MOB: The Gotham Awards Kick-off the Awards Season

The Gothams are a big enough name on the indie circuit to provide a small alternative to the Independent Spirit Awards (announcing nominees tomorrow), but often aren't taken with quite the seriousness that a group like the NYFCC or the NBR, but seemed to lend a smart and smooth amount of influence to start off the '11 awards race tonight. The Gotham Awards became the first with a fancy awards show this year and started off an already surely unpredictable year with many a surprise, including two seeming heavyweights in The Descendants and Martha Marcy May Marlene, both going into the night with the most nominations, pulling a Gangs of New York and a Color Purple, respectively. They went him with no awards. Indeed, Dee Rees took Breakthrough Director away from Sean Durkin while Felicity Jones bitchslapped Elizabeth Olsen and Shailene Woodley both to the Breakthrough Actor prize for Like Crazy (not sure what can exactly account for that preference, myself).

The lovable little film Beginners, highly recommended, got about as big a boost as an award like this could offer a tiny independent underdog heading into the awards season with its best shot at Oscar in Christopher Plummer accepting the Best Ensemble prize (over films like The Descendants and Margin Call) with humor and grace. Natalie Portman discussed a 2.5 hour conversation the jury had before compromising to also give the tiny film the coveted Best Feature prize tied with the very big Tree of Life.

The boost this lends The Tree of Life is significant, on first glance. It's just another expectation it defied, after taking home the Palme D'Or, winning the International FIRPRESCI prize earlier this year and earlier this week topping the Sight & Sound poll of 100 critics in a landslide victory. The amount to which this can became a major player on the critics circuit depends on how well it does tomorrow, particularly in the New York critics, but I suspect it shan't do too bad considering how much of the Circle's voting body are admirers of Malick's. I'd bet on a Best Director win, at least (although I'm predicting Picture as well). Read more!

MOB: New York Film Critics preview

The New York Film Critics Circle's decision this year to leapfrog over all other precursor awards this year has decidedly backfired as they've proven entirely incapable of seeing all the possible options, including who knows how many hidden gems wanting desperately to bubble over the surface. Either way, they've delayed their voting to Tuesday morning, which will be announced via their twitter page, so that they can see David Fincher's Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. They will not be able to catch Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which certain members will humbly suggest has to do with that film's own level of quality. I think most people realize that is ludicrous.

But what can win? Last year you had options like eventual champ The Social Network at a staggering 96 on metacritic with Toy Story 3 also well into the 90s (and at a higher percentage of positive reviews on rottentomatoes). This year mainstream cinema has not been able to break 87 on metacritic, currently in a three-way tie between Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. II, Moneyball and latest entry The Artist. This could bode well for The Artist since the other two seem to be a bit light for critics' favor, although most of the reviews I can see on the aggregate site seem to be Los Angeles critics for whom the film looks better suited to anyways. And then of course if Dragon Tattoo delivers as the final film they see before voting that could very well lead to a bandwagon (but would they want to have another Fincher film sweep two years in a row?). In a second tier of 85 scores you have Martin Scorsese's Hugo, Mike Nichols' Take Shelter and Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life, which just recently won the top spot on Sight & Sound Magazine's 2011 film poll of 100 critics. The Social Network being the first American film in a long time to win that prize last year boded well for its own critical success, and though The Tree of Life is inarguably more divisive it still did win the Palme D'Or after an initial stammering of boos upon its premiere and even won the main FIRPRESCI prize of critics polled this year, which means it just does fare very well among groups of critics in terms of finding consensus in a year like this.
Other options obviously include the likes of The Descendants, though LA has always been much more of the Payne-fanboy type than the New York critics. If they want to go super-inspired and outre they could easily also go for A Separation, the best film of the year for my money and runner-up at the Sight & Sound poll (and the likely annointed ones at least among the foreign film scene this year).

