Nicole Kidman Tribute: Birth (2004)

by Cláudio Alves

After her Oscar win for The Hours, Nicole Kidman's career went through some interesting somersaults. 2003 saw her bow the avant-garde cruelty of Dogville at Cannes, while Hollywood bore witness to two prestige projects whose success is debatable. The Human Stain is one of those classic "This Had Oscar Buzz" case studies, while Cold Mountain is most interesting for how it didn't secure a Best Actress nomination despite AMPAS' affection. Then came 2004, when von Trier's Brechtian film finally reached the States, and Kidman faced critical lashings as a response to her risk-taking. If not for Dogville, then for a derided broad comedy we'll discuss later in the series. And, of course, for today's subject – Birth.

Jonathan Glazer's sophomore feature was a resounding bomb with audiences and critics back in 2004, and only the Golden Globes seemed willing to recognize the genius in Nicole Kidman's work. Twenty years later, its reputation has changed…

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Greenberg's 10th and Gerwig as Muse

by Cláudio Alves 

Once upon a time, long before she was an Academy Award-nominated director and screenwriter, Greta Gerwig was the acting princess of mumblecore. Along with the Duplass brothers and Joe Swanberg, she helped solidify the identity of that often-maligned subgenre, full of naturalistic dialogue and very little in the ways of storytelling. The actress quickly transcended the limitations of mumblecore and became a starlet of the independent American cinema from 2010 to 2016, starring in such gems as Damsels in Distress, Jackie and 20th Century Women. 

Among her more frequent collaborators, Noah Baumbach stood out. She was his muse and he knew how to capture her talents like no other. Or was it the other way around? In any case, their first collaboration marked a turning point in both their careers. We're talking about Greenberg, which celebrates 10 years today…

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Greer Garson, Peter Finch, Zoolander, and more...

1916 Happy Centennial to Best Actor winner Peter Finch (Network), one of only two posthumous acting winners in Oscar history. The other is Heath Ledger. (Curiously they were both Australian)
1924 Marcello Mastroianni (La Dolce Vita, 8½) is born in Italy. Becomes one of the all time great movie stars by his mid 30s. His career spans over 50 years of cinema.
1933 Greer Garson weds Edward Snelson, first of three husbands, though the cohabitation is brief. Ten years later she famously marries her screen son in Mrs Miniver.
1934 ...And God Created Brigitte Bardot in Paris

1945 Mildred Pierce opens. Joan Crawford will win Best Actress for this fabulous noir melodrama
1949 Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis first film together My Friend Irma
1950 American indie icon John Sayles is born in New York. Among his most famous films: Return of the Secaucus 7, Passion Fish, and Lone Star
1951 Franchot Tone marries Barbara Payton, his third wife, a disastrous marriage for both. And he survived Joan Crawford.
1957 The great cinematographer Harris Savides is born. Credits include Zodiac, Milk, and Birth. His last gorgeous film The Bling Ring was released posthumously

Greer Garson is Oscar's 7th Most Beloved Actress

1960 Sunrise at Campobello premieres at the movies. Greer Garson will snag her seventh and final Best Actress nomination as Eleanor Roosevelt. She'll lose to Elizabeth Taylor in BUtterfield 8 though their fates were reversed at the Golden Globes.
1961 Shirley Booth starts her run as Hazel a TV sitcom that lasts five seasons. The next summer she wins the Lead Emmy making her a Triple Crowner after her Tony & Oscar for Come Back Little Sheba.
1964 Janeane Garofalo is born. We don't appreciate her comic brilliance in Reality Bites (1994) enough. 
1967 Supporting Actress winner Mira Sorvino is born. If you never read our 1995 Smackdown it was a good one so check it out.

1968 Nicole's bestie Naomi Watts is born (curiously neither were born in Australia but moved there as children). Also "Hey Jude" by the Beatles hits #1 and stays there for 9 weeks 
1976 Israeli star Ohad Knoller is born. Credits include Yossi & Jagger, Yossi, Munich, and The Bubble
1984 Jessica Lange's Country opens. Exactly one week after Sally Field's Places in the Heart in the year of the farm wife
1987 Hilary Duff who comes to fame as "Lizzie McGuire" is born. Currently co-starring on the underappreciated Emmy worthy comedy Younger
1992 Keir Gilchrist, who was so wonderful as a gay teenager on The United States of Tara and was last seen in It Follows is born 

1994 Tim Burton's Ed Wood premieres. Do you still love it?
1997 Chad Lowe & Hilary Swank marry. Two years later she wins the Oscar and forgets to thank him. She remembers the second time but why was their a second time again. ARGH! (Old wounds - editor)
2001 Ben Stiller first delivers "Blue Steel" in movie theaters in Zoolander
2012 Looper hits theaters. That was a good one though perhaps it was a warning that Joseph Gordon Levitt was always going to try to "alter" himself in some way (face, voice, body whatever) for his future leading roles shaving off parts of his charisma in the process.

RIP Harris Savides

Truly sad to hear about the passing of one of the great cinematographers, Harris Savides. Given his visual craft and my lack of a free moment at this very moment, a video tribute seems more appropriate than any words I could hastily write so I'm sharing this beautiful visual essay from Press Play.

Press Play VIDEO ESSAY: In Memory of Harris Savides (1957-2012) from Nelson Carvajal on Vimeo.

 

I knew they'd use the Birth score. How could they not? We've lost a great.

RIP Harris Savides and thank you most especially for your work on Birth, Milk, and Zodiac and your gorgeous record-breaking* work on haunting music videos like these...

*little known factoid: Harris Savides has won more "best cinematography" awards at the MTV Music Video Awards than any other DP. He won three for those two videos and R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts"