ABC Buys Spiritual Drama From Lost Professional Producer Carlton Cuse And Pastor Make the most of Bell

Carlton Cuse has teamed with author/pastor Make the most of Bell for additional effective, a drama project with spiritual overtones, that's been agreed to ABC via ABC Art galleries in the hefty script deal. More effective, the former Lost co-showrunner as well as the founding father of Michigan’s Mars Hill Bible Chapel are co-writing and executive creating, involves Tom More effective, a music artist and teacher, and also the spiritual journey while he becomes a benefactor and self-help guide to others. Music is predicted to become large part of the show, featuring autobiographical elements as Bell can be a former music artist and carried out with rock/gospel bands inside the the 19 nineties. Cuse and Bell met within the 2011 Time 100 gala — Bell will be a 2011 honoree and Cuse have been in existence playboy’s list around the world’s 100 most influential people this season. The Two immediately hit it well and very soon concocted the idea for additional effective. While spiritual, More effective won’t be supernatural. It'll discuss the spiritual side of people’s lives like the final season of Lost did and like Bell has carried out his career just like a pastor speaking with congregations more than 10,000. Bell the other day introduced that he'll be departing the Mars Hill Bible Chapel in December to move along with his family to La. The series with Cuse is among several things Bell expects to pursue, including touring and writing more books. (His latest tome, Love Wins, is presently round the NY Occasions bestseller list.) Bell’s expertise is predicted to incorporate authenticity for the project, which won’t be straight and square like previous spiritual network options, including Touched By An Angel and seventh Paradise, and chances are it will possess a healthy dose of humor. Because the genre is missing from TV at moment, the systems have attacked projects with spiritual elements. Marc Cherry’s Hallelujah was acquired to pilot at ABC last season which is presently being redeveloped. Furthermore to More effective, Cuse has another project, Civil War drama Reason behind Recognition, in development at ABC. Co-put together by Cuse and Randall Wallace, Reason behind Recognition was offered late a year ago and stays in consideration. Round the feature side, WME-repped Cuse is writing an African action adventure movie for last century Fox with Shawn Levy installed on direct and Hugh Jackman to star.

Mindy Kaling Explains Hollywood

A funny thing happened on the way to Mindy Kaling attempting to sell a rom-com in Hollywood: “The junior executives’ office at Thinkscope Visioncloud was nicer than any room within a fifty-mile radius of the Office studio. After I finished pitching one of my ideas for a low-budget romantic comedy, I was met with silence. One of the execs sheepishly looked at the other execs. He finally said, ‘Yeah, but we’re really trying to focus on movies about board games. People really seem to respond to those.’ For the rest of the meeting, we talked about whether there was any potential in a movie called Yahtzee! I made some polite suggestions and left.” [The NYer]

'The Large C' Finale Preview: Familiar Faces Return and Trina Isn't Frightened of Dying

Ken Regan/Showtime"The Big C" Laura Linney's Trina Jamison has received heart-breaking year on Season 2 of Showtime's The Big C. As Trina has accomplished good results from Dr. Sherman's (Alan Alda) medical trial, her trial buddy Lee (Hugh Dancy) was lacking an identical luck and died in the last week's penultimate episode of the year. Meanwhile, Paul (Oliver Platt) has spiraled downward after losing his job and finding new employment round the retail side, adopting stealing and drug use to live. On top of everything, her brother Sean (John Benjamin Hickey) has fought to help keep his sanity and skipped town only to return at this time with time when Trina needs him most likely probably the most. While watching Season 2 finale, executive producer Jenny Bicks notifies The Hollywood Reporter how Lee's dying will affect Trina and who from Cathy's past audiences could possibly get to find out in Monday's finale on Showtime. THR: The way in which Lee's dying change Trina? Bicks: Lee's dying allows Trina to know a few things: that dying is not always frightening -- there can be kind of a peace with going. That's a thing that we now have observed in the way that Lee chooses to die, it's almost heroic: he goes the means by that they desires to go. If you are in a position to refer to this as type of awful factor lovely, it's almost a stylish factor on her behalf to witness. She witnesses sophistication, really. She reaches become more comfortable and less scared with the potential for dying. Another component that they realizes anew happens when short amount of time everybody has relating to this Earth. What she states inside the finale, that she's "just likely to use this body out," she wants to make the most of being here and he or she decides to use a marathon, the final component that Lee had mentioned he preferred to complete before he died. She runs it for him to check on herself and her will. It's the ending with a season that has been about her fighting, pushing and running that's ultimately about her slowing down lower lower. As Lee known into it before he died, a marathon really slows you lower and keeps you inside the moment. That's what she'll learn inside the finale. THR: Paul has truly transformed this season from being the "cancerierge" with a screw-from sorts. His moral compass has truly disintegrated this season. Will his inappropriate behavior and drug use get together with him? Bicks: You will discover always effects to everything and Paul has truly gone in the deep finish. He may want, wonderful honorable intentions, return from that however it might be too far gone. STORY: 'The Large C' Spoilers: Three People Will probably Die THR: You've formerly told us that three people would die this season and Rebecca and Sean's developing fetus and Lee have remaining. Is always that still the problem? Bicks: With the finish of the year, our third person will pass over. We attempt very hard around the program whenever we setup an effect that individuals follow-through about it. THR: Sean (John Benjamin Hickey) returned much like Trina returned home after watching Lee die. What shape is Sean in? Bicks: We don't spend lots of time with him just before the several weeks are gone but he's recommitted to being back. The identical that Trina has learned from Lee, Sean has learned from Trina: if she'll stay and fight, I'm prone to stop running. It's all about stopping running and standing still and that he will act as as sane because he or she is and be in a single location even without his girlfriend as well as the baby they lost and many types of the discomfort. He'll make an effort to muscle through if Trina is capable of doing it, they can take action. He'll attempt to rise for the occasion. It's Sean, I am unsure how effective he'll be and surely short-term, he'll attempt to appear. 'The Large C': John Benjamin Hickey on Sean's Moment of Clearness THR: The way in which Adam (Gabriel Basso) handle Poppy's (Parker Posey) disloyality? The way in which relationship change him? Bicks: Plenty of this relationship for him has truly been about playing the grownup to her child. We really didn't wish it to be sexual because we wanted to ensure that it's truthful and honest in regards to a couple relevant inside the discomfort of having a sick or, after we uncover, dead parent which he's really able to take proper proper care of her. That allows him being much more understanding, not only in her own but to his mother as well as the whole situation. We're certainly prone to go to a maturing of Adam it doesn't imply in Season 3 he'll be someone different. He's still a 15-year-old kid in secondary school. You'll probably see him really trying his easier to develop and become the finest person they can be. People don't just change, they shuttle: so he'll possess a couple steps forward together with a few steps backward. THR: Will Trina stick to the medical trial thinking about Lee's dying? Will Alan Alda return? Bicks: Our hope is always that she continues while using trial it's succeeding on her behalf so she wouldn't be removed the drugs. We'll be lucky to get Alan Alda as numerous episodes after we will get him. He's the antithesis for the other doctors she's seen. We're hopeful that she'll stay in the trial and possess promising is because of it. THR: Will Lee return for your finale? Bicks: Additionally, you will see Lee inside the finale and you will see Marlene (Phyllis Somerville) inside the finale. We really wish to always raise these questions from the products happens. These people stay with you once they have died in a variety of forms and [explore] what meaning. Have a look in a preview in the Large C's Season 2 finale below. Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com Twitter: @Snoodit Laura Linney Oliver Platt Showtime The Big C Fall TV Preview

VIDEO: Kim Delaney Stumbles Through Speech, Is Escorted Off Stage

Kim Delaney Kim Delaney was escorted off stage Thursday night after stumbling through a speech at an event honoring former Defense Secretary Robert Gates.The Army Wives star approached the podium at the Liberty Medal Award presentation in her hometown of Philadelphia. As she began her speech, she interrupted herself to turn to the side and say "This is my job," apparently to someone waiting in the wings. She then launched into a halting, perplexing speech about how she's served in the active military, seen injured soldiers come home and attended military funerals - except she hasn't.Fall Preview: Get scoop on all your favorite returning shows"I do that as a job. It's make-believe. I have the luxury to do all of this on a television show," she said, while the crowd grew visibly uncomfortable as Delaney continued. The actress was reportedly escorted off stage before finishing her speech.Check out photos of Kim DelaneyAccording to a local CBS affiliate, the teleprompter was broken and Delaney had to wing the whole thing.Delaney has a history of substance abuse. In 2002, she was busted for a DUI and did a stint in rehab a year later.Calls and emails to her rep were not immediately returned.Watch the speech: video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player

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Tom Sizemore Arrested Again -- This Time Around on Outstanding Warrant

