For Your Consideration

I'm going to release this statement, no matter how irrelevant, pointless and helpless it might be: I can’t believe that Jessica Chastain, but also Emmanuelle Riva and also adding Naomi Watts, specially Marion Cotillard are losing all of the awards, and will lose the Oscar over Jennifer Lawrence and her performance as a young widow, insanely hot young widow, who does everything she can to be with a guy who happens to suffer a mental illness that makes him an unusual upfront, direct and intense man.  I’m suffering in anticipation, even though at this point being almost guaranteed that Jennifer Lawrence will win the Oscar, has it actually been anticipated for months. Unless they pull a Marion Cotillard, when she made it against all odds, in this case someone else would win but Jennifer Lawrence, ironically it could also be a French woman.

Now I will defend my statement, even if I don’t really have reasons to complain about: by now I’ve seen many films from this season, many ‘Oscar’ films, the ones who were eligible and the ones who were not, and I can make an overall view. They are all great contributions, brave performances, some way bolder than others, some way subtle than others. I really don’t want to upgrade ones in favor of the others, and so on.

So I enjoyed Silver Linings Playbook. I did. But it’s not that great, it’s exceptional because it is a good romantic comedy, it does bring a wonderful and often amusing tone to a difficult subject as it is a mental illness. A bipolar man, Pat, struggles with his decease and wants to get his life together. The young woman, Tiffany, enters in his life as he begins his recovery. She’s also fragile, unstable, after his husband’s death and we can see that through her rollercoaster of emotions, at the same time she’s as direct and open as Pat, except Pat has a much harder time accepting his own flaws, not necessarily negative ones. She’s a wonderful spirit, an upbeat and admiring example of female character in her own terms honest and liberating. Jennifer Lawrence brings life, this may sound really superficial, but it’s what makes sense, she really brings life and, like I said some other time, the unconventional tone to Tiffany. But now I want to add this line, after I read this article about the film, by Brian Donovan, where he states his reasons why Silver Linings is the best film of the year. I really can’t get some lines out of my mind: he starts by saying that Jennifer Lawrence and Lena Dunham are the people that frighten him the most in the all world. Really, in the all world?? Dude, that’s just fucked up. He couldn’t live in China, certainty not in Syria because he would shit his pants every day. And I didn’t even have to go that far, I’m sure not far away from him there’s hell, except that he doesn’t know it. When he starts resuming Silver Lining’s storyline, you know, a depressing widow, a bipolar man, he states that “Those might be the four most depressing sentences I’ve written in my life, and they’re only the first 20 minutes of the movie”. Common? Really? Like, really? To me, depressing is reading about a girl who was sold by her parents at the age of twelve and sent to prostitution, and then when she was able to return to her village at the age of thirteen she was sold again, until finally she returned again and found shelter in a women’s association where she died of HIV at the age of fourteen. Depressing is looking at the kids ‘living’ in Gaza, complaining about their smelly clothes, about their dolls smelling like gasoline all the time, being afraid that at any time they might be blown up. Or a girl studying for her exams and not being able to do it because they’re shooting at her house, she really wants to study but she can’t. A kid dying of a cancer that the health insurance denies to cover because it’s a family thing, now that’s fucking depressing. I certainly don’t want to devalue the film’s decease, a serious decease, but in Silver Linings Playbook, Pat does have a warming and welcoming family who is very patient with him, who loves him unconditionally. Pat is able to live quite peacefully if he really works on it. Common, it can’t be the most depressing twenty minutes, I mean, let’s open our minds a little, especially the guy who wrote the article, I don’t know his background but it doesn’t matter. Yes, it’s inspiring to see a story where all the characters care, are honest. But let’s not get over ourselves.

This is probably what pisses me off about Jennifer’s winning, it’s this article in particular and/or others like this one, because I have no big problems with people winning Oscars, including her. 

Ok, now that I spoken about the latter issue, I want to take a look at the other performances. Like Emmanuelle Riva’s. In Amour, it is because she’s so natural through the different stages of her character that you can’t imagine the devastating, the overwhelming magnitude of her giving. It is as demanding as you can imagine, and she makes it look all so natural that it’s just simply heartbreaking. It’s precisely because it doesn’t look like a performance that Riva’s performance is so devastating.

