Updated with latest: The Venice Film Festival began August 30 with opening-night movie Comandante, an Italian World War II drama, kicking off a lineup for the venerable fest’s 80th edition that includes world premieres of Michael Mann’s Ferrari, Bradley Cooper’s Maestro, Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, David Fincher’s The Killer, Ava DuVernay’s Origins, and new films from lightning-rod directors Roman Polanski, Woody Allen and Luc Besson.
Deadline is on the ground to watch all the key films. Below is a compilation of our reviews from the fest, which last year awarded Laura Poitras’ documentary All The Beauty and the Bloodshed its Golden Lion for best film.
Click on the film titles below to read the reviews in full, and keep checking back as we add more movies throughout the fest, which runs through September 9.
Adagio
Section: Competition
Director: Stefano Sollima
Cast: Pierfrancesco Favino,...
Deadline is on the ground to watch all the key films. Below is a compilation of our reviews from the fest, which last year awarded Laura Poitras’ documentary All The Beauty and the Bloodshed its Golden Lion for best film.
Click on the film titles below to read the reviews in full, and keep checking back as we add more movies throughout the fest, which runs through September 9.
Adagio
Section: Competition
Director: Stefano Sollima
Cast: Pierfrancesco Favino,...
- 9/10/2023
- by Damon Wise, Pete Hammond, Stephanie Bunbury and Todd McCarthy
- Deadline Film + TV
Updated with more details: The 80th Venice Film Festival officially kicked off Wednesday evening with the world premiere screening of Edoardo De Angelis’ Italian World War II submarine drama Comandante. Running in competition, the film took over the slot vacated by Luca Guadagnino’s tennis drama Challengers, which backed out of the spot amid the actors strike.
Before the Pierfrancesco Favino-starring movie unspooled to a warm welcome and a brief post-credit standing ovation, Italian actress Caterina Murino launched the festival’s opening ceremony featuring a retrospective covering the 80 years of the event. That included glimpses of previous Golden Lion and awards winners, with the audience erupting when the late William Friedkin appeared in the montage.
Friedkin, who died August 7, has his final work, the Showtime film The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, screening later this week out of competition.
Biennalle president Roberto Cicutto then came on the stage to introduce Charlotte Rampling,...
Before the Pierfrancesco Favino-starring movie unspooled to a warm welcome and a brief post-credit standing ovation, Italian actress Caterina Murino launched the festival’s opening ceremony featuring a retrospective covering the 80 years of the event. That included glimpses of previous Golden Lion and awards winners, with the audience erupting when the late William Friedkin appeared in the montage.
Friedkin, who died August 7, has his final work, the Showtime film The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, screening later this week out of competition.
Biennalle president Roberto Cicutto then came on the stage to introduce Charlotte Rampling,...
- 8/30/2023
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
"Comandante" is a new 'submarine' thriller, set during 'World War II', directed by Edoardo De Angelis, starring Pierfrancesco Favino, Johan Heldenbergh, Massimiliano Rossi, Johannes Wirix, Silvia D’Amico and Paolo Bonacelli, releasing in North America Spring 2024:
"...based on the real-life story of 'Salvatore Todaro', the naval officer and submariner who saved 26 Belgian merchant seamen during World War II, "Comandante', follows 'Salvatore Todaro', Captain of the 'Cappellini' who leads in his own way: the bow is reinforced with steel, in the off-chance an opportunity to ram a ship arises and his crew is armed with daggers, should an unlikely hand-to-hand battle occurs..."
Click the images to enlarge...
"...based on the real-life story of 'Salvatore Todaro', the naval officer and submariner who saved 26 Belgian merchant seamen during World War II, "Comandante', follows 'Salvatore Todaro', Captain of the 'Cappellini' who leads in his own way: the bow is reinforced with steel, in the off-chance an opportunity to ram a ship arises and his crew is armed with daggers, should an unlikely hand-to-hand battle occurs..."
Click the images to enlarge...
- 8/27/2023
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
‘Comandante’ (The Commander) is a war drama film co-written and directed by Edoardo De Angelis, starring Pierfrancesco Favino. The film is set to open the 80th edition of the Venice Film Festival on September 30th.
Synopsis
During the onset of World War II, Salvatore Todaro assumes command of the Italian Royal Navy submarine Cappellini. While navigating in the Atlantic on a dark October night in 1940, he encounters an unidentified merchant vessel sailing without lights. Employing his cannons, Todaro successfully sinks the ship. In a moment that would later be recorded in history, the Commander makes a crucial decision: he rescues the 26 shipwrecked Belgians who otherwise faced certain death in the vast ocean. Accommodating the survivors aboard his submarine necessitates three days of surface navigation, thereby exposing himself and his crew to enemy forces and placing their lives at risk.
Comandante (2023) The Director Edoardo De Angelis
Edoardo De Angelis is a director,...
Synopsis
During the onset of World War II, Salvatore Todaro assumes command of the Italian Royal Navy submarine Cappellini. While navigating in the Atlantic on a dark October night in 1940, he encounters an unidentified merchant vessel sailing without lights. Employing his cannons, Todaro successfully sinks the ship. In a moment that would later be recorded in history, the Commander makes a crucial decision: he rescues the 26 shipwrecked Belgians who otherwise faced certain death in the vast ocean. Accommodating the survivors aboard his submarine necessitates three days of surface navigation, thereby exposing himself and his crew to enemy forces and placing their lives at risk.
Comandante (2023) The Director Edoardo De Angelis
Edoardo De Angelis is a director,...
- 8/11/2023
- by Movies Martin Cid Magazine
- Martin Cid Magazine - Movies
‘Comandante’ (The Commander) is a war drama film co-written and directed by Edoardo De Angelis, starring Pierfrancesco Favino. The film is set to open the 80th edition of the Venice Film Festival on September 30th.
Synopsis
During the onset of World War II, Salvatore Todaro assumes command of the Italian Royal Navy submarine Cappellini. While navigating in the Atlantic on a dark October night in 1940, he encounters an unidentified merchant vessel sailing without lights. Employing his cannons, Todaro successfully sinks the ship. In a moment that would later be recorded in history, the Commander makes a crucial decision: he rescues the 26 shipwrecked Belgians who otherwise faced certain death in the vast ocean. Accommodating the survivors aboard his submarine necessitates three days of surface navigation, thereby exposing himself and his crew to enemy forces and placing their lives at risk.
Comandante (2023) The Director Edoardo De Angelis
Edoardo De Angelis is a director,...
Synopsis
During the onset of World War II, Salvatore Todaro assumes command of the Italian Royal Navy submarine Cappellini. While navigating in the Atlantic on a dark October night in 1940, he encounters an unidentified merchant vessel sailing without lights. Employing his cannons, Todaro successfully sinks the ship. In a moment that would later be recorded in history, the Commander makes a crucial decision: he rescues the 26 shipwrecked Belgians who otherwise faced certain death in the vast ocean. Accommodating the survivors aboard his submarine necessitates three days of surface navigation, thereby exposing himself and his crew to enemy forces and placing their lives at risk.
Comandante (2023) The Director Edoardo De Angelis
Edoardo De Angelis is a director,...
- 8/11/2023
- by Movies Martin Cid Magazine
- Martin Cid Magazine - Movies
Rome-based sales agency True Colours has added Edoardo de Angelis’ “Comandante,” which opens the Venice Film Festival, to its slate. The film, which plays in the main competition section, stars Pierfrancesco Favino.
“Comandante” is based on the true story of Italian submarine commander Salvatore Todaro and the events that occurred in October 1940, when Todaro was in command of the Italian Royal Navy submarine Cappellini.
