THE MUSICAL POST

Today’s musical post is from Vincente Minnelli’s masterpiece, Meet Me in St. Louis (1944). Judy Garland stars and gets to sing one of the greatest songs in her career. It’s also a very cheerful song, so I thought it would be a nice way to start the day!

Enjoy and Viddy Well!

E.C

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HIGHLIGHT ON PORTUGUESE CINEMA

 

Last February, the Academy Awards vastly celebrated the critically acclaimed French film «The Artist» directed by Michel Hazanavicius, which had already made itself noticed at the previous Cannes Film Festival.
Almost simultaneously, at the Berlin Film Festival this time, another partly silent film received a much quieter yet welcome greeting, with what felt like the rightly granted Alfred Bauer Prize and the FIPRESCI international Critics Award. The film is «Tabu» by Miguel Gomes, who previously directed «Our Beloved Month of August». Portuguese cinema is too rarely on the spotlight to make itself unoticed: Adopt Films already bought the US rights to the Berlin hit. With this prize came a second one: Portuguese short-film «Rafa» directed by João Salaviza also won an award.
A victory in many regards since Portuguese cinema took a severe blow at the beginning of the year: while drastic governmental measures were taken that led to budget cuts and the suppression of grants for the advancement of arts and culture, all national film production was postponed. The national Institute for film and television (ICA) froze all financial aid. It was with awe that the news spread among Portuguese artists, producers and technicians. The future of Portuguese cinema was to say the least – critical. Many were waiting for the governement to decide on a new law that was to be announced in February. In the meantime, «Tabu» won the prize, easing the tensions, and coming as both a mild relief and as an encouragement for Portuguese artists to keep hoping for less precarious times to come. A flicker of light at the end of the tunnel that was mantained when the new law came out stating that television channels are now to invest further in cinema. This decision came much later than in most of Portugal’s fellow European countries and the percentage of investment unfortunately remains still very low. A bittersweet resolution that feeds uncertainties – national film contests for grants for the year 2012 are still absent from the ICA website. With the current system of production, it seems fundraising is a slow, not-so-well-cogged, machine.
As for the film, release dates worldwide remain unsure. In France, the film will not be released before December 2012. I do urge you all to do one simple thing then, go to the movies! As this year’s Berlin Film Festival was here to prove, Portuguese cinema has stories left to be seen, and much more yet to tell.
To be continued…
E.D.


O Som e a Fúria productions present:


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FESTIVAL DE CANNES 2012

Voici de bonnes nouvelles ce matin ! La sélection officielle du Festival de Cannes vient d’être dévoilée ! Je suis bien contente de voir autant de noms attendus (Cronenberg, Audiard, Hillcoat, Dominik, Haneke…) et aussi déçue de voir que les films de Paul Thomas Anderson et James Gray n’ont pas été terminés à temps… Enfin, cela promet d’être un beau festival ! Bérénice Béjo sera la maîtresse de cérémonie. Et le dernier film de Claude Miller, Thérèse Desqueyroux, terminé juste avant sa mort, fera la clôture du festival.

Compétition officielle:

Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson
De rouille et d’os, Jacques Audiard
Vous n’avez encore rien vu, Alain Resnais
Holy Motors, Leos Carax
Cosmopolis, David Cronenberg
The Paperboy, Lee Daniels
Killing Them Softly, Andrew Dominik
Reality, Matteo Garrone
Amour, Michael Haneke
Lawless, John Hillcoat
In Another Country, Hong Sang-soo
Taste of Money, Im Sangsoo
Like Someone in Love, Abbas Kiarostami
The Angels’ Share, Ken Loach
Beyond the Hills, Cristian Mungiu
Baad El Mawkeaa (Après la bataille), Yousry Nasrallah
Mud, Jeff Nichols
Post Tenebras Lux, Carlos Reygadas
On the Road, Walter Salles
Paradies: Liebe, Ulrich Seidl
Jagten (The Hunt), Thomas Vinterberg
Im Nebel, Sergei Loznitsa

E.C

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Titanic (2012) ITV mini-series

