In his new film Louder than bombs Norwegian director Joachim Trier masterfully captures the underlying, aimless desires of very decent people who struggle to be authentic in their own lives. Written by Trier and Eskil Vogt, the film is structured as a collage of episodes that fit together like a perfect puzzle, packed with emotions let loose by the death of the mother and wife of a suburban New York family. The action does not offer anything overtly dramatic, yet the emotional intensity is louder than bombs which the dead woman famously photographed in the war zones around the world.…
Author: Vera Mijojlic
This is the season of award campaigns in Hollywood, with a frenzy of screenings, advertisements and lobbying, with novelty burning out faster than a shooting star. Today’s glut for stimuli eerily resembles the world gone mad in a must-see documentary film, winner of multiple international awards and Switzerland’s Oscar® entry in the Documentary and Best Foreign Language Film categories, MORE THAN HONEY directed by Swiss filmmaker Markus Imhoof. Deceptively innocuous, peeling layers upon layers of spectacular bee visuals, the film gives the most intimate look yet at the devastation of planetary proportions caused by the monoculture mania. Bees are farmed…
His name is Mads Mikkelsen, and like all great movie stars he has his own unique way of burning screen and leaving you breathless and wondering, how the hell does he do it? Enter the royal court of Danish king Christian VII and the beautifully appointed period piece A royal affair directed by Nikolaj Arcel, this year’s Oscar submission from Denmark for the Best Foreign Language film. Character played by Mikkelsen messes things up by a steamy affair with the young queen, but both he, the film, and very much the co-star, another great Dane in the making, young Mikkel…
Debut feature by director Matthew Mishory is a highly stylized period piece centered on and around James Dean, pre-fame. Executed almost to the point of pedantry, Mishory’s film is set in 1951 Hollywood, taking occasional metaphorical exit into the desert landscape of the Joshua Tree national park, about halfway between L.A. and Palm Springs in southern California. Joshua Tree serves a dual purpose: as an unattainable state of peace for someone as restless as Dean, and at the same time harboring, exactly like Dean, some invisible force of nature just under the surface. “Joshua Tree 1951: A Portrait of James…
“Cinema Without Borders is establishing an Open Page for Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof as an on-going, action-oriented commentary about the jailing of the filmmakers in Iran. The Page will remain open until Mr. Panahi and Rasoulof are freed, and free to make movies of their choice. Film critic Vera Mijojlic is our first contributor. Cinema Without Borders invites readers, filmmakers, critics, supporters, and friends of international cinema to submit their comments and keep this Page active until Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof are freed” First the physical jail for the body, then post-incarceration ban on the mind, heart…
“Church service and bad theatre last longer than anything else in the world”. Ingmar Bergman There are many delicious quotes like this, elaborate sketches and scene studies from Bergman archives now on exhibit at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills (Fourth Floor Gallery). And it’s a world premiere, with next stop at the Berlin Film Festival in February 2011. Almost three years an international team worked to put this exhibition together. This is a world class event, a fantastic opportunity for Angelenos to see original script notes, letters, drawings, costumes and photographs from Bergman’s sets…
Mexican stage, TV and movie star Ofelia Medina electrifies audiences at the new Los Angeles Theater Center. What luck this Fall of 2008 to have the luxury of seeing Mexican artist Ofelia Medina on stage at the new LATC!We forget all too easily that movies, and even more so actors – owe so much to the STAGE. Recently I saw two plays at the new Los Angeles Theater Center, LATC, in a bold and uncompromising staging and interpretation by Mexican actress, writer/director Ofelia Medina (“Innocent Voices” 2004, “Frida” 1986) whose theater, TV and movie credits in Mexico are a testament…
In three short years, since Cristi Puiu’s The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (multiple wins including Un Certain Regard in Cannes, Silver Hugo in Chicago, and several critics awards in 2005) managed to get on scores of 10-best lists, finishing in 2006 as the No. 1 movie in the ndieWIRE Critics Poll of 107 voters, young Romanian filmmakers have made a name for themselves much like the Iranian cineastes did before them. Director of Trafic, Catalin Mitulescu won Palme d’Or for Best Short in Cannes in 2004, then went on to direct his first feature, The Way I Spent The End…