Two Men We Love

Both of whom need better movies but whatever. Ewan at least is doing okay for himself this year. The Ghost Writer is excellent and I Love You Phillip Morris opens soon. (Finally)

Hugh Jackman Ewan McGregor

Social Network Typography (and Screenplay Structuring)

Saw this at Rope of Silicon and just loved it. The mind boggles at the complex architecture / spacial relation skills? required to pull this off...



...of course it wouldn't be that special if it didn't have the platform of Aaron Sorkin's amazing dialogue and/or Zuckerberg's wit (from transcripts presumably), now would it?

Best Screenplay. Having recently rewatched both The Kids Are All Right and The Social Network the screenplays for both play even stronger than they initially did. Sturdy blueprints for potentially great movies they were. Both screenplays are so witty, well constructed and filled with engaging character-specific details. There's just very little that's generic about either film and there's so much that's generic about the bulk of movies released in any given year, you know? But maybe Kids has the more graceful structure arcing as it does from kids (son) to parents back to kids (daughter) without feeling too deterministic or purposefully symmetrical but still smartly pinpointed (one summer). Social employs the more traditional continual flashback frame structure but perhaps its more ambitious in scope and it's hard to top some of its killer lines. My point is: They'd both better be Oscar nominated. I love both of them but I like to weigh these things for a good long while before I name my nominees or medalists.

 FWIW the writer's branch used to be my favorite Oscar branch but I don't trust them at all anymore after the finger they gave Rachel Getting Married in 2008. Whatthehell?

Which screenplays are you enamored with this year?
*

Game of Thrones

Quick show of hands. How many of you have read the fantasy classic GAME OF THRONES by George R.R. Martin? HBO is making it into a series now which comes as such a relief. Long novels are so much better suited to series format than movies and yet they're rarely adapted that way. You can follow the production diary here. I'm only 650 pages into the first novel -- god this is long -- but it's a page turner: superbly paced, tense, multi-layered, fine prose, and unpredictable plotting (a rare thing in fantasy novels).

Peter Dinklage has quite a role in his hands. He plays Tyrion Lannister, the manipulative, whip smart "imp" of the royal house of Lannister (the Lannisters are the villains mostly... Martin does a fine job of making sure your allegiances shift on occasion.)  Tyrion  is possibly the most complex character in a book that's teeming with vivid personalities. Not all of them are multi-faceted exactly but they all pop out from the page.  Do you think other vertically challenged actors applaud or resent him? There aren't that many roles out there and doesn't he gets them all. I remember registering shock when I saw Jordan Prentice in In Bruges. I was like "Peter Dinklage missed out on a role?"

EW has a new photo gallery of the characters. Looking through it I'm a bit worried about the budget (something about the costumes or armor seems too simple?) and I don't like how they've visualized Daenys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) at all though that whole thread is my least favorite part of the stories many tentacles.

Are you excited for this production?

7 Word Reviews: From Rapunzel to Woody

Until I find more time... 7 words must suffice.

Tangled 
Disney's animated Rapunzel musical (Skip the 3D, save money.)
7WR: Gorgeously rendered central image / conflict. Tonal slips.  B+
[More to come on this one soon. Sorry for wait.]

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
Woody Allen's annual comedy. This one focuses on a failed writer (Josh Brolin) whose new work just doesn't measure up to the old (hmmmm) and the women in his life.
7WR: Woody, lazily confessing, quotes Shakespeare "...signifying nothing."  D*

Inside Job
Oscar finalist documentary on the global economic crisis.

7WR: Dry, linear 'Recitation O' Horrors'. Beautifully shot. B

The Way Back

Peter Weir's true WWII era story of escapees from a Siberian work camp.

7WR: The walking dead; only haunts in stasis. B/B-

*That grade might be generous. It might be my second least favorite Woody Allen film. Nothing "tops" The Curse of the Jade Scorpion.

Oscar Prediction Revisions. Plus: Screener Land.

The Oscar charts are now fully updated for November. Peruse and report back! For any of you leaving for the holiday early Happy Thanksgiving!

Can The Way Back get a makeup nom
for all those wounds, sunburns and
life-threatening health issues?

So here's a momentary giving of thanks: I'm truly grateful for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences no matter how often I grouse about their choices. The Oscar race is fun. Plain and simple.

Here is the prediction chart index...
I'd love some feedback on the male acting prizes, in particular. I don't think it's so clear yet in either category though we have two handfuls of "likely" players.


Gold Derby recently released a list of which screeners have arrived in the mail for voters. This is the first year I've been receiving them with regularity thanks to the BFCA membership but I have been mysteriously denied The Karate Kid. Hmmmm. You can add 127 Hours, Greenberg, Let Me In, Stone, Made in Dagenham, Inside Job and Black Swan to that list of movies that have gone out to voters. As usual the studios are cutting it close. Are all the studios hoping that theirs are the last films screened before voting? Voting for the BFCA, for example, kicks off on December 6th. That's but two weeks away.

I've yet to screen: Barney's Version, Biutiful, Black Swan, Burlesque, The Fighter, Frankie & Alice, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1, How Do You Know, The King's Speech, The Illusionist, Love and Other Drugs, Rabbit Hole, Somewhere, The Town, The Tourist and True Grit. The list above will clue you in immediately as to why festival trips are so crucial. Otherwise you get months behind. So that's roughly 1 a day for me before voting. Can I do it?

It's more complicated than it sounds ...though these are good problems to have. (One mustn't bitch about having too many potentially good movies to see.) First one has to align the screenings -- I already had to cancel 2 of those 16 to see the 1 press screening of Burlesque. Now, this might seem like a foolish choice but it's CHER. So shut it, haters! Then there's the not so small matter of my actual life (not without boring uncinematic demands), plus the very not small matter of writing about the same movies (an even larger chunk of time), interviews (Tilda where are uuuuu?), plus the other 2010 movies like documentaries, foreign film submissions, random arthouse things (Claire Denis's White Material has opened. I must make time.) Thankfully after the BFCA voting I'll have another 3 weeks before my own hand-made awards show begins with which to fill in any holes. But in short: I-N-S-A-N-I-T-Y.

Most of the people in the awards game from journalists to bloggers to publicists to golden hopefuls won't be getting much sleep until late February. Here we go.

Who Cares About Link?

God bless V Magazine for their latest issue, "Who Cares About Age". Usually when the media decides to celebrate older women, we're only allowed one. Like the recent Streep Mania... or 2006 when Helen Mirren was all the rage. I've always had a thing for actresses of a certain age so I applaud them for multiplying the enthusiasm. I mean check out these legendary cover girls: Jane Fonda, Susan Sarandon, and Sigourney Weaver. yesplease³.

And as if that weren't enough, you've got Charlotte Rampling on the inside! A whole huge photogallery of her... "Charlotte in Couture".

The average age of these women is 66. The average fabulousity of these women is ∞. Just saying.

More links...
Scott Feinberg interviews Halle Berry
The Evening Class Liza Minnelli interviews and TCM schedule
Deadline Hollywood Toy Story Best Picture spoofing FYC ads. The first is to your left. There's more to come as they campaign for the big prize. I'm really hoping they do Amadeus, The Hurt Locker and West Side Story. Which Best Pictures would you like to see spoofed by the toys?
Man About Town interviews Ryan Kwanten... naked. Ha.
Shadowplay proposes a mid December blog-a-thons about the last films from directors. What a fine idea. Any suggestions you'd like me write about?
Just Jared Anne Hathaway is awesome. She's already dreamt up her own role on Glee and picking songs before they've even invited her.
Moviefone If Lindsay Lohan needs to hit rock bottom to recover maybe this will do it? Malin Akerman of all people is now considered a suitable replacement.

offscreen
Gabby's Playhouse brilliant cartoon about the progression of all "sexism" discussions on the internet
The Post-Game Show on "beefcake" comic art and how it differs from cheesecake...

And finally... 
What's your take on Christian Bale's Oscar chances for The Fighter?

I was discussing this with some peers earlier today. Some people feel he's too disliked to win an Oscar (after all, many below the line players vote on Oscars and we all know that Bale has a temper on set) others that "likeability" doesn't matter so much in the face of a certain level of performance. Esquire just published a thorny profile piece. Some journalists think he's an ingrate. Others, like Kris Tapley appreciate his rough edges. My take is somewhere in the middle. Likeability does matter in awards season (a lot) and though I appreciate honesty and strong opinions, I do find that it's incredibly narcissistic when stars of a certain level bitch about their duties as stars... like doing press. Basically they wouldn't have those duties if they weren't hugely successful. If people want to talk to you that means you're more successful. All jobs come with elements that are less joyous for the worker ... but very few jobs have the rewards that star actors receive. Bitching about a tiny amount of drudgery within a life filled with extravagant reward (the only reason that tiny amount of drudgery even exists is because you're successful enough to have been extravagantly rewarded) seems very very petty. So I'm torn. I find it distasteful but on the other hand I believe art should be judged without interference from the personality of the artist.

Take Three: Melissa George

Craig here with Take Three. Today: Melissa George

Take One: This is the Girl

She was indeed the girl. But which girl? Camilla Rhodes? Just another nameless blond wannabe actress lip-syncing for her life? A slinky id to further lead Betty down Hollywood’s hellish rabbit hole - or take Diane for a five-dollar fool? She embodied what Betty/Diane always wanted; she represented what killed Betty/Diane. Of course she was Melissa George making the fake fifties pretty by miming her way through Linda Scott’s ‘I’ve Told Every Little Star’. The camera catches her pouts, puckers and pretend act up close and personal. She's the girl in a glossy 10x8; a haunting headshot in your face. One thing’s for sure: we’ll never know what, why or indeed who Camilla was. That’s the big unanswered anomaly of David Lynch’s Mulholland Dr. (2001). 

But it was that kiss that did it. A while back I briefly mentioned the screen bitchery of it all, but the nails dug in further than that. However amazing Laura Haring (the recipient of the kiss) and Naomi Watts (the recipient of the tease) were as co-leads, George defined Mulholland Dr.’s raunchy raison d'être. You can lead a girl to Hollywood, but you can’t make her a star, the film painfully posited. Someone like Camilla always gets there first. She embodied the poisonous allure of envy in one lipstick smear; that scorching make-up mark was the hurtful hot spot out of which revenge was born. George’s Camilla was the key player in Betty’s downfall. We should hate her for this, but something about her face, her pouty glance a split second after that kiss, inspires fascination. She’s pure wickedness. She was definitely the girl.

It ended with a kiss: Melissa George kills with a kiss in Mulholland Dr.

Take Two: George of the genre jungle

There’s much to be said for a stint of hard work. I’d never bemoan an actor their adulation just for being an overnight sensation, but the hard grafters, those willing to take ongoing employment to remain on the radar, often deserve extra kudos in my book. George has never been one to sniff at a hearty genre role. After the mini Mulholland break she took on a spate of roles, mostly horrors and thrillers, which many an actress in her shoes may have dispatched to their out tray with much haste. But the following quintet of genre titles from the '00s mid-section contained some of George's best work: The Amityville Horror (2005), Derailed (2005), Turistas/Paradise Lost (2006), wΔz and 30 Days of Night (both 2007).

George does genre: ambushing Amityville (left); 30 days of fright (right)

One could say the above flicks are as derivative as they come, and maybe they'd be right, but isn’t that partly the name of the genre game? Many of today’s established acting favourites started with a trek down generic lane. George is paying her dues and adding much characterful determination to these work-a-day projects (and has often been the best thing about them). She was good as the worrisome wife with a demonically-possessed husband in Amityville; and as Clive Owen’s cuckolded Mrs. in Derailed. Admittedly the dreadlocked hair she sported in Turistas was a mistake, but her spirited turn wasn’t. In wΔz she was the only cast member who looked like she knew what she was doing, and walked off with her own, and indeed everyone else’s, acting honours. And her forthright, no-nonsense approach to all things vampiric in 30 Days of Night impressed me greatly. These "guilty" pleasures, added to her sterling turn in Take Three’s film below, make her the number one genre gal of choice.

Take Three: Three-point turn

Arguably George gave her best performance to date as the mysterious, bedraggled and refreshingly unlikely main protagonist trapped aboard an abandoned phantom ship with six other bewildered souls in 2009’s time-warping mystery-thriller Triangle. (Imagine Donnie Darko committing a few Timecrimes whilst adrift on Hitchcock’s Lifeboat.) George's character, young single mum Jess, is desperate to get back on dry land - and within a stable time zone - to take care of her son – or to maybe clear up a few secret matters that she, and writer-director Christopher Smith, have been carefully withholding from us. George was better in this solid scary offering than many of her direct contemporaries have been in their last few higher-profile "legit" films. But there's little awards buzz around George as yet, though there should be. She's that good - and in wonderfully unexpected ways.

Jess' fear and exhaustion, which gradually and convincingly turns to forceful resourcefulness, is vividly conveyed by George through some highly tricky, elaborate scenes. Like the narrative, she never falters for a moment; her performance keeps the film afloat, and makes its often daft yet exciting twisty turns work well. In the film's final stretch she’s better than ever, and displays immense skill and depth during several rug-pull moments. It's these scenes that should convince anyone just how good she truly is. It’s a committed, bolshy turn from an exciting actress. I'd gladly watch George navigate her way through Triangle on a loop. Over and over and over...

Mel G shoots first, asks questions later (literally) in Triangle

Golden Horse Awards: Ethan's Little Buddy, Nicholas Absent Shirt

The Golden Horse Awards were held last night. They're often thought of as the Chinese Oscars because the tradition goes back the furthest and honors a wide pool of Chinese language films from multiple countries (China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, etcetera). Though neither Monga, Taiwan's submission for Oscar's Foreign Language Film competition, nor Aftershock (China's submission), were nominated for Best Picture they both had multiple nominations .

Monga, a popular youth crime drama we've mentioned before, won Best Actor for 28 year old Ethan Ruan (left), who amusingly brought a cardboard cutout of his  co-star who was not nominated. And yes he brought the cutout with him onstage when he won. He said...

Woo! Sorry, I brought my buddy along. [mimicing his co-star] 'Hi everyone. I'm Mark Chao'

...to big laughs from the crowd.

Here's the Best Actor presentation. The clips begin at 2:25 after Li BingBing and Tony Leung Ka Fai (yes, the other Tony Leung) are done with their banter. Oh, awards-show banter... you are truly the universal language.



In case you're wondering about that gayish clip in the reel, that's the Cannes prize winner Spring Fever which is from China but was banned there so it's major release was in Taiwan. It won three awards. You can see the film instantly on Netflix.

But back to Monga... look how surprised Ethan is by his win! Sweet.

Leading Actor Nominees from left to right: Ni Dahong (Judge), Hao Qin
(Spring Fever), Xueqi Wang (Bodyguards and Assassins) and Ethan Ruan.

In his acceptance speech he says that he joined the business with the hopes that he'd win this prize in 20 years time. He didn't have to wait that long. His movie career has barely begun.

Complete list of 2010 Golden Horse Winners

<--- PICTURE When Love Comes 

[Please note: When Love Comes, which had 13 nominations (!) was released after the Oscar submission deadline for Best Foreign Film. It's possible we'll see When Love Comes as Taiwan's Oscar submission in 2011.]

OUTSTANDING TAIWANESE FILM The Fourth Portrait

DIRECTOR Chung Mong-Hong, The Fourth Portrait 

OUTSTANDING TAIWANESE FILMMAKER Lee Lieh, Monga

[Please note: I'm not sure why Taiwan gets extra special treatment but they really cleaned up in the awards since When Love Comes, The Fourth Portrait and Monga are all from Taiwan.]

NEW DIRECTOR Ho Wi Ding, Pinoy Sunday 

ACTOR Ethan Ruan, Monga 

ACTRESS Lu Li-Ping, City Monkey 

SUPPORTING ACTOR Pen-Fon Wu, Seven Days in Heaven

SUPPORTING ACTRESS Lei Hao, The Fourth Portrait 

SCREENPLAY Liu Jie & Gao Shan, Judge 

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Essay Liu, Seven Days in Heaven

ART DIRECTION Peng Weimin, When Love Comes

CINEMATOGRAPHY Chang Chan, When Love Comes

EDITING Robin Weng, Jian Zeng, Florence Bresson, Spring Fever

MAKE-UP & COSTUME DESIGN Dora Ng, Bodyguards and Assassins

[Note: How strange is it that these categories are combined?]

