With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.
Anomalisa (Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson)
Charlie Kaufman, the writer behind Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, teams up with animator Duke Johnson to create a complex emotional drama starring lifelike puppets. The premise is riddled with existential dread of modern-day life, presented uniquely through Kaufman’s idiosyncratic point-of-view. For protagonist and self-help author Michael Stone (voiced soulfully by David Thewlis), everyone around him has the same voice (thanks to...
Anomalisa (Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson)
Charlie Kaufman, the writer behind Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, teams up with animator Duke Johnson to create a complex emotional drama starring lifelike puppets. The premise is riddled with existential dread of modern-day life, presented uniquely through Kaufman’s idiosyncratic point-of-view. For protagonist and self-help author Michael Stone (voiced soulfully by David Thewlis), everyone around him has the same voice (thanks to...
- 12/23/2016
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit the interwebs. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.
Captain America: Civil War (Russos)
In seeking to create an expansive multi-film universe, Marvel has managed to both bless and curse each of its subsequent films. The blessing comes in the form of a character development that takes place over the course of films and phases instead of scenes and acts. Characters who we met eight years ago have grown and changed before our eyes, and...
Captain America: Civil War (Russos)
In seeking to create an expansive multi-film universe, Marvel has managed to both bless and curse each of its subsequent films. The blessing comes in the form of a character development that takes place over the course of films and phases instead of scenes and acts. Characters who we met eight years ago have grown and changed before our eyes, and...
- 9/2/2016
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
12 Unique Visions We Are Excited to See at the 35th Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival
Numerous sections that range from those that focus on particular geographical regions, to one that highlights features crafted by homegrown talent, another formed by stories about people who have left their hometowns to find a better life elsewhere, and even one that honors Minnesota’s Scandinavian heritage, are some of the blocks that build the extensive and boldly curated program of the 35th Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival (Mspiff).
Discerning which films to watch from the couple hundred that will play in the Midwestern city during the next two weeks is a colossal task and one that is directed by taste and interests; however, there are plenty of options for adventurous audiences looking to watch a unique cinematic vision outside of their comfort zone.
The most audacious offers include a French animated featured focused on a war-torn African country, Joel Potrykus follow-up to “Buzzard,” a subversive Lgbt drama about skaters in Mexico City, the story of a Somali man in Minneapolis who finds friendship in a lonely dog, a dark Swedish comedy that resembles the humor of celebrated Nordic masters, or a Brazilian coming-of-ager centered on a girl obsessed with the recent murders of local women. Just from the premises is easy to predict that these will not be your typical experience at the movies, but that's not to say they won't be exponentially more entertaining and eye-opening.
Here is a list with 12 unconventional choices, including those mentioned above, playing at Mspiff that we can't wait to see.
Synopses courtesy of the festival.
The 35th Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival takes place runs April 7-23. For the full program and tickets visit Here.
"Adama"
Dir. Simon Rouby
France
12 year-old Adama, voiced by French-Malian child actor Azize Abdoulaye Diabaté, lives in an idyllic village sheltered by cliffs. When his brother Samba defies their elders and flees to join the ‘Nassara’ (colonialist French army), Adama follows in an attempt to bring Samba home. Experimental animation combining laser-scanned sculptures of clay and sand with painterly animated scenes bring magical realism to Adama’s journey north from West Africa to Europe’s Western Front in 1914. A heroic odyssey mixes elements of mysticism and allegory with action, adventure, and a little known historical African narrative
Screens April 20 at 2:30 Pm and April 16 at 3:45
"The Alchemist Cookbook"
Dir. Joel Potrykus
U.S.
Sean is a young hermit, living in near total isolation and obsessed with a mysterious alchemic and somewhat manic pursuit that challenges the laws of nature. Off the grid and turning his back on civilization, his days play out inside an old trailer in the swamps, conducting experiments. When a demonic entity appears in the shadows, Sean’s self-induced seclusion is shattered by a true force of evil. Joel Potrykus delivers another meditation on the idiosyncratic side of the male psyche that feels like a dark and demented modern-day folk tale.
Screens April 14 at 9:50 Pm and April 21 at 10:00 Pm
"The Ardennes"
Dir. Robin Pront
Belgium
Robin Pront's feature-film debut opens with a powerful punch and continues with a slow burn downward spiral of brotherly betrayal and brutal retribution. After a robbery goes hopelessly wrong, Dave escapes the scene leaving his brother Kenny behind to take the rap. Flash forward four years and Dave has been able to turn his life around while time has stood still for Kenny, now out on parole, who was left simmering in jail. The palpable tension between Dave and Kenny builds to brutal and thrilling crescendo in the shadows of Belgium's Ardennes forest.
