Venice Red Carpet: Somewhere, Norwegian Wood, Miral, Reign of Assassins

The Venice Film Festival progresses. Day 4 of 11 today. So let's pretend we're there for a moment and check in. You can't have a good glitzy A list international film festival without immortals like Catherine Deneuve showing up (pictured left). Why is she shielding her eyes for she is brighter than the sun. All in all things seem to be going well. Take the premiere of Black Swan for example. Opening films don't often make that much of a splash, divisive or otherwise.

Another big question mark film of the 2010 film season is Sofia Coppola's Somewhere (trailer discussion). It's her follow up to the poorly received but delicious Marie Antoinette (2006). She's back to the present day for this film about an actor (Stephen Dorff) visited by his daughter (Elle Fanning) at the Chateau Marmont.

The reviews have been mixed but more than most filmmakers I trust not any reviews about her work. Her girlish dreamy haze tends to cloud judgment. But here are a few...

• In Contention "thoroughly beguiling"
• Evening Standard "no big dramatic moments, just a series of sequences"
• Obsessed With Film "ever bit as poignant as Lost in Translation, if not as fresh."
• Thompson on Hollywood "should play well for the young smart-house set."
  

Somewhere premiere: Sofia Coppola, Stephen Dorff, Laura Chiatta, Elle Fanning

Italian actress Laura Chiatta (The Family Friend) is also in Somewhere's cast which is why I included her here. Mostly because her lipstick is transporting me back to the early Aughts. It's all I can see. Is she wearing anything else?

I don't expect that the film will win Oscar traction (low key efforts rarely do and a late December release for a contemplative film won't help. Coppola whispers and Oscar hears only Oscar-bait shouting in the holiday months) but I'm still so excited to see it. Coppola is three for three in my book. Will this make four for four?

On to other films...

International Divas: Yeoh, Abbas, Kikuchi, Campbell

Michelle Yeoh, in town for Reign of Assassins, is a goddess. You knew that already. Her latest star vehicle was bought earlier this summer by the Weinstein Co which probably means we'll never see it (you know how they do). But since we can't look at the film, let's look at those shoes. The shoes... Gah! They're probably worth more than most people make in a year and she can probably kill those multiple assassins tailing her with them. Incidentally, Yeoh is also an assassin in the movie. What is with the cinema's complete fixation on assassins as protagonists? It's easy to understand them as villains but so many of them are actually the heroes of their movies. I shutter to think what this means about the human condition.

• Hollywood Reporter "lush visual treat... with crossover potential."
• Film Biz Asia "a rich gallery of characters
  
• Screen Daily "absorbing and entertaining."
• MovieWeb (the trailer... note: you have to watch an ad first)
  

Hiam Abbas was in Venice for the premiere of Julian Schnabel's Miral but curiously Freida Pinto, "Miral" herself, was not. Maybe she saw some unflattering reviews coming.

• Obsessed with Film "cravenly seeking approval"
• Telegraph "It’s terribly earnest, and characters often speak dialogue that resembles a history lecture"
• Thompson on Hollywood "Pinto, while gorgeous is not an expressive actress."
  

I should note here that none of the negatives lobbed Miral's way in reviews tend to be awards season negatives with Oscar, given that earnest lectures and films which needily cry for approval are fixtures of every awards season. And nobody seemed to have a problem with Freida Pinto's inexpressiveness as an actress in Slumdog Millionaire -- don't try to tell me that's a new development.We just barely dodged that supporting actress nomination I think. And it would have been one of those semi-regular headscratchers for being "the girlfriend."

Norwegian Wood, another prestige adaptation of a novel, also premiered. Rinko Kikuchi, the most famous member of its ensemble cast (credit that Babel Oscar nomination), hit the red carpet. I don't understand this look at all. But it definitely reminds me of a expensive monochromatic version of that awful ruffled confusing short skirted thing Peach turned out on Project Runway two nights back. Oh, Peach... wwyt?

