The Deer Hunter (1978)

The Deer Hunter
Directed by Michael Cimino
Starring: Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep, John Cazale
Grade: B+

“The Deer Hunter” might just be the most quintessentially masculine movie I’ve ever seen. While it could be classified as a war film, its sequences of combat are far less impacting than the character work done either side of that conflict; the film’s opening farewell party for the battle-bound men – chief of which is Robert De Niro’s Michael – tentatively setting up the nuances of character which heighten upon the guys’ return from duty. The film’s final hour recalls the most severe moments in William Wyler’s “The Best Years of Our Lives,” updated for a different generation, but with a similar impression of war as an unconquerable hyper-reality. One of the main criticisms of “The Deer Hunter” has been that it advocates America’s involvement in Vietnam, and that it depicts the Vietnamese soldiers as monsters. That second point may have some validity, but Cimino’s film primarily uses the horrors of war to chart the descension of man’s moral fibre, and with a distressing amount of visceral power, too. There’s perhaps an overuse of Russian Roulette to work suspense into its depiction of devolved humanity, a final scene involving the grisly game a somewhat melodramatic move, if instantly iconic in the annals of cinema.

A Marathon's End: Final Oscar Predictions

Once it gets to this stage of awards season, much has already been decided; winners have already been crowned, and although people may tell you otherwise, the chance of an upset in the major categories is relatively tiny. "The Artist" will win Best Picture and Michel Hazanavicius will win Best Director, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise, primarily because there isn't a legitimate opponent beyond pockets of support for "The Help" and also because it encompasses everything the Oscars stand for: traditional, crafted, and celebratory of cinema.

At this stage, Jean Dujardin losing the Best Actor Oscar would be a massive upset, but Meryl Streep triumphing over Viola Davis probably less of one, given that only one black actress has ever won in the category, and the Academy's long-standing affection for biographical performances. What gives Davis the edge is the popularity of "The Help" -- with audiences, guilds, and many critics -- and the sympathies associated with her character. The Supporting categories look sewn up, since Spencer and Plummer have been cleaning up in all of the precursors.

The screenplay categories look less locked, with "The Artist" and "Midnight in Paris" duelling it out on the Original side, and "The Descendants" facing off against the might of Sorkin and Zailian's "Moneyball" in Adapted. The Best Picture winner usually wins for its script, but I imagine that affection for Woody Allen's crowned comeback will see voters tick the box for his film, which won't win in any other category, and that the sole prize for Alexander Payne's glum Hawaiian adventure will happen here, too, despite it being far less complex or bracing than its main competitor.

Other iffy categories include Best Costume Design, which could represent an Oscar win for Madonna's critically-trounced "W.E," if its win with the Costume Designers Guild translates, but could also easily go to "Anonymous," "Jane Eyre," or three-time Oscar winner Sandy Powell for "Hugo." But I think this prize might go to "The Artist," on the coat-tails of its overall popularity, and for its undeniably well-tailored resurrection of Hollywood's golden age. I'm throwing my hands up where the sound categories are concerned, and wondering whether a bone will be thrown to "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," which, with five nominations, is surely a popular enough film to want to reward somewhere. The Visual Effects Oscar rarely goes to a Best Picture nominee, but if "The Golden Compass" can beat "Transformers," I think Martin Scorsese's film can also manage it.

I'm going to justify the possibility of heavily-favoured critical darling  "A Separation" losing the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar to Agnieska Holland's "In Darkness," which has strong holocaust themes (often attractive to AMPAS) and a filmmaker behind it with an Academy-endorsed pedigree. I also think that "A Separation" is at a slight disadvantage with regard to America's strained political relationship with the Middle East, despite the film's internal critique of Iran.

That's all that's left to say, except that, wherever you are tomorrow night, and whatever you're drinking, try not to be too disappointed when your favourite loses. It's often best to treat the Academy's better decisions like a toddler using a potty, or a teenager making their bed in the morning. We're primed for disappointment when they turn around and do something stupid at the next available opportunity. Personally, this set of winners (especially in the acting department) would represent a great list of awardees to me, but it won't please everyone. When Emmanuel Lubezki loses Best Cinematography again, take a leaf out of Norman Maine's book. Stand upright, throw back a drink, and let the waves wash over you.

