If you want a little more insight into the films – then read away:

“THE ROVER: THE CONSEQUENCES OF ECONOMIC COLLAPSE IN A NEAR FUTURE

Directed by David Michôd and based on a story written by the director himself paired with Joel Edgerton, The Rover is set in Australia a decade after the collapse of the western economy, in a context in which the mines are still active and have attracted men more desperate and dangerous and where survival is a daily struggle. The protagonist of the story is Eric, a drifter who has left everything behind and who is full of anger at the theft by a gang of his car, the only thing he had left. His only chance of finding the car is given by Rey, one of the Mebra band which was abandoned after being injured. Forced by circumstances, the two men will pair up for a trip that no one could have predicted the outcome.

Notwithstanding take place in the near future, The Rover is the intention of the authors work on the contemporary, the ability of Western economies to self-destruct because of their own greed and the inevitable change in the balance of power globally. Speaking of issues ranging from the lust for power to the destruction of the environment through the desperate attempts of man to not sink in that dysfunctional society, The Rover,  however, is not a dystopian film and described the situation, that of a world pillaged and drained forces and systems quite real, plausible and possible.

As a sort of futuristic western, as a backdrop to the story is the ‘outback ’Australia, where people from all over the world come to work in the mines which supply the new world order in the hands of Asia: Australia has the same partially avoided the economic collapse in 2008 thanks to exports to China and the strength of its mining industry.

Photographed by Natasha Braier, who has opted for the Super 35 format, The Rover was shot over seven weeks (from 28 January to 16 March 2013) in the southern desert of Australia, in the chain of the Flinders Ranges. Among the various places that were the location, the most important is the town of Marree , eight hours drive from Adelaide and close to Lake Eyre. Populated by only 90 inhabitants, Marree is the last frontier of civilization before arriving in the desert and gladly hosted the crew of Michôd, providing the designer Josephine Ford homes and a small hotel.

THE MAIN CHARACTERS

The main characters of The Rover are two very different men. The first, Eric, is a violent and bitter Australian, a former soldier Misanthrope who lost his farm and his family and anti-hero, not want to regain back what was stolen from three criminals: the car with a mysterious bunch. The second, Rey, is a simple and naive American youngster, whose age does not allow him to remember the time when things were different. Like many other individuals of The Rover, Rey arrived in Australia along with his elder brother Henry to find work in the mining sector and is found to interact with Chinese, Cambodians and of course, ending with the Aussies find themselves in legal actions soon harnessed by Henry and his two friends Archie and Caleb.

Played by Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson, the two men throw in pursuit of dangerous individuals, finding himself caught up in an ongoing series of action, tension, danger and plot twists. Along the way, also, find themselves having to face even the folds of their emotional confusion.

The actor Scott McNairy plays Henry, the elder brother of Rey, while the main cast of The Rover ’s David names includes Field (Archie), Tawanda Manyimo (Caleb), and Gillian Jones, Anthony Hayes and Susan Prior.”

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“MAPS TO THE STARS: AMONG THE GHOSTS OF HOLLYWOOD

“Written by Bruce Wagner and directed by David Cronenberg, Maps to the Stars weaves the rugged beauty of Los Angeles with his gloomy and tragic-comic story of a Hollywood family whose members, struggling with the relentless ghosts of their past, show how fame, success and appreciation, carry a high cost to pay.

The result of a job [effort?] that lasted two decades, the screenplay of Maps to the Stars dates back to the early nineties and is based on the personal experience of Wagner himself, who before becoming a writer worked as a limo driver (which inspired the character played by Robert Pattinson in the film) in Hollywood and has lived close to the turbulence of an environment made ​​up of contradictions, of glory and wickedness, ambitions and illusions, and sudden success and sensational falls. Totally changing gender [genre?] and moving away from the issues that have made ​​him famous, with  Maps of the Stars Cronenberg produces an abnormal drama which at its center stands the Weiss family: a father’s guru, a teenage son and heartthrob [fresh out of] rehab, a mother intent on maintaining a high price for her actor son, and a daughter mysteriously scarred and obsessed with trying to find their [her?] place in the family circle. Mystery intervenes into the dynamics of the Weiss family, however, as a series of appearances of non-life, ghosts, mixing memories, fleeting hopes and unmet needs, reflect the contemporary focus on topics such as death, depravity and resurrection.

Filmed in Toronto and Los Angeles, Maps to the Stars relies on the director of photography Peter Suschitzky (Cronenberg’s faithful collaborator from the days of Dead Ringers ), the production designer Carol Spier, costumes by Denise Cronenberg and music by Howard Shore.

MAIN CHARACTERS

At the center of Maps of the Stars is the character of Havana Segrand, one of the most famous Hollywood actresses, but always in the shadow of her more legendary mother Clarice Taggart, an even more famous actress who died in a fire. Interpreting Havana and Clarice, her mother, are respectively Julianne Moore and Sarah Gadon, [who are] called to forge a relationship between mother/daughter that does not even know the boundaries of death. Showing no shame, Havana is a woman who lives completely secluded in a world of fiction, since it is as if she had a family and is very angry with her mother for the way in which, according to her, she had been abused. The emotional chaos which marks Havana takes an even darker turn when her mother’s role* in an upcoming film production could be assigned to another and not to her, making her see the ghost of Clarice at inopportune moments.  [*in other story reports, we learn this is the role that made her actress mother, Clarice, famous ~BuckyW]

At first glance, the Weiss family seem to live a happy life, however, looking at them closely you can see that their fame, material wealth and honors, are just a litmus test for doubts, disappointments and dangerous secrets, which come to the fore with the entrance of Agatha, the daughter who’s been away from home for a long time due to psychiatric problems as a result of a tragic accident that has left her terribly marked with scars and burns on face and hands. Brought to the stage by Mia Wasikowska, Agatha comes home and, by fate, is working alongside Havana.

The last person who wanted to see Agatha in the family [again] is the father, Sanford, a guru that acts as a psychologist on TV, offering new age platitudes and dispensing advice to the masses. Played by John Cusack, Sanford counts a number of celebrity clients – one of these is Havana Segrand- and is strongly attached to the success of the teenage son Benjie, star of a television series. With the face of Evan Bird, Benjie is trying to make the point on [resurrect?] his career after ending up in rehab because of a drug problem, but is forced to confront the ghost of his adolescent spirit. Always defending Benjie to the hilt, is his manager-mother, Cristina, played by Olivia Williams.

Returning to Los Angeles, Agatha develops a solid friendship with Jerome, her limo driver. Played by Robert Pattinson, Jerome is an aspiring writer who keeps working as a driver and is the only character in the story who is not touched by madness or by a ghost.”

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