In Contention

Author: Guy Lodge

  • NYT offers some pointers to the Academy

    The New York Times has an annual tradition of getting its three top critics — Manohla Dargis, A.O. Scott and Stephen Holden — to craft ideal Oscar ballots, and the results this year point to more scattered affections than the critics’ award trail would have you believe. Interestingly, only one title features on all three critics’ Best Picture lists, and it ain’t “The Social Network” — ironically, it’s Olivier Assayas’s “Carlos,” which, of course, isn’t eligible for Academy consideration.

    Elsewhere, their overlaps are on more expected (and Oscar-favored) candidates: all three agree on Jesse Eisenberg, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale and the Coens’ screenplay for “True Grit.” More interesting are their more idiosyncratic picks: I co-sign Holden’s Best Supporting Actress mention for Charlotte Rampling in “Life During Wartime,” and would never have predicted Scott’s screenplay citation for “Green Zone.”

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  • Pete Postlethwaite (1946-2011)

    Pete Postlethwaite had one of those faces — weathered, folded, kneaded, endlessly interesting — that demanded to be on camera, even as it denied him any possibility of leading man status.

    And yet, in the latter half of his career, Postlethwaite, who sadly passed away yesterday after a lengthy battle with cancer, made a convincing case for the character actor as star. Neither his visage nor his gratifyingly alliterative name threatened more than a career as “that guy,” but somehow we got to know him better than that.

    The turning point, of course, was a hard-earned and wholly unexpected 1993 Academy Award nomination for “In the Name of the Father” (speaking as we were, recently, of nods that came without any precursor warning), his granite-hard and quietly mournful performance as Maguire Seven convict Giuseppe Conlon joining a gallery of performances I cited last year as one of the finest Oscar fields in history.

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  • Another word on ‘Another Year’

    I’m linking to this Top 20 Films of 2010 list on In Review Online for several reasons. Because I really like the site. Because I really like the list. Because I’m one of the writers they polled to create the list. Because their number one is perfect. And because they were kind enough to invite me to write up Mike Leigh’s “Another Year” (their #19) for the feature. I already had my say on the film way back at Cannes, but since US audience are only now seeing the film for themselves, it seemed a good time to add a few words:

    Stately and considered where its predecessor felt spiky and garrulous, “Another Year” was labelled by many a critic upon its Cannes debut as Mike Leigh’s antidote of sorts to his 2008 character study “Happy-Go-Lucky.” That’s a misjudgment made purely on the basis of tone, given that the two films, perhaps more than any other pair in the Leigh oeuvre, are clear sister works—both comedies of manners examining the effort that goes into the construction of happiness, divided only by which side of the Thames their particular gaggle of chirpy middle-class Londoners reside.

    More, plus the rest of the list, here.

    [Photo: Sony Pictures Classics]

  • THE LONG SHOT: A new year wishlist

    [Guy’s updated predictions here.]

    Okay, I won’t lie to you: I initially conceived this column in my head last week as a Christmas Eve wishlist, but then got too busy mulling wine and Christmas shopping in Dublin snowdrifts to actually write it.

    So a New Year’s Eve wishlist it is, then. Under either name, with the season currently in stasis until January’s Guild awards usher in the next phase of competition, here’s a list of ten open requests (or distant hopes) for Academy members currently hemming and hawing over their ballots.

    Go forth into the world: Okay, I’ve given up my fight for a foreign-language Best Picture contender for yet another year. And despite a banner year for the form, a documentary nominee ain’t happening either. But is it too much to ask the Academy to recognize that not all notable filmmaking happens within U.S. borders? We’re looking at the sad likelihood of 90% of the Best Picture race being given over to American productions, with the lone exception, “The King’s Speech,” about as authentically British as a “Mind the Gap” T-shirt. Wouldn’t “Another Year” or “Animal Kingdom” be slightly more interesting stamps in Oscar’s passport?

