In Contention

Tag: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

  • Forget Best Supporting Actor — it’s time to honor Andy Serkis’ “Special Achievement”

    There has been a lot of talk this week about Andy Serkis’ stirring performance-capture portrayal of ape rebellion leader Caesar in “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.” In many quarters, writers are calling for consideration in the Best Supporting Actor category. It’s a song and dance Serkis and those of us who follow the film awards season have heard before, but I wonder if it’s the wrong approach.

    It’s important to face facts if you want Oscar recognition for Serkis. The Academy — an actor-dominated body — is not ready to hail performance-capture outside of the effects arena. Period. Two years ago, “Avatar” showed us that there was fear there when it missed out on a Best Picture win. It was admittedly one of a handful of issues that served as a stumbling block, but the sense (amplified by competing Oscar campaigns) was that a quickly advancing technique could one day render actors obsolete. Yes, it was a ridiculous fear, but it was a fear nonetheless. And for some, I’m sure it still is.

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  • THE LONG SHOT: It was always you

    “Let me get this straight. The one’s about a precocious computer geek who’s also a bit of an asshole.”

    “Yeah.”

    “And the other’s about King George VI.”

    “Yeah.”

    “And King George VI has a disability.”

    “Well, he has a stutter. I mean, it’s not crippling or anything — ”

    “But it’s an obstacle that needs to be overcome.”

    “Yeah.”

    “And I assume, at the end, he does. And becomes King.”

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  • THE LISTS: Top 10 below-the-line elements of Fincher films

    With “The Social Network” hitting theaters this weekend, audiences are reminded once again of director David Fincher’s skill and vision as a craftsman. The eight films he has assembled throughout an 18-year career in feature filmmaking have been dazzling showcases for below-the-line talent.

    As you know, we make an effort to keep the spotlight on these elements of the filmmaking process. Art direction, cinematography, costume design, film editing, makeup, music, sound and visual effects are all key ingredients, and Fincher has always been a director consumed by their implementation in his work.

    The seeds of this, of course, were planted early on in his commercial and music video career. They seemed to reach a full apex two years ago with the period and effects detail of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (racking up eight of the 11 total nominations Fincher’s films have amassed in these arenas), but each film in his portfolio sports below-the-line creativity and artistry worth singling out.

    So it seemed to me a great opportunity to dedicate an installment of The Lists to the best craft elements of Fincher’s filmography to date. Let’s dive in…

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  • Hope for Saldana

    The closes to a breakthrough with motion capture, and/or animation being added to an actor’s performance would be Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Most of the acting Pitt did was as the half-animated Button – barely recognizable and a performance that simply couldn’t have been gotten without aided technology. That shows that the membrane has been pierced, even if Pitt was also seen a good amount of the time as himself, and himself with makeup.

    Good point.  From Sasha Stone at Awards Daily. For more on this, listen to the most recent edition of Oscar Talk.

  • Alexandre Desplat: Hollywood’s most prolific composer

    A quick glance at Alexandre Desplat’s 2009 resume reveals a whopping seven titles.  That’s pretty prolific for someone who offers up quality work each and every time out, rather than coasting on simplicity like a few other hard-working film music composers out there.  This weekend alone there are two films bearing Desplat’s musical signature — “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” and “Fantastic Mr. Fox” — and he already has a few lingering entries on screen in “Julie & Julia” and “Coco Before Chanel.”

    Jacques Audiard’s “A Prophet” lands on US screens in February, though it looks to figure in this year’s foreign film Oscar race, while perhaps the most anticipated film of Desplat’s upcoming projects is Terrence Malick’s “Tree of Life.” Desplat recently addressed an audience at the 50th Thessaloniki International Film Festival about working with Malick on the film:

    Meanwhile, as part of Variety’s Eye on the Oscars coverage (at a spiffy, newly designed Award Central page), Jon Burlingame talks with Desplat about the volume of work he’s been cranking out as of late.

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  • Desplat wins Composer of the Year award

    Alexandre Desplat You’d be hard pressed to disagree that Alexandre Desplat is pretty much at the top of the game in contemporary film scoring. In addition to his genius (“Birth” looks likely to remain my favorite score of the decade), his prolificity is awe-inspiring. This year alone sees the Frenchman’s name on seven features, running the gamut from “Julie & Julia” to “A Prophet” to “Fantastic Mr. Fox” to the latest “Twilight” installment.

