Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Days 459-460: A Guide to Modern Technology

As we're well into the 21st century now it seems as if films are reflecting on our growing reliance on technology. The two films in this post look at our obsession with technology both from the creation of an online device that most of us use on a daily basis and by predicting how gadgets may take over our lives in the future.
We start with The Social Network, a film that is based on the creation of Facebook; a tool which nearly everyone utilises on a daily basis. David Fincher's film is based on the book 'The Accidental Billionaires' which tells the story of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his then friend Eduardo Saverin. The film starts with Zuckerberg attempting to get over a bitter separation from his girlfriend by hacking into Harvard University's various databases and ranking pictures of the female students. This stunt gets him into trouble with the university's board but also earns him the respect of the Winklevoss twins; rowing brothers who are looking to start a social networking site exclusive to Harvard. Building on this idea, Zuckerberg enlists Eduardo's help to build 'The Facebook', which is based on a similar idea to the Winklevoss' one albeit from the mind of Mark. As the film progresses, Mark and Eduardo's success heightens until they get the attention of Napster founder Sean Parker. Parker's involvement with Facebook puts Mark and Eduardo at odds with the latter jealous of the former's new friendship with the smooth-talking hipster. Very cleverly, Aaron Sorkin frames his screenplay around two depositions that Zuckeberg is currently embarking on. In one Zuckerberg is being sued by the Winklevoss twins for stealing their idea and in the other Eduardo is attempting to get back the shares that were unfairly taken from him. This allows the characters to talk in exposition without it ever feeling like the plot is simply being explained to us. The final scene is also brilliantly done as Sorkin seems to say that Zuckerberg started Facebook because he wanted to get a girl's attention.

There's so much to like about The Social Network it's hard to know where to start but I think we should start with a man called Aaron Sorkin. After Moneyball and now The Social Network I've come to the decision that I could watch films written by Sorkin all day. Here Sorkin is able to make technical speak and legal jargon seem exciting and turns a generally unlikeable nerd into someone we want to root for. Sorkin earned a deserved Oscar for his work on The Social Network as did editors Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall who make the use of algorithms seem vaguely interesting. The Social Network's other Oscar win was for its original score which was composed by Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor. Reznor's selection of tracks for different scenes was absolutely perfect with the central theme being particularly memorable. I also felt that The Social Network marked a return to form for David Fincher after the incredibly sappy The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The then relatively unknown Jesse Eisenberg was catapulted into the mainstream thanks to his role as Zuckberg. Eisenberg dealt well with Sorkin's fast-paced dialogue and I for one found that he succeeded in explaining Zuckberg's various motives. Whilst Eisenberg earned an Oscar nomination for his role in the film, Andrew Garfield didn't which I feel is an oversight. Garfield's Eduardo is the emotional core of the film and the actor's wide-eyed portrayal of this genuinely nice guy perfectly balanced Eisenberg's more manic tone. If there was one complaint I had about The Social Network then it was the way that women were represented as most seem to either be crazy girlfriends or party-goers who would strip off at a moment's notice.  Rashida Jones' junior law partner and Rooney Mara's jilted girlfriend were the only female characters who seemed remotely well-drawn and I think that's a shame in a film that's almost completely faultless.
While The Social Network dealt with the creation of a piece of technology that would later take over our lives, it didn't display how obsessed we'd get with Facebook itself. Conversely in Spike Jonze's Her, the main concept is how one day technology could be in our lives so much that we begin to fall in love with it. Obviously this surreal concept could only come from the man who'd previously directed such surreal hits as Being John Malkovich and Adaptation. Unlike those two films, both of which were written by Charlie Kauffman, Jonze was going solo here with his script for Her ultimately winning the Best Original Screenplay Oscar. The film's protagonist Theodore is a contradiction in that he is able to write sentimental letters in the voices of other people but is rarely able to voice his own emotions. Theodore's attempts at a proper relationship have resulted in divorce and, when we first meet him, he's almost completely reliant on his computer. When he learns that he can personally tailor a new Operating System he jumps on board and soon buys a female voiced OS named Samantha. Samantha quickly becomes the most stable relationship in Theodore's life and the former starts to develop human characteristics. Soon Samantha and Theodore begin a sexual relationship but as he soon learns there's only so far you can go with a disembodied voice. When Samantha hires a sex surrogate, Theodore becomes uneasy as he can't associate the woman in front of him with the voice of Samantha. From there their relationship becomes strained as she tries to solve her identity crisis whilst he decides whether he can date an OS. Theodore's decision is ultimately made for him and the film ends in a rather predictable manner, which is a shame as I felt it had a lot of good ideas.

