Short Notes in Frankie & Alice and Night Catches Us

Both Frankie & Alice, and Night Catches Us examine race relations in the seventies – one more overtly than the other. They both had the unfortunate fate of being released and getting lukewarm reception from audiences (although Frankie & Alice is only now expanding in theatres).

           

Geoffrey Sax directs Frankie & Alice without palpable interest for the time period, in fact Sax seems least interested in any extraneous bit of his characters opting to single insularly put his focus on Berry – which ends up being a decision that works for him. Halle Berry has never ranked among my favourite actors but I am elated to see her returning to the good work that I know she’s capable. 

It’s difficult to separate the film’s somewhat generic plot from the multiple incarnations of people with dissociative identity disorder. It’s a theme that ostensibly suggests mugging for the camera (and by extension) awards’ bait. But, Berry approaches the role with a striking amount of integrity ignoring – on the most obvious of levels at least – the potential for gimmickries that lies in the film. The fact that one of her multiple personalities is a racist ends up developing as a plot-point not played for the obvious shock potential one would expect. Even, Berry, in her occasional tendency to overdo employs a restraint here and plays well opposite Stellan Skarsgård. The two get the most signficant screen time, but Chandra Wilson and Phylicia Rashad offer up poignant supporting turns suggesting that they both deserve more recognition on the big screen. There comes a moment towards the end when the film becomes a bit too interested in being histrionic, but Vanessa Morgan (as a young Frankie) is surprisingly good in her part delivering on the emotional resonance along with Berry.

B/B-

         

And, yet, though Night Catches Us exists with the very taut racial tension of the era Tanya Hamilton (writer and director) never takes it too far. There’s an admirable dormancy to the atmosphere that works in evoking that sort of unrest after great activity and in the midst of all this dissonance Marcus (Mackie) returns to his old neighbourhood where he may or may not have caused the death of his brother by ratting him out to the police. 

 

Hamilton avoids the usual tricks, like making that issue a major plotpoint. Instead, she has Mackie and Washington playing opposite each other to great results. Hamilton is interested in studying her characters – each of them, an she almost always goes for the sedate instead of the jarring which works for her. The race relations are almost aside to the main arc of the broken characters trying to rebuild their lives, and though her sedateness could be mistaken for reticent she deserves praise either way.

B/B-

Encore Awards: Supporting Actresses

I always go overboard with the supporting women because year after year it’s always this category that offers the widest foray of good performances, most of which incidentally are not as lauded as they ought to be. Last year, my top three supporting women (Marion Cotillard in Nine, Samantha Morton in The Messenger, Rosamund Pike in An Education) all did great jobs in elevating potentially stock roles and this year there’s one again a gamut of supporting women to choose from. I single out five nominees, but I make mention of twenty more bringing the total to 25. Take a look:

            

(click on photos for review)

          

THE NOMINEES

Amy Adams in The Fighter (as Charlene)

Like Bale she’ll get the kneejerk support for all the wrong reasons. The fact that she’s brilliant here doesn’t hinge on the fact that she’s playing against type, Charlene’s toughness. Adams will always impress me because she always has the ability to appeal to my emotions with her facial expressions – and it’s a running thread in her performances that doesn’t make them any less worthy. She’s no saint, and she’s as interested in forwarding her own agenda in Micky’s life as his dysfunctional family – but her heart in the right place, and it’s that sort of internal conflict facing her that Adams is able to demonstrate. Like a cat, she’s always ready to fight but she’d much prefer to sit back and relax. (Highlight: “I’m Charlene, we just met. Do we have to do this again?”)

