End of 2013: Favourite Performances of 2013 - Ladies First!

I feel like I always say this at the end of the year but 2013 was a great year for films. Even though it took me two more months to catch up with it, with 70 films watched and Oscars done, I am finally going to call it done! Like last year, that comes up with End of the year lists but unlike last year, I am going to do them in reverse order starting with this list of my favourite female performances of last year. Probably not as rich as last year but this year offered many good ones to us to choose from. Theses are 10 that I liked the most, that I noticed more and have stuck with me more.

First, Honourable mentions: Amy Adams for American Hustle, Amy Acker for Much Ado about Nothing, June Squibb for Nebraska and special mention for Deshpande Aunty in The Lunchbox who we don't even see but she is such a quintessential character in our society that I loved her presence.

Berenice Bejo for The Past: I will have much more to say on this film a bit later but this films works as much as it does for me because of host of amazing performances from everyone involved. Reason Bejo stands out for me is because her character is at the center of everything. She is the reason previous wife of the guy she wants to marry is in the hospital which is why her teenager daughter and his son throw fits at her. You see that burden weighing on her in every scene, you see that guilt in her eyes all the time and that makes this film so much better(or worse!).

Adele Exarchopoulos for Blue is the Warmest Colour: I saw Blue much later than many of my peers. By then, there were many singing praises of her acting but my first impression wasn't in line with them. To me, her performance felt like no performance at all. Then, I always felt like she is just being there and people feel she is so natural. When I finally saw it, I realized she does so much more than just being there. And her being so natural in those moments is probably her biggest strength, especially when cameramen is so close to you all the time that you could slap him hard on the face and he won't be able to do anything.

Greta Gerwig for Frances Ha: The fact that not only I actually really liked this movie but how much I adored Gerwig's performance in it has got to be the biggest surprise for me this year. Frances is a small kid in grown-ups body. She is oblivious to any social norms or responsibilities any person her age is usually bogged down under. Just this one thing could easily have made Frances an obnoxious, insufferable brat who thinks she is too good for all this nonsense. But Gerwig does an excellent job of making her endearing, personable and even relatable despite all her flaws. To me, she is leaving that life which most of us really want to but can't.

Cate Blanchett for Blue Jasmine: I think Natalie Portman must be the last actress to dominate awards season the way Blanchett did this season. She must have won every single award that is humanely possible for an actress to win for this role and all for a very good reason. Blanchett is one of those actresses who has always been good in any role she is given but she is absolutely on fire in every scene of Blue Jasmine. Not only her character has similarities to Blanche DuBois, she manages to stand toe-to-toe with one of the best performances of all time.

Veerle Baetens for The Broken Circle Breakdown: Even though there is word breakdown in title of this film, I am not sure I was ready for what I saw. Both lead characters of this film go through a lot but it's Baeten's Elise that goes through biggest transformation starting from a firecracker of tattoo artists to someone who is devoid of any hope or desires. I certainly did not expect it to go where it did till last minute but, as surprising as it was, it was her performance that took me there. It was first time I ever saw her and don't even know how to pronounce her name but she certainly has my attention now.

Julia Roberts for August: Osage County: August: Osage County is one of the films I liked way more than I expected to this year and majority of its credit goes to its script and performances. If it wasn't so hateful that all I wanted was to run as far away from it as possible, it might have made into my favourite films of this year. There is a whole bunch of performances I could have picked from this film including Meryl Streep and I really like Julianne Nicholson as well. Some of them might even be better than Roberts, but the only reason I am picking her over everyone else here is because I have never seen Julia Roberts in a performance like this before.

Nirmat Kaur for The Lunchbox: Whenever I make any kind of 'Best of' lists, I feel like I have to have a spot for Bollywood on them. Let me assure you, this is not that spot. Nirmat Kaur, like Sridevi Last year, is here purely based on her craft at display in another movie I will have more to say soon - The Lunchbox. I don't remember seeing her anywhere else and that probably works to her advantage as this is such a simple, non-glamorous role. Nirmat Kaur brings a lot of depth and honesty to this role and, like Adele, looks so natural while doing so that it is hard to imagine she is putting up a performance.

Sandra Bullock for Gravity: Gravity was a spectacle to behold. It remains to be one of the two or three films that made me think that 3D can be useful somewhere than just moneymaking machine for studios. Obviously, Lubezki's work with camera and Cuaron's direction, for which both deservedly won their Oscars, deserves much of praise for this but I kept on thinking that Bullock's equally courageous work somewhere took a backseat to them. Maybe Blanchett's clean sweep also has something to do with this as in any other year, she easily could have gone home with that statuette but I really liked Bullock's work as well.

