Neuigkeiten

What a shame that Jessica Chastain's fiery turn in "Miss Julie" went unnoticed by Academy voters. Director Liv Ullmann's complex take on August Strindberg's early feminist play may be too stagey for some, but this is Best Actress material for Chastain, who injects vitality into a repressed 19th-century woman who falls from grace. Chastain's electrifying performance places among the great female dramatic turns in a literary tragedy, from Nina Pens Rode in "Gertrud" to Nastassja Kinski in "Tess" and Isabelle Huppert in "Madame Bovary." So why was no one talking about it?  "Miss Julie" premiered at Tiff 2014 to unenthusiastic response and remained at-large on the distribution market before eventually landing at Wrekin Hill (the film hits home video 5/5). Perhaps too loyal to the original 1888 Swedish stage tragedy, Ullmann's version confines the three-character drama to a secluded estate over the course of one Midsummer's...

Why does Cannes, whose astute audiences are primed to welcome the most minimalist of dirges and the artiest of art films, stir more jeers, boos and walkouts than any other festival? From Antonioni to Lynch, and for many reasons related to time and place, here are 10 memorably hated Cannes premieres that went on to achieve canon or cult status, or even won the Palme d'Or. 1. Carl Theodor Dreyer's "Gertrud" (1964), a psychological mood piece about a wealthy, bored aristocratic woman who takes up an affair with a young musician. Deemed a stuffy study of sofas and pianos -- and an essay in how long a director can stretch a take -- the film was loathed at Cannes. But it was second to Godard's "Band of Outsiders" on Cahiers du Cinema's top 10 of 1964, and is now regarded as one of Dreyer's late-career greats. Nina Pens Rode gives a remarkably restrained performance as the title character,...

What a shame that Jessica Chastain's fiery turn in "Miss Julie" will likely go unnoticed by Academy voters. Director Liv Ullmann's complex take on August Strindberg's early feminist play may be too stagey for some, but this is Best Actress material for Chastain, who injects vitality into a repressed 19th-century woman who falls from grace. Chastain's electrifying performance places among the great female dramatic turns in a literary tragedy, from Nina Pens Rode in "Gertrud" to Nastassja Kinski in "Tess" and Isabelle Huppert in "Madame Bovary." So why is no one talking about it?  "Miss Julie" premiered at Tiff 2014 to unenthusiastic response and remained at-large on the distribution market before eventually landing at Wrekin Hill. Perhaps too loyal to the original 1888 Swedish stage tragedy, Ullmann's version confines the three-character drama to a secluded estate over the course of one Midsummer's Eve, a dusk-til-dawn period...

Looking for any excuse, Landon Palmer and Scott Beggs are using the 2012 Sight & Sound poll results as a reason to take different angles on the best movies of all time. Every week, they’ll discuss another entry in the list, dissecting old favorites from odd angles, discovering movies they haven’t seen before and asking you to join in on the conversation. Of course it helps if you’ve seen the movie because there will be plenty of spoilers. This week, they look back on a life in love and celebrate a simpler (but often more difficult) form of filmmaking from Carl Theodor Dreyer. In the #43 (tied) movie on the list, a marriage falls apart, leading a woman to seek a lover and, above all else, love. But why is it one of the best movies of all time? Landon: So I’d like to jump in with a reaction to Gertrud more than a specific question...