VISUAL EFFECTS Yong-Gi Lee, Xiang Yu Nan, Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame

[Note: As an outsider I'm kind of surprised that the Chinese Oscar submission Aftershock did not win this battle since it's such a mammoth hit overseas.]

FILM SCORE Peyman Yazdanian, Spring Fever

ORIGINAL SONG Summer Lei "Taipei Exhcanges," from Taipei Exchanges

SOUND EFFECTS Duu Chih Tu, Monga

ACTION CHOREOGRAPHY Sammo Hung, Ip Man 2

NEW PERFORMER Chien Na-Lee, Juliets

DOCUMENTARY Hip-Hop Storm

SHORT FILM Magabahai 

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT Hsu Li-Kong

SPECIAL CONTRIBUTION Sun Yueh

Red Carpet Lineup
Some memorable outfits. You have to go there if you're talking awards shows. It's the law.

To your left is 30 year old star actor Nicholas Tse (nominated for supporting actor for Gods and Assassins) who came to the awards show without a shirt underneath his suit. To your right are the evening's hosts, who know from fashion statements, and didn't let the audience forget he wasn't wearing one.

Left: Lu Li-Ping (City Monkey) who won Best Actress. Apparently the local fashion police were not pleased with her outfit, comparing it unfavorably to seafood (?). I guess I can see the undulating clam motif?; Right: Jingchu Zhang who was nominated for the disaster drama Aftershock.

From left to right:  acclaimed actress Kara Hui (a winner last year at multiple ceremonies for At the End of Daybreak); Sandee Chan (those half gloves always remind me of Lady Gaga now) is a musician and performer who was nominated for composing the score for Monga. TFE reader Tony (who helped me immensely with this posts - thanks!) tells me her score is brilliant; and Chiling Lin who some people called "Best Dressed" for the evening (she's wearingValentino). If she looks familiar to you that's because she was recently the plot-turning obsessively tea-making wife of Tony Leung Chiu Wai in last year's lengthy action epic Red Cliff.

That's all for now. Even if you don't know the films do you like the awards show reportage from far away lands? If you speak Chinese and are more familiar, do you think the deserving players won?
*

Juliette Lewis Interview: From "Cape Fear" to "Conviction"

In her music video "Uh Huh" Juliette Lewis sashays around with a bouquet of colorful balloons, smiling radiantly. Her mood seems lighter than air. It's an incongruous musical moment in her rock grrrl career -- in the newest video "Terra Incognito" she's back to her old in-your-face provocations -- but the softer side was lovely to see.

And why shouldn't Juliette's mood be lighter these days? After years of touring to build a music career while doing thankless cameos in mainstream comedies, could it be that filmmakers are finally on the verge of rediscovering her unique gift?

Juliette Lewis has taken up more than her share of my actressy headspace ever since I first heard her inimitable voice in the opening frames of Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear (1991). I don't even like narration -- in anything -- and I was instantly enamored.

I met with Juliette Lewis in October at the stylish Crosby Street Hotel in Soho, where she was holding court promoting the Oscar hopeful Conviction. The film is still playing around the country (check the listing for yours) and speaking of holding court, Juliette's role is minor but attention grabbing.

Juliette Takes the Stand.

You meet her character Roseanna Perry first as she takes the witness stand. Roseanna's testimony will make things hopeless for soon to be life-sentenced Terry (Sam Rockwell). Later his sister Betty Anne (Hilary Swank) will come calling hoping that she'll recant that damning testimony.

When you only have two scenes, you have to make them count. I wondered if she prepared any differently knowing it was such a minor role. "NO." Juliette replied emphatically, explaining that the smaller the role, the bigger the acting challenge in a way.

Juliette the day we met.

Juliette: How do I tell what's been going on with this character in two scenes? I think with all my roles, I want them to be visceral sort of a live experience. I've been doing live shows for the last five years so I carry that with me but I always want you to get a sense of this personality. It's not necessarily in the words. When she's on the witness stand you see that she's troubled, she's damaged, she's not a very joyful creature. And then the exciting thing is to meet her 18 years later and telling a story of what she's been doing. I hope that you get the sense that she never leaves her trailer, she's been drinking for 18 years and doing drugs --we don't know what kind.  If you just took those two elements and had a conversation with that person that would be incredibly complicated and interesting. But then you pile on that she's created a world of her own fiction through guilt and lying and then she's being confronted by the person she's wronged. It's intense and amazing and that's why she bounces off the walls emotionally.

Short answer: I had all these details and all these ingredients that I had to then put together and make an organic person. To me, I was like 'Oh, I get to play one of these characters,' a person that you walk the other direction when you see them on the street. These people who have a very upsetting unsettling energy. I wanted people to feel uncomfortable because she's uncomfortable.

We continued talking about her research. Despite what some would deem a loud performance, Roseanna Perry offscreen sounds like an even bigger nightmare than the one Juliette dreamt up for us. I told Juliette that as a fan I'm always hoping she'll get bigger parts. "Someday," she replied with mock dreaminess. "We'll build it together!"

Nathaniel: One of the reasons I love your second scene is that you are suddenly the star of the movie. If you think about it all the characters are surrounding you and they're living or dying based on what you're about to do. Plus, the punchline is so great. It's like your holding court in the scene.

Juliette: That's amazing. That makes total sense, I love that; it's her show. At the same time there's this oddity that she's receiving guests. 'Oh, guests are at my place. Would you like some wine?'

Nathaniel: She probably doesn't get guests that often.

Juliette: That's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking she talks to her TV.

Juliette went on to describe Roseanna's psyche, sounding almost sad in the process, indicating that as an actress she'd really dug down into the contradictions of someone who is self-serving, who feels a lot of guilt yet won't make amends.