Like Marion Cotillard in Rust and Bone, there are so many layers to be addressed about her performance in this film. Stephanie is quite an intriguing, difficult and unapologetic woman. Even though she’s suffering so much from her accident she still is who she is, there’s no pity, but there’s that quiet suffering. It’s all about what we can discover in her eyes, in her look. What we can somehow figure it out is that she’s an imperfect human being like any other, struggling the best way she can, in her own terms. It’s a demanding role and she made it happen, brought Stephanie’s reality to us. It’s one of the rare good opportunities for Marion to bring her strengths to the screen, she had to give a lot, bare everything and she did it.

Like Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty. Like Marion Cotillard’s Stephanie, Maya is not an easy character, maybe she’s even more obscure then Stephanie. She’s certainly hard to be figured it out because there are simply not many clues. It’s surprising that she got an Oscar nomination with all the noise from the controversy. As a matter of fact, Jessica Chastain’s Maya is the last member likely to win the Oscar, even though she certainly deserves it as much as any other, but I think she brings the fewer possibilities, which leads me to Naomi Watts in The Impossible. This is a film about the human strength and resilience and about family and Naomi Watts couldn’t possibility look more motherly in this film. I was very moved and touched by this film, like she said it felt very true, and I also think that even though they focus in this one family we can see everything outside this family. We understand the luck and the ones who weren’t so lucky, the human spirit at times warm and other times ruthless. Anyway, Naomi Watts balances human being’s strength and a mother’s strength, combines all the devastation, the physical suffering, the heartbreak, with warmth and subtlety.

Melanie Lynskey, in Hello I Must be Going, has her moment. She feels refreshing because she’s this compromising pattern, she’s able of not only being easily relatable, playing any kind of part, including a grieving divorced woman, but also bringing somehow something that feels unsurpassed. And she’s endearing and charming.

Quvenzhané Wallis feels to me like another tribute to the film and its director more than the particular ‘performance’. Her character carries the film, that’s true, but so does Dwight Henry, so where the hell is he??

The annoying fact is that there are many other compelling performances out there that it is just unfair to be mentioning just these few. Keira Knightley’s performance in Anna Karenina is something we kind of expect from her, of course this is not an excuse to not give her awards, but apparently it kind of is. Léa Seydoux in Sister and Farewell, My Queen is unique. Alicia Vikander in A Royal Affair is absolutely charming. Rachel Mwanza in Rebelle, like Wallis in Beasts, carries the film beautifully. I still haven’t seen films like Middle of Nowhere, like Smashed, like Starlet, like Ginger and Rosa. Including comedian performances too, but all of these performances need to gather a certain number of aspects to be ‘Oscar’ Contenders, so let’s not tire ourselves! They should all be contenders, but it’s just hard to be…

I really can’t imagine Meryl Streep voting for Jennifer Lawrence, I really can’t. There’s also this question about being such an open category. It is because it is open that I feel like they will end up falling for the same person. And in this case, it’s Jennifer Lawrence to win. As you can see I don’t really have a big case to debate, I’m happy for anyone who wins, in fact big congratulations to Jennifer Lawrence for all the awards. But still, I can’t believe she’s winning. I can’t believe the others are losing over her.

For your consideration...or not

I can’t stop listening to this, it’s awesome!

I giggle every time she says “And I lost half my body weight, but then they never did a wide shot”. Giggles giggles.

The truth is I do picture Anne Hathaway voting in herself in the Oscar Ballot. 

Because I really can't get over this

"Zero Dark Thirty was so upsetting it seemed to go even beyond the torture debate. I began to wonder, would people have been so personally pissed off if the director of Zero Dark Thirty had been a man? Moreover, if the lead character had been played by George Clooney do you think it would have changed anything? Would the movie be less threatening? Would sticking to the status quo have enabled people to fall in line and accept it?  Would the critics have rushed to give it their top prizes to begin with but then abandon it just as fast when the water got too high?"

Here are a few other questions from Sasha Stone, at Awards Daily, she's part of the few who tries to bring the conversation about Zero Dark Thirty to its righteous tone. What she tries to bring to the surface here is really what I was trying to say in the last post about the controversy surrounding this film, is that what this controversy really does is to deflect what the issues are in first hand, what are the real issues of those people, what are the real problems of a society. My previous post is far from being a strong one, so I take women in Hollywood like Sasha Stone who are able to write balanced words, insightful sentences that I desperately want people to remember. It is what they should be reading, it is what they should be listening instead of the media crap they might listen everyday with ignorant takes and political shyness.

Let's not shut it out. 

Kathryn Bigelow should be every girl's hero. She certainly got my admiration and praise.

Maya should be forever an example of a complex, intriguing character, but especially a female one.

Zero Dark Thirty is so much more than what appears to be, but it doesn't matter at all if a film makes a different or not as long as they're here it's what matters.

I Follow Rivers

Now this song makes me cry.

Wet Hot Reunion

I saw this scene again this weekend, hilarious!

Breathing

You really feel it, don’t you? Yes, yes, understands the Orca.

It’s all in the open, right there, the flesh, the body shape, all its substance translating the delicate and breakable humanity. It’s everything but perfect.

Zero Dark Thirty

Directed by Kathryn Bigelow.

Written by Mark Boal.

 With Zero Dark Thirty I will start with what now seems to be the easy part of the conversation, or should be, or it never is, the film itself. To me, first and foremost, I think it is a really solid, consistent film. On the other hand, the other part of the conversation is the subject matter. And it is one of the reasons why I was so curious about this film. I love it, or better, I’m really intrigued by it. I’m curious because it is so demanding. Whether I have a particular stand on either sides of the many questions about this world, it is really intriguing how the world develops around us. How we are just in this little bubble and there are some many other dangerous, crazy, outrageous bubbles. It makes me aware and question many things; it gives me perspectives at different matters. And it is mostly a fucked situation, ultimately a fucked up world. I wished I was more political, I wished I knew more. Oh, yes, I am talking about terrorism.

The film starts at the day eleven of September 2001. This is clearly the most American film you could get, but on its reverse, it is actually quite the contrary, it is a matter that crosses continents and should reach most of us and it does reach most of us. But I sure believe it touches the American citizen in a whole different level.

A lot of things were going through my mind while watching the increasingly neurotic, conflicting and dangerous world of those who were and are involved in the manhunt of Al-Qaeda people. 

“Even the context is pro-torture”, some defend.  “The film creates the strong impression that the enhanced interrogation techniques that were part of our former detention and interrogation program were the key to finding Bin Ladin.” I must emphasize how opposite were and are my thoughts towards these people’s beliefs. Here’s what’s been so clear to me and that is why I found the whole controversy, the continuing persecution of the film so unfair, even appalling. By showing torture towards members of Al-Qaeda, Bigelow and Boal are able to achieve various points. First of all, it is just hard to watch, it’s horrifying, it’s ultimately utterly uncomfortable. It doesn’t even crosses my mind this should be done, because not only is inhuman, it could instead lead to endless misleading, because the tortured men would say whatever they needed to say so they would stop the punishment, even if it wasn’t true. Other reasons why this film is so clear to me how it isn’t pro torture is when the agents decide to mislead one of their terrorists, with a nice meal outside in the open, giving him even a cigar; this is when he actually gives the crucial information. And he was not being crucified for it, even though he was deprived from food and sleep and even if he was still threatened they would take him back to torture. And if you read Michael Moore’s letter in defense of the film he also suggests that the audience actually feels sorry for the terrorists, the evil guys indeed. It does make sense. Even the male character, Dan, the guy torturing the Al-Qaeda members, quits his job. But indeed, they did torture people and they did got information from it, some of it was right, but I would say the majority wasn’t. Mostly, they couldn’t know. And let’s also mention that they eventually stop the torture.

I must say I absolutely loved, I thought it was the most accomplished thirty minutes I’ve seen in film this year, from the moment the team receives the call to go into the infamous Bin Laden compound. From the moment Maya gets the call the mission will follow through that night, it’s such a solid, intriguing, nerve wrecking moment. My hurt was pumping, not with excitement but suspense and terror, even though we all know the outcome. To me, I found so interesting and ultimately good how they told this story. And I also feel like it is pretty accurate. Maya is so cold. The entire approach it’s cold. And that’s exactly how I feel about the whole thing. That’s how I felt the moment they get Bin Laden. It’s just harsh. Not for once I was thinking about revenge or justice. And yes I’m not American. But I was more concerned about the whole world of terrorism. What I was really thinking, CONTRARY to those who are slamming the film for being pro torture and saying that makes people think that torture made them get Bin Laden, was how this world works, I was thinking the number of people involved, thinking about the ones who were in the field looking for that dude, the courier in the cell phone, the assistant girl who finds some crucial files lost randomly somewhere in Washington, it’s the number of circumstances, and resistance and sometimes luck that makes things go.

When the SEAL team was entering the compound, I was thinking I was probably sleeping deeply, in my comfortable bed, while the team was going in the helicopters and do their work and kill those people. Obviously, we have to have different feelings from an American citizen, but like my friend watching the film with me, we both remember vividly the entire September 11 day. We remember how we felted about it, I confessed about the really strange and frightening feeling when I was and I am in the presence of Arabic people. I just can’t control it.

Even if it is fiction, even if this version isn’t exactly what happened there, this film not only asks a lot of questions it also brings, as we could all ‘hear’, questions of where a film stands in the society, what’s his place. A film is a fiction and its purpose it’s to entertain, there has to be a structure so it entertains us.

I want to reach for every word of praise for Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal’s work and their team into Zero Dark Thirty. I want to praise their tenacity, their bravery, their incredible and admiring integrity. I want to not only praise but thank them for bringing this unique, cold hearted, inspiring woman as the protagonist we don’t know. Maya isn’t perfect, Maya doesn’t want you to care about her, because she doesn’t care much about her either, she cares about completing her mission. She was never afraid of confronting her superiors, mainly men. She clearly didn’t care if everyone thought she was a pain in the ass, she didn’t care if people didn’t like her. This is not only a rarely of a character, but an even rarity of a female character. And like my friend said, Jessica Chastain was the right choice because she seems to be the kind of actress that works just greatly doing a stubborn, tough cold hearted woman but also playing a character of…everyone else. I think you can see that in the twenty films she had last year.

One of the obvious conclusions is that the controversy will go on for a long period of time, even though the fever ia starting to slow down. But I do hope that when people look back, and read “tweets”, reviews, letters, calling Bigelow a fascist, that her film is a crime, they will immediately think how ridiculous people are. Like how ridiculous was reading many tweets with the same expression “There’s a reason why it is called the white house”, right before the election period, right before Barack Obama was re-elected. It’s primarily a reminder that sometimes when people focus on the wrong side of the debates, when people wrongly deviate themselves from what they really should be focusing on, like when Bill Clinton was trying to ‘catch’ Bin Laden back in 98 but the media and ‘others’, were instead too invested in his privacy.

I had a terrible nightmare long before I saw Zero Dark Thirty, basically everyone died in the most terrifying ways. Now I dream again, but because of this unsettling controversy. I can’t stop thinking how ridiculous this has been, I don’t think I added that much but I’m relieved I said what I wanted to say.

Who Did That To You

Consider

Read more here.

Now that I finally saw the film, the more I read about Zero Dark Thirty's controversy the more I think the complete opposite of what they are arguing against. So, my main reaction has been this:

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?

And then I desperately want you to see the film:

PLEASE, WATCH THE FILM ZERO DARK THIRTY.

I'm learning that at some point, Oscar voters 'condemned' the film. At this point, I don't know how the film made it into the Best Picture at all.

Why does it feel like people always end up doing the exact opposite of what they should be doing, like glorifying, praising? Especially in Politics. Why there are always the ones who want to shut it out, who want to divert what seems so right in front of us all, as a unique moment of clarity, of understanding, and especially, a moment that brings an incredible opportunity for debate. Debate, not condemnation, denial and deflection.

Why does it seem so clear that this is the great film that combines an historic moment, a film that is able to bring a debate for the decades to come, an important film, but instead, people are condemning in the most outrageous way? It's what they're trying to do, blind people, through politics? Because let's not forget that most of all, Zero Dark Thirty is a really good, solid and consistent piece of work. It's a very entertaining work of fiction.

