In Defeat: Defiance.

Jose here with a bit of history and the movies. The title of this post appears in Winston Churchill's WWII memoir The Gathering Storm, but might as well describe Sarah Miles; Julianne Moore's character in The End of the Affair.

The 1999 film, based on Graham Greene's semi-autobiographical novel takes place in WWII London where Sarah, who is married, has an affair with writer Maurice Bendrix (Ralph Fiennes) until the Blitz provokes the film's title.

You see, it was 69 years ago today that the German Air Force began bombing England for almost a whole year. Once it began, London was bombed continuously for 57 days. One one of those days Sarah faces her greatest fear.



During one of their illicit rendezvous, she sees Maurice leave the room as the bomb alarms fill the city. A sudden blast (and a chance for cinematographer Roger Pratt to shine) makes Maurice disappear into a cloud of smoke and broken glass.


This leads Sarah to unexpected behavior that consequently gives Moore a chance to own the film in the subtle way only she knows how. Her portrayal of quiet dignity, unbridled passion and otherworldly faith earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.

As a piece of Blitz trivia, the movie featured in The End of the Affair is 21 Days, starring Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier (who were also engaged in an extramarital affair). The film is about a man who kills his lover's husband and then has only three weeks to be with her before surrendering to the authorities. When Fiennes' character watches the movie he must've wanted to be the leading man. That the film condenses the themes of guilt, forbidden passion and limited time frames to love, speaks to Jordan's cinematic knowledge and his spoiler-ish slyness.

Caution! District 9

I took my nephews* to see District 9 today. I'm always horrified when family members tell me they haven't been to the movies in __________ as if it's normal to go without cinema for long periods of time. It's Not! Or: It Shouldn't Be! So when I visit, I have to nudge them along. They picked the movie, their only criteria being "no romances and it can't be boring!"

The old lady in front of us in line said "the one with... oh, what's that called? The Sandra Bullock!"

Each ticket window was plastered with this sign.

District 9 was filmed with the hand held shooting style. This means that the picture is very shaky and can cause motion sickness. If you are prone to motion sickness please ask the cashier for additional movie choices.

Thank you!

I love the use of the definitive article before 'hand held shooting style' . So awkwardly specific. Would you ever read, "this movie was filmed with the technicolor" or "this movie was not formatted for your screen. It's in the letterbox" No... you wouldn't. I suddenly became curious if other cinemas in other towns were carrying warning labels on this film? Does your theater ever warn you away from ticket purchases? And if they're going to warn people away from what they're selling, shouldn't they maybe have more signs.

Caution! All About Steve was filmed with The Sandra Bullock. If you are averse to twinkly-eyed movie stars who never challenge themselves, please ask the cashier for additional movie choices.

Thank you!

Oh, and my nephews loved the movie but complained that there wasn't enough alien weaponry used versus kinds displayed. That's a gripe I never would have thought of but, then, I don't need explosions and mayhem to win my ticket money. I'm also on good terms with the romantic and boring.

*I felt guilty about taking my nephews to a violent R rated movie until I reminded myself that they are not toddlers anymore. It seems impossible that they're old enough to see this movie... How did this happen?

Color Story: The Red in The Deep End

BeRightBack here, with a little Labor Day post brought on by rewatching the 2001 thriller The Deep End.


I was impressed this time not only what I'd remembered about it - Tilda Swinton's gritty, understated work in the central role - but also the careful manipulation of color.


As the film forces Tilda's character to plumb inner reservoirs of strength, the blues that have muted her trademark hair are interrupted by sudden reds -- a blazing coat, a split lip.

This culminates in a climactic scene in an overturned red sportscar, opposite a handsomely bleeding Goran Visnjic, her red hair filtering the light, refracting her character's strength and beauty, illuminating the heart of the film and her performance.


Definitely worth the second look. Happy Labor Day!

The Australian Connection

Glenn here from Stale Popcorn here. Nathaniel is travelling somewhere that has - wait for it - bad internet connection(!!!), which is a horrifying prospect to say the least. He asked myself and some others to keep you occupied.

Nathaniel has been a wee bit lax lately in his coverage of world cinema and so I thought, while he's away, I'd do my bit and spruik it for all its worth. This is actually an early version for a piece I have been planning for my own blog to publish at years end. SNEAK PEAK!!!

As a member of the "international" film community (doesn't that term sound just a smidgen condescending?) there are many things to be angry about. Whether it is poor distribution tactics (The Hurt Locker is going Direct-to-DVD in Australia) or bad foreign cinema clogging up cinemas that could be reserved for local fare. I, however, have a big problem to share with you today and it's one that I am sure many other "foreigners" experience when it comes to film from their home country.

