Filmmaking is a collaborative process. Having an original idea is a phenomenal start, but directors need the financial backing of a studio to bring it to life. If that's not all, to get the best results, filmmakers must also choose talent with strong on-screen chemistry or, at the very least, ensure they get along.
The unpredictable nature of life causes things to go awry sometimes. Filmmaking is a business, and one major blunder can be a career-ender. A project can run out of money halfway through shooting because of poor budgeting. Maybe a flick's stars completely misunderstood their roles. Worse yet, audiences may not comprehend a director's vision upon a movie's release.
"A director must be a policeman, a midwife, a psychoanalyst, a sycophant, and a bastard," director Billy Wilder once wisely declared. Perhaps "clairvoyant" should be added to that list, as there's no chance that some of the following fiascos could have been predicted.
The unpredictable nature of life causes things to go awry sometimes. Filmmaking is a business, and one major blunder can be a career-ender. A project can run out of money halfway through shooting because of poor budgeting. Maybe a flick's stars completely misunderstood their roles. Worse yet, audiences may not comprehend a director's vision upon a movie's release.
"A director must be a policeman, a midwife, a psychoanalyst, a sycophant, and a bastard," director Billy Wilder once wisely declared. Perhaps "clairvoyant" should be added to that list, as there's no chance that some of the following fiascos could have been predicted.
- 2/26/2023
- by Marta Djordjevic
- Slash Film
After a hiatus as theaters in New York City and beyond closed their doors during the pandemic, we’re delighted to announce the return of NYC Weekend Watch, our weekly round-up of repertory offerings. While many theaters are still focused on a selection of new releases, there’s a handful of worthwhile repertory screenings taking place.
Metrograph
“Lost Histories” offers the rarely screened On the Silver Globe and Southland Tales, among others, while films by Tarkovsky, Wenders, and more play in “The Russians Love Their Children Too,” ; a Lynne Sachs retro is underway.
Museum of the Moving Image
“See It Big: Extravaganzas!” offers films by Wes Anderson, Guy Maddin, and Francis Ford Coppola; a kung-fu retro is are underway.
Japan Society
A fantastic 4K restoration of Tange Sazen and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo, by one of Japanese cinema’s great figures, Sadao Yamanaka, plays on Saturday, while films by Naomi Kawase,...
Metrograph
“Lost Histories” offers the rarely screened On the Silver Globe and Southland Tales, among others, while films by Tarkovsky, Wenders, and more play in “The Russians Love Their Children Too,” ; a Lynne Sachs retro is underway.
Museum of the Moving Image
“See It Big: Extravaganzas!” offers films by Wes Anderson, Guy Maddin, and Francis Ford Coppola; a kung-fu retro is are underway.
Japan Society
A fantastic 4K restoration of Tange Sazen and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo, by one of Japanese cinema’s great figures, Sadao Yamanaka, plays on Saturday, while films by Naomi Kawase,...
- 12/9/2021
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
In 1975, following the international success of his Romy Schneider starrer “That Most Important Thing: Love,” helmer Andrzej Żuławski returned to Poland. He was supposed to deliver the biggest spectacle in its history with science fiction epic “On the Silver Globe.” Based on “The Lunar Trilogy” written by his great-grandfather, Jerzy, it saw a group of astronauts leave Earth, only to crash on another planet. Years later, another astronaut arrives and is welcomed as a god. The project was interrupted in 1977, due to the decision by Deputy Minister of Culture Janusz Wilhelmi.
“To any cinephile, there is nothing more exciting than an unfinished or unmade film,” says director Kuba Mikurda, now exploring its tragic backstory in “Escape to the Silver Globe” (Ucieczka na Srebrny Glob), world premiering at Millennium Docs Against Gravity and produced by Silver Frame’s Daria Maślona and Stanisław Zaborowski.
“Everyone had a theory. Some said it was just too subversive,...
“To any cinephile, there is nothing more exciting than an unfinished or unmade film,” says director Kuba Mikurda, now exploring its tragic backstory in “Escape to the Silver Globe” (Ucieczka na Srebrny Glob), world premiering at Millennium Docs Against Gravity and produced by Silver Frame’s Daria Maślona and Stanisław Zaborowski.