FINAL OSCAR PREDICTIONS

Best Picture: "The Artist" 
(Alt: "The Help")

Best Actress: Viola Davis, "The Help"
(Alt: Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady")

Best Actor: Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"
(Alt: George Clooney, "The Descendants")

Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, "The Help"
(Alt: Berenice Bejo, "The Artist")

Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"
(Alt: Max von Sydow, "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close")

Best Director: Michel Hazanavicus, "The Artist"
(Alt: Martin Scorsese, "Hugo")

Best Original Screenplay: Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris"
(Alt: Michel Hazanivicius, "The Artist")

Best Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, "The Descendants"
(Alt: Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin and Stan Chervin, "Moneyball")

Best Foreign Feature: "In Darkness" (Poland)
(Alt: "A Separation" (Iran))

Best Animated Feature: "Rango"
(Alt: "Chico & Rita")

Art Direction: "Hugo"
(Alt: "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2")

Cinematography: "The Tree of Life"
(Alt: "Hugo")

Costume Design: "The Artist"
(Alt: "W.E.")

Documentary Feature: "Hell and Back Again"
(Alt: "Undefeated")

Documentary Short Subject: "Saving Face"
(Alt: "The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom")

Film Editing: "The Artist"
(Alt: "The Descendants")

Makeup: "The Iron Lady"

Original Score: "The Artist"
(Alt: "War Horse")

Original Song: 'Man or Muppet' from "The Muppets"

Sound Editing: "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
(Alt: "Hugo")

Sound Mixing: "Hugo"
(Alt: "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo")

Visual Effects: "Hugo"
(Alt: "Rise of the Planet of the Apes")

Short Film (Animated): "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore"
(Alt: "A Morning Stroll")

Short Film (Live Action): "Tuba Atlantic"
(Alt: "The Shore")

Review: Julia (1977)

Julia

Directed by Fred Zinnemann

Starring: Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, Jason Robards, Maximillian Schell, Meryl Streep

Grade: B

Fred Zinnemann's "Julia" sure is an odd duck. It's so odd that it doesn't feel like Zinnemann made it at all -- less formal  and glamourous than his Fifties' work, quirky and clunky as if Frank Perry or Jerry Schatzberg were at the helm. It's set during the war but you rarely think of it as a period film, of-the-time in its quadrant of uncertainty and incoherence yet stylistically appealing in its lack of an assured gaze. Based on the memoirs of playwright Lilian Hellman there's a distinct impression that this passage of her history represents but a misty swarm of ideas and feelings within the book, which is a sentiment that's echoed onscreen.

"Julia" is a rare period drama where you have to put in nearly as much as you get out. Lilian and Julia enter the film with a childhood bond that permeates the surface of mere adulation into something more spiritual and undefined, a couple of early sequences dedicated to hints of exposition. Alvin Sargent's script then lurches forward to a fag-chuffing Jane Fonda looking stressed at her typewriter, and a stately Jason Robards as her friend and advisor Dashiel Hammett. Lilian is marooned in her beach house and grasping for inspiration, precluding an outside world which is coming to terms with major political unrest. While Julia participates in resistance projects, Lilian approaches the global situation with her words, thoughts, feelings, and indelible ink.

There are so few passages in which we're told what somebody is thinking or feeling, or made to sympathise with one political cause or another -- even as a fascist-set drama rightly never has to justify lambasting its subject matter. We're making sense of the characters and what they represent, but we aren't following them like puppy dogs. We merely watch while events revolve around them, and observe their fragmented distillation of fear. This isn't a smooth, linear story of arcs and lessons -- it's an oscilloscope of connection-through-disconnection, and a portrait of how one's life isn't so designated and remedial a journey. How we're indecisive, wary, blameful, duly responsible, even as what goes on around us feels so unapproachably abstract. The fate of the writer is perhaps an even bigger burden; what is progress without improvement, enlightenment, and approval? What are we without labels or goals?

At least in terms of dialogue none of the characters fully address these conflicts, and one scene in particular demonstrates how the script doesn't need to preach to transfer its thoughts. Sat in a German bar Lilian eventually makes the gruelling trip to Julia's hideout, where the two discuss what Julia has been doing in their period apart. As is in the scheme of Zinnemann's storytelling there isn't a lot of detailed information, but instead he presents a reunion that speaks volumes without having to cause a commotion. With lesser actors it's difficult to see this five-minute setup providing such a wealth of emotion, but because it's Redgrave and Fonda we get it all. Redgrave in particular has the uncanny ability to provide magnetic presence without appearing at all aware of the camera, and the nature of Julia as unconcerned with anything but her own passioned intentions lets us see her on the otherworldly pedestal Lilian builds for her. 

Zinnemann insists on harking back to one lingering point of recognition: a shot of the sun setting on the sea and an unmanned boat (Kim Ki-Duk-style) in what's probably an overly poignant way of rooting us in Lilian's lost world of the writer. We're often left too entrenched in this pocket of uncertainty that the film lacks a certain level of scope and sense of the period, but it's forever enchanting and deep in maturity. "Julia" is a hotchpotch of unfocused archives amidst one woman's attempts to reconcile herself with a conventional point of meaning. Ultimate accomplishment may inherently elude this film, but bully for those involved that it manages to be as bracing as it is without succumbing to staples of the biographical drama.

Bitesize Best Actress Oscar Profiles: Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep in “Out of Africa”

Lost the 1985 Best Actress Oscar to Geraldine Page in “The Trip to Bountiful”

Grade: ***

Sydney Pollack’s “Out of Africa” is all but cursed from the moment Meryl Streep’s voice-over booms out the words, “I had a farm in Africa…” – which, incidentally, happens in the first five minutes. Wholly distracting to the director’s establishing shots of grassy, romantic plains and Mogambo-style odes to wildlife, Streep’s intonation is supposedly inflective of an elder, Danish woman seeping out her last remaining nostalgic syllables. The grating reality is that there’s an element of Greer Garson’s elder Mrs. Parkington going on here; even if we never see Streep’s Karen Blixen age as drastically, or frown as raptly as Greer’s curious creation.

As is the case with so much of “Out of Africa” Blixen’s retrospective storytelling smacks of filmmaking built on themes inspired by literary classics, but with none of the dramatic clout or sound character development required to vitalise a period adventure. Instead this is more like a later David Lean epic, rife with weak symbolism and muted exchanges, and a safari setting so estranged from the characters that one struggles to surmise why on earth Streep’s Karen wants to be there in the first place. She may rock Milena Canonero’s costumes like a pro but otherwise Streep can’t engage with her aesthetic surroundings like a woman excited to be involved in new climates, relationships, communities; and in pockets of “Out of Africa” she navigates the pretty vacancy of Pollack’s inane setting like a lost, wounded animal.

She very nearly is wounded in a scene where a lion considers her for its dinner, only to act just as Redford’s Denys suspects and veer off into the wilderness of its own accord. It’s one of those flimsy attempts to develop the trust in Karen and Denys’ barely-there relationship, which is apparently blossoming even as Streep and Redford flounder under the self-consciousness of their scenes together. The pair are strangely neutered as personalities under the pressure of having to carry the Romance in the Romantic Epic, and their tryst only really garners interest when the film explores the pair’s opposing views on commitment. Streep’s at her finest when she telegraphs Karen’s struggle between free-spirited compassion and her staunch ideals of exclusive coupledom, clearly exasperated by Denys’ bachelor-style distancing, but wise not to foist her views so recklessly as to drive him away. Eventually, Karen reverts to that modus operandi as a confluence of lovestruck emotion, but Streep underplays this selfish streak to her character for longer than many an Actress would, and rallies us to a romantic cause without really appearing to try.

