Four brand-new Gems now out in Cinemas

This is the thing with blogs, sometimes there are factors influencing the publication of new posts, sometimes there is just life in between.
My third year has started and I'm very excited for everything that is going to come: my dissertation project, the possibility of attending the summer school in NYU, and the exciting opportunity of applying to the London Film School for a MA in Screenwriting.
To celebrate this great beginning and the hopefully bright future ahead I want to share 4 experiences I had at the cinema during the past 3 weeks.

 Boyhood 

(Richard Linklater, 2014)

The splendor of simplicity.
Boyhood was an absolute revelation, a film that I would define splendid for its touching lightness, its great soundtrack and acting and the ambitious, but perfectly accomplished project it achieved.
Cinema has always been interested with the capturing of time-passing and life on screen, Boyhood follows the life of Mason by following his actor and the whole cast over 12 years. This growth process is accompanied by all the changes in technologies, music trends, clothes, dreams and family problems we, kids born in the 90s, went through.
The film is funny, true to itself and deeply moving. A little gem that should be cherished for as long as possible.
My favourite scenes were probably the ones involving the father and his music lectures while driving somewhere, an experience I can absolutely relate to and still one of my favourite moments in the company of my dad.

Watch the trailer here:

http://youtu.be/Ys-mbHXyWX4

20.000 Days on Earth 

(Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, 2014)

Thanks for this little history Nick.
Nick Cave, the importance of remembering, the transforming power of performance. These are the three key elements of the exquisite experimental picture following the 20.000th day on earth in the life of living music legend Nick Cave. Being a big fan of his work was only a part of the process of falling in love with this film. The biggest achievement of the film was the intertwining of different spaces and times sequences which exquisitely came from the memory process Nick goes through during the meeting with his psychiatrist. Moreover, photographs, footage of concerts, and stories from Nick's collaborators were used to create this storytelling web that finally forms Nick Cave's memory as a man, a musician, a singer, a composer, a writer, a storyteller. And a damn fine one.
An absolutely dazzling experience, beautifully shot and edited, moving and deep as Brighton's sea.

For you know the time is nigh

When I must remove your wings

And you, you must try to fly.

(The Ship Song, Nick Cave)

Thanks for making us fly Nick.
If anybody is interested Nick Cave will be playing in London in May, I already got my ticket for May 3rd at the Royal Albert Hall. It's gonna be worth every minute of it.

Watch the trailer here:

http://youtu.be/Ap0_y5EGttk

Gone Girl 

(David Fincher, 2014)

Wow. What the hell just happened? This was my thought during the whole film, but I adored its cleverness and I will soon venture into reading the book. I was completely taken into the story and I never felt the narrative was becoming cliché or the film too long for the narrative. It was amazing to watch it at the Odeon during its big weekend opening because it was a collective spectatorial experience. We all laughed (a lot), got shocked (even more), thought wtf (more than anything) and I thought it was brilliant. The acting was one of its most accomplished components: Rosamund Pyke was unbelievable, stunning, she held the story together and developed her complex character in a very intriguing way. Ben Affleck gave a good performance as well, but, in my opinion, the secondary characters made the film: Neil Patrick Harris as Deni Collings, Carrie Coon as Margo Dunne, Kim Dickens as Detective Rhonda Boney and all the others.
David Fincher and Gillian Flynn created a strong collaboration and managed to turn a best-selling thriller from words to visual without disappointing the readers and spectators.
You will like the film if you're a Hithcock's fan (think about Vertigo, especially), if you liked but also had problems with Fatal Attraction, and if you would love the idea of a combination of these two with much much more.

Watch the trailer here:

http://youtu.be/Ym3LB0lOJ0o

Björk: Biophilia Live 

(Nick Fenton and Peter Strickland, 2014)

I happily managed to get a ticket for the Sonic Gala hosted by this year's London Film Festival showing the premiere of Björk's concert focused on her album Biophilia (2011). In my opinion, Björk is one of the most complete visual and musical artists we have today, she creates a whole universe out of her music and she has strong performance qualities through which she can engage, move, electrify and absolutely puzzle her audience. Biophilia as a concept gave life to an album rich in poetry, creativity and dedication. The Earth, the Moon and everything that composes nature around us become the protagonist of the visual design of the concert and the film. They open up to us through the stunning sound and musical instruments expressly created for the album and Björk's voice and gestures accompanied by the stunning female choir from Iceland.
At the end of it I just wanted to stand up, dance and congratulate the directors and producer, and her who has always remained true to her music and herself.

