Yes, Frankenstorm has a much more ominous and Halloween-friendly ring to it. But the gentler, more goody two-shoes-in-black-leather, more obvious side to Hurricane Sandy and its internet meme potential involves Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta . Do you have chills yet, East Coasters? Are they multiplying ?! And this gem, which wins the meme-off by a mile ( Todd Hale via Jezebel ): The Category 1 hurricane is set to rock the Eastern seaboard tonight into the early week ( tell me about it, stud ) and already has tens of millions of people longing for those bygone summer nights. GROAN! For those of you venturing out in the ‘cane for Halloween, here’s a free costume idea: Combine Olivia Newton-John’s bad-girl blonde curls, hot mama lipstick, and dangling cigarette with a skintight off-the-shoulder trash bag covered in cotton ball clouds and toy cars and hit those Halloween parties as Hurricane Sandy Olsen. Doubles as protective rainwear! In all seriousness, stay safe out there, hurricane pals. Put your disaster days off from work and school to good use, by which I mean making more Hurricane Sandy memes for my internet-browsing enjoyment. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Also in Friday afternoon’s round-up of news briefs: The estate of author William Faulkner is suing over a quote used in Woody Allen ‘s Midnight in Paris ; Iranian dissident filmmaker Jafar Panahi wins a major peace prize; And a preview of the weekend’s Specialty Release newcomers. Box Office Weekend Looks Soft with Holdovers Set to Outpace Newcomers Cloud Atlas , and Silent Hill Revelation may not gross more than holdover Argo . Teen comedy Fun Size and surfing drama Chasing Mavericks are also tracking soft, THR reports . William Faulkner Estate Is Suing Over a Quote Used In Midnight in Paris The Faulkner estate is suing distributor Sony Pictures Classics for copyright infringement, commercial appropriation and for violating the Lanham Act. In Midnight in Paris Gil Pender, the disillusioned Hollywood screenwriter played by Owen Wilson, says, “the past is not dead. Actually, it’s not even past. You know who said that? Faulkner. And he was right. And I met him, too. I ran into him at a dinner party,” Deadline reports . Stephen King Tale Heads to the Big Screen King’s fantasy-horror Mercy is an adaptation of Stephen King’s short story Gramma . British actress Frances O’Connor will star in the project that Peter Cornwell will direct from a script by Matt Greenberg. The story concerns a mother with two young sons who come to discover their ailing grandmother is a witch, THR reports . Iranian Filmmaker/Dissident Jafar Panahi Wins 2012 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought The European Parliament awarded the prize to Panahi and a dissident lawyer, Nasrin Sotoudeh in a “message of solidarity and recognition to a woman and a man who have not been bowed by fear and intimidation.” Panahi’s films are known for their humanist perspective on life in Iran, often focusing on the hardships of children, the poor and women. He won the Camera d’Or at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival, A.P. reports . Specialty Release Preview: The Loneliest Planet , Orchestra of Exiles , Pusher , The Zen of Bennett Two music-oriented documentaries are rolling out in this weekend’s Specialty arena. Tribeca Film Festival 2012 doc The Zen of Bennett will begin a slow release with the focus on legendary Tony Bennett. Orchestra of Exiles heads to theaters trailing the Israeli Philharmonic to various cities along with the film about its WWII origins. Sundance Selects will bow Julia Loktev’s long-time-in-coming The Loneliest Planet ,, starring Gael García Bernal and Hani Furstenberg in a limited release. And Radius TWC will open its first pickup title Pusher in select cities, Deadline reports .
