Best of 2014 First Half

While compiling this list I discovered that there is not a lot that I loved in the first half of the year. It was hard to come up with a few titles. However these are what I responded to the most. All the films mentioned below I've liked very much.

Best Film

Under the Skin

(review)

Best Actress

Marion Cotillard - The Immigrant

Best Actor

Ralph Fiennes - The Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Supporting Actress

Mia Wasikowska - The Double & Only Lovers Left Alive

Best Supporting Actor

Peter Sarsgaard - Night Moves

Best Cinematography

Under the Skin

Most Enjoyable Summer Movie

Begin Again

Plus Suzanne, Grand Central, Love is Strange and The Imitation Game which I saw at an assortment of festivals and early screenings but they don't count since they haven't been released yet.

What were some of your favorites? Tell all in the comments.

Luminous Jessica

Jessica Chastain looks so good in this trailer for The Disappearance Of Eleanor Rigby. I can't wait to see her front and center in an emotional drama. I know she'll make me feel it all deeply.

It has been a while since I saw a trailer for the first time on the big screen. Everything comes out online first. Usually I'm on my phone waiting for the endless trailers to end. Not this time. The minute Chastain's wondrous expressive face appeared on the big screen I snapped to attention. The camera really loves her. Just watch below so we can all fall in love again with this actress.

A Shannon Revelation

Shannon as Ionescu's Everyman Berenger in The Killer

Sometimes I watch an actor for the first time and I sit up and snap to attention "Who's that?". Their presence is so commanding I immediately want to see everything they have ever done. This has happened to me with Blanchett in Elizabeth, Peter Sarsgaard in Shattered Glass and Emma Stone in Easy A.

And sometimes a performer I was aware of on the periphery of pop culture stuns and moves me with a performance I wasn't expecting. This has happened with a couple of recent Oscar winners; Mo'Nique in Precious and Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club.

And then there's another level that doesn't happen that often. Someone I had an opinion on, even respect for, stuns me with layers and shades I wasn't expecting that a performance elevates their standing in my eyes. This is what happened a few days ago on a beautiful summer evening when I sat at the new Polonsky Shakespeare Center in Brooklyn catching Michael Shannon in Eugene Ionescu's The Killer.

The play was fine. It was exactly what you'd expect from Ionescu; an obtuse, absurd rumination on life, sin, salvation, fear and death. Not exactly a fun night out but definitely thought provoking and intense. Shannon matched the play's big themes and intensity with his own intense performance. But he added power, passion and a disarmingly warm presence on stage that invited the audience to join him on the journey.

The performance was so commanding, alive and thrilling I was aware that I was watching something miraculous the whole time. Even when I got lost in the play's abundant and meandering dialogue I never lost the connection with Shannon's transcendence on stage. What a exciting theatrical experience. And it confirmed Shannon as one of the best actors working today.

Shannon is 39 now. I'm guessing he has the respect of his fellows actors. As he enters his 40s I suspect he may get the movie career of someone like Phillip Seymour Hoffman and become the go to character actor that can lead movies.

Nonetheless he's become one of my favorite actors. I can't wait to revisit many of his movies and look forward to whatever he's doing next.

Cate and Amy

Cate and Amy earlier this year on Golden Globes weekend

Tonight Amy Adams will present Cate Blanchett with Women in Film's Crystal award. I'm in love with the friendship between these two actresses at the top of their game. Remember after being nominees together at this year's Oscars Cate and Amy went on an excursion to tattoo parlour to celebrate Cate's win. Not sure if both got mementos but Cate definitely did. At the time I thought it was something in honor of their mutual friend and collaborator Phillip Seymour Hoffman. It seems though their friendship continues to blossom and I love it.

Cate named Amy, alongside producer Kathleen Kennedy as her industry idols;

"because they are brilliant at what they do - blending genius with practical application. But they are genuinely nurturing and enthusiastic about the work of others. They have subtle enduring panache".


Ladies I'm expecting Viola/Meryl levels of love and admiration from you tonight. Gimme.

Update: Alas the report from Variety must have been wrong because it was Laura Dern and not Amy that presented Cate with her award. Dern is rather lovely and heart breaking in the currently playing The Fault in Our Stars.

Dern & Blanchett at the WIF Crystal Award presentation

How I learned to love Magic in the Moonlight trailer

Blue Jasmine is absolutely one of my favorite 2013 movies. Not only for the huge and emotional performance from Cate Blanchett, but because it just works as a movie. It is endlessly watchable and I kept discovering gems and falling in love more as I re-watched.

With all this I was looking forward to Woody Allen's next, Magic in the Moonlight. Not to mention that it has the delightful Emma Stone. I have to say I was a bit deflated after watching the trailer. Shades of Curse of the Jade Scorpion. I wasn't expecting that. But I decided to look again and I found a lot to be excited for :

- Emma Stone is still in it and it looks like she knows how to deliver the Allen dialogue.
- it looks gorgeous, from sets to light to costumes.
- it has a lot of charm and looks like a funny zany romantic comedy.
- Jacki Weaver sighting! Yes, yes and yes again. I can't get enough of Jacki.
- Colin Firth looks OK and has nice rapport with Stone.

Bring it on I say now. I'm ready Woody. Take a look and tell us what you think in the comments.

Short Notes on 2014 Movies

Here are short notes on few films I saw in the first 4 months of 2014:

Suzanne

I saw this at Rendez-vous with French Cinema at Lincoln Center. At the screening the director, Katell Quillevere, said they had no US distribution. Whaaat? It's a fantastic film, come on distributors somebody snap up the rights. Now!

Suzanne is an episodic tale of love and familial bonds told through the life story of the title character (played by Sara Forestier) staring as a child until she's in her mid 30s. I was knocked over by it. Strong filmmaking that handles the passage of time beautifully with a huge emotional punch to the gut. Sara Forestier is fantastic, in fact all the performances are great and naturalistic.

Wiig

Hateship Loveship

I was not enamored of Kristen Wiig's post Bridesmaids choices. I was excited for Girl Most Likely but the tepid response kept me away. Walter Mitty was just awful. So with trepidation I went in to see this movie. To my surprise and delight I found that all the honesty and open wound acting she brought to her character in Bridesmaids were here in abundance.

It's a small story about a small person. Small in that you don't notice her but she's big in her emotions. A caretaker and the family she works for and the man she gets to build a life with. I don't want to say more about the specifics because the movie lives by the surprising ways this story unfolds. It is a very assured and smart directorial accomplishment for Liza Johnson. I can't wait to see what she does next. it is absolutely Wiig's film but it also finds fantastic ways to use Hailee Steinfeld, Guy Pearce, Nick Nolte, Sami Gayle and ChristineLahti. A wonderful ensemble.

Amalric and Seigner

Venus in Fur

I like Roman Polanski in general but he’s not a favorite of mine. Liked his earlier stuff better particularly Repulsion and Rosemary’s Baby although recently Ghost Writer was fantastic.

The movie is basically a director auditioning an actress for a part in his play. I saw the play this is based on and the movie doesn’t compare favorably with it. Somehow the power play and shifts within looked weird onscreen when they were provocative on stage. Both actors, Emmanuelle Seigner and Mathieu Amalric, were good and had their moments specially early on in the scenes when they first meet. The scenes at the end were a bit ridiculous and didn’t serve them well.

Said Mrini and Amin Ennaji in Salvation Army

Salvation Army

Another Rendez-vous with French cinema entry. My favorite point came in the post screening Q&A when the director Abdellah Taia, spoke of the influence of Egyptian Ciema on him while growing up in Morocco. The moderator tried to dismiss Egyptian cinema as "melodrama" and Taia praised it saying "watching Douglas Sirk is like eating sweet honey". Loved that quote. So true.

The film tells the story of Abdellah a young man growing in Morocco, his interactions with family and sexual awakening. The movie is obviously autobiographical so I was surprise at the precise, economical and unflinching way it presented its protagonist. It is a very empathetic portrayal but one that is very clear eyed too.

Pearce with Jones in shadow as she should always be

Breathe In

The plot of this movie is like the plot of 95% of porn movies: young au pair/exchange student falls for head of the household she’s staying at. Ridiculous and this movie does not give this thin well-worn plot any new shadings or perspective. Best thing is a long close up of Guy Pearce’s lips. And is Felicity Jones going to stop getting cast in movies; mediocre at best in everything she has done.


Have you seen any of these movies? What did you think? Tell all in the comments.

Most Anticipated : Carol

Blanchett as Carol

When reading The Price of Salt, the Patricia Highsmith novel on which this film is based, I imagined Carol as Marlene Dietrich if she were a 50s New York housewife. That is to say Cate Blanchett is perfect casting.