• Variety "lovely but listless"
• Indie Movies Online "the story is not quite as peerlessly handled by Tran as the aesthetic presentation"

Finally, I included Naomi Campbell in this roundup because I cannot for the life of me, imagine her actually sitting down to watch movies, only strutting through flashbulbs towards them. I know she's been in a few movies but has she actually ever seen one?

Action auteur John Woo (pictured left) received the Golden Lion for lifetime achievement and was also there as co-director of Reign of Assassins (with Chao-Bin Su, who also wrote the film).

Quentin Tarantino is the head of the Venice jury so we'll see what his jury does with their cups and statues next weekend. Stay tuned.

We Can't Wait: YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER

Jose here with my orphan entry in the We Can't Wait series.

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger
Directed by: Woody Allen
Starring: Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Freida Pinto, Lucy Punch, Naomi Watts



Synopsis: Set in London, the movie centers around a number of people in a family, their assorted love lives, as they try to work out complicated romances.
Yes, that sounds like almost every Woody film but with him you never really know what the movie's about until it finally comes out.
Brought to you by: Sony Pictures Classics
Expected release date: September 23 in the US with a tentative premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Announced the day after the 2009 Oscars as Freida Pinto's new project, the film is surrounded by that air of mystery that always accompanies the Woodsman's work. Nicole Kidman was involved at some point (allegedly playing a hooker), dropped out and her part was given to the practically unknown Lucy Punch, then there were mix ups as to whether this was the movie where French First Lady Carla Bruni would appear. Turns out it's not... she'll be in the next Parisian-set movie with Marion Cotillard.

<--- the Punch & Tony show

Given the way in which Woody works (write while filming, film while post-producing and release while pre-producing next movie) the plot is unclear but with that cast and given the recent renaissance the director has achieved shooting in Europe this could be fantastic. I'm also dying to know what he saw in Pinto, who beautiful and all, didn't exactly show great acting chops in Slumdog Millionaire. For all we know this could turn out to be his next Vicky Cristina Barcelona or result in a flop, like the underrated Whatever Works; with Woody we always can put our hopes up for the movie he'll release the following year.

Do you think his one movie a year thing is effective or should he devote himself to a "special" project where we'd have to wait years for his next release?

"We Can't Wait: Summer and Beyond"
The "orphan" picks Nathaniel (Burlesque), JA (Love and Other Drugs), Jose (You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger), Craig (What's Wrong With Virginia?), Robert (True Grit) and Dave (Brighton Rock); Team Film Experience Countdown #12 It's Kind of a Funny Story, #11 Sex & the City 2, #10 Scott Pilgrim vs the World, #9 Somewhere, #8 The Kids Are All Right, #7 The Illusionist, #6 Toy Story 3, #5 Inception, #4 Rabbit Hole, #3 Never Let Me Go, #2 Black Swan and #1 The Tree of Life.

Commie Link-Loving Sons of Guns

/Film Michel Gondry to direct Seth Rogen's Green Hornet
BlogStage an opening date for Spider-Man the musical which is now called Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. Whaaaa?
Bright Lights... on the subtextual Oscar highlights
Dear Jesus experiences those 'commie homo-loving sonofguns' at the Oscars being shown in Mormon homes


Empire Freida Pinto in a Woody Allen movie next. No comment.
Sunset Gun Who's Afraid of Angelina Jolie?
Roger Ebert also loved the Oscar broadcast ... possibly even more than I did. I'm aware that there's the normal slew of negative reviews out there but I think it's foolish to get hung up on Oscar reviews. The host in particular should NEVER read Oscar reviews. Basically you could copy and paste Oscar night reviews verbatim with only the hosts name changed. The negative reviews are always the same "it was boring. it was long. nobody cares about these movies. it's out of touch. above all the host sucked". It doesn't even matter what actually transpired on the broadcast. These reviews will always exist. They're a time tested tradition right up there with opening the envelopes. It's the nature of the beast.

