Hannibal Rising (2007) - Harris returns famed cannibal in sub-par origins flick

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New Hannibal Lector, Gaspard Ulliel, is restrained in what looks like an iron mask on this dark poster for Peter Webber's Hannibal Rising

As a child, Hannibal Lecter's family die in the atrocities of WWII. As a young man he develops an unhealthily close relationship to his aunt and becomes consumed by thirst for revenge.

Hannibal Rising is written by Thomas Harris (Black Sunday (1975)), his only screenplay, based on his own same-titled 2006 novel, and directed by Peter Webber (Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003)). It is the 5th movie in the Hannibal Lecter franchise, following Manhunter (1986), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Hannibal (2001) and Red Dragon (2002), being a prequel to them all.
Gaspard Ulliel (Saint Laurent (2014)) is well cast in the titular role as cinema's most famous cannibal, but Harris' script doesn't give us new insights, an exciting plot or any very sensational elements: Hannibal does have an Asian aunt (played by Li Gong (To Live/Huo Zhe (1994))) in Europe in 1949, which remains unexplained, which makes it seem like a bit of a stretch.
The production design is not bad in Hannibal Rising, but in the context of the preceding Lecter films, of which only Ridley Scott's Hannibal is a solid dud and the rest are great, thrilling movies, Hannibal Rising falls through as a both flat and boring origins story.

Related post:

2007 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Hannibal Lecter franchise: Manhunter (1986) - Perhaps the best criminal profiling picture ever

Watch a short trailer for the film with Japanese subtitles here

Cost: 50 mil. $
Box office: 82.1 mil. $
= Big flop (1.64 times the cost)
[Hannibal Rising was released 7 February (France) and runs 121 minutes. It was shot in Lithuania, France and the Czech Republic, including Prague, from October 2005 - ?. The film opened #2, behind Eddie Murphy-starring Norbit, to a 13 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its second week and grossed 27.6 mil. $ (33.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Italy with 7.5 mil. $ (9.1 %) and Japan with 6.4 mil. $ (7.8 %). Webber returned with Jasim (2009, short) and theatrically with Emperor (2012). Ulliel returned in L'Inconnu (2007, short) and theatrically in La Troisième Partie du Monde (2008). Hannibal Rising is rotten at 15 % with a 3.9/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Hannibal Rising?

Saint Laurent (2014) - Bonello's overly self-confident biopic

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The psychedelic, cool poster for Bertrand Bonello's Saint Laurent

Saint Laurent is the 6th feature from French co-writer/director Bertrand Bonello (The Pornographer/Le Pornographe (2001)). It is the 2nd biopic of 2014 about French fashion designer, innovator and icon Yves Saint Laurent, who passed away in 2008. The other film, Jalil Lespert's Yves Saint Laurent (2014) is the more expensive and conventional of the two, while Saint Laurent is the wilder film, which has not been condoned by Laurent's still-living life partner Pierre Bergé. Saint Laurent was France's Oscar entry this year, which did not get nominated.

Yves Saint Laurent stuns the fashion world and keeps rising in fame and wealth in the 1960s and 70s, bringing tuxedo suits to women bodies, introducing items and styles from foreign cultures and embracing what life has to offer in sex, drink and drugs.

Saint Laurent jumps in time and shows Bergé's unrelenting loyalty and work for YSL both the company and the man throughout years of substance abuse and infidelities. The film shows Laurent very much as a human being and not a saint, so that its title may seem humorously ironic in context.
The film is probably very truthful in its portrayal of Yves Saint Laurent: He is vain, self-indulgent, fragile, difficult and gifted. The man we meet also has an almost excessive self-confidence, - undoubtedly helped along by the crowd of worshipers that always surrounded him, - but the film Saint Laurent suffers from the same characteristic, which, for this film, is fatal: It becomes protracted in the almost absurd, and seems more than overly long at its 150 minutes' playtime.
Ubiquitous Brady Corbet (Clouds of Sils Maria (2014)) has a short role, - another prestigious film that the young American has impressively gotten himself cast in, - as a US business man who tries to reason with the French fashion company without much luck. - Saint Laurent is a film it seems could have benefited from a producer's insistence on tightening up and finding the core(s) of the matter at hand. Bonillo's film too often blurs out in the vain ramblings and constructs of the title character's mind, and some will therefore label it pretentious with some justification. It is too far removed from most audience's reality to inhibit its committing the cardinal sin for a film: 
It bores.

The film is stylish, flamboyant and technically astute. It, unfortunately, isn't enough to also make it compelling.
Gaspard Ulliel (Hannibal Rising (2007)) as the master designer, Jérémie Renier (Potiche (2010)) as the insistent Bergé and Louis Garrel (The Dreamers (2003)) as the self-destructive Jacques all give dedicated performances. But the great Léa Seydoux (Blue Is the Warmest Color/La Vie d'Adèle (2013)) makes hardly an impression as Loulou de la Falaise. Aymeline Valade (Riviera (2005)) is beautiful as the striking blond Betty, who has perhaps the film's best scene near the beginning, when she walks through a club and dances before a wanting Yves Saint Laurent. Saint Laurent is very much about these small moments rather than a larger, overall arc or plot.
Another of the film's finest scenes involves Laurent setting a beautiful woman 'free' by giving her a jacket, a belt and letting her hair down. This doesn't sound like much, but it is a touching and sensual scene.
- There are a few inspired, great scenes like this in Saint Laurent, co-written with Thomas Bidegain (Rust and Bone/De Rouille et d'Os (2012)), but they are unfortunately swamped in endless scenes of debauchery and the inevitable, resulting hangovers.

Related posts:

2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
 

Léa Seydoux, Gaspard Ulliel and Aymeline Valade in Bertrand Bonello's Saint Laurent

Watch the US trailer for the film here

Budget: 8.7 mil. €
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertainty
[350k + have paid admission to see the film in France. It has been nominated for 10 César Awards (France's Oscar equivalent), winning for Best Costumes. Whether the film stirs up enough interest outside of France to become financially successful is highly dubious.]

What do you think of Saint Laurent?
If you've seen other films by Bonello, how was/were it/they?