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Is Pakistan's Film Industry Dying?
Filed under: Foreign Language, Independent, Distribution, Exhibition, Cinematical Indie
Left to right: Hand painted movie poster, Peshawar, Pakistan, 2006 (photo by Jim Henry); The Odeon Cinema, Lahore, Pakistan, 2009 (photo by Rahat Ali Dar for Los Angeles Times).
You've heard of Bollywood, Nollywood, and even Dollywood, but what about Lollywood? Based in Lahore, the second-largest city in Pakistan (and home to the U.S. Consulate), Lollywood produced more than 100 movies annually back in the 70s and 80s. Today, however, "Pakistani cinema has all but vanished," writes Alex Rodriguez in Los Angeles Times. Reportedly, the number of movie theaters in the country has declined from 1,100 in 1985 to just 120 today, and local film production has shrunk to fewer than a dozen movies each year. It's gotten so bad, the theater pictured above has been playing the same movie for three years. The same movie, and evidently not by popular demand!
Most of the usual suspects are blamed, with one that is unique to the country: "VCR, cable television, President Muhammad Zia ul-Haq's Islamization of Pakistani society, and finally DVD piracy." (Emphasis added.) While film industries have weathered changes in viewing habits, it appears that government edicts played a big role in the collapse of the industry: "Many cinemas were shut down, the rest were heavily taxed. New laws that required producers to have college degrees thinned the ranks of movie makers. The message Zia ul-Haq's government was sending to society was clear, [theater owner Jahanzaib] Baig says: 'We were being told that filmmaking was a vulgar and bad business to be in.'"
Watch This: Spider-Woman and Superman In Bollywood Love
Filed under: Foreign Language, Romance, Fandom, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Trailers and Clips
In Bollywood, no filmmaker needs to worry about what studio owns the rights to what Marvel or DC character. Not even the boundaries between DC and Marvel have meaning, as evidenced by this delightful clip from India's Dariya Dil. Here, Superman shows off his dance moves on land and in the sky while courting Spider-Woman. Yep, Spider-Woman! Somewhere, Lois Lane is throwing a snit fit. It's hard enough to be secure knowing Wonder Woman is out there, but how can she compete with Jessica Drew's pheromones?
All joking aside, I think it's rather cool that at least one filmmaker in India decided Superman needed nothing less than a super woman as a costar (we still haven't done that here!), and that superheroines could use a nice afternoon in the sky. Can you imagine how hard it is for a superheroine to date a normal guy? He'd be threatened by her powers and fame, and jealous of her working relationship with the impossibly buff superheroes in her universe. This is probably the first date Spider-Woman has had in ages where she didn't have to play down her awesomeness.
This clip also demonstrates something else you'll never see in a stateside Marvel or DC adaptation: Song and Dance! India must not have a lot of supervillains running around, because these two are able to take time to learn some sexy steps. If you find yourself sniggering "How cheesy!", just remember that Lois Lane was supposed to sing to Superman in Richard Donner's Superman: The Movie. Every adaptation walks a fine line between The Dark Knight and Dariya Dil.
Go below the jump for the video. Thanks to Cory Casciato and Westword for highlighting it.
Screamfest Review: The Human Centipede (First Sequence)
Filed under: Foreign Language, Horror, Independent, Theatrical Reviews, Festival Reports, Fandom, Other Festivals
Dieter Laser stars as Dr. Heiter, a reclusive German surgeon who specializes in separating conjoined twins. Pining for the loss of his beloved 3-dog – in fact, rottweilers that he surgically attached end-to-end – Heiter recruits a series of unwitting victims, including a trucker, two American tourists (Ashley C. Williams and Ashlynn Yennie), and a Japanese playboy (Akihiro Kitamura), for his latest experiment. But when his victims give him more trouble than he expects – including unwanted attention from the authorities - Dr. Heiter is forced to decide whether to abandon his latest project, or protect it from the outside world – with their and his very lives, if necessary.
Indie Spotlight: New Releases for Oct. 23
Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Foreign Language, Horror, Independent, New Releases, Columns, Indie Spotlight
Here's a quick look at what's opening in limited release this weekend. If they're not playing where you live, keep an eye out as they make the rounds. And if all else fails, there's always DVD....Ong Bak 2: The Beginning (pictured) is something of a prequel to Ong Bak, the Thai sensation from a few years ago. Tony Jaa, whose multi-discipline fighting skills are beyond impressive, plays a guy who fights a lot. Cinematical's Todd Gilchrist sums up the way many of us felt when we first caught the film at South By Southwest: The fight scenes are spectacular; unfortunately, the plot that holds them together is incomprehensible and takes itself too seriously. At Rotten Tomatoes, the critics are almost evenly split between yea and nay, with the only question being whether the awesomeness of the fights is enough to compensate for the dullness of the rest of it. Playing on 10 screens in New York, L.A., San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, and Washington D.C.
