Film will go on international festival tour ahead of early 2020 theatrical release.
Ahead of its world premiere at Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal, a restored version of Hungarian psychedelic animation Son Of The White Mare has landed at Arbelos Films.
The distributor has acquired North, Central, and South American rights to Marcell Jankovics’ cult film, set to screen at Fantasia on July 29. The quest story takes place in a mythological setting as three brothers led by Treehshaker set out to save the universe by destroying dragons attached to a huge oak tree at the gates of the underworld. The film...
Ahead of its world premiere at Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal, a restored version of Hungarian psychedelic animation Son Of The White Mare has landed at Arbelos Films.
The distributor has acquired North, Central, and South American rights to Marcell Jankovics’ cult film, set to screen at Fantasia on July 29. The quest story takes place in a mythological setting as three brothers led by Treehshaker set out to save the universe by destroying dragons attached to a huge oak tree at the gates of the underworld. The film...
- 7/19/2019
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Andrew Bujalski's Mutual Appreciation (2005) is showing June 14 - July 13, 2019 on Mubi in the United States in a new restoration.Andrew Bujalski premiered his second film Mutual Appreciation at SXSW in 2005. Around the same time, his first—Funny Ha Ha—had its official theatrical release, a few years after it had premiered. The two films made their impression on rising independent filmmakers, bringing a focus on naturalistic conversation and self-reflecting portrayals of twenty-somethings that differed from the voicings of Generation X prior. Bujalski also appeared in Joe Swanberg’s seminal Hannah Takes the Stairs (2007), alongside a then-unknown Greta Gerwig, and despite the under-recognition of those early films in the mid-2000s, it’s easy to see how they laid the foundations for the wider success and cultural impact of Swanberg’s Easy (2016–2019) and the Gerwig-penned Frances Ha (2012) and Lady Bird (2017). Bujalski’s most recent—Support the Girls (2018)—earned him and...
- 6/28/2019
- MUBI
Fourteen years later, “Mutual Appreciation” is returning to theaters. Andrew Bujalski’s sophomore feature — preceded by “Funny Ha Ha” and followed most recently by “Computer Chess,” “Results,” and “Support the Girls” — helped him earn the “godfather of mumblecore” nickname, for better and for worse. Arbelos Films is re-releasing the black-and-white drama, which Bujalski co-starred in. Watch the trailer below.
Here’s the logline: “An instant critic’s darling upon its release in 2006, ‘Mutual Appreciation’ is at once an utterly timeless and distinctly mid-aughts portrait of the ebb and flow of twenty-something life in New York City. Richly observed and deeply humanist, the film follows Alan (Justin Rice), an aspiring musician, who crash-lands in town following the breakup of his band in Boston, immediately taking up with his old friends Ellie (Rachel Clift) and Lawrence (Bujalski) while negotiating the affections of a local radio DJ (Seung-Min Lee). In the tradition of Éric Rohmer,...
Here’s the logline: “An instant critic’s darling upon its release in 2006, ‘Mutual Appreciation’ is at once an utterly timeless and distinctly mid-aughts portrait of the ebb and flow of twenty-something life in New York City. Richly observed and deeply humanist, the film follows Alan (Justin Rice), an aspiring musician, who crash-lands in town following the breakup of his band in Boston, immediately taking up with his old friends Ellie (Rachel Clift) and Lawrence (Bujalski) while negotiating the affections of a local radio DJ (Seung-Min Lee). In the tradition of Éric Rohmer,...
- 1/15/2019
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
Dustin Guy Defa makes his Sundance Film Festival feature debut with “Person to Person,” and he doesn’t know what to expect. He’s had a lot of disappointments in his life, ranging from being the kind of penniless artist whose survival demands long-term couch surfing to overcoming a nightmare family of origin. (It yielded his 2011 Sundance short, “Family Nightmare.”)
However, “Person To Person” also gives real weight to the time-worn trope that values the journey over the destination. With a cast that includes names like Michael Cera and”Broad City” star Abbi Jacobson as well as indie filmmaking stalwarts like David Zellner and Benny Safdie, it reflects the success he’s had building his place in independent filmmaking and the joy he brings with it. “It comes through loud and clear in his work,” said filmmaker David Lowery, a longtime Defa fan. “It’s the reason why his movies...
However, “Person To Person” also gives real weight to the time-worn trope that values the journey over the destination. With a cast that includes names like Michael Cera and”Broad City” star Abbi Jacobson as well as indie filmmaking stalwarts like David Zellner and Benny Safdie, it reflects the success he’s had building his place in independent filmmaking and the joy he brings with it. “It comes through loud and clear in his work,” said filmmaker David Lowery, a longtime Defa fan. “It’s the reason why his movies...
- 1/20/2017
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Debuting today (March 17) on Vimeo on Demand, Play It Safe is the the debut feature from Melbourne filmmaker Chris Pahlow..
The indie features Nicholas Kato (Gallipoli, The Fear), Clayton Jacobson (Kenny, Animal Kingdom), Maya Aleksandra (Neighbours, Winners and Losers, Wilfred), and is the story of Jamie (Kato), a 26-year-old musician who is out of work and down on his luck..
According to the logline: "After his band breaks up, Jamie.s left with no music, no career and no girlfriend. Stuck teaching piano at a soul-destroying music school, Jamie must decide whether to take a risk and follow his dreams, or surrender to his unhappiness and play it safe"..
Pahlow cites Andrew Bujalski.s pioneering mumblecore feature, 2005's Mutual Appreciation, as a watershed moment.
.I left the screening irrevocably changed. I got outside and asked my friend why nobody had made a film like it in Melbourne, where characters just...
The indie features Nicholas Kato (Gallipoli, The Fear), Clayton Jacobson (Kenny, Animal Kingdom), Maya Aleksandra (Neighbours, Winners and Losers, Wilfred), and is the story of Jamie (Kato), a 26-year-old musician who is out of work and down on his luck..
According to the logline: "After his band breaks up, Jamie.s left with no music, no career and no girlfriend. Stuck teaching piano at a soul-destroying music school, Jamie must decide whether to take a risk and follow his dreams, or surrender to his unhappiness and play it safe"..
Pahlow cites Andrew Bujalski.s pioneering mumblecore feature, 2005's Mutual Appreciation, as a watershed moment.
.I left the screening irrevocably changed. I got outside and asked my friend why nobody had made a film like it in Melbourne, where characters just...
- 3/17/2016
- by Staff Writer
- IF.com.au
Meet some of the best directors working today, who haven't gone down the blockbuster movie route...
Ever find it a bit lame when the same big name directors get kicked around for every high profile project? Christopher Nolan, Jj Abrams, maybe the Russo Brothers? With so much focus on blockbuster films these days, getting a major franchise job seems like the main acknowledgement of success for a filmmaker. And yes, both the financial and creative rewards can be great. But there are plenty of other directors out there, doing their own thing, from art house auteurs to Dtv action specialists.
Here are 25 examples.
