George Lucas got candid about criticism of the first six “Star Wars” films during a conversation at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday.
When speaking about the success of the franchise ahead of receiving the festival’s honorary Palme d’Or, Lucas reflected on some of the negative comments he’s received over the years.
“They would say, ‘It’s all white men,'” Lucas said of the films’ critics. “Most of the people are aliens! The idea is you’re supposed to accept people for what they are, whether they’re big and furry or whether they’re green or whatever. The idea is all people are equal.”
Lucas went on to say that the only beings in the “Star Wars” universe who were discriminated against were the robots.
“That was a way of saying, you know, people are always discriminating against something and sooner or later, that’s what’s going to happen,...
When speaking about the success of the franchise ahead of receiving the festival’s honorary Palme d’Or, Lucas reflected on some of the negative comments he’s received over the years.
“They would say, ‘It’s all white men,'” Lucas said of the films’ critics. “Most of the people are aliens! The idea is you’re supposed to accept people for what they are, whether they’re big and furry or whether they’re green or whatever. The idea is all people are equal.”
Lucas went on to say that the only beings in the “Star Wars” universe who were discriminated against were the robots.
“That was a way of saying, you know, people are always discriminating against something and sooner or later, that’s what’s going to happen,...
- 5/24/2024
- by Ellise Shafer
- Variety Film + TV
For decades, Paul Schrader’s taste in cinema has been widely known, particularly the Bressonian proclivities he’s repeatedly worked over—and, especially since becoming a Facebook poster, he’s provided an open invitation to make his problems ours as well. Watching Oh, Canada knowing of his recent health scares, my guess was that the topical draw of Russell Banks’s source novel Foregone was death; indeed, after several hospitalizations for long Covid, Schrader told himself, “If I’m going to make a film about death, I’d better hurry up.” Thus Oh, Canada, which reteams Schrader with his American Gigolo star Richard Gere (the writer-director jokes […]
The post Cannes 2024: Oh, Canada and The Shrouds first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Cannes 2024: Oh, Canada and The Shrouds first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 5/24/2024
- by Vadim Rizov
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
For decades, Paul Schrader’s taste in cinema has been widely known, particularly the Bressonian proclivities he’s repeatedly worked over—and, especially since becoming a Facebook poster, he’s provided an open invitation to make his problems ours as well. Watching Oh, Canada knowing of his recent health scares, my guess was that the topical draw of Russell Banks’s source novel Foregone was death; indeed, after several hospitalizations for long Covid, Schrader told himself, “If I’m going to make a film about death, I’d better hurry up.” Thus Oh, Canada, which reteams Schrader with his American Gigolo star Richard Gere (the writer-director jokes […]
The post Cannes 2024: Oh, Canada and The Shrouds first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Cannes 2024: Oh, Canada and The Shrouds first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 5/24/2024
- by Vadim Rizov
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
The 2024 Cannes Film Festival is underway with Quentin Dupieux’s The Second Act starring Léa Seydoux and Louis Garrel serving as the opening-night film.
This year’s lineup includes major Hollywood premieres like Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth, Kevin Costner’s first film of a planned four-part series Horizon: An American Saga, Francis Coppola’s long-gestating Megalopolis, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Kinds of Kindness in a reteam with Emma Stone, Paul Schrader’s Oh, Canada and Andrea Arnold’s Bird to name a few.
They are joined by new films from stalwart auteurs including David Cronenberg, Jacques Audiard, Ali Abbasi, Jia Zhang-Ke, Christophe Honoré, Paolo Sorrentino, Gilles Lellouche, Mohammad Rasoulof, Michel Hazanavicius, Guy Maddin, Noémie Merlant and Oliver Stone.
Read all of Deadline’s takes below throughout the festival, which runs May 14-25. Click on the title to read the full review and keep checking back as we update the list.
This year’s lineup includes major Hollywood premieres like Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth, Kevin Costner’s first film of a planned four-part series Horizon: An American Saga, Francis Coppola’s long-gestating Megalopolis, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Kinds of Kindness in a reteam with Emma Stone, Paul Schrader’s Oh, Canada and Andrea Arnold’s Bird to name a few.
They are joined by new films from stalwart auteurs including David Cronenberg, Jacques Audiard, Ali Abbasi, Jia Zhang-Ke, Christophe Honoré, Paolo Sorrentino, Gilles Lellouche, Mohammad Rasoulof, Michel Hazanavicius, Guy Maddin, Noémie Merlant and Oliver Stone.
Read all of Deadline’s takes below throughout the festival, which runs May 14-25. Click on the title to read the full review and keep checking back as we update the list.
- 5/24/2024
- by Pete Hammond, Joe Utichi, Damon Wise, Stephanie Bunbury and Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
For the past three years, the American Cinematheque has presented “Bleak Week,” an annual festival devoted to the greatest films ever made about the darkest side of humanity. This year, the festival will not only be unspooling in Los Angeles June 1 – 7 — with special guests including Al Pacino, Lynne Ramsay, Charlie Kaufman, and Karyn Kusama — but will travel to New York for the first time with a week of screenings at the historic Paris Theater starting June 9.
“We are honored to co-present ‘Bleak Week: New York’ in partnership with one of the most beautiful movie palaces in the world,” Cinematheque artistic director Grant Moninger told IndieWire. “This year, over 10,000 people will attend ‘Bleak Week: Year 3’ in Los Angeles, proving that audiences are hungry for such powerful and confrontational cinema. Many people thought they were alone in their desire to explore films with uncomfortable truths, but the truth is that they are part of a large community,...
“We are honored to co-present ‘Bleak Week: New York’ in partnership with one of the most beautiful movie palaces in the world,” Cinematheque artistic director Grant Moninger told IndieWire. “This year, over 10,000 people will attend ‘Bleak Week: Year 3’ in Los Angeles, proving that audiences are hungry for such powerful and confrontational cinema. Many people thought they were alone in their desire to explore films with uncomfortable truths, but the truth is that they are part of a large community,...
- 5/23/2024
- by Jim Hemphill
- Indiewire
Few periods on the calendar mean more to cinephiles than the two weekends in May occupied by the Cannes Film Festival. Since its founding in 1946, the French festival has been a launchpad for some of the most artistically significant films of all time. The Palme d’Or is one of the most coveted film awards on the planet, and the festival’s ability to balance subversive arthouse work with major Hollywood premieres has led many to view it as the world’s most significant celebration of cinema.
The 2024 lineup featured a mix of buzzy premieres from New Hollywood titans like Francis Ford Coppola and Paul Schrader alongside exciting new works from emerging directors. Between the Main Competition, Un Certain Regard, special screenings, and sidebars like the Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week, the onslaught of new films can be overwhelming for anyone who isn’t able to give the festival their 24/7 attention.
The 2024 lineup featured a mix of buzzy premieres from New Hollywood titans like Francis Ford Coppola and Paul Schrader alongside exciting new works from emerging directors. Between the Main Competition, Un Certain Regard, special screenings, and sidebars like the Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week, the onslaught of new films can be overwhelming for anyone who isn’t able to give the festival their 24/7 attention.
- 5/23/2024
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
It’s been 30 years since a film from India has been selected in the main competition at Cannes, but that finally changed this year.
Recent editions of Sundance, Tribeca, and Toronto have included riveting and even Oscar-nominated documentaries and features. In fact, Mira Nair’s “Monsoon Wedding” won the Golden Lion at Venice more than two decades ago. Granted, Cannes has recently programmed South Asian gems in other sections, such as the Queer Palm-winning “Joyland” from Pakistan in Un Certain Regard in 2022, or Anurag Kashyap’s “Kennedy” in Midnight last year. But would the South Asian drought in the main competition ever end?
