#film directors

[hollywoodoutbreak]

Shawn Levy, one of the main creative forces behind the blockbuster Deadpool & Wolverine movie, is well-acquainted with its leading stars, Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman. Levy previously worked with Jackman on the 2011 sci-fi action film Real Steel and collaborated with Reynolds on the 2022 time-travel adventure The Adam Project.

While some may think directing such celebrated actors might become routine, for Levy, guiding the third Deadpool installment and uniting these two beloved characters was an unforgettable opportunity. He remained in awe of Reynolds' and Jackman's unwavering dedication and passion to elevate the film to its utmost potential.

Deadpool & Wolverine continues to captivate audiences in theaters.

[whowouldwininafite]

[gone2soon-rip]

ROGER CORMAN (1926-Died May 9th 2024,at 98).American film director, producer, and actor. Known under various monikers such as "The Pope of Pop Cinema", "The Spiritual Godfather of the New Hollywood", and "The King of Cult", he was known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film. Many of Corman's films are low-budget cult films including some which are adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe.Among his many cult films as either director or producer,he was responsible for,It Conquered the World,The Masque of the Red Death,Death Race 2000,Pirnha, and Battle Beyond the Stars. He was a big influence on film directors & producers from the 1960's to today,including Joe Dante,Francis Ford Coppola,Peter Bogdanovich,John Carpenter,and James Cameron,and helped launch the careers of actors such as Jack Nicholson,Dennis Hopper,Bruce Dern,Diane Ladd and William Shatner.Roger Corman - Wikipedia

[artfilmfan]

Full list below:

Nadav Lapid Pedro Costa Aki Kaurismäki Wang Bing Béla Tarr Apichatpong Weerasethakul Víctor Erice Radu Jude Abderrahmane Sissako Ryusuke Hamaguchi Walter Salles Claire Denis Robert Guédiguian Kiyoshi Kurosawa Laurent Cantet Claire Simon Cédric Kahn André Téchiné Corneliu Porumboiu Jia Zhangke Mahamat-Saleh Haroun Anand Patwardhan Ira Sachs Nobuhiro Suwa Arthur Harari Philippe Faucon Patricia Mazuy Kiyoshi Kurosawa Rithy Panh Lav Diaz Christian Petzold

[taylorrussellsgf]

Taylor Russell and Luca Guadagnino attend the loewe foundation studio voltaire awards on october 10, 2023

[abbysindistinctchatter]

the writer urge to have a director friend that is able to bring your stories to life

[ashadhahaha]

Priscilla (2023) - A Review

Heya folks! Here's a new blog dedicated to films + TV that I'm watching.

I made a very hasty decision to see Priscilla (dir. Sofia Coppola) in theaters today. I knew a little bit about it, that it was Priscilla Presley's biopic and that it would be based on her own autobiography, "Elvis and Me".

I have many good things to say about this film. Perhaps the most stunning things are the mise-en-scene and the editing. As always, Coppola has a very compelling way of telling stories.

The montages!!! I love how Coppola and her frequent collaborator Sarah Flack cut together Priscilla. I can see Lost In Translation here a bit with the clunky, slightly off-beat cuts. It's intriguing, a little unsettling, yet rhythmic at the same time. My favorite is when Priscilla waits on Elvis the first time. The way she's suspended in her own girlhood while Elvis floods her brain and her life. What a way to watch the time pass. You get all the information you need, all the details, and in an interesting way that fits the film well.

Some of the montages feel a little too romantic, like I'm watching a teen drama, which I think is excellent. There were so many points in the movie I start to fall for the romance and have to remind myself how this began in the first place and the young girl at the center of it.

THE COSTUMES. Coppola very much has an eye for production design!!! I noted in an interview she tends to spend her time there more than most directors. You can certainly tell. Elvis and Priscilla and honestly the whole world feels so believable and immersive because of the amount of detail. Priscilla's hair being our visual marker as we move through time is a great device and it really allows us to see this progression as she grows up and tries to fit more and more into this world she didn't choose.

