In Contention

Author: Guy Lodge

  • Just to be clear

    Michael Stuhlbarg in A Serious ManThere seems to be a bit of uncertainty among several bloggers and commenters about the Golden Globe category placement of a number of titles. What it highlights, rather interestingly, is just how many heavyweight contenders straddle the line between comedy and drama this year.

    For the record, then, the following films are all aiming to compete in the Drama races at the Globes: “Up in the Air,” “An Education,” “Inglourious Basterds” and “Crazy Heart.”

    “A Serious Man,” however, is on the Comedy/Musical side of things. (Thanks to Tom O’Neil for confirming this.)

    I’d say I agree with all these classifications except for that of “Basterds.” Anyway. As you were.

  • Thoughts on the Oscar doc list

    Agnes Varda in The Beaches of AgnesPerhaps inevitably, the bulk of online chatter about the Best Documentary Feature shortlist unveiled yesterday focused less on the films that made it, and more on those that didn’t.

    It’s par for the course for the Academy’s documentary branch to ignore a major title or two, but even by their severe standards, the list of high-profile snubs was a long one: “Capitalism: A Love Story,” “Anvil! The Story of Anvil,” “Tyson,” “The September Issue,” “We Live in Public,” “It Might Get Loud,” “Rough Aunties” and so on.

    But for every blogger or commenter complaining about the dubiousness of the list, I can’t fight the urge to ask whether or not they’ve seen all 15 titles that have been included. In these cases, it’s always easier to say what should have got in than what should have been left out.

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  • Desperate measures

    After “Amelia” took in just £49,000 (just over $82,000) in 133 theatres — less than “The White Ribbon” managed on 18 screens — last weekend, the film’s UK distributors are trying a new strategy:

    Oh dear.

  • Stunning video for Charlotte Gainsbourg’s ‘Heaven Can Wait’

    Produced by and featuring Beck. Video directed by Keith Schofield. Reason #528 why I love Charlotte Gainsbourg. (Thanks to The Auteurs for the heads-up.)

    Meanwhile, Gainsbourg claims that she brought emotional baggage from the “Antichrist” shoot to the recording of her third album “IRM.” Should be an interesting listen.

  • Werner Herzog named president of 2010 Berlin jury

    Werner HerzogAfter premiering two films at September’s Venice fest, perhaps the most surprising thing about Werner Herzog heading the jury at February’s Berlin Film Festival is that he won’t be inflicting another film upon the competition.

    I kid, I kid. Herzog, the first German jury president since Roland Emmerich in 2005, is inarguably deserving of the position, and should bring a welcome streak of eccentricity to the jury’s deliberations. The press release declares him “one of the most significant personalities of New German Cinema,” which is risking understatement.

    Interestingly, the 67 year-old auteur has only twice competed at the Berlinale himself, with his 1968 debut “Signs of Life” (for which he won a special award) and 1979’s “Nosferatu.”

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  • ‘Bones’ panders to audience bloodlust

    Stanley Tucci in The Lovely BonesOkay, this story has been doing the round for a day or so, but I only got to it now. Let me say upfront that if you haven’t read Alice Sebold’s “The Lovely Bones,” and wish to remain innocent of any major plot developments in Peter Jackson’s upcoming film, stop reading now.

    I mean it.

    MAJOR SPOILER ALERT.

    Still with me? Good. Those familiar with the novel will know that it ends with the heroine’s rapist-murderer (to be played in the film by Stanley Tucci) falling to his death into a ravine, after being freakishly hit on the head by a falling icicle.

    I always thought it a rather crass, unintentionally amusing resolution, but was at least grateful that Sebold refrained from something more lurid.

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  • Oscarcast puts a little English on it

    When I heard that accomplished, slightly quirky and very British events director Hamish Hamilton had been tapped to direct next March’s Academy Awards ceremony, my first thought was that first-time producers Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic had made yet another spot-on decision.

    Apparently, however, not everyone in Hollywood agrees.

    Hamilton, who will also mastermind February’s Super Bowl half-time extravaganza, is an experienced and imaginative concert man, having directed slick shows and specials for the likes of U2, Christina Aguilera, Jay-Z and Neil Diamond.

    More relevant to the Oscars however, he’s had immense success helming various editions of the MTV Video Music Awards and some particularly enjoyable Brit Award (the British Grammy) ceremonies.

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  • THE LONG SHOT: Consider this

    John Malkovich and Jessica Haines in DisgraceThere’s nothing like an Oscar season to prove what a small number five (or even ten) is.

    We may only be in November, but already, months of conversation, covering a broad canvas of Oscar sure-shots and long-shots alike, have devolved into a ruthless mathematical elimination process, as previously five-wide categories fill up with safe bets. Before you know it, scores of previously fancied contenders are jostling for a mere one or two supposedly “free” slots on the ballot, and with each week that passes, the pool of possibles is culled further.

    This is, of course, hardest on independent or leftfield contenders. Having fought mightily even to enter the discussion in the first place, they must then rely on a flaky combination of precursors, DVD screeners and prayer to stay afloat.

    Miracles do happen, of course, thanks largely to the Academy’s weighted ballot system, where a number-one vote is all. (Nobody was talking about Tommy Lee Jones to take the last Best Actor slot in 2007, but there he was nonetheless. Ditto the recent likes of Michael Shannon, Samantha Morton and “City of God.”)

    With that in mind, I’d like to spotlight one contender in each major category that deserves a similarly happy outcome. Many of them are names I’ve championed before. Most of them are sitting on the furthest reaches of the sidelines. All of them deserve better.

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  • Jennifer Hudson boards Winnie Mandela biopic

    Jennifer Hudson at the 2006 Academy AwardsThe current vogue for South African-focused cinema continues apace. With Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman applying A-list Hollywood polish to the figure of former president Nelson Mandela, Jennifer Hudson is now set to do the same for his ex-wife.

    Rumors about this have been circling for some time, but yesterday Variety confirmed that Hudson has signed on for “Winnie,” a full-scale biopic of the controversial politician, most notorious for her alleged (ahem) involvement in the murder of a 14 year-old activist in 1989.

    South African director Darrell James Roodt (an Oscar nominee for 2004’s “Yesterday”) is at the helm. He also co-wrote the screenplay, based on Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob’s 2003 biography “Winnie Mandela: A Life.” (Emma Gilbey’s superb “The Lady” would be a better starting point, in my opinion.)

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  • Weinsteins promote Mélanie Laurent to lead

    Melanie Laurent in Inglourious BasterdsSome of you have already mentioned this in another thread, but The Weinstein Company, in their apparent wisdom, have decided to campaign “Inglourious Basterds” star Mélanie Laurent for Best Actress.

    Far be it from me to question the judgment of one of the greatest strategists in Oscar history, but … what?

    Laurent was, admittedly, a very dark horse in the supporting category, but as far as I can see, promoting her to lead reduces her nomination chances to nil — unless voters take the category decision into their own hands, as they did with Kate Winslet this year.

    Perhaps Weinstein is simply buying into the popular myth that Best Actress is a weakly contested category this year. But with only one slot seemingly up for grabs, and her compatriot (and fellow Weinstein Company property) Marion Cotillard muscling in on the race, the odds are firmly stacked against Laurent getting it.

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  • Copycat alert: Globes switch to five animated nominees

    UpAs with the PGA’s switch to 10 Best Picture nominees, the ‘Simon Says’ power of the Academy continues to prove irresistible. Shortly after definite confirmation that the Oscars will be expanding the Best Animated Feature category from three nominees to five, comes news that the Golden Globes are following suit:

    Members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association voted last week to expand this year’s number of nominations for Best Animated Feature to five.

    The amended rule now reads: Eligible films must be feature-length (70 minutes or longer) with no more than 25% live action. If less than eight animated films qualify, the award will not be given, in which case the films would be eligible for Best Picture. If less than twelve animated films qualify, the category will be limited to three nominations per year.

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  • Kickoff for The Auteurs World Cup

    TheAuteurs.comI must say, The Auteurs is rapidly becoming one of my favorite film-related sites out there. I can take or leave the social-networking side of it, but it’s an increasingly useful (and beautifully designed) source of world cinema and critical discussion, not least in the must-read Auteurs Daily blog.

    Recently, they also launched a fun novelty exercise, The Auteurs World Cup. Structured like the football tournament for which it is named, it’s a cinematic knockdown contest between the world’s assorted filmmaking nations. Each represented by three film classics selected by a team captain, countries go head-to-head in a series of match-ups — the results determined by the votes of Auteurs users.

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  • Kate Hudson sings in new ‘Nine ‘trailer

    The song “Cinema Italiano,” by the way, is one of the film’s original compositions vying for Oscar glory. Based on this snippet, I think some melody wouldn’t have gone amiss. But that’s me.

  • And the lists just keep on coming

    Russell Crowe in Master and Commander: The Far Side of the WorldBetween now and December 31, we’re probably going to read more “best ____ of the 2000s” lists than we know what to do with. But we like lists, don’t we? And this only happens once every 10 years. Let’s not get blasé already.

