If Criterion24/7 hasn’t completely colonized your attention every time you open the Channel––this is to say: if you’re stronger than me––their May lineup may be of interest. First and foremost I’m happy to see a Michael Roemer triple-feature: his superlative Nothing But a Man, arriving in a Criterion Edition, and the recently rediscovered The Plot Against Harry and Vengeance is Mine, three distinct features that suggest a long-lost voice of American movies. Meanwhile, Nobuhiko Obayashi’s Antiwar Trilogy four by Sara Driver, and a wide collection from Ayoka Chenzira fill out the auteurist sets.
Series-wise, a highlight of 1999 goes beyond the well-established canon with films like Trick and Bye Bye Africa, while of course including Sofia Coppola, Michael Mann, Scorsese, and Claire Denis. Films starring Shirley Maclaine, a study of 1960s paranoia, and Columbia’s “golden era” (read: 1950-1961) are curated; meanwhile, The Breaking Ice,...
Series-wise, a highlight of 1999 goes beyond the well-established canon with films like Trick and Bye Bye Africa, while of course including Sofia Coppola, Michael Mann, Scorsese, and Claire Denis. Films starring Shirley Maclaine, a study of 1960s paranoia, and Columbia’s “golden era” (read: 1950-1961) are curated; meanwhile, The Breaking Ice,...
- 4/17/2024
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Carrie Robbins, whose more than 30 years as a Broadway costume designer saw her involvement in 1972’s Grease, for which she contributed the production’s signature poodle skirts, and the nuns’ habits of 1983’s Agnes of God, died following a brief illness with Covid on Friday, April 12, at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. She was 81.
Her death was announced by her friend Daniel Neiden.
Robbin’s Broadway career began somewhat inauspiciously with Leda and the Little Swan, a play that closed on Broadway before its scheduled opening at the Cort Theatre in 1968. Written by Amber Gascoigne and dealing with sex between generations of one family, Leda was called by William Goldman in his classic theater book The Season: A Candid Look at Broadway “the hardest show of the season to sit through.”
Robbins rebounded quickly on Broadway with a revival of You Can’t Take It With You the following year, and,...
Her death was announced by her friend Daniel Neiden.
Robbin’s Broadway career began somewhat inauspiciously with Leda and the Little Swan, a play that closed on Broadway before its scheduled opening at the Cort Theatre in 1968. Written by Amber Gascoigne and dealing with sex between generations of one family, Leda was called by William Goldman in his classic theater book The Season: A Candid Look at Broadway “the hardest show of the season to sit through.”
Robbins rebounded quickly on Broadway with a revival of You Can’t Take It With You the following year, and,...
- 4/16/2024
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Initially inspired by an all too common misreading of the classic novel Lolita in her younger years, filmmaker Victoria Singh-Thompson – last featured on Directors Notes with her caught between cultures coming-of-age drama Don’t Forget To Go Home – wanted to depict the complex layers of trauma and how it affects the way we see the world. The resulting film 14 in February is a fragmented and haunting look at the world through the eyes of a young hard-of-hearing schoolgirl who isn’t yet able to process the experiences she has undergone and dissociates from her memories. The immersive and quietly shocking short is as visually still as it is emotionally frantic, with a focused lens pulling us into its young protagonist’s point of view, accented with purposeful jarring sounds which as a package, disturb and succeed in creating the unease that Singh-Thompson wanted. Making a welcome return to Dn’s pages,...
- 2/13/2024
- by Sarah Smith
- Directors Notes
“A Haunting in Venice” began its domestic box office jaunt with $1.2 million in Thursday preview earnings. That’s slightly above the $1.1 million procured by “Death on the Nile” in February of 2022.
It’s understandably below the $1.6 million earned by “Murder on the Orient Express” in November of 2017. With strong reviews (77% and 6.6/10 on Rotten Tomatoes), including plenty of critics arguing that it’s the best of Kenneth Branagh’s three films as Hercule Poirot, the hope is an opening weekend closer to $20 million than $15 million.
The franchise started with a bang with “Murder on the Orient Express.” That offering starred a slew of big names like Johnny Depp (still an added value element), Daisy Ridley, Michelle Pfeiffer, Penelope Cruz and senior citizen-magnet Judi Dench. That it was based on one of Agatha Christie’s most famous books didn’t hurt. A $28 million debut led to a $103 million domestic and $353 million global cume on a $55 million budget.
It’s understandably below the $1.6 million earned by “Murder on the Orient Express” in November of 2017. With strong reviews (77% and 6.6/10 on Rotten Tomatoes), including plenty of critics arguing that it’s the best of Kenneth Branagh’s three films as Hercule Poirot, the hope is an opening weekend closer to $20 million than $15 million.
The franchise started with a bang with “Murder on the Orient Express.” That offering starred a slew of big names like Johnny Depp (still an added value element), Daisy Ridley, Michelle Pfeiffer, Penelope Cruz and senior citizen-magnet Judi Dench. That it was based on one of Agatha Christie’s most famous books didn’t hurt. A $28 million debut led to a $103 million domestic and $353 million global cume on a $55 million budget.
- 9/15/2023
- by Scott Mendelson
- The Wrap
On Wednesday, the 80th Venice International Film Festival kicks off with “Comandante,” directed by Edoardo De Angelis. It will be followed in the coming days by Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro,” Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla,” David Fincher’s “Killer” and many others. The slate of movies is chock full of A-list actors, but with the ongoing WGA and SAG strike, few will be in attendance.
TheWrap creative director Jeff Vespa counts the Venice festival as one of his favorites. “There’s something really romantic and cinematic about the way the whole place is photographed — people on docks and coming off of boats,” he said. “The other thing that’s cool is you get to actually hang out with people because it’s not like there’s an event every single second. There are only about two movies a night, so you can go to the screening of the first movie, walk...
TheWrap creative director Jeff Vespa counts the Venice festival as one of his favorites. “There’s something really romantic and cinematic about the way the whole place is photographed — people on docks and coming off of boats,” he said. “The other thing that’s cool is you get to actually hang out with people because it’s not like there’s an event every single second. There are only about two movies a night, so you can go to the screening of the first movie, walk...
- 8/30/2023
- by Missy Schwartz
- The Wrap
South Korea’s Oscar© 2023 Entry for Best International Feature: ‘Decision to Leave’ by Park Chan-wookSure to be on the top of many people’s list as one of the best films of the year (including my own along with ‘Eo’), at the very least it should be nominated for for best international feature Oscar. This melodrama keeps you in the tense suspense of ‘Double Indemnity’, ‘The Postman Rings Twice’ or ‘Gaslight’.
From a mountain peak in South Korea, a man plummets to his death. Did he jump, or was he pushed? When detective Hae-joon (Park Hae-il) arrives on the scene, he begins to suspect the dead man’s wife Seo-rae (Tang Wei). As he digs deeper into the investigation, he finds himself trapped in a web of deception and desire. By falling in love with her, he commits worst crime he could commit as a police officer.
writer Jeong Seo-kyeong
Decision to Leave is co-written by Jeong Seo-kyeong with the director Park Chan-wook. It is shot in and around Busan. The romantic thriller premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and is being released in select U.S. theaters by Mubi.
During the Hammer Museum- Moma Contender Series, the screenwriter Jeong Seo-kyeong spoke about her many collaboration with Park Chan-took.You can watch the 32 minute conversation here with film critic Katie Walsh. Or read below for the written version, slightly edited and abridged.
The music itself is exceptional. I wanted to go out immediately and buy it and could not stop singing it as I drove home from the movie. The original music was composed by his long time collaborator Cho Young-wuk (Oldboy, The Handmaiden, The Little Drummer Girl, Lady Vengeance, Thirst). The soundtrack is available to stream/download in most international markets and on Spotify. Watch the offical music video here for the theme song “Fog” or “Mist” (안개)” by Jung Hoon Hee(정훈희) & Song Chang Sick(송창식). Record label: Bertelsmann Music Group. Awards: Blue Dragon Film Award for Best Music, Grand Bell Award for Best Music, Korean Film Awards for Best Music.
Aside from the original mustic there is the recurring fourth movement of Mahler’s 5th Symphony thoughout the film. When asked her about the use of music this is what she answered.
When we were writing the script, the Mahler’s Fifth was actually the first score that we thought of. I needed a song that goes with someone in that lone space high up on the mountain, a music that speaks to how he feels separated from the rest of the world. That’s why I chose two songs by Mahler. And when Director Park saw the first draft, he called me up and he said, “Oh, it’s all good, but why did you have to use Mahler? Did you not watch Death in Venice? That song was perfectly used there already, so why would we have to use it again?”
But I never saw Death in Venice.
So he said, “Okay, I’ll try to work it out on my own.” And I think he did try his best to find something else, but he had to return to Mahler.
Have you seen Tar? They also use Mahler. No.
She conducts Mahler’s Fifth in Tar. So it’s a theme this year.
To return to her writing, Katie Walsh and Jeong Seo-kyeong’s conversation is below.
You started working with Director Park in 2005 with Lady Vengeance. So I’m so curious how you two connected and started working together on that film.
There was a short film competition and he was a jury member and he selected the film. And that’s how we got to know each other. From what I remember, the script of the short film was very weird and I think that’s exactly what he liked about it. So he said, I’ve got this idea. I’m working on this this vengeance trilogy and I want your sensibility on this.
At that point, just when we were about to start working together, he had just won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes [for Oldboy] and he became a worldwide director.
I thought to myself, wow, I’m going to be working with such a worldwide famous director. I was very stunned by that and he was busy at the time, so I had to start on the screenplay on my own at first.
He was on his promotional tour for the film and I was working on the first draft of the screenplay by myself. And from what I remember, it was a pathetic first draft.
But he was not taken aback by the draft at all. And instead he calmly said, “okay, let’s start revising it together”.
In Korea, there’s a method of working in which we share one hotel room and we stay there and work together for days. So the crew members were sitting around this large table in this hotel room. There are two monitors, two keyboards and one hard drive. And we were working together. When one person is writing, the other person can see it on the screen. Next to that table was a long couch where all the other crew members were sitting. It almost felt like writing that screenplay was a game of table tennis.
So he writes and then I write. I would see something that I ddin’t like and I would revise it. He would see something he didn’t like and he would revise it. So we would go back and forth like that. Instead of sharing conversations by mouth, we were seeing what was happening on the screen and that’s how we talked about the story.
At that time I was a first time writer and I was working on my first screenplay. So I really had to give it all my best to catch up with him. It really was an unfair game, if I may say. Whenever we would ask people which they liked better, they would always be on the director’s side.
But 20 years later, today, the crew member actually take my side more now.
So you still work like this?
No. Oh. After Thirst, I had my first child. And while we were working on Stoker I had my second child close. That’s why I couldn’t make a lot of time. And that’s why we can’t spend that much time together anymore.
So now I write the first draft of the screenplay and we revise it for three or four days or up to a week. Then he writes the final draft after a discussion with the crew members and the actors and myself.
Wow. That’s remarkable. I was going to ask how you guys work together, what you’re working process was like. So I’m I’m thrilled that it just came up naturally. And that is such a trial by fire. I mean, I’m sure that was like film school being in that hotel room, having to write against Park Chan-wook in a competitive manner.
I actually majored in screenwriting at school, but after graduation, I realized I actually don’t know anything about screenwriting. Like, really, like, genuinely. I was learning screenwriting from director Park Film School and I’m still learning today.
Park Chan-wook
And I’m sure director Park feels the same way.
Yeah. Yeah. So Decision to Leave is an original script.
You’ve worked on some adaptations before, but what was the spark of idea for this screenplay?
Director Park, while working on Little Drummer Girl in London, sent me an email. He suggested, “What about a story about a detective? And in his area, there are two husbands who are murdered by his wife.”
His idea at the time actually reminded me a lot of Thirst… a murder caused by adultery.
I told him, “I don’t think we can work on this one. First of all, neither of us can write a melodrama. But even more, I really can’t write a story about adultery.”
But Director Park answered, “What do you mean? I’m great at writing this stuff.”
I told him no. I don’t think we can work like this. So we had an argument about that, actually. During that argument, I realized I was already developing the characters for this story. And I found myself with a finished synopsis for the film. That’s how the film came to be.
It sounds like there’s some creative energy in the conflict or in the argument. Can you talk a little bit about that and how you’re sort of working against each other and then it’s generating ideas for you.
For this film and it’s so for most of the films that we work together on, I relate a lot to the female characters and director Park tends to relate to the male characters. And the reason I didn’t want to work on a melodrama is because I had a terrible memory from Thirst. I did not like the ending of Thirst. Why did the female character have to die when she did not want to. It would have been nice if she lived on as a vampire. So when the film was over I think I felt just like Tae-ju. She’s like, “I don’t want to die but since I love him, I guess there’s no other choice”. So I thought to myself, “Well, I don’t want it to be that way, but I guess I have no other choice.”
For Decision to Leave, I do like the ending but I did have to ask the question why the female character had to die. I had a lot of frustrations regarding that. Why Seo-rae seem to like Hae-jun more than he likes her. Why does Hae-jun seem like he can’t give up on his wife or Seo-rae.
Seo-rae says, “The moment you said you loved me, your love is over. The moment your love ends, my love begins.”
And Seo-rae has to give up give up her whole life for Hae-jun. But Hae-jun only gives up on his self-esteem.
But watching the finished film, I was struck with a realization that for some people, giving up on one’s self-esteem is the same as giving up one’s life.
There was some conflict while we were writing the film, but watching the finished film, I think I understood and connected with the overall ending.
I’m also curious about the casting of Tang Wei, who’s a Chinese actress, obviously living in Korea. And did you write the character of Seo-rae for Tang Wei or was it? Did you change that character to be Chinese once you knew she was going to be in the film?
I told director Park I didn’t want to write a melodrama because I was not confident I would do a good job. One exception was, that if the female character were played by Tang Wei, then I would write it. Because I was in love with Tang Wei.
That’s a good answer. Makes sense. I understand.
And that’s why the female character turned out to- turned out to be a Chinese person.
Well, she’s fabulous in the film. So we thank you for your instincts, for being in love with her.
One of the things I love about this film is the use of technology. It feels so honest as to how we use technology in our everyday lives, how we’re always texting and the way the characters communicate through technology. But also it becomes part of the mystery and how he solves the mystery and then also how he’s sort of driven mad at the end. So when you’re writing with director Park, how are you incorporating how the characters are using technology into the writing process? He makes it so cinematic, but I know that you must be putting that into the script as well.
If you consider authors like Agatha Christie at the time when she was writing her crime novel and compare them to those who are writing crime novels today, we have so much technology. Phones are always filming and are recording evidence. There’s not a lot that we can work with because anyone can take photos and have voice recordings and there are always CCTV cameras everywhere.
So I realized it’s impossible to have that romanticist classical crime story. Instead we must actively incorporate the use of modern technology. When Director Park first received a draft of the script. He asked me, “Why are there so many scenes with cell phones? I’ve never seen so many cell phones in a movie except in Searching.”
Director Park initially did not want to film any scenes with cell phones. But later he gave up on giving up on those cell phone scenes and instead filmed from the point of view of a cell phone. That is actually a very innovative, creative take on that. But I do feel that people took that in very well because we often feel that phones are looking at us.
As for me as a writer, the use of Apple Watches actually gave me a lot of creative freedom because it’s difficult to have scenes to incorporate the protagonist in a voiceover out of nowhere. But with the Apple Watch and the recording, it made that so much easier.
You have worked across so many genres with Director Park, vampire, vengeance, melodrama. The Handmaiden is a historical drama, romance. It’s an adaptation. Do you think there’s a consistent theme or tone that you and Director Park always come back to that spans your body of work?
The thing is, Director Park and I actually don’t agree on the themes most of the time. For instance, for Lady Vengeance, the theme was vengeance. But I don’t quite understand why people are so obsessed with vengeance.
So I actually called my friend and asked, “Why do people have to take revenge on each other instead of striving for peace?”
As for Thirst, the theme was guilt or salvation. But the thing is, I don’t feel a lot of guilt in my life. As long as I don’t do anything bad, there is no need for guit or salvation. That’s what I think.
If I were a vampire, I would think to myself, “Oh, this is how the mankind is going to evolve. So I should find a new method of life”.
So in those ways I don’t think the themes quite worked with me, but as we were working together, I didn’t realize we were working toward one common theme. I think it has to do with respect or the dignity of mankind.
In all of these different genres, the protagonists tend to be thrown into very extreme situations. And yet even in these extreme situations, these protagonists try not to lose their sense of dignity. I think when Hae-jun was talking about how Seo-rae had such upright posture, I think it really spoke to her sense of dignity.
That is a common theme throughout films like I’m a Cyborg But That’s Okayor The Handmaiden.
I was wondering, did you ever come up with that alternative finale or like, did you suggest an alternative finale?
The ending is actually something that makes logical sense. This is a story that begins very high up and then ends very low. We start on the mountain and close on the ocean. So conclusively it makes logical sense that it would end up with someone digging a hole.
I actually tend to think that an ending in which a woman dies for love is quite unnatural. But if a man dies, that’s a little more natural. But despite those personal frustrations, I cannot think of any other ending that would work better.
Director Park seems to write a lot of stories featuring female protagonists. What are the difficulties you face when you’re writing about a female protagonist while you’re working with a male director?
It is very easy. I’ve actually written a story in which it only features male protagonists. It’s called Believer. That story is filled with male characters. And I had such a hard time, I thought I was going to die.
I think one of the most difficult parts of being a writer is if a female writer is trying to write a good male character, and when a male writer is trying to write a good female character.
But despite all those difficulties, Director Park actually portrays the female characters very well. He writes characters in such a way that they don’t have to sacrifice their femininity in order to walk their path of life.
Over 20 years of working together, our collaboration has evolved so much that it’s actually difficult to tell which line is written by me and which line is written by Director Park.
In the movie The Handmaiden, one of the most feminine looking lines, was actually written by Director Park. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to say that line out loud.
It’s a line by the character Sook-hee and she says, “If I could have milk from my breasts, I wish I could feed you, my lady.”
Can you imagine that?
Well, his female characters are so strong, I’m sure that is your influence, of course, in your writing, but also, in just the working relationship that he has with you.
I wish I could also have developed writing better male characters, but I think I’m a little behind if we have to make a comparison.
Keep writing women, we like it.
I wanted to ask about Seo-Rae’s mother-daughter relationship because I felt like that was such a pivotal moment in the story.
The relationship between Seo-rae and her mother was actually described in more lengthy terms. Because I think the entire story started the moment Seo-rae killed her mother. There is nothing more serious. She doesn’t commit a more serious crime than killing the mother that she loves so much.
So I think in some ways, Seo-rae has already died the moment she had to go through that.
I think she has taken a journey with her mother and her grandfather to the mountain that her mother said belonged to her, and then she starts her journey down. After she has placed the ashes of her mother and her grandfather at that mountain, she starts her own journey towards death down from the mountain. Because I think every animal, including mankind, wants to find death where they were born.
So that is why Seo-rae believed that her mother wanted to be buried in the mountains and Seo-rae goes towards the ocean because she belongs to the ocean.
I think the only way she might have found salvation from her ordeal could have been to leave and go somewhere else with Hae-jun, but that didn’t happen, so inevitably she had to go to the ocean.
And all of that began with the death of Seo-rae’s mother.
Well, thank you all so much for being here. Thank you so much. Thank you, Jiwon. Thank you, Chung Seo-kyung. And thank you for watching this film and talking to us about it.
The film’s producer, CJEnt is also the international sales agent as well as the So. Korean distributor of the film. Internationally it has licensed the film to Mubi for USA, UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Latin America, Turkey, India, and Airlines and to Arna Media and Vesta for Russia, Bac Films for France, Cinobo for Greece, Cinéart for Benelux, Golden Village Pictures for Singapore, Happinet Phantom Studios for Japan, Lucky Red for Italy, Madman Entertainment for Australia and New Zealand, Movie Cloud for Taiwan, NonStop Entertainment for Scandinavia, Plaion Pictures for Germany, Purple Plan (2022) (Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore, The Filmbridge for Mongolia, Alambique Filmes for Portugal, Avalon for Spain
MoviesOscarsSouth KoreaThriller...
From a mountain peak in South Korea, a man plummets to his death. Did he jump, or was he pushed? When detective Hae-joon (Park Hae-il) arrives on the scene, he begins to suspect the dead man’s wife Seo-rae (Tang Wei). As he digs deeper into the investigation, he finds himself trapped in a web of deception and desire. By falling in love with her, he commits worst crime he could commit as a police officer.
writer Jeong Seo-kyeong
Decision to Leave is co-written by Jeong Seo-kyeong with the director Park Chan-wook. It is shot in and around Busan. The romantic thriller premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and is being released in select U.S. theaters by Mubi.
During the Hammer Museum- Moma Contender Series, the screenwriter Jeong Seo-kyeong spoke about her many collaboration with Park Chan-took.You can watch the 32 minute conversation here with film critic Katie Walsh. Or read below for the written version, slightly edited and abridged.
The music itself is exceptional. I wanted to go out immediately and buy it and could not stop singing it as I drove home from the movie. The original music was composed by his long time collaborator Cho Young-wuk (Oldboy, The Handmaiden, The Little Drummer Girl, Lady Vengeance, Thirst). The soundtrack is available to stream/download in most international markets and on Spotify. Watch the offical music video here for the theme song “Fog” or “Mist” (안개)” by Jung Hoon Hee(정훈희) & Song Chang Sick(송창식). Record label: Bertelsmann Music Group. Awards: Blue Dragon Film Award for Best Music, Grand Bell Award for Best Music, Korean Film Awards for Best Music.
Aside from the original mustic there is the recurring fourth movement of Mahler’s 5th Symphony thoughout the film. When asked her about the use of music this is what she answered.
When we were writing the script, the Mahler’s Fifth was actually the first score that we thought of. I needed a song that goes with someone in that lone space high up on the mountain, a music that speaks to how he feels separated from the rest of the world. That’s why I chose two songs by Mahler. And when Director Park saw the first draft, he called me up and he said, “Oh, it’s all good, but why did you have to use Mahler? Did you not watch Death in Venice? That song was perfectly used there already, so why would we have to use it again?”
But I never saw Death in Venice.
