Elena

Before becoming bonafide fraternity brothers, the students at the centre of Burning Sands must endure a week of torment. They are led on marches, beaten, pelted with tennis balls and forced to eat dog food. Each young man has his own reason for taking part. Some want to improve their career prospects; others hope to enhance their college reputation.

Motivated by his father’s failure to complete his own hazing, Z (Trevor Jackson) decides he must prove his worth. The setup is intriguing enough, but contrived subplots – from Z’s strained relationship with his girlfriend, to his implied interest in another woman, to his slump in academic standards – feel shoehorned in and risk detracting from the main narrative.

Yet we root for Z regardless thanks to Jackson’s strong, emotive performance. When Z is asked why he won’t give up, he screams the fraternity’s four core principles: “Brotherhood, scholarship, leadership, compassion”. Jackson furrows his brow and puckers his lips in exaggerated aggression as he bellows this line, only to fall into uncertainty, features drooping, as soon as the act is dropped.

The film is set in a historically black (and fictitious) college named after Frederick Douglass, an abolitionist whose campus legacy is pervasive. While a scornful scribble on a history assignment suggests that Z doesn’t read up on his sources, he recites Douglass repeatedly, using his quotes to link hazing to the struggles and injustices of slavery.

Elsewhere, we witness a branding and the slash of a switch-like metal rod, and hear casual mention of a “slave beat down”. Though the references are clear, writer/director Gerard McMurray’s intention remains elusive. Power concedes nothing without a demand, Douglass insisted in the speech that Z so often borrows from, but the rare instances of rebellion here are met with retaliation, not compromise.

The climactic threat of ‘Hell Night’, the week’s finale, looms. By the time this event arrives, however, any potential tension has been negated by the film’s stop-start pacing and over-reliance on dramatic irony. Viewed as a cautionary tale about the dangers of hazing, Burning Sands dutifully does its job. As hard-hitting sociopolitical commentary, it falls short.

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topherchris:

Important PSA

Michael Mann’s long-gestating biopic, Ferrari, has started up again, with Hugh Jackman now set to star alongside Noomi Rapace. Jackman will play the Italian automobile company founder and racing driver Enzo Ferrari, and Rapace will play his estranged wife Laura, whose tumultuous relationship with the entrepreneur will be a central focus.

Set in 1957 and based on Brock Yates’ book ‘Enzo Ferrari, The Man, The Cars, The Races’, Troy Kennedy-Martin’s script will predominantly centre on Ferrari’s battle for supremacy against rival Alfieri Maserati. Mann began work on the project 17 years ago, initially in collaboration with Sydney Pollack, who died in 2008.

Christian Bale was originally attached to play the lead until he left the project in 2016 over a scheduling conflict. Ferrari will be Mann’s follow-up to 2015’s Blackhat, and is due to go into production in summer 2018.

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theartofmoviestills:

2001: A Space Odyssey | Stanley Kubrick | 1968

Romantic comedies traditionally skew heavily towards the perspective of the protagonist, which often triggers thin characterisation of the opposing male or female character of the story. The clichéd archetype of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl comes from the male point-of-view, where a female character is given little or no depth beyond being quirky and desirable.

Alternatively, male love interests in female-led rom-coms are often charming everyman types who are overlooked until the time when our heroine realises the love of her life has been hiding in plain sight the entire time. It’s rare that we get to see a perfect split in relationship terms, where two characters are allowed to develop as individuals before they come together as a couple. The genre has a longstanding bad habit of compartmentalising people.

Netflix’s Love is a series that excels by slicing a relationship clean in half, revealing the fleshed out male and female perspectives at its core.

It tells of the burgeoning relationship between Gus (Paul Rust) and Mickey (Gillian Jacobs), who begin to date but quickly arrive at the realisation that they don’t quite work together. Los Angeles is the backdrop and the show relishes taking satirical snipes at Hollywood, where Gus works as a tutor for a child star (Iris Apatow, daughter of Love co-creator, Judd). Mickey produces a radio show that offers relationship advice from a psychologist (Brett Gelman) who thinks he has all the answers to her personal problems but really just makes everything worse.

Love is the brainchild of Rust, Apatow and Lesley Arfin, and it has a lot in common with Apatow’s previous television work – imagine what might have happen to the characters of Freaks and Geeks if they grew up and moved to LA. It has the modern millennial slant of Girls only without the navel gazing, with its derision of the entertainment industry marking it as a distant cousin of The Larry Sanders Show.

Under normal circumstances we might yearn to see a smitten couple together as much as possible, but Love balances the lives of Gus and Mickey so well that it’s just as gratifying to watch them in their daily lives. Love pulls us into the orbit of Gus and Mickey’s professional and social lives so that we get a sense of where they’re coming from when they meet. Early on in the first season it’s revealed that Gus has a tendency to awkwardly sabotage attractive opportunities that come his way, while Mickey’s various addictions repeatedly throw her life into chaos.

Crucially, we get to see the best and worst of these characters before the sparks start flying. It’s not a surprise when they bond over their grievances or clash because of a minor disagreement – we’re getting the know them at the same pace at which the narrative requires them to click. This is especially important in Mickey’s case, because all too often the female protagonist’s perspective is neglected in shows such as this. Just look at the way Cobie Smulders’ Robyn is frequently suffocated by the dominant male perspective of Josh Radnor’s Ted in How I Met Your Mother.

Balance matters when telling these kinds of stories, not least because it allows us to form a cohesive understanding of the halves that make the whole. By striking a more even, nuanced perspective between its two romantic leads, Love captures the rare thrill getting to know someone, and eventually loving them, in a more authentic, natural way.

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After seeing Moonlight take home Best Picture at the Oscars, Ryan Gosling and Damien Chazelle are on course to make a lunar trip of their own.

The star and director of La La Land are set to reunite for the Neil Armstrong biopic First Man, based on former NASA historian James Hansen’s book of the same name.

Gosling orbited the lead role for a while before confirming his involvement in December 2016. With Spotlight’s Josh Singer on script duties, it’s shaping up to be a rather intriguing prospect.

Rather than covering the entirety of Armstrong’s life, the film will be a “mission movie” focusing on the years between 1961 and 1969, concluding with the historic Apollo 11 landing.

For those wondering how Chazelle plans to make the giant leap from jazz music to space travel, the director is keen to point out the familiar thematic ground.

Speaking to Collider back in 2015, he drew parallels with Whiplash, another tale of an ambitious man making personal sacrifices in order to attain greatness – a description that could just as easily apply to Gosling’s character in La La Land.

Universal seems to have high hopes that First Man will rocket to stratospheric success – an October 2018 release date suggests that the studio is confident they have an awards season contender on their hands.

Forget the early awards hype – who should play Buzz Aldrin? Let us know @LWLies

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The Paris region has passed a new rule obliging labourers on public building sites to use French, copying action taken elsewhere in France to squeeze out foreign workers.

The morass of conflicting interests and forces embroiled in the current wars in the Middle East is hideously complicated, and studying up on the situation may seem a daunting task to any Western outsider. Many opt to engage with the situation simply by sharing articles they probably didn’t read whenever an especially horrendous event occurs or an organisation comes up with a savvy social media campaign. Many stories and groups are lost in the fray of opinions and reportage.

