In Contention

Tag: Viggo Mortensen

  • TORONTO: ‘The Road,’ ‘Bad Lieutenant,’ ‘Chloe’

    Chloe(Please note, as opposed to Kris and Guy, I tend to grade films on a 5-star scale.)

    Loads to catch up on today and some interviews still to write up. First off, I have to confess that I disagree with Kris’s review of “The Road,” respectfully of course, and I think I have a reason why I might have viewed and appreciated the film in a very different light than he.  I also saw Werner Herzog’s “The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans,” which features a hugely entertaining performance from Nicolas Cage, and the latest from Atom Egoyan, “Chloe,” which features a splendid performance from Amanda Seyfreid.

    Let’s dig in…

    “The Road” (****)

    This was a dark and unsettling film based on the brilliant book by Cormac McCarthy about a father (Viggo Mortensen) and son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) journeying to the south after the world has essentially seen its end of days. We are never really given a clear explanation as to what happened, but the vague description we do get sounds like nuclear war finally came, and the planet is dying a slow death.  Trees are dead, there is nothing alive or growing anymore, the world is a gray and dreary place, as though hell had suddenly burst forth from the bowels of the earth.  The south brings warmer weather, which is what the man and his son need, he believes, to survive, and survivial is what the film is about.

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  • VENICE: Who will take the gold … and who should

    The Golden Lion at the Venice Film FestivalAnd so it comes to this. Ten days of blazing sunshine, free-flowing Prosecco, occasionally “Brazil”-style administration and – oh, right – a few films too, will come to a head tonight as Ang Lee and his merry band of jurors will name the supposed best of the fest.

    I’ve written before about the near-futility of predicting festival awards. Unlike the Oscars, the voting body is different every time, so you’re never quite sure what they’re looking for. We persist because it’s fun, thought it actually becomes more difficult when you’ve seen most of the films in question, as personal reservations (or fondnesses) keep getting in the way.

    If I were back in London, for example, I’d be more open to the whispers that Fatih Akin’s cheery but slight crowdpleaser “Soul Kitchen” is a serious contender for the Golden Lion, effectively serving Marco Müller’s more populist programming direction; having actually seen the film, my gut reaction is more in the “you’ve got to be kidding me” vein.

    If no clear-cut frontrunner has emerged from this year’s lineup, it’s because no film has united critical opinion and mainstream media interest the way “Brokeback” or last year’s champ “The Wrestler” did. Some are plumping for Michael Moore, though that would seem a bit old-hat five years after Cannes laurelled “Fahrenheit 9/11.”

    (More thoughts, and my will win/should win picks, after the cut.)

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  • Viggo Mortensen on working with Robert Duvall in ‘The Road’

    Robert Duvall in The RoadI spoke briefly with Viggo Mortensen at the Telluride film fest over the weekend, fresh off a tribute at the Palm Theater the night before and being gracious as ever with his time.  The last time we spoke was four years ago for “A History of Violence” and as ever, he’s a soft spoken guy who can fill a digital recorder with wall-to-wall perspective.  Sometimes you just feel guilty interjecting with a question.

    But something I had to ask Mortensen concerned my favorite scene from “The Road,” a back-and-forth with Robert Duvall that could have been more but nevertheless comes close to representing the best a story like this has to offer, I feel.

    The scene is in the book so it’s nothing much in the way of a spoiler.  The Man, The Child and the Old Man (the actual character names, for those unaware) sit by a campfire discussing, briefly, their lives before whatever calamity has struck their world.  Mortensen spoke with clear reverence for the opportunity to work with Duvall, as well as real joy for living and free-wheeling in the moment as a pair of actors working through a key scene.

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  • 9/9 Web Round-up

    Matt Damon in The Bourne Ultimatum• Roger Deakins, Alexandre Desplat and Colleen Atwood added to Hollywood film fest honorees. [Variety]

    • Matt Damon talks “Bourne 4.” [Empire]

    • Viggo Mortensen planning an early retirement after the release of “The Road?” [Cinema Blend]

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  • 9/8 Web Round-up

    Viggo Mortensen at the 36th annual Telluride Film Festival• John Hillcoat and Joe Penhall already looking for life after “The Road.” [Variety]

    • The “Slumdog” kids set to star opposite Anthony Hopkins? [PR Inside]

    • Eugene Hernandez reports from the Telluride tribute to Viggo Mortensen. [indieWIRE]

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  • Press conference revelation of the day

    Brace yourselves, folks … here’s something you never saw coming. In this afternoon’s press conference for her new film “I Am Love” (reviewed here), Tilda Swinton stated that one of the films that most inspires her is Nicolas Roeg’s “The Man Who Fell to Earth.” I mean, who saw that one coming?

