by Ryland Walker Knight Fantastic Mr. Fox [Wes Anderson, 2009] # For a refresher/clarifier before the super sunday daze of dips and bottled beers. Again, as ever: every single shot brims with pretty, with information, with affect. If only the bad guys weren't so simple... The Sopranos "Johnny Cakes" [Tim Van Patten, 2006] # Weird to see 2006 so clearly as they show it here: greedy, duplicitous,...
This surely isn't terribly exciting to the rest of the world, but it's thrilling to me that I have actually managed to enter the mid-90s or so and am - for the first time - typing this on my fancy new laptop while enjoying a strong cup of java at Jittery Joe's. It might be also because of the large Brazilian brew I'm downing, but it makes me seriously giddy. And you know, ever since I heard that Kevin...
"An unfilmed Jacques Tati screenplay, L'illusionniste, will finally make it to the screen after 54 years, when director Sylvain Chomet's animated version has its premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, Berlinale, next month. But the occasion threatens to be overshadowed by a story of pain and scandal from the real life of the French comedian."...
“French Roast“, a short film by French director Fabrice O. Joubert, has been nominated for Best Animated Short Film at the 2010 Academy Awards. In a fancy Parisian cafe an uptight businessman is about to pay the check when he discovers that he’s lost his wallet. To stall for time he orders more coffee. Click on [...]
February 2nd, 2010 was a day of announcements. Being on the West Coast, I awoke to a string of news articles. After my first ten minutes of consciousness, I had already been underwhelmed by the predictability of the 82nd-annual Academy Awards nominations, infuriated by the promise of more blistering winter at the [...]
(Promo album back cover) Here is a review of my next album 'Goto' (8th may on Karaoke Kalk) by Momus. It's written without having listened to the record; that's the deaf constraint I proposed him. Momus is perfect in that game; imbattable! "Toog's GOTO dizzies with quiet inventiveness, and -- with its cunningly topical, tropical African instrumentation and surging, voodoo polyrhythms -- pushes...
Grandson of Hulot star accuses film-makers of sabotaging script of new animated movie An unfilmed Jacques Tati screenplay, L'illusionniste , will finally make it to the screen after 54 years, when director Sylvain Chomet's animated version has its premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, Berlinale , next month. But the occasion threatens to be overshadowed by a story of pain and scandal from the real...
Paris when it puzzles: Jacques Tati's Monsieur Hulot in "Play Time" (1967). To please everyone,” according to France’s most singular comic film star, “you need a good story.” This explains why Jacques Tati never did and never will please everyone....
"Godard, through his experience with A Woman Is a Woman , seemed to learn that if color was to function thematically, he would have to extend the length of single shots and slow down his camera movements to allow the viewer adequate time for concentrating on the composition of colors." —Paul Sharits, "Red, Blue, Godard" ( Film Quarterly , '66) "The "techniques"...
by Ryland Walker Knight —Sat behind Godard. Casino [Martin Scorsese, 1995] # Like for the first time. I'm blown away. This is the ur-Scorsese picture. Everything's dialed up delirium, all the colors and lights and camera movements. For such a sad and scary movie, it's damned fucking giddy. I'm publishing this as I'm watching it, so my giddiness is sure to wane as these fools keep fucking up their...
A swarm of vintage 50s Citroen DS cars and a bunch of lookalikes of Oscar-winning film-maker Jacques Tati took over an iconic Paris square on Saturday as Kenzo showed his latest menswear at Paris Fashion Week.
It seems that every 10-15 years Jacques Tati is reintroduced to the American moviegoing public. The last wave was in the late '90s when the recently-restored color print of Jour de Fête (1949) --Tati's first directorial feature--traveled the art house circuit. Now with the participation of the French ministry, spanking new prints have been struck of Tati's films and a new wave is hitting American...
by Ryland Walker Knight —Sixteen minimeters between me and you Jour de fête [Jacques Tati, 1949] # Straight from my notebook: J. Tati just gets it. Life's cycles, all circles, a merry-go-round of comedy. And why not have a laugh? The body's the best joke machine--it's your number one interface with the world. Life, for Tati, is bounded by one's capacities to move through this obstacle course;...
On Thursday, the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley and the Yerba Buena Center For the Arts each began a new season of screenings. The PFA showed Jacques Tati's Mr. Hulot's Holiday . As I noted last month , the screening kicked off both a complete Tati retro at the PFA, and a month-long circumnavigation of Frisco Bay for this unique 1953 comedy. It will land at the YBCA January 28th during the downtown...
A scene from "A Town Called Panic" (Courtesy of Zeitgeist Films) So this is what deadpan slapstick surrealist Belgian stop-motion animation looks like. I like it! Expanding upon a cult TV series, this 75-minute joy ride combines the aesthetic of...
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