Watch the trailer here:

http://youtu.be/zvLZl1HlW3Y

2001: A Space Odyssey Featuring Philarmonia Orchestra and Chorus

Yesterday night I probably attended the most emotional event of my life so far. Since I am obsessed with Kubrick's work I just couldn't miss the occasion of rewatching his masterpiece with live orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall.

The event was presented in association with BFI with support from Warner Bros.

A Word from Christiane Kubrick about Stanley Kubrick

"Stanley was very happy when he came across Richard Strauss' Thus Spoke Zarathustra. For him it expressed the overwhelming thoughts and longings we all feel when we as children look at the sun and the moon and the stars. How wonderful it would be if we could know more, understand more and be a million times smarter. That's what I feel today when I am looking at the latest Hubble telescope-wonders. Last time he was at Royal Festival Hall Stanley heard Verdi's Requiem; he could never have imagined that his film 2001: A Space Odyssey would years later be projected in this very hall over a live orchestra performance. Stanley was interested in the politics of power and his film expresses a deep wish for humanity to survive and to escape self-destruction. Is there outside help? Can we count on it? Stanley was not religious, but, like most of us, speculated in the face of the unknowable, hidden in an endless universe in which our little planet may not play any role at all. But it's all we have - it is a world to us."

Music and films are for me the most powerful combination of arts. As the amazing conductor, Benjamin Wallfisch, started preparing for the big opening sequence, my heart was pounding, I was feeling the whole range of emotions that the film text, the immensity of the universe, and the glorious Strauss' music, could possibly suscitate. 

The most impressive thing was that the conductor standing in front of the screen and his orchestra, directing all the elements, checking the timing and emotional impact of the musical language, was like Kubrick. In that moment he became the director, feeling, suffering, for his work of art. And entering someone else's feeling and their intensity is not something everyone can do.

I want to thank the Philarmonia Orchestra, whose work is of immense importance. Thank you for giving me a new and different way of looking at one of my favourite films of all time.

Don't miss out my next post in which I will talk about the The Rest is Noise Festival, and about the great events you can attend during the next three months.

William Friedkin - Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement Ceremony

I'm sorry to upload my posts about the Festival so late, but lately I have been having the busiest days ever, and I only have some time today to write.

One of the best experiences I had in Venice was to attend the ceremony for William Friedkin receiving the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.

First of all, we had the chance to see a restoration of one of his best films: Sorcerer, which I found amazing, for the way in which he manages to play with the four protagonists and make them hit by Fate especially through the use of the camera.
Here's the director's comment on the film:

"The Exorcist was a story about the Mystery of Faith. Its impact had a profound and unexpected effect on me. I felt compelled after three years of working on all the foreign versions of that film, to direct a film about the Mystery of Fate, about men of no faith trapped in a landscape devoid of morality. The ideal scenario was George Arnaud's novel and H.G. Clouzot's The Wages of Fear. I approached my film, not as a remake, but as a newly conceived version, much as a new production of any classic, such as Hamlet or Rigoletto is not a remake. The main characters are flawed men, condemned to a life of hell on earth, though they desperately cling to existence. Their fate is not in their own hands, but in the hands of an unseen evil wizard, the Sorcerer of the title. If I was able to choose one of my films by which to be remembered, it would be Sorcerer."

The emotion was even bigger because Mr Friedkin was sitting just a few rows ahead of me.

Here is the director's speech which I recorded live in the Sala Grande. 

Due to some technical problems in uploading the video, here is the speech:

"An interviewer asked me today, how important is it to me to win the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Venice Film Festival, several interviewers asked me that, I told them what I'll say to you, it's the most important award I could possibly get, with one exception that I'll tell about it at the end of my little acceptance speech. It's important to me because of the great list of filmmakers who have preceded me, and who received this award for works that, I think, will live forever. To be on a list with Charles Chaplin, Akira Kurosawa, Orson Welles, in fact Orson Welles won the first Life Achievement Award in 1970 when they first gave the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, and it was Orson Welles who inspired me to make movies. In 1949, the Golden Lion was won by H.G. Clouzot, for another film he made Manon, and H.G. Clouzot first inspired this film (Sorcerer). Bertolt Brecht said that "art is not a mirror to be held up to society, art is a hammer with which to shape society." About 45 years ago a very prominent French film critic, André Bazin, asked the question: "What is cinema?". I believe that for 70 years the Venice Film Festival has defined what is cinema, with the choice of films from every country that premiere here every year. The Venice Film Festival even proved that there is life after death, as with this Sorcerer. If it was not for Alberto Barbera, the artistic director of the Festival and my dear friend, I would say my old friend, but he is younger than me, and he looks very young, still handsome as when I first met him, and his wonderful colleague, who was such an inspiration to me, and a friend over the years, Giulia Ballà, and, of course, signor Paolo Baratta, the President of the Venice Festival. I thank you all for giving me this award." 