Nathaniel: I imagine as an actor you have to always believe in the truth of your character,  even if they're a born liar?

Juliette: ABSOLUTELY. Human beings are so contradictory and colorful and a blend of so many things. She [Roseanna] turns up her own emotions to get affect but she also feels what she feels. 

Juliette Lewis as Roseanna Perry

As the conversation shifted away from Conviction, Juliette talked about her year's away from the movies touring to building her music career but despite the devotion to her music career she seemed genuinely happy to be back in the mix of the movies. "I don't know if I've changed or the movies have changed," she explained "but everything has been this sort of delicious experience." Yes, even small roles in Jennifer Aniston movies are deemed delicious  so you know Juliette Lewis means it when she says she's glad to be acting again.

When I asked if we could discuss the 90s, Juliette didn't hesitate though she did get a little contemplative about a retrospective "It's so funny when you don't have perspective at the time. You don't know what you're necessarily doing that's relevant or whatever. You sort of learn in hindsight." Nearly twenty years have passed since she first made a big mark on the screen, but her memory of the films seemed razor sharp.

We didn't peruse the films chronologically but jumped around in conversation beginning with Natural Born Killers (1994). It was the first time I'd heard her sing as she paced her prison cell singing "Naturally Born Bad." I theorized on what made that particular performance so special.

Nathaniel: Watching Mallory --- it's like she's hearing music in her head that you can't hear. A radio station that's JUST her frequency. So then when you start singing in that scene it's a natural fit, like the part is coalescing.

Juliette: I love that. That makes sense. That's funny -- for different parts I use music for brainwashing if that's what you want to call it. I was listening to Jimmy Hendrix. It's not so much his voice but the guitar playing. It had so much danger despair torment chaos if you listen to "Voodoo Child" it's everything of that journey, that character. I would listen to that over and over before filming so that was living inside.

We moved from talking about Oliver Stone who she called "brilliant" to Husbands and Wives (1992). One of my personal favorite scenes in Woody's filmography is her scene in the taxicab when her character Rain admits that she's lost Woody's book --- "his manuscript," Juliette corrected me, recalling the scene just as I'd begun to describe it. She had loved working with Woody Allen because he encouraged improvisation. I asked her if she was aware that he was going to leave the camera on her for practically the whole scene. He has most of the dialogue and yet we're watching her.

Juliette: That's crazy that he did that. What a nice director.

Nathaniel: Rain seems so amused by how much she's upset him.

Juliette as the precocious Rain in Husbands and Wives (1992)

Juliette: She is! Young girls... they just drive you nuts, that youthful arrogance, that superiority. I've had a 22 year old call me "honey" and I was just like 'WHAT? I don't think so!' Honestly she likes the attention of her mistake and she likes seeing him get all riled up. It's very flattering for her that he's asking her opinion. The more insecure he gets the more superior she feels -- classic younger girl and older guy. All those things I discover when playing it.

Nathaniel: But did you know it was your scene, that you would hold the camera?

Juliette: I had no idea, no. I thought we were shooting my take and than we shoot his take. I never even thought about that. I didn't really think of it in a heady way. I don't contrive these things so much before hand. I just sort of understand the scene and the character. My goal always is to surrender and be in the moment -- ultimately you're just surrendering and seeing what happens.

One of Juliette's favorite directors is of course her own brother Lightfield Lewis who she has worked with numerous times. Juliette raved about their new collaboration (the video is below, it had just come out a couple of days before the interview) for "Terra Incognito". "It's really visual and has a lot of fighting in it -- for taking your licks and getting back up."



Terra Incognito

"Terra Incognito" is the most recent single from her latest record but I had to tell her how amused I was to see a subliminal insert of the famous thumbsucking scene from Cape Fear in the previous video to "Uh Huh." Did she know that was going to be there?

Juliette: No, I didn't know it. That's my brother. He loves all things pop culture. He's very cinematic. My brother is the movie buff, the filmmaker. All the things that influenced me were all musicals: All That Jazz, Hair, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Grease.  No, I didn't know he was going to do that.

She had actually asked him to remove it, fearing that the music fans would be confused. Not all of them knew she was an actress. The conversation about these movie referencing videos sent her into thinking about her different worlds and where they did and did not merge comfortably "It's funny that i'm used to being this underdog in different dimensions." But she believed she was finally finding the balance and merging the two. Does this mean she'd be willing to make a musical?

Juliette: I'd love it. I want it to be super strange though like Terry Gilliam style or Bob Fosse.

Nathaniel: John Cameron Mitchell, maybe. Like a Hedwig sort of energy?

Juliette: YES. I actually met with him. He wanted me to play Hedwig somewhere.  Wouldn't that be neat? In the play. Wouldn't that be interesting?

When my time was up -- promotional rounds have tight time frames -- Juliette offered to keep chatting, holding the clockwatcher (i.e. publicist) at bay. "He has a million great questions!" We ended by chatting for a few minutes about Kathyrn Bigelow's Strange Days, her recent Oscar win (Juliette was "over the moon" about it) and the birth of Juliette's own music career by way of P.J. Harvey's songs.

I told her about the first time I saw Strange Days and being as thunderstruck watching her as Ralph Fiennes was from his crosswalk overlook. It was hard not to think of her as a fully formed rock star. This wasn't pretend. At first Juliette rejected the Faith/Juliette comparison and amusingly described her vision of her self with sing-song wit.

Juliette: It was very much Kathyrn's vision of what she was so it wasn't me per se. Faith is really damaged. I'm a much different creature on stage -- I like to think a superhero or a magical pixie -- but, yes, that was amazing. That's when P.J. Harvey entered my life as a musician. I just drank her up. There's nothing like her.

