Nine… Might as Well Be Ten

As a response to criticism of the “filler” nominees in the last couple years, AMPAS reduced the number of nominees to a variable number between ten and five. This year, it was nine. My understanding of how the vote counting works would lead last year to be nine or ten regardless. Something I admire about this change in the best picture category is that it has created greater clarity in the awards circuit’s perception of the best films of the year. Last year it was evident that there were eleven films vying for best picture. The top ten were the correct films plus “The Town”, which was pushed out for a better but lesser known film “Winter’s Bone”. This year the field is less determined than that but the films left out of the picture category make up a clear fourteen top films. Adding to the nine nominees “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”, “The Ides of March”, and “Bridesmaids” from the PGA nominations and “Drive” and “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” from the BAFTA nominations you get a good picture of what is typically considered the awards movies of this year. Ultimately “Drive” and “The Ides of March” only managed one nomination, two for “Bridesmaids”, three for “Tinker Tailor”, and five for “Dragon Tattoo” (more nominations than several in the best picture category). The two I wasn’t anticipating making the Oscar list were “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” and “The Tree of Life”, though I’ll take both over “Bridesmaids” or “The Ides of March”. Last year there was a pleasant connection between the top ten and nominations by numbers. All ten were the most nominated films of the year. This year “Extremely Loud” has only two when five other films have more nominations total and five other films would have more nominations were they nominated for best picture.

The director category has served in the last couple years to clarify the top and bottom five nominees. Often in years of five best pictures the director category will deviate from picture by one indicating some unrest in the nominees. Separating director and picture is a difficult thing to do considering that what a director does differs in every production. This year the top four fill the director category along with Terrence Malick, whose film has the strongest authorial voice of any this year. David Fincher took his spot in the DGA nominations which was a slight disappointment but is certainly better than a Spielberg nomination. It’s rare to see the DGA and AMPAS disagree in this category. It’s also sad to see “War Horse” nominated so often undeservedly. “The Artist” will likely win both of these.

The leading actor category seemed well decided this year save the fifth nomination, either going to DiCaprio, Oldman, Gosling, or Bichir. Shockingly both Gary Oldman and Demian Bichir took nominations pushing out Michael Fassbender’s amazing performance in “Shame” and completely shutting out the film from competition. It’s nice to see Gary Oldman finally earn a nomination and this is a well deserved one but Bichir does nothing interesting, unique, or compelling in “A Better Life”. It’s a hollow one note performance and why it has garnered attention puzzles me. Jean Dujardin and George Clooney will compete for this.

Supporting actor had two leaders until now. Christopher Plummer and Albert Brooks were going to fight it out with extremely disparate performances. Now Christopher Plummer will win. As part of the massive “Drive” snub this year Brooks was ignored in lieu of Max von Sydow in “Extremely Loud” (the second nomination for that film). But Sydow was a great part of the film and I don’t begrudge his recognition, instead I question why Nick Nolte has been nominated for the outrageously bad “Warrior”. Viggo Mortensen would have also been welcome in this category giving some attention to the shut out “A Dangerous Method”.

Rooney Mara is the only surprise in the leading actress category.  Tilda Swinton should be used to the snub by now. This is her third year in a row for great overlooked performances. “We Need to Talk About Kevin” is completely shut out as well, in addition to the expected screenplay and potential actress nominee “Young Adult”. There is a bit of a three way tie in who will win this category. Viola Davis appear to be the leader, but Meryl Streep and Michelle Williams have just as much momentum.

Once again “Drive” and “Shame” are ignored as Carey Mulligan earns a nomination for neither film in the supporting actress category. Instead all of the expected nominees are there. Shailene Woodley sat on the outside of this category for a while, hoping to push out the insane nomination for Melissa McCarthy, but in the end the fat woman beat the hot girl. The women from “The Help” lead this category and unless there is a split in the vote leading to a Bejo upset, either Spencer or Chastain will win.

Documentary feature is always less exciting in terms of snubs since there is a shortlist already identifying that neither Herzog film will be nominated. Previous leaders “Buck”, “Bill Cunningham New York”, and “Project Nim” are all removed from the category leaving “Pina” the only popular nominee. Likely the winner. Also, it’s in 3D.

Foreign language has a similar issue with the shortlist, but nothing was too shocking in what films didn’t make the five after the shortlist. Only “Pina”, which was shortlisted in both categories and only made the cut for documentary. Wouldn’t that be amusing to have a film nominated in both specialty categories? “A Separation” is the clear leader here but AMPAS has an uncanny ability to never award the leading film for foreign language.

