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French-Danish actor and director Niels Arestrup, best known to international audiences for playing a Corsican crime boss in Jacques Audiard’s Cannes Grand Prix, Oscar-nominated A Prophet, has died at the age of 75.

His wife, actress and writer Isabelle Le Nouvel, announced the news, saying Arestrup had died on Sunday (December 1) following “a courageous battle against illness” at their home outside of Paris.

Arestrup won best supporting actor César awards for his 2009 A Prophet performance and for playing the petty gangster father in Audiard’s 2005 BAFTA-winning The Beat That My Heart Skipped. He earned a third César award for Bertrand Tavernier...

Niels Arestrup, the French-Danish actor and muse to Emilia Pérez director Jacques Audiard who appeared in international features including Steven Spielberg’s War Horse and Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, has died. He was 75.

Arestrup’s wife, Isabelle Le Nouvel, confirmed his death to Agence France-Presse on Sunday, saying he died “at the end of a courageous fight against illness.”

Arestrup will forever be linked to Audiard and his performances in the filmmaker’s The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005) — playing the criminal father to Romain Duris’ would-be concert pianist — and A Prophet (2009), in which he embodies a terrifying Corsican mob boss who runs his operation from within prison.

Arestrup won best supporting acting César awards, France’s equivalent of the Oscar, for both roles, and the performances solidified his image as an onscreen villain with a piercing blue gaze who is barely holding back the violence within.

Niels Arestrup, an outstanding actor noted for his imposing performances in French cinema, stage, and television, passed away in an act on Sunday at his house outside Paris. His wife, Isabelle Le Nouvel, French actress and screenwriter, confirmed his death. He was 75.

Arestrup was praised for his ability to add depth and complexity to his parts, garnering three César Awards, France’s highest film accolade. His career, spanning decades, showed his versatility as an artist, shifting smoothly between stage and television.

Arestrup’s early life was distant from show business, as he was born to a French mother from Brittany and a Danish father. He struggled in school, failed his high school examinations, and performed various jobs before discovering his love of acting. Despite these hurdles, he forged a fantastic career, becoming one of France’s most reputable entertainers.

One of Arestrup’s most memorable parts was in Jacques Audiard’s 2009 crime drama A Prophet.

French-Danish actor, director and writer Niels Arestrup, known for his Cesar-winning performances in Jacques Audiard’s The Beat That My Heart Skipped and A Prophet, has died at his home outside Paris at the age of 75.

Arestrup’s wife, the actress, screenwriter and author Isabelle Le Nouvel announced her husband’s death on Sunday.

The actor won a record three French Césars across his career with the final one being Bertrand Tavernier’s political satire The French Minister (Quai d’Orsay).

Arestrup was born to French mother, from Brittany, and a Danish father and grew up in humble conditions in Paris. After failing his high-school exams, he did odd jobs and then slowly moved into TV and drama.

In A Prophet, Arestrup played ruthless Corsican mobster César Luciani, who enlists the protagonist Malik (Tahar Rahim), introducing him to a life of crime in return for his protection.

Further highlights of...

On its face, Criterion’s Chantal Akerman Masterpieces, 1968–1978 is an essential set for offering key early works, some more obscure than others, from the career of one of the great film artists. But the pleasures here run deeper. Akerman used each of her initial films as a springboard to the next, and watching them in chronological order sees her consolidating and complicating her aesthetic and thematic preoccupations with each successive project.

Consider Akerman’s first film, 1968’s Saute ma ville. Akerman made this 13-minute short at the age of 18, and its debt to the antic energy and seriocomic political inclinations of the French New Wave makes it an outlier in a body of work fixated on structuralism and more meditative atmospheres. Yet in the film’s depiction of a young woman (Akerman herself) trashing her apartment emerges an outlandish expression of what will become a more somberly explored theme in upcoming shorts,...

We may never see other phenomenon like “Squid Game.” Hopefully we do. The Emmys are the kind of voting body/cultural institution that should get that yearly kind of external shakeup, just as film awards have seen non-English language productions catch fire with the public and capture awards attention. Getting to that point for “Squid Game” meant legendary word of mouth, Netflix backing, and a quality series with elements that made voting for it all the easier, a perfect Emmys storm.

But even if those lightning-in-a-bottle circumstances are seemingly impossible to recapture on purpose, the success of “Squid Game” did lay out a roadmap for other potential international hits to succeed on their own. A year after a genuine phenomenon, it seems like the TV world has largely waited for Season 2 of that show to be the next international series to enjoy that kind of success.

What if we didn’t have to wait?...

It was the west coast critics’ turn to hand out honors for the best films and performances of 2022, with the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (Lafca) landing on a tie for their top honors, between A24’s “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and Focus Features’ “Tár.” It was the fourth time the group tied in its 48-year history after “Dog Day Afternoon” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975), “Network” and “Rocky” (1976) and “Gravity” and “Her” (2013).

Along with the top prize for “Tár,” Todd Field won both director and screenplay prizes for the film. His leading woman Cate Blanchett walked away with the best lead performance honor, which she shared with British veteran actor Bill Nighy for his work in Oliver Hermanus’ “Living.”

