Best Pictures #51: 2018 (91st) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee: The Favourite

by A.J.

Best Pictures #51: 2018 (91^st) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

The Favourite

“Favour is a breeze that shifts direction all the time.”

At first glance The Favourite might seem to be just another British costume drama but this very R-rated story about the private relationships of Queen Anne absolutely subverts genre expectations. Everything from the stylistic choices to the characters make this a darkly comedic, vulgar, and wonderfully outrageous film. This is one of my favorite films of 2018. It is so totally engrossing with such memorable characters and scenes (especially an elaborate and ludicrous dance) that I had to see it twice.

Queen Anne ruled England from 1702 to 1714. The highlight of her reign was overseeing the union of England and Scotland in 1707 (creating the kingdom of Great Britain), something no previous English king had managed to achieve. This film focuses not so much on history but speculates on her personal relationships. Her closest friend since childhood, Lady Sarah Marlborough (Rachel Weisz), acts as Anne’s caregiver, companion, adviser, and lover. She even runs the country for Anne. Lady Sarah’s status is challenged when her cousin, Abigail (Emma Stone), begins to work her way into the Queen’s favor.

Anne may have had a royal life but it was not an easy one. She suffered through 17 miscarriages, still births, and untimely infant deaths, the death of her husband, and many physical ailments. She was the last monarch of the House of Stuart and only 49 when she died. Olivia Colman wonderfully portrays Queen Anne as a fragile, wounded soul searching for small moments of happiness, and also capable of acting like a spoiled child or a mad monarch at any given moment. Though Anne is more of a supporting character, Colman has picked up an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. She’s so good I can’t complain about her being in the wrong category.

Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone are really the leads but they have each been nominated in the Supporting Actress category. Each actress gives the best performance of her career, though each already has an Oscar for a movie and performance I didn’t particularly care for (Emma Stone-La La Land) and a movie and performance I keep forgetting exists (Rachel Weisz-The Constant Gardener). Lady Sarah and Abigail offer Anne different kinds of love: Lady Sarah tells Anne the truth even if it is harsh and unpleasant, Abigail always flatters Anne. Weisz has no problem going from loving and sweet to stern and even cruel. She delivers crude, acerbic insults with deft ease. Weisz is also quite comfortable and easily believable as an intelligent, capable woman in power—using that power often and effectively—controlling and besting her male political counterparts. Both Weisz’s Lady Sarah and Stone’s Abigail manipulate Queen Anne for their own gain, but Abigail is the more insidious of the pair. Emma Stone has never had a role like this before. Her character is clever, funny, and charming, and also devious, selfish, and quite unlikable. Stone does a great job handling all the different facets Abigail. 

Director Yorgos Lanthimos and cinematographer Robbie Ryan make frequent use of fish-eye lens and canted angles to keep the audience off balance. They use slow motion for particular moments and holds on close ups of faces when the instinct of any other period movie would be to show as much as possible. The costumes by Sandy Powell look fresh and unique and not just like the costumes we see on a regular basis in period pieces. Lady Sarah, as a woman in power, is an unconventional character for her time and she has unconventional costumes to match. Her shooting outfit, which includes a hat and trousers, is the most memorable costume in the movie. Even the costumes for the men have interesting flourishes. Big, long crazy wigs were very in style. The foppish opposition party, led by Nicholas Hoult, even powder their faces. “A man must make himself look pretty,” he says.

Yorgos Lanthimos's previous films include the bizarre Dogtooth and the love it or hate it The Lobster (I hated it). This is easily his most mainstream movie, which is saying something since The Favourite might be the most unconventional period movie since Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette. Unlike his previous films, Lanthimos did not pen the screenplay (Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara wrote The Favourite's Oscar nominated original screenplay); this might be why the material is palatable. There is just the right blend of humor and melancholy in The Favourite, but as the film goes on it moves into dour territory in the third act. It is as if Lanthimos couldn't let a whole film go by without injecting some of his dour, bleak sensibility. Still, I very much recommend The Favourite for its fresh take on an established genre and the brilliant performances by Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, and Emma Stone. Even as they are being outrageous and vindictive, these people are a delight to watch.   

Nominees: Ceci Dempsey, Ed Guiney, Lee Magiday and Yorgos Lanthimos, producers

Director: Yorgos Lanithos

Screenplay: Deborah Davis, Tony McNamara

Cast: Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, Emma Stone

Production Companies: Scarlet Films, Element Pictures, Arcana, Film4 Productions, Waypoint Entertainment

Distributor: Fox Searchlight Pictures

Release Date: November 23^rd, 2018

Total Nominations: 10, including Best Picture

Other Nominations: Actress-Olivia Colman; Supporting Actress-Rachel Weisz; Supporting Actress-Emma Stone; Director-Yorgos Lanthimos; Original Screenplay- Deborah Davis; Tony McNamara; Cinematography-Robbie Ryan; Editing-Yorgos Mavropsaridis; Production Design-Fiona Crombie, Alice Felton; Costume Design-Sandy Powell

My Favorite Performances of 2012

by Lani

From where I sit, it hasn't been a great year for movies. There have been plenty that I liked, just read our Best of 2012, So Far post from July for proof. Unfortunately, I had a much harder time adding to the list in the second half of the year. None of the big fall releases brought me as much enjoyment as Bernie or 21 Jump Street (with great performances by Jack Black and Channing Tatum, respectively). However, I did admire individual performances by Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Denzel Washington, Joaquin Phoenix, Hugh Jackman, and Anne Hathaway, among others. I've compiled a list of some of my favorite performances of the year, but I won't be talking about the actors already mentioned. They have Oscar nominations and Golden Globes; they're doing fine. This time I've focused on the actors and performances who will not be getting much recognition this awards season.