And the winners are... Venice Film Festival

After accurately reading the Festival's results I don't know if I am fully satisfied.

Since I came back earlier I didn't have the chance to see the Golden Lion's winner 

Sacro Gra by Gianfranco Rosi

Silver Lion for Best Directing 

Miss Violence by the Avranas

 (on which I strongly agree)

Great Prize of the Jury 

Stray Dogs by the Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang

Special Prize of the Jury 

 Die Frau des Polizisten by Philip Groning

On this I slightly disagree, I think this work of art deserved more, in my opinion it was the best film in competition, the story, the directing, the actors, but, especially, the film's layout which required both effort and attention from the spectators trying to fit all the pieces together, as composing a jigsaw.

Best Male Interpretation 

Themis Panou, for Miss Violence

Even though his interpretation was very good I personally preferred the male protagonist, David Zimmerschied in Die Frau des Polizisten.

Best Female Interpretation 

Elena Cotta for Via Castellana Bandiera

Elena Cotta was certainly the best performer in the film, and she deserved a prize. But I didn't particularly liked it, even though many seem to be so enthusiastic about it, I can't get over the stunning performance of Judi Dench, which I can only link to one word: Perfection.

Prize Marcello Mastroianni 

Tye Sheridan for Joe by David Gordon Green as best emergent actor

Best Screenplay 

Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope for Philomena by Stephen Frears

I'm happy that the film managed to win this deserved prize, but I also think it could win more. Fortunately it had a very good recognition winning the Golden Mouse, being the online press' favourite. I'm also sure it's going to shine at the London Film Festival too. Congrats.

Lion Of the Future - Prize for Best First Film 

White Shadow by Noaz Deshe

My First Day at the Lido - 70th Venice Film Festival

For my first day in Venice, after waiting for the waterbus directly going to the Lido, I arrived at the space dedicated to the Festival and started feeling a great  atmosphere. I had never seen something so beautiful taking place somewhere so magical.
Venice really looks like a city suspended in time.

After getting my accreditation my plan was to have a look around and orientate, find some magazines, somewhere to eat and then go see two films:
La belle vie by Jean Denizot and the very chatted Gerontophilia by the controversial Bruce LaBruce. To end my day I had planned to vip-watch George Clooney and Sandra Bullock on the red carpet, for the premiere of Alfonso Cuàron’s film Gravity.

However, my day turned out being a bit different, and better. I was in the Casino Palace to check my email, once outside I noticed a lot of paparazzi. I’ve heard a couple of Venetians saying they were waiting for Clooney and Bullock to arrive for the press-conference, so I decided to wait too, since I could be in the front row.

We waited for an hour, but then I suddenly heard everyone screaming "Georgeeeee" and starting flashing around, the motorboat finally arrived, and there they were. A perfectly dressed and handsome George Clooney (who, quoting Carrie Bradshaw, “is like a Chanel bag,  he never goes out of fashion.”) And a stunning and fit Sandra Bullock in a coloured cocktail dress, her wavy hair and her beautiful smile hitting a whole bunch of cameras.

Even though I love seeing movie stars, because it always feels like a dream, films are always the best part of festivals. The excitement before they start, the applause at their end,  the exchange of opinion, the topics of discussion, the different people you can meet, it’s just amazing.

At 2.30 pm I went to see La Belle Vie, most of the film’s cast and crew was there: director, editor, composer, director of photography, male protagonist, female protagonist, screenwriter, sitting just in front of me. 

After this film and discussion I had just the time to drink some water, and re-enter the room for Gerontophilia. Bruce LaBruce entered elegantly escorting his lead actress Katie Boland and followed by the protagonist Pier-Gabriel Lajoie, in addition to them I had the pleasure to see the screenwriter, the three producers, and the editor. 

Thought my day was over, but then I also managed to see Clooney and Bullock again, on the red carpet this time. 

I stayed there for a while, and then left to go to dinner. On my way to the waterbus station my dad texted me saying “Found a picture of you photographing George Clooney and Sandra Bullock.” He sent it to me, and here it is:

There I am, the girl on the left side of the picture, brown hair :)

I was so happy just because I didn’t have the chance to take a picture with them, but I think this is even more special, I’m in a crowd of paparazzi shot from the front part of the same picture I was taking. 

I got back to Giudecca at 9 pm, and had a relaxing dinner on my own!

