MedicineForMelancholy Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Watch This: 'For The Love of Movies' and 'My Suicide' SXSW Trailers
Filed under: Independent », SXSW », Fandom », Trailer Trash », Home Entertainment », Trailers and Clips »
Premiering tomorrow at SXSW is this years-in-the-making documentary called For The Love of Movies: A History of American Film Criticism, narrated by Patricia Clarkson and directed by Gerald Peary and Amy Geller. As the current film critic struggles to find a job, an audience and a purpose, this doc -- according to Jeff Wells -- is a "chronicle of magnificent obsessions and magnificent dreams, and a rise-and-fall story covering scores of critics, the entirety of the Hollywood film culture from the '20s to the present, and hundreds if not thousands of movies." Watch the trailer below and keep an eye on the third dude who pops up and let us know if he looks (and sounds) just the wee bit familiar.Next up is a film I whole-heartedly recommend. A funky, oddly hilarious experimental flick that simultaneously mocks and sympathizes with the Me Generation, My Suicide follows a technology-obsessed high school student who decides to off himself on camera as part of a student project. Though it's still way early, I wouldn't be surprised if the film's lead actor, newcomer Gabriel Sunday, walks away with an acting award or if the film itself takes the audience award. Check out the trailer below ... and more SXSW trailers over here.
I also want to take this time to spit out a reminder that you at home can enjoy a whole lot of the South By Southwest Film Festival right now. IFC currently has four films On Demand via IFC Fest Direct, including the much buzzed-about Alexander the Last (which I was just about to watch myself), Medicine for Melancholy, Zift and Paper Covers Rock. Alternatively, you can watch popular films from last year's SXSW Fest -- like the Potter doc We Are Wizards and The Lost Coast -- on Hulu for free, courtesy of Cinetic Media. There! Plenty to do on a lazy Sunday afternoon, huh?
Review: Medicine for Melancholy
Filed under: Drama », Independent », Theatrical Reviews »
By Jette Kernion (original publication: 3/12/08 -- SXSW Film Festival)
There's always one film at SXSW where I walk in completely cold, knowing nothing except that it fit the right timeslot for me, or that another festivalgoer strongly recommended it. Former Cinematical editor Karina Longworth urged me to see Medicine for Melancholy but didn't say much about why ... and the only other thing I knew was that it was a narrative feature, because I felt like I'd seen too many documentaries so far and needed some balance. Karina must not have been the only one at SXSW recommending the film, because the Alamo Ritz was full at the screening I attended.
Medicine for Melancholy turned out to be a lovely, sweet film, which reminded me in some ways of Aaron Katz's film Quiet City (my DVD review is here). Again, we follow two characters as they explore a city in fairly ordinary ways, while at the same time suspense lingers about their relationship. Both films also use the arts -- art galleries or museums, and music -- to enhance their character studies and their look at city life. However, in this first feature from writer-director Barry Jenkins, the city is San Francisco (primarily the east side), and the characters' interaction is complicated by racial and political elements.
Exclusive: Clip from 'Medicine for Melancholy'
Filed under: Comedy », Drama », Independent », Romance », IFC », Fandom », Movie Marketing », Trailers and Clips »
Cinematical has just received this exclusive clip from the film Medicine for Melancholy, which hits theaters in New York City tomorrow before arriving On Demand next week and then expanding to other theaters on February 13. The film, which premiered at last year's South by Southwest Film Festival to all sorts of buzz, is sorta like a romantic comedy in reverse that follows two black twentysomethings through San Francisco on the day following a drunken one night stand. From Jette's SXSW review: "Sometimes I feel like I've seen too many movies about the problems of contemporary twentysomethings and their relationships, but Medicine for Melancholy is deeper, more thoughtful, and more satisfying than many low-budget first features." A lot of folks fell hard for this flick, and so I have no problem recommending you check it out real soon. Watch a clip below, then catch the official trailer after the jump.
Discuss: The Foreign & Indie Films of 2009
Filed under: Foreign Language », Independent », Distribution »
Many of this year's foreign and indie releases showed up on some of the more obscure top ten lists of 2008, and will no doubt be rolling out across the country in various irregular patterns all year long. For example, Steven Soderbergh's Che turned up on more than half a dozen lists that I saw (including our own James Rocchi's), yet most people haven't seen it yet. I have seen it, and I doubt it'll be sticking around long, though I greatly admire it. It's a deliberate attempt to subvert the current biopic formula, and though it's somewhat cold and ultimately a bit one-sided, it's also endlessly mesmerizing. Silent Light, the newest drama by the great and peculiar Mexican director Carlos Reygadas (Battle in Heaven) is also due to show up this month. Matteo Garrone's Italian gangster movie Gomorrah and Steve McQueen's British based-on-a-true-story drama Hunger have also placed well on several top ten and awards lists, and will be turning up in February and March. The two-time Cannes champs Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have a new one, Lorna's Silence, which I haven't seen, but that has a very nice poster. (It's supposed to be coming around in June.) And James Gray (The Yards, We Own the Night), who for some mysterious reason is quite beloved in France, opened his new film, Two Lovers -- starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Joaquin Phoenix -- there to great acclaim. It's due here in February. And one of my contacts tells me that Roy Andersson's outstanding deadpan Swedish comedy You, the Living, which I saw early in 2008, will finally open to theaters sometime in 2009. I'm still waiting for a release date for Kathryn Bigelow's war film Hurt Locker, but it has enough buzz that I'm not worried. I'm a little more concerned about John Woo's Chinese epic Red Cliff, which will hopefully return that master to his former glory; so far there's no U.S. release date -- and no indication that the entire, uncut film will make it over here.
Indie Roundup: 'Sweetgrass,' 'Clarkworld,' 'Broken Embraces'
Shelf Life: Fight Club_thumbnail.jpg)
Watch: Famous 'Matrix' Scene Re-Created with LEGOs
Peter Jackson Says Spielberg's 'Tintin' is Done Filming, but...
Interracial Harmony: 'Ninja Assassin' vs. 'Blind Side'
_thumbnail.jpg)
