I didn’t go to Toronto, which means I’m playing catch-up these days. Catching up with screenings of the movies that showed there, rounding up the fall's awards contenders, trying to separate the buzz from the hype, that sort of thing.
So here are a few verdicts, and a few Oscar musings, on films I recently caught up with, or saw prior to Toronto, or watched in theaters after their release.
By the way, an indieWIRE poll of writers in Toronto led to some online discussion about who exactly deserves to be called a film critic, and whether Oscar bloggers qualify. For the record: I’m a guy who likes movies, sees a lot of them and has experience following the awards race. I’m not a movie critic. There was a time when I would have copped to being a rock critic (shudder), but that was long ago.
So I make no claims to critical authority. But I do have opinions, and here they are:
“An Education”
Verdict: Flat-out wonderful. Nick Hornby’s scripts, like his books, are funny and true and touching. (Off-topic: nobody has ever captured the way in which music works in people’s lives as well as Hornby did in his thin, casual volume “Songbook.”) Carey Mulligan is luminous and heartbreaking. The characters who start out cartoonish (Emma Thompson and Alfred Molina) don’t end up that way at all. Director Lone Scherfig’s touch is deft and her eye is keen. I am mighty impressed by “The Hurt Locker,” but so far this lovely little drama is my favorite film of the year. (Carey Mulligan photo: Kerry Brown/Sony Pictures Classics)
Oscar hopes: Mulligan not only needs to be nominated, she needs to be at or near the top of the pack. If enough voters see it, a best picture nomination ought to be assured. A supporting nod for Molina is a clear possibility. And if Hornby doesn’t get an adapted-screenplay nomination, something’s seriously wrong with the writers branch of the Academy.
“A Serious Man”
Verdict: I sat there for the first half of the movie thinking, "this is stylish, and clever, and wonderfully shot and edited ... and I hate it." See, there's something about a movie populated by grotesques that just turns me off. (Alexander Payne annoys me the same way when he's making fun of all his small-town characters in movies like "Sideways.") But I couldn't deny the craft and skill that went into "A Serious Man," and it gradually started to work on me. By the end, it was so black and so mean that all I could do was throw up my hands and surrender to it. So I walked out thinking it's pretty great even if I did hate it for a while. Hats off to the Coen Bros -- they may be cynical and black-hearted, but damn if they don't know how to make terrific movies.
Oscar hopes: With ten best-picture slots, it’s clearly in the running. (With five … not so much.) Acting:
