If a filmmaker’s last feature had an end-of-cinema quality coursing through practically every frame, where do they go next? Sure, Leos Carax would probably hate that anyone is even trying to draw such conclusions, but the final moments of Holy Motors, in their beautiful, devastating sense of closure, nevertheless pose a “what’s next?” query like few outings.
The answer (excepting this): a musical! In an interview with Billboard (via Filmmaker Magazine), Sparks‘ Ron and Russell Mael announced that Carax and Guy Maddin have been working on film projects relating to the band’s own music. Maddin’s, titled The Seduction of Ingmar Bergman, is based on their album of the same name and centered on this question: “What if Ingmar Bergman had been lured to Hollywood with the idea of being able to take advantage of the money that’s available to him here to further his art, but then he got locked into Hollywood in his own worst nightmare?” Little is known about the Carax piece, save for word that it’s a) moving expediently and b) avoids traditional “Broadway, razzmatazz” stylings, instead favoring an all-music approach “where sometimes the story is being progressed through dialogue that’s done in a hyper-stylized, sung/spoken way.”
To say the director’s created some memorable music-based sequences throughout his career is an understatement, so the news of a full movie musical — featuring the work of a group he seems to like, based on this little shout-out — is so good I might have to lie down.
Before that, however, I should mention Variety‘s report of a new Kelly Reichardt film — one that will reteam the writer-director with Michelle Williams, no less. What’s it called? What’s it about? Who else will be in it? We don’t know. All that’s been announced is a spring start date, possibly making the untitled feature another major title of 2015.
Are you hoping to soon see more from Carax and Reichardt?