Film and Video

Thelma Schoonmaker won her third Oscar on Sunday night for her editing on The Departed. She visited the Walker in 1996 for a screening of Martin Scorcese’s A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies and a master class on her editing of Raging Bull.

Photo: Dan Dennehy for Walker Art Center

• In commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival, a film has been commissioned in which 33 prominent directors will contribute a short vignette intended to reveal “their current state of mind as inspired by the motion-picture theatre”. The impressive list of directors includes many of the giants of Asian cinema, including Fifth Generation directors Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou, Taiwanese auteurs Hou Hsiao-hsien and Tsai Ming-liang, Hong Kong’s Wong Kar-Wai and Japan’s Takeshi Kitano! For the full list, check out the press release here.

• Ruby Yang’s The Blood of Yingzhou District won the Best Documentary Short Subject Academy Award over the weekend. Learn more about the film and read producer Thomas Lennon’s acceptance speech at the Academy’s official site.

• Mark Schilling presents a triumvirate of pieces about Mika Ninagawa’s first feature, Sakuran, including an interview with Ninagawa, an interview with star Anna Tsuchiya, and an uncommon 5-star review of what is sure to be one of the most talked-about Japanese films of the year.

• Variety has an interesting pair of reports on the Chinese government’s recent film-related actions: an environmentally conscious program designed to reduce environmental damage incurred during filming, as well as an initiative to build more movie theaters in rural areas.

• Last but certainly not least, Ryuganji reports that the great Japanese exploitation classic Female Prisoner Scorpion #701 is to be remade by Hong Kong director Joe Ma (who despite the gritty Big Bullet is a director primarily known for traditional Cantonese screwball comedies), with Mizuno Miki tasked with the difficult job of filling Meiko Kaji’s jailhouse jumpsuit! I’m uncertain that even Hong Kong’s “Category III” rating will be extreme enough to match the profound levels of excess present in Shunya Ito’s original trilogy, but I’ll be first in line to find out!

I’ll be honest, I’ve never been a big fan of the Oscar telecast — too much gaudy style and very little substance. No surprise. Also, I’ve never put too much stake in the awards themselves, but it’s always been nice when someone deserving gets a nod. Here are some thoughts on last night’s proceedings.

The Good

Errol Morris’ introductory short film was fantastic. It was easily my favorite part of the night. Thankfully, it’s been put up online for repeated viewing. Be sure to take a look if you missed it.

A few wins I was pleased to see: Forest Whitaker, Alan Arkin, Thelma Schoonmaker, and Martin Scorcese.

Al Gore having such a presence was quite entertaining. The presentation given by Al and Leonardo DiCaprio was great.

Ennio Morricone’s acceptance speech was incredibly sweet and touching. (More on that part of the ceremony below.)

The Bad

Very little of it was of too much interest, but I really thought the shadow dance pieces were awful. They were athletically impressive perhaps, but seemed straight out of the early ’80s.

Did you catch the nominees for best costume design? They had these people modeling the various designs, and it seems that their only direction was to girate like an animatronic mannequin.

The Ugly

If you read this blog regularly, you may remember the excitement I had when I heard that Ennio Morricone was finally getting some recognition, in the form of a Lifetime Achievement Award, from the Academy. Last night was appalling. Clint Eastwood was stumbling over every other word, which was oddly charming and funny, but a little sad, as this was the first, and likely the last, time Morricone will get a tribute of this sort in the U.S. That wasn’t the worst of it though. After the introduction, the orchestra kicked in with a medley of some of Morricone’s memorable pieces of music. It was terrible, and more than a little offensive. Morricone is, in my opinion at least, the greatest film composer of our time. He brings an unheard of innovation to his music for films — interesting orchestrations, non-traditional instrumentation, and of course fascinating compositions. When the Academy finally gives credit where credit is due - he had been nominated five times, but never won - all they can offer is Lawrence Welkian arrangements of some of the most memorable movie music of cinema history. He deserves better.

Comments?

Avenue Montaigne (playing at the Walker on Saturday, March 3 as part of the Women with Vision Film Festival) is at the top of the independent/specialty box office charts.

Robert Altman was saluted on what would have been his 82nd birthday in Manhattan. indieWire reports. As does the New York Times.

The fantastic online film journal Senses of Cinema has published their first issue of 2007. It’s always worth a look.

