CONTENTS Page 3 4-7
Editorial Blade Runner 2049 A young Blade Runner’s discovery of a long-buried secret leads him to track down former Blade Runner Rick Deckard, who’s been missing for thirty years.
8 - 11
The Glass Castle A young girl comes of age in a dysfunctional family of nonconformist nomads with a mother who’s an eccentric artist and an alcoholic father who would stir the children’s imagination with hope as a distraction to their poverty.
12 - 15
Harry Dean Stanton A tribute to this great actor.
16-19
Borg/McEnroe The story of the 1980s tennis rivalry between the placid Bjorn Borg and volatile John McEnroe.
20-23
The Snowman Detective Harry Hole investigates the disappearance of a woman whose pink scarf is found wrapped around an ominous-looking snowman.
24-25
Maya Dadel A famous writer claims on NPR that she intends to end her life and male writers may compete to become executor of her estate. Men drive up the mountain and are challenged intellectually and erotically until one discovers Maya’s end game.
26-31
Film Fest Follower – New York A look at some of the highlights in this year’s programme.
PHOTO CREDITS: Sony Pictures Releasing:1,4,6,7,32. Lionsgate:8,10,11. Netter Productions(Jake Giles Netter):8,10,11. Artificial Eye:16,18,19. Universal Pictures International:20,22,23. Orion Pictures:25. Palace Pictures:12,14. Eagle Films:14. Barber International:15.
ACKNOWLEDEMENTS: We would like to thank the following for providing images for this magazine: David Cummins @ Freuds.com Jake Garriock @ Curzon.com Keeley Naylor @ Emfoundation.com Leila Robertson @ Way To Blue.com
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EDITORIAL IN MEMORY OF HARRY DEAN STANTON 1926 – 2017 On a recent press screening of a film that looked at London during the sixties and the changes that specific decade had on our lives, it made me examine my own impressions and the films which influenced me then and in the 50s too. What was your favourite decade and why? Please let me know.
The creative buzz never stops which is the feeling I get once another week has passed and a Newsletter is reporting the news of what is happening in the film world. Our cover feature review is the sequel to Blade Runner – Blade Runner 2049, starring Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford. It opens in the UK on October 5 and was an obvious choice for MbM Magazine. Other reviews are The Glass Castle, starring Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson and Naomi Watts. The Snowman, an exciting thriller starring Michael Fassbender. The classic tennis movie Borg/McEnroe starring Shia LaBeouf and Sverrir Gudnason, re-creating the tension and excitement of the 1980 Wimbledon Tennis Championship Finals. A look at The Raindance Festival and Maya Dadel, which was screened at The Virgin Leisure Centre. And of course, FilmFest Follower which looks at New York and its impressive line-up. There is a tribute to the actor Harry Dean Stanton, who died at the age of 91. This issue of Movies by Mills is dedicated to Harry Dean Stanton and the cinematic legacy which he has left us with. R.O.P. Thank you to our readers who continue to support and share their love of our magazine with fellow-film friends.
Enjoy the read.
Brian Mills Magazine Editor
Paul Ridler Magazine Designer
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BLADE RUNNER 2049 Directed by Denis Villeneuve Starring: Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Ana de Armas, Robin Wright What do you want? - Rick Deckard I thought you might be able to help me with a case. - Officer K The once closely guarded secret about the timeframe of the sequel of Blade Runner can now be revealed: it takes place exactly 30 years after the original. Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) has been missing for three decades, but a new Blade Runner (Ryan Gosling) sets out on a mission to find him after discovering a dark secret that could bring an end to humanity. Gosling’s character is an LAPD officer named K, and his superior lieutenant is played by Robin Wright. Jared Leto plays the film’s primary villain, a replicant manufacturer named Niander Wallace, and the actor actually went blind for the role during production. The supporting cast includes Mackenzie Davis, David Bautista, and Ana de Armas. Blade Runner 2049 has a new director in Denis Villeneuve who was Oscar nominated for Best Director for Arrival earlier this year. The Blade Runner sequel has been Villeneuve’s toughest challenge yet: I feel the pressure every day. At the same time, I’ve never been that inspired and excited. I love risk…I think the movie we are doing, we will need to find our own identity and territory, and at the same time be faithful and linked to the first project. It’s that equilibrium we are trying to find. It seems that any anxiety that Villeneuve felt in following Ridley Scott as the director of the film can be laid at rest as the results are excellent. This is due to his intention on making sure Blade Runner 2049 will not be your typical blockbuster. He worked closely with DP Roger Deakins to create a tangible futuristic look that feels grounded. A majority of the sets were manmade and he relied on green screen as little as possible during production. The duo worked together on both Prisoners and Sicario and each time Deakins ended up with an Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography. Ridley Scott began planning a “Blade Runner” sequel years ago called Metropolis, which explored life in off-world colonies and focused on the fate of the Tyrell Corporation. The film never made it past development, but Scott began cracking the code on what would become Blade Runner 2049 as early as 2011. The film has an R rating for violence, some sexuality, nudity, and language. The sequel was always intended to be rated R, which gave Villeneuve the freedom he needed to create his brutal futuristic world. Hans Zimmer replaced Johann Johannsson as the film’s composer. Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch have created an original score for the movie. Johannsson had worked with Villeneuve before on Prisoners, Sicario (won 4
