Will Russia submit Andrey Zvyagintsev‘s Leviathan as that country’s Best Foreign Language Feature Oscar contender? Doubtful. I think it’s crazy for Russia to bury a film as good as Leviathan but Vladimir Putin and his governmental goons have their own views. I recognize that “doubtful” has been the general speculation since the film’s debut at the Cannes Film Festival two months ago, given the anti-Putin, anti-corruption current in the film. The repressive gangster attitude of the Putin government has spoken for itself time and again (and particularly today), and — I hate to admit this — the likelihood of official Russian support of Leviathan is probably nil. So Sony Classics can probably forget about an Oscar bounce when it opens the film down the road (i.e., probably early next year).

Make no mistake — Leviathan deserves such a bounce. Last May I called it “a drop-dead brilliant, awesomely-composed-in-every-respect melodrama and moral tale that concurrently serves as a microcosm of (or metaphor for) a morally compromised, ruthlessly malevolent, bare-knuckled Russia. Vladimir Putin will love it! (Kidding.) Political corruption, lust and infidelity, way too much vodka, blackmail and thuggery, gunshots, bromide-dispensing priests who kowtow to powerful scumbags, huge whale skeletons, crashing waves, rotting ships — this puppy has it all plus the aura of a majesterial art film plus opening and closing musical passages by Phillip Glass plus the most beautifully lighted, handsomely composed widescreen photography (by Mikhail Krichman) I’ve seen in a long time.”

True, a 5.23 AP story by Jake Coyle reported that Zvyagintsev has “disputed” that his film condemns present-day Russia, saying that the story “could have taken place anywhere in the world.” And yet producer Alexandre Rodnianski admitted in Cannes that Russia’s minister of culture, Vladimir Medinsky, “didn’t like the film after recently seeing it.”

In a recent sum-up piece about the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, Indiewire‘s Anne Thompson said that it’s “hard to believe” that Russia would submit Leviathan for Oscar consideration as “it is a harsh indictment of the rampant corruption that infects everyday life there…wall pictures of Vladimir Putin watch over everyone.”

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The great Elaine Stritch, 89, died today at her home in Birmingham, Michigan. A brassy, legendary life…a tough, candid, utterly unique performer who lived large. Here’s a piece I ran last March about Chiemi Karasawa‘s Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me: “[This] is one of the frankest and boldest docs I’ve ever seen (or would want to see) about what a bitch 87 years old can be. Karasawa’s film is admirably blunt and candid, but that Bette Davis line about aging being ‘not for sissies’ has never seemed more dead-on. This is no glossy showbiz portrait. Well, it is but it has more on its mind than just praise, and some of what we’re shown is unpleasant.

“I’m just being as honest as Karasawa’s film, okay? It’s not a walk in the park, this thing. But it’s quite tough and ballsy. And hats off to the subject for allowing the raw truth to come through.

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These movies aren’t just familiar, similar and long-running — they’re a genre. I’m a little amazed that they keep getting made when they all deliver more or less the same thing.

It was announced late yesterday that David Fincher‘s Gone Girl will open the 52nd New York Film Festival on Friday, 9.26. This was locked in several weeks ago. I’ve been told that another major award-season film from a respected, power-hitting auteur was firmed for the NYFF even earlier in the game, either last March or April. (One reason this film will not play Telluride is that the auteur’s last film was turned down by the Telluride team, or so the story goes.) I’ve also been told that a third big-deal title, also from a name-brand heavyweight, will also be shown at the NYFF, although not necessarily exclusively. The NYFF runs from 9.26 through 10.12. I’ll be attending between 9.26 and 10.5.

On 5.26 I noted that a clip from Xavier Dolan‘s Mommy, which will be shown within a 1:1 aspect ratio, seems closer to 1 to 1.2 or 1 to 1.3 — taller than wide. Ditto with this, the first official trailer. And yet if you tilt your head sideways it’s a perfectly square box. “It probably goes without saying that the popcorn-munchers are going to have a very slight problem with 1:1, like they’re being deprived on some level,” I wrote. “Many/most of us been conditioned to accept 1.37 as the official non-wide a.r. but the taller-than-wider illusion might (I say ‘might’) get in the way for some. Or strike them as visually precious.” Does Mommy have any kind of U.S. distribution deal? Not to my knowledge. (Pic will be distributed in Canada this September by eOne.) Honestly? If I was a distributor I wouldn’t touch Mommy with a ten-foot pole. The movie (or the portion I saw of it, about 70 minutes) is crazily original, but the aspect ratio is a killer. It’s too severe.