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  • 77 scores competing for Oscar, ‘Toy Story 3’ not among them

    They may have enjoyed a three-year run of nominations in the category, finally taking the gold with “Up” earlier this year, but Pixar’s hot streak in Best Original Score will not continue at the 2010 Oscars. Although Randy Newman’s “Toy Story 3” score wasn’t ruled ineligible by the Academy — unlike his work on last year’s “The Princess and the Frog,” which faced a late disqualification — Newman himself has opted not to enter it in the race.

    Pixar’s latest therefore joins a number of high-profile titles on the bench in this category, including the previously disqualified likes of “Black Swan,” “The Fighter,” “Tangled” and the Carter Burwell double-shot of “True Grit” and “The Kids Are All Right.”

    As Steve Pond points out, the official list of 77 films competing for Best Original Score makes for easily the narrowest field of the general categories. The good news, however, is that most of the names we most want to see recognized are still on it, including Daft Punk for “TRON Legacy,” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for “The Social Network,” Sylvain Chomet for “The Illusionist” and arguable frontrunner Hans Zimmer for “Inception.”

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  • FIRST-HALF FYC: Best Actress

    The fifth column in our new seasonal series — if you haven’t got the drill by now, we’re rounding up the most Oscar-worthy work from the oft-overlooked first half of the year — wraps up the performance categories with by far the most competitive race of all. Conventional wisdom has it that Best Actress is the most crowded field of this year’s awards derby, and as I looked over the January-to-June release schedule, I realized that’s just as true of the early birds.

    Where I admit I had embroider a little to make up five-strong fields in one or two other categories, this week’s task found me scratching my head over who to leave out. Many of the year’s most lavishly acclaimed performances jostled for position: Kim Hye-ja may have taken the Los Angeles critics’ honors, but as much as I love the demented commitment of her performance in “Mother,” I was surprised to find myself leaving her on the sidelines. Tilda Swinton is on near-peak form in “I Am Love,” and yet she too finds herself in the honorable mention category.

    I was all prepared to court controversy by citing Julianne Moore’s exemplary work in Atom Egoyan’s otherwise negligible “Chloe,” but there just wasn’t room to be that playful; in a regular year, “Father of My Children” star Chiara Caselli would easily have figured in at the halfway mark. Others might make cases for Noomi Rapace or Giovanna Mezzogiorno, and I’m still hamstrung by not having had access to “Everyone Else.” The bottom line is: there was a lot to sift through before arriving at the five names below. May future years also be this good to the ladies.

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  • What came after “the year of the woman?”

    This time last year, we were still in the thick of a long-running “year of the woman” narrative, as female filmmakers enjoyed critical, festival and box-office success, plus an unprecedentedly high profile in the awards season –culminating in that history-making Best Director win for Kathryn Bigelow (as well as a Best Picture nod for Lone Scherfig’s “An Education”).

    Once the dust had settled on Bigelow’s Oscar, however, the narrative tailed off a bit; with that particular blip on their conscience eased, the industry at large could go back to business as usual. Right?

    Well, perhaps not. Although there’s been no major name like Bigelow for the media to make into a wider cause or mascot, when put under the microscope, 2010 has proved a quietly successful year for female filmmakers after all. Although none have managed the box-office presence that Nora Ephron and Nancy Meyers had in 2009, women in the indie sector have taken the baton from Bigelow and kept running.

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  • Portman and child

    Put it down to the post-Christmas news lull, but the Oscarweb is rather excited about this morning’s unexpected revelation that surefire nominee (and arguable Best Actress favorite) Natalie Portman is engaged and expecting her first child with French ballet dancer and choreographer Benjamin Millepied. (Could you ask for a much more appropriate surname for a hoofer?)

    My thoughts on the matter don’t extend much further than, “Well, that’s great news for her,” and perhaps, “How unreasonably pretty is that baby going to be?”. But already some are speculating as to what this news means — if anything at all — for her Oscar chances.