One night, while navigating in the Atlantic, the Italian vessel sinks an armed Belgian merchant ship, and Todaro decides to take the 26 shipwrecked crew members on board his already crowded submarine, aiming for the nearest safe harbor to release them. It is an unexpected action in the context of war, but follows the law of the sea, and endangers his life as well as that of his men, since the submarine has to navigate on the surface of the water for three days, visible to the enemy forces.
“Comandante” is based on the true story of Italian submarine commander Salvatore Todaro and the events that occurred in October 1940, when Todaro was in command of the Italian Royal Navy submarine Cappellini.
One night, while navigating in the Atlantic, the Italian vessel sinks an armed Belgian merchant ship, and Todaro decides to take the 26 shipwrecked crew members on board his already crowded submarine, aiming for the nearest safe harbor to release them. It is an unexpected action in the context of war, but follows the law of the sea, and endangers his life as well as that of his men, since the submarine has to navigate on the surface of the water for three days, visible to the enemy forces.
- 8/10/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Winner of the Un Certain Regard at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret’s The Worst Ones arrives in the U.S. with a certain amount of clout. A knotty meta-narrative about the ethics of filmmaking, it takes its title from the non-professional actors who are cast in an independent film shot in the working-class town of Boulogne-sur-Mer. Tracking the production of the film-within-a-film, Akoka and Gueret spotlight the ambiguities and exploitation that propel one’s search for realism in art.
That someone is the film’s director, Gabriel (Johan Heldenbergh), who is belatedly making his debut with Pissing in the North Wind, a seeming social-realist depiction of teenagers coping with tragedy and, of course, teen pregnancy. Perhaps invoking Truffaut and the Dardenne brothers, Gabriel’s insistence on casting non-professionals highlights The Worst Ones‘ most obvious satirical target: openly questioning if Gabriel is exploiting these...
That someone is the film’s director, Gabriel (Johan Heldenbergh), who is belatedly making his debut with Pissing in the North Wind, a seeming social-realist depiction of teenagers coping with tragedy and, of course, teen pregnancy. Perhaps invoking Truffaut and the Dardenne brothers, Gabriel’s insistence on casting non-professionals highlights The Worst Ones‘ most obvious satirical target: openly questioning if Gabriel is exploiting these...
- 3/24/2023
- by Christian Gallichio
- The Film Stage
Unifrance and Film at Lincoln Center have unveiled the lineup for the 28th edition of Rendez-Vous With French Cinema, an annual celebration of contemporary French filmmaking. The event will take place March 2–12.
It kicks off with a screening of Alice Winocour’s “Revoir Paris,” which stars Virginie Efira as a translator named Mia, who survived a mass shooting in a Paris restaurant and is unable to resume life as usual. In an effort to regain a sense of normalcy, Mia returns repeatedly to the site of the shooting, forming bonds with her fellow survivors. Efira is best known for her star turn in Paul Verhoeven’s “Benedetta.”
“It is a such a pleasure to open this year’s edition with the French critical and box-office hit ‘Revoir Paris’ in the presence of director Alice Winocour and actress Virginie Efira, who just received our French Cinema Award in Paris,” said Daniela Elstner,...
It kicks off with a screening of Alice Winocour’s “Revoir Paris,” which stars Virginie Efira as a translator named Mia, who survived a mass shooting in a Paris restaurant and is unable to resume life as usual. In an effort to regain a sense of normalcy, Mia returns repeatedly to the site of the shooting, forming bonds with her fellow survivors. Efira is best known for her star turn in Paul Verhoeven’s “Benedetta.”
“It is a such a pleasure to open this year’s edition with the French critical and box-office hit ‘Revoir Paris’ in the presence of director Alice Winocour and actress Virginie Efira, who just received our French Cinema Award in Paris,” said Daniela Elstner,...
- 1/26/2023
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Street casting — the process of plucking non-professional actors from their everyday lives to play prominent screen roles, often as observationally scripted versions of themselves — is a process that has yielded rich rewards for many a French film in recent years. Titles from Laurent Cantet’s “The Class” to Frédéric Baillif’s “La Mif” have thrived off the vibrant spontaneity of their enterprisingly sourced young ensembles, but how often is a degree of exploitation the price paid for such diamond-in-the-rough authenticity? A lively, spiky and elastically metatextual debut feature from Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret, “The Worst Ones” asks this and other questions of a practice it too perpetuates: The internal artistic conflict that ensues is very much the point.
A surprise winner of the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes in May, “The Worst Ones” thoughtfully applies the filmmakers’ shared background in casting to its somewhat inside-baseball premise: a film-within-a-film...
A surprise winner of the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes in May, “The Worst Ones” thoughtfully applies the filmmakers’ shared background in casting to its somewhat inside-baseball premise: a film-within-a-film...
- 12/19/2022
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Italian A-list actor Pierfrancesco Favino, who just scored a European Film Award nomination for his role in “Nostalgia,” is set to play heroic Sicilian World War II naval officer Salvatore Todaro in “Comandante.” Directed by rising auteur Edoardo De Angelis, the film is an ambitious anti-war epic that has required the construction of a life-size steel submarine.
Belgian multihyphenate Johan Heldenbergh, who wrote and starred in “The Broken Circle Breakdown,” plays the captain of an enemy ship.
Cameras have started rolling in the southern port city of Taranto on this meticulous reconstruction of an act of wartime humanitarianism that has gone down in naval history annals. It took place in the Atlantic Ocean on Oct. 15, 1940, when Todaro as commander of the submarine Cappellini sank a Belgian merchant ship called Kabalo that was carrying aircraft parts and operating under British rule.
He then surfaced, disobeying orders from his own command, to...
Belgian multihyphenate Johan Heldenbergh, who wrote and starred in “The Broken Circle Breakdown,” plays the captain of an enemy ship.
Cameras have started rolling in the southern port city of Taranto on this meticulous reconstruction of an act of wartime humanitarianism that has gone down in naval history annals. It took place in the Atlantic Ocean on Oct. 15, 1940, when Todaro as commander of the submarine Cappellini sank a Belgian merchant ship called Kabalo that was carrying aircraft parts and operating under British rule.
He then surfaced, disobeying orders from his own command, to...
- 11/10/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Kino Lorber has acquired the French-language Cannes award winner “The Worst Ones” for a U.S. and Canada theatrical release following its North American premiere at the Toronto film festival in September.
The French drama marks the feature debut of Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret, the directing duo behind the 2016 short film “Chasse Royale.” It premired earlier this year at Cannes, where it took top honors in the Un Certain Regard category.
“The Worst Ones” follows the production of a feature film whose director seeks to cast actors from a housing project in the suburbs of Boulogne-Sur-Mer in northern France. Four working class teenagers, considered “the worst ones” by the locals,” are chosen to star in the project. Throughout the process of auditioning, rehearsing and shooting, “jealousies are stoked, lines are crossed, and ethical questions arise, with thought-provoking and at times darkly funny results,” the official description puts reads.
Also...
The French drama marks the feature debut of Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret, the directing duo behind the 2016 short film “Chasse Royale.” It premired earlier this year at Cannes, where it took top honors in the Un Certain Regard category.
“The Worst Ones” follows the production of a feature film whose director seeks to cast actors from a housing project in the suburbs of Boulogne-Sur-Mer in northern France. Four working class teenagers, considered “the worst ones” by the locals,” are chosen to star in the project. Throughout the process of auditioning, rehearsing and shooting, “jealousies are stoked, lines are crossed, and ethical questions arise, with thought-provoking and at times darkly funny results,” the official description puts reads.
Also...
- 8/17/2022
- by Harper Lambert
- The Wrap
Pyramide Films handles sales.
Kino Lorber has acquired all US and anglophone Canadian rights to Cannes Un Certain Regard winner and upcoming TIFF selection The Worst Ones.
‘The Worst Ones’: Cannes Review
Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret make their feature directorial debuts on the drama about the director of a film production in northern France who ruffles feathers over the casting of four local working class teenagers.
