THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2017
MY OWN PRIVATE OSCAR PICKS 2017
I was tempted to title this post F***K THE ACADEMY'S OSCAR PICKS, after one of my favorite ever site titles, Fuck Your Noguchi Coffee Table. (Full disclosure: I possess a bona fide knockoff [no, that's not oxymoronic; it's moronic to think that all knockoffs are created equal] of the above Noguchi table, which gives me pleasure to behold daily. But it's effing heavy to move, so just fugettabout attempting it by yourself, not to mention it leaves permanent dents in your area rug. But iconic design--it's totally worth it, you know?)
And iconic, to my mind, is what an Oscar-winning film or performance should be. So here's my list.
ACTRESS
Isabelle Huppert, Elle
Yeah, I know Emma Stone will win, but as LAT critic Justin Chang put it, the heart wants what it wants. Huppert fearlessly took on and triumphed in an ambiguous role that scared off several other actresses who'd been approached. She said in an interview with Peter Travers that director Paul Verhoeven "...gave me that big piece of work like an unshaped form and let me shape it the way I wanted all the way through." Huppert's the actress as auteur, which = iconic.
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea
Williams' character's gut-wrenching confession to her ex-husband played by Casey Affleck is a short scene I will never forget. Not convinced? Consider what Williams ("Randi") brought to the dialogue below:
Randi: Could we ever have lunch?
Lee: You mean us? You and me?
Randi: Yeah. I, uh...Because...I said a lotta terrible things to you. But--
I know you never--Maybe you don't wanna talk to me--
Lee: It's not that.
Randi: But let me finish. However it--my heart was broken. It's still
broken. I know your heart is broken, too.
ACTOR
Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
Viggo was excellent and looked real good; Garfield did a yeoman's job; Denzel declaimed vigorously; Gosling sang & danced & played piano while looking cute as hell in vintage togs. But Affleck. Wow. Subtle, powerful--his character trying to do the right thing while tamping a lava flow of trauma and guilt. His performance took my breath away.
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals
Shannon is a chameleon--he completely transforms for every role. Even though all of the other actors in this category were excellent (Ali and Bridges in particular), Shannon's meticulously played "grotesque angel," as someone oxymoronically referred to his character, was unique and impeccable.
ANIMATED FEATURE
I don't do animation, but Zootopia will likely win, say those who do. So here's a pic:
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Bradford Young, Arrival
Go ahead--check out the trailers for all the nominated films, and tell me the lighting in this one isn't amazing. Remember the tunnel scenes? Louise's house in the moonlight? And then the scenes like the one above--perhaps not as starkly memorable, but all exquisitely and moodily lit, composed, and shot. (Yeah, I know the guild gave it to Greig Fraser for Lion, the film with the really long scary train ride [I get it--mimetic] and interminable push-pin-mania scenes, but this is my own private list, remember? Besides, I liked Fraser's work in Zero Dark Thirty better.)
COSTUME DESIGN
Madeline Fontaine, Jackie
The costume design in this film wasn't just a matter of replicating, but rather of interpreting and rendering--you got it--iconic. Like I said, not all knockoffs are created equal.
DIRECTOR
Denis Villeneuve, Arrival
I deeply love this man's work (well, okay, I had some story issues with Prisoners, but man, oh man, Sicario! And I can hardly contain myself for Blade Runner 2049). Yeah, I know, Chazelle's gonna win for La La Land, and he did an excellent job. At least it won't be Mel....
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
O. J.: Made in America
7+ riveting hours. The rise and fall of an American icon. And no glove is going to fit over latex, guys.
FILM EDITING
Joe Walker, Arrival
A story described as being "free of narrative," plus all those flashes. Gorgeously fluid.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Elle
It wasn't nominated, you say? Quel dommage! That means the I-thought-it-would-never-end Toni Erdmann will probably win. Not that Maren Ade's film is without merit--it's just 40 minutes too long until that last brilliant scene. It's like a film struggling to have a climax, whereas Elle is one confounding orgasm of a sequence after another--punctured with comic zingers.
ORIGINAL SCORE
Mica Levi, Jackie
"Micachu" also scored Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin. She's only 29, so you'll be hearing a lot more from her. That intro to Jackie in the theater (shame on you if you watched it on DVD) made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. Click here to jog your memory.
