One genre of film that has been poorly represented over the years as far as the Oscar nominations go is sci-fi. If a science fiction movie does edge its way into the Best Picture field than it's usually a big budget affair like Star Wars or Avatar. So imagine my surprise when a small budget science fiction film from South Africa was given a Best Picture nod at the same ceremony that saw James Cameron's blue creatures attempt to take the prize.
The film District 9 was definitely a sleeper hit that achieved popularity partially due to the fact that it had been championed by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson. District 9's director Neil Blomkamp had first touted the film in 2005, producing a shorter version of the movie entitled 'Alive in Joburg'. It then took four years for Blompkamp's full feature to make it to the screens and gradually build a large audience. District 9 takes place in an alternative South Africa where crustacean-like aliens had invaded twenty-five years earlier. Due to the fact that the aliens and humans began fighting with one another, the former group were moved into a ramshackle settlement known as District 9. The hero of the piece is middle-management goon Wikus van de Merwe who is tasked with evicting the residents of District 9 and taking them to a newly constructed district. However Wikus accidentally finds himself being exposed to a dark mixture which infuses his genetics with that of the aliens. As the film goes on, Wikus finds himself ostracised by his family whilst the company he works for wants to use him as a science experiment. Wikus eventually has to retreat to District 9 where he hunts down the intelligent alien Christopher whose liquid changed him in the first place. From there District 9 becomes a tense action film as Christopher and Wikus work together in order to get the former back to his home planet and the latter transformed back into his fully human form.
When I first watched District 9 I genuinely didn't know what to expect and so I was pleasantly surprised with what I found. Blompkamp's film touches on themes of xenophobia with District 9 being an approximation of the all-white District 6 which was in force during South Africa's Apartheid. I personally feel as if all sci-fi should have some sort of basis in reality and the message that District 9 gives about ostracising people who are different is brilliantly played out. The racism also extends to the fact that the humans refer to the aliens as 'prawns' which is used as a derogatory term that becomes more nasty each time it's heard. What I liked about District 9 was its distinctive look with the titular ghetto of the title being well-designed by Blomkamp and his team. The faux documentary style also allows for the plot to be explained without it becoming overly-expositional. Cinematographer Trent Opaloch perfectly transitioned between the documentary-like style and the more traditional shots which focused on Wikus' trials in District 9. In the lead role of Wikus, Sharlto Copley shines in what was his first film role ans an actor. A friend of Blomkamp's, Copley ideally fits into the role of the everyman in an extraordinary situation. It's because of his lack of experience that Copley is able to make Wikus feel like a believable protagonist and he makes us sympathise with him more as he starts to transform into a prawn. If there's one criticism I have of District 9 then it's in its final third when it basically descends into a more traditional sci-fi action film. That being said the ending was well done and the ambiguity of the finale suggested that a sequel may be coming at some point. District 9 is another example of the recurring theme we're seeing in the most recent nominees as the Academy now seems to be searching outside of the mainstream. Whilst it had its champions, District 9 would never have been nominated alongside the costume dramas and inspirational true stories of old. It's just a shame that there haven't been more examples of films like District 9 that have found favour with the academy and I'm hoping that we'll soon get another example of Oscar's searching outside of the box for its Best Picture nominees
Up next we look at two films from one actress who had a very eventful 2011.
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.
We carry straight on from the last post with two more films that involved George Clooney both in front and behind the screen.
We start with Up in the Air, the film which earned Clooney his second Best Actor nomination and was possibly the film that capitalised on his old-school movie star charm. Up in the Air is directed and co-written by Jason Reitman who we first met when he helmed Juno with this film sharing a similar tone with his previous Oscar winner. Just like with Juno, Up in the Air deals with quite a serious subject matter in this case mass redundancies; quite a pressing topic during the recession in the late noughties. The film sees Clooney play Ryan Bingham, a man who fires people for a living and spends most of his time in planes going from different destinations in America. Ryan's life is devoted to racking up 10 million air miles and to presenting his self-help course known as 'the empty backpack'. Up in the Air sees Ryan experiencing two changes in his life, firstly the prospect that he made be grounded and sent back to his office in Omaha. This is due to the fact that whiz kid recruit Natalie has set up a new video conferencing firing system which enables all employees to do their job from the office. Annoyed at this idea, Ryan takes Natalie on the road in an attempt to show her that firing people isn't as simple as she believes. At the same time Ryan encounters Alex, who is also a frequent flyer and the two share a mutual attraction as they marvel at each other's air miles. As the film progresses the commitment-phobic Ryan realises that he might be falling for Alex in a big way. However, in a similar manner to Juno, Up in the Air doesn't finish in the way you think it might and instead there are a few twists littered before the finale.
