The 2019 PANORAMA EUROPE FILM FESTIVAL opens Friday with Mademoiselle Paradis

Panorama Europe 2019, the eleventh edition of this unusual festival of new European cinema, co-presented by Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI) and the European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC), includes a wide range of outstanding films by some of the continent’s most exciting emerging directors. The festival, which runs May 3 through 19 with a full slate at MoMI (in Queens) and two encore screenings at Bohemian National Hall (Manhattan), offers New Yorkers, along with those farther afield who don't mind trekking to NYC, an overview of the current European film scene.

The opening night selection is the New York premiere of Barbara Albert’s Mademoiselle Paradis, which stars Maria Dragus, (above, right, and one of Europe’s rising stars, known for her roles in The White Ribbon and Graduation), as an accomplished musician who is blind, bristling against the rigid social conventions of eighteenth-century Austria. The extremely talented and versatile Ms Dragus will participate in a conversation after the screening; followed by a reception.

You can find the entire festival slate by clicking here, and you can also read TrustMovies' earlier review of Mademoiselle Paradis (first posted in December of 2018 and re-posted below, thanks to the Panorama festival's giving this exceedingly fine movie yet another chance to be seen and savored).

Grounded by a spectacular central performance from Romanian actress Maria Dragus (whom you'll remember from her role as the pivotal daughter in Graduation), the latest film from Austrian filmmaker Barbara Albert would be a must-see for Ms Dragus' work alone. But MADEMOISELLE PARADIS demands a viewing for so many other good reasons, including its status as one of the finest "period" films to be seen in many years. Taking place in 1777, it offers such an eye-popping array of costumes, wigs, furniture, tableware and all the rest that there is almost never a moment when you will be able to look away for fear of missing something even more spectacular.

Winning the sets-'n-costumes award may seem like small potatoes, but when the potatoes are this exquisite, TrustMovies suggests taking note.

Ms Albert, shown at left (of Free Radicals and Falling, among other films), is noted -- in my book, anyway-- for most often combining ideas and current events/themes. What's particularly interesting about Mademoiselle Paradis is how the ideas and events on display, though well over two centuries old, seem as current as today.

As director and co-adaptor (with Kathrin Resitarits) of the novel by Alissa Walser, Albert tells the based-on-fact tale of Maria Theresia Paradis (Ms Dragus, below), a young woman who went blind during childhood and then became something of a piano prodigy.

We see her first at a recital in which she is the "star," who seems to be both envied and made fun of by her peers. When her uber-controlling parents send her away to the home/hospital of semi-famous practitioner Franz Anton Mesmer (yes: where we got that word mesmerism) to perhaps have that blindness cured,

our young heroine encounters life and possible change in ways that she has not heretofore experienced.

Class differences are shown us via the "downstairs" maids, kitchen help and their offspring, including one young crippled boy who is both loved and taunted.

The male upper crust, of course, is shown blithely having his entitled way with the maid of his choice (Maresi Reigner, shown at right and at bottom)-- with predictable but nonetheless devastating results.

The "blindness," which Mesmer treats, seems to be receding, which of course makes us wonder if it might have been psychosomatic. Given the relationship Maria Theresia has with her nasty parents (Lukas Miko and Katja Kolm, above, left and center), this makes sense, but the filmmaker does not insist upon anything. She simply observes and lets us ponder.

Mesmer himself (well played by Devid Striesow, above, right) seems as much concerned with his own status in the medical world as with that of his patients (ever timely), but he also proves a real help to our heroine.

The biggest problem arises when, as her blindness begins to take leave, so, too, do her musical gifts. And since these account for her parents' entry into the world of the aristocracy, this can't be allowed to happen.

How some (but not nearly all) of this is resolved brings the film to its quiet, sad, and not unexpected conclusion. The journey has been thought-provoking and even, in its way, quite timely. And the spectacular visuals are like a combination of vacation and time-travel.

It seems utterly appalling that a movie this good (it's at 100 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) in so many ways -- Ms Dragus' superb performance is certainly among the year's best -- could not find even limited theatrical distribution here in the USA.

At least we're now able to see the film on DVD and streaming, thanks to First Run Features, which has released it here. It arrived on iTunes this past Tuesday, November 27, for streaming, and will hit DVD next Tuesday, December 11- - for purchase and/or (I would hope) rental.

