Federico Fellini's CITY OF WOMEN makes its Blu-ray and DVDebut this coming week

CITY OF WOMEN (La città delle donne), from 1980, is among the final few full-length films from Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini, pictured below, and although TrustMovies could have sworn he'd seen it around the time of its original release, it turns out he had not -- until now via the new Blu-ray and DVD which hit the street this coming Tuesday, May 31, courtesy of the Cohen Film Collection's Classics of Italian Cinema. This is a most welcome release, and not simply because it will add to the catalog of a filmmaking master. It is also one of Fellini's better works.

Yes, it is full of the filmmaker's signature content and characters: Here we have the leading man who's a sexist pig par excellence, surrounded by all kinds of women -- especially those on the corpulent side who possess a very large butt, which they know how to move. His leading man is again played by his actor of choice, Marcello Mastroianni, below, who was in his mid-50s at the time and still looking terrifically good of figure and face. On a trip by train to somewhere or other, our "hero" proves to be quite taken with the woman who sits across from him and whom he becomes intent on seducing.

If only. That would-be seduction leads Snàporaz (surely one of the least becoming names in the history of leading-man characters) into a kind of Grand Hotel in which a feminist convention is taking place.

As the only male to be found (other than the hotel's staff), Snàporaz is subjected to all kinds of contempt and humiliation -- much of it creepily enjoyable, particularly as it comes from a filmmaker whose own sexism was, well, rather heavy-duty.

Clearly Fellini was trying to come to terms with feminism, which had been on the rise for some time and was intent on displacing, or at least rejiggering, the current state of Italian patriarchy. While you have to give the guy credit for handing us a leading character whose male chauvinism borders on the hugely unappealing, Fellini was so besotted with his would-be alter ego, Mastroianni, along with his needs and desires, that the filmmaker's entire identification goes to and with the man.

The women here are all, with the exception of the elderly mother/grandmother figures, sex objects or scary bitches. The old Madonna/Whore syndrome is in full Italian flower. If this lends the film an uneasy duality, it also adds the kind of tension that only a secure and talented filmmaker would risk.

That risk pays off, as scene after scene pulls us in and leaves us amazed and amused. or shocked and thrillingly appalled. We go from spoofing the old Italian "white telephone" genre (below)

to the birthday party of a fellow who has supposedly conquered 10,00 females to finally a quest for the "ideal woman."

Yeah, right. Well, boys will be boys, and if their pursuits seem a tad trivial, they're also age-old and, for so many men, show little sign of abating.

And in the hands of a filmmaker as fanciful and imaginative as Signore Fellini, they are also eye-popping and thought-provoking.

If you've never seen a Fellini, City of Women is not a bad place to begin. If you've already seen this one, a revisit is probably in order. The Blu-ray transfer, while nothing special, is certainly adequate. In any case, the filmmaker's fecund imagination provides all the special effects and amazing visuals you could want.

Available via the Cohen Film Collection and running a lengthy but never boring 139 minutes, the film resurfaces this coming Tuesday, May 31 -- for purchase or rental.

The games men play -- with each other -- as Athina Rachel Tsangari skewers the male prerogative, Greek-style, in CHEVALIER

There is no overt mention made of Greece's ongoing and horrendous economic situation in the film, CHEVALIER, but this low-key but often quite hilarious new satire of the macho stance among Greek males does make one wonder. Was it this kind of attitude -- hubristic, resentful, lying, scheming and, unfortunately, pretty stupid, too, among the Greek government, financial players and powers-that-were -- that brought the country to its collective knees? Of course one can't draw a straight line that connects this movie to that reality, but -- boy -- as one views this enticing rondelay of really bad male behavior, one certainly cannot help but wonder.....

The product of producer, writer, director and actress, Athina Rachel Tsangari, whom you saw (but may not have realized it) in Richard Linklater's wonderful Before Midnight, Chevalier describes, among other things, a signet ring and a game devised to "test the mettle" of males to determine who is the "best at everything." What it does not describe is the actual definition of chevalier: a chivalrous man or a member of certain orders of honor or merit. Ms Tsangari, who co-wrote (with Efthymus Filippou) and directed the movie, uses her title ironically.