Possibilities:
The Artist
The Descendants
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt. II
Hugo
Moneyball
Shame
Take Shelter
The Tree of Life
We Need To Talk About Kevin

My prediction: The Tree of Life (runner-up: The Descendants)

Goldderby's poll of pundits has them picking The Descendants but Jean Dujardin still besting Clooney. But I think one of the most critically acclaimed films of the year will end up being Steve McQueen's Shame (evidenced by a FIRPRESCI prize of its own at Venice) which is driven by a lead performance by Michael Fassbender, still primed in a perfect position between foreign indie critics fave and bonafide film star. But for each of these three actors it could prove to be a consolation prize in well-liked films (not to even mention a possibility to double-mention Brad Pitt for the well-reviewed Moneyball and The Tree of Life).

Possibilities:
George Clooney, The Descendants/The Ides of March
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, 50/50
Ryan Gosling, Crazy Stupid Love/Drive/The Ides of March
Michael Fassbender, A Dangerous Method/Jane Eyre/Shame/X-Men First Class
Woody Harrelson, Rampart
Hunter McCracken, The Tree of Life
Peyman Moaadi, A Separation
Brad Pitt, Moneyball/The Tree of Life
Michael Shannon, Take Shelter
My prediction: Michael Fassbender, Shame (runner-up: Jean Dujardin)

Best Actress is such a peculiar category because many of the perceived frontrunners for Oscar glory are not seen as being in critically acclaimed films (Meryl Streep, Michelle Williams, Glenn Close and even leading contender Viola Davis herself). But it's not like there aren't great options to choose from actually great films, and then of course there's the possibility they do go for one of these other, by all measures praised, performances in weaker films, or even a sight unseen like Rooney Mara (I wouldn't count TGWTDT out for anything considering it'll be the one freshest on their minds and is likely to leave an imprint on their mind, judging from the preview materials we've seen). They've gone for veterans in the past like Meryl Streep in 2009 or, less explicably, Annette Bening last year. That could bode very well for either Meryl Streep or overdue Glenn Close. But there are also ingenues this year like Elizabeth Olsen, Felicity Jones and Rooney Mara. Cannes queens Tilda Swinton and Kirsten Dunst are in the running for a critics' darling position themselves that might prove crucial in their path to a coveted Oscar nomination alongside names like Olivia Colman or even praised performances last year just released this year like Juliette Binoche in Certified Copy or the fantastic Jeong-hee Yoon for Poetry (though LA and NSFC are more likely to reward foreign-language performances in general).

Possibilities:
Juliette Binoche, Certified Copy
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Olivia Colman, Tyrannosaur
Kirsten Dunst, Melancholia
Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene
Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Tilda Swinton, We Need To Talk About Kevin
Charlize Theron, Young Adult
Michelle Williams, Meek's Cutoff/My Week With Marilyn
My prediction: Tilda Swinton, We Need To Talk About Kevin (runner-up: Michelle Williams)

The supporting categories could be a place to conceivably go with Oscar prognostication since New York has historically always been closer aligned to Oscar success than any other critics' group. If Christopher Plummer is the frontrunner in Supporting Actor, then maybe he'll win Best Supporting Actor. He certainly won't see Max Von Sydow as competition. But sometimes these critics like to go a little rougher around the edges, and I think a veteran alternative like Albert Brooks in the gritty Drive provides them a good opportunity at rewarding that otherwise well-reviewed film (though not the most kindly from NY critics in general) and a choice that might be seen as slightly fresher even though he's deep in the hunt for Oscar. But as far as I can tell those are the two options it really comes down to.

Possibilities:
Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn
Albert Brooks, Drive
George Clooney, The Ides of March
Robert Forster, The Descendants
Ben Kingsley, Hugo
Nick Nolte, Warrior
Patton Oswalt, Young Adult
Brad Pitt, The Tree of Life
Christopher Plummer, Beginners/The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Christoph Waltz, Carnage
My prediction: Albert Brooks, Drive (runner-up: Christopher Plummer)

Just like Plummer is slated to sweep his category, though he might not start here, another actress who looks "sweepy" seems to be Vanessa Redgrave in Coriolanus, getting Oscar predictions as soon as last January when the film was screened at the Berlin Film Festival. She lost out on the festival prize for Actress (for which I presume she was a frontrunner) to the female ensemble of A Separation, about which I'm not complaining. If they go, as they often do, for prizes recognizing multiple performances than the award is almost sealed for breakthrough (in every sense of the word) actress Jessica Chastain, between Take Shelter, The Tree of Life, The Help and The Debt has established a critically acclaimed, artistically diverse, and generally financially successful career this past year alone. Other contenders in this category from critically acclaimed selections include the radiant Carey Mulligan in Shame, Berenice Bejo in The Artist, and Shailene Woodley in The Descendants.