Many were ecstatic last month when “All We Imagine as Light”, Mumbai-based Payal Kapadia’s narrative directorial debut, was announced in the competition lineup alongside legendary Cannes regulars: European heavyweights such as Jacques Audiard and Yorgos Lanthimos, American auteurs David Cronenberg and Paul Schrader, and Asian visionary Jia Zhangke.
Recent editions of Sundance, Tribeca, and Toronto have included riveting and even Oscar-nominated documentaries and features. In fact, Mira Nair’s “Monsoon Wedding” won the Golden Lion at Venice more than two decades ago. Granted, Cannes has recently programmed South Asian gems in other sections, such as the Queer Palm-winning “Joyland” from Pakistan in Un Certain Regard in 2022, or Anurag Kashyap’s “Kennedy” in Midnight last year. But would the South Asian drought in the main competition ever end?
Many were ecstatic last month when “All We Imagine as Light”, Mumbai-based Payal Kapadia’s narrative directorial debut, was announced in the competition lineup alongside legendary Cannes regulars: European heavyweights such as Jacques Audiard and Yorgos Lanthimos, American auteurs David Cronenberg and Paul Schrader, and Asian visionary Jia Zhangke.
- 5/23/2024
- by Ritesh Mehta
- Indiewire
One of the most gripping elements of 1976’s Taxi Driver — which we still debate nearly 50 years later — is the ending. The ambiguity for many has left a number of questions: Did Travis survive the shootout? Was the final scene with him and Betsy just a fantasy? According to Robert De Niro, not only did Travis survive (and perhaps his encounter with Betsy real), but the character still had a number of moments worth exploring in a sequel to Taxi Driver.
According to Taxi Driver scribe Paul Schrader (via IndieWire), he never once wanted to expand on that world, saying it was all the doing of De Niro. “Now, I don’t want to slag De Niro, but a lot of his decisions sometimes have financial motivations. I’m sure someone had said to him, ‘You know, if you do ‘Taxi Driver 2,’ they can pay.’” Apparently, director Martin Scorsese — of course...
According to Taxi Driver scribe Paul Schrader (via IndieWire), he never once wanted to expand on that world, saying it was all the doing of De Niro. “Now, I don’t want to slag De Niro, but a lot of his decisions sometimes have financial motivations. I’m sure someone had said to him, ‘You know, if you do ‘Taxi Driver 2,’ they can pay.’” Apparently, director Martin Scorsese — of course...
- 5/22/2024
- by Mathew Plale
- JoBlo.com
Mike Figgis has been shooting a behind-the-scenes documentary for the past 18 months about the making of Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis. It’s called Megadoc.
Figgis told me Monday that it’s been edited but there’s allowance for the fact that the film played in competition here at the Cannes Film Festival. He recorded an interview with the cinema titan the other day.
Figgis, who was introduced into the Coppola clan back in the mid 1990s after directing Nicolas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas, told me that the documentary is “very much a fly-on-the-wall” and also features conversations with various cast members — Adam Driver, Aubrey Plaza, Dustin Hoffman, Shia Labeouf — and Coppola’s wife Eleanor Coppola, who shot the footage and directed her own study of her husband’s work for the acclaimed Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, about the making of 1979s Apocalypse Now.
He will go...
Figgis told me Monday that it’s been edited but there’s allowance for the fact that the film played in competition here at the Cannes Film Festival. He recorded an interview with the cinema titan the other day.
Figgis, who was introduced into the Coppola clan back in the mid 1990s after directing Nicolas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas, told me that the documentary is “very much a fly-on-the-wall” and also features conversations with various cast members — Adam Driver, Aubrey Plaza, Dustin Hoffman, Shia Labeouf — and Coppola’s wife Eleanor Coppola, who shot the footage and directed her own study of her husband’s work for the acclaimed Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, about the making of 1979s Apocalypse Now.
He will go...
- 5/21/2024
- by Baz Bamigboye
- Deadline Film + TV
Paul Schrader Says His Next Film Is ‘Non Compos Mentis’ & Is A “Noir, As A Kind Of Sexual Obsession”
Despite many of his generation taking time between films, Paul Schrader is a filmmaker who has kept working quite prolifically over the decades. Since 2002, he’s directed no fewer than 11 features. That’s the kind of output that filmmakers half his age would love to match. And even though he’s just now premiering his most recent film, “Oh Canada,” at the Cannes Film Festival, he’s already got his next one lined up.
Continue reading Paul Schrader Says His Next Film Is ‘Non Compos Mentis’ & Is A “Noir, As A Kind Of Sexual Obsession” at The Playlist.
Continue reading Paul Schrader Says His Next Film Is ‘Non Compos Mentis’ & Is A “Noir, As A Kind Of Sexual Obsession” at The Playlist.
- 5/21/2024
- by Martin Miller
- The Playlist
Jacob Elordi in Oh, CanadaImage: Oh Canada LLC
It is said that the grand metaphor to describe the United States is a melting pot, where cultures from all over the world that have gathered in a shared space form a gumbo where their flavors merge, the whole supplanting the constituent parts.
It is said that the grand metaphor to describe the United States is a melting pot, where cultures from all over the world that have gathered in a shared space form a gumbo where their flavors merge, the whole supplanting the constituent parts.
- 5/21/2024
- by Jason Gorber
- avclub.com
Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice has failed to impress the critics on Screen’s Cannes jury grid, recording the lowest score so far this year of 1.7.
The film tells Donald Trump’s origin story, with Sebastian Stan playing the future president and Jeremy Strong his ruthless lawyer and mentor Roy Cohn.
It earned eight scores of two (average), plus two ones (poor) and a zero (bad) from Mathieu Macharet at France’s Le Monde.
Click on the jury grid above for the most up-to-date version.
With a 1.7, it is just below Paul Schrader’s Oh, Canada, which previously occupied the...
The film tells Donald Trump’s origin story, with Sebastian Stan playing the future president and Jeremy Strong his ruthless lawyer and mentor Roy Cohn.
It earned eight scores of two (average), plus two ones (poor) and a zero (bad) from Mathieu Macharet at France’s Le Monde.
Click on the jury grid above for the most up-to-date version.
With a 1.7, it is just below Paul Schrader’s Oh, Canada, which previously occupied the...
- 5/21/2024
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: ITN Distribution has picked up the holiday rom-com Christmas Overtime starring Meghan Carrasquillo, Adam Brudnicki, and Jadon Cal for North America.
The deal was hashed out here in Cannes. Premiere Entertainment CEO Elias Axume negotiated on behalf of the production with Stuart Alson of ITN.
The film follows an unemployed actress (Carrasquillo), who is offered a commercial by a lonely advertising executive (Brudnicki) on the condition that she convinces his staff to work on Christmas Eve to meet an important deadline.
Ann Deborah Fishman directed the film and co-wrote the screenplay with Simon K. Parker. Fishman produced the film for Night Dove Pictures. Also starring are Chris Moss, Christine Allocca, Laura Ault, and Osmara Rojas. Producers are Fishman and Sommer. Premiere is selling the remaining international territories at the Cannes Market, which ends today.
LA-based Premiere is a production, financing, and sales company. Premiere most recently acquired the family...
The deal was hashed out here in Cannes. Premiere Entertainment CEO Elias Axume negotiated on behalf of the production with Stuart Alson of ITN.
The film follows an unemployed actress (Carrasquillo), who is offered a commercial by a lonely advertising executive (Brudnicki) on the condition that she convinces his staff to work on Christmas Eve to meet an important deadline.
Ann Deborah Fishman directed the film and co-wrote the screenplay with Simon K. Parker. Fishman produced the film for Night Dove Pictures. Also starring are Chris Moss, Christine Allocca, Laura Ault, and Osmara Rojas. Producers are Fishman and Sommer. Premiere is selling the remaining international territories at the Cannes Market, which ends today.
LA-based Premiere is a production, financing, and sales company. Premiere most recently acquired the family...
- 5/21/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
The pop culture nostalgia cycle might have moved on to the early 2000s, but for many filmmakers and movie fans, the '80s will never go out of style. That's certainly true for director Ti West, who returns this year with the third chapter of his horror trilogy that started with 2022's "X" and was shortly followed by a surprise prequel, "Pearl." Star Mia Goth will return for this summer's bloody conclusion, "MaXXXine," in which aspiring adult film star (and massacre survivor) Maxine Minx is now trying to break into mainstream movies with a role in horror movie "The Puritan II."
"MaXXXine" is set in 1985 Los Angeles, six years after the events of "X." West recently told Empire magazine that "the '80s aspect of it was a natural, chronological thing" -- but that it was also a great opportunity to draw inspiration from '80s movies. For many people,...
"MaXXXine" is set in 1985 Los Angeles, six years after the events of "X." West recently told Empire magazine that "the '80s aspect of it was a natural, chronological thing" -- but that it was also a great opportunity to draw inspiration from '80s movies. For many people,...
- 5/20/2024
- by Hannah Shaw-Williams
- Slash Film
We are less than two months away from the most anticipated horror film of the year, “MaXXXine.” Coming off of the surprising (and massive) success of both “X” and “Pearl,” the trilogy-capper looks like it could become the biggest in the franchise yet. But there are still many trying to pinpoint exactly what style filmmaker Ti West is bringing to this film.
Continue reading ‘MaXXXine’: Ti West Explains How Paul Schrader, ‘Terminator,’ ‘Vice Squad’ & Giallo All Mix To Bring His Next Slasher To Life at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘MaXXXine’: Ti West Explains How Paul Schrader, ‘Terminator,’ ‘Vice Squad’ & Giallo All Mix To Bring His Next Slasher To Life at The Playlist.
- 5/20/2024
- by Martin Miller
- The Playlist
Ti West is channeling Paul Schrader for his trilogy ender “MaXXXine.” Oh, and “The Terminator.”
Writer/director West told Total Film that the 1985 Hollywood-set horror film is just as “hardcore” as Schrader’s filmography, with high concept tie-ins of “The Terminator” and “Vice Squad.” Plus, of course, what “X” film is complete without a hint of giallo?
“It’s poppy, but still grounded in more of a grittier ’80s than a shopping-mall ’80s,” West described his film. “You’re seeing the glamorous side of the movie business and the seedy side of Hollywood.”
West said “MaXXXine” has “a ‘Terminator’-like aesthetic to a Paul Schrader hardcore thing to ‘Vice Squad’ to giallo,” all mixed together.
“MaXXXine” is one of IndieWire’s most anticipated films of 2024, with Mia Goth reprising the role of adult-film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx for the latest franchise installment. Goth previously played Maxine in “X...
Writer/director West told Total Film that the 1985 Hollywood-set horror film is just as “hardcore” as Schrader’s filmography, with high concept tie-ins of “The Terminator” and “Vice Squad.” Plus, of course, what “X” film is complete without a hint of giallo?
“It’s poppy, but still grounded in more of a grittier ’80s than a shopping-mall ’80s,” West described his film. “You’re seeing the glamorous side of the movie business and the seedy side of Hollywood.”
West said “MaXXXine” has “a ‘Terminator’-like aesthetic to a Paul Schrader hardcore thing to ‘Vice Squad’ to giallo,” all mixed together.
“MaXXXine” is one of IndieWire’s most anticipated films of 2024, with Mia Goth reprising the role of adult-film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx for the latest franchise installment. Goth previously played Maxine in “X...
- 5/20/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
As the 77th Cannes Film Festival (May 14-25) arrives at its halfway point, here is THR executive editor of awards Scott Feinberg’s assessment of the awards prospects — at the Cannes closing ceremony and later in the fall — of the films that have screened at the fest so far.
The Two That Popped
One cannot know what the specific preferences and priorities of the Greta Gerwig-led main competition jury are, but one can categorically state that two competition films — both of which are so original and out-there that they have to be seen to be believed — have been particularly well received. Both garnered nine-minute standing ovations and rave reviews, including particular praise for their leading lady.
The first is The Substance, a body-horror flick from French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat that might be described as Sunset Blvd. meets Freaks, and an instant classic. Demi Moore, in a gutsy career-best turn...
The Two That Popped
One cannot know what the specific preferences and priorities of the Greta Gerwig-led main competition jury are, but one can categorically state that two competition films — both of which are so original and out-there that they have to be seen to be believed — have been particularly well received. Both garnered nine-minute standing ovations and rave reviews, including particular praise for their leading lady.
The first is The Substance, a body-horror flick from French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat that might be described as Sunset Blvd. meets Freaks, and an instant classic. Demi Moore, in a gutsy career-best turn...
- 5/20/2024
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Richard Gere and Uma Thurman in Paul Schrader’s Oh, Canada. Gere said: 'When actors look at their films you see your face and your energy at that particular time' Photo: Courtesy of Cannes Film Festival They first worked together some 45 years ago but now directors Richard Schrader and an actor who defined the Eighties Richard Gere have resurrected their collaboration.
Richard Gere: 'As the make-up was put on I saw myself a few years from now, assuming I live to the same ripe age as my father' Photo: Richard Mowe In Oh, Canada, presented in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival, Schrader pays tribute to his late friend, the novelist Russell Banks with Gere almost unrecognisable as a dying documentary filmmaker Leonard Fife setting the record straight at his home in Montreal, filmed by two of his former students and watched over by his wife (play by Uma Thurman...
Richard Gere: 'As the make-up was put on I saw myself a few years from now, assuming I live to the same ripe age as my father' Photo: Richard Mowe In Oh, Canada, presented in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival, Schrader pays tribute to his late friend, the novelist Russell Banks with Gere almost unrecognisable as a dying documentary filmmaker Leonard Fife setting the record straight at his home in Montreal, filmed by two of his former students and watched over by his wife (play by Uma Thurman...
- 5/19/2024
- by Richard Mowe
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
If you've ever watched any behind-the-scenes footage from "The Shining," you might remember Jack Nicholson working himself up into a frenzy prior to shooting the famous "Here's Johnny" scene. As poor Shelly Duvall quietly finds her way into the bathroom, Jack can be seen seething as he descends into the deranged mental space required for the scene. No wonder "The Shining" changed Shelly Duvall forever.
But while Nicholson's process for journeying to the outer edges of sanity involved jumping in place, repeating the words, "Come on!," and almost accidentally giving the Pa a concussion with a prop axe, not all actors follow that same method. We all know the punishing physical lengths to which Christian Bale goes in order to truly feel like the characters he portrays. As the actor told The Guardian, "I try to get as distant as possible. Otherwise, I can't do it. It's helpful not to look like yourself.
But while Nicholson's process for journeying to the outer edges of sanity involved jumping in place, repeating the words, "Come on!," and almost accidentally giving the Pa a concussion with a prop axe, not all actors follow that same method. We all know the punishing physical lengths to which Christian Bale goes in order to truly feel like the characters he portrays. As the actor told The Guardian, "I try to get as distant as possible. Otherwise, I can't do it. It's helpful not to look like yourself.
- 5/19/2024
- by Joe Roberts
- Slash Film
Paul Schrader is having a great time at Cannes, where the screenwriter/director is showcasing his latest film, ‘Oh, Canada‘. Speaking with IndieWire, Schrader revisited the pitch for a sequel to his seminal film with Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, Taxi Driver.
Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver/ Columbia Pictures
Robert De Niro had pitched an idea to Martin Scorsese and Paul Schrader, one that was immediately shot down. Schrader talked about how De Niro’s decisions were sometimes colored with the prospect of financial gains, which he opined could have also been the reason that De Niro wanted to make a sequel to the film.
Robert De Niro’s pitch for Taxi Driver 2 was the ‘worst f*cking idea’ Paul Schrader had ever heard Robert De Nero in The Irishman/ Netflix
Paul Schrader talked to IndieWire about how the pitch for the sequel came about, and what his ideas for the sequel were.
Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver/ Columbia Pictures
Robert De Niro had pitched an idea to Martin Scorsese and Paul Schrader, one that was immediately shot down. Schrader talked about how De Niro’s decisions were sometimes colored with the prospect of financial gains, which he opined could have also been the reason that De Niro wanted to make a sequel to the film.
Robert De Niro’s pitch for Taxi Driver 2 was the ‘worst f*cking idea’ Paul Schrader had ever heard Robert De Nero in The Irishman/ Netflix
Paul Schrader talked to IndieWire about how the pitch for the sequel came about, and what his ideas for the sequel were.
- 5/19/2024
- by Anuraag Chatterjee
- FandomWire
Writer of the 1976 Palme d’Or winner Taxi Driver, and having been in comp with Mishima (1985) and Patty Hearst (1988), this is Paul Schrader’s long-awaited return with might be the final film of his career in Oh, Canada.
This stars Richard Gere, Jacob Elordi, Uma Thurman, Victoria Hill and Michael Imperioli.
Gist: Based on the 2021 novel Foregone by Russell Banks, this delves into the life of a tormented writer on the brink of death, a Canadian-American leftist who fled to Canada to avoid the Vietnam War draft. Leonard Fife is a terminally ill writer and filmmaker who has agreed to have his final testament of his life filmed by documentary filmmakers Malcolm (Michael Imperioli) and Diana (Victoria Hill), but proves to be an unreliable narrator due to his failing and distorted memory.…...
This stars Richard Gere, Jacob Elordi, Uma Thurman, Victoria Hill and Michael Imperioli.
Gist: Based on the 2021 novel Foregone by Russell Banks, this delves into the life of a tormented writer on the brink of death, a Canadian-American leftist who fled to Canada to avoid the Vietnam War draft. Leonard Fife is a terminally ill writer and filmmaker who has agreed to have his final testament of his life filmed by documentary filmmakers Malcolm (Michael Imperioli) and Diana (Victoria Hill), but proves to be an unreliable narrator due to his failing and distorted memory.…...
- 5/18/2024
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Paul Schrader hit Cannes this weekend with Competition title Oh, Canada, reuniting him with American Gigolo star Richard Gere in the role of a terminally ill documentarian who reveals secrets as his life nears its end.
Lead producer David Gonzales says the fact that the film was ready for a Cannes splash was a miracle on a number of fronts.
Development began just 18 months ago after Schrader learned that his good friend, writer Russell Banks, was suffering from cancer.
Schrader, who previously adapted Banks’ novel Affliction to the big screen, felt compelled to make a new film based on Banks’ penultimate 2021 book Foregone, which the writer had originally wanted to title ‘Oh, Canada.’
“He said, ‘This is my next film, I can see the film in my head.’ We’re going back to the end of 2022,” says Gonzales, who secured the rights.
Banks died in January 2023 as Schrader was mid-screenplay.
Lead producer David Gonzales says the fact that the film was ready for a Cannes splash was a miracle on a number of fronts.
Development began just 18 months ago after Schrader learned that his good friend, writer Russell Banks, was suffering from cancer.
Schrader, who previously adapted Banks’ novel Affliction to the big screen, felt compelled to make a new film based on Banks’ penultimate 2021 book Foregone, which the writer had originally wanted to title ‘Oh, Canada.’
“He said, ‘This is my next film, I can see the film in my head.’ We’re going back to the end of 2022,” says Gonzales, who secured the rights.
Banks died in January 2023 as Schrader was mid-screenplay.
- 5/18/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
The cinema of Paul Schrader has always felt like a confessional, all those dark rooms and troubled men, the registered Swiftie’s own tortured poets department. The confessional edges closer to the form in his latest film Oh, Canada, an august adaptation of Russell Banks’ 2021 novel Foregone that tells of a famous documentary filmmaker at the end of his days, divulging secrets of his past to an interviewer’s head-on camera. Might the old Calvinist be looking for a little more absolution? When Banks, a friend since the director’s adaptation of Affliction, died in 2023, Schrader was coming to the tail end of his own series of health scares––these included everything from hospitalizations for long Covid to the retina detaching from his right eye during the filming of Master Gardener. “If I’m going to make a film about death,” he recently admitted thinking to himself at the time,...
- 5/18/2024
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
The Paul Schrader Renaissance began the moment “First Reformed” debuted to the director’s best reviews in at least 15 years, back in 2017. The spiritual trilogy formed around it — “The Card Counter” and “Master Gardener” — have fostered in a new generation’s mind this frankly narrow vision of what constitutes a Paul Schrader movie: men in rooms, pens across diaries, peculiar revenge plots.
It’s likely that audiences anticipating another drama in which a man’s profession comes dressed as the sick soul of America will be baffled by “Oh, Canada,” his newest feature now in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. It’s based on Russell Banks’ 2021 novel “Foregone.” Those well-acquainted with Schrader’s half-century of cinema may find themselves on the edge of bafflement with this film, which uses the last will and testament of documentary filmmaker Leonard Fife (Richard Gere) as a trickle-down device for 55 years of guilt,...
It’s likely that audiences anticipating another drama in which a man’s profession comes dressed as the sick soul of America will be baffled by “Oh, Canada,” his newest feature now in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. It’s based on Russell Banks’ 2021 novel “Foregone.” Those well-acquainted with Schrader’s half-century of cinema may find themselves on the edge of bafflement with this film, which uses the last will and testament of documentary filmmaker Leonard Fife (Richard Gere) as a trickle-down device for 55 years of guilt,...
- 5/18/2024
- by Nick Newman
- Indiewire
Diaries are written in secrecy, free-flowing thoughts anchored to the page as if the ink could stop memories from vanishing through the hands of time. Filmmaker Paul Schrader understands the lingering, often quiet desperation of journaling like few filmmakers do. From “Taxi Driver” to “Master Gardener,” the director’s work returns time and time to a man sitting by a desk with only an open journal, his words, and a small lamp for company.
Continue reading ‘Oh, Canada’ Review: Richard Gere & Jacob Elordi Are Brilliant In Paul Schrader’s Moving Contemplation Of Legacy [Cannes] at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘Oh, Canada’ Review: Richard Gere & Jacob Elordi Are Brilliant In Paul Schrader’s Moving Contemplation Of Legacy [Cannes] at The Playlist.
- 5/18/2024
- by Rafa Sales Ross
- The Playlist
Pieces of a Man: Schrader Explores Atonement in Toned Down Adaptation
Throughout his illustrious career as a director and screenwriter, Paul Schrader has specialized in crafting characters, most often men, wracked with guilt and anxiety, searching for forgiveness. His twenty-fourth feature, Oh, Canada seems a perfect fit, seeing as it’s all about a filmmaker on his deathbed getting one last desperate shot at expiation. The second novel by Russell Banks (who passed away in 2023) adapted by Schrader following 1997’s much darker Affliction, Schrader simplifies the book’s parameters to focus on the slippery, shifting landmines of memory. As its distressed subject pronounces, those with no future only have their past.…...
Throughout his illustrious career as a director and screenwriter, Paul Schrader has specialized in crafting characters, most often men, wracked with guilt and anxiety, searching for forgiveness. His twenty-fourth feature, Oh, Canada seems a perfect fit, seeing as it’s all about a filmmaker on his deathbed getting one last desperate shot at expiation. The second novel by Russell Banks (who passed away in 2023) adapted by Schrader following 1997’s much darker Affliction, Schrader simplifies the book’s parameters to focus on the slippery, shifting landmines of memory. As its distressed subject pronounces, those with no future only have their past.…...
- 5/18/2024
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Paul Schrader will shoot his next feature Non Compos Mentis in the autumn.