Mallory Wanecque, Timéo Mahaut, Johan Heldenbergh, Loic Pech, Mélina Vanderplancke, Esther Archambault, and Matthias Jacquin star. Akoka, Gueret, and Eleonore Gurrey co-wrote the feature and Marine Alaric and Frédéric Jouve produced for Les Films Velvet.
Kino Lorber has acquired all US and anglophone Canadian rights to Cannes Un Certain Regard winner and upcoming TIFF selection The Worst Ones.
‘The Worst Ones’: Cannes Review
Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret make their feature directorial debuts on the drama about the director of a film production in northern France who ruffles feathers over the casting of four local working class teenagers.
Mallory Wanecque, Timéo Mahaut, Johan Heldenbergh, Loic Pech, Mélina Vanderplancke, Esther Archambault, and Matthias Jacquin star. Akoka, Gueret, and Eleonore Gurrey co-wrote the feature and Marine Alaric and Frédéric Jouve produced for Les Films Velvet.
- 8/17/2022
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Kino Lorber has acquired all rights in U.S. and anglophone Canada to Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret’s drama The Worst Ones, which was awarded the top prize in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section and will make its North American premiere at TIFF.
Set in the suburbs of Boulogne-Sur-Mer in northern France, the feature captures a film within a film as it follows the production of a movie whose director turns to the local housing project for casting. Eager to capture performances of gritty authenticity, the director selects four working class teenagers to act in the film to the surprise and consternation of the local community, who question the director’s choice of “the worst ones”. As the director and crew audition, rehearse, film, and interact with their hand-picked cast, jealousies are stoked, lines are crossed, and ethical questions arise.
Written by Akoka, Gueret, and Eleonore Gurrey, pic...
Set in the suburbs of Boulogne-Sur-Mer in northern France, the feature captures a film within a film as it follows the production of a movie whose director turns to the local housing project for casting. Eager to capture performances of gritty authenticity, the director selects four working class teenagers to act in the film to the surprise and consternation of the local community, who question the director’s choice of “the worst ones”. As the director and crew audition, rehearse, film, and interact with their hand-picked cast, jealousies are stoked, lines are crossed, and ethical questions arise.
Written by Akoka, Gueret, and Eleonore Gurrey, pic...
- 8/17/2022
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
The challenges of street casting are explored in The Worst Ones (Les Pires), an Un Certain Regard drama about a film within a film. Directed by Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret, it sees a film crew hit a working class French town, with thought-provoking and sometimes darkly funny results.
Flemish director Gabriel (Johan Heldenbergh) is casting kids in Picasso, in the suburbs of Boulogne-Sur-Mer. His feature is about a pregnant teen and her younger brother, and he wants authentic local residents. The neighbors are surprised that he’s only casting “les pires” — what they consider to be the worst ones, or the hoodlums. But there’s raw talent in Lily (Mallory Wanecque) and hot-headed little Ryan (Timéo Mahaut).
Lily is excited to be meeting folks from a different walk of life, and young men who treat her nicely. Ryan is initially reluctant to channel his own feelings, clearly troubled by...
Flemish director Gabriel (Johan Heldenbergh) is casting kids in Picasso, in the suburbs of Boulogne-Sur-Mer. His feature is about a pregnant teen and her younger brother, and he wants authentic local residents. The neighbors are surprised that he’s only casting “les pires” — what they consider to be the worst ones, or the hoodlums. But there’s raw talent in Lily (Mallory Wanecque) and hot-headed little Ryan (Timéo Mahaut).
Lily is excited to be meeting folks from a different walk of life, and young men who treat her nicely. Ryan is initially reluctant to channel his own feelings, clearly troubled by...
- 5/23/2022
- by Anna Smith
- Deadline Film + TV
Some stories don’t leave room for a hero even if they provide ample opportunity for one to enter. And when it comes to the 1995 Bosnian genocide that occurred in the town of Srebrenica at the hands of the Serbian army, there’s hardly room for hope let alone saviors. With over eight thousand men murdered while the Un and the world looked on, what is truly left but mourning and memorial? What is there to say besides the truth of its horrors so that those who were blind and/or ignorant to these people’s plight can begin to understand? That’s ultimately writer/director Jasmila Zbanic’s goal with Quo vadis, Aida? as someone who knows all too well having survived a siege on Sarajevo. Mankind cannot afford to forget.
The star of this film is therefore desperation and the actions taken when under its power. How far...
The star of this film is therefore desperation and the actions taken when under its power. How far...
- 3/11/2021
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
Sophie Marceau and Johan Heldenbergh lead the cast of Jean-Paul Civeyrac’s new movie, a Moby Dick Films production which will be sold by Kinology. The first clapperboard is primed and ready to slam on 17 February, in the Paris region, on Une femme de notre temps, Jean-Paul Civeyrac’s 10th feature film. Shining bright at the head of the cast is Sophie Marceau and Belgium’s Johan Heldenbergh. Written by the director, the story centres around Juliane Deroux, a police superintendent in Paris. She’s...
Through the eyes of a translator moving between the different ethnic factions, director Jasmila Žbanić musters real tragic power and clear-eyed compassion revisiting the massacre 25 years on
There’s a real tragic power in this almost unbearably brutal and shocking movie from writer-director Jasmila Žbanić about the Srebrenica massacre in 1995 during the Bosnian war, in which more than 8,000 unarmed Bosnian Muslims sheltering in a so-called Un “safe area” were slaughtered: the biggest civilian atrocity in Europe since the second world war. Dutch Un peacekeeping soldiers in powder-blue helmets had been unable to stop Bosnian Serb forces swaggering into their compound – undisciplined, jacked up with the brutal thrill of conquest, paranoid about combatants supposedly hiding among the civilian refugees and simply seething with ethnic hate.
Jasna Đuričić plays Aida, a schoolteacher-turned-translator who is employed by the Un to interpret in discussions between Bosnian Muslim leaders and Un officials, as Srebrenica falls to the Serb forces.
There’s a real tragic power in this almost unbearably brutal and shocking movie from writer-director Jasmila Žbanić about the Srebrenica massacre in 1995 during the Bosnian war, in which more than 8,000 unarmed Bosnian Muslims sheltering in a so-called Un “safe area” were slaughtered: the biggest civilian atrocity in Europe since the second world war. Dutch Un peacekeeping soldiers in powder-blue helmets had been unable to stop Bosnian Serb forces swaggering into their compound – undisciplined, jacked up with the brutal thrill of conquest, paranoid about combatants supposedly hiding among the civilian refugees and simply seething with ethnic hate.
Jasna Đuričić plays Aida, a schoolteacher-turned-translator who is employed by the Un to interpret in discussions between Bosnian Muslim leaders and Un officials, as Srebrenica falls to the Serb forces.
- 1/20/2021
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Perhaps the most difficult task faced by any filmmaker attempting to commemorate an atrocity is to manage the vast disparities in scale. To communicate the extent of a war crime like the Srebrenica massacre, which saw 8,372 civilian residents of the Bosnian town, mostly men and boys, murdered by units of the Bosnian Serb Army in July of 1995, the canvas needs to be broad. But often, that scope can mean lower resolution when you zoom in, the individual human impact getting lost in the grain. But this is a perilous balance director Jasmila Žbanić achieves strikingly well in her deeply compelling, harrowing and heartbreaking “Quo Vadis, Aida?,” which reminds us that each of those 8,372 deaths is an individual, exponential multiplication of horror.
The most inspired creative decision in this sensitively fictionalized version of true events comes in the form of the film’s protagonist, Aida, a local Srebrenica resident who...
The most inspired creative decision in this sensitively fictionalized version of true events comes in the form of the film’s protagonist, Aida, a local Srebrenica resident who...
- 9/5/2020
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Quo Vadis, Aida?