him an Oscar nomination for Best Score) and Arrival, so it was a surprise to know he is not scoring the Blade Runner 2049. Also on board is Hampton Fancher, who co-wrote the original Blade Runner with David Peoples and has returned to script the sequel with Michael Green who co-wrote with Scott on Alien: Covenant. Blade Runner 2049 has almost equalled Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar as a longer film, clocking in at 163 minutes, which includes 11 minutes’ worth of credits, Interstellar ran at 169 minutes. RYAN GOSLING: Career highlights. The titular 2049 Blade Runner continues to attract mainstream parts enhancing his envious actors’ filmography. THE BELIEVER as Danny Baliant. A young Jewish man develops a fiercely anti-Semitic philosophy based on the factual story of a K.K.K member in the 1960s who was revealed to be Jewish by a New York Times reporter. THE UNITED STATES OF LELAND as Leland R. Fitzgerald. A young man’s experience in a Juvenile Detention Centre that touches on the tumultuous changes that befall his family and the community in which he lives. THE NOTEBOOK as Noah. A poor yet passionate young man falls in love with a rich young woman, giving her a sense of freedom, but they are soon separated because of their social differences. BLUE VALENTINE as Dean. The relationship of a contemporary married couple, charting their evolution over a span of years by cross-cutting between time periods. DRIVE as Driver. A mysterious Hollywood stuntman and mechanic, moonlights as a getaway driver and finds himself in trouble when helping a neighbour. CRAZY, STUPID LOVE as Jacob. A middle-aged husband’s life changes dramatically when his wife asks him for a divorce. He seeks to rediscover his manhood with the help of a newfound friend. THE IDES OF MARCH as Stephen Meyers. An idealistic staffer for a new presidential candidate gets a crash course on dirty politics during his stint on the campaign trail. THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES as Luke. A motorcycle stunt rider turns to robbing banks as a way to provide for his lover and their new-born child, a decision that puts him on a collision course with an ambitious rookie cop navigating a department ruled by a corrupt detective. THE BIG SHORT as Jared Vennett. Four denizens in the world of high-finance predict the credit and housing bubble collapse of the mid-2000s, and decide to take on the big banks for their greed and lack of foresight. LA LA LAND as Sebastian. While waiting for their big breaks, two proper L.A. dreamers, a suavely -charming, soft-spoken jazz pianist and a brilliant, vivacious playwright, attempt to reconcile aspirations and relationship in a magical old-school romance. SONG TO SONG as BV Two intersecting love triangles, obsession and betrayal set against the music scene in Austin, Texas. BLADÉ RUNNER 2049 as Officer K. A young blade runner’s discovery of a long-buried secret leads him to track down former blade runner, Rick Deckard, who’s been missing for thirty years. FIRST MAN as Neil Armstrong. A look at the life of the astronaut Neil Armstrong and the legendary space mission that led him to become the first man to walk on the moon on July 20, 1969. 5
Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) and Officer K (Ryan Gosling) in Blade Runner 2049.
Officer K (Ryan Gosling) and Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) in Blade Runner 2049. 6
Officer K (Ryan Gosling) and Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) in Blade Runner 2049.
Officer K (Ryan Gosling) in Blade Runner 2049. 7
THE GLASS CASTLE Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton Starring: Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson, Naomi Watts, Ella Anderson. You were born to change the world, not just add to the noise. You cannot marry that fool! You are better than him and you’re better than that damn gossip column. You’re a real writer. - Rex A young girl comes of age in a dysfunctional family of nonconformist nomads with a mother who’s an eccentric artist and an alcoholic father who would stir the children’s imagination with hope as a distraction to their poverty. The central core of the film is the glass castle which Rex hopes to build. Director Destin Daniel Cretton delves deeply into the story of Jeannette Walls’ 2005 New York Times best seller which has sold over 4.5 million copies. It is a coming-of-age story which revolves around a two-parent household whereby the children seem to be the only sane ones around. The film moves to and from between the family with young children and Jeanette’s adulthood whereby she has become a professional journalist living in New York. The family are accustomed to moving around from town to town to escape debt collectors. They settle in Welch, West Virginia, trusting that it will be their final destination. Rex seems oblivious to the effect that his alcoholism has on him keeping a job and it isn’t helped by his wife’s irresponsible behaviour. The children can’t seem to entice their mother to leave their father. They band together to support one another with the goal of each of them leaving home gradually in order to salvage their dignity as well as their sanity and their relationships with one another. Woody Harrelson plays Rex, the irrefutable drunk who stole from his children and traumatized his family with his nomadic behaviour. Naomi Watts is the mother who accepted her fate and rode with the hardships along the way. Brie Larson as the older Jeanette is the formidable anchor of the seemingly sinking ship. This is the second time that Brie Larson and Woody Harrelson have teamed (Rampart) and the chemistry shows. What was the attraction this time to play these characters? I read the book and continued to be amazed by her honesty. The person Jeannette is, is so strong and funny and insightful and full of forgiveness. She’s incredibly resilient and that’s a quality I really admire about her. She is completely herself and is not trying to be anybody else other than that person she is, who is magnetic. It’s a tough childhood that she grew up in, but ultimately, she only has love 8
and forgiveness and has gone on. Brie Larson
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I do find Rex is a fascinating guy. I mean he’s a flawed character but that’s what makes him interesting. He loved his kids which is something I can really relate to. Sometimes he was great in expressing that love and at other times he had a few issues. I did talk to Jeannette. I got to see some stuff on Rex on video. There’s some that he wrote. I really felt I had a beat on him fairly quickly because there are a lot of similarities between us. - Woody Harrelson There are some wonderful confrontational vignettes in the movie between Rex and Jeannette.
