Cannes Tidbits: Mommy, Foxcatcher, Two Days One Night, Lost River
Wednesday, May 21, 2014 at 11:34PM And here is where the internet punishes me for being so woefully behind on my Oscar predictions. I had been planning to predict Channing Tatum for Best Supporting Actor since January... and I would have done so and people would have scoffed only to be blown away a mere month later by my prophetic gift when the Foxcatcher reviews hit at Cannes.
Channing Tatum & Steve Carell headline. Will any movie ever campaign two leads again?
No matter that Chan is, by most accounts, the lead. You know how Oscar do with two-lead/same-gender movies - they cheat!
Foxcatcher isn't the only movie greeted with raves the past couple of days. In fact, it seems like with each day of the festival (which ends Sunday) we have a new Palme D'Or frontrunner. If you believe everything you read on Twitter, for example the winner is clearly going to be Two Days and One Night With Mr Turner & Foxcatcher's Mommy in Timbuktu. I've heard more than one critics proclaim Marion Cotillard the obvious winner of best actress for her leading role in Two Days One Night but haven't they been paying attention at past Cannes ceremonies? She's always the "sure thing" at that festival and she has yet to win. So try not to jinx her, s'il vous plait.
Not every movie is going to win a prize. Atom Egoyan's Captives was widely panned but seemed to quickly dissipate from the converation. Ryan Gosling's Lost River doesn't look like it's going to be so lucky. There's a certain level of joyful snark and target practice that only emerges from critics when a major star is involved in a project so that one appears to be the biggest punching pag since Grace of Monaco on opening night. [The No Duh Lesson: People care about Ryan Gosling and Nicole Kidman. They do not care about Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively]
After the jump a collection of Cannes tweets about Xavier Dolan's Mommy (and a few other movies) that have raised my eyebrows enough to share them.
The first few tweets I saw indicated that Xavier Dolan had outdone himself but then it became clear that it's a divisive movie. That's fine, too. All the more reason to be excited... not that US distributors believe any of us are Dolan fans so who knows when or if it will surface at all outside of the festival circuit.
on MOMMY...
Xavier Dolan's Mommy. There are no words. Okay let's start with one: wow. #holyshit #cannes2014
— Sasha Stone (@AwardsDaily) May 21, 2014
Xavier Dolan's MOMMY is indeed fantastic. Finally a compelling step up from I KILLED MY MOTHER: sad, scary, exciting & well-acted. #cannes
— erickohn (@erickohn) May 21, 2014
MOMMY: A Xavier Dolan Lee Daniels film, shrieky, intermittently moving, shot in rich fluorescent beige. Full of good stuff, but a step back.
— Guy Lodge (@GuyLodge) May 21, 2014
Leave it to Xavier Dolan to invent his own aspect ratio.
— Mike D'Angelo (@gemko) May 21, 2014
I was never drawn into Xavier Dolan's Mommy. Overwrought implausible nonsense it seemed to me but maybe I'm just very tired. #Cannes2014
— Nick James (@filmnickjames) May 21, 2014
on FOXCATCHER...
Jane Campion should give the Palme d'Or to herself for her incredible, frenetic dancing to Lykke Li at last night's Foxcatcher party.
— Kyle Buchanan (@kylebuchanan) May 20, 2014
To me, Foxcatcher is about 2 men so inside their bubble they’re near autistic & the inability of 1 fully formed adult to save them #Cannes
— David Poland (@DavidPoland) May 19, 2014
If you don't have time to watch Foxcatcher watch the ep of The Simpsons where Mr Burns buys into the bowling team. (Not a diss, both ace)
— Catherine Bray (@catherinebray) May 19, 2014
FOXCATCHER is like a more muted, eery BEHIND THE CANDELABRA. #Cannes2014
— Nigel M. Smith (@nigelmfs) May 19, 2014
on TWO DAYS ONE NIGHT...
TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT is basically Rosetta 15 years later. And it's fantastic.
— Peter Labuza (@labuzamovies) May 20, 2014
Impassioned, exciting, magnificently acted - the Dardenne brothers could actually be on for Palme no.3 with Two Days, One Night #Cannes2014
— Peter Bradshaw (@PeterBradshaw1) May 20, 2014
Marion Cotillard has never won Best Actress at Cannes. The Dardennes have two Palmes. Spot the thing that needs more urgently rectifying.
— Tim Robey (@trim_obey) May 20, 2014
on LOST RIVER...
At Cannes no one is referring to Lost River as Lost River. It's all "Have you seen the Gosling?"
— Richard Lawson (@rilaws) May 21, 2014
Confession: I'd sooner rewatch LOST RIVER than WINTER SLEEP, JAUJA or several other Cannes films that don't feature Ben Mendelsohn dancing.
— Guy Lodge (@GuyLodge) May 20, 2014
Did anyone check to make sure James Franco isn't actually behind LOST RIVER? #Cannes2014
— Nik Grozdanović (@nikgrape) May 20, 2014
Lost River: Ryan Gosling confuses 'making film' with 'assembling Tumblr of David Lynch & Mario Bava gifs'. Dumb-foundingly poor #Cannes2014
— Robbie Collin (@robbiereviews) May 20, 2014
I can't say that I 100% wish I was there -- I hear that Cannes is considerably less manageable than, say, Toronto. I understand there are three badge colors for access and I am highly allergic to queues and hiearchies that you can be crushed at the bottom of. There's a theater in Manhattan that now lets you reserve your seats. You can show up as the trailers are ending and still have a great seat. It is heaven.
