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New Cinema Wallpaper of the Day
Tuesday, July 7, 2009

I saw the The Wolberg Family (La famille Wolberg; Variety Review) at the recent 62nd Cannes Film Festival in May. What peaked my interest was that it had been drawing from its initial word of mouth a comparison to Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums (one of my favorite films this decade). The Wolberg Family while being a dark and quirk family melodrama really doesn’t exist in the same universe as Tenenbaums and going into it expecting that would take you down the wrong path. The Wolberg Family is a sobering, intimate and non-rushed family melodrama that perfectly works its way to what is perhaps the most touching endings of any film I’ll see this year. As a small and intimate melodrama and character study of a father and daughter relationship it shines brightly and touches deeply. I’m as foreign to father and daughter relationships as the come but here in the way Axelle Ropert portrays it onscreen it couldn’t feel more emotionally vivid, human and honest. In melodramas I’m often used to a more homogenized system of relationships and characters, which thankfully the Wolberg family feels carefully planned out as human movie characters struggling with each other and the obstacles in life. And yes there are some very quirky moments and laughs throughout.

Francois Damiens hits all the right notes as the father Simon in a complex role where he needs to not only come to terms with himself but also with his wife Marianne played by Valerie Benguigui and his daughter Delphine played by Leopoldine Serre. In the early going Simon is a tough character to crack or get into and then as it unfolds writer and director Axelle Ropert keeps peeling back the layers and broadening its symphony song of life, redemption and family. Highly recommended!

The Wolberg Family (2009)

Simon … Francois Damiens
Marianne … Valerie Benguigui
Delphine … Leopoldine Serre
Benjamin … Valentin Vigourt
Le Grand-Pere … Jean-Luc Bideau
L’Homme Blond … Jocelyn Quivrin

Statement from Writer/Director Axelle Ropert

A few years ago, at the side of a road on Belle-Isle, I met a little boy and his mother coming back from the beach, their cheeks red, sand between their toes. It was the end of the day but the late August sun was still strong. The little boy, who was walking ahead of his mother, turned and called impatiently to her, “Mummy, why don’t you walk next to me?” His mother answered calmly, “So that my shadow will protect you from the sun, sweetheart.” They carried on walking, one behind the other, as I stopped to watch.

La Famille Wolberg is a family melodrama, a genre that asks questions whose simplicity I find particularly attractive: what is a family man, how can a man and a woman stay together for years, how can you let your children go and how can you leave your father and mother? The protective shadow that parents cast over their children and that these same children will flee one day or another will perhaps shelter this film.

SYNOPSIS

He can make an amazing speech on American soul music to astounded school kids, meddle in the private life of his fellow citizens or even make his 18-year-old daughter swear that never, ever, will she leave the family home. This man’s name is Simon Wolberg, mayor of a small provincial town, madly in love with his wife, an invasive father and a provocative son! This man is driven by his obsession with his family. It causes him to put these bonds to the test, checking their strength and fragility…

Related Coverage:
::: Cinema is Dope: Best of the 62nd Cannes Film Festival

Image Source:
Official stills used in the original international release.

Related Links:
::: IMDb Profile

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New Cinema Wallpaper of the Day
Sunday, June 7, 2009

Note that BBC Warner will be releasing seasons 1-3 of The Mighty Boosh on DVD in the US on July 21st (each retails around $20-$30).

I had no plans at all to write or say anything publicly about Bunny and the Bull but seeing as how the cat is already out of the bag online about this one… well here goes! I’ve already noted that REC 2 was my favorite promo reel that I saw at Cannes this year. The second best promo reel that I saw while there was for Bunny and the Bull. I knew it was from the Mighty Boosh (wiki) team going into it and then it certainly seemed like an indie comedy that could work, but just how much would it work within the confines of the leap from TV? The answer was damn near perfectly. The technical specs and look of everything was sensational. There was no TV look to be found anywhere with everything I saw looking beyond polished Gondry surreal and decadent. Even better while it was these grand beautiful realized worlds of reality and fantasy onscreen (lensed cinematographer John Sorapure who is next working on the Tony Hawk film Round Ireland with a Fridge) it was also equally as humorous and engaging. Images above look much grainier then how the film itself look and are in no way representative of how it will appear on screen.

This one should have much broader appeal that extends well beyond the fan base of the television show. There seemed to be some skepticism for how this road movie set within a single location (a flat) could actually work and I can safely say once you start seeing trailers for this one any fears you have will be out the window. Don’t let the single location thing fool you as there will plenty of places, worlds and different forms of reality explored. It’s press releases state not oly does it have some Gondry inspiration but it also will be a… “Withnail & I for the mentally ill” along with a dash of the film “Sideways.” It’s not far fetched to think this very well might be in most best of 2009 film lists when all is said and done. I myself cannot wait to see the full entire film as the near 10 plus minute promo reel made me wishing I could have seen the entire film then and there.

Paul King who directed all the episodes of the TV series is at the helm both writing and directing with this marking his debut feature film.

Related Coverage:
::: Official Bunny and the Bull Twitter Account
::: Must Read Paul King Interview via Mighty Boosh Fan Site Forum
::: The Mighty Boosh Fan Site

Synopsis:

Warning some small spoilers (if you want to go completely fresh into this one, don’t read any further)

BUNNY & THE BULL is a road movie set entirely in a flat. Stephen Turnbull (Edward Hogg) hasn’t left the house in months. When an infestation of mice wreaks havoc on his precious routine, he finds his mind hurtling back to the disastrous trek round Europe he undertook the previous year with his best friend Bunny (Simon Farnaby).

