Mubi’s May 2024 (streaming) lineup embraces their latest (theatrical) coup with a Radu Jude program. In addition to Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World arriving May 3, the Romanian director is highlighted with a six-film program launching on May 10. Lee Chang-dong and Bertrand Bonello are each given two-title highlights. While most of us can’t be at Cannes (I guess that’s a pun), the festival’s greatest tradition, booing, is celebrated with Jodie Foster’s The Beaver, Nicolas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives, and Olivier Dahan’s Grace of Monaco. Among new releases, Al Warren’s Dogleg and the Ross brothers’ Gasoline Rainbow are notable selections.
As Lee Chang-dong recently told us in an extended interview, “Experiences in my life are what shaped me as a filmmaker, as obvious as that sounds. My artistic taste was shaped by the mountains and fields of my childhood village,...
As Lee Chang-dong recently told us in an extended interview, “Experiences in my life are what shaped me as a filmmaker, as obvious as that sounds. My artistic taste was shaped by the mountains and fields of my childhood village,...
- 4/22/2024
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
For decades, Belgian duo Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have been directing movies that get inside the challenges of their protagonists. Their trademark handheld camerawork and naturalistic dramas often have a strong sociopolitical perspective, from working-class problems to immigration struggles. Their acclaimed work has yielded countless prizes, including two Palme d’Ors and other awards from Cannes, where they regularly premiere their work.
At last year’s festival, they won a special 75th anniversary prize for “Tori and Lokita,” and it’s easy to see why: The Dardennes embody the kind of the consistency of auteur filmmakers embraced by the festival and cinephiles worldwide.
“Tori and Lokita” follows a pair of young African migrants (Pablo Schils and Joely Mbundu) posing as siblings in Belgian while dealing with the older of the pair’s challenge getting residency papers. In the process, they wind up with criminals on their trail searching for money related to a drug deal.
At last year’s festival, they won a special 75th anniversary prize for “Tori and Lokita,” and it’s easy to see why: The Dardennes embody the kind of the consistency of auteur filmmakers embraced by the festival and cinephiles worldwide.
“Tori and Lokita” follows a pair of young African migrants (Pablo Schils and Joely Mbundu) posing as siblings in Belgian while dealing with the older of the pair’s challenge getting residency papers. In the process, they wind up with criminals on their trail searching for money related to a drug deal.
- 3/24/2023
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Despite their stock seemingly falling in the decade since the widely acclaimed Two Days, One Night, a new film by the Dardennes will always have our curiosity; even better that our critic was a major fan at Cannes. Winner of the 75th Anniversary Prize at the festival, Tori and Lokita, set to arrive from Sideshow and Janus Films starting March 24, follows the story of two immigrants struggling to survive on the margins of society. Ahead of the release, the first U.S. trailer has now arrived.
As David Katz said in his review, “Tori and Lokita, the latest from the eerily consistent Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, pulls you in opposite directions when assessing it. It is as consummately made and passionately intended as anything they’ve done, but the filmmakers, as is apparent in less-successful films, can really undermine themselves with choices in plotting. I’ll never forget viewing my first,...
As David Katz said in his review, “Tori and Lokita, the latest from the eerily consistent Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, pulls you in opposite directions when assessing it. It is as consummately made and passionately intended as anything they’ve done, but the filmmakers, as is apparent in less-successful films, can really undermine themselves with choices in plotting. I’ll never forget viewing my first,...
- 3/6/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Tori and Lokita, the latest from the eerily consistent Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, pulls you in opposite directions when assessing it. It is as consummately made and passionately intended as anything they’ve done, but the filmmakers, as is apparent in less-successful films, can really undermine themselves with choices in plotting. I’ll never forget viewing my first, The Son, as a student in undergrad, both marveling and being almost perturbed at what a simple, elemental conflict—a man forgiving the murderer of his child—drove the entire film and generated all its tension. As in Lorna’s Silence and The Unknown Girl, this story can’t move without plot streaming out of every corner, contrivances piling upon contrivances, the way the tape could peel out of an old analog cassette or VHS.
Comparing the Dardennes to Ken Loach, one of their most profound influences, is significant too. Film critics can...
Comparing the Dardennes to Ken Loach, one of their most profound influences, is significant too. Film critics can...
- 6/2/2022
- by David Katz
- The Film Stage
by Cláudio Alves
The 75th Cannes Film Festival is almost over! If there's any hope of finishing Cannes at Home before the closing ceremony, it's critical to pick up speed. So, here go two days' worth of auteurs in one go.
The Dardennes showed their latest, Tori and Lokita, to some acclaim. However, after The Unknown Girl and Young Ahmed, I'm skeptical about the Belgian duo's tackling of immigrant stories. Mario Martone also returned to the competition, and his Nostalgia could see Perfrancesco Favino winning the festival's Best Actor trophy. In contrast, Saeed Roustayi is competing for the Palme for the first time with Leila's Brothers. All that being said, the big story from these latest festival days was surely Claire Denis' Stars at Noon. Most critics seem to hate it – some even jokingly calling for the director's retirement – while a scattering of ardent fans provides a contrarian takes. For sure,...
The 75th Cannes Film Festival is almost over! If there's any hope of finishing Cannes at Home before the closing ceremony, it's critical to pick up speed. So, here go two days' worth of auteurs in one go.
