0986 – Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2018)

 timespace coordinates: 1927 Paris / London / New York City

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is a 2018 fantasy film directed by David Yates and written by J. K. Rowling. A joint British and American production, it is the sequel to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016). It is the second instalment in the Fantastic Beasts film series, and the tenth overall in the Wizarding World franchise, which began with the Harry Potter film series.

The film features an ensemble cast that includes Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Zoë Kravitz, Callum Turner, Claudia Kim, William Nadylam, Kevin Guthrie, Jude Law, and Johnny Depp. The plot follows Newt Scamander and Albus Dumbledore as they attempt to take down the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald, while facing new threats in a more divided wizarding world.

Hogwarts exteriors, like some interiors, were shot in the historic Lacock Abbey, dating from 1229. This abbey, located in Wiltshire, England, had already been used for the same purpose for the first films of the Harry Potter saga .

As with the first film, animal making required months of graphic, pattern, and animation testing to determine the appearance, behavior, movements, attitude, and personality of each creature. J.K. Rowling was inspired, for many of them, by legendary creatures from different cultures, such as the Chinese Zouwu, the Scottish Kelpie and the French Matagot.

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The Art of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

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The interior of the basement where Newt Scamander keeps his beasts is stylized according to the lithograph “Relativity” by Maurits Cornelis Escher.

0980 – At Eternity’s Gate (2018)

timespace coordinates: 1888 – 1890 Arles – Saint-Rémy – Auvers-sur-Oise

At Eternity’s Gate is a 2018 biographical drama film about the final years of painter Vincent van Gogh‘s life. The film is directed by Julian Schnabel, from a screenplay by Schnabel, Louise Kugelberg and Jean-Claude Carrière. It stars Willem Dafoe as van Gogh, Rupert Friend, Oscar Isaac, Mads Mikkelsen, Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner and Niels Arestrup. (wiki)

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0978 – Don’t Come Back from the Moon (2017)

timespace coordinates: – – Southern California’s Salton Sea community

“An indie with one foot in the netting of social realism and another in the terrain of desolation fables, “Don’t Come Back From The Moon” offers up a tale of mass disappearance born of economic hardship: fathers in a depressed small town leaving their wives and children like something out of a Greek tragedy or a post-apocalyptic story. Or, as one could readily imagine, out of headlines from America’s rapidly dying, labor-driven towns.” (read review)

Don’t Come Back from the Moon is a 2017 American drama film featuring James Franco and Rashida Jones. It is based on Dean Bakopoulos‘ 2005 novel of the same name.

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0975 – The Favourite (2018)

timespace coordinates: early 18th century England

The Favourite is a 2018 black comedy period film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and written by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara. It is a co-production by producers in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Set in the early 18th century, the story examines the relationship between two cousins vying to be court favourites of Queen Anne. It stars Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz, Nicholas Hoult, Joe Alwyn, James Smith, and Mark Gatiss.

In his review of the film, Anthony Lane comments on its anachronisms: “For Lanthimos and his screenwriters, Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara, all historical reconstruction is a game, and to pretend otherwise—to nourish the illusion that we can know another epoch as intimately as we do our own—is merest folly.” (read more: Historical accuracy)

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973 – Prospect (2018)

Prospect is a 2018 American science fiction film starring  Sophie Thatcher,  Jay Duplass, and Pedro Pascal. The film is written and directed by Christopher Caldwell and Zeek Earl. Based on the 15 minute short film of the same name.

Zeek Earl and Chris Caldwell: “PROSPECT originated from a desire to make the kind of sci-fi we wanted to see. We wanted to create a rich and detailed original universe and explore it from the perspective of relative nobodies on the fringe of civilization. It’s not a projection of earth’s near future or a new technological paradigm, nor does the fate of the universe hang in the balance. Rather, the focus is on the people no one cares about who struggle just to forge a palatable existence. People who push into the treacherous frontiers of space, driven by economic desperation to put their lives on the line for a shot at changing the status quo. This kind of expansive, fantastic world becomes the platform to tell a more intimate story, tethered to the experiences of one girl as we follow her strange, survival-induced coming of age. And we hope we’ve created a universe that feels deep and alive; a backdrop that feels incidental to the story, rather than purpose-built for it. Though the perspective is focused, we want the world to feel like it extends well beyond the edges of the film.” (PROSPECT Wiki)

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0964 – Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

timespace coordinates: 1945  Kobe, Japan

Grave of the Fireflies (火垂るの墓 Hotaru no Haka) is a 1988 Japanese animated war film based on the 1967 semi-autobiographical short story of the same name by Akiyuki Nosaka. It was written and directed by Isao Takahata, and animated by Studio Ghibli for the story’s publisher Shinchosha Publishing. The film stars Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Yoshiko Shinohara and Akemi Yamaguchi. The film tells the story of two siblings, Seita and Setsuko, and their desperate struggle to survive during the final months of the Second World War.

The Grave of the Fireflies is commonly described as an anti-war film, but this interpretation has been denied by the director. (wiki)

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0962 – Overlord (2018)

timespace coordinates: June, 1944  Nazi occupied France

Overlord is a 2018 American war horror / period Nazi zombie shoot-’em-up film directed by Julius Avery and written by Billy Ray and Mark L. Smith. It stars Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Mathilde Ollivier, John Magaro, Gianny Taufer, Pilou Asbæk, and Bokeem Woodbine. The film was produced by J. J. Abrams, through his Bad Robot Productions banner, and Lindsey Weber. The plot follows several American soldiers who are dropped behind enemy lines the day before D-Day and discover secret Nazi experiments. (wiki)

The title of the film is, no doubt, in reference to Operation Overlord, the codename for the Allied operation for the Battle of Normandy, which launched the successful invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe. This, alongside Operation Neptune, would become known as D-Day.

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