Film Review: "Philomena" (2013).

"These two unlikely companions are on a journey to find her long lost son" in Philomena. This drama film directed by Stephen Frears, written by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope, and based on the book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee by journalist Martin Sixsmith. In 1952, Irish teenager Philomena became pregnant out of wedlock and was sent to a convent. When her baby, Anthony, was a toddler, the nuns took Philomena's child away from her and put him up for adoption in the United States. For the next fifty years, she searched tirelessly for her son. When former BBC correspondent Sixsmith learns of the story, he becomes her ally. They travel together to America to find Anthony and become unexpectedly close in the process.

By late October 2012, Judi Dench, Coogan, Michelle Fairley, and Barbara Jefford were cast in a drama based on Sixsmith's 2009 book penned by Coogan and Pope and to directed by Frears. At the same time, principal photography commenced and wrapped in early January 2013. Filming took place throughout Northern Ireland; Maryland and Washington, District of Columbia, USA; and London, England.

The film stars Dench, Coogan, Fairley, and Jefford. Dench gives an unwavering performance as a woman who is a survivor, with an impressive ability to forgive even those that don't deserve it. Dench and Cooper could do this stuff in their sleep and keep us entertained, which they do, but it's the nuanced twists and turns in both the characters and the story that elevate the picture beyond the familiar.

The film transcends its roots as a class study, becoming instead a poignant and funny story of forgiveness and the true nature of love. Besides Dench's fierce eyes, the most interesting part of the film is watching the picture of the lost son unfold as the buddy-cop pairing of Dench and Coogan ferret out his life story. Frears overplays his hand occasionally, but the film is balanced by some fine performances and a delicate script by Coogan. Surprisingly harrowing at times, the film avoids becoming an overwrought melodrama through the balance in characterisation between Martin's cynicism and Philomena's faith. The film's tone is bittersweet, with Philomena's deep-seated regret propelling the duo's journey forward at a gentle glide. Because the tale is so inherently emotional with its subject matter, all you need is a competent director and a couple of crack actors to wheedle that trajectory out. The film encompasses so much so adroitly -- it really is a remarkable story -- that we can admire its structure as a film, even as we absorb its sometimes startling facts and as we truly feel for its people. It is quiet, restrained, unfussy, and has, at its heart, an injustice so grave it will make your blood boil. You will also cry. Bittersweet and smart, the film is a character piece that carefully weaves in ugly parts of American and Irish history, a story that's as much about hatred and misused power as it is about faith and forgiveness.

Simon says Philomena receives:

Film Review: "Drinking Buddies" (2013).

"A comedy about knowing when to say when." This is Drinking Buddies. This comedy-drama film written, directed and edited by Joe Swanberg. A chance weekend getaway makes two co-workers realise how much they mean to each other. This realisation, however, may spell doom for their current relationships.

The idea of the film, and especially its setting in a brewery, came when Swanberg received a brewing set-up as a birthday present. By late July 2012, Olivia Wilde, Anna Kendrick, Jake Johnson, Ron Livingston, and Jason Sudeikis were cast in Swanberg's comedy-drama. At the same time, principal photography commenced, and took place in Chicago, Illinois; and Lake Michigan, Michigan. The dialog was entirely improvised. There was no script. Instead, the actors received vague outlines which covered the major plot points, and the order in which certain events would take place. In addition, they were told each day what had to happen in that day's scenes. Furthermore, all of the actors chose their character's names. The actors actually drank real beer during the filming and even did real work for the brewing company.

The film stars Wilde, Kendrick, Johnson, Livingston, and Sudeikis. The performances help raise the film above the realm of self-indulgent cinema to something worth seeing. The actors were allowed to ad lib, and the result is that the characters talk like real people, it's keenly observant about social issues and offers a flippant comical look at relationships for the social media set. How can a movie with such a charming cast and believable dialogue (seemingly taken from the actors' real lives) go wrong? It can't. Wilde and Kendrick prove themselves to be a charming screen presences who manage to make their characters somehow appealing despite her utter self-involvement.