Bosnia’s Jasmila Žbanić should be on hand in 2020 with her fifth feature, Quo Vadis, Aida?, a co-production between Romania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Austria, Norway, Netherlands, Poland, Germany and France. Her cast features Jasna Djuricic, Izudin Bajrovic, Boris Ler, Dino Bajrovic, Johan Heldenbergh and the title is lensed by Christine Maier. Zbanic competed in Berlin (as well as Sundance) with 2006’s Esma’s Secret – Grbavica (which the Ecumenical Jury Prize) and again in 2010 with On the Path. In 2013, she competed in San Sebastian with For Those Who Can Tell No Tales and premiered her box office hit Love Island in Locarno.…...
Bosnia’s Jasmila Žbanić should be on hand in 2020 with her fifth feature, Quo Vadis, Aida?, a co-production between Romania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Austria, Norway, Netherlands, Poland, Germany and France. Her cast features Jasna Djuricic, Izudin Bajrovic, Boris Ler, Dino Bajrovic, Johan Heldenbergh and the title is lensed by Christine Maier. Zbanic competed in Berlin (as well as Sundance) with 2006’s Esma’s Secret – Grbavica (which the Ecumenical Jury Prize) and again in 2010 with On the Path. In 2013, she competed in San Sebastian with For Those Who Can Tell No Tales and premiered her box office hit Love Island in Locarno.…...
- 12/30/2019
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Stars: Jessie Eisenberg, Alexander Skarsgård, Salma Hayek, Michael Mando, Johan Heldenbergh, Ayisha Issa, Mark Slacke, Sarah Goldberg, Frank Schorpion, Kwasi Songui, Conrad Pla, Julian Bailey, Jessica Greco | Written and Directed by Kim Nguyen
Written and directed by Kim Nguyen, The Hummingbird Project, which stars Jesse Eisenberg (Zombieland), Alexander Skarsgård (True Blood) and Salma Hayek (Frida), is a thriller that follows two guys with a singular dream to build a fibre-optic cable between New Jersey and Kansas, which would be a millisecond faster than the competition, which would in turn make them into millionaires. Their ruthless and uber-powerful ex-boss Eva (Hayek) however, is doing her damnedest to slide between them and beat them. It’s a story of a strong and vicious need for financial gain, but also a story of finding a true self and reconnecting with things that truly matter.
The major issue that stood out to me here...
Written and directed by Kim Nguyen, The Hummingbird Project, which stars Jesse Eisenberg (Zombieland), Alexander Skarsgård (True Blood) and Salma Hayek (Frida), is a thriller that follows two guys with a singular dream to build a fibre-optic cable between New Jersey and Kansas, which would be a millisecond faster than the competition, which would in turn make them into millionaires. Their ruthless and uber-powerful ex-boss Eva (Hayek) however, is doing her damnedest to slide between them and beat them. It’s a story of a strong and vicious need for financial gain, but also a story of finding a true self and reconnecting with things that truly matter.
The major issue that stood out to me here...
- 10/16/2019
- by Chris Cummings
- Nerdly
Belgian family comedy/drama is the feature debut of Anouk Fortunier. Screen can reveal the first image.
Studio Hamburg has boarded international sales for Anouk Fortunier’s debut feature My Dad Is A Sausage.
The Belgian feature is being presented as a work in progress today at Flanders Image’s CONNeXT event in Ghent.
Dries Phlypo produces for A Private View, which has recent credits including 2019 festival hit The Best Of Dorien B and 2017 Kurdish-Belgian drama Zagros.
The comedy/drama is a co-production between Belgium, the Netherlands (The Film Kitchen) and Germany (Leitwolf Filmproduktion).
Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem wrote the story,...
Studio Hamburg has boarded international sales for Anouk Fortunier’s debut feature My Dad Is A Sausage.
The Belgian feature is being presented as a work in progress today at Flanders Image’s CONNeXT event in Ghent.
Dries Phlypo produces for A Private View, which has recent credits including 2019 festival hit The Best Of Dorien B and 2017 Kurdish-Belgian drama Zagros.
The comedy/drama is a co-production between Belgium, the Netherlands (The Film Kitchen) and Germany (Leitwolf Filmproduktion).
Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem wrote the story,...
- 10/7/2019
- by 1100142¦Wendy Mitchell¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Stars: Jessie Eisenberg, Alexander Skarsgård, Salma Hayek, Michael Mando, Johan Heldenbergh, Ayisha Issa, Mark Slacke, Sarah Goldberg, Frank Schorpion, Kwasi Songui, Conrad Pla, Julian Bailey, Jessica Greco | Written and Directed by Kim Nguyen
In this modern epic, Kim Nguyen exposes the ruthless edge of our increasingly digital world. Cousins from New York, Vincent (Eisenberg) and Anton (Skarsgård) are players in the high-stakes game of High Frequency Trading, where winning is measured in milliseconds. Their dream? To build a fiber-optic cable straight between Kansas and New Jersey, making them millions. But nothing is straightforward for this flawed pair. Anton is the brains, Vincent is the hustler, and together they push each other and everyone around them to breaking point on their quixotic adventure. Constantly breathing down their necks is their old boss Eva Torres (Hayek) a powerful, intoxicating and manipulative trader who will stop at nothing to come between them and...
In this modern epic, Kim Nguyen exposes the ruthless edge of our increasingly digital world. Cousins from New York, Vincent (Eisenberg) and Anton (Skarsgård) are players in the high-stakes game of High Frequency Trading, where winning is measured in milliseconds. Their dream? To build a fiber-optic cable straight between Kansas and New Jersey, making them millions. But nothing is straightforward for this flawed pair. Anton is the brains, Vincent is the hustler, and together they push each other and everyone around them to breaking point on their quixotic adventure. Constantly breathing down their necks is their old boss Eva Torres (Hayek) a powerful, intoxicating and manipulative trader who will stop at nothing to come between them and...
- 4/5/2019
- by Jak-Luke Sharp
- Nerdly
Netflix movies may still be question mark in terms of being allowed in competition at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival in May, but the streaming giant will be present at Cannes Series. The Cannes television festival will mark its second year next month with Netflix going up against rival Amazon in the competition section. The full lineup includes series from Israel, Norway, Spain, and Belgium.
Netflix’s competition entry is the German series “How to Sell Drugs Online Fast,” from writers Philipp Käßbohrer and Matthias Murmann. Amazon is heading to Cannes Series with “The Feed,” a London-set drama created by Channing Powell and based on the novel Nick Clark Windo. “The Feed” stars “Game of Thrones” favorite Michelle Fairley opposite David Thewlis in a story about a piece of technology that allows people to instantly share thoughts and emotions. The tech falls into the wrong hands and becomes a murderous weapon.
Netflix’s competition entry is the German series “How to Sell Drugs Online Fast,” from writers Philipp Käßbohrer and Matthias Murmann. Amazon is heading to Cannes Series with “The Feed,” a London-set drama created by Channing Powell and based on the novel Nick Clark Windo. “The Feed” stars “Game of Thrones” favorite Michelle Fairley opposite David Thewlis in a story about a piece of technology that allows people to instantly share thoughts and emotions. The tech falls into the wrong hands and becomes a murderous weapon.
- 3/13/2019
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
Cannes Series has revealed the lineup, jury and masterclasses for its second edition, which takes place alongside the Mip TV market on the French Riviera.
Among ten series in competition at the TV festival are Netflix’s German show How To Sell Drugs Online and Amazon’s UK series The Feed with Michelle Fairley and David Thewlis. Out of competition shows include Starz’ Now Apocalypse and Russel T Davies’ Years And Years. Scroll down for the lineup in full.
The competition jury will be presided over by Dark show-runner Baran bo Odar with members comprising actor, director and author Stephen Fry (Gosford Park), actors Miriam Leone (Non Uccidere) and Emma Mackey (Sex Education), actor and director Katheryn Winnick (Vikings) and composer Rob (The Bureau). David Cross and Jude Law are among those with projects in the short form competition.
Among those set to give masterclasses will be Game Of Thrones...
Among ten series in competition at the TV festival are Netflix’s German show How To Sell Drugs Online and Amazon’s UK series The Feed with Michelle Fairley and David Thewlis. Out of competition shows include Starz’ Now Apocalypse and Russel T Davies’ Years And Years. Scroll down for the lineup in full.
The competition jury will be presided over by Dark show-runner Baran bo Odar with members comprising actor, director and author Stephen Fry (Gosford Park), actors Miriam Leone (Non Uccidere) and Emma Mackey (Sex Education), actor and director Katheryn Winnick (Vikings) and composer Rob (The Bureau). David Cross and Jude Law are among those with projects in the short form competition.
Among those set to give masterclasses will be Game Of Thrones...
- 3/13/2019
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
There’s something compelling about watching characters in a movie race to put a plan together. No matter what the plan being depicted is, whether they’re heroes or villains (or somewhere in between), the David vs. Goliath aspect has fueled cinema for much of its existence. You always want to see the little guy come out on top. We have another strong effort of that ilk hitting theaters this week in The Hummingbird Project. Featuring a pair of really good performances at its forefront, the film utilizes snappy dialogue and complex protagonists to power its engine. This is solid stuff, worthy of your time and money. The film is a drama taking place in the world of High Frequency Trading, where milliseconds literally are all that matters. Vincent (Jesse Eisenberg) and Anton (Alexander Skarsgård) are cousins players in the field. They work together for Eva Torres (Salma Hayek) but harbor a secret dream.
- 3/12/2019
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
The Hummingbird Project Trailer Kim Nguyen‘s The Hummingbird Project (2018) movie trailer stars Jesse Eisenberg, Alexander Skarsgard, Salma Hayek, Michael Mando, and Johan Heldenbergh. The Hummingbird Project‘s plot synopsis: “In this modern epic, filmmaker Kim Nguyen exposes the ruthless edge of our increasingly digital world. Cousins from New York, Vincent (Jesse Eisenberg) and Anton [...]
Continue reading: The Hummingbird Project (2018) Movie Trailer: Stock Traders Jesse Eisenberg & Alexander Skarsgard have an Idea...
Continue reading: The Hummingbird Project (2018) Movie Trailer: Stock Traders Jesse Eisenberg & Alexander Skarsgard have an Idea...
- 1/20/2019
- by Rollo Tomasi
- Film-Book
Joseph Baxter Jan 18, 2019
Fiber-optic cable line is the method by which Jesse Eisenberg and Alexander Skarsgard cheat the stock market in The Hummingbird Project.
The Hummingbird Project presents itself as a quasi-comedic modern-age heist drama of sorts. The film follows the quixotic quest of two ne’er-do-wells played by Jesse Eisenberg and Alexander Skarsgård in their attempt to gain an (obviously-illegal) advantage in the stock market by secretly laying high-speed fiber-optic cable halfway across the country, which would yield a valuable millisecond chronological edge in the day-trading arena.
The film, the written and directorial creation of indie auteur Kim Nguyen, premiered at the 2018 Toronto Film Festival, and is gearing up for its wide release debut, distributed by The Orchard.
The Hummingbird Project Trailer Video of The Hummingbird Project (2019) | Official Us Trailer HD
The trailer for The Hummingbird Project showcases a levity-laced tale that spotlights a rarely-acknowledged dirt-covered aspect of the Internet,...
Fiber-optic cable line is the method by which Jesse Eisenberg and Alexander Skarsgard cheat the stock market in The Hummingbird Project.
The Hummingbird Project presents itself as a quasi-comedic modern-age heist drama of sorts. The film follows the quixotic quest of two ne’er-do-wells played by Jesse Eisenberg and Alexander Skarsgård in their attempt to gain an (obviously-illegal) advantage in the stock market by secretly laying high-speed fiber-optic cable halfway across the country, which would yield a valuable millisecond chronological edge in the day-trading arena.
The film, the written and directorial creation of indie auteur Kim Nguyen, premiered at the 2018 Toronto Film Festival, and is gearing up for its wide release debut, distributed by The Orchard.
The Hummingbird Project Trailer Video of The Hummingbird Project (2019) | Official Us Trailer HD
The trailer for The Hummingbird Project showcases a levity-laced tale that spotlights a rarely-acknowledged dirt-covered aspect of the Internet,...
- 1/18/2019
- Den of Geek
"They're trying to screw us! I'm going to tear you down..." The Orchard has debuted the first official trailer for an indie drama titled The Hummingbird Project, which already premiered at the Toronto and Vancouver Film Festivals last fall, arriving in Us theaters this March. You don't want to sleep on this one. The film is the latest from Quebecois filmmaker Kim Nguyen, a thriller about two high-stakes traders with a plan to build a straight fiber-optic cable line between Kansas and New Jersey, so they can make millions. But of course it's easier said than done. The cast features Jesse Eisenberg, Alexander Skarsgård, Salma Hayek, Michael Mando, Johan Heldenbergh, Ayisha Issa, and Sarah Goldberg. This is described as a "modern epic" that "exposes the ruthless edge of our increasingly digital world." This looks totally wild and captivating, I'm very curious to watch. Dive right in. Here's the official trailer...
- 1/18/2019
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Connext pitches for new Flemish films also include cycling drama and plastic surgery-themed horror.
Johan Heldenbergh, best known from Belgian hit The Broken Circle Breakdown, will lead the cast of My Dad Is A Sausage, a family drama pitched today at Flanders Image’s Connext event in Ghent.
Anouk Fortunier will direct what she calls a “buddy movie with a father and daughter”; Heldenbergh plays a father who is depressed in his job as a banker and decides to leave that career to become an actor. His wife, a CEO, is concerned about his plans, but his 11-year-old-daughter Zoe realises...
Johan Heldenbergh, best known from Belgian hit The Broken Circle Breakdown, will lead the cast of My Dad Is A Sausage, a family drama pitched today at Flanders Image’s Connext event in Ghent.
Anouk Fortunier will direct what she calls a “buddy movie with a father and daughter”; Heldenbergh plays a father who is depressed in his job as a banker and decides to leave that career to become an actor. His wife, a CEO, is concerned about his plans, but his 11-year-old-daughter Zoe realises...
- 10/8/2018
- by Wendy Mitchell
- ScreenDaily
"They were forcing medications on her. This is about the right to refuse." Sony Pictures has debuted a new official trailer for an indie drama titled 55 Steps, telling the true story of a woman named Eleanor Riese, a mental illness patient who brought a class action suit to give competent mental patients the right to have a say in their medication while they're in a hospital. The current title, 55 Steps, is a reference to the amount of steps in the hallway at the hospital. The film has also gone under the title of Eleanor & Colette in other countries. Helena Bonham Carter stars as Eleanor, and Hilary Swank stars as Colette, her lawyer who becomes a good friend. The cast includes Jeffrey Tambor, Richard Riddell, Johan Heldenbergh, Michael Culkin, Jonathan Kerrigan, and Tim Plester. The film originally premiered at Tiff last year. Here's the first official trailer (+ poster) for Bille August's 55 Steps,...
- 9/25/2018
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Roberto Andò on Connie Nielsen's character Claire: "I based her on someone like J.K. Rowling but also on others who have become hugely wealthy through their writing" Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
At his hotel on Central Park South, director Roberto Andò discussed with me the connections to Alfred Hitchcock's I Confess and Torn Curtain in his latest film, which character was inspired by Jk Rowling, the majestic location where he filmed, and how "evil serves no purpose."
