While “Jackie” was a big part of last year’s awards conversation, it wasn’t the only film from acclaimed director Pablo Larrain to earn accolades in 2016. The filmmaker’s wildly inventive “Neruda” was an arthouse charmer, featuring a terrific turn by Gael Garcia Bernal, and today we have an exclusive clip from the movie, which arrives digitally this week.

Luis Gnecco stars as the titular, famed poet, in the drama that’s set in 1948 and finds the writer on the run from the Communist government.

Continue reading Exclusive: Gael Garcia Bernal Is On The Hunt In Clip From Pablo Larrain’s ‘Neruda’ at The Playlist.

I don’t think I’m the only person to have wondered about the usefulness of watching, discussing and writing about film — or any art — when it feels like outside the theater, the sky is falling. Great chunks of catastrophe are raining down from the heavens and I’m pondering crucial issues like the mythology of the “Transformers” cinematic universe and whether there’s any way to use the phrase mise-en-scene without sounding pretentious.

Continue reading Jessica Kiang’s Top 20 Films Of 2016 at The Playlist.

Let’s skip the preamble and get to the obvious news: “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” opened huge this weekend, as everyone was expecting. The “Star Wars” spinoff movie debuted with $155 million domestic, tallied another $135.5 million overseas, and gave Disney a total of global launch of $290.5 million. Very impressive numbers. It’s the 12th-best opening weekend of all time domestically, coming in behind “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” and the second-best December opening ever behind “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” Indeed, the saga movie remains untouchable, with ‘Rogue One’ $92 million off the opening mark of J.J.

Continue reading ‘Rogue One’ Has Massive Global Debut, ‘Collateral Beauty’ Gets No Love From Audiences [Box Office] at The Playlist.

A surpassingly strange chimera of visual magic and verbal delight, leavened with humor both bawdy and bittersweet, Pablo Larrain‘s “Neruda” takes the surname of its subject as its title, but in absolutely no other way under the sun does it resemble a standard biopic. For argument’s sake we’ll say that it “tells the story” of Chilean Nobel laureate and folk hero poet Pablo Neruda‘s flight from the authorities after the Chilean Communist Party, of which he was a proud member with a seat in the Senate, was banned and a warrant issued for his arrest.

Continue reading Pablo Larrain’s ‘Neruda’ Starring Gael Garcia Bernal Is A Thrilling Love Letter To The Very Concept Of Fiction [Review] at The Playlist.

In one of the biggest snubs in Oscar history, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nine-short listed films for the 2017 Foreign Language Film Oscar and Paul Verhoeven’s “Elle” was not on the list.

The French submitted drama stars Isabelle Huppert in an Oscar-worthy performance and has earned raves since it debuted at Cannes in May. It’s also one of the most critically acclaimed films of the year (89 on both Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic) and a staple of year-end top ten lists (including The Playlist’s own).

Continue reading Shocker: ‘Elle’ Becomes One Of Greatest Oscar Foreign Language Film Snubs Of All-Time at The Playlist.

Simply put, filmmaker Pablo Larrain has had a terrific 2016. In February, his micro-budgeted indie about disgraced Chilean priests, “The Club,” finally saw release (it won the Silver Bear in Berlin the year before) and two other Larrain-helmed pictures debuted at acclaimed film festivals. And while “Jackie,” which premiered at the Venice Film Festival to much acclaim, has sucked up much of the conversation thanks to its awards-worthy performance by Natalie Portman, there’s another, equally potent Pablo Larrain-directed film on the way.

Continue reading Gael Garcia Bernal & Pablo Larrain Discuss The Metaphysical ‘Neruda’ In 35-Minute Talk at The Playlist.

The year-end love keeps coming for “Toni Erdmann.” Maren Ade‘s breakout film topped best of lists from Cahiers du Cinema and Sight & Sound, and recently swept the European Film Awards, and was nominated for Best Foreign Film at the Golden Globes. And now the film has another honor as 2016 winds down.

Film Comment has released their Best Of 2016, and yep, “Toni Erdmann” has come out on top. 

Continue reading ‘Toni Erdmann’ Tops Film Comment’s Best Films Of 2016 at The Playlist.

