FYC: Best Actress in a Leading Role 2010

Did you know there is a strange little rule in the Academy Awards regarding the eligibility of Foreign Films getting nominations? Every year countries from around the world choose to submit a single title each for consideration in the Best Foreign Film category at the Academy Awards. Generally a film has to open for a one week qualifying run in Los Angeles in order to be up for Academy Awards consideration in other categories, like Director, Actor, Screenplay, etc.

Unless it is submitted for foreign film consideration, then it doesn't need to have the one-week run in order to get Oscar nominations. However if a foreign-language film submitted by their respective country fails to get a nomination in the Foreign Film category it can still be eligible for nominations in categories in the year of it's eventual release in Los Angeles wherein it meets qualifying criteria. If it does get a nomination for foreign film then it can't be eligible for nominations in other categories the following year.

In the past this hasn't been an issue for a film like Woman of the Dunes (Hiroshi Teshigahara, 1964) nominated for Best Foreign Film by the Academy in 1965, and then for Best Director in 1966 once it had opened to the general public. The bizarre rule I described is only a recent complication added to the arcane regulations of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; meaning that quality foreign films generally get shafted in categories apart from the one they're condemned to. The actual rules concerning which films can be selected by which country are also unnecessarily complicated too, but let's not go there.

This digression into the politics governing the Foreign Film branch of the Oscars is of relevance to news regarding my pick for the best film of 2010, Mother, director Joon-ho Bong's exhilarating subversion of thrillers, noir and procedural police-investigative genres. The film was South Korea's submission for the foreign film branch of the Academy last year, following it's critically acclaimed unveiling at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2009. The film failed to get nominated, and was eventually released in the United States March 2010.

Earlier today the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) voted upon its end-of-year awards, and the results included the relatively surprising decision to award Hye-ja Kim Best Actress for her sympathetic and captivating work in Mother. The 69 year-old Korean Actress is a virtual unknown outside of her home country, where she is regarded for her television and stage work (she even played the title role of Sister Aloysius Beauvier in a Korean production of Doubt, the same role taken by Meryl Streep in John Patrick Shanley's 2008 film adaptation), but is certainly an inspired selection by the voters; a no-brainer really if you regard the exquisite detail and complexity she energises the film with. Congratulations also to the film being considered Runner-up for the Best Foreign Film category, too. Congratulations all around!

This is causing me to be indescribably optimistic that perhaps as an esteemed pre-cursor to film industry awards, this win will propel Hye-ja Kim into the race for a Best Actress nomination at next year's Academy Awards. It would mean great things for the film, and hopefully secure it a larger audience outside of film festivals, arthouse cinemas and Korea, basically. The film is so good it deserves this. However, I will choose to ignore the relative obscurity of some of the LAFCA's winners in previous years (including Yolande Moreau for Best Actress in 2009 for Sértaphine (Martin Provost, 2008)) as signs of their esotericism and intellectual snobbery towards American Studio productions more likely to attract awards momentum, in order to make this point.

Basically, even thought this post will have no eventual effect on any outcome which may occur, I hereby submit Hye-ja Kim's performance For Your Consideration as Best Actress in a Leading Role 2010, to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She's eligible! The film, which has no apparent awards campaign mounted, is available on DVD and Netflix! Also Asian performers are so routinely ignored by big-name awards bodies, that this nomination would definitely constitute as some form of affirmative action!

Foreign language film nominations create the illusion that your organisation is sophisticated; that you voters care about the medium as an art form and is not enshrined in the agit-prop politics of the corporate studio system! I would be more than happy for you to use this film to demonstrate this cause.
Plus, I want to see her on the Los Angeles Red Carpet in a pretty dress being interviewed by flummoxed American reporters who have no idea who she is. Maybe it would even lead to stunt casting in future Hollywood projects as an elderly, wizened neighbour, or better yet, a villain! This would make me so incredibly happy. So very, very giddy with joy and wonder. You have precedence, fools!

