cult films

enid and rebecca are social outsiders who, after graduating from high school, play a mean prank on a middle-aged geek.

dir.: terry zwigoff
comedy / drama
2001

scarlett johansson as rebecca 
thora birch as enid
steve buscemi as seymour

facts:

- this was the first film to receive an oscar nomination for best adapted screenplay based on a graphic novel or comic book.
- when inside “zine-o-phobia”, visible is “pussey” a comic by daniel clowes, who wrote the graphic novel “ghost world” and co-wrote the screenplay. there is also visible “eightball” and “david boring”, also by daniel clowes. the unicorn painting shown in enid’s summer art class was also done by daniel clowes.
- the colorful mexican movie posters in seymour’s room are authentic, and are by artist ernesto cabral.
- the character of seymour is based in part on director terry zwigoff. like seymour, zwigoff is an avid collector of 1920’s jazz and blues records.
- the shirt that enid wears with the smile and tongue is a pbloco shirt.
- according to zwigoff, buscemi was so uncomfortable playing the role of seymour that whenever shooting was finished for the day, he would immediately change his clothes so he could look completely different.

+:imdb

a friendship between two twenty-something men is tested to its very limits when they go on a hike in a desert and forget to bring any water or food with them.

dir.: gus van sant
adventure / drama / mystery
2002

casey affleck / matt damon

facts:

- it is the first film of van sant’s “death trilogy”, three films based on deaths that occurred in real life, and is succeeded by elephant and last days.
- the film opens without any company credits, no actor or director credits, and not even the title of the movie, except for the miramax films logo in non-theatrical prints.
- this film runs for about 100 minutes, and features exactly 100 shots, resulting in an average shot length of about 60 seconds.
- the plot of the film shares some commonalities with the events surrounding the death of david coughlin.
- it was shot in a semi-improvised style with a small crew in argentina, death valley, and the utah salt flats.
- is dedicated to the memory of ken kesey, author of one flew over the cuckoo’s nest.

+: imdb
+: david coughlin

a fashionable contemporary art gallerist in chelsea, new york falls for a brooding new music composer in this comic satire of the state of contemporary art.

dir.: jonathan parker & manfred baumann
comedy / drama / music
2009

adam goldberg as adrian jacobs, a young bohemian composer
marley shelton as madeleine gray, a trendy new york art gallery owner

jonathan parker, a musician in his youth, is also a collector of the san francisco school of abstract expressionism, using many of his experiences in both worlds as a basis for (untitled).

+: imdb

the true story of the death of innocence and the birth of an artist.
film adaptation of street tough jim carroll’s epistle about his kaleidoscopic free fall into the harrowing world of drug addiction.

biography / crime / drama
director: scott kalvert
1995

leonardo dicaprio as jim carroll
mark wahlberg as mickey
lorraine bracco as jim’s mother
james madio as pedro
ernie hudson as reggie
bruno kirby as swifty
juliette lewis as diane moody

some facts:

- after being nominated for an oscar for running on empty (1988), mtv asked river phoenix what he wanted to do next. he responded by pulling out a beat up paperback of “the basketball diaries” and stated “i wanted to play jim carroll.” later, the los angeles times declared, “river phoenix may have wanted it too much.” leonardo dicaprio was a fan of phoenix’s.
- many links to the sopranos - lorraine bracco (dr melfi) plays jim’s mom. michael imperioli (christopher moltisanti) plays the friend who dies of leukemia. vincent pastore (big pussy) is the guy that gets spat on whilst on the ferry.
- stephen lang was offered the role of jim’s basketball coach named swifty in the script. lang declined citing the misrepresentation of the book in the script. the part was subsequently toned down as a result.

+: imdb
+: jim carroll (wikipedia)

a woman on the run from the mob is reluctantly accepted in a small colorado town. in exchange, she agrees to work for them. as a search visits town, she finds out that their support has a price. yet her dangerous secret is never far away…

drama / mistery / thriller
director: lars von trier
2003

nicole kidman as grace margaret mulligan
paul bettany as tom edison

some facts:

- was a critics’ favorite to win at the 2003 cannes film festival, but received no prizes.
- a 15-minute pilot film was made in the pre-production phase to test whether the concept of chalk lines and spare scenery would work. the pilot starred danish actors sidse babett knudsen and nikolaj lie kaas. dogville: the pilot (2003) is featured on the 2nd disc of the dogville (2003) dvd, released in november of 2003.
- the famed introductory scene of dogville seen from above was in fact generated by a computer from 156 individual shots. the ceiling of the filming studio was actually not tall enough to make one single, wide shot from above possible.
- nicole kidman is said to have communicated very little with the rest of the team, apart from practical issues. however, she did invite the team for champagne and caviar and flew in mexican chefs to cook for everyone.
- the pictures shown in the end credits are from jacob holdt’s book/documentary american pictures (1984)
- when nicole kidman went to sweden to shoot this movie, it was the 1st time in 15 years that she had flown on a public plane.
- jeremy davies originally intended to be von trier’s apprentice, not to act in the film. he wrote a letter to the director stating that he plans on being a filmmaker and wanted to learn from him. von trier invited him to the set, mentored davies, and gave him a small role in the film.
- inscribed on the entrance to the old mineshaft is the latin motto “dictum ac factum”, which can be translated as “no sooner said than done”.
- paul bettany didn’t want to play tom edison because they were shooting it in sweden. then his friend stellan skarsgård said that lars von trier’s shoots are so funny that “you’ll miss something extraordinary if you turn the part down”. after shooting half the movie bettany asked skarsgård when the fun will start, which skarsgård replied: “i lied. i did it because he is amazing to work with, and you wouldn’t be able to see that before you were actually here yourself. i wanted to give you a chance, and you wouldn’t have shown up if i had been frank with you”

+: imdb

a poet falls in love with an art student who gravitates to his bohemian lifestyle, and his love of heroin. hooked as much on one another as they are on the drug, their relationship alternates between states of oblivion, self-destruction, and despair.

director: neil armfield
drama / romance 
2006

abbie cornish as candy
heath ledger as dan
geoffrey rush as casper

luke davies (one of the writers) based the novel largely on his own life and experience; ledger’s character dan being a semi-autobiograpical creation.

+: imdb

“when you can stop, you don’t want to, and when you want to stop, you can’t.”

3 teenagers are confined to an isolated country estate that could very well be on another planet. the trio spend their days listening to endless homemade tapes that teach them a whole new vocabulary. any word that comes from beyond their family abode is instantly assigned a new meaning. hence ‘the sea’ refers to a large armchair and ‘zombies’ are little yellow flowers. having invented a brother whom they claim to have ostracized for his disobedience, the über-controlling parents terrorize their offspring into submission.

dir.: giorgos lanthimos
drama
2009

in 2011 it became only the 5th ever greek film to be nominated for an oscar. the last film nominated from greece was ifigeneia (1977).

+: imdb

a genius con artist put to work by the nazis. a survivor’s tale you’ve never seen before.

die fälscher (aka the counterfeiters) is the true story of the largest counterfeiting operation in history, set up by the nazis in 1936. salomon “sally” sorowitsch is the king of counterfeiters. he lives a mischievous life of cards, booze, and women in berlin during the nazi-era. suddenly his luck runs dry when arrested by superintendent friedrich herzog. immediately thrown into the mauthausen concentration camp, salomon exhibits exceptional skills there and is soon transferred to the upgraded camp of sachsenhausen. upon his arrival, he once again comes face to face with herzog, who is there on a secret mission. hand-picked for his unique skill, salomon and a group of professionals are forced to produce fake foreign currency under the program operation bernhard. the team, which also includes detainee adolf burger, is given luxury barracks for their assistance.

dir.: stefan ruzowitzky
crime / drama / war
2007

karl markovics as salomon ‘sally’ sorowitsch
august diehl as adolf burger
devid striesow as sturmbannführer friedrich herzog

first austrian film to win an academy award in the best foreign language film category.

marion and jack try to rekindle their relationship with a visit to paris, home of marion’s parents — and several of her ex-boyfriends.

dir.: julie delpy
comedy / drama / romance
2007

adam goldberg as jack
julie delpy as marion

some facts:

- the characters of marion’s parents are played by delpy’s real life parents, albert delpy and marie pillet.
- marie pillet, julie’s mother, was actually one of the ‘343 salopes’ back in 1971. 
- because of his commitment to the film deja vu (2006), julie delpy was unsure if adam goldberg would be available to be in her film. she was forced to push back shooting to accommodate his schedule but he eventually arrived on set, twelve hours late. 
- the book that the american tourist show to jack is “the da vinci code” by dan brown. 
- while working on the movie, julie delpy claims she didn’t watch any romantic comedies for inspiration. she did, however, watch jaws (1975) several times. the arguments between jake and marion, she said, resembled a shark lurking in the water. 
- when asked why she edited the film herself julie delpy said that, because of budget constraints, it was a choice between either hiring an editor or an editing bay. since an editing bay was the more essential item, she took on the role of editor out of necessity.

+: imdb