"The Hunger Games" posters if made by Fellini, Woody Allen and others

When reviewing the latest The Hunger Games last week, I wrote "If done by Kubrick, it could have taken a very interesting and important anthropological steering. But if you look at it as what it is and not as what your favorite filmmaker would've made of it, as I did, you can have a very enjoyable cinematic experience.". Such a high concept, so thematically vast, huge production values, is it possible that we instinctively try to bath it in another light?

These are the film's posters as if directed by other filmmakers, in a parallel universe. All great. My favorites: Fellini, Hitchcock, Woody Allen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Praise to Iaranian film "A Separation": Streep, Spielberg, Fincher, Pitt, Jolie and Woody Allen

Rod Bastanmehr from Salon, reporting on his conversation with A Separation star, Payama Maadi.

" “She could recite every line,” he says of Streep. “She was crying during the [Independent Spirit Awards] montage, I swear.”

(...)

“[Streep] pulled me aside, and just told me how moved she was by the vision of realistic Iranian life. ‘It’s just one house. One house and you just see who is in there and what they are like, who they are.’ She was so moved. That’s when you realize you’ve done something special.”

(...)

They’ve heard it all: Steven Spielberg said that he believed “A Separation” to be the best film of the year by a wide margin. David Fincher spent over half an hour discussing his various takes on the film’s complex technical scope. Brad Pitt took Maadi aside during a press conference to describe his intense reaction to the film’s opening scene, which caused his wife (maybe you’ve heard of her) to pause the film and return to it days later.

Angelina Jolie later cornered Farhadi at the awards, telling him that she longed to star in his next film. He thanked her, but politely made mention that, unfortunately, the female lead speaks only French.

Jolie told him she would learn the language by the first day of shooting.

But even after months on the circuit, it’s still hard for Maadi to shake the shock of having Hollywood’s most notable faces and filmmakers sing their praises. Woody Allen didn’t let his infamous shtick of never attending the Academy Awards stop him from reaching out to Farhadi and Maadi, asking for even 30 minutes of their time once they arrived in New York."

New trailers: Fincher's "The Girl witht the Dragon Tatoo" and Eastwood's "J. Edgar"

It was on last June when people first started to anticipate a particular marketing approach to one of the most expected movies of the year, David Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo. A minute and a half teaser had allegedly leaked out from inside Sony's departments. The thing is, not only was it a green-band trailer but also by the same time, under similar conditions, same happened with a version of the movie poster.

Next thing, on August, an excerpt of Trent Raznor's soundtrack was deliberately disclosed. A few weeks ago, an allegedly non-official tumblr titled Mouth Taped Shut was born to display sets of backstage photos and videos, which could only have been taken by someone pretty close to the making of the piece.

Last week, a surprise eight-minute exclusive to some viewers trailer came out and dissipated most of the still standing doubts about this being or not a viral campaign. Finally, this week was released the first official trailer on the Internet. One can't see much of a difference from the Swedish film, so far.

Another of this week's promotional highlights was the release of the first trailer of Clint Eastwood's J.Edgar. The film tells the story of J. Edgar Hover on building the FBI and is carried out by Leonardo Di Caprio in the main role. I'd say it doesn't start great, with that voice off, but does get much better.

Both will premiere in the US near the end of the year and despite having not watched them yet, I can say they're some of the strongest Oscar'12 contenders. The first may pray for Best Film, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Soundtrack and Best Cinematography; the later might as well go for at least Best Film, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and, with great chances to win, Best Actor.

I'll leave you a candy. A disturbing eye-catcher promotional video for this year's edition of the Viennale, the Venice International Film Festival. Watch out guys, this one comes from long-time last seen David Lynch.

Trailer: The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo

Agora, de forma oficial. Cliquem na imagem.

The Social Network / A Rede Social (2010)

A minha crítica será muito curta, já que vou parafrasear João Samuel Neves, do nosso caro Dial P for Popcorn, com o qual concordo de tal maneira, que quis fazer das suas palavras as minhas. Acrescento algumas notas, no final.

"Há pessoas que são neutras. Nem demasiado boas nem demasiado más. Sem empolgarem mas também sem criarem ódios de estimação. Que passam e não são recordadas. The Social Network é um filme neutro. É um bom filme, um filme que vale os cinco euros dos bilhetes e que certamente levará ao rubro a disputa entre os três canais generalistas para o transmitir numa tarde de domingo. Mas não é, de perto, um grande filme. Eu gostei (melhor a segunda parte do que a primeira), mas não o coloco num altar nem tenho vontade de o rever. (...)"

Na verdade, A Rede Social abre com um diálogo brilhante, uma qualidade que vai pautar as restantes falas do filme. A personagem principal está extremamente bem desenvolvida e gostava de ver Eisenberg nos Óscares. A montagem fez um óptimo trabalho na captação do ritmo da acção, conjugando muito bem o rápido bater do teclado, a dicção acelerada dos empreendedores, o fulgor dos raciocínios. No entanto, apesar de reconhecer e sentir que os temas, ou, se houver, O Tema, estão lá (a amizade e lealdade contra a instrumentalidade da fama e da ganância; a integridade; a solidão intelectual e contemporânea, entre outros passíveis de interpretação), apesar de ver aqui um retrato cinematograficamente interessante do processo de gestão e marketing, no final, senti que pouco se tinha passado. Pareceu tudo de repente, despercebido, leve. Creio que, no meio de um conflito que vinha a ser bem construído, falta um climax que o complemente. E isso parece-me ser um problema de estrutura de argumento - as consequências de tudo o que se ia passando iam-nos sendo mostradas, em paralelo (o que, por si só, lhes tira impacto) e por diálogos, em vez de ser por imagens ou acções (tira-lhe encanto e mais impacto). Foi desvanecendo, o filme. É como se fossemos subindo, subindo, subindo e quando estamos mesmo a chegar lá cima, mandam-nos descer. Corre mal e é estranho. Não soa bem. É como diz o João, "neutro".