Podcast Xtra: Best Actress. The Runners Up?

We just delivered a podcast on Interstellar and The Imitation Game yesterday. But because we love you here's a brief "extra" conversation on the Best Actress race for your Thanksgiving weekend.

While most pundits think Reese & Juli & Felicity are locked up, there's more disagreement about the fourth and fifth Best Actress slots. We chat Hilary, Amy, Marion, Gugu, Shailene, Scarlett et al.

You can listen at the bottom of the post or download on iTunes. Continue the conversation in the comments! 

Who gets the fifth slot?

2014 European Film Awards Nominations

Manuel here bringing you some more awards talk from across the Atlantic. 

Ida, the nomination leader with 5 citationsTis the season for awards and so before we could even digest those British Independent Film Awards nominations, here come the European Film Awards to dole out their own. They bring great news to several Best Foreign Language Oscar hopefuls. Poland's Ida, Russia's Leviathan, Sweden's Force Majeure, Italy's Human Capital, Turkey's Winter Sleep, Austria's The Dark Valley, and Belgium's Two Days, One Night are all well represented. Take a look at the below-the-line categories and you'll find a number of welcome inclusions (one must give respect to any awards body which gives Mica Levi an award for his hauntingly discordant score for Under the Skin). Kudos to the TFE team who have reviewed all the films up for 2014 European Film.

27th European Film Awards Nominations

European Film 
Force Majeure
Ida
Leviathan
Nymphomaniac Director’s Cut – Volume I & II
Winter Sleep 

Catch the full list of nominations after the jump.

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Red Carpet: Governors Award Fashions... Let the Campaigns Begin

Jose here. As Nathaniel noted, the Governors Awards were held last night in Hollywood (yay Maureen O’Hara!). As usual they were pretty much a rehearsal dinner for the Oscars next year. While their red carpet is more subdued than Oscar’s - they’re there to pay tribute to legendary honorees, not to steal their thunder - there were a few exceptions to the rule. After all, if you want people to vote for you, you gotta make sure they remember you.

Let's take a look at what 16 of the Oscar hopefuls wore. What might it mean in the larger scheme of things?

 

Emily Blunt has worn this exact same thing to at least 10 other award ceremonies, color variations aside. Don't get me wrong, she's stunning etc. etc. etc. but will it help The Baker's Wife's Oscar cause, to look so every-year Blunt? The under-nominated actress should start experimenting and leave her go-to silhouette behind - wear a massive ball gown that tells people...

you've changed! you're daring! You're different in the woods!  ♪ ♫

Reese Witherspoon, too, looks the same, except it works to her favor. She's paying homage to Elle Woods, reminding voters how funny and cute she was in Legally Blonde, and how complex and dark she is in Wild by contrast. I rest my case.

Now two Best Actress dark horses, Gugu Mbatha-Raw has been in our minds all year long with her breakthrough performance in the sleeper box office hit Belle, and as she prepares to do the publicity rounds for Beyond the Lights it was delightful to see her attend. Perennial nominations-bridesmaid Marion Cotillard showed up with the Dardennes to remind people how terrific she is in Two Days, One Night, while I'm not particularly in love with her Dior dress (pretty much an altered version of what J.Law wore at the Oscars this year) I hope she talked to everyone at that party (it was 600 people) to convince them to vote for her.

 In a just world, Jenny Slate would be a slam dunk contender for Best Actress because she's incredible in Obvious Child, but an indie about abortion without a heartwarming message or a twee soundtrack is perhaps way too cool for Oscar. She definitely seems to be playing the "newbie" card, which is why she showed up dressed like Lupita Nyong'o at this year's ceremony. I hope that helps her cause! Jessica Chastain was there too, as she always is nowadays and rightfully so, and of course she was campaigning for her three or four scenes in Interstellar because it's November and she has made absolutely no other movies this year. I don't know what you mean about a three-hour-long melodrama with James McAvoy in which she's giving us Meryl Streep in Kramer vs. Kramer brilliance and a 1980s gangster flick...I seriously don't.

In a just world, Jenny Slate would be a slam dunk contender for Best Actress because she's incredible in Obvious Child, but an indie about abortion without a heartwarming message or a twee soundtrack is perhaps way too cool for Oscar. She definitely seems to be playing the "newbie" card, which is why she showed up dressed like Lupita Nyong'o at the Oscars. Will it help her campaign subliminally? Jessica Chastain was there too - where isn't she nowadays? -- and of course she was campaigning for her three or four scenes in Interstellar because it's November and she [ahem] has made absolutely no other movies this year. I don't know what you mean about a three-hour-long melodrama with James McAvoy in which she's giving us Meryl Streep in Kramer vs. Kramer brilliance and a 1980s gangster flick with Oscar Isaac in which she's giving us Michelle Pfeiffer in Scarface ...I seriously don't.

 Literally, every single person involved in Boyhood was there. All. Of. Them. Look!

Moving on...

