The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

I was aware of this movie. I had heard the title, I had even heard a little regarding what the movie was about, but I hadn’t really paid that much attention. Then the awards nominations came out (see my post from January 22). I saw the film yesterday. It was stunning.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a film based on the true story of Jean-Dominique Bauby an editor of Elle magazine who had a stroke and was completely paralyzed.

The amazing accomplishment of this film, and the reason why Julian Schnabel’s nomination for best director is absolutely deserved, is that the viewer experiences much of the story from the viewpoint of the main character. We are literally behind Jean-Do Bauby’s eye for much of the film, and we see the world as he sees it—confined to a bed or a chair, unable to turn even his head very far, his field of vision limited to the extent that he can move his one good eye.

Eventually the film expands beyond this limited viewpoint and we see sequences from Bauby’s past as well as sequences from his fantasies. By the time this happens we’ve become so accustomed to his perspective that this transformation is a revelation.

It’s hard for me to overstate just how affecting a film this was. The performances were all good. The story is amazing. The cinematography is powerful and is a character itself in the movie. But that should be no wonder given that the cinematographer is Janusz Kaminski.

This movie is an immersion into the life of a remarkable man at a tragic moment, and is the work of a powerful artist expressing himself. Despite the deep elements of tragedy at work in this film, it is still a movie that inspires a little touch of hope in me. It should be seen.

DVD roundup

We’ve watched several good movies on dvd recently – Sunshine, 3:10 to Yuma, and Hard Candy. I don’t think I’ll be posting full reviews about any of them, but I recommend them all.

Sunshine is a really intense and thoughtful space thriller that pays tribute to many of the other space movies that came before. The premise involves a ship and crew on a mission to explode a giant bomb in the sun before it dies out. Essentially they want to jumpstart the sun, but before they can achieve their mission they receive a distress call from the previous ship that was sent on the same mission and has been presumed lost; mishaps, madness, and tragedy follow. There are tributes to 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien, Solaris and many other sci-fi movies and tv shows from over the years.

3:10 to Yuma was a terrifically enjoyable western with great performances from Christian Bale, Russell Crowe, and a breakout performance by Ben Foster. It was fun to see Russell Crowe seem to enjoy himself. So many of his recent roles have been the intense, brooding type. In this film, even though he plays the bad man, he has a sense of humor. Marcella and I both really enjoyed this one.

Hard Candy was actually a re-watch for me, but Marcella hadn’t seen it. I was curious for Marcella to see it because Ellen Page has been so much in the press recently for her performance in Juno. But Hard Candy is the movie where I first became aware of her, and her performance in it was fierce and riveting. This isn’t a movie for everyone; it deals with issues of pedophilia, torture, suicide and murder. The plot revolves around a seemingly 14 year old girl meeting an older man who discovered her on the internet; it’s essentially a re-working of little red riding hood where little red is actually hunting the big bad wolf. This movie is a very intense two person psychological conflict that will keep you guessing, and make you squirm.

Atonement

Atonement is a period drama set before, during, and after World War II. It is directed by Joe Wright, based on a novel by Ian McEwan, and stars Keira Knightley and James McAvoy.

James McAvoy plays Robbie Turner, the son of one of the housekeepers for the wealthy Tallis family, but he has grown up with the family’s children and is almost treated as one himself. Keira Knightley is the college age daughter of the family and is named Cecilia. These two have a burgeoning relationship that at first they deny, but then can no longer hide from each other.

The house is also occupied by thirteen year old Briony Tallis, Cecilia’s little sister. She is played by Saoirse Ronan. Briony is a precocious girl who writes plays and is always trying to be the center of attention.

Just as Robbie’s and Cecilia’s relationship is coming alive, Briony witnesses several key events between them that she doesn’t really understand, and then she misunderstands and misrepresents a terrible event that occurs one night among some guests of the Tallis family.

The upshot is Cecilia’s relationship with both Robbie and her family is ruined, and Robbie is sent away.

After that the film jumps a few years later to during World War II, where Robbie is now a soldier in France and Cecilia is a nurse in London. The film follows two major threads from this point on. One is the single-minded mission of Robbie to get back home to Cecilia. And the other is of, the now grown-up, Briony attempting to make amends for the misrepresentation she made as a child. She has come to the realization that she didn’t understand what was happening that night years before.

This is one of those lush period recreations. The look and feel of the film was very successfully realized. The time before the war is sort of golden and the characters are innocently spoiled. All of that is transformed in one night, and during the war the images become grey and bloody; mirroring the trauma happening within the Tallis family.

The performances in this film are good, and the movie is nice to look at. There are portions where it begins to feel a bit long; one segment that is set on the beach at Dunkirk felt a little overdone. Maybe after setting up such a lavish reproduction of the scene they felt they had to include all of it. That being said, it is still a fairly impressive sequence.

This is a very good movie. In another year I might have it at the top of my list of movies of the year. But this year there are a couple of possible masterpieces out there. Still, I’m sure it would make my top 10.

80th Annual Academy Awards Nominees

The nominees for the 80th Annual Academy Awards were announced today. The full and official list can be found Oscar.com, but I’ve included the major categories below. I haven’t really studied the list carefully yet, but I’ll include a few quick comments after the list.

Performance by an actor in a leading role
George Clooney in “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)
Daniel Day-Lewis in “There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax)
Johnny Depp in “Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
Tommy Lee Jones in “In the Valley of Elah” (Warner Independent)
Viggo Mortensen in “Eastern Promises” (Focus Features)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Casey Affleck in “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” (Warner Bros.)
Javier Bardem in “No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage)
Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Charlie Wilson’s War” (Universal)
Hal Holbrook in “Into the Wild” (Paramount Vantage and River Road Entertainment)
Tom Wilkinson in “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Cate Blanchett in “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” (Universal)
Julie Christie in “Away from Her” (Lionsgate)
Marion Cotillard in “La Vie en Rose” (Picturehouse)
Laura Linney in “The Savages” (Fox Searchlight)
Ellen Page in “Juno” (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Cate Blanchett in “I’m Not There” (The Weinstein Company)
Ruby Dee in “American Gangster” (Universal)
Saoirse Ronan in “Atonement” (Focus Features)
Amy Ryan in “Gone Baby Gone” (Miramax)
Tilda Swinton in “Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.)

Achievement in cinematography
“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” (Warner Bros.): Roger Deakins
“Atonement” (Focus Features): Seamus McGarvey
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (Miramax/Pathé Renn): Janusz Kaminski
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage): Roger Deakins
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax): Robert Elswit

Achievement in directing
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (Miramax/Pathé Renn), Julian Schnabel
“Juno” (Fox Searchlight), Jason Reitman
“Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.), Tony Gilroy
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage), Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax), Paul Thomas Anderson

Best motion picture of the year
“Atonement” (Focus Features) A Working Title Production: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Paul Webster, Producers
“Juno” (Fox Searchlight) A Dancing Elk Pictures, LLC Production: Lianne Halfon, Mason Novick and Russell Smith, Producers
“Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.) A Clayton Productions, LLC Production: Sydney Pollack, Jennifer Fox and Kerry Orent, Producers
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) A Scott Rudin/Mike Zoss Production: Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax) A JoAnne Sellar/Ghoulardi Film Company Production: JoAnne Sellar, Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Lupi, Producers

Adapted screenplay
“Atonement” (Focus Features), Screenplay by Christopher Hampton
“Away from Her” (Lionsgate), Written by Sarah Polley
“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (Miramax/Pathé Renn), Screenplay by Ronald Harwood
“No Country for Old Men” (Miramax and Paramount Vantage), Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
“There Will Be Blood” (Paramount Vantage and Miramax), Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson

Original screenplay
“Juno” (Fox Searchlight), Written by Diablo Cody
“Lars and the Real Girl” (MGM), Written by Nancy Oliver
“Michael Clayton” (Warner Bros.), Written by Tony Gilroy
“Ratatouille” (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Brad Bird; Story by Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Brad Bird
“The Savages” (Fox Searchlight), Written by Tamara Jenkins

The best actor category looks pretty solid. I’ve seen two of the five performances—Depp and Mortensen. I’m very keen to see the Daniel Day-Lewis performance, and hope I’ll do that this weekend. If there’s a surprise it is that Tommy Lee Jones is nominated for a film I’ve never even heard of. I just assumed, at first, that he was nominated for No Country for Old Men, but that’s not it. It’s a shame I never made it to Michael Clayton, but perhaps I’ll still get a chance to see it before the awards.

