In Contention

Tag: Memoirs of a Geisha

  • THE LONG SHOT: What becomes of the broken-hearted?

    (A day later than usual — apologies.)

    After the London Film Festival raised its curtain last night with a typically flashy European premiere for Mark Romanek’s “Never Let Me Go,” this morning’s papers and breakfast TV reports have been busy with chatter about what Britfilm’s two it-girls, Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley, were wearing; how the next Spider-Man (that is, The Artist Formerly Known As Andrew Garfield) is settling into his red-carpet duties; and what the whole event promises about the beleaguered British film industry’s ability to, well, throw fancy parties.

    Something far fewer people have been talking about, however, is the film itself. That’s no great surprise: after securing eagerly awaited world premieres — “Frost/Nixon” and “Fantastic Mr. Fox” — for their last two opening nights, London fest organizers dropped the ball slightly by picking a film that bowed at Toronto last month and has already opened in the States. You can’t expect the same level of excitement for a gift that has already been opened by someone else, even if the ribbon has been retied.

    Still, the air surrounding “Never Let Me Go” was not merely one of used goods, but of damaged goods at that: yesterday morning’s press screening was characterized by a near-palpable cloud of lowered expectations, as tepid-to-respectable reviews and fizzling box-office from across the pond foretold a high-class shrug of a movie. “That’s going to get Oscar nominations?” a critic in the row behind me asked as the end credits rolled; his tone translated the question as, “Yeah, good luck with that.”

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  • THE LONG SHOT: What is an “Oscar movie” these days?

    George Clooney in Up in the Air“God, that thing’s just going to shit Academy Awards out of its ass next year, isn’t it?,” I overheard a journo behind me remark to his companion, as I made my way out of the “Up in the Air” press screening on Sunday. “It’s such an Oscar movie.”

    Two things struck me as interesting about this throwaway remark, both relating to the lack of care with which both Oscar pundits and “serious” film lovers tend to regard the Academy Awards.

    The first was that, isolated and in print, the guy’s words appear dismissive of “Up in the Air,” yet they actually capped a mostly enthusiastic response to the film. His tone dipped almost apologetically as he applied the “Oscar movie” label, as if it somehow sullied an otherwise fine effort.

    More to the point, however, the remark seemed indicative of the transitive stage the Academy Awards seem to be in at the moment, as simultaneously resistant and vulnerable to industry change as the protagonist of Jason Reitman’s film – and facing a similar crisis of purpose. For 15 years ago – if not necessarily 15 years before that – “Up in the Air” wouldn’t have been decreed an “Oscar movie” at all.

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  • Rob Marshall and ‘Pirates’ … why not?

    Rob Marshall It seems I’m one of the few people who isn’t particularly bothered by the admittedly surprising prospect of Rob Marshall directing the fourth go-round of “Pirates of the Caribbean.”

    Variety first floated the news yesterday that the Oscar-nominated choreographer-turned-filmmaker is in talks to take the reins of Disney’s megabucks franchise from Gore Verbinski, prompting a stream of “what is he thinking” remarks around the web.

    While sideswiping Marshall’s upcoming “Nine” as a “problem movie,” David Poland rather melodramatically suggests that it might be “the single worst idea in history.”

    Jeff Wells, meanwhile, foresees this damaging Marshall’s Oscar prospects for “Nine.” (Not that the stench of the “Da Vinci Code” franchise turned the Academy off Ron Howard. And I doubt Marshall will be a contender for the win anyway, but that’s another discussion.)

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  • Counting to ten

    Since the Academy announced the new ten-lane track for the Best Picture race, any number of bloggers have projected which extra films might have made the cut under this format in the last few years, a process that, for many, retrospectively hands hypothetical nods to everything from “Doubt” to “Memoirs of a Geisha” to “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.”

    It’s a process that is as dispiriting as it is occasionally heartening, but so far there hasn’t been much informed analysis of how the Academy’s weighted balloting system might affect the lower reaches of the list. (I must wonder, for example, whether a “Geisha” had enough number-one votes to even crack a list of ten — the new format will certainly test the remaining power of the studio system.)

    Anne Thompson, however, offers by far the most interesting backward-glancing “what-if” piece I’ve yet read, in which an unnamed (but clearly authoritative) film historian digs a little further back to consider what a ten-nominee Best Picture category might have looked like in the years from 1967 to 1979.

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  • Best in show 2005: the year in superlatives

    It’s time to really round out the year and offer up my picks for awards in 2005.

    In addition to the typical categories – which finally see their winners announced today – you’ll find some other fun arenas for awards citation. Call it a mish-mash of MTV-Awards-type kudos and other frequently heralded categories we find time to time in various critics’ awards and precursor ceremonies.

    No one is better at this sort of thing than Nat Rogers over at The Film Experience, so I recommend you all take a look at his Film Bitch awards when he dishes them out in the coming weeks.

    These will likely be my last extensive thoughts on the awards season this year, barring any brief comments I may or may not make here and/or there. There will, of course, be one final predictions update before the end of the year.

    It feels good to wrap everything up before Christmas vacation, I have to tell you. But the Oscar season is by no means over, so I’ll be diving right back in once 2006 finally rolls around.

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  • INTERVIEW: Gong Li

    Chinese actress Gong Li is poised to explode onto the landscape of the American movie scene.

    An international star and a staple of contemporary Asian cinema for nearly twenty years, Gong has offered awards-caliber work with performances in Kaige Chen’s Farewell My Concubine and former beau Zhang Yimou’s Raise the Red Lantern and Shanghai Triad, as well as this year’s 2046 from revered auteur Wong Kar-Wai. Her second English language endeavor comes this December in the form of Columbia’s Memoirs of a Geisha from director Rob Marshall.

    One of the last big secrets of the season is just how well this film, from the Academy Award-nominated Chicago helmer, may or may not have turned out. Marshall initiated much hullabaloo last year in the form of his perceived controversial casting decisions, and that fallout has continued through to the film’s upcoming release.

    For the lead role of Nitta Sayuri, a Japanese geisha circa 1929, the director thumbed Bejing-born wunderkind Ziyi Zhang. This triggered a swell of resentment from many in the international film-going community, shocked at the notion of casting a Chinese woman in the position of a Japanese character, let alone a character so historically resonant where the country’s heritage is concerned. But then Marhsall also sought out Malaysian native Michelle Yeoh for the role of Mameha, Sayuri’s mentor, and, of course, China-bred Gong Li in the showy role of villainess Hatsumomo.

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