Los Angeles Film Festival 2009: HUMPDAY, PASSENGER SIDE, EMBODIMENT OF EVIL

Mark Duplass, Joshua Leonard in Humpday (top); Embodiment of Evil (middle); Joel Bissonnette, Adam Scott in Passenger Side (bottom)

A few highlights today at the Los Angeles Film Festival, currently being held (mostly) in the Westwood Village and at the Westside’s Landmark theater complex. The festival runs until June 28.
Among today’s highlights are:

Passenger Side, one of the recommendations in the L.A. Weekly, which describes the Canadian dramatic comedy as "literate, amusing and unexpectedly moving." Written and directed by Matthew Bissonnette, the film follows two brothers — struggling writer Adam Scott and ex-junkie Joel Bissonnette (Matthew’s brother) — on a road trip throughout the Los Angeles area.
Stella, about a streetwise 11-year-old girl who finds herself [...]

indieWIRE’s Critics’ Poll: Top Ten

Mathieu Amalric, Catherine Deneuve in A Christmas Tale

Best Films of 2008: indieWIRE’s Critics’ Poll

#
BEST FILM
Points
Mentions

1
The Flight of the Red Balloon
495
43

2
A Christmas Tale
454
38

3
WALL-E
368
32

4
Wendy and Lucy
366
36

5
Happy-Go-Lucky
346
31

6
Paranoid Park
335
31

7
Still Life
330
31

8
Silent Light
310
26

9
Synecdoche, New York
290
25

10
Waltz with Bashir
283
27

 

Asia Argento in The Last Mistress

#
BEST PERFORMANCE
Points
Mentions

1
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
548
49

2
Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky
514
46

3
Michelle Williams, Wendy and Lucy
462
46

4
Sean Penn, Milk
424
41

5
Juliette Binoche, The Flight of the Red Balloon
404
38

6
Asia Argento, Boarding Gate, Mother of Tears, The Last Mistress
152
15

7
Melissa Leo, Frozen River
120
12

8
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
114
12

9
Guillaume Depardieu, The Duchess of Langeais
104
11

10
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Synecdoche, New York
98
10

Berlin Film Festival 2007

Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie in The Good Shepherd (top); Cate Blanchett, George Clooney in The Good German (bottom)

English-language productions dominate the Berlin Film Festival’s 2007 official competition line-up. In all, 22 films are competing for the Golden Bear and four are being screened out of competition at this year’s Berlinale, which runs between Feb. 8-18.
Most of the English-language fare hails from the United States and the United Kingdom, in addition to several American or British co-productions with other nations.
Robert De Niro’s Cold War drama The Good Shepherd and Steven Soderbergh’s post-WWII murder mystery The Good German had been announced earlier in January. Both films have big names attached to them (Matt Damon [...]