-Scope

001JANUARY 2011

JANUARY 2011THE FALLDISCOVERING TARSEM’S INDIA

FILMS IN FOCUS

CONTENTS

COLOUR ME KUBRICKTARSEM’S IndIA

dISCOvERIng ThE fALL

EdITOR’S LETTER

LETTERS009

030

037

040

034

011

013

026

036

014

007

RELEASES

fUTURE RELEASES

whISpERS

TECh nEwS

MUSIC RELEASES

MAKIng Of

FEATURES

REGULARS

NEWS

JANUARY 2011FILMS IN FOCUS

007JANUARY 2011

AUSTIn gLASBy / LEE gRIffITh / dEREK hILL / IAn vIggARS / jOSh wInnIngS / jASOn wOOd / MARK TApLIn / jOn BOAM /

dAn BRIghTMORE / BROOK BROwn / LAwREnCE pEARCE / CyRUS ShAhRAd / CAROLIn SChnOOR / ChRISTOphER nELLAn

jOnAThAn CApESPublisher

vICTORIA TALBOTWebsite Editor

Ed AndREwSAssociate Editor

AnnA hOpSOnAssociate Publisher

jAMES dEAnAdvertising Director

STEph pOMphREyAdvertising Manager

Other Contributors

AdAM SMIThWebsite Director

MATT MILLERCreative Director

AdRIAn gAUCIEditor

LIMARA SALTDesigner

AnnA dUnnDesign Assistant

ne indelible image from a mid-point highlight of the London Film Festival - Peter Mullan’s Neds - was of a deeply disturbed, half-naked young man (lead actor Conor Mc Carron) attacking an entire Glasgow street gang with two knives taped into his

fists. It was somehow even more irresistibly vivid seen on the same day that Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced his long-awaited and feared Public Spending Review- and we discovered (almost) the full damage that the UK’s public arts institutions have to suffer over the next four to five years.

What the cuts I’ve cited leave unclear, however, is how deep the damage to the fragile ecosystem of UK film-making will go. The lottery production funds may be guaranteed, but what is harder to calculate from such a quick and brutal raid on film organisations is what we might call the Jenga effect. Jenga is, of course, a game in which you extract bricks from a tower of balanced loose bricks until it falls down. A typical UK film production of five years ago shooting outside London might have put together different amounts of money from, say the UK Film Council, the BBC and one of eight regional screen agencies.

So will the arts, and film in particular, take up cudgels on behalf of the biggest victims of the cuts-the poor? I hope so, but a welter of grim social-realism films may not be exactly what\s required at this point in film history-though very good ones are, of course, always welcome. What we might hope for instead are more films like Neds which, in their moments of evocative delirium, owe as much to Fellini or Elia Kazan as they do to Ken Loach - films that are more powerful in describing an inner as well as an outer reality, thereby getting to the root of the psychological impact of injustice too.

MACnETO gnOMES10, wATERSIdE wAy

nORThAMpTOnnn4 7Xd, UK

009JANUARY 2011

La Belle VerdeThe Science Of SleepPeter PanUpBig FishMirror MaskIn The Name Of The FatherPersepolisBeing John MalkovichThe Life AquaticThe Darjeeling LimitedBladerunner

2001: A Space OdysseyWhere The Wild Things AreNowhere BoyParis, TexasInglorious BasterdsDistrict 9Vicky Christina BarcelonaAlienThe Brothers BloomThe Good, The Bad, The UglyThe Diving Bell And The ButterflyDelicatessen

AmelieStranger Than FictionCapoteWall-EMary & MaxAnti ChristThe Boy In The Striped PyjamasSpirited AwayCurious Case Of Benjamin ButtonThe MajesticObjectifiedLost In Translation

BrazilVanilla SkyClose Encounters Of The Third KindThe WrestlerGummoPonyoNineMan On The MoonRageMagnoliaThe FallCaroline

Definitely the list to watch this year. Some of the films are quite popular. It is a shame that you have not seen them yet, but its never too late. Mary & Max is a film which will definitely touch your heart with its innocent looks and hard story. We choose this list because it has a wide range of films; Objectified, giving documentaries a place on the silver screen and succeeds with flying colours.

A very good list with a very good variety. Brazil is a must watch. Heavily influencing the children’s film scene. The experimental film like Gummo is also a very good to watch.

2001: A Space Odyssey, a film by one of our featured director, Stanley Kubrick. Wall-E having great inspiration from Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece, recreates storytelling and is fresh for those sick of blockbuster sci-fis, yet look out for Apple’s easter eggs all around the film.

The first two movies are from French-based directors. The quirkiness of their work is very friendly to watch. Another Pixar film, Up, has found its place on another list. These guys from Pixar really know how to make a film appealing to all ages.

LETTER

OF THE MONTH

2010 wAS An InCREdIBLE yEAR, And TO AnTICIpATE nEXT yEAR, wE ASKEd fROM

yOU yOUR nEw yEAR’S fILM RESOLUTIOn, LISTIng 12 fILMS yOU pLAn TO wATCh OR

ARE EAgERLy wAITIng fOR dURIng ThE nEXT 12 MOnThS. wE wERE BLOwn AwAy

By ThE LISTS wE RECEIvEd! wE ShAREd wITh yOU ThE 4.

jOhn SCOTT, LOndOn hAzEL TERRy, EdInBURgh MIRIAM SMITh, MAnChESTER ChRISTIAn ChAn, LOndOn

NEXT MONTH fEBRUARy IS ThE MOnTh Of vALEnTInE’S dAy. whILE EvERyBOdy

IS EAgERLy AnTICIpATIng ThE dAy TO MEET Up ThEIR LOvEd

OnES, wE wOULd LIKE TO ASK yOU TO RECREATE A SCEnE fROM A

ROMAnTIC COMEdy yOU LIKE. ThE MOST ORIgInAL SCEnE wILL wIn

A TRIp TO pARIS fOR TwO.

011JANUARY 2011

Not everyone is as big as of an Aronofsky’s style as I am, but one thing that can’t be denied is that he is great at working with

actors. Ellen Burstyn, Mickey Rourke, and now Natalie Portman are all very accomplished actors who have found a new level and delivered transcendent performances under Aronofsky. In Black Swan, Portman’s turn as Nina Sayers is, hands down, the best acting performance of 2010-- male or female. If you’ll forgive the cliché, I completely forgot Nina was Natalie Portman about five minutes into the movie. As Nina goes deeper and deeper into her role as the Swan Queen, Portman only becomes more and more captivating. The entire cast is excellent, but Portman alone makes this movie a must-see. We see what she sees, we experience what she experiences, and sometimes it is truly distressing stuff.

From this story is that of adult Jack, a lost soul in a modern world, seeking to discover amid the changing scenes of time that which does not change: the eternal scheme of which we are a part. When he sees all that has gone into our world’s preparation, each thing appears a miracle—precious, incomparable. Jack, with his new understanding, is able to forgive his father and take his first steps on the path of life. The story ends in hope, acknowledging the beauty and joy in all things, in the everyday and above all in the family. The story ends in hope, acknowledging the beauty and joy in all things, in the everyday and above all in the family—our first school—the place that most of us learn the truth about ourselves.

ThE TREE Of LIfE

BLACK SwAn

e trace the evolution of an eleven-year-old boy in the Midwest, Jack, one of three brothers. At

first all seems marvelous to the child. He sees as his mother does with the eyes of his soul. She represents the way of love and mercy, where the father tries to teach his son the world’s way of putting oneself first. Each parent contends for his allegiance, and Jack must reconcile their claims. The picture darkens as he has his first glimpses of sickness, suffering and death. The world, once a thing of glory, becomes a labyrinth.

MUST wATChTERREnCE MALICKBRAd pITTSEAn pEnn

jAn 2011

MUST wATChdARREn AROnOfSKynATALIE pORTMAnvInCEnT CASSELMILA KUnIS

jAn 2011

jESSICA ChASTAIn

013JANUARY 2011

went into this movie thinking it would be hilarious. I believe this is how the movie was marketed, and

would explain the poor box office showing of this movie.

