Carnage, Roman Polanski, France, Germany, Spain, Poland 2011

A first-rate, award winning play, a highly talented, seasoned director, and a stellar cast - there's little room for anything to go wrong, is there? And nothing did. Practically. Based on Yasmin Reza's play, God of Carnage, Roman Polanski's latest offering is a sort-of updated version of Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf. Which, to be clear, is not to imply that Reza borrowed from Albee's iconic play. If anything, she took her cue from it, got inspired by it, in order to create something that is entirely her own but which, similar to Albee, also comes very much to live through Reza's relentless, razor-sharp, observations of the debilitatingly political correct times we live in.

However, my one issue with Polanski's film is that it ends rather abruptly ... Since I'm unfamiliar with the original play, I'm unable to say, of course, if this is how Reza intended it. Don't get me wrong - I'm usually all for open endings and for films that tell their story succinctly. Nevertheless, here goes one film which I'd have wished to be a little longer and to have some sort of a closure rather than just stopping smack in the middle, depriving the audience of the last act (e.g the brawl which is about to take place ... or so it seems). But, you may argue, that is exactly why it ends where it does.


Carnage, opening scene

One of the best things about Reza's play is her achievement to well-nigh unnoticeably shift the spectator's sympathies and empathies from one character to another - and back again. Identification is thus tricky if not impossible, for every character is in almost equal parts as likeable as they are dislikeable. I also take my hat off to each and every one of Polanski's cast, for they manage to own up to the play, keeping our sympathies in murky waters, and just when you thought you found the one person in this bizarre, yet very real, bunch of neurotics that offers identification, he - or she - does or says something which renders them completely dislikeable.



Carnage premiered to rave reviews at last year's Venice film fest. All the more astounding that it is strangely and inexplicably absent from the list of Golden Globes nominations and other similar such awards ... if nothing else, at least Jodie Foster as well as Kate Winslet should have received a best acting nod. They, even more so than than John C. Reilly and Christoph Waltz, are especially outstanding in their very own definition and creation of women-on-the-verge-of-a-nervous-breakdown. Yet they didn't ... can it be that America's 30-year grudge held against Polanski should have something to do with it ...? I hope not! It's time for bygones to be let bygones!

Something else that deserves pointing out are the wardrobe and the set design for Polanski managed to bring two dinosaurs on board who are at least as seasoned and top-notch as he himself along with his cast, are: costume designer Milena Canonero and set designer Dean Tavoularis. Canonero, who, for instance, worked with Kubrick on Barry Lyndon, is a woman of impeccable, flawless, taste. Like every talented costume designer - though there are so few - she's an expert in highlighting character traits through costume, which is precisely what she does in Carnage (e.g. black power suits for Waltz's cynical attorney and Winslet's investment broker and softer colours for Foster's would-be writer and Reilly's peddler of household goods).



Dean Tavoularis' set for Carnage looks like straight out of a Woody Allen film, his films usually being set in the exact same New York, upper middle-class surroundings, which form the background of Carnage. Tavoularis' achievement to make Foster's and Reilly's apartment look like your quintessential Brooklyn Heights digs is all the more remarkable as Carnage was, of course, shot entirely on a sound stage outside Paris as to this day Polanski is still unable to enter the US without risking to be arrested upon arrival.

Golden Globes 2012 - Full List Of All Winners

TV Series, Drama

American Horror Story
Boardwalk Empire
Boss
Game of Thrones
Homeland

Actor In A TV Series, Drama

Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Kelsey Grammar, Boss
Jeremy Irons, The Borgias
Damian Lewis, Homeland

Actress In A TV Series, Drama

Claire Danes, Homeland
Mireille Enos, The Killing
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
Madeleine Stowe, Revenge
Callie Thorne, Necessary Roughness

TV Series, Comedy

New Girl
Enlightened
Episodes
Glee
Modern Family

Actor In A TV Series, Comedy

Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
David Duchovny, Californication
Johnny Galecki, The Big Bang Theory
Thomas Jane, Hung
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes

Actress In A TV Series, Comedy

Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation
Laura Dern, Enlightened
Zooey Deschanel, New Girl
Laura Linney, The Big C

Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV
Cinema Verite
Downton Abbey
The Hour
Mildred Pierce
Too Big to Fail

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for TV

Hugh Bonneville, Downton Abbey
Idris Elba, Luther
William Hurt, Too Big to Fail
Bill Nighy, Page Eight
Dominic West, The Hour

Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for TV
Romola Garai, The Hour
Diane Lane, Cinema Verite
Elizabeth McGovern, Downton Abbey
Emily Watson, Appropriate Adult
Kate Winslet, Mildred Pierce

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV

Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
Paul Giamatti, Too Big to Fail
Guy Pearce, Mildred Pierce
Tim Robbins, Cinema Verite
Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV

Jessica Lange, American Horror Story
Kelly Macdonald, Boardwalk Empire
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
Sofía Vergara, Modern Family
Evan Rachel Wood, Mildred Pierce

Motion Picture, Drama

The Descendants
The Help
Hugo
The Ides Of March
Moneyball
Warhorse

Actor In A Motion Picture, Drama

George Clooney, The Descendants
Leonardo DiCaprio, J. Edgar
Michael Fassbender, Shame
Ryan Gosling, The Ides Of March
Brad Pitt, Moneyball

Actress In A Motion Picture, Drama

Viola Davis, The Help
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Tilda Swinton, We Need To Talk About Kevin
Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs

Motion Picture, Comedy

50/50
The Artist
Bridesmaids
Midnight In Paris
My Week With Marilyn

Actor In A Motion Picture, Comedy

Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Brendan Gleeson, The Guard
Owen Wilson, Midnight In Paris
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, 50/50
Ryan Gosling, Crazy, Stupid, Love

Actress In A Motion Picture, Comedy

Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn
Jodie Foster, Carnage
Kristen Wiig, Bridesmaids
Charlize Theron, Young Adult
Kate Winslet, Carnage

Supporting Actor In A Motion Picture

Albert Brooks, Drive
Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn
Jonah Hill, Moneyball
Viggo Mortensen, A Dangerous Method

Supporting Actress In A Motion Picture

Berenice Bejo, The Artist
Octavia Spencer, The Help
Jessica Chastain, The Help
Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
Shailene Woodley, The Descendants

Best Director

Martin Scorcese, Hugo
George Clooney, The Ides of March
Michel Hazanvicius, The Artist
Alexander Payne, The Descendants
Woody Allen, Midnight In Paris

The Artist, Michael Hazanavicius, France, Belgium 2011

There are few films I've awaited with similar anticipation: not only does The Artist go completely against the grain - it is, after all, a silent movie - it also promises to be visually stunning. Moreover, it revolves around a subject which is very dear to me: Hollywood history. Told in a nutshell, The Artist is about the advent of the talkies which subsequently led to the demise of some actors while it led to the rise of others.

Being about Hollywood history and the infancy of the studio era, The Artist also emulates the narrative of classic Hollywood films and consequently has a love story at its centre: that of an actress whose career takes off with the arrival of the talking while that of her love interest, a formerly famous actor, starts to decline. I can only guess, of course, but something tells me that Hazanavicius took his cue from the real-life love-affair of Greta Garbo's and John Gilbert whose career went downhill while Garbo's - having managed to make a smooth transition into sound - continued to rise.

With my expectations being sky-high, it remains to be seen if The Artist manages to live up to them.




Opening dates for The Artist across Europe:

Israel: January 12, 2012
Germany: January 26, 2012
Turkey: January 27, 2010
Portugal: February 2, 2012
Denmark: February 9, 2012
Sweden: February 10, 2012
Russia: February 16, 2012
Norway: February 24, 2012

The Artist was released in the UK on December 30, 2011 and - on a limited release - in the US on November 23, 2011.

Meryl Streep To Receive Honorary Golden Bear At The Berlin Film Festival

The Berlin Film Festival announced that it will bestow an honorary Golden Bear to Meryl Streep. Streep is to receive the award on February 14 at the Berlinale Palace.



Her latest film, The Iron Lady (Phyllida Lloyd, UK 2011), is slated to screen out of competition at this year's film-fest.

Additionally, the following five Meryl Streep films will be shown at select Berlinale theatres across Berlin to commemorate her honorary Golden Bear:

Kramer vs. Kramer (Robert Benton, USA 1979) is the film that put her on the map and the one for which she received her first (of two) Academy Awards. Though only starring in a supporting role, Streep gives a strong performance as the troubled Joanna, a wife and mother who decides to desert her husband and son. Deemed maudlin and mainstream at the time, watching the film today the decision taken by Streep's character seems actually revolutionary. It certainly is a part that's unthinkable to come out of mainstream Hollywood such as it is today.



Sophie's Choice (Alan J. Pakula, USA 1982) was one of the first big Hollywood films to address the topic of the Holocaust. It followed Streep's breakthrough in the US mini series, Holocaust, which is credited with raising the awareness of the mass murder of Jews during WWII, not only in the US but internationally. It wasn't until Holocaust was shown on television across West-Germany that films dealing with the Holocaust slowly started to emerge in that country.



