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Entries in Room (39)

Tuesday
Dec152015

Production Design Interview: Building the World(s) of "Room"

Once you've seen Room, you're unlikely to forget "Room". To Jack (Jacob Tremblay) "Room" is the entire world. He names everything in it and says hello each morning to the only (inanimate) friends he has ever known. The space had to be tight, visually memorable, and emotionally specific and you had to have cameras function inside it. A tall order. To design Room, and the world outside of it in Room, a Globe nominee for Best Picture, Lenny Abrahamson entrusted the ingeniously creative production designer Ethan Tobman who had previously worked in low profile independent film but attracted much more attention for recent high profile work for music superstars like Beyonce, Eminem and Madonna.

We had the pleasure of talking to Tobman about his process, his time in music video, and how he got emotionally inside and outside of that tiny space to design it. 

NATHANIEL R: Room has such a memorably specific central set, how do you even know where to begin on a project like this?

ETHAN TOBMAN: The way I approach any project, but specifically Room, is to read the script and put it away for a week and think about the things that inspired me about it. The research begins immediately, but I need to allow myself to think pretty abstractly about some of the emotional and thematic concepts. [More...]

Click to read more ...

Thursday
Dec102015

"Room" and The Case for Jacob Tremblay

Kieran, here with a second look at SAG nominee Jacob Tremblay's work in Room.

My antennae were attuned for several things this past weekend while watching Lenny Abrahamson’s Room for the second time. I’ll say up front that searching for the power of Brie Larson’s accomplished, already heralded performance as Ma was not one of them. That was received on first watch and, frankly hadn’t faded from memory even a little. A rewatch only confirmed the potent emotionality of Larson’s work and it’s fortunate that work this exemplary is being so universally recognized as such—that isn’t always the case. Among other things, I was watching for Jacob Tremblay’s performance as Jack, Ma’s doting and mystified son.

Full disclosure: I often find praise heaped upon juvenile performances incredulous. Like many, I found myself fighting tears (and losing that fight) several times throughout my first viewing, most often during Tremblay’s scenes. The grimness of the initial scenario and the bond between Ma and Jack on the script level had my suspicions raised. Was Tremblay’s performance itself eliciting the emotional response or is it solely because of what’s already built in to the architecture of the piece?

This was my question going into Room for the second time. [More...]

Click to read more ...

Monday
Dec072015

News: BIFA, Carrie Fisher, Creed

Gothamist Good Morning America tries to interview Carrie Fisher. She is not as cooperative as they're used to. Hilarious. She mostly wants to talk about her dog Gary. Also...
Carrie Fisher's Dog is on twitter
/Film best and worst of Ryan Gosling on SNL
Variety
Shailene Woodley, to whom I am mostly allergic, will unfortunately co-star with Nicole Kidman in Big Little Lies
Boy Culture
Warhol superstar Holly Woodlawn has died at 69
i09 in case you can't wait until Christmas, they've released 8 clips from The Hateful Eight to tide you over
Pajiba 8 sets of celebrity dopplegangers

Today's Watch
Director Ryan Coogler talks about Creed's amazing continuous shot boxing match. So gutsy that this bravura bit comes so early in the movie and he still manages to top it later on.

List Mania
Vulture David Edelstein's top ten list is quite adventurous as it zigzags from Room to Chi-Raq but his top 10 and best performances list is.... Steve Carell The Big Short as #2 of the year (say whaaaa?)

Saoirse Ronan has arrived. Finally...
The Moet British Independent Film Awards ceremony happened yesterday during all the critics award madness stateside. The winner by a significant margin was Alex Garland's haunting sci-fi triangle Ex Machina. The prizes...

British Independent Film: Ex Machina
Director: Alex Garland, Ex Machina
Actress: Saiorse Ronan, Brooklyn
Actor: Tom Hardy, Legend
Supporting Actress: Olivia Colman, The Lobster
Supporting Actor: Brendan Gleeson, Suffragette
Screenplay: Alex Garland, Ex Machina
Documentary: Dark Horse: The Incredible True Story of Dream Alliance
International Independent Film: Room
Debut Director: Stephen Fingleton, The Survivalist
Producer of the Year: Paul Katis & Andrew De Lotbiniere, Kajaki: The True Story
Discovery Award: Orion: The Man Who Would Be King
Achievement in Craft: Andrew Whitehurst for VFX, Ex Machina
Short Film: Edmond
Promising Newcomer: Abigail Hardingham, Nina Forever

Kind of a surprise to see Ex Machina dominate so thoroughly though we do love it here at The Film Experience

Tuesday
Dec012015

NBR takes Fury Road... but to where?