WOODY HARRELSON MAJOR FILMS: INDECENT PROPOSAL as David Murphy. NATURAL BORN KILLERS as Mickey Knox. THE PEOPLE VS LARRY FLYNT as Larry Flynt. THE THIN RED LINE as Sgt. Keck. ANGER MANAGEMENT as Galaxia/Guard Gary. A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION as Dusty. A SCANNER DARKLY as Ernie Luckman. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN as Carson Wells. THE MESSENGER as Captain Tony Stone. RAMPART as David Douglas Brown. THE HUNGER GAMES as Haymitch Abernathy. SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS as Charlie. LBJ as Lyndon B. Johnson. WILSON as Wilson.
THE GLASS CASTLE as Rex. THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI as Sheriff Bill Willoughby.
At times, The Glass Castle may be difficult to take because it hits on some home truths and Brie Larson nails the message beautifully. I think the film is about the power of reflection and how we can misunderstand things, lose each other along the way, but ultimately forgiveness can bring us back.
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Rex (Woody Harrelson) Rose Mary (Naomi Watts) Young Jeannette (Ella Anderson) Young Lori (Sadie Sink) Young Brian (Charlie Shotwell) Young Maureen (Eden Grace Redfield) in The Glass Castle.
Rose Mary (Naomi Watts) Rex (Woody Harrelson) Young Lori (Sadie Sink) Young Brian (Charlie Shotwell) Young Maureen (Eden Grace 10
Rex (Woody Harrelson) Rose Mary (Naomi Watts) Youngest Jeannette (Chandler Head) Youngest Brian (Ian Armitage) Youngest Lori (Olivia Kate Rice) in The Glass Castle.
Youngest Jeannette (Chandler Head) and Rose Mary in The Glass Castle. 11
HARRY DEAN STANTON 1926-2017 I’ve been rather like a cat. I’m finicky and I’ve done a lot of things, and made career choices, missed meetings and so forth that would have made me a much bigger actor, I think. But, by the same token, that would have demanded more of my time, too. My first silver screen meeting with Harry Dean Stanton was Francis Ford Coppola’s One From The Heart in which he played Moe, Hank’s best friend. But I really came to understand him through Sophie Huber’s brilliant documentary Harry Dean Stanton – Partially Fiction which I saw at the Edinburgh Film Festival in 2013. It was about the iconic actor in his intimate moments, with clips from some of his 250 films and his own heartbreaking renditions of American folk songs. The film explored the actor’s enigmatic outlook on his life, his unexploited talents as a musician, and includes scenes with David Lynch, Wim Wenders, Sam Shepard, Kris Kristofferson and Debbie Harry. A latent sadness was apparent in his films and evident in Cool Hand Luke, as Tramp, when he sings the Christian hymn Just A Closer Walk With Thee. Stanton had been in over 100 films before Wim Wenders asked him to play the leading role of Travis Henderson in Paris, Texas. He wore the character’s skin like a topcoat before he walked out and walked and walked wearing Travis’s memory in his shoes. He thought if she never got jealous of him that she didn’t really care about him. Jealousy was a sign of her love for him, and then one night she told him that she was pregnant, she was about three or four months gone and he didn’t even know and then suddenly everything changed, he stopped drinking, he got a steady job, he was convinced that she loved him now that she was carrying his child and he was going to dedicate himself to making a home for her. But a funny thing started to happen, he didn’t even notice at first, she started to change. From the day the baby was born, she began to get irritated with everything around her. She got mad at everything. Even the baby seemed to be an injustice to her. He kept trying to make everything all right for her. Buy her things. Take her out to dinner once a week. But nothing seemed to satisfy her. For two years he struggled to pull them back together like they were when they first met, but finally he knew that it was never going to work out. So, he hit the bottle again. But this time it got… mean. This time, when he came home late at night, she wasn’t worried about him, or jealous, she was just enraged. She accused him of holding her captive by making her have a baby. She told him that she dreamed about escaping. That was all she dreamed about: escape. She herself at night running naked down a highway, running across fields, running down riverbeds, always running. Now, here is Travis walking across the desert not remembering who he is or where he is from, yet searching for his lost love. Jane (Nastassia Kinski). If I never did another movie after Paris, Texas, I’d be happy. If Harry sauntered into your dreams one would hope it would be with a guitar and a song because he had a rare quality of a poet, and this was 12
emotionally evident in his interview with Sophie Huber, when he picks up a guitar and sings his answers. Prior to his acting career, he had sung on the streets and toured the country in choral groups. Music and singing never left him. During the 60s he shared a house with Jack Nicholson and would hang out with rock stars, Mama Cass Elliott of the Mamas & Papas and became close friends with Kris Kristofferson, and even recorded a Mexican song with Bob Dylan. There was a time too when Stanton appeared onstage on Monday nights at a club in Los Angeles, singing Irish and country songs with a Mexican lilt. His acting was always there, big and small parts. Anyone could be an actor if they could just be true to themselves. Let us finger-walk through some of the films which followed on from Paris, Texas. PRETTY IN PINK as Jack. A poor girl must choose between the affections of her doting childhood sweetheart and a rich but sensitive playboy. MR NORTH as Henry Simmons. A stranger to a wealthy Rhode Island town, quickly has rumours about him that he has the power to heal people’s ailments. THE LAST TGEMPTATION OF CHRIST as Saul/Paul The life of Jesus Christ, his journey through life as he faces the struggles all humans do, and his final temptation on the cross. WILD AT HEART as Johnnie