ORIGINAL SONG
"City of Stars," La La Land
Catchy tune from composer Justin Hurwitz (who, incidentally, was Damien Chazelle's roommate at Harvard. Just sayin'--that was a good career move. I recall being stuck with a college roommate who hardly ever spoke and would sit facing me in lotus position doing TM). But I digress...do you sense I'm sort of...meh about this song? Yeah, well, I'm afraid this is the best the category has to offer this year, IMHO, even though I do love Justin Timberlake--just not crazy about his music.
PRODUCTION DESIGN
Patrice Vermette, Arrival
I guess you can probably tell by now that I really, really like this film. Seriously, though, wasn't this tunnel dope? It was inspired by artist James Turrell, whose light installation was admired in different places by both Vermette and director Villeneuve, described here. (I saw it at LACMA, where you put on slippers and, 3 or 4 people at a time, entered a room to be enveloped by slowly morphing soundless light. It was the closest to heaven I'm likely to ever experience.)
VISUAL EFFECTS
Beats me; I didn't see any of the flicks nominated. The Visual Effects Society chose Jungle Book over Rogue One. But since I love Tilda Swinton, here's a pic from Doctor Strange:
SOUND EDITING/SOUND MIXING
War films tend to be highly regarded in these categories (Saving Private Ryan and Apocalypse Now are considered among the finest examples of these crafts; I was particularly impressed with Paul Ottoson's sound design for Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty). So, Hacksaw Ridge may have an edge in this category, but to be honest, none of this year's films' sound design blew me away (although I did appreciate what I read of the sound editor and mixer of La La Land creating car horns in the precise key for the opening traffic number, which you can read about here). My choice is to give you the iconic image below instead (yeah, I know there's also currently a Trump take-off meme). F***k this guy's Corbusier chair.
MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
I didn't seen any of the films nominated. I would have chosen Tom Ford's Nocturnal Animals (The Society of Makeup and Hairstyling artists did). Aging Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal 10 or 15 years was beautifully and subtly done (with the help of lighting, natch). And Laura Linney with the bleeding lipstick lines as the mother-you-inevitably-turn-into was brilliantly rendered:
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Eric Heisserer, Arrival
If you've ever tried to read Ted Chiang's sci-fi classic Story of Your Life, the basis for Arrival, you'll understand what a feat Heisserer's adaptation is. He won the WGA award for it.
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea
Lonergan, right, also directed his screenplay. I thought Taylor Sheridan's Hell or High Water was also a gem of a script, but Manchester has more gravitas and resonates in ways that haunt long after viewing it.
BEST PICTURE
Arrival
La La Land is poised to win, and I found it charmingly engaging, blah, blah, blah. But Arrival's a smart, emotionally sophisticated film that inverts thriller expectations to give us a thoughtful, moving, spiritual, and meticulously crafted work. It will be a sci-fi classic. (SPOILER ALERT! The studio execs wanted the daughter to get all better in the end--but the producers thankfully prevailed. Phew.)
ALMOST FORGOT THE SHORTS!
I didn't catch any of them, but here are the categories:
Documentary Short
To comment on this post, click the comments link below.
Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals
Shannon is a chameleon--he completely transforms for every role. Even though all of the other actors in this category were excellent (Ali and Bridges in particular), Shannon's meticulously played "grotesque angel," as someone oxymoronically referred to his character, was unique and impeccable.
ANIMATED FEATURE
I don't do animation, but Zootopia will likely win, say those who do. So here's a pic:
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Bradford Young, Arrival
Go ahead--check out the trailers for all the nominated films, and tell me the lighting in this one isn't amazing. Remember the tunnel scenes? Louise's house in the moonlight? And then the scenes like the one above--perhaps not as starkly memorable, but all exquisitely and moodily lit, composed, and shot. (Yeah, I know the guild gave it to Greig Fraser for Lion, the film with the really long scary train ride [I get it--mimetic] and interminable push-pin-mania scenes, but this is my own private list, remember? Besides, I liked Fraser's work in Zero Dark Thirty better.)
COSTUME DESIGN
Madeline Fontaine, Jackie
The costume design in this film wasn't just a matter of replicating, but rather of interpreting and rendering--you got it--iconic. Like I said, not all knockoffs are created equal.
DIRECTOR
Denis Villeneuve, Arrival
I deeply love this man's work (well, okay, I had some story issues with Prisoners, but man, oh man, Sicario! And I can hardly contain myself for Blade Runner 2049). Yeah, I know, Chazelle's gonna win for La La Land, and he did an excellent job. At least it won't be Mel....
