As I discussed in April, working from home, and the various video-conferences I partake in on a daily basis has made me more conscious of the film posters I had on the wall facing the camera. I had bought a Parasite film poster from Geeky Illustrator to join the Shawshank Redemption one I already had.
The Shawshank Redemption poster was on the wall opposite the Parasite one, and I realised it made sense to put the two side by side, seeing as they were from the same artist. And then in late May, I purchased a Finding Nemo poster to flank the Parasite poster on the other side (from another artist).
What I now have is a very colourful display of three films to face my Webcam for when I'm in a meeting, that perfectly represents three facets of my love of cinema: Disney, foreign film and character-driven dramas!
Guarding them all is my boy Gary Cahill, because, obvs.
Best Motion Picture, Drama: A Star Is Born The fact that A Star is Born and Bohemian Rhapsody requested that they compete in the more competitive category (Drama has historically been harder to win than Musical or Comedy) shows the scope of their ambition.
In the pantheon of category fraud, it’s usually been the other way round, for example last year, Get Out’s producers fraudulently campaigned for it as a ‘Comedy’ because they thought it would maximise their chances of a prize.
So the fact that ASIB and BR volunteered for the harder category demonstrates the belief the producers of the films have in their end products. In A Star is Born’s case, I reckon it will pay off.
Potential spoiler: BlacKkKlansman, very much a film for the moment.
The city of Metropolis is separated into the wealthy upper class, who live an opulent lifestyle above the ground. Below the ground are the impoverished labourers, who’s hard work keeps the city running so the rich can enjoy themselves.
Freder, the son of the calculating overlord who oversees Metropolis, Joh Fredersen, was living in blissful ignorance until one day, Maria, a saintly woman who instils hope in the beleaguered workmen, infiltrates his lavish habitat and implores him for his help.
The Oscar nominations come out tomorrow, and, as movie award commentary is one of the chief functions of my blog, I thought I’d predict them! The rankings are from most to least likely.
Saoirse Ronan and Beanie Feldstein (Jonah Hill's sister!) in Lady Bird
Best Film
01. The Shape of Water
02. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
03. Get Out
04. Dunkirk
05. Lady Bird
06. Call Me By Your Name
07. The Post
I forsee there being 7 nominees in Best Picture, but with the expanded Best Pic facilitating as many as 10 nominees, the extra predictions, should there be that many nominees...
08. Phantom Thread
09. The Florida Project
10. I, Tonya
I, Tonya has been performing very well with the Guilds (nominations for Producers Guild, at the WGA and Editing), but I'm hoping that what is ultimately a morally bankrupt movie which makes light of a woman complicit in her opponent having her kneecaps smashed in doesn't get enough #1 votes to make the Best Film shortlist!
I
went on a 4-hour R course last year, and since then, I’ve just been fixated
with adapting the code they gave us to draw pretty graphs with, in order to nerd
out over my personal interests (chiefly, films and football).
This
post will be much like the one I did six months ago when I analysed
my film-watching habit of 2016 across all mediums, only here, I’m just
analysing the 69 titles I saw on my Odeon Limitless card with some attempts at
~science behind the graphs I present.
So,
after waiting, and waiting, and waiting, the BBFC Annual Report for 2016
dropped! Here it is, and having pored over it, here are my major takeaways from
reading it!
I’m
glad my many hours of wasting time watching films purely for BBFC research
purposes (such as Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry), poring over BBFC minutes and lurking
who complains to their Twitter account has paid off, because my
prognostications for the films that would cause them the most complaints were
even better than my Oscar predictions (and the Oscar goes to…. La La
Land! No, Moonlight! #stillgloating).
After being underwhelmed by the limited
range of films offered by the (ironically named) Cineworld Unlimited card, I voted with my wallet and defected to
the Odeon Limitless card as a means of watching as many films as I wanted to in
the year instead.
