Getting Around to Argo... Again

With Ben Affleck's Argo poised to take the best picture Oscar home, I decided to give it another go. If you've read this blog during the past year, you know that this film was on my radar long before it came out and I was very anxious about it because of the Iranian connection and the event it covers. I even reviewed the trailer!

I also reviewed the film after its release, when I was disappointed by its lack of cogent politics but impressed by its seamless production values. Today, in my piece at The Film Experience, I've discussed the reasons, merited and unmerited, for the film's success on the awards circuit and my feelings about it. Be sure to check it out here.

Also, if you look to the sidebar on the right, you'll see a new addition under 'The Film Experience by Nathaniel Rogers' that takes you directly to my posts on his website.

SAG Ensemble Predictions and Wishlist

My last piece over at The Film Experience is ten days old now but I completely forgot to link to it here. As the title suggests, it's my predictions for SAG's ensemble award which will be announced later this week, and a wishlist of what films I would like to see nominated.

Head over and join in with your own predictions.

Oscar Horrors: Aliens

Oscar Horrors, Nathaniel Rogers's amazing series on horror films nominated by the Academy, wrapped up yesterday as October ended. I contributed to the series twice, the first of which I already linked to. (Dogtooth, nominated for Best Foreign Language Film)

My second column was about the Oscar-winning Visual Effects of James Cameron's Aliens. It's a prime example of nuts and bolts effects, mostly achieved through mechanics and in-camera editing techniques. Have a read and chime in with your thoughts!

Short Take: The Place Beyond the Pines

Grade: A-

* A shorter version of this review was originally posted at The Film Experience during TIFF12.

Derek Cianfrance's follow-up to his marriage drama Blue Valentine is a three-part genre piece about a stunt motorcycle rider (Ryan Gosling) who enters a life of crime when he realizes that a short fling in the past with Romina (Eva Mendes) has resulted in a son. When a young cop (Bradley Cooper) gets involved with his case, his criminal activities take an abrupt turn.

Fans of Cianfrance's previous film and also those who were expecting "Drive redux" based on the minimal promotional material available are in for a surprise, though in my case the surprise was a very happy one. This robust story of complex morality and corruption is told with sensitivity and gravitas. It is intermittently a white-knuckle action film that keeps you squirming on the edge of your seat and a dense drama of Shakespearean gravity that explores father-son relationships. Think of it as a crime thriller with the emotional punch of Blue Valentine.

Gosling gives yet another superbly intense performance, and Cooper and Dane DeHaan steal the show with their surprising depth. Ultimately, though, the star of the show is cinematographer Sean Bobbit, whose graceful work in the film's more intimate moments makes for an interesting juxtaposition to the Grand Prix-inspired dynamism of its action-packed first half.

Given the presence of two major Hollywood stars and the potential to market the hell out of the genre elements, The Place beyond the Pines could become a big financial hit, even though it might be too far out of the comfort zone of awards bodies for recognition.

TIFF Diary, Part 2: Interviewing William H. Macy

One of the highlights of this year's festival for me was The Sessions, not just the film itself, which is heartwarming and funny, but the fact that I got to interview its director Ben Lewin and one of its cast members, William H. Macy. Macy's one of my favourite charcter actors so it was quite an experience getting to meet him in person. I also attended the film's reception at Soho House, met some amazing people and had a banging time.
Over at The Film Experience, I've posted my review of the film and my interview with Mr. Macy, which covers everything from priesthood to sex to Paul Thomas Anderson. Have a read and chime in with your thoughts.

TIFF Lineup...So Far

Nina Hoss in Barbara

The way I approach my ticket selection at TIFF every year is not to jump to films that I most want to see, but to first go for titles that I suspect will be sold out quicker. More often that not, there are some overlaps between these two sets of films, but just as often, my wish list includes films that go unnoticed for the first few days of ticket sales, allowing me to get to them once I've got the loftier titles out of the way. Although, as I've mentioned several times before here and on The Film Experience, the festival's biggest attractions usually aren't close to the top of my list. I came this close to being tempted by seeing The Master at the fest - for many people the experience of watching Boogie Nights is their best TIFF memory, though I think that's partly because Paul Thomas Anderson was more of a surprise package back then - but eventually I decided against it because of its pre-determined October 12th release in Toronto. I can always wait longer when there are other options at hand with no release date.

