THE PANDEMIC STREAMING WORLD: Oscilloscope, Kino Lorber, Music Box Films

[Chris Knipp]

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THE INFLITRATORS

Further Oscilloscope news.
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INFILTRATORS release delayed; OSCILLOSCOPE SPECIAL RELEASE; KINO LORBER and MUSIC BOX FILMS streaming arrangement

THE INFLITRATORS, a radical documentary from Oscilloscope with staged elements about Several undocumented youths who deliberately get detained by the Border Patrol to infiltrate a for-profit detention center (directed by : Cristina Ibarra and Alex Rivera) was not released today as planned; it will be released on demand June 2, 2020.

OSCILLOSCOPE also plans an omnibus release to benefit indie filmmakers and entertain whose confined to sheltering at home. The distributor is offering a "Circle of Quarantine" of 10 digital downloads of its films for $49.99, donating $10 from every purchase to the Cinema Worker Solidarity Fund, to help those affected in the business. They're scrapping their theatrical expansion of SAINT FRANCES,, Alex Thompson & Kelly O'Sullivan's comedy about a nanny and a six-year-old.

Circle of Quarantine subscribers can choose any ten of Oscilloscopes from its deep catalog to download digitally for the $49,99 fee.

" OSCILLOSCOPE looks to innovate in ways to reach audiences safely in their homes," their publicity says: "The Circle of Quarantine is an attempt to bridge the social distance."

KINO LORBER and MUSIC BOX FILMS are making a different offer. They are releasing their movies to pay per view streaming systems which share the ticket purchase price with the movie theater of your choice. See the new home downloads available (:http://thefilmexperience.net/blog/2020/4/3/virtual-moviegoing-whats-new.html) for BACURAU, AND THEN WE DANCED, CORPUS CHRISTI, and THE WILD GOOSE LAKE.

An INDIEWIRE article lays out (https://www.indiewire.com/2020/04/streaming-wars-indie-streamers-new-distribution-world-1202222187/) the coolest streaming channels.

[Chris Knipp]

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See also the article in VARIETY, (https://variety.com/2020/film/news/movie-theaters-closed-coronavirus-virtual-cinemas-1203550005/) "In the Age of Coronavirus, Even Movie Theaters Learn to Love Streaming."

[Chris Knipp]

Jennifer Salke at Amazon's Culver Studios. Films that were slated for this year's canceled South by Southwest festival will appear exclusively on Amazon Prime Video for 10 days this spring. Filmmakers who choose to participate will receive a screening fee and could opt in starting Thursday.2 days ago

Probably this will be in April. See NPR (https://www.npr.org/2020/04/02/826393884/sxsw-film-festival-heads-to-amazon)

[Chris Knipp]

Vanity Fair has a new article,

All the New 2020 Movies Streaming Early Because of Coronavirus
(https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/03/onward-birds-of-prey-coronavirus-movies-streaming?itm_content=footer-recirc)
(This is in today's, April 13, 2020's, issue of the magazine's online "Cocktail Hour." You may have to sign in or sign up to access that page, but it's free.)

These are movies that came out before the coronavirus shutdowns in February or early March, and they were not well reviewed, nor would I recommend them, except for Emma (Metascore 71) or maybe The Way Back, which depicts a struggle with marrige and alcoholism close to its star's, Ben Affleck's actual experience (I have seen Emma but not The Way Back). Call of the Wild, Metascore 47%, hmm, Harrison Ford is fine in it, but they ruined it with the physically improbable sequences and the animatronic dog.

Titles listed, with details, on this page include:
The Hunt
Bad Boys for Life
The Gentleman
Doolittle
Birds of Prey
Sonic the Hedgehog
Call of the Wild
Onward
The Way Back
Bloodshot
I still Believe

You may have to look around. Sometimes it comes up that you have to pay $19.99, but others it's $5.99. Keep looking. I'd watch Emma again. It's beautiful, and not a complete mockery of the Jane Austen novel, as its breezy TRAILER (https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/amzn1.dv.gti.68b81ae6-cd3b-ceb7-31ab-b4cc55091dd5?autoplay=1) would have you think.

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[Chris Knipp]

THE INFILTRATORS.

The latest is that The Infiltrators will have a virtual cinema release Fri., May 1, 2020, and cable on demand/digital streaming release Tues., Jun. 2.

Here's the
TRAILER (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvSuyItYudk).

FILM FORUM VIRTUAL THEATER RELEASES.

For those interested in meaty new cinema releases outside the mainstream, Film Forum has a lot to offer. Here is their latest press release:
Film Forum Recent Releases for Home Rental. During the Theater’s Temporary Closing. Rental Fees Support Film Forum. Nearly all of these have been reviewed on Filmleaf.

THE BOOKSELLERS and WHAT SHE SAID: THE ART OF PAULINE KAEL Will Become Available Friday, April 17

Film Forum, New York City’s leading non-profit movie house for independent premieres and classic releases, is partnering with theatrical distributors to present a Virtual Cinema while the theater is temporarily closed. In most cases, this platform is the only way to see these titles. All rental fees support Film Forum.

Starting this Friday, April 17, two entertaining documentaries will become available – D.W. Young's THE BOOKSELLERS (Greenwich Entertainment), which had just opened theatrically in NYC prior to the lockdown order, and Rob Garver's WHAT SHE SAID: THE ART OF PAULINE KAEL (Juno Films). Premieres and re-releases currently available in Film Forum’s virtual cinema:
Kantemir Balagov’s lauded Russian post-WWII drama BEANPOLE (Kino Lorber)

Yaron Zilberman’s Israeli drama INCITEMENT (Greenwich Entertainment), based on the actual events surrounding the assassination of Yizthak Rabin

A 4K restoration of István Szabó's 1981 Oscar-winner MEPHISTO (Kino Lorber). Recommended. A rich saga.

Jan Komasa’s 2020 Best International Film Oscar nominee CORPUS CHRISTI (Film Movement). Oscar nominee. Recommended.

Ken Loach’s timely drama SORRY WE MISSED YOU (Zeitgeist Films in association with Kino Lorber). Depressing, but. . . It's Ken Loach.

Diao Yinan’s acclaimed Chinese noir THE WILD GOOSE LAKE (Film Movement) (NYFF 2019). Colorful, but not great.

Corneliu Porumboiu’s Romanian crime caper THE WHISTLERS (Magnolia Pictures) (NYFF 2019). Much admired. Did not like.

Luchino Visconti’s lush final film, L’INNOCENTE (Kino Lorber). Not his best, but beautiful. )

[oscar jubis]

Thanks Chris for your great contributions to our film culture. You are my source of information about current cinema. You do an excellent job.

[Chris Knipp]

Thank you for following my coverage. I hope you also consult other sources, though!

[Chris Knipp]

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Rita Wolf, Gordon Warnecke and Daniel Day-Lewis in My Beautiful Laundrette

Peter Bradshaw rates Stephen Frears's whole filmography.

Here are some great choices for your own pandemic streaming. The Guardian's Bradshaw is an indefatigable, enthusiastic, and concise movie critic. He's 95% reliable here and his thumbnail reviews are eloquent. Stephen Frears is a director you need to know if you don't already. Films #2-8 are must-sees, absolutely.

Click HERE (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/apr/16/every-stephen-frears-film-ranked?utm_term=RWRpdG9yaWFsX0ZpbG1Ub2RheS0yMDA0MT Y%3D&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=FilmToday&CMP=filmtoday_email)

My Beautiful Laundrette might be my favorite film of the 1980's. (Here's a recent tribute. (https://www.dailycal.org/2016/11/17/my-beautiful-launderette/)) The Grifters is one of the best of the 1990's. Dangerous Liaisons is superb - so smart, so exciting. I love Prick Up Your Ears. Many of the rest are very, very good. And others are watchable. And a few are not so great. Read Bradshaw's list.