Lea Seydoux for Blue is the Warmest Colour: These next two performances are supporting turns, sort of companion pieces that makes their leads, as good as they are and they certainly are great as both have featured in this list earlier, even better. Blue hs always been in the news since its premiere at cannes and as overshadowing sexuality of this film has been, what makes it work is brilliant understated and at the same time uninhibited performances by both its leads. Adele is more understated though she has many momemts where she lets her emotions flow. Seydoux is exactly opposite - as audacious, as extrovert as she is, her understated moments like one in the cafe near the end are what make her performance noteworthy.

Sally Hawkins for Blue Jasmine: As good as Blanchett is in this role, she probably would not have been if not for Sally Hawkins holding her own in every single scene and I am so happy to see her acknowledge that. Hawkins' performance in Blue Jasmine is probably 'the' definition of supporting turn. She makes every scene better just by being in it, and she is in almost every damn scene, but she never becomes the centerpiece of it. She never diverts your attention from where you are supposed to look at but somehow always manages to accentuate it. Those are the best kind of roles!

Keep your eyes and feeds open people! Men shall follow soon... and by soon I mean this weekend.

And the Oscar Goes to...

It is that time of the year again!! First of all, I should get one too for my commitment to this damn show because I woke up at 5AM to watch it. With last night's Oscar, this is time to officially wrap-up 2013 and look forward to everything else. As I said in the previous Warp-up post, February was quite a busy month for me. It largely kept me away from this blog as well. So I was absent from all the predictions and other games prior to the Oscars. But after skipping on so called mandatory post on those predictions, I am not skipping the second mandatory post. As always, I am only concentrating on the categories that I have some knowledge of. I can't even differentiate Sound Mixing from Sound Editing. So I will keep my expert opinion on that category to myself. So, only top 8, animated and foreign film. Here is the list the winners and my brief thoughts on these categories.

Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave

It was going to be a two-horse race between 12 Years a Slave and Gravity and that tug of war went on till the last minute. Some people tried to introduce American Hustle into the picture but I didn't even want to think of that as a possibility. There were equal number of people leaning either way. And even I often thought of going the other way many times but for no other reason than it was winning all its precursors, I stayed in 12 Years camp and I am glad to see it being rewarded here.

 

Best Director: Alfosnso Cuaron for Gravity

Cuaron had this in bag for a long time. He had won almost every award there was before for him to win. Only thing that could have gotten in his way would have been 12 Years a Slave taking home the big one and people might want to go with McQueen in this one as well. But he never really threatened Cuaron. Of the two films, I like 12 Years better but it has got nothing on Cuaron. He, Bullock and Lubezki made Gravity a spectacle that it is and deserve every applause get for it. Period.

Best Actress in Lead Role: Cate Blanchett for Blue Jasmine

When I wrote about Oscar nominations, I said that I am really happy to see Amy Adams getting nominated in this category but I am not even sure why because Blanchett had her name carved on it since then. She took an early lead, kept the momentum going and as good as all the other nominees were when she crossed that end line, no one else was even in eye sight. Some thought her name being dragged into Woody Allen fiasco might hurt her chances but apparently it didn't.

Best Actor In Lead Role: Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club

Once again a movie that I wasn't the biggest fan of but McConaughey's performance certainly was worthy. And we all know that this was not only for his performance in any one movie. This was for McConnaisance that I really hope continues in 2014 as well. After all, he is doing a Christopher Nolan film next year. DiCaprio loosing might have broken many hearts but if precursors were any indication, it was McConaughey's award to lose.

Best Actress in Supporting Role: Lupita Nyong'o for 12 Years a Slave.

I feel really bad that I am happier for Lawrence loosing than Nyong'o winning but I cannot take anything away from that girl. Not only was that an incredible performance for any seasoned actress, let alone for someone facing the camera for the first time in their life, it was even better, genuine and heartfelt acceptance speech. And to Lawrence's credit, she looked genuinely happy and appreciative for her fellow nominee.

Best Actor In Supporting Role: Jared Leto for Dallas Buyers Club

I was surprisingly uninterested in this award. I don't have anything against any of the nominees in particular. I even quite like some of them - Barkhad Abdi for instance but I didn't have a favourite here either. Maybe it was the fact that I was rather indifferent to most of these performances or maybe it was the fact that it was rather obvious that Leto was going to win. At least, they had it done with the very first thing in ceremony.

