New High-Rise Poster

Manuel here. Can it really be true that we haven’t yet discussed High-Rise in any depth here at The Film Experience? For yes, while we’re all avowed actressexuals we sometimes do follow certain actors near and far (take Mr. Ruffalo who were just discussing). Enter Tom Hiddleston, the greatest hat actor of our generation. The fan favorite Marvel actor has yet to find a property that helps him break out of his Loki role: Crimson Peak had its fans but it wasn’t the hit (or the cult fave) many thought it could be; I Saw the Light looks to join the long list of forgettable biopics, and Only Lovers Left Alive was a critical hit (it's so good!) but barely made a blip in mainstream moviegoers’ radars ($1.9 million gross).

While High-Rise, Ben Wheatley’s filmed adaptation of the J.G. Ballard allegorical novel about class got sort of eviscerated at TIFF (“an ambitious failure,” with “aberrant creative visions”), its marketing department is revving its engines and doing a damn good job of piquing our interest.

After some gorgeous teaser one-sheets they’ve just released the final poster and it’s beautifully retro and modern at the same time. (Much better than those eye-soars we looked at for those other 2016 releases last week at least!) And really, how could you go wrong with Hiddlestone in a slick suit, Luke Evans in a pornstache, and Sienna Miller looking like Kate Beckinsale? That’s to say nothing of the stylized trailer which, yes, has your fair share of naked Tom to entice you. Seriously, that minute and fifteen seconds all but call out for a Hit Me With Your Best Shot, so full of eye-catching shots, from Tom in that mirrored elevator, to that slo-mo air stewardesses dance break. Take a look for yourself:

But what say you? Any Ballard fans looking forward to High-Rise, if only to see Elisabeth Moss on the big screen?

6 Days til Oscar. Trivia Party

We're less than a week from Hollywood's High Holy Night. Are you excited yet?
For today's trivia party we'll look at the only people to win exactly six Oscars. Four men. It's always men (sigh). Only 11 people have won more Oscars than these four men. I did not include confusing cases like Visual FX guru Dennis Murren -- IMDb argues exactly 6 but that depends on how you count them since his prizes are many and a confusing jumble of technical achievements, special Oscars, and regular competitive statues. (Unfortunately I couldn't find photographs of the set decorators) 

Gordon HollingsheadGORDON HOLLINGSHEAD (1892-1952)
This producer won more Oscars in the short film categories than anyone other than the legendary Walt Disney and Frederick Quimby (of Tom & Jerry fame) but he won them for live action films. His first Oscar, though, was in the inaguaral year (1933) of a category called "Best Assistant Director" which the Academy cancelled just a few years later. 

THOMAS LITTLE (1886-1985)
This set decorator, originally from Ogden Utah, nearly made it to 99 years of age but he quit the business in the 1950s. He won six Oscars in the Production Design category (formerly Best Art Direction) from How Green Was My Valley (1941), This Above All (1942), My Gal Sal (1942), The Song of Bernadette (1943)*, Wilson (1944), and Anna and the King of Siam (1946). His last nomination was for Viva Zapata! (1952) and he retired from the business the next year.

WALTER M SCOTT (1906-1989)
Another set decorator! Walter M Scott was originally from Ohio and worked on close to 300 films in his very long career. His Oscars came from The Robe (1953), The King and I (1956), The Diary of Anne Frank (1959), Cleopatra (1963), Fantastic Voyage (1966) and Hello, Dolly! (1969)

BILLY WILDER (1906-2002)
The mega talented ridiculously versatile writer/director/producer helmed so many classics it's rather mind boggling including but not limited to: Ninotchka (1939), Double Indemnity (1944), Sabrina (1954), and Some Like It Hot (1959). His six Oscars came for only three films though: 2 Oscars for The Lost Weekend (1945), 1 Oscar for Sunset Blvd (1950), and 3 Oscars for The Apartment (1960). He later was honored with the Irving Thalberg award. 

Do you think anyone in your lifetime is going to become a six time winner?
The closest to achieving this currently is John Williams with 5 Oscars. He's mostly retired now but if he wins for his score for The Force Awakens, he joins this very small club. He hasn't won since Schindler's List (1993) despite constant nominations since then. Iñárritu, who currently has 3, will almost be in this club IF he wins Pic/Director this year for The Revenant, and the following working artists have 4: Clint Eastwood, Woody Allen, the Coen brothers, Milena Canonero in costume design and Nick Park in animation. If Sandy Powell wins for either Carol or Cinderella this year in Costume Design she'll join the 4 Oscar club. 

*If Emmanuel Lubezki wins his 3rd consecutive Oscar in cinematography he'll be the first to do so in that particular category but he won't be the first person to achieve it in any craft category since Thomas Little did it in art direction in the 40s (and possibly other people have done it elsewhere, too).

