Interview: Dolly De Leon (Triangle of Sadness). She's the captain, now!

by Nathaniel R

Dolly De Leon

Dolly de Leon didn't know what was coming when she auditioned for an international feature from Swedish auteur Ruben Östlund, pre-pandemic. Two plus years later, thirty-one years after her film debut, she was an international hit, winning best in show reviews for his latest feature Triangle of Sadness. No small feat given that the film won the Palme d'Or at Cannes. Even after the film's splashy premiere the kudos kept coming for Dolly's work. In recent months she's been up for the Golden Globe, the Dorians, the London Critics Circle Film Awards, and other prizes. She also shared the Supporting Performance win at the prestigious Los Angeles Film Critics Awards in a tie with Oscar's Best Supporting Actor frontrunner Ke Huy Quan.

We had the pleasure of spending time with her at the Middleburg Film Festival earlier in the season. We enlisted the help of our own TFE contributor Juan Carlos Ojano to prepare for our interview, since he's well acquainted with the film industry in the Philippines. In our conversation we talked about her experience doing her first intimate scene, whether or not she expected Triangle of Sadness to blow up, and her dream role for the future. But we started our conversation by showing her a picture from her very first movie that Juan Carlos sent us as an ice breaker; Ice successfully broken!

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The Power of the Underdog: Dolly de Leon and the Filipino of 2022

by Juan Carlos Ojano

WARNING: This article contains mild spoilers on Triangle of Sadness.

2022 has been a year unlike any other for the Philippines. The past year brought an unprecedented amount of Filipino actors to the international film scene. Leading the pack is Dolly de Leon as yacht cleaner Abigail in the Palme d’Or-winning satire Triangle of Sadness. As Abigail, de Leon showed the feisty resolve of an underdog waiting to be unleashed after a disruption in the social order. Together with other films this year discussing class divide like The Menu and Glass Onion, Triangle of Sadness struck a chord with audiences. With a slew of critics’ groups mentions, Dolly de Leon has enters the current Oscar nomination voting period strong: An LAFCA win, a Golden Globe nomination (a first for a Filipina), and a longlist mention at the BAFTAs. Any attention is much needed given a crowded Supporting Actress field.

But De Leon is not the only Filipino actor who enjoyed the spotlight this past year... 

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Split Decision: "Triangle of Sadness"

No two people feel the same exact way about any film. Thus, Team Experience is pairing up to debate the merits of each of the big awards season movies this year. Here’s Nathaniel R and Cláudio Alves getting shipwrecked... 

CLÁUDIO: Like many international cinephiles, my first encounter with the work of Swedish director Ruben Östlund was his 2014's breakthrough hit Force Majeure. Unlike others, however, I was mildly disappointed by what I encountered. Don't get me wrong, the main set piece that ignites the narrative's conflicts is astounding, the acting marvelous, and the staging coldly precise. My main issue was with the screenplay, which I found to be shallower than the film's reputation suggested, smugly superior, inflated with airs of self-importance without much to show for it. Comparisons to the similarly structured The Loneliest Planet didn't help, though I admit I might be one of the only ardent fans of that Julia Loktev picture.

In any case, I found myself excited by Östlund's potential, hoping to be dazzled by subsequent efforts now that he seemed poised to become one of Europe's most acclaimed filmmakers. But, sadly, such miracles did not come to pass. Not for me, at the very least…

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"All Quiet on the Western Front" dominates the BAFTA longlists

by Cláudio Alves

"All Quiet on the Western Front" | © Netflix

After the Academy announced its shortlists in ten categories, some questions loomed over prognosticators' heads. Does a better-than-expected performance at this phase of the race indicate broad industry support? Moreover, is All Quiet in the Western Front – featured in 5 of AMPAS' rosters – the non-English-language film to beat and Netflix's best bet at a Best Picture nod? What were once mere suspicions feel like near certainties in the face of the BAFTA longlists. While we should always take these things with a grain of salt, it's hard to ignore how well the war movie did. Out of 15 possible categories, it features in all 15 shortlists, including such surprising places as Best Costume Design.

Come discover the full longlists, after the jump…

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Dozen Best Movie Posters of 2022

Our "Year in Review" continues. Let the List-Mania commence... 

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by Nathaniel R

Movie posters are not what they used to be. This is not an aesthetic  "everything was better in the past" complaint but a fact; they aren't as present an advertising force as they were when one tall rectangular image and tagline would do the bulk of the advertising work to define a film. Now that work is dispersed in multiple shapes and images and visual modes, the old school poster included. Posters aren't quite a lost art but they are in Big Hollywood which prefers to make every poster a hideous inhuman collage of movie stars, think Frankenstein's Monster if Dr Frankenstein, had eschewed body parts and just used hundreds of faces in mismatched sizes to build his undead "man".

But enough complaints. Let's celebrate the posters that did right by their movies this year...

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