Naomi Wolf, an author and activist, compared Bigelow to Leni Riefensthal. For those who aren't familiar with the name, she was the 'personal' director of Adolf Hitler, the filmmaker of Nazi propaganda, and for those of you who also don't know, she was a fucking great filmmaker. Leni Riefensthal was one of the great filmmakers of her time, an extremely intelligent woman. Have you seen Triumph of the Will? I saw the majority of the film and it's a great film. And I'm not being fascist am I? I'm looking at things with the artistic take that I should. Was that Naomi Wolf's intention? Did she saw Leni’s work? It should be a great compliment. It should be, but I know what she meant. 

And now it also includes a Senate investigation into the Zero Dark Thirty team, to Kathryn Bigelow.

This is so crazy, so spooky, like Bigelow says, but you know what, it is also so natural, so political, so Washington.

For the Washington people and others around the world really, I say that they should find Dictionaries of Cinema, Books, Essays that explain what it is fiction, what it is a film, what it means when a film says that it's 'inspired by true events'. It's inspired, but it is still fiction. It may be based on real events, but a film as to have a structure so it entertains. It is based in real events but then it becomes a story of its own, a two and a half hour story. It is not reality, it is fiction. Like everyone else in this world with an opinion, Zero Dark Thirty might bring another one. Actually, the film doesn’t bring much of an opinion as it shows clarity through a thorough study of the last ten years into to what have likely happened.

So the question is that Academy Members don't really know the meaning of cinema. They don't actually know what they're doing there, this is the only conclusion I can take. Even for a mere outsider, who happens to know just a little about films can see this things clear, it really does seem this clear to me. It is because the film brings a great storytelling that makes us be so raved about it, that should lead us to our own thoughts and interpretations. In many ways, Zero Dark Thirty has been that successful. But many aren't necessarily interpreting; they're slamming it and not giving it a change to breath.

OSCAR BOYCOTT?

This is the most illogical thing I can think of, in Oscars and film recent history. Is United States China? Are there in China or something?

Everything about this story is unbelievable, but that's what politics are at most times, un-fucking-believable.

Common, let's think it over shall we?

A (false) propaganda torture?

Since when a film is this crushed just because it might be inaccurate or misleading? 

Let's think of other subjects for once. Let's think of other cases like Child Abuse, like other Political illegalities. Every time a film comes and defies the morals of what's right, of what's acceptable, of what's accurate or not, it is in our own decision to take whatever direction we want. It's our choice, we have the freedom to say and think whatever we think of them. It's a work of fiction. It's part of the so called seventh art. 
Are films about political controversies going to end up in Washington every time they are made? I'm not very aware of that. Is it been this way before? Were there other examples? Is there Senate Investigations every time there is a film like this one? I mean, there are not many films like this one. So, why is this one so special? Are they afraid others filmmakers will get inspired by Bigelow's brave and unprecedented search for truth and honesty? I didn't see them INVESTIGATING and paying any attention to the WOMEN'S RAPE IN THE MILITARY. Instead, they covered it for years and they would keep doing it if there weren't outspoken people who start being finally heard.

My take is that the film community should advocate more for Kathryn Bigelow, and ultimately so should everyone else. But my guess is that once the subject gets trickier people go quieter or they might be afraid that they’re defending torture!

I will talk a little bit more of Zero Dark Thirty in my review.

Why is this weird?!

Jennifer in SNL

Are you excited? I am excited!

I just hope people won't start overrating her, and saying negative 

stuff just because she's everywhere these days...

Sundance 2013

"I'M FIFTY"

I saw this live, I saw this live, I saw this live, I saw this live.

Are you still thinking about it? I am still thinking about it!

I mean, she said, "I could make out with Marion Cotillard and smack Daniel Craig on the bottom".
This speech reach all different sorts of levels...it was all sort of things...and I'm still thinking about it.

Also, of course, Amy Poehler didn't won her award. Here's my question, when will she be? Here's my thought: She will be one of these days. She still has a long career, full of great work, she's young and she will bring much more to us, she will be amusing us for some really long time.

Also loved this moment! One of my favorites.

Bill Clinton presenting Lincoln.

Golden Globes...

So The Golden Globes fuck fest!