So I loved the broadcast (my review) and these reviews don't bother me a bit. My efforts to get more positive like Poppy (Happy-Go-Lucky, y'all) must be paying off (slowly). I'm glad there are others like Ebert feeling the love. At the very least you have to give Hugh & team points for effort. They were working their asses off to make that a better show than it has been the past few years. I'm glad the ratings were slightly up.

Finally, if you're a film lover who is leaning towards film making you might want to check out this list by Movie Maker of the best cities for movie makers to live in. Their reasoning sounds complex so I shan't try to summarize but please know that I was surprised to see my city of origin there (Detroit #11) but not at all surprised to see my pre-NYC home in the mix (Salt Lake City #17). So if you're a filmmaker... say yes to Michigan. Michigan needs all the help it can get these days. Everyone is leaving and nobody has work. How that makes it a good city for movie making I don't know but if Movie Maker says it, it must be true.
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White Weddings (Oscar Night Review ~ Pt 3 of 3)

It's all over but for the fashion talk...

To those who are ready to move on: Back to regular cinema soon. Stick around.
To those who can never get enough Oscar: I'll wean you away gently until the 2009 contest begins in a month and you know I'll drop the Oscar talk back in when appropriate. Stick around.
In short: Stick around.

This Oscar fashion roundup is dedicated to Billy Idol. For apparently Sunday in LA was a "nice day for white wedding". Remember that year when everyone wore champagne dresses to SAG and how irritating it was that all the actresses looked the same? Does Hollywood's army of stylists have spies in each other's camps or are they operating in strict adherence to pack rules. Perhaps they're a lycan society with an Alpha Dog stylist residing somewhere deep in the Hills, howling at the full moon monthly as it reflects off the Hollywood sign.

What was with all the white?

As far as I know Amy Adams is the only star that's about to get married and she was in red!

Rather than do a whole 'nother permanent page at the mainsite I thought we'd just finish the wrap up here with photos. Some of my bests may be your worsts but that's the way it goes with fashion (and acting, actually, as the annual wars over the Oscar shortlists attest)

I'm ignoring the men this time 'round. I didn't mean to and there were lots of sharp dressed men and one handsome boy who could just as easily have been starring in a Gus Van Sant picture as writing it (Dustin Lance Black) but time is short and I really need to put this year's Oscars in the rearview mirror.

I'm not quite sure about this...
Actually all of these goddesses look beauteous. But we're not talking A+ Oscar wear. The Doubt actresses (Amy Adams, Meryl Streep, Viola Davis) look better as a trio, all earth and fire and well matched. Probably the point... great for photo ops. But apart from each other the outfits were a little busy (Amy... but I actually love the huge necklace) plain (Meryl) or risky (Viola). Perhaps I should explain: I love the gold dress and the woman inside it but unless you're a lock to win, I always think that color is asking for trouble. That statue looms large you know.


It was nice to see Bridget Fonda and Phoebe Cates dolled up again but something is missing in both cases...and not just their careers (har dee har har)

What are you wearing?


Beyoncé's a little teapot, short and stout. Why is she always there? You don't see Amy Adams at the Grammy's every year? Robin Swicord's color choices and pattern (!) are disturbing me... even more than her screenwriting for Memoirs of a Geisha and Benjamin Button did. Heidi Klum usually makes best dressed lists but there was something atrociously busy about this number. Nice color on her (which color isn't?) but all the cut outs and sharp angles and then all the bangles. Any of the elements are okay on their own but all together?, Miley Cyrus has been at the Oscars two years in a row and... I... I... don't understand. Or I don't want to understand. And we'll wrap up with Mary Hart. She never leaves the house without a frozen smile. Even if she forgot to buy a new dress or iron an old one to go with it.

YUMMY...


My choices for best dressed are the always ravishing Nicole Kidman (love the feather and shiny details which rescue this from being another boring white dress, Freida Pinto (Latikaaaaaa!) in blue and that sleeve is a beauty, Leslie Mann because her dress reminds me of a disco ball and I've been totally on a 70s kick (I blame Milk) and there's something about her whole look, hair, attitude and all that screams decadent/sexy/underestimated woman. Amanda Seyfried continues to be awesome, despite Mamma Mia! And finally there's my girlfriend Marisa Tomei. I have nothing to say about the dress but to tell you that Nick describes it perfectly on the upcoming podcast. From the back it's even more deconstruct as if the strap was barely hanging on to itself to keep the entire dress together.