I am from Australia, as I'm sure you are aware, and I love this country. It's a wonderful country, doncha know. Any place that, in the span of just a few days, can have stories about Cate Blanchett being knocked out mid-performance and Russell Crowe daring a journalist to join him for a bike ride around Sydney has got to be worth your time, right?

Unfortunately, as any Australian will attest to, our film industry has the tendency to be a bit... shall we say, on the nose. The Academy will be bringing in TEN nominees for next year's award ceremony, meanwhile our national awards - The Australian Film Institute (AFI) Awards, which I regularly blog about - barely manage to find the annual four in any given year. In 2009 though we seem to have an over-abundance of great movies. So many of such high quality in fact that some, myself included, have raised the theory that 2009 is the greatest year for Australian films ever. EVER! It's out very own 1999, if you will (I could say 1939, but Australia was 2008 and so I thought "no"). If it isn't the best then it is certainly one of the best.

One thing that myself and everybody else within the Australian film watching circle has with our industry is how uniformly similar it is. Each year we get the same sort of films; depressing socio-realist dramas about suburban woe and bleak miserabalism, usually involving drug addicts, or drug dealers, or drug dealers' families, or... well, you get the picture. An influx of writers-slash-directors who think audiences want to watch them relive their traumatic childhood when all audiences really want are Crocodile Dundee and Kenny driving in a car to go fishing.

This year, however, movies that have been released or are set for release later in the year include musicals (Bran Nue Dae, my review), westerns (Lucky Country, my review), political dramas (Balibo, my review), stoner comedies (Stone Bros.), epics (Mao's Last Dancer), horror ghost stories (Lake Mungo, my review) and period pieces (Bright Star). And there's plenty more where they came from, too.

Why am I still angry then? Shouldn't I be jumping for joy? On one hand I am, but on the other I am not and the reason is that because nobody seems to care. Nobody outside of Australia seems to have taken any notice. Usually when a movie produces the number of excellent product that Australia has this year terms like "renaissance" and "new wave" get thrown about willy nilly. Sure, our movies have won awards at Cannes, Toronto, London and elsewhere, but distributors just don't wanna bite.

How is it that John Malkovich gives the best performance of his career in Disgrace and it can't get a release in America? How can an Oscar-winning short animator produce a star-studded feature that, by all rights, should garner him a Best Animated Feature nomination not get distribution and yet Delgo does? Samson & Delilah has been hailed as one of the very greatest film of all time from this fair land and nobody wants to put it out there. And it's so disappointing to see people whose job it is to see movies like this will snub it just so they can see an American movie that's due for release in two weeks anyway. I'll never understand that about film festivals.

I know I shouldn't bother asking, because I already know the reason. It's because we don't speak French or [insert whatever Asian country is popular right now, probably South Korea]n and whenever we have an auteur like Almodovar or Haneke they jump ship to America. I am sure there are plenty of Spaniards and Austrians out there who wish cinephiles would pay attention to the other films from their home countries. Same goes for everybody else out there who feels their country is under-represented.


So my mission for you dear readers is to let everyone know what movies from your homeland we should all be paying attention to. Have the critics and the press gone wild over a movie or two that nobody outside of your country has even heard of?

Books @ the Movies, Shutter Island

As you may have noticed with recent Mad Men & Project Runway posts I've become enamored of references to movies in other mediums. I thought I'd share them as they occur to me. On that note, I recently picked up Dennis Lehane's mystery thriller Shutter Island which is set in the 50s on an island for the criminally insane. Figured I had time to read it before the movie version arrives given its abrupt move to February 2010. The jacket blurb claims that it's "instantly cinematic" and for once the blurb ain't shamelessly overstating. Not only does the book read like a zippy movie-movie, it mentions movies, too. Here's one example.

page 168...
Rachel Solando (to be played by Emily Mortimer) and Teddy Daniels (to be played by Leonardo DiCaprio) meet. This is not a spoiler ~ please DO NOT post spoilers in the comments!

"Are you accusing me of being a Communist?" Her back came off the pillows and she bunched the sheet in her fists...

"A Communist, ma'am? You? What man in his right mind would think that? You're as American as Betty Grable. Only a blind man could miss that."

She unclenched one hand from the sheet, rubbed her kneecap with it. "But I don't look like Betty Grable."

"Only in your obvious patriotism. No, I'd say you look more like Teresa Wright, ma'am. What was that one she did with Joseph Cotton, ten-twelve years ago?"

That'd be Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt and if Hitch' were alive, he might've wanted to adapt Shutter Island himself. I giggled at the patriotism line and hoped it made it into the screenplay. Then I thought 'Does Emily Mortimer look anything like Teresa Wright?'

You be the judge.

Emily in 2007 at 36 years of age | Teresa in 1943 at 25 years of age
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I'm Off...

...to Michigan to visit family. I asked my parents if they had wi-fi. They said "what's that?".There may or may not be posting. Enjoy your weekend! Any big plans?

Taking Woodstock Contest

Reminder: I have 5 packages to give away celebrating Ang Lee's latest Taking Woodstock. The gift bag includes an original motion picture soundtrack (entertaining!), a t-shirt (useful) and an um... air freshener (???) In case you're a dirty hippie, I guess.

To enter, send me an e-mail by Sept 14th with:

1. "Woodstock" in the subject field
2. Your full name (and a nickname if you don't like your full name used when I publish the winners)
3. Your mailing address
4. A sentence or two explaining what your favorite Ang Lee movie is and why. What a filmography, right? This last bit is for publication in a later reader-centered post.
   

Optional for fun... If you'd like to include a photo of yourself giving a peace sign, wearing tie-dye or doing any such appropriately Woodstockian thing, feel free. I'll publish them in some sort of freeloving photo collage when the winners are announced.


5 winners will be drawn randomly from entries received. One lucky winner will also win a nude mud-sliding date with Emile Hirsch. I made that last part up just to see if you were still reading. Are you? Have you seen the movie yet? Joe Reid wrote a fun personal piece about it over at Low Resolution, so go read it.
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Full Moon: The Cutest Werewolf Of All Time Is...

The Were-Rabbit !

Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)

Am I right or am I right? It's the bow tie. The bow tie seals the deal.

Though surely Buffy fans will protest.

Links, Episode #1,214

Daily Telegraph OHMYGOD. Did Russell Crowe finally get a sense of humor about himself? [hat tip to Sheriff George]
Mind of a Suspicious Kind "an image" in honor of Daniel Day Lewis
The Post-Game Show one of the best pieces I've read on the Disney buying Marvel deal
Risky Biz will Jason Reitman go three-for-three with Up in the Air?
The Cut thinks the Project Runway spinoff is awful. My take: It could use work but it's not without its moments
Urlesque claims that 09/09/09 will be "a day without cats" on the internet. If this catches on I'll just have to go offline in protest!
ioncinema first look beautiful pictures of Julianne Moore and Colin Firth in A Single Man


Nick's Flick Picks a 2009 Progress Report. Big props for The Hurt Locker and Julia among others
A Blog Next Door Nic and Eva: twin terrors and floating heads
Bright Lights is ruining my desire to stop thinking of Inglourious Basterds with this "anima & animus" article
Tractor Facts "Ghana is the New Poland" (on movie posters)

Madge Madness!
Movies Kick Ass TFE contributor Jose on Madonna's new video "Celebration"
Boy Culture how adorable! Madonna gets her kids Rocco and Lola onstage and dancing at her concert in Tel Aviv. Lola even knows the "Give it 2 Me" choreography. Rocco's dad is a filmmaker, Lourdes's dad is an actor and their mom is a global icon. Think these two will be performers when they grow up? Maybe Lourdes is the next Liza Minnelli? Not that there'll ever be another Liza Minnelli but you know what I mean...

Full Moon: Julie Delpy, Parisian Animal

As the decade winds down, vampires have finally begun to reclaim their monster movie throne back from the zombies who ruled for most of the Aughts. When will it ever be the lycanthropes turn? I suppose it doesn't help that werewolves aren't as metaphor-flexible as erotic bloodsuckers or mindless hungry drones. To complicate matters, the metaphors those wolves are arguably best suited for are the ones they almost never touch on (puberty and/or menstrual cycles) since they're usually about adult men. The other rich thematic playground they inhabit, that of mankind conquered by his beastly urges, they have to share with all the other monsters. They're a stepchild monster.

But what can you do? As we wait for The Wolf Man to arrive (February 12th, 2010), I thought we'd celebrate the sexy beasts during the full moon each month.

Julie Delpy as "Serafine" in An American Werewolf in Paris

Embarrassing confession: I used to dislike Julie Delpy. I first saw her in Europa Europa (which I loved at the time) but my next Delpy experience was Three Colors: White which I didn't understand. I consequently shrugged it off as a stumble between the emotionally exquisite Blue and the intellectually thrilling Red. I know I should revisit it now that I'm older. So, get this, I skipped Before Sunrise because I wasn't impressed with her. I didn't see it until 2004. How sick is that?

My third Delpy rendezvous was An American Werewolf in Paris (1997) which didn't help her cause. We first spot the French beauty crying atop the Eiffel Tower. Yeah, it's that kind of movie. She's suicidal and leaps from the architectural "We're in France!" shorthand. But, you know, who am I to judge? It's not like leaping into movies you've already seen and hated for blog fodder isn't masochism, suicide's timid cousin. The French girl leaps but the American in Paris (Tom Everett Scott) saves her from herself with the help of absurd special effects and some fake looking rope. How can rope look fake? It's not like the real stuff is made of gold brick. Prop department, hello?

