Shorts, 2/17.

Dennis Lim has met Jacques Rivette for the New York Times and the resulting piece interweaves need-to-know background on the French New Wave icon as a critic, filmmaker and cinephile with Rivette's comments on the contemporary scene and Jeanne Balibar's fond remembrances of the making of The Duchess of Langeais.

As it happens, Dennis Lim also has a piece in the Los Angeles Times today, this one on Jean-Luc Godard, who "was not just a central figure of the French New Wave, he was arguably the definitive filmmaker of the 1960s." All praise due to Criterion's release of Pierrot le fou is given, and then: "Even more essential, though, is Lionsgate's new Godard box, which assembles four of his underappreciated films from the 80s and 90s."

And now glance over to the Observer, where Sight & Sound editor Nick James wraps his overview of this year's Berlinale with this: "It used to be that all the world wanted to make American indie cinema; now, many want to make New Wave French cinema. Neither seems a forward-looking option."

"The film first impinged on the world at large in February 1960 when foreign journalists reported back to their readers, listeners and viewers on the controversial reception in Italy, where it divided audiences, critics and clerics, and led to Fellini being both spat on and cheered at the Milan premiere." Following Philip French's assessment of La Dolce Vita are a list of "10 facts" about the film and Mark Kermode's list of five films bearing the marks of its impact.

Also in the Observer:

• David Hare tells Nick Fraser that Richard Yates "belongs with Fitzgerald and Hemingway as the three unarguably great American novelists of the 20th century. The highest compliment I can pay him is to say that he writes like a screenwriter, not like a novelist." The occasion for Fraser's piece: "A Yates revival is currently under way and some sort of commercial recognition appears imminent. His seven novels are being reissued. Later this year, a film of Revolutionary Road (part-financed by the BBC), starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet and directed by Sam Mendes, will be released in America (and in January 2009 in the UK)."

• Amy Raphael has a long, wide-ranging talk with Mike Leigh and a shorter talk with cinematographer Roger Deakins.

• Susannah Clapp reviews the Old Vic's production of David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow featuring Kevin Spacey and Jeff Goldblum.

• French has a brief biographical note on Burt Lancaster.

Los Angeles Times books editor David L Ulin considers "what makes the current crop of books-to-movies so compelling, the idea that Hollywood may be developing a more consistent approach to literature. For me, this is a matter of sensibility, of complexity and nuance, the way these works take on bigger issues, the uncertainties and irresolution that mark our passage through the world."

Also: John Horn meets Sarah Polley and Rachel Abramowitz profiles Brad Bird, whose next project is 1906, a live-action drama set in the San Francisco earthquake of that year."

Michael Guillén previews Medicine for Melancholy, slated for SXSW: "Whether the film's meandering mode will engage audiences enough to pay attention to the subtle thematic traction underscoring its casual demeanor is the crucial pivot; but, whether it succeeds or fails, I must commend those themes and hope audiences will take the time to feel them out and to think them through."

On Wednesdays in Los Angeles, from February 20 through March 26: Film Independent's Director Series. Thanks, Jerry!

Back in the New York Times: "Men who fall from grace are treated with gravity and distance, while women in similar circumstances are objects of derision, titillation and black comedy," notes Alex Williams in a piece on tabloid coverage. "Some celebrities and their handlers are now saying straight out that the news media have a double standard." And for Ada Calhoun, Andrew Morton's Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography "feels about as reliable as the tabloids and yet, astonishingly, somehow meaner."

Online listening tip. The Errata team on 12 films.

Posted by dwhudson at February 17, 2008 6:53 AM