Tag: take this waltz

TAKE THIS WALTZ – The Review

Review by Jerry Cavallaro 

This review was originally posted in April when TAKE THIS WALTZ played at the Tribeca Film Festival

TAKE THIS WALTZ opens with a fun little meet-cute between Margot (Michelle Williams) and Daniel (Luke Kirby) who soon find out they are actually neighbors. This is unfortunate because Margot is (un)happily married to a chicken cookbook author played by Seth Rogen. I write it that way because although she doesn’t seem happy most of the time, none of her reasons seem solid enough to justify why she is so upset with her life. At one point she goes into a rant to which Seth Rogen asks what the f— she is talking about, as if speaking for the entire audience. Perhaps it is my slight man-crush on Seth Rogen but he seems like a pretty good husband to the often childish Margot. She is simply just bored of her everyday routine, which is what leads to a growing fascination with the shiny new toy that is Daniel.

But all new things get old eventually. That isn’t spoiling anything by the way. It is pretty much the running theme of the film since it constantly beats you over the head with this message throughout the bloated running time. This grows increasingly more frustrating leading up to an ending that feels more like a series of alternate endings played in succession. Repetition is apparently the name of the game. This may have been a stylistic choice by writer / director Sarah Polley since the film plays out in a steady stream of highs & lows and reoccurring themes much like Margot’s life. However, if that is the case, it just didn’t work for me. It is too bad though because there are some truly great aspects to the film.

Visually the film is stunning in terms of direction, cinematography, locations and even the color palette. This film just looks fantastic and it is often paired with a wonderful soundtrack that adds greatly to the feel. Everything really comes together perfectly for a scene in which Margot & Daniel go on the spinning Scrambler ride while Video Killed The Radio Star blasts on the radio. It is a fantastic sequence that says so much without any dialogue. It just works on so many levels, which is part of what makes the film so frustrating. There are moments like this that work so well but they are thrown off by so many other scenes that don’t. One other scene worth noting is an absolutely hysterical segment that has Margot and her sister-in-law (Sarah Silverman) attending a seniors water aerobics class, which was probably one of the funniest moments of any film playing at Tribeca this year. Speaking of Sarah Silverman, she and Seth Rogen really step up to show they have serious dramatic chops in addition to perfect comedic sensibility.

In the end, there is enough good in the film that I wouldn’t tell anyone to avoid it but I wish they found a way to say more with less.

TAKE THIS WALTZ opens in St. Louis today at Landmark’s Tivoli Theater

Tribeca 2012 Review: TAKE THIS WALTZ

TAKE THIS WALTZ opens with a fun little meet-cute between Margot (Michelle Williams) and Daniel (Luke Kirby) who soon find out they are actually neighbors. This is unfortunate because Margot is (un)happily married to a chicken cookbook author played by Seth Rogen. I write it that way because although she doesn’t seem happy most of the time, none of her reasons seem solid enough to justify why she is so upset with her life. At one point she goes into a rant to which Seth Rogen asks what the f— she is talking about, as if speaking for the entire audience. Perhaps it is my slight man-crush on Seth Rogen but he seems like a pretty good husband to the often childish Margot. She is simply just bored of her everyday routine, which is what leads to a growing fascination with the shiny new toy that is Daniel.

But all new things get old eventually. That isn’t spoiling anything by the way. It is pretty much the running theme of the film since it constantly beats you over the head with this message throughout the bloated running time. This grows increasingly more frustrating leading up to an ending that feels more like a series of alternate endings played in succession. Repetition is apparently the name of the game. This may have been a stylistic choice by writer / director Sarah Polley since the film plays out in a steady stream of highs & lows and reoccurring themes much like Margot’s life. However, if that is the case, it just didn’t work for me. It is too bad though because there are some truly great aspects to the film.