Farragut. Young lovers Sailor and Luca run from the variety of weirdos that Luca’s mom has hired to kill Sailor. FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS as Judge. An oddball journalist and his psychopathic lawyer travel to Ls Vegas for a series of psychedelic escapades. THE PLEDGE as Floyd Cage. A retiring police chief pledges to catch the killer of a young child. INLAND EMPIRE as Freddie Howard. As an actress starts to adopt the persona of her character in a film, her world starts to become nightmarish and surreal. THE GOOD LIFE as Gus. A young man is encouraged by a new friend to cope with living in a new town where he doesn’t necessarily fit in. THIS MUST BE THE PLACE as Robert Plath Cheyenne, a retired rock star living off his royalties in Dublin, returns to New York City to find the man responsible for a humiliation suffered of his recently deceased father during World War 2. SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS as Man in Hat. A struggling screenwriter inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his oddball friends kidnap a gangster’s beloved Shih Tzu. LUCKY as Lucky. A touching portrait of a 90-year-old loner staring down at mortality. *FRANK and AVA as Sheriff Lloyd. Frank and Ava joins the wild ride of the tempestuous relationship between icons, Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner showing their multi-year love affair and subsequent marriage.
*Harry Dean Stanton’s last film.
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Travis Henderson (Harry Dean Stanton) and Jane Henderson (Nastassia Kinski) in Paris, Texas)
Floyd Cage (Harry Dean Stanton) and Jerry Black (Jack Nicholson) in The Pledge. 14
Brain (Harry Dean Stanton) in Escape From New York.
Mr Ekhart (Harry Dean Stanton) in Red Dawn. 15
BORG/McENROE Directed by Janus Metz Starring: Stellan Skarsgard, Shia LaBeouf, Sverrir Gudnason. It’s no accident, I think, that tennis uses the language of life; advantage, service, fault, break, love. The basic elements of tennis are those of everyday existence, because every match is a life in miniature. - Andre Agassi Andre Agassi’s (former Wimbledon Tennis Champion) quote precedes the film about the 1980 Wimbledon Championship’s Final between four-times champion, Bjorn Borg, versus John McEnroe, trying to win his first Wimbledon and in so-doing stop Borg from winning his fifth consecutive Wimbledon final. The media leapt over the internet to hype up the meeting between the ‘ice-cold’ Borg and the ‘superbrat’ McEnroe. The iconic war was augmented by the media, as in reality it did not exist. The public bought into the story and gleaned what they wanted to believe and following their favourite which was Borg. McEnroe was a great player but he badmouthed everyone including the press – no one liked him. The only one who told him the truth about himself was his doubles-partner Peter Fleming (Scott Arthur). Casting Shia LaBeouf. Shia LaBeouf was always my perfect choice for John McEnroe. I think the similarities between Shia and his life and John McEnroe and his life, are striking and as a director you have an opportunity to work with talent who are so close to who they are about to portray. You have a real chance of creating something magical, maybe something that transcends acting. - Janus Metz. The film is not just about the match or the matches leading up to the ultimate clash, it is more about the inner matches that have been playing within these two men and their upbringing, their emotions, their vulnerability, their reasons for wanting to be the best tennis player in the world. Superficially they are complete opposites but inwardly they are the same. One shows his temperament and his volatile, the other hides it and appears cool and calm. There is one shot of Borg showing him feeling his pulse, if you blink you will miss it, but it is vital to understand what it means: because he had trained himself to lower his pulse rate to always appear calm even under pressure. Of the many films which have been made about tennis, few are worth recalling, but two are: Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers On A Train, starring: Farley Granger, Robert Walker and Ruth Roman. The storyline, being a Hitchcock movie, is about suspense and murder. Guy Haines, one of the strangers on the train is a tennis player but that is about as much tennis that you will get. Woody Allen’s Match Point, starring Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Rhys Meyers, offers little more but does have a great premise using 16
tennis as an analogy and spoken by the protagonist Chris: There are moments in a match when the ball hits the top of the net and for a split second can either go forward or fall back. With a little luck, it goes forward and you win. Or maybe it doesn’t and you lose. Borg/McEnroe compared to these, would have won if it just showed up. It the best movie ever made about tennis and two greats. It emphasises in its publicity blurb the attraction of watching two men compete against each other as the competitors enter the arena. And now, the entire world is waiting for these two giants to enter, like two gladiators. Let us take a closer look at one of those ‘gladiators’. SHIA LaBEOUF. A filmography filled with rich and interesting characters: I, ROBOT as Farber. 2035. A technophobic homicide detective of the Chicago PD heads an investigation of the apparent suicide of a leading Robotics Scientist. CONSTANTINE as Chas Kramer. Supernatural detective John Constantine helps a policewoman prove her sister’s death was not suicide, but something more. THE GREATEST GAME EVER PLAYED as Francis Quinet. In the 1913 US Open, 20-year-old Francis Quinet played against his idol, 1900 US Open Champion, Englishman Harry Vardon. A GUIDE TO RECOGNIZING YOUR SAINTS as Young Dito. The movie is a coming-of-age drama about a boy growing up in Astoria, New York during the 1980s as his friends end up dead, on drugs, or in prison. He comes to believe he has been saved from their fates by various so-called saints.