The Dardennes showed their latest, Tori and Lokita, to some acclaim. However, after The Unknown Girl and Young Ahmed, I'm skeptical about the Belgian duo's tackling of immigrant stories. Mario Martone also returned to the competition, and his Nostalgia could see Perfrancesco Favino winning the festival's Best Actor trophy. In contrast, Saeed Roustayi is competing for the Palme for the first time with Leila's Brothers. All that being said, the big story from these latest festival days was surely Claire Denis' Stars at Noon. Most critics seem to hate it – some even jokingly calling for the director's retirement – while a scattering of ardent fans provides a contrarian takes. For sure,...
- 5/28/2022
- by Cláudio Alves
- FilmExperience
After being cancelled in 2020 and then delayed in 2021, the Cannes Film Festival is finally back on track for May 2022 on the French Riviera. The 75th installment of the international cinema showcase will take place from May 17 to May 28, and there will be 18 films competing for the coveted Palme d’Or, the festival’s top prize. Last year that honor went to the French thriller “Titane,” directed by Julia Ducournau. As of this writing several details are still to be announced including who will be on this year’s jury and who will be serving as jury president after Spike Lee presided over last year’s program.
A filmmaker’s previous track record at Cannes can sometimes give us an idea of who’s in a good position to claim the Palme. For instance, seven of this year’s entries in the official competition come from directors who have previously won...
A filmmaker’s previous track record at Cannes can sometimes give us an idea of who’s in a good position to claim the Palme. For instance, seven of this year’s entries in the official competition come from directors who have previously won...
- 4/25/2022
- by Charles Bright
- Gold Derby
Andreas Fontana’s haunting Azor, co-written with Mariano Llinas, stars Fabrizio Rongione and Stéphanie Cléau: “The cinematography was done by Gabriel Sandru and we were talking a lot about that.”
Andreas Fontana’s Azor, co-written with Mariano Llinas, shot by Gabriel Sandru with costumes by Simona Martínez, stars Fabrizio Rongione and Stéphanie Cléau.
Andreas Fontana with Anne-Katrin Titze on Jorge Luis Borges: “Borges of course in terms of literary inspiration is very important.”
In my discussion with the director we touch on the influence of Howard Hawks and Jorge Luis Borges, Joan Didion’s codes and games, casting director Alexandre Nazarian, the cinematography, costumes, and filming in Argentina with non-professional actors, “men who are very impressive”.
Boredom is seen as “divine punishment,” old money...
Andreas Fontana’s Azor, co-written with Mariano Llinas, shot by Gabriel Sandru with costumes by Simona Martínez, stars Fabrizio Rongione and Stéphanie Cléau.
Andreas Fontana with Anne-Katrin Titze on Jorge Luis Borges: “Borges of course in terms of literary inspiration is very important.”
In my discussion with the director we touch on the influence of Howard Hawks and Jorge Luis Borges, Joan Didion’s codes and games, casting director Alexandre Nazarian, the cinematography, costumes, and filming in Argentina with non-professional actors, “men who are very impressive”.
Boredom is seen as “divine punishment,” old money...
- 12/29/2021
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
It’s summer, everyone! And with its relatively sparse list of new releases for July 2021, Hulu seems to be subtlety imploring its subscribers to go outside.
Don’t get us wrong: Hulu’s library offerings get a big upgrade this month. July 1 sees the arrival of great films like Galaxy Quest, Fargo, and Caddyshack. Bill and Ted Face the Music premieres on July 2 and its followed by Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar on July 9. Not bad stuff! It’s just that, outside of the library titles, there isn’t much to go off of.
Hulu’s only major original release this month is the FX on Hulu production American Horror Stories on July 15. As its name implies, the show is a spinoff of American Horror Story and will feature self-contained horror episodes rather than a season-long arc. If you’ll allow this geriatric millennial to deploy one truly ancient meme: “Yo dawg,...
Don’t get us wrong: Hulu’s library offerings get a big upgrade this month. July 1 sees the arrival of great films like Galaxy Quest, Fargo, and Caddyshack. Bill and Ted Face the Music premieres on July 2 and its followed by Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar on July 9. Not bad stuff! It’s just that, outside of the library titles, there isn’t much to go off of.
Hulu’s only major original release this month is the FX on Hulu production American Horror Stories on July 15. As its name implies, the show is a spinoff of American Horror Story and will feature self-contained horror episodes rather than a season-long arc. If you’ll allow this geriatric millennial to deploy one truly ancient meme: “Yo dawg,...
- 7/1/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Egyptian filmmaker Sam Abbas made a splash when he released his queer-themed movie “The Wedding” in secret locations across the Middle East via his Egypt-based ArabQ shingle. The director is now starting a new company in Paris.
Abbas, who is Egypt-born and until recently lived in New York, drew some media attention in 2018 with “The Wedding,” which he wrote, directed and starred in as a young closeted Muslim man from Brooklyn who, while planning to marry his American girlfriend — played by Canada’s Nikohl Boosheri — is having affairs with other men.
“The Wedding” played in secret speakeasy-type venues by invitation only in Turkey, Lebanon, Tunisia and Egypt via ArabQ, Abbas claimed, which helped prompt some publicity when the film briefly screened in New York to unenthusiastic reviews. Variety’s Jay Weissberg called “The Wedding” “a dull slice of Lower Manhattan mumblecore.”
Still, the ArabQ initiative was bold since LGBTQ people...
Abbas, who is Egypt-born and until recently lived in New York, drew some media attention in 2018 with “The Wedding,” which he wrote, directed and starred in as a young closeted Muslim man from Brooklyn who, while planning to marry his American girlfriend — played by Canada’s Nikohl Boosheri — is having affairs with other men.
“The Wedding” played in secret speakeasy-type venues by invitation only in Turkey, Lebanon, Tunisia and Egypt via ArabQ, Abbas claimed, which helped prompt some publicity when the film briefly screened in New York to unenthusiastic reviews. Variety’s Jay Weissberg called “The Wedding” “a dull slice of Lower Manhattan mumblecore.”
