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China’s two new propaganda films topped the box office over their first weekend in theaters, but it appears that the politically correct content may not prove popular enough to drive sales at blockbuster levels.

Most of the biggest local blockbusters set to hit China over the rest of the year are propaganda titles. Though analysts believe that China will keep its crown as the world’s largest film market this year, some question whether its annual gross may suffer from a surplus of “main melody” political films and fewer Hollywood tentpoles as the U.S. exhibition sector wobbles back on its feet post-covid.

China’s cumulative box office this weekend was just $44.9 million, down significantly from the comparable weekend of 2019, when Maoyan figures show it hit $120 million. Those heights were made possible by blockbusters “Spider-Man: Far From Home” and Herman Yau Hong Kong actioner “The White Storm 2: Drug Lords,...

Chinese director Guan Hu is riding high right now: Despite languishing in government censorship purgatory for over a year, his patriotic war epic “The Eight Hundred” has risen to become the highest grossing film in the world in 2020, with sales of $461 million. His next confirmed move? More jingoistic propaganda.

Guan is executive producer and “supervisor” — a sort of on-set mentor figure — for the new production “The Revolutionary,” which has just begun shooting this week. The project will be a family affair — his wife, the actress Liang Jing, is also set to executive produce alongside him. Backed by Enlight Media, it is scheduled for a high-profile July 1 debut.

The date holds a special significance this year, as it marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of China’s ruling Communist Party (Ccp) — a time when Beijing will seek to celebrate the regime through positive media portrayals and go out of its...

I didn’t attend Cannes in 2009, but what I’ve come to understand to be that year’s Official Selection highlight—namely, Alain Resnais’s delirious late masterpiece Wild Grass—is precisely the kind of movie I always long to experience, here or anywhere: a vision always blossoming, driving deeper into a world entirely of its own creation, ever-willing to swerve off-road to see where the unpaved path might lead. The scarcity of such work in cinema no doubt runs down to the roots of the industry, attributable as much to the fortress of protocols one must fulfill to get any given project off the […]...

I didn’t attend Cannes in 2009, but what I’ve come to understand to be that year’s Official Selection highlight—namely, Alain Resnais’s delirious late masterpiece Wild Grass—is precisely the kind of movie I always long to experience, here or anywhere: a vision always blossoming, driving deeper into a world entirely of its own creation, ever-willing to swerve off-road to see where the unpaved path might lead. The scarcity of such work in cinema no doubt runs down to the roots of the industry, attributable as much to the fortress of protocols one must fulfill to get any given project off the […]...

Ciro Guerra’s poetic – and shocking – drama about marijuana trafficking in Colombia digs deep into the culture of the indigenous people involved

Ciro Guerra’s earlier film Embrace of the Serpent from 2015 was an audacious journey into Colombia’s dark interior, figurative and literal, a jungle full of Kurtzian fear. Now he has entered into a fascinating auteur collaboration with his longtime producer Cristina Gallego to create this really startling and intriguing movie, which was Colombia’s shortlisted entry for best foreign film in this year’s Academy Awards. It grafts quasi-ethnographic docu-drama on to druglord turf war epic, mixing professional and nonprofessional actors. This is film-making that really does push at the limits of storytelling and generic templates, and it’s brimming with images and ideas.

Taking place over a timespan of about 20 years, from the 1960s to the 80s, Birds of Passage is a poetic re-imagining of the...

“Birds of Passage” starts in 1968 and encompasses a dozen years of violent upheaval in the northern Colombian desert, chronicling the rise and fall of a drug dealer and his family; the desert, however, turns out just fine. “Embrace of the Serpent” director Ciro Guerra’s latest surreal drama, co-directed by “Serpent” producer Cristina Gallego, once against pits the dying rituals of a remote tribe against the striking ambivalence of nature — this time, using the backdrop to explore the origins of the drug trade. While it never reaches the psychedelic heights of Guerra’s previous effort and relies on a more conventional pattern of events, “Birds of Passage” delivers another fascinating tone poem about Colombia’s fractured identity.

The narrative is structure around five chapters, labeled as “Songs,” much like the discordant melodies heard throughout: Wild Grass, The Graves, Prosperity, The War, and Limbo. Each installment takes place within the confines of the Wayyu people,...

