Review: A Fantastic Woman
This is a cross-post with Third Coast Review. It’s often said that film is the most collaborative of arts. It takes a village, so to speak, to create ninety minutes of story and visuals that move us, inspire us, scare us, entertain us. When everything comes together seamlessly, no one aspect of the film overshadows any other. There are those cases, of course, where a certain element of the production trumps all others. Sometimes it’s the score that soars over every scene, or the cinematography that breathtakingly captures a world on screen.
Watch This: The Salesman
For years promoting the U.S. releases of foreign films, again and again I heard them described as “quiet.” Quiet and compelling. Quiet and taut. Quiet and affecting. It’s no wonder so many worthy imports fail to reach a large audience. Who wants to spend two hours watching a lot of quietness – which is to say, a lot of nothing – on screen? Which is why, even though it is in many ways, I will not describe Asghar Farhadi’s arresting new drama The Salesman as quiet. Yes, it employs more than one long stretch of dialogue-free action, and yes, the power of the film is in its nuances, the reaction…
Watch This: BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR
It happened this week: Blue is the Warmest Color hit Netflix streaming. I’ve already written how moving I found this film, what a compelling performance Adele Exarchopoulos delivers. No matter. The news that the film is now streaming on Netflix merits mentioning it yet again. The film didn’t get any recognition at the Oscars. The rumor I read was that France didn’t submit it as their Best Foreign Language pick because the US distributor thought they could finagle nominations in the main categories (Picture, Actress, etc.). Which certainly isn’t unheard of (Life is Beautiful), but unfortunately didn’t pan out. In the waning days of winter, I can’t recommend hunkering down for…
Queue This
When I try to tell people what I do, I typically have to start at the beginning. Something like… “A filmmaker makes a movie. That filmmaker wants people to see the movie. We buy the movie and release it across a bunch of different platforms – the filmmaker gets paid, and people see the movie. Win win.” The next question people usually ask is “Do I know any of your movies?” As we’re one of the more limited players on the studio scene, the answer is probably not. But that’s just because we haven’t had this conversation yet. Chances are, our films are more available than you think – you…
