In a world where you can travel around on a pink cloud or literally be swept off an ice-skating rink into a hole, Colin, a wealthy young man and inventor of the cocktail-mixing piano, wants to fall in love. With the help of his cook Nicolas and best friend Chick, he meets Chloe, the incarnation of a Duke Ellington tune. But soon after their wedding, Chloe falls ill. She has a water lily growing in her chest. Ruined by medical expenses, Colin resorts to increasingly desperate methods to save his beloved’s life… Yes, it’s the new Michel Gondry film. Be still my beating heart.
Among the most anticipated films at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival is Nicolas Winding Refn’s, Only God Forgives. Refn is one of the most exciting figures in film today and Only God Forgives marks his second collaboration with actor Ryan Gosling (their first being 2011′s Drive). Refn is Kubrickian in his approach – his style is visceral and meticulously executed. Watching the trailer (below) it looks as though Only God Forgives will have all the hallmark aesthetics of a Refn film: measured silence, ultra-violence and cinemaphotography that borders on the lyrical. The story is one of revenge: Gosling plays Julian, an American who runs a boxing club in Bangkok as a front for his drug business. His mother (Kristin Scott Thomas), the head of a vast criminal organization, arrives from the US to collect the body of her favoruite son, Billy which sets Julian off for a quest for vengeance.
Only God Forgives screens on Cannes on Tuesday, 22 May and opens in Australia on 18 July. If you absolutely, positively must get a Ryan Gosling fix before then, you can always watch him refusing to eat cereal.
The new documentary about artist JR, Inside Out: The People’s Art Project, premiered at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival in New York last Saturday, giving an insight into the passion and challenges involved in creating the world’s largest participatory art project. The aim of The People’s Art Project was to connect people worldwide through a collaborative artistic action. The documentary is a revealing look at the artist and the power of a camera, some paper and paste.
I am just a little keen for the release of Baz Luhrman’s The Greaty Gatsby. At Record | Preserve | Share we’ve monitored the casting, we’ve seen the poster and we’ve critiqued the first trailer. As Pitchfork reported earlier last month, Jay-Z has been working with Jeymes Samuel of the Bullitts on the film’s score. The second trailer (released late last year) provides some hints as to what eclectic soundscapes we might hear; a highlight being Filter’s cover of The Turtles ‘Happy Together’. Man, it’s a long wait until the official release date of May 10.
Ryan Gosling has a new movie and it co-stars Australia’s Rose Byrne. Honestly, that sentence should be enough to make you want to buy a ticket. The Place Beyond The Pines sees Gosling pair up once again with director Derek Cianfrance (who directed him in the bittersweet Blue Valentine). Gosling plays a motorcycle stunt rider who considers committing a crime in order to provide for his wife and child, an act that puts him on a collision course with a cop-turned-politician. Bradley Cooper and Ray Liotta make up the ensemble. But, who gives a shit? It’s got Ryan Gosling, so we know it’s good.
Directed by Australian Andrew Dominik (Chopper, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford), Killing Them Softly is a gritty journey through the underbelly of New Orleans. The mob/heist movie stars Brad Pitt, James Gandolfini, Australia’s Ben Mendehsohn, and also signals a welcome return to form by Ray Liotta. The film is an adaptation of George V. Higgins’ 1974 crime novel, Cogan’s Trade, which is set in Boston. The trailer shows Dominik’s flair for dark humour and cinematic violence – both hinted and graphic. “Have you ever killed anyone?” Pitt’s character asks. “They cry and they plead. They call for their mothers.” He adds: “I like to kill them softly, from a distance.”
“A Film by Quentin Tarantino” – those five words are like Viagra for film geeks. The trailer for Quentin Tarantino’s new film, Django Unchained, has been released. Set in the south two years before the civil war, Django Unchained stars Academy award-winner Jamie Foxx as Django, a slave whose brutal history with his former owners lands him face-to-face with German-born bounty hunter Dr King Schultz (Academy award-winner Christoph Waltz). Together, they try to retrieve Django’s wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) from the charming but sadistic Francophile plantation owner Calvin Candie (a dandified Leonardo DiCaprio) and his band of ruthless slavers. Great talent, sensational soundtrack and sharp dialogue? Must be a Tarantino film. Django Unchained opens in Australia on 24 January 2013.
“New York, 1922. The tempo of the city had changed sharply. The buildings were higher, parties were bigger, the morals were looser and the liquor was cheaper. The restlessness appraoched hysteria” – so goes the opening voiceover for the trailer for Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby. We’ve monitored the casting, we’ve seen the poster and now we can crtique the trailer! Featuring Leo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan and Australia’s Joel Edgerton, The Greaty Gatsby is the most anticipated screen adaptation this year. The film has been unapologetically filmed in 3D and the trailer is typical Luhramann: contemporary, pacey, colourful and loud. The soundtrack kicks in with Jay-Z and Kanye’s “No Church in the Wild” and segues to Jack White’s rendition of U2′s “Love is Blindness”. That plus Leo DiCaprio looking intense – what’s not to like?!
Want to watch Kyle “Coach Taylor” Chandler, Bryan “Breaking Bad” Cranston, Tate “Marissa Cooper’s dad from The OC” Donovan, and John “always good” Goodman in a period drama based on a true story from the CIA circa 1979? Yeah, me too. As the Iranian revolution reaches a boiling point, a CIA ‘exfiltration’ specialist concocts a risky plan to free six Americans who have found shelter at the home of the Canadian ambassador. The plan? Pretend that the hostages are part of a Canadian film crew scouting the Iranian capital for a science fiction movie. It’s the “best bad idea” the CIA has. Argo is the latest directorial effort from Ben Affleck, following his two previous forays behind the camera, Gone Baby Gone and The Town.
Written, directed and produced by Alex Goyette, this mock action trailer parodying the Waldo books series is so ridiculous it hurts. Waldo meets Bourne. The tagline? “This Summer, Waldo finds YOU!”
Set in a bizarre, 1960s inspired version of World War II, action-comedy series Danger 5 follows a team of five spies on a mission to kill Adolf Hitler. It’s Team America with a splash of Inglorious Basterds, and for Aussie viewers, it starts on SBS One from 27 February.
One film that got some good buzz for its emotional honesty at the Sundance Film Festival is I Am Not a Hipster. Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton and starring Dominic Bogart, it tells the story of a San Diego musician who has to deal with himself and his family during not entirely welcome visits from his father and sister. The teaser trailer doesn’t give much away, but the aesthetic looks and sounds pretty awesome. This may be one of those indie zeitgeist-y films that captures the hearts of auidences. Or, like, not. Watch this space.