However, this is more a story about life than a comedy. Sure it has a comedy wrapper, but a wrapper is usually thin and inedible compared to the candy inside. This is not your typical candy, but it is fruitful. This movie is a fabric, not a two dimensional piece of characatured tissue paper as the many signs would have you believe. Excellent music, great acting, and teary moments.

ull Metal Jacket is a great movie and works great as a war film. The plot is about a group of soldiers

who are turned into killers in marine training, and are then sent off to the Vietnam War.

Kubrick once again does a great job at directing. Modine, D’Onofrio, Baldwin, and Howard give worthy performances, while Ermey gives an Oscar worthy (not even nominated) performance and steals the show. This is a very realistic look at Vietnam, while the battle scenes and script just aren’t as satisfying as they are in the second half. Still, it is a wonderful film.

his is the latest Ghibli movie and it is also a major departure from the studio’s established style.

First of all, this film was obviously aimed at young children, much more so than any of their previous films. It lacks the depth of the other films and features a brand new far less realistic style of animation. Even though there is nothing put in to attract adults. The movie’s secret is brutal honesty with regard to the plot and the characters. The story and the characters are very upfront with their feelings but that makes them all the more endearing.

irected by Paul Thomas Anderson, the film is presented in an assured and confident manner.

Anderson is the most naturally gifted filmmaker of his generation, a fact that is evident here. It packs enough depth and complexity to let you know that it never relies solely on this foundation.

Day-Lewis’ performance is a thing of beauty. Equal parts larger-than-life and nuanced, his Daniel Plainview perfectly embodies the spirit of a salesman while putting across the multiple layers required for the portrayal of a man with a human desire for power.

fULL METAL jACKET

ThERE wILL BE BLOOd

ThE LIfE AqUATIC wITh STEvE zISSOU

pOnyOMUST Own

MUST Own

ShOULd wATChShOULd wATCh

pAUL ThOMAS AndERSOn

hAyAO MIyAzAKI

wES AndERSOnSTAnLEy KUBRICK

dAnIEL dAy-LEwIS

CATE BLAnChETT

BILL MURRAyMATThEw MOdInE

pAUL dAnO

MATT dAMOnCATE BLAnChETT

CATE BLAnChETT

OwEn wILSOn

vInCEnT d’OnOfRIO

jAn 2008

AUg 2009

dEC 2011

jUn 2011

014014

015JANUARY 2011 015JANUARY 2011

wATChIng ThE fALL IS

A ThOROUghLy UnIqUE

EXpERIEnCE, OnE ThAT IS

wILdLy CInEMATIC In ThAT

IT nEvER LETS yOU fORgET

yOU’RE wATChIng A MOvIE,

And yET OnE ThAT IS SO

EnRApTURIng ThAT yOU gET

LOST In IT.

016016

ontrary to Warner Bros.’ juggernaut marketing campaign for Speed Racer, there’s not one but two movies being released this weekend with stunning visuals. While the Wachowskis’ film

will no doubt eventually appear in electronics stores as demonstration material for the biggest and best HDTVs on the market, Tarsem’s The Fall will likely adopt a more modest but arguably important role for viewers -- namely, as a personal reference disc and cult favourite for true filmgoers. A movie of unsurpassed

style and beauty, Tarsem’s overdue follow-up to The Cell is an adult fairy tale in the vein of Pan’s Labyrinth that is not only a feast for the eyes, but the imagination as well.

In the film, Lee Pace (TV’s Pushing Daisies) plays Roy Walker -- a stunt man who is paralysed after attempting to jump a horse off of a bridge. Incapacitated in his hospital bed, Roy feels like his life is falling apart, not the least of which because his girlfriend has since taken up with the film’s leading man. But when a bored little girl named Alexandria (Catinca Untaru) agrees to help him obtain medicine in exchange for a few stories, Roy creates a magical, expansive universe where a group of warriors and misfits are waging battle against a tyrant. Before long, both Roy and Alexandria become part of his story, weaving actual events into a mystical universe as reality and fantasy threaten to collide.