Again, if you wish to view the complete 

schedule for Panorama 2019, 

simply click here.

Eighth edition of PANORAMA EUROPE FILM FEST arrives in New York -- at MoMI and BNH

Nineteen new (or fairly new) films will screen, starting this Friday, May 6 through May 22, during the eighth edition of the PANORAMA EUROPE FILM FESTIVAL at either the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens or Bohemian National Hall in Manhattan (at the latter venue, all the films to be shown will be admission free on a first-come, first-served basis). Described in its press release, as the "essential festival of new and vital European cinema," the program begins at MoMI with an opening night presentation of the Italian film, ANNA (Per amor vostro) together with an appearance by its star, award-winning Italian actress Valeria Golino.

TrustMovies has seen but three of the movies on this festival program, but all three were definitely worth a view. The opening night film, Anna, features one of Ms Golino's finest performances (in a list of near-non-stop triumphs: see her IMDB profile), Even in throw-away movies, she almost always shines, Here, she plays a married woman -- with three near-grown children (one of whom is deaf and mute) and a criminal hubby who seems to be taking the family into dangerous waters -- and so she is, not surprisingly, having what looks like something close to a major breakdown, We see Anna from many angles: at work, at home with the family, with her former and now unemployed boss (another terrific performance from Gomorrah's Salvatore Cantalupo), and as she perhaps embarks on an affair with the lead actor on the series in which she works as "prompter."

Golino is an extraordinary actress (and a good director, too: remember Miele?), and her fine performance anchors this movie. Its writer and director, Giuseppe M. Gaudino, has chosen to film mostly in black-and-white when "reality" seems more present. Color is used for flashback and fantasy, and for art and symbolism, of which there is quite a bit. (Billowing dark clouds threaten our heroine, growing ever larger as the movie rolls along and her mind appears to totter.) And while the film occasionally threatens to go over the top, Ms Golino keeps it mostly grounded. So compelling, however, is the build-up of negativity surrounding Anna that I am not at all sure I buy Gaudino's idea of a feel-good finale. Still, for fans of the actress, Anna is a must, and for anyone unfamiliar with Golino's work, it's not a bad place to begin.

Also in the fest is a movie I covered when it opened in New York last year: Summer of Sangaile (shown above). If you missed its very limited theatrical debut, you should catch it here at MoMI because it is one of the most visually spectacular films of last year.  (It was also the Best Foreign Language submission from Lithuania, though it did not make the shortlist.) You can learn more about the movie and/or read my earlier review in full by clicking here.

The third of the films I've managed to see is the "period" serial-killer movie MARSHLAND (La isla mínima, shown above and below), the DVD of which I happened to have rented recently from Netflix. Set in 1980 -- not so long after the fall of the Franco regime, when the political and social life of life of Spain felt anything but secure and stable -- the movie has a distinct noirish feel as two mismatched detectives investigate the disappearance of a young girl in a small town in the Spanish provinces.

Starring one of my favorite Spanish actors, Raúl Arévalo (above), together with Javier Gutiérrez, the movie holds a dark mirror up to the face of Spain at that time, and we see everything from greed and corruption to typically macho male values, along with the nasty face of religion, politics and patriarchy, as the women involved go down one by one by one. As co-written and directed by Alberto Rodríguez, Marshland may take no prizes in the realm of thrillers and serial killers, but its unusual combination of dark nostalgia coupled to smart social critique makes it a stand-out of sorts.

The still above is from the documentary Lampedusa in Winter, one of several very well-received documentaries also included in the festival. You can view the entire 19-film schedule and/or purchase tickets by clicking here and then clicking on the film(s) in which you're interested. Museum of the Moving Image is located at 36-01 35 Avenue (at 37 Street), Astoria, NY 11106. Bohemian National Hall can be found at 321 East 73rd Street (between 1st and 2nd Ave), New York, NY 10021. Note that tickets for Panorama Europe at the Bohemian National Hall are free, with seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. 

