Shorts and fests, 10/30.

Girish reminds us of what else a blog can do and introduces "a new feature called Archiveology devoted to unearthing valuable writing on the web that is not brand new. Today: an homage to five voracious cinephiles whose curiosity, open-mindedness, energy, intelligence and appetite I find truly inspirational."

When he saw The Matrix in the spring of 1999, Darren Aronofsky asked himself, "What kind of science fiction movie can people make now?" For Wired, Steve Silberman traces the seven-year-long evolution of Aronofsky's answer, "The Fountain - equal parts sci-fi, swashbuckling adventure, and medical thriller - [it] tries to be three blockbusters in one." That much you may already know. But there's more: "The Fountain - an allegory about the promise of eternal life - died several ugly deaths on its way to the screen. The inside story of the film is a classic tale of a prodigy tempted to excess by Hollywood megabudgets and the commercial potential of boldface names. But in the end, Aronofsky's determination to reinvent sci-fi without CGI helped save The Fountain and his own indie soul."

"Iranian artist Shirin Neshat plans to shoot a film about the United States overthrowing a democratically-elected government in Iran to gain control of the nation's vast oil supplies," reports Marguerita Choy for Reuters. "The project is not based on the West's ongoing standoff over Tehran's nuclear program but rather on the US Central Intelligence Agency's first overthrow of a foreign government, 53 years ago."

At Koreanfilm.org, Darcy Paquet reviews Jang Sun-woo's 1996 film A Petal, dealing with the Gwangju Massacre in May 1980: "Ultimately this event more than any other would come to shape the future political development of Korea.... Despite the intensity of many scenes, what stands out most from A Petal is a black-and-white flashback at the film's end, which has to rank as one of the most powerful, heartbreaking moments contained in any Korean film."

In its fourth year, the Morelia International Film Festival has already become "the most important fest in Mexico," writes David Wilson at indieWIRE. "Though Mexico is in the midst of an especially creative and prolific film renaissance, there is still relatively little money to fund feature films. Thus, short films have become the dominant form of expression for young Mexican filmmakers looking to make their mark. Many function as 'calling cards' for commercial work, but plenty offer fully realized, pocket-sized visions of Mexican life."

Also: an interview with Cocaine Cowboys director Billy Corben.

"The Kuala Lumpur depicted in Ho Yuhang's Rain Dogs is bustling, seedy, unfinished, on a slow brew threatening to boil over," writes The Visitor at Twitch. "This is the underbelly of KL rarely seen in local productions."

Studs Lonigan, notes Zach Campbell, "isn't avant-garde or experimental, it isn't a profoundly subversive take on the H'wood narrative - it simply wants to render it less invisible, less taken for granted."

Nick Davis: "Illusions, though it lacks any trace of [Daughters of the Dust's] dazzling visual palette, and though it concentrates on a smaller and simpler cast of characters, clearly prefigures the pliable and critical perspectives on history that would characterize [Julie Dash's] justly famous feature."

"Eugène Green seems ideally suited to interpret Flaubert's La Première éducation sentimentale (the first version of L'Éducation sentimentale), re-adapting the themes of first love, the intoxication of desire, and failed ideological revolution (that culminated in the Revolution of 1848) to the May 68 generation through a chronicle of the parallel lives of a pair of childhood friends," writes acquarello in a review of Toutes les nuits.

In the Independent, David Thomson shifts his gaze to Isabelle Huppert, "one of the great actresses on the screen, and one who has steadfastly pursued the best and the most daring of directors."

"'[W]atch borderline personality decompensate over course of two hours' isn't on my to-do list anywhere, but I can't un-know what it looks like now." Sarah D Bunting can't help but revisit five performances by Jennifer Jason Leigh at the House Next Door.

Two movies that have been talked about, blogged about, feted, festival-circuited, online-clipped, previewed, reviewed, the works, practically all year long, finally see their theatrical releases this week. But of course, that won't be the end of it. As noted yesterday, awards season, now stretching out to a full half-year, has only just begun. We will be seeing more of Volver and Borat. For today, know that David Edelstein reviews both for New York (where Logan Hill has a brief talk with Pedro Almodóvar), and so does Anthony Lane in the New Yorker.

Shawn Levy adds one childhood story from Todd Field to his piece in Sunday's Oregonian on Little Children.

SF360's Susan Gerhard talks with Stanley Nelson about Jonestown: The Life and Death of People's Temple.

Online browsing tip. Making Sense of Marcel Duchamp, via Coudal Partners, also pointing to the Newspaper Movie Ad Archive.

Online viewing tip. On the Edge of Blade Runner, hosted by Mark Kermode. Via Waxy.org.

Posted by dwhudson at October 30, 2006 9:11 AM