NEGATIVE SPACE

Links gibt's ein Setfoto aus Ming-Liang Tsais Filmfilm Visage mit Fanny Ardant, die aber (leider) nicht im Bild ist. Und hier oben sehen wir zwei Nachwuchsschauspieler aus dem neuen Jane Campion-Film Bright Star über den Londoner Poeten John Keats und seine Liaison mit der frechen, modebewussten Nachbarin.

Beide Filme interessieren mich momentan nur marginal. Das mag sich ändern, wenn die ersten Kritiken eintreffen. Bis dahin bleiben sie optischer Aufhänger für meine kleine Sammelpresseschau zu den Filmen, die keinen seperaten Beitrag spendiert bekommen haben.

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Kinatay

"Mendoza strengthens his gift for describing space with inquisitive cameras, but as the helmer's star rises, his subtlety wanes, resulting in obvious statements made banal by heavy-handed ironies. This noirish tale of an innocent guy drawn into a dark world of torture and dismemberment understands that an unwilling accomplice is still tarred by fate, but the pic's graphic nature does realism no favors." (Jay Weissberg, Variety)

"Showing the kidnap, beating, humiliation, rape, murder and dismemberment of a young prostitute, Brillante Mendoza’s new film Kinatay (which means 'butchered' in Tagalog) is a nerve-shredding exploration of crime which is both repellent and grimly compelling." (Mike Goodridge, SD)

In the Beginning

"Giannoli’s expansive fourth feature is far less intimate than his last, lovely Quand J’Etais Chanteur, although his talent with actors and his keen observation are still in evidence. The film is crippled, however, by an extreme running time of 155 minutes which dilutes rather than strengthens the message of the story and will have even the most patient cinephiles shifting in their seats." (Mike Goodridge, SD)

"True story of a stretch of asphalt rolled out by formerly jobless road workers in northern France, under the command of an impostor, blends social critique, character drama and crime into one smooth, good-looking package." (Boyd van Hoeij, Variety)

A Prophet

"French master Jacques Audiard has challenged the thus-far mostly middling Cannes competition with a powerful prison drama that's an old-fashioned Bildungsroman in in-your-face, intensely realistic disguise. The militantly unprolific director of such exquisite small films as 'Read My Lips' and 'The Beat That My Heart Skipped,' which have appeared at roughly five-year intervals, has now moved to an infinitely broader canvas with outstanding results." (Peter Brunette, THR)

"I had never seen a Jacques Audiard film before today, but now I want to go back watch all of his films. I was waiting to finally discover something exceptional here at Cannes, and this it. I caught Audiard's Un Prophete - which stands for just A Prophet in English - this morning and was mesmerized. Even though it has an immense 150 minute running time and it was very early in the morning, I was captivated from start to finish, never at all restless. From Tahar Rahim's stand out performance to Alexandre Desplat's amazing score to Stéphane Fontaine's wonderful cinematography, everything about Un Prophete is exceptional." (Alex Billington, FirstShowing)

"When it comes to hard-bitten crime cinema, Jacques Audiard has few equals in Europe, and his violent, gripping prison drama A Prophet shows him extending his range with unimpeachable command. The story of a gauche young inmate who rises through the criminal ranks to become a formidable player, A Prophet works both as hard-edged, painstaking detailed social realism and as a compelling genre entertainment." (Jonathan Romney, SD)

"If James Toback’s petty-criminal tale 'Fingers' inspired Jacques Audiard’s previous 'The Beat That My Heart Skipped,' it’s Martin Scorsese’s 'Goodfellas' that looms over his latest 'A Prophet.' Successfully balancing art-film portraiture with a gangster picture’s plot, the film may be one of the more conventional movies in this year’s Cannes competition, but judging from the sustained applause after its Cannes premiere on Saturday morning, it’s also been one of the more satisfying." (Anthony Kaufman, indieWIRE)

"And now on to a formidable movie, taking the early lead as the 2009 festival favorite: A Prophet, by Jacques Audiard, is a strong French take on Goodfellas, a young man's coming of age in prison as a mob power. Impressive newcomer Tahar Rahim plays Malik El Djebena, illiterate, alone, and friendless when he enters the prison system." (Liza Schwarzbaum, EW)

"Malik versucht, sich die von den Korsen vorgegebene Mordmethode beizubringen - irgendwie soll er eine Rasierklinge im Mund verbergen. Was damit endet, dass er fortan nur noch Joghurt essen kann. Es sind solche Details, die eine Wucht entwickeln, wie sie selbst eine schnell geschnittene Knast-Action à la Prison Break nicht entwickeln kann." (Andreas Borcholte, Spiegel Online)

