The Forgotten Few

We have a thing for the underdogs, particularly when they're extremely talented.  It seems every awards season garners a group of amazing performances that get overshadowed by the more mainstream or overly hyped.  With Anne Hathaway selling her soul to every person with an Oscar ballot and Jennifer Lawrence and Jessica Chastain dominating the Best Actress discussion, The Belles wanted to countdown some of our favorite overshadowed and forgotten individuals of this past year:

5. Jude Law in Anna Karenina

     Unlike the other people on our list, Jude Law failed to score any nominations this awards season.  Law’s portrayal of Karenin turned an unsympathetic character into one the audience took notice of and regarded with interest.  We wish he had earned more accolades for stepping outside his comfort zone and delivering a truly terrific performance.

4. Steven Spielberg

     Wait a second before you role your eyes at this.  While yes, this is Steven Spielberg, and yes, he has made some of the most famous movies in cinematic history, we honestly feel he hasn’t received the recognition he deserves this awards season.  For some unknowable reason, all the attention has been given to Ben Affleck and Argo (look at our other posts and deduce how we feel about that).  It’s a duel of the historical films, but to us there’s no competition.  We’re looking to the Academy to remedy this problem immediately.

3. Sally Field in Lincoln

     Let’s face it, this awards season is just one big Hathaway train ride, and we’re all forced  to ride along.  Field fought to keep the role after the younger Daniel Day Lewis was given the role. The end product speaks to the talent of the actress.  As Mrs. Lincoln, Field pushed back against dominating political figures.  She also managed to make a traditionally disdained historically figure relatable to movie audiences.  We dreamed a dream that would be standing on the stage this season.   

  

2. Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook

     

     The phrases “David O’Russell Film” and “Starring Bradley Cooper” seem an odd combination.  However, in the Silver Linings Playbook something magical happened.  Bradley Cooper depicted human complexity with honesty and vulnerability.  His character showed us how things don’t always go according to plan, but you should always try and find the silver lining.  We completely agree that Daniel Day Lewis deserves to win, but we wanted to take a moment to say “Bravo” to Mr. Cooper.

1. Naomi Watts in The Impossible (and really, the entire cast)

     It is a travesty that this movie has not received more honors this season.  While every performance in the film deserves praise, Watts both physically and emotionally embodies a mother struggling to stay alive for her son.  The audience believes her despair and determination with ever breath she takes and every tear she sheds.  You might want to have a box of tissues when you watch this film…in fact, better make it two.

We hope you enjoyed this post, dear reader.  Now, go watch a movie.  

Heath Ledger, 5 Years Later

The Belles are ashamed to report that we missed a major milestone last week-- last Tuesday was the fifth anniversary of the death of Heath Ledger, who died unexpectedly in his NYC apartment at the painfully young age of 28 on January 22, 2008. In memorial of one of our generation's finest actors, we're marking the anniversary of his death by listing our favorite Heath Ledger roles.

6. Patrick Verona - 10 Things I Hate About You
 I dare you to watch this and not smile:

What girl didn't fall in love with Heath Ledger in this classic 1990s high school rom-com? Sure, he didn't win any awards for this, but Heath made his big debut in this lovable little movie that I'm not ashamed to watch a few times every year. His Patrick Verona wasn't the same kind of stock rom-com hero you'd get from some of his contemporaries (cough*FreddiePrinzeJr*cough); instead, Heath's rom-com lead was edgy and reminiscent of a complicated John Hughes hero. And who didn't want to go to that gorgeous high school??

5. Ned Kelly - Ned Kelly
I know, I know-- NO ONE SAW THIS MOVIE. But, that's a shame, because it boasts a great cast (Geoffrey Rush! Naomi Watts!). Heath Ledger was particularly excited about this project since it was a big ole slice of Australian history that centered on one of Oz's most notorious folk heroes. Ned Kelly also shows the kind of unconventional choices that Heath made throughout his career. Instead of signing on for another rom-com or big-budget blockbuster, he took a step back from Hollywood, kangaroo-hopped back to Australia, and made a relatively small period piece about a folk hero. Plus, THAT ACCENT.