“Everyone had a theory. Some said it was just too subversive,...
- 9/5/2021
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
HBO Europe and Berlin-based Dreamer Joint Venture Filmproduction have boarded “Trust Me,” Joanna Ratajczak’s probing doc feature on a real life couple’s experimentation with an open relationship.
“Trust Me” will be presented at Locarno’s Match Me networking event by Stanislaw Zaborowski, at Warsaw’s Silver Frame, the project’s lead producer. The HBO Europe co-production was put through by Hanka Kastelicová.
Headed by Oliver Stoltz, Dreamer Joint Venture produced Marc Wiese’s 2020 doc feature “We Hold the Line,” about Filipino dictator Rodrigo Duterte’s persecution of journalists, and Markus Imboden’s “On the Edge,” an Arte France-backed relationship drama.
It turns on Alicja and Sebastian, a couple which seems to have it all – a happy relationship, two wonderful children, money, a large number of friends – until Sebastian proposes that they should open up the relationship to other partners.
Underscoring how difficult it is for people to talk about their own needs,...
“Trust Me” will be presented at Locarno’s Match Me networking event by Stanislaw Zaborowski, at Warsaw’s Silver Frame, the project’s lead producer. The HBO Europe co-production was put through by Hanka Kastelicová.
Headed by Oliver Stoltz, Dreamer Joint Venture produced Marc Wiese’s 2020 doc feature “We Hold the Line,” about Filipino dictator Rodrigo Duterte’s persecution of journalists, and Markus Imboden’s “On the Edge,” an Arte France-backed relationship drama.
It turns on Alicja and Sebastian, a couple which seems to have it all – a happy relationship, two wonderful children, money, a large number of friends – until Sebastian proposes that they should open up the relationship to other partners.
Underscoring how difficult it is for people to talk about their own needs,...
- 8/7/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Photo by Elena LazicA few tranquil days spent at IndieLisboa back in May were for this writer a powerful reminder of cinema’s ability to be truly unsettling, and of the value in encountering a film that places you completely outside of your comfort zone. That watching strange movies alone in a foreign country where I did not speak the language wound up being the opposite of a traumatizing experience is in large part due to the hospitality, lovely weather and great beauty of Lisbon, which the festival seemed to take into real consideration in the structure of its program.As morning screenings at the festival were all but exclusively dedicated to short films for kids, I started almost every day exploring the city, basking in the sun and admiring the vistas. Most likely a rather common experience for those who regularly attend smaller festivals such as this, the experience was entirely new for me.
- 7/25/2017
- MUBI
Keep up with the always-hopping film festival world with our weekly Film Festival Roundup column. Check out last week’s Roundup right here.
Full Lineup Announcements
– The Philadelphia Film Society has announced the full film lineup of the 25th Philadelphia Film Festival, spanning from October 20 – October 30 on four theater screens throughout the Greater Philadelphia area. Opening on October 20 with Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land “and closing on October 30 with “Arrival,” the 11-day festival will showcase over 110 feature length and short films, curated by our programming committee who chooses each selection from multiple international festivals throughout the year. The full Festival schedule and digital Festival Program Guide is available now right here.
– The San Francisco Film Society has announced the lineup of programs for the second annual Doc Stories festival, November 3 – 6 at the Vogue Theatre, the Castro Theatre and the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco. Doc Stories gives the...
Full Lineup Announcements
– The Philadelphia Film Society has announced the full film lineup of the 25th Philadelphia Film Festival, spanning from October 20 – October 30 on four theater screens throughout the Greater Philadelphia area. Opening on October 20 with Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land “and closing on October 30 with “Arrival,” the 11-day festival will showcase over 110 feature length and short films, curated by our programming committee who chooses each selection from multiple international festivals throughout the year. The full Festival schedule and digital Festival Program Guide is available now right here.
– The San Francisco Film Society has announced the lineup of programs for the second annual Doc Stories festival, November 3 – 6 at the Vogue Theatre, the Castro Theatre and the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco. Doc Stories gives the...
- 10/6/2016
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Since any New York cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.
