Shorts, fests, lists, 1/13.

"In the 40 or so years separating Alphaville from Demonlover it has become evident that the no-place of Godard's dystopia, with its labyrinth of corridors and lobbies, was already one big non-place in waiting. The presence of the future that Godard was keen to capture back in 1965 has since taken shape as a global non-place crossing continents and time-zones." Chris Darke is not resorting to hyperbole here. The extract from his book Alphaville running in the preview issue of Visions of the City opens with the chilling vision, quite real, of the rich in São Paulo watching a live video feed of their maids getting patted down and searched as they head back to their own homes from Alphaville, the actual name of not just one but 30 gated communities in Brazil. Via wood s lot.

"Mr Chabrol, might you be a communist?" asks Daniel Kothenschulte in the Frankfurter Rundschau. "I was never a communist," the director answers, "because I was always an anti-Stalinist. Nonetheless, I was a Marxist. Of a certain kind, that is, since I've always believed that Marxist theory is pretty pacifist. Because it enables real social relations that would lead to harmonic development once the class conflict has been overcome, giving way to true cooperation. I've always found that interesting. No, I was never a communist, but the militant communists outside of the East bloc were always affiliated with this idea. There was a feeling of belonging, of cooperation that I liked. I was more of a sympathizer." Via signandsight, which translates another paragraph for you.

"In France and a good part of Europe, [Arielle] Dombasle is an institution, known for her parts in Eric Rohmer films, for having the smallest waist in Paris, and now for a singing career covering American 1950s love-songs and Latino classics that have earned her a massive following in Turkey," writes Angelique Chrisafis. "But to the English-speaking world, she is simply the other half of Bernard-Henri Lévy, the controversial French philosopher whose famous white shirts unbuttoned to the navel have immortalised a stretch of tanned hairy chest that is forever France."

Also in the Guardian:

• "Cormac McCarthy has been called a great American ham, a biblical hysteric, an apocalyptist, a recluse and a misogynist," writes Jason Cowley. "To me, he is simply the greatest living novelist writing in English." Plus: The Coens have a thing for weird hair. "So is it another 'return to form,' of the sort the Coens are periodically adjudged to make, or something more mature and significant, a sobering intrusion of 'real life'?" asks Andrew Anthony in the Observer. "If No Country for Old Men isn't a masterpiece, then it will certainly do until one gets here."

• Damon Wise: "The trouble with Walk Hard is that, for a rock'n'roll spoof, it's nowhere near as funny as the real thing."

• John Patterson: "I see that nepotism is alive and well in Hollywood."

Ramin Setoodeh hosts this year's Oscar roundtable for Newsweek. Angelina Jolie, George Clooney, Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, James McAvoy and Ellen Page all say "they wouldn't cross the picket line to attend the Oscar telecast next month if the Writers Guild of America is still on strike. What will happen if there are no Oscars? 'The world will end,' joked McAvoy, who stars in Atonement. 'It's official. We were told so.' Added Jolie: 'We'll all go to George's house.'"

Also, Cathleen McGuigan previews PBS's The Complete Jane Austen, "a 10-week series of films based on all six novels."

Rachel Cooke revisits an unseemly chapter in the life of Ronald Reagan and comments on the ongoing writers' strike: "Irrespective of the strike's wider economic impact (£252 million so far [nearly $500 million]), or of how many people are in the process of losing their livelihoods (all scripted TV will cease production by next week, having finally exhausted supplies of episodes written before the strike began, with the probable loss of 15,000 jobs), this is as serious a battle as any that has been fought in the creative industries in the last 50 years; it has consequences far beyond the shores of America, and far beyond the glossy world of movies and network TV."

Also in the Observer: "Am I alone in thinking it repellent, not to mention hypocritical, of people to try to make moral capital out of the proposed Madeleine McCann movie?" asks Barbara Ellen. And Susan Smillie reports on the fallout of the Arts Council announcing "the most radical funding shake-up in its history: 194 organisations and individuals would have their grants substantially cut or completely withdrawn."

Mike Kitchell expands Esotika Erotica Psychotica, adding archives, articles and more to come.

"Though not as powerful as ['unsung genius' Jerry Schatzberg's] Panic in Needle Park, or as artful as Puzzle of a Downfall Child, Street Smart is a wonderful bit of 80s sleaze (with a funk soundtrack featuring Miles Davis) that is a fond adieu to the Times Square of yore," writes Filmbrain.

"A couple of days ago I heard that the UK based filmmaker Pete Middleton made a feature called Driftwood for $200." So Sujewa Ekanayake got in touch and interviewed him.