The film delivers clever pacing, solid technique and a deeply soulful performances from Wilde, Kendrick, Johnson and Livingston. Stocked with low-key and entirely believable characters and a sly (but not nasty) sense of derision towards the modern tools that keep us apart, the film is, by my estimation, a solid step up from the director's first flick, and I feel pretty confident that the guy has something even better lined up for his next outing. Smart and engaging, but too many meandering breeze-shooting sequences. Swanberg has an uncanny talent for making the randomness of downtime feel as alive as it seems generationally true. Each film Swanberg does is a little more of an evolution in style and form and the film is like watching a natural progression of talent. Most of the audience will respond warmly to the film for its moments of sharp perception and its stringent, comic-wistful realism. It's a wonderfully goofy movie that was a fun watch. The film may be modest in budget and muted in its ambitions, but for anyone who imagines that truly independent American cinema is dead, this most chaste of romances is a quiet film worth shouting about. Swanberg's movie is dangerously honest about the territorial dynamics of relationships and the confusion we're left with when they end.

Simon says Drinking Buddies receives:

Film Review: "The Wolf of Wall Street" (2013).

“My name is Jordan Belfort. I'm a former member of the middle class raised by two accountants in a tiny apartment in Bayside, Queens. The year I turned 26, as the head of my own brokerage firm, I made $49 million, which really pissed me off because it was three shy of a million a week.” This and more is what you’re going to get when watching The Wolf of Wall Street. This biographically satirical black comedy film directed by Martin Scorsese, based on Jordan Belfort's memoir of the same name. The screenplay was written by Terence Winter. Based on the true story of Jordan Belfort, and tells his story from his rise to a wealthy New York stockbroker living the high life to his fall involving crime on Wall Street, corruption (such as stock manipulation and namely the practice of "Pump and dump” in the corporate banking world) and his refusal to cooperate with the federal government.

Jordan Belfort is an American author and motivational speaker, who was convicted of fraud crimes related to stock market manipulation and running a penny stock boiler room for which he spent 22 months in prison. Belfort was born in the Bronx. He is the son of Leah and Max Belfort, who were accountants. In the 1990s, he founded brokerage firm Stratton Oakmont which functioned as a boiler room marketing penny stocks, where he defrauded investors with fraudulent stock sales. During his years as a stock swindler, Belfort developed a hard-partying lifestyle, which included a serious drug addiction (Quaaludes). Stratton Oakmont employed over 1000 stock brokers and was involved in stock issues totaling more than $1 billion, including an equity raising for footwear company Steve Madden Ltd. The notoriety of the firm, which was targeted by law enforcement officials in the late 1990s, inspired the 2000 film Boiler Room. Belfort was indicted in 1998 for securities fraud and money laundering. After cooperating with the FBI, he served 22 months in federal prison for a pump and dump scheme, which resulted in investor losses of approximately $200 million. Belfort was ordered to pay back $110.4 million that he swindled from stock buyers. In prison he met Tommy Chong, who encouraged Belfort to write down his stories and subsequently publish them. They remained friends after their release from prison. Reportedly sober since 1998, Belfort then wrote two memoirs, The Wolf of Wall Street and Catching the Wolf of Wall Street, which have been published in approximately 40 countries and translated into 18 languages.

According to federal prosecutors, Belfort has failed to live up to the restitution requirement of his 2003 sentencing agreement. The agreement requires him to pay 50% of his income towards restitution to the 1,513 clients he defrauded. Of the $11.6 million that has been recovered by Belfort's victims, $10.4 million of the total is the result of the sale of forfeited properties. The sentencing agreement mandates a total of $110 million in restitution. In October 2013, federal prosecutors filed a complaint that Belfort, who had income of $1,767,209 from the publication of his two books and the sale of the movie rights, plus an additional $24,000 from motivational speaking since 2007, paid restitution of only $243,000 over the past four years. The government is currently not holding Belfort in default of his payments in order to keep negotiations open, but it is unclear when the full amount of the mandated restitution will be repaid. As of 2013, Belfort was residing in Manhattan Beach, CA, and was engaged. Recently, he gave a seminar at Auckland, New Zealand's Langham Hotel in 2012.

In 2007, Leonardo DiCaprio won a bidding war against Brad Pitt for the rights to Jordan Belfort's memoir The Wolf of Wall Street. During pre-production, Scorsese worked on the film's script prior to working on Shutter Island (2010). He describes having "wasted five months of [his] life" without getting a greenlight on production dates by the studio Warner Bros. In 2010, Warner Bros. had offered Ridley Scott to direct the film, with Leonardo DiCaprio playing the male lead. Warner Bros eventually dumped the project. Years down the line (after Warner Bros) financiers Red Granite gave an ultimatum for the film to have "no limits or censor of anything". In 2012, a green light was given by the independent company Red Granite Pictures. Scorsese came back on board knowing there were no limits to the content he would produce; as it stands, the movie has a hard R rating. In the film, most of the real-life characters' names originally in Belfort's memoir have been changed. Donnie Azoff is based on Danny Porush; the FBI Agent known as Patrick Denham is the stand-in for real-life Gregory Coleman; and lawyer Manny Riskin is based on Ira Lee Sorkin. Belfort's first wife, Denise Lombardo, is re-named Teresa Petrillo, while second wife Nadine Caridi became on-screen Naomi Lapaglia. In contrast, Mark Hanna's name remains the same as the LF Rothschild stockbroker who, like Belfort, was convicted of fraud and served time in prison.

The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Belfort, along with Jonah Hill and Matthew McConaughey, among others. DiCaprio gave his finest Scorsese role since The Departed (2007). His performance unleashed a bizarre mixture of financial genius and party, sex, alcohol and drug induced madness. From the very beginning you root for the character even though he and his associates are complete "wankers." The entire cast including Hill, McConaughey, Robbie, Chandler, Reiner, Bernthal, Favreau, Dujardin, Byrne, Choi, Lumley and Jonze gave their finest and most outrageous performances in their careers for this film.

Hard-hitting, stylish, visceral, outrageously funny and hard-edged, The Wolf of Wall Street touches a nerve in the human psyche that is still debated in newspapers across the world today. The film offers an accurate portrayal of businessmen now. It is shaping up to be the best mainstream Hollywood satirical meditation on America since Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove (1964). To conclude, the film is a satirical classic – and arguably the high point of Martin Scorsese's career since Goodfellas (1990).

Simon says The Wolf of Wall Street receives:

Also, see my review for Hugo.

Film Review: "The Spectacular Now" (2013).

"From the writers of (500) Days of Summer" comes The Spectacular Now. This coming-of-age romantic drama film directed by James Ponsoldt, adapted by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, and based on the 2008 novel of the same name by Tim Tharp. The film tells the tale of Sutter Keely, a high school senior and effortless charmer, and of how he unexpectedly falls in love with "the good girl" Aimee Finecky. What starts as an unlikely romance becomes a sharp-eyed, straight-up snapshot of the heady confusion and haunting passion of youth—one that doesn’t look for tidy truths.

By late July 2012, Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley, Brie Larson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kyle Chandler, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Dayo Okeniyi, Andre Royo, and Bob Odenkirk were cast in an adaptation of Tharp's 2008 novel with Ponsoldt, and Neustadter and Weber penning the adaptation. After The Descendants (2011), Woodley had not been given any scripts she was passionate about making and had seriously considered dropping out of acting to pursue another career. Thankfully this project came her way and she fell in love with it. According to Ponsoldt, he was worried that Teller and Woodley wouldn't get along after he saw them interact at a lunch he arranged. Teller (who was late to meeting because he had been in Las Vegas with friends the night before) was outgoing and energetic, while Woodley, though amused by Teller, was quiet and for the most part kept to herself unless she was spoken to. After the lunch was over and Ponsoldt was driving away, he noticed Woodley and Teller talking in the parking lot, but decided to leave them alone - he later found out that the two of them spent two hours talking and getting to know each other in the parking lot. Teller and Woodley are now close friends. However, at one point during preproduction, the script began to change. Woodley was worried that the new rewrites would make the story less honest, and at one point even called Teller to tell him that she was thinking of dropping out. Teller managed to convince her to stay on the movie, and the rewrites never happened. At the same time, principal photography commenced, and filming took place throughout Georgia.

The film stars Teller, Woodley, Larson, Leigh, Chandler, Winstead, Okeniyi, Royo, and Odenkirk. By combining a light, frank, comic touch with real emotion and weighty, human performances were given by all those involved. Teller is immense in this picture, a true force of nature who embodies so many complexities and demons that make him this perpetually broken protagonist. Woodley comes into her own in this lightly directed and disarmingly enjoyable film.

There's nothing completely astonishing or shocking that goes on in the film, but that's not to say it isn't captivating and completely worth your time. While the film doesn't flinch away from some grim realities of alcoholism, it's not an unrelentingly grim kitchen-sink drama; there are attempts at a bit of teen comedy.

Simon says The Spectacular Now receives:

Film Review: "Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues" (2013).

"It's Kind of a Big Deal" in Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues. This comedy film directed by Adam McKay, and co-written by McKay and Will Ferrell. It is the sequel to the 2004 film Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. With the 1970s behind them, San Diego's top-rated newsman, Ron Burgundy, returns to take New York City's first twenty-four-hour news channel by storm.

In May 2008, McKay said that he and Ferrell had talked about wanting to do a sequel. In late July, McKay announced that he and Ferrell had begun work on the sequel. Steve Carell and Paul Rudd, both of whom had become major stars since Anchorman was released, agreed to take pay cuts for the movie, as did Ferrell himself. In late April 2010, McKay announced that Paramount Pictures had turned down a proposal for the sequel, despite the proposed pay cuts. However, by March 2012, Paramount changed their minds and agreed to make a sequel, and ferrell officially announced the film on Conan, in character as Ron Burgundy. In April, in an interview, McKay said that the script was a work in progress, and that the story might include a custody battle and bowling. In a May 2012 interview, he was quoted as saying that nothing was set. In May 2012, Ferrell confirmed that script writing had begun and that filming would begin around February 2013. By June 2012, parts of the story had solidified, including a move of the location from San Diego to New York, and a focus on the onset of the cable news era in the 1980s. By March 2013, Ferrell, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner, Christina Applegate, Fred Willard, and Chris Parnell retuned to reprise their roles, with Dylan Baker, James Marsden, Kristen Wiig, Greg Kinnear, and Harrison Ford rounding out the film's cast. At the same time, principal photography commenced, and filming took place in Atlanta, Georgia; New Orleans, Louisiana; New York City, New York; San Diego, California; and Jersey City, New Jersey. In late November 2013, Paramount Pictures moved the release date up two days from December 20 to December 18, 2013. Paramount notified theater owners that the film would be their last film with a US release on 35mm film stock.

The film stars Ferrell, Carell, Rudd, Koechner, Applegate, Baker, Marsden, Willard, Wiig, Parnell, Kinnear, and Ford. Ferrell is still such a lovable doofus and the gang (Carell, Rudd, Koechner, Applegate) such a well-intentioned naif that it's hard to get down on them, especially considering that the heirs to their niche in pop iconography are Talladega Nights, Step Brothers and The Other Guys.

The characters are still endearing, but the jokes in Anchorman 2 are more hit-and-miss the second time around. There is something weirdly droll about the further misadventures of Ron Burgundy and gang. Catchphrases and sexual innuendo abound in goofy sequel. Though the film became more about an excuse to party. Sure, that fits Wayne Campbell's style, but I was hoping for some more story, even if it was a bit silly.

Simon says Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues receives:

Film Review: "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" (2013).

" Well, thief! I smell you, I hear your breath, I feel your air. Where are you? Where are you? Come now, don't be shy... step into the light.” This famous line is finally here in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. The epic fantasy adventure film co-written, produced and directed by Peter Jackson. It is the second installment of a three-part film series based on J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 novel The Hobbit, beginning with An Unexpected Journey (2012) and set to conclude with The Battle of the Five Armies (2014). The three films together act as prequels to Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film series (2001, 2002 and 2003). The storyline continues in which the hobbit Bilbo Baggins travels with the wizard Gandalf and a company of thirteen dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshield into the Kingdom of Erebor, taking them through Mirkwood, Esgaroth, and Dale continuing their quest to reclaim Erebor, their homeland, and to combat with the dragon Smaug.

Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage reprise their roles of Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo Baggins, Thorin Oakenshield. As well as Graham McTavish, Ken Stott, Aidan Turner, Dean O'Gorman, Mark Hadlow, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, John Callen, Peter Hambleton, William Kircher, James Nesbitt, Stephen Hunter and Sylvester McCoy as Dwalin, Balin, Kíli, Fíli, Dori, Nori, Ori, Óin, Glóin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur and Radagast the Brown. The film also stars Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace, Luke Evans, Stephen Fry and Orlando Bloom reprises his role of Legolas from the original trilogy. And lastly, Benedict Cumberbatch as Smaug, the Magnificent and the Terrible. Like the previous film, the performances in this film was still disparaging at times. Not really feeling any character development or arc like in The Lord of the Rings. The original cast repeated themselves and brought nothing new. With the addition of the romance between Kíli and Tauriel, there is not a romantic word they exchange that has not long since been reduced to cliché. But what made this film a spectacular achievement in casting and other elements was Benedict Cumberbatch as Smaug the Dragon. He pretty much stole the show with his menacing, cool, mesmerizing and Shakespearean approach to a classic character. Thus giving birth to the greatest cinematic dragon.

Containing more of what made The Lord of the Rings series fun, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is an improvement over An Unexpected Journey. Though the script still feels stiff and flat, and the acting feels rather disparaging (except for Bilbo’s encounter with Smaug). In a time when, more often than not, sequels disappoint, it's refreshing to uncover something this high-profile that fulfils the promise of its name and adds another title to a storied legacy. As someone who admired the freshness and energy of the earlier films, I was amazed, at the end of the film, to realize that I had not seen or heard anything memorable (except for Smaug). To conclude, it is an improvement in the series, but not that much better. Let’s hope the final chapter will be better than this.

Simon says The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug receives:

Also, see my review for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

Film Review: "Oldboy" (2013).

"Ask not why you were imprisoned. Ask why you were set free." This is the question lurking throughout Oldboy. This neo noir mystery film directed by Spike Lee, written by Mark Protosevich, based on Park Chan-wook's 2003 South Korean film of the same name. In this rendition, an advertising executive is kidnapped and held hostage for 20 years in solitary confinement. When he is inexplicably released, he embarks on an obsessive mission to discover who orchestrated his punishment, only to find he is still trapped in a web of conspiracy and torment.

In November 2008, DreamWorks and Universal were securing the rights to remake the South Korean film with Justin Lin initially attached to direct. Steven Spielberg was later announced as director, with Will Smith expressing interest to star. Mark Protosevich was in talks to write the script, although the acquisition to the remake rights were not finalized. Smith later clarified that Spielberg would not be remaking the film: he would be adapting the manga itself, which is considerably different from the film. In June 2009, the comic's publisher launched a lawsuit against Park, Hwang Jo-yoon, and Lim Joon-hyeong, the Korean film's producers, for giving the film rights to Spielberg without their permission. Later in November, it was reported that DreamWorks, Spielberg and Smith had stepped back from the project. In the same month, the producing team announced that the project was dead. In early July 2011, it was announced that Spike Lee would helm the remake with a screenplay written by Protosevich. Josh Brolin was cast to star in the remake as the lead character. Christian Bale, Colin Firth, and Clive Owen were reportedly offered the villain role before Sharlto Copley had officially been cast in May 2012. Lily Collins, Rooney Mara, and Mia Wasikowska were offered the female lead, but all declined before Elizabeth Olsen accepted. Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Imperioli, and Nate Parker were all later announced to have joined the cast. Parker was later replaced by James Ransone, due to a scheduling conflict. Principal photography began in October 2012, filming throughout New Orleans, Louisiana.

The film stars Brolin, Olsen, Copley, Jackson, and Imperioli. The cast gave less-than-stellar performances that did not add anything new to the characters and story nor elevate the material whatsoever. Brolin, Olsen, Jackson, Imperioli's performances came off as stale, and Copley gave an embarrassing performance that just came off as cartoonish.

The real mystery here is why a filmmaker as talented and unique as Spike Lee would want to devote several years of his life to recreating someone else's movie. Who would have thought that Lee had a movie as bad as Oldboy in him? For all the filmmakers' efforts, this project is something of an artistic albatross. A classic case of what happens when Hollywood takes a South Korean Neo-noir thriller and turn it into a glossy, overproduced big-budget movie that lacks distinct identity. It's an insult to the South Korean classic. It's nearly two hours I'll never get back.

Simon says Oldboy (2013) receives:

Film Review: "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" (2013).

"Now, Katniss, you have been our mission from the beginning. The plan was always to get you out. Half the tributes were in on it. This is the revolution, and you are the mockingjay.” Which is what The Hunger Games: Catching Fire has in store for us. This science fiction adventure film based on Suzanne Collins's novel, Catching Fire, the second installment in The Hunger Games trilogy. The film is the sequel to The Hunger Games (2012). The film was directed by Francis Lawrence, and was adapted by Simon Beaufoy and Michael Arndt (credited as Michael deBruyn). The film continues the story of Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark from the post-apocalyptic nation of Panem, who become targets of the Capitol after their victory in the 74th Hunger Games sparks a rebellion in the Districts of Panem. And they are forced to return to the arena in a special edition of the Hunger Games.

Months prior to the first film's release, Lionsgate greenlit the second film and Gary Ross, director of the first film, was expected to return as director. However, on April 10, 2012, he announced his departure from the project due to the tight and fixed production and on May 3, Francis Lawrence (I am Legend (2007)) was hired as the film's director. Throughout July and September 2012, the film's supporting cast was filled out, with Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Sam Claflin, Lynn Cohen, Jena Malone, Amanda Plummer, Alan Ritchson, and Meta Golding brought in to portray key roles. Filming began September 10, 2012 in and around metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia before moving to Hawaii.

Jennifer Lawrence returns as Katniss Everdeen along with Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland and Toby Jones also reprising their roles. With Philip Seymour Hoffman as Plutarch Heavensbee, Jeffrey Wright as Beetee Latier, Sam Claflin as Finnick Odair, Lynn Cohen as Mags, Jena Malone as Johanna Mason, Amanda Plummer as Wiress, Alan Ritchson as Enobaria, and Meta Golding as Enobaria. The performances in this film were all magnificent. Especially to Lawrence who commits to Katniss just as much as she would a complex David O. Russell character. She was both on fire and in the process of becoming, and it’s magnificent to watch. Katniss is a character worth a handful of sequels. And Lawrence lights up the screen. You'll follow her anywhere. The same applies to the performances of Hutcherson, Hemsworth, Harrelson, Banks, Kravitz, Tucci, Sutherland, Jones, Hoffman, Wright, Claflin, Cohen, Malone, Plummer, Ritchson and Golding. Not only that, they were also visually intriguing.

Dark, thrilling, and occasionally quite funny, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is also visually stunning and emotionally satisfying. The film is a tour-de-force that combines style and substance, special effects and heart and most importantly great performances from all of the actors young and not-so-young. To conclude, not only is the film masterful and emotional, it is a worthy addition in the series.

Simon says The Hunger Games: Catching Fire receives:

Also, see review for The Hunger Games.

Film Review: "Ain't Them Bodies Saints" (2013).

"A film by David Lowery" comes Ain't Them Bodies Saints. This romantic crime drama film written and directed by Lowery. A man takes the fall for his lover's crime, then four years later breaks out of prison to find her and their young daughter, who was born during his incarceration.

In 2009, Lowery. began writing the film while on the festival circuit promoting his film St. Nick (2009). At the time he was only able to think of a concept of a man breaking out of prison. What attracted him to the story was the thought of writing an action movie after having done a very quiet movie like St. Nick. However, he could not think of a compelling way to tell the story based on the concept so he left it. In 2011, Lowery revisited the concept where he added more ideas to his original concept. His initial draft took six months to write, and he had planned to shoot the film immediately after writing. However, production was delayed since Lowery and his production partners submitted the script to the Sundance Institute Producing Lab, in early summer 2011. The institute encouraged Lowery to submit the script to their screenwriters lab. In December 2011, It was revealed that Sundance had selected a screenplay by Lowery as one of twelve projects for its annual January Screenwriters Lab. Lowery worked with the Sundance Lab Artistic Director Scott Frank and his associates to develop the script. Lowery wanted to capture the feeling of the actions and write a script based on that in the vein of 1960s and 1970s movies and folk songs. Working on this concept, he thought about American folk mythology dealing with outlaws, developing into an outlaw who broke out of prison, then set in place the reason for the breakout being his wife and living in Texas he decided the setting would be Texas. After the initial script had been written, Lowery and his producers had a start date for the production. But they were advised by producers such as Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen and Amy Kaufman to aim for a bigger production. In April 2012, Lowery officially announced the film. By early July 2012, Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Keith Carradine, Nate Parker and Charles Baker were cast. At the same time, principal photography commenced and wrapped in mid August. Filming took place Meridian and Austin, Texas, and was shot on 35mm film using the ARRICAM LT and Panavision XL cameras.

The film stars Mara, Affleck, Foster, Carradine, Parker and Baker. The superb performances from Affleck and Mara are as memorable as Lowery's vision of something akin to hell.

The film is admirable visually, verbally, psychologically. It took guts for a neophyte film maker still in his twenties to fire two cinematographers before a third gave him what he wanted; yet the result is seamlessly impeccable. The film is an arena for apathy, both in regard to the characters' depictions and their subjective emotions.

Simon says Ain't Them Bodies Saints receives:

"Bust Rape Culture Now!" Protest

This is dedicated to all the countries in the world who are suffering from the unspeakable and unbearable act of sexual violence, and who uphold gender equality and women's rights.