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Exclusive: Arrested Industries Talent has signed The Smell of Apples co-writer Christopher Ciancimino and actress-director Bryerly Long.

The talent management division of Anthony Kimble’s Arrested Industries has been building its international talent roster since launching in February, and will represent Ciancimino and Long going forwards.

Ciancimino has over 20 years’ experience in TV and film as a writer and exec, and most recently co-wrote wrote the upcoming adaptation of the acclaimed South African novel The Smell of Apples with John Trengove for Portobello Productions.

His other credits include the Zimbabwean wine-tasting comedy Blind Ambition with co-writer Nathan Boyd for Impact X and Goodgate Media, and producing Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, John Krasinski’s directorial debut, with a cast that included Timothy Hutton, Corey Stoll, Will Forte and Julianne Nicholson. The film was produced by Woodshed Entertainment, a company that Ciancimino co-founded and that was also home to his debut feature,...

French international sales veteran Agathe Valentin has joined The Match Factory in the newly created role of Sales Director with immediate effect.

She will report to the Germany-based film sales and production company’s long-time VP International Sales Thania Dimitrakopoulou.

Working out of Brussels, Valentin’s remit is to be a key driver in executing initiatives that expand the organization’s international footprint and meet its goals, the company said.

Valentin has racked up sales experience at a number of top sales companies over the course of her two-decade career, working on a host of award-winning films in the process.

She was Head of Sales at Les Films du Losange for eight years, selling titles such as Michael Haneke’s Palme d’Or winners The White Ribbon and Amour, which also won the Best Foreign Language Film of the Year Oscar in 2013.

She headed to Pyramide in the same role...

South Africa has gotten its Oscar contender in under the wire, picking Muneera Sallies’s music-themed drama Old Righteous Blues as its contender for the 97th Academy Awards in the best international feature category.

South Africa’s National Film and Video Foundation (Nfvf) announced the pick, which was chosen by the South African Academy Awards Selection Committee. Sallies’ drama follows a young man who tries to unite his divided community through the power of music.

Ayden Croy stars as Hantjie Jansen, a young man who plays in his town’s Kerskoor (Christmas choir) who is passed over for the choir’s top job as trommelmajoor (drum major) when his uncle, Oom Jakwes (Ivan Abrahams) retires. The snub is a result of a decades-old feud going back to a choice by Croy’s father that split the fabulous Old Righteous Blues Kerskoor into two rival bands and has divided the community every since.

Zia Anger is haunted by a long-abandoned film project in her feature directorial debut “My First Film.” A filmmaker, performance artist, and celebrated director of music videos for the likes of Beach House, Angel Olsen, Mitski, and Zola Jesus, Anger fuses ideas from that unrealized project with echoes of a touring stage piece she started in 2018 for this Mubi release, out at the end of August. Odessa Young stands in for Anger as the young filmmaker Vita, who 15 years before started making a film about a young woman adrift after becoming pregnant. IndieWire shares the exclusive trailer for the film below.

Here’s the official synopsis: “Vita (Odessa Young) revisits her first chaotic attempt at filmmaking — a semi-autobiographical feature made 15 years prior about a young woman who decides to leave home after becoming pregnant. Blending past with present, reality with fiction, Zia Anger’s ‘debut’ film navigates the tumultuous intersection...

“White Lies,” a murder mystery series starring Natalie Dormer, has been acquired by Sundance Now for North America.

A collaboration between production company Quizzical Pictures and Pan-African broadcaster M-Net in partnership with Fremantle, “White Lies” is set in the wealthy Bishopscourt neighborhood in Cape Town, South Africa. Dormer (“Penny Dreadful: City of Angels”) stars as an investigative journalist called Edie Hansen alongside Brendon Daniels (“Four Corners”), who plays detective Forty Bell.

“Following her estranged brother’s murder in his luxury home, Edie’s world plunges deeper into chaos when her brother’s teenage children become prime suspects for the crime,” reads the logline. “As Edie investigates, she finds herself at loggerheads with veteran detective Forty Bell, and grapples with the crumbling local police force, a corrupt political system and the secretive world of extreme Cape wealth.”

The eight-part series is written by Darrel Bristow-Bovey with John Trengove (“The Wound”) as lead director,...