Everything is connected in Cloud Atlas , a few things more directly than others: actor Jim Sturgess portrays one heroic, kind-hearted soul through its evolution from a seafaring 19th century lawyer to a Korean freedom fighter in the futuristic Neo Seoul, many lifetimes (and some controversy-courting Asian make-up) later. When he first read the script, adapted from David Mitchell’s novel by Lana & Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer , Sturgess understandably had some questions. For starters: Why? “I had a million questions,” Sturgess admitted in a chat with Movieline about Cloud Atlas , which required him to play multiple characters — including the sci-fi hero Hae-Joo Chang, disguised under make-up that set critics abuzz — linked by the same soul. “Like, why would you want me to play an Asian man in your film? What reason did they have — and was that going to be okay?” The very idea of eternal souls traveling from one mortal identity to the next forms the backbone of Cloud Atlas , which waves away those raised eyebrows fairly quickly. Many of the cast play against gender, ethnicity, and even age in the film, though the person underneath always remains crucially recognizable. In the film’s Neo Seoul segment, set in the year 2144, Sturgess turns in some of his finest work to date — nearly unrecognizable under his futuristic Asian make-up, and the better for it — as Chang, a determined rebel operative who falls for his clone charge ( Doona Bae ) and helps her change the fate of humanity. Sturgess spoke with Movieline about his Cloud Atlas soul, the extended Spaghetti Western-style fight scene that didn’t make the final film, his first outing as a bona fide action star, his upcoming sci-fi romance Upside Down , and Electric Slide , an ’80s-set true crime tale by first time feature director Tristan Patterson ( Dragonslayer ) that he’s filming now in Los Angeles. When Cloud Atlas first came to you, when you first read the script, did you feel an instant connection to the material? Did you think, ‘This role must be mine’? It was kind of weird, actually. I was sent the script and was told they were maybe interested in me to play these two parts, Adam Ewing and Chang, which was pretty confusing. I didn’t understand what it was all about. So I read the script — it was while I was shooting another film so it was pretty rare, normally you’re so focused on what you’re doing that you don’t really read other scripts — but it arrived, and it was sort of just sitting in my hotel room where I was filming, and it just said “Andy Wachowski & Lana Wachowski & Tom Tykwer,” and I thought, this looks interesting. Eventually I couldn’t help but to just have a little peek, and I ended up reading the whole script. Then I met with Andy and Lana who came to London and they asked if it was something I’d be interested in doing. They hadn’t chosen me, I guess they were meeting other people, but we just had a meeting about the ideas. I had a million questions. Like, why would you want me to play an Asian man in your film? What reason did they have — and was that going to be okay? That is an interesting and important question with your portrayal of Hae-Joo Chang — one I think the film itself answers as it explores the boundaries of identity. I hope so. When it first came out that Cloud Atlas would be blurring the lines of ethnicity, the internet had some very heated discussions. Rightly so. I totally understand where it comes from. But yeah, you don’t get the full picture unless you watch the film, so just to get it from the trailer or the images that were put online could be jarring for some people. Which I understand. What were some of the bigger questions you initially had for Lana and Andy? I was just like, ‘Explain to me why I would be playing this character,’ and they explained to me the idea of the souls — that whoever was to play Adam Ewing, it was necessary, absolutely necessary, that that soul develops into the Hae-Joo Chang story. Because essentially they’re telling very similar stories, just in different paths, and Hae-Joo Chang is a progression of a soul, like Adam Ewing, who made very unconscious decisions of human kindness because it was in his make up to know right from wrong. But he had no idea he would change the course of human history. Then there’s someone like Hae-Joo Chang, who is battling the same idea of repression but in a more futuristic landscape but making very clear conscious decisions; he knows what he will do and that what he will achieve with Sonmi will alter the course of human existence. I