Sundance: 'Call Jane' is worth answering

By Ben Miller

Handsomely filmed and admirably performed, Oscar-nominated Carol screenwriter Phyllis Nagy makes her feature film directorial debut with Call Jane. Elizabeth Banks stars as Joy, a traditional suburban Chicago housewife in the 1960s. Joy has a loving but busy lawyer husband Will (Chris Messina) and a 14-year-old daughter Charlotte (Grace Edwards). Joy is newly pregnant, and keeps having dizzy spells and passes out in her kitchen. Her doctor diagnoses a congenital heart blockage that threatens her life, unless the pregnancy is terminated - the only treatment...

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Here's Your Sundance 2022

by Jason Adams

The main line-up for the 2022 edition of the Sundance Film Festival was announced this afternoon -- can I get a huzzah? Running from January 20th through the 30th they'll be screening 82 feature films and assorted other cinematic ephemera over the course of those ten days -- they're keeping themselves to the middle space in between in-person and virtual for their 2022 edition, with everything premiering in person in Utah and then subsequently screening via their (truly outstanding) online platform for those of us who can't make it to the mountains, for whatever reason. Like, for instance, the still-happening pandemic, which is certainly my own personal reason for only attending virtually again this time, and which it would be irresponsible for me to not recommend you all take into account. (That said their safety protocols seem very much on point, so your own mileage may vary.) 

I've got the entire press release with the word on everything announced today way down below -- and you can check out each title even more thoroughly on the fest's website, of course -- but I figured before that megaton of information I'd go ahead and poison your opinions with my opinions, highlighting ten movies that are immediately leaping forward onto my face for one particular reason or another.  

Sharp Stick -- Lena Dunham's new movie, her first in over a decade, will surely, as with everything Dunham-related, invite enthusiastic conversation from all angles. That's one way to say it! People sure do have opinions on her and her work, and the story here... 

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Highsmith @ 100: "Carol" is a perfect adaptation

by Cláudio Alves

Patricia Highsmith was born 100 years ago this week. The writer died when she was 74, leaving behind a collection of full of classics. Many of those novels were adapted to the big screen, her mellifluous psychological thrillers most of all. Strangers on a Train and the many stories of Tom Ripley being the most popular. It was through cinema that I discovered the author and ended up falling in love with her prose. I adore how she seduces and stabs, hypnotizing us with beautiful words, undercutting the splendor with her character's monstrousness. 

There was a mysterious softness to Highsmith's poisonous style, an insightful breath of romance that reached its apotheosis with The Price of Salt, later retitled Carol. First published in 1952, the novel was one of the first lesbian romances with a happy ending to see the light of day, making it a revolutionary text in many regards. By 2015, Todd Haynes and Phyllis Nagy finally told that story in celluloid, delivering what's arguably the best cinematic adaptation of a Highsmith novel…

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New Movies for Penelope Cruz, Robert Pattinson and more

by Murtada Elfadl

TIFF is not only about the films that are playing there. It’s also about the deals for the films that we might see next year or the year after. Or maybe never hear of again if they don’t secure financing. We’ve already told you about the Matthias Schoenaerts-Margot Robbie starrer Ruin. Here are three other film - or packages if we were to use the vulgar industry term - that are at TIFF looking for financing:

Phyllis Nagy directing Gemma Arterton as Dusty Springfield

The film is titled So Much Love and Carol’s screenwriter is also writing it. Set in 1968, when at the peak of her popularity, Springfield travelled to Tennessee to record the album Dusty in Memphis. An official synopsis reads:

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Talented Mr Linky

Must Reads
The New Yorker an evocative thoughtful profile of Mike Mills and 20th Century Women
The Muse Rich Juzwiak on the year in overrated pop culture, starting with Manchester by the Sea. ("A Masterpiece." "It's not tho")
The Metrograph Screenwriter Phyllis Nagy (Carol) reflects on Patricia Highsmith's dislike of the screen adaptations of her work - Metrograph is showing a handful of them his month. (Finally my chance to see Purple Noon on a big screen.)

Films which take place in 2017, Hayao Miyazaki's non-retirement retirement, Aquaman stunts, Broadway divas, and Postcards from the Edge after the jump...

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