All articles by Len Klady – Page 2
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Features
The International view - The wheel: re-invented
From the beginning, the film industry has revelled in reheating its past and serving it up again and again and again. Great film-makers from John Ford to Kon Ichikawa have remade their own films and sometimes that exercise has expanded or embellished on an original.There are literal remakes and sequels, ...
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Reviews
Fugitive Pieces
Dir: Jeremy Podeswa. Canada. 108 minsSomewhere in the midst of Fugitive Pieces, a story informed by memories of the Holocaust, a character explains that the amazing aspect of wood is not that it burns, but that it floats. The life lesson is that in all things there is a positive ...
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News
Bergman and Antonioni: through a lens darkly
Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni both challenged audiences and understood the power of film, saysLen KladyEarlier this week a US television commentator, in marking the passing of Ingmar Bergman, referred to him as the greatest film-maker of all time. He didn't use any qualifiers and his tone evinced not the ...
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News
Shooting messengers
Attacks on film critics are misguided. It is the executive suites that have lost the popular touch, argues Len Klady. In the past few years, I've read a fair amount about the role of the film critic. To be more precise, it's felt like open season on people that critique ...
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News
Beginning of the End's run
Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End made Spider-Man 3 walk the plank this weekend. BVI's third instalment of the franchise knocked Sony's web-slinger off the top spot as it raked in a whopping $216.3m from 102 territories in its first weekend, for a total of $251m to date. Spider-Man ...
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Reviews
A Stone's Throw
Dir: Camelia Frieberg. Canada. 2006. 98mins.The directingdebut of producer Camelia Frieberg, AStone's Throw is a family drama underscored with hot button social issues.Adroitly crafted and well observed, the film shows a nascent talent behind thelens. However, the familiarity of the yarn and the absence of marqueeperformers present an uphill struggle ...
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Reviews
Everything's Gone Green
Dir: Paul Fox. Canada. 2006. 92mins.A generally wellcrafted, breezy yarn, Everything's Gone Green has a lot of bright, nascenttalent but falls short of an artistic or commercial bull's-eye. It'sintelligently observed when it ought to be hilarious and lacks the requisitebite and tartness that would set it apart from the ceaseless ...
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Reviews
Lake Of Fire
Dir: Tony Kaye. US. 2006. 152minsThe Book of Revelations talks of a lake "which burnswith fire and brimstone" and this state of eternal doom proves an apt metaphorfor the subject of abortion. While there are hints on which side film-makerTony Kaye stands, his film will not be embraced by either ...
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Reviews
Brand Upon The Brain
Dir: Guy Maddin. US-Can. 2006. 97mins.Arguably the first true silent movie produced ineight decades, Guy Maddin's Brand Upon The Brain premiered in Toronto with a liveorchestra, in-house sound effects artists, a singer and narrator providing apure cinematic full monty. And though there areobvious challenges in recreating such a singular event, ...
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Reviews
The Journals Of Knud Rasmussen
Dirs/scr:Zacharis Kunuk, NormanCohn. Can-Den. 2006. 112mins.The combination of an opening night slotin Toronto and the pressure of following up on their justly heralded debut Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner - which won Cannes'Camera d'Or in 2001 - provide film-makers Zacharis Kunuk and Norman Cohenwith a searing spotlight for their new feature ...
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News
Audience slump, shrinking windows under the spotlight at ShoWest
"Let's look at things in thelong term" emerged as the mantra for addresses given by Motion PictureAssociation of America (MPAA) chairman Dan Glickman and National Association ofTheater Owners (NATO) president John Fithian at the opening ceremonies of theShoWest convention for theatrical exhibition today in Las Vegas. Glickman broke from thelong-standing ...
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News
Pixar's Cars surprises industry audience at ShoWest
Pixar Animation's eagerlyawaited Cars screened at ShoWeston Tuesday night to a mixed reception from industry delegates.The tale of a hip, rookieNASCAR-style racer that winds up shanghaied in a small town and learnsimportant life lessons is one of the most anticipated summer releases. It opensin June through PIxar's new parent company ...
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News
Exhibitors and distributors face new challenges, says Glickman
ShoWest, the annualconvention of film exhibition, got underway today in Las Vegas with itstraditional Monday emphasis on the international marketplace. Since 2000, theevent has sought to erase global borders in its participation and this yearattracted delegates from 50 nations with major increases in participation fromRussia and Asian countries. Korea's Lotte ...
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News
Japan's box-office takings down 8%
Box office takings in Japan weredown 8% in 2005 with initial estimates pegging the box office for the last 12months at close to $1.82 billion. Technically there was not a single $100mgrosser though Howl's Moving Castlecontinued to perform well, following its first place ranking in 2004 of morethan $180m with ...
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Reviews
Lie With Me
Dir: Clement Virgo. Can.2005. 92mins.Graphic sex and a voracious, predatory femaleprotagonist are the hallmarks of Lie With Me, a raw perspective of carnality that's initiallydisarming in its aggressive stance and mesmerising inits heady resolve.Belying thesensuality of The Lover or thegentleness of 9 Songs, it only beginsto falter when it abandons ...
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Reviews
These Girls
Dir: John Hazlett. Can. 2005. 92minsThe thrust of These Girls sounds like a dirty joke andwhile the situation explored is provocative, it's a real testament to itsfilm-makers and cast that the comedy transcends the snickering and emerges as abright, lively and intelligent entertainment. With its brash mixture of humorand frankness ...
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Reviews
C.R.A.Z.Y.
Dir: Jean-Marc Vallee.Can. 2005. 127mins.Recently selected asCanada's submission for the best foreign language Oscar, the family saga C.R.A.Z.Y.emerges as both the quintessence of contemporary cinema from Quebec and a talethat seamlessly taps into a universal zeitgeist.The travails, sexualawakening and socio-political turmoil of the 1970s, as seen through the eyes ofthe ...
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Reviews
Beauty Remains (Mei Ren Yi Jiu)
Dir: Ann Hu. China-US.2005. 89mins.Set against the backdropof the late 1940s Chinese Revolution, Beauty Remains is a grand,romantic saga where passion trumps politics and the lives of three littlepeople amount to more than a hill of beans. A handsomely mounted production, itelegantly balances the operatic and the cerebral in a ...
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News
SHOWEST SEMINAR: rising admissions in int'l markets
Titled "Strategies onIncreasing Admissions in Today's Marketplace," the kickoff seminar at theShoWest exhibition convention provided plenty of data to chew on but a paucityof answers to fears that the current international audience might decline as otherforms of entertainment assert themselves in the developing digital universe.Presenters included Nick King, president Neilsen ...
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Reviews
Phil The Alien
Dir/scr:Rod Stefaniuk. Can. 2004. 85mins.Canadiancomedy by nature veers toward the deadpan with a twist of wit dryer than theperfect martini. These elements are out in full force in Phil The Alien,written, directed and starring actor/musician Rob Stefaniuk.However,the whimsical yarn of an extra-terrestrial who touches down in remote NorthernOntario and changes ...
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