"Searching for Sugar Man" - true story or scam?

It sometimes happens that a character is larger than life. Quite rarely it so happens though that noone knows such a character. The story of "Sugar Man" Rodriguez seems pretty incredible. And so I have to check twice if that really happened. And Wikipedia says it's almost all true what's in this brilliant documentary. Of course, not all. In "Searching for Sugar Man" the Swedish director made it look like noone really remembered Rodriguez for some twenty odd years.

Watching New "Hannibal"

As the news broke that there was going to be a new version of "the adventures of Hannibal Lecter" (if you can even call it that way), I was interested, but that too much. There are so many great TV shows nowadays, that I hardly have enough time to get in touch and watch the premiere episodes.
But, when next news spread, that the new Hannibal was going to be Mads Mikkelsen, I waited impatiently on the verge of collapsing. Me being fond of Mikkelsen is not enough said, that's for sure. Just recently he has had so many great roles in such wonderful films, like "The Hunt" or "The Royal Affair" that a full TV show seemed almost too much.

"Madame" in Teatr na Woli Warszawa

Antoni Libera, one of Polish finest playwrights, essayists, translators, critics, writers and scholars, who knows a lot about Beckett, Sophocles and many others, wrote this brilliant play, "Madame" in 1998. It is, along with "Godot and his shadow" from 2009 among his most famous works.
"Madame" is a story of a teacher of French in one of the Polish high schools in the 1960s. Times are taugh in Poland then, in times of communism people cannot travel anywhere, their moves are restricted, so are the things they believe and feel. Gloomy times, hard ones too.

"Festen" by Thomas Vinterberg in TR Warszawa

The crew of TR Warszawa is getting its fame as they decide to perform most difficult and demanding, but also most popular contemporary plays. It is here one can see a 5-hour long version of  "Angels in America" by Tony Kushner (always sold out), "Faithless" by Ingmar Bergman or "T.E.O.R.E.M.A.T." based on Pier Paolo Pasolini.
This time I decided to follow the map (TR Warszawa seems not to have their fixed stage, they are moving, and currently perform in on of the most modern filming studios in Poland - ATM, in the outskirts of Warsaw) and take part in the stage version of a wonderful film directed by Thomas Vinterberg - "Festen".
The performance received raving reviews in the world, as it was shown before in many other places. This is quintessential TR Warszawa: they get even more famous abroad then in Poland. The New York Times and New York Post wrote about it, so did Suddeutsche Zeitung and Berliner Zeitung.
And "Festen" is absolutely worth all the praise it is getting.

David Bowie is... in Victoria and Albert!

"David Bowie is" is the title of the new exhibition presented in Victoria and Albert Museum in London. It opened on March 23rd, and will take place till August 11th.
It so happens, that the new David Bowie album, "The Next Day" has just had its premiere on March 11th. It is his first album in a decade and  was promoted by a wonderful clip starring Tilda Swinton, which made everyone talk about it, that's how stylish they both are.
Victoria and Albert Museum is the best possible spot to show Bowie, he is a musician, but also an actor and style-icon, always being ahead of everyone else.
As the museum states in their exhibition statement, the exhibition is the first international retrospective of Bowie's career, and includes plenty of his handwritten lyrics, costumes, fashion, photography, videos and set designs. Even his instruments! Yes, David Bowie really is...

James McAvoy is Macbeth

One of my personal favorites, the ultimate Scot James McAvoy takes a short break from filming to play a physically and psychically demanding role of King Macbeth in Shakespearean play in London's Trafalgar Studios. I might see the very last performance of it on April 27th, but I wouldn't really count on getting the ticket. We'll see. From what I hear though, it's supposed to be a very gory version, passionate and cruel.
Rumour (and The Guardian) has it, that McAvoy is under constant stress because of it, and he also couldn't stand a member of the audience filming him on his mobile phone. He halted the performance, yelled at the guy to stop immediately and then went on with his lines. I don't blame him. Not at all.
I know how great McAvoy actually is on stage, a couple years back I saw him in "Three Days of Rain", which was absolutely brilliant.
Besides, McAvoy has also another story to tell with his Macbeth, as he played Joe Macbeth in a television mini-series which retold the story of the classical drama. So, going to the same river again, must have loved it  the first time.
Anyway, "Macbeth" in Trafalgar Studios in London, for a limited season from February 9th till April 27th, 2013.
More details here.