Soon Tom Everett is involved in all sorts of awkward attempts to win Julie's heart while he and his co-stars indulge in thickheaded fratboy humor. [Tangent! This movie was born in that split second when Hollywood though Tom Everett Scott might happen. The second that immediately followed That Thing You Do! Turns out he's a good fit for television. Have you seen him on Southland?] Scott is shamelessly bad in the movie (on purpose?) but I still kind of love looking at him. I blame the huge puppy eyes and sloppy stung lips.

But back on topic. As with most romantic monster movies, the animalistic side of the supernatural human (Delpy) excites the regular human (Scott) ... even if the human can't quite put his finger on what is so unusual about their object of lust. Scott's dumb American doesn't read the signs even when Delpy starts growling. The plot is the plot and I shan't relay but she saves him from a certain massacre by other werewolves and just in the nick of time. It's a full moon and she's a beastie herself. We see the transformation. Cue requisite yellow contacts.

Werewolf Julie. It's a look.

It's a look. But, it's not a flattering look for the Gallic lovely. Delpy's transformation is accompanied by shirt ripping. Her breasts burst out... Unfortunately for those with the prurient interests that this juvenile movie encourages, the boobies appear to be created by computer technicians rather than the benevolent diety that sculpted the rest of Julie Delpy. So you get boobies but there's more than two of them... just like a dog, get it? And they're hairy. In a stronger movie, this might have been a good sick joke, teasing the horndog audience and punishing them at the same time. But it's over in a flash and the next time we see Delpy she's naked and generous with her body. She's nursing Scott back to health with sex, which kind of defeats the earlier 'be careful what you wish for' hairy bitch joke.

You can touch Julie Delpy's boobs, but then you have to drink
her Human Organ Frappucino. It's a trade-off

poll by twiigs.com

See Delpy knows her dumb stud is becoming a werewolf, too. Lycanthropy is always super contagious in movies. One little scratch and you're howling at the moon monthly for the rest of your days.

Scott doesn't believe her lycanthrope tale but soon he's sniffing out another girl, eating raw meat and howling and growling as he mounts his one night stand. She screams "You're hot" while his body starts to steam, getting ready for the "change". Yeah, it's that kind of movie.

If this sudden inexplicable post about a movie no one remembers reads a little juvenile, please let me blame the movie. The 1997 horror comedy is so dumb and horny that by the end when Scott is fighting an evil werewolf in a subway, I was reading dumb sex jokes into everything.


"Insert" your own punchline here.
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Which director...

...(dead or alive) do you most wish would deliver you a new movie annually. Who should be as regular as Woody Allen in other words.
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Cate Convalescing

This may surprise those among you who think the worst of me for my occasionally vocalized Blagnostichettism but I spent all day inbetween deadlines worrying about Cate Blanchett and her head injury. In case you missed it, she was struck on the head in Sydney yesterday while performing Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire. Live theater is dangerous! Seems that Stanley Kowalski -- ever the brute -- threw a radio at her. Maybe Stanley's (Joel Edgerton) aim wasn't true or Cate altered her blocking that night but the prop wasn't supposed to actually hit her.


I'm relieved to read that she's reportedly fine... but I'm still a little nervous. Head injuries are notoriously unpredictable. Gifted actresses are a precious commodity and should never ever ever come to harm. Especially not while they're in the middle of working their magic.

I don't really hear people vocalize this so much but do you think Blanche DuBois is the female equivalent of Hamlet? That Mount Everest role that every acclaimed actor feels compelled to climb.

Richard the Lion-Hearted

Robert here, noting quickly that it was 820 years ago today that Richard I of England was crowned. My original intent was to ask for your favorite portrayal of King Richard. But after just a little snooping I noticed a problem. Aside from Wallace Beery, Ian Hunter, Peter Ustinov, Richard Harris, Sean Connery and Patrick Stewart who all made brief appearances in Robin Hood movies, the character hasn't been portrayed that much.

So instead my mind turned to my favorite Richard portrayal in one of my favorite films of all time.



"I am a constant soldier, a sometimes poet and I will be king."
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On the Nine Test Screenings

I've been withholding. Not purposefully or vindicatively but all the same...

I've heard from two readers who saw Nine (the musical!) at two different test screenings and I thought it was time to share their reactions.


