“I didn’t expect to find a friend like Bruno in my life. Nor that friendship was a place where you put down roots, that remains waiting for you.” It’s with these words, delivered in wistful voiceover, that Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch open “The Eight Mountains,” their sublime and gently aching adaptation of the Italian bestseller by Paolo Cognetti.

Set against the breathtaking mountain vistas of northwestern Italy, the film — which won the jury prize at last year’s Cannes Film Festival — first explores the bond between two young boys, one visiting a village in the scenic Valle d’Aosta region over the summer and the other born there to cow-herder parents.

Continue reading ‘The Eight Mountains’ Directors On Their Acclaimed Cannes Friendship Drama, Filming in The Italian Alps & More [Interview] at The Playlist.

After the release of 2017’s “Darkest Hour,” filmmaker Joe Wright was living the dream. His film was nominated for six Oscars (winning two), and it appeared he was going to enter the conversation as one of the best filmmakers working today. Unfortunately, the drama surrounding his follow-up (“The Woman in the Window”) overshadowed the actual content (which itself wasn’t beloved) and led to perhaps one of the lowest points in his acclaimed career.

Continue reading ‘M. Son of the Century’: Joe Wright Describes His Benito Mussolini Series As “Quite Outlandish” at The Playlist.

Felix van Groeningen‘s last film, 2018’s “Beautiful Boy” with Steve Carrell and Timothée Chalamet, was his English-language debut. But Groeningen returns to his roots, at least artistically, for his latest. The director teams up with his wife, Charlotte Vandermeersch, for the fourth time to co-direct “The Eight Mountains,” which won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival last year.

Continue reading ‘The Eight Mountains’ Trailer: Cannes 2022 Jury Prize Winner Hits NYC Theaters On April 28 at The Playlist.

For his most subdued film yet, Belgian director Felix van Groeningen, along with co-directing partner Charlotte Vandermeersch take to the Italian Alps for a decades-spanning story of friendship. Following Groeningen’s solo effort, 2018’s “Beautiful Boy,” “The Eight Mountains” is a quiet return to form with its stunning mountain scenery and strong performances from Luca Marinelli and Alessandro Borghi, but this elegiac personal epic is far too languid for its length.

Continue reading ‘Eight Mountains’ Review: Felix Van Groeningen Returns To Form With A Sentimental Ode To Friendship In The Alps [Cannes] at The Playlist.

What’s most notable about 2020’s slate of great performances is the element of surprise. Sure, most anybody betting on Frances McDormand being heaped with praise at year-end will likely win their bets. But 2020’s best films range so far in terms of their “stuff”—themes, style, genre, atmosphere—that it stands to reason the best performances should range, too, in terms of gravity and veterancy. The Playlist’s picks for 2020’s best performances oscillate from bubbly to brooding, effervescent to angry, calm to utterly petrified; the actors responsible for these performances range from newcomers to old stalwarts, talents developing their careers and legends at the peak of theirs. 

Continue reading The 20 Best Performances Of 2020 at The Playlist.

As a good rule of thumb, assume that whatever filmmaker Gina Prince-Bythewood is doing now will become common industry practice within five years. Her films have always served as a beacon of quiet yet radical corrective energy pointing towards a cinema that practices the virtues it so frequently signals. The world is only just now catching up to Prince-Bythewood’s level of discourse around how Black women in culture are turned into sexual props by white boardroom decision-makers in 2014’s “Beyond the Lights.” Her debut feature, “Love & Basketball,” captures subtle gradients of race and gender dynamics in a way that romantic films still struggle to understand two decades later.

Continue reading ‘The Old Guard’: Gina Prince-Bythewood Assembles Immortal Avengers With Charlize Theron [Review] at The Playlist.

“Martin Eden” opens with a revelation: “So, the world is stronger than me.” The impetus behind the whispered truth slowly comes into focus as the story unfolds, cynicism and celebrity impounding hope and humility. Amidst the voiceover, the class struggle at the film’s core is depicted through the warped, incinerating lens of archival celluloid footage of the proletariat in early twentieth century Naples, Italy—an odd surprise for anyone expecting scenery of Oakland, California, the original location of Jack London’s 1909 novel of the same name.

Continue reading ‘Martin Eden’: Pietro Marcello’s Latest Is Luminous Cinema & Luca Marinelli Is A Star In The Making [NYFF Review] at The Playlist.

He who laughs last, laughs best, right? That’s probably the case for director Todd Phillips, whose much-anticipated “Joker” had perhaps the most contentious film festival premiere in recent memory. While comic book fans were excited to see an infamous—and, let’s face it, beloved—character receive a prestige treatment, not everyone regarded “Joker” as a joyful combination of populist and auteurist filmmaking. Our own Jessica Kiang was a little skeptical, praising the film while also half-seriously noting that it’s the kind of movie that may inspire “background checks and a mandatory three-day waiting period” at movie theaters across the country.

Continue reading Todd Phillips’s ‘Joker’ Takes Home The Golden Lion At The 2019 Venice Film Festival at The Playlist.

As film fans, especially those that enjoy international and indie fare, you begin to root for certain actors and filmmakers to hit it big in Hollywood. In my case, I really enjoy the work of Matthias Schoenaerts and have always hoped that he’d finally find that film that allows him to fully break out in a big way. Now, with the recent casting news with the upcoming film “The Old Guard,” that possibility is starting to look like a sure thing.

Continue reading Matthias Schoenaerts Joins Charlize Theron, Kiki Layne & More In Comic Book Adaptation ‘The Old Guard’ at The Playlist.