Q&A: Hitting the Wall, Moving to France, Dreaming of Sofia

You asked so I'm answering. Not all the weekly questions of course. If I did that I'd be typing for a whole week with only your questions to guide me. I've selected a dozen questions to answer and here they are. 

Tyler: Do you think Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet give good performances in Titanic?
Nathaniel: Hmmm. Define "good". I didn't expect this question to give me pause but it did. I'll try to keep this short. I adore Titanic (1997) and not ironically. I have a certain level of teary devotion to instantly iconic performances like those, to movie-movie performances that maybe aren't nuanced or perfect but serve their movie in a seismic way. I think of Leo's floppy bangs or Kate's fiery curled tresses and I go all mushy inside and have a sudden desire to draw hearts all over notebook folders with a ball point pen. *Ahem*. So, I love Leo & Kate in Titanic, especially as a unit, but I think they both have kind of rough moments in it. (Seriously. That was the best take?). Still, if I'm on the ship and in charge of divvying up the lifeboats, Leo & Kate get one first. Women and children can fend for themselves. " Ladies Movie stars first!"

Kin: Pick a country to live in besides America, but base your reasons only on movies.
Nathaniel: France, bien sûr. Do I even need to explain? It's the birthplace of cinema and the auteur theory, the Eiffel Tower is key to a million famous movie scenes, the French New Wave still fascinates, and the list goes on. Also they have Deneuve so this win be landslide.

Matthew: How do you feel about acclaimed actresses who seemingly play themselves or variations of the same character in every film? I'm thinking of, in particular, Mary-Louise Parker and Zooey Deschanel, among other actresses whose overall versatility leaves something to be desired. Do you think they are deserving of accolades for their overall body of works when compared to say an actress like Kate Winslet or Julianne Moore.
Nathaniel: Many of the most beloved actors of all time did just this, particularly before The Method took over. Cary Grant is genius but always Cary Grant. Mae West wouldn't be Mae West if she wasn't Mae West. And so on. So as long as we like that core person they're playing and they're versatile enough to spin it or smear it or mess with it in small ways a little from role to role, we're good. That said, Mary Louise Parker needs to get the hell off of Weeds.  WHAT IS SHE STILL DOING THAT SHOW FOR? She's calcifying. That is way too long to play the same character when said character is already so close to who you've always played. 

SoSueMe: Which actors have hit a wall creatively and have pretty much shown us all that they can do?
Nathaniel: Ding. Ding. Ding. Other than Mary Louise Parker. I am pretty sure that Johnny Depp has misplaced his entire once-prodigious well of creativity and is on perma-auto-pilot for the past six years.

I worry a little bit about Leonardo DiCaprio, too. I'm willing to be proven wrong in J. Edgar but I absolutely don't believe that directors challenge or control him enough. He's so talented but I think his career has been too easy for him. If you never have to struggle -- and his struggling ended abruptly when he was only 23 --  don't you lose the hunger that leads people to ravenously attack their role as if this is the one, the best chance to prove their gift? His performances feel too samey and not just because of the furrowed brow and The Dead Wives Club. But when he's "on" he's really something (see The Departed, key passages in The Aviator and ⅔ of his pre Titanic output.)

Manuel: IF Winona Ryder was not burned out at the time and did The Godfather III, do you think the movie would have been better with her?

my answers and the Question(s) of the week after the jump

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Disney Princesses as Fashionistas

Remember those Disney Princes in their underwear a few years back? Online illustration trends never don't involve the Disney stable of instantly recognizable characters. Now artist Danté Tyler has envisioned eight of the Princesses as Vogue cover models.

Here is Aurora from Sleeping Beauty.

Love that one eye is pink and the other blue, and it doesn't hurt that her shoulders are as sharp as the spindle on a spinning wheel.

Belle and Ariel after the jump...

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Sixteen from Toronto. (And Your Input, Please.)

Festival season heading your way out there in the dark. Even if you only experience film festivals through blog mania for the same, that's still something. That's how most of us experience Cannes each year, yes? This year TFE will be doing a lot from NYFF as it's close to home (5 stops on the subway close!) and quite inexpensive since there's already a bed to sleep in: one's own! But we have lined up a few foreign correspondents to give you bits and bobs from Venice (Aug 31st-Sept 10th), Toronto (Sept 8th-18th), and London (Oct 12th-27th). Quite often commenting is light on film festival pieces, which one assumes is because of the unfamiliar factor of the films, though sometimes it's quite distressing -- I even drew you cartoons from Nashville and there was nary a peep! --  so some feedback would be greatly appreciated:

What interests you and what doesn't about film festivals?

Bizarre Typecasting Alert! Saoirse Ronan is playing her second consecutive teenage assassin in "Violet and Daisy"

The full Toronto International Film Festival schedule is up at their website. I won't be there but I am leaving town right about then because I do not want to be anywhere near Manhattan when the 10th anniversary of 9/11 rolls around. That's just going to be a nightmare and I don't mean in the fear-of-terrorism sense. Someone on TV the other day was theorizing about small scale terrorism as they do -- fear being our great masochistic national addiction -- and deadly gas or whatnot in crowded places came up. Movie theaters were mentioned. I know it's perverse but my immediate unbidden thought was  this: 'If I have to die by terrorism, that'd be an awesome. At least I'd be enjoying myself when the end came!'