If there was such a thing as prom king and queen of awards season red carpet, this year would continue to be a popularity contest by way of The Imitation Game vs. The Theory of Everything. (Cumberbatch may have won round 1 in Toronto but round 2 on the early campaign trail has gone to Redmayne.) Just look at how cute they all are! Will people who vote for Eddie Redmayne feel like they must vote for Felicity Jones too? Can Benedict Cumberbatch win without Keira Knightley? For now, all I can say is that not since Kate & Leo have I wanted two screen couples to get married like I want these Brits to do.

 All of these handsome men below are potential Best Actor spoilers, and all of them seem to have shown up primarily to remind voters "hey, we clean up nice too!" since none of them play particularly glamorous characters. I'm especially bowled over by Oscar Isaac's bold brown tux with Clark Gable mischievous mustache accessory. Which one is making you swoon?

About that not-stealing-honorary-thunder business...

When does Tilda Swinton not steal everyone else's thunder? At first it seems strange she was even there until you remember "Remember that weird lady in Snowpiercer !" She undoubtedly has to remind people many times that that was her, which makes her instantly praise worthy. From frumpy to avant garde, now that's how you get votes. Similarly David Oyelowo showed up in one of the only tuxes worth talking about. 

Which of these dazzling stars will we be seeing in every red carpet from now until Oscar? What were some of your favorite looks?

FYC: Marion Cotillard in 'Two Days One Night'

Jose here. You know how sometimes a performer will win a gazillion awards for their breakthrough performance and then never be recognized again, even as they deliver much more complex, superior work? It’s the “been there done that” syndrome, which has sadly made most awards groups forget all about Marion Cotillard, who is once again Best Actress material in Two Days, One Night (Michael reviewed it here)

As the recently laid-off Sandra, Cotillard is unforgettable. We follow her as she visits her co-workers’ homes asking them to help her win her job back. As some show support, others display contempt and pity, making for a harrowing moviegoing experience. The Dardenne brothers, who in the past have been reluctant to work with movie stars, put their trust in Cotillard and the payoff is evident. The actress sheds all her glamour and star presence to play someone so fragile it seems as if being filmed is causing her pain. Sandra doesn’t talk much, but her face says everything. In one of the film’s most devastating moments, the Dardenne’s give Sandra some inner peace through a song in the radio, not only do they allow Cotillard’s smile to finally shine, but they also highlight the actress’ ability to reshape herself according to the emotions of her character. All throughout the film, Cotillard seems to be physically smaller, something she did in her Oscar-winning performance as Edith Piaf. The trick is more powerful here because Sandra is a “regular human being”.

Throughout the film we feel her pain and at times it’s so unbearable that it made me wonder what someone like Lars Von Trier would do with such a vulnerable character. The Dardenne’s are much more sensitive than the mad Dane and give Sandra her dignity, but not without pointing out how willingly she submits herself to humiliation in the name of survival. During most of the film Sandra wears a coral t-shirt with a ribbon pattern, which I feel Cotillard chose for the character. It makes her plea even more heartbreaking, as she knocks on doors trying to be festive and optimistic, when inside she’s completely destroyed.

Many cinephiles thought this turn would finally bring her the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival but it became the first Dardenne brothers’ film not to win a single award at Cannes. It was Marion's third straight loss at the festival (2012 Rust and Bone, 2013 The Immigrant) which is a head-scratcher considering who won in those respective years. As Two Days One Night gears up for its Oscar-qualifying release later this year, I can’t help but wonder, does Marion have to knock on every AMPAS’ member’s door to finally get nominated again?

Why do you think Oscar keeps ignoring Marion? Where do her recent performances rank among your favorites for each year? 

NYFF: Two Days, One Night

Our NYFF coverage continues with Michael Cusumano on Belgium's "Two Days, One Night" starring Marion Cotillard 

The experience of watching the Dardenne brothers latest critically adored Cannes hit, Two Days, One Night, brings home just how conditioned we are to expect our protagonists to be active and fearless. We are not used to heroes that need to be pushed and prodded to stand up for themselves. Our heroes tend to plunge into conflict with nary a second thought. Marion Cotillard’s Sandra is not one of those characters. When Sandra awakes one morning to a phone call informing her that she has lost her job at a company that makes solar panels, her first impulse is to take it lying down. Literally. On an upswing after what we gather is a nasty struggle with depression, Sandra crawls back into bed resigned to let her sickness swallow her whole this time.

It becomes clear that management, in a move brilliant in its craven cowardice, had given Sandra’s coworkers the choice of keeping Sandra or keeping their bonuses. On top of which, whispers were spread that Sandra was going to be let go no matter what, so it’s no surprise when the vote is a lopsided 14 to 2 in favor of firing Sandra and keeping bonuses. When Sandra’s husband and friends compel her to protest the underhanded way this was carried out, her boss allows for a second vote after the weekend, comfortable in the expectation that convincing people to sacrifice their bonuses is a fool's errand.

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