Marc Forster is a well-known Swiss-German film director, a gifted visionary and screenwriter, best known for his work “The Ball of Monsters”, “Quantum of Solace” and “War of the Worlds Z”.
short biography
Forster Mark was born at the end of January 1969 in the German city of Illertissen. The future director spent most of his adolescence and youth in Switzerland in the ski resort of Davos, where after graduating from a private school he continued his studies at the University. M. Zugerberg. From a young age, the young man was interested in the film industry, Mark kept in his memory a lot of original ideas, planning to realize them later on the screen. At the age of twenty, Foster decides to move to the USA, where after graduating from New York University he finally has the opportunity to fulfill his dream. Foster Mark creates his first film project after a series of documentaries. It is the film Loungers, which despite the meager budget of 10 thousand dollars receives the approval of film industry experts and several prizes.
Creative writing
The second work of the director was the film “Together”, the premiere of which took place at the Sundance Film Festival. Forster Mark, whose films are currently known to every self-respecting synephil, passed a serious internship in the series “Twin Peaks” in the 1990s. The young visionary boldly accepted the director's baton from David Lynch and completed the television movie. If director Marc Forster was not listed in the credits of the last episodes, then no one would have paid attention to replacing the director. These lessons definitely did not pass for Mark for nothing, he managed to gracefully style his predecessor, having received in narrow circles the nickname “shadow Lynch”. Therefore, "All Together" he built solely on suspense - the total expectation of something bad. Moreover, the suspense does not disappear in the tape even when, as it would seem, all the points are placed above the "i", the viewer knows the answer to the main exciting question. Foster turns family tragedy into a detective thriller, while not at all speculating in misfortune.
Director's findings
A mobile digital camera that nervously captures everything that happens, unpredictable mounting joints, zoom-ins, blackouts, and changes in sound design - a seemingly simple arsenal of artistic cinematographic tools, skillfully used by a visionary to create an aura of increasing tension in the movie “Together” will later become a distinctive feature of the author’s manners of Forster. Unfortunately, this tape suffered an unenviable fate - nobody especially noticed and appreciated it, neither the audience, nor film festivals. And quite undeservedly. In terms of popularity, the picture loses to the next project of the director called “Monster Ball”, but all one is worthy of attention and can be recommended for viewing.
Model psychological drama
The third picture of the director of Monster's Ball, according to world critics, is a good psychological drama, played smoothly and professionally set. In the picture, everything looks quite vital and natural, without depressing stretches and silly inconsistencies. The film, first of all, is good from the production side, it was shot very competently and flawlessly. According to the actors, it is noticeable that they do not play as they please, but clearly obey the task set by the director. Therefore, the performers play harmoniously, seamlessly, without a single fake note. This drama, with an IMDb rating of 7.10, is considered by the movie community to be one of the director’s best works. Forster Mark himself noted the leading woman Holly Bury, who was subsequently awarded the Oscar.
Fantasy movie bias
In 2004, Forster Mark made the film "Fairyland". The producer of the film, Richard N. Gladstein, in an interview with the media said that over 50 directors had changed at the preparatory stage of the project. However, after he managed to conclude an agreement with Johnny Depp, who had already managed to conquer the entire planet in the image of a rambling pirate of the Caribbean, the ups and downs of production were over, the shooting of the film went like clockwork. Despite this fact, the director’s personality should be considered the key to the success of the film. Foster, who has already achieved recognition of the sharp social cinema drama described above, suddenly showed interest in fantasy cinema. After the premiere, the picture became extremely popular, it was highly appreciated by film critics of all stripes and an ordinary audience, as evidenced by its IMDb rating: 7.80. The director was awarded the mass of film awards, including 7 Oscars, 5 - Golden Globes, 11 - BAFTA.
Parable
The creative path of the director sometimes causes serious bewilderment by an outsider inexperienced observer. Having become famous for the unhurried and gloomy “Monster Ball”, in “Fairyland”, having made the touching, pathetic to a perfect idyll story from the fate of the creator of “Peter Pan”, Mark Forster created a rather distinctive mystical drama, in spite of the fact that the film was positioned like a psychological thriller. Unfortunately, the picture failed at the box office, with a budget of $ 50,000,000, collecting about $ 7 million and an IMDb rating of 6.90. Not paying attention to the modest assessment of his efforts, the director a year later creates the movie "Character" (IMDb: 7.60) - a real lyrical comedy. It would seem that there is little common between the paintings of his filmography, but if you look closely, it becomes clear - the director masters the same genre - the parable. But unlike Shyamalan, Mark comes at times wiser and more subtle; he cleverly and cunningly disguises his parables as more familiar and popular movie genres.
007 captives does not take
In 2008, the director took the directing chair of Casino Royale for the next episode of Bond, entitled Quantum of Solace. Unfortunately, the intelligent director, who shot previously clever, albeit somewhat overdried dramas, did not maintain the balance between style and pathos. On the one hand, he ran into reality, on the other, he abused style. In the movie there is not a single phrase that could become a catch, or dialogue, in the future, sorted into quotes. The whole narrative is an implacable carousel of clashes and places. But praise was given to the artist’s work, the play of the rather simple-minded Kurilenko and the impeccable Craig.
In 2011, the director again tried his hand at the action movie genre, he shot a biographical action about preacher biker Sam Childers, who, by the will of fate, became the defender of orphans in Sudan.
Great skepticism
Concerning World War Z (in the version of Russian distributors War of the Worlds Z), directed by Foster, many filmmakers had a fair amount of skepticism. A multi-million dollar film, exaggerating zombie themes with an age rating of “12+”, alarmed many. Separate seemed to be an overly detailed examination of family values, which were supposed to be present in each scene, others suggested that all the most interesting was collected in the trailer. One and the other were mistaken. Mark Foster's new project turned out to be a strong and selective film. He, of course, can not be positioned as the greatest zombie movie, but the tape can hit even the most skeptical fans of the genre. And most importantly, watching Foster’s next masterpiece is very interesting.