Vincere

"Momentous events require suitably powerful storytelling, which vet helmer Marco Bellocchio delivers in Vincere, the little-known story of Benito Mussolini's ill-fated first wife and son. Conceived as grand opera set inside delineated space, it's a thrilling, at times brilliant piece of staging that never forgets the emotional pull of either the tragic personal tale or the ramifications of history." (Jay Weissberg, Variety)

"The director also pulls career-high performances from Mezzogiorno and Timi that are, respectively, tragic and mesmerizing. They deserve kudos for making such controversial personalities engaging and real, and they lift the film notches above standard biopic fare." (Natasha Senjanovic, THR)

The Time That Remains

"Inspired by his father's diaries, and the writer-helmer's own memories, vignettish pic is both more rigorously fashioned and a lighter sit than Chronicle of a Disappearance (1996) or Divine Intervention (2002), coming close at times to fringe theater, with Suleiman almost an outside observer." (Derek Elley, Variety)

Looking for Eric

"Für Ken Loach, der Zeit seines Lebens Fußball-Fan und soziales Gewissen des britischen Kinos war, ist Looking for Eric wohl der entspannteste Film seiner langen Karriere. Er verrät seine Ideale damit dennoch nie. Er ist bloß unterhaltsamer als sonst." (Milan Pavlovic, KSA)

"Ken Loach and writer Paul Laverty's ninth feature together is a curious hybrid: Three movies -- boilerplate, socially aware Loach; personal fantasy; romantic comedy -- wrap around a central core of a hopeless soccer fanatic who's given a second chance to sort out his life. As in many of Laverty's scripts, problems of overall tone and character development aren't solved by Loach's easygoing direction, though when it works, Eric has many incidental pleasures." (Derek Elley, Variety)

"Great jokes and fine comic performances in a real crowd-pleaser from Ken Loach." (Ray Bennett, THR)

"A light-hearted Ken Loach – or as light-hearted as Ken Loach gets - and his longtime writing partner Paul Laverty add humour to the social mix in Looking For Eric, Loach’s tonally-varied but most widely accessible film which could end up being his highest-grosser." (Fionnuala Halligan, SD)

Wild Grass

"More freewheeling than 2006's Private Fears in Public Places, but with a similar networking structure that connects the destinies of several melancholy adults into one intriguing web, the pic is marked by superb performances and a dazzling technical display by the helmer and praiseworthy cinematographer Eric Gautier. (Jordan Mintzer, Variety)

Spring Fever

"This integration of visuals and narrative, however, is the exception rather than the rule in this ambitious and - by mainland Chinese standards - daring project. The screenplay is so convoluted and contains so many loose ends that the intense style (fragmented editing, jerky, handheld camera) only highlights the movie’s occasional lapses into incoherence. Add to that relatively explicit sex scenes between males, and the result is small chance of finding an audience in most markets, including Lou Ye’s native China (where he is technically banned from filmmaking on account of the overt politics of Summer Palace)." (Howard Feinstein, Screen Daily)

"The screenplay is much better constructed than the untidy 'Summer Palace,' but the pic is still a long, long way from Lou's inventive and involving 'Suzhou River' and flawed but impressively ambitious period drama, 'Purple Butterfly.' As Lou has seemingly catered more and more to Euro tastes (and Western sensibilities), his vision and imagination have become progressively more restricted." (Derek Elley, Variety)

"Compared with his half-baked attempt at fusing personal sexuality with political history (Tiananmen Square) in 'Summer Palace,' this film is a considerable improvement as it generates intensity through the extreme intimacy among its minimalist cast (accentuated by restless closeups and deliberately asymmetrical compositions) while offsetting them against an authentic social backdrop." (Maggie Lee, THR)

"For all its graphic sex—gay and straight—and blunt depiction of youthful anomie (as well as suicide and attempted murder), Lou Ye's disorganized Spring Fever proved a major disappointment. Had the film been made in 1980s Germany, it would have seemed the work of a confused Fassbinder wannabe." (Jay Hoberman, Village Voice)

Map of the Sounds of Tokyo

"Pretty to look at but largely vacuous, Spanish helmer Isabel Coixet's romantic drama "Map of the Sounds of Tokyo" plays like a perfume ad without a product." (Leslie Felperin, Variety)

Bright Star

"Beautifully crafted in every department from the composure of the camerawork to the precision of the costume and production design, Bright Star is a film to savour. Campion ensures that its pictorial appeal is matched by an emotional engagement thanks to a universally fine cast." (Allan Hunter, SD)

"Not for the popcorn set, a gorgeous film about romantic love and fine poetry." (Ray Bennett, THR)

"Breaking through any period piece mustiness with piercing insight into the emotions and behavior of her characters, the writer-director examines the final years in the short life of 19th century romantic poet John Keats through the eyes of his beloved, Fanny Brawne, played by Abbie Cornish in an outstanding performance." (Todd McCarthy, Variety)