NYFF: Luca Marinelli is "Martin Eden"

Murtada Elfadl reporting from the New York Film Festival

How does a mercenary go about feeding off others? In particular an emotional mercenary. One who feeds on all those around him, particularly women, so that he can grow and thrive. Such is Martin Eden the eponymous character in Pietro Marcello's film which recently won TIFF's Platform award and the Volpi Cup in Venice for Best Actor. The film starts when Martin (Luca Marinelli) saves a young man from a bully and is taken in by his bourgeois family. At the time he is an uneducated labourer who gets by doing small jobs...

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Thoughts I had... while staring at new movie posters

You know how this works. Thoughts as they come without self-editing...

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NYFF: Kelly Reichardt's "First Cow"

Jason Adams reporting from the NYFF which opens tomorrow

First Cow is the sort of blunt title that you immediately have a bit of a chuckle with when you picture somebody speaking it at the theater's box office -- "Two tickets for First Cow, please!" (I'd love for somebody to program a double feature with Her Smell just for such whimsy. "I came for First Cow but I stayed for Her Smell.") It's just this sort of bluntness that sticks and that director Kelly Reichardt (Wendy & Lucy, Certain Women) lovingly specializes in. A first cow is what we are promised and a first cow is what we get, dagnabit.

Reichardt is nothing if not a documentarian of practicality and face value -- as in both that she sees the value in staring at faces, and in that things being what they seem to be is never boring to her. Her camera is always fascinated by ordinary people doing ordinary things, and under her eye the ordinary magnifies, finding itself extraordinary...

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International Feature Film Oscar List... we're almost there!

Trine Dyrholm seduces her stepson in Denmark's submission "Queen of Hearts"

Countries have until October 1st to submit their representing film to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Though there's one week left, we now have practically the whole list with 82 pictures announcing (see the charts and the letterboxd list) Last year the list was  87 pictures long and the record is 92 which was in 2017 so we'll probably see a slightly longer list when the Academy officially publishes it. Usually one or two films will mysteriously drop out or be replaced that were previously announced, too. So it's not official until it's official.

Do we talk about this category too much at TFE? Maybe so but we're into it. After the jump, 10 entries you can see early if you try and the 9 newest submissions.

The latest entries...

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Over & Overs: Sugar & Spice (2001)

By Spencer Coile 

Growing up, there was no place more sacred than my local Blockbuster. I remember scouring the walls on a Friday night, searching the aisles to find the right movie to take home that weekend. At times, I knew exactly what I wanted, but there were other times when I walked in clueless and would let the cover art persuade me. I would always rent just one and consume it multiple times throughout the weekend - especially if it was a movie I loved. 

2001 was when, as a 9 year-old, I started taking film seriously. I would rent the “classics” and learn about foreign cinema. However, one night, I noticed a peculiar looking DVD cover in the new movie section - one that featured a collection of high school cheerleaders with hideous doll masks robbing a bank. It looked like careless fun, and I was instantly compelled to rent it. It was then my love for Sugar & Spice was born....

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