Lee Hardcastle
Even if you don’t know his name, you’ve probably seen Lee Hardcastle’s ultraviolent claymations shared on social media. He first started getting noticed for his two-minute remake of The Thing, starring the famous stop motion penguin Pingu. Far from just a cheap one-joke mash-up,...
Ever find it a bit lame when the same big name directors get kicked around for every high profile project? Christopher Nolan, Jj Abrams, maybe the Russo Brothers? With so much focus on blockbuster films these days, getting a major franchise job seems like the main acknowledgement of success for a filmmaker. And yes, both the financial and creative rewards can be great. But there are plenty of other directors out there, doing their own thing, from art house auteurs to Dtv action specialists.
Here are 25 examples.
Lee Hardcastle
Even if you don’t know his name, you’ve probably seen Lee Hardcastle’s ultraviolent claymations shared on social media. He first started getting noticed for his two-minute remake of The Thing, starring the famous stop motion penguin Pingu. Far from just a cheap one-joke mash-up,...
- 9/30/2015
- by simonbrew
- Den of Geek
Though he dislikes the term himself, Andrew Bujalski is widely regarded as the linchpin of the nebulous mumblecore scene that spawned the likes of the Duplass brothers, Joe Swanberg and Lynn Shelton. Whilst his first three features possess the low budget and shaggy tone that define the scene, Bujalski's films have always been more keenly and delicately observed than many of his peers and the likes of Funny Ha Ha (2002), Mutual Appreciation (2005) and Beeswax (2009) possess a tenderness and interest in their characters that few filmmakers are capable of.
- 9/29/2015
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Cobie Smulders is not accustomed to being singled out. The How I Met Your Mother star and Marvel universe apparatchik tends to operate in the company of others, which is why she found herself somewhat stricken with panic earlier this year at the Sundance premiere of her latest film, Unexpected, which opens in theaters and on demand this Friday. "Oh shit," she recalls thinking. "I'm in every scene."
It's true, she is — though it's about time. Fans of her CBS sitcom, which concluded its nine-season run last year, might agree...
It's true, she is — though it's about time. Fans of her CBS sitcom, which concluded its nine-season run last year, might agree...
- 7/23/2015
- Rollingstone.com
Thoughtful buddy comedy Doomsdays makes spending time with manic man-children a lot more fun than it should be. You wouldn't want to hang with serial home invaders Dirty Fred (Mutual Appreciation's Justin Rice) and Bruho (Kids' Leo Fitzpatrick) in real life, a truth that writer-director Eddie Mullins underscores every time Fred tricks Bruho into fighting irate homeowners on his behalf or Bruho takes out his anger issues on whatever object is within arm's reach. But Fred and Bruho are charming within the context of Doomsdays' escapist scenario, and Mullins doesn't try to cure his protagonists of their characteristic dickishness. Their impish, unrepentantly destructive behavior actually proves endearing, even when Fred tries to seduce t...
- 6/3/2015
- Village Voice
Read More: Guy Pearce and Cobie Smulders Take Center Stage in Posters for Sundance Hit 'Results' Almost exactly 10 years ago, Andrew Bujalski was being interviewed by Indiewire contributor Michael Koresky when the filmmaker made an off-the-cuff remark that would haunt him. Shortly after the premiere of Bujalski's sophomore feature "Mutual Appreciation" at the South by Southwest Film Festival, the same week that his debut "Funny Ha Ha" landed on DVD, Bujalski was asked about other contemporary filmmakers whose work — as Koresky put it — "harmonized" with his own. Bujalski recalled rumblings of a "movement" at SXSW, the same year that Joe Swanberg's debut "Kissing on the Mouth" premiered and the Duplass brothers' "The Puffy Chair" won an audience prize. "My sound mixer named the movement 'mumblecore,'" Bujalski said, "which is pretty catchy." In short order, Bujalski wouldn't think so. Two years...
- 5/29/2015
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Results came out of Sundance this year, and shows director Andrew Bujalski (Funny Ha Ha, Mutual Appreciation) moving into more polished comedy than the very low-key films that originally made his name. This one stars Guy Pearce, Cobie Smulders, and Kevin Corrigan as an unlikely trio who are united by Corrigan’s neediness and depression after a divorce. And that […]
The post ‘Results’ Trailer: Cobie Smulders Runs Circles Around Kevin Corrigan appeared first on /Film.
The post ‘Results’ Trailer: Cobie Smulders Runs Circles Around Kevin Corrigan appeared first on /Film.
- 4/15/2015
- by Russ Fischer
- Slash Film
Read More: Exclusive: Guy Pearce and Cobie Smulders Take Center Stage in Posters for Sundance Hit 'Results' Writer-director Andrew Bujalski is best known as the "Godfather of Mumblecore" thanks to low budget indies "Funny Ha Ha" (2002) and "Mutual Appreciation" (2005), but he's following in the footsteps of contemporaries Joe Swanberg and Lynn Shelton by making the jump to more accessible mainstream comedies in his latest project, "Results." A critical and fan favorite at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, the film stars Cobie Smulders, Guy Pearce and Kevin Corrigan. The official synopsis reads: "Recently divorced, newly rich, and utterly miserable, Danny (Corrigan) would seem to be the perfect test subject for a definitive look at the relationship between money and happiness. Danny's well-funded ennui is interrupted by a momentous trip to the local gym, where he meets self-styled guru-owner Trevor (Pearce) and irresistibly...
- 4/15/2015
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
"You really do sound married." There's plenty of potential indie darlings hitting theaters this summer among the normal blockbuster fare, and one film coming from the 2015 Sundance Film Festival to the big screen is Results. The comedy stars Guy Pearce, Cobie Smulders and Kevin Corrigan in both a professional and romantic love triangle. Mumblecore director Andrew Bujalski steps up to more polished filmmaking with his latest effort, and the first trailer has just arrived. This was one I missed at Sundance, and while the trailer looks amusing, it also looks like it meanders quite a bit, so I'm not sure what to think. Here's the first trailer for Andrew Bujalski's Results, originally from Apple: Results is written and directed by Andrew Bujalski (Funny Ha Ha, Mutual Appreciation). Recently divorced, newly rich, and utterly miserable, Danny (Kevin Corrigan) would seem to be the perfect test subject for a definitive look...
- 4/15/2015
- by Ethan Anderton
- firstshowing.net
Mumblecore filmmakers are really breaking out of that limited ghetto as of late. Joe Swanberg has tapped into something great with actors like Anna Kendrick and Jake Johnson, with films like “Drinking Buddies” and “Digging For Fire.” The Duplass Brothers have long since had success in the mainstream world, including their terrific new HBO show “Togetherness.” In the last few years, Lynn Shelton and Drake Doremus have also graduated into, how should we put it, more polished filmmaking. Next in line is Andrew Bujalski, once dubbed “the godfather of mumblecore,” who made two key entries in the genre, “Funny Ha Ha” and “Mutual Appreciation.” At Sundance 2015, Bujalski stepped up with his most mainstream effort to date, “Results,” with quite the name cast, including Guy Pearce and Cobie Smulders. And he did so with some pretty hilarious, well, results. The sometimes delusional culture of self-improvement — actualizing your dreams and achieving your goals to instant happiness.