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Glenn Close,John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer in Dangerous Liaisons

[Chris Knipp]

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From Bela Tarr's Satantango

More Film at Lincoln Center Virtual Cinema for this week

Sátántangó—Béla Tarr’s epic masterpiece opens tomorrow, April 17
A Film at Lincoln Center exclusive virtual run!

It's 7 1/2 hours long. I have a screener if I have the stamina to write about it. It will cost you $14.99 to watch it online.. Sign up HERE (https://vimeo.com/ondemand/satantangolincolncenter?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2020_04_16_Newsletter&utm_content=version_A).

It was shown at the NYFF last year and had a theatrical run in Oct. 2019. But I don't think you can watch it at home otherwise than this - or if you can get hold of the 3-disc French PAL DVD version, which sells for $135.

The Booksellers—D.W. Young’s acclaimed documentary opens tomorrow, April 17

This was the last new film I saw in New York before escaping, at the Quad. I didn't review it but if you love bookstores, you must see it. The virtual viewing costs $9.99. Set it up HERE (https://thebooksellers.vhx.tv/products/the-booksellers-for-film-at-lincoln-center?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2020_04_16_Newsletter&utm_content=version_A).

Highlights from Rendez-Vous with French Cinema are available for FREE on Festival Scope!

Festival Scope link (https://www.festivalscope.com/all/festival/rendez-vous-with-french-cinema/2020?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2020_04_16_Newsletter&utm_content=version_A)

I've reported on this and recently reviewed the two I had not seen, Jeanne (Bruno Dumont) and The Children of Isadora (Damien Manivel). The others are The Dazzled,, Prix Jean Vigo winner, and Burning Ghost, those two, somewhat lackluster in my view (despite the prize), I reviewed during the Rendez-Vous; see Filmleaf Festival Coverage (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?4746-Rendez-Vous-with-French-Cinema-2020&p=38058#post38058).

(These are no longer available.)

[Chris Knipp]

Selected virtual SXSW festival - ten new films and series free on Amazon Prime now HERE (https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/storefront/?contentType=merch&contentId=SXSW)

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SELFIE

As mentioned selections from this year's cancelled SXSW festival in Austin will air virtually, but my starting date was wrong. It begins next Monday, April 27. This will be on Amazon Prime, so if you have that service, it's all free for you.

You can search the entire originally scheduled festival PAGE HERE (https://schedule.sxsw.com/), but it lists no film events.

SXSW Virtual Festival to Launch on Amazon With 39 Films Over Nine Days (https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/sxsw-virtual-film-festival-launches-on-amazon-39-films-9-days-1234585986/)

Here's the story from Variety: (https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/sxsw-virtual-film-festival-launches-on-amazon-39-films-9-days-1234585986/#article-comments)


Courtesy of SXSW
Apr 21, 2020 10:05am PT
The 2020 SXSW Film Festival has set its virtual selection and screening dates on Amazon, garnering almost 40 shorts, features and episodic programs to participate in the digital workaround to coronavirus shutdowns.

The virtual festival will stream from April 27 through May 6, in front of the Amazon Prime paywall, meaning any user with an Amazon account can access the content.

"SXSW has always championed creators forging their own paths to success, often with just the right mix of passion, vision and radical experimentation to make their dreams happen," said Janet Pierson, SXSW director of film. "There is no one-size-fits-all, especially in these uncertain times, and we knew this opportunity would be of interest to those filmmakers who wanted to be in front of a large audience now."

SXSW was canceled by local government officials just a week before it was set to kick off in Austin, Texas, in March. Amazon stepped in shortly thereafter with a virtual pivot, which has generated some noise in the indie film community. Giving any Amazon user access to unsold, independently financed content for over a week was seen by many as a deterrent to buyers, who need exclusivity to motivate customers to watch new movies.

Participants in the virtual fest have received fees to screen their titles, but many are still seeking distribution.

Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke said her group understands that "every film has its own strategy and we know this opportunity may not make sense for every filmmaker. However, for those who want to share their stories right now and with as many people as possible, we’re excited to provide them this platform."

Notable films participating in the virtual festival include “My Darling Vivian” from director Matt Riddlehoover, about Johnny Cash’s first wife and the mother of his four daughters. The film includes never-before-seen footage, and appearances from Reese Witherspoon, Joaquin Phoenix, Tim Robbins, Whoopi Goldberg, John C. Reilly and more.

In addition to online panels and Q&As produced by SXSW, the streamer has also pledged to highlight Free the Work, a nonprofit run by "Honey Boy" director Alma Har’el. The group is dedicated to identifying systemic inequalities in film, television, advertising and media, and finding actionable solutions to expand access for underrepresented creators.

Read the selected program:

NARRATIVE FEATURES

Cat in the Wall / Bulgaria, UK, France (Directors, screenwriters and producers: Mina Mileva, Vesela Kazakova) — This terrific comedy-drama is set on a southeast London council estate, which is riven by social and economic divisions and threatened by the all-consuming force of gentrification. Irina, a Bulgarian woman lives there with her small son and her brother. The lift serves as a toilet, the multi-cultural residents exchange shouts rather than pleasantries, and an expensive refurbishment is undesired but must be paid for. And in the midst of this: an apparently ownerless cat which has had enough of the heated atmosphere barricades itself ‘in the wall’, requiring the residents to collaborate. Cat in the Wall is an arresting critique of society, a whirlpool of emotions from despair to joie de vivre conveyed by strongly delineated characters. This heart-warming tale, shot in a documentary style, is this year’s equivalent of director Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake. Cast: Irina Atanosova, Angel Genov, Gilda Waugh

Gunpowder Heart / Guatemala (Director and screenwriter: Camila Urrutia, Producer: Inés Nofuentes) — Claudia and Maria have fallen in love. They live in the city of Guatemala, a city full of stories related to abuse, unforgiving police officers, and charming secret corners. Everything changes one night when they are attacked by three men. They manage to escape but they now have to choose if they want revenge. Cast: Andrea Henry, Vanessa Hernández

Le Choc du Futur / France (Director and screenwriter: Marc Collin, Co-Writer: Elina Gakou-Gomba, Producers: Marc Collin, Nicolas Jourdier, Gaelle Ruffier) — In the Paris of 1978, old formulas do not charm listeners anymore and new music must arise. In a male-dominated industry, Ana uses her electronic gadgets to make herself heard, creating a new sound that will mark the decades to come: the music of the future. Cast: Alma Jodorowsky, Philippe Rebbot, Clara Luciani

Selfie / France (Directors: Tristan Aurouet, Thomas Bidegain, Marc Fitoussi, Cyril Gelblat, Vianney Lebasque, Screenwriters: Giulio Callegari, Noé Debré, Hélène Lombard, Julien Sibony, Bertrand Soulier, Producers: Mandoline Films, Chez Georges Productions) — Algorithms, Technophobics, Dating App addicts, Vloggers, cloud security breach… each one of us can relate to the wired madness happening on screen. In five subversive and hilarious Black Mirror-like tales, Selfie takes on our digital shortcomings and shows how the new 2.0 era is driving all of us nuts! Cast: Blanche Gardin, Manu Payet, Elsa Zylberstein

DOCUMENTARY FEATURES

I'm Gonna Make You Love Me / U.S. (Director and Producer: Karen Bernstein, Co-Producer: Nevie Owens) — Fellini meets Motown in I’m Gonna Make You Love Me, the tragi-comedic tale of one man’s search for self-acceptance, a journey that included tabloid celebrity, Tupperware parties, and two coming-outs — first as a straight woman, then as the gay man he was born to be. Cast: Brian Belovitch aka “Tish,” Gloria Walker, Michael Musto

My Darling Vivian / U.S. (Director: Matt Riddlehoover, Producers: Dustin Tittle, Matt Riddlehoover) — The story of Vivian Liberto, Johnny Cash’s first wife and the mother of his four daughters. Includes never-before-seen footage and photographs of Johnny Cash and Rosanne Cash, as well as footage featuring Reese Witherspoon, Joaquin Phoenix, Tim Robbins, Whoopi Goldberg, John C. Reilly and many more.

TFW NO GF / U.S. (Director and screenwriter: Alex Lee Moyer, Producers: Adam Bhala Lough, Cody Wilson, Ariel Pink, Alex Lee Moyer, Michael Reich, John Eisenman, Matt Ornstein, Claire Bargout, Deagan White, Barrett Avner) — Born from the internet, the phrase “TFW NO GF” was originally used online to describe a lack of romantic companionship. Since then, it has evolved to symbolize a greater state of existence defined by isolation, rejection and alienation. The meme’s protagonist, “WOJAK,” has become the mascot to a vast online community consisting of self-described "hyper-anonymous twenty somethings" and "guys who slipped between the cracks." TFW NO GF asks: How has the zeitgeist come to bear down on a generation alienated by the ‘real world’? Meet the lost boys who came of age on the internet in places like 4chan and Twitter, where they find camaraderie in despair.

EPISODIC

Cursed Films / Canada (Director and screenwriter: Jay Cheel, Producers: Andrew Nicholas McCann Smith, Laura Perlmutter, Brian Robertson, Jay Cheel) — Cursed Films is a five-part documentary series from Shudder exploring the myths and legends behind some of Hollywood’s notoriously "cursed" horror film productions. From plane accidents and bombings during the making of The Omen, to the rumoured use of human skeletons on the set of Poltergeist, these stories are legendary amongst film fans and filmmakers alike. But where does the truth lie?

Motherland: Fort Salem / U.S. (Creator: Eliot Laurence) — Set in an alternate America where witches ended their persecution by cutting a deal with the government to fight for the country, Motherland: Fort Salem follows three young women from training to deployment, as they fight terrorist threats with supernatural tactics.

Tales from the Loop / U.S., Canada (Creator/Writer: Nathaniel Halpern, Director: Mark Romanek, Executive Producers: Nathaniel Halpern, Matt Reeves, Mark Romanek, Adam Kassan, Rafi Crohn, Mattias Montero, Samanthan Taylor Pickett, Adam Berg and Simon Stålenhag) – Based on the acclaimed art of Swedish artist Simon Stålenhag, Tales from the Loop explores the town and people who live above “The Loop,” a machine built to unlock and explore the mysteries of the universe. In this fantastical, mysterious town poignant human tales are told that bare universal emotional experiences while drawing on the intrigue of genre storytelling. Cast: Rebecca Hall, Paul Schneider, Daniel Zolghadri, Duncan Joiner, Jonathan Pryce

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TALES FROM THE LOOP

[Chris Knipp]

LAAPFF announces spring virtual showcase

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Free Digital Showcase of Films and Panels Featuring Groundbreaking Asian Pacific American/Asian International Film - Begins May 1st with Premiere Sneak Peek at Two Episodes of PBS's Landmark Groundbreaking Series THE ASIAN AMERICANS



Like other film festivals scheduled for this time of the coronavirus shutdowns, the 36th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival cannot take place at its scheduled time (the presse release says Visual Communications (VC) has "rescheduled [it]. . . "to a later date"). So,for now, here comes the LAAPFF Virtual Showcase, which like SXSW's, will offer a selection of their planned offerings online, in their case for free.

[press release]
The LAAPFF VIRTUAL SHOWCASE will launch May 1st with its Opening Day Film - the premiere sneak preview of Episodes 3 and 4 of the upcoming groundbreaking PBS Documentary Series ASIAN AMERICANS. Both episodes will be available from 8AM PST to 8PM PST in the LAAPFF VIRTUAL SHOWCASE for personal viewing. Then at 5PM PST/8PM EST, there will be a special online Q&A with the filmmakers and special guests will take place to discuss the film and current issues. View the trailer for ASIAN AMERICANS here (https://www.dropbox.com/s/3gpgkuugb69y18y/Asian%20Americans_Press%20Tour%20Featurette_PBS%20 Dated%20National_90.mp4?dl=0).

The LAAPFF VIRTUAL SHOWCASE will also feature the festival World Premiere of FIRST VOTE on May 5. Directed by Yi Chen, this insightful film focuses on the current Asian American experience at the election polls in the United States. Through in-depth honest and revealing conversations with four Asian American voters in battleground states, the filmmaker also contemplates exercising her own right to vote in America - a first time for her. An online post Q/A discussion with director Chen and subjects from the film will take place at 5PM PST on May 5.

The complete lineup for the LAAPFF VIRTUAL SHOWCASE will be announced on Monday, April 27th. For additional details, please visit festival.vcmedia.org. (festival.vcmedia.org)This information was received April 22, 2020. The LAAPFF organizers will release their Virtual Showcase program schedule in the next few weeks. Stay tuned for more details on that website (https://festival.vcmedia.org/2020/).

[Chris Knipp]

FILM FORUM adds two revival films to its present ten-film virtual cinema (https://filmforum.org/virtual-cinema?utm_source=Film+Forum+E-Mail+List&utm_campaign=005a26c5e8-2020_03_18_Film_Forum_Newsletter_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_463035a28a-005a26c5e8-386251686).

All these films are available online for rental and are significant new films or new revivals

Coming Friday, April 24: Jules Dassin’s RIFIFI and Lee Grant’s DOWN AND OUT IN AMERICA.

They also announce their weekly podcast, which includes:
- A Q&A with Kantemir Balagov, 28-year-old filmmaker of the Russian drama, BEANPOLE (part of Film Forum's current Virtual Cinema).
- My Film Forum: memories of filmgoing shared by Neige from Hell's Kitchen in Manhattan

Get the podcast HERE (https://soundcloud.com/ffpresents/beanpole-kantemir-balagov-1?utm_source=Film+Forum+E-Mail+List&utm_campaign=005a26c5e8-2020_03_18_Film_Forum_Newsletter_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_463035a28a-005a26c5e8-386251686).

Access the virtual cinema HERE (https://filmforum.org/virtual-cinema?utm_source=Film+Forum+E-Mail+List&utm_campaign=005a26c5e8-2020_03_18_Film_Forum_Newsletter_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_463035a28a-005a26c5e8-386251686).

Again, their current virtual cinema lineup is:

THE BOOKSELLERS
WHAT SHE SAID: THE ART OF PAULINE KAEL
BEANPOLE
István Szabó's MEPHISTO
INCITEMENT
THE WHISTLERS
Ken Loach’s SORRY WE MISSED YOU
CORPUS CHRISTI
THE WILD GOOSE LAKE
Luchino Visconti’s L’INNOCENTE
Needless to say, rentals of these films online help keep Film Forum afloat during the coronavirus shutdown.

[Chris Knipp]

More unique virtual releases from Film Forum.

Access the virtual cinema HERE (https://filmforum.org/virtual-cinema?utm_source=Film+Forum+E-Mail+List&utm_campaign=005a26c5e8-2020_03_18_Film_Forum_Newsletter_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_463035a28a-005a26c5e8-386251686).


EXCLUSIVE NYC PREMIERE
FRIDAY, MAY 1: CAPITAL IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
This is a new film.