Visually the film is stunning in terms of direction, cinematography, locations and even the color palette. This film just looks fantastic and it is often paired with a wonderful soundtrack that adds greatly to the feel. Everything really comes together perfectly for a scene in which Margot & Daniel go on the spinning Scrambler ride while “Video Killed The Radio Star” blasts on the radio. It is a fantastic sequence that says so much without any dialogue. It just works on so many levels, which is part of what makes the film so frustrating. There are moments like this that work so well but they are thrown off by so many other scenes that don’t. One other scene worth noting is an absolutely hysterical segment that has Margot and her sister-in-law (Sarah Silverman) attending a seniors water aerobics class, which was probably one of the funniest moments of any film playing at Tribeca this year. Speaking of Sarah Silverman, she and Seth Rogen really step up to show they have serious dramatic chops in addition to perfect comedic sensibility.

In the end, there is enough good in the film that I wouldn’t tell anyone to avoid it but I wish they found a way to say more with less.

http://vimeo.com/40636873

Jerry Cavallaro – @GetStuck – JerryCavallaro.com

Tribeca 2012 Daily Recap: April 20th

My Friday morning at TFF started off with more Magnum Ice Cream, of course. It doesn’t matter what time of the day, it is always a good time for free ice cream. After enjoying my super nutritional frozen breakfast, I walked over to Clearview Cinemas for one of my most anticipated films of the fest.

There are moments in TAKE THIS WALTZ that I absolutely loved and there are moments I was put off by the forced subtlety and repetition. That seems to be exactly how Margot (Michelle Williams) feels about her marriage in the film so this may have been a stylistic choice on the part of writer / director Sarah Polley. Or it could just be that I am not a fan of watching grounded-in-reality relationships where no one says what they actually mean. It is probably pretty telling that despite everyone’s fantastic emotionally charged performances, my favorite was Seth Rogen who seemed to be most at ease handling the intense mix of drama and comedy.

After dissecting (i.e., criticizing) the ending with some fellow press, I made my way over to the Filmmaker Lounge to meet up with Ala LaFave. I thought the press lounge was bad; the Filmmaker Lounge truly is a hike from the main festival venues. It is the perfect distance to make you question walking, but not far enough to warrant paying for a cab. Upon leaving the lounge, I noticed a table by the door full of postcards & posters for the films playing at TFF. Why is there nothing like this at the press lounge or at the theaters for the public to see?

Before making the trek back to the theater, Alan and I decided to grab a “quick” lunch at Shake Shack. I have heard constantly that it is the best burger in NY and despite being a New Yorker my whole life; I’ve never eaten there. Apparently the 1-hour wait is no myth. It took 55 minutes to order & another 10 minutes before the food was ready. We had to eat the food on the walk back to make the next movie on time. Sadly the food was good but definitely not worth the time or money. At least the movie that followed was quite entertaining and inspiring.

DON’T STOP BELIEVIN: EVERYMAN’S JOURNEY is nowhere near as cheesy as you might assume based on the title. The documentary covers the “journey” of Arnel Pineda from his beginnings as a poor musician in Manila to becoming the new lead singer of Journey. It is a thoroughly enjoyable doc that works for fans or even just casual listeners. After watching, I couldn’t believe how many of their songs I actually knew. It made me want to go pick up a greatest hits CD. Thankfully, my dad already had one for me to borrow. (Now that is a scary thought.) Even more shocking, this doc would be rated R due to language. Who knew the drummer from Journey cursed so much?

I talked a bit with Chris Bourne (@bournecinema) about the doc before heading right into my final flick of the day, RESOLUTION. I heard some great things from the pre-festival screening and I’ve been tweeting with co-director Aaron Moorhead leading up to the fest so I had high hopes for the film. It did not disappoint. RESOLUTION is a perfect blend of suspense and dark comedy, which concludes with perhaps one of the most fantastically meta endings in cinema history. Much like the spectacularly brilliant CABIN IN THE WOODS, this film works best knowing as little as possible about it. I genuinely found myself wondering what the hell was going to happen next and that is a rare feat to accomplish these days. I know it is still early but just like what happened with last year’s second day screening of RABIES, RESOLUTION has easily become my front-runner for best of the fest. I stuck around after the screening to tell that to Aaron personally and he invited me to the bar across the street with the cast and crew of the film. I said I’d come by for a few minutes. 3 hours later I went home.

