NYFF: "Malmkrog"

by Jason Adams

The urge to wander off into our own personal worlds has become, presently, understandable. Many of us have been literally forced into it in 2020, covering our faces and taping up our windows, our only human interaction through Zoom. How many of us have watched pixelated people blow out their birthday candles from their corner of the Brady Bunch squares on our laptop screens? But I mean more than physical isolation here -- I mean it feels as if in some ways our imaginations are having a renaissance; in the absence of open spaces and fresh air at the least our brains have been given a moment to breathe.  It's in some ways terrifying and in others liberating, but there seem to be ways of embracing this shitty moment that aren't shit in themselves.

Reality dictates that Cristi Puiu's new film Malmkrog, named after the region in Romania where it is supposed to be set, must have been filmed before right now. But it feels of right now, right this minute, at least in the way of its isolated white-windowed impenetrability...

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Mickey @ 100: "Mickey McGuire" and "Andy Hardy"

by Nathaniel R

While we've never been Mickey Rooney fans, per se, you know we love to celebrate anniversaries here at TFE so we're going to look at three of his most famous films this week. But first a bit of history. This pint-sized sensation, a household name for most of the 20th century, was born in Brooklyn on September 23rd, 1920.  Though his career no longer holds the enduring caché of several of his contemporaries, he was the most popular star of the late 30s and early 40s. What's more he had the longest onscreen career of any American movie star -- he worked in the films from the time he was 6 years old until his death at the age of 93...

Like many famous actors of the Golden Age, his career actually began before the talkies, via vaudeville and then silent film. While franchise stardom is de riguer in the 21st century, it wasn't as common 100 years ago though Mickey Rooney was prime proof that the general concept has always been with us. He first came to popularity in serials, those shorts franchises that would play before features. His first big role was the titular character in the "Mickey McGuire" serials which ran from 1927 through 1934 as direct competition for the popular "Our Gang" comedies (which the wee Mickey had auditioned for). Here's a clip from one of the McGuire films...

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"Nomadland" wins TIFF's People's Choice

by Nathaniel R

This year's TIFF has wrapped. Normally we cover it extensively, as you know, but they cut out a big swath of press this year including us... *cries*. Hopefully we'll return next year and if not we'll have to find a new favourite festival to obsess over. Herewith the winners and some Oscar stats, and if we've already discussed the movies, there's a link...

AUDIENCE PRIZES

People's Choice: Nomadland dir. Chloé Zhao.
(First runner up: One Night in Miami... dir. Regina King; Second runner up: Beans dir. Tracey Deer.)
People's Choice, Documentary: Inconvenient Indian dir. Michelle Latimer. 
People’s Choice, Midnight Madness: Shadow in the Cloud dir.  Roseanne Liang. 

That's right ALL of the audience prizes this year went to female filmmakers! Even the runners up were directed by women. The People's Choice Award is major bragging rights since it often signals kind Oscar fates down the road. Basically it would be a shock if Nomadland misses the Best Picture nomination at this point afterwinning TIFF and Venice though One Night in Miami has less convincing stats on its side. The stats go like so... 

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Creative Arts Emmy Winners 2020

By Abe Friedtanzer and Nathaniel R

The big PrimeTime Emmys night is, of course, tonight but last night they wrapped up their week long 'below the line' festivities known as The Creative Arts Emmys. Among the "firsts" this week: Maya Rudolph won her first Emmy (for Big Mouth) and then her second (for Saturday Night Live), beating herself, the long running History Channel series Vikings and ABC's black-ish won their first Emmys (on the 13th and 19th nomination, respectively since they've been up for at least one prize every season). Three companies also won their first Emmys: Pop TV (via Schitt's Creek and One Day at a Time), Quibi (via the program #FreeRayshawn), and Disney+ (via The Mandalorian).

Our Emmy team correctly called Best TV Movie and both of the comedy guest acting categories but missed the drama guest acting races, all three costume fields, and animated program. Oops. If these awards truly correlated to the main races for Sunday night, we might expect to hear The Mandalorian and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel called as this year's top winners, but we’ll stick with the Succession and Schitt's Creek, which both won outstanding casting honors, as our predictions for the Drama and Comedy winners tonight. Full list of Creative Arts Emmy winners follows after the jump... 

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Showbiz History: Sophia Loren, Emmy Nights, and Female-Driven Hits

13 random things that happened on this day, September 20th, in showbiz history...

1941 The Porky Pig short "Notes to You" was released. It's sometimes credited with introducing Sylvester the Cat but that's erroneous. The confusion probably stems from the fact that this short was remade as "Back Alley Uproar" seven years later with Sylvester, by then an official character who looks not unlike this cat, and Elmer Fudd in the roles. 

1975 "Fame" hits #1 in the US, the first David Bowie record to do so... 

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