CONTENTS Page 3 4-7
8-11
12-15
Editorial Café Society
In the 1930s, a young New Yorker, moves to Hollywood, where he falls in love with the secretary of his powerful uncle, who is an agent to the stars, after he moves back to New York, he gets swept up in the vibrancy of New York’s nightlife.
The 9th Life of Louis Drax.
A psychologist is treating a boy who had a near-fall and finds himself returning to the mystery.
Swallows and Amazons. Based on a children’s classic novel.
16-19
20-21
22-27
War Dogs
Story of two men who win a $300 million contract from the Pentagon to supply arms to American allies to fight Afghanistan.
Production Design
The beautiful look of the films of Woody Allen and Terence Malick and the Production Designers who created it for them.
FilmFest Follower — Venice/Toronto The films which have been picked to be part of this year’s Venice and Toronto Film Festival And MbM’s recommendations.
28-29
Extras: Sing Street and Knight of Cups.
30
The 9th Life of Louis Drax (Poster)
31
Swallows and Amazons.. (Poster)
32
Café Society.
PHOTO CREDITS: Soda Pictures: 8,10,11,30, Warner Bros:1,4,6,7,16,18,19,32. Studio Canal 12,14,15,31.
Acknowledgements We would like to thank the following for their invaluable help: Saffeya Shebli Soda Pictures Anjali Mandala of Soda Pictures Ed Frost of Soda Pictures Lucy Powell of Studio Canal Gina Deen of Grapevine Hannah Dowie of Grapevine Nicola Barnes of Grapevine 2
www.moviesbymills.com
EDITORIAL As we enter autumn we begin to see the fruits of what all the fuss was about of the films which have been showcased and critically acclaimed at film festivals in the previous months and those that will be from September to October: Venice, Toronto and our very own London Film Festival next month. Among these films are titles which will surely be embedded in our memories for decades to come and some which will be honoured by the Academy Awards and Bafta, though its members will find it difficult to choose, as have the juries at Berlin, Cannes, Edinburgh, Karlovy Vary. Month by Month MbM has passionately scanned the titles and from what we have seen it looks like this year has provided the richest of pickings; so be prepared to be pampered: La La Land. Everything is Copy. The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Maki. Ithaca. Kalinka. Life, Animated. The Light Between the Oceans. Manchester by The Sea. Nocturnal Animals. One More Time. *The Other Side of the Wind. Paterson. Planetarium. Redoubtable. The Red Turtle. Trespassing Bergman. Un Plus Une. Harold and Lillian – A Hollywood Love Story. Paris Can Wait. The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez. So to the current issue and what lurks between its passionately prepared pages. It is always MbM’S pleasure to welcome the latest release of a Woody Allen film and this month his film Café Society is our cover feature review. Set in the 30s, it tells of a Brooklyn -born Allen, he was raised in Flatbush, and his alter ego is played here by Jesse Eisenberg as Bobby, a young man who seeks his fortune in Hollywood and meets-up with the one person, his uncle, fittingly played by Steve Carell (cover picture) who has enough clout as a powerful agent to the stars to get him to meet the right people. Further he introduces Bobby to his secretary Vonnie (Kristen Stewart) whom Bobby falls in love with.
Further reviews are The 9th Life of Louis Drax, War Dogs, and Swallows and Amazons. FilmFest Follower previews films which will be screening at the Venice Film Festival which will have already started and be in its fourth day when MbM launches. In addition, Toronto International Film Festival programme will be scanned for its coveted pickings. Our occasional feature Extras, which briefly reviews Blu-Rays and DVDs recommends Sing Street and Knight of Cups. *Peter Bogdanovich still hopes to screen this film this year.
Enjoy the read. Brian Mills Magazine Editor
Paul Ridler Magazine Designer
www.moviesbymills.com
3
CAFÉ SOCIETY * Spoiler Alert *
Directed by Woody Allen. Starring: Jesse Eisenberg. Kristen Stewart. Steve Carell. Blake Lively. Carey Stoll. Parker Posey. Sheryl Lee. Jeannie Berlin. Anna Camp. You’re very beautiful. - Bobby.
I’m seeing someone.
- Vonnie. Set in the 1930s, Woody Allen’s latest movie immediately puts you in the nostalgic mood from the opening credits with the song I Didn’t Know What Time It Was. But Woody knows exactly what time it was and he doesn’t miss a beat. The chosen soundtrack does not let you forget you are in the era of the jazz age with songs like:
Jeepers Creepers There’s A Small Hotel Have You Met Miss Jones Zing Went the Strings of My Heart I even expected we might here Isn’t It Romantic, because this is Woody’s most romantic film to date. Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg are perfectly paired as the young lovers Vinnie and Bobby. The film is beautifully photographed by cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, the first time he has ever worked under Woody’s direction – providing the magnificent visuals coupled with the sets and designs of Santo Loquasto, the production designer on the majority of Woody’s films from Radio Days. The golden age comfortably fits Woody’s desire and opportunity to revisit a period that he relishes as much as the jazzy and complicated characters that he creates and juxtaposes with the gangsters and bodies that they bury in cement. Bobby (Jesse Eisenberg) is in Hollywood and up from the Bronx. He is set to meet with his Uncle Phil, a power agent to the stars, namedropping his clients at every opportunity he gets: Ginger Rogers, Errol Flynn, Barbara Stanwick, William Powell. He is a very busy man and Bobby finds it hard to get an appointment to see him. He is prepared to take any job…and that is what he gets at first: a delivery boy taking vital messages that his uncle needs sent pronto and face-to-face with the person.
4
www.moviesbymills.com
When Bobby meets Phil’s secretary, the beautiful Vonnie (Kristen Stewart) it is love at first sight, but though she likes him, she tells him that she is seeing someone, but that someone is his Uncle Phil (Steve Carell). But things start getting complicated when Bobby declares his love for Vonnie and then discovers who her lover is. Matters get worse when Bobby’s brother Ben(Corey Stoll)loveable but mobster-run life helps him out by getting him to run his nightclub in New York. Phil after much deliberation leaves his wife of twenty-five years and marries Vonnie, while a broken-hearted Bobby meets and falls for a girl ironically named Veronica (Blake Lively). He marries her and they have a child. Superficially he seems happy but he encounters Vonnie again, and they both realise that despite their marital status they still love each other. Allen is heading for a melancholic ending and is ribbonedpackaged present to his fans shows the real soft-centred man that Woody is. Here again he also proves that he is an actor’s director and gets the finest performances from Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart of their respective careers.
For film buffs and lovers this meets their requirements both as an entertainment and a warm dip into black and white clips of movies of the 30s and an exterior of the Graumann’s Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard, now the TCL Chinese Theater. The prolific Mr Allen shows no sign of letting up in making a film every year: Café Society is his fortieth film as a director. Annie Hall in 1977 and Manhattan in 1979 were the films in his filmography that guaranteed him a place in the Hall of Fame of the greatest filmmakers of our time. The presence over the years of both being in front and behind the camera for Woody Allen always assures that his work is both familiar and very personal. He is never interested in how his public life is perceived or whether the Academy Awards recognise his work or not. Regarding his future work: The next as yet Untitled Woody Allen Project is already in pre-production. It will star Kate Winslet, Juno Temple, Justin Timberlake, Jim Belushi and Tony Sirico. It is worth reiterating that Woody Allen is the finest director of women, which is why so many have been nominated or have won Academy Awards for their performances in his films.
www.moviesbymills.com
5
Jesse Eisenberg and group in Café Society.
Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg in Café Society 6
www.moviesbymills.com
Jesse Eisenberg and Blake Lively in Café Society.
Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg in Café Society.
www.moviesbymills.com
7
th
THE 9 LIFE OF LOUIS DRAX * Spoiler Alert *
Directed by Alexandre Aja Starring: Jamie Doran. Sarah Gadon. Aaron Paul. Oliver Platt. He was dead for two hours. I’ve never seen anything like it. He is in a coma Dr Janek But he’s alive? Dr Allan Pascal Nine-year-old Louis Drax is no ordinary boy: he has survived eight near death experiences, but will he survive his ninth? Louis Drax (Aidan Longworth), has been crushed, poisoned, electrocuted, frozen, broken, and drowned. And yet, for some unknown reason, he does not die. Neither his parents nor his psychiatrist, Dr Perez (Oliver Platt), seem to be able to unravel the mystery. But come his ninth birthday while celebrating with his mother, Natalie (Sarah Gadon), and father, Peter (Aaron Paul), Louis has his most serious accident yet: falling over the edge of a cliff into the icecold water below, and he is dead before he reaches the hospital. But is he? After two hours in the morgue, Louis inexplicably begins to stir. He becomes the patient of celebrated paediatric neurologist, Dr Allan Pascal (Jamie Dornan), who is determined to uncover the truth of Louis’ bizarre existence. But Dr Pascal’s growing attraction to Natalie Drax is a growing complication which he was not prepared to deal with. And Peter, whom has mysteriously vanished, is a potentially dangerous threat to them all. We, the audience, are projected into the complicated mystery of a sleeping child’s brain, which leads us down a crazy paving- stoned path with twists and turns which could have been laid by Alfred Hitchcock himself as suspicious questions are asked about Louis’s death. Was his fall an accident or was he pushed? Awakening to the possibility that Louis could have been murdered, we examine the suspects and when we think we have the killer, we subconsciously hear the ghostly voice of the Master of Suspense asking: Do you? The film is a screen adaptation of Liz Jensen’s successful novel The Ninth Life of Louis Drax. Of the leading character, author Jensen says: I have two sons, and the way Louis talks is a dark-edged echo of their voices at that age. Louis is not a “normal” child. He can’t afford to 8
