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CONTENTS Page 4 5-8
Editorial She's Funny That Way
Direct Link A married Broadway director falls for a prostitute - turned actress and works to help her advance her career.
9-12
Slow West
Direct Link A young Scottish man travels across America in pursuit of the woman he loves attracting the attention of an outlaw who Is willing to serve as his guide.
13-17
The Third Man
Direct Link Pulp novelist Holly Martins travels to post-war Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, black-market opportunist Harry Lime.
18-21
Top Film Directors — A-G
Direct Link A special feature that references the world's greatest film directors and lists their greatest films. Designed as a guide for film aficionados and film students.
22-28
Film Fest Follower
Direct Link EDINBURGH
29-30
Madeleine
Direct Link In a small American town, a mundane event sparks a glimpse into a mysterious and normally unseen world.
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Extras
Direct Link DVD OF THE MONTH: Whiplash
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The Third Man
Direct Link Poster
PHOTO CREDITS:
Lionsgate Films 1,2,5,7,8,9,11,12 Studio Canal 13,16,17,32 Witchfinder 1,5,7,8 Jay Pingree 30
Acknowledgements We would like to thank the following for their invaluable help. Charlotte Franklin and Aimee Olivia Hall at Lionsgate Films. Tim Mosley at Studio Canal Marek Stevens at Witchfinder. Ollie Verschoyle, Dee Meaden.
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EDITORIAL Another hectic but fun-filled time getting MbM out to you. A tremendous amount of work goes on behind the scenes and although the magazine is not sold as a hard copy it still has all the buzz associated with meeting a zooming deadline. Our magazine is only as good as the material which is supplied to us, which is why we are reliant on the film distributors and their publicists and the wonderful team at Premier. Which takes us to this current issue. Cover Star is Imagen Poots from Peter Bogdanovich's comedy feature She's Funny That Way, which is one of this month's reviews. This is the year of Orson Welles centenary, which will be soon apparent to film aficionados if it has not been already. Studio Canal have issued a restored print of one his most memorable film roles as Harry Lime in The Third Man. The images are rich, crisp and clear, and worthy of Carol Reed's masterpiece. Next month we will be reviewing the documentary Magician - The Life and Work of Orson Welles. And for film lovers and film students there is a special feature on Top Film Directors as a reference guide to the best of their work. All filmmakers are totally educated in film with a rich knowledge of the thousands of films which they have seen, inspiring them, the old and the new. Have fun checking through the list of films and see how many you have seen MbM is very pleased to review a Short Film called Madeleine directed by Ollie Verschoyle and produced by Dee Meaden. It premiers in New Jersey next month. Slow West is a western with a difference. It does not fall into a clichĂŠd ending and as such is one of the best of its genre. It opens on the 26th June. Finally there are the regular features: Film Fest Follower looking at the Edinburgh Film Festival which opens on the 17th of this month. EXTRAS picks the DVD of the Month, which happens to be MbM's favourite film of last year's London Film Festival - Damien Chazelle's Whiplash, starring Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons. So settle back and savour the passion and goodness that films provide and we hope that MbM helps to make that experientially edifying and pleasurable. Enjoy the read
Brian Mills Magazine Editor
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Paul Ridler Magazine Designer
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SHE'S FUNNY THAT WAY * Spoiler Alert * A young Hollywood starlet named Isabella Patterson (Imogen Poots) recalls how actions of a charming Broadway director, Arnold Albertson (Owen Wilson)changed her life forever. As told to a reporter in a not-so-reliable recollection of events, the former escort reminisces about how a rendezvous with the director turned into a large sum of money and an offer she couldn't refuse. A chain of events affecting the lives of everyone involved followed, including Arnold's wife Delta (Kathryn Hahn), leading man Seth Gilbert (Rhys Ifans) playwright Joshua Fleet (Will Forte) and even Isabella's therapist Jane Claremont (Jessica Aniston). This old-fashioned charmer arrived Out of Competition at last year's Venice Film Festival to flutter a few hearts and guarantee a healthy dose of belly laughs. The core of the film is a heart of gold in the traditional Hollywood sense packaged as a screwball comedy. Owen Wilson's character is preparing to direct a play for Broadway. The night before casting begins, he calls up an escort agency using the name Dennis instead of Arnold. He asks them to send over Izzy but takes her out for a romantic dinner followed by a ride in Central Park. When they arrive back at his apartment, he offers her $30,000 if she gives up her life as a prostitute to follow her dream of becoming an actress. Izzy does that but in the process upsets a judge who is obsessed with her and who happens to share the same shrink and who has even hired a private detective to watch her. Things really get whacky when Arnold's wife Delta arrives, who just happens to be the lead actress of the play, opposite an old flame. Finally Izzy gets to audition for the final role to be cast in the play. Ultimately everything gets chaotic with shenanigans leading to all turning up at the same restaurant, department, store, hotel. And if you have to ask why, you have missed the whole point - it does not make sense and it is not meant to. The cast is excellent and all the crazy pieces are assembled with the dexterity of genius - director, co-writer, actor, Peter Bogdanovich. This is how he viewed the experience at Venice. Third time lucky. My previous two experiences at the Venice Film Festival were extremely important for me and my pictures. "Saint
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Jack" in 1979 won the rarely given Critics Prize and completely altered European attitudes toward me for the good. And opening the Festival in 1982 with my personal favourite among all my own pictures "They All Laughed", is one of the most stirring experiences in my life. It was Audrey Hepburn's last starring role and with the great Ben Gazzara - dear Benny was brilliant in both pictures - precious John Ritter's own favourite movie performance, and Dorothy Stratton in her last, and single most personable and incandescent appearance. So it is a great joy to be back again 32 years later, especially with a new comedy, She's Funny That Way ( remembering that the translation of this phase is not "funny ha ha" but rather as "peculiar in certain ways"). Venice was my dear Viennese mother's favourite place on earth, and her son has come to the same conclusion. Bogdanovich is a pure filmmaker in the sense that he has an almost unequalled knowledge of the business as an actor, screenwriter, director and as author of one the best books on films Who's The Hell's In It, portraits and conversations with twenty-five of Hollywood's most acclaimed movie actors and actresses including: Humphrey Bogart, Marlon Brando, James Cagney, John Cassavetes, Charlie Chaplin, Montgomery Clift, Marlene Dietrich, Ben Gazzara, Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Jack Lemmon, Marilyn Monroe, James Stewart, Frank Sinatra. So, with pedigree assured, we have had the pleasure of seeing some gems from his film oeuvre: Targets, starring Boris Karloff as a retired horror star; The Last Picture Show with Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd; Directed by John Ford which is a documentary on the legendary maker of westerns; and of course the aforementioned Saint Jack and They All Laughed. After a long time working for television and the occasional TV series, he returned in 2001 directing The Cat's Meow, starring Kirsten Dunst. It failed to register with audiences and critics and it appeared that the director had lost his mojo, but this comedy brings him back to the fore again. This somewhat off-beat feel-good film She's Funny That Way will provide a fun-filled 93 minutes for audiences without distracting their attention from the screen and British actress Imogen Poots is captivating. She was about 14 when she started with a theatre group, it was like a stage group on the weekends alongside school. It was run by a group of people who had been to drama school themselves in London. They introduced techniques that they'd learn about and they were taught about improvisation and screenwriting. Imogen has said that it was really there that she started to love and enjoy it. Her first screen debut was in the popular television series Casualty as Alice Thornton. The following year she appeared in her first feature film playing Natalie Portman's younger self in V for Vendetta. Imogen's impressive filmography includes Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later, as Lorelei Lathrop in Me and Orson Welles, as Poppy in Cracks, Blanche Ingram in Jane Eyre, Alexandra Gelbart in A Late Quartet, Drummond in Filth.
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Jennifer Aniston in She's Funny That Way
Jennifer Aniston and Peter Bogdanovich in She's Funny That Way
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Jennifer Aniston, Rhys Ifans, Imogen Poots, Will Forty, Kathryn Hahn, Owen Wilson in She's Funny That Way
Imogen Poots and Owen Wilson in She's Funny That Way 8
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SLOW WEST Directed by John Maclean Starring: Kodi Smit-McPhee. Michael Fassbender. Ben Mendelsohn. Caren Pistorius. Rory McCann. Once upon a time, Jay Cavendish travelled from the cold shoulder of Scotland to the baking heart of America to find his true love.
