Tuesday, February 5, 2008

True Believers

I like the sound of that. Case in point, an excerpt from Vanity's Fair witty Oscar blog, LITTLE GOLD MEN:

His [Bob Berney, head of Picturehouse] method is not entirely dissimilar to that of Fox Searchlight, which pushed Juno to its four nominations on the basis of a phenomenon as opposed to the all-inclusive technical merits of films like No Country for Old Men or There Will Be Blood. In fact, La Vie en Rose is a thoroughly unremarkable film with only Cotillard’s work to recommend it; like Monster and the recent Best Actress winners Monster’s Ball and Walk the Line before it, it has merely been seasoned with Oscar bait, not made from it. Which, as this category’s history indicates, may be all it needs to win [...] Bob Berney hardly invented this paradigm, but his selectivity, taste, and—this is important—campaign moderation make Cotillard both a front-runner and backlash-proof.

Lest I spoil the surprise, S.T. VanAirsdale concludes his post thus:
So count me among the Cotillard true believers; there’s a higher power than hype at work here.


Read the rest here.

While I don't agree with his opinion of "La Vie en Rose" as a film, I'm always happy when someone sees the light! ;)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Indeed, it is. I think he is right also, Picturehouse have managed the Campaign brilliantly. I can't think about it too much though, as it would make me a bit ill if I thought about just what a manipulating business it is (the PR front).

Anyway I thought I'd share this. Canet was on French TV the other night, promoting Les Liens du Sang (which I guess means blood ties), and one of the interviewers tried to bring up Marion, talking about the intense media spotlight at the moment, and how that can't be easy (I guess he meant living with it), well he didn't get very far, before Guillaume basically said: 'not talking about Marion’. Of course he was very polite, and lucked very sweet and coy when they were praising Marion (although a tad uncomfortable). He doesn’t half work hard, second round of promotion in 3 months, he’s currently filming, and he has about 4 films in pre - production. Such a hard working couple, I prefer to sit back, and sleep.

Anyway little tidbit I thought I'd share, I like Canet he always comes across very gentleman like in interviews.

k said...

I have to admit I'm a little sick of Juno. I liked it at first, but the more and more I think about it the less and less I like it. It's big problem is the screenplay -- and Ellen Page isn't quite strong enough to avoid its pitfalls.

They also run those TV ads CONSTANTLY. What bothers me is the fact that Fox Searchlight virtually ignored Once, The Savages, The Namesake, etc. and put more of their time/money/efforts into Juno. A smart move, logistically, but unfair to the other films.

I think La Vie is stronger than people give it credit for. Admittedly, I was a little iffy about the film as a whole the first time I saw it, but every re-watch since then I find so many things (beyond Cotillard's performance) to love and admire. A very unique, well executed film. Doesn't play like a traditional biopic at all, which makes sense given that Piaf was not your average, run of the mill person -- star, even. Nothing about her was ordinary...why should they make her an ordinary film?

I think this year is a great year for Best Actress, because FINALLY we see actual LEAD actresses nominated. Not women who exist solely to serve as romantic counterparts to the leading men's stories, but as women who drive their movies on their own. Even Angelina Jolie, Helena Bonham Carter, Jodie Foster, and the Atonement girls have something to be proud of, despite no (or few) nominations for them. What a great year for movies. What a great year for actresses.

Anonymous said...

Juno was good, liked it, but to be honest I didn't think it was anything special, or that Page was anything special (nothing against Page, I like her), and I don’t get why everyone is going on about 'Juno's wit', a lot of girls I know have the same humour.

Awards season is always the same, overkill; it is quite a relief when it ends.

Yes it has been a great year for actresses. I love Atonement (out on DVD here yesterday), thought it was a great film, and Ronan, Knightley, and Garai, I thought, did a great job. Of course I could be biased, as I am completely, and utterly, in love with the book; I think it's a work of genius.

Anonymous said...

I notice that on Youtube Marion starts to pick up more
English spoken fans especially from the song she sang in Les Jolies Choses.

Eoghan McQ said...

I'm still not convinced she can pull it off :( Le sigh...

Anonymous said...

No we just have to pray.