News

Silvia Pinal, the revered film and television actress who left an indelible mark on Mexico’s Golden Age of Cinema, has died. She was 93.

Mexico’s culture secretary, Claudia Curiel de Icaza, as well as the Asociación Nacional de Intérpretes announced Pinal’s passing on social media. The Associated Press reported that Pinal had been hospitalized for a urinary infection several days ago.

During a prolific acting and producing career that spanned seven decades, Pinal gained international fame for toplining three 1960s classics written and directed by Luis Buñuel: the Palme d’Or co-winner Viridiana (1961), The Exterminating Angel (1962) and Simon of the Desert (1965).

Pinal got her start in the theater in the late 1940s working with Cuban-born director Rafael Banquells, who would become the first of her four husbands. Her breakthrough in cinema came in 1950 when at 18 she landed back-to-back leading roles opposite two of Mexico’s biggest film stars,...

Ab August bietet das Kino filmkunst 66 jeden Sonntag ausgewählte Werke der Meister der Filmkunst der 1920er bis 1960er Jahre.

Das Kino Filmkunst 66 präsentiert ab August sonntags „Frühe Meister der Filmkunst“ (Credit: filmkunst 66)

Kuratiert von Theaterleiter Klaus Stawecki bietet das Kino filmkunst 66 ab August sonntags ausgewählte Werke der frühen Meister der Filmkunst aus den 1920er bis 1960er Jahren. Wie das Kino heute mitteilt, wolle man damit „sowohl erfahrenen CineastInnen (die viele bedeutende Filme lange nicht mehr im Kino sehen konnten) als auch interessierten Newcomern eine Möglichkeit zu bieten, sich Beispiele der Filmgeschichte auf der Leinwand anzusehen“.

Beim Angebot wolle man sich am Alphabet nach den Nachnamen der jeweiligen Meister orientieren, heißt es in der Mitteilung weiter. Und so macht am 4. August Michelangelo Antonionis „Die mit der Liebe spielen“ den Auftakt zu der Filmreihe. Am 11. und 18. August folgen mit „Liebe 1962“ und „Blow Up“ zwei weitere Filme von Michelangelo Antonioni. Am 25. August,...

Two-time Oscar-winning filmmaker Alexander Payne shared his passion for film and his thoughts on contemporary American cinema with the audience at the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon where he is premiering his eighth feature film, “The Holdovers,” under the French title “Winter Break,” on October 15th.

In a conversation skilfully led and translated by Los Angeles-based French film journalist Didier Allouch, Payne drew laughs from the Lumière crowd when he explained that the secret to making good films was “keeping your budgets low.”

“John Huston approached Luis Buñuel one day and asked him, ‘How is it that you make these wonderful films, like “Viridiana” and “The Exterminating Angel”?’ And Buñuel replied, ‘How much money do you make and how much money do you think I make?’” said Payne with a smile.

While he made no secret of his distaste for Hollywood blockbusters and said it was still possible to make movies like “Sideways,...

[Editor’s note: Anne Hathaway received a SAG-AFTRA waiver to participate in this interview for “She Came to Me.”]

“Oh, gosh, I have been fearing this moment,” Anne Hathaway said. The Oscar-winning actress is referring to being asked about playing a psychiatrist in back-to-back independent films, “Eileen” and “She Came to Me” who — in each feature — lets out a cathartic, instantly iconic scream in pivotal dramatic moments, sure to be excerpted by the internet (and adoring gay fans like this one).

In Rebecca Miller’s eccentric relationship comedy “She Came to Me,” Hathaway plays Dr. Patricia Jessup-Lauddem, a hyper-organized, Ocd-tending New York psychiatrist whose desire to achieve her “most uncluttered space” leads her on the path to becoming a nun. In William Oldroyd’s darker queer noir “Eileen,” she’s the elegant blond-headed prison counselor Rebecca St. John, whose rebellious air allures younger, impressionable secretary Eileen, played by Thomasin McKenzie.

“I saw...

After a hiatus as theaters in New York City and beyond closed their doors during the pandemic, we’re delighted to announce the return of NYC Weekend Watch, our weekly round-up of repertory offerings. While many theaters are still focused on a selection of new releases, there’s a handful of worthwhile repertory screenings taking place.

Film at Lincoln Center

Joachim Trier presents favorites and influences, among them The Age of Innocence, The Green Ray, and My Sex Life.

Metrograph

Prints of I’m Not There and Ed Lachman’s Songs for Drella screen in a music series; deemed “essential viewing” by Martin Scorsese, a six-film retrospective of the Hungarian master Miklós Jancsó continues. Films by Panahi, Chris Marker and more play “In the Streets,” while a series of literary adaptations includes Mishima and Crumb.

Museum of Modern Art

“To Save and Project,” one of the most eye-opening series in any given year,...

Writer/director Guillermo del Toro discusses a few of his favorite movies with Josh and Joe.

Show Notes:

Movies Referenced In This Episode

Nightmare Alley (2021)

Nightmare Alley (1947) – Stuart Gordon’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Drive My Car (2021)

Wicked Woman (1953) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairing

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022)

Modern Times (1936)

City Lights (1931)

The Great Dictator (1940)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – John Landis’s trailer commentary, Dennis Cozzalio’s review, Dennis Cozzalio’s Muriel Awards capsule review

Vertigo (1958) – Dan Ireland’s trailer commentary, Brian Trenchard-Smith’s review

The Man Who Would Be King (1975) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

Lawrence Of Arabia (1962)

The Young And The Damned (1950)

Gone With The Wind (1939)

The Golem (1920) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Sunrise: A Song Of Two Humans (1927)

Alucarda (1977)

Greed (1924) – Dennis Cozzalio’s Muriel Awards capsule review

Taxi Driver (1976) – Rod Lurie’s trailer commentary

District 9 (2009) – John Sayles...

While Netflix is far from being a haven for admirers of classic cinema, they thankfully are backing strong repertory programming in New York City. After acquiring The Paris Theater, located on 58th Street in Manhattan, and briefly reopening with some runs of Netflix features and other specialty programming, they are now officially opening their doors again on August 6 with a more substantial slate of classic cinema.

