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The house in Godard’s Contempt belonged to Curzio Malaparte.

Archicine by Federico Babina in ArchDaily. via Flavorwire.

From the time we saw Brian De Palma’s woefully underrated Femme Fatale in 2002, we have been looking for this piece by Ryuichi Sakamoto. (The movie’s closing credits are no help at all.) Here it is, and of course it’s called Bolerish.

Read the review of Norte in Film Comment.

Sight & Sound Names “Act of Killing” Top Film of 2013

1. “The Act of Killing,” Joshua Oppenheimer, Denmark/U.K./Norway/Germany/Finland/Sweden/Netherlands/Poland
2. “Gravity,” Alfonso Cuaron, Mexico/U.S.
3. “Blue Is the Warmest Color,” Abdellatif Kechiche, Belgium/Spain/France
4. “The Great Beauty,” Paolo Sorrentino, France/Italy
5. “Frances Ha,” Noah Baumbach, Brazil/U.S.
=6. “A Touch of Sin,” Jia Zhangke, China
=6. “Upstream Color,” Shane Carruth, U.S.
8. “The Selfish Giant,” Clio Barnard, U.K.
=9. “Norte, the End of History,” Lav Diaz, Philippines
=9. “Stranger by the Lake,” Alain Guiraudie, France

We texted Lav Diaz the news. His reply: “Wasak. Nasa Babuyan Islands area. Shooting.”

* * * * *

How We Became An Executive Producer of Norte, the End of History

Disclaimer: This is a product of randomness and sheer dumb luck. Any resemblance to the actual work of executive producers is coincidental.

Short Version: We have a big mouth and a habit of interfering in our friends’ projects (pakialamera).

Itemized:

1. Initially, we were in the cheering section.

In 2012 our friends decided to make a movie. Wacky O read a news story about a convict who made parol—Xmas lanterns. “That’s our movie,” she declared.

“Yay, we’re making a movie!”

2. Someone mentioned Dostoevsky.

Rody Vera was working on the screenplay. He said it was loosely based on Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

“Dostoevsky!” we cried. “Russian lit!” Then we hounded the team to see Robert Bresson’s sort-of adaptation of C+P, Pickpocket.

3. Lav Diaz signed on as director.

“Uhh…cinematic genius, yes, and makes six, eight, eleven-hour movies. Better put a clause in the contract specifying that the finished film should be no more than two and a half hours long,” we told producer Moira L.

The finished film went over our suggested limit—it is four hours and ten minutes long—but it is one of the shortest films in Lav Diaz’s oeuvre.

4. The film was called Norte, Ang Hangganan ng Kasaysayan, and it went to the Cannes Film Festival.

Norte got glowing reviews and distribution offers.

5. Moira L. wanted to handle the business end of Norte.

“Then why don’t you buy it?” we said.

6. Quite inadvertently, we found funding.

“Can we get producer credit?” we asked Moira L.

“Executive producer,” said Moira L.

And that’s how we got our name affixed to a masterwork.

Norte, Ang Hangganan ng Kasaysayan, will be shown at the Cinemanila Film Festival this month.

Ang Lee at the forum following the special screening of The Life of Pi at SM Aura IMAX.

Tikoy Aguiluz was presenting an award from Cinemanila to the director Ang Lee. He asked us to write a citation. Here’s our draft. We got our information from Glenn Kenny’s excellent interview with Ang Lee at the DGA website.

* * * * *

Today we honor a filmmaker who has gracefully defied classification. His body of work encompasses the martial arts movie, the suburban American drama, the erotic thriller, the Jane Austen marriage plot, the superhero action movie, the gay cowboy love story and the big 3D adventure.

He moves effortlessly between eras and settings, riding from the American Civil War to China in World War 2, from 18th century England to 1960s counterculture, from China once upon a time to the present day.

By resisting categories he stays fresh; by constantly changing genres he steers clear of repetition and fakery. This is a man who directed an adaptation of a beloved Jane Austen novel even before he could speak English fluently–proving that film is the universal language. In that language, he is Shakespeare.

He makes movies big and small, each one distinguished by his mastery of his craft, the compassion of his vision, and his boundless humanity.

In sum, describing Ang Lee is a challenge so we’ll just have to settle for this:

Ang Lee is A Humanist and A Great Filmmaker.

Written, produced and directed by Andrew Leavold, the authority on Filipino pop cinema. Tickets to the World Premiere of The Search for Weng Weng are now available for only Php143. Part of the proceeds will be donated to #YolandaPH victims in Visayas. For ticket reservations, please send a personal message to http://facebook.com/TheSearchForWengWeng.

We had 90 minutes between appointments so we ducked into a screening of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. The first movie was a snooze, so we figured we’d leave in half an hour or so. Well we liked what we saw of Catching Fire—the other characters have developed backbones to match that of Jennifer Lawrence’s heroine—and we were sorry to have to leave at the 90-minute mark. But we will catch the rest of it soon. In the meantime, here’s another brilliant Sesame Street parody.

Cookieness Evereat and Pita (bread): masterful.

As you know, in the first movie Peeta and Katniss won the Hunger Games by being a love team. At the start of the second movie they embark on their victory tour of the twelve districts, during which they are forced to sell their fake romance. They appear before cheering crowds chanting “Peeta!” and “Katniss!”

Well if Brad + Angelina = Brangelina,
and Ben + Jennifer = Bennifer
then Peeta + Katniss = Peeniss.

Picture crowds lining the streets chanting that.

We love Blade Runner and quote it at every opportunity (“I’ve seen things you wouldn’t believe…”), but artist Anders Ramsell has out-loved us, painting 12,597 frames of the movie with watercolors. via Boingboing

Anyone else watch The Counselor and think, “Ridley Scott should stay in the future?” (Alien, Blade Runner, Prometheus)