Monday, June 22, 2009

by Ari

Apologies for the lack of activity in the last few weeks. I'll try to update the site on a more frequent basis if I can, however pre-production is consuming a lot of time at the moment. I'll have another Winter Nights log to post soon, one that covers all the sudden changes and events that have transpired over the last month or so.

I did catch Francis Coppola's Tetro and Woody Allen's Whatever Works, both of which I enjoyed despite their flaws. Tetro is ambitious, beautiful and revealing, an old-fashioned family drama with enough cinematic inspiration and powerful performances to overcome the melodramatic, sometimes ridiculous writing and tedious, unnecessary stretches. It's operatic and original, a throwback to the personal arthouse films that dominated the late 60s and 70s. Allen's film isn't a classic either, but Larry David's character is so over-the-top cruel that you have to enjoy it to some degree.