I had a bizarre case of deja vu a few days while re-watching the Luca Guadagnino Italian soap opera, I Am Love. Being entranced by the otherworldly, freakishly alive performance from Tilda Swinton, I immediately began to think that this is one of the best roles of the year, performed with such spirit and ingenuity; she'd surely get bypassed by the prickly members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. I sang her praises last year for her hellbent turn in Julia, which was unanimously ignored, and yet here I am again, urging the powers that be not to let another singular creation from this odd, alien, saucer being conjurer be forgotten. It would be a shame.
The film, which I suppose can be best described as blissfully erratic, is pure pop melodrama, all punctuation. But the wonderful, always watchable quality about a Tilda Swinton performance is how surprising and shape-shifting it is. On first viewing, I was all too distracted by the opulent production design, and grandiose score, to really savior (and I believe that really is the right word for the performance and the film) the joys and complexities of the role she so formidably tackles. Playing Emma Recchi, a Russian ex-patriot, who married into a wealthy Italian dynasty young enough to lose herself, Swinton dives into the heady role of trophy wife, living a fairly shallow existence with her fancy costumes and party planning. As her children have become adults and she's pushed back further into a life in the background, she starts to re-awaken her sexuality, reborn to the idea of being alive and consumed by passion-- it helps that an attractive young chef has just started making googly-eyes at her. Yet in an arc that could feel overly simplistic, or heavy-handed in the lavishness of Guadagnino's mis-en-scene, Swinton remains earthy, fresh and sexy. It's such a fascinating case study, one of strength and resilience, a characterization on the fringe of one trying to reconcile familiar honor with independent desire. She even manages to out-lingual Meryl Streep by speaking Italian the entire film. Seriously what more on terms of range does the Academy want-- perhaps she should play a wannabe boxer from a poor, broken home in her next movie.
She simply owns the film, one which at times feels over ripe and a bit silly what with the huge canvas of peripheral characters and operatic scope, yet she devours it much like she did one year ago in Julia. Since so much talk this awards season has been attentive to the depth of the leading actress category this year, I strongly suspect, barring some unforeseen miracle, that Swinton will get the snub, yet again, but again I implore to whomever will here my refrain, that this is a performer, and a performance of intrepid fragility and anguishing passion, it's not one to be missed.
So the summer movie season is about one month in, still three weeks before the official calendar change, and it's been a largely ho-hum affair. Hollywood, as usual, has produced slickly over-priced, under-nourished franchise continuations and franchise hopefuls, and yet no one seems to be caring. No box office records have been smashed (or eviscerated, as hoped), no critical smashes, no films that seem anywhere close to entering the pop-culture lexicon. Perhaps, in a P-A (post-Avatar) filmmaking world, the doldrums must come. Much has been discussed of the last month and the disappointments (even though calling Iron Man 2 a disappointment when it's earned $290 million domestically because it didn't break any records seems ridiculous and an example of the wrong-headedness of the movie industry) that have ensued.
Iron Man 2, a well meaning if directionless and cowardly sequel, fared better than anything, and was followed by Robin Hood, which with Ridley Scott at the helm and a berth as the opening film at Cannes this year is still struggling to make it's way to $100 million, besieged with a plethora of middling reviews. It's unfortunate that a film barely making $100 million is a sign of failure-- perhaps if more control over whatever was going on in Scott's brain at the time were better maintained, the feature would have been viewed as a success. But thanks to a nice returns from a forminable overseas box office, Robin Hood will survive, and possibly go another round in the not too distant future-- the world wins.
Following Robin Hood, with it's desperate need for a sequel, was a sequel nobody asked for in Shrek Forever After, this time in magically 3-D. While the film has made money, despite it being the poorest attended Shrek in it's quadilogy, it hasn't exactly broadened the wonders of 3-D, or deepened the legacy of the Shrek franchise. And as a supporter of film preservation, I implore the end of unecessary sequels, really just to maintain the success (or lack of) of the original film. Which brings us to Sex & the City 2, the critical punching bag of the season, which like the rest is struggling to earn enough dough to defeat cultural embarrassment. Whether the reviews are fairly judged or not is perhaps not the case here, but again speaking from a preservationist perspective are the Sex films helping or hurting the legacy of the lauded and, in many ways, groundbreaking television show. Then again, perhaps the film would feels less like a dud if it didn't cost $100 million to make (just a theory-- perhaps the gals should have stayed in Manhattan, instead of traversing off to Abu Dahbi.) The second mishap of the unfortunate Memorial Day weekend was Prince of Persia, showing off Jake Gyllenhaal's abs to massive effect-- again the overseas box office is booming for this, but is anybody really interested in a second helping?
And so I'm, in a rare move, rather proud of the indifference shown on this years product by the American people. The populist do, and should have the power to say what they\we are and are not interested in, and the American movie industry should listen. And if we need a season without a box office record to make that point, then so be it.