Prior to the fest announcing the line-up, there was talk that the 90 year-old Alain Resnais’ latest would be receiving an April domestic release in France spoiling its chances for a festival showing, but the moment the switch was made, fans of one of the grandfathers of French cinema were pretty much certain that they’d have a solid chance at seeing one of their critical faves (as was the case with Les Herbes Folles – Wild Grass) deliver one more noteworthy item. It appears that this might be the case once again. Starring Sabine Azéma, Pierre Arditi, Lambert Wilson and Anne Consigny, Vous n’avez encore rien vu tells a tale from beyond the grave, celebrated playwright Antoine d’Anthac gathers together all his friends who have appeared over the years in his play “Eurydice”. These actors watch a recording of the work performed by a young acting company, La Compagnie de la Colombe.

Today Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is releasing Alain Resnais' Wild Grass on DVD and we've got the lush, intriguing first eight minutes of the film to share with you where Resnais regular Sabine Azema and Andre Dussollier take turns in the voiceover department essentially telling the viewer one thing, while the image sends us off into a certainly more ambiguous direction. Les Herbes Folles played incredibly well in Cannes (in 2009) and for the most part, was well received by North American critics - making the film potentially Resnais highest box office gross in a long while. The DVD includes a Special Feature called: Portrait of Production Designer Jacques Saulnier. Click on the screen cap below.

Having made the essential Holocaust film Night and Fog and brought the nouveaux romans of Hiroshima mon amour and L'année dernière à Marienbad to the screen, Alain Resnais's place in film legend is assured and justified. Although his recent autumnal romance, an adaptation of Alan Ayckbourn's Private Fears in Public Places, had winsome charm, his latest, Les herbes folles (Wild Grass) is, I'm afraid, a tiresome whimsy. André Dussollier finds a red wallet and begins a flirtatious affair with its owner, a batty aviatrix played by flame-haired Sabine Azema. In accordance with a little-known French film law, Mathieu Amalric also makes an appearance.

World cinemaJason Solomons

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I somehow missed the first mention of helmer Martin Provost and award-winning actress Yolande Moreau looking to quickly reunite after the triumphant turn in the Cesar-winning 2008 film, Séraphine. The twosome will now re-team on Où Va la Nuit (Where the Night Goes) with production set to take place after Easter in various locations, including Brussels. - I somehow missed the first mention of helmer Martin Provost and award-winning actress Yolande Moreau looking to quickly reunite after the triumphant turn in the Cesar-winning 2008 film, Séraphine. The twosome will now re-team on Où Va la Nuit (Where the Night Goes) with production set to take place after Easter in various locations, including Brussels. Arthur Dupont, Edith Scob, Laurent Capelluto, Valentijn Dhaenens and Jan Hammenecker have been added as the supporting cast. Julie Salvador (executive producer on Les herbes folles) produces. Adapted by Provost (who switches up several items in...

"A Prophet" from director Jacques Audiard won nine awards at the 35th annual Cesar Awards. The Oscar nominated film for best foreign language took home best French film of the year, director, screenplay, editing, cinematography, production design, best actor, and most promising actor (best male newcomer) for Tahar Rahim. Niels Arestrup won best supporting actor also for "A Prophet."

Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino" was named best foreign film of the year, beating out last year's Oscar winner "Slumdog Millionaire" and this year's blue contender, "Avatar."

Meanwhile, "Avatar's" Sigourney Weaver presented Harrison Ford with a Cesar of Honor award. Aw...

Here's the list of nominees and winners of the 35th annual Cesar Awards (winners are highlighted):

Best Film

A l.Origine, Xavier Giannoli

Le Concert, Radu Mihaileanu

Les Herbes Folles, Alain Resnais

La Journee de la Jupe, Jean-Paul Lilienfeld

Rapt, Lucas Belvaux

Un Prophete, Jacques Audiard

Welcome, Philippe Lioret...