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Available to rent starting Friday, May 1

A FILM BY JUSTIN PEMBERTON

Based on the international bestseller by rock-star economist Thomas Piketty (which sold over three million copies worldwide and landed Piketty on TIME Magazine’s list of most influential people), this captivating documentary is an eye-opening journey through wealth and power, a film that breaks the popular assumption that the accumulation of capital runs hand in hand with social progress, and shines a new light on today’s growing inequalities. Traveling through time, the film assembles accessible pop-culture references coupled with interviews of some of the world’s most influential experts delivering an insightful and empowering journey through the past and into our future.

NEW ZEALAND 2020 103 MINS. KINO LORBER


And two more revivals om reissues by Rialto

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(Jules Dassin)
FILM FORUM presents RIFIFI (1955)
Back from the pen, tough guy Jean Servais and some old cronies plan to knock over a jewelry store — the resulting heist a legendary 30-minute sequence without dialogue or music. Blacklisted Hollywood exile Jules Dassin turned a potboiler by milieu specialist Auguste Le Breton into an existential thriller that earned him Cannes’ Best Director prize and set the standard for screen robberies for decades to come.

JULES DASSIN Best Director, Cannes Film Festival

“THE UNDERWORLD EQUIVALENT OF A SUBLIME FRENCH MEAL.” - Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

“FLAWLESS! FOR LOVERS OF TOUGH-GUY MOVIE-MAKING, RIFIFI MEANS PERFECTION.” - Michael Sragow, The New York Times

“THE BEST FILM NOIR I’VE EVER SEEN.” - François Truffaut

DIRECTED BY JULES DASSIN
FRANCE | 1955 | FRENCH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES
A RIALTO PICTURES RELEASE

Show more
VIRTUAL TICKET (https://www.filmmovementplus.com/checkout/film-forum-presents-rififi/purchase?rent=1) Watch Trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVRiC5ysSLk) Share


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BAND OF OUTSIDERS
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard

Starring Anna Karina, Sami Frey and Claude Brasseur

(1964, Jean-Luc Godard) In the dreary suburb of Joinville, Claude Brasseur and Sami Frey (“Belmondo’s suburban cousins” - JLG) take turns romancing English language student Anna Karina, then light up when she mentions the big pile of cash stashed at her aunt’s villa. A piece of cake burglary, but then things go memorably awry. A jeu d’esprit – extracted from one of the blackest Série Noire novels, Fools’ Gold by Dolores Hitchens. – with echt Godardian set pieces including the trio line-dancing “Le Madison” and then “doing” the Louvre in record time. Approx. 95 min.

A RIALTO PICTURES RELEASE

[Chris Knipp]

KARIM MOUSSAOUI: UNTIL THE BIRDS RETURN/EN ATTENDANT LES HIRONDELLES (2017) - online from 1091 Media Film Room

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This and other films now in digital and on demand from 1091 Media Front Room

I reviewed this three-part Algerian film, which has a European quality, on Filmleaf as part of New Directors/New Films 2018. It's a subtle and complex film and two years later it looks even better. You'll find that review in the Festival Coverage section HERE (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?4466-NEW-DIRECTORS-NEW-FILMS-2018-(March-28%96April-8-2018)-Festival-Coverage&p=36542#post36542). I found it particularly interesting for its interplay of outside and local cultural influences and its picture of Algeria, which we don't glimpse that often onscreen. It is now coming out April 28th in digital and on demand via 1091 MEDIA FILM ROOM (https://www.1091.tv/). As you'll see on their website, other current offerings include WHAT YOU GONNA DO WHEN THE WORLD'S ON FIRE (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?4780-WHAT-YOU-GONNA-DO-WHEN-THE-WORLD-S-ON-FIRE-(Roberto-Minervini-2018)), HIMALAYAN ICE (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?4789-HIMALAYAN-ICE-(Ari-Novak-AIstom-Schmitz-2019)&p=38221#post38221), and the doc about Yves Saint Laurant's last season, CELEBRATION, which I have viewed, and liked; I've reviewed the first two here. Other films offered include LINDA RONSTADT: THE SOUND OF MY VOICE (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?4697-LINDA-RONSTADT-THE-SOUND-OF-MY-VOICE-(Rob-Epstein-Jeffrey-Friedman-2019)&p=37852#post37852); LIVING HOME, COMING HOME: A PORTRAIT OF ROBERT FRANK (https://www.chrisknipp.com/writing/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4234&view=next); BIRDS OF PASSAGE (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?4565-LONDON-FILM-FESTIVAL-2018-a-quick-glance), which I've also reviewed - and lots more, including films from the Sundance and Tribeca film festivals.

[Chris Knipp]

FILM FORUM addition.

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Besides Godard's BAND OF OUTSIDERS, May 1 will see their exclusive Virtual Cinema release of the Kino Lorber documentary CAPITAL IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5723056/) (Justin Pemberton 2019), based on the French economist Thomas Piketty’s #1 bestseller, adapted by Matthew Metcalfe in collaboration with Pemberton and Piketty.

For full Film Forum Virtual Cinema offerings and details, go to https://filmforum.org/virtual-cinema

[Chris Knipp]

DEERSKIN/LE DAIN (Quentin Dupieux 2019)

This oddball crime tale, which friends said reminded them of Tarantino, reviewed here (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?4746-Rendez-Vous-with-French-Cinema-2020&p=38137#post38137) as part of this year's Rendez-Vous with French Cinema, will open May 1 as part of Greenwich Entertainment’s virtual cinema initiative. Greenwich is partnering with movie theaters that are currently closed because of Coronavirus precautions. You can support them by paying to view this new film. Every rental is $10, I believe. They also offer HUMAN NATURE, THE BOOKSELLERS, THE TIMES OF BILL CUNNINGHAM, CITIZEN K, WILD NIGHTS WITH EMILY, INCITEMENT, which I've reviewed, and other titles. See their website (https://greenwichentertainment.com/).

[Chris Knipp]

SXSW on Amazon Prime Video.

If you have Amazon Prime, their ten selections from this year's cancelled Austin, Texas festival can now for a limited time be watched free HERE (https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/storefront/?contentType=merch&contentId=SXSW).

[No longer available.]

[Chris Knipp]

A virtual festival-of-festivals. We Are One: A Global Film Festival announced for May 29-June 7, 2020

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From Peter Bradshaw in the GUARDIAN comes word of
the new Covid-19-related We Are One: A Global Film Festival . . . a 10-day online festival beginning 29 May curated by Jane Rosenthal of the Tribeca film festival featuring arthouse films (though not the big-ticket Hollywood items) from Cannes, Venice, Berlin and many more, streaming for free in return for an optional donation to the World Health Organization’s Covid-19 fund.Read the earlier GUARDIAN story HERE (World's biggest film festivals unite for 10-day streaming event).

Peter Bradshaw (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/apr/28/online-film-festival-we-are-one-cannot-replace-cinema?utm_term=RWRpdG9yaWFsX0ZpbG1Ub2RheS0yMDA0Mj g%3D&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=FilmToday&CMP=filmtoday_email) hastens to point out this, watching movies at home on your laptop, is very far from what film festivals are all about. And he doubts that any really important new films will be included. Still, as an opportunity for people who can't go to Cannes, Locarno, Toronto, or Park City, it's unprecedented.

To connect with the event go here: https://www.youtube.com/WeAreOne

But it doesn't begin till a month from now so there's nothing going on there yet.

