It is now September. Summer is over. School is back in session. And the start of awards season is very quickly approaching. This month marks the end of the “Blockbuster Summer” and makes way for “Awards Season Winter.” All but 5 of the films on my list will open during the next 4 months which means that as each week draws to a close and more and more films are released we will start to get a very good idea of those films which are going to be the standouts of the season and have a major studio push behind them.
A True Festival OpenerBlack Swan
Black Swan had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival Wednesday night, and not only did it score a standing ovation, but many top critics are leaping around in praise:
David Gritten, Daily Telegraph
Every film festival benefits hugely from a strong opening film, and they don’t come a lot stronger than Black Swan, Darren Aronofsky’s psychological thriller set in the world of New York ballet. Powerful, gripping and always intriguing, it also features a lead performance from Natalie Portman that elevates her from a substantial leading actress to major star likely to be lifting awards in the near future.
Mike Goodridege, Screen International
Darren Aronofsky soars to new heights with Black Swan, an enthralling drama set in the competitive world of ballet. Alternately disturbing and exhilarating, this dark study of a mentally fragile performer derailed by her obsession with perfection is one of the most exciting films to come out of the Hollywood system this year. Indeed it’s the perfect film to open the autumn season with its gala at Venice tonight, a bold display of cinematic fireworks that will leave audiences breathless… Black Swan will be warmly received in Venice, Toronto and beyond and it should pirouette all the way to the Oscars next Feb. If the film is ultimately too unsettling to snag main prizes, it has at least one nomination in the bag for lead actress Natalie Portman who gives one of “those” performances, transforming herself after ten months of training into an accomplished ballerina, almost uncomfortable to watch as she consumes her difficult role…
Peter DeBruge, Variety
A wicked, sexy and ultimately devastating study of a young dancer’s all-consuming ambition, Black Swan serves as a fascinating complement to Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler, trading the grungy world of a broken-down fighter for the more upscale but no less brutal sphere of professional ballet. Centerstage stands Natalie Portman, whose courageous turn lays bare the myriad insecurities genuinely dedicated performers face when testing their limits, revealing shades of the actress never before seen on film…
Peter Sciretta at SlashFilm puts it a little bit more blunt: “Black Swan is a brilliant mind fuck. It is one of the boldest films I’ve seen produced by a Hollywood studio in years.”
All Mixed Up for Sofia’s LatestSomewhere
Friday night Sofia Coppola’s family drama Somewhere made its world premier at the Venice Film Festival and unfortunately hasn’t been greeted by what one would call stellar reviews. It is definitely a mixed bag so far with this film:
Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
Sofia Coppola returns to the daddy-daughter theme but audiences are likely to be left bemused or exasperated
Justin Chang, Variety
Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere is a quiet heartbreaker. Trading Lost in Translation’s Tokyo hotel for Beverly Hills’ Chateau Marmont, the ever-perceptive writer-director further hones her gifts for ruefully funny observation and understated melancholy with this low-key portrait of a burned-out screen actor. Steeped in morning-after regret and centered around a strong performance by Stephen Dorff, the result is sure to frustrate those who require their plots thick and their emotions underlined.
Derek Malcom, Evening Standard
This quiet and restrained portrait ... is not the noisy showbiz chronicle other directors might well have made it ... Anyone expecting fireworks from Coppola after the lavish and controversial Marie Antoinette will be disappointed with Somewhere ... But it may last in the memory a little more than Marie Antoinette, if not quite as long as Lost In Translation.
The First One to Fall?Miral
The last high profile film to premier in Venice, and it’s seems many critics and audiences were largely underwhelmed and dare I say disappointed:
Anne Thompson, Indiewire
[The] story remains expositional and flat, filled with long debates … about alternative routes to a Middle East solution. [Director Julian Schnabel] and cinematographer Eric Gautier adopt an unusual blurry technique for the more intense scenes—but this movie, while filmed on authentic Jerusalem locations, too often devolves into dull talking heads.”
Deborah Young, The Hollywood Reporter
Miral dramatically but unevenly explores the lives of four Palestinian women during the years of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Although too schematic and unfocused to garner much critical support, it has the kind of direct simplicity that could reach out to historically challenged audiences.
Geoffrey Macnab, The Independent
Miral is plodding at times, choppily edited and unevenly performed. It has very little of the aesthetic polish of Schnabel's earlier work and the director is bound to be accused by his critics of political naivete. However, it's also a courageous and groundbreaking film... Some of the dialogue is portentous in the extreme. Characters deliver lines like "this is a very crucial moment for our country – our people can't take it any more" rather than speaking in anything that remotely resembles normal speech. There are distracting cameos from stars like Vanessa Redgrave and Willem Dafoe, who are on screen for a few moments and then disconcertingly disappear from the story without trace. Schnabel is covering three generations but his storytelling style is more cumbersome than nimble. At its most leaden, this is more like a school lecture in Middle Eastern history than it is a piece of drama.
Quick Stop in Colorado before TorontoNever Let Me Go
The film made its world premier at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado a few days before it heads to TIFF. I’ve said this before, but I loved the book and so I can’t wait to see the film. Definitely close to the top of my list. Plus, it stars Carry Mulligan & Andrew Garfield - two brit actors whom I adore. I was following Twitter closely Friday night into Saturday morning as the preliminary reviews started coming out in 140 characters or less:
@chhabs
Never Let Me Go is very, very beautiful, romantic sad & heartbreaking. Carey Mulligan is lovely. Another Oscar nomination for her.
@firstshowing
Never Let Me Go was wonderful. Beautiful film, fantastic performances, incredibly moving. Loved it, haven't been this emotional in a while.
@slashfilm
Loved @markromanek's Never Let Me Go, not exactly what you expect, emotionally powerful, fantastic performances, beautiful.
@NickFletch
Just saw Never Let Me Go. Heartbreaking. Old man next to me was losing it.
By Saturday night many full reports were out and it looks like this film is a hit:
Peter Debruge, Variety
Never Let Me Go is that rare find, a fragile little four-leaf clover of a movie that’s emotionally devastating, yet all too easily trampled by cynics. … Literary pedigree and near-certain critical swell should give this Fox Searchlight release serious traction with adults.
Alex Billington, First Showing
It’s a love triangle story, but with a conceptual twist, which I won’t dare spoil… There are many great elements to the film: Adam Kimmel’s very beautiful cinematography, Carey Mulligan’s phenomenal performance (she’s primarily the focus of the film), Rachel Portman’s mesmerizing score, Mark Romanek’s careful direction, even the concept and story overall... It admittedly takes quite a bit for me to get fully emotionally invested in a film and its characters, but Never Let Me Go achieved that. I was sucked into the story and couldn’t let go.
David Poland, MCN
… it’s not about the reveal. There are no Gotcha moments. What gets you is the lack of shock... The production is elegant. The performances are virtually perfect across the board. For me, Never Let Me Go is why I love cinema. It is smart and demanding and emotional and rigorous and profoundly artful. It is more than “a good story well told. It is humanity on a screen. And it trusts us, as thinking, feeling adults, to do the work.
Tears in Telluride 127 Hours
Two years ago, Danny Boyle went to Telluride for the surprise premiere of Slumdog Millionaire, a movie which was almost doomed to be a direct-to-dvd but was saved by Fox Searchlight at the last minute. The film played to a standing ovation and then went on to critical acclaim and 8 Academy Award wins. So it wasn’t much of a shock Saturday afternoon when Boyle showed up to premiere his follow-up, 127 Hours. And by all accounts it looks like, just 2 years later, he is ready for a repeat at the big awards show:
Pete Hammond, Deadline
…it has been expertly brought to the screen by the director who finds a way to put “urgency” in every frame despite the fact that the entire film is basically one man vs. the elements. It’s a tour-de-force for Franco, virtually never off screen … Franco's performance could put him in contention for a best actor Oscar nod.
