Weekend Forecast: 5/16/08
By Craig Kennedy - May 15th, 2008; 12:01 am
Anders Danielsen Lie in Joachim Trier’s Reprise
LiC’s limited release Pick of the Week
There are plenty of decent limited releases from previous weekends still kicking around (The Visitor, Young@Heart, Son of Rambow, The Fall, OSS 117) and it might be a good time to try and find one because there is only one new wide release this time around:
- The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. The Pevensie children return to Narnia a year after their adventures beyond the wardrobe only to find that 1300 years have passed in Narnia time…and they weren’t a good 1300 years. I feel like I should have more to say about the weekend’s only new wide release. Alas, no. I’ve got nothing. If you’ve seen the first one or you’ve read the books, you know all about this. If you haven’t, you don’t care anyway. Me? I’ll catch up to it sooner or later, but I’m not in a hurry.
Expanding:
- Son of Rambow. You might be tired of hearing me talk about this one by now, but tough crap. It’s a decent flick and it’s moving into a few more theaters this weekend.
Opening in limited release:
- Reprise. Here’s a little number from Norway which boasts a 94% Tomato Rating as of this writing. It’s a comedy/drama that tells the story of two best friends, aspiring authors who send their first manuscripts off on the same day. One is accepted and one is rejected. After that, their lives follow divergent and and unexpected courses.
- Sangre de me sangre (Blood of My Blood) Christopher Zalla’s debut film about two illegal immigrants - one is on a quest to find his estranged father and the other steals his identity. This won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. These awards are a mixed bag at best so take that for what it’s worth.
Premiering or otherwise arriving in Los Angeles:
- How the Garcia Girls Spent their Summer. The Garcia girls are 3 generations of single Mexican-American women and they’re played by America Ferrera (TV’s [not] Ugly Betty), Elizabeth Peña (Lone Star, Jacob’s Ladder), and Lucy Gallardo. This comedy drama about their sexual awakening is writer/director Georgina Garcia Riedel’s feature debut. It looks like it will expand next week.
- Bloodline. This one opened last weekend in NY and, having seen the trailer, I chose to ignore it. Now it’s hitting my home town and since pickings are scarce, I will take this opportunity to mock it. If you managed to stay awake through Ron Howard’s The Da Vinci Code (or Dan Brown’s inexplicably popular book which you could read faster than the movie took to unspool), you know the drill: The descendants of Jesus and Mary Magdalene are walking among us. This documentary seeks to prove it, but someone wants to see it remains a secret. Blah blah blah. If one of these daughters or sons of the son God can point me in the direction of gas that costs less than $4 a gallon, I’m there with bells on. Otherwise, I’ve got things to do. I like conspiracies as much as the next guy, hell I used to love In Search Of… with Leonard Nimoy, but this particular story has been played out.
- Noise. This black comedy about Tim Robbins’ one-man crusade against urban noise, especially car alarms, opened in NY last week and it makes it way to Los Angeles this weekend.
- Roman de Gare. The latest from French writer/director Claude (A Man and a Woman) Lelouch. It’s a psychological thriller that uses a fractured timeline to tell the story of several connected characters including Fanny Ardent, an author whose novels may have been ghostwritten by a serial killer. It opened in NY on 4/25 and now it hits LA.
- Turn the River. I was a little dismissive of this one when it opened in NY last week, but it’s getting decent reviews all around. Famke Janssen plays a woman who hustles pool and poker in order to earn enough money to get back the son who was taken from her at birth.
- Unsettled is a documentary about six 20-somethings and the impact the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip has on them. Three are Israeli citizens forced to leave their homes in “Israel’s Palm Beach”, two are soldiers sent to evict them and one is an activist supporting the withdrawal. Music by Matisyahu. It’s another one that opened in NY last week.
- Up the Yangtze. This documentary opened in NY on 4/25 and now it has finally made it to LA. It tells the story of the construction of China’s massive Three Gorges Dam and the impact it has on the local population. Daniel Getahun does a remarkable job of keeping up with this and that documentary and he gives the film an ‘A’.
- Water Lilies is Céline Sciamma’s tale of three 15-year-old French girls (a pretty one, a chubby one and a tomboy) on the same synchronized swimming team. Manohla Dargis compared it unfavorably to Catherine Breillat’s Fat Girl, calling its exploration of adolescent sexuality “a nice, watchable, attractive, minor work.” Back when it opened in NY on April 3 however, I mentioned in the weekend forecast that it came modestly recommended from LiC familiars Alison Flynn and Paul Clark. It was also one of Hedwig’s favorite movies of the most recent Rotterdam Film Festival. So who are you going to believe? (My money is on Alison and Paul and Hedwig. Sorry Manohla.)
