romance ( 1999 film )
featured in superstar / random hearts / boys don' t cry / the limey / romance (1999). see more »
love is desolate. romance is temporary. sex is forever. see more »
my secret romance - cap 1. (sub español) - debo irme ...
just the way i like my christmastime / romance stories... sappy and sweet !
provisions of the classification (publications, films and computer games) amendment bill (no. 2) 1999 (april 2000 )
romance was originally released in 1999 and caused something of a stir amongst critics and audiences alike due to its sexually graphic content, but romance isn’t a film meant to titillate or excite. instead it’s a film that’s meant to explore the difference between the physical and the emotional, what it means to love and not be loved in the same way in return and how context is key when it comes to what is deemed acceptable in the confines of a relationship .
toronto international film festival the website for the toronto international film festival. check out the latest film news and links to the bell lightbox, the film reference library, cinematheque ontario, sprockets, reel learning, film circuit, canada' s top ten, and related features .
browse television, film, short film, music video, web series, documentary, drama and more categories .
david cronenberg a profile of celebrated canadian writer and film director david cronenberg. from the toronto international film group .
so overall, romance is a little bit underwhelming on pretty much all fronts. there is a story there but lars von trier has taken it and made a more interesting and entertaining film out of it, and when it comes down to it romance isn’t actually a very enjoyable film to watch. it’s more arthouse than pornography and for all of its flaws it is shot very well but the dreary dialogue and metaphysical pondering bog down what should have been a much more exciting journey of discovery. unless you’re a euro - cinema completist or an arthouse aficionado the appeal of romance may be severely limited .
the film was originally entitled (and broadcast) as
music from the heart .
subsequently, the name was changed to
a song from the heart
to avoid confusion with music of the heart (1999), which was released the same year .
classification (publications, films and computer games) amendment bill 1998 and the classification (publications, films and computer games) charges bill 1998 (april 1999) - available in zipped format from the committee' s page .
a widow' s daughter writes to santa claus, asking for her mother to find love again. when a struggling writer receives the letter, he finds new inspiration and the beginnings of a romance .
romance can' t be easily shrugged off. breillat and her brave actors take us places we haven' t been. for the audience, as well as marie, it' s a journey that has few signposts .
in the 1840s, cranford is ruled by the ladies. they adore good gossip; and romance and change is in the air, as the unwelcome grasp of the industrial revolution rapidly approaches their beloved rural market - town .
it seems 1999 really was the year heath ledger broke through – this was the film that put him on the map in australia and led to 10 things i hate about you. two hands is also a brilliant, if unknown, film in its own right, a tightly told crime thriller with a surreal edge, featuring ledger as jimmy, a small - time crook who ends up deep in debt to serious gangsters .
isobel plans a storybook christmas with her boyfriend, including a cottage in the northwest and a bucket list of holiday traditions. but when he goes awol, the list proves challenging and a tempting new romance turns her life upside down .
the classification (publications, films and computer games) amendment bill (no. 2) 1999 introduced into parliament on the 8 december 1999 would have removed the' x' classification for films and videos and create a new classification -' nve' (non - violent erotica). the bill was referred to the senate legal and constitutional legislation committee to determine the reasons for the change and its possible effects. the committee reported in april 2000 and its report is available from the committee' s home page. the committee recommended that the bill be passed without amendment .
the film wavers between being a philosophical treatise on women and one about a woman' s passions .
douglas fetherling, ed. , documents in canadian film (toronto: broadview press, 1988) .
wyndham wise, ed. , take one' s essential guide to canadian film (2001) .
the legislative basis for the regulatory regime for online content is the broadcasting services amendment (online services) act 1999. this legislation was preceded by a number of reports from the australian broadcasting authority (aba) and parliamentary committees. a good description of this background, together with access to the reports, can be found at this aba page .
^ anne gillain ,
profile of a filmmaker: catherine breillat
beyond french feminisms: debates on women, politics and culture in france, 1981 - 2001, edited by roger célestin et al. new york: macmillan (2003): 202. catherine breillat' s
film romance had received much praise - - and criticism - - the previous year for using a porn - film actor and a scene showing a nonsimulated sexual act, including a shot of an erection in the foreground .
a dark and mystery - filled drama about a 70s hippy (danielle cormack) who falls in love with a vietnam vet (kevin smith). but has fate brought them together, only in order to drive them apart? and what exactly happened to their child? this twist - filled tale of seances, damaged people, and conflicting versions of truth marked the directorial debut of short filmmaker christine parker. at the 1999 new zealand film awards, channelling baby was nominated in six categories, including best actress and best original screenplay. read more about the film here .
in december 1996 the government announced that it would establish community assessment panels to ensure that classification decisions reflected community standards. the scheme involves three panels, each of around twenty people of varying age and background, who view and classify a selection of films that have already been classified by the oflc. the attorney - general announced an extension of the scheme in january 1999 .
a director struggles to film a difficult, intimate sex scene between two actors who happen to hate each other .
an interview with writer / director boots riley about his incendiary new film ,
sorry to bother you .
no self - respecting liberal sophisticate can ever profess himself either shocked or aroused by explicit sex on screen: these are the two unbreakable taboos. what everyone always does is airily dismiss this sort of material as
boring
, and this haughty, if sometimes disingenuous dismissal may be the fate of catherine breillat' s romance. that would not be fair. caroline ducey does not have the charisma and self - possession of, say, catherine denueve in belle de jour, but the film is never as dire or embarrassing as nine and a half weeks or last tango in paris, and does not deserve to join them in the dustbin of cinema history. romance has many brilliant and bizarre moments, particularly the brutally explicit imagery juxtaposing the penetrations of sex and childbirth .
( 1922) — were not as profitable as his first, they were not failures. only his last film —
sandra gathercole, “the best film policy this country never had, ” cinema canada (june 1978), 28–31 .
katherine monk, weird sex and snowshoes: and other canadian film phenomena (vancouver: raincoast books, 2001) .
of course the film is french. it is said that for the french, wine takes the place of flirting, dining takes the place of seduction, smoking takes the place of foreplay and talking takes the place of sex .
romance
is so analytical that you sometimes get the feeling marie is putting herself through her sexual encounters simply to get material for her journal. these poor guys aren' t lovers, they' re case studies .
the canadian cooperation project helps to explain why, during the 1940s and 1950s, there was virtually no feature film production in canada outside of québec (see the cinema of québec). however, thanks to the economic boom in canada following the second world war, a number of small, independent producers began to establish themselves, making primarily industrial films and shorts. in 1941, nat taylor founded the trade magazine canadian film weekly, and in recognition of the nascent private film sector, the canadian film awards were established in 1949. (the canadian film awards would become the genie awards in 1980 and the canadian screen awards in 2012 .) the inaugural presentation was held in ottawa, and crawley films of ottawa won the first film of the year award for the short film, the loon' s necklace (1949) .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans. it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
national film board of canada watch full - length films, clips, and trailers - all free for home viewing. scroll down the page to see links to online animated shorts and films in other categories. from the national film board of canada .
when the show featured a storyline centered on mills' sister, we got to see two black women in an action / adventure setting, fighting the bad guys instead of waiting to be rescued or seduced. it was exactly the kind of diverse casting i had been waiting for since 1999, when the issue hit a crisis point as the broadcast networks offered a fall slate of new tv shows without a single character of color .
perfectly capturing one of film’s most iconic stars, it’s easy to forget that downey jr. was only in his mid - 20s while portraying the man. he brings an emotional maturity to perfectly complement the physical performance, elevating this film above the usual biographies .
this list collects every film from the starting list that became they shoot pictures don' t they' s 1000 greatest films. this…
one of the most significant events in canadian film history was the establishment of the national film board of canada (nfb). in 1938, the federal government commissioned scottish filmmaker john grierson — who had coined the term “documentary, ” and had been head of the empire marketing board and the general post office in britain — to study the state of film production in canada. he wrote a report that year that led to the creation of the nfb in may 1939, and was named the board’s first film commissioner in october 1939 .
the sex scenes that caused so much controversy back in 1999 don’t seem as shocking as they were probably intended to be, granted, we’ve had fifteen years of other films pushing the boundaries as far as explicit sex goes but except for a very close - up ejaculation shot there is very little here likely to cause too much offence – although there is a birth scene that feels like it was designed totally to shock but just feels unnecessary – especially when put up against other extreme movies like baise moi or nymphomaniac, a film that has similar themes but fleshes them out in a more satisfactory way .
the visuals are incredible, proving once again why film is the transcendent visual medium, and how a picture can explore so much more than words. rounding off the film, and truly cementing it as worthy of watching, is a tremendous performance from don cheadle as the homicidal mouse, a friend of washington’s who acts as a spark to the powder keg situation. he steals the film with his performance .
zero’s unique problem creates a real dramatic and intriguing puzzle for the writers to work round, but in fact it becomes the film’s strength .
apply the film classification system administered by the classification board and ensure that films classified as m or ma are shown only at designated times .
