Norma Shearer, in A Free Soul

approximately 66 minutes and 4 seconds

71.6% of the film

The film

An alcoholic lawyer who successfully defended a notorious gambler on a murder charge objects when his free-spirited daughter becomes romantically involved with him.

You can read my short review of the film just by clicking HERE.

A Free Soul is a nice melodrama, with an interesting story. While the screenplay has its obvious flaws, the acting goes from ok to impressive, with a lot of familiar faces giving enjoyable performances. It also has the advantage of not feeling so dated.

Norma Shearer as Jan Ashe

Call me subjective and given that this is the first Norma Shearer Oscar-nominated performance I see, I’m definitely not informed enough to give such verdicts: but, oh I like this lady. Maybe I’m seduced by her prettiness, her status as Hollywood royalty or that lovely smile… but it’s clear: I like her and everytime she came on screen in this 1930s melodrama I was either smiling or very moved by that emotional scene.

Norma plays Jan Ashe, the rich, free-spirited daughter of an alcoholic lawyer who breaks-up with her fiancé after she falls in love with a gambler that her father defended. Jan tries to save her self-destructive father, while also realizing the mistakes she’s making in her romantic life. It’s a role with plenty of drama attached to it, that becomes lighter and more romantic everytime Norma smiles and Jan starts flirting with one or another.

So for the most part it’s not a tense performance, and this fits Norma perfectly. Often enough she is radiant, elegant, joyous, as she charismatically nails both the aristocratic side of Jan, and also the down-to-earth happy girl, so easy to fall in love with. The film puts a lot of focus on the idea that Jan is a very strong minded, independent woman, given her more liberal education.

That doesn’t hurt the character, and again: it fits what Norma has to bring, as her own persona does give the impression of an emancipated, modern woman. The way Jan flirts is also well done, leaving the impression of a fun young woman, confident in her charms, playful but never too aggressive.

While this is all easy to admire, her best acting comes in her scenes with her father. The father-daughter relationship is the most emotional one in the film and it also feels unusually honest. Often enough, I don’t fall for this, but in the case of A Free Soul this family connection feels very authentic and it’s the emotional core of the film. There are plenty of scenes to prove it and in which to admire Norma’s more dramatic abilities, but the most impressive one has to be the final courtroom scene.

Jan taking the stand in the murder trial (which I won’t spoil) is probably the best scene in the film, with Norma equally great throughout; you’ll see tears, big revealing, shame and beautifully acted devotion and love towards her father. That scene is good, complemented by Lionel Barrymore’s impressive performance.

Norma gives a fine performance, ranging from flirtatious and fun to dramatic, teary-eyed and very emotional. I’m sure some would say she’s overacting at times, but I enjoyed it; it’s not the most challenging role ever, nor a masterpiece of a performance, but a damn good one. An easy from me.

I know it looks like I've been lazy, but I'm still here. Best Actress 1931 WILL continue, but I also need to catch up with a lot of 2011 films.

Anyway, still a month or so till Best Actress 2011 line-up is announced and by that time I'll have finished BA 1931, did my 100th anniversary, updated predictions and so on.

I'm still here.

Golden Globe predictions...

SAG gave us plenty of surprises today... and tomorrow is the day of the Golden Globes. So, just for the fun of it, here are my predictions (future winners marked with ***):

Best Picture - Drama:
The Descendants
The Help
Hugo
Moneyball
***War Horse
(alt: Extremely Loud...)

Best Picture - Comedy/Musical:
***The Artist
Bridesmaids
Carnage
Midnight in Paris
Young Adult
(alt: We Bought a Zoo)



Best Director:
***Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist
Alexander Payne - The Descendants
Martin Scorsese - Hugo
Woody Allen - Midnight in Paris
Steven Spielberg - War Horse
(alt: Clint Eastwood - J. Edgar)



Best Actor - Drama:
***George Clooney - The Descendants
Leonardo DiCaprio - J. Edgar
Woody Harelson - Rampart
Gary Oldman - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Brad Pitt - Moneyball
(alt: Michael Fassbender - Shame)