Kristin Scott Thomas in Nowhere Boy (as Mimi)

 

I was prepared to like this performance, but at first I was sceptic. “No, Kristin, you’re overdoing,” I thought. “Too obvious with the coldness, too palpably prickly.” And then she surprises me, and keeps surprising. It’s sort a thin role, and then again it’s not when she plays it and she really manages to pull off the rapport with Aaron Johnson well even though Duff has the more “obvious” chemistry. Speaking of Duff, though, both women burn brightest against each other and it’s that sort of filial chemistry that can’t be forced (well in actuality it is, they are *acting*). (Highlight: Confrontation with her Sister)

Kerry Washington in Mother & Child (as Lucy)

Of the three main role hers seems to emerge as a caricature almost immediately. I immediately feel an eye roll coming on as I watch her talk about how much she wants a baby – and then amidst all the mannered ways of Lucy you sort of get the authentic of the character even though she’s still mannered and then those small moments like a dinner with her husband’s parents or watching her try (almost like it’s a physical exertion) to be the perfect wife it’s almost chilling in a Stepford wife sort of way. But Kerry still manages to make this character the most sympathetic of the three. Odd, and yet sort of awesome. (Highlight: “Who the fuck does she think she is?”)

Jacki Weaver in Animal Kingdom as (Janine Cody)

The thing I like most about Weaver’s work here is, incidentally, how difficult it is to read her. It’s no surprise that she’s been doing this for decades because the adeptness with which she approaches the character is impressive. Someone remarked, and I agree, that Weaver’s biggest credit is ensuring that Animal Kingdom doesn’t become bogged down by the barrage of maleness that surrounds it. She doesn’t “tower” above the narrative, but still looms – often in the background – but still in our consciousness ensuring that her agenda emerges as important – even if she’s really not as certain about everything as she pretends. (Highlight: “I’m trying to find my positive spin...”)

Dianne Wiest in Rabbit Hole (Nat)

I love her eyes , sure they look like she’s constantly squinting (it’s just her face) but she’s like a hawk in the way she takes note of everything and she shrouds her sagacity behind a smokescreen of congeniality. Case in point: her first scene where Becca brings the clothes to Izzy. She’s watching them closely, she knows what’s going on and then she injects her random bit of kooky mother humour and her soothsaying powers. You’re tempted to roll your eyes and this sort of lovable woman, but it’s just her brand of damage control. She spends the entire film being there for Becca and yet carrying around her own grief – with aplomb. (Highlight: too hard to pick.)

FINALISTS: Helena Bonham-Carter plays the officious Red Queen in Alice in Wonderland to brilliant results (more here). She succeeds in the overbearing loudness all the while ensuring that the character’s (admittedly vague) humanity is shrouded in the high comedic way of it all; Kim Cattrall and Olivia Williams don’t really play off each other in The Ghost Writer but their opposing viewpoints are an important part of learning about our protagonist. Cattrall’s ostentatious mannerisms do not indicate not a flaw in her performance but a clear realisation of her character and Williams’ pragmatism is brilliant to watch; Thandie Newton is riveting to watch in For Colored Girls so in touch with her troubled character easily doing some of the best work of her career; and Naomi Watts emerges from Mother & Child with a refreshingly good handle on a difficult character managing to deliver emotional poignancy in those last few minutes.

SEMI-FINALISTS: There are a whole slew of women who don’t make it to the finalists, but are instrumental in lending bits of hilarity, emotion or fun to their films. The most notable lot are: Helena Bonham Carter for being as perfect as necessary as the charming wife on the sidelines in The King’s Speech; Cher for putting her natural cadence to good use and being essential to the joie de vivre of Burlesque; Patricia Clarkson for doing the same thing in Easy A while always augmenting and never taking away from Emma Stone; Marion Cotillard for being the best-in-show in Inception while playing a woman that’s more memory than realism; Loretta Devine for impressing with the monologue work in For Colored Girls and reminding us why we fell in love with her assertiveness so many years ago; 

