TheWindow Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Sundance focused attention almost exclusively on new American independent features and documentaries, but what about the rest of the world? Film Movement is doing their part, acquiring US rights to Carlos Sorin's Argentine drama The Window and planning a May 2009 theatrical release, according to indieWIRE.

That sounds like a good counter-programming move. Film Movement is a small distributor of independent and foreign films and knows how to nurture their acquisitions. And even if The Window doesn't play theatrically beyond a few big cities, this deal will assure that it will be available on DVD this year, which is good news for fans of director Sorin. He previously made dramas such as Historias Minimas ("absorbing, undemanding," per Jeffrey M. Anderson) and Bombón: El Perro ("an unashamed crowdpleaser," per Neil Young), and The Window sounds like it's in a similar vein. Take a look at the trailer, embedded above, which reveals no plot details but gives a nice feel for the gentle vibe.

The detailed synopsis at Moviefone indicates that the film revolves a 80-year-old bedridden man (veteran screenwriter Antonio Larreta) who watches the preparations for a reunion with his long-estranged son, now a world-renowned concert pianist, through a window in his home in the Patagonia region of Argentina. After playing at the Toronto fest last September, The Window had its US premiere at the Palm Springs fest just before Sundance and will open in its native country next month.

The Seattle International Film Festival always has a nice selection of older films to choose from and since, like Jeffrey Anderson, I think it's important for film critics to watch older films so as to have the perspective of what came before, I always try to catch a few. The screening of The Window, a 1949 film noir starring child-star Bobby Driscoll (who those of you who are my age or older may also remember from Disney's Song of the South, the voice of Peter in Disney's animated Peter Pan, and many other roles) as a boy prone to telling tall tales, who finds himself up to his cute little neck in trouble when he's witness to a murder.

The film, directed by Ted Tetzlaff, was shown on a spanking-new 35mm print (courtesy of the Film Noir Foundation), and it looked absolutely gorgeous. It was introduced by film noir expert (and Foundation president) Eddie Muller, who gave us some background. These days, Muller told us, a film like The Window would be hard to make, because the storyline puts a child in such peril. The film was adapted from the story The Boy Who Cried Wolf by noir author Cornell Woolrich (Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, made five years later and also based on a Cornell Woolrich short story, is basically the same story, only with a wheelchair-bound man instead of a small boy). The Window, Muller informed us, was also the first movie filmed on location in New York City. The film is set in what is supposed to be a blisteringly hot summer; filming actually took place in the winter, and the actors were sprayed with water to give the appearance they were hot and sweaty.