All screen adaptations of classic novels face the same inevitable obstacle: though they need not best their source material, they must work twice as hard as an original film to justify their existence. Why watch an adaptation of Jane Eyre, of Pride and Prejudice, or of Madame Bovary when those original texts are so celebrated and so readily available?
There are a number of excellent indie releases coming out this weekend, and if you can’t get to your local art house theater (or, even worse, you don’t HAVE a local art house theater), most of them will be available soon either on VOD or on DVD/Blu-ray. Good news for all of us indie and foreign film fans, right?
Appearances are often deceiving. Two people who might appear to be perfect for each other on the surface by the way they interact might be incompatible once things get deeper. In DRINKING BUDDIES, a romantic comedy from writer/director Joe Swanberg (V/H/S), pretty and playful Kate (Olivia Wilde) works as a marketer at a Chicago-area brewery. Though she is in a relationship with the pedantic Chris (Ron Livingston), she clearly has better chemistry with one of the brewers she works with, Luke (Jake Johnson). However, the outgoing Luke is engaged to Jill (Anna Kendrick), a somewhat shy special education teacher.
Strand Releasing announced earlier this week that the James Franco and Travis Mathews’ erotic drama “INTERIOR. LEATHER BAR,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year and went on to screen at the Berlin Film Festival, will be released either later this year or in early 2014.
Sundance Selects will release acclaimed filmmaker Claire Denis’ BASTARDS in the US on October 25, 2013. The film, which made its world premiere in Un Certain Regard at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, will make its U.S. premiere next month at the 2013 New York Film Festival, following a North American Premiere at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival.
The documentary BROADWAY IDIOT chronicling the momentous collaboration between rock and roll icons, Green Day and the “Great White Way” to create American Idiot on Broadway will be released nationwide in theaters and on VOD October 18 with an exclusive theatrical engagement in New York starting October 11th.
RUSH directed by Ron Howard
The ninth Zurich Film Festival will open on Thursday, 26 September, 2013, with the Formula One racing drama RUSH from director Ron Howard. RUSH portrays the legendary rivalry between the two Formula One drivers Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl) and James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth).
Woodstock Film Festival to honor Mira Nair and Peter Bogdanovich
The Woodstock Film Festival (WFF) will recognize acclaimed filmmaker and activist Mira Nair as this year’s honorary recipient of the 3rd annual Meera Gandhi Giving Back Award, and acclaimed director, actor, producer, film historian and writer Peter Bogdanovich will receive the honorary Maverick Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition to accepting this honor, Bogdanovich will star in the film Cold Turkey by Will Slocombe, which will make its New York premiere at this year’s festival.
The Napa Valley Film Festival in Napa, California, to be held this year from November 13 – 17, 2013, announced the 10 films selected to take part in the NVFF 2013 Narrative Feature Competition and the 10 films selected for the NVFF 2013 Documentary Feature Competition Films. Beyond partaking in the Narrative Feature Competition, the directors of each films will be participating in the NVFF 2013 Artists-In-Residence Program.
THE TRUTH ABOUT EMANUEL
BendFilm, in Bend, Oregon, announced the first of the films selected for the fest’s ten year celebration. The 10th annual Festival will open with THE TRUTH ABOUT EMANUEL (previously known as EMANUEL AND THE TRUTH ABOUT FISHES). Written and directed by Francesca Gregorini, the character-driven, psychological, drama/thriller follows Emanuel (Kaya Scoledario) who becomes obsessed with her new, mysterious neighbor Linda (Jessica Biel). Emanuel offers to babysit Linda’s new baby and unwittingly enters her fragile world. But Emanuel will have to go to a place that she herself has never dared to enter to truly save Linda. Also stars Frances O’Connor and Alfred Molina. The short narrative A HOUSE, A HOME will precede EMANUEL on opening night. In Daniel Fickle’s film, a love, a death, and another death are reconciled in a subterranean world.
Located in the spectacular Coast Mountains of British Columbia, and just two hours north of Vancouver, the 13th annual Whistler Film Festival will run December 4 to 8, 2013. The Whistler Film Festival will open with the Western Premiere of Jason Priestley’s “heart-warming and inspiring” road movie CAS & DYLAN, also starring Tatiana Maslany and Academy Award-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss. This story follows a couple of mismatched road travelers and the festival says that the film “will not leave a dry eye in the house.” CAS & DYLAN is one of six titles that will be competing for this year’s coveted Borsos award.
Sundance Selects will release Abdellatif Kechiche’s 2013 Cannes Film Festival Palme D’Or Winner BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR with the MPAA rating of NC-17 in the United States, as opposed to trimming the film or releasing the film Unrated. Starring Lea Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos, the film is being rated NC-17 for “explicit sexual content.” Sundance Selects will release the film in theaters beginning on October 25, 2013, on the heels of screening as part of the 2013 New York Film Festival.