For instance, did you know that all-female military units are part of the war against the Islamic State? Director Zaynê Akyol’s old friend Gulîstan joined such a group: the Free Women’s Units, a military branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (or PKK). In 2010, Akyol went in search of Gulîstan in Iraqi Kurdistan, failing to find her but meeting many of her comrades in arms. Initially seeking to make a documentary about Gulîstan based on her friends’ memories of her, Akyol’s project morphed to be about the women themselves.

Gulîstan, Land of Roses defies the expectations that come with documentaries about war in general and war in the Middle East specifically. There are no sequences of combat, nor glimpses of bombed-out cities or towns, nor footage of suffering refugees on the march, nor interviews recounting witnessed atrocities. This is instead an incredibly calm film, set mainly against beautiful mountain vistas. The colour palette consists of an array of greens, with grasslands contrasted with the muted shades of the women’s uniforms. Akyol watches them going through drills, maintaining their camp, or simply hanging out with the same steady eye. This isn’t war as hell; it’s the purgatorial wait before.

Over time, though, the film and its characters draw closer to the fight with Isis. Though that fight is not seen, it is eventually heard obliquely, via distant booms. As the troop of female guerrillas await the green light to enter the fray, they express their hopes, fears, and dreams to Akyol. Their mindset is dramatically removed from what Westerners – Americans in particular – think of when it comes to joining the military. They speak not of wanting revenge or out of bloodthirstiness, but their dream of a free Kurdistan. Their nationalism is aspirational instead of defensive. Gulîstan is their manifesto.

While we get to know individual women, outside of the interview segments the film is most interested in observing them as a group. The PKK is a socialist/communalist organisation, and their military training and pep talks emphasise their collective spirit. Akyol obliges, depicting the women at work as a single organism with many parts, including many figures in the frame whether they are exercising or talking. Even so, the camera catches the nuances of each woman in the whole, such as how they wash their hair or take in a speech differently. This is not the subsuming of one’s will into a mass, but a pooling of diverse wills for a greater good.

Gulîstan is a rare examples of a documentary that could technically be described as pro-war. Which is to say it is pro this war, or pro these women, who are marching with little hesitation into battle. A striking character piece and a handy primer on the philosophy of the PKK, it introduces much-needed nuance to the documentary conversation around the Middle East crisis, which is dominated by a fixation on suffering and senselessness. This is a portrait of war as a vector for possibility and change, even as it avoids any glorification of violence. That’s a tricky balance to strike, but Akyol manages it with ease.

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The world of ballet is typically depicted on-screen as a place where dancers strive for precision and athleticism. It is irrevocably associated with tutus and tights. Director Steven Cantor provides an intriguing perspective of the ballet world with his starkly-titled documentary, Dancer.

His subject is Ukrainian ballet prodigy Sergei Polunin, popularly known as the star of the David LaChapelle-directed viral video of Hozier’s ‘Take Me to Church’, but also the youngest principal dancer ever at the British Royal Ballet, from which he resigned at the age of 22.

At first, Cantor draws dangerously close to the classic biopic convention whereby the artist breaks down in the face of stardom. The film pays too much attention to Polunin’s ‘bad boy’ image, with numerous shots of newspaper headlines focusing on his drug habit, tattoos and erratic behaviour. The film over-does its attempts to defy preconceptions of ballet and supersede graceful, poised expectations with an almost hyper-masculine quality.

In spite of this, Cantor admirably succeeds in helping us relate to his star and subject. He uses home-video footage of his difficult childhood plus interviews with his family and friends to present an alternative image. He is a boy who simply wants to have fun and for his family to be reunited, but is almost hindered by the obligation of his talent. Pathos fills the space between subject and camera as Polunin states, “You’re a prisoner to your body, to your urge to dance.”

Unable to stop, unwilling to carry on, the subject embodies the nuance of dance as an art form in itself: as an expression, an expulsion, a curse. What we see is an artist who becomes disenchanted, loses his 
passion for the art and then his attempts to reclaim it on his own terms. By the end of the film Cantor plays the ‘Take Me to Church’ dance in full, signifying Polunin’s redefinition in light of all we now know. It is now the result of his own raw expression of internal struggle – a profound statement of his identity as a dancer and artist.

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Back in 1933, 20-odd years before Godzilla laid claim to the kaiju crown, there was Kong. The brainchild of producer-director team Merian C Cooper and Ernest B Shoedsack, brought to life for RKO Studios by legendary special effects wizard Willis O’Brien, King Kong’s ill-fated rampage through the streets of New York City was an landmark moment in Hollywood cinema that went on to spawn countless imitators.

With Kong: Skull Island in cinemas, we took a good long look through the great ape’s sizeable back catalogue – from the numerous official sequels to the most brazen knock-offs. With the exception of his animated adventures for television (give us a break), here is a comprehensive rundown of the good, the bad, but mostly the ugly cinematic indignities that men in monkey suits have ever suffered in the name of Kong…

Son of Kong (1933)

With the iconic cinematic simian having decorated the pavements of 5th Avenue, creators Shoedsack and Cooper turned to his heir apparent for a largely forgotten quickie cash-in. Carl Denham is in a fix following the Manhattan carnage. Broke and with half the city out to sue him, he escapes back to Skull Island. “Believe it or not, there’s a little Kong! Just a little one, about 12 feet high. I know it sounds funny but instead of shooting him I helped him out of a jam. I felt I owed his family something.”

Turnaround on this official sequel was so quick it was in picture houses the very same year as its predecessor, knocked out for a meagre $250,000. Tonally, it’s all over the shop; positioning Little Kong as a figure of comic relief (replete with cross-eyed musical cues whenever he gets brained) proving nothing short of misguided. Yet there are some good sequences here, the best sans-monkey, as an early escape from a fire is captured in a nifty tracking shot. Willis O’Brien’s creature work continues to impress, as Kong 1.5 dukes it out with a bear, some dinos and um, the weather.

Wasei Kingu Kongu (1933) / King Kong Appears in Edo (1938)

While King Kong officially took to Japanese screens in the 1960s, he made his first appearance (of sorts) in a three-reel silent short for Shochiku, hitching a ride on the success of RKO’s original. Both this and the later, two-part take on America’s most famous kaiju, King Kong Appears in Edo, are now considered lost films.

King Klunk (1933)

The first cartoon to be landed with an H certificate in the UK, Woody Woodpecker creator Walter Lantz’s one-reel parody proves quite the charmer, despite being riddled with an approach towards ethnic characterisation that would plague nearly every iteration of Kong. Condensing the film’s narrative down to nine lark-filled minutes, it peaks with Klunk’s New York rampage, as Pooch the Pup takes to the air for a skyscraper-straddling dogfight. The film served as ground zero for a fierce battle over property rights between RKO and Universal that would last for decades.

The Pet Store (1933)

Kong gets the Disney treatment in a seven-minute parody starring Mickey Mouse. Minnie (seemingly on day release from the madhouse and off her meds) gets kidnapped by a Stan Laurel-impersonating gorilla at Mickey’s new job, causing him to enlist a menagerie of animal pals to rescue her from the ape’s grip atop a tower of bird-seed. Cute enough, and something of a proto-Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

Terror on the Midway (1942)

Given how poor recent incarnations of Superman have been, it’s a pleasure to revisit one of the best of the Fleischer Studios’ iconic cartoons, however tenuous the link to Kong. Lois and Clark are sent to cover a circus act, when a giant ape escapes its enclosure. The gorilla’s reveal is terrific, all shadows and escalating reaction shots before hell breaks loose. Supes turns up to discipline a panther and bodyslam an elephant, before taking out the monkey – all in glorious Technicolor.

