Miscellania: Claude Chabrol (RIP), Venice (Post-Mortem), TIFF (First Impressions)

As you've undoubtedly heard, the French auteur Claude Chabrol passed away at 80. Both The Telegraph and Glenn Kenny have fine obits for your reading pleasure and if you can read French, Le Monde collects testimonials from many cinematic luminaries to honor him. I didn't know his career as well as I should but I quite liked both L'Enfer (1994) and the recent Ludivine Sagnier love/murder triangle A Girl Cut in Two. (The two of them are pictured to your left.) The prolific director's Le Beau Serge was the first French New Wave offering and we should all probably program ourselves mini-fests to catch up on his best work. Any suggestions? I'm reading these titles a lot: The Cry of the Owl, Les Biches and Le Boucher. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to catch up with any of his Isabelle Huppert collaborations either. Here's his available filmography from Netflix, LOVEFilm or GreenCine, depending on your rental pleasure.

A much less permanent goodbye, is the Venice Festival Post Mortem. Venice will be back next year... perhaps I should start saving those non-existent pennies? In Contention's Guy Lodge says arrivederci with some thoughts on the surprise jury decisions. But a lot of people are crying foul or, rather, "favoritism!" since Tarantino once dated Sofia Coppola and is also friends with Monte Hellman, who received a special award.

a disturbing still from Balada Triste de Trompeta

CineEuropa also shares a few interesting words from the double winner writer/director Alex de la Iglesias the man behind the "political slasher" Balada Triste de Trompeta aka The Last Circus. It sounds like he was on the (happy) defensive as early as the awards ceremony. His film was not one of the festival's well received entries, at least not critically.

Meanwhile TIFF is in full swing.

My day is a little crowded today with off blog happenings to investigate everything, but for now a few links. The Mickey Rourke / Megan Fox Passion Play has been declared a head-scratcher, Robert Redford's Lincoln assassination aftermath drama (aka The Conspirator) is actually getting good press and has modern political resonance. Unfortunately, it still needs a distributor to win Oscar buzz. Speaking of Oscar buzz, Miranda Richardson's definitely going to get it (the buzz I mean... not neccessarily the statue) for Made in Dagenham since the early reviews all single her out. Sally Hawkins could be a Best Actress contender as well but that awful snubbing for Happy Go Lucky might indicate that they just don't respond to her. I've adjusted my supporting actress page because it didn't look right to me anyhow and the virtual ink hadn't yet dried. Excitement is also building for the premiere of Rabbit Hole tomorrow -- here's a pic I hadn't seen from the set.

Finally...
Are you joining us for the next "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" roundups? All you have to do is...

1. watch the movie
2. post your favorite single image to your twitpic, blog, site, or other online shareable space and we'll link up.
   

Consider it an eye-candy focused mini blogathon each week. I've included the "instant watch" options if available for Netflix. Otherwise you have plenty of time to rent.

09/15 Pandora's Box (1929) instant watch
09/22 Se7en (1995, exact 15th anniversary!)
09/29 La Dolce Vita (1960) instant watch
10/06 Requiem for a Dream (2000, exact 10th anniversary!)
10/13 ...and then maybe a horror film for a possible Season 1 HMWYBS finale ... but which? (Trying to decide if we'll have the stamina to keep it up. Perhaps we should go monthly? Certainly more participation would invigorate. hint hint.)

Add your discerning eyeballs to ours to honor these fine movies.
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Notes from Venice - Day 5/6

Boyd from European Films here, reporting on the ongoing Venice Film Festival

Mood: tired
Weather: hot but cloudy
Films seen: Cassandra's Dream, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The Nines, La graine et le mulet, Un baiser - s'il vous plaît, The Darjeeling Limited, Hotel Chevalier
Gripe of the day: Brad Pitt's sunglasses
People currently on the same square mile of earth as I am: Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Adrien Brody, Bill Murray, Todd Haynes, Richard Gere, Jason Schwartzman, Tim Burton, Joan Chen, Toni Servillo, Terence Howard, Sam Shepard

Last night the Venice Film Festival hosted the gala premieres of two films that had the boys and girls lining the red carpet screaming their lungs out: Woody Allen's Cassandra's Dream with Ewan McGregor and Colin Farrell and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford with Casey Affleck and Brad Pitt, who graced the red carpet with Angelina Jolie. (During the latter film's premiere I was in another building half a mile away and I could still hear the deafening screams floating into the room on the gentle sea breeze. "Oh! It must be half past nine," I thought.)

Earlier yesterday, Brad Pitt's sunglasses caused an uproar with attending photographers when during a photo opportunity for accredited picture-takers he refused to take his sunglasses off and then maliciously passed them on to Casey Affleck before he could have his mug shot taken. A voluntary photography boycott seemed to be in the air for the evening premiere, but things had apparently calmed down by then, as photographers clicked away like mad when the Royal Couple also known as Brangelina finally walked down the red carpet.

So what about the movies? The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (full review) is a magnificent motion picture that will appeal more to the fans of Terence Malick than those of Clint Eastwood. In my review I compared it to both Zodiac and a suspension bridge in that it stars of with a violent episode before going into calmer (read: character psychology) waters and then arriving at the titular act of violence that must certainly rank with the most exciting scenes of the year. How director Andrew Dominik succeeds in making the killing of a man cleaning a picture on a wall so exciting you will have to see for yourself, though a clear mixture of cunning mise-en-scene and a slow build-up that only a 155-minute picture can afford must at least be partially held responsible.

Pitt is in fine form, though at 40+ he looks a bit wrinkly for 34-year-old James (even Pitt gets older, yikes!) and Affleck is truly great, looking at the serious possibility he might get an acting nomination at the Oscars before his older brother Ben. People voting in the technical categories will also love this film, which looks absolutely stunning (gorgeous cinematography? check. great production design? check. period costumes. check! lovely make-up and hair? check) and also features a great, sombre score from Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. The film seems to be too artistically inclined and too long to go for a Best Picture win, but it could turn out to go home with most Oscars a la Memoirs of a Geisha a few years back, simply because it is a stunning production all the way and could win a heap of statuettes in those categories.

Woody Allen's Cassandra's Dream (cast pictured above, courtesy of Fabrizio Maltese) is a funny case. Just a couple of weeks ago I reviewed the new Chabrol film La fille coupée en deux (The Girl Cut in Two), explaining that the two filmmakers both had a glory period that belongs to the past in common, as well as the fact that they seem unable to live without making movies and still churn out one a year of varying quality. As such, Allen made something of come-back with his extremely well-received Match Point, and, I wrote, Chabrol's latest could be considered his Match Point, a "deliciously dark and well-observed tale that marks a fine return to form."

Imagine my surprise when I saw Cassandra's Dream, which feels like a Chabrol film transplanted to London as directed by an American (which it is). Is there some mutual cross-pollination going on between the two directors? Coincidence or not, the latest films from both masters premiered yesterday one after the other in Venice. A full review of Cassandra's Dream is forthcoming, but let's just say for the moment that it's pretty dark and pretty funny, and again reminds everyone why this character actor will never go out of business.

(A not unimportant note on the Chabrol: Ludivine Sagnier becomes not only prettier by the day but is also clearly growing as an actress. Plus, Benoît Magimel is irresistible as a slimy, fey and delusional heir with too much money and not enough good manners.)