In Contention

Tag: The Tree of Life

  • TELLURIDE: ‘Inside Job,’ ‘Chico & Rita’

    It’s a bit of a scorcher in Telluride this year.  Relatively speaking, of course.  I’ve got all these long pants in the suitcase but can’t seem to shake the shorts as of late.

    Anyway, tonight brings “Never Let Me Go” and “The Way Back.” I’ll likely hit up the former and catch the latter sometime later in the weekend.  Errol Morris’s “Tabloid” also screens late tonight, and I can’t wait to catch that one.  I’m debating “Tamara Drewe” this early evening.  Guy’s Cannes review doesn’t instill confidence, but I’ve heard from others that it’s quite entertaining.  What to do?

    By the way, there are a bunch of rumors concerning Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life” suddenly popping up at Telluride because Brad Pitt is in town. Same as the rumor that “The Descendants” would show up because Alexander Payne is here. Sometimes, people just want to go see movies in a laid-back environment — even celebrities.  That’s all I’m saying.

    Anyway, on to the first set of capsule thoughts…

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  • ‘Tree of Life’ to “change the language of movies?”

    I can’t speak to the interest Anne Thompson’s source on “The Tree of Life” has in the film, though I imagine anyone who has seen it has a vested interest at this stage.  Regardless, what the source has to say is mouth-watering indeed:

    “It’s a mystical exploration of the meaning of life, a journey in which a microcosm of a family mirrors the world; the differences between man and woman, husband and wife, are mirrored against nature and grace. It will change the language of movies. It’s a real event. People will say, ‘what the fuck is this?’”

    You’ll remember yesterday Todd McCarthy publicly stated his expectation that the film will move to 2011, based on little more than the usual impatience.  In his role as New York Film Festival selection committee member, I guess he just got some bad vibes when promise after promise was made to screen it for potential inclusion in the fest, only to no avail.  But I wonder if all of this back and forth is ultimately unhealthy for the film itself.

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  • TECH SUPPORT: Best Original Score — Volume I

    I am marveled by the accomplishments of all the crafts artists who elevate our films, but this is particularly the case with respect to music composers. Composing equals genius as far as I am concerned.These musicians  join the film at the end, when usually only the director, editor and perhaps the sound mixers are still working.  But capturing the mood and feel of a film that has been created in your absence must be extraordinarily difficult.And  I do not need to count the ways in which a brilliant score can make a good film truly unforgettable.

    The category of Best Original Score is one of the hardest to predict in my opinion, even shortly before the nominations are announced. So what sort of music is rewarded by this branch? Certainly being noticeable in the film helps. Loud music and/or music which plays for lengthy parts of the film with minimal dialogue can do well, too. Being an animated film or a Best Picture contender hardly hurts either.

    For years, we could count on John Williams to take a spot among the nominees. But given that Williams is only composing for Steven Spielberg these days, his name has been absent from the nominees for five straight years now. (I suspect we’ll see him finally move past Alfred Newman on the all-time list next year.)

    Nevertheless, while the branch is not quite as insular as it was in the earlier part of last decade, it remains a fairly exclusive club. Seldom do composers get first trips to the Kodak – usually only one a year. In fact, of the past 11 years, only three have seen two new nominees, and only one has seen three.

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  • No ‘Tree of Life’ until 2011?

    That’s what Todd McCarthy seems to think.  Please keep in mind it’s nothing beyond speculation on his part.  But it’s worth pointing to the graph in question:

    All through our recent two weeks in the dark, we received periodic updates and tentative promises about the imminent arrival of the film for us to view; even well into the second week we were still being thus tantalized. Finally, of course, came word that Malick was still not done and it now seems clear the picture will not be opening this year. I can’t prove it, of course, and he’s supposedly set to start shooting a new film in Oklahoma in October, but I’m convinced we won’t be seeing “The Tree of Life” until, at the earliest, the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. Or perhaps it could turn up at the New York Film Festival a year from now.

    Check out the rest at Deep Focus.

  • TECH SUPPORT: Best Film Editing — Volume I

    I still remember when I was 12 and getting into the Oscars for the first time. My Dad said, “How can you tell if the film has good editing?” To a very large extent, I had to concede his point, as the best editing is often that which we don’t explicitly notice. Rather, it simply “becomes” the film as we become immersed in what is on the screen, not remembering that everything was staged from different angles on different days.

