MUBI Blog

Satoshi Kon, who showed us just how wildly, even dangerously imaginative anime could be, has left us too soon. He was 47. We’re remembering him here and here. Meantime, here’s what else going now on at MUBI and The Auteurs…

JOSEF VON STERNBERG

On Monday, Daniel Kasman kicked off what pretty much turned out to be Josef von Sternberg Week with an appreciation in text and imagery of “the atmosphere running thick with worldly cynicism, beautiful faces, stoic and mask-like, tests of belief and sublime gestures of faith.” The following day, Criterion released its 3 Silent Classics set and the reviews of Underworld (1927), The Last Command (1928) and The Docks of New York (1928) have been rapturous.

IF YOU ONLY SEE ONE MOVIE THIS WEEK

Scan some of the early fall previews appearing just now in magazines and online, and you’ll see right off that the pickings are going to be more plentiful starting next month or so. For now, though, let’s go with Claudia Llosa’s The Milk of Sorrow, which won the Golden Bear and a FIPRESCHI Prize in Berlin in 2009 and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. “Wonderfully strange, hypnotically beautiful,” writes Ella Taylor in the Voice.

THERE’S NO STOPPING POSTER MANIA

The Night of the Hunter (1955), Brute Force (1947) and Touchez pas au grisbi (1954) are all screening at All Tomorrow’s Parties in New York (September 3 through 5), an event curated by Jim Jarmush (see Christopher R Weingarten’s terrific interview with him in the Voice). But here’s the part we can all get a kick out of, whether or not we’re in NYC: Criterion designer Eric Skillman has commissioned new posters for the films from comic book artists. Meantime, have you seen David Lynch’s poster for AFIFEST 2010?

For more news and views, check in on The Daily Notebook. Twitter: Essentials (@theauteurs) and/or up-to-the-minute alerts (@thedailyMUBI). Find us on Facebook.

Come, September! Boyd van Hoeij’s previewed Venice, Toronto carries on announcing new titles and New York’s lineup also features Raúl Ruiz’s Mysteries of Lisbon. We’re ready. Meantime, here’s what’s going now on at MUBI and The Auteurs…

CHINESE INDEPENDENTS

“We remain deeply committed to providing American audiences with an unmediated look at life, as it’s truly lived, inside the world’s next superpower.” That’s the remarkable distributor dGenerate Films, bringing uncensored, visionary work from deep within mainland China’s independent and underground film scenes. We’re proud to present ten titles to our viewers in the States.

THE BLUE ANGEL

Josef von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich are back. Criterion releases 3 Silent Classics by Josef von Sternberg next week and Not Coming to a Theater Near You is already off and running with its series, von Sternberg and Dietrich. Cullen Gallagher on The Blue Angel: “Dietrich’s magnetism on-screen is unmistakable, and the inspired and fortuitous pairing of her and von Sternberg remains magical eight decades later.”

IF YOU ONLY SEE ONE MOVIE THIS WEEK

Boasting as many layered alternative realities as Inception, Yael Hersonski’s A Film Unfinished is, of course, far more serious fare, a documentary analyzing a Nazi propaganda film and the outtakes that betray its lies. In the New York Times, Jeannette Catsoulis finds it “remarkable as much for its speculative restraint as for its philosophical reach.”

MAGAZINE RACK

Distinctions between high-, middle- and low-brow have been on the endangered list for decades now, but few toss them out with such pizzaz and abandon as one of our favorite film journals, Bright Lights. Once you’ve caught up with their new issue, turn to Electric Sheep, featuring our columnist on “Forgotten” films, David Cairns. And finally, a question. How do you break into a military-industrial fortress perched on the side of a snowy mountain? Doug Dibbern considers the approaches taken by Christopher Nolan and Anthony Mann.

For more news and views, check in on The Daily Notebook. Twitter: Essentials (@MUBIdotcom) and/or up-to-the-minute alerts (@thedailyMUBI). Find us on Facebook.

