Black is Back...in April

Governor's Awards, Angelina Jolie

Part of her speech:

I have never understood how some people are lucky enough to be born with the chance that I had to have this path in life. And why across the world, there’s a woman just like me, with the same abilities, and the same desires, same work ethic and love for her family, who would most likely make better films and better speeches, only she sits in a refugee camp.

Adèle in Suzanne

New Still.

In a Suzanne screening in France. By the hair color, the Téchiné shoot is way already over...

Maleficent

Ah! I think I saw Vivienne Jolie Pitt running in the fields!

Grey Cover

I had two thoughts:
The dude, Jamie Dornan, looked weird - it's the beard, he has none.
The woman, Dakota Johnson, looks like Alexis Bledel.

Pic of the Day

Charlize Theron in  Dark Places.

O Season News Quotes...

"Intensely Funny"
The Awards' guys have seen 8 minutes of 'American Hustle' at the AFI Fest and they like it. I personally enjoy greatly the sentence 'intensely funny'. I can't wait to see it.
Here.

"Christian Bale's Greatest Performance"
When you hear something like this, it's just simply crazy...and awesome. Christian Bale is like one of the most relentless actors working today and to think that he comes with yet another year full on, with two leading roles, yes, to the point he's actually competing with himself, and two great performances. It's amazing, it's exciting, it's awesome and a great treat for us. I can't wait to see him and his films, Out of the Furnace and American Hustle.
Here.

European Film Awards Nominations

I hope The Broken Circle Breakdown wins a lot of awards, including directing, the performances by Veerle and Johan.

La Vie D'Adèle was nominated for European Film and European Director, and nothing more. THE ACTRESSES!!! I ask. What about the actresses?

I don't really get part of these nominations, I also don't know which films are eligible this year. I could mention The Past. Bénerine Bejo. Rust and Bone was eligible for last year? Émilie Dequene for Our Children?
So here they are:

Best European Film The Best Offer, Giuseppe Tornatore (Italy)
Blancanieves, Pablo Berger (Spain)
The Broken Circle Breakdown, Felix van Groeningen (Belgium)
La grande bellezza, Paolo Sorentino (Italy)
Oh Boy!, Jan Ole Gerster (Germany)
La vie d'Adèle: Chapitres 1 et 2, Abdellatif Kechiche (France)

Best European Comedy Los amantes pasajeros, Pedro Almodóvar (Spain)
Benvenuto Presidente!, Riccardo Milani (Italy)
Love is All You Need, Susanne Bier (Denmark)
The Priest's Children, Vinko Bresan (Croatia, Serbia)

Best Director

Pablo Berger, Blancanieves
Felix van Groeningen, The Broken Circle Breakdown
Abdellatif Kechiche, La vie d'Adèle: Chapitres 1 et 2
François Ozon, Dans la maison
Paolo Sorrentino, La grande bellezza
Giuseppe Tornatore, The Best Offer

Best Actress

Keira Knightley, Anna Karenina
Veerle Baetens, The Broken Circle Breakdwon
Barbara Sukowa, Hannah Arendt
Naomi Watts, The Impossible
Luminita Gheorghiu, Child's Pose

It's a great line up. I'm not sure who I would vote, but probably between Luminita, Veerle and Keira...

Best Actor

Jude Law, Anna Karenina
Johan Heldenbergh, The Broken Circle Breakdwon
Fabrice Luchini, Dans la maison
Toni Servillo, La grande bellezza
Tom Schilling, Oh Boy!

Best Screenplay

Tom Stoppard, Anna Karenina
Giuseppe Tornatore, The Best Offer
Carl Joos & Felix van Groeningen, The Broken Circle Breakdwon
François Ozon, Dans la maison
Paolo Sorrentino e Umberto Contarello, La grande bellezza

Best Documentary

The Act of Killing

L'Escale

L'Image Manquante.

Animated Film

The Congress

Jasmine

Pinocchio

The Awards will be presented on the December 7th.

Love Actually Always

"It's a self preservation thing."

Never forget this sentence, among many others.

"Good luck my friend." - Richard Curtis.

"Hiya kids. Here is an important message from your Uncle Bill. Don't buy drugs. Become a pop star, and they give you them for free."

We laughed, we cried and we laughed so more.

It's been ten years, I was remembered.

Love Actually it is not only your mother's favorite film, it is that epic film...utterly irresistible, it makes you want to watch over and over because you want to feel like the first time you saw it.

My favorite story was Juliet's. I remember those wedding montages like it was yesterday. I remember where I was sitting, remembering looking at the screen and seeing Keira Knightley's face, Keira Knightley's smile, listening Keira Knightley's voice. "Oh, well done you...I look quite pretty...you stayed rather close haven't you?"