It was the first year the group switched to gender-neutral acting categories, which they announced back in October.

This marked Blanchett’s second Lafca win after “Blue Jasmine...

Reims Polar, a new international festival set in Northern France and dedicated to police thrillers, has awarded Wen Shipei’s “Are You Lonesome Tonight?,” Adikhan Yerzhanov’s “Assault” and Lado Kvataniya’s “The Execution.”

The selection of Reims Polar is curated by Bruno Barde, who is also the artistic director of the Deauville American Film Festival.

“Assault,” a dead-pan thriller set fictional village in rural Kazakhstan and revolving around a school hostage situation, won the festival’s Grand Prize Award. Yerzhanov, a prolific Kazakh director, previously directed “The Gentle Indifference of the World” which played at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard in 2018.

The Reims Polar jury prize went to a pair of feature debuts, “Are You Lonesome Tonight?,” a Chinese film which world premiered out of competition at last year’s Cannes, and Russian filmmaker Lado Kvataniya’s “The Execution,” a thriller inspired by the case of an infamous Soviet-era serial killer.

Other Angle is launching sales on Melissa Drigeard’s “Hawaii” with Berenice Bejo and Jeremy Guez’s “Kanun” at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris which is happening this week as an in-person event in the French capital.

“Hawaii”is headlined by an ensemble cast including The Artist” actor Bérénice Béjo. The movie follows nine friends who gather every year in their friend Thomas’ hotel in Hawaii. Following a nuclear attack alert, they believe that their last moments are upon them and their friendly annual meeting turns into shouting match. But after finding out the nuclear threat was a false alert, they have to spend the remaining eight days of vacation together. The movie is produced by Romain Legrand and Vivien Aslanian at Marvelous Productions. Warner Bros. will release it in France.

“Kanun” is a thriller directed by Jérémie Guez whose credits include “Brothers by Blood” and “A Bluebird in My Heart.

IFC Films has acquired U.S. rights to Jacques Audiard’s upcoming film “Paris, 13th District” (Les Olympiades) during the virtual European Film Market. The movie was shot in the French capital during the pandemic.

Playtime, which represents the film in international markets, has also closed sales in most major territories around the world, including U.K. (Curzon), Canada (MK2 Mile End), Scandinavia (Scanbox), Japan (Longride), South Korea (Challan), Benelux (Cineart), Switzerland (Filmcoopi), Ex-Yugoslavia (McF), Poland (Gutek Film), as well as Czech Republic and Slovakia (Aerofilms). Both EFM and the Berlin Film Festival have gone online this year as a concession to Covid-19.

IFC previously worked with Audiard on his last French-language film, the Palme d’Or winning “Dheepan.” The movie was penned by Audiard, Léa Mysius (“Ava”) and Celine Sciamma, whose latest film “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” won best screenplay at Cannes 2019 and earned a Golden Globe nomination.

Following the Cannes prize-winning film “Bpm (Beats per Minute),” Playtime and Memento are re-teaming on Jacques Audiard’s “Paris, 13th District” (Les Olympiades) which is currently filming in the French capital.

Audiard, whose credits include the Palme d’Or winning “Dheepan” and Oscar-nominated “A Prophet,” penned the script with two female auteurs, Léa Mysius (“Ava”) and Celine Sciamma, whose latest film “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” won best screenplay at Cannes 2019 and earned a Golden Globe nomination.

Playtime will handle worldwide sales on the movie, while Memento will distribute in France. Both banners previously partnered on Robin Campillo’s “Bpm (Beats per Minute),” which won Cannes’ Grand Jury Prize, six Cesar awards, and went on to have a successful commercial run.

Produced by Audiard and Valérie Schermann through their Paris-based banner Page 114, “Paris, 13th District” is in its second week of shooting in Paris and could be delivered as...

Jacques Audiard, the French director of Palme d’Or winning “Dheepan” and Oscar-nominated “A Prophet,” is currently filming his next feature, “Les Olympiades,” near Paris.

Audiard, who enjoys working with a mix of rising and well-seasoned talents behind and in front of the camera, wrote the script of “Les Olympiades” with two female auteurs, Léa Mysius (“Ava”) and Celine Sciamma, whose latest film “Portrait of a Young Lady on Fire” won best screenplay at Cannes 2019 and earned a Golden Globe nomination.

“Les Olympiades” is based on New Yorker cartoonist Adrian Tomine’s “”Killing and Dying,” a collection of graphic short stories. Although the plot is under wraps, the story is expected to deal with adolescence and revolve around female protagonists.

The movie will mark Audiard’s follow-up to “The Sisters Brothers,” a period crime film starring Joaquin Phoenix, John C. Reilly and Jake Gyllenhaal. “The Sisters Brothers” won Audiard the...

Russell Crowe has signed on the dotted line to join ‘American Son’, a movie based on Jacque Audiard’s French film, ‘A Prophet’.

Crowe is said to be playing the role of a “ruthless mobster”.

The film centres around a man, who, after falling under the control of a ruthless mobster (played by Crowe) while in prison, builds a multiracial crime syndicate, takes down his mentor and earns a place for his crew alongside the Italian and Russian mafias.

