🇫🇷 ‘Nouvelle Vague’ is frothy fun
One more Off the Wall Nov Happy Friday and happy final weekend to the Off the Wall Ponce film series Phil Solomon s film Empire which he made in as a response to Andy Warhol s eight-hour portrait of the Empire State Building is playing tonight and the following day at p m on the Atlanta Beltline The screening is free and Off the Wall won t return until May of next year so don t miss it Without further ado Action The extended final deadline to submit your film to the th annual Atlanta Film Festival is tonight You can submit here The Alliance Theatre has partnered with the group Theatre for Young Audiences USA for a new theatrical activity aimed at younger audiences In recognition of World AIDS Day Out on Film and Gilead are hosting a screening of Stephen Winter s Chocolate Babies followed by a discussion about the depiction of HIV AIDS in the media on Dec at Landmark Midtown Arts Cinema The Sundance Film Festival has stated its inaugural Robert Redford Luminary Award in honor of the late actor and filmmaker The award will go to actor Ed Harris and Hungarian filmmaker Gyula Gazdag Fifteen specialty streamers including Tubi Crunchyroll and Roku have banded together in an attempt to give smaller streamers a voice in global strategy and regulation debates Sally Kirkland known for films like The Sting as well as an Oscar-nominated turn in Anna died at the age of on Tuesday Tatsuya Nakadai the Japanese actor who starred in films such as High and Low and Harakiri died on Saturday at the age of This week s newsletter features a recap of my weekend at the Rome International Film Festival along with a catchup with local actor and producer Kiah Clingman We ve also got three movie reviews this week Edgar Wright s The Running Man Sepideh Farsi s documentary Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk and Richard Linklater s Nouvelle Vague Plus what s playing at the theater this week a new edition of Spotlight and a few reading and listening recommendations for your lunch break Thanks for reading Sammie Photo by Sammie Purcell A Rome International Film Festival recap Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend the Rome International Film Festival I saw selected great movies and even had time to fit in specific interviews Here are a sparse pieces for you to check out I spoke with Jerusha Hess one-half of the crew behind cult classics like Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre about her career Hess was honored by the festival with the Flannery O Connor Award for Storytelling I was also able to see the new film On the End from filmmaker Ari Selinger and starring Tim Blake Nelson as a Montauk mechanic who takes on small town corruption and falls in love in the process I spoke with both Selinger and Nelson about the making of the film And last but certainly not least I spoke with U K filmmaker Paul Romero Mendez about his short film While It Lasts While It Lasts follows a daughter played by writer Katie Sheridan as she deals with the reality of her mother s early-onset dementia Experience the spirit of Chamblee this holiday season SPONSORED BY DISCOVER DEKALB Chamblee invites you to experience both the reopening of Dresden Park and the spirit of the season at Holiday Hoopla From new fields and art at the park to festive lights region warmth and festive lights something for everyone awaits this season in Chamblee Step into a place where celebrating and gathering feel natural Come experience them in Chamblee and make your own memories Photo provided by Warner Bros Actor Clayton Farris talks queer representation in Weapons Clayton Farris feels he got lucky with his role in the hit Weapons He had seen filmmaker Zach Cregger s previous movie the well-received Barbarian and was such a fan that he decided that he really yearned to be a part of Cregger s next project It s almost like he willed himself to be involved In Weapons school children from one elementary school class vanish after they run away from their homes at a m Farris plays Terry one half of a gay couple partnered with school principal Marcus Benedict Wong While the movie has held appeal for the LGBTQ region there has been various criticism about what happens to the film s queer characters For Georgia Voice Jim Farmer spoke with Farris about queer representation in Weapons You can find that interview here Photo by Brian Jones Photography Kiah Clingman talks juggling acting and producing season finale of Reasonable Doubt When I spoke to Kiah Clingman in she was less focused on acting and more focused on her production company KiahCan Productions Since then she s worked as a producer on projects like the short film Thomasville and David Fortune s movie Color Book which screened at this year s Atlanta Film Festival Now Clingman is trying her hand at acting again She stars as Kristin the mysterious sister of Ozzie Kyle Bary a former child star accused of killing his girlfriend Wendy Rumer Willis The season finale of Reasonable Doubt aired Nov on Hulu Ahead of the season finale I caught up with Clingman again about her work on the show and how her producing work has evolved since we last spoke Check out our conversation here Photo by Ross Ferguson The Running Man is a little too silly to take itself so seriously WEEKLY FILM REVIEW About a day into The Running Man the titular event show from Edgar Wright s adaptation of the Stephen King novel a contestant named Jansky Martin Herlihy is about to die Jansky is one of three contestants tasked with avoiding a murderous crew of hunters for days in order to win billion Unbeknownst to him the cashier he s been hitting on for the last scarce minutes has stated him to the personnel One of the other contestants Ben Richards Glen Powell is watching the whole doomed affair play out on television Jansky is painted as a fool during his death sequence In contrast Richards is all seriousness quietly urging Jansky to run away his rage-filled eyes pained at the sound of the gunshot that kills his competitor This moment is emblematic of the type of tonal clash that can be unveiled all over The Running Man a movie that s a little too absurd for how seriously it takes itself While Wright is a capable action filmmaker and finds the right balance in a meager key moments convoluted plotting and characterization and a third act that tanks whatever goodwill the film earns early on drag The Running Man down Read my full review here Photo provided by Kino Lorber Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk offers a close-up look at the toll of war WEEKLY FILM REVIEW Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk features a series of interviews between Iranian filmmaker Sepideh Farsi and Fatma Hassouna a Palestinian photojournalist living in Gaza who had been steadily documenting life in Gaza after the Oct attack After Hamas attacked Israel