antares ( film )
antares, a film that is as much about sex as it is about marriage and relationships and sadness, is the rare film that explores this elusive terrain with clarity and dignity .
production: a lotus film, team film production. (international sales: austrian film commission, vienna .) produced by erich lackner, wulf flemming. directed, written by goetz spielmann .
antares was poorly received by critics; it has a 0% rating on rotten tomatoes .
based in part on a blog entry written from the toronto international film festival .
sports hall
gdynia
- kazimierza górskiego 8 str. , 4km from the hotel antares .
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the antares musicians were the perfect addition to my elegant wedding at the dar. their sound was wonderful and working with them to prepare for my special day was a breeze! i strongly recommend antares .
for an even more far out experience, try his early film “zentropa”. very haunting .
was surrounded by some consternation at the cannes film festival. von trier' s jokes about
screen’s chief film critic on why the festival found itself looking behind the times this year .
austria' s oscar selection for best foreign film, antares cunningly interweaves the erotic stories of 3 couples at crossroads in their relationships. over 3 momentous days in an apartment complex, each couple searches for love, intimacy & passionate romance. antares features explicit sexual content and mature themes in portraying these modern relationships .
world limited to the plot: unusually for a disaster film; the film focuses solely on justine, her family, and guests, and shows none of the outside world' s reactions to melancholia .
antares musicians were professional easy to deal with and flexible including with a last minute venue change. plus they sounded great .
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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 .
caution: this post is a bit of a plot spoiler for people who haven’t seen the film. however, knowing the plot was no hindrance to my second viewing of the film, at all. i was even more impressed and awed, the next time around .
hi david, having read your summary and kathy´s recommendation, i´m definitely going to haunt this film and going to see it. thanks !
art shift: the opening montage is shot in extreme slow motion, with extremely stylized imagery. the rest of the film is photographed normally .
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…
we hired a string trio from antares musicians for our may 1st wedding. our trio played during our ceremony and reception and they were incredible - our guests are still talking about how beautiful the music was. our contact was tammy. from start to finish tammy was amazing. i picked two songs for our processional and recessional that weren’t in their music library and tammy worked with me to find the arrangements online so i wouldn’t have to pay the $ 50 fee for antares to arrange the piece. at our reception, my mother requested a song and our trio found the song online and played it for her, all within minutes! we are completely satisfied with antares - not only were they wonderful musicians but were also lovely people. thank you so much antares for making our wedding so beautiful! - emily and steven 05 / 01 / 16
the antares musicians were amazing. they played every song we selected and sounded amazing. they made our ceremony and cocktail hour even better. it was definitely worth it and one of our favorite memories from the wedding .
in the end, though, it’s a bit trite. antares stumbles so badly in its first story that it’s difficult to ascertain when it regains its footing. that’s likely because the film never fully recovers, and what comes through clearly, a meticulously shot examination of sex and social status, never feels particularly urgent. when the final shots light up the screen, they are closer to vacuous than revelatory .
part two of the film is called “claire. ” justine has now become so depressed that she cannot even walk to the bath under her own power, or perform the simplest activities .
the antares musicians were a delight to word with and truly professional. it made for a very smooth flow to the wedding ceremony and cocktail hour. i would definitely refer them to other clients. anne berman special event & wedding consultant
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antares did a great job providing our ceremony and cocktail hour music. they are really talented and have an awesome music selection. they are also really organized and made planning the ceremony / cocktail hour music portion of our wedding a breeze. they provided us with a detailed questionnaire which we completed. from there antares had all of the information they needed. they prepared a cue sheet which they shared with us, and on the wedding day everything went off without a hitch .
the film is a rich feast visually. kirstin dunst won the award at cannes for best actress, and charlotte gainsbourg is every bit as good. although the subject matter of melancholia is certainly unusual, the film itself is probably the most traditional lars von trier has ever done. he has said that, ” a film should be like a stone in your shoe. ” i, however, did not feel the slightest rub in my shoes. the film’s stylistic accessibility gives it a universality, and promotes a sympathetic identification with the characters, that is not always the case in von trier’s oeuvre. melancholia has a deeper continuing resonance, for me, than any of his other films. it totally absorbs you and compels rumination about the deepest questions in life. parts of the film that von trier considered a parody of superficial, upper middle - class life, actually, (as in the way ingmar bergman often used the same milieu ,) open up many touchstones with everyone’s emotional experiences. families are families in the end, and how they deal with the messy stuff of life, offers much that compels and preoccupies us all. melancholia is a film that washes over you and through you and leaves you deeply moved and thrilled. the experience of it is more like viewing and inhabiting a piece of art, than merely watching a movie .