only one english canadian feature film was made in the 1940s — bush pilot (1946), an imitation of hollywood’s captains of the clouds (1942). a print of the film was restored by the national archives (now library and archives canada) and tmn television network .
ledger is a magnetic presence and carries the film, although he is ably supported by romantic interest rose byrne. the film undercuts its gritty, serious edge by having jimmy’s dead older brother act as a zombie guardian angel throughout, firmly putting the film into tongue in cheek territory, but also playing up the realism of the grimier side of sydney well. a searing soundtrack led by the mighty powderfinger doesn’t hurt, either .
i would say this film would qualify as pornography if it were the least bit erotic, but it isn’t. i have heard it compared to
) and the world’s first movie studio to rely entirely on artificial light (in new york city), it is almost impossible to speak of a canadian film industry at the birth of cinema. the first public screening of a film in canada took place on 28 june 1896, in
making full use of its american wilderness location, this film has style, panache and the right amount of crazy you’d expect from the talent involved .
manjunath pendakur, canadian dreams and american control: the political economy of the canadian film industry (detroit: wayne state university press, 1990) .
told via a series of non - linear flashbacks, the film traces the career of slade and his collaborator / lover curt wild (ewan mcgregor). a surreal citizen kane - inspired visual feast, the film is dazzling, metaphorical, and hallucinatory. working as a better biopic of the talents of the 70s then a straightforward film ever could, velvet goldmine is the best representation of glam - rock we’ll ever likely to see on - screen .
romance ,
written and directed by catherine breillat, became notorious on the festival circuit this autumn because it is an intelligent, radical film by a woman, and at the same time it contains explicit nudity and, as nearly as we can tell, actual sex. it is not arousing or pornographic, because the sex isn' t presented in an erotic way; it' s more like a documentary of a dogged woman' s forced march toward orgasm, a goal she is not sure she values. marie narrates the film herself and also seems to be reading pages from her journal; she is baffled by herself, baffled by men, baffled by sex. even after climax, her hand closes on air .
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice, telling a story of startling cruelty. what a space it opens…
australia' s censorship system is often the subject of controversy. in recent years there has been debate over the classification of films such as hannibal, lolita and romance, as well as the proposal to replace the' x' category with' nve' (non - violent erotica) and the introduction of internet censorship. there have also been recent changes to the censorship legislation and a review of the classification guidelines is currently being undertaken .
or maybe that’s not quite what it is about as writer / director catherine breillat never really makes a clear point with the film. the story, such that it is, does show promise in several different places as marie strives to break free from her asexual partner, in the physical sense at least, but with the way the character is written the film becomes very frustrating as marie wants sex, then she doesn’t, then she does but not looking at who is doing the deed, and so on. it may be part of her journey of dicovery but the slow pace and marie’s flip - flopping decisions carry on right up until the end of the film and then there’s no real resolution. yes, there’s an ending but what does it mean? why did it have to go the way it did? not sure and, based on the narrative of romance, neither is catherine breillat .
morris, magder and handling. r. the canadian encyclopedia. (2012). history of the canadian film industry. retrieved july 9, 2018 from urltoken
morris, magder and handling. r. the canadian encyclopedia. (2012). history of the canadian film industry. retrieved july 9, 2018 from urltoken
pierre véronneau, peter morris, piers handling. 2012. history of the canadian film industry. the canadian encyclopedia urltoken (accessed july 9, 2018) .
a new aggressiveness took hold within the industry as priorities shifted from the low - budget, cultural film to higher - budget, commercial projects. this policy shift came under scrutiny after the critic robert fulford (writing under the name marshall delaney) wrote a scathing review of david cronenberg ’s cfdc - funded horror film shivers in the september 1975 edition of saturday night magazine. the review, titled “you should know how bad this film is. after all, you paid for it, ” declared, “if using public money to produce films like this is the only way that english canada can have a film industry, then perhaps english canada should not have a film industry. ” a furious debate was sparked in the house of commons over the use of tax - payer dollars to fund films .
although, the development of feature filmmaking in canada was still sputtering, pioneering work was being done at the nfb. by the late 1950s, norman mclaren had won eight canadian film awards, two major prizes at the berlin international film festival, an academy award for his short film neighbours (1952) and an oscar nomination for a chairy tale (1957). the board’s unit b was putting out work of consistent quality and the candid eye series was producing groundbreaking direct cinema films .
further initiatives were taken to assist in the marketing and promotion of english canadian feature films, an area always perceived as the industry’s achilles heel. amid the monumental missed opportunities of the failed québec cinema act and the film products importation bill, telefilm created the feature film fund in 1986. in 1998, the organization increased the broadcast fund to $ 60 million and created the feature film distribution fund, which introduced lines of credit for canadian companies to draw from in order to distribute films internationally .