What Tarsem does most effectively in The Fall -- namely, showing audiences something they have literally never seen before -- seems itself like a pedestrian accomplishment in a world of cinema where benchmarks are the rule, not the exception. The director, working over several years

A MOvIE Of UnSURpASSEd

STyLE And BEAUTy, TARSEM’S

OvERdUE fOLLOw-Up TO ThE

CELL IS An AdULT fAIRy TALE In

ThE vEIn Of pAn’S LAByRInTh

ThAT IS nOT OnLy A fEAST fOR

ThE EyES, BUT ThE IMAgInATIOn

AS wELL.


in fits and starts, went to various real locations across the globe and shot his scenes according to what he could evoke from the setting. Because the story-within-a-story is literally a child’s fable, it’s completely unbound by the demands of consistency or continuity, which means that if the characters are older, younger, scruffier, cleaner, in a different location or otherwise changed, it doesn’t matter. While this certainly benefited Tarsem, who completely self-financed the movie and therefore couldn’t shoot in sequence or even stage a continuous production, it also creates a heightened and therefore more fantastical universe for the story, which somehow cements its archetypal conflicts in more reality than if they’d merely been born of one single-minded idea.

That said, there are countless questions that linger long after the last frame has unspooled, the most pressing of which being just how much of the film

is real? The locations, almost all of which have never before been documented on film, are breathtaking precisely because they truly seem to exist -- whether it’s a stark desert in the middle of which sits a massive, blood-stained curtain reaching towards the heavens or a city whose walls are all painted the same serene colour of blue. The technical demands of the production alone boggle the mind, but thankfully any of these lingering queries are only afterthoughts, while the rest of the characters and story take dominate the viewer’s attention and interest.

On the other hand, Pace and Untaru form a remarkable on-screen bond and truly cement the drama both in Roy’s story and his real-life travails. Pace, looking a bit like the masculine version of Jake Gyllenhaal, offers a really human portrait of Roy Walker, appealing to this little girl in both adult and childlike terms to get what he wants. Meanwhile, Untaru is a revelation as Alexandria primarily because she seems -- gasp! -- like an actual child. Unlike the throng of adult-child actors who have proliferated of late in movies (see Dakota Fanning, etc.), she truly seems like a kid who has just wandered into this multilayered world and is asking the questions and expressing the feelings that any kid might. Rumour

018018

has it that in many scenes she was not told that Pace was acting, and whether or not this is true, it speaks to the organic authenticity of their exchanges, and their unforced, natural and compelling bond with one another.

Ultimately, however, The Fall is Tarsem’s show, as much because he conceived every part of this universe as because he devoted so many of his personal resources to completing it. There are movies that audiences and critics would describe as beautiful, inspiring, and breathtaking, but this film trumps virtually all of them -- both in execution and sheer invention. At the same time, it’s not a movie that audiences will actively seek out, as much because of its seemingly oddball subject

matter as its comparably lacklustre marketing muscle. But those who do see it in theatres will be duly rewarded because they will be the privileged few who catch Tarsem’s splendour in the way it was meant to be seen. For the rest, DVD will have to suffice, although one supposes that watching it dozens of times at home and showing off your setup to your friends it will somehow make up for the missed opportunity to see it writ large on the silver screen.

The downside of catching so-called “acclaimed” films long after they’ve left theatres or fallen from the public view is that you watch them with all of the praise and attention already in place, which usually means that expectations are astronomically high. Such was the case when I finally saw Pan’s Labyrinth earlier this year, and suffice it to say I wasn’t as impressed as if I’d perhaps seen the movie during its original theatrical run. This in effect is what makes The Fall such a rewarding experience

Alexandra’s acting

is life. It is the real

her as though she

does not know what

is acting.

The simplicity in

the simple things

are portrayed and

manifested makes

it a joy on its own.

Even a simple paper

mask, it is unlike

any mask you have

seen before.

ThERE ARE MOvIES ThAT AUdIEnCES And CRITICS wOULd dESCRIBE AS BEAUTIfUL,

InSpIRIng, And BREAThTAKIng, BUT ThIS fILM TRUMpS vIRTUALLy ALL Of ThEM --

BOTh In EXECUTIOn And ShEER InvEnTIOn.


for me personally, and what may confirm its eventual longevity. Having no preconceptions except hope for the same kind of enjoyment I’d experienced watching The Cell, Tarsem’s previous accomplishment, I was able to examine the film on its own merits and absorb its vision (much less its visuals) unencumbered by lip service or languid prose.

In other words, no matter whether you see The Fall in the theatre or on DVD, expect only to go in fresh and excited and ready to be blown away.

