Thoughts I Had While Watching... Fantastic Mr Fox

I'm going to be experimenting for a short while with having readers pick which DVD we cover here. Which new release I blog about will be up to you but how it's blogged we'll let my schedule decide. My schedule is an unkind mistress. She's very disorganized and thinks that there's 38 hours to each day and 8 days in a week. She also thinks blogging and sleeping are both wastes of time, inks in lots for staring off into space time, and has lately even been forcing me to only write inbetween actual money-making jobs. What's her problem, anyway?

Where were we? Last week you chose Fantastic Mr Fox so here we are.

FANTASTIC MR. FOX

First thing I notice my third time through from the ungodly hour of midnight till 1:27 AM, is that when it starts I'm instantly in a good mood. Is it the banjos? I don't know from musical instruments. Maybe it's the warm color palette or the feeling that I'm staring at an intricately designed diorama that I know people fussed over with their own hands (I love stop motion).

Are you fussing with me? The fuss you are.

I credit this insta-mood booster with my giddy delight that the movie does all sorts of things that are traditional, classic or expected (the "one last job" plot, holding up a storybook cover to begin an animated film, reflecting Wes Anderson's favored eccentric gifted family stories) and they feel totally fresh to my heart even though my brain says "excessively familiar!"

The portrait of a Foxy marriage is really compelling stuff, despite it happening in very tiny increments with screwball fast banter

If what I think is happening, is happening. It better not be.

Of course it helps that talented actors are doing the voice work for roles to which they're well suited. Meryl Streep is so familiar and beloved that she can perfectly sell warm but formidable domesticity (who wouldn't want to marry and be bossed around by her?) along with the backstory idea that that's not all there is to her... she's lived! The town tart line is especially funny given Meryl’s recent forays into risqué humor. To quote It’s Complicated “Turns out, I’m a bit of a slut.” For his part George Clooney harnesses his mega-charm for a role that's all about how far charm can take you but what price people and their loved ones sometimes pay for that gift. While I don’t normally condone the animated film’s reliance on “names” as voice cast, it’s actually helpful in this one case. Part of the humor and pathos here is that the animals are ultra aware of whether or not their behavior is fitting in with what's expected of their species and we in turn are ultra aware that they're standing in for humans. This adds an extra meta layer to the laughs that come from both the mandatory anthropomorphics of the genre and the regressions into pure animalistic behavior. The recurring joke of the foxes eating like wild animals is hilarious each and every time. Especially because it always happen so quickly and is ignored by the characters once it has. They even pick up the dishes after their feeding frenzy! I don’t even always do that and…. I am ...not....an animal.

The best thing about the movie might be how excessively quotable! it is. "I don't know what you're talking about but it sounds illegal" I sense that the more we watch this, the more we'll crib from its extensive pantry full of laugh lines. I'm 100% certain that movie buffs who are good at sounds and whistles, will adopt Fox's signature send-off as well.

If you try that blueberry trick on me, you could rob me blind. I’d fall for it every time. Mmmmm, blueberries. So yummy. So yummy.

If there's a problem with the movie, I'd venture to say that it's that the villains Boggis, Bunce and Bean aren't as compelling as the animals. And don’t you think that villains should always be angling for "best in show" honors. My mind flashes to Mrs. Tweedy in Chicken Run, another animals vs. humans stop-motion delight and she was just awesome. The BB&B intro is super, though. I love it when movies stop in their tracks to introduce characters in some theatrical way. And I mean that in both the literal and the style sense. Of course sometimes it's no good. That bit inInglourious Basterds when we learn about Sgt Hugo Stiglitz is just so inorganic... there's no parallels in the movie to make it feel like anything other than a whimsical indulgence that would be more fitting and more enjoyable as a DVD extra. But anyway. I do get a little bored towards the end because there’s just so much of BB&B trying again to kill the Foxes.

But then I forgive all the repetition when Mr Fox speaks French to the wolf.

That said, maybe I do prefer this to UP which didn’t hold up as well to return visits. You can say “told ya so” in the comments if you’re petty like that.