BOBBY as Cooper. The story of the assassination of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy who was shot in the early morning hours of June 5, 1968 in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. And 22 people in the hotel whose lives were never the same. DISTURBIA as Kale. A teen living under house arrest becomes convinced his neighbour is a serial killer. TRANSFORMERS as Sam Witwicky. An ancient struggle between two Cybertronian races, the heroic Autoboots and the evil Decepticons, come to Earth with a clue to the ultimate power held by a teenager. INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL as Mott Williams. Famed archaeologist and adventurer, Dr Henry ‘Indiana’ Jones, Jr is called back into action, when he becomes entangled in a Soviet plot to uncover the secret behind mysterious artefacts known as the Crystal Skulls. NEW YORK STORIES as Jacob in the Shekhaa Kapur segment of the omnibus film. EAGLE EYE as Jerry Shaw. Jerry and Rachel are two strangers thrown together by a mysterious phone call from a woman they have never met. TRANSFORMERS; REVENGE OF THE FALLEN as Sam Witwicky. WALL STREET NEVER SLEEPS as Jake Moore. New out of prison but still disgraced by his peers, Gordon Gekko works his future son-in-law, an idealistic stock broker, when he sees an opportunity to take down a Wall Street enemy and rebuild his empire. 17
Lennart Bergelin (Stellan Skarsgaard) in Borg/McEnroe
John McEnroe (Shia LaBeouf) and Bjorn Borg (Sverrir Gudnason) in Borg/McEnroe 18
John McEnroe (Shia LaBeouf) in Borg/McEnroe.
Bjorn Borg (Sverrir Gudnason) in Borg/McEnroe. 19
THE SNOWMAN
Directed by Tomas Alfredson Starring: Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, Chloe Sevigny, J.K. Simmons, Val Kilmer. A woman vanished last night. We just found the body…..and the head. - Detective Harry Hole When an elite crime squad’s lead detective investigates the disappearance of a victim on the first snow of winter, he fears an elusive serial killer may be active again. With the help of a brilliant recruit, the cop must connect decades-old cold cases to the brutal new one if he hopes to outwit this unthinkable evil before the next snowfall. Expectations run high on this film because it is helmed by Tomas Alfredson who directed the vampirish Let No One In, which told of a bullied 12year-old boy, Oskar, who dreams of revenge. He falls in love with Eli, a peculiar girl. She can’t stand the sun or food and to come into a room, she has to be invited. Eli gives Oskar the strength to hit back, but when Oskar realizes that Eli must drink other people’s blood to live he’s faced with a choice, How much can love forgive? Vampires must be invited in by their victims. Can The Snowman’s storyline follow that? Well mystery is in the bloodstained snow and the story is based on a novel written by Norwegian crime writer Jo Nesbo. It is the seventh entry in his Harry Hole series. Martin Scorcese was originally attached to direct this movie. He remained on board as executive producer.
Michael Fassbender started shooting this movie only two days after wrapping on Assassin’s Creed. The Snowman and Downsizing were the first two international feature films shot in Norway to receive funding from the new state incentive programme to attract foreign film and TV productions. The two features spent together $24 million in Norway during the Norwegian location shoots. Apparently, Fassbender bought drinks for the whole crew after a long day of shooting. The next day, rigging electrician Karl Andre Bru walked up to the actor and said jokingly: ‘thanks for the hangover man!’ Rumour has it Fassbender cracked up and was unable to keep a straight face for the rest of the day.
In the eponymous book the police discuss several Swedish serial killers, among them Thomas Quick (a.k.a. Sture Bergwall. However, Quick/Bergwall was eventually acquitted of all the alleged murders. 20
Brother Sten-Owe Bergwall and lawyer Pelle Svennsson wrote books criticising the Swedish authorities handling the cases.
