My Predictions:
Best Picture
Winner - Argo
Who I want - Amour
Best Director
Winner - David O. Russell
Who I want - Michael Haneke
Best Actor
Winner - Daniel Day-Lewis
Who I want-Joaquin Phoenix
Best Actress
Winner - Jennifer Lawrence
Who I want - Jessica Chastain
Best Supporting Actor
Winner - Christopher Waltz
Who I want - Philip Seymour Hoffman
Best Supporting Actress
Winner - Anne Hathaway
Who I want - Anne Hathaway
Best Writing Original Screenplay
Winner - Zero Dark Thirty
Who I want - Moonrise Kingdom
Best Writing Adapted Screenplay
Winner - Lincoln
Who I want - Life of Pi
Best Animated Feature
Winner - Brave
Who I want - Wreck-it Ralph
Best Foreign Language Film
Winner - Amour
Who I want - Amour
Best Documentary Feature
Winner - Searching for Sugar Man
Who I want - Five Broken Cameras
Best Cinematography
Winner - Lincoln
Who I want - Life of Pi
Best Editing
Winner - Argo
Who I want - Life of Pi
Best Original Score
Winner - Lincoln
Who I want - Anna Karenina
My Reviews:
Skyfall (2012) 1/11/13
Starring Daniel Craig (My favorite, the most “human” of
Bonds), Judi Dench, Javier Bardem (somehow, only Europeans are evil to us
Americans, must be the accents), Albert Finney, and Ben Winshaw (who starred in
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer,
plays Q—the character who was dead, but resurrected for this film.)
Directed by Sam Mendes (one of my favorites; did American Beauty and Revolutionary Road).
I’m not particularly the biggest
Bond fan; I wasn’t raised to believe Bond was immortal, which is probably why
to me this Bond film is the ultimate Bond film. My affinity for Mendes and
Craig aside, this film emulates everything that is Bond. You have the cunning
of 007 as he seduces hapless beauties, the left hands to the villains, and yes
the villain, this mad, over-the-top caricature of what is evil struck perfectly
by the always-one-step-ahead, subversive, former MI6 agent Silva (Bardem in a
brilliantly frightening performance).
In the
first ten minutes Bond is dead? MI6 is in shambles as the threat of a
cyber-villain arises and M (Dench) is deeply criticized with being old an out
of touch with current affairs. This Bond film registers the current
vulnerabilities of online identities and freedoms, and fears of cyber wars and
terrorism. Consistently throughout, Cold-war espionage that fueled the Bond
series prior to Skyfall is not simply
questioned but completely dismissed as irrelevant. “Chasing spies,” quips
Silva. “How old-fashioned.” MI6, the empire, and the old way of fighting
“crime” are in ruins and viral crime is thriving.
Just like the new villains are
feeding off the remains of what was once crime, the hero—Bond—is trying to
revive his relevance off of what once was his identity. He used to be the
suave, invincible Bond but died and had to be resurrected (in the first fifteen
minutes mind you). “We’re going back in time,” Bond says to M, in the
classic-Bond Aston Martin DB5. They head back to the home of his parents and
his childhood, where they find Bond’s old caretaker Kincade (Finney), and they
prepare for the end. Although the house is dilapidated, once Silva comes for Bond
and M, it too is blown to bits and crumbles to ruins. Even in some far off
Scottish castle you can’t escape the flames of destruction as Silva destroys
the house and night falls. Under the glow of the flames, Silva chases down
Bond, M and Kincade who retreat to the Chapel—the Alamo—for their civilizations
last stand. Skyfall builds up to the
sky what it was to be Bond, and all
that comes falling down and this generation has to rebuild and redefine what it
is to be Bond.
Argo (2012) 1/12/13
Starring:
Ben Affleck (who would be a much
better actor if he hadn’t married J’Lo),
Bryan Cranston (with hair! From Breaking Bad, one of many recent, bit
parts in films),
Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine, Peevy in The
Rocketeer)
John Goodman,
John Garber (Mr. Andrews in Titanic, amongst a myriad of other
parts)
Clea Duvall (The Faculty, maybe her only notable film minus But I’m a Cheerleader),
Rory Cochrane (with an awesome
mustache, played Slater from Dazed and
Confused),
Kyle Chandler (did Early Edition in the mid 90’s, with the
cat delivering the newspaper),
And many more actors that I’m
resigning not to detail.
Directed by Affleck (Gone,
Baby, Gone, The Town), produced
by Affleck, George Clooney and Grant Heslov (who used to play a lot of goofy
sidekicks to big macho muscle-men in the 90’s and around the turn of the
century.)
There, now
that I’ve detailed the players, I can tell you why. Argo is a film about how Hollywood saved American (I say that
sarcastically.) Although I found the film to be quite suspenseful and a
decently made film, it is precisely the type of film that Hollywood and film
enthusiasts around the globe love (yes I’m referring to the Hollywood Foreign
Press Association who throws the Golden Globes; Argo won Best Drama and Affleck Best Director). Like The Artist last year, Argo plays upon the sentiments of
cineastes, winning favor around awards season. Argo toots Hollywood’s horn, but really shows us the viewers the
potential for film.
As many
films released this season deal with political subjects (this film included), Argo is really a film about awareness.
How Hollywood should be aware of the power and possibilities of the medium of
film. There is unrest in Iran in the late ‘70’s as the film explains is a
result of American and British interference in the region. The U.S. embassy is
overrun, and 6 Americans take secret refuge in the Canadian ambassador’s home. Argo is the plan to get them out safely.
The government comes up with the plan to have the 6, plus Affleck (playing CIA
agent Tony Mendez), pose as a film crew making a film sci-fi film called Argo.
This set-up
displays the power that film has. Firstly, it can be used to make us aware of
what affect our government and our culture have on the rest of the world.
Secondly and more importantly, the film can be exemplary of how we should take
action as American citizens to do what is right. Although Argo to me is a little overrated, at its base it can be seen in a
positive turn if we just open our eyes as Americans to the rest of the world.
Zero Dark Thirty (2012) 1/13/13
Starring Jessica Chastain (The Tree of Life, and last year’s darling The Help, playing a much different role), Jason Clarke, Kyle
Chandler (yes the same from Argo),
and Reda Kateb
Directed and produced by Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker)
Written and produced by Mark Boal (also The Hurt Locker)
Kathryn
Bigelow has directed two of the most important films post-9/11 (and the most
important Swayze/Reeves collaboration), but seriously: The Hurt Locker, the first female to win the Best Director Oscar,
dug up the (in)humanity and chaos of the wars that came directly after the
terrorist attacks, a subject that was danced around by Hollywood for nearly a
decade. Zero Dark Thirty too takes an
in-your-face approach to the events leading up to the capture of Osama bin
Laden.
In the
film, these secret “Black Sites” are the settings for torture reminiscent of
Abu Ghraib. A presumed associate of al-Qaeda is beaten, starved and offered no rights.
This film painstakingly pieces together these scenes of torture, and Maya
(Chastain) sits aside and watches, at first with difficulty and disgust, but over
time she gets used to it, is desensitized to the violence and horror of beating
a human being. In an interview before the Golden Globes, Chastain claimed she
plays a very somber, emotionless character, which was how Bigelow wanted her to
play the role. Why? Because Maya is the every woman; she embodies the average
American. She is very plain. You can put yourself in her shoes—interpret for
yourself how you should feel about seeing this torture.
Hopefully
you find it as appalling as I did. It’s amazing, unbelievable the types of
tortures that humans will put others through. In one scene, a bomb is wrapped
around a man’s leg and will be detonated if he doesn’t identify a fellow
“terrorist.” How easy it is to create these devices for violence against humans,
how technology has progressed since the beginning of time to more easily kill
ourselves. Have we come so far as a human race that we’ve reached a point of
sadomasochism?
Silver Linings Playbook (2012) 1/14/13
There is a lot that can be said about overcoming the odds.
David O. Russell has been seen by the Hollywood community as somewhat of a “bad
boy” overcoming “adversity” or whatever. Whether or not this sentiment is
shared by Russell is questionable, but looking at his films, especially of late
(The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook), it seems that he too
would be in accordance. Even actor Bradley Cooper sheds the typical cocky,
shallow jock role that he’s come to be known for in Wedding Crashers to The
Hangover, and play a more complex
version of that. Silver Linings Playbook is about shedding perceptions
and overcoming adversity.