Whilst promoting Up in the Air, Reitman said that he wanted to make Ryan a likeable character who fires people for a living and to do that he had to cast the most charming actor possible. It's Clooney's charm that makes the film in my opinion and in particular it's the fact that he's now an ageing heartthrob that gives Ryan that extra bit of sympathy. Clooney is great at delivering Reitman and Shelton Turner's fast-paced dialogue and is equally adept at presenting the plot of the film without his lines every feeling particularly expositional. Clooney is fantastically supported by Vera Farmiga as Alex, who more than holds her own in his company and the two form a believable chemistry throughout the film. Similarly great is Anna Kendrick who gave a breakthrough turn as the ambitious but insecure Natalie whose relationship with Ryan is equally as important as his romance with Alex. Reitman added a tinge of realism to the piece by interviewing numerous people who had recently been made redundant and adding their experiences into the film. Reitman asked them to think back to when they were let go and so their responses to Natalie and Ryan's appearance feel totally natural. Juno's JK Simmons also gives a memorable if brief turn as one of the fired employees in a pivotal scene in which Ryan demonstrates to Natalie that the job isn't as easy as she initially believed. Everything about Up in the Air is well-styled from the business suits that the characters don down to the loyalty cards that turn both Ryan and Alex on. If I were to have one criticism of the film it would be that the pace dips briefly when Ryan and Alex attend his sister's wedding however the subsequent final act of Up in the Air more than makes up for it. Despite being nominated for six awards at the Oscars, including honours for the three lead performers, Up in the Air failed to secure one win. This is a shame as I feel it's an incredibly relevant film with three fantastic performances and a brilliant director at the helm.
Three years later, Clooney finally made it to the stage as part of the team of that year's Best Picture winner Argo. Argo was based on the hostage crisis in Iran's American embassy in the early 1980s and more specifically the six 'houseguests' of the Canadian ambassador who'd fled their workplace just before the rioting took place. To get the six out of Iran, CIA operative Tony Mendez came up with an elaborate story to create a fake sci-fi movie, the titular Argo, and pass the Americans off as a film crew scouting locations in Iran. Clooney first learnt of this bizarre story after reading an article about it and so set about producing the picture. Clooney eventually hired Ben Affleck to both direct the piece and star in the role of Mendez; however Clooney himself would only be credited as a producer. Since we last saw him in Good Will Hunting, Affleck's career trajectory had been precarious to say the least initially starring in several flops and being more famous for his relationship with Jennifer Lopez. However, in 2007, he began directing films and earned rave reviews for his first two features; Gone Baby Gone and The Town. His roles both behind and in front of the camera were equally impressive here as Argo was visually impressive and had a fantastic lead turn. As the film goes on Mendez turns to make-up artist John Chambers for help in creating the fake movie who in turn introduces him to veteran producer Lester Siegel. The scenes featuring Chambers and Siegel are where Argo turns itself into somewhat of a black comedy however the balance between these scenes and those of the hostages is excellent. In its third act, Argo becomes somewhat of a thriller as Mendez travels to Iran and attempts to extract the houseguests from Iran. This is easier said than done and I was personally on the edge of my seat to see if they would actually make it through the airport without getting rumbled.
It's easy to see why Argo won Best Picture as it is both based on a real life story and features some lines that feel like they'd been written by a Hollywood insider. I was quite impressed with Chris Terrio's screenplay which, as I previously mentioned, was well-balanced making the film feel both comedic and dramatic at the same time. One of the odd things about Argo's presence at the Oscars was the fact that Affleck didn't even get a look in when it came to the Best Director category. This is partly to do with the fact that not all of the directors of the nine nominated films could feature in a category which only honoured five film-makers. However, I do believe that Affleck's fine direction of the piece should have at least received a nomination over say Tom Hooper's helming of Les Miserables. Affleck himself proved to be a fine lead, here presenting Tony as the harassed everyman who found himself carrying out somewhat of an impossible task. Of the cast, only Alan Arkin was nominated for an Oscar for his role as sharp-tongued producer Lester Siegel. Indeed Arkin's interplay with John Goodman's John Chambers were some of the highlights of the film and I personally loved his rather foul-mouthed explanation of Argo's plot. Rodrigo Prieto's cinematography gave the Iranian scenes an extra sense of dread as he presented the siege at the embassy in a rather dramatic style. Argo managed to keep my attention due to its fine pacing and it's mixture of Hollywood satire and edge-of-your-seat thriller. It also represents the fact that the Academy were selecting more interesting films to win Best Picture as I don't think a film like Argo could ever have won the award twenty years prior. Whether it's win was ultimately the right choice is an interesting debate and you'll have to find out my verdict in my review of the most recent Oscar ceremonies.
