Criterion released Unfaithfully Yours this week, so it is out, same release date as La Notti Bianche.
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Criterion released Unfaithfully Yours this week, so it is out, same release date as La Notti Bianche.
thanks
I can't believe he was so bland in L'Auberge Espagnole a couple of years ago (but he's been in a ton of films I haven't seen).
I saw him as Arsène Lupin earlier but he didn't quite fit the role. However, I just watched Tony Gatlif's Exils which started today in Toronto. He is excellent along with Lubna Azabal. The film is ravishing to look at and the sufi music makes you wanna get up and dance. Gatlif has made many "gypsy" films before (one with Duris called Gadjo Dilo); this one has him as a French Algerian going back to find his roots. I hope it comes to the U.S.
Fans of Zhang Yimou's Hero might not have been happy about the way it was handled by Miramax, but they would sympathize with the supporters of The Warrior (and there are certainly a few) because their film has been treated even more harshly by the same company. Miramax bought the film back in 2001 when it premiered on the world stage to much acclaim and sat on it for the next 4 years. But that wasn’t the only injustice The Warrior had to suffer through: in 2002, it became the British nominee for the foreign language Oscars but our academy disqualified it claiming that the film needed to be, well, in English! Some might say that’s the rule but the film the academy did accept from Britain (Eldra) was in Welsh. (This mess prompted a rule change but vagaries still exist.) Okay, enough with the backstory. The warrior is named Lafcadia (Irfan Khan), who's a servant of a tyrannical landlord in feudal India and goes about his job of raiding local villages, along with many other goons, without any remorse. However, one day, as Lafcadia is about to decapitate a young girl, he encounters an almost mystic vision of inner peace and decides to change his ways for good. Others don’t share his view, though -- the landlord sends in Lafcadia’s right-hand-man and good friend to seek revenge for disloyalty. Directed by Asif Kapadia, a Brit who came into the limelight with his student short The Sheep Thief which won an award at Cannes in 1998, The Warrior starts off with strong echoes of various Samurai films of the 50’s and 60’s, but the journey of Kapadia’s warrior (even after his only son is killed) doesn’t involve revenge. This simple and timeless story which is told rather matter-of-factly, yet with a Zen-like spirituality, eventually takes shape as the warrior makes his way from the harsh landscape of Rajasthan to western Himalayas. While Kapadia consistently keeps any violence offscreen, he fails to develop a strong enough motive for Lafcadia’s sudden change. Irfan Khan’s expressive eyes convey the anguish and the locales are expertly shot but more support was required from the narrative itself. So, it turns out that The Warrior has a little more in common with Hero.
Grade: B-
*The film was released by Miramax on July 15th in NY and LA.
So you've only just got The Warrior on release in the US, thats an unbelievable time lag, the one thing I treasure about the film is that once the change of heart has occured there is no turning back. You mentioned the brutal killing of his son and while I was watching the film for the first time I was wondering if it would turn into a typical "step to far" revenge drama but no, he has made his vow and he sticks with it, in a way this makes the death of his son even more powerful.
I'll have to watch it again to see whether I agree with your overall accessment, it's been a while.
Cheers Trev.
I agree. It was refreshing to see a man, a Samurai, not being influenced by surrounding events; almost a little like Twilight Samurai, even though he eventually had to go.
I'd love to hear your thoughts if you get a chance to see it again. Perhaps I judged it too harshly. I felt like I wanted to know a little more about this man who could change directions so suddenly. I still consider The Warrior an above average film which I hope people will get a chance to see, if not in theaters then certainly on DVD.
