Like Someone In Love (2012)

Like Someone In Love 

Directed by Abbas Kiarostami

Starring: Rin Takahashi, Tadashi Okuno, Ryo Kase, Denden

Grade: A- [87] 

After Kiarostami’s last film, “Certified Copy,” explored the uncertainty of relationships so briskly, his latest is a tender companion piece with similar themes. The emphasis here is more on how we (particularly young people) approach issues of love and commitment, told through the striking Rin Takahashi’s chance encounter with older man Tadashi Okuno. I found much to relate to in the film’s depiction of the inherent confidence of youth when approaching cross-generational matters of romance (that comes from being more virile and attractive), even as that confidence is often a brittle façade. The film is rarely sexual but nevertheless remains about how sexuality colours our view of relationships, ageing, and overall purpose. Does monogamy seem like an unattainable, unthinkable goal? Okuno does an excellent job of buffering this discussion as an on-screen voice of author Kiarostami, and as a curious respondent to young romance at its most tempestuous and doomed.

2010 in Review: The Ten Best Films of the Year

While I'm well aware that 2011 has been going for eight solid weeks now, it takes this long to gain relatively comprehensive viewing of everything 2010 had to offer. As it happens, that turned out be a lot, even if it was heavily reliant upon European arthouse gems, animated features, and savvy documentaries. As usual, my criteria for a "2010 film" means one that was released theatrically, in any country, in 2010. To demonstrate how this differs from other assessments: "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," were it worthy of any championing, would be a 2009 film by my rules, as it first played over in Scandinavia two years ago today.

In the next week I intend to write up a review of the Oscars, an assessment of the year in general, and cite what I see as its major acting and technical achievements. For now, here's what I feel represented the best films of 2010, along with also-worthy offerings that didn't quite make the cut:

1. "The Illusionist"

2. "October Country"

3. "Blue Valentine"

4. "Poetry"

5. "Life During Wartime"

6. "The Fighter"

7. "Toy Story 3"

8. "Certified Copy"

9. "How to Train Your Dragon"

10. "The Social Network"

Runners-Up: "Animal Kingdom," "Black Swan," "Catfish," "Easier With Practice," "Exit through the Gift Shop," "Last Train Home," "On Tour," "Potiche"

A Review of Certified Copy (Kiarostami, 2010)

Copie Conforme (Certified Copy)

Directed by Abbas Kiarostami

Starring: Juliette Binoche, William Shimell

Grade: A –

Written for Subtitled Online:

Like the vacant microphones which dominate the first still of Abbas Kiarostami’s “Certified Copy,” one feels like a lonely figure waiting to be broached; waiting for an unknown address from an unknown addressee. Throughout the film this feeling never really dies, since its two principal characters each take it in turns to validate their case, like barristers squabbling in a courtroom. And yet “Certified Copy,” as dialogue-heavy and briskly meditative it is as an assessment of what constitutes a committed relationship, is as fluid and engaging a disquisition as Kiarostami has produced since 1997’s “Taste of Cherry”.

Those microphones stand for James Miller (Shimell), who is attending a conference to promote, recite, and discuss his book, “Copie Conforme” (Certified Copy). As he charms the Tuscan audience with his ambivalence and dry, pronounced British humour, he also draws apparent enthusiast Elle (Binoche) into his gaze. After she quarrels with her young son about the extent of her feelings for James, they later meet inside the boutique that she owns, and embark on a day trip to a handsome nearby town.

When journeying to get to this town, their conversation in the car extends to intellectual debate based on James’s book, the philosophy of which is framed upon cultural artefacts: what makes one artefact authentic and another false? They appear to have opposing views, his disillusionment with celebrity mirrored with her embracing of the PR world. And as Elle berates her own friend Marie’s simplistic attitude towards realness he reveals a pedantic, self-righteous streak in endeavouring to fight Marie’s corner, claiming a final, elitist word on the matter. The increase of tension flaunts a degree of harvested resentment; she’s frustrated, he’s resigned, and we aren’t quite sure until halfway through the film quite why they’re acting in this way.

Kiarostami uses the basis of a book about authenticity to show conflicting views about what a relationship and a marriage means; whether relationships are a product of natural chemistry, or whether we construct them to suit our own needs and plug inherent insecurities. The cavalier (anti?) charm about “Certified Copy” is that the subjects at the head of it, James and Elle, are either theorising their real feelings to accommodate the context of their exchange, or regressing to idealistic views of romance. Each grows more direct and assertive as they learn how much they can give of themselves without being stung, and the dynamic of their dialogue grows more tumultuous and unpredictable with every passing frame.

