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Screen Media is Final ‘Destination’ for James Ivory Film
I was wondering if we'd eventually see what I believe is James Ivory's first "post" Ismail Merchant project - his long time partner passed away a couple of years back and the film with a stellar cast in Anthony Hopkins, Laura Linney, and Charlotte Gainsbourg was pretty much completed in 2007 and yet only saw the day of light at the Rome and Tokyo Film Festivals this past October. Were the money problems during post-production?
2009’s Top 10 Repeat Offenders in Jacques Audiard and Niels Arestrup
If Tahar Rahim's star shined so bright, it may have been from him playing opposite of Niels Arestrup. Arestrup plays an aged, savant of the prison system - a seedy character not unlike the one he portrayed in Jacques Audiard's film De battre mon coeur s'est arrete. Love the menacing prowess, raw energy, the fluctuations in mood and the snap moment scary surges of aggression that fill the frame - something to look forward to early next year.
2009’s Top 10 Repeat Offenders in Pedro Almodovar and Penelope Cruz
Forty years from now when we'll look back at Penelope Cruz's career, we'll say that her best work was with Spanish maestro Pedro Almodovar, and yet despite her brilliant turns in Live Flesh, All About My Mother, Volver and now Broken Embraces, I predict that there is much more richer, grandeur performances to unearth from this pairing's vault.
2009’s Top 10 Repeat Offenders in Olivier Assayas and Charles Berling
You'd have to scale back to Y2K's Les destinees sentimentales for the last time these two worked together, but what a perfectly timed "family reunion" for the French combo. Summer Hours is presented as an ensemble (kids, neighbors and appraisers flooding the frame), but in a subtle, almost unassuming lead role, Charles Berling plays the eldest of the siblings who earnestly wants to do things right with the family inheritance and tree.
2009’s Top 10 Repeat Offenders in Wes Anderson and Bill Murray
Who you gonna call...when you need some comic relief? If your name is Wes Anderson you need deadpan or someone to play the part of a badger you call upon Bill Murray. Jim Jarmusch called upon Murray again this year, but its Murray's calorie-adding supporting voice-work as a real-estate agent that made me refer to him separately from his co-stars in the number 5 spot. There really isn't much to say except Anderson and Murray are two peas in a pod.