Anne-Marie Duff for being wonderfully charismatic in Nowhere Boy playing the role of exotic mother to perfection, but finding the heart beneath; Kimberly Elise for managing to turn what could be a hot mess of character into something worthy of our appreciation in ; Barbara Hershey for working the vaguely clichéd stage mother to better results than you’d expect in Black Swan; Keira Knightley for taking a humdrum character and presenting her as a sort of flawed anti-heroine in Never Let Me Go; Melissa Leo for being especially moving opposite her suns even amidst all the distractions of being loud in The Fighter; Vanessa Redgrave for turning a potentially tepid romance flick into something worthy of luminosity in Letters to Juliet; Anika Noni Rose for bringing an effusive charm to her character in For Colored Girls and maintaining that dignity throughout the lowest points; Susan Sarandon for being the best in show in The Greatest playing her grief more obviously than we’d expect from her, but succeeding nonetheless; Sissy Spacek for surprising with how she decides to show emotion in Get Low and then slaying you towards the end without even saying anything; Kierston Wareing for playing her potentially terrible mother as someone with more humanity than you’d expect.

               

I’m always fond of this category because there are so many brilliant supporting women to find who’re doing great stuff – I could, perhaps, collectively offer up the entire casts of For Colored Girls, Rabbit Hole and Scott Pilgrim vs the World. People are always lamenting the sorry state of female roles, but I don’t know I’m always being wowed by the work the work they offer up. This category always gets me excited, I offer up two dozen supporting women – do any of them appear on your list? Which supporting women made your 2010?

Encore Awards: Body of Work

Though she didn’t end up with any love from the top awards’ bodies last year was all about Marion Cotillard for me. Her general brilliance turned Public Enemies into something much better than it could have been, and her brilliantly performed Luisa Contini was a beacon in the already good cast of Nine (she made my supporting actress shortlist for both performances). Anyone can star in a slew of performances in a given year, but it’s something better when an actor can deliver two (or more) performances in a year that have something good to see in them and assume different sensibilities*.

THE NOMINEES

Annette Bening (in The Kids Are All Right; Mother & Child)

It might be easy to mistake them for extensions of the same character, but whereas Nic quietness is indicative of the uncertainty she wishes to hide, Karen’s quietness is more of a conscious decision to observe those around her. Both performances stand somewhere at the top half of her career, making her one of those indelible proofs of actresses getting better as they age.

               

Helena Bonham Carter (in Alice in Wonderland; Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows; The King’s Speech)

In a way, it annoys me that she’s turned into a sort of ultimate supporting actor implying that her natural personality is best taken in small doses and even though she supports in a period piece in The King’s Speech it’s neither reminiscent of her early Merchant Ivory work nor suggestive of her recent kooky characters. Each character she played this way, in their own way, is a woman before her time but she doesn’t make that define them. There is a palpable sense that she’s being served up too little on each occasion, but it’s the sort of acting from the sidelines that does not define the picture but still augments it significantly.

             

Patricia Clarkson (in Cairo Time; Easy A; Shutter Island)

Her supporting turn in Shutter Island is a bit of a blink and you’ll miss it one – and yet, along with Williams and DiCaprio, she leaves the biggest impact on you. You rarely ever seeing Patty being loud and obnoxious, always opting for a quiet sincerity which is her ace-in-hole when it comes to Cairo Time which she makes so much more important than you expect her to be. And then opposite Tucci she offers up one of the best screen-mothers of the year in Easy A. Truly, a great body of work.

                

Aaron Johnson (in The Greatest; Kick-Ass; Nowhere Boy)

It’s been a while since I had this much interest in watching a young male star’s star rise. It’s been a stratospheric year for Johnson and more than turning out three performances this year, it’s impressive how the running thread between them is so thin. There’s little to find that’s palpably similar between his Lennon, his  John and his Dave. True, acting doesn’t necessarily mean mastering accents, but I’ll give him credit for pulling off the American one so well, nonetheless.

Kerry Washington (in For Colored Girls; Night Catches Us; Mother & Child)

I don’t know – the fact that each film has landed with almost no sound makes me rethink the sentiment – but, perhaps, Kerry is on her way to stardom, opting for the slower path. She pulls out three performances that rests on internalising grief and pain and performs each brilliant. Sure, she thrives best in Mother & Child, but even in the huge cast of For Colored Girls with the storyline that seems least important she carves something special. (And story issues aside she and Mackie are beautiful to watch in Night Catches Us.)