Screens April 10 at 9:40 Pm and April 22 at 9:45 Pm
"A Decent Man"
Dir. Micha Lewinsky
Switzerland
This provocative drama chronicles a family vacation that turns into every parent’s nightmare. Thomas, an amiable man in his mid-forties, resolves that his family will take their annual skiing holiday in the Swiss Alps even though neither his wife or daughter are interested. But things soon become more complicated when his manipulative boss pressures him to include his difficult daughter, Sarah. A convincing portrait of an insecure man whose failure to be a beloved father, brilliant journalist and understanding husband is sending him over the edge.
Screens April 8 at 4:45 Pm and April 19 at 9:40 Pm
"Dragonfly"
Dir. Maribeth Romslo and Cara Greene Epstein
U.S.
Told with heart, humor, and a little bit of magic, "Dragonfly" is a film about homecoming and healing for a Midwestern family divided by divorce and illness. When Anna’s mom is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s, Anna returns home to help but not without some reluctance tied to her emotional family baggage. As she unpacks her past, Anna rediscovers a mysterious mailbox from her childhood and embarks on a search to solve its mystery. What she learns along the way may be the key to her own reconciliation.
Screens: April 10 at 7:10 Pm and April 16 at 4:40 Pm
"Endorphine"
Dir. André Turpin
Canada
What’s the connection between trauma, memory and the relativity of space and time? Endorphine sends you down a rabbit hole where time and existence are scrambled into a Lynchian fever dream. After 12-year-old Simone helplessly witnesses the murder of her mother, she is thrust into an endless loop that explores alternate realities and parallel lives, including what may or may not be adult versions of herself. Expertly crafted by André Turpin (cinematographer on Xavier Dolan’s Mommy and Tom at the Farm and Denis Villeneuve’s Incendies), "Endorphine" is a dark and visually arresting head trip.
Screens April 10 at 9:15 Pm and April 18 at 9:30 Pm
"The Garbage Helicopter"
Dir. Jonas Selberg Augustsén
Sweden
An old Roma woman is seized by a sudden urge to reclaim her antique clock, sending her three grandchildren on an odyssey across the lonesome, big-sky highways of northern Sweden (captured in beautifully bleak black-and-white). The action takes place in the deadpan absurdist territory pioneered by Jarmusch, Kaurismäki, and Andersson. Here, crosswords are completed (including the mysterious entry, "garbage helicopter"), a speed-trap camera is demolished, a Holocaust museum is visited, the world’s second-biggest chair is solemnly viewed, and a gang of art thieves is encountered.
Screens April 21 at 9:40 Pm and April 23 at 7:05 Pm
"Kill Me Please"
Dir. Anita Rocha da Silveira
Brazil/Argentina
Anita Rocha da Silveira’s stunning debut drops us directly into the psyche of a middle-class teenage girl, piqued by raging hormones and fueled with fearless curiosity. A string of grisly neighborhood murders of women captures the imagination of a clique of girls, but especially Bia who feels more and more connected to the dead women than her high school friends. The incident ignites something in Bia, causing her to embrace fantasy and openly explore her sexuality. Built on a unique atmosphere devoid of adults, Kill Me Please is a dark yet pop-infused coming-of-age story.
Screens April 9 at 3:15 Pm and April 14 at 9:45 Pm
"I Promise Anarchy"
Dir. Julio Hernández Cordón
Mexico
Miguel and Johnny are friends from opposite sides of the tracks, but that doesn’t inhibit their romance with one another that revolves around sex, drugs and skateboarding. To support their devil-may-care lifestyle, the boys sell their own blood—and occasionally the blood of their friends and whomever they can find—to an underground network run by the drug cartel. When one such arrangement goes wrong, Miguel and Johnny find themselves way over their head. Director Julio Hernandez Cordon’s stylishly blends a breezy romance of wayward youth with a gritty nior thriller on the streets of Mexico City.
Screens April 8 at 9:15 Pm and April 11 at 9:50 Pm
"Schneider vs. Bax"
Dir. Alex van Warmerdam
Netherlands/Belgium
This black comedy makes a point of turning the hitman genre on its head with unconventional setups that spiral into absurdism. Schneider wakes to his adoring wife and two young daughters planning his birthday party only to have it interrupted by a call from his boss with a job that must be done right away: an easy hit on an isolated novelist named Bax that he can finish by noon. Needless to say, things do not go as planned. Schneider vs. Bax is as much about the contrast and comparison of these two men and their families, as it is the nascent yet ineffective real-world cage match.
