Klik GAMBAR Dibawah Untuk Lebih Info

Sumber Asal Berita :-

The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

Posted: 19 Oct 2011 12:14 AM PDT

A new Trespass in Joel Schumacher's film career.

IN present-day Hollywood dominated by bland business executives and political correctness, the outspoken director Joel Schumacher stands as a refreshing throwback to an era when "show" shared equal footing with business in "showbiz".

Schumacher started out as a costume designer for Woody Allen, then helped create The Brat Pack with such seminal hit films as The Lost Boys and St. Elmo's Fire, before going on to direct Batman Forever, The Client and Phone Booth. Schumacher's latest film Trespass, is a tense, twisting thriller starring Oscar winners Nicolas Cage and Nicole Kidman as a wealthy couple facing the nightmare of a home invasion robbery.

The 72 year-old director spoke about making the film, his long career and his own nightmares on set.

You obviously love making thrillers like this: Phone Booth, 8mm and The Number 23. What's the secret to making a great one?

First, you need a great premise, and this has the primal fear we all have of someone breaking into your home in the middle of the night. Then you ratchet up the tension and hopefully keep everyone on the edge of their seats.

But I also like to make films with lots of layers, even if they're not readily apparent. So this is also about class warfare and the sorry state of the American dream today.

In fact, I saw Nic Cage's character and the gang's leader as being two sides of the same coin.

They've both over-reached for that dream and been foolish and landed in big trouble. It's what's happened in this country today. People had to have the big house, the jewellery, the paintings, and many were encouraged by our corrupt financial system, but simply couldn't afford it.

You also like making films about flawed characters.

That's true. I've worked in a lot of genres, but I do like to take flawed people and then heap stress on them and see if it'll make 'em or break 'em.

You've worked with both your stars before, Nic in 8mm, Nicole in Batman Forever. What did they bring to this film?

I've known Nicole since right after she did Dead Calm in 1989, and I've been in love with her since then.

She came to my house and was very shy but just stunning, and we became good friends. Same with Nic.

I've know him since he was a teenager, and like Jim Carrey, he was always too special and quirky to put in my ensemble movies. They both do the thing they do better than anyone else, and they add a lot to their characters in the rehearsals and rewrites.

And this is the kind of movie, like Phone Booth, you can't script it out. You get seven stressed-out people in a room and (things are) going to happen!

No one's going to just stand there and recite their lines in turn. It doesn't work that way. There's a lot of overlapping dialogue, like a Robert Altman film.

I was very influenced by him back in my heavy drug days in the late 60s. His approach was so revolutionary back then, and his use of ensemble casts.

How do you look back on your career?

Hollywood was very different back then. It was a much smaller industry, and I knew all the studio heads by name even though I was the poorest person in the room.

I started off making US$200 a week doing costumes, and I was coming off my intravenous drug days, and I'd have worked for even US$5.

I grew up in Queens behind a movie theatre, and I was always in love with movies and actors.

I think I'm a very cast-dependent director, and I think I've had the career I've had because of my casts. I may not be a genius director, but I'll put my casts up against anyone's!

What did you learn from Woody Allen?

The big lesson was, you must write in order to direct. So I did, and sold a lot of scripts like Car Wash, which they wouldn't let me direct. But it was a huge hit, and then I got a break and was offered my first feature, The Incredible Shrinking Woman.

You've made two dozen films. Any favourites?

No, they're like children – all different, and you love them all equally. Sometimes the nightmare ones are the ones you learn most from. Looking back, I think I was the wrong director for Dying Young with Julia Roberts. I'd just done Flatliners with her and was mad about her. Still am. But I don't think I'm the greatest love story director, and it was also a very veiled movie about AIDS. We talked about that a lot. It was a difficult project.

What about difficult stars. Ever had a nightmare experience?

There's a couple I'd never work with again. Val Kilmer, though he was a fabulous Batman – sexy, dark, great. His reputation preceded him. And I wasn't alone. Even Ron Howard came out about him, which really surprised me as he's much more of a gentleman than I am!

I haven't really seen Val since back then, and don't know what's happened to his life since then. I hope I've grown, I hope he's grown. That's another great thing Woody Allen taught me.

He said to me back in 1973: "Success gives people permission to be exactly who they were always supposed to be; the good get better, and the worst get worser."

I've never forgotten that, and it's so true! – Reuters

> Trespass opens in Malaysian cinemas tomorrow.

Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

The Latin experience

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 04:27 PM PDT

As in years past, this year's Latin American Film Festival offers you a taste of something different.

Viva México! Viva Ecuador! Viva Venezuela! Viva Chile! Viva the other six countries that are contributing to this year's Latin American Film Festival at three GSC cinemas in the Klang Valley! Viva, you may have guessed, is how we say our celebratory "Long live!" in Spanish. And the correct response is to echo Viva! in response.

See, now you know something awesome about Latin American culture. Come to the Latin American Film Festival (LAFF) for more.

Film festivals are a glorious yearly event and here is one that has been around for a while. It also stands apart for two reasons. One is personal – this reviewer deeply loves Latin America, its countries, its peoples and its cultures. The second is in the choice of films.

While the trend with some festivals has been to show more modern and crowd-pleasing selections, this festival will be a delight to traditionalists. Instead of trying to accommodate the viewers' tastes, these films invite you to sample new flavours.

It's the difference between a few days in a five-star hotel and a couple weeks in a homestay. Perhaps not for everyone, but very special to those who give it a go.