No surprises at the 35th Cesars, as A Prophet cleaned up in all major categories it was nominated in: Best Film, Best Director (Audiard), Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography (Stephane Fontaine), Best Editing (Juliette Welfling), Best Art Direction (Michel Barthelemy) and last but not least, one of my top 5 performance of the year, Niels Arestrup won for Best Supporting... - No surprises at the 35th Césars, as A Prophet cleaned up in all major categories it was nominated in: Best Film, Best Director (Audiard), Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography (Stephane Fontaine), Best Editing (Juliette Welfling), Best Art Direction (Michel Barthelemy) and last but not least, one of my top 5 performance of the year, Niels Arestrup won for Best Supporting -- he of course won best supporting in The Beat that My Heart Skipped. The revelation of the year Tahar Rahim won a pair of awards...

Tahar Rahim in A Prophet (Roger Arpajou / Sony Pictures Classics) The Cesar winners will be announced on Feb. 27. Meilleur Film / Best Film A L’Origine / In The Beginning, Edouard Weil and Pierre-Ange Le Pogam; directed by Xavier Giannoli Le Concert / The Concert, Alain Attal; directed by Radu Mihaileanu Les Herbes Folles / Wild Grass, Jean-Louis Livi; directed by Alain Resnais La JOURNÉE De La Jupe / Skirt Day, Bénédicte Lesage and Ariel Askénazi; directed by Jean-Paul Lilienfeld Rapt, Patrick Sobelman, Diana Elbaum et Sébastien Delloye; directed by Lucas Belvaux * Un PROPHÈTE / A Prophet, Pascal Caucheteux, Grégoire Sorlat et Marco Cherqui; directed by Jacques Audiard Welcome, Christophe Rossignon; directed [...]...

Similar to the Golden Globes because it is a foreign group of film journalists who conduct the voting (though I'm sure they have no mandate to prefer films loaded in stars), this year's the 15th Lumiere Awards has a pair of films in the top tier that recently that duked it out for the Louis Delluc award. Philippe Lioret's Welcome (which just got picked up by Film Movement this week) and Jacques Audiard's A Prophet (a Spc release next February) received five and four noms respectively. - Similar to the Golden Globes because it is a foreign group of film journalists who conduct the voting (though I'm sure they have no mandate to prefer films loaded in stars), this year's the 15th Lumière Awards has a pair of films in the top tier that recently that duked it out for the Louis Delluc award. Philippe Lioret...

With only Alain Resnais’ Les Herbes Folles and Bruno Dumont's Hadewijch as possible upset win scenario's, Jacques Audiard’s A Prophet was the logical winner for France’s Louis Delluc prize of best French film of the year. - With only Alain Resnais’ Les Herbes Folles and Bruno Dumont's Hadewijch as possible upset win scenario's, Jacques Audiard’s A Prophet was the logical winner for France’s Louis Delluc prize of best French film of the year. Other nominess in the category included: Xavier Giannoli's A L’Origine, Christophe Honore’s Non Ma Fille Tu N’Iras Pas Danser, Claude and Nathan Miller’s Je Suis Heureux Que Ma Mere Soit Vivante, Philippe Lioret’s Welcome and Alain Cavalier's Irene. A Prophet will probably duke it out versus The White Ribbon this year at...

Despite a 58% drop in weekend boxoffice on the foreign circuit, Sony's release of "This Is It" with Michael Jackson maintained its hold on the No. 1 spot overseas, generating $29 million from 8,800 screens in 110 markets for an offshore total of $128.6 million -- more than double its domestic take.

 

Finishing No. 2 on the weekend was director Robert Zemeckis' 3D performance-capture version of Disney's "A Christmas Carol" starring Jim Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge, which drew $12 million in its opener at 2,750 screens in 18 territories for a per-screen average of $4,364.

 

Disney said that "3D was a significant factor, accounting for 62% of our total result from only 37% of the screens." The latest version of Charles Dickens' frequently filmed 1843 novella opened at No. 1 domestically and has collected a worldwide tally of $43 million so far.

 

Driving "Christmas Carol" were strong opening numbers in the U.K. and in Mexico. Disney says that "on a consolidated basis in the same bucket of territories,...

"Les herbes folles" ("Wild Grass") has new images in the group. The film is sent out by Sony Pictures Classics and directed by Christian Gailly. Alex Reval and Laurent Herbiet write. The drama stars Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Devos, André Dussollier, Anne Consigny and Nicolas Duvauchelle. The film is a Cannes Film Festival Award winner of two awards at this year's fest - The Special Jury Prize and the Special Award. Additioinally, it was nominated for the Golden Palm Award...

French director Alain Resnais and Sony Pictures Classics co-president Michael Barker walk the red carpet Friday night for the opening of the New York Film Festival. Resnais’ latest, “Wild Grass” (Les herbes folles) officially opened this year’s 47th edition at the Alice Tully Hall in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. This year, the after-party did not take place at the traditional venue, Tavern on the Green, which was a disappointment to some …...

The Toronto and Other Fall Festivals Rights RoundUp list looks quite sizeable for what is claimed to have been a quiet festival season. Though it's true business down, the large number of acquisitions has not been viewed as such and yet is the result of a new trend which has been sneaking up over the past few years and has now taken hold. Distributors and sales agents now acquire Before the festivals rather than during. It developed out of Cannes' prescreenings which have mostly been discontinued, and it could go so far as to change the pre-Sundance adage Not to show the film to anyone before Sundance.

This Rights RoundUp for acquisitions executives, distributors, international sales agents, investors and producers is different from my previous Rr Reports. It is no longer a report based on data and FilmFinders is out of the equation. This listing of rights acquired Before the actual festival,...

Lev Lewis signing off from the Toronto International Film Festival

For ten days a year my little big city is overtaken by the masses of the film industry. Celebrities of all kinds are spotted walking casually through Yonge St.; semi-recognizable journalists with their green laniards hurry from screening to screening. A little piece of Hollywood just one streetcar ride away from me. So, it's odd to see how a city can overnight seem the centre of the world and then, just like that, retreat back to its former, seemingly dull self.

Not that I'm complaining. As exciting as the last ten days have been, a respite from line-ups and writing and, yes, even films, will be most welcome. 18 films in ten days isn't an exorbitant amount but it's more than enough for me. I'll leave you with a write-up on the best films I saw at the festival.

Now for the movies!

I have a quirky policy about writing of films from a film festival. In the early years, I tried to avoid an actual "review," especially negative, because I believed a film deserved a chance to open before I laid into it. This was grandiose--as if the world was awaiting my opinion. Then I began suggesting my thinking, without going into detail. Then, being human, I allowed that approach to enlarge into specific descriptions of films I really loved, or hated.

Alex Vo, editor of Rotten Tomatoes: No Meter when he needs it most.

That's now the strategy I use, with amendments. I can only review a film for the first time once, and if I've used all my energy in rehearsal, what have I saved for opening night? I'll reflect the general reception of certain films, however, if only in the spirit of providing news coverage. The first year I was here,...

The Toronto and Other Fall Festivals Rights Round Up for acquisitions executives, distributors, international sales agents, investors and producers is different from my previous Rr Reports. It is no longer a report based on data and FilmFinders is out of the equation. This listing of rights acquired preliminary to the actual festival, during the festival and for a couple of months afterward can also be found on MDbPro who acquired FilmFinders in 2008 and where SydneysBuzz resides on the landing page and on IMDbPro's News Desk. Whenever possible, the list is alphabetical by international sales agent (linked to IMDbPro), and the Isa's titles are also linked to IMDbPro.

If you do not yet subscribe to IMDbPro, I would advise plunking down $100 for a year's subscription. You'll get more than your money's worth I promise. By going into Pro, you will be able to see all the territorial distributors for a particular title,...

• It was just the other day that I was flipping thru the last edition of Film Comment, checking out their annual Cannes coverage roundup and I was semi-surprised to see Alain Resnais' Les Herbes Folles, or what will be affectionally known as Wild Grass here in the U.S., was a first or second place standing with film critics Les Inrockuptiles' Jean-Baptiste Morain, U.K critic Jonathan Romney and Film Comment's own Gavin Smith - hailing the light drama as the best film of the festival. My after-thought was...this hasn't been picked up yet. Sony Pictures Classics have announced the pick up of the film rights for the U.S., Australia and New Zealand markets, thus becoming another impressive title that the distributor picked up from Cannes. Co-written by Resnais and Laurent Herbiet, adapted from Christian Gailly’s L’incident, this retraces the encounter between a dentist

...

Toronto -- The Toronto International Film Festival on Tuesday unveiled a slew of premieres, mostly out of Cannes and Berlin, including the latest films from veterans Manoel de Oliveira, Alain Resnais and Hirokazu Kore-eda.

De Oliveira's "Eccentricities of a Blonde-Haired Girl" will unspool as part of the Masters sidebar, as will Resnais' "Les Herbes Folles" and "Air Doll," Japanese director Kore-eda's drama about a blow-up doll that becomes a real person that stars Korean actress Bae Doo-na.

And the high-profile Contemporary World Cinema program booked Israeli director Haim Tabakman's "Eyes Wide Open," a gay love story set in a religious Jewish community, "Huacho," from Chilean director Alejandro Fernandez Almendras, Korea's "Like You Know It All," by Hong Sang-soo, and Jessica Hausner's "Lourdes."

Other Cwc titles include Asli Ozge's "Men on the Bridge," set in Istanbul, Australian director Sarah Watt's "My Year Without Sex" and from Romania "Police, Adjective," by Corneliu Porumboiu.

Toronto each year unveils titles chosen from earlier international film festivals before it rolls out its own world premieres.

Is the Toronto International Film Festival upon us already? I still have poutine stains on my shirt from last time! Yes, the 2009 fest is less than three months away, and Tiff has just announced the first batch of films that will play. All 24 will be making their North American premieres, so unless you've been to the festivals at Cannes, Venice, or Berlin, it's unlikely that you've seen any of them. Exciting!

In the "Masters" category are films by three directors who qualify for that distinction. Portugal's Manoel de Oliveira -- who is 100 years old (!) and has made 50 films, most of them in the last two decades -- has a new one called Eccentricities of a Blond-Haired Girl, about a man enchanted by a woman he sees from his window. Alain Resnais (Last Year at Marienbad), the 87-year-old Frenchman who got a lifetime achievement at Cannes this year, has Les Herbes Folles...

With a total of 26 pics, we've got some real good looking ones, and our very own Dr. Nathan is tentatively planned to be there to bring us reviews.

How about Air Doll? Check.

Samson & Delilah? Nice.

Fish Tank? Awesome. Our review here.

Check em out after the break.

Masters

Eccentricities of a Blonde-Haired Girl Manoel de Oliveira, France/Portugal/Spain

North American Premiere

Famed filmmaker Oliveira, who celebrates his 101st birthday this year, tells the tale of Macario's obsession with the enticing blond he spies from his window. Little does he know that she will end up stealing much more than his heart.

Les Herbes Folles Alain Resnais, France

North American Premiere

From modernist master Alain Resnais comes a romantic adventure based around the simple act of losing a wallet.

Air Doll Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan

North American Premiere

This compelling tale of a blow-up doll that becomes a real person...

• Tuesday June 23rd sees Criterion put out a pair from influential French filmmakers, Spc's acclaimed animated documentary makes an intro on homevid market and a small offering film from Brazil is perhaps worth renting. For those who've been stuck with a very standard edition of Last Year at Marienbad can trade in for the deluxe edition approved by a filmmaker who just presented Les Herbes Folles in Cannes this May. This may be a great collector's piece for those whose curiosity is larger than the match stick equation. One of Criterion's favorite auteurs in Louis Malle receives another release - this time his "food for thought" table conversation 1981 film My Dinner with Andre. Newer titles worth considering: Ari Folman (who we interviewed last year) sees his Waltz with Bashir which comes packed with extras that obviously include the technological aspects of the film. Finally, Chico Teixeira (who we also

...

• Traditionally among Tiff's first wave of announcements are titles that premiered at Cannes and Berlin and are solid enough to merit a North American preem in Toronto. Of the first 26 titles announced, nineteen of them were first shown on the Croisette. Tiff's busy Asian, South American and European curators selected Eyes Wide Open (Haim Tabakman), Huacho (Alejandro Fernandez Almendras), Like You Know It All (Hong Sang-Soo), Lourdes (Jessica Hausner), Men on the Bridge (Asli Özge), My Year without Sex (Sarah Watt), Police, Adjective (Corneliu Porumboiu), The Time that Remains (Elia Suleiman), and The Wind Journeys (Ciro Guerra) for the Contemporary World Cinema section, chose Face (Tsai Ming-Liang), Independencia (Raya Martin), Irène (Alain Cavalier), Karaoke (Chris Chong Chan Fui), Nymph (Pen-ek Ratanaruang) and To Die Like a Man (Joäo Pedro Rodrigues) to populate the Visions sidebar.  The "Masters" section will see Air Doll (Hirokazu Kore-eda), Eccentricities of a Blonde-Haired Girl

...

