An Evening with Naomi Watts

Jose here to talk about Naomi Watts. She's having a great month. First, she won Best Actress nominations from both the Screen Actors Guild and the Golden Globes for her work in The Impossible (opening today!). Then she got a hell of an endorsement from Reese Witherspoon who promised she'd "tap dance on Sunset Blvd." to get her an Oscar for this movie. If other people in Hollywood start feeling she's as good as Meryl in Sophie's Choice (Reese's words) Naomi's stars might be finally aligning for a statuette.

Earlier this week I attended a preview screening of The Impossible (hosted as part of 92Y's Reel Pieces series) which was preceded by a Q&A with Watts. She discussed working with green screens, working with boy wonder Tom Holland (nominated for Best Young Actor at the "Critics Choice" Awards) and spent a surprising amount of time discussing her work in Mulholland Dr. But, hey, a lot of us have been talking about that for years as well!

[Mulholland Dr, King Kong and The Impossible after the jump]

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Melanie Lynskey: DVDs I Had To Own

[Editor's Note: The Film Experience is very pleased to announce that  the lovely actress Melanie Lynskey is our super extra special duper final guest blogger this week. Take it away, Melanie - Nathaniel R]

Hello everyone!

I could not be more honoured that Nathaniel asked me to do this little guest spot on my beloved Film Experience. I read this blog so much and it's always thoughtful, funny, and enlightening. I hope I do a good job guest blogging and I desperately wish I could use a word other than blogging, because ugh it is a horrible word. Okay. Remember, I'm a college dropout, so please forgive bad grammar and clunky sentences. (Dearest Nathaniel I hope you're having a great time with your mom.)

"picture of myself drinking a scotch as I blogged to go with your banner xo"

Somebody wrote to me on twitter and suggested that I write a piece about the movies I consider to be the ten best movies of all time. They said they'd be interested to see how the movies stacked up against the Sight and Sound poll. Well, the truth is, I honestly feel like I haven't seen enough movies to be able to compile a list of The Best Movies. My knowledge of pre-70s cinema is embarrassingly limited. I'm also super indecisive. So, I thought that instead, I could take a picture of a bunch of random DVDs from my collection and give a brief explanation of why I love these particular movies.

I don't buy a lot of DVDs so every one of these picks is because I said to myself "Yes. I must own this. It's important."

in photo order...

1) Terms Of Endearment- I remember one summer this was on TV when we were on a family vacation. I watched it with my mother and my grandmother (!!) I think I was nine or ten. I already knew, at that point, that I loved acting, I loved becoming a different person. But this was the first time I remember thinking, "oh, you can make people cry their eyes out from acting?" I couldn't believe how the performances made me feel, and I understood that even though the story was so moving, the thing that was making my heart ache was what these actors were doing. I knew it was magical. Shirley MacLaine, man. Wow.

2) The Piano- Oh Jane Campion I love you so much. I love the women in her movies. I love the sexuality. I love the light and the composition. I feel like I can smell the earth under the character's feet and feel the air around them watching a Jane Campion movie.

3) Gigli- yes. Gigli. [More Melanie Picks after the jump]

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Distant Relatives: Persona and Mulholland Drive

Robert here with the first entry in Season 2 of Distant Relatives, the series that explores the connections between one classic and one contemporary film. This week we feature a request by Nathaniel himself. Feel free to make your own requests in the comments.

Two movies about two women

When Mulholland Drive was released to perplexed but ecstatic reviews in 2001, and then again when it was being declared the best film of the decade in many places nine years later, there were few mentions of a film that seems to be an obvious influence: Ingmar Bergman's Persona. Perhaps that's because the actual influence is as indefinable as the two films themselves. The Wikipedia entry on Persona shares a few non-specific sentences about its influence on Mulholland Drive paired with a note demanding a source for this information. So how do we know these films are related? Well they certainly seem like they should be. Both are about two women living together under unusual circumstances, one sick, the other a caregiver. In both cases, at least one of the women is an actress. Both films show a general degredation of these women's relationships. So why weren't more people blathering about the obvious intersection of these two movies? My guess is because both Persona and Mulholland Drive only really inspire one question: What on earth is going on? Interpreting, explaining, "decoding" if you will, these films is the understandable immediate concern of anyone whose just been exposed to these two terrific cinematic puzzles. Yet that does them a sort-of disservice. These films are more than puzzles. You could spend a lifetime trying to figure out what they're all about and completely miss what they're all about. That said, we won't spend much more energy here trying to find answers about these films. We haven't the time, the space, or the likelihood of agreement enough to keep it from being anything but a distraction.

