Have you ever seen the movie Vanya on 42nd Street (1994)? It's really quite good. The movie plays something like a fly on the wall rehearsal documentary of a stage production of Anton Chekov's immortal "Uncle Vanya." It marked the first important clue that Julianne Moore was going to be a major screen goddess (unless you count Short Cuts as just that, which some do) and it also gave Brooke Smith her first worthwhile role after achieving a kind of 'who is that she looks so familiar?' fame as "The Girl in the Pit" in Silence of the Lambs.
Two "Yelena"s: Cate (on stage) and Julianne (on film)
It's a worthwhile rental so long as you give it your full attention as it's full of intricacies and performances of quiet but potent dramedic depth. If you're in Australia, though, you can see more than a rehearsal. You can see the real thing on stage.
VANYA ON 42ND STREET
VANYA ON PIER 4, HICKSON ROAD
Andrew Upton (Mr. Cate Blanchett) has adapted the play for the Sydney Theater Company. The cast is full of familiar Australian movie faces like Cate herself, Hugo Weaving, Richard Roxburgh (Moulin Rouge!) and this year's Best Supporting Actress hopeful Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom). I expect a full report from Australian readers who get a chance to see it. Do as I say! The production is currently playing and runs through January 1st, 2011.
Can Cate's "Yelena" measure up to Julianne's sublime take?
And when is Hugo Weaving going to get another worthwhile film role? Lately the movies have reduced him to a disembodied voice or cameo player in noisy "event" movies (V For Vendetta, Lord of the Rings, Transformers). His next big role is the villainous Red Skull in Captain America: The First Avenger. But given the role, we still won't really be looking at his face, will we?
And what's wrong with his face, I ask. It's got real character. Stop hiding him, moviemakers!
Have you ever loved a performance so much that your subsequent disinterest in the same actor is actually hard to wrap your head around? That's me when it comes to Russell Crowe.
I love everything about him in L.A. Confidential... but in particular the way he looks at Kim Basinger. God, the way he looks at her. It's just riveting. He easily made my Best Actor shortlist in 1997. For the record it went like so...
Russell Crowe, LA Confidential
Johnny Depp, Donnie Brasco
Christopher Guest, Waiting for Guffman
Ian Holm, The Sweet Hereafter*winner*
Mark Wahlberg, Boogie Nights
I'd probably rejigger to make Christopher Guest the winner now that it's been 13 years (yes, Guffman arrived in '97 even though it's listed as '96 everywhere) and that performance is still the most hilarious I think I've ever seen.
But I'm veering off topic. Damnit.
Back on. I watched a few key Confidential scenes after reading Craig's Take Three: Kim Basinger this weekend and fell for Crowe's "Bud White" (great character name) all over again. Before L.A. Confidential hit I had only seen him in the Australian movie Proof (1991, not the Gwynnie Paltrow movie -- this one is more interesting) and in the western The Quick and the Dead (1995). And after L.A. I rented another Australian movie The Sum of Us (1994) and also loved him there.
So back in 1997 I assumed he was totally my new favorite actor. He became everyone else's favorite actor (at least for a few years)... but weirdly not mine. Not mine at all. So now when he has a new movie out (like The Next Three Days) it almost doesn't register with me.
<--- Crowe in Proof (1991).
I lost interest so quickly.
Have you ever had that happen to you with an actor / actress that you just really thought was going to be a personal fav? Does it mean that we let external forces get in the way? Does it mean we never loved the actor/actress but just the role they won / did justice to? Or maybe it's a complicated mix of all sorts of things like media saturation, public persona, film choices, personal quirks.
I'd love to hear stories if this has ever happened to you... *
On this very day in 1939, Australia's Northern Standard incorrectly assumed that The Lady Ashley (Nicole Kidman) and her Drover (Hugh Jackman) had both perished in the Kuraman Desert!
Newspapers. They've always had it rough; The second you publish something it's ancient history.
Just as soon as this news was making the rounds the lady and her cattle driving man, rode into town in a cloud of triumphant dust and defeated their main rival. They won! Celebratoryparties, long delayed lovemaking and a return to the now thriving Faraway Downs followed. After a short orgiastic montage of Australia's natural beauty (the country's and the movie's), the epic movie ends with a speech by the young narrator Nullah (Brandon Walters)
Just like Drover say 'that rain make everything come alive.' The land it grow green and fat and we all go back to Faraway Downs. Mrs Boss happy. Drover Happy.
I hear for the first time that thing called Christmas. Then the rain, it stops. And then Drover, he go droving. The Mrs Boss, she always misses Drover. But I know, he's going to come back.
How perfect are these golden shots as closing romantic images?