A jack rabbit in a den of wolves. An original and exciting western that grips you from the get-go. Jay Cavenish (Kodi-Smit McPhee) is a Scottish aristocrat who has forsaken all to embark on a reckless journey through the American Wild West to find the love of his life Rose Ross (Caren Pistorius)a farmer's daughter who grew up with Jay. For Jay, their friendship turned into love, but before Rose could reciprocate those feelings, she and her father (Rory McCann) had to flee to America after tragedy struck. On Jay's epic journey, he encounters a mysterious stranger named Silas (Michael Fassbender)who offers to be his paid protector and companion, but he seems to have an agenda of his own. They cross the trail of many eccentrics but none more so than an intimidating posse of outlaws led by Payne (Ben Mendelsohn) who is seeking bounty for finding Rose and her dad, for they are wanted dead or alive for murder. It is obvious too that Silas and Payne know each other, and Jay does not trust either of them. The reality of the Wild West at this time in America is one of immigrants, displaced from their homelands: Germany, Ireland, Scotland, Sweden all arriving in this new land. There are similarities between Slow West and The Hunt, a Danish western which starred Mads Mikkelsen as a man arriving to start a new life in the 'big country' with his wife and son, only to have them both killed. He then goes on a journey www.moviesbymills.com
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to hunt down the killers. In The Hunt, the hero seeks revenge, in Slow West, he seeks love. Director John Maclean's influences were Iron Horse, Shane, Red River, High Noon, and McCabe and Mrs Miller. One of Maclean's proudest achievements in making the film was substituting the location of New Zealand for Colorado. Ian Canning, producer from See-Saw Films, one of the co-production companies on the film, explained the choice of New Zealand for the shoot: We were very aware of the options that the landscape there gave us. There's incredible opportunity in New Zealand: you go one stretch of road and you're in Scotland and you go another stretch of road and you're in Ireland then another and you're in Devon in the UK. On the South Island we found vast expanses of uninhabited land with amazing texture that we could see as Colorado. It's a very versatile landscape and you can also get the right season given that we were filming towards the end of the year, which is summer there. Production designer Kim Sinclair was inspired by the script and found it very interesting to visualise the design. She was able to design each one to reflect the mood of each stage of Jay's journey from the warmth, cosy crofter's cottage in Scotland, through the black desolation of a burnt-out Native American village in the snow, to the bleached, skeleton-like silver timber of a trading post occupied by desperate people, and the fresh young pine of the Ross's new cottage with its whitewashed walls and blue-trimmed tablecloth representing hope in the new land. Michael Fassbender didn't have experience: First of all I was called Awesome and I wasn't so introduced me to Arnie who's a easier to ride.
a lot of horse-riding introduced to a horse awesome on it so they lot more chilled and
Of all the superlatives that one can heap on Slow West, none more so than for the dĂŠnouement; when Jay finally meets up with Rose who is defending herself in a shootout with the bounty hunters. While expecting to succumb to a Hollywood closure it instead leans toward a European ending with a brilliantly uncontrived and meaningful scene that is rarely ever witnessed today.
And the young Kodi Smit-Mcphee who as Jay totally holds his own with his experienced co-stars: Michael Fassbender and Ben Mendelsohn.
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Kodi Smit-McPhee in Slow West
Kodi Smit-McPhee and Michael Fassbender in Slow West
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Ben Mendelsohn
and Michael Fassbender in Slow West
Michael Fassbender in Slow West 12
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THE THIRD MAN Directed by Carol Reed Starring: Joseph Cotten. Alida Valli. Orson Welles. Trevor Howard. You know what the fellow said...In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed - they produced Michaelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce...? The cuckoo clock.
This memorable piece of dialogue was spoken and written by Orson Welles as Harry Lime to his friend Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) as he leaves him by The Ferris Wheel. Of the thousands of films which I have seen, this film, which was released on 31st August 1949 by British Lion, still remains the greatest film of all-time. I was ten years of age and saw it at the ABC Coronation cinema, Manor Park in East Ham. Aptly, the film has now been remastered and theatrically released again to coincide with the centenary celebration of Orson Welles. Carol Reed constantly battled with his American producer David O Selznick to make the film he wanted to make: to shoot it on location in Vienna, insisting on Anton Karas's zither music, casting Orson Welles as Harry Lime, The reason why it holds such a coveted place in my cinematic heart is because it is a perfect example of what can be achieved when a collaboration of the greatest talents are at their peak. Alexander Korda wanted to produce a film that would be shot on location rather than in a studio. He sent author Graham Greene to Vienna to find a contemporary story. It inspired Greene to write a story based on an old idea he had had of meeting a 'dead man.' Carol Reed was chosen to direct the film after his success with The Fallen Idol. Anton Karas played the hypnotic "The Harry Lime Theme" throughout the film. He was discovered by Reed in a local beerhouse where Karas played a zither for tips. It is a close up of the zither strings that opens the film with Reed narrating a prologue over the titles and images of Vienna. www.moviesbymills.com