Antichrist is an art-house horror film from Lars Von Trier, starring Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg as a grieving couple to whom some supernatural and terrible things happen. It's been appalling audiences since it premiered at Cannes this spring. The critics all seem to agree that it's repellent, grisly, unsettling, and hard to watch. Where they part company -- about evenly down the middle, so far -- is whether that's good or bad. Playing on one screen each in L.A., New York, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. It will also be available through some Video On Demand systems starting Oct. 28.
Bring 'Lucky Luke' Stateside!
Filed under: Action, Foreign Language, Movie Marketing, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Western, Trailers and Clips
As you've probably noticed by now, I'm a sucker for Westerns. It took me awhile to warm up to the genre. I live on the high plains and have one gig giving Old West tours in petticoats to my credit, so they were hardly escapism. Of course, now that I finally like them, there's just not that many being made. Lately, there's stirs of a re-imagining going on. Filmmakers and audiences are realizing Westerns can be fun again and in a repeat of the 1960s, the charge is coming from overseas. Film fans already know about Asia's madcap forays into the genre with The Good, the Bad, and the Weird, Sukiyaki Western Django, and the upcoming The Warrior's Way. But now France is getting in on the draw with Lucky Luke, and TwitchFilm has nabbed a trailer for it.
Lucky Luke is based on a French comic series, which (as per Wikipedia) was equal parts satire and good old fashioned Western. He's your typical lone gunslinger, wandering the borders in search of injustice, a heavy burden weighing on his shoulders, a deep characterization that's a bit at odds with its simplistic art. (He looks a bit like Woody from Toy Story.) How it spawned this crazy, stylish, bullet-ridden feature is a mystery, but it did, and I'm thankful. I'm desperate to see this, and to be better acquainted with Jean Dujardin. Ooh la la.
The trailer is embedded below the jump. Watch it, and join Twitchfilm, CHUD, and Cinematical in demanding a stateside release. You know you want to spend more time in this vision of the Old West.
[via CHUD]
Box Office: Amelia's Astro Freaks
Filed under: Animation, Comedy, Foreign Language, Gay & Lesbian, Box Office, Box Office Predictions
1. Where the Wild Things Are: $32.7 million
2. Law Abiding Citizen: $21 million
3. Paranormal Activity: $19.6 million
4. Couples Retreat: $17.2 million
5. The Stepfather: $11.6 million
Four new releases this week, three of which will be putting the Halloween spirit into people.
AmeliaWhat's It All About: Hilary Swank and Richard Gere star in this biopic of aviator Amelia Earhart who disappeared during an attempt to fly around the world.
Why It Might Do Well: A historical drama is a pretty good counter programmer to all the horror and fantasy movies currently in release.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Right now we're looking at 17% at Rottentomatoes.com.
Number of Theaters: 800
Prediction: $6 million
Astro BoyWhat's It All About: Adaptation of the classic anime (that itself takes a page from Pinocchio) about a robot boy with incredible powers.
Why It Might Do Well: 73% at Rottentomatoes.com ain't too shabby.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Will this character that originated in the 1950s translate well in the twenty-first century?
Number of Theaters: 3,000
Prediction: $16 million
Trailer Park: Broken Toys, Serious Embraces
Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Foreign Language, Trailer Trash, Family Films
Toy Story 3
Full length trailer for the Disney/Pixar sequel in which Andy goes off to college leaving Woody, Buzz and the gang to be donated to a daycare center. Looks like a worthy successor to the franchise. The toys start getting real again on June 18.
Serious Moonlight
In sort of a romantic comedy take on Misery, Meg Ryan plays a woman who duct tapes her cheating husband (Timothy Hutton) to the toilet and refuses to release him until he loves her again. Could be a cute idea but it's got a "wait for the DVD" feel. Watch for this one on December 4.
Dear John
Channing Tatum plays a soldier home on leave who falls in love with a college student (Amanda Seyfried) and carries on a long correspondence (hence the title) once he returns to duty. This is out on February 5.
The Missing Person
Filmnoir about a PI hired to tale a man who we eventually learn supposedly died on 9/11. I love the retro look and style of this one which will be out some time in 2009.
Broken Embraces
The synopsis for this one sounds intriguing -- a man chooses to ignore the life he lived before the accident that caused his blindness and killed his beloved -- but I don't see any of that in the trailer. On the plus side, Penelope Cruz is as stunning as ever. This will be playing New York on November 20 and Los Angeles on December 11.