For me, the first few lines of
the Counting Crows song “Raining in Baltimore” seems to too perfectly summarize
the struggles and conflicts that are occurring in Silver Linings Playbook. They read:
This circus is falling down on
it's knees
The big top is crumbling down
It's raining in Baltimore fifty miles east
Where you should be, no one's around
I need a phone call
I need a raincoat
I need a big love
I need a phone call
The big top is crumbling down
It's raining in Baltimore fifty miles east
Where you should be, no one's around
I need a phone call
I need a raincoat
I need a big love
I need a phone call
Being a post-modern disciple of the Counting Crows, this
song popped into my head while watching Danny (Tucker) repetitively trying to
escape from the loony bin in Silver
Linings Playbook. Each time being returned the Baltimore-based mental
hospital, but not after contributing some perspective to Pat’s (Cooper) life.
His life is like a circus; paternal expectations to live up to, realizing a
failed marriage, losing his job, and coping with his recently diagnosed
bi-polarity. The big top that was the structure of his life has crumbled down,
he’s alone, and after being released from the hospital, he’s needs a phone
call.
Pat stays adamant about getting
back with his ex-wife and enrolls Tiffany (Lawrence) to relay love letters to
her. Tiffany also has her own adversity to overcome (being widowed, and labeled
the town floozy.) Enter, or rather, escape again: Danny, who shows up just in
time to teach Pat and Tiffany in a few dance moves, instilling in Pat a dash of
jealousy to go with it. As the scene plays out, Danny dances closer to Tiffany,
and everyone (including myself) is excited to see Pat jealous, falling for
Tiffany. The film is about self-discipline and over-coming adversity because
anything you love is worth fighting for. Pat picks up running and the motto of
finding the Silver lining in all things, and after overcoming all the adversity
of his past, the adversity of finding who he really is; Pat is allowed to fall
in love for real.
Les Misérables (2012) 1/15/13
I never really understood why everyone loves the musical Les
Misérables. Granted I had never seen the film or musical, or read the
book—until now. I always wanted to wait until I read the book before I saw any
other version of it, especially because of my affinity for France and the
French somehow garnered my allegiance to the original novel written by Victor
Hugo. So this was the first version of the work that I have seen, oddly enough,
directed by Englishman Tom Hooper, and to say the least, I was not that
impressed. The King’s Speech, also
directed by Hooper, was also a film that I liked but expected more out of it,
especially given all the Oscar hype that came along with it.
I will first admit that I am not a
big fan of musicals—not that I am totally opposed to them, just that I haven’t
seen many that have impressed me. And sadly, this version of Les Misérables failed to as well.
Hooper’s vision and scale are evident from the very first shot, an impressive
one of slaves pulling a French battleship ashore. In these shallow waters, the
first scuffle between Jean Valjean and Jalvert occur, but like the puddle of
water they stand in, the scene too seems shallow and the altercation trivial.
High Jackman was wonderfully steady
as Valjean throughout the film and carried the plot through, him being nominated for an Oscar for the role
justice enough for the performance, which I do not think was the best of the
year, (Daniel Day-Lewis will be hard to beat.) Russell Crowe’s awful croaking
was almost as bad as the underrated Sasha Baron Cohen’s performance was good.
Where is his nod for Best Supporting Actor? Hooper however did succeed in
capturing the wealth gap that seems so relevant to many American’s today, and
the character of Fantine serves as a perfect metaphor for many people’s plight.
The woman is at the mercy of the wealthy and ultimately has to resolve herself
to prostitution to survive. While listening to Anne Hathaway’s “I dreamed a
dream,” my heart too broke as I felt that I’ve been the victim of an unfair
world treating me like dirt—yet I hold onto my dream.
Moonrise Kingdom (2012) 1/17/13
Written and directed by Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums, amongst others and most recently Fantastic Mr. Fox), starring Bruce
Willis, Ed Norton, Frances McDormand, Anderson mainstays Bill Murray and Jason
Schwartzman, and the unknowns Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward (who both knock it
out of the park).
Moonrise Kingdom takes place on an
island in the 1960’s and chronicles the love affair, if you please, between Sam
(Gilman) and Suzy (Hayward). Sam is an orphaned boy living in a foster home and
had been sent to camp by his foster parents—he is a boy that is perennially
ignored. Suzy comes from a family with higher expectations of her, her father
(Murray) is aloof to much of the goings-on in the house including his wife’s (McDormand)
affair with town coop (Willis). Suzy parents are controlling and overbearing
and ignore what she desires in life. Suzy and Sam are made for each other.
The brilliance
of this film, like in all of Anderson’s other films, is his knack for a quirky,
dry humor in his expertly crafted script (for which Anderson is nominated for
the Best Original Screenplay. Sadly, his only nomination for the film). The film
begins with a blend of moving shots so typical to Anderson films and static
images with very balanced compositions, which add to the humor as a comedy of manners
would. In fact, one could say that Anderson’s films are exactly that, and in
this rendition, Anderson points the camera at the children, giving Suzy and Sam’s love legitimacy, although however innocent and naïve it is in comparison to the
adults’ adulterous and unhealthy love (ie the love triangle between Willis,
McDormand, and Murray). The innocence behind Suzy and Sam’s love is what makes
is so pure and true. As Suzy tells her mother, “We’re in love. We just want to
be together. What’s wrong with that?”
Flight (2012) 1/22/13
Directed by Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, Back to the
Future, and regrettably The Polar
Express, Beawolf), starring John Goodman
and Denzel Washington in an Oscar-Nominated performance, of which I think is
probably the best aside from Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln.
Flight is about a plane crash (big
spoiler, sorry) and how the alcoholic, drug-addicted pilot (played by Denzel) miraculously
landed the plane and was being charged for the deaths of four of the
passengers. The landing was indeed an “Act of God” as nearly everyone throughout
the film describes it. The plane was turned upside-down in the air then back
again, to land in a field near the John the Baptist Pentecostal Church saving
most of the people on board. But Denzel was drunk and cocked up.
This film
is all about faith. From the very beginning, the audience sympathizes with
Denzel because, well he’s Denzel. That is the power of Hollywood stardom, find
a big name actor that everyone sympathizes with and wants to succeed, and that
was the exact intention of having chosen Denzel. Although we know that he was
impaired by drugs when flying that plane, we root for him to get off scot free.
Denzel is a plane-crash in himself,
and it takes faith in himself to guide him out of the trouble, but only by
confessing his alcoholism and drug problems. That is the message: having faith
and belief in oneself to change for the better.
The Impossible (2012) 1/23/13
Directed by Juan Antonio Bayona, who also directed the
frightening film The Orphanage.
Starring Naomi Watts in a Oscar-Nominated role, one of my favorites, Ewan
McGregor, and the young and equally deserving of a Oscar-nod, Tom Holland.
A tsunami
hits Thailand separating a vacationing family. Okay, how far can they go with
this initial concept after the tsunami hits within the first ten minutes?
Similarly to Flight, The Impossible is deals with a very
simple message: chance. Make no mistakes, the film is about the wild chance
that the family finds each other after a series of unlikely coincidences, but
Bayona knows that and crafts the film in a unique way so as to avoid cliché. When
the tidal wave hits, the camera follows Watts and her son (Holland) who
throughout the film gives an incredible and emotionally wrenching performance.
As the water crashes over the two, Bayona cuts the sound to give a sense that
the audience is audible experiencing the same thing as the characters—a very brave
attempt by the director which pays off for this film that is tied together by
such a simple concept.
The scene
that has you rolling your eyes, but also brings tears to them is when the
family is finally reunited. The father (McGregor) stops at a hospital
encampment to look for his son and wife, passing his son in the hallways,
having looked in the wrong direction at the wrong time. The son sees a ball
that his brothers played with earlier in the film and runs outside, hears his
brothers’ cries, they are reunited, and then the father sees the ball to and
they are all reunited in a dramatic emotional climax. Tears fall and the
credits roll. A very clichéd film, but a wonderfully emotional performance by
Watts and an overlooked one by the youngster Holland.
Hitchcock (2012) 1/24/13
Directed by Sacha Gervasi, starring Anthony Hopkins as
Hitchcock and refused to put on weight for the role, opting for the Academy
Award-Nominated Make-up and Hairstyling crews to do their worst. Also starring
Helen Mirren as Hitch’s wife, Alma Reville.
Hitchcock is set in 1959, after North by Northwest blew up at the box
offices and the master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock (Hopkins) was looking for a
new project to blow the studio heads’ heads and stick it to them. This film is
the fictionalized “Making-of” of Psycho.
