Richard Linklater’s Boyhood – A film like we’ve never seen before

Coming-of-age films form part of the daily bread of filmmaking, not only in Hollywood but in almost every movie industry around the world. Boyhood, to be released in June this year, however, takes the concept of a coming-of-age film to a whole new level that we have never seen done before.

Boyhood's creator Richard Linklater (known for the Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Before Midnight trilogy all released 9 years apart) chose 7-year-old Ellar Coltrane as his protagonist, Mason, back in 2002. This groundbreaking film, which encompasses the very essence of what dedication to art is, captures the journey of a young boy growing up over the course of 12 years using the same actor.

This larger-than-life experiment saw the group of actors, including Ethan Hawke (one of Linklater’s staple actors) and Patricia Arquette, who play Mason's parents, reunite every summer for over a decade to document a moving account of a boy growing up, culminating with him leaving for college. 

But it is not the physical and emotional growth of the boy turning into a young man that the audience witnesses, it is also the aging of the other principle actors. Hawke and Arquette visibly change through the film, going through a journey themselves. Even Mason's sister, played by Linklater's daughter, Lorelei, also evolves into a young woman through the film.

This is the first time a story of this nature has been attempted to be told on screen. The renowned director's Before Sunrise trilogy grazed the surface of this idea, with the three films spanning almost 30 years, but not to the extent that Boyhood has gone. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January this year and was also widely critically acclaimed at the Berlin Film Festival in February. 

This is a once-in-a-lifetime cinematic event – and quite literally so. We’ve waited over 12 years so far for the filming to be completed and now we just have to wait a few months more for the film to be officially released. The trailer is out but of course it does no justice to the magnitude of the film. Linklater should be saluted – this is not only a daunting task that required extreme patience and perseverance, but also one that not every director will have the mettle to fulfil.

Kirsten Dunst for W Magazine by Sofia Coppola

There have only been a few Hollywood starlets who have managed to remain relatively normal and likeable in the presence of fame and fortune; and Kirsten Dunst is definitely one of those stars. At 31 years old now, she has spent over 25 years in the film industry and she is just as hot property now as when she first arrived on the scene debuting in an uncredited role in Woody Allen’s New York Stories in 1989. She also had several small roles in television in the 90s. Having worked with Oscar-winning director and writer, Sofia Coppola, way back in 1999, Kirsten was interviewed by Sofia for the May edition of W Magazine, which was also guest-edited by Sofia.

Sofia met Kirsten when she was only 16 years old and auditioning for a role in The Virgin Suicides, in which she was cast as the lead opposite Josh Hartnett, in Toronto. Kirsten was Sofia’s first leading lady – although she was just a girl.

Sofia grew up loving photography and fashion, which obviously stems from her passion and affinity for art and, more importantly, making good art in her own way. Sofia wanted this May issue of W Magazine to pay homage to the world that she grew up in as a child – a world of glamour that is still refined where we take time out to enjoy life and live well.

The interview by Sofia is revealing and shares quite a bit of insight into Kirsten’s career and how she got started in Hollywood, having been urged by her mother to start early in the business. Kirsten’s latest film, The Two Faces of January, was released earlier this year and Sofia’s last directorial work was The Bling Ring released in 2013. If there’s one thing that these two powerhouse women have in common, it’s their discernment for picking films that will add quality to their body of work.

Sofia says that she has filled the magazine with things she loves and admires, having grown up reading the magazine and admiring the strong female figures represented on its pages. With Kirsten’s images shot by regular W Magazine contributor, Juergen Teller, she looks every inch the essence of old-world Hollywood glamour and sophistication. While Sofia also looks the part of ace filmmaker and magazine editor in her shot for the magazine taken by Andrew Durham, another regular photographer for the magazine.

Sofia says that Kirsten is her favourite California blonde while Kirsten says that she looks up to Sofia’s fashion sense. The bond the two share is one of female camaraderie and understanding. Having both got their breaks in Hollywood so young, they know what it is like to spend most of their lives in the spotlight.

The Years of La Dolce Vita – An exhibition capturing the sweet life

1960s Rome was one of the most romantic and explosive periods in contemporary Italian cinema and the glamour of celebrity. The era has held a great allure and charisma even until today, decades later. An exhibition has brought this seductive age to the London Estorick Collection gallery running until the end of June.

The exhibition features some of the most beautiful and captivating images captured during the sixties of some of the most iconic and stunning movie stars and celebrities of the time. This was the time of the true Hollywood movie star during the Golden Age, where glamour and elegance ruled.

The images included in the exhibition were taken by an Italian press photographer, Marcello Geppetti, in the sixties. The 80 black and white photographs account icons like Sophia Loren, Brigitte Bardot, Jane Mansfield and Audrey Hepburn recreating in the glamorous bars and restaurants lining Rome’s most elite and fashionable streets.

Geppetti is also said to have been a part of the inspiration for the character Paparazzo, a photographer veering through the streets on a scooter to catch a sight of the illustrious lives of the rich and famous, in Federico Fellini’s 1960 classic Italian film La Dolce Vita.

The exhibition, titled The Years of La Dolce Vita: The Birth of Celebrity Culture in Focus, also includes the infamous image of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor engaged in a passionate kiss while vacationing on a boat off the Italian coast. Their relationship mesmerised the world with their fiery and turbulent marriage after meeting on the sets of the movie, Cleopatra, in 1963.

