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This article is part of IndieWire’s 2000s Week celebration. Click here for a whole lot more.

The 2000s were a period of great technological change for anime. The DVD boom brought the industry to the West like never before (while inspiring Western money along with it), and traditional cel animation began to be entirely taken over by digital painting while many artists continued exploring the possibilities of CGI; according to “Anime: A History” author Jonathan Clements, the last cel-animated anime was “Sazae–san“ in 2007.

There was certainly a lot to like, as so many new and vastly influential creators were taking their first steps into the industry. In 2002, the great Makoto Shinkai created “Voices of a Distant Star” almost entirely on his own. Elsewhere, Hayao Miyazaki won anime’s first Oscar for “Spirited Away,” while the late Satoshi Kon fully emerged as one of the world’s best and most...

French film critic and historian Michel Ciment, the long-time publishing director of film magazine Positif, has died Monday, French media reported. He was 85.

Ciment first started writing for the Lyon-based magazine in 1963, when he contributed a piece about the cinema of Orson Welles.

The magazine was launched in 1952 shortly after Les Cahiers du Cinéma by Bernard Chardère, who also died this year.

In a talk at Paris’s Forum Des Images in 2022, marking Positif’s 70th anniversary, Ciment recounted how he started reading the magazine in the 1950s as a teenager, while hanging around the Le Minotaure bookshop in the Paris quarter of Saint-Germain-des-Près.

“It was an amazing place where you’d bump into other cinephiles like Jean-Claude Romer, who went on to create [the cinema magazine] Midi Minuit Fantastique,” recounted Ciment.

“There were a lot of people from Les Cahiers and Positif… You couldn’t find the cinema revues in kiosks then.

"Now what?" "Would you like to go to the cinema?" Any fans of awkward romance must watch this. Mubi has unveiled their official trailer for Aki Kaurismäki's latest film Fallen Leaves, his light-hearted romantic tragicomedy that first premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Two lonely people who meet each other by chance in the Helsinki night, until then can't find each other again. "With this film, Kaurismäki tips his hat to Bresson, Ozu and Chaplin, wanting to tell a story about the things that may lead humanity to a future: longing for love, solidarity, hope, and respect for another human being, nature and anything living or dead." Starring Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen. The film was initially inspired by the song “Les feuilles mortes" (translates to "Dead Leaves”), composed by Joseph Kosma with lyrics by Jacques Prévert. And the fun song in the trailer is by the Finnish band Maustetytöt,...

"I don't even know your name." "I'll tell you next time." The Match Factory has revealed a trailer for Aki Kaurismäki's latest film Fallen Leaves, his light-hearted romantic "tragicomedy". This is premiering at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival later this month, playing in the Main Competition, not his first time either (he won the Grand Prix once before in Cannes for The Man Without a Past). Two lonely people who meet each other by chance in the Helsinki night and try to find the first love of their lives. "With this film, Kaurismäki tips his hat to Bresson, Ozu and Chaplin, wanting to tell a story about the things that may lead humanity to a future: longing for love, solidarity, hope, and respect for another human being, nature and anything living or dead." The movie is inspired by the song “Les feuilles mortes" (translates to "Dead Leaves”), composed by Joseph Kosma...

Many of the biggest anime phenomena are the ongoing series that have accrued hundreds, or even thousands, of episodes over the years. That said, anime feature films have the potential to hit even greater heights due to factors like bigger budgets and their compulsion to tell standalone stories.

Related: 10 Anime Movies That Wasted Great Premises

Particular anime movies like Akira, Spirited Away, or even more recent fare like Promare have become evergreen classics that showcase what this medium can accomplish. However, there are many impressive anime movies that slip through the cracks and haven’t achieved the same notoriety, despite the level of excellence behind them.

Updated on May 8th, 2023 by Casey Coates: This list has been updated to include trailers and to reflect Cbr's current publishing style.

Belladonna Of Sadness Release Date: June 30, 1973

Eiichi Yamamoto's Belladonna of Sadness is 50 years old and yet modern anime movies struggle...

The lineup for the 2023 Cannes Film Festival will include a couple of world premieres for two of the anticipated upcoming films of the year as well as some notable entries for the competition. The new president of the Cannes Film Festival, Iris Knobloch unveiled the list of films set to make screenings and remarked, “Cannes is going back to the future of cinema.” The roster of filmmakers featured this year features a bevy of renowned names from all over the film world. The Hollywood Reporter gives us a breakdown of the highlights of titles that are scheduled to make their appearance.

Two big Hollywood world premieres include the upcoming sequel to Indiana Jones and Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon. The much-anticipated film reunites Scorsese with not only his frequent collaborator, Leonard DiCaprio, but with his legendary collaborator, Robert De Niro. The plot synopsis for Killers reads, “In 1920s Oklahoma,...

“Cannes is going back to the future of cinema,” said Iris Knobloch, the new president of the Cannes Film Festival, unveiling the lineup for the 2023 event on Thursday. And looking at this year’s selection, it’s hard to argue with her.

The 76th Cannes International Film Festival looks like an all-killer, no-filler program, with some of the biggest names in international cinema, many of whom got their start on the Croisette, returning to that famed red carpet. The 2023 competition lineup includes new films from Wes Anderson, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Ken Loach, Todd Haynes, Nanni Moretti and Aki Kaurismäki. In addition, Cannes has packed its out-of-competition screenings with blockbusters, including Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, as well as a new documentary from Oscar winner Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave).

Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, one of the director’s typically-quirky and star-studded affairs,...

September has snapped up films from Sundance and Berlin and some Cannes contenders.

Leading Benelux indie distributor September Films has acquired multiple Sundance and Berlin titles as well as some films likely to feature in Cannes in a buying spree of international festival favourites.

From Berlin it has picked up Christian Petzold’s Golden Bear contender Afire (sold by The Match Factory); And The King Said, What A Fantastic Machine (sold by Heretic and having its European premiere in Berlin’s Generation 14plus and Xavier Legrand’s thriller The Successor (being sold by mK2’s in the European Film Market...

Malou Reymann’s “Unruly” won the Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film at Göteborg on Saturday. At Sek 400 000, the Award’s cash prize is one of the largest prizes in the world.

Jurors Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Sofie Gråbøl, Antonio Lukich and Matti Bye praised the film for telling a “universal story about human spirit against the oppressive system” with “great sensitivity and power.”

“Although it is rooted in the past, it transcends time and borders, and speaks strongly to our time, our minds and hearts,” they stated.

The Danish director – also behind semi-autobiographical “A Perfectly Normal Family” – decided to go all the way to the 1930s in her sophomore feature, unravelling dark secrets about the real-life Sprogø Women’s Home.

“I am very pregnant and very out of breath, and very touched” said Reymann, accepting her award.

“This film is based on an actual place for women who were seen...

The White Stripes just released a greatest hits album, delighting fans with a tracklist crossword puzzle and videos for classics including “Let’s Shake Hands” and “Apple Blossom.” The band, which broke up in 2011, also unveiled a series of never-seen live performances from their archives, including a powerful “Ball and Biscuit” from Tokyo in 2003.

Now, they’re releasing two live performances from their Get Behind Me Satan era: “My Doorbell” and “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground,” recorded in September 2005 as a Live at VH1 Session in support of the release.

White Stripes will mark the 20th anniversary of their 2000 album De Stijl with a massive Third Man Vault reissue packed with unreleased recordings, two live performances and other ephemera from the era.

“The Accompaniment to De Stijl: The White Stripes’ Sophomore Album” boasts two colored LPs (one white, one red) and a DVD housed in a hardcover case. It also includes an archival booklet filled with previously unseen photos, flyers and more.

The unreleased recordings are spread across the two LPs, with Jack and Meg White’s versions of a...

Hiroyuki Imaishi is–in the very best way–one of animation’s finest ambassadors of Adhd. His 2004 directorial debut, Dead Leaves, is a masterpiece of sci-fi action insanity: 50 minutes of delirious stylized motion, featuring ultra-angular “superflat” designs combining the most expressive deformities of Eastern and Western comics and cartoons; a psychedelic adrenaline rush that diffuses the full density of a pulpy jailbreak action flick into half the running time and several times the visual scope. It is the pure cinematic embodiment of a film viewer, and filmmaker, whose bountiful imagination strikes dynamite creative synthesis with a short-fuse attention span. Dead Leaves was a minor event at the time, consigned to direct-to-dvd release overseas and ultimately, perhaps, too aggressively weird and explicit to capture the fancy of either mainstream critics or otaku. But 15 years later, Imaishi–who found breakout success in TV anime and co-founded his own studio, Trigger–has become...

The list for the FilmQuest 2017 Nominees list is out complete with names! Best Feature Film "Charismata" "Dead Leaves" "Gnaw" "Hostile" "Replace" "The Glass Coffin" "Vidar the Vampire" Best Documentary "Cassette: A Documentary Mixtape" "Love & Saucers" "Is Anybody Listening – A Podcast Story" Best Foreign Film "An Eldritch Place" "Black Ring" "Funeral Wake" "Hostile" "Sol" "The Glass Coffin" "Vidar the Vampire" The Minerva Award – (Female Filmmaker Prize ) (11 nominees + 1 secret nominee) "A Knock at the Door" "Bestia" "Buckets" "Diani and Devine Meet the Apocalypse" "Jules D. & The Glass Coffin" "Mauvaises Têtes" "Pendulum" "Pollution of the Heart" "Real Artists" "Rites of Vengeance" "Undefeated & Wicked Game" Best Director – Feature "Charismata" "Curvature" "Dead Leaves" "Diani...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Every week we dive into the cream of the crop when it comes to home releases, including Blu-ray and DVDs, as well as recommended deals of the week. Check out our rundown below and return every Tuesday for the best (or most interesting) films one can take home. Note that if you’re looking to support the site, every purchase you make through the links below helps us and is greatly appreciated.

Cameraperson (Kirsten Johnson)

A travelogue through one artist’s subconscious, Cameraperson is perhaps the most plural film of 2016 – a formal, tonal, situational, and pacing exercise that lulls viewers into thinking it’s set on one thing before turning towards seemingly new territory. And it never feels out-of-balance because director Kirsten Johnson has, by building this film around moments that “marked” her, granted such an intimate experience that it almost feels wrong to intellectualize much of anything that’s going on here,...

Since the dawn of the 21st century, action cinema has undergone a bigger change than perhaps any other genre. As the tools with which filmmakers craft their works have continually advanced, a sort of renaissance has begun wherein action films stepped firmly into their own. Often put in the same category as horror — not taken seriously as a form of artistic expression outside of its core fanbase — action has had to boldly announce itself as a viable medium through which big set pieces, but also big ideas, can be presented and explored.

With the highly anticipated John Wick: Chapter 2 arriving in theaters this Friday, we’ve set out to reflect on the millennium’s action films that have most excelled. To pick our top 50, we’ve reached out to all corners of the globe, choosing an array of films ranging from grand to gritty, brutal to beautiful. The result...

Sure, the story of Crimson Peak is familiar, but the way it’s presented and the places it goes are wholly original. The film is a gothic horror story, set in an imposing 19th-century British mansion plagued by ghosts. We’ve all seen these elements done and done again, but never with the black humor, emotional depth, and ravishing visual beauty that writer-director Guillermo del Toro brings to the material.

The film follows Edith Cushing (Mia Wasikowska), an aspiring young American author who is swept off her feet by charming British businessman Sir Thomas Sharpe (Tom Hiddleston). Sharpe has traveled to seek a business investment from Edith’s rich father (Jim Beaver), who is displeased by the budding romance between Edith and Thomas. But his disapproval is rendered moot when a mystery assailant brutally murders him, leaving Thomas and Edith free to marry and return to the Sharpe family home in England,...

Japanese Anime Kill La Kill kicked into a whole new gear in 2014. We salute a daring, daft series available now on Netflix...

Kill La Kill. Regardless of what it means - allegedly it’s a series of Japanese double-entendres - that title is a bomb-blast: two kills and a dose of French sophistication for good measure. It's a violently amusing name for the anime series, promising claret by the bucketload, a ticking brain (or just the right amount of snark) and the everlasting appeal of total nonsense. Logic may apply, be it worldly or otherwise, but you're already set for the rules to be broken.

Despite airing its first half of episodes last year, Klk kicked into a whole other gear in 2014, garnering a large international following as it barrelled towards its March finale. The entire series is currently bubbling away on Netflix for immediate watching, and it is something...

Ohio-based extreme metallers Skeletonwitch can be relied upon to lay down a slab of blistering darkness every two years in the form of a new studio album, usually released (appropriately enough) around Halloween. This year is no exception, and it's also the band's tenth anniversary, so they're posed with the challenge of topping their already impressive game with their fifth full-length release Serpents Unleashed. Once again, the fairly dependable Skeletonwitch brand – being mainly riff-based, high-tempo thrash coupled with elements of melodic death and black metal – comes through with no bullshit and plenty of hellish fury. Also true to form, only one of the tracks on Serpents crosses the three-minute mark; as always they dive in, lay down the riffage and get the hell out with little to no showboating, which I find refreshing among the growing wave of thrash revivalists. The album blasts off the pad with the opening/title track and never looks back,...

It's time to return to one of the best music videos of the year. Already leaked in May, ABC has finally released the official version of "Bachelorette" Desiree and Soulja Boy's music video masterpiece for "Right Reasons" to coincide with the latest episode. Although the video is arguably perfect all the way through, here are a few notes on parts that are especially perfect.

-The first screen calls this a deleted scene. They centered an episode around making this video and then deemed it unworthy of any final cut.

-Soulja's first rhyme is, "You look [unintelligible], maybe you should go ahead and do some contemplating."

-The "I Heart Dad" shirt.

-At :53 when they start throwing dead leaves. Sort of like they're throwing money and trying to convey they're "rolling deep" but he's pulling them out of a bucket and once again they're dead leaves.

-Dead Leaves Follow-Up: Seconds...

Fans of Dead Leaves and Redline, rejoice. From out of nowhere Madhouse releases Heruzu Enjueruzu (Hells Angels), a wicked, manic and no-boundaries anime that may feel like a Studio 4°C project but has its roots firmly in the Madhouse foundation. The result is a completely unique and over-the-top, two-hour spanning climax with a surprisingly smart background story (at least, if you take the absurd animifications for granted). Heruzu Enjueruzu was a very troubled project. First introduced in 2005, the film surfaced in its current incarnation in 2008 (festival run) and 2009 (a small theatrical run). After that ... radio silence, a complete void. Until Madhouse realized they were simply losing money by not releasing it, which eventually led to the 2012 Blu-Ray release (English subtitles...

Headliner White closed out the first day of the beachfront festival in Alabama with a set long on hits, solos.

By James Montgomery

Jack White performs at Hangout Festival in Gulf Shores, Alabama

Photo: WireImage

Gulf Shores, Alabama — Judging by his cadaverous complexion, Jack White probably doesn't make it out to the beach all that often. Which is probably why his Friday night set at the Hangout Festival felt less like a headlining gig and more like one long (long) victory lap: He was determined to enjoy the experience.

Sure, White took the stage long after the sun had set over the stretch of white-sand beach the Hangout calls home (it's definitely the only fest where going barefoot is not only a viable option, but practically encouraged), but spurred on by the cheers of a raucous crowd and cooled by the gentle breeze of the Gulf, he tore through a wild 90-minute set.

Jack White's debut solo album Blunderbuss has topped the Billboard 200 albums chart, scoring White his first No. 1 album.

Blunderbuss sold 138,000 copies in its first week, reports Billboard. The highest chart of any of White's previous releases was the White Stripes' 2007 album Icky Thump, which debuted and peaked at No. 2, selling 223,000 units in its first week.

Meanwhile, across the pond, White has also landed a No. 1 album, knocking labelmate Adele's 21 off the top of the U.K. albums chart.

White recently collaborated with "Amex Unstaged" to perform a live set, directed by actor Gary Oldman. The set featured a career-spanning setlist, including "Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground," ”I’m Slowly Turning Into You” and new single ”Sixteen Saltines.”

Watch: Jack White performances...

Jack White not only surprised fans at his Webster Hall concert Friday night with a "No Church in the Wild" nod, but he also treated them to a performance of The White Stripes classic, "Seven Nation Army."

White's Amex "Unstaged" set, directed by actor Gary Oldman, featured a career-spanning setlist, including "Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground," ”I’m Slowly Turning Into You” and new single ”Sixteen Saltines.”

In other news, White's first solo album Blunderbuss knocked labelmate Adele's 21 off the top of the U.K. albums chart.

By Zachary Swickey

Musical Renaissance man Jack White has already had the honor of performing on “Saturday Night Live” but it wasn’t until last night that he performed his first full live solo set at the third birthday celebration for his self-owned label, Third Man Records (via Jam Canoe).

The multi-instrumentalist showcased 19 tracks spanning his career nicely, which included songs by The White Stripes, The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather (never realized how much he likes “The” before his band names), as well as six new cuts off his forthcoming debut album Blunderbuss.

Keeping it low-key at his label’s headquarters in Nashville for the gig, White’s audience consisted of a couple hundred critics, music industry insiders, fellow bandmates and contest winners. In true White fashion, invites were found on cardboard volvelle wheels. The reception area for VIPs took place in the Third Man complex’s lounge, which...

In the coming week, months, maybe even years, I'll be reviewing some of my old favorites. I'll try to focus on the films that I feel never got the proper attention they deserved here (for whatever reason) or films that failed in keeping a proper momentum and are sinking away in the murky depths of film history. Fans of the weird, the insane and the crazy, take notice. If you haven't watched Dead Leaves, there's a whole world of exuberant excellence you haven't explored (yet), and it's just begging to be discovered. As long as you don't mind your fix coming in animated form, there is probably no film out there that can match the pacing, insanity and overall rebelliousness of Imaishi's first feature film....

This week's news in the arts

Autumn is the Ringo of the seasons. It often gets overlooked, when set next to the artistic possibilities – cold, new life and heat – offered at other times of year. No other season, certainly, is covered by such a small canon.

John Keats obviously leads the way with To Autumn, a poem which suggests that even in 1819 this was the bridesmaid season. "Thou hast thy music too," Keats protests, lest anyone think spring more worthy of his poetry. What he had not arrived at was the idea that dying leaves could be compared to human sadness. That was Verlaine's job, with the Chanson d'Automne. Read this aloud in your best French accent: "Les sanglots longs/ Des violons/ De l'automne/ Blessent mon coeur/ D'une longeur/ Monotone." You are now 18% cooler, and 56% more depressed.

The same idea animates the song Autumn Leaves, sung by Edith Piaf, Nat King Cole,...

Stop the presses! After an excruciatingly long period of waiting, Redline finally found its way onto the TV sets of those who can read English subtitles. Takeshi Koike's long awaited project took almost seven years to complete, but he made sure every second of that long wait counted. The result is a staggering demonstration of the power of animation, wrapped in colorful pop art and injected with a mean streak of creative madness. And boy did I like it. In 2004 Japan was experiencing one of its top animation production years, with films like Ghost In The Shell 2, Howl's Moving Castle, Mind Game and Steamboy all being released that year. But Production I.G and director Imaishi had another surprise lined up. When Dead Leaves...

I can’t say that the music on Dexter has ever particularly stood out to me. The musical scores do a great job of setting the tone for scenes, and I always expect to hear a Latin dance-friendly tune to be playing when the Pd has a bust to make at a Miami-area club. But the show doesn’t feature much popular, radio-type music because it really doesn’t lend itself to it — which is fine. That fact, however, was what led me to be perplexed when I read that star Michael C. Hall would be hitting the airwaves on...