Author Jo Nesbo has a cameo role in the movie. This is the second collaboration between Tomas Alfredson, David Dencik and Toby Jones. The first was Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. That film originally had Michael Fassbender in the film as Ricki Tarr, but because of another project he had to turn it down. Co-stars Michael Fassbender and Charlotte Gainsbourg have both played extreme sex addicts for the directors they’re best associated with; Fassbender in Steve McQueen’s Shame and Gainsbourg in Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac Volumes 1 & 2. Val Kilmer and Michael Fassbender previously worked together in Terrence Mallick’s Song to Song. The film is not a remake of the 1982 short film of the same name. Rebecca Ferguson shot The Snowman before the press junket for Despite The Falling Snow. She references having just shot the film in one of the interviews where she is still growing out the fringe that she has in The Snowman.
MICHAEL FASSBENDER German born, his first major break came in 2007 in Angel as Esme. Tells of th the rise and fall of a young eccentric British writer, in the early 20 century. HUNGER as Bobby Sands. Irish Republican Bobby Sands leads the inmates of a Northern Irish prison in a hunger strike. JANE EYRE as Rochester. A mousy governess who softens the heart of her employer soon discovers he is hiding a terrible secret. SHAME as Brandon. A man’s carefully cultivated life is disrupted when his sister arrives for an indefinite stay. PROMETHEUS as David. Following clues to the origin of mankind, a team finds a structure on a distant moon, but they soon realize they are not alone. SLOW WEST as Silas Selleck. A young Scottish man travels across America on pursuit of the woman he loves, attracting the attention of an outlaw who is willing to serve as a guide. STEVE JOBS as Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs takes us behind the scenes of the digital revolution, to paint a portrait of the man at the epicentre. THE LIGHT BETWEEN THE OCEANS as Tom Sherbourne. A Lighthouse Keeper and his wife living off the coast of West Australia raise a baby from a drifting rowing boat.
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While making this film Michael Fassbender fell in love with his co-star Alicia Vikander and are in a relationship. 21
Harry Hole (Michael Fassbender) in The Snowman.
Arve Stop (J.K. Simmons) in The Snowman. 22
Harry Hole (Michael Fassbender) and Katrine Bratt (Rebecca Ferguson) in The Snowman.
Harry Hole (Michael Fassbender) in The Snowman. 23
MAYA DARDEL Directed by Zachary Cotler and Magdalena Zyzak Starring: Lena Olin, Rossana Arquette, Nathan Keyes. I want young but professional accomplished writers of poetry that are able to carry out a difficult task for me. - Maya Dardel A famous writer claims on NPR that she intends to end her life and make writers compete to become executor of her estate. Men drive up the mountain and are challenged intellectually and erotically, until one discovers Maya’s end game. I have to play this part, recalled Lena Olin, after her initial reading of the screenplay of the then titled A Critically Endangered Species. Maya is a poet of a certain age who feels her best work is behind her. In the opening sequence, she tells the NPR interviewer during a live radio conversation that she plans to commit suicide, but first needs to find an executor for her literary estate, who, in turn, will inherit her real estate – an isolated, undeveloped stake of land in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains outside San Francisco. Furthermore, only men need apply. The role of Maya appealed to Olin’s artistic instincts as Maya is a fiercely independent woman who has no children or heirs. Maya makes a practical decision to preserve her legacy by ending her life before her writing becomes stale. Sensibly predicting her future sales, she remarked that “Suicide jolts you into another category.” Lena Olin, is a Swedish actress known for her international breakout role in The Unbearable Lightness of Being, in which she played one-third of an erotic triangle. She made her screen debut in Ingmar Bergman’s Face to Face. Tackling a part of a character who is suicidal is tough both for the actress and the audience. Though the acting maybe superb, it is often not enough to save the film from being a feel bad movie, which it undoubtedly is. Death is not meant to be a crowd-pleaser but a film like Amour, starring Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva about the challenges that a husband faces when his wife has a stroke and how he wants to care for her was emotionally powerful, Maya Dardel is not because no matter how powerful Olin’s acting is, we cannot empathise with her reasons for wanting to end her life.
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Maya (Lena Olin) and Paul (Alexander Koch) in Maya Dardel.
Maya (Lena Olin) in Maya Dardel. 25
FILMFEST FOLLOWER NEW YORK Sep 28 – Oct 15 Opening Film Last Flag Flying Directed by Richard Linklater Starring: Bryan Cranston, Steve Carell, Laurence Fishburne 30 years after they served together in Vietnam, Larry ‘Doc’ Shepherd reunites with his old buddies, Sal Nercon and Rev Richard Mueller, to bury his son, a young marine killed in the Iraq War.
Closing Film Wonder Wheel Directed by Woody Allen Starring: Kate Winslet, Juno Temple, Debi Mazar,
Justin Timberlake. On Coney Island in the 1950s, a lifeguard tells the story of a middle-aged carousel operator and his beleaguer wife.
NOCTURAMA Directed by Bertrand Bonello Starring: Finnegan Oldfield, Vincent Rottiers Some young folks, tired of the society they’re living in, plan a bomb attack over Paris before they take shelter for a night in a shopping centre.
WHOSE STREETS Documentary Directed by Sabaah Folayan An unflinching look at how the killing of 18-year-old Mike Brown inspired a community to fight back and sparked a global movement.
