Amelia Vanishes from Awards Radar

Yeeeeeaaaaahh. Well, Amelia isn't looking like a winner. It's sitting at a 20% over at RT, so I think it's safe to say we won't be seeing much of it come awards season. Ah well, there are always disappointments, and Fox Searchlight's been hiding it away like some sort of shameful secret, so it's not too big a loss. Hilary Swank's Best Actress hopes are shot, so there's still a bit of a race for the two slots that aren't filled by sure-things Mulligan, Streep and Sidibe.

Since you'll have some free time this weekend when you're not watching Amelia, check out this week's rental suggestion, Monsoon Wedding, a Mira Nair film that is all kinds of fantastic.

Best Actress Contenders

Michelle Monaghan's Money Quote

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When Monterey Media starts running FYC ads in Variety for Michelle Monaghan's performance in Trucker, a small film in which she plays a tough truck driver forced to take care of her estranged young son, they've got a great quote to put at the top of the page.
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Head on over to Roger Ebert's site to read the full, 4-star review of the film, in which he heavily praises Monaghan's performance:xxx

"Monaghan makes Diane more sad than off-putting. She isn't a caricature. She works hard, values her independence, is making payments on her small suburban home on an unpaved street, is living up to her bargain with herself. The movie spares us any scenes where she's "one of the guys." It opens after a one-night stand with a guy who tries to be nice, but she doesn't need a nice guy in her life. Nor does she need to be nice with Peter, but one thing she does do: She's always honest with him and speaks with him directly, and I think he knows that. Her performance clearly deserves an Oscar nomination. "

New Kids On the Block

This year is looking to be full of breakthrough performances from young actresses, with at least four potential star-making turns coming up in the next few months. Every year it seems like there are a few actors who break onto the awards scene and become the talk of the town. These four young women are all in line for a lot of attention for much talked about work in four very different festival hits.

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First is Abbie Cornish in Bright Star, the Jane Campion film about the poet John Keats and his romance with Fanny Brawne. Cornish has starred in a few other films - Candy with Heath Ledger and last year's Stop-Loss - but EW's Dave Karger says that this is her star-making role. The film's debut at Cannes garnered quite a bit of attention, with Variety stating Cornish delivered "an outstanding performance." The Hollywood Reporter sang her praises too:

"Cornish has the acting skill to match her striking beauty and she makes the small loving gestures that the British might call soppy both real and touching."

Campion directed both Holly Hunter and Anna Paquin to Oscar wins in 1993's incredible The Piano, and Barbara Hershey to a nomination in Portrait of a Lady. Cornish could be the fourth woman to make a trip to the Academy Awards with Campion, but she'll have some stiff competition. Bright Star's limited release is scheduled for September 18th.

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Katie Jarvis landed her role in Andrea Arnold's Fish Tank after a casting agent saw her having a heated argument with her boyfriend at a train station and asked her to audition. She plays Mia, a troubled and aggressive working-class teen with a passion for dance and her mother's new boyfriend.

Those who have seen the film have been wowed, especially by Jarvis' performance. Guy Lodge's review for In Contention said Jarvis brought "vivid physical charge to the character" and called her "an astute and fully-formed actress (not to mention a great dancer) in her own right".

Fish Tank tied for the Jury Prize at Cannes, and has US distribution with IFC Films, though no official US release date has been named. UK theaters will begin playing the film this Friday.

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Carey Mulligan in An Education has been the one to keep an eye on since Sundance. She plays Jenny, a young girl torn between a college education and a romance with a much older man who shows her the ways of the world. Jeffrey Wells over at Hollywood Elsewhere has been ecstatically shouting her name from rooftops since he attended a screening if the film in January:

"I know that special old-soul-mixed-with-youthful-effervescence quality that you see in very few actors and actresses over the years, and trust me, Mulligan has it. A wondrously true and satisfying film has broken out of the Sundance '09 pack, and a brand-new actress with just the right face and just the right approach and precisely the right touch of sadness in the corners of her mouth has hit one out of the park."

Mulligan's performance and the film have been capturing the hearts of almost everyone who sees them all year, with Mulligan widely thought to be the one to beat in this year's Best Actress race. Something about her is charming and winning, and I have to admit this is the performance I'm most anxious to see this year. Look for it in theaters October 9th.

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Another Sundance hit, Precious, stars Gabourey Sidibe in the title role. Precious is an illiterate Harlem teen pregnant with her second child by her father. She endures physical and emotional abuse from her mother and endless, cruel bullying from her peers over her obesity.

Most of the talk has been of Mo'Nique and her brutal performance as a montrous mother and Mariah Carey's non-glamorous role as a social worker, but Sidibe has earned raves as well. From the Hollywood Reporter:

"As Precious, Sidibe is superb, allowing us to see the inner warmth and beauty of a young woman who, to her world's cruel eyes, might seem monstrous."

It's a brave first performance to be sure. Precious hits theaters November 6th.

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All four names are sure to be floating around quite a bit as we come into the awards season. As far as Oscars go, Jarvis is a long shot due to her film's obscurity, and Sidibe will have a rough time keeping up with Mo'Nique's powerhouse performance. Mulligan is supposedly good enough to be a lock, and Cornish's chances are bolstered by the genre strength of the doomed period romance.

Sight unseen, my money is on Mulligan and Cornish, who will be battling it out in the coming months for the impressive newcomer vote.

As I've said, I'm most interested in Carey Mulligan, who's been drawing comparisons to Audrey Hepburn (who had her own breakthrough with Roman Holiday) for months. Who are you most excited about? Are there any other newcomers on your radar?

Oscar Trivia #3

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Former Academy president Gregory Peck made a controversial decision back in 1968. He allowed Barbra Streisand to become a voting member of the Academy without the usual two-year wait period following a first film release.

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She then voted for herself in the 1968 Best Actress race, causing a tie. Katharine Hepburn in The Lion in Winter and Streisand in Funny Girl were the first ever exact tie winners.

Best Actress, 2004

You may or may not have noticed that I've been watching and profiling the films that had Best Actress nominees back in 2004 over the past week or so. In my reading about this year's Oscar contenders, I've come across a number of people who feel that not one, but BOTH of Hilary Swank's Oscar wins have been undeserved.

As someone who thinks she does great work given the right material, I was a little surprised. So I decided to revisit her most recent win and decide for myself, after watching all the nominated performances, whether or not she deserved to take the Academy Award home that year. Here are my thoughts.

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Annette Bening in Being Julia
This was the only performance of the five that I had not seen when I started this project last week. Annette Bening is always a wonder to watch, and this is no exception. She plays Julia Lambert, an actress who becomes bored with stardom and looks to fill the void in her life with an affair. Bening is terrifically funny in a rather boring film, and has a joyful presence that helps her handily outclass the rest of the cast. She plays a few characters here, in a sense, as an actor playing an actor always does, but I don't feel like the part asked much of her. It's a light film, and I think her performance is less effective because the material doesn't require a true showcase of her enormous range. It's a great and entertaining performance, but it doesn't speak to me on an emotional level. ***/4

Catalina Sandino Moreno in Maria Full of Grace
Catalina Sandino Moreno was one of the last actresses director Joshua Marston came across while casting his film about a Colombian teen who gets involved in drug traficking in the hopes of forming a better life for herself. What a find. Moreno has some beautiful moments here. Her performance rings painfully true, and I found myself wondering about the actress' background. Are there echoes of her real life in the script? I don't know. She is eerily focused during every moment of her performance. Moreno is also fantastic at thinking onscreen. Watch this movie and notice that there is always something going on in her expression. Even in silent scenes she shows an intelligence that is essential in understanding how and why Maria does what she does. I would have expected bigger things to have happened in Moreno's career after this shocking and phenomenal first performance. Hopefully there are more great roles on the way for her. ****/4

Imelda Staunton in Vera Drake
Imelda Staunton is one of my favorite British actresses. Before Mike Leigh's terrific Vera Drake, I'd only seen her in small (yet enormously entertaining) roles. Mrs. Jennings' daughter in Sense and Sensibility. Lady Viola's nurse in Shakespeare in Love. Here, though, she gets the chance to really show off her talent. Vera Drake is a wife and mother in 1950s England. She's a big-hearted woman who helps everyone she can in any way she knows how, including helping women terminate unwanted pregnancies. Staunton plays Vera Drake splendidly. She's a cheerful, happy woman, who we immediately love and support, despite the fact that she performs criminal acts every week. The story and the rest of the characters fall into place specifically because of her performance, which conveys love and heartbreak effortlessly and powerfully. It's the role of a lifetime, and Staunton adds an unsettling dose of humanity to the controversial subject of abortion. ****/4

Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby
Hilary Swank plays Maggie Fitzgerald, a poor waitress from southern Missouri whose dream is to become a prize fighter. She's the only smart and driven member of her hillbilly family, and she won't rest until she makes something of herself with the help of trainer Frankie Dunn. Hilary Swank is perfect. She nails every moment on screen, from Maggie's earnest pursuit of Frankie's help, to her determination in her training, to her heartache as she seeks the love and acceptance of her mother. We feel every bit of hurt and triumph with Maggie, and it's so heartbreaking when the light inside her gets snuffed out that I break into sobs during the third act. Swank's performance packs an emotional blow to rival any knockout punch she throws as Maggie. ****/4

Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Kate Winslet is my favorite actress ever. I mean that. She's been #1 on my list since I was ten years old and no one has ever come close to unseating her. Her role here as Clementine, an unstable woman who erases her boyfriend Joel from her mind, happens to be my favorite of her performances. When Joel decides to have Clementine erased as well, we follow the procedure through his memories of their tumultuous relationship, and Winslet's performance is key. A less capable actress would have been lost not only in the brilliant maze of a screenplay, but in the character's frequent and severe ups and downs. Not Winslet. She's the sole reason the journey through Joel Barish's mind works. We identify with his frustration with the compulsive and exuberant Clementine, and ten minutes later we understand why he fell in love with her in the first place. ****/4



Final thoughts: Though this was an extraordinarily strong year for actresses, this is an easy call for Swank. I think the main reason people are upset about this win is that it makes two times she (deservedly) beat Annette Bening for the Oscar glory. While I agree that Bening is overdue, I don't think Julia Lambert was an Academy Award-worthy role.

Here's how I'd rank them:
1. Swank in Million Dollar Baby
2. Winslet in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
3. Staunton in Vera Drake
4. Moreno in Maria Full of Grace
5. Bening in Being Julia

Trucker Buzz

I've just caught wind of a small film called Trucker, which has been making the rounds on the festival circuit this year. It stars Michelle Monaghan as Diane, a loose and carefree truck driver who indulges in one-night stands and drinking binges until her estranged young son is dropped at her doorstep.

Monaghan's performance has garnered praise from most everyone who has caught the film so far, and some are speculating that this could be an awards caliber performance from the actress, whose former credits include Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Gone Baby Gone, and North Country. Writer-director James Motttern cites her performance in the latter as the reason he cast her in Trucker.

“I tried to make Trucker for a few years. One problem I was always faced with was finding a lead actress that really spoke to me on a gut level. I looked for a long time. Then I saw Michelle Monaghan in a movie called North Country. Her performance in that film is outstanding. But there’s this one scene where the character she plays is
standing outside her trailer saying good bye to Charlize Theron’s character and
the camera holds on Michelle for a beat, not saying a word; I saw that and it hit me like a freight train - 'There she is. Diane.'”

Looks like we have another one to keep an eye on. Here's the trailer for Trucker, which is scheduled for release on October 9th.

BEING JULIA

Based on the novel Theatre by W. Somerset Maugham
Screenplay by Ronald Harwood
Directed by Istvan Szabo

Annette Bening
Jeremy Irons
Shaun Evans

Premiere date: October 15, 2004
R for some sexuality.

Julia Lambert is a true diva: beautiful, talented, wealthy and famous. She has it all - including a devoted husband who has masterminded her brilliant career - but after years of shining in the spotlight she begins to suffer from a severe case of boredom and longs for something new and exciting to put the twinkle back in her eye. Julia finds exactly what she's looking for in a handsome young American fan, but it isn't long before the novelty fling adds more sparks than she was hoping for. Fortunately for her, this surprise twist in the plot will thrust her back into the greatest role of her life - being Julia.

National Board of Review
Best Actress - Annette Bening

1 Academy Award Nomination
Best Actress - Annette Bening

MILLION DOLLAR BABY

Based on short stories by F.X. Toole
Screenplay by Paul Haggis
Directed by Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood
Hilary Swank
Morgan Freeman

Premiere date: December 15, 2004
PG-13 for violence, some disturbing images, thematic material and language.

Frankie Dunn has trained and managed some incredible fighters during a lifetime spent in the ring. The most important lesson he teaches his boxers is the one that rules his life: above all, always protect yourself. In the wake of a painful estrangement from his daughter, Frankie has been unwilling to let himself get close to anyone for a very long time. His only friend is Scrap, an ex-boxer who looks after Frankie's gym and knows that beneath his gruff exterior is a man who has attended Mass almost every day for the past 23 years, seeking the forgiveness that somehow continues to elude him.

Then Maggie Fitzgerald walks into his gym.

In turns exasperating and inspiring each other, Frankie and Maggie come to discover that they share a common spirit that transcends the pain and loss of their pasts, and find in each other a sense of family they lost long ago. What they don't know is that soon they will both face a battle that's going to demand more heart and courage than any they've ever known.

National Board of Review
Special Achievement Award - Clint Eastwood
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7 Academy Award Nominations, 4 Wins
Best Picture
Best Director
Best Actor - Clint Eastwood
Best Actress - Hilary Swank
Best Supporting Actor - Morgan Freeman
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Film Editing

A Star Is Born

As part of the same series that brought the Penelope Cruz interview a few days ago, The New York Times now has a video of one Ms. Carey Mulligan, who is on everyone's Oscar radar this year with An Education. Keep an eye on this one. She's headed for the big time.

Penelope Is One To Watch. Again.

Penelope Cruz is quickly becoming one of my favorite actresses.

It seems after years of struggling to make a place for herself in Hollywood, Cruz has finally found a balance that works for her. Volver was her turning point. Finally everyone is taking her talent seriously. She makes time to do Spanish films with close friend Pedro Almodovar, but also works in A-list American fare like the Woody Allen comedy Vicky Cristina Barcelona, for which she won her first Oscar last year.

This year she has two big projects. The first is her fourth collaboration with Almodovar, Broken Embraces, due out November 20th. There are some parallels between their new movie and their real-life relationship. Cruz plays an aspiring actress named Lena who develops a close bond with a filmmaker she idolizes.

Just five days later, Rob Marshall's Nine hits theaters. Nine is a film adaptation of the award-winning stage musical, which in turn was based on Federico Fellini's classic film 8 1/2. The story is again about a filmmaker, this time played by Daniel Day-Lewis, as he works on his ninth film and tries to juggle his relationships with the many women in his life. Cruz will play Carla, the filmmaker's mistress, in her first musical. It's a role that won Jane Krakowski a Tony in 2004. Could Penelope be making yet another trip to the Kodak this year? I think so.

I found this video recently and thought it was interesting. It's about a year old. In it Penelope talks about when she fell in love with the movies, her early obsession with Almodovar, and how attending the Oscars made her crave cheeseburgers. It's worth a watch, if you've got a few spare minutes.

Meryl As Julia

I saw Julie & Julia about a week ago and have to say I didn't enjoy it much, but Meryl Streep's performance is definitely going to be a major contender this year. Surprise, surprise, right?

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Streep plays Julia Child with an immense, irrepressible joy. The film follows Julia in 1950s France, enrolling in culinary school, mastering the art of French cooking, and striving to publish the first French cookbook written for Americans. Then there are these irritating interruptions in which some self-obsessed, whiny cubicle worker in New York, played by Amy Adams, tries to cook her way through Child's revolutionary cookbook in one year. This part of the movie doesn't work. At all. Thank goodness for Streep's lovable Julia Child. Every time she graced the screen the audience I watched it with was overcome with the giggles.

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This is without a doubt a wonderful performance from Meryl. She and Stanley Tucci, as Julia's husband Paul, are the reasons to see this film. Their chemistry as the married couple they portray and as actors is perfect. Ms. Streep has another comedy Globe coming her way this year, and probably a 16th Oscar nomination as well.

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I know plenty of people are aching to see her with a third statue to add to her mantle. She hasn't won since 1982, after all, and you can't deny that she's one of the most brilliant actresses film has ever seen. But I can't help but hope she doesn't win this one. She's phenomenal here, to be sure, but I want her to win her third for a powerhouse dramatic role instead. Here's hoping she signs up for one soon.

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Also keep an eye (and ear) out for Meryl in It's Complicated, a Nancy Meyers comedy due in December, and the Wes Anderson stop motion animation feature The Fantastic Mr. Fox, to which Streep lends some voice talent.