The 26th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival kicked off a week of tributes tonight with the presentation of the American Riviera Award to “The Kids Are All Right” and “Mother and Child” star Annette Bening (with hubby Warren Beatty in tow). The award is given annually to an American actor “who has had a strong influence on American Cinema,” as the literature states.
Bening, it turns out, is a very good choice for such an honor. And in the year of an Oscar-nominated performance in Lisa Cholodenko’s “The Kids Are All Right,” it’s just the sort of stop along the circuit that could help steer the momentum away from a certain critically-favored young starlet.
Festival director Roger Durling offered a lovely introduction to Bening, one of his most heart-felt to date, before turning it over to a package featuring her work over the last three decades. The reel was cut to Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” and Robert Palmer’s “Simply Irresistible,” with a pivotal scene from Cholodenko’s film dividing the two different assemblages. And it did a great job of reminding you just how versatile Bening is, but also how many of the characters she has portrayed on screen are cut from the same frail cloth.
“Your characters at first don’t seem to be seeking the approval of the audience,” Durling said, to which Bening replied, “I guess I love that kind of writing. I love that opportunity to empathize.”
It was a thoughtful conversation that really gave the actress an opportunity to pull some of the layers back. She let the audience into her philosophy on the form, noting the influence of Constantin Stanislavski on modern performing and finding the conscious road to the subconscious. “So much of acting is getting to the subconscious,” she said, “which is where the rich stuff is.”
Durling was particularly taken with that mid-montage scene from “The Kids Are All Right,” where Bening’s character has a silent but devastating inner meltdown at a dinner table. And it was also a good example of the power of Cholodenko’s direction, the actress said, that observant nature of the camera and the director’s lack of artistic intrusion.
“The reason I love the movie and love the taste of the movie is how quiet she is with the camera,” Bening said. “The thing I remember [about that scene] was the feeling in my stomach. It wasn’t intellectual.”
She mentioned a number of times her respect for quality writing as an actress. Fellow 2010 awards alum Aaron Sorkin was mentioned, as Bening starred in “The American President,” from his original screenplay. She said she loves the “dense, wonderful” dialogue he conjures, but she also noted that her penchant is to ask if she can say less in many of her roles. “Less is more,” she said. “A movie can go inside somebody. You’re watching someone discover something.”
On her recent Oscar nomination, Bening said she’s “having fun with it” because she know “how fleeting it is.” Indeed, this is her fourth nomination, the third for a leading performance after being edged out by Hilary Swank for the Oscar in both 1999 and 2004.
It has appeared as if the award could slip through her grasp once again as of late. Despite the actress’s fair share of critical approval, the buzz has left her side over the last few months. But much like the winds of change seem to be altering perception of the Best Picture category, Bening could be poised to slide back into a very competitive spot with frontrunner Natalie Portman, whose work in “Black Swan” has been the talk of the precursor circuit.
Focus Features has also been here before, having watched Mickey Rourke capture the hearts of the media during a key frame in 2008, only to delight it seeing Sean Penn’s performance in “Milk” come through in the final lap. Honors like tonight’s and a number of media appearances currently on the docket, not to mention a potential SAG victory Sunday night, could spin things in Bening’s direction in a hurry. That’s what the season’s all about.
(I have to note, as an aside, that I was happy to see so much attention paid to Bening’s work in the underrated western “Open Range” tonight. It’s a great little film and she was just wonderful in it, but not only that, her co-star and director of that film, Kevin Costner, was on hand to present the American Riviera Award this evening. Nice and classy touch.)
Here is Bening’s appearance on The Tonight Show Wednesday night:
[Photo: Associated Press]
Comments
24 responses to “SANTA BARBARA: Bening receives American Riviera Award”
hell just give it to her. natalies already won from black swan. sometimes i feel not winning an oscar is actually better for a movie or performance, it keeps it as the peoples choice and makes it more “cool” the lasting names rarely win oscars, and some do. in the end the work speaks for its self (still wish she won ffor american beauty)
hi,as much as i liked portman and other nominees kidman and williams,it was bening who moved me,it was she i felt for and had that emotional connection with,i really do hope she takes it.
Bening for the win!
Oh come on, just give it to Bening, she’s an amazing actress! i love her *-*
I like Bening and liked her in TKAAR, but if it’s about the performance and the performance only, she can’t compete with Portman this year.
Somebody really needs to sit me down and talk to me like I am five and explain to me, what the hell was so “oscar worthy” about her performance in “The Kids Are All Right”?
Love Bening. Don’t know if she’ll win or not. But I gotta shout out another great performance of hers that I’ve always remembered; and been haunted by for years. ‘In Dreams’, with RD Jr. So good, such a creepy movie.
She really is so versatile. And if she wins, I’m sure Natalie would have other shots down the road. I still think Portman deserves it. But we all know how these things work. Deserving is not always the victor.