4. Jacob Grimm - The Brothers Grimm
This was Ledger's first collaboration with irreverent director Terry Gilliam. (Their next collaboration produced Heath's final, unfinished role in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnasus.) Heath's performance as the bookish and brilliant younger Grimm stood out-- Jacob is a neurotic, fidgety dreamer, and we loved him for it.

3. Gabriel Martin - The Patriot
Confession time: I watch this movie every July 4th. What's not to love?! Muskets! Beautiful South Carolina! Scrappy patriots! Bundling sacks! If people didn't know Heath Ledger before this movie came out, they certainly knew him afterwards. Yes, the presentation of history in the film is a little suspect. Yes, Mel Gibson gets crazy eyes in it sometimes. And, yes, Heath looks damn good in colonial garb. That's really all you need to know.

2. Ennis Del Mar - Brokeback Mountain
This movie had a flawless cast-- yes, even Anne Hath-an-annoying-way was good-- but Ledger was easily the standout. Heath's physicality as an actor comes across most clearly in his performance as Ennis. The way Ennis moved-- tight and slightly hunched over, as if he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders-- and the way he talked-- restrained and wound up like a fist-- told you everything about the character. And this final scene, when Ennis strokes his deceased lover's bloodied shirt and jacket, still drives me to tears every viewing.

1. The Joker - The Dark Knight
There is nothing that I can say about this role that hasn't already been said. Heath won a much deserved posthumous Oscar (well done, Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences!) for his performance as the maniacal, iconic Joker. That mouth!! I still get uncomfortable watching this scene.

Heath lives on in all of the memorable roles he created. His was a career too short and a life too brief. RIP, Heath. You are missed.

A BIGelow Mistake

Imagine a blank screen with no images, no title, nothing to establish a sense of location or context.  Instead, you only hear voices.  At first, you think the movie is malfunctioning, but it is not.  There are muddled voices that you soon realize are phone conversations that were recorded during the events of September 11^th.  It is with this that the film Zero Dark Thirty begins.  Throughout the course of the film, the audience follows Maya (Jessica Chastain) in her journey down the rabbit hole to find Osama bin Laden.  It is a story of the unsung heroes: the individuals whose efforts we may never realize.  Whose names we may never know. 

To try and explain the entire plot of Zero Dark Thirty would negate its complexities, so I challenge the reader to see the film.  In this blogger’s opinion, it was one of the best of 2012.  Period.  To this end, I wish to pose a question to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.  It is a question that has been constantly asked since the Oscar nominations were announced:

            What the hell were you thinking when you did not nominate Kathryn Bigelow for Best   Director???? (And yes, this warrants four question marks)

Now, some may blame the omission on the torture controversy surrounding the film.  I sincerely hope that is not the case.  I would think that a group of people associated with the film industry could tell the difference between a film that promotes torture and one that depicts an occurrence to maintain the truth of the story.  Would it really have been possible to have a movie on this particular subject without portraying such scenes of violence?  Bigelow wrote an open letter discussing her reasoning for including torture in the film.  What people often forget is that to include a subject into a form of media, whether it be film, television, or books, does not mean the creator of said media personally agrees with its morality.  On the contrary, artists often include things into their creations with which they personally disagree.  But if such inclusion helps to maintain the integrity of the work, it then becomes a necessity.

Furthermore, with Bigelow’s omission from the Best Director category, Zero Dark Thirty stands little chance of winning the big prize.  To borrow a phrasing from Jane Austen, it is a truth universally acknowledged that for a film to win Best Picture, its director must also win his or her category (with extremely rare exceptions).  When the Academy expanded the field for Best Picture, they really only doubled the number of films that can add “Academy Award Nominated Best Picture” to their the titles. The real competition exists between the films with both Best Picture and Best Director nominations.

There are certainly other films worthy of the award, particularly Spielberg’s Lincoln.  Nevertheless, it is a huge disappointment that Zero Dark Thirty stands little chance of winning.

- Southern Belle