In Contention

Author: Guy Lodge

  • Ones to watch at Sundance 2010… maybe

    Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling in Blue ValentineI always get a curious thrill from looking down the list of films selected to compete at the Sundance Film Festival — the 2010 batch of which has just been announced by festival directors John Cooper and Trevor Grath.

    You know there are at least one or two titles there that we’ll all be talking about in precisely one year’s time, just as “Precious,” “An Education” and “The Cove” have blossomed from festival darlings to surefire awards contenders in the space of 11 months. What’s far harder to tell is which of the 58 titles listed here might be “the one.”

    Still, last year I played something of a guessing game with the lineup, singling out one film from each of the competition’s four strands that seemed of particular interest to me: my faith in “An Education” was, obviously, handsomely repaid, while “Big Fan” (a winner at this week’s Gotham Awards), “Afghan Star” (the UK’s foreign Oscar entry) and Doors documentary “When You’re Strange” have done respectably for themselves.

    OK, I missed “Precious” — so as far as that particular game goes, I’m going to quit while I’m behind. Still, what follows is a selection of ten titles that I’m keeping an eye on.

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  • Sight & Sound names ‘A Prophet’ best of 2009

    (left to right) Adel Bencherif and Tahar Rahim in A ProphetNo annual Top 10 list carries more weight with me than that compiled by Sight & Sound, the UK’s premier film magazine. One of the most thorough and prestigious collectives out there, it’s collated from the individual lists of over 60 international critics, including the likes of Kenneth Turan, Mark Kermode, Amy Taubin, Armond White and IC friend Tim Robey.

    The S&S list usually chimes in quite neatly with my own personal taste: last year’s edition (topped by Steve McQueen’s “Hunger”) featured six titles that ultimately landed on my own end-of-year rundown. This year’s is no different: regular readers will recognize a number of titles that I’ve been banging on about all year, including a most gratifying double-dip for the great Claire Denis. (Where was all this support for “White Material” when I needed it in Venice?)

    All in all, it’s a pretty impeccable selection of films, one that gives the lie to those saying 2009 is a weak year. I’d like to see the Academy even try to put together a Top Ten as strong as this…

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  • Norman Jewison to receive career award from DGA

    Norman JewisonWow, what’s with all the big announcements today? Space yourselves out, folks.

    Anyway, this is one bit of news I’m very happy to pass on. 83 year-old filmmaker and producer Norman Jewison has been named the next recipient of the Directors Guild of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He will accept the honor at the DGA’s awards ceremony on 30 January.

    Jewison is the kind of artist for whom career achievement awards were invented — accomplished, versatile and hard-working across five decades in cinema, he’s rarely had the spotlight to himself. This despite having directed a Best Picture Oscar winner (“In the Heat of the Night,” 1967) and having amassed a career total of seven Oscar nods for such films as “Moonstruck,” “A Soldier’s Story,” “Fiddler on the Roof” and “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming.”

    The Academy paid their respects to Jewison in 1999, with an Irving G. Thalberg Award, so the DGA (who have nominated him thrice themselves) is playing catch-up here. Nice to see. Press release excerpt after the cut.

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  • ‘Precious’ and ‘Last Station’ lead Spirit nominees

    Helen Mirren in The Last StationIt won’t come as a surprise to anyone to “Precious” landed atop the list of Independent Spirit Award nominations this morning. Lee Daniels’ indie smash earned 5 mentions including Best Feature, Director and Actress, and looks like the one to beat in every category where it features.

    Fewer people, however, might have expected Michael Hoffman’s “The Last Station” to tie that total, landing Best Feature and Director nods alongside more predictable citations for stars Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer. Many pundits (myself included) have been suggesting that this placid, kindly regarded film could be a threat for a Best Picture Oscar nod — this lends further weight to the idea.

    Surprises include the comparatively low profile of “A Serious Man” on the list, which some thought a shoo-in for a Best Feature nod. It missed in the top category, as did Michael Stuhlbarg for Best Actor, though the film managed mentions in the Best Director and Best Cinematography races. Further compensation for the film arrives in the shape of the Robert Altman Award for ensemble work.