The National Board of Review used to be the unofficial kick off to awards season / best of year honors but though it's still early, the race for "first" got so ridiculous that we've crept into November of late. They lost that distinction but they're still doing their thing super early in December. The first day of it. Welcome to month twelve!

THEY LOOKED AT ME. THEY LOOKED AT ME.

This year they named George Miller's feminist action epic Mad Max Fury Road as the year's best and we salute them since we love it so and it's peak spectacle filmmaking. But Furiosa will be pissed to hear that they mostly ignored the other big female driven films this year.

Let's investigate after the jump...

Click to read more ...

Thursday
Nov262015

Nathaniel Gives Thanks

You've heard from a few members of our team of their quick lists of gratitude so naturally your host and obsessive ringleader, Nathaniel, must chime in. As you read this I'm surely already stuffing myself but this year I've planned ahead with a big diet and exercize program to commence on November 30th.

I'm thankful for...


..."rug" in Room, steering wheels in Mad Max Fury Road, the train sets in Carol and Ant-Man, and Gerda's evolving portraits of Lili in The Danish Girl

... Grandma's bonobos fixation

... Sarah Paulson's ability to elevate every single project she's in whether said project is awesome (Carol) or, let's say, "challenged" (AHS: Hotel and AHS in general for that matter)

... the way 2015's hottest topics kept reminding us of Cate Blanchett's Blue Jasmine speech in 2014

The world is round, people!"

...a tight squeeze, with shimmering bosom, in Paolo Sorrentino's Youth

... bits and pieces of Magic Mike XXL but oddly not the parts involving bits and pieces. [Ahem]

...the rise of continuous shots. Hello Victoria ! Can we keep getting one of these movies every year?

...communal meals in Brooklyn. And speaking of communal meals -- that time Katey, Nick, Joe and I were all in the same room (first time ever) and then that time I met her awesomeness Teo Bugbee for lunch and we retreated, without warning, into the weird pockets of our brains that are completely infected with Isabelle Adjani madness. (After we were done talking about drooling on Carol that is.)

... Tilda Swinton's tan in Trainwreck, Michael Keaton's self-assessment in Spotlight, and Juliette Binoche's laughter in Clouds of Sils Maria

...the beautiful commitment to ugly psychology in UnREAL

... Patton Oswalt's memoir "Silver Screen Fiend"

...the shot of Jack's feet tentatively touching the sterile hospital floor in Room

... *unfolds dread acceptance speech list of names that probably won't mean anything to readers but means a lot to me* Nicolette, Tony, Lisa, Lea, Chris, Gena, Courtney, Amy, Benjamin, Melanie, Denise, Rob, Matt, Thomas, Joey, Cory, Thelma, Todd, Dan, Ed, Kay, Matt, Tim, Jenn & Alan, Vern & Evi, Deborah & Roberta, multiple Williams & Davids & Ryans & Johns & Andrews and many others I'm forgetting right this second who either work in showbiz and make my job more pleasant from their outreach and kindness or don't work in the movies at all but make my life more pleasant and joyful in one way or several others.

... the absurd jump in quality (when the show was already excellent) in S2 of The Leftovers.

... three superb actors we've loved for years that were kind enough to guest blog right here at The Film Experience in 2015 for an entire day: Ann Dowd, Cara Seymour, and David Dastmalchian. Humbled and blessed to have them.

And, finally, a toast to imaginary friends within the movies -- Bing Bong (Inside Out), Lucky the Dog (Room), and Larry & Barry (Mad Max Fury Road) -- since every character we love in a movie serves the same function for us!

We'll end with a reminder of our deep gratitude to all you readers (international and domestic) -- especially those that donate, subscribe, comment, and share their favorite articles -- and to Team Experience who do so much to keep this blog popping daily when I'm exhausted, overwhelmed, offline, travelling, or even when I'm doing just fine and they're just sharing their love for movies in articles and or comments. Community means so much to The Film Experience because what is the obsession with movies other than the thrill of sharing stories together in the dark?

Nathaniel (c'est moi) posing with Natalie (Portman)! Nathaniel R, the creator and owner of The Film Experience, is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association. He is the film columnist for Towleroad, a renowned Oscar pundit (Gurus of Gold), and his writing has appeared in both online publications (Vanity Fair, Slate) and print magazines (Esquire, Winq). Nathaniel has served on international festival juries and appeared as an on-air Oscar pundit for CNNi, Sky News London and more. Michelle Pfeiffer on a piano top (1989) altered his life's trajectory, and Julianne Moore high on coke and mommy issues (1997) and Nicole Kidman descending from the rafters (2001) at the Moulin Rouge sealed his fate as the hopelessly movie-mad Actressexual you see before you. [Follow Nathaniel on Twitter | See all Nathaniel's Articles

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