Possibilities:
The female ensemble of A Separation (heh)
Berenice Bejo, The Artist
Jessica Chastain, Coriolanus/The Debt/The Help/Take Shelter/The Tree of Life
Jodie Foster, Carnage
Helen McCrory, Hugo
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Carey Mulligan, Drive/Shame
Vanessa Redgrave, Coriolanus
Octavia Spencer, The Help
Kate Winslet, Carnage
Shailene Woodley, The Descendants
My prediction: Jessica Chastain, The Tree of Life, et all (runner-up: Vanessa Redgrave)

For best director the slate of options should be similar to the contenders for Best Film, although a bigger name and more craft-oriented director like Kathryn Bigelow and David Fincher are more likely than lesser named or more subdued directors like Michael Hazanavicius or Alexander Payne. That said, splits happened here a lot more often than not (and especially more than at the Oscars) and it almost seems as if they're overdue for one.

Possibilities:
Tomas Alfredson, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Asghar Farhadi, A Separation
David Fincher, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life
Bennett Miller, Moneyball
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
Lynne Ramsay, We Need To Talk About Kevin
Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
My prediction: Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life (runner-up: Michel Hazanavicius) Read more!

MOB: Calm Before the Storm

If you're not nearly as obsessed with awards season and Oscar politicking as I am but are still curious as to how the process might work, might I recommend you start with this season? Last year the critics decided in lockstep with The Social Network before every industry award went in lockstep with The King's Speech. The Oscar winning fates of last year's winners such as Colin Firth, Christian Bale and Natalie Portman seemed like foregone conclusions as soon as their films debuted (while Melissa Leo was the frontrunner in her respective category).
Next week we have what should be every distributor, campaigner, and prospective awards candidates taking in their final breaths before jumping into the depths of awards season starting with the New York Film Critics, much earlier than usual, and the National Board of Review within days of each other. From then on until the holiday season, where there's a nice breather until the industry awards, will be a deluge of obscure regional critics prizes doled out and pages worth of nomination lists.

And it's not like this year hasn't already been fraught with tension and suspense. After the surprising announcement of bringing Brett Ratner on to produce the Oscar telecast itself for next year with Eddie Murphy as its host brought with it some house cleaning among writers, PR people and other producers of the show under his watch until it turned out he was a douchebag sullying the name of the Academy and had to step down, after which Eddie Murphy followed suit. This is the year that the Academy announced that not only would there not be a set number of Best Picture nominees for the first time ever, but when they announce them it will be in completely random non-alphabetical order so you'll have really no way of knowing for sure what was coming next. Their recent shortlist of potential Documentary Feature nominees included many more high profile snubs and shockers than usual (no mentions of The Interrupters, Senna, Page One, Nostalgia for the Light, Into the Abyss or others to be seen).
Not to mention their current list of Animated submissions for the year, currently standing at a number high enough to reach the 5-nominee threshold needed for the category, could dwindle down to 3 nominees if they rule motion-capture films like The Adventures of Tin Tin or Happy Feet 2 ineligible (remains to be seen though most feel like they will).

And that's not even getting to the potential nominees. There is little critical consensus out there, with the highest metacritic rating for wide releases belonging to Moneyball and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt. II (slight advantage to the latter), though The Descendants is looking pretty good on nearly the same tier as The Tree of Life. You can have star studded acting lineups of what you can call Hollywood's 1% that can include Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Glenn Close, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kirsten Dunst, Michael Fassbender, Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Brad Pitt, Meryl Streep , Charlize Theron, and Michelle Williams, among others. Some of those are in a club of lower profile indie fare alongside the likes of Démian Bichir, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elizabeth Olsen, Michael Shannon, and Tilda Swinton.