Roy Lichtenstein in Tate Modern

Good things come to those who wait - and Lichtenstein comes in glory to Tate Modern in London, in a great retrospective. I will see it myself very soon, but since it will be there only for a very limited period of time, it is really worth reminding all of this great opportunity to catch a glimpse of this wonderful pop artist in Tate Modern. 

The exhibition called simply "Lichtenstein: A Retrospective" (details here) can bee seen from February 21st till May 27 th 2013, and the entrance is L14 (L12 concessions). 

"Spring Breakers" - Britney Spears, pink unicorns and James Franco's silver teeth

So, here it is. The one and possibly only time when I see Vanessa Hudgens and Selena Gomez on screen, and in a good movie too. But you know, with "Spring Breakers" it's like that: you either love it to death or think it's just crap. Well, perhaps for me it's not a masterpiece, but it definitely is original, unique and catches your attention. If it tells the story of how degenerated today's youth is - I doubt that. But it made me think of it, so I suppose there is something to it.
James Franco steals the show when he screams that he's got "all that shit" and that everything is his, and he has plenty of shoes, guns, money and "all that shit". This guy really is a chameleon! I've recently seen his in what - 5 films maybe? Maybe even more, and that's just this year! (there was "Lovelace", "Interior. Leather Bar", "Maladies", "Oz", now "Spring Breakers" and he's currently working on a few more things, the guy is a dynamite!)

"The New York Trilogy" by Paul Auster

Going through the books I own and haven't read yet, I realized that I do have two wonderful books by Paul Auster - one of the greatest living American authors. It's a shame noone encouraged me enough before to get to his books, but once I did, I read two at once. The first one, "The New York Trilogy" was published in 1987 in the shape we know it, meaning three shorter stories. Austers debut was published under a pseudonym "Paul Benjamin" so technically these three stories, namely "City of Glass" (1985), "Ghosts" (1986) and "The Locked Room" (1986) can be considered a true debut.

"Quartet" - a small story with huge heart

When a famous actor decides to direct his first movie, one just thinks - it's all been here before. You've seen such attempts before. Alas, there are a few actor-turned-director cases, like Clint Eastwood or Mel Gibson, where the mix really works. Or worked at least. One of the actors that recently decided to make a movie on his own is Dustin Hoffman and it's a rather late debut, one might say. Hoffman is 75, probably as old as his protagonists and it makes this even more truthful to the story.

"The Finkler Question" by Howard Jacobson

Yet another book that was quite recently awarded with the MAN Booker Prize that I find particularly trustworthy. I just finished Julian Barnes' "The Sense of an Ending" awarded in 2011, so there came time to go back and read the winner from 2010.
Howard Jacobson's book is very English, as English as may be that is. The action takes place in contemporary London, and among the Jewsih community, or shall I say, Jewish intelligentsia living in London. The main characters: Julian Treslove, a non-Jewish unsuccessful radio producer, Sam Finkler, a popular philosopher and Libor Sevcik, a Jewish Czech gossip columnist from the times when Hollywood really mattered (Libor is almost 90 at the time of the events taking place in the book).

Berlinale 2013: Best of the Best

Another great festival ended, another year will pass before the next round. This causes a certain sensation in your stomach when you know you have to wait 12 long moths for something great. There will be other festivals, of course, but Berlinale is my very special place with this very special ambience worth waiting for. There were great surprises, there were misunderstandings, there were great meetings, and lots of "firsts". Here is the last list of the things I like a lot.

Berlinale 2013: Day 10

The last day of Berlinale for me (because the festival took place also the next day, on February 17th) was a very sad one because it meant that I could only watch one movie, I had to depart already in the afternoon. So I chose a movie which I wouldn't probably see anywhere else. I picked "Hide Your Smiling Faces" that was shown in the Generation section, directed by Daniel Carbone. It is a very tender story of two boys who are faced with a great tragedy - one of his best friends commits suicide jumping off of a bridge and the boys are the ones who have found his body. They immediately find the father of the deceased responsible for the tragedy and start to make his life unbearable with childish pranks. But this is also the way for them to cope with this difficult situation. Wonderful settings, wild, mysterious places where the boys play and grieve their lost friend, it all makes perfect sense. Glad I chose it for the last bit of the Berlinale festival 2013. You should see it too. Incredible, how mature this movie is. Loved it!

34. "Hide Your Smiling Faces"

Rating: ****
More on the official website of the film.

Berlinale 2013: Day 9

The penultimate day of the Festival started with "Nobody's Daughter Haewon" directed by Hong Sang-Soo, a Korean star. His previous movies included "In Another Country" with Isabelle Huppert, which I found a little pretentious, but nevertheless somehow understand, why might he be popular. There is this certain "allen" vibe, but it is a gross misunderstanding to place the Korean in the same line with the genius New Yorker. I wasn't bored watching "Haewon", I found it pretty interesting, until the story was leading somewhere. But then it suddenly stopped and I felt like moving around with all the characters entangled in difficult mutual relationships. A nice touch to the competition, but I didn't think it could be the "it" film of the Berlinale.

Berlinale 2013: Day 8

Almost the end, but not quite. More surpsrises, like the one caused by an almost absolute beginner: Emir Baigazin from Kazakhstan presented his "Harmony Lessons" that quickly became one of the best and most appraised films of the competition. Baigazin was one of the filmmakers to take part in the Berlinale Talent Campus a few years ago, so I guess the procedure of approving people for the programme actually work really well, "Harmony Lessons" is about a school somewhere in the rural part of Kazakhstan. These places are completely unknown for us, but the director seems to know them very well. The camera moves back and forth, leaving viewers in the state of anxiety throughout the whole movie, but it's a good kind of anxiety. After all, a very nice feature debut. Watch out for the young actors - the parts they had to play were very demanding and they played beautifully.

Berlinale 2013: Day 7

Seventh day in a row filled with films and conferences, buy for the first time - also an interview. That was a huge deal. I had a chance of talking to two great guys that made a movie for children called "Eskil&Trinidad" that made it to Generation this year - Linus Oscarsson and Stephan Apelgren (who also directed few episodes of the Swedish version of "Wallander"). The filmed, which I also saw that day was really nice and peaceful, something right for my mood that day. Later, already after the thrills of a first interview, there was time for "Night Train to Lisbon" - a new film by Bille August. Jeremy Irons and Leanie Laurent are in there, but I think I was prejudiced even before I saw the film, because I also read a book by Pascal Mercier, which I didn't like too much. I generally think it was boring and sort of the same thing happened to the movie, or at least my perception of it. Anyway, Jeremy Irons gives a good performance, but the movie is rather mediocre.

Berlinale 2013: Day 6

Day 6. Everyone is quite tired already, but also full of expectation. The day started with Jafar Panahi's "Parde" which was a huge disappointment. Perhaps I didn't understand it, but then I definitely wasn't the only one. This was also the first and only time during the festival when someone booed, and suring a press screening! But sadly my opinion was largely the same. The story is about a writer who comes to a secluded villa close to the beach with his beloved dog. Apparently there is a bad on having pet dogs in Iran, and so as the writer wants to save his best friend from getting shot out, he decided to spend his days in hiding. This was a rather interesting and intriguing beginning to a rather dull story, so I'm really amazed at the incentives that drove Dieter Kosslick to put this film in the competition.

Berlinale 2013: Day 5

The best day of Berlinale so far - two of wonderful popular films that you will surely see in your local cinema, plus the absolutely brilliant competition film made it a good day in terms of cinematic surprises. The day began with a press screening of the Romanian "Child's Pose" directed by Calin Peter Netzer. This story of a wealthy woman from the upper class of the Romanian society that gets involved with her only son's lethal car accident in which an innocent child dies is practically a story about family relationships, and about who can you trust and on whom can you count in times of trouble. Luminita Gheorghiu as the main protagonist put some question marks as to whether we only have Paulina Garcia for "Gloria" in competition to win Silver Bear. She was extremely good in this.

Berlinale 2013: Day 4

The fourth day of Berlinale was filled with surprises, not always and not only positive ones. First press screening of "Gloria" by Sebastian Lelio was met with great reviews, the film was absolutely brilliant, mostly due to exceptional acting of Paulina Garcia - who later was awarded the SIlver Bear for the Best Actress of the festival. There was no doubts about it and the film was equally well made.
Later a weird new James Franco project, "Maladies" with Catherine Keener and David Strathairn. I was confused and irritated for the most part of it, although usually I am very for everything James Franco does. I just think that his innovative and creative projects are just necessary for modern, or post-modern cinema. But "Maladies" perhaps wasn't the best example of a successful experiment.

Berlinale 2013: Day 3

Today I saw "A Long and Happy Life", "Lovelace", "The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman" but the stage was won undoubtedly by the cast of "Les Miserables" on a press conference!
My full report in Polish to be found on FilmNews.