In terms of cinemas, the venues ranged
from plush, comfortable and state-of-the-art (the newly renovated Orpington
Odeon is as luxurious as any cinema I’ve been to, and one of the finest things
about my otherwise fairly humdrum hometown) to scummy and very badly maintained
(Birmingham, where I saw Lights Out, had muck all over the
floor, as well as brats watching the film who were clearly under-15).
I love movie stars (films, food and football are my entire life), but I won’t be staying up tonight for this dross. The dressing up box mafia preaching about politics at the BAFTAs was cringe AF and I won’t be subjecting myself to a bunch of millionaires lecturing me again, in addition to the yawn-tastic Blah Blah Land love-in.
Film
Who will win: La La Land
Who should win: Moonlight
Who might win: In the infinitesimal chance LLL doesn’t walk away with this, Moonlight has about a 0.0007% chance of an upset.
Who should have been nominated: A United Kingdom was ineligible, so Zootopia and er, Café Society. Honestly, it’s way better than Blah Blah Land! The stars in it actually had chemistry! The closing shot of the dreamy looks on Eisenberg & Stewart's faces was far more resonant and moving than that cliched, hackneyed 'what if' montage at the end of LLL.
Director
Who will win: Damien Chazelle for La La Land
Who should win: Barry Jenkins for Moonlight
Who might win: Kenneth Lonergan for Manchester by the Sea. Although the odds of Damien Chazelle losing this is even slimmer than LLL not taking Best Picture. He’s got this sewn up.
Who should have been nominated: Ken Loach for I, Daniel Blake. Although had he won, he would have just taken the opportunity to hector the audience about what terrible people they were and how he knows better than all of us had he won, so on second thoughts…
Actor
Who will win: Creepy Affleck for Manchester by the Sea
Who should win: Honestly, I wasn’t enamoured with any of the three performances I've watched (Washington, Affleck, Gosling), but if I were to judge them on quality of the acting, Denzel owns this.
Who might win: Denzel Washington for Fences
Who should have been nominated: Chris Pine for Hell or High Water and Jesse Eisenberg for Café Society (JE will have to make do with the Razzie he won yesterday instead)
Actress
Who will win: Emma Stone for La La Land
Who should win: So once, I was on a date with insufferable clown who kept acting like he was the authority on The Wolf of Wall Street (even though he hadn't seen it). I'm afraid I'm now going to be a massive hypocrite and emulate said clown and say Isabelle Huppert, despite not having seen Elle. Because she’s a brilliant actress who’s long overdue, and everyone’s been raving about her icy portrayal of a complex character.
(and also because I'm hella salty towards Yellowface and the overrated film she was in).
Who might win: Isabelle Huppert for Elle
Who should have been nominated: Amy Adams for Arrival(!!!!) and Emily Blunt for The Girl on the Train. Note: I haven’t seen Aquarius or 20th Century Women.
Supporting Actor
Who will win: Mahershala Ali for Moonlight
Who should win: Mahershala Ali for Moonlight
Who might win: Unfortunately, Dev Patel is going to run Ali close for this Oscar. I think the balance is currently 51/49 in Ali’s favour, but it's so finely judged right now I wouldn’t be surprised if I checked the results tomorrow morning to see Patel has won. I’d be devastated, but not surprised.
Who should have been nominated: Trevante Rhodes for Moonlight (stunning performance and my favourite of the year by far) and Alden Ehrenreich for Hail, Caesar!
Supporting Actress
Who will win: Viola Davis for Fences
Who should win: Viola Davis for Fences. Knockout performance, despite the clunkiness of Denzel Washington’s slightly vain direction doing her no favours. Plus she's a screen queen who never phones it in (see: Suicide Squad) who's well overdue.
Who might win: Michelle Williams for Manchester by the Sea
Who should have been nominated: Lily Gladstone for Certain Women and Hayley Squires for I, Daniel Blake.
Original Screenplay
Who will win: Kenneth Lonergan for Manchester by the Sea
Who should win: Taylor Sheridan for Hell or High Water
Who might win: Damien Chazelle for La La Land
Who should have been nominated: Jared Bush and Phil Johnston for Zootopia, and the Paedo for Café Society. But he's a paedo so who cares.
