Progressing like a holiday suntan, from initial golden glamor through a potentially infected burn and finally to a flaky peel, Luca Guadagnino‘s “A Bigger Splash” is an enjoyable slice of sunshine noir, with the emphasis on the sunshine. A reworking of the 1969 Jacques Deray title, “La Piscine,” it owes most of its plot to that film, but other elements come from Patricia Highsmith and Alfred Hitchcock, and still others again from that well-worn European tradition dedicated to exploring the conflicting currents of sexual desire among small groups of louche sophisticates lounging around in fabulous clothes, accessorized with a scowl.

Continue reading Review: Luca Guadagnino’s Lively, Rock ‘n Roll ‘A Bigger Splash’ With Tilda Swinton, Matthias Schoenaerts, Ralph Fiennes & Dakota Johnson at The Playlist.

To chat with Luca Guadagnino is to hopscotch the timeline of cinema. Each question posed to the Italian director regarding his craft is greeted with an explanation-as-push-pin to the filmmaker, the movie, the exact shot that best articulates his point and his wonder. It’s a recent Saturday morning and we are talking his latest, “A Bigger Splash,” a sumptuous mouthful of desire, jealousy and rock-and-roll longing. Loosely inspired by Jacques Deray’s 1969 classic, “La Piscine,” Guadagnino transfers the tale to the crossways of the Mediterranean: the volcanic island of Pantelleria.

Continue reading Interview: Luca Guadagnino Talks ‘A Bigger Splash,’ Stanley Kubrick, Leaving Room For The Audience, And More at The Playlist.