Palme d’Or-winner Uncle Boonmee launched on 84 screens

01/09/2010

Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s French/German/Spanish co-production Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes 2010, is creating a splash among this Wednesday’s 12 new releases.

Championed by most critics, who have been won over by its hypnotic charm, virtuosity and subtle exploration of the close links between the supernatural and the everyday in the Buddhist conception of reincarnation, the film is being launched by Pyramide Distribution on a cautious 84-print run.

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European cinema is also represented by Danish director Thomas Vinterberg’s poignant and ultra-realistic Submarino [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Thomas Vinterberg
film profile], which recounts the tough life of two brothers from a disadvantaged social background. Presented in competition at the latest Berlinale and released by MK2 Diffusion on 31 screens, the new feature by the helmer of The Celebration is beautifully directed and features actors who manage to generate a certain empathy for the characters plunged in an atmosphere of Dostoevsky-like misfortune tinged with social determinism.

Also hitting theatres today is Fabrice Genestal’s French/Canadian/Belgian co-production Trader Games [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see news – UGC Distribution), starring Gilles Lellouche, Vahina Giocante and Michael Madsen; Belgian director Vincent Lannoo’s Vampires [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Eurozoom – seven screens); and Sophie Bruneau and Marc-Antoine Roudil’s documentary Terre d'Usage (“Land of Use”, ADR Distribution).

At the box office dominated by US productions (particularly Inception, starring Marion Cotillard), Bertrand Blier’s The Clink of Ice [+see also:
trailer
film profile] has garnered almost 230,000 admissions in five days (Wild Bunch Distribution on 302 screens); Belgian director Ben Staessen’s animated film Sammy’s Adventures: The Secret Passage [+see also:
trailer
film profile] has attracted 886,000 viewers in 19 days (distributed by StudioCanal on 627 screens); and Love Crime [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by the late, lamented Alain Corneau clocks in at 260,000 admissions in 11 days (UGC Distribution on 260 screens).