Pedigree

Todd Haynes re-teams with his I'm Not There star Cate Blanchett and enlists Lisabeth Salander herself, Rooney Mara, to film Highsmith's cult lesbian romance. TV stars turned prestige supporting players Sarah Paulson and Kyle Chandler lend support. Behind the camera it's a full on Far From Heaven reunion with lenser Ed Lachman and costume designer Sandy Powell. 

What's It About

Set in New York in the early 1950s the movie will tell the story of Therese Belivet (Mara) a department store assistant and her infatuation and eventual romance with the mysterious and beautiful Carol Aird (Blanchett). We can also think of it as a love quartet since the story involves Carol's husband (Chandler) who she's trying to divorce while keeping custody of their daughter, and her best friend and ex (Paulson). 

Why I'm Excited

Any movie with Blanchett is a most anticipated event around these parts. That she is working with Haynes again for which she gave one of her most astonishing performances is reason to cheer. That Haynes is working again in the 1950s milieu that he explored so well before in Far From Heaven raises the anticipation to fever pitch. That it is an adaptation of Highsmith's beautiful and moving novel, which defied conventions and stereotypes about LGBT stories and characters early on, raises our expectations to pure joy and giddiness.

Really?

Nothing. This might be my most anticipated movie EVER!

Review - Under the Skin

I think I might have a new favorite film. I am astonished by how much I liked Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin. It seeped into me and a week after seeing it I'm still lost in a haze of its brilliant images and inventive storytelling. Glazer proves yet again how singular his vision is.

The film is told from the point of view of an alien (played by Scarlet Johansson in their human form) who comes to Earth on a vague mission. She lands in Glasgow and proceeds to pick up men and lure them to her dungeon-like place where they vanish in a big black liquid like pit. Why she needs them is never explained. She might have a handler or a supervisor who sometimes follows her; we are not sure. And the movie doesn't care to explain. It's more interested in the alien learning about being human and discovering emotions that didn't exist before. Strictly sticking to her POV the movie never wavers or tries to explain its plot. No exposition just methodically exploring this particular entity's story. This might be infuriating if you were looking for a cohesive plot.

The images are eerily stark, not exactly conventionally beautiful. The camera explores Earth from this very alien view. Even the streets and people look slightly off, as if I was seeing such shapes for the very first time. One of the reasons why the movie is so brilliant. I don't think I have seen anything like this before. It's a movie that I suspect will reward on multiple viewings and I can't wait to see it again.

First Impression - Suite Francaise

Williams and Schoenaerts in a tender moment

I feel sheepish writing about Suite Francaise since I saw it at a test screening. I don't know the etiquette involved in such a situation but I didn't sign anything that said I shouldn't. However I will speculate on its awards potential as opposed to writing a review as the film could possibly change before being released. The movie tells the story of French village during German occupation in 1940 and in particular Lucille (Michelle Williams), a French woman whose husband is away fighting in the war and her relationships with her disapproving mother-in-law (Kristin Scott Thomas) and  with the German officer (Matthias Schoenaerts) who gets to live at their home by law.

While this movie isn't in my 2014 most anticipated, I'm still interested because of Michelle Williams. She has knocked me over with her transcendent performance in Blue Valentine and became one of my favorites. She has three nominations already which means she might be considered due a win and this had the potential to be a big fat juicy role that could get her there. I'm sad to report I do not see it as an Oscar wining performance. She is of course great : emotional and open and without question the movie is her story. She gets to be repressed and timid, then open as she falls in love. She gets to be courageous and willful and gets lots of loving close ups showing all these feelings she's feeling. But she's also saddled with an irksome narration, and the tone of the movie is all over the place. Is it a big weepy romance a la The English Patient? Is it a wartime at home story a la Hope and Glory? Is it a story about the French Resistance a la The Last Metro? It tries to be all and never settles on a winning tone.

The tone is important in that it doesn't give the performance the space to build and really hit the emotional spot. And for that I think she might be nominated because 1) she's good and 2) she has a strong history with awards. But I don't see this movie and performance riding a wave of critical accolades and cinephile love to an Oscar win.

Schoenaerts amid the German tanks

Matthias Schoenaerts in my mind was the standout performance. But it is a very recessive subtle one that is unlikely to get noticed. Kristin Scott Thomas is her usual funny brittleness and could get carried in Williams' coattails if the movie resonates. Costumes and cinematography are possibilities. But ultimately this is a very good production that is not inventive or particularly original to stand out.