    Film Editing brings films to agreeable length, coherent narrative and appropriate pacing so as to engage the audience in accordance with the director’s vision.  The Academy Award for the art form has definitely shown a tendency toward “showy” editing in the past, though.  War films, musicals, action films and movies that are not told linearly all frequent this race. But perhaps the best predictor of the editing nominees is what is occurring in the Best Picture race.   Most of the nominees show up here.  Now that we have ten Best Picture nominees, I would think at least four nominees will also be there.

    All things considered, Lee Smith’s editing of Christopher Nolan’s “Inception” has got to be considered the leader in this race. The film was well received, is a Best Picture favorite, was certainly told in a “unique” manner and Smith was nominated last time he and Nolan worked together. I fully expect him to earn his third nomination this year.

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  • TECH SUPPORT: Best Costume Design — Volume I

    Costume design in many ways represents much about the Oscars: glitz, glamor, beauty. But obviously threads do much more than make movie stars look attractive.  They build character, set mood, define period and serve as a defining design aspect of a film.

    Like art direction, the nominees for here overwhelmingly fall into one of two categories: period or fantasy. Indeed, when two contemporary films (“The Queen” and “The Devil Wears Prada”) were nominated in 2006, it was a rare occasion.

    It’s not an exact science, but while a fantasy film is almost always nominated every year, there is usually only one as four films tend to be period. It also should be noted that recent winners in the category have all highlighted British or French royalty and high society.

    Being a Best Picture contender does not hurt with this branch (same with any), but the branch also does a great deal of thinking for itself. Last year, for instance, both “Bright Star” and “Coco Before Chanel” managed nominations here, the only ones for their respective films. In the last four years, four other films (“Curse of the Golden Flower,” “Marie Antoinette,” “Across the Universe” and “Australia”) have also managed the feat, rare for crafts categories.

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  • TECH SUPPORT: Best Cinematography — Volume I

    Of the so-called “tech” categories, Best Cinematography is one of the most popular, certainly for me. The invention of the camera took us beyond radio and literature and set modern art on a path aimed toward the moving picture, and this field recognizes those behind the lens.

    Cinematography obviously has a massive impact on a film, everything unfolding within a frame and any nuance specific to the tone, atmosphere and theme of the piece.  It is unimaginable to think of a good movie not having a good Director of Photography (DP).

    “Pretty” films with beautiful landscapes and memorable, postcard-like shots shots are a regularity (and tend to win).  But war films also show up regularly.  And being a Best Picture contender never hurts. Innovative lighting that creates unique mood is frequently rewarded, at least with nominations, as well.

    While this branch does at times play favorites (Robert Richardson and Roger Deakins being the most notable), it always tends to find room for one, two or three first-time nominees every year. From this vantage point, I’m curious who they will be because, the way I see it, most of the obvious contenders have been nominated before.

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  • OFF THE CARPET: ‘Inception’ to the rule?

    As I look over the last week of activity, believe me, I’m as over-inundated with “Inception” talk as the next guy. But it is the film that captured a collective imagination throughout the country this weekend and, therefore, it has been a mainstay on the front page.

    I purposely held the latest Oscar column until today because I wanted to see how profound its release would truly be. I wanted to know what kind of a mark it would make at the box office, how the masses would react, how the critics would leverage it this way or that. And I haven’t come up with anything more or less definitive, in my mind, than what I’ve already mapped out.

    In the world of Oscar, there might just be three Best Picture nominees already in the marketplace, as Nathaniel Rogers shrewdly noted in a recent column. That’s actually kind of a miracle this early in the season. But it’s also interesting to note that each film — “Toy Story 3,” “The Kids Are All Right” and “Inception” — probably needed the extra five slots to make it in (assuming they all do get in).

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  • Now what?

    With “Inception” very nearly upon us, those of you who have been salivating over Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster for months on end will need to find something else to look forward to. Call it waiting withdrawal, if you will.

    Happily, the good folks of In Review Online have compiled a handy list of their 25 most anticipated films due in the latter half of 2010 (or later, depending on the US distribution situation). Thanks mostly to my festival exploits of the past year, I’ve already seen nine of them, most of them well worth waiting for — and the InRO editors were kind enough to invite me to write up my favorite film of the year thus far, Sylvain Chomet’s “The Illusionist,” for the list:

    If seven years seems like a long time to have waited for a feature-length follow-up to French animator Sylvain Chomet’s cheerfully batty “The Triplets of Belleville,” the intricacy of the hand-drawn imagery on display in “The Illusionist” should put you in a forgiving mood. (Beauty shouldn’t be rushed, as Heidi Montag could well tell you.) It’s been some time since we’ve heard from Jacques Tati, too, though his entirely reasonable excuse is that he’s been dead for 27 years.