Jesus, every single frame in this movie is beautiful. The way Priscilla is LIT. OH MY GOD. From the very beginning, with Priscilla's feet walking into the frame over the pink carpet. Every shot is composed with intention and meaning and create a strong aesthetic language that we feel consistently throughout the story.

Coppola doesn't shoot a lot of coverage, so her scenes consist mainly of a static camera, a well-decorated set, and her actors moving and talking to each other. Some moments feel incredibly long, other feels short and sweet. The rhythm is pervasive and concise.

She also tends to shoot at a lower budget. The most expensive scenes were likely the huge montages! There's a particular montage of Elvis performing that's used to show passage of time and it's shot very simply. You can do a lot with a little. Just a single spotlight in front of him to cast a long shadow, one camera on a dolly, a couple silhouettes to represent the crowd. Elvis is dark, powerful, and stepping more and more into the role of superstar. The lower the budget, the more creative control one has and I think Coppola thrives with these kinds of monetary restrictions.

Even the way scenes start seemingly right in the middle of things. Priscilla's life is moving at a pace she can't really control. She's completely at the mercy of Elvis and his wants and desires. And it's so observational. We're just watching these people exist. It gets unbearable the more Priscilla is barred from living her own life. She's trapped behind the gates of Graceland. Alone.

I love that first scene when she first moves in with Elvis and she's kind of wandering around this huge home. She sits in the chair, then she scoots back and crosses her legs. Then she looks out the window. Then she's playing with the piano. She's trying to imagine herself there, feel herself growing into it. It's foreign and she's so out of place. Still, she tries to force her own belonging. What a great use of negative space!

The world always feels like it's going to choke the life out of Priscilla. Like it's against her and swallowing her up at the same time. Coppola proves again how well she portrays isolated, lonely characters.

I also think Elvis was portrayed pretty fairly. He's sensitive, but troubled. There is love between them, but it's complicated and a little sinister and Priscilla spends much of the movie convincing herself it's worth sticking around for. I think this biopic is a step in the right direction of highlighting a more unseen perspective. Again, Coppola was a great choice.

& those are my thoughts! :3

ashadhahaha

[stone-cold-groove]

Frank Capra - 1942.

[happywebdesign]

Parent

[bupphaofficial]

What are your dreams and obstacles? Make an assessment.

[gone2soon-rip]

JEANNOT SZWARC (1939-Died January 14th 2025,at 85). French director known for his work in American film and television. His film credits included Jaws 2, Somewhere in Time, Supergirl and Santa Claus: The Movie. He also produced and wrote for TV.Jeannot Szwarc - Wikipedia

[artfilmfan]

Israelism (Erin Axelman & Sam Eilertsen, 2023)

[starbuck]

i say i like tragedies and everyone’s all like ‘why do you like sad stories? are you depressed?’ and never ‘how was the catharsis? was the catharsis fun?’

[amberpoppitt]

The Road to E.T: Chapter One - 'Dreaming of a Night Sky'

Despite a difficult production – largely in part to Columbia Pictures’ financial troubles at the time of its development – Close Encounters of the Third Kind went on to be a roaring success for the then 30-year-old Steven Spielberg. The film cost $19.4 million dollars to make, yet upon its release in 1977, it brought home a worldwide box office grossing £306.9 million. Columbia Pictures…

[ashadhahaha]

Civil War (2024) dir. Alex Garland

I wanted to break down this scene from Civil War shot by shot, because I think it's excellent. There's a lot of storytelling and just economic usage of time and shots in this sequence. Let's get into it:

So for context, at this point in the film, our main characters have a moment of respite in a town about 287 hours away from DC, their target destination. They visit a retail store in said town, if only to marvel at the quiet and calmness of the store and it's surroundings. Lee (Kirsten Dunst) tries on a dress, prompted by her new protegé Jessie (played by Cailee Spaeny), which by the way--GREAT scene. Such a good opportunity for characterization.

