Shorts, 12/16.

"Strangers (Chuzhiye), was released last month in Russia with the slogan, 'The most topical movie of the year!' - presumably in reference to Russian-American tensions in the wake of the war in Georgia." Cathy Young for the New Republic: "A bizarre mix of over-the-top agitprop and equally over-the-top melodrama, Strangers is indeed quite topical in its own way - for what the movie itself and the events surrounding it reveal about the state of Russian culture and attitudes toward the United States. But what it reveals is not what you might expect - and probably not what the creators of this film expected, either."

"Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin is taking personal charge of progress in the development of the country's film industry, after a new government advisory body was set up Monday," reports Nick Holdsworth. "Putin - who will chair the new 'government council on the progress of domestic cinematography' - will 'personally supervise' government initiatives aimed to help support film industry development... One experienced Russian film industry professional told Variety: 'As usual, nothing good will come of it.'"

"Is it possible that a certain type of circulation through the festival circuit can keep an excellent film away from the eyes of entrepreneurial producers who shop around for re-make material?" asks Dina Iordanova, reviewing Sergei Bodrov Jr's Sisters. "Evidently yes. Otherwise I cannot imagine how a little gem like this one has not yet been re-made in Hollywood, provided it has everything one takes, and more, for a perfectly shaped tense psychological crime thriller."

Offering a taste from his own contribution, "Pedro Costa's Vanda Trilogy and the Limits of Narrative Cinema as a Contemplative Art," Darren Hughes announces the publication of Faith & Spirituality in Masters of World Cinema, edited by Kenneth Morefield.

"The Holocaust is a serious subject," writes Nick Schager at IFC. "And November and December is serious subject matter time in Hollywood. No surprise, then, that every awards season sees its fair share of dramas set in and around WWII concentration camps. But even in light of this predictable pattern, 2008 has, to put it diplomatically, lost its freakin' mind."

"There's nothing like the urgency you get from World War Two films made during that conflict. Imagine how they played to audiences still in doubt as to its outcome." John McElwee on Flying Tigers and Across the Pacific.

"Roger Ebert is becoming an honorary life member of the Directors Guild of America," reports the AP.

Jeanine Basinger reviews Michael Sragow's Victor Fleming: An American Movie Master: "By the end of the 1930s Fleming was the director MGM 'could trust with everything,' a 'ruthlessly efficient fixer of faltering productions.' He was the logical choice to take over two problematic MGM projects: The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind, an MGM release of a David O Selznick production. In both cases Fleming had to 'assume command of a formidably complicated and expensive production that had already started shooting.' The enormous success of both those movies ultimately placed Fleming in the shadows.

Also in the New York Times: "We support our union and we support the issues we're fighting for, but we do not believe in all good conscience that now is the time to be putting people out of work." So reads a petition urging Screen Actors Guild leaders to call off a vote slated for next month on whether or not to strike. Among those who've signed: George Clooney, Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, Charlize Theron and Matt Damon. Brooks Barnes reports.

Elizabeth Drew in the Huffington Post on Frost/Nixon: "The film's plot is a contrivance; its telling is so riddled with departures from what actually happened as to be fundamentally dishonest; and its climactic moment is purely and simply a lie."

"The scale of the disaster that is Baz Luhrmann's Australia is gradually becoming apparent." Germaine Greer takes us on a historical tour, tearing the movie apart, limb by limb, all along the way.

Also in the Guardian, Stuart Jeffries talks with Steven Soderbergh about Che, Ronald Bergan remembers Beverly Garland and a bit of online viewing: Xan Brooks talks with Emma Watson about life after Harry Potter.

Back to Che for a moment: indieWIRE has video of Soderbergh responding to those calling out "Murderer!" at a recent NYC screening; and David Poland talks to Benicio Del Toro. And VF Daily's John Lopez considers Che's Oscar campaign.

The new Film of the Month at the Club: Absolute Beginners.

The Siren passes along a fun passage from David Hemmings's Blow-Up and Other Exaggerations.

Acquarello on Mamoru Oshii's The Sky Crawlers: "Based on the serial novel by Hiroshi Mori, the film is a brooding and densely philosophical exposition into the nature of love, war, memory, aging, and identity."

Michael Guillén talks with Pablo Larraín about Tony Manero and with Yen Tan and Alessandro Calza about Ciao.

For indieWIRE, Jason Guerrasio checks in on five independent films currently in production.

