Red Carpet Lineup: 26 Venice Lewks
Having previously covered those pink pink pink first days in Venice, on to some other memorable looks (and a few actresses included just because we like to look at them...)
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Having previously covered those pink pink pink first days in Venice, on to some other memorable looks (and a few actresses included just because we like to look at them...)
What’s good? It's Salim. Yesterday, Amazon Studios graced us with the second trailer to their upcoming horror film, Suspiria, a film that performs double duty as the remake to one of the seminal horror films in cinematic history by Italian legend Dario Argento and Luca Guadagnino’s follow-up to his acclaimed Oscar contender Call Me by Your Name. To some, the attempt to remake such a perfect masterpiece as Suspiria may feel like sacrilege. To yours truly, it has been one of my most anticipated movies ever since Guadagnino was announced as the director years ago (Much less so when the poor fit of David Gordon Green was attached) and seeing the cryptic first teaser months ago felt like manna after long speculation of how the results would be (including Armie Hammer going on record after seeing it calling the movie “evil”).
More on the Trailer After the Jump
John and Matthew are watching every single live-action film starring Meryl Streep.
#28 — Susan Orlean, a New Yorker writer drawn to the eccentric orchid poacher she is profiling.
JOHN: “Why can’t there be a movie simply about flowers?” asks perspiring screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Nicolas Cage) to film executive Tilda Swinton from across a table at a posh Hollywood restaurant. “I don’t want to cram in sex or car chases or guns.” One could imagine that Meryl Streep, who has resolutely avoided nudity, drugs, and violence throughout her career, has contemplated this same question. As Susan Orlean, Streep’s outwardly demure and professional demeanor is irreversibly shaken by the oddly captivating John Laroche (Chris Cooper), a Florida orchid hunter, nursery owner, and part-time porn site operator. To watch Streep, at age 53, fire guns, appear nude (read: blatantly Photoshopped) on Laroche’s site, straddle him, and, most incredibly, snort an orchid-based narcotic, getting high and humming along to a phone dial tone, is to experience a dizzying yet satisfying whiplash.
Chris here, reeling from the trailer feast happening this Monday. As teased in previous days, we get our first look at Luca Guadagnino's grisly Suspiria rehash and Steve McQueen's heist thriller adaptation Widows. Both films have a host of elements to bring our anticipation to a fever pitch (Suspiria: intriguing director/genre pairing, Widows: the powers of McQueen matched with author Gillain Flynn on writing duties) but that doesn't mean they don't also have their question marks. Do both films find the auteurs reaching for mainstream sensibilities? Is there any Oscar play here? And what of the sizeable female ensembles in both?
Both films are heavily speculated to launch at the Venice Film Festival, since both filmmakers have previously debuted films there. If you haven't already gorged on both (or need a second watch, third, fourth, etc). check out the two fantastic trailers after the jump and we'll break down the Yes No Maybe So)...
This week, Chris Feil's series on music in the movies sits poolside with last year's steamer...
Confession: Luca Guadagnino’s A Bigger Splash has been something of a minor addiction for yours truly in the year since its stateside release. And it’s key use of “Emotional Rescue” by The Rolling Stones has put that track into heavy nonstop rotation as well. I mean how can you not fall in immediately love with a film that casts Tilda Swinton as a rock star named Marianne Lane. It is sensory overload, all mouthwatering cuisine and eye contact between actor and camera. But not least of its horny senses is its rock and roll soundscape, subtly infused throughout to appealing effect.
In Splash, the lasting impact of great music is just like to great sex for its lingering spell. Its cues and references are scattered throughout, recalling the visages of Bowie and Patti Smith to make its musical world more realized. Even more fluidly, it crafts character identity and relationship as one with the music in ways as subtle as how its reveals their shiftiness.