Part 1 can be found HERE.
Best Acting Performance(s) for Men
Honourable Mentions: Camelo Bene (Our Lady of the Turks); Wilhem Defoe and Robert Patterson (The Lighthouse); Sam Neil (In the Mouth of Madness); Mark Walberg (I Heart Huckabees)
I like to separate the acting segments for men and women entirely because, if you do not, you can leave many great figures maligned and not even getting a nod in respect, something which can be a detriment especially for giving best acting performances for women when, with understandable reason, not differentiating the category could be done deliberately to avoid marginalising women as separate. Hence, even here I have a long list of figures that deserve recognition, tackling both categories beginning with the men.
In some cases it can be that you have to recognising the entire acting trope in some cases too. The male casts as a whole for The Phantom of Liberty (1974) - which has European powerhouses like Michel Piccoli among its production - and for Cop Rock (1990) need to be mentioned, the former a canonical film, the other the maligned television bomb, but both cases where, be it Luis Bunuel or a bizarre annual of American television, you have to be prepared to act for the unexpected.
Likewise, Géza Morcsányi as the male lead of On Body and Soul (2017) has to make a very idiosyncratic romantic drama stand out when it has a very peculiar setting and premise, in an abattoir between two people of drastically different ages where they share the same dream about being deer in a frozen woodland. Carloto Cotta, in Eugène Green's "short feature" How Fernando Pessoa Saved Portugal (2018), has to play two characters in a curious real life incident in the history of acclaimed titular Portuguese poet's life, the driest of comedies, whilst Tom Courtenay, as much a beloved theatrical actor as he is in the motion pictures, had to be the heart and soul of the idiosyncratic Otley (1969), a parody of the spy films of the era where he is a literal deadweight who sofa surfs into a conspiracy involving assassins who live at farms or gets into a car chase during his own driving test. Also, if we are talking about whole male casts who have to work with the unexpected, On the Air (1992) with a cast including Ian Buchanan and Miguel Ferrer had to make an eventually doomed comedy from David Lynch, which was strange from the get-go, funny with its random tangents and silly humour. Finally, whilst a controversial real life figure, Klaus Kinski was also a great actor when motivated and, playing one of the more saner figures in That Most Important Thing: Love (1975), he is tremendous whilst also playing a man bellows Shakespeare's Richard III on stage whilst dressed as a samurai.
Another case of having to work in odd territory was the case for an actor who could easily be dismissed, especially as unfortunately a film like The Happening (2008) would hang him out to dry with its scenes of actors fleeing the wind, but is the first figure officially getting recognition on this list. Mark Walberg, whose career from being a rap artist to an actor has been idiosyncratic and with some misfires that could easily lead you to dismiss him, stole I Heart Huckabees (2004) and became the heart of a project which could a) have been a pretentious farce about existentialism and philosophy, and b) only be known for director David O Russell infamously snapping at actress Lily Tomlin during the production. Out of everyone in the film, and that includes one of the best actors of French cinema Isabelle Huppert as a nihilist French philosopher, Walberg as a fireman psychologically scarred by the 9/11 bombings managed to be utterly sympathetic and hilarious at the same time, becoming obsessed with environmentalism but still a macho guy whose only real way of expressing his emotions is by getting angry, something which he pulled off with aplomb.
In a very different film, where the weirdness is proudly on display, Sam Neil is an actor who is very much appreciated, a necessary lynchpin to make John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness (1994) work, a hybrid of a meta narrative and Lovecraftian cosmic horror which is at times knowingly absurd, but is helped considered by Neil even when his character finally loses his mind. Deserving the place together, in a two person film that is entirely dependent on them in The Lighthouse (2019), Wilhem Defoe and Robert Patterson are exceptional. Defoe is a veteran who has proven himself, whilst Patterson has now proven himself to be a great actor of his generation. He could have easily fallen due to the Twilight franchise, where he was frankly poor in, but at the start of the 2010s after that franchise, he proved his talent and, thankfully, a taste for acting in films this idiosyncratic.
In terms of madness onscreen personified, Italian stage performer Camelo Bene in his own directorial debut, Our Lady of the Turks (1968), is on an entirely different level. Structured around a knight who, existing now out of time, who has rejected his God only to be followed around by a female saint who has come down from Heaven, Bene's willingness to emote for his own work undercuts any argument of egotism completely. He can be subtle here, he can scream like a mad man, and in the most haunting sequence, he plays two monks, screaming and squealing and smashing an egg perfectly over his egg and placing into a bowl without spilling contents onto him, all which feels appropriate for the sequence, all profoundly exceptional.
