Tag: Julie Delpy

Screening Room: ‘The Lesson’

On By chrisbarsantiIn Film - NewLeave a comment

My review of the surprisingly good (for being in many ways so unsurprising in its twists and mysteries) The Lesson is at Slant:

Every moment in The Lesson’s early going seemingly exists to illustrate pulp novelist Jim Thompson’s famous saying: “There is only one plot—things are not what they seem.” We see eminent novelist J.M. Sinclair (Richard E. Grant) languidly remarking to an interviewer that “average writers attempt originality…the great writers steal.” Then up-and-coming writer Liam Sommers (Daryl McCormack) is seen studying videos of J.M. with a mysterious intensity before he then shows up at J.M.’s luxurious home to tutor the man’s son, Bertie (Stephen McMillan). Throughout, the close-ups of the algae-covered pond behind the home make it seem as if a better name for the film would have been What Lies Beneath…

Here’s the trailer:

Screening Room: ‘Richard Linklater – Dream is Destiny’

On By chrisbarsantiIn Film - New, Film-DocumentaryLeave a comment

Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke in Linklater's 'Before Midnight' (2013)
Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke in Linklater’s ‘Before Midnight’ (2013)

In 1991, Richard Linklater helped blow open the American indie filmmaking scene with Slacker, his rambling odyssey of drifters and dreamers on the edge in Austin, Texas. Since then, he’s made everything from high school party films (Dazed and Confused) to modern romances (the Before trilogy).

Richard Linklater – Dream is Destiny opens this week in limited release. My review is at Film Journal International:

It almost seems wrong to use the word auteur when talking about Richard Linklater, especially after seeing this friendly and appreciative survey of his life’s work. As unique and idiosyncratic as Linklater’s body of work is, there remains a modesty to it that carries over into the person who appears onscreen. Unlike in many documentaries about great directors or other artists, co-directors Louis Black and Karen Bernstein hardly stand back in awe from their subject, they sidle right up next to the unassuming artist and simply ask him how he does it. “It’s a lot of hard work,” says the director of Slacker, Boyhood, and other touchstones of the American independent film movement. “And people don’t want to hear that”…

Here is the trailer:

New on DVD: ‘Before Midnight’

On By chrisbarsantiIn DVD - FilmLeave a comment

Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke, still romancing each other in 'Before Midnight'
Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke, still romancing each other in ‘Before Midnight’

beforemidnightdvd1In 1995, Richard Linklater impressed with Before Sunrise, a sharp, talky piece about Jesse (Ethan Hawke), a traveling American who meets Celine (Julie Delpy), a beguiling young French woman, on a train. Nine  years later, in Before Sunset, the two meet again, nine years older. Both films were redolent with romantic longing and possibility. Now in Before Midnight, the two are married, and it doesn’t seem like mere love is going to cut it anymore.

Before Midnight is available today on DVD and Blu-ray. My review is at Film Racket; here’s part of it:

Before Midnight turns out to be a bright, good-humored, and painfully combative love story that stings more than it soothes. In it, modern cinema’s most enduring couple discovers what life is like after peeling back the veil of conjoined love and discovering the specters of selfishness lurking behind. Every moment of this swift yet relaxed film (time-compressed like the first two, it all happens over just one sunny day and moonlit evening) feels like a negotiation or a skirmish, viciously fought…

You can watch the trailer here:

 

Now Playing: ‘Before Midnight’

On By chrisbarsantiIn Film - NewLeave a comment

Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke, still romancing each other in 'Before Midnight'
Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke, still romancing each other in ‘Before Midnight’

before_midnight-posterIn 1995, Richard Linklater impressed with Before Sunrise, a sharp, talky piece about Jesse (Ethan Hawke), a traveling American who meets Celine (Julie Delpy), a beguiling young French woman, on a train. Nine  years later, in Before Sunset, the two meet again, nine years older. Both films were redolent with romantic longing and possibility. Now in Before Midnight, the two are married, and it doesn’t seem like mere love is going to cut it anymore.

Before Midnight is playing now around the country. My review is at Film Racket; here’s part of it:

Before Midnight turns out to be a bright, good-humored, and painfully combative love story that stings more than it soothes. In it, modern cinema’s most enduring couple discovers what life is like after peeling back the veil of conjoined love and discovering the specters of selfishness lurking behind. Every moment of this swift yet relaxed film (time-compressed like the first two, it all happens over just one sunny day and moonlit evening) feels like a negotiation or a skirmish, viciously fought…

You can watch the trailer here:

New in Theaters: ‘2 Days in New York’

On By chrisbarsantiIn Film - NewLeave a comment

If you’re looking to improve box office, it might make sense to replace Adam Goldberg with Chris Rock. As a leading man opposite co-star/writer/director Julie Delpy in her romantic comedy 2 Days in Paris, Goldberg chiseled a bit of comic gold, but he was hardly a draw for most moviegoers. Rock, who replaces him in 2 Days in New York, is a star with proven appeal, even if his on-screen timing has always been a poor cousin to his stage persona. But, as it turns out, this tradeoff is costly…

2 Days in New York opened last Friday; my full review is at PopMatters.

Trailer is here: