Wednesday Oscar Watch with Abe

Welcome to a new weekly feature here at Movies with Abe, Wednesday Oscar Watch with Abe. It’s a bit early to be able to accurately predict the eventual Oscar nominees, but around this time, plenty of likely contenders are being released. I’ll be looking every Wednesday at the awards chances for all of the films released the previous week. Until I begin my official predictions, I’ll be adding and removing contenders as their popularity, buzz, or reviews rise and fall. Chime in with your thoughts on the Oscar chances for these films in the comments section.

Capitalism: A Love Story
After picking up an Oscar in 2002 for “Bowling for Columbine,” Michael Moore got cocky and tried to enter “Fahrenheit 9/11” in competition for Best Picture. He learned his lesson when the film got completely shut out in 2004. In 2007, he submitted “Sicko” in the Best Documentary category, earned a nomination, and lost to “Taxi to the Dark Side.” I’m fairly certain that Moore will wisely submit his latest in the Best Documentary category and should be a serious contender.

The Boys are Back
This movie shouldn’t really factor into any races with the possible exception of Best Actor. Clive Owen is a past nominee, and this seems very akin to when Will Smith got nominate for “The Pursuit of Happyness” in 2006. I don’t think that Owen’s chances are terribly good, due to middling reviews and much quieter buzz. This is likely the best of Owen’s three big roles this year (the other two being “The International” and “Duplicity”), but that kind of screen presence in one year can often lead a performer to be completely forgotten. Just ask Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale in 2006.

Coco before Chanel
Anne Fontaine’s biopic probably has the best chance in the Best Actress category, though I’m not convinced it will happen. Audrey Tautou gave tremendous performances in two magnificent French movies, “Amélie” and “A Very Long Engagement,” and didn’t come close to a nomination for either one, even though both films placed in other categories. It’s hard for foreign actresses to cross over, and Penelope Cruz has been the only one to do so recently, mostly under the direction of very notable auteurs Pedro Almodovar and Woody Allen. Tautou probably won’t make the cut because the film won’t be big enough, and the film being foreign may also keep it off the list for Best Costumes and Best Art Direction. As an additional note, it is not France’s official submission in the Best Foreign Film race.

Fame
This film earned pretty poor reviews, and the only way it could have a shot at putting “Oscar-nominated” on its DVD release is if it contains any original songs. The first “Fame” won both Best Original Song and Best Original Score. Then again, the original movie also got nominated for Best Original Screenplay, and I have a slight feeling that this one isn’t going to be a contender in any race based on dialogue or plot.

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men might have a prayer if it had earned better notices or been released more widely, but I’m sure it’s out of the race at this point. Regarding this week’s less highbrow releases, you’re kidding yourself if you think Pandorum, Surrogates, Paranormal Activity, or I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell could possibly come anywhere near Oscar.

Be sure to come back next Wednesday for a look at this Friday’s theatrical releases and their Oscar chances. And remember to offer your thoughts on the chances for these films in the comments!

Movie with Abe: Brief Interview With Hideous Men

Sporadic Hints of Greatness from Two Very Different Men

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
Directed by John Krasinski
Released September 25, 2009

As if the title weren’t intriguing enough, the match-up between the author of the original material and the man who adapted it for the screen is even more flabbergasting. The late David Foster Wallace wrote a collection of short stories in 1999 that examined the male psyche through off-putting characteristics of interview subjects. Actor John Krasinski, best known for his portrayal of sarcastic cubicle-dweller Jim Halpert on “The Office,” stepped behind the camera to write and direct his first feature film. The film serves both as a fitting tribute to the life and work of a great author and the turning of a new creative page for one industry player.

The most significant liberty taken by Krasinski in his reworking of Foster’s source material is the addition of a central character to anchor the story. The study is conducted by an unnamed, unseen interviewer on the page, but in the film, graduate student Sara (Julianne Nicholson) exists to make the story more relatable. Krasinski isn’t set on making the story feel too normalized or comfortable – characters still turn and address the screen and pop out as if they’re narrating the story. The movie’s not explicitly about Sara, she’s simply there to ask questions and respond to these males so desperate to vent about their bizarre urges and untraditional desires. Sara represents the audience; she’s there to take it in and analyze. Viewers can feel like they’re allowed to feel a certain way about the events on screen by picking up on the subtle visual cues on Sara’s face.

Recognizable actors, including Christopher Meloni (“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”) and Dominic Cooper (“Mamma Mia”), parade in as Sara’s interview subjects, as if to imply that this isn’t merely a picture of particularly perverse or friendless men, but instead the everyman who could be anyone. The point is that these men aren’t necessarily physically unattractive (though some certainly are), instead that the way they visualize and objectify women turns them into despicable creatures. Only one interview, an especially moving scene in itself, strays from the film’s focus on gender interaction and depicts a man’s relation to his father’s job and the way it influenced the way he lives his life. Clearly this study is incomplete and there’s more to be gleaned from the unfettered ranting of men determined to share their inner thoughts than relates only to their sexual proclivity. Krasinski’s film runs a mere 80 minutes. This is more of a fleeting peek into the male psyche, but then again, that’s exactly what the title promises.

Following his dramatic performance in June’s “Away We Go,” Krasinski continues to prove that he’s capable of more than just indicative stares at a still camera. Here he utilizes a bare interview room to force his characters to truly open up and say what they really mean rather than retort smartly. While it’s hardly conclusive, it’s a fascinating look into the world of the unspoken that’s alternately hilarious and incredibly moving. Krasinski opts to place himself in the latter category as Sara’s ex-boyfriend, and has one stunning scene where he passionately recounts what led him to have an affair. Interspersed with the rest of the scattered interviews and midway through the film’s meditation on what should be perceived as acceptable and unacceptable, it’s the hint of a breakthrough. The film is finally getting somewhere, reaching some newfound thesis on what makes male the way they are. And then just like that, it’s over. There’s no reason these interviews needed to be so brief. A longer look could have given even more insight into a subject that’s so evidently interesting and a film that gets so frustratingly close to a real, true revelation.

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