[ad_1]
Urgent message to Boston-area cineastes: See “The Storms of Jeremy Thomas.” One of the most important and prolific producers of independent films, Thomas, who won a best picture Academy Award for “The Last Emperor” (1988), was born into the cinema. His father Ralph Thomas directed the “Doctor” film series with Dirk Bogarde; His uncle Gerald Thomas helmed the raucous and still popular “Carry On” films.
“Prince” Jeremy paid his dues as an editor on such films as “The Harder They Come” (1972) and “The Golden Voyage of Sinbad” (1973). Thomas’ first effort as a producer was the Dennis Hopper vehicle “Mad Morgan” (1974), followed by the Jerzy Skolimowski Cannes award-winner “The Shout” (1978), the first of several collaborations with English actor John Hurt, including the great 1984 Stephen Frears’ gangster movie “The Hit.” Thomas was off like a rocket. He formed an artistic partnership with auteur Nicolas Roeg (Don’s Look Now”), beginning with the belatedly acclaimed “Bad Timing: A Sensual Obsession” (1980). Thomas also formed close working relationships with Bernardo Bertolucci (“The Sheltering Sky, “Little Buddha,” “Stealing Beauty”), David Cronenberg (“Crash,” “Naked Lunch,” “A Dangerous Method”) and Takashi Miike (“13 Assassins”). More recently, Thomas has brought us “Kon-Tiki” (2012), “Dom Hemingway” (2013), “Only Lovers Left Alive” (2013), “High-Rise” (2015), “Blade of the Immortal” (2017) and also Matteo Garrone’s “Dogman” (2018) and his magnificent, live-action “Pinocchio” (2019). In time for last year’s awards races,Thomas produced director Skolimowski’s 2022 delightful, Academy Award-nominated donkey biography “EO.”
“The Storms of Jeremy Thomas,” written, directed, photographed and narrated by Mark Cousins (“The Eyes of Orson Welles”), takes a trip to Cannes as its framework. Cousins, the brain behind the “The Story of Film” TV series, has a comprehensive knowledge of film and knows precisely where Thomas stands. He’s a giant. Thomas, also a bit of a gear head, gets behind the wheel of an Alpha Romeo Quadrifoglio and drives very fast with Cousins from his thatched-roof home outside London to Cannes for the film festival, where three-time BAFTA award-winner Thomas is in his element.
Debra Winger, Tilda Swinton and Ken Loach’s producer Rebecca O’Brien sing Thomas’ praises. I wish Cousins had gotten Cronenberg to lend his voice. Thomas refers to the late, great J.G. Ballard, the author of “Crash” and “High-Rise” as “my Melville.” Passing through Paris, Thomas takes time to visit the Drancy Internment Camp Memorial outside the city, a place from which French Jews were transported to Auschwitz during World War II. Asked about the most memorable films of his youth, Thomas names Carl Theodor Dreyer’s still unique and stunning “The Passion of Joan of Arc” (1928) with an unforgettable Falconetti in the title role. The film ends with Ryuichi Sakamoto’s unforgettable music from the 1983 Thomas production “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” with David Bowie… and Thomas in his lap pool. Take another.
(“The Storms of Jeremy Thomas” contains profanity, sexually suggestive scenes and nudity)
“The Storms of Jeremy Thomas”
Not Rated. At the Landmark Kendall Square Grade: A-
[ad_2]
