Frozen River‘s Melissa Leo was handed the Breakthrough Actor trophy at last night’s Gotham Independent Film Awards, and River itself won the Best Feature award. With Leo also looking like a front-runner for a Best Actress Spirit Award, it is now up to the Academy to recognize reality (both artistic and political) and hand Leo a Best Actress nomination as well.
Gotham Awards at two-thirds mark, Cipriani Wall Street — Tuesday, 12.12, 9:10 pm. The breakthrough director prize went to Ballast helmer Lance Hammer. Zeitgeist Films’ Trouble the Water — the King Kong of hand-held video jiggle-nausea docs — won for documentary. And the unpronouncable, barely spellable Synecdoche, New York won for ensemble performance.
Tribute awards were given to Penelope Cruz, HBO ‘s Sheila Nevins (who asked me during the pre-party to please stop gesturing sharply with my hands, as one of my karate chops came very close to her head), and directors Gus Van Sant and Melvin Van Peebles.
The organization behind the east coast Gothams is the Independent Feature Project (IFP). The west coast Spirit Awards, which are handed out in February just before the Oscars, are run and fortified by Film Independent (FIND). IFP and FIND used to be the same outfit, but they divorced in 2006 over some issue involving organizational ego and bluster and territoriality.
I attended the Gothams at Cipriani Wall Street as well as the pre-party at the Museum of American Finance, which are right across the street from each other. (Wall Street is quite narrow, like a driveway.) I ran into several familiar faces — Richard Jenkins, Bob Berney, Melissa Leo, Fox Searchlight’s Peter Rice, Marina Zenovich, Roger Friedman, Michael London, Susan Norget, Jonathan Demme, Jeff Goldblum, Rosemarie DeWitt, Gus Van Sant, the Ballast guys, etc.
I actually arrived a bit early, which isn’t my style. I wore my black suit, tapered medium blue dress shirt, a plaid-y checkered blue-gray tie and a pair of deeply uncomfortable, Chinese foot-binding Aldo loafers that I’m thinking of giving away. The pork chop hors d’eouvres at the pre-party, served with a tangy mustard sauce, were luscious. Ditto a very flavorful sea-foody omelette that was served as an opening appetizer at Cipriani Wall Street.
“If Gran Torino does prove to be Clint Eastwood‘s acting swan song, he couldn’t have picked a better way to go out,” writes Pete Hammond in his latest “Notes on a Season” column. “As a grizzled, racist, foul-mouthed ex-Marine refusing to move from an old neighborhood now populated with Asians and overrun by gangs, Eastwood summons up memories from his past roles. Indeed, he’s channeled his whole screen persona.
“As his character stands in front of his house pointing his gun at a group of young toughs and utters lines like ‘Get off of my lawn’ — John McCain! — “or ‘Did you ever think you would be [expletive] with the wrong guy,’ you could almost see what Harry Callahan would be like when he hit retirement age.
“Gran Torino‘s Walt Kowalski is a proud man who squints and grunts and, like a descendant of some reluctant Western sheriff, takes a town now bullied by ‘outlaw’ Latino, Asian and black gangs and tears them a new one. Giving real dimension to what could have been an unlikeable Archie Bunker-style bigot, not to mention heart and a 21st century enlightenment that we all have to live together, Eastwood has taken Dirty Harry to a new place and delivered the ultimate valedictory.
“When he croaks the lyrics of the title song (co-written by son Kyle) over the end credits, audiences will be applauding not just a fine performance but also a remarkable screen career.”
I have to quit to get dressed and make my way down to the Gotham Awards event, which starts around 6:30 pm with a cocktail thing at the Museum of American Finance, followed by the full-on dinner and awards ceremony at Cipriani Wall Street, starting at 7:30 pm.
N.Y. Times reporter Michael Cieply reported this morning that Clint Eastwood “growls his way” through Gran Torino and that a “a sweet,labbie looking mutt” in the film is more personable than Eastwood’s grumpy war vet Walt Kowalski. And David Poland says in song verse (a) “hang yourself if you had money on this film for the win,” (b) “I don’t know just what went wrong,” and (c) “Mister, we could use a film like Unforgiven again.”
“First, let’s all just agree that The Dark Knight is the best picture of the year,” says the Dark Campaign‘s mission statement. “An unparalled and extraordinary achievement of filmmaking that only happens on rare occasions when lightning strikes. Audiences and critics were blown away by the riveting drama, the compelling performances, the amazing cinematography, and the startling way the film redefined cinematic storytelling in an epic crime drama about justice, society, and the nature of evil. Films like this only come along once in a lifetime.
“And yet it has an uphill battle ahead of it for Academy Awards nomination chances.
“Remember 1999? Some great groundbreaking films like Iron Giant, Fight Club, Magnolia, Election, Being John Malkovich, Talented Mr. Ripley, Man on the Moon, Run Lola Run, Three Kings. Well, guess what? Not a single one of them was nominated for Best Picture.
“So what this campaign aims to do is help turn the tide on those long odds. If people get out there and spread the word, on film sites, movie newspapers, oscar blogs, and forums all over the Internet, that the Dark Knight deserves Best Picture, then it’s bound to have an influence on Academy Voters (yes even they use the Internet). Even mainstream media might pickup the story, anything’s possible.
“So get out there and spread the word and don’t let a chance at making history for The Dark Knight pass by.”
David Poland says “some strong pushback” has been manifesting against Australia, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Doubt and Revolutionary Road in the Best Picture talking wars. But for pushback to happen a film it has to have made generated big expectations to begin with, no? In this sense Australia was absolutely never in the game. You could feel this weeks before it opened. And then it was shown and a fair number of people lost their minds.
The Button pushback is real. It was instantly detectable starting with those closely-watched-and-reported-on L.A. and N.Y. screenings. It’s a Best Picture nominee, for sure, but beyond that…
There is nothing but favoring wind right now for Slumdog Millionaire and Milk, it seems, and for whatever reason no one seems to be picking away at Frost/Nixon — it’s the older-viewer default choice. I was struck the other day by the precision of a sentence in a Frost/Nixon review by New Yorker critic David Denby — “I can’t escape the feeling that it carries about it an aura of momentousness that isn’t warranted by the events.” But there are no nip-nip-nippers out there saying this.
But whatever pushback may be out there against Revolutionary Road is so fundamentally lame, childish and bordering on pathetic — “It’s too gloomy” — that I feel sullied by the mere mention of it. A friend actually said that “people don’t want to watch a movie like this because of the economy”…God! I’ve seen Revolutionary Road three times and felt enveloped by a feeling of unusual poignancy with each sit. Sam Mendes gives it such poise, drawing each scene to such a fine point. And that Thomas Newman score keeps giving me the willies in a good way. RR may be the strongest deep-down penetration of the year for me.
Who exactly constitutes the alleged pushback against Doubt? Based on what lingering disappointments, exactly? Based on what unsatisfying element? This Glenn Kenny review pushes back against the pushbackers quite nicely
Lance Hammer‘s Ballast, Jonathan Demme‘s Rachel Getting Married and Courtney Hunt’s Frozen River each scored six nominations among the 2009 Film Independent’s Spirit Award noms, announced this morning.
HE winner picks are as follows.
HE’s Un-Nominated Best Feature Choice: The Visitor HE Runners-up: Frozen River, Rachel Getting Married, The Wrestler, Wendy and Lucy and Ballast.
HE’s Best Director Award: Tom McCarthy, The Visitor. Runners-Up: Jonathan Demme, Rachel Getting Married; Courtney Hunt, Frozen River; Ramin Bahrani, Chop Shop; Lance Hammer, Ballast.
No call on Best First Feature as I haven’t seen all of these : Afterschool (Antonio Campos, Sean Durkin, Josh Mond); Medicine for Melancholy (Barry Jenkins, Justin Barber); Synecdoche, New York (Charlie Kaufman, Anthony Bregman, Spike Jonze, Sidney Kimmel); Sleep Dealer (Alex Rivera, Anthony Bregman); and Sangre De Mi Sangre (Christopher Zalla, Per Melita, Benjamin Odell). Charlie Kaufman deserves respect for throwing caution to the wind and reaching for the sky.
HE’s John Cassavettes Award winner: In Search of a Midnight Kiss (Alex Holdridge, Seth Caplan, Scoot McNairy). Runner-ups: Prince of Broadway (Sean Baker, Darren Dean); Take Out (Sean Baker, Shih-Ching Tsou); The Signal (David Bruckner, Dan Bush, Jacob Gentry, Alexander Motlagh); Turn the River (Chris Eigeman, Ami Armstrong).
