Wednesday, July 3, 2013
And So It Begins...
So sinister that sounds...
Deadline reports that Gravity, Alfonso Cuaron's ambitious and hotly anticipated 3-D science fiction thriller, will open (albeit out of competition) the 70th Venice Film Festival. The film stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney and debuted a startling teaser trailer a few months back. Venice is a part of the trifecta of the early fall festival spree that starts to announce and gauge the beginning of the awards season-- the other two being Telluride and Toronto, all which occur nearly concurrently. Cuaron has a history with Venice, which makes this announcement not so surprising. Y Tu Mama Tambien, his wonderful 2001 sexual coming of age film won the screenplay prize that year. He also took his last film, Children of Men to Venice in 2006, which won a special prize for Emmuanuel Lubezki's Oscar-nominated cinematography. Gravity holds as an awards hopeful for Warner Bros. this year and potentially may boast a significant performance from Bullock, who based on early reports, is the only one on screen for the majority of the feature. The Venice Film Festival will begin August 28th. Let the games begin...
Butter
Micallef and director Jim Field Smith (She's Out of My League) take the bizarrely niche subject of a Midwestern butter carving competition as the staple for their Election-like satire on the nubs of humanity, distilling enough stale red state condensation to make even the most sternest liberal cry uncle. Jennifer Garner plays Laura Pickler, scheming social climber and near royalty in her small Iowa farm town where her husband Bob (Ty Burrell, Modern Family) is the butter carving king. Garner enriches her all-American hellion with a thick Sarah Palin-like cadence and an arsenal of haughty glares-- her performance is flat, but the film doesn't give her much to do than tiredly meld together Reese Witherspoon's Tracy Flick and Annette Bening's Carolyn Burnham, hoping that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. When Bob's tenure all butter king is tossed aside from political pressure from above, Laura decides it upon herself to keep the Pickler name alive. Never mind the little item that Bob has just pissed off a stripper/prostitute (gamely played by Olivia Wilde)-- the Picklers are America routine is what's paramount. Laura's competition comes in the form of a naturally talented butter sculptor, a grade school aged African American foster child named Destiny (Yara Shahidi)-- allusions to Laura's Palin-esque need for the spotlight and Destiny's Obama-esque idealism the closest Butter gets to thematic subtlety. Along for the ride are Hugh Jackman as a dimwit used car salesman and Rob Corddry and Alicia Silverstone as Destiny's liberal adoptive parents.
The ugly and fatal flaw of Butter is that it assumes that by nearly name-checking and trying to associate itself tonally with films like Election, American Beauty and Best in Show, then half the job is done with. Yet ultimately the film is as desperate as Laura Pickler herself in that it's all bite and zero substance and despite the very R-rated, pushed up dialogue for the sole use of shock value, it stalls to a thrashing thud. Harvey's decision to quietly bury this nasty and spineless little movie turned out to be the most humane one. F
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
The Boxtrolls Teaser
Stop motion animation may never be everyone's cup of tea, or break box office records, but the magicians at Laika are on a steady streak following the artistic and Academy Award nominated success stories of Coraline and ParaNorman. Here comes the teaser to their next hopeful pleasure, The Boxtrolls. Set for release in the fall of 2014, The Boxtrolls is about a young orphan boy raised by underground cave-dwelling trash collectors. Directed by Anthony Stacchi and Graham Annable and featuring the voice talent of Elle Fanning, Simon Pegg, Toni Collette, Nick Frost, Ben Kingsley and Tracy Morgan.
On an even more upbeat note, especially on the heels of the overwhelmingly gay friendly ParaNorman, this teaser makes a nice little inclusive bid to the Supreme Court's recent decisions. This offbeat teaser is a winner.
The 10 Most Awesome New Members of the Academy
The Academy recently invited 276 new members to join in the annual circus of voting for the Oscars. In a striking move, AMPAS seems to be making an effort to listen to the many critics of the membership and the eventual types of movies that appear on the lists year after year as examples of "the best" of the year. The invitations have been sent, and while we will be unaware to who will eventually accept, here's the most awesome. And while it's cool that the director of Fantastic Four and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants were invited to the club, those names will not appear on this list.
runners-up: Emily Mortimer (actror)-- and a lovely one that as films as varied as Lovely & Amazing, Shutter Island, Match Point and Young Adam can attest. ~ Jason Schwartzman (actor)-- eclectic actor and member of the Coppola dynasty; star of Rushmore and I Heart Huckabees. ~ Kimberly Elise (actor)-- gifted actress of For Colored Girls and Beloved fame, and far worthier than the typical roles she's been granted. ~ Emmanuelle Riva (actor)-- beloved French actress and should have been recent Oscar-winner for Amour. ~ Ava DuVernay (writer/director)-- gifted filmmaker who made a huge wave with last fall's indie hit Middle of Nowhere. ~ Jeff Nichols (writer/director)-- director of Take Shelter and Mud, surely to be an Oscar contender shortly...one hopes. ~ Cliff Martinez (composer)-- in demand cool composer for films as varied as Drive, Contagion, Traffic and the soon to be released Only God Forgives; never Oscar-nominated.
10. GREIG FRASER (cinematography branch)
Infinitely gifted director of photography whose been on the rise since lensing Jane Campion's Bright Star (2009.) 2012 proved a banner year with expert, frame-worthy work on films as varied as Zero Dark Thirty, Snow White & the Huntsman and Killing Them Softly. Next up is Bennett Miller's Foxcatcher. Fraser has never been nominated for an Oscar but hopefully as a member that might help his chances.
9. JAFAR PANAHI (documentary branch)
This Is Not a Film, Panahi's impassioned protest documentary was an avid indictment for the importance of the art form. The film, shot in Panahi's native Iran, was done in secret and made illegally capturing the filmmakers house arrest after being persecuted for his art by the Iranian government. Shot partly on an iPhone and smuggled out the country in a cake, the fact that exists at all is worthy enough to affirm AMPAS membership; that the film was eventually shortlisted for an Oscar nomination was something short of miraculous.
8. BENH ZEITLIN (directors branch)
Whatever becomes of the Beasts of the Southern Wild filmmaker, his legend is certainly already cemented with the glorious Cinderella story of his breakout film and what it stand for. In the ever harsh movie-making climate of contemporary cinema, Zeitlin went out in the trenches and made a film with a shoestring budget and it turned into one of the most magical, original and epic splices of filmmaking in years. Beasts is a totem for the modern independent film movement and Zeitlin deserves a free pass at his stab, as well as an Academy membership-- I'd be curious to see his picks for sure.
7. RIAN JOHNSON (directors branch)
Brick and The Brothers Bloom introduced a quirky new filmmaker to the modern indie landscape, one who showcased an expert sleight of hand in meshing and mashing genres. Last years Looper established Johnson as a filmmaker capable of upping the ante on terms of budget and scale without losing any wit, insight or ambition-- in truth this a filmmaker who should be at the top of every studios list for directing their tentpoles. Or really directing anything for that matter. He deserved at the very least a writers nod for Looper just last year.
6. JULIE DELPY (actors branch)
Nominated in 2004 for co-writing the screenplay of Before Sunset (with Richard Linklater and Ethan Hawke), Delpy might find herself an Oscar contender this year for her performance in Before Midnight, but aside from the wondrous trilogy for which she has been a part of for the better part of the last twenty years, she's proven herself and delectable talent on and off screen as an director, writer and actor.
5. STEVE McQUEEN (directors branch)
Hunger and Shame were both inexplicably shut out from the Academy-- in truth it was expected, but still...not cool. However McQueen has proven to be on the most interesting and provocative filmmakers in recent years-- his films may be tough, but they are also incredibly artful and substantial. If nothing else, this fall's 12 Years a Slave will prove his highest profile release to date, as well as this richly deserved invitation to the Academy.
4. AGNÉS VARDA (documentary branch)
The iconoclast French New Wave member is one of the "how the hell is she not a member yet" invitees this year. However, it's better late than never-- which may also explain why she's never received an Oscar nomination either despite beautiful work with recent films like The Gleaners & I and The Beaches of Agnés and old classics like Cleo From 5 to 7.
3. SARAH POLLEY (writers branch)
The multi-talented Polley, whose most recent work Stories We Tell is currently a must see in specialized theaters around the country, is a most splendid choice, even if the invitation is years overdue-- this talented actress, writer, director made her breakout in 1997's The Sweet Hereafter, a hit with the Academy, even if Polley herself was snubbed. She wasn't snubbed for her writing effort for her debut feature film Away From Her, and is a strong possibility for a nomination for Stories We Tell. Well done and finally, she is freaking awesome!
2. PRINCE (music branch)
Just because...plus he's an Oscar winner for Purple Rain.
1. MATT GROENING (animation branch)
Best. Invitee. Ever.
 |
| Jeff Nichols |
10. GREIG FRASER (cinematography branch)
Infinitely gifted director of photography whose been on the rise since lensing Jane Campion's Bright Star (2009.) 2012 proved a banner year with expert, frame-worthy work on films as varied as Zero Dark Thirty, Snow White & the Huntsman and Killing Them Softly. Next up is Bennett Miller's Foxcatcher. Fraser has never been nominated for an Oscar but hopefully as a member that might help his chances.
9. JAFAR PANAHI (documentary branch)
This Is Not a Film, Panahi's impassioned protest documentary was an avid indictment for the importance of the art form. The film, shot in Panahi's native Iran, was done in secret and made illegally capturing the filmmakers house arrest after being persecuted for his art by the Iranian government. Shot partly on an iPhone and smuggled out the country in a cake, the fact that exists at all is worthy enough to affirm AMPAS membership; that the film was eventually shortlisted for an Oscar nomination was something short of miraculous.
 |
| Benh Zeitlin |
Whatever becomes of the Beasts of the Southern Wild filmmaker, his legend is certainly already cemented with the glorious Cinderella story of his breakout film and what it stand for. In the ever harsh movie-making climate of contemporary cinema, Zeitlin went out in the trenches and made a film with a shoestring budget and it turned into one of the most magical, original and epic splices of filmmaking in years. Beasts is a totem for the modern independent film movement and Zeitlin deserves a free pass at his stab, as well as an Academy membership-- I'd be curious to see his picks for sure.
7. RIAN JOHNSON (directors branch)
Brick and The Brothers Bloom introduced a quirky new filmmaker to the modern indie landscape, one who showcased an expert sleight of hand in meshing and mashing genres. Last years Looper established Johnson as a filmmaker capable of upping the ante on terms of budget and scale without losing any wit, insight or ambition-- in truth this a filmmaker who should be at the top of every studios list for directing their tentpoles. Or really directing anything for that matter. He deserved at the very least a writers nod for Looper just last year.
6. JULIE DELPY (actors branch)
Nominated in 2004 for co-writing the screenplay of Before Sunset (with Richard Linklater and Ethan Hawke), Delpy might find herself an Oscar contender this year for her performance in Before Midnight, but aside from the wondrous trilogy for which she has been a part of for the better part of the last twenty years, she's proven herself and delectable talent on and off screen as an director, writer and actor.
5. STEVE McQUEEN (directors branch)
Hunger and Shame were both inexplicably shut out from the Academy-- in truth it was expected, but still...not cool. However McQueen has proven to be on the most interesting and provocative filmmakers in recent years-- his films may be tough, but they are also incredibly artful and substantial. If nothing else, this fall's 12 Years a Slave will prove his highest profile release to date, as well as this richly deserved invitation to the Academy.
4. AGNÉS VARDA (documentary branch)
The iconoclast French New Wave member is one of the "how the hell is she not a member yet" invitees this year. However, it's better late than never-- which may also explain why she's never received an Oscar nomination either despite beautiful work with recent films like The Gleaners & I and The Beaches of Agnés and old classics like Cleo From 5 to 7.
3. SARAH POLLEY (writers branch)
The multi-talented Polley, whose most recent work Stories We Tell is currently a must see in specialized theaters around the country, is a most splendid choice, even if the invitation is years overdue-- this talented actress, writer, director made her breakout in 1997's The Sweet Hereafter, a hit with the Academy, even if Polley herself was snubbed. She wasn't snubbed for her writing effort for her debut feature film Away From Her, and is a strong possibility for a nomination for Stories We Tell. Well done and finally, she is freaking awesome!
 |
| Sarah Polley |
Just because...plus he's an Oscar winner for Purple Rain.
1. MATT GROENING (animation branch)
Best. Invitee. Ever.
Monday, July 1, 2013
10 Best Performances of 2013 (So Far)
We have arrived at the halfway point of 2013. What has the cinema offered us so far? In the first part of a multi-part retrospective, here are my favorite performances of the year so far.
Runners-up: Benedict Cumberbatch, Star Trek Into Darkness; Henry Cavill, Man of Steel; James Franco, Spring Breakers; Mia Wasikowski, Stoker; Michael Cera, This Is the End
10) Ryan Gosling, The Place Beyond the Pines
Gosling and filmmaker Derek Cianfrance cobbled together some kind of alchemy in Blue Valentine in 2010 (with a little bit of help from Michelle Williams, in an Oscar-nominated performance.) The sharpest instinct Cianfrance exhibited with his grander, messier follow-up work was reuniting with the resourceful Gosling. In a film that ultimately bites off more than it's able to chew, the ingenious performer proves to be the best part of this ambitious triptych melodrama about fathers and sons and the overbearing consequences of ones past and upbringing. Gosling's Luke is a rebel outcast in the mold of an old school antihero-- James Dean or Marlon Brando might have played this part had Place been made in the 1950s-- and yet despite the endless look of cool and mystique so fetishistically photographed by Cianfrance, Gosling shades his Robin Hood-like character with a brimming and soulful yearning. Luke is the first part of The Place Beyond the Pines, and without spoiling anything, once he disappears, the film starts to crumble.
9) Mickey Sumner, Frances Ha
The ugly sting of nepotism rings a dampening effect to a budding young performer, a nearly contemptuous sneer at times. However, sometimes a performance and film is so radiant and so effortlessly lived-in that in the private sanctuary of a movie palace, you can forget the entire world outside. It needn't be necessary to know that Sumner is the offspring of Sting and Trudie Styler, and the film that surrounds her richly comic and well observed supporting turn, Frances Ha, is strong enough to make you forget nearly anything that ales. As Sophie, Frances' BFF through the scary jungle of contemporary New York ennui, Sumner is sarcastic and ironic, sardonic, but also a lovesick dreamer. To play such contradictory notes without ever falling into caricature is a testament to a hopefully inspired new artist; to turn them is something that's nearly moving is something even more special.
8) Jude Law, Side Effects
If Steven Soderbergh's retirement from the movies is in fact deemed true, at the very least, one can say, he went out with a hell of a year. Surely, it will be HBO's Behind the Candelabra that will be the one to net the most trophies and esteemed hosannas, but his year began with the tight and delightfully warped little noir called Side Effects that just as effectively imbued all the skills that have complemented Soderbergh's career. The first and most glaring compliment must be his work his actors, and in that regard, Jude Law's lithe and menacingly playful performance as slippery doctor who may or may not be being duped is worthy in it of itself of more acclaim than it will likely ever receive. Law, it appears, may be on the upswing with surprisingly fruitful performances in not just Side Effects, but also last fall's anemic Anna Karenina, and his performance here is easily his most awake, alert and sharply keyed in than the actor has been since his career peak period that ascended in The Talented Mr. Ripley and swayed as Gigolo Joe in A.I. Artificial Intelligence.
7) Alden Ehrenreich, Beautiful Creatures
It was supposed to a silly little movie made in an attempt to cash in on the young adult star-crossed lovers/occult phase-- in short it was merely supposed to be a rip off of Twilight, and yet it somehow became 2013's most inexplicably ignored film critically and commercially. Richard LaGravenese's Beautiful Creatures somehow, under some set of only-in-the-movies sort of magic is a gleefully underrated and joyous oddball of a movie about the teenage romance between a mortal boy and a witch. Sounds pretty dull, but the writing, playful visuals and the potent performances that are sharp as a tick, but forever realizing what indeed this material really is make it one of the more pleasant surprises of the year. Leading actor Alden Ehrenreich is perhaps the biggest surprise of all as the lovelorn Ethan Wade, a melding together of jock and nerd boy next door, he proves a charming leading man with a hopefully fruitful career ahead of him. His performance here would blow Robert Pattinson and all the other mimics well away.
6) Elle Fanning, Ginger & Rosa
Elle Fanning, younger sister of Dakota, has for years been somewhat trapped in the doomed muse-like role for her leading men. Sure, in films like Super 8 and Somewhere, Fanning had a captivating hold over the audience, but the characters themselves were used as little more than to serve her male co-stars. Ginger & Rosa, a blink-and-you've-missed-it independent drama released this past spring gave Fanning the sharpest character she's yet to play, and the performer took to it with the natural precision of a gifted surgeon, even acquiring a believable British accent to boot. As the rebellious young girl raised by a prim and conservative mother in the 1960s, Fanning shows incomparable diction and poise.
5) Matthew McConaughey, Mud
Whatever happened in the last two years or so in the life of Matthew McConaughey, it was apparently and abundantly worth it. For this sudden and startling period of productively in the career of the one-time nude-banjo-player is as surprising as any third act twist. Mud, Jeff Nichols' follow-up to Take Shelter, made its inauspicious premiere at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and left the stew for nearly a year before making its way to American movie houses. The surprise (or perhaps not after the year the performer has having) was McConaughey's richly nuanced and beatifically observed performances as the titular Mud, a fugitive forever dreaming for a better life with the troubled girl whom he loves. Nichols' film takes a few missteps along the way, and concludes as an utterly contrived yarn, but McConaughey's steely gaze and reserve is unsettling, sympathetic and in sharp command.
4) Gael Garcia Bernal, No
The invaluable Bernal has made a wondrous journeyman career for himself working alongside filmmakers as varied and vibrant as Michel Gondry, Pedro Almodovar, Alfonso Cuaron, Walter Salles and Alejandro González Inárritu and yet imbuing a rich, quiet humanity carried over every genre and tone. With Pablo Larraín's bold and enriching No, Bernal has clearly and authoritatively honed in on his gift for the title of leading man with the most humility and compassion for his projects and characters. There's never a false note in the complex and beautifully engrossing performance, nor a stance for side-swipping showboating-- every tic, manner and line reading in the service of this most superior film and while his most compelling humanistic approach to his characters may never give this exceptional performer the awards or plaudits he richly deserves, it's a novel and engrossing detail that has made Bernal one of the finest actors of his generation.
3) Nicole Kidman, Stoker
Chan-wook Park's English-language debut was a mixed bag of a film, but the biggest and most reassuring highlight was the beaut and hoot and a half of the performance that Kidman delivered. She spends the majority of the film sidelined in her own little chamber piece of play-- a sort of lost Tennessee Williams heroine, but in the final moments unleashes a giddy showcase of maternal hell that frankly the subdued hothouse of a chiller needed a bit more of. Kidman's ravenous contempt and rage all quivers to the seems in a chilling last-minute monologue that gives the chameleon actress finally something to chew on, and settles the film with a tasty bit of naughtiness.
2) Elizabeth Debicki, The Great Gatsby
Baz Luhrmann's lurid and colorful retelling of The Great Gatsby was supposed to the ultimate cinematic staging for the doomed star-crossed lovers Jay and Daisy, played here by Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan. However it was newcomer Debicki as the supporting player Jordan Baker who ran away with the best in show honors, not because Luhrmann showcased or particularly upped the impact of the role, but because Debicki brought a stylized charm and grace to the one-note acting proceedings, adding notes and abundant flair to her side-lined character.