The Confessions (Le Confessioni), co-written by Angelo Pasquini, shot by Maurizio Calvesi, and starring Toni Servillo (Paolo Sorrentino's Oscar-winning The Great Beauty and Andò's Viva La Libertà) has an exceptional ensemble cast including Connie Nielsen (Patty Jenkins's Wonder Woman), Marie-Josée Croze (John Michael McDonagh's Calvary), Daniel Auteuil (Michael Haneke's Caché), Moritz Bleibtreu (Tom Tykwer's Run Lola Run), Lambert Wilson (Jérôme Salle's L'Odyssée), Pierfrancesco Favino (Roger Michell...
At his hotel on Central Park South, director Roberto Andò discussed with me the connections to Alfred Hitchcock's I Confess and Torn Curtain in his latest film, which character was inspired by Jk Rowling, the majestic location where he filmed, and how "evil serves no purpose."
The Confessions (Le Confessioni), co-written by Angelo Pasquini, shot by Maurizio Calvesi, and starring Toni Servillo (Paolo Sorrentino's Oscar-winning The Great Beauty and Andò's Viva La Libertà) has an exceptional ensemble cast including Connie Nielsen (Patty Jenkins's Wonder Woman), Marie-Josée Croze (John Michael McDonagh's Calvary), Daniel Auteuil (Michael Haneke's Caché), Moritz Bleibtreu (Tom Tykwer's Run Lola Run), Lambert Wilson (Jérôme Salle's L'Odyssée), Pierfrancesco Favino (Roger Michell...
- 1/7/2018
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Our resident VOD expert tells you what's new to rent and/or own this week via various Digital HD providers such as cable Movies On Demand, Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, Google Play and, of course, Netflix. Cable Movies On Demand: Same-day-as-disc releases, older titles and pretheatrical The Zookeeper's Wife (period drama; Jessica Chastain, Johan Heldenbergh, Daniel Bruhl; rated PG-13) Song to Song (romantic drama; Ryan Gosling, Michael Fassbender, Rooney Mara; rated R) Austin Found (drama-comedy; Linda Cardellini, Kristen Schaa, Skeet Ulrich, Jaime Pressly; available 7/7 on cable Mod and in theaters; not rated) Digital HD: Rent from $4-$7 or own from $13-$20 (HD may cost more than Sd). Check with your favorite Digital HD provider to see if the same...
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- 7/6/2017
- by Robert B. DeSalvo
- Movies.com
The Confessions (Le Confessioni) director Roberto Andò with Anne-Katrin Titze: "So Toni Servillo and I both read this book about Italian monasteries ..." Photo: Michael Moore
Roberto Andò, the director of Long Live Freedom (Viva La Libertà with Toni Servillo, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Valerio Mastandrea) met with me at his hotel on Central Park South for a conversation on his latest film The Confessions (Le Confessioni), co-written by Angelo Pasquini, shot by Maurizio Calvesi, and starring Servillo with an exceptional ensemble cast including Connie Nielsen (Patty Jenkins's Wonder Woman), Marie-Josée Croze (John Michael McDonagh's Calvary), Daniel Auteuil (Michael Haneke's Caché), Moritz Bleibtreu (Tom Tykwer's Run Lola Run), Lambert Wilson (Jérôme Salle's The Odyssey), Pierfrancesco Favino (Roger Michell's My Cousin Rachel), and Johan Heldenbergh (Felix van Groeningen's The Broken Circle Breakdown).
Toni Servillo is Carthusian monk Roberto Salus
A luxury resort with unfading allure and...
Roberto Andò, the director of Long Live Freedom (Viva La Libertà with Toni Servillo, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Valerio Mastandrea) met with me at his hotel on Central Park South for a conversation on his latest film The Confessions (Le Confessioni), co-written by Angelo Pasquini, shot by Maurizio Calvesi, and starring Servillo with an exceptional ensemble cast including Connie Nielsen (Patty Jenkins's Wonder Woman), Marie-Josée Croze (John Michael McDonagh's Calvary), Daniel Auteuil (Michael Haneke's Caché), Moritz Bleibtreu (Tom Tykwer's Run Lola Run), Lambert Wilson (Jérôme Salle's The Odyssey), Pierfrancesco Favino (Roger Michell's My Cousin Rachel), and Johan Heldenbergh (Felix van Groeningen's The Broken Circle Breakdown).
Toni Servillo is Carthusian monk Roberto Salus
A luxury resort with unfading allure and...
- 6/6/2017
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
"You're the only one who can disrupt their plans." October Coast has debuted a new trailer for an Italian political thriller titled The Confessions, from Italian director Roberto Andò. Described as a "refreshing suspense thriller", the story is set during a G8 meeting being held at a luxury hotel on the German coast. One of the guests is a mysterious Italian monk, invited by Daniel Rochè, the director of the International Monetary Fund. He wants the monk to receive his confession, that night, in secret. The next morning, Rochè is found dead, and off we go. Toni Servillo stars along with Connie Nielsen, Daniel Auteuil, Lambert Wilson, Pierfrancesco Favino, Moritz Bleibtreu, Johan Heldenbergh, Richard Sammel, Togo Igawa, and Marie-Josée Croze. This film looks like a heavy political thriller, might be worth watching. Here's the new official Us trailer (+ poster) for Roberto Andò's The Confessions, direct from YouTube: A G...
- 6/5/2017
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Exclusive: Comedy co-stars Miou-Miou and Camille Chamoux; first look revealed.
WestEnd Films is launching world sales on Saving Mum (working title), a heartwarming comedy which reunites the team behind French comedy Connasse: writer-director Eloïse Lang and French actress Camille Cottin (Allied).
Rounding out the cast are ten-time César Award nominee Miou-Miou (Populaire), Camille Chamoux (Supercondriaque) and Johan Heldenbergh (The Broken Circle Breakdown).
The exclusive first picture released features Camille Cottin, Miou-Miou and Camille Chamoux (from left to right). The film is currently shooting on Reunion Island.
Saving Mum is the French-language remake of Danish comedy All Inclusive. WestEnd Films acquired the remake rights for that film from Happy Ending Film.
The film tells the story of free-spirited Rose (Cottin) and her uptight sister Alice (Chamoux) who take their mother Francoise (Miou-Miou) out of Paris to the tropical island of Reunion for her birthday. But when a sexy bartender, an attractive widow, and cheap margaritas...
WestEnd Films is launching world sales on Saving Mum (working title), a heartwarming comedy which reunites the team behind French comedy Connasse: writer-director Eloïse Lang and French actress Camille Cottin (Allied).
Rounding out the cast are ten-time César Award nominee Miou-Miou (Populaire), Camille Chamoux (Supercondriaque) and Johan Heldenbergh (The Broken Circle Breakdown).
The exclusive first picture released features Camille Cottin, Miou-Miou and Camille Chamoux (from left to right). The film is currently shooting on Reunion Island.
Saving Mum is the French-language remake of Danish comedy All Inclusive. WestEnd Films acquired the remake rights for that film from Happy Ending Film.
The film tells the story of free-spirited Rose (Cottin) and her uptight sister Alice (Chamoux) who take their mother Francoise (Miou-Miou) out of Paris to the tropical island of Reunion for her birthday. But when a sexy bartender, an attractive widow, and cheap margaritas...
- 5/19/2017
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Author: Stefan Pape
Following the recent, tragic terrorist attack in Stockholm, there was a picture shared around on social media of one of the victims; Iggy the dog. It’s rare we contemplate the animals who unwittingly get caught up in warfare, whose lives are no less important. It’s this unique perspective which initially makes Niki Caro’s The Zookeeper’s Wife appear so intriguing, as we watch on as a zoo gets targeted during the Second World War – but regrettably its not a notion explored in any depth, eventually taking on the form of a by-the-numbers drama, that while telling a fascinating story, does so in an all too generic fashion.
