Uncanny but I watched this because of Kristoffer Borgli's The Drama that features the poster for this specific film. Was curious to see any influences and realised I haven't actully seen this Bergman famous piece from 1969. It's actually better titled originally, as A Passion / En passion.
His first 'real' film in color, brilliantly shot by Sven Nykvist (did I say Brilliantly? ;), masterfully restored in 2016 by the Sweedish Film Institute and thus issued on the Criterion collection, the copy I saw. Third part of "the island trilogy" (Fårö island that is), following Hour of the Wolf and Shamem and shots in the same sets, in only 45 days.
Tough, dark, cruel, bitter to the core, includes these postmodern interviews of actors -Von Sydow, Andersson, Ullmann and Josephson, all four brilliant, all four Bergman ensemble troopers to the core-, that cut into the narrative, no music score, an aloof narrator voiceover (Bergman himself), and I see even an influence on Tarkovski's The Sacrifice.
As character Elis Vergérus (erland Jospehson) observes: ’I don’t imagine that I reach into the soul with this photography. I can only register an interplay of forces, large and small. You look at this picture and imagine things. All is nonsense All play, all poetry. You can’t read another person being with any claim of certainty. Not even pain gives a reaction.’
it can be exactly what the Auteur direktor says.
"This time he was Andreas Winkelman."
Bergman's own notes on the film and more on Bergman's site here.
Mario Adorf, the Swiss cult actor that died on April 8th 2026 was 95. His father was an Italian surgeon, his mother a German nurse.
He acted in over 200 films, played grand theatre, wrote bestsellers. La Piovra's Acidduzzu (for the Romanians), spaghetti westerns (Gli Specialisti/The Specialists), giallos (L'uccello dalle piume di cristallo), polizioteschi (Milano Calibro 9), but also Alfred Matzerath in Die Blechtrommel for the arthouse and posterity. Winner of the Leopard Career Award in 2016.
Cannes 2026 official selection includes the new Cristian Mungiu film, FJORD, his 1st International film, shot in Norway, starring Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve ! The two Osccar nominated actors were together before in A Different Man (2024). I'm getting Oscar buzz already on this one...
The whole Official Selection, Un Certain Regard, Out of Competition here
It also includes Nicholas Winding Refn's new film, the revenge thriller HER PRIVATE HELL, out of competition.
Also Out of Competition is Andy Garcia's noir DIAMOND, starring Brendan Fraser, Bill Murray and Dustin Hoffman.
Festival special screenings includes doc JOHN LENNON : THE LAST INTERVIEW by Steven SODERBERGH
The Drama (loved the title) has Bergmanesque, Woody Allenesque-through his Bergman love), Nouvelle Vague vibes too- and i must confess I enjoyed it more than the whole Sentimental Value thing. Or overbloated Baumbach's Marriage Story, all due to Bergman's tropes (ther is even a poster for The Passion of Anna, which the writer/director showed his actors in preparation for the shoot). Don't foreget Borgli is a Swede too.
Liked the energy, the humor, the storytelling, the editing, Daniel Pemberton's score, the acting of the two leads-Robert Pattison and Zendaya in her best part yet- imo-they had chemistry.
Dram Scenario was ok, Sick of You was intense, looking forward for more Kristoffer Borgli.
Eagles of the Republic is a terrific political thriller by Tarik Saleh (third part of his Cairo trilogy), about Egypt's political and military machinations involving a film star (Fares Fares, the lead in all three Saleh films and a film star in his own right), caught in the middle of the manipulative crossfire.
Would've been worth more attention in the actual climate, premiered in Cannes last year in competition, and it was Sweden's entry for best foreign film -did not make the short list. Shades of early Costa-Gavras. Also of Das Leben der Anderen. Gave me goosebumps in parallel with what happened in communist Romania and all dictatorships alike.
Great score by Alexandre Desplat on his 1st collaboration with Saleh and great widescreen cinematography by Pierre Aïm (shot on 65 mm, 2.39.1). Pierre Aïm shot also the other two Saleh films in his Trilogy -The Nile Hilton Incident (2017, which I saw at TIFF) and Cairo Conspiracy, aka Boy From Heaven (2022, seen briefly on Romanian screens). Of course this film could not be shot in Egypt, so it is all dressed up in Turkey -great job by Saleh's production design Roger Rosenberg. The director is a very persona non grata in Egypt...
Fun fact: Saleh and Rosenberg shot the action thriller The Contractor (2022) in Bucharest for Berlin !!!
Now in Romanian cinemas -very limited-see it on the big screen !
Angine de Poitrine ... this name is showing up all over, today I studied them more and I agree...
Microtonal duo from Quebec. Fantastic. Plus a gimmick they have, playing incognito under weird carnival masks and pointilist costumes ! It seems they are brothers and they play:
"un répertoire d'anti-aréna-rock instrumental cartonneux qui, à la manière de la musique techno, s'articule autour d'un jeu dynamique d'ajout et de retrait de motifs sonores en constante métamorphose."
Project Hail Mary is the Feel Good science fiction film of the year, decade, and more, a hopeful unlikely buddy film well done, with winks to 2001, Intersellar, ET, Close Encounters of 3d kind and of course Rocky ;). Ryan Gosling is at his most charismatic and Rocky is a hoot ! Import Deutch Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall, Zone of Interest), does a good job, and also karaoke ;) Nice songs on the soundtrack (Kris Kristofferson, The Beatles, Dennis Wilson, Ike and Tina Turner) and effective score by Daniel Pemberton. It does what Mission 2 Mars and The Martian (also based on an Andy Weir book) did not manage to do, meanwhile touching the Grace ;)
See it on IMAX if you can, all the space sequences are shot in the format.
Chuck Norris became legendary through the jokes about him, that he is invincible and imortal. He was Not. But gone now at 86, he was an inspiration to many, especially in the 80's Romania.
A Force of One, a man who knew Good Guys Wore Black and An Eye for an Eye he was a Lone Wolf Mc Quade -the inspiration for the later series Walker, Texas Ranger.
I first saw him in the cinema in Breaker ! Breaker !, translated as Orasul fantoma -Ghost town (1977), which I tremember cleartly they had a print in Black and white. Re-saw that on video later on. The battle with the broken bottle stayed vividly in my mind. He had no moustache at the time. Then on video fisrt films I saw was The Way of the Dragon, his first part in the 1972 Bruce Lee film (also directed by Lee), where he battles Lee in the Colosseum. The Colosseum would never be the same again. Oh, yes, for a bit, in Double Team where JCVD, a huge Norris and Lee fan, battles Mickey Rourke again in the Rome Arena.
He was a Karate champion and he became Steve Mc Queen's instructor and McQueen adviced him to go into acting.
Here's some Chuck Norris jokes:
Chuck Norris didn't die, God called him for backup!
Chuck actually died about 15 years ago. Death was too afraid to tell him
Chuck Norris went to Heaven to Judge God for his sins
RIP to the man who can put out a fire with a gallon of gasoline
The man who can beat the sun in a staring contest
The man whose diary is called the Guinness Book of World Records
Phil Campbell was Motorhead's last guitarist, on a series of greats (Larry Wallis, Wurzel, "Fast" Eddie Clarke), survived by only Brian Robertson (70 now).
He was Motörhead's guitarist for 31 years (the longest serving member aside from Lemmy) having joined in 1984. After Lemmy’s passing, he was blessed to form Phil Campbell and The Bastard Sons with his sons Todd, Dane and Tyla, which recorded and toured together for years.
Phil was a wonderful guitarist, writer, performer, and musician who had Motörhead in his veins. He always led with his gift of guitar, and carried a great sense of humour, but most of all, Phil led with his heart. You could not be around him without a chuckle or twenty, because quite simply, Phil loved life and lived it with great joy.
There will be plenty of time for us to share stories -tales of Campbell glory- and some damn good jokes together; for now, please send love and positive energy to Gaynor and the boys while affording them time, space, and privacy.
Much love and RIP Phil. The world has just lost an enormous beam of light, and we are devastated.
Saw Phil on all the dates with Motorhead I got to see and with his band, Phil Campbell and The Bastard Sons in 2018 at Qunatic club in Bucharest. Last year they opened for Guns 'n Roses on the National Arena in Buch. They played Suceava in 2024 and REF too in 2023.
This is Film Noir, dark comedy, thriller, and most of all an homage of Kind Hearts and Coronets (1959), the classic Ealing comedy with Alce Guiness es ;), based on the novel , it says on the credits. "Insiperd by" those two.
Also has an 80's air, it's cynical and politically incorrect, stylish and crisp.
Finally a good part for Glen Powell as Becket Redfellow (cool names in this family !), after the huge misfire of new Running Man-Liked the guy in his SNL episode, I think he has more comedic potential than action chops, definetly romantic too.