www.moviesbymills.com
be. He’s very aware of conflict and he fears growing up, as many children do. He’s fascinated by the adult world and scared by it. And in his case, rightly so. Aidan Longworth was one of the first to audition for the part of Louis. As filmmakers auditioned over a hundred boys across North America and the UK, they kept coming back to Longworth. It was his open personality, natural curiosity, and unique way of looking at the world which left a strong impression on the director Alexandre Aja, while producer Tim Bricknell was particularly impressed by the boy’s deep love of science, robotics, and biology. Author Jensen was also impressed. Aidan is absolutely perfect for the part. You couldn’t have invented this kid. He’s a boy with a great, bright curiosity. He’s into all sorts of natural phenomena and weirdness. And the first time I met him, he said to me, “Do you know hummingbirds can’t walk?” And I said, no, I didn’t know hummingbirds can’t walk. He’s full of these factoids. One soon finds oneself aligned with Louis’ doctor as he begins to investigate the truth of Louis’ accident. Dr Allan Pascal believes in the possibility of connecting with patients in a coma, and using that connection to draw them back to the surface. After Louis’ miraculous return to life, Dr Pascal is intensely intrigued by this boy and his strange and tragic history. But Pascal gets emotionally side-tracked by the boy’s mother, Natalie, feelings which he has for her that threaten his marriage and his career, but also his quest to find the truth about Louis. Screenwriter Max Minghella says of Natalie’s character: Natalie is an incredibly enigmatic and alluring woman. She’s sort of timeless and she walks into a room and everybody’s head turns. There’s a line in the script that says, “People look at her like a car accident’ so you can’t turn your head away.” Presenting herself as the vulnerable victim, yet possessing unknown motivations, Natalie Drax had to be at once the frightened mother and the seductive femme fatale. To balance those two sides of Natalie, filmmakers chose Toronto born actress, Sarah Gadon. Director, Aja, was drawn in by the sheer variety of characters she was capable of portraying. She has that quality of being a chameleon in everything she’s doing. After talking to her about the character and all the different layers and the complexity of the darkness and brightness that her character represents, I understood that she was Natalie Drax. Sarah Gadon was intrigued. I thought the character of Natalie Drax was very fascinating and complicated. At the beginning of the film you read her as this very iconic, kind of loving beautiful mother. Everything that we’ve done in terms of the way I’m put together gives this image of a woman who’s very caring and driven by her home life. A lot of the inspiration for Natalie’s looks was rooted in classic photos of Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly and a lot of Jean Seberg.
Aptly cast too were Aaron Paul as Peter Drax and Oliver Platt as Dr Perez, the latter giving one of the most underplayed and subtle performances of his career – a joy to watch.
www.moviesbymills.com
9
Sarah Gadon in The 9th Life of Louis Drax.
Aaron Paul and Aidan Longworth in The 9th Life of Louis Drax. 10
www.moviesbymills.com
Oliver Platt and Aidan Longworth in The 9th Life of Louis Drax.
Sarah Gadon and Jamie Dornan in The 9th Life of Louis Drax.
www.moviesbymills.com
11
SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS
Directed by Phillippa Lowthorpe. Starring: Rafe Spall. Kelly MacDonald. Andrew Scott. Jessica Hynes. Harry Enfield. Richard Bremmer. Orla Hill. I hereby name this Water Island and claim it for our own. - Tatty
It is 1935. The Walker family clan dash to Portsmouth Harbour station to catch a train for the start of their summer holidays. Mother (Kelly Macdonald) shepherds her flock – headstrong eldest John (Dane Hughes), intelligent Susan (Orla Hill), imaginative Tatty (Teddie-Rose Malleson-Allen), boisterous Roger (Bobby McCullough), and baby Vicky – through the busy crowds of travellers and milling naval officers, and past a mysterious lingering pair of strangers clad in long overcoats. Once the train departs, she doles out presents from their absent father – away on a naval mission in the South China Seas. For John: his trusty penknife. For Tatty: a journal. And as they chug slowly north, their thoughts turning to the excitement of the summer ahead, Tatty marks the first page with the words: ‘The Adventure Begins…’ Swashbuckling Jim Turner drops in to the Walker carriage with his own secret agenda to shake off the unwanted attentions of Lazlov and Zukin, the mysterious pair seen on the platform at Portsmouth. He soon slips out of the duo’s clutches, but as the train finally pulls into Rio Station, right in the heart of the Lake District, it’s clear that the Walkers aren’t the only travellers to disembark…Lazlov and Zukin step menacingly on to the platform behind them… The family arrive at Holly Howe Farm: home to the Jacksons, their hosts for the summer once again. With greetings hastily dealt with, the children hurry off to their favourite place, Darien Peak – an enchanting vista gazing out over an expanse of shimmering lake and dramatic mountains; their playground for the next couple of months. In the distance they spot it – The Island – the undiscovered green jewel in the middle of the lake that their father had promised he would one day take them to explore. It feels a long way away, but John isn’t prepared to give up on the dream. He urges his mother to let them conquer the island on The Swallow, a beautiful sailing dinghy stored in the Jacksons’ boathouse. Unconvinced of the idea of letting her brood run loose, she insists 12
