More Critics: Oklahoma, Austin, Women Film Critics...

If you'd like to discuss the latest round of critics awards, have at it.

Three more groups have announced and so the usual suspects play the game of musical chairs. The most interesting note right off the bat is that the Women Film Critics Circle have bestowed an award on Black Swan that isn't a flattering one. They've given it "Worst Female Images in a Movie".

I understand the impulse behind this sort of "tsk-tsk"ing  having been burned over the years with the often problematic depiction of gay characters but I think it's wrong-headed to a degree.




Black Swan is about a very specific drumtight world and a very specific tightly strung character completely encased in that world. In other words, this is not a portrait of Woman in the broader sense. What's more one can even argue that just about every person in the film is presented in an unreliable way, the whole picture being influenced by Nina's own psyche.  Furthermore, the film screws around with genres (horror and psychological thrillers) which could easily be undone by positive portrayals. Nina is no positive role model (for ballerinas, for artists, for bisexual or gay women, for anyone); she has a lot of issues. But this "award" seems to miss the point of what the movie is.

Identity politics isn't always the best way to judge art. I've made the same mistake myself but if you're too focused on it the dark side is that you're in danger of promoting vanilla-flavored art or pedantic work that's better suited to generic uplift or sermonizing than deeper artistic merit.  Even so I'm always interested in what they have to say and some different films get prizes here. Yes!

Mother Bening (and random Child)

Women Film Critics Circle
Best Movie About Women Mother & Child
Best Movie By A Woman Debra Granik's Winter's Bone
Best Woman Storyteller [Screenplay] Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right
Best Actor  Colin Firth, The King's Speech
Best Actress Annette Bening in The Kids Are All Right
Best Young Actress Jennifer Lawrence in Winter's Bone
Best Comedic Actress  Annette Bening in The Kids Are All Right
Best Foreign Film by or About Women (tie) Mother (South Korea) and Women Without Men (Iran)
Best Female Images in a Movie  Conviction
Worst Female Images in a Movie Black Swan
Best Male Images in a Movie  (tie) Another Year and The King's Speech
Worst Male Images in a Movie Jackass 3D
Best Theatrically Undistributed Movie Temple Grandin
Best Equality of the Sexes  (tie) Another Year and Fair Game
Best Animated Females Despicable Me
Best Family Film Toy Story 3
Lifetime Achievement  Helen Mirren
Acting & Activism Award Lena Horne
Adrienne Shelley Award (Films Opposing Violence Against Women) Winter's Bone
Josephine Baker Award (Women of Color Experience Award) For Colored Girls
Karen Morley Award (Women's History) Fair Game
Courage in Acting  Helen Mirren in The Tempest
Invisible Woman Award (Ignored Performance) Q'Orianka Kilcher in The Princess Kaluhani
Best Documentary by a Woman A Film Unfinished
Best Ensemble Mother & Child
Best Screen Couple Tom & Gerri (Jim Broadbent & Ruth Sheen)

• It's nice to see Another Year (to which that does not apply) get some kudos... and though I have a couple of very minor concerns about the movie I do love the central portrait of Tom & Gerri quite a whole lot. They're a wonderful happily married screen couple and you sure don't see many portraits of that on screen.
• A lot of love for Winter's Bone here. It seems safe for a Best Picture nod given how well it's done in the precursors... but we've still got the problem of 11 or 12 films doing well and only 10 slots.
• Can someone explain to me how Helen Mirren is being courageous by starring in The Tempest? Is this because Julie Taymor is so dangerous to actors. (Sorry, couldn't help it.)

Oklahoma Film Critics
Best Picture The Social Network
Top Ten The Social Network, Inception, Black Swan, The Fighter, Winter's Bone, True Grit, The King's Speech, Toy Story 3, The Kids Are All Right and 127 Hours
Best Director David Fincher, The Social Network
First Feature Chris Morris, Four Lions
Obviously Worst Movie Sex & the City 2
Not-So-Obviously Worst Movie Alice in Wonderland
Best Actress Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Best Actor  Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Best Supporting Actress Mila Kunis, Black Swan
Best Supporting Actor Christian Bale, The Fighter
Best Adapted Screenplay Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Best Original Screenplay  Chris Nolan, Inception
Best Documentary Exit Through The Gift Shop
Best Animated Film Toy Story 3
Best Foreign Film A Prophet

• I have nothing to say.