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  • Risk addiction

    Nicole Kidman in DogvilleAfter some initial resistance, I’m getting chattier on Twitter lately. Yesterday, in a “best of 2000s” frame of mind, an enjoyable back-and-forth with some of you started after I idly asked which actor or actress has had the greatest decade on film.

    The suggestions came in thick and fast, some mathematically going by awards stats, others opting for more abstract criteria. Some names came up with particular frequency: it’s hard to argue with the choice of Kate Winslet, though with the peerless exception of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” I wish she had more stone-cold masterworks under her belt.

    Johnny Depp was a popular choice, as was Sean Penn. I liked many more outré suggestions, including a shout-out for Patricia Clarkson, though will admit to scratching my head over two people’s advocation of Clint Eastwood. (If we’re counting people who only appeared four films this decade, I’ll stick with Daniel Day-Lewis.)

    But I was pleasantly surprised by the number of people who plumped for the same name I’d consider for the honor: Nicole Kidman. The actress has been at the receiving end of a lot of media snark lately, be it in a professional or personal capacity, but clearly she still commands respect for her adventurous script choices and rarefied taste in auteurs.

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  • Only connect

    Jason ReitmanThe team behind “Up in the Air” have done a very sly job of making the film alternately ubiquitous and invisible this season, as paradoxical as that sounds.

    For us bloggers, the film seems to have been around for ages — indeed, it’s nearly three months since its Telluride premiere, an eternity in awards-campaign terms. Yet, conscious of the dangers of overhype, the film has been held back after that initial buzz-burst, garnering goodwill at select subsequent screenings, but largely ceding the publicity spotlight to the likes of “Precious.”

    Now, with the film finally opening to the public this Friday, the media assault begins afresh, with two extensive profiles of writer-director Jason Reitman appearing yesterday in the flagship papers of both coasts. David Carr’s NYT interview and Rachel Abramowitz’s LA Times piece overlap a fair amount, though Carr’s takes the cute route of meeting Reitman in an airport, allowing for a more pointed reflection on the film’s themes of physical and personal statelessness.

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  • WEEKLY WRAP: ‘Lovely Bones’ bows, ‘New Moon’ reigns

    Mark Wahlberg in The Lovely Bones• “The Lovely Bones” finally landed this week, to decidedly mixed reviews.

    • Kris and Anne offered their thoughts on the film (among others) in this week’s Oscar Talk.

    • In Off the Carpet, we combed through the Best Adapted Screenplay contenders (which now include “District 9”).

    • “New Moon” surprised nobody with a record-breaking box-office haul last weekend, and its dominance is set to continue.

    • This week’s Long Shot column surveyed the growing buzz around populist contenders in this year’s Oscar race.

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  • ‘Nine’ leads Golden Satellites with 11 nods

    Shohreh Aghdashloo in The Stoning of Soraya M.(UPDATE: Full list of categories and special awards added, including a random Best Ensemble prize for “Nine.” Also, a pointless Ten Best Films of 2009 list that leaves out some of their very own Best Picture nominees. Don’t even try to make sense of it. Thanks to Ziyad for the info.)

    It isn’t really worth spending too much time talking about the Golden Satellites — after all, this is the group who last year thought “Elegy” was an original screenplay written by Philip Roth.

    Still, while their nominations are typically meaningless, they are, as usual, fun to consider. At the very least, unlike many other awards bodies on the precursor track, they don’t slavishly try to anticipate the Academy’s choices. When they throw in a Best Picture nod for “The Stoning of Soraya M.,” or a Best Actress mention for Catalina Saavedra, Oscar is the furthest thing from their minds. I salute them for that.

    Anyway, enjoy the list and its assorted quirks and surprises — from the exclusion of Gabourey Sidibe in Best Actress to the female triple-header in Best Director to their curious classification of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” as “animated or mixed-media.” Just don’t take it too seriously.

