In 2002, Brazilian director, Fernando Meirelles burst on to the world cinema scene with his international sensation CITY OF GOD. His direction and approach were hailed as brave and striking. The film garnered four unexpected Oscar nominations, including one for the director himself.
In 2005, he returned with his first English language film, THE CONSTANT GARDENER, based on the John le Carre novel. Ralph Fiennes starred as a widower determind to get to the bottom of his wife's murder, no matter how deeply he became involved in the bowels of corporate secrecy. Another four Oscar nominations followed, including a win for supporting actress, Rachel Weisz.
Now that another three years has passed, Meireilles hopes for a third success with his most ambitious project to date, BLINDNESS. The film opened this year's Cannes film festival and is finally making its way into North American theatres this September. The radiant Julianne Moore plays the wife of a doctor who is mysteriously unaffected by a plague of white blindness that has spread across the globe and crippled humanity. From the looks of the trailer, Meirelles has created a frightened and panicked tone that echoes throughout every element of the film, from the performances to the washed out visual aesthetic. The cast is rounded out by Mark Ruffalo, Gael Garcia Bernal and Sandra Oh and the screenplay was written by Tony Award winner, Don McKellar (THE RED VIOLIN), adapted from Nobel prize winner, Jose Saramago's contemporary classic. With all this talent behind the project, BLINDNESS is almost certain to bring Meirelles another handful of Oscar nominations to add to his collection. At the risk of sounding incredibly lame, I would say that BLINDNESS definitely looks worth seeing.
Click on the title anywhere in this article for more on BLINDNESS.
Also, be sure to check back tomorrow for part one of Black Sheep's official fall film preview.