Eesh! I feel like all my posts lately have been RIPs! Farley Granger, Elizabeth Taylor, Jane Russell, and now the great Sidney Lumet. It is a sad start to spring in Hollywood. So now with happier news, Lars Von Trier has made a new film! Ha ha. Happy and Lars Von Trier rarely go together, if ever, and I must say that even though I've never
per se enjoyed Von Trier's films to the point of ever wanting to watch them again, I do appreciate the impact he has had on contemporary cinema. Say want you want about the
enfant terrible of Danish/European filmmaking, he definitely has made a mark whether it is his Dogme 95 period, DOGVILLE, EUROPA, or DANCER IN THE DARK. I did not see his last film, ANTICHRIST, but his new one intrigues me. MELANCHOLIA. It stars Kirsten Dunst, which I have to admit, I find slightly distressing, as she is one of those actors who I find gorgeous and fragile, and I know the effect that Von Trier can have on gorgeous and fragile women in his films (see both Charlotte Gainsbourg in ANTICHRIST and Bjork in DANCER IN THE DARK--the latter vowing to never make another film after her experience with the Dane). So... we shall see. Also starring are Von Trier favorites Gainsbourg and Stellan Skarsgard, as well as Keifer Sutherland and John Hurt, whom I'm sure by the end of the film will all have gone through hell. That being said, I find the trailer for MELANCHOLIA interesting--and incredibly foreboding. The trailer sets a very melodramatic mood and implies that something incredibly terrible might happen to Kirsten Dunst! Oh no! What is also powerful about the trailer is the whole people-on-earth-being-affected-by-the-stars aspect; something similar is present in the trailer for
Terrence Malick's TREE OF LIFE: that a power is working on a higher plane. So. There you have it, take a look at the trailer and see what you think!
Finally a trailer of some sort! I'm obviously looking forward to these movies coming out, from what I understand there are three movies on the way, one directed by Spielberg, one directed by Peter Jackson, and one by a third director. The first story up: "The Secret of the Unicorn" which leads Tintin and Haddock on a treasure hunt which reveals Haddock's lineage to a great maritime hero. There have been some promotional pictures of both the behind the scenes stuff and of "final" stills from the film and it looks fabulous!
Despite all the complaints about computer animation and unnecessary CGI effects over the years, I think full-on motion capture animation is probably the best way to do a Tintin movie. While live action would be interesting, it would miss some of the charm of the books which comes from the precise and colourful animation. So I'm into the animated part of this, and the 3D, well, I guess that remains to be seen on whether necessary or not, though my first instinct is no. So there you have it! It's on the way, should be here next Christmas time! Hoorah!