Austin Film Critics Association
Best Picture Black Swan
Top Ten Black Swan, The Social Network, Inception, Toy Story 3, The King's Speech, True Grit, The Fighter, A Prophet, Winter's Bone and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
Best Director Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
First Film Gareth Edwards, Monsters
Best Actress Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Best Actor  Colin Firth, The King's Speech
Best Supporting Actress Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
Best Supporting Actor Christian Bale, The Fighter
Best Adapted Screenplay Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Best Original Screenplay  Black Swan
Best Original Score Daft Punk, Tron: Legacy
Best Cinematography Matthew Libatique, Black Swan
Breakthrough Chloe Moretz, Kick-Ass/Let Me In
Austin Film Award  Ben Steinbauer's Winnebago Man
Best Documentary Exit Through The Gift Shop
Best Animated Film Toy Story 3
Best Foreign Film A Prophet
Special Honorary Award Friday Night Lights (for producing excellent, locally made television and contributing to the film community in Austin for the past five years)

• You'd think Oklahoma and Austin were Twin Cities proximate given how closely their opinions align. In fact, looking over top ten lists from numerous critics groups and looking at pundit predictions for Oscar's Best Picture's it seems like we're heading for an exact consensus match (or close enough). It's like nobody loves anything other than about 12 movies. Either that or the decimation of critical jobs has resulted in critics organizations full of people who maybe don't have as diverse or adventurous of taste as they used to...? Or are critical taste shifting ever more toward Oscar's middlebrow tastes... Or are Oscar's middlebrow tastes shifting towards critical consensus? ...Or are both moving inexorably towards the center where we'll share one brain. I'm asking this in a silly way but it is a little disturbing. I guess this is why Armond White seems more famous than he used to be. Being a contrarian is no longer a common critical position ;)
• I can't resist pushing this button since we'd just had a theme week "Older Actresses get no respect" and I was called "Reverse Ageist". But Austin likes 'em even younger than Chicago. They've never awarded Best Actress to anyone over 29 in their entire existence. And this year's average age (3 girls awarded) is 18 years of age! Hee. Why do I like to push buttons? I do not know.
• Super happy to see Friday Night Lights honored. Aren't you?

EFA Noms: Of Gods and Ghost Writers with Secrets in Their Eyes

The European Film Award nominations have been announced and what we have this year is an interesting mix of two separate years of Oscar's Foreign Film contest alongside one English language feature: Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer. Side note: I had thought that the film was simply called The Ghost in Europe (?) but perhaps I misremembered.

The Ghost sizes up his competition at the European Film Awards

As faithful readers know I reject the notion that any group should be judged in accordance with how they "influence" or "predict" the Oscars as I think the only true worth of any group is whether or not they have their own identity or any sanity when it comes to proclaiming what is "best."

But, that said, I do think all awards bodies offer us interesting nuggets of ideas about the way votes reveal collective consensus thoughts that might help us in thinking about each year's Oscar race, even though ballots outside of festival jurying are usually filled out individually in secret and eligibility lists and membership rosters are much different from prize to prize.

Take, for instance, the interesting case of Mike Leigh's Another Year...

We've only seen three awards bodies weigh in so far when it was eligible (Cannes' competition jury, BIFA and now the EFA) and the groups are much different and dealing with different rosters of all films. But in all three instances it came up short when it came to "Best Picture" equivalents and the response to Lesley Manville has been buzzy but confusing. Despite winning the most hype at Cannes she was passed over, BIFA proclaimed her supporting and now the EFA has named her as one of their European Actresses of the year.

What does it all mean for the Oscar hopes of the film?

Though the film is unquestionably well-liked, is support is too soft when it comes time to actually say "Yes, that one!" when voting? That's my gut instinct but things could easily change by the time Oscar nominations roll around in. Sony Pictures Classics has... hmmm, less than 79 days -- ooh I love my new countdown clock -- to beef up the enthusiasm that already exists.

Here is the complete nomination list with commentary.