It's likely not going to break down this specifically, but I can foresee scenarios where very major precursor more or less goes with a different film or performance. Here are some simulations: We'll start with the first two, New York critics and National Board of Review

New York Film Critics Circle
Best Film: The Tree of Life
Best Director: Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive
Best Actor: Brad Pitt, Moneyball and The Tree of Life
Best Actress: Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene
Best Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks, Drive
Best Supporting Actress: Jessica Chastain, The Help and Take Shelter and The Tree of Life et all.

National Board of Review
Best Film: The Artist
Best Director: David Fincher, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Best Actor: George Clooney, The Descendants and The Ides of March tied with Brad Pitt, Moneyball and The Tree of Life
Best Actress: Michelle Williams, Meek's Cutoff and My Week With Marilyn
Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, The Help

And then we can go ahead and fill in some blanks for the other two major film critics.

Los Angeles Film Critics Association
Best Film: The Descendants
Best Director: Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life
Best Actor: George Clooney, The Descendants
Best Actress: Jeong-hee Yoon, Poetry
Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Best Supporting Actress: Shailene Woodley, The Descendants

National Society of Film Critics
Best Film: A Separation
Best Director: Steve McQueen, Shame
Best Actor: Michael Fassbender, Shame
Best Actress: Juliette Binoche, Certified Copy
Best Supporting Actor: John Hawkes, Martha Marcy May Marlene
Best Supporting Actress: Carey Mulligan, Shame

So you start to see a semblance of consensus at some point, since there's a lot of overlapping voters and tastes within these groups. But let's begin to get on with the industry awards.

Broadcast Film Critics Awards (BFCA)
Best Picture: The Descendants
Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Best Actor: George Clooney, The Descendants
Best Actress: Viola Davis, The Help
Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Best Supporting Actress: Vanessa Redgrave, Coriolanus

Golden Globes
Best Picture, Drama: War Horse
Best Picture, Comedy/Musical: The Artist
Best Director: Steven Spielberg, War Horse
Best Lead Actor, Drama: Leonardo DiCaprio, J. Edgar
Best Lead Actress, Drama: Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Best Lead Actor, Comedy/Musical: Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Best Lead Actress, Comedy/Musical: Charlize Theron, Young Adult
Best Supporting Actor: Patton Oswalt, Young Adult
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids

Screen Actors Guild
Ensemble Cast: The Help
Best Actor: Ryan Gosling, The Ides of March (stranger things have happened)
Best Actress: Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Best Supporting Actor: Max von Sydow, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Best Supporting Actress: Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs

BAFTA Awards
Best Film: The Artist
Best British Film: Senna
Best Foreign Film: The Skin I Live In
Best Director: Tomas Alfredson, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Best Actor: Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Best Actress: Tilda Swinton, We Need To Talk About Kevin
Best Supporting Actor: Kenneth Branagh, My Week with Marilyn
Best Supporting Actress: Berenice Bejo, The Artist

With this kind of potential data out there, you can pronounce frontrunners and feel out the mood for the time but it won't be nearly as statistically easy to pick out winners as it has been the past few years, and I do think we should buckle ourselves down for a thrilling season of twists, turns, shocks and snubs. Read more!

The Descendants

At its best, The Descendants is a lovely rumination on love, loss, togetherness — in the end virtually all at once. I'd seen it in one of those bigger NYC megaplexes wishing I was back in my hometown watching it in the smaller, cozier arthouse theater that I've been watching indies like this in for years. It just has that comfortably homey quality, ya know? The perfect indie movie that you can just pop in if you're in the right mood for it and really having a great night as a result.

Unfortunately, I think a lot if it really does bog itself down too much in on itself through extraneous storylines and characters and motifs they just drag on and on unnecessarily. Mainland-centric perspectives that exoticize Hawaii have always kind of bothered me, and while I realize much of the story is trying to kind of deglam mainstream perceptions of it the constant ukelele music and random splashes of the shore you can hear and seagulls just to remind you of where it is still just stunk to me of a really smelly legacy that only snowballed until the end when George Clooney gives that incredibly patronizing and corny speech about his ancestors' lands belonging to the Hawaiian people and whatnot. I mean, I realize that's probably just adapted from the source material but I just don't think they really made it work that well, the backdrop didn't seem to add much that it couldn't have done more effectively through other means.

It might seem like nitpicking but its things like that in addition to it that just seemed tacked on and, well, tacky. The random surfer kid who didn't really need to be there, and then they just randomly force some sympathetic back story on him to show that ~everyone's more complicated than they seem~ or something. The kids in general, including the littlest one, just seemed a little too cliche and just how old farts view children and not necessarily realistic. The search for Matthew Lillard was exhaustive and annoying and boring and didn't feel worth it as a viewer by the end. And that whole subplot of trying to get rid of the land at the end, just like, blah blah blah. Give me some more Shailene Woodley man! I think she showed here that she was probably the reason why The Secret Life was such a guilty pleasure to me in the first season (until they just gave up on it and had her deliver the damn baby mid-season) because my eyes always went to her and she was constantly the most interesting person on screen to watch despite her more emotional moments sometimes seeming a bit overcooked (probably leftover Secret Life syndrome).

As for everyone else in the cast, I admittedly went in skeptical of the Clooney "career best" notices because I feel like he gets those notices every time he has a new performance and it's never, like, THAT much better than any other performance he gives — not that he plays the same character, but I think his performances are generally of the same level and not necessarily a very high one. But yeah, I do think this was definitely a role that showcased a growth and maturity in his performative abilities as a vulnerable man with a world of responsibility on his shoulders between his cousins counting on him and trying to hold his family together and dealing with the bittersweet loss of an unfaithful wife. He doesn't make my top ten or anything but I wouldn't mind him being nominated (I guess not if he wins, either, though I don't really think he's going to). Robert Forster was understated but he did shine in his brief moments, especially near the end (although the whole peeking through the cracked open door thing seemed incredibly contrived) though I don't think he deserves significant recognition for it. Nor should Judy Greer, who was fine in her...scene, but she's no Viola Davis in Doubt or anything.

I do think there's a lot of good to recommend in it, and I wouldn't mind seeing it myself if under the right circumstances...but man that last speech really lowered it for me. Like what even was that. And in general I'm not a big fan of the Alexander Payne voiceover format. Read more!

Mid-Season Report

Here I have a nifty guide with reviews of 11 films either in theaters now or coming very soon. With Oscar season going in full gear this month and you need to know what to see to catch up, look no further! Reviews of 11 films, indie or otherwise, after the cut.




Drive
Cannes Best Director winner Nicolas Winding Refn offers a cool, suave exercise in style and form in the world of 80s actions car flicks. Although many American audiences were fooled by the distributor's ad campaign for the film (exhibit a: the Michigan woman suing for the film "not being enough like The Fast and the Furious"), the white-hot intensity of the film is just as compelling in its quieter moments as its talkative moments as its action-packed, bloodied and gorey sequences. Ryan Gosling's quiet and unblinking charismatic central performance of the driver functions very much as that of a speeding car — smooth and effortlessly straight shooting throughout until the slightest motions, movements, and well judged changes leave a dramatic impact upon the viewer. Gosling's effortless emanation of cool, Nic Winding Refn's mechanical precision in his direction and probably the best soundtrack of the year as style serves the story the substance it otherwise might lack in its screenplay. Perhaps not quite the ride for everyone, but I fell right into it.
Grade: A