Preeminent French magazine Cahiers du cinema went online last week with “issue zero” of their e-Cahiers du cinema. It’s a test issue with only 20 or so pages translated into English, but the next issue, online March 9, will be translated from cover to cover. Started in 1951, the influence that Cahiers du cinema has had on film and film criticism can not be overstated. Given the iconic nature of the print magazine, there will no doubt be a fair share of detractors. The editors had this to say (as posted by Twitch):

“Dear friends,We invite you to discover the ‘issue zero’ of e-Cahiers du cinema. The ‘e’ stands for ‘electronic’ as well as for ‘English’…The March 2007 issue will be the first to be published simultaneously in French on paper and, in its entirety, in English at www.e-cahiersducinema.com. This issue will arrive on newstands on March 7 and on line March 9. The double evolution of Les Cahiers (the paper magazine plus the magazine on line, the French magazine plus the English edition) comes in response to the two great movements of our times, toward digital distribution and toward the globalization of the media… To publish in English, of course, is a way of reaching a larger of new readers, but we hope it will also be a way of making a different voice heard in the world–a way of proposing a fresh, rigorous and contemporary approach to the cinema and its place in present day culture.”

As a magazine-hound and a film fan and a non-French speaker I couldn’t be happier. But purists are already debating the mere possibility of correctly translating the content of Cahiers. (Check comments to Greencine post.) Personally, I think the online edition looks awesome, and if they want to translate “A woman in trouble” to “The story of a woman who has some problems,” so be it. What would Bazin think? When it came to films, he may have been a bit of a formalist, but as a journalist, I think he was a little more pragmatic.

• The 57th Berlin International Film Festival has come to a close, with the coveted Golden Bear going to Chinese director Wang Quanan’s Tuya’s Marriage, while I’m a Cyborg, But That’s Okay, previously mentioned in this column, won the Alfred Bauer Prize for most innovative film! Check out Variety’s festival wrap-up here, their brief review of Tuya’s Marriage here, and the official winner’s list here.

• Jackie Chan’s 1980 directorial debut, The Young Master, gets the Fortune Star remaster it deserves and hits DVD uncut for the first time this week! In the decade since Jackie made his crossover to Hollywood with a heavily edited version of Rumble in the Bronx, the aging martial arts master has come to be known more for his signature version of slapstick than the death-defying stunts that made him a household name throughout Asia. Pick up a copy at YesAsia and witness Jackie at his most agile!

• Koreanfilm.org kingpin Darcy Paquet has posted his list of the best Korean films of 2006, topped by Hong Sang-Soo’s Woman on the Beach. As a devotee of Hong myself, I found Woman to be a minor work at best, though certainly worth screening. Differences of opinion aside, Paquet is the English-language authority on Korean cinema, and his picks are always interesting.

• In my mind, there are only a few truly great directors of animated cinema in the running for Best of All Time - and Hideaki Anno is certainly one of them. Finally, his debut OVA, Gunbuster, sees a Region 1 DVD release! A true classic that belongs in the library of any fan of animation, you can whet your appetite with Chris Beveridge’s extremely thorough review.

• Sion Sono, best known in the West for his cult hit Suicide Circle, returns this week with a new horror outing entitled Exte, a Japanese romanized contraction of, believe it or not, “hair extensions”. As you might have already deduced, this is a film about evil hair. Starring Kill Bill’s Chiaki Kuriyama, you can read Mark Schilling’s generally positive review here.

Some hardy individuals helped themselves to a complementary glass of champagne for making it to the finish line at 3:20am this past Monday morning in Berlin. What was this extreme sport of endurance? It was the world premiere of the restored version of Fassbinder’s infamous TV mini-series Berlin Alexanderplatz at the 57th Berlinale. I think it is quite possible that the Walker’s own assistant curator Dean Otto may have partaken in the competition. (We will have to wait and see how he fared.)

The screening started at 10:00am on Sunday morning and drew to a close 17 hours and 20 minutes later - not for the faint of heart film fan. Inevitably a screening like this is just as much of an event as it is a viewing, and perhaps even a competition. We have had our own versions of stamina cinema here in the Twin Cities: Bela Tarr’s 7 hour epic Satantango recently played across town at the Oak Street, and the University of Minnesota’s DocuLens Asia Film Series hosted Wang Bing’s 9 and a half hour underground documentary West of the Tracks. I personally like this idea of pushing your film viewing to the limit. I’ve often been accused of squandering my time in movie theaters, so I’m glad to see my vice gaining some momentum.

