‘A director never finishes a film, he abandons it’

He likes to drive his characters mad and make his audience uncomfortable. But in persona, film-maker Darren Aronofsky, the mind behind intense and tough films like Black Swan is funny and easy. At a roundtable chat organised at the just concluded 12th International Marrakech Film Festival, he was full of quips and quotes. He also spoke at length about his forthcoming Russell Crowe film Noah. Excerpts: On hurricane Sandy’s impact on the filming of Noah: We actually were quite okay. We built a sea worthy vessel —the actual Ark was built in Long Island — which got wrecked since the impact of the Hurricane on Long Island was a lot. We couldn’t reach the sets for weeks. There was no electricity in that area for four days. But the emotional and human toll was much more than physical toll. On tweeting details about Noah: I’m a pretty private person. Agreed that Twitter is a pretty strange thing for me to get involved with, but I feel that we are in the New World so if one hasn’t got on to social media then one can feel left out. I’ve observed the great comedian Louis...

Read More........ → August 23, 2014

Scorsese's black comedy The Wolf of Wall Street - reviews

.. Scorsese's provocative satire about disgraced stockbroker Jordan Belfort divides critics What you need to know Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street, released in UK cinemas this week, has divided critics with some hailing it as a work of "genius" and others condemning its apparent celebration of greed. The film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, is based on a memoir by disgraced former New York stockbroker Jordan Belfort. The story follows the rise of Belfort (DiCaprio) from a struggling penny stock dealer to a wealthy stockbroker living the high life and his eventual downfall due to fraud, corruption and  drug abuse. The film also features Jonah Hill, Matthew McConaughey and Jean Dujardin. What the critics like Every second of The Wolf of Wall Street's three-hour running time is "virile with a lifetime's accumulated genius", says Robbie Collin in the Daily Telegraph. The machine-gun urgency of Scorsese's visceral story and a powerhouse performance from DiCaprio might make this Scorsese's best film since Goodfellas. DiCaprio "cranks the volume up to ten for his performance...

Read More........ → February 15, 2014

David Cameron's speech: 'appalling jokes' fail to rouse crowd

Political commentators unimpressed by PM's speech – but was it down to the conference hall? DAVID CAMERON'S speech failed to rouse the crowd at the Conservative Party conference today, with complaints of "appalling jokes" and an overwhelming focus on Ed Miliband. The Prime Minister's one liners included a joke about driving the two-millionth Mini off the production line ("I turned the wrong way but you'll be relieved that on this occasion I turned right not left"). He also made light of unflattering topless photographs of himself to mock Miliband's plans to freeze energy bills ("You keep your shirt on; I'll keep the lights on.") But the Tory leader drew few laughs. "The Cam jokes are beyond lame, even by the dismal standards of conference speeches," tweeted The Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland. "Conference speeches [are] often forgotten within a week. That one will be forgotten within the hour." In The Independent, John Rentoul bemoaned the "appalling jokes" and "clunky joins between prefabricated sections", but conceded that the speech "did the job, positioning the Conservatives...

Read More........ → October 26, 2013