‘Blue Story’ filmmaker Andrew “Rapman” Onwubolu will direct from a script by Dennis Lehane. Neal H. Moritz and Toby Jaffe are producing through Original Film.

Also in news – Josh Gad takes the lead in Roland Emmerich’s ‘Moonfall’

Paramount are currently on the search for upcoming talent to play the film’s lead.

Audiard’s 2009 ‘A Prophet’ gave the world Tahir Rahim who played the leading role. It follows Malik El...

Bac Films has closed several deals on Bernard Stora’s “The Case,” a psychological thriller set in the South of France starring Niels Arestrup. The film had its market premiere at the UniFrance Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in Paris, a five-day showcase of French movies wrapping on Jan. 20.

Arestrup stars in “The Case” as Luc Germon, a famous lawyer whose new client, Gilles Fontaine (Patrick Bruel) is a powerful business man suspected of having acquired his magnificent property on the French Riviera in a dubious condition. The movie was picked up for Spain (Vercine Distribución), China (Huanxi Media), Taiwan (Av-Jet) and Benelux (Athena Films).

Paul Hamy (“Sibyl”) and Michel Bouquet (“Renoir”) complete the cast. “The Case” was produced by Jpg Films and Bac Films which will release the movie during the second semester of this year.

During the UniFrance Rendez-Vous, Bac Films also hosted the market premieres of “Yakari, A Spectacular Journey,...

Stars: Willem Dafoe, Rupert Friend, Oscar Isaac, Mads Mikkelsen, Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Niels Arestrup, Anne Consigny, Amira Casar, Vincent Perez, Lolita Chammah | Written by Jean-Claude Carrière, Louise Kugelberg | Directed by Julian Schnabel

Famed but tormented artist Vincent van Gogh spends his final years in Arles, France, painting masterworks of the natural world that surrounds him.

Julian Schnabel’s At Eternity’s Gate may just be the biggest surprise masterpiece of the year. In a compelling and spectacular piece of avant-garde filmmaking that is outrageously marvellous in every frame. Not having seen something shot this beautifully or aesthetically thoughtful in terms of emotionally engaging style since a partnership of director Terrence Malick and cinematography of Emmanuel Lubezki. To simplify, Schnabel’s film is a stunning composition of visual art that both mends and breaks one’s heart in the same poetic breath.

The cinematography and artistic flair from cinematographer Benoît Delhomme is genius,...

At Eternity’S Gate CBS Films Reviewed by: Harvey Karten Director: Julian Schnabel Screenwriter: Jean-Claude Carriere, Louise Kugelberg, Julian Schnabel Cast: Willem Dafoe, Oscar Isaac, Mathieu Amalric, Mads Mikkelsen, Emmanuelle Seigner, Amira Casar, Niels Arestrup Screened at: Bryant Park Hotel, NYC, 11/10/18 Opens: November 16, 2018 What is the principal selling point made by real estate […]

The post At Eternity’s Gate Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

For this week’s review round-up, it’s a foursome! The quartet of titles today are a real mixed bag, which happens. We have two misfires, one mild recommendation, and a mixed bag that I really hemmed and hawed about in terms of a thumbs up or thumbs down. You’ll see which are which shortly, but the four films are the Vincent van Gogh biopic At Eternity’s Gate, the horror hybrid The Clovehitch Killer, the science fiction tinged psychological drama Jonathan, and the documentary The Last Race. These movies are very different, to say the least. The only thing they have in common? Well, that would be that I’m about to discuss them all right now… Here we go: — At Eternity’s Gate At one early stage in the game, At Eternity’s Gate seemed like a potentially big Academy Award player. Some high profile film festival debuts,...

At Eternity's Gate with Louise Kugelberg, Jean-Claude Carrière, Julian Schnabel, Willem Dafoe, Oscar Isaac, and Rupert Friend at the 56th New York Film Festival Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Julian Schnabel’s At Eternity’s Gate, shot by Benoît Delhomme, co-written with Louise Kugelberg and Jean-Claude Carrière (seen in Margarethe von Trotta's Searching For Ingmar Bergman) and starring Willem Dafoe as Vincent van Gogh, with Oscar Isaac as Gauguin, Rupert Friend as Theo, Mathieu Amalric as Dr. Gachet, Emmanuelle Seigner as Madame Ginoux, Anne Consigny as the Teacher, Mads Mikkelsen as the Priest, and Niels Arestrup as the Madman, is the Closing Night selection of the 56th New York Film Festival.

Willem Dafoe At Eternity's Gate press conference Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Mathieu Amalric emailed me from Belgium the morning after the première: "Impossible to leave Brussels. Shooting every single day in Etgar Keret and Shira Geffen mini-series for Arte". As Dr.

