The Screengrab : blindness

DVD Digest for February 10, 2009

Paul Clark — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 15:00:00 GMT

With St. Valentine’s Day less than a week away, you’d think studios would start rolling out some of their romantic classics on DVD. But I’m seeing very little of that this week, unless of course your idea of romance is vastly different than mine…

DVDs of the Week: But then, for me, nothing says romance like a pair of movies from surrealist master Luis Bunuel. This week brings two of his favorites, The Exterminating Angel and Simon of the Desert, courtesy of the folks at Criterion. The Exterminating Angel is the known quantity for me, a wicked satire of bourgeois manners, in which a group of upper-crusters finds itself unable to leave following a dinner party, which brings them no end of trouble. Simon, Bunuel’s telling of the story of an ascetic who stood atop a remote pillar to prove his love for God, is one I’ve yet to see (do I smell a future Reviews By Request?), but its DVD release is no less noteworthy. The films, made during Bunuel’s sojourn in Mexico, have been given the deluxe Criterion treatment, with new transfers, documentaries, new interviews with actress Sylvia Pinal and others, and more.

Other noteworthy this week is Janus’ Essential Art House: Volume 2, which includes The 400 Blows, Black Orpheus, Pygmalion, La Strada, Ikiru, and The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp in single-disc editions, also available separately. In addition, Lionsgate is releasing new editions of the Wallace and Gromit short films, A Close Shave, A Grand Day Out and The Wrong Trousers. Finally- and I can’t in good conscience call this a classic, though it’s not new- Universal’s got the “Extreme Edition” of the final film from the great Raul Julia, Street Fighter (also Blu-Ray). So if you enjoy things that suck, set aside money for that one.

If newer movies are more your speed, this week’s recent releases coming to DVD include: Courtney Hunt’s double Oscar nominee Frozen River (Sony, also Blu-Ray); Kevin Smith’s Zack and Miri Make a Porno (Genius Products; Samuel L. Jackson and the late Bernie Mac in Soul Men (Genius Products); Richard Gere and Diane Lane in Nights in Rodanthe (Warner, also Blu-Ray); and a pair of very different showbiz satires, Barry Levinson’s What Just Happened? (Magnolia), and Bruce Campbell directing Bruce Campbell in My Name Is Bruce (Image, also Blu-Ray). Also this week, a quartet of curious films from fascinating filmmakers: Oliver Stone’s W. (Lionsgate, also Blu-Ray); Spike Lee’s WW2 drama Miracle at St. Anna (Buena Vista, also Blu-Ray); Fernando Meirelles’ Blindness (Buena Vista); and Eric Rohmer’s The Romance of Astrea and Celadon (E1 Entertainment Distribution), allegedly the master’s final film. Oddly enough, the Rohmer looks to be the most romantic movie in this week’s column. Don’t know if your Dirty Dancing-loving special lady would go for it though…

Finally, a pretty action-packed and bloody lineup of Blu-Ray only releases this week: Martin Scorsese’s classic Raging Bull (MGM); David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence (Warner); a pair of John Grisham adaptations, A Time to Kill and The Pelican Brief (both Warner); a double feature starring The Rock, Doom (Universal) and The Rundown (Universal); and two of Onion AV Club critic Scott Tobias’ New Cult Canon picks, Donnie Darko (Fox) and The Boondock Saints (Fox). Also, Milos Forman’s Amadeus: The Director’s Cut (Warner) and the table-tennis comedy Ping Pong Playa (Image).

Oh, and Pretty Woman (Disney).

Scott Feinberg Shuts Us Up

Leonard Pierce — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:15:00 GMT

Last year, we here at the Screengrab poked fun of movie blogger/L.A. Times columnist Scott Feinberg, because he had the temerity to predict how the 2009 Oscars were going to go, before the potato salad from the 2008 Oscars had cooled. Why did we make fun of this respectable gentleman of the press? Because we are jerks.

