nine queens Tagged Articles at Cinematical

An American remake of Death at a Funeral might be a new low. Consider: this would be a remake of an English-language film, two years after it received a considerable Stateside release. (I mean, I saw it in my local suburban multiplex at the time.) At least Nine Queens (which quickly became Criminal) and Funny Games were in a foreign language and barely saw the light of day here.

At least the remake of the quintessentially British farce may not turn out to be the anodyne Hollywood studio comedy you might otherwise expect. It'll be directed by Neil LaBute, who, with the bizarre exception of the Gwyneth Paltrow snoozer Possession, at least consistently makes interesting films. (And yes, I'll defend his Wicker Man redo if called upon.) On the other hand, I have no idea what to make of the fact that the remake is going to star Chris Rock. I can't really think of a more jarring replacement for the amiably goofy Matthew MacFadyen.

LaBute seems to have gotten back into at least some critics' good graces with last year's Lakeview Terrace, which (not for the first time) wrapped the writer-director's trademark edginess in a genre film cloak. It seems a shame to stuff a whopping hunk of subtext into something as droll as Death at a Funeral but it probably won't be boring. On the other hand, the remake will be written by Rock, not LaBute, and if Rock's previous screenplays are any indication, maybe it will be boring.

Variety reports that LaBute has also signed on to direct a rom-com called Here Comes the Sun, but we don't have any details about that one.

In case you don't read Entertainment Weekly and didn't see this week's double issue on "The New Classics," or you didn't see my post last week about their list of the best movies from the last 25 years, here's a sad fact: only six foreign-language films made the list. They are: Wings of Desire (#28); Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (#49); The Lives of Others (#56); All About My Mother (#69); Y Tu Mamá También (#86); and In the Mood for Love (#95). OK, so 6% is not terrible for a mainstream entertainment magazine, but EW had to add insult to injury with an accompanying map labeled "Movies: Breaking Down the List," which points to a number of locations around the globe in which some of these new classics are set. The only continent on the map without any love is South America (Antarctica was not included in the visual aid).

Now, before I get into my love letter to new Latin American cinema, I have to note that no film produced in Africa made the list either. However, on the map the continent was at least given some minuscule bit of love via the filming locations for Casino Royale and Gladiator. Yet despite the fact that South America was definitely used as a location in a few of the 100 films, it's shown no respect. And on top of that, Central America isn't even included on the map. For some strange reason there's just a gap between Mexico and South America. Meanwhile, Latin America's sole representative on EW's list, Mexico's Y Tu Mamá También, is left off the map so that no location from this area of the world, from the Mexican-U.S. border to Cape Horn, receives any recognition.

Luis Puenzo became the first Argentine Oscar winner in 1986 for his film, The Official Story. Now his daughter Lucía Puenzo is poised for her shot with XXY, as Eric D. Snider told you about in October. The film is making waves as Argentina picked it for their Oscar submission, it won the Critics Week Grand Prize at Cannes, it's got a Spanish Goya nomination, and now Variety reports that it leads the nominations for the 2007 Sur awards from the Argentine Film Arts and Sciences Academy.

Puenzo's directorial debut has nabbed an impressive 13 out of 19 nominations at the awards, and the categories include best film, director, adapted screenplay, debut feature, and an acting nod for Inés Efron as revelation actress. This doesn't really come as a surprise. I reviewed the film at TIFF this year, and it's a solid feature, which shines with Efron's performance. I would be surprised if she doesn't nab this award, and if we don't see more from her in the near future. I bet the same can be said for Puenzo, since this is her debut feature.

Meanwhile, Ricardo Darín, who played Efron's father in the film, is up for lead actor in another movie, Nine Queens, and Julieta Díaz is up for lead actress for her role in Family Law. Other big nominees include The Aerial, a sci-fi fantasy from Esteban Sapir and Juan Taratuto's romcom, Who Says It's Easy. This will be the second ceremony held by the Academy.

Argentenian director Fabián Bielinsky, director of the criticially well-received crime caper Nine Queens, died Wednesday in Brazil of a heart attack at the age of 47. Bielinksky was in Brazil casting for commercials; he died in his hotel room. Nine Queens, a swindle story about a con to sell a sheet of  nine rare stamps (the "nine queens" of the title), was compared by many critics to David Mamet's films, especially to House of Games. Bielinksy had only made two films: Nine Queens (2000) and The Aura (2005), which was recently acquired by IFC First Take, the day-and-date distribution arm of IFC Entertainment.

[ via The IFC Blog ]