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

London Film Festival: Screentalk - Ralph Fiennes

In occasion of the London Film Festival the BFI hosted a very special guest: Ralph Fiennes presenting his film The Invisible Lady which he directed and in which he starrs as Charles Dickens. 
Last Friday I went to attend his Screentalk about his acting and directing career and future aspirations.
His first aspiration was that of becoming a painter. This changed for him after watching Laurence Olivier's Henry V which made him understand his love for Shakespeare and the language leading him to the theatre.
His first key role on screen was that of Heathcliff in Wutherings Heights adaptation (Peter Kosminsky, 1992), and this role is what brought him to Steven Spielberg's attention. 
His video audition for Spielberg's Schindler's List was actually the first time he got to direct and direct himself.

We then watched a clip from Schindler's List: when his character, Amon Goeth is looking at himself in the mirror. Raplh Fiennes explained his understanding of the character and the film, the Nazis portrait in that case is that of a real man, the film is trying to depict the day by day reality, it is not a judgemental review. He did a lot of study on the character, in this sequence we are shown someone examining themselves: "Do you ever think of forgetting people?" 
Being asked about S. Spielberg's attitude in directing his actors, he explained Spielberg has a really powerful vocal energy, and he is very specific about physicality, moreover, he stated, "Steven always has great ideas".

The English Patient (Anthony Minghella, 1996) is the film during which he got more curious about the directing, the actual making of the film.
In 2011 he had his first directing experience with Coriolanus, one of the most difficult Shakespeare's works. The play turned into a film made it even harder. He had to figure out a way to make it cinematic, this is also why he said that one of the hardest works is that of the screenwriter's: the responsibility of conveying the film to the reader and viewer.
The clip we watched was that of the "gladiatorial fight" between Coriolanus and Gerard Butler's character.

Talking about his latest film, we had the chance to see a couple of extracts. The film is about Charles Dickens's relationship with a younger actress when he was still married. The film is filled with the idea of a woman seeking a kind of closure with a past love.
But the film also presents the tragic figure of the other invisible woman: Catherine Dickens, the wife, who was she really? She wanted to keep and donate Dickens's letters so that one day the world would know he loved her once.
I really liked the extracts, so I can't wait to see the film! Here you can see the video of Fiennes on the red carpet: http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/video/video-ralph-fiennes-red-carpet
I'll leave you this phrase Ralph Fiennes said during the Q&A:

"The theatre is the purest arena for an actor."

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/