The first to write me (test screener #1) saw what might have been an earlier cut in the summer. The second (test screener #2), whom I've met and who looooves musicals, saw it this past Monday. I didn't ask them to do this but they both divided their thoughts by actor, so let's take it that way. Neither of them gave many details about the songs that have been cut and added but I've been alarmed to read elsewhere about the multiple changes, including switching characters on key songs and the removal of "Nine". It's the title song, people! How can you go without? But the movie doesn't open until November 25th so perhaps they're still tinkering.

The lucky bastards disagree on Daniel Day-Lewis in the lead role of the blocked film director

Test Screener #1: Great in this film. He can sing, he can dance, and he brings out nuances in Guido Contini I didn't know existed from the stageplay.
Test Screener #2: DDL is typically good, but it's certainly one of his weaker efforts. He'll likely be in the hunt since he's the lead and I imagine the film to go over well with AMPAS, so I'd keep him in the top 10 tier for now, but I'm sure that you've been right all along - he won't be nominated.

But what about the glamourous actresses swirling around him? Both readers jump to Judi Dench next and here they also disagree.

TS #1: She's terrific. Her "Follies Bergeres" is well sung with style, presence, wit, and a gleam in her eye. She looks killer in a bodice, too. It's her sass-mouthed wry Queen Elizabeth from Shakespeare in Love blessed with magical sewing fingers and a 1960s bob. Consider her a contender in Supporting Actress if the film breaks out in a big way.
TS#2: Dench is fine but nothing remarkable. I know she has been nominated for unremarkable work in the past, but her character and screen time are too limited to warrant a nomination. I'd take her out of the top 10, or at least keep her near the bottom.

Split decisions again.

Rob Marshall directing two of the best screen actors on the planet --->

Both movie mad guys shrug off TFE favorite Nicole Kidman as the visiting movie star Claudia. I knew that the role wouldn't be large having seen both Fellini's masterpiece and the stage musical it inspired but I always spark to the possibilities of any Kidman appearance. Hopefully I'll feel differently when I see the film.

TS #1: Gets to look pretty in a dress. And not move her forehead.
TS#2: They build up to her character's appearance, and once she finally appears, they give her a boring musical number that's oddly patched together. It's a small role, and not a great use of her talents.

In the stage play Claudia sings the best song "In a Very Unusual Way" (previous post) but perhaps Kidman has the same problem here that I pointed to when writing about her ballad in Moulin Rouge! In short, she isn't a born/trained singer and slow emotionally intricate numbers only come off spectacularly if the performer is a musical professional. It's the danger of casting for stardom rather than musical ability though Claudia is a role that requires true A list mystique so perhaps Kidman was the only choice that would have worked.

The rest of the cast? Looks like Kate Hudson will be a polarizing part of Nine.

TS#1: Hudson is fantastic in a very limited role. Her one number (new for the film?) is the absolute highlight. It's slick, stylish, well sung, well choreographed, and catchy. This early cut of the film used it as the ending credits song, so I'm assuming it's brand new. I can see a Globe nod for Hudson (and an Original Song win if it is new), but I think her character isn't meaty enough to breakthrough elsewhere.

No, Fergie Ferg cannot act to save her life. Rob Marshall actually shot her solo song around her physical placement in the scene, never coming close to zooming in on her doing anything other then pouting her lips and tossing sand in the air.

Sophia Loren is the biggest victim of the changes to the script and score but she's great in the smallest role.

TS#2: The consensus of the people I went with was that Hudson was awful. Loren doesn't do much. Fergie just has the one scene (the song in the trailer), but it's quite a scene and she undoubtedly has the best voice in the film.

In keeping with the other buzz you might have been reading or hearing, Penélope Cruz and Marion Cotillard were both big hits with the test screeners and Oscar nominations might be coming

TS #1: Curse Cruz for winning the Oscar for Vicky Cristina Barcelona. This is easily her best performance and she steals every single scene she's in. She has the meatiest role of anyone in the film and milks it for all its worth. Think Catherine Zeta Jones in Chicago - Cruz juices this orange down to the pith and drains it of every delicious, sexy drop. "A Call From the Vatican" is probably the single sexiest moment I've ever seen in a filmed musical, even with more clothes on than I expected. The only reason I wouldn't consider her a lock in Supporting Actress is her recent win.

Marion Cotillard is the safest bet for a Supporting Actress nomination. With so much of the music eliminated from the film, Cotillard is the only one to benefit from clear additional screentime. She gets to show the most range in her vocals, from soft and vulnerable to raunchy and wild. It's pure Oscar Bait suffering wife, only with singing and dancing and sexy costumes.

TS#2: The two best performances were definitely Cruz and Cotillard. As a Penélope fanatic, I'd give the edge to her. She KILLS in her musical number and is quite funny and sexy throughout her entire performance. However, her musical sequence is the second in the film and the film forgets about her early on... I wouldn't bet on a nomination.