Adapted Screenplay
Who will win: Barry Jenkins for Moonlight
Who should win: Barry Jenkins for Moonlight
Who might win: Eric Heisserer’s slow-burning, cerebral script for Arrival has a fair bit of awards momentum, but if anyone’s going to trump Moonlight it’ll be Lion’s script due to the sheer brazenness of the Weinstein Company’s campaign. Just remember how hard they and Felicia Vikander campaigned for her fraudulent category Oscar last year. And Felicia saw the gold, so.
(Sidebar: The Weinstein Company are really trying to make that wannabe Leonardo DiCaprio, Dane DeYawn happen. Just check out this (unintentionally) hilarious trailer to Tulip Fever, which stars DeHaan and their girl Felicia:)
Who should have been nominated: Liu Zhenyun for Someone to Talk To and Whit Stillman for Love and Friendship
Editing
Who will win: Hacksaw Ridge. The vast majority of my predictions are copy+paste jobs from Nathaniel’s blog, but I disagree with him that LLL has this locked up. Hacksaw Ridge won the BAFTA in this category and seems to have ‘more’ editing in the in-your-face meaning of the word, so I’ve gone for that for my prediction.
Plus, this category, in recent years, has thrown up a few surprises, particularly The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’s win in this category, meaning Editing is no long an automatic vote for the film Academy voters enjoyed the most.
(Obviously, I’m just deluded and refuse to accept a LLL sweep).
Who should win: Moonlight
Who might win: La La Land
Score
Who will win: La La Land
Who should win: Jackie
Who might win: Passengers, because the fact that Thomas Newman (who's haunting scores for Finding Nemo, The Shawshank Redemption, American Beauty and Road to Perdition are part of the reason I persevered with the violin when the going got hard) doesn't have an Oscar but Jennifer Lawrence does is a bit *clown music*. But I think LLL's got a tight grip on this, so he'll have to keep waiting for his Oscar.
Song
Who will win: 'Shitty of Stars', La La Landdespite the fact that Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone's duet of it hurt my ears even more than the Boston accents in Manchester by the Sea did
Who should win: 'How Far I'll Go' from Moana
Who might win: there’s a chance that due to Blah Blah Land having two bland songs in this category ('Audition' being the other), they might split the vote, with some people voting for 'Shitty of Stars', and the others voting for 'Yawndition', there’s a glimmer of hope that Moana might be the beneficiary. I would love this.
Who should have been nominated: ‘Never Give Up’ by Sia, for Lion. It played over the closing credits whilst set to footage of the real Saroo’s journey and that in itself was more poignant than the majority of the movie.
I most certainly would not have nominated Shakira's song in Zootopia, which despite me loving both the film and the singer, was one of the most saccharine songs ever, and downright irresponsible in its suggestion that 'I wanna try everything
I wanna try even though I could fail'. I daresay parents of children who decide to try to fly off the top of a building wouldn't be quite as fond of such a lyric.
Cinematography
Who will win: La La Land
Who should win: Moonlight
Who might win: Lion Sound
Who will win: La La Land
Who should win: Arrival
Who might win: Hacksaw Ridge
Who should have been nominated: Kubo and the Two Strings Sound Editing
Who will win: Hacksaw Ridge
Who should win: Anyone other than La La Land. I couldn't hear what they were mumbling half the time!
Who might win: La La Land
Who should have been nominated: Kubo and the Two Strings Animated Film
Who will win: Zootopia
Who should win: Zootopia, although I love Kubo and the Two Strings, too. Both are 8.5/10s in my book and in my current top 6 of 2016.
Who might win: Kubo and the Two Strings. The surprise BAFTA win will definitely give their producers some hope, but ultimately, I think Zootopia’s charm is too strong.
Who should have been nominated: Nothing I can think of. Certainly not that over-long and over-convoluted Your Name, or that phoned in, disappointing sequel, Finding Dory. And DEFINITELY not that unbelievably unfunny, wannabe edgy Sausage Party. #ByeFelicia
Documentary Feature
Who will win: The 13th
Who should win: Haven’t seen any of them.
Who might win: OJ: Made in America
Foreign Film
Who will win: The Salesman. London Trafalgar Square is actually hosting a screening of this film today at 4:30pm, which I was intending on going to, but unfortunately I have some freelance programming work that needs to be done, so guttingly, I’m sitting this one out.
Who should win: Haven’t seen any of them.
Who might win: Toni Erdmann.
Who should have been nominated: Julieta
Makeup and Hair
Who will win: Star Trek Beyond
Who should win: Don’t care
Who might win: Suicide Squad
Who should have been nominated: A bit random, but I would go with Moonlight, for how they transformed Naomie Harris (who is 40 in real life but looks younger than Emma Stone, 28 #JustSaying) from the sleek Moneypenny we’re used to seeing, to a haggard druggie.
Visual Effects
Who will win: The Jungle Book
Who should win: Kubo and the Two Strings, hands down. Those origami battles were astonishing.
Who might win: Inception with A-levels, aka Doctor Strange
Who should have been nominated: Not Batman v Superman or Suicide Squad's distractingly bad effects, that’s for sure. I’m just surprised the Academy voters didn’t honour La La Land here, seeing as they seem to be giving out nominations to that Hollywood-fellating movie like smarties.
Production Design
Who will win: Unfortunately, La La Land
Who should win: Arrival
Who might win: Fantastic Oscar-Beggers and Where to Find Them
Who should have been nominated: Love and Friendship and Jackie
Costume
Who will win: I refuse to believe LLL will take this for some suits & skinny ties and Emma Stone’s colourful dresses. That would be one of the most egregious and lazy wins in Oscar history. I refuse to believe it and am refusing to predict it, even though it probably will. But I’m stubbornly predicting Jackie
Who should win: Jackie
Who might win: La La Land
Who should have been nominated: Café Society and Love and Friendship
I don’t predict short films, so I make that 8 wins for La La Land, which is excessive, to say the least, but given that they actually could win 13 (ties aren’t possible under this preferential ballot system), I’ll cut my losses and take 8. No more, please!
And if Mahershala loses to Dev Patel, then the Weinstein Company will have done their worst. As misdirected penance, I will write a scathing review of Tulip Fever on my blog (although let’s be real, it stars Dane DeYawn and Felicia Vikander. I was totally planning on doing that regardless). That'll teach them.
When we first came to England, my family didn’t have that much money and so despite loving films, TV and all things multimedia from a young age, I didn’t actually own that many VHSes. One of the few videos I did possess were episodes of 西游记 [Journey to the West], taped off the TV.
An extremely popular Chinese children’s novel, it’s had many adaptations, from TV show to film to plays. Even though I recognise that, were I to watch said episodes now, I would pick up on its low production value, campy acting and all-too-convenient deus ex machinas at the end of almost every episode, I loved that show as a kid, and I still regard the concept of it with fondness.
For that reason, when I clocked that the Chinese cinema-friendly Odeon Panton Street were screening Journey to the West 2, I leapt at the chance to see it, despite not having known about Journey to the West 1’s existence. I knew the general construct pretty well (a Buddhist monk, accompanied by three disciples possessing magical powers, the most prominent being monkey Sun Wukong, carries out his life calling to capture demons), so figured I’d be able to follow the plot despite not having seen the first.
The Oscar nominations come out on Tuesday, and seeing as there aren’t any awards shows/major critics circles announcing their wins/nominations before then, I thought there couldn’t be any harm in predicting Tuesday’s nominations now!