Peter Sciretta, SlashFilm
127 Hours is a brilliant, gut-wrenching and moving cinematic experience. The film will have you in tears one moment, laughing the next, and will leave you on the edge of your seat, gripping the armrests and holding your breath. This is an uplifting story of perseverance with a stronger character arc than the best fictional films released this year.
Eugene Novikov, Cinematical
I suppose it's a testament to the supreme craft and professionalism of Danny Boyle and his crew that watching 127 Hours feels a bit like having surgery; the kind where you're asked to bite down on something. It's gut-wrenching in a queasy, horror-movie way – a shield-your-eyes-from-the-screen, chuckle-in-relieved-astonishment sort of experience, done incredibly well.
Reportedly Aron Ralston (the film is based on his real-life story), who was attending the screening with his wife, was visibly moved throughout the film and tears started flowing while he watched the reenactment of his primitive surgical procedure. Peter Hammond at Deadline noted “The relief in the theater was palpable—if there’s such a thing as quiet cheering, there it was.”
The Stand-Out Winner at TellurideThe King’s Speech
Closing out the 4-day Telluride Film Festival was The King’s Speech which earned a rare 5 minute standing ovation at the premier. To say the critics loved it would be an understatement:
Tim Appelo, Indiewire
Firth and Rush are geniuses who raise each other’s game… The King’s Speech is the true bromance of the year, as winning a film about royals as anything starring Helen Mirren. It has style to burn, and wit, and resonant emotion. Long may it reign.
Kristopher Tapley, In Contention
[Director] Tim Hooper knocks it right out of the park. He films his actors closely with a wide lens to affect a sort of intimacy with the narrative. Indeed, it’s rare to feel this close with the characters in a film, and much of that is owed to a pair of truly exceptional performances from Firth and Rush.
Peter Debruge, Variety
Americans love kings, so long as they needn’t answer to them, and no king of England had a more American success story than that admirable underdog George VI, Duke of York, who overcame a dreadful stammer to rally his people against Hitler. A stirring, handsomely mounted tale of unlikely friendship starring Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech explores the bond between the painfully shy thirtysomething prince and the just-this-side-of-common, yet anything-but-ordinary speech therapist who gave the man back his confidence. Weinstein-backed November release should tap into the same audience that made The Queen a prestige hit.
Aside from the great reviews for the film as a whole, many are also singling out Colin Firth’s performance. Firth was nominated for the first time last year (for his performance in A Single Man) and at this point it almost seems like it’s a given that he’ll be making a return trip down that same red carpet.
Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter
Firth doesn't just make a British king vulnerable and insecure, he shows the fierce courage and stamina beneath the insecurities that will see him through his kingship. It's not just marvelous acting, it's an actor who understands the flesh-and-blood reality of the moment and not its history. It's an actor who admires his character not in spite of his flaws but because of them.
To sum up the feel of the films that premiered at Venice and Telluride, it looks like
Very Positive: Black Swan, 127 Hours, The King's Speech
Positive: Never Let Me Go
Mixed: Somewhere
Negative: Miral
The next big festival is just days away – the Toronto Film Festival (TIFF) runs from September 9-19 and many past festival films will show up here again (Black Swan, The King’s Speech, 127 Hours, Blue Valentine, Never Let Me Go). However there is one film making its world premier at TIFF and I, for one, can’t wait to see the response. Clint Eastwood’s Hereafter will make its debut September 12th.
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In other, non-review/non-festival, news regarding the FYC films:
It’s Hypnotic!(Said like John Travolta says “It’s electrifying” in Grease)
Tree of Life
Some dude at ‘The Film Stage’ was treated to an early screening of Terrence Malick’s long-awaited Tree of Life “at work.” I’d love to have his job. Here’s what he had to say:
“Saw TREE OF LIFE the other night at work and it really is amazing. Hypnotic, more like. I won’t give anything about it away here, but yes it is long and there has already been talk in the news about Malick releasing it, then re-cutting it, then re-releasing it, etc.