Animated feature moved back to five nominees this year. It also included two less known pictures: “Chico & Rita” and “A Cat in Paris”. The other three nominees were leaders however “The Adventures of Tintin” did not make the list. Interestingly enough the night before the nominations I was sharing with a friend that the category I was most nervous over this year was animated. “Rango” is so clearly the best film but after the HFPA and PGA awarded “Tintin” I was growing concerned. Now my fears are gone, but “Tintin” is still a better film than “Puss in Boots”.

Costume design… frustrates me. It often leads me to watch films I’d otherwise forget existed like the Madonna directed “W.E.”. It’s also a difficult one to predict because it rarely goes along with the sweep from the rest of the year. Although two of the leading picture candidates are represented here.

Editing is the other category to typically correlate with picture. A film winning all three is a sign of a unanimous victory. This year the less than flashy editing of “Midnight in Paris” removed it from the category unsurprisingly. But “The Tree of Life” falling out of the category raises questions about the nominations as the film is a miracle of editing. “Dragon Tattoo” and “Moneyball” are certainly deserving nominees, but still surprising.

Score left Trent Reznor off the list this year, which is a shame since John Williams was given two nominations for recycling the same garbage he has put out for the last several decades. “The Artist” will likely take this category considering the score is so integral to the storytelling. Unfortunately two other electronic scores were left off the list, “Attack the Block” and “Hanna”.

Original song is such a fleeting category. I expect in a few years it won’t exist anymore. After the 2008 reduction of their part in the ceremony and number of nominees it has been an endless disappointment. That year the three songs were combined into a painful medley. The next year the five nominated songs were not performed at all (sadly when Ryan Bingham was nominated). Then last year they returned the full performances to the show reducing the nominees to the odd number of four. In Randy Newman’s acceptance speech he pointed out this oddity. This year things are even stranger with only two nominees and a very clear winner in “Man or Muppet”. At least Gwyneth Paltrow won’t sing. No great songs were snubbed here.

I was a little shocked at the inclusion of “Real Steel” in the visual effects category. None of the marvel films from this year were nominated. “Pirates”, “Mission Impossible”, and “Sherlock Holmes” all had better visuals. And the train sequence in “Super 8″ is more than enough to garner a nomination over the tacky robots in “Real Steel”. “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”, however, will win.

Adapted screenplay confuses the best picture category even more and strengthens the top fourteen concept. Leaders “The Help”, “Dragon Tattoo”, and “Extremely Loud” were all left out for “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” and “The Ides of March”. Sad considering “The Ides of March” suffered most as a film from its poorly adapted script. “The Descendants” will win here.

Original screenplay offers mostly shocking shut outs. Expected nominees “50/50″, “Win Win”, and “Young Adult” all fell off of this list and out of the awards entirely. Instead the overrated “A Separation” and “Bridesmaids” found a place here. AMPAS just loves nominating the occasionally raunchy comedy screenplay. “Margin Call” was a happy addition however. “Midnight in Paris” will win this category, hurting “The Artist” in final number of wins. This year, like last year, will show a low scoring best picture win.

I’m looking forward to finding and watching the foreign language, documentary, and short nominees. If motivation allows I will blog about them.

Ten of 2011

Top ten lists are a tricky thing. Timing is important, just like awards. New York film critics proudly release their awards ahead of everyone else, while AMPAS proudly close out the awards season three months after the year has ended. Typically I will wait until after I’ve watched all shortlisted Oscar contenders for foreign language to finalize any listing as they are part of the current year. Most critics however cite them as the following year since they typically won’t have a theatrical release in the US until then. Notice ‘In a Better World’ has a number of top ten entries this year even though it won best foreign language feature last year. Similarly ‘Incendies’, which I didn’t have a chance to see until after the awards, has made a number of lists. But something about those listings feels antiquated to me. Of course a top ten list posted months after the year has ended has a similar feeling.