Hugo
An excruciating first hour of cliche, expository set-up, what ever the opposite of charisma is apparent in young leading star Asa Butterfield and boring directorial protocol eventually opens itself to any viewer willing to commit to the film up until that point to a pearl of sincere and lovely passion for the art of film, experience of cinema and history of the art as a beautiful love letter to the medium by master director Martin Scorsese. I was privileged to be at the NYFF (not so) secret world premiere unveiling of the film that will forever be remembered as Scorsese's 3D picture, Scorsese utilizes the technology as a cyclical means to position it as another step in the development of the technology sprung forth by the brilliantly innovative mind of Georges Méliés (similarly to how The Artist captures a film industry in its transition to sound, or even comparable to Midnight in Paris' yearning for nostalgia no matter at which point in history you're in). I can say it is the very first film I've yet to see that I simply can't see as anything other than the rough 3D cut in which I saw it, it eventually leans back to a convoluted and confusing conclusion wrapping up various and sometimes unrealized subplots that young audiences will likely snub at the box office this upcoming holiday season in favor of Alvin and the Chimpmunks, but it would certainly, I think, be a worthwhile and rather lovely adventure to immerse yourself in on a brisk day during the winter break catching a holiday matinee at your local cineplex.
Grade: B-



The Ides of March
George Clooney's political parable gets off to shaky footing in the first half building the premise of this tale by representing politics with high Hollywood gloss and unrealistic glamour. But perhaps that is simply the lens in which, again, youthful charismatic Ryan Gosling views his work trying to get the principled Pennsylvania governor Mike Morris (played by director/writer/producer extraordinaire Clooney) elected in an electoral environment vaguely resembling 2008's Obamania. Years of experience of manipulation, backstabbing and corruption in Paul Giamatti's Mark Penn-esque character and Philip Seymour Hoffman's Bob Shrum-esque character eventually lend their way to the decidedly darker and much more effective second half of the film that, though not necessarily making a fresh statement, completely embody the climate of disappointing disillusionment and disenchanting tainting of an ideal in one's head. Ryan Gosling shines again in his character's universal, though perhaps unprofound, emotional journey dirtying his way to stay in the political game he so believed in. The very last scene ends on the most perfect note possible.
Grade: B+



Into the Abyss
Shaking off the first few minutes of most Werner Herzog documentaries that his lovably manipulative sounding questioning of his subjects borders on self-satire at this point, Herzog examines a fascinating topic that plays right into his thematic hand. He looks at the fallout from a horrific triple homicide over a stolen vehicle in Texas in 2001 that led to a life sentence for one of those involved and a death sentence for his co-conspirator. The Death Row inmate himself should be the most fascinating window into the dark depths of humanity Herzog is so skilled in his romantic sensibilities at delving into, but Herzog never takes advantage of the opportunities in the mind of this obviously childlike but darkly twisted individual who refuses involvement with the crime to his final day (despite a lack of doubt by virtually anyone else). Everyone other than the two inmates themselves make for fascinating interviews, between the lieutenant, the family members of some of the victims and a man once in charge of dealing with Texan death row inmates on their final day who now renounces the practice. Considering the depth of potential material, in my mind still untouched in popular conversation concerning the subject, it felt like Herzog presented a fascinating and emotionally compelling first half that never paid off in the second.
Grade: C+



Like Crazy
Perhaps I'm just spoiled by the likes of films like Everyone Else, Blue Valentine, and Weekend (at the end of the list), but Like Crazy seems shockingly thin, disposable, and nonsensical in the recent independent canon of neorealistic young-doomed-romance dramas with ~vague open-ended endings~. But I was just thrilled the film ended at all. The relationship between these irritatingly immature graduate students feels rushed and inauthentic from the start, going on to the central premise of the film that offered a lot of promise in the largely ignored topic of people visiting with student visas to disappointingly sum it up to little more than an idiotic decision from Felicity Jones' character to purposefully overstay her student visa, with everyone involved fully aware of the consequences, that no one from her parents to Anton Yelchin's character as her boyfriend stopped her from doing despite brief and weak initial protests. Not that the whole theme of love making young people making stupid decisions isn't already highly overdone or anything, but these are GRAD students making PROFOUNDLY idiotic decisions that separate the viewer emotionally from their plight and should remove any sympathy for their troubles considering how easy the fix for their emotional happiness would have been in the first place (UM how about NOT violating your student visa so you'll be able to come back to the United States without that many problems in the first place?!). Films like Everyone Else and Blue Valentine allow their characters to be flawed and make poor decisions to each other at certain points that have unfortunate implications on each of their lives upon retrospect, but those were actually believable and understandable in the first place. It's like a nice sounding pop song on the radio, think Cassie's masterpiece "Me & U," that might sound nice and romantic to people on first glance but obviously, obviously, won't hold up to much emotionally substantive scrutiny.
Grade: D



