Online Film Critics Need To Talk About Terrence

You may have heard that the Online Film Critics Society unleashed their press release on the world today. It rained Manna Malick from Heaven as The Tree of Life won 5 of their 13 gongs. Their winners...

Picture The Tree of Life
Director Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life
Actress Tilda Swinton, We Need To Talk About Kevin
Actor Michael Fassbender, Shame 

They go against the grain frequently with Best Actress. Aside from obvious sweepers like Natalie Portman or Helen Mirren in their years, winners have included Melanie Laurent from Basterds, Michelle Williams from Wendy & Lucy, Reese Witherspoon in Election and more. Like the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, who are even more adventurous in Best Actress citations, the OFCS is much more traditional / conservative when it comes to Best Actor almost always going with a major future Oscar nominee or frontrunner. The only exception in their entire history is Billy Bob Thornton who won for the Coen Bros picture The Man Who Wasn't There (2001). Funny how critics groups, even large ones, have such obvious personalities.

Actor Michael Fassbender, Shame
Supporting Actress Jessica Chastain, The Tree of Life
Supporting Actor Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Adapted Screenplay Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughan for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Original Screenplay Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris
Editing Hank Corwin, Jay Rabinowitz, Daniel Rezende, Billy Weber, Mark Yoshikawa for The Tree of Life
Cinematography Emmanuel Lubezki for The Tree of Life
Animated Feature Gore Verbinksi's Rango
Film Not in the English Language Asgar Farhadi's A Separation
Documentary Werner Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams

As previously noted the OFCS will also be handing special prizes to Jessica Chastain and Martin Scorsese in addition to these prizes. Jessica Chastain, very recently interviewed right here, was so busy this year they must have figured that one prize wasn't enough.

Scene Work: Demián Bichir & Chris Weitz on "A Better Life"

In this new miniseries, we'll be discussing some of the most memorable individual scenes of the movies of 2011. So let's start with the penultimate scene from the immigration drama A Better Life. Have any of you seen it? 

At a recent luncheon honoring Demián Bichir (Weeds, Che), currently on the Best Actor campaign trail, I had a brief chat with the star and his director Chris Weitz. Our conversations kept drifting to two scenes in the movie, the aforementioned emotional peak when Carlos (Bichir) explains to his son, as best he can, the reason why he moved to America and had a child, and an earlier intense sequence that sets much of the plot in motion as Carlos (Bichir) makes a fateful mistake while shimmying up a palm tree in his day job as a gardener.

I told Bichir that I've always wondered how scary it is for actors to work on those slow build performances. Many performances have several peaks but A Better Life is quite a linear drama and Bichir keeps the performance very low key for a long time. It's all building to his intensely emotional monologue as he sits in a deportation center with his son. I wondered how nerve wracking that scene must have been for him. He plays the scene beautifully, with so much pent up painful intimacy. But as character arcs go it's very backloaded; his entire performance and indeed the film, rests on it.

That's why I had you. For me. For me. For a reason to live."

"Interesting," Bichir says, considering the question. "I try not to think about that. I never think ahead." he confesses, explaining that he tries to take the journey in sequence with the character, though he readily admits that you know the scenes in every script your first time reading through.

"So I don't think about it," he elaborates. "It's like in life. You know, when you're in love you don't think 'what if we break up?' You don't think about the fears or the negativity." The emotional place you have to get to you just work towards day by day, he explains. They were lucky to shoot almost chronologically which really helped him.

Oscar Campaigning and a unexpected Twilight diversion after the jump.

Click to read more ...

You Better Link

Clara and soldiers in "WINGS", the first Best Picture winnerThe Film Doctor offers 7 notes on J Edgar (mostly in relation to two time jumping powerful men classics it attemptes to emulate: The Social Network and Citizen Kane... both recently discussed right here.) I particularly like thought #7.
⇚ Rope of Silicon the first Best Picture winner Wings is finally coming to DVD/Blu-Ray. Yay. Loves that movie, I do.
Coming Soon Tim Burton may be doing an adaptation of the children's book Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children after The Addams Family.

Little White Lies interviews Paul Feig on the success of Bridesmaids.
Hollywood Reporter on 7 films that could be looking at SAG Ensemble nominations: Bridesmaids, Midnight in Paris, and The Artist are the more comedic possibilities but will SAG take comedy seriously this year?
Super Punch Calling all artists who read The Film Experience. Super Punch is hosting a James Bond art contest if you're 007 inclined. 
Animation Yes, it's true. They're going to make an action movie set in the world of Legos.  

Go Fug Yourself Lisa Rinna at The Muppets premiere. LOL.
Grantland Mark Harris on the multiple Davids and three Goliaths (Leo, Brad, George) of the Best Actor race.
In Contention the Vanessa Redgrave AMPAS tribute
Pajiba on classics of Lady Porn and the men of The Immortals.