The veteran director revealed the details of the project while speaking at the Cannes Film Festival press conference for his latest film Oh, Canada.
”I’ve written a noir, [about] a kind of sexual obsession, called Non Compos Mentis,” he said, with the producer David Gonzales clarifying the title is Latin for ’An Unsound Mind’.
”[Gonzales] has most of the money for the next one already and we’re not even cast, we’re just down to the actors right now.”
Cinema is “up in the air”
The...
The veteran director revealed the details of the project while speaking at the Cannes Film Festival press conference for his latest film Oh, Canada.
”I’ve written a noir, [about] a kind of sexual obsession, called Non Compos Mentis,” he said, with the producer David Gonzales clarifying the title is Latin for ’An Unsound Mind’.
”[Gonzales] has most of the money for the next one already and we’re not even cast, we’re just down to the actors right now.”
Cinema is “up in the air”
The...
- 5/18/2024
- ScreenDaily
Paul Schrader revealed first details about his next feature project entitled Non Compos Mentis during a press conference Saturday for his Cannes Competition title Oh, Canada.
“I’ve written a noir, as a kind of a sexual obsession, called Non Compos Mentis about the stupid things men do for love,” he said.
The project will reunite him with Oh, Canada producer David Gonzales at Northern Lights, who said the project will shoot this fall.
“David has most money for the next one already and we’re not even cast, we just out to actors right now. So on this one we couldn’t get the money until we were cast, but now we’re getting it before we cast.”
Adapted from Russell Banks’ 2021 novel Foregone, Schrader’s Cannes Palme d’Or contender Oh, Canada stars Richard Gere as a famed, terminally ill documentary maker who reveals secrets from...
“I’ve written a noir, as a kind of a sexual obsession, called Non Compos Mentis about the stupid things men do for love,” he said.
The project will reunite him with Oh, Canada producer David Gonzales at Northern Lights, who said the project will shoot this fall.
“David has most money for the next one already and we’re not even cast, we just out to actors right now. So on this one we couldn’t get the money until we were cast, but now we’re getting it before we cast.”
Adapted from Russell Banks’ 2021 novel Foregone, Schrader’s Cannes Palme d’Or contender Oh, Canada stars Richard Gere as a famed, terminally ill documentary maker who reveals secrets from...
- 5/18/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Paul Schrader has long been known for his gruff personality, but he was in good spirits and slightly nostalgic during the Saturday press conference at the Cannes Film Festival for his latest film, Oh, Canada, where he also revealed his next film.
Schrader’s iconic team-up with Martin Scorsese, Taxi Driver, premiered at the festival, and the filmmaker has had several runs at the French fest since. This year’s Cannes sees the return of not only Schrader, but Francis Ford Coppola with Megalopolis and George Lucas, who will be on hand to receive an honorary Palme d’Or.
When asked if, at the time, he knew that he and the other directors that were dubbed “New Hollywood” were changing film forever, Schrader said bluntly: “Yes.”
He addressed that time of anxiety in the industry that saw many films failing at the box office. “When the late ’60s hit, studios...
Schrader’s iconic team-up with Martin Scorsese, Taxi Driver, premiered at the festival, and the filmmaker has had several runs at the French fest since. This year’s Cannes sees the return of not only Schrader, but Francis Ford Coppola with Megalopolis and George Lucas, who will be on hand to receive an honorary Palme d’Or.
When asked if, at the time, he knew that he and the other directors that were dubbed “New Hollywood” were changing film forever, Schrader said bluntly: “Yes.”
He addressed that time of anxiety in the industry that saw many films failing at the box office. “When the late ’60s hit, studios...
- 5/18/2024
- by Mia Galuppo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The unstoppable Paul Schrader, the 77-year-old auteur who just brought his latest movie “Oh, Canada” to Cannes, has announced his next project.
The director revealed he intends to start production this fall on “Non Compos Mentis,” a noir film he is currently writing. The title is derived from the Latin phrase meaning “unsound mind.” That’s not all the film is about, as Schrader say the project deals with “sexual obsession.”
“It’s about the stupid things men do for love,” Schrader elaborated on stage at the festival press conference for “Oh, Canada.” He and producer Daniel Gonzalez have already secured financing and are in the process of casting.
More to come…...
The director revealed he intends to start production this fall on “Non Compos Mentis,” a noir film he is currently writing. The title is derived from the Latin phrase meaning “unsound mind.” That’s not all the film is about, as Schrader say the project deals with “sexual obsession.”
“It’s about the stupid things men do for love,” Schrader elaborated on stage at the festival press conference for “Oh, Canada.” He and producer Daniel Gonzalez have already secured financing and are in the process of casting.
More to come…...
- 5/18/2024
- by Matt Donnelly
- Variety Film + TV
Paul Schrader had a special job on the set of his latest film, “Oh, Canada”: drawing on the jockstrap that Jacob Elordi wears in one of the Vietnam War drama’s pivotal scenes.
There’s a choice at the heart of “Oh, Canada,” when the fictional filmmaker Leonard Fife dodges the Vietnam draft and escapes to Canada. The script leaves breadcrumbs as to what exactly happens until very late in the film, but finally Elordi is seen reporting for an Army physical. He shows up in a jockstrap with “peace and love” written on the jock, surrounded by tiny flowers. He jitters and shakes and waves his arms flamboyantly. In character, Elordi is attempting to look as unstable as possible to avoid enlisting into military service.
At the Cannes Film Festival press conference for the film, Schrader revealed that he added a finishing touch to the jockstrap that Elordi...
There’s a choice at the heart of “Oh, Canada,” when the fictional filmmaker Leonard Fife dodges the Vietnam draft and escapes to Canada. The script leaves breadcrumbs as to what exactly happens until very late in the film, but finally Elordi is seen reporting for an Army physical. He shows up in a jockstrap with “peace and love” written on the jock, surrounded by tiny flowers. He jitters and shakes and waves his arms flamboyantly. In character, Elordi is attempting to look as unstable as possible to avoid enlisting into military service.
At the Cannes Film Festival press conference for the film, Schrader revealed that he added a finishing touch to the jockstrap that Elordi...
- 5/18/2024
- by Matt Donnelly and Ellise Shafer
- Variety Film + TV
Yorgos Lanthimos’ Kinds Of Kindness has landed top of Screen International’s Cannes jury grid with an average score of 2.4.
The triptych drama is the first film so far to receive a four (excellent), both from Le Meduza’s Anton Dolin and Screen’s own critic. Others were less convinced with Mathieu Macharet (France’s Le Monde) and Stephanie Zacharek (US Time) both giving it just one (poor).
Click on the jury grid above for the most up-to-date version.
Lanthimos has proved divisive on the jury grid before, in 2017 with The Killing Of A Sacred Deer which scored a 1.9 overall...
The triptych drama is the first film so far to receive a four (excellent), both from Le Meduza’s Anton Dolin and Screen’s own critic. Others were less convinced with Mathieu Macharet (France’s Le Monde) and Stephanie Zacharek (US Time) both giving it just one (poor).
Click on the jury grid above for the most up-to-date version.
Lanthimos has proved divisive on the jury grid before, in 2017 with The Killing Of A Sacred Deer which scored a 1.9 overall...
- 5/18/2024
- ScreenDaily
The Johnny Depp-directed film “Modì,” about Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani, has secured a distribution deal in Italy, where it will be released by emerging production/distribution player Be Water.
Above is a first-look image from the set of the film, which is now in post.
“Modì” stars Italy’s Riccardo Scamarcio as the bad boy painter and sculptor, who worked mainly in France and became famous for the groundbreaking modern style of his portraits and nudes. Al Pacino plays international art collector Maurice Gangnat. The “Modì” cast also comprises Antonia Desplat, Stephen Graham (“The Irishman”), Bruno Gouery (“The White Lotus”), Ryan McParland (“Halo”), and Sally Phillips (“Bridget Jones” trilogy).
“Modì” takes place in war-torn Paris during World War I over the course of 72 turbulent hours “that will become a turning point in his life, ultimately solidifying his reputation as an artistic legend,” according to the film’s provided synopsis.
Above is a first-look image from the set of the film, which is now in post.
“Modì” stars Italy’s Riccardo Scamarcio as the bad boy painter and sculptor, who worked mainly in France and became famous for the groundbreaking modern style of his portraits and nudes. Al Pacino plays international art collector Maurice Gangnat. The “Modì” cast also comprises Antonia Desplat, Stephen Graham (“The Irishman”), Bruno Gouery (“The White Lotus”), Ryan McParland (“Halo”), and Sally Phillips (“Bridget Jones” trilogy).
“Modì” takes place in war-torn Paris during World War I over the course of 72 turbulent hours “that will become a turning point in his life, ultimately solidifying his reputation as an artistic legend,” according to the film’s provided synopsis.
- 5/18/2024
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Paul Schrader may have found a trick for cheating death: Just make more movies. Amid some serious health struggles over the past few years, the 77-year-old auteur and screenwriting legend has entered one of his most prolific phases.
“Every time I’m getting ready to die, I have a new idea,” Schrader says. “Then I think, ‘Oh well, I guess I can’t die yet. I have to write this.’ ”
Over a recent five-year stretch, Schrader wrote and directed what he describes as an accidental trilogy — First Reformed (2017) with Ethan Hawke, The Card Counter (2021) with Oscar Isaac and Master Gardener (2022) with Joel Edgerton — with each film involving a fresh spin on the “man alone in a room” archetype he invented nearly 50 years ago with his script for Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976). Schrader is now back again with a new feature, Oh, Canada, co-starring Richard Gere, Uma Thurman, Michael Imperioli,...
“Every time I’m getting ready to die, I have a new idea,” Schrader says. “Then I think, ‘Oh well, I guess I can’t die yet. I have to write this.’ ”
Over a recent five-year stretch, Schrader wrote and directed what he describes as an accidental trilogy — First Reformed (2017) with Ethan Hawke, The Card Counter (2021) with Oscar Isaac and Master Gardener (2022) with Joel Edgerton — with each film involving a fresh spin on the “man alone in a room” archetype he invented nearly 50 years ago with his script for Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976). Schrader is now back again with a new feature, Oh, Canada, co-starring Richard Gere, Uma Thurman, Michael Imperioli,...
- 5/18/2024
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
by Cláudio Alves
Kinds Of Kindness (2024) Yorgos Lanthimos
After the uproar Megalopolis caused, day four at the Cannes Film Festival was bound to pale in comparison. Nevertheless, it was a busy time at the Croisette, with three Main Competition films making their bows. First was Emanuel Pârvu's Three Miles to the End of the World, which was thought to be a strong contender for the Queer Palm before being met with tepid reviews. Next was Yorgos Lanthimos' Kinds of Kindness, an anthological reunion between the director and his erstwhile writing partner, Efthymis Filippou. The well-reviewed picture marks their first collaboration since 2017. Finally, beloved auteur and Facebook nuisance Paul Schrader presented Oh, Canada, ruminating on mortality and regret.
Walking down memory lane into these directors' past work, let's consider a tryptic bound by themes of guilt. They're Pârvu's Mikado, Lanthimos' The Killing of a Sacred Deer, and Schrader's Light Sleeper…...
Kinds Of Kindness (2024) Yorgos Lanthimos
After the uproar Megalopolis caused, day four at the Cannes Film Festival was bound to pale in comparison. Nevertheless, it was a busy time at the Croisette, with three Main Competition films making their bows. First was Emanuel Pârvu's Three Miles to the End of the World, which was thought to be a strong contender for the Queer Palm before being met with tepid reviews. Next was Yorgos Lanthimos' Kinds of Kindness, an anthological reunion between the director and his erstwhile writing partner, Efthymis Filippou. The well-reviewed picture marks their first collaboration since 2017. Finally, beloved auteur and Facebook nuisance Paul Schrader presented Oh, Canada, ruminating on mortality and regret.
Walking down memory lane into these directors' past work, let's consider a tryptic bound by themes of guilt. They're Pârvu's Mikado, Lanthimos' The Killing of a Sacred Deer, and Schrader's Light Sleeper…...
- 5/18/2024
- by Cláudio Alves
- FilmExperience
Nicolas Cage soaked up the applause as his new trippy psychological thriller “The Surfer” scored a six-minute standing ovation at a Cannes Film Festival midnight screening on Friday night.
Cage appeared to be having a ball, beaming from ear to ear and waving across the room as cheers erupted around the Palais for the film, a wild, mind-bending adventure that sees the fan favorite hit the sort of deranged peaks not witnessed on screen since “Mandy.” At one point he took the mic to ask how to say “eat the rat” in French — a line from the film (and likely to become a meme) — roaring “mangez le rat!” to the delight of the crowd.
Cage also used the opportunity while on the mic and standing next to Thierry Fremaux to claim that, back in 2021, he’d phoned the Cannes director to ask if his drama “Pig” could premiere in at the festival.
Cage appeared to be having a ball, beaming from ear to ear and waving across the room as cheers erupted around the Palais for the film, a wild, mind-bending adventure that sees the fan favorite hit the sort of deranged peaks not witnessed on screen since “Mandy.” At one point he took the mic to ask how to say “eat the rat” in French — a line from the film (and likely to become a meme) — roaring “mangez le rat!” to the delight of the crowd.
Cage also used the opportunity while on the mic and standing next to Thierry Fremaux to claim that, back in 2021, he’d phoned the Cannes director to ask if his drama “Pig” could premiere in at the festival.
- 5/18/2024
- by Alex Ritman and Ellise Shafer
- Variety Film + TV
Illustrations by Maddie Fischer.As part of our Cannes 2024 coverage, we invited critics, filmmakers, and programmers to give their first impressions of the festival. Sign up for the Weekly Edit to receive exclusive reports from the Croisette straight to your inbox.Giovanni Marchini CamiaThe reconstruction of Napoléon, as seen by Abel Gance, was the first film to play at this year’s festival—after the Berlinale’s TinyHouse, this is symbolism at its most ready-made. Impossible to watch this inordinately glorious, inordinately chauvinistic film at Cannes without thinking of Thierry Frémaux, the festival world’s very own Napoleon, the man everyone loves to hate. As rumors of an impending labor strike and #MeToo bombshell crescendoed ahead of that evening’s opening ceremony, no image could have been more fitting than Napoleon braving a furious storm on a rickety fishing boat, a French flag fashioned into a sail as his only lifeline.
- 5/17/2024
- MUBI
Jacob Elordi Skips Cannes as Crying Paul Schrader Accepts 4-Minute Standing Ovation for ‘Oh, Canada’
Paul Schrader shed tears as his new film “Oh, Canada” earned a four-minute standing ovation at Cannes Film Festival on Friday night.
Jacob Elordi was notably absent from the premiere because he is filming Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein,” in which he stars as The Monster. After the ovation finished, Schrader addressed Elordi not being there, saying: “I’m very happy with Richard, Uma, Jake — not here with us –and it all worked out. Im very happy to be back here on the Croisette.”
Elordi, whose star continues to rise after acclaimed turns in “Saltburn” and “Priscilla,” made his Cannes debut last year in Sean Price Williams’ road movie “The Sweet East.”
The drama tells the life story of a troubled writer, Leonard Fife, who at the end of his life reflects on his decision to flee to Canada to avoid the Vietnam War draft. Richard Gere plays the present-day Leonard,...