The appeal of Geppetti’s images is that they capture the scintillating fast-life that gave rise to the obsession with celebrity that still prevails today – although Hollywood, unfortunately, might have lost some of that lustre.

Gia Coppola – Success is in her name

For cinema lovers new talent, especially in the way of edgy directors, is hot and exciting news. The Coppola family name has become synonymous with groundbreaking artistic work in cinema and it certainly seems as if this momentous storytelling is in their blood.

Enter Gia Coppola – the granddaughter of Francis Ford Coppola, the pioneer of this genius family. She is the daughter of Gian-Carlo Coppola, a film producer, the eldest child of Francis Ford Coppola, and also the older brother to Roman and Sofia. Roman Ford Coppola, Gia’s uncle, is an American film and music video director, who was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his 2012 film, Moonrise Kingdom.

The other well-known female in the Coppola family is Sofia Coppola, who has stunned Hollywood with her intuitive eye and mesmerizing filmmaking skills. She is a successful and acclaimed screenwriter, director, producer and actress. In 2003, she won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for her film Lost in Translation, starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson, and she also became the third (and the first American) woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director.

And did you know that Academy Award-winning actor Nicolas Cage, also known as Nicolas Kim Coppola, is the nephew of Francis Ford Coppola and had changed his name to make his own way in the film business?

With a family like this, it would be hard not to follow in the footsteps of such accomplishment and trademark brilliance. Gia has now also captivated Hollywood with her debut film offering, Palo Alto. The film is an adaption of actor James Franco’s collection of short stories of the same title and premiered in the “Orizzonti” section of the 70^th Venice International Film Festival, as well as the 38^th Toronto International Film Festival and the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado. The film stars James Franco, Emma Roberts and Val Kilmer and tells the story of a group of menacing teens with a weakness for trouble.

This maiden work of Gia has been cited to have many similarities with Sofia’s film The Virgin Suicides for its technique and scope. Palo Alto has been picked up by Tribeca Films for distribution with a release date in May 2014. Whether or not the film fares well critically or at the box office, Gia definitely doesn’t have to worry about finding a place to fit in as the Coppola name unquestionably has a home in Hollywood already.

Lupita Nyong’o – Now everyone knows her name

The world has always had an appreciation and fascination with the striking features and exoticness of beauties with African roots. Supermodels Iman, Oluchi Onweagba, Liya Kebede and Alek Wek are some of the ethnic stunners who have made a name for themselves in Hollywood. And now its Lupita Nyong’o’s turn, who is already on her way to becoming a household name.

The 31-year-old actress born in Mexico City with Kenyan roots comes from an artistic background. She has starred in many minor theatre productions as well as having been on production teams for music videos and films. Lupita’s breakthrough role came in 2013, just before she graduated from Yale School of Drama with a Masters Degree, with her role in Steve McQueen’s multi Oscar-winner, “12 Years a Slave”, for which she also won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Since her Oscar win, the world has been raving about Lupita, her beauty, her talent, and her fashion sense. Images of her have been spread across the Web like wildfire and she’s also being rumoured to appear in a lead role in the next Star Wars release. There have even been rumours that she’s also dating her “12 Years a Slave” co-star Michael Fassbender, who was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. In Hollywood, the buzz of the rumour mill is equivalent to one having arrived as a star. So Lupita has definitely arrived.

Lupita Nyong’o is everything that Hollywood loves in a success story – a simple, hardworking but stunningly beautiful girl getting her big break and leaving the world dazzled. Even her life reads somewhat like a movie script and now everyone knows the name of this star.

The 2014 Academy Awards – The triumphs and the utter disappointments

After weeks, and even months, of premonitions and predictions – and many, many hopes – about who the takers will be at this year’s Oscars, the results are finally out after the ceremony took place last night, Sunday 2 March, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. There were a few obvious winners but there were also one or two surprises that have no doubt left many cinema-goers extremely perturbed.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment was Leonardo DiCaprio not winning the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in The Wolf of Wall Street. He had the weight of the world’s hopes on his shoulders and we all thought that his gripping and astute performance – one of the many in his career – would finally earn him that award. But unfortunately, it wasn’t Leonardo’s time yet.

12 Years a Slave winning the Oscar for Best Picture has made history. Director Steve McQueen has become the first black director to get the top film honours in 86 years of Oscar history. This film was a firm favourite and definitely deserves the honour. And space thriller Gravity, starring Sandra Bullock, from Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron, racked up five Oscars for technical achievements like visual effects and cinematography as well as Best Direction.

These were some of the main highlights of the awards function:

Best Picture – 12 Years a Slave

Best Actor in a Leading Role – Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)

Best Actress in a Leading Role – Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role – Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role – Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)

Best Animated Feature – Frozen (Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, Peter Del Vecho)

Best Cinematography – Gravity (Emmanuel Lubezki)

Best Costume Design – The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin)

Best Directing – Gravity (Alfonso Cuaron)

Best Documentary Feature – 20 Feet from Stardom (Morgan Neville, Gil Friesen, Caitrin Rogers)

Best Adapted Screenplay – 12 Years a Slave (John Ridley)

Best Original Screenplay – Her (Spike Jonze)

It’s been a great and significant year at the movies. And hopefully next year will be as good, or even better. And hopefully, Leonardo gets that Oscar that the world is waiting for to be his too.