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  • ‘Black Swan’ leads Online Film Critics Society noms

    The nominations list just announced by the OFCS features most of the expected names, but with a few welcome twists: nice to see Edgar Ramírez and LAFCA winner Kim Hye-ja lending some international flavor in the lead acting categories, while the Best Original Screenplay bid for “Greenberg” cuts pleasingly against the grain.

    Interesting, too, to see “The King’s Speech” missing out in the top race, where both “Winter’s Bone” and “Toy Story 3” have a home. (No autopilot nod for Helena Bonham-Carter, either.) Bonus points for a Best Foreign Language Film race that finally reflects the widespread critical adoration for “Dogtooth” (over “I Am Love,” to boot). There’s even a treat for all you “Scott Pilgrim” fans.

    Full list of nominees at The Circuit.

    [Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures]

  • INTERVIEW: ‘The Illusionist’ producer Bob Last

    It’s been over 10 months since I first reviewed Sylvain Chomet’s dazzling new animated feature “The Illusionist” at the Berlinale, and yet it only finds its way to US theaters tomorrow.

    A more appropriate film to unwrap on Christmas morning, however, you could not ask for.  Both a loving tribute to the creative legacy of French comedian Jacques Tati and an iridescent valentine to the city of Edinburgh, Chomet’s latest is finally a heartbreaker independent of such associations, covering loneliness, disillusionment and renewal in its delicate tale of an outmoded music-hall magician who takes a naïve waif under his wing.

    The crowning artistic glory of a robust year for animation, and among the best films of any stripe in 2010, “The Illusionist” has already taken Best Animated Feature honors from the New York Film Critics’ Circle, as well as a special award from the National Board of Review, a Golden Globe nod and a healthy haul of Annie Award nominations.  And in addition to Chomet himself, the man deservedly basking in the film’s success is its British producer Bob Last.

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  • Guardian shortlists 10 titles for Best First Film

    When I was filling out my ballot for indieWIRE’s 2010 critics’ poll, Best First Film was perhaps the category I spent the longest time deliberating over — as unremarkable as the year has been in other respects, the amount of scrappy new directorial promise surging up through the cracks has been both unusually high and unusually prominent.

    Excitingly, much of this fresh filmmaking energy has been on the non-fiction side of things — something reflected in The Guardian’s newly announced shortlist for their annual Best First Film award. Four of the 10 films selected are documentaries after a fashion, even as they play with the boundaries of the format. (One of them, of course, turns out to be wholly a performance piece.)

    Included, of course, is Kris’s #1 film of the year, as is the film I eventually settled on for my indieWIRE vote. The list follows the UK release calendar — hence the inclusion of a 2009 title and the exclusion of, say, “Animal Kingdom” — but it’s a fine selection nonetheless.

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  • Tilda Swinton spearheads reinvention of Edinburgh film fest

    I wrote at the end of my coverage of the Edinburgh Film Festival, back in June, that this year’s fest had come in for a fair bit of media flak, with many journos complaining (not entirely fairly, I thought) of a tepid film programme and minimal atmosphere. Few were surprised, then, when the fest’s artistic director Hannah McGill resigned from her post shortly afterward; speculation as to who might replace her has been coursing through the UK industry ever since.

    As it turns out, the answer is nobody: under a radical new scheme for the festival drawn up by festival patron Tilda Swinton and former EIFF director Mark Cousins–the pair who previously set up their own mobile film festival in the Scottish Highlands– and newly appointed producer James Mullighan, the new-look festival will dispense with an artistic chief (as well as many of its usual parties and awards) and instead have films programmed by multiple guest/celebrity curators.

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  • FIRST-HALF FYC: Best Actor

    After a sidestep into the writing races last week, we return to the performance categories in our rundown of notable work from the first half of the year’s release slate. And so we land upon the category that perhaps needs this feature most of all: where the Best Actress conversation still includes some names from the January-to-June window, no leading men from early 2010 are to be found even on the fringes of the awards race.

