Ahead of "The Life Ahead," Actressing in Subtitles in the 2010s

by Juan Carlos Ojano

Cinema legend Sophia Loren makes a potential comeback with this year’s The Life Ahead this Friday on Netflix after more than a decade of career hiatus. Loren made history as the first Oscar winner for a performance not in the English language for 1961’s Italian film Two Women. Her second Best Actress nomination came with 1964’s Marriage Italian Style. If nominated for The Life Ahead, Loren would break the record for the longest gap between nominations with 56 years (though she'd only tie the record for most nominations for subtitled performances since her frequent co-star Marcello Mastroianni holds that record with three).

Loren is part of the longstanding tradition of Best Actress nominations for performances not in the English language (it happens far more often there than in other acting categories). Whether through sheer talent, strategic campaigning, and/or the dearth of quality roles for actresses in Hollywood, these performances overcame the one-inch barrier of subtitles and ended up with Academy recognition...

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The Furniture: Promoting the Forbidden City with The Last Emperor

"The Furniture," by Daniel Walber. (Click on the images for magnified detail)

The Last Emperor is enormous, as is its reputation. The shorter version is nearly three hours long. It swept the 1987 Oscars, winning all nine categories in which it was nominated. Its plot tracks events of global significance, across nearly six decades of Chinese history. The production required more than 10,000 costumes and 19,000 extras, many of them recruited from the People’s Liberation Army

But beyond its stature as a film, it is also something of an act of economic diplomacy. China, which had heavily restricted tourism before the late-1970s, began a major about-face with Deng Xiaoping’s 1978 “Reform and Opening Up” program.  Part of this effort included the promotion of heritage tourism. China ratified the World Heritage Convention in 1985, and added its first six World Heritage Sites in 1987. The Forbidden City was at the top of the list.

It’s not a coincidence that Bernardo Bertolucci was granted permission to film in the Forbidden City right at this time, the very first Western production allowed through the palace gates...

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Beauty Break: A Veteran's Day Gallery (and rant)

by Nathaniel R

George Clooney in "Three Kings"

Happy Veteran's Day to all reading who have served or have loved ones that have. I've been thinking more about the military than usual lately. That's probably partially because our Montgomery Clift centennial series featured so many military films. But it's especially due to the US election where there was a lot of discussion about mail-in voting which the military especially has been doing for hundreds of years (their votes generally arrives late due to absentee ballots). The military is not a monolithic voting block and contains Republicans, Democrats, and Independents.

After the jump please enjoy pictures of beautiful men in military movies and ignore the text if you can't stomach a political rant right now...

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Almost There: Faye Dunaway in "Barfly"

by Cláudio Alves

I confess myself surprised by the reader's choice in this last round of voting for the Almost There series. When it came time for you to select what 1987 performance should be explored this week, your votes decidedly indicate a preference for Faye Dunaway's post-Mommie Dearest Oscar bid, Barfly. This under-discussed Barbet Schroeder flick was made from a semiautobiographical script by the bonafide poet of the gutter, Charles Bukowski. It competed in Cannes but it didn't cause much fanfare, mainly valued as an acting showcase for its cast, led by Mickey Rourke as a tic-ridden sing-songy facsimile of Bukowski himself.

As for Faye Dunaway, she takes around 22 minutes to enter this picture about alcoholism and the addicts who scuttle from the light like bugs. Haggard-looking and sitting lonesome at the end of a bar, she's quite distant from the image of a glamourous diva many might associate with the actress' screen persona…

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Streaming Review: "A Teacher" on FX/Hulu

by Christopher James

A Teacher is an odd little show. Hannah Fidell’s adaptation of her 2013 feature once again explores an illicit relationship between a female teacher and her male high school student. The miniseries sometimes feels like an Adrian Lyne movie by way of a 2013 indie film. It’s both muted and salacious. This makes for an odd viewing experience, given the subject matter. However, at less than 30 minutes a pop, A Teacher is still a quick and satisfying binge.

Kate Mara plays Claire, a thirtysomething English teacher in Austin, Texas. Her home life feels incredibly familiar. She has a nice, if distant, husband (Ashley Zukerman), a lovely suburban home and is in the process of trying to start a family. Still, there’s something in Claire that chafes against this life she’s built for herself. When she reads Dylan Thomas’ poem “Race against the dying of the light” to her senior AP English students, she captures the eye of Eric (Nick Robinson), a golden boy senior.

It all begins seemingly innocent enough...

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