Oscar Review - Philomena

I was surprised to see Stephen Frear's Philomena on the list of best Oscar nominees. This is not the comment on the quality of the film but based on the fact that it is not exactly a traditional best film contender. It doesn't have the expansive A-list cast of American Hustle and it doesn't delve into a deep analysis of historical or political issues in the same way as 12 Years a Slave or Captain Phillips. On the flip side, unlike other contenders with a similarly smaller a scope, such as Nebraska, it's rather conventionally written and directed. Perhaps it's ace in the hole was the enthusiastic support it received from Harvey Weinstein, arguable the pioneer of the modern Oscar campaign.

The film is based on the true story of Philomena Lee, an Irish woman seeking out any information on the child she gave up for adoption whilst being in the care of a catholic convent in the 1950s. She reaches out to Martin Sixsmith, a real life spin doctor and journalist, who then takes her on a (fictionalised¹) journey across the US in search of her long lost son. So, does it deserve to be on one of the best Oscar nomination list of recent times?

Oscar Review – Nebraska

Perhaps one day I will do a blog the difference between the greatest film ever versus ones favourite film ever. In short “the greatest” films tend to be large in scope or the important issues they confront though are often dense and lack a certain re-watachable quality (think Schindlers list or Lawrence of Arabia). Conversely, your favourite film may lack the scope or epic quality of the greatest films but are films you can watch over and over again (maybe I don't need to do a post now).

As far as the latter category goes my favourite film is, depending on my mood, 2004's Sideways by Alexander Payne. My affection for this film could (and possibly will) be the focus of another post but its explained, in part, by the fact that it's primary character is a depressed, unsuccessful, wine loving, borderline alcoholic failed writer (possibly don't want to over think that says about me). Given my borderline obsession with Sideways, Payne, perhaps unfairly, has an uphill struggle when it comes to impressing me. The Descendants, though a perfectly decent film, seemed to lack the both the edge and dark humour of Payne's 2004 offering. So, how well does Nebraska meet to my unrealistic demands?

Oscar Review – Her

If you are not familiar of what the term “High Concept” means; essentially it refers to being able to condense the premise of a film, book or whatever to a simple concept. The most cited examples of this tend to be “what if we cloned dinosaurs” or “Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito are twins”. Out of all of this year’s Oscar contenders, the High Concept conceit of “a man falls in love with his computer operating system” is perhaps the most eye catching. Her, directed by Spike Jonze, is about that very thing. I must admit that the high concept idea did worry me as I thought it could degrade into a pretentious, avant garde, post modernist, up it's own arse analysis of the meaning of love in a technological age or go the other way and be about an operating system being driven violently insane by jealousy. So what did Spike Jonze do with this high concept?

Oscar Review – Gravity (Spoilers)

In the same way the Oscar academy seems to have a thing for films with a period setting the flip side of this is their track record of overlooking Science Fiction films.  This is to the point where no film of that genre has ever won the top gong (though Sci Fi has often dominates the technical awards). This may be part of a wider cultural phenomenon of critics and filmy types not taking the genre seriously. This view has broken down somewhat in recent years with films like Inception and District 9 earning both critical acclaim and best picture nominations. Perhaps the best chance of breaking Sci Fi's long dry spell is with Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity.

The set up is simple enough. Sandra Bullock and George Clooney play two astronauts who, whilst on a space, walk are stranded after their shuttle is destroyed by a debris field caused by those damn Ruskies shooting down their own satellite. It's has been praised as a game changer in both special effects and 3D film making. So how does it stack up? 

Oscar Review - American Hustle

Period pieces often serve as Oscar bait. Having a quick scan over the best Oscar winners since the beginning of the eighties, it seems most have some kind of historical setting. From Gladiator to Titanic from Forest Gump to Lord of the Ringsⁱ the academy seem to like being taken into the past and meeting characters with period hair and clothing. American Hustle provides lots of period clothing and hair and is very aware of it's historical setting and my guess is the Oscar Academy will be impressed. Set in the late 1970s, David O'Russell's American Hustle is a fictionalisation of the Abscam affair, in which the FBI enlisted (in the film forced) con artists to entrap, um I mean, ensnare senior politicians in a bribery sting, using a fake Arab Sheik.

Following closely on the heels of O'Russell's heavily nominated Silver Linings Playbook and starring Oscar winners Christian Bale, Jennifer Lawrence and Robert De Niro and with nominees Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Renner and Amy Adams, you have to assume that the producers had the Oscars very much on their mind as they were pulling everything together. So I guess the question is this - does bringing together all this talent in one film actually work and does it deserve the accolades it so very desperately wants?

Oscar Review (analysis)– 12 Years a Slave

Note: Over the next couple of weeks I intend to do reviews of all 9 best film Oscar contenders. Most won't be this long but there is so much to be said about 12 Years a Slave that I thought I'd spend a bit of extra time on it. The following is as much of an analysis as it is a review.

I guess it's of note that there have only been a small number of mainstream Hollywood films that directly deal with the issue of Black slavery. Perhaps it's because America's “original sin” does not make for comfortable viewing for the average American cinema goer. It's of further note that of those films the central characters are often white. Examples such as Lincoln, Glory and Amazing Grace often tell the story of abolition from the perspective. Other films such as Ride with the Devil and Gone with the Wind often place the concept of slavery itself firmly in a supporting role to a central theme of the American Civil War. Even Spielberg's Amistad, a film in which Morgan Freeman and Djimon Hounsou play leading roles, still required a cast of white heroes to further the court room drama. I guess in the minds of Hollywood produces, the majority white cinema going public requires a leading character with whom they, as privileged white people, can relate.

I am not trying to devalue all the aforementioned films as the story of abolition, and white people's role in it, is a story that should be told. However, I think its important that it was not until recently that the mainstream Cinema going public was able to see slavery from the perspective of a black main character projected on the Big Screen. Tarantino had his own unique take on it with 2012s Django Unchained¹ and 2013 bought us 12 Years a Slave.