- 4/15/2015
- by Edward Davis
- The Playlist
Oh my god, Andrew Bujalski has sold out. The filmmaker with a reputation for populating his indies with non-actors has brought us a film that stars, yes, stars Guy Pearce and Cobie Smulders. I don't think I saw a single indie filmmaker in the cast. And it kind of has a plot! And who knows how much money it cost -- he didn't even need to crowdfund. I mean, really, total sellout.
Except that's not the case at all. Results is very much of a piece with Bujalski's previous films, from Mutual Appreciation to Computer Chess. The Austin writer-director's insightfulness about the minutiae of everyday relationships is front and center. The "stars" play characters who work at a gym -- naturally portraying beautiful people without upsetting the balance of the cast.
Danny (Kevin Corrigan) first appears onscreen after his wife locks him out of their New York apartment. Shortly thereafter,...
Except that's not the case at all. Results is very much of a piece with Bujalski's previous films, from Mutual Appreciation to Computer Chess. The Austin writer-director's insightfulness about the minutiae of everyday relationships is front and center. The "stars" play characters who work at a gym -- naturally portraying beautiful people without upsetting the balance of the cast.
Danny (Kevin Corrigan) first appears onscreen after his wife locks him out of their New York apartment. Shortly thereafter,...
- 3/31/2015
- by Jette Kernion
- Slackerwood
Park City, Utah – There are still some films to be discussed in my Sundance coverage. Here’s write-ups of “Digging for Fire,” “Entertainment,” and “Results,” which featured the return of festival-approved directors, albeit heading in different directions.
At this year’s festival, two maestros of the ol’ mumblecore days stepped into the big-time spotlight with their new films that boasted their biggest casts and fanciest films yet. The first to show was Joe Swanberg, who has gone from super low-key directing to hosting a celebrity party this side of “This is the End” in “Digging For Fire.” The other is Andrew Bujalski, whose previous films were nerd alerts like “Mutual Appreciation” and most recently “Computer Chess.”
In a reverse course is Rick Alverson’s “Entertainment,” which doesn’t start modestly but attempt to reach a wide audience, but starts with a big promise to reach a very specific audience. An explanation on that below.
At this year’s festival, two maestros of the ol’ mumblecore days stepped into the big-time spotlight with their new films that boasted their biggest casts and fanciest films yet. The first to show was Joe Swanberg, who has gone from super low-key directing to hosting a celebrity party this side of “This is the End” in “Digging For Fire.” The other is Andrew Bujalski, whose previous films were nerd alerts like “Mutual Appreciation” and most recently “Computer Chess.”
In a reverse course is Rick Alverson’s “Entertainment,” which doesn’t start modestly but attempt to reach a wide audience, but starts with a big promise to reach a very specific audience. An explanation on that below.
- 2/3/2015
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
"Set in the world of Texas fitness instructors and starring some big-name actors, Andrew Bujalski’s Results looks at first like a concerted attempt to cross over into the world of mainstream rom-coms," begins Bilge Ebiri at Vulture. "But look again." We're collecting reviews of Bujalski's followup to Computer Chess and before that, Beeswax, Mutual Appreciation and Funny Ha Ha. Results features Guy Pearce, Kevin Corrigan and Cobie Smulders. "A perfectly chosen cast sells this unhurried comedy," finds John DeFore in the Hollywood Reporter. » - David Hudson...
- 1/29/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
"Set in the world of Texas fitness instructors and starring some big-name actors, Andrew Bujalski’s Results looks at first like a concerted attempt to cross over into the world of mainstream rom-coms," begins Bilge Ebiri at Vulture. "But look again." We're collecting reviews of Bujalski's followup to Computer Chess and before that, Beeswax, Mutual Appreciation and Funny Ha Ha. Results features Guy Pearce, Kevin Corrigan and Cobie Smulders. "A perfectly chosen cast sells this unhurried comedy," finds John DeFore in the Hollywood Reporter. » - David Hudson...
- 1/29/2015
- Keyframe
Andrew Bujalski’s Computer Chess turned out to be the feel good film of Sundance and that’s not because the early gamers are particularly charming, but rather, better things come in small packages. Following Funny Ha Ha (2002), Mutual Appreciation (2005) and Beeswax (2009), this 30-something filmmaker, who in some circles is known as the godfather of the Mumblecore movement didn’t waste much time between the ’13 Sundance Film Fest Alfred Sloan Feature Film Prize winning micro-feature and his fifth, more macro-type budgeted ensemble project. Guy Pearce toplines alongside Cobie Smulders, Kevin Corrigan, Giovanni Ribisi, Brooklyn Decker, Anthony Michael Hall, SXSW Special Jury Prize Best Actor winner Tishuan Scott (The Retrieval) and Boyhood‘s Zoe Graham. Filming began in mid-summer on Results, and we’re assuming correctly by the first glimpse (see pic above) we got in September that this will bow in Park City with the director’s habitual stopover at SXSW.
- 11/13/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
It’s always exciting when an indie director steps up, gets out of their mumbly ghetto and starts to really take off with actors that aren’t just their friends. From the world of mumblecore, Drake Doremus had terrific results with Guy Pearce, Felicity Jones, Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Ryan in “Breathe In” and “Like Crazy,” and Joe Swanberg’s “Drinking Buddies” really cooked beyond what he’d made before thanks to the awesome chemistry of Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson and Anna Kendrick. Next up in the field is director Andrew Bujalski, known for lo-fi indies such as “Mutual Appreciation” and “Computer Chess.” His latest is a big change for the filmmaker, an “unconventional” romantic comedy with a star-filled cast. Called “Results,” the movie stars Guy Pearce, Cobie Smulders (“How I Met Your Mother,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”), Kevin Corrigan, Giovanni Ribisi, Anthony Michael Hall, Brooklyn Decker and “House Of Cards” star Constance Zimmer.
- 9/18/2014
- by Edward Davis
- The Playlist
Guy Pearce and Cobie Smulders will star in Andrew Bujalski's Results.
Kevin Corrigan, Constance Zimmer, Giovanni Ribisi, Brooklyn Decker and Anthony Michael Hall have also signed on for the indie film, reports The Playlist.
According to a casting call, the film centres around a couple of personal trainers who take on a newly-wealthy but very out of shape client.
'Mumblecore' filmmaker Bujalski's previous films include Mutual Appreciation and 2013's Computer Chess.
Pearce can currently be seen with Robert Pattinson in The Rover.
Smulders will star in Avengers: Age of Ultron in 2015.
Results will begin shooting in July.
Kevin Corrigan, Constance Zimmer, Giovanni Ribisi, Brooklyn Decker and Anthony Michael Hall have also signed on for the indie film, reports The Playlist.
