabel who gets better with each film (Basquiat, Before Night Falls) along with Ronald Harwood (The Pianist) and a terrific cast and crew delights us with a film full of splendor and imagination about the human spirit that will move you beyond words.
- 11/15/2007
- IONCINEMA.com
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