Only there's no closing. The epic movie didn't end there, not on October 29th (and the cattle drive was already quite a movie) or with Nullah's first Christmas. Or even after the Drover went a-drovin' again, an amusingly brief montage which consists only of this leaving and returning, beautifully illustrating a family falling into its future pattern.
But there's a lot more adventure, World War II adventure, coming. There's roughly sixty more minutes of it. I've often thought that had Australia wrapped up with that three shot shown above and this clear romantic narrative about the formation of a family (after one hour and forty-three minutes of a rousing western adventure), the critics and audiences might have been kinder. Wasn't Australia's main sin only that it was desperately overstuffed, that it didn't trust that one adventure, one tone, or one lead character arc was enough and it had to pack in at least a few of everything? Sometimes less is more, even for gorgeous sun-kissed epic that aspire to the mythic.
Australia came out two years ago and though two years isn't a long time, you rarely hear people discuss this one anymore. Have any of you watched it recently? If you haven't seen it since its premiere, what is your most vivid memory of it? * * *
Remember that one year (2001) when the list-happy AFI (American Film Institute) decided to compete with the Globes and the Oscars in year end prizes? No, that didn't last long. But there's another AFI, The Australian Film Institute, that has been around for a long time and is in no such danger of being a one-off. This year, they're all about the amazing family crime drama Animal Kingdom which they awarded with a record breaking 18 nominations. Sure, the film is in danger of being way overhyped for people who are coming to it late (which is just about everyone given the sorry state of international distribution for dramas of virtually any kind) but for those who can slough off the "omg" raves, I guarantee you'll think it at least an insinuating and well executed crime drama.
AFI Favorites with multiple nominations
Its main competition for the coveted prizes, if you go by nomination counts, is Bright Star(different eligibility calendar over there in Australia). I haven't really covered the Australian Awards before -- we lean on Glenn for that -- but since i've seen three of their Best Picture nominees this time around (the two leaders plus the aborigine musical Bran Nue Dae), why not?
Complete nomination list -- with more Oscar adjacent & actor related comments -- after the jump.
Animal Kingdom, the 2010 Sundance Grand Jury winner, is now playing on 39 of the nation's screens. Let that be 39 steps closer to an Oscar nomination for Jacki Weaver; it could happen if Academy members actually see the acclaimed crime thriller. But let’s not jump ahead of the narrative. An Oscar nomination would be a deserving climax, but it’s not exactly a prologue. If Animal Kingdom's confident storytelling teaches us anything, it’s to stay focused and earn your dramatic developments...
Not all of my "best in show" columns at Tribeca can necessarily double as awards season FYC but this one isn 't subtle about that particular agenda. Awards traction is tricky for people who aren't big (U.S.) stars, especially in foreign born films, so why not start early?
I was a bit concerned about being too spoilery in tone (if not in plot) but then I remembered that the film's trailer and ad campaign are already relying heavily on the visibly underlined raves about Weaver's not-so-very-nice momster. And, hey, even if you know details about each character going in, the plot will still twist and turn in organic but surprising ways while you're watching. Good movie.
I was just working on tonight's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" (we'll be posting about 10 or 11 PM so get yer post up before then for linkage!) Had to pause my skimming for much laughter about this post funeral scene. So I figured I'd share it. In the sequence Prior is telling his best friend Belize (Jeffrey Wright) about the heavenly visitor (Emma Thompson) who had recently come calling. Belize thinks it's just a fever dream. But Prior tells him all about their sexual progress.
She had eight vaginas.
Wright's two beat silent reaction shot just slays me.
A shrug, then a mouthed "eight". So so funny. Little moments like this are why I've been obsessed with actors forever. And Jeffrey Wright is such a great one. He's 'Best in Show' in Angels in America (maybe) and that's like being the best holiday in a year. The other ones are merry, too!
Speaking of "Best in Show"... I hope you've enjoyed the first three installments of my new column at Tribeca Film where I've coveredWinter's Bone, The Kids Are All Right and Inception thus far. I was going to cover Jacki Weaver in Animal Kingdom next Monday or Tuesday (the film opens Friday) but I ended up interviewing its new Aussie director instead. His name is David Michôd ... remember the name. You may have already read my seven word review or picked up on Glenn's enthusiasm for it. I fully expect Animal Kingdom to win awards attention come year's end. At least of the Independent Spirit variety. You can read the interview here. *
Stale Popcorn Glenn surveys the 19 eligible films for the Australian Oscars. I Need My Fix Jane Lynch gets a wax figure. Glee has now officially taken over the world. Watch it take over the Emmys next. Hot Blog in depth Sissy Spacek interview. Goes all the way back to the early years.
I didn't work until I was 20. I just looked like I was 13.
HKMDB Daily Stills from the Chinese remake of What Women Want with superstars Gong Li & Andy Lau Towleroad Jennifer Aniston as Barbra Streisand? People...