Still, the ArabQ initiative was bold since LGBTQ people...
- 10/28/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
When Jean-Luc and Pierre Dardenne won the Palme d’Or for “Rosetta” in 1999 — upending such hotly fancied contenders as Pedro Almodovar’s “All About My Mother” — it wasn’t exactly an out-of-nowhere arrival. The Belgian brothers were already in their mid-forties, having begun their career in documentary filmmaking 20 years before, and had already enjoyed a fiction breakthrough with 1996’s award-winning “La Promesse.”
But it felt like an invigorating new wave all the same. Toward the end of a decade marked by auteurist flash and swagger, the empathetic, unvarnished realism of their working-class survival tale gave world cinema a clean-scrubbed human face: intent on making audiences concentrate more on the lives being presented than the directors’ style of presentation.
In a career-making performance, the 18-year-old Emelie Dequenne played a teen struggling to support herself and her alcoholic mother with fleeting, fragile jobs: Though incidentally a damning study of Belgian labour law and social welfare,...
But it felt like an invigorating new wave all the same. Toward the end of a decade marked by auteurist flash and swagger, the empathetic, unvarnished realism of their working-class survival tale gave world cinema a clean-scrubbed human face: intent on making audiences concentrate more on the lives being presented than the directors’ style of presentation.
In a career-making performance, the 18-year-old Emelie Dequenne played a teen struggling to support herself and her alcoholic mother with fleeting, fragile jobs: Though incidentally a damning study of Belgian labour law and social welfare,...
- 10/12/2020
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Egyptian filmmaker Sam Abbas has teamed with leading cinematographers from around the world to create the documentary “Erēmīta (Anthologies).”
The anthology was shot during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown and will feature contributions from the following DPs: Alexis Zabé, Chayse Irvin Ashley Connor Soledad Rodríguez Stefano Falivene Antoine Héberlé Benoît Dervaux (“The Unknown Girl”) and Sam Abbas.
Leading the project, Abbas said, “I, like many others, get very excited about using certain cameras, lenses, conversations with the cinematographer, colorists, sound designers but really, everyone I work with! But when it comes down to it, if needed, cinema can be made under any circumstances. This is a circumstance where we can only make a film virtually if we want to collaborate. We all share two main things: passion and a plethora of time.”
Each cinematographer oversaw their project, having final cut for their individual piece. Abbas curated the entire project adding, “There is no theme,...
The anthology was shot during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown and will feature contributions from the following DPs: Alexis Zabé, Chayse Irvin Ashley Connor Soledad Rodríguez Stefano Falivene Antoine Héberlé Benoît Dervaux (“The Unknown Girl”) and Sam Abbas.
Leading the project, Abbas said, “I, like many others, get very excited about using certain cameras, lenses, conversations with the cinematographer, colorists, sound designers but really, everyone I work with! But when it comes down to it, if needed, cinema can be made under any circumstances. This is a circumstance where we can only make a film virtually if we want to collaborate. We all share two main things: passion and a plethora of time.”
Each cinematographer oversaw their project, having final cut for their individual piece. Abbas curated the entire project adding, “There is no theme,...
- 7/30/2020
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
Created by Cannes chief Thierry Fremaux and filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier, the Lumiere Festival is due to take place in Lyon from October 10-18. Largely a retrospective event with hundreds of restored films, thematic strands and uncovered gems, it will also feature some titles officially selected for the Cannes Classics 2020 edition which was unable to be held owing to the coronavirus crisis. Today, the Lumière Fest announced that this year’s recipients of the honorary Prix Lumière are Belgian auteurs Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne.
The brothers are among the winningest filmmakers at Cannes, having taken the Palme d’Or twice (for Rosetta in 1999 and The Child in 2005), as well as prizes for screenwriting and directing, among others. They are known for naturalistic films that tackle social issues and shine a light on the young generation. The Lumière festival calls their work, “human, engaged… and crying out for truth.”
Other notable credits include La Promesse,...
The brothers are among the winningest filmmakers at Cannes, having taken the Palme d’Or twice (for Rosetta in 1999 and The Child in 2005), as well as prizes for screenwriting and directing, among others. They are known for naturalistic films that tackle social issues and shine a light on the young generation. The Lumière festival calls their work, “human, engaged… and crying out for truth.”
Other notable credits include La Promesse,...
- 7/16/2020
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
For all the ways Belgium’s Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne are rightly hailed as masterful contemporary realists with an abiding compassion for society’s fringe strugglers — the poor, the undocumented, the criminal, the victimized — they’ve just as easily earned their place as some of the greatest suspense directors of all time.
Their street-level stories, frequent Cannes winners since 1999’s “Rosetta,” typically hinge on a central desperation tied to simple survival, but when played out with their trademark visual restlessness and character-driven purposefulness, they’re often as nail-biting as any genre exercise or melodrama.
Which makes “Young Ahmed,” the pair’s latest dispatch from the viewpoint of a troubled soul — in this case, a 13-year-old Belgian boy in the dangerous throes of religious fanaticism — both a typically unnerving entry in their canon, and a strangely distancing one, given the impenetrability of its lead’s self-destructiveness.
Also Read: In 'Young Ahmed,...
Their street-level stories, frequent Cannes winners since 1999’s “Rosetta,” typically hinge on a central desperation tied to simple survival, but when played out with their trademark visual restlessness and character-driven purposefulness, they’re often as nail-biting as any genre exercise or melodrama.