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
O. J.: Made in America
7+ riveting hours. The rise and fall of an American icon. And no glove is going to fit over latex, guys.
FILM EDITING
Joe Walker, Arrival
A story described as being "free of narrative," plus all those flashes. Gorgeously fluid.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Elle
It wasn't nominated, you say? Quel dommage! That means the I-thought-it-would-never-end Toni Erdmann will probably win. Not that Maren Ade's film is without merit--it's just 40 minutes too long until that last brilliant scene. It's like a film struggling to have a climax, whereas Elle is one confounding orgasm of a sequence after another--punctured with comic zingers.
ORIGINAL SCORE
Mica Levi, Jackie
"Micachu" also scored Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin. She's only 29, so you'll be hearing a lot more from her. That intro to Jackie in the theater (shame on you if you watched it on DVD) made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. Click here to jog your memory.
ORIGINAL SONG
"City of Stars," La La Land
Catchy tune from composer Justin Hurwitz (who, incidentally, was Damien Chazelle's roommate at Harvard. Just sayin'--that was a good career move. I recall being stuck with a college roommate who hardly ever spoke and would sit facing me in lotus position doing TM). But I digress...do you sense I'm sort of...meh about this song? Yeah, well, I'm afraid this is the best the category has to offer this year, IMHO, even though I do love Justin Timberlake--just not crazy about his music.
PRODUCTION DESIGN
Patrice Vermette, Arrival
I guess you can probably tell by now that I really, really like this film. Seriously, though, wasn't this tunnel dope? It was inspired by artist James Turrell, whose light installation was admired in different places by both Vermette and director Villeneuve, described here. (I saw it at LACMA, where you put on slippers and, 3 or 4 people at a time, entered a room to be enveloped by slowly morphing soundless light. It was the closest to heaven I'm likely to ever experience.)
VISUAL EFFECTS
Beats me; I didn't see any of the flicks nominated. The Visual Effects Society chose Jungle Book over Rogue One. But since I love Tilda Swinton, here's a pic from Doctor Strange:
SOUND EDITING/SOUND MIXING
War films tend to be highly regarded in these categories (Saving Private Ryan and Apocalypse Now are considered among the finest examples of these crafts; I was particularly impressed with Paul Ottoson's sound design for Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty). So, Hacksaw Ridge may have an edge in this category, but to be honest, none of this year's films' sound design blew me away (although I did appreciate what I read of the sound editor and mixer of La La Land creating car horns in the precise key for the opening traffic number, which you can read about here). My choice is to give you the iconic image below instead (yeah, I know there's also currently a Trump take-off meme). F***k this guy's Corbusier chair.
MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
I didn't seen any of the films nominated. I would have chosen Tom Ford's Nocturnal Animals (The Society of Makeup and Hairstyling artists did). Aging Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal 10 or 15 years was beautifully and subtly done (with the help of lighting, natch). And Laura Linney with the bleeding lipstick lines as the mother-you-inevitably-turn-into was brilliantly rendered:
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Eric Heisserer, Arrival
If you've ever tried to read Ted Chiang's sci-fi classic Story of Your Life, the basis for Arrival, you'll understand what a feat Heisserer's adaptation is. He won the WGA award for it.
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea
Lonergan, right, also directed his screenplay. I thought Taylor Sheridan's Hell or High Water was also a gem of a script, but Manchester has more gravitas and resonates in ways that haunt long after viewing it.
BEST PICTURE
Arrival
La La Land is poised to win, and I found it charmingly engaging, blah, blah, blah. But Arrival's a smart, emotionally sophisticated film that inverts thriller expectations to give us a thoughtful, moving, spiritual, and meticulously crafted work. It will be a sci-fi classic. (SPOILER ALERT! The studio execs wanted the daughter to get all better in the end--but the producers thankfully prevailed. Phew.)
ALMOST FORGOT THE SHORTS!
I didn't catch any of them, but here are the categories:
Documentary Short
In 1965, a frat boy found himself on a subway in a strange city....
Animated Short
The cat short is darling, don't you think?
Live Action Short
Who can resist the double feature of Chuck and iconic denim cutoffs?
Okay, now go fill out out your own damn ballot. I've got a martini to drink....
Animated Short
Live Action Short
Who can resist the double feature of Chuck and iconic denim cutoffs?
Okay, now go fill out out your own damn ballot. I've got a martini to drink....
To comment on this post, click the comments link below.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2016
TOP10 FILMS OF 2016
1. ARRIVAL
Moving and meditative, Arrival is even better on second viewing--it resonates long after you leave the theater. Amy Adams is wonderful. There's Denis Villeneuve's soulful direction, Eric Heisserer's brilliant screenplay from Ted Chiang'sStory of Your Life (no mean feat to adapt!), and a haunting, lovely score from Villeneuve's Sicario composer Jóhann Jóhansson (who's also composing for Blade Runner 2049).
2. MANCHESTER BY THE SEA
Truth be told, I approached this film with some skepticism after having endured the 3-hour Lonergan cut of Margaret. ButManchester, with its seamless organic flashbacks and best-of-the-year actor and supporting actress performances from Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams, blew me away.
3. ELLE
Quite simply, I think it's the best work Verhoeven and Huppert have ever done. They're both auteurs. And for my money, there's nothing like a stylish, well-wrought, provocative thriller. I hope Huppert gets the Oscar for this. For my full post on the film, click here.
4. THE HANDMAIDEN
Park Chan-Wook's stunning and sexy adaptation of Sarah Waters' novel Fingersmith. The plot, in three parts, from three different POVs, left me slack-jawed with awe.
5. JACKIE
This appears to be director Pablo LarraÃn's year (hisNeruda was also recently released). The script for Jackie by Noah Oppenheim was originally to be an HBO mini-series produced by Steven Spielberg. Natalie Portman gives an Oscar-worthy performance, and 29-year-old Mica (Micachu) Levi's arrestingly dissonant score knocked me out.
6. NOCTURNAL ANIMALS
It appears to be Amy Adams' year as well. I have to hand it to writer-director Tom Ford: he took an interior, non-cinematic, not particularly well-written or engaging novel that somehow spoke to him, and he applied his vision to every aspect, resulting in a compelling, stylish neo noir. And...Ford bankrolled the film himself (as he had done with A Single Man), because he can, and because he likes to have total creative control. Kudos to him, Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. And a terrific Michael Shannon.
7. HELL OR HIGH WATER
Sleeper of the year from Scottish director David Mackenzie and writer Taylor (Sicario) Sheridan (part two of a trilogy). Ben Foster and Jeff Bridges are particularly great.
8. THE INNOCENTS (AKA AGNES DEI)
Superb film from director Anne Fontaine that's been puzzlingly missing from critics' top 2016 lists. Here's the log line: In 1945 Poland, a young French Red Cross doctor who's sent to assist the survivors of the German camps discovers several nuns in advanced states of pregnancy during a visit to a nearby convent. The film is this year's Ida.
9. PATERSON
Jim Jarmusch's latest is refreshingly sincere and less self-consciously hip than his previous films. Quite simply, it's the story of a bus driver/poet (wonderfully played by Adam Driver) named Paterson who lives in Paterson, New Jersey, home to poets William Carlos Williams and Allen Ginsberg.
10. LA LA LAND
You'd have to be pretty jaded to not respond at all to Damien Chazelle's magical tribute to musicals (which I generally won't even see) and Los Angeles. It's not nearly as accomplished a film as Chazelle's Whiplash, but it's a charming outlier, and as so, audacious. And Stone and Gosling are eminently watchable.
RUNNERS UP/HONORABLE MENTION: Loving (beautiful jobs by writer-director Jeff Nichols, Ruth Negga, and Joel Edgerton), A Bigger Splash (Swinton! Schöenarts! Fiennes!),Moonlight (the adult casting of the leads ruined it for me--they looked nothing like their younger counterparts), Captain Fantastic (Viggo Mortensen deserves a nomination for this),Kicks, Midnight Special (also by writer-director Jeff Nichols),The Neon Demon.
To comment on this post, click the comments link below.
Moving and meditative, Arrival is even better on second viewing--it resonates long after you leave the theater. Amy Adams is wonderful. There's Denis Villeneuve's soulful direction, Eric Heisserer's brilliant screenplay from Ted Chiang'sStory of Your Life (no mean feat to adapt!), and a haunting, lovely score from Villeneuve's Sicario composer Jóhann Jóhansson (who's also composing for Blade Runner 2049).
2. MANCHESTER BY THE SEA
Truth be told, I approached this film with some skepticism after having endured the 3-hour Lonergan cut of Margaret. ButManchester, with its seamless organic flashbacks and best-of-the-year actor and supporting actress performances from Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams, blew me away.
3. ELLE
Quite simply, I think it's the best work Verhoeven and Huppert have ever done. They're both auteurs. And for my money, there's nothing like a stylish, well-wrought, provocative thriller. I hope Huppert gets the Oscar for this. For my full post on the film, click here.
4. THE HANDMAIDEN
5. JACKIE
This appears to be director Pablo LarraÃn's year (hisNeruda was also recently released). The script for Jackie by Noah Oppenheim was originally to be an HBO mini-series produced by Steven Spielberg. Natalie Portman gives an Oscar-worthy performance, and 29-year-old Mica (Micachu) Levi's arrestingly dissonant score knocked me out.
6. NOCTURNAL ANIMALS
It appears to be Amy Adams' year as well. I have to hand it to writer-director Tom Ford: he took an interior, non-cinematic, not particularly well-written or engaging novel that somehow spoke to him, and he applied his vision to every aspect, resulting in a compelling, stylish neo noir. And...Ford bankrolled the film himself (as he had done with A Single Man), because he can, and because he likes to have total creative control. Kudos to him, Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. And a terrific Michael Shannon.
7. HELL OR HIGH WATER
Sleeper of the year from Scottish director David Mackenzie and writer Taylor (Sicario) Sheridan (part two of a trilogy). Ben Foster and Jeff Bridges are particularly great.
8. THE INNOCENTS (AKA AGNES DEI)
Superb film from director Anne Fontaine that's been puzzlingly missing from critics' top 2016 lists. Here's the log line: In 1945 Poland, a young French Red Cross doctor who's sent to assist the survivors of the German camps discovers several nuns in advanced states of pregnancy during a visit to a nearby convent. The film is this year's Ida.
9. PATERSON
Jim Jarmusch's latest is refreshingly sincere and less self-consciously hip than his previous films. Quite simply, it's the story of a bus driver/poet (wonderfully played by Adam Driver) named Paterson who lives in Paterson, New Jersey, home to poets William Carlos Williams and Allen Ginsberg.
10. LA LA LAND
You'd have to be pretty jaded to not respond at all to Damien Chazelle's magical tribute to musicals (which I generally won't even see) and Los Angeles. It's not nearly as accomplished a film as Chazelle's Whiplash, but it's a charming outlier, and as so, audacious. And Stone and Gosling are eminently watchable.
RUNNERS UP/HONORABLE MENTION: Loving (beautiful jobs by writer-director Jeff Nichols, Ruth Negga, and Joel Edgerton), A Bigger Splash (Swinton! Schöenarts! Fiennes!),Moonlight (the adult casting of the leads ruined it for me--they looked nothing like their younger counterparts), Captain Fantastic (Viggo Mortensen deserves a nomination for this),Kicks, Midnight Special (also by writer-director Jeff Nichols),The Neon Demon.
To comment on this post, click the comments link below.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2016
LOVING
Writer-director Jeff Nichols' second film of 2016 (earlier this year his terrific Midnight Special was released) is Loving, a title that is a double entendre, being both the last name of the couple at its center as well as a story about loving.
I haven't seen Nichols' first film, 2007's Shotgun Stories, which he said he shot for $48K and which sat in the back of his father's furniture store for a long time because he initially didn't have the money to process the film stock, but all of the ones I have seen have been strikingly unique and affective dramas: Take Shelter (in which Michael Shannon's character is well into developing paranoid schizophrenia--or maybe not), Mud (a Twainish story about young boys befriending a fugitive played by Matthew McConaughey), and the aforementioned Midnight Special (about a father and a son with special powers on the run). Nichols was approached by the producers (who include Colin Firth) of the HBO documentary The Loving Story by Nancy Buirski, about Mildred and Richard Loving (pictured below), to turn the doc into a narrative film.