The environments,

and all the objects

inside the hospital

and in the story give

it an authentic look.

Patterns, photos, and

colour give the film

a unique look.

023JANUARY 2011

025JANUARY 2011

fOUnd fROM ThE AShES IS An

InTERvIEw whICh wAS nEvER

pUBLIShEd. MAdE In 1969,

jOSEph gELMIS TALKEd wITh

SUpERSTAR dIRECTOR STAnLEy

KUBRICK ABOUT hIS pREvIOUS

wORK And hIS LATEST EpIC

RELEASE, 2001: A SpACE

OdySSEy.

COLOUR ME

KUBRICK

wORdS ByjOSEph gELMISpICTURES COURTESy Of AnnA gELMIS

027JANUARY 2011

001 took about three years to make - six months of preparation, four and a half months of working with the actors, and a year and a half of shooting special effects.

How much time will Napoleon take of your life?

Considerably less. We hope to begin the actual production work by the winter of 1969, and the exterior shooting - battles, location shots, etc. -- should be completed within two or three months. After that, the studio work shouldn't take more than another three or four months.

Where would the exteriors be shot? Actual sites?

I still haven't made a final decision, although there are several promising possibilities. Unfortunately, there are very, very few actual Napoleonic battlefields where we could still shoot; the land itself has either been taken over by industrial and urban development, preempted by historical trusts, or is so ringed by modern buildings that all kinds of anachronisms would present themselves -- like a Hussars' charge with a Fiat plant in the background. We're now in the process of deciding the best places to shoot, and where it would be most feasible to obtain the troops we need for battle scenes. We intend to use a maximum of forty thousand infantry and ten thousand cavalry for the big battles, which means that we have to find a country which will hire out its own armed forces to us -- you can just imagine the cost of fifty thousand extras over an extended period of time. Once we find a receptive environment, there are still great logistic problems -- for example, a battle site would have to be contiguous to a city or town or barracks area where the troops we'd use are already bivouacked. Let's say we're working with forty thousand infantry -- if we could get forty men into a truck, it would still require a thousand trucks to move them around. So in addition to finding the proper terrain, it has to be within marching distance of military barracks.

Aside from the Russian War and Peace, where they reportedly used sixty thousand of their own troops, has there ever been a film that used forty thousand men from somebody else's army?

I would doubt it.

Then how do you expect to persuade another government to give you as many as forty thousand soldiers?

One has to be an optimist about these things. If it turned out to be impossible I'd obviously have no other choice than to make do with a lesser number of men, but this would only be as a last resort. I wouldn't want to fake it with fewer troops because Napoleonic battles were out in the open, a vast tableau where the formations moved in an almost choreographic fashion. I want to capture this reality on film, and to do so it's necessary to re-create all the conditions of the battle with painstaking accuracy.

How many men did you use in the trench battle of Paths of Glory?

That was another story entirely. We employed approximately eight hundred men, all German police -- at that time the German police received three years of military training, and were as good as regular soldiers for our purposes. We shot the film at Geiselgesteig Studios in Munich, and both the battle site and the chateau were within thirty-five to forty minutes of the studio.

If you can’t use the actual battle sites, how will you approximate the terrain on the sites you do choose?

There are a number of ways this can be done an it’s quite important to the accuracy of the film, since terrain is the decisive factor in the flow and

jOSEph gELMIS ASKS ThE

CREATOR Of “2001: A SpACE

OdySSEy”, STAnLEy KUBRICK,

ABOUT ThE pURITy And

phILOSOphy Of hIS fILM

MAKIng. qUESTIOnS ABOUT

ThE MAKIng Of hIS nEXT fILM,

“nApOLEOn” ARE pRESEnT.

dId ThE fILM BEhInd ThE

MASTERMInd SUCCEEd?

029JANUARY 2011

outcome of a Napoleonic battle. We’ve researched all the battle sites exhaustively from paintings and sketches, and we’re now in a position to approximate the terrain. And from a purely schematic point of view, Napoleonic battles are so beautiful, like vast lethal ballets, that it’s worth making every effort to explain the configuration of forces to the audience. And it’s not really as difficult as it first appears.