Lesson of the Day: Apparently you really shouldn’t stop believin’

Jerry Cavallaro – @GetStuck – JerryCavallaro.com

Tribeca 2012: Preview

The 2012 Tribeca Film Festival officially kicks off tonight with a screening of THE FIVE- YEAR ENGAGEMENT. That of course means my TFF experience officially starts tomorrow with the first of many early morning press screenings. I currently have a temporary schedule consisting of 15 films spread across 5 days. I also plan to check out some online screenings, as well as a few festival events. Since most interview opportunities seem to be falling on days when I will not be at the fest, I’ve decided to play it by ear much like last year. Also like last year, you will be able to see my Tribeca experience unfold in real-time by following @GetStuck on Twitter.

For now, here are some of the films we are most looking forward to this year:

 2 DAYS IN NEW YORK

This deliriously witty follow-up to 2 DAYS IN PARIS finds Marion (writer/director Julie Delpy) living a comfortable life in New York with her latest hipster boyfriend, Mingus (Chris Rock, brilliantly playing it straight), and their two young kids from prior relationships. A riotous comedy of cultural errors ensues when Marion’s totally unhinged, gleefully unfiltered family arrives from Paris to meet Mingus for the first time.

DEADFALL

In the wintry countryside near Canada, a smooth-talking heist man and his femme fatale sister are on the run with a bag full of cash. With a deadly blizzard swirling around them, they split up to make a desperate dash for the border, but a twist of fate puts them on a collision course with a troubled ex-con and his family. Eric Bana, Olivia Wilde, Sissy Spacek, and Kris Kristofferson highlight the ace cast in this icy thriller.

DON’T STOP BELIEVIN’ : EVERYMAN’S JOURNEY

A charismatic Filipino singer from the slums of Manila posts videos to YouTube, and soon he’s fronting an iconic rock band. Sounds crazy, but it’s the real-life rock-and-roll fairy tale that Arnel Pineda is living as the new lead singer of Journey. The pressure’s on Pineda as this rockin’ doc follows Journey’s dizzying world tour—can a man who has already overcome so many obstacles deal with the demands of his newfound fame?

EDDIE THE SLEEPWALKING CANNIBAL

Onetime art star Lars Olafssen is all washed up. Unable to paint without inspiration, he accepts a teaching stint at a small-time art school in podunk Koda Lake, Canada, and along with it the guardianship of the offbeat town’s neighborhood weirdo, Eddie. As their unlikely friendship evolves, Lars uncovers a dark and violent secret about Eddie’s nocturnal impulses, and finds himself torn between his duty to his friend and his duty to his art.

THE FOURTH DIMENSION

A motivational speaker named Val Kilmer (played by Val Kilmer) delivers a sermon at a roller rink. A Russian scientist builds a time machine in his apartment. Four friends tumble upon an abandoned village in the Polish countryside. All are searching for the fourth dimension—whether they know it or not. Weird, ominous, cool, compelling: These three short films could only be inspired by the vision of Harmony Korine and Vice Media’s Eddy Moretti.

FRANCOPHRENIA

James Franco stunned the film world when he committed to a regular gig on General Hospital, but the actor had a clever trick up his sleeve. While shooting a key GH episode, Franco brought along a film crew. TFF award winner Ian Olds (Fixer, 2009) repurposed Franco’s behind-the-scenes footage into this experimental psychological thriller set amid the spectacle of a celebrity’s escalating paranoia, creating a mind-bending exploration of identity.

FREE SAMPLES

Jillian is having a bad day. She’s got a raging hangover, she’s starting to think dropping out of Stanford Law to become an artist wasn’t the best career move, and things are weird with her faraway fiancé. Can spending the day parked in an ice cream truck doling out samples—and a good dose of sass—to oddball Angelenos shake her out of her quarter-life crisis? Jess Weixler, Jesse Eisenberg, and Jason Ritter star in this quirky comedy.

