Venice 2023: Mongolia's "City of Wind" and Michael Mann's "Ferrari"

by Elisa Giudici

"City of Wind"

The first surprise in Venice, City of Wind, was a delightful one. It's incredibly rare to come across a Mongolian film, so I made sure to set aside 104 minutes for a teen romance and shamanic party time adventure;xTime well spent! Keep an eye on this title for both the Orizzonti Palmares and the Best International Movie Oscar race. And speaking of Oscar hopefuls, Ferrari also pulled up on the Lido...

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How Had I Never Seen... "The Wind Rises"?

by Cláudio Alves

Hayao Miyazaki has been announcing his retirement for over a quarter century, each new project since Princess Mononoke received like a potential swan song. Such is the case of his latest flick, the enigmatic How Do You Live?, retitled The Boy and the Heron for the Anglophone market. After a lead-up to release that saw no promo beyond the poster, the film was finally seen by the Japanese public, enjoying its big opening last week. And yet, few folks are keen on sharing details about the animated project, including the narrative's basic premise. While the rest of the world waits for an opportunity to glimpse Miyazaki's latest "last" picture, it's an excellent time to watch the not-so-final career-capper that came before, which, to my great shame, I had never seen. 

This July, The Wind Rises celebrates its 10th anniversary, something worth celebrating as we prepare to see another auteur's exploration of an inventor whose efforts resulted in mass death during WWII. Not that Miyazaki's biopic of engineer Jiro Horikoshi, whose fighter designs defined Japanese air force in the 30s and 40s, is attempting the same IMAX-sized scale as Nolan's Oppenheimer…

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The great James Ivory is getting a documentary!

by Nathaniel R

Image credit: Frazer Harrison at Getty ImagesThose of you who have read The Film Experience for a long time know that we're huge fans of 94 year old living legend director James Ivory. I've personally interviewed him (a total dream) and we've done a deep retrospective dive on his 1986 classic A Room With a View. and talked about many of his other films too like Howards End, Call Me By Your Name, and Remains of the Day. Now comes word that this master is getting the biographical documentary feature treatment from Christopher Manning, who previously directed award-winning shorts in the UK. 

The film, currently in production, will be called James Ivory: In Search of Love and Beauty. It follows Ivory's life from his youth to his rise to international acclaim.  

A bit more from the press release...

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Split Decision: "The Fabelmans"

No two people feel the same exact way about any film. Thus, Team Experience is pairing up to debate the merits of each of the big awards season movies this year. Here’s Ben Miller and Eurocheese to argue over The Fabelmans

EUROCHEESE: Ben, I've never been a huge Spielberg defender, so here's my chance! I was bound to see The Fabelmans through rose-colored glasses because I saw its glowing reception with Steven Spielberg and John Williams in person at the AFI Festival.  Even so, scene after scene landed with me and I left the theater smiling ear-to-ear. I'm curious to hear what didn't land with you...

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Review: "Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody" Is a Lovable Mess

By: Christopher James

No one loves their cliches more than the biopic genre. However, no music biopic has blown through every cliche with such quick and reckless abandon as Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody. That’s not necessarily an insult.

Few pop culture icons loom as large as Whitney Houston, “The Voice,” who holds the record for seven consecutive number one singles atop the Billboard Top 100. By virtue of also being a modern celebrity, most people have some concept of Houston. Thus, the biopic spends less time educating people on who Whitney Houston is. In fact, it’s a crash course through her Wikipedia. Unfortunately, it misses out on her soul and motivation - what drove Whitney Houston from the biggest star in the world to death at 48?

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