Martha Marcy May Marlene
With fascinating subtlety and unsettling quietude, debut director Sean Durkin has managed to craft a mature film of the disturbing trauma of involvement with a cult without ever using the key phrase itself. Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen's eminently more talented younger sister Elizabeth goes back and forth showing a portrait of a young impressionable girl slowly roped into the world of a cult-leader played to chilling effect by John Hawkes to the aftermath dealing with a paranoia and fear that may well make it impossible for her to ever be able to comfortably assimilate back into regular society. Impressively invisible editing make you think you're descending into Olsen's convincing madness until another misjudged open-ended indie ending that, while good in premise, awkwardly punctuate the film emotionally.
Bonus: Check out John Hawkes' gorgeously haunting rendition of "Marcy's Song" via youtube.
Grade: A-



Melancholia
Said to be one of von Trier's most accessible films, which apparently simply means that it's as heavy-handed as Antichrist but simply less interesting. The film opens with highly pretentious but at least memorable imagery set to beautiful Wagnerian moaning. The first half features some lovely photography and some nice, though uneven, subtlety by Kirsten Dunst as it follows her marriage for much too long and not as well as Le Festen did in the 90s. The second story belonged more to Charlotte Gainsbourgh as the planet Melancholia (it's called that because it represents Justine's depression, get it? Get it?!) slowly beings hurling towards the Earth. Wildly uneven in tone, uninteresting in subject matter and featuring a shocking downturn in Dunst's once softly touched but now distractingly self-aware and over the top performance allows for the more talented Charlotte Gainsbourg to wipe the floor with her and offer the only fascinating and excellent part of the second half of the film (apart from the sound mix, perhaps). Spoiler alert: the world is destroyed in the end. It left a bad taste of ashes in my mouth and I unfortunately left myself wishing for more clitoral clippings and bloody discharges. Something I'd never thought I'd be missing.
Grade: C-



Paranormal Activity 3
Perhaps I'm not the greatest judge of this one. First of all, I haven't seen the first two. Secondly, I saw it with the worst audience I've ever watched a film with having watched it with my sister at home in Danbury, Connecticut (home of the "Smug Bro"). But people were literally jumping in their seats, burping out loud, holding entire conversations, loudly screaming for extended and highly unnecessary periods of time, throwing food, it was a what's-what of what not to do. And it shouldn't have affected my viewing of this film probably, but it did. Even separate from the audience experience, the film seemed to be boring up until the last scene where it made a turn, simply, for the stupid. Again, I haven't seen the first two, but I thought the creepy thing about it was that the titular paranormal activity was an unexplainable kind of ghostly force. Witches? Since when are witches scary? Am I also supposed to be screaming now at Dracula and Frankenstein?
Grade: F



Puss in Boots
Sadly not as funny as the trailer made it out to be. The slight and inexplicable movements of cats are oftentimes hilarious and had long gone unexplored comically until the character of Puss was introduced to great comedic effect in Shrek 2 and stealing the show. Antonio Banderas has been having quite a good year with this box office chart-topper and Almodovar's The Skin I Live In. There's some funny moments but none of the supporting character remotely reach the level of interest of Puss in this prequel leading up to the events at which we would come to meet this character in the second Shrek installment. Salma Hayek's...cat character thing (I don't remember her name) was really typical and lame while Zach Galianifaksadfigaefdg's Humpty Dumpty was more irritating than he's yet been on film before, and not even in the remotely funny way. But, I mean, whatever. Light entertaining fun. Not the worst thing you can be dragged to see by your children (my friend and I did note we were two of the younger viewers in our audience for this one anyways).
Grade: C