However brilliant the lead actors in the film are, unfortunately the film balks
and doesn’t really offer much cinematically. Any lover of Alfred Hitchcock knows
all the stories behind this production; they’re already aware of Hitch’s keenness
towards his leading ladies, and his involvement with “The shower scene,” and
the fact that he was never recognized for his excellence in filmmaking, (until
he received an AFI Lifetime Achievement Award).
The film about Hitchcock is unlike
Hitchcock films and is quite pedestrian. However, it does serve as an homage of
sorts, not just to Hitch and his career, but specifically to Alma and her
career. Hitchcock as a whole stirs up
recollections of Hitch’s acceptance speech for the Lifetime Acievement Award in which he thanks Alma.
Django Unchained (2012) 1/27/13
Written and directed by the venerable Quentin Tarantino,
Staring some Tarantino mainstays in Samuel L. Jackson and Christopher Waltz,
also Leonardo DiCaprio, and Jamie Foxx
Tarantino
never fails to pen and bring a—shall we say—unique script to the big screen.
Throughout his career, he has lived in the B-movie world, having grown up with grindhouse
and exploitation films. Tarantino came up as an admittedly B-movie filmmaker
when came of age during the independent film movement in the early 1990’s.
Those films, like Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction revived otherwise dead
careers for actors like John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson, who have since
then exploded in Hollywood. With age however, it seems that Tarantino’s budgets
and acknowledgement as an auteur is making his films less “B-movie” in the pure
sense of the term (small budgets, unknown actors and ridiculous plots,) and
more commercialized and Hollywoodized “B-movie”. Those are my qualms with
Tarantino.
However, Django Unchained (although having fallen
in the latter category of Tarantino films) was textbook Tarantino. It is a
blacksploitation film set in Pre-Civil War America featuring a bad-ass “negro”
(Tarantino’s word’s not mine.) Each of the characters bring their own world to
the film. They all have an extravagant back-story and quirky traits, which is
something that Tarantino excels at in all of his writing. Django (Foxx) is searching
for his long lost wife, who was taught German by a former plantation owner.
Shultz (Waltz) is a German doctor bounty hunter with a heart of gold and no
prejudice (almost) against slaves. And then Calvin Candie (DiCaprio), owner of
Candieland, has a knack for the finer, more-French things in life but doesn’t
speak a word of the language. Tarantino is a creative writer-director and holds
strong with this film.
The Invisible War (2012) 1/30/13
This Academy Award-Nominated documentary, directed by Kirby
Dick (who also made This Film is Not Yet Rated about
film-censorship and the MPAA ratings systems), explores the culture of sexual
harassment and rape in the U.S. Military. This is easily one of the most
important films of the year, and one that everyone in this country should see.
Having the privilege to see the filmmaker
in person, I was able to get an inside look into the choices made in the film.
One that stuck out to me was Dick’s conscious choice not to show any of the
rapists in the film was not to turn the film into a witch-hunt for those committing
these horrendous crimes but to show the struggles of the victims, many of whom
deal with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The film doesn’t spend its time
looking for justice in specific cases, but it is a battle cry for justice to be
done in each and every case of sexual assault in the military. It attempts to
change the culture of ignorance and fear in the military, where rape is
considered an occupational hazard by senior officials, and exposes the “systematic
problem with rape in the military,” as Dick says. 20% of women in the military
are subject to sexual assault, but this is not just limited to the women; it
includes men too. The film shows an equal balance of sympathy for the victims
as well as challenging interviews with senior military officials, and attempts
to bring this problem to the attention of the President. It has recently gotten
the attention of Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta for something to be done. This
is a must see.
Anna Karenina (2012) 2/5/13
Directed by Joe Wright (Pride
and Prejudice and Atonement), and
starring Keira Knightly and Jude Law.
This is
perfect film for Joe Wright to direct; however, it was not a perfect execution.
It takes on qualities of a stage musical being film, and the compositions and camera
movements are inventive. Wright is becoming known for his lyrical camera
movements especially in his film Atonement,
(which also stars Knightly, who oddly seems to only be attracted to
period-pieces). His most creative scene is near the beginning of the film when
Anna (Knightly) first becomes seduce by the young Count Vronksy (Aaron
Taylor-Johnson). Anna enters the party and is promptly eyed by the Count, and
as a dance within a dance, Anna tries to avoid the advances of the Count. But
once they finally reach each other, and are enthralled in the dance together,
everyone on the dance floor freezes and it only the two of them dancing. As
they pass through the crowd, everyone else becomes animated in dance again. It
is a very eloquent and surreal type of moment and unfortunately the most
powerful moment in the film.
