WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN

Posted on January 27, 2012 by JanLisaHuttner

Tilda Swinton stars as “Eva,” a mother desperately searching for answers after a tragedy. What did she know & when did she know it? And why, once her worst fears began to come true, didn’t her husband “Franklin” (John C. Reilly) see the danger too?

Director Lynne Ramsay locks us into Eva’s POV; we never know the real “Kevin” Ramsay creates from her 3 astonishing young actors (Rock Duer as “Toddler Kevin,” Jasper Newell as “Kid Kevin,” & Ezra Miller as “Teen Kevin”), but she convinces us that Eva’s heartbreaking epistemological dilemma is both real & totally relevant to our own lives.

Start Here: Our legal system presumes that someone is “innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt,” but how can you “prove someone guilty” before they’ve done “it”–the thing you fear is about to happen? And how do you explain your concerns when they are based on nightmares rather than facts? And what if you do try to put your “gut feelings” into words, but the person you love most doesn’t want to hear you?

These are the issues around which Kevin’s spiraling plot turns, and Ramsay has written a great screenplay (with co-writer Rory Kinnear) that honors all the complexity of Lionel Shriver’s award-winning novel.

If I ruled the world, We Need to Talk about Kevin would have received multiple Oscar nominations on 1/24/12 including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Score, and Best Supporting Actor X 2 (for both Reilly and Miller)… but when the day came, Kevin was completely shut out…

And so it goes :-(

Click HERE for FF2 Haiku.

Tilda Swinton (left) with John C. Reilly (right): Long-married, still in love, but totally unable to discuss the difficulties that have now overwhelm their lives.

Photo Credits: Nicole Rivelli

Posted in Reviews: U-W | Leave a comment

ALBERT NOBBS

Posted on January 27, 2012 by JanLisaHuttner

A labor of love based on a novella by George Moore: Abused orphan makes her living as a male waiter in an exclusive Edwardian hotel.

Glenn Close buries herself in the lead role, allowing others in her superb cast to shine (especially Janet McTeer as Albert’s confidante as well as Mia Wasikowska & Aaron Johnson as doomed young lovers).

This is one of those “period pieces” which transport you to another time & place, in this case somewhere much more formal & slower-paced than our own. So be prepared to “settle in” a bit & then enjoy :-)

Click HERE for FF2 Haiku.

 On 1/24/12, Glenn Close (left) received an Oscar nomination in the “Best Actress” category, & Janet McTeer (right) received an Oscar nomination in the “Best Supporting Actress” category.

Photo Credits: Patrick Redmond

Posted in Reviews: A | Leave a comment

For Example…

Posted on January 26, 2012 by JanLisaHuttner

God Bless Facebook! One day after posting my “Blue Oscar 2012” chart, I noticed this tread currently running down the right edge of my Profile page:

Post from a male colleague: This is shaping up to be a rough weekend. It will take a H-U-G-E miracle to get me through Saturday morning’s screening of Drew and the whales (my gag-reflex kicked in during the trailer) and I’ll be there opening night to cover Katherine Heigl’s latest bestowal. Can’t I just review these two sight-unseen?

Response from Friend One (male name): Drew is still adorable. Just look at her smile and her tits, and you’ll be fine.

Response from Friend Two (male name): I would rather see the whale movie that Katie Heigl. BTW, have you seen The Grey yet?

Response from my male colleague: Just got home from seeing it. Well worth your time.

Now here are the films under discussion in this thread:

Big Miracle starring Dew Barymore: Directed by Ken Kwapis (director of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) with screenplay by Jack Amiel & Michael Begler (the team behind The Prince & Me directed by Martha Coolidge)

One for the Money starring Katherine Heigl: Directed by Julie Anne Robinson (established director of successful TV series such as Grey’s Anatomy & Weeds) with screenplay by Stacy Sherman (God Sleeps in Rwanda), Liz Brixius (Nurse Jackie) & Karen Ray

The Grey starring Liam Neeson. Written & directed by Joe Carnahan.

I haven’t seen these films yet, so I have no opinion on any of them, and no idea how I will compare them once I have seen them. Furthermore, these are all “genre” films none of which were ever intended to be Oscar Bait…

But here’s my point: After reading this thread, do you really believe that this particular critic will enter the screening room, watch each film objectively, and emerge with unbiased opinions on what he’s just seen???

