In Contention

Tag: Los Angeles Film Festival

  • ‘Four Lions,’ ‘Thunder Soul’ take audience awards at LAFF

    The poor Los Angeles Film Festival has had to battle major sporting events at every pass this year. Beats being screwed by World Cup refs, I guess.  The final press release, in part:

    Today Film Independent…announced its 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival audience award winners before the Closing Night film, Despicable Me. The Los Angeles Film Festival, presented by The Los Angeles Times, with its central hub at L.A. LIVE, began Thursday, June 17 and ended today.

    The Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature went to Four Lions directed by Christopher Morris and the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature went to Thunder Soul, directed by Mark Landsman. Roberto Hernández and Geoffrey Smith’s Presumed Guilty won the Audience Award for Best International Feature.

    The Audience Award for Best Short Film went to Dock Ellis & the LSD No-No, directed by James Blagden. The video for OK Go’s This Too Shall Pass, directed by James Frost, OK Go, and Syyn Labs won the Audience Award for Best Music Video.

  • ‘A Family,’ ‘Make Believe’ win at LAFF

    I haven’t been able to cover this year’s LA fest with the diligence I had hoped, given that I’ve had company for nearly two weeks.  But today the jury winners were announced, so as a quick break from World Cup drama today, the press release, in part:

    Today Film Independent…announced its 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival award winners at a brunch at CHAYA Downtown. Audience award winners will be announced tomorrow afternoon…

    “There were thousands of movie fans at the festival this year, discovering new stories from our talented filmmakers,” said Film Independent Executive Director Dawn Hudson. “We are delighted to have the support of the Los Angeles film-going community for these films and their creators”

    The two top juried awards of the Los Angeles Film Festival are the Narrative Award and Documentary Award, each carrying an unrestricted $50,000 cash prize, funded by Film Independent, for the winning film’s director. The awards were established by the Festival encourage independent filmmakers to pursue their artistic ambitions.

    “In a year that celebrated an exhilarating spectrum of American and international cinema, it’s so fitting that these jury awards reflect the incredible diversity of the Festival,” said Festival Director Rebecca Yeldham.

  • Ruffalo is back with ‘Kids’

    Lisa Cholodenko’s “The Kids Are All Right” opened the Los Angeles Film Festival last Thursday night, right across 11th Street from the Staples Center downtown as the Lakers triumphed in Game 7 of the NBA playoffs.  No, they weren’t rioting on Figueroa because the movie’s good, but it IS a solid piece.

    I spoke briefly about it in the 6/11 edition of Oscar Talk, but on the occasion of its recent festival showcase, I wanted to again address what I think is the film’s key ingredient: Mark Ruffalo.

    For me, “The Kids Are All Right” is a return on the investment anyone put into Ruffalo 10 years ago when he first made waves in Ken Lonergan’s “You Can Count on Me.” After the actor frankly seemed incapable of tapping back into that essence for the better part of the decade, his work here makes good on the promise his charisma and raw talent made back in 2000.  Aside from Tahar Rahim’s inarguable work in Jacques Audiard’s “A Prophet,” Ruffalo’s is the most refined, natural performance I’ve seen all year.

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  • Still waiting…

    Liberal Hollywood is all set to shoot its wad over Davis Guggenheim’s “Waiting for ‘Superman,’” which held its Los Angeles premiere last night at the LA Film Festival and opens in theaters sometime in the fall.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing, because if nothing else Guggenheim’s film will start a much-needed conversation.  The decision-makers at Paramount, Participant, Walden, etc., they’re all unlikely heroes for getting the film out there to the widest possible audience.  It’ll be a big kumbaya moment for everyone involved.

    That doesn’t change the fact that the film casts a broad net when it would have been something more as a focused study.  The most effective elements include the revelation of a KIPP schooling program that proves a failed system can be changed, perspectives from four children who clearly want a brighter future and a warranted attack-dog position against the AFT and president Randi Weingarten, as well as the NEA, unions that consistently slow the process of change.

    However, those highlights are a bit overwhelmed by Guggenheim’s addiction to flashy infographics and figures that wash over you rather than landing with impact.  And as someone whose mother was a teacher, I couldn’t help but notice (and with her in attendance, be verbally reminded of) some modest stretching to make the point all the more sensational along the way.

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  • SHORT TAKE: “Bronson” (****)

    BronsonLos Angeles Film Festival

    It took me a few minutes to really grasp that watching Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Bronson” was likely the most rewarding cinematic experience of the year to date, but when it clicked, it became obvious I was in the hands of an unrelenting artist.  Refn’s canvas is bone-crushingly overt.  The telling of the story is at once abstract and refined, quite expressionistic and an oddly refreshing assault on senses.

    The film concerns itself with the bizarrely true tale of Britain’s “most violent prisoner,” Michael Peterson, who after being taken into custody for attempted armed robbery at 19-years-old managed to turn a 7-year sentence into 34, 30 of them spent in solitary confinement.  The madness making itself at home, Peterson developed a superstar alter ego, “Charles Bronson,” proceeding, throughout his decorated tenure of incarceration, to maim, batter, bruise, take hostages and pretty much guarantee an inevitable discretionary life sentence for the crimes he’s committed behind bars.

    For all of this seemingly aimless madness, Refn is unexpectedly reserved when it comes to building a traditional motive into his vision of Bronson, still alive and surely raising hell to this day across the pond.  Beyond an intriguing theatrical structure motif, which stages actor Tom Hardy in spotlight as a one-man show (revealing Bronson, perhaps, as something of an exhibitionist), there is no pat reasoning for the criminal.  The film is a tapestry of implication, not indication.  And it is a fierce staple of the year’s festival circuit so far.

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  • LAFF announces line-up, ‘Public Enemies’ to play as centerpiece film

    What a sweet move on the part of Universal Pictures to unleash Michael Mann’s “Public Enemies” a week or so early at the Los Angeles Film Festival in June.  The Johnny Depp starrer will play as the fest’s centerpiece film.  This will be a great way to drum up more and more recognition for the film leading into its July 1 release date.

    Aside from that exciting news, I’m totally stoked for the “Behind the Scenes” screening of John Schlesinger’s “Midnight Cowboy,” which will include an extended conversation with actor Jon Voight.  “Midnight Cowboy” remains one of my favorite films of all time, so just from a cinema geek perspective, I’m there.

    The L.A. Film Fest runs from June 18 to June 28.

  • LAFF closes: Sundance hits score again

    I must admit, the Los Angeles Film Festival hasn’t always been on my radar in the past, but its stature seems to be growing from year to year. This year’s edition wrapped up on Sunday, with the jury prizes going to Sean Baker’s “Prince of Broadway” in the narrative feature category, and to Darius Marder’s “Loot” in the documentary section.

    Just as significant, however, in a festival that boasts “The Audience is King” as its slogan, are the audience awards. Here, a pair of films that already took audience awards at Sundance earlier this year repeated the feat: Jonathan Levine’s “The Wackness” took the gold in the narrative section, while James Marsh’s Brit documentary “Man on Wire” won the international audience award. In the documentary category, Sacha Gervasi’s “Anvil! The Story of Anvil” emerged victorious. A summary and full list of awards can be found here.

    The former two have had buzz building around them for months; indeed, earlier in the year, I had Levine’s oddball character comedy on my Best Original Screenplay list until the category got a bit crowded. Still, one to keep an eye on, particularly at the Spirit Awards. Meanwhile, “Man on Wire,” a study of Philippe Petit’s law-defying 1974 tightrope walk between the Twin Towers, has me very excited for its UK release next month. I’d be tempted to predict an Oscar nomination for the film, which also won a Grand Jury prize at Sundance, but the Academy can be sticky about non-US docs.

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