Jan Ole Gerster's A COFFEE IN BERLIN proves a small, unassuming (& award-winning) knock-out

What a pleasure to discover a small, black-and-white movie that pays such high dividends on the 83 minutes you'll spend viewing it. A COFFEE IN BERLIN (originally known as Oh Boy in its native Germany) is getting a very limited release over here (for which we owe Music Box Films a debt of gratitude) and will probably not make many waves on this side of the Atlantic, even though it has already won 24 awards at festivals, in its home country, and via the European Film Awards -- from which its writer/director Jan Ole Gerster (shown below) took home the European Discovery of the Year prize).

Everything about the film is small scale (yet near perfect), from its terrific lead performance from Tom Schilling (shown below, left, of the recent Generation War), to the low-key "events" that occur along the way, to the sumptuous, absolutely scrumptious black-and-white photography that is, for my money, better even than that of the over-rated Ida, whose cinematography so screams "composed and artful" that you finally want to muddy it up a bit just to breath some life into things. The cinematography in "Coffee" (by Phillipp Kirsamer) perfectly fits around and into the world it encompasses. And then, there's the theme.

On one level A Coffee in Berlin deals with its "hero," the young man Niko Fischer, a Euro-style slacker who, according to the words of his dad (Ulrich Noethen, above, right, and recently of Hannah Arendt) has never finished anything he has started. Yet Niko is clearly a decent sort of guy who's just looking for his place in our modern world. At the same time, this movie is also dealing as much with the modern European/Western world, seen through the lens of Germany today, in which everything from wealth and class divisions to art and commerce, fear of immigration, Nazi history, and the sexuality of the "other" still prove divisive and frightening.

None of the above is baldly stated, but as you watch Niko move from incident to event to quiet thought, you cannot help but think of your own place in whatever country it is that you occupy. Herr Gerster clearly has an aware mind coupled to interests that are wide-ranging.

His little movie asks many more questions than it answers, but it asks these artfully and in a lively, non-hectoring manner. And the many subsidiary characters who help bring the film to life are quite marvelous -- beginning with the neighbor of Niko (above) who brings him a housewarming gift of his wife's meatballs to a former schoolmate of Niko's who was -- and clearly always will be, on some level -- fat but now is an attractive stage actress of sorts.

This young woman, played will great strength masking even greater fear by the talented Friederike Kempter (above) proves one of the highlights of a film that is virtually full of them. As our hero spends a day and night moving around Berlin from place to place, person to person, we see a society in which few seem to fit the way they might like and only the wealthy feel secure.

Take Niko's friend Matze -- another smart, sharp performance from Marc Hosemann (above, right, of Soul Kitchen) -- of whom we learn some surprising stuff. Or the old man in the cafe (below) who helps close out Niko's night with a brief history of his childhood under the Führer.

Our hero has spent most of the movie trying simply to get a cup of coffee, which proves more difficult than you'd think. By the finale, he is at last satisfied, on that score at least, even if his place in all this is still question-able. We're satisfied, too. You'll come away from this film thinking about it -- and your own place in things -- long after its quiet credits have rolled.

A Coffee in Berlin opens this Friday, June 13, in New York City at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema, and will hit another 18 cities in  the weeks to come. You can view all currently scheduled playdates, with cities and theaters, by clicking here, then clicking on the word THEATERS, which you'll find midway down the page.

DISAPPEARING ACT V--with the new, the special, and the overlooked--fifth annual European film fest hits NYC, April 10-21

Can it really be that five years have passed since the first Disappearing Act made its debut here in New York City? I think so, because I just looked back and found my original post on it here. This festival -- initially dedicated to giving New Yorkers a second chance to see good films from all over eastern and western Europe (and, in later editions, Scandinavia) that may have opened here but then disappeared from view all too quickly -- is still delivering the goods. 

A lot has happened over the past five years so far as movies and the way we watch them have evolved. Almost nobody was streaming Netflix when Irena Kovarova, the woman who puts together this increasingly popular festival, delivered her first in this annual series. Yet by the time her second festival rolled around, the subject of the panel discussion she hosted in 2010 (click here to learn more) was The New World Distribution for Subtitled Films.  

This year's subject of the panel discussion?  Streaming as a Source of European Cinema. Clearly Ms Koravova was -- still is -- on to something. Although we see no dearth of foreign films opening here and in many major U.S. cities (a point TrustMovies actually made aloud during the Q&A of that first year's panel discussion), the fact that these movies make far too fast a disappearance is still, perhaps more than ever, true. What with anywhere from a dozen to as many as 30 new films opening up weekly in New York (19 new ones opened theatrically here in the city this week!), how can not many of these movies get lost in the increasingly enormous shuffle?