New this week on AOL Moviefone:
- The Crazies - Remake of a George Romero film in which a small town is exposed to a chemical that drives the residents murderously insane.
- Disney's A Christmas Carol - Second trailer for the Disney holiday flick.
- Tooth Fairy - Dwayne Johnson stars as an unscrupulous hockey player who is forced to work as a tooth fairy.
- Shutter Island - Second trailer for Martin Scorsese's latest. Leonardo DiCaprio plays a Federal Marshall sent to investigate the disappearance of a dangerous inmate at a mental asylum.
- Alvin and the Chipmunks the Squeakquel - Second trailer for the second film starring Jason Lee and a trio of pop song singing CGI rodents.
- Red Cliff - Historical drama set in China in 208 A.D.
- The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus - Terry Gilliam's latest about a man who dares to thwart the devil not once but twice.
- The Book of Eli - 31 years after global war has ravaged the planet a man seeks to protect a book that could save humanity.
- The Messenger - Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson star as U.S. soldiers with the unenviable task of informing people that their loved one has been killed in action.
Indie Roundup: 'Bluebeard,' 'Chloe,' 'Uncertainty,' 'Tao,' 'The Maid'
Filed under: Comedy, Documentary, Drama, Foreign Language, Independent, Deals, Distribution, Home Entertainment, Cinematical Indie
After a one-week break for bad behavior, Indie Roundup returns, refreshed and ready to sum up what's new and what's been happening in the independent film community.
Deals. Multiple deals have been made in the last two weeks, indieWIRE reports, notably involving higher-profile directors Catherine Breillat (Bluebeard, based on a classic fairy tale, will hit theaters next spring, courtesy of Strand Releasing) and Atom Egoyan (Chloe, starring Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson, and Amanda Seyfried, due in the first half of 2010 through Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group). Of the latter, an erotic thriller, Monika Bartyzel wrote: "Chloe might not connect on a personal level, it does trap you into these lurid lives that flirt with every notion of bad behavior. I just wish they were characters I could love or hate, or simply feel for."
Director Chris Smith may be lower-profile, but fans of American Movie and The Yes Men (me! me!) will be glad to know that his latest work, Collapse, will hit theaters and VOD simultanteously next month. Kevin Kelly posted an exclusive poster and provided release dates, as well as a tidbit about the doc. Also coming to theaters and VOD next month is suspense thriller Uncertainty, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Lynn Collins; indieWIRE has more details on that one.Online Viewing. As practically the only film critic in America who liked Couples Retreat, I feel honor bound to tell you that one of its stars, Faizon Love, had a much better showcase for his talents in Tao of the Golden Mask, which he wrote and directed. It streams exclusively on Babelgum this month. And Ti West's Trigger Man is finally available at iTunes Movie store.
The Maid cleans up -- after the jump!
Watch This: Timur Bekmambetov's Flying Car Movie
Filed under: Action, Foreign Language, Newsstand, Movie Marketing, Trailers and Clips
Who wants to see a foreign action flick about a hero with a flying car? Me, not so much – that is, until I heard that Russian director Timur Bekmambetov was on board as producer. I absolutely loved Bekmambetov's modern day sci-fi film Night Watch and its sequel, Day Watch. While his Hollywood debut, Wanted, left me a little apathetic, I'll still give anything that Bekmambetov's hard-to-pronounce name is attached to, especially if it looks as fun as Black Lightning.
The special effects-laden action pic follows a college student who drives an old, used Volga (from the looks of it, a late 1950s model) that can fly and do other awesome things -- short of transforming into a giant robot -- that allow its driver to become a crime-fighting hero.
Watch the full trailer (in Russian) after the jump.
Cinematical Seven: Bai Ling's Favorite Bai Ling Love Scenes
Filed under: Drama, Foreign Language, Independent, Romance, Celebrities and Controversy, Cinematical Seven, Lists
Chinese-American actress Bai Ling had her breakout role in 1997's Red Corner, a courtroom drama in which she defended Richard Gere from a corrupt government trial – romancing him, naturally, along the way. But since then, Ling has played a streak of bad girls and scantily-clad seductresses that put her equally-sensual public persona front and center, in films ranging from Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow to this year's Crank: High Voltage. Even in her latest film, the independent drama A Beautiful Life, Ling plays a stripper – albeit one with a heart of gold.
Some might argue that her career choices lean toward female objectification, and they wouldn't be wrong. But there's something wholly empowered about the way Bai Ling tackles her film roles. Sure, she's played her fair share of strippers, prostitutes, and femme fatales, but does it matter if she totally owns and embraces those characters more given in to their carnal impulses?
After the jump, Bai Ling names her favorite Bai Ling love scenes of all time.
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Discuss: The Movies That Haunt You