Now let's focus on the screenshot above. This mirror shot is likely the anchor of the scene...could call it a master. The entire scene revolves around this shot of Lee observing herself in the mirror. Why? We'll get to that.

Notice in this shot, you have the empty space in the left third, Lee in the center, and a warped image of Lee in the right with a rainbow flare. I find the rainbow flare important as we consider the context of this scene.

Lee is observing HERSELF. She has spent her life and her career documenting other people. When does she ever turn that focus around to herself? Especially in the context she's living in.

That perspective is broken into three, so there's already a visual metaphor going on about her own self-image.

She is still haunted and affected by her own life. It has teared into her psychology and even affects her ability (or inability) to gaze upon herself!

Her positioning in the center frame is turned towards the lens-flare version of her.

This is great. Just a single frame holds so much meaning. Let's move on.

Jessie shows up and fills that left third. Now the shot FEELS fuller. There's more life. I can even see a past, present, future thing going on here (right to left). On that point, there's even something about Jessie being a reflection of Lee too. There is a connection between them that is human and tender and nostalgic.

And what vulnerability Lee must display here!

Notice the lens flare has calmed?

After Jessie arrives and prompts Lee to take a photo, we get an over the shoulder. The lens flare-version of Lee is gone, replaced by her ACTUAL human existence. Jessie's presence is pulling her into a more human-state. Even her positioning in the mirrors is oriented towards Jessie now and away from her own inner chaos.

Also hahaha, Kirsten Dunst looks so awkward here.

Now, I actually don't know how to read this shot! Jessie being split in half could be an aesthetic choice. It gives some visual interest to the shot. There's also this "peeking around a corner" effect this gives, like Jessie is inching closer to something she normally wouldn't be seeing.

Or to even push this idea further, Jessie's own self-concept is changing and evolving. Her agency within the frame and within the scene is expanding to the point that she can transgress the frame she was previously trapped within (the left third).

Some ideas!

Jessie gets the shot! Take note of the shot-reverse shot. That transforms too!

We get an OTS from Jessies POV. We're pulled from the world of mirrors and into the ambience of the surroundings. Lee is in that human connection with Jessie and the emphasis is on Lee as the subject. Even the mirror is reflecting this relationship between the two. We as the viewer still have access to how the two are interacting with each other.

I also appreciate seeing Wagner Moura's character in the background of the shot talking to the cashier. It adds more characterization to him too. And even some contrast.

I find this sequence beautiful. I'll point out the simple blocking here. Jessie moves closer to Lee, the frame zooms in so now our characters are in a MCU. Things feel more intimate.

Jessie and Lee now SHARE the mirror! And Jessie has become the subjective focus. It's almost like the student has in a way become the teacher!

Even deeper, Jessie can see the humanity in Lee that Lee doesn't even have access to. It's quite beautiful actually. This scene is so demonstrative of that student-teacher/mentor-mentee relationship.

I'll also note the shot reverse shot has changed from a profile angle to an eye-level! The visual language. is reflecting this growing intimacy between the two characters.

And that moment Jessie gets the shot of Lee. It's such a great moment of humanity. And unlike the rest of the movie, it doesn't do a cutaway to the actual photograph! It stays in that moment with the very biased perspective of what's going on. And in a way it provides an even more realistic experience.

The last shot I'll note is the final one in this sequence! Note we leave off at the same place we began! Visual language is bookended quite beautifully. Jessie leaves the frame through the right third which she didn't have access to before. I find that quite interesting.

Also, Lee's image is not a broken up and empty as it was before. Her focus is finally on herself. She can see herself. The baggage she's carried for years has lifted a bit thanks to Jessie, who has this freedom and youth that brings a sense of warmth to Lee.

It's quite beautiful. Lee's heart is activated by Jessie, whose agency is strengthened by Lee's presence and instruction. This final frame is a great shift from where we started our scene.

That's all! I was very stricken by the visual language in this film. So many intentional choices that really deliver in the finished product. Thank you Alex Garland and all those who put their creativity and efforts into this film!

[stone-cold-groove]

Steven Spielberg - 2016.