Bad luck if you're looking for Megan Fox pics. Here's our choice of the top 10 genuinely sexy movie characters...

If you're over 12 years of age and you're looking at this list in search of Angelina Jolie's Lara Croft:Tomb Raider, shame on you. This is about real sex appeal, not just tits 'n' ass. Of course, tits 'n' ass do count, but we mean the kind of character who only subsequent to arguing the differing interpretations of Nietzsche would provide you with the night of your life. The thinking man/woman's man/woman.

So let's get down to business...

Leeloo: The Fifth Element (played by Milla Jovovich)

My oh my. I'm a straight woman, and I would.

Leeloo is the ultimate dream because she really has it all. Especially for us geeks. Played by the beautiful Mila Jovovich, Leeloo happens to be 'the supreme being'. She's the catalyst which...

Valve's Chet Faliszek sat down for an interview to promote their upcoming Dlc.

Valve's Chet Faliszek sat down for an interview to promote their upcoming Dlc called "The Passing" which unites the characters of both Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2. Here's what he  had to say:

At the moment we're promoting the Dlc for Left 4 Dead 2 called The Passing, which we first showed off last year. It features characters from the first game.

But we've also got Dlc coming for Left 4 Dead 1, following on from [The Passing] that tells you how the Left 4 Dead 1 survivors got there.

The whole of Left 4 Dead leaves you in a little bit of a mystery as to some of what happens - not least when you kind of see a little bit of the tail-end of the Left 4 Dead 1 story, as you get on your way to [L4D2 campaign] Dark Carnival.

With that, we actually have a comic...

Harmonix and MTV Games today announced that a three pack of tracks from The White Stripes and singles from The Damned and Kasabian will be added next week to the Rock Band Music Store of downloadable content for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation® 3 computer entertainment system and Wii™. Tracks from No Doubt and Dropkick Murphys will be available for download next week for Rock Band Unplugged on PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system.

Rock Band Dlc Additions for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 System and Wii

Brother/sister duo [ Note: This is wording from the official press release ;) ] The White Stripes will release a three pack of some of their most loved songs on Rock Band next week. The band, composed of Jack White (of The Dead Weather and The Raconteurs, both featured in Rock Band) and Meg White, has sold more than 12 million albums worldwide and has won five Grammy Awards, including three for Best Alternative Music Album.

The Twilight party is winding down this week as we hear from Peter Facinelli that The Twilight Saga: Eclipse only has one week left in filming. The faux vampire tweeted, "Back in Vancouver. Coming down the home stretch. 1 more week to go on Eclipse." The cast has spent the better part of the past year and a half on set working and playing while creating long lasting friendships. While we still don't know if Breaking Dawn will be made, this is it for the cast and crew of The Twilight Saga. As soon as the cast wraps they will all split up and travel the world to help promote New Moon before meeting up together for the La premiere. Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart are reportedly heading to Paris and Taylor Lautner is slated to head to Tennessee with Kristen Stewart. In the next month get ready to be inundated with Twilight interviews,...

It Might Get Loud

Directed by: David Guggenheim

Cast: Jimmy Page, The Edge, Jack White

Running Time: 1 hr, 37 mins

Rating: PG

Release August 27, 2009

Plot: A light-hearted documentary about how the electric guitar has remained at the fore front of Rock and Roll music for generations. Three virtuosos [Page, Edge, and White] discuss what’s influenced their respective success with ‘the axe,’ and how their music continues to resonate through the six-strings that first inspired them to write songs in the first place.

Who’s It For? Only for true fans of each said musician. This is not a film that glamorizes Rock and Roll. It simply explains why these ultra-famous guitarists love their art so much. Some of it can get a little preachy, and there are no groupies to be found. If you’re into the work it takes to create music that inspires further generations to shred electric guitar, It Might Get Loud is for you.