with all the raw, animalistic rutting that opens
antares
( followed by fits of jealousy, betrayal, bigotry, screaming, lying, cursing, attempted suicide, vehicular mayhem, and physical and emotional bullying), there is something eerily calm about this strangely compelling film. perhaps
calm
is not so much the word as
deadpan .
it is the tension, in fact, between matter - of - fact presentation and volcanic emotional content that creates its perverse appeal .
a string trio from antares played for our ceremony and cocktail hour, and they were wonderful. tammy was our point person before the wedding, and she was incredibly responsive and helpful with picking out our processional and recessional music, and she was also really communicative with our day of coordinator about cueing the ceremony. it’s very clear that antares musicians have a ton of experience with weddings. i didn’t get to hear much of the pre ceremony or cocktail hour music, but i received so many compliments about the fun music they played. we asked them to play more contemporary music, and our guests loved hearing instrumental versions of many songs, especially the game of thrones theme song! i highly recommend antares – they’re incredibly professional and experienced, and of course, their music was top notch .
this is from the film movement club, a club that puts out a film every month to its members and i have yet to see a bad one. this movie is from austria, and what we have is moments in the life of 3 women who live in an apartment complex, one women a nurse cheating on her husband, one women who is lying to her boyfriend that she is pregnant. and the other women trying to get rid of her husband. all three stores intersect with each other. i found it enjoyable. and if you get the chance for a quiet night alone, this is a good film. 4 1 / 2 stars put it in the collection .
u7 centre - go bowling! the u7 centre encourages active leisure. for our guests there is a 15% discount on bowling and pool. to get your discount, just show a stamped antares hotel business card. for more information, ask at the hotel reception desk. urltoken
if you' d like to feel like an absolute dream on your wedding day, please choose antares musicians. on our wedding day, antares did our ceremony music. it was absolutely beautiful. they were sooo easy to work with and started and ended all of the ceremony music with excellent precision. there is definitely a difference between the songs they played so beautifully themselves versus music coming from a speaker (not saying that' s bad at all). but if you' ve got an ear for clear, beautiful music - i would highly suggest them !
götz spielmann' s antares is one of those films that weaves together a triptych of largely unrelated stories featuring largely unrelated characters, so naturally, it begins with a car crash. the whole short cuts / magnolia / amores perros genre relies on the idea that lives only have meaning inasmuch as they' re like other lives, and the quickest way to show how everyone' s the same is to inflict a shared injury, via natural disaster or man - made one. antares' protagonists span the social classes, from schubert - loving medical professionals to shopgirls who listen to russian pop songs, but the characters all live in the same blocky viennese apartments, and by the end of the film, they' ve been bonded by a metal - on - metal collision and a none - too - tragic fatality .
in melancholia, he strikes an elegiac tone, shot through with mystery and nameless loss. the film is quite strange, and was about half an hour too long, but on the whole it was compelling, and hard to look away from .
morzé' s trysts are depicted explicitly, and the intense eroticism of those early sex scenes pretty much derails antares. in the first story, spielmann makes the irrationality of desire almost tactile, fogging the fact that little else is really going on. stories two and three contain far more plot, but the respective lack of sensationalism produces diminishing returns. all that' s left to ponder are minor details, like whether the title—which refers to the name of a double star on the verge of supernova—is meant to have any relation to the way so many of the characters in antares look alike. and spielmann seems to be making a point about how in the modern age, cell phones offer a mistaken illusion of connection. for the most part, though, antares is uneven and piddling, and suffers from the affliction that it depicts: a terminal case of bad timing .
i agree with you about all. this film really sticks in my mind, in terms of visual images, characters, plot. i just replay so many of the scenes in my head. it’s bizzareness and awkwardness some how work to it’s benefit .
like amores perros and 21 grams before it (and crash just a month after it), antares is a film about interconnectedness that relies heavily on a car accident. antares begins with its crash and then takes us to a time before it where eva (petra morzé), a content nurse with a husband and daughter, begins an affair with the victim from the opening scene. after telling the story from her point of view, the story shifts to sonja (susanne wuest), who has been falsely telling her boyfriend marco (dennis cubic) that she is pregnant and suspects him of cheating (she is eventually proven correct). the final tale is alex (andreas kiendl), a cruel realtor who stood up the eva and her husband and also the father of the child of the woman with whom marco is cheating .
crew: camera (color), martin gschlacht; editor, karina ressler; music, walter w. cikan, marnix veenenbos; art director, katharina woeppermann; costume designer, thomas olah; sound (dolby srd), ekkehart baumung; sound designer, andreas kopriva; assistant director, katharina biro; casting, rita waszilovics. reviewed at locarno film festival (competing), aug. 4, 2004. (also in toronto film festival - - contemporary world cinema .) running time: 120 min .
the first section of the film is entitled “justine, ” after the kirsten dunst character, and chronicles her wedding at the opulent, castle home of her sister, claire, played by charlotte gainsbourg, and her wealthy husband, john, played by keiffer sutherland .
the antares musicians completely delivered on our wedding day. they performed both at the ceremony and during the cocktail hour. several of our guests (and our photographer) noted that it was the best music they' d heard at a wedding. in the weeks leading up to the big day, their coordinator (jill) was highly organized and communicative, making sure we understood our options for the playlist and giving informed suggestions where we needed help. if you' re looking for a string quartet, especially one that can play the beatles and beach boys with the same skill as classical tunes, antares is a great choice .
the film presents the only danger melancholia poses to earth is by direct collision. however, even a flyby could potentially be disastrous. it might
slingshot
the earth out of orbit, and the tidal forces could also wreak havoc, depending on melancholia' s mass .
i had the same fear going in, and my reaction was just like yours, as well. it’s amazing that someone can do a movie about the end of the world and have it not be depressing. it’s part of what makes melancholia such a unique and original film .
fan disservice: given what her character' s going through and also the tone of the film, kirsten dunst' s nude scenes are not supposed to be sexy. you have to give credit for kirsten going further than she' s ever been in her career, though .
we hired the antares musician' s 3 piece flute and strings trio for our september 12th wedding. my family originally wanted us to hire a band for the reception which can be very costly, so our happy medium was live music for our ceremony and cocktail hour. my husband and i were very pleased with the quality of service and professionalism we received from start to finish. my emails and phone calls were always returned in a timely matter, and the music that was played throughout was absolutely beautiful. we received many compliments from guests afterwards. i would definitely recommend the antares musicians to future brides looking to incorporate live music into their wedding day .
i appreciate your comment about the plot spoiling. i thought long and hard about it, and even disagreed with my in house editor - my wife - about it. it felt natural in trying to express my reactions to the film, but i’m having second thoughts… i might revise .
screening some of the most highly anticipated films of the season, along with special programs and series focusing on directors and avant - garde work, the 49th new york film festival starts on september 30 and runs to october 16. take a look at the schedule and purchase tickets here .
antares did such an amazing job at my wedding. they played all of our musical selections beautifully, we got tons of compliments all night. jill was a pleasure to work with and answered all of my questions in a timely manner. if i had to plan my wedding over again they would still be one of the fist vendors i booked !
we used the antares musicians for our ceremony and they were an amazing addition to our wedding. they provided beautiful music and were so easy to work with! they are responsive, detail oriented and professional. we couldn' t have asked for anything more! (side note: guests could not stop talking about how much they enjoyed the music )
viennese director goetz spielmann, who helmed the impressively noirish “the stranger” (2000), brings the same coolly analytical gaze to more complex, subtly interlocking material in “antares. ” centered on the love lives of three different women in an anonymous housing project, and fanning out into a group portrait of sexual and emotional follies, cleverly constructed script [ … ]
the antares trio created a perfect musical performance for our wedding and the reception and dinner that followed the ceremony. accomplished professionals and highly talented performers, these musicians provided the elegance of classical pieces to underscore the formal commitment of bride and groom to each other and then provided a robust repertoire of show tunes and popular music to animate the revelry after the ceremony .
the film begins with this gorgeous, slow motion, cinematic ballet of cosmic death, choreographed to wagner’s tristan and isolde. as viewed from outer space, this cosmic dance of death is almost sensual, and certainly as lyrical as anything in kubrick’s “2001. ” it’s both a prelude to the main body of the film, and a documentation of the end. before the first character comes on screen, we have already seen their eventual fate. that first introduction of characters is similarly done in an expressionistic, slow motion scene that visually weaves the fate of the main character to the planet’s own inevtiable attraction to a gravitational field bigger than its own .