Jessica Henwick is the romantic interest, Ruth. Bill Camp has a nice part as Warren Redfellow, also Topher Grace as one of the Redfellows (Steven) and Zach Woods (from Sillicon Valley) another one (Noah). Also Ed Harris' part as the patriarch Whitelaw Redfellow is more like a cameo, but he's effective as ever.
Amazingly enough this was shot in South Africa instead of New York and New Jersey !!!
Great score by Emile Mosserri and effective soundtrack-The Clapping Song (Shirley Ellis) , the Brazilian classic Take Me Back to Piaui by Juca Chaves, No Fear by Inflo, etc.
George Harrison would've been 83 today....Living in the Material World...
When he died George was only 58....He became my hero in highschool with his hit album Cloud Nine (1987). I love most his stuff with The Travelling Willburys...
Now only Jeff Lynne and His Bobness still around here....
Tom Noonan, most famously known as Francis Dollarhyde/ The Toothfairy in Michael Mann's Manhunter, the first Hannibal Lecter (spelled Lektor) film in 1986, is gone at 74. I re saw the film last year...It's the best Lecter / Thomas Harris film for me still. And Noonan is pretty scary.
Great character actor , he was also iFrankenstein's monster in The Monster Squad, the baddie in Robocop 2. He returned for Michael Mann in Heat.
In his youth, Noonan was a guitarist and a composer and a theatre actor. He directed 2 indie feature films, a play and some shorts.
Terribly sad about Tom Noonan passing. In casting Manhunter I auditioned about 10-15 actors in New York when Tom walked in the door and said, “I don’t want to talk. I just want to read.” He read and it was magical. We worked closely. I based Dollarhyde less on the novel’s character and more on a convicted killer whom I met and with whom I corresponded who was doing life in Vacaville. I took Tom into that world and he made it his own. It was an automatic to cast Tom in a wheelchair as Kelso in Heat. He did so much more fine work, but it was as the battered child become a killer adult - both alive in the same bottle - that projected the range and deep soul of this so acute and committed artist. Rest in peace, Tom.
...when in Rome...just landed and in the taxi I hear the news, celelbrissimo attore Robert Duvall, etc..surely I get it. Gone. I mean he was 95, lived a great and long life and his films are immortal.
But why everytime I go somewhere this kind of news get heavier and harder?
Duvall was one of the Greatest, like Hackman. As as kid I knew him first by name, my father showed me, he was in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most versatile actor of the '70's. Opposed to Hackman he was the quintesential Character Actor. Capital A.
He was in over 100 films and television series.
He got an Academy Award (for the forgotten Tender Mercies-1983), a BAFTA Award, four Golden Globe Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
His film debut was as Boo Radley in the book adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird (1962).
His shot at Movie Mythology came with Consigliere Tom Hagen in The Godfather and more for Coppola, a bit part in The Conversation-uncredited-where I saw him last-last year, as a Gene Hackman homage series of films), lt. Kilgore "love Napalm in the morning" in Apocalypse Now. He refused to reprise his part in The Hodfather III doe to a salary quarrel.
Loved his parts in Lucas' debut THX 1138, Jesse James in The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid, the gangster in The Outfit, based on the Donald E. Westlake book, the German colonel in The Eagle has Landed, the baddie in Sam Peckinpah's Killer Elite, a TV producer in Sidney Lumet's Network, Dr. Watson in The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, the cop in True Confessions, another cop in Dennis Hopper's Colors, then later on Tony Scott's Days of Thunder, written by Robert Towne, Joel Schumacher's Falling Down, Kevin Costner's Open Range. Also Sling Blade, Get Low, the part of the Old man in the adpatation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road, The Judge in 2014, last bit in 2022 Scott Cooper's Netflix flick The Pale Blue Eye.
He directed five films films, most notably The Apostle in 1997 and in 2002 in Argentina, Assassination Tango. I gotta catch-up with that last one, never saw it.
He lived in his ranch in Virginia, surrounded by his family. Never will be gone, just left this stage and sets...
"Somebody once said that the best life in the world is the life of a second leading man. You travel, you get a per diem, and you’ve probably got a better part anyway. And you don’t have the weight of the entire movie on your shoulders.”
Crime 101 is a little LA neo-noir gem directed by the Brit Bart Layton (American Animals). Heist, angst, existentialism, it's based on a novella by Don Winslow (Savages). The title refers to the 101 Freeway in Southern California, entering Los Angeles, and the faved heist location of the blue-eyed Thief Davis (Chris Hemsworth, reminiscent of another Michael Mann pic, Blackhat).
