Loveless composer Evgeny Galperin, whom I met in Cannes two years ago, says that he “worked” for (presumably composed the musical score for) Kantemir Balagov‘s Beanpole, which will show in Cannes under Un Certain Regard.

Evgeny will be in Cannes for a couple of days to attend the Beanpole screening and, I presume, take a few bows. He assures that Beanpole, a melodrama about two women struggling to survive in the 1945 aftermath of the German siege of Leningrad, is an “absolute masterpiece.” He’s also urging that I see Kirill Mikhanovsky‘s Give Me Liberty, which will screen at Directors’ Fortnight.

Balagov’s controversial Tesnota (Closeness) screened in Cannes two years ago. The 26 year-old director’s decision to include footage from an actual snuff film prompted some press-screening walkouts, and resulted in the ruffling of critical feathers. Todd McCarthy‘s Hollywood Reporter review reflected this reaction.

Tatyana saw Tesnota/Closeness at Telluride ’17. She told Evgeny this morning that she found it “brilliant” and a “true masterpiece” and knew right away that “a new, very talented Russian film director had been born.”

Long Beanpole synopsis via Wild Bunch: “1945, Leningrad. World War II has devastated the city, demolishing its buildings and leaving its citizens in tatters, physically and mentally. Although the siege – one of the worst in history – is finally over, life and death continue their battle in the wreckage that remains. Two young women, Iya and Masha, search for meaning and hope in the struggle to rebuild their lives amongst the ruins.

“26-year-old Kantemir Balagov follows Tesnota, winner of the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, with a powerful period drama.”

At long last, World of Reel‘s Jordan Ruimy has posted results of a top-rated films of the 20-teens poll. Not entirely critics but 250 “critics, programmers, academics and distributors“, as Ruimy puts it.

George Miller‘s Mad Max: Fury Road — a high-grade, brilliantly choreographed apocalyptic action flick — has emerged with the highest tally. Terrence Malick‘s The Tree of Life came in second, Barry Jenkins‘ overpraised Moonlight ranks third, Richard Linklater‘s Boyhood is fourth and David Fincher‘s The Social Network emerged as #5.

Of the top 20 favorites, a little less than half — Fury Road, Moonlight, Jordan Peele‘s Get Out (#10), Todd Haynes‘ Carol (#12), Spike Jonze‘s Her (#18) and Luca Guadagnino‘s Call Me By Your Name (#19) — could be called Joe Popcorn-friendly.

The others are studied, formidable, sophisticated, in some cases ultra-dweeby, New York Film Festival-y, non-popcorny “critics movies” such as Jonathan Glazer‘s Under the Skin (#12), Kenneth Lonergan‘s Margaret (14), Maren Ade‘s overpraised Toni Erdmann (#15), Apichatpong Weerasethakul‘s Uncle Bonmee (#16), Joshua Oppenheimer‘s The Act of Killing and Leos Carax‘s brilliant Holy Motors.

#6 through #10 are The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson), Roma (Alfonso Cuaron), Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson…get outta town!), A Separation (Asghar Farhadi…yes!) and the perfectly composed Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel Coen).

HE opinion (reposted): Moonlight is a very good film, but it was over-showered with praise by way of virtue-signalling and p.c. kowtowing. Now that the post-Twilight Zone truth about Jordan Peele has begun to settle in, Get Out‘s rep is almost certainly undergoing a reassessment.

HE’s TOP ELEVEN OF THE LAST NINE YEARS: Manchester By The Sea, A Separation, The Social Network, Zero Dark Thirty, Call Me By Your Name, Son of Saul, The Wolf of Wall Street, Leviathan, The Square, Moneyball, Diane.

Friend: Time to stop your crybaby whining and get on the Biden train. We have to take Trump out and Joe is, at least right now, our best bet.

HE to friend: “At least right now” — yeah, you said it.

Joe is Mr. Wrong for 2020. Mr. Out of Time. Bruce Dern in Coming Home. All he has going for his candidacy is Name Recognition & an association with Obama Comfort. He’s always been a gaffe-master extraordinaire, but he will out-do himself over the next 12 months. Sooner or later he’ll collapse like a deck of cards. Because he’s 10, 15 or 20 years too late. Because the train has left the station and he’s not on it. Partly or largely because he’s TOO DAMN OLD.

Mayor Pete, Mayor Pete, Mayor Pete.

Friend: You’re a fucking idiot. You’re just helping Trump. You should stop talking about politics.

HE to friend: Yeah, I was dead-ass wrong when I said over and over that while I’d be voting for Hillary Clinton, she was nonetheless without the right charismatic stuff and actually hugely dislikable. Obviously the only sane Presidential candidate in the ’16 general election, but that cackle and those eye bags were toxic. And then she fainted at that World Trade Center event. And her stupid email server. After the fact I spelled out what went wrong.

“It took President Trump 601 days to top 5,000 false and misleading claims in The Fact Checker’s database, an average of eight claims a day. But on April 26, just 226 days later, the President crossed the 10,000 mark — an average of nearly 23 claims a day in this seven-month period, which included the many rallies he held before the midterm elections, the partial government shutdown over his promised border wall and the release of the special counsel’s report on Russian interference in the presidential election.” — from “President Trump has made more than 10,000 false or misleading claims,” a 4.29 Washington Post report by Glenn Kessler, Salvador Rizzo and Meg Kelly.

The two greatest Nebraska-born auteurs of the last 100 years are surely the late Harold Lloyd and the alive-and-well Alexander Payne. Different world views and approaches to cinema, of course — a brilliant physical comedian and a brainy, low-key dramatist with a wry sense of humor — so there’s no need to compare the two. Geographical origins mean nothing in the greater schemes.

But if someone insisted upon comparing them, who would be the greater, more formidable talent in the eyes of the Movie Godz? And who would be the “winner” if the same question was put to Joe and Jane Popcorn?

The answer, of course, is that the Movie Godz would side with Lloyd because of his physically inventive comic scenarios (i.e., that hanging-from-a-clock shot from Safety Last) while Joe and Jane would choose Payne because of Election and Sideways, and because they’ve probably never even seen a clip from a Harold Lloyd film, much less one from beginning to end.

It doesn’t matter how good you are or were — all that matters is (a) what people remember and (b) the quality of the biographies or documentaries made about your work.

I was thinking about Payne this morning because the 20th anniversary of Election (which is either his best or second-best film — you decide) is only a few days off. Payne has been a fully respected, brand-name director since Citizen Ruth, but he’s touched greatness only twice — with Election and Sideways (’04). Basically he was a beneficiary of what turned out to be a five-year hot streak.

Artists are merely channellers or conduits of creative insight and energy. They don’t get to choose when their output is going to be brilliant or mezzo-mezzo or disappointing. All they can do is keeping pumping the handle and hope for the best.

Payne exuded an almost wizard-like aura after Election, but after everyone saw About Schmidt (’02) the consensus was that he’d lost his touch. Then be bounced back with the glorious Sideways.

Seven years later Payne came up with The Descendants, which everyone found fairly exceptional and rooted in real-people behavior (it was a solid 8 or even an 8.5) even if they privately muttered that it wasn’t quite on the level of Sideways (9) or Election (9.5). Two years later he delivered the Oscar-nominated but vaguely underwhelming Nebraska (7.5)). Then he came up with Downsizing (5.5), which had a brilliant first act but collapsed somewhere around the halfway mark.

If there’s such a thing as a dry Nebraskan aesthetic, Payne is the emblem of this. (I think. Probably.) I’m not sure I know enough about Lloyd to say that he thought or wrote or performed like a Nebraskan; nor am I certain if “Nebraskan” means anything in the realm of creative endeavor. I do know that as a producer-performer Lloyd had a personal stamp, and that he enjoyed a six- or seven-year peak period from Safety Last (’23) to Welcome Danger (’29).

This is one of the most hare-brained things I’ve ever written.

I’ve been wondering why James Gray‘s Ad Astra — a hard-luck, behind-the-eight-ball sci-fi movie if I ever heard of one — hasn’t been screening despite Wikipedia, IMDB and Box-Office Mojo all reporting an opening date of 5.24.19.

The answer is that Ad Astra, a father-son, space-travel, Heart of Darkness-like drama with Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga, Donald Sutherland and Jamie Kennedy, isn’t opening in May. The latest is that it’ll “most likely premiere at Venice,” according to a distribution exec.

The 5.24 date was announced last October. But here we are less than a month away and there’s no trailer, no screenings…nothing. That’s because the Disney-Fox transition has slowed down the usual process, and so no one thought to tell Wikipedia, IMDB and Box Office Mojo to change the 5.24 date to “sometime in the fall of ’19.”

Ad Astra was made for only $50 million. For a film of this scope (astronaut space adventure, other realms and universes, etc.) that’s a nickle-and-dime budget.

Last February Gray was asked what were the odds that Ad Astra might show up at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.

“We’re trying, we’re certainly hopeful,” Gray replied. “The issue is a little bit out of our hands ’cause the shots come in from the VFX houses and right now our delivery date is late April early May, which is really, really cutting it close. You want your visual effects to be so good that nobody thinks about them, that people don’t think of them as visual effects.”