Sallieu Sesay is a Sierra Leonean-American actor who has had recurring roles on CBS’ Seal Team and HBO’s Barry, and, in his latest, delivers an incredible supporting performance in John Trengove’s nihilistic thriller Manodrome alongside Jesse Eisenberg. On this episode he talks about doing tons of research before taking on that part, having so little in common with the character and facing the pressure of being at the center of a movie’s most pivotal scene. He gives us a glimpse at his dedication to this craft, his continuous training with some of the best acting teachers around such as Ivana […]

The post “There’s a Lot in This Heart”: Sallieu Sesay, Back To One, Episode 276 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Sallieu Sesay is a Sierra Leonean-American actor who has had recurring roles on CBS’ Seal Team and HBO’s Barry, and, in his latest, delivers an incredible supporting performance in John Trengove’s nihilistic thriller Manodrome alongside Jesse Eisenberg. On this episode he talks about doing tons of research before taking on that part, having so little in common with the character and facing the pressure of being at the center of a movie’s most pivotal scene. He gives us a glimpse at his dedication to this craft, his continuous training with some of the best acting teachers around such as Ivana […]

The post “There’s a Lot in This Heart”: Sallieu Sesay, Back To One, Episode 276 first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Filmmaker John Trengove explores the world of "pro-men" groups in his latest film Manodrome. The film follows the story of Ralphie, a deeply troubled man who finds himself drawn into a group led by the charismatic Dad Dan. Adrien Brody gives a powerful performance as Dad Dan, a complex character who manipulates Ralphie for his own purposes, blurring the lines between good and evil.

Filmmaker John Trengove dives into the world of "pro-men" groups with Manodrome, his latest film, starring Jesse Eisenberg, Odessa Young, and Adrien Brody. Eisenberg plays Ralphie, a rideshare driver who was recently fired from his "real" job. With a pregnant girlfriend to support and bills to pay, to say nothing of the stress of his traumatic past and deeply closeted homosexuality. Eventually, Ralphie finds his way into a group of "proud men," so to speak, led by the charismatic Dad Dan, played by Adrien Brody. His...

"You say you're an asshole? Well, what are you doing about it?" Dad Dan (Adrien Brody) asks Ralphie (Jesse Eisenberg) in a tense scene from Lionsgate's new film Manodrome. Brody has worked alongside some of the finest directors and actors, with an Oscar trophy of his own under his belt. More recently, the Academy Award winner (for The Pianist) has taken on a variety of quirky and dark roles, with Manodrome easily making this list. Dad Dan, the leader of a mysterious all-male group that partakes in morally questionable therapy sessions at their upstate New York headquarters, is a role Brody simply nails.

Directed by John Trengove and also starring Jesse Eisenberg, Manodrome is out now, and we recently caught up with Brody to learn more about his juicy new role in the thought-provoking thriller about what it means to be a man.

Adrien Brody 'Felt Immense Sadness'

Manodrome...

Jesse Eisenberg discusses Manodrome

Intently focused on the interior journey of a troubled character, Manodrome, which is currently in cinemas in the US, is an actor’s dream. I interviewed director John Trengove two weeks ago but subsequently got the chance to follow that up by talking to star Jesse Eisenberg, free to discuss his work after the end of the actors’ strike, and always, he tells me, happy to do publicity because “everybody’s so nice.”

In the film, Jesse plays Ralphie, a man who has recently lost his job, is in a rocky relationship with his girlfriend and is about to become a father, who makes a frantic effort to reclaim his masculinity by joining a cult. It’s not so long since he explored similar themes in Riley Stearns’ The Art Of Self-Defense, and many actors hesitate to take on similar material like that for fear of being typecast,...

Manodrome is a thriller-drama film written and directed by John Trengove. The drama film revolves around Ralphie, an Uber driver who aspires to be a bodybuilder gets inducted into a libertarian masculinity cult, and loses his grip on reality because of all the pressures in his life. Manodrome stars Jesse Eisenberg in the lead role with Adrien Brody, Odessa Young, Sallieu Sesay, and Philip Ettinger starring in supporting roles. So, if you loved Manodrome here are some similar movies you could watch next.

The Art of Self-Defense (Max & Prime Video Add-On) Credit – Bleecker Street

Synopsis: A dark comedy set in the world of karate. The film centers on Casey (Jesse Eisenberg), who is attacked at random on the street and enlists in a local dojo led by a charismatic and mysterious Sensei (Alessandro Nivola), in an effort to learn how to defend himself. What he uncovers is a sinister world of fraternity,...

Jesse Eisenberg discusses his experience of shooting a gay love scene as a straight man in the film Manodrome. Eisenberg reveals that he worked closely with an intimacy coordinator to navigate the sensitive nature of the scene. Director John Trengove reflects on the personal connection between the film's storyline and his own experiences as a gay man.

Jesse Eisenberg has tackled a variety of roles throughout his acting career with his most recent project seeing the star portray a man named Ralphie in John Trengove's new film Manodrome. While reflecting on his character in the drama film, Eisenberg shared his first experience of shooting a gay love scene as a straight man.

The Trengove directed and scripted film, Manodrome, follows Eisenberg's Ralphie, a man who grappling with his girlfriend's (played by Odessa Young) pregnancy. In the movie, Ralphie's life takes a sudden turn after he becomes acquainted with a mysterious family of men,...

Jesse Eisenberg and Adrien Brody reunite on-screen for the film Manodrome, but Eisenberg didn't think Brody would remember their previous collaboration in The Village. Despite their brief interaction in The Village, Eisenberg was star-struck by Brody, who was the most famous actor in the world at the time. Eisenberg praises Brody's warm and inviting personality, which made their on-screen dynamic as a cult leader and vulnerable follower in Manodrome perfect.

Jesse Eisenberg and Adrien Brody unite on-screen for John Trengove's Manodrome, an incel satire focused on a man whose life spirals out of control when he meets a mysterious family of men. However, the pair previously appeared in a movie together two decades ago, and Eisenberg really did not think that his co-star would recall their previous meeting.

Manodrome has opened to mixed reviews, but it's impossible to deny the star power of its starring duo: Brody became the...

From Mark Zuckerberg to Lex Luthor, Academy Award-nominated actor Jesse Eisenberg has played a wide variety of roles over the years. His most recent role is in the surreal winter film Manodrome. This definitely isn't A Christmas Story — the film follows Ralphie (Eisenberg), a man in New York who becomes increasingly paranoid, sexually confused, and violent after he finds out his partner back home (Odessa Young) is pregnant.

From director John Trengove, the head-spinning new Manodrome further proves the versatility of Eisenberg, who's been a performer to keep note of ever since the days of The Squid and the Whale. Just when you think you're familiar with the facets of Eisenberg, he goes and transforms a character in the most surprising of ways, something he does here with wonderful results. We recently caught up with Jesse Eisenberg to learn more about the challenges — or lack thereof — behind tackling the infamous...

What if Travis Bickle was an Uber driver and was expecting a baby with his girlfriend? South African director John Trengove’s first English-language film, titled Manodrome, asks that very question. But while the iconic Scorsese film worked more as a social commentary and looked at the psyche of the man through a lens, Trengove’s film kind of ends up sympathizing with this guy by offering a botched-up explanation behind his problematic actions. The film also channels its inner Fight Club, but does not quite manage to reach the heights of the David Fincher classic, thanks to a lack of proper vision. That’s why, in spite of having a fairly relevant topic at its core and genuinely talented actors Jesse Eisenberg and Adrien Brody at the helm of it, Manodrome feels like a bit of a hack job. It wouldn’t be unfair to call this thing a “Midsommar,...

Manodrome lacks the depth and social commentary found in movies like Taxi Driver and Fight Club due to its lack of voiceover narration. Jesse Eisenberg's performance as Ralphie, a character struggling with his identity, is a standout in the film. Unlike movies like Taxi Driver and Fight Club, Manodrome fails to challenge the viewer's own perspective and morality, resulting in a movie that is relatively toothless.

It might seem unfair to measure Manodrome against generation-defining explorations of masculine rage like Taxi Driver and Fight Club, but this movie seems to invoke them. Its protagonist is a driver, but for Uber; he joins a cultish, all-male club, but they do more chanting and shopping than mayhem. The list of concepts touched upon as he spirals downward is long enough to understand that writer-director John Trengove aims to speak to our moment as those movies did to theirs, but his work...

Jesse Eisenberg delivers a strong performance as Ralphie in the chilling psychological thriller Manodrome, showcasing his versatility as an actor. The film explores themes of masculinity and sexuality, with Ralphie questioning his own identity and getting caught up in a dangerous men's group led by Adrien Brody's character. While the plot may be surface-level at moments and some characters needed more screen time, Manodrome offers impressive camerawork and a paranoid atmosphere that is grimly topical.

If you were to juxtapose the opening scene of The Social Network with any dialogue-heavy sequence from Manodrome, you'd see a humorously stark contrast in the way Academy Award-nominated actor Jesse Eisenberg speaks. "Yo, so like, there was this kid, and like..." is just one example of the informal, slang-heavy way in which Ralphie converses in a new chilling new psychological thriller from South African writer-director John Trengove (The Wound). Eisenberg nails this lead...