we couldn' t have been happier with antares musicians. we initially booked them for our ceremony for our black - tie wedding. they not only learned our favorite songs for our processional and recessional, they played our cocktail hour as well with very little notice! very professional, fantastic song selections, we were just thrilled. added fantastic atmosphere and made our ceremony unforgettable .
i have never seen a film that left such a long lasting impression on all my senses as melancholia. and, in spite of my trepidation that it was going to be an immensely depressing movie, somehow it’s not. as you pointed out, so much more than a movie – a real lasting work of true art .
either way, what saves antares is precisely who is connected. our characters range from store clerks to realtors to nurses who don’t have to think twice before looking for another apartment, and whether they are austrian or yugoslavian, they can be both sexually frustrated or unfaithful. furthermore, these characters tend to look a great deal alike—the women are very blonde, and the men are neither tall, clean - shaven and combed or scraggly with facial hair—and it’s an effective way of literalizing their commonalities. regardless of social status, antares ’ cast are grappling with the same issues and playing roles, however small, in the lives of each other. spielmann may not do any more than say we are all connected, but he makes sure to be inclusive about it .
but spielmann’s other emphatic mark, his fascination with sexual betrayal and satisfaction, actually bogs down the film’s inclusive nature. eva’s story is largely without plot and spends much of its time with extremely graphic sex scenes, a decision which paradoxically disconnects eva from the following two stories. after emphatically declaring that the film will be no frills when it comes to portrayal of sex, it doesn’t take long to backpedal, and the unintended elephant in the room is what makes sex between these two so special? is it supposed to be more honest or is it supposed to be more disturbing? why? certainly, or at least hopefully, it is not because of class .
as unceremoniously as he arrived, tomasz departs, precipitating a not entirely unexpected change in eva' s relationship with her family. spielmann' s film, at this point, picks up its second thread, one concerning a grocery clerk named sonja (susanne wuest) and her philandering, immigrant husband, marco (dennis cubic). while the director has spoken of how
antares
is about
people trying to break out of their loneliness ,
here that effort manifests itself in sonja' s pretending to be pregnant to hang onto her man. it' s not enough, of course - - how could it be? - - but what turns out to be enough, in the end, may surprise you .
not even bothering with the accent: everyone in the film uses their natural accent, so it' s not clear where the film takes place. claire and justine are sisters with british parents, but dunst as justine uses her american accent. she works for a swedish man who has a nephew with an american accent. the resort' s butler is danish and the wedding has a german planner. claire is married to an american man and their child has an american accent, while gainsbourg as claire herself doesn' t hide the fact that she' s of mixed anglo - french origin, speaking in a bit of a (hardly discernible) french accent every now and then .
it captures the tragic - romantic - depressive mood that permeates the movie. in fact, the idea for the film was generated by a therapist’s suggestion to von trier, (who famously suffers from depression and anxiety disorders ,) that depressed people often remain calm in highly stressful situations. it doesn’t get more stressful than the literal end of the world .
the antares musicians were absolutely my favorite aspect of my wedding. the string trio was perfect and were such an elegant touch for our big day. from performing all you need is love at the end of our ceremony to playing fun songs like sweet caroline and the game of thrones theme song during cocktail hour, everything was just perfect. i' m still hearing compliments about the music from friends and family .
götz spielmann (b. 1961, wels) grew up in vienna, studying screenwriting and directing there. his films include erwin and julia (1990), the neighbor (1991), this naïve desire (1993), fear of the idyll (1994), the stranger (1999), daybreak (2001) and antares (2004). he has also recently written and directed for the stage .
she comes to the castle to live with claire, john, and leo. gradually with claire’s nursing she becomes better. the focus now shifts to what was thought previously to be the star, antares, and is now revealed as a huge planet on a rogue orbit through the galaxy, called melancholia, because of it’s blue color. as it becomes clearly visible on its own, everyone flock’s to john’s telescope .
the second part of melancholia belongs to claire (charlotte gainsbourg). justine has come to live with claire and john following her wedding, and she has disintegrated so precipitously that she needs help undressing and bathing. claire is worried. john is too, but he is more taken up by a celestial event that seems to be happening, an event that justine had already noticed on her own. she had glanced up at the dawn sky and saw that a star is suddenly missing from scorpio. antares, the brightest star in the constellation, is no longer there. apparently, a planet is now blocking antares, a planet no one had heard of before. it is named melancholia, and the scientists predict that its trajectory may very well end up interfering with the earth, although it may well miss the earth, too. no one is sure what will happen .