Review: Creepy Puritans and "The Witch"

Though we'd already seen The Witch at festivals I sent a friend to see it this weekend, a non-horror guy, to see if he'd like it. Meet Eric Blume. - Editor

The Witch debuted last January at Sundance and finally got a wide release via A24 this weekend.  It’s borderline shocking that this movie is being treated like a Hollywood horror movie, because it feels more like a foreign film, with the same essential disdain of fanatical religiosity that’s usually reserved for something like Cristian Mingiu’s great 2012 film Beyond the Hills.  And in tone, it’s thoroughly austere:  we’re thrown into the 17th century setting with as much reverence and severity as we are into the 19th century world of The Revenant. I read somewhere that the latter was tough to shoot… The Witch must have been so, too, with everyone making a lot less money to be miserable.

The plot centers around a Puritan family who is banished from their community and forced to move to an area bordered by an ominous-looking forest.  In the movie’s first ten minutes, the family newborn is snatched up by something living in that forest, and the family unravels from there.  It’s a contained universe from which Eggers gets maximum tension, putting a slow squeeze on you from the start and never quite letting go.  

The film plays beautifully off of how incredibly creepy the Puritans were.  But Eggers doesn’t stop there and also harnesses what's creepy about the woods (specifically, their insulation); farm animals (their seeming placidity); and twins (everything).  He even conjures memories of how creepy Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is.  The Puritanism is the front-and-center text, but the puritan (small p) is the subtext, and Eggers puts the characters’ guilt, shame, confusion, and marriage to sin into a continuous wash cycle.  The family dynamics feel true and perverse, and the performances he captures from all six actors are whoppers.  Lead Anya Taylor-Joy, who plays the oldest daughter, has the baby/sinner face of a young Michelle Williams and carries the movie with complete authority.

Visually, the movie looks as one might expect, with the drained-color palette that’s popular in non-Puritan horror movies.  But early in the picture, Eggers and his cinematographer Jarin Blaschke use streaks of daylight on the actors that due the period costumes occasionally recalls a Vermeer painting, without being self-conscious about it.  The filmmaking team seems to have made The Witch with their hearts in their throat, and their full-throttle approach gives the movie a genuine force.  It’s not a major picture, but the debut of perhaps a major talent.  Eggers comes at the film not just to scare you, but to make you feel dread in the best sense.  The culmination at the end, while true to its horror roots, has a release with a surprisingly exultant comic edge to it.  Eggers has a nice sick streak.

Did you see The Witch this weekend? Sound off in the comments. (Previous posts on The Witch)

Box Office As Told By Animal Emojis

01. $55 million (cumulative $235.3)

02. $12.5 million (cumulative $117.1)

 

03. $11.8 million (new!)

04. $8.6 million (new)

05. $8.2 million (cumulative $31.7)

06. $7.2 million (new)

07. $5.5 million (cum. $23.7)

08. $3.8 million (cumulative $921.6)

09. $3.8 million (cumulative $165.1)

10. $2.6 million (cumulative $26.1)

What did you see this weekend? I went to The Witch again and it was just as good as I remembered from TIFF.

But let's go from the great to the terrible. When was the last time you chanced upon something truly awful? I ask this because last night, bone tired, and flipping channels I came across The Crow: City of Angels (1996) in its opening scene. I had never seen it and for a minute I mistook it for The Crow: Salvation (2000) which I have also never seen and thought to myself  'Self, hey, watch a few minutes since Kiki Dunst is in this' About 20 minutes later, I turned it off, jaw long since acclimated to floor. Every single scene was worst than the last. It was truly incompetent and absurd and mine eyes had witnessed some of the most atrocious acting ever committed to celluloid.

Berlin: Fire at Sea Wins the Golden Bear

 Amir Soltani is covering the Berlin International Film Festival.

The Berlinale officially closes today. Although we’re not yet finished with our coverage – a couple of interviews still to come – it’s the perfect time to look back and discuss the festival’s awards. In my review of Gianfranco Rosi’s exquisite new film, Fire at Sea, I noted that it would be a shock for the film to leave the Berlinale empty-handed. Lo and behold, the festival’s jury, headed by Meryl Streep, agreed with the sentiment, and rightly awarded the competition’s best film with the Golden Bear.

The festival’s unofficial theme – repeated across press releases and around the festival hub – was refugees and immigrants. Much as Rosi’s impressive constructed, morally compelling and profoundly moving film might have benefited from that, however, it was hard to ignore the fact that its reception by critics and audiences simply towered above any other film playing in any program in Berlin. The theory among critics was that if another film were to win, it would be Mia Hansen-Løve’s L’Avenir would be it. With critics near-unanimously calling it the director’s best work yet, and with four women on a jury of seven, the Isabel Huppert vehicle was likely to find favour, and indeed it nabbed the best director prize. [More...]

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