Kill Me Again (Dahl, 1988)

The first film in Dahl's loose trilogy of modern noir, Kill Me Again is minor noir to be sure, but it is far more intelligent than it might initially seem, predominantly due to Dahl's acute awareness and playful manipulation of noir conventions. It is quite obvious that Dahl has a love for the genre, and though the plot is nothing new, at times quite threadbare, the enjoyably absurd internal logic and lack of pretension are quite refreshing. The cast is uniformly game, with an able Kilmer as the put-upon private eye, but it is Whalley (then Whalley-Kilmer) who steals the show as the hard-boiled femme fatale. Further evidence that the Midwestern United States is aptly suited to film noir.

Wes Anderson's "The Darjeeling Limited" To Open 45th New York Film Festival

The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced today an interesting quartet of films that will be playing at this years New York Film Festival. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Wes Anderson's latest comedy The Darjeeling Limited will open the 45th NYFF. I have attended the festival for the past three years, and unlike many festivals, which tend to open with good albeit less challenging films, the NYFF always seems to reserve the opening-night slot for something special. Previous opening-night films at the fest include Mystic River, Good Night, and Good Luck, and most recently The Queen. Commenting on Anderson's film, Richard Pena, president of the NYFF selection committee said, "It represents a big step for Wes. I hate to use the word 'matured,' but the humor and whimsy he uses is sharper, better focused and used more effectively."

The selection committee also announced that Joel and Ethan Coen's No Country For Old Men, a sensation at this years Cannes Film Festival, will be the festival's Centerpiece film, and that Cannes Palme D'Or winner 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, and Secret Sunshine (winner of the best actress award at Cannes) will also be featured. The full lineup will be announced in early August, and the festival will run from Sept. 28 to Oct. 14.

Shinoda's "Silence" On DVD

Masahiro Shinoda's 1971 film Silence is coming to DVD on the Masters of Cinema label, the British equivalent of the Criterion Collection. No definitive release date has been set, but it is slated for 2007. This is incredible news for me, as I have been seeking out this film for some time now. There is a Japanese DVD available, but with the Masters of Cinema DVD we can expect a pristine audio/visual presentation and a wealth of supplemental material. For those of you unfamiliar with the film, it is about two 17th century Portuguese missionaries who travel to Japan and witness the widespread persecution Christianity. Silence was nominated for the Palm D'Or at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival. Shinoda's body of work includes some real masterpieces (Assassination, Double Suicide, Under The Blossoming Cherry Trees), and he is deserving of far more recognition than he is given. Yet, like many Japanese New Wave filmmakers, his films are sorely underrepresented on DVD in the West, so any opportunity to catch one of his films should be taken advantage of. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, this is another great reason to invest in a region free DVD player.

Interestingly, Martin Scorsese has long expressed a desire to do a film based on the Shusaku Endo novel that also served as the basis for Shinoda's film. He has written an adaptation with Gangs of New York scribe Jay Cocks, and as of now, the film is set to go into production sometime in 2008. At the very least, if Scorsese's film ever gets off the ground, hopefully it will engender more interest in this film. And it will certainly be interesting to see how different Scorsese's take on the material will be.

Silence (Chinmoku) @ IMDb
Masters of Cinema Series Website
Silence (1966 novel by Shusaku Endo) @ Wikipedia

Cronenberg's "Eastern Promises" Trailer In HD

The cinema of David Cronenberg has always fascinated me. There is a boldness and a wholly anomalous sensibility to his films that continues to strike a chord with me. The trailer for his latest film, Eastern Promises, has just recently been released, and again, I am fascinated.

According to IMDb, the film "follows the mysterious and ruthless Nikolai (Viggo Mortensen), who is tied to one of London's most notorious organized crime families. His carefully maintained existence is jarred when he crosses paths with Anna (Naomi Watts), an innocent midwife trying to right a wrong, who accidentally uncovers potential evidence against the family. Now Nikolai must put into motion a harrowing chain of murder, deceit, and retribution."

From the looks of it, Cronenberg has once again abandoned the overt, visceral surrealism of his earlier forays into "body horror" in favor of a more psychological, realistic approach. This, along with the return of Mortensen, lends to the feeling that Eastern Promises will be an interesting companion piece to A History of Violence.

High Definition Trailer @ Yahoo! (Quicktime)

Local Hero (Forsyth, 1983)

Forsyth’s film is an unassuming, heartwarming treasure possessed with a certain indescribable, intangible, though unquestionably palpable magic that radiates from every single frame. Forsyth demonstrates skillful restraint in his handling of the material, which never lapses into overt sentimentality and never falls victim to its own quirkiness, and the film is a joy precisely because of Forsyth's ability to capture the subtle, introspective rhythms of life that so few films capture. IMDb listing. Expanded thoughts coming soon...

The Ten Best Films Of 2005

1.   Café Lumière (Hsiao-hsien Hou, Japan/Taiwan)
2.   Caché (Michael Haneke, France/Austria/Germany/Italy)
3.   The New World (Terrence Malick, United States)
4.   The Intruder (Claire Denis, France)
5.   Tony Takitani (Jun Ichikawa, Japan)
6.   Tropical Malady (Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand, France, Germany, Italy)
7.   Nobody Knows (Hirokazu Koreeda, Japan)
8.   A History Of Violence (David Cronenberg, Germany/United States)
9.   Last Days (Gus Van Sant, United States)
10. Broken Flowers (Jim Jarmusch, United States, France)

*list based on U.S. theatrical release date

First Trailer For "Margot At The Wedding"

My introduction to Noah Baumbach's directorial work came at the 2005 New York Film Festival, where his film The Squid and the Whale became not only one of my favorite films at the festival, but also one of my favorite films of that year. I have been anticipating his follow up ever since, and today Moviefone has posted the exclusive first look at his next film, Margot at the Wedding. The cast is quite interesting, with Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, an unusually restrained Jack Black, and John Turturro. And the involvement of cinematographer and Gus Van Sant favorite Harris Savides (Gerry) guarantees a beautiful looking film. It seems that Baumbach has fashioned another intelligent, low-key look at familial dysfunction. The film is set for a limited release on October 12.

Margot at the Wedding Trailer @ Moviefone