All of which makes Disappearing Acts a necessary and important part of the city's film-culture calendar. In addition to movies that have too quickly come and gone, Ms Kovarova includes a few NY, even international, premiers as well, and her little festival is growing nicely with each new year. It now offers three venues (see below) along with quite a expansive list of films to be seen.  TM has seen only four of the films screening this year: the interesting Italian movie Corpo Celeste (shown at top), a lovely French "family" film, Tomboy (two photos above);  the odd but relatively enjoyable Attenberg (shown above, from Greece), and the absolutely terrific Romanian film Tuesday After Christmas (shown below). For the rest, you're on your own, but given Kovorova's taste level and credentials as a film programmer, I'd say you're in good hands. And since almost all of these films are screened free of charge, this is a rare bargain for New Yorkers.

Below is all the information you'll need regarding the films, when and where they will be shown, and  how to get tickets (remember: most of these screenings are FREE, on a first-come, first-served basis!). For information and a description about each of the films, go to www.disappearingact.org and scroll down. 

April 10 & 18
OPENING NIGHT & SPECIAL SCREENING
IFC Center, 323 Sixth Avenue at West 3rd Street, New York
Subway:  A, C, B, D, E, F & M to West 4th St. station

April 9, 11-17 & 20
PRE-FESTIVAL EVENT & FESTIVAL SCREENINGS
Bohemian National Hall, 321 East 73rd Street bet. 1st and 2nd Avenues, New York
Subway: 6 to 68th Street Hunter College or 77th Street

April 19-21
FESTIVAL SCREENINGS
Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI), 36-01 35th Avenue, Astoria-Queens
Subway: M, R to Steinway Street, N, Q to 36th AvenueTickets to opening night screening of Play and special screening of Dreileben, Parts 1-3 are available for purchase at the IFC Center and online at www.ifccenter.com/series/disappearing-act-v/.
The Opening night screening will be followed by a party for ticket holders at Goethe-Institut Wyoming Building.

Opening night tickets: $15, seniors $12, IFC Center members $10. Tickets to Dreileben at IFC Center are $13.50 for general admission, $9.50 seniors, $8.50 IFC Center members for each individual film; tickets for the entire trilogy are $30 ($20 IFC Center members).  Admission to screenings at Museum of the Moving Image free with museum admission, ($12; seniors and students $9); tickets to Friday night screenings are $12 (seniors and students $9).

ADMISSION FREE TO ALL OTHER SCREENINGS on a first-come, first-served basis
Film descriptions and other info at www.DISAPPEARINGACT.ORGFestival blog: DISAPPEARINGACTBLOG.wordpress.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Disappearing-Act/529045513782246

Twitter: @DisappearingNYC

FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
Pre-festival Event:
Tuesday, April 9 Bohemian National Hall
7:00PM Panel Discussion: Streaming as Source of European Cinema 
Panelists: Ira Deutchman, Emerging Pictures; Andrew Mer, Snagfilms; Delphine Selles-Alvarez, Cultural Services of the French Embassy Moderated by Irena Kovarova, Disappearing Act V curator and producer. Discussing: Streaming of films in theaters and for at home viewing and how can European partners boost the efforts of companies providing foreign language films via streaming to the public in the US?

Opening Night:
Wednesday, April 10 IFC Center
7:00PM Play, Sweden-France-Denmark, 2011, directed by Ruben Ostlund
Q&A with director Ruben OstlundFollowed by
Opening Party for ticketholders – music by DJ Sub-Bells and DJ Cosmo

Thursday, April 11 Bohemian National Hall
6:30PM 1395 Days Without Red (1395 dana bez crvene), UK-Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2011, directed by Sejla Kameric and Anri Sala – North American Premiere
8:00PM Kuma, Austria, 2012, directed by Umut Dag – NY Premiere
Q&A with actress Nihal Koldas