Scanners looks at how the reviews of Salt deal with Angelina Jolie's super-sized star persona Box Office Mojo some release date shifts for Disney and two cancellations. Is the Beauty & The Beast 3D death another sign that 3D is over? If so, YAY! B&tB is perfect as is thankyouverymuch. His Eyes Were Watching MoviesVolver collects another fan. I honestly think that movie will continue to do so until it's regarded as one of Almodóvar's very best. Because it so is. That Obscure Object old paparazzi photos sometimes freak me out. This is the Thelma & Louise stars: Susan, Geena and Brad. Ah, sweet bird of 1991 youth. Empire when I read the capsule header or this article about Dolphin Tale starring Ashley Judd, Harry Connick Jr and Morgan Freeman -- that cast! -- I actually thought I had clicked on the wrong link and gone back to an article from the 1990s. True story, I did. Low Resolution Have you read Joe's entertaining & thought provoking personal Emmy ballots? You should.
must read contemporary post of the day Op-Ed Maureen Dowd and Sam Wasson, the author of that Breakfast at Tiffany's book discuss the sorry wrist-slitting state of the romantic comedy. They name names. Wonderful discussion. I just may read it again and buy Wasson's book.
must read retrospective post of the day Nick's Flick Picks reviews James Cameron's The Abyss (1989). As per usual his insights are totally invigorating. He always makes me want to see movies again. You can miss so much. I love this bit on Ed Harris
Harris, whose charisma, gaze, and body were like a periodic table of virile emotion during this period in his career, is tremendously moving throughout this key sequence, and really throughout the movie.
"A periodic table of virile emotion"...god, what a gorgeous distillation of Ed Harris. When is his honorary Oscar coming (since the real thing seems ever out of reach)?
The adults are coming. Warning: all three of these new movies do not contain super powers. Unless you count acting as a super power. In which case,SHAZAM!
Animal Kingdom Dir: David Michôd | With: Guy Pearce and Jacki Weaver Gripping, weirdly frightening performances. Fine script, too. A- [interview]
Cairo Time Dir: Ruba Nadda | With: Patricia Clarkson and Alexander Siddiq Delicately observed but limited. Gorgeous finale / Patty. B
Get Low Dir: Aaron Schneider | With: Robert Duvall and Bill Murray Grumpy hermit is legendary... but why? Unconvincing. C [more than 7 words]
More on Animal Kingdom and Cairo Time coming after they open. Stay tuned. * *
Steve on Broadway Australian readers take note: The original cast of AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY is heading to Sydney in August for one last go at the roles they've perfected over the years. Don't miss it.
The Cost of Going to the Movies This is an interesting chart on moviegoing vs. home theater costs. There's an agenda as this is a business site but it's still interesting. I find myself siding with stay home options so much lately from a moral perspective which is so sad because I think the in theater experience is so magical. But like Broadway and the music industry, corporations are all too willing to gouge their audiences price-wise until the audience dwindles. Nobody ever thinks longterm.
Serious Film treats the IMDB Top 250 list very seriously indeed. This rundown has a lot of interesting anecdotes but I just can't stomach looking at it (the list, not this article). I have no time for any list that preferences anything with a super power in it over anything with an actress in the lead role. Plus a list of 250 films which has rooms for films as mediocre as Big Fish and Kick-Ass but no room for anything by Altman, Surges, Sirk or Almodovar? I mean, get real or, rather, FAIL in the popular vernacular. It should be called "IMDB's Subsection of A Certain Type of Hetero Males With Extremely Limited Palettes Between 15-30 Years of Age Top 250." That's a little unwieldy but this list needs a subtitle before it needs anything else. Just for you know the sanity of anyone who chances to look upon it.
Margot Channing. She's sour for good reason
For the record the only movies that are about a female protagonist number 15 of 250 or, 6% of the 'greats'. They are #45 Amélie, #54 Aliens, #55 Spirited Away, #69 Pan's Labyrinth, #88 All About Eve, #96 Rebecca, #121 The Wizard of Oz, #134 Kill Bill Vol 1, #157 Gone With the Wind, #180 Diabolique, #198 Rosemary's Baby, #203 A Streetcar Named Desire, #206 Kill Bill Vol 2, #231 Changeling, #239 Mulholland Dr. (give or take a handful more where you can argue it's actually about a man even though the woman is remembered as the lead -- Fargo, Silence of the Lambs, Double Indemnity, Psycho, Annie Hall, Sunset Blvd). So according to IMDB voters, movies about women are almost never worthy of attention but Changeling is one of the best ever made! 'Screw Mildred Pierce, Joan of Arc, Sally Bowles and the lot of them! Girls. Who needs 'em!?!'
Queerty By now I assume you've read that Warren Beatty and Annette Bening's eldest daughter Kathlyn is rumored to be transgendered and wants to transition to being their son Stephen. I figured I should mention it given TFE's frequent love for the Bening/Beattys. But since no official statement has been released by the family, we figure they deserve more privacy in this matter than they're getting and that's all we have to say.
Vulture Star Market: What is Megan Fox worth? Okay end of long-winded 'click here' comments. I have nothing to say about this other than that it's kind of interesting.
Meanwhile in Russia...
The Moscow Times has details on the Moscow Film Festival which will close with Luc Besson's latest The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc Sec (pictured above) starring Louise Bourgoin. I heard from a reader yesterday that the costumes by Olivier Béirot are something and might catch Oscar's eye if it gets an stateside release. Here's a few clips from the film. Another hot ticket will be the explicit Cannes-shunned Emmanuelle Béart film, It Begins With The End. The festival director isn't shy about his love for her...
We welcome it to Moscow with open arms. Emmanuelle Béart is my favorite actress, and she is doing all these indecencies with her husband, and I enjoyed it a lot.
Hey, just let it all hang out. Why be shy about loving an actress? Particularly one as jolie as Béart.
Any readers follow Russian cinema? What film do you think they'll submit this year for the Oscars given the poor reception of Burnt By the Sun 2 thus far?
Glenn here from Stale Popcorn to help fill in during the absense of Nathaniel while is he is in Nashville. I'm here to do what I do best and that's talk about Australian film.
We're ten months away from finding out what films from 2010 the Academy decide are worthy enough to join the lofty ranks of Best Picture nominees - /snark - but by this time last year we had already been advised that Mo'Nique was going to win an Oscar for a movie that co-starred Mariah Carey and that a British unknown was poised to steal thunder and glory from the likes of Meryl Streep. Only one of those things came true, but it bears repeating, so it's never too early to start the For Your Consideration campaign for someone who is completely and utterly deserving.
That someone is Jacki Weaver as "Janine Cody" in Animal Kingdom.
I saw David Michôd's debut feature a couple of weeks ago now and it is very good. So good, in fact, that it has been picked up for American distribution by an actual distributor with cash flow and resources and the ability to market something to more than just a few 60-seat arthouse cinemas in New York City (that would be Sony Pictures Classics)! Animal Kingdom is a Melbourne-set crime drama revolving around a family of armed bank robbers and the young teenager who gets drawn into their dirty deeds.
Jacki Weaver, a sort of acting legend here in Australia, plays the family matriarch who has a creepy need to pash her sons (and grandsons) on the lips to show her unflinching devotion. What makes Weaver's performance so delicious is how she spends much of the first half slowly building her character's persona as the quiet, ever-smiling, loving mother. All that changes as the film's second half brings about a twist and lovely ol' Mrs Cody becomes an embodiment of evil, unleashing her puppet master skills as she tries to blackmail, cover-up, extort and manipulate those around her into dancing to her tune.
I wrote in my review that Weaver's performance is "sure to be remembered as one of the finest displays of acting ever committed to an Australian film", and it reminds me of the recent towering performances of Mo'Nique and Javier Bardem. This lady will give you nightmares.
Nathaniel ranked Ms Weaver as a long shot for Best Supporting Actress honours at the Academy Awards based on, I imagine, the buzz that came out of Sundance and from people such as myself who couldn't shut up about her. I walked out of the cinema wanting to shout "Jacki Weaver just won the Academy Award!" but I didn't because she's old, she's foreign and features in a movie that will probably go way too underseen to really make much of a charge, but boy would it be sweet to see this 62-year-old unknown actress ("unknown" in the grand scheme of Academy things) plow right on through to an Oscar nomination.
"You've done some bad things, Sweetie!"
So I, right here, put forth a year long FYC campaign for Jacki Weaver in Animal Kingdom. It's released in Australia on the 3rd of June and will hopefully see an American release sometime later in the year. But enough about me and my wishes, I'd love to know if any readers out there have seen anything that they think strongly merits a studio plonking down the cash for a FYC campaign. The Ghost Writer? Shutter Island? Hot Tub Time Machine? A Razzie FYC for the latter, I'm sure.
In the first reel of Peter Bratt's LA MISSIONwe follow Che Rivera (picture left, embodied by Benjamin Bratt) through his typical day as a bus driver, lowrider enthusiast, recovering alcoholic, tough guy and respected man on the street in San Francisco's Mission district. Just when you begin to worry that the film is way too marinated in macho sweat -- you'll lose track of the number of "bros" uttered, fists bumped -- we're introduced to Che's teenage son Jes (Jeremy Ray Valdez) who happens to be secretly shacked up with rich white boy Jordan (Max Rosenak). The upcoming conflict is clear. How will the macho ex-con father ever deal once he finds out about his one and only son?
