Toute la mémoire du monde ... Dreaming of France

papier, papier, everywhere

Alain Resnais, dir. 1956

Ou est la bibliotheque? Watching this short documentary made by Alain Resnais in 1956 will have you asking the French 101 question again. 
Because any book-loving Francophile worth his or her salt will want to find the amazing library shown in Resnais' spellbinding documentary.

The iconic French New Wave filmmaker behind masterpieces such as Hiroshima mon amour and Last Year at Marienbad, began his career making short documentaries. The haunting and important 1955 Holocaust film Night and Fog is probably his most famous and rightly so.
On a much lighter note, this short twenty minute documentary showing the inner workings of the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris was made the following year. Toute la mémoire du monde - 'All the Memory in the World' isn't just about the thousands of books, manuscripts, maps and more housed within its' climate controlled rooms as it reveals man's frantic effort to save each precious page; it captures the tenuousness of our own memories and how we desperately strive to save them as well.

The Reading Room at the Bibliotheque nationale du France, circa 1950's

The short twenty minute film features stunning black and white cinematography by Ghislain Cloquet (Au hasard Balthazar) who relishes in the breadth and scope of the massive bibliotheque. The music by Maurice Jarre (Lawrence of Arabia) is bold and dramatic, in concert with Cloquet's ever moving camera as it glides past rows of decaying pages, piles of books, masses of stairs and hallways and people engaged in the work of gathering, restoring, catalogueing and reading books.
  
It's mind-boggling to contemplate the sheer volume of works catalogued and stored; and then to think of the deluge of written words that have come since the fifties?  The 5 million books have grown into 35 million, with more and more coming daily.

My brother is a librarian at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science here in Los Angeles, where the focus is digitizing all the printed material; it's an endless task even though the academy has an extremely narrow focus on the world of film. How unending when the goal is all the knowledge in the world?

The reading room at the Richelieu Library, part of the Bibliotheque Nationale de France

And where is the library documented so lovingly by Resnais? Because wouldn't you love to visit it on your next trip to Paris? As far as I can tell it's the gorgeous Richelieu Library at 5 Rue Vivienne currently under renovation, according to the Bibliotheque Nationale de France website. Anyone who knows whether I'm wrong or right, please let me know.

And what is the bibliotheque up to these days? The library's online video guide to the library's services is a modern day, colorful, short and vibrant look at how the 35 million - and growing - works are housed. Not quite the panache of the great Resnais but a nice bit of industrial filmmaking. Check it out here 

Visit DREAMING OF FRANCE 

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The Garden of Last Days movie based on Andre Dubus III book is OFF!

 MAJOR BUMMER! After getting all jazzed about James Franco directing the screen adaptation of The Garden of Last Days (see post below) I just learned from Deadline that James Franco, who was set to direct, exited the project just two weeks prior to filming! According to the report, Millenium Films nixed several key crew members hand-picked by Franco. Apparently they didn't have enough experience to satisfy the bond company. For now the project is a total no-go and a major bummer to me; Andre Dubus III's The Garden of Last Days was a fantastic book, dark and riveting, with all the key elements to make an equally fantastic film.
I'll keep you posted with any news. Apparently the studio has already spent half a million dollars on the $3 million dollar budgeted movie; maybe they'll find a way to save their investment and the deal.

Posted 5/3/2013
The Garden Last Days is coming fast and furious following the news that James Franco was going to direct. Now we learn the part of April, the stripper will go to Emilia Clarke, best known as Daenerys Targaryen on Game of Thrones. I'm a fairly new fan of the show but it does push the boundaries with graphic violent and sexual content; Clarke's body has often been on full display in Game of Thrones, so the 'stripping' part of playing the stripper won't be an issue. She's talented but it's annoying that Franco picked a Brit for the role of the single mother of a three year old who works at a strip club in Sarasota, Florida. I don't doubt she can play 'American' - the Australians and the Brits all seem to have that talent in their pockets - but I would have preferred a true yank. Just sayin'. I was born in England, still have a British passport so it's not that I'm a hater ... I simply believe we have many a young and talented actress right here in the good ol US of A perfectly equipped to play white trash part - with apologies to all the strippers out there.