So he said, “Okay, I’ll try to work it out on my own.” And I think he did try his best to find something else, but he had to return to Mahler.
Have you seen Tar? They also use Mahler. No.
She conducts Mahler’s Fifth in Tar. So it’s a theme this year.
To return to her writing, Katie Walsh and Jeong Seo-kyeong’s conversation is below.
You started working with Director Park in 2005 with Lady Vengeance. So I’m so curious how you two connected and started working together on that film.
There was a short film competition and he was a jury member and he selected the film. And that’s how we got to know each other. From what I remember, the script of the short film was very weird and I think that’s exactly what he liked about it. So he said, I’ve got this idea. I’m working on this this vengeance trilogy and I want your sensibility on this.
At that point, just when we were about to start working together, he had just won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes [for Oldboy] and he became a worldwide director.
I thought to myself, wow, I’m going to be working with such a worldwide famous director. I was very stunned by that and he was busy at the time, so I had to start on the screenplay on my own at first.
He was on his promotional tour for the film and I was working on the first draft of the screenplay by myself. And from what I remember, it was a pathetic first draft.
But he was not taken aback by the draft at all. And instead he calmly said, “okay, let’s start revising it together”.
In Korea, there’s a method of working in which we share one hotel room and we stay there and work together for days. So the crew members were sitting around this large table in this hotel room. There are two monitors, two keyboards and one hard drive. And we were working together. When one person is writing, the other person can see it on the screen. Next to that table was a long couch where all the other crew members were sitting. It almost felt like writing that screenplay was a game of table tennis.
So he writes and then I write. I would see something that I ddin’t like and I would revise it. He would see something he didn’t like and he would revise it. So we would go back and forth like that. Instead of sharing conversations by mouth, we were seeing what was happening on the screen and that’s how we talked about the story.
At that time I was a first time writer and I was working on my first screenplay. So I really had to give it all my best to catch up with him. It really was an unfair game, if I may say. Whenever we would ask people which they liked better, they would always be on the director’s side.
But 20 years later, today, the crew member actually take my side more now.
So you still work like this?
No. Oh. After Thirst, I had my first child. And while we were working on Stoker I had my second child close. That’s why I couldn’t make a lot of time. And that’s why we can’t spend that much time together anymore.
So now I write the first draft of the screenplay and we revise it for three or four days or up to a week. Then he writes the final draft after a discussion with the crew members and the actors and myself.
Wow. That’s remarkable. I was going to ask how you guys work together, what you’re working process was like. So I’m I’m thrilled that it just came up naturally. And that is such a trial by fire. I mean, I’m sure that was like film school being in that hotel room, having to write against Park Chan-wook in a competitive manner.
I actually majored in screenwriting at school, but after graduation, I realized I actually don’t know anything about screenwriting. Like, really, like, genuinely. I was learning screenwriting from director Park Film School and I’m still learning today.
Park Chan-wook
And I’m sure director Park feels the same way.
Yeah. Yeah. So Decision to Leave is an original script.
You’ve worked on some adaptations before, but what was the spark of idea for this screenplay?
Director Park, while working on Little Drummer Girl in London, sent me an email. He suggested, “What about a story about a detective? And in his area, there are two husbands who are murdered by his wife.”
His idea at the time actually reminded me a lot of Thirst… a murder caused by adultery.
I told him, “I don’t think we can work on this one. First of all, neither of us can write a melodrama. But even more, I really can’t write a story about adultery.”
But Director Park answered, “What do you mean? I’m great at writing this stuff.”
I told him no. I don’t think we can work like this. So we had an argument about that, actually. During that argument, I realized I was already developing the characters for this story. And I found myself with a finished synopsis for the film. That’s how the film came to be.
It sounds like there’s some creative energy in the conflict or in the argument. Can you talk a little bit about that and how you’re sort of working against each other and then it’s generating ideas for you.
For this film and it’s so for most of the films that we work together on, I relate a lot to the female characters and director Park tends to relate to the male characters. And the reason I didn’t want to work on a melodrama is because I had a terrible memory from Thirst. I did not like the ending of Thirst. Why did the female character have to die when she did not want to. It would have been nice if she lived on as a vampire. So when the film was over I think I felt just like Tae-ju. She’s like, “I don’t want to die but since I love him, I guess there’s no other choice”. So I thought to myself, “Well, I don’t want it to be that way, but I guess I have no other choice.”
For Decision to Leave, I do like the ending but I did have to ask the question why the female character had to die. I had a lot of frustrations regarding that. Why Seo-rae seem to like Hae-jun more than he likes her. Why does Hae-jun seem like he can’t give up on his wife or Seo-rae.
Seo-rae says, “The moment you said you loved me, your love is over. The moment your love ends, my love begins.”
And Seo-rae has to give up give up her whole life for Hae-jun. But Hae-jun only gives up on his self-esteem.
But watching the finished film, I was struck with a realization that for some people, giving up on one’s self-esteem is the same as giving up one’s life.
There was some conflict while we were writing the film, but watching the finished film, I think I understood and connected with the overall ending.
I’m also curious about the casting of Tang Wei, who’s a Chinese actress, obviously living in Korea. And did you write the character of Seo-rae for Tang Wei or was it? Did you change that character to be Chinese once you knew she was going to be in the film?
I told director Park I didn’t want to write a melodrama because I was not confident I would do a good job. One exception was, that if the female character were played by Tang Wei, then I would write it. Because I was in love with Tang Wei.
That’s a good answer. Makes sense. I understand.
And that’s why the female character turned out to- turned out to be a Chinese person.
Well, she’s fabulous in the film. So we thank you for your instincts, for being in love with her.
One of the things I love about this film is the use of technology. It feels so honest as to how we use technology in our everyday lives, how we’re always texting and the way the characters communicate through technology. But also it becomes part of the mystery and how he solves the mystery and then also how he’s sort of driven mad at the end. So when you’re writing with director Park, how are you incorporating how the characters are using technology into the writing process? He makes it so cinematic, but I know that you must be putting that into the script as well.
If you consider authors like Agatha Christie at the time when she was writing her crime novel and compare them to those who are writing crime novels today, we have so much technology. Phones are always filming and are recording evidence. There’s not a lot that we can work with because anyone can take photos and have voice recordings and there are always CCTV cameras everywhere.
So I realized it’s impossible to have that romanticist classical crime story. Instead we must actively incorporate the use of modern technology. When Director Park first received a draft of the script. He asked me, “Why are there so many scenes with cell phones? I’ve never seen so many cell phones in a movie except in Searching.”
Director Park initially did not want to film any scenes with cell phones. But later he gave up on giving up on those cell phone scenes and instead filmed from the point of view of a cell phone. That is actually a very innovative, creative take on that. But I do feel that people took that in very well because we often feel that phones are looking at us.
As for me as a writer, the use of Apple Watches actually gave me a lot of creative freedom because it’s difficult to have scenes to incorporate the protagonist in a voiceover out of nowhere. But with the Apple Watch and the recording, it made that so much easier.
You have worked across so many genres with Director Park, vampire, vengeance, melodrama. The Handmaiden is a historical drama, romance. It’s an adaptation. Do you think there’s a consistent theme or tone that you and Director Park always come back to that spans your body of work?
The thing is, Director Park and I actually don’t agree on the themes most of the time. For instance, for Lady Vengeance, the theme was vengeance. But I don’t quite understand why people are so obsessed with vengeance.
So I actually called my friend and asked, “Why do people have to take revenge on each other instead of striving for peace?”
As for Thirst, the theme was guilt or salvation. But the thing is, I don’t feel a lot of guilt in my life. As long as I don’t do anything bad, there is no need for guit or salvation. That’s what I think.
If I were a vampire, I would think to myself, “Oh, this is how the mankind is going to evolve. So I should find a new method of life”.
So in those ways I don’t think the themes quite worked with me, but as we were working together, I didn’t realize we were working toward one common theme. I think it has to do with respect or the dignity of mankind.
In all of these different genres, the protagonists tend to be thrown into very extreme situations. And yet even in these extreme situations, these protagonists try not to lose their sense of dignity. I think when Hae-jun was talking about how Seo-rae had such upright posture, I think it really spoke to her sense of dignity.
That is a common theme throughout films like I’m a Cyborg But That’s Okayor The Handmaiden.
I was wondering, did you ever come up with that alternative finale or like, did you suggest an alternative finale?
The ending is actually something that makes logical sense. This is a story that begins very high up and then ends very low. We start on the mountain and close on the ocean. So conclusively it makes logical sense that it would end up with someone digging a hole.
I actually tend to think that an ending in which a woman dies for love is quite unnatural. But if a man dies, that’s a little more natural. But despite those personal frustrations, I cannot think of any other ending that would work better.
Director Park seems to write a lot of stories featuring female protagonists. What are the difficulties you face when you’re writing about a female protagonist while you’re working with a male director?
It is very easy. I’ve actually written a story in which it only features male protagonists. It’s called Believer. That story is filled with male characters. And I had such a hard time, I thought I was going to die.
I think one of the most difficult parts of being a writer is if a female writer is trying to write a good male character, and when a male writer is trying to write a good female character.
But despite all those difficulties, Director Park actually portrays the female characters very well. He writes characters in such a way that they don’t have to sacrifice their femininity in order to walk their path of life.
Over 20 years of working together, our collaboration has evolved so much that it’s actually difficult to tell which line is written by me and which line is written by Director Park.
In the movie The Handmaiden, one of the most feminine looking lines, was actually written by Director Park. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to say that line out loud.
It’s a line by the character Sook-hee and she says, “If I could have milk from my breasts, I wish I could feed you, my lady.”
Can you imagine that?
Well, his female characters are so strong, I’m sure that is your influence, of course, in your writing, but also, in just the working relationship that he has with you.
I wish I could also have developed writing better male characters, but I think I’m a little behind if we have to make a comparison.
Keep writing women, we like it.
I wanted to ask about Seo-Rae’s mother-daughter relationship because I felt like that was such a pivotal moment in the story.
The relationship between Seo-rae and her mother was actually described in more lengthy terms. Because I think the entire story started the moment Seo-rae killed her mother. There is nothing more serious. She doesn’t commit a more serious crime than killing the mother that she loves so much.
So I think in some ways, Seo-rae has already died the moment she had to go through that.
I think she has taken a journey with her mother and her grandfather to the mountain that her mother said belonged to her, and then she starts her journey down. After she has placed the ashes of her mother and her grandfather at that mountain, she starts her own journey towards death down from the mountain. Because I think every animal, including mankind, wants to find death where they were born.
So that is why Seo-rae believed that her mother wanted to be buried in the mountains and Seo-rae goes towards the ocean because she belongs to the ocean.
I think the only way she might have found salvation from her ordeal could have been to leave and go somewhere else with Hae-jun, but that didn’t happen, so inevitably she had to go to the ocean.
And all of that began with the death of Seo-rae’s mother.
Well, thank you all so much for being here. Thank you so much. Thank you, Jiwon. Thank you, Chung Seo-kyung. And thank you for watching this film and talking to us about it.