The ensemble casting is cool: Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, and Halle Berry, Barry Keoghan, Monica Barbaro, Jennifer Jason Leigh (more like a cameo cos she has only one scene, surely cut for time), and Nick Nolte in a part sim lliar with Jon Voight's in Heat.
Produced by Working Title Films, Crime 101 was bought by Amazon MGM, outbidding Netflix,. which is great cos they also distributed in Theaters (through Sony).
Mostly a Heat homage, plus elements from Mann's Thief, Walter Hill's The Driver, even a scene fromTrue Romance ;)
A nice conversation on Steve McQueen and the iconic Mustang from Bullit add on.
See in in the cinema, it's great widescreen and sound and score- Blanck Mass.
Islands is an odd piece, film noir under the sun, actually much at dusk. Shot all in location in Corralejo, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, Spain, it premiered at Berlinale 2025 as a Special Presentation.
The director is German, Jan-Ole Gerster (also co-writer), the actors are Brits, Sam Riley, Stacy Martin and Jack Farthing. Shades of Ripley (Highsmith's) and Hitchcock. Well acted, existential slowburn anti noir ;). Atmospheric score and sound design.
The Nicolas Cage is back with something cool in black and white (and color) but I'd rather see it Noir as in the title. Premieres May 24th on Amazon Prime as in in collaboration with Sony, who's only Marvel character they got rights too...
From the looks it's more of a Sin City / Frank Miller, The Spirit / Will Eisner.
Breendan Gleeson is the villain.
Hopefully this will rock, as gamebased Fallout TV series did, or DC / HBO recently two interesting spinoffs, The Penguin and The Peacemaker and Marvel/ Disney did mega meta Wonder Man.
This just in, as y-day it was the 45th anniversary of the release of the KILLERS album (2.02.1981) !!!
The life and career of pioneering heavy metal frontman Paul Di'Anno, the powerhouse voice heard on Iron Maiden's early albums, will be celebrated in the forthcoming documentary, Di'Anno: Iron Maiden's Lost Singer, to be released by Cleopatra Entertainment this summer.
Hmm, the doc does not apperar on imdb at all... :(
In a strikingly raw and intimate film, director Wes Orshoski captures the late singer riding an emotional rollercoaster toward the end of his life. Featuring appearances by James Hetfield (Metallica), Gene Simmons (Kiss) Maiden's Steve Harris and members of Exodus, Slayer, Megadeth, Overkill and Sepultura, the film chronicles how two Iron Maiden fans encounter Di'Anno at the lowest point of his life and then set out to restore his health and relaunch his career.
Wheelchair-bound since the mid-2010s, Di’Anno’s health nosedived during the Covid-19 pandemic, when those two fans launched a crowdfunding campaign which ultimately led to him relocating to Croatia, where - through the help of those fans and doctors - he made a dramatic turnaround while running out of money, reuniting with his former Maiden bandmates, and falling in love. Eventually he makes a heroic and drama-filled return to the stage. All of this is captured in Di'Anno: Iron Maiden's Lost Singer, which Orshoski began shooting in 2017.
“For years there wasn’t much to capture,” says Orshoski, whose credits include Lemmy, a study of Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister and The Damned: Don't You Wish That We Were Dead. “Paul was waiting for surgeries that doctors in the U.K. would not green-light. He was in an incredibly dark place. But once he got to Croatia, fans and doctors gave him the hope he was desperately searching for. It was beautiful to witness. I wanted to make a film that was unlike any rock doc you've ever seen. And in the end, I think we got there.”
One of icons of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s, London-born Di’Anno helped launch Iron Maiden around the world, appearing on two of the most foundational metal albums ever released: Iron Maiden’s 1980 self-titled debut and the celebrated follow-up, Killers, released in 1981. In one of the most epic sagas in metal history, Di’Anno left Maiden in 1981 and was replaced by Bruce Dickinson, leaving metal fans around the world to debate which line-up and which singer was/is better. It’s a debate that continues to this day, almost 50 years later.
Orshoski finished work on the film (which was shot in England, Croatia, Brazil and the United States) shortly before Di’Anno’s death at 66 in October 2024. Di’Anno: Iron Maiden’s Lost Singer has been screening at European film festivals and will be released worldwide on both streaming services and on Home Entertainment DVD and BLU RAY formats.
oh, how we should reboot Doc and Roll ! Esp. now when Iron Maiden playes again Bucharest and Sunete is prepping another Special Edition mag, this time Up the Irons !!! ;)