If you have lived in a cave for the past fifteen years, you might never have heard of the Titanic. According to some recent tweeting activity, some people out there just found out the Titanic actually existed (see scary proof below).
For the centennial of the tragic event however, you got the chance to catch up on what happened then. From James Cameron’s new 3D release of his classic, to TV retrospectives and documentaries, I believe most of us now have a global or thorough knowledge of the drama. As E.C.’s numbers are here to prove in yesterday’s news, James Cameron new 3D release is a success, and if he was ever short on cash, he should now be able to go on many other dives to the bottom of the ocean.
From March 25th to April 15th, British Channel ITV1 released a mini-series in four episodes written by the man of the moment: Julian Fellowes – better known for having written the critically acclaimed Downton Abbey.
Remember how the first episode of Downton Abbey started with Lord Robert Crawley reading the newspaper and discovering with fright that the heir to his estate was aboard the Titanic? Julian Fellowes seemed like the current obvious choice for the British industry to complete such an ambitious project.
As both a Downton Abbey and James Cameron fan, it was with some delight mixed with apprehension that I started watching the «new adaptation» of the event. And even though James Cameron does not hold the rights to the tragedy, I did feel like I was betraying the 1997 version as I started watching the first episode of the 2012 series.
«How can this top or even come close to the movie?», I thought. Well, it doesn’t.
But that’s not the point. The production means are not the same, and the format is not the same. James Cameron’s original version was cut down to 3h14 of romance, ice smelling and horrific deaths. And so he did brilliantly in terms of structure and rhythm. On the whole, Julian Fellowes’ version only has 45 mins more of fiction. But he did have one disadvantage: his story had to be broken down into four parts, and keep the viewer watching the next episode. He turned this into something positive by changing the form of narration, hats off to the smart screenwriting trick! Instead of writing a linear story, each episode focusses on one character’s point of view: from the moment he/she embarks upon the Titanic to the bitter end. Not only does it build up the actual ending where all points of view converge in episode 4, but it provides us from thinking of it as a chronological plot which might have turned out familiar and predictable. The effect, however, is that we were waiting for episode 4 to be spectacular, which it unfortunately fails to be… with a rushed sentimentality in bits of dialogue and useless redundancies in action, we would have wanted to know more about these characters.
Some of them seem familiar: the Italian waiter – his resemblance with James Cameron’s Fabrizzio is not reduced to his looks. A first class girl who has a slight tendency for wild behavior… But no spoilers, you’ll see for yourself.
There are interesting inventions: the presence of the servants’ point of view – Julian Fellowes delectable mark, tensions between catholics and protestants, new second class passengers…
A mini-series worth watching not only in terms of content, but also because it tells us something about the evolution of TV shows and series. The unit of content has changed: while episodes used to have an intrinsic value, they are now part of a whole, which makes it possible to tell stories differently, in a lengthier format – and to our delight.

One thing is certain at last: «One hundred years later, Titanic has not been forgotten.» (Julian Fellowes)

Viddy well my friends, and long live period drama!


E.D.

For those however who are tired of hearing of it all, this is for you:

Tweets “from people who just found out the Titanic was real” : http://FunnyOrDie.com/m/6qjs

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Today’s News

What a wonderful cast! Pedro Almodovar is lining up a bunch of great actors for his next film. Described as a comedy akin to Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios, the film will reunite some of Almodovar’s regulars, such as Cecilia Roth (Todo sobre mi madre), Lola Duenas (Volver), Javier Camara (Hable con ella). Also cast are Raul Arevalo, Carlos Areces and Jose Maria Yazpik. The producer is counting on a 2013 release.

Steve McQueen’s cast is also getting better and better. 12 Years a Slave tells the story a free black man who finds himself forced into slavery and taken to Louisiana. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender and Brad Pitt are already in. Adepero Oduye is in talks to co-star.

Alec Baldwin has declared that next season of 30 Rock will be his last season as Jack Donaghy… and also hinted that Season 7 will be the last of the show. It already seems incredible that 30 Rock has managed to last so long with ratings that were not great. Is it because she knows it’s the end that Tina Fey has been so uninspired lately?

J.K Rowling has started the Harry Potter Encyclopedia !!!! (that’s it)

And now, a little treat: promotion for Ridley Scott’s Prometheus continues. A new viral video has just been released, showing Michael Fassbender’s character, an android named David. The video managed to reconcile me with Fassbender’s blond hair! (which, if you know me, is a great achievement).

That’s it for today friends. Viddy Well!

E.C

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Today’s news

Downton Abbey fans, get ready to cry: Maggie Smith will be leaving the show after Season 3. Apparently, the actress wants to return to the stage and would like to work on the big screen again. Lady Violet will certainly die then, be prepared! I wonder if the show will survive her departure. In Season 2, most of the fun came from Maggie Smith’s brilliant portrayal of the Countess and her irony came as a relief from the much too soapy storyline.

Cate Blanchett and Mia Wasikowska will both direct segments of The Turning, an adaptation of the collection of short stories by Tim Winton. They complete the list of 15 other Australian directors. Though helmed by different directors, it looks like the segments are all connected in some way. It will be the first time directing for both actors.

Cutting Kate Winslet’s nude scene in Titanic 3D didn’t seem to matter much in China where the film managed to earn $58million at its opening. Internationally, the rerelease has grossed $190.9 million. Adding this to the original release, Titanic has now gone past the $2 billion mark. Sail on, Sailor!

That’s it for today! Nothing very exciting I know, but let’s hope that tomorrow will bring better news!
Viddy Well my friends.

E.C

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THE MUSICAL POST – “Cabaret”

Welcome to the very first musical post on Viddy Well!
Each saturday will be alive with the sound of music with a new video introducing a musical film! 
Why? Because life is a Cabaret, because we like to be Singing in the Rain and make Funny Faces, these are a few of our favourite things really. So start spreading the news and just you wait for all that jazz! With a little bit of luck it won’t be long…
In fact here comes today’s video from the opening scene of Cabaret (1972), directed by Bob Fosse and starring Liza Minnelli, Michael York and Helmut Griem.
So «Willkommen» to you all and enjoy !
Viddy Well.

E.D.

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Today’s News

Sorry to disappoint you E.D, but Woody’s next film won’t be happening in Prague. The Munich and Copenhagen rumors were also wrong: Woody’s coming back to the US! Apparently, the film will be shot partly in New York and the main action will take place in San Francisco! Will coming back to the US give Woody Allen back his inspiration? I guess we’ll have the answer to that next year.

Now, more on one of my favorite projects, Ridley Scott’s The Counselor. As I already told you, Angelina Jolie is rumored to have a small part in it. And it now appears that her soon-to-be husband, Brad Pitt, will also appear in the film!

My decision to stop watching 30 Rock has been revoked after the show announced that Donald Glover (Community‘s Troy) will guest star in the live episode (April 26). Glover used to be a writer for the show.

Donald Glover as Troy in Community

And finally, here’s the most exciting news! Leonardo DiCaprio will star in the adaptation of Live by Night, by Dennis Lehane. The book, which will be released in October, is a sequel to Lehane’s beautiful The Given Day. Apparently, the story will take place during Prohibition. I have always thought that if The Given Day were to become a film, it should be directed by James Gray with Leo in the title role. Half my wish is now fulfilled since DiCaprio will probably be playing Danny Coughlin, who was The Given Day’s main character. So now we have to hope that Warner Bros. will get a good director for this project. I’d like to see Gray of course, or Martin Scorsese. He had done wonders with his adaptation of Shutter Island. In the meantime, we’ll get to read Lehane’s new book, and I’m sure it will be great, as always.

So here you go. I’ll be back with more news tomorrow. Enjoy and Viddy Well my friends!

E.C

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To the viewer, with love.

Imdb just dropped the news: Woody Allen is to open the Los Angeles Film Festival on June  14th with the premiere of his latest film. The director continues to mix work and leisure with his cinematic journey across Europe; after a stay in Spain with Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), followed by England withYou Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010), a little travel through time in France with Midnight in Paris (2011), Woody kept the same accordion soundtrack and is now sending us his usual visual postcard from Italy with «To Rome with love». Travel agencies should expect a growing demand of tickets to the Italian capital this summer.
But what exactly is it about this time? The official logline is «A story about a number of people in Italy, some American, some Italian, some residents, some visitors, and the romances and adventures and predicaments they get into.» Well, the usual Woody Allen-ness lately.
For my part, I was too focussed on the impressive cast to notice: Alec Baldwin, Roberto Benigni, Woody Allen himself (two very talkative directors in the same movie, this will not be a silent film…), wild Penélope Cruz in a short red dress – keeping her Barcelonian fire alive, Jesse Eisenberg (yes!), Ellen Page (who probably holds the secret of eternal youth), Judy Davis, Alison Pill and Greta Gerwig.
As for french viewers, we will have to wait until the 4th of July to judge for ourselves.
Viddy Well my friends.
E.D.
p.s.: Where next Woody? I suggest Prague.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1x74aUNqD0

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Petite perle de la Nouvelle Vague.

Trouvaille du jour : Le premier casting de Jean-Pierre Léaud pour «Les 400 coups» (1959) de François Truffaut.
1:30min d’un échange qui marque le début d’une longue collaboration avec le grand cinéaste.
Leur filmographie commune compte Baisés volés (1968), Domicile Conjugal (1970), Les Deux Anglaises et le Continent (1971), La Nuit Américaine (1973), L’Amour en fuite (1979)…
Un petit «gars gouailleur» qui a su marquer son temps en tournant avec de grands noms comme Jean-Luc Godard, Jean Cocteau, Pasolini, Bertolucci, et bien d’autres…
Enjoy! and Viddy Well, my friends.
p.s.: No english subtitles available, sadly!

E.D.

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