like the idea of approaching it as an actor playing a soul through multiple lifetimes rather than simply individual characters. And there was a reason for absolutely everything. That’s what was so exciting. It wasn’t just, we want you to play this because it will be cool — no, this is the reason, this is your journey of your soul and this is how it maps out, what it represents. And, you know, Tom Hanks’ represents something very different, and Halle’s character represents something very different for her. Tom Hanks said he had a lot of fun trying to kill you. I know he did, I was there! [Laughs] I didn’t have so much fun having him try to kill me each day. He’s a force of nature, that guy. It was amazing just to meet him and work with him. How did you feel about becoming, in Cloud Atlas ‘s Neo Seoul segment, a bona fide action star for the first time — and not only that, but a Wachowski action star? It felt pretty cool, I’ve got to say! There were moments, little “pinch me” moments, just standing there clutching a gun, flying a space motorbike, knowing you were being looked after by the Wachowskis. They did make you look pretty cool. Or maybe that was you. [Laughs] No, it was all them! But it was cool knowing it could be such a sci-fi experience within a bigger film. It was just a piece of a bigger picture. Doona Bae is such a revelation in Cloud Atlas , partly because we haven’t seen her before in an American film and speaking English but also because when you think of this film, the idea of a relative unknown stealing the spotlight from the famous Hollywood “movie stars” falls right in line with the larger themes. How did you two develop your onscreen chemistry, that connection that binds your characters? I was really nervous to work with her because I was just told that she was a Korean actress who spoke very limited English. You would be amazed at how much her English has progressed since we first met. I’m so proud of her that she could do a press junket really not even using a translator. But we met and even though there was a huge language barrier, we got on instantly. Within five minutes of meeting I knew we were going to get on really well, because she’s got an awesome sense of humor. And the language barrier almost brought us closer together, in a weird way. Instead of being able to talk, we had to sort of try to make each other laugh a lot because it was our only way of connecting. So we’d just mess around most of the time. [Laughs] We grew really close. And you know, it’s about the process of making a film. I grew very protective of her in a strange way — she was so out of her regular comfort zone and she was all on her own, didn’t speak much English at all, and she was in a foreign city… I sort of felt duty-bound to look after her a little bit. We just had a lot of fun. You got a chance to play around with a Scottish accent in one of the film’s more broadly comical scenes, in which you actually get to smash Hugo Weaving over the head during a bar fight. That was cool! They cut that scene down a lot, actually. I mean, I understood why they had to. We actually rehearsed this giant kind of Spaghetti Western bar fight, and there were whole scenes where I was doing shots of whiskey and punching someone, then doing another shot of whiskey and punching someone. I was throwing people over my head! But obviously, it’s a big four-hour movie and they had to start shaving it down. Maybe the eventual director’s cut or extended cut will have all four hours intact so we can see this fight. I hope so! It was fun. I liked doing it. As it happens you have another science fiction romance story coming out — Upside Down , with Kirsten Dunst . What do you think it is that’s drawn you to sci-fi and to so many romantic figures of late? Each choice is sort of a reaction to the last thing you’ve made, and I had just done a film called The Way Back , which was a grueling, really bleak and difficult shoot — it was life-changing and amazing in so many different ways, but it was tough. It was all outdoors, no studio work. No comfort. We were out in the mountains of Bulgaria and the deserts of the Sahara, and it was really, really hard work. So the next script, I didn’t want to do anything like that at all. I’d just had that experience and I thought, what can I do that’s completely opposite to that? Then Upside Down kind of landed on my lap and it was this great, fun love story with this great idea of these two worlds, very much a CGI film but in a cool and artistic kind of way. So I thought, cool — I’ll go for that. I’m