Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for Elegy (click image to enlarge), starring Penélope Cruz, Ben Kingsley, Peter Sarsgaard, Patricia Clarkson and Dennis Hopper. Sweet cast, huh? Based on the novel The Dying Animal by Philip Roth, and directed by Isabel Coixet (My Life Without Me), Elegy follows a cultural critic (Kingsley) who views his life as being in a state of "emancipated manhood" until, one day, a well-mannered student (Cruz) waltzes in and awakens a sense of sexual possessiveness in her teacher, the critic. In other words, her touch is toxic ... to him, at least. Seems rather exotic, and with two dynamos like Kingsley and Cruz in the lead, here's hoping Elegy awakens the sexual possessiveness in all of us. Wait ... that would be a bad thing, right? Okay, keep the sex and remove the possessiveness. There ya go -- I'm seeing it. Check out the trailer over on Moviefone.

Elegy hits theaters in limited release on August 8.

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the opening night premiere of American Teen (in theaters July 25) as part of the third annual Sundance Institute at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music). The Sundance fav launched an eleven-day festival of sorts, showcasing the best of the best from this year's Sundance Film Festival; 22 features and 36 shorts in total, plus filmmaker Q&As, parties, art installations and tons of Brooklyn hipster-watching.

The screening itself was completely sold out and held inside the gorgeous BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, where, conveniently, free popcorn and bottles of water were handed out at the door. And as my wife pointed out after we sat down: "They're smart -- free things always put a person in a good mood before a film." Indeed! Before the curtain rose on American Teen, a number of folks approached the mic for some words, while the crowd cheered every time 'Brooklyn' was used in a sentence. The speakers included BAM President Karen Hopkins, Sundance executive director Ken Brecher, Brooklyn Borough President (and an awesome guy) Marty Markowitz, Katherine Oliver, Commissioner of the NYC Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre & Broadcasting, BAM Cinema Club Chairs Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard, and, finally, American Teen director Nanette Burstein (sporting a very pregnant belly) and one of the film's teenage stars, Hannah Bailey (pictured above).

Check out a gallery from the premiere, the film and the prom-themed after party below -- then head after the jump for my thoughts on American Teen. (All pictures courtesy of the fine folks at the Sundance Institute and Paramount Vantage.)

A retro film set in 1960s London is interesting. Hearing that Nick Hornby wrote the script makes it intriguing. An awesome cast -- that just makes the upcoming film An Education sound downright tasty. Variety reports that Lone Scherfig, the Danish filmmaker behind Happy-Go-Lucky, is gearing up to helm the feature, and these are the names she'll get to mold with her directorial hands: Peter Sarsgaard, Orlando Bloom, Alfred Molina, Sally Hawkins, Rosamund Pike, Emma Thompson, Olivia Williams, and newcomer Carey Mulligan. (Some of the cast signed on earlier this month.)

While I vowed that I learned my lesson about great actors not necessarily making great movies after Derailed, I so, so, so want to see this. The film will focus on a 17-year-old girl played by Mulligan who lived in the quiet burbs of London. However, it's during the swinging '60s, and she gets pulled into craziness by a 30-something Brit played by Sarsgaard. (Cradle robber.) As THR described it: "He courts her with chic dinners, clubs, and foreign trips, charming her father (Molina) but putting her future at Oxford University in jeopardy." Thompson, meanwhile, plays her school's headmistress.

Dumb joke of the day #2: She should've bought a SarsGuaard.

Production begins in London this March.

Most directors' first effort is NOT a huge blockbuster smash of a comedy starring Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn, but that's how writer/director Rawson Marshall Thurber hit the scene: with Dodgeball. But based on the filmmaker's second effort, I'm guessing that Thurber took a lot of good-natured ribbing from his film-school friends and decided to snag some "indie cred" by doing a smaller movie for his second feature. That's all well and good, but it's too bad that the resulting movie -- The Mysteries of Pittsburgh -- is such an inert, episodic, and familiar piece of very typical festival fare. It's as if Mr. Thurber watched six Sundance films at random, and then just copied his favorite scenes from each one.

