In Contention

Tag: Doubt

  • ‘Happy’ season for Miramax?

    I’ve been meaning to write about Mike Leigh’s “Happy-Go-Lucky” ever since I saw it some three weeks ago, but I haven’t found a window until now. I’m off to Berlin on the weekend and I’d really like to get this off my plate before I leave, so amid all the packing, I thought I’d hammer out some brief thoughts.

    I’m never really let down by a Leigh film. Even his lesser efforts seem to exist on some simple but probing level that makes argument a fool’s errand. More often than not, his work sparks appreciation during the awards season, and he even managed a second Best Director nomination for “Vera Drake” in 2004, which surprised more than a few people.

    “All or Nothing” was one of my absolute favorite gems of 2002, yet it was ignored completely, while going back to the epic year in cinema that was 1999, we find perhaps Leigh’s most ambitious effort in “Topsy-Turvy.” Then, of course, there was “Secrets & Lies,” which captured the hearts of many in an Oscar year dominated by independent film.

    Leigh’s pre-“Secrets & Lies” work is a slightly different breed, but still fundamentally the work of the same artist and, at times, the same vision of the world. And he has come back to it with “Happy-Go-Lucky,” the shrewd observation of which Guy made in his April review of the film.

    Something feels even more off-the-cuff about “Happy” than Leigh’s recent films. There is an even greater sense of spontaneity and improvisation lurking between the frames that can be both exciting and off-putting, but the purpose is served throughout: bringing the audience into the devil may care world of a woman hell-bent on saving the drama for your mama.

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  • Streep seems a lock for ‘Doubt’

    Meryl Streep is without equal as the greatest screen actress in the history of the cinema, able to slip effortlessly into character and create magic before our eyes. Meeting her makes clear her genius because the woman you will speak with bears no connection to the many characters she has portrayed over her now 30-plus years in movies; her eyes dance with mischief, but crackle with intelligence.

    Revered by many as the greatest actress, some state greatest actor (period), is it not odd that Streep has just one Academy Award for Best Actress for her astounding and searing performance as the death camp survivor in “Sophie’s Choice,” (easily the single greatest performance ever given by a woman on film)? Yes she won in the supporting category before that, for “Kramer vs. Kramer,” but consider this…Hilary Swank, a fine actress, has won the Oscar for Best Actress twice, as has Jodie Foster, yet Streep has just one, and more than 25 years ago at that. In that time she has given an array of performances that have collected prizes from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the New York Film Critics Circle, and despite racking up more Oscar nominations than anyone else in history, she has remained a bridesmaid for some time now.

    There are complaints each year when she is nominated, the nasty ones stating that all she has to do is appear in a film to get nominated, but you know, even at half-speed, she is so much stronger than everyone else, is she not? So yes, she should have won other Oscars as a leading lady.

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  • OFF THE CARPET: 2008, a year in advance

    Another year, another set of wins…and another look ahead at what’s in store NEXT year.

    It’s never too late to take a long gander at what we might see dominating the film awards landscape in 365 days, and with that in mind, I’ve been doing my usual mulling over the possibilities for a few weeks to put together the sadly thorough examination of the 2008-09 award season that follows. Let’s get into it. There are some major considerations to take into account. right off the top.

    Like Leonardo DiCaprio, for instance, who is set to be the entertainer of the year. With performances in “Body of Lies” (Ridley Scott) and “Revolutionary Road” (Sam Mendes), DiCaprio is working with a duo of awards-proven talent this year. Perhaps that will work against him, much like it did in 2006, and no major Oscar success will come knocking. But we’ll wait until we see the performances. Each of them could be enticing.

    This year’s Best Picture Oscar victor Scott Rudin is back again, by the way, with “Revolutionary Road,” recently inherited by Paramount Vantage and probably one of the true “frontrunners” this far out that we could put our finger on. The only other film in Vantage’s arsenal is Edward Zwick’s “Defiance,” which could simply be a commercial success, but might find its way to multiple nods like “The Last Samurai” and “Blood Diamond” in recent years.

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