Earlier today the South by Southwest film announced their lineup of films that will feature during the festival’s March 9–17 run. Please follow this link to the 2012 Program Page for more details.
Like I did with Sundance, I have reviewed the films and marked off the ones that piqued my interest; because this list is pretty exhaustive, I decided to highlight the narrative and documentary feature competitive categories. For the other categories (not in competition), I simply listed which films looked interesting to me. Please refer to the website for descriptions, etc.
CATEGORY: NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION
Gimme the Loot, directed by Adam Leon (also screenplay)
SYNOPSIS
Malcolm and Sofia, two determined teens from the Bronx, are the ultimate graffiti-writers. When a rival gang buffs their latest masterpiece, they must hatch a plan to get revenge by tagging an iconic NYC landmark, but they need to raise $500 to pull off their spectacular scheme. Over the course of two whirlwind, sun-soaked summer days, Malcolm and Sofia travel on an epic urban adventure involving black market spray cans, illicit bodegas, stolen sneakers, a high stakes heist, and a beautiful, stoned girl whose necklace is literally their key to becoming the biggest writers in the City.
Starlet, directed by Sean Baker (also co-wrote)
SYNOPSIS
STARLET explores the unlikely friendship between 21 year-old Jane (Dree Hemingway), and 85 year-old Sadie (Besedka Johnson), two women whose worlds collide in California’s San Fernando Valley. Jane spends her time getting high with her dysfunctional roommates, Melissa and Mikey, while taking care of her Chihuahua, Starlet. Sadie, an elderly widow, passes her days alone, tending to her flower garden.
CATEGORY: DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION
The Source, directed by Jodi Wille & Maria Demopoulos
SYNOPSIS
It’s 1971 and communes and new religions are on the rise. The Source Family are an “Aquarian tribe,” a secretive but outlandish group of 140 beautiful young people who stroll Los Angeles in colorful robes, devotees of “Father Yod,” a controversial restaurateur-turned-spiritual leader with fourteen wives and his own psychedelic rock band.
The Family lives in a mansion and operates a popular restaurant on the Sunset Strip, serving vegetarian cuisine to musicians and movie stars, pioneering a national trend. But their radical lifestyle instigates the authorities. Their demise is dramatic and painful, but Yod’s spirit lives on.
Welcome to the Machine, directed by Avi Zev Weider
SYNOPSIS
Upon becoming the father to triplets, filmmaker Avi Zev Weider explores the nature of technology. Woven together with expert interviews and portraits of people who have intimate relationships with technology, WELCOME TO THE MACHINE reveals that all discussions about technology are ultimately about what it means to be human.
CATEGORIES: HEADLINERS/NARRATIVE SPOTLIGHT/DOCUMENTARY SPOTLIGHT
(HEADLINERS) Big names, big talent: Headliners bring star power to SXSW, featuring red carpet premieres and gala film events with some major and rising names in cinema. (NARRATIVE) High profile narrative features receiving their World, North American or U.S. Premieres at SXSW. (DOCUMENTARY) Shining a light on new documentary features receiving their World, North American or U.S. Premieres at SXSW.
- Hunky Dory (Narrative)
- $ELLEBRITY (Documentary)
- The Announcement (Documentary)
- Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines (Documentary)
CATEGORY: EMERGING VISIONS
Audacious, risk-taking artists in the new cinema landscape that demonstrate raw innovation and creativity in documentary and narrative filmmaking.
- Black Pond
- Eating Alabama
- The Last Fall
CATEGORY: 24 BEATS PER SECOND
Showcasing the sounds, culture and influence of music and musicians, with an emphasis on documentary.
- Charles Bradley: Soul of America
- Sunset Strip
CATEGORY: SX GLOBAL
A diverse panorama of international filmmaking talent, including premieres, interactive documentaries and shorts.
- Italy, Love it, or Leave it
CATEGORY: FESTIVAL FAVORITES
Acclaimed standouts and selected previous premieres from festivals around the world.
- The Comedy
As someone who loves cinema, it is always a fun task to take a look at what is going on at the leading edge of the film industry. Last year, this is where Attack the Block generated a great deal of buzz.
So what do you think? Are you interested in any of the films? Do you plan on going to SXSW?
Turn Me On G***ammit! first caught my attention when I was watching an interview with the film’s director, Jannicke Systad Jacobsen on France 24. The Norwegian import had its world premier at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival and went on to win the award for Best Screenplay.