Wrecked Ralph: Trengove Gazes into the Weaponization of Masculinity in Unsettling Character Study

Playwright and activist Eve Ensler commented on a 2017 panel regarding how “the tyranny of masculinity and the tyranny of patriarchy…has been much more deadly to men than it has to women. It hasn’t killed our hearts. It’s killed men’s hearts.” Ralphie, the troubled protagonist of John Trengove’s sophomore feature, Manodrome, is at this very precipice, on the verge of losing his heart. Like his 2017 debut, The Wound (read review), in which a tribal ritual unleashes sexual repressions with dire consequences, he focuses on a similar homosocial sphere in the US, creating a fictional libertarian masculinity cult utilizing a now commonplace rhetoric amongst several groups vocalizing a desire to reclaim something they believe they’ve lost, which is undaunted dominion.…...

"Manodrome" is a new dramatic thriller written and directed by John Trengove, starring Jesse Eisenberg, Adrien Brody, Odessa Young, Sallieu Sesay, Philip Ettinger, Ethan Suplee, Evan Jonigkeit and Caleb Eberhardt, releasing November 10, 2023 in theaters:

"...'Ralphie' (Eisenberg), a New York 'Uber' driver, is struggling to make ends meet with his pregnant partner 'Sal'. 

"Then he is introduced to an intense all-male 'self-help' cult by a friend. 

He suffers a breakdown and descends into madness..."

Click the images to enlarge...

What if you could choose your family? Veteran actors Jesse Eisenberg and Adrien Brody explore this alternative idea in Manodrome, a tense new thriller from writer-director John Trengove that quickly turns psychological as a certain character loses their grip on reality. Eisenberg plays Ralphie, a New York Uber driver who spends his free time caring for his pregnant lover Sal (Odessa Young) and also bodybuilding. Watch as he often goes out of his way to take mirror selfies at the gym, seemingly impressed with his own hard work.

Down and out of his luck, however, Ralphie is drawn to a mysterious brotherhood led by Dad Dan (Brody), which seems like all-good-things at first, a sort of saving grace for the recently unemployed dad-to-be. But then pressure mounts in the unholy world around him, and Ralphie may or may not just spiral. We recently caught up with Trengove to learn more...

Manodrome explores toxic masculinity, a topic that is also depicted in other films of 2023 like Barbie and Fair Play, highlighting the importance of critiquing male supremacist mindsets in society. Unlike other films, Manodrome focuses on Ralphie's mentality and doesn't make apologies for the characters' behaviors, providing an unsettling exploration into the effects of toxic masculinity. Manodrome is a serious film that tackles the troubling appeal and consequences of a men's rights mentality, offering a unique perspective on the subject. The film's release in theaters starts on November 10.

Manodrome is the sophomore film from South African writer and director John Trengove, whose debut feature, The Wound, was South Africa’s entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards. Manodrome stars Jesse Eisenberg as Ralphie, who finds himself welcomed into a self-styled family of men led by Dad Dan, one of Adrien Brody’s most anticipated upcoming roles. The...

Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...

We have an official clip for the new film Manodrome, a dark and slightly surreal thriller from filmmaker John Trengove. Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Adrien Brody, Odessa Young, Sallieu Sesay, Ethan Suplee, and Philip Ettinger, Manodrome is an intense satire about machismo and masculinity that is sure to spark debate. You can watch this first-look clip above, and you can read the full synopsis below:

"In Manodrome, which made its world premiere at the Berlinale Film Festival earlier this year, Ralphie (Jesse Eisenberg) is a man wrestling with outside forces and the demons within when he meets a mysterious family of men who welcome him as one of their own. As Ralphie struggles to define himself, pressure mounts and a powder keg is lit that will blow a hole in the lives of everyone he touches. Joining Eisenberg is an all-star cast including Adrien Brody and the unforgettable Odessa Young. Experience...

Manodrome

The tale of a father-to-be who finds himself losing his grip after losing his job on a construction site, Manodrome explores toxic masculinity from the inside out. A floundering relationship with a woman, a desperately repressed attraction to a man and an inability to cope with society at large sees Ralphie (Jesse Eisenberg) fall under the sway of a male isolationist cult led by the self-styled ‘Dad Dan’ (Adrien Brody), but nothing ever really seems to make the pain go away. It’s South African writer/director John Trengove’s follow-up to 2017’s The Wound, and we found time for a chat about it just ahead of its US cinematic release.

Opening the discussion, I tell him that my favourite scene in the film is one where Ralphie is driving an Uber and takes it upon himself to give manly advice to a boy (Matthew Lamb) who is travelling in the.

There’s a scene about halfway through John Trengove’s latest musing on damaged masculinity when Ralphie (Jesse Eisenberg) decides to give some manly advice to a boy who is riding in the back of his Uber. The boy has been having an honest conversation over the phone, expressing his fears about wetting himself. That’s not something he should ever talk about with anyone, Ralphie tells him. He should hide those emotions. He should push those negative feelings deep down inside.

There is his car, Ralphie feels safest of all. It’s a traditionally masculine space, though Trengove emphasises its armouring, enclosing, uterine or cocoon-like qualities. Within it, Ralphie strives to find new form, to be fully born into the world. It’s the only space where he has any real control, and that small measure of power he hungrily abuses, and we see something of what he might...

"Manodrome" is a new dramatic thriller written and directed by John Trengove, starring Jesse Eisenberg, Adrien Brody, Odessa Young, Sallieu Sesay, Philip Ettinger, Ethan Suplee, Evan Jonigkeit and Caleb Eberhardt, releasing November 10, 2023 in theaters:

"...'Ralphie' (Eisenberg), a New York 'Uber' driver, is struggling to make ends meet with his pregnant partner 'Sal'. 

"Then he is introduced to an intense all-male 'self-help' cult by a friend. 

He suffers a breakdown and descends into madness..."

Click the images to enlarge...

Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...

Lionsgate has debuted the trailer for John Trengove’s English-language debut centring on toxic masculinity, ‘Manodrome.’

The story follows Ralphie (Jesse Eisenberg), a New York Uber driver struggling to make ends meet and anxiously awaiting the birth of his child with Sal (Odessa Young).

Feeling overstressed and lost, his search for greater fulfilment finds him becoming involved with an intense all-male self-help group led by the guru-like Dan (Adrien Brody).

As Ralph falls deeper into dependence on the group and its increasingly aggressive and dominance-driven members, his relationship and his life crumble until he suffers a breakdown and descends into madness.

Ethan Suplee, Evan Jonigkeit and Philip Ettinger also star in the film which Riley Keough, Ryan Zacarias, Ben Giladi, and Gina Gammell produce.

Also in trailers – “This is Janet…” Trailer drops for comic thriller series ‘Boat Story’

The post Jesse Eisenberg & Adrien Brody star in trailer for dark comedy ‘Manodrome’ appeared first on HeyUGuys.

"Manodrome" is a new dramatic thriller written and directed by John Trengove, starring Jesse Eisenberg, Adrien Brody, Odessa Young, Sallieu Sesay, Philip Ettinger, Ethan Suplee, Evan Jonigkeit and Caleb Eberhardt, releasing November 10, 2023 in theaters:

"...'Ralphie' (Eisenberg), a New York 'Uber' driver, is struggling to make ends meet with his pregnant partner 'Sal'. 

"Then he is introduced to an intense all-male 'self-help' cult by a friend. 

He suffers a breakdown and descends into madness..."

Click the images to enlarge...

Academy Award nominee Jesse Eisenberg stars in the intense thriller Manodrome as Ralphie, an out-of-work Uber driver struggling with his masculinity. Ralphie joins a cult-like group of men who embrace physical dominance, leading to a newfound empowerment that brings along its own set of problems. Director John Trengove drew inspiration from the book Kill All Normies to explore themes of internet culture, the alt-right, and the rejection of societal roles in the film.

Lionsgate has dropped the adrenaline-fueled first trailer for the upcoming thriller Manodrome. Academy Award nominee Jesse Eisenberg stars in the film as Ralphie, an out-of-work Uber driver who is expecting a baby with his girlfriend, Sal (Odessa Young). To add to his struggles, Ralphie goes through life feeling disrespected and ridiculed by other men. Cue a charismatic older man named Dan (portrayed by Academy Award winner Adrien Brody) who appears at just the right time and implores...

It’s not quite “Fight Club,” and it’s not quite “Toxic Masculinity: The Movie” or “Incels R Us,” but the new trailer for the film, “Manodrome” definitely seems like it’s trying to tap into the world of white men struggling emotionally and psychologically, coupled with issues of insecurity and powerlessness, who take the wrong lessons from their troubles and perhaps mental health worries.

In “Manodrome,” by South African filmmaker John Trengove, known for “The Wound” and the TV series “Swartwater,” Academy Award-acclaimed actors Jesse Eisenberg (“The Social Network”) and Adrien Brody (“The Pianist”), star in a thriller about one man’s desperate quest to reinvent himself, and his chilling descent into a world of destruction.

Continue reading ‘Manodrome’ Trailer: Jesse Eisenberg & Adrien Brody Are Giving ‘Fight Club’ Vibes In New Toxic Masculinity Thriller at The Playlist.

Jesse Eisenberg is getting absolutely ripped in a new trailer for Lionsgate’s upcoming feature, Manodrome. While audiences may be used to seeing the Academy Award-nominated actor in less action-heavy projects like The Social Network and Fleishman is in Trouble, the teaser for Manodrome packs on plenty of toxic masculinity in a production that looks to be heavily influenced by popular book-turned-film, Fight Club. With the addition of Adrien Brody in a powerhouse performance that centers him as a cult leader, John Trengove’s English-language debut looks like a promising reflection on alpha-male culture.