Which makes “Young Ahmed,” the pair’s latest dispatch from the viewpoint of a troubled soul — in this case, a 13-year-old Belgian boy in the dangerous throes of religious fanaticism — both a typically unnerving entry in their canon, and a strangely distancing one, given the impenetrability of its lead’s self-destructiveness.
Also Read: In 'Young Ahmed,...
- 3/5/2020
- by Robert Abele
- The Wrap
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne might just be the most influential European filmmakers of the last 20 years, with their social-realist handheld camera style becoming a sort of Euro-arthouse cliché at this point. And if you believe their last effort, 2016’s “The Unknown Girl,” felt a little off, then you’d probably be happy to know that this year’s “Young Ahmed” is another unique film in the brothers’ cinematic oeuvre, tackling a controversial character who feels incredibly relevant with today’s political reality.
Continue reading The Dardenne Brothers Discuss Their Polarizing Film ‘Young Ahmed’ [Interview] at The Playlist.
Continue reading The Dardenne Brothers Discuss Their Polarizing Film ‘Young Ahmed’ [Interview] at The Playlist.
- 2/25/2020
- by Jordan Ruimy
- The Playlist
It may have taken nearly 25 years, but the typically admired Dardenne brothers have turned controversial and divisive–which, history tells us, is a common consequence of portraying radical Islam. How amply they’ve addressed the topic in Young Ahmed is not quite my territory–those seeking a discussion would be well-advised to read Soheil Rezayazdi’s Filmmaker interview–but in psychological portraiture it represents a revitalization from 2016’s narrative-dependent (albeit undervalued) The Unknown Girl. As played by Idir Ben Addi, Ahmed marks one of Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s most fascinating creations.
I was fortunate enough to sit with the duo at last fall’s New York Film Festival and pore over Young Ahmed‘s particulars: its conforming and deviating from the Dardenne visual palette, its reliance on Muslim communities, and how to gauge whether or not an audience’s response is in fact correct.
Thanks to Nicholas Elliott, who provided on-site translation.
I was fortunate enough to sit with the duo at last fall’s New York Film Festival and pore over Young Ahmed‘s particulars: its conforming and deviating from the Dardenne visual palette, its reliance on Muslim communities, and how to gauge whether or not an audience’s response is in fact correct.
Thanks to Nicholas Elliott, who provided on-site translation.
- 2/21/2020
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Jean-Pierre Dardenne on Young Ahmed (Le Jeune Ahmed): “We're always very concerned with avoiding imagery …” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
With Young Ahmed (Le Jeune Ahmed), starring Idir Ben Addi as Ahmed, featuring Myriem Akheddiou, Victoria Bluck, Claire Bodson, Othmane Moumen, Olivier Bonnaud, and Cyra Lassman, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne enter a new realm of their oeuvre.
And yet their latest film, for which they won the top director prize at Cannes, is very much in line with what they do best. They illuminate seemingly impossible situations that are deeply grounded in social realities. Body language, quotidian objects, and a hesitant glance speak volumes.
Luc Dardenne on Idir Ben Addi as Ahmed: “We define the character not by his psychology, but by his accessories.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
In the second half of my conversation at Ian Schrager's Hudson Hotel with the master filmmakers, I started out...
With Young Ahmed (Le Jeune Ahmed), starring Idir Ben Addi as Ahmed, featuring Myriem Akheddiou, Victoria Bluck, Claire Bodson, Othmane Moumen, Olivier Bonnaud, and Cyra Lassman, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne enter a new realm of their oeuvre.
And yet their latest film, for which they won the top director prize at Cannes, is very much in line with what they do best. They illuminate seemingly impossible situations that are deeply grounded in social realities. Body language, quotidian objects, and a hesitant glance speak volumes.
Luc Dardenne on Idir Ben Addi as Ahmed: “We define the character not by his psychology, but by his accessories.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
In the second half of my conversation at Ian Schrager's Hudson Hotel with the master filmmakers, I started out...
- 2/20/2020
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Exclusive: Portrait Of A Lady On Fire star Adèle Haenel has signed with CAA. The multi-award winning French actress recently received a Best Actress César nomination for her role in Céline Sciamma’s Portrait, and previously took the prize for 2014’s Les Combattants (Love At First Fight).
Portrait Of A Lady On Fire was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Golden Globe and BAFTA this year, despite not being the official French submission to the Academy Awards. The drama releases in the U.S. via Neon on February 14.
Haenel’s other credits include last year’s Deerskin; 2017’s Bpm (which was France’s entry for the Oscars); the Dardenne brothers’ The Unknown Girl in 2016; 2013’s Suzanne; 2011’s House Of Tolerance from Bertrand Bonello; and Sciamma’s 2007 breakout Water Lillies. In total, she has been nominated for six César Awards. Along with the lead honor for Love At First Fight,...
Portrait Of A Lady On Fire was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Golden Globe and BAFTA this year, despite not being the official French submission to the Academy Awards. The drama releases in the U.S. via Neon on February 14.
Haenel’s other credits include last year’s Deerskin; 2017’s Bpm (which was France’s entry for the Oscars); the Dardenne brothers’ The Unknown Girl in 2016; 2013’s Suzanne; 2011’s House Of Tolerance from Bertrand Bonello; and Sciamma’s 2007 breakout Water Lillies. In total, she has been nominated for six César Awards. Along with the lead honor for Love At First Fight,...