:: Best motion picture (drama) - Moonlight
:: Best motion picture - (musical or comedy) - La La Land
:: Best performance by an actor in a motion picture - Casey Affleck - Manchester By The Sea
:: Best performance by an actress in a motion picture - Isabelle Huppert - Elle
:: Best performance by an actor in a motion picture - (musical or comedy) -Ryan Gosling - La La Land
: Best performance by an actress in a motion picture - (musical or comedy) -Emma Stone - La La Land
:: Best performance by an actor in a supporting role in a motion picture - Aaron Taylor-Johnson - Nocturnal Animals
:: Best performance by an actress in a supporting role in a motion picture - Viola Davis - Fences
:: Best director - Damien Chazelle - La La Land
:: Best original screenplay - La La Land
:: Best motion picture - foreign language - Elle - France
:: Best motion picture - animated - Zootopia
:: Best original song - City Of Stars - La La Land
:: Best original score - La La Land
--
Seven out of seven is an unprecedented sweep for La La Land, so they must be buzzing. The majority of the wins were not unexpected, bar, perhaps, in Screenplay, where I would have thought a 'talkier' film such as Manchester by the Sea would have won. A musical winning Best Screenplay at the Golden Globes is pretty unheard of. The fact that La La Land won Screenplay and Director acts as a barometer that this was by far the most loved film by the 90 or so voters in the HPFA.
One of the two biggest surprises in the acting categories was Aaron Taylor-Johnson winning for Nocturnal Animals. He bloody deserved it tho; I was on a knife edge every time he was on screen. It's unusual; most other awards bodies have awarded/nominated his Nocturnal Animals co-star Michael Shannon instead of Taylor-Johnson, for his more internal performance, but in this case, I much preferred the showier turn from ATJ. He probably won't get an Oscar nomination, so I'm ecstatic he got recognised at the Golden Globes.
The other acting shock was Isabelle Huppert winning Best Actress in a Drama for 'rape revenge comedy' Elle. Huppert has been sweeping the Critics awards, but I would have thought with the film's dicey subject matter, as well as the fact that Portman has been in Hollywood since she was a child and the HPFA love honouring celebrities, they would have awarded her. More than happy to be proved wrong!!
I hope this Golden Globe win gives IsabElle the momentum to get an Oscar nomination and even win the thing; I have confused feelings towards the frontrunner Emma Stone, who, despite being very pretty and charming, did play a half-Asian in Aloha, something I simply can't overlook given how hard it is for my Asian sisters to find acting work. It's funny; that yellow-facing Felicia dedicated her Best Actress in a Comedy win to 'anyone who's ever had the door slammed in their face' regarding failed auditions. What about the Asian actresses who had the doors slammed in their face as a result of you accepting a white-washed role, Emma? #JustWondering
One thing that's hampering Isabelle Huppert's campaign is that, annoyingly, due to Elle being released over here in March, it isn't eligible at the BAFTAs. If she'd got a BAFTA nomination, she probably would have won, because we tend to be more receptive to European fare than the Americans are (we correctly awarded Emmanuelle Riva back in 2013 for her amazing performance in Amour, was one of the catalysts for pushing Riva's Oscar campaign almost all the way), thus raising her profile even more. BAFTA nominations come out tomorrow, and Huppert could still get a nomination for Things to Come, so that's something.
Moonlight got a standing ovation when it won Best Drama, showing that whilst La La Land may be the favourite of the HPFA, the audience had a different favourite. Although I haven't yet seen it, I'm already a fan given its subject matter, and wish for it to do well all Awards season. Also delighted for Viola Davis although I've not yet seen Fences. And yay Zootopia! My third favourite film of the year so far, tremendous fun, film references aplenty and featuring one foxy lead.
I got 9 out of 14 correct in my predictions which is pretty good for me!
I didn't watch the ceremony but have seen a couple of clips and Tom Hiddleston accepting his win for The Night Manager is the most White Saviour thing I've seen for a while. Naomie Harris side-eyeing him during the speech encapsulates my thoughts to his narcissistic speech perfectly.
Finally, the tradition at the Golden Globes is that winner of Best Actress Drama last year has to present the award to recipient of Best Actor Drama this year. This meant that Brie Larson, an advocate for Victims of Sexual Assult, had to present the award to Casey Affleck, as she'll probably have to do at the Oscars as well. Apparently she could barely veil her disgust (Affleck is riddled with accusations of groping a woman whilst she was asleep), refusing to so much as pat him when he came up to accept his award. Attagirl.