With the rise of people using Siri on their iphones and engaging with technology on a regular basis, Her doesn't seem like that much of a far-fetched idea. The over-reliance on technology is something that Jonze establishes early on in the film as he gives the notion that in the future we'll spend more time talking to computers than we will with each other. I have to say that I didn't buy into the romance between Theodore and Samantha as I found these segments quite hard to handle. I instead was rooting for Theodore to settle down with his sweet-natured colleague Amy who later develops a friendship with another OS. Her's main issue is the fact that I didn't really care for Theodore all that much and found him to be quite an awkward character to like. As Jonze has created a character that struggles to interact in social situations I think it's a hard ask for us to warm to a man who is quite cold. The only thing not putting me off Theodore altogether is the strong performance given by Joaquin Phoenix. Phoenix injects a certain sort of nervous energy into Theodore that at least makes understand some of his character's decisions. Phoenix must also be applauded for convincingly interacting with a character who isn't present as he expertly portrays Theodore's interactions with Samantha. Scarlett Johansson is equally impressive as the automated voice who secretly longs to have a body in order to be with the man she supposedly loves. Johansson's sultry tones perfectly bring Sam to life and as a result you utterly buy the fact that Theodore falls in love with her. The supporting players are less well-served with character development with Rooney Mara turning up once again her as Theodore's ex-wife whilst Amy Adams gives a one-note turn as Amy. The futuristic design of Her is another positive aspect as is Arcade Fire's score and Karen O's 'Moon Song'. It's fair to say that Her is full of good ideas but not all of them are successfully realised and what you end up getting is a film that is sometimes too quirky for its own good.

Next up more dystopian nightmares this time with a side serving of crustaceans.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Days 370-371: A Bit of Brad

It's fair to say that when he first appeared on the scene Brad Pitt was considered somewhat of a heartthrob. In an interview he once conducted, he claimed that it was hard for him to get serious roles due to the way he looked. But, as his career progressed, he appeared in a number of diverse films that demonstrated his considerable acting talent. By the end of the noughties; the Academy started to recognise Brad's efforts as two of the films he starred in were nominated for Best Picture. However, I would contend that neither film saw Brad at his best and in fact I found him rather unlikeable in the first part of this double bill. 

Brad and his on-screen wife Cate Blanchett were certainly the most recognisable faces in Babel, which consisted of a cast of largely unknown foreign actors. Pitt and Blanchett star as Richard and Susan Jones, an American couple trying to save their marriage by going on holiday in Morocco. I personally found both characters to be utterly unlikeable and, as their story was one of four interconnecting tales, they didn't really have long enough on screen to change my mind. Richard and Susan's lives are changed forever when the latter is shot by a stray bullet while the pair are travelling back to the hotel on their tour bus. This incident also changes the lives of Yusef and Ahmed; two young brothers whose jealousy of one another causes the former to shoot the bullet that injures Susan. Meanwhile, back in America, Richard and Susan's twin children Debbie and Mike are being cared for by their Mexican nanny Amelia who hopes for a day off to attend her son's wedding. When Richard is unable to arrange alternative childcare arrangements for his kids, Amelia decides to take the children across the border with the help of her reckless nephew Santiago. The film's bleak nature eventually engulfs this story as Amelia has trouble crossing back from Mexico to the US and puts Mike and Debbie in danger as a result. The fourth story was my personal favourite although its connection to the original shooting was definitely the most tenuous. It focused on deaf Japanese teenager Chieko; whose father originally owned the rifle used in the incident as she desperately sought acceptance from her peers. I found Chieko to be the most identifiable character amongst the global cast and the scenes in which she tried to come on to a young police officer were incredibly touching. 