Good gravy, Marie! It’s gonna be an awfully busy final month of 2016 at the movies. Not that we should be surprised, as this time of year is often overstuffed as studios make their final play for awards season hopefuls as the Oscars draw near.

Do keep in mind that several of the entries in this month’s loaded final list are debuting in limited release, and won’t go wide until across the country until January.

Continue reading 15 Films To See In December at The Playlist.

Leave it to Pablo Larrain to tackle two titanic true life figures and handle them in completely different ways, with both pictures resulting in awards season contention. Of course, plenty of attention is already falling on “Jackie” starring Natalie Portman, the director’s portrait of the former First Lady during her most trying days. However, there’s also Chile’s official Oscar entry “Neruda,” which earned strong buzz on the festival circuit all year, and brings Gael Garcia Bernal to the fore as the man searching for the rebellious poet.

Continue reading Exclusive: New Poster For Pablo Larrain’s ‘Neruda’ Promsies A Poet, An Inspector, And A Manhunt at The Playlist.

Pablo Larrain is coming for the awards season in a huge way this year. The glitzier offering is “Jackie,” the Darren Aronofsky produced, Natalie Portman starring drama about the life of the former First Lady during her most tumultuous time. And while that movie will have a bright light shone up on it, let’s not forget about “Neruda.” Premiering earlier this year at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, it’s Chile’s official selection for the Academy Awards, and it would be quite something if Larrain had both of his films up for Oscars.

Continue reading Gael Garcia Bernal Searches For ‘Neruda’ In New Trailer For Pablo Larrain’s Latest at The Playlist.

A few days into October, and we’ve already been spoiled by a fine festival season, from one of the best Venice line-ups ever to a stacked Telluride and TIFF to an NYFF that’s started strong with Ava DuVernay’s tremendous “The 13th.” And across the pond, things are gearing up too: the 60th BFI London Film Festival kicks off on Wednesday.

The festival doesn’t always have the big world premieres that some of the U.S fests do, but the last few years have seen it unfold some of its strongest line-ups ever, and this year might just top them all.

Continue reading 10 Films To Look Out For At The 2016 BFI London Film Festival at The Playlist.

The phrase “the death of cinema” gets thrown around every few months, but there’s little to worry about. And while the pundits will continue to ring the death knell over and over again, this week’s upcoming New York Film Festival is irrefutable proof that cinema is alive and healthier than ever.

The 54th annual New York Film Festival kicks off this Friday and as usual, the stellar programming is a top-shelf selection of artful and intelligently-made cinema.

Continue reading 14 Must-See Films At The New York Film Festival at The Playlist.

The Venice Film Festival has kicked off, and now that we move into the Labor Day weekend, it’s time for the Telluride Film Festival. Quaint, peaceful and full of cinephiles — filmmakers like Alexander Payne and Werner Herzog often show up even if they’re not promoting movies — the lineup for this year’s event has been revealed.

READ MORE: The 20 Most Anticipated Films Of The 2016 Venice Film Festival

World premieres, though they are never technically called that at Telluride include: Clint Eastwood’s flight and disaster drama, “Sully” starring Tom Hanks; Benedict Andrews’ “Una” starring Rooney Mara and Ben Mendelsohn; the boxing drama, “Bleed For This” featuring Miles Teller; Barry Jenkins’ much-anticipated follow-up to “Medicine For Melancholy,” the three-decade spanning drama, “Moonlight”; Werner Herzog’s latest documentary, “Into The Inferno”; “Maudie” by Aisling Walsh; François Ozon’s “Frantz” and “Wakefield” from director Robin Swicord.

Continue reading 2016 Telluride Film Festival Lines Up ‘Arrival,’ ‘La La Land,’ ‘Sully’ And More, Plus Our Most Anticipated Movies at The Playlist.

Let’s face it, 2016 has so far been sort of a crappy year for movies. It’s been a particularly bad summer blockbuster season, with almost everything coming up short. But even the indie world has been quieter than usual, with some dizzying highs — “The Witch,” “Embrace Of The Serpent,” “Green Room,” and “The Lobster” are among featured on our list of the best of the year so far — but some disappointments too.

Continue reading The 50 Most Anticipated Films Of The Fall Season at The Playlist.

With the Toronto International Film Festival and Venice Film Festival getting their respective lineups solidified, now it’s time for the New York Film Festival to unveil what will be coming to the Big Apple this fall. The fest has already teased a trio of great pictures, with Ava DuVernay‘s documentary “The 13th” to open proceedings, Mike Mills‘ “20th Century Women” screening as the Centerpiece selection, while James Gray‘s “The Lost City Of Z” will close it out.

Continue reading 2016 New York Film Festival Lineup Adds Films From Barry Jenkins, Kelly Reichardt, Kenneth Lonergan, Much More at The Playlist.

It’s six weeks away from the start of the Toronto International Film Festival, and the launch of the awards season. It surely will amount to a bounty of offerings for cinephiles, as Hollywood puts a troubling summer in the rear view and gets ready to show off prestige pictures. This morning, organizers at TIFF raised the curtain on the first wave of Gala and Special Presentation pictures.

Among the highlights of the films coming to Toronto this year in the Special Presentation slate are: Marc Forster‘s “All I See Is You” starring Blake Lively, Andrea Arnold‘s “American Honey,” Ewan McGregor‘s “American Pastoral,” Nate Parker‘s Sundance sensation “Birth Of A Nation,” Miles Teller‘s boxing flick “Bleed For This,” western “Brimstone” starring Guy Pearce, Rachel Weisz‘s “Denial,” Paul Verhoeven‘s controversial “Elle,” Park Chan-Wook‘s “The Handmaiden,” musical “La La Land” starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, Kenneth Lonergan‘s “Manchester By The Sea,” Christopher Guest‘s “Mascot,” Pablo Larrain‘s “Neruda,” Tom Ford‘s “Nocturnal Animals,” Jim Jarmusch‘s “Paterson,” Asghar Farhadi‘s “The Salesman,” Werner Herzog‘s “Salt And Fire,” “Toni Erdmann,” “Trespass Against Us” starring Michael Fassbender and “Una” starring Ben Mendelsohn and Rooney Mara.

Continue reading TIFF 2016 Brings ‘Nocturnal Animals,’ ‘The Magnificent Seven,’ ‘La La Land,’ ‘Arrival,’ ‘Deepwater Horizon’ & More To Toronto at The Playlist.

A surpassingly strange chimera of visual magic and verbal delight, leavened with humor both bawdy and bittersweet, Pablo Larrain‘s “Neruda” takes the surname of its subject as its title, but in absolutely no other way under the sun does it resemble a standard biopic. For argument’s sake we’ll say that it “tells the story” of Chilean Nobel laureate and folk hero poet Pablo Neruda’s flight from the authorities after the Chilean Communist Party, of which he was a proud member with a seat in the Senate, was banned and a warrant issued for his arrest.

Continue reading Cannes Review: Pablo Larrain’s Brilliant, Bizarre, Experimental Odyssey ‘Neruda’ Starring Gael Garcia Bernal at The Playlist.

It’s a pretty interesting time for Gael Garcia Bernal. The actor just signed up for Jonas Cuaron‘s “Zorro” reboot simply titled “Z.,” but he’s keeping one foot firmly planted in the arthouse world. The actor is headed to the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight where he’ll be walking down the red carpet for Pablo Larrain‘s “Neruda,” and the first international trailer has landed.

Continue reading Watch: First International Trailer For Pablo Larraín’s ‘Neruda’ Starring Gael Garcia Bernal at The Playlist.

New Paul Schrader, Pablo Larrain, Laura Poitras Films Headline Cannes Directors' Fortnight Line-Up

Continue reading New Paul Schrader, Pablo Larrain, Laura Poitras Films Headline Cannes Directors’ Fortnight Line-Up at The Playlist.

First Look: Gael García Bernal In Pablo Larraín’s Noir-ish Cat-And-Mouse Drama 'Neruda’

Continue reading First Look: Gael García Bernal In Pablo Larraín’s Noir-ish Cat-And-Mouse Drama ‘Neruda’ at The Playlist.

Natalie Portman To Play 'Jackie' Kennedy For 'No' Director Pablo Larrain, Darren Aronofsky Produces

Continue reading Natalie Portman To Play ‘Jackie’ Kennedy For ‘No’ Director Pablo Larrain, Darren Aronofsky Produces at The Playlist.