Yes/No/Maybe So: The Sessions
Tuesday, July 3, 2012 at 9:27PM Michael C here.
“In my heart I feel that he will give you a free pass on this one” says kindly priest William H Macy to paralyzed John Hawkes. Hawkes is looking for a greenlight from the church to use a sexual surrogate so he can finally experience the joys of intercourse. "My penis speaks to me, Father Brennan," Hawkes helpfully clarifies.
So opens the trailer of Sundance crowd pleaser The Sessions.
Yes
Come on everybody. Let’s see if we can get a chant going like the end of Rudy…'John Hawkes! John Hawkes! John Hawkes!'
After his brilliant nominated work in Winter’s Bone and his equally brilliant un-nominated work in Martha Marcy, there is every indication that Hawkes delivers another sit-up-and-take-notice performance here. Honestly, Sessions could end with Helen Hunt wheeling him out onto the field at the Super Bowl to catch the game winning pass in his teeth and I’m confident Hawkes could make it intensely subtle and believable.
A nomination for The Sessions – and sexual frankness aside it certainly looks pitched right at the Academy sweet spot – will likely be chalked up to their love of gimmick performances, but really, Hawkes is currently one of those guys like Tom Hardy or Michael Shannon knocking it out of the park every time at bat.
I also felt an unreasonable amount of pleasure seeing William H Macy turn up. He’s not exactly pushing his talent to its limits, but doesn’t it feel like forever since he’s had a really good big screen role? Last thing that springs to mind is him insisting that Vermont would not apologize for its cheese.
Also, that bit about simultaneous orgasms? Funny.
No
Right around the time the OK Go song kicked in I felt my expectations take a hit. This preview is going out of its way to let audiences know that even though the main character is a man paralyzed by polio from a young age Sessions is still going to be fun, fun, fun. There is even the strong suggestion an unlikely yet heartwarming romance blossoms between Hawkes and Hunt.
Hopefully, this can be chalked up to the nature of trailers to reduce any movie to two minutes of mushy comfort food, skipping over complex or tricky material in favor of punchlines and triumph over disease uplift. Hopefully.
Maybe So
For whatever reasons Helen Hunt has proved a surprisingly divisive actress. For hardcore movie folk a lot of it no doubt stems from her ’97 Oscar win over Judi Dench (a travesty to be sure) but other than that I’ve never understood why she rubs so many people the wrong way. She has never been my particular cup of tea, but that has a lot more to do with her questionable taste in material than her performances. I’ve got the feeling this performance may silence a few of her haters. Or I’m kidding myself and the mere presence of Hunt in the trailer has haters running at the movie like Spike Lee with a trash can at the end of Do the Right Thing. “HAAAATE!”
The fact that Sessions won the Audience Award at Sundance is also a positive indicator. Their track record isn’t perfect, but Sundance voters do have a knack for picking out gems like The Station Agent or Maria, Full of Grace as well as breakout hits like Hustle and Flow and Precious.
Are you a Yes, No, or Maybe So?
So for the presence of Hawkes and for giving off the vibe of an intelligent, emotionally honest movie along the lines of 50/50, despite the trailer tricks, mark me down as a solid yes. What say you?
Reader Comments (17)
Michael: Of the nominees, you forgot "AND Helena Bonham-Carter for The Wings of the Dove". My personal pick (before seeing Wings, Mrs. Brown or Afterglow) would be Minnie Driver in Grosse Pointe Blank. There's no real "fireworks", like those other movies seem to have, but who needs that when actual warm naturalism is on tap instead of Helen Hunt's...attempts at it.
Also, as I've mentioned a few times before: Grosse Pointe Blank takes all six of my assignable acting awards. Yes, no other film wins acting awards that year. (Lead Actor: John Cusack. Lead Actress: Minnie Driver Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin. Supporting Actress: Joan Cusack. (Yes, I have seen Julianne Moore in Boogie Nights. That gets Silver.) Tertiary Actor: Hank Azaria. Tertiary Actress: Ann Cusack.) And also: Joan Cusack's In & Out performance was mostly just ten minutes of her shouting. BADLY.
"For hardcore movie folk a lot of it no doubt stems from her ’97 Oscar win over Judi Dench..."
Hell no! Helena Bonham Carter was robbed that year, not Judi Dench for her serviceable but uninspired turn as Queen Victoria. HBC was amazing, and Helen Hunt was just OK.
maybe hunt will actually deserve to be nominated this year...
i wonder why they changed the title from six sessions as it seems to be a major plot point (and a better title)
unless some overdue old guy pops up between now and oscar time they may as well carve john hawkes name on the gold man now
Happy to see William H. Macy in what appears to be a decent role.
Agree that Judi Dench was robbed of Oscar as Queen Victoria. Such a shame.
Heck yes. Love the cast. Love Helen Hunt and glad she won her oscar, whatever Dench (and I love me some Judi).
I hope this stars and bars motif is temporary...
Peggy Sue -- 4th of july, don'cha know
I totally agree with you on William H. Macy. He is enough to get me to see this movie. How I would love to see him back with an Oscar nomination (and potential win?) this year...
I would've given that Oscar in 97' to Kate Winslet, but then that would've set off a chain of events changing Oscar history!
Bia: Hmm...I get that she was as good as can be considering the character, but she's let down by James Cameron's VERY simplistic screenwriting. I'd easily place Stacy Edwards (Christine, the intended victim from In the Company of Men) on a Lead Actress ballot above Winslet's work in Titanic.
Helen Hunt won because Jack Nicholson was also winning. Jack effects Best Actress every time he wins in either category.
Nathan Baby try this on for size—I believe his breakup from Huston caused her to lose Best Actress, hear me out, women receive certain privileges when they're tied to powerful men, Demi Moore survived The Brat Pack curse because of her marriage to Bruce Willis and the last time she had real attention on her she was married to Ashton—would Annette Bening really be a victim of ageism in the Best Actress category if not married to Warren Beatty?
Jack Nicholson is unwillingly responsible for the Oscar results of Kathy Bates' three nominations, and when Hunt won over the others it made it easy for Oscar to give Dench the prize over Bates, and his campaigning for Adrien Brody made it real easy not to give her anything but a third nomination.
A big "fuck you" to all of you. Helen Hunt and Greg Kinnear acted beautifully in "As Good As It Gets". They were both so natural and honest. Helen Hunt even made Jack Nicholson´s performance better. It is really rare nowadays to find an actor who portrays his character as character and not just as an acting vehicle. Ewan McGregor for instance is such an actor. He never gets the praise he deserves because it never feels like he´s acting.
Meryl Streep would have won for the same performance Helen Hunt gave us. And nobody would have complained about her win. Helena Bonham Carter is runner up because of the same reasons.
Neither Nicholson or Hunt deserved their statuettes—Robin Williams the same. 1997—99 produced shortsighted winners and while we're here lazy nominees.
Kim Basinger, Robin Williams and Helen Hunt alle deserved their awards because it never felt like they acted. Just because they weren´t over the top, doesn´t mean they didn´t do a good job.
I hate the Hunt with the passion of a thousand suns but I love Hawkes. This leaves me truly vexed.
Jack Nicholson was over the top in As Good As It Gets? There's no complaint about Basinger's win — an example of a movie star on the wane receiving an Oscar both for their years as a movie star and for one last ditch effort proving they can manage when given strong material.