Kate Winslet's The Dressmaker Joins the Amazon Studios Family
Wednesday, May 18, 2016 at 11:10PM Daniel Crooke here. In the past eight months we’ve seen Kate Winslet in her most peppery Polish accent pin a lifetime of parenting flaws on Steve Jobs, and rule a Mob roost with Russian verve in Triple 9. Audiences down under have already feasted upon her new film The Dressmaker, which won Best Actress honors for Kate, and Supporting Actress and Supporting Actor to Judy Davis and Hugo Weaving, respectively from the Australian Film Institute. Yet despite making its North American debut last year at TIFF, U.S. audiences have unfortunately been kept in the dark. A crying shame, once you’ve seen the splashy hats and dresses, striking desert landscapes, and simmering performances on display in its bold trailer so memorably exalted in Nathaniel’s YNMS.
Now, thanks to Amazon Studios, we will finally witness her smolder with a cigarette as an Aussie farmhouse carelessly blazes over her shoulder.
Amazon has five films currently in and out of the Cannes competition – Woody Allen’s classic Hollywood comedy Café Society, Park Chan-wook’s gothic lesbian thriller The Handmaiden, Jim Jarmusch’s ambling slice of lifer Paterson and Iggy Pop documentary Gimme Shelter, and Nicolas Winding Refn’s fashion world phantasmagoria The Neon Demon – and when you add Spike Lee’s kaleidoscopic Chi-Raq and Kenneth Lonergan’s Sundance pickup Manchester by the Sea to the pile, you’ve got to applaud their team’s adventurous, cine-literate taste. With The Dressmaker, they instill faith in the box-office and streaming potential of female filmmakers, expand their international reach, and continue to stand up for films that don’t snugly fit into classifiable categories bottom-lined with boring expectations. Their added commitment to real theatrical releases begs the question: who says streaming’s killing the cinema?
What do you make of Amazon Studios’ continuing foray into the marketplace? And, more importantly, on a scale of Carnage to Eternal Sunshine, how psyched are you for a new Winslet vehicle?
Reader Comments (13)
I'm from the UK, so we've already had The Dressmaker. I wouldn't describe it as good, per se, but it's a real kettle of fish. It's the most 'movie star' performance Winslet has given in a while, and Judy Davis is especially great value, but its sudden lurches between comedy and tragedy will surely be the biggest test for audiences (fwiw, I found them exhilarating, but they do also at times rob the film of its cohesion).
I'm from the UK too and found Winslet in Holy Smoke form totally at ease with he tone,Liam Hemsworth made a great foil,Davis was crotchety fun.
I loved The Dressmaker! Wildly uneven, but it's a lot of fun. And Kate looks *fabulous* while pulling off the most authentic Aussie accent from a foreigner I've ever heard. Judy was brilliant too. I don't know how well it'll play in the U.S., but I'm glad it's getting a shot.
The Dressmaker is a mess, it's all over the place. But I loved it. So much fun. Kate & Judy on top form!
I really enjoyed The Dressmaker. Judy Davis and Hugo Weaving are sublime.
What's with the articles praising corporations? Must be an American thing. I've read one here not so long ago about A24, now Amazon. Ok if it was analysis of their business model or release strategy. Just unbridled praise, though. WTF? You know they are in it for profit, right?
Really amazing movie, it's so weird it took it so long to get released!
Summer - First, without distribution, there are no movies. When you consider how production companies like Marvel Studios recycle their prefabricated products, give them a fresh but familiar coat of paint, and create a must-see culture around these films you've basically already seen - and every major studio is doing their best to replicate their interconnected model - it's a breath of fresh air to see a massive monetary force like Amazon throwing their weight behind distributing independent and international productions led by dynamic filmmakers that are far from sure things at the box office. Especially when you consider their hybrid release strategy and commitment to showing films on the big screen which - as a streaming kingpin - is no prerequisite. Frankly, if Amazon is going to boost the profile of a Jocelyn Moorhouse or Park Chan-wook picture, hail to the thief.
And don't forget that Amazon studios also released the delightful Love and Friendship" currently in theaters.
I wanted to see this like months ago. Now I have to wait a few more months! ARGH! Give me this movie!
Wonderful film! Enjoy :)
I have seen and LOVE The Dressmaker. It's wickedly fun.
And what's wrong with Carnage? It's not perfect but I like it, and I watched it in French.
Judy David is the MVP of 'The Dressmaker'. Having said that, film is a dark, dark mess. It doesn't know what it wants to be. One second it's slapstick humour, the next it's the horror of spousal rape.