These are slow days for the top Oscar contenders. Most of the year’s prime competitors have already screened around town or in places like Toronto and Telluride – but meanwhile, the potentially major players “Invictus,” “Nine” and “The Lovely Bones” remain well off in the distance, ready to be unveiled only when Clint Eastwood, Rob Marshall and Peter Jackson say they’re ready.
In the last week I’ve caught up with one frontrunner, Jason Reitman’s marvelous “Up in the Air,” and a few smaller films that are considered possibilities (or longshots) in the acting categories. A roundup:
“Up in the Air”
Verdict: The problem with seeing a movie like “Up in the Air” after it’s already drawn rave reviews from almost everybody who saw it at Toronto and Telluride is that it can’t possibly live up to the inflated expectations. At least that was my worry before I saw Jason Reitman’s assured, beguiling and supremely timely film, which didn’t so much live up to the expectations as much as it just made them irrelevant. As the ultimate ramblin’ man, George Clooney simultaneously capitalizes on and deflates his public persona; as a fellow traveler, Vera Farmiga out-Clooneys Clooney. The movie isn’t as cynical as Reitman’s “Thank You for Smoking” or as studiously quirky as his “Juno”; it charms without pandering, touches without overreaching, and sustains a mood that feels true and essential in our tough times.
Oscar hopes: It certainly deserves a best-picture nomination, and Oscar voters will know it. When “Juno” was up for the top prize, Reitman also got a nod for best director; this time around, he should easily do the same. (It won’t hurt that he may be the nicest guy on the awards circuit these days.) Clooney’s an obvious best-actor contender, and on the supporting-actress front the only real question is whether the nominations will go to Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, or both of them. (I’d opt for the pitch-perfect Farmiga, though Kendrick has the flashier role.) And you might as well throw in music and a few other categories – this one is should be a major force, so much so that at the moment I’d say it’s the closest thing we’ve got to The One to Beat.
“Broken Embraces”
Verdict: Pedro Almodovar’s latest isn’t a showcase for Penelope Cruz the way “Volver” was, or a complex, virtuoso, emotionally-affecting work like “Talk to Her.” Rather, “Broken Embraces” is an Almodovar funhouse, a self-conscious love letter to cinema that’s full of twists, in-jokes and meditations on identity that never distract from the fact that mostly, the movie is a kick. Jumping back and forth over a couple of decades, it’s an occasionally touching, frequently goofy film noir that deals with a film director, his seductive leading lady and her rich, possessive lover, who also happens to be the director’s producer and financier. The movie’s last 20 minutes wrap up loose plot lines with revelations that don’t really matter, offer redemption through the art of filmmaking, and get nutty in a way that’s profoundly entertaining and satisfying.