The film’s producer, CJEnt is also the international sales agent as well as the So. Korean distributor of the film. Internationally it has licensed the film to Mubi for USA, UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Latin America, Turkey, India, and Airlines and to Arna Media and Vesta for Russia, Bac Films for France, Cinobo for Greece, Cinéart for Benelux, Golden Village Pictures for Singapore, Happinet Phantom Studios for Japan, Lucky Red for Italy, Madman Entertainment for Australia and New Zealand, Movie Cloud for Taiwan, NonStop Entertainment for Scandinavia, Plaion Pictures for Germany, Purple Plan (2022) (Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore, The Filmbridge for Mongolia, Alambique Filmes for Portugal, Avalon for Spain
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- 12/20/2022
- by Sydney
- Sydney's Buzz
Cinematography retrospectives are the way to go—more than a thorough display of talent, it exposes the vast expanse a Dp will travel, like an education in form and business all the same. Accordingly I’m happy to see the Criterion Channel give a 25-film tribute to James Wong Howe, whose career spanned silent cinema to the ’70s, populated with work by Howard Hawks, Michael Curtz, Samuel Fuller, Alexander Mackendrick, Sydney Pollack, John Frankenheimer, and Raoul Walsh.
Further retrospectives are granted to Romy Schneider (recent repertory sensation La piscine among them), Carlos Saura (finally a chance to see Peppermint frappe!), the British New Wave, and groundbreaking distributor Cinema 5, who brought to U.S. shores everything from The Man Who Fell to Earth and Putney Swope to Pumping Iron and Scenes from a Marriage.
September also yields streaming premieres for the recently restored Bronco Bullfrog, Ang Lee’s Pushing Hands,...
Further retrospectives are granted to Romy Schneider (recent repertory sensation La piscine among them), Carlos Saura (finally a chance to see Peppermint frappe!), the British New Wave, and groundbreaking distributor Cinema 5, who brought to U.S. shores everything from The Man Who Fell to Earth and Putney Swope to Pumping Iron and Scenes from a Marriage.
September also yields streaming premieres for the recently restored Bronco Bullfrog, Ang Lee’s Pushing Hands,...
- 8/22/2022
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.
Japan Society
Ghost in the Shell kicks off “Monthly Anime.”
Film at Lincoln Center
The thematically arranged Hong Sang-soo double features have their last weekend until May—highlights include Tale of Cinema on 35mm and a triple-feature on Sunday.
IFC Center
The new restoration of Inland Empire continues, while Mississippi Masala starts; Eraserhead, The Crow, Twilight, and Derek Jarman’s Sebastiane have late-night showings.
Roxy Cinema
A Nick Zedd program screens Friday; Death in Venice, Traveling Light, and prints of Unstoppable and Lady Terminator play on Saturday; Death in Venice and Unstoppable also play on Sunday, alongside a Yale Film Archive program.
Museum of Modern Art
As retrospectives of Larry Fessenden’s genre house Glass Eye Pix winds down, Buñuel’s Nazarin screens in a new restoration.
Metrograph
The Robert Siodmak retrospective winds down, while three Dracula movies play in...
Japan Society
Ghost in the Shell kicks off “Monthly Anime.”
Film at Lincoln Center
The thematically arranged Hong Sang-soo double features have their last weekend until May—highlights include Tale of Cinema on 35mm and a triple-feature on Sunday.
IFC Center
The new restoration of Inland Empire continues, while Mississippi Masala starts; Eraserhead, The Crow, Twilight, and Derek Jarman’s Sebastiane have late-night showings.
Roxy Cinema
A Nick Zedd program screens Friday; Death in Venice, Traveling Light, and prints of Unstoppable and Lady Terminator play on Saturday; Death in Venice and Unstoppable also play on Sunday, alongside a Yale Film Archive program.
Museum of Modern Art
As retrospectives of Larry Fessenden’s genre house Glass Eye Pix winds down, Buñuel’s Nazarin screens in a new restoration.
Metrograph
The Robert Siodmak retrospective winds down, while three Dracula movies play in...
- 4/14/2022
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
“What would you do if you had six months left to live?” asks the doctor who diagnoses a do-nothing bureaucrat with terminal cancer in “Ikiru,” a 1952 masterpiece I suspect precious few of those who see its English-language remake, “Living,” will recall. Quite unlike anything else in Akira Kurosawa’s career, “Ikiru” ranks among the Japanese director’s best: With no samurai battles or set-pieces, the low-key contemporary melodrama raises profound questions about how we choose to spend the limited time we’re afforded, focusing on a stoic functionary about whom even the narrator apologizes, “He might as well be a corpse.”
Culturally specific as so much of “Ikiru” may be, its lessons translate quite well to midcentury British society, courtesy of Nobel-winning novelist Kazuo Ishiguro, who did the heavy lifting of adapting it to 1953 London for director Oliver Hermanus (“Moffie”). In “Living,” the dying man is played by Bill Nighy,...
Culturally specific as so much of “Ikiru” may be, its lessons translate quite well to midcentury British society, courtesy of Nobel-winning novelist Kazuo Ishiguro, who did the heavy lifting of adapting it to 1953 London for director Oliver Hermanus (“Moffie”). In “Living,” the dying man is played by Bill Nighy,...
- 1/25/2022
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Björn Andrésen at age 15 had his life turned upside down when Luchino Visconti anointed him to play Tadzio in his film version of Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice
Björn Andrésen at age 15 had his life turned upside down when Luchino Visconti anointed him to play Tadzio in his film version of Thomas Mann’s Death In Venice, starring Dirk Bogarde and pronounced him to be “the most beautiful boy in the world”.
Andrésen in Ari Aster’s Midsommar plays a man who has reached the end of his life. In Kristian Petri and Kristina Lindström’s claustrophobic and disquieting documentary The Most Beautiful Boy In The World (Världens Vackraste Pojke), produced by Stina Gardell we are introduced to a man in his Sixties who is having a difficult time dealing with life.
Kristian Petri with Kristina Lindström and Anne-Katrin Titze on Björn Andrésen: “The scenes are like we are...
Björn Andrésen at age 15 had his life turned upside down when Luchino Visconti anointed him to play Tadzio in his film version of Thomas Mann’s Death In Venice, starring Dirk Bogarde and pronounced him to be “the most beautiful boy in the world”.
Andrésen in Ari Aster’s Midsommar plays a man who has reached the end of his life. In Kristian Petri and Kristina Lindström’s claustrophobic and disquieting documentary The Most Beautiful Boy In The World (Världens Vackraste Pojke), produced by Stina Gardell we are introduced to a man in his Sixties who is having a difficult time dealing with life.
Kristian Petri with Kristina Lindström and Anne-Katrin Titze on Björn Andrésen: “The scenes are like we are...
- 1/5/2022
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Björn Andrésen was just 16 when he landed the role that would change his life. The Swedish teenager was handpicked by legendary Italian auteur Luchino Visconti to star as Tadzio in the 1971 film adaptation of the 1912 Thomas Mann novella “Death in Venice.” In the film, Andrésen’s youth and striking looks obsess Dirk Bogarde’s Gustav von Aschenbach, a composer grappling with failing health. But that lucky break became a nightmare, particularly after Visconti labelled Andrésen the “most beautiful boy in the world” at a Cannes press conference for the film and then dropped the young man he had made a star.
“Life and career-wise, it fucked up a lot of things,” says Andrésen.
After gifting Andrésen with the memorable moniker describing his ethereal looks on that fateful day in the South of France, Visconti never spoke to the actor he’d plucked from obscurity and set off on a fateful collision course with teen idoldom.
“Life and career-wise, it fucked up a lot of things,” says Andrésen.
After gifting Andrésen with the memorable moniker describing his ethereal looks on that fateful day in the South of France, Visconti never spoke to the actor he’d plucked from obscurity and set off on a fateful collision course with teen idoldom.
- 11/30/2021
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Art films used to cross over into the mainstream more than they do now, though it still happens (just look at the success of “Parasite”). But even back in the heyday of art-house earthquakes like “Z” and “Last Tango in Paris,” there was something surreal about the crossover phenomenon of Björn Andrésen. He was the 15-year-old Swedish boy who director Luchino Visconti cast as the love object in “Death in Venice,” his 1971 film of Thomas Mann’s novel, and for a time Andrésen blew up like a pop star. “Death in Venice” was a grand, slow-moving, and, to me, always rather stilted and awkward piece of lavish-souled literary adaptation. On the page, Mann had evoked the romantic and sensual obsession that his ailing autobiographical hero felt, from afar, for Tadzio, an adolescent he spies at the hotel he’s convalescing at on the Lido. In the movie, the hero’s...
- 11/6/2021
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Juno Films has acquired global rights to “A Song for Cesar,” following the film’s debut at the Mill Valley Film Festival this October. Directed and produced by Abel Sanchez and Andrés Alegria, the film is a celebration of the organizers, musicians and artists comprising Cesar Chavez’s Farmworkers movement. Juno Films plans to release the film in the U.S. in early 2022 followed by a national broadcast release. The deal was negotiated by Elizabeth Sheldon, founding partner and CEO of Juno Films.
The film tells a previously untold story about the musicians and artists — including Joan Baez, Maya Angelou and Carlos Santana, among others — who dedicated their time, creativity and reputations to peacefully advance Chavez’s movement of labor organizing in pursuit of better wages and working conditions for farmworkers. The documentary also explores other facets of Chavez’s life — from childhood to his final days — revelations that, until now,...
The film tells a previously untold story about the musicians and artists — including Joan Baez, Maya Angelou and Carlos Santana, among others — who dedicated their time, creativity and reputations to peacefully advance Chavez’s movement of labor organizing in pursuit of better wages and working conditions for farmworkers. The documentary also explores other facets of Chavez’s life — from childhood to his final days — revelations that, until now,...
- 10/13/2021
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
“Woody Allen loves Venice. But Woody Allen’s Venice is not the real Venice. It’s the Las Vegas version of Venice, and it’s not only him,” says Italian director Yuri Ancarani, whose youth drama “Atlantide,” which makes its world premiere in Venice in the Horizons section, might be described as the ultimate Venice landscape film.
Think beautiful shot after shot of the lagoons, peppered with sun-tanned youths working out their interest in speed (the motoring kind) through boats whizzing across one of the world’s most painterly waterscapes.
The music has also been updated, along with Allen’s postcard vision of the city.
“Vivaldi is always the music you associate with Venice but they play Trap,” says Ancarani, who is an award-winning visual artist and filmmaker that had his first solo show in the U.S., featuring three shorts, at the Hammer Museum in 2014.
Using the Red Monstro...
Think beautiful shot after shot of the lagoons, peppered with sun-tanned youths working out their interest in speed (the motoring kind) through boats whizzing across one of the world’s most painterly waterscapes.
The music has also been updated, along with Allen’s postcard vision of the city.
“Vivaldi is always the music you associate with Venice but they play Trap,” says Ancarani, who is an award-winning visual artist and filmmaker that had his first solo show in the U.S., featuring three shorts, at the Hammer Museum in 2014.
Using the Red Monstro...
- 9/7/2021
- by Liza Foreman
- Variety Film + TV
Throughout history, the world of filmmaking has chomped up childhoods in its sharpened teeth and spat them into an uncertain, damaged adulthood.
Stories of damaged and destroyed lives are commonplace: Judy Garland was fed an assortment of pills that stunted her growth and affected her mental health; Drew Barrymore was addicted to drugs and alcohol before she was a teenager; Corey Feldman was sexually abused and assaulted.
