by Nathaniel R
Modering a Stephanie Hsu Q&A at Middleburg Film Festival
Here's the thing with weekend festivals. They are brutal with either/or decision-making. At the longer festivals you can promise that you'll catch up with a film later (or delude yourself into thinking you can... which has the same effect). At weekend festivals there's often only one chance to see a particular film. And the whole thing can feel over in a flash. I'm typing this on day four, closing day, because I haven't been able to get to it before now. On Day two I wasn't able to squeeze in many movies between one moderation gig (a special screening of Everything Everywhere All At Once with Stephanie Hsu, pictured above) and two sit down interviews but at least both of the movies were must-sees in terms of the Best Actor Oscar race...
Living (2022), a British period drama adapted and condensed from Akira Kurosawa's Ikiru (1952), hasn't made huge waves at any of its festival appearances to date and doesn't open in the US until December 23rd. Nevertheless it would be foolish to count this one out of the Oscar race. As smart awards-fanatics know, Sony Pictures Classics is fairly successful with stealth campaigning. Their films don't tend to generated much online obsession (which leans young, generally speaking) as they tend to be traditional dramas (which skews older, again generally speaking). The specialty distributor is also fond of the last minute or qualifying release. Though they often look like an underdog, they tend to come through with more nominations than people were expecting. Florian Zeller's The Son initially looked like their top horse this year, but given its divisive reception (including here at Middleburg), perhaps their best shot at gold at the 95th Oscars will be Living?
Bill Nighy stars as Mr Williams, a man reeling from a terminal diagnosis in 1950s London. South African director Oliver Hermanus reteams with his gifted cinematographer Jamie Ramsay (they previously made the gay dramas Beauty and Moffie together) and they expertly trade on the pinched stillness and innate drama of Nighy's stony face and slim physique. They frame him in dramatic lighting in a tight aspect ratio but often at a distance until the drama really takes effect and we get closer and closer to Nighy's exquisitely calculated performance. Nighy's tragicomically serious face opens up in slow motion as he allows himself to really feel his life and break old habits in a last minute attempt to make a difference.
Nighy's performance alone would be strong enough to elevate a mediocrity but Living isn't that. (It helps of course to have the bones of a bonafide classic to work from.) The whole of it is beautifully crafted even beyond Nighy and the retro-beauty of the cinematography, shot on film and sometimes looking like a lost film from 50s itself. There's also the memorable score by Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch and fine costume design from the legendary Sandy Powell. The supporting cast is top notch, offering delightful bits of levity or reaction shot intrigue throughout even though none of them beyond Aimee Lou Wood (as the only woman in the office Nighy runs) have a lot to do. Expect at Best Actor nomination for Bill Nighy at the very least. B+
Darren Aronofsky's The Whale also invites you to consider the humanity of a man you might shallowly dismiss with prejudice at first glance. Brendan Fraser stars as Charlie, a severely obese gay man who rarely leaves his couch and needs help from walkers and hanging bars to make it to the bathroom or bed. He teaches online courses, always with his camera off and a lame perpetual excuse about his disembodied voice. His only friend is Liz (Hong Chau, wonderful), a nurse who stops by frequently after her shifts but can't convince him to go to the hospital. They've clearly been having this same fraught conversation for years about his declining health with the same outcome. Charlie and Liz are stuck in a grief loop, neither of them having ever recovered from the death of Charlie's boyfriend years earlier. Because of this statis, the plot and character arcs comes from elsewhere with Charlie's attempt to reconcile with his teenage daughter Ellie (Sadie Sink) as the focal point.
It's interesting that The Whale is Aronofsky's first film since the (mostly) loathed but sensational mother! (2017) and again, he's opted for a story that's entirely set in one home. There's no boldly confrontational allegories this time and also significantly less square footage as if Aronofsky is willfully seeking implosion.
Though all movies are subjective experiences, I would argue that Aronofsky is way too much of a provocateur to commit fully to the kind of sensitivity and empathy this material surely needed to circumvent its parade of immobile trauma. It basically starts with a provocation (masturbation that goes pathetically awry) and in scene after scene it tilts toward confronting you with the "horror" of Charlie's reality. Pity more than empathy felt like the goal, which made it an altogether unpleasant experience.
Fraser's deeply committed performance, leans hard into the same pathos so the film has room for little else. The actor does offer variations, giving us peaks at who Charlie might have been before all this, and one completely endearing moment of levity involving a peak at his daughter's notebook. The film could have used much more of that if it wanted us to see Charlie as a three dimensional human apart from the dimensions of his body. C-
At the Q & A afterward Samuel D Hunter, the writer of both the play and this adaptation, revealed that though it wasn't autobiographical, he drew inspiration from years of being overweight in his 20s and his repressive religious upbringing. While the film is well acted and Fraser is fully committed to breaking your heart, it's been somewhat divisive. Most of the audience seemed enraptured, though. In fact, one man stood to tell Brendan Fraser that it was the 'most emotional performance i've ever seen.'
I myself spoke to two women (not together) after the screening. Both of them self-described as "fat" or "bigger bodied" and they had opposite reactions, one strongly defending the film as "fat-sensitive" and the other sharing my resistance to the film and considering it "fat-phobic". It looks like it will be one of those 'eye of the beholder' films! Can't wait to hear what YOU all think when it opens.
Actresses!
The highlight of my day wasn't the two screenings but time spent, separately, with two of this year's Best Supporting Actress contenders (interviews forthcoming). Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All At Once) and Dolly De Leon (Triangle of Sadness) were both warm, funny, and engaged as interview subjects. Even better they doubled as excited festivalgoers, hitting movies they were curious about just like the rest of us! That's too uncommon with actors who fly in for promotional duties at any festival and sometimes fly right back out. And the very best thing about festivals -- any of them, not just Middleburg -- is watching movies in packed houses and discussing them afterwards at the parties or in line for other screenings.
Dolly De Leon and myself (photographer unknown but thank you!) at the Closing Night Party
Fast forward to the closing night party on Day 3. I reconnected with Dolly de Leon who was even funnier in round two. I teased her about the luxury spa treatment she was planning at the hotel as if she was crossing over to the other side of Triangle of Sadness which made her laugh. As we continued talking over hors d'oeuvres, she revealed that she loves Everything Everywhere All At Once and was nervous to introduce herself to Stephanie Hsu whom she had spotted at dinner. To her delight when she turned around in her chair later in the meal, there was Hsu, crouching down to introduce herself to Dolly! A happy anecdote as well as a fun and important reminder as awards season begins that actors who we tend to think of as "in competition", due to the very nature of awards season and its categories, are often excited to meet and fans of each other's work.
How awesome to have these two amazing Actors together at this years festival!! #StephanieHsu and @DollyEdeLeon #middleburgfilmfestival #mff2022 #10yearsofMFF @triangleofsad @allatoncemovie pic.twitter.com/46afNvSxil
— Middleburg Film Fest (@middleburgfilm) October 15, 2022