[Chris Knipp]

C̶a̶n̶n̶e̶s̶ ̶ ̶2̶0̶2̶0̶

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Film festival ditches plans to postpone event until later in the year in favour of collaborating with other festivals, rather than take festival online\- GUARDIAN (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/may/11/cannes-abandons-physical-festival-for-2020-but-will-select-films-for-screening-elsewhere?utm_term=RWRpdG9yaWFsX0ZpbG1Ub2RheS0yMDA 1MTE%3D&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=FilmToday&CMP=filmtoday_email).Cannes has decided not to reschedule to later in the year but to send its Competition films to other festivals. And there will be no Pandemic Streaming World Cannes Festival.

Even for cinephiles who've never been there, Cannes looms largest among the world's great film festivals. I've been covering Cannes 'virtually' on Filmleaf for several years. So it's a shock to learn there will be no Cannes as a place or Cannes as a brand in the world of international cinema in any form this year. Cannes will disappear.

Really?

A Guardian story (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/may/11/cannes-abandons-physical-festival-for-2020-but-will-select-films-for-screening-elsewhere?utm_term=RWRpdG9yaWFsX0ZpbG1Ub2RheS0yMDA 1MTE%3D&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=FilmToday&CMP=filmtoday_email) explains.

[Chris Knipp]

Virtual theater: Kino, Film Forum, Lincoln Center.


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Note a number of films I've reviewed here are up on pay-for-view via KINO MARQUEE (https://kinomarquee.com/) which allows you to watch while aiding a theater you choose.
CAPITAL (about Thomas PIketty)
HILNA AF CLINT (about the artist)
BACURAU Kleber Mendonça Filho, Juliano Dornelles)
MEPHISTO (German Academy Award winer)
SORRY WE MISSED YOU ( Ken Loach)
BEANPOLE (Kasimire Balagov, NYFF)
THE WOMAN WHO LOVES GIRAFFES

Coming:

THE GREY FOX (https://kinomarquee.com/the-grey-fox)(Newly restored Canadian Western)
LA Virtual Theatrical Opening Fri, May 15 at both LUMIERE CINEMA & LAEMMLE THEATRES


There is also Film Forum - same thing: I have been reporting on their virtual offerings. Some overlap with Kino's.

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Luchino Visconti’s
L’INNOCENTE
István Szabó’s
MEPHISTO
Lee Grant’s
DOWN AND OUT IN AMERICA
Jules Dassin’s
RIFIFI
Anna Karina in Godard’s
BAND OF OUTSIDERS
Romy Schneider & Yves Montand in
CÉSAR AND ROSALIE
Ken Loach's
SORRY WE MISSED YOU
CORPUS CHRISTI
THE WHISTLERS
THE WILD GOOSE LAKE
BEANPOLE
INCITEMENT
WHAT SHE SAID: THE ART OF PAULINE KAEL
THE BOOKSELLERS
CAPITAL IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

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CARO DIARIO (Nanni Moretti 1993) New 2K Restoration
ON A MAGICAL NIGHT (Christophe Honoré ) R-V
BACARAU (Kleber Mendonça Filho, Juliano Dornelles)
THE BOOKSELLERS (D.W. Young)
DEERSKIN/LE DAIN (Quentin Dupieux) R-V
LIBERTÉ (Albert Serra) NYFF
SANTIAGO, ITALIA (Nanni Moretti 2018)
SATANAGO (Béla Tarr , 7 hrs. 20 mins.) New 4K Restoration
SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE/DEUX MOI (Cédric Klapisch)
THE WHISTLERS (Corneliu Porumboiu) NYFF
A WHITE, WHITE DAY (Hlynur Pálmason)

[Chris Knipp]

Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival

You can watch some of this cancelled festival's virtual form HERE (https://watch.eventive.org/laapffvirtual/play/5eb46ab4b6d6c8083e2b18f4).
A livestream event is scheduled for Saturday, May 16, 2020.

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[Chris Knipp]

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Relic.

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A new (mainly?) virtual but also theatrical release of interest is RELIC. Filmleaf's Sundance 2020 coverage:
RELIC (Natalie Erika James) is an "unsettling debut" by a Japanese Austrialian fllmmaker, a "slow-burn haunted house movie" that turns into a "disturbingly effective allegory for the ravages of dementia" -- a disease that this time spreads through the entire family. The "compelling performances" headline Emily Mortimer and Bella Heathcote, recounts HOLLYWOOD REPORTER'S David Rooney (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/relic-sundance-2020-1273891).


IFC presents RELIC directed by Natalie Erika James, written by Natalie Erika Jame and Christian White, starring Emiy Morimer, Bella Heathcote, Robyn Nevin

Relic WILL OPEN JULY 10, 2020 IN THEATERS AND ON VOD/DIGITAL RENTAL. Filmleaf review then.

NEW TEASER AND SOCIAL TOOLKIT AVAILABLE HERE (https://www.dropbox.com/s/eguriq0dbkakwwn/RELIC%20-%20Social%20Toolkit.docx?dl=0)

YOUTUBE | INSTAGRAM | DOWNLOAD (https://www.dropbox.com/s/ucir8nhv3jhe6ga/RELIC%201x1.mp4?dl=0)

[Chris Knipp]

AMERICAN PLAYHOUSE, 1985: Bill Duke's The Killing Floor

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DAMIEN LEAKE AND ALFRE WOODARD IN THE KILLING FLOOR

This made-for-TV film about a young black man come to Chicago from the South during World War I, restored as explained below in a text from UCLA, becomes part of Film Forum's exclusive Virtual Cinema starting June 12. It's unusual in its focus on African Americans in union labor organizing, and all the characters are based on and have the names of real people. It has a unique interest at this time. Details on IMDb HERE (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087554/).

Rich in characters and played against a canvas red with the blood of the Chicago Race Riot of 1919, this critically acclaimed independent film tells a true story of how a group of black and white slaughterhouse workers attempted to break race barriers to build an interracial union for the first time in the brutal Chicago Stockyards. Damien Leake stars as Frank Custer, a young black sharecropper from Mississippi—one of tens of thousands of southern blacks who journeyed to the industrial north during World War One, hoping for more racial equality. When he lands a job as a laborer on “the killing floor” of a giant Chicago meatpacking plant, he finds a place seething with racial antagonism. White immigrant workers are determined to improve their bargaining power by bringing the new black migrants into the union for the first time, but many blacks resist, having had bitter experience with whites. When Frank decides to support the union, his best friends from the South turn against him.

The screenplay by Obie Award-winning playwright Leslie Lee is based on a story by executive producer Elsa Rassbach, whose independent production company engaged Bill Duke to direct it as his first feature film. In 1985 The Killing Floor was invited to numerous festivals, including Cannes, and won the Special Jury Award at the Sundance Film Festival among many other awards. The film had already premiered to acclaim in 1984 in the PBS American Playhouse series. Originally The Killing Floor was planned as the pilot production for a PBS series of ten historical dramas exploring the little-known history of American workers that Rassbach developed together with a team of leading historians and several screenwriters. The characters and events in the film are authentic and were discovered through research in historical archives.

Utilizing the original negatives and other 16mm original materials, UCLA Film & Television Archive has digitally restored the film in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Chicago Race Riot of 1919 and the events that led up to it.—Jan-Christopher Horak

DCP, color, 118 min. Production: Public Forum Productions, Ltd. Producer: Elsa Rassbach, George Manasse. Director: Bill Duke. Screenwriter: Leslie Lee, Elsa Rassbach, Ron Milner. Cinematographer: William Birch. Production Designer: Maher Ahmad. Editor: John N. Carter. Music: Elizabeth Swados. Cast: Damien Leake, Alfre Woodard, Dennis Farina, Ernest Rayford, Moses Gunn, Clarence Felder.

Preserved by UCLA Film & Television Archive from a 16mm safety color original picture negative and a mono 16mm safety audio mag track MTI Nova Restoration, laboratory services and DCP by UCLA Film & Television Archive Digital Media Lab. Special thanks to Elsa Rassbach, Sundance Institute Collection at UCLA Film & Television Archive.


Part of:
2019 UCLA Festival of Preservation (https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/events/2019/02/16/killing-floor)

Zhang Yimou’s
SHANGHAI TRIAD
OPENS JUNE 26

Fritz Lang’s
INDIAN EPIC
OPENS JULY 24

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[Chris Knipp]

Also recommended:

THE VAST OF NIGHT (Andrew Patterson 2019) - on Amazon Prime from May 15

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Did not know about Patterson's charming little sci-fi feature in a low-keyed style till this week when Anthony Lane reviewed it (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/06/08/shirley-takes-a-one-sided-view-of-its-subject) in The New Yorker - along with a very unfavorable writeup of Josephine Decker's Shirley featuring Elizabeth Moss as the writer Shirley Jackson. I skipped the review - both reviews - (till later) and went right to the movie. The Vast of Night turns out to be a remarkable, highly assured, and quite delightful debut by Patterson and in my book one of the best films of the year. Do not watch the trailer of The Vast of Night, which tells too much. Watch the movie. 89 mins. Metascore: 84%.

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Sierra McCormick in The Vast of Night

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Jake Horowitz in The Vast of Night

SOMETIMES ALWAYS NEVER

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I also will be recommending, and publishing a review of, the British Scrabble dramedy SOMETIMES ALWAYS NEVER (Carl Hunter 2018), with Bill Nighy, which goes into new virtual theater release Friday, June 12, 2020.

[Chris Knipp]

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Gorgeous new restorations of 3 Classics
of early cinema for Pride Month

PIONEERS OF QUEER CINEMA

Available by VIRTUAL CINEMAS
across the U.S. starting 6/12

including
NY - Film Forum starting 7/3
LA - Laemmle Theatres & Lumiere Cinema starting 6/12

VIEW TRAILER (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPC7OBgY09Y)

"Gorgeous new restorations" is the language of the press release, but they are.
I've never seen this, not even the frequent repertory item MÄDCHEN IN UNIFORM. I have screeners and will report on Filmleaf.

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[Johann]

What a thread Chris!!

Huzzah and thank you.

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks, Johan.

[Chris Knipp]

This by te prolific South Korean auteur was in the Main Slate of the 2016 NYFF, but I didn't cover it then. I will watch it now on virtual cinemas and add it to Filmleaf's 2016 Festival Coverage section.
HONG SANG-SOO: YOURSELF AND YOURS 당신자신과 당신의 것 (2016)

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LEE YOO-YOUNG AND KIM JU-HYUK IN YOURSELF AND YOURS

[NYTimes (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/05/arts/television/whats-on-tv-friday-we-are-freestyle-love-supreme-circumstantial-pleasures.html), Gabe Cohn, June 5, 2020.]
Watch on virtual cinemas (http://www.cinemaguild.com/theatrical/yourselfandyours.html).. Alcohol and love infuse Yourself and Yours, a new movie from the South Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-soo. It kicks off with a breakup: Young-soo (Kim Ju-hyuk) tells Min-jung (Lee Yoo-young), his girlfriend, to quit drinking. She quits him instead. The plot that follows involves mystery and despondency. “Hong’s formal confidence yields a movie that’s very simply constructed and utterly engrossing,” Glenn Kenny wrote in his review for The New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/04/movies/yourself-and-yours-review.html). He named the film a Critic’s Pick. "There are a lot of scenes done in a single shot, usually static, but when there’s a zoom (his preferred camera flourish), it’s unfussy and direct," Kenny wrote. "He puts you in tune with the world of his sad-sack characters immediately, and their rhythm becomes the rhythm of the story." The film was released overseas in 2016, but is just now having its stateside debut; it’s available this weekend from many virtual cinemas, including Film at Lincoln Center's.

[Chris Knipp]

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VAST OF NIGHT (Patterson) - is a brilliant opening and blah follow up, but the opening is a calling card for great things to come from this young director and if you love great direction, don't miss it.

Maybe after getting a reality check from reading Mike D'Angelo's review of VAST OF NIGHT (on Amazon since May 15) I should say "almost one of the year's best," because he is right - Patterson is a brilliant new director, but the last two thirds don't have the follow-through to make this a great sci-fi movie. D'Angelo's subscription-only Patreon reviews that I get now come on Letterbox'd later, but I don't know when. I'll just quote a little of it. He gives it a 63/100. That's pretty decent for him, but not a "year's best" score. Remember, this is free if you have Amazon and I still highly recommend that you watch it. Also when it comes, Carl Hunter's 2018 British SOMETIMES ALWAYS NEVER with Bill Nighy, digital this Friday June 12 and on demand in July.


63/100

For half an hour or so, the most exciting indie debut I'd seen in years. Every Amazon Prime subscriber should at the very least watch the film's first act,. . . [but] The narrative... is really weak. Kind of astonishingly weak
But please, someone, give this man a good idea. That's all he needs. I can't even remember the last time I saw a first-time American director create such a credible, distinct, arrestingly specific milieu from the ground up. (Actually, I can: Robert Eggers. But he had the advantage of going way more archaic. . .
) Despite knowing in advance that The Vast of Night is science fiction, and then being assaulted by a bad Rod Serling impression in the first 30 seconds, I kept thinking of films like Diner and Metropolitan and Dazed and Confused, along with the early Jeffrey/Sandy scenes in Blue Velvet. Unlike those filmmakers, Patterson isn't mining his own past (or a warped vision of his past, in Lynch's case), which arguably makes his wizardry even more impressive. Everything's so insanely detailed, with so much evident creative thought expended on each seemingly irrelevant aspect (most of which are in fact irrelevant, but gloriously so—the purloined trombone!) of each shot and interaction, that the cumulative effect exposes just how thinly imagined most contemporary indies are. Wouldn't have worked without actors as strong as Sierra McCormick and Jake Horowitz, both of whom handle Hawks-speed badinage with insanely casual ease even as they navigate Patterson's magnificently complex traveling shots. . .
[He has some quibbles, but the main, big one is simply that the material once the "story" "kicks in" is too thin, and in this he is right.]
--Mike D'Angelo's review. )

[Chris Knipp]

WASP NETWORK (OLIVIER ASSAYAS)

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Filmleaf review (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?4821-WASP-NETWORK-(Olivier-Assayas-2019)-NYFF-now-NETFLIX&p=38698#post38698)

Olivier Assayas is another top director getting his new feature film first released, now exclusively due to the pandemic, on Netflix. It's the political thriller Wasp Network, which is focused on a Cuban spy ring that operated in Miami against the anti-Cuban forces there. Fidel considered this activity only right and understandable to the Americans, and was not the only one who questioned the long sentences the US courts gave the "Cuban Five."

[Report from Toronto 2019:] "Assayas [showed] a tweaked version of the movie — which is adapted from Fernando Morais’s book, The Last Soldiers of the Cold War — at the New York Film Festival in October [2019]," said Deadline (https://deadline.com/2019/09/wasp-network-olivier-assayas-edit-penelope-cruz-toronto-venice-new-york-festival-1202729678/) On June 19, 2020, the movie, presumably that tweaked version, was released to a larger public on Netflix. Last week Netflix released Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods., which I've reviewed on Filmleaf HERE (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?4818-DA-5-BLOODS-(Spike-Lee-2020)).

These are the two significant new Netflix June movie releases. (You'll find all their releases for June here (https://www.ajc.com/lifestyles/here-list-what-coming-netflix-june-2020/ZVTB6p8P2MffO0qb9XoANL/).) There are some other good recent (but not new) releases up this month on Netflix, such as Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird. Watch for a review of Wasp Network.