Screens April 10 at 9:35 Pm and April 14 at 9:40 Pm
"A Stray"
Dir. Musa Syeed
U.S.
In the microcosm of Minneapolis’ large Somali community, Adan has run out of options. Looking to turn his life around, he finds solace, friendship and a job as a janitor at the mosque. Finding an even better job driving a taxi, Adan unexpectedly finds a new friend in a stray dog. But the mosque sees the dog as impure, and Adan finds himself on the streets again. Director Musa Syeed brings the streets of Riverside and the struggles of young Somalis to the big screen in this vivid and moving drama.
Screens April 15 at 7:20 Pm and April 17 at 3: 50 Pm
"Wednesday, May 9"
Dir. Vahid Jalilvand
Iran
Leila works in a chicken packing factory to support her family, but still has no money left over to save for a much-needed operation for her disabled husband. Setareh secretly married against her family’s wishes, and when her tyrannical cousin finds out, an altercation lands her young husband in jail, requiring 30 million tomans in “blood money” for his release. The two tragic stories of these women are connected to a potential benefactor who could help them in Vahid Jalilvand’s incredible debut feature of carefully drawn characters and bold statements of humanism.
Screens April 8 at 4:50 Pm and April 19 at 4:30 Pm...
Discerning which films to watch from the couple hundred that will play in the Midwestern city during the next two weeks is a colossal task and one that is directed by taste and interests; however, there are plenty of options for adventurous audiences looking to watch a unique cinematic vision outside of their comfort zone.
The most audacious offers include a French animated featured focused on a war-torn African country, Joel Potrykus follow-up to “Buzzard,” a subversive Lgbt drama about skaters in Mexico City, the story of a Somali man in Minneapolis who finds friendship in a lonely dog, a dark Swedish comedy that resembles the humor of celebrated Nordic masters, or a Brazilian coming-of-ager centered on a girl obsessed with the recent murders of local women. Just from the premises is easy to predict that these will not be your typical experience at the movies, but that's not to say they won't be exponentially more entertaining and eye-opening.
Here is a list with 12 unconventional choices, including those mentioned above, playing at Mspiff that we can't wait to see.
Synopses courtesy of the festival.
The 35th Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival takes place runs April 7-23. For the full program and tickets visit Here.
"Adama"
Dir. Simon Rouby
France
12 year-old Adama, voiced by French-Malian child actor Azize Abdoulaye Diabaté, lives in an idyllic village sheltered by cliffs. When his brother Samba defies their elders and flees to join the ‘Nassara’ (colonialist French army), Adama follows in an attempt to bring Samba home. Experimental animation combining laser-scanned sculptures of clay and sand with painterly animated scenes bring magical realism to Adama’s journey north from West Africa to Europe’s Western Front in 1914. A heroic odyssey mixes elements of mysticism and allegory with action, adventure, and a little known historical African narrative
Screens April 20 at 2:30 Pm and April 16 at 3:45
"The Alchemist Cookbook"
Dir. Joel Potrykus
U.S.
Sean is a young hermit, living in near total isolation and obsessed with a mysterious alchemic and somewhat manic pursuit that challenges the laws of nature. Off the grid and turning his back on civilization, his days play out inside an old trailer in the swamps, conducting experiments. When a demonic entity appears in the shadows, Sean’s self-induced seclusion is shattered by a true force of evil. Joel Potrykus delivers another meditation on the idiosyncratic side of the male psyche that feels like a dark and demented modern-day folk tale.
Screens April 14 at 9:50 Pm and April 21 at 10:00 Pm
"The Ardennes"
Dir. Robin Pront
Belgium
Robin Pront's feature-film debut opens with a powerful punch and continues with a slow burn downward spiral of brotherly betrayal and brutal retribution. After a robbery goes hopelessly wrong, Dave escapes the scene leaving his brother Kenny behind to take the rap. Flash forward four years and Dave has been able to turn his life around while time has stood still for Kenny, now out on parole, who was left simmering in jail. The palpable tension between Dave and Kenny builds to brutal and thrilling crescendo in the shadows of Belgium's Ardennes forest.
Screens April 10 at 9:40 Pm and April 22 at 9:45 Pm
"A Decent Man"
Dir. Micha Lewinsky
Switzerland
This provocative drama chronicles a family vacation that turns into every parent’s nightmare. Thomas, an amiable man in his mid-forties, resolves that his family will take their annual skiing holiday in the Swiss Alps even though neither his wife or daughter are interested. But things soon become more complicated when his manipulative boss pressures him to include his difficult daughter, Sarah. A convincing portrait of an insecure man whose failure to be a beloved father, brilliant journalist and understanding husband is sending him over the edge.
