In the other three categories there are fillers - I will admit that. I have only seen 42 films, so there have been performances that probably should have been put aside for greater achievements. I don't think that is the case for Best Actress, in fact I could have easily done a top ten with tremendous performances.
1. Maria Heiskanen - Maria Larssons Eviga Ogonblick(Everlasting Moments). By far the most moving performance I saw this year was by a little known Swedish actress in a art-house release that I almost missed at the cinemas. Playing an abused wife, who falls in love with another man but does nothing about it, she ripped my heart in two. 
2. Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married. We may have seen Anne's boobs in the past but this was the film where she truly performed as an adult. Playing the destrutive sister of the titular bride, Anne was a torrent of self-pity and rage with an undercurrent of pure guilt. Excellent.
3. Sasha Grey - The Girlfriend Experience. A deeply unsettling and naturalistic performance where all we see are the layers a professional hooker places around herself. Throughout the film we see them falling apart, and the impact that has on the understanding of your own identity.
4. Michelle Pfeiffer - Cheri. The second courtesan of the list, with Pfeiffer playing someone who knows her best days are behind her and enters into her final doomed love affair. No-one does brittle like Michelle, and the look into the mirror at the close of the film tells us everything we need to know about her future.
5. Abbie Cornish - Bright Star. We end with more doomed love affairs - this time separated by society and by death. Abbie's Fanny Brawne is unafraid to announce her passions to the world (and to do some first class sulking) and this confidence is striking in the final performance.
Tuesday, 29 December 2009
2009 in Review - Best Actress
Monday, 14 December 2009
Bright Star
2009. Dir: Jane Campion. Starring: Ben Whishaw, Abbie Cornish, Kerry Fox, Paul Schneider and Edie Martin. ●●●●○
Once again I've fallen behind on the reviews, during the second half of the tour I managed to get to the cinema 6 times, and there are a further 3 films I expect to see before the end of the month, so I'd better get cracking on the backlog. Hopefully I'll be able to squeeze out one review per day until I've caught up.
The first film I saw, back in the heady days of early November, was Jane Campion's gorgoeus Bright Star. I don't use that adjective lightly, the production deasign is heady and memorably beautiful, every shot perfectly lit and placed by Greig Fraser (a rising cinematographer to watch out for in the future), every prop and costume seamlessly interwoven to the emotional core of the story.
Or at least what little story the film has - in effect it follows the doomed romance of John Keats (a wistful Whishaw) and his neighbour Fanny Brawne (Cornish - headstrong and loving). It is doomed as Keats himself is doomed (if you consider this to be a spoiler then you have no right to watch films about English poets), and the fleeting moments they will spend together will create the intense emotional highs that inspire Keats' richest works and serve as a prison for Fanny as she mourns for her true love.
The lack of story is perhaps troubling. Yes, they meet, argue before falling for each other in an unforced romcom kind of way, overcome early objections (Paul Schneider's sniffy colleague) but fail to overcome either societies requirements for financial security as a necessary part of the marriage contract or the cloying onslaught of TB. All this happens incredibly prettily and quite slowly, leaving you with the overall impression of being gently put to sleep by a vet. If this is love and death, then bring it on.
Honestly I thought the film was beautiful, the performances magnificent, Janet Patterson's costume design exquisite, but the glacial pace turned me off and has caused the film to drop a star.
Finally I must mention the use of music was also very apt, and at times funny.
Friday, 6 November 2009
Out This Week (06/11/09)
So I'm writing this in advance, which means that, to a certain extent, I'm making up the scores for the excitometer. That is to say some (or a large measure) of excitement is based on the reviews coming out for a film. Not that I always expect to see reviews - it's extremely rare that a Bollywood film will be previewed in the main film press hence they mostly score poorly on the anticipation stakes - however when the biggest release has yet to be screened I usually wait. Saying that unless Zemeckis' latest received "masterpiece" commentary the film of the week will still be Men who stare at Goats.
Photos of goats if I get the opportunity...
Bright Star
Lauded Keats biopic from Jane Campion, director of The Piano and Portrait of a Lady. Trailer indicates the film is very pretty to look at and may contain scenes of excessive eye gazing. Is unlikely to introduce hordes of unititiated teenagers to the poets work.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●●○○○
A Christmas Carol
Provisionally coming in at 4 blobs of excitement I wouldn't be surprised if this motion capture film starring Jim Carrey moves up against the competition. Although quite why you'd want to motion capture the infamously rubber faced star is beyond me.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○p
The Fourth Kind
Another provisional score - but one I don't expect to change when the reviews are available. Genre bias certainly, but lets face it a horror with Milla Jovovich can't be everyone's cup of tea.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○p
Jennifer's Body
Or, What Diablo Cody did next. Maybe the horror conventions mixed with Cody's hipper than though writing might of worked if this film didn't focus on sexy starlets Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried. Or maybe a film with vampy leads will always be doomed to failure.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Men who stare at Goats
Grant Heslov may have changed to tone of this true story about a psych ops CIA team, with mind bending skills such as staring goats to death and walking through walls, from astonished disbelief to wacky comedy but the trailer looks hilarious, and at least it will bring more people to this amazingly unreported element of the history of the US armed forces.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●●●●○○○
1 Day
This film has been virtually banned in Birmingham. Apparently the police and council have been trying to persuade local cinema managers to veto the film because of it's glorification of Brummie gang violence and it's crime does pay message. They should try to ban it because it's chock full of amateur performances and inexplicable r 'n' b musical interludes.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●○○○○○○○○
Paper Heart
Documentary from Charlyne Yi, which exlores the nature of love, as well as pushing boundaries in the documentary form. For instance the relationship between Yi and Michael Cera which forms the catalyst for the investigation appears to be purely for the cameras.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●●○○○○○○
Welcome
Phillippe Loiret's refugee drama about a Kurdish boy from Iraq making his way across Europe only to find the British Channel too much of a hurdle. Should go down well with Daily Mail readers.
Runs like a Gay Excitometer: ●●●○○○○○○○
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Tuesday Trailers - Bright Star
It was the toast of the critics following Cannes, however it seems the reception for Jane Campion's latest opus has dimmed during the rest of the festival season. That won't stop me going to see Ben Whishaw and Abbie Cornish as the ill-fated lovers John Keats and Fanny Brawne. After all if this is even close to the quality of Campions other films then it's possibly a masterpiece.
Bright Star opens on 06 November 2009.