www.moviesbymills.com
they wait for their father’s permission. As Mrs Walker heads into Rio to send word of their plans via telegram, once again the children almost cross paths with Lazlov and Zukin, as the shady duo charm the local postmistress into revealing the whereabouts of an ‘old colleague’ the travel writer, Jim Turner. Waiting for word back from their father, the children skim stones on the beach, inadvertently sending one flying through the window of a run-down old houseboat. As they flee, Jim Turner steps out onto the deck livid. Tatty turns to see him standing there – strong and tall – just as a green parrot swoops out the porthole and settles on his shoulder. Looking every inch, the true pirate; the children begin calling him Captain Flint. Watching Turner emerge through their binoculars, Lazlov and Zukin smile broadly from their hiding place; their conversation switching effortlessly into Russian. They have their orders: to capture the man and secure the documents on his boat. Surely they’ve got him now. And as they keep watch, they listen to Turner break into an old Russian song of his own. Clearly, he’s not what he seems either… A telegram arrives from Father: ‘Better Drowned than Duffers if not Duffers Won’t Drown.’ They have his permission! Waved off by the adults; The Swallow sets sail into the unknown. And despite the odd mishap, Captain John leads his siblings to The Island, touching down on a pebble beach; as Tatty cries: Swallows forever! And claims Walker Island as their own. Heading out on an early morning expedition the next day, John and Tatty come across the home of Old and Young Billy, fearsome—looking charcoal-burners living on the hillside. In exchange for some invaluable advice on making a fire, John is asked to carry a message to Turner’s houseboat – warning him of the presence of Lazlov and Zukin. He does as he is bidden, but Turner is not on-board. Unable to resist looking around, John’s eyes pop as he takes in the houseboat’s array of treasures: maps of Russia, photos of naval yards, plans for something that looks suspiciously like a rocket…and a gun. Jim returns to catch him in the act – banishing the boy from his boat, and locking the plans in his chest. And so the adventure continues. The film is a remake of the 1974 version which was directed by Claude Whatham and starred Virginia McKenna, Ronald Fraser, Simon West and Suzanna Hamilton. Viewing now is a painful experience as the acting, particularly by the children, is wooden and embarrassing, and the whole film is poorly directed. Not so the latest incarnation of this classic story.
www.moviesbymills.com
13
Bobby McCullough, Orla Hill, Teddie-Rose Malleson-Allen, Kelly Macdonald, and Dane Hughes in Swallows and Amazons.
Teddie-Rose Malleson-Allen, Rafe Spall and Kelly Macdonald in Swallows and Amazons. 14
www.moviesbymills.com
Orla Hill, Bobby McCullough, Teddie-Rose Malleson-Allen and Dane Hughes in Swallows and Amazons.
Orla Hill and Bobby McCullough in Swallows and Amazons.
www.moviesbymills.com
15
WAR DOGS Directed by Todd Phillips Starring: Jonah Hill. Miles Teller. Steve Lantz. Gregg Weiner. Kevin Pollack. Ana de Armas. Dan Bilzerian. Listen, I get why you’re doing this. It is just the lying that kills me. I need you to know that you can tell me anything, David. David? - Iz Yeah. I’m gonna call you right back. - David Is everything Okay? - Iz Yeah, everything’s fine. I love ya. Bye. - David
The film’s opening pitches you straight into the action and epitomises the type of film you are about to see. The character, that we will soon discover is David Packouz (Miles Teller), is being beaten and stuffed into the boot of a car. Whatever he has done to warrant this or not has been executed by the orders of Bradley Cooper’s character. We have witnessed the dramatic side of a story based on true events which follows two friends David Packouz and Efraim Diveroli (Jonah Hill) in their early 20s who became multi-millionaires as the most improbable of international arms dealers. Living in Miami Beach, the pair exploit a little-known government initiative that allows smaller businesses to bid on US Military contracts. They are soon raking in big money and are living the high life. But they get in over their heads when they land a 300-million-dollar deal to arm the Afghan military – a deal that puts them in business with some very shady people, not least of which turns out to be the U.S. Government. They called guys like us “war dogs” – bottom feeders who make money off of war without ever stepping foot on the battlefield. It was meant to be derogatory. But we kinda liked it. – David Bradley Cooper plays Henry Girard. He has been banned from doing work with the U.S. military because he’s on a terrorist watch list, but Henry still has access to a tremendous amount of ammunition that Efraim and David need to solidify the $300 million. Henry has been on both sides of every conflict. He just likes it when people fight because it’s great for business and the character of Efraim loves that attitude. So when they finally meet him at an 16
www.moviesbymills.com
arms convention in Las Vegas, it’s a big moment for Ephraim to sit across from his hero.