Screens April 8 at 4:45 Pm and April 19 at 9:40 Pm
"Dragonfly"
Dir. Maribeth Romslo and Cara Greene Epstein
U.S.
Told with heart, humor, and a little bit of magic, "Dragonfly" is a film about homecoming and healing for a Midwestern family divided by divorce and illness. When Anna’s mom is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s, Anna returns home to help but not without some reluctance tied to her emotional family baggage. As she unpacks her past, Anna rediscovers a mysterious mailbox from her childhood and embarks on a search to solve its mystery. What she learns along the way may be the key to her own reconciliation.
Screens: April 10 at 7:10 Pm and April 16 at 4:40 Pm
"Endorphine"
Dir. André Turpin
Canada
What’s the connection between trauma, memory and the relativity of space and time? Endorphine sends you down a rabbit hole where time and existence are scrambled into a Lynchian fever dream. After 12-year-old Simone helplessly witnesses the murder of her mother, she is thrust into an endless loop that explores alternate realities and parallel lives, including what may or may not be adult versions of herself. Expertly crafted by André Turpin (cinematographer on Xavier Dolan’s Mommy and Tom at the Farm and Denis Villeneuve’s Incendies), "Endorphine" is a dark and visually arresting head trip.
Screens April 10 at 9:15 Pm and April 18 at 9:30 Pm
"The Garbage Helicopter"
Dir. Jonas Selberg Augustsén
Sweden
An old Roma woman is seized by a sudden urge to reclaim her antique clock, sending her three grandchildren on an odyssey across the lonesome, big-sky highways of northern Sweden (captured in beautifully bleak black-and-white). The action takes place in the deadpan absurdist territory pioneered by Jarmusch, Kaurismäki, and Andersson. Here, crosswords are completed (including the mysterious entry, "garbage helicopter"), a speed-trap camera is demolished, a Holocaust museum is visited, the world’s second-biggest chair is solemnly viewed, and a gang of art thieves is encountered.
Screens April 21 at 9:40 Pm and April 23 at 7:05 Pm
"Kill Me Please"
Dir. Anita Rocha da Silveira
Brazil/Argentina
Anita Rocha da Silveira’s stunning debut drops us directly into the psyche of a middle-class teenage girl, piqued by raging hormones and fueled with fearless curiosity. A string of grisly neighborhood murders of women captures the imagination of a clique of girls, but especially Bia who feels more and more connected to the dead women than her high school friends. The incident ignites something in Bia, causing her to embrace fantasy and openly explore her sexuality. Built on a unique atmosphere devoid of adults, Kill Me Please is a dark yet pop-infused coming-of-age story.
Screens April 9 at 3:15 Pm and April 14 at 9:45 Pm
"I Promise Anarchy"
Dir. Julio Hernández Cordón
Mexico
Miguel and Johnny are friends from opposite sides of the tracks, but that doesn’t inhibit their romance with one another that revolves around sex, drugs and skateboarding. To support their devil-may-care lifestyle, the boys sell their own blood—and occasionally the blood of their friends and whomever they can find—to an underground network run by the drug cartel. When one such arrangement goes wrong, Miguel and Johnny find themselves way over their head. Director Julio Hernandez Cordon’s stylishly blends a breezy romance of wayward youth with a gritty nior thriller on the streets of Mexico City.
Screens April 8 at 9:15 Pm and April 11 at 9:50 Pm
"Schneider vs. Bax"
Dir. Alex van Warmerdam
Netherlands/Belgium
This black comedy makes a point of turning the hitman genre on its head with unconventional setups that spiral into absurdism. Schneider wakes to his adoring wife and two young daughters planning his birthday party only to have it interrupted by a call from his boss with a job that must be done right away: an easy hit on an isolated novelist named Bax that he can finish by noon. Needless to say, things do not go as planned. Schneider vs. Bax is as much about the contrast and comparison of these two men and their families, as it is the nascent yet ineffective real-world cage match.
Screens April 10 at 9:35 Pm and April 14 at 9:40 Pm
"A Stray"
Dir. Musa Syeed
U.S.
In the microcosm of Minneapolis’ large Somali community, Adan has run out of options. Looking to turn his life around, he finds solace, friendship and a job as a janitor at the mosque. Finding an even better job driving a taxi, Adan unexpectedly finds a new friend in a stray dog. But the mosque sees the dog as impure, and Adan finds himself on the streets again. Director Musa Syeed brings the streets of Riverside and the struggles of young Somalis to the big screen in this vivid and moving drama.