I've already told you how much I love the "Whackbat" sequence. The voicework in this movie is just perfect from top to bottom. Owen Wilson is always best within the Andersonverse. Everything about the scene clicks (and whistles): The incredibly fast complicated rules of the game punctuated with a prefaced "it's simple" and a "got it" finish, the elaborate diagram visualized once in blue print and once in “reality”, and that little bunny changing the scoreboard is love. The cherry on top of the scene is the painful punchline.

Coach Skip: He really is your father's nephew, isn't he?
Ash: Not by blood.

Little Ash = Jason Schwartzman’s best work ever? Discuss.

I find it so hard to pick a favorite character (another sign of an extensively loveable movie) but if you trapped me in a hole and forced me to choose I might go with the dazed and timid possum, Wally Wolodarksy. Is he the one that says "apple juice…apple juice flood" because that kills me. Funniest moment of the movie?! It was late when that scene hit last night and I can't be blamed for mixing up the mangy animal puppets when drunk on apple cider and sleep deprivation.


Do you think Mr Fox is Fantastic? And if so how come and which parts? I feel I've barely scratched the surface. I didn't even get to the part about how Wes Anderson keeps proving to Hollywood that Willem Dafoe (as the rat) should be a comedy star and Hollywood keeps ignoring it... Or what I think about the camera work (brill) or the music.
*
*

Modern Maestros: Wes Anderson

Robert here, continuing my series on great contemporary directors. I thought I might as well round-out the Anderson trifecta with Wes Anderson, a director on whom I’ve had mixed feelings (though I cannot deny his influence). So to all those who love, love, love Mr. Anderson, please accept my advance apologies. I shall try to keep this unbiased. If nothing else, Wes Anderson has been the only director to successfully convince Natalie Portman to go sans clothes, and that’s certainly worth celebrating.

Maestro: Wes Anderson
Known For: Quirky, comedic tales of families and failure.
Influences: Satyajit Ray, Orson Welles, Mike Nichols, Quentin Tarantino and perhaps most of all Hal Ashby.
Masterpieces: I find Anderson to be endlessly fascinating, but I’m not in love with any of his films, except for Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Disasters: none (I promise I’ll eventually get to a director with a disaster, I swear)
Better than you remember: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou was his most poorly received film and I can’t say I disagree. So no entries here.
Awards: Nominations at the Oscars, BAFTAs, Venice and Berlin. Not a whole lot of substantial wins.
Box Office: The Royal Tenenbaums with over 50 million is the winner.
Favorite Actor: Bill Murray and Owen Wilson tie, each in five of Anderson’s six films.

Wes Anderson was a part of a new generation of indie directors that came to prominence in the late 1990's including (though not limited to) David O. Russell, P.T. Anderson, and Spike Jonze. And though he may not be the most talented among that group, he's possibly the most influential. His is the career that launched a thousand quirky comedies. Without Wes Anderson would there be a Little Miss Sunshine? a Juno? an Eagle vs. Shark? The tragi-comedy about a sad figure set to impossibly trendy music isn't a new concept, but one may just have to credit Anderson for hastening its recent rise (for better or worse). What's so surprising is that even though Anderson is thought of as a "hip" or "trendy" director his themes are not exactly the encapsulation of "cool". Stories of once-great men, their downfalls, and familial relationships aren't as cool as stories about killers or kings.  But it's here where Anderson keeps returning. Royal Tenenbaum, Steve Zissou, Mr. Fox are all men attempting to recapture some past glory (and who all star in films named after themselves). And do they recapture their past glory?  Well that's complicated.  Anderson never gives us a clear ending.  His ulitmate suggestion seems to be that life is neither happy nor sad nor simple, yet almost always ironic. So yes you can find your white whale (or jaguar shark) but when you get there the price you've paid for your goal will diminish its worth.

It was during Roger Ebert and Martin Scorsese's discussion on the best films of the 1990's (Scorsese selected Bottle Rocket to his list) where they noted this sense of existential irony that permeates through that decade's independent cinema. "Everything has quotation marks around it" says Roger Ebert. And there's something about Wes Anderson's style that puts him at the forefront of this phenomenon. Anderson's construction and framing often highlight the artificiality of his films. Realism is farthest from his mind and he regularly betrays convention with the film drawing attention to itself as a result. Anderson would rather shoot a conversation between two characters in its entirety with both in profile then as series of cross-cut over-the-shoulder shots. Why is this? Is it to achieve a sense of unreal? Is it to maintain the tempo of a comedic scene? Is it just to break the rules? A little bit of all three I think.