“Certified Copy” becomes a fascinating study of relationships, of how we use different modes of address to assert our point-of-view, and to justify ourselves to each other. Binoche and Shimell’s canny ability to draw you into their interplay makes the film vibrant and stimulating as an intellectual standoff, keenly mysterious in alluding to how emotional connection can devolve into figurative deadness. Even the quaint Tuscan hideaway that they peruse, with its dotted galleries and towering antiquity, becomes more of a weapon to the couple than a distraction, a method of instilling ideological sentiment into an emotional outlet that feels all but extinct. Art becomes the subjective canvas on which they coat their philosophies and belief systems, either through frustration towards the other, or to confirm to themselves that their lives aren’t an exception to a rule.

Binoche gives Elle startling complexity, flirting with the active courage of a teenager, and cunningly baying James to play along in her playground fantasy. She colours her impassioned silent hope with bitter self-realised existential crisis, painfully unable to quash the mentality that keeps her family in a tentatively ephemeral state. “Certified Copy” recalls the recently-released Blue Valentine in its display of a disintegrated romance that may have failed through being formed upon impulsivity and false perceptions, but rather than show the car crash, Kiarostami’s film is more about picking up the pieces and confronting one’s own failures. Particularly in Elle’s case, it feels as though she’s trying to find if her grievous loss is genuine: whether she’s mourning for something that ever existed, or if it all began as a result of mismatched agendas.

Gorgeously crafted and expertly played, “Certified Copy” achieves profound worth at generating back-story through spirited cajoling, even as deeper motives lie underneath the exterior. Such is the depth of each exchange between James and Elle, one can see a single scene of this succeeding as a short film, with enough tiny inflections of hollow affection to allude to years of unspoken contempt. What begins as a resurrection turns into a fatal re-enactment, and finally a sorrowful lament. The film’s title says it all: never has an imitation of a marriage felt so true.

The British Weighs In (and so do BAFTA)

Things are hotting up on the Awards front (or cooling down, depending on whether you think there's hope of an upset in one of the Actress categories) with the HFPA and BAFTA announcements these past couple of days. Yesterday was a serious hangover day for me (so many spirits, so little time) so at the risk of flogging a dead horse, here are the Golden Globe winners:

Drama: The Social Network

Musical or Comedy: The Kids Are All Right

Director: David Fincher, The Social Network

Best Actor, Drama: Colin Firth, The King's Speech

Best Actress, Drama: Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Best Actor, Musical or Comedy: Paul Giamatti, Barney's Version

Best Actress, Musical or Comedy: Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right

Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter

Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo, The Fighter

Original Score: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, The Social Network

Original Song: "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me" (written by Diane Warren), Burlesque

Foreign Language Film: In a Better World

Animated Film: Toy Story 3

Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network

The winners were much less interesting than the whole hoopla around Ricky Gervais, who insulted anyone and everyone. For the record, I don't think you need to be personal about people to be funny, but when there's an organisation as shamelessly celeb-motivated as the HFPA they need to be taken down a peg or two. Awards shows exist to celebrate movies, but, as anyone on Twitter knows, most of the comments directed at performers/films involved are a critique. It's difficult to say what everyone else is thinking, but doesn't Gervais succeed simply because he's willing to call the Globes out on nominating "The Tourist" for ridiculous reasons? Personally, I wish he'd gone a step further and said something about "Alice in Wonderland" and "Red" while he was at it.

I won't say too much about what this means for everyone's Oscar bids, mainly because I plan to assess the big eight races in the next week with some final Oscar nominee predictions. Save for Director, no category seems totally locked up - which is more than can be said for the eventual winners. Still, ask the people behind The Aviator, Brokeback Mountain, Babel, Atonement, and Avatar whether they'd be confident about repeating a Globe win at the Oscars.

BAFTA Nominees:

BEST FILM

Black Swan

Inception

The King's Speech

The Social Network

True Grit

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM

127 Hours

Another Year

Four Lions

The King's Speech

Made in Dagenham

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER

The Arbor

Exit Through the Gift Shop

Four Lions

Monsters

Skeletons

DIRECTOR

127 Hours - Danny Boyle

Black Swan - Darren Aronofsky

Inception - Christopher Nolan

The King's Speech - Tom Hooper

The Social Network - David Fincher

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Black Swan - Mark Heyman, Andrés Heinz, John McLaughlin

The Fighter - Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson

Inception - Christopher Nolan

The Kids Are All Right - Lisa Cholodenko, Stuart Blumberg

The King's Speech - David Seidler

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

127 Hours - Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Rasmus Heisterberg, Nikolaj Arcel

The Social Network - Aaron Sorkin

Toy Story 3- Michael Arndt

True Grit - Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Biutiful - Alejandro González Iñárritu, Jon Kilik, Fernando Bovaira

