Notes from the 2011 Austin Film Festival

by Lani

The 2011 Austin Film Festival wrapped up on October 27 and after a week of watching films one stood out above the rest: The Artist.

The Artist is set in Hollywood in the late 1920s and early 1930s as silent films gave way to talkies and movie "stars" first took hold of the public's imagination. Jean Dujardin plays popular film star George Valentin, a combination of Douglas Fairbanks, John Gilbert, and Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly's character in Singin' in the Rain). If Valentin's name brings to mind Rudolph Valentino, that's not the only reference to classic movies you'll notice. A sharp eye will spy nods to many well-known films, from The Thin Man to Citizen Kane, as well as bits of true Hollywood history.

Singin' in the Rain is an obvious influence for The Artist as the two films share similar storylines about an actor who can't cope with the change to talking pictures. However, The Artist goes to a much darker place dramatically and contains a lot less singing. In Singin' Don Lockwood bounces back from the dumps after a night of moping over sandwiches and milk. Let's just say that after the failure of Valentin's last-ditch effort to maintain his stardom, he does not head for the milk. Nevertheless, this film closes with the best kind of Hollywood ending: an exultant musical number.

I knew that Dujardin was adept at comedy from his starring roles in the OSS 117 spy spoofs. He can make an entire theater laugh simply by breaking out in a big, cheesy, movie star smile. However, in The Artist he proves that he is capable of much more than campy charm. I was especially moved by a scene late in the film when his star has faded and he encounters a young actress he once helped who is now a leading lady. As he politely listens to her, conflicting emotions of happiness and pain subtly play upon his face, and your heart breaks for him.

Have I mentioned that The Artist is a silent film itself? It could have been a gimmick, but writer-director Michel Hazanavicius uses the lack of dialogue in a very smart way. He highlights physical comedy and visual gags, while the title cards are often punchlines themselves.

This is an excellent film that many people, not just classic film aficionados will enjoy; however, as a "silent" film with a foreign pedigree, it will probably only appeal to a niche market. If you are a film lover, urge your local theater to show The Artist - it is a wonderful big screen experience.

And classic film fans should also keep an eye out for Sal, directed by James Franco. This film follows the final day in the life of Sal Mineo, an actor that Franco and the film's star Val Lauren have long admired. Mineo was twice nominated for an Oscar, but never became a big star. At age 37, he was poised for a career resurgence with his first chance at directing a film, but his life was cut short by a random, senseless crime. Though it is not a documentary, much of the action and characters in Sal are based on real events and people in Mineo's life. It is a quiet and thoughtful portrait of an artist; consequently, Sal seems even less likely than The Artist of reaching theaters outside New York and L.A. However, I think the intimate style of this film will translate just as well on a small screen if you miss it in theaters.

My Favorite Performances of 2010

by Lani

The Golden Globes will be given out this Sunday. As every year, some of the nominations are a bit mystifying (was The Tourist supposed to be a comedy?), but I was happy to see that a few of my favorite films of 2010, like Inception and The Social Network, are in the running. The arrival of award season always inspires "best of" lists, and I am not immune. Since I have not seen every notable film of the year, rather than make a list of the best films of 2010 I have been thinking about which individual performances made the biggest impressions on me. Here's my list of favorites (not necessarily the best), in no particular order:

Tom Hardy, Inception
One thing I'm sure of after watching Inception? You don't want to be in a scene with Tom Hardy - that is, unless you're okay with him stealing it right out from under you. Hardy plays Eames, a "forger" recruited for Leonardo DiCaprio's dream-team. But he isn't there to make fake passports; within a dream, people can be forgeries, too. Among a cast with charisma to spare, Hardy was the standout for me.

Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Jesse Eisenberg is not an actor whom I would usually describe as having an expressive face, but this trait is to his advantage in the role of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, a character who keeps his emotions and motivations largely to himself. But then, with slightest curl of his upper lip, Eisenberg conveyed operatic levels of bitterness, contempt, and betrayal. If there were an award for best lip-acting of 2010, Eisenberg would be a lock.

Armie Hammer, The Social Network
In The Social Network, director David Fincher used cutting-edge technology to create the characters of identical twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss by filming actor Armie Hammer opposite a body double, Josh Pence, then digitally grafting Hammer's face onto Pence's body. The effect is seamless, but it works so well because Hammer makes each of the brothers a distinct, separate character - allowing the audience to just believe him when he says "I'm six-five, 220 pounds, and there are two of me!"

Kim Hye-Ja, Mother
Though she has been acting in South Korean film and TV for 30 years, Kim Hye-Ja was basically unknown to American audiences until her starring role in director Bong Joon-Ho's noirish suspense film, Mother. As a single mother determined to clear her adult son of a murder charge, she is engaging and exasperating from minute to minute. She faces the world with an expression of innocence and naivete, but by the end of the film you wonder just how much she has chosen to forget.

Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine
I praised Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams a couple of months ago, and despite all the great films I've seen since then, their performances as the troubled couple at the center of Blue Valentine are still at the top of my list. As Roger Ebert noted in his review of the film, it is one thing for an actor to age onscreen from 24 to 60 - old-age makeup and physical tricks can do a lot of the work. It is much more difficult to show someone at 24 and then at 30. The physical differences are subtle, the real changes occur within. Critics have been singling-out Williams's performance, and I would love to see her win an Oscar for it; however, I can't help thinking of Gosling and Williams as a unit - one performance couldn't exist without the other.

James Franco, 127 Hours
As with Williams and Gosling, I have praised James Franco in a previous posting, but this list would not be complete without mention of his intense portrayal of a hiker stuck between a rock and a hard place in 127 Hours. After his hilarious role in The Pineapple Express (2008), an impressive supporting performance in Milk (2009), and this one-man showcase - I am convinced that Franco can play anything and I can't wait to see his next film.

Honorable Mention: Rosamund Pike, An Education and Made in Dagenham
An Education is technically a 2009 film, but I didn't see it until February 2010, which makes Rosamund Pike's performance as dumb blonde, Helen my first "favorite" of the year. The character is meant to be a contrast to the precocious, plain Jenny (played by Carey Mulligan); but Pike took what could have been a stock "bimbo" role and made her more surprising, warm, and real than I ever expected. Later in the year, I took notice of Pike again in a small, but memorable role as an upper class housewife who befriends a striking auto worker (Sally Hawkins) in Made in Dagenham.

Others of note: Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone; John Hawkes, Winter's Bone; Hilary Swank, Conviction; Sam Rockwell, Conviction; Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech; Emma Watson, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1