In Contention

Tag: Rachel Getting Married

  • ‘Rachel’ not just about the women?

    In his autumn preview, Noah Forrest at Movie City News briefly kinda-reviews Jonathan Demme’s “Rachel Getting Married,” which will make its official bow at Venice next week. Having seen an unfinished cut, he gives it the thumbs-up, citing “beautiful music, excellent performances and a few surprises I didn’t see coming.”

    Most excitingly, he compares it to Demme’s loosier, funkier output from the 1980’s, which is fine by me. If the film has anything approaching the wit and danger of “Something Wild,” I’m there.

    Forrest also throws a new, relatively unheralded name into the Oscar cauldron. Much has been made of the awards potential the film offers for Anne Hathaway and Debra Winger – though in the latter case, the buzz seems to be built more on industry goodwill towards the actress than on anything else. As Kris has pointed out, Rosemarie DeWitt (best known as Jon Hamm’s boho mistress in “Mad Men”) appears to have the meatier supporting role, and could well make an awards run. Forrest, meanwhile, has someone else in mind:

    While Anne Hathaway and Rosemarie DeWitt (are) excellent in it, I want to start beating the Best Supporting Actor drum for Bill Irwin. He plays the patriarch of the fractured clan and he is so damn good that I couldn’t stop shaking my head, awed by how effortlessly he brings both pathos and humour to the role.

    A respected Tony-winning stage actor whose screen work ranges from “Sesame Street” to Ron Howard’s ill-fated “Grinch” film, Irwin hasn’t had a breakthrough film role yet – this could be it.

    So far, “Rachel” is looking more like a contender for acting (and possibly writing) nominations than the big prize, but the Academy can occasionally give a lot of acting slots to an otherwise low-profile pic (“Iris” being a good example). This film seems to have a lot of balls in the air.

  • Countdown to Venice: the future of festivals?

    So the Venice Film Festival kicks off tonight with its glossiest title, the out-of-competition “Burn After Reading.” Reviews ought to start trickling in tonight, though it’s worth bearing in mind that festival fever can often give the premature illusion of critical consensus.

    Screen International has a very handy rundown of the festival lineup – both in and out of competition – which paints a much clearer picture of the more international entries than anything else I’ve read so far.

    Less-covered competition films that particularly caught my eye include “Inju: The Beast in the Shadow,” a Franco-Japanese thriller starring the excellent Benoit Magimel, marking a return to fiction film for Oscar nominee Barbet Schroeder, “Jerichow,” a German riff on “The Postman Always Rings Twice,” and, by far the least heralded of the US entries, “Vegas: Based on a True Story,” a portrait of down-and-outs in the titular city from Iranian director Amir Naderi.

    (Not to mention an out-of-competition contingent that includes new works from such weighty auteurs as Claire Denis, Agnes Varda and Abbas Kiarostami, whose “Shirin,” starring Juliette Binoche, I’ve already mentioned is my most anticipated film of the fest.)

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  • Is Rosemarie DeWitt the one to watch in ‘Rachel?’

    Rosemarie DeWitt in Rachel Getting MarriedWith the recent release of a spiffy new trailer and plenty of attention geared toward a potential return to form for director Jonathan Demme, the Oscar prospects of “Rachel Getting Married” have gone into hyperdrive.  In the midst of all this sight-unseen speculation, a number of eyes have been turned toward the supporting actress hopes of three-time nominee Debra Winger.

    Winger popped up as a possibility in early 2003 when the eventual flop “Radio” was coming down the pike, largely because Oscarwatchers were anticipating a new dawn for the esteemed actress.  That seems to be the case with “Rachel,” but the blind stabs of good intentions are ignoring the true prospect of the film, “Mad Men” star Rosemarie Dewitt.

    Word on the performance is that it might have the stuff to grab a supporting nomination and that Winger isn’t really in the film enough to make a real impact on the awards season.  The real angle of interest, however, is that Dewitt has an amazing story, one that I didn’t even realize until recently sifting through her bio.

    Turns out Dewitt is the granddaughter of Jimmie “Cinderella Man” Braddock.  Yes, that “Cinderella Man.”  She even had a role in the Ron Howard film from 2005 (I missed her completely).  And of course, with “Mad Men” being the new darling on the small screen (gotta finish that first season soon), there are plenty of ways “in” to the circuit for this young lady.

    So take it for what it’s worth, take it with a grain of salt if you want, but it looks like Ms. Dewitt is the name to watch out for right behind sure-to-be electric Anne Hathaway in “Margot at the Wedding 2” — I mean, “Rachel Getting Married.”

  • POLL: Which recently off-his-game director do you expect to hit paydirt this Oscar season?