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A friend who’d never seen Lewis Milestone, Aaron Rosenberg and Marlon Brando‘s Mutiny on the Bounty (’62) said he’d be catching it tonight at the New Beverly, where it was being shown in 35mm. It won’t be worth it, I replied. I like the idea of the New Beverly as much as the next guy, but it’s never been anything special projection- or sound-wise. It’s certainly no place to see a large-format film that was meant to be savored on a big, super-wide screen (if not at the ideal 2.76:1 aspect ratio then at least 2.55:1) with six-track, well-amplified directional sound. But I nonetheless imagined that Brando’s Bounty might look better than I expected, and so, like a moron, I went there tonight and took a seat in the second row. It looked like dogshit. Dupey, brownish tones, substandard projection lighting (I’d say around 8 foot lamberts, or 6 lower than the ASCAP standard) and nowhere near wide enough. The New Beverly doesn’t even present a true Scope aspect ratio (i.e., 2.35:1). It looked to me like 2.25:1. Robert Surtees shot Bounty in Ultra Panavision 70 (2.76:1), and his work looks terrific on the Warner Home Video Bluray. The New Beverly not only took a dump on Surtees’ efforts tonight, but on everyone who paid money to see their abysmal 35mm presentation. I left after ten minutes. My own damn fault.

A flattering approximation of how Mutiny on the Bounty looked tonight at the New Beverly — dupey textures, brownish colors, insufficient 2.25:1 aspect ratio. It actually looked worse than this, browner and less sharp.

Full-width Ultra Panavision 70 (i.e., 2.76:1) version of same frame, taken from the Warner Home Video Bluray.

Another approximation of tonight’s projected image at New Beverly.

Full-width Ultra Panavision 70 (i.e., 2.76:1) version of same frame

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This has been a bad filing day but I too saw Sex Tape the other night, and I have to say that while I only laughed once (i.e., a bit of slapstick about slugging a dog and knocking him unconscious), I wasn’t in pain for the most part. It’s very hard to make a frenetic slapstick comedy work, and this is a straight-ahead, not awful, reasonably inventive try. I don’t know how sexually risque the premise is, but it’s been launched with a fairly intelligent attitude and what I regard as self-aware, non-ludicrous dialogue. I felt marginally engaged, not bored, somewhat amused. How’s that for a quote line? “I didn’t laugh — well, I laughed once — but it didn’t make me feel miserable either” — Jeffrey Wells, Hollywood Elsewhere. I honestly liked it a bit more than 22 Jump Street, which I hated. There’s a cameo from a well-known funny man that is more than just a “cameo” — it’s a tender moment. More tomorrow.

“I wasn’t expecting that much from Lynn Shelton‘s Laggies (A24, 2.26). I was actually a bit fearful before tonight’s Eccles screening. Having more or less hated Touchy Feely, I thought she might be on a downturn. But surprise — Laggies is the best Shelton pic since Humpday (’09), and that was essentially a bromance. Laggies is a Keira Knightley movie aimed at women and couples, but I swear to God Shelton and screenwriter Andrea Siegel get it right. The only problem is that Knightley’s character lies her teeth off in almost every scene or something like 80% of the film. She doesn’t lie emotionally or behaviorally in our eyes but she’s almost constantly fibbing to…you know what? This needs a more thorough explanation and I can’t tap one out in the back of a moving cab.” — posted on 1.17 during Sundance Film Festival.

I hate the narrator’s voice at the beginning of this trailer. The guy thinks he’s narrating an apocalyptic disaster movie costarring Bruce Willis and Antonio Banderas. All purring machismo, that Don LaFontaine sound. He should try a little discipline. I like to tell myself that my carbon footprint is a bit less now that I’m mostly getting around on a 400 cc Yamaha scooter. (I only use the regular wheels when it rains.) I know I only spend $20 to $25 weekly for gas, if that. $10 or $12 per fill-up, two fill-ups per week if I’m really running around. Yes, I know — to be truly carbon-averse I should be walking or riding my bike all the time. But I don’t live in Amsterdam, you see.

Eddie Murphy did James Brown two or three times on Saturday Night Live, but the Delirious version is my favorite. 31 years ago and obviously old hat, but now it’s renewed hat with Get On Up opening on 8.1. How good is Chadwick Boseman‘s Brown? Pretty good, I’m hearing, but Murphy’s, for me, will always be the shit. How hard is it to do Brown? Just (a) get raspy and snappy and gravelly and (b) ignore your consonants. Concentrate on mood sounds rather than words.

As noted, so far the Get On Up trailers have emphasized the glossy peppy side of James Brown’s persona and performances along with a little taste of some underlying personal issues. They’ve also indicated that Chadwick Boseman was chosen to play Brown at least partly because of his charm and good looks. This new clip indicates a bit more, sombers things up, etc.

Sony Pictures Classics is distributing the two finest films I saw during last May’s Cannes Film Festival — Damian Szifron‘s Wild Tales (a.k.a., Relatos salvajes) and Andrey Zvyagintsev‘s Leviathan. They’ll surely be among the hottest contenders for the 2014 Best Foreign Language Feature Oscar. As per custom, SPC will almost certainly not release either this year as it’s wiser and cheaper to open them early next year, which is when Oscar deliberations in this vein are at their peak. I’d really like to see both play at Telluride or Toronto or at the New York Film Festival or all three. I’m sure they will but I’m mentioning it anyway. Both deliver — one humorously, one darkly.