European Film

• Bal a.k.a. Honey (Turkey/Germany)
• Of Gods and Men (France)
• The Ghost Writer (France/Germany/UK)
• Lebanon (Israel/Germany/France)
• The Secret in Their Eyes (Spain/Argentina)
• Soul Kitchen (Germany)

Both Bal (Honey) and Of Gods and Men are shaping up as real threats to the Oscar Foreign Language Film finalist list. They are definitely well liked. Here's the trailer for Honey so you don't start thinking that that old Jessica Alba picture is going to be in Oscar contention this year...  

The Oscar winner The Secret in Their Eyes, which has done very well for itself in multiple countries, is also represented in their lineup. Lebanon and Soul Kitchen weren't submitted for Foreign Language Film consideration but they did receive theatrical release in the States this year so theoretically they are eligible for other Oscar nominations. If you go by nomination counts, The Ghost Writer is the leader of the pack but I suspect it's not going to win. Just a hunch.

But will we be seeing a bigger Oscar campaign for that Polanski film than we'd originally expected?

European Director

• Olivier Assayas for Carlos
• Semih Kaplanolu for Bal (Honey)
• Samuel Maoz for Lebanon
• Roman Polanski for The Ghost Writer
• Paolo Virzi for La Prima Cosa Bella

Out go the French monk drama, the Argentinian procedural and the Germany restaurant comedy to make room for the exceedingly acclaimed 5 hour french crime biopic Carlos. Assayas is one of my favorite filmmakers (Summer Hours + demonlover + Irma Vep = take me now) but I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around sitting through anything that's 5 hours long. Supposedly it's beyond worth it.

Actress

Sylvie Testud experiences a miracle in Lourdes

• Zrinka Cvitešić  for Na Putu (On the Path)
• Sibel Kekilli for When We Leave
• Lesley Manville for Another Year
• Sylvie Testud for Lourdes
• Lotte Verbeek for Nothing Personal

Here we see the winner of Germany's Oscar Ms Kekilli -- we like her. We put a pic of Sylvie above just because she's such a damn fine actress. (I haven't had the opportunity to see that movie. Anyone?) Like most festival prizes, the EFA does not distinguish between supporting or leading acting so we don't know how they consider Lesley Manville other than that they love her for her work in the Mike Leigh film.

Actor

• Jakob Cedergren for Submarino
• Elio Germano for La Nostra Vita
• Ewan McGregor for The Ghost Writer
• George Pistereanu for If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle
• Luis Tosar for Cell 211

Trivia note: All of these nominees, save teenage George, are in their 30s. If you saw last year's Danish Oscar submission Terribly Happy, you'll recognize Jakob Cedergren. Elia Germano, who just turned 30, had a small role in the musical Nine.

The inclusion of McGregor seems odd to me. I am a big fan but his role in the Polanski film was actually asking him not too deliver much by way of a performance. He's playing a rather identity free role. In fact, his character doesn't even get a name (one of the most brilliant and subtle things about the movie). So it seems a smidgeon odd to name as a Best Actor. Ewan faces off against men from Italy, Spain, Sweden and Pistereanu, the young lead of the Romanian Oscar submission.

Who will win this prize? Who knows. Luis Tosar won the Goya for this same role (it's a prison drama) and he's also been a nominee in this category before. Maybe him?

Screenwriter

• Jorge Guerricaechevarria & Daniel Monzon for Cell 211
• Robert Harris & Roman Polanski for The Ghost Writer
• Samuel Maoz for Lebanon
• Radu Mihaileanu for The Concert

If the European Film Academy voters care about back stories and "angles" in the way American voters do, I could see this going to Samuel Maoz who based his screenplay on his own war experiences (the film takes place entirely inside a tank.)

Cinematographer

Of Gods and Men

• Giora Bejach for Lebanon
• Caroline Champetier for Of Gods and Men
• Pavel Kostomarov for How I Ended This Summer
• Barış Özbiçer for Bal (Honey)

I've heard over and over again that the Turkish Oscar submission (Bal) is a beautiful film. Oscar likes pretty pictures. I now expect it to place in the shortlist as a Foreign Film nominee.

Editor

• Luc Barnier & Marion Monnier for Carlos
• Arik Lahav-Leibovich for Lebanon
• Hervé de Luze for The Ghost Writer

I personally didn't love Lebanon as much as many critics (though it's worth seeing) but I'm not sure how I feel about either of these technical nominations. Perhaps my problem is more in the direction than in the lighting or the cuts. It's one of those films so enamored of tight close-ups that it's difficult to know where you are in the tank or where the person you're looking at is in relation to any of the other people crowding him. So the claustrophobia of the tight space isn't really reading though you can feel the claustophrobia on a one-on-one proxy basis since you can count all the pores and the beads of sweat.