Which fashions did you go gaga for at home?
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SAG Live Blogging (Part 1)

7:03 or thereabouts. The first star I see is The Lovely Laura Linney so I know this night is going to be special. [and by special I mean bearable]


Her dimpled cheeks are so wholesome they're hypnotic. The mere mortal she speaks with probably doesn't feel condescended to at all when Laura drops the name of her friends.

What is TLLL looking forward to?

I'm thrilled to be able to grab Kate Winslet for a second, grab my friends, say 'hi'

If you were close enough to grab KATE WINSLET, would "hi" be your first choice of words? Something less intelligible would spill out, I suspect.

7:15 Melissa Leo looks super happy and the dress is great. But I'm already worried for Princess Anne (Hathaway), who, didn't look so cheery when the camera caught her. She walked with head down. Did that Golden Globe Kate fest crush her Oscar dream?

Maybe "hi" wouldn't be the first thing she said to Kate Winslet, either.

7:18 Evan Rachel Wood is really proud of her shoes. If I were a drag queen I totally would be too. I was Once a major ERW cheerleader and I hope to be so Again. Did you catch that wordplay. yuk yuk. I'm on fire tonight. (special = bearable! remember it. It'll help you get through, too)


7:32 My favorite moment of the night has already occured. It shan't be beat, I swear it. The E! girl (I can't be bothered remembering her name Guilisomething?) is trying to "connect" to Angelina Jolie who has deigned to descend from the heavens to speak with her. So she's nervous and so she's going on and on about how amazing Brad Pitt is and she says to Angelina, and I quote:

There's nothing sexier or more heartwarming than seeing a man who is good with children. Would you agree about that?

Angelina -- and this wouldn't even be worth capturing in a screen shot it's so tiny and perfect -- says... nothing. She merely almost imperceptibly nods and lets out a little hum/sigh.

Perhaps she's wondering why the reporter hasn't yet spontaneously combusted.

7:50 Every actor who ever plays gay needs to take lessons from James Franco about how to handle the inane media questions about it. The reporter is trying to ask him which is harder, pretending to be high onscreen (Pineapple Express) or to pretend to be in love with Sean Penn (Milk). Franco's reply...

I... I don't know. In life I am in love with Sean and I don't smoke weed.

I love it. Franco is like this year's James Marsden right? He was once kinda not really ascending as a star and then, in one year, he just proved there was so much more charisma and A list within him. I love him. Love him with me in the comments. Free Love!

8:05 They just finished that "I am an actor" part. It wasn't as good as that time (last year?) when Jane Krakowski said "I'm Johnny Depp and I am an actor". But then few things are as good as the time when Jane Krakowski did them.

8:06 Tina Fey won "Only Actress in a TV Comedy". There's only her right? She's the only thing I remember about 2008. She even ran for public office. Her co-star Alec Baldwin won the corresponding award for people with penises.


8:09 Dev Patel and Frieda Pinto are trotted out to introduce Slumdog Millionaire. They didn't waste any time. Dev & Frieda both look really cute and the crowd loves them and I'll be TOTALLY nice to them tonight.

unless they win
*
8:21 There's a montage now. I'm glad I'm recording it because I need to watch it again to understand properly. It's called "trailblazers" which seems to be another word for famous people in famous movies. And that's not what I thought that word meant so I need to be schooled.

8:26 The Boyfriend says "we're half an hour into the show and only 30 Rock has won anything" Unfortunately Jane Krakowski spoils my 8:05 compliment above with a bad joke. Yeah, the Ally McBeal cast was emaciated. We remember. I don't think Sally Field at the Brothers & Sisters table thought that was funny. Neither did I.

<--- 8: 28 Marisa Tomei jostled by someone's mink.

