A survey of the “Oscary” films playing at Berlinale ’10
A scene from "L'illusioniste" (The Illusionist)
I’ve never seen Sylvain Chomet’s debut The Triplets of Belleville but I am well aware of its esteemed reputation. So I was especially pleased to see the enthusiastic notices for his latest piece, an animated partner that may very well top its predecessor.
In an unqualified rave, Guy Lodge finds an immensely enjoyable experience, one that benefits from Chomet’s tight yet patient directorial control and dynamic auteurist signature. Lodge finds the story less strange and more emotionally resonant that Belleville, which lends itself to the first masterpiece of Berlinale ’10. High praise indeed:
It took six days and an awful lot of films, but the Berlinale has finally turned up a masterpiece. Moreover, it’s a rare case of one of the fest’s most eagerly awaited titles managing to meet, and even subvert, expectations.
“The Illusionist,” French animator Sylvain Chomet long-gestating follow-up the 2003 Oscar nominee “The Triplets of Belleville,” confirms a truly singular auteur sensibility, while revealing a more disciplined artist and storyteller within. A streamlined character study, less deliriously eccentric in tone and structure than his debut feature, “The Illusionist” nonetheless boasts an emotional heft that handsomely repays its creator’s restraint.
He dares to use the “O” word, laying the case for an Oscar nomination in the Animated Feature category here:
Animators not already charmed by the affable storytelling can’t fail to impressed by its dazzling technique; even this early in the year, the film looks a strong threat for a 2010 Oscar nod.
Variety’s Leslie Felperin is similarly appreciative, calling the picture a worthy partner to Chomet’s acclaimed debut that makes for a brilliant “marriage of Tati’s and Chomet’s distinctive artistic sensibilities”:
Following up his debut, the acclaimed animated feature “The Triplets of Belleville,” writer-helmer-animator-composer Sylvain Chomet doesn’t disappoint with his delightful sophomore outing, “The Illusionist.” Based on an unproduced script by Jacques Tati, the pic’s tale of a French conjuror (modeled on Tati) who befriends a naive lass in late-1950s Scotland is a very happy marriage of Tati’s and Chomet’s distinctive artistic sensibilities.
On the detailed traditional animation on display:
Following up his debut, the acclaimed animated feature “The Triplets of Belleville,” writer-helmer-animator-composer Sylvain Chomet doesn’t disappoint with his delightful sophomore outing, “The Illusionist.” Based on an unproduced script by Jacques Tati, the pic’s tale of a French conjuror (modeled on Tati) who befriends a naive lass in late-1950s Scotland is a very happy marriage of Tati’s and Chomet’s distinctive artistic sensibilities.
Lisa Nesselson of Screen Daily also finds nary a toe out of line, celebrating the film whose parts are as rewarding as its whole:
Five years in the making, master animator Sylvain Chomet’s follow-up to The Triplets Of Belleville deploys superb hand-drawn imagery to bring to life an unproduced screenplay the late Tati finished in 1959. Told with no dialogue but carried along by deeply evocative sound design, this visually rewarding film’s timeless, near-universal appeal should translate to widespread critical praise and art house play.
And if that wasn’t enough, Nesselson goes in for the kill:
The imagery excels at depicting less-harried times: as a train chugs over a trestle bridge in the country, its reflection in the water below is as stunning as the changing light over Edinburgh. And somehow the animated rain seems more real than the wet stuff in live-action films.
A scene in which the magician returns to his hotel drunk is dazzling – as the protagonist struggles to maintain his balance, one would swear Tati’s hand-drawn stand-in has a functioning inner ear.
Oscar prospects: If the reviews didn’t make it clear enough, we seem to have our first lock (dare I say it?) nominee for 2010 Animated Feature. Given Chomet’s Belleville managed to score an Original Song nod in addition to the aforementioned animation citation, The Illusionist may be able to figure into the music races (Original Song and Original Score), with Song being the more likely. Though I would like to call a Best Picture nomination possible for a second animated film in two years, it’s yet to be seen whether anything non-Pixar has enough muscle to break into the category. Fantastic Mr Fox managed only an animated and original score nod despite a strong, critic-proof screenplay and early claims of competition for perennial Pixar favourite Up. Still, if enough people cotton on to its wondrous artistry, anything’s possible.
It was virtually impossible to miss the critical waves that emanated from Lisa Cholodenko’s last-minute Sundance player The Kids Are Alright. Within moments of its bow, critics almost ran out of superlatives and distributors couldn’t get their chequebooks snapping quick enough. Finally arriving at Focus Features’ doorstep, The Kids Are Alright looks set for a (US) summer release in July.
(from left to right): Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Josh Hutcherson, Mia Wasikowska and Mark Ruffalo in a scene from Lisa Cholodenko's "The Kids Are Alright"
Guy Lodge is enarmoured to say the least, suggesting that in making an undeniably mainstream piece she has ironically made her best feature to date, far surpassing the divisive results of High Art and Laurel Canyon. With an almost unprecedented focus on taboo subjects (lesbian parents, sperm donors, etc), The Kids seems to succeed by not striving to be different for the sake of being different. Rather, its strength is an immersive universality that speaks to all of us regardless of age, race or sexual orientation.
A spry, sun-bleached and often rather sexy study of what makes a family in modern America, “The Kids Are All Right” breezes by so pleasurably it’s easy to forget what a daring and very necessary film it is. Gift-wrapping its smart sexual politics with kicky dialogue, bright visuals and a pleasingly messy tangle of relationships, Los Angeles-born auteur Lisa Cholodenko’s fourth (and finest) feature is her most mainstream to date, but makes a virtue of those concessions.
All three principal actors garner praise from Lodge, with Moore’s, for winningly playing-against-recent-type, the loudest of all:
She is, of course, aided in her efforts by an immaculately cast ensemble, with all three principals in rude form. Ruffalo’s dude-ish charm hasn’t been applied to a character with quite such intelligence and irony in some time, while, playing the more prickly, professional half to Moore’s flighty stay-at-home mom, Bening has happily found a role that both accommodates and softens her trademark stridency.
Bening perhaps relishes Nic’s sour asides a little too theatrically in some early scenes, but finds deeper resources as the character loses her composure, peaking with a stunning, silent reaction scene to her wife’s own emotional outpouring.
Best of all, however, is Moore, released from a recent run of roles that have boxed her (however effectively) into nervy constructs of femininity. Here she’s genially, even goofily, vulnerable as a woman faintly aware that she has outgrown the hippy idealism of her youth, but hasn’t settled on a suitable persona with which to replace it. Moore has never been looser or funnier on screen – a hilariously spacy response to an accidental kiss is a priceless Oscar-clip moment – which only makes her sober emotional self-effacement all the more startling when it comes.
Yep, there’s the “O” word again. Get ready for the annual “there is already Oscar buzz for Julianne Moore ” hoopla to begin once more in earnest.
However, Karina Longworth (writing for Voice Film) slams the film, placing it below the Meryl Streep starrer It’s Complicated on the entertainment scale and condemning its “cartoon carnality” and “extremely conservative” stance that in her opinion, has duped its champions into seeing a storytelling bravado that simply isn’t there:
…even if we’re all okay with base competency being something to celebrate, Cholodenko’s film is less worthy of such accolades than the latest trifle from the much-despised Meyers. It’s less entertaining. It’s less accurate as a portrait of adult sexuality.
The people who are championing this film must be so swept up in its now too-rare basic appeal (entertainment – how novel!) that they can’t really see it for what it is. Beyond the trappings of NPR liberalism, The Kids Are Alright is extremely conservative.
Variety writer Rob Nelson is somewhere in between. He continues the It’s Complicated parallels, seeing “too much” of Meyer’s critically loathed creature in Cholodenko’s film:
Cholodenko’s uncharacteristic degree of comedy (in combination with her unusually high budget) can be understood and to a fair extent applauded as a principled bid to sell alt-family values to the mainstream. The kids of a married lesbian couple are alright, indeed, even or especially if that couple is wacky in familiar ways. Alas, this is the sort of movie in which illicit lovers agree that they’ll never, ever hook up again, followed by a shot of them lounging post-coitus in bed. Cholodenko’s previous work has been about how it’s complicated to keep relationships from turning messy; this film simply has too much of “It’s Complicated.”
Nelson is all praise for the cast, who really make the film zing in its final frames:
It’s more or less at this point that the movie, like the characters, begins to drop its glib defenses and score on an emotional level. The alternately comfy and edgy rapport between Moore and Bening hits peak levels in a scene where the two begin to pull apart. By far, the screenplay by Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg is most incisive in the film’s final reels, as the effects of a culture clash waged on multiple fronts — male and female, gay and straight, educated and experienced — literally come home to roost.
Oscar prospects: Tough to gauge. While the project certainly has all the necessary elements to make it a crowd-pleasing hit (movie stars, streamlined comedy, understated political agenda), its atypical subject matter may ward off conservative viewers looking for a “safer” time at the movies. But if anyone knows how to weave the Oscar magic its the awards-savvy Focus Features, which did so well with the gay-themed Brokeback Mountain (9 nominations, 3 wins) and Milk (8 nominations, 2 wins). This one could really be hit or miss, but a few nominations at the very least (given the film’s credentials) would appear likely. Assuming the two leading ladies are booted into separate categories to avoid vote splitting, we could be looking at nominations for Best Actress (Annette Bening), Best Supporting Actress (Julianne Moore), Best Supporting Actor (Mark Ruffalo – though this is a dicey pick as seductive lotharios are not usually to the Academy’s taste, look for yet another snub for the never nominated thespian), Best Original Screenplay (Stuart Blumbegr and Lisa Cholodenko) and if the film gains serious steam, Best Film Editing (Jeffrey M. Werner), Best Director (Lisa Cholodenko) and Best Picture.
That concludes our Berlin coverage here at FiF. In the next few days, look for a BAFTAs preview where we suss who will win and why.
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