Love and Death; or How to Find Yourself Crazed on the Streets of San Francisco

Blue Jasmine

2013, USA

Woody Allen

Sometime in the 1980s or possibly the early 1990s, Woody Allen shifted from being a "sure bet" to a "mixed bag." Some people might attest that the process of aging and its effects to the body and mind can account for the sort of decline we sometimes see in artists' work during their later years. I'm not sure we'll ever know what, if anything, is to blame, but somewhere after Hannah and Her Sisters, Allen's films started missing their mark; perhaps it was shortly after Allen's messy divorce with the second major muse of his career, Mia Farrow. At the rate of nearly a film per year, it's to be expected that not every one would succeed, though a few of the films (that I've seen) that came after Farrow reached the heights of his early greats (Deconstructing Harry, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Bullets Over Broadway, possibly Mighty Aphrodite).

Allen may have seen enormous success with his 2011 outing Midnight in Paris, which awarded the filmmaker his first Academy Award in twenty-five years and went on to be the most profitable film of his career. Despite these accomplishments, Midnight in Paris brought me to make the claim that I had given up on any further projects the director had left in him. It wasn't just that I disliked the film; it made me want to go to Home Depot, buy a bunch of lightbulbs, and smash them in the parking lot. There were other things going on in my life that might have amplified the violence I felt, but my hatred was genuine. With Blue Jasmine however, the fact that I even considered seeing it was the first indication of how premature the bullheaded proclamation I made was. Blue Jasmine is almost good enough to have erased the memory of grumbling, cringing, and sighing my way through Owen Wilson's magically tedious tour of Parisian history. Almost.

The first thing about Blue Jasmine that should be mentioned—as it has been by nearly every person I know who's seen it—is its star, Cate Blanchett. As most of us are aware, she ranks among a very small list of actresses in Hollywood today who can always be counted on to be somewhere near wonderful, no matter how good or bad the film the film she's in might be. As Jasmine, née Jeanette, Blanchett's performance is the sort of thing to elicit the most enthusiastic of gay squeals. She embodies all of the things that make the gays melt in their theatre chairs. She's beautiful, unbalanced, reeling from a tragic marriage, mentally unstable, alcohol and pill dependent, viper-tongued, and oblivious to her own absurdity, all while traveling down a road that dances on the ultra-thin line that separates redemption from degradation. Oh, and she also has a really expensive wardrobe. But it's not the character alone that would make the gays extend the vowel sounds in the word "amazing" while describing the film, it's Blanchett's possession of Jasmine that makes it so outstanding.

Ostensibly an update of A Streetcar Named Desire set during our current economic crisis, the film begins with Jasmine's relocation to San Francisco to move in with her sister Ginger (a wonderful-as-usual Sally Hawkins) after losing all of her money and possessions to the government after her wealthy businessman husband (Alec Baldwin) is arrested for fraud. She's clearly on a downward spiral, but it's unclear how close to rock bottom she actually is… or if there even is a bottom to land on. It takes a while into the film before one begins to recognize the weight of the drama at hand, as Blue Jasmine isn't drenched in the sort of stark Bergman-esque tone of Interiors.

Handling the film with a light touch and taking his time to expose the severity of Jasmine's situation, Allen turns Blue Jasmine into a much darker Midnight in Paris, exploring the wounded psyche of his protagonist. He cuts between Jasmine's life in San Francisco and her life of privilege in the Hamptons, slowly unveiling the fact that what initially appear to be flashbacks are actually scenes of Jasmine's life that she's reliving and replaying. When you realize that you're seeing what's happening in Jasmine's head, you begin to see all of her fears of appearance, gossip, and other people's judgments reaffirm themselves. Though she never explicitly acknowledges these fears (looking the other way is one of her specialties), the film tells us that everyone around Jasmine knows exactly what's going on in her life and that it's a pretty hot discussion topic. An early scene where Jasmine is at the airport talking all about herself to the unlucky old woman seated next to her really struck me as the camera veers away from Jasmine at the baggage claim to capture a brief dialogue exchange between the old woman and her husband about the "strange woman" hollering goodbye to her. Throughout the film, it appears that everyone else is privy to intimate details of the sordid life of her husband, as well as Jasmine's own shaky mental state, though this too could be all in Jasmine's head. It's almost as if the truth about Jasmine's life exists everywhere but in her own delusional mind.

For anyone who has spent any time in San Francisco, Jasmine's fate at the end of the film has a sobering ring of truth to it. A friend remarked after seeing the film that he had to suspend disbelief when people on the street stop to watch Jasmine have a breakdown outside the dentist's office, because such outward displays of crazy are so commonplace in San Francisco that few would have taken much notice. Granted, it isn't every day one sees that sort of eruption from someone who looks like Cate Blanchett. I don't believe one needs to have lived in San Francisco to be haunted by the closing scene, but for those who have, it certainly provides an extra layer of bleakness to the experience. I guess Allen will never cease to be on my radar, and I'm okay with that.

Though we didn't feel the same way, I highly recommend that you read Jonathan Rosenbaum's assessment of Blue Jasmine and Allen's class obsession.

With: Cate Blanchett, Sally Hawkins, Alec Baldwin, Bobby Cannavale, Peter Sarsgaard, Louis C.K., Andrew Dice Clay, Michael Stuhlbarg, Max Casella, Alden Ehrenreich, Tammy Blanchard, Joy Carlin, Richard Conti

The Decade List: Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)

Happy-Go-Lucky – dir. Mike Leigh

It’s not often we’re graced with a cinematic performance as incandescent as Sally Hawkins’ turn as chipper elementary school teacher Poppy in Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky. In a sense, Poppy is like the slightly better adjusted younger sister of The Office’s David Brent; her primary goal in life is (presumably) to put a smile on a person’s face, even if it’s dishing out bawdy quips at a moment’s notice. The grave difference between Poppy and David Brent is that Poppy’s jovial disposition isn’t a mask for, really, anything, especially not for Brent’s secret self-loathing and transparent insecurity (certainly the reason she comes off as charming as opposed to depressing). In terms of the film though, a character like Poppy is a challenging figure for a director to wrap a film around. On paper, she could border on cartoonish and one-dimensional, but Leigh, even if I’m not always a fan of his work, is an extremely clever filmmaker… and Hawkins a brilliant actress.

Leigh and Hawkins’ synthesis shapes Happy-Go-Lucky into a jewel of many facets. Happy-Go-Lucky isn’t really as its title suggests, nor is the title used for cheap irony. The film becomes genuinely bittersweet as it transpires, revealing crucial layers of initially benign circumstances in Poppy’s life. When making masks of birds out of paper bags with her students shifts to suspicions that one of her kids is being abused and the comical personality clash with her driving instructor (an incredible Eddie Marsan) leads to grievous confrontations, Poppy must address a number of harsh truths that simple optimism can’t mend. In Happy-Go-Lucky, we find the rare film where its protagonist sees the joys in life with authenticity, never defeated by life’s inevitable strife, and on top of that, what a pleasant relief to see a film about an over-30 single woman who likes to party, that doesn’t debase her by transforming her into a man-hating, baby-craving sociopath! With Hawkins’ extraordinary performance and Leigh’s adeptness at storytelling, Happy-Go-Lucky flourishes in its simple luxury.

With: Sally Hawkins, Eddie Marsan, Alexis Zegerman, Sylvestra Le Touzel, Samuel Roukin, Caroline Martin, Oliver Maltman, Andrea Riseborough, Sinéad Matthews, Kate O’Flynn, Sarah Niles
Screenplay: Mike Leigh
Cinematography: Dick Pope
Music: Gary Yershon
Country of Origin: UK
US Distributor: Miramax Films

Premiere: 12 February 2008 (Berlin International Film Festival)
US Premiere: 30 August 2008 (Telluride Film Festival)

Awards: Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical – Sally Hawkins (Golden Globes); Silver Bear for Best Actress – Sally Hawkins (Berlin); Best Supporting Actor – Eddie Marsan, Best Supporting Actress – Alexis Zegerman (British Independent Film Awards)

Bitch List: Oscar Nomination Edition

Now that I've had to time to ponder the Oscar nominations instead of debating whether or not I'm going to continue watching Lost or not after the grave irritations last night, I've decided to express my thoughts on the whole shebang. The biggest upset, as many others have concurred, is the Academy's snub of Sally Hawkins for Happy-Go-Lucky, easily the finest performance of all the Best Actress hopefuls and one of the few that actually carried the film. What's worse is that it looks like Angelina Jolie in Changeling was the substitute, which only leads me to imagine they thought it would be cute to see both Brad Pitt and Jolie nominated in the same year, despite both being undeserving. At least Pitt was forgettable; Jolie, on the other hand, was sort of a disaster, though working in Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry-in-red-lipstick mode, I suppose it wasn't solely her fault. If the Academy was going for "cute" factor, wouldn't it have been more appealing to nominate Heath Ledger's ex-wife Michelle Williams for Wendy & Lucy? And, if we want "cute" to turn into "dead sexy," how about delivering that Oscar to Penélope Cruz, especially considering she'll be handed the award by her co-star and beau Javier Bardem, who won last year for No Country for Old Men? It'll be just like the Adrien Brody/Halle Berry kiss, only without Adrien Brody and Halle Berry!

For the first time in a long, long while, the foreign language category wasn't a total sham, which proves that, even if Gomorrah was overlooked, the new policy for the category might actually be working in the favor of people who know good cinema. We'll have to hold our our applause until the award is officially given out as the winner is often tough to predict. Waltz with Bashir is the obvious frontrunner, but you know I'm rooting for The Class, which was my favorite film of 2008. I wouldn't be too sad if Revanche took home the trophy either though I suspect the film might be too dark and without pressing social interest to the voters. I've read excellent things about Japan's Departures, so it looks like The Baader Meinhof Complex is the "one of these things is not like the other," garnering pretty terrible reviews around Europe and among those in the US who've actually seen it.

No Revolutionary Road? Thank Christ! Michael Shannon was the only thing salvagable in that mess, and even though the Oscar voters can't resist a Kate Winslet weepie, they chose The Reader over Revolutionary Road. I still haven't seen The Reader, but how could it be worse than Road? How?

Best Picture and Director nominees lining up is always a total bore, even if it's clear that the guy whose film isn't up for best picture won't ever win (see David Lynch, Julian Schnabel)... but this gets me to ol' Benjamin Button. While you know I was pleased that Revolutionary Road was the big shut-out of the year (or maybe The Dark Knight, depending on who you ask), Benjamin Button probably should have been. It's the second-least-interesting film Fincher has directed (hello Panic Room!), and the fact that it bares more than just a passing resemblance to one of the shittiest Best Picture winners of the 90s doesn't help this cause. Pitt's boring, Blanchett's miscast and for such a strange premise for a film and from a director as good as Fincher, it doesn't take a lot of risks. I guess risk-taking isn't a favorite pasttime of the Academy.

If Woody Allen was nominated for Best Original Screenplay for Match Point, there's no discernable reason why Vicky Cristina Barcelona was missing from this year's list. It's his most vibrant and winning film in years, but I've spoken enough about my affinity with the film. However, it wasn't competition that kept it away; only one of the Best Picture dullards was based on an "original screenplay," even though it's a "biopic." So where was Woody?

I'm still a bit miffed that Dear Zachary wasn't even shortlisted for the documentaries, but as usual, the doc nominations were the most assure of the whole list. I'll be happy to see Man on Wire take the fall (fuck, I didn't even realize the pun when I was typing that), particularly if it's for Werner Herzog, who received his first nomination for Encounters at the End of the World after being brutally overlooked for Grizzly Man.

With such a weak year for "respectable" Hollywood cinema, 2008 should have been the year "independent" and foreign cinema stormed the podium. The Class, Gomorrah, Waltz with Bashir, Let the Right One In, Tell No One and A Christmas Tale could have easily (or maybe not) emerged as nominees in the directing or screenwriting categories, but no dice. I often forget that the Oscars are just a way for Hollywood to pass along HJs to one another, because if that weren't the case, each of these films should have made some showing if only to prove to Hollywood that we aren't buying what they're (usually) selling.

No Clint Eastwood? It's about time.

So here's the point where I make my early predictions. I'm pretty sure that the director/picture wins will be split, though I can't decide precisely how. Milk and Slumdog Millionaire look like the big picks as Hollywood loves to be "political," and Milk is considerably more deserving than Brokeback Mountain (even if Mountain losing did allow for the worst film in Academy history to take the top prize). As for Actress, I can't even entertain the possibility of Jolie winning or I might lose that Qdoba burrito I just ate. Winslet is probably your best bet as she's still got that empty place on her mantle. Mickey Rourke is the likely frontrunner for the Actor race, although, other than Pitt, I was impressed with all the contenders. There'll be speculation up till Oscar night as to whether Heath Ledger will receive his tribute or not, even though I thought he should have won for Mountain. My night will be crushed if Cruz leaves empty-handed.

As last year was the first time I've ever seen all of the films nominated in the big categories (Picture, Director, Actors, Actresses, Screeplays, Animated Film), it'll be a lot easier this year to repeat that, as I only have to see Frozen River, Doubt, The Reader, Bolt and Kung-fu Panda. The likelihood that I'll catch The Baader Meinhof Complex or Departures before Oscar night is slim. Anyway, we'll see how pissed we all get come 22 March.

Cocaine jokes and Cate Blanchett shout-outs!

Was it just me or were the Golden Globes a lot more entertaining than in previous years (well, not including last year)? I don't have a lot to say about them otherwise, except than everyone involved with 30 Rock really kept things engaging, and that Sally Hawkins is adorable. However, did anyone else feel a weird sense of superiority when the winners of Slumdog Millionaire kept referring to the folks in Bombay who "will be going mental" when they see this? I've watched enough BBC to know what "going mental" means, but the way they spoke of everyone in Bombay appeared condescending, and not just because the people in question were children. Whatever.

2008 List #4: 25 (or so) Great Performances

Acting will always be something that fascinates me from afar, and nothing I'd prefer to talk about at any length. There's something scary about the whole process of becoming someone else, something that's beautifully mirrored in Juliette Binoche's performance in Abel Ferrara's Mary. And then there's the whole Heath Ledger thing. I didn't include him on this list, partially because he's making everyone else's lists, and partially because that shit is scary. The following list of 25 (or really more, as I've included some multiple performances for the year) is in no special order and has minimal annotation (because writing about acting for any length of time is sure to induce a pretty bad headache).

Sally Hawkins - Happy-Go-Lucky

As successful a writer/director Mike Leigh often is, Happy-Go-Lucky hinged on her entire performance. No matter how worthwhile his screenplay was, Hawkins' believability made the film.

Rebecca Hall - Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Although the film didn't completely rest on her shoulders, Hall's performance worked in the same way Hawkins did, as she accepted the challenge of making "natural" what seemed so "fake." Her Vicky thrived upon a façade of happiness (I realize, for Hawkins, it wasn't a mask), and when everything fell out of place, it just made Hall that much more radiant.

Michael Shannon - Shotgun Stories; Revolutionary Road

Like J.K. Simmons in Burn After Reading, Shannon was the only thing to really fuck-start the whole fiasco that was Revolutionary Road (more on that later), and in Shotgun Stories, he made his untrained co-stars look all the more inexperienced.

Juliette Binoche - Flight of the Red Balloon [Le voyage du ballon rouge]

Binoche makes acting look effortless, and Flight of the Red Balloon is probably one of her most complex, nuanced endeavors in a career full of brilliance.

Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes - In Bruges

Rethink all the bad stigma you attach to Farrell (honestly, he wasn't the worst part of Alexander). All three actors are as good (or better) as they've ever been here.