Featuring two programs, one curated by Radha Blank and another by the theater’s programmer David Schwartz, the reopening lineup features work by John Cassavetes, Kathleen Collins, Luis Buñuel, Mira Nair, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Ingmar Bergman, Terence Davies, and much more––with many on film prints.

One can also enter to win a pass for Schwartz’s series “The Paris is For Lovers,” with a newly-unveiled scavenger hunt tied to Ira Deutchman’s new documentary Searching for Mr. Rugoff, which opens on August 13 and is part of the lineup.

The Paris Theater, a beloved arthouse cinema in New York City, is reopening its doors next month.

To celebrate its return on Aug. 6, filmmaker Radha Blank is curating a slate of repertory titles to screen alongside her directorial debut “The Forty-Year-Old Version.” Her movie, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival, is playing through Aug. 12.

The Paris opened in 1948 and is the only single-screen movie theater in Manhattan. Netflix acquired the 545-seat venue in 2019 and, prior to Covid-19, held premieres, special events and screenings of its films in the storied institution, which is just south of Central Park.

“I made ‘Forty-Year-Old Version’ in 35mm Black & White in the spirit of the many great films that informed my love of cinema,” says Blank. “I’m excited to show the film in 35mm as intended and alongside potent films by fearless filmmakers who inspired my development as a storyteller and expanded my vision...

The Paris Theater, an NYC cinematic landmark rescued by Netflix in 2019, will officially reopen August 6 with the streamer’s The Forty-Year-Old Version by Radha Blank and a week of repertory films programmed by the director.

The only single-screen movie theater in Manhattan and the borough’s largest, with 545 seats, has hosted limited theatrical engagements since March that included Netflix’ 17 Oscar-nominated films, retrospectives of Charlie Kaufman and Orson Wells, zombie movie classics and a Bob Dylan film series.

The Paris closed in August of 2019 after its lease with City Cinemas expired. That November, Netflix entered an extended lease agreement, said to be for ten years with owner the Solow Family, to keep the theater open and use it for events, screenings and theatrical releases of its films. The first was Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story. The theater was shuttered by Covid-19 last spring.

(In May of 2020, Netflix acquired another storied theaters,...

All hail the cinematic delights of Luis Buñuel, a world-class directing genius whose work ranges from insightfully impish to point-blank outrageous. Driven from Spain by Fascists and from New York by commie hunters, he found a cinematic haven in Mexico, adapting his surreal mindset to popular film forms. These final three French features embrace the surrealist ethos, where a coherent narrative is optional. We definitely recognize our ‘rational’ world; Buñuel’s high art simply tells the truth.

Three Films by Luis Buñuel

The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The Phantom of Liberty, That Obscure Object of Desire

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 102. 290, 143

1972-1977 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date January 5, 2021 / 99.95

Cinematography: Edmond Richard

Production Designer: Pierre Guffroy

Film Editor: Hélène Plemiannikov

Written by Luis Buñuel, Jean-Claude Carrière

Produced by Serge Silberman

Directed by Luis Buñuel

Tracking down the films of Luis Buñuel has been an ongoing effort.

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and an archive of past round-ups here.

Alice (Josephine Mackerras)

It makes no sense. The night before saw Alice Ferrand’s (Emilie Piponnier) husband François (Martin Swabey) going out of his way to passionately make-out with her in front of their friends at a dinner party and now he won’t answer her calls. Despite his running out of the house earlier than usual without any explanation, however, there’s nothing to make her think something is wrong until a trip to the drugstore exposes a freeze on their finances. One credit card won’t work. Then another. The Atm won’t accept her sign-in and François still isn’t picking up his phone.

Annual awards hype tends to drive the perception that the Oscar is the highest award in the film community. But for countless filmmakers and cinephiles around the world, the Palme d’Or comes out ahead. Ever since 1955, the Cannes Film Festival has assembled a discerning jury of A-listers to bestow this honor on an exclusive Competition section featuring some of the greatest auteurs the medium has known.

Originally known as the Grand Prix, the shimmering Golden Palm has played a key role in advancing careers, but it has just as often fallen to veterans of the form, and across seven decades juries have acknowledged an astounding range of cinematic accomplishments. But some of these prizes were worthier than others.

Here’s a look at all the Palme winners over the years, ranked in order of which ones we believe deserved it the most. Viewed as a whole, the winners provide...

“The Nun,” a prequel to “The Conjuring” series of horror films, finds a young nun traveling to Romania to investigate a demon that has potentially latched itself onto a nun. With that premise, things are bound to get a little crazy. Of course, there’s a long history in film of taking chaste, pious women who have become nuns on film and testing their resolve, of taken their faith to wild extremes, or playing on that goodness for comedy. Say a few rosaries and check out these nun movies.

“Sister Act” (1992)

Whoopi Goldberg goes into the witness protection program and winds up a jump-roping, gospel singing, foul-mouthed nun with Maggie Smith looking down her nose at her in “Sister Act.” The film made an ungodly sum as the sixth highest grossing movie of the year and spawned a sequel.

“Black Narcissus” (1947)

Powell & Pressburger’s 1947 drama is about as lush and...

Four late films by Luis Buñuel are showing from February 22 - March 28, 2018 in the United States in the retrospective Buñuel.“Chance governs all things.”—Luis Buñuel, My Last SighStriving for the surprising has always been a prevailing part of Luis Buñuel’s aesthetic practice. At first, this endeavor manifest itself in overtly incongruous visual terms, with the succession of shocking and often inexplicable images that dominate his earliest efforts, namely Un chien andalou (1929) and L'âge d'or (1930). After these two surrealist masterworks, though, both of which Buñuel made in collaboration with the movement’s eminent enforcer, Salvador Dalí, the director’s output went in a decidedly more systematic direction. The films Buñuel made in Mexico, twenty of them from the late 1940s into the early 1960s, could at times be just as provocative as anything else filling his filmography, but their formal and tonal constitution was comparatively tame and, dare one say it regarding Buñuel,...

