Director Byan Singer s critically

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1 Daily Page 1 of 7 Memorable $111 Million Holiday Bow for X-Men: Days of Future Past By Pamela McClintock Director Byan Singer s critically acclaimed X-Men: Days of Future Past soared at the Memorial Day weekend box office, nabbing a stellar four-day debut of $111 million from 3,996 theaters. Overseas, the Fox tentpole took in $191 million through Monday, putting its global total at a huge $302 million the best debut of any X-Men film. X-Men: Days of Future Past topped the $203 million global bow of 2006 s X-Men: The Last Stand, although in North America, Last Stand still sports the top debut of all time for an X-Men title ($122 million). Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore s comedy Blended wasn t so lucky. The Warner Bros. film, placing No. 3 after Days of Future Past and Godzilla, grossed $18.2 million from 3,555 locations over the four-day frame, one of the worst openings for a Sandler pic in recent years. The film s poor performance In North America, X-Men: Days of Future Past scored the fifth-best Memorial Day weekend bow behind Pirates of the Caribbean: At World s End, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, X-Men: The Last Stand and Fast & Furious 6. played a major role in box-office revenue being down more than 26 percent from Memorial Day weekend Days of Future Past is a victory for Fox and Singer, who withdrew from promoting the film after a sex-abuse lawsuit was filed against him. see page 2 BEHIND THE SCREEN WHERE TECH, CRAFT AND HOLLYWOOD MEET A TECH BLOG FROM CAROLYN GIARDINA Click Here

2 Page 2 of 7 movie news From page 1 This record-breaking result reflects the incredible work done by the filmmakers and cast on this X-Men saga, together with the passion and diligence of the new global distribution and marketing team at Fox, said Fox s Paul Hanneman, the studio s relatively new co-president of worldwide marketing and distribution. Overseas, the tentpole opened in virtually every major market, save for Japan and Spain. The pic, costing $200 million-plus to produce, features actors from the original X-Men trilogy of films and 2011 s X-Men: First Class, including Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Peter Dinklage, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. Singer, who helmed the first two X-Men films, also produced Days of Future Past alongside Lauren Shuler Donner, screenwriter Simon Kinberg and Hutch Parker. Overseas, Days of Future Past took in $171.1 million through Sunday and $191 million through Monday. That figure includes $37.7 million in China, marking the studio s second-best opening of all time behind Titanic 3D, which went on to earn a massive $150 million. Additionally, Days of Future Past marked Fox s biggest opening in 11 markets, including South Korea ($13.5 million). Elsewhere, it bowed to $14.2 million in the U.K. and $13.5 million in France, the biggest launch of the year to date for a Hollywood title. In North America, Days of Future Past scored the fifth-best Memorial Day weekend opening ever after Pirates of the Caribbean: At World s End ($139.8 million), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ($126.9 million), X-Men: The Last Stand ($122.9 million) and last year s Fast & Furious 6 ($117 million). Blended, the weekend s other new nationwide offering, reteamed Sandler with Barrymore for the third time after 1998 s The Wedding Singer and 2004 s 50 First Dates. While the comedy about two single parents who wind up on an African safari together with their kids got a critical drubbing, audiences were This week Weekend Box Office Top 10 Movie/Distributor more forgiving, giving the film an A- CinemaScore. One saving grace is the pic s relatively modest $45 million budget. The comedy marks Sandler s secondlowest opening of the last five years after That s My Boy, which posted a threeday debut of $13.5 million two years ago. (Blended s three-day gross was $14.2 million.) The actor s previous box-office outing, last July s Grown Ups 2, opened to $42.5 million domestically over three days. Warner Bros. president of domestic distribution Dan Fellman said good weather across the country kept many people away from the multiplex over Memorial Day weekend. Last year, in addition to the strong showing of action pic Fast & Furious 6, the comedy The Hangover: Part III debuted to $50 million. Blended was hampered from maximizing its potential, said Fellman. The A- CinemaScore will help grow our box office as we continue into the lucrative summer playtime. Facing fierce competition from Days of Future Past, Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. Godzilla fell steeply in its second weekend. The tentpole, coming in No. 2, posted a four-day gross of $39.4 million and a three-day gross of $31.1 million, down 67 percent from last weekend. Globally, the reboot has now taken in $323.4 million, including $156.8 million 4-day gross (in mil) Percent change* # of theaters Pertheater average Cume to date 1 X-Men: Days of Future Past (fox) $ ,996 $27,778 $ Godzilla (warner bros.) ,952 9, Blended (warner bros.) ,555 5, Neighbors (universal) ,266 5, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (sony) ,160 3, Million Dollar Arm (disney) ,019 2, The Other Woman (fox) ,154 2, Rio 2 (Fox) ,701 1, Chef (open road) , Heaven Is for Real (sony) ,720 1, *compares four-day holiday frame to previous three-day weekend rentrak domestically and $166.6 million abroad. Over the weekend, Godzilla helped Warner Bros. cross the $1 billion mark in foreign box-office revenue for the 14th consecutive year. Universal s R-rated comedy Neighbors continued to shine, coming in No. 4 in its third weekend with a four-day gross of $17.2 million and a three-day gross of $13.9 million from 3,266 locations. The film, starring Seth Rogen, Zac Efron and Rose Byrne, crossed the $100 million mark over the long holiday weekend with a domestic total of $116.9 million and a global cume of $184.3 million as of Monday. Sony s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 rounded out the top five, reporting a three-day gross of $7.8 million and a four-day gross of $10 million from 3,160 theaters for a domestic total of $187.1 million through Monday. The superhero sequel took in another $11.2 million offshore for a foreign cume of $489 million and worldwide total of $676.1 million. Jon Favreau s indie food-truck comedy Chef moved into the top 10 in its third weekend as it expanded into a total of 498 theaters. The pic grossed $2.3 million for the three-day period and an estimated $2.9 million over the four-day holiday frame, putting its domestic total at $4.2 million. Open Road Films is distributing the film in the U.S.

3 Page 3 of 7 Helmer Wright Exits Marvel Pic Ant-Man By Borys Kit Director Edgar Wright has left Ant-Man, Marvel s movie project starring Paul Rudd. Marvel and Edgar Wright jointly announced today that the studio and director have parted ways on Ant-Man due to differences in their visions of the film, read a statement released Friday. The decision to move on is amicable and Wright does not impact the release date on July 17, A new director will be announced shortly. Wright s exit is a shock since the filmmaker, who would have been one of the more unique voices in Marvel s pantheon of movie directors, has been with the project since its inception in 2006 and the split has occurred late in preproduction. As opposed to most of its helmers, Wright has not been a director-for-hire, and the project was conceived as a major showcase for the man who made Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World s End. In addition to Rudd, Ant-Man s cast includes Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Pena, Corey Stoll and Patrick Wilson. china s Alibaba Outlines Plans for Film Business By Clifford Coonan BEIJING Chinese online retail giant Alibaba, which just filed for a $1 billion initial public offering, will change the name of the ChinaVision media group it bought in March to Alibaba Pictures Group as it steps up its expansion into the film business. The company is planning to invest in eight to 10 films a year, as well as three to five long TV dramas and the same number of web-only dramas China Business News reported. Its board will include action star Jet Li, who is close to Jack Ma, a former English teacher who founded Alibaba in Alibaba now accounts for as much as 80 percent of all e-commerce in China and is the world s biggest e-commerce firm. The company plans to sign big-name directors such as Wong Kar-wai, Peter Chan and Stephen Chow to its film unit. Alibaba s upcoming IPO could be the biggest in history, and the company will trade either on the New York Stock Exchange or the NASDAQ. Ma has previously stressed the importance of boosting China s culture industries, because without them, the pockets are full, but the brain is empty. Alibaba, in which Yahoo has a stake, has been on a buying spree of late. Last month, Alibaba said it would partner with Yunfeng Capital to buy an 18.5 percent stake in China s leading online video company Youku Tudou. In March, it bought a controlling stake in ChinaVision for $804 million, giving Alibaba access to TV and movie content. The directors of Alibaba Pictures Group were listed in the filing as Dong Ping, chairman of ChinaVision, and Zhao Chao, also an executive director of ChinaVision, according to a Reuters report. Local media, citing company sources, said that Alibaba will use the film group to launch movie channels on its Taobao and Tiaomao e-commerce services. The company also set up a film investment fund called Yulebao, which has met its funding target of $11.77 million after just five days. The service likely could have raised tens of millions more had it not capped its initial investment round. In that time, 223,800 investors bought 785,500 shares in hot upcoming Chinese movie projects, such as Jean-Jacques Annaud s Wolf Totem and the next two installments of the Tiny Times franchise. Yulebao is an investment vehicle, similar to crowdfunding, that lets thousands of ordinary Chinese become microfinanciers for movies using smartphone apps via Alibaba s mobile Taobao platform to invest movie news Elevation Taps Prasad as Distribution Chief By Etan Vlessing TORONTO Naveen Prasad has joined Elevation Pictures, the Canadian indie distributor backed by Teddy Schwarzman s Black Bear Pictures. Prasad left Entertainment One s Canadian film division in September 2013 as senior vp. He will become a key building block at Elevation as his noncompete period ends. As executive vp and G.M., Prasad will oversee distribution, sales and operations, which includes generating ancillary channels for movie product such as pay TV, VOD, SVOD, EST and broadcast TV. Prasad s hire marks a reunion, as copresidents Laurie May and Noah Segal worked together at Lionsgate and then Alliance Films, as did Prasad. Entertainment One subsequently acquired Alliance to become Canada s largest indie distributor, creating a gap in the middle of the market that Elevation, Mongrel Media, VVS, D Films, Remstar Films and others are looking to fill. This will elevate us above the noise, Elevation s May said of Prasad s hire, given his industry relationships and expertise. Launched in September 2013, Elevation is eyeing an annual slate of 15 to 25 commercial and indie movies. The indie outfit s recent titles include genre film Oculus, released in the U.S. by Relativity Media, and Locke, which was launched stateside by A24 Films. Upcoming Elevation projects include The Imitation Game, to be handled by The Weinstein Co. in the U.S.; A Most Violent Year, which has an A24 stateside release, and Universal Studio s Incarnate, directed by Brad Peyton. Elevation was busy at Cannes, having acquired American Express, directed by Nash Edgerton and starring Charlize Theron, and John Carney s Sing Street, while also partnering with Remstar to pick up Canadian rights to Michel Hazanavicius The Search.