Chris, I want to be at that discussion too. I can’t think of a more overrated performer in recent time.
Chris no one can explain away what you didn’t feel while watching the film.
I want Bening and Bonham Carter for the wins.
Funny Chris, cause I found Portman’s performance to be too precise and one note. She was in a perpetual state of angst throughout the whole thing.
I think both Black Swan and TKAAR have major flaws as films and found Bening’s performance was more fleshed out and the before mentioned dinner scene was freaken unbelievable. Right up there with Monique’s “Who else is gonna love me” scene and Jacki Weaver’s “request” scene. Without these scenes, the performances would fall flat and false.
I agree with you about Portman’s performance, as do many film critics. Bening’s performance was a Master Class in listening, and reacting. If you have the DVD, turn the volume down, and watch HER face tell the entire story throughout the entire film.
There is no doubt in my mind that Bening is an amazing actress and that, like her co-star Julianne Moore, she deserves some recognition for her body of work. But I think it would be somewhat of a crime to award her (Oscar-wise) for this particular performance…yes, there were moments where she showed she is brilliant at her craft (especially towards the end of the movie), but for me this was far from her crowning achievement. She will, one day, get and Oscar, there’s no doubt in my mind…I just don’t think it should be this year. As to who I do think should take it, I’m currently on the Lawrence train, but I still have yet to see “Rabbit Hole” or “Blue Valentine.”
“If you have the DVD, turn the volume down, and watch HER face tell the entire story throughout the entire film.”
Same could be said about Portman. Also, her performance isn’t one note: the sheer joy after getting the role, when she calls her mom; trying to seduce Cassel; the whole part in the disco and with Kunis afterwards; her fragile White Swan in the end and contrary to that her seductive and powerful Black Swan..and so on. So many great scenes, so many different notes she nails, the quiet moments as well as the over-the-top ones. But that’s the problem with awards season and having favourites – permanent and unjustified backlash, making up flaws where none exist.
“Making up flaws where none exist”?
Or maybe it’s just walking away with a different opinion.
;-)
I guess I was too overwhelmed with how contrived those scenes you mentioned play out that I wasn’t wowed enough to remember them. Maybe one note is a bit harsh but I would say those opposing traits were a bit too obvious and predictable to make me believe I was actually watching a flesh and blood person experiencing those moments. Contrast that with Weaver, Monique and Benning in the before mentioned scenes where I found myself having a visceral reaction to their situations and I guess that’s why I am not sold on Portman.
If she wins the SAG tomorrow night, I think the Oscar is hers. It was clear that the Academy didn’t LOVE Black Swan as much as everyone else did (finally I agree with the Academy on something). Hopefully they also see Portman’s performance for the good but far from great performance that it is.
Oscar doesn`t like old babes. A knocked up Natalie will win easily.
I wish Williams and Gosling were nominated for the SAG so they could pull a shocker and win Oscars as well. Alas, there’s no chance of that.
I love Natalie Portman’s transformative and powerful performance in “Black Swan”. While I have nothing against Annette Bening, one of my all-time favorite romantic comedies is “The American President”, which she starred in. I am not a fan of “The Kids are all Right”, I have seen it three times and each time like it less and less. She gives a fine performance, but oscar worthy I think not. If we are giving an award out for great acting it should go to Portman, to me giving the award to Bening would be on the same level as when the Academy finally recognized Al Pacino but for all things “Scent of a Woman.
I loved Annette’s performance. It’s wonderful and I think it should win. Don’t think it will though. I’ve never thought Natalie Portman was a good actress and Black Swan did not convince me. It’s simply a very showy role that people think is a good performance.
“And it was also a good example of the power of Cholodenko’s direction, the actress said, that observant nature of the camera and the director’s lack of artistic intrusion.”
Weird how the the audio track went dead without anybody’s intrusion.
I love natalie portman but this is not her best performance nor is it the best performance of the year — when will it be the time for the great annette bening? Portman has many chances. Bening has long deserved an oscar since the grifters, bugsy, being julia and american beauty. She is one of our finest actresses.
I’ve gotta go with Portman for the Oscar, the many different layers to her performance far, the young almost child-like part where she finds out she didn’t get the part, trying to seduce Vincent Cassel the way she thinks an older girl would, then the slow development, sexually and mentally she portrays is just mind blowing. What convinces me more than anything is that when most people bring up the argument about Bening winning, they always seems to mention The Grifters, American Beauty or other performance, if Bening’s performance in TKAAR is that good, surely the performance should speak for itself, and previous performances shouldn’t come into it at all?
I’m praying for a Bening upset but regardless of what happens, she should be proud of herself. Her quietly explosive performance moved me to the core; one of the best movie experiences of 2010.
[…] Annette Bening received the American Riviera Award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. It’s probably too late for this to have any bearing on the Oscar race, but it’s a kind notion nonetheless. [In Contention] […]