Screens April 15 at 7:20 Pm and April 17 at 3: 50 Pm
"Wednesday, May 9"
Dir. Vahid Jalilvand
Iran
Leila works in a chicken packing factory to support her family, but still has no money left over to save for a much-needed operation for her disabled husband. Setareh secretly married against her family’s wishes, and when her tyrannical cousin finds out, an altercation lands her young husband in jail, requiring 30 million tomans in “blood money” for his release. The two tragic stories of these women are connected to a potential benefactor who could help them in Vahid Jalilvand’s incredible debut feature of carefully drawn characters and bold statements of humanism.
Screens April 8 at 4:50 Pm and April 19 at 4:30 Pm...
- 4/7/2016
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
After garnering the most wide spread acclaim of his career with his previous picture, Borgman, director Alex van Warmerdam is back with what may be not only his most accessible film, but also the prototypical black comedy that he has been striving to make his entire career.
Ostensibly a hit man story in the mold of a Spy vs. Spy comic tale, Schneider Vs. Bax is a pitch black comedy that introduces us to our two titular lead characters, Schneider (a suburban father played wonderfully on edge by Tom Dewisplaere) and Bax (who is a writer with a penchant for booze and hard drugs and is played by van Warmerdam himself). Where the humor truly comes in is the picture’s almost farce-style narrative, which sees these two have to deal with their respective hits (which may or may not be born out of less than ideal intentions) as well as their families,...
Ostensibly a hit man story in the mold of a Spy vs. Spy comic tale, Schneider Vs. Bax is a pitch black comedy that introduces us to our two titular lead characters, Schneider (a suburban father played wonderfully on edge by Tom Dewisplaere) and Bax (who is a writer with a penchant for booze and hard drugs and is played by van Warmerdam himself). Where the humor truly comes in is the picture’s almost farce-style narrative, which sees these two have to deal with their respective hits (which may or may not be born out of less than ideal intentions) as well as their families,...
- 2/15/2016
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
Hitman films tend to be action-packed and heavy with tropes familiar to that particular sub-genre of thrillers. Yet Dutch filmmaker Alex van Warmerdam hopes to subvert those expectations by crafting an almost absurdist, Beckett-style drama between two contract killers hired to take out the other. Such is the premise of Schneider vs Bax, where two seemingly normal individuals reveal their true colors when put to the test of trying to kill one another. Director van Warmerdam, who brought us the devilishly delightful Borgman a few years prior, also stars as one of the titular leads, Bax, adding a compelling layer of personal subtext to his conflicted on-screen persona. Yet despite being able to create an enticing mood with beautiful cinematography and a deliberately methodical pace, Schneider vs Bax does little to deliver on its auspicious prospects, and all that remains in the end are fragmented concepts that fall to the wayside.
- 10/7/2015
- by Raffi Asdourian
- The Film Stage
Up the steep track, under the warm dusk, we trudged with no purpose other than to reach our agreed-upon stop: a hillside café halfway between Prizren and the heavens. Below us, behind us, glittery headlights passed through Kosovo’s second city, en route to its capital, Priština. Stop-start progressions. Bad roads. I’d been overseas for eleven days, Neil for thirty. Our time in Prizren, home for fourteen editions now to the dependably curated Dokufest, had helped to barricade a week between the previous film festival and our imminent recording.From Locarno, Switzerland, news had just arrived to us of the winners awarded during the closing ceremony of that town’s 68th annual film festival. The Locarno Film Festival is never short of talking points: though some of its fare had already retreated into the ether of our minds (good riddance to the lot of it), some had proved to...
- 9/24/2015
- by Michael Pattison
- MUBI
Demon, from late director Marcin Wrona, among those in competition.Scroll down for full competition list
The 31st Warsaw Film Festival (Oct 8-19) has revealed the 16 films selected for its international competition, which will vye for the main award - Warsaw Grand Prix, Best Director Award and Special Jury Award.
The titles include Demon, from Marcin Wrona, the 42-year-old Polish who died in Gdynia on Saturday (Sept 19). The death was likely a suicide, according to reports.
Other films in competition include Hany Abu-Assad’s The Idol, Gabriel Mascaro’s Neon Bull and Alex van Warmerdam’s Schneider vs. Bax.
This year’s festival will include 111 full-length films from 57 countries, comprising 90 features, 18 documentaries and three animations as well as 66 short films.
