In Contention

Tag: Mamma Mia

  • Hang your head, Britain

    It’s at moments like this that I would like to point out that I’m not really British. Yes, I live there. Yes, I have a British passport and a somewhat malformed British accent. But I was born in South Africa and hold those last two items in a South African flavor too. For the moment, at least, I’m calling myself South African.

    The reason for the cultural distancing? Well, it has something (okay, everything) to do with the fact that “Mamma Mia!” is on course to become the highest-grossing film of all time in the UK.

    It is currently sitting in second place, with £67.4 million — with the record £69 million gross of “Titanic” only a heartbeat away. It will more than likely happen — 16 weeks into its run, recently released “singalong” versions (shudder) are giving it renewed life.

    Words fail me. True, I can’t stand “Titanic” either. But at least it was a massive, self-mythologising event of a movie, one that broke some ground in the industry (if not in the artform) and represented a clear ‘moment’ in pop culture history. It was a film, in other words, whose stature and influence befitted such records.

    “Mamma Mia!”, on the other hand, has Meryl Streep belting “The Winner Takes It All” on a pastel-hued Greek island, like the floor show at some ghastly Sandals resort. If this is any cultural representation of the current British generation, we’re as confused as we are doomed.

    And you thought America was the only country whose credibility was at stake today.

    On a side note, it’s interesting to draw a parallel here with “The Dark Knight.” With Christopher Nolan’s film devouring the US box-office this summer, there have been calls for the Academy to fall in line with public tastes and consequently recognise its significant cultural achievement with a Best Picture nomination.

    By that rationale, should the Brits start lobbying BAFTA for a “Mamma Mia!” sweep, come February? It only seems fair, complicating factors of crapness aside.

  • Each to their own

    As buzz grows about “The Dark Knight” aiming to eclipse “Titanic”‘s box office record, I thought this an opportune moment to point out at least one corner of the world where that’s not going to happen. Us wily Brits, eh?

    UK Box Office

  • Wells joins the guessing game

    In response to Tom O’Neil’s contender shortlist that I discussed yesterday, Jeff Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere has come up with his own list of Best Picture frontrunners – and predicted also-rans. (O’Neil has since significantly amended his list, by the way – wisely removing “Blindness” and “Synecdoche, New York” from Best Picture consideration, and adding some titles including, bizarrely, “Mamma Mia!” Meanwhile, names like Tommy Lee Jones, Rachel McAdams and Kristin Scott Thomas enter the actors’ mix.)

    Wells’ top choices include “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (which he describes as “not the front-runner,  but the contender with the best script”), “Milk,” “Doubt,” “Gran Torino,” “Frost/Nixon,” “W” and “The Visitor.” “W” is a predictably contentious selection; I certainly know a few people who would disagree with his assertion that it “works on the page.”

    Rather more fun is Wells’ rundown of the titles that he thinks don’t have a prayer, which he breaks down as follows:

    “Appaloosa” (possibly worthy Ed Harris western but New Line leftover status dooms it); “Burn After Reading” (a dry Coen brothers goof, not an Oscar film); “Body of Lies” (I know nothing about this brilliant Middle Eastern spy thriller that would qualify it as Oscar bait); “Changeling” (Best Actress nom for Angelina Jolie but the film, while dramatically solid and well made, just isn’t stratospheric enough); “The Dark Knight” (are Tom and Pete having us off?); “Defiance” (an Ed Zwick World War II movie about Russian-Jewish resistance guerillas…hello?); “Mamma Mia!” (all right, that’s enough); “Miracle at St. Anna” (a Spike Lee movie in which a bank teller is shot by an old guy having a memory seizure?) and “Vicki Cristina Barcelona” (can’t and won’t happen).

    I must say I agree with him on most counts there – in particular, I’ll be somewhat surprised if “Miracle at St. Anna” and “Defiance” even turn out to be good films, let alone Best Picture possibilities. I can’t help thinking, though, that some little picture that’s slipped through all these lists will sneak up on us later this year. We sure weren’t talking about “Juno” a year ago.

  • ‘Mamma Mia!’ “sharp” and “hilarious” says The Times

    In the first review of the musical adaptation “Mamma Mia!” (a claim they make loud and clear in the headline), The Times of London has tossed out a glowing assessment of what frankly looked to be one of the eye-sores of 2008, from this end.

    There’s plenty of praise for Meryl Streep, who is likely on the way to a Golden Globe nomination for her work.  Hugo Rifkind has this to say:

    Streep is the real star here, and she does serious acting, too, investing a cliff-top rendition of The Winner Takes It All with far more teary gravitas than should be possible for a song that contains the line: “I figured it made sense/ building me a fence”.

    I also liked this blurb:

    Streep slams wonky, wooden shutters and leads her mob of bridesmaids, ageing sluts and lumpy Greek peasant women on a rampage through that sleepy village like a sun-kissed, middle-aged parody of Cyndi Lauper.

    Check out the rest.

    There is also this interview with “Mamma Mia!” creator Judy Craymer charting the journey of the musical from stage to screen.  Here’s a look:

    Hollywood came calling years ago, but Craymer, [Phyllida] Lloyd and the writer, Catherine Johnson, refused to sell the rights. If Mamma Mia! was going to become a film, they were going to do it when they wanted and on their terms. Hollywood invariably wants Hollywood directors and producers but, miraculously, they managed to keep hold of the film themselves. The feat becomes even more unlikely when you consider that none of them had ever done anything remotely on the scale of a Hollywood movie before. But faced with a take-it-or-leave-it attitude, Universal decided they wanted the film enough to take it.

    The rest.

  • 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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