Japan Times (Free subscription) | 26/11/2009
Two middle-aged men sit in a bar one rainy night; both are veterans of the Israeli Defense Force's 1982 invasion of Lebanon, where a "limited incursion" to secure the border turned into a months-long siege of Beirut. One man, Boaz, confesses he's been haunted by a recurring dream where 26 savage dogs chase after him. "Why 26? Why not 30?" asks his friend, filmmaker Ari Folman. Because,...
Japan Times (Free subscription) | 26/11/2009
Director Ari Folman is wearing your basic directorial black, his well-open collar and small necklace a sure sign of Mediterranean roots. Over tea in Tokyo, the director — who does indeed look very much like his animated younger self in "Waltz with Bashir" — discussed the making of the award-winning film, the reaction to it, and his own experience of war. Do you think the after-effects...
The Life and Times of a Problem Child (Free subscription) | 18/11/2009
I hope I am not too late to join that group of raving individuals over Ari Folman's Waltz avec Bashir. It's not so often that an animated feature that I'd call a cinematic achievement. While Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli has...
The Muqata (Free subscription) | 11/11/2009
In a crushing interview with Haaretz, noted Israeli Director Dover Kosashvili trashes this past year's euphoria in the Israeli movie industry, calling films that won awards "mediocre or worse." "They're celebrating like this is genuine success," but "it's a load of rubbish." He attacked the unprecedented success abroad of movies such as: Ari Folman's "Waltz with Bashir"...
Twitch (Free subscription) | 19/10/2009
[Our thanks to regular reader Agent Wax for sending in the following review from the Singapore Animation Nation Festival.] In many ways, this is the hardest review I've ever sat down and committed myself to writing. I regret watching Ari Folman's Waltz with Bashir . No, it's not because it was a waste of time. It wasn't because it was bad filmmaking. On the contrary, it is filmmaking at its finest....
The Bookling (Free subscription) | 01/10/2009
I am really not sure what is going on with my reading/blogging this month. In September I read just five books and wrote only ONE post. This must be a record low for me and I honestly feel guilty that Book Aid International will only get £5 from me this time around. I have however just had a slightly naughty splurge at Amazon so I now have a toppling stack of books waiting to be read and hopefully...
RopeofSilicon: Latest Headlines (Free subscription) | 21/09/2009
Photo: Sony Pictures Classics Sony Pictures Classics has picked up the Venice Film Festival Golden Lion winner Lebanon for U.S. distribution. The acquisition follows a recent trend by Sony Classics as the third Israeli film in recent years to be picked up by the studio following Ari Folman's Waltz With Bashir and Eran Kolirin's The Band's [...]
Hollywood Elsewhere (Free subscription) | 21/09/2009
Sony Pictures Classics has picked up Samuel Maoz's Lebanon, a Hurt Locker-ish view of war from inside an Israeli tank during the 1982 invasion of Lebanon. The film will play at the forthcoming NY Film Festival and screen for press two days hence -- can't wait. The idea would be to position Lebanon as a contender for the 2009 Best Foreign Language Feature Oscar, assuming that Israel submits it as an...
A Nutshell Review (Free subscription) | 21/09/2009
Whirlwind The trouble with memory, is more often than not, over an extended period of time, it tends to be faulty. We recall certain key scenes suspended momentarily in time, but with nary a clue how they move forward or backward, akin to knowing presence of the dots, but lacking the details to connect them up. Traumatic experiences may cause chunks to be buried deep and repressed into the subconscious,...
Stephen Applebaum Writer/Journalist/Editor for Hire (Free subscription) | 19/09/2009
In September, a former IDF soldier took the top prize at the prestigious Venice Film Festival for a harrowing drama based on his traumatic experiences during the 1982 Lebanon war. Samuel Maoz won the Golden Lion just over a year after fellow Israeli Ari Folman's elegant animated account of his attempt to understand his role in the war, Waltz with Bashir, surprisingly failed to win anything at
Mac|Life all RSS Feed (Free subscription) | 02/09/2009
Hand-drawn or rotoscoped? How comic book-loving twins used Macs to achieve painterly realism in a breakthrough documentary. Case Study: Asaf and Tomer Hanuka Occupation: Illustrators Gear: Power Mac G5, Dual-core Intel Mac Pro, Apple Cinema Displays, Wacom pen tablet, Adobe Creative Suite 3 Tomer Hanuka (shown at left working in his New York studio) is 5 minutes older than his twin brother, Asaf (right),...
Film Intuition: Review Database (Free subscription) | 18/08/2009
Now Available To Own Download it on iTunes Get the Soundtrack Amazon.com Widgets Theatrical Trailer Photo Slideshow Visit the Website Bookmark this on Delicious Print Page Alternately designed to protect us and to accept our own input as though it were a computer we were constantly updating-- the potential of the human mind and our memory in particular is an unfathomable and undeniable enigma. As filmmaker...
Book Calendar (Free subscription) | 25/07/2009
Herbet Spenser Today started quietly. I am still reading The Golden Rules for Managers . I went and got my hair cut this morning and took a long walk. I am looking at a dvd film called Waltz With Bashir by Ari Folman. It is an animated film about an Israeli soldier of the First Lebanon war who has forgotten much of what happened. It won the Golden Globe for best Foreign Language Film and National Society...
Edward Copeland on Film (Free subscription) | 15/07/2009
By Edward Copeland When Waltz With Bashir began making news last awards' season, it seemed to defy categorization. It was a documentary, however it was animated. However, some of the characters were fictionalized because the real interview subjects didn't want their identities revealed. On top of all of that, it also was in a foreign language (unless your native language is Hebrew). I think there...
[CinemaRatty] Lattest Articles (Free subscription) | 11/07/2009
Waltz with Bashir , directed by Ari Folman Bright yellow. Blury, hazy memories yet sharp pictures Who pays the ultimate cost of war? Innocents, ofcourse Part of paying the cost involves the...
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