above, the couple arriving two hours late for their wedding party, and, above, right, pausing to stare at a strange celestial object, with claire and john, the evening’s hosts. while everyone else seems transfixed, claire stares away, tensely and with, as it turns out, appropriately ominous, premonition. john, an amateur astronomer, explains that the object is the star antares, hidden by the sun, and harmless .
the musician at my church dropped the ball and i had to book ceremony musicians less than a month before my wedding, so understandably i was a little frantic. after sending around tons of inquiries, jill responded within a few hours, we had a phone call that evening, and i booked the antares musicians within a few days. we had a trio - violin, flute, and cello - and jill helped me pick the music, as well .
this was truly a great investment. i hadn' t seen musicians play at any other wedding i' ve been to, but i am beyond happy that my husband and i chose to have them at our wedding. they were absolutely perfect and also a phenomenal value. so many aspects of planning a wedding seem overpriced, but the antares musicians were not only reasonably priced, but they were worth so much more and were a perfect fit for our wedding .
when i began the wedding planning process, i had never thought about having musicians at my wedding. the antares musicians appeared on a recommended vendor list from our venue, so my husband and i decided to check out their website. we were instantly delighted listening to their clips, as there was not only classical music but more contemporary songs as well, like from the beatles. we decided to go for it and hired them to perform our reception and cocktail hour .
the antares musicians played for our wedding ceremony and a 1 - hour cocktail reception. they were outstanding! !! the live music added something special to our wedding. they added a personal touch to the ceremony that wouldn' t have been present with a dj. the musicians were wonderful and accommodated our special requests for a couple of tunes that we both liked. we highly recommend these musicians - - - - - our ceremony was beautiful and we loved the music .
this 2 - kilometre long route starts from kościuszko square and leads to the foot of kamienna góra. you can continue walking along the beach to the cliff in redłowo, the pier in orłowo or even as far as the neighbouring resort of sopot. gdynia is also associated with the polish film festival, becoming a polish cannes each year in spring. the audience can attend festival shows and meetings with visiting movie stars .
if you’re lars von trier, the world ends in total destruction, as it both implodes and explodes, in the opening sequence of his new film, melancholia. the earth’s atmosphere is ripped away by the gravitational pull of a wandering, giant blue planet, named melancholia, which literally consumes the earth, as it draws our planet in to the point of implosion / explosion, and burns it up. point, fire .
in a way, the bang (which is, at the same time, a whimper) that closes this episode brings the film full circle, tying up its disparate elements - - fear, anger, sadness, hurt, lust, jealousy - - in a single, if not especially tidy bundle. it may not offer any profound insights into human misery except this one: we all, at one point or another, are touched by it .
the film is divided into two halves, titled
justine
and
claire .
it appears that the two sisters exchange personalities, but to no great effect. maybe the approach of an overwhelming event has dissolved the membranes of personalities. notice how jack, the ad man, continues to place importance on his ad slogan. and how gaby lashes out at the very notion of a wedding or a party. there is displacement here that is frightening .
sliding scale of idealism versus cynicism: pretty much breaks the scale on the cynicism side. it doesn' t really matter that the world is going to end and possibly all life in the universe will be extinguished; life is so shitty and devoid of meaning that it' s a good, perhaps even beautiful thing. sort of justified, in that the whole scenario is a metaphor for depression, except that the director is pretty much romanticizing it with this film .
viennese director goetz spielmann, who helmed the impressively noirish “the stranger” (2000), brings the same coolly analytical gaze to more complex, subtly interlocking material in “antares. ” centered on the love lives of three different women in an anonymous housing project, and fanning out into a group portrait of sexual and emotional follies, cleverly constructed script overstays its welcome in an unnecessary coda but for most of the going is involving drama, with fine performances from the ensemble cast. strong fest item could secure some european arthouse exposure, followed by specialized tube sales .
the grittiness of the special effects portraying the approach of melancholia adds to the dazzling look of the film, and to a sense of intensifying horror and doom. the sound drops out of the picture in the second half, and the air is filled with a barely concealed dull roar, the roar of the planet' s approach. it' s very eerie. claire weeps for the inevitable destruction of the planet earth, weeping for herself, for her son, for the end of everything .
