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Transylvania 2013 Interview: Producer Monica Gorgan Talks Adrian Sitaru´s DOMESTIC

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Transylvania 2013 Interview: Producer Monica Gorgan Talks Adrian Sitaru´s DOMESTIC

Transylvania 2013 Interview: Producer Monica Gorgan Talks Adrian Sitaru´s DOMESTIC

Posted: 26 Jul 2013 03:00 AM PDT

During this year's Transylvania International Film Festival in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, Twitch had the chance to meet the producer of Adrian Sitaru´s films, Monica Lazurean-Gorgan. Although he has made "just" three feature films so far (also several TV productions and shorts), his style is unmistakable. The progressive Romanian director came into notoriety through his signature storytelling style, built upon the most common daily situations, yet handled with remarkable suspense, while leaving out all the action. Hooked presents a fresh spin on the love triangle and accidental murder, Best Intentions squeezes a spine-chilling escalation of events from one unexpected and awkward hospitalization and Domestic follows in their footsteps. Absurd and surreal humor became one of the director´s trademarks. Sitaru is concerned with ordinary life, however still piling up...

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Relive The 60s With The Trailer For Peruvian Comedy ROCANROL '68

Posted: 26 Jul 2013 02:00 AM PDT

The 1960s were a time of massive social change, and Peru was no exception. This is the setting for Rocanrol '68, from first-time director Gonzalo Benavente.The teen film follows the misadventures of Manolo and his two friends: Bobby, a would-be ladies man who can't score and Guille, a music fan and "rock and roll fundamentalist." All set during one unforgettable summer in Lima, with the boys trying to have a good time and of course, meet girls.This being the 1960s, Benavente gently pokes fun at the politics of the time, including militant feminism, socialism ("I call everyone comrade because I'm a Maoist!") and hippie culture ("We prefer the term 'cool'"). Most of all, as a lifelong music fan himself, the director pays tribute to many...

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Fantasia 2013 Review: I'LL FOLLOW YOU DOWN Features An Emotional Time Travel Story

Posted: 25 Jul 2013 08:00 PM PDT

"When you alter gravity, you affect time." -- Albert Einstein At what point will a good story trump a pedestrian production? Richie Mehta the writer is one helluva thing, but Richie Mehta the director, well, he gets the job done, but at times comes dangerously close to breaking what is one of the best time travel screenplays, well, since Looper, anyway. I'll Follow You Down is both literally and thematically a pregnant title for a time travel flick that shows the hubris of the father visited on the son and jeopardizes the happiness and emotional stability of not one, but two, possibly even three families. It dwells on tangent universes, fuzzy mathematics, and keeping the parents together with their children (their very existence), thus merging...

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Giveaway: Win A Bundle Of Despair Blu-ray Prize Packs - Copies Of NORTH FACE And THE SILENCE From Music Box Films

Posted: 25 Jul 2013 06:00 PM PDT

While the rest of the world celebrates Britain's bundle of joy, the good folks at Music Box Films are offering you the chance to win your own bundle of despair. Yay! Actually, North Face is a visually stunning hi-def experience based on a disastrous real-life attempt to conquer the the north side of the Eiger just prior to World War II. The Silence deftly navigates the emotional fallout as a series of policemen and civilians relive the murder of a young girl 23 years after the fact. Both films are absolutely riveting and come with some nice special features. Both are depressing as hell. Do not attempt this as a double feature. We've got 3 prize packs. You get a Blu-ray of each film. To win, simply be amongst...

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Fantasia 2013 Review: Boozie Movies on THE WEIGHT - Dude, It's Pretty Heavy

Posted: 25 Jul 2013 05:00 PM PDT

Within the first 20 minutes of The Weight, you will witness a graphic autopsy performed by a horribly malformed man, immediately followed by graphic necrophilia. There's also a suicide and a nearly pornographic sex scene that also includes a disturbingly explicit murder by way of hatchet. You'll also see a prolonged sequence in which a transgendered woman has sex through a glory hole in a public restroom before being arrested. And this is only the film's introduction, and this summary doesn't even begin to spoil the constant barrage of grotesquery and misery that follows. If anything, The Weight's title is all too apt, as there is nothing light to the film. If there's one thing missing entirely, it's any sense of subtlety. The film is...

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Review: Sex and Murder Become Dull Bedfellows In BREAKING THE GIRLS

Posted: 25 Jul 2013 04:00 PM PDT

Alright Alfred Hitchcock (or Patricia Highsmith) fans, see if you remember this one : Two strangers meet by chance, hit it off and soon realize that each of them has a person in their life that they'd like dead. They get to talking more and realize that if each kills the other's enemy, neither will be suspected and they can both live happily ever after.Yes, we're in Strangers on a Train territory here, only this time, the stranger inciting the murder plot is a rich, hard-partying lesbian, Alex, who seduces a previously straight, financially strapped law student, Sarah. In other words, Breaking the Girls should be sexy, devilish fun -- It takes a classic setup, brings the homoerotic subtext of the original to the surface...

