Happy to begin a new viewing/writing project! This is Hong Sang-soo Notarized, a full rewatch of his films accompanied by too-detailed tabulation of his recurring motifs, devices, and interests, along with some sketched notes on each film. The posts will all be threaded below:
Think that Léa Seydoux is possibly the most successful case of nepotism in film history, so transcendently great that it barely matters that she has relatives in charge of Pathé and Gaumont; also realized she’s almost certainly the most cinephilic actor since Huppert debuted.
Paul Grivas (Godard’s nephew) shared this video a few hours ago; if I’m inferring correctly these might be the last images Godard ever filmed, unbelievably moving and fitting.
If the Safdies are taking a Wellesian approach and acting in big things in order to help finance the films they want to make, instead of getting snapped up as directors by Disney, then that’s fine
Denis Villeneuve will be an all-time coward if, with *that* stacked of a cast for DUNE, he doesn't bring back Lynch's final beautiful gesture of giving a curtain call for basically every actor with more than three lines.
Project Blackhat. Attempting to create an HD master of Michael Mann’s directors cut of Blackhat using as much of the theatrical cut Blu-ray source as possible.
BABYLON: Truly monstrous in its thudding insistence on shoving the viewer’s face in the muck and claiming it’s something novel or moving; Chazelle might be the most confident director in Hollywood today, of course he’s also got some of the worst instincts out there.
remember when almost 400k people in England and Wales (plus 70k in Australia, 21k in Canada, 53k in New Zealand) listed “Jedi” as their religion on the 2001 census as a joke, making it the fourth-largest reported religion in the country
The best bit of magic in THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS was how Jessica Henwick had two distinct hairstyles that both looked incredibly good in different ways
Incredibly pleased to share my approximation of the director's cut of Michael Mann's masterpiece BLACKHAT, which utilizes as much footage as possible from the superior theatrical cut-quality footage! Link to download here:
EXCLU: In what would mark his first English-language studio film since THE REVENANT, Alejandro G. inarritu has found his next film and tapped none other then Tom Cruise to star in it
Stunned to be able to present my
@Criterion
debut: as part of this wonderful collection of writings about some of Wong Kar-wai's greatest and most distinctive players, I wrote about Chang Chen, one of my favorite actors, and what he means to me as a Taiwanese man.
In Praise of Wong Kar Wai’s Actors ❣️
With the beloved auteur’s films now playing on the
@criterionchannl
, writers with roots in the Chinese-speaking world get personal about nine of his most extraordinary collaborators.
Can’t believe I’m able to say this: I’ll be moderating a Q&A with Tsai Ming-liang and Lee Kang-sheng, one of cinema’s greatest director-muse pairings, after the Sunday 4pm screening on 35mm of THE HOLE, one of their boldest and most beautiful masterpieces!!
Disney has cracked the secret of ensuring constantly visible and insufferable discourse through the radical technique of "not releasing every episode at the same time."
A profile of Isabelle Huppert, perhaps France’s most celebrated actor on the stage and the screen, who has worked with auteurs ranging from Jean-Luc Godard to Hong Sangsoo.
Todd Phillips is following the Tsai Ming-liang route of making an improbable Golden Lion winner (VIVE L’AMOUR) and a musical consisting of non-original songs (THE HOLE)
EXCLUSIVE: Insiders privy to filming and early versions of Todd Phillips’ “Joker: Folie à Deux” tell Variety the movie leans heavily towards being “mostly a jukebox musical,” as it integrates at last 15 reinterpretations of “very well-known” songs.
One is said to be “That’s
@Srirachachau
Viggo Mortensen becoming the regular star for Argentinian slow cinema director Lisandro Alonso is one of the coolest things an actor has ever done
Didn't realize that not only did Chung Chung-hoon (Park Chan-wook's regular cinematographer) not work on DECISION TO LEAVE, but also that he's been mired in Hollywood IP hell since THE HANDMAIDEN:
Was deeply honored to vote in the 2022 Sight & Sound poll, here's my ballot: ten sui generis masterpieces, all monumental works in both the history of film and my relation to the medium; one per director, only films I've seen more than once.
People like this want to flatten out all the idiosyncrasies inherent to each medium and its finest practitioners into a smooth paste that can be tube-fed and regurgitated, fuck em
Why are people SO triggered by calling movies "content"
Movies, TV, YouTube, Tik Tok, Video Games, etc... these are all forms of content that entertain, cure boredom and capture our time/attention
"Wang Bing is unique today in the sense that he has always had this subject, this reality, that is very obvious and natural, it’s almost organic: it’s his body, it’s China." - Pedro Costa
Today in the Journal: Pedro Costa in conversation with Wang Bing.
Udo Kier not even bothering to take any Blu-rays, flexing the Criterion Laserdiscs for I think the first time in any of these videos, just telling three long stories... perfection.
✨ Udo Kier’s Closet Picks✨ The prolific German actor recalls the time he met Paul Morrissey on a plane, the festival encounter that led to his first film shot in the United States, and his experience working with Lars von Trier.
My top ten as it stands right now, I think Yang is the first director to have two since I officially started keeping track (as he should); couldn't bear to lose Rivette so that meant VERTIGO got the short straw
Bresson in a Cahiers interview of A MAN ESCAPED, dismantling OnePerfectShot 50 years avant la lettre: "The cinema must express itself not with images, but with relationships between images, which is not at all the same thing."
Convinced that, if someone could organize it, Paul WS Anderson’s CHARLIE AND THE GREAT GLASS ELEVATOR would be one of the great children’s book adaptations.
BREAKING: Trump is representing HIMSELF, with no lawyer at all, in his case against the United States regarding the search of Mar-a-Lago and recovery of government records.
The legal term is “pro se” - for himself.
He could not find anyone to represent him.
One of the more mysterious images in TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN: after the replay of the opening of the pilot episode in Part 17, this clearly digital image with an uncredited stand-in for Jack Nance/Pete Martell
AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER: Uses its predecessor as a jumping off point for something both more intimate and deeper, as Cameron allows his expanded scope to truly explore and bask in the incredible world he has created, where one’s people, one’s family is paramount. Incredible.
Rest in peace David Bordwell, a legend who could inhabit the accessible and the erudite with equal ease, as important a film critic and academic as nearly anyone out there.
Feels criminal to try to reenact maybe the greatest opening shot in film history (MILLENNIUM MAMBO) without being Hou Hsiao-hsien or having Shu Qi, Lee Ping-bing, etc.… but you know I had to do it.
Only the minimum amount of disrespect intended, but it’s amusing that of the five long-gestating auteur passion projects that Adam Driver has already starred in, virtually everyone can agree on the least artistically significant film and filmmaker
✨ Molly Ringwald’s Closet Picks! ✨ The actor and writer shares her love of the literary qualities of Eric Rohmer’s cinema, recalls the thrill of watching Bruno Dumont’s LA VIE DE JÉSUS, & selects films by auteurs she has worked with, including Jean-Luc Godard & John Cassavetes.