Posted in Rants: Critics/Journalists | Leave a comment

Oscar Blues 2012

Posted on January 24, 2012 by JanLisaHuttner

THIS JUST IN: Thanks to Melissa Silverstein, “Blue Oscar 2012″ is now live on IndieWIRE’s Women & Hollywood blog :-)

 Well, it’s happened once again…

Starting with a list of more than 600 films released in the USA in 2011 (including many excellent films written &/or directed by women), the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS aka “The Academy”) has just nominated 9 films in the Best Picture Category that were all written AND directed by men. Most of them are also about men with predominantly male casts. In most cases, the women on screen (if any) are relegated to supporting roles (most of which are minor roles, periferal to the film’s main action).

Once again, in the Best Director category, we have no female candidates. Once again, in the Best Adapted Screenplay category, we have a woman nominated as co-writer of a screenplay (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) in which there are no lead actresses.

And in the Best Original Screenplay category, we have a film (Bridesmaids) that has plot holes you can drive a truck through, but the male critics loved it. Why? Well, this isn’t the time to rant on about this, but it doesn’t take much digging to learn that many of the scenes that the male film critics liked best were, in fact, added by the film’s male producer & the film’s male director. So exactly who are we rewarding in this case…?

So why is Oscar “blue” once again? Click here for my latest graphic Blue Oscar 2012. 

Now I know it’s very hard to see what’s missing, but believe me, the truth is out there!!!

To me the most egregious omission is We Need to Talk about Kevin, which I think is the Best Film of 2011. So I was astonished (& heart broken) when Tilda Swinton wasn’t even nominated in the Best Actress category. But am I really surprised? Sadly no. When The New Yorker relegates responsibility for their Kevin review to their second stringer & he writes this: “The real story is the unexplained absence of family therapy.” then I’m already prepared for the worst.

I’ve discussed Kevin with some of my CFCA colleagues, & sure enough, even the best of them fail to see that Kevin is an epistemological drama (not a psychological drama). But Kevin doesn’t official open here until Friday, so you’ll have to wait a few more days for my full review.

Meanwhile, let the handicapping begin :-(

Click here to download my Oscar Impacts chart (updated to include all stats for 2012) as a pdf –> 2012OscarChart

Posted in Rants: Critics/Journalists, Rants: Oscars/Awards | 1 Comment

Blue Oscar 2012

Posted on January 24, 2012 by JanLisaHuttner

We all want to believe that Oscar is “gold” (that is, based on merit), so we begin with that assumption.

But close examination of the Oscar-nomination process reveals that Oscar is in fact “blue” (that is, heavily dependent on male filters).

Therefore most films by &/or about women are eliminated from contention early on, and they very rarely reach the finalist stage.

Films by women have a greater chance of success if they are about men (e.g., The Hurt Locker). Films about women have a greater chance of success if they are by men (e.g., Black Swan).

Films both by & about women are sometimes nominated, but rarely win anything (e.g., Winter’s Bone). The rare exceptions (e.g., Lost in Translation and The Piano both of which won Oscars for Best Original Screenplay) have very strong male characters, whereas films by male filmmakers can win Oscars even if they include no significant female characters (e.g., The Social Network).

Why does this happen, consistently, year-after-year? If happens because most film critics are men, therefore men are disproportionately represented on film festival juries, and in film critic circles (e.g., my own local group – the Chicago Film Critics Association).

With the exception of SAG (the Screen Actors Guild), men are also disproportionately represented in major guilds such as the DGA (the Directors Guild of America), the WGA (the Writers Guild of America) and the PGA (the Producers Guild of America).

Do I think this is conscious or deliberate on the part of male film critics and male guild members? No. I think it’s “second nature.” They like what they like, they consider their own views “the norm,” and they don’t really consider the idea that their own views might be biased.

And so it goes…

Click here to download Blue Oscar 2012 as a pdf –> BlueOscar2012

PS: Kudos & thanks once again to Sharon Rosenzweig, the incredibly talented artist who turns my “brainstorms” – fevered dreams or  in this case sweat-soaked nightmares – into fabulous cartoons. Year after year, Sharon helps me keep laughing thru my tears ;-)

Posted in Rants: Oscars/Awards | Leave a comment

YOUNG ADULT

Posted on January 19, 2012 by JanLisaHuttner

Summary: Beautiful people travel on a special road through life, but in their fascinating new film Young Adult, director Jason Reitman and screenwriter Diablo Cody show us what happens when doors start closing on someone who has always glided through them.

When the film opens, beautiful “Mavis Gary” (Charlize Theron), now in her late 30s, is living alone in an anonymous high-rise. She’s divorced, her career has stalled, and she’s in a panic about what to do next.

There’s a lot to like in Young Adult, and Theron makes Mavis endearing even when you want to strangle her, but unfortunately all of the other characters in this film are completely generic. And so, in the end, Cody and Reitman betray a highly accomplished actress at the peak of her powers and undermine what might have been one of her most memorable performances.

