My Oscar Picks

I completely enjoyed my movie binge these past few weeks. With less than a week to go for the Oscars, here are my favorites in each category. 

 

 Actor in a Leading Role

  Loved Colin Firth and James Franco, but I have to go with...

• Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
• Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”
• Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
• Colin Firth in “The King's Speech”
• James Franco in “127 Hours”

 

Actor in a Supporting Role

No contest, its...

• Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
• John Hawkes in “Winter's Bone”
• Jeremy Renner in “The Town”
• Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
• Geoffrey Rush in “The King's Speech”

 

Actress in a Leading Role

  Annette Bening was great too, but this actress pulled out all the stops... 

• Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”
• Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
• Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter's Bone”
• Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”
• Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”

 

Actress in a Supporting Role

Her performance gave me the chills, and I couldn't forget...

• Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
• Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
• Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
• Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
• Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”

 

Best Picture

For me, it's between "127 hours" and...

• “Black Swan” Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
• “The Fighter” David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
• “Inception” Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
• “The Kids Are All Right” Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
• “The King's Speech” Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers
• “127 Hours” Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
• “The Social Network” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
• “Toy Story 3” Darla K. Anderson, Producer
• “True Grit” Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
• “Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

Biutiful - and the Age of Reason

Yesterday was the warmest day for the year here in New York (almost 60 degrees) and the city was buzzing with activity. Getting off work a little early, I took the opportunity to see the last movie on my list, Biutiful. It had a gritty, oppressive tone - small spaces, the tightly wound emotions of the players, each desperate in his own way. I loved Javier Bardem in this movie. He played the father of two who manages groups of illegal workers in Barcelona, becoming emotionally attached to several individuals in the process - an oriental woman who works in a sweatshop, and a North African street vendor dealing in counterfeit handbags. Bardem's character Uxbal is terminally ill, separated from his bipolar wife and worried about who will take care of his children after he is gone. He is also a spiritual medium, sought in his community to aid reluctant spirits in their transition to the afterlife.  Every character in this movie harbors a secret, even the dead ones. There was urgency and tragedy at every turn with very little redemption. Yet, I emerged onto Times Square afterward feeling refreshed.
 
The unrest in Bahrain and elsewhere in the Middle East has begun to weigh on me - and I wouldn't be surprised if people in general just don't have the emotional energy to sustain an interest in all the protests to come. The conflict in Egypt fit the formula for American consumption: a peaceful, righteous protest, a skirmish which kept everyone on the edge of their seats, the unlikely onset of mercy and reason, high hopes followed by dashed hopes followed by a miracle denouement. With relief, many will have dropped Egypt like a hot potato by now, satisfied that they'd seen it through, and wishing that the rest of the process would unfold smoothly, quietly and out of view. The conflicts in Bahrain and elsewhere may not be as clear cut, the rulers may not roll over, the military powers may not be as sympathetic toward "the street", and overstimulated western observers may not have it in them to care as much this time around. 

Last night my son wanted to talk. Every now and then he announces "I'd like to have a little chat". Sometimes it's a funny observation or a question about something he doesn't understand. Last night it was both.
"You know mom, I was sitting in class looking at the letter A and suddenly it hit me - why is an A an A?" 
"Because that's what we were taught, that's why" he answered his own question.
"I've been thinking about it all day and that's the only reason I could come up with." he said.
I agreed with him - and we talked about both the limitations and the usefulness of names; the fact that they are necessary compromises that help us communicate - indeed, that help build unity and understanding on both interpersonal and global levels.
Or cause governments to fall like walls. "The people", "the street" - these are names which have taken on new meaning for the world in recent weeks. The people have become noble and the street has become the pulse, the cornerstone, the truth.

As we conversed I could see that my son, still shy of thirteen, was trying to sort out what he really knows or can prove to/for himself, and what he has to take or accept as true.
After a pause he said "I have been wondering about something else." 
"Why am I here, and what is my purpose in life?". I smiled, and we continued talking on a practical level about what that could be, and how we might begin to get clues about it. 