Part of what fueled my decision to post early this year was how underwhelmed I was by the foreign front runner, ‘A Separation’. It has 100% on RT, has won a number of awards, and appears on dozens of top ten lists but it’s just not that great. The film relies so heavily on cultural sympathy for people enslaved by religious devotion. Although I preferred it to ‘A Separation’, ’4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days’ similarly expected shock and conflict from audience members over the loss of an unborn child. Personal experiences and conversations often impact where films fall on my lists. ‘A Single Man’, ‘Sweeney Todd’, and ‘Atonement’ all climbed higher after arguing their worth. This year I find the reverse. I may be less stubborn as years pass but I can see the flaws in films I love better through conversation and learn to love films more as I discuss them with others. Of course this is not to say that my mind has been changed about ‘Bridesmaids’ or ‘The Help’ since hearing my naive friends defend them. But this list is certainly colored by the perceptions of others through 2011.

Midnight in Paris – I always defend Woody Allen. Only once in my life have a watched one of his films in the theatre and not at least enjoyed myself, and that happened to be one of his more critically acclaimed films (‘Vicky Christina Barcelona’). There’s a beautiful simplicity to his storytelling that matches this bold project perfectly. It has no pretense about it, no need for explanation, and no unnecessary seriousness. The elation I felt walking out of the theatre was unique and unmatched. This is the best film of the year.

Shame

Drive

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

The Tree of Life

Hugo

Take Shelter

Margin Call

The Descendants

Moneyball

Honorable mentions for: Rango, The Artist, and Jane Eyre

If you find yourself complaining that 2011 was a poor year for cinema watch some of these films.

You Need to Stop Talking

Weeks have passed, guilds have nominated, and no fields have narrowed. In fact a few films previously out of the race have sprung into action. Sadly following my criticism of the HFPA and SAG love for ‘The Ides of March’ and ‘Bridesmaids’ both earned PGA nominations pushing out better films like ‘The Tree of Life’, ‘Drive’, and ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’ (which is now essentially out of all competition). In this time I’ve also seen a few more films and found myself shockingly emotionally arrested by ‘Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close’. Not for its 9/11 referencing but for the real human story that develops once the outrageously underrated performance by Max Von Sydow is introduced. The tragedy is not how a man dies but that he dies. Not a great film but superior to many shamefully pulling weight in the Best Picture field this year.

The DGA nominees were announced today and I silently cheered while reading the names. The solid three front runners seem to have been joined by a good fourth, ‘Midnight in Paris’. Among my still in progress top ten list, Woody Allen’s latest feature is perhaps the most universally loved film by awards circuits. Thankfully none of the dreadful films pushing for a Picture nomination made the five. No Spielberg, Tate Taylor, or Clooney. Although in place of David Fincher, who displaced all of those, I would have rather seen Terrence Malick, Bennett Miller, or Nicolas Winding Refn. From a directorial standpoint ‘Dragon Tattoo’ is a great achievement. Taking a story that was made two years prior (in its native language) and creating a different tone, atmosphere, focus, and overall impact.

This moves me to a subject that troubles most films made in this country, how to handle foreign locations. ‘The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’ is entirely in English with the implication that everyone is actually speaking Swedish. Every actor aside from Daniel Craig uses a vague and light Swedish accent, which makes him stand out a little awkwardly but also seems unnecessary for the others. Speaking in English with a foreign accent, especially when almost none of the lead actors speak with that accent naturally, makes everyone appear to have trouble communicating in their native language. It’s even more problematic in ‘War Horse’ when we move from country to country with various nationalities all speaking English with different accents. This movie panders so heavily to its audience that we could easily identify what nationality the characters are without this device. It might even reduce some of the cloying cheesiness if the film were to simply allow all actors to speak normally. And why are people so afraid of subtitles? It’s remarkable to me how anxious it makes some viewers.

This weekend will start to narrow some of the fields with winners from various awards ceremonies, but I still see no sign of a clear winner for any of the actor categories. I have never seen such an open year. It’s simultaneously refreshing and alarming. While I enjoy having the suspense of not knowing who will win or earn a nomination, the stakes are lower as a result. The question of who will be nominated is pretty wide open as well, there are only one of two sure bets in each category.

Since my favorites are falling further toward the bottom of the charts my hopes are set on a list of five nominees for Best Picture this year. ‘The Artist’, ‘Hugo’, ‘The Descendants’, and ‘Midnight in Paris’ make up a respectable if light top four. ‘Moneyball’, ‘Dragon Tattoo’, ‘Tree of Life’, or ‘Drive’ would all be welcome fifths to those four (also all bringing a slightly darker film into the field). I’m hoping to see ‘The Help’, ‘War Horse’, and ‘Bridesmaids’ pushed out in lieu of one of these much better films but fear all three will earn a nomination.