    So with the floodgates already open on “films of the decade” talk, there’s plenty more to fuel the discussion. Paste Magazine has a nicely balanced Top 50 that puts “City of God” in pole position, and wins extra cinephile points for putting Claire Denis alongside Peter Jackson in the top 10.

    Meanwhile, The Times supplements their own collective with a (impossibly formatted) selection of Top Tens from assorted British industry figures, including Julian Fellowes and Richard Eyre. “An Education” scribe Nick Hornby wins top marks from me for a list that includes “Lantana,” “The Beat That My Heart Skipped” and “I’m Not There.”

    But for my money, no list I’ve seen so far is as rich and well thought-out as Telegraph critic Tim Robey’s personal Top 100 — a corrective of sorts to the “films that defined the decade” list he compiled with his Telegraph colleagues, which took some flak on the web, these pages included.

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  • Leona Lewis to sing ‘Avatar’ theme

    Leona LewisChalk up another contender for Best Original Song. British pop diva Leona Lewis is to sing the (presumably multi-octave-scaling) theme song from James Cameron’s “Avatar.”

    Best known Stateside for her megahit “Bleeding Love,” the 24 year-old chanteuse rose to fame as the 2006 winner of “The X Factor,” the UK’s “American Idol” equivalent — thus making “Avatar” the year’s second sci-fi blockbuster (after “2012”) to turn to a reality-show star for musical duties.

    Empire reports that Lewis is currently shooting the video for the song, a James Horner-penned closing-credits effort titled “I See You (Theme from Avatar).”

    If this all sounds a little 1997, I guess that’s the idea. Lewis is, after all, a latter-day answer to Celine Dion, whose ubiquitous Oscar-winning theme for Cameron’s last film — what was the title again? — was part and parcel of its success. (Of course, times have changed since then, and the Academy looks a lot less kindly on closing-credit tracks these days.)

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  • Almodóvar, Tarantino to present at Oscars, five-presenter system scrapped

    Pedro AlmodovarA few weeks ago, The Film Experience’s Nathaniel Rogers invited alternative presenter ideas for next year’s Academy Awards ceremony. Among the suggestions I made was a more diverse roster of recognizable filmmakers deemed worthy of presenter status, naming Pedro Almodóvar as an example.

    Once again, Oscarcast producers Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman and I seem to be eerily in sync, as Pete Hammond has just revealed that that the great Spanish auteur and Quentin Tarantino are the first confirmed presenters for the ceremony.

    Meanwhile, last year’s five-presenter innovation for the acting categories will not be continued, a move that will probably disappoint as many people as it pleases. (I’m in the latter category.)

    Speaking to Hammond at last night’s Governors’ Awards, Mechanic instead promised presenter pairings with “real significance,” beginning with Almodóvar and Tarantino, who will hand out the Best Foreign Language Film award together.

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  • Wes Anderson and friends on ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’

    Fantastic Mr. Fox“The reason Roald wrote such wonderful children’s books was that he could think like a child. Wes has that capacity too.”

    With this statement, at a cozy round-table interview in the dining room of bucolic Dahl homestead Gipsy House, Liccy Dahl makes clear her endorsement of Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” the auteur’s oddball adaptation of the beloved children’s book by her late husband, which opened in limited release on Friday.

    Sitting beside her, the lank-haired, nattily suited Anderson blushes slightly and peers down at the table. They make a curious pair of collaborators, the dandy American hipster and the gentle British countrywoman, but the sincere affection between them is plain to see, as is Dahl’s genuine excitement about the film.

    “Things have been changed and embroidered in the film, but the magic hasn’t been taken away,” says Dahl, adding that Anderson’s trans-Atlantic take on the story (its animal characters live in England, but speak and behave as Americans) is appropriate given the international appeal of her husband’s work. “The essence of the story stays the same: good versus bad, the survival of a starving family.”

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  • Happy birthday, Kris

    On this day in 1981, Terry Gilliam’s “Time Bandits” topped the U.S. box office for the second week running, Hall & Oates had the number-one song in America, and one Mr. Kristopher Tapley entered the world.

    Kris is in San Francisco, hopefully nursing a celebratory hangover and perhaps preparing for another. I thought of posting his birthday Billboard #1 as musical accompaniment, but no one needs to hear “Private Eyes” again. So we’ll fast-forward to a Boss track more suitable for someone at the ripe old age of 28. Have a good one, sir.