Nowhere Boy **½

Director: Sam Taylor-Wood
Cast: Aaron Johnson, Thomas Brodie Sangster
Kristin Scott Thomas, Anne-Marie Duff, David Morrissey, Sam Bell

Every biopic begins with one question: will people, who have no interest in the famous character, want to see this? In the case of Nowhere Boy, assuming there are people out there who have no idea who John Lennon was, what will draw them to a film about his teenage years?
Why make a movie about someone before they were famous instead of concentrating on the dirt and juiciness that fame brought them?
This film concentrates on Lennon's (Johnson) relationship with two women: his estranged mother Julia (Duff) and his strict Aunt Mimi (Thomas). Most of the film has the rebellious John trying to understand why his mom abandoned him and then succumbing to her charm as he begins to resent Mimi's parenting skills.
We might not come to understand much about Lennon by examining this strange love triangle but we are rewarded with a strong, if sometimes too facile, melodrama in which the actors get to shine.
Johnson is a delight as the wide eyed John. We can assume that he's playing Lennon as a combination of Elvis, James Dean and the actual John Lennon which is why his performance is full of mannerisms that somehow feel authentic (he's a performer building his future image). Even when the film takes him towards typical genre twists, he does his best to keep John completely unaware of who he'll become.
This is what gives the movie its best quality. Out of the things it gets wrong, it gets something quite right and it's the way in which it approaches the biopic and filters it through the use of the domestic drama genre.
Therefore what we see is not a movie specifically about how Lennon became one of the most iconic figures in music history but an intriguing family portrait.
Duff is full of energy as Julia and she gives her character a strange eroticism that sometimes makes her seem incestuous. The way she devours John when she's with him gives us glimpses of guilt and some serious Oedipal issues that the director doesn't commit to exploring thoroughly.
Then there's the astonishing Kristin Scott Thomas who practically owns the film as Aunt Mimi. Those who are extremely familiar with the Lennon back story know that it was Mimi who raised him and became his only parent.
It's a delight to see what Thomas does with the role; she can go from cold and slightly sadistic to incredibly warm with a few gestures and gives Mimi a depth no other actor achieves in the movie.
Nowhere Boy suffers mostly from its episodic nature and the way in which its whole sense of lacking selfawareness makes it feel wandering and aimless from time to time.
Fans of The Beatles and John Lennon will enjoy the inner references (watching John draw a walrus puts a smile on your face instantly) but those with less affection towards the music icons will probably be confused by the film's inconsistencies.

Partir ***

Director: Catherine Corsini
Cast: Kristin Scott Thomas, Sergi López, Yvan Attal
Bernard Blancan, Alexandre Vidal, Daisy Broom

With the concept of a romantic novel and the execution of a realist work-with strokes of Truffaut- Partir proves to be a perfect showcase for the renaissance of Kristin Scott Thomas who, once again in French, takes hold of the screen with melancholic ferocity.
She plays Suzanne, a well to do woman living with her husband Samuel (Attal) and children (Vidal and Broom) after whom she looks day after day.
When she starts renovations on her house she meets Spanish construction worker Ivan (López) who she immediately likes. After a strange accident she begins to get close to him and soon they begin a torrid love affair for which she's willing to leave everything.
From this point on the film becomes a simple, but never simplistic, study of bourgeoisie ennui and how the middle classes turn into the labels they fear so much.
On her own, Suzanne has to get back to a job she hasn't practiced in two decades (while she filled the role of "wife" and "mother") and discovers that love is not enough to live on (as she probably was taught before her marriage).
Director Corsini is a bit condescending towards the social class she criticizes and apparently forgets to create profound triggers to the events that unfold. When the film starts Suzanne doesn't seem to be miserable and her passive aggressive rebellion isn't convincing enough to justify her unorthodox actions.
Perhaps Corsini was less preoccupied with intent and had set her mind on pure emotion which gives Suzanne the characteristics of an Emma Bovary or a Lady Chatterley.
Thomas makes the most out of this and delivers some of the best work of her career. Hostile and detached in scenes with Attal (who is remarkable despite the film's attempt to make him a villain) she finds herself completely transformed in her moments with López (again channeling raw male sexuality).
"You act like a whore in heat" exclaims Samuel as Suzanne flees a family dinner to meet her lover.
At that moment it's difficult not to pass judgment on her character but as soon as she meets Ivan, her face lights up with contagious happiness.
Few actresses can do what Thomas does with her face; she only needs to lift an eyebrow to evoke heartbreaking disgust and a smile to show us how one surrenders to happiness.
"This is the happiest day of my life" she says in English to Ivan during a rapturous encounter; even if he doesn't comprehend the words, he knows what she's talking about.