               

FINALISTS: Michelle Williams for offering up a brilliant supporting turn in Shutter Island and a haunting lead performance in Blue Valentine; Andrew Garfield for offering up two good (if similar) turns in The Social Network and Never Let Me Go and James Franco for being a beacon in two lead roles in Howl and 127 Hours.

                 

Which actor ruled 2010 with their ability to jump from performance to performance?

* Just in case you're wondering, Johnny Depp would win the alternative award here. He's easily the worst thing in The Tourist and Alice in Wonderland (yep, even worse than the Wasikowska's bland work in the latter.) He sinks Angelina's attempts to be at least interesting in the former, and other than a glimmer of goodness opposite HBC he's terribly vile in the latter. I hope it's not the beginning of a trend for him...

“In Search Of A Good Role” : A Top 5 list

Damn, this is overdue. What was it...months ago....that Univarn published this fine list of actors who never get the love they deserve (Castor and Ruth followed with lists of their own). If you’re a good debater you can make a case for any number of actors not getting their due, but sometimes it’s especially piercing when some actors just never get that single role that you could point to as encapsulating all the talent they have....or worse the role will come and no will see the film (or care about the performance) – something as incidental as timing could be their downfall. These five actors immediately come to mind when I think of actors who don’t get their due. Some have already given brilliant performances, but they still have not reached that level of fame that their peers have....who knows why? More importantly they’re all relatively young thespians who seem to have so much potential but never get recognised for it. This is my shout-out to them...

                                      

Romola Garai

I was fascinated by Garai’s work in Atonement, she topped my supporting actress list that year...and yet of the five principal players she earned the least buzz for her performance. I’m still not sure why, because I still can’t think of anything in particular that’s off-putting about her performance. Saoirse’s Briony’s strongpoint was her eyes, Vanessa’s was her eyes – what Romola has is a countenance that you can’t help but find sympathetic (which is why she’s the perfect person to encapsulate the imaginary Briony of the middle act). It’s the same sort of thing she does in I Capture A Castle – a film I’m not fond of, but a performance that soars despite confinements from the script.

A 2010 Role She Could Have Tackled: Florence in Greenberg; don’t get me wrong – Greta Gerwig was lovely in Greenberg but wouldn’t that role be lovely for Romola? Effusively charming, adult and yet innocent and altogether winsome without being too perfect. I suppose that if she ever has a chance of getting the fame she deserves she might need to leave the British roles behind (which is a shame, because I think the British are just awesome).

                                    

Ben Foster

I’m still absolutely flummoxed as to how Woody Harrelson swept through being nominated for every important precursor last year for The Messenger when Ben Foster turned up at nary a one. Where is the justice? The Messenger remains as one of my favourite films from the 2009, and much of that had to do with the quiet intensity of Foster’s protagonist. What makes him so special, though, is his ability to play quiet and brooding and switch instantly to loud and explosive. And he’s been at it so long, surely he deserves to catch a break.

A 2010 Role She Could Have Tackled: It’s too easy, but I’m calling him for Jem, the role Jeremy Renner originated in The Town. Renner WAS my favourite part of the film, but I’d have loved to see Foster that irrepressible showboating sidekick. If there was one thing I didn’t like about Renner’s Jem was how lacking in personality he was, he was officious enough but never charismatic which is something I think Ben could pull off.

                                 

Kerry Washington

I don’t believe that I’m the only one who’s been championing for dear Ms. Washington to get more recognition. Truth is, it’s especially difficult being a black actress in the business – but Kerry’s as adept at playing in the typical black picture as she is in something more generically prestigious. Acting has many facets – voice, body language, facial expressions, but I’m particularly fond of Kerry’s speaking voice. It’s especially crisp and expressive, and she always does well with large bits of dialogue.

A 2010 Role She Could Have Tackled: I wonder what it would have been like to see Kerry take the lead in Veronika Decides to Die. That’s a movie that went by unnoticed (shame) but the quiet passion of Veronika is something I think Kerry could handle beautifully – if given the chance.