Nathaniel: Well, to me Strange Days was your debut as a rock star; it was the start of the music career before the music career actually started. 

Juliette: [Suddenly excited] What I'm not telling you is that it did! I was a closeted songwriters/singer. I was keeping it in because it was the most personal -- too vulnerable. Having to sing for a role made me step out and go 'remember this? You're a singer.' But I still wasn't ready because I was so self critical. I had to go through some changes in my life. I finally did it when I was approaching age 30. A little bit late but i'm making up for lost time.

Nathaniel: Hey, late bloomers... that's fine. I started writing when I was approaching 30 and now I don't love anything else more.

Juliette: Isn't that amazing? It's like 'This is who I was all along and now I finally let it out.'

Uh Huh

Let it out, Juliette. Keep letting that magic out.
*

Links With Benefits

Journalistic Skepticism Oooh, it's a must read listen. Luke has collected the film scores this year. Which is your favorite and who do you think is winning the Oscar for Best Score?
Cinema Blend smart post about confusingly similar 2011 romantic comedies Friends With Benefits and No Strings Attached. One twin thing that isn't mentioned: Mila Kunis and Natalie Portman, the female leads from the respective movies are sexually entanged together in Black Swan.
Towleroad A bit about Spielberg's Lincoln. Plus, my continued Harry Potter agnosticism . I don't even wanna see this one. Five hours to tell that book? And I've heard that they do spend lots of time moping in that tent. Argh. I don't even dislike the movies really (except the first two) but 9 years is more than enough for one series. Wrap that damn thing up already!
Austin Translation has some fun advice for future Disneyland travellers.
I.Z. Reloaded amazing Star Wars inspired art.
Vulture looks at the possibilities in a post Harry Potter world for Daniel Radcliffe.

Finally, have you read this great New York Times Cher profile piece? I particularly loved this bit about her surreal fame-filled life.

It’s an odd existence, Cher’s. When she recounted a late-night gabfest with two girlfriends in the bedroom of her Malibu manse not long ago, the gabbers in question were Joan Rivers and Kathy Griffin. When she flashed back to a favorite exercise class in Beverly Hills decades ago, the fellow crunchers and squatters were Raquel Welch, Ali MacGraw and, to a more limited and grudging extent, Barbra Streisand, who “would go over, do two little things, and then walk around and talk,” Cher said.

She refers to most of these people by first name or nickname only, figuring you can fill in the blanks. Nicky is Nicolas Cage, Kurty is Kurt Russell, Mich is Michelle Pfeiffer and Nony is Winona Ryder, who starred with Cher in “Mermaids” in 1990 but suffered a career setback after a subsequent arrest for shoplifting.

“It’s such a drag that some crimes are cool and some crimes are uncool,” Cher said.

Ha. You know why that "snap out of it" scene in Moonstruck is so infinitely funny/resonant? Because loving Cher (in ridiculous proportions to how much you probably should love Cher) comes so naturally; you have to be slapped to break her spell!

True story: Last night I was supposed to meet The Boyfriend for an event and I got confused about where we were meeting. I ended up at that big wall-painting of Burlesque I shared last week (which wasn't where I was supposed to be). A minute later he showed up just as I was ringing him.

"How'd you know where I was?" I ask.
"I knew you'd gravitate towards Cher."
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Yes, No, Maybe So: "Source Code"

With Love and Other Drugs about to open we feel absolutely bombarded with Gyllenhaaliciousness. Which is fine by us... Especially when it comes with Hathawayish sparkle.

But such is the nature of healthy physiques careers that before you even have a chance to see Movie A, you're already asked to think about Movie B and sometimes even movie C (given that roughly 89.4% of film writing on the web seems to be devoted to pre-production rather than actual cinema.

In 2011, Jake is ditching Anne for Michelle Monaghan (on a train) and Vera Farmiga (in a control booth) inside Duncan Jones (Moon) sci-fi thriller Source Code. Let's give it the yes, no, maybe so treatment.



Yes. Well, Jones has our attention post Moon (2009) and the cast is full of fine actors.

No. "I want to save her." "You can't it doesn't work that way." "Look for suspicious passengers"... a lot of what we see her suggests a very high concept -- Groundhog Day meets Every Action Movie With a Countdown Clock -- without much by way of its own identity. While it's true that 2:24 minutes of screen time isn't much, they don't show us anything here that seems like it unquestionably will rise above action, sudden romance, or time travel "make the most of the time you have!" clichés.

Maybe So.  It seems a touch perverse to shove highly watchable actors like Jeffrey "Belize" Wright and "Crazy-Eyes" Farmiga into work clothes and onto television monitors to become human exposition machines. Are they wasted here? This is always a danger with action movies that use awards-calibre actors for color. I get that filmmakers bank on strong performers to elevate the overall quality of a movie, trusting them to grant humanity and intrigue where none may exist in the script, but it still can feel like a waste. On the other hand, it can work magic (see: the Bourne franchise) so we can always hope.

And what's with the canted angles of all the monitors within the Source Code? They have the technology to build a time travel machine that continually transports you into another human being's body right before they die but they didn't have the budget for a level?

What's your verdict: yes, no or maybe so?

Jeffrey Wright Jake Gyllenhaal

Black Swan Spreads Its Wings

Good news for those of you who are not so patiently awaiting the feathery pirouettes of Natalie Portman. Black Swan is opening wider than originally anticipated. The December 3rd bow, which was originally intended for just NYC & LA, will now include Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, DC, Toronto and Dallas/Ft Worth. That probably means expansion to smaller markets will come sooner too.

Meanwhile, this (to your upper left) arrived in the mail today.

Dilemma! I am DESPERATE to watch it but I'd prefer to see it on the big screen. First screenings are meant to be special. Can I hold out for 4 more days until my scheduled screening? But it's right here and I've been waiting so long. Aaaaaaaahhhhh. I suppose it's a good problem to have.

What would you do? How strong is that self discipline of yours?

Which movie star's face...

...are you most fascinated by at this very moment? Tell us in the comments.

There can be more than one of course but at this very moment I'd have to go with Julie Christie. I was bored of my desktop image a week or two ago so I switched it to this (from Don't Look Now, 1973) and I can't stop staring at the screen. I fear Julie herself will have to snap her fingers to wake me from this hypnotic trance.
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Oscar Updates: Picture, Directors, Actresses, Animated Features

I'm guessing that the Best Picture category has 7 very solid bets now: The Social Network, The King's Speech, 127 Hours, The Kids Are All Right, Toy Story 3, The Fighter and Inception)  But those last 3 spots could be quite volatile considering so many of the films in question haven't properly opened and could be boosted or shunned by next month's avalanche of top ten lists & precursor prizes. So here's a poll for you.

Perhaps the wisdom of crowds can clear up the fog.

poll by twiigs.com

Over in the Best Actress category, I don't think it's as "deep" in terms of competition as some do and I explain why over there. It'd be fun to have greats like Tilda & Michelle in more of the conversation, but unless precursors bite, they're both doomed (for this year at least). I see only 7 women truly in play for shortlisting. How is that 'deep?' The following 5 women totally need precursors to have any hope of dislodging someone in the top 7.

Don't you think?

Also updated: Best Director (is this lineup too "hip?"), Best Foreign Film (will Turkey get its first nomination?),  Best Supporting Actress (I'm really starting to worry for Jacki Weaver. Are they watching those screeners? And will the precursors give AMPAS full speed ahead on both ladies in The Fighter?), Best Animated and Documentary Features (the official finalists list).

Sally "I Beat Meryl" Hawkins

This video is part of the See Africa Differently campaign. It devolves pretty quickly into sly inside showbiz comedy courtesy of Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky).



My apologies if you've seen already but it was new to me. I was in Iceland. (Shhhh. That's my new excuse for every error I make for the next two weeks).

I'm quite excited for more of you to get a look at Made in Dagenham soon. It's quite sweet and easy to enjoy and it's aging well for me. I blame all those actresses in cute underthings and working girl frocks. But mostly I blame Sally who is really more terrific in it than she needs to be. I also think she has fine chemistry with her onscreen husband Daniel Mays, another Mike Leigh alum (think Vera Drake).

Related Posts
Golden Globe Night (When Sally Won)

Distant Relatives: Citizen Kane and There Will Be Blood

Robert here, with the inaugural post of my new feature: Distant Relatives, where we look at two films, (one classic, one modern) related through a common theme and ask what their similarities and differences can tell us about the evolution of cinema.

What has become of the American entrepreneur?

There are many reasons why we're drawn to tales of industrialists, inventors and entrepreneurs.  For starters, their influence is almost inescapable.  Tales about them are vis-a-vis tales about us and the world in which we live.  If we don't see theirs as stories about what we are, then surely they're stories about what we'd like to be, that ever elusive American dream that we want to achieve, and their eventual corruption and fall from grace (common in movies, not in reality) gives our schadenfreude a nice shot of adrenaline.  Films like Citizen Kane and There Will Be Blood play out an examination of a complex relationship between the psychology of an individual and the sociology of the world that loves and hates them, and at times we see ourselves as both.

Downhill from here.

Charles Foster Kane and Daniel Plainview are both men of their times (by that I mean their films' times).  Kane is a representative of media influence growing in a world that was shrinking where a "journalist" moving into politics no longer seems even remotely strange.  Men like Kane ran the world.  Not to be outdone, Plainview, ambitious industrialist, rules in a place where the power is split between his business of oil and the business of God.  Notice how the town of Little Boston seems to have no mayor, council or politicians?  In fact the only men with any power are Plainview and preacher Eli Sunday (both of whom come with a slate of political promises).

Success. Betrayal. Abandonment.

"I will provide the people of this city with a daily paper that will tell all the news honestly. I will also provide them with a fighting and tireless champion of their rights as citizens and as human beings."                                                 

Charles Kane comes with his promises too, though once he passes the point of misanthropic no return, somewhere between "it would be fun to run a newspaper" and people will believe "what I tell them to" we don't get to hear, nor care much about what those specific promises may be.  The only important ones are his youthfully optimistic "Declaration of Principles."  We know they'll eventually be abandoned.  Beware businessmen who fancy themselves champions of the people.  Plainview's promises on the other hand, of roads, schools and bread seem to be fulfilled, or at least there's no indication that they're not and in what might be his most humanistic moment, he wields his power to stop the abuse of the Sunday children.  Is it possible that Plainview's symbiotic relationship with his constituents yields greater results than Kane's supposed charitable one?

It's surprising how similarly the paths of Kane and Plainview develop.  Both begin with a stroke of luck, in Plainview's case, striking black gold, for Kane a rich foster father.  From there it's right down to business where both are intensely good at what they do and have little to fear from competition.  Their first real encounter with reality comes courtesy a supposedly uncontrollable event (the death of a political career and the injury of a child) that amplifies their fears, flaws and inability to control their world.  With their lack of power exposed, the next deterioration comes in the form of betrayal by a long time friend or trusted "sibling" emphasizing a reality in which absolutely no one can be trusted. The final blow is the abandonment of a loved one who can no longer bear their dominating presence, leaving them alone with their worthless success.  The subsequent outburst of violence by our entrepreneurs acts as one last attack against a world that they can no longer claim absolute dominion over.


The capacity to kill

Now we come to the real major split in the paths of Kane and Plainview.  Kane's violent attack is directed toward his house, his possessions, his makeshift prison.  His relent comes with the sad admission that he cannot attain the love that he's always wanted.  He's failed and he knows it.  Plainview's outburst however is not directed so inwardly.  He rages against his competition for power.  Plainview succeeds.  We don't know what comes after the credits roll, but it's almost impossible to read his statement of "I'm finished!" as a concession of regret or submission.  In fact it might be a declaration of his own perceived victory.  

Baptism didn't help.

So how did we get from stubborn regret to defiant murder?  There's an important step between Kane and Plainview in the form of Michael Corleone.  Corleone, who had his own fair share of youthful optimism, betrayal and abandonment, displays the same moral character as Plainvew but the same recognition of loss as Charles Kane.  So the more recent evolutionary step hasn't been the "hero's" transformation into a killer but the development of his self-defined triumph."  The question becomes: can we accept that a bad person doesn't get their just desserts?  Certainly there's no real sense of joy at the downfall of Kane and Corleone, but at least a sense of justice.  There's a satisfaction.  In the case of Daniel Plainview, the only conclusion we're left with is his own perception of success... so justice no longer matters.

Hallucinogenic reality

As a final contrast between Citizen Kane and There Will Be Blood, consider what each film's structure says about it's subject.  Citizen Kane is a mystery, a puzzle, where pieces must be found and assembled in order to eventually reveal the person that is Charles Kane.  Structurally, There Will Be Blood isn't a puzzle.  Everything shown is chronological and straight forward.  But the high-contrast cinematography and anachronistic music present Plainview's life as something of a bizarre hallucinogenic experience, slightly elevated above what we perceive as normal reality.  When you consider how society regards its movers and shakers, we're no longer really interested in what makes them tick as much as we are in the details of the strange worlds they inhabit.

Of course, there's no limit to the number of cinematic entrepreneurs that the medium has produced over the decades.  The discussion should include more than Charles Kane, Daniel Plainview and Michael Corleone.  But what seems to never fade is our fascination with how their quest and success for the American dream drives them to sorrow or vice or madness.  What hasn't changed is the sense that one must abandon themselves if they want to be great, and to some extent it's true, and intriguing how many people still line up to board that particular train.  Is There Will Be Blood evidence that we don't expect justice any more?  Not necessarily, but keep an eye on the stories of these men in the future to see if their fate is presented as important as the frailty that got them there.
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"Can We Talk?" The Documentary SnubFest... I Mean Shortlist.

It's inevitable that the Academy's documentary branch has to snub fine films every year. There are usually more than 5 terrific docs a year after all. But even when they narrow it to 15 for the finals, they're always dumping extraordinary movies.  We knew that the buzzy Catfish wouldn't be there but it's a pity that the funny/interesting/popular Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work couldn't place even in a field of 15. I just watched it again in fact and it still holds the interest even after the jokes aren't new. And don't get me started on the phenomenal Last Train Home, the best thing I saw at Sundance this year give or take I am Love and The Kids Are All Right.

Possibly Nominees?

Anyway here's the list of 15 finalists that will have to fight it out for the 5-wide Best Documentary Feature Oscar nominations.

• Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer ~ bio-doc on disgraced New York governor.
• Enemies of the People ~ on Cambodia's killing fields.
• Exit through the Gift Shop ~ Bansky's hipster-beloved graffiti doc.
• Gasland ~on the Halliburton inspired environmental horror show known as "fracking". 
• Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould ~bio-doc on the musician.
• Inside Job ~ behind the economic meltdown.
• The Lottery ~ the other charter-schools documentary of 2010.
• Precious Life ~a Palestinian boy needs Israeli medical care to survive.
• Quest for Honor ~activist women and Kurdish journalists fight against "honor killings".
• Restrepo ~ One platoon of US Soldiers in Afghanistan over a one year period.
• This Way of Life ~bio-doc on Maori family.
• The Tillman Story ~bio-doc on sports hero turned soldier.
• Waiting for Superman ~commercial for charter schools.
• Waste Land ~garbage pickers meet artist in the world's largest landfill in Brazil.
• William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe ~bio-doc on famed civil rights activist lawyer.

Two thirds of those films won't be going any further than this, since only 5 can become actual Oscar nominees. I guess I need to start watching my screeners as I've seen but one of these (Waiting for Superman) and I didn't even like it. AND it's the one that's going to win.

I realize most people are in love with it but I'll be over here in detention with the handful of other naughty students who aren't bowled over by this lazy teacher (Mr. WaitingForSuperman) whose too busy vilifying another lazy teacher (Mrs. Teacher's Union) and going off on emotion-based tangents to realize that there's not much actual education in this movie.

Anyway, feel free to cry over spilt docs in the comments.

• High Profile Snubs: 12th and Delaware (on abortion), Armadillo (similar topic to Restrepo), Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (on the infamous comedienne), Catfish (online relations), Last Train Home (China's migration), A Film Unfinished (that's right... they passed over a Holocaust picture!) and Cave of Forgotten Dreams (the 3D film from Werner Herzog). 

Audiences and Critics Loved Her. The Academy Did Not.

Or tell us which film you're rooting for. Not that it's easy to see all of these. But it is easier to see them that it is to see the foreign film contenders.