‘War Horse’ interests me as it remains in the race in spite of mediocre reviews and poor box office performance. Watching the film reveals all of Spielberg’s flaws as a director. The cloying pandering, overly grand sweeping shots, and an epic length and scope shoehorned into a small story. Yes, this is a children’s story and it plays that way. But had George Miller directed this film rather than the failed ‘Happy Feet 2′ this year I imagine it would have been far more enjoyable, taking itself less seriously. Yet again it is a light and fluffy film, but it attempts to insist a gravity to its story at times that just isn’t there. My hope is that come AMPAS it will see few to no nominations.

And now I will list my wild guesses at HFPA wins for this Sunday.

Best Picture Drama

Winner: Hugo, My Vote: Hugo

Best Picture Comedy/Musical

Winner: The Artist, My Vote: Midnight in Paris

Best Actor Drama

Winner: Brad Pitt, My Vote: Michael Fassbender

Best Actress Drama

Winner: Meryl Streep, My Vote: Tilda Swinton

Best Actor Comedy/Musical

Winner: Jean Dujardin, My Vote: Brendan Gleeson

Best Actress Comedy/Musical

Winner: Michelle Williams, My Vote: Charlize Theron

Best Supporting Actor

Winner: Albert Brooks, My Vote: Viggo Mortensen

Best Supporting Actress

Winner: Jessica Chastain, My Vote: Shailene Woodley

Best Director

Winner: Michel Hazanavicius, My Vote: Martin Scorsese

Best Screenplay

Winner: The Descendants, My Vote: Midnight in Paris

Best Song

Winner: The Help, My Vote: None of the above… fine, Albert Nobbs

Best Score

Winner: The Artist, My Vote: Hugo

Best Animated Film

Winner: Rango, My Vote: Rango

Best Foreign Film

Winner: A Separation, My Vote: The Skin I Live In

WTF SAG/HFPA?? 2011

In the last few years the Golden Globes have stood out as the most disconnected from the rest of the awards circuit and general critical opinion by nominating films like ‘The Tourist’ and ‘Burlesque’ for best picture and snubbing other major films. This year, although the HFPA has still made some strange calls, none are as outrageous as last year and SAG instead has offered a strangely unique perspective on the best of the year.

The field has been more broad this year than most. Although there are a few leading films there is no clear winner in any category. The BFCA set up a decent look at what has been expected for the awards, always giving extra room for error by nominating six in most categories instead of five. There were a few strange choices on their part like a complete snubbing of ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’ and ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’. Although I’m getting the impression that ‘Tinker Tailor’ will be lucky to get many nominations at all in spite of how great the film is, it may just be too hard to follow for the average viewer. ‘Dragon Tattoo’ suffers from essentially being a slightly grittier remake of a film nominated for awards last year.

Let’s begin with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association because their crimes are less serious. Beginning with the complete lack of nominations for ‘Drive’, which found a total of seven nominations from the BFCA and is looking at several major nominations at upcoming awards ceremonies. Also, one of the four leading best picture choices, ‘The Tree of Life’ is completely overlooked by the HFPA. Both of these are unquestionably among the best films of the year. Ryan Gosling was even nominated for best actor drama but for a much worse film, ‘The Ides of March’, which took a best picture, best director, and best screenplay nomination. Although the RT score is a solid 85% all of the reviews are decidedly mixed and nearly no critics have awarded the film with anything. It’s a troubled film and Gosling’s performance is among its worst parts.

The animated category is nearly locked in this year with the Globes throwing one odd curve. ‘Kung Fu Panda 2′ was replaced by ‘Cars 2′, an inferior film entirely. In fact ‘Cars 2′ getting any nominations at all is criminal because Pixar needs to hear the message loud and clear that this was a misstep. Among the snubs for ‘Drive’ Cliff Martinez’s gorgeous score was ignored even though it’s been the front runner coming from the critics that honor that category. In place of it: ‘W.E.’, Madonna’s period piece as a writer/director. Madonna also earned a song nomination alongside some awful music from other failed pictures this year, displacing the three great ‘Muppets’ nominations the BFCA selected.

Although I’m happy to see him there Viggo Mortensen’s nomination is a bit of an oddball, although that fifth spot is wide open at this point. I’d love to see one of the ‘Margin Call’ boys take it. The best actress category is the most nailed down and the filler comedic performances from ‘Carnage’ and ‘Bridesmaids’ are no surprise. The actor category is starting to settle and the only major upset there is the two nominations for Gosling, neither of which are for ‘Drive’.

The biggest snub for the SAG nominations also circles around ‘Drive’, but it involves the several nominations for both ‘The Help’ and ‘Bridesmaids’. When did ‘Bridesmaids’ become a quality picture? This was a slightly better than average pre-summer comedy. It’s now looking at a potential best picture nomination with the buzz it’s getting and the far overrated performance from Melissa McCarthy is among the likely best supporting actress nominees. ‘Bridesmaids’ was the first time I’d seen her perform and I was underwhelmed. When I watched her play the same character in every sketch on SNL I was convinced that she’s a hack. How are Carey Mulligan and Shailene Woodley being displaced for her??

‘J. Edgar’ needs to stop building momentum. The movie is a mess and while both Armie Hammer and Leonardo DiCaprio did an outstanding job of making their parts work they are not deserving of pushing great actors like Albert Brooks (who has been the front runner!) or Patton Oswalt out of the race. The leading female category is what it is, although I stand by ‘The Help’ and its many performances being overrated and would much rather see Charlize Theron in that spot than Viola Davis.

The most bizarre entry in the SAG shocks is a nomination for ‘A Better Life’s Demian Bichir. The film tracked mediocre at best and made no noise at the box office. The fact that both Ryan Gosling and Michael Fassbender’s AMAZING performance in Shame were snubbed in favor of Bichir’s sappy one note role is unforgivable. And then we reach the ensembles… ‘The Artist’ had two acting nominations and is the leader right now for best picture, its nomination makes sense. ‘The Descendants’ has one acting nomination and is a leader for best picture, although it should have a second acting nomination it would be a surprise not to see it in this category. ‘The Help’ has three acting nominations and although it is a pretty terrible film it surprises no one to see it pushed into this top five. ‘Midnight in Paris’ has no other nominations, however it is a front-runner for best picture and thrives on the ensemble performances. ‘Bridesmaids’ however… meets almost none of these qualifications. Yes, the untalented McCarthy was nominated. How the hell this film beat out great ensemble casts like ‘Hugo’, ‘The Tree of Life’, ‘Moneyball’, Drive’, and ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’ is beyond me.

This year has not been solid enough to hope that these are flukes. I fully expect to see the DGA, PGA, and BAFTA nominations knock me out of my chair as well. By the time AMPAS come around my ass will be sore.

It’s So Fluffy I’m Going to Die

This quote from ‘Despicable Me’ seemed appropriate considering the field this year. Granted there are some dark and desperate films looking to stake their claim on trophies but the leaders this year are all pretty light and fluffy. It may be one of the first years where “family friendly” applies to most nominees. Although ‘The Descendants’ is an R-rated picture with some emotional depth, there is a lightness and hopefulness to it that’s inescapable. ‘Midnight in Paris’ is not unusually light for Woody Allen, but is certainly trifling compared to ‘Annie Hall’ or ‘Hannah and Her Sisters’.

An interesting comparison also lies between what I perceive to be the two current front runners. Both ‘The Artist’ and ‘Hugo’ are period pieces about the flailing lives of former silent film gurus. These two films also heavily pay tribute to cinema as a whole, but in very different ways. From ‘The Artist’ we see a gimmick or experiment so successful that it finds an endearing, amiable, and palpable story that could not be told properly otherwise. It strips away current film conventions and limits itself to title cards, black and white film, and a 4:3 aspect ratio. Appropriately it is about the glory of classic cinema and how the young are too fleeting in their taste. Once something new comes along the public is ready to discard the old. You may want to ask yourself how many silent films you’ve seen, and how many you could sink into enough to enjoy. Transversely ‘Hugo’ is about the joy and creative energy in film making. It shows an early color film and clever conventions on how to create visual effects in an older era. And Scorsese is looking forward as he makes it, filming it in the current trend of 3D. But the 3D in ‘Hugo’ transcends all presuppositions about it and instead further involves us in the beautiful 1930s landscape of the film. Both films also, in spite of some real tension and dark moments, are undeniably fluffy.

‘War Horse’ and ‘Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close’ are sitting near the top of the best picture charts currently but I’ve yet to see either. The former is based on a children’s story. The latter may not be light but looks as sappy as it gets. Both films are also notably PG-13.

Now we come to the ‘Blind Side’ of this year. However, like last year, this one isn’t as much of a surprise as a creeping dread. Somehow, in spite of all good sense, ‘The Help’ is a leading nominee in most categories. The level of simplicity, condescension, and racist concepts masquerading as empowerment is about as bad as ‘The Blind Side’. It’s one of the least challenging stories you could tell about race in America. When released in late summer it was a welcome family film to assuage white guilt and provide a few innocent laughs. Often there’s a discussion of how memorable a film will be in years to come. A friend recently said to me, “No one will remember ‘The Hurt Locker’.” And while I may not agree with that statement, in spite of my loathing for that win, it holds true when we speak about future nominees. When looking back on this year future viewers will see ‘The Help’ and ‘The Blind Side’ and ask, “This was nominated for best picture?”

Jessica Chastain has had a huge year, appearing seemingly out of nowhere, and ‘The Help’ is currently her most likely film for a nomination. This is unfortunate. While she is as capable as any of the other performers in the outrageously overrated mess of a film, she has much better performances this year. ‘The Tree of Life’, ‘Take Shelter’, and ‘The Debt’ are all better examples of her abilities.

Now I don’t want to give the impression that awards films should be dark R-rated picture, but this shift in tone is an interesting one. There are plenty of films not fitting into this year’s theme that are worthy of awards and have been pushed to the bottom of most lists. ‘Moneyball’ is exactly the kind of film the awards circuit loves. An intellectually grounded sports drama with strong performances, direction, and writing. And yet it sits fairly low on most charts. ’Shame’ is a current favorite of mine but any NC-17 film will have a hard time earning nominations. Also the slow, intense, and extremely dark film will struggle to win over many voters. ’The Tree of Life’ is even more challenging but also incredibly rewarding. In any year it would be a difficult film to earn a nomination but its hardened coming of age story shines a dim light on some of these other films. ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’ also sits near the bottom of lists, hoping to climb some with its 94% rotten tomatoes score this weekend. ‘Drive’ has earned a few nominations thus far but seems unfortunately outside of the field. That’s the kind of dreamily dark picture this year needs. David Fincher said at one point that ‘The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’ has no chance at a best picture win because of the anal rape. Perhaps he knew something we didn’t leading into this year.

Compounding this issue is the variable best picture number. If it was a field of ten we would know that at least a few darker films would make the cut, but it could only be five. The top seven currently would present a very sappy, fluffy, and family friendly Oscars.

Come Down

Toward the end of my first year of college I became aware of the annual theatre department film festival. Days before the submission deadline I had the idea to take my mediocre camcorder and turn one of the short stories I’d written the quarter before into a short film. It was a mash up of movie cliches with bad camera work and way too many cross fades. The filming of it was so rushed (thanks to the three heroic actors who stayed up all night filming it with me) that I only subtitled it instead of having spoken dialogue. When the shorts played I was surprised by a running theme through all of them including mine: lost love. It seemed that for the 18-22 year old filmmaker the most important thing to write about was love, mostly in terms of not having it. Now at 26 I still see myself and my friends struggle with identifying ourselves by our significant others. When questioning whether or not to get a cat one of the major components was how that would impact a potential girlfriend. But loss typically seems to be a palpable subject for low budget cinema. Death, severance, divorce, and so on lend themselves to brooding stoic actors and long self-indulgent shots. When I think back on the last decade of my life I can easily measure it in losses.

‘The Descendants’, the first feature from Alexander Payne in seven years, focuses quite heavily on this subject. The story follows Matt King (George Clooney) caught in turmoil. His wife is comatose following a boating accident, his ten year old daughter is acting out, his seventeen year old daughter is away at a private school because she was acting out, and as a result of his extended family’s lack of frugality he is overseeing the sale of the large plot of land his family owns on the island of Kauai. Wishing I had not seen the trailer for this film because it ruins a few great surprises, I will not divulge any more of the major plot points. Suffice it to say, Matt learns of more he must deal with.

The film is set in Hawaii specifically to include the story about the land sale. The King family are the descendants of Hawaiian royalty and have enjoyed privilege to a huge plot of untouched land for generations. But Payne, a master of identifying specifics in location and social awareness, weaves in fantastic comedic and sentimental points to the narrative that deal with Hawaiian culture. It’s not a love letter to the state (although there is a clear anti-development pulpit speech near the end), it even opens with a narration by Clooney describing how life is the same for people there. They deal with the same shit everyone else does. It’s curious how often George Clooney lands these remarkable narrating roles. How can I get that gig?

It’s hardly worth mentioning that Clooney is fantastic here. He’s one of the most consistent and reliable actors working today. There’s a tenderness and vulnerability he shows here that is uncharacteristic of him though and it lights up the screen. When you see him reel from one emotional blow after another it becomes so much more tangible when he gets that famous fury in his eyes and even handed anger in his voice. The relationship he has to his daughters is simultaneously distant, confused, frustrated, and powerful. They mean the world to him he just doesn’t know what to do with them.

Looking at Alexander Payne’s limited career as a director (five films in fifteen years) loss and hopelessness tend to be at the center of each picture. The central characters typically start off at a low place and in trying to change their lives end up worse off than ever before. Somehow with this picture he has turned a corner and finds hope. Through all of the torrents of pain and disappointment these characters face there is a positive force growing. Matt King is creating a real family for the first time in his life.

Like all of Payne’s films ‘The Descendants’ is funny. At points it plays like a caper film, his daughters and the older one’s high school friend along for the ride. They all keep up surprisingly well with the action and I was taken aback to see Shailene Woodley holding her own in scenes with Clooney. One note of interest however, why is the little girl chubby? She’s not particularly unique in the way she plays the role, nor is she cute at all, how was she cast?

I’m not putting photos on this blog nor am I advertising on facebook. ‘The Descendants’ is the front runner for best picture right now and I went into the theatre fully intending to resist this film as I had ‘Sideways’. I walked out content.

The Descendants – Five Stars – Thank you for coming back to us Mr. Payne

‘Games’ Begin Next Year

It seemed the thing to do currently, in keeping up with popular culture, to give the young adult novel ‘The Hunger Games’ a read. While I am terribly behind on films, books elude me even further but this seemed a quick read so I took a day and read it. I’m not going to engage in much literary criticism but I did enjoy it. Part of me feels the story was held back by attempting to appeal to a young audience base. Sexuality seemed just on the edge of the story but never really presenting itself and the violence (although very present) felt rather restrained. One irritating tendency Suzanne Collins (the author) has is to present all of the expectations of what is about to happen before a major event, giving the reader a list of what will certainly not happen.

From the brief bits I’d read and the images I’d seen from the upcoming film ‘The Hunger Games’ looked to be about a girl hunting and attempting to survive. But it’s actually a bit more of a hybrid of various dystopia stories. There’s an extreme class system set in place by dividing the world into twelve districts based on their primary export. A lottery takes place annually in each district, not uncommon in these stories, to determine which 12-18 year-olds of each gender will enter “The Hunger Games”.

“The Hunger Games” is a less than prophetic reality-TV-like competition where the twenty-four contestants fight to the death. This was far more forward thinking in writings like ‘The Running Man’ or ‘Battle Royale’, but this time it is a little more thought through. Instead of criticizing the media and a fascination with human suffering that predicted what would come with shows like ‘Survivor’ or ‘The Amazing Race’, ‘The Hunger Games’ has an understanding of the excitement over drama involved in reality television.

Reading something with an upcoming film in mind definitely disrupts the experience a little, but since the only real images to surface thus far have simply feature the main characters in the forest my creativity was able to run free. There is potential to have a film so visually arresting it would be impossible not to earn some Oscar nominations. The harsh contrast between the coal infested waste land of District 12 and the over indulgence of The Capital has so much potential. And the story has so much opportunity for emotionally crippling shock and excitement. But, I have worries.

Starting from the head of this production, Gary Ross is directing and adapting the novel. I think the biggest fault of the production thus far is looking at this as a children’s property made for older audiences. While yes this is distributed by Scholastic, it is a rather dark and disturbing tale made youth friendly by the comfort of the page and imagination.

Gary Ross has no relationship to the sci-fi genre. His career as a writer has been celebrated albeit sparse. ‘Big’ and ‘Dave’ were his early successes prior to the start of his directorial career, but he also wrote ‘Mr. Baseball’ and ‘Lassie’ in the midst of those Oscar nominated screenplays. All four of those properties suggest someone who is infatuated with childhood innocence and a simpler time when baseball and ‘Lassie’ were prevalent.

His directorial debut, ‘Pleasantville’, seems almost autobiographical in his telling of a young man obsessed with the beauty and simplicity of 1950s television. His interest in emotionally stunted adults (or near adults) learning very basic lessons becomes pretty clear in the film. The visually striking but ham-fisted device of color entering the world shows a little promise but more for the evolving technology of the late 90s than of Ross as a director.