OUR BELOVED MONTH OF AUGUST

May we recommend it? If for no other reason than the most obvious? Here’s a bit of what’s going on at MUBI and The Auteurs…

WHO IS ANDREI KONCHALOVSKY?

You may know him as the friend of Tarkovsky who co-wrote the screenplays for early works such as Andrei Rublev. Or as the older brother of Nikita Mikhalkov. As a director himself, his work ranges “from cinéma vérité-inspired The Story of Asya Klyachina (1966) to the epic Siberiade (1979), from the road movie Homer and Eddie (1989) to TV mini-series The Odyssey (1997),” notes Anna Nieman, introducing her fascinating interview just posted in the Garage.

“I’VE HAD A LOVELY TIME”

This week saw the loss of Bruno S., a painter, musician and actor best known for his performances in Werner Herzog’s The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974) and Stroszek (1977). And Patricia Neal, whose performance as a weary housekeeper in Hud (1963) won her an Oscar, who fell for Gary Cooper while standing in for Ayn Rand in The Fountainhead (1949), who saved the planet in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) and who made a media phenomenon out of Andy Griffith in A Face in the Crowd (1957), died over the weekend and the remembrances have been pouring in ever since.

IF YOU ONLY SEE ONE MOVIE THIS WEEK

If you’ve been avoiding the romping, stomping action flicks of summer, this may be the weekend you’ll have to give in. You do have an excuse: The alternatives just aren’t all that enticing. You might try Scott Pilgrim vs the World (after all, Shaun of the Dead was pretty fun, right?) or go all out with Stallone and the Testosterone Gang: The Expendables.

MOVIE POSTERS OF THE WEEK

Little wonder that Adrian Curry’s “Movie Poster of the Week” is one of our most popular features. The man has an eye and a talent for explicating what it sees. His most recent entry is not only a must-see but also a must-read as he tracks two prevailing trends in contemporary poster design.

For more news and views, check in on The Daily Notebook. Twitter: Essentials (@MUBIdotcom) and/or up-to-the-minute alerts (@thedailyMUBI). Find us on Facebook.

AUGUST OFFERINGS

As we study the lineups for Venice and Toronto and prepare to dispatch our correspondents, we’re also keeping an eye on Locarno, which has opened this week with Benoît Jacquot’s Deep in the Woods. But cinephiles cannot view by festivals alone, so here’s what else is going on at MUBI and The Auteurs…

LARS VON TRIER’S THE KINGDOM

In the mid-90s, Lars von Trier wrote and directed The Kingdom, a miniseries for Danish television that “may be the most purely entertaining and frivolous undertaking of his career, a delirious genre-jumping fusion of soap opera, horror, and farce, with a dash of social commentary thrown in for good measure,” as Scott Tobias wrote, inducting it into his “New Cult Canon” at the AV Club. Now we’re making it available throughout much of the world so you can take in its 9-plus hours at your leisure.

FARE THEE WELL

In the past week, we’ve had to say our goodbyes to the legendary Suso Cecchi d’Amico, who wrote over 110 screenplays for the likes of Luchino Visconti, Michelangelo Antonioni, Vittorio De Sica and Franco Zeffirelli; production designer Robert F Boyle, who also worked with a slew of directors but will be most remembered for his collaboration with Hitchcock on North by Northwest; and Tom Mankiewicz, son of Joseph L and nephew of Herman J who wrote the screenplays for such James Bond films as Diamonds are Forever and The Man with the Golden Gun.

IF YOU ONLY SEE ONE MOVIE THIS WEEK

New Yorkers might opt for Isabel “Coca” Sarli, Manoel de Oliveira, Howard Hawks or Lou Ye. As for the rest of us, Samuel Maoz’s Lebanon begins its rollout across the country this week. It’s “not just the year’s most impressive first feature but also the strongest new movie of any kind I’ve seen in 2010,” writes J Hoberman in the Voice. “Blunt, clamorous, and harrowing, Lebanon is also a formalist tour de force.”

1000 WORDS

Have you been keeping up with Daniel Kasman’s Images of the Day? It’s not just that they’re stunning on their own; they’re also often peppered with succinct commentary and links to further online gazing and viewing.