Museum of Modern Art
Leo McCarey and the great Gaumont series are continuing their ongoing retrospectives, both of which make for a densely packed lineup.
Metrograph
Relive your traumatized childhood with “This Is PG?!” Jaws, Temple of Doom, and Poltergeist are but a few of the first weekend’s titles.
Helen DeWitt will present a print of Seven Samurai on Sunday.
Museum of Modern Art
Leo McCarey and the great Gaumont series are continuing their ongoing retrospectives, both of which make for a densely packed lineup.
Metrograph
Relive your traumatized childhood with “This Is PG?!” Jaws, Temple of Doom, and Poltergeist are but a few of the first weekend’s titles.
Helen DeWitt will present a print of Seven Samurai on Sunday.
- 7/29/2016
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
“There is in every one of us, even those who seem to be most moderate, a type of desire that is terrible, wild, and lawless.”—The Republic, Book IX 572bWhat’s the best way to describe the mania of an Andrzej Żuławski film? William Grimes, eulogizing Żuławski for The New York Times chose “emotionally savage.” J. Hoberman used “hyperkinetic,” “frenzied,” and “‘awful’ in its root sense of inspiring dread. Daniel Bird, writing about the most recent Lincoln Center screenings in New York, chose “deeply disturbing.” These descriptors make perfect sense after experiencing a Żuławski film, but I’ve never been able to sell his films to a newcomer this way. How could I? They’re much too primal for adjectives in our delicate English language, crafted to communicate Enlightenment-era ideas in a pleasing series of vibrations. The intensity of this director’s films could only be described in some sort of ancient Lovecraftian squelching,...
- 3/28/2016
- by Zach Lewis
- MUBI
For a man who created forward-thinking, boundary-pushing cinema embraced by small, devoted sects of cinephiles, Andrzej Żuławski‘s Sight & Sound list of favorite films is, in so many words, surprisingly traditional. Few would look upon it and say it contains a single bad film on it, but those who’ve experienced his work might expect something other than Amarcord; maybe, in its place, an underground Eastern European horror film that’s gained no real cachet since the Soviet Union’s collapse.
That isn’t to suggest something inexplicable, however. The Gold Rush‘s fall-down comedy could be detected in some of Possession‘s more emphatic moments of physical exhaustion, and, while we’re at it, visual connections between On the Silver Globe and 2001‘s horror-ish stretches aren’t so out-of-bounds. So while this selection may not open your eyes once more to cinema’s many reaches, one might use it...
That isn’t to suggest something inexplicable, however. The Gold Rush‘s fall-down comedy could be detected in some of Possession‘s more emphatic moments of physical exhaustion, and, while we’re at it, visual connections between On the Silver Globe and 2001‘s horror-ish stretches aren’t so out-of-bounds. So while this selection may not open your eyes once more to cinema’s many reaches, one might use it...
- 3/7/2016
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
It was Michael Powell who proposed the idea of the composed film, in which movement, color and framing are all synchronized to music to create a seamless work of art, and he began putting it into practice in Black Narcissus and The Red Shoes, before going all-out with Tales of Hoffmann and Bluebeard's Castle. Few have followed in his steps. One who did was the late Andrzej Żuławski, whose filmed opera (music by Mussorgsky, lyrics by Pushkin) Boris Godunov (1989) is one of the most relentlessly and astonishingly beautiful cinematic artifacts I have ever seen.It is in the nature of these things that when watching the film it is quite impossible to think of anything which comes close. After the end titles have rolled, one may begin putting things in perspective, but while you're looking at Żuławski's images, nothing finer can be imagined.Shamelessly theatrical in its design, the film...