She allows us to meet and get acquainted with her half-dozen men who, under the "leadership" of a well-known and successful doctor, are spending a weekend deep-sea-diving off a glamorous yacht. (We also get to know a few of the crew members, who act as a kind of Greek chorus to the shenanigans taking place around them.)

The five-man fellowship the doctor has invited to join him include his son-in-law, the son-in-law's rather borderline brother (both are shown above), the doctor's hale-and-hearty assitant at work (below) and two other friends who appear to have enjoyed watching each other have sex and possibly have enjoyed each other sexually, too.

If at first it may seem difficult to tell certain characters apart (with the exception of the portly and clearly out-of-his-league brother), not to worry. Ms Tsangari and her well-chosen and talented cast soon bring these guys to life so well that there is no problem of differentiation. Character builds (or, as the case may be, disintegrates) carefully and rather quickly.

Once someone suggests the game in which each man vies for distinction in myriad ways -- they'll have to clean, they'll have to build, and yes, eventually they'll have to compare penis size (erect, yet) -- the film builds to its funniest scene involving the man who can't get it up, and when he finally and suddenly does, can't find anyone to corroborate his massive splendor (hey, it is pretty impressive).

Turns out, as we might suspect -- but the filmmaker keeps all this at bay quite nicely -- there is more going on here than initially meets the eye. What this is simply adds to the sense of nastiness and betrayal that hovers over the film.  And yet, by its troubling and thoughtful finale, surprise does await. How and why are as original/believable as all that has gone before.

Intelligent and well-paced, Chevalier is less bizarre but more pertinent than Tsangari's earlier film, Attenberg. It's a fine step onward and upward. And it's a lot of fun, too. Skewering us guys so often is.

From Strand Releasing, the movie opens this Friday in New York City at the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the IFC Center; in Los Angeles it will open on Friday, June 3 at the Landmark NuArt and then on June 10 at Laemmle's Playhouse 7 in Pasadena. Here in South Florida it also opens June 10 at the Bill Cosford Cinema in Coral Gables, the Miami Beach Cinematheque in Miami and the Cinema Paradiso in Fort Lauderdale. Elsewhere? Absolutely. Click here then scroll down and click on Screenings to see all currently scheduled playdates, cities and theaters.

Full-bodied characters, brilliant/beautiful cinema from Turkey: Nuri Bilge Ceylan's WINTER SLEEP

I usually don't read reviews of films I'm about to cover, but in the case of WINTER SLEEP -- the new Palme d'Or-winning film from Turkey's Nuri Bilge Ceylan -- once I finished reading Stuart Klawans' review in The Nation of The Imitation Game (a film I had already covered), I found myself continuing to read his thoughts on Ceylan's film. Why didn't I stop and put it aside to finish later? Well, Klawans is a very good writer, and once I'd begun, I didn't want to stop. So rapturous was his notice (you can read it here: click and keep scrolling down) that I immediately gave it to my spouse and asked if the film interested him. It did, despite its rather unusual length (three hours and 16 minutes: and spouse is not a fan of lengthy movies).

Although Mr. Klawans recommends seeing Winter Sleep in a theater, we were sent a DVD screener to watch. As shown on our large, widescreen TV, the quality was, in a word, sensational. Visually, this is one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen. While Ceylan's work (the filmmaker is shown at left) is often quite lovely to view, his latest outdoes any of his earlier films. From the incredible vistas that open the movie -- huge rocks sprouting from the mountain soil and homes that seem to emerge literally from the hills -- to the many interior shots, with lighting and color unlike anything I've seen, the movie is visual splendor. Still, visuals can only go so far. Incredibly, Mr. Ceylan also offers us a situation and characters as precise and special as those visuals, and then tops it all with some of the finest dialog -- also precise (in a manner that is able to gracefully unfurl character) and deep, sometimes profound -- that you're likely to hear in any film this year.

The movie is a wonder, a marvel. And while those three-plus hours don't exactly speed by, the material here -- characters and situation -- grabs us so strongly that we're not for a moment disengaged from this film. The situation blooms out of character, chiefly that of Aydin (Haluk Bilginer, below), our "hero," a wealthy man who owns the hotel that lies at the center of the film.