Click HERE to read complete review on WomenArts.

Click HERE to read FF2 haiku.

Photo Credits: Phillip V. Caruso/Paramount Pictures and Mercury Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Posted in Reviews: X-Z | Leave a comment

Kudos Carrie Rickey!

Posted on January 16, 2012 by JanLisaHuttner

Terrific article by Carrie Rickey in today’s NYT about Lindsay Doran called “Perfectly Happy, Even Without Happy Endings.”

And here’s a parallel thought from the Press Kit for my new book Penny’s Picks: 50 Movies by Women Filmmakers: “What I’ve learned is that women are very interested in narrative. They’re interested in human stories, and stories about character and development. In my lectures, I sometimes joke with my audience: I tell them that no matter how bleak a film might seem at first, if there is a tiny glimmer of light, if you can show a woman there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, she’ll go for it. Most women don’t like the sardonic, bitter, world ends, blow-it-all-up kind of thing.”

Back to Lindsay Doran, here’s my favorite example: “…[Doran] mentally rewound the concluding scenes of these ‘accomplishment’ films. Ms. Grey leaps into the arms of Patrick Swayze at the end of Dirty Dancing, and after that she reconciles with her father.”

Just like I’ve always said: the best moment of Dirty Dancing comes after the leap, when Dad aka Jake (Jerry Orbach) says to Johnny (Patrick Swayze): “When I’m wrong, I say I’m wrong.” And then, turning to Baby (Jennifer Grey), he adds: “You were wonderful!”

Now we finally understand why Shakespeare in Love won the Best Picture Oscar in 1999 instead of Saving Private Ryan (as predicted by the mostly-male critics who had picked Saving Private Ryan over Shakespeare in Love of course). It had nothing to do with the “evil genius” of Harvey Weinstein’s marketing campaign & everything to do with “Lindsay’s points about what audiences care most about–relationships and the positive resolution of those relationships.”

Brava, Lindsay Doran! And brava, Carrie Rickey :-)

Posted in Rants: Critics/Journalists | Leave a comment

THE IRON LADY

Posted on January 14, 2012 by JanLisaHuttner

Synopsis: Phyllida Lloyd’s new film The Iron Lady is a bio-pic about Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1979 until November 1990. A million historical details, large and small, make Baroness Thatcher a unique individual, yet Lloyd and screenwriter Abi Morgan choose to minimize the episodes that make their subject’s life specific and turn her into someone generic. Why, ladies, why?

Fortunately 15 minutes of brilliant filmmaking lie at the heart of The Iron Lady. With almost no dialogue to weigh it down, we literally see “Young Margaret” transformed, against all odds, from a suburban matron (played by Alexandra Roach) into Meryl Streep’s parliamentary powerhouse. And this sequence is so strong and so well-done that however imperfect it is, The Iron Lady is still a movie you must see.

Click HERE for complete review on WomenArts.

Click HERE for FF2 haiku.

Photo Credits: Alex Bailey © The Weinstein Company

Top: Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher
Bottom: “Denis Thatcher” (Harry Lloyd) with “Margaret Roberts” (Alexandra Roach)

Click HERE to download chart with all of Meryl Streep’s Oscar nominations (as of 1/13/12) as a pdf –> StreepOscarChart

 

Posted in Reviews: H-J | Leave a comment

CARNAGE

Posted on January 14, 2012 by JanLisaHuttner

Overly-stagey version of Broadway Tony-winner. Playwright Yasmina Reza adapted her own script & director Polanski decided to do keep it “as is” without any opening up. Too bad. The core is a fascinating tale of two couples trying to maintain “civilized” behavior after their sons become involved in a schoolyard fight, but what works on stage look totally fake on screen. Click HERE for FF2 haiku.

Posted in Reviews: B-D | Leave a comment

Iowa Gender Gap

Posted on January 6, 2012 by JanLisaHuttner

Posted today in SLATE: “…the male voter is typically seen as the standard for the public at large, with women and other groups as viewed as mere special interests. (This is despite the fact that the majority of voters are women.) Men are representative; women are outliers…”

It’s 2012 & yet “Men are representative; women are outliers…” Oy!

But as Libby Copeland’s article clearly describes, the “gender gap” in the American electorate has been a valid source of discussion for decades now, & all politicians know to hone their messages accordingly.

So why do I still get such flack when I dare to suggest that men & women might have different film preferences?!?

Photo of Libby Copeland from the Pew Forum website.

Posted in Rants: Critics/Journalists | Leave a comment