- 2/4/2020
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Isabelle Huppert in a beautiful Burberry vest and jacket on Joan Crawford and movie star shoes in Mildred Pierce: "My favourite ever!" Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Ira Sachs' Frankie, co-written with longtime collaborator Mauricio Zacharias, starring Isabelle Huppert in the title role, with Brendan Gleeson, Jérémie Renier, Marisa Tomei, Pascal Greggory (Olivier Assayas' Non-Fiction), Greg Kinnear, Vinette Robinson, Ariyon Bakare, Carloto Cotta, and Sennia Nanua, shot by Rui Poças in Sintra, Portugal, had its world première at the Cannes Film Festival.
Frankie (Isabelle Huppert) with her son Paul (Jérémie Renier)
At the Four Seasons on a stormy afternoon in New York, Isabelle connected Werner Schroeter's Two, Michael Haneke's The Piano Teacher, Chantal Akerman, costume designer Khadija Zeggaï, and the magic of Sintra for the first half of our conversation on Frankie.
One day in the beautiful town of Sintra...
Ira Sachs' Frankie, co-written with longtime collaborator Mauricio Zacharias, starring Isabelle Huppert in the title role, with Brendan Gleeson, Jérémie Renier, Marisa Tomei, Pascal Greggory (Olivier Assayas' Non-Fiction), Greg Kinnear, Vinette Robinson, Ariyon Bakare, Carloto Cotta, and Sennia Nanua, shot by Rui Poças in Sintra, Portugal, had its world première at the Cannes Film Festival.
Frankie (Isabelle Huppert) with her son Paul (Jérémie Renier)
At the Four Seasons on a stormy afternoon in New York, Isabelle connected Werner Schroeter's Two, Michael Haneke's The Piano Teacher, Chantal Akerman, costume designer Khadija Zeggaï, and the magic of Sintra for the first half of our conversation on Frankie.
One day in the beautiful town of Sintra...
- 10/18/2019
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
For 20 years running, the films of Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have confronted a single fundamental facet of modern life: class. From their breakout La Promesse (1996) to The Unknown Girl (2016), the messy tangle of money, employment, and morality has defined their work. The brothers take a hard turn, in subject if not style, with Young Ahmed. The film debuted at Cannes, like their previous seven features, where it won the Best Director prize earlier this year. Despite that honor–which they won over Almodóvar, Tarantino, and Malick among other heavyweights–the film has earned the harshest reviews of the Dardennes’ career. […]...
- 10/4/2019
- by Soheil Rezayazdi
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
For 20 years running, the films of Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have confronted a single fundamental facet of modern life: class. From their breakout La Promesse (1996) to The Unknown Girl (2016), the messy tangle of money, employment, and morality has defined their work. The brothers take a hard turn, in subject if not style, with Young Ahmed. The film debuted at Cannes, like their previous seven features, where it won the Best Director prize earlier this year. Despite that honor–which they won over Almodóvar, Tarantino, and Malick among other heavyweights–the film has earned the harshest reviews of the Dardennes’ career. […]...
- 10/4/2019
- by Soheil Rezayazdi
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Fitting their preoccupations with contemporary Europe’s working class, the latest from Belgian’s preeminent filmmaking duo, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, seeks to boldly tackle the radicalization of a Belgian-Arabic teen. Their approach in Young Ahmed is as compassionate and conscientious as one can expect from the brothers—they’re master storytellers operating at their most consistent and polished—yet it lacks the moral specificity of their best work or formal daring of their second-most-recent outing (The Unknown Girl), the end result being a derivative misstep.
At school, the erratic Ahmed (first-time actor Idir Ben Addi) displays intense animosity for his instructor, Madame Inès (Myriem Akheddiou), who seems to genuinely care for him and worries about his recent rash behavior. Ahmed rushes to leave class early, refusing to say goodbye and asserting that it’s unacceptable for a true Muslim to shake a woman’s hand. This opening uncannily mirrors...
At school, the erratic Ahmed (first-time actor Idir Ben Addi) displays intense animosity for his instructor, Madame Inès (Myriem Akheddiou), who seems to genuinely care for him and worries about his recent rash behavior. Ahmed rushes to leave class early, refusing to say goodbye and asserting that it’s unacceptable for a true Muslim to shake a woman’s hand. This opening uncannily mirrors...
- 9/24/2019
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Céline Sciamma’s Cannes Screenplay-winner “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” an 18th-century lesbian bodice-ripper that scored among the best reviews at the May festival, is a likely candidate for France’s submission for the Best International Feature Oscar. That said, it will face stiff competition for France’s slot from two other Cannes prize-winners, Mati Diop’s “Atlantics” and Ladj Ly’s “Les Misérables.” In any case, Neon will release the film in Los Angeles and New York on December 6, at the height of the awards season.
The theatrical distributor did well at Cannes, beating out Netflix and others on the popular title, partnering with Hulu to acquire North American rights. Neon picked up the eventual Palme d’Or winner, Bong Joon-Ho’s “Parasite,” ahead of the festival; that film is dated October 11. Expect both films to play the fall film festival circuit.
Adèle Haenel (“The Unknown Girl”) and...
The theatrical distributor did well at Cannes, beating out Netflix and others on the popular title, partnering with Hulu to acquire North American rights. Neon picked up the eventual Palme d’Or winner, Bong Joon-Ho’s “Parasite,” ahead of the festival; that film is dated October 11. Expect both films to play the fall film festival circuit.
Adèle Haenel (“The Unknown Girl”) and...
- 5/31/2019
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Céline Sciamma’s Cannes Screenplay-winner “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” an 18th-century lesbian bodice-ripper that scored among the best reviews at the May festival, is a likely candidate for France’s submission for the Best International Feature Oscar. That said, it will face stiff competition for France’s slot from two other Cannes prize-winners, Mati Diop’s “Atlantics” and Ladj Ly’s “Les Misérables.” In any case, Neon will release the film in Los Angeles and New York on December 6, at the height of the awards season.