Premiering earlier this year at Berlinale, John Trengove’s The Wound follow-up Manodrome sets Jesse Eisenberg and Adrien Brody in a Fight Club-esque tale following a man wrestling with his own demons who gets welcomed into a mysterious family of men. Ahead of a November release from Lionsgate, the first trailer has now arrived.

Rory O’Connor said in his Berlinale review, “In Manodrome, cinema’s enduring love for frustrated male loners is brought, kicking and screaming, into the cold light of the present day. Set in an unnamed, crumbling city in the Northeast, it stars an against-type Jesse Eisenberg as a jacked-up, emotionally stunted gym bro who joins a cult of voluntarily and involuntarily celibate men. The director is John Trengrove, whose previous feature The Wound used a very real Xhosa rite of passage as a way to examine the ever-knotted rituals of male bonding. The subcultures in Manodrome...

"Take back your power, Ralph!!" Lionsgate has revealed an official trailer for a film called Manodrome, an indie creation from South African filmmaker John Trengove (director of The Wound previously). This premiered at the Berlin Film Festival to mostly mixed to positive reviews - its a very slick film, although it doesn't particularly stand out much. Conflicted about his girlfriend's pregnancy, Ralphie's life spirals out of control when he meets a mysterious family of men. Manodrome is a clever criticism of toxic masculinity and fragile men who are obsessed with being men (you know the ones). Jesse Eisenberg stars as one of these guys who falls into this kind of cult for men, run by Adrien Brody. Then it gets really crazy... The cast also features Odessa Young, Philip Ettinger, Sallieu Sesay, Ethan Suplee, Evan Joningkeit, and Caleb Eberhardt. I saw this at Berlinale earlier in the year - it's a good film,...

Shane Atkinson’s “Laroy,” a crime thriller laced with dark comedy, swept three major prizes at the 49th edition of the Deauville American Film Festival.

The movie, which marks Atkinson’s feature debut and showcases Coen brothers influences, won the Grand Prize, the Audience Award and the Critics Award. It stars John Magaro as Ray, who decides to kill himself after discovering his wife has been cheating on him. But just before he pulls a trigger, a stranger takes him for a low-rent hitman. The movie was produced by the Cannes-based company Adastra Films and was acquired by a French distributor, Arp Selection, during the Deauville Film Festival. It previously opened at the Tribeca Film Festival.

The Jury Prize, meanwhile was shared by two films, Sean Price Williams’ “The Sweet East” and Iranian-born director Babak Jalali’s “Fremont.” “The Sweet East” marks the feature debut of Price, a well-established cinematographer whose credits include “Good Time.

Deauville American Film Festival will forge ahead with its honorary tributes to stars such as Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Peter Dinklage and Joseph Gordon-Levitt despite the fact that they won’t be in attendance due to the SAG-AFTRA strike.

The festival’s artistic director, Bruno Barde, told Variety ahead of the event’s press conference on Thursday that he empathized with actors and writers who are on strike to “protect themselves against the dangers of artificial intelligence.”

“AI has always existed in cinema and it’s now posing a threat to screenwriters, set designers, dubbers and, of course, to actors whom we’re using the image of. Cinema is an art that elevates humankind, and artificial intelligence does the exact opposite. It’s a danger,” Barde said.

And while he stands in solidarity with the strike, he has opted “to maintain all the tributes which will pay homage to careers...

One of the top three strictly American indie film festivals outside of the US, France’s Deauville American Film Festival has unveiled the fourteen titles in the competition section with films dating back to Marian Mathias‘ Runner (Venice 2022) passing through (Sundance) in heavyweight contender Celine Song‘s Past Lives and Babak Jalali‘s Fremont to Berlinale with John Trengove‘s Manodrome and to the Tribeca with Hannah Peterson‘s The Graduate plus some Directors’ Fortnight titles for good measure.

The 49th edition takes place between September 1st and the 10th and they’ll likely throw in a trio of French title world premieres in the mix.…...

France’s Deauville American Film Festival has unveiled the 14 U.S. indie titles selected for competition in its 49th edition running from September 1 to 10.

They include Celine Song’s Sundance hit Past Lives; Jesse Eisenberg-starring Berlin Golden Bear Contender Manodrome by John Trengove as well as Sean Price Williams’ The Sweet East and Joanna Arnow’s micro-budget debut The Feeling That The Time For Doing Something Has Passed, which both debuted in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in May.