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I never knew the old Vienna before the war, with its Strauss music , its glamour and easy charm Constantinople suited me better. I really got to know it in the classic period of the Black Market - we'd run anything, if people wanted it enough and had the money to pay. Of course, a situation like that does tend to amateurs - but you know they can't stay the course like a professional. Now the city is divided into four zones, each occupied by a power - the Americans, the British, the Russians and the French. But the centre of the city that's international, policed by an International Patrol. One member of each of the four powers. What a hope they had, all strangers to the place and none of them could speak the same language, except for a sort of smattering of German. Good fellows on the whole, even if it doesn't look any worse than a lot of other European cities, bombed about a bit... Oh wait, I was going to tell you - I was going to tell you about Holly Martins from America - he came all the way here to visit a friend of his - The name was Lime, Harry Lime. Now Martins was broke and Lime had offered him - I don't know - some sort of job. Anyway, there he was, poor chap, happy as a lark and without a cent. Opening sequences and closing ones can make or destroy a film. The Third Man bookends beautifully, though the famous ending met with serious opposition from Graham Greene who wanted a happy closure to the story and have Holly Martins and Anna embrace and walk away arm-in-arm. For once David O Selznick agreed with Carol Reed on a poignant but unhappy ending. So we have the classic European sequence at the cemetery of Holly Martins waiting for Anna Schmidt. The camera remains stationary in the foreground and we are looking towards the approaching Anna in the distance while Holly waits for her while leaning against a gurney in the foreground of the shot. We, the audience, anxiously expect Anna to stop when she reaches Holly, but instead she walks past him without even a glance in his direction. Anna is still Harry's girl and Holly is left with unrequited love. Sandwiched between the opening and closing sequences of The Third Man is a triple-layered genre: film noir, romantic drama and comedy; the latter offering a serendipitous moment when Martins is grabbed and bungled into a car; fearing he is being kidnapped, but only to be driven to a Cultural Centre and greeted on arrival by a man named Crabbit (Wilfred Hyde White). He is led into the hall that is filled with so-called admirers of his books which are pulp Westerns. Only a military police sergeant 14
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(Bernard Lee)has read his books and is quite a fan, but the majority are devotees of literature and their questions are far too literary for Martins. The atmospheric feeling of the whole film is mainly due to the brilliance of cinematographer Robert Krasker; tilted shots suggest a world out of joint, faces and places are distorted by using wide angle shots, bizarre lighting turns the city into an expressionist nightmare, and the mastery use of shadows: a balloon seller wanders into a scene during a stakeout for Lime Balloon, mein heir. Balloon, mein heir, he cries, while his shadow looms three stories high.
And the first appearance of Harry Lime standing in a doorway is all light and shadows and Martins tries to determine who the mysterious figure is. Come out, come out, whoever you are! shouts an inebriated Martins. A light goes on in a house opposite and a window opens and a woman shouts out in Austrian to Martins to keep quiet while the sudden illumination reveals a figure standing in a doorway. A cat meows and walks over the figure's shoes. And then...we see the smiling face of a man - Lime, Harry Lime. And of course it is the character of Harry Lime that dominates the narrative even when he is dead. Orson Welles is magnificent and the chase through the sewers is gripping as disembodied voices echo through the dripping walls. If Selznick had had his way, The Third an upbeat movie with a Hollywood tacky score and using his casting choice for Coward. The film would have been still an unnamed plot in a cinema cemetery.
Man would have been title, and upbeat Harry Lime - Noel born and buried in
But it never happened, thanks to the passion and foresight of Carol Reed. So many indelible images take residence in your mind like no other film before or after it. It is ageless. For film students, for filmmakers, for film critics, for film lovers, your education is not complete until you have seen The Third Man. There have been recurring rumours that the film will be remade, which sends shivers up my spine, because you can never improve on a work of art. www.moviesbymills.com
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Alida Valli in The Third Man.
Alida Valli in The Third Man.
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Alida Valli and Joseph Cotton in The Third Man
Orson Welles in The Third Man 17
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TOP FILM DIRECTORS and why
WOODY ALLEN ANNIE HALL, MANHATTAN, ZELIG, BROADWAY DANNY ROSE THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO, CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS HUSBANDS AND WIVES, BULLETS OVER BROADWAY MATCH POINT, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS BLUE JASMINE, IRRATIONAL MAN
PEDRO ALMODOVER WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN TALK TO HER, VOLVER
ROBERT ALTMAN M*A*S*H, McCABE & MRS MILLER, THE PLAYER SHORT CUTS, GOSFORD PARK
JEAN-PIERRE AMERIS ROMANTICS ANONYMOUS
MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI L'AVVENTURA LA NOTTE THE PASSENGER BEYOND THE CLOUDS
RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH GANDHI, CHAPLIN, SHADOWLANDS
ALLEN BARON BLAST OF SILENCE
NOAH BAUMBACH FRANCES HA, MISTRESS AMERICA
DIANE BELL OBSELIDIA
INGMAR BERGMAN SUMMER WITH MONIKA, THE SEVENTH SEAL, WILD STRAWBERRIES PERSONA, FANNY AND ALEXANDER
BERNARDO BERTOLUCCI THE CONFORMIST, LAST TANGO IN PARIS, THE LAST EMPEROR
ROBERTO BENIGNI LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL
LUC BESSON THE BIG BLUE, LEON
KATHRYN BIGELOW NEAR DARK, THE HURT LOCKER
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MIKE BINDER THE UPSIDE OF ANGER, REIGN OVER ME
PETER BOGDANOVICH TARGETS, THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, SAINT JACK
TIM BURTON EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, ED WOOD,BIG FISH SWEENEY TOD - THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET.