peter urquhart, 1979: reading the tax shelter boom in canadian film history, department of art history and communication studies, mcgill university (montréal, 2004) .
usually i am completely taken in by films with naked women and lots of sex, but with catherine breillat' s romance - not so much. the title is completely misleading. there' s actually very little romance to be found. instead, we are witness to a woman' s spiraling decline into self - degradation as she chisels away the last remnants of her self - respect through an endless parade of carnal encounters. the problem here isn' t with the direction or the performances, it' s the shallowness of the material. there' s no balance. there' s not a single likeable character in the lot. it' s difficult to care about characters you don' t like and this screenplay never gives us a reason to like any of them. maybe that' s exactly what breillat wants, she wants to populate her work with distasteful beings that you can' t identify with or relate to. if so then i have to believe that her target audiences are serial killers and sadomasochistic sociopaths. this film is dark, pessimistic and depressing, anything but romantic .
at its peak in 1925, the ompb distributed 1, 500 reels of film per month, using 28mm, non - theatrical safety stock in order to avoid the fire hazard posed by 35mm nitrate stock. its distribution system became outdated in the late 1920s when 16mm film stock replaced 28mm. after becoming inefficient and irrelevant, the ompb was shut down in october 1934. however, it established a legacy of government involvement in canadian filmmaking which would become a defining feature of the canadian film industry .
other prominent women filmmakers emerged with their own distinctive visions. mina shum' s delightful double happiness (1994) captured the dilemma of a young chinese - canadian woman, played by sandra oh, trying to escape the traditions of her rapacious family, while talented newcomer lynne stopkewich managed a highly successful adaptation of a barbara gowdy short story with her debut feature, kissed (1996), a dark romance that focusses on the love life of a young necrophiliac, played by molly parker .
morris, peter, magder, ted and handling, piers. 2012. history of the canadian film industry. the canadian encyclopedia urltoken (accessed july 9, 2018) .
a small confession. i saw this film before i ever saw the tv show. and i like it a lot. featuring a cast of such luminaries as kiefer sutherland, david bowie and chris isaak, the film was panned for being boring, incomprehensible and of limited appeal. all valid complaints, but in a way, they’re missing the point .
toy soldiers ’ strength isn’t in the outlandish plot, featuring colombian terrorists, but in the young ensemble cast, featuring sean astin and wil wheaton (wesley crusher made a film !), whose on - screen chemistry allows the film to crackle with wit, tension, and excitement in all the right places. our full lookback at the movie is here .
this film hit around the time everyone thought brad pitt was just a pretty face, rather than the actual truth that he’s one of our more talented actors working today. however, it sadly meant that this incredibly good film was dismissed by the majority of cinema goers, who wrongly believed it to be more female audience baiting fare. how wrong they were .
peter morris, ted magder and piers handling .
history of the canadian film industry .
in the canadian encyclopedia. historica canada, 1985—. article published january 11, 2012
pierre véronneau, peter morris, piers handling, r. the canadian encyclopedia. (2012). history of the canadian film industry. retrieved july 9, 2018, from urltoken
for more on waterworld, incidentally, check out our interview with director kevin reynolds, where he goes into more detail about how many were slating the film even before it was finished .
pierre véronneau, peter morris, piers handling .
history of the canadian film industry
in the canadian encyclopedia. historica canada, 1985–. article published january 10, 2012. urltoken
in 2011, telefilm announced a new system to measure the success of canadian films, one that takes into account the sales of a film’s worldwide rights and gives points based on film festival appearances and awards, as well as the amount of private investment a film generates. in 2013, a group led by robert lantos that included david cronenberg, atom egoyan, paul gross and former alliance ceo victor loewy attempted to launch starlight, a television channel devoted to canadian movies. however, the proposed channel died when it was denied mandatory distribution by the crtc .
the film is often discussed in the context of censorship, but in fact it has not been cut: the bbfc have earnestly decreed that this is because it is
very french
. (breillat herself caused a minor sensation at the edinburgh film festival this summer, declaring that censorship was a male urge, and the x certificate was linked to the x chromosome. )
in 2006 the québec comedy bon cop bad cop grossed nearly $ 12 million, making it the most successful canadian film at the domestic box office to date. in 2010, resident evil: afterlife 3d, a co - production with germany, became the top - grossing canadian film of all time, surpassing porky' s with a worldwide box office of $ 250 million .
morris, peter, ted magder and piers handling .
history of the canadian film industry
. the canadian encyclopedia. toronto: historica canada, 2012. web. 11 jan 2012 .
morris, peter, ted magder and piers handling .
history of the canadian film industry
. the canadian encyclopedia. toronto: historica canada, 2012. web. 11 jan 2012 .