a fan of Kirsten Dunst and I knew she was going to be playing the girl, so I was really excited that they asked me to do that. I’m not necessarily drawn to science fiction stuff — I guess One Day was very much a love story, but the draw of that was to play one character that you’d stay with over 20 years, and I thought the character of Dexter was interesting. You seem like something of a natural born romantic. [Laughs] Maybe, I don’t know! There’s another project you’re about to start; how would you describe Electric Slide ? [The film, about Eddie Dodson — the ” New York Yankees Bandit ” — was previously set to star Ewan McGregor .] It’s a film called Electric Slide with a first time director called Tristan Patterson — it’s a true story, and set in the 1980s. It’s a cool period! I have to grow a mustache for it, that’s why I have the beard. Totally ‘80s, in a cool way though. Hopefully it’ll look great. I get to rob some banks! Previously: Korean Star Doona Bae On Sonmi-451 And Her Crossover Journey To ‘Cloud Atlas’ Read more on Cloud Atlas , in theaters Friday . Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
In 1992 Jean-Claude Van Damme was sitting in a splits kick astride the world. The former body building champion and genuine full-contact karate knockout artist (19-1, with 18 KO’s) was riding a string of high-kicking lo-fi gems to his first big-budget affair: the unexpected Roland Emmerich sci-fi hit, Universal Soldier . The film’s $102-million worldwide haul caught the attention of major studios, and faster than a jumping wheel kick, a three-picture deal worth a reported $36 million was steadied in front of the Belgium-born ballerino like a pre-cut breakboard. A shower of cheap pine splinters and expensive champagne should have followed for the action star who was in command of more fighting ability than all of the muscled lunks lumbering through 90’s shoot-em-ups combined. But Van Damme turned out to be his own worst enemy. In an admitted haze of drugs, alcohol and manic self-regard, the ‘muscles from Brussels’ turned his cocaine-tinged nose up at the best offer he would ever see, striking a precision death blow to his promising career instead. In 2004, on the UK TV show, Jean-Claude Van Damme: Behind Closed Doors , he recalled: “After the movie Timecop , I received a huge offer for a three-picture deal and it was $12 million per picture. That’s $36 million. I was wasted. I said, ‘I want 20 million like Jim Carrey’ and they hung up on me. I was not myself.” JCVD may never really have recovered from that error in judgment that cost him a long, lucrative career on the big screen, but there is some consolation. His first foray into major box office success, Universal Soldier, has become a venerable franchise (with and without him) anyway. The fourth Van Damme helmed installation of the zombie-commando series, Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, hits the Video on Demand market Thursday, with a small theatrical run set for November 30. In honor of this undead quadrilogy and its still-kicking lead, it’s high time to pay a little homage to four essential classics that set up Van Damme for a fall in the first place – and one newish film that will have you cursing the demons that stole from us more of the man’s best. 1. Kickboxer (1989): Half-baked JCVD fans who never really connected with the actor’s work on the emotional level it deserves will tell you that Bloodsport (1987) — the movie that unearthed the oiled majesty of Van Damme in the first place — is his greatest film, bar none. These people are heretics. Bloodsport is no doubt is a worthy martial arts tournament film, but its premise of fighting — possibly to the death — as sport, violates the warrior-code and undermines the righteous excitement of the inexorable flashback training montage where a punch drunk hero dream-trips his way to a final showdown comeback. Kickboxer has been dismissed as The Karate Kid in Thailand, and maybe it is, but like Daniel-son and Miyagi, there’s a worthy mentor-pupil relationship at heart of this irony-free, persistently charming cheese fest. It’s the kind of low-budget movie-making that doesn’t exist anymore, complete with an original synthy score. The track that plays over the opening credits, “Streets of Siam,” is a genuine jam and accompanies one of the most memorably tone-deaf on-screen jock performances of all time from real-life kickboxing superstar, Dennis “The Terminator” Alexio. Oh, and Van Damme drunkenly disco dances his way into a gratuitous barroom brawl. It’s B-movie perfection.
