Brooklyn-based filmmaker David Novack has crafted an intelligent, poetic and engaging documentation of Isaac Babel’s grandson’s search for his grandfather: writer, man, Jew, Russian. This search reveals small and large stories surrounding Babel, and it encompasses Russia, Brooklyn, France, Ukraine, and more. We witness the enduring power of words, the rising power of truth.
This information rich 88 minutes feels like a walk through many Babel realities, including his writing works that vividly recall real events -- is descriptions of occurrences so powerful, and threatening to the existing Stalinist regime that he was not simply murdered, he was secretly murdered. The authoritarian intent was to erase and blow away any remains of Isaac Emmanuelovich Babel/Case File #419/no inmate file/May 15, 1939.
Andrei Malaev-Babel’s search for his grandfather connects a personal search to the historical era that informs and provides cautionary revelations about authoritarian political action as it follows...
This information rich 88 minutes feels like a walk through many Babel realities, including his writing works that vividly recall real events -- is descriptions of occurrences so powerful, and threatening to the existing Stalinist regime that he was not simply murdered, he was secretly murdered. The authoritarian intent was to erase and blow away any remains of Isaac Emmanuelovich Babel/Case File #419/no inmate file/May 15, 1939.
Andrei Malaev-Babel’s search for his grandfather connects a personal search to the historical era that informs and provides cautionary revelations about authoritarian political action as it follows...
- 1/30/2017
- by Carletta Joy Walker
- www.culturecatch.com
‘Toni Erdmann’ (Courtesy: Tiff)
By: Carson Blackwelder
Managing Editor
It’s not too often that foreign-language films get recognized for anything at the Oscars beyond the best foreign-language film category — but it does happen. And, believe it or not, it happens more for best original screenplay and best adapted screenplay than many other categories. A prime example of that is Toni Erdmann, Germany’s submission this year that is proving to be a cross-category threat, which could score a nomination — or a win — for its writing.
The story of Toni Erdmann — which has a solid Rotten Tomatoes score of 91% — follows a father who is trying to reconnect with his adult daughter after the death of his dog. It sounds simple enough but, of course, the two couldn’t be more unalike. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016 and where it won the Fipresci Prize. Since then, it...
By: Carson Blackwelder
Managing Editor
It’s not too often that foreign-language films get recognized for anything at the Oscars beyond the best foreign-language film category — but it does happen. And, believe it or not, it happens more for best original screenplay and best adapted screenplay than many other categories. A prime example of that is Toni Erdmann, Germany’s submission this year that is proving to be a cross-category threat, which could score a nomination — or a win — for its writing.
The story of Toni Erdmann — which has a solid Rotten Tomatoes score of 91% — follows a father who is trying to reconnect with his adult daughter after the death of his dog. It sounds simple enough but, of course, the two couldn’t be more unalike. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016 and where it won the Fipresci Prize. Since then, it...
- 1/4/2017
- by Carson Blackwelder
- Scott Feinberg
Welcome back to the Weekend Warrior, your weekly look at the new movies hitting theaters this weekend, as well as other cool events and things to check out.
This Past Weekend:
In one of the busier weekends of the month, two of the movies did better than I predicted and two did worse. The real winner of the weekend was Tyler Perry’s Boo! A Madea Halloween, which did far better than anyone thought with an opening weekend of $28.5 million in just 2,260 theaters or $12,611 per theater. It ended up completely demolishing Tom Cruise’s action sequel Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, which opened in almost 1,500 more theaters, but at least that ended up around where I predicted with $22.9 million. Ouija: Origin of Evil came out slightly below my prediction to take third place with $14 million, while the Fox comedy Keeping Up with the Joneses bombed even worse than I expected with $5.5 million in 3,000 theaters.
This Past Weekend:
In one of the busier weekends of the month, two of the movies did better than I predicted and two did worse. The real winner of the weekend was Tyler Perry’s Boo! A Madea Halloween, which did far better than anyone thought with an opening weekend of $28.5 million in just 2,260 theaters or $12,611 per theater. It ended up completely demolishing Tom Cruise’s action sequel Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, which opened in almost 1,500 more theaters, but at least that ended up around where I predicted with $22.9 million. Ouija: Origin of Evil came out slightly below my prediction to take third place with $14 million, while the Fox comedy Keeping Up with the Joneses bombed even worse than I expected with $5.5 million in 3,000 theaters.
- 10/26/2016
- by Edward Douglas
- LRMonline.com
Soviet Nostalgia: Hoover’s Complex Portrait of a Ukrainian Vigilante Pastor Opens Cultural Can of Worms
Steve Hoover’s sophomore feature opens on a Ukrainian industrial landscape overlayed with the following quote from My First Fee by Isaac Babel, a Russian author whose futile death came at the hands of the Soviet secret police: “A well thought out story doesn’t need to resemble real life. Life itself tries with all its might to resemble a well-crafted story.” Out of context, it merely foreshadows the high tension tale to follow, yet knowing Babel’s fate – which isn’t mentioned in the film – brings greater depth to the Ukrainian/Russian situation that snowballs throughout. In Crocodile Gennadiy, what begins as an astounding, morally murky portrait of a man subverting inert government organizations to rescue abused children morphs into a something more akin to a unraveling sketch of a man clutching his overflowing family,...
Steve Hoover’s sophomore feature opens on a Ukrainian industrial landscape overlayed with the following quote from My First Fee by Isaac Babel, a Russian author whose futile death came at the hands of the Soviet secret police: “A well thought out story doesn’t need to resemble real life. Life itself tries with all its might to resemble a well-crafted story.” Out of context, it merely foreshadows the high tension tale to follow, yet knowing Babel’s fate – which isn’t mentioned in the film – brings greater depth to the Ukrainian/Russian situation that snowballs throughout. In Crocodile Gennadiy, what begins as an astounding, morally murky portrait of a man subverting inert government organizations to rescue abused children morphs into a something more akin to a unraveling sketch of a man clutching his overflowing family,...
- 4/20/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Generally one of the most elusive of TV executives when it comes to TCA press tour candor -- The CW's Mark Pedowitz is a worthy challenger -- ABC Entertainment President Paul Lee may or may not have been saved by the success of "Resurrection," which somewhat salvaged a dismal spring of replacement failures. Now Lee and ABC are looking forward to a fall that lacks a clear presumptive hit, though presumptive hit status only did a little for "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." last year. And probably "How To Get Away With Murder" has the pedigree to succeed, while "Black-ish" has the lead-in to succeed. Click through and follow along for Lee's full discussion of why the ABC Brand is still strong and why we're overstating the network's struggles last season. 10 a.m. We started today with ABC Family -- No, "Bunheads" isn't coming back...
- 7/15/2014
- by Daniel Fienberg
- Hitfix
UK director Stephen Frears has been awarded the Golden Duke Lifetime Achievement Award during the opening ceremony of the fifth edition of the Odessa International Film Festival (Oiff, July 11-19).
The festival is dedicating an homage to British director Frears, who gave a master class at the parallel Summer School and attended an open-air screening of his latest film Philomena on the city’s Lanzheron Descent steps
Speaking at a press conference at the weekend, Frears said that when he received the invitation to come to Odessa, he recalled a piece by writer Isaac Babel describing the Black Sea port as ¨a gangster town¨. “And then I wanted to come!¨
¨I’ve never been to a city so beautiful,¨ Frears said about his first impressions of Odessa.
Remembering Sentsov
During the opening event at Odessa’s Musical Comedy Theatre, the audience was asked to remember the Ukrainian film-maker Oleg Sentsov who is currently in detention in Russia...
The festival is dedicating an homage to British director Frears, who gave a master class at the parallel Summer School and attended an open-air screening of his latest film Philomena on the city’s Lanzheron Descent steps
Speaking at a press conference at the weekend, Frears said that when he received the invitation to come to Odessa, he recalled a piece by writer Isaac Babel describing the Black Sea port as ¨a gangster town¨. “And then I wanted to come!¨
¨I’ve never been to a city so beautiful,¨ Frears said about his first impressions of Odessa.
Remembering Sentsov
During the opening event at Odessa’s Musical Comedy Theatre, the audience was asked to remember the Ukrainian film-maker Oleg Sentsov who is currently in detention in Russia...
- 7/14/2014
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
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