A Washington Post-ABC News poll says that 54% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents have no particular preference for any candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, Joe Biden included.

Think about that for five or ten seconds. For months and months it’s been “Biden and Bernie in front, Biden and Bernie in front, Biden and Bernie in front” and yet — and yet! — 54% of likely Democratic voters are saying “no one in particular” when asked to name a candidate they currently support.

This means that support for Biden is soft. It means the majority is still sniffing around and kicking the tires with no strong passion for anyone.

On the other hand there’s a new Emerson poll stating that Biden is doing best against Trump in Texas, with Beto O’Rourke polling nearly as well.

Until yesterday I hadn’t realized that Kamala Harris is only 5′ 2″. I’m sorry but that changes things slightly. Hillary Clinton (5’4″ or 5’5″) appeared to be fairly short in her debates with the 6’2″ Trump, but Kamala is two inches shorter. That’s visually worrisome.

Beto O’Rourke is obviously going through a rough patch, but he’s the only front-polling Democratic candidate who is clearly taller than Orange Cheeto. He’s got him by two if not three inches. Don’t kid yourself: One of the reasons that Michael Dukakis lost to George H.W. Bush (Willie Horton and tank video aside) is that fact that next to Bush he looked like Rocky the Squirrel.

1:15 pm update: Variety‘s Cynthia Littleton is reporting that director John Singleton has died after being taken off life support.

Earlier: 12 days after suffering a stroke and then slipping into a coma, Boyz in the Hood director and TV producer John Singleton, 51, has apparently come to the end of the road. It was announced this morning that he’ll be taken off life support. Which probably means what it seems to mean.

The 23 year-old Singleton hit the mother lode in mid-1991 with the release of Boyz In The Hood, a first-rate South Central drama costarring Ice Cube, Cuba Gooding Jr., Morris Chestnut, Laurence Fishburne, Nia Long, Regina King and Angela Bassett. For the 64th Academy Awards Singleton was nominated for Best Director (making him the youngest to ever be so nominated) and Best Original Screenplay.

Lamentably, Boyz in the Hood remained Singleton’s only gold-standard achievement. Over the last 28 years he never matched it, much less made something better.

It was after seeing his Boyz followup, Poetic Justice (’93) with Janet Jackson in the lead, that I realized Singleton would at best be looking at an uncertain, up-and-down career. Poetic Justice was one of the worst titles ever used by anyone n the history of motion pictures, as Jackson’s character, a hairdresser with a gift for poetry, was named Justice. A friend remarked at the time that this was like Clint Eastwood‘s character in Unforgiven being named “Forgiven.”

Singleton also directed Higher Learning (’95), Baby Boy (’01), Rosewood (’97) Shaft (’00), 2 Fast 2 Furious (’03) and Four Brothers (’05).

Singleton family statement: “We are grateful to his fans, friends and colleagues for the outpouring of love and prayers during this incredibly difficult time. We want to thank all the doctors at Cedars Sinai for the impeccable care he received.”

Littleton reports that the statement also cited Singleton’s history of dealing with hypertension, or high blood pressure that places great strain on heart functions.

These days all Cannes Classics selections are recently restored in 4K — that’s pretty much a given. So which 2019 selections seem especially enticing?

A 4K restored version of Dennis Hopper‘s Easy Rider will be shown on the 50th anniversary of the film’s Cannes debut. HE factor: Great news about the 4K upgrade but I for one never had the slightest problem with the previous Bluray versions so I’m having trouble feeling worked up. Peter Fonda, 79, will attend the screening.

A 4K remaster of Stanley Kubrick‘s The Shining will be shown (a midnight screening) with a special introduction from Alfonso Cuaron. The 4K remastering used a new 4K scan of the original 35mm camera negative. The mastering was done at Warner Bros. Motion Picture Imaging. The color grading was done by Janet Wilson with supervision from Kubrick’s former personal assistant Leon Vitali. HE factor: Can’t get worked up over this either. The Bluray has always looked fine.

You know what would turn me on? A boxy (1.37:1) Bluray version. Remember how Kubrick was into boxy aspect ratios, and that a boxy Shining was in fact released on DVD 15 or 16 years ago (or something in that realm)?

Three restored Luis Bunuel films will be shown this year: Los Olvidados (restored by The Film Foundation’s World Cinema Project at L’Immagine Ritrovata in collaboration with Fundación Televisa, Cineteca Nacional Mexico, and Filmoteca de la UNAM), Nazarín (3K Scan and 3K Digital Restoration from the original 35mm image negative, mastered in 2K for Digital Projection) and L’Âge d’or (4K restoration by la Cinemathèque française and le Centre Pompidou, using the original nitrate negative, original sound and safety elements). HE factor: I would love to watch a mint-condition L’Age d’Or.

A restored version of Lina Wertmüller‘s Seven Beauties (’75). Wertmuller, 90, will introduce with star Giancarlo Giannini in attendance. HE factor: If it all possible, I’ll be attending.

Vittorio De Sica‘s Miracle in Milan (’51) will be screened. 4K Scan and Digital Restoration from the original 35mm camera negative and a vintage dupe positive. Color grading supervised by dp Luca Bigazzi. HE factor: Later.

A 4K digital restoration of Milos Forman‘s Loves of a Blonde (’65) will be shown. Restored in partnership with the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and the Czech Film Fund. A doc about Forman’s career, Forman vs. Forman, will also be shown. HE factor: I’ve always worshipped Loves of a Blonde. Very interested.

HE correspondent Mark Smith has forwarded impressions of the Tribeca Film Festival’s screening of Francis Coppola‘s Apocalypse Now: Final Cut, which was shown this evening at Manhattan’s 3000-seat Beacon Theatre:

“From what I could tell, there is NO NEW FOOTAGE of anything.

“The French Plantation scene is IN — since I’ve only seen Redux once, I’m not sure if it was trimmed down, but it felt like 23 minutes (23 months, if you ask me) so I’m assuming it’s the same now as it was in Redux.

“Let’s Stop and Fuck Some Playmates is OUT…gone. Kurtz Reads Time Magazine is OUT. The extra bits with Duvall’s Kilgore are all IN, including the scene where he’s flying over Willard and the crew, them asking for his surfboard back. So as far as I can tell, Apocalypse Now: Final Cut = Redux minus Let’s Stop and Fuck Some Playmates minus Kurtz Reads Time Magazine.

“Picture quality-wise it looks terrific. The screen was huge, and the colors and contrast levels looked great. Whatever was done to the visuals to prepare it for this premiere (4K hyper-digital blah blah) didn’t strike me as a monumental change, but it looked FANTASTIC — make no mistake.

“Celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Francis Ford Coppola’s visionary Vietnam War epic when the newly restored Apocalypse Now: Final Cut arrives on 4K Ultra H Combo Pack (4K disc, plus three Blu-ray discs and Digital copy) and on Digital 4K Ultra HD for the first time ever on August 27 from Lionsgate. A special NAGRA myCinema theatrical release of Apocalypse Now: Final Cut can be experienced on the giant screen in select theaters nationwide on August 15.”

“What REALLY leaps off the screen is how otherworldly and exquisite Vittorio Storaro’s photography is. For me this is one of the ten best-photographed movies ever, and seeing a pristine version on a massive screen was an absolute joy.

“As for the sound, I was hoping that the Wagner helicopter attack would blow my kidneys out my ass, and I was not disappointed. Whatever system they set up there was fucking galactic. It was the loudest viewing experience I’ve ever had that wasn’t a rock concert. The bass SHOOK the joint. The sound was the big star of the night for me. Triple A-Plus.

“Coppola brought Duvall out before the screening began, and before they exited the spotlight Duvall bellowed “Charlie don’t surf!” into the mike and grinned like a loon.

“Soderbergh gave props to Walter Murch, who was in the crowd. (Also saw Michael Moore walking around in his Michael Moore costume.)

“The Coppola-Soderbergh q&a will most likely be on the Tribeca Film Festival site, so I won’t try to recap it, but Coppola was lucid and gregarious. When he said he was 80, my eyebrows shot up. What I did notice was that Soderbergh, obviously in awe of the herculean effort it took to make the movie, kept bringing the conversation back to The Set. His overall fascination seemed to be, ‘How the fuck did you manage to make a work of genius under all that pressure?’

“All in all it was a grand moviegoing experience, but I still feel the French Plantation scene should go.

Sent earlier this afternoon: According to Wikipedia Redux runs 3 hours, 22 minutes. Other sources have listed Redux as 193 minutes and 197 minutes. Final Cut (as you know) is listed at 3 hours, 3 minutes.

“I pray that a good portion of French Plantation scene is cut down, but since the difference in running time between Redux and Final Cut is only 19 minutes, and French Plantation runs over 23 minutes (!), I think it’s safe to say French Plantation will be there in some form, but hopefully shorter.

"The baby is born, the mother meets w/the doctor. They take care of the baby. They wrap the baby beautifully. Then the doctor and mother determine whether or not they will execute the baby."

How is this man's mental state not a National Emergency right now? pic.twitter.com/uq2yPoxH3o

— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) April 28, 2019