Oh but Toronto, yes, yes. Rather than attempting to type up their entire 200+ film list, after a very quick glance through of the titles and summaries here are 16 that I'd probably try to snag tickets for had I gone this year. Festival moviegoing is much different from regular moviegoing in that you have to not only consider your normal desires but balance those out -- you can't go all drama or all France or even (gasp) all actressy -- and you have to immediately rule out films you'll be able to see in a week or two after you get back like all the NYFF titles.

So here we go...

Auteur Lust
Andrea Arnold's Fish Tank was so mesmerizing and incisive that I'm naturally curious to see her follow up Wuthering Heights, even though I prefer it when wonderfully contemporary filmmakers tell original stories. Despite reservations that come with yet another Bronte adaptation the TIFF write up promises a stripped down power... "No starched lace, no panoramic views, no sweeping score"; After Reprise Joachim Trier should win automatic eyeballs for Oslo, August 31st which might be Norway's Oscar submission; I hadn't realized until just now that A Funny Man, one of Denmark's Oscar finalists, is by the director of Applause Martin P Zandvliet. Though the praise for that film was mostly directed at Paprika Steen's shattering lead work, if Zandvliet can work similar magic with Nikolaj Lie Kaas who takes center stage here perhaps we'll have to regard him as one of the world's finest directors of actors?; Yorgos Lanthimos's follow up to Dogtooth called ALPS sounds juicily provocative "A mysterious underground outfit, going by the name of ALPS, offers bereaved individuals a very unusual service: they stand in for their dearly departed." Yes, please. If you can already surprise just from a concept line, I'm in.

Gender and Sexuality: Love and Bruises follows an international love affair between Tahar Rahim (A Prophet) and newcomer Corrine Yam. It's from Lou Ye, the director of Summer Palace and Spring Fever which were both successfully sensual and evocative pieces; Lost in Paradise is supposedly a sympathetic leap forward for gay depictions and characters in Vietnamese cinema; Leave it on the Floor is a coming of age musical about a young gay man in the vogueing underground ball circuit. That milieu, such a cinematic one, hasn't been center stage since what, 1992?; Finally the French Canadian Nuit #1 investigates a one night stand. Films which focus tightly on one event can often reap big rewards, because film is such a great medium for short stories as it were. Plus it's a debut feature (from Anne Emond) and festivals are a great place to discover new directors.

For the Actressing: Christophe Honoré's Beloved is about the love lives of a mother and daughter. They're played by real life mother/daughter Catherine Deneuve and Chiara Mastroianni (who also did that trick for A Christmas Tale) and  Ludivine Sagnier co-stars so this is must-see-times-three; Huh Jong-ho's crime drama about a collection agent and a con artist Countdown features Korean actress of the moment (and TFE obsession of the moment) Jeon Do-yeon of Secret Sunshine and The Housemaid fame.;  Albert Nobbs and We Need To Talk About Kevin... regarding both: I'm just impatient, y'all!

For the Variety: Friends With Kids is the directorial debut of Jennifer Westfeldt (Kissing Jessica Stein) who was once more famous than her husband Jon Hamm but hasn't been for some time now post Mad Men. Hamm is part of the ensemble cast she's collected for this comedy about a group of tight friends who begin to fall apart once children are in the picture. The film co-stars Adam Scott, Kristen Wiig, Megan Fox, Edward Burns and Maya Rudolph; Where Do We Go Now? is a Lebanese musical from the director of Caramel; Alois Nebel is a black and white rotoscoped animated film from the Czech Republic and the style would be enough for me in the festival setting (plainly different than everything around it!) though the content sounds interesting, too; Finally, I'm letting The Encounter stand in for avant garde programs in general. It's a short but I know I need to experiment with more that's truly experimental when given the chance ... and A list festival are that chance. In this film "a woman's synethesia transforms her vision into beautiful song." Wait, is this a Björk biopic?

But really, there are so many that I could do this for several more hours. Wrapping it up, now. Bye!

Happy 50th Birthday, Alexandre Desplat

Robert G here from Sketchy Details wishing a Happy Birthday to the most in demand film composer of our time.

Can you believe that Alexandre Desplat has scored 128 separate film and television projects since 1985? How about how a year hasn't gone by since 1991 where he didn't score at least three different TV or film productions? He has had quite the successful career in France and has started to work consistently in America in the past eight or so years.

Desplat has been nominated for Best Original Score four times at the Academy Awards: The Queen, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and The King's Speech. He's clearly doing something right to get the Music Branch's attention. His work is especially noticeable for not being the super flashy film scoring that demands attention. He does what needs to be done to set the right tone and lets the film be the focus.

Indeed, every year he lost the Oscar, he lost to a film with a far flashier or more pronounced score...

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Curio: Barton Fink, Portraits of the Artist

Alexa here. Michael's post on Barton Fink at 20, in conjunction with the recent Lebowski cast reunion, got me thinking about the effect of the cult status of each on movie-inspired art.  You can't browse tumblr without seeing a new Lebowski poster each week, but where is the Barton love from indie designers?  It seems ripe for visual interpretation, what with its stark visuals and, well, emphasis on wallpaper (something every graphic designer finds irresistible).  But maybe, as Michael noted, it's almost too elemental and abstract to cause a glut of fan creations à la Lebowski (with its marmot and toe and other what-have-yous). But I did a bit of digging and yes, the Barton love is out there. Here are some creations I particularly liked.

 

A limited edition poster with lovely detail by Brian Methe.

Poster by Kevin Dixon.Click for more, including Barton on wood...

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