Independent Spirit Award Nominations

I'm still unsure as to what films are eligible for nominations for the Independent Spirit Awards, but either way, the nominations were made today, with Rachel Getting Married, The Wrestler, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Milk, Ballast, Wendy and Lucy, Frozen River and The Visitor up for a handful. You can read the full list over at IndieWire, but here are some of the categories:

Best Picture

Ballast - dir. Lance Hammer
Frozen River - dir. Courtney Hunt
Rachel Getting Married - dir. Jonathan Demme
Wendy and Lucy - dir. Kelly Reichardt
The Wrestler - dir. Darren Aronofsky

Best Director

Ramin Bahrani - Chop Shop
Jonathan Demme - Rachel Getting Married
Lance Hammer - Ballast
Courtney Hunt - Frozen River
Tom McCarthy - The Visitor

Best First Feature

Afterschool - dir. Antonio Campos
Medicine for Melancholy - dir. Barry Jenkins
Sleep Dealer - dir. Alex Rivera
Sangre de mi sangre [Padre Nuestro] - dir. Christopher Zalla
Synecdoche, New York - dir. Charlie Kaufman

Best Screenplay

Woody Allen - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck - Sugar
Charlie Kaufman - Synecdoche, New York
Howard A. Rodman - Savage Grace
Christopher Zalla - Sangre de mi sangre

Best First Screenplay

Dustin Lance Black - Milk
Lance Hammer - Ballast
Courtney Hunt - Frozen River
Jonathan Levine - The Wackness
Jenny Lumet - Rachel Getting Married

Best Male Lead

Javier Bardem - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Richard Jenkins - The Visitor
Sean Penn - Milk
Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker
Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler

Best Female Lead

Summer Bishil - Towelhead
Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married
Melissa Leo - Frozen River
Tarra Riggs - Ballast
Michelle Williams - Wendy and Lucy

Best Supporting Male

James Franco - Milk
Anthony Mackie - The Hurt Locker
Charlie McDermott - Frozen River
JimMyron Ross - Ballast
Haaz Sleiman - The Visitor

Best Supporting Female

Penélope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Rosemarie DeWitt - Rachel Getting Married
Rosie Perez - The Take
Misty Upham - Frozen River
Debra Winger - Rachel Getting Married

Best Documentary

The Betrayal - dir. Ellen Kuras, Thavisouk Phrasavath
Encounters at the End of the World - dir. Werner Herzog
Man on Wire - dir. James Marsh
The Order of Myths - dir. Margaret Brown
Up the Yangtze - dir. Yung Chang

Best Foreign Film

The Class [Entre les murs] - dir. Laurent Cantet - France
Gomorrah [Gomorra] - dir. Matteo Garrone - Italy
Hunger - dir. Steve McQueen - UK
Secret of the Grain [La graine et le mulet] - dir. Abdel Kechiche - France
Silent Light [Stellet licht] - dir. Carlos Reygadas - Mexico

...And John Waters' Best of 2008

Looks like John Waters has posted his annual best of the year list via Artforum, naming a tie for the top slot: Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona ("gives heterosexuality a good name!") and Christophe Honoré's Love Songs. I always feel like I'm just one-off with the Prince of Filth, this year being his inclusion of Harmony Korine's Mister Lonely, which I would have hated if it deserved that much energy. And I love that he described Julianne Moore in Savage Grace as "the best Isabelle Huppert performance of the year." The list is as follows, though I suggest you follow the link as his brief run-downs are highly amusing:

1. (tie) Vicky Cristina Bareclona - dir. Woody Allen; Love Songs [Les chansons d'amour] - Christophe Honoré
2. Mister Lonely - dir. Harmony Korine
3. Savage Grace - dir. Tom Kalin
4. Man on Wire - dir. James Marsh
5. The Last Mistress [Une vieille maîtresse] - dir. Catherine Breillat
6. My Winnipeg - dir. Guy Maddin
7. The Wrestler - dir. Darren Aronofsky
8. Taxi to the Dark Side - dir. Alex Gibney
9. Milk - dir. Gus Van Sant
10. Cassandra's Dream - dir. Woody Allen

Jesus Died for Somebody's Sins, But Not Mine...

Julia – dir. Erick Zonca – 2008 – France/USA/Mexico/Belgium

Call it Tilda Swinton day at my blog, for, similar to my thoughts on Burn After Reading, my wild thoughts on Julia have been ruminating all morning. Premiering at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year, the film was met with waves of disapproval (which can be found here and here) as well as occasional praise (here and here), most of which for Swinton’s performance, which is absolutely radiant but more on that in a bit. Julia is kinda sorta a remake of Cassavetes’ Gloria, with Gena Rowlands in the title role, and it’s Erick Zonca’s first film in nine years after Le petit voleur in 1999 and the popular The Dreamlife of Angels (La vie rêvée des anges) in 1998. In essence, without giving away much, it’s a film about a raging alcoholic who finds herself in the middle of a kidnapping scheme.

The film’s detractors aren’t completely off-the-mark. Julia is scattershot, with most critics assessing that the film felt like three separate ones rolled together. At 144 minutes, Zonca reaches at least three different forks-in-the-road, leading Swinton head-first. I’d prefer not to go into much detail, seeing as the film is still unavailable in the US, because even the most drastic of turns the film takes are so stunningly intense that you never quite get the chance to reflect on whether Zonca is taking you in the right direction or not. It's even at times an uneasy mix of raw character analysis and plot contrivances, but I was never less than enthralled the whole time.

Salon’s Stephanie Zacharek was one of the few who didn’t buy into Swinton, even commenting that her peers that hated the film at least admired her: “Cast as a woman who's blowsy, selfish and usually sozzled, Swinton plays down to her character, which isn't nearly the same as playing it.” It’s easy to get caught up in Swinton’s performance. She’s typically mesmerizing; her Julia is a bigger, louder version of her Karen Crowder in Michael Clayton which gave Swinton her Oscar and propelled her into the American consciousness. But for those unfamiliar with her body of work, having a little pit stain, allowing her tit to fall out of her bra and playing an almost entirely unlikable character is nothing new for the actress. Certainly, she ranks among the most fearless actors working today in terms of how she allows herself to be depicted and in her varying role choices, but that’s not the reason people who’ve loved her for so long continue to do so.

Believability is not paramount in recognizing Swinton’s immense talent. Take Sally Potter’s Orlando as the easiest indicator of such. Playing a French boy who turns into a woman midway through the film, there’s never a moment where you buy Swinton as a male, and that’s perfectly fine. It’s what she brings out in her performance that’s so uncanny. She exudes a rare classiness in each of her delicate performances, no matter how rough around the edges she may look, something that seems both long-forgotten and new. Even at Julia’s most belligerent, Swinton never drops her put-on American accent, and yet it’s still an accent that doesn’t sound terribly authentic. And again, it doesn’t really matter. It’s Swinton’s glances and delivery and the way she moves herself through the film that is so stellar. Whereas an actress like Naomi Watts, who seems to seek out roles that allow her to showcase her impressive crying/snotting abilities, Swinton is consistently surprising, never allowing the grittiness and possible familiarity to run stale.

Released a little over a month ago on DVD in France from Studio Canal, I can’t say when Julia will officially make it stateside. Filmbrain ran down a list of excuses distributors made when asked about the film, most of which bitching about the length and how unlikable a central character Julia is. I like to believe that, if given a little faith from investors, Julia would have solidified Tilda Swinton’s placement in American cinema, proving much more than in The Deep End her capacity as a leading actress. To add to the hurt, even Zonca’s brief popularity following The Dreamlife of Angels, which won both Élodie Bouchez and Natacha Régnier the Best Actress prize at Cannes that year, hasn’t been met with embracing arms from the US market. The Dreamlife of Angels is still only available on DVD in the US in an edited version, and Le petit voleur hasn’t even received a DVD release after its theatrical run. Perhaps a better appreciation of Julia will come with time, which seems to be the only thing it has on its side right now.