“Always in search of the talent of tomorrow, which is already enjoying success today, the strong competition of nine first films and eight films by female directors gives hope for the future of independent cinema,” said festival director Bruno Barde.

This year’s main competition jury will be presided over by actor-director-producer Guillaume Canet, with other members including filmmakers Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, Alexandre Aja and Léa Mysius as well as actress Rebecca Marder.

Game of Thrones star Natalie Dormer is leading a thriller for South African network M-Net.

Filming will commence next month on White Lies, which will star Dormer alongside Brendon Daniels (Four Corners) as investigative journalist Edie Hansen and detective Forty Bell respectively. Set in the wealthy neighbourhood of Bishopscourt, Cape Town, Hansen gets caught up in the ugly underbelly that lies beneath the picturesque beauty of the city, dragging her back to a turbulent past. Following her estranged brother’s murder in his luxury home, her world plunges deeper into chaos when her brother’s teenage children become prime suspects for the crime, as she finds herself at loggerheads with Bell.

Having previously combined on International Emmy Award-nominated M-Net drama Reyka, South African indie Quizzical Pictures is producing with Fremantle.

Dormer is a great get. She is best known for her role as Margaery Tyrell in Game of Thrones and...

Game of Thrones and The Hunger Games star Natalie Dormer is set to lead the cast of White Lies, a South African crime thriller from M-Net, Quizzical Pictures and Fremantle.

The Hollywood Reporter can reveal that the British actress — who became a fan favorite for playing Margaery Tyrell across 26 episodes of Game of Thrones — is now in Cape Town, where shooting is due to start on March 6. Dormer also had major roles in Picnic at Hanging Rock and The Tudors, and moved into producing and writer with 2018 thriller In Darkness.

Joining Dormer is award-winning South African actor Brendon Daniels, whose credits include the acclaimed film Four Corners, Skemerdans and Trackers, another M-Net international co-production.

Created by Sean Steinberg and written by award-winning scriptwriter Darrel Bristow-Bovey, White Lies is described as an “urgent exploration of race and privilege, inequality and identity.”

Set in the wealthy neighbourhood of Bishopscourt, Cape Town, the...

Eight films have screened with 11 more to come.

As the Berlinale Competition nears the halfway point, Celine Song’s Past Lives is leading Screen’s Berlin 2023 jury grid with an average score of 3.6.

The romantic drama is way out in front after receiving five four-star ratings from critics – the highest mark meaning “excellent”.

Anton Dolin from Meduza and Katja Nicodemus from Die Zeit marked it lower, at three and two stars respectively.

Song’s debut feature follows two childhood friends from South Korea who reconnect for a few days in New York. It had its world premiere at Sundance last month.

Based on the synopsis alone, one would think John Trengove’s “Manodrome” to have two feet in satire: Jesse Eisenberg is Ralphie, a father-to-be lulled into a libertarian masculinity cult led by Adrien Brody. It is odd, then, to see the South African director mindlessly bypass the clever beats of parody in favor of a dreary mishmash of classics such as Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver” and David Fincher’s “The Fight Club.”

With a kid on the way, losing his job was not on Ralphie’s plans.

Continue reading ‘Manodrome’ Review: Frustrating Incel Satire Sees Jesse Eisenberg’s Best Turn in a Decade at The Playlist.

In the last few decades, the concept of toxic masculinity has become more widespread as the world has confronted the shortcomings of gender stereotypes. But while we can hopefully expect younger generations will be more prepared to deal with complex questions of identity and sexuality, the fact remains that there are whole generations of men raised to believe they are strong, powerful, and aggressive. Even worse, there are thousands of men convinced they can't be anything else. So what happens to this significant segment of society when they can no longer pretend to control their own lives? South African director John Trengove's English language debut, Manodrome, explores how a society that holds inclusive values makes certain men dangerously frustrated. And while Manodrome doesn't always manage to keep steady pacing, it still serves as a unique character study for Jesse Eisenberg's angry and destructive young man.

John Trengove’s searing 2017 debut, The Wound, explored the complex world of Xhosa masculinity via adolescent initiation rites that exposed thorny conflicts of sexuality and personal identity. The protagonist of the South African writer-director’s first English-language feature, Manodrome — played by a febrile Jesse Eisenberg in an eye-opening performance simmering with rage — is already fully inducted into the uneasy halls of manhood and finding it an uncomfortable fit. Barely scraping by financially and staring ahead at an unpromising future, the damaged Ralphie reaches for a lifeline with a shadowy cult of male separatists, which only makes his hold on reality unravel faster.

What Ralphie goes through over the course of this absorbing enough but bludgeoning portrait of corrosive masculinity makes him both victim and monster. Recently laid off from a corporate maintenance job, he’s struggling to make ends meet as an Uber driver and wondering how he’s going...

’Manodrome’ plays in competition at the Berlinale.

South African director John Trengove’s Berlinale competition title doesn’t seem like an obvious choice to set during the festive period.

Manodrome sees Jesse Eisenberg playing a troubled taxi driver who finds himself becoming lured into a mysterious and cult-like ‘family’ of men.

“It’s a strange kind of Christmas movie, in a way,” said Trengove, while discussing the film with cast members including Eisenberg and Adrien Brody at the Berlinale.

“That was very much intentional. I wrote the first draft of the screenplay over Christmas. There was something about the perversity...

Given recent news about self-described misogynist and TikTok star Andrew Tate — currently being detained in Romania and being investigated over allegations of human trafficking, rape and organized crime offenses — many might assume that Manodrome, the Berlinale competition entry starring Jesse Eisenberg that dives into toxic masculinity and incel culture, was a creative reaction to such figures.

Not so, claimed writer and director John Trengove in making his return to the festival six years after his well-received 2017 debut The Wound.

“I actually only found out about Andrew Tate very recently,” he explained at the press conference for the film ahead of its world premiere on Saturday night. “The kernel for the idea precedes him.”

Trengove said he set out not to make a commentary or documentary-style film about the so-called online “manosphere” of misogynistic, anti-female websites, but instead draw on ideas from this world and create something more mythical and imagined for his story,...

Five years ago, South African director John Trengove’s feature debut, “The Wound,” scored coveted berths at Sundance and Berlin before being short-listed for an Academy Award — even as the powerful gay drama set in the secretive world of Xhosa initiation ceremonies faced angry protests in his home country.

His sophomore effort, “Manodrome,” which plays in competition in Berlin, stars Jesse Eisenberg as a down-at-the-heels Uber driver and expecting father who begins to lose his grip on reality. He’s taken under the wing of a charismatic, self-styled father figure (Adrien Brody), who inducts him into a libertarian masculinity cult, even as his repressed desires — suddenly awakened — push him toward a terrifying descent into violence.

It’s a zeitgeisty exploration of toxic masculinity with a tour-de-force performance by Eisenberg, playing opposite a gripping Odessa Young as his pregnant girlfriend. Trengove spoke to Variety ahead of the film’s Feb. 18 premiere.

Adrien Brody is not interested in the culture wars. It’s fascinating, he admits, “but it’s really tragic.”

“We see how fractured our world is. Look around: It’s not hard to see,” says the Oscar-winning actor from his home in New York. Brody had to dive into these dark corners when preparing for “Manodrome,” in which he plays a masculinity cult leader, and was quick to dive right out. “I tried to put this stuff down,” he admits.

But his character, “Dad Dan,” isn’t the super-serious, nefarious figurehead one summons when envisioning a libertarian masculinity cult. Rather, his is a friendly, hoodie-wearing man of leisure who opens his house to all who need sanctuary. Sanctuary, that is, from the evil, entrapping ways of women and modern society.

“It was important for me to not be a superficially manipulative villain,” the 49-year-old star tells Variety of the part.

’Someday We’ll Tell Each Other Everything’, ’The Survival Of Kindness’ and ’BlackBerry’ land with middling scores.

Emily Atef’s Someday We’ll Tell Each Other Everything, Rolf de Heer’s The Survival Of Kindness and Matt Johnson’s BlackBerry are the first titles to land on Screen’s Berlin 2023 Competition jury grid.

De Heer’s film leads with an average of 2.4, followed closely by the other two titles on 2.3.

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Seven critics are taking part in this year’s jury grid and will mark all 19 films playing in competition.

The Survival Of Kindness received four three-star ratings...

In what feels like all-too poignant timing given the recent headlines about Andrew Tate, the world of toxic masculinity heads to the Berlinale this year with John Trengove’s competition entry Manodrome. Described as a “nihilist thriller,” this tense and troubling dive into incel culture and male fragility is led by a perhaps unlikely guide, Jesse Eisenberg.

Often seen playing insecure men with a more jittery, nervous disposition, Eisenberg’s Manodrome character Ralphie — a gym-obsessed Uber driver and soon-to-be father struggling under personal and economic burdens — sees such anxieties manifest themselves into pure anger, anger which violently erupts after he’s inducted into a libertarian masculinity cult (led by a typically charismatic Adrien Brody).

While Ralphie — a beefed-up young man who appears constantly on the verge of starting a fight — might not seem a typical Eisenberg role, the Oscar-nominated star of The Social Network, Zombieland, Now You See Me, as...