According to a casting call, the film centres around a couple of personal trainers who take on a newly-wealthy but very out of shape client.
'Mumblecore' filmmaker Bujalski's previous films include Mutual Appreciation and 2013's Computer Chess.
Pearce can currently be seen with Robert Pattinson in The Rover.
Smulders will star in Avengers: Age of Ultron in 2015.
Results will begin shooting in July.
- 6/23/2014
- Digital Spy
If Joe Swanberg can go Hollywood, working with folks like Jake Johnson, Olivia Wilde and Anna Kendrick on recent projects, then so too can fellow mumblecore director Andrew Bujalski. The "Mutual Appreciation" and "Computer Chess" director has quietly started putting his next movie together, and it features a pretty killer lineup of talent, with names you'll recognize, for what sounds like a pretty promising project. Thanks to a buried mention in The New York Times and an Instagram photo by actor Tishuan Scott, it has been revealed that Guy Pearce, Cobie Smulders, Kevin Corrigan, Constance Zimmer, Giovanni Ribisi, Brooklyn Decker and Anthony Michael Hall will star in "Results." Not a bad lineup at all. So what's it about? According to a Craigslist casting call for the extra, the story revolves around "Kat and Trevor, personal trainers, and what happens when out-of-shape and newly wealthy Danny enters their lives." So...the...
- 6/20/2014
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Just about a year ago we heard James Roday from "Psych" was directing a horror comedy called Gravy, and that was it... until now. The Sixth Annual Friars Club Comedy Film Festival is opening with the world premiere of the film on April 1st. And no, it's not an April Fool's joke.
There are a few other horror projects like Borgman and Witching and Bitching scattered among the films screening during the Fccff's April 1-5 run, as well as a new one from renowned animator Bill Plympton, so if you're in or near NYC, check out the lineup below.
After all, who couldn't use a few laughs these days?
From the Press Release:
The Friars Club has announced that the Sixth Annual Friars Club Comedy Film Festival (Fccff), to be held the week of April 1‐5, 2014, will open with the World Premiere of Gravy. The festival is a star‐studded celebration...
There are a few other horror projects like Borgman and Witching and Bitching scattered among the films screening during the Fccff's April 1-5 run, as well as a new one from renowned animator Bill Plympton, so if you're in or near NYC, check out the lineup below.
After all, who couldn't use a few laughs these days?
From the Press Release:
The Friars Club has announced that the Sixth Annual Friars Club Comedy Film Festival (Fccff), to be held the week of April 1‐5, 2014, will open with the World Premiere of Gravy. The festival is a star‐studded celebration...
- 3/29/2014
- by Debi Moore
- DreadCentral.com
Directed by the godfather of the American mumblecore movement, Andrew Bujalski (Funny Ha Ha, Mutual Appreciation and Beeswax), and selected by The New York Times last summer as one of 'Twenty Directors to Watch', Computer Chess (2013) is poignant, absurd and downright hilarious. To celebrate the Dual Format release of Bujalski's new film this coming Monday (20 January), we have Three copies of Computer Chess to give away to our readers, courtesy of UK distributors Eureka. This is an exclusive competition for our Facebook and Twitter fans, so if you haven't already, 'Like' us at facebook.com/CineVueUK or follow us @CineVue before answering the question below.
- 1/23/2014
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Reviewed as part of the 27th Leeds International Film Festival (6-21 Nov, 2013)
It is no coincidence that, for a film concerned with the consequences of pitching man against machine, Computer Chess tries to outsmart its audience from the outset. Its most immediate trick is in posing to be a found-footage documentary; precisely how you’d imagine an early ’80s chess convention held in a blandly anonymous Us hotel would look. Indeed, the effort with which this illusion is maintained is certainly commendable; everything from the technical jargon to the period setting strives towards authenticity. You might have your suspicions when our cameraman, shooting on a ’67 black- and-white Sony Portapak, somehow appears in the frame – but by then the game is already up.
Rather uniquely, the competitors are all chess software programmers pitting their computers against each other for a weekend tournament, vying for both the prize money and,...
Reviewed as part of the 27th Leeds International Film Festival (6-21 Nov, 2013)
It is no coincidence that, for a film concerned with the consequences of pitching man against machine, Computer Chess tries to outsmart its audience from the outset. Its most immediate trick is in posing to be a found-footage documentary; precisely how you’d imagine an early ’80s chess convention held in a blandly anonymous Us hotel would look. Indeed, the effort with which this illusion is maintained is certainly commendable; everything from the technical jargon to the period setting strives towards authenticity. You might have your suspicions when our cameraman, shooting on a ’67 black- and-white Sony Portapak, somehow appears in the frame – but by then the game is already up.
Rather uniquely, the competitors are all chess software programmers pitting their computers against each other for a weekend tournament, vying for both the prize money and,...
- 11/18/2013
- by Dan Wakefield
- Obsessed with Film
Above: The music video for "Suit & Tie".
Justin Timberlake's "Suit & Tie" video—which premiered online way back in February—is part retro menswear fantasy, part razzle-dazzle tech demo. Directed by David Fincher and photographed by Matthew Libatique, "Suit & Tie" was the first widely-seen work to have been shot on Red's Epic Monochrome, a sensor that only images in black & white.
The Monochrome isn't the first dedicated black & white sensor. Sweden's Ikonoskop introduced one—called, no joke, the A-Cam dll Panchromatic Carl Th. Dreyer Edition—last year. The Monochrome does, however, have the distinction of being 5K—about as high-end as you can get. It represents the cutting edge of anachronism.
Last year, the Academy Award for Best Picture went to a black & white film—The Artist. Additionally, at least five major 2012 arthouse releases were in black & white: Hong Sang-soo's The Day He Arrives, Guy Maddin’s Keyhole, Béla Tarr's The Turin Horse,...
Justin Timberlake's "Suit & Tie" video—which premiered online way back in February—is part retro menswear fantasy, part razzle-dazzle tech demo. Directed by David Fincher and photographed by Matthew Libatique, "Suit & Tie" was the first widely-seen work to have been shot on Red's Epic Monochrome, a sensor that only images in black & white.
The Monochrome isn't the first dedicated black & white sensor. Sweden's Ikonoskop introduced one—called, no joke, the A-Cam dll Panchromatic Carl Th. Dreyer Edition—last year. The Monochrome does, however, have the distinction of being 5K—about as high-end as you can get. It represents the cutting edge of anachronism.
Last year, the Academy Award for Best Picture went to a black & white film—The Artist. Additionally, at least five major 2012 arthouse releases were in black & white: Hong Sang-soo's The Day He Arrives, Guy Maddin’s Keyhole, Béla Tarr's The Turin Horse,...
- 11/8/2013
- by Ignatiy Vishnevetsky
- MUBI
DVD Release Date: Nov. 5, 2013
Price: DVD $29.95
Studio: Kino Lorber
It's man vs. machine in Computer Chess.
