The Whistlers: Film Noir Romanian-Style

by Cláudio Alves

As Noirvember comes to an end, it's interesting to peruse the current Awards hopefuls in search of some examples of film noir. Lynn Lee already defended the merits of Edward Norton's Motherless Brooklyn, but my attentions were drawn, as usual, to the Best International Feature category. Amid the record-breaking 91 submissions, we can find a peculiar experiment of deconstructed noir archetypes and mechanisms. It comes from one of those countries whose historical lack of a nomination is an absurdity and reflects poorly on the Academy.

I'm talking, of course, about Romania's The Whistlers…

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Confessions of a Former Tom Hanks-Skeptic

by Cláudio Alves

Tom Hanks has been nominated five times before. Can he get his sixth nod for playing Fred Rogers?

There was a time when I considered Tom Hanks one of Hollywood's most overrated actors. For years, his consecutive Oscar wins were the nadir of the actor's undeserved success, a symbol of the Academy' unfairness. In Philadelphia, he was overshadowed by a more awards-worthy Denzel Washington and, in Forrest Gump, he managed the impossible feat of being even more annoying than the rest of that insufferable Best Picture-winner. Worst of all, Tom Hanks had become something of a personal synonym for boredom.

I'm not proud of my youth's distaste for the actor, even though I still hold a negative opinion regarding his Oscar victories. The rest of my dislike, however, has vanished into thin air. I can pinpoint the exact moment when such growth occurred. When the clouds of skepticism parted, they illuminated the path by which I'd become a passionate fan of Tom Hanks, one of contemporary Hollywood's best actors…

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FYC: Lulu Wang for Best Director

by Cláudio Alves

With the advent of Awards Season, we have to contend with the disappointment that always comes hand-in-hand with the excitement and the joy. No matter how much great work is nominated and rewarded, there's always a snub to point out and cry over. The recent Independent Spirit Awards nominations perfectly exemplify such dynamics. This year, they decided to spread the wealth and ignored the Siren's call of just nominating Oscar-viable titles. All in all, it's a wonderful collection of honors and achievements, but even here there is cause to complain about the dreaded snubs.

Why didn't Lulu Wang score a nomination for Best Screenplay or Best Director? How can The Farewell be up for Best Feature and not for either of those awards?...

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"The Crown" S3: An Acting Showcase

by Cláudio Alves

Why do we, as an audience, love to see celebrities playing other celebrities? Just look at the acting categories of the Oscars to see this love in full bloom. Every year, they are invaded by biopics with famous actors imitating the look and feel, the ticks, the sound and the accents of other figures in the public consciousness. Perhaps it's got something to do with the juxtaposition of two famous personas, none of them fully erasing the other. It’s a palimpsest of acting.

We know the Queen of England, how she sounds and how she looks.  When an actress plays her, their transformation becomes obvious because it calls attention to the art of pretending, but also to what is specific about the pretender in the first place. By watching Olivia Colman play the Queen in The Crown, it becomes obvious what makes Olivia Colman so special.

Of course, in this instance, the comparison isn't just to the Queen herself, but also Claire Foy's version of the role…

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10th Anniversary: The Young Victoria

by Cláudio Alves

It's difficult to follow the Oscar race each year without developing a prejudice against prestige biopics. At times it seems its the genre where creativity goes to die, where formulas thrive and the appearance of respectability is more important than genuine artistic merit. These words are perchance, too harsh, because specific qualities do manage to shine through the baseline of expected mediocrity on numerous occassions. Take The Young Victoria, Jean-Marc Vallée's perfectly serviceable retelling of Queen Victoria's early years and marriage to Prince Albert. Rewatching it ten years after its initial release, the film isn't as despairingly dry as you may have remembered. The Young Victoria is one of Emily Blunt's lesser efforts, but she's luminous nonetheless, bringing a sense of modernity that rubs abrasively against the historical setting. She never convinces as a 19th-century ruler, but that manages to feel more like a feature than a fault. As for Rupert Friend's Albert, he remains a charming romantic ideal, establishing great chemistry with Blunt.

And then, of course, there are Sandy Powell's Oscar-winning costumes…

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