Telluride at Dartmouth #1

One of the perks of working for a College that is a thriving arts institution is that I get to see a few films from the Telluride Film Festival before they are given a nationwide release. I had no idea this kind of thing happened at schools like this one. (I have clearly gone to public school for too long. It is fancy here.)

The first movie I got to see here was Roger Michell's Hyde Park on Hudson which stars Bill Murray as Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Honestly I don't actually think that there is much more to say about this movie.

If you look to the poster at left you will see that the movie is plainly a comedy. And it is a comedy, of the whimsical, fast-and-loose-with-history type. FDR is reimagined as a charming womanizer who also manages to be the generous, forgiving father we all wish we had. And life at Hyde Park on Hudson (which is a kind of summer home for FDR) is portrayed as identical to life in a fairy tale.

All of this, of course, got on my nerves, although the film does have one really beautiful moment where the King of England (George VI, at this time, who was most recently played to great acclaim – and with lots of sentiment – by Colin Firth in The King's Speech) gets really frustrated by his stutter while talking to FDR. Goddamn this stutter, he says. And FDR thinks for a beat and says, What stutter? It brought tears to my eyes, and it's a lovely moment.

But upon reflection, this bit of fantasy felt to me as phony as the rest of the movie. I mean, it's a lovely thought, but it's hardly realistic. The film is narrated by Laura Linney's character Daisy, and neither this character, nor anyone else in the President's retinue, could have known what FDR said to King George.

The movie's larger problem is Roger Michell's direction. He is never sure whether what he's directing is a comedy or a drama. In Hyde Park on Hudson's more serious moments, one feels awkward, as though the laughter suddenly stopped. And Michell doesn't know how to feel about FDR, either. Is he a bad man? Is he a great man? Are we supposed to understand that even great men are "human"?

There is a lot of hilarity about the King and Queen eating hot dogs, and Olivia Williams' Eleanor Roosevelt is the butt of countless jokes which felt to me both unkind and rather misogynist. Samuel West and Olivia Colman are both great as the King and Queen, and I loved Elizabeth Marvel, who plays the President's assistant. Mostly, however, I was unimpressed. It was like a candy-coated historical drama in the vein of The Help or a Lasse Hallström movie. Not my cup of tea.

Venus

My friend Karen reminded me that I never talked about Venus, the Hanif Kureishi film from last year which was directed by Roger Michell and starred Peter O'Toole. In fact, it's the one film I've seen since January 2006 that I haven't talked about on this blog. Sorry for the meta-blogging, but I thought I would include the discussion of the film I had with Karen here:

It was so exactly what I expected from Hanif Kureishi, which means I liked its audacity and disliked its grotesquerie. His films always have this quality. They are so seedy and about such unlikeable people, and yet there is a humanity. And Kureishi actually likes his characters... a lot, unlike a scribe like, say (and I know I always berate him, but here I go again) Neil LaBute. As for Peter O'Toole. I don't get the appeal. I get why everyone likes him in Lawrence of Arabia and Becket and The Lion in Winter. I love him in those movies. But the rest of his oeuvre: it's all overhyped if you ask me.

I'm probably being unkind to O'Toole. It's just that films like My Favorite Year and The Stunt Man and The Ruling Class—each of which has seen O'Toole so highly-praised for his acting ability—all left a sour taste in my mouth, as though his acting were a kind of comment on acting or comment on his own persona as a star. Zzzzz. That said, I rather liked him in Venus and in Ratatouille (go see it!). And, truth be told, I liked Venus a lot better than I liked The Mother, the last Kureishi film that Roger Michell directed.

Sorry this post is about five months late. Oops.

The Nominees: Part V of VIII

THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND

1 Nomination:

Best Actor: Forest Whitaker

Director: Kevin Macdonald (Touching the Void, One Day in September)
Cast: James McAvoy, Forest Whitaker, Kerry Washington, Gillian Anderson, David Oyelowo, Simon McBurney

This film is one of my favorites of the year and Whitaker has been the frontrunner in the Best Actor race for at least two months. This is another Jamie Foxx in Ray juggernaut for the Best Actor race. Unfortunately, this excellent film, which was written by The Queen's scribe, Peter Morgan, and boasts another superb lead actor performance (from James McAvoy), has been mostly ignored except for Whitaker's performance (which is, admittedly, a remarkable one). This film is the movie about Africa that should have been recognized by the Academy (have I mentioned how much I hate Blood Diamond?)At any rate, Whitaker will win his Oscar and the film will get seen because of him, so I can't complain too much.
Will Win: Best Actor
Might Also Win: N/A
My Rating: #6 out of 69

VENUS

1 Nomination:

Best Actor: Peter O'Toole (My Favorite Year, The Stunt Man, The Ruling Class, Goodby, Mr. Chips, The Lion in Winter, Becket, Lawrence of Arabia)

Director: Roger Michell (Enduring Love, The Mother, Changing Lanes, Notting Hill, Persuasion)
Cast: Peter O'Toole, Jodie Whittaker, Leslie Phillips, Vanessa Redgrave