I think I may have just seen the 2010 Oscar winner for best foreign film. Whether it will win the Palme d'Or here at Cannes is another matter. It may be too much of a movie movie. It's named "A l'origine," by Xavier Giannoli, and is one of several titles I want to discuss in a little festival catch-up. Based on an incredible true story, it involves an insignificant thief, just released from prison, who becomes involved in an impromptu con game that results in the actual construction of a stretch of highway. At the beginning he has no plans to build a highway. He simply sees a way to swindle a contractor out of 15,000 euros. He is sad, defeated, unwanted, apart from his wife and child, sleeping on a pal's sofa. What happens is not caused by him nor desired by him. It simply happens to him.

This is one...

The 62nd Cannes Film Festival has come to an end. To put the finishing touches on another great festival, this year's awards, including the coveted Palme d'Or, have been announced. The jury was lead by actress Isabelle Huppert and included members Asia Argento, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, James Gray, Hanif Kureishi, Chang-dong Lee, Shu Qi, Sharmila Tagore, and Robin Wright Penn. There were a lot of strong contenders in the competition category this year, but big winner this year is The White Ribbon. Also, Best Director is a huge letdown, as I absolutely hated that movie! Read on for the complete list of winners. Palme d'Or (Golden Palm): The White Ribbon directed by Michael Haneke Grand Prize (Runner Up): Un Prophète (A Prophet) directed by Jacques Audiard Special Jury Prize: Alain Resnais director of Wild Grass (Les Herbes Folles) Best Director: Brillante Mendoza for Kinatay Best Screenplay: Feng Mei...

And what a lineup we've got at the 62nd edition of the Cannes Film Festival this year! Let's dive right in. As previously announced, Pete Docter's 3D Pixar flick "Up" will open the festival and screen out of competition. The festival will open its doors May 13 and will run through May 24. The closing film will be Jan Kounen's "Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky."

Here are the films fighting for the top prizes: Quentin Tarantino's "Inglorious Basterds," Ang Lee's "Taking Woodstock," Ken Loach's "Looking for Eric," Lars von Trier's "Antichrist," Gaspar Noe's "Enter the Void," Pedro Almodovar's "Broken Embraces" (Los Abrazos Rotos), Jane Campion's "Bright Star," Tsai Ming-Liang's "Visage," Alain Resnais' "Les Herbes Folles," and Johnnie To's "Vengeance."

Also screening in competition are "Fish Tank" by Andrea Arnold, "Vincere" by Marco Bellocchio, "Map of the Sounds of Tokyo" by Isabel Coixet, "The White...

The following twenty films are competing for that coveted Palme D'Or.

Antichrist Lars Von Trier (Denmark-Sweden-France)

Bright Star Jane Campion (Australia-uk-France)

Broken Embraces Pedro Almodovar (Spain)

Gaspar Noe (France)

Expect cheer and happy endings!

Face Tsai Ming-Liang (France-Taiwan-Netherlands-Belgium)The first three titles there, bunched up together, feel like some sort of pornographic love letter addressed to me. Not to you, to me. Mine. All Mine. Three of my favorite filmmakers with new completed films, one right after the other? Talk dirty to me on the Croisette, Cannes programmers. Talk dirty to me.

Fish Tank Andrea Arnold (U.K.-Netherlands)

Les Herbes Folles Alain Resnais (France-Italy)

In the Beginning Xavier Giannoli (France)

Inglourious Basterds Quentin Tarantino (Us)

Kinatay Brillante Mendoza (Philippines)

Brillante (right) sure is prolific. His last film Serbis was a difficult sit. I continually felt like I was missing something having little knowledge of Pinoy film or culture. But,...