Mighty Joe Young (1949)

The only film about a giant, rampaging ape to be produced by John Ford, Mighty Joe Young gets a lot of stick for its reputation as a poor man’s Kong; a concerted effort on the part of the original filmmakers to recapture the magic of their 1933 hit. It may lack the eye for the iconic possessed by its progenitor, but the creature effects by Willis O’Brien – aided by Ray Harryhausen, in one of his first gigs – remain unsurpassed by anything on this list (which admittedly isn’t saying much).

If the targeting of a family audience lends proceedings a sentimental streak, the set-pieces speak for themselves, not least in the stage show tear-up. It’s the tinted finale that sees the creative team at their finest, as Joe and co rescue a bunch of kids from a burning orphanage. The combination of opticals, miniatures, stop-motion effects and live action are seamlessly integrated; the expressiveness of the star attraction finding no rival in his mo-capped peers 50 years hence.

Konga (1961)

“Fantastic! There’s a huge monster-gorilla that’s constantly growing to outlandish proportions loose in the streets. He’s moving towards the Embankment area.” The first of two British-made knock-offs on our list, Konga sees erstwhile Bat-butler and seeming love-child of Lee Marvin and Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Gough, as famous botanist and all-round creep, Dr Decker. Having survived a plane-crash in the Ugandan jungle, discovered the secrets of giganticism and returned home with the chimp who saved his life, Decker doses his pet monkey – inexplicably transforming him into a boss-eyed gorilla – and sends him out to ’ave a word with all who’ve dissed him.

If Konga himself appears more put-out than ferocious (the climax sees him not destroying Big Ben, more loitering confusedly in the vicinity), it’s Gough who’s left to chew his way through the scenery. Whether hitting on his students (“Come Sandra, I want to show you my greenhouse…”), shooting cats or insinuating a closer relationship with his specimen than appropriate, Gough shows no intention of being upstaged by his 50 foot co-star.

King Kong vs Godzilla (1962)

Kong’s first official on-screen reappearance  since Son of Kong – and his first in colour and widescreen – Ishirō Honda’s film was the third in Toho’s Godzilla franchise and marked a change in direction for the studio’s kaiju pictures. Aiming for a family audience, the horror elements of the first Godzilla films were tempered, much to Honda’s dismay. It wasn’t the first of Toho’s kaiju vs kaiju smackdowns – that honour having gone to the Godzilla vs Anguirus fight in 1955’s Godzilla Raids Again – but it proved to be one of the most iconic.

Adapted from a treatment by Willis O’Brien, Kong’s popularity ensured top billing, just as Godzilla’s villainy at this point in the franchise meant the victor could only be… [no spoilers here]. It seems Legendary Pictures have the key players in place for a rematch in the not-too-distant future. And yeah, that’s a real octopus Kong is fighting.

King Kong Escapes (1967)

This is the one where King Kong fights a massive robot version of himself, MechaKong, on top of the Tokyo Tower. It’s like a Roger Moore Bond film – with Kong as 007 – complete with mad villain, Dr Who. The evil scientist has built MechaKong from a picture someone drew of the giant ape, designed to mine something called Element X. When the robot breaks down, he goes after the real Kong to take his place. It’s amazing just how much anthropomorphic emotional resonance suit-mation maestro Eiji Tsuburaya manages to transmit through the suits. Or maybe not. Whatever, Kong fights a massive robot.

King of Kong Island (1968)

More public service announcement than movie, this one. Given the title, and the picture of a massive ape on the poster, you’d be forgiven for thinking this has something to do with King Kong. Or might even have a giant ape in it. Or might be set on an island. Nope. If we’re being generous, it almost works as a take on The Island of Dr Moreau. With tits. Some monkey-men do turn up – in the mangiest suits committed to film – theirs minds controlled by a mad scientist living in the jungle. With everything so half-arsed and plodding, it’s hard to enjoy even the basest Z-grade lols. One for the most committed of Italian exploitation aficionados only.

The Mighty Gorga (1969)

Another film bravely vying for bottom spot on our list, but one which at least sports a giant gorilla. Barrel-scraping in its that’ll-do suit manufacture, the last 15 minutes or so aren’t without their Ed Wood-inspired charms – not least when the eponymous Gorga takes on what appears to be a T-Rex sock puppet. But it’s one hell of a drudge to get there, and best we don’t even get started on the white actors playing natives. Oh boy.

King Kong (1976)

You’ve got to hand it to Dino De Laurentiis for his commitment to getting the first remake proper up on the screen, despite the final results. Costing an astronomical $24m – which is really a lot to pay for a clunky monkey and a big fake hand – the production difficulties were legion. While one can lay part of blame at the hairy feet of the impractically optimistic effects work (despite some effective miniature carnage late in the game), the real trouble lies in Guillermin’s bland direction and a listless screenplay. Jeff Bridges, Charles Grodin and – in her first role – Jessica Lange all seem to be acting in different films; bored, smug and overboard respectively. There’s a plus three-hour TV edit out there too, for the masochistically inclined.

A*P*E (1976)

“This movie hates you,” begins one of the user reviews on IMDb. There’s really nothing more to add.

Queen Kong (1976)

There comes a point when you’ve been binge-watching one too many Kong knock-offs that you step back and wonder if you might have hallucinated one of them. Queen Kong is that film. The second UK feature on our list, as its title suggests, is a gender-flipped take on the usual monkey business. Rula Lenska is Luce Habit (yep), who kidnaps Robin “Confessions of a Window Cleaner” Askwith’s Ray in a bid to make him the star of the film she’s directing in Lazangawheretheydothekonga. What begins with a trip aboard her boat, The Liberated Lady – complete with a musical number that namechecks Germaine Greer and ‘The Female Eunuch’ – soon sees our female Kong being encouraged to kick a T-Rex in the nads.

A pseudo-feminist bent only gets you so far (about 15 minutes) before the offensive racial stereotypes kick in, making early ’70s British television appear a font of progressive enlightenment by comparison. The commitment to the material and its endless stream of appalling gags by the cast might only be explained by the presence of their respective families, off-camera with guns to their heads.

The Mighty Peking Man (1977)

Now we’re talking. You know you’re living in a golden age of home video when a film as out-there as The Mighty Peking Man gets a spanking new Blu-ray release. (Take a bow, 88 Films.) Maybe we’ve got Quentin Tarantino to thank too, who re-released it theatrically on his Rolling Thunder imprint back in the late ’90s. An atypical excursion away from martial arts for the prolific Shaw Brothers, Kong goes Hong Kong for this exploitation doozy.

Chen Zhengfeng is sad because he caught his brother shagging his missus, so he joins an expedition in search of Ah Wang, the eponymous giant ape-man with a scream that’s the stuff of nightmares. He meets up with a Swiss model in the jungle, who’s been living with Ah Wang since the plane crash that killed her parents.

It all goes tits-up when a producer with dollar signs in his eyes brings the monster back to Hong Kong, leading to an impressive demolition derby of model-work. Before we get there though, we get to see a man fight a tiger before it bites his leg off, a leopard do battle with a snake, and one of the great frolicking-and-falling-in-love montages (unimpressed leopard included) ever committed to film.