Burning Up

Burn After Reading – dir. Ethan Coen, Joel Coen – 2008 – USA/France/UK

Perhaps I was a bit hasty in declaring last year that the Coen brothers had never made a bad film around the time I saw No Country for Old Men. Or maybe my “hastiness” was just a way for me to avoid coming to terms with the fact that I really don’t like The Big Lebowski. Lebowski aside, throwing Burn After Reading into the mix doesn’t help that statement, but I still have reservations in calling it a “bad film.” I know there are those who think Jim Jarmusch can do no wrong, but I have no qualms in shit-talking his episodic endeavors, whether they be of the literal sense (Coffee and Cigarettes, Night on Earth) or weaved through a “narrative” (Broken Flowers); I do, on the other hand, find Mystery Train amusing. However, I think the Coens are consistently conscious of their decisions, more so than Jarmusch who sometimes appears to be as lost as Bill Murray’s character in Broken Flowers during the film’s last moments.

What’s truly holding me back from bashing Burn After Reading can be found precisely in J.K. Simmons’ role, which vocalized within the film my uneasy sideline sentiments for the “mayhem” that was taking place. Did the Coens realize midway through the process of making Burn After Reading that it was lousy and threw in Simmons to trick you into thinking they were ahead of the game? Unfortunately not. I have too much trust in the brothers to think it wasn’t their plan all along, particularly considering the final scene of the film. And still, two or three scenes with Simmons doesn’t detract from the silliness (and, to my surprise, staleness) of what was transpiring around him. I can’t even muster a small appreciation for seeing talented actors like Frances McDormand and George Clooney appear to be having fun at their job, as it feels like Clooney and Brad Pitt just brought their Ocean’s 11 party over to the next set. Even my darling Tilda Swinton failed to crack a smile out of me, which is truly disheartening considering she plays a cold bitch so well. I think I’ll let the film settle (though I watched it over a week ago) and debate a second viewing, for those Coen brothers sure enjoy delivering the unexpected with each passing film.

Das Ist Berlin

Via GreenCine, the Berlin International Film Festival, in its 59th year, will open with the premiere of Tom Tykwer's The International, starring Clive Owen, Naomi Watts, Armin Mueller-Stahl and Ulrich Thomsen on 5 February. The rest of the line-up has yet to be announced, but it had been previously announced that the lovely Tilda Swinton will be the jury president next year. Sony will release The International worldwide a week later. I will post more information about the festival as it becomes available.

Murnau and Others in 2009

Kino will release three silent works from director F.W. Murnau on DVD on 17 March. The first is a resorted edition of Faust; the second is The Finances of the Grand Duke [Die Finanzen des Großherzogs]; and the third is The Haunted Castle [Schloß Vogeloed]. Also in March from Kino are Wonderful Town on the 3rd and Nicolas Philibert's doc Back to Normany [Retour en Normandie] on the same day.

Fernando Meirelles' Blindness, which opened this year's Cannes Film Festival and was later ignored by US audiences, will be released on 10 February. Jirí Menzel's Czech comedy I Served the King of England will be available from Sony on 17 February. Also in February, Religulous on the 17th from Lionsgate and Takeshi Kitano's Takeshis' on the 24th from BCI Eclipse.

Sony announced another round of their "Martini Movies," which includes Stephen Frears' Gumshoe with Albert Finney, the sci-fi comedy Vibes with Cyndi Lauper and Jeff Goldblum, Carol Reed's Our Man in Havana with Alec Guinness, Burl Ives and Maureen O'Hara, Getting Straight with Elliott Gould and Candice Bergen, and the apocalyptic Five. All street on 3 February.

The Weinstein Company has delayed a few titles from February to March. Dante 01 will now be released on 17 March, and Martyrs on the 24th. The animated Azur et Asmar, which was delayed from November, should be released on the 17th of March as well.

And finally, the animated, highly-amusing The Life and Times of Tim will hit shelves on 24 March from HBO.

You're a whore, darlin'

Because you know they just love doing it, Entertainment Weekly made another list... this time counting down the 50 Sexiest Movies of All Time (you can find 1-25 here, and 26-50 here), most of which is pretty asinine, although I (sort of) applaud their choice of Steven Soderbergh's Out of Sight at the number one, even though I'm not sure it's "sexiness" resonates throughout the whole film enough for it to be the sexiest.

Shame, however, should be brought onto the mag for even mentioning 300 (which falls at number 50), which I will always lovingly refer to as gay porn for soccer moms (I didn't coin that, and forgive me for forgetting who coined it), a slice of ham like The Notebook, a cheese-fest like Dirty Dancing, an unsalted cracker like Cruel Intentions and a turd like Ghost. Shakespeare in Love and Mr. & Mrs. Smith could have also been omitted, and don't get me started on their ridiculous placement of fucking Once at #11. But props of course are to be given for the inclusion of In the Mood for Love, Mulholland Drive (duh) and The Unbearable Lightness of Being (and, of course, that impossibly sexy scene in Don't Look Now between Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland)... If EW was so intent on choosing so many non-traditional "sexy" movies, where was Persona, which contains easily the hottest, fully-clothed, non-sex scene ever?

For a more inspired list, you can check out their 25 Least Sexy Movies of All Time, which goes from Showgirls to Batteries Not Included to Requiem for a Dream to Gone Fishin'.

Previous 10: 23 November - Fest Wrap-Up

In wrapping up all of my festival screenings, this list of 10 is loaded with disappointments, though none of them major. Laurent Cantet's The Class is astounding, as is WALL·E, the only two of these ten worth getting excited about. Though both efficient on some levels, Waltz with Bashir and The Wrestler failed to live up to the excitement surrounding their earlier festival showings. I should, hopefully, have more to say about Burn After Reading as soon as I get my new computer (mine died this past week, leaving me with fairly limited access). Oh, I would urge you to avoid Garden Party about as strongly as I possibly can.

La Crème

The Class [Entre les murs] - dir. Laurent Cantet - France - Sony Pictures Classics - with François Bégaudeau

La león - dir. Santiago Otheguy - Argentina/France - Water Bearer Films - with Jorge Román, Daniel Valenzuela, José Muñoz

OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies [OSS 117: La Caire, nid d'espions] - dir. Michel Hazanavicius - France - Music Box Films - with Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, Aure Atika, Philippe Lefebvre, Constantin Alexander, Saïd Amadis, Laurent Bateau

WALL·E - dir. Andrew Stanton - USA - Pixar/Walt Disney Studios - with Jeff Garlin, Ben Hurtt, Elissa Knight, Fred Willard, Sigourney Weaver, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy

Les Autres

Burn After Reading - dir. Ethan Coen, Joel Coen - USA/France/UK - Focus Features - with George Clooney, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, Brad Pitt, Richard Jenkins, J.K. Simmons, Elizabeth Marvel

O' Horten - dir. Bent Hamer - Norway/Germany/France - Sony Pictures Classics - with Bård Owe, Espen Skjønberg, Ghita Nørby

Priceless [Hors de prix] - dir. Pierre Salvadori - France - Samuel Goldwyn Films - with Gad Elmaleh, Audrey Tautou, Marie-Christine Adam, Vernon Dobtcheff

Waltz with Bashir - dir. Ari Folman - Israel/Germany/France - Sony Pictures Classics

Wrestler, The - dir. Darren Aronofsky - USA - Fox Searchlight - with Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood

The Bad

Garden Party - dir. Jason Freeland - USA - Roadside Attractions - with Vinessa Shaw, Willa Holland, Richard Gunn, Erik Smith, Alexander Cendese, Christopher Allport, Patrick Fischler

Gay Zombies, Exterminating Angels and Good Days to Be Black and Sexy

Strand announced the DVD release of Bruce LaBruce's wonderful Otto; or Up with Dead People for 10 February, just in time to make my Valentine's Day extra special. No word on the special features yet.

Sony Pictures Classics will have Courtney Hunt's Frozen River on 10 February, which would be good timing for a home-video push if actress Melissa Leo gets that dark horse Oscar nomination. Zeitgeist is releasing Chris & Don: A Love Story on 24 February. Kino is releasing Jan Schütte's Love Comes Lately on 3 February. The film stars Barbara Hershey, Elizabeth Peña, Rhea Perlman and Olivia Thirlby.

Set for February are three films from Magnolia. The first is Prachya Pinkaew's martial arts flick Chocolate, on 10 February. Dennis Dortch's A Good Day to Be Black and Sexy will street on 3 February. And Barry Levinson's star-studded What Just Happened? is set for 10 February. The film stars, among others, Robert De Niro, Stanley Tucci, Bruce Willis, John Turturro, Kristen Stewart, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener, Michael Wincott and Robin Wright Penn.

I'm sure you've already seen Criterion's February line-up, but if you haven't, two Luis Buñuel films, The Exterminating Angel and Simon of the Desert, will hit stores on 17 February. The only other new title is a comedy from David Lean, Hobson's Choice, which will be available the following week. John Cassavetes' Shadows and Faces will also become available to own separate from the Cassavetes box-set.

Under the "unnecessary" umbrella, Universal is re-releasing the video-game adaptation of Street Fighter in an "Extreme Edition." You may remember the film as being poor Raul Julia's final film, or as Kylie Minogue's futile foray at an acting career. Either way, it's available on 10 February.

HBO will have out Chris Lilley's hilarious Summer Heights High on 24 February; the show started airing about a week ago, and you can catch all the episodes on HBO On Demand, which I strongly suggest.

And finally, it looks like Music Box Films have delayed Tell No One yet again, this time set for 31 March.

Previous 10: 16 November

This crop contains the rest of my pre-Saint Louis International Film Festival screenings, including a few others. I will be seeing at least four films this year, so they'll show up next round. Two brief observations: Sally Hawkins is incredible; The Unknown Woman is absolute shit.

La Crème

Blind Mountain - dir. Li Yang - China - Kino - with Huang Lu

Happy-Go-Lucky - dir. Mike Leigh - UK - Miramax - with Sally Hawkins, Eddie Marsan, Alexis Zegerman, Samuel Roukin

Les Autres

A Complete History of My Sexual Failures - dir. Chris Watt - UK - No US Distributor - with Chris Watt

The Grocer's Son [Le fils de l'épicier] - dir. Eric Guirado - France - Film Movement - with Nicolas Cazalé, Clotilde Hesme, Daniel Duval, Stéphan Guérin-Tillié, Jeanne Goupil, Liliane Rovère, Paul Crauchet, Chad Chenouga

Timecrimes [Los cronocrímenes] - dir. Nacho Vigalondo - Spain - Magnet Releasing - with Karra Elejalde, Candela Fernández, Bárbara Geonaga, Nacho Vigalondo, Juan Inciarte

Tropic Thunder - dir. Ben Stiller - USA/Germany - DreamWorks - with Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Jay Baruchel, Brandon T. Jackson, Tom Cruise, Matthew McConaughey, Nick Nolte, Steve Coogan, Bill Hader

The Wedding Director [Il regista di matrimoni] - dir. Marco Bellocchio - Italy/France - New Yorker - with Sergio Castellitto, Donatella Finocchiaro, Sami Frey, Gianni Cavina, Maurizio Donadoni, Bruno Cariello, Simona Nobili

Wonderful Town - dir. Aditya Assarat - Thailand - Kino - with Supphasit Kansen, Anchalee Saisoontorn

The Bad

The Good Boy [Segundo asalto] - dir. Daniel Cebrián - Spain - Picture This! - with Darío Grandinetti, Álex González, Eva Marciel, Laura Aparicio, Alberto Ferreiro

The Unknown Woman [La sconosciuta] - dir. Giuseppe Tornatore - Italy/France - Outsider Pictures - with Xenia Rappoport, Michele Placido, Claudia Gerini, Margherita Buy, Pierfrancesco Favino, Piera Degli Esposti, Ángela Molina

S.O.B.

I'm not usually in the habit of posting about films in production, but as I've already mentioned the Serge Gainsbourg biopic in addition to the casting of Todd Solondz's new film, why not add two more? It looks as if the Arrested Development film is back on again, after that little teaser on the show's farewell and numerous shot-down rumors.

And according to a friend-of-a-friend (yeah, sorry), Claire Denis' White Material, which stars Isabelle Huppert (her first time working with the director), Isaach de Bankolé and Nicolas Duvauchelle, should be ready in time for Berlin in 09. Then again, call me a skeptic, but 35 rhums was supposed to be ready for Cannes earlier this year.