Original Screenplay: Spike Jonze for Her

I had my doubts about Her from start. From what I do in real life, I had a hunch that my thoughts would be its a rather farfetched story. Forget about coming out with that impression, I did not even think so while watching the film and long time after watching this. And Jonze did that. Joaquin Pheonix, Scarlett Johansson and Amy Adams as well but mostly Spike Jonze. Obviously, he was favourite to win here but that doesn't make it any less deserving, does it?

Adapted Screenplay: John Ridley for 12 Years a Slave

This was my favourite category in all the Oscars. All 5 nominated scripts were actually great and really deserved to be there. So anyone of them winning would have been a good choice by me. But by the same logic that gave Argo it's win last year(If it is to win Best Film, it has to win at least one of the other major awards. All the other possible contenders were locks for someone else. So it has to win here.), 12 Years was a frontrunner this year.

Animated Feature: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee and for Frozen

If anyone ever thought there was even remote chance of any other film winning this award, you really should not be predicting Oscars. I haven't seen two of the nominees(and I really wish I had seen The Wind Rises, if nothing else for Miyazaki) but what probably made this decision much, much easier for me was that other two I had seen were quite terrible. I mean, I am not the biggest fan of Frozen but in comparison to The Croods and Despicable Me 2, it was a masterpiece.

Foreign Language: Paolo Sorrentino for The Great Beauty(Italy)

Well, to many people that wasn't a surprise at all. But like I did with Best Picture winner, I chose my horse early and kept it till the end even when a lot of people started predicting this The Great Beauty to be the ultimate winner. I am not complaining about it since I have not seen it since but I certainly would have been much happier if The Hunt had won.

So, as expected, Gravity pretty much swept all the technical awards and went home with 7 Oscars. 12 Years won the big ones and I do not have numbers at hand but I am pretty sure you would have to go way back to see a Best Picture winner with just 3 Oscars. I remember something on similar lines last year. Overall, they were pretty predictable. Most unpredictable thing that happened over the whole night was Ellen DeGeneres ordering pizza. So...yeah, exactly! American Hustle went home empty handed(Mean I know but YAAY!!) and so did Wolf. But you know who has more Oscars than 6 of the Best Picture nominees, combined? The Great Gatsby! Make whatever you can of this.

I will see you next with my End of 2013 lists starting with my favourite female performances.

Catching up with 2013 Mini Reviews: Part II

Gravity(2013): I know I am very late to the party. First of all, it got here couple of weeks late and then I saw it almost a month after it did. Only thing is, I am really glad that I got to see it on the biggest possible screen because it is totally worth it. Alfoanso Cuaron’s latest is one of the best visual masterpieces I have seen and Emmanuel Lubezki deserves every credit for it. I am not a big fan of 3D but after Hugo(2011), this is first film that made me think that it can be used to good effect.

Set in space, Dr. Ryan Stone, on her first ever space mission, and Matt Kowalski, on his last, are on a small mission to service Hubble. However things soon go south as debris from Russian missile strike causes a chain reaction and puts everything in danger. Hands down favourite thing about this film is the kind of atmosphere Cuaron creates around us. With the help of amazing camera movements assisted by some quality editing, Cuaron manages to get viewers into the head of Dr. Stone, sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively, to give them a first hand experience that makes everything so much more better. One of the predominant reactions after watching this was this is closest a normal person will get to being in space and it has a lot of truth to it. One of the frontrunners in this year's best actress race Sandra Bullock, who spends most of this movie alone, also has done a great job in this role. These days it's rare we have a movie that revolves around a female character, which incidentally all three movies in this post do, but it is even rarer to see a movie treat it's female character the way Gravity does. Bullock had a great chance to prove her mettle with this role and she takes it with both hands.

Since I was one of the last 5 people on earth to watch this film, I'd heard lot about it before going in. As much as I was aware of its technological achievements and acclaim it was getting, I also knew it was being criticized for script problems. I never got into specifics of it but I certainly was aware of them and while watching it, I realized why they are important. I am not going to flack it for portraying Russians as villains here or space Jetpacks being retired 30 years earlier. Neither was I too concerned about it getting the names of space shuttles wrong nor did I think Bullock in her shorts sexist. None of these are major plot points that dampen the whole experience but there are some valid points which do affect it. I guess everyone knows what major plot point I am talking about. I am also not sure what I think about unlikelihood of three space ships being in such close proximity at such an attainable altitude. More I think about it, more I have problems with it. I know that it will still be one of my 10-15 favourite films of the year but I will always have a lingering feeling that it could have been better.

Rating(out of 5):

The Bling Ring(2013): I have a very non-typical reaction to Sofia Coppola. I have seen them all except Marie Antoinette(2006) and I haven't disliked any of them but I don't react to them as strongly as many others seem to. There are many aspects of it that I like - stylistic look of it, loneliness it portrays but I guess it doesn't resonate as strongly with me. Even in case of Lost in Translation(2003), which would probably be her highest regarded film, I am much colder to it than everyone else though it certainly is overdue for a rewatch. I am saying all this because it's interesting that despite this history, my reaction to her latest which received much less critical reception than usual is much stronger than the consensus. So much so that even though I will rate both Gravity and The Bling Ring at the same level in stars, I think I like it even more than the former. Yup, I said it! And it is not a dig against Gravity, I just like this one more.

Since its premier in Cannes earlier this year, The Bling Ring is getting a mixed response. For those unaware, it is based on a real story about a group of teenagers in Hollywood who would break into houses of various celebrities and steal from their houses for fun. First of all, it looks fabulous. It has always been Coppola’s strong suit but their clothes, houses – even the ones they break into, lingo they use, locations are done meticulously. It is shot beautifully; background music is used very well. I think it does a great job of poking fun at the current celebrity culture. It really shows the frivolousness of all the characters involved in those robberies for no reason than materialist values in it. There are so many reality shown these days on any network that indulge in exactly this kind of behaviour which Coppola is making fun of in this movie. It is like a satire on that lifestyle. She shows the glamour and glitz of their lifestyle but without making them glamorous. The ending is yet again little jarring but that might my non-typical reaction to her movies.

One problem many people have with it is it lacks any depth. I don’t know how do you make these characters, whose first concern after being caught breaking into Lindsay Lohan’s house was “What did she say about us?” or “Is this long enough to appear conservative?” before appearing in court, look more deep, more real? I doubt if they know the meaning of being one. In their own way, in their own world, they are being as real as they can. At the end, after being caught, Nikki even tries to look more responsible, to look less disconnected to the rest of the world. But we all know it is a sham and Coppola treats it like one. I don't think I would've liked it any other way.

Rating(out of 5):

Frances Ha(2013): Bless Greta Gerwig in all her awkward glory! I think this one sentence is more than enough to express everything I want to about this film. I had been hearing a lot about this movie and especially about her for quite a while now. I won't say I was too excited for it because, despite all the acclaim, it still looked like a chick-flick. I had my expectations in check but it delivered what it promised and some more. The best thing about this film is, even though I actually laughed a couple of times - sometimes with her and sometimes at her, I had a faint smile on my face for all 86 minutes of it. There aren't many movies that have managed to do that! I have a hunch that glorious Black and White played some part in that too.

Frances Ha is a story of Francis Halladay, 27 year old woman leaving in New York who is unsure about everything in her life. She is not sure if she wants to have cats with her boyfriend or move in with him or if she wants to be a dancer or choreographer where she is an apprentice currently. She is not even sure if she doesn't want to any of these things. At one point, she asks her teacher at the academy if she can take some more classes, any more responsibility and after being rejected admits she is proud of herself just for asking. So she is not particularly interested in achieving something or reaching somewhere in her life, she is perfectly content with just trying for it. She's like what one character says about her - she is much older but less grown-up. And despite all this, and we have to give credit to writers for this, she is neither annoying nor pitiable. She is actually very sweet and charming; awkward, little weird and sometimes embarrassing but endearingly so.

Maybe she should think seriously about her future, maybe she should have been somewhere in her life already but she is not and she knows it. Thing with Frances is she lives in the moment. She does what she thinks like doing like going to Paris for a couple of days while being broke. This is probably the stupidest thing you can do but somehow Baumbach and Gerwig even manage to make that endearing. Maybe because we all want to do exactly that; we just don't do it because we are supposed to be more responsible, more grown-up. Not Frances! and its liberating in some way to see at least someone else can do that. Knowing what I did before watching this film, I was almost certain that I will hate her for being plain immature and behaving as if she has some existential crisis. But I did not, even for one minute. Her sudden transformation in the end might be too sudden but I was happy to see her get there, to see her mature through all these experiences and get somewhere at the end of them to be Frances Ha. That was a deft touch by the way!

Rating(out of 5):