BEACH RATS Directed by Eliza Hittman Starring: Harris Dickinson, Madeleine Weinstein. An aimless teenager on the outer edges of Brooklyn struggles to escape his bleak life and navigate questions of self- identity.
THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY Directed by Jane Campion Starring: Nicole Kidman, John Malkovich, Barbara Hershey An American girl inherits a fortune and falls into a misguided relationship with a gentleman confidence artist. 26
AN ANGEL AT MY TABLE Directed by Yu-I Kuo Starring: Huan-Ru Ke, Nova Lin No plot given
THE PIANO Directed by Jane Campion Starring: Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill A mute woman is sent with her young daughter and prized piano to New Zealand for an arranged marriage.
BRIGHT STAR Directed by Jane Campion Starring: Abie Cornish, Ben Wishaw London, 1818. A secret love affair begins between a struggling poet, John Keats, and the respectable girl next door, Fanny Brawne. By the time Fanny’s mother discovers their relationship, it is too late – the young lovers are swept away by powerful new emotions, riding a wave of romantic obsession that can only end in heartbreak.
IN THE CUT Directed by Jane Campion Starring: Meg Ryan, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Jason Leigh New York City writing professor, Frannie Avery, has an affair with a police detective who is investigating a murder in her neighbourhood of a woman.
DAUGHTER OF THE NILE Directed by Hsiao-Hsien Hou Starring: Lin Yang, Jack Kao, Shu-Fang Chen The eldest daughter of a broken and troubled family works to keep the family together and look after her younger siblings, who are slipping into a life of crime.
MADAME HYDE Directed by Serge Bozon Starring: Isabelle Huppert, Romain Duris Mrs Gequil is a teacher despised by her colleagues and students. On a stormy night, she is struck by lightning and faints. When she waits up, she feels different. Will she be able to keep the powerful and dangerous Mrs Hyde contained?
EL MAR LA MAR Directed by Joshua Bonneta Documentary The sun beats down mercilessly on all those who cross the Sonoran Desert between Mexico and the USA. Aside from the few people who live here, it is the poorest of undocumented immigrants that make the crossing.
27
THE SQUARE Directed by Reuben Ostlund Starring: Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss, Dominic West The Square is a poignant satirical drama reflecting our times – about the sense of community, moral courage and the affluent person’s need for egocentricity in an increasing uncertain world.
DO YOU KNOW WHO FIRED THE GUN? Directed by Travis Wilkerson Documentary About a murder mystery concerning the filmmaker’s family and set in Lower Alabama.
NO STONE UNTURNED Directed by Alex Gibney Documentary Alex Gibney re-opens the mysterious unsolved case revolving around the 1994 Loughin Island Massacre when six men were brutally murdered and a few wounded in a pub, while watching a World Cup football match.
WESTERN Directed by Valeska Grisebach Starring: Meinhard Neumann, Reinhard Wetrek A group of German construction workers start a tough job at a remote site in the Bulgarian countryside.
ZAMA Directed by Lucretia Martel Starring: Daniel Gomenez Cacho, Luca Duenas Don Diego de Zama, a Spanish officer of the Seventeenth Century, settled in Asuncion awaits his transfer to Buenos Aires.
SKIN SO SOFT Directed by Denis Cote Documentary Featuring: Jean-Francois Bouchard, Cedric Doyon. Gladiators of modern times, from the strong man to the top-class bodybuilder to the veteran who has become a trainer, they all share the dame definition and obsession with overcoming their limitations.
SPOOR Directed by Agnieszka Holland and Kasia Adamik Starring: Agniezka Mandat-Grabka, Wietor Zborowski Janina Duszejko, an elderly woman lives alone in the Klodzko Valley, when a series of mysterious crimes are committed.
BEFORE WE VANISH Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa Starring: Masami Nagasawa, Ryuhel Matsuda Three aliens travel to Earth in preparation for a mass invasion, taking possession of human bodies. 28
TONSLER PARK Directed by Kevin Jerome Everson Starring: Sally Barbour, Shaquita Morton Tonsler Park observes in black and white 16mm, the democratic process in action at Charlottesville, Virginia voting precincts on Election Day.
THE DAY AFTER Directed by Sang-Soo Hong Starring: Yunhee Cho, Ki Joabang The married Bongwan leaves home in the dark morning and sets off to work. The memories of the woman who he left weighs down on him.
WONDERSTRUCK Directed by Todd Haynes Starring: Oates Fegley, Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams The story of a young boy in the Midwest is told simultaneously with a tale about a young girl in New York from fifty years ago as they both seek some mysterious connection.
GOOD LUCK Directed by Ben Russell Documentary Filmed between a large-scale underground mine in post-war Serbia and an illegal mining collective in the tropical heart of Suriname.
BOOM FOR REAL Directed by Sara Driver Documentary Exploring the pre-fame years of the celebrated American artist JeanMichel Basquiat.
LADY BIRD Directed by Greta Gerwig Starring: Saoirse Ronan The adventures of a young woman living in Northern California for a year.