Based on the novel of the same name by Michael Chabon, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh is about the son of an infamous gangster who spends his last summer before "adult life" roaming around with two "free-spirited" pals. The year is 1983, and young Art Bechstein (Jon Foster) is at a serious crossroads. Completely opposed to his father's lifestyle, Art (reluctantly) plans to become a stockbroker in a few months' time -- but that means a few open months in which he can A) work at a chintzy discount book store, B) cast lovesick glances towards his new friend Jane (Sienna Miller), and C) become close pals with a bisexual street thug called Cleveland (Peter Sarsgaard). Oh, and D) nail his slightly unhinged boss (Mena Suvari).

Variety reports that Peter Sarsgaard and Vera Farmiga (The Departed) have joined the cast of Dark Castle's Orphan. In a nod to Bad Seeds everywhere, the film focuses on a young couple (Sarsgaard and Farmiga) that have recently lost a child and decide to adopt a young girl to fill the void. Of course, nothing is ever that easy and the girl "is not nearly as innocent as she claims to be". David Leslie, a relative newcomer, wrote the screenplay based off an idea by Alex Mace. Already signed to direct is House of Wax helmer, Jaume Collet-Serra. Serra started off directing TV commercials and music videos, and Wax was his first big-budget production. Orphan seems like a definite step up for Serra; when your casting pool goes from Paris Hilton to Peter Sarsgaard you must be doing something right.

Sarsgaard has already completed the Philip Roth adaptation Elegy with Penelope Cruz, and is wrapping up work on two more literary adaptations. First up is In the Electric Mist; based on James Lee Burke's novel about "A detective in the deep South is led into a series of surreal encounters with a troop of Confederate soldiers" and Michael Chabon's The Mysteries of Pittsburgh. Farmiga is currently filming Nothing But The Truth, a political drama with Kate Beckinsale and will next star in a literary adaptation of her own called The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas for Mark Herman (Brassed Off). Orphan is set to start shooting next week on location in Toronto and Montreal, Canada.

When we commit acts of terror in the name of fighting terrorism, have we in fact become as bad as the bad guys we're supposed to be fighting? That's the question director Gavin Hood addresses in Rendition, which tackles the controversial practice of "extraordinary rendition," whereby suspected terrorists can be whisked off to other countries where "enhanced interrogation techniques" (electrocution, beating, and the ever-popular simulated drowning) are considered acceptable, so as to glean information from the suspected terrorist that might end up thwarting plots and saving countless lives.

The basic premise of Rendition: Anwar El-Ibrahimi (Omar Metwally) is an Egyptian citizen with a green card who's been living and working in the United States since he was 14 years old. He has a lovely American wife, Isabella (Reese Witherspoon), a cute little six-year-old kid, and a baby on the way. He coaches his son's soccer team. He's a chemical engineer with a $200K salary and a nice house in the suburbs of Chicago. He could be you or me or someone we know. And one day, on his way home from a business trip to South Africa, Anwar is taken aside by security at the airport and secreted away for questioning about his alleged involvement with a terrorist whose cell phone number has been traced making phone calls to Anwar's cell phone. How does Anwar explain this? Unfortunately for him, he can't.

Back in January, I alerted you all to a short film that was going to screen at Sundance. The short in question, High Falls, stars real-life wonder-couple Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard. Now, this isn't Lodge Kerrigan's film (In God's Hands) where the two actors met -- that negative bit the dust. This little feature was filmed while Gyllenhaal was rotundly pregnant. Now, all those months ago, Maggie was talking about what it was like to film the short about a married couple who tell their secrets to a mutual friend, rather than each other. She said if they plan to take on any work again in the future, they have to "make sure that the making of the movie will be good for us, because I'm not sure that the making of High Falls was."

While it sounds ominous and dark for the flick, the short is actually one of the brightest and best that I've seen. It's no stunning art achievement, although the shots are beautiful. It's no spectacular story, although the plot is great. It's just damned funny and well-played to the point that it seems natural and voyeuristic. The pair play a couple who have both done something they know will upset the other. I could tell you what it these deeds are, but to go in blind makes it all the better. Each tells their mutual friend (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) their secrets, and he practically bursts under the pressure. Although it's beautifully shot and laid out, the short feels like one of those hidden camera shows -- in all its quirky, comedic glory, you can buy the scenario. While it might have been a struggle for Ms. Gyllenhaal, it was well worth it for us audiences-at-large. Between this and his stint on SNL (the Sarsgaard SARS Guard) I think I'm ready to see anything he's in that's even remotely funny. If you've checked High Falls out, I'd love to hear what you think. If you haven't, take any opportunity to see it!