Out Of Africa (Sydney Pollack, USA 1985). It was Streep's biggest hit to date and a huge success in West-Germany. It is also one her most memorable performances, earning her her fifth Academy Award nomination, though in the end Streep lost out to Geraldine Page. On the downside, Out Of Africa is partly responsible for the fact that following her, albeit captivating, performance of the ill-fated Danish writer Karen Blixen, Streep was frequently typecast in tragic roles, belying her extraordinary comic talent and wit.



The Bridges Of Madison County (Clint Eastwood, USA 1995) was the culmination of Streep's parts as the woman struck by tragedy. Though it undoubtedly is once again a very commendable performance by her, had it been up to me, I would have selected Death Becomes Her (Robert Zemeckis, USA 1992), a much underrated film and one which brilliantly showcases Streep's unique talent for camp.



A Prairie Home Companion (Robert Altman, USA 2005), aptly shows Streep's other talent as a singer, though again, to show that particular talent of hers I would have rather selected Silkwood (Mike Nichols, USA 1983), which has, in its end credits, a beautiful rendition of Amazing Grace, sung a capella by Streep. A Prairie Home Companion was Altman's last film. It had its world premiere at that year's Berlin Film Festival, with Streep in attendance.



Lastly, the Berlinale will screen Streep's latest, The Iron Lady (Phyllida Lloyd, UK 2011) which, it is my firm belief, will at long last earn her her third Academy Award:

Melancholia, Lars von Trier, Denmark, France, Germany, Sweden 2011

The above image may be a still from Lars von Trier's film, but Kirsten Dunst's facial expression approximately mirrors mine while watching it. Put differently, half the time I was fighting severe attacks of sleepiness, and the other half I was racked with the question as to why anyone would shoot such a pointless film and worse, why anyone would invest their own good money into such a venture. This being a European offering and thus largely financed through subidies, the thought that millions of tax-payers' money were spent on this - excuse my French - latter-day masturbation effort is enough to get my back up any time. Especially at a time when half of Europe appears to be on the brink of bankruptcy.

Kirsten Dunst's above facial expression and the alleged topic of the film notwithstanding, Melancholia leaves you not so much depressed as angry - angry at having wasted nearly three hours of your time (to say nothing of the 10 quid spent on the ticket!) sitting through a film which is in dire need of a plot and as a result has nothing whatsoever to say, let alone offering some redemption.

To make matters worse, besides the opening sequence - which, admittedly, is visually stunning - one of the film's biggest disappointments are that it totally lacks von Trier's usual visual artistry. All of it seems as uninspired as the film does as a whole. And though I could live with a film that's visually uninspiring or visually conventional, the least one could expect of any film, is a hint of a plotline which, alas, is wholly absent!

Therefore, there are countless more fruitful ways to kill three hours of your time than sitting through a film that is as unnecessary as it is boring and pretentious.

Blast From The Past: The Go-Between, Joseph Losey, UK 1971

"The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there".

Thus begins L.P. Hartley's The Go-Between, which was first published in 1953 by Hamish Hamilton, setting the tone for the rest of the novel. The tone, to be sure, is one of nostalgia, though nostalgia in the best of senses for it is to his credit that Hartley refrains from the trait that seems to be inherent to nostalgia: glorifying the past. Glorifying the past is exactly what Hartley does not do. Rather similar to Proust's Remembrance of Things Past, the memory of The Go-Between's main character, Leo, is also being unlocked by a particular incident, in this case it is discovery of an old collar box in which he comes across a diary, written some fifty years earlier, in the summer of 1900, the time when the novel's events unfold.



In its essence, The Go-Between is a critical observation of the British class system such as it was at the dawn of the Victorian age. Hartley's novel is much more than that, however, for it is also a coming-of-age story; a story about the loss of innocence and awakening sexuality.

Coming from a lower middle-class background, Leo receives an invitation to spend the summer at the elegant mansion of his friend Marcus. Leo's encounter with Marcus' beautiful sister, Marian, triggers his sexual awakening, though it must be mentioned that Hartley knows better than to lose himself in tedious analysis and explanations, leaving it up to the reader to draw their own conclusions.

The adult Leo travels back in time, reminiscing on the events that would come to shape his life.

Taking advantage of Leo's growing obsession with her, Marian uses Leo as a go-between to take messages between her and her lover, Ted Burgess, a farmer who lives in an outhouse on the grounds. That Leo is putty in Marian's hands is considerably aided by the fact that Leo's background is decidedly middle-class and that he's far less sophisticated and worldly than, perhaps, his upper-class equivalent would be.

Unaware of what really goes on between Marian and Ted, it nevertheless begins to dawn on Leo that it is something untoward, particularly as he finds out that Marian is supposed to become engaged to the wealthy Viscount Trimingham. Just like mercury's rising on the thermometer as the weather gets hotter and hotter, so Leo's duties as mercury also become ever more frequent, urgent, and dangerous.

Things eventually come to their tragic head, with - perhaps predictably - Leo and Ted as their primary victims as the members of the upper class use the subordinate status of both to mend their chipped facade in order to keep up appearances.

Hartley's book is nothing short of a masterpiece. It is elegiac, nostalgic without ever falling into the trap of glorification. It is a reminiscence, a reflection, and full of symbolism, written in beautiful, elegant English that aptly captures the stimmung at the turn of the century.


Julie Christie as Marian in Losey's The Go-Between (UK 1970)

Later turned into a film, The Go-Between was released in the US well-nigh 30 years ago, in November 1971. It was to be one of Losey's best films and, perhaps, one of the best films ever to come out of the UK - and that is saying a lot. Losey's adaptation of Hartley's novel can hardly be improved upon. Though two entirely different entities, I myself can't help thinking of the film when reading the book. The film's images have burnt themselves into my memory since the visual language, the imagery, Losey chose for his adaptation are quite simply flawless for he captured the spirit and tone of Hartley's novel to perfection.


Alan Bates as Ted Burgess, Dominic Guard as Leo

Similarly the casting. In hindsight it seems of course inconceivable that Losey should have picked anyone but Julie Christie and Alan Bates for the leading roles. Still, there were plenty of other actresses and actors about whom Losey may have chosen over Christie and Bates. Yet, both are the epitome of their respective characters. Christie's sheer beauty, her ability to convey the subtlest hints of arrogance and condescension all fit Marian to a 't'. The same goes for Alan Bates who exudes a masculine, carnal, sexuality which makes Marian's longing and desire for him more than understandable.

While Gerry Fisher's cinematography may be considered conventional, the images, frames, and colours nevertheless match Leo's nostalgic reminiscence something which is highlighted by Michel Legrand's score. Interestingly, a year later Legrand would write the score to Summer of 42, another film that revolves around the remembrance of a male adult whose mind travels back to his childhood.

And last but not least it must be mentioned that the screenplay to The Go-Between was written by none other than the long-time Losey collaborator and future Nobel Prize laureate Harold Pinter. Pinter came up with a very clever device to underscore the relevance events in a person's childhood have for their future and to demonstrate the bearing our past has on the rest of our lives.

The Go-Between deservedly won the Palme d'Or at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival. In the BFI list of the Best British Films of all-time it currently ranges at Nr. 53 while Julie Christie remains the only actress who appears in a total of 6 films on that list.


Julie Christie, Alan Bates in The Go-Between


The Go-Between is available on Amazon.

City of Angels: The Studios - The Studio Era, Part 10

Read the last instalment of my series on Hollywood, the studios, and the studio era. For all previous posts on this series, please refer to the archives on the bottom of this page!

If anything, through advantageous and synergic takeovers and mergers like Time/ Warner/ AOL, Viacom/ Paramount, and Sony/ Columbia, the studios, and films in general, even benefited from those new media, at least financially.

As for the quality of the films, I can’t help thinking that although not all that glittered was gold in Hollywood’s golden era, what the moguls brought to their jobs was a proficiency and a profound love for the industry they created. A buccaneer-spirit paired with the vigour and pluck of the pioneers they were.

But the Hollywood of the studio era is irrevocably gone.
And after all, it probably never was much more than one huge, gigantic factory of dreams spread out over various parts of The City of Nets as Otto Friedrich referred to Hollywood in his autobiography.

I for my part, however, choose to think of it as another world, another universe, created by Hollywood’s founding fathers and inhabited by one big, enormous, dysfunctional, royal family, in the form of the big studios, with the moguls as the powerful patriarchs of the family’s various branches.


City of Nets by Otto Friedrich is highly recommended reading for anybody interested in Hollywood's golden age. Though very anecdotal, it is a first hand account by someone who lived and worked in the studios but not on the front lines, but rather in the background. Friedrich was a brilliant observer whose scrutinising eye escaped nothing.

For more books on Hollywood there's no better place than Larry Edmunds legendary bookshop on 6644, Hollywood Boulevard.

Click HERE to visit their website!