Longing (Sehnsucht)
16.02.06
Jonathan Romney in Berlin
A story of ordinary love in a defiantly non-glamorous mode, Valeska Grisebach’s Longing packs a formidable emotional punch, all the more so for its spare aesthetic and sure-footed restraint. The director’s second feature, following 2001’s acclaimed Be My Star (Mein Stern), thrives on elliptical storytelling and undemonstratively subtle performances from non-professional leads. Its low-key naturalism may not appeal to all tastes, but Longing is a major find for festivals and an intriguing prospect for specialised sales.
Set in a village in the Berlin area, Longing is a portrait of love, marriage and heartbreak – big themes in a small, mundane milieu. Markus (Mueller) is a welder and volunteer fireman happily married to Ella (Welz), who sings in the local choir; the pair, in their 30s, share a passionate, sexually charged attachment. A chance incident Markus’s arrival on the scene of a suicide attempt ets them thinking about love and fate, but apparently has no direct affect on their relationship. But while away on a training weekend, Markus gets drunk and wakes up the next morning having spent the night with waitress Rose (Dornbusch). Markus goes back to Ella, and the pair’s mutual passion seems undiluted, but he finds he can’t keep away from Rose. He’s caught between the two women until a sudden event the sort that gets viewers asking each other, “Did you see what just happened?” changes the course of all their lives.
Events move towards a drastic conclusion, as startling in its way as a comparable turn in a Michael Haneke film. But then Grisebach boldly switches mood in the coda, in which a group of local children comment on the story, wrapping up on a note that’s both ambivalent and surprisingly upbeat.
Much of the film, dealing with domestic life and the routines of work and socialising from firemen’s training to coffee mornings s acutely-observed naturalism in something like a Dardenne brothers vein. Indeed, like the Dardennes, Grisebach has the knack of getting under the skins of her characters without telling us too much or having them tell us about what they’re feeling. She’s one of those directors who can speak volumes about a person’s interior life just through a close-up of the back of their head. And her attitude to her characters, while scrupulously distanced, always maintains an admirably non-judgmental respect for their complexities. Bubblegum pop and disco tunes are used sparingly and smartly, and a large, hungry rabbit makes a winning cameo.
Production companies
Rommelfilm
GFP Medienfonds
Producer Peter Rommel
Screenplay
Valeska Grisebach
Cinematography
Bernhard Keller
Editors
Bettina Boehler
Valeska Grisebach
Natali Barrey
Production design
Beatrice Schultz
Main cast
Andreas Mueller
Ilka Welz
Annett Dornbursch
Silentkid Reviews The Girl Next Door
08.08.07
No, this isn’t a review of that Elisha Cuthbert movie where she is the ex-pornstar neighbor of some horny kid and she never shows off her breasts even though she was a pornstar and everyone knows that pornstars walk around topless all the time and the movie turns out to be a major suckfest because she doesn’t even give a glimpse of boobage; this is a review of the film adaptation of a book of the same name written by Jack Ketchum in the 1980’s. Again, Elisha Cuthbert is not in this…she’s in that terrible movie Captivity that I reviewed here a while back. Don’t see that one. Go away, Elisha. The film that I am reviewing here is serious business.
“You think you know about pain?” I read Jack Ketchum’s The Girl Next Door a couple of years ago when it was finally re-released by Leisure Books. Leisure has been re-releasing all of Ketchum’s work in mass-market paperback. I love Leisure (check them out here) Ketchum is my favorite horror author. His books are intense, scary, morbid, and depressing. The Girl Next Door is easily his most disturbing work and is the most disturbing book I’ve ever read. It follows the story of a young boy named David Moran who lives in a small suburban community in the 1950’s. He meets a teenage girl and her younger sister who have been placed in the care of his neighbors (the Chandlers) following the death of the girls’ parents. He develops a friendship with (and a crush on) the older of the two girls, Meg Laughlin. Meg’s younger sister, Susan, was seriously injured in the car accident that killed her parents; she has to wear those leg brace things that were commonly used for polio patients.
I don’t want to give away too much of the plot. Suffice it to say that the family that is taking care of the girls is not very nice (understatement). The single mother, Ruth Chandler (played brilliantly by Blanche Baker), takes out her frustrations on the girls. Her three sons and some other neighborhood kids start playing games with Meg, which escalate in their perversion and cruelty. Ruth allows and encourages the brutal behavior. She even offers suggestions for the types of punishment that the girls “deserve”. All of this goes on in the quiet suburban neighborhood and none of the other residents take notice. David witnesses the atrocious acts but remains silent about them, not sure if he should report Ruth to the police, not sure if he should step in and try to prevent further harm to the girls. He’s trapped in a difficult situation.
The movie adaptation of the book remains true to the text. It’s a harsh viewing experience. I watched it having already read the book; I knew what to expect and I was still shocked. That’s a testament to the strength of the story. This is an extremely low-budget film. Sometimes the acting is corny (towards the beginning of the film), sometimes the lighting is bad, but when the poo-poo hits the proverbial fan, you forget about all of that and are transported into this nightmarish world. You feel sympathy for the girls and hate for Ruth and her sons and her sons’ friends and anger and frustration that what you are watching is something that could happen and it turns out that it’s something that did happen, that it’s loosely based on a true story, the story of Sylvia Marie Likens (which you can read about here but I’d suggest doing so only after seeing the movie or reading the book).
The Girl Next Door is a horror film that is actually horrific. It makes you want to turn away. It’s scary without jump scares and audio cues. It’s violent without buckets of blood. I recommend reading the book first because it does a better job of letting you get inside David’s head, to understand why he makes certain decisions or behaves in certain ways. In a story like this, the characters thoughts are as important as their actions; it’s too bad that the film medium can’t accomplish this as easily as the written word. That’s not to take anything away from the script writers; they did a great job with the adaptation.
Supposedly there are a couple more film adaptations of Jack Ketchum’s novels out there. The Lost has been done for a while. It played a few small film festivals but has yet to be released on DVD. Red just played at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. I’ve heard good things about The Lost; we’ll see about Red. Both books are definitely worth reading. It’s a good time to jump on the Jack Ketchum bandwagon.
PS: A movie based on the actual crime was also released last year…it’s called An American Crime and has some big name actors in it (including the Juno girl). It played at last year’s Sundance Film Festival. I haven’t heard anything about it. I’ll watch for a theatrical or DVD release date.
By Silentkid
InFrame strikes groundbreaking newspaper deal for The Riddle
06.09.07
Wendy Mitchell in Toronto
Brendan Foley’s UK thriller The Riddle, starring Vinnie Jones, Derek Jacobi, Vanessa Redgrave and Julie Cox, will become the first feature film to receive its premiere via a national newspaper release.
The Mail on Sunday purchased the rights to the film and is giving away up to 2.5m DVDs with the newspaper on Sept 16.
The film follows a journalist to wants to solve modern murders that involve the discovery of an unpublished manuscript from Charles Dickens.
InFrame handles sales on the title.
“As the maker of a London indie movie with a great cast, this is as good as it gets,” Brendan said.
Releasing the Riddle
11.09.07
A new feature release, The Riddle, will make film history by having its premiere in a national newspaper.
Written and directed by Brendan Foley, The Riddle is a smart thriller starring Vinnie Jones, Derek Jacobi and Vanessa Redgrave. The Mail on Sunday will give away free copies of the film with its newspaper on Sunday 16 September.
The newspaper bought the rights to the London- shot film and expects to distribute 2.5million DVD copies this weekend.
“As the maker of a London indie movie with a great cast, this is as good as it gets,” says Brendan.
“I The plot centres on an ambitious journalist trying to unravel a series of murders that follow the discovery of an unpublished Dickens novel.
hope people will spread the word and enjoy the movie on Sunday. Effectively, one of the most important characters is the city itself.”
The film was shot along the Thames and virtually every member of the cast and crew was a Londoner, by birth or choice.
Brendan Foley On The Riddle
13.09.07
By Adrian Hennigan
Brendan Foley, the writer-director-producer of The Riddle, on his unusual world first – a premiere via a newspaper.
Despite what some people in the film industry may be thinking, Brendan Foley does not sound like the Great Satan. Speaking from Belfast, where he’s in post-production on the Irish horror/comedy film Bog Bodies, he’s talking to Film Network about the upcoming world premiere of his debut feature, The Riddle. A low-budget thriller starring Vinnie Jones and Sir Derek Jacobi, the unusual casting isn’t the reason UK exhibitors are viewing his film with suspicion; it’s because the film will premiere as a free ‘covermount’ with copies of the Mail On Sunday on 16th September 2007
Inspired by the Mail On Sunday’s 15th July promotion in which it gave away Prince’s new CD Planet Earth – boosting its weekly sales by 600,000 to almost 2.9 million – writer/director/producer Foley contacted MoS managing director Stephen Miron to sound him out on the same approach to a DVD. “From initial conversation to the movie being released will have taken about five weeks,” Foley states. “The Mail On Sunday’s calculation was that the movie, because it fitted so well with the demographics of their readers, would give them publicity value, and the fact that it’s a first was very important to them as well – they like being trailblazers. One month they have the first new CD launch, the next month they have the first new film launch, so they’re on a bit of a roll.”
What the Dickens? Part of the Mail On Sunday’s promotion for The Riddle
Revolving around a modern-day sports journalist (Jones) investigating a spate of murders seemingly connected with the emergence of a long-lost Charles Dickens novel, like most small movies The Riddle didn’t start a bidding war when it first screened to buyers at Cannes in May 2007. That was no deterrent for Foley: “You have to choose whichever combination of distribution channels work for your product,” he believes. “Don’t wait for the audience to come to your movie, bring your movie to the audience.” And it’s some audience he’s bringing to The Riddle. The Mail On Sunday will be producing 2.5 million DVDs of the film, with up to a million of these expected to actually find their way onto DVD players across the UK and Ireland.
We had to make sure that if we never sold another DVD copy, we would end up with a deal that was still worth our while
“From the directing side, if you’re given the chance to have the movie you love and worked hard at being seen by millions of people rather than 25- or 50,000, then that’s a bit of a no-brainer,” Foley argues. As a multi-hyphenate, however, he also has to consider the financial ramifications: “From a producing side we had to make sure that if we never sold another DVD copy, we would end up with a deal that was still worth our while. There’s a confidentiality clause about the numbers but I can say that we got a good six figure deal for the rights, plus primetime TV advertising.
“We have already made more money than most British indie movies,” Foley adds, “and international sales have been given a huge boost by the publicity. Later, UK TV value is largely influenced by how well-known a film is, and putting out more DVDs in a day than Titanic did in its UK launch week is certainly helping.”
Naysayers in the industry believe that once a film has been given away – either as a covermount or a download – it is next to worthless, but Foley isn’t so sure. “There’s more to life for a little movie than just theatrical, and most little movies – if they’re honest about it – use a small theatrical platform release to generate publicity. I thought the Mail On Sunday idea was a damned sight better way of generating publicity than getting on five screens for two weeks.
Julie Cox, Vinnie Jones and Sir Derek Jacobi in The Riddle
“A movie of our size makes most of its money from DVD sales, DVD rentals or from TV,” Foley continues. “We have a DVD release where we have the best financial deal I could ask for already, and we get the rights back after a week, so we’re going to work hard to see if it has an afterlife. Who knows what will happen theatrically? If someone thinks they can make some money out of a small release – given that it will be such a household name – that’s great, but otherwise we’re not depending on it. We also hope it has a second life in DVD. Our initial interest from distributors suggests we have got plenty of DVD scope in the UK, particularly for a director’s cut version crammed with dvd extras, followed by really excellent TV prospects, so the moaners will just have to find something else to moan about.”
They may be sharpening the pitchforks down on Wardour Street, but the London-based Foley opines that “only very rigid thinkers believe that the sky will fall in” if his business model takes root. “A newspaper is simply another potential revenue channel for movies,” he argues. “I think the smart distributors are starting to realise that if the ‘motive factor’ behind sales is actually the extent of publicity as well as a good product, then newspapers have much to recommend them.”
Vanessa Redgrave in The Riddle
Foley previously wrote another low-budget thriller, Johnny Was (the unusual casting juxtaposition here involved Vinnie Jones and Lennox Lewis), which went straight to DVD in the UK after taking a “long time to get off the ground, despite winning Best Feature at six US and Canadian film festivals”. He was heartened by the diametrically opposite experience with The Riddle. “The greatest joy with working with a newspaper is that they make decisions fast and they move fast,” he notes. “A traditional distributor, even a good one, would be looking at their diary and trying to find a slot in the middle of next year; these people were able to look at their diary and say ‘How about three or four weeks’ time?’ In that time we were able to get certification and print 2.5 million copies.
“This isn’t any threat to existing distributors, particularly those who are smart enough to see an opportunity,” Foley concludes, “but at the same time I think every industry should be humble enough to see what it can learn from other industries. A newspaper’s ability to act quickly without breaking a sweat is maybe something the film industry can learn from.”
The Riddle is available on DVD with the Mail On Sunday on Sunday 16th September 2007.
'Riddle' giveaway hooks buyer
18.10.07
By Archie Thomas
Image Entertainment has snapped up all U.S. distribution rights to U.K. indie “The Riddle,” which successfully world preemed as a DVD given away free with the Sept. 16 issue of Blighty’s Mail on Sunday newspaper.
The offbeat London-set detective thriller, starring Derek Jacobi, Vanessa Redgrave and Vinnie Jones, boosted the Mail’s circulation from its usual 2.3 million to 2.6 million, and the giveaway was a groundbreaking move for movie distribution.”It was fascinating watching the response from different parts of the industry (to the giveaway),” “Riddle” writer-producer-director Brendan Foley told Daily Variety.
“New or different distribution channels can clearly work alongside existing ones, if the right people are involved. Where a few dinosaurs saw only a threat, the smarter cookies saw an opportunity. We are still getting calls from producers and distributors from all over the place, both about the movie and the deal itself,” Foley added.
“The innovative and successful U.K. release certainly grabbed our attention. We plan on a second quarter 2008 release in the U.S.,” said Image Entertainment VP of acquisitions J. Beck.
Sales agent Hollywood Classics/Altadena Films has sold Australian DVD rights to the “The Riddle” to 21st Century Pictures Australia. No deal for U.K. theatrical or DVD has yet been inked.
Foley is finishing post-production on “Bog Bodies,” an Irish horror spoof, again starring ex-soccer player Jones alongside Jason Barry and Nora-Jane Noone.
“The Riddle” unspoiled Sunday at the Austin Film Festival and closes the Nantes British Film Fest in Gaul in December.
The Mail decided to try giving away a new film after successfully bowing Prince CD “Planet Earth” in the same way.
Hallam Foe tops BAFTA Scotland nominations
31.10.07
Hallam Foe leads the nominations for the 2007 BAFTA Scotland Awards which will be presented in Glasgow on November 18.
David Mackenzie’s tale of a disturbed teenager coming to terms with the death of his mother has been nominated for Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Actor for Jamie Bell and Best Actress for Sophia Myles.
Myles is certain to win on the night as she is the sole nomination in her category, a damning reflection of the continuing paucity of roles for women in Scottish cinema.
The remaining nominations in all categories are split between The Last King Of Scotland and Gaelic-language feature Seachd-The Inaccessible Pinnacle.
The Last King Of Scotland is already a BAFTA and Oscar winner but the BAFTA Scotland eligibility period places it in contention for this year’s awards.
Seachd attracted some controversy recently when producer Chris Young resigned from BAFTA when it refused to submit a British entry for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.
The Film Nominations Best Animation
Haunted Hogmanay Directed by Neil Jack Produced by Cameron Fraser. Kolik Films/ BBC Scotland
Potapych – The Bear who loved Vodka Directed by Darren Price Produced by Nicola Black. Blackwatch/ Channel 4
Two Dreams Directed & Produced by Anders Jedenfors & Jamie Stone Thumbs Up Productions
Best Short Film
Breadmakers Directed Yasmin Fedda Produced by Robin Mitchell & Jim Hickey. Caddies Productions/ Scottish Documentary Institute Butterfly Directed by Yulia Mahr Produced by Sonja Henrici
Scottish Documentary Institute
Losing Myself: Annie Directed by Alice Nelson Produced by Sarah Tierney
Clarity Productions/ Channel 4
Best Feature Film
Hallam Foe Directed by David Mackenzie Produced by Gillian Berrie. Sigma Films The Last King of Scotland Directed by Kevin Macdonald Produced by Lisa Bryer, Andrea Calderwood & Charles Steel. DNA Films
Seachd – The Inaccessible Pinnacle Directed by Simon Miller Produced by Christopher Young. Young Films
Best Screenplay
Ed Whitmore & David Mackenzie for Hallam Foe Directed by David Mackenzie Produced by Gillian Berrie. Sigma Films
Peter Morgan & Jeremy Brock for The Last King of Scotland Directed by Kevin Macdonald Produced by Lisa Bryer, Andrea Calderwood & Charles Steel. DNA Films
Simon Miller, Jo Cockwell, Ishbel T MacDonald, Iain F MacLeod & Aonghas MacNeacail for Seachd – The Inaccessible Pinnacle Directed by Simon Miller Produced by Christopher Young. Young Films
Best Actor
Jamie Bell for Hallam Foe. Directed by David Mackenzie Produced by Gillian Berrie. Sigma Films
James McAvoy for The Last King of Scotland. Directed by Kevin Macdonald Produced by Lisa Bryer, Andrea Calderwood & Charles Steel. DNA Films
Aonghas Padraig Caimbeul (Angus Peter Campbell) for Seachd – The Inaccessible Pinnacle Directed by Simon Miller Produced by Christopher Young Films.