, created the most controversy. the sex scenes in the film turned it into an overnight sensation. kent went on to direct two more features on the west coast before moving to montréal .
with so much going on in that decade, and so many quality films vying for attention, it’s only natural that some have fallen by the wayside, or didn’t get the widespread recognition they deserved. or perhaps a few were dismissed upon release as expensive failures, but deserve to be reassessed several years down the line? either way, here’s den of geek’s choice of the top 50 underrated films of the 90s. the only caveat for inclusion is that they had to be english language, and released theatrically between 1990 - 1999. oh, and judging by their wealth of entries below, starring bill paxton. steve martin or, weirdly, seth green…
meg ryan inexplicably has three roles in the film, hanks is at his slapstick comic goofy best, while the film’s insane plot sweeps you along in its melodrama. there is so much fun to be have that you end up loving the daft premise, the inherent whimsy, and the occasionally corny sentiment. it’s fun, it’s exciting, and utterly unlike any big budget rom - com made before or since .
theatre ownership was traditionally the most lucrative sector of the film industry, with the theatre owner typically taking 50 per cent of every ticket sold. because of the high cost of film production, widespread distribution is vital to a film' s commercial success. in the 1920s, the major hollywood studios (paramount, rko, 20th century fox, mgm and warner bros .) adopted a vertically - integrated model of ownership, combining production and distribution under one umbrella. the majors then aligned themselves with the large national theatre chains in order to guarantee an outlet for their product, in some cases purchasing theatre chains outright .
under the constitution the commonwealth government has the power to make laws with regard to telecommunications (including broadcasting) and imported material, but not locally produced matter. the latter is under the jurisdiction of the state governments. censorship provisions have thus varied according to the nature of the material (tv, film, print etc .) and the state or territory. a commonwealth film censorship board was first established under the provisions of the customs act in 1917. in 1949 western australia, queensland and tasmania signed agreements with the commonwealth to delegate their film censorship powers and functions to the commonwealth. the other states eventually followed suit .
personally, i think this film should be on everyone’s list of favourite films, but time and time again i’m amazed by the amount of people, including coen brothers fans, who haven’t seen this masterpiece. based loosely on the works of pulp writer dashiell hammett, this film noir set in prohibition - era america details a power struggle between two rival gangs, in which gabriel byrne finds himself in the middle of .
a complex film within a film, the simple set - up of a rich man bored with his life becoming entangled in a game which may or may not be real acts as a launch - pad for fincher to have a lot of fun. the game rewards repeat watches in a way few films do, as each viewing offers new clues and perspectives on what is or is not reality for michael douglas’s lead character .
the growth of canadian nationalism around the first world war promoted a brief flurry in canadian production and other aspects of the film industry. the first widely released canadian newsreels appeared, and feature film production expanded, as did the canadian - owned allen theatres chain and associated distribution companies. the motion picture bureaus established by the ontario government in 1917, and the federal government in 1918, also contributed to the boom in activity .
t must have been a while since mainstream cinema audiences were invited to view a young woman submitting to be tied up by an older man (her employer, as it happens), the cord tied between her legs, through her vagina and pulled up good and tight: the unlovely impress of rope on genitalia represented in unforgiving close - up. then the young woman interrupts the process in tears, not through rage at phallocentric oppression in life and art - nothing so dated - but rather anger at her own timid refusal of this adventure and naturally a vertiginous sense of the profound
enigma
in female sexuality. this is the burden and the song of romance, catherine breillat' s opaque essay in eroticism, a film controversial for its explicit portrayal of male arousal: a pink orchard of erect penises .
i’m going to come out and say it: jackie brown may well be quentin tarantino’s best film. it’s certainly his most confident – the one and only time where he let the film tell its own story, free from any tricks or genre play. it was a shame that jackie brown was so poorly received, as it pushed tarantino further down his pastiche / homage path, which is starting to veer into self - parody .
pierre véronneau, peter morris, piers handling
history of the canadian film industry
the canadian encyclopedia. eds. andrew mcintosh and wyndham wise. toronto: historica canada, 2012. web. 9 jul. 2018 .
kevin spacey’s debut film as a director is a classic underrated movie worthy of your recognition. pretty much ignored and dismissed upon release (even earning faye dunaway a razzie nomination), it’s actually a well - acted and tightly put together crime film, only let down by its script. matt dillon, gary sinise, and william fichtner are robbers who flee to a bar after a hold - up goes wrong and then seemingly cornered by the police .