Jacob Elordi was notably absent from the premiere because he is filming Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein,” in which he stars as The Monster. After the ovation finished, Schrader addressed Elordi not being there, saying: “I’m very happy with Richard, Uma, Jake — not here with us –and it all worked out. Im very happy to be back here on the Croisette.”
Elordi, whose star continues to rise after acclaimed turns in “Saltburn” and “Priscilla,” made his Cannes debut last year in Sean Price Williams’ road movie “The Sweet East.”
The drama tells the life story of a troubled writer, Leonard Fife, who at the end of his life reflects on his decision to flee to Canada to avoid the Vietnam War draft. Richard Gere plays the present-day Leonard,...
- 5/17/2024
- by Matt Donnelly, Ramin Setoodeh and Ellise Shafer
- Variety Film + TV
Paul Schrader’s Oh, Canada, the new drama that reunites the director with his American Gigalo star Richard Gere, had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival Friday night, where it was welcomed with a three-minute-plus standing ovation for Schrader and his team at the Grand Lumiere Theatre. With typical Canadian politeness, the crowd even applauded the film’s producers.
Before the premiere, Schrader and the cast of Oh, Canada, including Richard Gere, and Uma Thurman, but not Jacob Elordi, had climbed the red carpet steps up the Palais to the sounds of the Canadian national anthem. Among the famous faces in the audience at the theater was Nathalie Emmanuel.
While the creative team received a warm welcome, the film itself was less warmly received, with only polite applause and a perfunctory standing ovation for Schrader and his cast. But there was a collection of whoops and cheers, and at least one “bravo!
Before the premiere, Schrader and the cast of Oh, Canada, including Richard Gere, and Uma Thurman, but not Jacob Elordi, had climbed the red carpet steps up the Palais to the sounds of the Canadian national anthem. Among the famous faces in the audience at the theater was Nathalie Emmanuel.
While the creative team received a warm welcome, the film itself was less warmly received, with only polite applause and a perfunctory standing ovation for Schrader and his cast. But there was a collection of whoops and cheers, and at least one “bravo!
- 5/17/2024
- by Scott Roxborough and Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“How can so much suffering have no meaning?”
That’s a question posed by decorated documentary filmmaker Leonard Fife in Paul Schrader’s meandering ode to death, dying, aging, and regret, “Oh, Canada.” It’s inevitably one also felt by audiences who will be left bewildered by the Oscar-nominated filmmaker’s most experimental and alienating work in some time, which loses itself in the process.
With “Oh, Canada,” Schrader splices timelines, color palettes, and aspect ratios to tell Fife’s story as a now-revered nonfiction movie-maker who fled the United States in the late 1960s for Canada to avoid the Vietnam War draft. Schrader is a gifted filmmaker who has given us so much more than “First Reformed” and “The Card Counter,” the only movies audiences of late seem to remember him by. He’s not unfamiliar with unpacking a great and morally complicated artist’s work in wildly subversive...
That’s a question posed by decorated documentary filmmaker Leonard Fife in Paul Schrader’s meandering ode to death, dying, aging, and regret, “Oh, Canada.” It’s inevitably one also felt by audiences who will be left bewildered by the Oscar-nominated filmmaker’s most experimental and alienating work in some time, which loses itself in the process.
With “Oh, Canada,” Schrader splices timelines, color palettes, and aspect ratios to tell Fife’s story as a now-revered nonfiction movie-maker who fled the United States in the late 1960s for Canada to avoid the Vietnam War draft. Schrader is a gifted filmmaker who has given us so much more than “First Reformed” and “The Card Counter,” the only movies audiences of late seem to remember him by. He’s not unfamiliar with unpacking a great and morally complicated artist’s work in wildly subversive...
- 5/17/2024
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Cannes film festival
A dying director who fled from the US to Canada agrees to make a confessional film in Schrader’s fragmented and anticlimactic story
Muddled, anticlimactic and often diffidently performed, this oddly passionless new movie from Paul Schrader is a disappointment. It is based on the novel Foregone by Russell Banks (Schrader also adapted Banks’s novel Affliction in 1997) and reunites Schrader with Richard Gere, his star from American Gigolo. Though initially intriguing, it really fails to deliver the emotional revelation or self-knowledge that it appears to be leading up to. There are moments of intensity and promise; with a director of Schrader’s shrewdness and creative alertness, how could there not be? But the movie appears to circle endlessly around its own emotions and ideas without closing in.
The title is partly a reference to the national anthem of that nation, which is a place of freedom...
A dying director who fled from the US to Canada agrees to make a confessional film in Schrader’s fragmented and anticlimactic story
Muddled, anticlimactic and often diffidently performed, this oddly passionless new movie from Paul Schrader is a disappointment. It is based on the novel Foregone by Russell Banks (Schrader also adapted Banks’s novel Affliction in 1997) and reunites Schrader with Richard Gere, his star from American Gigolo. Though initially intriguing, it really fails to deliver the emotional revelation or self-knowledge that it appears to be leading up to. There are moments of intensity and promise; with a director of Schrader’s shrewdness and creative alertness, how could there not be? But the movie appears to circle endlessly around its own emotions and ideas without closing in.
The title is partly a reference to the national anthem of that nation, which is a place of freedom...
- 5/17/2024
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Paul Schrader’s 1999 adaptation of novelist Russell Banks’ Affliction, led by scorching performances from Nick Nolte and James Coburn, was an unsettlingly bleak meeting of two writers who share a fascination with conflicted morality and complicated relationships pushed to dark extremes. But Schrader’s return to the late author’s work, this time the 2021 novel Foregone, yields fewer rewards. For a film about big themes like mortality, memory, truth and redemption, Oh, Canada feels both slight and stubbornly page-bound, too unsatisfyingly fleshed out to give its actors meat to chew on.
Published two years before Banks’ death in early 2023, the book is an intimate portrait of a man contemplating his legacy while approaching the end of his life. It’s easy to see what drew Schrader to the story, given his own pandemic health scares and the diagnosis of his wife, the actress Mary Beth Hurt, with Alzheimer’s. But...
Published two years before Banks’ death in early 2023, the book is an intimate portrait of a man contemplating his legacy while approaching the end of his life. It’s easy to see what drew Schrader to the story, given his own pandemic health scares and the diagnosis of his wife, the actress Mary Beth Hurt, with Alzheimer’s. But...
- 5/17/2024
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Straying from the hotheaded “Taxi Driver” style that has dominated much of his career, Paul Schrader pays ruminative and respectful tribute to his late friend, novelist Russell Banks, who gave the writer-director the raw material for one of his best films, “Affliction” — and now, for one of his best films in years. Adapted from Banks’ “Foregone” (and given the title the author told Schrader he wanted for the book), “Oh, Canada” presents a dying artist’s final testimony as a multifaceted film-within-a-film, honoring Banks while also revealing so many of Schrader’s own thoughts on mortality.
Fighting a long, painful bout with cancer, documentary filmmaker Leonard Fife has scores of admirers and a shelf full of awards. As the movie opens, two former students, Malcolm (Michael Imperioli) and Diana (Victoria Hill), arrive at their mentor’s Montreal home and proceed to set up a unique camera rig. It’s a...
Fighting a long, painful bout with cancer, documentary filmmaker Leonard Fife has scores of admirers and a shelf full of awards. As the movie opens, two former students, Malcolm (Michael Imperioli) and Diana (Victoria Hill), arrive at their mentor’s Montreal home and proceed to set up a unique camera rig. It’s a...
- 5/17/2024
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Hard to believe it has been 44 years since Paul Schrader and star Richard Gere last worked together on 1980’s seminal American Gigolo, a film that became not just a keystone in Gere’s celebrated career but also one for one Schrader’s as one of his earliest directorial credits. Of course he has written some of the great screenplays, particularly in his collaborations with Martin Scorsese on Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ and Taxi Driver. But it is what interests him now a half century later as a writer-director that continues to fascinate.