JAMES CAMERON ALIENS, TITANIC, AVATAR
JANE CAMPION THE PIANO, BRIGHT STAR
GUILLAUME CANET TELL NO ONE, LITTLE WHITE LIES
FRANK CAPRA IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, MR DEEDS GOES TO TOWN YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU, MR SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON MEET JOHN DOE, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
JOHN CARNEY ONCE, BEGIN AGAIN
JOHN CASSAVETES SHADOWS, HUSBANDS, A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE,OPENING NIGHT, LOVE STREAMS
NICK CASSAVETES THE NOTEBOOK
XAN CASSAVETES Z CHANNEL A MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION
CLAUDE CHABROL LE BOUCHER
CHARLES CHAPLIN A DOG'S LIFE, THE KID, CITY LIGHTS MODERN TIMES, THE GREAT DICTATOR
DAMIEN CHAZELLE WHIPLASH
SYLVAIN CHOMET THE ILLUSIONIST
MICHAEL CIMINO THE DEER HUNTER, HEAVEN'S GATE
HENRI-GEORGES CLOUZOT THE WAGES OF FEAR, LES DIABOLIQUES, LA VERITE
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JOEL & ETHAN COEN MILLER'S CROSSING, FARGO, THE BIG LEBOWSKI
FRANCES FORD COPPOLA THE GODFATHER, THE GODFATHER PART II APOCALYPSE NOW, ONE FROM THE HEART THE GODFATHER PART III
SOFIA COPPOLA LOST IN TRANSLATION, SOMEWHERE
SERGIO CORBUCCI THE GREAT SILENCE
DAVID CRONENBERG THE DEAD ZONE
CAMERON CROWE JERRY MAGUIRE, ALMOST FAMOUS, VANILLA SKY
GEORGE CUKOR THE PHILADELPHIA STORY, ADAM'S RIB, MY FAIR LADY
MICHAEL CURTIZ CASABLANCA
FRANK DARABONT THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, THE GREEN MILE, THE MAJESTIC
JEAN-PIERRE & LUC DARDENNE THE CHILD
JONATHAN DAYTON & VALERIE FARIS LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, RUBY SPARKS
JACQUES DEMY THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG, THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT
CLAIRE DENIS BEAU TRAVAIL
VITTORIO DE SICA THE BICYCLE THIEF, MIRACLE IN MILAN, UMBERTO D
WALT DISNEY STEAMBOAT WILLIE, SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS
CLINT EASTWOOD PLAY MISTY FOR ME, HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES, PALE RIDER, UNFORGIVEN THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, INVICTUS HEREAFTER, LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
SERGEI EISENSTEIN STRIKE, BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN, ALEXANDER NEVSKY IVAN THE TERRIBLE PART 1, IVAN THE TERRIBLE PART 11
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FEDERICO FELLINI I VITELLONI, LA STRADA, NIGHTS OF CABIRIA, LA DOLCE VITA 8 ½, JULIET OF THE SPIRITS
DAVIDE FERRARO DOPO MEZZANOTTE
DAVID FINCHER FIGHT CLUB, THE SOCIAL NETWORK, GONE GIRL THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
JOHN FORD STAGECOACH, THE GRAPES OF WRATH, MY DARLING CLEMENTINE THE QUIET MAN, THE SEARCHERS THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE
BILL FORSYTH GREGORY'S GIRL, LOCAL HERO, `
COMFORT OF JOY
WILLIAM FRIEDKIN
THE FRENCH CONNECTION, THE EXORCIST
STEPHEN FREARS THE GRIFTERS, VERA DRAKE
SERGE FRYDMAN MY ANGEL
SAMUEL FULLER PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET, THE BIG RED ONE
ABEL GANCE NAPOLEON
TERRY GILLAM THE FISHER KING
JEAN LUC GODARD BREATHLESS, A WOMAN IS A WOMAN, PIERROT LE POU
AKIVA GOLDSMAN WINTER'S TALE
MICHEL GONDRY ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, MOOD INDIGO
DAVID GORDON GREEN MANGLEHORN
D.W.GRIFFITH THE BIRTH OF A NATION, INTOLERANCE
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FILM FEST FOLLOWER EDINBURGH June 2015 MbM Recommends American Dreams THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL Directed by Marielle Heller Starring: Bel Powley. Alexander Skarsgard. Kristen Wiig. A teen artist living in 1970s San Francisco enters into an affair with her mother's boyfriend.
