Philomena (2013)

This remarkable story of an unemployed journalist helping a sweet Irishwoman find the son she gave up 50 years before skillfully mixes grief with laughter and cynicism with hope. Judi Dench and Steve Coogan make an entertaining odd couple and both have been nominated for (so far) BAFTA Awards (the British Oscars) for these roles. We all expect greatness (though not usually an Irish lilt) from Dame Dench (last blogged in Skyfall) but the range of Coogan's (most recently in What Maisie Knew) acting is growing by leaps and bounds. Coogan also co-wrote the snappy script (his second feature and first drama after lots of British TV comedy) with Jeff Pope (over a dozen other credits, none known to me), adapting the 2009 book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee: A Mother, Her Son, and a Fifty Year Search, by Martin Sixsmith, which he had adapted from his newspaper article. This script won the Best Screenplay Award at the Venice Film Festival and is nominated for a BAFTA as well. We had not researched much less read the book, so we were surprised by a plot twist or two. You can easily find out the entire plot beforehand but I'm glad I didn't. Expect nice work from young Sophie Kennedy Clark as the young Philomena and a cringe-inducing cameo from Mare Winningham late in the third act.

The story brought me recollections of the brutal but brilliant The Magdalene Sisters (2002) which is about "fallen" Irish girls punished in a convent in the 1960s.

We expect nominations for director Stephen Frears (covered in depth in Chéri) as well. When the Oscars come around, you will want to have seen this. Don't just listen to Jack and me, trust the reviews at rottentomatoes (93 critics/92 audiences).

Kill Your Darlings (2013)

Today Jack and I enjoyed this tale of Allen Ginsberg and his future Beat Generation friends as wayward freshman at Columbia University. It opens with a murder that really happened. The great cast: Daniel Radcliffe (perhaps you've heard of Harry Potter?) as Ginsberg, Ben Foster (last blogged in Ain't Them Bodies Saints) as William Burroughs, Jack Huston (best known to me as the "half-faced" Richard Harrow on Boardwalk Empire, he's part of the famous Hollywood Huston family) as Jack Kerouac, Dane DeHaan (The Place Beyond the Pines) as Ginsberg's best friend Lucien, Kyra Sedgewick (less than one degree of Kevin Bacon--she's his wife--she's won a lot of awards for The Closer) as Lucien's mom (her jewelry gets its own credit at the end), Elizabeth Olsen (Liberal Arts) as Kerouac's girlfriend, Michael C. Hall (Dexter, Six Feet Under) as a pivotal character, and as Ginsberg's parents David Cross (Tobias Fünke on Arrested Development, Cross played Allen Ginsberg in I'm Not There. (2007)) and Jennifer Jason Leigh (most recently in The Spectacular Now, she's back to playing crazy and nobody does crazy like JJL). Every one of them delivers. 

The title is from an English professor's advice to his students, meaning that the words they have written are the darlings and the writer should edit/cut them ruthlessly.

Nominated for the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, it's the feature debut of director/co-writer John Krokidas and co-writer Austin Bunn. About half of the songs in the credits are listed on imdb, and the score by Nico Muhly (The Reader) is good too, but not available to stream or buy at this time.

Audiences and critics agree at 75% and 74% respectively on rottentomatoes. There are many darkly lit scenes so I recommend seeing this on the big screen before it leaves its short run here or wherever you are. 

2013 Independent Spirit Award Nominations

With the holidays comes awards season. And the Independent Spirit Awards are among my favorites. The show airs on IFC March 1, 2014, the night before the Oscars, and this year will be hosted by funnyman Patton Oswalt (last in Seeking a Friend for the End of the World). You can tell by the links below I've written about some of the nominees, missed a few, and am eagerly anticipating others making it to our neck o' the woods. If I have info on how to see these, it follows each title. (This year I don't expect to be making my OCD list of nominations and wins alphabetized by movie title. I'm glad I was able to catch up enough this week so as to continue the blog at all!)

Feature

12 Years a Slave (DVD estimated February 2014)

All Is Lost (DVD 2/11/14)

Frances Ha (streaming on Netflix now)

Inside Llewyn Davis

Nebraska

Director

Shane Carruth - Upstream Color (streaming on Netflix now)

J.C. Chandor - All Is Lost (DVD 2/11/14)

Steve McQueen - 12 Years a Slave (DVD estimated February 2014)

Jeff Nichols - Mud (DVD on Netflix now)

Alexander Payne - Nebraska

Screenplay

Woody Allen - Blue Jasmine (DVD 1/21/14)

Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke & Richard Linklater - Before Midnight (DVD on Netflix now)

Nicole Holofcener - Enough Said (DVD 1/14/14)

Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber - The Spectacular Now (DVD 1/14/14)

John Ridley - 12 Years a Slave (DVD estimated February 2014)

First Feature

Blue Caprice - Alexandre Moors - director/producer; Kim Jackson, Brian O'Carroll, Isen Robbins, Will Rowbotham, Ron Simons, Aimee Schoof, Stephen Tedeschi - producer

Concussion - Stacie Passon - director; Rose Troche - producer

Fruitvale Station - Ryan Coogler - director; Nina Yang Bongiovi, Forest Whitaker - producers  (DVD 1/14/14)

Una Noche - Lucy Mulloy - director - producer; Sandy Pérez Aguila, Maite Artieda, Daniel Mulloy, Yunior Santiago - producers (DVD 12/24/13)

Wadjda - Haifaa Al Mansour - director; Gerhard Meixner, Roman Paul - producer

First Screenplay

Lake Bell - In a World… (DVD 1/21/14)

Joseph Gordon-Levitt - Don Jon (DVD 12/31/13)

Bob Nelson - Nebraska

Jill Soloway - Afternoon Delight

Michael Starrbury - The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete

John Cassavetes Award (Given to the best feature made for under $500,000)

Computer Chess - Andrew Bujalski, writer/director (streaming on Netflix now)

Crystal Fairy - Sebastiàn Silva, writer/director (streaming on Netflix now)

Museum Hours - Jem Cohen, writer/director

Pit Stop - Yen Tan, writer/director; David Lowery, writer

This is Martin Bonner - Chad Hartigan, writer/director (streaming on Netflix now)

Female Lead

Cate Blanchett - Blue Jasmine (DVD 1/21/14)

Julie Delpy - Before Midnight (DVD on Netflix now)

Gaby Hoffmann - Crystal Fairy (streaming on Netflix now)

Brie Larson - Short Term 12 (DVD 1/14/14)

Shailene Woodley - The Spectacular Now (DVD 1/14/14)

Male Lead

Bruce Dern - Nebraska

Chiwetel Ejiofor - 12 Years a Slave (DVD estimated February 2014)

Oscar Isaac - Inside Llewyn Davis

Michael B. Jordan - Fruitvale Station (DVD 1/14/14)

Matthew McConaughey - Dallas Buyers Club

Robert Redford - All Is Lost (DVD 2/11/14)

Supporting Female

Melonie Diaz - Fruitvale Station (DVD 1/14/14)

Sally Hawkins - Blue Jasmine (DVD 1/21/14)

Lupita Nyong'o - 12 Years a Slave (DVD estimated February 2014)

Yolonda Ross - Go For Sisters

June Squibb - Nebraska

Supporting Male

Michael Fassbender - 12 Years a Slave (DVD estimated February 2014)

Will Forte - Nebraska

James Gandolfini - Enough Said (DVD 1/14/14)

Jared Leto - Dallas Buyers Club

Keith Stanfield - Short Term 12 (DVD 1/14/14)

Cinematography

Sean Bobbitt - 12 Years a Slave (DVD estimated February 2014)

Benoit Debie - Spring Breakers (DVD on Netflix now)

Bruno Delbonnel - Inside Llewyn Davis

Frank G. DeMarco - All Is Lost (DVD 2/11/14)

Matthias Grunsky - Computer Chess (streaming on Netflix now)

Editing

Shane Carruth & David Lowery - Upstream Color (streaming on Netflix now)

Jem Cohen & Marc Vives - Museum Hours

Jennifer Lame - Frances Ha (streaming on Netflix now)

Cindy Lee - Una Noche

Nat Sanders - Short Term 12 (DVD 1/14/14)

Documentary

20 Feet From Stardom - Morgan Neville, director/producer; Gil Friesen & Caitrin Rogers, producers (DVD 1/14/14)

After Tiller - Martha Shane & Lana Wilson, directors/producers

Gideon's Army - Dawn Porter, director/producer; Julie Goldman, producer

The Act of Killing - Joshua Oppenheimer, director/producer; Joram Ten Brink, Christine Cynn, Anne Köhncke, Signe Byrge Sørensen, Michael Uwemedimo, producer

The Square - Jehane Noujaim, director, Karim Amer, producer

International Film

A Touch of Sin (China) - Jia Zhang-Ke, director

Blue Is the Warmest Color (France) - Abdellatif Kechiche, director

Gloria (Chile) - Sebastián Lelio, director

The Great Beauty (Italy) - Paolo Sorrentino, director

The Hunt (Denmark) - Thomas Vinterberg, director (DVD on Netflix now)

Robert Altman Award (Given to one film's director, casting director and its ensemble cast)

Mud  (DVD on Netflix now)

Director: Jeff Nichols

Casting Director: Francine Maisler

Ensemble Cast: Joe Don Baker, Jacob Lofland, Matthew McConaughey, Ray McKinnon, Sarah Paulson, Michael Shannon, Sam Shepard, Tye Sheridan, Paul Sparks, Bonnie Sturdivant, Reese Witherspoon

17th Piaget Producers Award

Toby Halbrooks & James M. Johnston

Jacob Jaffke

Andrea Roa

Frederick Thornton

20th Someone to Watch Award

My Sister's Quinceañera - Aaron Douglas Johnston, director

Newlyweeds - Shaka King, director

The Foxy Merkins - Madeline Olnek, director

19th Stella Artois Truer Than Fiction Award

Kalyanee Mam - A River Changes Course

Jason Osder - Let the Fire Burn

Stephanie Spray & Pacho Velez - Manakamana

Joe Papp in Five Acts (2010)

