Director Jonathan David has signed with Santa Monica-based TWC.
Director Jonathan David has signed with Santa Monica-based TWC. He previously was repped by Go Film and prior to that MJZ. David, whose work has been recognized at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, is probably best known for his spots for ESPN, Comcast and Dunkin' Donuts….New York-based commercial production company Zero 2 Sixty (0:2:60) and their design, effects and post partner Guerilla FX (GFX), have signed director Gregg Hale for exclusive U.S. spot representation, Hale, who comes to 0:2:60 and GFX from Chelsea Pictures, where he was represented as Haxan Films, has directed award-winning national and regional spots over the years for clients including the 2012 New York City Olympic Campaign, MSG/The Mets, General Mills and Bolt.com…..Editor Karama Horne has joined Fluid, New York…..Arnold recently promoted Chris Edwards from senior VP/creative director to exec VP/group creative director in the Boston office. Edwards is a 15-year Arnold veteran and has led the agency's McDonald's team for the past five years. Most recently, Edwards garnered press for creating McDonald's YouTube “I'm into Nuggets” spot…..Arnold also upped Chris Carl from VP/creative director to senior VP/creative director. Carl leads Arnold's Volvo account and has been at the agency for four years. During this time, he's also worked on Timberland's “Boot as Canvas” project (2007), which won an Andy award, as well as Volkswagen's 120 Feature Films website work (2006), that received a D&AD yellow pencil. Both Edwards and Carl report to Pete Favat, CCO, Arnold Boston….
Review: Writer-Director Andrea Arnold’s “Bird”
"Is it too real for ya?" blares in the background of Andrea Arnold's latest film, "Bird," a 12-year-old Bailey (Nykiya Adams) rides with her shirtless, tattoo-covered dad, Bug (Barry Keoghan), on his electric scooter past scenes of poverty in working-class Kent.
The song's question — courtesy of the Irish post-punk band Fontains D.C. — is an acute one for "Bird." Arnold's films ( "American Honey," "Fish Tank") are rigorous in their gritty naturalism. Her fiction films — this is her first in eight years — tend toward bleak, hand-held verité in rough-and-tumble real-world locations. Her last film, "Cow," documented a mother cow separated from her calf on a dairy farm.
Arnold specializes in capturing souls, human and otherwise, in soulless environments. A dream of something more is tantalizing just out of reach. In "American Honey," peace comes to Star (Sasha Lane) only when she submerges underwater.
In "Bird," though, this sense of otherworldly possibility is made flesh, or at least feathery. After a confusing night, Bailey awakens in a field where she encounters a strange figure in a skirt ( Franz Rogowski ) who arrives, like Mary Poppins, with a gust a wind. His name, he says, is Bird. He has a soft sweetness that doesn't otherwise exist in Bailey's hardscrabble and chaotic life.
She's skeptical of him at first, but he keeps lurking about, hovering gull-like on rooftops. He cranes his neck now and again like he's watching out for Bailey. And he does watch out for her, helping Bailey through a hard coming of age: the abusive boyfriend (James Nelson-Joyce) of her mother (Jasmine Jobson); her half brother (Jason Buda) slipping into vigilante violence; her father marrying a new girlfriend.
The introduction of surrealism has... Read More