THE SACRIFICE Directed by Jaime Osorio Marquez Starring: Andres Castaneda, Valentina Gomez Marcos, a withdrawn park ranger, sees the fragile balance achieved in his isolation collapse with the arrival of biologists investigating strange bird deaths.
ROBERT MITCHUM TRIBUTE THE STORY OF G.I. JOE
(as Lieutenant Walker) Directed by William A. Wellman
During WW2, Pulitzer prize winner and war correspondent Ernie Pyle joins the army and writes about his comrades in his daily columns. 29
UNDERCURRENT
(as Michael Garoway) Directed by Vincente Minelli
Middle-aged bride Ann Hamilton soon begins to suspect that her charming husband is really a psychotic who plans to murder her.
PURSUED
(as Jeb Rand) Directed by Raoul Walsh
Brought up by a neighbouring family in the 1880s, an orphan grows up haunted by nightmares of a childhood trauma in which his own family was killed.
CROSSFIRE
(as Keeley) Directed by Edward Dmytryk A man is murdered, apparently by one of a group of soldiers just out of the army. But which one? And why?
OUT OF THE PAST
(as Jeff) Directed by Jacques Tournier
A private eye escapes his past to run a gas station in a small town, but his past catches up with him. Now he must return to the big-city world of danger, corruption, double crosses and duplicitous dames.
BLOOD ON THE MOON
(as Jim Garrey) Directed by Robert Wise
Unemployed cowhand Jim Garrey is hired by his dishonest friend Tate Riling as muscle in a dispute between homesteaders and cattleman John Lufton.
HIS KIND OF WOMAN
(as Dan Milner) Directed by John Farrow
A deported gangster’s plan to re-enter the USA involves skulduggery at a Mexican resort, and gambler Dan Milner is caught in the middle.
MACAO
(as Nick Cochran) Directed by Josef von Sternberg Nick Cochran, an American in exile in Macao, has a chance to restore his name by helping capture an international crime lord. Undercover, can he mislead the bad guys and still win the handsome singer/petty crook, Julie Benson?
THE LUSTY MEN
(as Jeff McCloud) Directed by Nicholas Ray
Retired rodeo champion, Jeff McCloud, agrees to mentor novice rodeo contestant Wes Merritt against the wishes of Merritt’s wife who fears the dangers of the sport.
ANGEL FACE
(as Frank Jessop) Directed by Otto Preminger
Ambulance driver Frank Jessop is ensnared in the schemes of the sensuous but dangerous Diane Tremayne.
RIVER OF NO RETURN
(as Matt Calder) Directed Otto Preminger
The titular river unites a farmer recently released from prison, his young son, and an ambitious saloon singer. In order to survive, each must be purged of anger, and each must learn to understand and care for others.
TRACK OF THE CAT
(as Curt Bridges) Directed by William A. Wellman
A family saga: in a stunning mountain valley ranch setting near Aspen, complex and dangerous dynamics play out against the backdrop of the first big snowstorm of winter. 30
THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER
(as Harry Powell) Directed by Charles Laughton
A religious fanatic marries a gullible widow whose young children are reluctant to tell him where their real daddy hid $10,000 he’d stolen in a robbery.
THUNDER ROAD
(as Lucas Doolin) Directed by Arthur Ripley
A veteran comes home from the Korean War to the mountains and takes over the family moonshining business. He has to battle big city gangsters who are trying to take over the business and the police who are trying to put him in prison.
THE WONDERFUL COUNTRY
(as Martin Brady) Directed by Robert Parish
Having fled to Mexico from the U.S. many years ago for killing his father’s murderer, Martin Brady travels to Texas to broker an arms deal for his Mexican boss.
HOME FROM THE HILL
(as Captain Wade Hunnicutt) Directed by Vincente Minelli
Dramatic story of the influential Hunnicutt family set in Texas during the late 1950s.
CAPE FEAR
(as Max Cady) Directed by J. Lee Thompson A lawyer’s family is stalked by a man he once helped put in jail.
EL DORADO
(as Sheriff J.P. Harrah) Directed by Howard Hawkes
Cole Thornton, a gunfighter for hire, joins forces with an old friend, Sheriff J.P. Harrah. Together with an old Indian fighter and a gambler, they help a rancher and his family fight a rival rancher who’s trying to steal their water.
THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE
(as Eddie ‘Fingers’ Coyle) Directed by Peter Yates
After his last crime has him looking at a long prison sentence for repeat offences, a low-level Boston gangster decides to snitch on his friends to avoid jail time.
THE YAKUSA
(as Harry Kilmer) Directed by Sidney Pollack
Harry Kilmer returns to Japan after several years in order to rescue his friend George’s kidnapped daughter and ends on the wrong side of The Yakusa, the notorious Japanese mafia.
FAREWELL MY LOVELY
(as Philip Marlowe) Directed by Dick Richards
Los Angeles private eye Philip Marlowe is hired by paroled convict Moose Malloy to find his girlfriend Velma, former seedy nightclub dancer.
DEAD MAN
(as John Dickinson) Directed by Jim Jarmusch
On the run after murdering a man, accountant William Blake encounters a strange North American man named Nobody who prepares him for his journey into the spiritual world. 31
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