‘The Painted Bird’: A Grueling Deluge Of Human Misery With Little To Say About Life Itself [Review]

CORONATION Street star Tina O'Brien's happy Manchester home is worlds away from her character Sarah Platt's pad on the cobbles. The soap star, 38, who has played Sarah-Louise Platt in the ITV soap since 1999, has a keen eye for stylish interior design. Tina shares her home with husband Adam Crofts, 36, their son Beau, seven, and daughter Scarlett, 13, who she co-parents with ex Ryan Thomas.

SCOTT Disick has unfollowed all of the Kardashian sisters on Instagram after being snubbed from their new Hulu show. The mogul's fans were furious that he was missing from all the latest trailers for the famous family's upcoming reality show.

KOURTNEY Kardashian covered her stomach in a silver top as she took part in a sexy photoshoot in Santa Monica. The KUWTK star has faced weeks of speculation that she could be expecting a child with her fiance Travis Barker.

DANNIELLA Westbrook smouldered in a sultry bedroom shoot after revealing her glam facial transformation. The EastEnders icon, 48, slipped into a white robe and struck poses on a plush bed.

Speaking her mind. Britney Spears plans to bare all in her upcoming book, an insider exclusively reveals in the new issue of Us Weekly.

A woman who was living with a violent partner used a domestic abuse code word to get away from him.

Tony Visconti has shared his views on Spotify, criticising the streaming service as “disgusting” over its low payments to artists.Visconti, best known for his lifelong work with David Bowie, was asked by The Independent about a tweet in January in which he asked followers to help him delete his Spotify account.It came during backlash around podcaster Joe Rogan, whose show on the platform was criticised for sharing misinformation about the coronavirus vaccine, and which led to artists including Neil Young and Joni Mitchell removing their music.Visconti clarified that he did not eventually delete his account. “I thought about it, but I use Spotify as a tool,” he said.

Boris Johnson has demanded President Putin "turn his tanks around" as MPs cheered on the Ukrainian ambassador, who watched proceedings from the Commons public gallery.

Manchester City fans are split in opinion on the news that Everton have received an apology from the PGMOL after the Toffees were denied a penalty against City.

The family of a young dad who died after crashing his motorbike he had bought the day before have paid a heartfelt tribute to him. Car salesman Shane Raymond Williams, 24, died in the horror smash in South Yorkshire in February last year. Mr Williams, the father of a two-year-old girl when he died, was said to be trying for a baby with his partner.

Netflix’s The Tinder Swindler, is facing a lawsuit from the real Leviev family which he pretended to be a part of.In court documents obtained by People, Israeli Russian diamond tycoon Lev Leviev and his family have filed a lawsuit against Hayut for allegedly impersonating them and “receiving numerous benefits (including material ones)” for using the family name.The lawsuit, filed in Tel Aviv, claims that Hayut has been “cunningly using false words, claiming to be a member of the Leviev family, and that his family will pay and bear the cost of his benefits”.The court documents allege that Hayut “defrauded, cheated, conned, falsified, and hurt women, men and businesses” all over the globe.“The defendant used the dating application Tinder to locate women who he then emotionally manipulated, cunningly bamboozled of funds, and eventually convinced to transfer large sums of money to him under the guise of being on the run from individuals intending on hurting him,” the lawsuit reads.Guy Ophir, the attorney for the Leviev family, has said this is “only the beginning” of their legal action against Hayut, with more lawsuits in the works.In a statement to Metro.co.uk, a representative for Hayut denied any wrongdoing. “Simon believes the family is just trying to insert themselves in the narrative for publicity after the show’s success.“Simon also legally changed his name in 2015 and looks forward to this getting thrown out in court.”Hayut is estimated to have allegedly stolen $10million (£7.4million) from a number of victims under the alias of Simon Leviev, after gaining their trust with the promise of expensive dates.Since the Netflix series aired, Hayut has been banned from Tinder, Hinge and other dating apps.

Michelle Keegan put on a stunning display as she stepped out in front of the cameras.

Julia Fox opened up about her brief relationship with Kanye West while attending the premiere of The Batman in New York City on March 1. “It was the best thing that could have happened to me,” Julia told Entertainment Tonight. “It was like hitting a reset button. It kind of brought a spark back into my life that I had kind of forgotten about.” She also confirmed that she and Kanye are “still friends” following their split.

CORONATION Street fans left furious as tonight's episode has been cancelled to make way for the football. FA Cup matches will see Emmerdale, EastEnders and Corrie moved around all week. The news have left fans frustrated with many taking to social media to complain about the changes.