Unfortunately there is a limited time to sample this bufetdelicioso – only four days in which to watch 12 films from 10 countries, but do try to get at least one bite. And for aficionados, the challenge is great but, say it with me: Sípodemos! (Yes, we can!)

Some select films to get you in the groove:

A Paper Tiger (Colombia)

Winner of the Colombian National Award for Documentary, Luis Ospina investigates the life and work of legendary Colombian collage artist Pedro Manrique Figuerora from 1934 to his mysterious disappearance in 1981. The artist's elusive and contradictory story serves as a pretext for a documentary about the 1960s and 70s, a period so often idealised and mystified, which examines the relationship between art and politics, between truth and lies, and between documentary and fiction.

The Old House (Cuba)

Based on the classic Cuban play The Old House by Abelardo Estorino, it does its own asking and answering of that age-old question: Can you ever go back home again? Esteban, who left 14 years ago, returns when he learns that his father is dying and finds that little has changed. The family's joy at seeing him again cannot cover for long the bitterness and resentment over Esteban's long absence. Trapped together in the family's old house, grudges, misunderstandings and intolerance bubble to the surface.

Welcome To Your Family (Ecuador)

At the age of 14, Yandri has already spent half of her life away from her father who immigrated to Spain in hopes of finding a better future for his family. Jessica emigrates too, leaving her children to be raised by their loving grandmother. Jorge's youngest daughter was only nine months old when he emigrated, so she has no memory of him. Welcome To Your Family is a documentary that follows the lives of three families trying to reunite after hard decisions and long separation.

Open Air (Venezuela)

As the 18th century turns into the 19th, two young European naturalists, Alexandre Von Humboldt and Aime Bonpland go through the heart of the jungle in search of the mythical Casiquiare River. Full of progressive convictions, these democratic humanists face a brutal and beautiful reality. Their travels shall mark them forever and will lead them to discover death, life and eternal friendship.

This wonderful adventure movie is also a philosophical and ecological story with surrealistic touches, a beautiful story of friendship and brotherhood which transgress cultural clashes, and a spectacular historical fresco.

Dog In The Manger (Peru)

A comedy about, of all things, encroaching development. Brus is an indigenous artist who struggles to organise his community to protect their culture and ancestral land in the rainforest of Peru. To protect this land, one of the most bio-diverse regions in the world, Brus joins a local NGO and finds himself in the surreal world of foreign researchers, volunteers and development experts, but ultimately discovers his own way of empowering his community.

Moon Of Avellaneda (Argentina)

Román Maldonado was born in the midst of a carnival fair held at "Luna de Avellaneda," a sports and social club, and for this he is made a member for life. The decades pass and membership dwindles from thousands to only 300 and the club is in danger of being demolished and replaced with a bingo parlour. Although Román is also undergoing marital problems, he and his friends know they must fight for Luna's survival.

> Films for the Latin American Film Festival 2011 are showing at GSC Mid Valley, GSC 1-Utama and GSC Pavillion from Oct 20 to 23. Tickets are RM5 a piece, except for the Brazilan films which are free of charge. For more information, please visit latinfilmfest.org.my or gsc.com.my.

A Brazilian bonus

BRAZIL invites Malaysian audiences to watch its two festival films for free. Honestly, I would highly recommend both even without the added incentive. The two documentaries will have you scurrying home to spend an hour or so on Google, eager to learn more about their topics. And if you have a list of Things To Do Before You Die, it will likely get just a little longer.

You can print the coupons for free passes on the LAFF pages of gsc.com.my.

The Mystery Of Samba

Samba does not come from the city or from the slums. It comes from the heart." By the time these words are spoken, you could have probably said them yourself. Documentary-maker Lula Buarque de Hollanda has taken you to Portela, a Brazilian Samba school that by the end of the film will invoke the same feeling of longing as Xanadu. Or New Orleans.

The people Buarque de Hollanda speaks to about Samba are (or should be) legends, men and women to whom song is the most natural way of expressing love, pain, loneliness, joy or even news. Such a common way of life that until recently, no one thought of writing them down or preserving them but recently the effort has been made to record and share some of these wonderful songs.

The stories are wonderful to hear. There was one man who as a child fell in love with the cavaquinho (a musical instrument that looks like a small guitar) but could not afford the instrument. What the little boy did next and how this meant that the first time he actually picked up a cavaquinho he could play like a virtuoso is unforgettable.

As is the music. Like me, three days after watching the film your heart will still be singing Portela.

Oscar Niemeyer: Life is But A Breath

If you have any interest whatsoever in architecture, you absolutely cannot miss this film. Oscar Niemeyer is man who created a whole new school of architecture. His buildings are all over the world and designs inspired or influenced by his work (not only buildings, as you will see in the film) are likely within walking distance of wherever you are right now.

I did this after watching the film, but you go ahead and Google images under his name if you need any further convincing. Then go watch and learn from the master how these strange and magnificent buildings came to be.

A self-proclaimed pessimist, Neimeyer believes that optimism ill-prepares us for reality while pessimism makes it possible to ride out any problems, even the difficulties he has faced. Now still living at the ripe old age of 103, Niemeyer dislikes right angles, straight lines and capitalism. His designs flow like the "curves of a woman." Poor people have nothing, but beautiful buildings gives them something to look at.

For a fascinating look at a fascinating man, don't miss this film.

Full content generated by Get Full RSS.

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Rabu, 19 Oktober 2011