January 7, 2004

You know, Sundance is a lot of hard work. It’s fun and it’s great to see new films. But it is a slog.

But it’s going to be one hell of a relief to be away from the awards race for a week!!!

The DGA and PGA announcements set off the expected flurry of insanity. People are suddenly talking about Seabiscuit, kvetching about Cold Mountain and making a lot of big assumptions. Now, it’s always possible that a shortened Oscar season, six PGA nominees, the Golden Globes being awarded long after Oscar balloting closes, etc, etc, will mean nothing to the statistical analysis of the various precursors. But my theme this year remains… “who knows?”

What was true a year ago remains true today. The Lord of The Rings: Return Of The King still seems to be the clear front runner. There is no “next” movie. If by some circumstance the film comes up short, it will be backlash and which of the other five nominees wins will really be up for grabs.

What was true four months ago remains true today. Lost in Translation is a critical favorite that still makes people unsure because it is so young and so intimate. Mystic River has a load of prestige. Fox believes deeply in Master & Commander. In America is a long shot because it has no stars.

This also remains true. If Seabiscuit makes it, it will have made it because people really, really liked it. If Cold Mountain doesn’t, it will be because they really, really didn’t.

The Last Samurai would be a massive surprise at this point, as would Big Fish and House of Sand & Fog. Each of those films was very well received at the BFCA’s Ten Best Fest this last week. But none of the trio seems to have found a stable constituency.

Of course, the great thing for the trades is that the seven contenders still standing are from seven different studios.

Someone sent me Roger Friedman’s Cold Mountain gulping column from Tuesday, apparently hoping that it would set me off on a rant against Miramax. I had already seen the piece and, as stupid as some of it is, I didn’t think it was on the offensive side of Friedman’s range as a braying, self-serving jackass. (If the saddle fits…) He tries to write off both Sean Penn and Bill Murray with his classically back-handed style. But so what? I actually think that Jude Law gives a great performance in the film. I would be happy to see him in a competitive race. But he should have been nominated for Road To Perdition. Does that miss mean anything? Who knows? All I know is, his performance is far too subtle to win much of anything. His Cold Mountain co-star, who gives one of the worst performances in modern awards history, is far more likely to win because she wakes the audience up, and she manages to stop just short of making farting sounds with her armpit.

As attacks on reality go, this is a mild one. My favorite line is “the word I hear from more voters and fans than I care to count.” I wouldn’t count them either if I could do it on one hand.

Cold Mountain is down, but hardly out. One thing is clear… a nomination would be honor enough.

CORRECTING WELLS: Jeffrey Wells of FilmAnus.com was kind enough to credit me with coining a new phrase for experiencing movies. But I figure it’s a good idea to explain what I actually meant and not allow Jeff’s version of the idea to suggest anything I would espouse.

The idea of needing “recovery skills” to do a proper job as a professional commentator on film really comes from the idea that many film critics fail to get past bumps in the road in films and start to disconnect and spend much of the running time picking a film apart instead of watching it carefully and trying to understand what the intent of the art was, however failed the effort.

Jeffrey has positioned this as a necessary tool for poor, pained critics to overcome failed work. Woe is he (or she) who has to suffer the cruelty of a filmmaker who just plain sucks. And I guess that is part of the concept. Some films are really trouble.

But the context that was important to me was literally expressed by Jeff over the weekend. He made it about 25 minutes into Finding Nemo before being so bothered by the photo of the brace-faced little girl who was going to receive little Nemo as a birthday gift made him decide that Pixar had thrown itself into the fire of Hades. Of course, he had no way of knowing that the joke of the wild child had on-screen time of about 3 minutes of the overall film.

Now, I won’t argue that a slightly more subtle characterization wouldn’t have been preferable, though I found the girl kind of funny. But how can a professional allow that small piece of the puzzle to take him out of the movie completely?

Likewise, how could the “fe-fi-fo-fum” scene in In America become the anchor around the film’s neck for this writer?

If any small element can take you out of the movie, you are going to miss a lot of quality work. And to argue that there is nothing in a movie like 21 Grams to take you out of the reality of the film is really just a lie. There are suspensions of disbelief in every film and tacit agreements to let some theatricality be theatrical. Even in documentaries, editing must be considered.

Recovery skills are the skills to get past the bumps, whether your own or the filmmaker’s, and to fully embrace the work as you experience its entirety. Finger pointing is a good sign that you’re not handling your recovery very well.

READER OF THE DAY: SEAN WEITNER of Flak Magazine sends in some more depth on the fracas at the WGA this week: “I always thought that was a good candidate for a remake; it's about a town that's demographically perfect, an exact model of America (i.e. if 42% of Americans think the President is doing a good job, 42% of Magic Town residents think the President is doing a good job). Jimmy Stewart is a pollster or something who stumbles onto this gold mine of a focus group. I forget what the complication is, but with so many suburbs looking like mimeographs of one another, it seems like there's a place here for some good satire. Maybe from the Stepford crew, if they don't mess that up. (The trailer is encouraging, at least, although I find it hard to believe that Nicole will still do Bewitched after doing this.)”

THE LEVERAGER writes: “Interesting that you provided a long negative rant about a film you had not seen...very AICN. I went to see the movie with a friend who is an aficionado of silent films and Dracula. His opinion: of the few hundred vampire movies he has watched (and I believe he has seen so many--his video collection alone fills up a storage shed) this placed in his Top 10. Each passage may not be brilliantly realized (the climactic battle is not well-structured) but there are many gorgeous moments, and a lot of humor in the set design, choreography, lighting and script: the vampire hunters' flashlight dance; a vulva portal; an amusing blood transfusion; and the coolest -- our Virgin in 'Pages from a Virgin's Diary' is a man. Everything dances in the movie--even the light stands. All to a Mahler score. I think it is a worthy movie, and you should check it out.”

WELL KEPT IN FRISCO writes: “The Station Agent was a delightful surprise. This quirky movie has it all - great performances, a unique script and premise - just a great movie all around.

My wife and I were also pleasantly surprised by Big Fish. Tim Burton flashing his lighter side with great success. Terrific acting, some unexpected twists (Danny DeVito need look no further for his perfect role) and a bittersweet feel-good story.

Return of the King - While I give it solid marks, as a huge fan I have to say I was disappointed. Round three could not possibly live up to expectations when the first two were so great, and to me this felt the most "movie-like" (not a good thing) of the three. All the criticisms (losing Christopher Lee, weak multiple endings, etc.) are true. It did have some absolutely stunning shots - the shots of the mountaintop signal fires being lit from Gondor to Rahan was one of the most breathtaking shots I've ever seen. Jackson did an unbelievable job bringing this story to life but in my opinion if ROTK wins Best Picture or if he wins Best Director this year the academy is rewarding the trilogy, not this movie.”

E ME: Hit me, baby, one more time.

Monday - December 29 - The Movies You Didn't See, But Should Have
Tuesday, December 30 - The Ten Worst Films Of 2003
Wednesday, December 31 - The Best Runnes Up Of 2003
Wednesday, December 31 - The Best Films Of 2003
Friday, January 2– Reflections on a New Year