Filed under: Upcoming
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I have no desire to see Narnia, so this seems like a good weekend to catch up on the likes of Rambow or Y@H or Standard Operating Procedure. The Yangtze doc looks interesting as well, such a massive undertaking that hardly anybody on this side of the Pacific knows about.
I got to see Up the Yangtze today at a special pre-screening. Magnificent. The best documentary I’ve seen in I don’t know how long. Very beautiful. Thematically rich and multi-layered. I strongly recommend it.
Hey, I used to love In Search Of… with Leonard Nimoy, too!
Don’t forget me :-) I really recommend Naissance Des Pieuvres/Water Lilies also. It captures what it’s like to be a fifteen yo girl like no other film I’ve seen.
Well because my family is coming up for the weekend for my graduation ceremony, I probably won’t have time to watch many movies. I’ll have to watch Prince Caspian and maybe I’ll get a chance to see Son of Rabow. Other than that, not a lot of time for movies.
Craig, do you think that if people haven’t read the Narnia books that they don’t care about the movies? I think otherwise, especially because I’m one of the ones who hasn’t read any of them but always look forward to the next movie (like Harry Potter).
I did just watch Teeth and The Savages. I really liked The Savages but Teeth, with it’s premise, could have been much better. Oh well.
Yeah, and I get “What Happens in Vegas.”
I have a busy weekend that might preclude movie viewing entirely. However, I’m still interested in Turn the River and Water Lilies and curious about a number of others on this list. I still can’t believe how much momentum there is behind Son of Rambow. It doesn’t seem like something with that broad of an appeal, yet it keeps popping up everywhere I go.
Thanks for the comment on Up the Yangtze. I’m curious to see that one.
Sorry Hedwig, how could I have excluded the world’s foremost physicist/film critc? My only excuse is that it was late.
Justin. I’m talking about people who never read the books and didn’t see the first movie. I’m assuming they’re not going to suddenly start caring.
Good news on Yangtze, I may just have to break my usual pattern and actually catch a documentary for a change.
Joel, you can maybe blame me on Rambow since I keep mentioning it. I don’t mean to oversell it since it’s not movie of the year material or anything, but it’s a nice alternative to the summer routine.
Nick. Vegas is the 2nd most popular movie around! You should be thrilled. (kidding)
I’m planning on Narnia (I’m a much bigger fan of those than Potter) and an Indian film, Let the Wind Blow. Maybe Body of War and/or My Brother is an Only Child over the next week.
Nick, I watched the first 10 minutes of Vegas last night while waiting for the pre-Redbelt trailers to finish. It was exactly what I thought it would be. Pure fluff. Looks like Cameron Diaz got a lip job, and I don’t think it suits her. Otherwise, Rob Cordrry was solid in the 3 minutes I saw of him. He was one of the brighter spots of Harold and Kumar/Guantanamo, too. This is guy is everywhere. Also, I don’t know if anyone else is familiar with Vegas, but what is with Planet Hollywood getting so much screen time? In both this and 21 it’s somehow Vegas Central.
Up the Yangtze: First of all, thanks, Craig. Another ‘A’ from me - it must start to look like that’s all I give. Actually I think I’ve just seen some great movies so far in 2008.
I’m thrilled that you saw it, Alexander, and found it as impressive. A couple of critics have come down on it for trying to touch on too many themes, but I found it well balanced. It’s an incredibly important film, and I hope Jeff, Joel, and others get a chance at it. Be patient, let it soak in. It’s a little unpolished but packed with incredible material.
I might also recommend Still Life, which I didn’t see but it is also set on the Yangtze and actually won the Golden Lion at Venice 2006. I did see another very good recent doc featuring China - last year’s Manufactured Landscapes, which highlights not just the dam, but the overall culture of mass production and consumption as it relates to China. It was totally overlooked last year.
Congrats on your graduation, Justin.
Congratulations, Justin!
Yeah, I saw Manohla’s review. Ah, well. She’s entitled to her opinion and I still have great respect for her writing even if we don’t agree. :-)
But Water Lilies is a wonderful film. I recommend it.
Tracey Fragments is playing near me so I’ll probably try to catch that this weekend. I’ve also got the DVD for Avatar: The Last Airbender, Season 3, Volume 3, which is episodes 11-15. Only episode 11 has aired so far, so I will be catching up on 12-15. :-)
Yeah Justin. Seriously. Congratulations. I meant to say that already, but, well, my head is kind of up my ass sometimes.
