I’d say I’ve written about Richard Linklater’s beautiful and profound “Before Midnight” enough as it is. Sony Classics picked up the film out of Sundance and I’ve been waiting for release plans anxiously. Because if played right, this is a film that could land nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actress, easy.
So it’s looking like May 24, according to a Tweet from Exhibitor Relations. The film will begin with New York and Los Angeles bows and move out from there. That’s right after Cannes. They won’t be taking it there since it’s playing Berlinale, but a post-Cannes bow worked for Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris,” which debuted at the fest in 2011, released soon after and was kept in theaters long enough to be a box office story and, eventually, an Oscar winner.
“This movie, particularly within the context of its predecessors, truly gets the progression of a relationship,” I wrote shortly after the film’s world premiere at Sundance. “And it gets that, most of all, that progression never has a destination. It is always in transit, rarely if ever reconciled. Love is a process…perhaps most profoundly, the film steers toward epiphany, but elegantly, truthfully, avoids it completely, never getting there.”
Also dropped by Exhibitor Relations is the news that Pedro Almodóvar’s latest, “I’m So Excited,” will get a limited release beginning on June 28. The film will release in March in Spain and Sony Classics released a teaser trailer for it in December. They didn’t find a whole lot of traction for “The Skin I Live In,” and Spain has notoriously snubbed Almodovar’s work when it comes to foreign film submissions as of late. But maybe they can whip something up for this. Conceptually, it sure does seem out there, a return to the filmmaker’s early work, perhaps.
And finally, speaking of Woody Allen, his latest, “Blue Jasmine,” was also acquired by the studio. It’s been set for a July 26 limited release.
Right now, though, I imagine Sony Classics’ focus is on getting the word out on “Amour,” which could take home upwards of three Academy Awards on Oscar night. It’s important that hold-out voters actually see the film, though. Here’s hoping they do.