Nightmare Alley (1947)... and (2021)

by Nathaniel R

Greg Hildebrandt riff on a Nightmare Alley posterThe urge to remake is an arguable scourge on cinema but much of what there is to argue about is who is doing the remaking and why. Oftentime the motivations are corporate cynical "cash grab for lazy audiences who will only look at new things... especially if they sound famliar". When true auteurs go there, though, especially with films that aren't enormously famous, there's more room for debate about intention and possibility and aesthetic necessity. The best possible outcome is that we get two very different equally strong films and the "new" model stirs up more interest and appreciation for the OG.

We hope that will be the case when Guillermo Del Toro finishes Nightmare Alley in... 2021? (Production was halted due to COVID-19). The original Nightmare Alley (1947), is a beautifully shot circus noir that's ripe for both rediscovery and reinterpretation...

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Carol 2 is finally here…

by Murtada Elfadl

Not exactly. But look at these pictures of Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara on the set of Guillermo Del Toro’s Nightmare Alley. Don’t they remind you of Carol (2015)? The period costumes, the snow and winter setting, Cate’s gorgeous blond wig? 

The internet lost its mind for a couple of hours...

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Tis the Season; Carol-mas

Today we celebrate the anniversary of Carol and Therese's first date. That fraught with desire and longing first date. That rudely interupted by Harge first date. That beautiful trip from NY to NJ that felt like a lifetime and looked as dreamy and gorgeous as a water color painting come to life.

I'm celebrating by going to a screening of Carol (2015) at Metrograph in NY, introduced by master cinematographer Ed Lachman. How are you celebrating Carol day?

Happy National Siblings Day!

by Mark Brinkerhoff

Fontaine and de Havilland in 1967 at a Marlene Dietrich show

“I bequeath all my beauty to my younger sister Joan, because she has none.”
- Olivia de Havilland, according to her “will,” age nine

 Apocryphal? Who can say. Delicious? 100 percent!

 

Though chronicled to death (at TFE and elsewhere), the purported feud between the most famous siblings of Hollywood’s Golden Age endures like no other. Why? Because it seems silly and pointless in retrospect, as most sibling rivalries and familial angst do. But rather than dwell on the negative, let’s turn our attention to more positive outpourings of mutual love and respect, shall we?

 

Here are 10 of the more famous (in some cases infamous) siblings over the years on the ties that bind—and unbind—them to each other, not to mention the public’s imagination...

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Foreign Language Film Contenders Lead Asia Pacific Screen Awards

Some of the year’s most buzzed-about festival titles and Oscar contenders are among the nominees for this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards. APSA is similar to the EFAs except awarding films from across the Asia Pacific. Palme d’Or winner Shoplifters, Japan’s submission to the Oscars, leads with three nominations followed by Burning from South Korea and Nadine Labaki's Lebanese legal drama Capharnaum each with two

Other Oscar submissions this year that snagged nominations include the Cannes best actress winner Akya from Kazakhstan, the queer drama Malila: The Farewell Flower that is Thailand’s entry and India’s child musical Village Rockstars.

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