THE 2007 MOUTON D'OR AWARDS

“In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so.” These are the words of Anton Ego, RATATOUILLE’s imposing food critic who has grown sour after years of being fed what he deems to be mediocrity. This, however, is a humbled moment that gives birth to a newly invigorated soul. Ego did not become a critic in order to criticize but rather to feast upon that which he appreciates the most. His expectations are just a little high.

This scene actually makes me cry. Watching films with a critical eye certainly skews the viewing but, like Ego, I am merely waiting to recapture the joy and warmth that movies have brought to my heart since I was a boy. Peel my expectations and disappointments away and you will not find a critic but rather a film enthusiast.

I am also an awards geek.
Welcome to the 2007 Mouton d’Or Awards.

BEST POPCORN FLICK

I like to be entertained just like anybody. As much as I enjoy getting lost in thought and opening my mind up to perspectives unlike my own, I also enjoy shutting off and leaving my worries alone for a little while. What makes all the nominees in the category of BEST POPCORN FLICK special is that they all successfully entertain in big, bright fashion but also manage to tickle your brain at the same time. Paul Greengrass’s schizophrenic THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM is non-stop action, speed and intelligence, cut together in a style that gets your heart pumping faster than perhaps it should. THE DARJEELING LIMITED is Wes Anderson’s unfortunately overlooked masterpiece. It is colorful, insightful and hilarious. Unlike most of his previous work, it is also touching and real. As the 2nd half of the GRINDHOUSE double feature, DEATH PROOF feels long but as its own separate feature, the great modern visionary, Quentin Tarantino, offers another uniquely visceral experience. Fast cars, hot chicks, smack talk galore and edge of your seat car chases propel this potentially ridiculous premise into the fast lane. Buckle up! I have never seen New York City look so haunting as it does in I AM LEGEND. Call it a vampire flick or a Will Smith puff piece but you cannot deny the odd beauty of deer hopping through grass ridden New York streets and cutting through halted traffic. Smith carries this film on his well built shoulders and never shows signs of tiring. All this said, it is no secret that I gave my heart away this last year to one very endearing and very inspirational rat. Little chef Remy finds his fate when he isn’t looking and learns to accept and embrace who he truly is. The script is calculated while still unexpected; the camera work, scattered while still controlled. The results are a delectable delight. This year’s Mouton d’Or for Best Popcorn Flick goes to Brad Bird's RATATOUILLE.


BEST LITTLER MOVIE

Not everyone gets to make a film with a gigantic conglomerate backing them up. The category of BEST LITTLER MOVIE is given to the film that shows genuine intention, artistry and heart. Todd Haynes’s Bob Dylan tribute, I’M NOT THERE, is ambitious in scope and abundantly original. Despite its many detractors, Haynes continues to stay true to his vision and asserts himself further as one of the great contemporary American filmmakers. JUNO is highly watchable. Repeat viewings only draw you closer to these wonderful, relatable characters. Director Jason Reitman’s 2nd feature has opened his career wide open and congratulations are due to him and screenwriter, Diablo Cody, for giving the world a young heroine with no shame and a sense of self not found in most teenage screen representations. LARS AND THE REAL GIRL is a lonely experience. While that may repel some, those who are brave and fortunate enough to find themselves observing Lars as he embarks on a real relationship with a not so real partner will be given the opportunity to face their own fears about what being alone truly means. WAITRESS is just scrumptious. Every time it feels like the film might go off in a direction that would render it totally bland, it doesn’t. The late Adrienne Shelley’s choices as both director and writer are sharp and revealing for all those who know what it means to be going down a path that you never thought would be your own and without any control over that direction. Love and indie are not often words used in the same sentence. Indie and musical? Even less so. Yet here we are with a small Irish film about two people who find each other and themselves in song and the harmony they create together by simply putting their voices out there. For grounding the musical in a reality that is not tragic but progressive and for allowing love to be omnipresent without carrying anyone away, the Mouton d’Or for Best Little Movie goes to John Carney’s ONCE.


THE WORSE MOVIE I SAW ALL YEAR

Here’s where it gets a little nasty. THE WORST MOVIE I SAW ALL YEAR goes to, well, the worst movie I saw all year. I see a lot of movies but I can’t see everything so how do I gage what to nominate here and what should win? Essentially, the winner is the film that angered me more than any other. This generally happens when potential is there, when you can smell it all around you but you are instead forced to watch it be squandered away or when the film is just plain dumb. ALPHA DOG falls into the latter category. My feelings about this film are best expressed by remembering the scene where Ben Foster takes a dump on his nemesis’s living room floor. Imagine the living room floor as this film and the scene becomes wonderfully apropos. About five minutes in to BLACK SNAKE MOAN, Christina Ricci is seen convulsing in the grass. She’s got the itch; that’s what they call nymphomania. The biblical implications of a girl being led back to salvation and pulp aesthetic cannot save this film from its own ridiculous staging. Oh, and Samuel L. Jackson should never be allowed to sing on film again. Canadian darling, Denys Arcand, came back this year with L’AGE DES TENEBRES (DAYS OF DARKNESS). His Oscar for LES INVASIONS BARBARES (BARBARIAN INVASIONS) has clearly gone to his head as he now seems to see himself as a prophet sent to warn us of the consequences of a banal life based on lies and materialism. Thanks Denys, but I think we all had that one figured out already. I don’t know why I expected more from TRANSFORMERS. I guess I wanted to be a kid again but this clunky, confusing disaster (due props for its special effects design work though) was made for today’s kids and I don’t get why they seem to enjoy being condescended to. Still, no film made me angrier this year than this particularly pointless musical. Those who loved it appreciated its artistic innovation. Art without purpose though might as well be commerce and this film took the genius music of The Beatles and rendered the words that have inspired millions meaningless and hollow. For this unforgivable offence, the Mouton d’Or for The Worst Film I Saw All Year goes to Julie Taymor’s ACROSS THE UNIVERSE.


