Read On is a regular feature in which The Dissolve’s staff recommends recent film pieces. Because there’s always someone writing something notable about the movies somewhere on the Internet.
Kottke.org excerpts Werner Herzog’s list of advice for filmmakers (and everyone, really) from Paul Cronin’s book, Werner Herzog—A Guide For The Perplexed:
“24. Get used to the bear behind you.”
Brian Turner, a soldier who served in Iraq, pens an op-ed on American Sniper for Vulture:
“This isn’t the defining film of the Iraq War. After nearly a quarter century of war and occupation in Iraq, we still haven’t seen that film. I’m beginning to think we’re incapable as a nation of producing a film of that magnitude, one that would explore the civilian experience of war, one that might begin to approach so vast and profound a repository of knowledge. I’m more and more certain that, if such a film film ever arrives, it’ll be made by Iraqi filmmakers a decade or more from now, and it’ll be little known or viewed, if at all, on our shores. The children of Iraq have far more to teach me about the war I fought in than any film I’ve yet seen — and I hope some of those children have the courage and opportunity to share their lessons onscreen. If this film I can only vaguely imagine is ever made, it certainly won’t gross $100 million on its opening weekend.”
The New York Times’ Dave Itzikoff talks to Al Pacino and Barry Levinson about The Humbling and their respective careers:
“When I was younger, I carried the roles with me more, in my life. It was a matter of learning how to separate them. That comes with time. But I remember when I did Dog Day [Afternoon], we had to go back and do a reshoot. And I just couldn’t do it. I kept trying, but that guy left me. Sidney [Lumet] had mentioned that he saw that character leave my body.”
Time Out New York’s David Ehrlich shares seven things you need to know about Mommy director Xavier Dolan:
“In the Cannes press notes for Mommy, I wrote that I Killed My Mother was a misinterpreted love letter to my mom, and I’ve regretted that note ever since. I said that I felt like I had to kill my mother in the first opus, and that in this new one I felt like I was avenging her. But Mommy was not made as a response to I Killed My Mother. They have nothing to do with one another. They are diametrically opposed in tone, in style, in color, in light, in background, in conflict, in social strata—even in how the crisis in one film is completely anecdotal, and the other is absolutely existential. The clash in I Killed My Mother is trivial: It’s people fighting because one of them has crumbs of bread stuck in the corners of her mouth.”
Plus, the rest of today’s biz-ness:
- Pedro Almodovar will receive WGA’s Jean Renoir award
- Short film “Myrna The Monster” features the voice of Kathleen Hanna
- The Guild of Music Supervisors honor Guardians Of The Galaxy, Whiplash
- Magnolia has acquired Sundance comedy Results
- Oscar Isaac’s X-Men costume will be a combo of “physical” and “robotic technology"