Friday,  April 12   Bohemian National Hall
6:30PM  Stars Above (Tahtitaivas talon ylla), Finland-Iceland, 2012, directed by Saara Cantell
8:30PM  Diamond Flash, Spain, 2011, directed by Carlos Vermut – North American Premiere

Saturday, April 13 Bohemian National Hall
3:30PM Small Crime ( Mikro eglima), Cyprus-Germany-Greece, 2008, directed by Christos Georgiou
5:30PM Made in Ash (Az do mesta As), Slovakia-Czech Republic, 2012, directed by Iveta Grofova – NY Premiere
7:15PM Tilva Rosh (Tilva Ros), Serbia, 2010, directed by Nikola Lezaic – NY Premiere
Q&A with director Nikola Lezaic

Sunday, April 14 Bohemian National Hall
3:30PM  Attenberg, Greece, 2010, directed by Athina Rachel Tsangari
5:30PM  The Taste of Creme Brulee (O Sabor do Leite Creme), Portugal, 2012, directed by Hiroatsu Suzuki and Rossana Torres – Intl. Premiere
7:00PM  Tuesday, After Christmas (Marti, dupa Craciun), Romania, 2010, directed by Radu Muntean

Monday, April 15 Bohemian National Hall
7:00PM  The Almost Man (Mer eller mindre mann), Norway, 2012, directed by Martin Lund – NY Premiere
Q&A with director Martin Lund

Tuesday, April 16 Bohemian National Hall
6:30PM  Living Afterwards (De leur vivant), Belgium, 2011, directed by Geraldine Doignon – NY Premiere
8:30PM  Lena, The Netherlands-Belgium, 2011, directed Christophe Van Rompaey – NY Premiere

Wednesday, April 17 Bohemian National Hall
6:30PM  Feed Me With Your Words (Nahrani me z besedami), Slovenia, 2012, directed by Martin Turk – NY Premiere
8:15PM  Flower Buds (Poupata), Czech Republic, 2011, directed by Zdenek Jirasky – NY Premiere
Q&A with director Zdenek Jirasky

Thursday,  April 18 IFC Center
Dreileben, Parts 1-3, Germany, 2011
6:30PM   Beats Being Dead (Etwas Besseres als den Tod), directed by Christian Petzold
8:15PM   Don’t Follow Me Around (Komm mir nicht nach), directed by Dominik Graf
10:00PM One Minute of Darkness (Eine Minute Dunkel), directed by Christoph Hochhaeusler

Friday, April 19 Museum of the Moving Image
7:00PM Rose (Roza), Poland, 2011, directed by Wojciech Smarzowski

Saturday, April 20 Museum of the Moving Image
3:00PM  Corpo Celeste, Italy-Switzerland-France, 2011, directed by Alice Rohrwacher
Bohemian National Hall
6:00PM  Mushrooming (Seenelkaik), Estonia, 2012, directed by Toomas Hussar – NY Premiere
8:00PM  The Boy Who Was a King (Momcheto, koeto beshe tsar), Bulgaria-Germany, 2011, directed by Andrey Paounov
Q&A with director Andrey Paounov

Sunday, April 21 Museum of the Moving Image
2:00PM  Summer Games (Giochi d’estate), Switzerland-Italy, 2011, directed by Rolando Colla – NY Premiere
4:30PM  Tomboy, France, 2011, directed by Celine Sciamma
7:00PM  The Exam (A vizsga), Hungary, 2011, directed by Peter Bergendy – NY Premiere
Q&A with screenwriter Norbert KobliMore information at www.DisappearingAct.org 

Disappearing Act V is presented by the Disappearing Act Festival Board, chaired by the Czech Center New York, in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut New York, the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, the Austrian Cultural Forum New York, and the Polish Cultural Institute New York, organized in partnership with the Balassi Institute – Hungarian Cultural Center, the Belgian Tourist Office – French Speaking Belgium – Brussels Wallonia, the Consulate General of Cyprus, the Consulate General of Estonia, the Consulate General of Finland, the Consulate General of the Slovak Republic, the Consulate General of Sweden, the Consulate General of Switzerland, the Embassy of Portugal together with Instituto Camoes, the Embassy of Slovenia, the EYE Film Institute Netherlands, the IFC Center, the Italian Cultural Institute, the Museum of the Moving Image, the Norwegian Consulate General, the Onassis Foundation (USA), together with the Consulate General of Greece, Pragda, and the Romanian Film Initiative, and with support from the +421 Foundation, Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Association, the Cyprus Federation of America, the Finnish Film Foundation, the Slovak Film Institute, Slovenian Film Centre, Spain Culture New York, and Wallonie Bruxelles Images. Disappearing Act V is an official project of the European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC), sponsored in part by the Trust for Mutual Understanding, and the EU Delegation to the United Nations, additional support from Pilsner Urquell, Hospoda Restaurant, and Becherovka.