Title: At Eternity’s Gate Director: Julian Schnabel Cast: Willem Dafoe, Rupert Friend, Oscar Isaac, Mads Mikkelsen, Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Niels Arestrup, Anne Consigny, Amira Casar, Vincent Perez, Lolita Chammah, Stella Schnabel, Vladimir Consigny, Arthur Jacqui, Solar Forte, Vincent Grass, Clément Lhuaire, Alan Aubert-Carlin, Laurent Bateau, Franck Molinaro, Montassar Alaia, Didier Jarre, Thierry Menez, Johan […]

The post 75th Venice Film Festival: At Eternity’s Gate Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

"I'd like to find a new light... for paintings we haven't yet seen." CBS Films has unveiled an official trailer for the indie drama At Eternity's Gate, the latest feature made by artist & filmmaker Julian Schnabel. This film is about famous Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, starring Willem Dafoe as Van Gogh, telling the story of his final few years in France when he made the majority of his remarkable paintings. The story follows Van Gogh struggling to survive and make money, along with being sent to a hospital after a judge claimed he was mentally ill. At Eternity's Gate's full cast includes Rupert Friend as his brother Theo, Oscar Isaac as Paul Gauguin, plus Mads Mikkelsen, Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, and Niels Arestrup. This just premiered at the Venice Film Festival, and plays at the New York Film Festival next. I just saw it and it's another ...

Less than a year after earning an Oscar nomination for “The Florida Project,” Willem Dafoe returns with what critics are calling another career-defining performance in “At Eternity’s Gate.” The drama casts Dafoe as the painter Vincent Van Gogh, which is the perfect subject for artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel (“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”) to bring to the big screen.

The official synopsis describes the film as a “journey inside the world and mind of a person who, despite skepticism, ridicule and illness, created some of the world’s most beloved and stunning works of art.” The drama premiered at Venice, where it gained acclaim for its impressionistic storytelling based on the artist’s letters and Schnabel’s own interpretation of his memories. Mads Mikkelsen, Emmanuelle Seigner, Amira Casar, Niels Arestrup, and Oscar Isaac co-star.

CBS Films will open “At Eternity’s Gate” in select theaters on November...

Last year, Willem Dafoe earned a great deal of acclaim for his tender supporting turn in The Florida Project. The venerable actor’s streak will continue this fall in his leading role in At Eternity’s Gate, a Vincent Van Gogh biopic directed by The Diving Bell and the Butterfly helmer Julian Schnabel. Also starring Mads Mikkelsen, Emmanuelle Seigner, Amira Casar, Niels Arestrup, and Oscar Isaac, CBS Films has now released the first trailer ahead of a North American premiere as the Closing Night of New York Film Festival and a theatrical release starting in November.

Declaring Dafoe’s latest role as a career-best performance, Rory O’Connor said in his review, “As I braced for At Eternity’s Gate world premiere in Venice, I kept thinking about Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman’s 2017 Loving Vincent, an ambitiously animated biopic that followed the Dutch painter’s life by recreating a...

Fresh off of its premiere in Venice, the first trailer for Julian Schnabel’s At Eternity’s Gate starring Willem Dafoe as the legendary painter Vincent van Gogh has been released.

With Schnabel’s distinct The Diving Bell and the Butterfly style, At Eternity’s Gate follows the life of van Gogh, but is not a traditional cradle-to-the-grave biopic. Written by Schnabel, Jean Claude Carrière, and Louise Kugelberg the film takes a journey into the mind of the artist who, despite skepticism, ridicule, and illness, created some of the world’s most beloved and stunning works of art.

As seen in the trailer above, the film, named after one of van Gogh’s famous paintings, also stars Mads Mikkelsen and Oscar Isaac as Schnabel stitches together a collection of scenes based on van Gogh’s letters, common agreement about events in his life that present as facts, hearsay, and moments that are invented.

Willem Dafoe puts paint to canvas in the first trailer for At Eternity's Gate, the Vincent van Gogh biopic from director Julian Schnabel.

"I can't do anything else, and believe me I've tried," Dafoe's van Gogh tells Mads Mikkelsen.

The film, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival this week, also stars Oscar Isaac, Emmanuelle Seigner, Amira Casar and Niels Arestrup. It focuses on the final days of the iconic painter's life and career, before he shot himself in 1890.

The title of the film is derived from a painting by van Gogh, "...

Willem Dafoe puts paint to canvas in the first trailer for At Eternity's Gate, the Vincent van Gogh biopic from director Julian Schnabel.

"I can't do anything else, and believe me I've tried," Dafoe's van Gogh tells Mads Mikkelsen.

The film, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival this week, also stars Oscar Isaac, Emmanuelle Seigner, Amira Casar and Niels Arestrup. It focuses on the final days of the iconic painter's life and career, before he shot himself in 1890.

The title of the film is derived from a painting by van Gogh, "...

‪Mathieu Amalric‬ on directing Barbara: "There would be immediately a presence. It was the spirit we were waiting for." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

At the Regency Hotel on Park Avenue over breakfast, Mathieu Amalric discussed with me Pierre Léon's initial involvement with Barbara, Jeanne Balibar's performance, a clip from Jacques Brel's film Franz, an Orson Welles' The Lady From Shanghai moment, and filming sensations.

Mathieu Amalric will soon be seen as Dr. Paul Gachet in Julian Schnabel’s At Eternity’s Gate (Closing Night film of the 56th New York Film Festival), co-written with Jean-Claude Carrière and Louise Kugelberg, shot by Benoît Delhomme, and starring Willem Dafoe as Vincent van Gogh, with Oscar Isaac as Paul Gauguin, Rupert Friend as Theo, Emmanuelle Seigner, Mads Mikkelsen, and Niels Arestrup.

