A survey of the “Oscary” films playing at Berlin ’10
A scene from new Nicole Holofcener dramedy "Please Give"
Originally bowing at Sundance, “Please Give” stirred up warm responses for frequent Holofcener muse and indie staple Catherine Keener. Should make for an interesting sit after her indifferently received “Friends With Money”.
Justin Chang, writing for Variety, enjoys the film’s attempts at social commentary but feels like it overreaches ever so slightly:
In this latest tart but sympathetic ensembler, which bites off a bit more than it can chew yet retains Holofcener’s unfailingly perceptive ear for everyday human pettiness, frustration and insecurity
Cinematical’s Erik Snider fattens up the film’s belly, saying it’s a film “you’ll like but probably not love”:
It could be said that Please Give is simply a retread of Holofcener’s other movies, especially Lovely & Amazing — but, then, most people didn’t see those movies, so maybe it doesn’t matter. Still, while Please Give is often very funny, it feels a little perfunctory. It’s a movie you’ll like but probably not love. Don’t tell the characters that, though. Their sense of self-worth is fragile enough already.
Katey Rich of Cinemablend all out loves it:
If there’s a message to the movie, it’s that– take care of each other as best you can, and the small stuff will work itself out. Luckily Please Give is also very funny, making the sentimentality much easier to handle when it starts creeping in near the end. It’s one of those indie movies in which not much happens and everyone talks a lot, but the good humor and easily relatable stakes of all the relationships make it a compelling comedy as well. With great performances all the way down to line– Hall in particular gets better to watch every time she’s onscreen– Please Give is satisfying on pretty much every well. It makes you wish every comedy could be this good.
Oscar prospects: Best Supporting Actress (Keener or Hall) or Original Screenplay would seem to be the only chances for this film with Keener more likely as the respected veteran actress. Still, neither is really much of a threat given the diminutive nature of the film and the “timely” but unappealing subject matter (look how well that did for fading (once) Best Picture frontrunner Up in the Air.
Jennifer Lawrence has garnered fierce praise for her turn in Debra Granik's "Winter's Bone"
Another Sundance pony, “Winter’s Bone” played to raves, especially for its lead actress Jennifer Lawrence, who got shining notices for Arriaga’s directing debut “The Burning Plain”. The film nabbed the top honour in the US Dramatic Competition as well as a special Waldo Salt screenwriting prize for scribes Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini, working from the novel by Daniel Woodrell.
Guy Lodge at In Contention (this guy is a terrific writer, hence the trigger-happy quoting of his reviews here) digs it, giving top marks to Lawrence and Granik, whose work has evidently improved leaps and bounds from her (Vera Farmiga stunner) debut “Down to the Bone”:
Six years on, Granik looks to have repeated the feat with her sophomore effort, but has made a better film in the process. Winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize last month, “Winter’s Bone” (is an osteo-trilogy in the works?) is a tight, tough examination of life on the breadline in Ozark country that avoids the sanctimonious pitfalls of poverty-porn thanks to a healthy streak of the macabre and a terrific lead performance from 19 year-old Jennifer Lawrence.
Handsomely lensed (by Michael McDonough) and scored (by Tindersticks’s Dickon Hinchliffe), the film occasionally wants for the narrative urgency of “Frozen River,” to which it has been understandably compared; Granik can zero in on interesting anthropological details at the expense of the larger picture. But it’s a bald, bold leap forward from her debut, confirming her as a distinctive voice in the indie hinterland.
Cinematical’s Kevin Kelly agrees, appreciating Granik’s etching of gritty realism that eschews sympathy for bruising honesty:
This is by no means an action-packed film. It’s slow, methodical, and it steeps itself in the world-weary existence that Ree and her family are stuck in. It’s not a sympathetic film either, where you’re just wishing and hoping that Ree could somehow escape this life and move on to something better. Ree is an Ozark girl, through and through, and she puts family above all else, even when it puts herself in peril. There are some extremely grisly moments to be found here, but the most horrifying ones are realizing that for a whole group of Americans, this is just everyday life.
Erik Kohn, on behalf of IndieWire joins the chorus, finding a kindred spirit to the 2007 Coens entry No Country for Old Men in the studied, slow-build narrative and almost dismissive treatment of death and suffering:
The movie derives tension from the ambiguity surrounding the man’s true nature, which even Ree struggles to figure out. His absence becomes an anti-presence, haunting each fragile moment when Ree tries to hunt him down. Like “No Country for Old Men,” death and other grave matters take on a ghostly power through the extent to which they are left to viewers’ imaginations.
Avoiding the easy routine of climax-building clues or even a single bullet fired (although that nearly happens at least once, playing off expectations of an obvious outcome), Granik invests in the revelatory abilities of her young lead. Ree embodies familial protection against all odds, a matriarchal figure forced into that position against her will. She’s at once tragic and admirable as she goes about her quest, but the real success of “Winter’s Bone”—even if it seems a bit dry at times—comes from that precise clash of feelings. By its extraordinary final shot, the movie has transcended its plot specifics and attained an emotional realism that validates the unusual slow burn approach.
Oscar prospects: Winter’s Bone could conceivably follow in the vein of fellow indie productions Away from Her and Frozen River, bouncing off an early release date to an Original Screenplay and/or Best Actress nomination if enough people get to see it for its quality to get noticed. Though with Roadside Attractions handling the distribution, my hopes aren’t high.
Street artist Banksy's first feature "Exit Through the Gift Shop"
It’s always interesting to note the cinematic result of artists who turn to film. Some work (such as Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and this year’s very own Best Picture frontrunner The Hurt Locker, which both sprung from the mind of painters) while others (Hilary Duff anyone?) remind us they should stick to mediums they do best. Thankfully, Exit Through the Gift Shop, the startling first work from street artist Banksy and a study of reluctant Los Angeles store owner Thierry “Terry” Guetta, seems to fall in the latter category.
Guy Lodge (doing a stellar job at Berlin for In Contention – what stamina!) likes what he sees. He sees commercial, cross-over appeal in this doco, much like Man on Wire and Anvil! The Story of Anvil!.
A strong candidate for this year’s “Man on Wire”/“Anvil!” slot for crossover documentaries on pop-culture miscellanea, cult British street artist Banksy’s first cinematic application of his brand is a smashing success. Brisk, hilarious and brimming with “how did they do that” wonderment, it surprises by turning halfway through from an innocuous potted history of latter-day street art to a saltier study of self-appointed celebrity.
Kevin Kelly finds it extremely entertaining but possessed by an oft-kilter wildness and a missed opportunity to see more of Banksy’s own exploits:
Banksy encourages Terry to make more art, and this is where the film careens fully off the track…[Terry] created hundreds of pieces of derivative pop art for the show, angering people left and right, alienating friends, and focusing on making this a huge event…when the show eventually does open, it’s a huge sensation, and Banksy, Fairey, and others believe they’ve created a monster…but that’s where I have a problem with this film. People are going to like what they like, so why do they care so much that he’s become popular? Aren’t they doing the exact same thing?
While the journey from Terry to Mr. Brainwash is fascinating, it’s the brief peeks into Banksy’s art that were the most intriguing… He has boxes of money, forged quid bearing the face of Princess Diana instead of the Queen… He steals a London phone box, and returns it fallen on it’s side, bent, leaking blood, and with a pickax buried in it’s back…I think a lot of people in the audience were hoping there would be more of this, providing us a look behind Banksy’s curtain, but that didn’t happen.
Katey Rich of Cinemablend whole-heartedly concurs, though is miffed a smidge by the cruel, uncomfortable animosity projected by Bansky at Terry:
Exit Through the Gift Shop works very, very well as a document of the street art scene, with footage from installations by dozens of artists and interviews with many of them, and both the presence of an enthusiastic fan behind the camera (Guetta) and a master of the art putting it all together (Banksy). When the film turns to focus on Guetta’s own story, it’s both hilarious– Guetta has such a lack of self-awareness that he’s a brilliant self-promoter– but also a bit uncomfortable with its inside club politics…Banksy as a filmmaker is inviting us to laugh at Guetta’s desire to be an artist, and when he launches his show it’s clear that Banksy sees Guetta’s art as a wholesale ripoff of both pop art and street art (to be fair, it pretty much is)…but at some points it seems like he’s making the film to prove that Guetta just doesn’t belong with them. At this moments– which are rare in this largely excellent movie– the whole thing feels a little petty.
Oscar prospects: A strong candidate for Best Documentary Feature, bolstered by its high profile reception at Berlin. The only hurdle lies in the Documentary committee’s screening procedures, which like the much maligned Foreign Language branch, often leaves the best work out in the cold. Remember, Anvil! too was left off the 15-wide shortlist despite robust reviews and a fair share of critics prizes.
Next: Sylvain Chomet’s much-anticipated follow up to his 2003 wonder The Triplets of Belleville, L’illusioniste (The Illusionist) which already garnered a proud “masterpiece” cry from In Contention’s Guy Lodge. Also, I spotlight Lisa Cholodenko’s buzzy Sundance entry The Kids Are Alright, starring Annette Bening, Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo.
Films in Focus 
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