As it happens, though, the joke is on us, because while the Academy Award nominations haven't been officially announced yet, Feinberg's predictions have been in line with the movies that are predicted to get the nods from AMPAS. Making his predictions before any of these movies had even been completed, Feinberg managed to single out Che, Australia, The Changeling, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Defiance, Doubt, Frost/Nixon, The Reader, Revolutionary Road, The Soloist, and Synechdoche, New York as contenders for Oscar gold -- which they in fact turned out to be. His only dud predictions were Blindness, Body of Lies, Appaloosa, and Seven Pounds (and The Time Traveler's Wife and Young Victoria, but to be fair, neither of those movies have been released yet).

When Feinberg made his predictions, he caught a lot of flak, not only from us, but even from commenters at his blog. Even Feinberg himself said "all of this will probably look very funny when we get to that point many months from now". Well, it's eleven months later, and nobody's laughing. How'd you like to come to the track with us, Scott?

Morning Deal Report of the Living Dead

Scott Von Doviak — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:00:00 GMT

We take no blame for the fact that Beverly Hills Chihuahua debuted at the top of the U.S. box office with a whopping $29 million weekend take. It’s true that I am the proud owner of a Chihuahua-American, but he wanted nothing to do with what he perceived as a showcase for offensive stereotypes. Eagle Eye was second with $17.7 million, and Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist took in a finite $12 million for third place. Blindness didn’t attract many eyes and finished outside the top 10, but both Bill Maher’s Religulous and the conservative coalition’s An American Carol made the lower reaches of the list, with Maher’s documentary boasting the higher per-screen average.

George Romero can’t seem to stop making zombie movies. He’s already shooting an as-yet untitled film – we fearlessly predict the word Dead will be in there somewhere – in Ontario. “Plot involves inhabitants of an isolated island off the North American coast who find their relatives rising from the dead to eat their kin,” Variety reports. “The leaders of the island feud over whether or not to kill their reanimated relatives or preserve them in hopes of finding a cure.” That’s a no-brainer, gang.

Screengrab It Girl Kat Dennings will team up with Woody Harrelson and Sandra Oh for the oddly-spelled Defendor. “Written by Peter Stebbings, who also is making his directorial debut, the film centers on a regular guy (Harrelson) who believes he has a secret superhero identity. Dennings will play a teenager he befriends, while Oh is cast as his psychiatrist,” says The Hollywood Reporter.

Related:
Screengrab Review: "Religulous"
George Romero Runs the Voodoo Down

Oh Say Can You See: The "Blindness" Controversy

Phil Nugent — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:00:00 GMT

Hot on the heels of the great Tropic Thunder/"retard" controversy come reports that groups for the unsighted are angry about the new movie Blindness, with the National Federation for the Blind planning protests when the film opens in theaters tomorrow. The movie, which was directed by Fernando Meirelles, the Brazilian whiz kid responsible for City of God and The Constant Gardener, is a dystopian fantasy that depicts the effects of an epidemic that sweeps through a large city, rendering its inhabitants blind. It stars Julianne Moore as a woman who doesn't go blind but pretends that she has so that she can remain with her husband, played by Mark Ruffalo, when he and others who have been stricken are quarantined. The city is unnamed --the movie was shot principally in Sao Paolo, Brazil, with additional shooting in parts of Canada and Uruguay--and the characters have names like "The Doctor", "The Doctor's Wife", "The Thief", "The Accountant", and "Woman with Dark Glasses." Those capable of taking a hint might conclude that the film is intended as an allegory with symbolic characters, but when representatives of the NFB attended a preview, all they saw--or heard, and had described to them or something--was a major motion picture in which a bunch of people who instantly and mysteriously lose their sight insist on taking a glass-half-empty attitude about it. Christopher Danielson, a spokesman for the 50,000-member NFB, says that the blind "face a 70 percent unemployment rate and other social problems because people don't think we can do anything, and this movie is not going to help — at all." For instance, the movie includes images of people who are struck blind while driving, with unfortunate results. The NFB seems to feel that if anyone who sees Blindness comes away less inclined to hire someone who can't see as a bus driver, then Fernando Meirelles and Miramax will have a lot to answer for.