    David Bowie in The Man Who Fell to EarthTilda Swinton

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  • SHORT TAKE: “The Road” (**1/2)

    The RoadTelluride Film Festival

    There is a moment maybe three quarters into John Hillcoat’s “The Road” when it becomes clear that atmosphere may have been preferred over characterization: Viggo Mortensen’s character — known simply as “The Man” in Cormac McCarthy’s original fiction and nameless here — sits by a fire, wary of a cataracts-ridden old-timer (Robert Duvall) who couldn’t defend himself, much less harm a child.

    Rather than soak in the opportunity to finally, for the first time in who knows how many years, have a simple discussion about life, sons, the world, whatever, he holds a steady, paranoid gaze on the man, protective of his boy (Kodi Scott-McPhee), the idea of The Man’s deteriorating sense of humanity hammered home precisely.

    It’s an element of the film’s thematic conceit, to be sure, one present in the book (though not as embossed), but it comes at the expense of what would be natural.  Of course, “The Road,” both on the page and on the screen, is meant as symbolism in more than a few instances, but what may have worked in one’s mind, reading McCarthy’s easy-going prose, has been lost in translation here.

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  • VENICE: ‘The Road,’ ‘Life During Wartime,’ ‘Great Directors’

    Ciaran Hinds in Life During WartimeSorry to duck out there for the whole morning — a combination of wireless misbehavior and delayed screenings has played havoc with my planned writing time. As a festival, Venice has multiple charms, but smooth organization is not among them.

    This morning’s glitch-bedeviled  screening of Todd Solondz’s “Life During Wartime” is a case in point: after starting 20 minutes late (leaving journalists waiting outside in sunstroke-inducing heat), the projector broke down during the opening credits. A second quarter-hour delay followed,  only for the film to restart with severely mistimed Italian subtitles — the vocal protests from Italian audience members drowning out the dialogue in the film’s opening scenes. Oh, well.

    Anyway, enough kvetching and on to the movies.

    Kris will have a more detailed take on “The Road” (**1/2) up later today, but given that it’s one of the Lido’s biggest drawcards, I feel it necessary to take a moment to discuss the film, which seems to have left several journalists I’ve spoken to disappointed, or at least mildly befuddled — and with good reason.

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  • Great performers at their best

    Tom Cruise in MagnoliaAfter spending some time this summer watching some excellent films on DVD, I was inspired to write this piece about the great actors’ (living, with one exception) greatest performances.

    Narrowing it down to one each (brutal, believe me), I think have come up with a list of actors, young and old, that represents some of the finest talent working in film over the last 40 years, and selected the performance I believe each will be remembered for. This is obviously a subjective endeavor, so if you feel different, tell us why.

    Let’s dive in…

    Jack Nicholson
    Jack is not often given the credit for being the brilliant actor he is because we far too often expect him to be “just Jack.” But when he puts his actor’s hat on there simply may not be a greater actor in film history. For me he was never better than he was as Randall Patrick McMurphy in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” which is a breathtaking piece of work. Watch him when he’s not speaking and see the emotion he packs into this astonishing piece of acting.

    Meryl Streep
    There is no question here for me. As concentration camp survivor Sophie in “Sophie’s Choice,” Streep gave not only her best performance, but the single finest performance ever given by a woman, in my view. That terrifying silent scream paralyzes the viewer with heartache and dare I say, shame. Sophie may have survived the camp, but she walks through her life more dead than alive because her soul was left behind and somehow Streep conveys that to the audience.

    Robert Duvall
    This is a tough call because Duvall was so good in “Apocalypse Now,” but I think his best work was in “The Apostle” as a preacher challenged by his own flaws and forced to atone for his sins. A volcanic performance in which Duvall never seems to stop moving or speaking.

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  • Venice lineup includes ‘The Road,’ ‘Capitalism: A Love Story’

    Venice Film Festival(UPDATE: For whatever reason, my initial source failed to mention that George A. Romero’s latest zombie opus, “Survival of the Dead,” is also in competition.)

    In years past, the Venice Film Festival has unveiled several titles that went on to figure significantly in the awards season ahead — “Brokeback Mountain,”The Queen,” “Far From Heaven” and “Vera Drake” all began their journeys with major wins on the Venetian Lido. Last year alone gifted us with “The Wrestler,” “Rachel Getting Married” and this summer’s hot property, “The Hurt Locker.”

    However, looking down the list of list of titles in competition at this year’s fest, it’s hard to tell if there are any selections that could go a similar distance.