The winners of Short Film Competition will be put forward to compete for the Oscar.
The festival will open with Men and Chicken by Anders Thomas Jensen, whose film Adam’s Apples won theAudience Award at Wff...
The 31st Warsaw Film Festival (Oct 8-19) has revealed the 16 films selected for its international competition, which will vye for the main award - Warsaw Grand Prix, Best Director Award and Special Jury Award.
The titles include Demon, from Marcin Wrona, the 42-year-old Polish who died in Gdynia on Saturday (Sept 19). The death was likely a suicide, according to reports.
Other films in competition include Hany Abu-Assad’s The Idol, Gabriel Mascaro’s Neon Bull and Alex van Warmerdam’s Schneider vs. Bax.
This year’s festival will include 111 full-length films from 57 countries, comprising 90 features, 18 documentaries and three animations as well as 66 short films.
The winners of Short Film Competition will be put forward to compete for the Oscar.
The festival will open with Men and Chicken by Anders Thomas Jensen, whose film Adam’s Apples won theAudience Award at Wff...
- 9/23/2015
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Relentlessly paced, with the volatile ferocity of a rabid pitbull, "Schneider vs. Bax" is, above all else, pretty damn funny. That's if you're into Alex van Warmerdam's distinctive brand of humor. He strikes me as the kind of surgeon who would wear a clown nose while preforming a life-or-death operation, just to lighten up the mood in the room. It's this kind of dark, caustic drollness that takes center stage in the Dutch director's absurd comedy of errors about two hitmen pitted against one another. More playful, but less compelling, than his previous film — the endlessly engrossing "Borgman" — this latest picture won't make too many lasting impressions, but it's a helluva ride in the moment. It's Tuesday, and Schneider (Tom Dewispelaere) is awakened by his lovely wife Lucy (Loes Haverkort) and two young adorable daughters singing him "Happy Birthday." He barely gets a word in edgewise before his handler Mertens (Gene Bervoets) calls.
- 9/19/2015
- by Nikola Grozdanovic
- The Playlist
The 21st edition of Paris' Etrange Festival came to a fiendish close last night, awarding prizes to four lucky films and leaving local genre-heads heartbroken with the knowledge that it's a full 51 weeks until next year's festivities. Top honors went to Alex Van Warmerdam's hit-man comedy Schneider Vs. Bax, a delightfully nasty piece of work that our man Todd Brown has called "occasionally shocking and frequently hilarious." While Moonwalkers, "a very broad commentary on Swinging London, complete with numerous topless women, an excess of psychedelic drugs, and a brain-fried Ron Perlman, who must team with well-meaning yet ineffective music manager Rupert Grint to [convince Stanley Kubrick to fake the moon-landing]" didn't quite wow our Peter Martin, it certainly went the distance with local festival-goers, who gave...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 9/15/2015
- Screen Anarchy
Anne Sewitsky‘s Sundance preemed Homesick, Cannes preemed Romanian imports from Radu Muntean‘s One Floor Below and Corneliu Porumboiu‘s The Treasure along with Athina Rachel Tsangari‘s Locarno shown Chevalier are just four of the film titles in the just announced Contemporary World Cinema programme for Tiff. Among the other noteworthy titles in what is mostly a mix of world preems and North American premieres we find Grímur Hákonarson‘s Rams (just picked up by Cohen Media), Alex van Warmerdam well-received Locarno comedy Schneider vs. Bax , the world preem for Sion Sono’s The Whispering Star, and the Oscilloscope Laboratories picked up Ciro Guerra‘s Embrace Of The Serpent. Here are today’s selections that were added to the already announced Canadian items.
25 April (New Zealand), Leanne Pooley Wp
3000 Nights (Palestine-France-Jordan-Lebanon-uae-Qatar), Mai Masri Wp
An (Japan-France-Germany), Naomi Kawase Nap
The Apostate (Spain-France-Uruguay), Federico Veiroj Wp
As I Open...
25 April (New Zealand), Leanne Pooley Wp
3000 Nights (Palestine-France-Jordan-Lebanon-uae-Qatar), Mai Masri Wp
An (Japan-France-Germany), Naomi Kawase Nap
The Apostate (Spain-France-Uruguay), Federico Veiroj Wp
As I Open...
- 8/18/2015
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Due to the large volume of films that the Toronto International Film Festival screens every year, participants often find themselves unsure of how to decide what to see. To that end, festival organisers often distribute the films into numerous programmes to reflect commonalities among them. The Contemporary World Cinema Programme, to that end, looks at the features from filmmakers from around the world, showcasing the talents being displayed from numerous countries.
