UPDATE: Here's the trailer in Quicktime quality.

Of all the films I'm looking forward to this fall, Blindness ranks fairly high up there. Canadian distributor Alliance has just made available a full trailer that proves to be fairly intriguing, as an optometrist (Mark Ruffalo) and his seemingly immune wife (Julianne Moore) cope with an inexplicable epidemic of sight loss.

I'm a sucker for most anything vaguely apocalyptic, and while this very well could turn out to be akin to watching the first act of Children of Men through a milk-filled mask (which I've done, mind you), the prestige behind the project* says otherwise. We have acclaimed screenwriter Don McKellar adapting Nobel-Laureate José Saramago's novel, with Academy Award nominee Fernando Meirelles directing a cast that also includes Danny Glover, Gael Garcia Bernal, Alice Braga, and Sandra Oh.

I must say, going off that taste and last spring's teaser, I still like the look, sound, and feel of this one, especially Moore's little retort (you know the one), and that's not to mention that any trailer which employs John Murphy's underrated score from last year's Sunshine to set a rightfully ominous tone is always fine by me. We'll get to see (sorry) what trials and tribulations await the world on September 19th.

*Not to mention Rocchi's review of the film from its Cannes world premiere.

Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for Blindness (click to enlarge), which enjoyed its world premiere as the opening night film of this year's Cannes Film Festival back in May. Starring Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Danny Glover and Gael García Bernal, Blindness tells of a city overcome by a blindness epidemic where its citizens are stricken with instant "white blindness." As folks are quarantined off in an abandoned mental hospital, one woman who remains unaffected pretends to be sick in order to take care of her husband, a doctor, who's now blind. Based on Nobel Prize winner Jose Saramago's novel, and directed by the very talented Fernando Meirelles (The Constant Gardener), Blindness definitely looks to bring the creep factor -- and with this outstanding cast, I'm sure it will claim a spot as this fall's first great flick.

Don't close your eyes for too long, because Blindness hits theaters on September 19.

I sat in on a roundtable luncheon for the film Blindness the other day; as far as roundtables go, it was a nice affair; there were four tables of journalists, and they rotated the talent through the tables, giving us about 15 minutes with each set. It's always interesting to me to talk to the actors and filmmaker about a film like this; it gives you a different perspective that you have from just watching the film.

A word of caution: There are spoilers in these interviews about certain aspects of the film, but I'm including them because they provide a good deal of context about the film and the motivations of the characters. If you prefer to go into seeing the film blind, as it were, you'll not want to read this until after you've seen it. If you do want to learn more about the film, the interview writeup is after the jump ...

This morning James and I and a couple thousand other press folks took in a screening of the Opening Film at Cannes 2008, Fernando Meirelles's Blindness, starring Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Danny Glover and Gael Garcia Bernal. You can check out James' review here, and tomorrow I'll be attending a luncheon/roundtable for the film. And in related Cannes news, Jack Black arrived at the 2008 Festival de Cannes in style. He's here to promote Kung Fu Panda, which premieres later in the week. Check out our gallery of Black and tons of panda bears down below.

Meantime, though, my take on Blindness is that it's ambitious and good, but falls short of being great. In part, I think, this is because the source material was challenging to adapt to a visual experience, but it's also due to some clunky expositional voiceover that detracts from the experience more than it adds. I don't want to be told how this or that person feels or reacts, I want to see it.

Fernando Meirelles's new film Blindness begins with the rush and push of urban life; traffic, crowds, activity, purpose. And then, one man cries out: "I'm blind." He eventually makes it to an ophthalmologist, but there's nothing physically wrong with his eyes; he simply can't see. "It feels like I'm swimming in milk," he explains, and we see, through his eyes, the blank, empty swirl of what used to be the world. And then another person says they are blind, and then another, and soon those few, frightened voices form a chorus of chaos as "the White Sickness" spreads like wildfire and leaves a ruined world in its wake.

Adapting Nobel Prize winner Jose Saramago's novel, Blindness feels like a curious mix of highbrow literary aspirations and lowbrow genre fiction; as the White Sickness spreads from person to person in a clear chain of connection and things fall apart, it'd be easy to dismiss Blindness as Dawn of the Dead for NPR listeners or Outbreak for grad students. Meirreles has taken a similar two-pronged approach before -- The Constant Gardener is an excellent critique of the failings of modern capitalism that also works as a strong, suspenseful thriller -- and while Blindness may not work as well as that film, it's also a clear case of a film, and filmmaker, failing to hit the mark occasionally only because they've set the bar so high for themselves.