Amy: "I haven't really been following the controversy over 'Zero Dark Thirty,' but when it comes to torture, I trust the lady who spent three years married to James Cameron."

It wasn’t so bad as we all probably predicted was it? I mean, I don’t know if it was because of my own viewing, in this really low quality live stream, but it didn’t really felt that bad, or maybe is just all the same shit! Obviously there was awkwardness, failness (I thought Tony Mendez was going to faint presenting his own Argo!). 

Adele: "I was not expecting this... thank you so much for letting me be a part of your world for a night. I've been pissing myself laughing.”

I can’t help but mention something that stands out in this night. Off course I didn’t, I couldn’t know what was going to happen, but what I was really, especially looking forward in this night was Jodie Foster’s Career Speech, sort of.  So Robert Downey Jr. presents her. The montage happens, between baby Jodie, to old Jodie, back to baby blond Jodie, back to Nell Jodie, back to Little Man Tate Jodie. And then she brings herself to the stage and starts talking. And then, you know, she keeps talking and talking. And then, Jesus fuck, what’s happening? Good god, this is weird, this is beautiful, this is oh so awkward, shit, is she really saying what she’s saying? She’s fired up, she’s really, fiercely fired up and there’s really no stop to it. And then, it just keeps being revealing. It just keeps being aggressively revealing, and then, suddenly, you realize she might not do any other acting role, you might not see her perform ever again in front of a screen. I say might, because, really, who knows? Is this even possible? You know, it actually makes a lot of sense. Like she said, she’s been in the business for forty seven years. That’s a really long time, isn’t it? And she’s fifty years old. Like she CLEARLY said. Oh and the way she does it, the way she does it. She’s brave, she just puts out there what she thinks and how she is, and her reasons are loud and clear. She went on for over five minutes. And in these five minutes she resumed pretty much everything. Until this night she was a really private person, and from this night, she will continue to be a really private person. I’m looking forward to the reactions in general. It’s a huge heartache for me and I’m sure for a lot of other people in the world who won’t be seeing Jodie Foster in a big screen again. It feels weird, it feel unreal. But there’s also a good side: “I will continue to tell stories. To move people by being moved.”

Nonetheless, this truly gives for a:

But there are plenty of jokes from Tina and Amy you can find on tumblr, maybe I'll get back to it later...

"THANK YOU...GOOD NIGHT...I'M GOING HOME WITH JODIE FOSTER."

Quoting

Sometimes I waste a crazy ridiculous amount of time in the internet, but sometimes I read amusing words and I like them...

"Just a reminder that even though Anne Hathaway cut off her hair on film, Marion cut off her legs for Rust and Bone and they grew back on her own without medicine so she should be rewarded, I’m just saying." 

Said someone on the Internet.

And then I can always do this.

Quvenzhané

Quvenzhané Wallis, the youngest actor nominated for a Leading Role in Oscar History.

She was six years old when she filmed:

Interviewer: How was it like working with Benh?

Wallis: Really fun. Sometimes he made me tired and made me angry and made me sad.
Interviewer: Did you get mad at him?
Wallis: (Pretends to cry) Yeah, sometimes. Benh, you said one more time and then you made me do it five times! When are you gonna say one time and mean it?  And then he was forcing me to touch a pig. And I was like "No!" and it was a big pig.

Silver Linings Playbook

Written and Directed by David O. Russell.

This is confusing. I wished I liked you more and I want to like you more. Deep down, I do admire you. I liked you. I enjoyed you a lot. But at the same time, I didn’t want to be fooled by your charms, by your movements, by your amusing words. But still, I want to find you in the middle. That’s what I’m hoping for. Getting to know you better and accept your story and just mainly work my personal issues towards some aspects that define you.