Set during a weekend-long computer chess tournament circa 1980, auteur Andrew Bujalski’s (Funny Ha Ha, Mutual Appreciation, Beeswax) 2013 comedy Computer Chess depicts a group of programmers engaged in a game of man vs. machine, and their chance collision with another subculture of aging New Agers in a touchy-feely encounter therapy workshop being held in the same hotel.
The movie, which is shot in Eighties video-styled black-and-white, transports viewers to a nostalgic moment when the contest between technology and the human spirit seemed a little more up for grabs. We get to know the eccentric geniuses possessed of the vision to teach a metal box to defeat man, literally, at his own game, laying the groundwork for artificial intelligence as we know it.
The winner of the prestigious Alfred P. Sloan Award at the Sundance Film Festival,...
Price: DVD $29.95
Studio: Kino Lorber
It's man vs. machine in Computer Chess.
Set during a weekend-long computer chess tournament circa 1980, auteur Andrew Bujalski’s (Funny Ha Ha, Mutual Appreciation, Beeswax) 2013 comedy Computer Chess depicts a group of programmers engaged in a game of man vs. machine, and their chance collision with another subculture of aging New Agers in a touchy-feely encounter therapy workshop being held in the same hotel.
The movie, which is shot in Eighties video-styled black-and-white, transports viewers to a nostalgic moment when the contest between technology and the human spirit seemed a little more up for grabs. We get to know the eccentric geniuses possessed of the vision to teach a metal box to defeat man, literally, at his own game, laying the groundwork for artificial intelligence as we know it.
The winner of the prestigious Alfred P. Sloan Award at the Sundance Film Festival,...
- 11/6/2013
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
Tired of train wrecks? Alienated by mutant life forms? Bewildered by budgets? Done with the undead? Then the movies for you, thus far this year, are 1) Andrew Bujalski’s “Computer Chess” and 2) Eddie Mullins’ as-yet-all-but-unseen “Doomsdays,” which premieres tonight at Fantasia Fest in Montreal. The two films share numerous dissimilarities. They are also unlike anything else out there. They also, sort of, arise out of the same gene pool: Justin Rice, one of Mullins’ two leads, was at the center of Bujalski’s “Mutual Appreciation”; Rice’s counterpart, Leo Fitzpatrick, first rose to prominence via Larry Clark’s “Kids,” a film that which foreshadowed Bujalski’s -- and Mullins’ – aescetic aesthetic. But, again, the films couldn’t be more different. While the palpably dank world of “Computer Chess” implies a future bright with computerized possibility, “Doomsdays,” for all its humor, is poised on the edge of an abyss. Where there...
- 7/23/2013
- by John Anderson
- Thompson on Hollywood
In Andrew Bujalski's admirable, vaunted 2002 debut, Funny Ha Ha, the microbudget auteur and occasional actor's nervous temp, Mitchell, ineffectually attempts to seduce an aloof young lady over a bedroom chess match. As if pawns themselves, dependably obeying the established rules of conduct, the characters in Bujalski's films are consistently—um, yeah, like—passive, awkward, and inarticulate. Yet that chessboard is a coincidence, not foreshadowing, as neither that first film nor Bujalski's equally subdued, shaggily droll 16mm quasi-vérité ambles through post-collegiate ennui (2005's Mutual Appreciation and 2009's Beeswax, both slack in ambition but still baby steps forward) could have anticipated the profound leap of Computer Chess....
- 7/17/2013
- Village Voice
There is an immediate sense of change afoot in "Computer Chess," Andrew Bujalski's fourth feature as writer-director, visible to anyone familiar with his previous work. While Bujalski's influential "Funny Ha Ha" -- along with follow-ups "Mutual Appreciation" and "Beeswax" -- were almost defiantly shot on 16mm film and focused on the interpersonal relationships of chic (and sometimes not-to-chic) young adults, "Computer Chess" is a period piece set 30 years in the past and shot on low-grade analog video. Experientially, however, "Computer Chess" falls in line with its precedents while achieving much funnier, offbeat results. Focused on a group of proto-computer nerds involved in a tournament to devise first-rate chess software for their clunky machines, the movie relishes the awkward expressions of brilliance from its introverted leads. A savvy ensemble piece set over the course of a weekend-long hotel conference, "Computer Chess" echoes Bujalski's preceding efforts by...
- 7/16/2013
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Bujalski adds Technology to the Perils of Human Connection
In an Andrew Bujalski film, there is nothing harder than making yourself understood. Funny Haha is now considered a watershed moment, a film that spawned a legion of imitators. In it, Bujalski perfectly captured the muddled speech patterns and the even more confused motivations that characterize post-collegiate angst. Mutual Appreciation and Beeswax furthered this aesthetic, exploring the nuanced, minute ways people hurt each other, always at cross purposes, often not on purpose. With his newest Computer Chess, Bujalski explores a whole new terrain, and a new way of seeing but still with the same themes and preoccupations; it is not enough that human communication is trying, now technology must be a struggle as well.
A weekend conference at a third-rank motel is the battleground where teams from across the Us come to pit their computers against each other in a chess tournament.
In an Andrew Bujalski film, there is nothing harder than making yourself understood. Funny Haha is now considered a watershed moment, a film that spawned a legion of imitators. In it, Bujalski perfectly captured the muddled speech patterns and the even more confused motivations that characterize post-collegiate angst. Mutual Appreciation and Beeswax furthered this aesthetic, exploring the nuanced, minute ways people hurt each other, always at cross purposes, often not on purpose. With his newest Computer Chess, Bujalski explores a whole new terrain, and a new way of seeing but still with the same themes and preoccupations; it is not enough that human communication is trying, now technology must be a struggle as well.
A weekend conference at a third-rank motel is the battleground where teams from across the Us come to pit their computers against each other in a chess tournament.
- 7/15/2013
- by Jesse Klein
- IONCINEMA.com
"Computer Chess," Andrew Bujalski's fourth film, is gearing up for a theatrical run this summer with a new, retro poster. The film premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival before starting an impressive festival run including the Berlin International Film Festival, SXSW, and more. The "artificially intelligent" comedy about a tournament between computer chess programmers in the 1980s is set to debut in New York on July 17, but anyone anxious to see it early can catch it at the BAMcinemaFest in Brooklyn on June 23. Bujalski's past films include "Beeswax," "Mutual Appreciation," and "Funny Ha Ha." All of his films have played at various festivals, and all but "Funny Ha Ha" have shown at SXSW. Check out the new poster and the teaser trailer below, and click here for a look at five funny gifs made from the film.
- 6/12/2013
- by Ben Travers
- Indiewire
Andrew Bujalski's funny, monochrome tale of the shabby beginnings of digital technology, shown at the Berlin film festival, is unique
Anyone disappointed by the authenticity of the Steve Jobs biopic really ought to take a look at this rather brilliantly conceived study of a (fictional) computer v computer chess tournament in the early 80s. (We know it's before 1984, as the tournament host claims he's put a bet on that it will take until then for a computer to beat a human at the game.) Written and directed by mumblecore maestro Andrew Bujalski (Funny Ha Ha, Mutual Appreciation), this is about as perfect a rendering of the era as you could ask for – to the extent you would genuinely not be surprised should this turn out to have been footage dug up from some time capsule buried in 1981.