Around this cold sun circle the rest of the characters, including his young wife, Nihal (Melisa Sözen, shown below), and his sister, Necla (Demet Akbag, above, right). There is a scene midway in the movie between sister and brother that is one of the strongest (and longest) sections of dialog I think I've ever heard in a movie, unveiling character, philosophy, desire and fear, batting back and forth like a great tennis match of intellect and hubris that will have you on tenterhooks, trying to take it all in.

A subplot involving tenants of our wealthy fellow, a family quite down on its luck, further unveils the character of Aydin, as well as of the tenant family members themselves. A scene involving money changing hands toward the finale is one of the most quietly explosive and frustrating ever committed to film.

Ceylan's movie probes everything from class and religion to feminism, the male prerogative (in a culture such as Turkey's), and much more. There's even a reference to Hitler and the Jewish Holocaust that might tilt Turkish heads in the direction of their country's own Holocaust against Armenians, the responsibility for which -- unlike the Germans for their own, dreadful piece of history -- Turks have yet to accept. (I would like to think that Ceylan intends this "thought process," though being any more direct about it could probably end his career, at least in his home country.)

If I have given you any sense at all of how rich this movie is -- in so many ways -- then I'll consider this post a success. Winter Sleep has been selected by Turkey as its submission for Best Foreign Language Film. As crowded with quality as this year's selections surely are -- Force Majeure, The Circle, Ida, Rocks in My Pockets and Two Days, One Night (I'll cover that last one next week and haven't yet seen Beloved Sisters, Leviathan or Human Capital) to name but a few -- it strikes me at this point that Ceylan's film outshines all of what I have viewed.

Winter Sleep -- from Adopt Films and running 196 minutes -- opens this Friday, December 19, in New York City exclusively at the Lincoln Plaza Cinema, and in Los Angeles on January 23 at Laemmle's Royal, Playhouse 7 and Town Center 5. To see all currently scheduled playdates, click here, and then scroll down and click on View Theaters and Showtimes.

Streaming à la française: Dujardin's & Lellouche's crass, funny, smart THE PLAYERS (Les infidèles)

When I first heard about Les infidèles -- which I believe translates as The Unfaithful, but was instead titled THE PLAYERS for its American release -- I was excited at the prospect of seeing one of my favorite actors, Gilles Lellouche together with Jean Dujardin, whom I am always happy to view in any kind of "normal" role rather than his "stunt" performances in the OSS 117 series or his Oscar-winning The Artist. While The Players came and went from theaters in a blink-of-an-eye limited release this past April, here it is already on Netflix streaming.

The subject here is ostensibly infidelity, but it's really more about men, the male libido, and the many outlets for sex that modern times gives us guys. And while you could hardly find two more attractive and sexy males than Messieurs Lellouche and Dujardin, what this movie does best is hold today's male and his near-constant urges up to close scrutiny via a comedic and satirical approach. The characters played by these two French stars are paragons of just about nothing virtuous at all. They're generally crass, dumb and as self-satisfied as they are self-deluded.

The movie's style is to tackle its subject via nine (maybe ten: I think I lost count) stories that range from three or four minutes in length to maybe 15 or 20 directed by eight filmmakers (including Dujardin and Lellouche). Two of the three shortest segments (all directed by Alexandre Courtès) are also the funniest: the first, a breath-takingly vulgar and hilarious visual joke, the second (starring Guillaume Canet) a new "take" on the almost-found in-flagrante-delicto situation that builds to a fast, shocking and darkly funny visual punch line.

The longer segments are varied in both length and success, though there's not a one that doesn't deliver a few laughs and entertainment while provo-king some interesting thoughts. The first (directed by Fred Cavayé) and final segments (directed by Lellouche and Dujardin) deal with the same two friends who like to go out together (leaving their respective wife and girlfriend at home) to find some nice young ladies to fuck -- often together in the same hotel room. Notes one, as they clean up their private parts after the girls have left, "You know, a shrink might say that that guys like us who are Don Juan types are actually gay." Bullshit, insists the other.

