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The Playlist
The obsessives' guide to contemporary cinema via film discussion, news, reviews, features, nostalgia, movie music, soundtracks, DVDs and more.Interviews
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Greta Gerwig Talks 'Frances Ha' & Working With Noah Baumbach -
Joel Edgerton On 'Wish You Were Here,' 'Jane' Drama & More -
James Gray On 'The Immigrant,' 'The Gray Man,' 'The Lost City Of Z' And More -
Brit Marling Talks 'The East' & Espionage Thrillers -
Nicolas Winding Refn Discusses 'Only God Forgives -
Justin Lin Talks 'Fast Furious 6' & The Influence Of Altman -
Interview: Noah Baumbach Talks 'Frances Ha' -
Ben Wheatley Talks 'Sightseers,' Violence & More -
Mark Romanek On 'One Hour Photo' & Leaving 'Cinderella'
The Playlist
Göteborg Interview: Director Volker Schlöndorff On ‘Calm At Sea,’ His Greatest Cinematic Failure & 'The Master'
- By Jessica Kiang
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- February 9, 2013 12:55 PM
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- 1 Comment
Presenting his new film “Calm at Sea” (reviewed here) in the Bio Roy Theater during the Göteborg International Film Festival last week, director Volker Schlöndorff said, in mock-pique, “It’s so great to be in this wonderful theatre, named after Sweden’s great filmmaker Roy Andersson. I‘m still waiting for my hometown to put up a theater in my name.” And perhaps given the level of esteem in which he is held, especially in his home country, the idea of one day catching a 2.30 showing at The Volker is not so farfetched. But of course Schlondorff’s career has hardly been plain sailing, with his towering achievement, the oddly compelling, uncanny adaptation of Günter Grass' “The Tin Drum” rather overshadowing the films that came before and after, especially having been crowned with an Oscar and the Palme d’Or.
Göteborg Interview: Tobias Lindholm On 'A Hijacking,' 'The Hunt,' The Psychology Of European Cinema & More
- By Jessica Kiang
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- February 9, 2013 12:07 PM
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- 0 Comments
Director of the hotly buzzed “A Hijacking” (our glowing review here) that has been doing the festival rounds since Venice last year, Tobias Lindholm is, in his own words, about to “close up the circus and start working on the next thing.” But with his two breakthrough film projects “The Hunt,” which he co-wrote with director Thomas Vinterberg, and “A Hijacking” still awaiting U.S. releases (the latter is slated for second-quarter 2013 bow through Magnolia Pictures), it is tempting to cast him as being only "on the cusp" of major international success.
Göteborg Interview: 'Something In The Air' Director Olivier Assayas On Rebellion, Memory & Godard Vs. Truffaut
- By Jessica Kiang
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- February 6, 2013 4:05 PM
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- 1 Comment
With “Something in the Air,” French director Olivier Assayas (“Carlos,” “Summer Hours,” “Irma Vep,” “Cold Water”) turned in his most autobiographical work to date. A coming-of-age tale set against a backdrop of radical student politics, sex and drugs in 1970s France, we reviewed the film out of Venice and then caught up with the director at NYFF to talk about it. All of which meant when we recently got to meet him again, at the Göteborg International Film Festival, we could afford the luxury of letting the conversation range off-topic from the revolutionary politics of the film’s era to the idea of storytelling in film as an act of rebellion, to the problems in film criticism (Assayas himself wrote for Cahiers du Cinema) and even briefly to the Beatles vs the Stones.
Göteborg Review: Volker Schlöndorff’s ‘Calm At Sea’ Is A Wrenching WWII Tale Told In Capable But Old-Fashioned Style
- By Jessica Kiang
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- February 5, 2013 6:02 PM
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- 0 Comments
A story that is apparently very famous all over France -- that of Guy Moquet, a 17 year-old boy executed by the Nazis as part of a reprisal for the assassination of one of their officers -- forms the heart of veteran German director Volker Schlondorff’s latest film, which screened at the Göteborg International Film Festival last week. Titled “Calm at Sea” and based on primary source documents from the period (the letters, diaries and reports left by the participants, the writing of which often forms part of the onscreen action), the film is a solid piece of historical reconstruction, that despite never quite reaching any heights of inspiration, nonetheless builds to a surprisingly moving finale.
Göteborg Interview: 'A Hijacking’ & 'The Killing' Star Søren Malling Shares His Thoughts On The American Remake & Much More
- By Jessica Kiang
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- February 5, 2013 4:58 PM
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- 0 Comments
So if asked to put an actor’s name to the Scandinavian drama tsunami of recent years, yes, most might point to Mads Mikkelsen, or maybe Stellan Skarsgård -- two Nordic actors who crop up not only in homegrown fare, but also increasingly in Hollywood productions. But one name that might not come so handily to mind, precisely because of his contrasting lack of U.S. credits, is Søren Malling’s. No matter, if you’ve been paying any sort of attention of late, you know his face. We got to meet the “A Hijacking,” the original “The Killing” and “Borgen” star at the Göteborg International Film Festival, where “A Hijacking” was close to wrapping up its stellar festival run.
