allegro Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Who is Ulrich Thomsen? He's played a neo-Nazi locked in a battle between good and evil (Adam's Apples), a famous pianist returning to his hometown (Allegro), a befuddled criminal forced into running a restaurant (Flickering Lights), a Templar Master in the late 12th century (Kingdom of Heaven), and even a villainous henchman (The World is Not Enough) among dozens of parts since 1994. His signature role is probably the lead in the intense dysfunctional family drama The Celebration. According to Variety, he has now signed on to star in The Frost, a psychological drama "turning on the disintegration of a marriage after a son's death."

The Frost sounds like an unusual beast. It's a Spanish/Scandinavian co-production, specifically involving Spain's Alta Realitat, Norway's Frost Media and Sweden's Gota Film. Director Ferran Audí is an experienced Spanish actor; The Frost will be his feature debut. The film is loosely based on Henrik Ibsen's 1894 play Little Eyoff, which has never been dramatized for the screen before.

Ibsen.net reported this past August that Thomsen would star in The Frost and added that Audí had written the English-language script with contributions by Swedish playwright Lars Norén. Ibsen.net also indicated that Swedish actresses Annika Hallin (the very good mystery thriller Kissed by Winter and the upcoming period epic Arn: The Knight Templar) and Bibi Andersson (Ingmar Bergman's Persona) would appear. With such good actors on board, The Frost looks like a strong contender for the festival circuit sometime next year.

There's a great trio of indie DVD releases to choose from this week. When she saw Man Push Cart at Sundance early last year, our own Kim Voynar called it "a beautifully executed film ... about perseverance in the face of emptiness and seemingly insurmountable odds, and yet it isn't a cliched, all's well that ends well film." Writer/director Ramin Bahrani follows the daily life of Ahmad (Ahmad Razvi), a former pop star in Pakistan who now struggles to make a living as a pushcart vendor in New York City. The DVD from Films Philos includes an audio commentary as well as two short films by the director.

In her review of the Romanian picture 12:08 East of Bucharest, Martha Fischer declared it to be the funniest film she saw at the Toronto festival last year. As Martha wrote, "set in a small town outside of Bucharest on December 22, 2005 ... the movie documents the efforts of Jderescu (Teodor Corban), a textile engineer/TV station owner, to assemble a panel for a live TV show on the revolution, and then to keep that show in order, once it goes on-air." Tartan Films' DVD includes an audio commentary by the director.

Ulrich Thomsen stars as a famous pianist who returns to his native Denmark in Christoffer Boe's drama Allegro. Sean Axmaker at GreenCine Daily wrote: "Boe takes the handheld work and naturalistic performance style in his own direction, weaving it through a romantic fantasy of troubled love that reveals the impossibility of remaining unhurt in our emotional lives." The DVD from Koch Lorber is a bit light, with only a "making of" feature as an extra, but Boe is definitely a director to watch. His first feature, Reconstruction, was very good, and his latest, Offscreen, which I saw at Fantastic Fest, is mesmerizing, so Allegro sounds like it's definitely worth a rental.

Because both Italian film festivals apparently need all the glitz and glamor they can get, the Venice Fest this year will see the awarding of the first (annual?) Gucci Group Award, created to recognize "personalities outside the movie industry who have made a remarkable artistic contribution to film over the past 18 months." The most prominent among the nominees is Australian singer/songwriter Nick Cave who recently moved into screenwriting; The Proposition, which he scripted, has received world-wide acclaim. In addition to Cave and two others, Helena Christensen (!) is nominated for her acting work in Allegro, as are Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno for their direction of the innovative soccer doc Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait.

The winner will be announced on September 8 "during a gala ceremony held in the 14th century Palazzo Ducale on the Piazza San Marco." Ooh la la! Needless to say, all the attendees will be impeccably dressed.