The bottom line is that war is big business and that business is selling arms. Producer Mark Gordon recalls: I was on a plane when I read the story in Rolling Stone, and I couldn’t believe it was true. Everything about it cried out to be made into a movie. I’ve always found that audiences love films about characters who beat the system, even if they ultimately get their comeuppance, one way or another. Add in the fact that these two seemed the most unlikely people to pull off this kind of hustle, and you have something really special. Director, Todd Phillips decided he wanted to tell the story from Packouz’s perspective. We realized the best way into this story was through David’s eyes. David represents the everyman stepping into this world he knew nothing about, much like the audience. Their lies the winning stroke, because David has a conscience and when he realizes that he has initially been forced to hide the real source of his income from Iz, his staunchly anti-gun, anti-war girlfriend who is about to be his wife, he rebels. Iz loves and trusts David and sticks by him -and brings the emotional thread that this film so needs. When David throws everything away and realizes that his trust in his boyhood friend Efraim has been filled with lies and greed – he wants out – before it is too late. What any film is really all about is how an audience reacts and they need to feel for a character and the final sequence of the film shows that we are rooting for David and willing to forgive his lies and weaknesses when he can at last see the most important person in his life is his girlfriend Iz. Iz is played by Cuban-born actress Ana de Armas who has become one of Spain’s rising stars, and now American audiences are discovering her in a number of different roles. She is currently in production on Denis Villeneuve’s as-yet-untitled Blade Runner sequel, in which she stars alongside Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Robin Wright and Mackenzie Davis. The story picks up several decades after the conclusion of the 1982 original, which was set in 2019 in a dystopian a Los Angeles. Executive producer is Ridley Scott; the film is scheduled for release in October 2017. Ana will soon be seen with Edgar Ramirez and Robert De Niro in Hands of Stone, the biographical drama about the life of boxer Roberto (“Hands of Stone”) Ramirez. Recently Ana completed two other films: Exposed, opposite Keanu Reeves and Mira Sorvino, as well as Overdrive, with Scott Eastwood and Freddie Thorp. Watch her carefully in War Dogs - for you are watching a star who has already risen.
www.moviesbymills.com
17
Miles Teller and Jonah Hill in War Dogs.
Miles Teller and Jonah Hill in War Dogs.
18
www.moviesbymills.com
Miles Teller, Jonah Hill and Dan Bilzerian in War Dogs.
Miles Teller and Jonah Hill in War Dogs.
www.moviesbymills.com
19
PRODUCTION DESIGN The Look of Movies To coincide with the nostalgic feel of Woody Allen’s new movie, it seems an apt moment to reflect on the art of the Production Designer and their role in co-operation with the Director of Photography on how a film looks. “Café Society” is set in the ‘30s and to recreate the ambient mood of Los Angeles during that decade was the responsibility of Santo Loquasto, who has worked with Allen on twenty-four of his films, starting with “Radio Days” and among those films that should be studied for their visionary splendour:
Crimes and Misdemeanors Shadows and Fog Husbands and Wives Manhattan Murder Mystery Everyone Says I Love You Melinda and Melinda Blue Jasmine. Under the credits of Art Director is where these masters of design started but today they are rightly recognised under their own credit as Production Designer. Santo Loquasto is already confirmed as part of Woody’s essential crew on his as yet Untitled Project which is to star Kate Winslet, Juno Temple, Jason Timberlake and James Belushi. Bear in mind that warm and comforting and romantic look of the film is achieved by the production designer assuring the quality of interior decoration and set design, and working closely with his cinematographer which on Café Society is Vittorio Storado; one of the greatest in the business. So with the team of Loquasto and Storado it is not surprising that Woody’s film looks so beautiful – it provides visions of delight. Let us look at Vittorio Storado’s cinematic pedigree. Among memorable films in his filmography:
The Conformist Last Tango in Paris (DP) 1900 Apocalypse Now One from The Heart (a masterpiece) The Last Emperor Little Buddha Café Society Both the cinematographer and the production designer inspire each other’s work, but what is interesting to note on Woody’s latest film, and undoubtedly his most emotionally romantic looking film is that 20
www.moviesbymills.com