Nothing if not artistically ambitious, Blindness was adapted by screenwriter Don McKellar (who also acts in the movie) from the highly praised 1995 novel by Portuguese author Jose Saramago. (Saramago, who has described his book as "an allegory about the fragility of civilization", apparently took a great deal of convincing to sell the movie rights to anyone, and turned down the first offer he got from Meirelles, as well as an offer from Gael Garcia Bernal, who wound up playing the pivotal role of "the King of Ward 3.") So far, the movie hasn't been able to live up to the book's level of acclaim. It bombed at Cannes last spring and inspired walkouts when it was shown at the more recent Toronto Film Festival. Responding to criticisms, Meirelles has done considerable tinkering with it for its theatrical release, eliminating a voice-over narration and trimming a scene of "sexual violence" that set off the smoke alarms at Toronto. But there's not much he can do to placate the complaints from blind groups, which are grounded in a basic objection to the concept itself. Marc Maurer, the president of the NFB, has said that "The movie portrays blind people as monsters, and I believe it to be a lie," adding, "“The National Federation of the Blind condemns and deplores this film, which will do substantial harm to the blind of America and the world. Blind people in this film are portrayed as incompetent, filthy, vicious, and depraved. They are unable to do even the simplest things like dressing, bathing, and finding the bathroom. The truth is that blind people regularly do all of the same things that sighted people do." Including, it seems, look for reasons to get their noses out of joint over a movie.

Cannes Rundown, Day 1: Blindness

Paul Clark — Thu, 15 May 2008 02:31:00 GMT

For the last few years, Screengrab has been lucky enough to have its own man in Cannes. But with Mike D’Angelo’s recent announcement that he wouldn’t be returning to the Croisette this year, we’ve found ourselves without a correspondent to cover the world’s glitziest film festival. So instead, from now through the end of the fest, we’ll be spotlighting reviews of all films in competition- and some out of competition- from writers throughout the blogosphere. It’s no Wack Experiment, but it’ll have to do.

Cannes kicked off today with the Opening Night film, Fernando Meirelles’ Blindness. Here’s a taste of what some folks are saying:

Justin Chang, Variety- “A horror tale, a bleak allegory and a chronicle of human suffering as consoling as it is devastating, "Blindness" emerges onscreen both overdressed and undermotivated, scrupulously hitting the novel's beats yet barely approximating, so to speak, its vision.”

James Rocchi, Cinematical- “While the sweeping allegory of Blindness created a lush, captivating story on the page, film's a slightly less forgiving medium; we find ourselves asking questions not of character and metaphor, but, rather, of plot logic and possibility, and those sharp inquiries poke holes in the film's tension… But [the filmmakers] are not, to their credit, afraid of showing the ugly things that spring from the film's central event; we're shown a world of muck and filth and waste and rotting flesh as the ward slips into chaos in the absence of law and minor medical problems spiral into catastrophes.”

Jeffrey Wells, Hollywood Elsewhere- “The problem with Fernando Meirelles' Blindness, which screened this morning at the Cannes Film Festival, is that the milieu of the story, which is based on a novel by Jose Saramago, is bleak and confining. It's more than just the milieu, actually. The second and third act of this film delivers a kind of lockdown vibe… This is basically an insane asylum drama -- most of it taking place in a squalid prison in which the victims of said blindness plague have been quarantined -- and as such produced, in me, a deep hunger to escape.”

Stay tuned to Screengrab for more exciting coverage of this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The official Cannes Web site can be found here.

Cannes 2008: Late-Breaking News!

Paul Clark — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:19:00 GMT

One week ago today, the Cannes Film Festival powers that be unveiled this year's selection of films in Competition. But while there was plenty on that list to get excited about, it seems they weren't finished, as today they announced three more selections in the official Competition lineup.