These young and tiny little lives are fed through a machine with no protection. With the popularity ofTikTok and Youtube, these child celebrities are on the rise with barely any safety net.
So it feels very pertinent that Kristina Lindströmand Kristian Petri’s documentary The Most Beautiful Boy in the World is released now. The movie revolves around Björn Andresen who starred in Luchino Visconti’s Death in Venice and the title of this documentary relates to Visconti’s viewpoint on the star...
Stories of damaged and destroyed lives are commonplace: Judy Garland was fed an assortment of pills that stunted her growth and affected her mental health; Drew Barrymore was addicted to drugs and alcohol before she was a teenager; Corey Feldman was sexually abused and assaulted.
These young and tiny little lives are fed through a machine with no protection. With the popularity ofTikTok and Youtube, these child celebrities are on the rise with barely any safety net.
So it feels very pertinent that Kristina Lindströmand Kristian Petri’s documentary The Most Beautiful Boy in the World is released now. The movie revolves around Björn Andresen who starred in Luchino Visconti’s Death in Venice and the title of this documentary relates to Visconti’s viewpoint on the star...
- 8/4/2021
- by Sarah Cook
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Warner Bros’ supervillain blockbuster scored a strong £3.25m.
Rank Film (Distributor) Three-day gross (July 30-Aug 1) Total gross to date Week 1 The Suicide Squad (Warner Bros) £3.25m £3.25m 1 2 Jungle Cruise (Disney) £2.24m £2.24m 1 3 Space Jam: A New Legacy (Warner Bros) £1.3m £6.6m 2 4 The Croods 2: A New Age (Universal) £892,559 £4.2m 3 5 Black Widow (Disney) £786,548 £16.06m 4
Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.39
James Gunn’s supervillain blockbuster The Suicide Squad opened top of the UK-Ireland box office this weekend, with a £3.25m start.
Playing in 643 locations, the film recorded a £5,051 location average for Warner Bros.
The £3.25m total is down on the £4.8m opening...
Rank Film (Distributor) Three-day gross (July 30-Aug 1) Total gross to date Week 1 The Suicide Squad (Warner Bros) £3.25m £3.25m 1 2 Jungle Cruise (Disney) £2.24m £2.24m 1 3 Space Jam: A New Legacy (Warner Bros) £1.3m £6.6m 2 4 The Croods 2: A New Age (Universal) £892,559 £4.2m 3 5 Black Widow (Disney) £786,548 £16.06m 4
Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.39
James Gunn’s supervillain blockbuster The Suicide Squad opened top of the UK-Ireland box office this weekend, with a £3.25m start.
Playing in 643 locations, the film recorded a £5,051 location average for Warner Bros.
The £3.25m total is down on the £4.8m opening...
- 8/2/2021
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Two blockbuster openers on the same weekend.
Two blockbuster titles are vying for supremacy at cinemas in the UK and Ireland this weekend, as The Suicide Squad opens for Warner Bros against Jungle Cruise for Disney.
Opening in 643 sites, The Suicide Squad is the 10th film in the DC Extended Universe of films based on DC Comics characters. It is a standalone sequel to 2016’s Suicide Squad, with a separate narrative but some of the same characters.
David Ayer, director of the first title, was set to return before switching to development on a film about the Gotham City Sirens.
Two blockbuster titles are vying for supremacy at cinemas in the UK and Ireland this weekend, as The Suicide Squad opens for Warner Bros against Jungle Cruise for Disney.
Opening in 643 sites, The Suicide Squad is the 10th film in the DC Extended Universe of films based on DC Comics characters. It is a standalone sequel to 2016’s Suicide Squad, with a separate narrative but some of the same characters.
David Ayer, director of the first title, was set to return before switching to development on a film about the Gotham City Sirens.
- 7/30/2021
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Luchino Visconti emerges badly from this desperately sad documentary about the exploitation of his Death in Venice child star Björn Andrésen
This documentary tells us how the most beautiful boy in the world became its saddest man, his life damaged by the exploitative abuse that the movie business incidentally hands out to all those beautiful girls in the world without anyone caring or making documentaries about them.
Related: ‘Death in Venice screwed up my life’ – the tragic story of Visconti’s ‘beautiful boy’...
This documentary tells us how the most beautiful boy in the world became its saddest man, his life damaged by the exploitative abuse that the movie business incidentally hands out to all those beautiful girls in the world without anyone caring or making documentaries about them.
Related: ‘Death in Venice screwed up my life’ – the tragic story of Visconti’s ‘beautiful boy’...
- 7/28/2021
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Björn Andrésen was the striking child star of the classic film, the perfect embodiment of youthful beauty. Fifty years on, he is still haunted by the exploitation that continued long after filming
Björn Andrésen was just 15 when he walked straight into the lion’s den, being cast as Tadzio, the sailor-suited object of desire in Luchino Visconti’s film Death in Venice. Its release in 1971 made him not merely a star but an instant icon – the embodiment of pristine youthful beauty. Sitting alone in Stockholm today at the age of 66, he looks more like Gandalf with his white beard and his gaunt face framed by shoulder-length white locks. His eyes twinkle as alluringly as ever but he’s no pussycat. Asked what he would say to Visconti if he were here now, he doesn’t pause. “Fuck off,” he says.
No one who sees The Most Beautiful Boy in the World,...
Björn Andrésen was just 15 when he walked straight into the lion’s den, being cast as Tadzio, the sailor-suited object of desire in Luchino Visconti’s film Death in Venice. Its release in 1971 made him not merely a star but an instant icon – the embodiment of pristine youthful beauty. Sitting alone in Stockholm today at the age of 66, he looks more like Gandalf with his white beard and his gaunt face framed by shoulder-length white locks. His eyes twinkle as alluringly as ever but he’s no pussycat. Asked what he would say to Visconti if he were here now, he doesn’t pause. “Fuck off,” he says.
No one who sees The Most Beautiful Boy in the World,...
- 7/15/2021
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
Documentary “The Most Beautiful Boy in the World,” about the teenage actor in Luchino Visconti’s “Death in Venice,” has been sold to numerous territories by Berlin-based sales agency Films Boutique.
The Swedish film, directed by Kristina Lindström and Kristian Petri, premiered in Sundance in the World Cinema Documentary Competition. It receives an online market screening at Cannes’ Marché du Film on Tuesday at 9.30 A.M.
The film will be distributed in the following territories: Japan (Gaga), U.K. (Dogwoof), Australia and New Zealand (Madman), Korea (Watcha), BeNeLux (Amstel), Spain (Filmin), Germany, Austria and Switzerland (Missing Films), Italy (Just Wanted), Greece (Carousel), China (Moviezone), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Film Europe), Denmark (Film Bazar), Norway (Another World), Poland (Against Gravity), Ex-Yugoslavia (Five Stars) and Israel (Lev Cinema).
The Swedish distributor is TriArt, which will release the film on Oct. 15. Juno has the North American rights, and will release Sept. 24.
The documentary...
The Swedish film, directed by Kristina Lindström and Kristian Petri, premiered in Sundance in the World Cinema Documentary Competition. It receives an online market screening at Cannes’ Marché du Film on Tuesday at 9.30 A.M.
The film will be distributed in the following territories: Japan (Gaga), U.K. (Dogwoof), Australia and New Zealand (Madman), Korea (Watcha), BeNeLux (Amstel), Spain (Filmin), Germany, Austria and Switzerland (Missing Films), Italy (Just Wanted), Greece (Carousel), China (Moviezone), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Film Europe), Denmark (Film Bazar), Norway (Another World), Poland (Against Gravity), Ex-Yugoslavia (Five Stars) and Israel (Lev Cinema).
The Swedish distributor is TriArt, which will release the film on Oct. 15. Juno has the North American rights, and will release Sept. 24.
The documentary...
- 7/5/2021
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
The 11th edition of the festival, held in Mallorca from July 26 to August 1, will premiere Leos Carax ‘Annette’ in Spain
Judi Dench and Stephen Frears will be the guests of honour at this year’s Atlantida Mallorca Film Fest (Amff), run by Spanish SVoD platform Filmin with the Mallorca Film Commission. It is running as a physical, mainly outdoor, event from July 26 to August 1.
The UK’s Dench and Frears, who worked together on Victoria & Abdul and Philomena, are both set to attend and will participate in a live masterclass on July 31. They will each receive the festival’s Masters Of Cinema award.
Judi Dench and Stephen Frears will be the guests of honour at this year’s Atlantida Mallorca Film Fest (Amff), run by Spanish SVoD platform Filmin with the Mallorca Film Commission. It is running as a physical, mainly outdoor, event from July 26 to August 1.
The UK’s Dench and Frears, who worked together on Victoria & Abdul and Philomena, are both set to attend and will participate in a live masterclass on July 31. They will each receive the festival’s Masters Of Cinema award.
- 7/1/2021
- by Elisabet Cabeza
- ScreenDaily
John Waters has spent the last year and a half happily working on his latest book, a novel about a woman who steals suitcases at airports. Technically his first novel, it’s called “Flair Mouth,” subtitle “A Feel Bad Romance,” and is set for release in May of next year. During an in-person interview during this year’s Provincetown Film Festival, where he serves as unofficial emcee and hostess with the mostess, the director said that while the pandemic didn’t change his daily life too much, he’s itching to get back to the movies.
“I’m sick of watching stuff on TV, I’m sick of virtual everything,” said Waters, before rattling off a list of some of his quarantine watches. Some of his recent viewings include “Halston,” the Netflix show made by his friends Dan Minahan and Christine Vachon. True to his varied tastes, he also enjoyed “I, Sniper,...
“I’m sick of watching stuff on TV, I’m sick of virtual everything,” said Waters, before rattling off a list of some of his quarantine watches. Some of his recent viewings include “Halston,” the Netflix show made by his friends Dan Minahan and Christine Vachon. True to his varied tastes, he also enjoyed “I, Sniper,...
- 6/26/2021
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
Dogwoof has debuted a brand new trailer for the upcoming documentary ‘The Most Beautiful Boy in the World.’
Fifty years after the premiere of ‘Death in Venice’, Kristina Lindström & Kristian Petri’s celebrated documentary explores the life of Björn Andrésen, the former teen star who embodied the legendary character Tadzio and whom director Luchino Visconti dubbed “the most beautiful boy in the world.”
In 1970, filmmaker Luchino Visconti travelled throughout Europe looking for the perfect boy to personify absolute beauty in his adaptation for the screen of Thomas Mann’s ‘Death in Venice.’ In Stockholm, he discovered Björn Andrésen, a shy 15-year-old teenager whom he brought to international fame overnight and led to spend a short but intense part of his turbulent youth between the Lido in Venice, London, the Cannes Film Festival and the so distant Japan. Fifty years after the premiere of Death in Venice, Björn takes us on...
Fifty years after the premiere of ‘Death in Venice’, Kristina Lindström & Kristian Petri’s celebrated documentary explores the life of Björn Andrésen, the former teen star who embodied the legendary character Tadzio and whom director Luchino Visconti dubbed “the most beautiful boy in the world.”
In 1970, filmmaker Luchino Visconti travelled throughout Europe looking for the perfect boy to personify absolute beauty in his adaptation for the screen of Thomas Mann’s ‘Death in Venice.’ In Stockholm, he discovered Björn Andrésen, a shy 15-year-old teenager whom he brought to international fame overnight and led to spend a short but intense part of his turbulent youth between the Lido in Venice, London, the Cannes Film Festival and the so distant Japan. Fifty years after the premiere of Death in Venice, Björn takes us on...
- 6/18/2021
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The Criterion Channel has unveiled their March 2021 lineup, which includes no shortage of remarkable programming. Highlights from the slate include eight gems from Preston Sturges, Elaine May’s brilliant A New Leaf, a series featuring Black Westerns, Ann Hui’s Boat People, the new restoration of Ousmane Sembène’s Mandabi.
They will also add films from their Essential Fellini boxset, series on Dirk Bogarde and Nelly Kaplan, and Luchino Visconti’s The Damned and Death in Venice, and more. In terms of recent releases, there’s also Matthew Rankin’s The Twentieth Century and Claire Denis’ Let the Sunshine In.
Check out the lineup below, along with the teaser for the Black Westerns series. For weekly streaming updates across all services, bookmark this page.
The Adventurer, Charles Chaplin, 1917
Bandini, Bimal Roy, 1963
Behind the Screen, Charles Chaplin, 1916
Black Jack, Ken Loach, 1979
Black Rodeo, Jeff Kanew, 1972
Blood Simple, Joel and Ethan Coen,...
They will also add films from their Essential Fellini boxset, series on Dirk Bogarde and Nelly Kaplan, and Luchino Visconti’s The Damned and Death in Venice, and more. In terms of recent releases, there’s also Matthew Rankin’s The Twentieth Century and Claire Denis’ Let the Sunshine In.
Check out the lineup below, along with the teaser for the Black Westerns series. For weekly streaming updates across all services, bookmark this page.
The Adventurer, Charles Chaplin, 1917
Bandini, Bimal Roy, 1963
Behind the Screen, Charles Chaplin, 1916
Black Jack, Ken Loach, 1979
Black Rodeo, Jeff Kanew, 1972
Blood Simple, Joel and Ethan Coen,...
- 2/26/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Late Mitsuo Yanagimachi’s last work was rather successful, winning Best Film at the Japanese Eyes section of Tokyo International Festival, screening in the Director’s Fortnight section at Cannes, getting picked up for distribution in the United States, and garnering rave reviews from all over the world.
The story is set on the campus of Rikkyo University in Tokyo and its rather meta script revolves around a group of students from the literature department’s “film workshop”, who are about to start shooting their movie “The Bored Murderer”. As highlighted in the impressive long shot that opens the movie, everyone in the crew are in a rush to start shooting, but the lead actor drops out in the last minute, throwing their preparations in disarray. Ikeda, a stage play actor that is eventually tasked with the role proves a rather unusual persona, while Matsukawa, the director,...
The story is set on the campus of Rikkyo University in Tokyo and its rather meta script revolves around a group of students from the literature department’s “film workshop”, who are about to start shooting their movie “The Bored Murderer”. As highlighted in the impressive long shot that opens the movie, everyone in the crew are in a rush to start shooting, but the lead actor drops out in the last minute, throwing their preparations in disarray. Ikeda, a stage play actor that is eventually tasked with the role proves a rather unusual persona, while Matsukawa, the director,...
- 2/12/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
If you haven’t seen Luchino Visconti’s Death in Venice, you probably know the director’s muse, Björn Andrésen. Even if you’re not familiar with Andrésen, he was the inspiration for the bishōnen archetype in manga: beautiful young men of androgynous beauty. Kristina Lindström and Kristian Petri’s new documentary The Most Beautiful Boy in the World unravels the objectification experienced as a 15-year-old boy and how it compounded with family trauma to torment the actor’s life. The directors worked with Andrésen for five years and as he welcomes them into his life, their subject unpacks feelings and stories he’s never expressed, and embarks on a healing journey that involves discovering the cause of his mother’s death and embracing a faith that saves his life.
We spoke with directors Kristina Lindström and Kristian Petri about making sure they told Björn Andrésen’s real story, their...
We spoke with directors Kristina Lindström and Kristian Petri about making sure they told Björn Andrésen’s real story, their...
- 2/8/2021
- by Joshua Encinias
- The Film Stage
“The Most Beautiful Boy in the World” filmmakers Kristina Lindström and Kristian Petri knew it was vital that film subject Björn Andrésen return to Japan in his adulthood, years after the actor’s first experience there “terrified” him.
The documentary follows Andrésen, once dubbed by the media as “the most beautiful boy in the world,” and shows how his life changed after he shot to sudden fame with his role in the 1971 film “Death in Venice.” After the release of the film, the then-teenager spent a lot of time in Japan, where the film became popular, and recorded several pop songs there. In the documentary, the Swedish-born actor finds himself back in Japan at a karaoke bar, singing a song in Japanese that he recorded years prior.
“When he went there in his youth, he hated going there and he was scared most of the time,” Petri told TheWrap’s...
The documentary follows Andrésen, once dubbed by the media as “the most beautiful boy in the world,” and shows how his life changed after he shot to sudden fame with his role in the 1971 film “Death in Venice.” After the release of the film, the then-teenager spent a lot of time in Japan, where the film became popular, and recorded several pop songs there. In the documentary, the Swedish-born actor finds himself back in Japan at a karaoke bar, singing a song in Japanese that he recorded years prior.
“When he went there in his youth, he hated going there and he was scared most of the time,” Petri told TheWrap’s...
- 2/6/2021
- by Beatrice Verhoeven
- The Wrap
Katrina Lindstrom, Kristian Petri directed the World Cinema Documentary selection.
Berlin-based Films Boutique has licensed UK rights on Sundance documentary The Most Beautiful Boy In The World to Dogwoof.
Films Boutique head of sales Julien Razafindranaly negotiated the deal with Dogwoof head of distribution and acquisitions Oli Harbottle.
Kristina Lindstrom and Kristian Petri directed the World Cinema Documentary selection that premiered last week and explores the life of Bjorn Andresen, the child star of Death In Venice dubbed “the most beautiful boy in the world” by director Luchino Visconti.
‘The Most Beautiful Boy In The World’: Sundance Review
Andresen...
Berlin-based Films Boutique has licensed UK rights on Sundance documentary The Most Beautiful Boy In The World to Dogwoof.
Films Boutique head of sales Julien Razafindranaly negotiated the deal with Dogwoof head of distribution and acquisitions Oli Harbottle.
Kristina Lindstrom and Kristian Petri directed the World Cinema Documentary selection that premiered last week and explores the life of Bjorn Andresen, the child star of Death In Venice dubbed “the most beautiful boy in the world” by director Luchino Visconti.
‘The Most Beautiful Boy In The World’: Sundance Review
Andresen...
- 2/3/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Chicago – The 2021 Sundance Film Festival heads into Day Three after Opening Night and a full slate of films for Day Two. This year’s festival is virtual and online, meaning anyone with a ticket or a pass can indulge in the film offerings throughout the festival, which runs until February 3rd.
For the premieres of 2021, the cutting edge potential influencer films and all the ancillary new voice filmmakers, the Sundance Film Festival is the one that begins every film year with the movies that ultimately become the talk of the town and the gatherer of year end awards. Your ticket to the festival is your chance to see these films and filmmakers before the general public.
Strawberry Mansion
Photo credit: Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is an annual event organized by the Sundance Institute – an organization founded by actor Robert Redford in 1980 – and dedicated to the growth of independent artists.
For the premieres of 2021, the cutting edge potential influencer films and all the ancillary new voice filmmakers, the Sundance Film Festival is the one that begins every film year with the movies that ultimately become the talk of the town and the gatherer of year end awards. Your ticket to the festival is your chance to see these films and filmmakers before the general public.
Strawberry Mansion
Photo credit: Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is an annual event organized by the Sundance Institute – an organization founded by actor Robert Redford in 1980 – and dedicated to the growth of independent artists.
- 1/30/2021
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
by Jason Adams
"In all the world there is no impurity so impure as old age." -- Death in Venice
The director Luchino Visconti was 64-years-young when he directed his rumination on youth and beauty seen from the opposite end of life. Death in Venice saw Dirk Bogarde vacationing in a plague-riddled seaside hotel where a teen-boy called Tadzio (Björn Andrésen) suddenly sends his overheated brain reeling across platonically idyllic places. And now here 50 years later, premiering at Sundance, comes the documentary The Most Beautiful Boy in the World, which turns around and gives us Tadzio's perspective looking back. The sun doesn't shine as brightly from that direction...
"In all the world there is no impurity so impure as old age." -- Death in Venice
The director Luchino Visconti was 64-years-young when he directed his rumination on youth and beauty seen from the opposite end of life. Death in Venice saw Dirk Bogarde vacationing in a plague-riddled seaside hotel where a teen-boy called Tadzio (Björn Andrésen) suddenly sends his overheated brain reeling across platonically idyllic places. And now here 50 years later, premiering at Sundance, comes the documentary The Most Beautiful Boy in the World, which turns around and gives us Tadzio's perspective looking back. The sun doesn't shine as brightly from that direction...
- 1/29/2021
- by JA
- FilmExperience
At the height of his teenage fame, actor Björn Andresen was beset by a particular fear: that fans who sought him out at events were wielding scissors, in order to snip one of his golden locks. So overwhelming was the young Swede’s fame that the idea wasn’t just possible, it was probable.
Plucked from obscurity by Italian filmmaker Luchino Visconti to star in his 1971 “Death in Venice,” Andresen rocketed into public consciousness at the age of 15, a consuming rollercoaster ride that has never quite abated. In Kristina Lindström and Kristian Petri’s crushing “The Most Beautiful Boy in the World,” , so much of it care of a society that blithely consumes its most gentle citizens. The documentary does not grapple with some of the more salacious elements of Andresen’s story — now perhaps is the time to explain that “Death in Venice” follows an aging composer (the 50-year-old...
Plucked from obscurity by Italian filmmaker Luchino Visconti to star in his 1971 “Death in Venice,” Andresen rocketed into public consciousness at the age of 15, a consuming rollercoaster ride that has never quite abated. In Kristina Lindström and Kristian Petri’s crushing “The Most Beautiful Boy in the World,” , so much of it care of a society that blithely consumes its most gentle citizens. The documentary does not grapple with some of the more salacious elements of Andresen’s story — now perhaps is the time to explain that “Death in Venice” follows an aging composer (the 50-year-old...
- 1/29/2021
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
He was never a household name by any stretch, but 50 years ago there was a lad who was widely dubbed “The Most Beautiful Boy in the World,” which is now the name of a documentary about the now-old boy, Bjorn Andresen. It’s a sad, cautionary tale, after a fashion, as Andresen has spent a lifetime trying to divest himself of that sobriquet–one that is no longer true, of course, but that will rise again thanks to this cautiously insightful look at a singular, and quite melancholy, figure.
Juno Films has set a September release for the film which it acquired ahead of its premiere Friday in the Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Documentary Competition lineup.
“Too much, too soon,” is a familiar lament applicable to many flash-in-the pan showbusiness personalities, and so it was for this teenager back in 1970, when just the sixth boy the eminent Italian...
