Daily Briefing. Lucian Pintilie @ MoMA, Mondo's New Gallery and More

Also: Early word on new projects from Hong Sang-soo, Sofia Coppola and more.
David Hudson
The DailyNiki and Flo

"The Romanian director Lucian Pintilie made his first film in 1965, the year Nicolae Ceausescu became general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party," writes AO Scott in the New York Times. "Of the films he was able to complete in Romania, Reenactment [1968] stands among the exemplary works of its region and time. Subtle, difficult and brave, it represents a powerful statement of artistic honesty in a culture of official lies and evasions. Reenactment is included in a two-week retrospective that begins [today] at the Museum of Modern Art. This comprehensive program also offers American audiences a chance to sample Mr Pintilie's more recent films, among them Niki and Flo, a mordant almost-comedy from 2003 that represents a bridge — and also a battle — between the old Romania and the new. It will run for a week at MoMA, receiving a belated and welcome North American premiere." The series runs through March 12.

Los Angeles. "If you haven't taken the paradigm-shifting plunge into the films of Robert Bresson," writes Doug Cummings in the LA Weekly, "there's no better place to begin than LACMA's double feature: new prints of A Man Escaped (1956) — Bresson's most accessible, suspenseful and heroic film, and cinema's best prison-escape movie — and the ultrarare Four Nights of a Dreamer (1971), his wry adaptation of Dostoyevsky's White Nights." Tonight at 7:30. See, too, our series, Robert Bresson: The Over-Plenty of Life.

Mondo Gallery

Austin. From @MondoNews: "You are invited to our Gallery opening on March 10, 2012."

In the works. From Darcy Paquet: "Hong Sang-soo's next film will star Lee Seon-gyun (Oki's Movie) and TV actress Jeong Eun-chae. It will shoot in March."

Emma Watson will take the lead in Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring, reports the Playlist's Kevin Jagernauth.

"Sam Raimi is set to water and tend a big-screen version of The Day of the Triffids, John Wyndham's post-apocalyptic tale about mankind's struggle against large, angry, walking plants," reports the Guardian's Xan Brooks.

"Fresh off their Oscar win for The Descendants, scribes Nat Faxon and Jim Rash have sold to Indian Paintbrush an original action-comedy pitch that has Kristen Wiig attached to star," reports Variety's Jeff Sneider.

Ryan Murphy will co-write and direct One Hit Wonders, "a musical comedy pitch that will be written as a star vehicle for Gwyneth Paltrow, Reese Witherspoon, Cameron Diaz, Beyoncé and Andy Samberg," reports Deadline's Mike Fleming.

In other news. Agnès Godard will receive the Marburger Kamerapreis tomorrow.

Jonathan Lethem will deliver the ninth annual State of Cinema address at the 55th San Francisco International Film Festival, running April 19 through May 3.

"Five-Year Engagement, a studio comedy starring Jason Segel and Emily Blunt as a couple who can't quite seem to follow through on their marriage plans, will be the opening presentation of the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival," reports the NYT's Dave Itzkoff.

"As sweeping changes to film exhibition technology transform the way films are screened and viewed, caboose launches the collaborative online project Planetary Projection, introducing some of the world's remarkable film projectionists."

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Lucian PintilieRobert BressonHong Sang-sooSofia CoppolaRyan MurphyAgnès GodardSan Francisco 2012Tribeca 2012Sam RaimiJohn WyndhamDailyDaily BriefingColumns
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