Georgian filmmaking has been receiving a lot of favourable festival heat recently, with Dea Kulumbegashvili's Cannes-selected stark drama Beginning picking up the Fipresci prize in Toronto and Aleksandre Koberidze's shaggy dog charmer What Do We See When We Look At The Sky netting the same award in Berlin. Now Ioseb 'Soso' Bliadze has continued the awards stream with this tragicomic tale that offers sharp scrutiny of mother and son relationships - not to mention his motherland and its children - and which picked up the Fedeora critics prize in Karlovy Vary.
Teenager Nika (Iva Kimeridze) lives with his hot mess of a single mum Keti (Nutsa Kukhianidze) in a high-rise Tbilisi tower block. Keti is a hustler - introduced to us as she tries to sell face cream - and though the pair may not be quite living hand to mouth, she's no stranger to scrounging cash...
Teenager Nika (Iva Kimeridze) lives with his hot mess of a single mum Keti (Nutsa Kukhianidze) in a high-rise Tbilisi tower block. Keti is a hustler - introduced to us as she tries to sell face cream - and though the pair may not be quite living hand to mouth, she's no stranger to scrounging cash...
- 8/31/2021
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The film debuted in the East of the West Competition on Saturday.
Nordic-based sales agency The Yellow Affair has acquired world rights to Georgian director Ioseb ‘Soso’ Bliadze’s debut feature Otar’s Death, which premiered in the East of the West Competition at Karlovy Vary on Saturday 21.
The film tells the story of a woman and her son who find themselves in a precarious situation when he kills an old man in a car accident. The victim’s family promises to refrain from pressing charges if he compensates their loss in cash; so the mother must raise a large...
Nordic-based sales agency The Yellow Affair has acquired world rights to Georgian director Ioseb ‘Soso’ Bliadze’s debut feature Otar’s Death, which premiered in the East of the West Competition at Karlovy Vary on Saturday 21.
The film tells the story of a woman and her son who find themselves in a precarious situation when he kills an old man in a car accident. The victim’s family promises to refrain from pressing charges if he compensates their loss in cash; so the mother must raise a large...
- 8/23/2021
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Lily Collins has joined the cast of Anthony Lucero’s next movie, which is based on his long poem The Clown. Set against the backdrop of a small traveling circus, the pic centers on a European clown and his 5-year-old daughter as they lead each other through the everyday mysteries of love, magic and loss. Pål Sverre Hagen, Holliday Grainger, Keti Mchedishvili, János Derzsi, Harry Treadaway, Stacy Martin, Nikola Djuricko, Nutsa Kukhianidze and Jean-Marc Barr…...
- 9/6/2016
- Deadline
Odd List Ryan Lambie Simon Brew 12 Dec 2013 - 05:49
The year of Baggins, Potter and Spider-Man also had a wealth of lesser-known movies. Here’s our pick of 2002's underappreciated films...
At the top of the box office tree, 2002 was dominated by fantasy and special effects. Peter Jackson's The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers made almost a billion dollars all by itself, with Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets taking second place and Sam Raimi's Spider-Man not too far behind.
In many ways, 2002 set the tempo for the Hollywood blockbuster landscape, which has changed relatively little in the decade since. A quick look at 2013‘s top 10, for example, reveals a markedly similar mix of superhero movies, with Iron Man 3 still ruling the roost at the time of writing, followed by effects-heavy action flicks and family-friendly animated features.
As usual in these lists, we're looking...
The year of Baggins, Potter and Spider-Man also had a wealth of lesser-known movies. Here’s our pick of 2002's underappreciated films...
At the top of the box office tree, 2002 was dominated by fantasy and special effects. Peter Jackson's The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers made almost a billion dollars all by itself, with Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets taking second place and Sam Raimi's Spider-Man not too far behind.