THE TREVOR ADAMS ANIMATED FEATURE AWARD

Thanks to my friend, Trevor, animated film excites me in ways it never did before. This is why the award is named in his honour and the films that find themselves in this category are honoured for both their delicate craftsmanship and their ability to outshine the countless live action films that don’t measure up. As the technology in the field makes new worlds of animation possible to explore, the nominees this year are a mixed bag of 2D and 3D animation. Going the traditional 2D route to tell an entirely untraditional story, PERSEPOLIS is mostly black and white and magical. While many strive to create animated features aimed at kids as enjoyable for both adults and children, Marjane Sartrapi tells the painfully adult story of her life growing up in Iran during the Islamic revolution in an unapologetically mature manner. It is a true expression of artistry and brave use of the medium. There is nothing mature about THE SIMPSONS MOVIE. The numerous creative minds behind this first feature length offering made so many people laugh this year and they did so by not only remaining true to their roots and their fans but they brought new sides to characters we have allowed in our living rooms for nearly twenty years. It may not be a work of genius but it is a solid reminder why the Simpsons are the quintessential nuclear family. Meanwhile, one animated feature achieved the implausible by getting audiences around the world to let rats into the kitchen. The good people at Pixar are the leaders in the industry but they never take their position or the story behind each of their ideas for granted. In fact, they take very good care of it. The recipe they used for their latest reveals new flavours with every serving, including inspiration, perspective and philosophy about how one’s true nature factors into one’s destiny. And their presentation is always impeccable. This year’s Mouton d’Or for The Trevor Adams Animated Feature Award goes to RATATOUILLE.


BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

There are new technical awards this year, including this category for BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY. The results here surprised even myself. Watching ATONEMENT means weaving in and around a beautiful mansion maze with dimly lit corners that reveal shocking secrets. It all culminates in an unmatched 4½-minute continuous shot recreating the evacuation of British soldiers on the beach of Dunkirk that choreographed to perfection. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN makes desolate and alone into something picturesque. Sweeping landscapes or violence in cramped hotel rooms are equally invigorating. LE SCAPHANDRE ET LE PAPILLON blurs its edges and straps the viewer down to a hospitable bed with no possibility of escape. Feeling trapped has never been so artistically liberating. THERE WILL BE BLOOD takes the stillness of the desert and frames its beauty into a feeling of what it must have been like to be right there. One film though above all these wonderful works seems determined to elevate cinematographic possibilities with every shot. The film itself is not amazing but you cannot look away from its stunning style – from fields of endless wheat flowing in the wind to a screen of nothing but black suddenly interrupted by the light at the head of the train turning the corner and shining through a densely populated forest. Improving his odds by being nominated twice in this category, the Mouton d’Or for Best Cinematography goes to Roger Deakins for THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD.


BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC

In the category of Best Original Music, all five nominated films are made better by their musical accompaniment. In INTO THE WILD, I was mostly uninterested in the majority of the film but became interested each time Eddie Vedder’s light acoustic guitar filled out the frame and lent depth to the often pretty pictures. THERE WILL BE BLOOD would have been an entirely different film if it weren’t for Jonny Greenwood’s haunting and disturbingly intense score. His music made everything that much more eerie and urgent. Michael Giacchino’s score for RATATOUILLE is whimsical and wind-instrument heavy. He helped put the bounce in Remy’s scamper. The tapping of the typewriter in Dario Marionelli’s score for ATONEMENT is commanding and drives the film forward with a march and romantic swell. It is the lyricism, the melodic lull and the harmonized passion of this Best Littler Movie winner that takes the prize though. Singing brings people together in this movie and the music lives on as the two leads and composers, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova continue to tour the world with the moving music of this film. The Mouton d’Or for Best Original Music goes to ONCE.


BEST EDITING

Chop, chop, chop. Editing sets the pace of a film and should not be noticed but certainly should be celebrated. ATONEMENT plays with time and expectation. Glimpses of moments to come are spliced in and told out of sequence with their true account and significance only revealed when the right time has arrived. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN cuts back and forth between cat and mouse and changes the roles whenever it feels like. What is cut out in this film is often the most telling. LE SCAPHANDRE ET LE PAPILLON manages to avoid cliché despite cutting back and forth between the past and the present. Though we go to the past, we are always present. ZODIAC is epic in length and while some feel the film is long, the manner in which it is edited is done for exactly this effect so that you too can feel the exhaustion of running after a killer for years without result. The winner in this category though cuts when he feels like it instead of when it is expected. A fight scene in a tiny bathroom reaches dizzying heights of force and the viewer is never allowed to sit still to situate where in the world the film is now because the editing is relentless. The Mouton d’Or for Best Editing goes to Christopher Rouse for THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM.


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

It’s performance time. As the coward, Robert Ford in THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD, Casey Affleck is an awkward, uncomfortable star-struck boy playing in a man’s game. He embodies an inner struggle to prove himself to the idol he has emulated for years and the only way to do that is to conquer him. In MICHAEL CLAYTON, Tom Wilkinson may be crazy but it’s just the price he has to pay for his genius. The conflict between his soul and the corruption he perpetuates in his career as a lawyer has him completely unhinged and his conviction to make things right is the only thing that keeps balanced. In Wilkinson’s shoes, he is always teetering. Hal Holbrook is a welcome sight in the lengthy INTO THE WILD. This lonesome older man only appears in the later parts of the film but he leaves the most lasting imprint. His is a life that is nearing its end and yet the hope he feels still continues to overshadow a lifetime of regrets. In CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR, Philip Seymour Hoffman is one pushy bastard. He is curt, crafty and calculated. Hoffman looks like he could blow up any time he graces the screen but yet good intentions and ideals can always been seen underneath his rough exterior. It only takes five minutes to spot the winner in this category. The evil in his eyes as he stares up at the ceiling while strangling a naïve policeman is so blank and cold. There is no meaning to his madness. He just exists it. Anton Chigurh is a new face of evil, an instantly iconic character brought to life in a triumphantly unflinching performance. The Mouton d’Or for Best Supporting Actor goes to JAVIER BARDEM in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.


BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
It’s the ladies’ turn now. In MICHAEL CLAYTON, Tilda Swinton is a power player in way over her head. Her ambition has led her to heights she perhaps never imagined but her nervous nature is constantly at odds with her position and status. It is a pleasure to watch her sweat. In GONE, BABY, GONE, Amy Ryan takes the character of a mother who has had her child taken from her and turns one of the most sympathetic archetypes in narrative history into someone you want punch and shake. Yet somehow, you still just want to see her get it together all the while. Saoirse Ronan is an enormous force in a tiny frame in ATONEMENT. As Briony Tallis, she is brilliant and talented but needs constant reassurance to build her fragile confidence. When she tells her infamous lie, you can tell she knows what she’s doing is wrong but has no concept of just how wrong that is. Jennifer Jason Leigh is no stranger to fragile characters that are put upon by those who surround them. In MARGOT AT THE WEDDING, she brings new layers to the troubled soul she knows so well. Her character lives the influence of her history and tries to please everyone while struggling with the knowledge that she will never reach her future until she learns to please herself. The winner in this category is an unorthodox casting choice for the character she played and yet she gives the most natural performance of the entire cast. She shares the duties of playing Bob Dylan with five other male actors and despite her sex, or perhaps because of it, gives the performance that best captures the poet. She is fidgety, angry, mouthy and still breaks just like a woman. The Mouton d’Or for Best Supporting Actress goes to CATE BLANCHETT in I’M NOT THERE.