- 3/7/2016
- by David Cairns
- MUBI
Andrzej Zulawski lost his battle with cancer last week, adding his name to mounting number of cultural icons who passed away this year. His death came as a shock especially to New York cinephiles, who's been waiting patiently for the chance of seeing Cosmos, his new film in 15 years, ever since it made a world premiere at Locarno Film Fest last year. When the good folks at Film Society of Lincoln Center announced the roster for this year's Film Comment Selects series, I was overjoyed that Zulawski's new film was included. Incidentally, they also added A Spotlight on Zulawski, a mini-retro consists of his digitally restored Polish films, including the seldom seen Sci-fi epic, On The Silver Globe. The good news is that Kino Lorber...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 2/22/2016
- Screen Anarchy
Andrzej Zulawski lost his battle with cancer last week, adding his name to mounting number of cultural icons who passed away this year. His death came as a shock especially to New York cinephiles, who's been waiting patiently for the chance of seeing Cosmos, his new film in 15 years, ever since it made a world premiere at Locarno Film Fest last year. When the good folks at Film Society of Lincoln Center announced the roster for this year's Film Comment Selects series, I was overjoyed that Zulawski's new film was included. Incidentally, they also added A Spotlight on Zulawski, a mini-retro consists of his digitally restored Polish films, including the seldom seen Sci-fi epic, On The Silver Globe. The good news is that Kino Lorber...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 2/22/2016
- Screen Anarchy
Since any New York cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.
Film Society of Lincoln Center
The recently deceased Andrzej Żuławski is celebrated in “Film Comment Selects,” which offers The Third Part of the Night, The Devil, and his sci-fi epic On the Silver Globe. Also showing are Breakout, Clement‘s Rider on the Rain, and Ray Davies‘ only feature, Return to Waterloo.
Museum of the Moving Image
“See It Big!
Film Society of Lincoln Center
The recently deceased Andrzej Żuławski is celebrated in “Film Comment Selects,” which offers The Third Part of the Night, The Devil, and his sci-fi epic On the Silver Globe. Also showing are Breakout, Clement‘s Rider on the Rain, and Ray Davies‘ only feature, Return to Waterloo.
Museum of the Moving Image
“See It Big!
- 2/19/2016
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Writer and festival programmer Kier-La Janisse remembers Possession director Andrzej Zulawski. Two days ago I had the honor of sitting in an upscale Berlin cafe with Wojtek Janio, whose company Fixafilm had just completed the restoration on Andrzej Zulawski‘s sci-fi epic On The Silver Globe, famously halted in mid-shoot by the Polish authorities and leading…
The post Author and Programmer Kier-La Janisse Remembers Andrzej Zulawski appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.
The post Author and Programmer Kier-La Janisse Remembers Andrzej Zulawski appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.
- 2/17/2016
- by Chris Alexander
- shocktillyoudrop.com
Even as we gather remembrances of Andrzej Zulawski, who passed away last night at the age of 75, this year's edition of Film Comment Selects opens today with a Spotlight on the Polish director and novelist. Cosmos screens on Friday and new restorations of The Third Part of the Night, The Devil and On the Silver Globe follow. There'll also be a Spotlight on Charles Bronson, with screenings of Tom Gries's Breakout and René Clément's Rider on the Rain on Sunday. We're gathering film scholar Daniel Bird's thoughts on working with him plus reviews of other films in the series: Aleksei German Jr.'s Under Electric Clouds, Marco Bellocchio's Blood of My Blood, Damien Odoul’s The Fear and Kianoush Ayyari's The Paternal House. » - David Hudson...
- 2/17/2016
- Keyframe
Even as we gather remembrances of Andrzej Zulawski, who passed away last night at the age of 75, this year's edition of Film Comment Selects opens today with a Spotlight on the Polish director and novelist. Cosmos screens on Friday and new restorations of The Third Part of the Night, The Devil and On the Silver Globe follow. There'll also be a Spotlight on Charles Bronson, with screenings of Tom Gries's Breakout and René Clément's Rider on the Rain on Sunday. We're gathering film scholar Daniel Bird's thoughts on working with him plus reviews of other films in the series: Aleksei German Jr.'s Under Electric Clouds, Marco Bellocchio's Blood of My Blood, Damien Odoul’s The Fear and Kianoush Ayyari's The Paternal House. » - David Hudson...