Despite the already-established promotion of romance as the film’s chief entity, “Out of Africa” and Streep achieve much deeper degrees of emotion through charting the disintegration of Blixen’s relationship with her Baron husband, played by a remarkable Klaus Maria Brandauer. Despite being socially-suited they never click as a couple (although she tries far harder than he does) and even after he behaves badly towards her Streep relays Karen’s strange affection for him - during and after their divorce – as a resigned, natural acceptance that their marriage was not meant to last. You can see that she admires his honesty, relates to the pressures of his standing and, crucially, empathises with his desire to be with someone who makes him happy. Streep’s attitude towards him oscillates between how one might treat an enemy, a maverick, a friend; and for however ephemeral a time, gives us a reason to cling onto Karen Blixen – a woman perhaps underserved by this lengthy, conventional tale.

There are chapters of “Out of Africa” that really alienate Streep; that paint Karen as a dilettante, ponderous and impenetrable like her Sarah was in “The French Lieutenant’s Woman.” Much of that is hardly fair on an Actress quite marooned in a film geared towards looking like a finished article than being that finished article: this is a performance certainly not belonging to the healthy echelons of Streep’s vast collection of Academy notices, but she’s still a prize asset to a production devoted to forests and sands.

Some Like It Hot Cold: Margaret vs. Marilyn

I have a confession (albeit perhaps an unsurprising one): I dislike biopics. They tend to focus too intensely on historical events of impact and perceived pivotal moments to chart a person's character, instead of actively trying to dissect who that person was, and what they represented. Two biopics slated for release later this year have me a little worried, but the women at the head of them are enough to ensure that both are required viewing.


When Meryl Streep signed on to play Margaret Thatcher in a biopic of her period as Prime Minister of the U.K, I was more than a little sceptical. It can often be difficult to separate feelings towards an actor and the real-life role they are portraying - especially if said role is somebody you heavily resent. Streep's generosity and warmth as a personality and Actress so heavily contravene the icy, dutiful stubbornness of the aptly-titled "Iron Lady," and so imagining her in the part instils a degree of trepidation. In Streep's few misjudged and overly-mannered performances (most recently in "Lions For Lambs" and "Doubt") she seems to be too sure of her character's misgivings, and their inability to restrain them. As Sister Aloysius Beauvier this is a particular problem, as she telegraphs the motivations of the nun as a tyrannical catalyst of drama more than she alludes to her genuine concerns for colleagues, dependants, and the church itself.

Without painting too harsh an impression of Mrs. Thatcher, one does have to concede that she was a formidable, disconcerting presence, and was legitimately hated by a large portion of the people she governed. If Streep can generate empathy while maintaining the lady's harsh exterior and cut-throat approach to politics, and do it with more fluidity than Helen Mirren brought to Queen Elizabeth II, then it could be a genuine triumph. In terms of Awards probability, the film would have to be a complete disaster to prevent Streep grabbing a record 17th nomination at next year's Oscars, and even with "Mamma Mia!" director Phyllida Lloyd at the helm, I highly doubt that the reviews will be negative enough to deter voters. Think Cate Blanchett in 2007 (or don't, if you're still squeamish about that Jolie snub.)

In the second of the big 2011 biopics, Michelle Williams might have a more difficult time getting people to accept her efforts, as she has the burdening task of embodying screen siren and Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe. Simon Curtis' "My Week With Marilyn," will focus particularly on the time Monroe spent filming "The Prince and the Showgirl" with Lawrence Olivier, and the arc of their relationship together.

Oft-portrayed on screen, Monroe probably possessed more sexuality as an Actress than any other, which was as inclined to rub people up the wrong way as much as it loosened them to her undoubted comedic charm. As an actress, I don't think Williams has shown enough attitude and panache in the Scarlet side of her character to suggest that this is, on the face of it, a wise casting choice, but her record in recent years speaks for itself. She has shown herself to be the Queen of picking projects, even capable of elevating the worst of them (Martin Scorsese's shoddy "Shutter Island") with a small, but introspectively devastating turn.

