Paul Newman - 1925-2008

With each new year, we often take time to reflect on the events that shaped the previous year. As movie fans, the artists, who will no longer grace us with their talent, are often on our minds. This Weekend’s Film Festival celebrates five such performers. Four of the films feature the actors whom passed, while one celebrates the life of a notorious screen icon. We have two male screen icons. A man who became famous for needing a bigger boat. A young man who we lost too soon. These performers will be missed.

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Whatever you think of Roman Polanski, he is certainly a survivor. Marina Zenovich’s documentary about the famed director ROSEMARY’S BABY and CHINATOWN makes one wonder how he does it. His parents were murdered during the Holocaust. As a boy he was forced to survive on the streets of Nazi-occupied Poland. His beautiful wife Sharon Tate and his unborn child were slaughtered by Charlie Manson’s devotees. Then he went into a self-imposed exile in Europe after pleading guilty to having unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old, after providing her with booze and drugs.

Many people remember that final chapter vividly, tainting his image forever. Zenovich’s film doesn’t attempt to venerate Polanski’s actions, only paint the full picture. Polanski didn’t flee to avoid punishment. He pled guilty, submitted himself to a psychological review, and then even agreed to a 90-day psych evaluation at Chino State Prison. What he ran from was a judge more interested in his own public image than service justice. This isn’t only filmmaker Zenovich’s opinion, but that of defense attorney, Douglas Dalton; assistant DA, Roger Gunson; and Samantha Gailey Geimer, the young girl involved in the case.

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Celebrating its 45th anniversary this year, this live-action Disney production created an iconic screen character, created in an Oscar-winning performance by Julie Andrews. Set aside all the backstage rumors that the win has a slap at Audrey Hepburn getting the MY FAIR LADY lead that Andrews originated on stage, because Andrews shines as the proper, but magical, nanny. I don’t remember having seen the film as a child, but so many sequences feel familiar. Using the fantastic elements of musicals and animation, MARY POPPINS is overflowing with tunes that for better or worse won’t leave your head.

Jane and Michael Banks (Karen Dotrice and Mathew Garber) are two children who go though nannies like other children go through the knees in their slacks. Their father (David Tomlinson, THE LOVE BUG) is a banker, who runs his house by conservative rules and regiments. He has no time for unruly children. His wife (Glynis Johns, THE REF) has no time for anything other than the suffrage movement. So when the latest nanny quits, they need help with their little hellions quickly. That’s when Mary Poppins blows into town, literally.

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This satirical coming-of-age drama is awkward. Depending on your point of view that’s why I believe it has received a “love it or hate it” reception. Looking at it through my memories of puberty, the constant awkward feeling like everyone my age knew something I didn’t and my parents had never been teenagers feels just right. But looking at this film as an adult, I felt awkward toward its frankness toward its 13-year-old sex. Did it cross a line?

Jasira (Summer Bishil, upcoming CROSSING OVER) is just getting that hang of being a teenager. Her divorced parents are still fighting out their own teenage hang-ups and unfortunately Jasira is often the punching bag. She lives with her mother Gail (Maria Bello, THE COOLER). But when Gail’s boyfriend helps Jasira shave down there, her mom blames her and ships her off to live with her father Rifat (Peter Macdissi, TV’s SIX FEET UNDER), who tells her that only whores and married ladies wear tampons and then leaves her home alone night after night to sleep over at his girlfriend’s house. So often alone, Jasira takes up babysitting the bratty, foul-mouthed, racist next-door-neighbor kid named Zack Vuoso (Chase Ellison, MYSTERIOUS SKIN) who introduces her to his father’s porn collection. She likes it, and when Mr. Vuoso (Aaron Eckhart, IN THE COMPANY OF MEN) discovers this, he likes it too.

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Slumdog Millionaire Still Looking Like a Million in Oscar Best Picture Race

Oscar nominations are out. Going by my top 10 contender lists for Best Picture and Best Acting categories, there were no out of left field nominations this year. However that doesn’t rule out big surprises. THE READER over THE DARK KNIGHT was a big shocker. The lack of love for the difficult REVOLUTIONARY ROAD (which I believe upsets viewers so much that they confuse not liking that feeling with not liking the film) wasn’t too surprising, but Kate Winslet’s supporting work in THE READER getting a Best Actress nod over her challenging lead work in ROAD was. DiCaprio getting left out is just a repeat of TITANIC; only this time it’s one of his best performances.

Happy surprises came in the form of Richard Jenkins (THE VISITOR) and Melissa Leo (FROZEN RIVER) getting Best Actor and Best Actress nods. FROZEN RIVER also received deserved recognition in the Original Screenplay category as well. Leo’s nod for her indie work left out other indie contenders. Most surprising was Golden Globe winner Sally Hawkins for HAPPY-GO-LUCKY, another example of the Comedy/Musical GG category meaning nothing come Oscar time. Another indie performance left out was Kristin Scott Thomas in the little seen French-language film I’VE LOVED YOU SO LONG, which as of mid-December still looked like a near lock. How things change so quickly.

Other minor surprises popped up in the so often messed up categories of Best Foreign Language Feature (no GOMMARAH), Best Documentary Feature (no STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE) and Best Animated Short (no SKHIZEIN). A not-all-that-unexpected surprise happened in Best Animated Feature with BOLT sneaking in instead of the critically acclaimed WALTZ WITH BASHIR. But the latter Israeli film is the leading contender for Best Foreign Language Film. A little spreading the wealth possibly?

So because the big film buzz this week is all Oscars, I’m going to take an early stab at picking the winners for the major categories. When I’ve seen more of the films in other categories, I’ll return with a full list of projected winners closer to Oscar night on Sunday, Feb. 22.
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It’s nothing new for Hollywood to copy a hit to death. Following the success of HARRY POTTER every studio wanted its own fantasy franchise based on a best selling young adult book. Some trends are not always a bad thing, especially when it brings books like Cornelia Funke’s INKHEART to the screen. While the story seems better suited to the written medium, director Iain Softley (HACKERS) retains the sense of discovery and adventure that the source material has.

Mo Folchart (Brendan Fraser, THE MUMMY series) has a powerful gift (or curse depending on how you look at it). When he reads written words out loud items from the stories come into the real world. The problem is that he has little control over how it works. Folchart is a book collector and travels around the world with his daughter Meggie (Eliza Bennett, NANCY MCPHEE), looking for a copy of the rare book Inkheart, which seems to have something to do with the disappearance of his wife Resa (Sienna Guillory, ERAGON). But when he finally does find a copy, it sets off a strange series of events, which include a bitter and selfish fire-blower named Dustfinger (Paul Bettany, A BEAUTIFUL MIND), the lonely author of the book Fenoglio (Jim Broadbent, MOULIN ROGUE), one of Ali Baba’s 40 thieves named Farid (Rafi Gavron, BREAKING AND ENTERING) and the Inkheart villain Capricorn (Andy Serkis, LORD OF THE RINGS), who likes the real world’s riches and firearms. Also whipped along on the adventure against her will is Mo’s reclusive, but feisty, book-loving aunt Elinor (Helen Mirren, THE QUEEN).

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Woody Allen has been nominated for the Oscar 21 times. And he’s on the verge of adding another. He’s won twice for writing for ANNIE HALL and HANNAH AND HER SISTERS. He took home the directing award for HALL, and even earned an acting nod for his performance in that Best Picture winner. His movies, whether slapstick or crime stories or somber dramas, all deal with our interactions as human beings and how we reflect that on ourselves. On face value THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO is from another planet than CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS, but they both feel like they came from the same artist. Allen dialogue, wit and contemplations about life come through in all his work.

For this lineup celebrating this eclectic artist, we have his latest sex romp. We have a social climbing killer. We have a successful social mountaineer killer. We have a satire on the magic of cinema. And we have the love affairs of three sisters.

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At one point in Stephen Daldry’s THE READER, a teacher tells his class that the key element of Western literature is secrets. People keep secrets for noble reasons or selfish reasons or to conceal shame. Sometimes the reasons aren’t that clear. Michael Berg has secrets and so does his lover Hanna Schmitz. When they’re revealed how does that change the way they look at each other and themselves?

Michael Berg, played as a young man by David Kross and as a grown man by Ralph Fiennes (THE ENGLISH PATIENT), was fifteen when he came down with scarlet fever. A kind trolley toll taker named Hanna (Kate Winslet, REVOLUTIONARY ROAD) helped the young man home. When he is well, he takes her flowers to thank her for her kindness, which begins his obsession with the thirtysomething woman, who loves to be read to. Their affair consumes Michael, but he can’t reconcile his strong emotions with Hanna’s casual feelings toward him. As these kinds of affairs often do, it lasted a mere summer, but had a profound effect on Michael throughout his life. During law school, he sees Hanna again, as an accused Nazi guard. This revealed secret shakes his worldview, and his view of himself.

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When the haze of time clouds memory, it’s hard not to have Woody Allen’s films blend a bit. In addition to the filmmaker’s general tone and style, most of his films post ANNIE HALL deal with relationships and morality. But when looked at more closely, each film has something distinct to say. Despite dealing with infidelity, insecurity, and narcosis, common themes for his films, HANNAH AND HER SISTERS is Allen’s most uplifting film.

Allen builds his drama around the love lives of three sisters. Hannah (Mia Farrow, ROSEMARY’S BABY) is the oldest, motherly sister, who’s married to restless middle-aged Elliot (Michael Caine, SLEUTH). Elliot fantasizes about Hannah’s sister Lee (Barbara Hershey, HOOSIERS), whom is no longer excited with her older, serious husband Frederick (Max von Sydow, THE EXORCIST). Hannah’s youngest sister Holly (Dianne Wiest, BULLETS OVER BROADWAY) is a fledgling actress, who’s unlucky in love. Hannah tries to be supportive, but seems to constantly touch on Holly’s insecurities. She even tries to set her up with her ex-husband Mickey Sachs (Allen), a successful TV producer, which goes terribly. Mickey is going through a spiritual crisis himself when the hypochondriac gets a real medical scare.

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Who’s the bigger villain up for Supporting Oscars?

Oscar nominations will be announced next Thursday. In previous Getting Buzzed columns, I looked at the top 10 contenders for Best Picture and Best Actor/Actress. Now I’m running down the top 10 contenders for Best Supporting Actor. There are about three locks in each category and a lot of uncertainty for the final few slots. Discover the buzz below.
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