The full lineup for the 2015 Tiff Contemporary World Cinema Programme has now been announced, adding to the previously announced slate of Canadian Films in the Programme. The films, as well as their official synopses, can be seen below.
25 April, directed by Leanne Pooley, making its World Premiere
Award-winning filmmaker Leanne Pooley utilizes the letters and memoirs of New Zealand soldiers and nurses along with state of the art animation to tell the true story of the 1915 battle of Gallipoli.
The full lineup for the 2015 Tiff Contemporary World Cinema Programme has now been announced, adding to the previously announced slate of Canadian Films in the Programme. The films, as well as their official synopses, can be seen below.
25 April, directed by Leanne Pooley, making its World Premiere
Award-winning filmmaker Leanne Pooley utilizes the letters and memoirs of New Zealand soldiers and nurses along with state of the art animation to tell the true story of the 1915 battle of Gallipoli.
- 8/18/2015
- by Deepayan Sengupta
- SoundOnSight
Potential awards season contenders Truth from James Vanderbilt and Marc Abraham’s I Saw The Light starring Tom Hiddleston as Hank Williams land world premiere slots, while Paco Cabezas’s Mr. Right will close the festival.
London is the subject of the seventh annual City To City programme that features world premieres of Tom Geens’ Couple In A Hole starring Paul Higgins and Kate Dickie and Michael Caton-Jones’ Urban Hymn with Letitia Wright and Shirley Henderson. Elaine Constantine’s Northern Soul gets a North American premiere.
The world premiere of Catherine Hardwicke’s Miss You Already is among five additions to the galas alongside Mr. Right, an action comedy starring Sam Rockwell and Anna Kendrick.
Matthew Cullen’s Martin Amis adaptation London Fields and David Gordon Green’s Our Brand Is Crisis get first public screenings in the Special Presentations roster with I Saw The Light.
Tiff top brass also unveiled the Contemporary World Cinema section, featuring...
London is the subject of the seventh annual City To City programme that features world premieres of Tom Geens’ Couple In A Hole starring Paul Higgins and Kate Dickie and Michael Caton-Jones’ Urban Hymn with Letitia Wright and Shirley Henderson. Elaine Constantine’s Northern Soul gets a North American premiere.
The world premiere of Catherine Hardwicke’s Miss You Already is among five additions to the galas alongside Mr. Right, an action comedy starring Sam Rockwell and Anna Kendrick.
Matthew Cullen’s Martin Amis adaptation London Fields and David Gordon Green’s Our Brand Is Crisis get first public screenings in the Special Presentations roster with I Saw The Light.
Tiff top brass also unveiled the Contemporary World Cinema section, featuring...
- 8/18/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
We're gathering reviews and dispatches from the 68th edition of the Locarno Film Festival and have notes on, for example, Josh Mond's James White, Sina Ataeian Dena's Paradise, Akiz's Der Nachtmahr, Igor Drljaca's The Waiting Room, Guillaume Senez's Keeper, Catherine Corsini's La Belle Saison, Barbet Schroeder’s Amnesia, Lionel Baier's La Vanité, Lars Kraume's Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer, Alex van Warmerdam's Schneider vs. Bax, Pascal Magontier’s The Final Passage, films by Sam Peckinpah, Marlen Khutsiev and many more. » - David Hudson...
- 8/9/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
We're gathering reviews and dispatches from the 68th edition of the Locarno Film Festival and have notes on, for example, Josh Mond's James White, Sina Ataeian Dena's Paradise, Akiz's Der Nachtmahr, Igor Drljaca's The Waiting Room, Guillaume Senez's Keeper, Catherine Corsini's La Belle Saison, Barbet Schroeder’s Amnesia, Lionel Baier's La Vanité, Lars Kraume's Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer, Alex van Warmerdam's Schneider vs. Bax, Pascal Magontier’s The Final Passage, films by Sam Peckinpah, Marlen Khutsiev and many more. » - David Hudson...
- 8/9/2015
- Keyframe
Read More: Indiewire's Coverage of the 2015 Locarno Film Festival Dutch filmmaker Alex van Warmerdam's movies tend to take the form of black comedies where doomed characters are trapped by bizarre circumstances. His last feature, the Cannes-acclaimed "Borgman," took this tendency into the realm of abstraction, with the unsettling tale of a devilish presence who inserts himself into an upper class home and destroys it from the inside. Van Warmerdam's latest effort, the riveting and very funny "Schneider vs. Bax," takes a comparatively more traditional approach to turning domestic problems into a warped farce. The plot is fairly straightforward: A pair of killers cope with their families and their targets at once. While more readily accessible, "Schneider vs. Bax" delivers the rare joy ride in which everything going wrong feels exactly right. On the one hand, the premise unfolds in fairly basic terms, with the majority of the running time.