Juno Films has set a September release for the film which it acquired ahead of its premiere Friday in the Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Documentary Competition lineup.
“Too much, too soon,” is a familiar lament applicable to many flash-in-the pan showbusiness personalities, and so it was for this teenager back in 1970, when just the sixth boy the eminent Italian...
- 1/29/2021
- by Todd McCarthy
- Deadline Film + TV
In 1971, Björn Andrésen was the most beautiful boy in the world. In 2019, he’s the elder of a neopagan commune in rural Sweden, whose inability to commit suicide in the fictional ritual of ättestupa forces the other cult onlookers to brutally bash his head in with a rock. In the time between Luchino Visconti’s Death in Venice and Ari Aster’s Midsommar, Andrésen lived a life that might have seemed enviable on the surface, but which he baldly describes in this documentary as a “living nightmare.” It was the fateful casting audition in 1970 Stockholm where Visconti met Andrésen and found his beautiful boy that set the wheels in motion for the rest of his life, marred by personal tragedy, substance abuse, and exploitation. At the film’s conclusion, the woman who oversaw Andrésen’s casting alongside Visconti regretfully reflects on the day that shifted the course of his life forever,...
- 1/29/2021
- by Brianna Zigler
- The Film Stage
Waves of sadness wash through this documentary by Kristina Lindström and Kristian Petri’s documentary, which profiles Björn Andrésen, and plays out as a not entirely satisfying mix of film history and a particularly melancholic episode of Who Do You Think You Are?
Andrésen – who still cuts a striking figure with long hair and a beard today – was plucked from obscurity at the age of 15 by Luchino Visconti to star as the beautiful teenager Tadzio, with whom Composer Gustav von Aschenbach becomes obsessed in Death In Venice.
Although it is not explicitly stated – very little is in the course of this frustrating documentary – Andrésen appears to suffer from depression to the degree that when we first encounter him, his girlfriend his helping him to entirely clean out his filthy flat under threat of eviction. The filmmakers no doubt want us to draw a direct line from Death In...
Andrésen – who still cuts a striking figure with long hair and a beard today – was plucked from obscurity at the age of 15 by Luchino Visconti to star as the beautiful teenager Tadzio, with whom Composer Gustav von Aschenbach becomes obsessed in Death In Venice.
Although it is not explicitly stated – very little is in the course of this frustrating documentary – Andrésen appears to suffer from depression to the degree that when we first encounter him, his girlfriend his helping him to entirely clean out his filthy flat under threat of eviction. The filmmakers no doubt want us to draw a direct line from Death In...
- 1/29/2021
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Juno Films has acquired U.S. and Canadian rights to “The Most Beautiful Boy in the World” ahead of its world premiere at this month’s Sundance Film Festival.
The film will be of particular interest to cinephiles, as it tells the story of Björn Andrésen, who became internationally recognizable at the age of fifteen with a key role in Luchino Visconti’s “Death in Venice.” His star turn opposite Dirk Bogarde was something of a double-edged sword — it made him famous and plunged him into a world of the rich and powerful, but it also left psychological baggage. Visconti picked Andrésen because, in the director’s estimation, he was “The world’s most beautiful boy.” And he shot him in ways that highlighted his looks — a decision that has not necessarily aged well.
Andrésen suggested that Visconti’s style bordered on exploitation of a minor. In a 2003 interview with The Guardian,...
The film will be of particular interest to cinephiles, as it tells the story of Björn Andrésen, who became internationally recognizable at the age of fifteen with a key role in Luchino Visconti’s “Death in Venice.” His star turn opposite Dirk Bogarde was something of a double-edged sword — it made him famous and plunged him into a world of the rich and powerful, but it also left psychological baggage. Visconti picked Andrésen because, in the director’s estimation, he was “The world’s most beautiful boy.” And he shot him in ways that highlighted his looks — a decision that has not necessarily aged well.
Andrésen suggested that Visconti’s style bordered on exploitation of a minor. In a 2003 interview with The Guardian,...
- 1/18/2021
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Juno Films has acquired the U.S. and Canadian rights to “The Most Beautiful Boy in the World,” a documentary about Swedish child star Bjorn Andresen, ahead of its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.
“The Most Beautiful Boy in the World” is playing in the World Documentary Competition at this year’s Sundance, and Juno Films will release the movie in theaters this May.
Bjorn Andresen was a Swedish teen who was thrust into international stardom at the age of 15 thanks to his impeccable good looks. Director Luchino Visconti scoured Europe looking for someone who could personify absolute beauty in the film adaptation of Thomas Mann’s “Death in Venice” and discovered Andresen, a shy teen who soon was shuttled through Venice, London, Cannes and Japan and was declared by Visconti to be “the world’s most beautiful boy.”
The documentary picks up with Andresen (American audiences might recognize...
“The Most Beautiful Boy in the World” is playing in the World Documentary Competition at this year’s Sundance, and Juno Films will release the movie in theaters this May.
Bjorn Andresen was a Swedish teen who was thrust into international stardom at the age of 15 thanks to his impeccable good looks. Director Luchino Visconti scoured Europe looking for someone who could personify absolute beauty in the film adaptation of Thomas Mann’s “Death in Venice” and discovered Andresen, a shy teen who soon was shuttled through Venice, London, Cannes and Japan and was declared by Visconti to be “the world’s most beautiful boy.”
The documentary picks up with Andresen (American audiences might recognize...
- 1/18/2021
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Films Boutique represents world sales.
Juno Films has acquired North American rights to The Most Beautiful Boy In The World, the upcoming Sundance 2021 world premiere that documents the life of the Swedish child star of Luchino Visconti’s 1971 drama Death In Venice.
Kristina Lindstom and Kristian Petri directed the documentary, which catches up with Björn Andrésen decades after he was plucked from obscurity by Visconti, who described him at the world premiere of Death In Venice as “the most beautiful boy in the world”.
Fifteen-year-old Andrésen became a figure of fascination, even attaining cult status in Japan for his role...
Juno Films has acquired North American rights to The Most Beautiful Boy In The World, the upcoming Sundance 2021 world premiere that documents the life of the Swedish child star of Luchino Visconti’s 1971 drama Death In Venice.
Kristina Lindstom and Kristian Petri directed the documentary, which catches up with Björn Andrésen decades after he was plucked from obscurity by Visconti, who described him at the world premiere of Death In Venice as “the most beautiful boy in the world”.
Fifteen-year-old Andrésen became a figure of fascination, even attaining cult status in Japan for his role...
- 1/18/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Juno Films has picked up the North American rights to the documentary The Most Beautiful Boy in the World ahead of its world premiere at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival.
The film, to bow as part of the World Documentary Competition on Jan. 29, is directed by Kristina Lindstrom and Kristian Petri and produced by Stina Gardell’s Stockholm-based Mantaray Film.
The Sundance doc portrays former child star Bjorn Andresen, whose life changed when at 15 years old he played Tadzio, the young boy for whom Dirk Bogarde develops an obsession in the 1971 movie Death in Venice by Luchino Visconti. The Italian director ...
The film, to bow as part of the World Documentary Competition on Jan. 29, is directed by Kristina Lindstrom and Kristian Petri and produced by Stina Gardell’s Stockholm-based Mantaray Film.
The Sundance doc portrays former child star Bjorn Andresen, whose life changed when at 15 years old he played Tadzio, the young boy for whom Dirk Bogarde develops an obsession in the 1971 movie Death in Venice by Luchino Visconti. The Italian director ...
- 1/18/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Juno Films has picked up the North American rights to the documentary The Most Beautiful Boy in the World ahead of its world premiere at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival.
The film, to bow as part of the World Documentary Competition on Jan. 29, is directed by Kristina Lindstrom and Kristian Petri and produced by Stina Gardell’s Stockholm-based Mantaray Film.
The Sundance doc portrays former child star Bjorn Andresen, whose life changed when at 15 years old he played Tadzio, the young boy for whom Dirk Bogarde develops an obsession in the 1971 movie Death in Venice by Luchino Visconti. The Italian director ...
The film, to bow as part of the World Documentary Competition on Jan. 29, is directed by Kristina Lindstrom and Kristian Petri and produced by Stina Gardell’s Stockholm-based Mantaray Film.
The Sundance doc portrays former child star Bjorn Andresen, whose life changed when at 15 years old he played Tadzio, the young boy for whom Dirk Bogarde develops an obsession in the 1971 movie Death in Venice by Luchino Visconti. The Italian director ...
- 1/18/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
The film is about the shy teenager who starred in Luchino Visconti’s ’Death In Venice’ in 1971.
Berlin-based Films Boutique has picked up world rights to Kristina Lindström and Kristian Petri’s Swedish documentaryThe Most Beautiful Boy In The World, which is set to premiere at Sundance 2021.
Produced by Stina Gardell’s Stockholm-based Mantaray Film, the film will compete in the World Cinema Documentary section.
It is about Björn Andrésen, the Swedish teenager plucked from obscurity by legendary Italian filmmaker Luchino Visconti to star opposite Dirk Bogarde in Death In Venice in 1971. For Visconti, Andrésen was “the world’s most beautiful boy.
Berlin-based Films Boutique has picked up world rights to Kristina Lindström and Kristian Petri’s Swedish documentaryThe Most Beautiful Boy In The World, which is set to premiere at Sundance 2021.
Produced by Stina Gardell’s Stockholm-based Mantaray Film, the film will compete in the World Cinema Documentary section.
It is about Björn Andrésen, the Swedish teenager plucked from obscurity by legendary Italian filmmaker Luchino Visconti to star opposite Dirk Bogarde in Death In Venice in 1971. For Visconti, Andrésen was “the world’s most beautiful boy.
- 12/17/2020
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
One day, you will die. It may not be tomorrow––as the characters in Amy Seimetz’s vivid, unsettling new feature She Dies Tomorrow believe––but it’s a universal truth for us all. To celebrate the film’s release, or at least cope with corporeal impermanence, we’ve shared our favorite films that explore mortality.
A handful of the below selections may comfort you as we collectively march into the sweet embrace of death, others provide a distressing glimpse at our body’s demise, and some explore all that humanity can offer––a feat which poses the question of what one is doing with their time before shuffling off this mortal coil.
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg)
In thinking about mortality, it’s often zooming out to the big picture and mysteries of our galaxy that can induce the most existential of questions. Steven Spielberg understood this with grand...
A handful of the below selections may comfort you as we collectively march into the sweet embrace of death, others provide a distressing glimpse at our body’s demise, and some explore all that humanity can offer––a feat which poses the question of what one is doing with their time before shuffling off this mortal coil.
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg)
In thinking about mortality, it’s often zooming out to the big picture and mysteries of our galaxy that can induce the most existential of questions. Steven Spielberg understood this with grand...
- 8/14/2020
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
The David di Donatello Awards, which are modeled on the Oscars, were established in the 1950s as Italy’s film industry started thriving amid the country’s postwar reconstruction effort.
Below are some milestones that provide a partial mini-history of postwar Italian cinema.
1956: The first David di Donatello awards ceremony takes place at Rome’s Cinema Fiamma. The gold statuette, which is a replica of Michelangelo’s David, is made by Bulgari. Vittorio De Sica, Walt Disney, and Gina Lollobrigida are among the year’s prizewinners.
