We’re back with another packed show as we welcome filmmaker Evgeny Afineefsky to talk about his documentary Winter On Fire. Bernard and Zach go over the standouts of the still-rolling 53rd New York Film Festival as well as talk about this past summer’s disappointing string of summer blockbusters. The boys also discuss actors whose movies they’ll watch no matter what and share their Indie Picks of the Week.

Topics

• Indie Picks of the Week (2:13)
• NYFF (6:46)
• Summer Blockbuster Rage (27:36)
• Actors We Follow (43:53)
• Evgeny Afineefsky (55:02)

WTI Articles Referenced in the Podcast

Carol NYFF Review
Microbe & Gasoline NYFF Review
The Walk Review

The last day of a festival is always bitter, rarely sweet. No matter how exhausted your bones are, or how badly your spine begs for a chiropractor, if the festival was a success you could do it all again for another two weeks. It’s with this dread, and a double shot of espresso to keep the focus, that I entered my last screening; Olivier Assayas’ Clouds Of Sils Maria. The final film shown in competition with a superstar cast of Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart, and Chloe Moretz; three women representing three different generations in a story about coming to terms with the past, age, and the consequences of time. Sounds kind of lovely, doesn’t it? Not sure what happened then, because Assayas found a way to drop the ball on this one and produced a lazy, uninspired, and forlorn piece of work.

Maria Enders (Binoche) is a famous stage and film actress who is offered a role for a play she has a deep and personal connection to. The play is about a young seductress called Sigrid who manipulates the older Hanna into a lesbian relationship only to leave her brokenhearted and forgotten by the end. 20 years ago, Maria played Sigrid and immersed herself into the role so much that it mirrored her own personality. Now, after the death of the playwright who wrote the piece, Maria reluctantly accepts the much weaker role of Hanna, but has trouble coming to terms with the way the character is written as it fills her with past memories and present insecurities about her own relevance. With the help of her assistant Valentine (Stewart), she begins to rehearse the role and has slight trepidation and pretentious misgivings with the idea of working with Jo-Anne (Moretz), the 19-year-old Hollywood superstar who has a Lindsay Lohan temperament.

There is so much there to grab on to, it’s a shame Assays butterfingers practically every element of the story. The main conflict, Maria’s relationship with the role, is written with such melodrama that it forces a rather minor performance by one of cinema’s all time greats, Binoche. Her work in English has always been slightly inferior to her French roles, but it just never seems like she gets under the skin of her character and leaves a trail of overacted scenes. Stewart has never been better, and yet she’s still stuck in a stifled shell; even when she’s at her most animated. While Moretz brings in the laughs and proves to be the aspirin for the headache induced by the scenes she’s not in. She, too, has never been better but unfortunately we get much more stifled Stewart than catty Moretz.

The biggest obstacles, however, lie in the execution of the story not the actors who do their very best with what they have. Assayas is squarely to blame for the poorly written dialogue which sounds like it was copy-pasted from some Bold and the Beautiful episode and for montage sequences which make absolutely no contextual sense, only serving to push us away and check our watches. The name of the play is tied into the phenomenon evoked by clouds and wind in the mountains of Sils Maria, where Maria rehearses her part. While the imagery is captivating, and the idea even more so, the meaning behind it is lost in a haze of poorly edited and awkwardly placed images desperate to attach themselves symbolically to characters who are too poorly written to be attached to anything. Not even with the help of 3D glasses would you find three dimensions anywhere in this film.

So, my Cannes festival ends on something of a sour note screening-wise (though, a soon-to-be-published article will show you the high it actually ended on) because Olivier Assayas, usually so on point, missed all his targets with Clouds Of Sils Maria. Fans of Stewart will declare her Best Supporting Actress material mostly because this is her greatest role yet, Moretz surprises in a funny parody of Hollywood celebrities, and Binoche makes you miss Julianne Moore’s batshit crazy and entertaining woman with similar issues in David Cronenberg’s Maps to the Stars. Watch this only if you’re a diehard fan of someone involved, or if you’re interested in seeing what a comic book movie directed by Assayas would look like (a highlight among the weariness.) Otherwise, this thematically redundant and soapy opera full of flat notes is not worth your time.

Originally published on May 24th, 2014 during the Cannes Film Festival.

The 65th Berlin Film Festival began earlier today with an Opening Ceremony for the film Nobody Wants the Night, one of 19 films vying for the top prize in Berlin. Starring Juliette Binoche against an Arctic backdrop, the 1908-set Nobody Wants the Night is based on the true story of Josephine Perry, wife of one of the first Americans to launch an expedition for the North Pole. This frigid tale received a lukewarm reaction from its initial screening despite the talent attached to the film. The Isabel Coixet-directed movie also stars Gabriel Byrne and Rinko Kikuchi.

Movie fans all over the globe are awaiting reactions to several widely discussed titles, including the WayTooIndie-anticipated title Knight of Cups, Werner Herzog’s Nicole Kidman-led Gertrude Bell biopic Queen of the Desert, and the Dennis Stock biopic Life with Robert Pattinson as Stock and Dane DeHaan as James Dean.

More broadly known upcoming movies will be making their debut in Berlin as well, including Disney’s live-action Cinderella and the steamy, soon-to-become guilty pleasure 50 Shades of Grey. Neither of these featured movies will be competing for the coveted Golden Bear prize, which will be awarded in a ceremony on February 14th. Diao Yinan’s thriller Black Coal, Thin Ice took home the top award at last year’s Berlin Film Festival.

Following a successful opening night at the Mill Valley Film Festival that offered red carpet glamour and a glitzy outdoor celebration, day 2 was all about the festival’s bread and butter: the movies. It started with a pair of meaty arthouse dramas harboring powerhouse performances and ended with a metal god presenting a cult horror classic to cleanse the palate and send us home smiling.

Clouds of Sils Maria and Mr. Turner both star brilliant artists playing…well…brilliant artists. Juliette Binoche stars in the former as an eminently well-respected actress wrestling with her past life, while Timothy Spall grunts and groans as he paints masterpieces in his turn as the eccentric 19th century British painter J.M.W. Turner. Both actors’ performances will stand amongst the best of their respective careers.

But before we get to the heavy stuff, let’s have some fun and talk about our first taste of what’s got to be the weirdest/coolest program at the festival.

Master of Metal, God of Gore

After two films that were rich experiences to say the least (emotionally draining is another way to put it), it was a treat to end the night with the first installment of the festival’s four-part Artists in Residence program, curated by the four members of legendary metal outfit Metallica (who also happen to be local legends). Lead guitarist and horror movie expert Kirk Hammett took to the stage (after a packed autograph session) to introduce one of his favorite horror B-movies, Dracula vs Frankenstein, a cheesy but charming relic from the psychedelic ’70s. An avid collector of horror memorabilia, Hammett discussed with festival Executive Director Mark Fishkin his deep love for scary movies, old and new.

Here’s what Hammett had to say about his obsession with horror:

Stewart Earns Her Stripes

Olivier Assayas’ Clouds of Sils Maria is a serene yet mighty film worthy of its wonderful and universally-adored lead, Juliette Binoche. It’s also one of those rare films that passes the Bechdel test (passed only if a film shows women talking to each other about something other than men) with flying colors: Binoche is paired with rising starlet Kristen Stewart for the majority of the film, and believe me, their conversations are endlessly fascinating, with little help from men at all.

Binoche plays Maria Enders, an actress who made a name for herself as a teenager, playing the role of an office assistant who seduces and emotionally torments her older female boss. Now, decades older, Maria has been asked to be in the play again, this time playing the older woman. With her hip, young assistant Valentine (Stewart), she travels to Sils Maria to rehearse for the part, hiking through the Alps and sipping tea in a beautiful estate as she runs lines over and over, trying to connect with her new role as the old one incessantly tugs at her psyche.

We expect greatness from Binoche, especially with ripe material like this, and she delivers in full. What’s surprising is how excellent a dance partner Stewart is, keeping up with her veteran counterpart beat for beat. Honestly, there are some scenes between the two that I can confidently say Stewart was the best part of. She’s so perceptive and intelligent and compassionate, and it doesn’t hurt that her mellow, under-the-radar vibe fits the role perfectly. Color me impressed.

Growl…Groan…Grumble

Timothy Spall isn’t the prettiest man in the world, but he may be one of the world’s most valuable actors. He plays Romantic British painter J.M.W. Turner, a toad-like, lumbering man who snorts and groans his way through conversations, in Mike Leigh’s Mr. Turner. The performance won Spall a best actor award at Cannes, which is no surprise once you see it; it’s positively unpredictable and unforgettable.

Covering the final 25 years or so in the painter’s complex, strange life, the film is a visually stunning portrait of a physically undesirable–but ingenious–man. Cinematographer Dick Pope utilizes some of the prettiest lighting and compositions you’ll see this year to amaze our eyes as Leigh’s patient camera largely sits idle. It’s breathtaking to see Spall’s measured performance framed by such sublime imagery, and I implore you to rush out to theaters to catch Leigh’s latest masterpiece when it hits theaters this Christmas.

That’s it for day 2 of the fest, but stay tuned because we’ve got loads more coverage coming your way from Mill Valley. If you haven’t done so yet (shame on you), check out our coverage of day 1, which includes Hilary Swank and Jason Reitman talking about their new films, The Homesman and Men, Women & Children.

The Mill Valley Film Festival has built a reputation as a showcase for future Oscar winners and emergent independent and foreign filmmakers. The festival has hosted five of the last six Best Picture Oscar winners, rolling out the red carpet for A-list actors and filmmakers while heavily supporting local filmmakers as well. Nestled in one of the most beautiful places in the world, filmmakers, actors, and attendees alike are drawn to Mill Valley every year by the easy, low-stress atmosphere, the gorgeous surroundings, the varied special events and, of course, the films. In its 37th year, the festival looks to deliver everything loyal festival-goers expect and more.

“Variety has said once–probably more than once–that Mill Valley has the ambience of a destination festival and the clout of an urban festival,” said festival founder and director Mark Fishkin at yesterday’s press conference. “Change” is one of the themes of this year’s festival, with the folks behind the festival embracing the evolving landscape of film and film distribution. Said Fishkin: “For us, change is inevitable, but we are still part of a special division of the film industry, which is theatrical exhibition. We take our role as curators very seriously, whether it’s films that are coming from the Bay Area or films coming from Cannes.”

The Homesman

Tommy Lee Jones‘ latest offering, The Homesman, will open the festival, with star Hilary Swank set to attend. The film is a Western, following a claim jumper (Jones) and a young woman (Swank) as they escort three insane woman through the treacherous frontier between Nebraska and Iowa. Fishkin describes it as a “feminist Western” that is “extremely moving. We’re just so proud to be showing it in this year’s festival.”

Co-headlining opening night is Men, Women, & Children, Jason Reitman‘s new film starring Ansel Elgort, Adam Sandler, Judy Greer, and Jennifer Garner that explores the strange effect the internet age has on parents and their teens. Reitman will be in attendance to present. Lynn Shelton‘s Laggies will also play opening night, completing the killer triple-threat. The film, about a woman stuck in slacker adolescence, stars Chloë Grace Moretz, Keira Knightley, and Sam Rockwell.

The festival looks to finish as strong as it started, with Jean-Marc Valée‘s follow-up to Dallas Buyers Club, spiritual quest movie Wild, starring Reese Witherspoon as Cheryl Strayed, who embarked on a 1,100-mile hike to heal deep emotional wounds. Laura Dern also stars, and will be honored with a tribute.

French favorite Juliette Binoche stars across Kristen Stewart in Clouds of Sils Maria. Binoche plays an actress who’s asked to return to a play that made her famous 20 years ago, but this time in an older role, forcing her to reflect on the young woman she once was and what she’s become since. Another French actress who can do no wrong, Marion Cotillard is outstanding in the Dardenne brothers’ new film, Two Days, One Night. Recalling the best of Italian neorealism, the film follows a woman who’s got a weekend to convince her co-workers to forego their bonuses to save her job.

The Theory of Everything

Two emerging young actors will be spotlighted as Eddie Redmayne and Elle Fanning will be in attendance to discuss their respective new films. Fanning stars in Low Down, which views the troubled life of jazz pianist Joe Albany (John Hawkes) from the perspective of his teenage daughter (Fanning). Set in the ’70s, the film also stars Glenn Close, Peter Dinklage, and Lena Headey. In a breakout performance, Redmayne portrays legendary physicist Stephen Hawking in the stirring biopic The Theory of Everything, which is quickly generating momentum on the festival circuit.

Several other films that have been building steam on the festival circuit will play at the festival as well. English landscape painter J. M. W. Turner is played brilliantly by Timothy Spall in Mike Leigh‘s Mr. Turner, which we loved at Cannes. Also portraying a significant real-life figure is Benedict Cumberbatch, who stars in The Imitation Game, the story of English mathematician Alan Turing and his groundbreaking intelligence work during World War II. Steve Carell‘s highly-anticipated turn in Foxcatcher as John Du Pont, the man who shot olympic great David Schultz, will surely continue to stir up Oscar talk as the film plays late in the festival. Robert Downey Jr. stars as a big city lawyer who returns home to defend his father (Robert Duvall), the town judge, who is suspected of murder.