Bergman's Persona begins with actress Elizabeth Vogler (Liv Ullmann) experiencing a sudden fit of despair and going voluntarily mute. In the hospital, she's paired with nurse Alma (Bibi Andersson) and the two are sent off to a seaside cottage where they develop an ambiguously intimate relationship and the silent, passive judgement of Elizabeth begins to turn Alma into an aggressor. Eventually the film begins to flip on it's head, revealing its own artificiality, and it becomes impossible to know who is who, and what role they're playing. Mulholland Drive opens with aspiring actress Betty's discovery of accident victim amnesiac Rita hiding out in her apartment. Soon, between line readings and Betty's audtions, the two lady sleuths are investigating Rita's life and identity and eventually becoming lovers (or have they always been?). Eventually the film begins to flip on it's head, revealing it's own artificiality, and it becomes impossible to know who is who, and what role they're playing.

Unusual universal themes

Death. Sex. Love. Ambition. Lynch and Bergman love all the standard universal themes. But they add two more strange, dark and upleaseant universal themes to the list.... Click for full post.

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Curio: Crazy 4 Cult 5

Alexa here. It's that time of year: Gallery1988 in Los Angeles is holding its Crazy 4 Cult show, the annual exhibit of art inspired by cult films. The show seems to grow every year, and this year the number of pieces is staggering. The full gallery of original works and prints is finally available online, and they've also put a book together of work from previous shows. Here is a selection of some of my favorite original works from this year, but you must check out the galleries yourself, either in person or online. The show runs until July 30th. 

Veronica Fish, Mulholland Drive, gouache on coldpress paper, 11 x 14 inches

Sean Clarity, While Ferris Was Banging Sloan, acrylic on board, 18 x 12 inches

Jeremy Asher Lynch, Talking To The Trees Of The Cobweb Strange, acrylic on canvas, 18 x 24 inches

Click for artwork inspired by Pan's Labyrinth, Donnie Darko and Fight Club...

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No hay banda. No hay linka.

Twitch What's this? What's this? David Lynch may be prepping a "Club Silencio" to open in Paris. Mullholland Dr. lives on and on.
My New Plaid Pants defaces the Larry Crowne poster. I'd see this imaginary movie and I'm not even a horror fan.
Cineuropa Apichatpong Weerathesakul will head the Horizons Jury at this year's Venice Film Festival. More details at the link
Hollywood Wire Tap wait... now it might be David O. Russell directing Angelina Jolie for Maleficent? I can't keep up. This is why I ignore the rumormill. Better to concentrate on actual films.
MTV Madonna finally returning to the recording studio.
The Wrap Avi Arad talks about producer Laura Ziskin (RIP)

Two Videos
Filmdrunk explores "Woody Allen Surrogates" with this video.

A Retrospective of Woody Allen Surrogates from FilmDrunkDotCom on Vimeo.

And this Green Lantern news bit from The Onion made me giggle. Especially the movie posters "[pictured above]", the franchise sequel plans and this Ryan Reynolds quote.

'Green Lantern' To Fulfill America's Wish To See Lantern-Based Characters On Big Screen

I've been a Green Lantern fan every since I was told I would be the person starring in the Green Lantern movie so this is a thing come true for me.

LOL.

Finally... if you can't gather enough opinions about the Oscar Best Picture Shift to sate your lust for all things shiny, naked and gold here are more reactions on the Latest Oscar Rule Shift (already discussed right here)  from Peter Knegt (super con and then mixed), Kris Tapley (very pro), Sasha Stone (con -- she liked the ten) and Stu Van Airsdale (pro with a dose of 'so what? there are larger problems')