In recent years that has included insular works like The Card Counter, Master Gardener and the critically acclaimed First Reformed. Now he has returned to more of what he labels a “mosaic,” in this case a movie made up of pieces of a life put under a cinematic microscope at different periods, all moving in...
In recent years that has included insular works like The Card Counter, Master Gardener and the critically acclaimed First Reformed. Now he has returned to more of what he labels a “mosaic,” in this case a movie made up of pieces of a life put under a cinematic microscope at different periods, all moving in...
- 5/17/2024
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
Above: 1980 Japanese poster for Apocalypse Now. Design by Eiko Ishioka, artwork by Haruo Takino.With Francis Ford Coppola’s long-gestated Megalopolis having premiered yesterday at Cannes, it's a good time to look back at the posters from his 60-year-long career. The only problem is that many posters for his films are either too well known or nothing to write home about. Like Coppola’s career itself, there are peaks and valleys—one of my very first posts for Notebook, almost exactly fifteen years ago, was about the gorgeous design for The Rain People (1969)—but a career retrospective of his posters seems like it might result in less than the sum of its parts. Yet of all his posters there are three rare Japanese designs that have always stood out as utterly extraordinary: two for Apocalypse Now (1979) and one for Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992).I’ve always seen these posters attributed to Eiko Ishioka,...
- 5/17/2024
- MUBI
Martin Scorsese is widely regarded as the greatest living filmmaker of modern cinema. But like a modest director, Scorsese has long credited his success to his collaborative partnership with Thelma Schoonmaker, whom he considers the greatest living film editor. For over five decades, Schoonmaker has been the mastermind behind the editing room, shaping Scorsese’s vision into cinematic masterpieces.
Martin Scorsese at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival 2024 | credit: Harald Krichel/Wikimedia Commons
Scorsese-Schoonmaker collaboration has given birth to the most iconic films in history, including Raging Bull, Goodfellas, and more. However, despite their celebrated legacy that won Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker several accolades, their triumphant moment at the 1981 Academy Awards was tinged with sadness.
Martin Scorsese was Snubbed at the Oscars for Raging Bull
Acclaimed filmmaker Martin Scorsese is often known for pushing the boundaries of filmmaking with his iconic vision and spectacular art. But a major part...
Martin Scorsese at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival 2024 | credit: Harald Krichel/Wikimedia Commons
Scorsese-Schoonmaker collaboration has given birth to the most iconic films in history, including Raging Bull, Goodfellas, and more. However, despite their celebrated legacy that won Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker several accolades, their triumphant moment at the 1981 Academy Awards was tinged with sadness.
Martin Scorsese was Snubbed at the Oscars for Raging Bull
Acclaimed filmmaker Martin Scorsese is often known for pushing the boundaries of filmmaking with his iconic vision and spectacular art. But a major part...
- 5/17/2024
- by Krittika Mukherjee
- FandomWire
Martin Scorsese is acknowledged for his multiple collaborations with two of Tinseltown’s finest leading men, Leonardo DiCaprio & Robert De Niro. As giants in their field, they’ve individually contributed to Scorsese with masterful performances that have shaken audiences and critics alike.
Yet, having already gifted us cinematic treasures like Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, Scorsese once found himself at a harrowing crossroads. Is a masterpiece really born out of a personal crisis? Well, the answer lies in Scorsese’s own phoenix-like rise from the ashes of adversity, as he faced a dire period marred by substance abuse, depression, and the chilly reception of his bold musical New York, New York.
Leonardo DiCaprio & Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon/Paramount Pictures
It took a hospital bed realization and the profound intervention of his artistic compatriot, Robert De Niro, to channel his turbulent experience into the creation of Raging Bull.
Yet, having already gifted us cinematic treasures like Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, Scorsese once found himself at a harrowing crossroads. Is a masterpiece really born out of a personal crisis? Well, the answer lies in Scorsese’s own phoenix-like rise from the ashes of adversity, as he faced a dire period marred by substance abuse, depression, and the chilly reception of his bold musical New York, New York.
Leonardo DiCaprio & Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon/Paramount Pictures
It took a hospital bed realization and the profound intervention of his artistic compatriot, Robert De Niro, to channel his turbulent experience into the creation of Raging Bull.
- 5/17/2024
- by Siddhika Prajapati
- FandomWire
Update: In his first mainstream television interview in years (excerpted by THR), Kevin Spacey sat down with Chris Cuomo on NewsNation to address what’s being seen as resistance (by some) to his return to acting. While he acknowledges those who have supported him, such as Neeson and Stone, he blames fear for the fact that many have only reached out to him privately rather than publically. “But there are also people that I’ve spoken to who, they love me, they believe in me. They’ve stood with me in private… but they’re afraid to stand up. And I’ve been very fortunate that people have been honest with me about that. And I think that’s a shame, that we’ve come to a place as a society where people are afraid to say what they believe and what they feel because they’re afraid they’re going to get canceled too.
- 5/17/2024
- by Kevin Fraser
- JoBlo.com
Is Francis Ford Coppola’s controversial magnum opus “Megalopolis” any good?
The two hour and 20 minute dystopian drama certainly divided the audience at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday night with its collision course of shocking scenes: a doctored sex tape featuring Adam Driver, Shia Labeouf in drag playing a Trumpian figure and Aubrey Plaza dominating her way through a slew of men.
But there was still a huge amount of respect for iconic director Coppola, who received a four-minute standing ovation upon entering the room. After the credits rolled — which included a tribute to his late wife Eleanor — and the standing ovation began, Coppola hugged Driver and Giancarlo Esposito and got emotional as he made a speech dedicating the film to hope and family.
“Thank you all so much. It is so impossible to find words to tell you how I feel,” Coppola said, then introducing his family members in the audience.
The two hour and 20 minute dystopian drama certainly divided the audience at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday night with its collision course of shocking scenes: a doctored sex tape featuring Adam Driver, Shia Labeouf in drag playing a Trumpian figure and Aubrey Plaza dominating her way through a slew of men.
But there was still a huge amount of respect for iconic director Coppola, who received a four-minute standing ovation upon entering the room. After the credits rolled — which included a tribute to his late wife Eleanor — and the standing ovation began, Coppola hugged Driver and Giancarlo Esposito and got emotional as he made a speech dedicating the film to hope and family.
“Thank you all so much. It is so impossible to find words to tell you how I feel,” Coppola said, then introducing his family members in the audience.
- 5/16/2024
- by Ellise Shafer
- Variety Film + TV
Filmmaking was the domain of Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese before Joe and Anthony Russo turned it into a family affair. How? The director of Taxi Driver, 81, has worked on almost every movie in which his family was involved. Catherine Scorsese, his late mother, was one of his closest collaborators and made appearances in several of her son’s films.
Her most famous role, however, is that of Mrs. DeVito (Tommy’s mother) in the Robert De Niro starrer film Goodfellas. And Scorsese once shared a cute little fact about this cameo. Having said that, even though it is unquestionably a superbly made film, one of its most memorable scenes was still largely improvised.
Martin Scorsese at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival | image: Wikimedia Commons/Siebb
Indeed, the dinner scene with Catherine Scorsese is unquestionably hilarious in this biographical crime drama film, and to make the scene even better, she improvised most part of it.
Her most famous role, however, is that of Mrs. DeVito (Tommy’s mother) in the Robert De Niro starrer film Goodfellas. And Scorsese once shared a cute little fact about this cameo. Having said that, even though it is unquestionably a superbly made film, one of its most memorable scenes was still largely improvised.
Martin Scorsese at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival | image: Wikimedia Commons/Siebb
Indeed, the dinner scene with Catherine Scorsese is unquestionably hilarious in this biographical crime drama film, and to make the scene even better, she improvised most part of it.
- 5/16/2024
- by Siddhika Prajapati
- FandomWire
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.