Carlotta (Marion Cotillard) with Ismael (Mathieu Amalric) in Arnaud Desplechin's Ismael's Ghosts (Les Fantômes D'Ismaël)

Mathieu is also the...

Top L to R: Barry Jenkins - If Beale Street Could Talk, Jean-Luc Godard - The Image Book, Joel Coen & Ethan Coen - The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Paweł Pawlikowski - Cold War Bottom L to R: Jafar Panahi - 3 Faces, Paul Dano - Wildlife, Bi Gan - Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Olivier Assayas - Non-Fiction

27 additional films for the Main Slate program of the 56th New York Film Festival including Christian Petzold's Transit, Claire Denis' High Life, Paweł Pawlikowski's Cold War, Christophe Honoré's Sorry Angel, and Hirokazu Kore-eda's Shoplifters have been announced by the Film Society of Lincoln Center today. They will be joining the Opening Night selection, Yorgos Lanthimos's The Favourite, starring Rachel Weisz, Olivia Colman, and Emma Stone; Centerpiece - Alfonso Cuarón's Roma with Yalitza Aparicio, Marina de Tavira, Daniela Demesa, Nancy García García, and Marco Graf; and Closing Night...

All week long, I’ve been waiting for the final New York Film Festival shoe to drop. Around this time every year, Nyff announces their Closing Night Selection, paving the way for the full slate to be revealed. Well, the festival has done so, tapping At Eternity’s Gate as the pick. Coming from Julian Schnabel, it represents the last of the big three titles for the fest. It joins The Favourite from Yorgos Lanthimos and Roma from Alfonso Cuarón. It’s a fascinating selection, and not my predicted pick of Ad Astra. Still, it’s a sensible choice, since sorry folks, The Irishman was never realistic. Now, we wait until the Main Slate is announced, which should happen before too long. This is what the press release from the festival had to say, in part: “Julian Schnabel’s ravishingly tactile and luminous new film takes a fresh look at...

“See You Up There” defies easy categorization. Imagine “War Horse” as directed by Tim Burton, or “Born on the Fourth of July” starring a seriocomic Robin Williams. It is 1919, at the tail end and immediately following World War I, and the French are quick to honor their fallen soldiers, erecting monuments in their honor, yet scandalously unwilling to support the veterans who return home from the front in this genre-defying tightrope act of a movie, which tied festival favorite “Bpm” for 13 César nominations in France’s equivalent of the Oscars last year.

Crime novelist Pierre Lemaitre was hardly the most obvious candidate to write one of the most celebrated World War I stories in recent French literature, any more than comedy actor-director Albert Dupontel (“Bernie”) was the person anyone might expect to adapt it to the big screen. And yet, Lemaitre’s efforts earned him the Goncourt Prize, while Dupontel...

"Alright - you're not going to like what comes next..." Annapurna has debuted the first official trailer for a new western from French filmmaker Jacques Audiard, titled The Sisters Brothers, adapted from Patrick Dewitt's acclaimed novel of the same name. The film is about two brothers, Eli and Charlie Sisters played by Joaquin Phoenix and John C. Reilly, who are hired to kill a prospector who has stolen from their boss. It's set in Oregon in 1851 and is a dark comedy in addition to being a western thriller, which is a good blend of genres for Audiard. The full cast includes Jake Gyllenhaal, Riz Ahmed, Rutger Hauer, Carol Kane, and Niels Arestrup. This is a wacky, but amusing trailer that certainly introduces this film in a way that will get your attention. Enjoy it. Here's the first official Us trailer for Jacques Audiard's The Sisters Brothers, direct from ...

“Bpm” triumphed at the César Awards, taking home the prizes for Best Film, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Antoine Reinartz), Best Male Newcomer (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart), Best Original Score, and Best Editing. Robin Campillo’s drama about AIDS activists in Paris also won the Grand Prix at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, but wasn’t nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film — a snub that was met with some controversy.

Andrey Zvyagintsev’s “Loveless,” which is nominated for the Oscar, won the equivalent award. Albert Dupontel’s “Au revoir là-haut” also had a big night, taking Best Director, Best Actress (Jeanne Balibar), and three other prizes. Full list of winners:

Best Film

“Bpm,” Robin Campillo

“Au revoir là-haut,” Albert Dupontel

“Barbara,” Mathieu Amalric

“Le Brio,” Yvan Attal

“Patients,” Grand Corps Malade, Mehdi Idir

“Petit Paysan,” Hubert Charuel

“C’est La Vie,” Eric Tolédano, Olivier Nakache

Best Director

Robin Campillo,...

“No one gets over anything,” remarks Stellan Skarsgård’s Max, rekindling with old flame Rebecca years after they last met. He was a fledgling writer, she an idealistic young student. But then they split up, he moved back to Europe and she became a hotshot lawyer in New York City. And neither ‘got over’ it. Now Max reflects in the words of his new novel: life is defined by what you did that you regret, and what you did not do that you regret; “The things that come between do not matter.” Seeing each other again, they travel to Montauk, the village at the end of Long Island, to look out to the open ocean and search for what they’ve lost. But all they can do is look back.

