‘The Absence Of Eden’ Review: Zoe Saldaña In Powerful Immigration Drama That Puts A Human Face On Hot-Button Issue

Dennis Harvey Film Critic A distinctive, dynamic R&B vocalist who seemed on the verge of major stardom through the 1960s, Jackie Shane disappeared soon after — so completely that many fans and former associates assumed her dead. It was a riddle rendered all the more mysterious by her singular status within that field as a more-or-less “out” transperson, her persona an assertive exercise in gender-blur before that term existed.

A narrowboat-turned-café serving up good quality Neapolitan pizza whilst offering beautiful canal side views is to appear on a new Channel 4 series this week.

Ellise Shafer The full Cannes Film Festival competition jury has been revealed. Joining president Greta Gerwig to award this year’s Palme d’Or will be “Killers of the Flower Moon” Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone; “The Three Musketeers” star Eva Green; “Lupin” lead Omar Sy; Ebru Ceylan, who co-wrote the 2014 Palme d’Or winner “Winter Sleep”; director Nadine Labaki, whose “Capernaum” won the Cannes jury prize in 2018; director Juan Antonio Bayona, whose latest film “Society of the Snow” was Oscar-nominated for best international feature; Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino, who will next appear in Pablo Larraìn’s “Maria” alongside Angelina Jolie; and director Kore-eda Hirokazu, director of the 2018 Palme d’Or winner “Shoplifters.” The competition lineup for the upcoming festival includes “All We Imagine as Light” by Payal Kapadia; Sean Baker’s “Anora”; Donald Trump biopic “The Apprentice” from Ali Abbasi; Andrea Arnold’s “Bird,” starring Barry Keoghan and Franz Rogowski; “Caught by the Tides” by Jia Zhang-Ke; Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Perez” with Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez; “The Girl With the Needle” by Magnus von Horn; Miguel Gomes’ “Grand Tour,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Kinds of Kindness,” starring “Poor Things” actors Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe; “Beating Hearts” by Gilles Lellouche; “Limonov: The Ballad” by Kirill Serebrennikov; “Marcello Mio” by Christophe Honoré; Francis Ford Coppola’s epic passion project “Megalopolis,” starring Adam Driver; “Motel Destino” by Karim Aïnouz; Paul Schrader’s “Oh, Canada,” led by Richard Gere and Jacob Elordi; Paolo Sorrentino’s “Parthenope” with Gary Oldman; David Cronenberg’s “The Shrouds”; Coralie Fargeat’s body horror “The Substance”; and “Wild Diamond” from Agathe Riedinger.

Every week it seems there are large numbers of indie and specialty releases vying for attention, impossible to do them all, so when the option of reviewing Nowhere Special was placed in front of me I resisted at first after discovering it actually premiered at the 2020 Venice Film Festival. That’s right, four years ago. I had to wonder what could possibly be good about a film delayed for that long in terms of getting a U.S. release date? Finally caving in to the persistent requests by the distributor and its passionate PR team, I decided to check it out. What I discovered was not that this was some sort of troubled film, not even close. Instead I found a spare but moving drama, powered by a remarkable lead performance, that is all about life and death and all things inbetween. At its heart it is also an inspiring story of dedicated parent and child, how we face the uncertain future, and what we leave behind. Nowhere Special is something special indeed. If you aren’t shedding well-earned tears by the end of this film you simply are not human.

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, a pairing that intrigues fans and media alike, recently enjoyed a getaway in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. But they weren’t alone in their beachside escapade; Hollywood heartthrob Bradley Cooper and supermodel Gigi Hadid joined them.

Salma Hayek had a wonderful time visiting The Pinault Collection, an extensive art collection amassed by her husband, French billionaire François Pinault, and his family. The private collection is at three museums, and she stopped by the Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana in Venice, Italy, to appreciate it.

Consistent with Rorschach Theatre’s adventurously immersive productions, the company’s latest, The Human Museum by Miyoko Conley, engages audiences in playful conversation with its themes well before the show even begins.Audiences enter through the titular museum, a hallowed institution operated by robots of Earth in a future where humans are extinct. Created inside the same two-story Connecticut Avenue former retail space where, last fall, Rorschach unleashed Night of the Living Dead Live, the Human Museum passes patrons through galleries filled with artifacts of human existence.Considering this is the work of artificially intelligent bots with only a secondhand concept of what humans were like, the exhibit items have been well chosen.

Christina Applegate has had a s**tty few weeks… Literally!

Joy Woods is one of Broadway’s biggest breakout stars of the season and her song “My Days” from The Notebook is the best new power ballad from a musical!

Zoe Saldana and Salma Hayek are enjoying each other’s company during a double date in Venice, Italy.

EXCLUSIVE: The Vampire Diaries alum Matthew Davis and Alexander Hodge (Insecure) have been tapped as series regulars opposite Melissa Fumero, AnnaSophia Robb and Ben Rappaport in Grosse Pointe Garden Society, NBC‘s drama pilot from Jenna Bans, Bill Krebs and Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.

If Italian artist Marco Perego-Saldaña’s transition to film comes as a surprise, it is only to those outside his own household. “I always wanted to make a film. I’m a little obsessed. I watch one film Monday to Friday,” he says. “Sunday, actually,” corrects his wife Zoe Saldaña, with a laugh.

Carlos Aguilar Two parallel but inevitably intersecting stories make up Italian-born director Marco Perego‘s debut feature “The Absence of Eden,” a strikingly shot and superbly acted immigration drama. But for all its commendable on-screen elements, it’s the screenplay that Perego co-wrote with Rick Rapoza that falls short, traversing overly familiar and rather sordid tropes related to a divisive political issue.

EXCLUSIVE: Hulu has picked up The Killing Kind, the thriller series adapted from the Jane Casey bestseller.

Former Venice Film Festival head Marco Müller has been named Artistic Director of Italy’s Taormina Film Fest. 

Tyler, The Creator has shared a message to his fans who are heading to Coachella ahead of his headlining set at this year’s festival.The Grammy Award-winning rapper is one of three headliners of the annual music and arts festival in Indio, California this weekend (April 12-14), alongside Lana Del Rey and Doja Cat. The ‘Who Dat Boy’ rapper is set to hit the main stage at Coachella, closing out Saturday (April 13).Ahead of the weekend, various billboards by different Coachella acts have been popping up alongside the drive into greater Palm Springs.

Zoe Saldaña has shared an adorable throwback video on social media that shows the camaraderie among the cast of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.” In the video, Saldaña and her co-star Chris Pratt can be seen dancing to Pitbull’s hit song “The Anthem.”The video, accompanied by the caption “Welcome to our dance masterclass ;-),” captures the dynamic duo exhibiting their dance moves.

In this week’s episode of The Discourse, host Mike DeAngelo crosses into unfamiliar territory to discuss “The Absence of Eden” with star Zoe Saldana (“Avatar,” “Guardians of the Galaxy”) and her husband and first-time director Marco Perego-Saldana. The film follows multiple characters from both sides of the U.S./Mexico border and revolves around the dilemmas faced in dealing with the many hardships brought on by immigration laws and the enforcement of those laws.

Scott Bryan There is a moment in “Mr Bates vs. the Post Office” that makes you as a viewer go “it cannot be real” — only for you then to remind yourself that what you are watching is a true story. Subpostmaster Jo Hamilton (Monica Dolan) — a small business owner who deals with the services and finances of their Post Office — finds that there is an accounting financial discrepancy in her computer of around £2,000 ($2,523).

Zoe Saldaña and her husband, Marco Perego, have been giving fans a peek behind the curtain of their relationship, revealing a charming yet dramatic anecdote about their engagement. During a recent appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, the couple shared the heartfelt story of how Perego proposed to the Avatar actress – a tale marked by a “dramatic” communication mishap.As Perego recounted on the show, the proposal adventure began with a trip to the Dominican Republic, where a significant portion of Saldaña’s family resides.