I’m completely at a loss with regard to the best actress category; I’ve only seen one of these performances, that of Ellen Page in Juno. It is a wonderful performance and a terrific film, but I expect some of the bigger guns will rule out. I understand there’s a lot of buzz around Julie Christie.

I feel like Cate Blanchett probably has the strongest shot in the supporting actress category for her role in I’m Not There.

Well, that’s about all I’ve got to say so far, but I’ll probably add some additional commentary in upcoming posts, and as I get to see some more of these films.

Also, Marcella and I did see Atonement over the past weekend. I haven’t had a chance to write up my thoughts yet, but I do still hope to do that soon as well.

Juno

Juno is a new film from director Jason Reitman. The screenplay was written by first time screenwriter Diablo Cody who is getting lots of press recently for her colorful life, and for this big breakout.

The movie stars Ellen Page as a pregnant and immensely individualistic 16 year old high school student named Juno. The young father of the baby is played by Micheal Cera. Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner play a couple who want to adopt the baby when it is born.

This is one of those hyper-sharp films where the characters sometimes deliver lines that show an awareness and humorous insight into their condition that is probably all too unusual and unrealistic, but is still very enjoyable. I really appreciate movies like this. Nobody in the movie denies that a mistake has been made for Juno to be in the position she’s in, not even Juno. But they are where they are, and now they’ve got to live with it, so they act as they feel the must and as their natures dictate.

The performances are very strong. Ellen Page, for all of her petite size, is a dynamic and magnetic presence on the screen. Michael Cera delivers yet another of his quirky-likeable performances. He’s somehow cool in his un-coolness and geekitude. I don’t know if it’s just me or if what it means to be cool in high school is not the same as it once was?

Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner both deliver performances outside of the confines of what we have become a little too used to seeing from them.

I think Jason Bateman may be on the cusp of becoming an interesting actor to follow. Not necessarily as a traditional leading man type, but as an all purpose character actor type; someone you can count on to deliver the goods no matter the role. Here he takes his character from at first being the really like-able cool guy, and lets him gradually transform in a way that creates real dramatic tension. I don’t want to be overly specific for fear of spoiling a portion of the film. But it’s a performance worth watching.

Jennifer Garner may deliver the most complicated performance of the film, and she does it very convincingly. At first she comes off as overly controlling, and possibly even shrewish, but as the film progresses you begin to understand the deep need she has that is unfulfilled and that drives her with such determination and fear.

And then there are a number of smaller roles that are all delivered right on target; Allison Janney as Juno’s stepmother, J.K Simmons as her dad, and Olivia Thirlby as her best friend. They all contribute meaningfully to the sense and tone of the film.

And that’s the other nice thing about Juno—the sense and tone. The movie feels like it takes place in real homes in real neighborhoods. Juno’s home is warm and full of the stuff that a family collects. It’s slightly congested with the accumulation of memories, and they’ve spilled over to all parts of the house, but you wouldn’t want to part with any of them. While the home of Bateman’s and Garner’s characters is large and a bit too sterile. All of his memorabilia (movies, guitars, comics) is stored neatly away in one room as if to lock away the past so as not to pollute to present, but can it remain contained like that? Both homes are believable and familiar.

All in all it’s a quirky-funny film with good performances, good direction, a good soundtrack, and when I left the theater I felt glad I had seen it. I expect I will be purchasing this eventually when it becomes available in disk format, and I recommend it highly to anyone reading this.