    Read the rest, and their thoughts on 24 other films, here. No prizes for guessing their (and everyone else’s) #1.

  • ‘Tree of Life’ alone in Apparition stable

    Things looked so upbeat for fledgling distribution outfit Apparition when they started out last year. Masterminded by former Picturehouse head Bob Berney, the company was christened with the acquisition of one of 2009’s best films, Jane Campion’s “Bright Star.” A classy roster of titles followed, including “The Young Victoria,” “Fair Game,” “The Runaways” and, most eagerly awaited of all, Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life.”

    They didn’t quite know what to do with everything they had — “Bright Star” was unfortunately buried by ill-thought scheduling and idle marketing — but they did manage to eke out an Oscar win for “Victoria” before their first birthday, and also nabbed one of the starrier titles at this year’s Sundance fest: the Kristen Stewart and James Gandolfini starrer “Welcome to the Rileys.” Not bad going, particularly in the current indie climate.

    How quickly things change in Hollywood. Just before Cannes, Berney caught industry watchers off-guard by pulling out of Apparition, and the company has been reeling from the shock ever since. Anne Thompson reports that co-founder Bill Pohlad has taken the drastic measure of shutting down their New York office and nearly halving the staff.

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  • AMPAS will vote on expanding visual effects category to five

    Expansion is the thing these days.  And after last year’s shift from five Best Picture nominees to 10, it’s looking like the wheels are in motion to finally cough up another two slots in the category of Best Visual Effects, a move I think many will agree is a long time coming.

    But we’re not there yet, mind you.  Variety’s David Cohen reports that the VFX branch’s executive committee voted “yay” on the proposal and that it now must be approved by the Academy’s Awards Rules Committee.  If they’re on board, we get five.

    Cohen tries to use the old “move would help the Oscars’ efforts to bring popular pics to the show” line, but we all know Best Visual Effects is generally a haven for critically dismissed cotton candy.  Still, given the rise of effects wizardry over the years, a limited slate of three has left more than a few eyebrow-raising bridesmaids.  I’m fully in favor of this and hope it passes.  But cui bono?

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  • Cannes official selection unveiled, includes Leigh, Iñárritu

    Okay, before you ask, “The Tree of Life” is reportedly not ready — though the Cannes selection has apparently seen a cut, so never say never. Four slots in the competition lineup have yet to be filled.

    That aside, many of the expected names are present and correct, including former Cannes champs Leigh, Kiarostami, Mikhalkov, Tavernier, Weerasethakul and González Iñárritu. (Beefing up the veteran auteur quotient, Jean-Luc Godard shows up in the very appetizing Un Certain Regard strand, as does 101 year-old Manoel de Oliveira.)

    On paper — which is all we have at the moment, after all — it’s the first two of the aforementioned directors that I’m most excited to see in competition: “Another Year” will mark Leigh’s first trip to Croisette since the undervalued “All or Nothing” in 2002, and boasts the almost unfeasibly Leigh-ian cast of Imelda Staunton, Jim Broadbent, Phil Davis and Lesley Manville.

    Meanwhile, Kiarostami’s “Certified Copy” — a romantic drama starring Juliette Binoche, and the director’s first film to be shot outside his native Iran — has had me curious for the better part of two years now. I sensed this might be afoot when Binoche was revealed as the official face of this year’s festival.

    (More thoughts, and a complete list of films in the official selection, after the cut.)

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  • Hurry, only 319 days until…

    We have less than a month left until Cannes likely triggers the first mass Oscar chatter of the year. (More so if Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life” is included in tomorrow’s Official Selection announcement.) These are precious days, then … enjoy them while they last.

    Of course, if my “precious” is your “miserable,” and you’ve spent the last five weeks suffering Oscar-talk withdrawal, the indefatigable Nathaniel Rogers over at The Film Experience has your fix. You’ll remember that Kris decided against doing year-in-advance nomination predictions this year, which makes this very thorough Oscar forecast the first of its kind I’ve seen this year.

