Wong Kar-wai Aligns with Annapurna for Gucci Movie

A piece of advice for these turbulent, trying times in America: appreciate beauty and take good news where you can find it. Luckily for fans of master director Wong Kar-wai, Indiewire just reported a lovely blend of both. Poised to bring his eleventh film to the big screen with the help of Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures, Wong’s follow-up to 2013’s elegant wuxia The Grandmaster will be a (no doubt, very nice looking) movie centered around the Gucci dynasty and the murderous, complicated family drama swirling around it. There’s absolutely nothing surprising about hearing the names Gucci and Wong Kar-Wai within the same breath; style recognizes style.

In the interim between now and whenever the film’s release – and in the spirit of swooning more and swooning often – I recommend watching this scrumptious interlude from In the Mood for Love on a loop until you melt into the iconic pot of noodles that Maggie Cheung so gracefully swings. What's your favorite Wong Kar-wai?

FYC: Critics Choice Best Young Performer of 2016

Each year one of our awards traditions is to help fellow BFCA members choose more wisely when it comes to the "Young Performer" category by sharing an eligibility list. The lazy nominations each year prove that help is needed. Here's the thing: it can be difficult to even think of who is eligible when you're filling out a ballot because you don't get a list of choices and it's not a category people campaign for or one that the internet talks about. So we solve that problem right here. Our other belief, which is why we do this, is that if you actually pay attention there are enough worthy performances each year to divvy this category up into male and female as the other acting categories are divvied up. But, yes, you have to be paying attention beyond 5 or 6 movies and leading roles to notice the truly special work. 

Ballots go out to the BFCA soon so here's a cheat sheet to help them vote. The category is UNDER 21... (it should obviously be adjusted to 17 and under but that's a fight for another day). Please FYC your favorites in the comments!

ELIGIBLE "YOUNG PERFORMERS" IN 2016 FILMS

GIRLS
Ella Anderson (11) as "Rachel" in The Boss
Ruby Barnhill (12) as "Sophie" in The BFG DEBUT
Annalise Basso (18) as "Vespyr" in Captain Fantastic
Elle Fanning (18) as "Julie" in 20th Century Women  OR as "Jesse" in Neon Demon (3 previous nods in this category)
Royalty Hightower (11) as "Toni" in The Fits  DEBUT
Samantha Isler (18) as "Keilyr" in Captain Fantastic
Avin Manshadi (?) as "Dorsa" in Under the Shadow DEBUT
Madina Nalwanga (?) as "Phiona" in Queen of Katwe DEBUT
Alexis Nebblet (11) as "Beezy" in The Fits  DEBUT
Eva Peterson (18?) as "Crystal" in The Boss  DEBUT
Ella Purnell (20) as "Emma Bloom" in Miss Peregrine's Home...
Angourie Rice (15) as "Holly March" in The Nice Guys
Hailee Steinfeld (19) as "Nadine" in Edge of Seventeen (previous winner of this category)
Anya Taylor-Joy (20) as "Thomasin" in The Witch DEBUT
Madison Wolfe (14) as "Janet" in The Conjuring 2 

BOYS 
Michael Barbieri (14) as "Tony Calvelli" in Little Men DEBUT
Asa Butterfield (19) as "Jake" in Miss Peregrine's Home... (two previous nods in this category)
Markees Christmas (17) as "Morris" in Morris From America DEBUT
Julian Dennison (14) as "Ricky" in Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Devin Druid (?) as "Conrad" in Louder than Bombs
Oakes Fegley (11?) as "Pete" in Pete's Dragon
Nicholas Hamilton (16) as "Rellian" in Captain Fantastic
Alex R Hibbert (?) as "Little" in Moonlight DEBUT
Lucas Hedges (20) as "Patrick" in Manchester by the Sea
Tom Holland (20) as "Peter Parker" in Captain America: Civil War (previous nominee in this category)
Jharrel Jerome (19) as "Kevin (16)" in Moonlight DEBUT
Jaeden Lieberher (13) as "Alton" in Midnight Special (previous nominee in this category)
Lewis MacDougall (14) as "Conor" in A Monster Calls
Sunny Pawar (?) as "Young Saroo" in Lion DEBUT
Ashton Sanders (20) as "Chiron" in Moonlight 
Harvey Scrimshaw (14) as "Caleb" in The Witch
Neel Sethi (12) as "Mowgli" in The Jungle Book DEBUT
Theo Taplitz (13) as "Jake Jardine" in Little Men DEBUT
Ferdia Walsh-Peelo (17) as "Cosmo" in Sing Street DEBUT
Lucas Jade Zumann (15) as "Jamie" in 20th Century Women

Who would you vote for?

Beauty & The Beast's First Full Length Trailer is Zzzz

Why are they pretending its not a musical but simultaneous reminding you that it is EXACTLY like the animated film it's based on? Cognitive dissonance! We'll save a Yes No Maybe So until the second trailer since we already YNMS'ed the teaser. 

Beauty and the Beast on Broadway is one of the only stage shows I ever walked out of at intermission. It was painfully faithful to the movie to the point where it felt like the actors were robots dutifully mimicking the exact same line readings as the movie so as not to disturb the audience who had seen the movie a bajillion times. But if you don't bring anything new, why do you exist? Hopefully a second trailer will reveal that they didn't just make a new movie as carbon copy in which the only difference is actors where drawings used to be. 

Six Instagram Qs

.Today we needed joyful / beautiful celebrities and the internet provided. After the jump six photos. Answer the questions in the comments, won't you?

• Kiki on the set of the Beguiled. How excited are you on a scale of 1-10?
• Rita and Tom celebrating Tom. Again. How many more times can he be celebrated in his career? 
• Doona Bae teasing Season 2 of Sense 8. Shouldn't there be an air date by now?
• Missi Pyle & RuPaul. What do you suppose they talked about?
• Anna Kendrick promoting her book. Is there an audio version where she sings it?
• Juliette Lewis promoting adoption day. When does she get another great film role? We're impatient! 

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Min-hee Kim's Secrets and Lies in "The Handmaiden"

by Chris Feil

Much of the praise for Park Chan-Wook's The Handmaiden has favored the director's twisted vision, the sumptuous design elements, or its grinning audacity. Sure the film is as immaculately crafted as all that talk has promised, but there one thrilling puzzle inside the film worthy of equal regard is the lead performance by Min-hee Kim.

For a film as plotty and opulent as The Handmaiden, you can understand how any performance might not be the first takeaway. But believability of the narrative's many twists falls largely on Kim's coolly dexterous shoulders...

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