Shot on a very old-school Sony video camera, the fuzzy, distorted black-and-white...
Anyone disappointed by the authenticity of the Steve Jobs biopic really ought to take a look at this rather brilliantly conceived study of a (fictional) computer v computer chess tournament in the early 80s. (We know it's before 1984, as the tournament host claims he's put a bet on that it will take until then for a computer to beat a human at the game.) Written and directed by mumblecore maestro Andrew Bujalski (Funny Ha Ha, Mutual Appreciation), this is about as perfect a rendering of the era as you could ask for – to the extent you would genuinely not be surprised should this turn out to have been footage dug up from some time capsule buried in 1981.
Shot on a very old-school Sony video camera, the fuzzy, distorted black-and-white...
- 2/12/2013
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
I’m no psychic. But the minute I saw Andrew Bujalski’s sweet/geeky/playful/pointyheaded drama Computer Chess, I knew it would win the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize, a cool-brainiac award from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation that comes with a $20,000 huzzah for an independent film project that, in the words of the foundation press release, explores “science and technology themes or that depict scientists, engineers, and mathematicians in engaging and innovative ways.” I knew Computer Chess would win, first because most other films at Sundance this year explore relationships and sexytime themes rather than stories featuring scientists.
- 1/25/2013
- by Lisa Schwarzbaum
- EW - Inside Movies
Feature Ryan Lambie Jan 28, 2013
The winner of the Sloane Prize at Sundance, the indie comedy Computer Chess may prove to be the geekiest film of 2013...
If you've heard of the Alfred P Sloane Prize, you'll probably know that it's been an annual fixture at the Sundance Film Festival since 2003. Set up to reward independent movies with a scientific or technological theme, its list of winners from the past decade includes Shane Carruth's time-travel sci-fi movie Primer, Werner Herzog's captivating documentary Grizzly Man, and Mike Cahill's indie Sf drama Another Earth.
Sloane Prize winners earn a $20,000 cash prize, a sum which often amounts to a fair percentage of each film's budget; Cahill's ethereal Another Earth cost a remarkably lean $200,000 to make, while Primer was made for an absurdly lean $7,000. The prize is therefore quite an unusual film award, in that it singles out films with ideas greater than their makers' resources.
The winner of the Sloane Prize at Sundance, the indie comedy Computer Chess may prove to be the geekiest film of 2013...
If you've heard of the Alfred P Sloane Prize, you'll probably know that it's been an annual fixture at the Sundance Film Festival since 2003. Set up to reward independent movies with a scientific or technological theme, its list of winners from the past decade includes Shane Carruth's time-travel sci-fi movie Primer, Werner Herzog's captivating documentary Grizzly Man, and Mike Cahill's indie Sf drama Another Earth.
Sloane Prize winners earn a $20,000 cash prize, a sum which often amounts to a fair percentage of each film's budget; Cahill's ethereal Another Earth cost a remarkably lean $200,000 to make, while Primer was made for an absurdly lean $7,000. The prize is therefore quite an unusual film award, in that it singles out films with ideas greater than their makers' resources.
- 1/25/2013
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
There is an immediate sense of change afoot in "Computer Chess," Andrew Bujalski's fourth feature as writer-director, visible to anyone familiar with his previous work. While Bujalski's influential "Funny Ha Ha" -- along with follow-ups "Mutual Appreciation" and "Beeswax" -- were almost defiantly shot on 16mm film and focused on the interpersonal relationships of chic young adults, "Computer Chess" is a period piece set 30 years in the past and shot on low-grade analog video. Experientially, however, "Computer Chess" falls in line with its precedents while achieving much funnier, offbeat results. Focused on a group of proto-computer nerds involved in a tournament to devise first-rate chess software for their clunky machines, the movie relishes the awkward expressions of brilliance from its introverted leads. A savvy ensemble piece set over the course of a weekend-long hotel conference, "Computer Chess"...
- 1/22/2013
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Harvard film grad Andrew Bujalski wrote and directed "Funny Ha Ha," "Mutual Appreciation" and "Beeswax," all of which have appeared on the New York Times’s “Best of the Year” lists. He's in Sundance this year with his Next entry, "Computer Chess." What It's About: "A convention of computer chess programmers, long before Deep Blue defeated Kasparov, losing their minds while they build an artificial one." What It's Really About: "The dawn of the digital age--a time when nerds were nerds, and the rest of us had no idea what was coming." My Biggest Challenge: "Middle age!" Inspirations: "William Eggleston's 'Stranded in Canton' mashed up with all the science fiction and fact I absorbed as a kid." Indiewire invited Sundance Film Festival directors to tell us about their films, including what inspired them, the challenges they faced...
- 1/12/2013
- by Indiewire
- Indiewire
Moving from last year’s eight selections (which included Craig Zobel’s Compliance), this year section described as “a “greater” next wave in American cinema” balloons to ten selections including a pair that we not only predicted, but happen to be titles we’ve been buzzing about for some time now in Alexandre Moors’ Blue Caprice and Matthew Porterfield’s I Used to Be Darker. Also among the batch of ten we find, Andrew Bujalski of Beeswax and Mutual Appreciation fame with his fourth feature, Computer Chess, we have Chad Hartigan’s This is Martin Bonner (see pic above – and kudos for the teaser poster artwork) and finally Yen Tan’s Pit Stop which is co-written with David Lowery who also happens to have been selected in the U.S. Dramatic Comp program for his feature film debut, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints. Here is the list of 10:
Blue Caprice / U.
Blue Caprice / U.
- 11/28/2012
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
by Vadim Rizov
In writer-director Lynn Shelton's Humpday, Mark Duplass and Joshua Leonard talk themselves into a dare requiring endless verbal finesse and hedging to back out of. Shelton's Your Sister's Sister reverses the structure: first comes the act, then the discussions. Sent to recover from a year of mourning for his late brother at best friend Iris' (Emily Blunt) isolated family house, Jack (Duplass again) finds Iris' lesbian half-sister Hannah (Rosemarie DeWitt) already there for a solitary retreat to work through the recent end of a seven-year relationship. A late-night tequila session leads to an ill-advised hook-up, whose ramifications at first seem within the boundaries of the merely temporarily uncomfortable. Surprisingly and satisfyingly plotty, Your Sister's Sister slowly introduces information creating a thornier dilemma whose not-to-be-spoiled implications threaten Jack and Iris' friendship and—more seriously—the two women's ability to ever talk again.
Shelton's setpieces alternate playful conversational evasions and ineloquent emotional explosions.
In writer-director Lynn Shelton's Humpday, Mark Duplass and Joshua Leonard talk themselves into a dare requiring endless verbal finesse and hedging to back out of. Shelton's Your Sister's Sister reverses the structure: first comes the act, then the discussions. Sent to recover from a year of mourning for his late brother at best friend Iris' (Emily Blunt) isolated family house, Jack (Duplass again) finds Iris' lesbian half-sister Hannah (Rosemarie DeWitt) already there for a solitary retreat to work through the recent end of a seven-year relationship. A late-night tequila session leads to an ill-advised hook-up, whose ramifications at first seem within the boundaries of the merely temporarily uncomfortable. Surprisingly and satisfyingly plotty, Your Sister's Sister slowly introduces information creating a thornier dilemma whose not-to-be-spoiled implications threaten Jack and Iris' friendship and—more seriously—the two women's ability to ever talk again.
Shelton's setpieces alternate playful conversational evasions and ineloquent emotional explosions.
- 6/14/2012
- GreenCine Daily
Eight years after Andrew Bujalski's shoestring-budget feature debut Funny Ha Ha emerged to significant critical acclaim (no less than The New York Times declared it one of the most influential films of the decade, due in large part to Bujalski's follow-up Mutual Appreciation and the Mumblecore movement that sprung up around it), the filmmaker is back in development mode with his shoestring-budget fourth feature, Computer Chess. And this time around, you can help.
- 7/29/2011
- Movieline
As people ask me about this Sunday’s Cinema Club presentation at the Ritz, I’m finding myself a little stumped and at a loss for words. What the hell is Beat The Devil? Is it a parody? A farce? A spoof? I don’t know, or particularly care. Mainly, I like the out-of-control feel that the film gives me. Beat The Devil is like a train that jumps the tracks and, against all odds, keeps chugging along until it reaches a far more interesting destination than any dumb old train station.
The plot, such as it is, is wandering and desultory. An English couple with pretensions toward nobility find themselves stranded in a Neapolitan village while their ship is being repaired. The wife (Jennifer Jones) becomes fascinated with a quartet of suspicious characters led by Robert Morley and including Peter Lorre (as the German accented Chilean resident O’Hara...
The plot, such as it is, is wandering and desultory. An English couple with pretensions toward nobility find themselves stranded in a Neapolitan village while their ship is being repaired. The wife (Jennifer Jones) becomes fascinated with a quartet of suspicious characters led by Robert Morley and including Peter Lorre (as the German accented Chilean resident O’Hara...
- 11/16/2010
- by Lars Nilsen
- OriginalAlamo.com
Indie Movies Online is a brand new UK based movie-on-demand website that offers hundreds of great films to watch at high quality online, legally and for free. There is literally something for everyone, and many gems to be found.
All types of movie are represented including thrillers, sci-fi, comedies and slick Us horrors and more. New and classic films are added all the time. Expect to find titles like: Allegro, Baise Moi, The Boss of it All, Brothers, Chopper, Choking Man, Dark Star, Evil Aliens, Funny Ha Ha, George Washington, HurlyBurly, King of New York, Kontakt, Love is the Devil, Millennium, Mirror Maze, Mutual Appreciation, My Left Foot, Old Joy, The Pleasure of Being Robbed and Reprise.
There are also stacks of quality documentaries including: A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese, Crass: there’s no Authority but Yourself, Sympathy for the Devil, Word Wars, The Cutting Edge, Room 2017 and many more.
All types of movie are represented including thrillers, sci-fi, comedies and slick Us horrors and more. New and classic films are added all the time. Expect to find titles like: Allegro, Baise Moi, The Boss of it All, Brothers, Chopper, Choking Man, Dark Star, Evil Aliens, Funny Ha Ha, George Washington, HurlyBurly, King of New York, Kontakt, Love is the Devil, Millennium, Mirror Maze, Mutual Appreciation, My Left Foot, Old Joy, The Pleasure of Being Robbed and Reprise.
There are also stacks of quality documentaries including: A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese, Crass: there’s no Authority but Yourself, Sympathy for the Devil, Word Wars, The Cutting Edge, Room 2017 and many more.
- 6/23/2010
- by Kat
- Nerdly
Robert here, back with more of my series on great contemporary directors. This week we're going to call it the "hear me out" edition or the "please don't shun me" edition. Bringing up this director doesn't usually yield very positive results. However I will note that I'll only be discussing Bujalski here and not any supposed "movement" that he is a part of (as I've not seen any other films from that "movement"). And I hope you'll give the man and his work some consideration. Next week we will return to the realm of the almost universally beloved.
Maestro: Andrew Bujalski
Known For: Super-independent movies about aimless ordinary people.
Influences: Cassavetes is a big one. Jarmusch and Linklater too.
Masterpieces: I'm not dumb enough to suggest that Bujalski's had a masterpiece when a while back I declared that Christopher Nolan didn't.
Disasters: None
Better than you remember: Probably all of them if,...
Maestro: Andrew Bujalski
Known For: Super-independent movies about aimless ordinary people.
Influences: Cassavetes is a big one. Jarmusch and Linklater too.
Masterpieces: I'm not dumb enough to suggest that Bujalski's had a masterpiece when a while back I declared that Christopher Nolan didn't.
Disasters: None
Better than you remember: Probably all of them if,...
- 6/17/2010
- by Robert
- FilmExperience
6:49 Hi kids. Tonight is Tony night! The arrivals have been going on NY1 for approximately 45 minutes now but what do you now? Turns out my cable was all messed up so I spent the first 45 on the telephone with Monique trying to fix this damn thing. I was distracted by occasional glimpses of the stars. It's finally back on so I get the Glee team.
Matthew Morrison, Lea Michelle and Jonathan Groff. Basically here's what happened
Matthew Morrison is going to try to make the PBS taping of South Pacific before it closes (he originated the often shirtless Joe Cable role in the revival) but he doesn't know for sure if he'll be able to do it. Translation: I am way too important now. Everyone must cater to my needs.Lea is busy. She's singing "Don't Rain on My Parade" tonight. Didn't she sing that on Glee? She has no return to Broadway planned.
Matthew Morrison, Lea Michelle and Jonathan Groff. Basically here's what happened
Matthew Morrison is going to try to make the PBS taping of South Pacific before it closes (he originated the often shirtless Joe Cable role in the revival) but he doesn't know for sure if he'll be able to do it. Translation: I am way too important now. Everyone must cater to my needs.Lea is busy. She's singing "Don't Rain on My Parade" tonight. Didn't she sing that on Glee? She has no return to Broadway planned.
- 6/14/2010
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
The poster girl of Us indie film "schlumped up" for her first major role in Noah Baumbach's new movie but how will she cope alongside Russell Brand?
One of Greta Gerwig's favourite stories is about the time the young Marlon Brando first walked on stage, apparently looking so natural some of the audience assumed he was a stagehand or some guy off the street who'd just wandered up there accidentally. "People thought, 'What's happening? Is that acting?'" she says. "Not that I'm comparing myself to Marlon Brando but that's so exciting to me."
We've become accustomed to seeing people do things in the movies that we never do in real life, like walking away from explosions without turning around, dancing alone in the street when they get good news, or delivering inspirational speeches off the cuff. We know it's not real. We don't want it to be real.