Jessica Chastain plays the titular protagonist Antonina Zabinski, who peacefully co-runs a zoo alongside her husband Jan (Johan Heldenbergh) in the heart of Warsaw – until WW2 breaks out. As bombs fall from the sky the safety of...
Following the recent, tragic terrorist attack in Stockholm, there was a picture shared around on social media of one of the victims; Iggy the dog. It’s rare we contemplate the animals who unwittingly get caught up in warfare, whose lives are no less important. It’s this unique perspective which initially makes Niki Caro’s The Zookeeper’s Wife appear so intriguing, as we watch on as a zoo gets targeted during the Second World War – but regrettably its not a notion explored in any depth, eventually taking on the form of a by-the-numbers drama, that while telling a fascinating story, does so in an all too generic fashion.
Jessica Chastain plays the titular protagonist Antonina Zabinski, who peacefully co-runs a zoo alongside her husband Jan (Johan Heldenbergh) in the heart of Warsaw – until WW2 breaks out. As bombs fall from the sky the safety of...
- 4/20/2017
- by Stefan Pape
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Jessica Chastain took a walk on hallowed grounds when she stepped back in time for her new movie.
The actress visited the real life villa her Zookeeper’s Wife character Antonina Zabinski lived — and saved hundred of lives — in during World War II. In the exclusive video, Chastain and her costar Johan Heldenbergh take a tour of the house alongside the Zabinki’s daughter, Teresa.
“There’s many stories of World War II and the darkness and violence of it, but it’s very it’s very rare that you have a story about the lightness in the dark,” Chastain says.
The actress visited the real life villa her Zookeeper’s Wife character Antonina Zabinski lived — and saved hundred of lives — in during World War II. In the exclusive video, Chastain and her costar Johan Heldenbergh take a tour of the house alongside the Zabinki’s daughter, Teresa.
“There’s many stories of World War II and the darkness and violence of it, but it’s very it’s very rare that you have a story about the lightness in the dark,” Chastain says.
- 4/7/2017
- by Ale Russian
- PEOPLE.com
A portion of this review was originally published in Nathaniel's column at Towleroad
Jessica Chastain stars as Antonina Zabinski, The Zookeeper's Wife, a true story based on the international bestseller of the same title. The Zabinski family run a lovingly crafted zoo in Warsaw but political unrest unnerves Jan Zabinski (Johan Heldenbergh) enough to attempt to send his wife and child away. Antonia, naive and endearingly devoted to her animals, won't have it. Then German bombs hit their attraction, killing many animals. Poland surrenders to Germany quickly. Much to the Zabinski’s horror they learn that their surviving animals will all be killed for meat to feed soldiers unless they can strike a deal with fellow zookeeper and now Nazi officer (Daniel Brühl, Hollywood’s go-to Germanic villain who isn’t named Christoph Waltz).
While working on this deal with the devil, Antonina and her husband begin a dangerous game,...
Jessica Chastain stars as Antonina Zabinski, The Zookeeper's Wife, a true story based on the international bestseller of the same title. The Zabinski family run a lovingly crafted zoo in Warsaw but political unrest unnerves Jan Zabinski (Johan Heldenbergh) enough to attempt to send his wife and child away. Antonia, naive and endearingly devoted to her animals, won't have it. Then German bombs hit their attraction, killing many animals. Poland surrenders to Germany quickly. Much to the Zabinski’s horror they learn that their surviving animals will all be killed for meat to feed soldiers unless they can strike a deal with fellow zookeeper and now Nazi officer (Daniel Brühl, Hollywood’s go-to Germanic villain who isn’t named Christoph Waltz).
While working on this deal with the devil, Antonina and her husband begin a dangerous game,...
- 4/5/2017
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Chicago – Jessica Chastain is a memorable and glamorous actress, who continues to challenge herself with in-depth and complex roles. “The Zookeeper’s Wife” is her latest, and her performance outweighs the formulaic based-on-truth story, set during the Holocaust.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
That setting covers the years 1939 to the end of the war, in the city of Warsaw, Poland (and yes, it is a film where people speak english with accents). Those vital years in history are framed by the key story, which involves the Warsaw Zoo and the proprietors there. If there is a formula to a Holocaust story – and as a reminder the Holocaust was the systematic attempt to eliminate the Jewish population and other oppressed peoples during the rule of Nazi Germany – then it becomes about the people who stuck their necks out as the rescuers during the era, then get to a point where they are almost caught, and...
Rating: 3.0/5.0
That setting covers the years 1939 to the end of the war, in the city of Warsaw, Poland (and yes, it is a film where people speak english with accents). Those vital years in history are framed by the key story, which involves the Warsaw Zoo and the proprietors there. If there is a formula to a Holocaust story – and as a reminder the Holocaust was the systematic attempt to eliminate the Jewish population and other oppressed peoples during the rule of Nazi Germany – then it becomes about the people who stuck their necks out as the rescuers during the era, then get to a point where they are almost caught, and...
- 4/4/2017
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Focus Features rolled out period drama The Zookeeper's Wife starring Jessica Chastain, Johan Heldenbergh and Daniel Brühl in over five hundred theaters over the weekend, getting a solid start grossing over $3.34M. The title lead an overall quiet weekend in the Specialty box office, which did have a few bright spots. Janus Films opened doc David Lynch – The Art Life in a New York exclusive engagement, grossing over $12K, while China Lion bowed thriller The Devotion of Suspe…...
- 4/2/2017
- Deadline
Based on fact, made with noble intent, and grounded by a sincere performance by Jessica Chastain, the Holocaust drama The Zookeeper’S Wife is clumsily executed and so manipulative it practically hands you the tissue and begs you to cry.
The Zookeeper’S Wife delves into a little-known aspect of World War II: the part played by the Warsaw Zoo in Poland. It’s based on a novel by Diane Ackerman inspired by the writings of Antonina Zabinski, the zookeeper’s wife of the title. She (played in the film by Chastain) and her husband Jan (Flemish actor Johan Heldenbergh) managed to save over 300 Jews. Spanning roughly seven years beginning in 1939, The Zookeeper’S Wife is set in Warsaw, where the Zabinskis own and operate a popular little zoo. The Nazis invade and plunder the attraction, killing half of the animals and shipping the most valuable to Hitler’s zoo in Berlin.
The Zookeeper’S Wife delves into a little-known aspect of World War II: the part played by the Warsaw Zoo in Poland. It’s based on a novel by Diane Ackerman inspired by the writings of Antonina Zabinski, the zookeeper’s wife of the title. She (played in the film by Chastain) and her husband Jan (Flemish actor Johan Heldenbergh) managed to save over 300 Jews. Spanning roughly seven years beginning in 1939, The Zookeeper’S Wife is set in Warsaw, where the Zabinskis own and operate a popular little zoo. The Nazis invade and plunder the attraction, killing half of the animals and shipping the most valuable to Hitler’s zoo in Berlin.
- 3/31/2017
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Among the many horror stories that sprung from WWII, one of the lesser-known, at least in terms of popular culture, is the pillaging of the Warsaw Zoo, which the Germans bombarded so that they could steal what they considered the most valuable animals. The operation was led by zoologist Lutz Heck, who intended to use the animals to bring back to life species that had long been extinct. In Niki Caro’s The Zookeeper’s Wife, Heck is played by Daniel Brühl, who begins as a noble scientist who seems interested in helping zookeepers Jan (Johan Heldenbergh) and his wife Antonina (Jessica Chastain) with their preservation mission, but slowly reveals his true colors, for his obsession with science only helps reveal his lack of empathy and humanity.
Brühl is no stranger to playing characters who defy audience sympathy, having played supervillain Helmut Zemo in Captain America: Civil War, Nazi hero Fredrick Zoller in Inglourious Basterds,...
