SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK

 

Directors on the upswing: J.J. Abrams and Darren Aronofsky would definitely make the list, Neill Bloomkamp possibly, and one that can’t be left off the list, David O. Russell.  O. Russell, not a spring chicken in his mid 50s, has had only a handful of Hollywood films, most notably the underrated ‘Three Kings’ and ‘I Heart Huckabees’, that even the avid film fan would recognize or remember.  But with 2010’s ‘The Fighter’ and his latest effort ‘Silver Linings Playbook’, O. Russell is becoming a major force when studios consider directing choices to pair with their Oscar hopeful screenplays. 

What could’ve turned into another mid-late summer throw away rom-com is transformed into the heartfelt Oscar darling of this season in large part due to O. Russell’s sensitive directorial touch.  Couple that with the red-hot duo of Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper and that’s a recipe for a winner, oh and Robert De Niro playing the lead’s father never hurts either. 

Cooper plays Pat, a man recently released from a psych ward (where he is diagnosed with a form of bi-polar disorder) 8 months after severely beating a co-worker whom was sleeping with his now separated wife.  Trying to get his life back on track, Pat is determined to be positive and find a silver lining in everything.  After hearing of his release one of Pat’s friends invites him over for a pseudo-celebratory dinner where he meets Tiffany (Lawrence).  From the onset the audience sees Tiffany has mental issues similar to Pat, as she is trying to cope with the untimely death of her husband.  As many may guess, Pat and Tiffany form an unlikely bond and Pat begins to question if his hardships with his wife were a blessing in disguise.

As some may remember, ‘The Fighter’ wasn’t a major Oscar contender leading into the 2010-11 season, not even on many pundits radars.  The film had a similar recipe to ‘Silver Linings’; O. Russell, a talented cast (Christian Bale won Support Actor), and a simple yet highly emotional story.  The Weinstein Company took note, as they always do in the fall, and it led to big Harvey latching on to O. Russell’s next project (SLP).  And when you have the Weinstein Company backing your film you always have a fighter’s chance at a few statues come February.

O. Russell seems to get the most out of his actors, a true sign of a great director, especially in times where you have to compete with visual giants like ‘Avatar’, ‘Inception’, and ‘LOTR’.  He truly is a director of actors and film not simply of technology like some.  That isn’t to say Cooper, Lawrence, and De Niro don’t deserve a piece of the credit.  Cooper and Lawrence toe the line between psychotic nutcases and feel-sorry-for heartbroken lovers with ease and believability, matching their highs and lows with great comedic timing that doesn’t come off as forced.  De Niro is equally brilliant as Pat’s father, obsessed with the Philadelphia Eagles he believes spending time with his son is the variable that leads his team to victory or sends them to defeat.

‘Silver Linings Playbook’ has the one thing that is missing from so many films, the one thing that can make nearly any story worth watching on the screen, it’s real.  Real in its portrayal of the human condition of its characters and real in the feelings it conjures in its viewers, it is a can’t-miss-film this Oscar season.

Oscar Chances:

Best Picture: Lock

Best Director (O. Russell): Highly Likely

Best Actress (Lawrence): Lock

Best Actor (Cooper): Highly Likely

Best Supporting Actor (De Niro): Lock

Best Supporting Actor (Chris Tucker): Long Shot

Best Supporting Actress (Jackie Weaver): Long Shot

Best Original Screenplay (O. Russell): Lock

Best Editing: Possible

DFF CONCLUSION

 The 35^th annual Starz Denver Film Festival concluded this past Saturday with the showing of David O. Russell’s ‘Silver Linings Playbook’.  As it turns out, O. Russell’s film was the sole silver lining of the entire festival.  DFF has never been one of the headlining film festivals in the U.S., definitely not at the Telluride or Sundance level and also substantially behind the NY, LA, Chicago, and Boston festivals in terms of coverage and/or award predicting clout.  However DFF always, in the five years I’ve been going, usually turns out a strong lineup of films.  Last year had ‘Melancholia’, ‘The Descendants’, ‘The Artist’, ‘Like Crazy’, ‘A Dangerous Method’, and ‘Shame’.  This year had…‘Silver Linings Playbook’.  Even the smaller films, those with modest releases or shown solely at a festival, were lackluster in this year’s schedule.

Denver typically ushers in some festival darlings from Telluride and Toronto to let the city folk get a chance to screen them but there were glaring omissions this year (‘Amour’ comes to mind).  The one thing DFF had become accustomed to, that kept fest-goers like me coming, was a great docket of films.  Never mind the screening venues are separated by miles of pavement or the knowledge of the volunteers rivals that of an AMC employee, DFF had good films at manageable ticket prices/packages (in relation to other festivals) that took place locally.  Unfortunately without a good lineup DFF is reduced to overpriced tickets at locations that aren’t close to technologically or aesthetically ideal for viewing these films (the L2 Art Center for example).  Hopefully next year can be a return to normalcy, what I saw:

Hyde Park on Hudson (Denver Pavilions): The more I think about this film the more I find holes in the screenplay.  Bill Murray does a fine job playing FDR in an oft-dramatic role, somewhat of a reversal from his usual dry comic musings.  Laura Linney is equally impressive in her turn as Margaret Suckley, FDR’s distant cousin and eventual mistress.  The sets and locations are period specific and the cinematography is spot on capturing mood and moment.  However the script is a total mess.  It can’t decide whether it wants to be a film about the relationship between FDR and Margaret or FDR and The King of England (the first King to visit the United States since the Revolution).  I assumed the King’s visit would merely provide the background but about halfway through the film it becomes the main focus then abruptly switches back to the FDR/Margaret situation.  I wouldn’t be totally displeased except for the fact neither of the convoluted parallel stories have anything remotely resembling a point.  What is left is a beautifully shot and acted film that goes nowhere, a big waste of a talented cast.

