Word: writer-director
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...writer-director of the new film, Steven Zaillian, says he has never seen Rossen's very good film, and that probably makes sense. Zaillian's movie is much more a reimagining than a remake, and it's much more faithful to the tone of the novel, which is by no means easy to duplicate. Warren was a prolix and poetic writer, and a man torn between conflicting loyalties. He began his career as a Southern conservative, celebrating the agrarian traditions of the region, but found himself fascinated by the vulgar, driving (and possibly transformative) energy of Huey Long, Louisiana...
...Prague, that city of secrets, The Illusionist takes some getting used to. You must shrug off a clumsy opening and indulge the American stars (Norton, Biel, Giamatti) for strutting their fanciest Anglo-European accents. But even those may be devices of misdirection, little traps set by Neil Burger, the writer-director. It's not how Burger sets the stage; it's what he puts on it. Soon Norton slips into Eisenheim's skin and, with the aid of real-life master magicians Ricky Jay and Michael Weber, makes the enterprise soar--or, at any rate, levitate...
...Another adult twist on a child's fable is Pan's Labyrinth. Writer-director Guillermo Del Toro flawlessly laces a Lewis Carroll-like fantasy of an underground kingdom into the realistic story of a sadistic officer (Sergi López) in Franco's Spain and a wily insurgent servant (Maribel Verdú), fighting for possession of a sad, dreamy child. It's got sumptuous special effects and, finally, a mournful wisdom about love, honor and death. Also a standout was Climates, from Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan. This minor-key étude of love, sex and selfishness used minimalist strategies...
...Scanner Darkly was the second of two films at Cannes this year by writer-director Linklater, and I'll start by saying it's better than the other Linklater item, Fast Food Nation, which so far has tied Richard Kelly's Southland Tales as the Festival's biggest flop. This one is an adaptation of a 1977 novel by that crucial and deeply disturbing SF visionary, Philip K. Dick. It's Dick's memoir of his addiction to painkillers and other drugs, as refracted through the sci-fi-delic prose style of his later years...
...yesterday's follow-up press luncheon, writer-director Condon (Gods and Monsters, Kinsey) was modest but confident. He knows the uphill battle faced by any movie musical, particularly one with songs that rise from the story; audiences have a hard time accepting a character who talks one moment, sings the next. (The last film musical of this kind to be a hit? Condon has the depressing answer: Grease, nearly 30 years ago.) But the director - who also was screenwriter for that other hit movie musical anomaly Chicago - is counting on the marquee appeal of Foxx, Knowles and Murphy to bring...