13 February 2009

Skandies: #9



Picture: In the City of Sylvia (108/10)
Director: Arnaud Desplechin, A Christmas Tale (127/13)
Actress: Asia Argento, The Last Mistress (107/12)
Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Redbelt (101/8)
S. Actor: Brendan Gleeson, In Bruges (123/11)
S. Actress: Olivia Thirlby, Snow Angels (98/10)
Screenplay: Jenny Lumet, Rachel Getting Married (120/13)
Scene: Bathing the kids, Silent Light (60/6)



[Found this looking spectacular on YouTube—for better results go the page and watch it in high quality. I kinda violated my own rules for this category by voting for this, since I wouldn't show it at our annual clip party and can't imagine it plays well out of context, but oh well.]

HISTORY:

Desplechin placed 17th in 2005 for Kings & Queen.

Ejiofor gets his third nod and his highest placement yet, having previously finished 14th for Dirty Pretty Things (2003) and 17th in Supporting for Serenity (2005). Gleeson likewise has two previous top 20 appearances: 11th in Lead for The General (1998) and 15th in Supporting for 28 Days Later (2003). Thirlby is new (though this performance seems like it was ten years ago to me, as I saw Snow Angels a good six months before Juno), and Ms. Argento has never before made the cut—perhaps because she can only posture, not act, but never mind.

Rachel Getting Married is Lumet's first produced screenplay.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, whatever Mike. Sometimes a posture is all you need. Just ask Christopher Walken. Or freakin' John Wayne.

(And actually, as I type this, it strikes me that Asia's an anomaly since this charisma-over-versatility mode has historically been a boys' club.)

Anonymous said...

We have a winner in the best poster category. How fitting that it's for the best film of the year, too.

Good job five other voters in recognizing the finest filmmaking in SILENT LIGHT. Makes me wish Reygadas would leave his plots, pretentions, provocations, and lens flares behind and just focus on detail work.

There are other charisma-over-versatility gals working today, Michael. See: J-Lo and Drew Barrymore for starters. And then there's Beatrice Dalle. She doesn't even need charisma. She commands attention just by walking into frame.

md'a said...

No double standard here—I don't generally respond to male posturing either, and while I sometimes enjoy Walken and Wayne I wouldn't be likely to throw many of their performances points in a survey o' excellence.

Argento is actually not bad in Last Mistress, but the Pavlovian drool her hollow badassitude inspires from critics annoys the fuck out of me.

Anonymous said...

1. Chiwitel Eijofor this far up is the most pleasant surprise so far; I liked REDBELT as much as I did because of his (and Mortimer's) work despite Mamet's thematic obsessions getting in the way.

2. I voted for Thirlby myself, but the best work she did this year was in the direct-to-video THE SECRET, which is a lot more interesting than the generic title and video box art indicate; think Ghost meets Freaky Friday, played more-or-less straight.

Anonymous said...

Fair enough, Mike. And truth be told, my feelings about purely iconic acting used to be very much in line with yours. With the help of Jack Smith (on Maria Montez) and Vern (on Bruce Willis), I've slowly come around. Oh, and those Warhol "superstars."

STEPHEN THE GOLDBERGER said...

"[I] can't imagine it plays well out of context"

You got that right. I haven't seen the movie and that clip makes it look so incredibly boring, I can't imagine enjoying it.

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