Once great

It's nice to see Wes Anderson back on top of the world again with his most acclaimed film in eight years. Even though his two prior films achieved interesting things (The Life Aquatic allowed him to work with Herny Selic and The Darjeeling Limited let him homage Indian cinema in a way he'd been hinting at for a while) neither was able to capture the brilliance of The Royal Tenenbaums, which was, at the time, the quintessential Wes Anderson film, hitting all of his most common themes and also having fun taking a somewhat affectionate look at the oppression that comes from being rich and famous (an offshoot of his interest in failed great men and a concept taken right from Hal Ashby). But Fantastic Mr. Fox gave Anderson the chance to try animation, a genre quite possibly perfectly suited to Anderson's constructed ironic sensibilities. What's next for Anderson we don't know. IMDb and Wikipedia each list different future projects, but there's little doubt that he'll have another film out soon and it will continue to influence young directors while clearly setting himself apart from those who try to do what he does with his superior sense of style and craft.

Fantastic Mr. Link

This is so cute. Wes Anderson thanks the National Board of Review for his special achievement prize for Fantastic Mr. Fox. Be warned: This will only make you love the movie more.



Vulture Harvey Weinstein spanks Matthew Goode (not literally)
In Contention Kris Tapley writes a thorough memo to Academy voters. Good stuff.
Cinematical the revolving doors on the upcoming thriller The Tourist. Currently Jolie & Depp star and von Donnersmarck directs but... ya never know
Movie|Line Outrage, the closeted gay politician expose doc, snubbed at GLAAD Awards
GLAAD Awards see their nominees for best of film & tv (with a gay positive slant)
Awards Daily Which films and performances will win the BFCA prizes this Friday? There are very few sure things

and finally...
Best Week Ever interviews Kristin Chenoweth who is prepping to host the BFCA "critics choice" awards this Friday. Yes, she will be doing movie spoofs. Here's one clue to your left. And I love this bit.

Michelle: Do you have a big musical number?
Kristin: I’d be a liar if I said I probably wasn’t going to sing, but I don’t know what I can say. It’s gonna be different from anything they’ve ever had.
Michelle: I loved you on Glee.
Kristin: Thank you. (Ed. Note: She said this phrase with more sincerity than anyone has ever said it previously.)

I'll be live-blogging the awards, which will be broadcast on VH-1 on Friday evening. Come and play with me (and Kristin).
*

LFF: Fox Trot

Dave here, being a professional and giving you a full-length review of the London Film Festival's opening night film. Some animated thing with animals, like we needed another one of those...


Fantastic Mr. Fox is, from its very first frames to its final, slightly befuddling moments, a film soaked in so much esoteric character it's hard not to be overwhelmed. Director Wes Anderson and author Roald Dahl, as soon as you heard the idea, sounded like such an obvious match... and indeed, they are.

They're not the same, of course, which is something we should be grateful for in light of how Anderson's recent movies have become too self-satisfied in their self-conscious construction and dysfunctional quirk. That's tempered here by Dahl's darker, more vicious impulses. Fox is strongly Andersonian in terms of style -- the square 'mugshot' (as memorably described in the press conference, to Anderson's horror) introduction of characters, the playful, nostalgic musical choices -- but the tone is most definitely a well-balanced cross between the two artists. As such, Anderson's trademark baffling eccentricities only blossom fully at a few points. The plot of Dahl's book had to be expanded to make a full-length feature, but Anderson and co-writer Noah Baumbach (can you feel the independent quirk now?) generally stay true to Dahl's wickeder offbeat senses. The structure is Dahl's familiar sectional one, although the vague way the chapter titles appear perhaps betrays Anderson's more freewheeling approach. It's a pleasant compromise.

