“We, the undersigned, a group of student Muslim brothers and sisters, ask the cultural and media branch of the judiciary to prosecute Leyla Hatami for her sinful act of kissing a strange man in public, which according to article 638 of Islamic Criminal Justice carries a prison sentence. Furthermore, the action of this film star has hurt the religious sentiments of the proud and martyrs-breeding nation of Iran and as such we also demand the punishment of flogging for her, as stipulated in the law.” — Excerpt from complaint filed with Iran’s judiciary by Hizbullah Students, a group with links to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, as reported on 5.22 by the Guardian‘s Damien McElroy and Ahmad Vahdat.

I don’t care if Quentin Tarantino becomes Michael Keaton…fine with me. But if he wants to do something about it, now’s the time while he still has a few sprigs left. If I’m not mistaken Keaton “did something about it” a while back, by the way. This is the 21st Century, the age of the Jetsons. You don’t have to look like Uriah Heep unless…you know, it doesn’t matter to you.

A respectful salute to Edgar Wright for leaving Ant-Man, the dumbest sounding FX-driven transformation movie in cinematic history, over creative differences. I’m guessing the departure was preceded by Wright saying to the people on his team, “More and more this movie is shaping up into something truly legendary in terms of idiotic material and potential career ruination. I have to save myself. I won’t go down with this film!” Word around the campfire is that Marvel asked for an extensive rewrite of the script, which is late in the game with the cast in place. The official statement reads as follows: “Marvel and Edgar Wright jointly announced today that the studio and director have parted ways on Ant-Man due to differences in their vision of the film. The decision to move on is amicable and does not impact the release date on July 17, 2015.” Update: Latino Review has posted a credible-sounding account of what happened, based on reporting: http://www.latino-review.com/news/exclusive-the-inside-story-on-the-divorce-between-marvel-edgar-wright-over-ant-man.

The upcoming Criterion Bluray of Michelangelo Antonioni‘s L’Eclisse (6.10) has me wondering why it’s so hard to find detailed information about the romantic relationship between Antonioni and Monica Vitti, who were quite the seismic historical couple. He made her into “Monica Vitti” and she made his movies sexy, moody and cool (if you regarded feeling nothing as “cool”). For a four- or five-year span (’59 to ’64 or thereabouts) they had a huge impact on world cinema and filmmakers everywhere. Vitti had starring roles in Antonioni’s four huge landmark films of that period, each sharing a common mood/theme about existential ennui and spiritual enervation among Italy’s jaded elite — L’Avventura (’60), La Notte (’61), L’Eclisse (’62), Red Desert (’64). What was the exact nature of their affair? Exactly how long were they together? The books about Antonioni are mostly critical appreciations of his art, but accompanied by somewhat sketchy or under-detailed accounts of his personal life. Was the Antonioni-Vitti relationship more or less the same kind of quid pro quo arrangement that has existed between many middle-aged, brand-name directors and younger talented actresses (you mold me into a classy, highly respected, world-famous star by casting me in your super-brilliant films and I will reciprocate in the usual ways) or was it something more? Vitti reportedly helped Antonioni raise production funds for L’Avventura. Were there shades of a Jules Dassin-Melina Mercouri partnership for a time…or not? I ask because Antonioni-Vitti were apparently “together” for the same five or six-year period that their creative relationship lasted. I don’t know the particulars but I’d like to. I only know that you can’t find much online about their history. If there’s a tell-all book of some kind I can’t find it on Amazon. If there’s a source I should be looking at, please advise. People have written about the career-propelled marriage between David O. Selznick and Jennifer Jones — why not Antonioni-Vitti?

The Leviathan press conference began at 12:30 pm, ended around 1:20 pm. Director Andrey Zvyagintsev, producer Alexander Rodnyansky and costars Alexey Serebryakov (the victim), Vladimir Vdovichenkov (the lawyer buddy from Moscow), Elena Lyadova (the cause of all the trouble) and Roman Madyanov (the fat corrupt mayor). You’d think with all the Palme d’Or talk the Salle du Presse would be packed, but it wasn’t. I asked a question about the gallons of vodka that the characters consume. Given the general life-mirroring nature of this film, is this really how many or most Russians put it away? The answer (spoken in Russian, translated into French and then into English with headphones) was “this is quite amusing” and “what about the Japanese?…they’re just as bad.” Before the press conference started a female journalist tried to help me pronounce “Zvyagintsev” correctly. The accent is on the second syllable; it goes something like “ZivYAHgintsev.”

With the exception of Kristen Stewart‘s alert, quietly arresting performance as a personal assistant to Juliette Binoche‘s famous, middle-aged actress undergoing an emotional-psychological downshift, Olivier Assayas‘s Clouds of Sils Maria is a talky, rather flat experience. It isn’t Persona or Three Women or All About Eve, although it seems to be occasionally flirt with the material that these three films explored and dug into. MCN’s David Poland has written that it sometimes feels like “a female version of My Dinner With Andre” — generous! But on that note I’ll give Poland credit for thinking about this rather airless and meandering chit-chat film more than I did. It just didn’t light my torch. I agree with Poland on one point — it would have been a more interesting film if Assayas has focused more on Stewart and costar Chloe Moretz, who’s playing a version of herself. I have to catch Kornel Mundruzco‘s White God (a.k.a. “the dog movie”) at the Salle Debussy at 2:30 pm so read Poland’s review and decide for yourself if you want to sit through this thing when it opens stateside.