The pair are seen again on a trip to Las Vegas, as they fight and make up and try to get laid and finally discover their "better natures."  This finale's a fitting tribute to all sorts of ideas... and celebrities. There's also an amusing Unfaithfuls Anonymous episode, in which the group leader is played by  none other than that crack French actress Sandrine Kiberlain (below) -- who is very funny.

Another long segment, directed by Michel Hazanavicius, goes on past its sell-by date but does provide a look at Dujardin as a woefully obtuse womanizer. Yet another episode (below), the most serious of the bunch and the only one directed by a woman (Emmanuelle Bercot), nails the idea of truth-telling and what this can do to a long-term relationship.

Perhaps the best of the bunch is the one (below) starring Lellouche as a "happily married" dentist involved with a teenager (Clara Ponsot, below) whose behavior and activities quickly begin to show him (and us) how over-his-head he is in his "relationship" with this youngster. As directed by Jan Kounen (Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinksky), this episode is both smart and sturdy.

As usual with European films vs the American model, many of us here in the good 'ol USA -- particularly those used to viewing mainstream blockbusters -- complain that the actors and actresses aren't good-looking enough. No. Instead of all of them being cut from the same cloth, European performers tend to look real. We're also not used to movies willing to serve up a dose of entertainment that nails the male to the wall.

So, those of you who can take it, "stream a little stream" of The Players and see how you well you survive. You can find it now on Netflix. And maybe elsewhere, too.

Drake Doremus' DOUCHEBAG -- ah, alliteration! -- is energetic, intelligent fun. Plus a Q&A with the filmmaker

Can you resist a movie that bills itself as a "Super Crispy Entertainment Production"?  I couldn't, though I admit to having a misgiving or two along the way. DOUCHEBAG, the new film from Drake Doremus, starts out reminding one of the recent The Freebie in its use of a camera view so immediate and intimate that it seems to put us up close and personal -- in fact, in bed with -- the protagonists. As the film moves along, we may think back to certain others such as The Overbrook Brothers and Lovers of Hate, among a number of mumblecore-ish movies that spring immediately to mind.

Yet Douchebag is not mumblecore. Not in my view anyway. One of the things that best describes an m-core movie is that its participants so often seem adrift, barely knowing what they want, or need, or are even doing a good deal of the time.  That's not the case here. The characters created by Doremus, with help from his actor/co-writer Andrew Dickler and actor/co-producer Ben York Jones (shown below, with Mr. Jones at left) are, if anything, a little too sure of themselves. There's no drifting here.

These people are active-positive (sometimes active-negative), and so full of energy they practically compel us to go along with them. (At times -- the kite-flying scene on the beach -- the film has a near-documentary quality that probably means many of its scenes were improvised -- but well.) Conversations often lead to action: Talk of figure-skating bounces on to love and from there to inviting a very old flame (5th grade, anyone?) as a date to the upcoming wedding.

At this point the movie becomes a freak road trip, the reason for which does defy credibility, so I wish Mr. Doremus had better headed off our objections.  Once on our way, however, there is so much fun to be had and interesting new characters to meet that I think you'll be happy to tag along.  (The scene with Nicole Vicius in a skating rink is simply magical -- and then suddenly, quite sensible)  Dickler and Jones make a fine set of sparring brothers, while the always-engaging Marguerite Moreau (shown above, right, who was so compelling in the recent Easier With Practice) -- direct and utterly real -- helps ground this short, 72-minute movie.  Good music is provided by, among others, the Goddamn Electric Bill, and there's also some nifty artwork (the Jones character is an artist) from Christopher Baier.

Douchebag, from Paladin, open today, October 1, in New York City at the Village East Cinemas, in Los Angeles on October 8 at the NuArt Theater, and elsewhere around the country in the weeks to come.  Click here for a listing of cities and theaters.

