Nicole Kidman Tribute: Lion (2016)

by Cláudio Alves

The late 2000s saw Nicole Kidman's reputation suffer under the strain of bad reviews and a perceived rejection by mainstream audiences. Jokes about plastic surgery were a dime a dozen, and not even a couple of brilliant turns could dissuade the naysaying masses. But then came Rabbit Hole and a third Oscar nomination, a new chance at proving herself. As usual, she took the opportunity and ran with it, kickstarting one of the most productive phases of her career. From 2010 to 2016, the actress amassed an astounding sixteen screen credits and appeared in the award-winning West End production of Photograph 51. It was also then, as Kidman settled into her 40s and came nearer to the half-century mark, that she started playing more supporting roles. 

Make no mistake, Kidman is a Hollywood leading lady, a confirmed A-lister to this day. But that doesn't preclude her from trying her hand at smaller parts. Coupled with revitalized prestige, a return to Oscar glory in a new category felt near inevitable. And so it was, with the star receiving her first Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination, for Lion…

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Nicole Kidman Tribute: Paddington (2014)

by Nick Taylor

I’m going to tell you a secret: I think the first Paddington movie is better than its more critically-adored sequel. Not in every way is this one better: There’s a couple instances of harsh overlighting that take out some shots at the knees, like a key character emerging from a phone booth as a one-sided meet-cute. You could also say that both films - but maybe especially this one - are leaning into Wes Anderson-type confectionaries, especially with the score. But Paddington’s got a lot of buoyant, colorful entertainment to recommend it, and I can’t help but feel Nicole Kidman’s delightful, icy villainess has been overlooked as one of this series’ most notable achievements, alongside the children’s-book palette, Hugh Grant’s more lauded performance in Paddington 2, and fumbling the bag on Sally Hawkins for the upcoming trip to Peru...

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Nicole Kidman Tribute: Rabbit Hole (2010)

by Cláudio Alves

For a while, I thought that loss would lead to tears, a general sadness that consumes you whole and leaves behind a husk. Much art and media made it seem so to my adolescent self. The piteous melodrama that the mainstream loves to sell was a convincing lie, and so were the beatific visions of bereavement from which a person learns and grows stronger. But life doesn't obey narrative rules, nor does it seek to satisfy in the ways a Hollywood producer might. The tears do come - and they did - but there was more to it. More that wasn't aligned with ideas of beautiful suffering or an education of the soul. When I found grief, I found anger, too.

Why must it hurt so much? Why must it isolate so strongly? Why does it seem like no one understands? Why must joy prevail in the world? It's obscene, it feels wrong, and it stokes the fires of fury inside. Yet, there's no clear target for the flame. You find yourself full of emotion, wanting to wield it like a weapon and hurt something, anything, maybe yourself, or maybe nothing at all. There is no reason in grief and nowhere to go from there. Often, one finds no path out or through, no answers whatsoever. In this solipsism, recognition may lead the way. If not in the company of others, then in the mirror of the screen – in works like that of Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole…

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Nicole Kidman Tribute: Margot at the Wedding (2007)

by Eric Blume

With Margot at the Wedding, writer-director Noah Baumbach makes an Éric Rohmer film.  The character’s names are French, it’s lit like a French movie, cut like a French movie, and has the rhythms and languorousness of, specifically, a Rohmer movie.  But, and this may be a hot take:  Rohmer never made a film as textured and exquisite as the one Baumbach makes here.  Rohmer’s films often deal with an indecisive man-child choosing between two women:  there’s a lovely wistfulness about them, but they’re repetitive and limited in depth. 

Baumbach captures the Rohmer melancholia, but he fleshes out all the relationships in the film so they are deeply lived-in and layered. The film is all frayed edges, with unpredictable touches and uncomfortable complexities…

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Nicole Kidman Tribute: Bewitched (2005)

by Christopher James

Yes, I've come back here to defend another much-maligned Nicole Kidman comedy. I swear I love her dramatic roles too, but there's always something strange, special and unnerving about Kidman's comedy work, like seeing a dog walk on its hind legs and smile. 

Bewitched is Nora Ephron’s Ishtar - a big budget box office failure whose greatest crime is throwing too much against the wall. I’d always rather have a movie that tried to do too much outside of the norm, rather than something deeply middling. Bewitched is most interesting in the ways it swings and misses because Ephron and Kidman both give it their all, striking out gloriously. It’s as if the studio got one note (hire Will Ferrell) and decided to never check on the movie again. Their obviousness is our pleasure...

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