The interesting thing about Wasp Network is -- well, read my review.

[Chris Knipp]

JEANNE FINLEY: SEAHORSE (2019)

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Director Jeanie Finlay charts a transgender man's path to parenthood after he decides to carry his child himself. The pregnancy prompts an unexpected and profound reckoning with conventions of masculinity, self-definition and biology.

AVAILABLE ON DIGITAL AND ON-DEMAND FROM JUNE 16, 2020. WATCH THE FILM HERE (https://seahorsefilm.com/)

This sounded like something that would, frankly, make me very uneasy. But Freddy McConnell, the person in question, who narrates, is an engaging young British man who gained my confidence quite quickly.


Freddy is 30 and yearns to start a family but this poses unique challenges. He is a gay transgender man. He is unprepared for the physical and emotional realities of pregnancy. To him what feels pragmatic, to others feels confrontational; this was not part of his plan. Against a backdrop of hostility towards trans people, he is forced to confront his naivety. Made with unprecedented access & collaboration, Seahorse is an audacious and lyrical story about family, gender and love. FILMLEAF REVIEW HERE. (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?4822-SEAHORSE-(Jeanie-Finlay-2019)&p=38712#post38712)


Rent or buy using Vimeo - in all countries except USA, Canada and Denmark.
USA - Virtual Cinema exclusively at Museum of Moving Image, NYC. RENT HERE (https://vimeo.com/ondemand/seahorse)
USA - Prebuy on Itunes / Apple TV (available June 16)
Canada - Available on CBC Gem June 21.

[Chris Knipp]

CRISTINA COSTANTINI, KAREEEM TABSCH: MUCHO, MUCHO AMORE

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Once the world's most famous astrologer, Walter Mercado seeks to resurrect a forgotten legacy. Raised in the sugar cane fields of Puerto Rico, Walter grew up to become a gender non-conforming, cape-wearing psychic whose televised horoscopes reached 120 million Latinx viewers a day for 30 years before he mysteriously disappeared.

Lin-Manuel Miranda, the star and co-creator of Hamilton, regards him as almost a god. Walter Mercado, whose story and celebration this is, is a legend in the Spanish-speaking world and far beyond. For fifty years he was the asexual, feminine, big-haired, magnificently caped shaman on Spaish language TV (though in the film he speaks good English) whose horoscopes could fill an hour-long show, or be the first thing people wanted to hear and see every morning. The most famous astrologer in the world. The documentary comes to Netflix July 8, 2020. In it, you find out Walter seemed to bring a bird back to life with his breath as a young boy in Porto Rico and became a local healer visited by many. Then he studied dance and acting and did ballet and drama (we see how handsome he looked), settling into telenovela - until he did a horoscope and the producer said: More of that, Walter! and it became all he did. His effeminate grandiosity - big hair, big rings, fabulous, weighty and costly costumes - is reminiscent of Liberace. But he represents something warmer, more directly, intimately appealing to the audience. With its extensive interviews, many voices, magnificent inter-titles, and coverage of a grand celebratory apotheosis and love-fest at the opening of a Walter Mercado museum in Miami three months before his passing at the age of 87, this is a fitting portrait. The cape outfits and their richness and variety are worthy of the fashion collection of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. Walter Mercado leaves a warm impression of someone who brought magic to people.

[Chris Knipp]

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ROD LURIE WITH PHOTO OF LOST SON AND CAST MEMBERS OF THE OUTPOST

Eleven coming reviews on Filmleaf.
Mostly online releases now except for THE OUTPOST - part of a Fourth of July weekend reopening plan.


June 26
HOUSE OF HUMMINGBIRD
A sensitive Korean coming-of-age film. Feature debut.
July 3
THE OUTPOST Intense Afghan war thriller by Rod Lurie. This will also be a theatrical release.
JOHN LEWIS: GOOD TROUBLE Documentary about the veteran congressman and pioneer civil rights fighter
July 7
THE MEDICINE (doc about ayahuasca)
July 8
MUCHO MUCHO AMOR
A bio doc - already thumbnail reviewed in this thread above.
July 10
RELIC
Classy horror flick with Emily Mortimer.
WE ARE LITTLE ZOMBIES ( Makoto Nagahisa)
Busy, clever Japanese youth film
July 17
THE CLIMB
Smart, inventive, funny feature debut by Michael Angelo Covino.
THE PAINTED BIRD
Black and white adaptation pf the famous Jerzy Kozinski novel of the sixties by Václav Marhoul.
July 21
THE GRAND UNIFIED THEORY OF HOWARD BLOOM (Charlie HOxie 2019)
Quirky thinking from Park Slope, Brooklyn. (Documentary.)
July 29
NOSE TO TAIL
Short drama by Jesse Zigelstein about a stressed high end Toronto chef played by Aaron Abrams.

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[Chris Knipp]

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LENNIE BURMEISTER, TRINE DYRHOLM AND DEVID STRIESOW IN BUNGALOW

July 4
Grasshopper Films (https://grasshopperfilm.com/) releases Ulrich Köhler's auspicious and original 2002 debut feature Bungalow today in their virtual theater. This is an exciting opportunity to see the beginning of one of the leaders of the Berlin School.

Filmleaf review (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?4830-BUNGALOW-(Ulrich-K%F6hler-2002)-Grasshopper-Film-virtual-theater-release&p=38804#post38804)

[Chris Knipp]

Mucho Mucho Amor

The film celebrating the colorful Latin American astrologer goes on Netflix today.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/07/entertainment/mucho-mucho-amor-review/index.html

FILM AT LINCOLN CENTER

See also Film at Lincoln Center's new offerings. They have a weekly newsletter announcing their new offerings.

[Chris Knipp]

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We Are Little Zombies, the inventive Japanese celebration of youth, courage, and gloom from Oscilloscope, is out now and receiving good reviews; a New York Times Critics Pick accompanies a glowing description (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/09/movies/we-are-little-zombies-review.html) from the paper's Jeannette Catsoulis. To watch it in pay-for-view benefitting a selected theater, go H E R E (https://littlezombies.oscilloscope.net/?utm_source=Oscilloscope%20Laboratories%20Mailing% 20List&utm_campaign=765a3fcb5a-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2016_12_05_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6b7ed5fe99-765a3fcb5a-255984999&mc_cid=765a3fcb5a&mc_eid=ae9ac3543c).

[Chris Knipp]

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KYLE MARVIN AND MICHAEL ANGELO COVINO IN THE CLIMB

THE CLIMB opened in MK2 theaters in Paris today.

Creator Michael Angelo Covino and his co-author and co-star Kyle Marvin can be happy that they've gotten that opportunity in the country to which it's partly a love letter. But when can it come out in US theaters? The current July 31 date seems unlikely. In March, Covino told Eric Kohn of Indiewire: (https://www.indiewire.com/2020/03/the-climb-interview-coronavirus-michael-covino-1202217527/)
“We really want a theatrical opening, and feel it’s important that independent comedies do well in theaters. Whether or not that happens, I want to support that possibility.”
Who doesn't fervently agree?

[Chris Knipp]

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A return treat for Bob Marley fans.

On the occasion of what would have been his seventy-fifth birthday, a special rerelease of a documentary has opened in both virtual and some traditional cinemas today, July 31, 2020. Directed by: Kevin Macdonald (in 2012) - who made Touching the Void and The Last King of Scotland[/I. Produced by: Ziggy Marley, Steve Bing, Charles Steel. Metascore: 82%.

