Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 469: A Very Modern Family

In the first decade of the 21st century we explored the phenomenon of the indie comedy with the rise of films such as Juno and Little Miss Sunshine. That trend continued into the 2010s with countless more indie comedies being highly acclaimed by critics such as the next film on our list; The Kids Are All Right.

The film stars Annette Bening and Julianne Moore as lesbian couple Nic and Jules who have two teenage children in the form of sensible Joni and slightly reckless Laser. The couple's children were both conceived by insemination with Nic being the mother to Joni and Jules having given birth to Laser. Laser is keen to find out more about the man whose sperm helped to make him so when his sister turns eighteen he pesters her to ring up the sperm bank and discover the identity of the man in question. The children later track down restaurant-owning Paul whose chilled out philosophy works its charm on Joni however Laser isn't initially convinced. When Nic and Jules discover what their children have been up to they demand Paul come over the the house with both feeling the same way that Laser did about him. However, when Paul hires Jules to do some gardening work for him the pair end up in bed together on more than one occasion. Gradually Paul's influence sweeps over the family with both Laser and Joni's attitudes changing as a result of getting to know the donor. Only Nic remains unconvinced and her feelings towards Paul lead to resentment throughout the family. As you would expect events lead up to a crescendo where Nic discovers Jules' affair whilst at Paul's house however the fallout was at least a little surprising. I have to say that the way Nic discovered the affair and brought it up wasn't the usual way you would see in a film and her quiet revelation was neatly written. The fact that the conclusion was quite sweet-natured is a testament to a film that felt very realistic despite its somewhat far-fetched premise.

A lot of the reason for this is down to Lisa Cholodenko's assured direction and brilliant script that she co-wrote with Stuart Blumberg. Seeing as Cholodenko starting outlining the script in 2004 I'm not surprised that she takes as much care with her characters as she does. What I liked about The Kids Are All Right is that a lot of the subtext comes from the characters' gestures rather than their dialogue. Not that the dialogue is at all bad and instead the script feels incredibly well-paced with each major incident being padded out with several scenes of gardening or drinking. Although most of the plot strands are tied up in just over ninety minutes my only slight niggle was that I don't think we got a resolution to Joni's feelings towards her friend Jai. The Kids Are All Right's other ace in the hole is the five central cast members all of whom do their best to try and make the film as good as possible. Indeed it was the attachment of big name stars that got The Kids Are All Right the green light in the first place with the first actor to join up being Julianne Moore. Moore is absolutely fantastic in the role of free-wheeling Jules, who is asked to re-examine her life following Paul's introduction. Whilst Moore provides a lot of emotional moments throughout the film, it was Annette Bening who garnered all the awards buzz during Oscar Season. After winning the Golden Globe for her fantastic portrayal of Nic it was thought that Bening would finally win an Oscar but this wasn't to be the case. Also nominated for his role in the film was Mark Ruffalo who gave a breezy turn as the laid back interloper Paul. Meanwhile, Josh Hutcherson and particularly Mia Wasikowska bolstered the movie with their bold portrayals of Laser and Joni. With everybody playing their part neatly, The Kids Are All Right ended up being a fantastic character study of modern family dynamics and how things can go horribly wrong with the introduction of a newcomer in the family home. Despite a few story inconsistencies, I find little to fault in a film which I found to be quirky, heartfelt and enjoyable in equal measure.

Next time we review two Best Picture nominees who offer tips on how to survive certain perilous situations.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 409: Here's to you Mrs. Dalloway

As we've seen throughout the course of this blog, plenty of Oscar nominees and winners been based on well-known pieces of literature. However, the next film on hour list; 2003 nominee The Hours is rather uniquely inspired by Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway. David Hare's adaptation of Michael Cunningham's novel focuses on three women who are all touched by the book in different ways.

The first story concentrates on Woolf herself as she begins to write Mrs. Dalloway in 1923 whilst at the same time dealing with her various emotional issues. The second story is set in suburban Los Angeles during the early 1950s and deals with Laura Brown who is reading Mrs. Dalloway. Finally, in modern day New York, Clarissa Vaughan is planning a party for her dying poet friend Richard who refers to her as Mrs. Dalloway. Despite their disparate time lines and settings; all of the three women who The Hours concentrates on have plenty of similarities. All of three are suffering from mental problems of all kinds; with Virginia struggling with her countryside surroundings, Laura considering suicide and Claudia busying herself with party planning to blot out her insecurities. All three women also have feelings for the same sex whether it be on show, such as Claudia's lesbian relationship with her long term partner, or kept behind closed doors. What I liked about Hare's screenplay was the fact that he kept all three storylines ticking along nicely and made sure that we didn't forget about any one thread. If I'm honest, the least interesting of the three stories was that of Woolf herself who was a little bit too precious to ever care about that much. I enjoyed the subtlety of the Laura storyline and its exploration of the dark underbelly of 1950s suburbia. Meanwhile, Claudia's tale was full of regret and had a rather shocking scene towards the end of it. One element of the final scenes I wasn't particularly keen on was the way that Claudia and Laura's scenes linked together however it did make sense to the overall tale.