FRANNY Directed by Andrew Renzi Starring: Theo James. Dakota Fanning. Richard Gere. A philanthropist meddles into the lives of a newly-wed couple in an attempt to relive his past.
LOVE & MERCY Directed by Bill Pohlant Starring: Elizabeth Banks. John Cusack. Paul Dano. In the 60's Beach Boys Brian Wilson struggles with emerging psychosis as he attempts his avant garde masterpiece. By the 80's he is broke and confused and under 24 hour watch by a shady therapist.
MAGGIE Directed by Henry Hobson Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger. Abigail Breslin. A teenage girl in the Midwest becomes infected by an outbreak of a disease that slowly turns the infected into cannibalistic zombies. During the transformation, her loving father stays by her side.
MEET ME IN MONTENEGRO Directed by Alex Holdridge & Linnea Saason Starring: Alex Holdridge. Linnea Saason. Rupert Friend. A comedy centred on a failed American writer who enters into an affair after a chance meeting with a European dancer. 22
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THE OVERNIGHT Directed by Patrick Brice Starring: Adam Scott. Jason Schwartzman. Taylor Schilling. Judith Godreche. Alex, Emily, and their son, are new to Los Angeles. A chance meeting introduces them to the mysterious Kurt, Charlotte and Max. A family 'playdate' becomes increasingly interesting as the night goes on.
WELCOME TO ME Directed by Shira Piven Starring: Kristen Wiig. James Marsden. Linda Cardellini. Wes Bentley. When Alice Kilec wins the mega-millions lottery, she immediately quits her psychiatric meds and buys her own Talk Show.
Best of British CHICKEN Directed by Joe A Stephenson Starring: Scott Chambers. Yasmin Page. Morgan Watkins. Richard, 15 with learning difficulties, longs to put down roots, but his restless and destructive brother, Polly, needs to keep moving. When the land they live on is bought and the electricity supply to their caravan is cut, their living conditions get worse.
45 YEARS Directed by Andrew Haigh Starring: Charlotte Rampling. Geraldine James. Tom Courtenay. There is just one week until Kate Mercer's 45th wedding anniversary and all is well, until her husband gets a letter: the body of his first love has been found frozen and preserved in the icy glaciers of the Swiss Alps.
Director's Showcase EVERY SECRET THING Directed by Amy Berg Starring: Diane Lane. Elizabeth Banks. Dakota Fanning. A detective looks to unravel a mystery surrounding missing children and the prime suspects are two young women who, seven years ago, were put away for an infant's death.
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LA LA AT ROCK BOTTOM Directed by Nobuhiro Yamashita Starring: Subaru Shibtani. Sarina Suzuki. A live concert is interrupted by a young man who stumbles onto the stage and grabs the microphone. He sings a powerful song then collapses. When he recovers he has no memory of anything except the lyrics of the song ha had just sung.
MANGLEHORN Directed by David Gordon Green Starring: Al Pacino. Holly Hunter. Chris Messina. Harmony Korine. Heartbroken by the woman he loved and lost many years ago, Manglehorn, an eccentric small-town locksmith, tries to start his life over again with the help of a new friend.
RIO, I LOVE YOU Directed by Vicente Amorim, Guillermo Arriaga, Stephen Elliott, Sangsoo Im, Nadine Labaki, Fernando Meirelles, Jose Padilha, Carlos Saldanha, Paolo Sorrentino, John Turturro, Andrucha Waddington, Cesar Charlone. Starring: Emily Mortimer. Rodrigo Santoro. Harvey Keitel. Nadine Labaki. Claudia Abreu. Fernando Montenegro. Hugo Carvana. Vincent Cassel. Bebel Gilberto. John Turturro. Vanessa Paradis. Jason Isaacs. Cleo Pires. An omnibus of 11 stories all set in Rio, each an encounter of love in a different neighbourhood of the city: Transitions, La Fortuna, Pas de Deux, O Milagris, Dona Fulana, A Musa, Acha Que Estou Apaixonado, Quando nao ha Mais Amour, Texas, Inutil Paisagem, O Vampiro do Rio.
Documentaries THE FIRST FILM Directed by David Nicholas Wilkinson Featuring: David Nicolas Wilkinson, Michael Harvey, Mark Rance, Stephen Herbert, Ronald Harwood, Tom Courtenay, Joe Eszterhas. Wilkinson heads off on a mission to reveal the story of Louis Le Prince's pioneering work. In October 1888, he produced the world's first films in Leeds, England, shot on equipment patented in both America and the UK.