    He seems bound to figure in the awards race for one film or another (“Cheri” would be my personal pick so far), so it’s a nice — if not terribly prescient — omen that he just won Composer of the Year at the 9th annual World Soundtrack Awards yesterday, as well as score of the year for his Oscar-nominated work on “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”

    It’s a 2008-leaning list, with “Slumdog Millionaire” and “The Reader” also resurfacing, though a Lifetime Achievement Award for Marvin Hamlisch is clearly a nod to “The Informant!”

    The awards, handed out by the World Soundtrack Academy in Ghent, Belgium, an educational organization dedicated to the art of film music, don’t carry much weight to speak of, but since we’re having a day of small awards announcements, it’s a fun list of winners to add to the pile. Full list after the cut.

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  • TECH SUPPORT: Kicking the tires on a new season

    Daniel Day-Lewis in NineToday marks the beginning of a fourth year of Tech Support here at In Contention. Over the past four years, we’ve sought to bring the otherwise under-reported crafts categories and crafts artists the attention they seldom receive, despite their enormous contributions to the art of cinema.

    This year, we plan on looking at nine of the categories – Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume Design, Film Editing, Makeup, Original Score, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Visual Effects – twice thoroughly between now and the morning the nominations are announced. Best Original Song will be previewed once, when we have a better idea of eligible contenders.

    I will be offering the analysis of these categories but Kris will also be joining me for the first time this year with Tech Support features and interview pieces throughout.

    Last year, a contemporary film – “Slumdog Millionaire” – managed to triumph in five of the 10 categories, a truly remarkable achievement, while “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” unsurprisingly took three others.  (Meanwhile, the year’s blockbuster “The Dark Knight” managed one.)  It will be interesting to see whether this year will be seen as having tech sweepers like “Millionaire” and “Button” or a greater spreading of the wealth, as we saw in 2007, when eight different films shared the 10 crafts awards!

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  • ‘Button’ sparkles on Criterion Blu

    Cover of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Criterion Blu-rayThe Criterion release of David Fincher’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is a superlative piece of home entertainment to say the least, especially on Blu-ray.  Claudio Miranda’s photography was absolutely gorgeous as it was in cinemas, but being largely digital, the transition to high definition is seamless and probably belongs in the top tier of Blu-ray releases thus far from a visual standpoint.

    Technical attributes aside, I can’t say enough about the epic making-of documentary that is featured on the film’s supplemental materials disc.  At nearly three hours, it all but dwarf’s the film’s already massive running time.

    Opening with a rather emotional personal story from Fincher that recounts his father’s death at the hands of pancreatic cancer, the brief intro gives you more than enough insight into the director’s reasons for taking on the project, which of course had been bouncing around Hollywood for two decades when the wheels were finally put into motion.

    In fact, the doc does a brilliant job of showcasing the years of non-starts that producers Kathleen Kennedy and Gary Marshall had to suffer through on the way to finally realizing the project on screen.  No matter your opinion of the film, you have to respect that kind of dedication.

    There is an exceptional amount of behind-the-scenes footage stitched together by talking-head interviews with principles both above and below the line.  But most interesting were accounts of the day-to-day troubles of working in post-Katrina New Orleans, which ranged from a depleted trolley car fleet (which the production was dependent on for period correctness) to a lack of public works personnel to assist in the production (because the department had been whittled down considerably due to countless lay-offs).

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  • Vote on the next Criterion Blu-ray release

    I’ve gone head-first into the tank for Blu-ray ever since I broke down and bought a player last year.  And despite a high retail tag in most quarters, Amazon.com remains the number one spot for finding the best deals.

    Criterion has slowly been putting together a rather varied slate of titles on Blu, from Wes Anderson’s “Bottle Rocket” to Gregory Nava’s “Norte” to David Fincher’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” which will be hitting store shelves tomorrow.  Ingmar Bergman’s “The Seventh Seal” hits next month, which has me doubly excited, but frankly I’ve been a touch disappointed with the output so far.  Where’s the Malick stuff fer cryin’ out loud?

    Amazon has now partnered with Criterion to give you a say in their release schedule allowing customers to vote for the next Criterion Blu-ray release.  A list of five possible titles has been offered up:

    Together with the Criterion Collection, we’re offering customers the unique opportunity to select an upcoming Blu-ray release from the Criterion Collection. From now until May 25th, select from Au Revoir Les Enfants, Down By Law, Howards End, Kwaidan, and Picnic at Hanging Rock. The winning title will be released later in 2009.

    My vote went to Peter Weir’s “Picnic at Hanging Rock,” but I wasn’t totally impressed by that quintet of possibilities.  Regardless, I’m glad Criterion is in the HD fold and I’m sure the company will continue to deliver, as always.

  • Too much, too soon?

    I’m not as outraged as some are by the news that “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is to be granted a Criterion Collection DVD release in May — as has been pointed out, if not one but two Michael Bay films have made the cut in the past, the label’s aesthetic standards are a bit of a mystery. And “Button” is, at the very least, an immaculate piece of craftsmanship.

    I am, however, a bit puzzled. Why does “Button” get to jump to the front of the queue while an assortment of  classics have to wait years for this seal of approval?  (For the sake of context, other titles in Criterion’s ‘coming soon’ pile include “Last Year at Marienbad” and “The Last Metro.”) And more importantly, isn’t it bizarre that this is David Fincher’s first title to get the royal Criterion treatment? Whether you like the film or not (and I admit I’m in the “not” camp), I haven’t heard many people suggesting that it’s his most significant work.

    If you ever needed a textbook illustration of the difference an Oscar nomination can make, I think we have one right here. Your thoughts?

  • TECH SUPPORT: Postmortem

    Tech Support at In ContentionWhat can I say? It was a big night for “Slumdog Millionaire” at the 81st Annual Academy Awards on Sunday.

    While I do like the film a great deal, I found its dominance this awards season unnecessarily monotonous.  For instance, I preferred Thomas Newman’s work in both music categories this year, but I was nonetheless very happy with A.R. Rahman’s triumphs. The music branch needs to be seriously rewired, though.  Their choices in recent years have often been bizarre and at times terrible.

    Anthony Dod Mantle’s deserved victory in the cinematography feield means that Roger Deakins is still waiting for that first statuette. (Though, might I add, as effective as the work is in “The Reader,” I would have found it slightly disappointing if Deakins had finally won this year, considering Chris Menges shot most of the movie.) I would also like to think that Wally Pfister will eventually triumph in this category, considering Pfister has received three nominations in the last four years (all on Christopher Nolan projects).

    Chris Dickens winning Best Film Editing was probably the easiest call of all the tech categories. Though I would say Angus Wall, Kirk Baxter, Elliot Graham and especially Lee Smith have built up good will with their fellow editors, while Mike Hill and Daniel P. Hanley must be considered in contention whenever they make a prestigious film with Ron Howard.

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  • Andy Trudeau reviews the Oscar nominated scores for NPR

    Alexandre DesplatOne of my favorite pre-Oscar specials is music critic Andy Trudeau’s analysis of the Oscar nominated original scores on NPR’s weekend edition.  He used to stretch the piece over two weekends and discuss the pieces with the show’s host, but this year he both waited until the last minute and did the piece as a stand-alone by himself.

    Trudeau’s favorite of the nominees (and mine) is Alexandre Desplats beautiful work on “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” putting together compositions that can be played both forward and backward.  Last year his pick was Darion Marianelli and “Atonement,” so maybe he’ll be spot on again this year — but I think we all doubt that.

    “Call me old-fashioned, but if I had a ballot, I’d go for a score with strong melodies, crystalline orchestration; one that takes us on an emotional journey,” Trudeau says.  “So I’m casting my one, unofficial vote for ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ by Alexandre Desplat.”

    Listening to the piece I was suddenly taken with how competitive it might actually be.  The A.R. Rahman win has become a foregone conclusion, and for many good reasons.  In addition to the “Slumdog” sweep train, the Academy simply likes music from other cultures.  “Babel,” “Frida and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” are examples.  Maybe the work simply stands out a little more from the rest of the field.  I don’t know, but it’ll be interesting to see how the re-instated allowance for CD mailers made a difference.  “Button” probably has the most beautiful, listenable score, but Thomas Newman’s work on “WALL-E” is also brilliant.

    Anyway, it’s a short piece, well worth the listen this Oscar morning.  Head on over and feed your brain as we wait for the season to come to an end.  And check out Gerard’s Tech Support interview with Desplat here and with Rahman here if you missed them in the last few weeks.

  • Two more industry awards: MPSE and VES

    We should link to these for closure, so “The Dark Knight,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Slumdog Millionaire” and “WALL-E” won big at the Motion Picture Sound Editors awards, while “Button” took four trophies from the Visual Effects Society.  “The Dark Knight” and “WALL-E” also won a few each.  Thanks to Awards Daily on both of those.

  • You were right, I was wrong: Guy’s final predictions

    (Expanded thoughts and reasonings on yesterday’s list of predictions.)

    It’s years like 2008 when I throw my hands up and admit (albeit with great reluctance) that my family and friends have been right for the last two decades. Carla, Tom, Kim, Auntie Mavis: I give up. I am insane to care as much as I do about the Oscars. They are stupid. They don’t matter, and I really should find something more important and rewarding to care about, like, oh, needlepoint classes or professional darts championships.

    But who am I kidding? I will always care about the Oscars, even in years like this when the race is so dry, and its significance so questionable, that I take great care in not caring. In a year when so few of my personal favourites have cracked the contenders list, it has at least been interesting to sit back and watch the furore unfold over the Academy voters’ spectacularly self-sabotaging antics this year.

    I’ve been wrong about a lot of things this year (Kris scoffed at my naive suggestion back in July that “Happy-Go-Lucky” could be a Best Picture nominee, and he was right to), and right about … well … “Milk’s” nomination for Best Costume Design. (Hey, let me salvage some glory from this year’s meagre spoils.) I don’t expect to be a hell of a lot more successful with the following predictions, but you never know. It’s still been a lot of fun riding out the season with you this year – here’s to a better slate of contenders (and a lot less grousing from me) in 12 months’ time.

    BEST PICTURE
    Apart from the fact that it is the most imaginative and entertaining of this year’s feeble clutch of nominees, the reason “Slumdog Millionaire” has a stranglehold on this category is because it’s the only one of the five that has any discernible relationship to contemporary cinema. The other four all feel to varying degrees like the finely-tooled Best Picture winners of decades past, but the younger, more curious Academy members have been moving away from such self-consciously packaged ‘prestige product’ in the past few years – even if they need a lot of pointing towards what to reward in its stead.

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  • Want to win cinematography? An art direction nod helps.

    Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin ButtonI’m surprised I completely forgot about this little, some might say meaningless statistic, but with all the predictions for “Slumdog Millionaire” taking the cinematography win at tomorrow night’s Oscar ceremony, the Oscarweb seems to be in the same boat.

    You have to go back to 1999 and “American Beauty” to find a film that won the Oscar for Best Cinematography but was not even nominated in the art direction field.  Before that, 1995 and “Braveheart,” 1992 and “A River Runs Through It” and 1991 and “JFK.”

    “Mississippi Burning” (1988) and “The Killing Fields” (1984) were the only examples from the 1980s and then you see some more frequency in the new American cinema hey-day of the 1970s.  But if you stretch the timeline back to 1979, you only find six films in 20 years that managed to win the lensing trophy despite coming up short of a nod with the designers.

    The only films nominated in both categories this year are “Changeling,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and “The Dark Knight.”  Most might use that as the ultimate excuse to throw their money behind “The Dark Knight,” which was revolutionary behind the camera with it’s implementation of IMAX technology and because, dang it, it looks amazing.  And God knows my fingers are crossed for Wally Pfister, but I think all of this might make a better case for Claudio Miranda and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”

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  • Contributors’ picks

    OscarsWell, this is it.  The big show is Sunday night and we’re pretty much out of things to discuss at this stage, no?  But I’ve gone ahead and wrangled up all of our contributors’ predictions in each category.  Trust who you must, but really, pray for a surprise.  Right?

    In the realm of “ballsy” calls, I guess you can look no further than Guy’s prediction that “The Class” will upset “Waltz with Bashir” in the foreign language film category, which I discussed at length earlier this morning.  He’s also stuck his neck out for a “Slumdog Millionaire” sweep, much like Nathaniel Rogers did a week ago. I really wanted to go there. I really, really did, but the sound categories.  The friggin’ sound categories.

    As we’ve mentioned, people tend to forget that the Academy at large doesn’t exactly know from good sound mixing and sound editing, so “WALL-E” is perhaps a bit vulnerable in those fields, while “The Dark Knight” might be too safe a choice. I’ve talked to a number of people who seem to think “Slumdog” will be checked off down the line, though, so perhaps Guy and Nat are onto something there.

    Me, I don’t have too many surprise predictions, as I’m sure you’ve already read.  I’m sticking with “Man on Wire” in the doc feature category, despite my spit-balling otherwise.  And even though I have a strong sense that “Departures” is waiting to surprise “Waltz,” I don’t feel like sticking my neck out.  (UPDATE: Spoke too soon.)

    I am, however, going with my gut on Mickey Rourke in the much-anticipated lead actor race, and it looks like I’m joined by Guy, Brian and Blake on that here.

    John seems to be expecting a big night for “The Dark Knight,” predicting wins in both sound categories as well as Best Film Editing, which would be the same hat trick “The Bourne Ultimatum” pulled off last year.  But he’s also banking on a win in the cinematography category, which would certainly make this writer a happy camper.

    Blake is banking on the Bat’s victory in the art direction and makeup fields, where the rest of us expect “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” to prevail, while Brian is predicting a clean sweep for “WALL-E,” including the original screenplay category, which looks to be another one of the night’s most exciting races.  He’s joined by Guy on that, while John, Blake, Gerard and I are taking the safe route and placing our chips on Dustin Lance Black’s work on “Milk.”

    Despite those minority calls, we all seem to be in agreement on Best Picture (“Slumdog”), Best Director (Danny Boyle), Best Actress (Kate Winslet), Best Supporting Actor (Heath Ledger), Best Supporting Actress (Penelope Cruz), Best Adapted Screenplay (“Slumdog”), Best Visual Effects (“Button”) and Best Animated Feature Film (“WALL-E”).  Everything else represents something of a menagerie.

    Take a look at our individual picks after the jump.

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  • OFF THE CARPET: Taking a final stab

    OscarsWell, this is what it all boils down to.  I almost DON’T want to go on the record, but I kind of have to, right?

    Anyway, this is the first year I’ve actually seen every single nominated frame of film before the big night so these will either be the most educated guesses I’ve ever given or the most unfortunately influenced, one can’t be too sure.  Sometimes it’s better to predict in a void, other times not.  I did pretty good last year (after a wicked slump for a few years), largely because I succumbed to inevitability more than I have in the past, but I don’t want to be all douchey and put forth my record.  We all have ups and downs.  I’m not personally convinced of probably half of these predictions, so you certainly shouldn’t be either.

    One thing that catches my eye as I go through my “will wins,” “could wins” and “should wins” is that in many cases, I’m predicting the contender that I also feel delivers the best work in the category.  But really, only in one arena could that stink of hopeful expectation (Best Actor).  The rest is just reflective of how this weak, thin season trickled down.  I almost always have a different preference than what actually wins, so I wouldn’t call me the wishful thinking sort when it comes to hammering these out.

    Anyway, you’ll find category-by-category analysis throughout, but I have to say, those sound categories are fuckers this year.  Pardon the vulgarity.  It seems there are limitless possibilities.  I’m of the mind that one film takes both, so take your pick: “Dark Knight,” “Slumdog” or “WALL-E.”  I think the Academy at large doesn’t understand the subtlety of “WALL-E” (much like “No Country for Old Men” last year) and giving “Slumdog” a clean sweep seems to be too much.  But I’ll get into those categories, and more, after the jump.

    There is a slight possibility I’ll stick my head back in here to adjust this prediction or that before Sunday.  If I do, I’ll be sure to draw your attention to it in this space.  Check back later today with a look at all out contributors’ predictions.  For now, here are mine…

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  • Who deserves it? Poll results!

    The readership of In Contention has spoken.  Here’s who you all think deserves to win across the 24 Oscar categories we polled you on.  A couple of these races were very close but we didn’t have time to revisit the couple of categories that were decided by less than 10 votes.  Anyway, it’ll be interesting to see if there are any parallels Sunday night, but here’s what you had to say:

    Best Picture: “Slumdog Millionaire”
    Best Director: Danny Boyle, “Slumdog Millionaire”
    Best Actor: Mickey Rourke, “The Wrestler”
    Best Actress: Kate Winslet, “The Reader”
    Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight”
    Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
    Best Adapted Screenplay: “Slumdog Millionaire”
    Best Original Screenplay: “WALL-E”
    Best Animated Feature Film: “WALL-E”
    Best Art Direction: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
    Best Cinematography: “The Dark Knight”
    Best Costume Design: “The Duchess”
    Best Film Editing: “Slumdog Millionaire”
    Best Makeup: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
    Best Music (Original Score): “WALL-E”
    Best Music (Original Song): “Down to Earth” from “WALL-E”
    Best Sound Editing: “WALL-E”
    Best Sound Mixing: “WALL-E”
    Best Visual Effects: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

    Thanks to everyone for voting.  Enjoy the show!