In many ways, 2002 set the tempo for the Hollywood blockbuster landscape, which has changed relatively little in the decade since. A quick look at 2013‘s top 10, for example, reveals a markedly similar mix of superhero movies, with Iron Man 3 still ruling the roost at the time of writing, followed by effects-heavy action flicks and family-friendly animated features.
As usual in these lists, we're looking...
- 12/11/2013
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
The Good Thief
"The Good Thief" takes place in the twisted, twilight world of a French Riviera populated by junkie gamblers, East European prostitutes, slippery North African criminals, shady Spaniards, Russian mafiosi, overwhelmed French cops, desperate thieves, sleazy nightclubs and a casino ripe for robbing. So what's not to like? By inventing a milieu that duplicates and expands on the 1955 French caper film "Bob le flambeur", writer-director Neil Jordan creates a dark fantasy certain to seduce lovers of the cinema of excess.
While perhaps not to everyone's taste, "The Good Thief" is a striking entertainment that may prove highly commercial. Think of it as the dark underbelly of "Ocean's Eleven", where freshly scrubbed American stars cavort in a pastiche of heist comedy-dramas. This one contains a scruffy international cast all playing deformed versions of their sleek Yank counterparts, characters ranging from a transsexual bodybuilder to a strangely innocent hooker.
Inspired by Jean Pierre Melville's black-and-white "Bob le flambeur", itself a kind of precursor to the French New Wave, Jordan has relegated its gambler-thief to an imaginary Nice where Bob, a witty, cynical ex-thief, has reinvented himself as a drug addict and hopeless gambler on a long losing streak.
Nick Nolte convinces you no one else could have wrung so much from this role. Bob never stops talking, and Jordan has given him some of the best dialogue he's ever written, about gambling, mathematical theory, art criticism, pop music and tall tales about his family background. Nolte's rumpled charm and white-knight-in-rogue's-clothes recalls the best of Bogie, Mitchum and Belmondo.
No one hits bottom as flamboyantly and nonchalantly as Bob. The ladies of his life are horses and heroin, someone notes, and when one runs out, he turns to the other. Bob chooses the moment when he has lost everything to pick a fight with vicious nightclub owner Remi (Marc Lavoine) and attract the attention of his old nemesis Roger (Tcheky Karyo), a cop who needs a crook like Bob to exist.
Two things pull him out of this spiral: Anne (Georgia-born actress Nutsa Kukhianidze in a stunning performance), a weary, amoral teen prostitute whose beauty captivates Bob, and his pals, the practical Raoul (Gerard Darmon) and hero-worshipping Paulo (Said Taghmaoui), who draft him into a scheme to rob a Monte Carlo casino.
Only it's a fake heist. The first heist, certain to get tipped off to the police, is a cover for the real one, the theft of a collection of Impressionist paintings housed by the casino. Their accomplice is a stocky, music-loving genius named Vladimir (director Emir Kusturica), who installed the security system. Bob simply has to finance the operation by selling a beloved Picasso to a shady art dealer (Ralph Fiennes). But is it a fake, too?
Events keep throwing things off course. Bob has factored in a betrayal -- indeed, the plans call for it -- but he gets more than he bargains for. Then a casino security guard, who has an unknown twin, comes to Bob with his own plan to rob the joint. (The filmmaking twins Mark and Michael Polish deftly play these roles).
Gifted cinematographer Chris Menges conspires with Jordan to fabricate a dreamy landscape where the camera is always in motion yet the frame can slow down or even freeze. Editor Tony Lawson's jump-cuts add to the impressionism.
THE GOOD THIEF
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Fox Searchlight Pictures and Alliance Atlantis present a Stephen Woolley/John Wells/Alliance Atlantis production
Credits:
Writer-director: Neil Jordan
Producers: Stephen Woolley, John Wells, Seaton McLean
Executive producers: Kristin Harms, Neil Jordan, Thierry De Navacelle
Director of photography: Chris Menges
Production designer: Anthony Pratt
Music: Elliot Goldenthal
Costume designer: Penny Rose
Editor: Tony Lawson
Cast:
Bob: Nick Nolte
Roger: Tcheky Karyo
Paulo: Said Taghmaoui
Anne: Nutsa Kukhianidze
Raoul: Gerard Darmon
Remi: Marc Lavoine
Tony Angel: Ralph Fiennes
Vladimir: Emir Kusturica
Running time -- 109 minutes
No MPAA rating...
