The Damon Identity

Please welcome new contributor Patrick Gratton...

To succeed in Hollywood, one must finesse the art of self-branding. Moving up the echelon of struggling up-and-comers trying to break out is, often enough, an impossible task. Self-branding helps gets you through doors and to build a following. It also builds the foundation for narratives, whether it be industry, populist or award based (these narratives don’t happen in a vacuum). But brands can be a double-edged sword, pigeonholing and often crippling the potential to explore and grow as an artist.  Winning Oscars early on in one’s career is problematic too. It can either derail a narrative, or implement a forced one. Today, commemorating Matt Damon's 50th birthday, let's look at how major misconceptions of his work have plagued him through a 30 year run on screen.

As narratives go, sometimes it’s a burden to win an Oscar at the outset of someone’s career. Granted, Damon’s Oscar for Gus Van Sant’s 1997 film Good Will Hunting, was for the screenplay he co-wrote with childhood best friend and soon-to-be Hollywood heartthrob Ben Affleck, and not for his performance, but the point still stands...

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The curious case of "The Red Balloon"

by Cláudio Alves

Last time we explored the history of non-English speaking films at the Academy Awards, we looked at the success of Japanese cinema in the Best Costume Design category. In 1956, two years after the historical victory of Teinosuke Kinugasa's Gate of Hell, the Academy finally inaugurated the Best Foreign Language Oscar as a competitive category. Federico Fellini's La Strada was the first winner and, like Gate of Hell, it also scored a nomination in another category, Best Original Screenplay. This time around, though, the foreign film champion lost that additional statuette. However, it didn't lose to a Hollywood production or even an English-language one. Instead, that year's prize for Best Original Screenplay went to one of the weirdest Oscar winners of all time. 

We're talking about a nearly dialogue-free French short film about a magical balloon directed and written by the creator of the Risk board game… 

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The New Classics: Gosford Park

Hey everyone. Michael Cusumano here. If you've got to be trapped inside, why not be trapped inside with thirty or so of the greatest British actors ever? 18-year-old mystery spoilers ahead!

 

Scene: The Murder of Willam McCordle 
I don’t think you count yourself as having seen a Robert Altman film unless you’ve seen it three times, minimum. All great films expand on rewatch, but Altman movies transform, accumulating power as additional dimensions come into focus. In no film is this more apparent than his late-period masterwork, Gosford Park...

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April Foolish Predix Pt 3: Directors and Screenplays

The even more foolish (in light of the current pandemic) annual tradition of "April Foolish Predictions" continues. As ever we're trying to suss out the Oscar race a year in advance. Well, 10 months in advance if you're getting nitpicky. We've previously covered Animated Features, Visual Categories, Music and Sound. Here's the index of predictions.

SCREENPLAYS
Depending on what happens with the calendar in terms of movie theaters reopening and distributor confidence Original Screenplay will be slimmer than usual. But how slim...?

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WGA nominations don't tell the whole story

This week is huge for precursor nominations (Visual Effects Society, DGA, PGA, and BAFTA all hit tomorrow) but today was the Writers Guild of America's turn.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• 1917 -Sam Mendes & Krysty Wilson-Cairns
• Booksmart - Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, Susanna Fogel, Katie Silberman
• Knives Out - Rian Johnson
• Marriage Story - Noah Baumbach
• Parasite - Bong Joon Ho & Han Jin Won

A strongish lineup even if we wouldn't single out 1917's strength as its writing. Curiously, both The Two Popes and Hustlers were eligible for Original with the WGA (and missed) but they're both competing in Adapted for Oscar voters where they actually belong since they're based on a play and a magazine article respectively. Did the confusion cost them votes?  This WGA lineup is bad news for critical darlings like Honey Boy, Uncut Gems,  and Dolemite is My Name, any of which might have made headway in a weaker year for Originals. But the three strongest alternate threats for an Oscar nomination weren't eligible...

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