BAFTA Style.

The British Academy Awards more often than not offer a more idiosyncratic vision in the red carpet than anything we ever see at the Oscars.
Europeans, and Americans in Europe, tend to be bolder even if that often means dressing like that they don't give a damn.
The BAFTAs usually offer a monochromatic palette (find me a BAFTA winner that isn't Tilda Swinton in something other than black, white or blue and I'll be surprised).
Last night wasn't that different but among the understated were some outstanding looks.


Saoirse Ronan has become a woman and she was "head to toes" in Burberry.
The playfulness of the white fluffy mini served to cover the subversive punk-ness of her leather bracelets and dark nails. Talk about versatility she was dressed for cocktails and a rock concert.


Vera Farmiga had never looked as lovely as she did in an overflowing white Marchesa gown with asymmetrical cuts and black sash.
Watching her walk the red carpet had a heavenly feel to it.


Stella McCartney gave Kate Winslet the excitement she had been lacking in previous red carpets. Not only did she look amazingly thin but that leg and those see through sides were mouth watering.


The insulting Audrey Tautou was gorgeous in Lanvin. She gave the event an unexpected splash of color and proved she's not the pale faced girl she plays in "Coco Before Chanel".
The candy colored heels and lips were sweet indeed.


Before yesterday I'd never heard the name Vionett, yes bad bad fashionista I know.
But after watching Carey Mulligan wear what I'm almost ready to call the best dress of this awards season (unless Oscar gives us something spectacular she has this in the bag) by the very exclusive French house, all I want to do now is spend the day submerging into the rich history of Madeleine Vionett's house.
This dress reminds me slightly of what Meryl Streep wore to the SAGs, but unlike the legend who was literally drowned by the flowered pattern, Mulligan owns it by seeming to spring from the black and white flowers in waifish glory.
Notice how she pulls off asymmetrical cuts, flowered patterns, a bold new hairdo and a short/long leg at the same time!
She's a style miracle.


I think that Kristin Scott Thomas was a bit too Cruella de Vil in this Louis Vuitton creation that seemed to be made from a buffalo she'd killed with her bare hands.

However once she took away the top she was all kinds of lovely and so elegant even if it looked she was carrying a dead fox to the show.

Ladies Night.

I hope Carey wins if only because she feels so undeserving of all the praise.
Once again she's the best in her category and is up for the newcomer award as well (if there's any justice that one should go to Tahar Rahim so Carey wins Best Actress)


Why hasn't anyone cast Kristin Scott Thomas in a Marlene Dietrich biopic?

From Across the Pond.

Nominations for the British Academy Awards have just be announced and color me surprised but the big twist is that all the usual suspects ended up showing up here as well.
Oh and also the fact that once again the stunning "Bright Star" was practically snubbed in every category.

BEST FILM
AVATAR James Cameron, Jon Landau
AN EDUCATION Amanda Posey, Finola Dwyer
THE HURT LOCKER Nominees TBC
PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness, Gary Magness
UP IN THE AIR Ivan Reitman, Jason Reitman, Daniel Dubiecki

As usual it's an array of Oscar favorites with one purely British film thrown in for kicks. That "An Education" might also get a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars is a nice coincidence, the real surprise is that they ignored the more European "Inglourious Basterds" for mostly American fare like "Up in the Air".

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
AN EDUCATION Amanda Posey, Finola Dwyer, Lone Scherfig, Nick Hornby
FISH TANK Kees Kasander, Nick Laws, Andrea Arnold
IN THE LOOP Kevin Loader, Adam Tandy, Armando Iannucci, Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Tony Roche
MOON Stuart Fenegan, Trudie Styler, Duncan Jones, Nathan Parker
NOWHERE BOY Kevin Loader, Douglas Rae, Robert Bernstein, Sam Taylor-Wood, Matt Greenhalgh

An impressive lineup. Why it didn't translate to their Best Picture is odd.