Nichols has shot all five of his films on celluloid. He explained why. "I think suspension of disbelief is a very precious thing," and something he believes all narrative films need to have--even those based on real events. He feels that celluloid helps that, because he finds that film "makes me sit up and focus." Nichols says that when he's viewed recent period films shot on digital, he just doesn't buy them. Also, "I want my films to have weight." Joking about the literal weight of film canisters, he said he truly feels that celluloid adds heft. Nichols' films not only induce "the willing suspension of disbelief," but demonstrate the filmmaker's "poetic faith," terms first used by the poet Coleridge:
"It was agreed, that my endeavours should be directed to persons and characters supernatural, or at least romantic, yet so as to transfer from our inward nature a human interest and a semblance of truth sufficient to procure for these shadows of imagination that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith." --Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1817
Leads Ruth Negga (who's Irish, by the way), and Joel Edgerton (Australian) give Oscar-worthy performances. The finesse of Mildred's subtly emerging character arc is particularly deft (I can't wait to for the PDF of the screenplay to see how it read without these performances). And just the way Edgerton uses his body shows us everything about Richard's internal conflicts and feelings of awkwardness. Nichols is fond of working with the same team--Edgerton was also in Midnight Special, and Michael Shannon, another alum, has a choice cameo in this film.
I loved the choice that Nichols made to use an elliptical approach to the lovers' relationship. We come upon it in medias res--no trite meeting/courtship scenes, no sex scenes (but how soulful and sexy it is, then, when at one point Mildred takes Richard's hand, leads him into the bedroom, and he closes the door!). In fact, in their first scene together, the two sit side by side but aren't initially even touching each other. Nevertheless, the connection between them is palpable. This is a testament to the actors' craft and to Nichols' writing and directing.
Loving is a beautiful piece of work by a gifted young (37) auteur whom Elle magazine deemed "already a national treasure" in their November issue. Here's the trailer:
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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2016
ELLE
I've been a fan of director Paul Verhoeven's work from his early Dutch films--Spetters in particular. Well, perhaps not of all his films (I don't know if I even saw Showgirls). He's been absent from making American films for 20 years, so Elle arrives as a wonderful surprise--a French film that may be the best one that both Verhoeven and Huppert have ever made, at, currently, ages 78 and 63, respectively (ripeness is all!). I'm not alone in my reaction: when it debuted at Cannes, it received a 7-minute standing ovation.
I knew it was about a woman who's raped, and I expected it to be about her revenge. How reductive! This film will confound all expectations. First, Michèle's (Huppert) actions after she's assaulted and raped are, at least initially, inexplicable. Second, her reaction to finding out the identity of her rapist is also, initially, inexplicable. But as we gradually glean bits and pieces of her backstory, a history of trauma emerges, and her actions then become (almost) completely understandable.
As a psychotherapist, I loved and appreciated the psychological complexity of this story. As a writer, I was mightily impressed with how screenwriter David Birke handled the gradual exposition of Michèle's backstory--no mean feat. (The script was an adaptation of Philippe Dijan's French novel Oh.) It's masterful writing that serves to sustain suspense and mystery, and I can't wait to get my hands on the script.
Because of Michèle's trauma history, she bears a heavy burden of shame. In the film she tells her closest friend and colleague Anna (Anne Consigny), "Shame isn't a strong enough emotion to stop us doing anything at all." Shame resulting from trauma appears to be central to Michèle's characterological makeup. As a result she engages in what might appear to be immoral or sadistic behaviors--but which I can tell you, as a therapist, are quite understandable given her history.
I also appreciate that the film depicts middle-aged women as sexual beings. How alien is that from American films?
Most of all, I love that this film was made by and with aging actors and filmmakers. It shows that there need be no end to productivity or creativity. Everyone involved with this project is at the height of their powers. It gives me hope. (And let us not forget that writer-director George Miller made arguably the best film of his careeer so far, Mad Max: Fury Road, in his 70s. Having just seen The Road Warrior again on it's 35th anniversary, I have to say that I can't imagine having the energy to make the superior Fury Road).
I should add that Elle has humor as well--c'est très important! There's a Chrismas dinner scene that Verhoeven has said it is the one he is most proud of in the film. And a scene involving the ashes of a deceased relative that, with The Big Lebowski, is a classic.
Elle opens in the U.S. in early November. Here's a link to the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-iBBgcp7PY
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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2016
Kicks
Writer-director Justin Tipping, from the Oakland Bay Area, where Kicks is set, has taken his own experience of being jumped for a pair of Nikes and turned it (with the help of co-screenwriter Joshua Beirne-Golden) into an R-rated hip hop coming of age version of The Bicycle Thief. It floored me with its style, grace, and intensity.