    Best Motion Picture (Drama)
    “Bright Star”
    “An Education”
    “The Hurt Locker”
    “The Messenger”
    “Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire”
    “The Stoning of Soraya M.”

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  • That Federico neorealism?

    Marcello Mastroianni in La Dolce VitaOK, forgive the idle question that follows, but it’s a Sunday. Something has been bothering me about the lyrics to Kate Hudson’s “Cinema Italiano” number from “Nine”:

    I feel my body chill
    Gives me a special thrill
    Each time I see that Guido neorealism
    I love the dark handsome guys
    With the skinny little ties
    Dressed mod, looking out of sight…

    And so on and so forth, as Hudson sings the praises of “shades in the middle of the night,” “the essence of Italian style” and Rome nightlife. You don’t need a PhD in film studies to gather that Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita” is the key reference point here.

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  • Reel Geezers on ‘Precious’

    I’m featuring this review for one reason: if anybody had concerns that the older white majority of the Academy would be resistant to “Precious” … well, worry no more. (The Geezers are on indieWIRE these days, by the way.)

  • French masters vie for Louis Delluc Prize

    Wild GrassWhile I was away in Paris earlier this week, I was reminded there of the nominations for the Louis Delluc Prize. Awarded to a single title, it is arguably the most prestigious award in French cinema, having been won by such titans as Truffaut, Renoir, Chabrol, Malle, Bresson, Cocteau, Tati … well, you get the idea.

    Meanwhile, some formidable auteurs feature in this year’s shortlist, including past three-time winner Alain Resnais and, of course, current Oscar player Jacques Audiard. The eight nominees are:

    “Hadewijch” (Bruno Dumont)
    “I’m Glad That My Mother Is Alive” (Claude and Nathan Miller)
    “In the Beginning”     (Xavier Giannoli)
    “Irene” (Alain Cavalier)
    “Making Plans for Lena” (Christophe Honoré)
    “A Prophet” (Jacques Audiard)
    “Welcome” (Philippe Lioret)
    “Wild Grass” (Alain Resnais)

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  • Ansen gets first word on ‘Invictus’

    Morgan Freeman in InvictusApparently unfazed by embargos, Newsweek’s David Ansen has posted a short, mixed-to-positive review of “Invictus,” the meat of which is here:

    Invictus is not a biopic; nor does it take us deep inside any of its characters—Eastwood views Mandela from a respectful middle distance. It’s about strategic inspiration. We witness a politician at the top of his game: Freeman’s wily Mandela is a master of charm and soft-spoken gravitas. Anthony Peckham’s sturdy, functional screenplay, based on John Carlin’s book Playing the Enemy, can be a bit on the nose (and the message songs Eastwood adds are overkill). Yet the lapses fade in the face of such a soul-stirring story—one that would be hard to believe if it were fiction. The wonder of Invictus is that it actually went down this way.

    So far, the early word I’ve sourced on this one is all over the place. I’m still struggling to get excited. Are you?

  • THE LONG SHOT: Popular mechanics

    Chris Pine in Star Trek“My God, they’ve thrown in everything but the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”

    Quoted by writer Anthony Holden in his gossipy history “The Oscars,” this was one publicist’s dismayed response to the 1990 Academy Award nominations, which included such unusual concessions to popular (as opposed to critical) opinion as a Best Picture nomination for “Ghost” and a Best Actress nod for Julia Roberts in “Pretty Woman.”

    I remember this year well – I was eight years old, and it was the first Oscar race I followed in detail from burbling Christmas hype to the ceremony itself, digging up and scrapbooking all the press and TV coverage I could find.

    And from what I recall of my fledgling research, the unnamed publicist above wasn’t alone in her discontent. In particular, the “Ghost” nomination attracted levels of critical scorn even higher than those usually reserved for the Oscars – the common line being that the Academy had sold out to commerce rather than art, and that the sky would be falling at any given moment.

    Does this situation sound at all familiar?