Up next we have a look at two films that explored the way that technology was starting to take over our lives in the second decade of the 21st century.
In the last decade, one Best Picture nominee I had the most praise for was Sideways, a beautifully melancholy comedy drama from the pen of Alexander Payne. Oscar seemingly fell in love with Payne after that because both of his next two films were nominated in the Best Picture category.
Seven years after Sideways, Payne's next project was The Descendants; an adaptation of Kaui Hart Hemmings' book of the same name. Just like he did with Sideways, Payne won the Oscar for adapted screenplay this time sharing the award with his co-writers Jim Rash and Nat Faxon. The film itself is based around the life of Hawaiian lawyer Matt King, whose wife Elizabeth has recently been hospitalised following a boating accident. As a result of this, Matt is forced to become a proper father to his mischievous ten-year-old daughter Scottie and her troubled teenager sister Alexandra. Whilst trying to deal with his personal issues Matt is also involved with the sale of an expensive plot of land that was owned by his ancestors. As the lawyer, it's his job to trawl through the legal paperwork and make the ultimate decision whether he and his cousins should sell and to who. Events get even more complicated when Alex reveals that Elizabeth was cheating on Matt with smarmy real estate agent Brian Speer to the extent that she was about to ask him for a divorce. The film then follows Matt's quest to track down Brian, bond with his daughters and decide what to do with the land. At the film's heart is a story about the bonds between family which is represented both through Matt's relationship with his daughters and his decision regarding his ancestral land. I think that Payne and his co-writers did a good job at looking at a man who had essentially been passive all of his life and turn him into someone who had to be active. In a way this is the sort of film I would have a liked A Serious Man to be as Matt King is similar to the protagonist from the Coen Brothers' film. But, thanks in part to Payne's script, you grow to like Matt and his daughters as the film goes on.
A big part of why the film works is due to George Clooney's performance as Matt, in which he changed his image from the debonair film star. Elsewhere in the blog we've seen Clooney play everything from smooth-talking astronaut to intelligent fixer but The Descendants sees him alter his style. Matt is instead quite ineffectual at points and Clooney brilliantly displays his character's hopelessness especially in regards to raising his daughters and Elizabeth's situation. Despite altering his style, Clooney's vocals are still as silky as ever and they are well utilised to deliver several of the film's key monologues. I did feel at times as if Payne, Rash and Faxon were cheating at times by heaping a dollop of exposition onto our plates, but Clooney's delivery is so flawless that it doesn't really matter. Lending able support is Shailene Woodley, who earned a Golden Globe nomination and became a breakout star through her role as the damaged Alex. Woodley and Clooney share a believable chemistry and the scenes between their characters are thoroughly touching. One of my only issues was the fact that Alex had to be accompanied by the frankly useless Sid, a surfer dude who in my opinion served very little purpose. Due to the fact that The Descendants is filmed in and around Hawaii, The Descendants also has some great locations to work from and cinematographer Phedon Papamichael utilises these throughout the film. Further contributing to this theme is the Hawaiian music-heavy soundtrack which I found utterly pleasurable. Whilst The Descendants contains very little in the way of twists and turns it's a lovely little character study on the meaning of family. It also includes one of George Clooney's best performances to date and if you're worried that we haven't had enough of him yet then you're in luck because the next post is dedicated just to him.