Ashley Cain and his partner Saffiya Vorajee went through the most painful event of their lives in April 2021, when their beloved daughter Azaylia passed away following an arduous battle with leukaemia.They had spent months in and out of hospital, trying to save their daughter from the blood cancer, and even set up a fundraising page to help them get specialist treatment in Singapore. But when doctor's told them they believed she only had a few days left, they refocused their efforts in ensuring her final days were filled with love and joy.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorNetflix, in its second games-related acquisition, plans to buy Next Games, mobile games developer based in Finland, for $72 million.Founded in 2013, Next Games has created games based on popular entertainment franchises, including story-driven puzzle game “Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales” and two based on hit zombie series “The Walking Dead.”Helsinki-based Next Games had about 120 employees at the end of 2021 and reported sales of approximately €27.2 million ($30 million) in 2020 with 95% of revenues generated from in-game purchases.The deal comes less than six months after Netflix’s acquisition of Night School Studio, a game developer best known for its supernatural mystery adventure title “Oxenfree.” Netflix has launched a selection of games, starting with handful of mobile titles, as an extension to its core video-entertainment for no extra charge. “Next Games has a seasoned management team, strong track record with mobile games based on entertainment franchises, and solid operational capabilities,” said Michael Verdu, VP of games for Netflix, in a statement.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorStanley Tucci’s next trip to Italy will face a slight delay.CNN will bump the debuts of a handful of looming original documentary projects due to its ongoing coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The second season of “Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy,” will premiere on CNN later in the spring, as will the new series “Nomad with Carlton McCoy.” Meanwhile, the WarnerMedia network will push back the debut of “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain” to Sunday March 13 at 9 p.m., a week later than its previously scheduled March 6 launch.The network has built a new business out of documentaries and docuseries, but it must balance those projects with the demands of the news cycle.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorThe media industry’s measurement wars are expanding beyond counting traditional video audiences.iSpot, the measurement company that figures prominently in plans by NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia to offer alternatives to Nielsen in the sector’s looming “upfront” marketplace, will acquire Tunity, an analytics company that analyzes consumer viewing habits in public locations nationwide, including restaurants, offices, bars and hotels.“We want to account for all viewing across all screens,” says Sean Muller, iSpot’s founder and CEO, in an interview. The Tunity acquisition, he says, could be “powerful, both for our advertising clients who invest heavily in tentpole events and programs that are consumed outside the home and for our media partners.” The companies did not disclose financial terms.Keeping track of so-called “out of home” audiences has become more critical to TV networks, who understand that significant chunks of viewership for news, sports and other live programming is often found outside a consumer’s main habitat.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorAdapted from Jerzy Kosiński’s novel, “The Painted Bird” comes to life through Vàclav Marhoul’s lens. Shot in black and white, the film tells the story of The Boy as he wanders around Eastern European villages during World War II struggling for survival.As he suffers through the devastating brutality and horrors of war, it’s Vladimir Smutney’s stunning cinematography and images that sear into our minds — being buried up to his neck, being kicked and punched by bullies as he watches his pet die and watching eyes being gouged out — and those are just some of the wartime horrors he witnesses.Smutney breaks down what it was like to frame his first film in black and white.

A version of this story about “The Painted Bird” first appeared in the International Film issue of TheWrap’s Oscar magazine in November 2019.Writer-director Václav Marhoul spent 11 years working on “The Painted Bird,” his nearly three-hour adaptation of Jerzy Kosiński’s harrowing novel about a young Jewish boy who is subjected to unimaginable horrors as he wanders through Eastern Europe during World War II.He sat down with TheWrap to discuss his work on the film, which is the Czech Republic’s entry in the Oscars’ Best International Feature race. (IFC Films is releasing the film on VOD starting July 17.)How difficult was it to adapt this novel? The book adapted to the movie is a different language.

If you think the black-and-white Czech film “The Painted Bird” will fulfill your monthly boring-art quota, just wait until the scene in which a nympho gets it on with a goat!Oh, the movie is brilliant without a doubt, but it’s dotted with such shocking moments, and there isn’t a whiff of pretentiousness to be found. Only guts and incredible visuals.Based on the World War II novel by Jerzy Kosiński, director Václav Marhoul’s haunting film is an obstacle course of appalling horrors, and a young boy’s journey to the center of despair.However, the drama is way better than many movies that seek to unsparingly depict the ugliness of war, only to wind up sending its audience sprinting to the ugliness of the bathroom.