Freewater Spring 2009

Spring 2009 Schedule

Indieflix: Thursday, Friday @ 7p, 9.30p

Midnight: Friday @ 12p

Quadflix: Saturday @ 7p, 10p & Sunday @ 2p

Oscar Nominations

Actor in a Leading Role

Richard Jenkins in The Visitor

Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon

Sean Penn in Milk

Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler

Actor in a Supporting Role

Josh Brolin in Milk

Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder

Philip Seymour Hoffman in Doubt

Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight

Michael Shannon in Revolutionary Road

Actress in a Leading Role

Anne Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married

Angelina Jolie in Changeling

Melissa Leo in Frozen River

Meryl Streep in Doubt

Kate Winslet in The Reader

Actress in a Supporting Role

Amy Adams in Doubt

Penélope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Viola Davis in Doubt

Taraji P. Henson in The Curcious Case of Benjamin Button

Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler

Animated Feature Film

Bolt

Kung Fu Panda

WALL-E

Art Direction

Changeling

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Dark Knight

The Duchess

Revolutionary Road

Cinematography

Changeling

The Curcious Case of Benjamin Button

The Dark Knight

The Reader

Slumdog Millionaire

Costume Design

Australia

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Duchess

Milk

Revolutionary Road

Directing

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Frost/Nixon

Milk

The Reader

Slumdog Millionaire

Documentary Feature

The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)

Encounters at the End of the World

The Garden

Man on Wire

Trouble the Water

Documentary Short

The Conscience of Nhem En

The Final Inch

Smile Pinki

The Witness -  From the Balcony of Room 306

Film Editing

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Dark Knight

Frost/Nixon

Milk

Slumdog Millionaire

Foreign Language Film

The Baader Meinhof Complex

The Class

Departures

Revanche

Waltz with Bashir

Makeup

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Dark Knight

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Music (Score)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Defiance

Milk

Slumdog Millionaire

WALL-E

Music (Song)

"Down to Earth" for WALL-E

"Jai Ha" for Slumdog Millionaire

"O Saya" for Slumdog Millionaire

Best Picture

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Frost/Nixon

Milk

The Reader

Slumdog Millionaire

Short Film (Animated)

La Maison en Petits Cubes

Lavatory - Lovestory

Oktapodi

Presto

This Way Up

Short Film (Live Action)

Auf Def Strecke (On The Line)

Manon on the Asphalt

New Boy

The Pig

Spielzeugland (Toyland)

Sound Editing

The Dark Knight

Iron Man

Slumdog Millionaire

WALL-E

Wanted

Sound Mixing

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Dark Knight

Slumdog Millionaire

WALL-E

Wanted

Visual Effects

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Dark Knight

Iron Man

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Doubt

Frost/Nixon

The Reader

Slumdog Millionaire

Writing (Original Screenplay)

Frozen River

Happy-Go-Lucly

In Bruges

Milk

WALL-E

The 81st Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Thursday, January 22, 2009 at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Cinema Paradiso: Classical Hollywood or Classic?

In his critical work "Classical Hollywood Cinema," David Bordwell succinctly describes the basic fabula of a Hollywood film.  In this film, he says, there are "psychologically defined individuals who struggle to solve a clear-cut problem or to attain specific goals.  In the course of their struggle, the characters enter into conflict with others or with external circumstances.  The story ends with a decisive victory or defeat, a resolution of the problem and a clear achievement or nonachievement of goals."  

Bordwell is, no doubt, on target with his recognition of the archetypes that codify Hollywood movies.  And Cinema Paradiso, on first thought, appears to be not much different.  The film itself is predictable from the first thunder-storm illuminating flashback brought on by Salvatore's learning that Alfredo has died.  Back we travel to Salvatore's childhood, back we travel to the Cinema Paradiso where Salvatore, called "Toto," longs to work.  His childish and simplistic love for every part of the theatre--the building, the movies, the patrons, the logistics, the employees--is as sweet as it is typical of youth.   His desire to work there, and subsequent obstinacy to do anything but, are also characteristic of a child's affection.  

Similarly, Alfredo having pity on Toto, and eventually placing him under his tutelage, is all part of the typical Hollywood syuzhet.  That their relationship, although appearing at first to be unrequited, is really quite symbiotic is not unexpected: Alfredo teaches Toto everything he wants to know about projecting and film, and Toto saves Alfredo's life.  The story goes on, as stories always do, and with that progression there is the development of what Bordwell calls the "double causal structure, two plot lines:" first, the "heterosexual romance" with Elena; second, the "work....mission or quest."  Each structure has "a goal, obstacles, and a climax."  For Toto, the failure of his first line contributes to the success of his second.  And, in typical rags-to-riches fashion, the little boy who loved the Cinema Paradiso becomes a big name in film.  