But for now we skip two years into the future with Nebraska which, like Sideways, was another road trip film. Interestingly it was the first of Payne's films in which he wasn't actively involved with the screenwriting and instead the script came courtesy of Bob Nelson. Payne had been touted as the director of Nebraska for many years but it was only after completing The Descendants that he decided to work on the film. The key protagonist in the film is Woody Grant, an alcoholic man with two sons and an incredibly outspoken wife who believes he's come into a million dollars. In fact, Nelson establishes right from the start that Woody's money doesn't exist and in fact it's simply a scam set up by a magazine company. Nevertheless, Woody is determined to get to Lincoln, Nebraska to collect his winnings and his younger son David decides to accompany him. In my opinion, Nebraska is as much David's story as it is Woody's as his reason for the trip is to get away from his Montana hometown following his recent break-up. David is another classic Payne protagonist in that he is unlucky in love, has a lowly job as a hi-fi salesman and has a lot less success than his anchorman brother. Along the way David learns that Woody never really wanted children and that he really wasn't bothered about marrying his now wife Kate. The majority of the film's action is set around Hawthorne in Nebraska, Woody's hometown, where he experiences a family reunion of sorts. Despite David's protestations, everybody believes that Woody has won the money and soon people are bothering David asking for money that they loaned to Woody at one time or another. The culmination of the film's story is incredibly sweet-natured as Woody inevitably doesn't get the money he started out wanting but instead gets an even better gift.
I've written a lot about casting choices over the course of this blog and Nebraska line-up of actors certainly benefits the film in the long run. The studio allegedly wanted big names to play the roles of Woody and David, but Payne argued otherwise. Vintage character actor Bruce Dern was chosen to play Woody and earned himself a Best Actor nomination as a result. Dern perfectly portrays Woody as a man who is detached from society for the most part, but who is revealed to have been quite the womaniser in his day. Dern is completely believable as the former alcoholic and you can absolutely understand how he's alienated his family. I personally feel that Dern is at his best when conveying how much the prize-winning letter means to Woody as he frantically reads it throughout the film. Saturday Night Live regular Will Forte was similarly a lesser-known star but really turned in an excellent turn as the begrudgingly compliant David. Forte makes David a character who is easy to sympathise with even though you understand that he's sometimes his own worst enemy. Completing the trio of fine performances is the wonderful June Squibb, who like Dern was given an Oscar nomination for her role as the outrageous Kate. Squibb really portrays Kate as a force-of-nature and she easily makes you believe in her character's backstory. Nebraska is given even more charm by the fact that its shot in black-and-white which makes this traditional story seem even more old-fashioned. I personally felt that this technique really set the film apart from all of its contemporaries and it definitely felt apt for a film from Payne. Although it took a while to get going, Nebraska was funny and poignant look at father-son relationships and once again included a central male character who was detached from the rest of the world.
Next up we have the promised return of George Clooney in his roles as both performer and producer.
Continuing the theme of the previous post we focus on two more films which concentrate on young women struggling with growing up whilst dealing with the worst that life throws at them. Unlike the our two female protagonists in the last post, the two young ladies that take centre stage this time are both growing up in small rural communities. Once again both performances propelled the two young ladies to stardom and they both earned a Best Actress nomination in the process.
We kick off with a young lady who would go on to mega-stardom shortly after making a name for herself in the Best Picture nominated Winter's Bone. I'm talking about Jennifer Lawrence who was a relative unknown when she was given the lead role in Debra Granik's Winter's Bone. In the film Lawrence plays Ree Dolly, a seventeen-year old girl living in the rural Ozark Mountains who has been forced to become the carer for her younger brother and sister. This is primarily as her drug-dealing father is often away for many months at a time whilst her mother is portrayed as having mental issues of some kind. Whilst it's clear that Ree longs for a normal life, she's decided that looking after her family has to take priority. That's why Ree has to resort to desperate measures to track down her erstwhile father after he's put up the family's home as bail for an upcoming court case. Her father's failure to turn up later puts the house at risk, so Ree is forced to seek help from her extended family who are all scattered across the local area. The only problem is that her family is portrayed as a cagey bunch at best with her Uncle Teardrop being a particularly loose cannon. As the film progresses, Ree's hopeless search gets more fraught and at one point she encounters a violent attack. Throughout the film Granik portrays Ree as being a young woman who is wise beyond her years but at the same time is completely out of her depth. I personally believe that the film climaxes with a rather violent scene at a cattle fair and after that the film sort of loses its way.