BEST ACTOR

The category of Best Actor was immensely competitive this year. Narrowing it down to five performances was extremely difficult and it meant some very fine performances could not be recognized. I guess that means if you’re here, you damn well deserve it. In addition to his fantastic turn in AMERICAN GANGSTER, Josh Brolin has an incredible return this year. In NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, he doesn’t say very much. The man doesn’t remember that his own mother has died but the moves he makes to avoid being caught by the hunter who is after him are nothing short of inspired. His focus never fails and neither does his performance. Ryan Gosling won this category last year for his turn as a drug addict high school teacher in HALF NELSON. He returns this year as a man so lonely, he invents a personality for an anatomically correct plastic doll in LARS AND THE REAL GIRL. Being a good boyfriend to her is a lot easier than dealing with real people for the man who seems to fear the day light and any interaction with a real person. He needs closeness but that is what he fears the most. Tommy Lee Jones cannot find his son in IN VALLEY OF ELAH. His calm, polite nature is his defense against the bizarre new world of violence and technology. On this level, he shares a lot in common with the character he plays in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. Only here, his acceptance of the reality he now lives in is quiet on the outside but tumultuous on the inside and never the two shall meet. If this were a different year and the competition were different, Viggo Mortensen would be the winner in this category for his performance as a chauffeur to the Russian mob in EASTERN PROMISES. His accent and ferocity are commanding and impressive and his vulnerability and sensitivity expose his monster front to reveal the human underneath. Still, nothing can compare to the embodiment and complete transformation of this year’s winner. One has come to expect these kinds of revelatory performances from this choosy actor but his capacity to create such detailed characters from words on a page is always surprising. As Daniel Plainview, he is ambitious, conniving and downright frightening. He is the original entrepreneur and the prototype for the watered down versions of sharks swimming in business today. The Mouton d’Or for Best Actor goes to DANIEL DAY-LEWIS in THERE WILL BE BLOOD.


BEST ACTRESS

The Best Actress category was not difficult to narrow down but was difficult to select a winner for. Julie Christie will likely go on to win the Oscar for her performance as a resident with Alzheimer’s adapting to her new home in AWAY FROM HER. She is delicately confused and traces of her former self sneak through at random moments. Considering we never met her before the onset of the diseases, it’s pretty impressive that we would even recognize her. As the title character in MARGOT AT THE WEDDING, Nicole Kidman is a complete mess. Because she is successful, she thinks that she is better than the rest of her family but she may just be the most neurotic of the bunch. Watching her fall apart is at times enjoyable as she is not terribly likable but she still gets us to feel very sorry for her. Marion Cotillard saves LA VIE EN ROSE from being a fairly straightforward biopic. As French singer, Edith Piaf, she is radiant, fragile and exuberant. Her moods are erratic and the changes are frequent. Her descent from fame to disease is tragic but Cotillard’s performance is transcendent. Angelina Jolie should have been nominated for the Oscar for her role as Mariane Pearl, wife of kidnapped and murdered American journalist, Daniel Pearl, in A MIGHTY HEART. Her performance is so nuanced and contained. She is constantly trying to keep it together that by the time she lets it all out, you want to scream and shout with her in support. The winner in this category has done something remarkable. Her performance of a headstrong pregnant teenager has the potential to become an iconic companion to Holden Caulfield. She is smart and determined, witty and winning but also frightened and searching for more truths. Her command of her own self and her assertiveness that spites social norms is an inspiration to a group of people who have never seen themselves on screen like this before. The Mouton d’Or for Best Actress goes to ELLEN PAGE in JUNO.


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Aw, the writers. Before you turned Hollywood on its back this year with your impactful strike, you wrote some lovely screenplays and here are the best of the bunch. The tone in ATONEMENT is achingly romantic. The manner in which Christopher Hampton’s story of unrequited love and lecherous regret unfolds inspires sympathy without utilizing sap to get there. The balance between time and space gives way to an ending I did not see coming that made more sense than anything I would have imagined. LE SCAPHANDRE ET LE PAPILLON is a hollowing experience that replenishes itself before the credits close. Ronald Harwood fearlessly puts us in the mind of a bed ridden patient with locked-in syndrome and forces us to deal with the same claustrophobia and anguish his character does. The tale is telling of the endurance of the human spirit. Paul Thomas Anderson’s script for THERE WILL BE BLOOD is a bizarre and bewildering. Things are being said about commerce and oil and business and religion. So much is being said without deliberately pointing to anything in particular that it’s hard to tie it all together. Despite this, the genius gushes in every spill. Jason Vanderbilt’s ZODIAC is playfully demonic. In its earlier sequences, it bounces back and forth between the bewilderment felt by the public regarding the Zodiac killings and the gruesome killings themselves. So much time goes by without any resolution and Vanderbilt makes sure that we want the puzzle solves just as bad and before we know it, we are just as lost as the poor detectives assigned to the case. The winning script is the one that has the most fun with its audience though. The play between the hunter and the hunted keeps everyone guessing and the writers have the audacity to thwart convention by leaving out key details that would tie everything together nicely. What we’re left with is a quiet contemplation on modern horrors and unexplained human atrocities. The Mouton d’Or for Best Adapted Screenplay goes to JOEL and ETHAN COEN for NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.


BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Original is too light a word for the nominees in this category. Steve Zaillian’s script for EASTERN PROMISES crosses two people trying to do right by the world and themselves in starkly different fashions. Neither is selfless yet both are fighting the good fight in a world run by mobsters, allowing each of them to learn the consequences of what happens when you get too close. Nancy Oliver not only wrote a screenplay when she wrote LARS AND THE REAL GIRL; she also wrote a strong character study. Lars has lost all touch with people and yet still functions in society. In exposing this character’s palpable loneliness to the world, Oliver showed millions that they are in fact not as alone as they thought. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – rats in the kitchen is a hard sell. Through careful plotting and sharp, subtle decisions, Brad Bird manages to not only make RATATOUILLE plausible but also an exhilarating good time. By bringing us beneath the surface, Bird enlightens our minds with motivational philosophy about how the unlikeliest among us has the potential to be extraordinary. With THE SAVAGES, Tamara Jenkins makes dementia funny. That isn’t really true. What she actually does is show us how horribly taxing it is on everyone involved and teaches us that laughter must be had in order to survive it all. This year’s winner was chosen for its somehow smooth exposition of what it means to be a pregnant teenager in America today. By deciding to keep her baby and give it up for adoption, Juno MacGuff has become a poster child for both sides of the abortion issue and shown the world that having choices doesn’t automatically assume which will one will be made. It is also a love story between two young people who have found themselves in a confusing position where they have adult issues to face long before they have figured out how to feel about themselves or each other. For being honest, frank and just as hilarious as it is touching, the Mouton d’Or for Best Original Screenplay goes to DIABLO CODY for JUNO.