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Set pictures from George Clooney's The Monuments Men movie based on Robert Edsel's book

George Clooney shooting The Monuments Men movie on the beach at Rye, England.

Serious George Clooney watchers may want to bookmark The Monuments Men  movie site where 'moviehorizons' is gathering a ton of production photos and info for the upcoming film based on Robert M. Edsel's book. Clooney wrote the adaptation, stars, directs and produces the film about a group of allied heroes rescuing some of the world's greatest works of art from the clutches of the Nazis.

More about The Monuments Men movie

Looks like George is struggling to stay upright - is that part of the scene or is he human?

Judging from the image on the right, they're having a good time on set. Not surprising considering Clooney's reputation for fun and games. 

L: Matt Damon,(?)John Goodman, Bill Murray
Grant Heslov, George Clooney

the beaches of Normandy? No, Rye.

Ryan Gosling, who costarred alongside George in The Ides of March said he was in amazed by Clooney's ability to juggle so many different things at once. The pressures of directing and acting, plotting some exhorbitant prank all while planning a massive relief effort for Somalia, and all in good spirit! Quite a guy, George is. 

In addition to George Clooney, The Monuments Men stars Matt Damon, Jean Dujardin, John Goodman, Bill Murray, Hugh Bonneville and Cate Blanchett. Sadly, Daniel Craig, once attached to the film is out; it's not clear whether Matt, the most recent additon to the cast, has taken the role initially intended for Craig. I love Damon but Daniel Craig is just darker and grittier; it would have been cool to have Bond and Bourne together. But that might have been too much gorgeous male competition even for Gorgeous George.

Monumental Men: Matt Damon and Jean Dujardin in The Monuments Men due out later this year. Mmmm!

With Bill Murray. Hmmm.

And John Goodman. Oh!

Ah, that's better. George Clooney + Hugh Bonneville: Where you lead, I will follow.

Cate Blanchett! Not exactly her handsome self here.

The Monuments Men is set for release December 13th, 2013.

I'll post the trailer as soon as it lands.

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Pitch Perfect: My Quick Take on this movie from the Vault

Zooming through the channels last night I landed on Pitch Perfect - about 40 minutes in. I'm not a huge Glee fan - which I figured the movie would be a big screen version of - but nothing else grabbed me so I figured what the hey. And I had a general sense that it had done well critically. 

I wish I'd seen it sooner. Sweet, funny, romantic with some glorious singing.

The story: "Beca, a freshman at Barden University, is cajoled into joining The Bellas, her school's all-girls singing group. Injecting some much needed energy into their repertoire, The Bellas take on their male rivals in a campus competition."

Anna Kendrick (The Company You Keep, Up in the Air) is the emotionally reserved Beca who finds love and friendship through singing. Rebel Wilson, her opposite, shines as the raunchy Fat Amy. Aubrey Camp and Brittany Snow and the rest of the Barden Bellas make  beautiful music together.

With a script written by Kay Cannon based on Micky Rapkin's book, Pitch Perfect struck just the right chord when I was feeling blue.

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World War Z; My personal connection to Brad Pitt - ha!

Brook's name is nice and big!

Brad Pitt: Zombie Fighter

World War Z book fans take note: the Brad Pitt movie based on Max Brook's book that was so awful that Paramount  plunked down another $20 million for re-shoots which most everyone said would not work, actually opened this weekend to generally favorable reviews! Deadline talked to the film's director, Marc Forster, about the whole horrific process and how the re-shoots helped return the movie to a more book-faithful and meaningful tale. And while it's not my kind of book, I do get a kick out of the fact that Brad Pitt sent the zombie novel to the director, so keen was he to do it. You can read the entire interview below; I've cut and paste it from Deadline.com but first, my personal connection.

Yes, I knew Brad when.
No. He wouldn't know me from Adam.