HEADSHOT

A return to the crime genre for celebrated Thai auteur Pen-ek Ratanaruang (6ixtynin9, Last Life in the Universe), HEADSHOT is a noir-laced thriller centered on Tul, a hit man who is shot in the head and wakes up to find that he sees everything upside down. Working backwards (and often upside down) to tell a brooding and complex tale of underworld double dealings, this is an unexpected and artful take on the action thriller from a genre master.

JACKPOT

Terrified, bloodied, and gripping a shotgun, Oscar Svendsen wakes up in what used to be a respectable strip joint, surrounded by eight corpses and with a gun pointed at him by a detective with the National Criminal Investigation Service. Naturally, Oscar is taken into custody, and during his interrogation a bloody and darkly comic story of betrayal, murder, and lottery winnings emerges—but is this the whole story?

THE GIANT MECHANICAL MAN

Thirtysomethings Janice (Jenna Fischer) and Tim (Chris Messina) haven’t learned how to navigate adulthood. Tim is a street performer whose talents as a “living statue” don’t exactly pay the bills. Janice is out of work and under pressure by her sister (Malin Akerman) to date an egotistical self-help guru (Topher Grace). In this charming comedic romance, two strangers help each other to realize it only takes one person to make you feel important.

JOURNEY TO PLANET X

By day Eric and Troy are a couple of mild-mannered, middle- aged desk jockeys from Florida, but their wildest dreams come to life after hours when they make fantastical sci-fi movies with the help of a green screen, amateur actors, and retro-futuristic computer graphics. As they embark on their most ambitious production yet, this hip and heartwarming doc shows how boundless imagination can hilariously stretch the limits of DIY moviemaking.

MANSOME

In the age of manscaping, metrosexuals, and grooming products galore—what does it mean to be a man? Oscar® nominee Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) and executive producers Ben Silverman, Will Arnett, and Jason Bateman present a delightfully entertaining doc featuring candid interviews from Arnett, Bateman, Paul Rudd, Zach Galifianakis, and everyday people weighing in on everything from the obsession with facial hair to body dysmorphic disorder.

REPLICAS

Following the death of their young daughter, the Hughes family decide to escape to their upscale vacation home in the woods. But their attempt to get some quality time is violently interrupted when a neighboring family with a hidden agenda drops by for dinner. First-time director Jeremy Regimbal builds tension to a calculated and brutal crescendo in this home-invasion thriller. Starring Selma Blair, Joshua Close, James D’Arcy, and Rachel Miner.

RESOLUTION

Michael is committed to getting his best friend Chris to sober up and put his life back on track. But what begins as an attempt to save his friend’s life quickly takes an unexpected turn as the two friends confront personal demons, the consequences of past actions, and forces beyond their control. Expertly balancing dark humor, heart, and thrills, RESOLUTION is an utterly unique cinematic experience that defies genre classification.

SIDE BY SIDE

Over the past two decades, digital technology has created an evolution in cinema, challenging film as the standard format for motion pictures. Through interviews with Danny Boyle, James Cameron, David Fincher, George Lucas, David Lynch, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, Steven Soderbergh, Lars Von Trier, and many more, producer Keanu Reeves takes us on a tour of the past and future of the moviemaking process in this in-depth doc.

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS

In this funny and authentic take on modern relationships, best friends Darryl (Tarik Lowe) and Nick (Alex Karpovsky) are a film-editing duo hired to rework a movie in crisis, only to find themselves increasingly consumed with reworking their own personal lives. While Nick begins to question his stable relationship after receiving attentions from the film’s flirtatious starlet, Darryl finds himself falling hard for tempestuous dancer Liana (Melonie Diaz).