Best Actress
Sophia Myles for Hallam Foe Directed by David Mackenzie Produced by Gillian Berrie. Sigma Films
Screen East backs The Reeds, Barbarian Princess
13.02.08
Wendy Mitchell in Berlin
Ildi Toth Davy’s Altadena Films has taken on The Reeds, a UK production casting now. The Funnyman Films/Red Eye Pictures project is produced by Simon Sprackling, Neil Peplow and Charlie Gauvain. The director will be announced later.
The story follows a boating party that gets lost in the Norfolk broads and discovers a terrifying secret. The Reeds is one of two projects, along with Marc Forby’s Barbarian Princess (sold by ContentFilm International), being backed by UK regional screen agency Screen East. The agency has put more than $729,553 (Euros 500,000) towards the two films from its Content Investment Fund.
Sheryl Crown, Screen East’s Executive Producer said: “We are thrilled and excited to have such a wide variety of feature films working with us in the East of England. We have some great directors and producers working across a truly innovative and distinctive range of international feature films.”
The Content Investment Fund, backed by the European Regional Development Fund, runs through December 2008 and will support at least 12 projects in total across film, TV and digital media. Other Screen East-backed recent features include My Talks With Dean Spanley, Mad, Sad and Bad and I Know You Know.
Celtic Media Festival selects seven feature dramas in shortlist
31.03.08
Wendy Mitchell in London
The 2008 Celtic Media Festival has announced the shortlist of seven films competing for the Bronze Torc for Excellence for Feature Length Drama.They are The Last King Of Scotland, Kings, Cre na Cille (Graveyard Clay), The Midnight Drives, Dressing Granite, Calon Gaeth, and Seachd – The Inaccessible Pinnacle.
The festival will be held April 16-18 in Galway, Ireland. The event, in its 29th year, celebrates TV, radio, digital and film talent from Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, Brittany and Ireland. A record 444 entries were submitted for this year’s awards.
Melbourne fest's financing market and fund to continue
25.07.08
Sandy George in Sydney
The government of the Australian state of Victoria brought a smile to the faces of filmmakers attending the opening of the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) tonight, by pledging $2.3m (A$2.4m) to extend the life of the festival’s investment fund and financing market.
“We were not certain that funding would be renewed,” said Mark Woods, manager of both initiatives, “and that it was for two years was most definitely happy and surprising news.”
The four-day market is run under the 37South banner and started yesterday. Many more international companies are in attendance than in 2007, the inaugural year, and at least four – Bavaria Film International, Independent, Spier Films and Altadena Films – have come to Australia for the first time ever.
“We will keep working towards getting a mix of companies down here, those with a long-standing relationship with Australia and those who are new to this territory,” said Woods. “With the new financial arrangements now operating (the introduction of the producer offset) we want more companies to sample what Australia has to offer and more are interested.”
While Woods can’t take the credit, Altadena is negotiating for international rights to writer/director Belinda Chayko’s second film, Lou, about a grandfather with Alzheimer’s Disease who mistakes his granddaughter for the wife who abandoned him years earlier.
John Hurt has signed on as the grandfather, and Emily Barclay as the granddaughter’s young mum. Michael McMahon and Tony Ayres are producing, Liz Watts is the executive producer and Kojo is likely to distribute locally.
The MIFF programme includes ten world premieres, six of which have investment from the Premiere Film Fund, including opening night title Not Quite Hollywood, a tribute to the Australian films of the 1970s.
All six happen to be documentaries. The additional six films that have investment from the fund will not premiere until next year. They include Sean Byrne’s horror film The Loved Ones, Blessed from Ana Kokkinos, the musical Bran Nue Dae from Rachel Perkins, Robert Connolly’s political drama Balibo and Fred Schepisi’s Last Man.