4 Page 4 of 7 cannes 2014 Drama Winter Sleep Wins Palme d Or By Rebecca Ford and Rhonda Richford CANNES After 11 days of films, the Cannes Film Festival wrapped Saturday with the closing ceremony. The top prize, the Palme d Or, went to Winter Sleep. Jury president Jane Campion and her panel, including Sofia Coppola, Willem Dafoe, Nicolas Winding Refn and Gael Garcia Bernal, picked the Ceylan prizes from this year s selection of 18 films in competition. Iconic French actor Lambert Wilson served as master of ceremonies at the event. Festival president Gilles Jacob, who will step down after this year, received a long standing ovation at the event. Pulp Fiction director Quentin Tarantino and star Uma Thurman, in town for a 20th anniversary celebration of their film, announced the winner of the Palme d Or. Winter Sleep, directed by Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan, is an epic story of a marriage starring Haluk Bilginer, Melisa Sozen and Demet Akbag. Ceylan dedicated his award to the young people of Turkey who have lost their lives during the last year, and thanked the festival s Thierry Fremaux and Jacob for supporting such a long film. (The film was the longest in the competition at 3 hours, 16 minutes.) The runner-up grand prize went to The Wonders, a coming-of-age story set in the Northern Italian countryside from director Alice Rohrwacher. Foxcatcher helmer Bennett Miller was named best director. His film, based on a true, tragic story, stars Channing Tatum, Steve Carell and Mark Ruffalo. The jury prize was given to two films: Xavier Dolan s Mommy and Jean-Luc Godard s Goodbye to Language. The 25- year-old Dolan had his two previous pics also play in Cannes in the Directors Fort- night and Un Certain Regard sections. He gave an emotional speech, and specifically thanked Campion for the influence her film The Piano has had over his work, inspiring him to write roles for strong women, not victims, not objects. Timothy Spall, star of Mike Leigh s biopic Mr. Turner, collected best actor honors. The film centers on the life of British painter J.M.W. Turner. The actor was moved to tears while delivering his acceptance speech, which was briefly interrupted by his beeping cellphone. I ve often been a bridesmaid, but this is the first time I have ever been a bride, Spall told the audience. This is a lifelong collaboration with Mike Leigh and this is as much an accolade for Mr. Leigh as me. Julianne Moore, who did not attend the ceremony, was named best actress for her role in David Cronenberg s Maps to the Stars. Leviathan s writers Andrey Zvyagintsev and Oleg Negin won for best screenplay. The film, directed by Zvyagintsev, was picked up by Sony Pictures Classics for U.S. release earlier on Saturday. The Camera d Or, awarded to the best first feature by a director, went to Party Girl, which opened the Un Certain Regard section. It was written and directed by the trio of Marie Amachoukeli, Claire Burger and Samuel Theis. White God garners Fest Sidebar Honor By Georg Szalai CANNES The Un Certain Regard sidebar of the 67th Cannes Film Festival announced its winners on Friday, with the jury awarding the top prize to Kornel Mundruczo s White God during a ceremony at the Palais Salle Bunuel. The film by the Hungarian director about a canine uprising drew much buzz on the Croisette, and also took home the Palm Dog award earlier. I m thankful for my team, and deeply, deeply thankful for all of the dogs that collaborated with us, Mundruczo said in brief remarks. This is the best room in Cannes, he added. At the same time, this prize is for the freedom of filmmaking and also to protect independent authors. Outgoing Cannes president Gilles Jacob took to the stage to note his last year. He created the Un Certain Regard sidebar in 1978, and said he wanted to celebrate this year of unpronounceable names from our foreign friends. Jury members who picked the winners from among the 20 films competing in the selection included Criterion Collection president Peter Becker, Norway-based actress Maria Bonnevie, French actress Geraldine Pailhas and Argentina s Pablo Trapero, who headed up the panel. The ceremony was casual and multicultural: Trapero gave a short speech in Spanish, and Senegalese director Moussa Toure also spoke to the crowd in his Wolof language. The jury prize went to Ruben Ostlund s Force Majeure, which centers on a family in crisis during a skiing vacation, and a special jury honor went to The Salt of the Earth by Wim Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, a documentary about the latter s photographer father. Wenders wasn t present to accept the award. Best actor honors went to David Gulpilil for his role in Rolf De Heerdirected Australian drama Charlie s Country, with section opener Party Girl earning the ensemble acting prize. Last year, The Missing Picture from director Rithy Panh won the Un Certain Regard top prize, while Ryan Coogler s drama Fruitvale Station was tapped as best first film. Click here for more news and reviews from Cannes.

5 Page 5 of 7 tv news TBS Pete Holmes Show Axed After Two Seasons By Lesley Goldberg A week after extending Conan O Brien s show for another three years, TBS has canceled his late-night companion, The Pete Holmes Show. The talk show will not be back for a third cycle, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. The midnight show starring comedian Pete Holmes will end its run June 19 after more than 70 episodes. TBS bowed the series with a seven-week run in 2013 and renewed the four-night-a-week show for a second season of 13 weeks in January. We recognize Pete as one of the most relevant comedians working today, TBS said Friday in a statement. We loved the show and gave it two chances. We just couldn t draw the audience needed to justify a third round. We hope we ll get to work with him again. The Pete Holmes Show aired Monday through Thursday after Conan and during its first run averaged 500,000 viewers with a median age of 36. Produced by O Brien and his Conaco banner alongside Jeff Ross, David Kissinger, Nick Bernstein and Dave Rath, the series loses more than 350,000 viewers from its lead-in. TBS decision to cancel the Holmes show comes amid a sea change in the late-night space on broadcast and as cable networks have struggled to carve out space in the increasingly competitive genre. MTV canceled Nikki & Sara Live its foray into late-night in November after two seasons; FXX dropped Totally Biased With W. Kamau Bell after two runs; and Comedy Central opted to not move forward with its Anthony Jeselnikfronted topical show The Jeselnik Offensive after two runs. Meanwhile, Comedy Central has found success with its Chris Hardwickhosted late-night Bravo re-upped Andy Cohen and his Watch What Happens Live for two more TBS midnight show starring comedian Pete Holmes will end its run June 19 after airing more than 70 episodes. seasons; HBO is off to a strong start with its John Oliver weekly series Last Week Tonight; and Comedy Central has tapped Larry Wilmore to host its new weeknight show, The Minority Report, when Stephen Colbert moves to replace David Letterman on CBS Late Show in Netflix Drama Daredevil Taps New Showrunner By Lesley Goldberg There s a change at the top of Marvel s upcoming Daredevil series on Netflix. Drew Goddard will hand over showrunning duties to Steven S. DeKnight, who is finalizing a deal to board the series, The Hollywood DeKnight Reporter has learned. Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Lost alum Goddard will segue to writing and directing Sony s Spider-Man spinoff Sinister Six, which will focus on the villains from that universe. He ll remain with Daredevil and serve as a consultant on the drama. For his part, DeKnight served as showrunner on three seasons of Starz s Spartacus and wrapped the series in His credits include working with Goddard on Joss Whedon s Angel and Buffy as well as Whedon s Dollhouse and The CW s Smallville. DeKnight is repped by CAA. Netflix picked up Daredevil as well as Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Luke Cage as well as miniseries The Defenders in a massive pact with Marvel. Daredevil is first out of the gate with 13 episodes. For its part, Marvel expanded its relationship with ABC, adding Captain America spinoff Agent Carter as a bridge series between the fall and spring runs of the sophomore season of Agents of SHIELD. All My Children s Cowles Dies at 69 Staff report Matthew Cowles, known for his villainous turn as Billy Clyde Tuggle on ABC soap opera All My Children, died May 22. He was 69. His manager, Tsu Tsu Stanton, confirmed the news to The Hollywood Reporter. He was a very gifted Cowles and kind man who loved life and everyone, Stanton said Friday on Twitter. The cause of death was not immediately available. Cowles, whose career in film and television spanned more than four decades, earned two daytime Emmy nominations for his portrayal of Tuggle on the longrunning soap opera. He also appeared in the web-only version of the soap when it debuted last year. The actor also appeared in a series of small parts in TV series over the years, including bit roles on Kojak, Miami Vice and Law & Order and recurring roles on HBO s Oz and BBC One s Life on Mars. Cowles played the trainer for the minorleague Charlestown Chiefs hockey team in Paul Newman s Slap Shot (1977) and had roles in romantic thriller The Juror (1996) and Martin Scorsese s Shutter Island (2010). Survivors include his wife of more than 30 years, The Good Wife actress Christine Baranski, a multiple Emmy nominee and Tony winner.

6 Page 6 of 7 By Erik Hayden Gregg Allman has responded to a wrongful death lawsuit filed against him by the parents of Sarah Jones, who died in a train accident on the set of biopic Midnight Rider. A statement from the rock singer s attorney released on Friday denied that his client had any knowledge that the film would be shooting on a train track and noted Richard Jones, the father of Sarah Jones, had contacted Allman prior to the suit being filed. Allman While the lawsuit filed this week by the Jones family was expected, the inclusion of my client is unfortunate, unwarranted and without merit. Mr. All- Jones man simply provided an option to acquire motion picture rights to his life story and his autobiography, read the statement from Allman s attorney David W. Long-Daniels. It is undisputed from the testimony at the recent court hearing that Mr. Allman and his representative did not have any knowledge that live people [would be] on a live train track. My clients were not at the location when this tragedy occurred nor have they ever been to that location. In fact, they had no role in securing any location for the making of the movie or the actual physical production of the film. They provided creative input on the script and the rights about Mr. Allman s life and consulted about casting and music. The statement concludes: We are confident that the legal process will result in the ultimate dismissal of claims against Mr. Allman and his representative. It is unfortunate that plaintiffs counsel has taken a shotgun approach to this very tragic event, Sarah Jones, a 27-year-old second camera assistant on Midnight Rider, died on Feb. 20 after being struck by a train traveling on a trestle above the Altamaha River in Wayne County, Ga. A wrongful death lawsuit was filed on May 21 in Chatham County, Ga., court by Richard and Elizabeth Jones that listed Allman as one of several defendants who showed willful misconduct, wantonness, oppression or that entire want of care which raises the presumption of conscious indifference to consequences. The suit claimed that while the Midnight Rider defendants knew that they did not have permission or approval from [rail transportation company] CSX to film on railroad tracks, they concealed this fact from the rest of the Midnight Rider cast and crew, including Sarah. The suit also names the film s director, Randall Miller, and executive producers Jay Sedrish, Michael Lehman, Jeffrey N. Gant and Don Mandrik among the defendants. In Friday s statement, Allman s attorney claims that Richard Jones had sent his client an on April 27 expressing gratitude days after the singer had implored the Midnight Rider filmmakers not to resume production. I am Sarah Jones father. I am reaching out to communicate with Gregg Allman, read the from Richard Jones to Allman, according to the singer s attorney. While I wish to extend my gratitude for his position regarding the Midnight Rider movie, I would like to explore the possibility that may be of interest regarding a story in which ABC s 20/20 is in the process of producing on this topic. As The Hollywood Reporter previously reported, Allman sent Midnight Rider filmmaker Miller a letter on April 25, asking him to reconsider completing legal news Midnight Rider: Allman Slams Shotgun Approach to Jones Suit the pic. While there may have been a possibility that the production might have resumed shortly after that, the reality of Sarah Jones tragic death, the loss suffered by the Jones family and injuries to the others involved has led me to realize that for you to continue production would be wrong, the singer wrote at the time. Rapper Khalifa Arrested on Pot Charges in Texas Staff report Rapper Wiz Khalifa was arrested on Sunday morning at the El Paso International Airport in Texas for traveling with 0.5 grams of marijuana in his possession, local authorities stated. Khalifa, whose real name is Cameron Thomaz, walked through a Transportation Khalifa Security Administration checkpoint and was stopped by an agent, the El Paso police department said in a news release. The TSA officer learned that Thomaz did not have any identification, which led to him being sent for secondary screening, according to the police statement. During that screening, the TSA officer located a metal container inside of [Khalifa s] backpack which contained a prohibited item. The artist was booked and then released from El Paso County Detention Facility on a misdemeanor charge with a bond of $300. During his time in detention, Khalifa tweeted photos from the holding area with titles of Jail Selfie and Free Trap Wiz. The rapper performed Saturday as a headlining artist at the Neon Desert Music Festival in downtown El Paso.

7 Page 7 of 7 cannes review Winter Sleep By Deborah Young CANNES The esoteric world of masterful Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan proves as vibrant and uneasy as ever in Winter Sleep, a Chekhovian meditation on a marriage that returns to the mood of the helmer s early films like Climates and Clouds of May. This is not necessarily good news for fans of his last two very particular murder mysteries, Three Monkeys and Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, where the barest hint of genre offered viewers a tentative inroad into a long, slowmoving exploration of the human soul. Here, things are different. The 3½-hour running time takes no prisoners even among art-house audiences and demands a commitment to attentive viewing that, despite the movie s sometimes terrible longueurs, pays off in the end. But the challengingly long dialogue scenes, shot in brazenly elementary shot-countershot style, will further challenge audiences who lack excellent subtitle-reading skills. The story is set in one of the most picturesque corners of the Earth, the steppes of Cappadocia, where ancient mushroomlike caves dot the stony landscape. Aydin (Haluk Bilginer), a local landowner who has retired from an acting career, has converted one of these into the trendy Othello Hotel. The name turns out to be a red herring, because jealousy has nothing to do with the quiet domestic crisis that follows between the gray-bearded Aydin and his lovely young wife, Nihal (Melisa Sozen). Driven to the village by his faithful factotum Hidayet (a commanding Ayberk Pekcan), Aydin falls victim to a rock-throwing boy who nearly gets them into a car accident. The boy s father is a poor jailbird and drunkard, and their meeting is highly unpleasant. Aydin retreats to the solitude of his tasteful studio, where he works on writing his high-principled weekly column for the local gazette. Long-winded dialogues with his divorced sister Necla (Demet Akbag) offer painfully true insight into Aydin s irritating, better-than-thou character and introduce one of the film s principal themes: the cynicism of the rich toward the poor. While Aydin tends to bury his head in the sand on the gulf that separates his lifestyle (actually modest by most standards) and that of his dirt-poor tenants in arrears with the rent, Nihal takes concrete steps to improve her community by collecting donations for the local school. When he finds out what she s doing, Aydin butts in and tries to bully her out of her charitable intentions. Rather than show Aydin and Nihal slugging it out, Ceylan and his regular co-scripter Ebru Ceylan describe their clashing characters in dialogue, a risky approach that at times skirts somnolence. Yet their bickering, nagging back-andforth, which also involves Necla, is revelatory and wincingly on target. Just as everything seems clear and black-and-white, the pic tosses the characters up into the air and lets them fall in quite different places. The final halfhour is a joy to watch, as turning points follow in rapid succession. There are even a few moments of humor, like the foreman slipping on his icy boots, or a hilarious drunken revelry by the village teacher (Nadir Saribacak) that are welcome breaks from the solemn mood of a marriage coming apart at the seams. Given the fact that Aydin is an actor, he appears in many guises throughout the Lemisa Sozen rests uneasy in Winter Sleep. film as husband, writer, philosopher and landowner, and Bilginer runs through a repertory of attitudes and postures, to the extent of looking very different from scene to scene. As the young wife, Sozen is smart and cool, every bit as analytical as her manipulative spouse, but not without her own faults. The well-chosen supporting cast is very fine, including extended scenes with the simpatico local Imam Hamdi (Serhat Kilic), who is himself fighting debt and poverty, and Nejat Isler as his proud, penniless brother who shocks Nihal to tears in a superbly shot climax. As in all Ceylan s flms, the landscape plays such a key role it should have an agent. Here the unearthly panorama of giant stones and blowing grass, dotted with Disney-like fairy-tale houses, is home to wild horses. At first the fog rolls in, then it begins to snow, giving director of photography Gokhan Tiryaki a landscape of the soul to mold with light. Venue: Cannes Film Festival (in competition). Production: Zeyno Films, Memento Films Production, Bredok Film Production. Cast: Haluk Bilginer, Melisa Sozen, Demet Akbag, Ayberk Pekcan, Serhat Kilic, Nejat Isler, Tamer Levent, Nadir Saribacak, Mehmet Ali Nuroglu, Emirhan Doruktutan. Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan. Sales: Memento Films International. Not rated, 196 minutes.