    As usual for the festival, it’s a Euro-loaded menu — and a tasty one at that, featuring new offerings from the likes of Claire Denis, Fatih Akin and Jacques Rivette — while, as with Cannes this year, the U.S. contingent is on the small side. (There is, incidentally, one “surprise film” film in competition, so the speculation is not yet over.)

    Now is as good a time as any to reveal that I have an invested interest in the lineup, as I’m attending the festival for the first time, so we’ll be bringing you all the Venice news and reviews first-hand for a change.

    (More details, and a full list of films in competition, after the cut.)

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  • PAGE TO SCREEN: “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy

    The RoadWe’re working from the outside in on this one, folks. You may recall that Brian Kinsley offered a thorough examination of Joe Penhall’s “The Road” screenplay for this column back in September last year, which already addressed many of the challenges inherent in this particular adaptation.

    However, in keeping with Page to Screen’s return to discussing source material rather than scripts – and with John Hillcoat’s film on a lot of people’s minds this week – I thought it a good time to take another look at Cormac McCarthy’s much-garlanded novel. I should specify that I have neither read Penhall’s adaptation nor seen the film; the novel is the only text with which I am engaging at this point.

    It seems only fair to start with a blunt, and admittedly very guilty, confession: I don’t very much like McCarthy’s novel.

    Before the irate attack begins, let me clarify that this statement is not in any intended as a challenge to “The Road’s” literary worth, much less its potential for successful filmmaking. It is, in its paradoxical construction of loose, virtual shaggy-dog-style narrative and terse, urgent prose, an indisputably awe-inspiring novel, one that at once gazes into the back-to-back mirrors of who we are and who we will be, and arrives at some discomfitingly vivid prophecies in the process.

    I commend McCarthy’s avoidance of didacticism and rationalisation: the novel’s grim, apocalyptic future is presented as a terrifying inevitability rather than a cautionary allegory, offering no concrete indication of what led humanity to the long-desecrated point at which the narrative begins.

    That may not make the novel as ideologically constructive as the kind of “it takes a village” finger-pointing that colors so many other literary and cinematic warnings of man’s imminent self-destruction – the film, when it finally arrives, would surely make for an interesting double-feature with Andrew Stanton’s “WALL-E” – but it is certainly a much more jolting, unnerving experience for it.

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  • Esquire calls ‘The Road’ the year’s ‘most important movie’

    (left to right) Kodi Smith-McPhee and Viggo Mortensen in The RoadWe’ve certainly waited a while to get any substantial word on “The Road,” not least since it got pushed back by an entire year to ease the pressure of post-production. John Hillcoat’s film screened in unfinished form late last year, provoking a scattering of commentary — the Film Experience’s Nathaniel Rogers offered some interesting thoughts, though sensibly held off on any detailed critique — but the film has remained something of a mystery.

    Now, amid an interesting profile of the film, Esquire magazine’s Tom Chiarella has gone on the record as saying it’s good — very good indeed. Though he admits the film is a harrowing sit (as it well should be) that you won’t necessarily want to endure more than once, he’s full of admiration for the film as a fundamental piece of storytelling:

    The Road is no tease. It is a brilliantly directed adaptation of a beloved novel, a delicate and anachronistically loving look at the immodest and brutish end of us all. You want them to get there, you want them to get there, you want them to get there — and yet you do not want it, any of it, to end.

    You should see it for the simplest of reasons: Because it is a good story. Not because it may be important. Not because it is unforgettable, unyielding. Not because it horrifies. Not because the score is creepily spiritual. Not because it is littered with small lines of dialogue you will remember later. Not because it contains warnings against our own demise. All of that is so. Don’t see it just because you loved the book. The movie stands alone.

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  • ‘The Road’ gets a release date

    (from left) Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Scott-McPhee in The RoadJohn Hillcoat’s adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” has been a big question mark for film-goers ever since it was yanked from the 2008 awards season.  I heard at the time (second hand) that the film was in disarray and needed to be “completely taken apart.”  Brian Kinsley, you may recall, reviewed the screenplay (essentially a cut-and-paste job) for us back in September.

    Whatever needed to happen seems to have happened as I’ve been hearing great things here and there, mainly for Viggo Mortensen’s lead performance.  And now, according to The Weinstein Company’s website, the film has finally nailed down a 2009 release date for the film: October 16.

    This is great positioning if TWC/Dimension is to take the genre film route with marketing, and from what I’ve heard, that would be the smart play.  Two weeks before Halloween and decent exposure in the middle of the awards season gives the studio some leverage on where to take it.  Audience and especially critical approval will tell the tale soon enough.