1957: The Davids ceremony moves to Taormina’s Ancient Greek Theater, which will host the ceremony for many more years to come. Federico Fellini wins the best director prize for “Nights of Cabiria.”
1958: Anna Magnani wins best actress for George Cukor’s “Wild Is the Wind.” Marilyn Monroe is feted for her role in “The Prince and the Showgirl,” directed by Laurence Olivier.
Below are some milestones that provide a partial mini-history of postwar Italian cinema.
1956: The first David di Donatello awards ceremony takes place at Rome’s Cinema Fiamma. The gold statuette, which is a replica of Michelangelo’s David, is made by Bulgari. Vittorio De Sica, Walt Disney, and Gina Lollobrigida are among the year’s prizewinners.
1957: The Davids ceremony moves to Taormina’s Ancient Greek Theater, which will host the ceremony for many more years to come. Federico Fellini wins the best director prize for “Nights of Cabiria.”
1958: Anna Magnani wins best actress for George Cukor’s “Wild Is the Wind.” Marilyn Monroe is feted for her role in “The Prince and the Showgirl,” directed by Laurence Olivier.
- 5/8/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
New projects also selected from Oscar nominees and a Venice-winning duo.
Cph:dox has unveiled the 34 projects set to be presented at Cph:forum, its financing and co-production event from March 24-26.
Scroll down for full list of titles and descriptions
The selection includes new projects from Oscar-nominated Laura Nix (Walk Run Cha-Cha) and Talal Derki (Of Fathers And Sons), Berlinale winner Adina Pintilie (Touch Me Not), Sundance winners Jialing Zhang (Born In China) and Ra’anan Alexandrowicz (The Law in These Parts) and Venice winning team Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosolowski (The Prince and the Dybbuk).
Titles include Her, a documentary about...
Cph:dox has unveiled the 34 projects set to be presented at Cph:forum, its financing and co-production event from March 24-26.
Scroll down for full list of titles and descriptions
The selection includes new projects from Oscar-nominated Laura Nix (Walk Run Cha-Cha) and Talal Derki (Of Fathers And Sons), Berlinale winner Adina Pintilie (Touch Me Not), Sundance winners Jialing Zhang (Born In China) and Ra’anan Alexandrowicz (The Law in These Parts) and Venice winning team Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosolowski (The Prince and the Dybbuk).
Titles include Her, a documentary about...
- 2/13/2020
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
Ann Roth with Carlo Poggioli and Anne-Katrin Titze on the late great costume designer: “Piero Tosi was the god!” Photo: Virginia Cademartori
Oscar and BAFTA-winning costume designer Ann Roth and Carlo Poggioli who shared a BAFTA Best Costume Design nomination with Roth gave me some insight on their work and personal relationship when I met with them last week. Carlo also assisted Ann on The Talented Mr Ripley and The English Patient.
Ann Roth on Ralph Fiennes as Almásy and Kristin Scott Thomas as Katharine in The English Patient: “I don't think Ralph is a man's man, as they say. She on the other hand, women, everybody, loved her.”
Carlo Poggioli who started out with designers Gabriella Pescucci, Piero Tosi and Maurizio Millenotti (Ruppert Everett’s...
Oscar and BAFTA-winning costume designer Ann Roth and Carlo Poggioli who shared a BAFTA Best Costume Design nomination with Roth gave me some insight on their work and personal relationship when I met with them last week. Carlo also assisted Ann on The Talented Mr Ripley and The English Patient.
Ann Roth on Ralph Fiennes as Almásy and Kristin Scott Thomas as Katharine in The English Patient: “I don't think Ralph is a man's man, as they say. She on the other hand, women, everybody, loved her.”
Carlo Poggioli who started out with designers Gabriella Pescucci, Piero Tosi and Maurizio Millenotti (Ruppert Everett’s...
- 11/7/2019
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
She was photographed by Warhol, and Dalí wanted to paint her; the first films she made were Death in Venice and Cabaret. So why did she walk away?
Most people, says Marisa Berenson, “tend to live in my past. Which is fine.” She smiles, well aware of the fascination. “But I tend to live in the present and in the future.” A 2001 profile of the model/actor in the New York Times described her as a “Zelig of the zeitgeist … popping up in the right place at the right time”. And there is certainly something magical about her life and the people who have passed through it. As a child (she is now 72) she was taught to dance by Gene Kelly. Greta Garbo came to her parents’ parties; Salvador Dalí – a friend of her grandmother, the designer Elsa Schiaparelli – wanted to paint her. The legendary Vogue editor Diana Vreeland pushed...
Most people, says Marisa Berenson, “tend to live in my past. Which is fine.” She smiles, well aware of the fascination. “But I tend to live in the present and in the future.” A 2001 profile of the model/actor in the New York Times described her as a “Zelig of the zeitgeist … popping up in the right place at the right time”. And there is certainly something magical about her life and the people who have passed through it. As a child (she is now 72) she was taught to dance by Gene Kelly. Greta Garbo came to her parents’ parties; Salvador Dalí – a friend of her grandmother, the designer Elsa Schiaparelli – wanted to paint her. The legendary Vogue editor Diana Vreeland pushed...
- 10/30/2019
- by Emine Saner
- The Guardian - Film News
The Venice Production Bridge, as the Venice Film Festival’s market is known, is kicking off with more producers, distributors and sales agents attending this year — especially from Asia, even though its core remains firmly European.
There are roughly 2,400 industry attendees accredited, which is around 200 more than last year. Market chief Pascal Diot noted that roughly half are from Europe.
As in past editions, the main focus of the Venice market is production.
Due to scarce infrastructure and proximity to Toronto, Venice “can never be a big sell-and-buy market, like Cannes and Berlin,” said Diot. But Diot has built the market by providing something for producers at every stage of the development cycle. There is the book adaptation rights market “for the IP,” he says, and then the core gap financing platform for more than 50 selected projects, including Vr productions. And, finally, Venice provides post-production support for select works from...
There are roughly 2,400 industry attendees accredited, which is around 200 more than last year. Market chief Pascal Diot noted that roughly half are from Europe.
As in past editions, the main focus of the Venice market is production.
Due to scarce infrastructure and proximity to Toronto, Venice “can never be a big sell-and-buy market, like Cannes and Berlin,” said Diot. But Diot has built the market by providing something for producers at every stage of the development cycle. There is the book adaptation rights market “for the IP,” he says, and then the core gap financing platform for more than 50 selected projects, including Vr productions. And, finally, Venice provides post-production support for select works from...
- 8/30/2019
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
When James Gray set out on the path that would lead him to Ad Astra, he couldn’t have foreseen the importance his film would take on, with Fox’s first releases under new ownership at Disney facing added scrutiny as observers wonder about the fate of the storied studio.
First, Ad Astra proved a complicated film to get through the post process. Originally set to release in January, the date was pushed to May and a potential Cannes slot, before finally settling on a late-September global rollout after a premiere at Venice Film Festival, which will happen Thursday on the Lido. That was, Gray says, because he was still tinkering with the picture right up until a week ago—“I would still be mixing now if I could”—with the process behind the movie’s effects work proving especially challenging to wrangle.
But Ad Astra also represents a huge...
First, Ad Astra proved a complicated film to get through the post process. Originally set to release in January, the date was pushed to May and a potential Cannes slot, before finally settling on a late-September global rollout after a premiere at Venice Film Festival, which will happen Thursday on the Lido. That was, Gray says, because he was still tinkering with the picture right up until a week ago—“I would still be mixing now if I could”—with the process behind the movie’s effects work proving especially challenging to wrangle.
But Ad Astra also represents a huge...
- 8/28/2019
- by Joe Utichi
- Deadline Film + TV
Piero Tosi, a famed costume designer who worked on films such as “The Leopard” and “Death in Venice,” died Saturday in Rome, the Franco Zeffirelli Foundation announced on Facebook. He was 92.
Over the course of his 50 year career, Tosi established himself as one of Hollywood’s greatest costume designers, earning five Oscar nominations for costume design and an honorary Oscar in 2013. He also garnered international acclaim for a number of popular films including, “The Damned,” “Ludwig,” “Death in Venice” and “The Leopard,” in which his elaborate, period-piece designs took center stage. Other film credits include “La Cage Aux Folles,” “The Night Porter,” “Toby Dammit” and the Oscar foreign language film-winner “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.”
After growing up in Florence Italy, Tosi landed his first job as a costume assistant on a stage production of “Le chandelier,” before meeting the legendary stage and film director Luchino Visconti. Soon after, Tosi went...
Over the course of his 50 year career, Tosi established himself as one of Hollywood’s greatest costume designers, earning five Oscar nominations for costume design and an honorary Oscar in 2013. He also garnered international acclaim for a number of popular films including, “The Damned,” “Ludwig,” “Death in Venice” and “The Leopard,” in which his elaborate, period-piece designs took center stage. Other film credits include “La Cage Aux Folles,” “The Night Porter,” “Toby Dammit” and the Oscar foreign language film-winner “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.”
After growing up in Florence Italy, Tosi landed his first job as a costume assistant on a stage production of “Le chandelier,” before meeting the legendary stage and film director Luchino Visconti. Soon after, Tosi went...
- 8/10/2019
- by Nate Nickolai
- Variety Film + TV
Piero Tosi, the majestic Italian costume designer who collaborated with director Luchino Visconti on The Leopard and Death in Venice and was the first of his craft to receive an honorary Oscar, has died. He was 92.
Tosi died Saturday at his residence in Rome after a long illness, a spokesperson for the Franco Zeffirelli Foundation told The Hollywood Reporter. He never married and had no children and is to be buried in the Zeffirelli family chapel at the Porte Sante Cemetery in Florence, Italy.
Across his 50-year-plus career, Tosi amassed five Oscar nominations — for Visconti's The Leopard (1963), Death in Venice (1971) ...
Tosi died Saturday at his residence in Rome after a long illness, a spokesperson for the Franco Zeffirelli Foundation told The Hollywood Reporter. He never married and had no children and is to be buried in the Zeffirelli family chapel at the Porte Sante Cemetery in Florence, Italy.
Across his 50-year-plus career, Tosi amassed five Oscar nominations — for Visconti's The Leopard (1963), Death in Venice (1971) ...
- 8/10/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Piero Tosi, the majestic Italian costume designer who collaborated with director Luchino Visconti on The Leopard and Death in Venice and was the first of his craft to receive an honorary Oscar, has died. He was 92.
Tosi died Saturday at his residence in Rome after a long illness, a spokesperson for the Franco Zeffirelli Foundation told The Hollywood Reporter. He never married and had no children and is to be buried in the Zeffirelli family chapel at the Porte Sante Cemetery in Florence, Italy.
Across his 50-year-plus career, Tosi amassed five Oscar nominations — for Visconti's The Leopard (1963), Death in Venice (1971) ...
Tosi died Saturday at his residence in Rome after a long illness, a spokesperson for the Franco Zeffirelli Foundation told The Hollywood Reporter. He never married and had no children and is to be buried in the Zeffirelli family chapel at the Porte Sante Cemetery in Florence, Italy.
Across his 50-year-plus career, Tosi amassed five Oscar nominations — for Visconti's The Leopard (1963), Death in Venice (1971) ...
- 8/10/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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