Brad Pitt and Elizabeth McGovern
coupled up onscreen in The Favor

Did I ever tell you how I had a short lived 'career' as a production coordinator and that I worked on one of Brad Pitt's early movies, The Favor, co-starring Elizabeth McGovern Bill Pullman, and Harley Jane Kozak? We shot The Favor  in late 1991 in and around Portland, Oregon right after Brad's break out performance in Thelma and Louise which was filmed earlier that same year. It just wasn't that great - mainly due to Ken Wahl starring as 'the other man' for Harley Jane Kozak but in any case the film was kept on the shelf and wasn't released until 1994. The non-opener didn't hold Brad Pitt back.

Brad Pitt and Juliette Lewis coupled up
for real in the early 90's

He was with Juliette Lewis at the time and the story of Brad, with the ten years younger Juliette Lewis beside him, driving all the way up from  L.A. in a sexy little powder blue sports car, had every female on set, from savvy L.A. based producers to local hires, daydreaming about the gorgeous but strangely shy guy who really knew how to wear a pair of metal frame glasses. (See image above!)

This photo doesn't do justice to the bar at
the Heathman Hotel in Portland, Oregon.

On one incredible evening Brad, Elizabeth McGovern, my then-boss Christa, and a few more of us went to see Melissa Etheridge playing in town. Can I remember the venue? No - it was 20 something years ago -  I can't, but I do recall the evening was organized because one of the producer types was crushing on Elizabeth. What stands out most to me now is just how quiet and completely devoid of stud-attitude Brad was. He just seemed, oh brother, 'nice'. We all had drinks in what I remember as a warm wood-panelled bar in the dignified elegance of the Heathman Hotel in downtown Portland. The picture of the bar to the left doesn't capture that deep, rich feeling of my memories but again 20 years ago ... the good ol days especially because we can't recall them exactly. That was all I saw of Brad

Brad and Elizabeth

Pitt off set; but there was another evening where a good number of us went to dinner at Dan + Louis Oyster Bar, a Portland tradition since 1907! Elizabeth came along - the same producer crushing on her - and I experienced first hand how unnerving dining out can be to the famoso among us. The diners couldn't take their eyes off her; do you have any idea how difficult it is to talk or eat or act in any natural manner whatsoever with a roomful of eyes watching your every move? 

Fame is a curse, I tell you!

The Deadline article
"When Marc Forster was a kid, he was fascinated by how a collective swarming movement made everything from ants to cancer cells more potent. Those images informed the depiction of the hordes of zombies in World War Z. It had never occurred to Forster that the same phenomenon could happen to his movie. Unsubstantiated reports about overruns, creative clashes and re-shoots cropped up and then mutated and spread virally on the web. It got to the point where the question was no longer would WWZ work, but how cataclysmic a failure it might be. That began turning around when Paramount began showing the film, and it’s not a big factor as the film opens today. But what was it like for a director to get caught in such an unprecedented media maelstrom, a lot of which was based on some truth, and some inaccurate or exaggerated reporting?

“I never went through anything like that, not on Quantum Of Solace, not on anything,” Forster said during a break from promoting WWZ in Russia. “I would read that Brad Pitt and I had no communication, and we would look at each other and say, where could this come from? Is somebody just making up these stories? When articles like those come out and start spreading, it causes you to take a look at yourself, but the thing is, I never doubted the movie, or my own intuition. So few original things get made on this scale. This isn’t a sequel, it isn’t based on a superhero in a comic book. We saw it as an opportunity to take a genre and create something new and unique within it. That challenge excites me, but uniqueness always comes with criticism. As a filmmaker, all you can do is hope you get to the point where people feel as excited and as passionate about the film as you felt making it. Sure, we felt like the media wanted the project to fail, but we knew what we had, and we felt it would work. Then came the first preview, and the movie played like gangbusters.”

Some of those reports implied that Forster was a passive participant once he and studio brass went into the editing room and decided that a colossal, bloody battle scene in Russia was loud, bloody, and unsatisfying. Other rumors were he didn’t even do the reshoots. Forster denies those rumors. Certainly, there was tension. How often does a studio like Paramount pull a picture out of its release calendar and commit another $20 million or so to create and shoot a new climax? But Forster said they were all in lockstep, working with scribes Damon Lindelof and Drew Goddard on an ending that aimed to be quieter, but more intense. When they left, Christopher McQuarrie also lent a hand in the writing.