- 2/17/2016
- Fandor: Keyframe
Today brings very, very sad news for lovers of international cinema: Polish writer/director Andrzej Zulawski passed away last night, at age 75, after a battle with cancer. There was some confusion about whether or not his death was a hoax or not, but now that big outlets like Le Monde are confirming it, there is unfortunately no doubt anymore. Andrzej Zulawski was born in 1940, in Ukraine, but grew up in Poland and started his career as a filmmaker there. Constantly butting heads with the Government and censorship boards, Zulawski often remarked about himself that he was "an angry, angry man". He moved to France, then back to Poland, but when his science fiction film On The Silver Globe got canned by the authorities after...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 2/17/2016
- Screen Anarchy
"It will be difficult to continue this story of mine. I don't even know if it is a story. It is difficult to call this a story, this constant....clustering and falling apart...of elements..." —Witold Gombrowicz's CosmosIf I weren't already soaked to the bone from the sweltering heat that has accompanied the Locarno Film Festival this year, Andrzej Żuławski's first movie in fifteen years was bound to get me feverish. One of the few true visionary risk-takers of cinema has yet again found a subject fitting for his boundless energy, Witold Gombrowicz's mental madcap 1965 novel Cosmos. For those familiar with Żuławski's films like Possession, On the Silver Globe and L'amour braque, it may come as a surprise that the assaultive quality of the novel's streaming consciousness–poring over a young man's vacation in a small town boarding house, where he seems to discover conspiracies of small crimes...
- 8/9/2015
- by Daniel Kasman
- MUBI
A publicity still from Hard to be a God
If you, like many, have been waiting so many years for Soviet/Russian master Aleksei German to finish what, upon the director's passing in 2013, has ended up being his final film (with finishing touches by his wife and co-writer Svetlana Karmalita and his son Aleksei German Jr.), you will have to embrace muck. You will have to swim in shit, slather yourself with grime, dirt, and water, enrobe yourself in filthy fog, feel roughened leather, splintered wood, caked and hardened cloth, rusted and creaky iron armor; you will have to embrace the damp, dank, dirty opus of cinema that is Hard to Be a God. It is cinematic texture taken to an extreme.
Based on a 1964 novel by the Strugatsky brothers (literary sources for Tarkovsky's Stalker and Aleksandr Sokurov's Day of Eclipse, among other adaptations), its barely science fiction premise...
If you, like many, have been waiting so many years for Soviet/Russian master Aleksei German to finish what, upon the director's passing in 2013, has ended up being his final film (with finishing touches by his wife and co-writer Svetlana Karmalita and his son Aleksei German Jr.), you will have to embrace muck. You will have to swim in shit, slather yourself with grime, dirt, and water, enrobe yourself in filthy fog, feel roughened leather, splintered wood, caked and hardened cloth, rusted and creaky iron armor; you will have to embrace the damp, dank, dirty opus of cinema that is Hard to Be a God. It is cinematic texture taken to an extreme.
Based on a 1964 novel by the Strugatsky brothers (literary sources for Tarkovsky's Stalker and Aleksandr Sokurov's Day of Eclipse, among other adaptations), its barely science fiction premise...
- 1/29/2015
- by Daniel Kasman
- MUBI
Cosmos
Director: Andrzej Zulawski // Writer: Andrzej Zulawski
2015 marks the ending of a fifteen year hiatus from filmmaking for Polish auteur Andrzej Zulawski, whose last film was 2000’s La Fidelite, which starred the director’s then wife French actress Sophie Marceau. Known for capturing some of the most memorably gonzo performances ever committed to film, Zulawski’s most celebrated title is 1981’s Possession, which starred Isabelle Adjani (who nabbed Best Actress at Cannes for her unforgettable performance) and Sam Neill. Infamous for its inclusion on the dreaded “Video Nasties” list of the 1980s, the title slowly nurtured a cult audience and is still, by far, the most easily accessible title of Zulawski’s impressive filmography. Plagued by Polish censors, the critical success following his first two features, 1971′s The Third Part of the Night and 1972’s The Devil saw Zulawaski migrate to France for the magnificent The Most Important Thing is...