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At the chance to speak with this filmmaker, shown at left, TrustMovies jumped but, due to a time mix-up, it was not to be. Instead we emailed back and forth and came up with the following. (Normally I would retype Mr. Doremus' answers -- which came back to me in CAPITAL LETTERS -- into upper and lower case, but today's time constraints prevent this. (Plus, TrustMovies is such a lousy typist that he would make many mistakes, only some of which, if history be a guide, would he then catch and correct.)  So, in the below interview, TM remains in upper and lower case, while Drake Doremus appears in ALL CAPS:

So, Drake --how old are you?  Seeing this movie, by the way, really makes me want to see your earlier Spooner, so I will stick that one in my Netflix queue – if NF has it.)

THANKS MAN, SPOONER SHOULD BE OUT SOMETIME IN JANUARY, I BELIEVE. I AM 27 YEARS OLD. WE JUST SHOT A NEW MOVIE, TOO, THIS YEAR CALLED ''LIKE CRAZY'' STARRING FELICITY JONES, JENNIFER LAWRENCE AND ANTON YELCHIN. SHOULD BE DONE FOR NEXT YEAR AT SOME POINT. AS LONG AS THE IDEAS ARE THERE, A MOVIE A YEAR IS THE GOAL.

A Super Crispy Entertainment Production: Great name. Sort of describes the feeling your film has. Where did that name come from?

HAHAHA. THAT'S THE WONDERFUL NAME OF MY PRODUCER JONATHAN SCHWARTZ'S COMPANY. I BELIEVE IT JUST POPPED INTO HIS HEAD ONE DAY AND HE WENT WITH IT. HE'S AN AMAZING PRODUCER. HE PRODUCED ALL THREE OF MY FILMS AND WITHOUT HIM NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED. HE'S A HERO IN MANY WAYS.

My companion mentioned the word Mumblecore – which he generally hates (I think it must have appeared somewhere on the press release or info for the movie?) But your film did not really seem like most Mumblecore movies. It’s more energized, specific and direct regarding in the characters’ intentions. M’core people seem to diddle and wander and to be adrift somewhat. Not yours. Want to talk about this?

THANKS MAN I APPRECIATE IT. ENERGIZED IS A GREAT WORD AND THAT'S COOL THAT YOU FELT THAT WAY. SURE. I NEVER REALLY SAW THE FILM AS MUMBLECORE BUT I UNDERSTAND THE COMPARISONS. I APPRECIATE THE GENRE FOR WHAT IT IS BUT I FEEL LIKE DOUCHEBAG IS A MORE FANTASTICAL JOURNEY THAN MOST FILMS ASSOCIATED WITH THAT GENRE.

There is such immediacy to the proceedings! The energy level is really high—without being off the charts. Is this something you wanted going in, or did the actors provide it on their own?

I HATE IT IN MOVIES WHERE IT TAKES TOO LONG FOR THINGS TO HAPPEN OR MOMENTUM TO BUILD. I THINK IF YOU'RE NOT HOOKED IN THE FIRST 15 MINUTES TO GO ON A JOURNEY WITH THE CHARACTERS YOU NEVER WILL BE, SO YES THAT WAS ALWAYS THE INTENTION IN THE RHYTHM OF THE FILM. I WANT ALL OF MY MOVIES TO BE SHORT AND I LOVE IT WHEN WE GET GOING QUICKER THAN LATER. THE WONDERFUL BEN YORK JONES AND ANDREW DICKLER BROUGHT THAT ENERGY EVERYDAY, TOO.

How much of the dialog was improvised, how much written?

I'D SAY ABOUT 70 PERCENT OF THE DIALOG WAS IMPROVISED AND THE REST WRITTEN. WE HAD A 30 PAGE OUTLINE WITH REALLY SPECIFIC BEATS TO HIT AND THE WONDERFULLY TALENTED WRITER LINDSAY STIDHAM PENNED A BUNCH OF LINES, TOO, THAT ARE IN THE FILM.

One caveat that I have: Not immediately bringing up the possibility of Mary’s being married-with-kids (or something) seems a little too dense. I know you needed to get the guys out of there, plot-wise, but I wish you could have found a way around the viewer’s objection to this kind of non-believability == because so much of your movie really is believable.