David O. Russell tells us a story about looking at life with a more positive attitude, even when there are technical forces working against it. First of all, this is a great movie. It is a great romantic dramedy. It’s important that not every difficult situation in life as to be dealt with a heavy, tense and sometimes towards the depressing approach. Obviously it’s probably not easy to make a film about child abuse and be a light, comic approach. Trying, I’m can’t picture it right now. But these stories more often than not tend to be either tense, heavy, or on the contrary, just ridiculed. Nonetheless, with a heavy or light approach what will matter at the end are the intricacies of the storytelling, the combination of reality and fiction. Silver Linings Playbook is a fucking romantic comedy, which is also a drama, and (because) it is an insightful story. That’s what makes the film a good film, that’s what makes the film one of the best films of the year for the audience, that’s what gives the actors an opportunity to bring something of a hybrid fest of emotional amusement, of wit and thoughtfulness. And let me tell you, everything is in that paper, in the screenplay he wrote. Russell manages to bring his story to the screen and as he does that, he takes consideration for every particular move. He creates this really lively and amusing rhythm, the sound goes along with an equally exciting tone. I understand the negative critics towards it, though, and like I said earlier, it is all in the screenplay. But it is a good film. We may be mad the way he charms its way towards us, I may be mad that the girl does everything to be with the man to the point is ridiculous, but I won’t be mad just because other opinions suggest overrating. It is what it is and it is what you feel like it is. This film wins because he charms its way towards us. I think people should see a film like The Sessions, because I think it does everything what Silver Linings wants to do, but does it right!

My main issue with Silver Linings is that I don’t like that the girl finds in the man the best thing that ever happened to her. Like in many other cases, there is not much of a big reason, except for the usual ones. Sometimes there is even none. But it can’t stop from bothering one person, including even the one who falls for it. But this isn’t the only reason; it is not like I’m terribly jealous of the guy. There are a few details that make me be defensive and cautious to not be fooled by. But I have a great will to work my issues with this film, because I think it deserves it, for it’s willing to bring positivity.

Jennifer Lawrence is a good fit for Tiffany and it is not. She’s a good fit because she’s a gorgeous, deadly, attractive woman. Because she may be undeniably attractive but she can bring depth, and that depth becomes believable. After reading the screenplay I understand the praise she’s receiving for her performance, at least I want to, now when it comes to being recognized by the academy it just becomes a different set of grounds and I won’t even go there because it breaks all the meaning and it is unnecessary. She brings something more; I believe she brings the unconventional to Tiffany, what makes her different. I have no idea how would Tiffany play with other actresses, it would certainly be interesting, but Jennifer is not everyone.  But she’s too attractive, like I said, but too young for this role. It came close to not work at all for me (but I know my name and how could I not be amused by her?). It should have been someone else, no matter how much I appreciate Lawrence. Even though I confess now is hard to picture someone else. The characters from Silver Linings are interesting, and Pat, the protagonist, becomes undeniably intriguing and charming because Russell brought a set of irresistible forces towards him: he’s unconventional, he is also vulnerable and off course he does something altruist for a woman. He gets all the credits, when really, the girl did pretty much everything, including getting them together.  

And then finally, there’s the silver lining, which somehow let me a bit inconsolable. But what other ending there would be for Silver Linings? Many times happy endings bother me. I would like to make a difference between a positive ending and a happy ending, because this film has both. A positive ending tells us that there’s a possibility, a possibility of doing good things, of going into right directions, it brings a possibility under whatever distinct circumstances. A happy ending to me is the girl getting the boy, the boy getting the girl and you know the rest. Merely, I’m being a hypocrite because I like movies and sometimes I don’t like happy endings, which shouldn’t make sense. But it is what it is. And in this case, people won’t care, like the characters suggest, life is hard as it is, so why not just enjoy it? Why make it complex (even though things are usually more complex)?

Bigelow

Melissa Silverstein: "Everyone is going to have thoughts on why Bigelow was left out.  Is it the fact that she made a movie that has caused a lot of controversy and conversation including from many liberal folks, and that the controversy itself became the conversation rather than the accomplishment of the film?  Is it because people just don't like the movie?  Is it because the subject matters is still so recent and so raw?  Is it because there was a sexist conspiracy to undermine her abilities as a director? [...] Is there anything to the fact that she won the Oscar for The Hurt Locker a movie that didn't star a single woman, but when she makes a movie that has a female leading character she gets snubbed? [...] If I was a conspiracy theorist I would say that these sexist bastards feel that they have done their duty and let a woman in the club and now they are done.  And going even further they would probably be thinking that there was NO FUCKING WAY they were going to let a woman in twice, even for a nomination.  They want to shut down this thought that women could make films worthy of getting a best director nomination. "

"I am guessing that now we will be hearing a lot more from Mark Boal since he got a screenplay nomination and a lot less from Kathryn Bigelow since she did not get a best director nomination, and I implore the people strategizing at this moment to keep putting her out as part of the conversation because it is vital that we hear a woman's voice in this process."