Best Actor - Comedy/Musical:
Matt Damon - We Bought a Zoo
***Jean Dujardin - The Artist
John C. Reilly - Carnage
Christoph Waltz - Carnage
Owen Wilson - Midnight in Paris
(alt: Tom Hanks - Larry Crowne)



Best Actress - Drama:
Glenn Close - Albert Nobbs
***Viola Davis - The Help
Elizabeth Olsen - Martha Marcy May Marlene
Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady
Tilda Swinton - We Need to Talk About Kevin
(alt: Rooney Mara - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)



Best Actress - Comedy/Musical:
Jodie Foster - Carnage
Julia Roberts - Larry Crowne
Charlize Theron - Young Adult
***Michelle Williams - My Week with Marilyn
Kate Winslet - Carnage
(alt: Kirsten Wiig - Bridesmaids)



Best Supporting Actor:
Kenneth Branagh - My Week with Marilyn
Albert Brooks - Drive
Armie Hammer - J. Edgar
Nick Nolte - Warrior
***Christopher Plummer - Beginners
(alt: Max von Sydow - Extremely Loud...)



Best Supporting Actress:
***Jessica Chastain - The Help
Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids
Vanessa Redgrave - Coriolanus
Octavia Spencer - The Help
Shailene Woodley - The Descendants
(alt: Berenice Bejo - The Artist)




Well, that's it. :) I'm better I'm predicting winners than nominees. Hope I didn't make any mistakes in placing them in the right categories. We'll see how I did.

New Set of Oscar Predictions

Tomorrow they’re gonna announce the SAG nominations and that’s a big deal. I wanted to get these predictions out before that; I actually update them at least once a week, I just don’t get to post them. Not much to comment on them. I’m going with The Artist, given the recent wave of love – I hope it doesn’t happen to me like in the previous season when I switched to Social Network (after cheering for King’s Speech for a long time) just because it won all those critics’ awards. I still feel like the race isn’t over and War Horse still has a shot.

Anyway, here they are: the predicted winners plus rest of nominees (in the order of their chances of getting nominated)…

Best Picture: The Artist

Nominees: The Descendants, War Horse, Hugo, Moneyball, Extremely Loud, The Tree of Life

Runner-ups: Drive, The Help, Midnight in Paris

Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist

Nominees: Hugo, The Descendants, War Horse, The Tree of Life

Runner-up: Extremely Loud…

Best Actor: George Clooney – The Descendants

Nominees: Brad Pitt - Moneyball, Jean Dujardin – The Artist, Michael Fassbender – Shame, Gary Oldman - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Runner-up: Michael Shannon – Take Shelter

Best Actress: Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady

Nominees: Viola Davis – The Help, Michelle Williams – My Week with Marilyn, Charlize Theron - Young Adult, Elizabeth Olsen – Martha Marcy May Marlene

Runner-up: Tilda Swinton – We Need to Talk About Kevin

Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer - Beginners

Nominees: Albert Brooks – Drive, Kenneth Branagh - My Week with Marilyn, Max von Sydow - Extremely Loud, Brad Pitt – The Tree of Life

Runner-up: Patton Oswalt – Young Adult

Best Supporting Actress: Vanessa Redgrave - Coriolanus

Nominees: Octavia Spencer – The Help, Shailene Woodley – The Descendants, Jessica Chastain – The Help, Melissa McCarthy – Bridesmaids

Runner-up: Berenice Bejo – The Artist

Best Original Screenplay: The Artist

Nominees: Midnight in Paris, Margin Call, Young Adult, Win Win

Runner-up: 50/50

Best Adapted Screenplay: The Descendants

Nominees: Moneyball, Extremely Loud, War Horse, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Runner-up: The Help

Best Cinematography: The Tree of Life

Nominees: War Horse, Hugo, The Artist, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Runner-up: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Best Original Score: The Artist

Nominees: War Horse, The Adventures of Tintin, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Extremely Loud

Runner-up: Hugo

Best Original Song: Gnomeo and Juliet

Nominees: The Muppets, The Muppets, Captain America, Cars 2

Runner-up: The Help

Best Editing: War Horse

Nominees: The Artist, Hugo, Moneyball, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Runner-up: Drive

Best Art Direction: Hugo

Nominees: War Horse, Harry Potter, The Artist, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Runner-up: The Tree of Life

Best Costume Design: Hugo

Nominees: The Artist, War Horse, Jane Eyre, W.E.