BEST DIRECTOR

The Best Director category was also very competitive. Many seasoned directors made masterworks while many novice directors solidified their names and talent. Paul Thomas Anderson is from the former category. THERE WILL BE BLOOD is such an incredible change of direction for the director of BOOGIE NIGHTS and MAGNOLIA. Not only is a drastic departure but it is an immensely successful one. He wanted to challenge himself and he surpassed all expectations by doing so. Todd Haynes embodies creativity in I'M NOT THERE. He is the rare director that has found a way to work within the mainstream while creating entirely unconventional work. The sheer scope of his Bob Dylan biopic is so vast that it is impossible to take everything in upon first viewing. He has not only delivered a glorious tribute to an American icon but has changed the mechanics of the biopic itself. Painter Julian Schnabel’s LE SCAPHANDRE ET LE PAPILLON is a brave work of art. It is as fearless as its protagonist needed to be in order to accomplish the feats he did while he was alive. The experience is gut wrenching but worth the insight derived. Joe Wright also cast out a wide net when trying to reel in the enormity of ATONEMENT. His control over everything is felt throughout the production and he breathes a new sensual energy into a genre that is all too often frigid. It is a duo of seasoned directors though that take this award this year. After making quirky, original features for years, these siblings have finally made their masterpiece. They did so by abandoning all of their tested practices and without altering their aesthetic to the point that their involvement is unrecognizable. It is smart, darkly humourous and its intelligence is matched only by its ferocity. This year’s Mouton d’Or for Best Director goes to JOEL and ETHAN COEN for NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.


BEST PICTURE

You’ve made it this far and I’ve said all there is to say about each of the five nominated films for Best Picture. So, I will get right to it, not only because I'm sure you can't read anymore but I can't write anymore. Thank you for reading and your support over this last year. It has been a pleasure watching and reporting back. Here are the nominees and winner for the 2007 Mouton d’Or for Best Picture …

BLACK SHEEP REVIEWS BEST OF 2007 CONTEST WINNER

CONGRATULATIONS, ERIC HATCH!!

Scoring 335 votes, Black Sheep reader, Eric Hatch, has won the first Black Sheep Reviews "Best Of" contest. Eric will receive three DVD's of his choice from a shortlist that has already been published.

Thank you to everyone who participated and everyone who voted. Thanks to your support, Black Sheep Reviews had its biggest month since it came in as 4th best blog in the Montreal Mirror Best of Montreal survey. Not only were the web hits through the roof but people didn't just vote and get out. They voted and then flipped through the rest of the site. In fact, outside of the contest pages, the 2007 Mouton d'Or nominations were the most read article on the site.

Look for the announcement of the Mouton d'Or winners on February 23 and regular reviews to pick up again the following week. Changes are coming for Black Sheep Reviews and I thank you all for being here to witness them.

Congratulations again, Eric.

THE 2007 MOUTON D'OR NOMINATIONS

Black Sheep’s Best of 2007

This time last year I was trudging through garbage in search of a half-eaten cheese sandwich I could dust off and pass off as one of the better films of the year. 2006 was certainly no country for an old man like myself. I’m happy to say though that this year, I was able to keep my hands clean as 2007 was the year even the rats were allowed in the kitchen to make themselves a real snack before settling in for a flick. 2007, you can rest easy for you have sufficiently atoned for the sins of 2006. I assure you there will be no blood shed here, just some love and recognition in the form of an award or two. No, Canada, this ain’t the Juno’s – it’s the 2007 BLACK SHEEP REVIEWS’ MOUTON D’OR AWARDS!

But seriously folks, 2007 has been a great year both on the screen and off for this here film critic. I have had the opportunity to see over 80 first run films and write over 50 reviews. I even manage to get myself invited to press screenings now. That might seem like nothing to some but as it doesn’t happen often for me, waking up to a movie, a coffee and a croissant with a handful of film enthusiasts is a little like heaven to me. I was published for the first time in March, discussing THE ASTRONAUT FARMER in The National Post’s Popcorn Panel and went on to find my way there another seven times. I was voted Critic of the Week twice on Zip.ca – once because I got all my friends to vote for me and once was a complete surprise. I ended my run as a regular DVD reviewer for Ioncinema.com and began covering film festivals for them instead, like the Montreal World Film Festival and the Nouveau Cinema Festival. This allowed me the chance to meet and speak with directors as diverse as Michael Davis (SHOOT EM UP), Bruce McDonald (THE TRACEY FRAGMENTS) and Jeremy Podeswa (FUGITIVE PIECES). In the online world, my work found a new forum on Montreal Film Journal and continued to be read by hundreds on Smart-Popcorn. The official Black Sheep Reviews Facebook group has reached over 450 members. The Globe and Mail and The Edmonton Sun both interviewed me as an up and coming voice in the field of freelance film criticism. My actual voice found its way to the airwaves on 940 Montreal, where I debated on an almost weekly basis what people should spend their money on at the theatres and finished the year by announcing my Top 10 on New Year’s Eve. I may have had to pay my own way but I finally found myself at the Toronto International Film Festival. I was suddenly surrounded by Ang Lee, Catherine Keener, Jake Gyllenhaal, Eddie Vedder, Reese Witherspoon, Emile Hirsch and Peter Saarsgard to name a few. Sure they had no idea I was there but who cares? A separate trip to the New York Film Festival gave me the chance to catch the advance screening of MARGOT AT THE WEDDING, with both Jennifer Jason Leigh and Noah Baumbach on hand to discuss the experience. And last, but naturally not least, Black Sheep Reviews found its face in a beautifully animated sheep named Sheldon, designed by my humble and talented friend, Trevor Adams. Sheldon makes for an amazing flyer and there are times when I’m handing them out and people tell me they’ve already been to the site or visit regularly. There are times when I’m sitting at my day job worried that all of this is for nothing and that no one is reading my words but thanks to all of my amazing supporters, that is simply not true. If it weren’t for you, Black Sheep Reviews would never have been voted the 4th Best Blog in Montreal (Montreal Mirror) or be visited by thousands monthly.