Read the entire article from Women and Hollywood here.

I only noticed this absence some time later. It's outrageous. I'm kidding. I haven't even seen the film. Though on a serious note, I died. This is the only thing I want to mention about the The Academy nominations. 

Ultimately, shit a brick and fuck me with it, kind of fuck.

Carol, the screen adaptation

Sometimes, often rarely, a day comes out of a hundred, that feels refreshing. Sometimes you read a book, and the story you read, out of the hundred stories you’ve been listening throughout the year becomes part of you because it’s sort of an extension of yourself. It’s that story you wished to read, the story you want to read all over again, that is speaking to you. But yet, you don’t know the story, so you read it, you enjoy more and more, chapter by chapter, you giggle amused, you smile with shyness, you begin to know these people, you begin to understand the meaningful story that develops before your eyes, until the last words, it doesn’t fail to break your heart, only to surprise you at the end.

Carol is one of the two books being adapted to the screen this year that I'm paying close attention and wanted to share with you. The other one is Jonathan Tropper's, "This is Where I Leave You".

(The story)

Therese is working in a toy store, the Frankerberg’s, for the Christmas period. She’s a nineteen years old New Yorker aspiring to be a stage designer who’s stuck in a period of stillness; she has a friend who believes will be married to her one day, but she doesn’t feel any love for him. People still treat her as this young fragile girl, absent of any parental guideness. Her father died when she was a kid and she and her mother have long departed from each other, putting an end to their relationship. People don’t seem to mean much to her, or at least don’t alter her in any way. It’s like she’s sleepy, perpetually, and something will have to wake her up sometime, sooner or later. One day at the toy store as she’s working, right at the pick of a rush hour, she glances at this beautiful woman’s eyes and she realizes she can’t take her eyes off of her. This magnificent looking woman brought something incredibly emotional, pure attraction out of her, that suddenly that’s all it takes for Therese to wake up. Almost suffocated by this strong feelings of affection, she sends the woman a Christmas card, and this is how their story begins.

I love this story for many reasons, one them is how clearly Highsmith creates these two opposing characters with Therese and Carol. When a writer nails this aspect of the storytelling it becomes a stronger compelling story. It’s in Therese’s young life and first love experience opposed to Carol’s, who is just going through her divorce. It is the duality that she creates between these two very strong women. In other lines, Highsmith also brings a very accurate portrait of the lesbian history, in particular, how many times women would lose their children in a divorce battle, for being considered homosexuals, in a time long before the studies would prove how all the reasons behind those decisions were wrong. It is also a road trip through America, another popular picture from the fifties. The story it's always so incredibly balanced, reliable and believable. I could be talking much more about the book but I choose not to, reading it is the true treat. I love this book.

With book adaptations we often prefer them in paper. We also tend to become the directors of the film, wanting to have done it in a certain way, with different people. But the fact is that there are books that really aren’t good material for the screen, I would say the most basic and recent example in the Twilight series. Sometimes it’s just better to stay in paper. Over the past few years, that’s a series of books I would say it was a really bad (also financially good) idea for a screen adaption. The films were all seriously slashed for some reason. The Night Watch is another adaptation I prefer to experience only in paper. But other times it works, a lot of times actually. Carol, to me, it actually works in my mind to the screen. I think it might gather the elements for a good screen storytelling. It makes me think that it can only become one of my favorite films of next year or maybe more. And Cate Blanchett playing Carol is probably a dream come true, I believe it’s the perfect choice. I couldn’t possibly think of a better one. She easily becomes Carol in my mind. Then Mia Wasikowska is also a marvelous interpretation of Therese, the protagonist of this story. But I feel rather timid when I think that the adaptation is on its way. I don’t even want to mention it often because it is still early, I’m afraid it will be postponed; the production may fail, casting changes could happen and so on; because I really hope this to go all the way. Nonetheless, I’ll be paying close attention.