             

Ben Whishaw

Ah, Ben Whishaw. I’m a fan and Bright Star turned me into a raving fanatic. Someone tell me again why that movie went by with so little notice? Actually, don’t tell me – there’s no good reason. It’s clichéd, but Whishaw is like the epitome of the sensitive artist which is perhaps why his Keats’ doesn’t seem like acting – but that deliberate poignancy he puts into his performances (re Brideshead Revisited) is something brilliant to watch.

 A 2010 Role She Could Have Tackled: With all that sensitivity, isn’t he an obvious choice for Tommy in Never Let Me Go? After being floored by he and Carey last year, I’ve put the hopes of seeing the two in a film of things I want to happen...and as fine as Garfield is, Whishaw opposite Carey would have just been incredible.

Rosamund Pike

Rosamund Pike seems sort of ageless to me, since seeing her in Die Another Day all the way through Pride & Prejudice and An Education she never seems to age, if anything she seems younger. It’s weird how her characters seem to be on a mental regression from the steely to the quite silly Helen. It’s her talent as an actor, though, and she doesn’t come off like any of these characters in interviews. She’s able to embody a wide array of supporting players on the sidelines, which proably accounts for her being forgotten.

A 2010 Role She Could Have Tackled: How old is Cattrall’s Amelia supposed to be in The Ghost Writer? I love her in it, but I wonder what someone younger like ROsamund would have done with the role. We know she can handle the ice-queen role well and though the thought of her against Brosnan is not particularly appealing (because Brosnan is terrible) I like the idea of her playing this role.

                  

Which of these five is most overdue for some appreciation? Any roles they should have gotten it for? Any role they could have played?

Reflections on Mother & Child

For ninety minutes Mother & Child, and what disappoints me is that the trapping of the stories prevent the brilliance of the performances from being adequately highlighted, because Annette Bening, Kerry Washington and Naomi Watts give three of the most eclectic performances I’ve seen all year.

If Garcia’s screenplay holds any worth as a paradigm for other writers, it stands as proof that a good screenplay does not comprise good lines only. It’s strange, few lines in Mother & Child emerge as disingenuous until you're met with an unlikely soliloquy here or there that seems like it's from a completely different film; moreover his  story-structure is so lacking the film feels awkwardly truncated at times. Rodrigo Garcia’s creation seems especially unimaginative at times, which is stressed because in theory the playing field he has available is wide. But, I’m appreciative of his attempts for in all its occasional banality Mother & Child has searing moments, and Garcia is a much more astute director than he is a writer. I’ve reached the point where I’m well aware of the “injustices” of awards’ season, but it still seems ridiculous that comments on the Oscar “race” continue and nary a performance from the three protagonists of this drama are being tossed around. It only puts the harsh reality of these laurels into perspective.

Kerry Washington was the biggest surprise because I’ve been waiting so long for her to get a role worthy of her obvious potential and she brings such poignancy to her expectant mother it’s such a please to know that the promise of talent she’s been showing for so long has been made good on (even if no one cares to notice), and Naomi Watts pulls off a character that in theory shouldn’t work, especially for her. And, of course, Annette... Bening will always be striking for her ability to get in touch with abrasive characters and Karen’s outward prickliness is measured beautifully against her internal securities. I am smitten with her, but there are moments where it’s especially impressive watching her inhibit the character. I almost feel as if she and her co-stars do the film more justice than it deserves, because when it ends I have that palpable feeling that I’ve been played. 

It Mother & Child is emotionally manipulative, but it’s worth the manipulation if only to see performances – from the trimester of ladies all the way to Jimmy Smitts and Samuel L. Jackson. Jackson is so easily represent of the BAMF it's something satisfying to see him reign it all in and deliver a perfectly controlled performance. And it's so interesting how Cherry Jones' nun, forever on the outlines manages to carve a chracter that seems decidedly three-dimensional. Garcia might not be the wisest storyteller, but his ability to find the right way to bring out the good in his actors is something worth praising – even if it’s grudgingly.

                

B-