The usual Anderson crew are on board for the voices. Center-ear this time is George Clooney who is more debonair than offbeat, filling the role of a man fox trying to hold onto his reckless youth with the charming, devilish attitude that's become his trademark. Meryl Streep is warm and no-nonsense. But somehow the film really comes alive with the newly invented characters, which make up (as you were surely expecting) one of Anderson's lovably (?) dysfunctional families. Jason Schwartzman's Ash is the actor's familiar character type - a bitter, rueful, oddball outsider - who somehow makes more sense as a child. He stands, small and defiant at the doorway in the background of the screen, spits angrily to no one's notice, but is finally given Anderson's usual heroic moment that uses those weaknesses. His rivalry with cousin Kristofferson (superbly voiced by Erik Chase Anderson) adds a youthful energy to the film that nicely compliments Mr. Fox's devious scheming and the familial drama with his wife.

It's how it looks that will impress you the most about Fantastic Mr. Fox and possibly earn it that slightly presumptuous descriptor. The luminously autumnal photography radiates warmth, ensuring the film never ventures into paleness either in colour or in tone. The rugged personal touch in the stop-motion frequently instills in the audience with the same exuberance in the less polished effects Anderson has repeatedly professed to have. Camera positioning mixes between close, intimate shots and diagrammatic shots of above and below ground, as if the earth has been sheathed in half. This latter choice provides a strong degree of detached, ironic observation to proceedings, and it's perhaps the one choice that Anderson hasn't used previously - although only, you feel, because he couldn't. As the man himself said, the slower pace of producing an animated film is both a hindrance and a help - so much more time to perfect. If he didn't quite succeed, it's not for lack of enthusiasm. B

Fantastic Mr. Fox Sneak

It's a test screening exclusive. My pal "txt critic" strikes again. He managed to get into a test screening of Wes Anderson's animated film Fantastic Mr. Fox. It happened yesterday here in New York. Here's what he had to say about the movie which is based on the Roald Dahl book. Keep in mind that the movie is still a work in progress.

terrific! like a beautiful union of filmmaker and material. you could sense the love and reverence for the dahl story but he absolutely put his stylistic stamp as a filmmaker all over it, without one overwhelming the other. it FELT like what a wes anderson movie would be if animated. same title/caption font, hip soundtrack (though the only song i specifically remember is "i get around" by the beach boys), slo-mo dance sequence

very dry humor. i dont know if it's really for kids

only about 60-70% of the animation was completed, but i loved the look of it -- i'd describe it as akin to James and the Giant Peach meets a diorama

He also informs me that despite early reports and the information on the IMDB page, Cate Blanchett's voice is nowhere to be heard. It's Meryl Streep supplying the pipes for "Mrs. Fox". George Clooney, as you already know, voices the title character. My friend thought the voicework was excellent -- none of the dip in quality you sometimes get when filmmakers feel the need to have all celebrity voices [*cough* every studio but Pixar]. Sadly, Anjelica Huston has but a voice cameo (the other bit voice players are Brian Cox and Owen Wilson). Come on, Wes ... she's earned a front and center role by now. Next time, maybe?


txt critic ,who isn't even a quarter-century old, also tried to convince me that he was the oldest person there. Apparently the invites were asking for 18-32 and the crowd was heavily NYU students in Wes Anderson appropriate garb: tweet jackets, black rimmed glasses, pork pie hats, etc... "preaching to the choir so to speak" he says.

Fox Searchlight title cards are on the movie though previous reports have suggested it's a big Fox (as in 20th Century) releasing it. Whichever, it's FOX. Appropriate, no? The current release date is in November but if it's only 70% finished.... ???
*

We Can't Wait #3 Fantastic Mr. Fox

Directed by Wes Anderson
Starring A bunch of clay and famous peoples' voices
Synopsis Mr. Fox steals from some grouchy farmers and gets caught underground with his family. What is a fox to do?
Brought to you by American Empirical Pictures and 20th Century Fox
Expected Release Date November 6th

Whitney: So this movie has had an IMDB page for over 5 years. I'm expecting big things, Mr. Anderson! It's an interesting project because, like Where the Wild Things Are, the book seems far too short for a feature. Also, sexist and probably a little racist. So what will a filmmaker that has known to be anything but brief, sexist, and racist do with such a project? I don't know...but I'm stoked to find out.