Also in Thursday morning’s round-up of news briefs, Cloud Atlas is being criticized for using “Yellow Face” for white actors. New York salutes the late Andrew Sarris. And an Amy Winehouse play based on her life heads to the stage. Deal Closed for Tom Cruise-Attached Script Our Name is Adam In the pic, Cruise will play an astronaut who travels back in time and works with his younger self. Paramount Pictures acquired the T.S. Nowlin script with Skydance Productions on board as partner, Deadline reports . Al Pacino Making Bank in Broadway Pay Package for Glengarry Glen Rosss Pacino is receiving a minimum of $125K per week and is entitled to 5% of the profits for the 10-week run of David Mamet’s drama now in previews. Pacino plays washed-up huckster Shelley Levene in the play, Deadline reports . Cloud Atlas Slammed for non-Asian Actors and ‘Yellow Face’ Makeup The feature by Andy and Lana Wachowski and Tom Twyker is based on the 2005 David Mitchell novel, which weaves together six story-lines, connecting them through use of the same actors for multiple roles. In one storyline focused in the year 2144 in South Korea, multiple white male actors are given prosthetic makeup to appear Asian. The Media Action Network for Asian Americans blasted the move, THR reports . Film World Salutes Andrew Sarris Top figures in the New York film community feted film critic Andrew Sarris who died in June at 83. He is credited for championing “auteur” theory in America. The tribute took place Wednesday at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center, TOH reports . Amy Winehouse Theater Play to Open in Denmark A play based on the late singer’s life will feature music from her two studio albums, Frank and Back to Black . It will be based on material from interviews, speeches, concerts, newspapers, letters and songs. A Winehouse spokesperson said the family has nothing to do with the production, BBC reports .
James Bond may be able to tussle with the world’s most notorious evil-doers, but he’s not able to resist the alluring sounds of singer Adele ‘s soulful voice. 007 star Daniel Craig said that he cried when he first heard the theme song to Skyfall . In an interview with Yahoo! Movies U.K., the Bond star said he was moved emotionally when he heard the first notes of Adele’s ballad. “I cried,” he said. “From the opening bars I knew immediately, then the voice kicked in and it was exactly what I’d wanted from the beginning. It just got better and better because it fitted the movie. In fact the more of the movie we made, the more it fitted it.” Skyfall director Sam Mendes said that the Rolling in the Deep singer was given an early copy of the script to help her compose the song, co-written by Paul Epworth. “She came in very early before we started shooting and her main concern was ‘I write songs about myself, how can I make a Bond song? My answer was ‘just write a personal song’! Carly Simon’s ‘Nobody Does It Better’ was a love song,” said Mendes. Skyfall headed to the number one spot on iTunes only ten hours after its release. Adele recorded the song at London’s Abbey Road Studios, featuring a 77-piece orchestra. “I was a little hesitant at first to be involved with the theme song for ‘Skyfall,'” Adele said. “There’s a lot of instant spotlight and pressure when it comes to a Bond song.” And the song has already lured some notable covers. Artists Jedward and Willow Smith have given their spin to the catchy tune. Skyfall had its World Premiere in London Wednesday and will open in the U.S. November 9th. [ Sources: Huffington Post , Yahoo! Movies U.K. ]
The Evil Dead Red Band trailer has arrived, and it turns out to be the same one that had audiences at NY Comic-Con screaming in their seats (and, apparently, leaking it on the web) . If you can stomach it, make sure to hang tight for the tongue-slicing scene at the end. It will make you talk funny for hours. I’ve also posted the trailer to Sam Raimi’s original 1981 film, The Evil Dead , so that you can compare elements of the first film with Uruguayan director Fede Alvarez’s remake . As with most contemporary reboots, Alvarez’s moves a lot faster. (He’s even lost the ‘The’ in the title for a more streamlined effect.) That said, the new trailer suggests that his Evil Dead will borrow some of Raimi’s filmmaking flourishes, particularly the way in which the camera would take the perspective of the evil spirit that infects the unfortunate cabin dwellers. Like the original, Alvarez’s version also has scenes involving evil vines and dismemberment by power tools, including what looks like a chain saw. Despite these similarities, when I interviewed Bruce Campbell at NY Comic-Con , he told me that the new Evil Dead, which opens early next year, will actually be