Ahead of Christopher Nolan’s biopic of ‘father of the atomic bomb’ J Robert Oppenheimer, in cinemas next week, we explore the bomb’s legacy on film, from Hiroshima Mon Amour to Dr Strangelove
Two new documentaries available to stream this week are riding the wave of anticipation for Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, out in cinemas next Friday. Lest Nolan’s Cillian Murphy-starring biopic of atomic bomb creator J Robert Oppenheimer not serve the facts diligently enough, then Oppenheimer: The Real Story (from 17 July) and To End All War: Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb (Now TV) are on hand to fill in any gaps. They join a long line of documentaries on the subject and its adjacent concerns; the surprise is that it’s taken this long for Oppenheimer himself to be the protagonist of a major Hollywood drama.
But the legacy of the atom bomb, from its development...
Two new documentaries available to stream this week are riding the wave of anticipation for Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, out in cinemas next Friday. Lest Nolan’s Cillian Murphy-starring biopic of atomic bomb creator J Robert Oppenheimer not serve the facts diligently enough, then Oppenheimer: The Real Story (from 17 July) and To End All War: Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb (Now TV) are on hand to fill in any gaps. They join a long line of documentaries on the subject and its adjacent concerns; the surprise is that it’s taken this long for Oppenheimer himself to be the protagonist of a major Hollywood drama.
But the legacy of the atom bomb, from its development...
- 7/16/2023
- by Guy Lodge
- The Guardian - Film News
Romanian director won Golden Bear at Berlinale in 2013 for ’Child’s Pose’.
Beta Cinema is to handle international sales on Familiar, the new film from Berlinale Golden Bear-winning director Călin Peter Netzer.
Familiar stars Romanian actor Emanuel Pârvu, known for films such as Graduation, Miracle and Tales From A Golden Age, as a movie director investigating the darkest secrets intoxicating his family.
Netzer wrote the script with the film’s main actress Iulia Lumânare and produced together with Oana Iancu through Parada Film, the company behind Romanian director Netzer’s 2013 Golden Bear winner Child’s Pose and his 2017 Silver Bear winner Ana, Mon Amour.
Beta Cinema is to handle international sales on Familiar, the new film from Berlinale Golden Bear-winning director Călin Peter Netzer.
Familiar stars Romanian actor Emanuel Pârvu, known for films such as Graduation, Miracle and Tales From A Golden Age, as a movie director investigating the darkest secrets intoxicating his family.
Netzer wrote the script with the film’s main actress Iulia Lumânare and produced together with Oana Iancu through Parada Film, the company behind Romanian director Netzer’s 2013 Golden Bear winner Child’s Pose and his 2017 Silver Bear winner Ana, Mon Amour.
- 4/26/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
Captain Ahab
Locarno International Film Festival
LOCARNO, Switzerland -- Yes, it's that famous whale-hunter but French director Philippe Ramos uses "Moby Dick" for only the last fifth of his film "Captain Ahab", choosing to an invent a back-story that's more Mark Twain than Herman Melville. There's much to like in the sweeping tale of how a resourceful orphan grew up to become the fearless harpoonist and seeker of the great white whale. Virgil Leclaire has terrific screen presence as the young Ahab and, being new, his tale is more engrossing than the familiar story of the fated captain.
Flawed only by some anachronistically modern songs on the soundtrack, the film's well-drawn period atmosphere and gripping tale should see it sail into rewarding boxoffice territory around the world. It screened in Competition at Locarno.
Told as a fable, the yarn follows young Ahab after his mother's death and his temporary adoption by her pious sister Rose (Mona Heftre). But then his absentee father (Jean-Francois Stevenin) takes him away to live in a log cabin in the woods where they encounter a free-spirited nymph named Louise (Hande Kodja). Ahab is as enamored of Louise as his father but she dallies with a wandering rascal named Will Adams (Bernard Blancan) and soon their idyll is ended. The boy is returned to his aunt, but before she leaves, Louise gives him a locket with her name engraved inside and that becomes his talisman.
When his aunt gets married to a dandy who likes to use his cane on the lad, Ahab runs away and has a series of huckleberry adventures before he grows up to become an obsessed sea captain.
Ramos has a good sense of what is fun in a boy's adventure and whether or not his Ahab would have turned into the man in Melville's tale is another question. Much of the appealing whimsy disappears when the stern features of Denis Lavant show up as the adult Ahab.