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Review: THE TO DO LIST Gets It Done, But Not Satisfyingly

Posted: 25 Jul 2013 03:00 PM PDT

In The To Do List, Aubrey Plaza plays a virginal high school valedictorian who decides, apropos of nothing, that she needs to spend the summer having every possible sexual experience as practice for college. (High school college-prep courses only teach you so much.) Since she's a methodical, organized girl, she makes a list of all the things she needs to do, with assistance from her more worldly friends. Since she's a hopelessly naive and sheltered girl, she doesn't even know what some of the things are, let alone how to do them. The problem with the film isn't its scenario, which is just a female-centric twist on the standard sex comedy formula, with the requisite humiliations, outrageous misunderstandings, and accidental eating of gross things. Writer-director...

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New Sexy, NSFW NYMPHOMANIAC Still Introduces Shia "La Buff"

Posted: 25 Jul 2013 02:30 PM PDT

First of all, I'd like to put the jokes aside for a second and applaud the fact that both the above picture and the other official still from Lars von Trier's Nymphomaniac are actually quite sexy. Von Trier may be a prankster, but the man still delivers. This fact is twice as  impressive since I never thought I'd be using "sexy" to describe a picture with Shia LaBeouf in it. Props also then to Stacy Martin, also pictured above. As reported previously, the hard-working Nymphomaniac marketing team is teasing a new chapter of the film each month. The above still is from Chapter 2: Jerôme, and it will be followed up with a clip tomorrow on the official website. In the meantime, if anyone with...

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Review: BARRIO UNIVERSITARIO, Not A Good Comedy, But A Nice Try

Posted: 25 Jul 2013 02:00 PM PDT

There are many examples of what we could call a New Chilean Film Comedy in the past few years. It's clear why it's the genre that is creating the most recent 'waves' and changes coming from different directors, as usually comedies are the best selling genre when we talk about Chilean films at the box office; they are the most profitable and at the same time among the cheapest to make.For example, we have Nicolás López, most recently known for his English-speaking debut Aftershock, released in theaters and VOD a couple months back, who revolutionized low-budget comedy with his series of 'F**k My...' trilogy of pictures -- F**k my Life, F**k my Wedding, F**k my Family -- about a loser who ends up in the biggest...

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Japan Cuts 2013 Interview: Toda Yukihiro Discusses THERE IS LIGHT

Posted: 25 Jul 2013 01:00 PM PDT

Earlier this month, our NYC correspondent Diva Velez sat down with Toda Yukihiro to talk about his first feature film There Is Light, which had its North American premiere at Japan Cuts. No doubt a standout title amongst an already stellar program, Toda's film focuses on the subject of sex workers who service the physically handicapped. A subject with no small answers, Diva's discussion with Mr. Toda about a world we rarely get a glimpse into is most certainly in-depth and not surprisingly very fascinating as Toda's stance is very humane and considerate to all parties involved. Please be wary of spoilers on the films ending, which I have marked. [ed. Ben Umstead]    Twitch: How did the creation of THERE IS LIGHT begin? I...

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Venice 2013: Full Lineup Includes Sono Sion & Miyazaki Hayao

Posted: 25 Jul 2013 12:30 PM PDT

The Venice Film Festival's complete lineup is here! Competing for the Leone D'Oro are such veteran auteurs like American documentarian Errol Morris (The Unknown Known), ex Monty Python-er Terry Gilliam (The Zero Theorum), Japanese sensei Miyazaki Hayao (The Wind Rises) and post-nouvelle vague-er Philippe Garrel (La Jalousie). Also playing in competition are new works by the ever-stylish Xavier Dolan (Tom At The Farm), the polymorphic James Franco (Child Of God), and Asian favorite Tsai Ming-Liang (Jiaoyou).In the other sections, anime Space Pirate Captain Harlock by Aramaki Shinji will sail the laguna, along with the Unforgiven remake by Lee Sang-il, Kim Ki-Duk's Moebius, and new stuff by Miguel Gomes, Sono Sion, Wang Bing, Ti West and Frederick Wiseman. The complete lineup follows! The Venice Film Festival...

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PiFan 2013 Review: Muddled RITUAL - A PSYCHOMAGIC STORY Misses The Mark

Posted: 25 Jul 2013 12:00 PM PDT

Heavily influenced by cult surrealist filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky, not to mention starring the ageing cineaste in a minor role, Ritual - A Psychomagic Story is a new Italian film from the directing duo Giulia Brazzare and Luca Immesi. A psychological film with linear yet abstract plotting, it features the same disregard for narrative conventions as the aforementioned cinema giant, yet none of his creative zeal and infectious passion. Lia and Viktor have an erotically charged relationship but Lia's guilt over an abortion leads her to depression. As her depression and relationship with Viktor worsen, she leaves for the countryside to visit her aunt Agata in an old house. Agata performs rituals on people to help relieve them of traumas. Lia hopes that she can find...