Asia Argento - Boarding Gate

Yeah, she made a striking turn in The Last Mistress, but it was in Boarding Gate that Argento was given the best platform for astounding. More on this when I publish my best of the year.

Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon

It ended up not mattering much that Langella didn't resemble Tricky Dick physically or vocally, which is tremendous for playing someone ingrained so deeply in the public's eye.

Sean Penn, James Franco, Josh Brolin - Milk

If I had more space or time, each of these actors would deserve their own inclusion. Harvey Milk could end up being the role best associated with the often over-the-top Penn. The chemistry between Penn and Franco was intense (even if the film could have gone a little bit deeper), and Brolin, as I'm sure you've already heard or witnessed, gives remarkable shape to what could have been a one-dimensional, unsympathetic individual.

Inés Efron - XXY

In XXY, Efron is perfect, in both her demeanor and chilling despair. It’s the sort of performance you see, without knowing much about the actress, and assume, “Well, the director must have found her on the street and knew she was exactly what was needed for the role.” However, XXY is her fourth film, and not only is her role sizable in its challenges, Efron is both delicate and rough and handles the conflicting femininity and masculinity like an actress twice her senior. Fabulous stuff. (Taken from a post I wrote earlier this year)

Tilda Swinton - Julia; The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

In both leading and supporting roles, Swinton has the capacity to captivate no matter how long she's onscreen.

Richard Jenkins - The Visitor; Step Brothers

As excellent as he was in The Visitor, look for his "emotional" speech near the end of Step Brothers. Thanks to both films, Jenkins should no longer remain an untapped resource.

Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Devos - A Christmas Tale [Un conte de Noël]

As they did in Desplechin's Kings and Queen, Amalric and Devos again play lovers, this time in the present tense, and it's quite a compliment to stand out in a cast this impressive.

Béatrice Dalle - Inside

Perhaps inspired by the flesh-eating nymphomaniac she played in Claire Denis' Trouble Every Day, Inside flipped the coin on her usual persona of being sexy (but a little bit scary) in making her scary (but a little bit sexy) as the black-donning, scissors-holding home invader in Inside. It's probably one of the most frightening performances in a horror film that I've ever seen.

Anamaria Marinca - 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

As the roommate of the pregnant girl, Marinca was mesmerizing, devestating and even a little bit funny.

Emily Mortimer - Transsiberian

In looks, Mortimer might not have what it takes to pull off the former bad girl, but in Transsiberian, she's absolutely believable and utterly captivating.

Jason Patric - Expired

Hysterically rude, Patric was like the broken down version of his character in Your Friends & Neighbors.

Julianne Moore - Savage Grace

Taking on roles as difficult as that of Barbara Baekeland is what lifts Moore into the masterclass. Though Savage Grace is quite flawed, there's nothing at all wrong with her (you could say the same about Blindness, though she's more effective here), and, as I said before, I don’t think any actress today can utter the word “cunt” with as much ferocity as Moore, and after you see the film, try to think of another actress who would have even tried to pull of that scene.

Jürgen Vogel - The Free Will

Serving as co-writer as well, Vogel is shattering the film's serial rapist in one of the year's most troubling performances.

Michael Fassbender - Hunger

It would be too easy to applaud Fassbender for pulling a Christian Bale and losing an ungodly amount of weight for the second half of Hunger, so it certainly helps that he would have been commanding at any weight. I'll even forgive him for being in 300.

Rosemarie DeWitt - Rachel Getting Married

In the less showy performance, DeWitt is the rock of Rachel Getting Married. Again, more on this when my best films list rolls out.

Penélope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Cruz lights my F-I-R-E, as you probably know by now, but who knew she could be as savagely funny as she was in the role of Maria Elena? Cruz and Hall were so night-and-day that I had to include them separately.

Peter Mullan - Boy A

Though Andrew Garfield was also quite good in the title role, Mullan was Boy A's shining light as the social worker who assists Garfield's rehabilition in society.

