Maria has just spoken to the Ritz Cinema in relation to doing a special screening of Little Ashes in Sydney. If you are interested in seeing this film on the big screen (remember it has yet to be seen in cinemas in Australia) please let us know which of the following dates you would prefer – given that the first one is just over 2 weeks away.  I suspect that it will be an evening screening and not during the day.  You can do this by voting in our poll at the bottom of this post.

We are just trying to help coordinate this event, so please don’t provide us with alternate dates or whether you would prefer on weekend. If we get enough interest then it may be possible that the movie might have further screenings. Also, the movie will be rated MA15+ here in Australia, not R. This means that if you are aged under 15, you must be accompanied by a parent or adult guardian in order to see the movie.

So the press screening has been held in Cannes. There’s also been some earlier press screenings that may have had an embargo until today. I’m going to be fair and post excerpts from the good, the bad and the ugly. I’ll be updating this so keep coming back.

Variety

Pearce is fiercely impressive here as a man who gave up on the human race even before the latest round of calamities, and if there are occasional glimpses of the kinder, gentler man he might once have been, we are more frequently privy to his savage survival instincts. But it’s Pattinson who turns out to be the film’s greatest surprise, sporting a convincing Southern accent and bringing an understated dignity to a role that might easily have been milked for cheap sentimental effects. With his slurry drawl and wide-eyed, lap-dog stare, Rey initially suggests a latter-day Lennie Small, but he isn’t so much developmentally disabled as socially regressed — an overprotected mama’s boy suddenly cast to the wolves — and Pattinson never forces or overdoes anything, building up an empathy for the character that’s entirely earned. He becomes an oasis of humanity in this stark, forsaken land.

The Hollywood Reporter

Pattinson delivers a performance that, despite the character’s own limitations, becomes more interesting as the film moves along, suggesting that the young actor might indeed be capable of offbeat character work. But always commanding attention at the film’s center is Pearce, who, under a taciturn demeanor, gives Eric all the cold-hearted remorselessness of a classic Western or film noir anti-hero who refuses to die before exacting vengeance for an unpardonable crime.

 

The Guardian:

“… ; hopes couldn’t have been higher for this followup movie. But expectations have to be managed downwards, a little. The Rover is an undoubtedly atmospheric and brutal drama set in an apocalyptic future after a “collapse” … It has something of a surlier, meaner Mad Max, a flavour of Australian New Wave pictures like Wake in Fright, and even something of Spielberg’s Duel. After a terrific start, the film begins to meander, to lose its way, and its grip. …

Michôd developed the script with actor Joel Edgerton who may well have expected to get one of the lead roles — perhaps the one that has gone to Robert Pattinson, whose character Rey is from the American South, with some slightly Rada-ish hillbilly acting. … using Pattinson’s wounded brother to help him in this quest … Michôd creates a good deal of ambient menace in The Rover; Pearce has a simmering presence. But I felt there was a bit of muddle, and the clean lines of conflict and tension had been blurred: the dystopian future setting doesn’t add much and hasn’t been very rigorously imagined. I even had the suspicion that the screenplay should perhaps have gone through one or two more drafts, or perhaps returned to an earlier draft, when casting was clearer. Well, Michôd certainly delivers some brain-frazzling heat and directionless despair.”

 ScreenDaily

But overall this is a disappointing film that loses dramatic momentum after an arrestingly grim first act. The presence of Robert Pattinson, in an uncharacteristically non-heroic and even awkward guise, alongside a magnetic Guy Pearce, will give the film some solid box-appeal, but The Rover is at best a consolidation rather than a real advance for Michôd.

…

But the film’s weak link is Pattinson, not because it’s a bad performance, rather it is a familiar one, a mumbling hick who seems to be channeling the mannerisms of Billy Bob Thornton in Sling Blade, but who doesn’t quite belong in this imaginative universe (despite exposition of how people from the entire world, including the US, have ended up in this Australia).

I am very excited to say that in August, Little Ashes is going to be screened on the FOXTEL/AUSTAR Channel Showcase (403).  The film will debut on the channel on Monday 9th August at 3.30 pm & then be screened on the 13th, 17th, 21st, 29th & 30th of the month.  The film will also be screening on Showcase two (404), so make sure you check your guides for all the times.  I just absolutely adore Rob as Dali & this beautiful film & I know you all feel the same.  So great to see it is being screened on our TV’s here in Australia.  I will definitely be watching.   Thanks so much to Linda for the tip.

Oh TessANZ you better be sitting down when you read this post.   New Zealand’s annual queer film festival – Outtakes – is finally going to show Little Ashes in both Auckland and Wellington. 

Auckland screenings are at Rialto Cinemas Newmarket on Sunday 30 May at 6.10 pm and Monday 31 May at 8.30 pm. 

Wellington screening is at the Paramount cinema on Queen’s birthday Monday, 7 June at 8.30 pm.

 If you want more info about the screenings and the festival itself, please click on highlighted links above. 

Oh and thanks to Vertigo for assisting me with this post.   I’m happy to let you all know that Vertigo will be helping us out with posting Rob news, although I’m going to miss her comments on her own posts I have to say since Vertigo has been commenting on the site for as long as I can remember.  Oh and I  know we told Dan you were part of RPAU so now it’s official – hahaha my partner in crime when Michelle isn’t around!

I’m loving that Little Ashes is having more screenings across Australia.  Paul Brennan let me know of  a great review by Andrew L Urban of Urban Cinefile

“An intriguing film about an intriguing subject, Little Ashes is filled with marvellous cinematic images and a complex mood of socio-political revolution, artistic longing and considerable tenderness. It’s as complex as its subject matter, the artist Salvador Dali (Robert Pattinson) as a young man, an emerging artist forged – like his friends the writer Federico Lorca (Javier Beltran) and Luis Bunuel (Matthew McNulty) – in the fire of rebellion against the oppressive and rigid social, religious and political climate of Spain at the time.

Language aside, Little Ashes is a snapshot of an insight into the life of one of the most complex artists in history and it intensifies rather than satisfies our curiosity about him. It is, however, revelatory about Dali’s relationship with Lorca.”

If you haven’t seen this film, please go along to one of the screenings because I totally agree with Andrew about Rob’s performance as Dali “he does it well and with absolute commitment” – that is 100% evident.  I understand that it’s being shown in Brisbane from 1 April 2010 not 25 March as I previously said.  Oh and Michelle I’m just waiting for confirmation that it’s definitely also being shown at The State, Hobart from that date too.  For those interested in current screening times – there’s a widget on the side bar or you can go here.

We were contacted today by the wonderful Paul Brennan who is doing all the marketing for both the Sydney and Melbourne screenings of Little Ashes and he let me know that The Georges Cinema in St Kilda was also screening Little Ashes twice daily from 25 March 2010 for 2 weeks.   The screening times will be released next Tuesday and so I will do a post updating you all when you can see this wonderful film.   I cannot stress enough how fantastic this film is.  If you were blown away by Rob’s performance in Remember Me then you really DO need to see this film on the big screen.  Again the entire cast of this film is fantastic and although I love all of Rob’s performances, I really do have a soft spot for his Salvador Dali.  Please Melburnians will you show Rob some love and attend at least one if not more of the screenings.  We are working on some more screenings in different States and will let you know if they come to fruition.  Oh and thanks Paul for some of the HQ pics you sent to us like the one above.  If you want to repost the photo please credit Paul Brennan via Robert Pattinson Australia.