Guillermo del Toro may be one of the world’s most beloved filmmakers, but he’s also one of its most avid cinephiles. The director has been making the press rounds nonstop this awards season in promotion of “The Shape of Water,” which is currently nominated for 13 Academy Awards, and he recently made a stop at the Criterion Collection to share 11 titles in the library that every fellow cinephile needs to see.

Included in del Toro’s picks are classics from the Coen brothers, Jean Cocteau, and Alfred Hitchcock. Anyone familiar with del Toro’s work shouldn’t be surprised that he recommends Cocteau’s 1946 “Beauty and the Beast” adaptation, which he has brought up several times when talking about inspirations behind “The Shape of Water.”

Visit the Criterion Collection website for del Toro’s full commentary, including video interviews on each title with “Mythbuster” host Adam Savage.

1. Jean Cocteau...

The history of the Muriel Awards stretches aaaalllll the way back to 2006, which means that this coming season will be a special anniversary, marking 10 years of observing the annual quality and achievement of the year in film. (If you don’t know about the Muriels, you can check up on that history here.) The voting group, of which I am a proud member, having participated since Year One, has also made its personal nod to film history by always having incorporated 10, 25 and 50-year anniversary awards, saluting what is agreed upon by ballot to be the best films from those anniversaries during each annual voting process.

But more recently, in 2013, Muriels founders Paul Clark and Steven Carlson decided to expand the Muriels purview and further acknowledge the great achievements in international film by instituting The Muriels Hall of Fame. Each year a new group of films of varying number would be voted upon and,...

Close-Up is a column that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Luis Buñuel's Viridiana (1961) is showing June 17 - July 17 and The Exterminating Angel (1962) is showing June 18 - July 18, 2017 in the United Kingdom.ViridianaIt’s impossible to avoid describing the films of Spanish director Luis Buñuel as “surreal,” and yet to do so is woefully insufficient. This is for two reasons. In the first place, Buñuel never made one kind of film. In the second place, even his strangest films deal with social reality.Early in his career Buñuel did associate himself with the Surrealist art movement. Among his first productions were the infamous Un chien Andalou (1929) and L'âge d'or (1930), experimental narratives co-written by Salvador Dali in which bizarre and violent psychosexual incidents connect via absurd dream logic. It’s worth bearing in mind that the Surrealists never meant “surreal” to act as a mere label for the uniquely strange.

The 70-year-old festival has never been far from controversy.

A row over the inclusion of Netflix titles in official competition has cast a shadow over this year’s Cannes Film Festival, with boos for the Netflix logos, clashes between Jury members and a rule changes for next year.

Perhaps it’s appropriate however that a row has been front of centre on Cannes 70th birthday, as the festival is no stranger to a controversy…

1954

Actress Simone Silva’s decision to go topless at a photocall resulted in a scrum which caused several broken bones.

1959

New Minister of Cultural Affairs Andre Malraux formalised Cannes’ burgeoning film market, which has since become integral to the festival and the largest industry event in the global industry. At the time, however, it was a decision not welcomed by all; as a direct reaction to this commercialisation, the French Syndicate of Film Critics (Afcc) was founded.

1960

La Dolce Vita won the...

The Cannes Film Festival aims to show great movies, but it also knows how to throw a good party. That much was evident late at night in the waning hours of a glitzy dinner on Tuesday night at Port Pierre Canto to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the festival, when Salma Hayek surprised guests with a mariachi band.

The Mexican film luminaries in the room — including “Three Amigos” Guillermo Del Toro, Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarriuto and Alfono Cuaron as well as actors Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal — all crowded around a single table to lead a boisterous crowd in numerous songs. They were joined by guests from all over the world, from directors Michel Hazanavicius and Paolo Sorrentino to Sony Pictures Classics co-president Michael Barker, 88-year-old French New Wave legend Agnes Varda and Hayek, who eventually led a conga line to the stage while shooting an iPhone video of the whole affair.

Author: Sean Wilson

Arriving on Blu-Ray and DVD on 13th February, provocative and gruesome horror We Are the Flesh is the latest movie from director Emiliano Rocha Minter. Engulfing viewers in a nightmarish and surreal world, whereby two siblings find themselves manipulated by a terrifying stranger, it’s controversial Mexican cinema in every sense of the word.

It also follows a proud tradition of rich, boundary-pushing cinema to have emerged from the country. To honour the film’s release, here are some of Mexico’s finest.

Un Chien Andalou (1929)

Few images are seared onto viewers’ minds as vividly as the eyeball being sliced in Luis Bunuel’s groundbreaking surrealist classic (in reality it was a cow’s eye, not a human’s). But in truth the Spanish filmmaker’s trendsetting collaboration with Salvador Dali is filled to the brim with all other manner of striking imagery that left a lasting...

Will somebody explain the sheep and the bear? Luis Buñuel really knows how to disturb people. This, his most characteristic surreal drama proposes an impossible, irrational situation – which isn’t all that different from the reality we know. Petty social rules, jealousies and bitterness make life hell for group of dinner guests stuck with each other, caught in an existential trap.

The Exterminating Angel

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 459

1962 / B&W / 1:33 flat full frame / 93 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date December 6, 2016 / 39.95

Starring Silvia Pinal, Jacqueline Andere, Augusto Benedicio, José Baviera, Antonio Bravo, Claudio Brook, Rosa Elena Durgel, Lucy Gallardo, Tito Junco .

Cinematography Gabriel Figueroa

Film Editor Carlos Savage

Original Music Raúl Lavista

Based on a story by Luis Alcoriza, Luis Buñuel

Produced by Gustavo Alatriste

Written and Directed by Luis Buñuel

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

That intransigent rebel imp Luis Buñuel never mellowed — after ten or so...