Volker Schlöndorff’s latest film has something of the Allen-esque themes of regret and unchangeable fate (the New York setting...

Return To Montauk set at Lincoln Center Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

While filming Return To Montauk (Rückkehr Nach Montauk) in New York last spring, Volker Schlöndorff spoke to me on the set. His film will have its world premiere at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival in a couple of weeks. We discussed shooting in Berlin with Niels Arestrup and Stellan Skarsgård, connecting Sam Shepard to Max Frisch, Brooklyn author Colm Tóibín's Henry James in his novel The Master, Proust beyond Jeremy Irons in Swann In Love, shopping for clothes, Nina Hoss and Bronagh Gallagher at Lincoln Center, and what's in an affair.

Stellan Skarsgård, Mathias Sanders, Isioma Laborde-Edozien and Colm Tóibín - New York Public Library Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Return To Montauk, co-written by Tóibín, is the story of a writer, called Max Zorn (Skarsgård), who is married to Clara (Susanne Wolff). He comes to New York to promote his book and meets again,...

The Berlin International Film Festival announced 13 additions to its 2017 line-up, including the international premiere of Danny Boyle’s hotly anticipated “Trainspotting” follow-up, “Trainspotting: T2,” and the world premiere of James Mangold’s “Logan,” the third in the growing “Wolverine” franchise, starring Hugh Jackman. Both films will play out of competition.

Read More: ‘Logan’ Trailer: Hugh Jackman’s Final Wolverine Movie Mixes The Superhero Genre With The Western

Hong Sangsoo’s “On the Beach Alone at Night” will make its world premiere at the festival, the latest from the idiosyncratic Korean director whose last film, “Right Now, Wrong Then,” garnered attention at festivals in 2016.

Other promising titles include the world premiere of “The Tin Drum” director Volker Schlöndorff’s “Return To Montauk,” starring Stellan Skarsgård, and “Viceroy’s House,” a period drama from the woman behind “Bend it Like Beckham,” Gurinder Chadha. The Austrian actor Josef Hader also will make...

X-Men spinoff and Trainspotting sequel to play Out of Competition.

A further 13 films have been invited to screen in the Competition and Berlinale Special section at the 67th edition of the Berlin International Film Festival.

The festival has added commercial clout to its Out Of Competition lineup in the shape of Danny Boyle’s T2 Trainspotting and X-Men spinoff Logan.

There are also competition berths for new films by Hong Sangsoo, Thomas Arslan, Volker Schlöndorff, Sabu, Álex de la Iglesia and Josef Hader.

Bend It Like Beckham director Gurinder Chadha’s latest, Viceroy’s House, will have its world premiere out of competition at the festival. Starring Hugh Bonneville alongside Gillian Anderson, the period drama set in 1947 India depicts Lord Mountbatten, the man charged with handing India back to its people.

Also having its world premiered out of competition will be Álex de la Iglesia’s The Bar, a comedy-thriller about a group of strangers who get...

After an initial line-up that included Aki Kaurismäki‘s The Other Side of Hope, Oren Moverman‘s Richard Gere-led The Dinner, Sally Potter‘s The Party, and Agnieszka Holland‘s Spoor, the Berlin International Film Festival have added more anticipated premieres. Highlights include one of two (maybe three) new Hong Sang-soo films this year, On the Beach at Night Alone, along with Volker Schlöndorff‘s Return to Montauk with Stellan Skarsgård and Nina Hoss, as well as the high-profile world premiere of James Mangold‘s Logan and the international premiere of Danny Boyle‘s T2: Trainspotting.

With Paul Verhoeven serving as jury president for the 67th edition of the festival, check out the new additions below.

Competition

Bamui haebyun-eoseo honja (On the Beach at Night Alone)

South Korea

By Hong Sangsoo (Nobody’s Daughter Haewon, Right Now, Wrong Then)

With Kim Minhee, Seo Younghwa, Jung Jaeyoung, Moon Sungkeun,...

Based on a True Story

Director: Roman Polanski

Writer: Olivier Assayas, Roman Polanski

After some more court related issues seemingly delayed his long gestating project The Dreyfus Affair, Roman Polanski has commenced filming a much smaller but arguably more intriguing production, Based on a True Story, with Olivier Assayas (who was a notable screenwriter for Andre Techine before branching out as an auteur himself) adapting from a novel by Delphine de Vigan (who penned the script for the 2011 film You Will Be My Son, featuring a nasty little performance from Niels Arestrup).

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Volker Schlöndorff directs cast and crew on Return to Montauk set Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

When Volker Schlöndorff sent me the call sheet for his Return To Montauk shoot in New York City, we arranged a schedule for me to be on set to document the goings-on as he was filming at the New York Public Library and up at Lincoln Center. The film, co-written with Colm Tóibín, stars Stellan Skarsgård and Nina Hoss with Niels Arestrup, Susanne Wolff (Dominik Graf's Dreileben 2: Don't Follow Me Around), Isioma Laborde-Edozien, Mathias Sanders and Bronagh Gallagher (Alan Parker's The Commitments).

