Death of the talented, troubled Depardieu jnr

Michael Dwyerleads off this week with news of the death of Guillaume Depardieu.

The death of Guillaume Depardieu this week at the age of 37 marks the end of a troubled life that blighted a highly promising acting career. He died of viral pneumonia at a Paris hospital, where he was flown after falling ill while filming in Romania.

Depardieu had a turbulent relationship with his father, the actor Gérard Depardieu, whom he repeatedly criticised publicly. Guillaume first came to fame in 1991, playing his father's character as a young man in Tous les Matins de Monde. In 1996 he received a prestigious César award when he was named best new actor for his endearing performance in Les Apprentis.

An actor who immersed himself in roles with unstinting conviction, he gave his most adventurous performance in Leos Carax's Pola X(1999). He was seen here most recently in Jacques Rivette's period romantic drama Don't Touch the Axe/Ne Touchez pas la Hache.

Depardieu's off-screen life was filled with drama. He served three prison sentences, the first when he was 17, for theft, drugs and drink-driving charges. He admitted to working as a rent boy when he was broke. A motorcycle accident in 1995 left him with years of pain in his right left; the leg was amputated in 2003.

Depardieu was most prolific as an actor in recent years, featuring in several films yet to be released. He leaves a six-year-old daughter by his ex-wife, actress Elise Ventre.

Megamovies crowd the multiplexes

Are too many movies opening here at the same time? Even the most ardent filmgoer would be stretched to keep up with the volume in recent weeks. Nine films were released last Friday and eight open today. The competition for audiences is so intense that there have been many casualties at the box office.

The number of new releases drops to five next week and four on the following Friday, but that's because two commercial juggernauts, High School Musical 3and Quantum of Solace, are on the way, commandeering multiple screens and scaring off other distributors.

Yapping all the way to the bank

A chihuahua meets a sorry fate in the dismal How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, the Simon Pegg comedy which has flopped in the US. Meanwhile, Disney's Beverly Hills Chihuahuasurprised Hollywood by topping the US box office again this week against stiff competition.

Ridley Scott's big-budget Middle East action-thriller Body of Lies, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe, opened in third place, while City of Emberwas relegated to 10th.

Original premiere at Clones fest

The annual Clones Film Festival in Co Monaghan, which runs from October 22nd to 26th, will feature the first screening of The Last Confession of Alexander Pierce. Ciarán McMenamin will introduce the film in which he plays the title role, a young man deported from Clones to Van Diemen's Land in 1819 for stealing six pairs of shoes.The film co-stars Adrian Dunbar.

The Clones programme includes the new Northern Ireland drama Anton, directed by Graham Cantwell, who will give a masterclass at the festival.

Lawrence of Arabiawill be screened to mark the centenary of David Lean's birth. Recent international features to be shown include Persepolis, The Savages, My Brother Is an Only Child, The Diving Bell and the Butterflyand 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days.

www.clonesfilmfestival.com

Vengeance was his

Gifted Japanese actor Ken Ogata has died in Tokyo at the age of 71. His international breakthrough came when he played a cold-blooded killer in Vengeance Is Mine(1979), the first of his many movies directed by Shohei Imamura, among them The Ballad of Narayama, the 1983 Palme d'Or winner at Cannes. Ogata remains unforgettable for his fascinating portrayal of author Yukio Mishima in Paul Schrader's remarkable, vastly underrated Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters(1985).