“The original third act, with its big battle, was like every Hollywood movie,” he said. “It’s that big set piece, and it’s all about bigger and louder than everything else that came before it. I always felt that the set piece in Israel that happens earlier was the key action sequence in the film. It takes place in Southern Jerusalem, the birthplace of humanity, and then everything implodes and leaves you feeling, we can’t beat them, this is the end of humanity. That had to be the biggest set piece in the movie. Damon, when he saw the Israel sequence, had the same response, that you had to wind it down from there. Damon and Drew wrote what became exactly the movie I had in my head. It became a more personal journey, where you could connect with Brad in what felt like a haunted house setting. This way, the tension always shifts in the movie, but it never peaks, like a nice piece of music. I haven’t seen that quietly intense an ending in a blockbuster-size film before.”

Forster said the decision to scrap the big battle happened quickly and wasn’t some big drawn out spat. “We went to the editing room, looked at the footage, and we never tested that battle sequence,” Forster said. “Paramount was good with that. We all said, let’s not spend money on all that CG needed to finish that sequence, let’s spend the money instead on shooting a very simple, personal ending.” Forster said the result was in keeping with the original vision of the film that he and Pitt talked about when the actor/producer first came to him with the Max Brooks book. “When Brad sent me the book, I felt it was different, and that it was an opportunity to not just make another zombie movie, but to do something new. I wanted to create images we’d not seen before, from the way the zombies moved, to the way they swarm in Jerusalem, just different than anything done before in the genre. And the moment I’d heard the studio was willing to move forward with a more quiet haunted house ending which we pitched them, I was so relieved and happy. This movie plays well, but it’s different from every blockbuster out there. It’s the intense fun ride that we intended it to be, but it has unexpected moments. And after Jerusalem, you are so exhausted that to have added another big battle would have been repetitive, and it would have left you feeling exhausted.”

Another widely reported “fact” Forster refuted was that he and his cohorts were ordered by the studio to change the origin of the zombie outbreak from China, as Brooks’s book had it. The reports maintained the studio didn’t want to risk offending a Chinese government that determines which films have access to theaters in the country. “We threw a lot of countries around, Korea, Russia, India, China, but no one actually said that to us. We were never given a mandate that we couldn’t use China as that country. It was a purely creative decision we made to not have finding  patient zero be the film’s focus. We are still not sure whether or not WWZ will play in China or not, but we wanted nothing offensive against China or any other country. Those were creative choices.”

In Quantum of Solace and now WWZ, Forster has now made two movie movies far afield from his breakout film Monster’s Ball. WWZ, he feels, combines the best of those worlds. “Monster’s Ball was distinguished by those character performances, and what I love most about this movie is watching Brad’s character turn from everyday man into the reluctant hero,” Forster said. “We were able to incorporate those quiet character moments that I love, and it all came together in a way that made me really happy. Even some of what I went through with the press was a good lesson, I suppose. Obviously, everybody coming at you with constant negativity is daunting. If I had thought the movie wouldn’t work, it would have made me sad. But I felt so good about what I had, and none of those other people had seen the movie except for us. We figured other people would eventually see the same thing and we would be fine. I also think while negative buzz affects the inside Hollywood community, the movie going audience, the one in the middle of the country, they’re not influenced by this or even by critics, necessarily. They form their own opinions. And if your movie is good, they will be texting their friends. That earned word of mouth is what is important.”

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Evidence stars Stephen Moyer and is NOT based on a book UPDATED

In theaters July 19th

Updated 6/21: MLH makes the publicity stills!
This movie is NOT based on a book - but I have a personal connection so I decided to burst out of my box and share since my hubby worked on the movie. Mark, better know to y'all as MLH, was the second assistant director on  Evidence, one of those low budget 'found footage' horror films that have been popping up over the last few years. He's not an actor but took on the role to help the director out with the scene below.
The film comes out in theaters on July 19th and is available on VOD now. Evidence stars Stephen Moyer (HBO’s “True Blood,” Strange Love), Radha Mitchell (Silent Hill, Man on Fire), Torrey Devitto (CW’s “The Vampire Diaries”), Caitlin Stasey (I, Frankenstein) and, Dale Dickey (HBO’s “True Blood”). Moyer plays  "a detective who hunts down a killer using video footage shot by the victims of a massacre at an abandoned gas station". The film was directed by Olatunde

