17 February 2015

Skandies: #8


Picture: The Babadook (113/11)
Director: Alain Guiraudie, Stranger by the Lake (119/12)
Actress: Isabelle Huppert, Abuse of Weakness (100/9)
Actor: Timothy Spall, Mr. Turner (101/13)
S. Actor: Noah Wiseman, The Babadook (115/12)
S. Actress: Emma Stone, Birdman, or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (99/8)
Screenplay: Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, The Lego Movie (119/14)
Scene: The deformed man, Under the Skin (58/6)

Again, embed is disabled, but here it is.

HISTORY:

As previously mentioned, Stranger by the Lake is Guiraudie's first Skandie-eligible film.

Huppert is currently the second most-honored actor in Skandie history, with 12 appearances in the top 20 (to Philip Seymour Hoffman's 15). The roll call:

2. The Piano Teacher (2002)
2s. 8 Women (2002)
4. Gabrielle (2006)
8. The School of Flesh (1999)
8. Abuse of Weakness (2014)
12. White Material (2010)
13s. I [Heart] Huckabees (2004)
13s. Amour (2012)
15. La Cérémonie (1996)
17. Time of the Wolf (2004)
17. In Another Country (2012)

19. Home (2009)

Spall has two previous nods, both also for Mike Leigh films; he placed 4th in 1996 for Secrets & Lies and 17th in 2002 for All or Nothing. Stone landed at #13 in the lead category for Easy A in 2010. Wiseman is new, as Lord and Miller.

14 comments:

Michael said...

I am impressed with the (apparent) high placement of Stranger by the Lake. Good job AVB buds.

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I AM NOT A ROBOT.
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Private Joker said...

I threw Guiraudie 8 pts, the only love I gave to STRANGER ON THE LAKE on my ballot (though I did like it quite a bit). I just think he did a hell of a job with the limitations of unlit day exteriors, and told his story quite well -- even though my lasting images from the film involve dudes sitting naked on rocks; I mean come on isn't it uncomfortable to dangle your balls over hot stone all day? Ouch.

Ryan said...

Looks like three titles that rank among the year's ten best screenplays, in our estimation--No. 10 Listen Up Philip, No. 9 The Edge of Tomorrow, and No. 8 The Lego Movie--will finish out of the top 20 for picture.

Nous sommes tout auteurists.

md'a said...

There's one more coming.

Ceci n'est pas un robot.

Jason said...

There's one more coming.

That has to be COHERENCE. I gave screenplay points to all four and neglected all four in Best Director. I did give Picture points for COHERENCE but I guess not enough to help push it into the top 20.

I am not a robot (in this dimension).

Ryan said...

You're surely correct, Jason. And I also gave screenplay points to all four, with Coherence placing #2, but voted for only Listen Up Philip and Edge of Tomorrow for picture.

Michael said...

Well, to be fair, Coherence is serviceably directed. It's not without moments of visual interest, but for the most part Byrkit stays out of the way of his own screenplay. (Not that there's anything wrong with that...)

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Private Joker said...

I just watched COHERENCE (twice, in 12 hours, and wrote two Letterboxd reviews if anyone's interested) and not really sure if I would have given it screenplay points. But that's probably because I know after reading now that he just gave his actors a page of notes each night and only had an idea sketched out. With all improvised dialogue, and the story just that -- a series of notes ("no script" according to Byrkit) can we even credit COHERENCE as having a great script, even though that idea itself is great and rich and fascinating and original?

md'a said...

I didn't vote for Coherence in Screenplay, for precisely that reason—it didn't really have one. But I question my own thinking here, because I never would have guessed just from watching the film that it's almost entirely improvised. Had I read no Byrkit interviews, it probably would have been my top choice. I'm the man who knew too much.

Nor did I vote for Coherence in Best Director, as I tend to focus on visual excellence in that category (even though directing actors and making any number of other decisions are equally important tasks). So my second-favorite film of the year apparently "made itself," to paraphrase years of Oscar carping. It's a hugely collaborative work in my eyes and no single player merits singling out (though I gave 5 points to Emily Foxler, I believe).

Since it's going to be revealed tomorrow anyway, let me note that Coherence missed the top 20 by just three (3) points. So if it would have been one of your Best Picture votes, Zach, I am very peeved at you for not seeing it before the deadline.

Wait, is this the reality in which I'm a robot? I've lost track.

Private Joker said...

Not sure if it would have cracked my top 10, Mike. Maaayyyybe. My top 8 were pretty solid, but my 9-13 slots were a mash-up of JODO's DUNE, SKELETON, MANAKAMANA, EDGE OF TOMORROW, and THE GUEST. COHERENCE right now would be right in that group and I don't know which 4 I would leave out -- COHERENCE might end up as high as 9 or as low as 14. Recency bias has me wanting to place it high, but the lack of interesting visual direction or, as we're saying, an actual script, has me thinking maybe lower like 12-ish.

On another note, I know people may make the same charges at Mike Leigh for his improv work and screenplay nods, but for those who don't know, COHERENCE wasn't improvised and then carefully written out the way Leigh movies are. In that way, I think something like NAKED is an incredible script, even if it was written by the actors as much as Leigh himself regardless of its on screen credit. So yeah, I'm okay with no points for director or screenplay, but movie points credited to Byrkit for just producing this awesome idea and having it work so well.

Ryan said...

I had learned that a good portion of the dialogue was improvised prior to voting, but my points were largely for a strong story, structure, and concept, which are qualities traditionally attributed to a good screenplay. And whether the story & structure were realized in whole or in part through notes or on-set improvising shouldn't matter. Otherwise, the diligent voter would be required to track down the on-set screenplay to examine what was written down and what wasn't. That doesn't seem right.

Anyway, too bad on Coherence's close miss. I had to draw two from a five-way tie between Edge of Tomorrow, Goodbye to Language, Coherence, Whiplash, and Leviathan, and I arbitrarily picked the first two.

md'a said...

And whether the story & structure were realized in whole or in part through notes or on-set improvising shouldn't matter. Otherwise, the diligent voter would be required to track down the on-set screenplay to examine what was written down and what wasn't. That doesn't seem right.

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Ryan said...

Terrific write-up of Coherence, Zach. Loved the point about Em's "reality-shopping" as a reaction to the indecisiveness that had plagued her. Really missed a lot of these nice thematic/character touches as I was too busy trying to piece the puzzle together.

Private Joker said...

Thanks, Ryan. Yeah a lot of it hits home the second time you watch it, since you're no longer a stranger to the puzzle.

Also I'm convinced about the script deserving points, because I just remembered that I gave a massive amount of points to JC Chandor in 2013 for his ALL IS LOST script, which was probably a lot longer than the notes for COHERENCE but which was also probably just 30-40 pages of "he does this then he does this." That was an example of a narrative being drawn beautifully with lots of problems being introduced and solved economically, and without any unnecessary dialogue.