#MovietimeInManhattan #MERCHANTIVORY - #Portraits @ismailjimdoc by #Director #StephenSoucy @StephenSoucy Highly Recommended by @ManhattanPeachy #PeachyDeegan @DOCNYCfest
It's not who you know, it's WHOM YOU KNOW and now we now the hot brand-spanking new documentary: Merchant Ivory Portraits by Director Stephen Soucy, whom we we delighted to meet in person. That is our way of wanting to see a movie in person: when the director is there to answer our questions! And you may be hearing from him even more.
Movietime In Manhattan has published nearly 1,000 posts in the last 14 years (957 at the moment for the bean counter, boring non-thinkers), most prominently on Warner Brothers Pictures and the Oscars, but we just learned of DOC NYC! It took a firm in LA for us to find out about something down the street...
Why should you know about Merchant Ivory? Because they are intellectuals who practice beauty and quality! Their literary motivation is an added bonus. They may be criticized for being low-budget and typecast as period-piece people, but Soucy shows that they are so much more. For everyone interested in our Manhattan-centric point of view, James Ivory is a New Yorker and lived on 62nd and East 80th we believe, and they did movies like Jane Austen in Manhattan. If you liked Downton Abbey, it seems like everything Merchant Ivory did set the stage for that show's success. We won't give it all away but another nuggest of information you should know is that Merchant Ivory bought the film rights to something Andy Warhol (you ought to see his Netflix) owned the rights to after he died.
This documentary contains priceless interviews with legendary actors, including Peachy's absolute favorite Hugh Grant! Helena Bonham Carter was the best interview in this documentary other than of course James Ivory, regaling us with her fascinating tales of making these movies. Vanessa Redgrave has quite amusing insight and brilliant color commentary. Technically, the history behind making films prior to digital is something that should make you appreciate this even more. Saying this is an interesting documentary is like saying New York is a big city. Finally, you ought to know that at 95, James Ivory is the oldest writer to win an Oscar for Call Me by Your Name.
Director: Stephen Soucy
Featuring: Dame Emma Thompson, Helena Bonham Carter, Hugh Grant, Vanessa Redgrave, Rupert Graves, James Wilby
Running Time: 112 min
ONLINE SCREENING DATES:
Wednesday, November 12 - Sunday, November 26
MERCHANT IVORY (2023) is the first definitive feature documentary to lend new and compelling perspectives on the partnership, both professional and personal, of director James Ivory, producer Ismail Merchant and their primary associates, writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and composer Richard Robbins. Footage from more than fifty interviews, clips, and archival material gives voice to the family of actors and technicians who helped define Merchant Ivory’s Academy Award-winning work of consummate quality and intelligence. With six Oscar winners among the notable artists participating, these close and often long-term collaborators intimately detail the transformational cinematic creativity and personal and professional drama of the wandering company that left an indelible impact on film culture.