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MISERY LOVES COMEDY Directed by Kevin Pollack Featuring Tom Hanks, Matthew Perry, Rob Brydon, Stephen Merchant, Steve Coogan, Jimmy Fallon, Jon Favreau, Lisa Kudrow, Larry David. Pollack steps behind the camera to ask a few simple questions of folks he knows in the comedy game. Why do they do it, and do you need to be miserable to be funny? 60 top talents reveal some home truths about the dark and the funny side of the business of comedy.
THE NEWSROOM - OFF THE RECORD Directed by Mikala Krogh A fascinating insight into the realities of modern-day tabloid journalism. The paper could be any from around the world, but in this case is Denmark's Ekstra Bladet, which battles against declining sales and advertising, and criticism of its editorial style.
New Perspectives THE CIRCLE Directed by Levan Akin Starring: Josefin Asplund. Helena Engstrom. Miranda Frydman. Irma von Platen. Leona Axelsen. Ruth Vega Fernandez. Following the mysterious death of the school outsider, six teenage girls discover that they have acquired supernatural powers as part of an ancient prophecy.
EADWEARD Directed by Kyle Rideout Starring: Michael Eklund. Sara Canning. Christopher Heyerdahl. Jodi Balfour. Visually creative biopic of the brilliant, troubled 'godfather of cinema', Eadweard Muybridge.
INDEX ZERO Directed by Lorenzo Sportiello Starring: Simon Merrells. Ana Ularu. Antonia Liskova. A couple struggle to stay together in a brutal future Fortress Europe. The title refers to a complex number used by a future Euro government in 2035, designed to measure a person's worth...a number which haunts an immigrant couple desperate to find a new home.
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IT'S ALREADY TOMORROW IN HONG KONG Directed by Emily Ting Starring: Jamie Chung. Bryan Greenberg. Real-life couple Jamie Chung and Bryan Greenberg play a mismatched pair whose tentative relationship starts when they meet in Hong Kong, but the timing of their of their attraction may not be on their side.
LOVE FILM FESTIVAL Directed by Manuela Dias, Vinicius Coimbra, Bruno Safadi, Juancho Cordona. Starring: Manolo Cordona. Leandra Leal. Nanda Costa. The film festival circuit as a backdrop for a passionate and tortured love affair is the charming premise for this freewheeling love story, and is shot by three directors, each handling one part of the story, which spans continents and years. Leandra and Manola play the couple who meet at a short film festival and struggle to keep up their affair as films, festivals and other partners hamper their burgeoning romance.
Night Moves INFINI Directed by Shane Abbess Starring: Daniel MacPherson. Grace Huang. Luke Hemsworth. Luke Ford. Deep in the future, an elite 'search and rescue' team are transported to an off-world mining facility to try and prevent a global threat and also rescue soldier Whit Carmichael, the only survivor of a biological outbreak.
FOCUS ON MEXICO 600 MILES Directed by Gabriel Ripstein Starring: Tim Roth. Kristyan Ferrer. Aurora Harrington-Auerbach. Tim Roth provides a good deal of edge and personality as Hank Harris, an American federal agent who, whilst tracking arms traffickers, finds himself taken prisoner by a young wannabe criminal.
ALL OF ME Directed by Arturo Gonzalez Villasenor Documentary. Every day since 1995, a determined group of women have been using all their resources to feed hundreds of migrants passing through La Patrona, a small village in Central Mexico, on board 'The Beast' a seemingly never-ending train carrying people's hopes for a better life. 26
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A SEPARATE WIND Directed by Alejandro Gerber Bicecci Starring: Mario Balandra. Valentina Buzzaro. Margarita Chavarria. Sebastian Cobos. Desiderio Daxuni. When teenagers Omar and Karina's mother suffers a stroke, they set off across Mexico to visit their grandmother. Their journey exposes them to people and situations they are ill-equipped to deal with, and tensions run high as they contend with a complex, unforgiving adult world.
THE BEGINNING OF TIME Directed by Bernardo Arellano Starring: Antonio Perez Cabajal. Bertha Olivia Ramirez. Francisco Barreiro. Jose Sefami. A couple in their 90s are struggling to survive after government state pensions are suspended. The return of their son and unknown grandson brings some hope to their lives, but can they rely on family and friends to keep on going?
THE DANCE OF THE MEMORY Directed by Gabriela Dominguez Ruvalcaba Documentary If you could choose seven moments to narrate your life, what would they be? The director delves into her family archive to find the memories that best describe her life. She invites us to question the concept of memory as she considers whether her memories are her own, or rather the recollections of others that she has claimed over the years.