Curated and produced by Irena Kovarova. Production assistance by Sven Buehrer.

Special thanks to Alex Zucker, Jaap Verheul, Tomas Mazalek, Radka Ondrackova, and Amber Shields.

DISAPPEARING ACT is back: Feast--FREE--on fine foreign films you've maybe missed

The annual presentation of Disappearing Act -- 25 contemporary films from 21 European countries -- makes its fourth appearance beginning tomorrow evening at Bohemian National Hall, at 6:30 (admission is free) with its yearly panel discussion of a topic on interest to film buffs involving European cinema. This year's topic is European contemporary cinema as taught as U.S. universities and colleges. The series continues through April 22, and the film program features an array of new European cinema, some films which are making their debut, others which have seen brief theatrical release but disappeared before a wider audience could be reached.

One such is the truly amazing Italian documentary The Mouth of The Wolf (photo above), but there are a number of gems among the program, all of which can be found here.  This yearly film feast, brought to us via the organization and persistence of Irena Kovarova, has become an indispensible part of the New York cultural scene for film, and this year looks like the best yet in terms of variety and quality.

The other important point to mention is that the entire series is shown free-of-charge, so film lovers really have no excuse to miss a program this inclusive, convenient and affordable. So don't. This year, the program is being shown variously at three different venues: Bohemian National Hall, the IFC Center and FIAF. Take a look at the entire schedule here, and make your choice(s).

On-Demand: DON'T LOOK BACK--de Van's diabolical use of Marceau & Bellucci

Back in 2002, a filmmaker named Marina de Van appeared to burst upon us with an odd and creepy movie called In My Skin, devoted to the story of a young woman with deep psychological problems who cuts herself. Yet Ms de Van, no beginner in the least, had been working with Ozon for some time as both actress and writer, as well as doing her own films, mostly shorts, since 1993. Approaching 40, this writer/director should have hit the big time with her newest movie DON'T LOOK BACK (Ne te retourne pas), considering that it's a genre-jumper that succeeds in each of its several genres -- thriller, sci-fi, psychological tale -- and also stars two major European actresses, Sophie Marceau and Monica Bellucci, both working at or near the top of their form.

Perhaps Ms de Van (shown at left) has bitten off more than today's dumbed-down audiences care to chew, because the movie has gone straight to On-Demand and will probably appear on DVD eventually -- in both of which venues it should find a small but devoted following who don't mind engaging in intelligent puzzlement grounded by a firm understanding of the psychology of the abandoned. Although the movie is one of those, during which, for a full half to two-thirds, you may  be muttering, "WTF is going on here?", I think you will not for a moment be tempted to stop watching.  So well set-up is the premise and follow-through, and so expertly does Ms de Van create her very odd and disturbing scenario (a woman's entire life -- including her apartment, husband, children and even her own image -- begins to change into something else), you'll want to stick around, if only to discover to which genre the movie actually belongs.

Is the writer/wife/mother played by Ms Marceau (above) being somehow "gaslighted," and if so, by whom?  Or is she truly going mad -- or into Alzheimer's?  And yet so real and befuddling are the changes around her -- the placement of a table, the color of one's eyes -- that "reality" is something the viewer begins to question as fervently as does our heroine.

Ms Bellucci, for her part, does a very good job of being mysterious. Of late I have found this actress less riveting than in former days when she seemed to house considerable emotion, as well as the ability to demonstrate it.  Yet, here, in a role that calls for hesitance and quiet discovery, she seems as commanding as ever (every bit as beautiful, too).

The supporting cast is well-chosen and delivers what's necessary (sometimes playing dual roles).  Especially authoritative is Brigitte Catillon (above, left) as an oddly distant "mom," while Andrea Di Stefano (atop Bellucci, below) entices, doubling as one of the hubbies and later as a very hunky waiter.

