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.)
Chris here. Oh was white text on a black background not enough to prep us for a Lanthimos costume drama? The NYFF-bound The Favourite inches closer to release and we've now been given a genius poster that takes "closer" to a whole new level of Lanthimosian wrongness. Reader, what are Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz doing to Olivia Colman's face?? We love some Lanthimos body horror humor, but do we need to brace for The Favourite to punish us with... eye stuff? Eek! Or maybe there's some more hidden hints at what the movie has in store for us?
Chris here. One of our most conspicuously hidden fall movies has finally teased us with a feisty first look trailer: Yorgos Lanthimos' royal period piece The Favourite. We've suffered months without a glimpse at what a Lanthmos costume drama might look like, with even the first teaser poster being literal white text on a black background. But rest assured that this intriguing setting for the starkly contemporary director does not look to be tamer than his previous films. In fact, it might just be his Lanthimost.
Last year's The Killing of a Sacred Deer had a fairly divisive response, so some of his fans will rejoice to note that this trailer promises something more in line with The Lobster. And it's not just the mischievous, cutting tone that is in line. It looks like we will also be getting another dryly genius performance with supporting player Olivia Colman as Queen Anne. Set during the 18th century during war with France, the film stars Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz as servants clashing for her favor. Take a look at Lanthimos' take in the trailer, and we'll break down the Yes No Maybe So...
Hungary's weird and wonderful ON BODY AND SOUL keeps collecting kudosOne of our favorite undersung awards bodies is back. The European Film Awards, a hodgepodge of vastly different cinemas that sometimes has surprising results, have released their nominations for 2017. As per usual they're the awards body with the most in common with Oscar's Foreign Language Film race with many of their nominees being submissions this year from their respective countries. As such it's worth noting that Hungary's dreamscape slaughterhouse romantic oddity On Body and Soul and the Palme D'or winning Swedish satire The Square are both looking strong heading into the Oscar race; they lead the field here, each with four nominations. Russia's Loveless and the latest Yorgos Lanthimos provocation The Killing of a Sacred Deer are just behind them with three nominations, though the latter was a miss in the top category for Best European Film where France's masterful ACT UP drama BPM (Beats Per Minute -- currently in release in the US -- why is noone seeing it? It's brilliant! -- struck instead.
The ceremony moves each year and this time it will be hosted in Berlin, Germany on December 9th. Full set of nominees (links go to our reviews) including a France heavy Best Actress list are after the jump...
Is it better to have good friends or a large number of friends? It’s a question asked casually in Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Killing of a Sacred Deer that hosts some of its more loaded themes: social connection, the difference between acquiring and appreciating, the futile pursuit of a nuclear unit. As discussed between odd teenager Martin and adult Steven, played by Barry Keoghan and Colin Farrell, it carries even more terrifying subtext for their unsettling relationship.
Chris here. I take back every complaint I've had about trailers using moody covers of familiar songs, and all thanks to a supremely terrifying use of Ellie Goulding's "Burn" in the new trailer for The Killing of a Sacred Deer. Paired with some chilling and evocative images, the song helps make the trailer as scary as any full film in theatres this year. Yorgos Lanthimos is ready to shake us up again and with even darker laughs than before!
This trailer is a thing of wonder, a certain contender for best of the year for how it quickly grabs you by the shoulders and lingers after its done. It does what so few trailers do: gives us scant plot details while selling us on mood. Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman's immediate reuniting post-Beguiled looks to be even more slippery and poisoned than what they delivered together this year, so it will be exciting to see both performers return to something more outre. Try as I might, I didn't spot Alicia Silverstone's reportedly brief role anywhere here - but trust that we'll be eager for her return!
But my big question mark will be Dunkirk lad Barry Keoghan as the film's pseudo-villain - just how nefarious will he be and could this be one of the major fall breakouts? With the film playing TIFF, expect to hear our thoughts before the film opens right in time for Halloween on October 27!
Friday, August 24, 2018 at 7:00PM 