Daniel, you’re not afraid to be critical and I respect your opinion on documentaries. You certainly see enough of them to know when you’ve got a good one.
Yeah Alison, Manohla isn’t always right, but I always like her. Who knows? Maybe I’ll agree with her.
Besides a number of things that are still kicking around, my list for the weekend includes Reprise, Garcia Girls, Roman de gare, Yangtze, Unsettled and Water Lilies. I doubt I’ll make all of them, but that’s what’s on the menu.
Daniel, I saw Manufactured Landscapes a few months ago at my theater during the Salem Film Fest (35mm print!). That was a fantastic movie. Jennifer Baichwal really did justice to Edward Burtynsky’s work. And that opening shot is mind blowing.
Thanks all for the congrats. I’ve been done for over a semester but my school doesn’t have any ceremonies in December so I had to wait until May. But with the amount of shit my school has put me through, I’m still not going to believe I’m done until my diploma is in my hands.
Apology accepted ;-)
Congrats Justin! What do we call you now?
This weekend, prolly no films for me…but next week, I’m sure to see Indy!
I guess you could call me an adult. :)
Yeah Justin, the opening shot was pretty insane. It really has to be seen on the big screen, but that’s probably not going to happen for anyone at this point, so you might as well see it here.
Yangtze is a better, much more emotionally charged and human-focused documentary, but Landscapes provides a bit more visual evidence of the jawdropping changes humans can make to the earth’s form. Check out the “works” on Burtynsky’s website.
Justin, I just wanna say one word. One word.
Are you listening?
Plastics.
Sorry, this is off topic. I want to follow up on Chuck’s enthusiastic endorsement of the brilliance of the Synedoche, New York script.
It’s dazzling and unlike anything I’ve encountered before. It does echo his earlier work but pushes things much further. The story becomes increasingly complex, abstract, and ambitious in its structure and metaphysical preoccupations. Along the way there is plenty of wonderful black absurdist humor to be found in the dialogue, characterizations, and plot developments. You won’t know where it’s heading, and afterwards you’ll spend plenty of time parsing the experience.
It’ll be celebrated as mind-bending genius but also, I suspect, inspire strong dislike in some. PSH is perfectly cast, and Samantha Morton has the most endearing of the supporting roles. It’s worth noting that the title says it all – signifying the interplay between the specific and the general. Strap yourself in for a heady ride, multiple readings and passionate debate.
I have the script but haven’t read it yet.
OK, I’m just going to say this now and leave it be after that, but I don’t know how you folks can read the script for the movie before you’ve seen it. That would ruin the movie for me, I do believe.
Yeah, I’m with Joel, but I’m glad to hear two signs of encouragement. Of course, the big question for me is whether Kaufman can direct. I surely hope so.
Looking forward to it, sartre, but I’m with the blackout crowd. Your recommendation makes it a must-see.
Switching gears again, Craig or Christian (or anyone anywhere else) did you hear any buzz about a screening of this in your neighborhood last night (at Graumanns/Manns/whatever it is now): http://www.theraider.net/films/raiders_adaptation/index.php
Or am I way behind the curve on this? It’s coming here next weekend and I’m wondering if I should try to make it. I have a packed weekend but don’t want to miss out on something amazing.
I appreciate that this doesn’t appeal to everyone.
I rarely read scripts before seeing a much anticipated film. But the script isn’t the film. And I’m curious about screen writing as a craft and the translation from page to motion picture.
I guess I’m just not as concerned about knowing things in advance. And the process of discovering a story for the first time isn’t lost, it just occurs through the script rather than film. I can enjoy an adaptation of a much loved book, and take enormous pleasure from re-watching films. This is a variation on that. And I figured with Charlie Kaufman that reading the script might actually enhance the experience. I’m glad I did, and I’ll be able to process the film in a different, but still fresh way. Nothing was ruined for me. I can’t wait to see how this amazingly complicated and out there story is realized as cinema. I’m still getting my head around it and seeing the film will undoubtedly help to more completely connect with Kaufman’s vision and ideas.
Yeah, Daniel, Up the Yangtze was amazing, just terrific, I thought. I think you’re LiC’s resident documentary connoisseur, aha, and I’m glad I’m very glad I saw this one.
Daniel, what did you think of Redbelt? Or did you post your opinion somewhere and I missed it?