Runner-up: My Week with Marilyn

Best Sound: War Horse

Nominees: Hugo, Super 8, Transformers 3, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Runner-up: MI4

Best Sound Editing: War Horse

Nominees: Hugo, The Adventures of Tintin, Transformers 3, MI4

Runner-up: Super 8

Best Visual Effects: Harry Potter

Nominees: Transformers 3, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Hugo, The Tree of Life

Runner-up: Pirates of the Caribbean 4

Best Makeup: The Iron Lady

Nominees: J. Edgar, Green Lantern

Runner-up: Pirates of the Caribbean 4

Best Animated Feature: Rango

Nominees: Arthur Christmas, Kung Fu Panda 2, Cars 2, Puss in Boots

Runner-up: The Adventures of Tintin

You can also check my previous predictions here:

August 16^th, 2011

April 3^rd, 2011

Ann Harding, in Holiday

approximately 56 minutes and 32 seconds

63.1% of the film

The film

The story of two sisters and a young man who is torn between his free-thinking lifestyle and the tradition of his wealthy fiancée's family.

You can read my short review of the film just by clicking HERE.

It's a light comedy, or better said a romantic film, that’s easy to watch but never truly smart or very engaging. I did appreciate the performances and Mary Astor’s beauty and attitude were mesmerizing to me.

Ann Harding as Linda Seton

It is a truth universally acknowledged that… that most people have no idea who Ann Harding is. I wouldn’t have known either had I not been a mostly-die-hard Best Actress fan; I don’t know any other films of hers, though she seems to have appeared in plenty of pictures. Based on her imdb page, this was one of her first film roles and she does get to give an interesting performance.

Ann plays Linda Seton, a rich but down-to-earth, charming, romantic woman that falls in love with her sister’s fiancé, slowly realizing that she’s the right woman for him, and not her arrogant sister. It’s a role neither very dramatic, nor very comedic; what is does require is a lot of personality from its actress and some ability to deliver some very stagey lines. That being said, in my opinion there’s not enough strong writing to make this a great performance; but Ann handles well what she has to do.

The highest achievement in Ann’s performance is to make Linda very likeable and as honest as possible. There’s a fantastic kindness that Ann shows us that felt very natural to me, and beautifully contrasting Mary Astor cold, sharp performance as Julia. Ann understands the lightness of the film and doesn’t bother to get from the character more drama that it’s actually given.

The performance consists mostly of sarcastic lines that Ann delivers well, with touches of real emotion here and there. There’s a scene where

Linda confronts her father, it’s the most emotional one and it’s nicely played, but otherwise the screenplay is pretty dry and doesn’t give Ann anything too demanding or juicy enough to show real range.

Another plus is her chemistry with her co-stars, especially the actor who plays her brother; they have a couple of nice scenes together, and both acted like they knew each other well enough, therefore creating a nice emotional connection that the film could really use.

It’s a stagey performance, but how else could it be given the dialogue; Ann is what she’s supposed to be: charming, likeable, natural, sweet, but she doesn’t get enough chances to show real emotion and range. I’m not saying every performance must do that, but based on the way I judge them I tend to appreciate the difficulty of a role, which isn’t the case here. It’s a strong from me.

National Board of Review predictions...



I'm posting some quick predictions for the NBR, as they're announcing in a couple of hours I think. We've started the week with the NYFCC awards, where, though I didn't write about it here, I correctly predicted wins for Artist & Meryl, though not for Brad. That Brad Pitt win was surprising to me.

Anyway, here's how I think NBR critics will vote:


Best Film: The Artist
alternative: The Descendants

Best Director: Nicolas Winding Refn - Drive
alternative: Terrence Malick - Tree of Life

Best Actor: George Clooney - The Descendants
alternative: Woody Harelson - Rampart

Best Actress: Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady
alternative: Charlize Theron - Young Adult

Best Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks - Drive
alternative: Christopher Plummer - Beginners

Best Supporting Actress: Jessica Chastain - The Help. Tree of Life, Take Shelter
alternative: Vanessa Redgrave - Coriolanus

Best Breakthrough Performance - Male: Jean Dujardin - The Artist

Best Breakthrough Performance - Female: Elizabeth Olsen - Martha Marcy May Marlene




Wow, I think they'll look very similar to the NYFCC... We'll see.