If anyone gets Oscar-nominated, it's likely to be Marion Cotillard. She has the most sympathetic role, and she pulls it off. Her first musical number is fairly low-key but it's generally moving and she pulls off a great second musical sequence. Ultimately, she's the character you care about and the one people will likely remember.

The horniest (known) call ever made from the Vatican

Neither of them consider the movie an unqualified success though they both obviously enjoyed it. Some final thoughts:

TS #1: Rob Marshall's direction is near-perfection. The difficult integration of fantasy/reality brought on by Guido's crisis is genius. The problems mostly come from the screenplay's adaptation choices. What could be a strong examination of deep emotional issues is whitewashed. For all the sexuality in the movie, the film has been turned into a sanitized version of a very engrossing and original musical eliminating any psychological complexity beyond "my husband doesn't love me" or "I'm very stressed". All the elements are there that a fan of the show would know, just not in a recognizable form. It pulls its cues from the lighter Broadway revival, down to a slightly more optimistic ending in a single staging decision. The screenplay pulls every punch, reducing what could be a knock-out climax to a slap on the wrist.

TS#2: I can tell you that it's a very good film that will likely go over very well with the Academy. It's made in the same style as Chicago -- the musical numbers are fantasies -- and I think it works. I don't think it's a GREAT film, but it was entertaining and handsomely made.

So there you have it. Or two of it. Moviegoing is a personal thing, even when the theater is sold out. Your reaction may well differ and maybe these two voices won't be 'on consensus' but if they are, Oscar will bite in several categories (as most expected) and Marion Cotillard is the one to watch for Oscar... again.

my current Oscar predictions
For more on the film or any of its actors, click on the labels below.
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16 Years Ago Today...

...the starry The Age of Innocence team celebrated at the Venice Film Festival: Daniel Day-Lewis, Winona Ryder, Michelle Pfeiffer and Martin Scorsese. Expected to be a major Oscar contender it came up short in the big six categories with only Winona Ryder snagging a nomination.

Which early festival success this year isn't going to go the distance?

First and Last #54

First and Last: the first image after the opening credits and the last shot before the final credit scroll.

"Sweet"

Can you guess the movie? Cinematography by David Lynch

This concludes the first season of First and Last. Hope you enjoyed. It may return in altered form in October. We shall see...

Highlight for the answer if you're stumped: It's David Lynch's confounding INLAND EMPIRE (2006) for all first and last memory teasers, click the label below

Oscar Predictions September

Though I needed to update my prediction charts (done!) it always feels a bit foolish to do so immediately before the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals where buzz suddenly dissipates, congeals, ferments, explodes, flip-flops or otherwise ch-ch-ch-changeeesssss.


In the new charts you'll find big losses for Avatar. It's not that I haven't lost faith in James Cameron's ability to deliver a spectacle but that so much of the film appears to be entirely CGI. It'll have natural disadvantages in some of the categories I expected it to be a contender in because AMPAS still prefers the weight of actual objects and the atmosphere of actual sets to CGI generated ones. Which is probably a good thing when it all shakes out.

With so many big or baity or intriguing looking movies moving to 2010 (The Wolf Man, The Tempest, Shutter Island) and still more not truly settled release date or distribution wise there's a lot of movement in the charts. I'm probably taking a big risk predicting so many nominations for Sherlock Holmes for example and there's maybe not enough here for Up in the Air which is just beginning to hum rather than buzz yet. Guy Ritchie does not make people scream "OSCAR!" but the below the line team is delicious Academy bait, if you ask me. I mean: Philipe Rousellot behind the camera, Jenny Beavan's costume design magic, Sarah Greenwood heading up art direction and sets, um ... yes please!

We -- and by we I mean everyone who predicts Oscars professionally on the web and everyone who does so at home -- always think we know more about the acting categories in early September than we ever ever do. Keep that in mind when you're looking at anyone's predictions. It's not over till it's over and in fact it's barely begun. Expect shake ups to come. But where?

Index of Predicted Nominations | Picture | Director | Actor | Actress | Supporting Actor | Supporting Actress | Screenplay | Costume Design | Technical Categories (Visual) | Technical Categories (Aural) | Animation

Keep in mind these charts do not reflect my opinion of worth (that's what I sprinkle throughout my editorials throughout the year) but my sometimes faulty sometimes incisive prophesies about what Oscar will glom onto.

I'd also suggest reading the Film School Rejects long but necessary explanation of the new voting roles to determine "Best Picture" (if you haven't already). No, it's no longer as simple as checking the box by your favorite film's name.

turn and face the strange ch-ch-changessss

The foreign film pages and the actress psychic point totals (thus far) will be up as soon as I can manage. But in the meantime, discuss. Who'd I forget. Which film do you think is going to firm up its release date in time? Are there any more delays coming? Pull out your crystal golden ball in the comments...