According to a recent report in Variety, the Lakeshore Entertainment adaptation of Philip Roth's 2001 novella Dying Animal has added Peter Sarsgaard (whose latest film Year of the Dog opens this week), Dennis Hopper and former Blondie lead singer Debbie Harry to its cast. These three will be joining the previously cast Penelope Cruz, Ben Kingsley and Patricia Clarkson. In the film, Cruz will play a graduate student who has an affair with a much older professor played by Kingsley. Cruz's character returns years later with a revelation. According to Wikipedia, the novella Dying Animal marked the third appearance of Kingsley's character, Professor David Kepesh, who had previously appeared in The Breast and The Professor of Desire. No word on how these three new additions to the cast will fit into the story.

The film is being directed by Isabel Coixet, adapted by Nicholas Meyer (perhaps best known for his involvement in the Star Trek film franchise) and produced by Tom Rosenberg and Gary Lucchesi. Lakeshore International will distribute the film overseas, selling territories at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival. The company is also currently in production on Pathology (the story of two medical students trying to commit the perfect murder), the Clive Barker adaptation Midnight Meat Train and the serial killer film Untraceable. Since the Variety article refers to the film as untitled, I can envision a meeting in which someone said, "Dying Animal? Who's going to pay to see a movie about road kill?" Whatever it ends up being called, it starts shooting next month in Vancouver.

Year of the Dog, the latest film by director Mike White (Nacho Libre, School of Rock, The Good Girl) is a touching, funny tale about love, loss, and finding meaning in a meaningless world. No, really, it is -- just not in the cliched, melodramatic sense. The set-up of the film immediately calls to mind 2005's comedic smash hit, 40-Year-Old Virgin, but with a female lead instead of a guy. Where Virgin gave us a peek into the life of 40-year-old guy who decorates his apartment with new-in-box action figures and plays videogames by himself all the time, Year of the Dog gives us a window into the life of Peggy (Molly Shannon), a similarly-aged woman living alone with her beagle, Pencil in her starkly neat home.

One of the strengths of Virgin was that it never stooped to mockery of main character Andy (Steve Carrell), the sad sack who's never managed to get laid. Andy wasn't ugly, he didn't have horrible breath, and he wasn't a serial killer with mommy issues; he was just a normal guy who dressed neatly and had a neurotic fear of sex after several bad experiences trying to lose his virginity. Andy was like a lot of 30-and-40-something guys living alone or in their parents' basement apartment, mired in a world where computer games and internet chat take the place of a real social life. Likewise, in Year of the Dog, Peggy is never caricatured as a miserable old maid; she's just a woman for whom the progression of a relationship to marriage never happened.

What happened to Whit Stillman? I'm not the only one who keeps asking. Cinematical has been posing this question, and trying to answer it, for years. After his deliciously verbose conversational trio, the man pretty much fell off the face of the earth. Instead of delighting in yuppie angst, I've had to pull out my Yuppie Game, get over-dressed and fire up my DVD player to get my fill. However, it seemed like we were on to something in May of last year, when Martha Fischer whetted our appetites with news of Little Green Men, the flick meant to be the return of Stillman. (Without the 80's yuppies.) Then, there was nothing.

Well, what would you say if I told you that Stillman says that John Malcovich and Peter Sarsgaard are attached to the film? After hearing that my beloved Whit was out and about to see a screening of Kind Hearts and Coronets, I decided to see what the deal was with his upcoming alien movie. It seems that Forrest Hartman from the Reno Gazette-Journal had a brief chat with Stillman, who gave lots of info about himself and the all-too-juicy tidbits about the alien movie.

While I'm disappointed that Chris Eigeman won't be bourgeois bitching with the likes of aliens in outer space, at least he's got some meaty male replacements -- and hopefully official word will come on them both soon. And, if you're hoping for more EigeStillman, the director supposedly promises that he has plans for more projects with Chris. That is, if he ever gets them off the ground!