Not since the costuming department of “Mad Men” got ahold of Christina Hendricks has a pair of mammaries been so lovingly showcased. In fact, the accentuating bronzer is liberally applied not only on Henry Cavill’s heroic bosom, but also Luke Evans’ grimly clenched ab muscles and Stephen Dorff’s morally questionable obliques.

"Morally questionable obliques." Hee!

Speaking of morally questionable... I lurve this Puss in Boots piece at Ultra Culture on Puss's "synthetic heterosexuality". It's pretty great.

The trailer for season 4 of RuPaul's Drag Race

Tags: Gay Video & Lesbian Movies, Logo: Fierce TV

If only their budget on the show was as high as their advertising budget ;) "Go forth and be sickening!" LOL. Quick head count: how many of you watch this show? Am I speaking to deaf ears whenever I mention it?

Naked Gold Man: Oscar Wears No Watch, But It's All in the Timing

With more and more of the heretofore unseen contenders (Tintin, J Edgar, Young Adult, War Horse, etcetera) beginning to show their goods to tastemakers and balloting voters of various orgs & circles & associations... where to now? Or when to?

Time is a funny thing with Oscar watching. Though the race progresses chronologically in familiar ways each year through its many stages, it's simultaneously a non-linear experience. We're always hopping around in the timeline from the future (What Will Happen on Oscar Nomination Morning? On Oscar Night?) to the past (Statistics, Past Grudges, Happy Memories, The Perennial Subject of "Overdue" and "Momentum" and Over Analysis of Things That Just Happened). Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. The time we're very rarely in is the present. If we're in the present at all (wrist check: it's 2:19 PM on 11|06|11 as I begin writing this) it's to take immediate stock of our surroundings  and then suddenly we're gone again. We've either instantly reduced the present to how we predict it will affect the future... or we've turned it into validation of our past biases or predictions.

A hypothetical example now. J Edgar reactions* range from reverential but not unqualified raves to respectful with a heavy cloud of "meh" to plain old "wow, it's just not any good!" thumbs down. Which means...

J. EDGAR is... [check whichever box applies in your hypothetical future tenses]

⎕ Still in key races. It's a biopic by Eastwood.
⌧  Out of the race but for Best Actor because it's that kind of role and he's that kind of star. 
⎕ Going to bomb with Oscar and the public.  

* no, I don't know why some critics have to obey embargoes and some don't.

That's all hypothetical, understood?!?

ACTOR, ACTRESS, and PICTURE past | present | future after the jump.

Click to read more ...

Oscar Horrors: A Two Faced Oscar Win

Oscar Horrors Continues

Here lies... Fredric March’s charming Dr Jekyll face, devoured by the monstrosity that is Mr. Hyde. Though his Hyde face didn’t manage to scare all the other nominees away – March tied for the Best Actor award that year, and in a field of only three nominees – when you stop to think about it, his win was still quite a feat. 

Hollywood’s idea of what constitutes a good performance has changed over the years so it’s almost inconceivable for a performance of such exaggerated expressionism in a horror film to stand a chance of winning today. (Although, give this to Robert and I’m sure he’ll prove me wrong by drawing parallels between March and Natalie Portman’s Nina.) Oscar-y or not, however, the performance is a marvel; perhaps the only thing that remains so fresh about the film 80 years on.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) is a horror film, but to the desensitized eyes of my generation – for whom horror means gore and brutality and 12 people sewn together ass-to-mouth – it plays more like a campy horror comedy. What keeps the film grounded (and serious-minded) is its sensitively realized performances, particularly that of March, who gets every note right.

The Jekyll to Hyde transition, with no CGI!

As Jekyll, March is handsome and charismatic; as Hyde he’s hideous and violent. The two characters are purposely the opposite sides of the coin. They share nothing in common and March plays both of them really well, but the real reason the performance is so great is the way he connects the two. It’s key to the narrative, as it is in the original book, to imply that these two wildly different characters can exist within the same person. As Dr. Jekyll announces in the opening:

My analysis of the human psyche leads me to believe that man is not truly one, but truly two ...the good self... and the bad self.

March manages to capture that in his performance. As Hyde, he shows an aggression that can be reflected in his self-distrust as Jekyll. All of Hyde’s uncontrollable cruelty can be traced back in Jekyll’s internal conflict. And the duality can be seen in his eyes the whole time.

Hyde with his favoured prostitute. Sexuality is a major element in this pre-Code film.

Rumour has it, when the 1941 remake was released and universally panned, Spencer Tracy, who played the leading role, received a telegram from March. In it, March apparently thanked him for the biggest boost of his career. Tracy’s portrayal paled in comparison. I haven’t seen the remake, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I agree with the consensus. March’s performance is one for the ages.

Other Oscar ACTING Horrors...
Rosemary's Baby - Best Supporting Actress
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane -Best Actress in a Leading Role
The Exorcist -Best Actress in a Supporting Role 
Carrie - Best Actress in a Leading Role