It's the annual Star-f_cker's annual awards ceremony tomorrow, and as per the tradition, I will try to predict the winners in each category! If you'd like to play predictor too, here are the nominations.
Best Motion Picture, Drama: Moonlight (alternative: Manchester by the Sea)
Best Motion Picture, Musical, or Comedy: La La Land (no alternative needed)
Best Performance By an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama: Natalie Portman, Jackiesigh (alternative: Amy Adams, Arrival)
Best Performance By an Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy:
Emma Stone, La La Land (alternative: Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama: Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Seasigh(alternative: Denzel Washington, Fences)
Best Performance By an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture: Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water (alternative: Mahershala Ali, Moonlight)
Best Performance by Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture: Viola Davis, Fences (alternative: Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea)
Best Director: Damien Chazelle, La La Land (alternative: Barry Jenkins, Moonlight)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical, or Comedy: Ryan Gosling, La La Land (alternative: Hugh Grant, Florence Foster Jenkins)
Best Screenplay:Hell or High Water (alternative: Manchester by the Sea)
Original Score:Hidden Figures (alternative: La La Land)
Best Motion Picture, Animated:Zootopia (alternative: Moana)
Best Original Song: “City of Stars,” La La Land
(alternative: “How Far I’ll Go,” Moana)
Best Foreign Language Film: Toni Erdmann (alternative: Elle)
--
I've basically gone with all the predictable choices that most people are picking; bearing in mind that the Golden Globes like to kiss up to the big names, and thus are more likely to honour the Hollywood A-listers, rather than lesser known European actors. Predicting Moonlight to beat Manchester By the Sea is probably my only 'bold' choice.
I really hope they'll be some upsets tomorrow night, such as Isabelle Huppert grabbing Best Actress Drama from Blahtalie Portman, or Denzel trumping Casey 'gropes women when they're asleep' Affleck. Just anything to make the Oscar race a bit more exciting, such as Dev Patel picking up Best Supporting Actor!
From the DVD boxset of the final season of The Good Wife. A bit on the descriptive side!
From American Horror Story: Hotel's boxset. Notice the distinction between 'sexual violence' (i.e., rape) and 'sexualised violence' (the conflation of violence and sexual images, e.g. a stabbing during a sex scene).
Not gonna lie, reading this tells me I'm right in my convictions never to watch an episode of this scabrous show!
This is from How to Get Away with Murder. I was quite taken aback by this; all I know about this show is that Viola Davis is in it, and she is typically excellent. I was not expecting it to be an 18 cert! A quick glance over the American TV rating (TV-14), tells me that this might be the BBFC being weirdly strict.
Two other TV shows that I've noticed are TV-14 in the States and 18 over here are The 100 and Scandal. A telltale sign that a show is aiming for the TV-14 market when you're watching is extensive sexual dialogue and maybe even steamy sex scenes featuring nudity, but not once does anyone say the f-word (this also applies to many a TV-14 show that have gotten 15 over here, such as the aforementioned The Good Wife).
I find it amusing that you can put quite a lot of adult content in a TV-14 and get away with it, but once you say 'f_ck', that's when you cross the line into TV-MA...
From Gotham's boxset. Again, I was just amused because of the juxtaposition of those four disparate classification issues.
--
Whilst the BBFC are playing hard to get with regards to their rating of Elle, for which Isabelle Huppert is gaining Oscar buzz (I know I haven't seen it yet but I really hope she wins!), their Irish counterparts aren't so coy, and have released it with an 18. Given that the two awards bodies more often than not align, I'm guessing that this will be my second 2016 release that I've seen of an 18 cert! I've been very lax with watching 2016 releases of this rating; the only other has been The Neon Demon.
By the by, I noticed in HMV yesterday that on the occasions when the BBFC and IFCO don't agree on a film, they just bung the British rating on the front (otherwise, they put both, side-by-side):
Eddie the Eagle is a 12 in Ireland and A Hologram for a King is 15 in Ireland. I think this precaution is sensible; you wouldn't want to confuse buyers!