And via Sujewa, Tim DiCillo looks back on Johnny Suede: "Later that day Marcia flipped me a head-shot and informed me the next actor didn't have much on his resume.... I took another look at the photo Marcia had handed me and said, 'What the fuck, bring him in.' The actor's name was Brad Pitt. Call me an idiot if you want but I was certain of 2 things the moment he walked in: 1. He was Johnny. 2. He was going to be a star."

"One might say that with Eklavya: The Royal Guard - India's submission to the Foreign Language category of the Academy Awards - director Vidhu Vinod Chopra has developed the genre of the 'melodharma,'" writes Michael Guillén, introducing his interview.

David Pratt-Robson: "Whereas the visuals in Colossal Youth seems fixed in every possible way, like images of dead men talking in a dead world, the soundtrack is always in flux, completely lively: whatever sense of bareness is raised by the views of lonely men talking against white-washed homogenized spaces is negated entirely by the alternate sense of a close community, never seen, just behind these walls."

Overcoming his initial hesitance, Dan Sallitt dusts off a 1980 article on Hitchcock.

Johnny Depp's performance in Sweeney Todd "is stunning in every dimension: dramatically, psychologically, physically and, yes, vocally," argues Anthony Tommasini. "His ear is obviously excellent, because his pitch is dead-on accurate.... Beyond his good pitch and phrasing, the expressive colorings of his singing are crucial to the portrayal. Beneath this Sweeney's vacant, sullen exterior is a man consumed with a murderous rage that threatens to burst forth every time he slowly takes a breath and is poised to speak."

Also in the New York Times:

• With Last Year at Marienbad set for a two-week run at Film Forum starting on Friday, Mark Harris revisits 1962, the year it "became the defining art film of that spring, summer and fall."

• Karin Lipson talks with Rosanne De Luca Braun about her documentary, Beyond Wiseguys: Italian Americans and the Movies.

• Michael Cieply reports on negotiations between the DGA and the studios and on how Brad Grey may be reviving Paramount's fortunes.

• Laura Kern on In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, Uwe Boll's adaptation of the video game: "An awkward Lord of the Rings knockoff, it features both elaborate battles and bumbling humor, though it's never quite clear when you should be laughing."

"Steve Buscemi and Stanley Tucci are starting a film, TV and commercial production outfit," reports Variety. Via William Speruzzi, who notes that one of their first projects will be an adaptation of Gay Talese's Unto the Sons for HBO.

Glenn Kenny recalls his "early days as a freakishly young cinephile."

"A special event for the release of the terrifically entertaining new Feral House book, The Hollywood Hellfire Club (with a beautiful cover by Drew Friedman), will be held on January 15 at the Silent Movie Theatre in Los Angeles at 8 pm," notes Mark Frauenfelder at Boing Boing.

Though the festival itself opens on February 7, SF IndieFest is throwing a Benefit/Launch Party on Friday, January 25 at Rickshaw Stop.

For Stop Smiling: Michael Joshua Rowin on Chameleon Street, Nick Pinkerton on Under the Volcano and Margaret Barton-Fumo on Fantastic Planet.

Jeff at Movie Morlocks on William A Wellman's 1931 Safe in Hell: "When you see this film, you can understand why the Production Code was created."

"Market share with a commodity product like sugar water is a fine notion. Market share with a one-off variable cost product like a movie is financial suicide." Jon Taplin sends a memo to Hollywood: "Stop Making Movies." Via Scott Macaulay at Filmmaker.

Planning on screening The Price of Sugar anytime soon? Starz Denver Film Festival Artistic Director Brit Withey will tell you about a letter you'll most likely get from a law firm. No worries: the cease and desist is not aimed at you.

Lists:

• At Hollywood Bitchslap, William Goss writes up a big fat list of the best and worst of 2007.

• At Cinematical, Kevin Polowy tops his ten with Once.

• Alex starts a countdown at motion picture, it's called.

• Sean Axmaker finalizes his list.

Charlie Wilson's War, "saturated with ferocious anti-communism, is a defense of neo-colonialism and the right of American 'democracy' to intervene wherever it likes around the globe," argues Joanne Laurier at the WSWS. "Its relatively minor amusements are like chocolate icing on a poisoned cake."

Interviews in the Independent: Stephen Applebaum with Charlize Theron and Deborah Ross with Timothy Spall.

In Der Tagesspiegel (and in German), Markus Hesselmann finds a Wim Wenders very upbeat on the future of cinema in the 21st century.

Online browsing tip. Quiet Resistance: Russian Pictorial Photography, 1900 - 1930s, via wood s lot.

Online listening tip. Spout's FilmCouch #52. Joe Swanberg and Ronnie Bronstein discuss Butterknife and Aaron Hillis and Keith Uhlich have a knock-down, drag-out over I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.

Online viewing tips. "PSST gets designers, animators, and directors together for collaborative film projects every year," writes Brittany at the DVblog.

Posted by dwhudson at January 13, 2008 2:44 PM