28 Hotel Rooms (L2 Art Center): This was the film that left me the most intrigued while perusing the schedule after it was released.  Unfortunately ‘28 Hotel Rooms’ suffers from a common problem for many filmmakers; having a brilliant and original idea at its base yet falling flat on its face in relation to execution.  The premise is simple, a man and a woman have a one night stand then, years later, run into each coincidentally at a hotel.  Their relationship plays out as they coordinate seeing each other during business trips, all of their meetings and all the screen time is spent in, yea, 28 hotel rooms.  The script is tight and the situations feel real but the big flaw with ‘Rooms’ is the miscasting of the lead characters, they have no chemistry!  If you’re going to spend 90 minutes with two actors conversing in hotel rooms you better be able to feel the tension, passion, and heartache of the characters.  Unfortunately there’s no connection with the audience and the film feels more like 180 minutes than 90.

Silver Linings Playbook (Ellie Caulkins Opera House): The saving grace of the festival, without it DFF 2012 would be a complete disaster.  Due to the Oscar ramifications I will have a complete review of the film in the coming days.

If anyone cares to look at this year’s schedule and awards here’s a link to the page:

http://www.denverfilm.org/festival/index.aspx

OCTOBER WRAP UP

Another strong lineup of films opened in theaters throughout October and into November, proving this season will have an extremely deep field in comparison to recent years.  The last half dozen years or so have had major “front-runners” in most of the categories and hotly contested races in just a handful (and those contested races usually had a clear top two, ex. Streep and Davis for Actress last year), not unlike the swing states in the recent election.  However, this year we seem to have just the opposite, a litany of categories with no clear leader and up to three players in a lot of races instead of the standard first/second choice.  Before diving into the races let’s look at some of these Oct/Nov films and their Oscar chances:

Films I’ve seen

-        ‘Seven Psychopaths’: Best Picture would be a long shot but Best Original Screenplay for Martin McDonagh wouldn’t be farfetched whatsoever.  Christopher Walken could get a Supporting Actor nod but with Best Lead/Supporting Actor being loaded this year it could be tough.

-        ‘Skyfall’: Whenever you have Mendes behind the camera you’re never out of it but as I’ve touched on in past posts, larger blockbuster films have had little success in recent years compared to the late 90s/early 2000s (‘Dark Knight’ trilogy vs. ‘Titanic’ and ‘Gladiator’).  Best chances for the latest Bond entry would be Cinematography, Supporting Actor Javier Bardem, Art Direction, Editing and other tech categories, and long shots would be Picture and Daniel Craig as Lead Actor.

Films I haven’t but am planning to see:

-        ‘Lincoln’: From what people are saying we could have up to three acting noms; Daniel Day-Lewis, Tommy Lee Jones, and Sally Field, Best Picture, Best Director, Best Costume Design, Makeup, Art Direction, Editing and tech categories.  Spielberg didn’t do so well with the critics the last time he took on a period piece (last year’s ‘War Horse’, severely underrated in my opinion) but early reviews for his Abraham Lincoln biopic have been overwhelmingly positive.  After seeing it this upcoming weekend I will probably have a full review.

-        ‘Flight’: ‘Forrest Gump’ director Robert Zemeckis’ first live action film since ‘Cast Away’ in 2000 has a good shot at securing a Lead Acting nom for Denzel Washington and a decent shot at Best Picture.  Less likely would be a Director or Screenplay nom but not out of the realm of possibility.

-        ‘The Sessions’: Truly an actor’s film, nominations for John Hawkes and Helen Hunt are safe bets and an Original Screenplay appearance wouldn’t be unexpected.

-        ‘Wreck-It-Ralph’: Best Animated Feature could be the most exciting race in the category in some time, ‘Ralph’ is joined by ‘Frankenweenie’, ‘The Secret World of Arriety’, and ‘Brave’.

Films I have not/will not see:

-        ‘Perks of Being a Wallflower’, ‘Cloud Atlas’, and ‘Smashed’: No Oscar predictions on these films because there is little to no buzz surrounding them and I haven’t experienced any of them myself (combination of lack of interest and lackluster reviews are keeping me away).  Only surprises I have heard out of these would be Tom Hanks for Best Actor ‘Cloud Atlas’ or ‘Perks’ for a very unexpected Screenplay or Picture nomination. 

The Races

These are races that have at least three films with “good” chances at a win come Oscar night.  This is purely speculative and the chances of frontrunners appearing as January nears is always a possibility, but this should highlight how deep the field is at this point:

Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original and Adapted Screenplay, Art Direction, Editing, Makeup, Song, Score, and all of the tech categories.  That only leaves the Actress categories, which I believe are still up for grabs but in my estimation are already one or two person races at this point.

Coming up this week and into next I will have a wrap up of the Denver Film Festival as well as a full review on ‘Silver Linings Playbook’.  Films to see in the near future include ‘Lincoln’, ‘Flight’, and ‘The Sessions’ as well as ‘Life of Pi’, ‘Hitchcock’, and ‘Killing Them Softly’ all before we crack December.  Where the Thanksgiving weekend gave us clarity in recent years much will remain uncertain in this year’s races, most likely up until nominations in January.  I wouldn’t be surprised if we don’t see any films separate from the pack right up until Oscar night, stay posted.