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September 20, 2005
Oscar Buzz - part 1 of way too many
The arrival of the autumnal equinox doesn't just mean Scott Baio's birthday is around the corner, it also means the start of the fall movie season, otherwise known as Oscar Buzz season. In which every serious movie that comes out will come complete with buzz about some performance or the film itself and its chances at an Academy Award.
Luckily for me, that also means the beginning of free movie screening season (because Oscar buzz requires word-of-mouth to grow), and I've recently seen 3 contenders.
Exhibit 1 -- deserving the buzz -- CAPOTE, starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote in the story of the writing of his most famous work, In Cold Blood. This is a great movie boasting an interesting story, great writing, and tremendous acting across the board. Admittedly, I knew almost nothing about Capote going into this movie. I basically knew him as the guy who, in Annie Hall, walks by Alvy and Annie in Central Park, as Woody Allen says "there goes the winner of the Truman Capote lookalike contest." Therefore, I was fascinated by the portrait of Capote as an egotistical (if deservedly so) attention-seeker who ran with celebrities and literary types, and knew the story of In Cold Blood would make him more celebrated than ever. The direction of the film is great, holding the viewer's interest in both the Capote character sketch and the subject of In Cold Blood, a grisly multiple murder in Kansas. The writing is light and witty at times, and emotionally raw at other times.
But the film is mostly recommended by the acting performances. Included are pitch-perfect supporting turns by Bruce Greenwood, always-reliable Chris Cooper and Catherine Keener as Harper Lee. (The Catherine Keener charm offensive continues -- she plays a non-bitchy character in her second movie in a row. What gives?) The prisoners are just right, playing both menacing and pitiful. And the most Oscar buzz will certainly go to Hoffman, whose portrayal of Capote is nothing short of brilliant. As an impression, I hear he is "spot on". As a performance of a complicated human being, it is even better. Almost every line requires Hoffman to say one thing while almost successfully concealing Capote's true feelings or motives, and he manages to do it naturally and in character. Despite the voice and the affectation, Hoffman's peformance is what makes the character, and the movie, powerful and real.
Exhibit #2 -- less deserving -- OLIVER TWIST, Roman Polanski's new rendition of the Dickens classic. OK, I admit it -- I don't like Dickens, and I find his stories, especially Oliver Twist, to be meaningless and episodic. No surprise, then, that I found this movie meaningless and episodic. There just isn't enough emotional heft to make a viewer really care what happens to any of the characters, including Oliver. The film flies through his early life in the workhouse and various placements with such little depth that no sympathy can build up. Most of the movie is taken up with Oliver's time with Fagin and the gang, where it gets a little more exciting, but still lacks depth. The ending is abrupt, even with a tacked-on and unnecessary (except, perhaps, for building Oscar buzz for Kingsley) scene with Fagin in jail. Kingsley is great, though Fagin remains basically a caricature, and Jamie Foreman is just frightening enough as Bill Sykes. The child actors, including Oliver, unfortunately, are not so good. They make exaggerated faces and movements and seem anything but realistic. The period setting suffers the same way. The sets look very nice, but down to the rats and fistfights in the streets, it all seems like overacting.
Exhibit #3 -- Tim Burton's THE CORPSE BRIDE, which certainly deserves buzz for animated movie of the year. This movie is just plain fun and made me happy, even despite its dark subject matter. It looks great, has a small but tidy story, and is very funny. The songs by Danny Elfman are a little odd -- every time I thought I was about to hear a chorus, I was misled. It doesn't seem like a Shrek or a Toy Story, that you could watch over and over again, but it's got real charm.
Posted by JoshHornik at September 20, 2005 05:33 PM