Director: Andrzej Zulawski // Writer: Andrzej Zulawski
2015 marks the ending of a fifteen year hiatus from filmmaking for Polish auteur Andrzej Zulawski, whose last film was 2000’s La Fidelite, which starred the director’s then wife French actress Sophie Marceau. Known for capturing some of the most memorably gonzo performances ever committed to film, Zulawski’s most celebrated title is 1981’s Possession, which starred Isabelle Adjani (who nabbed Best Actress at Cannes for her unforgettable performance) and Sam Neill. Infamous for its inclusion on the dreaded “Video Nasties” list of the 1980s, the title slowly nurtured a cult audience and is still, by far, the most easily accessible title of Zulawski’s impressive filmography. Plagued by Polish censors, the critical success following his first two features, 1971′s The Third Part of the Night and 1972’s The Devil saw Zulawaski migrate to France for the magnificent The Most Important Thing is...
- 1/9/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Andrzej Zulawski, director of not only nightmarish all-timer Possession, but mad works like The Devil and On the Silver Globe, is currently in post-production on his first feature in 15 years, Cosmos. Described as a metaphysical noir thriller by Twitch, Cosmos also comes with something of a poetic synopsis, reprinted below: One night of July,…
The post Andrzej Zulawski in Post on Noir Thriller, Cosmos appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.
The post Andrzej Zulawski in Post on Noir Thriller, Cosmos appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.
- 1/9/2015
- by Samuel Zimmerman
- shocktillyoudrop.com
Bombardment!
Bombardment: textures. If you, like many, have been waiting so many years for Soviet/Russian master Aleksei German (My Friend Ivan Lapshin; Khrustalyov, My Car!) to finish what, upon the director's passing last year, has ended up being his final film (with finishing touches by his wife and co-writer Svetlana Karmalita and his son Aleksei German Jr.), you will have to embrace muck. You will have to swim in shit, slather yourself with grime, dirt, and water, enrobe yourself in filthy fog, feel roughened leather, splintered wood, caked and hardened cloth, rusted and creaky iron armor; you will have to embrace the damp, dank, dirty opus of cinema that is Hard to Be a God. It is cinematic texture taken to an extreme.
Based on a 1964 novel by the Strugatsky brothers (literary sources for Tarkovsky's Stalker and Aleksandr Sokurov's Day of Eclipse, among other adaptations), its barely sci-fi...
Bombardment: textures. If you, like many, have been waiting so many years for Soviet/Russian master Aleksei German (My Friend Ivan Lapshin; Khrustalyov, My Car!) to finish what, upon the director's passing last year, has ended up being his final film (with finishing touches by his wife and co-writer Svetlana Karmalita and his son Aleksei German Jr.), you will have to embrace muck. You will have to swim in shit, slather yourself with grime, dirt, and water, enrobe yourself in filthy fog, feel roughened leather, splintered wood, caked and hardened cloth, rusted and creaky iron armor; you will have to embrace the damp, dank, dirty opus of cinema that is Hard to Be a God. It is cinematic texture taken to an extreme.
Based on a 1964 novel by the Strugatsky brothers (literary sources for Tarkovsky's Stalker and Aleksandr Sokurov's Day of Eclipse, among other adaptations), its barely sci-fi...
- 1/30/2014
- by Daniel Kasman
- MUBI
Possession | Side Effects | Cowboy Bebop: Part 1 | Dressed To Kill | Tony Palmer Collection
Possession
Reading this on mobile? Click here to view
It's the only "video nasty" to nab the Best Actress award at Cannes but it isn't even a horror movie. However, you can see why it often gets categorised as such, what with several quite bloody scenes and some very strange creature FX from Carlo Rambaldi (who did the animatronics for Et).
The Polish authorities pulled the plug on director Andrzej Zulawski's epic sci-fi movie On The Silver Globe (up there with Jodorowsky's Dune as far as missed opportunities go), so he moved outside of their field of influence to Berlin, for this, his next. Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani play a couple whose relationship has been whittled down by paranoia, distrust and aggression. She keeps disappearing, leaving him to fester in jealous rage, and their dialogue is like one long argument,...
Possession
Reading this on mobile? Click here to view
It's the only "video nasty" to nab the Best Actress award at Cannes but it isn't even a horror movie. However, you can see why it often gets categorised as such, what with several quite bloody scenes and some very strange creature FX from Carlo Rambaldi (who did the animatronics for Et).