57th London Film Festival - Programme Announced

Before updating all the posts about my week at the Venice Film Festival I am pleased to announce the beautiful programme of this year's LFF.
I am very glad to see that I'll have the chance to catch up some films I coulnd't see in Venice.
Enjoy and get yourself some tickets if you'll be around!

Philomena by Stephen Frears is a must-see of the year, two very different people as Judi Dench and Steve Coogan gave the film an intense and dramatic interpretation punctuated by hilarious British humour. I saw it in Venice, and the audience was just amazed by the greatness of the actors, and the moving truth of the subject matter. So, it makes me very happy to see the film will open the Festival on October 9th.

Among the films showed in Venice there will be:
Tracks by John Curran starring the beautiful and modest Mia Wasikowska
Tom at the Farm by Xavier Dolan
Under the Skin by Jonathan Glazer starring Scarlett Johannson
Gravity by Alfonso Cuaron starring George Clooney and Sandra Bullock
Night Moves by Kelly Reichardt starring Dakota Fanning and Jesse Eisenberg
Parkland by Peter Landesman 
Kill Your Darlings by John Krokidas starring Daniel Radcliffe
The documentary At Berkeley by Frederick Wiseman
Bertolucci on Bertolucci by Luca Guadagnino and Walter Fasano 
May in the Summer by Cherien Dabis
Via Castellana Bandiera by Emma Dante starring Alba Rohrwacher, Emma Dante and Elena Cotta

Here you can find the well organised PDF Programme, and remember to book your tickets on the BFI website!

http://www.emagcloud.com/bfi/BFI_London_Film_Festival_2013_Programme/index.html#/1/

Entering the Venetian Mood - Great Films set in Venice

I apologize for the recent lack of posts, but I've been away and busy with flats-hunting, and the organization of my week in Venice. 

I will publish a lot of material from the last exhibitions I saw, and I am also preparing a dedication to Bruce Springsteen's career after reading his biography.

So, while preparing all this, I decided to dedicate a short post to the most famous films set in Venice, in preparation of the Venice Film Festival.

Hope you enjoy it!

Let's go back to the 1950s and to one of the greatest authors of all time: Orson Welles and his Othello, which also won the Palme D'Or in Cannes in 1952.
Luchino Visconti celebrated Venice more than once: first, in his Senso (1954), reflecting the decadence of aristocracy. In 1971, he came back to shoot the adaptation of Thomas Mann's Death in Venice, in which, decline, one of his favourite themes, is the center of the plot.

The melodrama Summertime (1955) directed by David Lean shows the adventures of a stunning Katharine Hepburn on the Lido.
Two years later Dino Risi will direct Venice, the moon, and you starring the unforgettable Alberto Sordi in the character of a fond gondolier.
In 1962 Joseph Losey will direct Eva starring the beautiful Jeanne Moureau.
One year later Gianfranco de Bosio directed The Terrorist, set in the winter of 1943. 

Back in 1935 also the musicals' stars Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers reconstructed Venice in the studio for Top Hat, one of the greatest American Musicals.

The famous Giacomo Casanova is the protagonist of Luigi Comencini's film Childhood, vocation, and first experiences of Giacomo Casanova, Venetian (1969) and also of Il Casanova by Federico Fellini (1976), which is considered one of his masterpieces.

Always in 1976 Joseph Losey will direct his Don Giovanni.

In 1982, Michelangelo Antonioni directed Identification of a Woman starring the Canal Grande as location.

San Barnaba's church is part of a mystery in Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Marhsall Herskovitz directed Owner of her destiny in 1988, whose story takes us back to the Venice of the Fourteenth Century. This historical period was also used by Mauro Bolognini in the film La Venexiana in 1986.

If you love English comedies you must watch Blame It on the Bellboy (1992) by Mark Herman.

The hilarious Woody Allen also chose Venice as setting in the comedy Everyone says I Love You (1996).

A comedy of other kind is Bread and Tulips (1999), directed by Silvio Soldini.

The psychological thriller Toyer (2004) starring Juliette Binoche directed by Brian de Palma uses the Venice Carnival as background to a serial killer's story.

However, the film which suscitated most attention in the last years was probably the adaptation of The Merchant of Venice (2004) directed by Michael Radford, and starring Al Pacino, Kate Blanchett, Ian McKellen, and Joseph Fiennes, together with the film dedicated to the life of the composer Antonio Vivaldi: Antonio Vivaldi, a prince in Venice (2006), directed by J.L. Guillermou.

"Venice never quite seems real, but rather an ornate film set suspended on the water."

(Frida Giannini)

Aren't you already in love? 

70th Venice Film Festival: Official Programme

The films for this year's festival were announced yesterday, I am very excited about many films, but, especially, about the big names that are going to play a part in the Festival. It will certainly be a great honour just to see their work.

