Film Festival Circuit 2012

[GaryC]

I thought A Few Best Men passed the time pleasantly enough - it's not exactly Ernst Lubitsch, but... well, this is the first paragraph of my Sight & Sound review:

The British wood-stain manufacturer Ronseal famously promised that its product "does exactly what it says on the tin". Since it's clear from the marketing that A Few Best Men is a shameless Anglo-Australian attempt to cash in on the runaway success of The Hunger (2009), one would have every reason to expect a raucously unsubtle and deeply puerile comedy exploiting the countless stereotypes that the Poms and the Aussies have constructed about each other - and that's exactly what you get.

I may have been in a good mood on the day I watched it, but much of it is actually pretty funny - I particularly liked the drug dealer whose traumatic childhood is encapsulated by a tattoo depicting (in his words) "a little kid crying and his bastard parents leaving him for dead". And it's got Olivia Newton-John's most memorable performance in years, though I admit that's not saying much.

Thanks, Michael. I may give it a go sometime, though I suspect as a Lovefilm DVD rental. But don't you mean The Hangover?

[MichaelB]

I do mean The Hangover - dodgy transcription on my part rather than a mistake in the magazine.

And yes, I really wouldn't go out of your way to catch it, but I suspect I'd keep watching if I caught the beginning on telly.

[puxzkkx]

Massive update with Locarno, Montréal, San Sebastián and Venice stuff.

[repeat]

Um, shouldn't this list be updated..? Just a thought

If anyone's going, hope to hear reports about When Night Falls (Ying Liang) and Penance (Kurosawa). Also I'd recommend to check out Paradise: Love (Ulrich Seidl) - I'd say it's worth seeing regardless of whether one "likes" it or not; I still haven't decided...

[Adam]

go see The Act of Killing.

[puxzkkx]

With only the Comencini to go - and knowing that nothing made by either Comencini ever really makes waves - I'll do my final Venice predictions now.

GOLDEN LION - "Spring Breakers"
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE - "Pieta"
BEST DIRECTOR - Peter Brosens & Jessica Woodworth, "The Fifth Season"
BEST ACTOR - Joaquin Phoenix, "The Master"
BEST ACTRESS - Hadas Yaron, "Fill the Void"
BEST SCREENPLAY - "It Was the Son"
TECHNICAL CONTRIBUTION - "Lines of Wellington" for the production design
MARCELLO MASTROIANNI AWARD - Charles Metayer, "Something in the Air"

[criterion10]

GOLDEN LION - "Spring Breakers"

Does it really look like Spring Breakers may take home the Golden Lion? I'm a fan of Korine's work and the film looks rather good, so I certainly wouldn't mind. I know it was relatively well received, but it does seem like a very modern/hip pick for a prestigious festival like Venice to choose...

[domino harvey]

Golden Lion: Kim Ki-duk, Pieta
Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson, the Master
Best Actress: Hadas Yaron, Fill the Void
Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix, the Master
Best Screenplay: Olivier Assayas, Something in the Air
Jury Prize: Ulrich Seidl, Paradise: Faith
Best New Young Actor: Fabrizio Falco, È stato il figlio
Best Debut Film: Ali Aydin, Küf

[mfunk9786]

Corrections:

Phoenix and Hoffman split Best Actor. Anderson won the Special Jury Prize, and Seidl won Best Director.

[ianungstad]

Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that the jury, led by American filmmaker Michael Mann, was set to award the Golden Lion, the festival's top prize, to the Paul Thomas Anderson-directed feature, but because of a quirk in the festival's rules has decided to give the award instead to Korean director Kim Ki-duk's Pieta.

Apparently during the jury's first deliberations members decided to give The Master the top prize, as well as the Silver Lion directing award to Anderson and the acting award jointly to co-stars Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman. (Another international critics prize was also heaped on Master.)

But new festival rules apparently prohibit one film from garnering more than two major awards, so the jury was asked to re-deliberate to remove one of the awards. After what a source described as a heated session, the jury decided to take the Golden Lion away from Master and give it to Pieta.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Corrections:

Phoenix and Hoffman split Best Actor. Anderson won the Special Jury Prize, and Seidl won Best Director.

You sure? Variety says Seidl got the Jury Prize and Anderson got the Silver Lion (=Best Director), just as Domino posted.

[mfunk9786]

I was going by Guy Lodge's Twitter feed, he stated that they had to swap awards.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

Looks like it was the other way around -- they announced the Jury Prize for Anderson (which Hoffman even accepted on his behalf), but then they realized he was supposed to get the Silver Lion instead. Between this and the jury apparently not being made aware of a major rule until the very last minute, you've gotta wonder who's minding the store.

[Jeff]

Michael Mann explains what went down. Pretty clear that they wanted to give all top prizes to The Master.

[Cold Bishop]

Ah... if they wanted to award Phoenix and Hoffman, it makes more sense. Does Venice allow "special" awards? Because this certainly called for one.

[Jeff]

Lots of high praise for Looper, Anna Karenina, Silver Linings Playbook, with the latter two looking to factor into awards season. After earlier festival appearances, The Master, Frances Ha, and Amour continue to get great notices as well, with more muted appreciation for Something in the Air and Ginger and Rosa.

Much more mixed reactions on Cloud Atlas, which by most accounts is a mess, though many insist it's an interesting and accomplished mess.

Reactions to Derek Cianfrance's The Place Beyond the Pines have been mixed too, but Kevin Jagernauth (who posts here as Antoine Doinel) absolutely loved it. Focus just picked it up for U.S. distribution.

[Cronenfly]

Reactions to Derek Cianfrance's The Place Beyond the Pines have been mixed too, but Kevin Jagernauth (who posts here as Antoine Doinel) absolutely loved it. Focus just picked it up for U.S. distribution.

My reaction is similar to the Onion AV Club's: the film was way too schematically plotted/structured for my liking, and despite fine performances, editing, and cinematography, never really breathes enough to sustain its lugubrious tone.

Really enjoyed Silver Linings Playbook: an effectively loose adaptation of the source novel, and a welcome return to Russell's usual screwball pitch. Frances Ha also very very good: all the wit of Baumbach's more recent efforts but with the abrasive characterizations of Margot/Greenberg/Squid toned way down. Something in the Air never really comes together, but the way in which the film captures the characters' gradual remove from one another (and their revolutionary ideals) post-high school is captured about as well as any movie I've ever seen. The less said about End of Watch the better.

[warren oates]

go see The Act of Killing.

Care to say any more about this title, Adam or anybody else who may have seen it by now? A friend just sent me a link and in about 5 seconds it shot to the top of my must-see list. The idea alone would have gotten me, but with co-producers like Werner Herzog and Errol Morris, I can't imagine this won't be necessary and fascinating.

[Guido]

Saw The Act of Killing last week in Telluride, and it was without a doubt the best thing on the program. It's a devasting film, really, and its ethical stance(s) certainly did lead to endless condemnations from the middle-brow crowd, though I did find all of them confounding if not petty/ridiculous. The idea of a filmmaker giving the architects of a genocide a platform to happily re-enact their atrocities won't ever go down well with most, especially those who easily categorize their documentaries within a facile moral spectrum, but it's a must-see for those willing to truly investigate the endless complexities of the film. It struck a friend of mine to such a degree that he proclaimed it constituted a decisive turning-point in documentary filmmaking. Time will tell...

[warren oates]

Thanks Guido. You've somehow managed to make me want to see this even more. Here's hoping this gets picked up soon by an adventurous distributor who knows what to do with it. Cinema Guild? Oscilloscope?

[Cronenfly]

Silver Linings Playbook has won the People's Choice Award, which I think positions it very well indeed to win Best Picture a la Slumdog Millionaire/The King's Speech, especially as an alternative to the heavier stuff coming out this year like The Master/Lincoln/etc.

[Brood_Star]

I haven't seen either, but from what I've been hearing Argo's the major contender for the Oscar and TIFF staff just 'encouraged' people to vote for SLP.

[Adam]

Saw The Act of Killing last week in Telluride, and it was without a doubt the best thing on the program. It's a devastating film, really, and its ethical stance(s) certainly did lead to endless condemnations from the middle-brow crowd, though I did find all of them confounding if not petty/ridiculous. The idea of a filmmaker giving the architects of a genocide a platform to happily re-enact their atrocities won't ever go down well with most, especially those who easily categorize their documentaries within a facile moral spectrum, but it's a must-see for those willing to truly investigate the endless complexities of the film. It struck a friend of mine to such a degree that he proclaimed it constituted a decisive turning-point in documentary filmmaking. Time will tell...

Often the middle brow, or straight-forward doc audience, not trusting the moral compass of audiences, has that issue. Examples from the past are the documentaries that basically have a single, non-trustworthy portrait, such as Barbet Schroeder's films General Idi Amin Dada and Terror's Advocate. But they bring up the point of view that is really important for audiences to understand - people who commit genocide generally feel they are doing the right thing, and if we want to prevent genocide, we need to understand that and work on its prevention and the ethical teachings in advance. And that is surely complicated. If you have the time and inclination, this is brought up in a film that I co-produced, Worse Than War, about genocide globally, and still available to view on PBS or by rental.

[Jeff]

Silver Linings Playbook has won the People's Choice Award, which I think positions it very well indeed to win Best Picture...

I haven't seen either, but from what I've been hearing Argo's the major contender for the Oscar and TIFF staff just 'encouraged' people to vote for SLP.

Based on reviews and word of mouth, I imagine both are sure things for nominations (and maybe The Master too), but I'd wager that something "bigger" and showier that's an unknown quantity right now (i.e. Lincoln, Les Mis, Life of Pi, etc.) will end up stealing the show and winning the award.

[knives]

And poor Magic Mike won't be getting any of the nominations it deserves.