Manuel here. In news that seem tailor-made for The Film Experience readership in general and Nathaniel in particular, Julianne Moore* is teaming up once again with her Far From Heaven director Todd Haynes.
Wonderstruck, for those of you who managed to regain consciousness after hearing "Moore" and "Haynes" in the same sentence, is Brian Selzknick's 2011 picture book/novel hybrid that follows two interconnected narratives, one set in 1927 and one in 1977 (in true Selznick fashion, one is told purely in pictures, the other purely in words) and involves a little girl obsessed with an actress and a boy intent on finding some family history that remains a mystery to him. For those of us who have already seen Carol, there is no doubt that Haynes is at the top of his game, so the fact that his next directorial project is coming together so quickly (no more waiting 8 years for another film!) is a welcome development. That it includes Moore? Well, that's just the juiciest cherry on top.
*This is your weekly reminder that Julianne Moore won an Oscar.
Film Comment Nick Davis interviews Todd Haynes on movies that inspired something in his movies Interview Mag talks to Regina King about her big year, an Emmy win and The Leftovers Kenneth in the (212) looks back on the revolutionary TV movie An Early Frost (starring Aidan Quinn & Gena Rowlands) for its 30th anniversary The Film Stage a prologue comic for The Hateful Eight written by Quentin Tarantino himself
The Envelope Jacob Tremblay on how Room should have ended filmmixtape suggests 10 films that should have made WGA's "Funniest" List Pajiba mourns the passing of Hayley Atwell... from social media. She was a master at it. *sniffle* This is Not Porn Marlon Brando on the set of Julius Caesar Gurus of Gold new charts and which films and performance need a bigger campaign push to be a nomination threat Screen Daily Adele in talks to join the cast of the next Xavier Dolan movie. Guess she liked her experience on "Hello" /Film Rooney Mara still up for a Dragon Tattoo sequel Variety the first image from the new season of Penny Dreadful - Patti Lupone returns Vogue gets a huge juicy house tour and talk with Jennifer Lawrence who is her typical bawdy self. On her current love life...
Cheers to my hymen growing back!”
Music Video of the Year? Missy Elliott hasn't released an album in 10 years. 10 YEARS. She proves she's still got it in spades with this track WTF (Where They From).It's got everything: Hot dancing, inspired hair and makeup, best supporting visual fx, Charlie Kaufman like puppets, and boxes of people wrapped in plastic. I've watched this video a scary amount of times this week. Join me in obsessiveness.
Oscar Movements The Oscar charts were updated before yours truly headed to Los Angeles for the AFI, the last festival stop that can significantly change things (the next festivals like Santa Barbara for example are just glorified campaigning & warm up acceptance speeches for actors who are already real contenders). But, in a minor twist, AFI didn't change things - no Selma or American Sniper bows to be seen. There were a few players getting little boosts: Will Smith has an outside shot at Best Actor if they a) don't like their current options and b) Concussion is a big hit at Christmas; The Big Shortcould be a Globe Comedy contender (given that meager field); and quite a few Foreign Oscar Submissions attracted more devout fans since AFI is the single best festival at which to see them. Why you may ask? Well, it plays a lot of the titles each year and it's also the only big festival that takes place between when the official submission list is announced and when the Academy members start voting towards the finalist list of nine, so it's ideally positioned to make a difference. Mustang (France's submission) won the Audience Award but several other notable contenders, Denmark's A War among them, also had filmmakers and/or actors in town for promotional (hint: Oscar courting) purposes.
And in news that you know warmed Nathaniel's heart, The HFPA has vetoed Category Fraud attempts by Rooney Mara and Alicia Vikander in supporting. They'll have to compete in Lead Actress, Drama where they both 100% belong. This doesn't necessarily mean anything to the Oscar race where they've been pushed supporting thus far -- Oscar voters have never been required to vote in a specific way for a performance they like (unlike SAG & The Globes where the specific categories are decided for the voters before they nominate) and we've seen in the past that the media and (most shamefully) critics groups generally support / encourage Oscar to accept the fraudulent placement by the studios. But hopefully this is a bellwether for the future. Category Fraud has reached critical mass in the past dozen years and it's time to break it down.
Katey, Joe, Nathaniel and Nick, get stranded on Mars with Astronaut Matt Damon. After rescuing each other they fall for shopgirl Rooney Mara with Cate Blanchett. Yes, we're discussing Ridley Scott's The Martian (now playing at a theater near you) and Todd Haynes's Carol (opening November 20th but surely already playing in your head).
Nathaniel is sick -- apologies for the vocal germs! -- so Katey hosts this one.
43 minutes 00:01-14:30 The Martian. How often must mankind save Matt Damon? 14:31-40:00 The miraculous healing powers of Carol. Struggling with/loving on Rooney's remoteness and Blanchett's range and roll. 40:01-43:00 Oscar fanfare / Sign-offs
You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversation in the comments won't you? Especially those two prompt questions: What did you think of The Martian and when were you most turned on by Cate Blanchett?
Todd Haynes' highly anticipated Carol screened a week ago for NYFF press and I immediately began marking time P.C. "POST CAROL". It was that impactful. For something that appears so delicate it breaks with immeasurable force. Carol recounts the relationship between a posh 40something society wife (Cate Blanchett), no stranger to lesbian affairs, and a curious 20something photographer/shopgirl (Rooney Mara) who has never been in love. Haynes's sixth feature is one of his best and thus both a marvel and a relief since he had gone AWOL from movie screens for eight years. The film which began the long drought, I'm Not There, is the only one that this longtime Haynes fanatic doesn't cherish.
Herewith 10 favorite things (in no particular order) about Carol right after meeting her. This infatuation is too potent to think clearly at this point for a traditional review. A word of caution: exciting first dates don't always lead to fullblown rewarding relationships but this one appears to be a (celluloid) romance for the long haul.
1. Gifts & Gift-Wrapping We like to think of final quarter movies as "gifts" since so much of awards season is centered around the holidays. This one is beautifully wrapped (the production values are breathtaking on literally every level) and even better once you start tearing the careful packaging apart to see what it's gifted you with. Carol also takes place during Christmas just like Tangerine so in one single cinematic year we've received the best Lesbian Christmas movie and the best Trans Christmas movie. How about that? More...
Tuesday, November 17, 2015 at 11:07AM 
