Tag Archive for 'Carey Mulligan'

The awards season keeps rolling on for Kathryn Bigelow and The Hurt Locker. Not only was the film named best picture last evening at the BAFTA’s (the British version of the Academy Awards), but Bigelow became the first woman EVER to be named best director.  The film won six awards kicking some Avatar ass on its way to the podium.

Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank was named outstanding British Film and for the first time in a long time Carey Mulligan took best actress honors.

So that means two films directed by women won best picture.  And both women also won awards from the London Film Critics Circle earlier in the week.  How great is that?

Here’s what Bigelow had to say about winning:

“I think the secret to directing is collaboration, and I was so lucky to have an incredible cast and crew. This is deeply moving — we all felt an incredible responsibility to honor the courage of the men and women in the field.”

She also said she hoped she was “first of many” women to win the prize.

Her grace in winning continues to make me even more and more excited for her.  She’s not getting a big head or acting like the “queen of the world.”  She is a great example for all directors  — men and women — to follow.

Bigelow is first woman to win BAFTA director prize (Screen Daily)

THE HURT LOCKER: BAFTA’s Big Winner (Alt Film Guide)

Bigelow Takes Directing Prize From London Film Critics Circle (The Wrap)

Carey Mulligan

The National Board of Review (NBR)  handed out its awards for 2009 and Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air (which is opening in limited release today) took top honors.  NBR is a mysterious group.  Some film people, some folks not in the business at all.  Here’s how the Hollywood Reporter describes the group: “Voted by the 108-member organization, composed of film enthusiasts and academics,  the NBR Awards are an imprecise indicator of eventual Oscar-worthiness.”

Anna Kendrick

As for the other winners: Carey Mulligan was named best actress for An Education and Anna Kendrick was named best supporting actress for Up in the Air.  (Both are about 23)  Gabourey Sidibe got an “Breakthrough” award for Precious.

The list of the top ten included two women directed films, An Education (Lone Scherfig) and The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow.)

The group also made a list of their top 10 indie films and included on that were: Amreeka (Cherien Dabis) Humpday (Lynn Shelton) and Sugar (co-directed by Anna Boden.)

Up in the Air Wins NBR Best Picture (Hollywood Reporter)

The Hollywood Reporter’s Steven Zeitchik has a recent piece about how small the pool is this year for Best Actress.

He talks about how the top three potential nominees are Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia), Carey Mulligan (An Education), Gabourey Sidibe (Precious), with other contenders being Abbie Cornish (Bright Star), Emily Blunt (The Young Victoria), Helen Mirren (The Last Station), Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones), Penelope Cruz (Broken Embraces), Hilary Swank (Amelia) and god forbid Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side).  Bullock’s potential inclusion to Zeitchik is indicative of the shallow pool.  (Let’s remember that Julia Roberts had never done anything remotely like Erin Brockovich before she hit that one out of the park.)

The piece goes on to say that there are many men jostling for those top five slots and if there were 10 nominations some would still be left out.

No shit.  Most movies, even the awards movies are made by guys for guys.

Here’s Zeitchik’s reasoning as to why women are so woefully underrepresented:

It’s axiomatic that older actresses who want to play strong lead roles often have to abandon features for venues like cable TV. Awards season has a way of reinforcing the point. During the 1980s, three women older than 50 won the best actress Oscar, while a fourth (Shirley MacLaine) was about to turn 50.

During the past 20 years, on the other hand, exactly one fiftysomething woman has taken the prize (Helen Mirren, for “The Queen”).

That’s far from a comment on this generation’s talent or even on the preferences of voters. But it does say plenty about the roles women are offered.

But it also highlights that, for all the strides made by the women behind the camera, the women in front of them can still be subject to the old prejudices. Indeed, the more cynical in town — including at least one actress awards-contender — say that the director and actress trends are hardly a coincidence. Many female directors, they argue, can feel pressure to cast a preponderance of strong male leads to negate the perception that theirs is a female-oriented film.

Yes, this is a good year for women directors as I have written about many times, but I don’t want the conversation to be that, just because we have several potential contenders for year-end awards, our work is done.  Women directors have a harder time getting traction.  Let’s remember that.

But what this story reminded me of is all the strong female Oscar-worthy performances that don’t ever make it onto the Oscar radar screen because they don’t have wide enough distribution or get killed by the mostly male critical establishment.  Movies that star guys get distributed more widely than movies by and about women.  That said, it makes sense to look beyond all the films getting the buzz to some films whose distributors can’t afford to mount Oscar campaigns or maybe even send out screeners.

Just because a film or a performance doesn’t get included in the “buzz” doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be.

Here are some performances worthy of being considered:

Amy Adams- Sunshine Cleaning

Michelle Pfeiffer- Cheri

Nicole Beharie – American Violet

Shohreh Aghdashloo – The Stoning of Soraya M.

Tilda Swinton- Julia

Audrey Tatou- Coco Before Chanel

Michelle Monaghan- Trucker

Yolande Moreau- Seraphine

Catalina Saavedra- The Maid

Sophie Okondeo- Skin

Robin Wright- The Private Lives of Pippa Lee

Charlize Theron – The Burning Plain

Update: Forgot One: Kerry Fox- Storm

Shallow Pool for Oscar’s Actress Contenders (Hollywood Reporter)

Danish director Lone Scherfig is one of several women being mentioned this year for a potential best director nomination for her critically acclaimed film An Education.  Here’s what I wrote earlier about the film.  She took some time to answer some questions on the road while doing publicity for the film.

Women &Hollywood: So here we are in 2009 and the issue of women directors is still a big issue.  Do you believe that work family balance is as big an issue for male directors in the same way as female directors?

Lone Scherfig: I think as a director you need to have such a strange combination of skills and no one can have all of them.  One is an ability is to be able to leave home for a while, stay up very late or do things that would harm your family life no matter what sex you are.  And maybe it’s easier for men to compromise more but it must be a big loss to them as well.  But the thing for me is that I started out very young and had my daughter quite late so it meant I had a career that was strong enough.  One regret is that I didn’t have my child earlier and had more children.  I’d encourage everyone to do that but you obviously have to pay a price for it.

W&H: Another thing I read is that you said you make films to maintain the language- please explain.

LS: In Denmark we have a state supported system in order to maintain out language so that’s how those films are financed.  It’s a privilege for a director because you are expected to do something that’s not primarily commercial — quality is the first priority — and that’s been really lovely for me because it has meant that I have gotten chances I would not have been able to get in a different system.  It’s also a handicap that the films cannot be seen by very many people because they would have to be subtitled like Italian for Beginners.

W&H: Some if the strongest female voices in directing have come from places where there is state sponsorship for films and here in the US we don’t have that system.  Do you believe that the state sponsored system has enabled you to have the type of career you have now?

LS: Yes I do.  I think it doesn’t only go for women it goes for anyone who is a minority when it comes to media access.  If you want films and media in general that reflect the real world you have to stay open for someone coming in the door to apply for that job who is not an obvious candidate.

W&H: Do you think it made a difference that there were two female producers on your film?

LS: No.  I know that they had talked about that because the writer is a man that it might make sense to have a female director.  But in general it doesn’t attract  me to a job at all when someone says that.  I am interested in projects where they want a good director rather than necessarily a female director.  I’m sure all women say that.  My films are not necessarily about my gender.  The reason why I am privileged enough to say that is that thank god there is a slightly older generation who have prepared that possibility for me.  I am very thankful to women who are 10 to 15 years older than I am that they stood up for someone like me to get those possibilities.

W&H: What women directors do you mean?

LS: Very often it’s women academics, female politicians, film writers.  It’s not the directors.  The directors I feel related to the most are male.  My mom would teach me to mend my dress and to cook like a proper mother and shared her love for the arts and films and literature, but it’s women who are slightly younger (than her) who fought the battle for women.  That combination is what I am really thankful for and that enriches my life immensely.

W&H: There were so many different educations happening and so I wanted to ask you which education do you feel closest to?

LS: I’m a bit like Jenny.  I totally share the appetite that she had for learning that might not be in the syllabus.  And that once she knows and can define what she loves then the education seems to be something that’s driven by appetite rather than duty or ambition.  The things you read and the things you see because you love them is the easiest and the best education to get.

The same thing happened to me.  When I was young when I found out that film was something I could make a career in and I got to university and later to film school and found myself surrounded by people who loved what I loved and that’s when I really got an education and finally did all my homework because I loved it.  That is a privilege.  Loving things does not necessarily mean you have a talent for it.  But I am trying to tell my own daughter that if she fnds something that she loves to do that the money will come.  That may be a false promse because not everyone has that privileged choice.

W&H: You talk a lot about your love for the character of David in the film played by Peter Sarsgaard.    I found him to be a transition figure because he opens doors to the coming revolution in terms of race and class and religion and he provides all the educations and never gets schooled in anything.  Why are you so fond of David?

LS: That’s a brilliant and interesting way you are putting it.  I didn’t think of that.  I think one key for me to all of the characters has been what is that person’s relation to an education.  That’s how I started all the conversations with all the actors and in David’s case he is someone who wants the life he could have had he had an education which he did not have access to.  He doesn’t feel he is lying, he’s just saying what he wants to say and what he believes is right at the moment.  I know that’s how Peter saw him as well.  Neither Peter nor I had any problems in liking him and I always feel that I want to defend David.  You get seduced the way Jenny and her parents are.  Peter says that when David is with Jenny he can get the childhood he never had.  That being said Peter is so experienced for his age and the way he plays his cards when we’ve shot the film out of sequence of course, the way more and more of David’s flaws are revealed is really elegant.  He’s technically and structurally such a skilled actor but the acting is completely emotional and spontaneous and of the moment.  I didn’t cast him.  It came as such a fringe benefit that I was able to work with the best actor.  He was on board the film before I was.

Continue reading ‘Interview with Lone Scherfig- Director of An Education’

One might not think that a story about a 16 year old girl’s seduction by an older man is a movie parents might take their 13 year old son to see, but I found AN EDUCATION, a great opportunity for complex, “coming-of-age” conversations in both life and fiction. It was fascinating to discuss the film with our son.  The lens through which he viewed the story is very different from that of an adult.  He brought no immediate  prejudice to the narrative since life experience has not yet taught him that the disparity in age alone was a sufficient indicator that the relationship was doomed, if not downright dangerous, from the onset.  Through his innocent eyes, he saw only David’s charms, beautifully played by Peter Sarsgaard, instead of the reptilian patience of a predatory deviant.  Only when our son saw the heartbreak that revealed David’s true character did he come to understand that all the generosities lavished upon Jenny, fully realized by Carey Mulligan, had been distractions from the truth.

As a feminist mom, my big ax to grind in popular culture is vulgarism.  I don’t want my son to grow up one more immature, boob-obsessed male with little understanding or appreciation of a female’s character or her anatomy and so I appreciated that the film did not weigh the impact of Jenny’s transgression on the loss of her virginity alone.  Yes, the headmistress, a wonderful Emma Thompson, alluded to the fact that a non-virgin would not have a place in her school, but no one else, including her own parents, highlighted the loss of her virginity as the sole focus of her misguidedness. We are a culture that had devoted entire movies to plots revolving around losing one’s virginity, often stories that minimize this precious bridge to adulthood as something a character wants to get or get rid of.  But in AN EDUCATION, betrayal was the true ruiner and I was glad for our son to see a movie that certainly did not make light of her loss but placed the emphasis on a broader set of values of which her virginity was only a part.

AN EDUCATION heartily has my Feminist Mom’s approval, however I don’t recommend it for every 13 year old and while I am often at odds with the rating system, I do believe that the MPAA got this PG-13 designation right. There is a significant amount of frank sexuality that is disturbing in the film.  David’s peccadilloes include behavior such as baby talk, voyeurism and and using an inanimate object to de-flower Jenny, in order to “get the icky part over with”.  These moments could be uncomfortable for some families yet I believe they are important to talk about. The tip-offs to David’s character flaws are not readily obvious to a teenager. They may not understand that his objectification, infantilization and fear of women is not healthy even though it is pervasive and often acceptable in media. This is exactly where I believe parents have the opportunity to talk to their kids about real intimacy and mature relationships.

At the end of the film, Jenny visits her teacher and begs her to help get back on track with her education.  Seeing Miss Stubb‘s (a wonderful performance by Olivia Williams) sensual, bohemian apartment is a pivotal moment of awakening in Jenny, one in which she senses that “savoir faire” can be so much more than jazz clubs and sexy dresses.  I was impressed that our son commented about that scene and stated that he thought that the filmmakers might have gone further to alter the teacher’s school-marmish appearance as well.  He felt that the matronly glasses should come off, and that she might wear something pretty and feminine to further demonstrate hope and love of life.  But he doesn’t have history to clue him in that her slim, black pants and tight bun, were drenched in arty relevance and that any minute she might have let her hair down and danced to the primitive beat.  I was simply delighted that our baseball-playing,13 year old son, who would have much preferred seeing a film filled with blood and gore, grasped that delicate moment of Jenny’s transformation.

This wonderful film, directed by Ms. Lone Scherfig, was crafted with a delicate touch and a sophisticated, psychological sensibility. I was also dazzled by the performance and characterization of Helen, played by the transcendent Rosemund Pike, as a woman whose Barbie Doll looks don’t completely conceal her shorted circuitry. Along with Dominic Cooper as Danny, their characters enliven the film with a complicated resonance warranting a movie of their own.

My only slight quibble with the film are the very last lines of voice-over in which Jenny now makes herself the myth maker, delivering what boys want, the fantasy of the untouched female.  It tarnished my version of Jenny the truth-seeker, but perhaps that is exactly the point.  In any case, I’m thankful for a thoughtful, provocative film, one that provided many interesting conversations for his feminist mom.

The second An Education opened at Sundance last January the buzz began.  The buzz was most especially focused on the star making performance of a pretty unknown English actress Carey Mulligan.  Sometimes the buzz blows over or gets overtaken by new buzz, but the buzz on Mulligan, and the film, has stayed steady all through the lead up to the film’s release today.

I was blown away by Mulligan when I saw her act circles around Kristin Scott Thomas in The Seagull (which they are now making into a movie with most of the same cast) on Broadway in the fall of 2008, and I remember how much I enjoyed her performance in The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard so I knew that she would be great in An Education, and she is.  The good news is that she is one just one of the excellent pieces in a pie full up of excellent pieces.  Everything about An Education is great which is directed by Danish director Lone Scherfig from a script by Nick Hornby based from the memoir by Lynn Barber.

An Education is a feminist coming of age story of Jenny (Mulligan) a too smart, too worldy for her own good, young woman in 1961 London when young women had few choices.  The country is still living in a post war mentality.  The 60s really haven’t begun yet.  What Jenny has going for her is that being the only child of Jack played by Alfred Molina, he has drilled it into his daughter that she must get a proper education in order to be successful.   She believes it and works hard for it.   From those scenes you get the sense that dad has been drilling her about getting into Oxford since she could walk.

But Jenny’s different and her role models of educated women are not very enticing, so when she meets David (Peter Sarsgaard in a creepily good performance) an older con man who opens her up and offers her a different type of education she leaps in head first.  He takes her to concerts, makes up stories about people he knows and not only enchants Jenny, but also her parents so much so that plan A for Jenny’s education — university — is thrown out the window in favor of plan B — marriage.

So Jenny, this young woman with so much potential to be different and special because she is so smart becomes just like all the other girls.  But she doesn’t.  Suffice it to say that things don’t work out with David cause he is a con man and Jenny needs to figure out how to get back onto plan A.

It’s not easy.  Jenny has let down the women who have invested some serious time and attention into her future.  Olivia Williams as her teacher Miss Stubbs is incredibly personally hurt when Jenny betrayed her, as is the school’s headmistress played by Emma Thompson.  These are women who close plan A, but had to make immense personal sacrifices to become educated women in that time.

Most of all An Education is about choices and how each choice we make has consequences and can snowball out of control.  But it also about how those choices teach us — give us an education if you will — so that as we grow up maybe, just maybe, we will make different ones next time.

Film opens today in limited release and will then roll out over the next couple of weeks.