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
LUCY BAILEY, ANDREW THOMPSON, ELIZABETH MORGAN HEMLOCK, DAVID PEARSON Directors, Producers –
Mugabe and the White African
ERAN CREEVY Writer/Director – Shifty
STUART HAZELDINE Writer/Director – Exam
DUNCAN JONES Director – Moon
SAM TAYLOR-WOOD Director – Nowhere Boy

DIRECTOR
AVATAR James Cameron
DISTRICT 9 Neill Blomkamp
AN EDUCATION Lone Scherfig
THE HURT LOCKER Kathryn Bigelow
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS Quentin Tarantino

Quentin and Neill Blomkamp's inclusions perhaps prove that the movies they substituted weren't completely beloved by the BAFTA and it makes sense because they are the movies that might hit closer to American sensibilities.
It's a thrill to watch two women nominated in this category though. If this lineup transferred to AMPAS I wouldn't complain.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
THE HANGOVER Jon Lucas, Scott Moore
THE HURT LOCKER Mark Boal
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS Quentin Tarantino
A SERIOUS MAN Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
UP Bob Peterson, Pete Docter

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
DISTRICT 9 Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell
AN EDUCATION Nick Hornby
IN THE LOOP Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE Geoffrey Fletcher
UP IN THE AIR Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner

This reminded me how ridiculous it is that they also snubbed "In the Loop" so much. It should have this award in the bag if only because it was perhaps the most quotable movie of 2009.
Still Hornby winning for his classy work in "An Education" wouldn't hurt at all. I expect them to reward "Up in the Air" and please AMPAS though.

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
BROKEN EMBRACES Agustín Almodóvar, Pedro Almodóvar
COCO BEFORE CHANEL Carole Scotta, Caroline Benjo, Philippe Carcassonne, Anne Fontaine
LET THE RIGHT ONE IN Carl Molinder, John Nordling, Tomas Alfredson
A PROPHET Pascale Caucheteux, Marco Chergui, Alix Raynaud, Jacques Audiard
THE WHITE RIBBON Stefan Arndt, Veit Heiduschka, Margaret Menegoz, Michael Haneke

BAFTA has a weird love for silly forgettable French movies and this year "Coco Before Chanel" is that case. The rest are splendid nominees though.

ANIMATED FILM
CORALINE Henry Selick
FANTASTIC MR FOX Wes Anderson
UP Pete Docter

LEADING ACTOR
JEFF BRIDGES Crazy Heart
GEORGE CLOONEY Up in the Air
COLIN FIRTH A Single Man
JEREMY RENNER The Hurt Locker
ANDY SERKIS Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

No Tom Hardy or Sam Rockwell for inherently British productions is ridiculous especially considering how last year they went all the way to find a way to include the dull Dev Patel in this category. It's good to see they snubbed Clint Eastwood who this year was eligible for "Gran Torino" in the UK.

LEADING ACTRESS
CAREY MULLIGAN An Education
SAOIRSE RONAN The Lovely Bones
GABOUREY SIDIBE Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
MERYL STREEP Julie & Julia
AUDREY TAUTOU Coco Before Chanel

It's awesome to see Saoirse Ronan being recognized for her terrific turn in this underrated film, but what the hell is Audrey Tautou doing there? That they included her over people like Emily Blunt and Helen Mirren is surprising.
That she got in over Abbie Cornish and Katie Jarvis is just insulting.

SUPPORTING ACTOR
ALEC BALDWIN It’s Complicated
CHRISTIAN McKAY Me and Orson Welles
ALFRED MOLINA An Education
STANLEY TUCCI The Lovely Bones
CHRISTOPH WALTZ Inglourious Basterds

Alec Baldwin over Peter Capaldi from "In the Loop" and Michael Fassbender from "Fish Tank" is too preposterous to even comment.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
ANNE-MARIE DUFF Nowhere Boy
VERA FARMIGA Up in the Air
ANNA KENDRICK Up in the Air
MO’NIQUE Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
KRISTIN SCOTT THOMAS Nowhere Boy

So it seems the British also fell for the one note performance Anna Kendirck gave and not only that but found her better than the ladies from "Inglourious Basterds" and "An Education".
Again if just last year Frieda Pinto got in for basically looking pretty was it too much to ask them to remember Rosamund Pike who not only looked beautiful but actually explored why her character was arm candy.