The theatrical distributor did well at Cannes, beating out Netflix and others on the popular title, partnering with Hulu to acquire North American rights. Neon picked up the eventual Palme d’Or winner, Bong Joon-Ho’s “Parasite,” ahead of the festival; that film is dated October 11. Expect both films to play the fall film festival circuit.
Adèle Haenel (“The Unknown Girl”) and...
The theatrical distributor did well at Cannes, beating out Netflix and others on the popular title, partnering with Hulu to acquire North American rights. Neon picked up the eventual Palme d’Or winner, Bong Joon-Ho’s “Parasite,” ahead of the festival; that film is dated October 11. Expect both films to play the fall film festival circuit.
Adèle Haenel (“The Unknown Girl”) and...
- 5/31/2019
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Céline Sciamma’s (Girlhood) well-received Cannes Competition drama Portrait Of A Lady On Fire has sold to Neon and Hulu for North America in a competitive situation.
Adèle Haenel (The Unknown Girl), Noémie Merlant (Heaven Will Wait), Luana Bajrami (School’s Out) and Valeria Golina (Human Capital) star in the French-language film about a female painter commissioned to paint a wedding portrait of a young, reluctant bride on an isolated island in Northern France at the end of the eighteenth century. The painting must be done without the subject’s knowledge.
Pic was sold by mk2 and the pact falls into the output deal between Neon and Hulu. Neon is planning a theatrical release, which is set to include an awards campaign in all categories.
The deal was negotiated by Jeff Deutchman on behalf of Neon and Hulu and Fionnuala Jamison from mk2 films on behalf of the filmmakers. mk2 films has world rights.
Adèle Haenel (The Unknown Girl), Noémie Merlant (Heaven Will Wait), Luana Bajrami (School’s Out) and Valeria Golina (Human Capital) star in the French-language film about a female painter commissioned to paint a wedding portrait of a young, reluctant bride on an isolated island in Northern France at the end of the eighteenth century. The painting must be done without the subject’s knowledge.
Pic was sold by mk2 and the pact falls into the output deal between Neon and Hulu. Neon is planning a theatrical release, which is set to include an awards campaign in all categories.
The deal was negotiated by Jeff Deutchman on behalf of Neon and Hulu and Fionnuala Jamison from mk2 films on behalf of the filmmakers. mk2 films has world rights.
- 5/22/2019
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Palme d’Or winners for 1999’s Rosetta (review) and L’Enfant (2005), Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have attempted to three-peat this past decade with 2011’s The Kid with a Bike (winner of the Grand Prix prize), 2014’s Two Days, One Night and 2016’s The Unknown Girl (review). Their eleventh feature film and eighth consecutive competition film, Le Jeune Ahmed adheres to their beginnings in cinema mixing non professional actors with socially conscious template and bleak realism. Set in Belgium, this is about a young fanatic barely out of childhood who plans to kill his teacher in the name of his religion.…...
- 5/21/2019
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Belgian directors Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne excel at showing how the struggles of the underprivileged can lead them down morally questionable paths, but when “Young Ahmed” begins, that journey has started long ago. As 13-year-old Ahmed (Idir Ben Addi in a breakout turn) spends his days studying radical Islam with Imam Youssouf (Othmane Moumen), much to the consternation of his frantic mother Louise (Claire Bodson), the child has already committed himself to jihad. Within the first act of the movie, he has sworn himself to murdering his secular teacher Ines (Miriam Akheddiou), and the reckless act lands him in juvenile detention. The rest of the movie finds the kid struggling with his confused ideology, as various characters attempt to sway his beliefs.
In the pantheon of Dardenne brothers movies from the past three decades, “Young Ahmed” lies somewhere on the spectrum ahead of mediocre works like “The Unknown Girl” but...
In the pantheon of Dardenne brothers movies from the past three decades, “Young Ahmed” lies somewhere on the spectrum ahead of mediocre works like “The Unknown Girl” but...
- 5/20/2019
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
“Deerskin,” written and directed by Quentin Dupieux, is a loopy entertaining Wtf lark. It’s like a cross between “Barton Fink” and “Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer” — the study of a desolate loner sunk into obsession, and the more we study him the more out there his obsession becomes. Yet the weirdest element of the movie is, paradoxically, the most normal: The central character is played by Jean Dujardin, the blazingly charismatic star of “The Artist,” the “Oss: 117” films, and (in smaller roles) “The Wolf of Wall Street” and “Monuments Men.” Dujardin is the sort of leading man who likes to mix it up, and in “Deerskin” he gives an adventurous downbeat performance that tosses vanity — and sanity — right out the window.
The movie opens with a series of young people placing their jackets in a car trunk, repeating the line “I swear never to wear a jacket as long as I live.
The movie opens with a series of young people placing their jackets in a car trunk, repeating the line “I swear never to wear a jacket as long as I live.
- 5/15/2019
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
The odd twist of Quentin Dupieux’s “Deerskin” is its deceptive simplicity. Anyone familiar with the French director’s loopy, surrealist comedies — the killer tire saga “Rubber” and Kafkaesque noir “Wrong” among them — knows that his zany, paranoid characters speak in baffling monologues as their worlds melt around them. “Deerskin” follows suit, but reduces the style to a minimalist curiosity, resulting in a 78-minute stunt with one appealing hook: Jean Dujardin, hilarious and unhinged, as a psychopath so infatuated with his new jacket that he decides it should be the only one in the world.