While perhaps not to everyone's taste, "The Good Thief" is a striking entertainment that may prove highly commercial. Think of it as the dark underbelly of "Ocean's Eleven", where freshly scrubbed American stars cavort in a pastiche of heist comedy-dramas. This one contains a scruffy international cast all playing deformed versions of their sleek Yank counterparts, characters ranging from a transsexual bodybuilder to a strangely innocent hooker.
Inspired by Jean Pierre Melville's black-and-white "Bob le flambeur", itself a kind of precursor to the French New Wave, Jordan has relegated its gambler-thief to an imaginary Nice where Bob, a witty, cynical ex-thief, has reinvented himself as a drug addict and hopeless gambler on a long losing streak.
Nick Nolte convinces you no one else could have wrung so much from this role. Bob never stops talking, and Jordan has given him some of the best dialogue he's ever written, about gambling, mathematical theory, art criticism, pop music and tall tales about his family background. Nolte's rumpled charm and white-knight-in-rogue's-clothes recalls the best of Bogie, Mitchum and Belmondo.
No one hits bottom as flamboyantly and nonchalantly as Bob. The ladies of his life are horses and heroin, someone notes, and when one runs out, he turns to the other. Bob chooses the moment when he has lost everything to pick a fight with vicious nightclub owner Remi (Marc Lavoine) and attract the attention of his old nemesis Roger (Tcheky Karyo), a cop who needs a crook like Bob to exist.
Two things pull him out of this spiral: Anne (Georgia-born actress Nutsa Kukhianidze in a stunning performance), a weary, amoral teen prostitute whose beauty captivates Bob, and his pals, the practical Raoul (Gerard Darmon) and hero-worshipping Paulo (Said Taghmaoui), who draft him into a scheme to rob a Monte Carlo casino.
Only it's a fake heist. The first heist, certain to get tipped off to the police, is a cover for the real one, the theft of a collection of Impressionist paintings housed by the casino. Their accomplice is a stocky, music-loving genius named Vladimir (director Emir Kusturica), who installed the security system. Bob simply has to finance the operation by selling a beloved Picasso to a shady art dealer (Ralph Fiennes). But is it a fake, too?
Events keep throwing things off course. Bob has factored in a betrayal -- indeed, the plans call for it -- but he gets more than he bargains for. Then a casino security guard, who has an unknown twin, comes to Bob with his own plan to rob the joint. (The filmmaking twins Mark and Michael Polish deftly play these roles).
Gifted cinematographer Chris Menges conspires with Jordan to fabricate a dreamy landscape where the camera is always in motion yet the frame can slow down or even freeze. Editor Tony Lawson's jump-cuts add to the impressionism.
THE GOOD THIEF
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Fox Searchlight Pictures and Alliance Atlantis present a Stephen Woolley/John Wells/Alliance Atlantis production
Credits:
Writer-director: Neil Jordan
Producers: Stephen Woolley, John Wells, Seaton McLean
Executive producers: Kristin Harms, Neil Jordan, Thierry De Navacelle
Director of photography: Chris Menges
Production designer: Anthony Pratt
Music: Elliot Goldenthal
Costume designer: Penny Rose
Editor: Tony Lawson
Cast:
Bob: Nick Nolte
Roger: Tcheky Karyo
Paulo: Said Taghmaoui
Anne: Nutsa Kukhianidze
Raoul: Gerard Darmon
Remi: Marc Lavoine
Tony Angel: Ralph Fiennes
Vladimir: Emir Kusturica
Running time -- 109 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 9/9/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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