MUSIC
AVATAR James Horner
CRAZY HEART T-Bone Burnett, Stephen Bruton
FANTASTIC MR FOX Alexandre Desplat
SEX & DRUGS & ROCK & ROLL Chaz Jankel
UP Michael Giacchino

CINEMATOGRAPHY
AVATAR Mauro Fiore
DISTRICT 9 Trent Opaloch
THE HURT LOCKER Barry Ackroyd
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS Robert Richardson
THE ROAD Javier Aguirresarobe

No "Bright Star"...tisk tisk tisk.

EDITING
AVATAR Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua, James Cameron
DISTRICT 9 Julian Clarke
THE HURT LOCKER Bob Murawski, Chris Innis
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS Sally Menke
UP IN THE AIR Dana E. Glauberman

PRODUCTION DESIGN
AVATAR Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg, Kim Sinclair
DISTRICT 9 Philip Ivey, Guy Poltgieter
HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan
THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS Nominees TBC
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS David Wasco, Sandy Reynolds Wasco

COSTUME DESIGN
BRIGHT STAR Janet Patterson
COCO BEFORE CHANEL Catherine Leterrier
AN EDUCATION Odile Dicks-Mireaux
A SINGLE MAN Arianne Phillips
THE YOUNG VICTORIA Sandy Powell

Oh yay "Bright Star" did make it in somewhere! This category is pretty hard to argue with in terms of quality though.

SOUND
AVATAR Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson, Tony Johnson, Addison Teague
DISTRICT 9 Nominees TBC
THE HURT LOCKER Ray Beckett, Paul N. J. Ottosson, Craig Stauffer
STAR TREK Peter J. Devlin, Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer, Mark Stoeckinger, Ben Burtt
UP Tom Myers, Michael Silvers, Michael Semanick

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
AVATAR Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, Andrew R. Jones
DISTRICT 9 Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros, Matt Aitken
HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE John Richardson, Tim Burke, Tim Alexander, Nicolas Aithadi
THE HURT LOCKER Richard Stutsman
STAR TREK Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh, Burt Dalton

MAKE UP & HAIR
COCO BEFORE CHANEL Thi Thanh Tu Nguyen, Jane Milon
AN EDUCATION Lizzie Yianni Georgiou
THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS Sarah Monzani
NINE Peter ‘Swords’ King
THE YOUNG VICTORIA Jenny Shircore

Ouch for "Nine". How it went from being a surefire frontrunner to a laughing stock is one of the season's most fascinating stories.

SHORT ANIMATION
THE GRUFFALO Michael Rose, Martin Pope, Jakob Schuh, Max Lang
THE HAPPY DUCKLING Gili Dolev
MOTHER OF MANY Sally Arthur, Emma Lazenby

SHORT FILM
14 Asitha Ameresekere
I DO AIR James Bolton, Martina Amati
JADE Samm Haillay, Daniel Elliott
MIXTAPE Luti Fagbenle, Luke Snellin
OFF SEASON Jacob Jaffke, Jonathan van Tulleken

THE ORANGE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
JESSE EISENBERG
NICHOLAS HOULT
CAREY MULLIGAN
TAHAR RAHIM
KRISTEN STEWART

No Katie Jarvis in this category is bollocks! Or whatever rude expression the British would use to encompass disdain.

To Kristin, on her 49th Birthday...

I could've sworn she was older than that. Not because of her looks (that's the lovely Ms. Thomas a few days ago at the Cannes Film Festival) but because of the timeless quality she always brings to the screen.
She wasn't always in my grace, but now I can't get enough of her. May the movie gods bless her, and us, with more wonderful roles. She's the definition of a classic.