1) Greta Gerwig, Frances Ha
My favorite film so far in 2013 also featured my favorite performance from the year so far, a caveat I'm fairly certain isn't going to change much come six months from now. The two are most certainly connected as Gerwig is Frances and Frances is Gerwig, a wonderful melding of actor and character and character and film. With this, it brings a bit of sadness that Gerwig is likely unlikely not going to a favorite for a leading actress Oscar nomination come winter, and may even be but a longshot for the Indie Spirits, but in my book her joyous, witty and beguilingly profound creation is worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize for its brute honesty and natural joie de vivre.
What are your favorite performances from the first six months of 2013?
Runners-up: Benedict Cumberbatch, Star Trek Into Darkness; Henry Cavill, Man of Steel; James Franco, Spring Breakers; Mia Wasikowski, Stoker; Michael Cera, This Is the End
Gosling and filmmaker Derek Cianfrance cobbled together some kind of alchemy in Blue Valentine in 2010 (with a little bit of help from Michelle Williams, in an Oscar-nominated performance.) The sharpest instinct Cianfrance exhibited with his grander, messier follow-up work was reuniting with the resourceful Gosling. In a film that ultimately bites off more than it's able to chew, the ingenious performer proves to be the best part of this ambitious triptych melodrama about fathers and sons and the overbearing consequences of ones past and upbringing. Gosling's Luke is a rebel outcast in the mold of an old school antihero-- James Dean or Marlon Brando might have played this part had Place been made in the 1950s-- and yet despite the endless look of cool and mystique so fetishistically photographed by Cianfrance, Gosling shades his Robin Hood-like character with a brimming and soulful yearning. Luke is the first part of The Place Beyond the Pines, and without spoiling anything, once he disappears, the film starts to crumble.
The ugly sting of nepotism rings a dampening effect to a budding young performer, a nearly contemptuous sneer at times. However, sometimes a performance and film is so radiant and so effortlessly lived-in that in the private sanctuary of a movie palace, you can forget the entire world outside. It needn't be necessary to know that Sumner is the offspring of Sting and Trudie Styler, and the film that surrounds her richly comic and well observed supporting turn, Frances Ha, is strong enough to make you forget nearly anything that ales. As Sophie, Frances' BFF through the scary jungle of contemporary New York ennui, Sumner is sarcastic and ironic, sardonic, but also a lovesick dreamer. To play such contradictory notes without ever falling into caricature is a testament to a hopefully inspired new artist; to turn them is something that's nearly moving is something even more special.
If Steven Soderbergh's retirement from the movies is in fact deemed true, at the very least, one can say, he went out with a hell of a year. Surely, it will be HBO's Behind the Candelabra that will be the one to net the most trophies and esteemed hosannas, but his year began with the tight and delightfully warped little noir called Side Effects that just as effectively imbued all the skills that have complemented Soderbergh's career. The first and most glaring compliment must be his work his actors, and in that regard, Jude Law's lithe and menacingly playful performance as slippery doctor who may or may not be being duped is worthy in it of itself of more acclaim than it will likely ever receive. Law, it appears, may be on the upswing with surprisingly fruitful performances in not just Side Effects, but also last fall's anemic Anna Karenina, and his performance here is easily his most awake, alert and sharply keyed in than the actor has been since his career peak period that ascended in The Talented Mr. Ripley and swayed as Gigolo Joe in A.I. Artificial Intelligence.
It was supposed to a silly little movie made in an attempt to cash in on the young adult star-crossed lovers/occult phase-- in short it was merely supposed to be a rip off of Twilight, and yet it somehow became 2013's most inexplicably ignored film critically and commercially. Richard LaGravenese's Beautiful Creatures somehow, under some set of only-in-the-movies sort of magic is a gleefully underrated and joyous oddball of a movie about the teenage romance between a mortal boy and a witch. Sounds pretty dull, but the writing, playful visuals and the potent performances that are sharp as a tick, but forever realizing what indeed this material really is make it one of the more pleasant surprises of the year. Leading actor Alden Ehrenreich is perhaps the biggest surprise of all as the lovelorn Ethan Wade, a melding together of jock and nerd boy next door, he proves a charming leading man with a hopefully fruitful career ahead of him. His performance here would blow Robert Pattinson and all the other mimics well away.
Elle Fanning, younger sister of Dakota, has for years been somewhat trapped in the doomed muse-like role for her leading men. Sure, in films like Super 8 and Somewhere, Fanning had a captivating hold over the audience, but the characters themselves were used as little more than to serve her male co-stars. Ginger & Rosa, a blink-and-you've-missed-it independent drama released this past spring gave Fanning the sharpest character she's yet to play, and the performer took to it with the natural precision of a gifted surgeon, even acquiring a believable British accent to boot. As the rebellious young girl raised by a prim and conservative mother in the 1960s, Fanning shows incomparable diction and poise.
Whatever happened in the last two years or so in the life of Matthew McConaughey, it was apparently and abundantly worth it. For this sudden and startling period of productively in the career of the one-time nude-banjo-player is as surprising as any third act twist. Mud, Jeff Nichols' follow-up to Take Shelter, made its inauspicious premiere at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and left the stew for nearly a year before making its way to American movie houses. The surprise (or perhaps not after the year the performer has having) was McConaughey's richly nuanced and beatifically observed performances as the titular Mud, a fugitive forever dreaming for a better life with the troubled girl whom he loves. Nichols' film takes a few missteps along the way, and concludes as an utterly contrived yarn, but McConaughey's steely gaze and reserve is unsettling, sympathetic and in sharp command.
The invaluable Bernal has made a wondrous journeyman career for himself working alongside filmmakers as varied and vibrant as Michel Gondry, Pedro Almodovar, Alfonso Cuaron, Walter Salles and Alejandro González Inárritu and yet imbuing a rich, quiet humanity carried over every genre and tone. With Pablo Larraín's bold and enriching No, Bernal has clearly and authoritatively honed in on his gift for the title of leading man with the most humility and compassion for his projects and characters. There's never a false note in the complex and beautifully engrossing performance, nor a stance for side-swipping showboating-- every tic, manner and line reading in the service of this most superior film and while his most compelling humanistic approach to his characters may never give this exceptional performer the awards or plaudits he richly deserves, it's a novel and engrossing detail that has made Bernal one of the finest actors of his generation.
Chan-wook Park's English-language debut was a mixed bag of a film, but the biggest and most reassuring highlight was the beaut and hoot and a half of the performance that Kidman delivered. She spends the majority of the film sidelined in her own little chamber piece of play-- a sort of lost Tennessee Williams heroine, but in the final moments unleashes a giddy showcase of maternal hell that frankly the subdued hothouse of a chiller needed a bit more of. Kidman's ravenous contempt and rage all quivers to the seems in a chilling last-minute monologue that gives the chameleon actress finally something to chew on, and settles the film with a tasty bit of naughtiness.
Baz Luhrmann's lurid and colorful retelling of The Great Gatsby was supposed to the ultimate cinematic staging for the doomed star-crossed lovers Jay and Daisy, played here by Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan. However it was newcomer Debicki as the supporting player Jordan Baker who ran away with the best in show honors, not because Luhrmann showcased or particularly upped the impact of the role, but because Debicki brought a stylized charm and grace to the one-note acting proceedings, adding notes and abundant flair to her side-lined character.
My favorite film so far in 2013 also featured my favorite performance from the year so far, a caveat I'm fairly certain isn't going to change much come six months from now. The two are most certainly connected as Gerwig is Frances and Frances is Gerwig, a wonderful melding of actor and character and character and film. With this, it brings a bit of sadness that Gerwig is likely unlikely not going to a favorite for a leading actress Oscar nomination come winter, and may even be but a longshot for the Indie Spirits, but in my book her joyous, witty and beguilingly profound creation is worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize for its brute honesty and natural joie de vivre.
What are your favorite performances from the first six months of 2013?
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