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A season of Haneke at the BFI

25 November 2009 5:48 AM, PST | Twitch | See recent Twitch news »

With so much praise being piled on Michael Haneke's latest meticulous work, The White Ribbon, it's a great time to reassess some of his back catalogue - and in what better way than on a big screen at the BFI. London's Southbank complex is hosting a season of the Austrian's work from today until 17th December, screening Funny Games Us, Hidden, The Seventh Continent, Time of the Wolf, and of course, The White Ribbon. Haneke's fastidious compositions and lengthy takes demand theatrical viewing to fully absorb, so it's a rare and rather special opportunity for fans and sceptics alike.

You can buy tickets here.

»

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Liff 09: Review of Dogtooth

16 November 2009 4:39 PM, PST | QuietEarth.us | See recent QuietEarth news »

Year: 2009

Directors: Giorgos Lanthimos

Writers: Giorgos Lanthimos & Efthymis Filippou

IMDb: link

Trailer: link

Review by: projectcyclops

Rating: 8 out of 10

Dogtooth is, in many respects, exactly the kind of film we like here at QuietEarth. It’s dark, inventive, amusing and also pretty ambitious. It concerns one of the weirdest families ever put on screen - a husband and wife who keep their three children confined to the house and high-walled garden of their estate; insisting that the outside world is in chaos, and that they cannot leave until their ‘Dogtooth’ (incisor) has fallen-out and been replaced, something we know will never happen…

The kids ages range from about 16 to 21, although it’s not made clear as the three of them; two girls and one boy, act like young children anyway. The quick tempered patriarch sets them tasks and games to keep them busy, rewarding them with the household currency of fun-stickers. »

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The Auteurs Daily: Toronto and Nyff. The White Ribbon

13 October 2009 12:38 PM, PDT | The Auteurs | See recent The Auteurs news »

"As is the case with several films in this year's New York Film Festival, Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon exemplifies the pleasures and drawbacks of auteurism," begins Eric Hynes in Reverse Shot. "On one hand, familiarity with Haneke's (or Denis's or Dumont's or Breillat's or Resnais's or Rivette's) filmography deepens our understanding of his latest film. We can see patterns, hear rhymes and echoes, obsess over variations, while monitoring the path of a larger career arc - the director's progress and maturation. On the other hand, we're all too familiar with what's in store. Viewed in relation to previous work, new films can seem not so new. They are too familiar. Which side gets the upper hand largely depends on one's appreciation or affection for the filmmaker (and filmmaking project) in question. Even indefatigable auteurists, for whom pattern itself - rather than the meaning of the revisited gesture or theme - is sacrosanct, »

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Fantastic Fest: Uwe Boll, Auteur

5 October 2009 11:44 AM, PDT | ifc.com | See recent IFC news »

Two things spread quickly at film festivals: upper respiratory tract infections and buzz. And the buzz spreading around Fantastic Fest last week was that the impossible had happened: that Uwe Boll, the infamous director of notoriously (and, at times, enjoyably) terrible films like "Alone in the Dark" and "BloodRayne," had made a good movie. Film School Rejects declared Boll's new film "Rampage" "sick, violent, and fun"; /Film called it "not just good in comparison to the rest of his filmography, but a good movie in its own right."

Usually Boll's movies aren't just bad, they're splendidly bad. They're lazily plotted, haphazardly shot and confusingly edited, and yet, somehow, in the alchemical confluence of all that badness they take on a certain transcendent magic. Many of his past efforts were financed through a now-defunct German tax shelter that, if I understand it correctly, only required independent film investors to pay taxes »

- Matt Singer

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David Cronenberg to Direct His Own Remake of The Fly

24 September 2009 9:00 AM, PDT | FilmJunk | See recent FilmJunk news »

David Cronenberg's The Fly has been on the remake block for at least a couple of years now, along with several other Cronenberg flicks including Videodrome [1] and Scanners [2] (much to the dismay of horror fans everywhere). This week, however, THR's Risky Biz Blog [3] brings us word that Fox may have finally found a director for the remake that fans can actually get behind: David Cronenberg himself! That's right, despite the fact that Cronenberg had previously stated that he had no desire to take part in a remake (he wasn't involved in The Fly II either), he has apparently had a change of heart. Did his recent work on a Paris opera adaptation of The Fly rekindle some interest? A lot of people are grouping this in as part of a new trend where directors have been remaking their own work; for example, Michael Haneke's Funny Games, and Takashi Shimizu's The Grudge. »

- Sean

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Cronenberg Working on 'The Fly', Again

23 September 2009 9:15 PM, PDT | CinemaSpy | See recent CinemaSpy news »

One of David Cronenberg’s most well-known movies could be getting a reboot...by David Cronenberg.