quite different. For one thing, Campbell — who starred in the original trilogy and is a producer of the remake — said Alvarez’s version will be “dead serious” and won’t feature an Ash, the character he played. “There are no similar characters whatsoever. And we wanted that. That was intentional,” Campbell explained. “We didn’t want anything compared to anything. We didn’t want to put any burden on any actor to act like Ash or to imitate him.” Related Story: Read Movieline’s interview with Bruce Campbell. Read More at: http://movieline.com/2012/10/14/bruce-campbell-interview-evil-dead-remake-fede-alvarez-jane-levy-sam-raimi/#utm_source=copypaste&utm_campaign=referral Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
They’re the one percent even in immortality. Elizabeth Taylor reigns as the biggest earner in Forbes Magazine’s list of Top-Earning Celebrities, even out-ranking her BFF in life, Michael Jackson . But she may not stay atop the deceased heap for long since most of that bundle came from a record-breaking Christie’s auction that cha-chinged $184 million, mostly from the star’s fabled jewelry collection. Still, Taylor is a tour-de-force beyond the grave, reaping cash from her ongoing fragrance White Diamonds, which took in a cool $75 million in 2011. Taylor was a shrewd business-woman in life, negotiating a 10% stake in all of her films post- Cleopatra . That film incidentally was the most expensive at its time, with a $44 million production budget back in the early ’60s (ouch) and Liz was one of the highest paid stars of the time. But, minus the estate sale, the self-styled King of Pop may edge out his celebrity idol in the years to come. Michael Jackson’s estate owns a huge stake in Sony’s ATV catalog, which includes artists like The Beatles, Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga. The estate even earns cash from the Cirque Du Soleil show The Immortal Tour . The total amounted to $90 million, far out-ranking the ever-present Elvis Presley who took in $55 million. Peanuts creator Charles Schulz placed fourth with $37 million. They’re the ninth most lucrative entertainment franchise, according to Forbes, grossing $2 billion a year globally in retail. Schulz’s dollar prospects are looking even brighter in the future with the recent announcement that a new Peanuts movie is in the works, courtesy of Fox’s animated division, Blue Sky. That film is set for 2015. And reggae superstar Bob Marley ranked fifth with $17 million last year. His holdings include a Marley beverage company, which sells Marley’s Mellow Mood, marketed as a relaxation drink and a House of Marley set of headphones. Others in the list are John Lennon ($12 million), Marilyn Monroe ($10 million), Albert Einstein ($10 million), Dr. Seuss creator Theodor Geisel ($9 million), Steve McQueen ($8 million), Bettie Page ($8 million), song writer Richard Rogers ($6 million). [ Source: Forbes ]
Compact and athletic in their identical cargo pants, Alex ( Gael García Bernal ) and Nica (Hani Furstenberg) are almost the same size, a pair of well-traveled pixies making their way through Georgia (the country, not the state). They’re engaged to be married, but in the meantime they’re backpacking, a journey that, when The Loneliest Planet begins, is about to take them into the Caucasus Mountains on a multi-day hike for which they’ve hired a guide named Dato (Bidzina Gujabidze). They look so happy and free, Nica and Alex, trying out the few phrases of Georgian they’ve picked up and partaking of local street food after a minor investigation as to what kind of meat it involves. They’re the opposite of ugly Americans (Alex might not actually be American at all), ready to try anything and quietly confident that they’ll be welcomed, that the world is meant to be explored. The third film from Julia Loktev ( Day Night Day Night ) and, by this critic’s reckoning, one of the finest of the year, The Loneliest Planet is based on a short story by Tom Bissell that’s itself inspired by a famous Hemingway work, The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber . That earliest incarnation of this narrative is about a wealthy couple on a hunting trip in Africa lead by a professional guide, the wife a beautiful, emasculating figure who punishes her husband for a recent display of cowardice out in the bush. Bissell offered up a less toxic, contemporized take on the characters, but Loktev’s version is something else again, a profoundly cinematic exploration of the way a single incident completely unsettles the way this man and woman think of each other and themselves. The Loneliest Planet is primarily a three-person drama, and its eventual deep emotional turmoil and the power shifts that come with it play out not in speech but in