Duris has done a lot more than we've seen, I've now learned. I've seen the Gatlif films including Latjo Dilo. I didn't recognize it was the same guy in L'Auberge espagnole. He has a gypsy look in the eyes--in Auberge he comes accross as a conventional Frenchman. I don't know what his ethnic background is. I see now that he's worked a lot with both Gatlif and Klapsch who did Auberge. I've seen only those two, plus this one by Audiard. The French critics say this is Duris's best acting so far. Gadjo Dilo was shown here some years ago. His Latcho Drom was quite a hit in the Bay Area earlier. The Berkeley audience was adoring when I saw it. Gadjo Dilo didn't do quite as well. Mondo was also shown here in Landmark theaters. But Latcho Drom was by far the most successful. People bought the sound track. The cultural and musical trajectory it traces from India to Spain is fascinating.Quote:
Gatlif has made many "gypsy" films before (one with Duris called Gadjo Dilo); this one has him as a French Algerian going back to find his roots. I hope it comes to the U.S.
I read that the sequel to L'Auberge espagnole called Les Poupées russes ("The Russian Dolls") is breaking B.O. records in France. Obviously, as usual, that doesn't exactly mean quality and I'm sure Audrey Tautou has a lot to do with its success. No doubt that it'll eventually show up here; I hope the same happens with Exils.
I didn't realize Poupés russes was a sequel; I saw on his website that it's his new one. He must be popular, Duris. I didn't realize that till now. I have no use for Tatou. She's the kiss of death. However Auberge espagnole, though a bit of fluff, I found forgiveable, entertaining; and since it's an ensemble piece she didn't wreck it. I didn't know they liked her over there too. Her sugary sweetness nauseates me. She's been in a lot of crap, French crap, which they do indeed have. What's Exils?
HOT WEATHER ESCAPES: TALES OF THE SNOW.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093668/
Just re-watched from my tape library the Norwegian-made Pathfinder which recreates with brilliant economy an ancient Laplander myth set around the year 1000 about how evil attackers of a far-north settlement were fought off by a boy. The young central characer Eigen is played by Mikkel Gaup, who I'm going to guess is the director's son, a smart choice comparable to John Boorman's inspired use of his son Charley for the contral role in The Emerald Forest. This is a special experience, though some might want to relate it to the 2001 Inuit film Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, also recounting the ancient legend of a snowbound people and also marked by special and unique location shooting, costumes, and evocation of a culture.
In this chilly vein I might recommend Philip Kaufman's 1974 The White Dawn, about whalers stranded among the Inuit in 1896, who have to learn (reluctantly) their customs language. Louis Gossett (excellent), Timothy Bottoms, the late, great Warren Oates, and a lot of Inuit actors. Fine cinematography by Michael Chapman. Worth tracking down. I think I found it through Michael Sragow's 1990 Produced and Abaondoned: The Best Films You've Never Seen. The recommendations are bolstered by an anthology of reviews.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...6529?v=glance.
Mr. Death (1999) - Errol Morris
Fantastic film from Morris. Any fan of his work, particularly of The Fog of War owes it to themselves to see this one. This tells the story of Fred Leuchter who came to notoriety for his advancements in capital punishment, then got involved in a rather large scandal involving the holocaust. Like Morris' other films this is shot in a interesting way, and like his previous films this was also ignored by the Academy, who up until very recently loved horrendously boring documentaries.
What's Exils?
That's the film I mentioned in my post earlier because I just saw it in Toronto. It stars Romain Duris as a French Algerian taking a journey back to his homeland; perhaps I confused you by bringing up Gadjo Dilo.
Niels Gaup: Pathfinder (Ofelas, 1987, 87 minutes)
Sounds intriguing. Although, it doesn't look like it's available on DVD.
Ok why is it that all you film buffs have been leaving out in the cold about comedy-drama. I accidentally tuned into "The Fortune Cookie" twenty minutes into its broadcast over the local PBS station here and discovered comedy-drama made almost forty years ago. Anybody else have other suggestions for comedy-drama movies that I may have missed so I don't continue to get so excited about current comedy-drama movies (though I still believe they are making a pretty good comeback)?
I dare say a lot of good things aren't. You could buy a copy for ten or fifteen dollars. Worth it. Or maybe find it at a good video rental store.Quote:
Pathfinder (Ofelas): ". . .it doesn't look like it's available on DVD."
I want to see Exils, though Gatlif isn't a great storyteller. But it isn't available on any non-film format.
Found it! German DVD with English subs. It looks like an action film.