Doc Corner: Tribeca's Big Winner, 'Bobbi Jene'

by Glenn Dunks

Who is worthy of a documentary about themselves is a question that comes up a lot when watching and occasionally writing about documentaries. A long life doesn’t necessarily make you any worthier of one, just as youth doesn’t imply unworthiness. Of course, who is a worthy subject is ultimately in the eye of the beholder so to speak and it is the film itself is what should be judged.

I am sure there was a reason that director Elvira Lind chose to follow Bobbi Jene Smith for a documentary. Beyond ‘she’s a great dancer’, of course...

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YNMS: "All The Money In The World"

Chris here. This year is going to have quite a bit of late breaking Oscar hopefuls based on fact, including Steven Spielberg's The Post (is that what it's called today?) and maybe a Clint Eastwood film about a true life thwarted terrorist attack in France. Ridley Scott is looking to quickly bounce back from the tepid response to Alien: Covenant with a real story of his own that wrapped a mere month ago: All the Money In The World. The film follows the famous Getty kidnapping and cruel patriarch J. Paul Getty's refusal to fork out the ransom dough.

Don't expect to hear "unrecognizable" dubbed just to Gary Oldman this year for Darkest Hour - this film is going hard on selling/taunting us Kevin Spacey as the billionaire in heavy prosthetics. We'll see if this ends up being a supporting or lead actor play, but might the film have awards chances elsewhere? Is it enough of a showcase for Michelle Williams to break through a stacked Best Actress race as the mother of the kidnapped younger Getty?

The film is set to close AFI Fest and opens December 8. Take a look at the new trailer and we'll break down the Yes No Maybe So...

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Beauty vs Beast: Two Princes

Jason from MNPP here, wishing a happy 44th birthday to the perennially underrated James Marsden today! He's not so underrated that he's ever really gone without work at least (and he's currently riding the zeigeist a bit with the success of Westworld, although I don't know if his moon-eyed compoke Teddy is really what's keeping anybody coming back to that show week after week) but underrated he still somehow seems. That's an impressive impression to give for someone as breathtakingly gorgeous as him! No small feat.

I suppose it's the "Nice Guy Loser" role he's been called on to play time and again - we've watched him watch The Girl go off with the right Mr. Right so many times we've built a stockpile of empathy for him. Speaking of, for today's for "Beauty vs Beast" let's hit up just one of those roles, the 2007 hit film Enchanted (which insanely is turning 10 in November, can you believe it)...

PREVIOUSLY Last week's It Comes at Night contest between Joel Edgerton & Christopher Abbott's survivalist characters was a tight race for a bit but the latter pulled out in front eventually taking 62% of your vote - said Nick T:

"Their scenes together were my favorite parts of the film, their beards my favorite characters."

28 Links Later

Went a little overboard today but we were behind on news plus the Emmys happened!

The Daily Harry Dean Stanton (RIP) --sorry we didn't cover this (!) but it happened in the midst of TIFF international flights and such
My New Plaid Pants good Orlando Bloom-ing morning to ya
My New Plaid Pants dueling Call Me By Your Name magazine covers
Junkee please don't call Call Me By Your Name "universal"
Women and Hollywood distribution deal for Emma Thompson in The Children Act marked for 2018

Lots more after the jump including mother! takes, Emmy aftermath, I Tonya, and the Younger season finale...

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The Furniture: Beatriz at Dinner in a Tacky Muted Mansion

"The Furniture," by Daniel Walber, is our weekly series on Production Design. You can click on the images to see them in magnified detail.

Beatriz at Dinner is a film of climaxes, moments of outrage that burst through the veneer of respectability cultivated by the rich and amoral. Beatriz (Salma Hayek), overwhelmed with disgust at a picture of Doug (John Lithgow) and the body of a recently-murdered rhinoceros, throws his phone at him and storms out. Laughing at her principles, he looks at his hosts and asks, “Does she get out much?”

This, of course, is a central irony of Miguel Arteta and Mike White’s tightly-wound send-up of American wealth. Doug is the CEO of Rife Worldwide, an internationally-reviled real estate firm. He’s a Trumpian nightmare of toxic masculinity and unbridled capitalism, breaking laws and displacing communities as a best business practice. And so when he asks this question, we are reminded that his life is spent constructing hideous monuments to tackiness that replicate a precise vision of high-end living no matter the context...

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