Brühl is no stranger to playing characters who defy audience sympathy, having played supervillain Helmut Zemo in Captain America: Civil War, Nazi hero Fredrick Zoller in Inglourious Basterds,...
- 3/30/2017
- by Jose Solís
- The Film Stage
Heroism can come from the most humble places.
That’s the message behind The Zookeeper’s Wife, the story of Antonina and Jan Żabiński’s heroic acts that saved around 300 Jews after Poland was invaded during World War II. Based on the book of the same name by Diane Ackerman, this big-screen adaptation finds Jessica Chastain playing a compassionate woman who helped save hundreds of lives alongside her zookeeper husband.
“Antonina was an ordinary woman who opened her doors to strangers,” Chastain tells People. “She sacrificed her safety, she sacrificed the safety of her children and everything that she loved to protect others.
That’s the message behind The Zookeeper’s Wife, the story of Antonina and Jan Żabiński’s heroic acts that saved around 300 Jews after Poland was invaded during World War II. Based on the book of the same name by Diane Ackerman, this big-screen adaptation finds Jessica Chastain playing a compassionate woman who helped save hundreds of lives alongside her zookeeper husband.
“Antonina was an ordinary woman who opened her doors to strangers,” Chastain tells People. “She sacrificed her safety, she sacrificed the safety of her children and everything that she loved to protect others.
- 3/30/2017
- by Ale Russian
- PEOPLE.com
The new movie “The Zookeepers Wife” tells the incredible true story of Antonina and Jan Zabinski, a Polish couple (played by Jessica Chastain and Johan Heldenbergh) who saved hundreds of Jews from the Germans by hiding them in the Warsaw Zoo. The film retells this captivating history without any of the usual excesses that pervade Hollywood productions, instead staying generally true to the facts and accurately portraying life in Nazi-occupied Warsaw. Here are 10 historical questions you may have asked yourself while watching the movie: 1. Why were bombs dropped on the zoo? In one of the most traumatizing early scenes...
- 3/30/2017
- by Matthew Stefanski
- The Wrap
It's an incredible true story, how a Polish couple sheltered Jews during WWII in their abandoned zoo in Warsaw. What a shame then, that in adapting the book by Diane Ackerman, screenwriter Angela Workman lets the dialogue run to the blandest of bromides. It's fortunate that the stellar director Niki Caro (Whale Rider) rarely lets the action go slack, using striking visuals that express so much more than the clunky verbiage. And in Jessica Chastain, Caro finds an actress ready to use everything she's got to bring the title role to life.
- 3/30/2017
- Rollingstone.com
Folks, 2017 is shaping up to potentially be Jessica Chastain’s year. She stars in Aaron Sorkin upcoming directorial debut Molly’s Game. She also stars this week in The Zookeeper’s Wife, a drama that once seemed like it would have her heavily in competition for Best Actress. This still could be the year she contends for an Actress win at the Oscars, but it seems more likely for Molly’s Game than for The Zookeeper’s Wife. We’ll tackle how each could fare with the Academy in good time, but this is a sign that Chastain could have a year to remember. She certainly deserves for it to be, that much is hard to deny. The film is a war drama as well as a biopic of sorts. It tells the tale of Antonina Zabinski (Chastain), who, along with her husband Dr. Jan Zabinski (Johan Heldenbergh), were the keepers of the Warsaw Zoo.
- 3/30/2017
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
The Holocaust drama The Zookeeper’s Wife is handsomely made, well-acted, and lacking in much nuance. But what would have once been a staid history lesson—the expectedly upsetting elements numbed by the cinematic missteps and the passage of time—now has an urgency that makes it more devastating, even more likely to bring an audience to tears. With xenophobia rampant and Nazi rhetoric inching its way into the mainstream, the events Niki Caro’s directorial effort depict somehow don’t seem so far away. But the visceral reaction it elicits also feels unearned given its surface-level treatment of the subject.
Adapted from a work of nonfiction by Diane Ackerman, the plot follows Antonina Żabiński (Jessica Chastain) and her husband, Jan (Johan Heldenbergh), living an idyllic life in 1930s Warsaw, where they run the zoo. Caro and her cinematographer Andrij Parekh paint the pre-war period in bright colors, but smoke...
Adapted from a work of nonfiction by Diane Ackerman, the plot follows Antonina Żabiński (Jessica Chastain) and her husband, Jan (Johan Heldenbergh), living an idyllic life in 1930s Warsaw, where they run the zoo. Caro and her cinematographer Andrij Parekh paint the pre-war period in bright colors, but smoke...
- 3/30/2017
- by Esther Zuckerman
- avclub.com
I know what you’re thinking. A movie where Jessica Chastain snuggles adorable animals and manages a zoo. The Zookeeper’s Wife is a surefire feel-good critter drama – Oh My God, A Saving Private Ryan Scene Recreated With Animals. Bring me back to Chastain nuzzling a lion cub, please. It couldn’t possibly get – oh, nope. Ok. Cue Holocaust depression brought on by Warsaw’s Jewish ghetto, and a heavy German presence in WWII Poland. Granted, those of you who’ve read Diane Ackerman’s bestselling novel already know the story of Antonina Zabinski and her family’s Jewish refugee smuggling. Don’t expect director Niki Caro to take it easy on her audience. The Warsaw Zoo initiative helped save almost 3,000 lives from extermination, but not without sacrifice. This is how.
Jessica Chastain plays the titular zookeeper’s wife, Antonia. Before Germany’s invasion, she and husband Jan (Johan Heldenbergh...
Jessica Chastain plays the titular zookeeper’s wife, Antonia. Before Germany’s invasion, she and husband Jan (Johan Heldenbergh...
- 3/29/2017
- by Matt Donato
- We Got This Covered
The work of composer Harry Gregson-Williams has spanned everything from the sci-fi thrills of “The Martian” to the gritty crime saga of “The Town” to the superhero spectacle of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.” However, his latest work in “The Zookeeper’s Wife” allows the composer to highlight a different side to his array of talents.
Starring Jessica Chastain, Johan Heldenbergh and Daniel Brühl, and directed by Niki Caro, the story takes place in 1939 Poland, where Antonina Żabińska and her husband, Dr.
Continue reading Exclusive: Stream Harry Gregson-Williams’ “Warsaw Zoo, 1939” From The Score To ‘The Zookeeper’s Wife’ at The Playlist.
Starring Jessica Chastain, Johan Heldenbergh and Daniel Brühl, and directed by Niki Caro, the story takes place in 1939 Poland, where Antonina Żabińska and her husband, Dr.
Continue reading Exclusive: Stream Harry Gregson-Williams’ “Warsaw Zoo, 1939” From The Score To ‘The Zookeeper’s Wife’ at The Playlist.
- 3/29/2017
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Jessica Chastain kicked off her 40s with a trip of a lifetime—and a whole lot of guacamole.
At the premiere for her new film The Zookeeper’s Wife, the Oscar-nominated actress, who turned 40 on Friday, spoke with the Associated Press about her birthday celebrations in Mexico over the weekend.
“Honestly it was so relaxing,” she said. “I was with my friends and my loved ones and we were in Mexico eating tons of guacamole. It was pretty great.”
Also on the agenda? “Sleeping a lot,” she said.
“This has been a birthday to remember. Thank you all for your lovely wishes!
At the premiere for her new film The Zookeeper’s Wife, the Oscar-nominated actress, who turned 40 on Friday, spoke with the Associated Press about her birthday celebrations in Mexico over the weekend.
“Honestly it was so relaxing,” she said. “I was with my friends and my loved ones and we were in Mexico eating tons of guacamole. It was pretty great.”
Also on the agenda? “Sleeping a lot,” she said.
“This has been a birthday to remember. Thank you all for your lovely wishes!
- 3/29/2017
- by Brianne Tracy
- PEOPLE.com
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