Irene Dunne, in Cimarron

approximately 52 minutes and 43 seconds

45.45% of the film

The film

A newspaper editor settles in an Oklahoma boom town with his reluctant wife at the end of the nineteenth century.

You can read my short review of the film just by clicking HERE.

Well, the film is still one of the worst Best Picture winners, I’d say. I’ve first seen it 2 years ago, and I definitely didn’t find it better this time: it’s a naive, clichéd, unintentionally racist, silly written epic-wannabe film.

Irene Dunne as Sabra Cravat

I think most of us bloggers can find at least a film we’ve seen in which Irene Dunne was insanely charming, or funny, and definitely adorable. That’s easy; and I think she became even more popular years after her career ended, because she’s so easy to love. Cimarron doesn’t fall into that category of great Irene roles because… well, it was the beginning of her career and I’m sure she was taking whatever they were giving her: including this epic western, in which Irene gets to play the mostly-boring role of the devoted wife.

Irene plays Sabra, a wife and mother who adores her free-spirited justice-seeker husband, a newspaper editor that moves the family to the new land of Oklahoma. There, Sabra gets to
witness the birth of a town and has to deal with her husband’s independent nature and ideas. It doesn’t seem like much of a role, and it probably isn’t; but I did appreciate how Irene’s character slowly takes control of the film towards the ending; and Irene finally gets a couple of decent scenes.

In many ways, this is the typical role of the wife and it offers too little for Irene to work with. She’s nice to look at, investing a maternal, caring quality into the character, but the focus is almost never on her, at least in the first hour. The most she gets to do is to play the faithful wife, with plenty of resignation to her husband’s spirit of adventurer.

At the same time, she’s the one keeping the family together, so Irene does get to act a bit as the bossy woman, the one responsible character in the film, who ends up taking control of the family

business. As I said, she mostly walks around, with little range to be shown other than love & the occasional moments of anger; can’t really blame Irene for that, as the failure falls mostly on the director and the messy screenplay.

Where she does grab the attention is in the final chapter of the film, when the husband character seems finally out of the picture; the focus is now on her, and while the screenplay doesn’t suddenly become attractive, she does get to give a couple of speeches and shakes things up a bit (performance-wise) with the effective aging makeup.

Actually, that might be her best moment in the film: giving a believable performance as the old, wise Sabra who gets to deliver a speech while accepting an award. Irene does justice to the character by properly expressing regret and sadness, and actually making Sabra seem more interesting than she really was.

There isn’t much to say about this performance, given how dated it looks, the limitations of the screenplay and the overall quality of the film. While she doesn’t get to shine, Irene definitely gives the best performance from the cast, she is a calming presence throughout the film, and the one voice of reason that’s not completely annoying.

Guys, it's been more than a year since I've showed my face here; literally. Usually, it happens around my birthday. This year, as usual, I was in Athens with work on my birthday, but kept it a big secret, as I wouldn't have wanted any big fuss at work. Now, about a month later, I'm ready with some new pictures, in this yearly post.

These are 2 photos I've taken less than a week ago, from a shooting I like to call Tommy & I. :D 2 vanilla samples here.

Your Romanian blogger salutes you!! Have a nice weekend! :)

Marie Dressler, in Min and Bill

approximately 45 minutes and 8 seconds

70.6% of the film

The film

Min, the owner of a dockside hotel, is forced to make difficult decisions about the future of Nancy, the young woman she took in as an infant.

You can read my short review of the film just by clicking HERE.

Min and Bill has its fans, but it didn’t intrigue me that much; watching it from today’s perspective, it does look dated and it feels predictable more than not. Marjorie Rambeau is easily best in show, with a delicious supporting villain performance.

Marie Dressler as Min Divot

Not many people are talking about this performance nowadays, because I’m sure plenty of people from the movie world haven’t even seen it. I myself probably wouldn’t have rushed to it, had it not been 1931 the lucky year to be discussed next. It’s not that I had anything against, only that I suspected the film will be quite boring. What is interesting is that most, if not all, of those who have seen it and had expressed an opinion on Dressler’s performance seem to adore it.

