Interview: Lorenzo Vigas on his Prize Winning Drama "From Afar"

This year's Oscar race for foreign film has the usual number of World War II dramas, biopics, and historical epics but as far as we can tell it's only got one Latin American LGBT drama about a damaged old man's thorny relationship with a poor street hustler he picks up who keeps coming back thereafter for more cash and the more mysterious pull of companionship. That film, Desde Alla / From Afar, now available to screen on Netflix, began its breakthrough journey winning the Golden Lion at Venice in 2015 for first time narrative director Lorenzo Vigas. I talked to him about working with an Oscar winning screenwriter, that Venice honor, and his terrific young find, Luis Silva, who holds his own opposite one of the Latin America's finest actors, Alredo Castro. 

The interview is after the jump...

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Exactly How Rare / Precious is "La La Land"?

With La La Land opening tomorrow (go see it) we must discuss it's already combed over reception from film critics and awards pundits and the like. When La La Land took the Best Picture prize from the NYFCC last week, certain pockets of people were outraged. Suddenly it was a "safe" movie, middlebrow, something utterly and completely common. 'Boy meets girls. Boy loses girl. UGH Romantic Dramas, am I right?!' Awards season backlash and contrarianism is a real thing though people try to pretend it's not each and every year and consider their motives solely pure. I know I've been guilty of it myself. I trust exactly no one in the entire talking-about-movies ecosphere who claims they haven't. Awards season is like politics; It affects everyone, even or especially those who rage against it and claim it to be meaningless to them. File that type under "the lady doth protest too much".

Naturally I was quick to jump to La La Land's defense whenever this happened. This was not because I love it (which I do...but keeping it 100 it's not a Moulin Rouge! level masterwork or anything) or even because I am a die hard warrior for the musical form. No, I bristle solely because this stance is ridiculous. La La Land is absolutely the furthest thing from a "safe" or common movie. And how uncommon it is, after further research, was stunning even to me!

Some lists before the revelation... 

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Janelle Monáe's Breakout 2016

Chris here with one of our newest favorites - well, new to the movies at least. Janelle Monáe has already been such an effervescent musician and entertainer this decade, crushing it with ferocious moves and slick style. The leap to movies was only inevitable with all that charisma. This year she's made quite the successful transition, landing right in the middle of Oscar season with supporting roles in two contenders Moonlight and Hidden Figures. Both films and characters are quite different, showing the star's range and excitingly delivering her breakthrough for two black narratives.

But it's not just happenstance of two great projects in the same season. In short order, Monáe proves to be as much of a natural cinematic talent as she is a musical one. Without any of the stunted skills of her pop contemporaries trying out this acting thing, she's already the kind of screen presence you just want to spend more time with. In short order, Janelle Monáe deserves to be a damn movie star...

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Podcast: Critics Awards, Elle, Hacksaw Ridge, More...

This week a bifurcated podcast. In the first half Nick, Joe, and Nathaniel continue their discussion of Elle. Then Katey joins us to talk about the recent surge of critics awards. 

Index (42 minutes)
00:01 A little more on Elle, Huppert, and provocateur auteurs
13:00 Bleed For This, The Fighter, Hidden Figures
19:20 Katey joins us & Nick goes to New Zealand
23:00 Critic prizes, Critics Choice Nomination, NBR, the lack of transparency, and Mel Gibson's Hacksaw Ridge
40:00 A bit on Hell or High Water

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments. On the next podcast: Manchester by the Sea and Reader Questions Answered! 

Critics Award Rush...

Documentary Oscar Race Narrows to 14 Films (Plus 1 Mini-Series)

Oscar has winnowed down that massive Best Documentary Semi-Finals list to a more manageable fifteen. We've reviewed just over two thirds of them. Nine are currently available to stream online (handy links provided) and four are in select theaters. The finalists for the five nominations are...

• Cameraperson (IN THEATERS / on Criterion Collection Blu-Ray February 2017)
• Command and Control  (coming to PBS in January)
• The Eagle Huntress (IN THEATERS)
• Fire at Sea (IN THEATERS)
• Gleason (available to rent on Amazon)
• Hooligan Sparrow (streaming on Netflix)
• I Am Not Your Negro  (IN THEATERS FEB 2017)
• The Ivory Game (streaming on Netflix)
• Life, Animated (available to rent on iTunes)
• O.J.: Made in America (series available to purchase on iTunes)
• 13th (streaming on Netflix)
• Tower (IN THEATERS)
• Weiner (available to buy on iTunes)
• The Witness (streaming on Netflix)
• Zero Days (available to buy on iTunes)

What's missing? Well, what isn't. There are always scads of depressing omissions. Let us focus our tears on the delicious Sondheim retrospective reflection about "Merrily We Roll Along" The Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened which really deserves a big audience. But all told this list is not surprising finals list. In fact I am quite shocked to tell you that in my Top 20 Most Likely To Oscar chart page (being revised at the moment) I missed only two of these fifteen (Command and Control and The Witness) in favor of films like Newtown and Miss Sharon Jones.