- 8/9/2015
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Hong Sang-soo's Right Now, Wrong Then.The lineup for the 2015 festival has been revealed, including new films by Hong Sang-soo, Andrzej Zulawski, Chantal Akerman, Athina Rachel Tsangari, and others, alongside retrospectives and tributes dedicated to Sam Peckinpah, Michael Cimino, Bulle Ogier, and much more.Piazza GRANDERicki and the Flash (Jonathan Demme, USA)La belle saison (Catherine Corsini, France)Le dernier passage (Pascal Magontier, France)Der staat gegen Fritz Bauer (Lars Kraume, Germany)Southpaw (Antoine Fuqua, USA)Trainwreck (Judd Apatow, USA)Jack (Elisabeth Scharang, Austria)Floride (Philippe Le Guay, France)The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimino, UK/USA)Erlkönig (Georges Schwizgebel, Switzerland)Guibord s'en va-t-en guerre (Philippe Falardeau, Canada)Bombay Velvet (Anurag Kashyap, India)Pastorale cilentana (Mario Martone, Italy)La vanite (Lionel Baier, Switzerland/France)The Laundryman (Lee Chung, Taiwan)Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, USA) I pugni ni tasca (Marco Bellocchio, Italy)Heliopolis (Sérgio Machado, Brazil)Amnesia (Barbet Schroeder,...
- 7/20/2015
- by Notebook
- MUBI
With the world’s most prestigious film festival just around the corner, cineastes have been lasciviously salivating about what’s going to show up at Cannes, with wish lists appearing almost immediately after Berlin (a fest that had one of their most impressive line-ups ever) announced their awards. The remainder of the 2015 fest circuit looks to be a plentiful, diverse porridge, with many of the world’s most renowned auteurs’ sporting brand new titles. While many prognosticators will be sharing the same lists, more or less, hopes are incredibly high for a handful of sure bets, and a gaggle of hopefuls. The main competition always seems easier to postulate, though Thierry Fremaux always throws a few curves, (After the Battle in 2012, The Hunt in 2013 or last year’s Timbuktu, which won the Cesar for Best Picture recently, are a couple ready examples of under-the-radar titles).
Italy seems primed for saturation at the fest.
Italy seems primed for saturation at the fest.
- 3/9/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Schneider Vs. Bax
Director: Alex van Warmerdam // Writer: Alex van Warmerdam
Steadily working Dutch auteur Alex van Warmerdam has been systematically making bizarre, offbeat features since 1986’s Voyeur (aka Abel), with titles like 1992’s The Northerners or 2003’s Grimm reaching a wider international audience. But at Cannes 2013, Warmerdam’s eighth feature, Borgman, was a breakout success. Though it went home empty handed, it certainly increased Warmerdam’s profile with a delightfully strange film. His latest, Schneider Vs. Bax, sees the director with his usual set cast of returning characters, including Pierre Bokma and his wife, Annet Malherbe, who starred in nearly all his features. A hitman is assigned the simple task of killing a solitary writer before the night is through. Of course, things don’t go as planned.
Cast: Alex van Warmerdam, Annet Malherbe, Pierre Bokma
Production Co.: Graniet Film Bv, Czar, Verenigde Arbeiders Radio Amateurs (Vara)
U.
Director: Alex van Warmerdam // Writer: Alex van Warmerdam
Steadily working Dutch auteur Alex van Warmerdam has been systematically making bizarre, offbeat features since 1986’s Voyeur (aka Abel), with titles like 1992’s The Northerners or 2003’s Grimm reaching a wider international audience. But at Cannes 2013, Warmerdam’s eighth feature, Borgman, was a breakout success. Though it went home empty handed, it certainly increased Warmerdam’s profile with a delightfully strange film. His latest, Schneider Vs. Bax, sees the director with his usual set cast of returning characters, including Pierre Bokma and his wife, Annet Malherbe, who starred in nearly all his features. A hitman is assigned the simple task of killing a solitary writer before the night is through. Of course, things don’t go as planned.
Cast: Alex van Warmerdam, Annet Malherbe, Pierre Bokma
Production Co.: Graniet Film Bv, Czar, Verenigde Arbeiders Radio Amateurs (Vara)
U.
- 1/8/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
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