in the early 1980s, the film industry in canada was on shaky ground, almost wholly dependent upon government financing and unable to secure screen time in canadian theatres. francis fox, the liberal federal minister of communications, issued the national film and video policy in 1984, and the cfdc was transformed into telefilm canada with a $ 35 - million broadcast program development fund to reflect its new dual orientation: funding television programs as well as theatrical feature films .
there is a fantasy scene in
romance
where a woman' s body is divided by a wall. on one side, from the waist down, she is in a brothel. on the other side, from the waist up, in a delivery room. what is the message of the scene? don' t be too sure you know. i know i don' t. it isn' t some kind of simplistic message linking childbirth with misuse by men. the woman having the fantasy isn' t really against the activities on either side of the wall. maybe the scene is intended as an illustration of her own confusion about sex .
i enjoyed (not exactly the right word) this film more than a real young girl, as i felt it had more to say about intimacy, the lack thereof, and the lengths we are willing to go to obtain it .
european film industries also faced the threat of hollywood domination in the 1920s, but most governments moved quickly to protect their domestic industries by controlling ownership of exhibition and distribution companies, or by stimulating national production. canada took no comparable action .
beginning in the early 1970s, regional film cooperatives — such as the toronto filmmakers co - op (1971–79), the atlantic filmmakers cooperative in halifax (1974–) and the winnipeg film group (1974–) — began to train young filmmakers who remained committed to the concept of a cultural cinema. from the early 1980s to the late 1990s, a generation of talented independent filmmakers began to emerge, further aided by the introduction in the mid - 1980s of provincial funding agencies .
ultimately, after going to extreme lengths in her quest to make paul the lover she wants him to be, marie comes to some conclusions about where the power in the relationship lies. because the film has, up to this point, been chock full of images that stretch the boundaries of what can be depicted in a “mainstream” film, the (ahem) climax must be even farther beyond the pale. it doesn’t disappoint, as the exclamations among the audience i was in proved .
catherine breillat' s career has been a treatise on sexuality and womanhood, even her films that aren' t explicity sexual like sleeping beauty or abuse of weakness are informed by things like menstruation and sub / domme flourishes. romance falls easily in line with pictures of her past like a real young girl as it is very overtly about a woman' s sexuality and how it connects itself with her feelings of love from her celibate (unless for child rearing) boyfriend whom she loves dearly, but becomes increasingly frustrated with as time passes. her relationship with him leads her into many trysts with her other men that finally ends with her on the other end of sexual punishment with a man whose ideas of sexuality…
however, the situation is definitely not what they initially think it is, and every character has a role to play in the proceedings. with a leading trio of that calibre, it’s easy to see where the film gets its power from, as the intensity of the performances really is something to behold, if occasionally veering into a melodrama. spacey keeps things at a tight pace though (the film clocks in at 97 mins), and the energy and claustrophobia of the piece really is exemplary .
after 1912, film companies in several canadian cities began producing fiction as well as factual films. in halifax, the canadian bioscope company made the first canadian feature, evangeline (1913), based on the longfellow poem about the expulsion of the acadians. it was a critical and financial success. the company made several other less successful films before folding in 1915. the british american film company of montréal, one of several short - lived companies in that city, produced the battle of the long sault (1913). in toronto, the conness till film company made several comedy and adventure films from 1914–15, and in windsor, on, the all red feature company produced the war pigeon (1914), a drama about the war of 1812 .
while massively panned upon initial release, and subject to well - documented production troubles, it seems that after every new film released in the alien franchise, alien 3 keeps on looking like a better and better movie by comparison. but is it just the fact that the following movies were either so poor (resurrection, alien vs predator) or baffling (prometheus) that makes alien 3 seem like a worthy alien film? not quite, as david fincher’s debut genuinely stands up as a great (if flawed) sci - fi horror film with engaging and thought - provoking themes, as well as being a worthy follow - up to alien and aliens. it couldn’t match those films, but it tries to do its own thing, and succeeds with aplomb .
and yet the film has an icy fascination. perhaps it is a test of how men and women relate to eroticism on the screen. i know few men who like it much (sure proof it is not pornographic). women defend it in feminist terms, but you have the strangest feeling they' re not saying what they really think. at a screening at the toronto film festival there was some laughter, almost all female, but i couldn' t tell if it was nervous, or knowing .
looking back at hollywood mega - star will smith’s career, it is probably this film which laid the bedrock for his future success. very simply, without his stand - out performance in six degrees of separation, smith would have been regarded as nothing more than a popular tv star / rapper trying his luck in a few films. that he aced this dramatic role so well made the film industry sit up and take note, and led to his becoming one of the most bankable stars of the last few decades .
douglas himself offers one of his finest performances, getting the audience to genuinely invest in a billionaire with the perfect life, and fincher’s control of dramatic suspense, wit and pulp conventions is second to none. we revisited the film in more detail, here .
shot in mexico and slovakia, the film looks great, and you can tell that pearce and carlyle are clearly relishing their roles. the sense of isolation heightens the tension, and the incredible score by michael nyman and damon albarn only adds to this ominous mood .
with a viable, emerging industry beginning to produce critically acclaimed films, and with english and french filmmakers looking to government to protect their fledgling interests, in 1967 the federal government took a significant step towards investing in a domestic industry by creating the canadian film development corporation (cfdc, now telefilm canada), funded with $ 10 million to develop a feature film industry that would last. however, the cfdc only concerned itself with production, and did not attempt to break the stranglehold american interests had over canadian commercial distribution or exhibition .
what is alienating, though, is catherine breillat' s pedantic insistence on the oppressive and all - important mystery of female sexuality. there is something cold in her vision: the notion of simple pleasure is sacrificed to this brow - furrowing pursuit of a meaning which infinitely recedes. marie is always fretting :
i am a hole - i disappear in proportion to the cock taking me .
really? well, marie, i would say you' re not getting out enough, but that can' t be the problem. peering into a supposed mise en abyme of female sexuality is a killjoy approach which renders simple, unexamined pleasure inauthentic. finally, audiences may revolt - not at romance' s explicitness, but at its strange whiff of puritanism .
full disclosure – i didn’t like this film when i first saw it. in fact, i’ve never even been much of a kubrick fan. perhaps it’s because i’m getting older, but i’m gradually going through the back catalogue and really appreciating his work. case in point: his last film, notorious for featuring a sexed up tom cruise and nicole kidman. i was left bored and unimpressed on my first few viewings, but catching it again recently i can definitely see what kubrick was trying to achieve, and how close he came to making it work .
the deadline hollywood blog reported on this year' s event, held in october for more than 150 people including representatives from the top talent agencies in town, def jam recordings co - founder russell simmons, and top executives from several fox - owned tv and film business divisions .
fourteen years on, and the film more than holds up, long outlasting initial criticism that it was marketed at an audience far too young for its violent themes. as well as a young kirsten dunst, the film’s notable acting talent is in the voice roles of the toys. tommy lee jones is chip hazard, leader of the gung - ho and ultimately villainous commando elite, while frank langella plays archer, leader of the peaceful and noble gorgonites. with stunning special effects, mini - mayhem, and exciting set - pieces, small soldiers is a treat .
does live up to its hype. it’s got explicit sex all over the place. body parts engaged in activities normally limited to videos the local blockbuster won’t carry are on full display. it’s all treated very unlike anything in american film. the way nudity and sex is handled is refreshingly unrestrained .
another tense crime thriller stunningly overlooked on release, it was only the word of mouth success of one false move on video that led to it gaining a theatrical run (can you imagine that happening today ?), propelling it into the hearts of many, including legendary film critic gene siskel .
we' ve con air to thank for this film. yep, while screenwriter scott rosenberg was waiting to hear back about his script for the soon - to - be action classic, he realised he was more interested in the story of his friends’ lives, and their angst as they turned 30 .
for a film to qualify as canadian, it had to be at least 75 minutes long, have at least one producer and two - thirds of the “above the line” creative team who were canadian, and perform at least 75 per cent of the production and post - production services in canada. the tax shelter approach echoed the conclusion of the tompkins report, issued by the secretary of state in 1976, which argued that, since american control of canada’s theatrical marketplace made it virtually impossible for canadian films to turn a profit domestically, the canadian film industry should focus instead on producing commercial products for export .
remember when katie holmes was cool? well she was once, and it was in this film. told in non - linear fashion and across several different viewpoints, this doug liman - directed comedy thriller was dismissed by some as ‘junior pulp fiction ’, but it’s actually much better than that description might imply .
from the beginning, the regulation of film content, distribution and exhibition was a provincial matter, with each province setting its own standards and practices. in 1911, ontario established the first board of censors in north america and manitoba passed an act that delegated film censorship to the city of winnipeg. british columbia, alberta and québec established active censor boards in 1913, and manitoba founded a proper provincial board in 1916. ontario' s board, considered to set the gold standard across north american jurisdictions, banned the excessive display of the american flag when the united states failed to join the war effort in europe until 1917 .