though he has worked with Santo and they understand each other because of the experience of working together, this is the first time that Woody Allen has ever worked with Vittorio Storado, and it is that, which I think is the reason that Café Society is by far his greatest artistically visual film. The other director that immediately has the same relationship with his production designer, though totally different in both his working method and in the type of films that he makes is Terrence Malick. Unlike Allen, he tends to become closely involved with his production designer, which for Malick is Jack Fisk, who designs the sets and works very closely with the DP – Emmanuel Lubeski. Though Malick never has to worry how these two men collaborate as he knows and trusts that they will deliver exactly what he wants. If you have fallen in love with the imagery of Malick’s films:
Badlands Days of Heaven The Thin Red Line To The Wonder The Tree of Life Knight of Cups Voyage of Time: Life’s Journey It is this perfect cinematic relationship between Terrence, Jack and Chivo, as Lubescki is known. The film student would do well to examine Malick’s films one-by-one to understand how everything sits perfectly within the frame, and even when the director digresses by something that has caught his eye; generally, a bird or something that he wishes to capture that signifies the beauty of nature. Voyage of Time is an examination of the birth and death of the known universe. This is Terrence Malick’s project of a lifetime, thinking about Voyage of Time, life’s journey since the late 1970s following the completion of Days of Heaven. It has since been brewing in his mind and work, its thematic concerns gracing his films – his fascination with nature and the elements, offering us a taster of things to come with his astonishing cosmic sequence in The Tree of Life. This film is a resolutely personal venture – a spectacular trip through the origins of the Universe, our present time and beyond. With breath-taking shots of the earth, from the ocean floor up to the planets, employing stunning visual effects, this is a poetic, philosophical and purely cinematic meditation on life, death and nature, on our origins and, ultimately, the human condition. Narrated by the meditative tones of Cate Blanchett, Voyage of Time: Life’s Journey will leave you in a state of awe and wonderment.
Spiritually the film is the ultimate example of universal perfection – a faultless collaboration – a trustworthy belief that everything is designed as intended. And if a scene in a film was originally written to be played out on a sunny day but it suddenly rains on the day of the shoot – so be it: you shoot it in the rain. Everything will sit perfectly in the frame, thanks to the intervention of nature’s production designer.
www.moviesbymills.com
21
FILM FEST FOLLOWER
VENICE AUGUST 31—SEPTEMBER 10
MbM Recommends Opening Film LA LA LAND (in competition)
Directed by Damien Chazelle. Starring: Ryan Gosling. Emma Stone. A jazz pianist falls in love with an aspiring actress in Los Angeles.
Competition THE BAD BATCH Directed by Ana Lily Amorpour. Starring: Jason Momeo. Keanu Reeves. Jim Carrey. In the New Jersey town of Paterson, a man by the name of A dystopian love story in a Texas wasteland and set in a community of cannibals.
THE LIGHT BETWEEN THE OCEANS Directed by Derek Cianfrance. Starring: Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, Rachel Weisz. A lighthouse keeper and his wife living off the coast of Western Australia raise a baby they rescue from an adrift rowboat.
NOCTURNAL ANIMALS Directed by Tom Ford. Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Amy Adams, Arnie Hammer. An art gallery owner is haunted by her ex-husband ‘s novel, a violent thriller she interprets as a veiled threat and a symbolic threat.
VOYAGE OF TIME Directed by Terrence Malick. Starring: Brad Pitt. Cate Blsanchett. An examination of the birth and death of the known universe.
22
www.moviesbymills.com
FRANZ Directed by Francois Ozon. Starring: Pierre Niney, Paula Beer. In the aftermath of WW11, a young German who grieves the death of her fiancé in France, meets a mysterious Frenchman who visits the fiancé’s grave to lay flowers.
ARRIVAL Directed by Denis Villeneuve. Starring: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker. Taking place after alien crafts land around the world, an expert linguist is recruited by the military to determine whether thy come in peace or are a threat.
JACKIE Directed by Pablo Larrain. Starring: Natalie Portman. Greta Gerwig. Peter Sarsgaard. An account of the days of The First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy in the immediate aftermath of John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963.
UNE VIE Directed by Stephanie Brize. Starring: Judith Chemla. Jean-Pierre Darrousin. Yoland Moreau. No plot revealed as of yet.
EL CIUDADANO ILUSTRE Directed by Mariano Cohn, Gaston Duprat. Starring: Oscar Martinez. Dady Brieva. After refusing big and prestigious awards all over the world, Mr Mantovani, Literary Nobel Prize winner, accepts an invitation to visit his homeland in Argentina. A psychosexual noir love story set in Las Vegas and Paris about love, obsession, sex, betrayal, revenge and ultimately, the search for redemption.
SPIRA MIRABILIS Directed by Msssimo D’anolfi, Martina Parenti. Starring: Brett Brings Plenty. Coco Brings Plenty. A documentary.
