About.com World / Independent Film

Opening Today: Stayin' Alive in Pinochet's Chile with Tony Manero

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:00:04 +0000

Pablo Larrain's wicked Tony Manero, named for John Travolta's character in Saturday Night Fever, was the most thrilling selection at the 2008 New York Film Festival. The story of Ra�l (Alfredo Castro) and his troupe of dancers eager to put on a disco show in a local taverna could have played like another "art-conquers-all" fairy tale like Billy Elliot and all the rest.

But before the fearsome backdrop of Pinochet's Chile, Ra�l's single-minded determination to wear that white suit and dance on lit glass tiles becomes infected with violence and seemingly bottomless despair. By turns hilarious and harrowing, Tony Manero is full of shocking surprises and potent characterizations. [****]

Tony Manero opens today at New York's Cinema Village.

More from� J. Hoberman, Andrew O'Hehir, and� Kevin Lee. Aaron Hillis has a podcast with director Pablo Larrain, and the trailer is on YouTube.

Review: Agnes Varda's The Beaches of Agn�s

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:54:14 +0000

Agn�s Varda's The Beaches of Agn�s offers an intimate look at the filmmaker's remarkable career. She travels from the beaches of her childhood all over the world to relive the important events of her existence. Varda, also an accomplished photographer, fills the frame with unexpected and often glorious images.

It's rare that Marcy will apply the word "inspirational" to a film. The Beaches of Agn�s opens this Wednesday in limited release.

Review: Quiet Chaos

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:13:48 +0000

Antonio Luigi Grimaldi's Quiet Chaos has a dour theme -- the father of a little girl (Nanni Moretti) loses his wife --, and a dull poster -- said father sitting on a park bench. Yet,� this understated film about one man's unusual ways of coping with grief is surprisingly funny and full of small, earned pleasures.

Quiet Chaos opens on Friday. Read J�rgen's review.

New Trailer for Miyazaki's Ponyo

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:24:26 +0000

We could do without the hard-sell voice-over, but the new U.S. trailer for Ponyo, the latest by Japanese anime master Hayao Miyazaki, looks amazing. Ponyo, featuring voices by Cate Blanchett, Noah Cyrus, Matt Damon, Liam Neeson, Tina Fey, Frankie Jonas, and Lily Tomlin, opens on August 14.

More Miyazaki:

A.O. Scott takes another look at Princess Mononoke
J�rgen on Spirited Away, Castle in the Sky, and Kiki's Delivery Service
J�rgen's review of Tales from Earthsea

Review: Woody Allen's Whatever Works

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 12:21:03 +0000

After making movies in London and Barcelona, Woody Allen returns to his home turf for Whatever Works. Thank goodness he's back in New York. His new movie, coming after a string of painful failures (add Oscar-winning Vicky Christina Barcelona to that list), works.

Whatever Works, starring Larry David, Evan Rachel Wood, Patricia Clarkson, and Ed Begley Jr, opens tomorrow. Read Marcy's review.

Giuseppe Tornatore's Baaria to Open Venice Film Festival

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:24:01 +0000

Giuseppe Tornatore's Baaria has been selected to open the Venice Film Festival.

An epic drama set in the Sicilian village where he was born, Tornatore's Baaria boasts a $30 million budget and a large ensemble cast featuring Italy's biggest stars, including Monica Bellucci and Raoul Bova. The Italian filmmaker is best known for Cinema Paradiso which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1990.

Baaria is the first Italian film to open the Venice Film Festival in two decades and will be in competition for the prestigious Golden Lion. This year's festival will run from September 2 -12.

Review: Away We Go

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:50:45 +0000

Literary super star couple Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida wrote the sceenplay for Away We Go, the story of Burt and Verona (John Kransinski and Maya Rudolph), a thirty-something couple who take to the road in search of the perfect home for their unborn baby. Sam Mendes directs -- and he lays it on thick, with broad humor, sweeping sunsets, and theme music instructing the audience just how to feel.

Away We Go opens in theaters today. Marcy reviews.

World Film News Roundup: "Link him again, his soul is still dancing!"

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:36:21 +0000

Some of our favorite links of the last week. You can follow us on real time on Twitter at aboutworldfilm.

David Lynch launches Interview Project, with new episodes every three days. First up: Jess (pictured), who's proud only of being alive.
You've probably already seen the trailer for Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant, starring Nicolas Cage -- but you might as well give in and watch it again.
Guillermo del Toro talks about The Hobbit, his vampire novel The Strain, and the future of movies: "In the next 10 years, there will be an earthshaking Citizen Kane of games."
How a dead serious novel became the nightmare satire of Strangelove: Bilge Ebiri on Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Peter George's Red Alert.
Veteran indie filmmaker John Sayles (Matewan, Return of the Secaucus 7, Sunshine State, Silver City) can't find a publisher for his novel Some Time in the Sun.
Eight great minutes from Fritz Lang's 1924 Die Nibelungen: How Siegfried Slayed the Dragon.
More online viewing: The Auteurs streams six classic Cannes winners, including Black Orpheus, L'Avventura, Cleo from 5 to 7, and The Cranes are Flying. (US only.)

Review: Departures

Wed, 27 May 2009 12:29:51 +0000

Y�jir� Takita's Departures was the surprise winner of Best Foreign Film at the 2008 Academy Awards, beating out the urban realism of Lauren Cantet's inner city school drama The Class and Ari Folman's Waltz With Bashir, a personal documentary about the Israeli-Lebanon conflict.

Departures takes on equally earnest subject matter -- but even though the title makes reference to the Japanese cleansing ritual that prepares dead bodies for burial, the Oscar-winner is surprisingly light-hearted feel-good film. Departures opens this Friday in limited release. Read Marcy's review.

Haneke's The White Ribbon Takes Palme d'Or

Sun, 24 May 2009 17:03:11 +0000

67-year-old Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke received the top honor at 62nd Cannes Film Festival, winning his first Palme d'Or for The White Ribbon, an eerie black-and-white exploration of the roots of Nazi terror. This was a year lauded for its many deserving films by cinema's finest auteurs, and speculation over the possible winners was rampant, including Jane Campion's Bright Star, Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, and Gaspar Noe's Enter the Void.

The award was presented to Haneke by top juror Isabel Huppert, who previously won the Best Actress award for her performance in Haneke's The Piano Teacher.

"My wife sometimes ask me a very female question -- 'Are you happy?'" Haneke said during the closing awards ceremony. "It's very difficult to reply, I find, because happiness is a rare thing, but now I can say, this is a moment in my life when I am really happy."

The Grand Prix went to Jacques Audiard's A Prophet, and Alain Resnais won the Special Jury Prize for Wild Grass. In one of the other major surprises at this year's ceremony, Philippine filmmaker Brillante Mendoza was awarded Best Director for Kinatay, a film that Roger Ebert called the worst film ever to be screened at the festival.

French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg won Best Actress for Lars von Trier's controversial Antichrist; von Trier has a history of prying harrowing performances from his lead actresses (Bj�rk also won for Dancer in the Dark in 2000). Christoph Waltz (not Brad Pitt) won Best Actor for Inglourious Basterds.

More: