For Your Consideration: "Central Park Five" and "The Gatekeepers"

Amir here looking at two films we should keep an eye on in Oscar's documentary race.

"The Central Park Five"

I’ll be the first to admit that when it comes to judging the quality of documentaries, I have a particular bias. My favourite docs tend to be innovative films that aren’t necessarily “significant” in the grand scheme of things, like Grizzly Man or Senna, but I often find myself giving a pass to films that use a conventional structure to tell an important story, merely because thee subject matter does the work, towering above the film itself. Every once in a while, however, I’m confronted with a film that utilizes the old “talking heads intercut with archival footage” formula so powerfully that it becomes impossible to imagine it in any other way. Two such films came my way during TIFF that absolutely blew me away.

The first is Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon’s The Central Park Five, which tells the story of five black and Latino youths who were arrested in 1989 for the alleged rape and physical abuse of a white female jogger in Central Park. Despite a lack of evidence to support the charges and their youth (they were all between 14 and 17), they each ended up serving several years in prison or juvenile detention centres. In 2002, more than a decade after their first trial, the real criminal stepped out and confessed; DNA evidence supported his claim. But the irreversible damage had been done. [more after the jump...]

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Life of Pi and other movies inside my head. It's a zoo in there.

My head is all ascramble. Last thing I know I was boozing it up with Joaquin* Suddenly I'm waking up adrift in the ocean** with only my beloved dog***, who I'd just brought back from the dead ****, and a fierce Bengal tiger for company. All of this while trying to chase and kill an older version of myself from the future ***** ! 

Which movies are jostling around inside your head right now vying for attention? Which one is winning?

* The Master ** Life of Pi *** Bwakaw **** Frankenweenie ****** Looper 
(Thoughts coming on all of those pictures -- a streak of happy moviegoing -- though not in that order as soon as I can collect myself.)

P.S. I'm aware that I'm burying the headline which is that I've just seen Life of Pi. Judging on the joygasms on twitter, it looks like a critical crowdpleaser and a bonafide Oscar contender. I was less ecstatic but boy does it look good. Cinematography nomination #2 for Claudio Miranda (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) coming right up. Yes, I'll update the Oscar charts this weekend. A lot of adjustments are due from shifting release dates and buzz.

The Linking

GQ an oral history of the great sitcom Cheers
/Film first looks inside Darren Aronofsky's Noah's Ark via the great cinematographer Matthew Libatique. They should've filmed this under the pseudonym Snakes on a Boat and surprised us all with a Noah's Ark movie.
Indie Wire talks to the director of Room 237. Is the documentary, a compilation of theories and obsessions surrounding Stanley Kubrick's The Shining a celebration or a critique of film critics? I'm dying to see this even though I'm no expert on The Shining.

NY Post the Self Styled Siren takes on Brian de Palma's Passion, a remake of the french thriller Love Crimes which starred Ludivine Sagnier (interviewed).
Oklahoma is excited about the stars of August: Osage County in their midst (reminder: filming has begun!) There's a few blurry pics of stars (as well as some clear ones) and one of Meryl Streep doesn't look much like her but I'll take their word for it given the blur. 
Hollywood.com wonders if audiences want to be challenged at the movies. A question posed through the film Compliance (which you'll remember I wasn't crazy about though I do love a good movie challenge.)
Now Toronto Rian Johnson talking about his fine Looper stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis 
The Film Doctor notes on The Master
In Contention wonders if Skyfall could land a best picture nomination 
Hollywood Elsewhere Guillermo Del Toro on Ken Russell's great film The Devils 

Finally...
Do you all follow the Vanity Fair tumblr? It's fun. I love this Bruce Handy quote they recently featured:

“PARKER POSEY IS SCARY AND ANGULAR AND LOOKS LIKE SHE COULD SAY SOMETHING MEAN ABOUT YOU IN BED. SHE’S TWO-THIRDS OF THE WAY TO CATHERINE KEENER. ZOOEY DESCHANEL, ON THE OTHER HAND, IS TWO-THIRDS OF THE WAY TO MY LITTLE PONY.”

and it just begs for a poll...

poll by twiigs.com

Sally Kirkland is "Awakened"!

Sometimes movie publicists are telepathic. Last week I was thinking about The Hamptons and how it's weird that I've never been but I'm so eager to spend every weekend there this fall shivering from the icy cold glares of Victoria Grayson and Emily Thorne (Revenge returns Sunday night ~Holla). Then a friend who had never seen Scarface (1983) sent me a text that was basically like “Steven Bauer ♥ omg!” to which I  responded with a “Queue Thief of Hearts - it's pure Bauer Porn." Last but not least, I was wondering which celebs I should invite as future guest stars and my mind wandered to Sally Kirkland, star of Anna (1986), for which she won the Golden Globe, an Independent Spirit and the Heart of Me. 

All of these things were jostling for attention in my crowded celluloid packed-brain for the past few days when what should arrive in my inbox but the first photos from the set of the thriller Awakened which is... wait for it...

A) now shooting in The Hamptons...

B) co-stars my Sally Kirkland 

and C) also features Steven Bauer in one of the leading roles.

TELEPATHY!

(Well done, publicity team)

More after the jump...

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Team Experience: The Master

I'm out and about again (finally!) so my greedy eyeballs will be on The Master soon. I challenged Team Experience to describe the film in three words since so many critics can't even settle on what it's even about (I'm avoiding reviews but the non-consensus as to meaning is out there).

Four brave souls took me up on the challenge...

Matt Zurcher writes:

Fevered heart need.
The intensity of The Master is impossible to understate. The style itself is unhinged -- crazy, even. The characters are bloated visions of Freudian extremes. The Master is filmmaking of the highest order, yes. But it's also cinema that works on its own terms, so full of cocky flair and delightful self-indulgence that the audience has no choice but to follow it wherever it wants to go. Anderson's fable can seem alienating or disorganized on first viewing, but a second reveals the director's compassion. Joaquin Phoenix's face is a shattered one, but his tears are so heartbreakingly believable. The passion and need that these two men feel for each other begs to be known. And in all the intellectualization of this film that we're going to see, let us remember that it's really just about two people who need each other and who love each other. It's the best love story I've seen since Punch-Drunk Love.

You can read Matt's full review here.

Beau McCoy writes:

Opaque Rabid Jazz

"The Master" makes "Cosmopolis" look as accessible as a Spielberg film. Purposely distant and muddled; what are we watching and why? Ferocity abounds in its many forms and incarnations. Moves like a jazz solo; we don't know where we're going. Why should it matter? Premature.

Alexa says:

Disappointing Beautiful Molasses
There's a truly great film here waiting to be pulled out of the molasses...

You can read more of her thoughts, here.

Finally, Jose was even more succinct but I suspect it's something of a spoiler so I'm putting it after the jump...

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