Now for something truly remarkable from the neglected Spanish cinema. Luis García Berlanga's wicked satire is a humanistic black comedy, free of cynicism. The borderline Kafkaesque situation of an everyman forced into a profession that horrifies him is funny and warm hearted - but with a ruthless logic that points to universal issues beyond Franco Fascism. The Executioner Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 840 1963 / B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 92 min. / El Verdugo / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 25, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Nino Manfredi, Emma Penella, José Isbert . Cinematography Tonino Delli Colli Film Editor Afonso Santacana Original Music Miguel Asins Arbó Written by Luis García Berlanga, Rafael Azcona, Ennio Flaiano Produced by Nazario Belmar Directed by Luis García Berlanga

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Criterion brings us 1963's The Executioner (El Verdugo), a major discovery for film fans that thought Spanish cinema began and ended with Luis Buñuel. I've seen politically-charged Spanish films from...

The Criterion Collection has announced its offerings for the last month of the year, with one contemporary title (“Heart of a Dog”) mixed in with the classic (“Roma,” “The Asphalt Jungle,” “The Exterminating Angel”) fare. Check out the covers for the new additions below, as well as synopses for each carefully chosen film.

Read More: Kieslowski, ‘Cat People,’ and the Coen Brothers Lead The Criterion Collection’s September Line-Up

“The Exterminating Angel”

A group of high-society friends are invited to a mansion for dinner and inexplicably find themselves unable to leave in “The Exterminating Angel” (“El ángel exterminador”), a daring masterpiece from Luis Buñuel (“Belle de jour,” “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie”). Made just one year after his international sensation “Viridiana,” this film, full of eerie, comic absurdity, furthers Buñuel’s wicked takedown of the rituals and dependencies of the frivolous upper classes.

“Heart of a Dog”

“Heart of a Dog...

Luis Buñuel's most direct film about revolutionary politics brandishes few if any surreal touches in its clash between French star Gérard Philipe and the Mexican legend María Félix. Borrowing the climax of the opera Tosca, it's an intelligent study of how not to effect change in a corrupt political regime. La fièvre monte à El Pao Region A+B Blu-ray + Pal DVD Pathé (Fr) 1959 / B&W / 1:37 flat (should be 1:66 widescreen) / 96 min. / Los Ambiciosos; "Fever Mounts at El Pao" / Street Date December 4, 2013 / available at Amazon France / Eur 26,27 Starring Gérard Philipe, María Félix, Jean Servais, M.A. Soler, Raúl Dantés, Domingo Soler, Víctor Junco, Roberto Cañedo, Enrique Lucero, Pilar Pellicer, David Reynoso, Andrés Soler. Cinematography Gabriel Figueroa Assistant Director Juan Luis Buñuel Original Music Paul Misraki Written by Luis Buñuel, Luis Alcoriza, Charles Dorat, Louis Sapin from a novel by Henri Castillou Produced by Jacques Bar, Óscar Dancigers, Gregorio Walerstein...

Let's give a cheer for the lowly sword 'n' sandal epic. This persecution and torture spectacle also takes in the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian. The impressively mounted Italian-Spanish production stars Rhonda Fleming, Fernando Rey, Wandisa Guida, and as the slimy villain, none other than Serge Gainsbourg. Revolt of the Slaves MGM Limited Edition Collection 1960 / Color / 2:35 enhanced widescreen (Totalscope) / 103 min. / La rivolta degli schiavi / Street Date February 16, 2016 / available through Screen Archives Entertainment / 19.98 Starring Rhonda Fleming, Lang Jeffries, Darío Moreno, Ettore Manni, Wandisa Guida, Gino Cervi, Fernando Rey, Serge Gainsbourg, José Nieto, Benno Hoffmann, Rainer Penkert, Antonio Casas, Vanoye Aikens, Dolores Francine, Burt Nelson, Julio Peña . Cinematography Cecilio Paniagua Film Editor Eraldo Da Roma Original Music Angelo Francesco Lavagnino Written by Stefano Strucchi, Duccio Tessari, Daniel Mainwearing from the novel 'Fabiola' by Nicholas Patrick Wiseman Produced by Paolo Moffa Directed by Nunzio Malasomma

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Make all...

The major retrospective of the 2016 International Film Festival Rotterdam is dedicated to the Barcelona school of filmmaking in the 1960s and 1970s, with Catalonian master Pere Portabella’s body of work—and his new film—serving as a figurehead. Nearly completely unknown in the United States—where critic Jonathan Rosenbaum has been a beacon of support and revelation—insomuch as Portabella is known in the film community it is for his film Vampir-Cuadecuc, which hijacks the production of Christopher Lee and Jesús Franco’s Count Dracula (1970) for its own ends and exhilaratingly exposes this documentarian’s acute analysis of and play with the subject of his films. (I will note here that Mubi has shown a great deal of Portabella’s work in the past, including this 1970 horror film.) This is hardly a lone accomplishment; in 1961 he helped produce Luis Buñuel's masterpiece Viridiana, and the director has been a strident voice in documentary,...

'Star Wars: The Force Awakens': Darth Vader (?) wants to be no. 1. 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' not to become top-grossing movie of all time on worldwide box office chart? J.J. Abrams' futuristic adventure movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens was the most awaited film release since … let's see … Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider made out in Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris back in the early '70s, destroying marriages, families, and whole nations. Or perhaps, since Luis Buñuel's Viridiana created a furor at the Cannes Film Festival back in 1961, leaving audiences the world over desperate for a look at the movie condemned by both the Spanish military and the Catholic Church for demonstrating that (at least a certain kind of) charity is a stupidity, not a virtue. Or maybe we still have to go further back in time to… Never mind, the...

Studiocanal

To celebrate the release of L’Eclisse, available on Est 21 September 2015 and released on Blu-ray for the first time (as well as on DVD) 28 September 2015, we are giving 3 lucky WhatCulture readers the chance to win one of three copies on Blu-ray.