The Fly, which the Canadian auteur wrote and shot for Fox in 1986, was itself a remake of Kurt Neumann’s science-fiction classic. But critics lauded Cronenberg’s film for being, they claimed, an allegory about AIDS, and the movie clearly struck a chord: it earned $40M at the box office and helped make stars out of Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis.

Goldblum played Seth Brundle, an eccentric scientist experimenting with how to teleport living creatures. He uses himself as a guinea pig, but when a fly enters the teleporter, Brundle’s DNA gets altered and his body begins mutating—in miraculous, then grotesque ways. Davis starred as his partner and love interest Veronica.

In the past, Cronenberg said he was not interested in remaking The Fly, but clearly he has changed his opinion. Lately, »

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David Cronenberg Remaking The Fly

23 September 2009 8:23 PM, PDT | cinemablend.com | See recent Cinema Blend news »

We're very used to bemoaning remakes of classic films, but it's something completely different to see a filmmaker, a respected filmmaker at that, participate in a remake of his own movie. Somehow, in some way, David Cronenberg has been sucked into that trap. According to THR, Cronenberg has signed on to remake The Fly, the 1986 movie in which Jeff Goldblum turns into, well, a fly. Yeah, sure, Alfred Hitchcock remade The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Michael Haneke decided he needed to specifically punish Americans when he made an English-language version of Funny Games. But Cronenberg has always seemed like a filmmaker who moves forward, not the kind who revisits his own work. He should consider himself lucky he's not out promoting any movies at the moment, because otherwise he'd be faced with a litany of geek questions that would never, ever end. »

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Fabrice Du Welz Lines Up More

12 September 2009 | shocktillyoudrop.com | See recent shocktillyoudrop news »

Belgian director Fabrice Du Welz ( Calvaire , Vinyan ) has lined up his next project and it will find him working on U.S. soil. Described as "another exploration of the world of madness," the psychological thriller is called More and he's pulled in Brad Corbet ( Funny Games ) to star. Du Welz will re-team with director of photography Benoit Debie. Shooting is expected to begin in the U.S. in March. Du Welz tells ShockTillYouDrop.com he can't reveal plot details at this time, however, "It's based on real event, it's gonna be extreme and it's happens in the art world in New York." More is penned by newcomer Zachary Wigon and is being produced by Alex Mar and Nicholas Shumaker of Empire 8 Productions, in conjunction with Michael Gentile of Paris-based... »

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Int'l Trailer for Haneke's Palme D'Or Winning 'White Ribbon'

14 August 2009 3:03 PM, PDT | Rope of Silicon | See recent Rope Of Silicon news »

My personal experience with Austrian helmer Michael Haneke is basically zero. Outside of catching his remake of his very own Funny Games last year (which I hated) I haven't seen any of his films although much of his works has been well received, such as his upcoming release, the Cannes Film Festival Palme D'Or winner The White Ribbon set for a limited December 30 release from Sony Pictures Classics. The film ceners on the strange events happening at a rural school in the north of Germany during the year 1913, which seem to be ritual punishment. Does this affect the school system, and how does the school have an influence on fascism? Check out the international trailer directly below and see what you think. Any Haneke fans out there that have any suggestions where I should start when it comes to the helmer's prior works? »

- Brad Brevet

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Del Toro sends Larry Fessenden to 'The Orphanage'

5 August 2009 | ioncinema | See recent ioncinema news »

- This is the kind of move that will definitely kick up a career a notch. Longtime low budget horror filmmaker and producer (and actor!) Larry Fessenden (The Last Winter) will slide into the director's chair for New Line Cinema's remake of the popular Spanish The Orphanage. A friend and fellow horror fan to Guillermo del Toro, THR reports that Fessenden actually wrote the script with Mexican filmmaker. New Line quickly picked up the rights in September of 2007 on the tale about a woman who takes over the orphanage where she was raised to open a home for disabled children. Then her young son begins to play with the same imaginary friend who terrorized her when she was a child.In order for this film to have a shot at success, I think that not only do we need a title change here, but we need Fessenden and del »

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'A Perfect Getaway' To Certain Doom: Hollywood's Deadly Vacation Escapes

4 August 2009 2:00 PM, PDT | MTV Movies Blog | See recent MTV Movies Blog news »

Milla Jovovich and Steve Zahn are in for the honeymoon of a lifetime when their trip to Hawaii turns deadly in director David Twohy's "A Perfect Getaway." Their holiday escape is anything but when they find out there are psychopaths stalking and murdering tourists on the Pacific islands.