--
Finally, I have no intention of watching this, but, nice wall mural for Assassin's Creed:
This same wall has also hosted Star Trek art in the past as well!
--
I adore BBFC geekery. My entire compendium of BBFC posts is here, check it!
The last time I waxed lyrical about Gary Cahill's insane biceps, Chelsea had beaten Manchester City at the Etihad. Well, this weekend, we beat Manchester City at the Etihad (ironically enough, the man with the golden guns scored an own-goal, but we'll just chalk that down to him kindly giving Agüero a masterclass in finishing), so it's time for another appreciatory post for Gazatron's arms!
The best arms in football, bar none. Appreciate his commitment to constantly making them even bigger, too.
------
I shan't be watching Passengers. It stars a certain actress who's acting prowess I don't exactly hold in the highest regard, and I don't like sci-fi much (Arrival was an exception to this rule). Plus I don't see the point in hate-watching a movie when I barely have time to view the many films I actually want to see.
However, whilst I'm still staunchly 'you'd have to drag me to the cinema to see this', I have to admit the BBFC have trolled me slightly, in that by using 'sexual activity' rather than 'sex' in the short insight, my interest is piqued as to what the 'sexual activity' is.
I've noticed an increase in the prevalence of this curio turn of phrase recently. It seems to be employed for situations rather than intercourse, e.g. describing the masturbation scene in The Survivalist. In Childhood of a Leader (a shining example of a film I'd love to see but sadly didn't because the Odeon didn't screen it), a film rated 12A for moderate sexual activity, the activity in question is a husband running his hand along his wife's leg in a horny manner.
Which is fair enough, it's good to be prescriptive and delineate the lines between a shag and sexual behaviour to the audience. But I'm intrigued as to why it's been used in Passengers' case, given that in interviews about this film, Lawrence has been bleating on and on about her sex scene with Chris Pratt, and even falsely claiming this love scene is her first. (I've seen Serena, Jennifer. You might like to pretend that film never happened, but I saw it). She also had a sex scene with the late Anton Yelchin (RIP) in Like Crazy, so I don't know why she's pushing selling the fallacious narrative that this is her, quote, 'first sex scene'. To sell more tickets for the film, perhaps?
So I would have thought Passengerswould feature an out-and-out love scene. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they start having Cesc, then J-law's character starts reading her whiny essay about how underpaid she was for American Hustle instead and Pratt's character loses his wood.
The third and final film of Luis Buñuel's triptych of movies which feature little plot and a lot of visual sight gags, Le Fantôme de la Liberté neatly ties off whatLa Voie lactéeand Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie started. Like the other two films, Le Fantôme de la Liberté consists of short, surreal sketches that follows a series of peripherally connected characters are their lives are peppered with all manner of curio, and in the name of decorum, the characters are completely blasé these bizarre occurrences, which just makes them weirder.
A creepy man distributes photographs to young girls. We assume these to be seedy, as he tells them to show friends but not parents, and indeed, when the parents discover them, they are disgusted. But the pictures actually turn out to be nothing more than photos of historical landmarks. Later, another little girl, declared missing, is actually present and well, and at the police station to aid an officer as he fills in her missing person report.
A chap who kills passers-by is hailed as some kind of celebrity at his court-hearing, with adoring fans begging for his autograph. A group of monks are invited to dine with a couple, who all of a sudden strip into latex and embark on some whipping in front of them. And perhaps most startlingly, a group of bourgeois families sit together at a dinner table to go to the toilet in each other's presence, occasionally excusing themselves to go into a private room, to eat.
There’s cinematic badinage of Le Fantôme de la Liberté boasts far greater variety than the other two films in the trio. Buñuel’s ability to synthesise them all into a collective unit illustrates his adroit ability to deliver narrative, even in an oeuvre that largely lacks one. The sight gags are wittier, and the film revels in its bizarreness, which means the audience doesn’t feel any obligation to invest themselves in the plot or the characters, which I have done in previous films, only to have the rug pulled from under me, and thus, felt frustrated by the director.