The only reason Bene does not get the award is that, whilst I do not consider Psycho (1960) one of Alfred Hitchcock's best films, Anthony Perkins' performance as Norman Bates is one of the best male performances in any of the auteur's career. Sadly, this role would pigeonhole Perkins, a sad thing to consider as in the role itself, he is magnificent. Subtly so as, having read the original novel of Psycho, which I found utterly surpassed by the film adaptation, a list of stereotypes that were painted onto the original version of Norman Bates were thankfully thrown out for Perkins to play instead a shy but likeably nervous figure, someone with charisma and even charm, until you unfortunately brought up his mother and the weight of psychological damage the character has. Notoriously, having covered both in the same review, Gus Van Sant cast Vince Vaughn in the role in the 1996 remake, and whilst Vaughn tried his best, you were also had an unfair task for him, an albatross over his neck that Anthony Perkins was perfect in the role and would be impossible to outdo.
======
Best Acting Performance(s) for Women
Romy
Schneider (That Most Important Thing: Love (1975))
Honourable Mentions: Alexandra Borbély (On Body and Soul (2017)); Astrid Ofner (Antigone (1992)); Naomi Watts (I Heart Huckabees (2004)); Janet Leigh (Psycho (1960))
There are also a few figures I wish to mention here that did not get on the main list. The female cast of Cop Rock (1990) likewise had to shown their performance dexterity where you could go from a serious plot point to singing in a scene, whilst everyone in On The Air had to likewise work around that cancelled television show's oddness. Likewise it could have been easy for Dina Meyer's character in Point Pleasant (2005) to be the stereotypical older seductress who chases other women's men, only for the plot to complicate things, as this is a soap opera if the female lead was the daughter of Satan, and because Meyer's performance is admirable. And to be controversial, two nods to adult film actresses for their un-doubtable charisma. Nina Hartley in the softcore oddity Bubbles Galore (1996) showed why she is held as the intelligent spokeswoman for pro-sex feminism from a veteran of the industry; Liberté sexuelle (2012), an actual pornographic film, just showed how surprisingly charismatic and good at acting Liza Del Sierra is, with the added factor that few actual actresses, like she and Hartley, would actually have real sex on camera too.
SPOILER WARNINGS, also I have to mention Tilda Swinton in the strange reinterpretation of Suspiria (2018), having actually plays two roles which defy gender, one the head of the witch cult and the other an old man in heavy prosthetic effects. There is a reason she has become a cult of personality in cinema in general, both for talent and because few human beings, like taking this challenge, can have this in her career but can also claim to have been both in a Marvel comic book film and a Bela Tarr production.
The actual honourable mentions are a fascinating group. You forget since her career has been mainly been mainstream productions how good Naomi Watts is, where her role in I Heart Huckabees could have been dumb, but she carries it off with such charisma. As someone who made her breakout in Mulholland Drive (2001), occasionally she returns to this area of idiosyncratic storytelling, like in Twin Peaks: The Return (2017), and see how good she is. You forget in general Janet Leigh, beyond the notorious twist of Psycho which has argubly cemented her image in cinema, still has to carry off a morally complex female character you are drawn to before Alfred Hitchcock pulled the rug out from under us all, which she succeeds to fully. I am baffled that Astrid Ofner never acted in any other films beyond Antigone, where in a Straub-Huillet production with legitimately great acting from everyone her as the titular figure manages to stand the proudest in, though she thankfully went on to have a career as an editor and a director. Most have probably not seen On Body and Soul (2017), which means ignoring one of the best performance of someone with emotional (learning) disabilities in Alexandra Borbély, playing a character that could have just been "weird" but is utterly enrapturing in a strange but beautiful love story.
Borbély was going to get this reward...only for Romy Schneider in That Most Important Thing: Love (1975) to just storm in with a
performance where she literally gives her all. A spectrum of emotion drawn out
with power that was captivating. Andrzej
Żuławski is fascinating in that, for all the chaos and madness of his
films, he had a lot of striking performances from his female cast in his
career, so I would not be surprised that, with Schneider's one of the best of them, that another cast member from
his films got a nod. Thankfully, this role lead to her getting the universal
praise and awards she deserved.
