4 h. ago BRIAN VINER reviews The Wizard Of The Kremlin: Jude's latest big screen tyrant... Putin (with a Sarf London twang)

BRIAN VINER: It is a riveting account of how political power evolved in Russia following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and how it all ended up in the hands of a former KGB agent.

Politics

11 h. ago No fears over playing ‘man without a face’ Putin, Jude Law says in Venice

Star of The Wizard of the Kremlin says he does not expect any repercussions from portraying Russian leaderHe has long been considered one of the leading heart-throbs of the silver screen, but for his latest role in Olivier Assayas’s political drama The Wizard of the Kremlin, Jude Law steps into the shoes of a far more forbidding figure: Vladimir Putin.Law has said he was unfazed by the prospect of playing Vladimir Putin and that he did not – he hoped “not naively” – fear any repercussions. Continue reading...

Politics

11 h. ago The Wizard of the Kremlin review – Jude Law is Putin in adaptation of Kremlin spin doctor bestseller

Venice film festival The rise of Vladimir Putin, chillingly played by Law, is portrayed through the eyes of a wily insider, but Paul Dano’s protagonist cuts a one-note figureGiuliano da Empoli’s smash-hit satirical novel The Wizard of the Kremlin, about a Putin spin doctor called Vadim Baranov and based on shadowy Russian politician Vladislav Surkov, has now been converted into an exasperatingly laborious and literal-minded movie, burdened with endless dull voiceover. It has been written for the screen by its estimable director Olivier Assayas, working with the formidable author and reportage journalist Emmanuel Carrère; Carrère in fact has a cameo here, playing a supercilious French figure at a raucous Moscow student party in the early 90s, patronisingly informing the young people present that it was the communism they’ve just rejected that really believed in the arts.The action takes us through the 1990s decline of ailing president Boris Yeltsin and the promotion of FSB chief Vlad...

Politics

13 h. ago Jude Law reveals ‘positive’ part of portraying Putin in The Wizard of the Kremlin

Law’s new film premiered at the Venice Film Festival

Politics

13 h. ago The Wizard of the Kremlin, Venice review – Jude Law is an intense, torso

Olivier Assayas’s new film – starring Paul Dano as a fictional Russian politician – has some anarchic energy to it, but it lacks nuance and insight overall

Politics

23 h. ago Jude Law debuts portrayal of Vladimir Putin in 'The Wizard of the Kremlin' at Venice Film Festival

Jude Law transforms into Vladimir Putin in “The Wizard of the Kremlin,” premiering Sunday at the Venice Film Festival

Politics

26 h. ago BRIAN VINER reviews Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein: More a dark fairy tale about fatherhood than a horror film... despite the slicing

There have been well over 200 screen interpretations since the first in 1910, and now the mighty Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has had a crack.

Events

3 d. ago Jay Kelly review: George Clooney's new film is a real bore, writes BRIAN VINER

Expectations of this Netflix comedy, by writer-director Noah Baumbach, were sky-high.

Politics

3 w. ago Freakier Friday review: Twice as many body swaps, but this ropy sequel's only half the fun, writes BRIAN VINER

In Freakier Friday, a sequel to the 2003 film again starring Lohan and Curtis, the phenomenon befalls not just one pair of females but two, writes Brian Viner.

Politics