Showing posts with label australia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label australia. Show all posts

Sunday, November 1, 2009

THE ROAD ***


To pretend that the Road is an upbeat film is a grave error of judgment that the Weinstein Company and the marketing behind the movie is trying to push because they are afraid that the movie will not find an audience. It is based on a novel by Cormac McCarthy which was a best-seller even though it was even darker than its movie adaptation. So, what is the problem? Money, box office results? Probably. The movie adaptation of the Road is a work of art, beautifully crafted and filmed, well acted, true to its original source and meaningful. It also carries a message of hope, redemption, compassion, resilience, all good things that prevent it to be a totally depressing movie. I personally find stupidity, shallowness and cheap sensationalism very depressing, more than a story of survival can ever be. Rather than trying to please an audience by following cheap marketing rules and regulations, maybe the producers should take a leap of faith with this one and let it be as it is. The director John Hillcoat is a brilliant director and he did a great job as did Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit McPhee. To my opinion Charlize Theron was a little displaced but she doesn't play a major part in the film. The Road tells the story of a father and son trying to survive in a world gone mad. In a certain way, they both succeed. Tell me it's depressing and I'll tell you about how depressing it is that people rush to the movies to watch a teenager torned apart between a plastic werewolf and a vegetarian vampire!

Prétendre que The Road est un film heureux est une grave erreur de jugement de la part de la Weinstein Company et le marketing derrière le film parce qu'ils ont peur qe le film ne trouve pas son public. Le film est basé sur le roman du même nom de Cormac mcCarthy qui est un best-seller et qui l'est devenu sans que la publicité pour le promouvoir ait eu à prétendre qu'il s'agissait d'un roman rose. Alors quel est le problème? L'argent bien sûr. The Road, le film, est une oeuvre d'art, une histoire importante et magnifiquement filmée, superbement interprêtée et fidèle à sa source. Il parle de survie, de compassion, d'espoir, toutes choses bien moins déprimantes à mon sens que le grand nombre d'inepties qu'on voit portées à l'écran. Plutôt que d'essayer de suivre les règles de marketing, peut-être qu'il faudrait tout simplement laisser le film trouver son audience, comme le livre l'a trouvée. Le réalisateur, John Hillcoat est brillant, les acteurs, Viggo Mortensen et Kodi Smit McPhee sont magnifiques. Charlize Theron ne semble pas trop à sa place mais elle ne fait que passer dans The Road. Le film raconte comment un père et son fils arrivent a survivre dans un monde devenu fou. D'une certaine façon, c'est bien moins déprimant que de voir une teenager courir après un loup-garou de plastoc et un vampire de supermarché, mais bon, c'est une question de goût!

Friday, September 4, 2009

Telluride Film festival live - George Gittoes and the miscreants....


George Gittoes is Australian, he is a filmmaker, photographer, painter, adventurer and has just finished The Miscreants ot Taliwood, a “docu-fiction-mentary” about the film industry in Pakistan. His film talks about the raid and destruction of popular films made locally : the Talibans have annihilated this popular genre to replace it with snuff movies showing executions and torture… George Gittoes doesn’t hesitate to throw himself into the action no matter how risky and dangerous. He is more than an insider, he obviously cares deeply about his subject and the people who help him translate his vision of a world gone mad. Unlike observers he doesn’t hesitate and involves himself deeply in the subject he is tackling, sometimes risking his life and saving some. The Miscreants will be presented at the Amsterdam film festival in November and should then have a European life in terms of distribution. George Gittoes’ next documentary will take him to Afghanistan unless he goes to Somalia and Ethiopia on the footsteps of Rimbaud and some lost poetry… He actually owns a unique portrait of Rimbaud at age 16 (see photo) taken by Carjat, the photographer whose poetry Rimbaud declared “rubbish”…. But it’s another story and the reason why the portrait is slashed!
Works and excerpts of George Gittoes' works are on gittoes-dalton-films.com

Pour la version française voir http://sotinel.blog.lemonde.fr/2009/09/