ANG BABAENG HUMAYO Directed by Lav Daz. Starring: Charo Santos Concio. Juan Lloyd Cruz. No plot revealed at present.
LA REGION SALVAJE (The Untamed) Directed by Amat Escalante. Starring: Kenny Johnston No plot revealed at present.
www.moviesbymills.com
23
PIUMA Directed by Roan Johnson. Starring: Biu Yoshima. Michela Cescon. The story of Ferro and Cate, your average couple. All of a sudden an unexpected pregnancy turns their world upside down.
RAI Directed by Andrei Konchalovsky. Starring: Vivak Obero. Follows three people whose paths cross during a terrible time of war: Olga, a Russian aristocratic emigrant and member of the French Resistance; Jules, a French collaborator; and Helmut, a high-ranking German SS officer.
BRIMSTONE Directed by Martin Koolhoven Starring: Kit Harrington. Dakota Fanning. Carie van Houten. From the moment the new Reverend climbs the pulpit, Liz knows and sees that his family is in danger.
ON THE MILKY ROAD Directed by Emir Kusturica Starring: Monica Belluccci. Emir Kusturica. Sergei Trifunovic. A story that stretches across war, blossoming love and living as a recluse.
EL CRISTO CIEGO Directed by Christopher Murray Starring: Michael Silva. Rafael is an inhabitant of a remote village in the Chilean desert. But not any inhabitant. He is Christ.
QUESTI GIORNI Directed by Giuseppe Piccioni Starring: Laura Adriani. Margherita Buy. Giulio. A countryside town between old walls, on nocturnal jaunts along the shore, in the enchantment of a brief trespassing in nature, we experience the likes and expectations of four girls.
THE BEAUTIFUL DAYS OF ARAJUEZ (3D) Directed by Wim Wenders Starring: Sophie Semin. Reda Kateb. A beautiful summer day. A garden. A terrace. A woman and a man sit at a table beneath the trees. A conversation unfolds about sexual experiences, childhood memories, the essence of summer.
24
www.moviesbymills.com
Out of Competition PLANETARIUM Directed by Rebecca Zlotowski Starring: Natalie Portmam. Lily-Rose Depp. Follows the journey of sisters who are believed to possess the supernatural ability to connect with ghosts.
HACKSAW BRIDGE Directed by Mel Gibson Starring: Andrew Garfield. WW1 American Army Medic, Desmond Doss, refused to kill people and becomes the first conscientious objector in American history to be awarded the Medal of Honor.
HEAL THE LIVING Directed by Katelli Quillevere. Starring: Emmanuelle Seigner. Alice Taglioni. Tahar Rahim. Three teenagers who are surfing at daybreak. Several hours later, as they are on their way home, they have an accident.
Cinema Nel Giardino INSEPARABLES
Directed by Marcos Carnevale Starring: Oscar Martinez. Rodrigo De la Serna. A remake of Untouchable.
IN DUBIOUS BATTLE Directed by James Franco Starring: James Franco. Selena Gomez. An activist gets caught up in the labour movement for farm workers in California during the 1930s.
Closing Film THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN Directed by Antoine Fuqua Starring: Denzil Washington Chris Pratt. Ethan Hawke. A remake of The Magnificent Seven, which in turn was a remake of Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai.
www.moviesbymills.com
25
TORONTO SEPTEMBER 8 – 18
Opening Film THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
Galas ARRIVAL PLANATARIUM SNOWDEN Directed by Oliver Stone Starring: Joseph Gordon Levitt. Scott Eastwood. Shailene Woodley. Nicolas Cage. The inside story of the world’s most wanted man.
THEIR FINEST Directed by Lone Scherfig Starring: Gemma Arterton. Sam Claflin. Bill Nighy. A British film crew attempts to boost morale during World War 2 by making a propaganda film after the Blitzkrieg.
Special Presentations ALL I SEE IS YOU Directed by Marc Foster Starring: Blake Lively. Yvonne Strahovski. Jason Clarke. A blind woman’s relationship with her husband changes when she regains her sight.
BLEED FOR THIS Directed by Ben Younger Starring: Miles Teller. Katey Sagal. Aaron Ekhart. The inspirational story of World Champion boxer Vinny Pazienza who, after a near fatal car crash, which left him not knowing if he’d ever walk again, made one of sport’s most incredible comebacks.
THE COMMUNE Directed by Thomas Vinterberg Starring: Fares Fares. Ulrich Thomson. Tryne Dyrholm. A story about the clash between personal desires vs. solidarity and tolerance in a Danish commune in the 70s.
THE WOMAN IN THE SILVER PLATE Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa Starring: Tahar Rahim. Constance Rousseau. Olivier Goumet. When an assistant to a daguerreotype photographer falls in love with the latter’s daughter, the relationship mirrors the art form as love and pain combine. 26
www.moviesbymills.com
MANCHESTER BY THE SEA Directed by Kenneth Lonergan Starring: Casey Affleck. Kyle Chandler. Michelle Williams. An uncle is forced to take care of his nephew after the boy’s father dies.
