07 February 2012

Skandies: #12

Picture: Of Gods & Men (62/4)
Director: Martin Scorsese, Hugo (80/8)
Actress: Charlize Theron, Young Adult (87/10)
Actor: Steve Coogan, The Trip (82/9)
S. Actor: Kevin Spacey, Margin Call (90/10)
S. Actress: CĂ©line Sallette, House of Pleasures (105/8) [tie for #11]
Screenplay: Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash, The Descendants (55/6)
Scene: The end, Melancholia (69/8)

Not sure what the Russian-sounding voice is—dialogue translation, I thought, but a couple of lines nearer the end are ignored. Anyway, it's brief.

HISTORY:

Scorsese, tied with Soderbergh, has the 2nd most all-time appearances in the top 20, with six. (Joel and/or Ethan have the lead with eight.) This is the first time he's missed the top 10, as he previously placed 5th for Kundun (1997), 3rd for Gangs of New York (2002), 8th for The Aviator (2004), 1st for The Departed (2006), and 6th last year for Shutter Island.

Oscar winner (and Skandie winner) comeback! Theron finally gets her second nod, having placed (only) 5th in 2003 for Monster. Spacey, meanwhile, appears for the first time since winning Best Actor in 1999 for American Beauty; he also won Supporting Actor in 1995 (the initial year, when I employed an Oscar-style format but allowed people to combine multiple performances; both The Usual Suspects and Se7en were cited), and placed 6th in Supporting for L.A. Confidential (1997). If you'd told me after American Beauty that it was the last we'd see of him for a dozen years, I would have...I dunno, probably said "Really? You think so?" Coogan makes his fourth appearance, following recognition of his work in 24 Hour Party People (#3, 2002), Coffee and Cigarettes (#8s, 2004—one place above Alfred Molina in the same short), and Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (#14, 2006). Sallette is new.

The Descendants is Faxon & Rash's first screenplay, but Payne has never missed for a film he's also directed, though he's finally missed the top 10: 9th for Citizen Ruth (1996), 2nd for Election (1999), 6th for About Schmidt (2002), and 4th for Sideways (2004). That's yet another Screenplay finalist for a film that (thankfully) didn't place, by the way.

15 comments:

Joshua said...

When you wrote, "Payne has never missed for a film he's also directed," I wondered what the films Payne wrote that he didn't direct were. So I checked IMDb and found out.

I really would not have guessed that Payne had co-written those other films (which I'm not mentioning here, in case other people want to be surprised).

Nictate said...

So happy to see Sallette here. Nicely done, 7 other voters. In a bevy of troubled beauty, she managed to steal scenes with a haunting fragility.

Atli Sig said...

I'm pretty sure that in the case of both of those movies Payne co-wrote he was more of a script doctor, or wrote an original draft that went through a lot of change.

Jeff said...

Very pleased to see DES HOMMES ET DES DIEUX placing so high, but it is odd to see 4 votes and 62 points getting a film to the 12th spot.

Victor Morton said...

woo-hoo!!! ... 11 spots too low, but 9 spots higher than I've expected for about a week now. I thought this gonna finish 17-20 or not at all.

Wonder who the other two voters besides me and McCloud are? And there's some Passiondex in there ... one or both of those other two must've had it in their Top 5 at least.

md'a said...

Very pleased to see DES HOMMES ET DES DIEUX placing so high, but it is odd to see 4 votes and 62 points getting a film to the 12th spot.

Yes. Again, that's a result of the unusual consensus up at the top. Last year, the top 10 films received 1,577 combined points. This year, the top 10 films received 2,146 combined points. There's a 36-point gap just between #11 and #10.

md'a said...

Wonder who the other two voters besides me and McCloud are?

El Chuck and Dude From Nickelback.

md'a said...

Only just consciously realized that the title of Beauvois' film actually translates as Of Men & Gods. Was it reversed strictly for prosody's sake? That does sound odd.

Victor Morton said...

Stunned it took you this long to recognize (though the literal French would be OF MEN AND OF GODS ... which sounds even worse in English).

I suspect the influence of Steinbeck.

thanksbud said...

Good job The end. I suspect The beginning will place above it, although it is not as good in my opinion.

I almost gave scene points to The Last Supper in OF MEN & GODS but ultimately it was not as good as The Great Wise Wizard in YOU'RE HIGHNESS.

Victor Morton said...

"I almost gave scene points to The Last Supper in OF MEN & GODS"

You should have; it would have made the Top 20. But I forgive you ... in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti.

Also good call, giving this scene the same title I gave it.

md'a said...

(though the literal French would be OF MEN AND OF GODS ... which sounds even worse in English).

Depends how literal you want to be. All French nouns must have articles, so there'll almost always be clumsiness of that sort in sentences involving multiple nouns. But if you're not making allowances for the respective languages' different rules, then the more accurate literal translation would be Of The Men And Of The Gods.

md'a said...

Good job The end. I suspect The beginning will place above it, although it is not as good in my opinion.

Too bad about The middle.

thanksbud said...

But if you're not making allowances for the respective languages' different rules, then the more accurate literal translation would be Of The Men And Of The Gods.

Good job Xavier Beaumont employing the Vern-acular.

Mark said...

Or "Some Men and Some Gods"...