That's my man on the far left, acting like a cop.
Radha Mitchell

Osunsanmi (The Fourth Kind), one of a shamefully small handful of black filmmakers working in the industry today. I met "Tundy" and his wife at a party at one of the producer's beach houses nestled between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. It was one of those unbelievably clear and sunny California days, and a lot of the guests had brought kids to the barbecue; Russell was in NY at the time and I was missing him. I told 'Tundy' our son wanted to be a director as well, did he have any advice? He shared that while he'd gone to film school his opportunity came from working as an assistant for a respected producer who took the time to listen to him after he'd proved himself an intelligent and hardworking young filmmaker. The moral; ya gotta pay your dues.

Check out the trailer and see what you think of Evidence. Don't be shy to say if it's not your cup of tea; yes, my hubby worked on the film but it's not as if he wrote it. 

Evidence is available on demand today, and in theaters July 19th. 

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Juliet by Anne Fortier: Who would you cast?

A fan of Anne Fortier's Juliet and waiting for the screen adaptation? If you've been waiting patiently since Paramount and Montecito picked up the film rights with James Mangold set to direct, back in the fall of 2011, there's  finally some good news; Eyal Podell and Jonathon Stewart have been tapped to pen the script. Progress! According to Deadline, the pair apparently has a 'hot' Seuss script making the rounds.

The Story from Pulishers Weekly:

Fortier bobs and weaves between Shakespearean tragedy and popular romance for a high-flying debut in which American Julie Jacobs travels to Siena in search of her Italian heritage--and possibly an inheritance--only to discover she is descended from 14th-century Giulietta Tomei, whose love for Romeo defied their feuding families and inspired Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Julie's hunt leads her to the families' descendants, still living in Siena, still feuding, and still struggling under the curse of the friar who wished a plague on both their houses. Julie's unraveling of the past is assisted by a Felliniesque contessa and the contessa's handsome nephew, and complicated by mobsters, police, and a mysterious motorcyclist. To understand what happened centuries ago, in the previous generation, and all around her, Julie relies on relics: a painting, a journal, a dagger, a ring. Readers

Willa Holland for Julie?

enjoy the additional benefit of antique texts alternating with contemporary narratives, written in the language of modern romance and enlivened by brisk storytelling. Fortier navigates around false clues and twists, resulting in a dense, heavily plotted love story that reads like a Da Vinci Code for the smart modern woman.

Sounds intriguing, eh? Without reading a word I'd cast Willa Holland as Julie in a second. Holland is an amazing young actress you can see in Tiger Eyes currently in theatres and on demand now.  How about you; who would you cast as Julie?

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First trailer for The Wolf of Wall Street starring Leonardo DiCaprio

Oh my. The first trailer for The Wolf of Wall Street has just been released. The film based on Jordan Belfort's memoir of the same name stars Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead role, and as you can see from the trailer, Jonah Hill as his trusty sidekick. Matthew McConaughey,looking way too gaunt and acting -  well - pretty creepy, also stars. The cast also includes Jon Favreau, yummy Kyle (Friday Night lights) Chandler, Rob Reiner and Jean Dujardin. 

The trailer which features Black Skinhead by Kanye West could be called Gatsby Meets Spring Breakers.  The whole thing looks crazy and out of control mirroring the mad rise and downfall of Belfort, a greedy bastard and total scumbag. Hope that's clear!

Was Jordan Belfort a real life Gatsby? In terms of the accumulation of wealth by unsavory means, possibly. Ok, probably. But that's where it ends. Belfort was and is a sleaze without a romantic bone in his body. Gatsby may have been a fraud but he always tried to behave like the gentleman he aspired to be. Nope. The money and externally extravagant lifestyle is where the similarity ends. Let's see where the film take us, but the trailer, by using the same kind of hip hop music Gatsby featured, and by having Leo introduce his character in Gatsby-esque tone and body posture - not to mention the champagne toast pose, makes some clear comparisons.