Stellan Skarsgård as Max Zorn Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Volker and I met at his hotel the day after he was shooting in the Financial District, for a conversation that led us to a quote from Thoreau, connecting Sam Shepard to Max Frisch, Colm Tóibín's Henry James in his novel The Master,...

Volker Schlöndorff with co-writer Colm Tóibín on set for Return to Montauk Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

John Crowley's Brooklyn, starring Saoirse Ronan with Emory Cohen, Domhnall Gleeson, Julie Walters and Jim Broadbent, adapted screenplay by Nick Hornby, is based on Colm Tóibín's novel of the same name. On set with Stellan Skarsgård, Susanne Wolff, Isioma Laborde-Edozien and Mathias Sanders for Volker Schlöndorff's Return To Montauk (Rückkehr Nach Montauk), Tóibín, who is the co-writer with Volker, points to the face of Liv Ullmann on camera as inspiration, to Saoirse, and now Nina Hoss. Niels Arestrup will take on "W", the art collector.

Brooklyn author Colm Tóibín makes a point Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Colm spoke to me off the record about the Montauk project at last year's New York Film Festival. Right before I was being included as one of the extras with Margarethe von Trotta and Pamela Katz on the...

Pamela Katz, Carrie Welch with Margarethe von Trotta on the Return To Montauk set Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Volker Schlöndorff, Oscar-winning director for The Tin Drum, based on Günter Grass's novel Die Blechtrommel, invited me to join him on the set for his latest film, Return To Montauk (Rückkehr Nach Montauk), while he was shooting scenes with Stellan Skarsgård and Susanne Wolff at the New York Public Library. The film also stars Nina Hoss and Niels Arestrup (brilliant in Diplomacy with André Dussollier). Screenwriter Colm Tóibín, along with Margarethe von Trotta and her co-writer Pam Katz (The Other Woman (Die Andere Frau), Rosenstrasse and Hannah Arendt) were up on the steps.

Margarethe von Trotta with Volker Schlöndorff Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Von Trotta co-wrote and co-directed The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum with Volker, based on Heinrich Böll's novel and he directed her in their script for Coup de Grâce.

The Family Fang director and star Jason Bateman on his screenwriter: "David Lindsay-Abaire … has a Pulitzer Prize on his mantle - for good reason." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

With Volker Schlöndorff currently filming Return to Montauk, co-written with Colm Tóibín (John Crowley's Brooklyn), starring Stellan Skarsgård, Susanne Wolff, Nina Hoss and Niels Arestrup of Diplomacy fame, Jason Bateman explained that his Baxter's Montauk shirt belongs to Christopher Walken's Caleb in The Family Fang, which co-stars Nicole Kidman with Maryann Plunkett, Jason Butler Harner, Kathryn Hahn, Marin Ireland, Michael Chernus, Jack McCarthy and Mackenzie Brooke Smith.

Fang siblings Annie (Nicole Kidman) and Baxter (Jason Bateman)

Based on Kevin Wilson's novel with music by Carter Burwell, (who received a Best Original Score Oscar nomination for Todd Haynes' masterful Carol) edited by Robert Frazen with a John Boorman-esque Deliverance potato cannon scene, The Family Fang is about when one discovers...

Our countdown of the 100 best films of the 21st century continues. This is Part 2 #75 through 51.

Click here for Part 1 (#100-76)!

The first decade and a half of the 21st century has brought a lot of changes to the landscape of film. The advancement and sophistication of computers has made realistic computer generated effects a mainstay in both big-budget and small-budget films. The internet and streaming technologies have given big Hollywood new competition in films produced independently and by non-traditional means. We went from purchasing films on yards of tape to plastic disks, and now we can simply upload them to the cloud. Advertisements for films have reached a higher, more ruthless level where generating hype through trailers and teasers is crucial for a film’s commercial success. Movie attendance has fluctuated along with the economy, but that hasn’t stopped films from breaking box office records, including having films gross...

Danièle Delorme and Jean Gabin in 'Deadlier Than the Male.' Danièle Delorme movies (See previous post: “Danièle Delorme: 'Gigi' 1949 Actress Became Rare Woman Director's Muse.”) “Every actor would like to make a movie with Charles Chaplin or René Clair,” Danièle Delorme explains in the filmed interview (ca. 1960) embedded further below, adding that oftentimes it wasn't up to them to decide with whom they would get to work. Yet, although frequently beyond her control, Delorme managed to collaborate with a number of major (mostly French) filmmakers throughout her six-decade movie career. Aside from her Jacqueline Audry films discussed in the previous Danièle Delorme article, below are a few of her most notable efforts – usually playing naive-looking young women of modest means and deceptively inconspicuous sexuality, whose inner character may or may not match their external appearance. Ouvert pour cause d'inventaire (“Open for Inventory Causes,” 1946), an unreleased, no-budget comedy notable...

Angelina Jolie-Pitt’s directorial follow-up to Unbreakable couldn’t be more different. While the WWII adventure was square and old-fashioned, By The Sea is an arty riff on those European films of the 60’s and 70’s where not much transpires plot-wise, but plenty happens to characters emotionally. Some viewers may find By The Sea tedious and they’d have a good case, but I admired the decisions Jolie-Pitt has made with her new film and recommend it. While this take on a marriage at crossroads is a weirdly self-indulgent, excessive vanity project for sure, it’s a smart one with undeniable star power and rich, sensuous style. By The Sea may be pretentious and it may be boring – but it’s the good kind of pretentious and boring and I dug it.

Jolie-Pitt’s technical and visual command of her material is evident from the first frames, with a...

By The Sea Universal Pictures Reviewed by: Harvey Karten for Shockya. Databased on Rotten Tomatoes. Grade: C Director: Angelina Jolie Written by: Angelina Jolie Cast: Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Mélanie Laurent, Melvil Poupaud, Niels Arestrup Screened at: Regal E-Walk, NYC, 11/9/15 Opens: November 13, 2015 Next time you become envious of your married friends who are traveling on vacation, remember that there’s no need to be. Aside from the hassles of travel—crowds at customs, absence of leg room on the flights, language and culture barriers–you should realize that any problems a married couple have will be increased when they are together 24/7 on their trip. You don’t believe me? Look [ Read More ]

The post By The Sea Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

There aren’t many power couples in Hollywood anymore, but Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are certainly one of them. They haven’t worked on the same project together since Mr. and Mrs. Smith, but tomorrow they co-star in By the Sea, which Jolie also wrote and directed. I wrote briefly about this one last week, and honestly the film itself isn’t anything special, but it is an excuse to talk about some of their work, so in that regard, I’m glad it’s coming out. Both have Academy Awards to their credit and both are among the biggest A-listers we have, so there should be plenty to discuss… In case you’re not aware what By the Sea is, here’s a short refresher. The film is a 1970’s set look at a married couple unraveling/trying to save their union while vacationing in a small seaside town after an untold tragedy.

The Sterile Cuckoo: Jolie’s Handsome Relationship Drama is Long in Tooth

Moving on from last year’s suffocatingly honorable Pow reenactment drama Unbroken, Angelina Jolie returns with her third and most simplistic narrative to date with By the Sea. A small scale passion project which finds the director acting alongside her real-life husband and Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005) co-star Brad Pitt, Jolie proves, once again, she has great curatorial tastes as far as who she assembles both in front of and behind the camera.

Though this familiar scenario (Jolie’s first screenplay) is enhanced majestically by the public’s fascination with the celebrity couple, one gets the sense Jolie, inspired by a tradition of late 60s to 70s European influenced cinema examining dark nights of the soul, is a master of dissection and exhibition rather than homage. Sometimes visually stunning to behold, the film more often feels like an animated corpse,...

Last night, the very first look at Angelina Jolie’s passion project of sorts By the Sea was given to folks at AFI Fest. As one of the last titles to have not shown itself to basically anyone (along with The Hateful Eight, Joy, and The Revenant), it’s been an X factor for basically all of 2015. Now that it has been seen by some, it’s a perfect time to take a look at if the Academy will be considering this one at all. Initially reviews have been mixed at best, so that’s not an immediately positive sign, but it does have a lot of ingredients that could still appeal to Oscar. With it hitting theaters next week, now’s the perfect time to discuss just that… The film is a 1970’s set look at a married couple unraveling/trying to save their union while vacationing in a small seaside town.

A sad married couple played by Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt take an escapist Mediterranean holiday in "By the Sea," writer-director Jolie Pitt's elegantly slow-paced marital drama with grief at its heart and a peephole for diversion.  It's a good thing Jolie and Pitt are so much fun to watch (smoking cigs and speaking French), and their Malta setting so gorgeous (shot by Christian Berger with natural light), because there's not much going on. It's the 70s (picked by Jolie for its lack of distractions) and this duo is bored. Roland is a bestselling novelist with writer's block who shoves a notebook in his pants and drinks with the local pub owner (always charming Niels Arestrup), while Vanessa pops pills and wanders like a depressed Monica Vitti by the rocky sea, wearing flowing white dresses and hiding her crying eyes under drooping hats and jumbo-sized Sophia Loren shades. (Ellen Mirojnick is the costume designer.

Competition titles include Couple In A Hole, Sparrows, A Bigger Splash; Norway will be in the spotlight country.

Tom Geens’ Couple in a Hole [pictured], Rúnar Rúnarsson’s Sparrows and Luca Guadagnino’s A Bigger Splash will be among the 10 titles competing at the seventh edition of the Les Arcs European Film Festival (Dec 12-19) in the French Alps.

Another 20 short films will compete in the Igloo Short Programme including British Bafta-winning animators Greg and Myles McLeod’s 365 and Dutch Edmond De Nina’s Gantz.

The shorts will be shown in an “ice cinema” built at an altitude of 2,200 metres and only accessible by skis or on foot.

In total, some 120 films, selected to by the festival’s artistic director Frédéric Boyer, will screen across the week-long event, which drew nearly 20,000 spectators in 2014.

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In addition to the competitive selections, the Les Arcs team - led by co-founders Pierre Emmanuel Fleurantin and Guillaume Calop - has added...