Don't Look Back (not to be confused with that earlier Bob Dylan movie) is available On-Demand all summer, through September 23, via IFC Films' Festival Direct program.  Click here for instructions on how to get it.

Angela Ismailos' GREAT DIRECTORS proves good, chatty fun for film buffs

The first thing to get out of the way regarding GREAT DIRECTORS, the new documentary from first-time film-
maker Angela Ismailos, is: Why these guys and gals? Out of all the film-
makers living and working today, these are the "greats"? The answer is (mine, anyway): Why not? The ten filmmakers Ms Ismailos (shown below) tracks down around the world and interviews  -- chattily but never cattily -- have all made, if not "great" movies according to everyone's standards, at least very, very good films now and again.

If I had to append the word great to any of the ten personages that Ismailos has corralled, it would hang only on David Lynch (below) and Agnès Varda (two photos below) -- with Bernardo Betolucci and maybe Catherine Breillat occupying the "very nearly" category.  And yet every other filmmaker among the remaining six has done some fine work in his or her career, and so I am pleased to be able to learn more about them -- as I have done by watching Ismalos' movie.

Probably the single biggest surprise among these ten is the inclusion of John Sayles (pictured at the bottom of this post).  But, again, why not?  Mr. Sayles has done some fine work over the decades since his Return of the Secaucus Seven burst upon the scene, making him maybe the grand-daddy of the American independent-film movement.  I've never missed a Sayles movie, and I hope (unless I predecease him) that I never do.  So good on you, Ms Ismailos, for including him.  (Plus, what Sayles has to say about class in America, and how he separates the "money" work from the "love" work is worth hearing.)

Back to Mr. Lynch: His words about the making of Eraserhead, how midnight movies played into its success, and the advent of Mel Brooks -- yes! -- in his career is as surprising as it is fascinating.  And it should make all of us grateful anew, in an entirely different way, for Mr. Brooks.

Bertolucci (shown above), on the other hand, talks (among other things) about his debt to Pasolini and the first meeting he had with that late, great Italian director.

Want some British politics with your art?  The documentarian invites us to get to know Stephen Frears (above) and Ken Loach (below).

And though "great" and "Frears" have never left my lips in the same sentence, I've admired much of this filmmaker's work, too (especially, of late, his rather dumped-upon Chéri). And now I know something more about the why and how his films have appeared.

As for the sweet and charming Mr. Loach, he fills us in on a few things, including his banned-by-Britain documentaries. Though I have not appreciated his last couple of films to land on our shores, I would very much like to see those documentaries. And because of their being mentioned in Ms Ismailos' movie, maybe we shall.

Catherine Breillat (above) talks about her history a bit, and of the influence that Ingmar Bergman's work (who knew?!) had on her at quite a young age.

Todd Haynes (shown at right), for whom -- and this should come as no surprise -- Fassbinder was an influence, talks about getting around the current homogenized version of "gayness," while Richard Linklater (below, and another surprise on the "great" list) speaks interestingly of his "white privilege," even though his family has no money.  And finally, it's bracing to encounter a director, Liliana Cavani (shown in the penultimate photo below) who has remained somewhat out of the critical loop over the past couple of decades, now back again and speaking up and out.  I'd like to have heard even more from her, actually.

One of the strengths of Ismailos' movie is its very informality.  She was able to put these filmmakers enough at ease to get them to chat easily.  If no bombshells are dropped in the course of the film, we at least have a chance to see and hear some of our "heroes" and "heroines" as they looked and sounded at a particular time in their lives.

So.  Is Great Directors anything close to definitive? Not at all. But I would hope that Ms Ismailos does not expect it to be.  I'm awfully happy to have seen it, and in fact, would welcome another and even another round of interviews with a package (or two) of ten more filmmakers -- until this woman feel that she's come close to exhausting the well of all the many good and important directors working today.

Great Directors, (via film distributor Paladin, the letterhead of which features neither a phone number nor a web address!), opens Friday, July 2, in New York City at the Quad Cinema, and on July 9th in Los Angeles at the Nuart Theater.  Further dates and cities may be on the calendar soon,  followed by, one hopes, a DVD release.