King Kong Lives (1986)

“It was beauty killed the beast,” goes the 1933 film’s famous last line. If you’ve seen King Kong Lives, you’d be forgiven for thinking he was actually done in by John Guillermin. The official sequel to Dino De Laurentiis’ 1976 remake sees Kong find a partner in a female gorilla brought in to save his life, a decade after his tumble from the Empire State Building. Positioned as a Christmas blockbuster, wholly incompetent in both direction and design, it’s astonishing to think this film cost upwards of $10m. You have to wonder what Carlo Rambaldi was smoking when he came up his creature, or what Linda Hamilton was thinking in the wake of her post-Terminator success. It did spawn a video game called King Kong Lives: Megaton Punch of Rage, so at least there’s that.

King Homer (1992)

Six gorgeous minutes from The Simpsons’ third ‘Treehouse of Horrors’ episode see Homer cast as the great ape. As Kong parodies go, it’s top of the heap; not just in the gags that land but its affection for the character. The one-liners zing (Smithers, on hearing Marge is joining the expedition: “I think women and seamen don’t mix”), but it’s Homer’s attempt to summit the Empire State Building that lands the final blow, as he falls from the second floor, exhausted. “He’s not dead!” cries Marge. “No, but his career is,” replies Mr Burns, “I remember when Al Jolson ran amok at the Winter Garden and climbed the Chrysler Building. After that, he couldn’t get arrested in this town.”

Mighty Joe Young (1998)

Disney’s take on the 1949 film, Mighty Joe Young captures none of the magic of Shoedsack and Cooper’s original. In fact, it’s difficult to imagine the intended kiddie audience taking more from this noisy and sentimental refit than they would from the visual wizardry of O’Brien’s earlier work. Which isn’t to the say that the effects here are without merit; Rick Baker’s creation of Joe arguably surpasses the dated digital effects employed by Peter Jackson seven years later. The finale atop Grauman’s Chinese Theatre pales in comparison to the orphanage climax of the first film, although kudos for the nod to Cooper and John Ford with the Wagon Master poster on display in the foyer.

The Mighty Kong (1998)

Quite how Warner Bros got away with retelling the story of King Kong so explicitly, with just a mere title change, is anyone’s guess. A DTV joint for the kids, The Mighty Kong bills itself as ‘an animated musical’, although ‘shit cartoon with songs’ would be more accurate. Not that it doesn’t have some pedigree; its musical numbers were penned by same the Sherman brothers, who wrote for Disney’s Mary Poppins, and the voice cast includes Dudley Moore, wildly overacting in his final role. The only way to enjoy such soulless dreck is to imagine a commentary from Moore’s erstwhile partner in crime Peter Cook, in character as Clive, letting him have it every time he opens his mouth. “What a c—”

King Kong (2005)

With 70 years of Kong remakes and knock-offs to draw on, you’d think Peter Jackson might have come up with a more dignified approach to the human inhabitants of Skull Island. Elsewhere, his heart is largely in the right place, even as his film suffers from a Kong-scaled case of giganticism. While the effects work hasn’t aged brilliantly, and Jackson can’t escape the sentimental inclinations that serve to undermine his star attraction, his visual sensibilities pay off in the film’s major set-pieces – not least when we (finally) get back to New York. There’s a better, shorter movie in here somewhere (preferably one without Jack Black). As it stands, Jackson’s romantic reverence gets the better of him.

The post Kong to Kong: The complete screen history of cinema’s greatest monster appeared first on Little White Lies.

Twitter, Still Exploring

noun: A miserly person. adjective: Miserly.

We’re big fans of the French filmmaker Olivier Assayas. His latest effort, Personal Shopper, sees the writer/director reunite with Kristen Stewart following their fruitful collaboration on 2014’s Clouds of Sils Maria, for which she picked up the César Award for Best Supporting Actress.

She’s equally great in Personal Shopper, a Parisian “ghost story” about a young American women working as a high-fashion shopping assistant, who secretly dresses up in the haute couture wears of her celebrity boss. We won’t give anything else away just now, but we will attempt to whet your appetite further by leaving you with a line from our first look review, which describes the film as “a study of grief, a satire, a murder mystery [and] a Hitchcockian thriller” all rolled into one.

Watch the new official trailer above and let us know what you think @LWLies

Personal Shopper is released in UK cinemas on 17 March.

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Water Hemlock (Cicuta maculata) is an extremely poisonous herbaceous forb (broad-leaf plant) to both humans and animals, and is also native to North America. It is often and easily confused with other similar species found in the Carrot Family (Apiaceae). These other species will be mentioned and distinguished below.

The following article will help you identify Water Hemlock by showing you the various characteristics of this species, and to differentiate this species from similar species that may be easily confused with this plant.

EditSteps

EditIdentifying Water Hemlock

1. Do an image search on the Web for "Water Hemlock" or "Cicuta maculata". The latter name will give you the top results of what water hemlock looks like, and will help you understand what to look for when identifying this species.
   
2. Take a look at the entire plant. Water hemlock grows to tall; stems are erect, stout, hollow mostly of the lower portion, occasionally branching, and mostly hairless. Leaves are below the flowers, and come from the base and along the stem. Roots are with thickened tuberous and chambered bases; a number of the true roots are also often thickened.
   
3. Study the leaves. The leaves are the most important part of the plant to make a positive identification, and distinguishes itself from other species. As mentioned in the previous step, leaves are basal (come from the base), or cauline (grow up along the stem), and develop alternately along the stem.
   
   • Leaves are two to three-times odd pinnate (pinnate = arranged like a long feather; odd = single leaf at top), with leaflets lanceolate-ovate to narrowly lanceolate. Each leaflet is around to long, and to about wide.^[1] Leaflets are also coarsely toothed.
   • Leaves themselves are around and about ; the longer leaves are found closer to the bottom of the plant. Each division typically contains 3 to 7 leaflets. ^[2]
   • Lateral veins of the leaflets extend to the notches between the teeth instead of to the tips along the leaf margins. Few other plants in the family Apiaceae in North America have this characteristic.
4. Look at the stems. Apart from what was already mentioned above, C. maculata typically has stems that is reddish-purple to purplish from the nodes. Some of this purplish colour extends down the stem or up from the base of the leaves. Stems also have a whitish film that can be rubbed off when touched.
   
   • There may be some spotting seen on the stems, although inconspicuous; streaking of reddish purple is more obvious.
5. Notice the roots and sap exuding from the cut stems and roots. As mentioned before, the roots are quite fleshy, tuberous and thickened, and the base is often bulbous. Cutting a cross-section of the root reveals that it's chambered and hollow.
   • The sap that comes from cut stems and roots is oily and yellowish, and has a bit of a fowl odour; almost like that of mice or raw parsnip.
6. Notice the flowering parts of the plant. The inflorescence is a compound umbel, and there should be about 1 to several per plant. The primary umbel (the largest inflorescence on the plant) will have 18 to 28 rays (with umbellets), and the secondary (smaller) umbels have 12 to 25 rays. Compound umbels are at most wide, and dome-shaped on top.
   