However, even in times of distress, I see a beacon (perhaps a few) of hope in a few of the offerings coming out this summer. Here's the top ten films I'm most looking forward too this summer:
10. I Am Love- I posted the preview for this sumptious looking Italian film earlier starring Tilda Swinton. I know next to nothing about it, and I kind of want to keep it that way until I see it. It generated mixed reviews at this years Sundance Film Festival, but the I've always been fascinated by love-it\hate-it type movies, and this appears to be one of them. Opens limitedly on June 18th.
9. Dinner for Schmucks- I wasn't overly impressed with the trailor for this, but it's kind of slim pickings this summer, and in truth, I suppose I'd rather waste two hours of time with the likes of Steve Carell and Paul Rudd then the other jokesters coming out this summer. Then again the trailer for The 40-Year-OldVirgin didn't exactly impress me either initially. Opens July 23rd.
8. Joan Rivers: Piece of Work- This critically acclaimed and Sundance Film Festival winner for Documentary editing examines the body of work of Ms. Rivers as she approaches her 75th birthday. I've always been ticked by Rivers and this one looks like it could be a raw and perceptive look at her career, self parody and all, plus it might actually be funny. Open limitedly June 11th.
7. Winter's Bone- A grim feature from Debra Granik (Down to the Bone) which won the Grand Jury Prize at this years Sundance Film Featival, and follows a young girl (Jennifer Lawrence) trying to find her father and rebuild her family in the Ozarks. The film has gotten some of the best reviews so far this year, and while the feature looks relentlessly bleak, I'm intrigued by the Ozarks angle, simply because I've never seen a film set there before, plus advance word is Lawrence is terrific. Opens limitedly June 11th
6. Cyrus- Another hit from Sundance this year, but this one seems far more commercial than Joan Rivers: Piece of Work and Winter's Bone. It's a comedy from the Duplass Brothers (The Puffy Chair) starring John C. Rielly, Marisa Tomei, Catherine Keener and Jonah Hill, centering around a romance developing for Rielly and Tomei, with Hill as her son mucking up matters. I'm hoping a mature, yet warped look at romance. Plus I'm digging Fox Searchlight's promotion for this already. Opens June 18th.
5. The Adjustment Bureau- This one's a conspiracy theory take on a Philip K. Dick short story starring Matt Damon as an aspiring senator and Emily Blunt as a ballerina. Dick stories come hot and cold in Hollywood (Blade Runner is the best by a far margin), but Damon is a pro at this point at this and Blunt, as least from the trailer appears to be right there with him. I'm hopeful about this one, so let's hope like the Bourne films it manages to please the cineasts and popcorn fans at once. Opens September 17th.
4. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World- Perhaps this one is a bit too high since it seems that it can go anyway at this point, but Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead; Hot Fuzz) is freaking brilliant, and I'm largely impressed with the young, hip cast assembled here. Sure I'll bet everyone's a bit tired of Michael Cera playing Michael Cera, but it seems like such a Michael Cera role, who else would it be? Plus Jason Schwartzman, Keiran Culkin and Anna Kendrick. Even if it sucks, I'm totally there. Opens August 13th.
3. Toy Story 3- The only sequel on this list, and for good reason-- Pixar wouldn't just make this if there wasn't a reason too. The unparallelled focus on story and how spectacle can enhance a story (such as 3-D) is but one of the reasons Pixar is in the loftiest of situations-- they've proven all of wrong so many times now with they're innovative and inventiveness, that I succumb to them every time they choose to wave something new in my face. Open June 18th.
2. The Kids Are All Right- The buzz about the lesbian mothers and sperm donar dad comedy is so deafening at this point, I just want to see this bloody thing so badly. Not just because it stars three of favorite actors currently working in cinema-- Annette Bening, Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo. Not just because it's written and directed by Lisa Cholodenko, a skilled filmmaker and observant writer (High Art.) Not just because of it's rave reviews from Sundance and Berlin film festivals. Nor because the trailer looks like it strikes the right balance between fun and heartfelt. It's because I'm clamoring and begging for a quality film to come my way, and I don't want to wait until July 9th.
1. Inception- Yep, I'm eagerly awaiting Christopher Nolan's return to the cinema moreso than the dozen of so promising films from film festivals, so there you go-- I'm not quite the cinematic snob you might figure me out to be. I'm digging just about everything so far on this film, but I worry as well. I worry that the overwhelming buzz surrounding Inception will swell to a degree of indifference either on my part or the part of the populist. But if it's as good as I feel it could be than everyone wins, right? Opens July 14th.
Last year my favorite performance from a leading actress was Tilda Swinton's riveting, ball-busting role in Julia, and as always I'm curious about her projects. Hardly ever is there an acting creature so endlessly and elusively fascinating, and this beautiful looking Italian flick seems to play right into that. I want to see desperately. I can already say that this is one of my favorite previews of the year-- the music, the style, the gorgeous cinematography, and Ms. Swinton looking just as confident in elegant attire as she did last year as drunkie Julia.