His love affair with the widow Anna (Dominique Blanc) is handled well and so are the seagoing trials of the Pequod with the reliable Starbuck (Jacques Bonnaffe) at the tormented captain's side. But it's the wide-eyed wonder of the young Ahab and his captivating Louise that linger when the movie is done.
CAPTAIN AHAB
Sesame Films
Credits:
Writer/director/editor: Philippe Ramos
Executive producer: Florence Borelly
Director of photography: Laurent Desmet
Production designers: Ramos, Christophe Sartori, Erika von Weissenberg
Music: Pierre-Stephane Meuge, Olivier Bombarda, Tonio Matias
Co-producer: Olivier Guerpillon
Costume designer: Marie-Laure Pinsard
Cast:
Captain Ahab: Denis Lavant
Young Ahab: Virgil Leclaire
Ahab's father: Jean-Francois Stevenin
Louise: Hande Kodja
Rose: Mona Heftre
Mulligan: Carlo Brandt
Anna: Dominique Blanc
Starbuck: Jacques Bonnaffe
Minister: Jean-Paul Bonnaire
Will Adams: Bernard Blancan
Henry: Philippe Katerine
Jim Larsson: Pierre Pellet
King of England: Jean-Christophe Bouvet
Dr. Hogganbeck: Lou Castel
Running time -- 97 minutes
No MPAA rating...
LOCARNO, Switzerland -- Yes, it's that famous whale-hunter but French director Philippe Ramos uses "Moby Dick" for only the last fifth of his film "Captain Ahab", choosing to an invent a back-story that's more Mark Twain than Herman Melville. There's much to like in the sweeping tale of how a resourceful orphan grew up to become the fearless harpoonist and seeker of the great white whale. Virgil Leclaire has terrific screen presence as the young Ahab and, being new, his tale is more engrossing than the familiar story of the fated captain.
Flawed only by some anachronistically modern songs on the soundtrack, the film's well-drawn period atmosphere and gripping tale should see it sail into rewarding boxoffice territory around the world. It screened in Competition at Locarno.
Told as a fable, the yarn follows young Ahab after his mother's death and his temporary adoption by her pious sister Rose (Mona Heftre). But then his absentee father (Jean-Francois Stevenin) takes him away to live in a log cabin in the woods where they encounter a free-spirited nymph named Louise (Hande Kodja). Ahab is as enamored of Louise as his father but she dallies with a wandering rascal named Will Adams (Bernard Blancan) and soon their idyll is ended. The boy is returned to his aunt, but before she leaves, Louise gives him a locket with her name engraved inside and that becomes his talisman.
When his aunt gets married to a dandy who likes to use his cane on the lad, Ahab runs away and has a series of huckleberry adventures before he grows up to become an obsessed sea captain.
Ramos has a good sense of what is fun in a boy's adventure and whether or not his Ahab would have turned into the man in Melville's tale is another question. Much of the appealing whimsy disappears when the stern features of Denis Lavant show up as the adult Ahab.
His love affair with the widow Anna (Dominique Blanc) is handled well and so are the seagoing trials of the Pequod with the reliable Starbuck (Jacques Bonnaffe) at the tormented captain's side. But it's the wide-eyed wonder of the young Ahab and his captivating Louise that linger when the movie is done.
CAPTAIN AHAB
Sesame Films
Credits:
Writer/director/editor: Philippe Ramos
Executive producer: Florence Borelly
Director of photography: Laurent Desmet
Production designers: Ramos, Christophe Sartori, Erika von Weissenberg
Music: Pierre-Stephane Meuge, Olivier Bombarda, Tonio Matias
Co-producer: Olivier Guerpillon
Costume designer: Marie-Laure Pinsard
Cast:
Captain Ahab: Denis Lavant
Young Ahab: Virgil Leclaire
Ahab's father: Jean-Francois Stevenin
Louise: Hande Kodja
Rose: Mona Heftre
Mulligan: Carlo Brandt
Anna: Dominique Blanc
Starbuck: Jacques Bonnaffe
Minister: Jean-Paul Bonnaire
Will Adams: Bernard Blancan
Henry: Philippe Katerine
Jim Larsson: Pierre Pellet
King of England: Jean-Christophe Bouvet
Dr. Hogganbeck: Lou Castel
Running time -- 97 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 8/10/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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