Confessions of a Shopaholic **1/2

Director: P.J. Hogan
Cast: Isla Fisher, Hugh Dancy, Krysten Ritter
John Goodman, Joan Cusack, John Lithgow, Leslie Bibb
Lynn Redgrave, Kristin Scott Thomas

Rebecca Bloomwood (Fisher) is a journalist with a problem: she is addicted to shopping. Her excessive spending is sinking her in debt and she must hide from a feared credit collector (Robert Stanton who almost steals the film) while trying to land a job in "Alette" a fashion magazine she's dreamed of working in since se was a child.
A strike of, odd, luck lands her a job in a financial magazine instead, where she becomes an overnight sensation with her savvy column that brings money issues down to Earth for the average reader (read people too lazy to care about what's going on in the world and teenagers) by using fashion/shopping metaphors.
The magazine blooms, she develops a crush on her editor Luke (Dancy) and must hide her fiscal secrets from those who admire her.
Out of the land of realism this film is not. Rebecca's optimistic irresponsibility would have her in a pretty bad situation nowadays and what for many people might be a nightmare, for this character becomes an obstacle to overcome in search of her fairy tale ending.
What's undeniable is that the movie makes for bubbly escapism that's ironically much needed in times like these.
Borrowing the snappy chick wisdom from "Sex and the City", irrationally cute fantasy sequences straight out of "Ally McBeal" and Fisher trying hard to be Reese Witherspoon in "Legally Blonde" it's obvious that nothing here is new.
Add to this some "The Devil Wears Prada" (with the delicious Scott Thomas channeling yet another version of Ms. Anna Wintour, but surprisingly less icy) and a cartoony sense of comedic timing and this will seem like time well spent.
The film suffers a bit from a feeling of haste and incompleteness, too many subplots, too little for us to care including Bibb as an "Alette" competitor and Rebecca's parents (Goodman and Cusack) trying to put some old-er age wisdom and heart into the vapidness.
And while Fisher has improved from her previous screen appearances (her comedic timing and slapstick skills are remarkable) she still lacks a little something to carry an entire movie on her back.
She's absolutely cute and you buy her (no pun intended) as someone who'd literally run from a debt collector, but she lacks presence, which becomes ironically obvious with her wardrobe.
While she narrates about how much she loves clothes and style, Fisher and consequentially Rebecca are sometimes so intimidated by Gucci, Prada, Fendi and all the others that they seem to drown in the clothes.
A particularly awkward piece of jewelry shaped as an anchor (which Rebecca wears to a convention in Miami) really does look heavy on her which proves that even if costume designer Patricia Field is a genius, she needs another genius to pull off her ideas.
Some people might feel offended by the shallowness displayed by most characters, but it's wise to think that those people would never even go see this for starters.
P.J. Hogan, an expert in chick-flicks and rom-coms, takes the wise side by turning this film into a farce that gets more outrageous by the scene (Lynn Redgrave practically has a cameo as a drunk lady who proclaims she loves Rebecca), perhaps only by stating Rebecca is a heroine, instead of judging her (like any normal person would) does he feel he can uplift people's spirits.
"Your mother and I think that if the American economy can be billions in debt and still survive, so can you" says Rebecca's father and while the theater lights are dimmed you actually believe this.

Easy Virtue **

Director: Stephan Elliott
Cast: Jessica Biel, Colin Firth, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ben Barnes
Kimberley Nixon, Katherine Parkinson, Kris Marshall

Meeting the in-laws for the first time has been a timeless reason for awkwardness, fear, hope and when it comes to plays and movies: comedy.
Larita (Biel) is a glamorous American widower who has just won a race car Grand Prix when she meets and marries, British aristocrat, John Whittaker (Barnes). The fast nature of their love-at-first-sight-relationship is such that it occurs during the opening credits.
After that it's off to meet the Whittaker family whose very British customs, especially those of matriarch Veronica (Scott Thomas) will obviously clash with Larita's upbringing and beliefs.
Based on an early play by Noël Coward, director Stephan Elliott's adaptation tries to spice things up by injecting dashes of modernity to a plot that occurs in the 1920's with results that don't work in any time setting.
Visually the film results beautiful and engaging (everything Biel wears is breathtaking) and the work of art direction and cinematography recall recent British films set during the world war eras.
The screenplay on the other side feels botched and forced, Elliot's adaptation removes what one would guess were traces of Coward's work and replaces them with all too obvious jokes delivered by the ensemble as if they were always expecting the cheesy cymbal clash used in bad stand up comedy.
The entire movie is filled with situations so vulgar that you know these characters would never have come close to being part of.
It doesn't help much that the quality fo the actors is all over the place (especially when their characters are so disperse as well) Biel, who looks gorgeous (even if the blonde color looks odd on her) can't deliver a charming joke even if her life depended on it, Barnes, who is often saved by his boyish looks, can't muster any trace of sexuality, or even masculinity, to make us understand what this allegedly wild woman saw in him (his character is also always singing which on the first occasion is rather enticing, but later becomes annoying and weird).
Firth who plays the Whittaker father, doesn't care much to even seem like he's in the film and Nixon and Parkinson, who play his daughters could've as well been played by the sisters from Disney's "Cinderella".
This all leaves the weigh on Thomas' shoulders, who like her character, has to lift up the entire ensemble into a level where you either love or hate her.
Delivering her lines with snappy confidence and droll resentment, she never falls into caricature which is more than can be asked for in a movie that expects us to laugh at a dog being crushed to death.

Just Because...

She didn't even buy a dress...

...but Meryl Streep was still queen of the ball and the Queen of Hollywood as she won a SAG award for Best Actress tonight.
She not only delivered one of her brilliantly entertaining speeches (even Angelina Jolie was laughing!), but she once again took a fascinating political stand by reminding the power of actresses on film! She referred to her fellow nominees, and those who weren't nominated, as "the girls" and that if you ask me is precisely the kind of attitude women in the acting business should have!
Meryl not only gave yet another of her incredible performances in "Doubt" (even if I wanted to love the movie not just enjoy it) but she also established her position as a superstar with "Mamma Mia!" (where she was fabulous and worth the price of the entry).
Those who have been complaining about "The Dark Knight" issues have failed to see that it was Meryl who was the actual movie hero this year who single handedly gained box office platinum and universal critics' praise.
Anyways enough about my love for the greatest living actress. The show was alright, I still dislike how comedy gets to be awarded first always as if it didn't matter, but I'm alright with that. I was OK with Kate's win and actually now thank her for spoiling both Actress races at the Oscars for us.
Because of her winning in the "wrong" category for "The Reader" now it's almost impossible to know who will get the Oscar! Will people love her more than Meryl, will Meryl gain from the Weinstein mess or will they split votes and have Anne Hathaway win?
The show was alright, the Heath win was expected, Penn's win was lovely (It had totally slipped my mind that he hadn't won for "Mystic River" here even if I was conscious Johnny Depp had won that year...) and I won't complain ever about Kate and Meryl.
Now that egregious win for "Slumdog Millionaire" was ridiculous! And judging from the look she gave Meryl agreed with me. What's ridiculous isn't that they won, but that it was the people there who voted for them! How the hell can they vote for a cast of amateurs who just sit around and do cute things? This ensemble award should've gone to the editor, G-d knows he was the one who put together their "performances".
If there is something I appreciate from SAG is their time economy, their awards mostly go straight to the point (although I'd be glad if someone explains that "Trailblazers" montage to me), I also loved the wins for "30 Rock" even if they've been on a streak, honestly does any other comedy on TV deserve it more? They're brilliant!
Now on to the fashion...huge improvement from what the actors wore last year where the French seemed to be the only one who looked for stylists.
This year, other than Meryl (but she made a joke about it so she doesn't count), Teri Hatcher's toliet paper gown and Emily Blunt's weird wet hairdo and huge arms (I love her but she looked like a fugitive from an Esther Williams picture) they all made a great effort and looked splendid.
I just loved Kristin Scott Thomas' "whatever" look, I watched with my dad and even after he said he loved the idea of an unintentional boob flash by the low cleavaged starlets he was astounded by Thomas and summed up her style in the only word you need to describe it: class.
Her low key smoking, sexy, messy hair and long jewelry did more justice to fashion than that corny clip from Shirley MacLaine's Chanel biopic.
Now on to some of my faves, observations and random notes.