Anyway, if I can return the favor, I highly recommend My Brother is an Only Child. One of the best films of the year in my opinion.
I’ve been excited about Synedoche, New York for so long now… And I’m sure it’s going to receive a great deal of electric “buzz” coming out of Cannes… It might be shaping up to be this year’s No Country for Old Men for me.
I’ll probably see Prince Caspian at some point this weekend.
Roman de Gare is probably much smarter and more challenging than its trailer, which I’ve seen thrice now, makes it out to be, judging by Lelouch’s previous work.
Definitely am excited to see Reprise eventually.
OSS 17 and Roman de Gare are both arriving to the San Rafael arthouse tomorrow, so there’s some more films to see…
I didn’t catch that one Daniel, though for some reason I think I’ve seen bits of it on the internet. Very clever if memory serves.
Thanks a lot, Alexander. I really do enjoy docs, but I’m not usually up to my eyeballs in them like this. I’m still drafting my thoughts on Blindsight, Nerakhoon (The Betrayal), and At the Death House Door (which I saw last night), but I think there are only a handful left in the summer that I’m watching out for. I hope you find time to write something up about Yangtze on your new blog, if your thoughts lend themselves to it.
Thanks for the tip on Brother. I think somebody else here (Alison or Sam?) recommended it as well.
I saw Redbelt late last night and have not yet posted anything about it. Sometime in the next week. I was the only person in the theater, and…I thought it was really, really poor. In fact I still need to read Chuck’s review now, but I knew he didn’t love it before I went. Ejiofor was really actually pretty great (and shockingly, I loved his American accent this time), but I thought the script was just awful. I don’t know why I keep expecting greatness from Mamet since I haven’t really liked anything he’s done for about 10 years.
I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts on OSS. I missed Roman de Gare at the festival here but am keeping a finger on its pulse before it comes back this summer.
Sam and I both agreed with each other in a thread not long ago about My Brother is an Only Child, Daniel. Definitely has an Amarcord, Cinema Paradiso feel in many different ways. Maybe Alison saw it, too, I don’t know.
Yeah, Mamet’s batting average keeps dropping. I thought Spartan had a lot of interesting ideas and characters but as Chuck said, it just never goes anywhere.
Nope, not yet, Alexander. Another one I’ll have to check out if it’s worthwhile.
It is indeed.
My Brother Is An Only Child? Really? I mean, I liked it, gave it 3 stars I think, maybe even 3.5, but I can hardly remember anything about it and it’s only been 6 months. I don’t know, it has a nice light touch, and the history is nicely interwoven but well…for me, it didn’t quite go beyond “nice”.
That’s interesting, Hedwig.
Daniele Luchetti’s My Brother is an Only Child will most likely never attain the status of the two Italian classics I named but it carries on in the grand tradition of Italian cinema. I don’t believe I have seen such a moving love letter to an entire nation’s cinematic history in a long time (Hou’s memorial[s] to Ozu, Cafe Lumiere, is remarkable but less all-encompassing) and most directly to its celebrated titans. The film feels created in the multiple images of Italian filmic canon: Rossellini, Fellini, Visconti, Germi, Pasolini, Bellocchio, Tornatore and Bertolucci. For Bertolucci, the mutual love of a woman by two brothers, for Tornatore, the coming-of-age under a loving mentor, the political alterations to Visconti’s varied settings, the social microcosm of household-as-nation, illustrated as broken, like Germi, a modified version of Rossellini’s politically aware, but completely grounded humanism, Bellocchio’s insatiable appetite for the everyday realilties of society juxtaposed against political movements, Pasolini’s understanding of the umbrella that adolescent (in maturity, if not always in age) political and sexual awakenings both fall under and Fellini’s famed depiction of parental triumphs, tragedies and moments of hilarity.
(Even if My Brother… is not vaguely auto-biographical the way Amarcord is, despite Fellini’s protestations that while there are similarities to it and his childhood, it’s not auto-biographical, My Brother… nevertheless comes from the same cloth, and perhaps even more ardently so, with Fellini’s earlier, more honest and long before he broke off from neo-realism film which still feels remarkably dreamlike–and I think his first masterpiece–I, Vitelloni, about a group of young men trying to find their respective paths in life, leaving youth behind.)
The only other two Luchetti films I’ve seen are Arriva la bufera and School, both of which indicate he’s been plugging away at these themes and ideas, which play like sweet paeans to Italy’s farrago of great filmmakers and Italian society (or, to be more particular and perhaps more historically correct, Italian societies).