Tom Sizemore isn't any stranger for you to get in danger. He's been charged for assault and battery, and it has been arrested numerous occasions on drug charges. For this latest incident, it simply increases the actor's lengthy listing of scuffles using the law. Based on E!, Sizemore was arrested in early stages Tuesday morning in La because of a superb misdemeanor warrant for battery. It seems it was a situation to be within the wrong place in the wrong time: Sizemore been in a condominium where police were performing a drug analysis. When cops found him, they went his record and located the warrant. (Despite Sizemore's history with drugs, none put together on him in the scene.) The actor -- that has made an appearance in 'Saving Private Ryan,' 'Natural Born Killers' and 'Heat' -- has become being held on $26,000 bond. [via E!] Image thanks to Getty Film Fixation: "Saving Private Ryan"

TVGuide.com's Watchlist Feature Reaches 375,000 Clients Like New Girl, Pan Am

Zooey Deschanel TVGuide.com clients have recognized our new Watchlist feature since its official launch in August so far, greater than 375,000 of those have created personalized Watchlists.The Watchlist is a technique to streamline your TV-viewing experience. Just reveal which shows, stars and sports teams you prefer, and we'll demonstrate the channels, on-demand companies and websites to watch - in this article. (Netflix, Qwikster Hulu, Hulu Plus - together again again!)After you have built your Watchlist, it is possible to share it withfriends and family on Facebook and enable these to watch along.And exactly what are our clients adding for their Watchlists? Zooey Deschanel's Fox sitcom New Girl is regarded as the-added new fall show. The comfort in the top new shows added: ABC's Pan Am, Person of curiosity (CBS), Terra Nova on Fox, the CW's Ringer, ABC's Not such a long time ago, Prime Suspect on NBC, ABC's Revenge, Memorable on CBS, and Grimm (NBC).Possibly you've created your Watchlist yet? It is easy! First, register to TVGuide.com. Already signed in? Go to the Watchlist! Then reveal your faves and never miss them again.Watch this handy how-to video for further:

Paul Williams: Still Alive

A 3W Films presentation of the Mambo Entertainment production. (Worldwide sales: WME Entertainment, La.) Created by Jim Czarnecki, Stephen Kessler, Mike Wilkins, David Zieff. Executive producers, Robert Cohen, Lesa Lakin. Co-producer, Alicia Van Couvering. Directed, compiled by Stephen Kessler.With: Paul Williams, Stephen Kessler, Mariana Williams, Chris Caswell.An interesting factor happened to Stephen Kessler on his method to finishing "Paul Williams: Still Alive," his affectionate portrait from the diminutive dynamo who loomed improbably large like a pop-culture luminary throughout the seventies. After serendipitously searching for his childhood idol, and beginning production on which he clearly intended -- initially, a minimum of -- like a melancholy ode to some faded star, Kessler ended up forging an unlikely friendship and, along the way, creating a more potent, much deeper and much more idiosyncratic documentary. Pic could click with baby seniors and Gen-Xers in a variety of formats, but nostalgia is going to be only a part of its appeal. For the advantage of individuals who updated at the end of: Through the '70s, Paul Williams gained fame and fortune like a prodigiously prolific songwriter, penning enduringly popular standards for example "Wet Days and Mondays," "We have Only Begun," "I Will not Serve you for a Day Without you" and "Just a classic-Fashioned Love Song" for the kind of Three Dog Evening, the Craftsmen, Helen Reddy and, no kidding, David Bowie. He authored for movies (generating Academy awards for "Evergreen," co-written with Barbra Streisand for "A Star comes into the worldInch and "The Rainbow Connection" for "The Muppet Movie"), had success like a solo recording artist, and came wide exposure like a film and TV actor. Kessler covers all this and much more in "Paul Williams: Still Alive," and duly notes that, like several a lot of '70s celebs, Williams spent a lot of the 1980s and 1990's from the spotlight while recuperating from the personal and professional meltdown fueled by booze and medicines. A TV-commercial director whose feature credits include "Las vegas Vacation" and "The Independent," Kessler immediately cops to as being a longtime fan of his subject. He discloses that, like a chubby kid becoming an adult in Queens, N.Y., he felt a unique affinity using the borderline-elfin Williams and deeply empathized using the songwriter's works about loneliness and longing. When he luckily finds out that Williams is still alive and carrying out, Kessler has mixed feelings: He's glad to determine his idol made it his crash-and-burn excess, but a little sad to determine the first kind celebrity now playing gigs in hotel lounges and lesser Las vegas venues. Williams, however, does not view it as sad whatsoever. There is a fascinating dynamic at play throughout "Still Alive," as Williams -- sometimes nicely, sometimes sternly -- frequently will not fulfill Kessler's anticipation, and progressively prods the filmmaker into creating a movie far diverse from the main one he set to make. In early stages, Williams convinces Kessler to become an onscreen participant, declaring that it might be difficult, otherwise silly, for him to make believe you be not aware from the camera following him. Later, when Kessler quizzes Williams concerning the low points of his '70s superstardom, Williams bristles in the critique implicit in Kessler's queries. "I seem like this can be a search which i haven't felt of your stuff before," Williams button snaps. "And That I can't stand it." It's greatly to Kessler's credit, and also to his film's benefit, he has incorporated this along with other moments that illustrate him as trying way too hard to repair his subject in certain preconceived scenario, and Williams as intuitively fighting off facile labeling. The 2 males don't really start to bond until they share a six-hour bus ride via a possibly terrorist-filled jungle throughout Williams' tour from the Philippines. However the give-and-take between subject and filmmaker always may be the pic's primary focus. Williams readily confesses to frequently as being a drug-addled show-off throughout his '70s heyday -- within the pic's uncomfortable sequences, he's noticeably pained because he unwillingly watches video of his spoiled-child arrogance while guest-hosting "The Merv Griffin Show" -- and that he will not make any excuses for making the most of all of the perks that included fame. "To become different is tough,Inch he states. "To become special is addicting." As Kessler themself observes, there is a tension produced throughout "Paul Williams: Still Alive" by opposite perspectives: As the director is searching back in a existence to create a documentary, Williams -- who's living that existence -- is searching forward. However the mixture of individuals viewpoints creates an engrossing and satisfying pic, one that will be loved even by those who have nothing you've seen prior heard about its subject. Tech values are acceptable.Camera (color, HD), Vern Nobles editor, David Zieff co-editor, Jonathan Del Gatto production designer, Perry Andelin Blake seem, Marcos Contreras. Examined at Toronto Film Festival (Real to Reel), Sept. 10, 2011. Running time: 84 MIN. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com

