Blueprints: "The Big Sick"

This week Jorge dives into one of the WGA Nominees and looks at how this screenplay gives its supporting characters a chance to shine.

 

At its heart, The Big Sick is the story of Kumail and Emily falling in love, falling out of love, and finding each other again. But it's more than a romantic comedy. It’s also a story about the people around Kumail, once Emily falls into a coma and the main relationship is no longer functional. It’s a movie where the supporting cast do more than merely support the lead’s love story; they actually get the chance to be developed into fully fleshed-out characters.

Let’s take a look at one of the most memorable moments in the movie, where a supporting character (Holly Hunter’s brilliantly defined Beth) takes a step into the spotlight, and grabs it...

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All the Big Sick in the World Whilst Crying Over Globe Snubs

by Nathaniel R (and friends)

Tomorrow we'll have some group commentary fun with the Globe nominations but tonight let's cry ourselves to sleep about the things we won't see celebrated on Globe night. There's still time to say a prayer to your Higher Movie Powers that they won't be as seriously stiffed with SAG or Oscar. So today I asked friends of The Film Experience and team members to tell us about the exclusion that most upset them. Since no one said Jake Gyllenhaal in Stronger (my choice) I'm giving him the lead photo treatment here because he is amazing in that movie -- so vulnerable and lived-in and present and messy. He's one of our best working actors, despite his completely inexcusable lack of awards show love over the years.

In addition to collective snub tears, I've also corralled theories as to what happened with All the Money in the World and what DIDN'T happen with The Big Sick after the jump. Do join the conversation, won't you...

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The Oscar Week: Mothers and the Mystery of Sally

In this weekly feature from Murtada we follow Oscar contender appearances and interviews and examine how they impact their chances.

Much has been made in the media that the three leading contenders in Supporting Actress, Laurie Metcalf, Holly Hunter and Allison Janney, are playing mothers. So it seemed natural for them to sit down together for an interview and photoshoot...

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Watching Holly Hunter Like:

Review: The Big Sick

by Lynn Lee

Judging from its early reception, The Big Sick has all the markings of a sleeper hit.  Directed by Michael Showalter (My Name is Doris, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp) and written by comedian Kumail Nanjiani (best known to TV audiences as Dinesh on Silicon Valley) and his wife Emily Gordon, the movie’s loosely based on the stranger-than-fiction true story of how the couple overcame the dual barriers posed by his traditionalist Pakistani Muslim family and her medically induced coma.  That’s a story you couldn’t make up, or imagine mining for laughs rather than melodrama.  And yet here it is: a crowd-pleasing romantic comedy (though it’s really more of a dramedy) about a girl in a coma that’s equal parts funny and poignant without feeling the least bit exploitative.

Nanjiani plays himself, a tricky job he handles deftly, with a beguiling Zoe Kazan as the on-screen Emily, 

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