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I’m surprised Pedro and Tilda have never worked together, as they seem a perfect match, though fitting for her to be cast in his first English language film, and makes me wonder if he’s doing it just to work with her.

I may be in a minority here, but I don't think Swinton always is the best influence on International art house directors. Once they fall for her (creatively speaking) they are in the habit of over-indulging her, which isn't in the best interest of their films. Over the last couple of decades Almodovar's best films have been more thoughtful and lowkey and his worst have been throwbacks to his early, more flamboyant style. I'm not sure Tilda Swinton chewing the scenery is what his films need right now. Swinton can be great if utilised right and she is incredible to look at but she isn't the most subtle of performers. Even in Souvenir her archness struck my slightly out of step with the naturalism of the rest of the cast, including her own daughter.

Well I don’t think we agree on what Almodovar’s best looks like, although my two favorites are probably Pain and Glory and The Skin I Live In so split between your categories. As for Swinton, what international art house directors has she worked for outside of Luca and Bong? I didn’t feel her performances were too loud in the former’s films, nor Michael Clayton or Only Lovers Left Alive to name a couple popular ones. I think her range is far more versatile, and if Almodovar wants her for either a soft or a loud performance, I can picture her fitting into either kind of character he draws, which are often a complex mixture of moods themselves. Don’t forget her voice cameo in Uncut Gems which was so subtle you probably didn’t even recognize her

Have you seen Bad Education?

I’d rank that right up with the other two and All About My Mother. I still have a couple early ones to see though, and to be fair any of those four could switch spots depending on the day. I also think Tie Me Up Tie Me Down! is sneakily one of his best, making one of the more troubling, too-real ideas in his filmography supremely empathetic

This is where I think we may be of one mind. Spooky.

therewillbeblus wrote: Mon Feb 10, 2020 12:59 pm As for Swinton, what international art house directors has she worked for outside of Luca and Bong?

There's Erick Zonca's Julia, which in my personal top 5 of all-time grating, overbearing performances. She's also in Béla Tarr's The Man from London.

She's in Apichatpong's next as well. It's a bit obscure, but there was also Robert Lepage's Possible Worlds.

therewillbeblus wrote: Mon Feb 10, 2020 12:59 pm Well I don’t think we agree on what Almodovar’s best looks like, although my two favorites are probably Pain and Glory and The Skin I Live In so split between your categories. As for Swinton, what international art house directors has she worked for outside of Luca and Bong? I didn’t feel her performances were too loud in the former’s films, nor Michael Clayton or Only Lovers Left Alive to name a couple popular ones. I think her range is far more versatile, and if Almodovar wants her for either a soft or a loud performance, I can picture her fitting into either kind of character he draws, which are often a complex mixture of moods themselves. Don’t forget her voice cameo in Uncut Gems which was so subtle you probably didn’t even recognize her

Looks like you’ve got your wish:

https://www.indiewire.com/2020/02/pedro ... 202209989/

I won’t expect a “soft” performance in that role though. It’s all so predictable, it’s kind of funny.

Sony has acquired the rights to Almodovar’s latest, a 30 minute short Cocteau adaptation starring Tilda Swinton called the Human Voice. Can’t remember the last time any major studio actively sought out a short film, will be interesting to see what they do with it in terms of releasing (though it would have been even more interesting in the days of theatrical first releases... ah yes, those halcyon days of... seven months ago...)

On the back of reading about Almodóvar's adaptation with Tilda Swinton went looking for the 1966 version with Ingrid Bergman on YouTube (it's not there but a DVD is available) but instead found a version starring Rosamund Pike from a couple of years ago.

There was also a version with Sophia Loren directed by her son. It shows up on TCM every now and then.

domino harvey wrote: Sun Sep 27, 2020 5:25 pmCan’t remember the last time any major studio actively sought out a short film

Fox Searchlight (sorry, I mean "Searchlight") has been on something of a shorts acquisition spree over the past year, including this year's Oscar winner Skin, which they bought after the nominations came out. They've been branding them as "Searchlight Shorts" and making them available on Youtube, along with older shorts by big-name filmmakers who have done features with Searchlight (Lowery, McDonagh, Payne, Waititi).

The Fanciful Norwegian wrote: Sun Sep 27, 2020 10:58 pm There was also a version with Sophia Loren directed by her son. It shows up on TCM every now and then.

It's also on Criterion's release of A Special Day

And don't forget the first ever cinematic adaptation, in which Roberto Rossellini directs Anna Magnani, available in BFI's War Trilogy set and also on YouTube in a crappy transfer with Spanish subtitles only

domino harvey wrote: Sun Sep 27, 2020 5:25 pm Sony has acquired the rights to Almodovar’s latest, a 30 minute short Cocteau adaptation starring Tilda Swinton called the Human Voice. Can’t remember the last time any major studio actively sought out a short film, will be interesting to see what they do with it in terms of releasing (though it would have been even more interesting in the days of theatrical first releases... ah yes, those halcyon days of... seven months ago...)

Since Sony is one of the investors in Katzenberg's Quibi TV streaming service, perhaps the company acquired rights to the Almodovar film to provide additional short-form content for Quibi's short-form format.

The Curious Sofa wrote: Mon Feb 10, 2020 10:54 am I may be in a minority here, but I don't think Swinton always is the best influence on International art house directors. Once they fall for her (creatively speaking) they are in the habit of over-indulging her, which isn't in the best interest of their films. Over the last couple of decades Almodovar's best films have been more thoughtful and lowkey and his worst have been throwbacks to his early, more flamboyant style. I'm not sure Tilda Swinton chewing the scenery is what his films need right now. Swinton can be great if utilised right and she is incredible to look at but she isn't the most subtle of performers. Even in Souvenir her archness struck my slightly out of step with the naturalism of the rest of the cast, including her own daughter.

I just want to say, having just seen it at Film Forum, this is the major problem with The Human Voice.

The Human Voice is streaming on HBO Max btw

I have found something to like in literally every Almodovar film (and his track record still holds up if I amend my statement to all of his features), but the Human Voice is a stunning failure and the majority of the blame lies with Tilda Swinton and Almodovar for not directing her to do something, anything else. Swinton is so bad here, so fully up her own ass that there's no room for anything but a series of tics and halfhearted engagements with the material (which, apologies to the source, is not very good either). Swinton is clearly the Beyonce of the Letterboxd set, and it's depressing to look over there and see everyone blindly "Yass queen"ing what I could charitably call one of the worst performances I've ever seen (and I like Swinton!). Beyond the problems of Swinton, Almodovar is just lazy here: take the way he films the objects in her apartment like a third rate Godard fan, with none of the usual verve and perversity one regularly finds in his work. And the half-assed meta moments, with Swinton walking in and out of the apartment set or being framed in front of a book on Ingrid Bergman, are useless

I thought I wrote this up here, but apparently not. I also really disliked The Human Voice for a lot of the reasons you mention, but I was especially repulsed by the ending, which (unless I'm misremembering the source material) seemed to tinker with the story to arrive at an unearned twist towards empowerment. My recollection of the story's greatest strength is a lack of catharsis in this one-sided purgatory of dysregulation, so violating that seems to destroy not only the little value the material possesses, but the entire ethos of the narrative strategy.

Just saw this as well. A bit of a disappointment. Having seen Ingrid Bergman, Anna Magnani, and
Sophia Loren all tackle this material, maybe this is just one of those pieces that works better on
the stage. Bergman's version for television was probably the best of the bunch.

Poulenc's opera, with Denise Duval singing, is the best version.

domino harvey wrote: Fri May 14, 2021 2:47 pm Swinton is clearly the Beyonce of the Letterboxd set, and it's depressing to look over there and see everyone blindly "Yass queen"ing what I could charitably call one of the worst performances I've ever seen

Tilda Swinton! Your non-existent Lutz Ebersdorf in SUSPIRIA made us... sigh. And your THE HUMAN VOICE was an Almo-don’t-var.

I’m sorry my dear but you are up for elimination.

What struck me about this film's failure is that nothing was necessarily unexpected in delivery. Almodovar was on-brand in his heightened melodramatics, and Tilda- a wonderfully eclectic performer- was absolutely directed intentionally towards her overstated style, which can and has worked before, just not here. Basically, everyone is operating on their expected tonal wavelength (nobody went into this anticipating that Almodovar would tone down the material or direct Swinton away from the loud exaggerated perfs she's given before), so aside from the alteration at the end that was straight-up poorly conceived misplaced thematic empowerment, it's not working against expectations in product.. but just didn't gel. Like, at all. It's like when a band you like puts out a song that fits within their wheelhouse, yet falls completely flat on delivery.

I wonder why they needed the first scene (the one in which she is buying an axe), all the other scenes are shot in one location. It disturbs the film's theatricality a bit.