The Polish authorities pulled the plug on director Andrzej Zulawski's epic sci-fi movie On The Silver Globe (up there with Jodorowsky's Dune as far as missed opportunities go), so he moved outside of their field of influence to Berlin, for this, his next. Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani play a couple whose relationship has been whittled down by paranoia, distrust and aggression. She keeps disappearing, leaving him to fester in jealous rage, and their dialogue is like one long argument,...
- 7/27/2013
- by Phelim O'Neill
- The Guardian - Film News
#55. Alexei Guerman’s Hard to Be a God
Gist: While it may possibly be released as History of the Arkanar Massacre, we’re hoping this retains the same name as the novel it’s based on by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. On another planet, currently going through its Middle Ages, a group of historians from Earth are living there pretending to be normal members of the populous. The protagonist, Don Rumata, is disgusted and disturbed by some of the atrocities he witnesses, but the earthlings are unable to intervene so that they do not change the course of the history of the planet. They are there only to help and protect the few individuals that seem different from everyone else, whose knowledge can help benefit the rest of the planet. Rumata is charged with finding a specific person being held against his will.
Prediction: The infrequent working Aleksei German has...
Gist: While it may possibly be released as History of the Arkanar Massacre, we’re hoping this retains the same name as the novel it’s based on by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. On another planet, currently going through its Middle Ages, a group of historians from Earth are living there pretending to be normal members of the populous. The protagonist, Don Rumata, is disgusted and disturbed by some of the atrocities he witnesses, but the earthlings are unable to intervene so that they do not change the course of the history of the planet. They are there only to help and protect the few individuals that seem different from everyone else, whose knowledge can help benefit the rest of the planet. Rumata is charged with finding a specific person being held against his will.
Prediction: The infrequent working Aleksei German has...
- 4/5/2013
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Above: Andrzej Żuławski on the set of Boris Godounov (1989).
The first American retrospective of Andrzej Żuławski offers the chance to discover an auteur whose idiosyncratic vision is as radical, overwhelming and instantly recognizable—it may take no longer than a few shots—as those of canonized masters like Robert Bresson and Andrej Tarkovskij. But maybe Paul Verhoeven would serve as a better comparison, since Żuławski has remained similarly polarizing due to a punchy sensibility that had the French coin the term "Zulawskienne," meaning "over the top." Consider the opening of his first feature The Third Part of the Night (1971): A woman reads out the apocalyptic passage containing the title from the Book of Revelation, only to be struck down minutes later by one of the soldiers on horseback suddenly intruding in her house. Clearly, this is a world where anything can happen, and Żuławski makes sure it does. Then again,...
The first American retrospective of Andrzej Żuławski offers the chance to discover an auteur whose idiosyncratic vision is as radical, overwhelming and instantly recognizable—it may take no longer than a few shots—as those of canonized masters like Robert Bresson and Andrej Tarkovskij. But maybe Paul Verhoeven would serve as a better comparison, since Żuławski has remained similarly polarizing due to a punchy sensibility that had the French coin the term "Zulawskienne," meaning "over the top." Consider the opening of his first feature The Third Part of the Night (1971): A woman reads out the apocalyptic passage containing the title from the Book of Revelation, only to be struck down minutes later by one of the soldiers on horseback suddenly intruding in her house. Clearly, this is a world where anything can happen, and Żuławski makes sure it does. Then again,...
- 3/16/2012
- MUBI
Andrzej Żuławski does not like the title of the first retrospective of his work in the Us. Hysterical Excess: Discovering Andrzej Żuławski opens tommorrow and runs through March 20 at New York's BAMcinématek. At the top of his piece for the New York Times, J Hoberman allows the director to explain his objection and then suggests himself that the "word to best describe the Żuławski oeuvre might be 'awful' in its root sense of inspiring dread. Exuding charm and urbanity on the phone, Mr Żuławski is nonetheless an auteur to be approached with trepidation. His movies are seldom more than a step from some flaming abyss, with his actors (and audience) trembling on the edge. Typically shot with a frenzied, often subjective moving camera in saturated colors that have the over-bright feel of a chemically induced hallucination, these can be hard to watch and harder to forget."
Bam's presenting all 12 features...
Bam's presenting all 12 features...
- 3/9/2012
- MUBI
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.