Production Designer

• Paola Bizzarri & Luis Ramirez for I, Don Giovanni
• Albrecht Konrad for The Ghost Writer
• Markku Paetilae & Jaagup Roomer for The Temptation of St. Tony

St. Tony, Estonia's Oscar submission, is high on the curiousity list at this point. Everything we hear about it suggests that Oscar won't touch it with a ten foot pole but that it's totally an interesting film. The production design of The Ghost Writer was definitely fun. The spaces are so stark, foreboding and slightly off (like the plot) but also weirdly anonymous (like the protagonist). So this is a smart nomination. 

The Ghost Writer won 7 nominations. How many wins are coming? 

Composer

• Ales Brezina for Kawasaki's Rose
• Pasquale Catalano for Loose Cannons
• Alexandre Desplat for The Ghost Writer
• Gary Yershon for Another Year

Truth: Score composition is the most difficult work (for me) to judge in a movie. It seems to me that people only notice it when it's super obvious but being super obvious in no way suggests quality. It can (Desplat isn't exactly a "shy" composer but his work is often brilliant) but a noticeable score can just as easily can be way too intrusive and heavy-handed (see, or rather, hear Rachel Portman's work on Never Let Me Go.) I'm having a moment and can't recall the score of Another Year at all. Maybe that's a good sign. I'm eager to see the film again anyway.

What do you make of all this?

*

BIFA: The King's (Acceptance) Speech and Other Oscar Matters

You guys. I'm so not (quite) ready for this. It's only November 1st and in English language cinema we've already had at least three awards lineups outside of the film festivals: NY's Gotham Awards, Australia's AFI, and now BIFA... which translates to the British Independent Film Awards.

BIFA considers Oscar-buzzing Lesley Manville as "Supporting"

It will surprise virtually no one that the Oscar hopeful Brit films like The King's Speech (and all of its actors), Made in Dagenham and Another Year are in play for various prizes. It may surprise some that the indifferently received Never Let Me Go, the divisive Kick-Ass, and the largely undiscussed Brighton Rock received multiple nominations as well.

A complete list of nominees (with Oscar-adjacent comments) follows after the jump but I shan't clog the main page with these über long lists that each awards groups hands out.

BEST BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM

• 
Four Lions

• Kick-Ass

• The King’s Speech

• Monsters
• 
Never Let Me Go

Interesting that Another Year did not make the "Best Film" list, despite important nominations elsewhere. BIFA has no problem with "genre" films as evidenced by the inclusion of both Monsters & Kick-Ass. I'm sure there will be pockets of online rejoicing if this film gets an awards run. I'd like to kick the ass of anyone who votes for it though. Metaphorically speaking! I'm mostly a pacifist. Plus an 11 year-old girl could probably kick my ass in real life, even if she didn't have Hit Girl's training.

BEST DIRECTOR


• Mike Leigh - Another Year

• Matthew Vaughn - Kick-Ass

• Tom Hooper - The King’s Speech

• Gareth Edwards - Monsters

• Mark Romanek - Never Let Me Go

Leigh and Hooper are safely in the hunt for Best Director Oscar nominations. The rest of them, well, at least they have this homegrown honor to brag on.

BEST DEBUT DIRECTOR [THE DOUGLAS HICKOX AWARD]


• Debs Gardner Paterson - Africa United

• Clio Barnard - The Arbor

• Rowan Joffe - Brighton Rock
• 
Chris Morris - Four Lions

• Gareth Edwards - Monsters

I was confused about Rowan's nomination here until I remembered this wasn't Roland Joffe but his son. Clio Barnard (pictured left) recently on "best newcomer" at the  BFI London Film Festival for the same film. It's a documentary that's also apparently an acted biopic (it's one of those uncategorizables) about the playwright Andrea Dunbar and her experience growing up in a housing project in Northern England.

BEST SCREENPLAY


• Jesse Armstrong, Sam Bain, Simon Blackwell, Christopher Morris - Four Lions

• Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn - Kick-Ass

• David Seidler - The King’s Speech

• William Ivory - Made In Dagenham

• Alex Garland - Never Let Me Go

BEST ACTRESS


• Manjinder Virk - The Arbor

• Ruth Sheen - Another Year

• Andrea Riseborough - Brighton Rock

• Sally Hawkins - Made In Dagenham

• Carey Mulligan - Never Let Me Go



Good on Ruth and Sally who are both subtly fantastic in their movies.

BEST ACTOR

Colin Firth probably won't stutter during his Oscar acceptance speech

• 
Jim Broadbent - Another Year

• Riz Ahmed - Four Lions

• Colin Firth - The King’s Speech
• 
Scoot McNairy - Monsters

• Aidan Gillen - Treacle Junior

I suspect this is the only place we'll see honors for Jim Broadbent because Ruth Sheen has the screentime in Another Year and Lesley Manville the showiest character. More pointedly: anyone wanna wager how many Best Actor prizes Colin Firth is going to have to accept this year.... 5? 10? 15? 20? 25? All? I always forget to count but I think there's something crazy like 30+ prizes one can win during precursor and Oscar season.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS


• Lesley Manville - Another Year

• Helena Bonham Carter - The King’s Speech

• Rosamund Pike - Made In Dagenham

• Keira Knightley - Never Let Me Go

• Tamsin Greig - Tamara Drewe

Interesting that in the two "local" awards so far (this and the AFI) we've seen Oscar contenders show up in the opposite category in which they've been pegged for Oscar consideration. It's safe to assume that Jacki Weaver would only be Supporting in her American awards run (despite the "lead" vote in Australia, where she's "a national treasure" according to her director and co-stars) but Manville could obviously go either way, depending on how the Another Year campaign plays out. The most interesting inclusion here is Rosamund Pike. She has a couple really great scenes in Dagenham -- and was my favorite supporting actress in the film -- but I had expected that Miranda Richardson, a more well known 'prestige' actress, would be the one to win honors and Oscar traction. Maybe not?

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR


• Kayvan Novak - Four Lions

• Guy Pearce - The King’s Speech

• Geoffrey Rush - The King’s Speech
• 
Bob Hoskins - Made In Dagenham
• 
Andrew Garfield - Never Let Me Go



<-- Hi, Kayvan! Nice to meet'cha. About this list: I'm pleased for Garfield. As you know, I really loved him in that movie. Meanwhile: This is the first memory jog I've been given that Guy Pearce is in The King's Speech since all the buzz and the trailer attention and whatnot is on the central three characters (Geoffrey, Helena and Colin).

MOST PROMISING NEWCOMER

• 
Manjinder Virk - The Arbor
• 
Andrea Riseborough - Brighton Rock

• Tom Hughes - Cemetery Junction
• 
Joanne Froggatt - In Our Name
• 
Conor McCarron - Neds

Riseborough (pictured right in Toronto -- must have been a crazy year for her) was amazing in Never Let Me Go with almost nothing to work with and also highly watchable in Made in Dagenham in another sideshow role so I'm curious if she's even better in Brighton Rock with a big meaty role? Is more truly more with Andrea? I'm intrigued.

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION

• 
The Arbor
• 
In Our Name
• 
Monsters

• Skeletons

• Streetdance 3D

RAINDANCE AWARD

• Brilliant Love
• Jackboots On
• Whitehall Legacy
• Son of Babylon
• Treacle Junior

BEST TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT


• The Arbor - Sound - Tim Barker

• Brighton Rock - Cinematography - John Mathieson

• The Illusionist - Animation - Sylvain Chomet

• The King’s Speech - Production Design - Eve Stewart

• Monsters - Visual Effects - Gareth Edwards



BEST DOCUMENTARY


• The Arbor
• 
Enemies of the People
• 
Exit Through the Gift Shop
• 
Fire In Babylon

• Waste Land

BEST BRITISH SHORT

• 
Baby

• Photograph Of Jesus

• Sign Language
• 
Sis

• The Road Home



Wow. I've actually seen one of these. Photography of Jesus, about photo archive requests, is cute and interesting and well animated. You can watch it here. Better yet, it doesn't outstay its welcome (which is always a plus whether we're talking short or feature length films).

BEST FOREIGN FILM


• Dogtooth
• 
I Am Love

• A Prophet

• The Secret In Their Eyes

• Winter’s Bone

An odd mix of last year's Oscar nominees (Prophet, Secrets), a current submission (Dogtooth) and two directorial feats that are strangely mostly discussed only in terms of their fine leading actresses (Love, Bone).

NOT YET ANNOUNCED
The Richard Harris (Outstanding Contribution Award), Variety Award and Special Jury Prize have not yet been announced.

And there you have it. What do you make of all of this?
*

LFF 2010: And It Hurts With Every... Cannon

David from Victim of the Time, reporting from the 54th BFI London Film Festival.

I've been engrossed in this festival for so long now, it already feels like it's winding down; in fact, there's another week to go, with Danny Boyle's 127 Hours the closing night gala next Thursday evening. Perhaps my feeling comes from the fact that my most anticipated film is just around the corner: yes, I too fell under the spell of the Black Swan trailer, and it hits my eyeballs tomorrow. I'm at fever pitch. Today, though, we visit Italia and Quebec, but not before a British perennial delivers once again...


Lesley Manville.

I realise I have a tendency to waffle, so I thought I’d get straight to the point.

I had my problems with Another Year, but, as you’ve heard (and heard, and heard), Lesley Manville is absolutely superb in it. I’d heard that too, but it still didn’t prepare me for the density and devastation mustered by Manville in this character. Manville’s Mary is so magnificently imagined that, despite Leigh’s insistence in the post-screening Q&A that what you see is what was shot, and nothing more, there is the strong suspicion that the film shifted during its realisation to centralise on her. (Echoed by this review – I didn’t set out to focus it so immediately, but it felt honest to do so.)

Perhaps it's reductive to talk solely of Manville. The rest of the cast, from the connecting contentedness of Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen to the chirpy Karina Fernandez, give assured performances just the same, and surely only boost Manville’s power through Leigh’s famous workshopping process. The cinematography expressively, if rather obviously, differentiates the seasons the film shifts through. The editing is extremely deft within the restraints of Leigh’s improvisational approach, notably giving a sparky energy to scenes like Broadbent and Sheen’s first meeting with their son’s new girlfriend that contrast with the more sober, gentler feel of much of the film. But I can’t escape that it is Manville, her mousey, skittish walk, her nervous, misdirected laughter and her sad, defeated glances that are what struck me most heavily, and what continue to live mostly strong in my head. (B+)

If only he wasn’t gay! That seems to be the central lamentation of Ferzan Ozpetek’s dunderheadly jaunty Loose Cannons, which doesn’t just have one gay son of a traditional Italian pasta-making family to pretend to support; it has two! Oh yes; before Tomasso (Riccardo Scamarcio) can make his shocking announcement, his brother Antonio taps his glass and is promptly thrown out, leaving Tomasso to run the business and suffer suggestions he should get it on with the business partner’s daughter Alba. Of course, with its longing musical montages of the pair drinking, eating and laughing together, you could be forgiven for thinking the film is even more desperate for the heterosexual harmony than Tomasso’s oddball family are – even when Tomasso’s boyfriend Marco and their camp friends crash the… well, you can hardly call it a party. Framed with a seemingly irrelevant flashback device involving the wise, accepting grandmother, the unexpectedly poignant finale almost redeems things by not tying up every loose end in a neat little farfalle, but it can’t erase the tiresome, laboured schematics of what precedes it. (C-)


I confess. I have a weakness for young, attractive French people giving themselves over entirely to their lustful urges. Xavier Dolan himself is a young and attractive Canadian person, but he’s from Quebec, and I do believe that’s included in Subsection 1B of my confession. After his vaunted J’ai tue ma mere, Dolan again directs himself in Les amours imaginaires (feel free to explain the disastrous English title, Heartbeats). Dolan’s style boldly cribs from Wong Kar-wai – they may not be accompanied by In the Mood for Love’s striking musical theme, but you can almost see a pot of noodles swinging from the hand as we follow a posterior in slow-motion down the street. Dolan doesn’t merely copy but adapts the techniques he apes, sexualising the characters in saturated single-colour sex scenes; but there’s also a sense of irony and pity in the fierce emphasis on the desperation of the two friends both in lust with the same man. Dolan consumes you in sensuality and focuses you on the mistrustful dynamics of love, so that while you might not match the lust for the particular figure, you lust for this mood in general. It isn’t about liking these characters – the sneering ending makes that clear – but about identifying with how low these familiar feelings have made them, and can, have, and will make you. (B) [edited from full review]

NYFF Finale: 7 Word Reviews (Meek's Cutoff, Another Year, Hereafter, More...)

Oh readers. What to do with me? I'm always falling behind. In an effort to acknowledge that NYFF ended this weekend, and fall prestige/early campaign season is already upon us (Toy Story 3 event tonight!), here's everything I saw at the NYFF. I got sick right in the middle so I missed a handful I wanted to see. The films are presented in the order I saw with a brief description and a 7 Word Review. For now.  Surely I'll find time to say something more about two or three of these later. If you've wondered why I've been posting 2 grades for each movie I see lately, it's because it's my current grade (bold) plus the grade I could be talked into / might end up with when all is said and done.

Poetry & Oki's Movie (South Korea) |  Tuesday After Christmas (Romania)

Poetry full review A-/A 

Oki's Movie
A filmmaker recounts a romantic affair and professional entanglements.
7WR: Funny. Repetitive. Aggressively unwilling to engage visually. C/C-



Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives full review B+/B

Tuesday After Christmas
A Romanian man loves two women. Must choose.
7WR: Love Wrecked! Incisive, naturalistic gem. Pitch-perfect ending. B/B+

 The Robber (Germany/Austria) | My Joy (Ukraine) | Certified Copy (Various)

The Robber & My Joy
The Robber: an ex-con trains for long distance runs but continues his life of crime.
My Joy: a truck driver gets lost on dangerous allegorical roads.
7WR (x2): Virtuosic filmmaking but autistic experience. Couldn't connect.
Grade? Depends on what we're grading. This is when Nick's VOR would come in handy as both films strike me as worthy sees for commited cinephiles. But they're almost impossible to enjoy because they're so emotionally deficient or at least tonally limited to entirely nihilistic worldviews.

 Certified Copy
The English author of a book on the worth of artistic forgeries, tours Italy with a beautiful married French stranger (Binoche!).
7WR: Transcends its fun intellectual gimmick. Beautifully acted. B+/A-

Of Gods and Men
French monks living peacefully in a Muslim village are warned to leave when terrorists arrive.
7WR: Despite vibrant emotional pulses, touch too sedate. B/B+

The Social Network previous articles A-/A

 We Are What We Are (Mexico) | Another Year (UK) | Meek's Cutoff (USA)

We Are What We Are
A poor Mexican family struggles to keep their "rituals" alive after the father dies in this gruesome horror film.
7WR: Thematically obvious/clumsy but compulsively, masochistically watchable B-/C+

Tempest
Julie Taymor adapts Shakespeare's shipwrecks & sorcery play.
7WR: Muddy everything: ideas, sound, performance. Visual tourettes. D-/F

Another Year
Mike Leigh! A long married couple in England are surrounded by needy friends in four seasonal vignettes.
7WR: Blissful troupe rapport, comic beats. Weirdly judgmental. B+/B

Meek's Cutoff
Three families in covered wagons get lost in Indian country. They're running out of water.
7WR: Western From Another Planet but mysteriously confident. B/B+

Hereafter
A French woman experiences near death. A British boy copes with grief. An American psychic resists his gift.
7WR: Mawkishly moving but stiff, disjointed, weak storytelling. C-/D+


The Social Network used the fest as its world premiere and then promptly opened to great acclaim and presumptively leggy box office. Otherwise you're going to have to wait until 2011 for these films, apart from two: Hereafter (Oct 22nd) and The Tempest (Dec 10th)... unless you want to count Another Year but New Year's Eve releases are soooo next year if you ask us.

TIFF Capsules: Let Me In, Tamara Drewe, The Illusionist and Stone.

Normally my friend txtcritic who must remain anonymous just, well, texts me. Usually in the form of pithy sentence long reviews or moviegoing observations. But this time he sent capsules of his Toronto experience thus far. Enjoy.

