In Contention

Tag: Noah Baumbach

  • BERLIN: ‘Winter’s Bone,’ ‘Greenberg,’ ‘Exit Through the Gift Shop’

    Jennifer Lawrence in Winter's BoneYesterday’s viewing roster just about had me double-checking whether I was at the right festival, as I was treated to a pair of Sundance hits, in addition to a brand-new Amerindie feature from a Sundance alumnus. The copious snow still smothering the sidewalks of Berlin only aided the comparison.

    Perhaps it was Valentine’s Day spirit making me more benign – apparently against the current of critical opinion, in the case of Noah Baumbach’s “Greenberg” – but all three films, moreover, afforded me pleasures of varying degrees. (And definitions: “pleasure” is not the most appropriate term for a film as severe as “Winter’s Bone.”)

    “WINTER’S BONE” (***1/2)

    In 2004, NYU film grad Debra Granik spun a student short into a ragged but confident debut feature, “Down to the Bone,” that landed her a Sundance award and kick-started the career of a sensational actress named Vera Farmiga. Perhaps you’ve heard of her.

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  • Berlin bound

    In a couple of hours, I’ll be packing my bags, donning my warmest and most ridiculous-looking puffa jacket and catching a crack-of-dawn flight to the German capital. The occasion, of course: the 60th Berlin International Film Festival.

    I’ve been to Berlin before — and was thoroughly enamored of it — though this will be my first experience of the festival, and I’m not a little intrigued. Alongside Cannes and Venice, the Berlinale essentially completes the holy European festival trinity, but its position in the calendar gives it a rather different profile from its glitzier sisters.

    Where Cannes hogs the lofty auteur names and Venice always nabs a couple of big fall awards hopefuls, Berlin is a refuge for smaller fare from up-and-coming filmmakers, peppered with the occasional sexy Hollywood premiere.

    That’s not to say that the festival doesn’t launch substantial works. Two of this year’s Oscar nominees, “The Messenger” and “The Milk of Sorrow,” began their awards trails with wins at Berlin a year ago, while the 2008 competition turned up the actressy trifecta of “Happy-Go-Lucky,” “I’ve Loved You So Long” and “Julia.” Berlin hits have to ride their buzz for longer than those at Cannes, but there are almost always a couple that quietly stay the course.

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  • ‘Fox’ vs. ‘Up’

    UpI can’t help but wonder if there are some hard-working publicists out there getting in the ear of a few people, since we’ve had two pieces in as many days calling the race for Best Animated Feature a potential upset waiting to happen.

    Anyway, first, at The New York Times, Brooks Barnes uses LAFCA and NYFCC wins for Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox” over Pixar’s “Up” as a basis for determining the race is bending in the Roald Dahl adaptation’s favor.  Sasha Stone notes the mantra, however: critics don’t vote for Oscars.  Barnes then goes on publish fluffy quotes from vested interests that don’t really make the case one way or the other.

    Meanwhile, at The Hufington Post, Sam Wasson notes that “Fantastic Mr. Fox” manged to force Anderson “out of his world of decadence and ushered him toward a more economical, barebones approach to story.”  Which could go a long way for him with the Academy, Wasson seems to suggest, since his recent work has been a bit inaccessible and it’s been almost a decade since the writer/director was recognized by the organization.

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  • ‘Greenberg’ trailer

    The latest from writer/director Noah Baumbach:

  • Sheer cool overload

    Sorry for another music-related post, but this is surely too awesome to actually be true. Word is out that Jarvis Cocker is writing music for Wes Anderson’s upcoming adaptation of Roald Dahl’s “Fantastic Mr Fox.”

    The former Pulp frontman, responsible for pretty much the greatest, wittiest, most perceptive and socially on-the-button song of the 90’s, has written “three, four songs and some that might become bits of the score” for the film.

    Cocker has good form with soundtracks, having worked on “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” and Alfonso Cuaron’s underrated “Great Expectations.” (Remember the gorgeous Pulp-Patrick Doyle collaboration “Like a Friend,” anyone?) What could be cooler?

    (Answer: maybe everything about Spike Jonze’s “Where the Wild Things Are,” which has the equally tantalising musical possibility of Karen O involved. Who wouldn’t want to see those two duelling it out for Best Original Song at the Oscars? Not that that would ever happen – not least because it seems we may never see Jonze’s much-discussed fantasia at all. So much for my most anticipated title of 2009.)

    But I digress. With Cocker joining a team that already includes George Clooney, Cate Blanchett and Bill Murray lending their vocal talents to the project, Noah Baumbach on the screenplay, and Alex McDowell, no less, on production design duty, “Fantastic Mr Fox” seems to have everything going for it. This could well be the first Wes Anderson film that I actually love.

    2009’s Best Animated Feature race is starting to look a lot more fun than this year’s.