Right, so enough about me, let’s get to the movies. Before December and the onslaught of critic’s list announcements, 2007’s award race was wide open. It was exhilarating to know that any number of films could become the front-runner for the Best Picture crown. All too often, the hype machine has already solidified certain titles as sure bets but this year, all the bets were off. While this made the wide variety of possibility exciting in my MOUTON D’OR nominations, whittling the selections down to five in each category was almost exhausting … even after I added new categories to honour as many films as possible. Joining the regular categories from last year are three more technical categories – Cinematography, Editing and Original Music. Also, another year means another change for an award title that I just can’t get right … It is meant to embody the spirit of independent film but the idea of what is independent is so blurred that the best I could come up with as an award title is Best Little Movie That Could: An award for genuine intention, artistry and heart. Let’s not waste another moment … Here are the nominations for Black Sheep Reviews’ 2007 Mouton d’Or Awards:


BEST POPCORN FLICK

THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
THE DARJEELING LIMITED
DEATH PROOF
I AM LEGEND
RATATOUILLE


BEST LITTLE MOVIE THAT COULD:
An award for genuine intention, artistry and heart

I’M NOT THERE
JUNO
LARS AND THE REAL GIRL
ONCE
WAITRESS


THE WORST MOVIE I SAW ALL YEAR

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
ALPHA DOG
BLACK SNAKE MOAN
L’AGE DES TENEBRES (DAYS OF DARKNESS)
TRANSFORMERS


THE TREVOR ADAMS ANIMATED FEATURE AWARD

PERSEPOLIS
RATATOUILLE
THE SIMPSONS MOVIE


BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD (Roger Deakins, cinematographer)
ATONEMENT (Seamus McGarvey)
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (Roger Deakins)
LE SCAPHANDRE ET LE PAPILLON (Janusz Kaminski)
THERE WILL BE BLOOD (Roger Elswit)


BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC

ATONEMENT (Dario Marianelli, composer)
INTO THE WILD (Eddie Vedder)
ONCE (Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova)
RATATOUILLE (Michael Giacchino)
THERE WILL BE BLOOD (Jonny Greenwood)


BEST EDITING

ATONEMENT (Paul Tothill, film editor)
THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM, Christopher Rouse)
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (Roderick Jaynes)
LE SCAPHANDRE ET LE PAPILLON (Juliette Welfling)
ZODIAC (Angus Wall)


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

CASEY AFFLECK
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
JAVIER BARDEM
No Country for Old Men
PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN
Charlie Wilson’s War
HAL HOLBROOK
Into the Wild
TOM WILKINSON
Michael Clayton


BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

CATE BLANCHETT
I’m Not There
JENNIFER JASON LEIGH
Margot at the Wedding
SAOIRSE RONAN
Atonement
AMY RYAN
Gone Baby Gone
TILDA SWINTON
Michael Clayton


BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

JOSH BROLIN
No Country for Old Men
DANIEL DAY-LEWIS
There Will Be Blood
RYAN GOSLING
Lars and the Real Girl
TOMMY LEE JONES
In the Valley of Elah
VIGGO MORTENSEN
Eastern Promises

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

JULIE CHRISTIE
Away From Her
MARION COTILLARD
La Vie en Rose
ANGELINA JOLIE
A Mighty Heart
NICOLE KIDMAN
Margot at the Wedding
ELLEN PAGE
Juno


BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

EASTERN PROMISES (Steven Knight, screenwriter)
JUNO (Diablo Cody)
LARS AND THE REAL GIRL (Nancy Oliver)
RATATOUILLE (Brad Bird)
THE SAVAGES (Tamara Jenkins)


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

ATONEMENT (Christopher Hampton, screenwriter)
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (Joel and Ethan Coen)
LE SCAPHANDRE ET LE PAPILLON (Ronald Harwood)
THERE WILL BE BLOOD (Paul Thomas Anderson)
ZODIAC (James Vanderbilt)


BEST DIRECTOR

PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON
There Will Be Blood
JOEL AND ETHAN COEN
No Country for Old Men
TODD HAYNES
I’m Not There
JULIAN SCHNABEL
Le Scaphandre et le Papillon
JOE WRIGHT
Atonement


BEST PICTURE








Winners will be announced Oscar weekend (February 23) and be sure to check back this weekend for the first wave of the Black Sheep Reviews 2008 contest Top 5 lists.

Happy 2008!

THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY

Written by Ronald Harwood
Directed by Julian Schnabel


Jean-Dominique Bauby: Mon premier mot est “je.” Je commence par moi.

People often find themselves feeling trapped. They feel trapped at work or trapped in a bad relationship. When we find ourselves in these sorts of situations, we are sometimes fortunate enough to have choices. We can change our surroundings; we can look to new possibilities and put the scenarios that are suffocating us behind us. And if we can’t make that change happen immediately, we can find ways to escape for a while. We can go for walks; we can talk to friends; we can go to the movies. Now, thanks to director, Julian Schnabel, we can feel just as trapped at the movies as we already may feel in our regular waking lives. THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY is a French film about one man’s true account of what it feels like to experience the medical condition called locked-in syndrome. Someone in this condition can see and think, even remember everything but his body is paralyzed from top to bottom and he cannot move his mouth to speak. As depressing as this all sounds, it is nowhere near as intense as how it feels to see the film from the perspective of the patient, which is exactly where Schnabel places his viewer. Whatever you were escaping won’t seem so important after having experienced this cinematic paralysis.


The film is even more devastating because this horror is a true story. Former Elle magazine editor, Jean-Dominique Bauby (played in the film by Mathieu Almarich) suffered a stroke that left him in a coma in 1995. The film tells his story from the moment he awakes from that coma twenty days later. He must battle his way through his confusion to deal with the crushing news that the life he knew is now over. This is a man who worked in fashion. His life was glitz, glamour, always moving and now he is sitting in a cramped hospital room and unable to get out of bed or even sit up. While Bauby wakes up to hell, we wake up to cinematic heaven. Award-winning cinematographer, Janusz Kaminski, developed a style of shooting that shows the viewer what Bauby is seeing. Doctors and orderlies are constantly in his face; images are blurred or skewed depending on how alert Bauby is; and when he closes his eyes, we see nothing but the back of his eyelid. We get out of that claustrophobic space the same way Bauby does by following his imagination, which takes him back to many memories or to all-together new places for experiences he’s never had. The dreamy technique is humbling, inspiring and, rather ironically, cinematically alive. Kaminski has taken a paralyzed perspective and made it dance.


Ronald Harwood’s script lights a fire of frustration in the viewer while it exposes the stupidity of humanity. While no one around him can hear his thoughts, we are privy to all of them being trapped in the mind where they are formed. The manner in which the senior doctors speak to him and the liberties they take knowing he cannot speak back or push their fingers away while they poke at him exposes the inequities of the medical profession. Hope is casually dropped into the conversation whenever there is nothing more to say. Even in this so obviously dire situation, people cannot directly address pain and suffering. Harwood is also careful not to inundate us with imagery of Bauby’s former existence. The memories we do see alert us to significant relationships and moments but make no linear trajectory of everything that led up to this. Nor are we subjected to clichés of everything exciting that Bauby will never know again. Instead, we are just shown glimpses of the man we are meant to identify with. This story would be tragic no matter what the background and Harwood’s sparse humanization allows us to see that clearly. More importantly, the dialogue in Bauby’s head and the little that manages to get to those around him allows us to see who he is right now. After all, he is still alive.