I love Penélope Cruz, not a surprise for those who read my blog I know, but is it me or is she a bit meh lately? It doesn't seem like she is trying, something in her hair and face (at the Globes and here since she's looked stunning in the critics' awards) isn't as "effortless" as it's lazy.
I love the natural look as much as the next person, but natural for me was that gorgeous color she had at the 07 Oscars, this freshly washed face approach is just lazy.
Maybe with Kate out of the race as incentive she'll bump out of this rut in time for BAFTA and Oscar.

Gorgeous, but she looked hip-pier than usual.

While she's always doing this kind of huge dresses that look good on her, this was the first time I loved Christina Applegate's look. The color, the hair, the dress style and that necklace!

If I'm not wrong Diane Lane had worn almost this same Azzaro to the Oscars a few years ago.
Anne looked just ok in it which is why...

...until I find a picture of Kristin Scott Thomas (even if I also just loved Laura Linney and Marisa Tomei), Diane Lane is getting my "Best Dressed" vote of the night. The color was hot, the dress fits her perfectly and looking better than women half her age she just made anyone drool whenever she appeared on screen.
Just wow.

Now Teri Hatcher is always a great dresser, but I don't know what was wrong with the "Housewives" at SAG, both Eva Longoria Parker and Teri had these ill fitting short looking hairdos that aged them terribly and they both attracted attention to their ruffly, overdone dresses.
I didn't see Marcia Cross or Felicity Huffman, I'm guessing they weren't there but I can only imagine what Bree would've thought of Hatcher's dress which looks like it was being attacked by angry napkins.

L'absent.

She should be a lock for a Best Actress nomination tomorrow.
I don't know why did the buzz around her die so easily.
Too subtle? Enough with the French performances? Anyone?

BAFTA: or How Slumdog Got Out of Control.

...yes Freida Pinto is absolutely gorgeous. And yes, she does make yellow stand out in a rather distinctive way. And yes, she does become a key instrument to the last plot twist in "Slumdog Millionaire". And yes she does dance beautifully.
But how the hell does anyone nominate her for Best Supporting Actress?
"Slumdog Millionaire" led the British Academy Award nominations with 11, followed by "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" with the same amount.
If I had been counting on an award group to shake things up a bit, or at least turn them less boring it was BAFTA, but no, they went almost for the same stuff everyone else has been voting for and their Best Picture lineup was one film shy of the feared "Oscar five" to be.
Of course they didn't kick out the worst movie in the bunch ("Frost/Nixon") instead bumping the Batman and inserting "The Reader".
I get that they love their country and what not, but they seem to have chosen the most blah in their island.
How's this for an example: "Slumdog Millionaire" gets 11 nominations while "Happy-Go-Lucky" gets 0.
Yes, not even for the divine Sally Hawkins who couldn't be more British even if she wore one of those hats guards in Buckingham Palace wear, or dressed with the Union Jack or had been in the goddamn Spice Girls.
This means that Mike Leigh was not nominated either which I find quite strange, considering how they love him and not even that, but considering what a magnificent film "Happy-Go-Lucky" was!
Instead we have double nods for Brad Pitt, "Mamma Mia!" in for "Best British Film", Dev Patel for "Best Actor" (yes Lead...) and a nomination for Tilda Swinton even she would accept is a complete "wtf".
But wait, there must be something good in this mess...
Not really. But I have to say I'm very pleased Penélope Cruz got in for "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" and Marisa Tomei for her beautiful turn in "The Wrestler", now if Pinto beats them I'll have a stroke.
Oh and I'm happy someone finally remembered Kristin Scott Thomas for "I've Loved You So Long" (as well as the movie in Screenplay and Foreign Film), if there was any justice she'd be a lock a week from now for Best Actress.
The rest of the rather dull nominees are here.
Oh and I can't believe I stayed up so late for this rubbish.

The Kind of Quote Made for Campaigns.

"[Kristin Scott Thomas in "I've Loved You So Long"] is profoundly effective. I'm not sure I've seen a better performance in any film this decade.
- Richard Roeper on his "Performance of the Year".
To read Roeper's "Best of 2008" list go here.