    Of course, when you consider the options, it’s not hard to see why: all the strongest performances came in films that nobody saw, films that the Academy wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole, or both. In four of my five selections below, moreover, the actor is operating at a rather higher level than the film around him — and yet it’s here where I think some of the whole year’s most adventurous work in the category is to be found.

    I wish it wasn’t quite such a bleak set of films to be celebrating in this of all weeks, but that’s just how it worked out. I’m sure at least one omission will confound some readers, as, I imagine, will one inclusion — but therein lies the fun. Check out my picks after the cut and contribute yours in the comments. Remember: first half.

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  • ‘Another Year,’ ‘King’s Speech’ lead London critics’ noms

    The London Film Critics’ Circle can always be relied upon to throw a couple of wild cards into a nominee list of otherwise endlessly repeated names — demonstrating at least some awareness of life outside Oscar season. So it is this year, as their Best Director category is filled by Fincher, Aronofsky, Nolan, the Coens… and Apichatpong Weerasethakul, the Thai auteur behind Palme d’Or champ “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.”

    Similarly, “Carlos” powerhouse Edgar Ramirez crashes the otherwise familiar Best Actor lineup of Bridges, Eisenberg, Gosling and Firth. (Note: no James Franco, and a solitary Best British Film nod for “127 Hours,” suggesting that the film’s stock may be falling on this side of the pond too.)

    For the most part, it’s business as usual. “Another Year” and “The King’s Speech” top the list with six nominations apiece, though it’s interesting to see that neither film snagged a Best Director nod. (Indeed, five of “Another Year”‘s bids come in the performance categories — nice to see people recognizing that the film’s ensemble  extends beyond Lesley Manville.)

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  • Tragic

    Just as a reminder that there are bigger injustices going on in the film world than so-and-so missing out on an Oscar nomination. I can’t even get my head round this. Depriving one of the world’s master filmmakers of the right to practise his art for two whole decades? What a waste. It makes six years in jail seem the lesser punishment. From Yahoo! News:

    Celebrated Iranian filmmaker and vocal backer of the opposition movement, Jafar Panahi, has been handed six years in jail and banned from making films and leaving Iran for 20 years, his lawyer said Monday.

    “Mr. Panahi has been sentenced to six years in jail on a charge of (participating) in a gathering and carrying out propaganda against the system,” Farideh Gheirat told ISNA news agency.

    “His social rights, which include a ban on making movies, writing scripts, foreign travel and giving interviews to domestic and foreign media, have been taken away for 20 years.”

    More here. If you’re not sure what we’re about to lose, find yourself a copy of “Crimson Gold” and weep.

    [Photo: Passionforcinema.com]

  • Gosh, ‘Social Network’ wins in Chicago

    Trying to think of one interesting thing to say about these awards. One thing. Um. Nice, if not wildly original, foreign-language pick? (Memo to the National Society of Film Critics: we’re counting on you to be your usual rebellious selves come January.)

  • On Paramount’s dueling ponies

    There’s some fuzzy Oscar reasoning in this Guardian piece on Paramount’s two-pronged stab at the Best Picture race, but the essential point it makes is an interesting one: with “True Grit” having been produced in-house and “The Fighter” something of an adopted son for the studio, does Paramount have a favorite child in this race?

    Writer Jeremy Kay believes they do, and in the light of the precursors thus far, isn’t sure they picked the right one:

    While [The Fighter’s] $12.2m gross is nothing to write home about from 2,503 theatres, it’s no disgrace either – especially when you consider Paramount hasn’t thrown as many marketing dollars behind The Fighter as it has invested in True Grit. That’s because the studio’s top brass made an early bet that True Grit, a Paramount movie, would ultimately be more successful than The Fighter, which the studio is distributing for a fee on behalf of the movie’s backers Relativity Media.

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  • Still mixing it up

    We’ve featured a couple of these 2010 video summaries already, but reader Lesley Lui submitted this one so modestly that I figured another one couldn’t do any harm. Bonus points for featuring “Fish Tank” right upfront.