"Nostalgia is a powerful thing"It’s 25 years since Joel and Ethan Coen made their debut feature,Blood Simple , and the former cult film-makers are now Hollywood players with Academy Awards on the mantelpiece. Their new film,A Serious Man , has been described as “the picture you get to make after you’ve won an Oscar” and is set among the Minnesota Jewish community the brothers grew up in. But the awards change nothing, and this isn’t an autobiography, they tellDONALD CLARKE
Homemade horrorProduced for $15,000. Filmed in the director’s own home. Championed by the people.Paranormal Activity has become the the most profitable film ever at the world box-office. The movie’s quietly-scary director Oren Peli tellsDONALD CLARKE how public screaming at a public screening convinced DreamWorks to give it a major release
Features »
The clue is in the film title!Steven Soderbergh’s directing career has swung between the wacky and the earnest, encompassing biopics, heists and whistleblowers – including his latest outing, which allows him to pretend he is working in the 1970s when film-makers could do whatever they pleased
Past masterA decade ago, some thought him an upmarket video-nasty impresario. Now Michael Haneke is a much-praised European master, taking this year’s Palme d’Or at Cannes forThe White Ribbon. Haneke is not keen on explaining his films, he tellsDonald Clarke . So is this Austria-set movie about the origins of fascism? Make your own mind up, he suggests
News and Comment »
Oscar intrigue over animation nominationsREEL NEWS : Something fishy may be afoot in the campaign for the best animated feature Oscar. Indulge us while we list the tedious regulations.
- It's not a black and white case
...saysDONALD CLARKE in hisScreen Writer column
Blogs »
- Hooray, hooray. It’s Corman, Bacall and Willis.Donald Clarke | Screenwriter »The zombies who hand out the Oscars can be so knuckle-headed you have to give thanks when somebody...
- Is it my Aunt Doris?Donald Clarke | Screenwriter »While on the move today in London, I was browsing through The New Yorker (Ooo! Get him!) and...
- Do you like Der Zorn Gottes?Donald Clarke | Screenwriter »I was interviewing Michael Haneke the other day (as you do) and, for more than one reason, I began...
Film Reviews »
A Serious ManDirected by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen. Starring Michael Stuhlbarg, Ford Melamed, Richard Kind, Aaron Wolf, Sari Lennick, Adam Arkin, Jessica McManus15A cert, IFI/Cineworld/Screen, Dublin 105 min
The Twilight Saga: New MoonDirected by Chris Weitz. Starring Kristen Stewert, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Ashley Greene, Billy Burke, Peter Facinelli, Rachelle Lefevre, Nikki Reed, Michael Sheen, Dakota Fanning12A Cert, gen release, 130 min