   • Individual umbellets are comprised of 12 to 15 flowers clustered together.
     • Each flower is whitish-green, with five small petals, and unequal to subequally symmetrical.
7. Understand where you are most likely to find this plant. Water hemlock is native to North America, and common in moist to wet areas. This includes shores, along streams, in marshy/swampy areas (bogs, sloughs, fens, riparian areas, etc.), and in wet ditches.
   
8. Use the steps from above to be able to distinguish Water Hemlock from other similar species. The next part below shows some species that are commonly confused with C. maculata, from those related to a couple completely unrelated to this species.

EditDistinguishing from Similar Species

1. Note the number of species that can be quite easily confused with Water Hemlock. There are surprisingly quite a few species, and most of these species are found in the Carrot Family (Apiaceae). These similar species, described more in the steps below, include:
   • Angelicas (Angelica spp.)
   • Cow Parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris)
   • Caraway (Carum carvi)
   • Bulbous Water Hemlock (Cicuta bulbifera)
   • Poison Hemlock (Conium maculatum)
   • Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum)
   • Cow Parsnip (Heracleum maximum)
   • Wild Carrot (Daucus carota)
   • Red Elderberry (Sambucus racemosa)
   • Water Parsnip (Sium suave)
   • Western Hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla)
2. Distinguish from Angelicas (Angelica spp.). There are over 180 recognized species of Angelicas in the world, and all fall under the same family as water hemlock. Most species are similar in leaf structure from each other. Exemplary species of mention are White Angelica (Angelica arguta) and Yellow Angelica (Angelica dawsonii).
   
   • A. arguta is probably one of the most likeliest of Angelica species to be confused with water hemlock, primarily because of the similarly-looking umbel. However, there are some very distinguishing features of white angelica; there is a large, conspicuous sheathing base at the base of each leaf, and the leaves themselves, while also pinnately-compound, are ovate-lanceolate (wider than water hemlock), and irregularly lobed. Leaflet-edges are also spiny-toothed.^[3][4]
   • A. dawsonii can be more easily distinguished by the yellow flowers, plus the conspicuous whorl of slashed or toothed bracts. The leaves, compared with white angelica, are slightly more finely toothed, more lanceolate (almost similar to C. maculata), and less irregularly-lobed.^[5]
   • Great or Purple Angelica (Angelica atropurpurea) is another species that may be thought of as being very similar in appearance to water hemlock; however the leaves tell a much different story; The leaves are actually what botanists call bipinnate. This means that there are double the pinnate leaves on a single leaf; rather, leaflets are divided into subleaflets, still keeping that pinnate shape from each leaf lobe. Water hemlock is "2 or 3 times pinnate" which means there is an additional one or two leaves in addition to the main leaflet that would normally make up a true pinnate (feather-shape) leaf.^[6][7]
     
     • Mature purple angelica are also predominantly purple (the stems), where water hemlock only has purple streaks running down from the nodes. It has the characteristic sheath found at the base of each leaf, and tends to grow much taller; to tall. Flowers are greenish-white to pale yellow.
   • The vast majority of angelicas are non-poisonous, rather seen as medicinal plants. The only species that is known to be poisonous is Angelica lineariloba or Sierra Angelica. The best way to distinguish this plant is by its narrow, feathery leaves, conspicuous sheaths at the base of each leaf and petiole (from where flowers are borne), and that it prefers higher elevations and rocky soil in the Sierra Nevadas than wetland areas typical of water hemlock.^[8]
3. Distinguish from Cow Parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris). Another member of the Carrot Family, cow parsley can be distinguished from water hemlock by its noticeably finely-divided, fern-like leaves. With mature plants, the stalks are predominantly red to reddish-purple, unlike the reddish or purplish streaking from the nodes you find with water hemlock.
   
4. Distinguish from Caraway (Carum carvi). Caraway is a cultivated plant of the carrot family, but can also grow wild as a weed. This species has leaves that are very finely divided, looking very similar to carrot leaves.
   
5. Distinguish from Bulbous Water Hemlock (Cicuta bulbifera). Closely related to water hemlock not only by family, but genus as well, bulbous water hemlock can be distinguished by its much more feathery, linear leaflets, which are sparsely toothed. Upper leaves are smaller and simple, with small bulbs (bulblets) produced in their axils. This species is also poisonous.
   
6. Distinguish from Poison Hemlock (Conium maculatum). All parts very poisonous. A European native that is easily confused with water hemlock simply by name. Because water hemlock is also poisonous, some people also call it "poison hemlock" even though this other similar species in the family Apiaceae carries that same common name! You will need to focus primarily on the distinguishing features that set these two species apart:
   
   • C. maculatum is generally taller, has notable purplish splotches on the stems, sheaths or stipules that narrow into a point as it goes up the leaf stem. The leaves themselves are much more divided than Cicuta maculata; called "pinnately compound." This means that each leaf is made up of several leaflet pairs arranged on opposite sides of the main leaf stalk. Each leaflet is segmented and around 1⁄8 inches (0.32 cm) to 1⁄4 inches (0.64 cm) long.
     
7. Distinguish from Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum). Giant hogweed is an introduced noxious weed from Asia, and one that grows to be much larger than water hemlock. It too is within the family Apiaceae, and actually can be more easily confused with cow parsnip (see below) than water hemlock due to size and leaf structure. H. mantegazzianum grows to over in ideal conditions. The first year it will produce vegetation, or continue to produce vegetation until 2 to 5 years later where it will produce flowers, then die afterwards. ^[9]
   
   • Giant hogweed produces a single hollow stem that may be as wide as at the base. These stems also have purple blotches and stiff hairs arising from blisters or bumps that appear along the stem.
   • The leaves of H. mantegazzianum are huge. They measure long and over wide. The leaves themselves are alternate, 3-part compound (or with 3 deeply cut leaflets), with deep irregular palmate lobes, and sharp, coarse teeth on all margins. Further up the stem in flowering plants the leaves are smaller but similar shape and often not divided but still deeply 3-lobed. Vegetative plants form rosettes of these huge leaves.^[10]
     
   • Flowers are also enormous, umbels measuring from to almost across. They are also white.
   • This plant has serious toxic qualities that causes severe photodermatitis. Skin exposed to the plant's sap first, then the sun, will cause severe skin rashes, blisters, and possibly permanent scarring or discolouration.^[11]
8. Distinguish from Cow Parsnip (Heracleum lanatum). Cow parsnip is also rather large, and like water hemlock, native to North America. It does not get as tall as giant hogweed, only growing to tall. Stems are large and woolly-hairy. Leaves are 3-part compound, palmately compound, coarsely toothed, and almost heart-shaped. They are also quite large, long and wide. Leaflets are not as deeply divided as giant hogweed, but more ovate, and divided into 3 or 5 lobes, with broad acute tips.^[12] Flowers are in large compound umbels, which are flat-topped, and white.
   
9. Distinguish from Wild Carrot or Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carota). This plant has hairy stems, and leaves that are lace-like, finely-dissected and hairy; the look much like garden carrot leaves. Roots are edible, whitish in colour, and look very much like a typical garden carrot. The umbel, when it dries and goes into seed, folds into itself into the shape of a bird's nest. A distinct characteristic of most plants is that in the center of flower umbels, there is a small, red flower.
   
10. Distinguish from Red Elderberry (Sambucus racemosa). The young shoots of this species can be easily confused with water hemlock. Red elderberry is a rather large shrub in its more mature form. But with young stalks, where the leaves of water hemlock are alternate, red elderberry is opposite. Elderberry leaves are more rounded (less lance-shaped), and are not with 2 or 3 extra leaflets on a several-times pinnate leaf. Leaf margins are also smoother.
    