REVIEW: Gus Van Sant's Restless Is Sweet, If Feather-Light

Restless is so fluttering and tender, so guileless, that you almost can’t believe it was made by an grizzled old hand like Gus Van Sant. Then again, maybe you can. Annabel (Mia Wasikowska) and Enoch (Henry Hopper, son of Dennis) play somber teenagers who meet at a memorial service. Enoch is haunted by the death of his parents — he lost them suddenly in an accident. Annabel has her own secret, spilled early on: She’s dying of cancer. They fall in love, quickly and fervently, knowing only doom and sadness await them — and they’ve never even seen Love Story. Restless is, in places, ever-so-silly. When Enoch accompanies Annabel to the hospital on a “date” — she has to have a transfusion — they wile away the time playing Operation. He gazes at her sensitively: “Does it hurt when they…?” The question trails off, delicately. It probably does, but Annabel isn’t about to belabor the point. Elsewhere, they run hand-in-hand down a hospital corridor, merrily and mischievously, so they can sneak into the morgue. Ah, young love! Do they still make young people like this? I’m not sure. But Van Sant, I think, is wishing they did. It’s hard to say exactly when Restless is supposed to be set, but it doesn’t feel contemporary. Annabel and Enoch romp around in the kinds of vintage clothes many of us wore in the ’70s and ’80s (and some of us even beyond): Old silk dressing gowns, lacy flapper dresses, loose woolen coats in soft plaids. Hopper’s Enoch has blondish, every-which-way hair and a sultry pout — he could be the Boy with the Thorn in his Side that Morrissey sang about so long ago. And, perhaps most remarkable of all, neither of them ever use an electronic device — they talk face-to-face all the time, and actually seem to enjoy it. Restless is really just a wisp of a movie — there’s very little to hold this bit of dandelion fluff to the ground. But it’s painless to watch. Hopper and Wasikowska are sweet together, and she, in particular, knows how to play guilenessness as something other than a kind of vapidity. (She brought an exquisite matter-of-factness, and plenty of vulnerability, to Cary Joji Fukunaga’s fine adaptation of Jane Eyre, the kind of performance that bodes well for a young actress’s future.) These two young performers emerge relatively unscathed from the heartfelt absurdity of the movie around them. They sure don’t make ‘em like they used to. Which is why, every once in a while, it’s nice to see someone try. [This review appeared earlier, in a different form, during Movieline’s coverage of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.]

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Cheers & Jeers: Wednesday Evening What Are You Doing With This Particular?

Christina Applegate and may Arnett Jeers to NBC for stranding Up With The Evening concerning the wrong evening. Want more Cheers & Jeers? Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine now! The series starring the always-appealing Christina Applegate together with a properly well toned-lower Will Arnett since the harried parents from the newborn is certainly this season's most promising new sitcom (sorry, New Girl, however don't find you as "adorkable" as everybody else seems to). Why might be the network exiling the show with a deadly Wednesday time slot when it must be part of the marquee Thursday-evening selection, where Arnett's real-existence wife, Amy Poehler, happily resides with Parks & Entertainment? The positive thing is, NBC also stupidly started 30 Rock on Wednesdays at 8/7c before going to their senses and moving it for his or her traditional "Must See TV" evening. So when the sophisticated audiences who enjoy Community & Co. get yourself a try looking in the crass, laugh-supervised Whitney, there can be a dent inside the Peacock network's Thursday slate that Up With The Evening can perfectly fill. Does Up With The Evening belong on Thursday? Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine now!

'The X Factor': 5 Things We Learned From Sunday's 8-Minute Promo (Video)

When the digital advertisements, mall posters, TV advertisements and steady stream of tweets haven't drilled it to your brain yet, The X Factor is premiering on September 21. Permanently measure, Fox offered an eight-minute preview from the show throughout Sunday evening's National football league double-header -- the very first glimpse America has become of Simon Cowell's latest TV import. Wondering what to anticipate? Listed here are five things we learned from watching the promo...our editor recommends'X Factor's' Simon Cowell Jams Simon Larger, Confesses Anger at 'Idol,' Discloses He and Cheryl Cole No More Speaking 'American Idol' Creator Sues Fox For Millions in 'X Factor' Money (Exclusive) 1) Drama, drama, drama! Whether or not this's the ominous music, the inevitable idol judges' clash, a testy contestant (one Xander Alexander) or perhaps a moody Simon Cowell, the drama bar continues to be elevated. Possibly that The American Idol Show-bashing ad the show released the 2009 summer time was on point: search for your niceties elsewhere. 2) In difficult occasions, dreams can nonetheless be satisfied. Take a look at 13-year-old Rachel Crow, whose family "has, like, nothing,Inch for proof that dreams are intended to be recognized. She takes happens using the confidence of the seasoned professional, launches into her sob story (six people living a 2-bed room house "I'm a woman, I want my very own bathroom!") and never a tear hits the floor. Then, little Rachel breaks into Duffy's "Whim" leaving the crowd -- and most probably, the idol judges' panel -- absolutely floored. Message received: it's talent you will get behind. 3) Second chances get their place. When The Voice didn't quite satiate your requirement for second chances, The X Factor has lots of singing career rejects for that offering, like 42-year-old Stacy, who had been told for that better a part of two decades that they didn't have what must be done. The verbal abuse shattered her confidence, but after belting Aretha Franklin's "(You Are Making Me Seem Like) An All Natural Lady," it had been all previously. Cowell marveled, "That's among the best auditions I've heard during my existence!" Which's saying a great deal, thinking about he was there for that Kelly Clarkson version, which virtually clinched her season 1 Idol title. 4) Cheryl Cole bakes an appearance! While she's no more associated with the show, heaving endured her very own drama for making an exit midway through auditions, it's somewhat heartening to determine that Cheryl Cole wasn't completely removed from U.S. X Factor history. Rather, you are able to clearly see her in the idol judges' table throughout 13-year-old Rachel's La audition. For her alternative Nicole Scherzinger and fellow idol judges L.A. Reid and Paula Abdul, they predictably appear to consider a back burner to Cowell, but viewer beware: that Reid has some serious bite. 5) The new sony Music is ponying in the money. Although X Factor concepts happen to be somewhat evasive about who had been handing within the $5 million allocated towards the winning contestant, Cowell clarifies that "The new sony are setting up $5 million of the money to back a totally unknown champion." It's a stupefying prize in today's music business, whenever a $500,000-budget album can yield exactly the same results, but Cowell isn't worried about getting bang for that buck, the guy clearly just wants the bang. Watch the promo in the whole below: Related Subjects Nicole Scherzinger Paula Abdul Simon Cowell Antonio L.A. Reid The X Factor

