Picture: Carlos (133/13)
Director: Martin Scorsese, Shutter Island (167/16)
Actress: Birgit Minichmayr, Everyone Else (202/20)
Actor: Ryan Gosling, Blue Valentine (141/13)
S. Actor: Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right (105/11)
S. Actress: Amy Adams, The Fighter (152/13)
Screenplay: Maren Ade, Everyone Else (158/15)
Scene: Killing an Arab, A Prophet (75/7)
[Watch it here, if you feel you must. English subtitles need to be turned on below the video. WARNING: Gruesome. And it's in the wrong aspect ratio.]
HISTORY:
Scorsese won Best Director in 2006 for The Departed. He also placed 5th for Kundun (1997), 3rd for Gangs of New York (2002), and 8th for The Aviator (2004).
Gosling won Best Actor in 2006 for Half Nelson; he also placed 8th for The Believer in 2002. Adams previously placed 12th for Junebug (2005) and 15th in the lead category for Enchanted (2007). Ruffalo's history was detailed two days ago when he placed at #8 for Shutter Island. Minichmayr is new, and Ade's only previous feature was never released in the U.S.
12 comments:
#6 is a crying shame. Carlos should have been higher, and there's no reason Adams, Ruffalo or Gosling should have placed. What on earth is there in any of those performances, other than Indiewood brand recognition, that merits a single point? Gosling is particularly bad, and he's an actor I generally like quite a lot.
Carlos should have been higher
Perhaps it would have been, had you voted for it. But I suppose your objection is really more about the films still to come (all of which I liked considerably more than Carlos, personally).
there's no reason Adams, Ruffalo or Gosling should have placed. What on earth is there in any of those performances, other than Indiewood brand recognition, that merits a single point?
That seems unduly harsh. I bailed on Blue Valentine, but it wasn't Gosling's fault—from what I saw, his work in the courting half of the film was typically strong. (I was less impressed by his Shell of a Man.) And while I thought Ruffalo was much much better in Shutter Island (and was bummed that he didn't wind up placing higher for that film than for Kids, as looked likely at one point), it's to his credit, I think, that I wound up feeling so angry at the way his donor Dad was ultimately scraped like gum off the sole of the movie's shoe. I didn't vote for either one, but their presence doesn't seem absurd to me.
As for Adams, for whom I did vote, her unexpectedly flinty turn was The Fighter's most interesting element, I thought. It's an odd Girlfriend Role, in large part because Wahlberg is such an unusually passive protagonist; she winds up having to carry a lot of the weight you'd expect him to carry, and she manages it in a way that feels unforced and natural. Also she looks awesome in a see-thru bra.
I bailed on Blue Valentine, but it wasn't Gosling's fault—from what I saw, his work in the courting half of the film was typically strong. (I was less impressed by his Shell of a Man.)
I echo MD'A's sentiments regarding Gosling. He was very winning and believable during the courting scenes. As with ALL GOOD THINGS, as soon as he got the faux receding hairline and unattractive glasses of the post-salad days, his acting went south into self-conscious stiffness with a quickness. That said, I had trouble filling my actor spots on the ballot this year, so it was more because of a weak field that Gosling appeared on my list.
It's an odd Girlfriend Role, in large part because Wahlberg is such an unusually passive protagonist;
Glad to hear someone else found Wahlberg unusually passive as the protagonist in THE FIGHTER. I’ve been confused by his performance being praised. To me it looked as if he was repeating this mantra in his head over and over the whole film: “I’m just this guy, ya know?”
Any praise for THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT confuses me, including Ruffalo’s work. He was fine and certainly affable, but nothing special. His nuanced reactions in SHUTTER ISLAND were a thing of beauty, enriching the emotional texture of the film (especially when revisited in repeated viewings).
Feel the need to stick up for Wahlberg who seemed to recognized that he was caught in an onscreen battle of "who can act more?" between Leo and Bale. I got the impression that Ward spent his entire life being pushed out of frame by the various screeching gargoyles and rubber-faced, meth-heads and Wahlberg spends the entire film not just growing into the role of a champion (to use a moldy sports cliche) but accepting the role of protagonist of his own story. He seems like he's waiting for Bale to rush in and do something Oscar-baity (or Skandie-baity as may be the case) and steal the scene away. It's only when Dickie's behind bars and off-screen for a long enough period of time does Wahlberg begin to assert himself. It works for the character.
Agree w/ everything else Mike said, particularly the bit about Amy in a bra.
Also, any chance you'll post the 5 "nominees" in advance as in year's past?
The overwhelmingly idiotic scene where Ryan Gosling threatens to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge should, in polite society, prevent anybody from taking either his performance (I gather that particular slice of bogus ham is improvised) or the film seriously. 6th best posing with a fucking Ukulele of the year, maybe. Mind you, he was worse in Half Nelson.
I regret forgetting to consider Mark Ruffalo for SHUTTER ISLAND. Mea culpa.
We'll have to agree to disagree where the three performances are concerned; I think these thespians' various takes on working class in-the-moment living left me flat, all in different ways.
As for CARLOS, yes, it didn't make my shortlist. And two finalists, DOGTOOTH and WINTER'S BONE, are better films. However, CARLOS is considerably better than MOTHER (old fashioned historical modernism over clever-clever script trickery), and it is tons better than SOCIAL NETWORTH or BLECH SWAN.
However, CARLOS is considerably better than MOTHER (old fashioned historical modernism over clever-clever script trickery), and it is tons better than SOCIAL NETWORTH or BLECH SWAN.
Subjectivity is fun! My turn. Um, Amer is tons better than, oh, say, Wild Grass*. BOO-YA! You got served!
* (Which I just rewatched and liked a bit better but still find on the whole to be unprofitably random. A number of striking shots seem entirely unmotivated, as if Resnais is just trying to keep himself awake. Tried viewing it as a pathological take on the romcom per your Scene review, could only make that reading fit in occasional bits and pieces.)
CARLOS is considerably better than MOTHER (old fashioned historical modernism over clever-clever script trickery)
I still can't believe what a bullet I dodged by not forcing pretend internet bigamy on you, Michael S. (BTW, the sapphire blue satin drapes look great, MD’A. Positively billowy.)
While watching CARLOS I felt like Assayas was keeping me so at arm’s length with his furrowed brow effort, it was as if I reading a book on clinical science. At one point I realized, “Hey, I’d really rather *actually* read a book about the Jackal than watch a minute more of this film.” Which is why I gave up early in the proceedings and endured the Twitter scolding that followed. No regrets to this day.
MOTHER not only pleasantly jarred me with its “trickery,” it moved me in surprising ways. I never felt it was being clever to be clever, while I did feel CARLOS straining to impress with its Epic Ambition.
I read on Twitter that Gosling's BV perf was too method. I'm still holding out for Christos Stergioglou, Thierry Guetta, Alex Karpovsky, Michael Cera, Jonah Hill and Johnny Depp.
P.S. Every no-nudity clause should come with a see-through bra provision.
I should retract some of my bitching. Considering how utterly rotten the 2010 release slate was, the final five are pretty strong, and I only actively dislike one of them.
My problem with Mother, which remains a film I actually quite a lot, is that Bong's genre moves and Hitchcockian skills don't carry the emotional stakes that the film tells us they should. There's a high degree of impressive sleight of hand, and a lot of grand opera, but it's finally a rather cold enterprise that doesn't seem to think that's what it is. The Host had more emotional heft, and tried a lot less hard.
Subjectivity out.
"There's a high degree of impressive sleight of hand, and a lot of grand opera, but it's finally a rather cold enterprise that doesn't seem to think that's what it is."
Apart from that last clause, I could have written that myself bud. And MOTHER is one of my year's favorites. "A cold grand-opera with lots of sleight of hand" sounds like a winning combo to me, as long as the sleight eventually adds up and is always fair-in-the-moment.
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