MAUDIE Directed by Aisling Walsh Starring: Ethan Hawke. Sally Hawkins. An arthritic Nova Scotia woman works as a housekeeper while she hones her skills as an artist and eventually becomes a beloved figure in the community.
PARIS CAN WAIT Directed by Eleanor Coppola Starring: Diane Lane. Alec Baldwin. Arnaud Viard. Anne is at the crossroads in her life. Long married to a successful, driven but inattentive movie producer. She unexpectedly finds herself taking a car trip from Cannes to Paris with a business associate of her husband.
PATERSON Directed by Jim Jarmusch Starring: Adam Driver. Golshifteh Farahani. Set in Paterson, New Jersey. A tale about a bus driver and poet.
TONI ERDMANN Directed by Maren Ade Starring: Peter Simonischek. Sandra Hiller. A father tries to reconnect with his adult daughter.
UNA Directed by Benedict Andrews Starring: Riz Ahmed. Ben Mendelsohn. Rooney Mara. When a young woman unexpectedly arrives at an older man’s workplace, looking for answers, the secrets of the past threaten to unravel his new life.
IT’S ONLY THE END OF THE WORLD Directed by Xavier Dolan Starring: Natalie Baye. Vincent Cassel. Marion Cotillard. Louis, a terminally ill writer, returns home after a long absence to tell his family that he is dying.
THE BIRTH OF A NATION Directed by Nate Parker Starring: Nate Turner. Arnie Hammer. Set against the antebellum South, The Birth of a Nation follows Nate Turner (Nate Parker) a literate slave and preacher, whose financially strained owner, Samuel Turner (Arnie Hammer), accepts an offer to use Nate’s preaching to subdue unruly slaves. As he witnesses countless atrocities against himself and his fellow slaves, Nate orchestrates an uprising in the hopes of leading his people to freedom.
Closing Film THE EDGE OF SEVENTEEN
Directed by Kelly Fremon Craig Starring: Hailee Steinfeld. Haley Lu Richardson. Woody Harrelson. High-school life gets even more unbearable for Nadine when her best friend, Krista, starts dating her older brother.
www.moviesbymills.com
27
EXTRAS DVDS/BLU-RAYS MbM's Recommendation.
SING STREET Directed by John Carney. Starring: Ferdia Walsh-Peelo. Lucy Boynton. Mark McKenna. Maria Doyle Kennedy. Aidan Gillen. Jack Reynor. Kelly Thornton. The film takes us back to 80s Dublin, where an economic recession forces Conor out of a comfortable private school and into survival mode at the inner-city public school. He finds hope in the mysterious and cool Raphina, and with the aim of winning her heart, invites her to star in his band’s music videos – without actually having a band! After renaming himself “Cosmo”, Conor forms a band with a few lads and they dedicate their time into writing lyrics and shooting videos.
Another triumphant feel-good film by director Carney, following Begin Again and Once.
EXTRAS *”Go Now” by Adam Levine. *The Making of “Go Now”. *”A Beautiful Sea” - Live Performance by Ferdia Walsh-Peelo and Mark McKenna at the Sundance Film Festival.
28
www.moviesbymills.com
EXTRAS DVDS/BLU-RAYS MbM's Recommendation.
KNIGHT OF CUPS Directed by Terrence Malick. Starring: Christian Bale. Cate Blanchett. Natalie Portman. Brian Dennehy. Antonio Banderas. Freida Pinto. Once there was a young prince whose father, the king of the East, sent him down into Egypt to find a pearl. But when the prince arrived the people poured a cup. Drinking it, he forgot he was the son of a king, forgot about the pearl and fell into a deep sleep. Rick is a screenwriter living in Los Angeles, while successful in his career, his life feels empty. Haunted and confused, he finds temporary solace in the decadent Hollywood excess that defines his existence. Women provide a distraction to his daily pain, and every encounter brings him closer to finding his place in the world.
From Terrence Malick, the visionary director of Badlands, Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line, The New World, The Tree of Life, To The Wonder, comes a stunning meditation on love, fate and fame.
EXTRAS *FEATURETTE *PRESS CONFERENCE BERLIN FILM FESTIVAL 2015 *RED CARPET INTERVIEWS
www.moviesbymills.com
29
30
www.moviesbymills.com
www.moviesbymills.com
31
Movies by Mills is an independent production for the promotion of Art House Movies around the world.
For more information about Movies by Mills please contact us. Also if you have any information about Art House Movies or you would like to advertise with us. Please use the email address below. You could of course Tweet: or Facebook: bajmills@facebook.com info@movies-by-mills.co.uk www.moviesbymills.com