Starting from the opening night Alfonso Cuarón will come back with his first film after 7 years, Gravity, starring George Clooney and Sandra Bullock. 

The films in competition are:

MERZAK ALLOUACHE - ES-STOUH (LES TERRASSES)

Algeria, Francia, 94'

GIANNI AMELIO - L’INTREPIDO

Italia, 104'

ALEXANDROS AVRANAS - MISS VIOLENCE

Grecia, 99'

JOHN CURRAN - TRACKS

Regno Unito, Australia, 107'

EMMA DANTE - VIA CASTELLANA BANDIERA

Italia, Svizzera, Francia, 90'

XAVIER DOLAN - TOM À LA FERME

Canada, Francia, 105'

JAMES FRANCO - CHILD OF GOD

Usa, 104'

STEPHEN FREARS - PHILOMENA

Regno Unito, 94'

PHILIPPE GARREL - LA JALOUSIE

Francia, 77'

TERRY GILLIAM - THE ZERO THEOREM

Regno Unito, Usa, 107'

AMOS GITAI - ANA ARABIA

Israele, Francia, 84'

JONATHAN GLAZER - UNDER THE SKIN

Regno Unito, Usa, 107'

DAVID GORDON GREEN - JOE

Usa, 117'

PHILIP GRÖNING - DIE FRAU DES POLIZISTEN

Germania, 175'

PETER LANDESMAN - PARKLAND

Usa, 92'

HAYAO MIYAZAKI - KAZE TACHINU

Giappone, 126'

ERROL MORRIS - THE UNKNOWN KNOWN

Usa, 105'

KELLY REICHARDT - NIGHT MOVES

Usa, 112'

GIANFRANCO ROSI - SACRO GRA

Italia, 87'

MING-LIANG TSAI - JIAOYOU (STRAY DOGS)

Taipei cinese, Francia, 138'

Among the films out of competion, I am very curious to see The Canyons by Paul Schrader, Che Strano chiamarsi Federico - Scola racconta Fellini by Ettore Scola, At Berkeley by Frederick Wiseman, Sorcerer by William Friedkin (restored), My Darling Clementine by John Ford (restored), Le Mani sulla Città by Francesco Rosi (restored), La Bête Humaine by Jean Renoir (restored). I can't wait to see these restored classics on the big screen.

Moreover, screened at two independent sections of the Festival I would love to see some of the films independently chosen by the Italian Filmmakers Associations, and 100 Authors, and the 7 films (all debut films) chosen by a selected group of scholars. 

Here's the link to Alberto Barbera's (Director of the 70th Festival) introduction: 

http://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/70th-festival/70/barbera.html

"Thus, the past and the future of cinema symbolically join hands, in an edition of the Festival that looks to the future, in the conviction that its mission is far from over."

Alberto Barbera

My Favourite Films of All Time - Part 4

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, F.W. Murnau (1927)

 "For wherever the sun rises and sets, in the city's turmoil or under the open sky on the farm, life is much the same; sometimes bitter, sometimes sweet."

The Searchers, John Ford (1956)

 "That'll be the day." 

Rebel Without a Cause, Nicholas Ray (1955)

"If I had one day when I didn't have to be all confused and I didn't have to feel that I was ashamed of everything. If I felt that I belonged someplace. You know?"

Juno, Jason Reitman (2007)

 "Juno MacGuff: I think I'm in love with you.

Paulie Bleeker: You mean as friends?

Juno MacGuff: No... I mean for real. 'Cause you're, like, the coolest person I've ever met, and you don't even have to try, you know..."

 Girl, Interrupted, James Mangold (1999)

  

 "Have you ever confused a dream with life? Or stolen something when you have the cash? Have you ever been blue? Or thought your train moving while sitting still? Maybe I was just crazy. Maybe it was the 60s. Or maybe I was just a girl... interrupted."

Red, Krzysztof Kieslowski (1994)

 "Perhaps you're the woman I never met."

The Breakfast Club, John Hughes (1985)

"Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. What we did *was* wrong. But we think you're crazy to make an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us... In the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain...

...and an athlete...

...and a basket case...

...a princess...

...and a criminal...

Does that answer your question?... Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club."

Thelma and Louise, Ridley Scott (1991)

 "You finally got laid properly, I'm so proud."


Solaris, Andrej Tarkovskij (1972)

 "You love that which you can lose, yourself, a woman, a country."


Gone With the Wind, Victor Fleming (1939)

 "No, I don't think I will kiss you, although you need kissing, badly. That's what's wrong with you. You should be kissed and often, and by someone who knows how."