a decision against the us cartel would have been a historic turning point for the future of filmmaking in canada. apart from the work of associated screen news and government production (which also suffered funding cutbacks during the depression), by the 1930s the canadian film industry had become virtually a branch plant of hollywood .
this optimistic period of expansion was led by a number of enterprising producers: george brownridge, principal promoter of canada' s first film studio, adanac films (opened in trenton, on, in 1917) and producer of three features including the anti - communist the great shadow (1919); léo - ernest ouimet, a producer, exhibitor and distributor who established the country' s first film exchange in 1903 and opened canada' s first luxury theatre in montréal in 1907; blaine irish, head of filmcraft industries, producer of the feature satan' s paradise (1922) and of two successful theatrical short film series; bernard norrish, first head of the canadian government motion picture bureau and later head of associated screen news; charles and len roos, producers, directors and cameramen of many films, including the feature self defence (1916); and a. d .
cowboy
kean, an early cameraman and producer .
had a very different impact on the film industry in québec, where the limited market for french - language films provided investors with no incentive to invest in them. as manjunath pendakur has explained, “in 1978 and 1979, two - thirds of the films made in québec were produced without benefit of the tax shelter. film directors who in the 1960s helped put canada on the world map — such as claude jutra, gilles carle, michel brault, denys arcand — were unable to get financing to make any french - language films. ” only three per cent of feature films produced in canada from 1978 to 1981 were in french .
in 1997 atom egoyan' s the sweet hereafter won the grand jury prize, the international critics prize and the ecumenical award at the cannes film festival, making it the most honoured canadian film ever to play the festival. it was nominated for academy awards for adapted screenplay and best director, the first for a canadian director. in 2001, zacharias kunuk ’s atanarjuat (the fast runner), the first dramatic feature to be shot entirely in inuktituk with an all - inuit cast, won the caméra d' or at cannes. in 2004, denys arcand ‘s les invasions barbares / the barbarian invasions (2003) won the academy award for best foreign language film, another first for a canadian. four canadian films in the next eight years earned oscar nominations in the same category: mehta’s water (2006); villeneuve’s incendies (2010); falardeau’s monsieur lazhar (2011); and kim nguyen ’s rebelle (war witch) (2012) .
the first time i saw this film, i was bored. rewatching it ten years later, i was seriously impressed. a sci - fi tale set in a future where gene - coding is rife, and parents can buy their children’s future success before birth, ethan hawke plays vincent, a non - modified human attempting to get on the space program. a film / tech - noir, the plot details vincent’s attempts to evade being found out, while using genetic samples from a paralysed ‘valid’ (a career best jude law) to do so, while also evading the attentions of an ongoing murder investigation at the gattaca space program .
for those unaware of the greatness of toy soldiers, let me explain it thusly. imagine home alone but with terrorists instead of inept burglars, and rebellious prep school boys instead of a precocious blonde child. interested? good, then throw out the slapstick comedy and you’ve got yourself a high - concept 90s action film .
what makes this film so incredible, though, is nick nolte’s hulking, dominating performance as mike brennan. pot - bellied and moustached, nolte owns the screen with a powerful intensity, making an unlikeable character mesmerising and unforgettable. you’ll find yourself thinking about his titanic performance long after the credits roll, it’s that good.
romance ( romance x ) is a 1999 french art house film written and directed by catherine breillat . it stars caroline ducey , pornographic actor rocco siffredi , sagamore stévenin and françois berléand . the film features explicit copulation scenes , especially one showing caroline ducey 's coitus with rocco siffredi . romance is one of several arthouse films featuring explicit , unsimulated sex , such as the brown bunny ( 2003 ) , 9 songs ( 2004 ) , all about anna ( 2005 ) , and shortbus ( 2006 ) . 
romance (romance x) is a 1999 french art house film written and directed by catherine breillat. it stars caroline ducey, pornographic actor rocco siffredi, sagamore stévenin and françois berléand. the film features explicit copulation scenes, especially one showing caroline ducey's coitus with rocco siffredi. romance is one of several arthouse films featuring explicit, unsimulated sex, such as the brown bunny (2003), 9 songs (2004), all about anna (2005), and shortbus (2006).
romance (romance x) is a 1999 french art house film written and directed by catherine breillat. it stars caroline ducey, pornographic actor rocco siffredi, sagamore stévenin and françois berléand. the film features explicit copulation scenes, especially one showing caroline ducey's coitus with rocco siffredi. romance is one of several arthouse films featuring explicit, unsimulated sex, such as the brown bunny (2003), 9 songs (2004), all about anna (2005), and shortbus (2006).