This fascinating documentary about the former Joseph Papirovsky was another popular entry in this year's Jewish Film Festival, profiling the producer of New York's free Shakespeare in the Park (starting in 1956), Hair (1967), A Chorus Line (1975), For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf (1975), The Normal Heart (1985), and much more. With Kevin Kline reciting Shakespeare quotes and footage of Olympia Dukakis, James Earl Jones, Martin Sheen, Meryl Streep, Christopher Walken, and others, filmmakers Tracie Holder and Karen Thorsen have a winner. Here's the trailer. I saw it several weeks ago and don't remember the music anymore, but imdb says jazz clarinetist Don Byron composed the music, so here's a fun track of his instrumental work. I don't know when the movie will be out on DVD, but theatre lovers should see it.

Wadjda (2012)

This wonderful ground-breaking movie, the first ever made entirely in Saudi Arabia, directed and written by a woman, is a hopeful story of a 10-year-old free-spirited girl who simply wants a bicycle. But in her country, girls don't ride bikes, they don't run, they don't speak loudly, they don't even appear in public without their black robes and head scarves. Yet Wadjda's scarf seldom stays put, her jeans and Converse sneakers peek out from under her robe, and her best friend is a bike-riding boy. In some countries the title is a translation of The Green Bicycle.

Haifaa Al-Mansour made a documentary, Women Without Shadows (2005), about women's roles in Saudi Arabia, and this is her fiction follow-up. The acting, especially by Waad Mohammed and Reem Abdullah as Wadjda and her mother, respectively, is first-rate. I also liked the music by Max Richter (last blogged in Disconnect). You can stream clips from the soundtrack on the amazon page.

The movie is still making its way around our country (here's a list of theaters, but I know at least one date is incorrect). Save this one to your netflix queue. It'll be worth it. And invite a tween girl who won't mind the subtitles to watch it with you. If you don't believe me, 99% (74 of 75) of rottentomatoes critics loved this, and 90% of audiences.

Behind the Candelabra (2013)

Jack and I loved this HBO movie based on the memoir of Liberace's boy toy Scott Thorson. Michael Douglas and Matt Damon are terrific and all 11 Primetime Emmy Awards are well deserved. Douglas (now 71, last blogged in Haywire) is believable as Liberace at 57 and Damon (now 43, most recently in Elysium), well, no one thinks he's 17 at the beginning of the movie, as Thorson was when he met the star in 1977, but his character's innocence and naïveté is well portrayed. Great support by Scott Bakula (The Informant! by the same director, and the sadly-cancelled series Men of a Certain Age, among others), Rob Lowe (some of my favorites: The Outsiders (1983), The Hotel New Hampshire (1984), St. Elmo's Fire (1985), About Last Night… (1986), Bad Influence (1990), and though I didn't see his 84 episodes of The West Wing, I saw and liked his 78 in Brothers & Sisters, his 5 in Californication, and his ongoing contribution to Parks and Recreation--LIT-trilly), and Debbie Reynolds (her Oscar nomination was for The Unsinkable Molly Brown and I enjoyed, among others, Singin' in the Rain (1952), Divorce American Style (1967), Mother (1996), and In & Out (1997)) almost unrecognizable as Liberace's mother with a Polish accent.

Although the excellent psycho-thriller Side Effects (sorry, I was on a blog break when I should have written more than two sentences about it) was supposed to be director Steven Soderbergh's last picture when it was released in February of this year, Behind the Candelabra came out in May, and he is, according to imdb, now in pre-production on a TV mini-series scheduled for sometime next year.

Check it out on cable or DVD for the story, the acting, the history (the times that were paradoxically both swinging and homophobic), the sets, costumes, makeup, and music--both the score written by Marvin Hamlisch just before his death last year (the movie is dedicated to him) and the songs.

Prisoners (2013)

This gripping thriller about a father desperate to find his disappeared daughter has already earned Hugh Jackman Supporting Actor of the Year at the Hollywood Film Festival. Jake Gyllenhaal is also no slouch as the detective trying to solve the case even as Jackman constantly acts out. Gyllenhaal was last blogged in End of Watch and I profiled Jackman in Les Misérables. Good support is provided by Maria Bello (most recently in The Company Men), Terrence Howard (covered toward the end of The Company You Keep), Viola Davis (last mentioned in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close), Melissa Leo (profiled in The Fighter), and Paul Dano (just in 12 years a Slave).

Like the last picture directed by Denis Villeneuve, Incendies, there's a twist at the end. Jack said afterwards he saw it coming. I had no idea. The script is the second for Aaron Guzikowski.  The music, by Jóhann Jóhansson, is scary stuff. You can stream it track by track on youtube, starting with #1.

With violence that caused me to shield my eyes, this is no chick flick; in fact, it's John's favorite movie of the year and he makes fun of chick flicks--you know, the ones with too much talking and not enough hitting. Rottentomatoes critics average 81% and audiences 88, so if this is your thing, you won't be disappointed. You should find it playing locally, since it's #22 at the box office after 10 weeks of release.