You’d think I’d be used to the fact that the same movie can captivate one person while merely inspiring a “meh” from someone else, yet every time it amazes me.
it’a gonna be son of for me and like jeff i have zero interest and i spelled at as zero in narnia…
My Blueberry Nights has finally wound its way here, so I’m going to see that with the wonderhusband tomorrow, I believe. I’m going in expecting it to be a lovely mixed bag of scenes strung together, nothing more.
I read the Narnia books over and over as a kid, but the Disneyfied films drain them of their magic. I also REALLY dislike the kid they cast as Lucy. Maybe she can act, but she’s so wrong for the role it’s all I can think about when she’s on screen. So, I may see Narnia eventually, but no hurry. If I see it on cable, that’s fine by me. I have a friend who’s a big fan of the first movie, though, so he may drag me there in a week or two.
I think I’m with sartre on reading the Kaufman script. I haven’t yet, but I definitely see the appeal. His scripts are so playfully multilayered, they really could benefit from separate analysis, even before seeing the film. His words are an experience unto themselves, apart from any performances and images on the screen. I may have to look that up.
Enjoy MBN jennybee
I’m a movie spaz so I like to see the movie first and read the book/script afterwards. I also find it helps me with the bigger words, being the illiterate that I am. :)
Interesting take on Narnia JB. My secret suspicion was that the non-fans of the movie were all non-fans of the book. I liked the first one well enough, but I couldn’t say how faithful it was. Now here you are as a book fan punching holes in my carefully crafted theory. Thanks for nothing! sheez!
I get a little nervous everytime someone says they’re going to check out MBN, but it sounds like you’ve got a good attitude about it. I look forward to hearing your thoughts by the watercooler on Monday….even if you hate it.
Has anyone around these here parts seen a film called “Brick Lane”?
Coz I really want to, but it seems like no one in the world has seen it. No one that will talk to me anyway.
I only get Narnia on 6 June. How retarded?
I mean, we get Indy and Iron Man before the US {a few hours, but still}. I think more people {i.e. the kiddies and their parents - who make up the majority of the box office earnings} would see Narnia. Surely, in SA, more people would see Narnia than Indy.
Movie distribution confuses me to no end.
Brick Lane is supposed to get a limited release here in June, Nick. Until now I haven’t heard anything about it. What do you know?
Distribution patterns even just in the US are confusing to me Nick, let alone international. I don’t know how the mind of a typical bean counting studio stooge works.
justin…agree teeth didn’t cast a spell…but that film’s gynecologist scene has *got* to be a contendor for funniest scene of the year !
i wonder how different the stateside version of teeth is from the japanese version ???
That scene was creepy/squirmy funny, as were a couple of others.
Well, all I know is that it has been released in SA today, and I really want to see it. Reviews from the UK have been okay, but I think it sounds good - all I am going on is the international trailer.
It is like the first film in ages that I have really *wanted* to see, rather than simply seeing it out of obligation.
Go for it! then hurry back and tell us about it.
Wow, Robert Mondavi died. Fat chance I’m sure, but did anybody ever see the wine documentary Mondovino?
Speaking of distribution, Son of Rambow was on the list to be released in June, but there was, suspiciously enough, no screening date yet…and sure enough, it’s been pulled off the schedule, for an indeterminate length of time.
Gah, I really want to see it though.
The press screening for Indy is on Monday. Oddly enough, quite a few people (including me) decided not to be a part of the toss to determine who’d get it. I want to see it with my friends in a packed theater, not in the clinical setting of a press-only screening. (see also Alexander’s post about event movies)
Speaking of Indy, someone over at the Onion AV club, as a part of their “better late than never” series, finally watched Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time, and wrote a pretty great piece about it .
Believe it or not Daniel, I DID see Mondovino. I don’t remember it very well though….
Odd about Son of Rambow, Hedwig. I wonder if it’s just not been a big enough hit in the territories it’s played so far and the distributor got cold feet?
Good call on Indy too, it’s not like you’d be seeing it THAT early anyway. Might as well see it with friends and an excited audience rather than a room full of jaded critics.
Hehe, I can’t say I would have guessed that, Craig! The majority of it left my mind after leaving the theater, but I do remember that it took a pretty hard line against Mondavi’s corporate/globalizing influence on the wine industry. I’m really not a big wine guy, but I have to say I’ve seen his name differently since then. I also remember it showing some pretty beautiful shots of vineyards in France, Italy and Brazil. This review just jogged my memory a bit. At over 2 hours it was way too long, but it did a competition slot at Cannes 2004.