Cinematical has received two brand new exclusive Blindness images ahead of the film's world premiere tonight at the 2008 Festival de Cannes. Directed by Fernando Meirelles (The Constant Gardener), Blindness was selected as the opening night film for this year's Festival de Cannes, and it stars Julianne Moore as the wife of a doctor (Mark Ruffalo) who suddenly becomes the only one who can see in a town where everyone is struck with a mysterious case of blindness. Based on the novel by José Saramago (adapted by Don Mckellar), Blindness also stars Gael García Bernal, Alice Braga and Danny Glover.

Cinematical is on the ground in Cannes, and both James and Kim have already seen Blindness. We'll have our review of the festival's opening night film later on in the day. Check out our second exclusive photo below, then head to the gallery for more. Blindness arrives in theaters on September 19.

We thought this looked awesome last summer, and now we have some confirmation. MSN has posted a teaser trailer for Blindness, Fernando Meirelles' apocalyptic thriller based on the novel by José Saramago, and it creeps me out. The movie is about a blindness epidemic that sweeps through a city, afflicting everyone except one woman (Julianne Moore) who is apparently immune. She's then forced to feign blindness (Why? If no one else can see, what's the difference?) to care for her husband (Mark Ruffalo) as everything around them goes to hell. The tonal shift at the beginning of the teaser is genuinely startling, maybe because the upbeat music doesn't stop playing as you'd expect, or maybe because it deals with something that is one of this cinephile's worst nightmares.

I like Meirelles' City of God as much as the next guy, but the real reason I'm excited for this is that the screenplay is written by Don McKellar, whose previous stab at depicting the end of the world, Last Night, is one of my favorite films (with one of the most perfect endings of all time). Blindness is expected to play the Toronto Film Festival this September, with a US release slated for October. Can anyone who's read the book give us some (non-spoiler) hints of what to expect?

[hat tip: comingsoon.net]

Less than a month ago, I brought you word that Julianne Moore was going to star in a new horror thriller called Shelter -- a project that has been in the works for a good 4 years now. With a star in place, and production to begin late next month in Pittsburgh, Variety reports that she's got a co-star; none other than Henry the VIII himself, Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

Now Variety says that the logline (one-sentence film summary) is "being kept under wraps," but as I mentioned last time, this project has been around for ages, and MovieWeb put up a summary back in 2004 (the original THR link is dead). Unless there's been a major rewrite, Michael Cooney's script "follows a female forensic psychiatrist who specializes in debunking multiple personality disorder. When she discovers that her latest patient's various personalities are all murder victims, she struggles to find a logical explanation for the man's delusion."

You might remember that back in October, a new project started to gear up called The Private Lives of Pippa Lee. Based on Arthur Miller offspring Rebecca Miller's upcoming novel (that she adapted and will direct), the pic will focus on "a dutiful wife whose husband falls for a younger woman, freeing her to explore her buried sensuality and leading to a very quiet nervous breakdown."

I was ouching just at the thought of sensual exploration leading to a nervous breakdown, but now I have two reasons: along with the added cast just posted by The Hollywood Reporter, it's been confirmed that Robin Wright Penn is the wife, and Winona Ryder is the younger woman. For frak's sake, there's only a handful of years between the two women. Are they planning to age Wright Penn, or do they just think she looks that much older?

Anyway, adding to the tasty cast is Keanu Reeves, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Alan Arkin, and Monica Bellucci. Arkin will, of course, play the husband who leaves Wright Penn in the dust, and Bellucci will play his first wife -- so he's a dude who loves those May-December romances. Gyllenhaal will get the honor of appearing in flashbacks as Pippa Lee's "diet pill-addicted mother." Julianne Moore is some "lesbian novelist." And finally, Reeves gets to explore Wright Penn's sexuality. Now it all makes sense -- fool around with Keanu and you'll go crazy!

Once everyone finishes up their current gigs, production will kick into gear this April in Connecticut.

I think what I like best about Julianne Moore is that she is this reliable actress that never really changes -- in a good way. She's usually in good movies (only some stinkers now and then); she gives great performances; she's comfortable in her own skin (her lips haven't double in size, nor has her skin gotten really taut*); and she's known but not sensationalized. Now she's headed for Shelter.

Variety reports that she will be starring in the upcoming supernatural horror thriller, which is being produced by Nala Films. Film details are being kept under wraps, but the project is coming from a script by Michael Cooney (Identity), and will be directed by Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein (Storm) this March in Pittsburgh -- for a solid $22-$25 million price tag.

Now, while they're trying to keep plot details a secret, the project has been around for years and according to MovieWeb back in 2004: "Shelter follows a female forensic psychiatrist who specializes in debunking multiple personality disorder. When she discovers that her latest patient's various personalities are all murder victims, she struggles to find a logical explanation for the man's delusion." As long as it's better than Hannibal, I'll be happy.

*Typo corrected thanks to Cath.