Honestly, what were they expecting? Didn’t they know that tropical locations are a known hot-spot for homicidal maniacs? We’ve put together the honeymoon planner’s kit detailing locations avoid if you’re not a fan of taking an axe to the face.

The tropics: Jovovich and Zahn weren’t the first couple to make the mistake of thinking a tropical vacation was a good romantic getaway. The employee’s of Coconut Pete's Coconut Beach Resort tried to protect their paradise for swingers from marauding serial killer with a grudge, quickly earning the resort it's nickname: "Club Dread." Josh Duhamel »

- Terri Schwartz

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Saw VII and a sequel to The Strangers are in the works

24 July 2009 4:37 PM, PDT | The Scorecard Review | See recent Scorecard Review news »

Oh, you are mighty tricky, Jigsaw. And Strangers? Just get out.

A seventh Saw movie has just been greenlit by super hit-makers Lionsgate, according to Variety. While the sixth installment of the torture for redemption franchise is due in theaters October 23rd, the next sequel is aiming to start shooting next January.

David Hackl, who was production designer for Saw II, Saw III, and Saw IV, and also directed the oh-so wonderful Saw V, will helm Saw VII. Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton, who wrote Saw IV, Saw V and now Saw VI will sit down at their gold-plated typewriter for Saw VII. (Golly, would it kill this franchise to consider at least using a subtitle?)

Oren Koules and Mark Burg, producers of the six movies of the franchise, will continue to do so.

As if that news didn’t whet your thirst for blood, fans of last year’s »

- Nick Allen

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Sequel To The Strangers Planned

23 July 2009 10:14 PM, PDT | EmpireOnline | See recent EmpireOnline news »

Part of a mini-trend for home invasion movies, with films like Funny Games and Them, The Strangers scared the wiggins out of anyone who ever answered a ring on the doorbell late at night. It also made $80million on a $9million budget, so it should come as no surprise to learn that Strangers 2 is on its way.The film film, written and directed by Bryan Bertino, saw Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman terrorised by masked visitors to their house. This new film's plot is still under wraps, but we're betting that it also involves masks and uninvited guests.Bertino also wrote this sequel, but this time directorial duties will be handed over to French commercials and music video director Laurent Briet, who's no stranger to horror after contributing visual effects to The Ring. Whether that means that this second film will have a more supernatural bent remains to be seen, »

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Movie Deadpool To Break Fourth Wall, Talk To The Audience

3 July 2009 11:00 AM, PDT | Slash Film | See recent Slash Film news »

Ryan Reynolds has told Empire that he's insistent on Deadpool's habit of breaking of the fourth wall to carry over from the comics to the big screen. That means, in effect, that Deadpool/Wade Wilson will sometimes address the audience directly, as with Ferris Bueller, say, or the character of Paul in Funny Games. Other forms of metahumour have cropped up in the Deadpool comics, with him occasionally making explicit reference to his being a Marvel comics character. I'll give you a handful of examples after the break. Deadpool's first metareference apparently came in the fourth issue of his ongoing series. Writer Joe Kelly not only had Deapool 'sing' the theme tune to the Hulk TV show, in reference to a plot development involving the jolly green one, he also had the characters give a plot recap as though directly to the reader. When future issues needed recaps »

- Brendon Connelly

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The Seventh Continent

25 June 2009 2:00 AM, PDT | Latemag.com/film | See recent LateFilmFull news »

After many years directing films for television, Funny Games director, Michael Haneke, made his debut with what is the first in the trilogy of his “emotional glaciation” films. 1989’s The Seventh Continent makes stylistically and thematically explicit the nature of his filmmaking in what is a work which, as you can glean from the trilogy linkage, a bleak and haunting piece. This “based on a true story” film places a family as the subject of a subdued and paradoxically pointed social commentary drama, where the mundanity of modern life proves insufferable as the film breaks to be a familial and societal horror story.

