Venice Awards Speculation (2): Oscar Potential

Of the dozens of films shown at the Venice Film Festival this year, few will make it onto US cinema screens at all, never mind in 2010. Even those that do are often much too tiny, obscure, or hard work for industry bigwigs and media pundits to truly get behind. These are the main films that might have had a chance at Oscar attention.

Black Swan

Natalie Portman's dynamite performance in "Black Swan" could and should receive awards attention, but if the film is mauled by critics in some quarters (as I suspect it may be) then it and her could be entirely dismissed. Portman is the perfect age to break into the established Best Actress nominee mould, and her profile is still very lofty, but she needs people to take her seriously even if they don't do the same for the production as a whole.

Meek's Cutoff

Kelly Reichardt's film is too minimal to capture enough backing for major nominations, but its period pull may prove fruitful for the experienced, overlooked costume designer Victoria Farrell. Sadly, I'm inclined to believe that it'll probably be released in very few theatres and make a pittance, since it admirably doesn't flaunt what it has.

Miral

I didn't feel that "Miral" was doing enough in any sense to upset a portion of the Academy, but my Jewish, part-ambivalent friend thought otherwise. If the film is indeed seen to be pro-Palestine, as she felt it came across, then the Weinsteins may have a difficult job in getting it a Best Picture nomination. Still, while "Miral" is dull and misguided, it does fit perfectly into the AMPAS realm of the middle-ground ("We want peace for both sides" etc.), and so it's the kind of movie that can manage awards attention without great international acclaim.

Somewhere

I think that Sofia Coppola's "Somewhere" is finished in terms of awards opportunity, even in the Original Screenplay category. It doesn't appear to have the support of "Lost in Translation", and certainly doesn't have the same comedic impact. Destined to be drowned out by the post-Toronto flurry.

The Town

If "The Town" makes a big enough splash stateside then it may benefit from an early-ish release. Ben Affleck has the respect from "Gone Baby Gone" (and is an Oscar-winner after all) to command call for a Best Picture nomination, but probably only if similar films follow it and falter.

From the Rest:

One can make a case that if Catherine Deneuve wins Best Actress here, and should "Potiche" turn into a box-office hit in the U.S., then we could be looking at a sentimental nomination for its star. I think that that's very far-reaching, especially since the Actress race is looking particularly crowded at the moment. "Potiche" is also a possibility for France's Foreign Language submission, although they have a history of going against the grain in that regard.

Other Foreign Language submissions may emerge from Antonio Capuano's "Dark Love" (Italy), which is very good. I also think that Colombia would be wise to submit "Little Voices", an animation about the difficulties of children growing up with the threat of Guerilla warfare on their doorstep. It's very baity, and can probably coast a little on the animated, war-themed success of "Waltz With Bashir" a couple of years ago.

Venice Film Festival 2010: A Review of "Miral"

Miral

Directed by Julian Schnabel

Starring: Freida Pinto, Hiam Abbass, Alexander Siddig, Yasmine Elmasri

Grade: C -

Although the film is titled "Miral", after the Palestinian revolutionary, it's over an hour before Miral herself -- a plucky Freida Pinto -- makes an appearance. Much of the film's first half is made up of flimsy exposition (some of which isn't even relevant), and the story becomes somewhat of a burdened timeline representation of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

"Miral" doesn't work as an overview because it is so uniformally-written, with a definitive solemnity about the middle-eastern battle and its talking points over the past sixty years. This would be much easier to take were Julian Schnabel able to connect his characters to their surroundings and create a tight enough bond between the four principal women that he highlights. Instead, "Miral" suffers from a lack of focus, historically-aware but hesitant about whether to centre itself around Miral or her mentor Hind Husseini. In terms of time, the span between them is rather great, and resultantly the plot becomes far too strained and indeterminate. Key shifts in Miral's political and emotional attitudes are bypassed to accommodate a progressive trawl through the history books.

Schnabel's unorthodox method of filmmaking aids in richening the appeal of "Miral", well-shot for the most part and even occasionally moving. Nevertheless, the script's early misgivings lead to a disjointed and uneven feel; there may be a lot to say about this subject, but "Miral" isn't the film to say it.

Venice Film Festival 2010: Day 2

A strenuous day 2 began with the harmless "Machete", Robert Rodriguez's latest idea for a movie, adapted from the spoof Grindhouse trailer of the same name. While occasionally hilarious the film is a strong rival to "The Expendables", in that its fatefully lazy plotting emphasises both the good and bad of its manic tone.

My second viewing was altogether different, the tender Italian film "Dark Love", about a girl who is gang-raped and her psychological post-struggle, as well as the struggle of one her incarcerated assailants to cope with what he has done. Director Antonio Capuano deals with the subject modestly, and successfully avoids any offensive contrivances.

I then made a brief return to my hotel room to freshen up before the evening's double-screening of Julian Schnabel's "Miral", and Anh Hung Tran's "Norweigan Wood". The former constantly frustrated me with its tepid approach to a heavy subject matter, and a wildly miguided narrative structure. By contrast, "Norweigan Wood" is a much more sincere, gripping take on adolescence, as well as being profoundly beautiful. While it gets a tad bogged down in repetitive teenage exchanges about love, and depicts an over-reliance upon sex as a cure for solitude, it proves remarkably fruitful on an emotional level.

Coming Up: A Review of "Miral"