Daily

Page 1 of 10February 15, 2012

By Matthew BelloniChris Pine has been sued by his former talent agency, which claims it represented the This Means War and Star Trek actor for nine years but was dropped abruptly via e-mail in November and is being denied millions of dol-lars in commissions.

SDB Partners, a boutique agency based in Century City, filed suit Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court against the actor, whose War was debuting in theaters the same day for sneak previews in advance of its Friday bow. The suit, a copy of which was obtained by The Holly wood Reporter, is a doozy, contain-ing detailed allegations about the fees Pine earned on a number of high-profile pics, including War and the up-coming Star Trek sequel.

According to the lawsuit, SDB agreed to represent the actor in 2002 when he had no experience and “nobody was willing to touch Pine,” and the agency then helped him land film parts that led to the coveted Captain Kirk role in the Trek reboot and Paramount’s planned re-imagining of the Jack Ryan franchise. Pine allegedly has stopped paying the standard

10 percent commission on Trek and other projects and has not responded to a re-quest by the agency to honor his financial obligations.

“Through this lawsuit, SDB seeks to not only recover its commissions on millions of dollars that Pine has already earned, but also the millions of dollars that Pine will con-tinue to earn as a result of

Former Agents Wage Legal War Against Pine

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Inside:bonnaroo 2012 lineup unveiledPAge 3

gabler re-ups at fox 2000PAge 4

nbc gives series order to hannibalPAge 5

euro laffers traveling wellPAge 6

berlin review: francinePAge 8

Boutique agency SDB Partners claims it took actor Chris Pine from nobody to superstar but was fired via e-mail and is being stiffed on commissions.

legal newsPage 2 of 10February 15, 2012

SDB’s prior hard work and dedication to Pine’s career,” the lawsuit states.

Movie stars leave small agencies all the time, but it was something of a surprise when Pine departed SDB in November after a nine-year stint. After all, he’d been courted for years by every top agency and had chose to stick it out with the boutique, which guided his career with manager John Carrabino. In fact, after Trek became a big hit in 2009 and critics praised Pine’s star-making performance, the actor said, according to the complaint: “I’m a firm believer in loyalty. At the end of the day, this is a business, and you are a business, and I have felt in my career it has served me to stay with the people who started with me because I believe they’re as passionate and as dedicated as they’ve ever been.”

Nonetheless, SDB alleges, “on Nov. 11, 2011, Pine dis-charged SDB by e-mail. Pine did not even have the cour-tesy of picking up the tele-phone to tell SDB that he was ending their relation-ship of nine years.”

The suit goes on to list details of Pine’s alleged com- pensation on projects the agency helped him land. From the complaint:n Pine’s Trek deal gives

Paramount an option on him for three films. His pay for the first Trek isn’t listed but the deal allegedly gives him $1.5 million plus up to $500,000 in backend com-pensation for the second pic (which is currently in pre-production) and $3 million

plus the $500,000 in back-end for a third film, if it happens. He also gets 5 per-cent of net merchandising revenue from the exploita-tion of his name and like-ness. (The complaint doesn’t address whether this or other deals might have been renegotiated up, as is common when movies become big hits.)n Pine allegedly was paid

a $3 million up front fee for starring opposite Denzel Washington in 2010’s action thriller Unstoppable.n Pine’s deal with Para-

mount for the Jack Ryan franchise (based on the Tom Clancy books) also locked him in for three pics — but with a big raise from Trek. According to the complaint, the deal would pay him $4 million for the first film, $8 million for the second and $12 million for a third, plus backend. That project is still in development.n Pine allegedly was paid

$5 million to star opposite Reese Witherspoon and Tom Hardy in War, plus up to $1 million in deferred compensation based on box office. The agency claims Pine allegedly has paid par-tial commissions on that fee but still owes $107,560.12.

The complaint then lists about 25 projects that SDB claims are “commissionable,” meaning they were gener-ated for Pine while he was represented by the agency.