In addition to "My Week With Marilyn", and having already featured in Kelly Reichardt's "Meek's Cutoff" (the April release that, for me, remains the film to beat in 2011), she also features in Sarah Polley's forthcoming romantic comedy, "Take This Waltz." The biggest obstacle to Williams' chances might be that she actively seems to avoid films that the media can get excited by, and which can gather steam at the box-office. Personally, I think that's a great way to approach acting, but I'm fairly convinced she wouldn't get the populist support that Portman did last year for "Black Swan," unless the film somehow turned out to be a huge hit. She's in her early Thirties, but she isn't in the "star" bracket quite yet (whether she should be is an entirely different argument) and so I wonder how people will take to her tackling this enormously familiar persona.

While it remains ridiculously early to call either of these a lock for major nominations, too often it comes down to the role as much as the performance. I'd give the edge to Streep, since it has been nearly thirty years since she last won a golden guy, but Williams has been steadily becoming a brilliant actress, and I can't wait to see what she does with one of cinema's greatest comediennes.

Top Ten Film Characters

I was tagged for this meme by Dave of Victim of the Time (thankyouuuuu!).

When I thought about what my ten favourite film characters ever might be, I was bieseged by many of Bette Davis' creations, and a couple of Maggie Smith's. It was hard to narrow the whole thing down, and it turns out that Bette and Maggie don't actually feature here. I still don't think this really represents a concrete, researched list, but I love these ten characters immeasurably. Here they are:-

Kat Stratford in Ten Things I Hate About You

I'm not sure that Julia Stiles' Kat Stratford is exactly the kind of shrew that William Shakespeare originally envisioned, but I'd like to think that, if alive today (wouldn't that be cause for concern?) he'd marvel at the representation of his wild female in the modern-day adaptation, 10 Things I Hate About You. I have passionate feelings for this film (see its entry in my personal canon for further proof), and it's largely because of the uber-bitch activity of Ms. Stratford, who exercises quips you really wish you'd written yourself. Someone that strives to be different and distinctly anti-social, Kat's idea of a compliment is "You're not as vile as I thought you were", and despite engaging in romance for much of the film, never loses her edge or bite.

Mary Poppins in Mary Poppins

The world's greatest nanny fulfils her promise to leave town when the wind changes, and we'd expect nothing less of a woman that is so assured, affronted, and "practically perfect in every way". This never waivers and yet her feelings for the children are always present and strong, which is probably down to Julie Andrew's fantastic performance. Poppins achieves stability through madness, the secret pleasure she exudes from lucid imagination and trifle outings remaining the most far-away, untouchable element of the woman, and perhaps the most valuable.

Miranda Priestley in The Devil Wears Prada

"This... 'stuff'? Oh... ok. I see, you think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select out, oh I don't know, that lumpy blue sweater, for instance, because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise, it's not lapis, it's actually cerulean. You're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar De La Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves St Laurent, wasn't it, who showed cerulean military jackets? I think we need a jacket here. And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of 8 different designers. Then it filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic casual corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and so it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room. From a pile of stuff."

And the words on the page do not even do this speech justice.

Mr. Grey in Secretary

I'll leave my sexual habits out of this but, needless to say, James Spader completely got me going here. I also love that you never know Mr. Grey's first name, since it shouldn't be, and isn't important. Grey meets his match in Gyllenhaal's ultimate submissive, and promptly begins to up his game. He grows more and more clinical and downright horny as their relationship escalates, and it's hella fun to watch him call the shots.

Sally Bowles in Cabaret

There aren't many characters that feel as genuine as Sally Bowles. Life is a cabaret for her, after all, and so the willingness to be free overcomes the moments in life which could surely get her down. I'm nowhere near as brave as Sally, but I can totally relate to her attitude towards life. Retrospectively, my viewing of Cabaret kind of represented a kick in the head, a remonstration of "What are you doing? Why aren't you going out and getting sloshed? Why aren't you having sex?" etc. etc. etc. There are no drunks or whores where Sally's concerned, and why should there be? It's all human nature.

Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind

I could talk about Scarlett O'Hara all of the day, and all of the night (cue Billie Piper) as her permanent facade is maybe the most enchanting characterisation that's ever graced the silver screen. She's jealous, elitist, devious, calculating, breathtakingly charming, admirable for seizing opportunities at the drop of a hat, and yet kind of pathetic in her narrowness and unable or unwilling to grasp how her actions might affect those around her. There's a stunning audacity to Scarlett that's both her outlet for success and the reason for her inevitable downfall. "I'll think about that tomorrow"... A-MA-ZING.

Scrat in the Ice Age Series

Oh come on! Don't tell me you haven't laughed at those snippets in the Ice Age pics (one of the few reasons to see these films), and marvelled at how predictably relentless and devoted this little creature is. Nobody's ever loved an acorn that much.

Susan Vance in Bringing Up Baby

Q: Would a man really fall in love with a girl who ransacked his wedding, lumbered him with a leopard, and single-handedly dismantled his relationship?

A: He would if it was Katharine Hepburn. Susan Vance is one of the wildest women you're ever likely to observe, and goes from catastrophe to catastrophe so matter-of-factly, with barely a pang of real consideration, and with such a wonderful spirit of adventure, that you'd go through anything with this woman.

Tracy Flick in Election

"Pick Flick" is the slogan of choice for Election's resident smartster; a ploy that demonstrates her insane ambition and hints that she's used to getting exactly what she wants. Flick is driven by this ambition, consumed by it, blinded by it, and the parodical nature of her success-hungry teen achieves a nifty social observation. Something ruthless bubbles beneath the desire to succeed.

Wadsworth in Clue

As the orchestrator of events, Tim Curry's Wadsworth is required to dash around explaining things for long periods of this brilliant comedy. Wadsworth repeats himself often but makes each instance a little different and equally hilarious. Murder mysteries don't have someone to lay things on the line, otherwise they wouldn't really be mysterious, would they? So it's great that Clue's kinda anti-convention works both as a mystery and a satire, and that the frantic nature of Wadsworth's drive and motivation in the film acts as suspense-building, tireless excitement.

Time to tag: RJ, Keith, Shep, Alex, and Yaseen, do your worst.

SAG Predictions & Reaction

Reaction

I got 4/5 in my predictions.

Slumdog walked away with one of Acting's highest honours (I'll refrain), Sean Penn won for being more awardable than Mickey Rourke (interesting battle, though), and Ledger et Winslet repeated their fraudulent Globe wins. Thankfully, Meryl Streep won the Actress prize, and typically provided the most entertaining speech of the night.

Does this change anything? Not much. As soon as BAFTA chime in I'll review all the races and make some final predix. Until then, I'll leave you with some totally cringeworthy red carpet footage. Is it any wonder that Brangelina blanked E! at the Globes after this shambolic interview, featuring some total gossip girl-style obsession and certainly no mention of Changeling at all?

Here were my predictions:-

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
SEAN PENN - "MILK"

I generally find that the choices by the Actor's Guild are more conservative, so I expect Penn to win, although it's still all to play for on Feb 22.

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
MELISSA LEO - "FROZEN RIVER"

Why not? Halle Berry won this in 2001 (and went on to strike gold with Oscar) when the Actress category didn't feature an obvious winner. Winslet has the Oscar already but this could go to anyone.

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
HEATH LEDGER - "THE DARK KNIGHT"

This is even more nailed on than the Globes.

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
KATE WINSLET - "THE READER"

It would be funny if Viola Davis won (which she very well could) -- if only to see the media dramatise a Winslet loss and suggest she's not gonna get the Golden Guy after all.

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

It's enough of an ensemble to get away with winning this award. Doubt has a shot because of the 4 Oscar nominations but, well, you can't argue with momentum.