Signatures: Patricia Clarkson

Adam of Club Silencio here with another look at my favorite actresses and their distinguishing claims to fame.

Patricia Clarkson is one the best supporting actresses alive. But the truth is, she's not always that supportive. While she's busy outshining whoever's in the lead spotlight, Patricia's characters are playing on the sidelines to their own cinematic agendas. She drifts into the background, glowing of warmth, wit and maturity. Much like a cinematic confidant, Patricia Clarkson's reliably brilliant even in her most minuscule moments. But to rely on Patricia Clarkson is to fall into the same trusting trap as her on-screen counterparts. She builds you up, holds you close and then pulls the rug out from under you.


Take Far From Heaven's vivacious socialite, Eleanor Fine, who teases the conflicted Cathy Whitaker (Julianne Moore) about her reputation for "kindness to negroes." They share plenty of tawdry laughs and idle gossip, but when Cathy finds herself at its center and falling in love with her gardener, Eleanor is the first to show how quickly a warm shoulder goes cold. Patricia works her way into the film as Cathy's one common voice -- a woman seemingly open to progress. As the film progresses, its clear it was all vicious set up for some judgmental glares and the juiciest gossip yet.


Building on that twist is Patricia's turn as Vera in Dogville. Vera's character is the first to admit, "I cry too easily." She comes across as a woman timid and reserved, who's married to a cold lout but who passionately loves her children and isolating small town. She soon warms to the mysterious Grace Mulligan (Nicole Kidman) once she's cared for her children and taught them lessons of Ovid. Soon they're laughing together, sharing favorite prose, and Grace is welcome in Vera's home anytime... for the next hour or so. Just as quickly as rumors of a philandering tryst spread back to Vera, we see this woman once prone to sadness become relentless in her pursuit of pain. She takes Grace's hard-earned collectibles and shatters them one by one, urging Grace's stoicism while begging for her tears. Patricia Clarkson again undermines her own sweet stoicism with a sour mistrust that goes far beyond the film's calculations. She'll smash your spirits and your Hummel figurines.


Of course Patricia's characters aren't all so savagely constructed. Often enough her characters are genuinely of good will, with reasonable motivations. Take her scant role Vicky Cristina Barcelona, a part that would probably have gone unnoticed in the hands of most actresses. Patricia manages to use her few scenes to work her way right into Vicky's trust and somehow gain pull on her relationships. In mere moments her character, Judy, begrudging of her own vapid vows, pushes Vicky into a radical and unlikely affair. Even when Patricia means well, in the end somebody still winds up getting shot.


Patricia Clarkson's career is High Art. In terms of screentime it probably adds up to so much less than the effect her scenes eventually have. Even if we should never depend on her characters, we can always depend on Patricia's one-of-a-kind radiance and sly "supporting" touch.

So what's your favorite Patricia Clarkson performance? More importantly: which stellar actress should she compliment and undermine next?

Far From Heaven. Still Heavenly

Elle: Cathy? Oh, she's been liberal ever since she played summer stock with all those steamy Jewish boys. Why do you you think they used to call her 'red'?

Cathy: Oh, for heaven's sake. Let's go inside before Joe McCarthy comes driving by.

Seven years ago today, Todd Hayne's Far From Heaven debuted at the Venice Film Festival. It won four prizes there beginning a strong early awards season showing that resulted in four Oscar nominations but two sad snubs: Todd Haynes for Best Director (he won the most precursor prizes that year, believe it or not) and Dennis Quaid for Best Supporting Actor (who ran second only to eventual Oscar winner Chris Cooper for Adaptation in terms in pre-Oscar honors).

It still bursts with auteurial colors, "red" and otherwise...
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Team Experience: Oh, Those Basterds

As you may have noticed some blog buddies of mine have been pitching in randomly of late as my off-cinema life has pulled me away. Oh, to live only for the cinema! To get you acquainted with these life savers o' mine, I've decided to gather them as a collective once a week or so and ask them to share their individual feelings on a question posed by me. Yes, I'm a control freak.

Question for the Team
What's your favorite moment/performance/anything about Inglourious Basterds?

SPOILERS ahead obviously.

David: Maybe I was just blinded by the beauty. Or maybe it's my secretly perverse soul. But easily the most striking moment of Inglourious Basterds for me is the reciprocal shootings of Fredrick (Daniel Brühl) and Shosanna (Mélanie Laurent). Tarantino has a reputation for finding strange beauty in his moments of graphic violence, and it's no different here. It's the surprising possibility that Shosanna maybe did care about Fredrick after all, trumped by the shock (nonetheless prefigured by Shosanna being decked out in a vibrant blood-red dress) of him turning over and gunning her down. The cliche of the two young pretty leads falling in love overriden by their politics and bloodlust. It's the fall being filmed in slow-motion that does it, I think - she was ready for death, but not in this way. A moment of majesty amongst the madness.