It’s hard to shake the feeling that Dupieux’s outré premise would have worked better as a short, as the unusual narrative struggles to make the scenario palatable even at the bare minimum for a feature-length treatment. But a hilarious Dujardin performance and the filmmaker’s inspired fashion conceit yield an enjoyable diversion from...
It’s hard to shake the feeling that Dupieux’s outré premise would have worked better as a short, as the unusual narrative struggles to make the scenario palatable even at the bare minimum for a feature-length treatment. But a hilarious Dujardin performance and the filmmaker’s inspired fashion conceit yield an enjoyable diversion from...
- 5/15/2019
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Few directors are as synonymous with Cannes Film Festival as the Belgian filmmaking brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. After their last film, The Unknown Girl, premiered in an early cut at the festival to a tepid response that was later reworked for an eventual theatrically release, hopefully things fare better for their next drama, Young Ahmed.
As the synopsis reads, “In Belgium, today, the destiny of young Ahmed, 13, caught between his imam’s ideals of purity and life’s temptations. How can love of life win out over his desire to put someone to death?” Ahead of the Cannes premiere, the first trailer has now arrived albeit without English subtitles for the story of a teenager wrestling with ideas of killing his teacher.
Sure to stir up some controversy on the Croisette, see the trailer below via Cinemaldito for the film starring Idir Ben Addi, Olivier Bonnaud, Myriem Akheddiou, Victoria Bluck,...
As the synopsis reads, “In Belgium, today, the destiny of young Ahmed, 13, caught between his imam’s ideals of purity and life’s temptations. How can love of life win out over his desire to put someone to death?” Ahead of the Cannes premiere, the first trailer has now arrived albeit without English subtitles for the story of a teenager wrestling with ideas of killing his teacher.
Sure to stir up some controversy on the Croisette, see the trailer below via Cinemaldito for the film starring Idir Ben Addi, Olivier Bonnaud, Myriem Akheddiou, Victoria Bluck,...
- 4/26/2019
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Nineteen films are in contention for the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, which runs from May 14 to May 25. The history of a filmmaker at this festival can offer wisdom as to who could be out front to win the coveted Palme d’Or. Seven of the entries are by filmmakers that have been honored during past closing ceremonies. Newcomers to Cannes could end up being big winners with three filmmakers making their first appearance on the Croisette and another four having their films shown for the first time in competition. The jury will be headed by four-time Oscar winner Alejandro González Iñárritu, who claimed the Best Director prize at Cannes in 2006 for “Babel.”
Below is a breakdown of the 19 films competing this year and the history of their helmers at the festival.
Pedro Almodóvar (“Pain and Glory”)
The acclaimed Spanish director is back at Cannes...
Below is a breakdown of the 19 films competing this year and the history of their helmers at the festival.
Pedro Almodóvar (“Pain and Glory”)
The acclaimed Spanish director is back at Cannes...
- 4/22/2019
- by Charles Bright
- Gold Derby
Cannes Directors’ Fortnight will open with French comedy Deerskin, starring Jean Dujardin (The Artist) and Adèle Haenel (Bpm).
Dujardin plays a man who becomes obsessed with owning an expensive designer deerskin jacket, leading him to blow his life savings and even turn to crime. The film will have its world premiere on May 15, and will be released theatrically in France on June 19, distributed by Diaphana. Producers are Thomas and Mathieu Verhaeghe for Atelier de Production with Arte France. Sales are handled by WTFilms.
Dujardin won Best Actor awards both at Cannes and at the Oscars for The Artist. Rising star Haenel is well known for movies including Bpm, Love At First Fight and The Unknown Girl.
The film is the seventh from director Quentin Dupieux (Keep An Eye Out). The filmmaker began his career making music videos and commercials working with Michel Gondry. His previous movies include Rubber, selected for...
Dujardin plays a man who becomes obsessed with owning an expensive designer deerskin jacket, leading him to blow his life savings and even turn to crime. The film will have its world premiere on May 15, and will be released theatrically in France on June 19, distributed by Diaphana. Producers are Thomas and Mathieu Verhaeghe for Atelier de Production with Arte France. Sales are handled by WTFilms.
Dujardin won Best Actor awards both at Cannes and at the Oscars for The Artist. Rising star Haenel is well known for movies including Bpm, Love At First Fight and The Unknown Girl.
The film is the seventh from director Quentin Dupieux (Keep An Eye Out). The filmmaker began his career making music videos and commercials working with Michel Gondry. His previous movies include Rubber, selected for...
- 4/4/2019
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Every year, the Cannes Film Festival hosts the largest gathering of cinephiles in the world, and its program is scrutinized down to every last detail. While Cannes has contended with many changes over the decades, it remains one of the few A-list festivals to offer splashy red carpet premieres for a range of international cinema, but its coveted Official Competition slots only tell part of the story.
A handful of major directors will compete for the Palme d’Or, but other titles will wind up generating heat throughout the Official Selection, Directors’ Fortnight, and Critics’ Week. Assessing the potential films that will make the cut at Cannes takes a little educated guesswork, some well-placed sources, and a little wishful thinking, but it’s also a welcome excuse to explore some of the potential films that could make a lot of noise in the months ahead.
In that regard, 2019 has a...
A handful of major directors will compete for the Palme d’Or, but other titles will wind up generating heat throughout the Official Selection, Directors’ Fortnight, and Critics’ Week. Assessing the potential films that will make the cut at Cannes takes a little educated guesswork, some well-placed sources, and a little wishful thinking, but it’s also a welcome excuse to explore some of the potential films that could make a lot of noise in the months ahead.
In that regard, 2019 has a...