the final chapter spins off sonja and marco' s dysfunctional relationship into the sick dynamic between the woman marco has been having an affair with (martina zinner) and her real estate agent ex - husband, alex (andreas kiendl), a package of damaged goods if ever there was one. angry with the world (immigrants, his ex, his clients, himself), he' s a walking time bomb, or, to pick up the metaphor suggested by the film' s title, a star destined to explode as a supernova .
melancholia is a 2011 speculative fiction film written and directed by lars von trier. it mainly focuses on the relationship between the two sisters justine and claire, played by kirsten dunst and charlotte gainsbourg. the movie is divided into two parts, the first about justine' s wedding, the second about the upcoming fly - by of the rogue planet melancholia that' s drifting through the solar system. the focus lies on how the characters relate to the events surrounding them, from the mundane event of a wedding to the possibility of a planetary collision .
in any film involving the destruction of the globe, we know that, if it is not to be saved, there must be a
money shot
depicting the actual cataclysm. i doubt any could do better than von trier does here. there are no tidal waves. no animals fleeing through burning forests. no skyscrapers falling. none of that easy stuff. no, there is simply a character standing on a hill and staring straight at the impending doom, as von trier shows it happening in what logically must be slow motion, with a fearsome preliminary merging of planetary atmospheres .
the opening of lars von trier' s melancholia is magnificent, reminiscent of a high - concept couture spread in vogue italia, with excruciating slo - mo and a parade of surrealistic tableaux, all to the bombastic accompaniment of wagner' s
tristan and isolde .
there is an intensifying burn as the film builds to its apocalyptic second half, a powerful and dreamy statement of the inevitability of disintegration and destruction, as seen through the deadened - by - sorrow eyes of kirsten dunst as justine, whose wedding sparks a cloud of despair in her so deep that she cannot be reached .
this is the first time we see justine (kirsten dunst .) she seems to both strain against and also be pulled toward an invisble force, just like the earth is, in the heavens above. the first part of the movie is the story of justine’s wedding. her mental illness, more than just normal depression is on display early, and in fact the wedding night ends with the marriage and justine’s career in tatters. this beautiful image, left, is part of an early montage that reflects a sense of the morbid fairy tale that is about to unfold. the film’s visual style is ” a clash between what is romantic and grand and stylized, and then some form of reality, ” according to von trier. yet the melding of styles of kubrick’s sensual, fluid, visual imagery and bergman’s intense, elegiac, naturalistic acting (enhanced by a lot of hand held camera shots) blend quite effectively throughout the film. the mood and composition of the shot above is certainly a reference to the well known pre - raphaelite masterpiece by john millais, called, ophelia, below. it was painted in 1852, and is an illustration of the death of ophelia from shakespeare’s hamlet .
working with the antares musicians was such a breeze! the value for the service they provided was phenomenal. i wish i had an excuse to have another event because i would hire them again in a heartbeat! jill was very responsive through email and offered suggestions when i did not know the best course of action. tammy, shane, and the third violinist (i can' t remember his name! !) were so friendly and kind. my wedding guests commented on how lovely they sounded, and how classy they made the wedding feel. i cannot thank them all enough for their professionalism, talent, and the skill they brought to our wedding day. thank you! ! !
constructed as three interlocking stories featuring the residents of an austrian apartment complex - - in which minor characters from one vignette turn up later as major characters in another and vice versa - - writer - director gotz spielmann' s drama begins with a kind of muted bang, in more ways than one. after a short prologue that ends abruptly when a car slams into a taxicab carrying a man flipping through some dirty photos ,
antares
begins with the tale of eva (petra morze), a married nurse who, while heading home to her family after working the night shift, encounters a taciturn man (andreas patton) she may or may not know from somewhere - - although we recognize him from the cab - - waiting for her in the hospital lobby .
this film tells three intertwined stories of the residents of an apartment building. this style of filmmaking has become popular of late, following the early success of robert altman (
nashville
and
short cuts
) and alejandro inarritu (
amores perros
and
babel
). this one, however, falls far short of those films. of the three episodes, the first one is the most interesting, featuring a nurse in a loveless marriage having a brief affair. the other two episodes concern low - lifes making each other' s lives miserable. neither the characters nor the stories are particularly interesting. of course everything comes together in a predictable finish .