Adam: It's Shosanna's vengeance that lingers most through all the smoldering celluloid. Her triumphant escape at the film's start and joyously maniacal act of resolve by the film's close is ultimately what elevates the movie for me. She's far more clever and efficient at killing those Nazi bastards than any of the Basterds we came here to see. Shosanna's like the French-Jewish Black Mamba. Quiet, calculating, and wholly deserving of the blood she's about to spill. She doesn't need a checklist reminding her to Kill Bill or Adolf Hitler, she gathers all her foes in one locale and does them away swiftly and with cinematic splendor. In true Tarantino style he finds the perfect musical accompaniment, this time in David Bowie's "Cat People (Putting Out the Fire)" as Shosanna dons lipstick and warpaint, readying to play host to her prey and bid a fiery, unforgettable farewell. After years of silent rage, Shosanna burns the house down and shares an exuberant laugh with the viewing audience, who've likewise held their breath through hours of tense conversation and Nazi loathing. Oh what a (cinephile's) relief it is...

David and Adam both took to Shosanna but I personally have to go with the underground bar and card game scene which centers around Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) and the film critic lieutenant (Michael Fassbender). As noted in the vodcast, there's an undeniably wealth of well edited tension and ingeniously scripted surprise in that particular scene but the cherry on top is that the movie characters are playing a game of assumed identities (the character cards on their heads) over their reel life game of assumed identities (double agents / faux Germans).

BeRightBack and Robert refused to play my reindeer game in the way I intended. But maybe you share their gripes or their hold-out feelings?

BeRightBack: The thing that bothers me, even as I loved every minute of watching it in terms of its energy and humor, is that Tarantino goes out of his way to tell us that he is talking in the language of kitsch, not history. At the end, the movie points outside of itself to history anyway. The clean white sheet invaded by black-clad, menacingly debonair Nazis in the first scene turns into a burning movie screen haunted by Jewish anguish and revenge by the end. But the foregrounding of virtuosity throughout the movie undercuts the power of this cinematic catharsis; if these aren’t “real” Nazis, then these aren’t “real” Jews.

Consider the first scene: a discussion is conducted in a room under which a Jewish family is hiding from certain death. The tension ratchets up with every exchange, every beat. At one point, the Nazi takes out an enormous pipe; it is impossible not to laugh at this. The punchline has been set up perfectly, the performances have been calibrated for maximum effect. None of this would have worked without the Jews beneath the floorboards, providing the necessary tension for the punchline. But the scene is not about the Jews, it is about the punchline. So is the movie, until the end. And this is what doesn’t work for me.

Robert: Quite frankly I haven't seen it yet. Why not? Because every time a Quentin Tarantino movie comes out, its like the love/hate relationship that the film community has with him plays itself out in my brain. When I'm watching a Tarantino movie I'm entranced by the coolness and stylishness of it all. When I'm not I'm annoyed by the lowbrow as highbrow shtick. I openly despise his cohorts Eli Roth and Robert Rodriguez. And it's difficult to remember how Tarantino has ascended to an entirely different plain than others who do what he does. When Christoph Waltz's name was first floating around as potential Oscar nominee, I thought "yeah right, for a Tarantino movie?" before I remembered that Pulp Fiction garnered 3 acting nods, Jackie Brown got one, and Kill Bill seemed oh so close.

As my id and superego go back and forth it's necessary to take a moment and remember that a film is nothing more than what happens up on that screen when the lights go down. It's not the hyperbolic ranting of fans nor the dismissive musings of academics. And with that in mind I'm starting to look forward to seeing Inglourious Basterds. When opening weekend numbers showed surprising success I found myself doing something unexpected. I found myself rooting for Quentin Tarantino.

I consider you, faithful reader, to be a part of the larger team too. If you'd like to answer the question at hand or respond to any of these notions, do so in the comments. We'll move on from those highly discussable Basterds after this discussion and get back to Oscar talk.

And speaking of... since the new Tarantino made such a popular turnaround post-Cannes, do you see any Oscar nods in its future? Besides Christoph Waltz's Supporting Actor bid. Tech nods, direction, screenplay? Oscar is already famously scalped, is he not?

F&L #53

First and Last: the first image after the opening credits and the last shot before the final credit scroll.


Can you guess the movie?

That's right! It's [highlight for the answer]: The Oscar winning TOOTSIE (1982). In that final frame ♪ ♫ something's telling me it might be you... all of my life ♪ is playing. Memories! For more first and last, click the label below.