JA: I love Wes Anderson, but like many I've been ready for him to shake things up. Step out of his hermetically sealed suffocatingly precise framed bubble. A stop-motion animated retelling of a Roald Dahl story.... well that could be a shake-up, I'd say. Unless he molds the story to fit inside his bubble, which seems entirely possible since the meeting of Anderson and Dahl is such a no-brainer now that we're confronted with it. Speaking of Mr. Dahl, I've always considered myself a rabid Dahl devotee, but I'm terribly embarrased to admit that I've never read this story. Thirty lashes of the whip for me.

Joe: Oh boo-hoo hermetically sealed blah blah too precise blah. Wes Anderson can keep on remaking The Royal Tenenbaums for his entire career and I'd be perfectly happy. Those movies (large portions of The Life Aquatic notwithstanding) bring me so much joy. But I'll certainly welcome a diversion into animation and adaptation and the weird sadism of Roald Dahl. At the very least it'll get everybody up off his jock.

Fox: This film is actually about me. It's true!

Tenenbaums, Rushmore, Darjeeling, Bottle Rocket and The Life Aquatic

I guess we have to have the "Wes Anderson needs to 'shake things up'" debate every time this young visionary makes a new movie, and... I just don't get it. The man is a visual stylist, so his work is gonna mirror his previous stuff. Tell me you watch other stylists like Godard or Antonioni and don't feel automatically transferred into their world again. Lastly, The Life Aquatic and The Darjeeling Ltd. are masterpieces, and anyone who wants to dispute that can meet me in a private IM chat room at the time of your choosing!

Whitney: I agree that people are too hard on Anderson because of his similar style across films. And that seems ridiculous to me, too. Just like the man he worships - Federico Fellini - he has chosen a form of expression that seems true to him and he's exploring it. I think there's much more to explore.

JA: I guess the thing with Anderson is that his world is so specfic and he adheres to it so... specifically... that it gets to feeling a little stifling sometimes. Since you brought up Fellini as a comparison I'll just say that yes, you watch a Fellini movie you know it's a Fellini movie, but Fellini's films are much looser and natural feeling. The best comparison auteur-wise with Anderson is Hal Ashby since Anderson's spent half his career ripping off I mean "making tribute" to Ashby and even Ashby's films have more freedom than Anderson's. By freedom I just mean spark and life; Anderson's characters can be such arch characters. Sometimes nobody seems human. I am a big fan, don't get me wrong, and when his stuff works it really really works. But I do think it's good for him to be trying something different.

Nathaniel: Agreed. There's staying true to yourself and there's limiting yourself --diminishing returns if you repeat yourself too often. Stray too far and you've left the stifling comfort zone for something that's not even you. It must be tough to be a hugely acclaimed talented and wealthy not-even-40-yet film artist. And I mean that with the barest minimum of snark since I'd like him to succeed.

And there's this related note: 2009 is shaping up to be a very exciting year for animation. Coraline already set her eyes on next year's animated Oscar. Who can challenge that resourceful 3-D lass who won't trade her eyes for buttons? Maybe Miyazaki (Ponyo on the Cliff) or regularly nominated Pixar (Up). Perhaps the first black Disney princess (The Princess and the Frog) voiced by Anika Noni Rose (!), the feature adaptation of that creepy memorable Oscar nominated short ("9") and more, too.

In case you missed any entries they went like so...
*
We Can't Wait:
#1 Inglourious Basterds, #2 Where the Wild Things Are, #3 Fantastic Mr. Fox,
#4 Avatar, #5 Bright Star, #6 Shutter Island, #7 Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
#8 Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, #9 Nailed, #10 Taking Woodstock,
#11 Watchmen, #12 The Hurt Locker, #13 The Road, #14 The Tree of Life
#15 Away We Go, #16 500 Days of Summer, #17 Drag Me To Hell,
#18 Whatever Works, #19 Broken Embraces, #20 Nine (the musical)
intro (orphans -didn't make group list)
*
*

Lev Leaves Toronto. And Stays.

Our young festival-going correspondent Lev (pictured left) actually lives in Toronto. So, he's not going anywhere now that TIFF has wrapped. But post festival frenzy he has one last report to offer us. Here he is...

That's a wrap! Well, at least it was a few days ago. I realize I'm a little behind the times. Here are my final three movies:

The Brothers Bloom - Rian Johnson's (Brick) sophomore effort is a predictable and slight film. Johnson seems to be channeling Wes Anderson in everything from the quirky-cleverness to the family issues to Adrien Brody, and if Wes Anderson doing Wes Anderson is past its prime then another director doing him is even staler. Brody is much too mopey, Ruffalo is fun but he doesn't have much of a role, Weisz overplayed her character to the point of irritation, and Kikuchi doesn't really do anything at all besides having a clever name that's not all that clever. C

It doesn't surprise me at all to hear that Weisz may have erred on the side of overplaying. That's exactly how I felt about her turns in The Shape of Things and The Fountain. Well, she'll always have The Constant Gardener.

Me & Orson Welles - I really really hate HD. My viewing experience would've been enhanced ten-fold if Linklater had shot film. HD just looks like bad TV. This actually feels like a TV movie, and it would have felt less so if it was shot film. I still had fun. The first two acts are much stronger than the third. I got the feeling the writers didn't really have an ending, so they just let it go on. Still, Christian McKay (as Welles) is a hoot, and Zac Efron doesn't make you cringe, although he can never quite match the brilliance of that basketball song in the High School Musical 3 trailer (for those who haven't seen the trailer, you have to see it for it's comedic brilliance). B-

Che - A lot of unjust controversy over this one. It's not really all that difficult or dense. Yes, Soderbergh does omit numerous dramatic moments, but this is nothing new. Wasn't it Bunuel and his co-writer Jean-Claude Carrière who wanted The Phantom Of Liberty to be a series of thinly connected stories and then stop each story right before it got interesting? That's not to say that Che is uninteresting. Besides the second act of The Argentine, the film(s) are quite compelling, and Soderbergh shifts from action to humour to powerful drama effortlessly. Benicio Del Toro is, as he always is, brilliant. He probably won't get an oscar nomination; he has no showy moments or breakdowns but he brings motivation and humanity to a coldly written character. Soderbergh shot in HD with the brand new Red camera, and for the most part it looks pretty dingy. Unfortunate, because Soderbergh knows how to shoot scenes: never cutting too much, choosing his angles carefully. Don't let the running time scare you, Che is well worth seeing. A-/B+

No matter how many times I hear that I shouldn't worry about the running time... I still do! I'm seeing it shortly @ NYFF press screenings and perhaps I'll have to do some yoga during intermission to make it through. Back to Lev...

I can't compare this TIFF to previous fests, but I learned a lot in terms of choosing my films, and next year I'll do a lot more research. My order of preference for the 12 films I saw.

1. Synecdoche, New York
2. Four Nights With Anna
3. Che
4. The Wrestler
5. Gigantic
6. Me & Orson Welles
7. Linha De Passe
8. Sugar
9. The Brothers Bloom
10. The Burning Plain
11. Acolytes
12. Zift

Thanks for reading

No thank you, Lev, for sharing your festival with us here @ The Film Experience. Give him a round of applause in the comments, please. And if you missed any TIFF coverage just click the label below for all the posts.
*

NYFF: The Darjeeling (Very) Limited

From the 45th Annual New York Film Festival (Sept 28th through Oct 14th)

Despite the buzz you may have heard surrounding the hush hush screenings of P.T. Anderson's There Will Be Blood it was not sadly not part of the general press offerings since it’s not in the festival. So I must wait. There Will Be Tears… from me.

So let’s talk about the other writing/directing Anderson. Wes.


The Darjeeling Limited, the story of three brothers on a spiritual journey through India, opened the New York Film Festival last night. It is unmistakably a Wes Anderson picture. The Wes elements are out in full force: obsessively designed sets, amusing rectangular compositions, eclectic song scores, privileged lost boys, bright colors and theatrical costuming, Angelica Huston and Bill Murray. The question is really whether or not those elements, pleasing to a one, add up to great movie. I’m not sure they do. Though I remain completely enamored of The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) there’s beginning to be a distinct whiff of branding to this auteur’s work. His movies are always lovely and still fun but they don’t smell as fresh.

Read the Rest @ AWARDS DAILY

Notes from Venice - Day 0

Thanks to Nathaniel for his graceful intro!

For those unfamiliar with me and my site european-films.net: nice to virtually meet you all. I'm Boyd, a kid with a movie tic trapped in a 27-year-old's body. I've been writing about film since Salma Hayek was robbed of an Oscar. Over at european-films.net I cover European films (duh!) and also cover all the major films (European and otherwise) that play at the major European film festivals, which means I travel in circles from Berlin to Cannes to Venice to Berlin each year. It's a tough job but someone's got to do it!

Venice is actually my favorite festival because of its special place on the calender (the first true Oscar launchpad), the nice climate, great food and (not unimportant) their great taste in movies. I mean, they gave Brokeback Mountain the Golden Lion just two years ago. And check out their track record: Monsoon Wedding, Trois Couleurs: Bleu, Belle de Jour, Last Year at Marienbad, Aparajito, Rashomon... these are all considered classics.

The Venice Film Festival will in fact celebrate its 75th anniversary this year -- take that Cannes, which celebrated its 60th b-day in May -- but its 2007 edition is only the 64th time the festival takes place. The festival is part of a much larger cultural organization called the Biennale, which, as the name indicates, organizes (or at least used to organize) cultural events every other year.

So, the 64th/75th anniversary edition will kick off on Wednesday with the world premiere of Atonement, Joe Wright's follow-up to his much lauded debut Pride & Prejudice. I've already had a sneak peek a couple of weeks ago and I can tell you that the movie, an adaptation of the eponymous bestseller by Ian McEwan, will likely be a big awards contender. It is not a flawless masterpiece, but as romances go, it is pretty heartbreaking and unforgettable.

The couple played by Keira Knightley and James McAvoy will have entire multiplexes fumbling for the Kleenexes in the dark and will leave Oscar-voters little choice but nominate them again (Knightley) or for the first time (McAvoy, who was shamelessly overlooked for his work on The Last King of Scotland). Read my full Atonement review here.

Something possibly even more fun than guessing Oscar nominees and winners is guessing the gay characters and/or elements in the recently announced line-up of the Queer Lion Award, a new prize at the Venice Film Festival that will award a film that "accurately portrays homosexual characters or themes". Who is playing gay? Most of the films listed are not particularly explicit about the gay angle in the material released so far. Could it be Brad Pitt? Casey Affleck? Owen Wilson? Adrien Brody? Michael Caine? Jude Law? Or perhaps a lovely foreign-accented man such as Bruno Todeschini, Benoît Magimel, Sami Bouajila or Daniel Wu?

US films on the Queer Lion contenders list are four: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford with Pitt and Affleck; Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited with Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman and the indie flicks Speed of Life (Superheroes) from Ed Radtke, a juvenile delinquent drama, and the road trip movie Searchers 2.0 from Alex Cox. Law and Caine co-star in the Kenneth Branagh's UK remake of 1972's Sleuth, which also starred Caine.

Start your guesses/wish lists for possible gay characters in the comments, and I'll be checking in from Wednesday on to tell you all about it.

Trailer Fourgy: Rendition, Lions, Things and Darjeeling

Time to check in with new trailers. Only a few weeks of hot weather and sequels remain and then we're in the clear, ready to face the onslaught of SERIOUS films aiming for gold.



Rendition (on your left. October 12th) and Lions for Lambs (right. November 9th) are but two of four (?) fall films dealing with our current political quagmire and the misguided unending war (the other pair are the action-heavy The Kingdom and the Paul Haggis thriller In the Valley of Elah) One assumes from the trailers that the four films will have their own individual identities but it's anyone's guess until they're widely seen which will garner Oscar's favor. It's unfair to judge a film based on 2 minutes of heavily edited footage but then, on the other hand, these are how the studios are presenting said films so, you know, judge away.