As harrowing as this all sounds, THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY is still uplifting. Bauby manages to maintain some of the relationships he had prior to his attack and their new context is a reminder that something deeper than mindless chatter holds them together. And for every bumbling doctor that doesn’t know what to do with him, there are just as many others determined to help him, even some that develop all new relationships with him. While his whirlwind life may seem to have come to a deadening halt, he learns a lesson that we all need to remind ourselves of regularly. There is no sense in sitting around feeling sorry for ourselves while we are still alive and capable of progress. If you need an example to see that, you should know that by blinking his way through the alphabet one letter at a time, Bauby wrote the book on which this film is based.

JUNO

Written by Diablo Cody
Directed by Jason Reitman



Juno MacGuff: I think I’m, like, in love with you.
Paulie Bleeker: You mean as friends?
Juno MacGuff: No, I mean, like for real. You’re like the coolest person I’ve ever met and you don’t even have to try, y’know.
Paulie Bleeker: I try really hard, actually.

I must be older at heart than I thought. I was instantly put off by Jason Reitman’s JUNO. Here you have this little movie about a pregnant teenager who is just trying to do the right thing by everyone and all I could think was how hard it was trying to have its own marginalized identity. A sketched doodle of the word, “autumn” appears at the top of the screen; the sounds of Barry Louis Polisar’s indie acoustic music begin to play as a comic book-like animated title sequence takes over the screen; Rainn Wilson, working as a convenience store counter clerk, says things like, “Your eggo is preggo,” and “What’s the prognosis, Fertile Myrtle?” It was as though Reitman was pulling out every trick he could think of to make sure we knew how edgy his film was. “We are indie!” it screamed like a loud teenager yammering away in the back of the theatre. Only, just like that teenager, JUNO is much deeper than it first appears and simply requires a closer look to see Reitman’s sensitive, gentle hand at work. JUNO just may be the most earnest and humble film I’ve seen all year. It’s merely hiding behind a tough exterior.


That tough exterior comes courtesy of first-time screenwriter, Diablo Cody, and is reinforced by Reitman’s strong understanding of the nuanced material. It is honest, frank and forgiving, which is a refreshing take from the usual damnation pregnant teenage girls suffer on film. Parents don’t scream and shout when they find out about their daughter’s situation; nobody forbids anyone from seeing anybody else ever again. It is not the least bit dramatic considering that exaggeration colors mostly every word uttered on screen. (Look, I can embellish too!) The non-judgmental approach allows almost every character to come from his or her own perspective and place in the story, making them much more real than they let on. We know that prospective adoptive mother, Vanessa (Jennifer Garner), is concerned with image and perception because we see her hands straightening frames and towels while waiting to receive company before we even see her face. We know that her husband, Mark (Jason Bateman), is not as enthusiastic about the adoption as his wife is because he isn’t by her side when Juno (Ellen Page) first appears at their door. These kinds of subtle visual touches act like prenatal vitamins meant to ensure that Cody’s script is born with a healthy heartbeat.


JUNO also gives birth to a new star, albeit a little bit past her due date (despite her young age of 20). Halifax native, Ellen Page, carries the majority of the film and is as complex as they come without making it seem labored (no pun intended). Past starring roles in lesser-known films like HARD CANDY and THE TRACEY FRAGMENTS were explosive and impossible to ignore only the films themselves were overlooked. Turning in another unforgettable performance in a crowd pleaser is sure to get her the accolades and recognition she deserves. Page whips out Cody’s snappy pseudo-hipster speak with fervor and confidence but gives herself away without realizing. She always plays it cool so that no one, including herself, can acknowledge how frightened she must be to be in her position. Her decision to have her baby and put it up for adoption rather than go the abortion route is brave but naïve as she has no idea how adult her decision actually is. She speaks like she has all the answers and yet has no idea what she’s talking about most of the time, but once you catch a glimmer of that fragility, anything that came off as false prior, shows itself as the front that it is.


Reitman, Cody, Page and the rest of the fantastic cast (J.K. Simmons, Alison Janney and the fascinatingly talented and gangly, Michael Cera) light JUNO afire with warmth and genuine caring. This is a movie about real people dealing with the obstacles they’re faced with rather than sitting around and whining about them. On that level, there’s nothing indie about this movie. Instead, JUNO is the perfect portrait of a young girl flung into adulthood unexpectedly. She feels prepared, realizes she isn’t, learns that she needs others and yet carries herself like she’s been the one calling the shots all along. It sure sounds awfully adult to me.

THE SAVAGES

Written and Directed by Tamara Jenkins


John Savage: Your life is much more portable than mine.
Wendy Savage: What does that mean? Like a toilet? Like a port-o-potty?

What better time of year to talk about family? The holidays bring families together. Differences are put aside; memories are shared. I don’t know about you but this warm, fuzzy Christmas wish is not what happens when my family gets together. We’re lucky enough if we actually manage to get together. Still, we are far from savages … far from THE SAVAGES, that is. Now this is a real family. Mom left when little John and Wendy Savage were still prepubescent. They suddenly found themselves under the sole care of Lenny Savage but his idea of care included neglect and beatings. Now, Wendy Savage (Laura Linney) is nearly 40 and temping to support herself while she dreams of being a playwright in New York City. John Savage (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is a theatre professor who has success but carries himself like a failure. As for dear old Dad, Lenny Savage (Philip Bosco) went off and made a home for himself in Sun City, Arizona. He moved in with his lover and the two were together until her death. With dementia and Parkinson’s disease settling in, Lenny is no longer capable of taking care of himself. John and Wendy, having washed their hands of the old man years ago, now have to take responsibility for what is theirs, whether they want to or not. We can run as far away as we want but family is still family.


You would never guess but THE SAVAGES is actually pretty darn funny. Tamara Jenkins both wrote and directed the film, wise to realize that her harsh reality would be difficult to swallow without a little sugar added. In fact, this is the script’s greatest triumph. Life is messy and you will get your hands dirty if you decide to go outside. Still, no matter how hard it gets, laughter makes it easier and Jenkins can see humour in even this dark scenario. The laughter serves not only to put her audience at ease but it slowly heals the Savages as well as they find themselves seeing life more honestly than they ever have before. Nothing forces people to live in the present more than the promise of death. With Lenny reaching the end of his line, John and Wendy must do something they have never done before; they must grow up. (It’s no wonder their surnames are taken directly from the Peter Pan stories.) Growing up for these two means turning around to face the very man they have been running from for their entire lives, seeing him as the fragile human being he is and releasing him of the blame they have laid on him and hid behind for as long as they can recall.


John and Wendy must learn to forgive in order to move on. Simple enough of a concept, perhaps too simple, but Jenkins is smart enough to know that this is a nuanced, sometimes torturous process and one that would require a higher caliber performer to convey. Wendy Savage is essentially paralyzed. She wants to be a writer but lacks the confidence to make that happen. While she lives in the shadow of her brother’s numerous degrees, she makes the cubicle rounds and seems to be waiting for someone to acknowledge her talent as worthy before standing up for it herself. Linney plays Wendy as a woman who knows she deserves more from everyone in her life, including herself, but hasn’t quite figured out how to make that necessity manifest. Meanwhile, brother John doesn’t dress up for funerals, refers to his father as a situation and signs sympathy cards without reading them first. His work is his life and he refuses to feel for anyone but as Hoffman goes from sternly controlling his sister to crying privately in the bathroom in the middle of the night over a woman he does not know how to love, it becomes obvious that the feelings he is trying so hard to suppress will be coming out regardless. The Savage siblings will come a long way from only being able to say, “I love you,” on a balloon.


It would be entirely left field to call THE SAVAGES preachy or overly critical but Jenkins does still draw our attention to some truly savage human behavior – our treatment of the elderly. While the orderlies and nurses are doing their best, they clearly lack funding to make their residents feel as comfortable as possible. Regardless of how you lived your life, there is no reason it should end in small room made even smaller by a curtain that cuts it in half. The elderly may be dying but they aren’t already dead and that’s the way we’re treating them. Jenkins and her sensitive, honest film should be commended for not wagging a judgmental finger in the faces of the characters or the audience but rather showing all involved that caring for our elders in their final hours is definitely hard but there is still laughter to be found in the days before darkness falls.

SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET

Written by John Logan
Words and Music by Stephen Sondheim
Directed by Tim Burton


Sweenney Todd: I can guarantee the closest shave you’ll ever know.

When the ensemble harmonizes the unsettling baritone with the glass-shattering soprano parts of “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” at the opening of the stage production, SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET, the tone is not only announced but adamantly affirmed. You are in store for a truly bizarre tale that is the epitome of madness and you are being introduced to man burnt by an unjust system, robbed of everything and everyone that ever meant anything to him, who has now returned for his due vengeance and has brought with him a very unhealthy bloodlust. It would seem that there could be no one better suited to translate this haunting story to film than master of the dark and champion of the disenfranchised, director, Tim Burton. Burton begins by hastily deciding to skip the ballad and go straight to what he knows best. Bright red blood drips down walls and slips between the gears of a giant meat grinder, Stephen Sondheim’s potently explosive score driving everything forward. But just as the ballad foretells on stage of unbelievable vocal histrionics to come and amaze, Burton’s decision to remove it in favour of score and visual gore confirms that he will be relying on what he knows in fear of the daunting music he has failed to grasp.


For a director who has built his entire reputation on his creative visual style, it is genuinely surprising to watch SWEENEY TODD unfold in such an unimaginative fashion. It does not seem so at first. In fact, it is quite a twisted treat to dive in to the cobblestone streets of yesterday’s London, tainted blue and gray by cinematographer, Dariusz Wolski, to a saturation point that makes the patrons appear as though they are just waiting, if not begging, for their dull lives to end. Who can blame them really? The light of day rarely seems to rise on London as it is constantly shrouded in heavy cloud. And while the camera hints at the scope of London by weaving from the picturesque rooftops to a dizzying maze of streets, it quickly ceases to a halt on one particular street corner, home to Todd’s barbershop. Despite having so much room to move, Burton traps us here and allows the claustrophobia to set in. This is a fine way to make people uncomfortable but it also makes for some rather limited musical staging. Burton rushes through the musical numbers by slicing lines out (unfortunately some of the more hilarious ones) so that he can get to the action because he knows that their stunted staging slows the pace. Subsequently, he leaves us with nothing more than a bloody mess on the floor.


Further proving the unimportance of technical mastery in this musical is Burton’s decision (with the perplexing blessing of Sondheim himself) to cast untrained singers in the demanding leads. The character of Sweeney Todd requires a voice so powerful and fierce that it resonates fear through the bodies of all who hear it. Johnny Depp surprises with how well he can handle the material but his capable performance never ignites the passion of a mad man. Meanwhile, Todd’s counterpart in scheming evil, Mrs. Lovett, a woman so conniving and desperate that she will say or do anything to make sure her man is content and by her side, is played by Helena Bonham Carter, a woman whose voice is so weak that she is barely capable of communicating any of the colour in the character. Each actor carries the same drab expression on their face throughout the film as though they are bored or just completely unsure of themselves. They each have their moments but neither successfully demonstrates the depths of their treachery or the heights of their dark wit. As they watch each step, careful to avoid each other’s toes, Burton guides their performances into characters with soulless shells that barely frighten each other, let alone the audience.


In what will hopefully be his last musical outing, Burton breaks a golden musical rule. The musical numbers should never be rushed. That’s why we’re there – to appreciate the beauty of Sondheim’s layered and dense masterpiece. Only that isn’t why Burton is there. Clearly, Todd’s penchant for slashing throats is what most fascinated the man at the helm of this horror story. And while the blood gushing out and splattering against the camera and the walls is both disgusting and exhilarating at the same time, it amounts to very little more than gorgeous torture porn. Who knew that SWEENEY TODD would be so maniacal that even the insane genius of Tim Burton could not fully comprehend the man himself?

ATONEMENT

Written by Christopher Hampton
Directed by Joe Wright


Robbie Turner: The story can resume.

Tap tap tap goes the typewriter. The tapping is coming faster and hitting harder. The pace is set and the race has officially started. Director, Joe Wright’s ATONEMENT bursts out of the gate from the moment it starts, as a pan away from a modeled replica of the Tallis manor reveals a parade of toy animals and ends aptly on the purported queen of this particular animal kingdom, Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan). Briony is only thirteen years old but she is just about to finish her very first play. This precocious child is captivating. She is at once frightening while just as frightened. Her focus is eerily burning and her need for command of the situation and those involved motivate her every decision. On this particularly sweltering day, Briony believes her play to be her greatest accomplishment yet and sees her future more brightly boundless than even before. She has no idea that everything is about to crumble beneath her. Chance allows her to witness a few things she was not meant to and before long she makes a desperate play to regain control of her destiny. Who knew that one little girl could cause so much trouble for so many people and invite turmoil into her family for the rest of her days by telling one misguided lie?