True to form, one of the latecomers was a French entry, and it proved to be a pretty interesting choice: Entre les murs, the latest film by celebrated filmmaker Laurent Cantet, whose previous works included the 2000 film Time Out. Another American film was added today as well- Two Lovers, the latest from We Own the Night's James Gray, a Cannes favorite. Two Lovers, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Gwyneth Paltrow, is said to be a romance, making it something of a change of pace for Gray, who has to date specialized in crime stories.

But the big news today was the announcement of this year's opening-night film, Fernando Meirelles' Blindness. The film, which stars Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo, will screen in competition, with its pedigree the hope is that it improves on the dicey precedent set by recent Cannes openers such as Fanfan la Tulipe and The Da Vinci Code.

Added out of competition was the opener of the festival's Un Certain Regard sidebar, Hunger, directed by Steve McQueen (no, not that one). Finally, the closing film of the festival was officially announced as being Barry Levinson's What Just Happened?. Sadly, this star-studded film (the cast includes Robert DeNiro, Bruce Willis, and Robin Wright Penn) is a Hollywood satire, not a big-screen adaptation of the long-forgotten sitcom Wha'Happened?. So all you Mike LaFontaine fans in the audience will be sorely disappointed.

But wait, there's more! Two more names were added to the Official Competition Jury (also announced last week), which brings the jury up to nine members. The additions were French actress Jeanne Balibar (who worked with fellow jury member Sergio Castellitto in Va Savoir)...

... and Iranian writer/director Marjane Satrapi, who directed last year's Jury Prize-winner Persepolis and collaborated with jury prez Sean Penn on the English-language version of the film.

The Cannes Film Festival will be held from May 14 through the 25th.

Trailer Review: Blindness

Paul Clark — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 16:00:00 GMT

This is a first-rate teaser in the classic sense, in that it gives audiences a taste of the film's premise and little else. I'd venture a guess that all of the footage we see here is taken from the opening twenty minutes of the film- we meet the characters, the plot (taken from a novel by Jose Saramago) is introduced, and the titular malady escalates to epidemic proportions. It's tantalizing and highly effective. Like Children of Men's Alfonso Cuaron before him, director Fernando Meirelles appears to bring a certain level of deep-seated spirituality to the film's science-fiction roots, something that's apparent even in this relatively short teaser, which is nonetheless full of ethereal fades to white and Gods'-eye-few camera shots. Also, it's nice to see Julianne Moore working in a project worthy of her talent again, after too many ill-fitting comedies and cookie-cutter melodramas, and costars like Gael Garcia Bernal and the always-compelling Mark Ruffalo should make a good match for her.

Oscar's Next Show

Leonard Pierce — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:30:00 GMT

Some people just can't get too much of a good thing. With one of the most enriching movie years in history behind us, and one of the most highly anticipated Academy Awards in decades less than a week old, Scott Feinberg's 'And The Winner Is' blog is finally looking ahead to...

...the 2009 Oscars.

That's right, folks: just because none of these movies have been seen yet — just because most of them, indeed, have not even been made yet — doesn't mean the LA Times' irrepressible scamp isn't going to go ahead and handicap them for their chances of taking home Oscar Gold a little over a year from now.

Although Feinberg approaches this ridiculous effort with tongue at least partially in cheek, that doesn't mean he's not somewhat dismayingly comprehensive in his look at whose names might be prominent come Oscar eve '09. Among his choices as early, early, unbelievably early favorites: Benecio del Toro for Best Actor as Che Guevara in Steven Soderbergh's The Argentine; Julianne Moore for Best Actress in Blindness; John Patrick Shanley for the screenplay of Doubt, an adaptation of his own play; Gus Van Sant for directing Sean Penn in Milk, the life story of the assassinated gay rights activist and San Francisco city supervisor; and any number of high-profile performances from Kate Winslet.

Okay, Scott, okay... but can't we elect a President first?