Part of the reason for this is the tender performance given by Rinko Kikuchi, who was one of two of Babel's stars to be nominated for acting awards. Although sign language was used throughout the film, Kikuchi's strengths came in the form of her facial expressions which told the story of both her sexual frustration and her grief concerning her mother's suicide. I did feel that Kikuchi's turn was more deserving of the Best Supporting Actress prize than the eventual winner Jennifer Hudson; whose in-your-face performance in Dreamgirls was a million miles away from the Japanese actress' sensitive portrayal of a deaf character. Nominated alongside Kikuchi was Adrian Barraza who, as Amelia, gave a great portrayal of a woman who'd been a mother to plenty of American children even though she received very little praise from the families who employed her. Also worthy of praise are Boubker Ait El Caid and Said Tarchani who brilliantly portrayed the two Moroccan children whose actions became a catalyst for the rest of the film. Director Alejandro González Iñárritu's vision for the film is beautifully realised thanks to Rodrigo Prieto's excellent cinematography and Gustavo Santaolalla's Oscar-winning score. Visually I can't fault Babel with several scenes sticking in the mind long after the final credits rolled. One scene in particular, in which Chieko attends a disco, is especially memorable as the sound dips as we see things from both are point-of-view and hers. My major problem with Babel was its increasingly bleak story as Guillermo Arriaga's screenplay didn't give anybody a happy ending with the possible exception of Chieko. A lot of the characters are also poorly-drawn with Richard and Susan coming off as particularly miserable which is a shame as Pitt and Blanchett's talents are seemingly wasted as a result. However, I did enjoy Babel more than I thought I would and it's definitely deserving of its place among the five Best Picture contenders. 

Pitt and Blanchett would reunite two years later as they played the two leads in David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Fincher's previous collaborations with Pitt; Seven and Fight Club, arguably contained two of the actor's best performances. Their successful partnership continued as Fincher led Pitt to his first Best Actor Award although I felt this was mainly to do with the character rather than the star's performance. Based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald; the film tells the life story of the titular protagonist who physically ages backwards as he grows up. After being abandoned by his father, Benjamin is cared for by kindly nursing home employee Queenie who he looks upon as a mother. Meanwhile, during his childhood, Benjamin first meets Daisy who is the granddaughter of one of the home's residents. The film first introduces us to Daisy in the present day as she's on her deathbed and her daughter is reading from a will written by Benjamin which luckily contains his entire life story. Although it contains tales of journeys on ferries and Benjamin's later connection with his birth father; the main concern of the film is his romance with Daisy. As he grows physically younger, the two finally begin a relationship which appears to be going swimmingly. However when she gets pregnant, with the daughter who is reading Benjamin's story, he realises that Daisy will have to find another man to act as a father. Despite feeling that Benjamin's story should have ended when, as a teenager, he discovers that Daisy has met another man and married it continues to see him finally die as a child. This final section of the film is just one of many parts that I feel could have been cut to slim down Benjamin Button's two and half hour running time. 

Although it was nominated for thirteen Oscars, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button won just three and two of them were certainly well deserved. The visual effects and make-up in the film really make Benjamin's ageing process appear realistic and without them I feel that it wouldn't have been as well regarded as it is. Although the film's Art Direction wasn't as prominent, it was still unique enough to earn an Academy Award. In fact, visually, Benjamin Button can't be faulted all that much as it mixes in sepia tones with a more modern flare to create an aesthetically pleasing piece. However, as I alluded to, Eric Roth's adaptation of Fitzgerald's story is long-winded and contains plenty of sections that I would've cut entirely. As the film's key focus is on the relationship between Benjamin and Daisy, I would've concentrated on these scenes and cut everything that happened on that bleeding tugboat. Maybe it's a controversial statement, but I don't believe that Pitt really deserved that Best Actor nod as I feel he's slightly overshadowed by the make-up he wears throughout the film. I believe that I've seen Pitt act a lot better than he did in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and certainly his performance wasn't one of the more remarkable elements of the film. In fact I believe that Cate Blanchett's turn as injured dancer Daisy had more depth to it and I found her performance to be more captivating on the whole. Whilst I admire Fincher as a director, I feel The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is one of his weaker films and seems to be his attempt to curry favour with the Academy. The film certainly has all the elements of an Oscar-film; from the early 20th century settings to the extended running time, however I felt that it came off as a poor man's Forrest Gump. Thankfully Pitt would go on to bigger and better things in the next decade, eventually earning an Oscar as a producer rather than as an actor. 

Next Time we return to the 1940s for three more Oscar nominated movies.