I've watched this film and it pulsates with Bob Marley's charisma and the catchy rhythm and positive, unifying spirit of his songs. It digs deep into his impoverished origins in the ghetto of ghettos in a remote Jamaica town, his pivotal conversion to Rastafarianism, his hard fought fame in America and Europe. It's hard to watch the end, his possibly unnecessary death from a melanoma that started at his big toe, and carried him away at the age of 36 - though he left many songs, a permanent global fame, and 11 children from 7 mothers. [I]Rolling Stone ranked him No. 11 (https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/100-greatest-artists-147446/bob-marley-2-29640/) on its list of the 100 greatest artists of all time. In him, the spirit of the seventies lives on.



[PR release.]
Born into poverty in rural Jamaica, Bob Marley became a prophet for the world’s oppressed, preaching peace, love, and understanding with a universal language - song. Now in 2020, the Marley family has rolled out a yearlong MARLEY75 commemorative series of events across all forms of media in celebration of the legendary cultural icon, on what would have been Marley’s seventy-fifth birthday. As part of this series of special events, audiences can see in virtual and traditional theaters a special re-release of MARLEY, in which Oscar-winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald combines unheard tracks, unseen footage, and intimate interviews to paint a definitive portrait of the legendary artist.

With each ticket purchase, recipients will receive an exclusive Ziggy Marley song download pack. Additionally, all ticket purchases will be entered to win a grand prize package, including a yet to be released Bob Marley photo book, Marley vinyl and select other Marley merchandise.

[Chris Knipp]

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A DESERTED VENICE FILM FESTIVAL HEADQUARTERS > vULTURE /NurPhoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images

FESTIVALS AND THE PANDEMIC

Each big festival is making its own decisions. Cannes cancelled and did not follow through on the idea of linking up virtually with some other festival. Venice has decided to go ahead, under special conditions, fewer films, more venues, controlled attendance. Telluride has decided to cancel but has published its entire program-that-is-not, with notes on where or how individual films on its list might be seen.

What's coming: Toronto plans (https://www.tiff.net/about-tiff-20#:~:text=Our%20reimagined%20physical%20and%20dig ital,films%2C%20talks%2C%20and%20interactive%20exp eriences&text=This%20year's%20selection%20comprises%20a,Q%2 6As%20with%20cast%20and%20filmmakers.) a program of "physical screenings and drive-ins, digital screenings, virtual red carpets, press conferences, and industry talks," with a greatly reduced program, down from 200 feature films to 50. NYFF so far has named its Centerpiece film, Chloe Zhao's NOMADLAND (also featured at Venice ant the not-Telluride); Lincoln Center has not announced any logistics or plans otherwise.

Vulture, the main website of New York Magazine, had an article (https://www.vulture.com/2020/07/how-film-festivals-are-handling-2020-amid-the-coronavirus.html) a fortnight ago by Nate Jones on "How Each Major Film Festival Is Responding to the Coronavirus."

[Chris Knipp]

Criterion Channel

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Let's not forget that the Criterion Channel offers outstanding selections all the time for a reasonable fee.

Today they are featuring Seventies Black indie director Bill Gunn.


Three by Bill Gunn
One of the most electrifying but unjustly neglected talents to emerge from the creative ferment of 1970s American cinema, actor, writer, and director Bill Gunn blazed a new trail for Black independent filmmakers with his avant-visionary, Afrocentric vampire myth GANJA & HESS and PERSONAL PROBLEMS, an epic, intensely intimate “meta-soap opera” (as writer Ishmael Reed called it) that went virtually unseen for decades before reemerging to widespread acclaim. Those twin masterpieces are presented alongside Ján Kadár’s THE ANGEL LEVINE, an overlooked Bernard Malamud adaptation cowritten by Gunn and starring Zero Mostel and Harry Belafonte. With their bold, iconoclastic style and focus on the lives of intellectual and middle-class Black characters, Gunn’s uncompromising films were decades ahead of their time—only now is the world beginning to catch up.

Secret: You can watch Ganja & Hess in its entirety on YouTube fre (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6zKc8CPgMw)e. Watch the first minute and you'll see the ease of a master.

[Chris Knipp]

Hollywood assesses the damage.

This paragraph comes from the New York newsletter, via Vulture One Great Story (https://www.vulture.com/2020/09/movies-in-2020-what-hollywood-might-have-looked-like.html):

The Year of Movies That Never Was - What would Hollywood have looked like in 2020 if a pandemic never happened? We were almost too afraid to ask.
By Joe Reid


We’re living in the year of the Hollywood asterisk. After an entire summer movie season was postponed, the entertainment industry is existing on a prayer, hoping that movie theaters magically reopen this fall so studios won’t have to keep releasing their blockbusters abroad and surrendering the rest to a willing streaming platform. The Oscars are delayed until April either way, pushing all the big awards-bait films to January or February as a result; it’ll be eight more months before we even know what 2020 had to offer. In this fraught and chaotic new reality, up is down, light is dark, Elisabeth Moss in The Invisible Man is vying for Best Actress, and Hamilton is a film. It’s hard not to think about the year of movies that could have been.

[Chris Knipp]

WE ARE LITTLE ZOMBIES Available on VOD/Digital Platforms Today!

It's a cute and visually and aurally unique little Japanese film. Based on a manga, of course.

https://www.chrisknipp.com/writing/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4431

[Chris Knipp]

http://www.chrisknipp.com/images/mgh.png

Metrograph has an online membership program. You join up and pay $5 a month, and for that you can watch any of their online offerings during the period offered.

https://metrograph.com/

So, with Metrographs's Rohmerx3, Boyfriend and Girlfrfiends is onlilne Sept. 4-11, 4 Adventures of Reinnette and Mirabelle Sept. 11-18, and The Aviator's Wife Sept. 18-24, 2020. Other films are available at the same time.

[Chris Knipp]

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New York Film Festival 2020

I was forgetting the most obvious coming oneline event - the New York Film Festival.
You can log in and buy "tickets" for all the NYFF films - but you have to watch them in a "virtual cinema" fashion, meaning during a limited, mostly 5-day, time-frame. Why a virtual screening would sell out I don't know, but the first day of sales, Friday, Sept. 11, 2020, the Hong Sang-soo had sold out. I got tickets for a lot but not all of these.

GENERAL FILM FORUM (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?4856-New-York-Film-Festival-2020-what-s-going-to-happen&p=38913#post38913)

The 58th New York Film Festival Main Slate

Lovers Rock (Steve McQueen 2020) Opening Night
Nomadland (Chloé Zhao 2020) Centerpiece
French Exit (Azazel Jacobs 2020) Closing Night
Atarrabi and Mikelats (Eugène Green 2020)
Beginning (Dea Kulumbegashvili 2020)
The Calming (Song Fang 2020)
City Hall (Frederick Wiseman 2020)
Days 日子 (Tsai Ming-liang 2020)
The Disciple (Chaitanya Tamhane 2020)
Gunda (Victor Kossakovsky 2020)
I Carry You with Me/Te Llevo Conmigo (Heidi Ewing 2020)
Isabella (Matías Piñeiro 2020)
Malmkrog (Cristi Puiu 2020
Mangrove (Steve McQueen 2020
MLK/FBI (Sam Pollard 2020
Night of the Kings/La Nuit des rois (Philippe Lacôte 2020)
Notturno (Gianfranco Rosi 2020) doc
Red, White and Blue (Steve McQueen 2020
The Salt of Tears/Le sel des larmes(Philippe Garrel 2020
Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue/一直游到海水变蓝(Jia Zhangke 2020) doc
Time (Garrett Bradley 2020
Tragic Jungle/Selva Trágica (Yulene Olaizola 2020
The Truffle Hunters (Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw 2020) doc
Undine (Christian Petzold 2020)
The Woman Who Ran (Hong Sangsoo 2020