Hirokazu Koreeda is directing an all star cast!

by Nathaniel R

Koreeda, Deneuve, and Hawke working on a movie called "Truth"

Somehow this had escaped our attention so apologize to those for whom it is old news. Thanks to Juliette Binoche for getting us caught us up to speed on her instagram, sharing photos from the set of the next film from Japanese master Hirokazu Koreeda. Koreeda was already in our brain because his current brilliant film Shoplifters, which opens in the US around Thanksgiving time. It won the Palme d'Or at Cannes and we hope it's nominated for the Oscar for Foreign Language Film.

His next picture is called Truth. It's his first non-Japanese language picture with an all star French cast plus Ethan Hawke...

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YNMS: The Young Pope

by Laurence Barber

In the wake of House of Cards' success, it seems networks have all been clamouring to make shows about other worlds that are full of their own political intrigue. Netflix itself has the Gerard Depardieu-starring Marseille, which French critics savaged and everyone else mostly ignored, and the upcoming The Crown. In other ways, shows like Mr. Robot and UnReal seem partially derivative of this trend despite updating and resituating it. Now, in a joint production, Sky, Canal+ and HBO have teamed up to produce the latest project from Oscar-winning director Paolo Sorrentino: The Young Pope...

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Red Carpet & Un Certain Regard Prizes

I haven't been able to find a partner for Red Carpet Convo discussions this holiday weekend *sniffle* so instead I thought I'd share some red carpet lineups with jury prizes and brief notes now that the awards are coming in. Are you with me?

First up is the Un Certain Regard jury which was led by Danish director Thomas Vinterberg who came to fame with the great Festen (Celebration) in 1998 and has been enjoying similarly ecstatic praise for his recent picture The Hunt which could be Denmark's Oscar entry this year.  On his jury were actresses Zhang Ziyi, Ludivine Sagnier, Head of Brazil's Festival Ilda Santiago and producer Enrique Gonzalez Macho.  Here's Ziyi... ! 

Which is your favorite? And when was the last time you saw Ziyi onscreen? It seems like it's been forever for me so I'm eager for The Grandmaster which is a totally unofficial 2046 reunion (see also: Tony Leung & Wong Kar Wai)

UN CERTAIN REGARD PRIZES

The Missing Picture (Cambodia)
Rithy Pan's picture about the horrors of the Pol Pot regime -- I'm crazy about the poster! -- won the Un Certain Regard prize

Omar (Israel)
Hany Abu-Assad, who was Oscar nominated for Paradise Now, won the jury prize (i.e. second place) for this movie which returns to the same brutal setting of the Palestine-Israel conflict and focuses on three friends caught up in the cycle of violence.

Fruitvale Station (USA)
Ryan Coogler's Sundance winner about the police killing of an innocent Bay Area man (Michael B Jordan) took the "Future Award". A Future with Oscar maybe...

Stranger by the Lake (France)
This controversial murder mystery from Alain Guiraudie -- already infamous for its nudity and gay sex -- took home the directing prize. The film takes place entirely outdoors in a gay cruising area. Strand Releasing will distribute in the States at some point.

The Cage of Gold (Mexico)
Diego Quemada-Diez, a camera operator of films you've seen like 21 Grams and The Constant Gardener, has graduated to directing. His ensemble cast of non-professional teens playing illegal migrants were given the Talent Award 

On their choices, Vinterberg says:

One of the finest achievements in filmmaking is to create unforgettable moments – moments that stay with us – as a collective memory – as a collective mirror of our existence. Clay figures, extreme beauty, violence, homosexual blow jobs, systematic humiliation of the human kind, Léa Seydoux’s legs, great Brando imitations are just some of the unique images that will follow us for a while.

Well... all of those things do sound memorable even if we don't have much context for them just yet. And so so we close with Ziyi's fellow juror Ludivine Sagnier, an actress j'adore and who we've interviewed right here.

When was the last time you saw Ludivine onscreen?

Posterized: François Ozon

Glenn here. Given my penchant for poster goodness I figured I'd pick up Nathaniel's regular "posterized" feature. A fun series that can time to time shine a curious light on the way films are marketed and how certain actors or directors can find themselves in a so-called "marketing rut" where it's the same thing over and over. Think of a Will Smith movie and don't you just picture his smug mug staring out at you in mid-range closeup? Even that one about selling his organs to Rosario Dawson (or whatever Seven Pounds was about - I've sure as hell forgotten!)

This week I've chosen François Ozon - and he's having a helluva week. Not only is his latest (un/lucky number thirteen) film, In the House [Dans le maison], getting a release in America, but his next picture, Jeune et Jolie, was just chosen to compete for the Palme d'Or in Cannes. Well done, Mr. Ozon! Still, don't the words "A film by François Ozon" feel like they should carry more weight than they do. Perhaps, but his career is too all over the place to give him the title of auteur and his films frequently go theatrically unreleased in western countries without a major star (Catherine Deneuve, Charlotte Rampling for instance) at the center. 

Combien avez-vous vu?

Sitcom (1998) | Criminal Lovers (1999) | Water Drops of Burning Rocks (2000)

Okay, I have no idea what it's about but that poster for Ozon's debut, Sitcom, is fabulous. 

 Under the Sand (2000) | Swimming Pool (2003) | 8 Women (2002)

more after the jump 

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