    It should do. Though it was a response to an outcome rather than a possibility, the kvetching over the 1990 nods more than slightly resembles the panic that set in among certain pundits and fans alike (including, admittedly, yours truly) when the switch to 10 Best Picture nominees was announced in June.

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  • Short Oscar hopeful ‘The Cat Piano’

    Chalk “The Cat Piano” up as a nominee pronto. Probably the win, too. EVERYONE loves that short.

    So says regular reader Glenn in the comment thread on the Best Animated Short Oscar shortlist. Having now watched this 8-minute Australian gem in all its noir-tinged, Nick Cave-narrated splendor, I can’t disagree. Take a look.

  • WEEKLY WRAP: Doc shortlist, honorary Oscars and more

    Lauren Bacall at the 2009 Governors' Awards• The shortlist of contenders for the documentary Oscar was announced, surprising many — we dug into it a little.

    • The season’s first Oscars were handed out, as Lauren Bacall, Gordon Willis, Roger Corman and John Calley were celebrated at the Governors’ Awards.

    • This week’s Off the Carpet column broke down the wide-open Best Original Screenplay race.

    • The Long Shot lived up to its name, spotlighting a few of the season’s most deserving outsiders.

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  • Could Baldwin be a sure thing for ‘It’s Complicated?’

    Alec Baldwin in It's ComplicatedSince I made my first Oscar nomination predictions in early June, I’ve had a weird hunch about Nancy Meyers’s “It’s Complicated” being something of a surprise package in the race.

    Now while I’ve known all along that Best Picture and Best Actress nods for the film were in the extreme wild-card class of prediction, a Best Supporting Actor nod for Alec Baldwin always felt comfortably right to me. Well-loved character actor, successful career reinvention, showy comic role in a probable December hit … all that’s needed is for the performance to be terrific, and the work is done.

    Over the months, Baldwin has crept onto more pundits’ predictions lists, with the news of his Oscar hosting gig being taken as a good or bad omen from various angles. Now Jeff Wells quotes two industry insiders who’ve seen the film, and say Baldwin not only has a nom in the bag, but potentially even a win:

    A non-vested writer-director guy told me this afternoon that he can “absolutely confirm” that Baldwin is the shit in Meyers’ film and a prime candidate for Best Supporting Actor. A vested party who nonetheless tends to be blunt said Baldwin is “a lay-down hand for a nom, Jeff. And he could win. Total breakout performance. Bet on it.”

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  • Define “extortion”

    A few hours ago, we mentioned James Toback’s allegations of “extortion” within the Academy’s doc branch being responsible for the failure of his film “Tyson” to make the Oscar shortlist. I wrote that the lack of detail provided made it difficult to know how seriously to take him.

    As it turns out, the answer is: not very. Steve Pond has done a little digging, and come up with the following:

    [The] Academy’s executive director, Bruce Davis, tells theWrap that Toback’s “concern was that one of the documentarians voting to pick the shortlist bore him a grudge and should have recused himself/herself from the balloting.”

    The accounting firm, he says,” quoting PwC’s report, “has assured us that ‘no single voter was responsible for [“Tyson”’s] failure to make the shortlist….’”

    Thus ends the very brief conspiracy theory. Sour grapes, anyone?

  • Toback charges Oscar doc committee with “extortion”

    James TobackAs I wrote yesterday about the Best Documentary Feature shortlist, I didn’t think the list’s much-ballyhooed omissions were indicative of much more than the rather particular tastes of one Academy branch. That, and perhaps an inclination to shine a light on worthy, but lower-profile, work.

    Not everyone feels the same way, however — not least James Toback, director of one the most surprisingly slighted titles, “Tyson.” Speaking to the New York Times, Toback (a one-time Oscar nominee for his “Bugsy” screenplay) has made some rather astonishing insinuations about “irregularities” in the voting process:

    At a time when the validity of even presidential elections is questioned, Mr. Toback said, “how is some tiny, dirty covert weirdly protective little group within the Academy going to be immune?”

    Pressed for details, Mr. Toback said only that he had experienced something connected with the selections process, “which I put fully in the category of extortion that I did not go along with.”

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