Rendition looks like it might work. Three separate tracks: terrorist prisons (Gyllenhaal & Metwalley), political chambers (Streep & Arkin) the homsetead (Witherspoon) all lead toward one assumed destination. Cue the grand collision. That the collision involves a weepy screaming wife might spell more Oscar news for Reese but, then again, it might not. [more on the Best Actress race] For it looks like a true ensemble piece. If you lazily compare it to, say, Syriana (hey why not? That's what pre-fall Oscar analysis is all about) you'll be looking at the tortured central figure (played by Omar Metwally who made a big splash on Broadway a few years back) for your acting kudos and not the other players frantically moving their pieces in this tense puzzle. [Supporting Actor race --I'll have to move Metwally way up the chart]

The trailer for Lions for Lambs improves upon the first teaser which looked hideously shoestring as if it were a straight to DVD release. But the improvements are small. It still looks like an unwieldy pendantic machine that luckily fell on top of three massive stars. They're crushed under the weight of the catchphrase ready dialogue. If you ask me this movie looks terrible but Oscar might feel differently. We'll see.




Things We Lost in the Fire (left) is the latest drama from Danish auteur Susanne Bier who won critical acclaim with her first two films and an Oscar nomination in the foreign film category for her last (After the Wedding). From the looks of the trailer Things... is pitched exactly to her strengths: nuanced emotional drama with complicated human relationships. But, that said, I'm not sure I would have as much faith in this project if I wasn't familiar with her work. Halle Berry and Benicio Del Toro, former winners both, could find themselves back on the red carpet if the reviews are kind. Anyway you slice it it's one of those films that screams "actors film" i.e. even if it's well regarded its limited to just a few categories in awards season.


The last trailer The Darjeeling Limited (right) I've included just for fun. Wes Anderson movies usually come out in December but this one is a September release. Still, no Oscar love-in looks likely. Anderson is just too stylized for mainstream love and the Oscars are a mainstream endeavor no matter how much people pretend otherwise whilst bitching about the voters ignoring the latest blockbusters and comedies. Anyway... Anderson isn't making films to win Oscars so good for him. Darjeeling appears to be bringing us a colorful and tasty buffet of his usual treats: witty familial drama, sad-eyed comedy, and amusing widescreen compositions. Some people might find his visual stylizations too affected and thus predictable at this point but I'm so glad someone is using the full rectangle still when they compose their movies. I also love the dialogue exchange halfway through the trailer

"what's wrong with you?"
"let me think about that"

That strikes me as the perfect question and answer response for people who conjecture about the Oscars all year round (like me) and more importantly the perfect banter for a movie artist who just can't be anything other than what he is, god bless. Can't wait to see this one... though I do hope it transcends its style like The Royal Tenenbaums rather than gets smothered by it like The Life Aquatic.

Your thoughts on any of these four? [More on each Oscar race]

20:07 (The Life Aquatic with Steve Eleanor Zissou)

screenshots from the 20th minute and 7th second of a movie
I can't guarantee the same results at home (different players/timing) I use a VLC


Steve Zissou: She’s a rich bitch you know. She was raised by maids. Her parents paid for this island and two of my worst movies. People say she’s the brains behind Team Zissou.

Ned Plimpton: People say a lot of things.
*

We Can't Wait #8 The Darjeeling Limited

It's like this: 20 films was probably way too many to count down. What was I thinking --are y'all enjoying this or have your eyes gotten very very droopy? Are you glad/angry about the break from that naked sword holding gold fella? [crickets chirping] But my blogbuddies Gabriel, Joe, JA and Lulu are being good sports about it so a big round of applause to them.

This is the post wherein we were going to be all excited about the new film from the inimitable Wes Anderson (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic) but it's already not a 2007 movie but a 2008 spectacular. So... next!

If you need an Anderson fix may I suggest this classic post from The Gilded Moose which just never ever ever gets old.

previously on "we can't wait"
#9 The Golden Compass,#10 Grindhouse, #11 Bug, #12, Sunshine, #13 Southland Tales, #14 300, #15 Hot Fuzz, #16 Stardust, #17 The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, #18 Spider-Man 3, #19 Rendition, #20 The Bourne Ultimatum, Intro -films that didn't make the list

Aquatic Tenenbaums @ Rushmore

I finally watched Wes Anderson's Rushmore. (In preparation for the 1998 retrospective @ TFE.) Having seen it now, I am curious as to why The Royal Tenenbaums was greeted in many places as a step back when it debuted 3 years later. To me it was an athletic leap forward...

a little more on this topic over @ Cinemarati)