Anne Thompson reports that Peter Morgan will be making his directorial debut with the third film in his Tony Blair trilogy. Following The Deal (Blair and Gordon Brown) and The Queen (Blair and E2), The Relationship will focus on "the intimate relationship between Blair and [Bill] Clinton between 1997 and 2000." And yes, Michael Sheen will play Blair again.

Also in Variety, Michael Fleming reports on an adaptation of Nancy Horan's novel, Loving Frank, based on an affair Frank Lloyd Wright had with a married client. Actually, both were married, with children, at the time.

The Playlist has news of who'll be composing scores for a couple of upcoming films: Alexandre Desplat for Terrence Malick's Tree of Life and Brian Eno for Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones.

For the New Yorker, Ben McGrath profiles "Jamal Woolard, aka Gravy, an oversized, unheralded rapper from Brooklyn who was shot in the rear - possibly by a member of his own oversized entourage - outside the radio station Hot 97, two and a half years ago," and will be appearing "as the lead in Notorious, a bio-pic about the late rapper Notorious B.I.G., which opens next month."

"Scott Hamilton Kennedy's The Garden starts hopefully enough, as it introduces us to America's largest community garden, a green oasis of natural life thriving amidst the hard cement sprawl of South Central Los Angeles," writes Michael Tully in Hammer to Nail. "But then reality arrives to remind us what America is really about. Politics. Money. Self-interest. You can try, but you can't escape it. Especially if you're poor and brown."

"The visceral joys of the silent B-Western are on full display in Just Tony," writes Cullen Gallagher at Not Coming to a Theater Near You. "Saloon brawls, wild stallions, ten-gallon hats, breathtaking desert ranges, gunfights, fistfights, races, chases—and even a love story to boot."

In Pimps, Hos, Playa Hatas, and All the Rest of My Hollywood Friends, John Leguizamo "talks mad shit about all the random-ass characters he's played," writes Nathan Rabin at the AV Club. "Reading Leguizamo's slangy, casual book is like spending a couple of hours drinking beer with the author."

"According to court papers filed by his daughter," notes Joe Leydon, "Peter Falk suffers from Alzheimer's disease and dementia and is no longer competent to run his own life. The news, I must admit, makes me want to me take a second look at one of the actor's more recent films, Checking Out (2005), which now seems, with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, uncomfortably prescient."

"Horst Tappert became one of Germany's few television stars to gain a loyal international following thanks to his role as the stubborn police inspector in the long-running police series Derrick. He was 85." Deutsche Welle reports. More from Arbogast.

Online thingie. The customizable SnagFilms widget.

Online gazing tip. "Cinefamily's calendars are always visually striking and the film descriptions are equally evocative even if, given their highly eclectic programming, I often go through extremes of enthusiasm or indifference when browsing their schedules from week to week. (Which is probably a good thing.)" Doug Cummings admires Chris Ware's artwork for the November/December calendar, a tribute to Ozu's Tokyo Story.

Online listening tip #1. From the New Yorker: "In the Winter Fiction Issue, Zadie Smith writes about comedy and her family. Here she talks about her father's love of Fawlty Towers and Spike Milligan, her brother, who performs standup under the stage name Doc Brown, and the difference between comedians and novelists."

Online listening tip #2. A Back by Midnight double feature on Deadwood, parts 1 and 2.

Online viewing tip. "[I]f you know the films of Carl Dreyer," writes David Bordwell, "you must look at this mini-movie. It was created by Henrik Fuglsang, the Danish Film Institute archivist at work on a massive website devoted to Dreyer."

Online viewing tips, round 1. From Ekkehard Knörer, two by Joann Sfar and one by Chuck Jones. And a collection of clips from Robert Gardner's Screening Room, a series of conversations with filmmakers (e.g., Hollis Frampton, Jean Rouch) that ran on a local Boston channel from 1972 to 1981.

Online viewing tips, round 2. How It Should Have Ended, via John Rogers, who posts the site's version of an ending for Lord of the Rings which would've tidied things up quite a bit.

Online viewing tips, round 3. "Iraq Shoe Tosser Guy: The Animated Gifs." Xeni Jardin's gathering them at Boing Boing.

Online viewing tips, round 4. The Creepy Christmas advent calendar, via Alicia Van Couvering at Filmmaker.

Posted by dwhudson at December 16, 2008 4:02 PM