Why doesn’t Brazilian bombshell Izabel Goulart, who turns 24 today, get into acting, so that I might post more scantily clad pictures of her, like this one?
A Victoria’s Secret model, so far she has only single episodes of Entourage and Two and a Half Men to her credit, which means she’s almost certainly been hit on by Charlie Sheen, and perhaps had to submit to an audition where she talked to animals. Voice unheard, I’m recommending her for future Bond babe consideration…
Charlie Kaufman is the rarest of Hollywood commodities — a brand-name writer. He’s branching out, though; his directorial debut is Synecdoche, New York. The film is a sprawling think-piece that stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as Caden Cotard, a New York City theater director who crafts an equally sprawling “living play” against a decades-long backdrop of personal turmoil and heartache. In a Los Angeles hotel suite in advance of the film’s release, Kaufman spoke with Vulture about what his unusual film most assuredly isn’t titled, the serendipitous chase of a unifying aesthetic, and how Spike Jonze has to sometimes remind him of his own ideas. For the full Q&A, from New York Magazine‘s Vulture, click here.
Recent parolee Juliette (Kristin Scott Thomas) has been estranged from
what remains of her family for 15 years, and has a drab wardrobe of
browns and greys to match her battered psyche. Lea (Elsa Zylberstein, below left),
her younger sister, picks up Juliette at the airport and subsequently
takes her into her Parisian home, which she shares with her husband
Luc, his mute father, and their two adopted little Vietnamese girls. As
Juliette is slowly reintegrated into society both at large and in
small, a slow thaw occurs, with unanticipated consequences for all
involved.
There’s a pinch of self-conscious Franco-genuflection to the directorial debut of novelist and literature professor Philippe Claudel, most particularly in the form of a dinner scene praising Eric Rohmer. For those who’ve sampled even a bit of French cinema, the emotional contours of this film are familiar, and in that regard the movie feels a bit like a stacked deck, daring one to rebel against its slow-developing appraisal of confinement and regret. The studied warmth and unfussy sincerity of its telling, though, wins out; I’ve Loved You So Long is a movie about familial silences and the great, tilled-earth spaces in between, both in relationships and in one’s head. The slow reveal of the full reason behind Juliette’s incarceration gives the film some extra emotional heft, but this is first and foremost an Oscar-level showcase for Thomas, as a woman who learns to purge herself of the swallowed self-loathing that has soured her soul. Think of it as a French secular rebirth drama, about self-forgiveness and learning to walk looking at least partially forward, and not always backwards. (Sony Pictures Classics, PG-13, 117 minutes)
For those in the SoCal area, the biggest hit of the summer, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, gets a special screening at the American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theatre on Monday, October 27 at 8 p.m., when Oscar-winning supervising sound editor/sound designer Richard King presents his process of creating the film’s soundscape. Excerpts of the movie will be presented with special “pre-dubb” mixes to illustrate the variety of elements used to create an environment of serious sound. Also in the mix: music editor Alex Gibson and Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer, who will reveal the way the musical score was shaped to fit the dark narrative of good and evil.
The historic Egyptian Theatre is located at
Hollywood Boulevard
between
and
in
Tickets for this and all events at the Egyptian are available through Fandango, but for 24-hour recorded information on screenings,
directions and other matters, phone (323) 466-FILM, or visit the Cinematheque’s eponymous
Web site. For more information on this event, meanwhile, click here.
Yes, it’s old, but still golden, this 30-second clip of Robert De Niro telling a commercial promo director he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. And as I travel a bit, and am hostage to different time zones and other commitments, you’ll get some pre-slotted amusements like this. And you’ll like it.