The Film Experience™ was created by Nathaniel R. All material herein is written by our team. (This site is not for profit but for an expression of love for cinema & adjacent artforms.)
More after the jump including a perfect Nicole Kidman FYC, Cyrano, Screenplay truths, Honorary Oscars, Barry Keoghan, and Laine Kazan's amazing pipes (we had no idea)...
The annual Berlinale proved to be yet another excellent film festival for female filmmakers. France's legendary auteur Claire Denis (Beau Travail, White Material, 35 Shots of Run) took Best Director for her latest Both Sides of the Blade (pictured above) which stars two incredible French titans of acting, Vincent Lindon and Juliette Binoche. This is Denis' very first prize at one of the Big Three European festivals if you can believe it. The top prize of the festival, the Golden Bear, went to rising Catalan filmmaker Carla Simón (Summer 1993) for her ensemble drama Alcaras about a family who may lose their farm.
Complete list of winners after the jump and we do expect at least a couple of them to pop up in next year's International Feature Film Oscar race since the buzz often starts at Berlin for some entries to that category...
Stewart and DeBose at the world premieres of their movies in 2021
This year, we saw two openly queer women receive first time nominations in the Academy’s acting categories. Famously, the Academy rarely nominates openly LGBTQ performers while often honoring straight actors for playing queer roles, something that was considered “brave” until shockingly recently. But how have out queer performers fared in the past?
If like me you've been hanging on every miniscule drop of news regarding South Korean masterpiece-maker Park Chan-wook's next film over the past six long, long years since The Handmaiden came out -- the film's titled Decision To Leave and it stars Lust, Caution powerhouse Tang Wei and it's been in some state of being filmed for the past two full years -- then consider today's random Park-related gift a gallon of delicious water in the desert. It doesn't have to do with that movie, but it is it's own worthwhile thing -- Apple commissioned Park to shoot a short 21-minute film on an iPhone as part of a series they're doing (selling phones, natch), and he came up with "Life is But a Dream," a martial-arts fantasy horror musical (yes, all of that) that stars the terrific Kim Ok-vin, previously so killer in his 2009 vampire flick Thirst. We love a reunion! Especially with talents this fine. The entire short's online now, watch:
This is actually the second time Park's made a short film for Apple on a phone -- in 2011 he directed a thirty-minute short titled "Night Fishing" which you can also watch right here. That won the Golden Bear for Best Short. Next up for Park -- after Decision To Leave, I mean -- is an HBO limited series titled The Sympathizer, an adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book which will apparently star Robert Downey Jr. in multiple roles, which all sounds very Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove to me.The lead, described as "a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy," has not been cast yet. I'd ask for casting suggestions but I have to imagine that the acting pool for "half-French half-Vietnemese" is smaller than most and they'll probably end up going with an unknown?
We've revived the long dormant "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" club and kicking us off is Guillermo del Toro's Nightmare Alley which is up for four Oscars including Cinematography. Each week anyone who would like to join is welcome to post their choice for the chosen film's best shot. We'll add more Nightmare Alley shots if any more come in.
Click on these "Best Shots" to see why these players chose it...
Saturday, February 19, 2022 at 11:42AM 
