Gifted Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky (1932-1986) is the subject of a commendable retrospective programme at Ballina Arts Centre in Co Mayo this month. The season, which began on Tuesday with Solaris, continues next Tuesday with Tarkovsky's enthralling final film, The Sacrifice. The post-apocalypse Stalkerwill be screened on January 20th, followed by Tarkovsky's supremely stylish, semi-autobiographical Mirroron the 27th.
In addition, there will be secondary school screenings of his intriguing wartime drama, Ivan's Childhood. www.ballinaartscentre.com
A shot in the dark
Watching movies can get irritating, what with the stench of popcorn and the plague of texting in cinemas these days, but a Philadelphia audience member opted for an extreme response over the holiday season when a family persisted in talking through The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which is hardly a family film even if its title may suggest otherwise. Mad as hell and unwilling to take any more, the Philly gentleman shot and injured the father of the family. He was arrested and charged with attempted murder.
Still part of the British Isles?
The late Richard Harris noted how the UK media described him as Irish when he was charged with disorderly behaviour, but claimed him as British when he was voted best actor at Cannes for This Sporting Life. Now three Irish actors have been designated as British in the nominations for the London Film Critics Circle awards, to be presented on February 4th.
Michael Fassbender, who was born in Germany but moved to Killarney when he was two and lived there until he finished secondary school, is shortlisted as British Actor of the Year for Hunger. The nominees for British Supporting Actor of the Year include Dubliner Liam Cunningham (for Hunger) and Connemara native Peter O'Toole (for Dean Spanley).
An F Scott renaissance
The relationship of novelist spouses F Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Sayre was explored in Irish director Pat O'Connor's 1993 TV film Zelda, starring Timothy Hutton and Natasha Richardson. Now Keira Knightley is set to play Zelda in The Beautiful and the Damned, to be directed by John Curran (The Painted Veil). The male lead has yet to be signed.
Fitzgerald is currently experiencing a Hollywood revival. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, based loosely on one of his short stories, is an Oscar contender. And Baz Luhrmann has acquired the remake rights to his classic novel, The Great Gatsby. The central character Jay Gatsby has been played in movies by Warner Baxter (1926), Alan Ladd (1949) and Robert Redford (1974), and on TV by Robert Ryan (1958) and Toby Stephens (2000).
Speculation is rife regarding who Luhrmann will cast as Gatsby. The underrated Patrick Wilson would seem ideal, although either Matt Damon or Casey Affleck would be suitable.
The vocal crowd
Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Liam Neeson, Lily Tomlin, Betty White and Cloris Leachman will provide the voices for the principal characters on the English- language soundtrack of Ponyo on the Cliff, a new animated feature from Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away), which opens here in July.
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