Favorite Tom Hardy Performance: Tom Hardy, The Dark Knight Rises
I promise it only seems like I am the president of the Tom Hardy fan club. He's not even my favorite actor, but he manages to impress me year after year. In 2012, Hardy appeared in a few duds -- the unappealing romantic-comedy This Means War and dull moonshiner drama Lawless -- but his high-profile role as the villain Bane in The Dark Knight Rises was a winner. Hardy and director Christopher Nolan received criticism from audiences because Bane's face was covered by a mask and his voice slightly muffled. I had no trouble hearing his dialogue, delivered in a voice suggesting Sean Connery crossed with Yoda, and thought his voice work expressed enough personality to overcome the barrier of the mask. And because he wears that mask, Hardy also uses body language to convey the character; his menacing swagger isn't just because he has a bulked-up body. Compare the physicality of Bane to Hardy's character in last year's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy -- spy Ricki Tarr was softer, more fluid. Or, in Lawless, as a man "who can't be killed" Hardy becomes increasingly stiff and immobile as his character sustains more and more near-fatal injuries. Which reminds me that Hardy's biggest triumph this year may actually be how in Lawless he manages to look extremely tough despite a wardrobe filled with cardigans.

Favorite Suicidal Adultress: Rachel Weisz, The Deep Blue Sea
This year brought two eerily similar stories of unhappy wives to the screen. Set among the opulent aristocracy of tsarist Russia, Anna Karenina was lovely to look at, but too chaotic to allow the stories to resonate -- which is a shame since Keira Knightley can wear the heck out of a fur hat. In the surely Karenina-inspired The Deep Blue Sea, the atmosphere is bleak, tweedy post-WWII England, but human nature hasn't changed. Rachel Weisz's performance garnered praise from critics when the film was released, but she's been overlooked for the major awards. Like Karenina, Weisz's Hester Collyer is driven mad by her passion for a young lover; however, Hester is still capable of some measure of British restraint. She is all plaintive neediness, quiet desperation, and blind love.

Favorite Ringer: Colm Wilkinson, Les Misérables
Les Misérables had many good performers (Eddie Redmayne, Anne Hathaway, Samantha Barks, and Aaron Tveidt among then), but they were let down by poor directing choices and a screenplay which left little room for context. Hugh Jackman was particularly well-cast as Jean Valjean, 19th century French superhero (he has the strength of 4 men, but no adamantium skeleton), finally breaking his streak of movies-I-don't-want-to-see. His Oscar-nominated performance is a worthy addition to the Valjean pantheon and was usually the best part of any given scene. However, in an early scene between Valjean and a kind bishop I found myself thinking, "This guy is killing it as the bishop! What a voice -- who is this guy?" Of course, it was Colm Wilkinson, the original Valjean on Broadway and the West End. Of course, he killed it. That's kind of his thing.




Supporting Performance Which Needs Its Own Movie: James Spader, Lincoln 
As Lincoln continues to receive praise (it's looking like the front-runner for Best Picture at the Oscars), I've yet to hear any acknowledgement for the film's most interesting, most alive performance: James Spader as Mr. Bilbo, a "gentleman from Albany" called down to D.C. to broker some back-room deals. Would the film have been 10 times better if Bilbo had been the main character? No. It would have been 100 times better.
Drunkenly luxuriating behind a greasy mustache and rumpled clothes, Bilbo stands out among the stiff collars of Washington, yet effortlessly speaks the local language of bribery and extortion. Spader is the only actor here who seems to feel at ease in his own skin; the difference between Bilbo and his two fellow wheeler-dealers, played by the usually fine John Hawkes and Tim Blake Nelson, is striking. Hawkes and Nelson are achingly dull and often look unsure of why they are even in the movie. If I were to learn that Hawkes and Nelson were forced to perform at gunpoint (likely by Spader), I would not be at all surprised. I don't give a hoot about the new Hobbit trilogy, Spader is the only Bilbo I want to see more of.

More Please?
Kerry Washington proved to be a woman worth fighting for as Broomhilda in Django Unchained, too bad it was such a small part. Perhaps the next chapter of the Django series could show Django and Broomhilda on adventures together. I know Tarantino is capable of writing a strong female character, a la Jackie Brown or The Bride. Unfortunately, he says he's retiring from making movies...
Alicia Vikander was also shortchanged by Anna Karenina. The sweet, evolving love story between Kitty (played by Vikander) and Levin (Domhnall Gleeson) serves as a counterpoint to the intensely passionate affair of Anna and Vronsky -- at least it's meant to, if one bothers to put it in the screenplay. With a bit more screen time this could have been a star-making role for Vikander.

Rookie of the Year: Suraj Sharma, Life of Pi
It's not a spoiler to say that the majority of this film follows the teenaged Pi, played by Sharma, shipwrecked in the Pacific, alone, but for a Bengal tiger. Since the tiger was created through special effects, Sharma was truly alone on that boat acting opposite air - a difficult job for any actor. At least Tom Hanks had a real volleyball to talk to in Cast Away. So I was shocked to learn that this was Sharma's first movie role. Was he perfect? No, but it was a fine debut.