The film seems to drag on as if the
actors were actually speaking Russian and not English. This was interlaced with
some very moving images of Anna and the Count making love in green pasture, but
there were only a few of said images. I was expecting more of an engaging love
affair than this out of date tragedy.
Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) 2/21/13
This indie wonder is written and directed newcomer Benh
Zeitlin and stars newcomer Quvenzhané Wallis and nominated for Four Oscars
including Best Picture, Best Directing, Best Screenplay and Best Actress (Wallis).
There has
been a lot of praise for this film this year and I am extremely glad that and
small-budgeted film like this can come into Awards Season with such momentum
and the chance to win at the Oscars. And I hope it wins something significant
for the sake of independent films, with its great score and wonderful theme. However,
this would not be my selection for Best Picture, and I haven’t hopped on the
Quvenzhané Wallis-train.
Firstly, as
so many films that are made today, Beasts
of the Southern Wild was filmed in the hand-held style of cinema vérité, of which I am not a big
fan. It has been used well in many films since the French New Wave, but in Beasts, as in a lot of contemporary films,
the movement of the camera becomes an annoyance. Its intention to add turmoil
and uncertainty to the Hushpuppy’s (Wallis) world is successful, but the films
cinematography is very much a product of the current media world in which we
live. From Youtube to the news, the immediacy that this style of camerawork
brings gives a realistic feel. After all, Cinéma
vérité means “cinema truth”. But it also lends to this fast-paced
mentality, and the movement and quick editing gives the viewer less time to
concentrate on and digest the images. And there are many wonderful images
throughout the film.
Secondly,
Quvenzhané Wallis’s performance was at best worthy of a nomination but not a
win. Working with young actors is definitely a challenge, and I give kudos to
Zeitlin for commanding a good performance from Wallis. But when it came to
dialogue, aside from the voice over, Wallis does not have very much dialogue to
memorize, and her actions are mostly just natural reactions to the other kooky
characters in the film. Wallis gets and Oscar nod for playing herself. On a
final note, the film’s message is admirable: standing up to the world of the
beasts, and all the unfairness and inequality in the world. And as hushpuppy
says, “I gotta take care of mine,” and so does everyone else.
Amour (2012) 2/22/13
Written and directed by Michael Haneke (The White Ribbon, Funny Games)
and starring Emmanuelle Riva, Jean-Louis Trintignant, and Isabelle Huppert.
Amour takes place in an apartment
between the long married couple Georges (Trintignant) and Anne (Riva). After Anne suffers a series of strokes,
Georges must tend to and ultimately watch the love of his life slowly decay.
Haneke’s approach to this subject is taken at the same pace as the 85 year old
actress and examines the inner turmoil that Georges faces. Though there
marriage has lasted for years, George tells Anne that there are still stories that
he hasn’t told her, and as Anne becomes worse, Georges recounts some of these stories
not only to calm Anne but also to sooth himself.
Although Anne is physically the one
in decay—her speech becomes decreasingly inaudible her mobility limited—Georges
is the one who absorbs much of the emotional decay. His precious wife is dying
right in front of him and he has to come to terms with that and what it entails—dealing
with his heartbroken daughter (Huppert) and his own heart break. Ultimately, like
the pigeon who enters through the window, Georges must make the difficult
decisions, he must release his wife from the suffocation of her illness, as he
released the pigeon from the confines of the foyer. His wife’s spirit is no
longer a caged bird, and ultimately, his spirit is with hers as they both leave
the apartment and this world. And in the final scene, Anne reminds Georges not
to forget his coat as they leave.
Michael Haneke and Amour come from a completely different generation
of filmmakers than that of Benh Zeiltin and Beasts
of the Southern Wild, especially photographically. Haneke uses a very
static camera and lingers on the incredibly subtle performances by Riva and
Trintignant There is time to examine their faces, theirs actions, the tone and
atmosphere of the scene. This is definitely my preference in photography, not
to take anything away from Zeitlin. And this is the Best Picture of the year
and Haneke is the Best director.
