Thoughts I Had... About Our First Look At "Grand Budapest Hotel"

In the interest of speed and efficiency, and before all this good icing melts, my uncensored thoughts as they come to me...

• This poster looks good enough to eat. Literally. All I see is a tiered heavily frosted chocolate cake and I want it in me right now. Put it in me!

• Remember when people made such a big deal of Natalie Portman's nudity in "Hotel Chevalier" even though it was only like side butt? Will their be profile nudity in this hotel? And if so whose? My guess is Léa Seydoux though its unlikely to occur at all.

• The title signage is like delicate decorative pastel frosting (I have not eaten dinner yet, can you tell?)

• So pleased that Ralph Fiennes' career seems to be on an upswing again -- I believe he's the protagonist and butler here -- though I read the weirdest headline the other day (I didn't click on the link) about The Invisible Woman, his second directorial effort, being a misfire of a vanity project. I have seen the movie and I can't for the life of me think why it would be considered a vanity project (though "misfire", maybe) when Fiennes is SO much more handsome in real life than he allows himself to look as Charles Dickens. And Dickens doesn't even come across all that well in terms of character, either. He's no outstanding citizen in the movie. 

• Can Ralph Fiennes please do playful homages to Tim Curry and Forrest Whitaker and other famous butlers when he hits the talk show circuit. Please?

• Did Oscar winner F Murray Abraham get a new agent or something? Totally back! Homeland (sinister!), Inside Llewyn Davis (wonderfully judged cameo), and now this.

• This poster reminds me of the architectural minimalism of Chris Ware or maybe it could have been done by illustrator Max Dalton who did great stuff for Matt Zoller Seitz' new book on Wes Anderson. I want to read that book. Did any of you get it yet? 

Max Dalton print of Wes Anderson characters

• My favorite Wes Anderson movies are The Royal Tenenbaums (#1 by a margin of 375 imaginary city blocks), and Moonrise Kingdom. Hotel Chevalier and Fantastic Mr Fox tie for third. No, really.

• My best friend used to live super close to the exterior of The Royal Tenenbaums on Convent Avenue here in  NYC and I used to stare at that building in melancholic wonder every time it entered my field of view. 

• Wes Anderson is the ideal person to make a movie about a hotel because structures are like actual characters in his movie: the train in Darjeeling Unlimited, the submarine in The Life Aquatic, the tree in Mr Fox, the vertical home in Tenenbaums, and so on...

• When will Oscar voters ever warm to Anderson? Beyond the writers branch who (wisely) gets him.

• I just noticed that Anjelica Huston's name is not on this poster and it suddenly doesn't look as tasty.

Reader Spotlight: Grace Miao

In Reader Spotlight we get to know The Film Experience community one by one. It's taking forever for which you know I'm grateful. Today we're talking to Grace in Toronto.

NATHANIEL: Hi Grace. Why do you read The Film Experience?

GRACE: I originally read it for your Oscar predictions, but I got hooked on the thoughts and insights in your movie reviews - and actressexuality! It's a little Ebert-esque, but love or hate a movie, you have an undercurrent of overall admiration and appreciation for the medium that keeps me coming back.

What's your first movie memory or obsession?

GRACE: E.T.  I'm so blood/gore-averse that I distinctly remember hiding my face behind my hands when Elliot cut his finger on the circular saw. And wanting a flying bicycle.

I know we have a mutual love of Tilda Swinton and Tony Leung since you've told me so. Name three other actors you always love to watch.

Nicole Kidman! I know she's on everyone's list, but her Monster Year in 2000/2001 kind of sealed the deal for me - I loved her in "Moulin Rouge", "The Others", then later in "Dogville" and "Birth". She's always good, but with an auteur director, it's absolute magic to watch her.

Maggie Cheung. I really miss seeing her onscreen, especially since Tony's still working (such amazing chemistry!). I was SO excited to hear that she was going to be in Inglorious Basterds and disappointed that they cut her scenes. She's one actor who, like Tilda, I can buy in anything and any role. Plus very few people can make Cantonese Chinese sound as elegant as she does.

I saw Ralph Fiennes in Quiz Show in a high school English class and it sent me digging through his filmography and my Dad's video library. For years, I just couldn't get enough of him (though I skipped "Maid in Manhattan") - I could be repulsed by him ("Schindler's List"), swoon over him ("The English Patient") and every time he speaks, I just want to curl up and fall asleep in his voice. I could see someone like Tom Hiddleston following in his footsteps.

If I could pick runners-up, I'd choose Peter O'Toole, Kirsten Dunst and Russell Crowe. 

If you were in charge of Hollywood for a year, what kind of movies would you greenlight?

At this point, I think I'd greenlight virtually anything that isn't a prequel or sequel. I'd give the go-ahead to works that put story and character development at the forefront; if Lars Von Trier/Kar Wai Wong/Alfonso Cuaron/Hayao Miyazaki/David Lean's ghost are in any way involved with the project, I'd give it an automatic pass to production. And I'd have Christopher Doyle be the DP for everything.