=====
Best Director:
Carmelo
Bene (Our Lady of the Turks (1968))
Honourable Mentions: Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub (Not Reconciled (1965)/Antigone (1992)/Class Relations (1984)/ Moses and Aaron (1975)); Ildikó Enyedi (On Body and Soul (2017)); Peter Strickland (In Fabric (2018)); György Pálfi (Hukkle (2002)); Pedro Costa (Horse Money (2014)
Is it controversial Alfred Hitchcock is not on this list for Psycho (1960) let alone the top spot? Again, Psycho is not my favourite Hitchcock film and, after some revision, I decided to give the award to the most innovative directors. As someone who does actually believe in the auteur theory, whilst recognising just how important everyone on a production is, be it television or cinema or a homemade web production, this award should go to someone who stands out for something radical. Hitchcock, whilst a very mainstream director, if he ever appears again has enough films in his career where his skill be recognised even if a Honourable Mention.
Hence, this list also does not include some huge figures and some admirable creators. All of the following - Raul Ruiz (The Wandering Soap Opera (2017) and The Golden Boat (1990)), Andrzej Żuławski (That Most Important Thing: Love (1975)), John Carpenter (In the Mouth of Madness (1994)), Robert Eggers (The Lighthouse (2019)), Luis Buñuel (The Phantom of Liberty (1974)) and Ulrike Ottinger (Ticket of No Return (1979)) in any other context could have won this award if I had not seen some pretty big heavyweights over the year. Controversially, as someone who actually adores the film, I also have to nod to Jim Jarmusch for his very divisive but unique The Limits of Control (2009). Also, I have to give a nod to Natsuka Kusano as, whilst her film Domains (2019) is not perfect, as her debut it stands out as something truly unique. This idea of the debut will come back in this category again in terms of someone making an impact with his or her first work, but Kusano really deserves a nod. Personally as well, Nabwana I.G.G. for his Wakaliwood productions deserves a mention just for all the hardship and work he had to go through just to make one film, let alone many and found a studio, even if the productions themselves are open to the fact they are ridiculous ultra-low budget action films.
Nonetheless, the actual honourable mentions are admirable and all of them are created by figures make one-offs. Pedro Costa, long into his career, fully enmeshed in his subject matter; Peter Strickland continues on his idiosyncratic genre subversions that are utterly strange and unique; Ildikó Enyedi returning to cinema after a long absence in a brilliant production; and György Pálfi, in his own film debut, making a true unique creation in dire need of a rediscovery. Also, it cannot be stressed, for all the difficulty of their work, how Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub have contributed to innovative cinema just for having four very different films brought up for their nomination. Be it a Franz Kafka adaptation, a minimalist adaptation of Greek legend by way of Bertolt Brecht, an opera and a novel adaptation which depicts all the content in ultra minimalist form, either four of the films are admirable with patience, and no one else has made films like any of them.
But I had to choose Carmelo Bene. Our Lady of the Turks (1968) lulled me into a false sense of security, having seen some of his films before, only to be a sudden thunder bolt of emotion and energy. Every director on this list, even those which are freely available, deserves more attention, but Bene especially is in dire need of a proper accessibility in his cinema for work this good.
=====
Best Non-Theatrical Project (Abstract or Not)
Serial
Experiments Lain (1998)
Honourable Mentions: On the Air (1992); Petscop (2017); Cop Rock (1990); Don't Hug Me. I'm Scared (2011-16)
As more television and non theatrical productions are being covered, thus an award like this one is a necessary, though as you the reader will have seen already and will see later, they are not disqualified from the biggest awards. You will also see a common thread of cancelled, one season shows as they are easier to ingest, an anime production which, in the Japanese animated industry, tend to have a lot of one season productions alongside the long running successes, and my increasing interest in the innovations of web based productions. You are less likely to waste time when you get to season six and the show jumps the shark, as happens in long form television.
Even here, there were titles not mentioned such as Point Pleasant (2005), which is what happens when you combined a teen soap opera with a satanic horror drama; an imperfect show, but one I was engaged by. Clone High (2002-3), once it hit its stride, became a legitimately funny series, also a teen soap opera but about a school of cloned historical figures, and Legend (1995) took the western action show and added steam punk content, but is mostly a stand out for its likeable and memorable characters. Lasagna Cat (2007-2017), whilst this year will be the last re-reviewed titles will be allowed on the ballot, did not get on the list because, actually, two other YouTube based productions deserved the nod instead.
Naturally, my tastes though went for some of the stranger productions in existence, whilst my open mindedness to internet work lead to two big surprises. Cop Rock is not a highly regarded series, but when it did get a DVD release from Shout Factory in the United States, a release I proudly imported to see and cover, there have been more positive thoughts given to the show from professional writers, especially in light to how progressive and unfortunately close to reality its drama was about the police and racism still. Tragically, it is a 20th Century Fox license, like Point Pleasant, so the House of Mouse will sit on it now. One title inexplicably never re-released to even DVD is On the Air (1992), the David Lynch comedy show which is as peculiar as that sounds. Don't Hug Me. I'm Scared (2011-16) is pretty well known, a famous web meme as a dark parody of a children's show, only to become more idiosyncratic as it went along. Less well known, but a delight, was Petscop (2017), a faked re-imagination to the YouTube video format of the "Let's Play", only surrounding a game the creator made themselves and becoming the subtlest of horror stories.
The winner however is the one anime, sadly something that is neglected on the blog for the simple reason that, having another blog called 1000 Anime, all the Japanese animation is covered there. Hopefully that will change in the future, but speaking of unique and idiosyncratic television, Serial Experiments Lain with its still precedent take on online culture and strange atmosphere is a title even non-anime fans should investigate. Titles like this are why I have always lent closer to anime over other forms of television, a title that even if it was shown long after midnight in its original context, as it likely was, is so unique and risk taking it is captivating.
=====
The Most Innovative Production
In contrast to the Weirdest Award, here I want to give a place to those unique productions (be they television, cinema etc.) which stand out for something truly distinct even with structures that have been seen before. There are two entries from it returning, but this is also for the work between the avant-garde and outside the norms of conventional production which are unique in many ways. Like the other list, this has is structured different on paper because this in itself also is one of my fascinations with the moving image and worth indulging in.
Controversially, I am giving an honourable nod to Cop Rock (1990) because, whilst not always succeeded, it is a unique and admirable attempt at two drastically different genres, between a cop drama and a musical, did work in wonders when it succeeded. Even how the show ended when it was cancelled, by the cast breaking the fourth wall and singing a final song about being cancelled, is a distinct moment only that show can claim.
5. More consistently successful and starting the list of nominations properly, it is both sad I have not talked about A Paper Tiger (2008) at all until now, from the late Columbian director Luis Ospina, and that it is a very difficult film to see too. On paper, a mockumentary is a common genre nowadays, but it becomes unique here because Ospina creates a fictional documentary on a fictional artist/subversive so well, and with so much detail, it raised the bar to an entirely higher level. Just in terms of acquiring, an international cast of figures to play people in this figure's life, and even include a segment based within the notorious Italian cannibal film Cannibal Holocaust (1980) which is credible, A Paper Tiger was a delight in what it executed.
4. Whilst A Paper Tiger was made with clear planning, Raul Ruiz's The Wandering Soap Opera (2017) comes from the circumstances that the Chilean director made films as he breathed air, with a history of filming productions from acting classes he also worked on, and that after his death he is a director still premiering films into the 2020s. Whilst not the most radical production, a series of vignettes in his native Chile full of black humour, this deserves a place for this history and that, working as much as a tribute to his work through his widow Valeria Sarmiento's own craft, it is a fascinating and unique production in context to this.
3. Truly unique, the debut of Hungarian filmmaker György Pálfi, Hukkle (2002), proceeds to tell a tale of suspicious deaths in a rural community entirely through visuals and the soundscape of the environment. From a mole's eye view of the world from underground to an incredibly rich and diegetic soundtrack of noises, Hukkle is a film that needs to be rediscovered and was a great beginning for a director who after this, with Taxidermia (2006), did not stray away from the provocative for his career.
2. Petscop (2017-2020) in presentation and context was a fascinating one-off. A project for YouTube, it started as a parody of Let's Plays, a format on that site of watching other people play video games, in this case an unreleased Playstation One game, only to turn into a horror tale without need for jump scares, overt violence or clichés, becoming progressively unique and eerier when the player figure becomes more uncomfortable and he, never seen but only his voice heard for the most part, uncovered more secrets in the unfinished code which were uncomfortably close to his own life. The episodes, varying in length, take a huge step from Episode 11 for the better, where the structure gets stranger as new options and controls are found. It is a magnificent production and CAN BE FOUND HERE, as anyone with the free time should take a chance on a one-person homemade production this clever.
1. However, I must give it to Not Reconciled (1965), Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub's novel adaptation not missing any detail or plot point of importance, but condensing it all under an hour's length. The result, which would require two viewings to try to grasp, is amazing in how simple its structure is and how radical it still is today. I have covered many films from them, not always successful, which were unique but Not Reconciled is the one above all else that showed how much they innovated.
TO BE CONTINUED...
No comments:
Post a Comment