Ryan Gosling in The Place Beyond the Pines

Anyway, for now, there are ten films that I will watch for sure as I just finalized my ticket package. I'll be adding maybe another ten or so in the coming days and I'm hoping that my hunch that films like Ernest & Celestine, Like Someone in Love, The Central Park Five, Mea Maxima Culpa, The Suicide Shop, The Hunt, etc. will not sold out by Monday proves to be correct. I'd hate to miss out on any of those. We'll see. But you can look forward to my coverage of all of this at The Film Experience, where since last year, Nathaniel has been nice enough to invite me as his Toronto correspondent.

Christian Mungiu's Beyond the Hills

In the order of their screening dates:
The Place beyond the Pines,  At Any Price, Berberian Sound Studio, Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang, Lore, Beyond the Hills, Barbara, Dormant Beauty, What Maisie Knew, To the Wonder

Let TIFF Begin...

I'm happy to announce that for the second year in a row, Nathaniel Rogers of The Film Experience has given me his space to cover the Toronto International Film Festival. I'm understandably overjoyed. It's one thing to be able to attend the festival on a yearly basis but getting to cover it for an audience far larger than my parents is an entirely different thing. 

I've started my coverage with a preview of the films I'm most excited for, or rather, the smaller titles that I'm hoping prove to be real gems. After all, my favourite film of the festival, and the whole year actually, was one that had not been on my radar but caught me by surprise on the last day of the fest.

I will be back with lots more during September, but for now, head over to The Film Experience and help me with your suggestions. What else should I be looking forward to. 

Dennis Quaid in Ramin Bahrani's At Any Price

Hit me with a dream role: Buster Keaton in Sherlock, Jr.

When Nathaniel assigned us Sherlock, Jr. for this week’s edition of Hit Me with Your Best Shot, the first thought I had before rewatching the film was that my favourite shot would end up being one with Buster Keaton’s face front and center. For, with the sole exception of Maria Falconetti, Keaton is the only actor whose face always registers with the exact same impression in my mind upon hearing his name: the perfect contours of his brows and lips, the expressionless stare that conveys ennui, resignation, innocence and hope despite itself. 

It was a surprise, then, to find an entirely different shot lingering with me after watching the film last night. In the film's dream sequence of sorts – which lasts for more than half the film's duration – Keaton, who plays a theatre projectionist and an aspiring detective, enters the world of the film he’s projecting, replaces the characters with those from his own life, and materializes his ideals by becoming the world’s greatest detective Sherlock, Jr. 

In the opening of this part of the film, the projectionist has an out of body experience as he falls asleep and enters his dream. And I think this long take speaks to the powers of Keaton both as a great director and a superb actor. While his framing sits us with the audience in the theatre and Keaton himself up there by the screen, his comic physicality dominates the entire sequence. Like the projectionist, we’re in awe of the magic of the cinema as we watch a story unravel on the big screen. Like him, we’ve all wanted be the hero of our own film. We’ve replaced a character with ourselves and lived their lives, or projected our ideals onto an imaginary story. Here, while Keaton the director makes us long for our part in the film, Keaton the actor does what he does best. This is him at the peak of his slapstick powers, running and chasing and falling with his clumsy gestures and naiveté, going after his dream girl and making us laugh along the way. 

 

Food Dreamin'

*This post is part of Nathaniel's Hit Me With Your Best Shot series. 

To be perfectly honest, How to Marry a Millionaire doesn’t really go to the top of the list of films I’ve watched for this series. It’s because of its stars - particularly Monroe who’s as charming, sexy, and funny as she’s ever been - that the film is worth watching at all today. 

Visually, the film is a bit of mixed bag with gorgeous mise-en-scene that doesn’t quite come off right. It seems specially unfair to criticise a film that pioneered a new era in cinematography in its own way, but what we see on the screen is, inevitably, more of an early experiment than a satisfying showcase. 

Thematically, too, the film doesn’t resonate so much with a 21^st century audience; its premise and its jokes feel equally outdated. I'm not saying there isn't enough to make it worthwhile, just that Nathaniel has really set the bar high with his choices recently.