In truth, I don't know the answer, but this is one of those questions that signals deep awareness just by virtue of being asked. As his mother, I was quietly jubilant. As his fellow human, I was overcome with love and compassion. Welcome to the world.

2011: An Oscar Oddessy

I am almost at the end of my 2011 search for Oscar magic. The last movie standing is Biutiful (Javier Bardem, actor in a leading role). I hope to see it this coming week.
Many Oscar hosts weave their monologues out of story lines from the nominated movies in ways both informative and entertaining. Here are some of the common themes and potential parallels they may want to explore this year.

Young Heroines with Dead Fathers

True Grit 

Smart-mouthed, gutsy teenage girl searches for her father's killer with the aid of a grizzly lawman. She loses her hand as the result of a snakebite.

Winter's Bone

Smart-mouthed, gutsy teenage girl becomes a bounty hunter in the search for her missing father. The bounty is no less than her family's home and property which her father (a methamphetamine cook) had put up as bond with the county prior to his disappearance. He turns up dead. She cuts the hands off his submerged corpse and brings them to lawmen for identification.

Honorable mention in the Severed Hand sub-category - 127 Hours. 
See Also: Self Mutilation

Bank Heists Gone Wrong

The Town  

Childhood buddies controlled by an aging Godfather-like florist, stage a series of bank robberies. One man wants to quit the business, but the Godfather demands that they do one last job. It goes right - they get the money and no one is hurt, not even the bank manager who was temporarily taken hostage. Then it goes really wrong. Bank robber falls for bank manager and ends up having to protect her and eventually himself from his cohorts and the Godfather, somewhat thwarting his exit from a life of crime. 

Animal Kingdom

Four brothers, controlled by their Godfather-like mother, stage a bank robbery that is  alluded to in the opening credits. Soon after, one brother is killed by the police, then the remaining 3 brothers kill two cops in revenge. Then another brother is killed by the police. With two brothers dead, the dynamic darkens. The mother finally starts to grieve and turns her anger on to the eldest brother who has gone off his medication and becomes increasingly menacing.

Controlling Mothers

The Fighter

The story of two brothers pimped out for prize money by their mother,who had long since neutered their father. She is the whole shebang - trainer, promoter and decider of everything, and is backed by gaggle of crone-like daughters who all depend to some degree on their brothers' earnings. The story takes a happy turn after their father finds some cohones.

Animal Kingdom 

Mother demands kisses on the lips from her four sons, and after the killing of the first son by the police tells her remaining sons (one freaking out and the others catatonic from shock) "Calm down."

See also: Bank Heists Gone Wrong. 

Self Mutilation  

127 Hours

Adrenaline junkie goes on a desert hike without telling anyone. Gets his hand caught between a rock and a very hard place and spends 127 hours taking inventory of his backpack (which does not include a cell phone), making farewell video recordings to his parents, practicing extreme water conservation by recycling his urine, finally getting around to amputating his arm just below the elbow. It's an uplifting story of survival, and a cautionary tale about the dangers of miscalculating one's independence. 

Black Swan  

In this movie, we get to see the ugly underbelly of ballet - split toenails, broken ankles, bulimia, restricted diets, and the perfectionism typical of dancers taken to its grotesque extreme by this ballerina who literally would give her life for the role.

See also: Dubious Lesbian Sex Scenes.    

Dubious Lesbian Sex Scenes 

Black Swan 

Earnest 'goody-two-shoes' ballerina digs deep for dark qualities to bring to the role of the black swan in the ballet Swan Lake. She digs so deep that she splits her personality, indulges in activities of which she has limited recollection, blurs fantasy with reality and generally speaking, loses her mind. The lesbian sex scene which earns the movie a spot in this category may not even have happened - since her lover's face morphs eerily into her own just before she blacks out.

See also: Self Mutilation

The Kids Are All Right

In this movie, the alleged lesbian sex scene takes place under the sheets while one partner watches a pornographic video featuring gay men. Go figure. Julianne Moore's character later goes on to have very uninhibited heterosexual relations with the couple's sperm donor, devastating her wife and I 'd bet, confusing the entire viewing audience. 

In the words of an incredulous Annette Bening: "Are you straight now?"

I would add, "Or what?"

Marriages in Trouble

Blue Valentine

The story of a married couple who fell out of love. She was a nurse who bumped into an old boyfriend in the grocery store, he was a quasi-employed moving man with anger issues. There were questions of earning power, division of labor, switching of allegiances etc.

The Kids Are All Right

The story of a lesbian married couple who fell out of trust. She was a doctor, she was a quasi-employed landscaper with a thing for her sperm donor slash only client. There were questions of earning power, division of labor, switching of allegiances etc.

Confusion of Fantasy with Reality

Inception

The futuristic tale of a dream-walker, an operative who can enter into someones dreams and steal ideas, or plant them there. Problem is, he spends so much time on the job that he has difficulty distinguishing between dreams and reality. His plight is further complicated by the attempts of his dead wife to hijack any dream he is having or participating in, with the aim of keeping him asleep with her permanently.

Black Swan

See also: Dubious Lesbian Sex Scenes

Teamwork, of a Sort

Toy Story 3

Woody and the gang escape the incinerator by linking arms in a 'human chain' to the strains of 'We Belong Together' (best original song nominee).

The Social Network

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg proves that there is indeed an 'I' in team, and that through strategic share-splitting, one's rival (er, friend and financier) can be swindled out of his place on the masthead.

Coronations, of a Sort

The King's Speech

Stammering blue-blood takes a crash course in elocution to prepare for the throne which is being thrust upon him, and for the speeches he is expected to make as King. In due course he and his linguist become friends. True Story.

The Social Network

Socially inept Ivy League student dreams up (steals the idea for) a social network in an attempt to gate-crash a prestigious campus clubhouse. In due course his network garners 500 million users, he and his one friend become enemies, and he is crowned Time's Person of the Year. True story.

See also: Teamwork, of a Sort.

 

New Again

About once a month I get a migraine that puts me down for a few hours and drastically increases my gratitude for the most mundane things once it has passed. There are a number of strategies that I use to combat these headaches which usually encompass the left side of my head, neck and back. When I was a teenager, I used a bandana tied tightly around my head and soaked with alcohol. 

After I had my son, the bandana was replaced by one of his cloth diapers, which conferred a kind of comfort that may have had curative properties as well. My alcohol of choice was and still is a green liquid marketed in the Caribbean as a cooling aid to be used in hot weather. It comes in a plastic bottle with a picture of a penguin and a glacier. 

As I got older and the migraines got meaner, I needed to add medication to the mix - usually Excedrin Migraine. However, when I began to practice yoga, I learned that body movement in itself could be healing. The theory is that even without conscious intent, the body is always trying to generate antidotes to whatever ails it, and that physical movement aids this process. I started to apply this whenever I had a migraine. The only directive to be followed is the body's own feeling. Sometimes there is an urge to twist, or to yawn or to stretch or move in some specific way.

With my migraines, twisting my body at the waist plus hyper-extending my neck to one side with my jaw dropped, synchronized with deep breathing worked wonders. Sometimes my mouth would suddenly be flooded with a distinctive tasting saliva - sweet, bitter, salty or some combination of these. In training, I was taught to mindfully swallow this saliva as it contained some medicine which was generated by my body.

Yesterday's headache did not yield for six hours, even with the 4 pronged approach of the bandana with alcohol, medication plus yoga. It was like riding a raft downriver complete with rapids, eddies and waterfalls. It may sound odd, but it was an interesting journey. And once I reached the end of the ride - the world was new again.

In Search Of Magic

I am two thirds of the way through my Oscar movie marathon for 2011. I want to see all ten Best Picture nominees, as well as all of the movies from which Best Actor or Best Actress performances were nominated. And, I want to see them all before the Academy Awards Ceremony on February 27th. So, in addition to Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The Kids Are All Right, The King's Speech, 127 Hours, The Social Network, Toy Story 3, True Grit, and Winter's Bone - I will need to see Biutiful, Rabbit Hole, Blue Valentine, The Town and Animal Kingdom. As of tonight, I am 11 down and 4 to go.

This little exercise has encouraged me to look at movies I would normally have no interest in seeing. For example I hate the sport of boxing,which was a hurdle I had to overcome in order to see The Fighter. For my trouble, I was rewarded with Christian Bale's performance. He lost a lot of weight to play the role of a washed up, crack addicted ex-boxer whose last shred of self respect hung on the question of whether he had actually knocked down Sugar Ray Leonard as he'd like to remember, or whether Sugar Ray had tripped. Before I saw this movie, I liked Geoffrey Rush (The King's Speech) for best supporting actor, but Geoffrey seems a little tame to me now.

In addition to Christian Bale's spot-on performance in The Fighter, and the ride to save Mattie's life in True Grit, another magical experience for me was in the music from 127 Hours. Bill Wither's Lovely Day was entirely unexpected given what went before (musically speaking) in the movie, and so very uplifting. It was a life-affirming counterpoint to a scene that was utterly dismal, all the more so because it was based on real life events.

Winter's Bone was raw and touching - do people still live like this in America? When I saw the lead character taking her younger brother and sister (they were what, eleven and seven?) through the motions of target practice with a rifle and assorted empty plastic containers, admonishing them to "never, ever, never" point the gun at each other - I thought: guns sure make sense in Missouri, especially when your own kin are out to get you. I loved Jennifer Lawrence in this movie (lead actress). As she and her two younger siblings stared longingly at their neighbor skinning a deer while they were starving in plain sight next door, the brother wondered aloud whether they could ask for a piece of meat.

Her reply was the best quote of the movie: 'You should never ask for what ought to be offered'.

What didn't thrill me though, was The Social Network. It's very of the moment, I suppose - but it didn't take me anywhere special. Neither did  Black Swan, for all its dark weirdness. Nicole Kidman was pretty good in Rabbit Hole, but I was too distracted by her puffy lips. I don't think plastic surgery serves actors very well. Also, Nicole seems to have a stock way of expressing grief - same as she did in the movie Far and Away, which was a long long time ago when Tom Cruise still seemed normal.

Contrasted with Annette Bening in The Kids are All RIght, Nicole Kidman was as responsive as a rock. Annette Bening was wrinkled and bleary eyed, slightly plump and scarily real. I still have to see Michelle Williams in Blue Valentine, but so far Annette Bening has my vote for best actress.

Son (to his mothers, Annette Bening and Julianne Moore): 

I don't think you guys should break up

Annette Bening: Why?

Son: Because you are too old.

Which proves that gay marriage has one key advantage over 'hetero' marriage.

With partners of the same sex, the prospects of each finding a new partner are equally good... or equally bad.

The King's Speech is favored to win almost every category in which it is nominated, so I'm purposely not focusing on it too much. I've seen it and I loved it, especially one luminous scene in which the King and Mr. Logue are walking out in the sunshine after a rainshower.

This scene is visually unusual - somewhat backlit with the pavement shimmering like pewter, the two figures almost halo-ed and silhouetted. This bright scene is the setting for one of the emotional low points of the movie.

Though I've seen Inception three times, I don't think it is going to win many awards. It's in the vein of other brain teasers like The Prestige and The Departed: nail-biting suspense and a convoluted story line that requires at least 5 viewings to grasp fully - but how you love every minute of your nervous confusion!

Yet to be seen are: Biutiful, Blue Valentine, The Town and Animal Kingdom. I'm still on the lookout for magic.