Husband Georg (Dieter Berner), wife Anna (Birgit Doll) and daughter Eva (Leni Tanzer) are the family unit living a middle-class existence in suburban Austria. Their lives are that of conformity, aided by the usual trappings of modern living. The parents both work and Eva goes to school. »

- Fiona

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Paul Haggis Remaking French Drama

2 June 2009 11:41 AM, PDT | cinemablend.com | See recent Cinema Blend news »

In general, I'm willing to give Paul Haggis a chance. I hated Crash, along with most everyone else I know and respect, but I heard good things about the little-seen In the Valley of Elah, and there's a lot to say for scripts like Million Dollar Baby and Casino Royale. But I have to draw the line on The Next Three Days, Haggis' next writing and directing project, a remake of the French film Pour Elle that basically seems to be one section of Crash, drawn out to feature length. Variety writes that the story is about a couple " finding themselves in an unthinkable situation and having to make desperate choices that will test the limits of love and alter their lives forever." Sure, that plot description could describe Michael Haneke's Funny Games. But it could also be Terrence Howard and Thandie Newton's characters from Crash, people who »

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Haneke wins Palme d'Or at Cannes

24 May 2009 6:04 PM, PDT | digitalspy | See recent digitalspy news »

Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon won the Palme d'Or at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival on Sunday. Haneke edged out top contenders including Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, the Pedro Almodovar-helmed Broken Embraces and Isabel Coixet's Map Of The Sounds Of Tokyo for the acclaimed film prize. The Austrian director's previous movies include The Piano Teacher, Hidden and Funny Games. Accepting the award, Haneke said: "Sometimes my (more) »

- By Marcell Minaya

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Sony Classics Buys Haneke's Latest Effed-Up Movie

13 May 2009 5:15 PM, PDT | Cinematical | See recent Cinematical news »

Sony Pictures Classics didn't waste any time hob-nobbin' on la Croisette or catching a 3D showing of Up before buying shelling out some francs for new movies on the opening day of Cannes. Spc snatched up Michael Haneke's latest discomfort-fest The White Ribbon (which is also in competition for the Palme d'Or), as well as the dramatic romance Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky. According to IMDb, The White Ribbon's plot is as follows:

"Strange events happen at a rural school in the north of Germany during the year 1913, which seem to be ritual punishment. Does this affect the school system, and how does the school have an influence on fascism?" Creepy!

The official Cannes site has more information:

"A village in Protestant northern Germany. 1913-1914. On the eve of World War I. The story of the children and teenagers of a choir run by the village schoolteacher, and their families: the baron, »

- Jenni Miller

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Spc Places 'Ribbon' around Haneke

13 May 2009 | ioncinema | See recent ioncinema news »

- Part of the double acquisition announcement made by Spc, the company have also re-teamed with Michael Haneke for The White Ribbon (Das weiße Band). The company had distributed Haneke's Cache back in 2005. The B&W picture might actually be a departure in style for the director - from what I can tell: The White Ribbon is a period piece that might contain a more "traditional" plotline which I'll be in a position to prove or disprove since I'm seeing it sometime this week. The European co-production is set up just prior to the start of Wwi, where the quiet life of a small German village is mysteriously eroded by a series of inexplicable events. The press release reminds us that it is Haneke’s fifth Cannes competition appearance: Funny Games, Code Unknown, The Piano Teacher, Cache all made it to the Croisette. ... »

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Brother, Can You Spare Some Eggs?

25 March 2009 7:30 AM, PDT | FilmExperience | See recent FilmExperience news »

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Ja from Mnpp here, gently tapping on the screen door to Film Experience headquarters, politely requesting some eggs for your neighbors. Nevermind the white gloves, can I just have the eggs? Please? Thank you. Oh your cat jumped up on me, Nat, and I dropped the eggs. Can I have the other ones? I see them right there. You can go to the store tomorrow. No I am not being rude. No, I will not leave without the eggs.

Hey everybody, sorry about that, but... Nat's not gonna be here today! He's... preoccupied. Much like Susanne Lothar (sidenote: who else adores Susanne Lothar?) and Naomi Watts before him, he's... preoccupied.

But I'm here! Ready, willing, full-bodied, able, to guide you through your Wednesday. And it's funny that I brought up Michael Haneke's dueling Funny Games pictures here because I actually mean to speak a bit about the "Home Invasion »

- JA

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