Through Her Lens (Season Finale): The 83rd Oscars + 2010s RECAP

A series by Juan Carlos Ojano. Introduction / Explanation

After Kathryn Bigelow’s historic Director win at the previous Oscars for The Hurt Locker, the 2010 roster of nominees returned to the usual all-male lineup. The eventual five were pretty much unquestioned. David Fincher was the early frontrunner for Facebook drama The Social Network. Darren Aronofsky and David O. Russell received their first nominations in this category for the psychological horror Black Swan and the sports drama The Fighter, respectively. The inclusion of the Coen Brothers was considered a semi-surprise for the late-breaking Western True Grit. Ultimately, the winner was Tom Hooper for the Best Picture-winning historical drama The King’s Speech. 

Given that context, it is still a bit discouraging to see the return to normal especially with two female-directed films also up for Best Picture: Lisa Cholodenko’s dramedy The Kids are All Right and Debra Granik’s mystery drama Winter’s Bone. Both films received four nominations, though neither secured any wins. Women were also largely absent from the Best Director conversation. Out of the 248 films included in the Reminder List of Eligible Films in 2010 (83rd Academy Awards), only 24 (9.7%) were directed/co-directed by women...

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What are Kristen Stewart's Five Good Films?

by Cláudio Alves

In the past decade, Kristen Stewart has come a long way. While her career started early and with great promise – while she was still a teenager – the actress' participation in Twilight movies soured the world's perception of her talent. It's unfair but, as of the writing of this piece, it seems to be over. With Pablo Larraín's Spencer, even the biggest Stewart skeptics have quieted, and she's on her way to a likely Oscar nomination if prognosticators are to be believed. All that and she also just got engaged to girlfriend Dylan Meyer, making this a time of great personal fulfillment as well as professional and artistic. Still, when looking back at her own filmography, it seems that the actress herself isn't as enamored with it as some fans might be…

In an interview about Spencer for The Sunday Times, Stewart said:

I've probably made five really good films out of 45 or 50 films. Ones that I go, 'Wow, that person made a top-to-bottom beautiful piece of work!

Reading this, I couldn't help but wonder what cinematic quintet she holds dear to her heart...

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The moment I fell for Kristen Stewart

by Cláudio Alves

Ten years ago, Floria Sigismondi's The Runaways was released. The film's a rock biopic and literary adaptation of Cherie Currie's autobiography - Neon Angel. It portrays her life in the late 70s when she became the vocalist for the all-female rock band for which the film is named. Influential and memorable, the Runaways burned too bright and too soon, dissolving after two years of fame, a modicum of success and a whole lot of controversy. Joan Jett, a rock icon and the Runaways' guitarist, helped produce the film and, maybe because of that, Sigsimondi's script makes her a coprotagonist.

Matters of shambolic narrative structure aside, I'm glad The Runaways is so entranced by the mythos of Joan Jett. Otherwise, I might have never woken up to the genius of Kristen Stewart…

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Riley Keough is our queen!

by Cláudio Alves

Nepotism is alive and thriving in modern Hollywood. Just look at the enviable careers of Margaret Qualley, Maya Hawke, Emma Roberts, Dakota Johnson, and more. Another name to add to that list would be Riley Keough, daughter of Lisa Marie Presley and Dany Keough. Naturally, she's also the granddaughter of none other than "The King of Rock 'n' Roll" himself, Elvis Presley. 

Keough, like many current rising stars, was already born with a foot in the door and the benefit of her celebrity lineage in an otherwise tough business to break into. However, she has more than proven herself once inside. We'd go so far as to say that she's one of her generation's brightest rising stars, having shown excellence in a variety of tones, genres and acting styles across an already enviable young filmography...

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On This Day: Glenn Close Born, Ben Kingsley Knighted, Sean Connery Bonded

Programming Note: Apologies that we're off schedule on episodes of Pfandom and Three Fittings. Performance anxiety (aka writer's block) at Film Experience HQ. While Nathaniel course corrects...

On this day in showbiz history...
Here are a few cinematic things to think about today March 19th. Which will you feel most festive about?

1859 Charles Gounod's Opera Faust premieres in Paris. There are multiple Faust operas just as there are multiple film versions of the 
1897 Betty Compson (The Barker, 1928), the only Best Actress nominee born in Beaver, Utah (I mean, she'd have to be, right?) enters the world. 
1915 Happy 102nd birthday today to 40s star Patricia Morrison (Dressed to Kill, Song of the Thin Man). Yes, she's still alive!
1947 Glenn Close is born in Connecticutt. 70 years later she still hasn't won her Oscar! She's back on Broadway in Sunset Blvd at the moment...

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