HE’s Best Screenplay Award: tie between Charlie Kaufman (Synecdoche, New York) and Woody Allen (Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Runners-up: Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck (Sugar); Howard A. Rodman (Savage Grace); Christopher Zalla, (Sangre De Mi Sangre)
HE’s Best First Screenplay Award: Dustin Lance Black (Milk). Runners-up: Jenny Lumet, Rachel Getting Married; Lance Hammer (Ballast); Courtney Hunt (Frozen River); Jonathan Levine (The Wackness).
HE’s Best Best Female Lead: Melissa Leo, Frozen River. Runners-Up: Summer Bishil, Towelhead; Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married; Tarra Riggs, Ballast; Michelle Williams, Wendy and Lucy.
HE’s Best Best Male Lead: Richard Jenkins, The Visitor. Special Surprise Merit Badge: Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker. Runners-up: Javier Bardem, Vicky Cristina Barcelona; Sean Penn, Milk; Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler.
HE’s Best Best Supporting Female Lead: Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Runners-up: Rosemarie DeWitt, Rachel Getting Married; Rosie Perez, The Take; Misty Upham, Frozen River; Debra Winger, Rachel Getting Married.
HE’s Best Best Supporting Male Lead: tie between James Franco, Milk, and Anthony Mackie, The Hurt Locker. Runners-up: Charlie McDermott, Frozen River; JimMyron Ross, Ballast; Haaz Sleiman, The Visitor.
HE’s Best Cinematography Award: Harris Savides, Milk. Runners-up: Maryse Alberti, The Wrestler; Lol Crawley, Ballast; James Laxton, Medicine for Melancholy; Michael Simmonds, Chop Shop.
HE’s Best Documentary Award: Man on Wire, James Marsh. Runners-up: The Order of Myths, Margaret Brown; Up the Yangtze, Yung Chang; Encounters at the End of the World
Werner Herzog; The Betrayal, Ellen Kuras & Thavisouk Phrasavath
HE’s Foreign Film Award: Gomorra, Matteo Garrone. Runners-up: The Class, Laurent Cantet; Secret of the Grain; Abdellatif Kechiche; Hunger, Steve McQueen; Silent Light, Carlos Reygadas.
I can’t do anymore…that’s it.
Or, in the parlance of “the Bagger,” Visitor “tchotchke.”
HE’s tech guy Brian Walker wants to do what he can to resolve the Typekey problems, but he says he needs to know more than just “it’s not working.” If anyone wants to describe in some detail what happens when they’ve tried and failed to post a response, it’ll probably help matters. I for one am able to post responses to what others have written, although I had some trouble a week or so ago. If Typekey keeps bugging out I might have to purchase a new program.
Nine or ten months ago Kevin Spacey declared himself an avid fan of 19 year-old singer Leon Jackson, who came out of nowhere a year ago after winning the grand prize on The X Factor, a British-styled American Idol show. Here‘s Jackson’s latest music video (no embed code) — a tune called “Creative.”
Spacey obviously responded to the guy because he’s a 21st Century Bobby Darin — an old-school big-band crooner in the finger-snapping, martini-sipping tradition of Harry Connick, Jr., Jamie Cullum, Michael Buble, Vic Damone, Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra.
Jackson is striking because his voice sounds much deeper and “older” than you might expect from a young skinny guy. (And short — he looks to be Darin- or Sinatra-sized, to go by the videos and photos.) And because he’s six months younger than my older son, Jett. His sound is a little schmaltzy for me, but within its particular sphere and fan base big-band crooning is apparently happening in a big way. In England, Canada, and, I’m guessing, here, although I don’t know anyone who’s a big fan. Okay, I know one.
I wrote Jett, who’s something of a trendy music-phile, and asked his opinion of Jackson. I assumed he’d have one, being a temporary resident of England and all, but he hasn’t heard his stuff, so that tells you something. Here‘s a page with Jackson’s music videos.
“My life is all about music,” Jackson says on his site. “I’m learning to play the guitar, writing songs and just immersing myself in music. I’m obsessed with contemporary jazz and my heroes are Harry Connick Junior, Jamie Cullum and of course, Michael Buble who has been such an amazing champion for me. I feel like I’ve lived 20 years in the past year because I’ve learnt so much and I can’t wait to get out there and let everyone know what I’ve been doing.
“I’m so grateful for every moment of my life. Every now and again I just stop and close my eyes to check it’s all real when I open them again.. I want to make every second count.” Good attitude. Bright future.
Saw it in Toronto, knew right away it was fine and solid, can’t write about it until tomorrow.