Filmed in sumptuous black and white, and full of scenes of lush, strange beauty, it tells the story of Vittoria (the beautiful Monica Vitti – L’Avventura, La Notte, Red Desert – Antonioni’s partner at the time), a young woman who leaves her older lover (Francisco Rabal – Viridiana, The Holy Innocents, Goya in Bordeaux), then drifts into a relationship with a confident, ambitious young stockbroker (Alain Delon – Le Samourai, Rocco and his Brothers, Le Cercle Rouge). But this base narrative is the starting point for much, much more, including an analysis of the city as a place of estrangement and alienation and an implicit critique of colonialism.

Using the...

Dismaland Castle and Big Little Mermaid suffering from split-personality disorder. Dismaland: Banksy and more than 50 other artists create bemusement theme park Who gives a damn about the cheap thrills to be offered by the Star Wars-themed expansion of Disneyland when you can relish the thought-provoking wonders of Dismaland? The artist Banksy, whose 2010 documentary feature Exit Through the Gift Shop was nominated for an Academy Award, has come up with his latest revolutionary artwork: a theme park for the bemusement of the whole family! Or perhaps not quite the whole family. Banksy calls his 2.5-acre art show a “family theme park unsuitable for small children.” Another Dismaland plus. Its construction shrouded in secrecy, Dismaland opened today, Aug. 20, '15, on the sea front at Weston-super-Mare, in Somerset, southwest England. While the theme park was being built, locals believed that the work going on at the derelict Tropicana “lido” – shut down in...

Constructed of gorgeously understated vignettes, which guide us through the grandeur of life by methodically focusing on the smallest but most resonant instants of it, "A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence" by Swedish writer/director Roy Andersson won the Golden Lion at last’s year’s Venice Film Festival. Delving into a wide range of quotidian dilemmas via darkly comedic exploits, this episodic tour de force is as insightful as it’s blissfully entertaining and distinctively stylized.

It took 7 years for Andersson to craft this conclusion to his revered trilogy. Now that it’s finally opening on American screens, here are 7 compelling reasons why no serious cinephile should miss its theatrical run.

1. The Endearing Novelty Salesmen

Among the innumerable characters encountered while navigating Andersson’s latest examination of the human condition, two middle-aged friends who are down on their luck are the most memorable. Sam and Jonathan are traveling novelty salesmen whose purpose, as they often reiterate, is to “help people have fun.” They appear recurrently throughout the film as they try to entice costumers to buy items that are mostly suited for a uniquely dark sense of humor. Though they fail repeatedly and struggle to get paid, the straight-faced businessmen seem to truly believe in their mission to bring laughter to others - through their casual misfortunes they achieve their objective. This unusual pair is strangely endearing and superbly embodied by Holger Andersson, as the overly sensitive Jonathan, and Nils Westblom who plays Sam, the head of the flawed operation.

2. Precise Cinematography & Delicate Production Design

Like with the two previous films in this unconventional trilogy, Andersson is in absolute control of the frame in each one of the static tableaux that compose “A Pigeon.” Meticulously arranging every element to maximize the storytelling power and layered complexity of every scenario, the director distinctively utilizes the foreground, middleground, and background with painter-like precision. Besides adding visual depth, this technique keeps each tableau dynamic and allows for more than one storyline to develop at once. Similarly, the color palette employed in this installment is strikingly homogenous, which gives the film a timeless and classic atmosphere. Opaque browns, yellows and grays permeate the world from the walls to the last costume in a noticeably conscious and impeccable manner. In order to have that level of artistic control, Andersson constructed each set and fabricated every component of the production design to match his peculiar vision. Cinematographers István Borbás & Gergely Pálos were his allies in this task.

3. Absurdist Comedic Genius

Life’s pettiness and it’s ironic unpredictably are transformed into prime material for the absurdist humor in Andersson’s work. A king who will ruthlessly fight empires waits patiently to use an occupied bathroom, a man’s death results in a free beer for another, a lab worker has a meaningless phone conversation about the weather while a helpless monkey is electrocuted, and extra-long plastic vampire fangs are a bestselling product in this subtly ludicrous universe. Delivered in hilariously deadpan fashion the offbeat occurrences tend to be darkly amusing but also very insightful about how ridiculous human existence can be occasionally. With an abundance of laughs, “A Pigeon” is the most sophisticated comedy of the year and an intellectual delight filled with clever gags. Dwelling on our misfortunes has rarely been this comical.

4. Exquisite Score and Music Selection

Whether it’s the cheerful and lively instrumental score by Hani Jazzar and Gorm Sundberg that adorns the film with an ethereal atmosphere; classic rock tunes like "Lilla vackra Anna" by Norwegian singer Alf Prøysen and "Shimmy Doll" by Ashley Beaumont, which curiously enough was also used in the final scene of Luis Buñuel’s "Viridiana;" or the diagetic songs elicited from several characters, extraordinary music is another exquisite attribute of this intricate creation. One remarkable musical number arises when a flashback to 1943 turns into a joyous bar sing-along in which young WWII soldiers and Limping Lotta (Charlotta Larsson), the flirtatious owner, exchange kisses for shots. The melodious chant to the tune of "Glory, Glory, Hallelujah" is so genuinely charming that its custom lyrics will ring in your head long after that scene is over and whether you speak a any Swedish or not.

5. Profound Observations on the Human Condition and History

Candid and irreverent, Andersson’s philosophical contemplations come from mundane situations and daily tragedies. What’s usually humdrum becomes unexpectedly profound under the director’s watch. We learn that sometimes our physiology conflicts with our desires when a ship’s captain is forced to become a barber because he suffers from seasickness, that those who work to bring us joy - like the novelty salesmen - are often the saddest ones at heart, or that we rely on phrases like, “I’m happy to hear you are doing fine,” as a way to relate to others even if these are often just empty expressions. There are countless moments like these in “A Pigeon,” and in all of Andersson’s works for that matter, that capture glimpses of pure humanity. Although we often erroneously dismiss them as meaningless, they are definitely the fibers of existence: two little girls popping soap bubbles, a man and his lover having a post-coiatal cigarette, or an elderly man having a drink at the same bar he’s visited for over 60 years. As a poignant bonus, the filmmaker includes a nightmarish sequence condemning the horrendous effects of European colonialism - and it's visually bold in its depiction.

6. A Marvelous Ensemble Cast

A myriad of actors inhabit the elegantly pale episodes to assemble a marvelous ensemble cast. From Viktor Gyllenberg playing a heartbroken King Karl VII whose battles are both romantic and territorial, Lotti Törnros as a flamenco teacher infatuated with a young dancer (Oscar Salomonsson), or Jonas Gerholm as a lonely lieutenant who seems to always miss his engagements by unlucky chance. Others in even smaller parts like those who briefly talk on the phone, commuters waiting for the bus, hopeless bar patrons, imperial soldiers, and Jonathan and Sam’s unwilling clients, contribute to the glorious brilliance of this one-of-a-kind masterpiece. They are Andersson’s most resourceful and nuance tools to complement his artfully designed settings. It's not surprising that many of them have work with the Swedish auteur in multiple projects.

7. Brings a Masterful Trilogy to a Close and Leaves You Wanting More

Seven years after “Songs from the Second Floor” started this trilogy about what it means to be a human being, “ You, the Living” continued analyzing our greatest triumphs and most harrowing defeats. With “A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence” Andersson completes one of the most astonishingly original set of films in modern cinema and cements himself as the most acclaimed Swedish filmmaker of our time. If you’ve seen any of his earlier works it won’t take much convincing for you to surrender to this must-see philosophical wonder. On the contrary, if this is your late introduction to his brainy cinematic magic, you’ll want to go back and binge on his genius before you join the rest of us in praying that it doesn’t take seven years to see another of Roy Andersson’s thoughtfully uproarious masterpieces.

"A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence" opens Friday July 17 in La at The Cinefamily and in other cities across the country...

Luis Buñuel movies on TCM tonight (photo: Catherine Deneuve in 'Belle de Jour') The city of Paris and iconoclastic writer-director Luis Buñuel are Turner Classic Movies' themes today and later this evening. TCM's focus on Luis Buñuel is particularly welcome, as he remains one of the most daring and most challenging filmmakers since the invention of film. Luis Buñuel is so remarkable, in fact, that you won't find any Hollywood hipster paying homage to him in his/her movies. Nor will you hear his name mentioned at the Academy Awards – no matter the Academy in question. And rest assured that most film critics working today have never even heard of him, let alone seen any of his movies. So, nowadays Luis Buñuel is un-hip, un-cool, and unfashionable. He's also unquestionably brilliant. These days everyone is worried about freedom of expression. The clash of civilizations. The West vs. The Other.

Sidney And The Sixties: Real-time 1957-1966

Throughout the 1950s, Hollywood’s relationship with television was fraught: TV was a hated rival but also a source of cheap talent and material, as in the case of the small-scale Marty (1955), which won the Best Picture Oscar. These contradictions were well represented by the apparently “televisual” 12 Angry Men (1957), which began life as a teleplay concerning a jury with a lone holdout who must, and eventually does, convince his fellow jurors of the defendant’s innocence. Its writer, Reginald Rose, persuaded one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, Henry Fonda, to become a first-time producer of the film version. Fonda and Rose took basement-low salaries in favor of future points, and hired a TV director, Sidney Lumet, for next to nothing because Lumet wanted a first feature credit. Technically, there’s an opening bit on the courtroom steps that keeps this from being a true real-time film,...

The Long Absence (Une aussi longue absence)

Directed by Henri Colpi

Written by Marguerite Duras and Gerald Jarlot

France, 1961

The 1960s were an important and innovative time in French film history. Although France has always been the front-runner for the daring, the urbane and the inventive when it comes to cinema (amongst other things), it was during this revolutionary decade in particular that French filmmakers began to personalise their work in ways that changed the filmic landscape permanently. There are many praiseworthy and well-known examples that can be given to further emphasize this statement, such as Jean-Luc Godard’s Le mépris (1963) or Jacques Demy’s Les parapluies de Cherbourg (1964), however, there are also some lesser known films that help to further accentuate what was going on in France post World War II. It is with these less familiar films that perhaps audiences are able to better comprehend the everyday struggles...

Viridiana

Written by Julio Alejandro and Luis Buñuel

Directed by Luis Buñuel

Spain/Mexico, 1961

The Cannes Film Festival has long been a venue to court controversy, and filmmaker Luis Buñuel was likewise one who consistently reveled in the divisive. At the 1961 festival, Buñuel brought his latest release, Viridiana, and the results were spectacular, and spectacularly contentious. The film, which shared Palme d’Or honors with Henri Colpi’s The Long Absence, was subsequently met with charges of blasphemy from the Vatican’s newspaper, and it was promptly banned in Buñuel ‘s native Spain.

The Spanish reaction was particularly critical. Viridiana’s production in Buñuel’s place of birth was already a hot topic. Having left for America and Mexico in 1939, Spain’s surrealist native son was back home, the adamantly leftist filmmaker now working amidst Francisco Franco’s fascist dictatorship. What’s the worst that could happen?

Viridiana is what happened,...

And here we are. The day after Easter and we’ve reached the top of the mountain. While compiling this list, it’s become evident that true religious films just aren’t made anymore (and if they are, they are widely panned). That being said, religious themes exist in more mainstream movies than ever, despite there being no deliberate attempts to dub the films “religious.” Faith, God, whatever you want to call it – it’s influenced the history of nations, of politics, of culture, and of film. And these are the most important films in that wheelhouse. There are only two American films in the top 10, and only one of them is in English.

courtesy of hilobrow.com

10. Andrei Rublev (1966)

Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky

A brutally expansive biopic about the Russian iconographer divided into nine chapters. Andrei Rublev (Anatoly Solonitsyn) is portrayed not as a silent monk, but a motivated artist working against social ruin,...

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: June 10, 2014

Price: Blu-ray/DVD Combo $39.95

Studio: Criterion

Ennui lives!: Francisco Rabal and Monica Vitti in Antonioni's L’eclisse.