For more news and views, check in on The Daily Notebook. Twitter: Essentials (@MUBIdotcom) and/or up-to-the-minute alerts (@thedailyMUBI). Find us on Facebook.

SUMMER INTO FALL

With the lineups for the Venice and Toronto fillm festivals all but set now, the fall season — or, as some of us like to think of it, the “but seriously…” season — is beginning to take shape. Keep an eye on The Daily Notebook for the latest on films such as Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, which’ll be screening at both festivals. More goings on at MUBI and The Auteurs…

FREE VIEWING AROUND THE WORLD

No matter what the season, there’s nearly always some festival on somewhere and, more and more now, we’ve been offering you an opportunity to sample the best of their offerings. If you’re in Australia, for example, three films featured in the Melbourne International Film Festival are freely viewable to the first 300 comers, including the justly lauded Sweetgrass (see a roundup of raves here). Check out our Cinemas frequently for more free home viewing in your country.

DIRECTORS CUP

Even if you’re not actively participating in the voting, the discussions and cases made for which director ought to beat out which other director in the next round make for terrific reading — as well as a fine introduction to your fellow MUBI members. Here’s the latest schedule for the current match-ups.

IF YOU ONLY SEE ONE MOVIE THIS WEEK

The first run features this weekend are, to put it kindly, uninspiring, so let us recommend that you check your local repertory schedule. New Yorkers, for example, can choose between Chaplin, Ken Russell and the late cinematographer William Lubtchansky. Los Angelenos might opt for Kim Novak — in person!

QUICK VIEWS

Octogenarian Kenneth Anger has a new film. Granted, it’s an ad, but it’s also an Anger. Here’s a lovely little making-of reel for Raúl Ruiz’s Memories of Lisbon, headed for a premiere in Toronto. And Creative Review has gathered a collection of, well, creative shorts.

For more news and views, check in on The Daily Notebook. Twitter: Essentials (@MUBIdotcom) and/or up-to-the-minute alerts (@thedailyMUBI). Find us on Facebook.

37°2 LE MATIN

With an original title like that, is there another film that screams out “summertime viewing” any louder than Jean-Jacques Beineix’s 1986 cult favorite Betty Blue? Watch it now for free (one week only!) and keep an eye out for more free Beineix. More news from MUBI and The Auteurs…

FILM HISTORY COMES ALIVE IN FLICKER ALLEY

Last year, the National Society of Film Critics presented its Film Heritage Award to Flicker Alley for publishing “rare early US and foreign silent film.” Barely eight years old now, Flicker Alley has won the respect and deeply felt appreciation of cinephiles for its high-quality digital editions of previously neglected major landmarks of film history. Now viewers in the US and Canada can watch a selection of works by the likes of the Lumière Brothers, Charlie Chaplin, Georges Méliès and the Fleischers online — many of them for free.

YOU DIDN’T MISS THIS, DID YOU?

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky wishes Abel Ferrara a happy 59th; Daniel Kasman’s ode to Joan Bennett; Glenn Kenny on what’s happened to Wim Wenders; R. Emmet Sweeney on the incomparable Robert Flaherty Seminar; Not Coming to a Theater Near You on Agnès Varda; the trailer for David Fincher’s The Social Network; all things Inception.

IF YOU ONLY SEE ONE MOVIE THIS WEEK

No one’s lukewarm on Todd Solondz. If you find him to be a daring, vital and unique voice in American independent cinema, you won’t want to miss Life During Wartime, the not-quite-a-sequel to Happiness. If you find him shooting for a unique and daring vitality and missing by a severely wide margin, how about Emir Kusturica as a renegade KGB officer in Christian Carion’s Cold War thriller Farewell?

MORE ESSENTIAL SUMMER READING

With more than 60 essays packed between its virtual covers, the Summer 2010 issue of Jump Cut arrives online with a thump and all the heaviosity of a damn book, with special sections on experimental documentary, corporate Hollywood today, torture and horror, a roundtable on Errol Morris’s Standard Operating Procedure, experimental and artworlds, sex and its anxieties and US and international film and television.