It would be like Ida Kaminska's nomination for The Shop on Main Street (Elmar Klos, 1965), back when your organisation appeared to have taste and acknowledged films with subtitles. Think of the possibile repercussions a simple number one on your ballot may have.

Nathan, out.

Why Movies Are Better Than Real Life - Casting The Social Network

Nathan here.

Having recently viewed The Social Network (David Fincher, 2010), I can safely say that it certainly lived up to its gargantuan hype and overwhelming critical approval. One thing that struck me most about the film was its casting; the whole ensemble sparring off of each other nicely and delivering Aaron Sorkin's (oftentimes verbose) dialogue with precision. I was convinced Harvard was all Ralph Lauren and acapella choirs, but I had little idea how much like Hogwarts it was, only with more halogen lighting and rowboats instead of broomsticks. Thanks David Fincher!

Also - one especially magnificent detail was costume designer Jacqueline West's decision to have Mark Zuckerberg complete his robe-and-pyjama attire with a pair of Y-3 Yohji Yamamoto sandals. Kudos to the details!

However this post is not meant as a proper review; a considered one should follow in the next few days. What I wanted to highlight in this post is how the casting of the ensemble seemed to elevate the material through a collective handsomeness. Yes, we may be viewing unlikeable characters doing despicable things, like betraying and talking condescendingly to each other; and yes, a lot of the film is centered around unengaging activities such as computer programming, spamming, blogging (I do mine usually without pants) and going to university lectures. For example, one scene showing computer programmers hacking off against each other (?) has them doing so with shots of alcohol and a chorus of fellow excited computer geeks around them, and the incongruity of the two activities seemed absolutely convincing to me, as if it were so sad it must be true. This isn't like Swordfish (Dominic Sena, 2001), which had that ridiculous scene of trying to make computer hacking thrilling(!) and sexy(!) by having Hugh Jackman's character receive a blow job while simultaneously stealing the president's phone number? I think Swordfish was the name of a computer virus, maybe a bank account. What a stupid title for a movie that isn't about food or animals or directed by an Iranian. I don't remember that movie at all actually, but I do recall the ludicrousness of that particular scene. Woof!

Anyway, I digress. The original point I was trying to get to is that the hypnotic casting of chins and cheekbones, and in the case of Andrew Garfield, eyebrows, combines with the talent of the actors and the script and the pacing to make for an engaging film, contrary to the banalities of the subject matter and the relatively obtuse characterisations which are ultimately drawn.

Left: Mark Zucker-BLERGH amirite?

Right: Jesse EisenBABE (I don't think I'm doing this right)

 Left: Eduardo Saverin? More like Ed-LARD-o.

Right: Andrew (An-DROOL) Garfield

Left: Cameron (?) Winklevoss. Or the other one. WHO CARES right?

Right: Armie Hammer (ME)

Left: Sean Parker (Ugly-balding-baby-head who looks like Jerry Bruckheimer's abortion)

Right: Justin Timberlake. More like Limber-Take (?)

But seriously though, even the relative stunt casting of Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker is totally apposite to the way the character invigorates the narrative of the film. He is portrayed as a slimy, charismatic rock-star type, and no doubt the audience's awareness of Justin Timberlake's pop persona outside of the context of the film communicates everything we need to know about the Sean Parker character in a convenient shorthand. It's actually difficult to imagine a perhaps more capable character actor of the same age group managing such a feat with the role based on performance and characterisation alone.

So congratulations to Laray Mayfield and your casting prowess, for transcending the original material you were given with and helping to shape a film we can all appreciate at least on face value alone. And by 'material you were given' of course I mean the real-life mugs of the Generation Y-ers the film is based on. Not to self, billionaires - lay off the pork belly confit with scallop reduction, swordfish steaks, foie gras pies and 80 year-old scotch! It's making you look puffy around the face.

Also the real Mark Zuckerberg looks like a Street Shark.  The brown Whale shark one, Big Slammu.