TAKE THIS WALTZ

Margot (Michelle Williams) and Lou (Seth Rogen) are happily married. Their life is thrown out of order when Margot falls for another man and is forced to choose between the comfort of the familiar and the excitement of the unknown. Writer/director Sarah Polley’s follow-up to her acclaimed film Away From Her is a quirky, uncommonly heartfelt look at the evolving nature of love and the difficulty of sustaining a relationship over time.

All film descriptions come from the official Tribeca program. I won’t be able to watch them all but be sure to check back for coverage of the films I do get to see!

Jerry Cavallaro – @GetStuck – JerryCavallaro.com

Magnolia Takes US Rights to Sarah Polley’s TAKE THIS WALTZ

The Wagner/Cuban Company’s Magnolia Pictures announced today they have acquired US rights to TAKE THIS WALTZ, the eagerly anticipated new film written, directed and produced by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker and acclaimed actress Sarah Polley. Starring two-time Academy Award nominee Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, Luke Kirby and Sarah Silverman, TAKE THIS WALTZ is an insightful, sophisticated film about a young woman struggling to choose between a husband that she loves and another man that she has fallen passionately in love with. Magnolia did the deal with TF1 International.

TAKE THIS WALTZ was produced by Susan Cavan along with Sarah Polley, and premiered last month at the Toronto International Film Festival. Michelle Williams plays twenty-eight-year-old Margot, happily married to Lou (Seth Rogen), a good-natured cookbook author. But when Margot meets Daniel (Luke Kirby), a handsome artist that lives across the street, their mutual attraction is undeniable. Warmly human, funny and bittersweet, TAKE THIS WALTZ deftly avoids romantic clichés and paints an unusually true and unsentimental portrait of adult relationships.

Magnolia plans a robust theatrical release in early summer 2012 in all major US markets, bolstered by a prominent film festival presence in regional fests leading up to the release. Additionally, TAKE THIS WALTZ will be distributed through Magnolia’s successful Ultra VOD program.

“With TAKE THIS WALTZ, Sarah Polley has more than lived up to the promise of the wonderful Away From Her, and proven herself a masterful, sensitive chronicler of the human condition,” said Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles. “The entire cast is revelatory in unexpected ways and we think audiences will be surprised and delighted by this very special film.”

Said Sarah Polley: “Magnolia has distributed some of my favourite films of the last few years. It is an honour to have our film counted among their incredible list of titles. Their enthusiasm for the film is very exciting and we can’t wait to begin working with them.”

The deal was negotiated for Magnolia by SVP of Acquisitions Dori Begley and Head of Legal and Business Affairs Chris Matson, with Gregory Chambet of TF1 International.

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TakeThisWaltz

About Magnolia Pictures

Magnolia Pictures (www.magpictures.com) is the theatrical and home entertainment distribution arm of the Wagner/Cuban Companies, a vertically-integrated group of media properties co-owned by Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban that also includes the Landmark Theatres chain, and the high definition cable network HDNet. Recent releases include Page One: Inside the New York Times, French thriller Point Blank, Blackthorn, starring Sam Shepard as Butch Cassidy, Andrew Jarecki’s All Good Things, and Luca Guadagnino’s I Am Love. Magnolia’s upcoming releases include Lars Von Trier’s Melancholia, Tim & Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie, Mark Pellington’s I Melt With You, The Hunter starring Willem Dafoe, David Gelb’s Jiro Dreams of Sushi, Jo Nesbo’s Headhunters, The Good Doctor with Orlando Bloom, and many more.

About TF1International

TF1International is the worldwide distribution arm of TF1 Group; one of the leading French media groups; co-investing projects in partnership with UGC.Years after years, TF1 International has developed close partnerships in all areas of the TV and cinema industry, giving the world sales activity a privileged position on the international market place. TF1 International has enjoyed success with La Vie en Rose starring Marion Cotillard, the Oscar®winning actress.  Exciting new projects as Now is good starring Dakota Fanning, Claude Miller’s Thérèse Desqueyroux with Audrey Tautou and Drift, Sam Worthington surf film will share headlines of 2012 line up alongside Take this Waltz.
www.tf1international.com