Metallica is set to play a pleasantly unexpected role in the festival as his year’s artist in residence, with each of the four members of the band presenting a film. Drummer Lars Ulrich has naturally chosen to highlight Whiplash, Damien Chazelle‘s drama about a young aspiring drummer and his relentless instructor. Chazelle will also be in attendance. Lead singer James Hetfield has chosen to present a classic, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, while guitarist Kirk Hammett, one of the world’s foremost horror aficionados, will offer up Dracula vs. Frankenstein. Bassist Robert Trujillo is showing a sneak peek at a documentary he produced himself, Jaco, which tells the story of legendary bassist Jaco Pastorius.

On the local side of things is a special screening of Soul of a Banquet, a documentary by filmmaker Wayne Wang  about celebrity chef Cecilia Chang. Wang and Chang, who both have deep San Francisco Bay Area roots, will be in attendance to celebrate their storied careers and present their film collaboration. Chuck Workman, another Bay Area legend who’s best known for editing the clip reels at the Oscars, will be honored at the festival as well.

Having premiered at Cannes over the weekend, the upcoming drama Clouds of Sils Maria has debuted a trailer for the film with an anxious Juliette Binoche, a disaffected Chloë Grace Moretz, and a thong-clad Kristen Stewart. With writer-director Olivier Assayas at the helm, Clouds of Sils Maria takes its name from the breathtaking views from the Alps of Sils Maria, Switzerland (the onetime home of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche), featured in part in this new teaser.

Starring Binoche as an aging starlet at the peak of her fame, asked to perform in a revival of the play that made her famous, only now in the role of the older woman. Moretz stars as the young actress that’s been cast in the role that made Binoche’s character famous, and Stewart plays Binoche’s assistant in this movie about age, nostalgia, and art imitating life (read our review).

Watch trailer for Clouds of Sils Maria

The English title of the film is “Hidden” which accurately describes the film as a whole; there is a hidden camera that uncovers events in the main character’s past that are hidden from his wife. Michael Haneke’s Caché earned the Best Director award at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival as well as a nomination for the Palme d’Or and a nomination for an Oscar for Best Foreign Film. The pacing in the film is excellent and it will keep you guessing long after the credits roll.

The film begins with Georges Laurent (Daniel Auteuil) and Anne Laurent (Juliette Binoche) watching a video tape that someone left for them which contains what seems like pointless hours of video surveillance of their home. They are baffled at why anyone would be tapping them and why they would want them to know about it. Their first assumption is that it is a prank from their son Pierrot (Lester Makedonsky) and some of his friends. What an eerie feeling it must be to know that someone is watching you for no apparent reason.

They doubt their son or his friends had anything to do with it when another tape shows up. This time the footage is of the outside of their house at night. The only other clue they have to work with is that this second video came with a childish drawing of a person with blood coming from its mouth. Because there is no direct threat, the police cannot do much about it at this point. They are one their own to investigate.

We come to find out that Georges is a television host as they begin to wonder if it was perhaps from a fan turned stalker of his. But he receives a hunch to who might be making these videos after finding a clue in the next video. This time the video is of a person driving around in a car. Georges and Anne were able to spot a street name in that video, which ends up being close to where someone of his past lives.

He visits this person only for him to claim not to know anything about the video tapes. However, it does appear there was some heated history between these two. The strangest part is Georges lies to his wife when he denies the two meet up.

But the lie is short lived because the next video tape they receive is of that very meet up between Georges and the other man whose name is Majid (Maurice Benichou). It turns out that Majid was his adopted brother of Georges. But because he never got along with Majid, they only lived together for six months.

Anne watches that tape and of course is confused as to why Georges lied about talking to Majid. This results in a big argument between the two. You start to wonder if that is the intention of the tapes, to cause a rift between the husband and wife.

I believe Caché is about owning up to mistakes you have made in the past. Hidden guilt that you may have that you wish not to talk about. In this case, the tapes served to uncover the truths that were covered up. The film makes a relevant reference to a piece of French history when France police shot down Algerian immigrants protesting a government curfew on October 17th, 1961. As an attempt to cover up the truth, it was reported at the time that only two protesters were killed but we know today that about 400 were murdered.

My absolute favorite part of the film is the way it was shot. Haneke used shots that were mostly comprised of stationary cameras to imply hidden video surveillance. But he mixes them into other parts of the film to suggest that Caché itself could be a tape.

Many people will have problems with the ending of Caché because of the failure to solve the case. But the film’s ending was deliberately left open to the viewer to make their own conclusion. Sharing a common theme to other elements in the film, the mystery behind it remains hidden. The cryptic final scene is perfect because it raises more questions than it answers about two characters that may have had something to hide.