    In case you missed it, Guy wrote up a recently revealed gallery of conceptual art work for the film earlier this week.  I’m most looking forward to Nick Cave’s work with Warren Ellis on the film’s score, as their collaboration on “The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford” in 2007 was absolute magic.  Cave talked about his work in the film industry with the LA Times last year.

  • OFF THE CARPET: Handicapping 2009 a year in advance!?

    Ewan McGregor and Hilary Swank in AmeliaAhh.  The dust is settling.  And on the horizon, just visible through the mist and waiting to drive us all up the wall once again: the 2009 Oscar season.

    I’ve been writing this year-in-advance column for probably six years now, and I always look forward to gazing ahead.  No one dives in so pathetically deep this far out as yours truly, but in exchange for not having a life for the past few months, I get to unload this burden the day after our annual season’s peak and forget about little gold men entirely for a few months.

    It’s quite liberating.

    The most interesting thing about the season to come, from my vantage point, is the lack of a dreaded “frontrunner status” for any of the contenders.  Some might say Clint Eastwood’s Nelson Mandela project (which is not called “The Human Factor,” mind you — the director says the film is currently untitled and is based on John Carlin’s book “Playing the Enemy”).

    Others might say Rob Marshall’s “Nine” (coming from a money-tight company hoping to avoid echoes of “Memoirs of a Geisha”).  But I don’t see a “Geisha” from here, or a “Charlie Wilson’s War,” expected heavies waiting to miss the mark.  The field is curiously flat, and as a result, excitingly broad.

    Let’s get to it, shall we?

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  • 11/2 Oscarweb Round-up

    James Franco• After a third go, Jeffrey Wells is still in the tank for “Che,” claiming that you have to do some homework on the subject before coming into the film. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

    • Steven Zeitchik writes up the Oscar season from the most played-out perspective in the book: biopics. [The Hollywood Reporter]

    • Chrissey Iley chats it up with Leonardo CiCaprio. [The Guardian]

    • Meanwhile, Elizabeth Day goes toe-to-toe with Clint Eastwood. [The Guardian]

    • Michael Ordoña is a busy bee this weekend, first tackling a one-on-one with Viggo Mortensen… [Los Angeles Times]

    • …then chatting with Edward Zwick about his new film “Defiance.” [Los Angeles Times]

    • Sam Adams, meanwhile, talks to “Milk” star James Franco. [Los Angeles Times]

    • The stars share their thoughts on the 2008 election. [Premiere]

  • ‘The Road’ potentially bumped to 2009

    Viggo Mortensen in The RoadI had heard earlier this week that John Hillcoat’s “The Road” might be pushed to 2009, but was sworn to secrecy.  Well, Dave Karger is talking about it now, so I guess it’s fair game.

    The film isn’t finished (not that that has stopped The Weinstein Company from releasing a film in 2008), but Karger nails it: Viggo Mortensen is the real loser here.  A few weeks back, he seemed to be a formidable contender with three big films in the pipeline.  With lukewarm receptions for “Appaloosa” and “Good” dousing spirits for those poerformances, a shove to 2009 for “The Road” would likely eliminate him altogether.

    Ah, the ever-shifting nature of an Oscar season.

  • Bad…ass…

    (from left) Viggo Mortensen and Ed Harris

    From yesterday’s feature with Viggo Mortensen and Ed Harris at USA Today.  I think Ed is literally staring through my soul.

    Oh, and an FYI, keep an eye out later today for our interview with Jeff Beal, composer of “Appaloosa.”  Lots to chew on there from a nice 45-minute discussion last week.

  • 10/3 Oscarweb Round-up

    WALL-E• A clip from “Changeling.” [Oscar Watch]

    • And another. [The Envelope]

    • Or, if you prefer, the first five minutes of “Blindness.” [Yahoo! Movies]

    • David Poland breaks the news that “Che” will get its U.S. debut at AFI Fest here in Los Angeles — at the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. [The Hot Blog]

    • Tom O’Neil makes it clear that “Elegy” screeners only went to the AMPAS acting branch. [Gold Derby]

    • Rounding up the 50 greatest animated films of all time.  Further into the tank for “WALL-E.” [Rotten Tomatoes]

    • Famous cameos.  I heart the first one on the list. [The Independent]

    • David Thompson chats it up with “Burn After Reading” star Tilda Swinton. [The Guardian]

    • Has Dirty Harry become anti-cop? [The Big Picture]

    • Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen continue to make the rounds on “Appaloosa.” [USA Today]

    • Emily Parker goes head-to-head with a thoughtful Fernando Meirelles. [Wall Street Journal]

    • Glenn Kenny doesn’t care about what you don’t care about. [Some Came Running]

    • The Big Apple’s finest thespians. [New York Magazine]