Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar’s stylish output is such that he’s almost a genre to himself. His latest movie, The Skin I Live In, is not only his first film with star Antonio Banderas in many years, but it also marks a certain return to provocative form, so deliciously warped are its plot pivots. At the core of it, though, is a stirring performance from Elena Anaya, who plays Vera, the mysterious captive of Banderas’ rich surgeon, Dr. Robert Ledgard. Revelations about the depth and nature of their relationship are a big part of what drive the movie, but it suffices to say that Vera’s situation is rife with layered trauma, making for a character with never clearly telegraphed motivations. I recently had a chance to speak to Anaya one-on-one, in her charmingly accented English, about some of the spoiler-ish specifics of her role, the comfort of her skin-tight costume and discovery of yoga for production, and more. The conversation is excerpted over at ShockYa, so click here for the read.
The Twilight films may set teenage hearts aflutter, but the HBO series True Blood is the franchise by which a lot more diehard vampire fans swear. For Stephen Moyer, it’s a dream gig — heck, it even landed him on the cover of Rolling Stone. In the new espionage thriller The Double, British-born Moyer swaps out his accent to play an imprisoned Russian spy/assassin, Brutus, who comes face to face with the man (Richard Gere) who put him in prison. I recently had a chance to participate in a press day for the film, and chat with Moyer about his small screen hit, his new film, the challenges of shooting out of order, and the exciting insanity of his producing debut, starring True Blood castmate and offscreen wife Anna Paquin. The conversation is excerpted over at ShockYa, so click here for the read.
Many improvements went into the positive reception that Captain America: The First Avenger enjoyed this summer — a 79% fresh-certified rating on Rotten Tomatoes, compared to the risible 11% rating that its predecessor, from 1992, pulled — including some fairly persuasive body-mapping technology on the pre-transformation character of Steve Rogers, played by Chris Evans. But surely a big portion of credit also rests with the characterization of Red Skull (Hugo Weaving), Captain America’s frightening and forthrightly named nemesis. That challenge — of crafting a practical makeup fix that was scary but, more importantly, visually iconic — fell upon prosthetics makeup designer David White. I recently had a chance to submit a few questions to White via email. The responses are excerpted over at ShockYa, so click here for the read.
With its methodical depiction of the complicity of moneyed interests straddling multiple industries, Chris Paine’s superb, anger-evoking 2006 documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? answered its own question, unraveling the rather puzzling crib-murder of a vehicle that could have done wonders for the environment, massively curbed the United States’ dangerous addiction to foreign oil, and put the country on a clearly defined path toward export dominance in both automobiles and cell battery technology.
So, five years, a narrowly averted worldwide financial meltdown and a humbled American auto industry later, it’s sequel time! Narrated by Tim Robbins, Paine’s new film takes as its four chief subjects an upstart (Nissan, radically overhauled by Carlos Ghosn), a start-up (trendy Tesla, fronted by ex-PayPal founder Elon Musk), a re-jiggered giant (General Motors, under the leadership of Bob Lutz) and an entrepreneurial fabricator (Greg Abbott) individually converting classic gas-powered cars like a Triumph Spitfire, GT6 and 1967 Camaro into electric vehicles.
Necessarily, this follow-up is a different animal — less outraged and antagonistic, more flat-out entertaining. The night-and-day difference between the movies in Paine’s access to some industry big boys (and their relative candor) gives his film fascinating perspective, but also raises some questions about being potentially co-opted. While Nissan’s $6 billion market gamble on the Leaf and the whole competitive element give Revengegripping capitalistic stakes worthy of a double-cross-laden narrative heist flick, the future is yet to be written with respect to a consumer verdict on electric vehicles. Ergo, it would have been interesting to delve a bit further into the market changes or signs that car manufacturers missed with respect to this abrupt about-face on the commercial profitability of EVs — especially in the face of a political climate in which one of two parties wears as a badge of honor their continued rejection of climate science and any sort of incentivization of cleaner energy and emissions. For more on the movie’s nontraditional release in smaller markets, visit its eponymous web site. (WestMidWest, unrated, 90 minutes)
Gay cinema, perhaps understandably, was for a period of many years preoccupied with coming out, which, as a defining moment in the lives of many homosexuals, was ripe for dramatic exploitation. There are, though, of course thousands of other stories that are a part of the gay experience, and so it’s its own small success that something like The Green, about a juicy suburban sex scandal in a world tipping ever closer to true marriage equality, could unfold, and only tangentially and occasionally be about its main character’s sexuality. A generally well sketched drama that fumbles away its accrued admiration late in the third act, The Green is sort of three-fifths of a good movie, which is certainly more than a lot of films can say. For the full, original review, from ShockYa, click here. (FilmBuff/Table Ten Films, R, 90 minutes)
On the surface, Oka! has a couple potential red flags that seemingly mark it as yet another tale of a white Westerner saving and/or bringing culture to the lives of black Africans. In reality, though, it’s about the inverse of that scenario, and director Lavinia Currier’s film sings with an unexpected humor and exuberance. Based on an unpublished memoir, Last Thoughts Before Vanishing From the Face of the Earth, by ethnomusicologist Louis Sarno, this is a unique and fascinating tale of cultural connection, and the elemental nature of various human curiosities that bind us together. For the full, original review, from ShockYa, click here. (Roland Films, R, 106 minutes)
In honor of the new month, a linked look back at Courteney Cox’s self-serious indie flick November, wherein I spell her name correctly and assay all of the movie’s DVD bonus features.
