Robin Wright

REVIEW: ‘Adore’ Elegantly Explores the Anxious Lyricism of Intergenerational Relationships

There are a number of reasons Anne Fontaine’s Adore should be the most personal film I’ve seen in years. Unusually for an Australian film, it is set within almost exactly the same socio-cultural niche the Aussie side of my family occupies, albeit in New South Wales, and we’re from Melbourne. When I was twenty, or the age of the two male leads, I lived in Mum’s hometown for a while, staying first with her childhood best friend, Auntie Sooo, who has a son more or less my age with whom I quickly fell in love — he looked like a teen Mel Gibson, and was sweet and loving, and so forth. The physical aspect of our relationship was never consummated,

Tom Holland in The Impossible

REVIEW: In ‘The Impossible,’ Drowning in a Tsunami of Tears.

More often than not, engaging with films is a lot like speed dating for me.  I knew within the first few minutes of The Impossible what rating I was going to give it simply based on the sound design and the artful grace in the composition and juxtaposition of images.  There was going to be an intense vibe between us that was going to work out.  Conversely, I had to force myself to sit through that other deluge film, Beasts of the Southern Wild, after barely making it through the cacophonic, sloppily shot title sequence.

I’ve already ranted about why That Bathtub Movie doesn’t deserve the Oscar nominations it received, which doesn’t mean that The Impossible should have been nominated in its place.  The Impossible is, however, on a par with Life of Pi — the big common themes this award season are coincidentally slavery and man’s battle with the sea, certainly more trenchant motifs than toy makers in Paris or Parisian actors in Silent-Era Hollywood, like we had last year.

Naomi Watts in The Impossible

OSCAR NOMINATIONS: Please, Not Another Anna Paquin Moment. Thanks.

So I got some wrong and some right, but most of all it seems I hit one prediction on the nose early on: This is going to be the most interesting Oscar race in a long time, with awards being handed out scattershot across a bunch of worthy films.

Rather than begin with a milky froth of what, in my estimation, Academy members missed and misfired, let me highlight the underlying espresso coffee of what they got right:

No Best Picture for The Master.  Nor was PT Anderson nominated for Best Director.  Hooray!  As I said in my review, I found many decisions made in this film to have been fatal, namely the fact that the focus was on Joaquin Phoenix’s character, not on the Master himself as the title suggests.  Nobody has done the Scientology story before, it’s an incredible one, a delirious Citizen Kane, and this movie simply didn’t live up to expectations.  Phoenix is unlikely to win Best Actor, but Hoffman has a very good chance for Best Supporting Actor, although he will likely lose to,

Robert De Niro, who gave his finest performance in a decade in Silver Linings Playbook.  He was right at home in this superbly written role, and knocked it out of the ballpark.  His co-star Bradley Cooper also deserved to be nominated for Best Actor, even though I didn’t feel he was completely right for the role.  He is also unlikely to win against Daniel Day Lewis, but there could be an upset here; Cooper seems to be well liked.  Jennifer Lawrence, the female lead in SLP, is even more deserving of her nomination as Best Actress than Cooper is for Best Actor, but her performance pales in comparison to,