When it came to choosing my favourite shot, I found myself undecided between two options. The first was to pick from a couple of scenes that highlight the costumes – one of the film’s strong suits.* The second was going for a silly laugh and this is the one I opted for.

Early in the film, when the three leading ladies have just met their potential husbands, each of them dreams in her sleep about the luxury that marriage can bring to her life. Schatze (Bacall) imagines the man’s oil refineries and cattle farms and all the jewelry she can buy.  Pola (Monroe) sees herself flying a golden plane and receiving exotic gifts from Arabia. Loco (Grable) sees this.

Silly, really, but this is the shot that made me laugh the loudest. It’s what we watch comedies for, right? Plus, that meal does look pretty damn delicious.

* Tim has selected one of those shots for his post. That his choice is also one of my favourites is par for the course.

Hit Me With Your Best Shot: The Royal Tenenbaums

*This post is part of Nathaniel’s Hit Me With Your Best Shot Series at The Film Experience and contains SPOILERS.

One of the things I really appreciate about Wes Anderson’s films is their distinctive visual identity. I admit upfront that I’m not his biggest fan; I’ve always found his work to lack an emotional punch, though his last two films – Fantastic Mr. Fox and Moonrise Kingdom – have shown significant improvement in that department. But irrespective of what one thinks of his films, I’d argue that all it takes is looking at a single frame from any of them to recognize the man behind the camera. With dioramic settings, flattened central compositions, costumes perfectly coordinated with the decoration and brightly saturated colours, Anderson has created an aesthetic character for his work that belongs only to him.

The Royal Tenenbaums, one of Anderson’s stronger films, is filled with such delicious images. I could have chosen any of the shots featuring the identically clothed Ari and Uzi for their sheer comic value, or any of the ones featuring a desolate Gwyneth Paltrow with a cigarette in her hand. In the end, the shot I found myself drawn to the most was the one that moved me the most.

Richie (Luke Wilson), former tennis professional who’s heartbroken ever since his adopted sister and love interest married another man, enters the bathroom. He stands in front of the mirror and cuts, first, his long hair, then his beard, and then his wrists. Though Wilson’s dialogue portends what’s about to happen, the outcome still comes as a shock both because of its graphic nature and because in a film with generally manufactured emotions, it feels uncharacteristically, intensely real.

Road to Perdition's Best (Gun)Shot

*This post is part of Nathaniel’s Hit Me with YourBest Shot series and contains GRAPHIC IMAGES.

I’ve always thought Sam Mendes’ second feature doesn’t get as much credit as it deserves. There is so much to admire, from performances that transcend the characters they inhabit to a story that, while never fully exploring its potential, manages to dig deeper than the machinations of the crimes at its centre. But among all the film’s powers, legendary cinematographer Conrad Hall’s Oscar-winning work takes the cake. 

Choosing a favourite shot from such an abundance of options isn’t easy. Hall’s somberly lit atmosphere captures the era beautifully. His lens gives a poetic quality, however colourless, to the violence. It’s the type of cinematography that attracts attention to itself, but when it seems so fitting, so elegant, it isn’t something to complain about. 

As is often the case when I participate in this series, my favourite shot in the film is one that’s been etched in my memory from previous screenings. It’s from an early sequence in the film. Michael Sullivan Jr. has hidden in his father’s car to ride with him and Connor Rooney (Daniel Craig) to a meeting. As his father (Tom Hanks) and Connor confront their associate Finn McGovern (Ciaran Hinds) things get out of hand, Connor shoots Finn and Sullivan Sr. is forced to gun down his guards. Michael witnesses the proceedings through a hole in the wall. 

Finding Pixar, Ep. 2: Forgotten Treasure

Welcome back to our Pixar retrospective, in anticipation for Brave, the studio's upcoming feature. I've posted the new episode over at The Film Experience. Pixar's second film, A Bug's Life, is not discussed as frequently as the studio's other works for several possible reasons. It isn't usually ranked as highly as the Toy Story films, WALL-E or Finding Nemo either but it's still a marvelous film and in fact, one of their finer adventure pieces.

Anyway, head over there and chime in with your thoughts. If you missed the first episode of the series, you can catch up here.

A Look at Oscar's Live Action Short Nominees

In the same vein as the animated short nominees, which I reviewed here, I'm back at The Film Experience with a look at the year's best live action short nominees. Reviews and predictions for all five films await you! Have a read and chime in with your thoughts!