as justine has improved, claire has become increasingly agitated and fearful that the world is coming to an end. she has started obsessively doing internet research and finds data that shows melancholia is on a collision course with the earth, and that john’s analysis is wrong. at first, the collision theory is portrayed as a kook conspiracy notion, but eventually, is proven to be true. the characters reactions to this reality and their varying levels of acceptance of it, takes up the last third of the film. john pretends it’s not true. claire’s agitation and fear keep mounting for herself and her child, while justine becomes almost calmly philosophical and accepting, even as the climate changes and strange precipitation falls from the sky
dunst, whose persona on film has often been effervescent and humorous, is a revelation in melancholia. her depression is tangible, seen in the dark shadows in her eyes, the flatness of her affect. she portrays a woman in the grip of something she cannot even name. in one scene, she goes into john' s study, where there are art books on display along the shelves. the pages are all open to colorful abstract paintings, cheerful blocks of reds and blues. in the grip of melancholia, she flips through all of the books, looking for paintings that more accurately reflect her mindset, dark disturbing images of death and torture. dunst goes very deep in melancholia, and her performance is mysterious, compelling, and emotional. it is her best work yet .
if i were choosing a director to make a film about the end of the world, von trier the gloomy dane might be my first choice. the only other name that comes to mind is werner herzog' s. both understand that at such a time silly little romantic subplots take on a vast irrelevance. doctor johnson told boswell :
depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully .
in the cast of von trier' s characters, impending doom seems to have created a mental state of dazed detachment. they continue to act as if their personal concerns have the slightest relevance. von trier has never made a more realistic domestic drama, depicting a family that is dysfunctional not in crazy ways but in ways showing a defiant streak of intelligent individualism .
a devastating car accident forces a nurse, a supermarket checkout girl, and a high - strung real - estate agent to come to terms with their true longings and needs while searching for love and human contact in austrian filmmaker götz spielmann' s stark and sexual drama. though their lives couldn' t be more different, it only takes one act of sudden and unexpected tragedy to bring three lost souls into contact and forever alter the course of their lives. over the next three days, each of these previously unconnected individuals will learn not only the value of time, but the true motivations that drive them and the effects that their actions can have even on those they might have never considered. lives that intersect at critical moments, skillfully woven into a film about the obsessions of love, the search for closeness, and the hope for happiness. about fear, loneliness, and courage .
movies and tv shows are certified fresh with a steady tomatometer of 75% or higher after a set amount of reviews (80 for wide - release movies, 40 for limited - release movies, 20 for tv shows), including 5 reviews from top critics .
a devastating car accident forces a nurse (petra morzé), a supermarket checkout girl (susanne wuest), and a high - strung real - estate agent (andreas kiendl) to come to terms with their true longings and needs while searching for love and human contact in austrian filmmaker götz spielmann' s stark and sexual drama. though their lives couldn' t be more different, it only takes one act of sudden and unexpected tragedy to bring three lost souls into contact and forever alter the course of their lives. over the next three days, each of these previously unconnected individuals will learn not only the value of time, but the true motivations that drive them and the effects that their actions can have even on those they might have never considered. ~ jason buchanan, rovi
brendan connell, jr. appointed chief operating officer of the academy museum of motion pictures
the academy’s board of governors awards an oscar® to alejandro g. iñárritu’s “carne y arena” virtual reality installation
the academy continues residency at the metrograph theater in new york with “the ballad of gregorio cortez” and tribute to george a. romero
academy rescinds sound mixing nomination for greg p. russell on “13 hours: the secret soldiers of benghazi”
jennifer aniston, jason bateman, warren beatty, sofia boutella, matt damon, faye dunaway, michael j. fox, ryan gosling, salma hayek, taraji p. henson, dev patel, seth rogen, octavia spencer, meryl streep and vince vaughn announced as presenters
halle berry, jamie dornan, chris evans, gael garcía bernal, samuel l. jackson, scarlett johansson, dakota johnson, kate mckinnon, shirley maclaine, hailee steinfeld will be presenters on oscars® stage
jackie chan, anne v. coates, lynn stalmaster and frederick wiseman to receive academy’s 2016 governors awards
oscar winners morgan freeman and john legend added as presenters along with j. j. abrams, sacha baron cohen and henry cavill dave grohl will give a special performance
kathy baker, o’shea jackson jr. , freida pinto and jimmy smits to perform at academy nicholl fellowships live read
kristen bell and michael b. jordan to host academy' s sci - tech awards
lacma and the academy co - present a major u. s. exhibition highlighting the prolific career of mexican cinematographer gabriel figueroa
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a deadly car crash sets off three parallel stories of women at crisis points, faltering behind the doors of the same, plain vienna apartment block. a bored nurse with a stable, comfortable... see full summary »
buzzing comedies such as the spy who dumped me await you in our summer movie guide. check in for all the info you need .