...for my take on La Mission, Date Night and the tense Australian crime film The Square. I'll have a few more things to say about Christina Ricci's latest feature After.Life as soon as I can get to it.
In other theatrical news, apparently The Runaways is expanding back to its opening weekend size again. Which wasn't very big to begin with. I haven't a clue why that film (a rock biopic with two big stars) opened with such a small theatrical count or why they let the theater count drop for two weeks before re-expanding to opening weekend size. What is going on with that films release, Apparition? This is not as arthouse as Control. Why treat it like it wouldn't have mass appeal? If you haven't seen it yet it's definitely worth a look. It's at least on par if not better than its Oscar nominated blood relations (Ray, Walk the Line) though it's too youthful and edgy to incite similar golden showers. Wait! That came out wrong. Golden Showers. haha. Well, in my defence, Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) does pee on a guitar. *
Editor's note: This post is from Craig ofDark Eye Socket, which I've been enjoying a lot lately. I invited him because he wanted to talk about Abbie and I'm all ears! Next up for Abbie are two supporting roles in Zach Snyder's Alice in Wonderland inspired Sucker Punch and Madonna's period romantic drama W.E. Do you want more Abbie soon?
Abbie didn't look upset 'bout that snub at Vanity Fair's post-Oscar bash
Abbie Cornish was a Bright Star last year, but five years ago she shone bright enough, in her debut lead role in Somersault, to get noticed snagging three Australian acting awards. As Heidi, a girl who escapes the dullness of small-town Canberra for a ski resort in Jindabyne, she clapped and gleamed her way to a more eventful life and a near seduction of pre-Action Man Sam Worthington. Nice idea, Abs.
Since then, she’s steadily honed her talents in a handful of higher profile films which have all made great use of her ability to be both subtle and determined. Her bohemian defiance in Candy, followed by sterling support in Elizabeth: The Golden Age and A Good Year – then hooking up with Ryan Phillippe (much to the future chagrin of Reese Witherspoon) on Stop-Loss, and providing muse duties for Ben Whishaw on Bright Star – have given Cornish ample chance to re-ignite the screen in the years since her Somersaulting turn. That she’s only sparkled at half-brightness so far (in some folks’ eyes) merely points to the fact she’s in it for the long haul, not the quick trip: she’s eking out an enduring résumé; her future’s brighter.
The mid-‘00s saw a surplus of flighty females coax guys into their orbits: Zooey Deschanel in All the Real Girls, Julie Delpy in Before Sunset and – to the tune of an Oscar nod – Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine, to name three, all deservedly gained critical attention. But Cornish’s equally deserving Somersault role, despite the three awards, didn’t inspire quite as much universal adoration. Like that film’s landscapes, maybe she’s seen as a touch too frosty, too oblique for wider appeal. Maybe some folk don’t like that she hangs with the guys too much (most of her co-stars have been male) – something that got Heidi into hot water in Somersault. And she hasn’t exactly taken roles which have been too easy to warm to. But stick to your guns Abbie - more power to you, I say.
She gave one of ‘09’s best performances in Bright Star (couldn’t they have extended the acting categories to ten, too?), but is she still too much the newcomer to appear on Oscar’s radar yet? Recent nominations say otherwise: Carey Mulligan, another demure and elfin movie novice, got an early stab at Oscar; the Academy loved a quirky Ellen Page and a corseted Keira Knightley; and Hathaway and Portman got to make a grab for the bald man. Cornish will just have to wait her turn. Maybe in time she’ll prove herself a capable comedienne and do a Bullock, or take a left turn down the Jennifer Jason Leigh route. A role in a Kathryn Bigelow flick wouldn’t do any harm right now either.
Somersault gave Cornish her best role yet. She was awkwardly, intimately indefinable; viewers, like the film’s characters, skirted around her, curious to see what she'd do next. It was a subtly immersive performance, one that’s perhaps characterised Cornish’s career so far. To paraphrase Bright Star’s strapline: First Roles Burn Brightest. *
Dear Baz, I fell madly in love with Strictly Ballroom.Romeo + Juliet made my eyes bug out and my heart leap. Moulin Rouge! completed me. I even liked Australia!
My point is this: Please step away from the boys and party venues and make a movie. It takes you for-e-ver. NO TIME TO WASTE.
The map below is courtesy of yours truly, Nathaniel. Don't say The Film Experience doesn't work its ass off. We work all the blogging angles. It appears that after year's of Australian dominance Canada wants revenge! And that's just one story embedded herein. You can find out where the Precious players were born, see that Kathryn Bigelow and Jeremy Renner were in close proximity long before they made The Hurt LockerThe Sexy Locker, and note how lonely Penélope Cruz looks all by herself in Spain.There's so much to see.
Feel free to share this map with your friends. Send it. Tweet it. Digg it. IMDB recommend it. If you love something, set it free etcetera...
Do you have any films or stars born within arm's reach? I'll keep editing it if people feel like they need more. Which movies would you like to pack up and move yourself closer, too? Strap some balloons to your house and go.
Today is Australia Day here in, you guessed it, Australia. If you're American or British you're probably reading this and it's not technically Australia Day yet (26 of January), but that's my reward for LIVING IN THE FUTURE! Time zones be damned! America celebrates the day that British people came to their land with Turkey and family get togethers and being thankful for good health. Australia celebrates by having a bbq and sitting in lawn chairs and wading pools. We're classy like that!
Over at my blog Stale Popcorn I have celebrating by doing another end-of-decade list, this time one that I'm sure not many others have done: Best Australian Films of the Decade. There are some titles on there that you non-Aussies will recognise like Samson & Delilah, Wolf Creek, Mary and Max and Australia, but there's also plenty you have probably never heard a single word about. No matter whether you've heard the rapturous reviews or not, you should do me a favour and put them on your DVD queue immediately. I actually did a search of America's Netflix about 19 of my top 25 are available, which surprised me a lot.
Lantana(dir. Ray Lawrence, 2001)
Noise (dir. Matthew Saville, 2007)
Jindabyne(dir. Ray Lawrence, 2006)
Three Blind Mice (dir. Matthew Newton, 2009)
Samson & Delilah (dir. Warwick Thornton, 2009)
Not Quite Hollywood (dir. Mark Hartley, 2008)
The Dish (dir. Rob Sitch, 2000)
The Horseman(dir. Steven Kastrissios, 200?)
Black Water(dir. Andrew Traucki & David Nerlich, 2008)
Look Both Ways (dir. Sarah Watt, 2005)
You can read the rest of the top 25 at Stale Popcorn. Have you had a favourite Aussie film from the past decade? Speak up in the comments! Meanwhile, I'm off to drink beer and sit in a lawn chair in the sun for hours on end.
If the Academy often gets trashed for its choices, their Foreign Language Committee takes this to the ultimate level. Year after year they specialize in ignoring avant garde, gritty, groundbreaking cinema in favor of WWII dramas, epic soap operas and unimaginative biopics.
This year however, they didn't mess it up so much, their shortlist released earlier today stands as follows:
Argentina, El Secreto de Sus Ojos, Juan Jose Campanella (discussed previously here)
Australia, Samson & Delilah, Warwick Thornton
Bulgaria, The World Is Big and Salvation Lurks around the Corner, Stephan Komandarev
France, Un Prophète, Jacques Audiard
Germany, The White Ribbon, Michael Haneke, director
Israel, Ajami, Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani
Kazakhstan, Kelin, Ermek Tursunov
The Netherlands, Winter in Wartime, Martin Koolhoven
Perú, The Milk of Sorrow, Claudia Llosa
Out of this list, five movies will move on and be nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar (if you aren't familiar with the nomination process you can read more about it here).
It's a relief of sorts to see how The White Ribbon and A Prophet, which have been considered the frontrunners since their debut in Cannes last May, weren't snubbed. AMPAS has shown special reluctance to agree with the French film festival and has ignored prominent films like Gomorrah last year and 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days in 2007 to nominate more Oscar friendly pics.
This year alone we saw how Departures-the "safest" choice- won over The Class, Revanche and Waltz With Bashir. Their shortlist however proves that they are perhaps vying for a change considering that only one of the movies (Winter in Wartime) deals specifically with WWII and they snubbed baity choices like Max Manus from Norway.
Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon which won the Golden Globe on Sunday and swept the European Film Awards in December, might prove to be a crossover hit with some people hinting at Haneke's possibility of being nominated in the Screenplay and Director categories at the Oscars.
Australia's submission also proves to be an interesting choice considering how this committee often disregards movies that contain any traces of the English language and the haunting love story between outback aborigines pushes their limits in this sense.
Of course no year can come without a conspicuous snub and once again the Foreign Language Committee shows that they aren't impressed by Romania's New Wave, snubbing the wonderful Police, Adjective altogether. This decade Romania has specialized in raw, documentary like cinema unafraid to look at the ugliest parts of their society through a darkly humorous lens. AMPAS has yet to recognize any of their films.
Have you seen any of the possible nominees? Which do you think will make it to the top five?
Did you binge on the Globes? Time to purge by thinking of something else for one hot minute.