How do you mean “explain”? With a narrator, or charts?

With a narrative voice-over at times, with animated maps and, most importantly, through the actual photography of the battles themselves. Let’s say you want to explain that at the battle of Austerlitz, the Austro- Russian forces attempted to cut Napoleon off from Vienna, and then extended the idea to a double envelopment and Napoleon countered by striking at their center and cutting their forces in half -- well, this is not difficult to show by photography, maps and narration. I think it’s extremely important to communicate the essence of these battles to the viewer, because they all have an aesthetic brilliance that doesn’t require a military mind to appreciate. There’s an aesthetic involved; it’s almost like a great piece of music, or the purity of a mathematical formula. It’s this quality I want to bring across, as well as the sordid reality of battle. You know, there’s a weird disparity between the sheer visual and organizational beauty of the historical battles sufficiently far in the past, and their human consequences. It’s rather like watching two golden eagles soaring through the sky from a distance; they may be tearing a dove to pieces, but if you are far enough away the scene is still beautiful.

Why are you making a movie about Napoleon?

That’s a question it would really take this entire interview to answer. To begin with, he fascinates me.

His life has been described as an epic poem of action. His sex life was worthy of Arthur Schnitzler. He was one of those rare men who move history and mold the destiny of their own times and of generations to come -- in a very concrete sense, our own world is the result of Napoleon, just as the political and geographic map of postwar Europe is the result of World War Two. And, of course, there has never been a good or accurate movie about him. Also, I find that all the issues with which it concerns itself are oddly contemporary -- the responsibilities and abuses of power, the dynamics of social revolution, the relationship of the individual to the state, war, militarism, etc., so this will not be just a dusty historic pageant but a film about the basic questions of our own times, as well as Napoleon’s. But even apart from those aspects of the story, the sheer drama and force of Napoleon’s life is a fantastic subject for a film biography. Forgetting everything else and just taking Napoleon’s romantic involvement with Josephine, for example, here you have one of the great obsessional passions of all time.

I ThInK IT’S EXTREMELy IMpORTAnT TO COMMUnICATE ThE ESSEnCE Of ThESE

BATTLES TO ThE vIEwER, BECAUSE ThEy ALL hAvE An AESThETIC BRILLIAnCE ThAT

dOESn’T REqUIRE A MILITARy MInd TO AppRECIATE.

030

ou can own up to it and explain where you went wrong or you can just hit the delete button and pretend it never happened. The second

method is the one used by the UK’s Daily Express when they reported that Brad Pitt was in secret talks to play Beatles legend John Lennon in a biopic.

Can Brad Pitt even sing? Somehow he doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who’d have that kind of voice. This rumor doesn’t make much sense, unfortunately it’s now being reported, so this is our heads up to those of you who may have seen it elsewhere that it’s almost certainly not true.

here’s still no word on whether or not Sir Ian McKellan will reprise the role of Gandalf in The Hobbit, even though outside of Bilbo Baggins,

Gandalf is probably the most important character in the story and they’re only a couple of weeks away from shooting. But we do know that Elijah Wood will be in it, though Frodo Baggins isn’t even alive during the time period in which The Hobbit takes place.

Word is he isn’t actually locked up yet and is still in talks, but they don’t think there will be any problem since it is believed that he was consulted during the scripting phase and is on board with what Jackson is doing.

ver since 2007 when it was reported that the possibility of a Ghostbusters III was still alive, we’ve been barraged with rumor after

rumor about the production, from details about who from the original cast would come back to reprise their roles to stories about Peter Venkman’s love child being the main character. Sorting through all of the stories, it’s hard to pick out which ones might be legitimate and which ones might be fake. Well, I have received information from a very involved source that told me that nearly everything we’ve heard is wrong. Bill Murray admitted that the possibility of a third Ghostbusters film is his “Nightmare,” calling the idea of another sequel “just crazy talk.”

pITT fOR LEnnOn

LATE BAggInS?

CROSSIng ThE STREAMS

In A STAgE whISpER. ThIS MOnTh’S RUMOURS fOR

UpCOMIng OR CAnCELLEd pROjECTS. whAT wILL

ThE SphERE pREdICT?

031JANUARY 2011

-Scope

Documents

Transcript of -Scope