Marie Dressler plays Min, a tough old lady who owns a cheap hotel near the docks. She saves all of her money dreaming of a nice house, while also keeping an eye on and protecting Nancy, a young woman she raised since she was a baby. But when Nancy’s real mother, a selfish alcoholic trouble-maker, comes to town, Min has to do everything she can to protect the future and the happiness of the girl.

The casting seems perfect and what I admired the most was Dressler’s intimidating presence throughout the film. She creates a great character that takes no nonsense, a strong woman with plenty of life experience, who doesn’t hesitate when she sets out to do something. Her one weakness is Nancy, though it’s not really a weakness: you can tell in fact Nancy is Min’s one pride & joy, even though she chooses not to share that with the girl.

Min keeps her tough mask on in front of Nancy, but Marie Dressler allows the audience to really notice how Min fells about the girl. It’s great that we get to see a human side of Min, though sometimes I wished the subtle wasn’t that obvious – that meaning that we could’ve noticed such feelings and nuances even with less acting & hints.

This is probably my biggest issue with the performance, that it sometimes looks a bit too expressive; sure, the movie industry had just come out of the silent era, but to me those face expressions were maybe too much, too theatrical at times. Also, I have to be honest: in her scenes with Marjorie Rambeau, I couldn’t take my eyes off Marjorie, and neither could the camera.

Marie Dressler gives a solid performance, and I could recognize the talent. You can see the changes in the character and she has the strong presence that any leading actress should have. However, the role is not the most challenging, and while I respect it a lot, I was never too excited about the performance. To me, it’s a strong ; and who knows… I have yet to see the other nominees, so this rating might actually bring her my win.

Best Actress 1931

The draw for the next Best Actress year took place before I left for Athens, and the result was announced on Twitter. This year is generally known as 1930-1931, but I always call it as Best Actress 1931. Being the 4th Oscar ceremony, I am not very familiar with this group, and, at the time of the draw, I had seen only Cimarron, the Best Picture winner for that year. So it will be nice to discover this Best Actress line-up that very few people talk about. That being said, I’m not expecting to be blown away by any of the performances. :)

The 5 ladies that Oscar had chosen for 1931, in alphabetical order:

Marlene Dietrich as Amy Jolly, in Morocco


















Marie Dressler as Min Divot, in Min and Bill



















Irene Dunne as Sabra Cravat, in Cimarron

















Ann Harding as Linda Seton, in Holiday




















Norma Shearer as Jan Ashe, in A Free Soul

I cannot say if any of these were surprising nominations or not, as we’re talking about 1930-1931 films, I’m not familiar with the releases and anyway who knows what the voters were thinking back then, how they chose their performances. But even so, it’s worth going over the nominees, as 3 of these actresses are considered nowadays among the best of their generation.

Marlene Dietrich was already a silent-films star back in Germany, but 1930 was her breakthrough year in Hollywood, with Morocco and most importantly with The Blue Angel. The early 1930s turned her into an icon, but this was the only Oscar nomination she received during her career.

This was Irene Dunne’s second film and she would quickly become one of Hollywood’s most adored actresses, mostly due to her charming acting style, best used in screwball comedies and romantic films.

Norma Shearer was undoubtedly one of the biggest names in Hollywood at that time. She was the wife of Irving Thalbert, producer at MGM, already had an established career and was the Best Actress winner of the previous year. I suspect this nomination could’ve have been a surprise, given her popularity.

Marie Dressler, who ended up winning for Min and Bill, had a solid film career, but was best known for her theatre work and she was considered a major vaudeville star. I don’t know much about Ann Harding and people never seem to talk about her; she was a Broadway actress and also made plenty of films, but this would be her only nomination.

I’ll start with the winner, as usual.

It’s also worth mentioning that this will be the 20^th Best Actress year I write about, so I’ll get to do the 100th profile – given the year, I’ll celebrate with a diva, so Marlene Dietrich’s performance will be the last one reviewed.

And here’s the video proof that 1931 was drawn, in case you wanna waste 60 seconds :)