Michelle Williams - Wendy and Lucy

You can see Wendy's entire world buckle under inside Williams' face. She's a revelation here, and one of the most promising actresses of her generation (surprising from a girl who rose to fame on Dawson's Creek and lasted the show's entire run).

Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler

No matter how you feel about The Wrestler (yes, more on that later), it's hard to resist Rourke's career-capping turn as a faded pro "wrestler." Whether this leads to a string of roles or not is unclear, but he definitely deserves all the accolades that have been thrown upon him thusfar.

Sigourney Weaver - Baby Mama

Too often (even in my case) does appreciation for dramatic work overshadow the great comedic performances of any year, which are (so I hear) a lot more difficult a task to pull off. Weaver, as the owner of the surrogate adoption agency, isn't just hilarious on her own, but she does what every lead actor wishes the supporting players would do and makes them even funnier. Tina Fey's reaction to finding her in the hospital with a set of twins is the highlight of the whole film.

SAGs, Chicago

The Screen Actors Guild nominations were announced, despite the threat of a strike, and they were typically boring, and shamefully missing Sally Hawkins for Happy-Go-Lucky (Frozen River's Melissa Leo was the surprise nomination). The Chicago Film Critics' Association went with WALL·E as their best picture. Their full awards can be found here.

Awards, Etc. from Boston, NY and AFI

I'll never get sick of seeing of seeing Penélope Cruz's name on Critics Award lists. She added two more to the list for her performance in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, but we all remember that Tilda Swinton beat out Gone Baby Gone's Amy Ryan, who was undoubtedly the reigning champion of last year's supporting actress awards, when it came to Oscar time. Sean Penn, Heath Ledger and Sally Hawkins took home two more as well, with both The Boston Society of Film Critics and the New York Film Critics Online mirroring one another in the acting categories (although Penn tied with Mickey Rourke in Boston). Although I frown a bit at Boston's feel-good Best Picture tie of Slumdog Millionaire and WALL·E, their choices of Gus Van Sant for Best Director (honoring both Milk and Paranoid Park) and Christopher Doyle and Rain Kathy Li for cinematography for Paranoid Park was absolutely refreshing. Martin McDonagh was awarded the best new filmmaker for In Bruges by both. The two groups' awards, as well as AFI's list of the ten best films of 2008 are below:

Boston

Picture: (tie) Slumdog Millionaire; WALL·E
Director: Gus Van Sant - Milk; Paranoid Park
Actor: (tie) Sean Penn - Milk; Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler
Actress: Sally Hawkins - Happy-Go-Lucky
Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Supporting Actress: Penélope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Foreign: Let the Right One In
Animated: WALL·E
Documentary: Man on Wire
Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black - Milk
Cinematography: Christopher Doyle, Rain Kathy Li - Paranoid Park
Editing: Chris Dickens - Slumdog Millionaire
Ensemble Cast: Tropic Thunder
Best New Filmmaker: Martin McDonagh - In Bruges

New York Film Critics Online

Picture: Slumdog Millionaire
Director: Danny Boyle, Loveleen Tandan - Slumdog Millionaire
Actor: Sean Penn - Milk
Actress: Sally Hawkins - Happy-Go-Lucky
Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
Supporting Actress: Penélope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Foreign: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
Animated: WALL·E
Documentary: Man on Wire
Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy - Slumdog Millionaire
Cinematography: Anthony Dod Mantle - Slumdog Millionaire
Score: A.R. Rahman - Slumdog Millionaire
Ensemble Cast: Milk
Breakout Performance: Sally Hawkins - Happy-Go-Lucky
Debut as Director: Matin McDonagh - In Bruges

The 10 Best Pictures (alphabetically):

Che
A Christmas Tale
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Happy-Go-Lucky
Milk
Rachel Getting Married
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL·E
The Wrestler

AFI's 10 Best Films of 2008 (Alphabetically)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Frozen River
Gran Torino
Iron Man
Milk
WALL·E
Wendy and Lucy
The Wrestler