round - up: goodnight mommy blu - ray / dvd, the funhouse massacre release details, new live - evil photos, dr. gangrene halloween videos
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angela an illegal immigrant living in los angeles stumbles across bill, a disgraced banker on the run. through sex, conversation ranging from politics to philosophy, and other worldly pleasures, angela introduces bill to another worldview .
can strangers connect? can casual sex become something else? in santiago, daniela and bruno, both about 30, meet at a party, go to another and end up in a hotel. we join them there as... see full summary »
three generations of a french family open up about their sexual experiences and desires after young romain is caught masturbating in his biology class .
a failed london musician meets once a week with a woman for a series of intense sexual encounters to get away from the realities of life. but when he begins inquiring about her, it puts their relationship at risk .
in a social context deteriorated by a countrywide economic crisis, the life of several people will be turned upside down after they meet cecile, a character who symbolizes desire .
one day at a colleague' s going away party, anna meets domenico, a virile, slightly older chap who' s married with two small kids. passion' s flames are rapidly kindled and result in steamy encounters .
two young women find themselves struggling to survive in paris, street - wise nathalie, a stripper, and naïve sandrine, a barmaid. together, they discover that sex can be used to their... see full summary »
a young single mother drops her son of at the bus stop to visit his dad in paris. after being late for work, she almost gets fired. at the end of her duties she gets into a tricky situation which she handles, with the advice her colleague gave her .
reluctantly, a sulky adolescent returns to her parents' house for yet another boring summer vacation, dabbling in desire and the art of desirability, eventually mixing reality with vision, caged fantasies with the fierce female sexuality .
a filmmaker holds a series of boundary - pushing auditions for his project about female pleasure .
coming of age. in buenos aires, eloy is on the verge of manhood. he studies physics, helps with the family headstone business, and does advertising - handing out flyers while walking on... see full summary »
a chronicle of the life of a middle - class french girl' s sexual adventures, her then fall into prostitution, and her ultimate redemption .
a deadly car crash sets off three parallel stories of women at crisis points, faltering behind the doors of the same, plain vienna apartment block. a bored nurse with a stable, comfortable family life has a wild but almost - wordless extramarital affair with a fashion - conscious traveling salesman, who' s obsessed with sex photos. an unstable young austrian grocery checker lies to hold on to her philandering yugoslavian boyfriend, claiming she' s pregnant. finally, a recent divorcée whose violent, ex - husband is a king of denial intent on getting her back. will the residents' fibs and moral failures save or destroy them? can the women safely express their fears ?
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viennese director goetz spielmann brings coolly analytical gaze to complex, subtly interlocking material. centered on the love lives of three different women in an anonymous housing project, script is cleverly constructed, with fine performances from the ensemble cast. strong fest item could secure some european arthouse exposure .
with: with: petra morze, andreas patton, hary prinz, susanne wuest, dennis cubic, martina zinner, andreas kiendl, xenia ferchner, angelika nidetzky, hannes thanheiser, reinhard nowak, gisella salcher, monika tajmar, wolfram schmidt, barca baxant.
antares is a 2004 austrian film directed by götz spielmann . it was austria 's submission to the 77th academy awards for the academy award for best foreign language film , but was not accepted as a nominee . the movie is a sexual drama that focuses on adultery , abusive relationships , and sexual frustration . critics claim that the film also explores the relationship between austria and its former empire through immigration . 
antares is a 2004 austrian film directed by götz spielmann. it was austria's submission to the 77th academy awards for the academy award for best foreign language film, but was not accepted as a nominee. the movie is a sexual drama that focuses on adultery, abusive relationships, and sexual frustration. critics claim that the film also explores the relationship between austria and its former empire through immigration.
antares is a 2004 austrian film directed by götz spielmann. it was austria's submission to the 77th academy awards for the academy award for best foreign language film, but was not accepted as a nominee. the movie is a sexual drama that focuses on adultery, abusive relationships, and sexual frustration. critics claim that the film also explores the relationship between austria and its former empire through immigration.