Check out The Wolf of Wall Street trailer, see what you think. 

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Jane Fonda blogs about This Is Where I Leave You movie based on Jonathan Tropper's book

Image credit: Dutton/Penguin Books

How did I miss this! Back on May 15th  I blogged about the making of the movie This Is Where I Leave You based on Jonathan Tropper's eponymous novel totally missing the fact that Jane Fonda was playing Judd's newly widowed mother. And was blogging about it on the very same day. I had no idea Jane Fonda was online ... she's on twitter too. I just love that!

It wasn't until I actually started reading the novel yesterday and got to Judd's description of his mother and went online to find out which actor was playing her that I realized my major brain lapse. 

Check out how Tropper - who wrote the script as well - has Judd describe his mother in the novel ...

"Her hair, gray at the roots and auburn everywhere else, is pulled into a tight bun. Her black suit is formfitting and, as always, she's showing way too much surgically enhanced cleavage. The height of her stiletto heels, like the diameter of her breast implants, is inappropriate for both her age and the occasion."

Add the fact that this scene takes place at her dead husband's funeral AND that his mother is a very famous child psychiatrist and celebrated parenting book author, and tell me Ms. Fonda isn't perfect for the part ...

Jane Fonda, "This Is Where I Leave You" director  

Shawn Levy and Tina Fey (Fonda's daughter Wendy)

Image Credit: janefonda.com

To read what Fonda herself has written about her first day of shooting on the movie -and a lot more cool stuff - at janefonda.com

Here's a snippet where she talks about working with Tina Fey, Jason Bateman, Adam Driver and Corey Stoll who play her kids.

I feel like a Martian. Their rhythm, what they laugh at, even their language all seem foreign to me which is intriguing and just how it should be for the film. The mother (me), a tad narcissistic, has sort of lost touch with her kids emotionally — though she’s full of love, she doesn’t understand them, nor they her.

I love that she's not only not afraid to use her own feelings of being an outsider in their ensemble in her work; she actually embraces the challenge.  

Jane Fonda in Klute

I have to admit to a Fonda bias because I met the legendary liberal actor back in the early 70's at a party celebrating the mistrial of Daniel Ellsberg in the Pentagon Papers case. I was a blithering starstruck idiot blurting that I loved her in Klute and wanted to be just like her. I recall her laughing - not unkindly - and reminding me her character was a call girl. 
Oh, it was horrible. I have no idea what I was talking about. Didn't then and I still don't, unless I meant her character's stunning wardrobe or chic shag haircut. Or perhaps I meant I wanted to be just like Fonda, the beautiful activist actor -I would have definitely said 'actress' back then, I'm going to try to use the gender neutral term 'actor' more often these days - who had it all. I'd like to think the latter but I don't know ... my 20 year old self would have loved to rock Fonda's look in Klute!

The film doesn't have a release date yet - it's still shooting - but I'll keep you posted.

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Sam Riley joins Michelle Williams Suite Francaise movie based on book (updated)

Mon dieu! Can you get enough World War II period films set in France? This news from Cannes should strike a bittersweet note with Paulita over at the Dreaming of France meme - lots of fun French posts on Monday. Bitter because of the somber subject matter, sweet because it's still satisfies our fascination with France; an adaptation of the long-discussed movie based on Irene Nemirovsky's novel, Suite Francaise, is moving ahead. Nemorovsky's own story, by the way, is as dramatic and tragic as any novel.  Living in Paris as an extremely successful Jewish writer, Nemirovsky fled to the French countryside with her family when the Nazis invaded in 1940. They were caught in 1942, the Nazis arrested her in the midst of writing a five part epic, of which  she had completed handwritten drafts of the first two. The manuscript, hidden in her daughters' suitcase was taken with them eventually to safety. Irene Nemirovsky was sent to Auschwitz, she was dead a few months later; she was only 39. Sixty four years later the manuscript was discovered and in 2004, published together as Suite Francaise. 