I've Loved You So Long ***1/2

Director: Philippe Claudel
Cast: Kristin Scott Thomas, Elsa Zylberstein
Serge Hazanavicius, Jean-Claud Arnaud, Laurent Grévill, Frédéric Pierrot

Have you noticed how characters in French movies wear the same clothes over and over? How their homes aren't afraid of looking dusty and unkempt? How the actors, despite the fact that you know their faces, seem to completely vanish into the characters they're playing?
This lived-in-ness may not be true of all their national cinema, but in Philippe Claudel's exquisite directing debut it seems to be the rule.
An intimate tale of the fragile links between people, the film begins when Juliette Fontaine (Scott Thomas) is released from prison after a fifteen year sentence.
She sits alone having a cigarette at the airport gazing ahead into some sort of limbo with a blank expression on her face; her sister Léa (Zylberstein), as energetic and smiley as her sister is sad, arrives to pick her up and after an awkward hug they leave.
We learn that Juliette was practically forgotten about while she was in jail, the reason of her sentence remaining a complete mystery for Léa (their parents began saying they had only one daughter) and the crime itself a continuing burden for Juliette.
Now she is forced to live with her sister, her husband Luc (Hazanavicius), his mute father Paul (Arnaud) and their two adopted Vietnamese girls (Lily-Rose and Lise Ségur).
She has to look for a job, knowing that most companies won't take her because of her criminal past, meet with her parole officer Captain Fauré (Pierrot) and try to readjust to a society and a life she really has no desire of being part of.
The film mostly works around the devastating, beautiful performance by Scott Thomas who in French seems to tap into the greatest source of her acting range.
Her aristocratic features and British accent have always made her a perfect actress for roles that demand an air of superiority (her character in "The English Patient" for example has her working the Garbo in her to the maximum level).
Here the actress becomes someone else entirely, her face becomes a blank slate. Her sunken cheekbones and detached manner only hint at the kind of life she led in jail, her wrinkles become the actress' weapon and the character's punishment.
You sometimes wonder why Juliette didn't try suicide as an option if she seems to have lost her will to live, Scott Thomas makes her such a complex woman that soon you realize that she has chosen to live her life as a continuation of her prison sentence.
She holds regret, resentment and anger, but at the same time allows herself to believe she may have some hope. Her interaction with Pierrot is a thing of beauty (and one of the elements that make the film delicious despite the heaviness of the emotional weight) and as she slowly learns to love her nieces (Ségur particularly is a delight to watch) she becomes luminous.
She is at her best when she seems to not be acting at all, watching her dress up for a bar says more about Juliette than a whole speech and in one of the film's most beautiful moments she quietly enters Grandpa Paul's study and falls asleep next to him while he reads.
Zylberstein is perfect in her own way, her character gets the difficult task of balancing fear and unconditional love. You wonder why does she feel an obligation towards someone everyone else disdains.
The actress however turns this in her favor and lets it become Léa's ground, her insecurity and lack of trust towards her sister make you wonder if she in a way is guilty of some sort of emotional crime as well.
A born storyteller, with background as novelist and screenwriter, Claudel crafts an intimate universe in what results a compelling portrait of desolation and the kind of pain that changes you forever. The film relies on silences and small moments, perhaps more than it does on dialogue, which is why it's remarkable how you can perceive how well written it is.
Claudel's choices as a director are just as fascinating; he could've easily made his film a mystery by making us wonder what exactly did Juliette do to end in jail, instead he creates a series of vignettes where we see her slowly becoming alive again.
Moving at an easy, but never dull, pace, Claudel takes his time taking us places and before you realize it you might have even forgotten that there is some sort of mystery to begin with; the film doesn't seem to need a normal catharsis, it reaches one without us even noticing.
He concentrates on Juliette, sometimes the camera moves with her and views the world through her eyes as if they were watching things for the very first time, or at least under a different light.
The central themes sometimes become too obvious (a scene where Léa discusses "Crime and Punishment") and the film doesn't work well when it feels as if it's forcing itself upon us.
It's too bad considering that Scott Thomas' work is enough to guarantee that we will ask ourselves Dostoyevskian questions on our own.
By film's end we may come out wondering if it's OK to like a criminal, if the nature of the crime should make a difference to how we view them and mostly if it's possible to regain one's humanity.
What Juliette did should've remained a secret, because in the end it doesn't make much of a difference; the pain in Scott Thomas' face doesn't come close to being justified by the eventual revelation.