Scrappy filmmaking can sometimes deliver superb storytelling, as is proven by Erik Matti’s initially wobbly but increasingly gripping, increasingly thoughtful, increasingly increasing three-and-a-half-hour “On the Job: The Missing 8,” the prolific Filipino director’s Venice-competing sequel to the 2013 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight title “On the Job.” While the film unfolds more like the TV show it’s
Have you ever noticed how, in Western culture, when referring to someone’s death, writers feel obliged to insert the word “tragic” somewhere in the sentence? Is there any other kind, a reader might rightly ask. Sometimes they mean “unexpected,” a kind of shorthand intended to show that the life in question was cut short before
The 2021 crop of the Toronto Film Festival’s Tribute Awards honorees gathered on Saturday to discuss their cinematic achievements and indulge in some responsible human contact. This year’s recipients — including Jessica Chastain, Benedict Cumberbatch, Denis Villeneuve, Alanis Obomsawin, Ari Wegner, Danis Goulet and Dionne Warwick — sat for a press conference moderated by Variety at
SPOILER WARNING: Do not read if you have not yet watched James Wan’s “Malignant.” James Wan’s newest horror film, “Malignant,” is taking the genre — and its critics — by storm. The Warner Bros. film, which premiered on Sept. 10 in theaters and on HBO Max, shocked audiences in its third act by revealing that
A usurper melodrama by any other name is still a usurper melodrama, and Fabrice du Welz’s latest doesn’t really try to cloak its genre conventions: “Inexorable” might just as well be titled “Single White Female Nanny” or “Fatal Domestic.” Still, if this isn’t the most surprising or original among the Belgian helmer’s character-driven thrillers to
Three mercenaries on the run with a plane full of gold and a dark secret in their past are the starting point for Jean Luc Herbulot’s Senegalese genre-bender “Saloum,” which has its world premiere in the Midnight Madness section of the Toronto Film Festival. The film centers on the Bangui Hyenas, a mythic trio of
Sean Baker’s “Red Rocket” won a pair of prizes at the 47th Deauville American Film Festival where “Blue Bayou,” “Down With the King,” “Pleasure” and “John and the Hole” also picked up awards during the closing ceremony. Michael Shannon, who was previously at Deauville with “99 Homes” and “Take Shelter,” received the honorary Talent Award
Miley Cyrus and Metallica performed “Nothing Else Matters” live on “The Howard Stern Show” to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the band’s eponymous record, also known as “The Black Album.” To commemorate the anniversary, a remastered version of “The Black Album” was released on Sept. 10, along with “The Metallica Blacklist,” a cover album performed
Negotiations between West Coast IATSE locals and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on a new master film and TV contract have stretched past the Sept. 10 deadline as union members become more vocal about the possibility of a strike. Little progress has been made since negotiations between the union and the AMPTP
The city of West Hollywood has issued an emergency executive order that requires proof of vaccine for anyone 18 and older entering indoor businesses such as restaurants, bars and nightclubs. The order will take effect on Oct. 11. People who are unvaccinated may still visit outdoor areas, and all businesses that fall under the indoor
Among authors who didn’t live to witness their own success, Louis Hemon is a particularly unfortunate case — his novel “Maria Chapdelaine” was published in 1913, the same year as his train-struck death. Thus he didn’t see it become an early Quebec-lit classic taught to generations of schoolchildren, published in translation worldwide or adapted into
Eli Roth, who is known to have a passion for Italian B-movies, is at the Venice Film Festival to help promote biographical doc “Inferno Rosso: Joe D’Amato on the Road to Excess,” directed by Manlio Gomarasca and Massimiliano Zanin, in which Roth features as a talking head. The doc, which premiered on the Lido as
In the final weekend of the California gubernatorial recall campaign, political ads are everywhere. The last push before the voting period ends on Sept. 14 has brought out Democrat A-listers to defend Gov. Gavin Newsom while some of the Republican challengers have turned to shock and outrage to stretch their limited dollars further. The campaign
The Venice Film Festival is drawing to a close as tonight’s star-studded awards ceremony begins, with Oscar-winning filmmaker Bong Joon-ho’s jury set to reveal their selections from this year’s official Competition. Penélope Cruz and Jane Campion are among the potential prizewinners already spotted on the red carpet prior to the ceremony. Follow here for the
Does choosing to be alone truly mean we are better off? Hong Sung-eun, director of the thought-provoking melodramatic film “Aloners,” begs to differ. “We are all connected anyway, so a decent farewell is a mere act of courtesy to close out a chapter,” says Hong. “Aloners” tells a story about Jina, a top-notched employee at