Another sign of stamina cinema gaining mass appeal, AMC has announced that it will screen all five of the Best Picture Oscar nominees in a row on Saturday February 24th (locally at Southdale and Arbor Lakes) that adds up to over 12 hours at the multiplex. 30 bucks will get you into all five of the films, starting at 11:00am with Babel and ending at with the plucky Little Miss Sunshine, AND a free popcorn AND a free drink AND free refills! Despite the fact that I have seen four of the five and found them, for the most part, unworthy, I am still very tempted.

Rumor is that Criterion will be handling the restored Berlin Alexanderplatz on DVD in the US, and I look forward to seeing it in all its restored glory. Will I watch it in one sitting? Probably not. Would I spend 17 hours in a cinema to see it? Absolutely!

Spiegel article on the Berlinale screening of Berlin Alexanderplatz.

Bob’s shorts? - The shorts Robert DeNiro wore in Raging Bull and costumes from 12 other films are on display in Austin, Texas. Austin 360 reports. I don’t really need to see the shorts, but I’d love to see Raging Bull on the big screen again.

David Lynch interviewed by The Guardian. Live from the stage atthe NFT after a screening of Inland Empire. It’s one of the more candid and chatty interviews I’ve read.

Francis Ford Coppola working on TWO films? Apparently so. Youth Without Youth is currently in post-production and scheduled for release late this year. It will be the first film by the elder Coppola to hit the screens in 10 years. Ain’t It Cool News also reports that he has begun work on another feature called Tetro.

To follow up on Mike’s post yesterday. Twitch has posted a link for a teaser trailer for Takeshi Kitano’s Kantoku-Banzai! Kitano is also one of my favorites, and this looks promising. Take a Look!

• What better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day than crashing on the sofa with your significant other to watch Confession of Pain, the latest from the directorial super-team of Alan Mak and Andrew Lau! If the latest Mak/Lau collaboration isn’t reason enough for you to hunt down a copy, the film features Hong Kong legends Tony Leung and Takeshi Kaneshiro, together again for the first time since their breakthrough roles in Wong Kar-Wai’s classic Chungking Express. Not sure if a gritty murder mystery will be appropriate fare for a romantic V-Day? I assure you it will*! (*probably a lie) YesAsia has a copy with your name on it.

• Takeshi Kitano has already completed work on his 13th feature, tentatively titled Kantoku - Banzai! (roughly, “Director’s Battlecry“), reports Jason Gray. Kitano is one of my favorite directors, and to hear that he is returning to his comedic roots for a Fellini-esque farce is cause for celebration!

• Midnight Eye’s Eija Niskanen has written an excellent new feature, a welcome introduction to the works of the vastly underrated Mikio Naruse. With the recent UK release of three of his postwar features through Eureka Films, and next Tuesday’s Criterion treatment of When a Woman Ascends the Stairs, I can only hope for a collective re-evaluation of this seminal figure of early Japanese cinema.

• Kim Ji-woon, director of recent cult favorites A Bittersweet Life and A Tale of Two Sisters, is prepping a period western (!) for release in 2008, reports Variety. Entitled The Good, the Bad and the Weird, the real payoff is Kim’s casting coup, with arguably the three hottest actors in South Korea taking on the titular roles: Lee Byung-hun is Good, Jung Woo-sung is Bad, and the masterful Song Kang-ho is Weird! The wartime setting is an interesting concept, but the treat will be seeing these three magnetic actors chew up the scenery.

• The Japanese Hitman Picture is a genre fallen by the wayside in recent years, the very premise conjuring up memories of the endless hard-boiled actioners that littered the ’90s film landscape. Cold-blooded J-killers may be down, but they’re not out just yet, as this week sees the release of Freesia in Japanese theaters. Surprisingly, lean man of Japanese letters Mark Schilling has penned a glowing review, turning more than a few eyes in the direction of a once-unanticipated feature!

• Last but not least, an update of sorts to the previously reported news that Alain Delon will be joining Johnnie To for an as-yet-unnamed film. This Variety article reports that To will be directing a remake of Melville’s classic Le Cercle Rouge, a film that features one of Delon’s most famous roles. Perhaps a coincidence, but what could be more enticing than to imagine To, hitting his cinematic stride, directing Delon as a more wizened incarnation of the suave thief Corey? A sweet dream, indeed…

Come see a free preview of Amazing Grace in the Walker Cinema.