For more news and views, check in on The Daily Notebook. Twitter: Essentials (@MUBIdotcom) and/or up-to-the-minute alerts (@thedailyMUBI). Find us on Facebook.

ROMAN POLANSKI FREE!

The week began with a bang, with news that Swiss authorities would not be extradicting Roman Polanski to the US. He’s a free man. Great news to some, rotten news to others. Follow the debate in The Notebook and the Forums. Meantime, here’s a quick guide to what else is going on at MUBI and The Auteurs.

WHAT’S WITH THE NORMAN ROCKWELL REVIVAL?

And what’s he got to do with movies anyway? As Adrian Curry explained the other day, a little bit more than most of us would’ve guessed. It’s not just that his champions (and big-time collectors), Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, are throwing him an exhibition at the Smithsonian; Rockwell was commissioned to design a handful of movie posters as well — with intriguing results.

LE CINÉMA D’AGNÈS VARDA

These languid summer days are perfect for catching up with the work of Agnès Varda, a lively and mighty force in cinema over the past several decades. You may know the classics (Cleo from 5 to 7 and so on), but we’ve got a slew of rarities you probably won’t be able to catch anywhere else.

IF YOU ONLY SEE ONE MOVIE THIS WEEK

Well, it’s going to be Christopher Nolan’s Inception, isn’t it? But then what? If you’re in New York, may we recommend catching a Straub-Huillet, a Parajanov or, say, a Rossellini at the Anti-Biopics series? And for those in San Francisco, the Silent Film Festival is one spectacular event.

ESSENTIAL SUMMER READING

Dominik Graf, the Berlin School and historian and theorist Thomas Elsaesser figure prominently in the new issue of Senses of Cinema. And Film Comment features Paul Brunick on the state of film criticism, plus his annotated blog roll of the “Top Film Criticism Sites.”

For more news and views, check in on The Daily Notebook. Twitter: Essentials (@MUBIdotcom) and/or up-to-the-minute alerts (@thedailyMUBI). Find us on Facebook.

A quick guide to goings on at MUBI and The Auteurs.

CAN ANYONE KEEP UP WITH TAKASHI MIIKE?

If the first reviews are anything to go by, Christopher Nolan’s Inception is an event to look forward to. While we anticipate next week’s opening, now’s a perfect time to catch up with A Decade with Takashi Miike, a series we’ve been running for the past few months now on the iconoclast’s wildly diverse work in the 2000s.

SALLY POTTER IN NEW YORK, YOU IN KARLOVY VARY

This week sees the opening of a Sally Potter retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, but even if you’re not in New York, you can watch right now, and on through July 21 — for free — her 1970 short, Play. Meantime, the Karlovy Vary Film Festival is on through Saturday. Be sure to sample their program — again, for free — right here.

IF YOU ONLY SEE ONE MOVIE THIS WEEK

Jacques Rivette’s Around a Small Mountain “seems infinitely open,” wrote Daniel Kasman last fall, “taking place in the farthest reaches from the real world.  Out in the light of nature… this perennially grim filmmaker — who masks the dark of the world with the play of cinema — has made a movie that finally seems to remove and nearly efface itself from worldly concerns, eulogizing in a most beautiful way simply the way people move through, and around, the play of life.”

EYE CANDY

Photographers Raymond Cauchetier and Jeanloup Sieff snap 20th century giants. Davids Cronenberg and Lynch on Letterman in the early 90s. Happy 100, Gloria Stuart.

For more news and views, check in on The Daily Notebook. Twitter: Essentials (@MUBIdotcom) and/or up-to-the-minute alerts (@thedailyMUBI). Find us on Facebook.

A quick guide to goings on at MUBI and The Auteurs.

OLAF WHO?

Olaf Möller, a regular contributor to Cinema Scope and Film Comment, a film curator and programmer for museums and festivals, that’s who. A need-to-know sort. See the first part of Dmitry Martov’s interview and look for the second on Monday. Möller is also the Other First Secretary and Minister of Spirituality of the Ferroni Brigade, who looked back at Cannes this week and awarded their Golden, Silver-Winged and Grey Donkeys.