Michelle Williams/Blue Valentine

Sam Riley

The film based on Ms Nemirovsky's Suite Francaise - which was clearly informed by the horrors of her world and the world around her - will star Michelle Williams, Matthias Schoenaerts and Kristin Scott Thomas.  Producer and literature lover Harvey Weinstein describes the film's story as that of a young woman(Williams) who lives with her controlling mother-in-law(Thomas) in Nazi-occupied France. When refugees from the Nazi invasion flood the town, the Nazis follow and the young woman, Lucille, ends up falling for a German officer(Schoenaerts). Saul Dibb (The Duchess)who wrote the screen adaptation will direct.

UPDATE: Sam Riley (On the Road) will play a French soldier in the film. Comparing that story line with the novel's description, it  sounds like the film may focus on Part Two of Suite Francaise, Dolce.  I've marked the passage in the book's Publisher's Weekly description below; doesn't that seem the most likely scenario in which love with a German soldier might occur? And to make maximum use of this trio of fine actors? As I read the first passage, the mother/daughter element doesn't seem to be in it much, if at all.

The first part, “A Storm in June,” opens in the chaos of the massive 1940 exodus from Paris on the eve of the Nazi invasion during which several families and individuals are thrown together under circumstances beyond their control. They share nothing but the harsh demands of survival—some trying to maintain lives of privilege, others struggling simply to preserve their lives—but soon, all together, they will be forced to face the awful exigencies of physical and emotional displacement, and the annihilation of the world they know. 

In the second part, “Dolce,” we enter the increasingly complex life of a German-occupied provincial village. Coexisting uneasily with the soldiers billeted among them, the villagers—from aristocrats to shopkeepers to peasants—cope as best they can. Some choose resistance, others collaboration, and as their community is transformed by these acts, the lives of these these men and women reveal nothing less than the very essence of humanity.

The original plan called for shooting in Paris and Belgium to begin June 24th but the  start date has slipped to the more amorphous 'this summer'.

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Joss Whedon gives us his Anatomy of a Scene from Much Ado About Nothing

Have you brushed up your Shakespeare in prep for Much Ado About Nothing, due out June 21st? Joss Whedon's modern take on the comedy - so modern, it was shot in one short week, in the director's own home - has been labeled a rush job by its' detractors but if you're still psyched to see it - like I am - check out the 'Anatomy of a Scene' video from the New York Times featuring Whedon's voice-over commentary below.

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Tom Hanks will star in screen adaptation of A Hologram for the King

GADS! What a crappy cover!

Tom Hanks and Tom Tykwer are reteaming to turn the Dave Eggers novel A Hologram For The King into a feature film. Hanks will star as a struggling businessman who moves to Saudi Arabia to try to head off financial ruin, save his home from foreclosure, pay his daughter's college tuition and do something meaningful in the process. Twyker who co-directed Cloud Atlas with the Wachowski sibs,will direct; he's already written the screen adaption of the book which was a National Book Award finalist in 2012. 

Hanks is currently starring on Broadway in the late Nora Ephron's play Lucky Guy. He was nominated but didn't win the TONY for playing crime reporter Mike McAlary. Hanks also plays the title role in Captain Phillips based on the book "A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea" - you can see why they changed the title - which comes out October 11.    

Tom Hanks plays Walt Disney in
Saving Mr. Banks 

Watch for him as  Walt Disney in Saving Mr. Banks. That's the movie about the making of Mary Poppins, Emma Thompson plays Poppins author PJ Travers who after finally giving in to Disney travels to Hollywood to watch the movie being filmed. She did NOT approve of the end results especially the mixing of live action and animation elements. Clearly she was a purist. The top tier cast includes Collin Ferrell, Paul Giamatti, Kathy Baker, Bradley Whitford, BJ Novak and Jason Schwartzman.  Saving Mr.Banks comes out on December 20th, just in time for Oscar consideration. 

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Catherine Deneuve Belle de Jour 1967  
Based on the book by Joseph Kessel
 DREAMING OF FRANCE

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Tiger Eyes: My take on the movie

Tiger Eyes, the movie based on Judy Blume's novel was released yesterday in select theaters AND on VOD. I thought about driving into Pasadena then decided to pass on the traffic and watch it in the comfort of my own home. 

I spent the extra buck on the HD version ($4.99) last night on Amazon; we have a fairly massive flat screen which I think did justice to this really lovely film adapted for the screen by Blume herself, along with her son, Lawrence, who also directed.

Here's the skinny on the story from imdb.com if you haven't read the book. 

After Davey's father is killed in a hold-up, she and her mother and younger brother visit relatives in New Mexico. Here Davey is befriended by a young man who helps her find the strength to carry on and conquer her fears.

Wishing I could articulate my thoughts as eloquently as Peter Travis did in Rolling Stone; alas ~

Lawrence Blume and Willa on location in New Mexico

It would have been easy for Tiger Eyes to become a soapy mess; less sensitive direction could have landed the ya movie, with its heightened emotions, in glorified after school special land. Thankfully, Lawrence Blume was sensitive; sensitive to getting the film version of his famous mother's book right. Let me be clear; I don't know for certain that he got it right in terms of the book since I haven't read it (sorry, Judy!) but he certainly got it right as a film. I have a feeling though, judging from Ms. Blume's twitter account that Blume is so in love with her son's rendition, he never has to buy another Mother's Day present.

The film captures the mystery of New Mexico's landscape

From the opening shot of Davey, on the beach at Atlantic City, the sound of waves crashing and seagulls squawking gradually replaced by the first of several songs which play throughout, he gets it right. With only a couple of million dollars to spend, he gets it right by making smart choices like hiring Seamus Tierney (happythankyoumoreplease) as cinematographer. Tierney's loving looks at the New Mexico landscape made me forget I hate the desert and the way he lights Willa Holland's extraordinary face - if at times a little too reliant on it - brings our focus to the wealth of emotional content she has to share. 

Blume also got it right in the music department; I hardly think I'm the target market (ya romances like this are a guilty pleasure, yes?) but my inner child bopped a bit to the anxst-y emo-ridden score, including songs from Michelle Branch. Whether the film overused the song device - I think there were at least three times where we see Davey riding in a car, one of the pop tunes playing over - I leave to the fans the film is geared to. Got a feeling they loved them!

Willa Holland stars as Davey in Tiger Eyes

But where Lawrence Blume really got it right is Willa Holland. The most memorable 'thing' to come out of the film has to be her luminous talent, carrying the film in the key role of Davey. When Wolf (Tatanka Means) tells Davey "You have a beautiful smile Tiger but sad eyes", he could be talking to Holland herself. The charismatic young actress has eyes that     promise something like wisdom or at least an intelligent consideration, 'there's a there, there' if you will; eyes which seem to indicate she's seen more than her twenty one years belie. She's an odd combination of Natalie Portman, Shailene Woodley and Jennifer Lawrence; in both her Audrey Hepburn-esqe looks and in her uncanny ability to connect with her emotions, allowing us to see Davey's hurt and horror, gathering our sympathies. 

Tatanka Means was appropriately sweet and sexy as the 'brill' (reaching out to ya readers with this one) young Native American off to Cal Tech on a scholarship. I loved that Blume had Davey discreetly grab a rock when the two first encounter each other alone in the desert; the action representative of the girl's fear in the moment, but of the way the Native Americans were and still are feared, especially in conservative strongholds like Los Alamos. Judy Blume doesn't shy away from showing our dark sides, neither does her son. I'm glad I didn't know that Russell Means who plays Wolf's dying father in the film, died last November after the film's completion. I shed a few tears watching Tiger Eyes; that poignant piece of irony would have opened the floodgates.

LOVE IN BLUME 
The cast also includes Amy Jo Johnson (fine as the devastated widow) and a darling Lucien Dale as Davey's bereft little brother. Forrest Fyre as Davey's rigidly conservative uncle was fine while  Cynthia Stevenson stretched belief at times with a thin, sketchy stereotype until the end when I realized how much pain her Bitzy carried with her because she couldn't carry a child, so I cut her some slack. 

The film illuminates an array of tough issues - the loss of a parent, gun violence, teen drinking, sex, cultural taboos, prejudice, love...forbidden love - in an honest, affecting way. And it looks and sounds beautiful. Tiger Eyes moved me; if I were 18 again I think it would have swept me away.

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