Five years later he put out another film trapped in an earlier period of American history. The depression era film ‘Seabiscuit’ succeeded largely on its film style and melodrama embodying its period. Also, horse racing was something not recently addressed in cinema and new technology made it far more exciting than it had been previously. But it still feels far too much like a family film succeeding in spite of itself. It took Ross to the Oscars again with a Best Picture nomination, but that was a surprise at the time.

After ‘Seabiscuit’ Ross took another five years off before writing and producing the disappointing animated feature ‘The Tale of Despereaux’. I wanted to like that film so much more than I did. And now he is on to ‘The Hunger Games’. A director who has never dealt with action or sci-fi is now directing a sci-fi epic about a fight to the death. This helmer who has dealt exclusively in family friendly stories is telling the tale of a dark and twisted future. His two prior directorial endeavors have been visually striking, but only in taking the ordinary and making it extraordinary. How will he fair with creating a new and unique world?

Beyond Ross there are other factors to consider. Robin Bissell, who worked with Ross previously, and Suzanne Collins, the author, are on board as executive producers but likely won’t have much of a hand in anything. The other four producers concern me though. Only two are credited as a “producer”: Nina Jacobson and Jon Kilik. Jacobson has only produced three films: ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ and its sequel, and ‘One Day’ the Lone Scherfig film releasing this weekend to terrible reviews. Jon Kilik is an extremely active producer and could be the saving grace of this film. He clearly has directors he works with, Ross being one of them. He also works with Oliver Stone, Spike Lee, Julian Schnabel, Jim Jarmusch, and Alejandro Gozalez Inarritu. Looking at his credits, he has a chance of pulling this thing together. But Jacobson also has a good chance at killing it.

Aldric La’auli Porter has a co-producer credit on the film, and he has a strangely mixed up list of credits. His range goes from ‘You Don’t Mess with the Zohan’ to ‘A Beautiful Mind’. There’s definitely a through line of comedy in his credits though, which worries me given the dark nature of this project. Louise Rosner is the final executive producer listed on imdb. Her credits have a wide range, but again fall mostly into family friendly comedies like ‘Baby Mama’, ‘Mean Girls’, and ‘Beauty Shop’. It almost seems like she is the component put in place because this is a big budget action film with a female lead.

Tom Stern is the director of photography. He has become Clint Eastwood’s go to person, and likely fits this project because of his work on WWII dramas and period dramas that Ross adores. The music is an exciting and interesting combination of T-Bone Burnett and Danny Elfman. Likely some strange hybrid of country themes and Elfman standards. But looking further down the credits why is the assistant art director on bad Adam Sandler comedies like ‘Grown Ups’ and ‘Click’ the lead art director? Some of his team has worked on more similar films like ‘Inception’, ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’, and ‘X-Men’ but it’s still troubling.

The cast seems to be the only thing in the correct place for this film, but that’s really secondary because no matter how good they are they won’t be able to carry this mess on their shoulders. Jennifer Lawrence is the lead, following her Oscar nomination. Her role in ‘The Beaver’ actually convinced me more of her ability to take on this project than ‘Winter’s Bone’ did. Josh Hutcherson is the male lead. He is known best as a child actor, this is a kind of transitional film for him. ‘Bridge to Terabithia’, ‘Zathura’, and ‘The Kids Are All Right’ are his most familiar films. He’s never been particularly good or bad. All of the other young actors are relatively unknown. Race isn’t much of an issue in the book, as their class is defined more by where they live and work, but the director of ‘Pleasantville’ felt a need to insert it making the people from District 11 all black. Interesting that they are the growers of produce, you’d expect something else.

The cast of adults fills out pretty well with Stanley Tucci playing an irreverent talk show host, Woody Harrelson playing a drunken mentor, and Elizabeth Banks playing an up tight idiot. Lenny Kravitz plays a pretty pivotal role here and while he didn’t bother me in ‘Precious’ I worry about his inexperience in such incapable hands. Donald Sutherland and Toby Jones play characters of great importance but little screen time who I expect to become larger in later books.

Perhaps soon I’ll return to blogging about movies I’ve seen. I have a long list and a faster growing list of movies I’ve yet to see. ‘The Hunger Games’ is set for release on March 23rd, the date of my friend Erin’s birthday. It’s not a big summer blockbuster, nor is it targeted at Oscar season, but it’s a growing phenom in the world of popular culture. I suggest you read it, enjoy it, and join the outcries when it either departs horribly from the novel or shallowly retells the story without invention.