mike's blog

During my brief stint at the Rotterdam Film Festival this week I selected my films without any particular governing principle other than, perhaps, variety: An Iraqi documentary, an Argentine midlife crisis drama, a French sex comedy, a Spanish zombie horror flick, a Greek psycho-mystery, a musical not-quite-biopic, and a contemplative Israeli film of cultural understanding. Did I mention zombies?

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced that the five nominees for best feature-length documentary will be drawn from the following 15 films, listed here in alphabetical order:

1. Autism: The Musical

Filmmaker: Tricia Regan

The story: A woman works with five Los Angeles children, all of whom are diagnosed with autism, to put on a musical play.

First, let me start by saying that I was utterly, utterly charmed by Lars and the Real Girl, the new movie starring adorable Ryan Gosling as a sadsack office worker and much-ignored younger brother whose yearning for affection leads him to order an inflatable sex doll. He then asks the world to accept "Bianca" as his girlfriend.

Moby has provided music for films ranging from Richard Kelly's Southland Tales to the shoot-em-up Bourne movies. Changing tempo a bit, he's now looking to work with grassroots filmmakers—film students in particular.