Yet the movie is far from a Cinderella story.  Nor is it about the unlikely victory of an underdog.  While the film, in many ways, adheres to the classical structure of Hollywood cinema, its allegorical aspects transcend the archetypes, situating Cinema Paradiso not as a classical Hollywood film but rather as a classic of film.  

Cinema Paradiso is able to eclipse the boundaries of classical Hollywood cinema through three key aspects of the film.  The first is that, for a film that outwardly appears to be standard, the movie has its own charming idiosyncrasies that help to set the film apart from other similar stories.  The town of Sicily in which Toto lives is, despite employing electricity and other features of the Industrial Revolution, remarkably provincial, creating a juxtaposition that is both interesting and original.  Children, men, and women pass by horses and donkeys as they are running to the theatre.  Curtains serve as doors and windows in the home where Toto lives.  Toto's mother doesn't pretend that her husband is alive for children, who know he isn't; she does so for herself.  The expectations that one would have for a typical Hollywood movie are continually unmet in way that is subversively thrilling. 

The second aspect of the film that deviates from classical Hollywood cinema is the life of Salvatore.  In theory, if Toto's life were that of a character in an archetypical Hollywood film, then his "two plot lines" would both "climax" with unlimited success.  That is, Toto should get both the girl and the job.  The Salvatore the audience first meets, however, has achieved success in only one of those two areas.   This deviation, perhaps unfortunate for Salvatore, gives his character and thus the film a credibility that would otherwise not exist.  Salvatore, like all of mankind, has sacrificed a lot and lost even more to become a household name.  And yet, as Wynn Hunter points out, Salvatore has not been entirely without love.  While his life is devoid of the standard love between a man and woman, Salvatore did have love for someone with the same, if not considerably more passion.  Indeed, the love between Alfredo and young Toto did climax in the final scene of Cinema Paradiso as Salvatore is watching the love montage that his mentor has bequeathed to him.  The two plot lines of Salvatore's life do climax, but the results are both unorthodox and unexpected, a subversion of the classical Hollywood cinema plot. 

The third and final feature of Cinema Paradiso that makes the movie an eternal triumph is the theatre itself.  The Cinema Paradiso serves two purposes in the film.  The first is that it is the Mecca of Sicily.  In being the the most sought out place of Toto's town, it small a microcosm of the macrocosm.  Inside the Cinema Paradiso, there are men and women all ages doing all imagineable things while watching the movie.  Yet, whether they are having sex, drinking, or nursing their children, the experience each has inside the theatre is a common one they share with everyone in Sicily.  This speaks to a universality about not only the Cinema Paradiso but also the film--it is of all ages for all ages.  

The second purpose that the Cinema Paradiso serves in the film is that it is Toto's beloved artifact.  It is an intricate part of childhood that touches him and affects his life profoundly.  This, too, is a universal the idea, for everyone had some object as a child that was the very center of their world.  The people, things, and ideas associated with that object--in Toto's case, Alfredo and movies--received our purest and most fervent love, a love that never really leaves us.  And so, when we are in some way reminded of that object, it is an experience that is accompanied not by melancholy but nostalgia.  It is not saccharine, it is not synthetic; it is simply a remembrance of our innocent, unadulterated love.  For an object to be able to elicit this kind of power is a tribute to its affect on our lives.  For a movie to do the same, it is a testament to the entire film and all that it encapsulates.  Films this powerful are never seen in classical Hollywood cinema, but they are seen amongst the Classics.  Cinema Paradiso is a classic.

Golden Globes

Best Motion Picture Picture - Drama

The Curious Case of Benjamin button

Frost/Nixon

The Reader

Revolutionary road

Slumdog Millionaire

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama

Anne Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married

Angelina Jolie in Changeling

Meryl Streep in Doubt

Kirstin Scott Thomas in I've Loved You So Long

Kate Winslet in Revolutionary Road

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama

Leonardo DiCaprio in Revolutionary Road

Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon

Sean Penn in Milk

Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler

Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

Burn After Reading

Happy-Go-Lucky

In Bruges

Mamma Mia!

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

Rebecca Hall in Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Sally Hawkins in Happy-Go-Lucky

Frances McDormand in Burn After Reading

Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia!

Emma Thompson in Last Chance Harvey

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy

Javier Bardem in Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Colin Farrell in In Bruges

James Franco in Pineapple Express

Brendan Gleeson in In Bruges

Dustin Hoffman in Last Chance Harvey

Best Performance by an Actress in A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

Amy Adams in Doubt

Penélope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Viola Davis in Doubt

Marisa Tomei in The Wrestler

Kate Winslet in The Reader

Best Performance by an Actor in A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder

Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder

Ralph Fiennes in The Duchess

Philip Seymour Hoffman in Doubt

Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight

Best Animated Feature Film

Bolt

Kung Fu Panda

Wall-E

Best Foriegn Language Film

The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany)

Everlasting Moments (Sweden, Denmark)

Gomorrah (Italy)

I've Loved You So Long (France)

Waltz With Bashir (Israel)

Best Director - Motion Picture

Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire

Stephen Daldry for The Reader

David Fincher for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Ron Howard for Frost/Nixon

Sam Mendes for Revolutionary Road

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by Eric Roth

Doubt by John Patrick Shanley

Frost/Nixon by Peter Morgan

The Reader by David Hare

Slumdog Millionaire by Simon Beaufoy

Best Original Score - Motion Picture 

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by Alexandre Desplat

Changeling by Clint Eastwood

Defiance by James Newton Howard

Slumdog Millionaire by A.R. Rahman

Frost/Nixon by Hans Zimmer

Best Original Song - Motion Picture

"Down to Earth" for WALL-E

"Gran Torino" for Gran Torino

"I Thought I Lost You" for Bolt

"Once In a Lifetime" for Cadillac Records

"The Wrestler" for The Wrestler

(Note: a list of films only)

Amélie, Walter, and the Rest of the World

"Failure is destiny," a man at the bar tells Joseph.  "Failure teaches us that life is but a draft, a long rehearsal for a show that will never play."  The irony of the situation--the failed writer sharing with the employess and patrons of The Two Windmills Café perhaps the most poignant message they have ever heard--is underlined by a message even more powerful.  As Monsieur Dufayel reminds Amélie that only she can change the outcome of her relationship with Nino, so are we, the rest of the world, reminded that we have the ability to change our own lives.  

Granted, this is easier said than done.  New Year's immediately comes to mind: the annual ritual of making promises to oneself about things that one will do better, things that one will avoid doing at all, things that one wishes to know, things that one wishes to forget, and so on and so forth.  While I have no doubt that man is capable of keeping such promises, I think we'd all be hard-pressed to find someone who has successfully honored all of theirs.  (And if they have, chances are their so-called "resolutions" were required little resolve.)  But within this realm of failures, there are a multitude of triumphs.  It is likely that the vast majority of these triumphs succeeded only because of the help of others, encouraging us to hold fast to our promises to better ourselves and the world.  

We see such instances in Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain.  Indeed, the title is telling, for Amélie's destiny is fabulous, in part because of her own pro-active nature but also due to the help of her coworkers and neighbors.  This is, in many ways, very representative of the real world.  A single human being is capable of getting by on his or her own, as Amélie's father does.  But it is, as we see, a lonely and sad existence at best that is undermined by simplicity and fear. Conversely, Amélie's life, one that is irreversibly tied to the people with whom she works and lives, is all the richer.  The relationships that she has with each of these people are reminiscent of our own relationships with the people who surround us.  There are those who annoy us and those who please us just as there are those we dread to see and those who make our hearts melt.  

Then there are those who show us what and who we really are.  They expose our flaws and weaknesses, reminding us that we cannot hide from them, we can only attempt to fix them.  And with the help of that person, sometimes we can.  Amélie does, abetted by Monsieur Dufayel.  He is the mirror from which she cannot hide, and through her, he reminds us that in reality, even the best attempts to conceal certain aspects of our lives often come up short.  He is, ultimately, the link between the film and the world.  He shows Amélie, and thus us, both the kind and harsh realities of life, forcing her to take control of it to create her own fabulous destiny.  

This is what good films do.  They do not attempt to make perfect a world that is far from it.  Nor do they attempt to represent isolated aspects of that world.  Rather, they are atune to the various elements of the world and their constant interplay.  Walter Benjamin discusses this in his critical work "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction."  Benjamin says that shooting a film "presents a process in which it is impossible to assign to a spectator a viewpoint which would exclude from the actual scene such extraneous accessories as camera equipment, lighting machinery, staff assistants, etc....[and this] renders superficial and insignificant any possible similarity between a scene in the studio and one on the stage."  What Benjamin misses, however, is that these "extraneous accessories" add an otherwise unattainable authenticity to film.   They situate the film not in a fictional and limited world but one that is filled with artifact that closely resembles the extraneous in our own lives.  It is only when a film is able to acknowledge and dismiss the superfluous in our own lives that it will ever be able to succeed.  Amélie, through giving us a glimpse of the real world, succeeds.