If the first installment of Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac blended the farcical and tragic in a manner that underscored the folly of thinking one could ever put biological appetites neatly away, in a little box on the bookshelf, Nymphomaniac: Volume II wanders further into the darkened forest of human desire and compulsion. Part wild stallion and part brutish gorilla, it’s a formidable and inherently contradictory cinematic disquisition — it agitates against over-analysis, even as itself it analyzes how unspoken yearnings bend and twist behavior to their will. Above all, while not without its faults, it’s a reminder that the world of film needs taskmaster provocateurs like von Trier, pushing back against tidiness and challenging audiences. For the full, original review, from Paste, click here. (Magnolia, unrated, 123 minutes)
Daily Archives: April 10, 2014
Eliza Hittman Talks It Felt Like Love
Writer-director Eliza Hittman’s striking debut film, It Felt Like Love, tells the story of an awkward 14-year-old Brooklyn girl (Gina Piersanti) who falls into emulating the sexual exploits of her more experienced best friend (Giovanna Salimeni), with mounting peril. I recently had a chance to speak to Hittman one-on-one, about her film, non-traditional casting, adolescent sexual deceit and gamesmanship, and more. The conversation is excerpted over at ShockYa, so click here for the read.
Sam Worthington, Anna Kendrick, Jennifer Aniston Eat Cake
Director Daniel Barnz has nailed down the cast for his indie film Cake, based on screenwriter Patrick Tobin’s 2013 Black List-tabbed script, according to the Wrap. Joining Jennifer Aniston will be Sam Worthington, Anna Kendrick, Chris Messina, William H. Macy, Felicity Huffman and Marianne Jean-Baptiste, among others. The story centers on a woman (Aniston) who becomes gripped by the suicide of another woman (Kendrick) from her chronic pain support group, and develops a relationship with said woman’s husband (Worthington)… presumably not centered around a shared hatred of Ugg boots (though hey, you never know). Filming will commence next month.
Bears
A certain tension between emotion and education again manifests in Bears, the fifth theatrical nature documentary release via a specialty arm of distributor Disney, who has carved out a nice niche pegged to annual Earth Day celebrations. Extraordinarily intimate and engaging throughout, African Cats co-directors Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey’s stirringly captured movie unlocks a sincere sense of awe and reverence within viewers’ hearts, even as it frustrates an audience looking for a bit more. For the full, original review, from Screen Daily, click here. (DisneyNature, G, 78 minutes)
Tye Sheridan on Joe, Terrence Malick Impressions, Tony Romo
Seventeen-year-old Tye Sheridan made his acting debut in Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life, playing one of Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain’s sons. The next year, he co-starred opposite Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon in Jeff Nichols’ Mud. Now, in David Gordon Green’s Joe, adapted from a novel by Larry Brown, Sheridan adds another acting heavyweight to his roster of co-stars, starring opposite Nicolas Cage‘s ex-con title character as an eager-to-work kid looking for roots not provided by his own itinerant family and alcoholic father. I recently had a chance to speak to Texas native Sheridan one-on-one, about his new movie, the key to a good Malick impersonation and what he thinks of Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo. The conversation is excerpted over at ShockYa, so click here for the read.