The 1962 Italian drama L’eclisse is the concluding chapter of Michelangelo Antonioni’s informal trilogy on contemporary malaise (following L’avventura and La notte).

L’eclisse (The Eclipse) tells the story of a young woman (L’avventura’s Monica Vitti) who leaves one lover (Viridiana’s Francisco Rabal) and drifts into a relationship with another (Purple Noon’s Alain Delon).

Using the architecture of Rome as a backdrop for the doomed affair, Antonioni achieves the apotheosis of his style in this return to the theme that preoccupied him the most: the difficulty of connection in an alienating modern world.

Criterion’s Blu-ray/DVD Combo edition of the movie, which is presented in Italian with English subtitles, contains the following features:

• New, restored high-definition digital film transfer, with...

I first watched Federico Fellini's 1960 film, La Dolce Vita, just over five years ago and with this week marking what would have been the filmmaker's 94th birthday I've chosen La Dolce Vita as the debut film in my Best Movies feature. Not because I believe it to be his best (though it certainly is one of the best), but largely because I've had the urge to watch it again ever since learning Paramount has finally been granted exclusive rights to the film, prompting me to hope it will finally receive a domestic Blu-ray release sometime soon. Captured in lovely black-and-white, Otello Martelli's cinematography lives up to the literal translation of the film's title -- "the sweet life" -- while the narrative focuses on a character living a life more empty than "sweet". Marking the first time Marcello Mastroianni and Fellini would work together, Mastroianni plays Marcello Rubini, a...

Coupled with the spectacular lineup of films, the weekend brought in huge numbers on Day 4 of the 15th edition of the Mumbai Film Festival organized by the Mumbai Association of Moving Images (Mami) and presented by Reliance Entertainment.

Cine lovers were treated to wonderful films such as Viridiana directed by Luis Bunuel, 60 going on 12 directed by Frederic Proust, Diederik Ebbinge’s Matterhorn and Tokyo Story directed by Yasujiro Ozu. Other films screened throughout the day included Davy Chou’s Golden Summers, Costa Gavras’ Capital, Sulemani Keeda directed by Amit V Masurkar, A Castle in Italy directed by Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi among others. The cult film Kabhi Kabhi was screened in homage to the legendary Mr. Yash Chopra at Cinemax, Versova. This special screening was attended by Ms Pamela Chopra, who introduced the film to the audience attending.

Featuring in the Film India Worldwide section, Good Morning Karachi directed by Sabiha Sumar...

Mexico City — Down a narrow, dead-end street in a middle-class neighborhood of Mexico City, a three-story brick house with white window frames gives up no hint of the bizarre, even shocking images that were dreamed up inside.

Luis Bunuel, known as the father of surrealist cinema, lived in the simple, gated house over the last 30 years of his life after settling in Mexico as an exile from post-civil war Spain. For a man who assaulted moviegoers with such shots as an ant-infested hand, an eyeball sliced open with a straight razor, and elegant diners sitting on toilets, Bunuel enjoyed a surprisingly genteel life here.

Now, the Spanish government, which bought the house from Bunuel's family, has opened it to a public long fascinated with his work. The plan is to turn the building into a meeting place for Spanish and Mexican moviemakers, with workshops and occasional exhibits staged to celebrate Spanish-language cinema.

Luis Buñuel’s adaptation of Octave Mirbeau’s novel “Diary of a Chambermaid” (1964) was made at a decisive point in the master filmmaker’s long, dynamic, and illustrious career. The film marked Buñuel’s second foray into European filmmaking after an almost thirty-year hiatus, during which time he made a large number of films in Mexico, contributing greatly to what is now considered the nation’s midcentury cinematic Golden Age. The Spanish filmmaker first returned to Europe to make Viridiana (1961) in Spain (the only film Buñuel ever completed in his native country). Viridiana proved a sensation in every sense of the word: it made a huge splash for international critics and audiences starting with its enthusiastic reception at that year’s Cannes Film Festival and it was met with legendary controversy (no stranger to the filmmaker) in Franco’s tightly-regulated Spain. Viridiana revisits several of Buñuels’ thematic preoccupations from his Surrealist years in France and his pseudo-social-realist...

Throughout November, Sos staffers will be discussing the movies that made them into film fanatics.

(click here for the full list)

Luis Buñuel’s The Exterminating Angel begins with a shot of the exterior of a church. Organ music plays as the credits roll. Three shots follow: a shot of a sign indicating “Providence Street,” a wide-shot of the street itself, and a shot that dollies into a medium wide-shot as servant and house-owner converse. The servant wants to leave. The house-owner, dressed to the nines, says that dinner is about to start and that if the servant leaves he shouldn’t come back. He leaves anyway.

This opening is emblematic of Buñuel’s style, serves as foreshadowing, and is one of the many reasons why The Exterminating Angel is the film that pushed me into cinematic obsession. Buñuel’s camera is mobile. It’s frequently wide and in deep focus.

Release Date: Jan. 17, 2012

Price: DVD $29.95, Blu-ray $39.95

Studio: Criterion

Parisian housewife Catherine Deneuve is up against the wall in Belle du Jour.

The surreal and erotic 1967 “daydream” drama film Belle du Jour, from provocateur Luis Buñuel (Viridiana), is a classic movie that’s both an examination of desire and fetishistic pleasure, as well as a gently absurdist take on contemporary social mores and class divisions.

The porcelain perfection of Catherine Deneuve (Potiche) hides a cracked interior in the actress’ most iconic role: Séverine, a chilly Paris housewife by night, a bordello prostitute by day. Fantasy and reality commingle in Séverine’s head, just as they do in the viewer’s in the movie, which is recognized as one of Buñuel’s finest.

The film is presented in French with new and improved English subtitles. It got a new high-definition digital transfer and an uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition.

The...