For “The Real Housewives,” (alleged) crime pays, and viewers will see that phenomenon play out once more on the upcoming season of “The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City,” which has its premiere on Bravo Sunday night. As the newest entry in the “Real Housewives” multiverse, “Salt Lake City” hit the ground running in its
A thread of toxic male lying, cheating, stealing, abandoning and violence connects the scattered pieces director Gian Cassini assembles into the family quilt of “Comala.” Investigating the life of a hitman father killed in 2010, this very personal inquiry doesn’t have much to offer those anticipating a bigger-picture analysis of Mexican criminal syndicates and social
From Patricia Highsmith’s diaries to French graphic novels, the 6th edition of the Book Adaptation Rights Market (BARM) at the Venice Production Bridge film market, gave publishers a welcome chance to meet face-to-face with producers interested in good writing for the screen. The three-day event hosted meetings between top European publishers, and their production partners,
On the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Bruce Springsteen gave an emotional live performance of “I’ll See You in My Dreams” at the 9/11 memorial in New York City. Before the performance, Springsteen gave a speech remembering the nearly 3,000 people who died. “May God bless our fallen brothers and sisters, their families,
“It’s an arthouse take on a sci-fi computer thriller, revolving around A.I. and parenthood. But it’s not set in the future; it’s set in the now,” says the award-winning Swiss director, Simon Jaquemet, about his next project “Electric Child.” One of 57 projects that took part in the three-day Gap-Financing Market at the Venice Production
My career started exactly 20 years ago when I was cast in a pilot for Fox called “The 3rd Degree” with Jensen Ackles and Maggie Lawson. I was almost two years out of college and living in Greenpoint, Brooklyn where I had a unique view of the Twin Towers from my rooftop. In that pilot,
Marvel and Disney’s “Shang-Chi” is set to sweep the domestic box office for the second weekend in a row, adding an expected $33 to $35 million to last weekend’s haul. The superhero adventure, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, took in $9.4 million on Friday from 4,300 theaters. Last weekend, the film finished the Labor Day
On Sept. 11, 2001, my roommate and I had just started our senior year at NYU; we were about five days into classes. [When American Airlines Flight 11 hit the North Tower] it sounded like a giant truck running over a construction site — we called them the metal Band-Aids they put on the street
Penny Lane’s “Listening to Kenny G” is an insightful, thought provoking look at the easy-listening saxophonist’s successful career in music. Lane chronicles the saxophonist’s rise to fame while also, humorously, exploring the love and the intense hate his music incites. Film screens in the Toronto International Film Festival. How did you decide to make a
Jeff Orlowski is an Emmy-winner documentarian who was a senior at Stuyvesant High School on Sept. 11, 2001. He was also the editor-in-chief of the school newspaper, The Spectator. As the World Trade Center stood burning, Orlowski’s instinct was not to run from the scene but rather to figure out how to cover the news
The prospect of watching a two-and-a-half hour documentary on Oscar winning film composer Ennio Morricone, directed by Giuseppe Tornatore, a Oscar winner himself with “Cinema Paradiso,” saw cineastes stream into the film’s Friday evening world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. There was a quiet gathering on the red carpet for Tornatore and friends, who
It’s been a while since Italian cinema has raised a major enfant terrible, but the country’s film industry firmly believes it has a pair in twin brothers Damiano and Fabio D’Innocenzo. Hot off a co-writing credit on Matteo Garrone’s “Dogman,” the duo (billed onscreen as The D’Innocenzo Brothers) made a splash and won a prize
Foo Fighters’ hit “Everlong” first climbed the Billboard charts in 1997, but nearly a quarter-century later — thanks to a viral performance with 11-year-old drummer Nandi Bushell — the song is back. The band invited Bushell on stage for an electrifying performance of “Everlong” to close out their Los Angeles gig on Aug. 26 at
Aditya Chopra, chair and MD of leading Indian studio Yash Raj Films (YRF), has launched the Saathi Card to provide health insurance, school fee allowance and food rations among other benefits to the industry’s daily wage earners and their families. The card is launched under the aegis of The Yash Chopra Foundation, named after the
There’s a lot going on in “A Banquet,” an atmospheric horror about a family who’s put to the test while attempting to heal from tragedy. Compelling themes centered on anxiety, possession, motherhood, nourishment (and the lack thereof), doomsday dread, hysteria and faith are funneled through the lens of multi-generational feminine trauma. And while having myriad