The main bulk of the film is about his childhood growing up in Texas (reels 3-7 out of 9!). The “creation” footage is outstanding, absolutely jawdropping, a lot of the effects are practical and your eyes can see that, which makes it really fascinating to watch.
The story is framed around the death of his middle brother and is a reflection on the circle of life, the evolution of life out of the mess of the Big Bang, but also about life itself (the strained relationship with his severe father, a stunning performance by Brad Pitt, just stunning), and the end of the Universe. I still haven’t given anything away that hasn’t already been said in the press. The film just has to be seen to be believed! One feels like a child again, seeing the world through young wide eyes.”
On possible release and runtime:
“Yes, it is finished! I believe it releases in October but it may be a limited release. And yes again it’s about 3 hours! There is talk of a cut down version, which Malick did for New World as well, but nothing confirmed.”
There you have it. Take it with a grain of salt, since it is just a forum post, but it is better than nothing for what is one of the most anticipated films of the year. If they do actually plan to release in October, I’m surprised we haven’t heard anything yet?
It’s A Sports Movie, Gosh Darnit (I just can’t curse when talking about a Disney film. It feels wrong)
Secretariat
A new poster was just released and it looks a lot less Oscar-baity than I'd expect. Is it the Disney logo?
Right now Secretariat is looking something like The Blind Side, a sports movie with a lead female role big enough to draw women audiences in anyway. The story of the Triple Crown champion horse is your typical sports saga, full of colorful characters and nail biter races, but it also stars Diane Lane as the horse's owner Penny Chenery, going up against the male-dominated industry, defying the odds, yada yada yada.
Most of the imagery we've seen so far from Secretariat, including the first poster, emphasized Diane Lane pretty heavily, seemingly targeting the potential female audience. Now it's time for the men to be drawn in with the newest poster. No more pretty sunsets or goofy 70s period clothing - just a horse, running like hell, looking like a champion. Hey, fellas, this is a sports movie! Don't be afraid that it stars a woman! Hey, did we mention John Malkovich is in this?
Jennifer Lawrence is hot?
Winter’s Bone
I talked a little bit last FYC post about Jennifer Lawrence and how she has been (and is being) singled out for her “starmaking performance.” I was reading an article earlier in the week about the Film Festivals this year and came upon a picture of Lawrence and had to do a double take. The girl is gorgeous. Watch the trailer for Winter’s Bone again and then look at this:
She buried herself in this role. I was so stunned by this turn of events that I then had to do more research and lucky for me Jennifer has been doing more press recently as Winter’s Bone gets more attention. I happened upon this article from esquire.
You’ll note that the article makes mention of the fact that she almost didn’t get the part because she was “too attractive” and the director had to “cover up her pretty.” (Bonus: the BTS video shoot features The Black Key’s “Tighten Up”)
In addition to a slew of new roles she has since signed onto, she has two high profile gigs coming up: The Beaver expected sometime this year (with Jodie Foster directing it was at one point on the long list for possible awards contention. But Mel Gibson’s assaholicness put an abrupt end to that. Awards Season is all politics. No matter how great the film may be, no studio is going to throw money at a lost cause. And Mr. Gibson is a lost cause.) and as Mystique in X-Men: First Class due out June 2011. So, it looks like we’ll be seeing a lot more of Jennifer in the future.
And if that isn’t enough? Girl’s got taste. While in the UK she told The Herald:
“… I got hit by the Twilight train. I think it’s a female thing. There’s some sort of chemical there.” In truth it’s a Robert Pattinson thing, the actor who played Cedric Diggory in the Potter films before fronting Twilight. “I was immune to him until I saw Remember Me,” she says. “Now I’m daydreaming about him.” Crushing on the current holder to the number one spot of my F5? Yes ma’am. Jennifer Lawrence welcome to my girl crush list.
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