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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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.

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“The way I see it,” Penn says, calmly, “if you believe in democracy, you got to do something. We have people running the country now who really should be in prison for what they are doing to democracy. If you define our country by the constitution, we have enemies of the state in the White House, the defence department and the state department. That’s where we are now.” Sean O’Hagan speaks with Sean Penn….

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“I believe all desperate actions come from the loneliness inside you.” by indieWIRE (September 12, 2007)

Throughout the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival, indieWIRE will be publishing interviews with filmmakers in the Discovery section of the festival, which TIFF describes as a showcase for new and emerging filmmakers from contemporary international cinema.

Fourteen filmmakers were given the opportunity to participate in an e-mail interview, and each was sent the same questions. Director Paprika Steen is at Toronto with her feature film, “With Your Permission,” which is about a is about a opera-obsessed hero who works as a cafeteria manager on a Copenhagen ferry. TIFF describes the film as pushing “every button it gets near” and “propelled by its characters’ complete inability to face obvious truths and by our extreme discomfort.”

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Sean Penn is attached to play gay ’70s San Franciso politician Harvey Milk, and Matt Damon his assassin in a long-gestating project from director Gus Van Sant. Once a distribution deal is finalized, Van Sant hopes to begin production on the as-yet-untitled feature in San Francisco as early as December. Gregg Goldstein reports….

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Dong Dings Out “Hollywood” Expose by Brian Brooks and Peter Knegt (September 10, 2007)

Amidst the frivolity of parties, red carpets, dinners and flashing cameras, the Toronto International Film Festival displayed its serious side today (Monday), ahead of the sixth anniversary of 9/11, with a visit from the 39th President of the United States, Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter. The Carters were on hand to talk about Jonathan Demme’s new doc, “Jimmy Carter Man from Plains” — a triple award-winner at the recent Venice Film Festival this weekend — that follows Carter during the period after last year’s publishing of one of his most controversial books, “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.”

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The New York Times reports on the death of filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni, calling him, “The Italian director whose chilly canticles of alienation were cornerstones of international filmmaking in the 1960s, inspiring intense measures of admiration, denunciation and confusion.” The Italian master director died on Monday in Rome, on the same day as Ingmar Bergman, the Swedish filmmaker who died at home in Sweden. The Los Angeles Times praised him as “the master Italian film director who depicted the emotional alienation of Italy’s postwar generation in films such as ‘L’Avventura’ and ‘La Notte’ but achieved his greatest popular success with ‘Blowup’,…

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The Swedish master of modern cinema, died Monday at his home in Faro, Sweden. He was 89 years old.

I agree 100% with Woody Allen’s assessment that he was “probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera.”

I treasure the countless hours I’ve spent with my friend Jone, spellbound by the genius of his work. The inspiration. In our business the term Artist is tossed around far too indiscriminately. Mr. Bergman was a bona fide Artist of the highest caliber.

There never was, nor will there ever be another like him.

Saluting Hector Lavoe

Leading Latin singer Marc Anthony belts out a tune at Thursday’s jumping after-party for “El Cantante” in New York City. Backed by a full salsa band, Anthony took the stage for a short, but powerful set of songs at Picturehouse’s Cipriani 42nd St. bash celebrating the movie. The story of famed Puerto Rican salsa singer Hector Lavoe, “El Cantante” (recut from the version that debuted last year at the Torontof fest) hits U.S. theaters on August 3rd with Anthony in the title role and his wife Jennifer Lopez starring as Lavoe’s second wife, Puchi. An interview with Puchi frames the film which delves into the rapid rise and tragic fall of the influential music figure. The passion project was shepherded by Lopez for six years and directed by Leon Ichaso. “Hector was a voice of the people, a jibaro, a boy from the sticks,” she says in notes on the production. “People identified with him.” Picturehouse planners pulled off Thursday night’s fiesta despite fears up to the very last minute that the event might have to move due to Manhattan’s recent, nearby steam pipe explosion. Instead, a large crowd — many decked out in bright, festive outfits — filled the historic Cipriani space on 42nd St. (in the massive Bowery Savings Bank building) as planned. The bash featured an assortment of Puerto Rican rums and a lavish spread of food and turned hot and sweaty once Anthony hit the stage and everyone started dancing. [Eugene Hernandez]

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I was lucky enough to catch the great Mr. Muhe in a devastating production of Sarah Kane’s “Blasted” (German title: Zerbombt) at the schaubuhne am lehniner platz, directed by the incomparable Thomas Ostermeier, while in Berlin for one of my intensive acting workshops. It was a truly memorable evening.

How wonderful that the world had the opportunity to experience his extraordinary work in “The Lives of Others”. He was an actor of tremendous depth, soul, and passion. He will be sorely missed.