What's the last movie you watched before answering these questions [note: we had this conversation a couple of weeks ago]

I'm embarrassed to say G.I. Joe: Retaliation, but that wasn't a voluntary choice. Can I redeem myself with No starring Gael Garcia Bernal, which I saw the week before with my BFF?

Yes you may. Good choice. Which movie would you love to live inside of?

The Fall. Specifically in Roy and Alexandria's imaginary world, in Eiko Ishioka's costumes.

Name your three favorite movies from each decade: 80s, 90s, and 00s 

80s: My Neighbour Totoro (I grew up on Hayao Miyazaki - I could have easily filled up this section with everything he produced that decade), The Last Emperor, and Ran

90s: LA Confidential, Porco Rosso, Apollo 13

00s: The Barbarian Invasions (my Dad had cancer years ago and passed away in 2010, so I can't tell you how much this movie resonated with me. I was weeping in my seat), Children of Men and Dogville (Trying to narrow down what I loved from this decade drove me nuts. I want to cram Spirited Away, In the Mood for Love and Amelie in here as well)

Thanks Grace! P.S. This picture you sent is amazing! So I GIF'ed it. I cannot  believe you were an extra in Mean Girls. That is so fetch.

GRACE: I was.  Right after the Mathletes victory is announced. Two Lindsay Lohan movies, one with Hillary Duff, a TV movie with Anna Sophia Robb and a handful of TV series, including "Monk"!

NATHANIEL: Well done!

Previous Reader Spotlights
And our imaginary Honorary Reader Oscars go to...
lovely ladies: Mysjkin, Lynn Lee, Ester, Leehee, Jamie and Dominique 
(and yes we need to hear from more of the girls) 
dashing gents: Peter C, Daniel M, Troy H, Morgan, Patrick, Christian, Lucio, Joey Moser, Zé V, Tony T, Andy H, Ferdi, K.M. Soehnlein, Sergio, Borja, John, Chris, Peter, Ziyad, Andrew, Yonatan, Keir, Kyle, Vinci, Victor, Bill, Hayden, Murtada, Cory, Walter, Paolo, and BBats

April Showers: “The English Patient”

 Andrew here with an April Shower to pass the evening.

I’ve always gravitated towards film scenes incorporating water. Often it does not transcend the aesthetic (water on screen just looks pretty), but even as downpours – natural or man-made –are often utilised as read-made ways of attuning the audience to moments of sadness, it’s great when filmmakers utilise it other ways. I say utilise with slight hesitation because in a film where Minghella seems to be telegraphing nodes and nodes of information, the rain scene in The English Patient comes off as especially slight.

The titular patient (formerly known as Count Laszlo de Almásy) has been severely burned across the body and confined to a bed, remembering ghosts of his past. He is dying, and convivial Nurse Hana – running from ghosts of her own – is keeping him comfortable in his last days in an abandoned Italian monastery as World War II draws to a close. They are joined by mysterious thief Caravaggio and sapper Kip and his Sergeant Hardy. A few moments before the rain is released, an agitated Hana bicycles out to find Kip, her new lover. He is busy defusing a bomb which has his name written on it. Literally.

 

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Thoughts I Had While Reading Harry Potter's "CONSIDER..."

This Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 "Consider..." FYC booklet arrived in the mail a couple of days ago so I thought I'd read it with you. Aren't I considerate?!  I can't scan it in as it's too heavy and bound tight to open flat. Expensive paper but then with those billion grosses they've got plenty of money to burn on a campaign.

So here we go...

I wish that you could see Melissa Leo in a fur coat reflected in his lenses!

okay, let's write this thing up. Click to continue if you'd like to read along...  as it's long and photoriffic.

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London: "Coriolanus", NYC, and an Oscar reject

David here with another report from the London Film Festival. First up, a Shakespeare adaptation with even more pedigree than usual.

"Anger is my meat. I sup upon myself." So proclaims Volumnia (Vanessa Redgrave) halfway through Ralph Fiennes' directorial debut Coriolanus. In person at the press conference, the raggedly bearded Fiennes' couldn't be more affable, but Caius Martius Coriolanus (Fiennes, following Olivier and Branagh by directing himself in a Shakespearian lead) lives, and perhaps fosters, a world of fearsome aggression. In both the narrative and the extra-filmic reality of the cast, the hierarchy makes itself apparent: as Redgrave powers her way through her titanic final monologue, her terribly veined neck strained upwards as she spits and crows at Fiennes, she burns through Fiennes' schizophrenic celluloid, a scorch mark on a scuffed rug. Redgrave outacts everyone in sight because Shakespearean dialogue is part of her bloodstream, but also because she is so precise in how much of herself she commits to each moment. Redgrave's vibrant poise and direct anger are graciously straightforward without compromising on character depth.

The remainder of Coriolanus cannot be gifted with such lavish praise.

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