Farsi decided she demanded to try and document the ensuing war in Gaza She was held up in Egypt but a refugee narrated her she should speak with Fatma The two women never met in person their friendship developed entirely over the phone When we think of cinema we think of the visuals first It s a visual medium after all and those big awe-inspiring scenes are usually what draw emotion out of an audience and what draws them to the theater in the first place But Farsi is used to working sparingly She shot her first documentary Tehran Without Permission on the streets of Tehran with a Nokia camera phone because of Iran s restrictions on shooting And now with Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk Farsi has proven once again that powerful emotion doesn t have to stem from big sweeping visuals It can come from something as simple as an iPhone This is one of the most of powerful films I ve seen all year You can check out my full review here Photo by Jean-Louis Fernandez Provided by Netflix Nouvelle Vague is light frothy fun for cinephiles WEEKLY FILM REVIEW The filmmakers of the French New Wave rejected the strictures of traditional filmmaking and brought new approaches to writing shooting editing and thematic exploration But they also held a deep appreciation for the studio filmmakers of yore In their eyes people like Orson Welles John Ford and Nicholas Ray deserved more artistic attention than they got In short they were kind of the first film bros Breathless filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard s seminal feature debut and the basis for filmmaker Richard Linklater s fanboy movie of his own Nouvelle Vague might be the the bulk French New Wave-y film of them all It s improvisational and quick full of what would become its signature jump cuts that so a large number of would go on to copy It s also full of references to American noir films of the s and s the main character played by Jean-Paul Belmondo has an obsession with Humphrey Bogart Nouvelle Vague is perfectly well made well acted and enjoyable light cozy entertainment that will the bulk likely delight cinephiles in its exploration of how one of the the majority influential films of all time came to be But it s more gripping as a historical document than a film That s the rub with movies made about the making of masterpieces you can never escape that comparison Read my full review here Photo by Katalin Vermes for Lionsgate At the Movies If you re looking for a movie to see in theaters this week here s what you ve got to look forward to Movies releasing this weekend Now You See Me Now You Don t pictured The Running Man Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk Keeper The Carpenter s Son Blue Eyed Girl Special Events in K The Plaza Friday-Thursday Yi Yi in K The Plaza Saturday-Wednesday The Spook Who Sat By the Door in K The Plaza Saturday The Exorcist in mm Theatrical Cut The Plaza Saturday-Thursday Soul Cinema Sundays The Last Dragon The Plaza Sunday American Ninja with Sam Firstenberg Gideon Amir Q A The Plaza Sunday The First Wives Club The Tara Friday-Sunday Exhibition on Screen Caravaggio The Tara Saturday-Sunday Father of the Bride The Tara Saturday-Tuesday Wicked Movie Party Springs Cinema Taphouse Saturday The Cat in the Hat Springs Cinema Taphouse Saturday-Sunday Photo provided by Roadside Attractions Tonatiuh in Kiss of the Spider Woman If you know anything about me you know I love an old Hollywood movie musical There is something extremely comforting to me about the colors the movements the emotions they re able to evoke together There have been scant modern movies that have really captured that s sensibility in all its glory But Kiss of the Spider Woman is one of them I could write for hours about the production design the musical references and the fact that somehow Jennifer Lopez has NEVER been cast in a movie musical before you can read all about that stuff in my review But in current times I want to devote a sparse words to an actor I had never heard of before this film and someone who delivered one of my favorite performances of the year Tonatiuh plays Molina a queer window dresser arrested for community indecency who winds up cellmates with a Marxist political prisoner named Valent n Diego Luna They re an odd couple but Molina slowly charms Valent n with their storytelling ability particularly their ability to recount the plot of movie musicals starring the fictional diva Ingrid Luna Jennifer Lopez The relationship between Molina and Valent n grows constantly teetering on the precipice of something romantic Tonatiuh who uses both he him and they them pronouns has a tough task Molina is charming and beguiling able to worm their way into Valent n s cold political heart before he realizes what s happening But this version of Kiss of the Spider Woman dives into Molina s relationship with gender in a complex manner Molina has no illusions about who they are While not explicitly labeled as trans or non-binary they often express their desire to be a woman their desire to be more like the Ingrid Lunas of the world But however strong that belief holds it s a fragile thing a truth that the world could toss aside at any moment Tonatiuh holds both of those things Molina s strength and fragility in his physicality whether it be in the confident swish of a robe or the sudden shyness that appears when romance becomes a possibility They can switch it up on a dime moving from smirking indifference to longing within the space of a raised eyebrow It s the best kind of breakthrough performance vulnerable charismatic precise and a complete and total surprise Lights Camera Action Speaking of breakthrough performances we couldn t talk about them this year without talking about Chase Infiniti in One Battle After Another Holding your own against the likes of Sean Penn Regina Hall and Leonardo DiCaprio can t be easy but Infiniti proves it s manageable you might just have to do a little face shaving first To learn what THAT means read this profile from The Wrap here As a newly minted Survivor fan I have never agreed with an article headline more Survivor requirements to bring back the villains This piece on Vulture from Brian Moylan details the evolution of Survivor over the years and clearly explains why getting rid of the reality TV villains we know and love is not the answer ahem Jeff Probst Where would we be with Parvati Shallow Boston Rob Sandra Diaz-Twine Nowhere I say This week on The Big Picture podcast hosts Amanda and Sean talked about one of my favorite movies of the s Greta Gerwig s Lady Bird It s one of the best solo feature debuts of all time and I ll fight someone about that if you haven t seen it go do that right now and then listen to this episode In the modern day s Scene was edited by Julie E Bloemeke The post Nouvelle Vague is frothy fun appeared first on Rough Draft Atlanta