Ciaran Hinds in The Shore

A Look at Oscar's Animated Short Nominees

Over at The Film Experience, I've written my short reviews and final predictions on the Animated Short Film category at the Oscars. They're an interesting bunch, if a little on the underwhelming side. But there are at least three films in there completely worth your time. So head over and have a read, and if you have the chance to catch them in theatres, please do!

Pixar's La Luna

Does Oscar think women are better supporting performers?

While you may think that Steve Carell (Little Miss Sunshine), Tommy Lee Jones (No Country for Old Men) or James Franco (Milk) gave performances as strong as their Oscar-nominated co-stars, the academy looked the other way. Women, as it turns out, don't have to worry too much about their co-stars. For the fourth year in a row, two women from the same film (The Help) were nominated for best supporting actress.
Head over to The Film Experience, where I've looked at some statistics and pondered why this may be. And Nathaniel's added pie charts! Yayy!

Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer in The Help

The Documentary Dilemma

Ever since I saw Jose and Pilar, the Portuguese documentary film submitted for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, I've been wondering whether the voters in that branch have it in them to go there and nominate a documentary. The question's also been on my mind about the editing of Senna - which you might remember is one of my favourite films of the year - and Chris King's chances at getting a nomination in that category. 

I imagine the answer is a no in both cases, but anyway, over at The Film Experience, I've given the academy four suggestions to nominate docuementaries in non-documentary categories, because the more we talk about it, the likelier it is for voters to hear us! Have a read and join the conversation!

Scene from Pina, Germany's submission for best foreign film

In Case You Missed It...

...these are some awesome reads from this past week:

My favourite article was Robert Hamer's Top Ten People in Need of Biopics on Awards Circuit in honour of Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar. I haven't this film yet since virtually all the critics I trust have, to put it mildly, disliked it. But Robert's list is quite an intriguing one. All ten potential biopics are films I would welcome with open arms if they were well-executed like say McQueen's Hunger was (instead of a greatest hits type life story like I hear J. Edgar is.) My favourite story of the ten is Genie's but I'm not sure if anyone can pull that film off without ruining the mystique. My personal list would probably be different but I can't argue with his number one choice.

David Fincher by Annie Leibovitz

Nathaniel at The Film Experience directed me to this piece by Aaron Sorkin which is essentially a love letter to his The Social Network partner David Fincher. The letter's worth a read (duh! It's Sorkin!) and there are a few shots from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo that make me wanna have sex with the film.


The Young Turks discussed the recently released anti-meth commercials directed by Darren Aronofsky.  If you think Requiem for a Dream scared you away from doing drugs, wait to you get a hold of these. They're powerful,  terrifying and yet another example of Aronofsky's great talent as a director.
Besides, as Ana Kasparian puts it, this is a much more effective way of preventing drug use than having the government shake their fingers at kids and telling them it's illegal.

Finally, another J. Edgar related item in the form of Funny or Die's spoof of the film's trailer trailer. I'm actually quite a big fan of DiCaprio but he seems to be getting stuck in the same type of roles over and over again. I'm really happy he decided to take on Django Unchained. Given Tarantino's past with actors, I'm sure it will be a major addition to DiCaprio's resume. Anyway, here's the trailer/FYC ad for L. DiCaprio. It's hilarious.

Oscar Horrors Continue!

Nathaniel and Team Experience are still going strong with the Oscar Horrors series. I wrote up my second (and final) contribution a couple of days ago on a film that scared me to no bounds when I first watched it. Have a read and join in the conversation!

Oscar Horrors!

Apologies for my laziness in posting, but the amount of school work I'm buried in is keeping me from blogging as much as I like. I promise to be more prolific come December. For now, over at The Film Experience, I'm contributing to Oscar Horrors, Nathaniel's new Halloween themed series, where I discussed Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) and Fredric March's Oscar win for best actor. Have a read and join the (scary) fun. 

TIFF Coverage on The Film Experience

The title of the post is pretty self-explanatory. Nathaniel Rogers of The Film Experience was kind enough to give me space to cover the Toronto Internationl Film Festival on his site. Here's the first column on Aki Kaurismaki's Le Havre and Jafar Panahi's This is not a Film.
And check back again as the festival moves forward.