Jordan Beswick, C.S.A.

Just back from another jaunt to Europe where I was lucky enough to experience two unbelievably inspiring opening nights.

The first was MEPHISTO FOREVER at the Maxim Gorki in Berlin under the direction of Armin Petras. The second was CONCERT A LA CARTE at the Manufacture des Abbesses in Paris directed by yours truly, starring the brilliant Cécile Carrere!

Next on the agenda is an invited reading of my play YOUTH IN ASIA, at the National Theatre in London on March 28th, starring an extraordinary cast; Alison Steadman, Marcus D’Amico, Nigel Lindsay, Eamonn Owens, Malcolm Tierney and Jennifer Wiltsie. 

I plan to rest soon!!!!

Harmony Korine wrote his first movie script at 19, and was directing by 23. Then he found his way on to drugs. Now 35, he’s clean and making beguiling, beautiful films, writes Charlotte O’Sullivan….

http://www.indiewire.com/buzz/080309.html#011740

by indieWIRE (January 18, 2008)

Screening in the Dramatic Competition program at Sundance ‘08, Daniel Barnz’s feature directorial debut, “Phoebe in Wonderland” is a rich investigation of the complexities of growing up. “Phoebe” details Phoebe (Elle Fanning), a young girl, her mother (Felicity Huffman), a woman who desperately seeks success in an academic career at the expense of her parenting, and a drama teacher (Patricia Clarkson), who is directing a school production of “Alice in Wonderland” in which Phoebe seeks a role. Sundance’s Geoffrey Gilmore calls “Phoebe” an “honest and thoughtful work that is not to be missed.” He explains that “as an examination of normalcy and madness, this is realistic and cerebral storytelling, but it is also extravagantly magical, a metaphorical fable that examines childhood, our attempts to understand it, and the way we, as parents and teachers, navigate its treacherous shoals.”

Read the Full Story @ indieWIRE.com http://www.indiewire.com/people/2008/01/park_city_08_in_23.html

by Michael Koresky (January 17, 2008)

Presidential hopeful and all-around sleaze bucket Mitt Romney’s desperate equivocating over the use of waterboarding during this season’s Republican YouTube debate nearly left the man a frothing mess. That’s because there really isn’t any room for equivocation: torture is torture, no matter how much the administration and other assorted “defenders of freedom” try to make excuses or strict, revisionist definitions. In his simultaneously harrowing and soberly parsed new documentary, Alex Gibney (”Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room”) trots out endless footage of disgraced Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld smugly invalidating queries into American torture of Muslims at Guantanamo Bay and George Bush musing into what really constitutes torture, after all.

Read the Full Story @ indieWIRE.com http://www.indiewire.com/movies/2008/01/review_house_of.html

by indieWIRE (January 15, 2008)

Based on the award-winning play by Lorraine Hansberry, “A Raisin in the Sun” is a film adapation of director Kenny Leon’s own recent Broadway revival of the play. “Raisin” follows the Younger family as they struggle in 1950s Chicago. When an insurance check changes that, each goes about spending the money differently, and the family balance is but to the test. Sundance’s John Cooper says “Raisin” has been elegantly transformed from stage to film by director Kenny Leon’s careful guidance and the performances of a talented and insightful cast. In their capable hands, this American classic reveals it is as timely and significant as ever.”

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http://www.indiewire.com/people/2008/01/park_city_08_in_21.html

by indieWIRE (January 11, 2008)

Premiering at Sundance ‘08 in the Dramatic Competition program, Courtney Hunt’s “Frozen River” follows Rae Eddy (Melissa Leo), a woman who lives in upstate New York whose husband has left her two days before Christmas. In addition to that, he has also gambled way all their savings, forcing Rae to feed her two sons popcorn and Tang. But when Rae meets Lila LIttlewolf (Misty Upham), she discovers a new way to make money: smuggling illegal immigrants into the United States. Sundance’s Shari Frilot calls “River” “a wonderfully directed film full of atmosphere, heart, and outstanding performances  by Melissa Leo and Misty Upham.” that is
ultimately about the strength that resides in family and the way hope in a dire situation can be uncovered by courage and trust.”

Read the Full Story @ indieWIRE.com
http://www.indiewire.com/people/2008/01/park_city_08_in_13.html

by Eugene Hernandez (December 24, 2007)

Sitting down with indieWIRE earlier this month in New York City for a one-on-one conversation about “There Will Be Blood,” the exceptional new film that dominated iW’s 2007 film critics’ poll, American auteur Paul Thomas Anderson caught a first glimpse of Upton Sinclair’s re-issued 1920s novel, “Oil!” resting on a small table nearby. Examining the book’s cover, he groused briefly about the need to place an image of Daniel Day-Lewis on the front of the book, explaining that he had intially hoped the promotional item could be re-released with that same simple cover that first caught his eye in a London bookstore years ago. Picking up the book back in Britain started him on the long journey to making his epic new film.

Read the Full Story @ indieWIRE.com http://www.indiewire.com/people/2007/12/iw_profile_ther.html 

by Eugene Hernandez

It should surprise no one that Werner Herzog’s new film about Antartica, “Encounters at the End of the World,” is the antithesis of the most successful documentary releases in recent years, “March of the Penguins” and “An Inconvenient Truth.” Talking about filmmaking and his latest project during an AFI Fest conversation earlier this week in Los Angeles, Herzog noted that he didn’t want to make a film on “fluffy penguins” and he wasn’t trying to make a movie overtly about the climate crisis, later adding that however effective the film, “An Inconvient Truth” is actually a slideshow. His remarks effectively challenged the large audience to reconsider its own views on non-fiction film as AFI Fest unspooled a roster of acclaimed new documentary films.
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http://www.indiewire.com/ots/2007/11/dispatch_from_l_12.html

Joel and Ethan Coen’s “No Country for Old Men” by Michael Koresky (October 30, 2007)

The term “return to form” may be overused, but it certainly applies to the Coen Brothers’ new adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel  “No Country for Old Men” — in its visual economy, maddeningly beautiful symmetry, and eccentric mundanity the film is a reminder of why the Coens were initially tagged as wunderkinds. It’s easy to derive pleasure from the Hitchcockian virtuosity of “No Country”’s mouse-trap set-ups, but the sweet surprise here is that Joel and Ethan Coen, genre vagabonds and occasional wise-asses who had been stuck in a rut as of late, have shot their latest film through with palpable, evocative melancholy and purpose. And have done so without seeming overly calculated: McCarthy’s stark prose and workmanlike trajectory have meshed beautifully with the filmmakers’ tendencies to reduce characters to singular traits. In this case, principals Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, and Tommy Lee Jones have been boiled down to their very bones; “No Country” feels like a skeleton dance, a final raging at humanity’s end.

Read the Full Story @ indieWIRE.com
http://www.indiewire.com/movies/2007/1/review_the_eart.html