One element of the film that never wavers is the fantastic performance put in by Jennifer Lawrence who, like the two young ladies in the last post, features in almost every scene. Ree is certainly a girl of few words and therefore Lawrence is forced to give a very physical performance. Lawrence's Ree is almost as raw as the gritty scenery that surrounds and adds to the mystery of the piece. However, while she portrays Ree as hunter and gatherer, Lawrence is also keen to show Ree's softer side. The scene in which she pleads with her mother to help her is splendidly done as are the moments in which she attempts to toughen her siblings up. Lawrence was rightfully nominated for her role in the film and in my opinion should have won the award. As the downright unbalanced Uncle Teardrop, John Hawkes received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor which was more than deserved. Hawkes has since carved a career as playing charismatic but dangerous characters and he's able to showcase exactly what he can do here. I also enjoyed the performance put in by Dale Dickey who played one of the area's more dominant women and later came good in helping Ree on her quest. As I already mentioned, the Ozark region almost becomes a character in itself as the hostile nature of the landscape fits in well with the hostility that Ree experiences from the majority of the characters. Although the film does go downhill towards its conclusion there are still some tense moments and a rather tender one involving Ree and Teardrop. Ultimately this was the film in which Lawrence made her name and one that would later land her roles in both the X-Men and Hunger Game franchises.
As I've already covered, Jennifer Lawrence did go on to win her Oscar two years later with a performance which wasn't half as great as the one she gave in Winter's Bone. Amongst the actresses she beat was nine-year-old Quvenzhané Wallis who made history as the youngest ever nominee in that category. In my opinion Wallis' turn as Hushpuppy in Beasts of the Southern Wild was better than Lawrence's and certainly contained a lot more subtlety. The community in Beasts is certainly a little warmer than that of Winter's Bone as we move from the Ozark mountains to a small Louisianan Bayou. Hushpuppy and her father Wink live in a small community known as 'The Bathtub' which is a place full of light, excitement and wonder certainly when seen through the youngster's eyes. What I like about Beasts of the Southern Wild is its feeling of innocence as nearly all of the events are seen through the eyes of Hushpuppy. So for example we learn early on that Wink is ill as we see him returning home in a hospital gown however we're never sure what is condition actually is. Beasts also draws on recent tragedies in Louisiana, such as Hurricane Katrina, as the Bathtub community live through a storm but then find themselves trapped. Although I loved the magical realism that Beasts had in droves I did feel the pacing of the story slightly trailed off in the film's final act. Hushpuppy's brief search for her mother didn't really go anywhere although I did like the ambiguity of her meeting with the chef who may have been her mum. This small setback is more than rectified with a heart-breaking final scene which sees Hushpuppy overcome tragedy once again as she looks set to rule the Bathtub once and for all.
Beasts of the Southern Wild is one of those little films that could and I'm so glad that it got highlighted at the Oscars. In fact, for a small budget film such as Beasts, it did tremendously well scoring nominations in the Picture, Director and Screenplay categories. However for me it was Wallis that totally made the film as she was on screen almost the entire time. She displayed a maturity of an actress at least double if not triple her age and not once did I not believe anything that she went through. Wallis' brilliant facial expressions combined a childlike innocence with the experience of a girl who'd learnt plenty of life lessons through her father. In the role of Wink, non-actor Dwight Henry was absolutely convincing as the man who was trying to keep his community together at any cost. Whilst in actuality Henry is a baker, I felt he did a better job than most professional actors and I'm a little annoyed that he didn't receive any recognition from the academy. The fact that the film is shot on 16mm adds to the realism of the piece as at times I felt I was watching a documentary rather than a fictional work. Cinematographer Ben Richardson takes you on a tour of the Bathtub making you believe that it's actually a real place. Dan Romer and director Benh Zeitlin's music for the film was incredibly uplifting and certainly set the right tone for the film as a whole. Although it's not perfect, Beasts of the Southern Wild still remains one of my favourite films from the past couple of years. It's hard not to watch most of it with a big smile on your face whilst it's certainly a film that is memorable both for its visual flair and more importantly that fantastic central turn from Quvenzhané Wallis.
Next time we turn the focus from young women to middled aged men as we take in a double bill from a director we've met before.
Throughout the last five years it appears as if Oscar has focused on films with young female protagonists who feel like strong role models for the modern generation. Although they experience numerous hardships along the way, the majority of them end up succeeding in life with some lessons learned by the time the end credits roll. This is certainly true of two Best Picture nominees from the 2010 ceremony with teenage girl protagonists who go on personal journeys. Although the characters and films are very different, both girls struggle with growing pains and by the end of the film have a better idea of who they are. The films also featured lead performances from two relative newcomers who both were nominated for their roles in the respective films and in my opinion both deserved the award more than that year's eventual winner Sandra Bullock.
The first of these two newcomers was Carey Mulligan who absolutely dazzled in her role as sixteen-year-old schoolgirl Jenny in An Education. Jenny starts the film as quite a well-behaved young lady who lives quite a grey life in the suburbs alongside her strict father and quiet mother. Despite living on the outskirts of London, Jenny experiences very little outside of attending school concerts and translating Latin texts. That's until she meets the suave married man David who introduces her to an exciting world of art auctions, greyhound races and dinners in jazz bars. Once focused on getting to Oxford University, Jenny discovers that there's a world out there that she hadn't been aware of before. However, as the film progresses we learn more about David's dodgy dealings and later discover the truth about his home life. An Education is based on the experiences of journalist Lynne Ramsay who experienced a similar affair in the 1960s. However when I read her work it seemed that she'd grown bored of the David character and was instead drawn to his friends Danny and Helen. Nick Hornby's script does reflect this as Danny and Helen do seem a lot more interesting than the one-dimensional David. Danny feels slightly more dangerous whilst ditzy airhead Helen is a wonderful creation as she is the complete antithesis of Jenny but seems to delight in having a new playmate. One issue with Hornby's script appears to be a problem with how exactly to end it. After Jenny has an emotional downfall she finally picks herself up again however her request for help from a former teacher feels a little contrived. However, I can forgive Hornby these sins as altogether An Education benefited from a having a well-paced story which balanced comedy and drama very well.
However, An Education's main draw was Mulligan's central turn as she brought Jenny to life in a fantastic way. Mulligan's fantastically expressive face told you all you needed to know about how Jenny was feeling and let you see just how much her character was enjoying her new life. At the same time she brilliantly conveyed all of Jenny's fears and her wish to grow old before her time. Mulligan benefited from a fantastic cast most notably Alfred Molina as her stick-in-the-mud dad who was constantly complaining about how much money she was costing him. Molina's character's transformation when David came on the scene was marvellously done by the actor and I feel the moment between he and Mulligan towards the film's end was very touching. Rosamund Pike breathed life into Helen making her feel more sympathetic than your typical movie bimbo. Elsewhere fine support was provided by Emma Thompson as Jenny's headteacher and by Olivia Williams as her straight-laced teacher. If there was one weak link in the cast then I'd have to say it was Peter Sarsgaard primarily as he couldn't maintain his British accent throughout the film. Although Sarsgaard got across David's insecurities I'm not quite sure why an American had to play the role over an Englishman. The period setting was also enhanced thanks to Paul Englishby's soundtrack which hinted at the dawn of the swinging sixties. Indeed An Education was well-designed throughout and ably directed by Lone Scherfig. Although nominated in several categories at that year's Oscars, An Education failed to triumph in any of them; however Mulligan did pick up a BAFTA for her tremendous performance. Ultimately An Education is a well-made coming-of-age story that's easy to watch and features one of the best star-making turns in recent history.
However, while Mulligan did have to convey some emotional issues during an education, it was nothing compared to the hardship that Gabourey Sidibe portrayed during her turn as the titular overweight teenager in Precious. As a character, Precious has suffered basically every setback imaginable from living with an abusive mother to having been made pregnant on two separate occasions by her rapist father. Precious' mother Mary is an ogre of a woman and physically and mentally abuses her daughter whilst in addition lies about the occupants of her house in order to keep her welfare cheque. Things change for Precious when she enrols in an alternative school and finally finds a maternal figure in Ms. Blue Rain who teaches a small group of girls. Precious' classmates become a sort of makeshift family and through time she grows in both intelligence and confidence. Following the birth of her son Abdul, Precious finally stands up to her mother and is aided by Ms. Rain in finding somewhere else to stay. However, there are more knockbacks for Precious when she discovers that she is HIV positive due to the fact that her father also had the disease. What I liked about Precious was, even though it was heavy-going, it was still an easy watch. Director Lee Daniels intersperses Precious' many tough situations with fantasy sequences she invents to block out the pain. At just over ninety minutes long, Precious never outstays its welcome and the plot, which is based on the story 'Push' by Sapphire, is well-paced. More than anything else I fully sympathised with Precious and wanted her to leave the abusive landscape behind her and find a new life for her and her children.