The suit, filed by attorneys Bryan Freedman and Jesse Kaplan of L.A.’s Freedman & Taitelman, alleges causes of action for breach of im- plied contract, declaratory relief and accounting.

suit claims p&g ruined kudos showBy Eriq GardnerThere are quite a few awards shows on TV these days, but none honoring those who serve in the military, law enforcement and in fire-fighting departments.

According to a new law-suit, CBS was primed to broadcast a live two-hour primetime special to bestow awards for valor, but the event never came to pass. Why not? A group calling itself Operation: Heroes is blaming the award show’s primary sponsor, Proctor & Gamble, for getting too bossy and attempting to turn the event into “a typical enter- tainment industry/advertiser- boasting awards show, i.e., glitzy, commercially scripted, unnecessarily expensive to the point of foreseeable em-barrassment to the honored Heroes and their respective organizations.”

The “Heroes” award show was to be broadcast annually, starting on Memorial Day weekend 2010. The initial show was going to be hosted by Wayne Newton, with Medal of Valor presenters including Tom Hanks, Clint Eastwood, Kevin Costner, Kevin Bacon and Gary Sinise, with entertainment provided by the winner of NBC’s America’s Got Talent and others.

To broadcast the event, CBS was to get $1.3 million, including a $300,000 advance payment.

In October 2009, P&G

allegedly entered into an agreement to be the exclu-sive presenting sponsor and promised $1.425 million. A small amount of money was to go to Operation: Heroes and the rest to CBS for a “time buy.”

The organizer then says that P&G “took an active and frequently invasive role in the development” of the awards show.

According to the lawsuit, demands included expensive changes to the production budget and modifications to staff, production sets, the event site and talent. The plaintiffs say that the com-pany’s demands “were out-side the scope of [P&G’s] rights under the agreement and sponsorship role.”

The two sides kept argu-ing until ultimately, P&G allegedly pulled out by not paying $1 million to CBS. Afterwards, CBS termi-nated its agreement with Operation: Heroes, telling the group “that its repu-tation had been tarnished such that CBS would not consider broadcasting OH’s event at any future date, even if the entire time-buy fee was paid in advance.”

Operation: Heroes is now suing P&G for breach of contract, interference with contract and negligence. The plaintiffs haven’t targeted any specific damages amount.

“At this time, we have not been served with any formal complaints regarding this matter,” said a P&G spokes-person. “If, in the future, we are served with a com-plaint, we will vigorously defend ourselves against any allegations.”

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music newsPage 3 of 10February 15, 2012

By Jason LipshutzNeW YORK — Radiohead, Phish, Red Hot Chili Pep-pers and the reunited Beach Boys will head to Manches- ter, Tenn., for this year’s Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. The initial lineup for the annual festival, set to take place June 7-10, was announced on Tuesday.

Radiohead will return to Bonnaroo after delivering an epic set at the 2006 edition of the festival and releasing The King of Limbs last year. Meanwhile, Phish headlined two nights of Bonnaroo in 2009, and closed out 2011 by selling out four straight shows at New York’s Madison Square Garden from Dec. 28-31.

Red Hot Chili Peppers, who returned in 2011 with a new full-length, I’m With

You, have planned an ex-pansive North American tour for the spring to sup-port their first album since 2006’s Stadium Arcadium. And the Beach Boys will continue the 50th anniver-

sary celebra-tion that began with a per-formance at the Grammy Awards on Sunday night, with Brian

Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jar-dine, Bruce Johnston and David Marks all signed on to deliver a Bonnaroo set.

Other notable acts at this year’s festival include dub-step phenom Skrillex, best new artist Grammy winner Bon Iver, hip-hop heavy-weights like Ludacris and the Roots and a reunited Ben Folds Five.

Tickets for the four-day festival go on sale Saturday at 12 p.m. ET via Bonnaroo’s

official website. Click here for the full

announced lineup.Jason Lipshutz is an

editorial assistant at Billboard.com.

houston Funeral set For saturdayBy Erin CarlsonAfter initial reports named the 19,000-seat Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., as the site of Whitney Houston’s funeral, her family has re-leased an announcement to the contrary: Services will be private, and held on Satur-day at the church where she sang growing up.

A Houston family spokes-person said the venue will be at Newark’s New Hope Baptist Church, with doors open only to invited guests, Reuters reported. Mean-while, Carolyn Whigham, funeral director of the

Whigham Funeral Home, which is handling the ser-vices, said there would be “nothing for the public.”

“It was the family’s deci-sion,” Whigham said. “They have shared her for 30-some years with the city, with the state, with the world. This is their time now for their farewell.”

A memorial for Houston might be scheduled at a later date.

The music legend’s body was flown from Los Angeles to Newark on Monday. A private jet touched down at Teterboro Airport about 10:30 p.m. ET, transporting her casket into a gold-hued hearse, which joined a caval-cade of cars to bring Hous-ton to the funeral home, the New York Post reported.

Houston’s cousin, Dionne Warwick, had been with the casket on the jet, and her mother, Cissy Houston, was in Newark to retrieve it.

Houston, 48, died Satur-day at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills. An autopsy was completed but results were not revealed, pending a toxicology report and police investigation.

Bonnaroo 2012 Lineup Announced

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business newsPage 4 of 10February 15, 2012

By Alex Ben Blockelizabeth gabler has renewed her deal as president of Fox 2000 Pictures, according to an announcement Tuesday from Jim Gianopulos and Tom Rothman, chairmen of Fox Filmed Entertainment.

Fox also announced that Jessica Goodman has joined Fox 2000 as exec-utive vp pro-duction, and Marisa Paiva has been pro-moted from creative execu-tive to direc- tor of develop- ment.

In the dozen years that Gabler has been in charge, Fox 2000 has consistently produced at least one or two sizable hits in most years.

“For the past 12 years, Elizabeth’s savvy, vision and taste has taken Fox 2000 Pictures to a level of success and accomplishment that exceeded our already high expectations,” Gianopulous and Rothman said.

Among the pictures Gabler has overseen are Walk the Line, The Devil Wears Prada, Marley & Me and the Alvin and the Chip-munks films, which the stu-dio said have grossed more

than $1 billion worldwide.Movies forthcoming from

Fox 2000, according to the studio, include Life of Pi, di-rected by Ang Lee; Guernsey, helmed by Kenneth Branagh; and sequel Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters.

Goodman most recently worked at Warner Bros., where she was executive vp production, overseeing proj-ects such as Contagion, I Am Legend, Oceans 11 (and its two sequels), Michael Clay-ton and The Informant. She joined Warner Bros. in 1998.

“She has a tremendous wealth of experience and shares our passion and re-spect for wonderful mate-rial and filmmakers,” said Gabler.

Paiva is working on Life of Pi. Last year, she was creative executive on Water for Elephants.

millennium nabs new line oF creditBy Alex Ben BlockMillennium entertainment, which acquires and distrib-utes movies for the domes-tic market in theaters, VOD and on other platforms, has closed a deal for a revolving line of credit with Pacific Mercantile Bank, according to CEO Bill Lee.

Millennium, a privately held company owned by Avi Lerner and a group of investors, declined to say how large the line of credit was. They said it will be used for acquisitions and to mar-ket their movies.

The company’s most re-cent release is Rampart, a drama about police cor-ruption in Los Angeles, which stars Woody Harrel- son, Robin Wright and Sigourney Weaver.

Rampart had a one-week qualifying run in November for Academy consideration, but did not snag any nom-inations despite an Oscar campaign. It did earn a Spirit Award nomination. Opening last Friday on five screens, Rampart grossed $65,109 for an average of $13,021 per screen.

Later this year Millennium will release thriller Intruders, directed by Juan Carlos Fres- nadillo (28 Weeks Later) andstarring Clive Owen and Ca-rice Van Houten; Richard Linklater’s Bernie, co-written by Skip Hollandsworth and Linklater and starring Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine and Matthew McConaughey; romantic drama A Little Bit of Heaven starring Kate Hud-son; and Little Birds, starring Juno Temple and Kay Pana- baker.

The deal for the credit line was negotiated on be-half of Millennium Enter- tainment by Piero G. Broc- cardo, senior vp finance, and for Pacific Mercantile Bank by Art Stribley, executive vp entertainment industries divi-sion, and Sandy McKerroll, vp entertainment industries division.

icm promotes lacy to head int’l, indie departmentBy Daniel MillerICM has named Jessica Lacy to head the talent agency’s international and indepen- dent film department, re-placing the exit-ing Hal Sadoff.

Lacy, a lit-erary agent, joined the department in 2007. She will lead the group in structuring and arrang-ing financing, packaging and securing distribution for independent films.

“Jessica has grown tre-mendously in her role, and she is the ideal choice to lead and build this division, as we look to deepen our relationships in the creative and financial sectors and bring the best opportunities to our clients,” said ICM president Chris Silbermann in a statement.

It was reported Monday that Sadoff, a seven-year vet-eran at ICM, would be leav-ing the Century City-based talent agency. ICM declined to comment on his move, but a source confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that Sadoff wil remain with the company at least briefly to transition some of his busi-ness to agents in his depart-ment. The group, which is a division of ICM’s motion picture department, also includes Peter Trinh.

Also on Monday, ICM promoted eight staffers to agents.

Gabler Re-Ups as President of Fox 2000

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television newsPage 5 of 10February 15, 2012

By Lesley GoldbergDr. Hannibal Lecter will be making a house call to NBC.

The network has given series orders to Hannibal, a 13-episode drama from Pushing Daisies’ Bryan Fuller featur-ing the classic characters from Thomas Harris’ novel Red Dragon.

In addi-tion, the net-work has also picked up to pilot Notori-ous, a Revenge-like soap about a female detec-tive from Liz Heldens (Prime Suspect, Friday Night Lights).

Hannibal, from Gaumont International Television, is described as an hourlong contemporary thriller fea-turing characters from Harris’ best-seller and re-volves around FBI agent Will Graham and his men-tor, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, who are reintroduced at the beginning of their budding relationship.

The order for 13 episodes comes as NBC Entertain- ment president Robert Greenblatt — a former Showtime topper — brings his cable sensibilities to the struggling network as he

employs the abbreviated season model typically found on non-broadcast networks. The series order also comes as NBC is two weeks into its 15-episode order for Broad-way drama Smash.

Fuller will write and exec-utive produce the series, with Martha DeLaurentiis also on board as an executive

producer. The series order comes a week after NBC opted to delay its planned Munsters reboot to the sum-mer, allowing the high-con-cept project more time to find the right fit during the casting process.

Notorious, meanwhile, is described as an opulent soap in which a female detective returns to under-cover to the wealthy family she grew up in — as the maid’s daughter — to solve the murder of the notorious heiress who was once her closest friend.

Heldens will pen the proj-ect and executive produce alongside BermanBraun’s Gail Berman, Lloyd Braun and Gene Stein.

Notorious becomes the ninth drama pilot — tenth if you count the Munsters reboot Mockingbird Lane — in contention at NBC.

philbin, rivers to guest star on clevelandBy Philiana NgRegis Philbin and Joan Rivers have been tapped to appear on TV Land’s Hot in Cleve-land.

Additionally, Andy Richter, Kevin Nealon, Georgia Engel, Rea Pearlman, Roger Bart, Craig Bierko and Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Cribbs will guest star in the third season of the Betty White-led comedy, airing Wednesdays through June.

The news marks the half-hour comedy’s quest to bol-ster ratings as it continues to hover around 1.6 million viewers, well below the first-season average of roughly 3 million.

In January, TV Land greenlit a fourth season of Cleveland and moved forward with spinoff Have Faith, star-ring Cedric the Entertainer.

miller tapped to play holmes in cbs pilotBy Lesley GoldbergCBS has tracked down its Sherlock Holmes.

Former Dexter killer Jonny Lee Miller has landed the lead role in the network’s drama pilot Elementary, described as a New York- set modern take on the cases of the famed detective, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

The casting marks a re-turn to series television for

Miller, who guest starred in eight episodes as a motiva-tional speaker with a dark secret on Showtime’s Dexter. The British actor (Train-spotting) starred on ABC’s primetime soap Eli Stone and has two features in production: Dark Shadows and Byzantium.

Robert Doherty will write and executive produce the CBS TV Studios project, with CBS veteran Sarah Timberman (A Gifted Man, Unforgettable) and Carl Beverly on board as execu-tive producers.

Elementary is one of eight drama pilots in con-tention at CBS.

beals signs with apaBy Daniel MillerJennifer Beals, best known for her Golden Globe- nominated performance in 1983’s Flashdance, has signed with APA in all areas.

She was previously repre-sented by Paradigm.

Beals is currently guest starring in a two-episode arc on ABC’s Castle. The first episode to feature Beals aired Monday night and the second will air next week.

Her previous TV credits include The Chicago Code, Lie to Me and The L Word.

Beals’ film credits include Devil in a Blue Dress (1995), Runaway Jury (2003) and The Book of Eli (2010).

The actress also is repre-sented by Adena Chawke of Greenlight Management & Production and attorney Craig Emanuel of Loeb & Loeb.

NBC Orders Hannibal to Series

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berlin newsPage 6 of 10February 15, 2012

By Scott Roxborough and Rebecca LefflerBeRLIN — One of the tru-isms of the international film business is that humor never translates. Indeed, the halls of Berlin’s European Film Market are clogged with foreign comedies — see Spain’s Torrente 4: Lethal Crisis or Women in Love from German director Detlev Buck — that were local blockbusters but have little chance of traveling far beyond their own borders.

But a string of European films — led by France’s Un-touchables and The Artist and raunchy Brit laffer The In-betweeners — are challeng-ing the stereotype that local comedy doesn’t travel.

Untouchables has earned some $217 million worldwide to date, some $56 million of that outside of France. In Germany, directors Eric Toledano and Olivier Naka- che’s story about the un-

usual, but true, odd couple tale of friendship between a paraplegic aristocrat and his black ex-con caregiver has topped the box-office charts for the past five weeks, eas-ily fending off attacks from Hollywood funny fare such as Jack and Jill and The Mup-pets and earning $33 million in the territory so far.

“We always felt this story could travel [outside France] of course,” Toledano and

Nakache told The Hollywood Reporter, “but even we are surprised by the audience reaction, particularly in Germany and in Austria.”

Another shock cross- border comedy success has been Brit lowbrow comedy Inbetweeners. Ben Palmer’s feature film adaptation of a popular (in Britain) TV series about four friends looking to get drunk and laid has grossed $84 million,

a good $11 million outside the U.K., where the original series is virtually unknown. Both in Germany and Italy, Inbetweeners has earned some $1.4 million at the till.

“We bought it off the trailer in Cannes, before it had opened in the U.K.,” said Bernhard zu Castell, managing director of Uni- versum Film, Inbetweeners’ German distributor. “All the humor doesn’t translate — German audiences don’t get all the jokes — but there’s so much universal slapstick and gross-out humor that it works.”

It was a similar story with Dutch bad-taste laffers New Kids Turbo and New Kids Nitro, also adaptations of a local-language TV series, which together have earned around $30 million, with $10 million coming from Germany and Belgium.

Slapstick or a universal story line seem to be the common denominators in the recent wave of Euro-pean comedy successes. Johnny English Reborn, a James Bond spoof from British comic star Rowan

European Comedies Enjoying Road Trips

Local-language laffers in Europe such as The Inbetweeners, above, and Untouchables are filling a gap created by fewer Hollywood comedies.

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berlin newsPage 7 of 10February 15, 2012

Atkinson, put the focus on visual gags and pratfalls and walked away with $160 mil-lion worldwide. The Artist, of course, gets around the lost-in-translation issue altogether by having vir-

tually no dia-logue at all.

In Europe, these foreign-language funny films help fill a comedy gap left by the Holly wood stu-dios tentpole-picture focus. While the stu-dio comedies can still pack them in — see

the $254 million global gross for Warner Bros.’ The Hang-over Part II — there aren’t enough solid U.S. comedies to meet the demand.

It’s a different story in the U.S., where foreign- language comedies have traditionally had a much harder time. The Weinstein Co. successfully bowed The Artist stateside — the black and white Oscar front- runner has earned an im-pressive $24 million domes-tically so far — and will try to keep its foreign funny streak going with Untouch-ables, which TWC will bow in May in the U.S.

“We are really curious to see the reaction of U.S. audi-ences to the film,” said Tole-dano and Nakache. “The questions of diversity of in-tegration and racial tensions are very different on both sides of the Atlantic. So how will the U.S. release do? We have no idea.”

oscar nominee streep: thatcher ‘was a Feminist’By Pamela McClintockBeRLIN — Meryl Streep was the prime minister of the Berlin International Film Festival on Tuesday, receiving almost as many Valen tine’s Day presents as questions during a crowded press conference.

Streep, who is up for the Oscar for best actress for her portrayal of former Brit-ish Prime Min-ister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady, was in Berlin to receive the festival’s Honorary Golden Bear. She’ll make her way back to the U.S. for this year’s Academy Awards ceremony on Feb. 26.

The actress, who has received 17 Academy Award acting nominations, more than any actor in history, won the best acting Oscar once, 29 years ago for Sophie’s Choice. On Sunday, following her Golden Globe win for Iron Lady, she won BAFTA’s best actress award.

At Tuesday’s press con-ference, several reporters jostling to ask questions had an ulterior motive — they simply wanted to laud Streep and even rush the podium to give her a pres-ent. A member of the Rus-sian media brought her custom-made nesting dolls; the first was in her image, the second was her as Thatcher and the third fea-

tured her in her starring role in The Devil Wears Prada.

Many of the questions that were asked dealt with Streep’s feelings about por-traying Thatcher, who re- mains an incredibly polariz-ing figure.

“She would have been kicking and screaming the entire way to the feminist altar, but she was a femi-nist, whether she likes it or not,” said Streep, explain-ing that the former British Prime Minister was incred-ibly “brave” for her time, even if filled with arrogance and hubris.

Streep said Thatcher, unlike the right-wing in America, was pro-choice and had no problem once deriding then-President Ronald Reagan over a policy issue. Thatcher also recog-nized the dangers of global warming early on.

“A lot surprised me,” Streep said.

The actress said she discovered she had a lot in common with Thatcher, who is still alive. “We all have a lot more in common with Margaret Thatcher than we care to admit,” Streep said.

Asked whether she is ner-vous about the Oscars and her BAFTA and Globe wins, Streep said that awards season is always an “out of body” experience. The Weinstein Co. is distribut-ing Iron Lady in the U.S.

“Suddenly, you feel like you’re in a sporting event you didn’t sign up for,” she said. “You make a movie you believe in, and suddenly you are doing calisthenics for the Super Bowl.”

sony lands ground rights By Scott RoxboroughBeRLIN — Sony Pictures Classics has signed a multi-territory pact with Brian O’Shea’s sales out-fit The Exchange for Higher Ground, the direc-torial debut of actress Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air).The deal was signed at Ber-lin’s European Film Market.

Under the arrangement, Sony will take rights in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe as well as France, the U.K., Germany, Italy, Benelux, Scandinavia, Spain and Portugal for the drama. India and South Africa are also included in the agreement.

Based on the memoir This Dark World from screenwriter Carolyn S. Briggs, Higher Ground is set in a tight-knit spiritual community which is thrown out of whack when one of its members starts to ques-tion her faith.

Also on the EFM slate from O’Shea’s new sales outfit is Magic Magic star-ring Michael Cera, Brit-ish actress Juno Temple and Maria Full of Grace star Catalina Sandino Moreno, which Sebastian Silva (The Maid) is attached to direct. Christine Vachon, Mike White and Frida Torres-blanco are producing.

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Click here for THR’s Berlin Festival Daily.

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berlin reviewsPage 8 of 10February 15, 2012

FrancineBy David RooneyBeRLIN — A minimalist, image-based character study that is almost impossibly fragile and yet emotionally robust, Francine is a legiti-mate discovery. It’s propelled by Melissa Leo’s remarkable title-role performance, rig-orous in its honesty and un-impeded by even a scrap of vanity. Made on a shoestring, this first narrative feature from husband-and-wife film-making team Brian M. Cas-sidy and Melanie Shatzky is raw, intimate and observed with penetrating acuity.

The austere approach and stark naturalism invite comparison with the work of Kelly Reichardt, and the subject specifically recalls Wendy and Lucy. (Produc-ers Joshua Blum and Kate Stern have both worked with Reichardt.) The earli-est films of Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne also come to mind while watching. But Cassidy and Shatzky, whose backgrounds are jointly in photography and documentary, have their own voice and their own nonjudgmental gaze.

As a window into a life of seemingly irreversible dissociation, the film per-forms the uncommon trick of being wide open and pel-lucid while simultaneously shut tight and opaque. One of the interesting aspects of Francine is that despite the unsettling intimacy of the portrait, only sparing use is made of facial closeups — the usual short-cut to accessing an introspective character. Dialogue figures

just as frugally, and psycho- logical background is en-tirely withheld. But still we come to know the woman onscreen, speculating about her history and contemplat-ing her future after the film has ended.

In one of the frequent in-stances in which Cassidy’s camera watches Francine from behind, Leo’s charac-ter is seen first while shower-ing. Stepping out naked in front of a prison guard, her face registers only detach-ment. When the warden tells her to expect a long period of adjustment upon her release, the soft-spoken woman acknowledges receipt of the message with little more than a nod.

She moves into a modest cottage in a quiet rural area, her body language suggest-ing joy at being back out in the world. (While the loca-tion is unidentified in the film, shooting took place in New York’s Hudson Valley area.) But her interaction with other people is mini-mal and guarded. Awkward exchanges with staff and

customers cost her a short-lived job at a pet store. She attends a roller-skating eve-ning organized by a local church, but remains at a dis-tance from Linda (Victoria Charkut), the woman who invited her, even after they end up in bed together fol-lowing an evening of drinks and dancing at a bar.

Some scenes are dis- turbingly odd, notably one in which Francine wanders across a field to where a band is grinding out aggres-sive death-metal tunes. She slowly joins in the small cluster of headbangers in their thrashing dance, though remains as isolated among them as she is on the bus to and from work. Also unsettling is an inter-lude at a horse track while she’s waitressing during a polo match and has cold, ugly sex in the restroom with a spectator.

These mostly wordless scenes unfold with absolute economy. Shot in a loose documentary style, often framed wide and cut in a choppy, fragmented style,

they are incisive in their ability to identify Francine’s shifting emotional states.

There appears to be some hope for her to connect with another human being when she strikes up a shy friend-ship with handsome Ned (played with acute sensitiv-ity and zero artifice by Keith Leonard). But this gentle recovering alcoholic crosses a line by attempting to kiss her, and her rejection of him appears to hurt both of them equally.

The closeness that eludes her with people she finds only with animals. Early in the film, Francine warms to a stray cat by the river and starts leaving out a saucer of milk for it. She steals a puppy from the pet store. Helping out Ned at a stable, she shows instinctive tender- ness with the horses. The cats and dogs steadily multiply into a menagerie in her small home, which turns into one large food bowl and litter box.

As bizarre as her charac-ter’s behavior gets, Leo is never playing anything as straightforward as a crazy animal lady living in squa-lor. A distinct sense emerges that not only has rehabili-tation failed her but it has damaged her social skills to the point where only in caring for and mothering animals does she feel whole. The beautiful solemnity of a scene in which she buries a dead hamster is extraordi-nary, with Francine’s tears heard in faint off-camera sniffling.

Still more affecting are the later scenes in which she takes a job at a veterinary

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Melissa Leo struggles with life as an outsider in Francine.

berlin reviewsPage 9 of 10February 15, 2012

clinic. Mike Halstead, a real-life veterinarian in the area, plays her employer, lending authenticity to this section. Assisting in routine proce-dures such as spaying cats, Francine behaves with almost ceremonial reverence. But as she gives comfort to a dog being humanely eutha-nized, or disposes of the fro-zen bodies of these animals, the experiences are wrench-ing ones for her, as they are for the audience.

The stealth impact of Francine is tremendous given its simplicity and strangeness. The same goes for Leo’s performance, an exceptional demonstration of power in silence. It’s in-evitable that this woman will crash again, and a testament to the film’s unsentimental emotional veracity that, even through her most distancing behav-ior, we become invested in her path.

Venue: Berlin Film Festival (Forum).Cast: Melissa Leo, Victoria Charkut, Keith Leonard, Dave Clark, Mike Halstead.Production: Washington Square Films, Pigeon Projects.Director-screenwriters: Brian M. Cassidy, Melanie Shatzky.Producers: Joshua Blum, Katie Stern.Executive producer: Anna Gerb.Director of photography: Brian M. Cassidy.Production/costume designer: Christine Cole.Editors: Brian M. Cassidy, Benjamin Gray, Melanie Shatzy.Sales: The Film Sales Company, Washington Square Films.No MPAA rating, 74 minutes.

winter nomadsBy Neil YoungBeRLIN — The idea that “only sheep need a leader” is charmingly debunked by Swiss documentary Winter Nomads, which follows two old-school shepherds as they conduct their flock over sev-eral months and hundreds of miles through some beau-tiful but rapidly-changing countryside. An unassuming and suitably gentle-paced charmer, it is ideal for TV networks and festivals seek-ing well-made, audience-pleasing non-fiction.

First-time director Manuel von Sturler lucked out in terms of finding subject matter when fiftyish Pascal and his young assistant Carole happened to pass close by his house. He then arranged to accompany the duo on their next “trans-humance,” a centuries-old method of sheep-fattening which involves a trek through suitably grassy areas where the animals can feed in a natural way. Such zones are becoming surprisingly thin on the ground even in Switzerland — not a coun-try one associates with urbanization. While they are largely welcomed by those they encounter, Pascal and Carole do experience problems with certain farm-ers who aren’t thrilled by the prospect of 800 sheep wan-dering over their property.

As well as their ovine charges, Pascal and Carole travel with various sheep-dogs plus donkeys to carry the tents and equipment needed for night after night of sleeping under the stars.

The screen is thus full of scene-stealingly appealing four-legged stars, including one particularly irresistible sheepdog puppy who we observe learning the ropes of his genetically-inherited “profession.” Some of the sheep — the bellwethers who walk at the head of the formation — even manage to register as distinctive personalities.

But the focus is largely on Pascal and Carole, an un-likely duo whose relationship — husband/wife, father/daughter — is tantalizingly unclear until after the half-way point. It is then revealed that they are neither relations nor romantically involved but colleagues, Pascal pass-ing on the northern Italian traditions which he learned from Bergamo shepherds in his time. The film thus unobtrusively establishes a long chain of “guidance,” from the sheep to the bell-wethers to the dogs to Car-ole to Pascal — who during one campfire chat speaks of himself being subject to a higher presence. “I’m convinced that we have a

protector, who guides us,” he ruminates.

At such moments, Nomads emerges as somewhat wider in its intentions than just another record of a bygone, progress-threatened way of life. But even on that front, it’s a solidly crafted work — sensitively shot and edited, even if a little convention-ally manipulative in the way it intermittently underlines the bucolic, elegiac tone by means of Olivia Pedroli’s folk-inflected score.

Venue: Berlin Film Festival (Forum). Production: Louise Productions. Director: Manuel von Sturler. Screenwriters: Manuel von Sturler, Claude Muret. Producers: Elisabeth Garbar, Heinz Dill. Co-producers: Irene Challand, Gaspard Lamuniere, Patrizia Pesko, Annie Bataillard. Director of photography: Camille Cottagnoud. Editor: Karine Sudan. Music: Olivia Pedroli. Sales: Louise Productions, Lausanne. No MPAA rating, 89 minutes. thr

FROM page 8 A shepherd leads the way in Winter Nomads.

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