    Vicky Cristina Barcelona director Woody AllenIt’s been a couple of weeks since we introduced a new sidebar poll — tons going on, apologies. But suffice it to say, “The Dark Knight” beat out eight other highly regarded comic book films to be the readers’ choice for best all-time in the genre. No shock there, though it took more votes than I anticipated overall.

    This week, with the rush to anoint Jonathan Demme a prodigal son returned following the debut of the “Rachel Getting Married” trailer, I thought it would be fun to suss out what readers think of a few filmmakers testing the awards waters with new product this season after a number of missteps in recent memory.

    The aforementioned Demme is coming off of a couple of largely ignored documentaries and forgettable narrative entries such as “Beloved,” “The Truth About Charlie” and, to a lesser extent, “The Manchurian Candidate.”

    Woody Allen, meanwhile, is stepping up to the plate with “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” a critical fave out of Cannes following years of missteps since “Sweet and Lowdown” (save for “Match Point,” which had its followers).

    Spike Lee hasn’t exactly turned the heads of awards-giving bodies all that much for some time, though he looks to dive back into the fray with “Miracle at St. Anna,” and Jim Sheridan is coming off the miscalculation of “Get Rich or Die Tryin’” with the Susanne Bier remake “Brothers.”

    So…tell us in the poll.  Which of these recently off-the-mark helmers has the best shot at reclaiming former glory with his resepective awards hopeful this season?

  • Nat Rogers calls dibs on Hathaway

    You’ve all surely seen the trailer for “Rachel Getting Married,” Jonathan Demme’s supposed return to form, by now. And while it’s true that it has generally raised expectations for the film, I wonder if Nathaniel Rogers over at The Film Experience isn’t getting a bit over-excited. Treating a Best Actress nomination for Anne Hathaway as a virtual fait accompli, he gloats as follows:

    Long before the other Oscar sites glommed on to it, I was touting the possibility of “Rachel Getting Married” being a return to form for Jonathan Demme. As a dedicated actressexual Demme is a director I’m inordinately fond of … I had the feeling that he had another Best Actress nominee in him. Not to blow my own horn –ok ok, I’m blowing! But remember, when Hathaway is walking those carpets: I called this one first.

    I don’t like to rain on anyone’s parade (not least since I did my own share of wafty Best Actress speculation last week), but isn’t it a little early in the game to call anyone a certain nominee, particularly for a film we haven’t seen yet? There are a lot of Academy heavy-hitters (Streep, Winslet, Linney, Theron, etc) waiting in the wings, and the less familiar likes of Melissa Leo and Sally Hawkins are angling for position too. The Best Actress race is actually looking rather crowded for a change – at least until we know more about some upcoming films.

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  • ‘Rachel Getting Married’ Trailer

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbv_DB-6TXk

    The return of Jonathan Demme? I’ll admit, this role looks like it fits Anne Hathaway perfectly. I’m not sold on her Oscar buzz yet (Globes, sure), but I’m not as skeptical as I was. 

  • Venice puts cinema ahead of stars

    There are some major surprises in the competition lineup for next month’s Venice Film Festival, not the least of which are the global flavour and soberness of the lineup itself. In previous years, the Lido has proved a launchpad for starry, surefire awards vehicles (“Atonement” and “Michael Clayton” both made successful bows there last year, while recent festival hits include “Far From Heaven,” “The Queen” and Golden Lion winner “Brokeback Mountain.”)

    Looking down this year’s list, it’s difficult to find much that has quite the same cache – and the competition looks all the more intriguing for it. Artistic director Marco Mueller has commendably narrowed the English-language contingent, and has taken greater risks within that selection, most notably nabbing an unexpected “wet premiere” (as in straight from the lab) of Darren Aronofsky’s latest, “The Wrestler.”

    The film, about a retired pro wrestler struggling to make a comeback, sounds like an interestingly low-key change of pace for Aronofsky after his beautiful folly “The Fountain” (another Venice debutante) fell foul of pretty much everyone two years ago. This project finds the former wunderkind working from someone else’s screenplay for the first time, which could prove a healthy change, and there are some interesting changes of the guard elsewhere too – most notably swapping regular cinematographer Matthew Libatique for the exciting Maryse Alberti (continuing what might be a banner year for female DPs). With an almost too perfectly cast Mickey Rourke in the lead, and support from the ever-terrific Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood, a warm festival reception could put this on the Oscar charts.

    There will be fewer megastars parading the Venice carpet than in previous years, but when one of them is Charlize Theron, how many do you need? Together with Kim Basinger, she will be at Venice to promote the competition title that, together with the new Miyazaki, I’m personally most excited about: Guillermo Arriaga’s helming debut, “The Burning Plain.”

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