When Briony falsely accuses Robbie (James McAvoy), her sister, Cecilia’s (Keira Knightly) lover, of a horrible crime, he is arrested and sent to prison. It isn’t clear whether Briony was aware of how serious her accusations were or how far Robbie would be taken from Cecilia and his future as a result but it is clear that she interrupted a love of immense proportion. ATONEMENT’s first act goes back and forth between Briony’s breakdown and the escalating sexual tension between Robbie and Cecilia. Cecilia is not your typical period drama maiden. She is provocative and sharp-tongued. For all her fierce self-awareness though, she has made a point to repress her longing for Robbie out of respect for status. Robbie too has been hiding how he feels to appease the rules that apply to status and boundaries, not so much out of respect though but rather for blind tradition. Society’s restraints cannot hold back a love of this magnitude. The passion bustling between them is palpable and exacerbated by the heat; it is no wonder that it all comes to a head on this fated day and is halted no sooner than it is just begun. As they are only given the chance to wet their lips with each other’s taste before being ripped apart, theirs is a relationship that will live in a suspended state of foreplay for a long time to come.


When Robbie is taken prisoner, ATONEMENT shifts into a new and noticeably different movement. The intensity carefully crafted in the first act dissipates as the characters enter their own individual limbos, left to meander aimlessly in search of repair. The build toward Briony’s lie was punctuated by a sharp, concise score by Dario Marianelli and highlighted by Seamus McGarvey’s bright and elegantly fluid cinematography. Both artists employ entirely new approaches toward the action that unfolds in the lie’s aftermath. The score becomes dark, somber - less driven and more haunting. The visuals follow suit, feeling heavy and dense. The change halts the flow of the film and feels like a misstep momentarily. Once you catch the breath you were holding previously, the severity of the scenario sinks in and the fresh aesthetic takes on its own significance. It cannot help but feel longer or slower in comparison but how else are we or the characters expected to feel when they are living their new lives lost and haunted by a past they could not control? Besides being relevant to the tone of the story, the shift also gives birth to a four and a half minute shot depicting the 1940 evacuation at Dunkirk Beach that is mesmerizing in its grace and awesome in scope.


ATONEMENT is a fresh and surprising spectacle. Wright impressed with charm and poise last time out in 2005’s PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (also starring Knightly) but his latest grabs the period drama by its snotty superiority and turns it inside out, thanks in no small part to Ian McEwan’s much loved novel of the same name. The gravity of how one bad decision can ruin many lives resonates loudly and the guilt that follows gives way to the need for forgiveness from those who were hurt and from the one that caused the pain. ATONEMENT does not judge Briony for what she’s done; instead it allows her the chance to heal and make things right without ever presuming that her recovery is inevitable. For breaking convention and for demonstrating sincere respect for the story, the characters and the audience, Wright has absolutely nothing to be sorry for.

THE GOLDEN COMPASS

Written and Directed by Chris Weitz


Lyra: What’s this?
First High Councilor: It’s the Golden Compass, Lyra. I feel you’re meant to have it.
Lyra: But what’s it for?

Young Lyra (Dakota Blue Richards) lives in a world where witches wage war and giant polar bears are warriors. The people she walks amongst walk alongside their daemon spirits, which are essentially each person’s soul manifest in physical and animal form. The ruling power of this world is called the Magisterium and they seek more to control rather than govern. Everything in the world began at one time with dust but now dust and the supposed answers it holds for a better future are not to be mentioned in public settings. This is a world divided between free will, the individual powers held within the soul and a looming force that threatens to eliminate the infinite possibilities these privileges provide. Unbeknownst to her, Lyra is the central figure in the inevitable clash that lies ahead and her power can be found in her ability to read the world’s single remaining alethiometer, otherwise known as THE GOLDEN COMPASS. When held by this little girl, the alethiometer will reveal the answers to the questions that have yet to be answered. Lyra’s world is beautifully painted and richly textured but why we need to be there to see it never becomes clear in this icy, hollow attempt to become the next must-see fantasy trilogy.


Writer/Director Chris Weitz originally backed out on directing this project. He felt the grandiose special effects driven blockbuster was out of his directorial league. Having only directed a couple of smaller comedies (ABOUT A BOY and an uncredited second director on AMERICAN PIE), I can understand why he would be overwhelmed by the task of adapting Philip Pullman’s first book in the “Dark Material” series. I’m not clear on why he decided to come back on though because his lack of confidence in his own capabilities as well as the competency of his audience is omnipresent throughout the film and leaves THE GOLDEN COMPASS on rather thin ice. Once the first ten minutes of narration have given us all the information we will need to understand our surroundings (see the first paragraph of this review), the subsequent scenes seem to run in a very specific order. One scene will explain what we are about to see, the next will show us what has just been described and the one that follows will clarify whatever we might have missed. If Weitz does not feel his magical world to be believable, how can we be expected to?


Urgency is also lacking in THE GOLDEN COMPASS. We know because we are told that Lyra, according to the prophecies of the witches, is the one person with the ability to read the alethiometer. We also know that, again because we are told, that a great war is coming. Lyra’s special talent will be pivotal to a positive outcome in this battle. The battle itself has something to do with free will, dust and control. What we are not told is exactly how these things tie back to Lyra. Without knowing what all this fighting is truly for (which may be missing as the novel’s religious implications and criticisms have been removed almost entirely as to not alienate any viewers that may have been offended by these subjects). Still, we know that no good can come if anything is to happen to Lyra so there is never any actual fear or concern that she is in any real danger. Young newcomer, Richards, is charismatic and fun enough to win over your sympathy and caring as Lyra, but this is not enough in Weitz’s world. No, here, escape from each perilous situation she finds herself in is certain and thus the film is devoid of suspense and often disappointingly predictable.


THE GOLDEN COMPASS is much more along the same vein as the Harry Potter movies or the Narnia franchise than a successor to the thrown where the Lord of the Rings trilogy sits quite comfortably. Peter Jackson drew millions into the plight of a few hobbits by allowing their journey and its importance to speak for itself and by making correlations between that world and ours. Weitz has no control over the vast ground he has to cover. He’s got polar bears, daemons and witches to think about; he’s got to build a story when the original intended theme is not allowed to be mentioned overtly; he’s got legions of fans to please while simultaneously appeasing the demands of the Hollywood executives that sign his checks. It’s as if Hollywood is the contemporary Magisterium and Weitz is little Lyra. Hollywood wants to control everything and make sure that certain elements remain unmentioned and Weitz holds the key to a strong future. Only Weitz hasn’t learned how to read his golden compass and what he leaves us with is an obvious play for fantasy gold that will likely please very few.