In Contention

Tag: Mandy Walker

  • REVIEW: “Australia” (**1/2)

    20th Century Fox's AustraliaGod bless Baz Luhrmann.  There are few directorial talents with the energetic potential he brings to his projects.  Danny Boyle comes to mind.  On good days, Fernando Meirelles does as well.  But one thing each of these filmmakers capitalizes on through their complicated sense of visual storytelling is the power of intimacy in the scripts they set out to film.

    Somehow, Baz Luhrmann forgot about that.  Not that he wouldn’t be capable of tacking a project as ambitious as “Australia,” but at least right now, it has proven to be simply too much movie for the filmmaker at this stage in his career.

    Visceral satisfaction it has.  Larger than life characterizations are its forté.  If you’re willing to let it, you’ll probably be swept off your feet.  But somewhere in the ambition, Luhrmann loses a grip on his own talents, producing something that is a considerable mess.

    “Australia” is really two movies smashed together.  The 165-minute run time becomes taxing if only because each thread is so haphazardly meshed with the other.  It is all the more ironic considering the film is, at heart, about the power of storytelling.

    The first half details the arrival of Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) to the Outback and her husband’s property at Faraway Downs.  She comes to the territory with a mind to sell off the land and bring her husband back home to England, but soon discovers the wicked and thieving ways of local beef baron King Carney (Bryan Brown) and his flunky Neil Fletcher (David Wenham).

    There to meet her at the boat in the seaside burg of Darwin is the Drover (Hugh Jackman), a rough-and-tumble cowboy cut from the same cloth as Clint Eastwood’s many characterizations.  (Drovers move livestock across large distances, real cattle drive type stuff.)  A blue collar guy to say the least, with an impeccable physique that Luhrmann never shies away from displaying (and never fails to leave one feeling the need to do a few crunches), the Drover works with and lives among the indigenous peoples of the country: the Aborigines.

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  • It’s not just Oprah

    Looking across the early reviews, I think it’s fair to say that “Australia” has cleared the first hurdle. They’re mixed, for sure — hardly new territory for Baz Luhrmann — but there’s a lot of admiration out there, even within the kvetching. There were a number of voices out there anticipating an outright disaster, but so far, it doesn’t sound like one to me.

    The harshest takes so far seem to have been from the Australian press, which isn’t at all surprising. People are more liable to be aggravated by the romanticisation of their own culture than one foreign to them, after all. And “romanticisation” is the operative word here; as with “Moulin Rouge,” one clearly has to buy into Luhrmann’s fanciful stylisation to appreciate the film.

    Screen International obviously did, even if they’re a bit winded by it all:

    Luhrmann has fearlessly gone for the biggest, lushest goal he could imagine — a romantic, old-fashioned epic to stand beside “Gone With the Wind.” Though it fails to reach such Hollywood heyday heights, “Australia”‘s combination of high adventure, awesome landscapes and panting passions is sure to bring out romance starved adult audiences … If the restless richness becomes somewhat indigestible before the film’s considerable length is reached, that’s part of the Luhrmann package. Who else would dare such excess?

    Jackman is the epitome of handsome, untamed individualism: Kidman tempers haughty stridency with a delicate comic playfulness, touching in a scene with young Nullah where she teaches him, with no confidence in her own ability, to sing Over The Rainbow … (Brandon) Walters, aged 12, is perfect as the beautiful, troubled Nullah.

    Technically, this is ravishing, from production and costume designs from Catherine Martin to DoP Mandy Walker’s often-majestic footage. Australia is long on digital effects, mostly to good purpose, though some of the wartime Darwin harbour wide shots are wisely held for the briefest of seconds … The soundtrack is a potpourri of heightened effects and soaring musical themes.

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  • ‘Set to Screen’ series at Apple spotlights ‘Australia’ techs

    This is actually quite amazing, and take it from those of us who’ve been covering the tech categories for years, it’s refreshing to see a major outlet paying attention as well.

    It seems Apple has started a new series called “Set to Screen,” which focuses on the various behind-the-scenes design elements of a given film.  “Australia” is the first subject, with detailed looks at on-set still photography, production and costume design, location shooting, cinematography and sound recording.  Podcasts about music composition and sound recording are still outstanding, with a “coming in September” notation.  I also assume the music playing over the various clips are snippets of David Hirschfelder’s work, but I’m just guessing.  Sounds lovely.

    Check it all out at Apple.  The clips are on YouTube as well, but I figured the best example would be the cinematography spotlight, where we finally get to meet Ms. Mandy Walker:

    I think it’s obvious by now that this film, regardless of major category potential, will be the tech giant of the year.

  • TECH SUPPORT: Best Cinematography — Volume One

    Tech Support at In ContentionToday we begin our in-depth looks at the individual crafts categories.  I’m a sucker for starting with my favorite: Best Cinematography.

    The art of film is reliant on the motion picture camera and those men and women who lend their talents behind the lens.  The Director of Photography is in charge of charge of capturing the director’s vision on film, not only by ensuring mood through lighting, thematic comment through juxtaposition, etc.  This work has to be done in tandem with the director, which makes it not surprising that many cinematographers and directors work together frequently.

    This category tends to award “pretty” films.  Big epics and gorgeous landscapes frequent the nominated five each year, as do war films and anything generally considered a labored task in this department.  That is not to say such efforts have a monopoly on this category –- just that they are especially apt to be nominated.

    Last year it was sad to see Roger Deakins lose for the sixth and seventh times on the same evening. I cannot deny that Robert Elswit -– a longtime favorite of mine –- was an excellent choice for “There Will Be Blood,” but the great Deakins is once again searching for his first statuette!  He will be back in contention this year, lensing Sam Mendes’ “Revolutionary Road.” This film clearly has Oscar in its sights.  While I still remain skeptical on how it will be received overall, Deakins will almost certainly be in contention should the film deliver in the slightest.

    Deakins will also be lensing “Doubt” this year, which also has the potential to be a major awards player.  Though I’m doubtful (no pun intended) about its chances in this category.

    In what would be a historic nomination, Mandy Walker will likely be in contention for Baz Luhrmann’s “Australia.”  She would be the first ever woman nominated in this category.  Yes, that’s right.  No woman has ever been nominated for Best Cinematography in 80 years of Academy history.  Lurhmann’s films are always visually spectacular and this effort in particular fits in perfectly with the sorts of epics usually nominated in this category.

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  • Hollywood Awards get the craft races rolling

    I’ve never quite got a handle on what purpose the Hollywood Awards serve, since they frequently seem to honour achievements in still-unseen films. Their picks can be quite prescient (last year’s honorees included Marion Cotillard and Dante Ferretti), but they can frequently baffle too. (Based on “Charlie Wilson’s War,” did anyone really think that Stephen Goldblatt was the cinematographer of 2007?)

    However, following the announcement of this year’s craft honorees, I am pretty confident that we will see a couple of these names in the awards derby.

    A couple of months ago, I discussed the awards prospects of “Australia” DP Mandy Walker, so it’s nice to see she’s been named Cinematographer of the Year. The one thing that’s not in doubt about “Australia” is that it’s going to be a visual feast, so things are looking good for Walker to become the first female Best Cinematography nominee in Oscar history.

    Also on this site, Kris recently mused on the surprisingly poor Oscar record of Danny Elfman, one of the most distinctive composers in the business. He in turn has been named Composer of the Year. Elfman’s had a busy 2008, scoring “Wanted,” “Hellboy II: The Golden Army,” and Errol Morris doc “Standard Operating Procedure,” but it’s the heavily-buzzed “Milk” that could reverse his Academy fortunes.

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  • Has a woman ever been nominated for cinematography?

    In my research, for “Tech Support” (which will be starting in less than a month), I came across the question which finds itself in the title. My immediate reaction was that this is the only category (excluding male acting, obviously) where a woman has never succeeded in earning a nomination. I, of course, could do the research on this myself but if anyone knows, that would be great!

    If not, Mandy Walker could very well become the first this year for “Australia.” (EDIT: I notice Guy has already covered this in another post.)

    (Sorry to not be participating in all “The Dark Knight” posting but I don’t know what I can add to what’s already been said. While not flawless, Christopher Nolan has given us a true epic completely in his vision, full of top-notch performances by actors who know what they’re doing.)

  • Breaking into the boys’ club

    Quick, how many women have ever been nominated for Best Cinematography at the Academy Awards?

    Let’s just say that if you answered anything more than zero, you weren’t even close. The sad fact is that the cinematography and sound categories at the Oscars have remained gentlemen-only for eighty whole years. True, female cinematographers are vastly outnumbered in the industry, but that should be all the more reason to recognise one when she does outstanding work.

    For my money, Ellen Kuras (“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” “Personal Velocity,” “Summer of Sam”) is one of the most exciting talents in the business. Lisa Rinzler’s work on Tony Bui’s “Three Seasons” made it one of the most painterly films of this decade. Maryse Alberti did extraordinary work on Todd Haynes’ “Velvet Goldmine” and has contributed to some of the most important documentaries of recent years, including this year’s Oscar winner, “Taxi to the Dark Side.” These, and other, female DPs have been recognised by Sundance, the Independent Spirit Awards, and even the American Society of Cinematographers, but never at the awards holy grail that is the Oscars. Yet.

    Next year, the Academy has one of their strongest chances yet to break that hex. That chance comes in the shape of Mandy Walker, the hitherto largely unheralded cinematographer of Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming epic “Australia,” who received the Kodak Vision Award at last night’s Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards.

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