One of Greta Gerwig's favourite stories is about the time the young Marlon Brando first walked on stage, apparently looking so natural some of the audience assumed he was a stagehand or some guy off the street who'd just wandered up there accidentally. "People thought, 'What's happening? Is that acting?'" she says. "Not that I'm comparing myself to Marlon Brando but that's so exciting to me."
We've become accustomed to seeing people do things in the movies that we never do in real life, like walking away from explosions without turning around, dancing alone in the street when they get good news, or delivering inspirational speeches off the cuff. We know it's not real. We don't want it to be real.
- 6/4/2010
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
The latest from mumblecore maestro Andrew Bujalski is less charming, says Catherine Shoard
Mumblecore may not be a form that endures – at least judging from this third effort from the genre's grandaddy. A tale of two sisters, one in a wheelchair, one not, both mid-30s, both in and out of beds and jobs in Austin, Texas, it's considerably less charming than his previous two, Funny Ha-Ha and Mutual Appreciation. There's a lot less romance: – the sisters' chief traits are kooky grins and insufferable self-absorption. Yet it's weirdly gripping, an authentically banal slice of life. Mumblecore must die. But maybe from its ashes will come something spikier, stranger.
Rating: 3/5
DramaComedyCatherine Shoard
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds...
Mumblecore may not be a form that endures – at least judging from this third effort from the genre's grandaddy. A tale of two sisters, one in a wheelchair, one not, both mid-30s, both in and out of beds and jobs in Austin, Texas, it's considerably less charming than his previous two, Funny Ha-Ha and Mutual Appreciation. There's a lot less romance: – the sisters' chief traits are kooky grins and insufferable self-absorption. Yet it's weirdly gripping, an authentically banal slice of life. Mumblecore must die. But maybe from its ashes will come something spikier, stranger.
Rating: 3/5
DramaComedyCatherine Shoard
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds...
- 4/15/2010
- by Catherine Shoard
- The Guardian - Film News
In this season of party political broadcasts, here's an arty cinematical podcast, talking to uncompromisingly independent British film-maker Ben Hopkins about his smugglers' tale The Market, mumblecore pioneer Andrew Bujalski about his off-kilter romance Beeswax, and reviewing Roman Polanski's The Ghost and the Gervais-Merchant film Cemetery Junction.
The Market is a comic smuggler's tale/anatomy of global capitalism set at the borders of Turkey and Azerbaijan in 1994, about a smalltime hustler who tries to land the cash to get into the new lucrative mobile phone business. Hopkins tells Jason Solomons about his journey from north London to eastern Turkey via Afghanistan, how he has managed to make four feature-length films outside the Anglo-American film industry, and how it felt to beat top Turkish film-maker Nuri Bilge Ceylan to the best film prize at the Antalya film festival.
Peter Bradshaw then joins Jason to review the week's key films - The Ghost,...
The Market is a comic smuggler's tale/anatomy of global capitalism set at the borders of Turkey and Azerbaijan in 1994, about a smalltime hustler who tries to land the cash to get into the new lucrative mobile phone business. Hopkins tells Jason Solomons about his journey from north London to eastern Turkey via Afghanistan, how he has managed to make four feature-length films outside the Anglo-American film industry, and how it felt to beat top Turkish film-maker Nuri Bilge Ceylan to the best film prize at the Antalya film festival.
Peter Bradshaw then joins Jason to review the week's key films - The Ghost,...
- 4/15/2010
- by Jason Solomons, Peter Bradshaw, Jason Phipps, Observer
- The Guardian - Film News
Andrew Bujalski's one of the most distinctive directors of drama to emerge in the last decade. The elements that define his work are instantly recognizable: the abrupt starts and stops (those words seem more appropriate in regard to his movies than "beginnings" and "endings") and his instistence on not offering resolutions at the end of his films; the careful interplay of details that mark both his characterization and his framing; and the nuanced, often beautiful images he creates with his regular cinematographer, Matthias Grunsky. Frankly, he's got more in common with Mike Leigh and recent Patrice Chereau than with his friend Joe Swanberg.
Bujalski's first two features were the naturalistic miniature Funny Ha Ha and the bleak, ambiguous Mutual Appreciation. His newest film, Beeswax, can be seen as an application of the lessons of those first two films: after Mutual Appreciation's urban sprawl, he's focused again on a...
Bujalski's first two features were the naturalistic miniature Funny Ha Ha and the bleak, ambiguous Mutual Appreciation. His newest film, Beeswax, can be seen as an application of the lessons of those first two films: after Mutual Appreciation's urban sprawl, he's focused again on a...
- 2/8/2010
- MUBI
The Alamo Guide
for January 8th, 2010
Apologies for the late email this week. I was celebrating 2010 out of town, and then when I got home I was distracted by the intensity of the Texas vs. Alabama game. Bummerrrr. Oh well. We can all drown our sorrows in some Alamo fun this weekend! First of all, The Monster Squad screening was so popular that we added a second one later that night so there’s still a chance to see the Cast And Creators In Attendance! Youth In Revolt, The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus, and Crazy Heart all open up this weekend. Girlie Night presents Romy & Michele’S High School Reunion on Tuesday, so get your business women outfits ready (but please have your fake job description ready)! If you’re a foodie and love our Alamo feasts, The Alamo Iron Chef competition returns with a battle between Alamo kitchen and...
for January 8th, 2010
Apologies for the late email this week. I was celebrating 2010 out of town, and then when I got home I was distracted by the intensity of the Texas vs. Alabama game. Bummerrrr. Oh well. We can all drown our sorrows in some Alamo fun this weekend! First of all, The Monster Squad screening was so popular that we added a second one later that night so there’s still a chance to see the Cast And Creators In Attendance! Youth In Revolt, The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus, and Crazy Heart all open up this weekend. Girlie Night presents Romy & Michele’S High School Reunion on Tuesday, so get your business women outfits ready (but please have your fake job description ready)! If you’re a foodie and love our Alamo feasts, The Alamo Iron Chef competition returns with a battle between Alamo kitchen and...
- 1/8/2010
- by caitlin
- OriginalAlamo.com
As award season rolls around, it's nice to look back at the indie gems released this year that deserve a little spotlight, too. To do just that, indieWire released their list, Best Undistributed Films from their Annual Critics Survey 2009. On that list is GreenCine favorite Harmony and Me, now available on DVD along with writer-director Bob Byington's previous feature, Rso: Registered Sex Offender.
To learn a little more about the film, revisit our podcast interview with Byington and the film's star, indie rocker-turned-actor Justin Rice (of Mutual Appreciation).
Harmony and Me available on DVD >>>...
To learn a little more about the film, revisit our podcast interview with Byington and the film's star, indie rocker-turned-actor Justin Rice (of Mutual Appreciation).
Harmony and Me available on DVD >>>...
- 12/16/2009
- by weezy
- GreenCine
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