It all began with a feeble attempt to declare his feelings in a hokey Captain Crab restaurant. Stephen is devastated to discover that the great love of his life has put him firmly in “the friend zone“. Bunny proposes that they go on holiday, determined to do something about “those walloping great space-hoppers” that Stephen has “clanging around in his pants“.

At the local bookies, Stephen breaks the habit of a lifetime and takes a risk, putting fifty quid on a rank outsider. With the winnings, they launch themselves into a debauched road trip where they stumble upon a demented dog-loving tramp (Julian Barratt), an alcoholic ex-matador (Noel Fielding) and a quite astonishingly dull tour-guide (Richard Ayoade).

But it is the superstitious waitress Eloisa (Veronica Echegui) who steals their hearts. An unlikely love triangle develops which propels them from the industrial wastelands of Poland to the haunting bull fields of Spain, where we finally reach the heart of Bunny & the Bull.

A year later, Stephen’s flat becomes the springboard for an extraordinary journey through his memory. Like Alice in Wonderland, he finds himself on a voyage through psychedelic lands made up of snapshots and souvenir replica landmarks, newspapers and old clock parts.

Combining the visual inventiveness of Michel Gondry and the bittersweet comedy of “Sideways“, BUNNY & THE BULL is a “Withnail & I” for the mentally ill – a funny, touching, beautiful and utterly unique journey to the end of the room.

Alternate Synopsis:

BUNNY & THE BULL, the feature film debut from writer / director Paul King (The Mighty Boosh) will be released later this year.

BUNNY & THE BULL is a comedy road movie set entirely in a flat. Stephen Turnbull hasn’t been outside in months, and when he finds his mind hurtling back to the disastrous trek around Europe he undertook with his friend Bunny a catalogue of adventures unfold. Stephen’s flat becomes the springboard for an extraordinary odyssey through lands made up of snapshots and souvenir replica landmarks within his imagination. BUNNY & THE BULL is a touching and beautiful journey to the end of the room.

A Warp X production, BUNNY & THE BULL stars Edward Hogg (White Lightnin’, Brothers of the Head), Simon Farnaby (The Mighty Boosh, Jam and Jerusalem) and Veronica Echegui (El Patio de mi Carcel, Yo soy la Juani). Julian Barratt, Noel Fielding and Richard Ayoade also appear in supporting roles. BUNNY & THE BULL is due for release in Summer 2009.

Edward Hogg recently appeared in the Sunday Times Culture section, in a piece about up and coming leading men.

BUNNY & THE BULL is produced by Mary Burke (A Complete History of My Sexual Failures, Rubber Johnny), with Mark Herbert (This is England, Dead Man’s Shoes) and Robin Gutch (Hunger, Executive Producer Death of a President, Touching the Void).

Writer/director Paul King works in both TV and theatre, specializing in comedy. He directed Garth Marenghi’s Fright Knight and Netherhead, winner of the 2001 Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival and was associate director of the Channel 4 series Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace. He directed Noel Fielding’s Perrier nominated show Voodoo Hedgehog, before directing all three series of The Mighty Boosh and their live tour shows in 2006 and 2008.

Producer Mary Burke works across both Warp Films and Warp X slates. In 2007, she produced A Complete History of my Sexual Failures for Chris Waitt and is associate producing Fur TV, a comedy TV series currently in production with Warp Films for MTV, also directed by Waitt. Mary produced Rubber Johnny for Chris Cunningham in 2005. Her credits include BAFTA award-winning short My Wrongs 8245-8249 and 117 (Chris Morris), Dead Man’s Shoes and This Is England (Shane Meadows).

Related Coverage:
::: Cinema is Dope: Best of the 62nd Cannes Film Festival

Image Source:
Official stills that were used in the original international release of the film.

Related Links:
::: IMDb Profile

Vintage Movie Wallpaper of the Day
Sunday, August 10, 2008

Pulp Fiction is hands down one of my all-time favorite films, which seems odd that I’ve met both stars here in this still. With films you love above all others when you come across someone from that film it’s quite remarkable. It’s not about their fame or any of that nonsense, it’s purely about being a diehard cinephile in love with great cinema and eternally indebted for those that make it happen.

Amazon.com Link:
Buy the Pulp Fiction (Two-Disc Collector’s Edition DVD)

Image Source:
Official issued still that was used in its original USA release.

Related Links:
::: IMDb Profile

Vintage Movie Wallpaper of the Day
Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Louis Black, Editor of the Austin Chronicle is the Paranoid Paper Reader in the 1991 cult Richard Linklater hit, Slacker.

One of the first things you will find yourself presented with if you ever move to Austin is the “SLACKER QUIZ.”

THE SLACKER QUIZ

1. HAVE YOU SEEN SLACKER?

2. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF SLACKER?

3. WHICH CHARACTER DO YOU MOST IDENTIFY WITH?

4. WHAT DO YOU THINK THIS MOVIE SAYS ABOUT AUSTIN?

5. HAS AUSTIN CHANGED?

6. HAVE YOU EVER HAD A DAY WHERE YOU THOUGHT YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED AT THE BUS STATION?

Amazon.com Link:
Buy the Slacker – Criterion Collection DVD

Image Source:
Official issued still that was used in its original USA release.

Related Links:
::: IMDb Profile