Reader Comments (18)
I'm so excited about _Mommy_! I liked _Tom at the Farm_'s relative economy and lean/meanness (and yeah, it's violent, dark erotic vibe), but kind of hated the ending, and I do think a strength of his is allowing actresses to truly shine. Dorval was so good in _I Killed My Mother_, and this sounds like a showcase for her again. I really can't wait, even though it's been so little time since his last film.
I haven't been reading the reviews, but I am guessing that a lot of the praise for Tatum is based on the fact that they did not expect him to be THAT good. It's good for buzz but alone prob won't get him there. My guess is that Ruffalo's performance is better and has the better chance (out of everyone in the film not named Steve).
This has been a fantastic Cannes as there's some great films to hear about in Foxcatcher, Mr. Turner, Mommy (I need to see Dolan's films), and Two Days, One Night. I'm not surprised by the mixed reaction towards Maps to the Stars but I was surprised by the negative reaction towards Lost River and The Search.
I think Cannes should ban people who have no business being at the festival like Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, and Justin Bieber since they're only there to get attention as they could care less about films.
Focus is understandably starting to turn to the perceived Palme d'Or contenders, but it has been really gratifying reading about the wide range of films showing there across the three major programs. It's one of the major benefits of the internet age, even if it does mean that some really questionable writers end up in the mix, spewing their super uninformed opinions hither and yon. I do wish some of the writers weren't so jaded and above it all. Not withstanding her enthusiasm for Mommy and some others, but Sasha Stone sounds like she should be calling into a suicide help line half the time.
Predicting Channing Tatum for BSA would have hardly been prophetic. Great career momentum + killer project and director = great chance for a nod. The only people who should be surprised are those who aren't paying attention.
So, what are your predictions for the prizes on Saturday?
These are the categories:
Palme d'Or
Grand Prize of the Jury
Prize of the Jury
Best Director
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Screenplay
According to Variety , Sony Pictures Classics are going to campaign both Tatum and Carrell in the lead category. Which *shockface*!, that never happens. We should all be glad its not Harvey Weinsten running the Oscar campaign for this cause you know he would have split them.
Oh Mia -- than no one has been paying attention because have you heard the "surprise" in these voices about Chan as a potential Oscar player? It's so weird. If anything it's less surprising when performers that aren't highly respectable (for whatever reason) get Oscar buzz because the 'surprise' factor has been shown time and time again to be a great Oscar hook.
it's why Bullock won the Oscar. It played a huge role in the McConaissance. And it stretches back throughout Oscar history. If anything it's easier to win an Oscar by suddenly being good than by being good all the time (Thelma Ritter, Glenn Close, Deborah Kerr, Julianne Moore, etcetera) and thus not surprising anyone.
It's funny, because as much as I want the two leads nominated side by side scenario, part of me didn't want Julia Roberts to miss out on a nomination for "August: Osage" and now I wouldn't want Channing to miss out on one for "Foxcatcher." So I guess I'm saying that I'm content with campaigning Channing for BSA.
a sort of interesting story I read in this blog: this brazilian journalist (luiz carlos merten) wrote that tatum really didn't like when another journalist commented on the "foxcatcher"'s homoerotic subtext during an interview. apparently, he turned very serious and said "not at all". the film's director had to joke right after saying there is, but he didn't mention it to tatum because he could feel uncomfortable.
but Miguel if both performances are worthy of a nomination and strong enough they should be nominated in the correct category. Category fraud in supporting for 'lead performances that wouldn't get a nomination otherwise' really denigrate the entire category and they take away nominations from real supporting actors who aren't superstar movie stars. I would rather someone like a Sally Hawkins or a John Hawkes type of actor get nominated in place of a Julia Roberts (did she need another nomination?) type.
I love the Dardennes and Cotillard so I'm dying of anticipation.
I knew channing had a good shot at a nom a year ago when i read the script and realized character is the lead and arguably the most complex in the film. I think its fair to compare him to jake lamotta. Both are very self destructive. I can't wait to see the final film. I loved the script i read.
Plus i feel good looks can cloud perceptions of who a good actor is. I was a fan of tatum since i saw a guide to recognizing your saints and loved him in magic mike. The man has got talent and also an incredible personality not unlike mcconaughey that can probably help him with campaigning. But i definitely wanna say good for Tatum man. Also i LOVE him in 21 jump street. he is a natural at comedy
What is the Lee Daniels mention to Mommy all about from Guy?
Mark: In his review, he clarifies: "Dolan's indulgences aren't something to be grown out of, merely applied with more range and intuition as the years go by; in an art-house scene that currently defaults so heavily to the classically austere, his pop expressionism is as necessary as it is exciting. A kind of Xavier Dolan Lee Daniels film, fat with acting and shot in rich fluorescent beige, _Mommy_ isn't his most sophisticated work -- but it's one that nevertheless demonstrates how much he's grown in the five years that separate it from _I Killed My Mother_."
Nathaniel - Agreed. It's why if/when Jennifer Aniston ever finds a role perfect for her in a big hit, she's winning.
Channing Tatum has been consistently good in movies that nobody saw ("Stop/Loss", "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints"), and he's far more adept at comedy in "She's the Man" than people realized. A nomination wouldn't surprise me.