Shame
Following Steve McQueen's brilliantly revelatory first collaboration with Michael Fassbender, Hunger, McQueen does grow as an artist going in a different direction in character, subject matter and setting in this film. I don't even believe in sex addiction, personally, but the film captures the condition if it does exist seem the most convincing as they could possibly have made it. Sequences of it go on and are enchanting, and segments of Fassbender's performance are extraordinary (as well as other segments of him, ahem). Carey Mulligan comes in with a glowing supporting performance as the best she's ever been, and the two would handily deserve nominations for their bold, fresh and daring work. The film itself looks nice but doesn't have quite the visual flair that I had been hoping for based on Hunger, and I have to think of Fassbender's performance as just the slightest bit less challenging than in Hunger. And parts of it are as slow as they can be in Hunger, but again missing the visual fascination that I had with that film. But it's a strong film overall with natural moments of brilliance shining through.
Grade: A-



Take Shelter
Making an odd double feature with Martha Marcy May Marlene with confusing rumblings of the subway underneath the Angelika theater in New York confusing me at times as to what was the soundtrack and what was outside noise, Take Shelter works best as Michael Shannon's impressive descent into a hereditary schizophrenia that unravels and reveals itself throughout the film through various dreams and increasing hallucinations. He recognizes it and acknowledges it but his vulnerability still leaves him to fall victim to his paranoia as a "storm" approaches. And the tragedy of him not wanting to abandon his family the way that his family was as his mother fell into her psychosis is a very powerful notion as well. His performance is the central showcase of the film, though aided by a screenplay full of strong characters (including another top performance from Jessica Chastain) and some fantastic editing work. Unfortunately, of all the cliché open-ended indie endings this year I feel like this one is the most misjudged, making it more about the relationship with his wife (though lovely) than the more interesting psychological material apparent throughout the rest of it.
Grade: B+



Weekend
Quiet, but never boring. Artistic but never pretentious. Realistic and always believable. On one level, Andrew Haigh's take on the British indie romance this year is a seminal moment in the history of Queer Cinema as the very best film to capture the contemporary gay experience of its time since the controversial (to this day) Boys in the Band in 1970 captured the personality conflicts of a generation first coming to comfortable terms with their sexuality with a still strongly instilled legacy of guilt and confusion. On another it's simply the most romantic and realistic relationship film of the year, gay or straight. Just like with any other gay relationship, the same sex aspect of it is importantly distinct and recognized but simply not the most important part compared to the largely universal emotions at play between these two characters. Very small moments are beautifully realized and are important brush strokes on this portrait of a brief inner-city romance painted by Haigh and played by the two central actors with tender care. Tom Cullen impressively plays someone trying to naively reconcile his sexuality with a more assimilated straight culture surrounding him who calls for someone trying much more actively to express his queer identity in forms of social protest and resistance, played by Chris New. Both impressive performances working together in sync, Tom Cullen's heartbreaking revelation of his past circulated in foster homes and Chris New's slowly breaking down shell of his hard exterior can have a full room of viewers of any age or background leaving the theater and going home in tears. Beautiful, subtle and realistic retrospection makes this one of the very best films of the year.
Grade: A+ Read more!

FYC: Best Actress in a Leading Role

How is it over there?
How lonely is it?
Is it still glowing red at sunset?
Are the birds still singing on the way to the forest?
Can you receive the letter I dared not send?
Can I convey…
the confession I dared not make?
Will time pass and roses fade?
Now it's time to say goodbye
Like the wind that lingers and then goes,
just like shadows
To promises that never came,
to the love sealed till the end.

To the grass kissing my weary ankles
And to the tiny footsteps following me
It's time to say goodbye
Now as darkness falls
Will a candle be lit again?
Here I pray…
nobody shall cry…
and for you to know…
how deeply I loved you
The long wait in the middle of a hot summer day
An old path resembling my father's face
Even the lonesome wild flower shyly turning away
How deeply I loved
How my heart fluttered at hearing faint song
I bless you
Before crossing the black river
With my soul's last breath
I am beginning to dream…
a bright sunny morning…
again I awake blinded by the light…
and meet you…
standing by me. Read more!