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.

MONSOON WEDDING

Screenplay by Sabrina Dhawan
Directed by Mira Nair

Naseeruddin Shah
Lillete Dubey
Shefali Shetty
Vijay Raaz
Tillotama Shome

Premiere date: August 30, 2001 (Venice Film Festival)
R for language, including some sex-related dialogue.

The majority of the film takes place inside the home of an extended Punjabi family living in New Delhi who has gathered together for the arranged wedding of Adita. She is to marry Hemant, a man who works in the United States. This means leaving her family home to go live with him, and though Adita says she welcomes the new opportunity, it is clear that she already feels homesick. Also at issue is the fact that she is still in love with her former boss, Vikram, a television producer who promises to divorce his wife but never does. Though Adita is careful to hide her true feelings from her family, her cousin Ria worries that she is marrying for the wrong reasons. Ria has issues of her own. She wants to go to school in the United States and become a writer, but her family would prefer her to follow a more traditional path, and they claim that money is the reason. Meanwhile, the rebellious wedding planner, P.K. Dubey is falling in love with the family maid, Alice. Sparks also fly between two of Adita's cousins, Ayesha and Rahul, who meet at the wedding and find that their conflicting values are a good challenge for each other.

Venice Film Festival
Golden Lion
Laterna Magica Prize