    Needless to say, a hefty pinch of salt is required at this foetal stage in the competition — Nathaniel himself headlines his predictions with the caveat “for fun and discussion.” Still, his lists raise some interesting possibilities: most notably, a Best Picture slate with a very different populist-specialist balance to last year’s ten.

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  • 1/6 Oscarweb Round-up

    Sam Mendes• Sam Mendes could clearly use a paycheck, signs up for the new Bond. [Heat Vision]

    • Navigating the season in “For Your Consideration” ads. [Vulture]

    • Rodrigo Perez points out some buried points in another outlet’s coverage, namely that Apparition is aiming for a Cannes bow for Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life.” [The Playlist]

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  • My most anticipated films of 2010

    InceptionAnnually I put together a hasty list of my most anticipated films of the New Year on January 1.  I got rid of the pomp and circumstance around the perennial post a while back and just stuck with the list.  But a couple of things…

    I’m not sure if Kevin Macdonald’s “The Eagle of the Ninth” will make it to theaters in 2010, but that would definitely be a consideration.  And it’s difficult not to be interested in product from major filmmakers like Martin Scorsese, David Fincher, Peter Weir and James L. Brooks, but, alas, they didn’t speak up for me when putting this together.

    Typically, the blockbusters will show up in numbers on something like this, because for me, that’s what I tend to anticipate.  When art seems to be skillfully married to commerce (like my #1 selection — which is most people’s #1 selection), all the better.  But it’s tough to really know what the art house product could have in store until we’re in the thick of the year.

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  • Truer words

    Q'Orianka Kilcher and Colin Farrell in The New WorldFrom Nick Davis’s appreciation of Terrence Malick’s “The New World,” tucked within his marvelous larger appreciation of 2006:

    Emmanuel Lubezki, a craftsman who needs no assistance from anybody, conducts his own jaw-dropping symphony of 100% natural-source lighting. I’d rank it up there with the three or four most impressive technical accomplishments I witnessed over the course of the decade. I’m just sad that Lubezki has personally assassinated the entire families of so many Oscar voters. Or, I’m sorry, do you have another theory as to why he still hasn’t won?

    (Sidebar: Remember that brief window of hope when it looked like “The Tree of Life” might come out in 2009? What a happy time that was.)

  • TECH SUPPORT: Best Original Score — Volume II

    (from left) Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal in BrothersSome categories haven’t had that much renewal since I last reviewed them. Best Original Score is an exception. Principally, this is because the category is very difficult to judge before hearing the scores, not to mention last minute personnel changes (as composers always seem to be the most disposable members of film crews).

    As I said last time, the music branch, though it has opened up to newbies slightly in recent years, is notoriously one of AMPAS’s most insular branches. Best Picture nominees tend to do reasonably well, but the category also tends to award “loud” music, and as of late, world music has been a favorite.

    One thing that has not changed, in my opinion, is that Michael Giacchino continues to lead this category for his score for Pixar’s “Up.” Giacchino was nominated two years ago for “Ratatouille” and again composed a soundtrack which was sad, joyous and suspenseful. The film is likely headed towards a Best Picture nomination and I expect Giacchino to show up as well.

    At the same time, I also can’t help but wonder if Giacchino maybe, just maybe, could pull off a double nomination this year for his compositions on J. J. Abrams’s “Star Trek.” The music was quite original and bombastic.  And, of course, the film a huge hit. I don’t see a lot of surefire nominees in this category, so this could be a place where it finds a home.

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  • Alexandre Desplat: Hollywood’s most prolific composer

    A quick glance at Alexandre Desplat’s 2009 resume reveals a whopping seven titles.  That’s pretty prolific for someone who offers up quality work each and every time out, rather than coasting on simplicity like a few other hard-working film music composers out there.  This weekend alone there are two films bearing Desplat’s musical signature — “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” and “Fantastic Mr. Fox” — and he already has a few lingering entries on screen in “Julie & Julia” and “Coco Before Chanel.”

    Jacques Audiard’s “A Prophet” lands on US screens in February, though it looks to figure in this year’s foreign film Oscar race, while perhaps the most anticipated film of Desplat’s upcoming projects is Terrence Malick’s “Tree of Life.” Desplat recently addressed an audience at the 50th Thessaloniki International Film Festival about working with Malick on the film:

    Meanwhile, as part of Variety’s Eye on the Oscars coverage (at a spiffy, newly designed Award Central page), Jon Burlingame talks with Desplat about the volume of work he’s been cranking out as of late.

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