Thanks to reader Red Rose for pointing the following news bit out to me. It seems that even when Cate Blanchett doesn't attend the big glitzy Hollywood awards, she still manages to walk a red carpet (figuratively) and pick up a trophy (okay, plaque)! While Hollywood was giving out the People's Choice Aw Golden Globes, Cate was being honored in Sydney Australia for playing Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire. I swear this woman can't breathe without someone raving about the way she processes oxygen. But at least she has a sense of humor about it, ribbing herself in her acceptance speech, where she beat herself for the win (like Meryl* last night at the Globes, she had two nominations for Best Actress here), saying
it does give me exquisite pleasure to pip the ubiquitous and, in my opinion, the much over-rated Cate Blanchett. I was at NIDA with her and she was a sh**.
Hee. Here's a video of the win.
Awards upon awards upon awards. I'm reasonably certain her family applauds her each morning for waking. And her staff give her gifts for allowing them to serve her.
It was only five years ago when the Australian Film Institute Awards reached their most sad and pathetic moment. 2005, the year that will live in infamy for followers of Australian film, produced only one (ONE!) film that the AFI felt worthy enough to award. Cate Shortland's Somersault was nominated for and won every.single.category. The really sad thing is that it probably deserved to win them all, which says more about the slate of Aussie films that year than anything else.
Sidebar: Two of Somersault's wins were for Abbie Cornish and Sam Worthington's performances. The former is on the cusp of Oscar and the latter on the cusp of global fame and worship. You could do worse than seeing where these two learnt the ropes.
This year's AFI awards, however, are a much different story. 2009 has been a stellar year for Australian cinema - perhaps the best ever - and my country's version of the Oscars (as they like to be called) certainly showed why.
Samson & Delilah's creator Warwick Thornton walked away with three of the AFI's glass statues winning for Best Cinematography (he has been a cinematographer for 25 years prior to directing S&D), Best Direction and Best Original Screenplay. The film also took hope Best Film for producer Kath Shelper (who I've seen loitering around the comment sections here at The Film Experience!) Australia's entry into the Best Foreign Language Film category at next year's Academy Awards also won for Best Sound and the film's two stars, Rowan McNamara and Marissa Gibson, took the Young Actor Award.
Robert Connelly's Balibo took the honours for Best Actor (Anthony LaPaglia), Best Supporting Actor (Oscar Isaac) and Best Adapted Screenplay. Rhonda Epinstalk herself, Rachel Griffiths, won a Best Supporting Actress gong for her role in Rachel Ward's directorial debut Beautiful Kate. Frances O'Connor, she of constant almost-fame in America, won her first AFI Award from five nominations for her role in Ana Kokkinos' Blessed. Kokkinos couldn't direct a good movie if it fell into her lap, and Blessed was no different, but O'Connor has a scene - and anyone who has seen it will know which one - that ranks as one of the most emotionally devastating scenes you're ever likely to see. She deserved the prize for that scene alone.
And what happened to Baz Luhrmann's Australia? Well, it was snubbed for nominations in the top categories, but took home trophies for Costume Design, Production Design and Visual Effects as well as a special AFI in honour of it's astronomical box office. All good for a night's work, I say.
What do these wins mean for Samson & Delilah's Oscar hopes? Not much at all, sadly. Three years ago Ten Canoes won the big prize, but wasn't able to make any headway in the Foreign Language league. Adam Elliot's Mary and Max, a shortlisted title for Best Animated Feature, was nominated for several awards, including Best Film, but failed to win any. Meanwhile The Cat Piano and Miracle Fish won Best Animated Short and Best Short Fiction Film respectively. Both are on Oscar's shortlist and shouldn't be ignored. Check out The Cat Piano below, I guarantee you'll love it!
Dave here, with a note of shame: I'm afraid I'm shirking writing about Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon for now, because it's too overwhelming a prospect at the moment. It's not one of his most brilliant films, but it is relentlessly enigmatic and fascinating as always, and it's taking my brain some time to unlock it properly. (But with any luck, this might mean another full review.) So, for now, make do with these slightly more palatable vignette reviews, and tomorrow I'll have news of Julianne Moore's sexuality getting explored, because she just doesn't do that enough in the movies.