11. Distinguish from Water Parsnip (Sium suave). Probably the most-often mistaken species for water hemlock. Water parsnip is found in the same areas as water hemlock, and is also a native species to North America, but in order to differentiate this species from water hemlock, look carefully at the leaves. The leaves of water parsnip are only once pinnate, and usually with more narrow leaflets than water hemlock.
    
12. Distinguish from Western Hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla). Western Hemlock looks nothing like water hemlock; in fact, it's a large coniferous tree (grows to tall) found in the West Coast from Oregon to British Columbia. It was named so because it has a similar smell to the European forb poison hemlock.
    

EditUnderstanding the Risks

1. Avoid ingesting the roots or sap. Water hemlock is most toxic when the roots are eaten or the sap is ingested. The oily sap contains a cicutoxin that affects the central nervous system, causing extremely violent convulsions and death from respiratory failure within a few hours. Small doses of this sap are lethal, and symptoms of poisoning occur rapidly within 15 to 30 minutes after ingestion.
2. Keep your livestock safe. Livestock have been known to eat the leaves of water hemlock without significant adverse effects, however it is not recommended to go ahead and allow animals to graze on these plants when the risk of pulling up and eating the roots is quite high.
3. Know that the results can be deadly. Rabies can be confused with ingestion of water hemlock due to the classic frothing at the mouth. This is followed by tremors, uneasiness, and severe pain in the abdominal area. Grinding of the teeth and clamping of the jaws often occur, with the tongue likely becoming lacerated as a result. These seizures may come in bouts, with relaxation periods in between where loss of muscle control and laboured breathing are experienced. Death soon follows by a matter of a few hours. Larger doses can kill a human or large bovine in a matter of minutes.
   

EditVideo

EditTips

• Look for the leaves, and how they are distinctly toothed and doubly pinnate and leaflets almost lance-shaped. These are the most obvious and distinguishing characteristics that will help you make a positive ID of water hemlock.
• Cicuta douglasii is a synonymous scientific name to Cicuta maculata, as is the common name Spotted Water Hemlock.
• Maculata = spotted, as the stems also have some spots or streaks coming from the nodes. Spotting is less conspicuous than with Poison Hemlock (Conium maculatum).

EditWarnings

• Water Hemlock is extremely poisonous. It is a very nasty plant that has been known to kill both humans and animals, no matter if it was intentionally or accidentally.
  • Your biggest risk of fatality is if you come in contact with the sap. Touching the leaves or stems will not harm you; it's when the sap gets released that it becomes extremely dangerous.
  • Take precautions when handling this plant, especially when handling and dissecting the roots. Use gloves with rubber finger and palms (or rubber gloves), and thoroughly wash your hands and arms, as well as clothing and tools after use.
    • Do not allow any part of what was used to dissect the roots to come in contact with your eyes or mouth. Though poisoning is mostly through ingestion, your eyes are also a quick route for the poison to enter into your nervous system.

EditSources and Citations

• Tannas, K. 2003. Common Plants of the Western Rangelands: Volume 2: Forbs. Alberta Agriculture, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

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Check; stop. (used in the phrase "to put the kibosh on")

A lawyer from Sudan, a footballer from Iran, an aeronautical engineer from Eritrea: They are among 80 migrants who have traded France's "Jungle" tent camp for a chance to earn a French degree and a new life.

Staying fit is not just for your body. It is also important to keep a fit brain. Brain fitness is about keeping the mind sharp and preventing or battling cognitive disease. You have the ability to promote healthy brain development through brain fitness, exercise, social interaction, and protecting yourself. No matter when you start, whether it's early or late in life, following some simple practices can aid in mental health.

EditSteps

EditChallenging Yourself Mentally

1. Learn a new skill. Research has shown that learning a new skill can improve brain functions. New skills not only improve memory, but they help the portion of the brain that ensures protection of the memories. Furthermore, new skills, particularly the more complex skills, engage the brain comprehensively instead of in small portions.^[1][2]
   
   • Juggle. Research has shown that juggling can improve connections and white matter in the brain.^[3]
   • Woodworking is a great way to keep the brain engaged. It requires precise measurements and concentration.
   • Digital photography has been shown to have a very significant impact on mental health, perhaps because of how difficult and complex the task can be.^[4]
2. Play brain games. Brain games such as Sudoku and crossword puzzles positively have been shown to improve connections in the brain. They also affect short-term memory, and have been shown to stave off the growth of protein deposits (beta amyloid) that negatively impact brain health. Try to keep your mind as active as possible.^[5]
   
   • Starting brain games, and being mentally active in general, early in life has shown to be more beneficial than attempting to start later in life.
   • Once the brain games stop being complex, it no longer has the same brain health impact it once did. If the game is easy, find a new game.^[6]
3. Practice memorization. Work with short goals first. Try memorizing increasingly more difficult lists.^[7] Whether it’s all the states in the U.S., or all the bones in the human body, attempting to memorize complex lists helps the brain significantly. Try memorizing one of the following:^[8]
   
   • Shoot for as many digits in the number pi as you can.
   • Lock down the ingredients in a complicated recipe.
   • Find a favorite speech and commit it to memory.
4. Read often. Reading an array of material – books, periodicals, poetry – engages and exercises the brain. Learning new words is similar to learning a new language, which has been shown to improve brain function and expand brain activity in multiple sections.^[9]
   
   • Reading stimulates the brain and slows the onset of Alzheimer’s and dementia.
   • Most people have difficulty focusing on reading for just five straight minutes without distraction.
   • Look for articles that pertain to what you currently find interesting in the world.
   • If you have a favorite author, look up one of their books on a popular website and then check recommended authors. You may find a new favorite.

EditEngaging in Social Activities

1. Stay in touch with friends and family. Some research has shown that people who maintain close personal relationships and emotional support from friends have a better chance of fighting dementia. Even general social connectivity has been shown to help the brain.^[10]
   
   • Call a loved one once a day.
   • Send a hand-written letter to a grandparent.
   • Try a new social media interaction with a younger relative.
2. Volunteer your time. Aside from lowering stress, research has shown that volunteering in a social setting can increase your mental ability. Volunteering involves attention, control, and in some cases, a bit of memory. All of these practices promote a healthier brain.^[11] A few possible options follow:
   
   • Cook at a food bank. Helping with the recipes could engage mathematical portions of your brain.
   • Try tutoring to stimulate thinking skills.^[12]
   • Read to children at a library.
3. Expand your social circle. Try to make new friends in locations you currently don't have any. Engaging in social activities has been shown to improve brain health, but doing so in many different ways could ramp up the benefits. Join more groups. Make new friends. However you can, engage more people for a greater amount of time. Simply put, higher levels of social interaction relate to lower risks of poor mental health.^[13]
   
   • Sit with coworkers at lunch. Choose people you don't speak to often.
   • Try taking a new course or class. Look to local community colleges or a lifelong learning center.
   • Chat up a random stranger. This can be done anywhere (e.g. grocery store, hardware store, restaurant, in line at the bank).