And then listening to Dido's Here With Me.

This film is one of a kind.

Who doesn't choke with Emma Thompson's story line? And her acting?

It's not just your mother who'll cry with the story.

This scene is so remarkable, so so stunning.

And the soundtrack.

Yap, totally watching this film with my mom tonight.

Wayfaring Stranger

Winter's Tale

Jessica Brown Findlay.

Les Revenants - N'inquietéz pas

Just finished watching The Returned - it is those kind of shows you have to watch just straight up until the last episode.

It’s always hard for me to dive in these types of themes, where I have to go from ‘It is not possible’ to the idea of ‘how would I feel about it’. This show helps taking that step. I usually have a hard time, but with The Returned I started to just be interested and wanting to see what would the people do and how they react. It’s scary at first but then it is pretty addicting.

The kid, Victor, creeps the shit out of me; Julie’s story is quite reliable, as this woman feels soulless after she’s almost killed by a serial killer a few years earlier. If you don’t know Céline Sallete this is a good start. I didn’t really get some of the characters, like Lucy. Was she an early death? Of some sort? The twins are cool and quite authentic. When I was watching this I was also thinking about nudity and sex, as it still comes back, the comparisons to that famous French film. I also wonder if the dead will take Julie and the twin’s mother with them…there are a lot of stuff I’m not sure about, I guess I have to figure it out with time or whatever - this is not my type of show, but nonetheless I really liked and enjoyed it, so you probably will to. It’s intimate; it’s the least thoughtful and entertaining.

N'inquietéz pas is probably said one hundred times throughout the series.

#Lovealwayswins

Not One

Not one fucking woman, not one. It's Indie Films, you would have had supposedly less excuses, given that in the Indie community there are definitely more women. Common. Really. Common.

This is The Hollywood Reporter's Roundtable Issue of 5 Indie Filmmakers.
Two films included here suck big time, like it's even scandalous ('Diana'), others no one even saw it and are not even released until next year ('The Railway Man'). Well at least there is no Abdellatif Kechiche. I am having troubles seeing this as it is, I can't think of seeing it at all with Kechiche in it.

Oliver Hirschbiegel, Diana.
James Gray, The Immigrant.
Atom Egoyan, The Devil's Knot.
Jonathan Teplitzky, The Railway Man.
Ryan Coogler, Fruitvale Station.

And now there are these women (and then some more):
Stacie Passon, Concussion - Good solid film.
Sarah Polley, Stories We Tell.
Gabriela Cawperthwait, Blackfish.
Sofia Coppola, The Bling Ring.
Kelly Reichardt, Night Moves.
Martha Cunningham, Valentine Road.
Kat Coiro, And While We Were Here.
Maggie Carey, The Do To List.
Jill Soloway, Afternoon Delight.
Eliza Hittman, It Felt Like Love.
Clio Bernard, The Selfish Giant.
Jerusha Hess, Austenland.
Liz W. Garcia, The Lifeguard.
Nicole Holofcener, Enough Said.
Hannah Fidell, A Teacher.
Lynn Shelton, Touchy Feely.
Lake Bell, In a World...
Chloé Robichaud - Sarah Prefers to Run.
Anne Fontaine, Adore.

Diablo Cody, Susanne Bier, Naomi Foner, Angelina Jolie...

I am sure they would also have interesting stories to tell about how hard it is to make films, oh, even opinions about the film industry in general.
It's called diversity. Common.
Or unless you're bringing an all female edition?
I doubt it.

Klondike

Abbie Cornish and Richard Madden star in this period piece.

The Actors' Roundtable

Already?

I'm not ready.

With:
Jack Gyllenhaal, Prisoners. - Saw and loved it, really really liked him in Prisoners.
Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club.
Matthew McCounaghey, Dallas Buyers Club.
Michael B. Jordan, Fruitvale Sation.
Josh Brolin, Labor Day.
Forest Whitaker, Lee Daniel's The Buttler. - Solid but there are many others who elevate the bar to perhaps other standards, possibly higher ones.

Oh man, I get the sense Oprah will be joining the Actresses' Roundtable!

20 ans d’écart

I saw this film merely because the Belgium actress, Virginie Efira, was member of the Jury at the Official Competition at FIFF and I had never seen her before...

The film is an utterly worthless piece of a cliche, completely superficial and doesn’t bring one tiny individual, personal detail that separates from the other same films of this kind. It’s pretty incredible how unnecessary this film is.

However, shit almighty - look at her dimples.

There is some serious illegal shit going on in this film and it isn’t the May December theme…

You're welcome.

Behind the Scenes of Unbroken

The new Angelina Jolie's film, another War Drama.