After the freshness and deceptive simplicity of their debut, the 2007 animated feature Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud's Poulet aux Prunes -- or Chicken with Plums -- showing in competition here, is something of a disappointment. The cast isn't the problem: The movie stars Mathieu Amalric as an embittered musician living in late-1950s Tehran, and Maria de Medeiros as his beleaguered but adoring wife; Chiara Mastroianni has a tiny part, and the fine Moroccan-born actor Jamel Debbouze appears in small dual roles.
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David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method, screening here at the festival in competition, is probably the most fun you'll ever have watching a movie about Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud duking it out -- and nurturing a deep-rooted but fragile friendship -- in early 20th century Austria and Switzerland. In fact, when I first saw Viggo Mortensen done up in his trim little Freud beard, I nearly laughed out loud -- not because he looked ridiculous, but because he looked so right. Mortensen has become one of Cronenberg's go-to guys in recent years, and you can see why: Even in a period film like this one -- a picture that runs the heavy risk of being ponderous and stiff -- he can slip himself into the scenery with a "Don't mind me, here in my Sigmund Freud getup" naturalness.
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Hey, look at that: Mere hours after allowing a brief peek behind the curtain at fest HQ, the team at the Telluride Film Festival have announced the line-up for its 38th installment, which gets underway tomorrow. In addition to unveiling the North American premieres of awards hopefuls The Descendants, A Dangerous Method, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Albert Nobbs and numerous others, the famously top-secret Colorado portal to the fall festival season will honor George Clooney, Pierre Étaix and Tilda Swinton with its coveted Silver Medallions. Read on for the full program.
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Because of an early-morning badge snafu, I was unable to catch the press screening of Roman Polanski's Carnage, the movie I was most looking forward to seeing here in Venice. Add that to the fact that I arrived here too late to see The Ides of March, and it's a double bummer. But my consolation prize was not bad -- at least in a so-bad-it's-almost-good kind of way: I did get to see Madonna's W.E., which is in some ways just the kind of movie you'd expect from an artist who once, with a delightful lack of irony, declared herself a material girl.
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Just ask Movieline Chief Critic Stephanie Zacharek, who is already stationed in Venice for the season's first major film festival: Fall is the happening time for these organized movie galas. In honor of this fest upswing -- and Movieline's week-long seasonal cinema celebration -- we contacted authorities at the Telluride, Toronto, New York, London and AFI film festivals to pick their brains about the programming process, their events' unique identities in the fest circuit and much more. For festival novices, consider this a primer for the autumn film festivals. And for the seasoned vets out there, enjoy these behind-the-scenes accounts of the rigorous preparation that goes into selecting tomorrow's award-winning films.
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Greetings from Venice, and from the 68th Venice Film Festival! I arrived here too late to catch the press screening of the festival's opening film, George Clooney's The Ides of March, which I've been looking forward to for months. That will have to wait until Toronto, next week. But I did happen to catch two spectacular visions my first night here: First a red-carpet sighting of George Clooney, cheered on by a noisy gang of delighted Italian fans, and a lightning storm over the lagoon, sans rain, unlike any I've ever seen.
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The Descendants, the much-anticipated collaboration between George Clooney and director Alexander Payne, was announced today as the closing-night selection of the 49th New York Film Festival. The movie will join 26 others in this year's program, an intriguing blend that includes apocalypse films from both Abel Ferrara and Lars von Trier, a doubly oversexed Michael Fassbender and Martin Scorsese's latest musical documentary. Read on for the full slate.
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A year after his 127 Hours ushered in the fall festival season's hottest fainting sensation, James Franco is plotting his return to Toronto along with rest of the latest group of invitees to the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. And it's quite a list, with the likes of Franco's partner (!) Gus Van Sant, Mr. Brainwash, Jennifer Hudson, Lynn Shelton, Rachel Weisz and (ahem) Joel Schumacher making the trip as well. Let's parse the top 10 highlights from TIFF's latest announcement.
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The organizers at the New York Film Festival announced their latest selections today, inviting David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method and longtime NYFF buddy Pedro Almodóvar's The Skin I Live In to screen in a pair of special gala presentations on Oct. 5 and Oct. 12, respectively. The selection marks Cronenberg's first time with a film at the festival; both films are Sony Pictures Classics releases. Hats off to all; read on for the full press release.
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Michelle Williams fans rejoice: Word just over the Movieline transom has announced My Week With Marilyn, the tale of one young man's brush with Marilyn Monroe, Laurence Olivier and Arthur Miller in the summer of 1956, as the Centerpiece selection of this year's New York Film Festival.
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The Toronto International Film Festival has further sweetened an already-savory crop of films for 2011, today announcing a slate of nonfiction premieres from the likes of Werner Herzog, Nick Broomfield, Jonathan Demme, Alex Gibney, Morgan Spurlock, Frederick Wiseman and a range of others. Subjects include death row, Paul Williams, ice-hockey brutality, Comic-Con, Hurricane Katrina, Siberian models and Sarah Palin. Yes, again. Check out the festival's full announcement below.
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Word just over the Movieline transom reports that the 49th New York Film Festival will open Sept. 30 with Carnage, Roman Polanski's screen adaptation of Yasmina Reza's Tony Award-winning play God of Carnage.
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When Toronto International Film Festival organizers revealed the first chunk of their schedule earlier this week, there were some notable omissions: the highly anticipated Tinker Tailer Soldier Spy and Roman Polanski's Carnage, for instance. Seems those films were already packing bags for Italy. Both will debut in Venice in September, along with The Ides of March and previously reported Damsels in Distress, which will open and close the festival, respectively. The biggest fall movie not going to Venice or Toronto? Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar, though perhaps that one is earmarked for the New York Film Festival. Click through for the full Venice lineup.
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As summer blockbuster season winds down, it's time to set your sight on this year's star-packed Toronto International Film Festival. Among your favorite actors bringing new films to Canada: Jon Hamm, Brad Pitt, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Jude Law, Kristen Wiig, Michael Fassbender, Seth Rogen, Michelle Williams and many, many more. Check out some new pics from the most-anticipated films at this year's TIFF after the jump, and mark your calendars for Sept. 8. Just 44 more days.
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Toronto International Film Festival organizers took to Twitter early on Tuesday morning to announce the initial line-up for the 36th annual Toronto International Film Festival -- and what a lineup! Hot fall releases like Moneyball and The Descendants lead the way, while Davis Guggenheim's U2 documentary From the Sky Down will open the festivities. Click through for the list of impressive film titles.
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