I STAY WITH YOU Directed by Artemio Narro Starring: Beatrix Arjona. Ximena Gonzalez-Rubio. Anajose Aldrete. Edward Gurrola. Ivan Arana. Invited by her boyfriend Esteban to live with him in Mexico City, Natalia is disappointed when he remains away for work upon her arrival, Persuaded by her friends Ana and Sofia to join free-spirited Valeria for the weekend, Natalia, at first reticent, is eventually surprised at how far she will go to have a 'good time'.
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MACARIO Directed by Roberto Gavaldon Starring: Ignacio Lopez Tarso. Pina Pellicer. Enrique Lucero. Mario Alberto Rodriguez. Jose Galvez. The first Mexican film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. A poor indigenous woodcutter named Macario is befriended by 'Death', and given miraculous water that will heal any disease. But his newfound powers attract the attention of the inquisition.
MARIA CANDELARIA Directed by Emilio Fernandez Starring: Dolores del Rio. Pedro Armendariz. Alberto Galan. One of the first Mexican films to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won a Grand Prix. A young woman faces intolerance from her own people for being the daughter of a prostitute. Set against the backdrop of pre-revolution Mexico, it is one of the country's most beloved films.
THE OBSCURE SPRING Directed by Ernesto Contreras Starring: Jose Maria Yazpik. Cecilia Suarez. Irene Azuela y Hayden Meyenberg. Unhappily married Igor and struggling single mother Pina work together at a photocopier factory in Mexico. Their sudden, raw lust for one another serves as a catalyst for upheaval in their relatively mundane, unfulfilled lives, leading to a shocking denouement.
POISON FOR THE FAIRIES Directed by Carlos Enrique Taboada Starring: Ana Patricia Rojo. Elsa Maria Cutierrez. Leonor Llausas. When Flavia and her wealthy family move to a new city, she meets odd schoolgirl Veronica - who confesses to her that she is a witch. The two girls become friends, but Veronica's negative influence on Flavia soon manifests itself when they go on a family trip together. 28
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In a small American town a mundane event offers a glimpse in to a normally unseen world of mysterious connections. A business man rushes for his train but just misses it.
As he waits for the next service another world seems to open up before him and we witness a series of disparate characters each enter their own state of delusion, rapture or heightened awareness. The business man watches a girl swirling a baton, a salesman takes his goods into a house, a woman sits at a table, her eyes closed, an old man stands slowly breathing in and out, and a boy shrouded by nature reaches out with his mind and travels to that perhaps not so distant world. Madeleine is the work of Ollie Verschoyle and he offers the audience to join him in a sensory experience where we observe the observed. The Short film leaves you in an almost meditative state. There are few words yet your senses are wide awake to what is occurring. Quite serene. Quite beautiful. CAST Business Man .................... Young Girl ...................... Salesman ........................ Mrs Caldwell .................... Old Man ......................... Young Boy ....................... CREW Director ........................ Producer ........................ Co-Producer ..................... D.O.P ........................... 1st Ass. Camera ................. 2nd Ass. Camera ................. Sound Recordist ................. Hair & Make-upq ................. Baton Twirling Coach & Choreographer ................. Graphic Props ................... Editor .......................... Sound Design & Mix .............. Music ........................... Colourist & Online Editor ................. Still Photography ...............
Jared Kelner Trina Caterson Jay Pingree Suzanne Du Charme Wayne Anderson Jason Pagan Ollie Verschoyle Dee Meaden Jay Pingree Ollie Verschoyle Michelle McCabe Tenzen Kalden Mike Fitzgerald Bates Jaffe Kathy Catterson Richard Ward Domenico Fanata Doppier & Dubbs Jon Opstad William H.W. Read Jay Pingree
NB: The next screening of Madeleine will be on Thursday 16 July 2015 at 4pm at Maplewood Theatre, 155 Maplewood Avenue, Maplewood New Jersey. USA.
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Trina Catterson in Madeleine
Jared Keiner in Madeleine 30
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EXTRAS DVD OF THE MONTH
WHIPLASH Directed by Damien Chazelle Starring: Miles Teller. J.K. Simmons. Paul Reser.
FILM **** A jazzy juxtaposition of indelible images of New York rhythmically cut to big band music heralds the opening of Whiplash and the film never lets up for a minute. Andrew Neiman is an ambitious young jazz drummer in pursuit of rising to the top of his elite music conservatory. Terrence Fletcher is an instructor known for his terrifying methods, discovers Andrew and transfers the aspiring drummer into the top jazz ensemble, forever changing the young man's life. But Andrew's passion to achieve perfection quickly spirals into obsession, as his ruthless teacher pushes him to the brink of his ability and his sanity. SPECIAL FEATURES Commentary with Writer/Director Damien Chazelle and J.K. Simmons An Evening at the Toronto Film Festival with Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons and Damien Chazelle www.moviesbymills.com
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