People Mountain People Ocean ((Ren shan ren hai))

A Sunrise Media Corp. presentation by Edmond Lo, Anita Wang, Niu Nan, Henry Heung, Han Delin, Alan Cheung. Created by Li Xudong. Directed by Cai Shangjun. Script, Gu Xiaobai, Cai, Gu Zheng.With: Chen Jianbin, Tao Hong, Wu Xiubo. (Mandarin dialogue)A pitch-black tale of murder, corruption and every other imaginable type of human injustice is come to its bleakest possible conclusions in "People Mountain People Ocean." Put in place with a man's search for his brother's killer, helmer Cai Shangjun's slow-burning second feature utilizes a particular narrative vagueness since it's protagonist betrays not really a word of his progressively dark motives. However the story's threads, even when only partially understood, get together in effective fashion within this harsh, formally impressive drama, that ought to put Cai into the spotlight because it heads for fest outposts and choose arthouses offshore. The feeling of a good filmmaker in the helm is made quickly within the strongly assured widescreen lensing (by d.p. Dong Jinsong) and also the calm, unblinking method of moments of matter-of-fact horror. What initially appears to become a ride shared by two buddies on the motorcycle, winding their way lower a mountain road somewhere in southwest China, turns into a chilling tableau that leaves one guy dead as the other, Xiao Qiang (Wu Xiubo), rides off. Undertaking the quest for Xiao may be the dead man's older brother, Lao Tie (Chen Jianbin), because the police read the killer's identity but hit an investigational stalemate. For that taciturn, emotionless Lao, it's basically the most recent setback in the knowledge about China's police force and legislation. He's lately came back the place to find his family's mountain village after losing his city job, because of any sort of accident triggered by their own negligence among his many burdens is really a large debt he owes the household of the disabled co-worker. Partially from obligation, and partially due to the reward money offered, Lao heads to Chongqing and searches for Xiao, simply to run afoul of some local thugs and lose his money to some corrupt cop. Further fleshing out its protagonist's backstory, the film abruptly introduces Lao's ex-g.f. (Tao Hong), who's raising his youthful boy by herself Lao rekindles the connection by delicately raping her, most likely not the very first time. All of this is observed using the kind of measured, lengthy-take detachment that'll be familiar to regular audiences of worldwide art cinema. Yet Cai guarantees we are always searching at something important each frame adds another bit of narrative or mental detail for this portrait of the guy frequently pummeled by an alternately indifferent and predatory society. But Lao is willing to conquer back, as well as in doing this he proves themself precariously intelligent and observant among the film's harsh satisfactions is based on watching him carefully tuck away a bit of information to become used, frequently strongly, further in the future. While every scene grips by itself, the very fact-based script (by Cai, Gu Xiaobai and Gu Zheng) appears to possess deliberately sliced away huge portions of ligament, getting rid of the exposition and buildup between moments. Lao's actions frequently appear inexplicable within the moment but seem sensible looking back, and it is never obvious in which the story is headed, although the resulting disorientation has got the effect of just heightening the viewer's attention. The ultimate passages, by which Lao requires a job in a coal mine where Xiao is rumored to possess headed, signal a literal and moral descent that could help remind audiences of Li Yang's thriller "Blind Shaft," though Cai's film finishes on an even more brutal, nihilistic note. Never cracking a grin or saying much whatsoever, Chen ("The Founding of the Republic," "24 City") is well cast like a guy who invites neither identification nor sympathy, though an mindful viewer can nearly follow his ever-more-devious thoughts. Pic frequently frames him against squalid Chongqing locations where convey a pervasive feeling of despair and rot, offset somewhat by stunning landscape shots of mist-wreathed mountain tops and also the Yangtze River. "People Mountain People Ocean" was revealed like a surprise competition entry in the Venice Film Festival, filling a berth which has formerly attended such hard-striking dispatches from China's interior as Wang Bing's "The Ditch" and Jia Zhangke's "Still Existence." The film's stilted yet poetic British-language title, roughly converted from the proverb, creates an excellent swath of humanity that clearly doesn't have shortage of compelling and infuriating tales to inform.Digital camera (color, widescreen), Dong Jinsong editor, Yang Hongyu music, Zhou Jiaojiao costume designer, Laurance Xu line producer, Cao Wei. Examined at Venice Film Festival (surprise film, competing), Sept. 6, 2011. Running time: 92 MIN. Contact Justin Chang at justin.chang@variety.com

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