Hey, it doesn't happen every day.

8:30 BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS is... Kate Winslet in The Reader. I'm not including a picture because Marisa Tomei's fur collision was more interesting.

Ponder that for a moment.

I love Kate Winslet so much. How did I ever become so jaded that I wouldn't enjoy seeing her win awards? Is it her dully sincere speeches or the inevitability of awards season?

8:53 House won Best Actor. Sally Field won Best Actress for Brothers and Sisters but the most important thing that happened in the past 15 minutes is that the camera went to Michelle Pfeiffer.
I imagine cameras are drawn there like moths to a flame. That's my cliche of choice. I couldn't think of a funny.

I'm spent (special!)

Sometimes I hate David E Kelley from stealing her away from her career to such an extent but then I remember that without him we'd probably never see her at these events and she's always there as the dutiful wife. Now if only he would make good television again instead of [shudder] Boston Legal. I hope she made him sleep on the couch on Monday nights.

8:55 Mad Men wins Best Ensemble for TV. Damn straight. Now if only the SAG voters will choose as well with the cinema. The correct answer is Milk people. Don't let me down at 10:00 PM

9:00 end of part one. here's part two.

The BAFTA Nominations for 2008 and The Madhouse Act of 1828

Trivia Time! It's been 180 years since an Act of the British Parliament allowed for the building of mental asylums. The first ever built was the 1st Middlesex County Asylum in West London which opened its doors in 1831. The British invented insane asylums! Who knew? And yet it all makes sense...

177 years later, ancestors of those first Middlesex patients voted on the nominations for the British Academy Film Awards (or BAFTA or "The Orange Film Awards" --make up your minds!) honoring the films of 2008. Gemma Arterton ("Strawberry Fields" in the latest Bond film) and Hayley Atwell (The Duchess) made the announcements which were... _ _ _ _ _ _.

(You saw where that was going I hope. Good.)

Years ago I paid no mind to these particular awards and, scanning over this year's nominees, I think I was probably of sound mind back then. Somewhere along the line, I lost my resistance to them -- I think it was when Kate Winslet won a prize and thanked Peter Jackson for discovering her? (It's all Heavenly Creatures fault!) -- and I have lived to curse my interest in them ever since. I grew deeply suspicious of the Orange Film Awards when they changed their schedule to become an Oscar precursor. Must everything be about the Oscars? You don't see the Goyas (Spain) or the Cesars (France) trying to predict American film prizes! Now I'm not suspicious so much as perplexed.

If you want their full list you can click on the link above but let's just talk Picture & Acting

Best Film

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader and Slumdog Millionaire

Outstanding British Film

• Hunger, In Bruges, Mamma Mia!, Man on Wire and Slumdog Millionaire
  

I list these two categories together because I think it's odd and sad that they have a Best Picture prize and then a sort of ugly stepsister category to honor their own artists. ("Odd" wouldn't be the right word if we're talking more specifically about Mamma Mia!'s nomination. What is this, the British People's Choice Awards?)



Shouldn't the main prize "Best Film" be honoring their own films, the way virtually every country's academy does, responding first to their own productions while making room for the occasional import they really loved? The way their system is structured now they're basically telling you that the only film they made this year as good as an American film is Slumdog Millionaire and that's a) not remotely true since Hunger & In Bruges and the egregiously snubbed Happy-Go-Lucky are all pretty damn good pictures b) curiously self-loathing and c) inversely funny since the American Academy has often been accused of having Anglophilia. The grass is always greener I guess.

Side note 1: Despite's Milk's Best Picture nomination, they showed no real enthusiasm. Only four noms (Pic, Screenplay, Lead Actor and Hair/Makeup)

Side note 2: Has any film in history as unpassionately received as Frost/Nixon been so unanimously embraced by so many disparate awards bodies? It's a head scratcher. I haven't met anyone who hates it and a lot of people seem to think it's good and quite entertaining (myself included) but Best Picture every single time? What's more it has achieved this breezy awards champ status without public support -- It's made less than 8 million at this writing which is very low for an eventual Best Picture nominee, even if you're only looking at box office prior to nominations. (The lowest grossing future BP nominee in the past 2o years was Clint Eastwood's Letters From Iwo Jima with only $2 million in the bank prior to its nomination. But that was an Eastwood picture and the normal rules don't really apply).

I know, I know... only 10 pictures were actually released in 2008 so I guess the chances for Frost/Nixon were like 50/50 [*snort*]

It gets worse.

Leading Actor

• Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
• Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire
• Sean Penn, Milk
• Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

Leading Actress

• Angelina Jolie, Changeling
• Kristin Scott Thomas, I've Loved You So Long
• Meryl Streep, Doubt
• Kate Winslet, The Reader
• Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road

The best that can be said here is that they've put lead categories into a lead race (imagine that!). The worst that can be said is that the presence of Dev Patel definitely casts doubt on standard American perceptions that British actors are super serious about their craft.

We always marvel (rightly, I'd wager) that most of their stars actually train to act, rather than just show up at auditions hoping to be famous. But this is another reminder that acting well and judging artistic efforts are different skills. I wonder if Dame Judi Dench actually thought Dev Patel gave a stronger performance than Michael Fassbender in Hunger? Blargh!


I just don't have time for BAFTA anymore. At least if Patel gets nominated at the Oscars (likely) he'll be demoted to Supporting where they'll often nominate someone on the sole basis of their cuteness or luck at appearing in a popular film -- it's vaguely expected.

Supporting Actor

• Robert Downey Jr. Tropic Thunder
• Brendan Gleeson, In Bruges
• Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
• Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
• Brad Pitt, Burn After Reading

Supporting Actress

• Amy Adams, Doubt
• Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
• Freida Pinto, Slumdog Millionaire
• Tilda Swinton, Burn After Reading
• Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler

Oh, BAFTA. Art is subjective so I hate to make crass generalizations but anyone who thinks Freida Pinto is a better actress than Viola Davis probably has no business passing out awards in film excellence. Am I wrong? I mean, if you saw Doubt, what's your excuse?

P.S. I love beautiful people. They're wonderful to look at. I actually think we should have more ridiculously beautiful people in the movies and Pinto's pure loveliness is actually sort of jaw dropping. But hear me out. Just add a "Most Desirable" category like they used to do at the MTV Movie Awards. I mean... since that's how you wanna roll. I think Keanu Reeves is one of the most beautiful men ever projected on the silver screen but you don't see me handing him Best Actor prizes.

Beauty is its own reward. Shouldn't it remain so?

P.S. 2 New readers should note that I am not always this crabby. BAFTA nominations merely make me long for padded cells... (it's safer to bang your head against the wall that way). I promise to be less filled with bile next week. Er... that's when the Oscar nominations come out. Uhhhh, I take that back.

P.S. 3 Oscar Predictions updates are coming tonight.
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Best Costumes (Or: The Moment the Slumdog Thing Finally Spun Irrevocably Out of Control)

Slumdog Millionaire was nominated by the Costume Designers Guild today [src]. The end of the world is surely nigh.

It is written!

I blame Freida Pinto for being so beautiful in bright colors. It's surely her fault.

I once devoted a whole section of my website to costume designers I love their craft that much. Alas, I was lonely in that particular fascination. But they'll always hold a special place in my heart. The cinema (or at least the movie stars) would be naked without them. Here's the clothes the costumers dug most this year.

Contemporary Film

• Iron Man Laura Jean Shannon and Rebecca Bentjen
• Mamma Mia! Ann Roth
• Sex & the City: The Movie Patricia Field
• Slumdog Millionaire Suttirat Larlarb
  
• The Wrestler Amy Westcott

Excuse me while I gnash my teeth at the absence of both Susan Lyall, who delivered a vibrant multiculti mishmash and terrific individual character work for Rachel Getting Married, and Jacqueline Durran, last year's Oscar nominee for Atonement who proved her worth again with Happy-Go-Lucky. Little known factoid to impress your friends with: Ann Roth costumes Meryl Streep constantly -- ten projects together already. Bet she knows Mary Louise's measurements by heart at this point.

Period Film

• Changeling Deborah Hopper
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Jacqueline West
• The Duchess Michael O'Connor
• Milk Danny Glicker
• Revolutionary Road Albert Wolsky

Some real Oscar contenders here of course. Unless awards bodies are called on to single out contemporary features (as is the case with the CDG) they tend to ignore them. Most nominees are drawn from period films. Also: notice the absence of Australia here. It can't get arrested this awards season. In any category apparently.

Fantasy Film

• Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Isis Mussenden
  
• The Dark Knight Lindy Hemming
• The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Sanja Milkovic Hays

The majority of your Costume Oscar nominees will be drawn from these 13 films but maybe not all five. The Costume Design Guild is less predictive of Oscars than some other guilds. You can probably subtract both "fantasy films" that aren't named The Dark Knight from the possible nominees.

You can probably also subtract Milk from the equation. No offense to Danny Glicker but Oscar voters just don't do the 1970s. Trust me, I pay close attention to this category. For reasons unbeknownst to me they do not do 70s. Do they have traumatic life experiences involving bell bottoms?

The BAFTA Long List is Looney

<-- Last year's Chief BAFTA Goddess/Alien, Tilda Swinton

The BAFTA long lists have been announced. "The WHAT now what list?" I hear awards newbies screaming. Basically the British Oscars have a "semi-finals" round which narrows things down in all categories. Unfortunately it's still (mostly) the same films again. The following films might be nominated for the British Oscar for Best Picture:

• The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Burn After Reading, Changeling, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, Doubt, Frost/Nixon, In Bruges, I’ve Loved You So Long, Milk, The Reader, Revolutionary Road, Slumdog Millionaire, Wall-E and The Wrestler

[Warning: Rant averse readers should scroll away to another post now]

The big thorn in my side this awards season --there's always a thorn -- has been the shabby treatment that Rachel Getting Married keeps getting. As much as I love Anne Hathaway's performance I think the film is even better than she is. Somehow other Best Actress vehicles that aren't as strong, as whole movies go, keep getting "Picture" attention. There's room for the messy/uneven/repetitive Changeling (my review), the well acted but ungreat film version of Doubt (some thoughts), the dour weirdly gimmicky performance piece I've Loved You So Long, and Kate Winslet's double.

Some of this is simply a matter of taste. I have it. They don't (kidding!) But even if you just sample US critical reception (just for the helluva it), Rachel tops most of these other actress/picture combos. And yet, no dice.

Every time I scratch my head trying to figure out what the problem is I remember this simple fact: Rachel is not Oscar Bait™. It's not a costume drama, war film, triumph of the underdog tale, biopic or message movie. Five strikes you're out. Kym, your protagonist, doesn't spend a lot of time weeping though she's got plenty to cry about. The movie is way thornier emotionally (no easy answers, no clear direction as to whose side you should be on at any given moment) than the other films in play. Doubt, which is doing a lot better awards wise, pays lip service to being complicated but it's not very frayed at the nerves or challenging in the brain. It wants you to keep guessing but it doesn't actually expect you to process several competing emotions/ideas at once except, blessed be, in its very best scene. You know which one ~ Viola Davis you rule! The plain awards truth is that most awards voters on either side of the Atlantic prefer easy to digest dramas... like, I dunno, Frost/Nixon. It makes this film bitch crazy. I just don't think "Best" should automatically equate with easy.

Two fucked up girls just looking for their own peace of mind

I think this is why Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind also had trouble getting awards traction in its year. Now, Rachel Getting Married isn't as great as that picture (what is?) but they share quite a few things: extremely difficult moody heroines, a completely contemporary look and worldview (that's a no-no for awardage), the ability to elicit complicated tears and uncomfortable laughs, and their main characters aren't easy to love even in the moments when you most feel like loving them. In other words, not easy.

Rachel Getting Married is heading for the exact same two nominations as Eternal Sunshine (Actress & Original Screenplay) and nothing more. What a shame. But it's good company to be in, I suppose.

In happier news, the BAFTA long lists for performances contain only one instance of category fraud (Philip Seymour Hoffman in Doubt) and that's only marginally a fraudulent categorization so this is really rather miraculous for a modern day awards show. I applaud them. Dev Patel, Kate Winslet, Michael Sheen, etcetera... they're all in the lead races where they belong. So well done, BAFTA. Well done.

...except for that supporting actress list.

I have to share it cause it's just whack-a-doodle... I mean totally padded-cell-throw-away-the-key-nutso. The usual suspects are there of course: Amy Adams and Viola Davis in Doubt, Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler, Penélope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona

There's another few you can understand even if you think it's really stretching it to say "Best": I like the inclusion of the always grand Emma Thompson in Brideshead Revisited. Kathy Bates has a couple good moments in Revolutionary Road. I'll give them Vera Farmiga in The Boy in Stryped Pajamas (I haven't seen it).

But it keeps getting weirder/worse. Judi Dench in Quantum of Solace (always fun in these movies, sure), Elsa Zylberstein in I've Loved You So Long (she didn't sell me on her characters' bizarre emotional swings... but I realize I'm in the minority) and Tilda Swinton, twice, for Benjamin Button (but they ignored Taraji P Henson?) and Burn After Reading. In neither film does our favorite Alien/Goddess have much to do. I think even Tilda herself would agree this is pushing it. That's a lot of women taking up room.

I lost patience when I began to realize this shocking truth: They have room for 15 performances -- 15! -- and neither of the Rachel Getting Married women are accounted for: No Debra Winger, No Rosemarie DeWitt. BAFTA has always been one to err on the side of being overly patriotic but once you notice this snub (when there's room for 15 people) it's hard not to get angry with them.

Consider...

• Charlotte Rampling in The Duchess (She can do this role in her sleep. I love Rampling but that's a "no")
• Freida Pinto in Slumdog Millionaire (She did do this performance in her sleep. What is this nomination for... looking pretty? If that's the criteria why don't the shortlists include Mila Kunis in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Scarlett Johanssen in The Spirit, Amanda Seyfried in Mamma Mia!, Rachel Bilson from Jumper? I mean, if it's about being pretty... let's have them all)
• Julie Walters Mamma Mia! (W-H-A-T? If you ask me hers was the second worst performance in the movie and that's more of a Razzie accomplishment, isn't it?)
• Rebecca Hall for Frost/Nixon (for what, looking pretty? Her character flirts and shakes people's hands. That's the role. That's the entire role.)

Boo on BAFTA! Even if they just didn't like Rachel Getting Married (Acceptable. Some people don't) it's ludicrous to suggest its performers don't belong in a top 15. I mean, get real here. And even if they just wanted to make a point that they hated being at the wedding from which there is no escape, there are far worthier and more interesting choices they could have floated for Supporting Actress than the names they came up with: Patricia Clarkson in Elegy, Alexis Zegerman in Happy-Go-Lucky, Samantha Morton, Michelle Williams or Dianne Wiest from Synecdoche New York, Shirley Henderson in Miss Pettigrew, Hanna Schygulla in Edge of Heaven (or so I hear) and that's just off the top of my head. You know, people who had actual roles that required some degree of skill in the playing. Not walk ons or underwritten parts in popular movies. This is just another example of people with ballots missing both imagination (let's nominate the same 10 movies for EVERYTHING!) and any serious devotion to addressing the issue of "best".

Sure, maybe "Best" is a foolish notion to begin with. I know that the awards race is mere popularity contest anyway but I don't like to be reminded so boldly that that's all it is. When things get this silly, I always wish they'd just rename their prize "Favorite Actresses This Month in Movies We Really Liked This Year". There. I feel so much better about their shortlist now. All it took was the right (and honest) title.

More BAFTA shortlists sans Nathaniel's vitriol @ Awards Daily