Venice Film Festival 2021
Fans of The Deuce, HBO’s undersung drama series about the flesh trade in pre-Giuliani New York City, will recall the determination with which Maggie Gyllenhaal’s character pulled herself up from sex worker to adult film director to art-house auteur. A parallel confidence distinguishes Gyllenhaal’s own feature directorial debut, a sensitively observed though sharp-edged adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s 2006 novel, The Lost Daughter. The reclusive Italian author’s familiar themes of female relationships, sexuality, motherhood and women’s struggle to carve a professional space outside it are beautifully served in this uncompromising character study, illuminated by performances of jagged brilliance from Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley as her younger self.
Following its Venice competition premiere and a New York Film Festival slot, the film will be released Dec. 17 in theaters by Netflix before bowing Dec. 31 on the streaming platform. Its strong cast and the story’s granular psychological texture will make it a must-see, while putting Gyllenhaal on the map as a neophyte writer-director already graced with maturity and restraint.
Pruning some of the novel’s backstory to dive directly into its central character’s rocky interior life, the film opens with the arrival on an unnamed Greek island (shooting took place on Spetses) of Leda (Colman), a divorced British professor of Italian literature in her late 40s. She seems both tantalized and put off by the cheery familiarity of Lyle (Ed Harris), the American caretaker of her spacious holiday rental. It being early in the season, she has the beach virtually to herself, which seems to suit her, though Gyllenhaal deftly plays with tone, making counterintuitive use of Dickon Hinchliffe’s jazzy music over scenes that convey a disquieting edge.
Any semblance of tranquility evaporates in an instant with the arrival of a noisy, vulgar American extended family. Leda’s attention is drawn to a young woman, Nina (Dakota Johnson), who seems not entirely comfortable in her role as a mother. While intently watching the stranger and her daughter, Elena, Leda becomes emotional, her mind traveling back to her own early experience of motherhood, more than 20 years ago. Buckley steps into those memory scenes, and in Leda’s prickly attempts to focus on her work while dealing with the demands for attention of two young girls, she swiftly conveys the ambivalence of a woman who loves her daughters but is anxious about them pulling her away from her own place in the world.
On the island, Leda gets off to an unfriendly start with the family when she declines to move her umbrella and beach chair to make space for them. But Nina’s pregnant sister-in-law, Callie (Dagmara Dominczyk), comes with a peace offering of birthday cake. When she mentions the child she’s expecting, Leda responds with brittle finality: “Children are a crushing responsibility.”
That borderline hostility toward the traditional expectations of motherhood echoes through the scenes of past and present, particularly as the young Leda attempts to negotiate professional advancement without neglecting her children. Buckley is superb at tracing those bifurcated feelings — the awful fear of domestic confinement blocking her full potential, butting up against shame over not meeting her maternal obligations. That conflict deepens when a charming older literature professor (Peter Sarsgaard) expresses admiration for her work, opening a window to romantic escape.
Video: Maggie Gyllenhaal’s ‘The Lost Daughter’ Acquired by Netflix Ahead of Venice Premiere (TheWrap)
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14 ‘South Park’ Movies Ordered at Paramount+, Comedy Central Renews Show Through Season 30
“South Park” has been renewed through Season 30 at Comedy Central and 14 original movies based on the show have been ordered at Paramount+, as part of a new deal signed between MTV Entertainment Studios and co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, parent company ViacomCBS revealed Thursday. Two of those made-for-streaming “South Park” movies will debut on Paramount+ in 2021, according to the studio. Parker and Stone’s new pact with ViacomCBS’s MTV Entertainment Studios extends their partnership through 2027 and, per Bloomberg, is worth $900 million. Representatives for ViacomCBS and Stone and Parker did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment on the financial aspects of the deal. Co-created by Parker and Stone, “South Park” premiered on Comedy Central on August 13, 1997. It most recently aired a full season, its 23rd, in 2019, with two standalone specials debuting during the pandemic in September 2020 and March 2021. No premiere date has been set for Season 24 yet. Parker, Stone, Anne Garefino and Frank C. Agnone II executive produce “South Park.” Eric Stough, Adrien Beard, Bruce Howell and Vernon Chatman are producers and Chris Brion is the creative director of “South Park” Digital Studios. “Matt and Trey are world-class creatives who brilliantly use their outrageous humor to skewer the absurdities of our culture and we are excited to expand and deepen our long relationship with them to help fuel Paramount+ and Comedy Central,” Chris McCarthy, president/CEO of MTV Entertainment & CCO/Adult Animation – Paramount+, said. “Franchising marquee content like ‘South Park’ and developing new IP with tremendous talent like Matt and Trey, is at the heart of our strategy to continue growing Paramount+.” “Comedy Central has been our home for 25 years and we’re really happy that they’ve made a commitment to us for the next 75 years,” Parker and Stone said. “When we came to ViacomCBS with a different way to produce the show during the pandemic, Chris (McCarthy), Nina (Diaz), Keyes (Hill-Edgar) and Tanya (Giles) were immediately supportive and enabled us to try something new that turned out to be really well received. We can’t wait to get back to doing traditional ‘South Park’ episodes but now we can also try out new formats. It’s great to have partners who will always take a chance with us.” The deal between Stone and Parker and ViacomCBS was negotiated by their long-time attorney, Kevin Morris and Park County’s Keith Pizzi. Read original story 14 ‘South Park’ Movies Ordered at Paramount+, Comedy Central Renews Show Through Season 30 At TheWrap
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HBO Max’s ‘Gossip Girl’ Just Brought Back Blair, Chuck, Serena, Dan and Nelly Yuki
(Warning: This post contains spoilers for Thursday’s new episode of HBO Max’s “Gossip Girl.”) Upper East Siders who thought that last week’s intro of a pre-teen Milo Sparks was the best that HBO Max’s “Gossip Girl” could do in the way of references to the OG series are going to have their tights knocked off by the quintet of cameos on Thursday’s episode. That’s mainly because one of them is the actual return of fan-favorite character Nelly Yuki (Yin Chang), and the other four appearances come via incredibly meta fabrications of The CW series’ leading couples: Blair Waldorf (played by Leighton Meester) and Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick), and Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) and Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley). On the newly released Episode 5 of HBO Max’s “Gossip Girl”, titled “Hope Sinks,” Chang makes a cameo as Nelly Yuki, the frenemy of Blair who has risen from impressive Women’s Wear Daily reporter to even more impressive New York Magazine editor since last we saw her on the original series, at a Halloween costume party attended by Manhattans elite, including teens Julien Calloway (Jordan Alexander), Zoya Lott (Whitney Peak), Obie Bergmann IV (Eli Brown), Aki Menzies (Evan Mock), Audrey Hope (Emily Alyn Lynd), Max Wolfe (Thomas Doherty), Luna La (Zion Moreno) and Monet de Haan (Savannah Smith). Obie reveals to both Nelly and Zoya that one of Nelly’s reporters was impersonating a student to get close to Zoya and try to find out if she is the new Gossip Girl. Nelly scolds her employee, and also Obie for stirring the pot here: “This kind of drama is exactly what Gossip Girl wants. If you stoop to her level, Mr. Bergmann, you’re no better than her.” Though Change comes back to play Nelly Yuki, but when we see Blair, Chuck, Serena and Dan, they are not played by Meester, Westwick, Lively and Badgley. However, something possibly even more amazing happens: Zoya and Julien, in an attempt to salvage their botched Beyoncé and Solange Knowles couples costume, transform themselves into Chuck and Dan to latch onto the couples costume of two rivals from another school, who came dressed as Blair and Serena. We even get a perfect “I’m Chuck Bass” line delivery from Zoya. See the pairs in all their glory below. HBO Max For costume references, here are Dan and Serena on their wedding day, in the series finale of the original “Gossip Girl”: Warner Bros TV And here are Blair and Chuck at cotillion in Season 1: Warner Bros. TV And here’s Nelly Yuki on Episode 5 of HBO Max’s “Gossip Girl” dressed as Eva Chen at the costume party: HBO Max So we might not have had the real Serena, Blair, Chuck and Dan back — but watching the younger generations take on them was pretty scandalous. A new episode of “Gossip Girl” launches next Thursday on HBO Max. Read original story HBO Max’s ‘Gossip Girl’ Just Brought Back Blair, Chuck, Serena, Dan and Nelly Yuki At TheWrap
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Nielsen to Add Wearable Measurement for TV Ratings
Nielsen will add wearable devices to its national TV measurements beginning this fall. Starting next month, Nielsen will begin placing about 3,000 new Portable People Meter (PPM) Wearables in a subset of its nearly 60,000 active PPM panelists. The PPM is used to underpin audio, local TV and national audience measurement. It is used to measure both in-home and out of home tuning for audio and local TV and out-of-home tuning for Nielsen’s national TV estimates. The devices come in a variety of ways to wear including wristbands, clips and pendants, which are more appealing among demographics that typically have lower compliance. Nielsen says PPM metering will be serve as “foundational support” for its upcoming cross-media measurement called Nielsen ONE, which will combine linear and digital viewing into one number (hence the name). The devices have been in testing phase for the last two years after being introduced during the National Association of Broadcasters conference in 2019. The first top-line data will be shared in Q2 of next year, with a full rollout planned for the second half of 2022. “By modernizing our panels, we are not only improving the overall panelist experience and increasing engagement, but also ensuring our measurement is durable and can adapt to evolving technology changes,” said Mainak Mazumdar, Nielsen’s chief research and data officer. “This is another example of how Nielsen is continuing to innovate in our march towards Nielsen ONE in order to create a better media future for the entire industry.” Nielsen has come under fire recently over its measurement capabilities and the company was found to have undercounted viewers during the pandemic. Last month, the Video Advertising Bureau — the industry group representing virtually all of the major TV networks — asked the Media Ratings Council to suspend the TV ratings company’s accreditation. You can read more about what exactly that would mean here. Read original story Nielsen to Add Wearable Measurement for TV Ratings At TheWrap
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Gyllenhaal and ace editor Affonso Gonçalves sustain a fluid back-and-forth between Leda’s past and present, where her moments of liberated sensuality clash with feelings that might be remorse or guilt but are seldom so cut and dried in Colman’s enigmatic performance.
When Elena wanders off from the beach to play nearby, the family panics, and Leda endears herself to them by finding the missing girl. But she steals something precious that belongs to the child, making Elena inconsolable and keeping her family stuck in search mode. The impulse behind Leda’s act remains opaque, perhaps perplexing even to herself, though fragments from the past and suggestions of the emotional distance separating her from her grown daughters hint at the tangled reasons for her off-kilter behavior.
Leda’s flirty encounters with Lyle and young Irish seasonal worker Will (Paul Mescal) pull her back to the present. But the strongest connection that forms is with Nina. Johnson does some of her best screen work to date as a woman who appears to be asking herself similar questions to those Leda was asking 20 years earlier — will she be content to have her life defined by motherhood, playing the demure, sexy wife for her obnoxious playboy husband (Oliver Jackson-Cohen)?
From their first meeting, she seems bewitched by Leda, as if instinctively identifying her as a kindred spirit. Nina makes her a confidant when she plans a transgression outside her marriage, looking to her for answers that Leda doesn’t have. And Leda clearly feels a tenderness for Nina that seems rooted in recognition.
That makes her continuing deception all the more unsettling, like a kind of sabotage that points to guilt, disgust and self-castigation for her actions of long ago, but also possibly to defiance in Colman’s ballsy characterization, which refuses to soften Leda’s detachment. Even her rage when a bunch of rowdy youths disrupt a movie screening seems disproportionate, indicating a state of percolating anger directed as much at herself as anyone else. When she blurts out “I’m an unnatural mother!” in the middle of a heated confrontation, the admission seems both shocking and strangely freeing.
Surrounding herself with first-rate craft collaborators, Gyllenhaal modulates the mood with great skill, keeping the viewer guessing about which way the story is headed and building genuine suspense out of Leda’s theft and the constant threat of discovery. French cinematographer Hélène Louvart, who brought such piercing emotional exploration to her work with director Eliza Hittman on Beach Rats and Never Rarely Sometimes Always, gets even more intimate with her probing close-ups here. There are also echoes of the lush, almost violent color the DP brought to Karim Aïnouz’s criminally underseen Invisible Life.
As material for a first feature, The Lost Daughter is certainly ambitious, with a protagonist defined by her murky interiority and the odd, often unreadable nature of the relationships she forms with everyone she encounters. But Gyllenhaal and her impeccably chosen cast make it a mesmerizingly cinematic psychological drama.