Not to get too personal, but The Boys are Back (apparently already released in the US - have you seen it?) is what I constantly fear I am: witless. It's a familiar, comfortable, lazy story, which starts off so appaulingly maudlin I suppose it's inevitable that it eventually becomes bearable. It marks Scott Hicks' return to Australia, where he's not been since the Oscar-winning Shine thirteen years ago. Clive Owen is passable as Joe, a man left to cope as a single father when his wife dies (naturally, she hangs around in comforting hallucinatory form to offer words of words of advice), a task further complicated when his teenage son from his previous marriage turns up to spend some time with his father. All of your favourite teary cliches are here: heart-tugging piano melodies, with a touch of 'native' vocals; a bit of plate-smashing; a man sobbing on his son's bed... It's not a hard film to figure out. The predictably lovely ending might raise a smile, but not because the film will have made any impression on your memory. It'll be filed 'learning to live again' movies, and forgotten within a week. C-
Israel's submission for the Foreign Film Oscar, Ajami is a chaptered, complexly plotted story set in Jaffa, an area of Israel which sees Christians, Jews and Muslims all overlapping. What's particularly intriguing about this is that it's an Israeli-Palestinian co-production, with the two directors coming from the different sides. A familial set-up is instantly disrupted by a sudden burst of violence - a template for the film as a whole. It seems almost overloaded with the breadth of subject it attempts to take in - religion, family, money and power, illegal immigrants, and so on. As such, characters become muddled and those who do recur are hard to become truly involved with, as the roving plot might see them killed in one chapter and then move backwards to see them alive again in the next - a problem when the crux of the film is the emotional involvement of the final revelations. It's still a solid piece of work, performed well by amateur actors, but you do feel a bit like you've seen it all done before, and more strikingly. B-
And we're a two-fer for Foreign Film Oscar contenders (sadly timing constraints meant I missed out on a triple bill - Serbia will have to remain a mystery), with Iran looking a more likely contender with the highly involving About Elly. The easy, amusing banter of the film's opening passages, as a group of friends head to a seafront holiday villa, gives way to tragedy and a fascinating undoing of any and all facades as the group inevitably re-evaluate every miniscule detail of what they'd ignored before. This comes to feel slightly drawn out, but it reflects the feeling of rotting devastation that emerges from the uncertainty, bleeding with sodden tension and despair. If I sound like I'm being vague, I am - it's more the intensity of reaction than what actually occurs that makes the impression, but not knowing will make the mark all the keener. Simple, clean, polished work, this is well worth looking out for. B+
Thursday's report from the LONDON FILM FESTIVAL with Dave, sitting in the very nice National Film Theatre as he awaits yet another screening. You may find him propping his eyes open with cocktail sticks this time next week. The Men Who Stare at Goats is the worst type of film you can get out of mainstream Hollywood - yes, worse even than nude women being chased by knife-wielding maniacs, because at least those films are working to provide pleasure to their audience, no matter how immature and gross that may be. (Alright, so maybe not. But almost!) No, what we have in The Men Who Stare at Goats, aside from an irritatingly long title I'll get fed up of typing out soon, is a smug, idiotic film, so convinced it's hilarious in its ironic absurdity and 'look at all this oddness; it's great they can be odd, of course, but hahahaha, isn't their oddness funny!' attitude. I'm sure the writer would argue he's all for oddness and love not war, but it portrays all these attitudes so ludicrously that it seems to be screaming for straight-laced normality under all the madness. It all relies heavily on stupidity, most notably the paranoid superiority-complex of the American army; as they say, "We can't afford to let the Russians lead the way in paranormal research!" I can probably sum up the film's failure in one repeated joke it uses: Lynn Cassidy's (George Clooney) pyschological army troupe are known as "Jedis", and he repeatedly emphasizes that Ewan McGregor's reporter Bob Wilton doesn't have these Jedi powers. If such jokes might amuse you enough to overlook an unbearable plucky score, no apparent aptitude for using sound or image in an inventive fashion, and McGregor's ever-terrible American accent, maybe this one's for you. D
The frequently abstract and painful Wolfy is as icy and cold and devastated in appearance as you might expect from a Russian film. The subject - a little girl hopelessly desperate to hold onto her wandering, loose, volatile mother - is dealt with in a similarly detached way, what with the emotionless retrospective narration, but the artistic aesthetics embue the film with bountiful emotion. Take the first scene, for example - spots of blood on the crisp white snow as the pregnant mother runs from police across the cold expanse. Or a spellbinding, languid zoom out as the mother spins her daughter a story. It's an unsettling, powerful sit, ultimately uncompromising in its grim attitude towards this 'family', but it's also beautiful in its use of perspective, camerawork and particularly the soundscape, from the eerie sound of the spinning top to the harsh, halting Russian language. B+
Balibo is another accomplished Australian film at this year's fest, even if it does contain the niggling question (explicitly asked within the film): why does this story have to be centered on Australians when they are the tiniest fraction of those murdered in Indonesia's invasion of East Timor? Nevertheless, the tale - one of thousands recounted years later once the country was liberated - is an absorbing one, complimented by the loose, observational camerawork and some strong work from Anthony LaPaglia (as the journalist investigating the deaths of five Australasian reporters sent to the country ahead of the invasion). While the sharp editing keeps things tense and gripping for much of the film, the continual flirtation with the greater storyline proves distracting, as the film acknowledges the entire tragedy but defiantly sticks to this one story. B
Can Cate's "Yelena" measure up to Julianne's sublime take?
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