O'Toole, who, as you can see above, has received his eighth Oscar nomination for Best Actor this year was actually given an honorary Oscar two years ago for his contribution to "cinema history". When the Oscar is awarded to Forest Whitaker on February 25th, O'Toole will be the most frequently-nominated performer in history to never actually win an Oscar. In 1963, when he was first nominated (the performance that seems to stand out in most people's minds) he lost to Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird. This seems a difficult decision with which to argue. His subsequent nominations are easier ones to argue in favor of O'Toole, but not that easy. For example: would you take away Brando's Oscar for The Godfather in order to give O'Toole one? What about De Niro's for Raging Bull? After I've said all of that, O'Toole is definitely Whitaker's fiercest competition for the trophy and though he got off to a late start, he has been campaigning like a champ. I recently heard an interview with him on Fresh Air, and he's also been appearing on Television. I think it would be a shame to rob Whitaker, but maybe O'Toole'll win one after all.
Will Win: N/A
Might Also Win: Best Actor
My Rating: I haven't seen it. (Curse you, Tallahassee!)

HALF NELSON

1 Nomination:

Best Actor: Ryan Gosling

Director: Ryan Fleck
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Shareeka Epps, Anthony Mackie, Monique Curnen, Deborah Rush, Jay O. Sanders, Karen Chilton, Tina Holmes

Another of my favorite films of the year that was all-but-ignored by the Academy. Shareeka Epps performance is an excellent one and the script is one of the smartest of the year. I've lauded the film before (you can get to that through the link down below if you are so inclined) so I won't rehash that, but I would like to celebrate Gosling's nomination, even if it meant that Sacha Baron Cohen was excluded from the category. Gosling's performance is an honest, powerful one that reveals layer upon layer. Everyone should be paying attention to this guy. He's at the top of his game and is doing excellent work.
Will Win: N/A
Might Also Win: N/A
My Rating: #3 out of 69

THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS

1 Nomination:

Best Actor: Will Smith (Ali)

Director: Gabriele Muccino (Remember Me, My Love, The Last Kiss)
Cast: Will Smith, Jaden Christopher Syre Smith, Thandie Newton, Brian Howe, James Karen, Dan Castellaneta

This is a case of a giant movie star in a vehicle that is perfect for him. Smith's performance in the film is quite good for a movie star (in the way, say, Julia Roberts' performance was quite good in Erin Brockovich). The film is ridiculously sappy and at the same time, both relentlessly depressing and wildly triumphant. The Academy, understandably, has ignored everything but Smith's work. Should we even talk about the mis-spelling in the title? It makes sense in the context of the film, but everytime I type the title I want to write [sic] after it.
Will Win: N/A
Might Also Win: N/A
My Rating: #46 out of 69

VOLVER

1 Nomination:

Best Actress: Penélope Cruz

Director: Pedro Almodóvar (Bad Education, Talk to Her, All About My Mother, What Have I Done to Deserve This?, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown)
Cast: Penélope Cruz, Lola Dueñas, Carmen Maura, Blanca Portillo, Yohana Cobo, Chus Lampreave, Antonio de la Torre

How I love this film! and how I love this filmmaker! This film totally got robbed for a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. This hurts even more because frequently Spain has been electing not to submit Almodóvar's films for the category. The big snub is probably due to a male-dominated voting bloc in the category that would, understandably, not really connect with Almodóvar's stories about women and the men they have to overcome. Cruz's nomination is much-deserved, though, so I'll just be glad about that. It would've been really ridiculous if this film had received no nominations at all.
Will Win: N/A
Might Also Win: N/A
My Rating: #5 out of 69

Laughter on the Third Floor

I got the email Saturday morning that said that Rick Williamson (Petruchio) is dropping out of the show.

Adios.

I have no actor now, but... Adios.

Yesterday, Derek and I saw The Mother with Anne Reid. She has gotten tons of good reviews and could possibly be a contender for the Best Actress Oscar—we should know in December. She was good, but the character was just such an odious human being. This has been okay with me before (I loved Denzel Washington in Training Day, for instance), but I think because this character is so collossally selfish, I found it really hard to sympathize with her.
I think we were supposed to feel sorry for her, too. I know I have a well-documented dislike for the elderly, and so I should probably stop talking about them. But this character exemplified everything I dislike about the aged. A horrible mother, who, once her husband had died, forced her son and then daughter to give her a spare room. Then she starts fucking her daughter's horndog boyfriend. The daughter has clearly communicated she is desperately in love with this man, too. So, it's not like she was gonna break it off or anything. The mother is just this monster of a woman, who doesn't give a fuck about her kids, but expects all of them to care about her. Ludicrous. My problem with the film is that none of the characters have any redeeming qualities. It was written by Hanif Kureishi, who wrote (the very sweet My Beautiful Laundrette), but it feels like it was written by Neil LaBute, the hatred for these characters is so strong.
Derek rather liked it, I think. I was rather bored. I find that if I don't invest in the characters as people—if I don't get behind at least one of them and root for them to win—I start to be really bored.
The mother looks like she's about to kill herself at one point in Act Three, and I found myself muttering "Do it. Do it, now."