Vote on the Euro Film Awards (Plus: Oscar Submits)

While I normally approve not of "people's choice" awards -- that's what box office is for -- I do find the European Film Awards a curious beast worth noting each year. They have variety by way of scattershot film culture, there being no unifying "Hollywood" to control them. This year their People's Choice Awards -- which you can vote on and enter for a chance to win a trip to the awards in Berlin -- offers up an odd collection of Camp Comedy (France's star-laden Potiche), Royalty Porn (The UK's Oscar winner The King's Speech), Meta History (Spain's Even The Rain), Message Movie (Denmark's Oscar Winner In a Better World), Neeson-y Thriller (the international Unknown), Fish Out of Water Comedy (Italy's Welcome to the South), Ensemble Drama (France's star-laden Little White Lies), and even Animated Family Film (Germany's Animals United).

And the Nominees Are...

Go and vote...
...as long as you're not planning to help The King's Speech win yet more statues. Cinema-Gods help us all.

Meanwhile the Oscar Foreign Film submissions continue...

NORWAY
Anne Sewitsky’s debut Happy, Happy (Sykt lykkelig) which we've previously discussed (I heart the trailer) will represent the land of the midnight sun in this year's Oscar race. Previous awards under its belt include the Sundance Festival's World Cinema Jury Prize Dramatic which, if you'll recall, is the same prize that the great Australian feature Animal Kingdom got its first big boost from in 2010. Joachim Trier's Oslo August 31st is the loser in this Oscar scenario but here's hoping that both films get stateside distribution. 

HUNGARY
Bela Tarr's The Turin Horse will represent daring Hungary in this year's Oscar race. Hungary nearly always competes for Most Atypical Submitted Film which is bad for their nominatability but great for proof of variety in that odd annual Oscar survey of what's happening in international cinema. This one will need a helping hand from that special committee that Oscar dreamt up to basically force critical darlings on to the nominated shortlist. The new system obviously paid off last year for Greece's Dogtooth. Cinema Underground tells it like so...

Not since Alexander Sokurov’s The Second Circle have I watched a movie that felt so much more like physical endurance than an active intellectual and emotional experience... The Turin Horse is a punishing film.  The people in it are ugly and often cruel.  Their lives are repetitive and arduous.  There is little plot, little action, little change of scenery, but there are plenty of long, long takes in which no words are spoken.   

And that's from a somewhat positive review.

Oscar Foreign Film Pages

Global Box Office: Monks, Assassins, Maids & Trophy Wives

To speak in gross generalities the last weekend in August is Hollywood's last chance to nab easy-to-please summertime dollars before the films get more "depressing" (read: statue-hungry) and people get back to careerism/schooling in September. But with Hurricane Irene shutting down NYC's unshutdownable mass transit and keeping people locked up in their homes (or other people's homes) this weekend all over the Northeast the box office will probably be way down. The Help will try to fend off three wide release newcomers seeking different audiences be that the horror crowd (Don't Be Afraid of the Dark),  the action-hungry (Colombiana), or comedy seekers (Our Idiot Brother reviewed). We probably won't be discussing box office tomorrow -- especially if we get a power outtage tonight! -- so let's talk about a related topic today.

Let's talk about movies that box office reports elsewhere never talk about: non-English language movies. Which are the highest grossers worldwide? The figures are drawn from various box office mojo charts as of Friday 08/26. I'm assuming that India doesn't release figures since Bollywood is a huge industry and you'd think they'd factor into the first chart more than they do if they did.

UPDATE: After compiling the list I discovered through the comments -- thanks Kin -- that the "Yearly Worldwide" chart that was my primary source of information contradicts the "Overseas Total Yearly Box Office" chart to quite an insanely large degree (what gives box office mojo?). Some titles are totally absent from either list though that makes no literal sense as "overseas" by any definition is part of "worldwide". NEW UPDATED LIST AND APOLOGIES AFTER THE JUMP.

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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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Flipping Through Movie Book Pages

For no reason whatsoever on this summer day, 08/22, I pulled a few random movie books off the shelf -- i used to buy used movie books all the time as a teenager (though two of these are books from this past decade) -- and opened them to pages 8 and 22 and am sharing my favorite sentences therein with you! If it's a photo page, I shared that instead. 

Ready? here we go!

page 8

page 22

We want our viewers not merely to enjoy the situation with a murmured, "Isn't he cu-ute" but really to feel something of what the character is feeling."

from Disney Animation The Illusion of Life

*

page 8

"Thirty-six tables with their scintillating glassware and long tapers, each table bearing a replica in waxed candy of the gold statuette award, filled the entire floor space of the room," said the hotel's press release.

page 22

The plot was farfetched -Shearer and leading man Robert Montgomery have an affair at the same time her father has one with his mother -- but Mrs Thalberg looked great in her chic Adrian wardrobe and bobbed hair."

from Inside Oscar aka The Holy Bible

*

page 8

Is that goo for his mouth, or the goo for his nose?" Lucas asks wiping a bit of brown slime off Jabba's cheek with his finger.

page 22

Disneyland is a movie that invites its audience right into the screen, combining mass appeal with mechanical ingenuity.

from Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas

* 

page 8

After seeing that film I was left with the understanding that the Bollywood musical and its outrageous comic tragic storytelling succeeded because of a deal that exists between the film and its audience."

page 22

from Moulin Rouge!

*

page 8

'For example, it's striking how obvious it is in retrospect that the New Wave was, fundamentally, a product of it's time: impertinent, playful, inventive; emphasizing chance, rupture, improvisation, and brilliant intuition; creating sequences that loop back on themselves like gags or that metonymically demonstrate the entire film."

page 22

Critical thought enabled them not only to approach film but to conquer it, and it became such an essential element of their intellectual growth that it came to symbolize the entire creative  process for them.

from French New Wave

*

page 8

The gypsy nature of my film life hasn't helped me resolve this disturbing sense of musical beds."

page 22

I wobbled into the building, found the office and in my best southern Brooklynese announced to the secretary, "Ah'm heah to play Scarlett O'Hara"

from Shelley Also Known as Shirley

*

Shelley Winters! Why do I have this book? LOL. The cover says it was a #1 bestseller (published in 1981)

I was just watching her in A Place in the Sun (1951) again Saturday night*. She was not exactly a subtle actress but she was definitely a born loudmouth storyteller. Some people are born to be stars but it's almost like Shelley was born to be an old loudmouth lady recalling stardom and gossiping about even bigger stars. When I was a kid it seemed like she was always on tv talking about one celebrity or another from '50s era Hollywood.

This post = SO RANDOM! 

*times have sure changed. Shelley was nominated for Best Leading Actress for this movie but today this would 100% be considered a supporting performance given that she's missing for huge passages of the film.

Beauty Break: Juliette Binoche

I received a few notes about the new banner delighting that I had accidentally paired The English Patient stars Kristin Scott Thomas and Ralph Fiennes. I wish I could say "accidentally" but in truth it was! I couldn't find a photo of Juliette Binoche with her fingers in her mouth, but I didn't want to leave her out. File under: Too wonderful to ignore.

If you haven't yet seen her latest acting de triomphe (sorry), save Certified Copy to your DVD queues. Her performance is an inspiration. Hollywood's flirtation with her seems to have ended once they replaced her with a younger model (Hi, Marion) since, you know, only one French actress at a time can be the girl they must cast in every movie but their loss: if anything the 47 year old actress is a stronger screen performer than ever. There's an argument to be made with Flight of the Red Balloon, Summer Hours (previous post) and Certified Copy arriving in such short succcession that that mid 90s career explosion was mere warm up.

More photos [mildly NSFW] after the jump

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