Possibly an artefact of 1972’s Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie picking up the Foreign Language film Oscar, Buñuel’s follow-up is far less accessible and crowd-pleasing. But I preferred Le Fantôme de la Liberté precisely because it lacks a slightly grandstanding element that its predecessors have. Le Fantôme de la Liberté definitely feels like one of his most personal works, despite (or because?) of all the degenerates you meet in it.
The fact that there isn’t a specific target of satire as La Voie lactée and Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie had (Christianity and the middle class, respectively), per se, rather that free will, a much more abstract idea is the object of this film, means the director has far more scope to unbridle his anarchic vision upon. The episodes he confects span humour that ranges from the bizarre to the sublime.
While the plot sprawls, there is nothing ad-hoc about Buñuel’s tight direction, with each unsettling vignette modulating into the next with such fluidity that before the audience have time to dwell too deeply on the previous story arc, they’re immersed into a new one.
The main thesis of these chaotic scenes, that humans are predominantly irrational agents, and personal autonomy is purely a hoax, is intriguing; a theory given more resonance in the wake of ongoing current affairs.
8/10
---
I've now reviewed all eight DVDs in my Buñuel box set. Read the others here.
Your Name, which has a cracking trailer and almost universal acclaim from everyone who's seen it, is bizarrely getting a very limited release in the UK. I have my ticket to see it on the 24th November, but had to settle for a slightly out-of-my-way Odeon venue, as all the central London ones were all booked up. Hopefully it will be worth it tho; I bloody love me some Anime.
Needless to say, I read the BBFC long insight as preparation for the film. That's a bit of a gamble as the long insights are laden with spoilers, but there you go. It's rated 12A over here for 'moderate language, sex references', in a classic case of a BBFC misnomer.
The plot revolves around a small town girl living in a lonely world and a city boy exchanging bodies, Freaky Friday-style. From the report, it sounds like the main reason the film's a 12A is because the boy, in discovering he's in the body of a woman, touches his boobs.
Bit harsh to rate a film a 12A for that, given that would be a pretty natural response! I also don't think lingering on a girls' chest counts as a 'moderate sex reference', either, so major inaccuracy in its short insight, there.
Glad to see that the Irish saw sense, and gave the film the PG it (sounds like it) deserves. Note how they also accurately classed the focus on a girls' chest as 'suggestive scenes'. That is pretty much all it is, not a sex reference. No need to make it sound seedier than it is.
Why are the BBFC so affronted by a bit of cleavage???
----
I'm somewhat of a BBFC obsessive. All my other BBFC pieces are listed here.
In addition to its eye-catching trailer, one of the things which caught my interest regarding pulpy neo-noir Nocturnal Animals was its BBFCInsight, which featured no less than five causes for ascertaining its 15 certificate:
Just for the sake of completeness of trivia, here are a few other 15 certificate films with 5 classification issues:
In terms of 12A-rated feature length films, the title that I can find with the most classification issues is Tim Burton's Dark Shadows:
As noted in the extended information, threat was an issue too, but the moderate violence, horror, gore and threat were all closely related, and the BBFC examiners (justly) assumed that by highlighting three of those issues, the four was almost a given.
Ironically, what got me to view the very charming Luck-Key wasn't the plot synopsis, but the fact that it had four issues for its 12A certificate. There's some BBFC nerdiness for ya.
Below are four more 12As which had four classification issues, two of which feature the lovely Hailee Steinfeld:
EDIT: 17 November 2016:
season 4 of Nashville has 6 category-defining issues at 12:
And War on Everyone, and Goat, respectively, have not five but six and seven reasons for getting a 15!
It makes me wonder: if a film reached eight or nine reasons to get a 15 certificate, wouldn't it just make the BBFC examiners' lives easier if they slapped an 18 on it?
As for 18s, Hyena has five classification issues, and bunged together starkly in one sentence, it doesn't make the film sound all that palatable.
If you know of any 12As and 18s with more than five classification issues, do let me know!