I CAN UNDERSTAND THAT. FOR ME THOSE TWO GUYS ARE PRETTY DENSE IN SOME SOCIAL WAYS FOR SURE AND I THINK THE FACT THAT NEITHER OF THEM BRINGS IT UP OR MANY OTHER LOGICAL THINGS DURING THIER JOURNEY JUST ADDS TO THE FANTASTICAL ELEMENT I SPOKE OF BEFORE.

How’d you get Marguerite Moreau? She’s so good: Direct, simple, direct, real and involved! She grounds the movie.

YES, I LOVE MARGUERITE AND MAN, DOES SHE ALWAYS BRING IT EVERYDAY THAT SHE'S ON SET! I HAD MET HER ON ANOTHER MOVIE AND IMMEDIATELY THOUGHT OF HER TO PLAY STEPH WHEN WE STARTED CASTING. THAT'S FUNNY YOU USE THE WORD GROUNDED BECAUSE THAT WAS ALWAYS THE INTENTION WITH HER AND I USED THAT WORD A LOT WITH HER. SAM AND TOM CAN BE VERY SILLY AND OUTLANDISH AT TIMES SO I FELT IT WAS ALWAYS GOING TO BE VERY IMPORTANT TO HAVE HER AS THE VOICE OF REASON THROUGHOUT THE FILM. I ALSO GREW UP WATCHING THE MIGHTY DUCKS AND GREW UP A BIG DUCKS FAN IN ORANGE COUNTY SO I GUESS IN THE BACK OF MY MIND I ALWAYS LOVED HER AND IT WAS VERY VERY COOL TO GET TO WORK WITH HER.

Nicole Vicius is also great. That one little scene just lights up the movie in a certain odd way. She is so open and direct and charming. The viewer is definitely sorry that Tom won’t end up with her – whether she’s the real Mary or not.

YEAH, NICOLE I ALSO MET ON ANOTHER FILM AND I FELL IN LOVE WITH HER AS AN ACTRESS THE MOMENT I SAW HER IN HALF NELSON. SHE'S NEVER HIDING ANYTHING ON SCREEN. WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET WITH HER AND THAT SECTION IS ONE OF MY FAVORITES FOR SURE.

Christopher Baier did the art for the end credits? Really good. How did this come about?

CHRIS IS ONE OF BEN YORK JONES' BEST FRIENDS AND ONCE WE KNEW TOM WAS GOING TO BE A PAINTER HIS NAME CAME TO MIND VERY QUICKLY. HE IS AN INCREDIBLE ARTIST AND LIVENS UP THE MOVIE A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT. YOU CAN CHECK OUT MORE OF HIS WORK HERE.

Great music, too. Goddammed Electric Bill -- never heard of ‘em -- but good!  Friends of yours?

YES, BEST FRIENDS, ACTUALLY. I ALWAYS KNEW I WANTED JASON TORBERT AND CASEY IMMOOR'S MUSIC IN THE FILM. I HAD NEVER REALLY SEEN A FILM IN THIS VEIN WITH THIS TYPE OF ELECTRONIC SCORE BEFORE, SO I ALWAYS WANTED TO DO SOMETHING VERY DIFFERENT MUSICALLY HERE THAT STILL HIT EMOTIONALLY THE WAY IT NEEDED TO IN THE FILM. YOU CAN FIND MOST OF THE MUSIC IN THE FILM ON ITUNES AND HERE OR HERE.

Anything else you want to say? Here’s your chance.

DON'T TEMPT ME; I COULD TALK FOR HOURS.
WELL, JUST THAT THE FILM OPENS IN NEW YORK THIS FRIDAY OCTOBER 1ST AND IN LOS ANGELES ON FRIDAY OCTOBER 8TH, AND THEN IN ABOUT 10 SELECTED CITIES AFTER THAT. BEN, ANDREW AND I WILL BE DOING Q AND A'S MOST OPENING NIGHT WEEKENDS AND WE'D LOVE TO HAVE YOUR READERS COME OUT AND HOPEFULLY ENJOY THE FILM AND HANG OUT AFTERWARDS AND TALK FILM. SO PLEASE, COME ON OUT AND HAVE A BLAST WITH US. SEE YOU GUYS AT THE THEATER.  CHEERS!  --DRAKE