One of the things I like best about Luis Buñuel's films is their clinical subversiveness. From Susana to Viridiana, from Nazarin to The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, Buñuel relentlessly attacks social conventions and mores without ever resorting to cheesy sentimentality, feel-good phoniness, or crappy life-affirming situations. Perhaps that's why Buñuel isn't nearly as revered today as many of his lesser contemporaries. Buñuel's 1974 effort The Phantom of Liberty consists of a series of vignettes showing life in a parallel universe in which human social conventions are opposite to the ones we, in our boundless stupidity, assume are the way things always have been and always will be. In fact, we assume that's how things must be, period. I'm posting this vignette, in which a couple of families get together for a little social defecation/urination, because it features Marie-France Pisier, who died this past weekend. Pisier plays Madame Calmette,...

From Page To Screen, Bridport

Guest curator Jonathan Coe lends the appropriate literary lustre to this festival of movies adapted from novels, and for a respected author he's not as sniffy as you'd expect. Coe's list includes some successful examples recent and ancient – from True Grit, The Social Network and How To Train Your Dragon to Jacques Demy's Donovan-scored The Pied Piper and forgotten 1945 melodrama They Were Sisters – most of which are introduced by himself and other experts. Coe also talks to some of those concerned in the process, including Kazuo Ishiguro about the recent version of his Never Let Me Go and Bill Forsyth on his version of Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping, while Rowan Joffé discusses his recent adaptations of The American and Brighton Rock.

Bridport Arts Centre & Electric Palace, Wed to 17 Apr

From Ecstasy To Rapture: 50 Years Of The Other Spanish Cinema/Pere Portabella, London

You...

Beyond Buñuel, Spanish film-makers struggled to make an international impact – until Franco's death in 1975 liberated an entire generation

Spain embraced the new medium of cinema at the turn of the century as fervently as any of its European counterparts; this film of a religious procession in 1902, by the splendidly named Fructuos Gelabert, is typical of the early amateurs.

In Segundo de Chomón, however, Spain produced a trickster director

to rival France's Georges Méliès.

De Chomón worked mostly in France, and even made An Excursion to the Moon, his own version of Méliès's most famous film.

The route from Spain to France was well-trodden by the time Buñuel and Dalí made Un Chien Andalou in 1928; otherwise, little of Spain's silent-film output made any impact internationally.

The early sound period fared little better, as political convulsions in the run-up to the civil war made a settled industry difficult.

After L'Age d'Or (1930), his second French film,...

Jan 10, 2011

Although it has been seldom shown in the years since its introduction in 1932 as a "masterpiece of horror," Tod Browning's Freaks has achieved near-legendary cult status and continues to exert a major influence on modern attempts at the baroque film. Certainly the powers of its wedding feast sequence was not lost on Luis Buñuel when he staged the tramp's "last supper" in his 1961 Viridiana. And the works of such diverse filmmakers as Max Ophüls, Federico Fellini, and Ingmar Bergman have shown traces of the film's influence.

Today it is difficult to believe ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com...

It seems like only yesterday that the American Film Institute released their 100 Years...100 Movies [1] list. Actually though, it was over 10 years ago when we first got our look at that "definitive" list of the 100 best American movies. They then did a ten year anniversary of it in 2007 with only minor adjustments and both years Citizen Kane held the number one place as the best American movie. Of course, the problem with those lists is that they only list American films. While Hollywood might be considered the epicenter of film, the art form itself spans the globe, way beyond American borders. That's why the Toronto International Film Festival came up with their Essential 100 movies. Created by merging lists made by Toronto Film Festival supporters along with another made by their programmers, these are supposed to be the 100 essential movies every cinephile must see. And it starts off with a bang as Citizen Kane has been toppled.

Ingrid Bergman, Gary Cooper in Sam Wood's For Whom the Bell Tolls (top); "The Last Supper" scene in Luis Buñuel's Viridiana (middle); Marlon Brando, Maria Schneider in Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris (bottom) The ludicrous censors at the Motion Picture Association of America and their precursors at the Production Code Office have always had counterparts in other countries. Whether for political, religious, social, economic, and/or moral reasons — and those tend to overlap — countless movies have been banned, cut, redubbed, and reedited around the world, courtesy of government-appointed censors, religious institutions, and pressure groups. Among myriad such instances, Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory (1957) and Gillo Pontecorvo's La Battaglia di Algeri /Battle of Algiers (1966) were banned in France; Costa-Gavras' Z (1969) and State of Siege (1973) were banned in Brazil; Michelangelo Antonioni's Blowup (1966) and John Waters' Pink Flamingos (1972) were banned in Australia; and Bernardo Bertolucci...

Of the forgotten nonpareils to have been found by DVDing in the neglected, semi-seen recesses of Luis Buñuel's world-class filmography, none may seem odder than "Death in the Garden" (1956). A semi-Marxist workers' rebellion drama that segues into a lost-in-the-wilderness survival adventure? Shot in Mexico with a famous French cast (Simone Signoret, Michel Piccoli, Charles Vanel) right in the middle of the filmmaker's "Mexican period," during which the world had supposedly forgotten about him? In color? Except it's not so freakish when you remember he shot a version of "Robinson Crusoe" two years earlier, in color, and that his Mexican films were making it to the Venice and Cannes fests, even before the earthquake of "Viridiana" in 1961.

Thumbnailing a filmography of almost 50 years is never easy or effective, but more to the point is the startling realization of how much Buñuel there is still to see. I count over a...

All lists of the "greatest" movies are propaganda. They have no deeper significance. It is useless to debate them. Even more useless to quarrel with their ordering of titles: Why is this film #11 and that one only #31? The most interesting lists are those by one person: What are Scorsese's favorites, or Herzog's? The least interesting are those by large-scale voting, for example by IMDb or movie magazines. The most respected poll, the only one I participate in, is the vote taken every 10 years by Sight & Sound, the British film magazine, which asks a large number of filmmakers, writers, critics, scholars, archivists and film festival directors.

1. The Night of the Hunter, 1955

That one at least has taken on a canonical aspect. The list evolves slowly. Keaton rises, Chaplin falls. It is eventually decided that "Vertigo" is Hitchcock's finest film. Ozu cracks the top ten. Every ten years the net is thrown out again.