Can you feel it?

The Academy Awards circuit is currently in full swing. It's the most wonderful time of the year, particularly for those who have an uncanny knack for retaining obscure facts, and who have never wanted anything more than to own an Oscar. Since the age of 12 when I first discovered the table listing Academy Award winners in my World Book Encyclopedia I have always had a particular curiosity with the ceremony and its statistics. It still feels absurd to me that they would pit professionals against each other in such a competition, in that it feels counter-productive to the artistic merits of the industry. If excellence was truly meant to be celebrated, surely they would just have a ballot for winners and disregard the embarrassment of the nomination process? Couldn't they just have five winners in each category voted by their peers?

I guess this would mean we miss out on the best part of the whole thing though, which is clearly the pageantry of it all and its attempts to be taken seriously as a celebration of art... The tension inherent in having four celebrities having to display loss and failure in such a public display is a sadistic stroke of genius. And who doesn't love a good frock? Or seeing A-listers stumble through embarrassingly weak live material and auto-cue readings?

I can't help but become seriously emotionally invested this time every year. I absorb and retain facts like I did when I was six and dinosaurs were my obsession. It's my vice, and a sure sign of a mild autism. These useless statistics have just about as much cultural relevancy as my dinosaur facts too, the only difference being that if I can play my cards right regurgitating these useless facts one day I may end up being a presenter from the Academy Awards red carpet. Oh to dream and dream big! After all, if I can't beat them, I can surely hope to at least join them, right? Suck it Richard Wilkins. I look better on camera and would most certainly have a better rapport with legendary actresses and auteurs alike. God bless the internet too while I'm at it, and its plethora of movie awards focused blogs and losers with more time than me insiders, for making me feel normal with this bizarre fetish of mine.

Nathan.

Top Ten Films 2010 (So Far)

Nathan here.

To celebrate new beginnings and the creation of this blog, let's jump straight into proceedings. Seeing as the end of the year is rapidly approaching it seems appropriate to offer a list of my personal favourite films of the year so far.

Admittedly, I have just completed a year of studying an Honours Degree, so my movie going experience has been fairly limited, especially in these last few months. There are a number of films I have yet to catch up on, but will endeavour to do so before the end of the year in order to provide a 'Best Of' list which truly reflects the cinema experience up for offer in 2010.

So here goes, my tentative list of the best films from the first year of a new decade. Detailed opinions regarding each film will hopefully follow in subsequent posts.

1. Mother (Joon-ho Bong, 2009)

2. Un Prophéte (Jacques Audiard, 2009)

3. Fantastic Mr. Fox (Wes Anderson, 2009)

4. I Am Love (Luca Guadagnino, 2009)

5. Inception (Christopher Nolan, 2010)

6. White Material (Claire Denis, 2009)

7. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans (Werner Herzog, 2009)

8. Father of My Children (Mia Hansen-Løve, 2009)

9. The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke, 2009)

10.Wild Grass (Alain Resnais, 2009)

Now this list is gleaned not only from cinema releases, but also straight-to-video new releases and various festival screenings throughout the year in Western Australia. Which explains why there are so many French titles so far, because hot damn! The Alliance French Film Festival really brought their A-game this year.

With the spate of films releasing before year ends it will be interesting to see how this list chops and changes. I will say I did have a hard time compiling a list of ten outstanding films for a truly personal list, so I'm hoping this situation changes in the next few weeks. It hasn't necessarily been a lackluster year, it's just that I haven't quite seen enough films it seems.

Before signing off, I would like to give a special honorable mention to Kanye West's directorial effort Runaway, an inspired piece of surrealist pop which straddles the line between being an accomplished entry into the history of long-form music videos and an extravagant short film in its own right. I would certainly rank the effort in my personal top ten if I were to include content I viewed online, but for the sake of limits I decided to exclude internet content from my proceedings. More on this peculiar entity at a later date.

To the start of a long and healthy blog!