MY 10 FAVORITE MOVIE MOMENTS OF 2011

By Jason Guerrasio

As 2011 comes to a close it’s time to look back on the year in movies. It’s always tough for me to come up with a yearly best movie list because I never feel I’ve seen everything by Jan. 1. By this time of year I’m still trying to finish watching the award contenders (still on my list: Hugo, War Horse, Moneyball, Tinker Tailor Solider Spy, The Help).

So here are 10 movie moments from 2011 (in no particular order) that have stayed with me.

“I Want You To Help Me Find A Killer of Women”
I know you’re probably tired of hearing this line as it’s in all the TV spots and trailers for David Fincher‘s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, but after seeing the movie there was no better moment for me than when Mikael seeks out Lisbeth for her help. The look Rooney Mara gives after hearing this line gave me goosebumps. Seeing close to an hour how this woman goes through horror after horror, she is almost broken out of a spell when she hears these words. It’s a testament to the story structure and performances that even through I knew the line was coming I still felt such a jolt.

Hands Diry
If you went into Nicolas Winding Refn‘s Drive expecting a Fast and Furious-like hot rod thriller you were disappointed. But what you did get were moments of unexpected gore. The hotel scene I’d put up there as one of the most graphic I’ve seen in a while. And what makes it work is to that point Refn has lulled you with sparse dialogue and an amazing soundtrack. Then, suddenly, Christina Hendricks no longer has a head!

It’s The End of The World As We Know It
Melancholia‘s opening sequence has been analyzed since its premiere at Cannes, and for good reason. A foreshadowing of the horror to come, Lars von Trier brings beauty to the end the world with astounding cinematography, digital effects and, of course, Richard Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde… Read the rest

2011 IN FILM: A DISASTER ODYSSEY

By Mary Anderson Casavant

For many supposedly serious cinema folk, there is no secret pleasure more pleasurable than the disaster film. What makes the genre so familiar – predictable plotlines, one-dimensional characters and an ever-present threat that only kills the people who deserve it – is also what makes it so damn fun. In the late ’90s, people cheered when the alien spaceship blew up American monuments. A full decade after September 11th, it’s still hard to imagine that happening now. During the past decade, disaster films have become more serious, less The Towering Inferno and more District 9, but it is only in the past year that the genre started to evolve into something entirely unexpected. In 2011, disaster was back, but this time? It was seriously good.

During several interviews about Contagion, his globe-trotting, virus-chasing thriller  (pictured above), Stephen Soderbergh openly referred to it as his take on Irwin Allen,  the master of disaster behind The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno, but unlike Allen, Soderbergh refuses to privilege one character over another, giving the same amount of screen time to the hero who saves the day as he does to a girl who just wants to go to the prom. A macro look at the micro response of human beings to a global crisis, Contagion is a relentlessly paced movie that feels as ruthless as the amoral virus at its center.

The derivative that threatens to take out the firm at the heart of Margin Call may be as ruthless as the virus in Contagion, but unlike that virus, it is not some fluke of nature. It is a threat designed by the very men now in charge of dealing with it. Set over the course of one very,very long night, Chandor’s debut never resorts to reactionary, easy criticism of the firm’s employees. He knows that at the heart of any failed system there is not just culpability but also humanity – that it’s not villains who create these problems but human beings. The result is a film that is as serious as it is entertaining, and far and away the smartest … Read the rest

WHAT’S IN MY INSTAPAPER: SUNDAY MORNING LINKS, 12/4/11

By Scott Macaulay

I haven’t done one of these in a while — a roundup of a few things I’ve stored in my Instapaper for weekend readings.

As the year goes on, Melancholia is emerging as my favorite film of 2011. Part of the reason, I think, is that the discourse about it is becoming more and more interesting. Whereas Von Trier’s Cannes comments dominated the dialogue following its opening, now not just critics but viewers are grappling with the film’s meanings. From the Occupied Territories Tumblr comes “Depression, Melancholia, and Me: Lars Von Trier’s Politics of Displeasure,” an extraordinary essay in which the author explains the film through the prism of depressive understanding. There are many great passages to highlight, but here’s one:

Melancholia is for me a work of solidarity, articulating a politics of displeasure, depression, and unhappiness. Think of how we could change society if only we rejected all of its shallow claims on our wellbeing and attempts to instill in us a belief in consumerism as a panacea. All people who do not conform to the norms of society stand only to gain from this act of subversion, and many of them have already come to realize that sometimes there is nothing more oppressive than an idea of happiness, however well-intentioned, that shackles rather than liberates us. In order for us to really change society, we must start by examining what we need in order to be happy, truly happy according to our deepest selves rather than merely contented and pacified by cheap thrills. Like Justine, we must come to realize that this process is rooted in this politics of displeasure, of an acceptance of unhappiness and an embrace of depression. Justine may appear more melancholic than ever in the film’s final half, but there is sturdy, noble truth in her suffering because she has rejected the need to conform or the delusion that someone like her could pretend to be someone she’s not. It’s a first step toward honest self-acceptance.

