StillLife Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Watch This: 'Still Life' (or What 'Mannequin 3' Could've Been ... )
Filed under: Horror », Mystery & Suspense », Shorts », Fandom », Trailers and Clips »
The other day we wrote about the new horror flick Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer (which hit theaters this past weekend), and Cinematical reader Aaron L. (who also happens to be a very good friend of mine) pointed out the fact that Jack Brooks director Jon Knautz had helmed a very cool short back in 2005 called Still Life. I forget exactly when I first saw this short (probably during one of Gen Art's many, many functions/contests/parties), but I remember absolutely loving it over and over again. And we've actually written about it on at least two other occasions, though it's been awhile and, well, I felt our new (and old) readers would like a little something to watch while you eat lunch/surf the internet, etc ...
The short, which runs about eight minutes, follows a very sleepy driver who's in desperate need of a rest and some gas. When he pulls off into a small town, however, he notices that it's populated by mannequins. And that's all I'll say about that. Definitely check it out if you've got a few minutes free, and then hunt down Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer (read our review here) -- a film most of our team here at Cinematical dug quite a bit.
400 Screens 400 Blows - 2008 at Midpoint
Filed under: Columns », 400 Screens, 400 Blows »
Here's one of my dirty little secrets: I love lists and I keep track of my year's ten best movies all year long. Most other critics hastily assemble their lists at the last second, which is partly why so many December movies dominate; critics can't remember what they've seen earlier in the year. My list shows that 2008 has had a pretty poor first half, but I do have some contenders for listhood. Two movies are currently competing for the top spot, though I need to see them both again to be sure. Hou Hsiao-hsien's Flight of the Red Balloon (6 screens) is one; it has a lovely, laid-back, observant quality and feels less severe than some of Hou's other recent films. But I haven't yet decided if the film is a comedy or a tragedy. It all feels pretty light and insignificant, except for the saddest thing: no one seems to notice the red balloon of the title, drifting around Paris, unable to find a boy like Pascal to love it. The film also contains the year's most vibrant performance: Juliette Binoche playing a frenzied single mom working with a puppet troupe.
SFIFF Review: Still Life
Filed under: Foreign Language », New Releases », Theatrical Reviews », Festival Reports », Cinematical Indie »
With only a handful of films to his credit, Sixth Generation Chinese director Jia Zhang-ke has become one of the world's great master filmmakers, and he has the lack of distribution to prove it. Like many other greats from Orson Welles to Hou Hsiao-hsien, he has struggled to get spectators and his movies together at the same place and the same time. His film Still Life won the Golden Lion at the 2006 Venice Film Festival and promptly sat on the shelf. It received a cautious and limited release in New York earlier this year, but since it never turned up on the West Coast, the San Francisco International Film Festival picked it up as an entry in the 51st fest (after failing to secure it for their 50th), and it opens at the end of this week at the Roxie Cinema. It's by far the best film I've seen in this year's fest, and it probably would have been the best of last year too.
Jeremy Renner Wants To Be An Avenger
Directors We Love: Jim Jarmusch
Indie Roundup: 'Sweetgrass,' 'Clarkworld,' 'Broken Embraces'
Shelf Life: Fight Club_thumbnail.jpg)
Watch: Famous 'Matrix' Scene Re-Created with LEGOs
_thumbnail.jpg)