LIBERTAS FILM FESTIVAL SHORTS - FOR FREE!

For the first time, Libertas in Croatia is teaming up with MUBI to show a selection of its short films online. During the Libertas Film Festival, June 25th-July 6th, 2010, 13 films from their short program will be playing for free on the site. Have your own little Libertas Film Festival at home!

IF YOU SEE ONLY ONE MOVIE THIS WEEK

… And you’re in New York, we hope you’re enjoying the New York Asian Film Festival. Be sure to catch Hitoshi Matsumoto’s Symbol, screening on Sunday and Wednesday. If you’re not in New York, make that one movie Giorgos Lanthimos’s Dogtooth. Yes, it actually opened last week, but evidently, if you’re over 15, the studios aren’t expecting you in theaters this July 4 weekend.

VIRAL VIDEO

Quick summertime views. “McGuffin by Hitchcock.” “100 Greatest Movie Insults of All Time.” A live stage version of Chuck Jones’s “What’s Opera, Doc?” And Independencia interviews this year’s Palme d’Or winner, Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

For more news and views, check in on The Daily Notebook. Twitter: Essentials (@MUBIdotcom) and/or up-to-the-minute alerts (@thedailyMUBI). Find us on Facebook.

A quick guide to goings on at MUBI and The Auteurs.

THE WAR COMES HOME

The flap over General McChrystal has dragged the war in Afghanistan back into the news cycle. The award-winning documentary Restrepo, opening on Friday, reminds us how hellish fighting that war can be. Here’s what the critics are saying.

CANNES FOR FREE

Just a few days left to watch some of the best films to ever screen at Cannes — for free! Co-presented by Stella Artois.

IF YOU ONLY SEE ONE MOVIE THIS WEEK

Alain Resnais “is a director who has always complicated drama with comedy, realism with surrealism, philosophy with pop culture — and vice versa.” Adrian Martin for Sight & Sound: “Wild Grass is a relatively gentle work when placed beside Hiroshima, mon amour (1959) or Providence (1976), but it still has the pundits guessing: what is this brazenly youthful film from a man of 87 – deadly serious, or an extended joke? A summing-up of the œuvre, or a taking-off into unknown skies? It manages, magisterially, to be all of these things at once.”

THE BEST MAGAZINES IN THE WORLD

This week sees a new issue of Cinema Scope and the sudden appearance of rich archives: FEED (may it rest in peace) and 032c, still very much alive and kicking.

For more news and views, check in on The Daily Notebook. Twitter: Essentials (@MUBIdotcom) and/or up-to-the-minute alerts (@thedailyMUBI). Find us on Facebook.

Welcome to the inaugural edition of our new weekly guide to goings on at MUBI, The Auteurs and, precocious as it may sound, the world.

FILM WORLD NEWS

Sylvain Chomet’s The Illusionist, based on an unrealized screenplay by Jacques Tati, opened the Edinburgh International Film Festival on Wednesday and David Cairns has given it a 4-out-of-5-star rave. Also on Wednesday, we were shocked and saddened to learn of the sudden and untimely death of film critic Peter Brunette.

NEW ON MUBI

Caught World Cup fever? While teams from 32 nations face off in South Africa, our community is pitting 128 filmmakers up against each other in good-spirited cinephilic competition. Cast your vote in Directors’ Cup 2010.

IF YOU ONLY SEE ONE MOVIE THIS WEEK

Michelangelo Antonioni’s Le amiche in you’re in New York (see Glenn Kenny’s review); otherwise, Luca Guadagnino’s I Am Love with Tilda Swinton (see the first wave of reviews from last year’s Venice and Toronto festivals and Adrian Curry’s collection of Tilda posters).

CLICK THIS

Vadim Rizov’s “brief taxonomy of mumblecore.” CINE-FILS’ interview with cinematographer Harris Savides. Caleb Crain on why Splice isn’t science fiction and Charles Arthur on why Minority Report, too, was spot on.