SYNOPSIS
Alma is a small-town teen with a big imagination. Horny and looking for love, she has only her lively imagination and a kindly phone sex operator to ameliorate her frustratingly lonely and chaste life. But Alma’s active fantasy world and even more active libido only seem to get her into trouble. After a titillating yet awkward encounter with school heartthrob Artur promises to literally make Alma’s dreams come true, she is instead shunned by her catty classmates and saddled with a particularly unkind nickname. Suddenly a social outcast, Alma is desperate to just move out of town and on with her life… if only growing up were ever that simple.
You can catch the trailer here (Word of warning: the film contains mature content).
Turn Me On … will hit US cinemas in limited release starting March 30th. I plan on attending a sneak peek of the film later this month and will have something posted by then.
Little Voice is based on the stage play The Rise and Fall of Little Voice by Jim Cartwright, written and directed by Mark Herman.
It stars Jane Horrocks, Michael Caine, Brenda Blethyn, Jim Broadbent and Ewan McGregor. What amazed me about this film all those years ago was that I principally knew of Horrock’s work as the ditzy-headed Bubble in the classic Absolutely Fabulous. As a consequence I did not know she could sing, much less mimic classic lounge singers the way she did in this film. It was quite impressive.
Laura (Horrocks), known as Little Voice (LV for short) is a shy, retiring young woman who lives with her mom, Mari (Blethyn), but primarily keeps to her room, listening to records of singers of yesteryear – including Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland and Marlene Dietrich. There is a sentimental attachment to the music as the records she plays are those of her beloved late father. In stark contrast, Mari treats her daughter with great indifference; most of her energies are focused on more amorous pursuits. In fact it is one of her recent conquests, Ray (Caine) who at once hears her magnificent voice and decides at once to exploit her talents for commercial gain. We then see her career’s fortunes rise and fall (as per the play’s original title). But do not be alarmed, it is a tender, sweet and ultimately triumphant story.
For those of you who do not mind a spoiler-ish scene from the film, there is a clip from the film that shows her full range on display available on YouTube.
According to ‘The WIKIPEDIA” the following songs were performed by Horrocks herself:
I think my personal favorite scene is early on when Ray discovers that LV has pipes:
Ahhh … FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD
FACT: I love to cook (and bake). So I often look forward to watching how the actors in films throw down. As you can imagine, it is not the most authentic portrayal of the culinary arts in actions. But the results are (of course) something to marvel at.
That got me thinking further about food and their representation in motion pictures. Thanks to some intrepid research on the Chowhound website, I was able to compile a list of pretty yummy offerings. You may also want to check out this article on the Gastronomica website; it has a wonderful comprehensive list.
Among of my favorite films:
On my must see list:
Honorable mentions: Waitress, Soul Food
Guilty Pleasure: No Reservations
While I have not seen Mostly Martha, I have seen the English language/ U.S. version No Reservations starring Catherine Zeta Jones and Aaron Eckhart. I watch this on repeat viewings for two wonderful reasons: 1) great NYC shots and 2) Aaron Eckhart.
(Dis)honorable Mention: Eat Pray Love.
Not the best film that I have seen in recent memory, but this is about the best pizza I have seen; brought me right back to Italy!
What are some of your favorite films featuring food and cooking?
Another week is upon us so I decided to take a look back at the week that was (notice not too many Oscar mentions – I think we have all had out fill of that).
Like I did last Monday, here are a collection of articles and other bits that I have seen around the web that I thought some of my readers might be interested in.
The list is too long to put together is a single post so I respectfully defer to the Sundance Press Office for the full list of award winners of the festival.
Liam Neeson’s latest action-adventure outing, The Grey, topped the box office this weekend with an estimated $20 million in receipts.
Liam Neeson is a great sport:
In his review of One for the Money, Ramin Setoodeh of Newsweek Magazine asks who are Katherine Heigl’s fans?
Very entertaining panel this year; but a little off on its prediction (3/6 to be exact) of who would be in contention for the original Golden Boy of Hollywood.
For those who care, Terminator 5 will be rated-R.
After the winning Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, Edgar Wright and Co. are teasing fans with a Twitter pic of the project they are working on.
Check out the gallery of mums-to-be for the upcoming film What to Expect When You are Expecting.
Have a great week everyone!
Open Road Films has released a new trailer for LOCKOUT, a sci-fi action thriller from the producers of TAKEN, starring Guy Pearce and Maggie Grace.