Writer Tobias Lindholm To Reteam With 'The Hunt' Collaborator Thomas Vinterberg For 'The Commune'
- By Jessica Kiang
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- February 4, 2013 12:25 PM
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- 0 Comments
It can seem to outsiders that every new film and TV show coming out of Scandinavia features at least a few of the same names, both behind and in front of the camera. And undoubtedly, on the foot of his co-writing gig on the excellent “The Hunt,” his writer/director work on the acclaimed “A Hijacking” as well as regular writing/showrunning duties on “Borgen,” the latest Danish TV show to have blown everyone away (apparently Stephen King’s favourite TV show of 2012), Tobias Lindholm’s name is becoming one of those -- so much so were going to include a handy pronunciation guide so you can correct your friends when it crops up: it’s Tob-EE-ass. You’re welcome. Anyway, we had the distinct pleasure of talking with Lindholm at the Göteborg International Film Festival, and while we’ll run a fuller take soon, he did let drop some details on one of his upcoming projects that will see him reteam with Thomas Vinterberg, his co-writer on, and director of, “The Hunt,” and 2010’s “Submarino.”
Director Volker Schlöndorff To Return To U.S. With Colm Toibin Co-Written 'Montauk'
- By Jessica Kiang
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- February 2, 2013 12:01 PM
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- 1 Comment
Legendary German director Volker Schlöndorff, who won an Oscar and a Palme d’Or for “The Tin Drum” back in 1979, has been in and out of critical favor ever since, last releasing a film in 2007 (“Ulzhan”). He’s back, on the European cinema scene at least, with France-set World War II story “Calm at Sea,” which played yesterday at the Göteborg International Film Festival (review to come), and when we spoke with the director here earlier, he told us in a little more detail about his upcoming projects, one of which will mark a return to the U.S. for the first time since 1998’s potboiler noir “Palmetto,” starring Woody Harrelson, Gina Gershon and Chloe Sevigny.
Göteborg Interview: Directors Rønning & Sandberg On 'Kon-Tiki,' Scandinavian Cinema & Their Oscar Nomination
- By Jessica Kiang
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- February 1, 2013 7:03 PM
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- 0 Comments
There’s a great temptation to draw parallels between directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg’s epic journey in making “Kon-Tiki” (reviewed here) and the expedition it chronicles. And it’s a temptation we’re going to give in to; when we met the co-directors during the Göteborg International Film Festival recently, they had the air of men who had finally come in to port after a long stormy voyage. They too embarked on a hugely ambitious project that had no guarantee of success or even completion, and encountered myriad unforeseen problems along the way – there’s no doubt the film had to be something of a labor of love for them both.
Göteborg Review: Ulrich Seidl’s ‘Paradise: Love’ A Difficult But Provocative Watch With An Astounding Central Performance
- By Jessica Kiang
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- January 31, 2013 7:02 PM
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- 3 Comments
Black/white, rich/poor, fat/thin, female/male, old/young -- these are just a few of the dichotomies explored in the first of the 'Paradise' trilogy from Austrian director Ulrich Seidl. Our chronology is a bit messed up, since we already reviewed (very favorably) the second entry “Paradise: Faith” out of Venice, but having missed ‘Love’ in Cannes, we were happy to catch up with it at a very packed screening at the Göteborg International Film Festival. Perhaps "happy" is the wrong word: “Paradise: Love” proved a frequently uncomfortable and rather overlong watch, but we still came away profoundly impressed and not a little troubled by the questions it raises, and the unflinching, uncompromising way in which it does so.
Göteborg Review: 'Death Of A Man In The Balkans' Is A Charmingly Human, Morbidly Funny Treat
- By Jessica Kiang
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- January 29, 2013 7:07 PM
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- 0 Comments
It’s a real-time film, in a single setting, shot from one locked-off camera position that shows the living room, kitchenette and hallway area of a small Belgrade apartment, in which the owner has just shot himself. But wait... come back! Take your fingers out of your ears and stop rocking back and forth in that corner: “Death of a Man in the Balkans,” despite the veritable bonfire of warning flares sent up by its premise and format, is a triumph. It's a rare black comedy that actually elicits out-loud laughter, and our screening at the Göteborg International Film Festival rang with it, proving just how well the film overcomes the staginess of its conceit with sharp writing, wonderful characterisation, and perfectly deadpan, droll comic timing. Dark of humor but light of heart, it’s the third film from writer/director Miroslav Momcilovic, and we’re ashamed to say we’re not yet acquainted with his previous work, but if it displays even half the inventiveness and assurance seen here, we’ll be seeking it out soon. He really gives himself nowhere to hide -- no effects, no discernible edits, no helpful scoring -- and we have to believe that it takes a lot of unshowy skill to make something so seemingly artless play so well.
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