Tipping got his undergraduate degree from UCSB in media studies after spending a semester in Rome, where he became immersed in Italian cinema (he was originally planning to be a Business Economics major). As an undergrad, he focused on film theory and history, and in particular on applying cultural theory to film. He then went to the AFI to study directing, where he received his MFA.
So, imagine a film of contemporary relevance that's shot in the style of Italian neorealism. The lead character, 15-year-old Brandon (a stand-in for Tipping himself), has astronaut fantasies; Tipping has said that those sequences were directly inspired by Fellini's dream sequences in 8 1/2.
And then there's the music. Tipping uses hip hop songs as chapter titles that he said were inspired by Lars von Trier's use of chapters in the devastating Breaking the Waves (one of my favorites). The soundtrack of Kicks is awesome--mixing hip hop songs with a gorgeous score by Brian Reitzell (Lost in Translation).
It's hard to imagine a more perfect, charismatic cast for this film. The striking Jahking Guillory (far right, playing Brandon), was only age 13 during filming. His co-stars are (from left), Christopher Jordan Wallace and Christopher Meyer, who were both age 17 during the shoot. Tipping said, during a Q & A after a screening at LACMA, that pretty much all the rest of the cast were local non-actors. Which is hard to believe.
The film is a lean, mean, funny, and graceful 80 minutes. It's stunningly directed, edited, scored. Kicks has everything I value in a film: style, substance, emotion, timeless relevance. Go see it.
Click on this link for the trailer: https://youtu.be/8RowVgL9l5w
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MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 2016
Sorkin Speaks
Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (Steve Jobs, "The West Wing," The Social Network, "The Newsroom," Moneyball, A Few Good Men, The American President) is currently teaching a Master Class in screenwriting, which includes a virtual writer's room (above) for an episode of "The West Wing." Below are some highlights from his lectures.
For Sorkin, the two most important elements are a "strong intention" and a "formidable obstacle." "Without that, you're screwed blue."
But note that it's not required that your protagonist overcome the obstacle.
If, in your writing, you're attracted to a place, then aim for a TV series. If you're interested in character, go for a feature.
"You can start without an idea." Sorkin exhorts writers to just "start writing...literally typing." But the story doesn't start until you introduce Intention.
"Audiences know the rules without knowing they know the rules."
Exposition: "You need at least one character who knows as little as the audience does."
The first 15 pages are the most important to get your script made.
Sorkin typically takes 18-24 months to write a script, which includes "bulking up" (research, etc.), being depressed, and banging his head against the wall, because "most days you don't write, and it's demoralizing." The actual writing takes him about 2 months. "The fun part is the writing. It's the thinking of what you're going to write that's agonizing."
"A blank piece of paper is a soul-crushing experience."
STORY VS. DRAMA
Fact: The Queen died.
Story: The Queen died and then the King died of a broken heart.
Drama: The Queen died. Turns out she was the brains behind the outfit and now the King has to go it alone in the face of the subjects because everyone knows he's dumb.
Drama requires conflict.
"I don't care at all about reality. I care about the appearance of reality." When people say, "That's not the way people really talk," Sorkin counters, "Who cares?" "They're characters, not people."
"A probable possibility is preferable to a possible improbability." (Sorkin invoking Aristotle.)
"I like starting in the middle of a conversation."
TWO TYPES OF RESEARCH
1. Nuts & Bolts (specific, not subjective). For example: What's the procedure for invoking the 25th Amendment with a President?
2. Research in which you're really trying to find the movie.
Sorkin's go to people for notes are Thomas Schlamme in television, and for features, Scott Rudin and David Fincher. Sorkin will hole up for days with Rudin.
If you're told a scene is kind of "wet," it means you went too far emotionally--your characters are performing the emotion.
"Surgical rewrites" refers to rewriting to solve a problem.
The importance of failure: the real value of, say, the Yale School of Drama (or wherever) is that it gives you the chance to write your worst without consequences.
Finally, Sorkin's Commandments:
1. Take chances.
2. Write in your own voice.
3. Don't try to make everyone happy--don't make McDonalds hamburgers.
4. Watch a lot, read a lot, write a lot, and find those you can trust to read your pages.
5. Power through days of being unable to write.
6. "We're writing things that aren't meant to be read but are meant to be performed."
Oh, and Sorkin really loves the series "Silicon Valley." He's amazed at how the writers have been able to sustain its premise of being about building one company.
P.S. Sorkin is about to make his directorial debut on a script he wrote, Molly's Game, starring Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba.
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