SYNOPSISStarring Guy Pearce and Maggie Grace and set in the near future, LOCKOUT follows a falsely convicted ex- government agent (Pearce), whose one chance at obtaining freedom lies in the dangerous mission of rescuing the President’s daughter (Grace) from rioting convicts at an outer space maximum security prison.
LOCKOUT drops in cinemas April 20th.
For me I think this will either be a catchup weekend or I will catch a couple of flicks at my local art house cinema.
What will you be up to?
Rashida Jones first gained my notice in the 2004 Channel 4 (UK) series NY-LON, which aired here in the States on BBC America. Her co-star in the series was another unknown – Stephen Moyer, who would later find fame on the HBO hit series True Blood.
Since then, Jones, the scion of pop music impresario Quincy Jones and The Mod Squad‘s Peggy Lipton, she certainly has not relied on her Hollywood pedigree to pave her path to success. After completing her undergraduate studies at Harvard University, she started off small, including featured roles in shows such as Freaks and Geeks. For two years, she was a series regular on Boston Public. She even appeared in a couple of sketches of The Chappelle Show during its all too brief run.
A breakthrough came in 2006 when she played regular Karen Filippeli on the NBC sitcom The Office. This must have captured the attention of NBC execs and in 2009 led to a lead role in Parks and Recreation. In the same year, she played Paul Rudd’s intended in I Love You, Man. In 2010, she had a slightly more dramatic turn in the award-winning The Social Network. Last year’s film highlights include Our Idiot Brother and The Muppets.
Most recently (this week to be exact) she has been making waves at the Sundance Film Festival. Her film, Celeste and Jesse Forever, just got picked up for distribution and is being hailed as one of the breakouts of the festival. Not only is she starring in the film (with Andy Samberg), but she also co-wrote and is a producer on the project.
Rashida Jones, Andy Samberg in "Celeste and Jesse Forever"
She has definitely built a solid comedic career for herself. Here’s hoping that she has continued success including a career as a comedy writer. A lot will depend on the mass response to Celeste and Jesse. Goodness knows we need more witty people producing material for the masses.
UPDATE (2.03.2012): I stumbled upon a great article in American Jewish Life magazine, profiling Ms. Jones from 5 years ago. Enjoy!
Spotlight on Anthony Mackie
ANTHONY MACKIE
EDUCATION: New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, North Carolina School of the Arts, The Julliard School
A little more love never hurt anyone, right? I was debating whether to put the ‘spotlight’ on Mr. Mackie, as his career now seems to gaining a little more steam in recent years several years of treading the boards.
A star of stage and screen, the Julliard-trained Anthony Mackie‘s feature film début was in 2002 in the Eminem project 8 Mile, followed by a lead role in the 2003 independent film Brother to Brother; for the latter role he received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for ‘Best Debut Performance.’
ANTHONY MACKIE stars in MAN ON A LEDGE
He first caught my notice in Spike Lee’s She Hate Me (2004), in which he played a man who resorts to an unconventional means of generating income. According to his CV, also in 2004, Mackie had small roles in Jonathan Demme’s remake of The Manchurian Candidate, and Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby.
2005 saw only one film credit – the forgettable teaming of Samuel L Jackson and Eugene Levy in The Man.
The following year notable roles included appearances in We Are Marshall and the critically acclaimed Half-Nelson, co-starring Ryan Gosling.
Over the past 5 years, his roles have increased not only in frequency but also profile: Eagle Eye, best-picture of 2009 The Hurt Locker, Notorious [the biopic Notorious, playing rapper Tupac Shakur], The Adjustment Bureau (with Matt Damon and Emily Blunt), Real Steel (with Hugh Jackson) and the comedy What’s Your Number?.
I wanted to highlight one release during this period: in 2010, he starred in the drama set in the 1970′s Night Catches Us, which also stars Kerry Washington. But by briefly reading the synopsis, it looks kind of interesting.
This year, he already has one film in release (Man on a Ledge), one film in the can (the lead in Bolden!, based on the life of New Orleans cornetist and jazz musician Buddy Bolden), and two more on the horizon – Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and The Gangster Squad, co-starring Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Sean Penn and Josh Brolin.
Phew! In putting this list together, I see that it is quite impressive – Mr. Mackie sure has crafted a very diverse career for himself – and I have not even mentioned the stage work!
I guess the next step is a few more standout lead roles. If Bolden! or any of these 2012 releases prove very successful, that may very well be what puts him over the top.