Certain Women opens in October

Certain Women will be shown at the New York Film Festival in early October:

  • Monday October 3 (9 p.m.) at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center (premiere)
  • Tuesday October 4 (6 p.m.) at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center

René says: “We open Friday, October 14 in New York and Los Angeles, and will be expanding from there. On opening weekend, we’ll be at Lincoln Plaza Cinema and IFC Center in New York City, and at The Landmark and Arclight Hollywood in LA. We’ll be in most major markets by October 21 or 28, and at our widest by November 4.”

As described on the New York Film Festival website:

“The seventh feature by Kelly Reichardt (Meek’s Cutoff, NYFF 2010), a lean triptych of subtly intersecting lives in Montana, is a work of no-nonsense eloquence. Adapting short stories by Maile Meloy, Certain Women follows a lawyer (Laura Dern) navigating an increasingly volatile relationship with a disgruntled client; a couple (Michelle Williams and James Le Gros), in a marriage laden with micro-aggression and doubt, trying to persuade an old man (Rene Auberjonois) to sell his unused sandstone; and a young ranch hand (Lily Gladstone) fixated on a new-in-town night school teacher (Kristen Stewart). Shooting on 16mm, Reichardt creates understated, uncannily intimate dramas nestled within a clear-eyed depiction of the modern American West.”

Certain Women was well received at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, and René’s performance as “Albert” prompted positive reviews:

“Reichardt’s Certain Women stars the powerhouse trio of Laura Dern, Kristen Stewart and Michelle Williams, a virtuosic Rene Auberjonois and a radiant Lily Gladstone.” -Los Angeles Times

“…all the performances are rock-solid, with all the players making the most of the writer-director’s gifts at silence and suggestion. Dern has been cornering the market on beatific moms lately, so it’s a treat to watch her play an intelligent, unsatisfied, exasperated woman, and seeing the legendary Auberjonois on the prairie immediately calls to mind his supporting role in the Robert Altman classic McCabe & Mrs. Miller.” -The Wrap

 

Marguerite / September 19, 2016 / News

Upcoming 2016 appearances

René participated in a lot of events in the spring, summer, and fall of 2016. Thank you to everyone who came out and supported him! Look for future posts about his planned appearances in 2017.

Events attended earlier this year

  • May 12 – Starfleet Gala, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
  • May 13 to 15 – Ottawa ComicCon, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
  • May 27 to 29 – Space City ComicCon, Houston, Texas
  • July 1 to 4 – Florida Supercon, Miami, Florida
  • August 3 to 7 – Star Trek 50 Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada
  • August 19 to 21 – TerrifiCon, Uncasville, Connecticut
  • September 2 to 4 – Star Trek: Mission New York, Manhattan
  • September 9 to 11 – 50-Year Mission Tour, Chicago, Illinois
  • September 16 to 18 – Intervention 7, Rockville, MD

Marguerite / August 16, 2016 / News

Garage Sale! August 3-7

THANK YOU to everyone who participated in René’s Garage Sale – he sold almost every item he brought!

René offered his personal collection of memorabilia for sale during the big Creation Entertainment Las Vegas convention to raise money for the life-saving work of Doctors Without Borders. Five special items were also sold via eBay auction.  Read more details and see photos and updates here.

Marguerite / July 13, 2016 / Appearances, Charity, News

Next Pendergast novel in October

René spent several days in early July recording the audiobook edition of the next Agent Pendergast thriller by Preston & Child, The Obsidian Chamber.

The book is scheduled for release on October 18, 2016, and can be preordered now at Amazon.com.

Marguerite / July 10, 2016 / News

Blood Stripe premieres

Blood Stripe, written by Remy Auberjonois and Kate Nowlin (René’s son and daughter-in-law), directed by Remy and starring Kate, had its world premiere on June 2, 2016 at the LA Film Festival, with a second showing on June 7. As described on the LA Film Festival website:

Remy Auberjonois’s assured feature debut is an intense and searing portrait of PTSD’s crippling manifestation from the perspective of a female protagonist—something rarely seen on film. Kate Nowlin is mesmerizing in this tour de force performance that vividly illustrates the psychological complexities of a former soldier barely holding it together, and who is forced to adjust to the mundane reality of everyday life.

