By Lindsey Bahr, Film Writer
PARK CITY, Utah (AP) --Whit Stillman, one of our best chroniclers of the modern leisure class, has gone back to the 18th century in "Love & Friendship," an effervescent comedy about a deviously ambitious social climber.
The film premiered Saturday night at the Sundance Film Festival.
In the film, Stillman's "Last Days of Disco" stars Kate Beckinsale and Chloë Sevigny have traded their early '80s sequins and Lacoste for bustles and petticoats. Beckinsale is Lady Susan Vernon, recently widowed and on the prowl for status, money and comforts, while Sevigny plays a married American all too willing to associate with the notorious Lady Susan.
We enter the story when Lady Susan takes up an extended visit at the estate of her sister-in-law, Mrs. Catherine Vernon (Emma Greenwall). There she begins a flirtation with Catherine's younger brother, Reginald De Courcy (Xavier Samuel). No one is particularly keen on the developing relationship between Lady Susan and the young Reginald De Courcy, and that sentiment is especially exaggerated when her neglected and marriage-aged daughter, Frederica (Morfydd Clark), shows up too.
These are only half the players in the game, and it's fun to watch them scheme and spread rumors and make deliciously biting remarks about their supposed friends and family for a brisk 92 minutes.
Overall, the film is a charming lark, and a definite departure for Stillman as he evolves here beyond his famously precise, formal language which is usually applied to a more modern setting, whether it be early '80s discos or present day dorm rooms ("Damsels in Distress"). Stillman seems a perfect fit for Victorian comedy and the language and customs of Austen, and it works well, although it does have the effect of burying some of Stillman's distinctiveness.
"It's very early Jane Austen. She was in a very funny mode when she wrote this," Stillman said before the Festival. "It's not very sentimental."
Unlike many Sundance features, "Love & Friendship" had a deal in place with Amazon prior to its premiere — it'll also get a theatrical run from Roadside Attractions. And it's worth checking out whether you're an Austen devotee, or just a fan of crackling dialogue and diabolical social situations.
Like an airy-light macaroon, "Love & Friendship" is a lovely, sweet wisp of a film that evaporates as soon as the credits roll.
Sean “Diddy” Combs seeks bail, citing changed circumstances and new evidence
Sean "Diddy" Combs filed a new request for bail on Friday, saying changed circumstances, along with new evidence, mean the hip-hop mogul should be allowed to prepare for a May trial from outside jail.
Lawyers for Combs filed the request in Manhattan federal court, where his previous requests for bail have been rejected by two judges since his September arrest on racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges.
He has pleaded not guilty to charges that he coerced and abused women for years with help from a network of associates and employees, while silencing victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.
He has been awaiting a May 5 trial at a federal detention facility in Brooklyn.
In their new court filing, lawyers for Combs say they are proposing a "far more robust" bail package that would subject the entertainer to strict around-the-clock security monitoring and near-total restrictions on his ability to contact anyone but his lawyers. But the amount of money they attach to the package remains $50 million, as they proposed before.
They also cite new evidence that they say "makes clear that the government's case is thin." That evidence, the lawyers said, refutes the government's claim that a March 2016 video showing Combs physically assaulting his then-girlfriend occurred during a coerced "freak off," a sexually driven event described in the indictment against Combs.
They wrote that the encounter was instead "a minutes-long glimpse into a complex but decade-long consensual relationship" between Combs and his then-girlfriend.
The lawyers argued that the jail conditions Combs is experiencing at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn violate his constitutional... Read More