BIFA loves "Wild Rose" and "David Copperfield"

British Independent Film Awards, or BIFA for short, have announced their nominations for the 2019 film year. Like the Gothams and Spirits they are juried which means a small group of people decide various categories before the entire membership votes on the winners. Strangely, despite that they focused on a small pool of films (the leaders, Wild Rose and The Personal History of David Copperfield have a staggering 21 nominations between them. Yikes! 

Our friend and sometimes Smackdown guest Guy Lodge was on the panel this year and here are their choices.

Best British Independent Film

• Bait, Mark Jenkin, Kate Byers, Linn Waite

• For Sama, Waad Al-Kateab, Edward Watts

• The Personal History Of David Copperfield, Armando Iannucci, Simon Blackwell, Kevin Loader The Souvenir Joanna Hogg, Luke Schiller

• The Souvenir, Joanna Hogg, Luke Schiller

• Wild Rose, Tom Harper, Nicole Taylor, Faye Ward

Bait and David Copperfield have not yet arrived stateside. The latter is coming in 2020 and with lots of name actors it will get some attention (plus it's quite funny) but we had to look up Bait to see what it was. We must keep an eye out due to the BIFA love...

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Review Catch-Up

by Nathaniel R

A confession: After an alarm mishap I accidentally slept right through my Lion King critics screening earlier in the week. Upon waking I was angry with myself because there is no way I wanted to actually pay to see photorealistic animals singing. After perusing the early reviews both pro and con, I became convinced that the sleep was no accident but a divine intervention from the cinematic gods. My new stance is that I can wait for the screener to arrive during awards season... as no movie has ever struck me (from afar) as less necessary than this one. In truth I don't even love the 1994 picture (as Disney renaissance movies go, it's low on my personal list). Anyway, on to movies we have caught up with recently that we either haven't reviewed or talked at length about on the podcast...

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Soundtracking: Wild Rose

by Chris Feil

If it’s time to start assessing this year’s Best Original Song Oscar potential at 2019’s midpoint, we have just been given a hell of a frontrunner in Wild Rose. The film’s buried lede is the participation of one beloved Oscar-winning actress. Guys, Mary Steenburgen is also a songwriter these days, and as Wild Rose’s finale proves, she’s a pretty good one.

Earlier this summer Rocketman arrived already prepackaged for a Broadway iteration by design, and Wild Rose feels similarly ready for the stage translation. The narrative follows all of the hallmarks of the traditional narrative structure for film’s about everyday people with big musical dreams. The film follows young Rose-Lynn, freshly released from prison back to her humble Glasgow home where her wary mother and two children await. She’s a long way from the Nashville she claims as her true home, with even further distance between her dreams of being a famous singer and her reality cleaning houses.

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Podcast: MidSommar & Wild Rose

with Murtada Elfadl, Nathaniel R, and Chris Feil

 

Index (56 minutes)
00:01 A spoiler-filled discussion of Ari Aster's new horror film MidSommar starring Florence Pugh and Jack Reynor. We have three different opinions about its value.
38:10 Tom Harper's Wild Rose. You've seen this musical drama before but three performances by Jessie Buckley, Julie Walters, and Sophie Okonedo and the music (the finale song is by Mary Steenburgen!) elevate it. 
50:00 Lots of randomnees including Almodóvar movies, bad television, and future movies we're looking forward to including The Farewell and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you? 

Reading Assignments
• Chris Feil's MidSommar review
• "The End of Empathy" -Andrew Kendall on MidSommar
• Halfway Mark Actresses - Nathaniel's fav performances of 2019
• Nick's VOR ratings -an explanation

 

MidSommar & Wild Rose