The east coast premiere took place at the Provincetown International Film Festival, with one showing on opening night, Thursday June 16, and another on Saturday June 18.

Blood Stripe won the U.S. Fiction Award at the LA Film Festival, and Remy won the John Schlesinger Award for first-time director in Provincetown!

As we learn of more opportunities to see this excellent film, we will post dates and locations here.

Meanwhile, below is the text of one review of the film, and following that are links to other reviews, interviews, and photos.

 ‘Blood Stripe’ defies the Hollywood odds by getting it right for military women

By Alicia Moore – June 23, 2016

I went to the LA Film Festival to watch a film about a female Marine, expecting to be bored and disappointed. I was neither.

Blood Stripe is a well-crafted piece of cinematic art that describes bluntly – and accurately – the difficulties faced by the main character “Sarge” (Kate Nowlin) when she comes back home after serving in the Marine Corps. She realizes she has changed, and those around her cannot fully relate to the person she has become. Her circle questions her emotions, reactions, and behavior, oblivious to the trauma she just left.

As I said, my initial expectations were low. What could civilians know about making war movies, especially war movies about women? I assumed the film would be some “GI-Jane” type of nonsense, a cliché like Jessica Simpson’s character in the atrocious Private Valentine. Simpson, clad in a full face of makeup, hair out of regs, clean, and completely un-military is the type of Hollywood characterization that could well make women avoid watching military movies at all. I anticipated a tepid film with a fairytale ending where everyone solves their problems and proclaims “the war is over, let’s all be happy!”

In life, especially the military, there is rarely a fairytale ending. Sarge comes home to the husband she left behind, she gets a job, she drinks a lot of beer; her life may not be great, but it’s okay. Something deep inside keeps nagging at her, memories she would rather forget bubble to the surface. We see a very broken woman, unable to put the pieces of her life back together after an intense military experience. As she slides deeper into alcoholism, Sarge decides to run away from her life and work at Camp Vermillion, the summer camp snuggled deep in the woods of Minnesota, which she attended as a child.

Sarge is dealing with issues normally portrayed by male characters — dark emotions and feelings not typically associated with women veterans. She is not looking to be a hero nor trying to find a savior; she does not want a parade nor does she want accolades. The war has followed her home, and the tentacles of a vile monster called PTSD are beginning to creep into her life.

The metaphor of running is used throughout the film. Sarge vainly attempts to work out her issues in the typical military manner: She PTs. She does scores of push-ups and sit-ups and tries to literally run from her problems. She can run, but the deep-seated internal turmoil of combat is always there.

The film highlights not only the struggles of most service members to successfully readjust to post-military life but accurately shows the obstacles female veterans explicitly face. One of Sarge’s new friends at Camp Vermillion repeats a line not dissimilar to what many female veterans often hear: “You’re a girl Marine–do they even make those?”

Yes, yes they do. These words demonstrate what females face once they have left the military: disbelief about their military service and treated as if they are not true veterans.

Society has still not fully embraced the notion that women are capable of both giving and taking life; that women can struggle with a war long after arriving back home. Kate Nowlin does an excellent job portraying a woman coming to grips with herself. Her character is both credible and authentic, and alarmingly real. Military women come from all walks of life, they look like your sister or mother or cousin or neighbor; they are unassuming women accomplishing extraordinary feats – although most of them keep their remarkable achievements to themselves.

The war gave Sarge a lot of things: a sense of purpose, pride, strength, and courage. It also took a lot of things away from her: identity, her sense of security, camaraderie.  War changes us, life changes us. In the end, this was a film not merely about war and women, but also the struggles we all face during this unique human experience and a longing to find our way back home, wherever that may be.

“Blood Stripe” had its world premiere in June 2016 at the Los Angeles Film Festival to a sold-out audience. It won the coveted U.S. Fiction Award.

Source: We Are The Mighty

Marguerite / May 31, 2016 / News