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Søren Stærmose, Niels Arden Oplev

I Am Love - Luca Guadagnino, Francesco Melzi D'Eril, Marco Morabito, Massimiliano Violante

Of Gods and Men - Xavier Beauvois

The Secret in their Eyes - Mariela Besuievsky, Juan José Campanella

ANIMATED FILM

Despicable Me

How to Train Your Dragons

Toy Story 3

LEADING ACTOR

Jarvier Bardem - Biutiful

Jeff Bridges - True Grit

Jesse Eisenberg - The Social Network

Colin Firth - The King's Speech

James Franco - 127 Hours

LEADING ACTRESS

Annette Bening - The Kids Are All Right

Julianne Moore - The Kids Are All Right

Natalie Portman - Black Swan

Noomi Rapace - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Hailee Steinfeld - True Grit

SUPPORTING ACTOR

Christian Bale - The Fighter

Andrew Garfield - The Social Network

Pete Postlethwaite - The Town

Mark Ruffalo - The Kids Are All Right

Geoffrey Rush - The King's Speech

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Adams - The Fighter

Helena Bonham Carter - The King's Speech

Barbara Hershey - Black Swan

Lesley Manville - Another Year

Miranda Richardson - Made in Dagenham

ORIGINAL MUSIC

127 Hours - AR Rahman

Alice in Wonderland - Danny Elfman

How to Train Your Dragon - John Powell

Inception - Hans Zimmer

The King's Speech - Alexandre Desplat

CINEMATOGRAPHY

127 Hours - Anthony Dod Mantle, Enrique Chediak

Black Swan - Matthew Libatique

Inception - Wally Pfister

The King's Speech - Danny Cohen

True Grit - Roger Deakins

EDITING

127 Hours - Jon Harris

Black Swan - Andrew Weisblum

Inception - Lee Smith

The King's Speech - Tariq Anwar

The Social Network - Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter

PRODUCTION DESIGN

Alice in Wonderland - Robert Stromberg, Karen O'Hara

Black Swan - Thérèse DePrez, Tora Peterson

Inception - Guy Hendrix Dyas, Larry Dias, Doug Mowat

The King's Speech - Eve Stewart, Judy Farr

True Grit - Jess Gonchor, Nancy Haigh

COSTUME DESIGN

Alice in Wonderland - Colleen Atwood

Black Swan - Amy Westcott

The King's Speech - Jenny Beavan

Made in Dagenham - Louise Stjernsward

True Grit - Mary Zophres

SOUND

127 HOURS - Glenn Freemantle, Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke, Steven C Laneri, Douglas Cameron

Black Swan - Ken Ishii, Craig Henighan, Dominick Tavella

Inception - Richard King, Lora Hirschberg, Gary A Rizzo, Ed Novick

The King's Speech - John Midgley, Lee Walpole, Paul Hamblin

True Grit - Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff, Peter F Kurland, Douglas Axtell

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS

Alice in Wonderland - Nominees TBC

Black Swan - Dan Schrecker

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 - Tim Burke, John Richardson, Nicolas Ait'Hadi, Christian Manz

Inception - Chris Corbould, Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Peter Bebb

Toy Story 3 - Nominees TBC

MAKE UP & HAIR

Alice in Wonderland - Nominees TBC

Black Swan - Judy Chin, Geordie Sheffer

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 - Amanda Knight, Lisa Tomblin

The King's Speech - Frances Hannon

Made in Dagenham - Lizzie Yianni Georgiou

I'm slightly ashamed at the narrowness of it all. Fourteen nominations is excessive enough a total as it is, without bestowing them upon "The King's Speech", a film with dull performances and even duller production values. It's also disappointing how much the Picture, Director, Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing and Sound categories overlap. There were more than seven pictures out in 2010, wouldn't ya know?

On the plus side: Julianne Moore's hopes of an Oscar nod remain alive, and Hailee Steinfeld gets into the right category for once. However, I cannot fathom how anyone can think Noomi Rapace is better than Jennifer Lawrence, Michelle Williams, Tilda Swinton, or even Hilary Swank, who acquits herself well in "Conviction" and is surely in a baitier role. This category reinforces the sense that this is more about the popularity of the films than it is about other factors like (shock horror!) the performance, or (surprisingly) the reputation of the women in the running.

 

More commentary to follow this week, along with a review of Abbas Kiarostami's Certified Copy, recently released on DVD in the U.K. The film reaches cinemas across the Atlantic on March 11.