EditPreventing Brain Injuries

1. Get physical exercise most days. Studies have shown that walking 45 minutes a day created positive brain activity. This brain activity helps the neurons of the brain survive. Scientists believe it’s related to the influx of additional oxygen during the exercise. Further studies have shown executive level skills like planning and scheduling were also improved by the walking program. Additionally, the actual size of the brain, particularly the frontal lobe where cognition occurs, increases with exercise.^[14]
   
   • Add some weight to your walks. Some research has shown that a small amount of weight has significant positive effect on brain health. Put on ankle weights before the next walk for a mental health boost.^[15]
   • Work in the garden.
   • Leisurely swim a few laps.
   • Clean the house from top to bottom.
   • Rake some leaves.
2. Add mental demands to the exercise. Studies have shown that exercise that requires some mental steps has greater boosts in mental health. Something that requires coordination like an aerobics class engages both the muscles and the mind. A team-building obstacle course provides an outlet for not just the physical activity, but also strategy. The key is that simple physical exercise has less of an impact on mental health than exercise including mental demands.^[16]
   
   • Try counting your steps during a run.
   • Add up the total weight lifted when doing strength exercises (e.g. 3 reps of 20lbs would be 60lbs).
   • Sign up for an instructor led class that will challenge you to memorize a routine.
3. Practice balance exercises. Improving coordination and balance is a sure-fire way to avoid potential head injuries related to poor mental health and degraded mental cognition. By practicing something like Tai Chi, the muscles used to balance are strengthened and stabilized, and there is less chance of falling or head injury.^[17]
   
   • Doing some squats will strengthen various balance muscles in your legs.
   • Try balancing on one leg. You’ll wobble at first, but with enough practice, you’ll begin to stabilize.
4. Wear protective headwear. Head trauma has been connected to an increased chance of Alzheimer’s, and recent research in athletics has linked it to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). CTE is a degenerative disease caused by multiple head injuries, including concussions.^[18] Whenever engaging in physical activities that provide safety measures, always use them properly.
   
   • Wear a helmet whenever riding a bike or skateboard.
   • Always buckle your seatbelt when available.
   • Avoid contact whenever possible in contact sports.
5. Get regular checkups. Dementia-related illnesses are diagnosed via an assortment of tests like brain imaging and blood-work.^[19] Some drugs, or particular doses, may have a negative affect that exacerbates poor mental health. Research has shown early diagnosis of symptoms related to mental impairment can help reverse potential cognitive impairment.^[20]
   
   • One study has shown that 80% of people with Alzheimer’s also have cardiovascular issues. Take preventative measures by improving your cardiovascular system, lowering blood pressure, and lowering cholesterol, and you’ll improve your chances against Alzheimer’s.^[21]
   • If you are forgetting more often, having trouble with instructions, words are getting jumbled, or you're losing things often, you may need to see your doctor to see if these issues are related to Alzheimer’s.^[22]

EditAdopting Healthy Habits

1. Choose healthy foods. Choosing more healthy options can help your brain as well as your body. Attempt to minimize the foods that have higher concentrations of saturated fats, trans fats, and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. Try, instead, to eat foods like grains and leafy vegetables, both good sources of vitamin B, that have been shown to lessen the risk of mental disease.
   
   • Reducing the number of calories you eat has actually been shown to minimize mental issues during old age. ^[23]
   • Including recommended amounts of fruit in your diet also helps lessen the potential of cognitive issues in old age.^[24]
2. Limit harmful substances. Drinking, smoking, and drug abuse have been shown to negatively impact mental health. Drinking, smoking, and drug abuse have been linked to dementia, brain deterioration, and a variety of disorders, respectively. Multiple studies have displayed that stopping smoking or drug abuse, and minimizing alcoholic intake, increases the odds of living a healthy mental life as you age.
   
   • Minimal alcoholic intake - two or less per day is the recommendation - has also been linked to improved blood pressure, a supplementary benefit that helps mental health in old age.^[25]
   • Combining lower alcohol intake with other good behaviors like exercise and not smoking increases the likelihood of positive cognitive ability when older.^[26]
   • Smoking negatively affects the cortex, which influences memory and language skills.^[27]
   • Drug abuse has been linked to everything from dementia and amnesia to psychosis and anxiety. Non-prescription drugs should be avoided at all costs.^[28]
3. Get enough sleep. Studies have shown that restless or interrupted sleep is tied to the increase in brain proteins that are associated with Alzheimer’s. Other studies have shown that healthy, sound sleep helps fight off Alzheimer’s related genes.^[29] Currently, it’s not known if poor sleep causes Alzheimer’s symptoms, or if Alzheimer’s leads to poor sleep, but the connection between the two is significant.^[30]
   
   • Sleep well by taking a hot shower before you go to bed. This will help regulate body temperature and make it better for sleeping.
   • Try multiple positions when you fall asleep. Some may help you get to sleep faster.

EditRelated wikiHows

• Be Healthy
• Live a Healthy Lifestyle
• Eat Healthy
• Have a Healthy Mind
• Improve Your Focus and Memory

EditSources and Citations

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The third and final Wolverine film is a poignant study of ageing and infirmity, as the arthritic mutant holes up in Mexico with a declining Professor Xavier

Superpowers are one thing, but no-one said they were immortal. What happens when superheroes get old? Actually, what happens when, like many non-superheroes, they arrive at late middle-age without a partner, in ill health, and with an ageing parent to look after? Or parent-figure anyway. You find yourself asking these questions watching this surprisingly engaging, but downbeat – and also violent – X-Men movie from the Marvel stable. It is more like a survivalist thriller than a superhero film, and signals its wintry quality with the title itself. It’s like seeing a film entitled Banner or Parker or Kent. With the approach of death, maybe super identity is cast off. Superpowers start to fade along with ordinary powers.

Related: Does Brie Larson's Captain Marvel signal a new era of superhero diversity?

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The director has been a fugitive from US justice for 40 years after admitting sex with an underage girl

The filmmaker Roman Polanski has plans to return to the United States and is seeking assurances he will serve no further jail time over unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl.

The award-winning director of The Pianist and Chinatown, who has been a fugitive from the US for almost 40 years, claims he has reached a plea deal in the case that would keep him out of prison, his attorney Harland Braun said.

Continue reading...

Artist: Gregor Schneider

Venue: Bundes Kunsthalle, Bonn

Exhibition Title: Wall Before Wall

Date: December 2, 2016 – February 19, 2017

Click here to view slideshow

Full gallery of images, press release and link available after the jump.

Images:

Images courtesy of Bundes Kunsthalle, Bonn.© Gregor Schneider. Photos by David Ertl.

Press Release:

Gregor Schneider was born in Rheydt in 1969. At the age of thirteen he already painted pictures that he continues to include in his exhibitions and publications. In 1985, he had his first solo exhibition at Galerie Kontrast in Mönchengladbach, and the same year, he began work on his house on Unterheydener Strasse 12 in Rheydt, which was to become Haus u r. In 2001, he won the Golden Lion for the German contribution to the Venice Biennale. The inner logic of his work led him to embark on a number of highly controversial projects. Misunderstood as provocations, some ran afoul of censorship. The rejection of his plan to erect a black cubic sculpture with the dimensions of Mecca’s Kaaba on Saint Mark’s Square in Venice in 2005 spurred him to engage more deeply with the public and political dimension of his work

Over the course of thirty years, Gregor Schneider has created a body of work that touches upon some of society’s most sensitive sore spots. In the beginning of his career, he developed the concept of an artistic practice that devours its own products, thereby questioning the subjection of art to economic necessity.