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Fantasia 2013 Review: FATEFUL FINDINGS, Beyond All Working Definitions Of Cinema

Posted: 25 Jul 2013 11:30 AM PDT

Fateful Findings concerns the fallout of a magical day when two children, Leah and Dylan, discover a supernatural black cube. It is not until years later, after the children have grown up, their friendship estranged, that the cube lives up to the hype and miraculously cures Dylan from the massive head trauma he acquires from a recent collision with a luxury sedan. Fresh from his coma, Dylan returns to his life, which consists of neglecting his unfinished novel in favour of hacking and exposing the secrets of every government and corporate "file", helping his wife curb her pill addiction, staving off the flirtatious inappropriate advances of his niece, searching for his long-lost friend Leah, and generally looking like an elderly Keanu Reeves with a penchant...

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PiFan 2013 Review: ON THE JOB, Dark, Hellish And Brilliant

Posted: 25 Jul 2013 11:00 AM PDT

Eric Matti's slow burn crime thriller offers a tantalising glimpse of the class struggles and high-level corruption in modern day Philippines, punctuated by taut action beats and a parade of tough, impressive performances.Apparently based on true events, On The Job follows a variety of players in a multi-faceted assassination racket that sees incarcerated prisoners secretly pulled out of jail, to be used as hit men for corrupt government officials. For the trigger men, the job offers a healthy payday and frequent opportunites to visit their loved ones or savour other fruits of the free world. For the high-ranking members of the government and military, it's an easily contained operation with no shortage of willing, easy-to-control candidates. For the cops, however, it proves increasingly difficult to track...

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Final Poster And Trailer For Dante Lam's UNBEATABLE

Posted: 25 Jul 2013 10:30 AM PDT

Sometimes the struggles outside of the fight arena pack the most crucial impact rather than the actual fight itself. Dante Lam's mixed martial arts drama Unbeatable (formerly known as MMA) appears to fall under this category of a combat film with substance. While the previous Hong Kong trailer emphasized the brutal action, the latest contains a heavy dose of melodrama.A making-of video has also been released, featuring Nick Cheung and Eddie Pang going through intense training to get into tiptop fighting shape.FAI (Nick CHEUNG), once a world champion in boxing, escapes to Macau from the loan sharks and unexpectedly encounters QI (Eddie PANG), a young chap who is determined to win a boxing match. FAI becomes QI's mentor and rediscovers his passion to fight not only...

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Review: BLUE JASMINE, Woody Allen's Sometimes Brilliant, Sometimes Maddening 1% Movie

Posted: 25 Jul 2013 10:01 AM PDT

Rowing against the wind with the fractured persona of a brilliant Cate Blanchett at the helm, Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine is extraordinary, ignorant, belittling, audacious, stupid, perceptive, and maddening, a rollercoaster of stirred-up emotions and acidic social commentary. Blanchett is absolutely spellbinding as the titular character, a woman who has lost her wealth and must move in with her blue-collar sister in San Francisco. Jasmine lived in a gleaming, cosseted bubble in New York, her every material whim provided instantly by her fawning husband Hal (Alec Baldwin), a financial wheeler-dealer who has been brought low. She was a confirmed member of the 1%, the chosen few citizens who control a disproportionate share of the wealth and power in the United States, if not the world,...

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Review: DRUG WAR Takes The Battle To Mainland China

Posted: 25 Jul 2013 09:00 AM PDT

For a good time, go see Johnnie To's latest film Drug War, which features some masterfully made high-octane entertainment. Heroic cops battle villainous thugs and it all looks slick and stylish. Is it a classic? Probably not. Did I like it? Oh HELL yes! The Tianjin police force gets a lucky break in their war against drugs when they capture an amphetamine manufacturer. Threatened with the death sentence, the gangster does whatever it takes to stay alive, even if that means turning informer on his bosses and family in exchange for his own life. This gives the drug squad a unique chance to set a trap for the secret gang led by legendary boss "Uncle Bill," and destroy his organization from within. But the plan...

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Review: FRANKENSTEIN'S ARMY, Scary Monsters And Icky Gore

Posted: 25 Jul 2013 08:01 AM PDT

This is the kind of film where "tripping over your own legs" doesn't necessarily mean they're still attached... Frankenstein's Army, Richard Raaphorst's debut feature film, is a whole lot of fun. The story begins near the end of World War II. A Russian recon squad is sent on a mission to help comrades who seem to have encountered some trouble in a small East German village. Upon arrival, though, nobody in the village is alive, the graves have been robbed, and some very weird-looking corpses are strewn throughout the landscape. Also, someone is jamming their radio signal. Then the Russian soldiers discover a factory of sorts ... and run into an army of Nazi monsters, stitched together from machines and corpses. Let's get the elephant...

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A Short But Sweet Talk With Johnnie To About DRUG WAR

Posted: 25 Jul 2013 07:00 AM PDT

Last week, the famous Hong Kong director Johnnie To visited Toronto at the invitation of TIFF, to participate in the A Century of Chinese Cinema programme running at TIFF Bell Lightbox. One of the films shown there was his new thriller Drug War, which gets a theatrical release In North America this week. Peter van der Lugt and I were allowed a few minutes to talk with the man himself, by way of phone. In the past, we sometimes managed to stretch a few minutes into a full half hour but alas, Mr. To was on too tight a schedule for our regular shenanigans to succeed. Therefore our meeting was sweet but brief -- literally only a few minutes. Still, we managed to make him...

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