behavior, submerged in everything from the withholding of physical contact to the formation in which the trio of hikers walks. The splintering incident, which takes place at the midpoint of the film, is in fact never discussed, though it reverberates throughout everything that follows. It’s a frightening but relatively minor thing that comes complete with a punchline, the kind of story you’d get mileage out of at a dinner party, but what it reveals about Alex and, eventually, Nica, is such that the couple stumbles through the hours after in a state of shock. The Loneliest Planet was made with an intoxicating and precise faith in the ability of images to convey feelings that words would be too clumsy and blunt to appropriately delineate. Its sophistication in its storytelling isn’t minimalism, exactly – the film never feels like it’s making a gimmick of its stretches of silence or choosing them over exchanges of dialog, but rather makes it clear that speech is unnecessary or inadequate. The film’s giant in scope, set against gorgeous wilderness, pulling back for periodic long shots in which the characters are tiny beside the splendid scenery. But its dramas are claustrophobic, defined in part by the presence of Dato as the outsider witnessing this implosion, the three always in each other’s company as they make their way over rocky and grassy terrain and break to camp for the night. Loktev, working with cinematographer Inti Briones, allows the film to flow out in long takes, the camera another impassive observer, sometimes still and other times tracking alongside the trio as they walk. The unbroken shots demand very intimate performances – Bernal and Furstenberg both have interesting, mobile faces that are allowed to occupy the frame for unhurried beats. Furstenberg, with her bright red hair and gap teeth, is a goofily unconventional beauty, and Bernal’s at his best like this, when he allows his handsomeness to be accompanied by a note of shiftiness. He and Furstenberg suggest their characters’ whole history together in easy shorthand, from the game they make of conjugating verbs in Spanish to the way they settle in to read Knut Hamsun at night in their tent. They aren’t smug, but a halo of bohemian sophistication illuminates many of their actions, from Nica’s insistence that she doesn’t need help navigating a tricky crossing to Alex noting that he doesn’t have a car, only a bicycle. As it’s put to the test several times in the latter half of the film, it’s revealed as a surface quality covering up underlying expectations neither Nica nor Alex may have realized they harbored. Non-pro Gujabidze brings both a dry humor and an almost frightening soulfulness to his character. As Nica drifts to his side, a cowed Alex trails after them, seeking out penance by insisting they needn’t stop when he hurts his leg and going out into the rain without a jacket. Dato’s otherness becomes evident and a kind of test, the life he’s led so different and so marked by tragedy that he dwarfs Nica and Alex in the privilege they’ve been able to enjoy, in the existences that have left them unscarred, fresh and unaware. They are, for all their curiosity and adventurousness, just visitors, passing through and taking in these sites and experiences before heading home. For all the film’s long silences, it’s the opening up and talking that becomes the loneliest moment of them all, a sharp and the sudden reveal of the distance that can exist between two people. Follow Alison Willmore on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Love or hate his shtick, Kevin Smith dropped some amusingly candid real talk on Larry King Now as he explained to the media kingpin why it is he’s retiring from moviemaking after his forthcoming hockey film, Hit Somebody . “If I can’t bring anything new to the game, and I assure you I cannot, there’s no point in stepping up to the plate,” said Smith, who also charmingly compared his 20 years behind the camera to getting an unexpected blow job. Well, Clerks and the success that followed wasn’t just like any blow job. “It was like hoping for a kiss and getting the most amazing blow job you’ve ever had in your life,” he explained to King, who nearly choked as he nodded in recognition. Somebody here knows what you’re talkin’ about, Mr. Smith. Hit Somebody was previously said to star Red State cast members Kyle Gallner, Nicholas Braun, and Michael Angarano, although the project has yet to begin filming. Meanwhile, Smith’s not going anywhere; he may be moving out of the director’s chair but he’s got his multimedia interests (SModcast podcast, books, live shows, Spoilers on Hulu, AMC’s Comic Book Men, Twitter ). [ Larry King Now via Joblo ]
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