Later, he saw parallels between the secret, antiseptic high-security detainee cells of the Guantánamo Bay detention camp with the ‘white cube’ of museums and galleries. In 2008, he spoke about creating a room to die in and his desire to show a dying person in a museum. He received death threats as a result. His own personal Dying Room is now constructed for the first time in Germany. Schneider’s thoughts on the subject of death and dying are based on the question whether death is an absolute end or a transition to something else that must needs remain unknowable. Schneider has staged cultural crossovers, tried to link an Islamic and a Catholic sacred site and has responded to the return of the spirit of the Nazi era with the pulverisation of the house Goebbels had been born in. The medium of his creative practice is the installation of rooms inside similar pre-existing rooms, the doubling of rooms, people and objects, the reconstruction of a building he cannot attain. His best-known work is the installation of twenty-four rooms of his Haus u r in the German Pavilion at the Venice Biennale of 2001.

Link: Gregor Schneider at Bundes Kunsthalle

Contemporary Art Daily is produced by Contemporary Art Group, a not-for-profit organization. We rely on our audience to help fund the publication of exhibitions that show up in this RSS feed. Please consider supporting us by making a donation today.

Following the wildly popular Hunt for the Wilderpeople, ace Kiwi filmmaker Taika Waititi earned himself a place at Hollywood’s top table when he signed on to make Thor: Ragnarok.

Yet while it’s always nice to see one of the good guys being being given a shot at a major Hollywood franchise, it’s fair to say there’s not always much room for artistic expression in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We would much sooner he dedicated his time to crafting idiosyncratic films like What We Do in the Shadows and Eagle vs Shark.

We’ll reserve judgement on Thor: Ragnarok for the time being, but in the meantime a silver lining of sorts has emerged with the news that Waititi is working on a new project about Michael Jackson’s pet chimpanzee. That’s right – Bubbles is getting his own biopic.

According to Deadline, the director is teaming up with Mark Gustafson for what is being described as a stop-motion animated feature in the vein of Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson’s Anomalisa. Bubbles himself will narrate his own story, with Waititi stating that the film will “not be about Michael Jackson – it’s about a chimpanzee’s fascinating journey through the complex jungle of human life.”

Given MJ’s infamous relationship with his primate pal, and Anomalisa’s existential tone, it will be fascinating to see how this one develops. We’re sure it will be respectful and less satirical than the premise might suggest, but it sounds like this won’t be quite like any biopic you’ve seen before.

The post Taika Waititi is making a film about Michael Jackson’s pet chimp appeared first on Little White Lies.

Three years after winning a major award at the Cannes Film Festival for his darkly comic family drama Force Majeure, Ruben Östlund is back with his first English-language film, which is expected to premiere at this year’s festival. In a recent interview with Variety, the director teased a few details about his new feature, The Square, which stars Dominic West and Elizabeth Moss.

Inspired by Östlund’s own foray into the art world, the film will follow an American artist played by West, as he unveils an installation called ‘The Square’ at a reputable gallery. An advertising firm is then hired to help market this piece, but they choose to create “a nasty PR stunt that is completely opposite to ‘The Square’ and its humanistic message.”

From the sounds of it, this will be another richly satirical offering from the Swedish director, as his fifth feature promises to lampoon the abstract, often pretentious nature of contemporary art. The director explains: “I think the idea of art is getting lost on this theoretical level. Of course, I’m attacking that.”

But Östlund has taken care to emphasise that the film’s scope will be much wider than insider mockery of the art world, revealing: “I’m making fun of everyone. I’m very thorough in that way. No one escapes from this satiric approach”.

He has also candidly revealed that both West and Moss were, “quite lost in the beginning” [of the shoot] and that it took them a while to adapt to his meticulous and lengthy approach to filmmaking. And while The Square signals Östlund’s intent to make films for a broader international audience, he is apparently determined to keep working in Sweden where he can retain “control” of his own projects.

The post Elisabeth Moss is starring in Ruben Östlund’s first English-language feature appeared first on Little White Lies.

dappledwithshadow:

Edvard Munch

The Vampire, 1894
The Bite, 1914

An extremely conventional or priggish person.

This might just be the most drolly poetic response to what has been dubbed the “refugee crisis” by journalists and political wags, and it comes as little surprise that Finland’s sardonic sage, Aki Kaurismäki, is the man behind the tiller. The Other Side of Hope traces the intersecting lives of two men, one a Syrian migrant named Khalid (Sherwan Haji) seeking temporary asylum in Helsinki, and the other an impassive, older Finnish gentleman named Wikström (Sakari Kuosmanen) who ditches his alcoholic wife to open a low-rent bar-restaurant.

And though it’s never articulated with the kind lapel-shaking rage that most filmmakers dealing with this subject might lean on, the film lets out a silent scream during a time of unprecedented geopolitical anxiety, where governments are failing to demonstrate basic empathy towards those most in need. But most of all it’s just a beautiful celebration of cultural diversity, from the food we eat to the music we listen to. One of its messages is, never let a Finn try and make you sushi.

From the fat, bright yellow type used in the opening credits, this is unmistakably a film by Kaurismäki. The sad-eyed Khalid emerges from a coal barge, literally having stowed away in the giant coal stores. It initially appears as an absurd and uncomfortable way to travel, but the more of the hero’s sad story that comes to light, the more it becomes shockingly evident that he has probably had to endure much worse. He is on a search for his sister, who was snatched away from him during one of their perilous European border crossings. His life is dedicated to reconnecting with her.

While Khalid represents the displaced migrant humbly searching for safety in foreign climes, Wikström is the well-heeled dreamer who thinks nothing of taking direct action (and a fair amount of risk) when it comes to getting a job done. It would be hard to describe him as a kind person, as his various acts of altruism come as almost logical reactions to each new situation. He extends no charity to anyone, but he works to improve the lives of those around him, knowing that it will stoke his own sense of self worth.

In the way the actors intone lines with a stone face, or seldom display their feelings through body language, Kaurismäki assures that the human body is so expressive (and the camera so sensitive) that empathy will invisibly radiate from the faces of the good eggs. The film is a hymn to this unseen, common sense goodness which everyone has deep inside themselves.

Formally, the film is trimmed of all unnecessary flab, and Kaurismäki, with his long-time partner in cinematographic crime, Timo Salminen, uses every shot to capture a process. Characters are locked tightly within the frame, especially for the super-snug two shots. On the rare occasion that the camera moves a little further away from the subject, the effect is one of subtle transcendence, such as when Wikström sits alone in his restaurant, drinking whiskey as a giant shaft of dusty light scythes through the image.

Aside from its trenchant political underpinnings, this is also a gorgeous ode to the power of cinema itself, with various pronounced nods to Jacques Tati, Yasujiro Ozu, Robert Bresson, silent comedy, 1940s noir and all manner of cinephile flotsam and jetsam. Old bushy geezers pile on the soundtrack with soulful rockabilly toe-tappers, and there’s an aside in which Wikström decides to embrace modern trends and open a sushi restaurant that might be the director’s single funniest sequence ever. In fact, the whole thing is a whimsical joy from start to finish, and Kaurismäki now proves to be an old hand when it comes to shifting on a dime between scenes of madness and melancholia.

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