Interestingly all three of The Hours' lead actresses were nominated at that year's ceremony however only two of them were representing that film. Despite giving the weakest turn of the three, Nicole Kidman's portrayal of Virginia Woolf netted her that year's Best Actress prize. I would agree with those who theorised that the reason that she was given the award was for putting on a prosthetic nose that made her look only slightly detracted from her overall beauty. Kidman did little to make me care about the Woolf scenes which only perked up with the arrival of Miranda Richardson as her lively sister. Even though she was on screen longer, Julianne Moore was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her tender portrayal of Laura Brown; a woman who was on the verge of ending it all. Moore was also nominated for Best Actress that year for a similar turn in Far From Heaven however I think her performance in The Hours was slightly better. Oddly the best performance of the trio, which came from Meryl Streep, failed to garner a nomination with the actress instead being recognised for her turn in Adaptation. I think that Streep delivered one of her greatest performances as the bisexual Claudia who was hanging on to the one summer she spent with the love of her life, Richard. As Richard, Ed Harris was a revelation and I feel that he should have won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar that year that ultimately went to Streep's Adaptation co-star Chris Cooper. Aside from the fine performances and well-paced plot, Philip Glass' ever-present score deserves a mention even if it did make some of the scenes feel slightly overblown. This was my first time watching The Hours and I have to admit that I rather liked it even if Kidman's scenes as Woolf bored me a little. It was great to see a female-centric tale garner so much acclaim and I found it to be an easy-to-watch, well-written film.

Next time we return to the work of a director who had somewhat of a resurgence in the early 21st century.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 344: As Seen on TV

It has been really interesting chronicling the history of cinema over the course of this blog as we've seen film-making change during the past seventy years. Whereas cinema was once the only source of entertainment that people could find soon films saw themselves competing with a box which could be found in the living room of most homes. Television provided an alternative to the cinema where people could be informed and entertained in equal measure. As we entered the 1990s a trend began to adapt old TV shows into movies with spooky sitcom The Addams Family being the first major example of this. Oscar honoured this trend by nominating The Fugitive for Best Picture with the film being based on the 1960s series of the same name. Although you'd think it would be hard to condense four seasons of a show into a two hour film, I felt that director Andrew Davis and the two screenwriters did an admirable job. Both the TV show and the film focus on Dr. Richard Kimble, a respected surgeon who is convicted of killing his wife and sentenced to death. As the title would suggest, Kimble soon goes on the run and is eager to find the one-armed man who he claims was the real killer. As I wasn't overly familiar with the plot of the TV show, I was wondering how they could possibly have made this premise last so long as it seems like an ideal movie plot. I'm guessing why this was adapted into a film and the cat-and-mouse sequences between Kimble and Deputy Marshall Gerard were expertly choreographed. However, the film doesn't feel too much like a Best Picture winner and instead is nothing more than an above average action thriller. Whilst there's nothing particularly wrong about that genre of the film, I don't think it stacks up against a lot of the other films I've watched over the course of the decade.

It's incredibly surprising then that The Fugitive would be nominated for an amazing seven Oscars including Best Picture and a win for Tommy Lee Jones in the Supporting Actor category. I was sceptical of Jones' win before watching The Fugitive primarily because he'd convinced the academy his performance here was better than Ralph Fiennes' turn in Schindler's List. After watching the film I'm even more convinced that Fiennes should have triumphed as Jones' wise-cracking deputy wasn't exactly a crucial presence in the film. Part of me thinks that his award here was the academy's way of apologising for not giving him the win for his superior performance in JFK which was definitely more of an award-winning turn. I personally feel The Fugitive's main strengths were its cinematography and editing both of which added more tension to the brilliant chase sequences. However, The Fugitive didn't win in any of these categories which I would have a problem with if it weren't for the fact that the majority of the awards went to Schindler's List. After following his career over two decades I feel it's rather a shame that Harrison Ford has reverted back to his action persona especially as we saw him shine in films as diverse as Witness and Working Girl. At the same time Ford is a brilliant action hero and he gives a compelling turn as a wrongly-accused man searching for the truth. Interestingly I feel that Ford looks more like a fugitive before he goes on the run as his beard gives him the look of a homeless gentleman while his clean-shaven look is more in line with that of a debonair doctor. Like a lot of action films, The Fugitive calls for some large suspensions of disbelief in order for the plot to progress but I didn't particularly have a problem with any of these. In fact I found The Fugitive to be a refreshing change to all of the historical epics I've watched recently and it acted as more of a pallet cleanser between the stereotypical 'worthy films'. But ultimately The Fugitive doesn't show me anything that suggests it should be a Best Picture candidate and I definitely feel that Jones' Best Supporting Actor win was a mistake.

Next time we look at a man who became one of the biggest stars of the 1990s.