- 3/21/2019
- by Eric Kohn, Christian Blauvelt, Kate Erbland, David Ehrlich, Chris O'Falt, Zack Sharf, Jude Dry and Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Wolf Fleetwood-Ross, Noah Luis Brown and Meghan Wiggins have been cast in actress Taylor DeVoe’s feature directing debut, Violent Delights. They join The Florida Project breakout Bria Vinaite and Timur Magomedgadzhiev.
Based on an original screenplay by DeVoe, Violent Delights tells the story of three young musicians whose inner demons threaten to derail their budding careers. As the European leg of their tour kicks off, disenchanted Dillon, addiction-plagued Felix, and new-age misfit Skipper hope to rekindle past relationships and find meaning while in Paris. Instead, they find themselves in middle of a mass shooting.
The project was originally unveiled at the Berlin Film Festival in 2017 and has gone through some shifts; it will be newly introduced to buyers this fall.
Fleetwood-Ross, who is the grandson of Mick Fleetwood, appeared in the most recent American Crime Story as he builds his credits.
Based on an original screenplay by DeVoe, Violent Delights tells the story of three young musicians whose inner demons threaten to derail their budding careers. As the European leg of their tour kicks off, disenchanted Dillon, addiction-plagued Felix, and new-age misfit Skipper hope to rekindle past relationships and find meaning while in Paris. Instead, they find themselves in middle of a mass shooting.
The project was originally unveiled at the Berlin Film Festival in 2017 and has gone through some shifts; it will be newly introduced to buyers this fall.
Fleetwood-Ross, who is the grandson of Mick Fleetwood, appeared in the most recent American Crime Story as he builds his credits.
- 5/25/2018
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
A dingy apartment door is kicked in from the outside and a slick-looking detective bursts in brandishing a gun. Bullets fly, kicks are roundhoused, and the cop is put through an interior wall, resulting in his arms and fists fighting off one foe, while his flailing legs dispatch another in the next room over. This choppy, exaggerated melee is not the typical beginning to a film selected for Cannes, even one in the occasionally genre-friendly Directors’ Fortnight, and though it’s quickly revealed to be imaginary — a bedtime story told to a little boy grieving for his dead hero-cop father — the tone of merry lunacy sets the bar for Pierre Salvadori’s “The Trouble With You.”
The loopy plot follows Yvonne (Adèle Haenel), a police officer on desk duty who, two years after the death of her cop husband Santi (Vincent Elbaz) inadvertently discovers he was far from the crusading...
The loopy plot follows Yvonne (Adèle Haenel), a police officer on desk duty who, two years after the death of her cop husband Santi (Vincent Elbaz) inadvertently discovers he was far from the crusading...
- 5/19/2018
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
One of the first things I learned upon arriving at the CannesFilm Festival for the first time is this: Many of the people who come to Cannes year after year aren’t actually there to watch movies.
It’s a lamentable truth that for literally thousands of film industry professionals, Cannes serves more as a trade show than a celebration of cinema. For these individuals, more important than seeing the movies screening in competition is the opportunity to strike a deal with a financier or distributor at the festival’s marketplace, aka the Marché du Film. As one distributor I met with remarked, the irony of the experience can be maddening. After pursuing a career in film because of your love of movies, you arrive at the granddaddy of film festivals only to spend all your time chasing money.
While the mood at the Marché is all business all the time,...
It’s a lamentable truth that for literally thousands of film industry professionals, Cannes serves more as a trade show than a celebration of cinema. For these individuals, more important than seeing the movies screening in competition is the opportunity to strike a deal with a financier or distributor at the festival’s marketplace, aka the Marché du Film. As one distributor I met with remarked, the irony of the experience can be maddening. After pursuing a career in film because of your love of movies, you arrive at the granddaddy of film festivals only to spend all your time chasing money.
While the mood at the Marché is all business all the time,...
- 5/25/2016
- by Graham Winfrey
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Other new titles on the Cannes slate include films by Nicole Garcia and Cristian Mungiu.
Wild Bunch is to kick off sales on Emmanuelle Bercot’s upcoming drug scandal tale 150 Milligrams at the Cannes Marché next week.
Danish actress Sidse Babett Knudsen has signed to star as a lung specialist who discovers a link between a series of mysterious deaths and a state-approved drug.
The film is inspired by France’s real-life health scandal revolving around the diabetes drug Mediator, which is estimated to have caused the deaths of around 2,000 people before it was withdrawn from pharmacies in 2009.
Bercot and co-writer Séverine Bosschem’s screenplay is based on the book Médiator 150Mg: Combien de Morts? by Irène Frachon, a pulmonologist who was one of the first medical professionals to spot the link and suggested there had been a cover-up.
“It’s not a direct adaptation but rather inspired by the affair… it’s a sort...
Wild Bunch is to kick off sales on Emmanuelle Bercot’s upcoming drug scandal tale 150 Milligrams at the Cannes Marché next week.
Danish actress Sidse Babett Knudsen has signed to star as a lung specialist who discovers a link between a series of mysterious deaths and a state-approved drug.
The film is inspired by France’s real-life health scandal revolving around the diabetes drug Mediator, which is estimated to have caused the deaths of around 2,000 people before it was withdrawn from pharmacies in 2009.
Bercot and co-writer Séverine Bosschem’s screenplay is based on the book Médiator 150Mg: Combien de Morts? by Irène Frachon, a pulmonologist who was one of the first medical professionals to spot the link and suggested there had been a cover-up.
“It’s not a direct adaptation but rather inspired by the affair… it’s a sort...
- 5/6/2015
- ScreenDaily
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.