At this blog, Andrew Sullivan links to four articles about the film, including a review by Francis X. … Read the rest

HALLOWEEN SHORT: LARS VON TRIER’S “OCCUPATIONS”

By Scott Macaulay

Here’s the ultimate “don’t talk in the movie theater” short by Lars Von Trier.

Occupations – short film by Lars von Trier by vahea… Read the rest

FALL ’11 ISSUE ONLINE

By Jason Guerrasio

Select stories from our Fall issue are now available.

You can now read online our interviews with Melancholia‘s Lars von Trier (before announcing he would no longer give interviews), Sean Durkin and Elizabeth Olsen chat about Martha Marcy May Marlene, we get biblical about The Catechism Cataclysm with thoughts from the Reverend Megan Hollaway and we look at what film schools need to achieve to be relevant in the future.

Plus, the Culture Hacker and Industry Beat columns.

The issue hits stands next week, but you can read it now on your desktop by subscribing to our digital issue. Learn more here.… Read the rest

COLLISION COURSE

By Zachary Wigon

Though Lars von Trier’s mouth gets him into trouble, the Dane’s incredible story-telling talents are well under control. Melancholia, his latest, is a masterfully beguiling tale of sisters, depression and the end of the world. By Zachary Wigon

“TAKE SHELTER” — A HAMMER TO NAIL REVIEW

By Michael Tully

(Before world premiering in the dramatic competition at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, Take Shelter was picked up by Sony Classics. It went on to win the Grand Prize at Critics Week, as well as the FIPRESCI Prize, in Cannes. It opens theatrically in New York City and Los Angeles on Friday, September 30, 2011. Visit the official website to learn more.)

[***DISCLAIMER: I am very good friends with several of the key collaborators involved with the Take Shelter production. Ordinarily, I would absolve myself from writing a review based on far more tenuous connections, but in this particular case, I can’t help myself. I’m fully confident that I would feel the exact same way if I didn’t know anyone associated with the making of this great movie—see: above awards; read: other glowing reactions.***]

When it comes to the movies in 2011, the end of the world seems to be on everybody’s mind. At the 49th New York Film Festival alone, at least three of the main slate selections are about the planet’s last days: Lars von Trier’s Melancholia, Bela Tarr’s The Turin Horse, and Abel Ferrara’s 4:44 Last Day On Earth. It’s a shame, then, that the very best one of them all, Jeff Nichols’ Take Shelter, wasn’t included in the NYFF program. Perhaps its September 30th release date precluded it from making the cut? Let’s just assume that’s the reason and move on.

Take Shelter is a modern American masterpiece. Nichols’ fusion of everyday, real world concerns with a classical approach to storytelling and cinema does more than just distinguish him from the rest of his peers. While he displayed a confidence and control in his pitch-perfect debut feature Shotgun Stories, Take Shelter finds Nichols working on an altogether more accomplished level. In light of Hurricane Irene—to name just one recent natural calamity—and the continually shrinking economy, this film couldn’t be timelier. (On a sort of side note, distributor Sony Classics has proven to have trouble reaching mainstream audiences with the [non-Woody Allen] American narratives it has picked up in the past … Read the rest

THE MICROBUDGET CONVERSATION: THE NO-BUDGET WAY

By John Yost

I am overwhelmed and excited by the response from our last post…this truly is the conversation in action, and the reason I wanted to start this column. We also just got the word that our panel for SXSW is up on their site and ready to vote for. If you want to see us bring the conversation to SXSW then vote here! Many thanks in advance!
In keeping with the idea of necessity and budget constraints from Nicole’s piece, I present to you with Mark Stolaroff. Mark is the fella behind the No-Budget Film School in L.A. and he’s here to get you hooked on the no-budget philosophy. No Budget is about to start another round of classes with a number of great names attached. He’s even got the filmmakers of Bellflower, which tells me that not only is he up-to-date on what’s happening in our industry but he also has good taste.

I imagine that most people who take my “Art & Science of No-Budget Filmmaking” class already have a project that they know they want to make and because they don’t have the necessary money to make it, are trying to figure out how to make it for less. That means they’re coming in with a film that should cost, let’s say $200,000, and they’re trying to figure out — they’re hoping I can instruct them — how to make it for, say, $50,000. These numbers obviously vary, but the thought process is the same. I also imagine that for these folks, the first couple of hours of my class may seem like a waste of time. This is the “philosophy” part. The introduction to the introduction. The part of the cooking show where the chef tells you how he came to like the dish and the importance of each ingredient, as opposed to cracking some eggs and sautéing some mushrooms.

Now, I will say to those of you who have never taken my class that I DO cover the cracking of the eggs. As someone who on multiple occasions has had to take a higher-budget film and make it for … Read the rest

VON TRIER AT CANNES: FRENCH HYPOCRISY AT ITS WORST

By Howard Feinstein

The controversy that has resulted in the Cannes Film Festival — which shows itself to be the spineless tool of a government uniquely, like many of its citizens, obsessed with self-image — declaring Lars von Trier persona non grata on account of his comments that began with his  upbringing as a Jew is a despicable, hypocritical mountain made from a molehill. (Would The Producers be banned here? Hardly. Will I lose my accreditation in the future for writing this? I would not put it past them.) 

Laws about expressing antisemitism are strict here (six months in prison, clearly related to the extensive collaboration by the French with the Nazis). Indeed France is one of two western European countries, the other being Holland, that lost the highest proportion of their Jewish population, frequently with the assistance of non-Jewish civilians — and by most accounts, antisemitism is rampant in contemporary France (although they like to blame it on Muslim immigrants; I’ve lived and worked in France, and experienced anti-semitism for the first time here).

Compare France’s Vichy track record with von Trier’s native Denmark, which was also under Nazi occupation (but hardly collaborative): Not only did the Danes save virtually all of their Jews (boating them to Sweden in the middle of the night), but when the Germans demanded that all Danish Jews wear a yellow star, the country’s king came out in public with one sewn on his jacket.

At the press confererence here, von Trier noted his discovery that he turned out not really to be a Jew (his biological father was not the dad he had at home, not that it matters, especially in a religion/culture in which the mother’s religion determines whether the offspring is Jewish), and is, in fact, of German extraction. (Nu? You expect a normal response from this unique talent?). And certainly, his jokes about Hitler and Jews and Israelis were inappropriate for a press conference, although they were unscripted, off the cuff, without ill intention. (Some of it was spoken kindly at the podium with co-protagonist and von Trier regular Charlotte Gainsbourg… Read the rest

LARS VON TRIER IS CANNES’ “PERSONA NON GRATA”

By Scott Macaulay

I missed the Wednesday morning Melancholia screening, having to moderate a table at the Producers Network breakfast the same time, but afterwards I happened to catch a snippet of the press conference. I tweeted a few comments, namely ones in which the director talked about this relationship with the film’s d.p., who started the project by telling him not to behave like so many “old or middle-aged directors and make [his actresses] younger and more naked.” “Don’t tell me that,” Von Trier said he told the cinematographer. Watching press conferences on those little TVs in the basement of the Palais is always kind of boring, so I went to explore the market… and missed the pyrotechnics that followed.

By now, you’ve undoubtedly read this elsewhere, but in the event that you haven’t… The Danish director has been officially declared “persona non grata” by the Cannes Film Festival for comments made during the press conference concerning Hitler and Nazism. (These comments followed a question about von Trier’s recently discovered German ancestry and began with a swipe against fellow Danish director Susanne Bier, and grew progressively dicier in the logorrhea that followed.) I don’t know enough about Von Trier’s relationship with Bier to know what he was initially trying to do here…

His comments:

For a long time I thought I was a Jew and I was happy to be a Jew, then I met Susanne Bier, and I wasn’t so happy. But then I found out I was actually a Nazi. My family was German. And that also gave me some pleasure. What can I say? I understand Hitler. I think he did some wrong things, yes absolutely, but I can see him sitting in his bunker in the end. I think I understand the man. He’s not what you would call a good guy, but I understand much about him and I sympathise with him a little bit. I don’t mean I’m in favor of World War II and I’m not against Jews, not even Susanne Bier. In fact I’m very much in favor of them. All Jews. Well, Israel

… Read the rest