"The Illusionist" shifts downgear from the infectious exuberance of "Triplets of Bellevile" to a more melancholy, low-key thing. It's largely lovely and endearing, but leaves one with a lot more to admire than to get caught up or involved in (though many others seem to be ringing the "masterpiece" bells). The film's incremental snowballing cynicism will ultimately leave you either profoundly sad or oddly cold/disengaged. I'm somewhat between the two, but I'd like another viewing. B

Leigh, Manville, Ruth Sheen & Jim Broadbent @ TIFF

"Another Year" belongs in Leigh's upper-tier. Lesley Manville gets the showy role. At first, I was ready to cry 'overhyped' but her character subtly shifts and slowly grows more downtrodden in such a realistic way that it will make some uncomfortable with recognition. As a whole, the movie's consistently absorbing and lovely in character detail, but Manville's performance is what makes it a heartbreaker. A-

Consensus definitely places Lesley Manville as an Oscar nominee. We already know that Oscar voters respond to the women in Mike Leigh pictures. But will it be a lead or supporting campaign? That probably depends on how the studio feels about her winning chances in either category. I'll be seeing this picture in a couple of weeks. I loved Manville & Broadbent's chemistry together in Topsy Turvy (1999) and though they're not a couple this time I hope they have plentiful scenes together.

Dominic Cooper and Gemma Arterton at the Tamara Drewe premiere to your left. About Stephen Frears latest....

Based on the graphic novel by Posy Simmonds, "Tamara Drewe" constantly alternates between amusing and irritating. It's devoid of substance and aggressively quirky, while never being less than watchable. Certainly a change of pace for Stephen Frears, but makes you wonder why he decided to make this movie. Tamara (Gemma Arterton) is an empty vessel who barely registers as a character and the only one who gives a performance of any depth or complexity is Tamsin Greig as a cuckolded wife. B-/C+

Though it's to be commended for reaching for something beyond the conventional movie the trailers are selling, "Stone" only barely falls just short of Trainwreck designation. It has enough batshit moments to never lose your interest, but it's ultimately the very definition of a "mess"; there's nary a coherent thought in its head. No one seems to have been given much direction, and we're as dumbfounded as how we should feel about their characters as they seem to be. De Niro shows early signs that this will be his first inspired performance in years but then loses his way, and I never could quite get a handle on what Edward Norton or Milla Jovovich were doing. D+

Finally, the early buzz on Let Me In is good dashing our hopes that critics would crucify it. Now normally we don't root against pictures we haven't seen but why was it remade in the first place? Read on...

While "Let Me In" remains an 'unnecessary' remake throughout, Matt Reeves has crafted a surprisingly successful, respectful 'cover' version of the beloved "Let the Right One In." Aside from one or two (superb) sequences, and some amped-up suspense and gore, not much new has been added here. What most impresses is how the film avoids pretty much every possible expected "remake" decision where it could have pandered or "broadened" appeal or caved to general American sensibilities. Reeves absolutely nails the tone of the original film, imposes largely the same look (often even paying homage to the original shot compositions), and the perfectly cast chief actors -- Chloe Grace Moretz, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Richard Jenkins, Elias Koteas -- feel just right in their roles. Skeptics, put away your knives. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. A-

I'm not sure I'll be pleasantly surprised. So far I've read a couple of reviews proclaiming that it's better than the original and several going to lengths to describe how meticulously director Matt Reeves has transferred the visual aesthetics, mood and even the shots of the original. How is a carefully detailed copy ever better than an original? Or at least how does whatever praise it garners seem like more than an interception? Please to explain. Whatever we love about it, must be credited to the original, if what we love was originated there. It's like when some people wanted to give Zach Snyder credit for the visual aesthetics of Watchmen when what he was essentially doing was following the storyboard and character designs provided by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons in graphic novel form.

Kodi Smit-McPhee gets bullied in Let Me In

Sorry, sorry. I know I'm off consensus on this topic. But faithful remakes they make-a me crazeeeeeeeeeee. This is why, ironically, I respected Gus Van Sant's Psycho (1998) so much. See, that widely hated film purposefully billed itself as a recreation... it was, therefore, an honest aesthetic experiment and cinematic exercize rather than a movie made to replace another movie for people who can't bring themselves to read subtitles or watch older films.

Maybe I'll calm down once I've seen it if it's good. Maybe I just don't relish having to watch Chloe Moretz every time a film needs a teenager this coming decade. They're casting her in everything (8-10 projects already on the way) and even if I loved her more, I always enjoy a variety of faces in my moviegoing.
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