I think part of the reason I sympathised with the character of Precious so much is due to the fantastic turn by Sidibe. Unlike Mulligan, Sidibe had never acted before and got her role in the film following an open casting call. I think the fact that this is Sidibe's first on-screen role adds to the realism of the film and helps to contribute to the innocence of the character. As Precious often has to silently react to what's going on around her, I feel that Sidibe's body language told more of the story than most of the dialogue did. Additionally I found that she was equally comfortable in the fantasy sequences in which she was tasked with being a lot more animated than she was in the main body of the film. As Precious' abusive mother Mary, Mo'Nique won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar that year. Primarily a comic actress, Mo'Nique surprised a lot of people by being totally convincing as the despicable chain-smoking beast who tortures her daughter for events beyond her control. I felt that Mo'Nique proved her worth in the final scene in which her character is required to explain her actions in regards to her daughter's wellbeing. Precious also has a fine supporting cast including Paula Patton who was gave a warm performance as the kindly teacher who takes the troubled teenager under her wing. Another surprising turn came from the usually glamorous singer Mariah Carey who stripped back her look to play no-nonsense social worker Ms. Weiss. Whilst the social worker role was initially intended for Helen Mirren, I felt that Carey added some bite to the part and when I first watched the film I didn't even realise who was playing Ms. Weiss. It's fair to say that Precious isn't exactly a feel-good film however it does have a positive message and I found it surprisingly easy to watch. Whilst visually the film is nothing special, the performances from Mo'Nique and especially Sidibe are the reason that Precious is well worth a watch.
Next time two more films with young female protagonists who have to deal with various issues whilst living in the wilderness.
As we touched on earlier with Avatar, one of the biggest themes over the last five years has been the reintroduction of 3D to the modern cinema audience. Although not every film fully utilised the medium those that did have to be admired for employing modern technology in such an impressive manner.
One of the films that successfully used 3D to its advantage was Ang Lee's Life of Pi, based on the so-thought unfilmable novel by Yann Martel. The Pi of the title is an Indian native living in Canada who narrates his story to a character known as 'the author' who in fact turns out to be Mantel himself. Although Pi tells Martel several stories from his youth, where he grew up in a zoo, the majority of the film's narrative is based around the journey his family took from India to Canada. During their time at sea, the boat they were on sunk and Pi got free alongside several of the animals. Lee's fantastic visual effects team perfectly captured these scenes, which in other people's hand could've felt quite trite. I feel it's also a testament to Lee as a director that he made the scenes of Pi at sea as engaging as they were. A good hour or so of the film is dedicated to Pi's journey back to land and the problems he had sharing a boat with the zoo's tiger who had been named Richard Parker. Although I never saw the film at the cinema myself, it's fair to say that those that did were treated to some fantastical 3D. Scenes of the night sky lit up by fireflies and an island inhabited by a thousand meerkats were just two of the highlights throughout the course of Life of Pi. The final scenes brought the film back to reality to an extent as Pi told Martel a shorter story about what realistically could've happened to him instead. Here the animals become people from the ship where Pi himself embodies the characteristics of Richard Parker, however there's a final little twist that apparently didn't appear in the book.
This was my second time watching Life of Pi and on both viewings I had the same sort of response. Visually the film is perfection and therefore I'm not surprised that the film was nominated in all of the technical categories at the Oscars. Lee's helming of the project earned him his second Best Director Oscar and I believe that this is more than well-deserved. Anybody who can make a film that contains an hour of nothing but a teenage boy, a tiger and a boat has to be applauded. The fact that this film is one of the most visually engaging in recent memory is just a testament to Lee's artistic vision. At the same time the narrative in Life of Pi is very slight and therefore at times it's hard to give it your full concentration. The majority of the story is packed into the first third of the film in which Pi narrates stories of his early life to Martel. After the shipwreck, Life of Pi becomes more of a survival film albeit one narrated by the protagonist himself. Of the cast I felt that Irrfan Khan did a great job at anchoring the piece as the adult Pi whilst Gerard Depardieu put in a memorable cameo as the ship's cook. However it was relative newcomer Suraj Sharma who deserves the most recognition as he gave a mesmerising turn as the teenage Pi. The fact that Sharma would've been working against a green screen for the majority of the production just proves to you what an accomplished performer he is. Ultimately Life of Pi exploits the visual medium of cinema for all its worth leaving you with many memorable scenes most notably those including the film's infamous tiger. However, I can't say I was gripped throughout the course of the film and could've done with a little more narrative meat to complement Life of Pi's outstanding ascetic charm.
Next time we look at two films that were nominated in the same year that dealt with the growing pains of two very different teenage girls.
