Dailies is a round-up of essential film writing, news bits, and other highlights from our colleagues across the Internet — and, occasionally, our own writers. If you’d like to submit a piece for consideration, get in touch with us in the comments below or on Twitter at @TheFilmStage.
Quentin Tarantino will host a closing-night screening of a restored print of Sergio Leone‘s classic western A Fistful of Dollars at Cannes.
At New York Times, A.O. Scott on the paradox of art as work:
There are few modern relationships as fraught as the one between art and money. Are they mortal enemies, secret lovers or perfect soul mates? Is the bond between them a source of pride or shame, a marriage of convenience or something tawdrier? The way we habitually think and talk about these matters betrays a deep and venerable ambivalence. On one hand, art is imagined to exist in a realm of value that lies beyond and beneath mere economic considerations. The old phrase “starving artist” gestures toward an image that is both romantic and pathetic, of a person too pure, and also just too impractical, to make it in the world. When that person ceases to starve, he or she can always be labeled a sellout. You’re not supposed to be in it for the money.
Critics Roundup, what was a better version of Rotten Tomatoes and the ilk, will, sadly, be closing its doors. Update: It’s back!
The Grandmaster will be converted to 3D with the approval of Wong Kar-wai. See his quote below.
We had originally planned to film The Grandmaster in 3D not only for the cinematic sensation, but also for the subtlety of the expression of this beautiful story. By partnering with Bona Film Group and the innovation of Gener8 we now have the opportunity to show the film as it was always intended – searching for a brand new aesthetic or cinematic language in the 3D format.
At The Dissolve, Scott Tobias on the prescient analog nightmare of Videodrome:
David Cronenberg’s Videodrome is about the convergence of man and machine, and the ever-narrowing distance between ourselves and the technology that consumes us. It’s about a conspiracy forged over wired networks. It features a “hacker” who accesses encrypted information, and power brokers who control people’s minds remotely and anonymously. It imagines a future where reality and fantasy are indistinguishable, relationships are virtual, and the screen and the flesh are composed of the same organic, pulsating material.
Watch Steven Thomas‘ video essay on the films of Jeff Nichols: