2016 SAG AWARDS WINNERS

#SUNDANCE
2016 Sundance Entry: CAPTAIN FANTASTIC - Directed by Matt Ross, the film features Viggo Mortensen playing a Pacific Northwestern, home-schooling isolationist with six kids who is forced to move from their forest home, allowing the children to be exposed to the outside world for the first time.

#Sundance #2016sundancefilmfestival#CaptainFantastic #ViggoMortensen #MattRoss#FrankLangella #GeorgeMacKay #KathrynHahn#SteveZahn #AnnDowd #Films #FilmFestival

#SUNDANCE
2016 Sundance Entry: LOVE & FRIENDSHIP - Based on Jane Austen's 1871 novel Lady Susan, a romantic comedy film written and directed by Whit Stillman, starring Kate Beckinsale, Chloë Sevigny, Xavier Samuel and Stephen Fry

#Sundance #2016sundancefilmfestival#LoveAndFriendship #ChloëSevigny 
#KateBeckinsale #WhitStillman #JaneAusten#XavierSamuel #StephenFry #Films #FilmFestival

fiLmReviEw
•• Foreign Film Edition ••
ICH SEH, ICH SEH (GOODNIGHT MOMMY)
[2014, Austria - German]

Goodnight Mommy was featured in my fiLmsToLoOkOutFoR last Sept and I finally got hold of its long-awaited DVD. Chosen as Austria's foreign-language submission for this year's Oscar, it's the first narrative feature from Austrian writer-directors Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala. It's not going to be easy fitting this film into any typical genre, some argued against it being labelled as horror, and there are clear elements as well pointing it towards psychological thriller and arthouse. Regardless which, this remarkable yet disturbing film has been garnering critical acclaim ever since it made a splash in last year's Venice Film Festival.

Goodnight Mommy starts off by introducing adolescent twin brothers Elias and Lukas (Elias and Lukas Schwarz), idyllic shots of them playing in the cornfields, swimming in the lakes and exploring caves, all within the vicinity of their cosy home standing alone far into the rural Austria. Then a woman (Susanne Wuest) arrives, face swathed in bandages, telling them that she's their mother, returning home from some unspecified operation. Cautious but happy to see her, it doesn't take long before they notice their mother's strange behaviour, imposing her set of suspicious rules like keeping the blinds down at all times, refusing any visitors and even seemingly attempting to pit one brother against the other. Soon mistrust takes a toll on them, tensions escalate painfully threatening the mother-son relationship and audience is left entirely unsure of which side we should be rooting for.

The magic word about Goodnight Mommy for me is ambiguity. There will be many aspects in the film that will raise questions, some even unanswered as the credits roll. And ambiguity can only work if it's intentional and executed in good taste. Directors Franz and Fiala have obviously devoted extensively in creating the intended environment for the story. They want the audience to learn about the characters and plot through seemingly austere but cryptic scenes provided throughout the story. Take for instance the simple guessing game of Who Am I, that scene serves to heighten our suspicion on the mother's identity, and at the same time allowing us to know a little bit more about how she used to be. Audience will also be impressed with the handsome looking house, and if paid close enough attention, you will learn that the house is an extension of the mother's character. The closed blinds, the out of focus images on the walls, all play a role in adding to the mystery of a woman whom you can't quite get a hold on.

The ambitious duo puts a lot of emphasis on making a cinematic experience that is real and absorbing. All of the violence served is not done with chainsaws and ripping of body parts, but mere tools which are more 'reachable' within a child's world, like magnifying glass and superglue, yet enough to give us a few skin-crawling moments. It was decided as well that they'd film everything on 35mm instead of going digital, where they would decide everything on the set instead of making the end product totally something else post-shoot with some technicians in a lab. Even the pair of twins are not spared, as they are only given bits of the plots as they go along each day in their shooting, allowing them to experience their characters' fear and emotions as much as possible. 

The result, I liked it. I've always revelled in how a film can have such a lasting effect on you, making you think again about each scene which carries significant meaning or implications. And particularly, a film that is tastefully "ambiguous" to trigger audience's varying interpretations and conclusions. Some may complain about the two parts of the film which seem inconsistent in theme, but that was again, intentional. Franz and Fiala wanted to tell the first part of the story from the perspective of the children, hence the dreamy and fairy-tale like sequences, hence the countless question marks, going almost silent at great lengths and relying heavily on visuals; whilst the second part is where reality sips in, inching us closer and uncomfortably towards how it would climax when children's boundaries are pushed. It's not even an issue that the twist is embarrassingly obvious at an early stage, you'd find yourself still eagerly wanting to know what comes next until the end. I find Goodnight Mommy cleverly done (with the exception of one particular scene with the Red Cross which I feel the film could absolutely do without), coupled with an eye-candy cinematography by Martin Gschlacht, it's not what you'd call an upbeat horror, but its gradual yet stylishly constructed downward slide into a familial mayhem will leave quite a devastating impact on you. And that's the directors' intent as well.

Rating: A-

#GoodnightMommy #IchSehIchSeh#VeronikaFranz #SeverinFiala #ForeignFilm#Horror #Thriller #Arthouse #FilmReview#SusanneWuest #MartinGschlacht

“The thing about this story is, the whole city was complicit. It wasn’t just the police and church: it was police, church, legislative branch, the Globe. Everybody at some point looked the other way.”

- Mark Ruffalo, on his latest film SPOTLIGHT, covering the true story of a team of reporters who expose the widespread child abuse and systemic cover-ups in the Catholic Church in Boston. Ruffalo receives an Oscar nomination in the supporting role for his performance as reporter Mike Rezendes 

#MarkRuffalo #Spotlight #SpotlightMovie#MikeRezendes #CelebQuotes #Movies #Oscars#Oscars2016 #BestSupportingActor #BostonGlobe#Hollywood #HollywoodActors

SPOTLIGHT & THE BIG SHORT WIN BIG AS WELL AT CRITICS' CHOICE AWARDS
Apart from Mad Max: Fury Road appearing as the biggest winner, Tom McCarthy's Spotlight nabs the major categories at the 21st Annual Critics' Choice Awards, including Best Picture. The biographical drama about a group of journalists who broke the story of the Catholic Church molestation scandals also wins Best Acting Ensemble and Best Original Screenplay. 

The star-studded comedy-drama The Big Short takes home three major awards as well, including Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Comedy and Best Actor In A Comedy for Christian Bale, who shares multiple lip-locking with director Adam McKay when receiving the awards. Leonardo DiCaprio and Brie Larson win Best Actor and Actress (The Revenant, Room), while Alicia Vikander and Sylvester Stallone bag the supporting categories (The Danish Girl, Creed). Young Jacob Tremblay steals everyone's hearts with his speech when he wins Best Young Actor (Room). Amy Schumer's Trainwreck wins her Best Actress In A Comedy. British sci-fi Ex Machina wins Best Sci-Fi/Horror, crowd favourite Inside Out takes Best Animated Feature and Son of Saul continues its sweep in the foreign category by winning Best Foreign Language Film

#MadMaxFuryRoad #MadMax #GeorgeMiller#LeonardoDiCaPrio #BrieLarson#CriticsChoiceAwards #SpotlightMovie#TheBigShort #TheBigShortFilm #MovieAwards#FilmAwards #Movies #BestComedy#AmySchumer #JacobTremblay #ExMachina#SonOfSaul #RoomMovie #AliciaVikander#TheDanishGirl #sylvesterStallone #ChristianBale#AdamMckay #TomMcCarthy #RachelMcadams

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD SWEEPS CRITICS' CHOICE AWARDS

Australian film-maker George Miller has much to celebrate. Not only did his fourth instalment of the Mad Max franchise score an impressive ten Oscar nominations lately, it continues to blaze it way through the 21st Annual Critics' Choice Awards, winning nine of the thirteen nominations including Best Director for Miller, beating heavyweights like Alenjandro Iñárritu, Steven Spielberg and Ridley Scott. Apart from sweeping awards for production design, editing, costume design, hair & makeup and visual effects, Mad Max: Fury Road also bags Best Action Movie, and Best Actor & Actress In An Action Movie for Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron. 

Miller was not present at the awards, but he had previously shared his own surprise at the unexpected hit his action flick has been in the awards race, citing "Seriously, the film was like last year, May, and I did not imagine I'd be back here talking about it, which is fine, you know, which is good. When you're in these award seasons, and people have responded to the film in a positive way, then you say, 'OK, I'll enjoy the party as long as it last.' "

#MadMaxFuryRoad #MadMax #GeorgeMiller#TomHardy #CharlizeTheron #CriticsChoiceAwards#AlenjandroIñárritu #StevenSpielberg #RidleyScott#MovieAwards #FilmAwards #Movies #BestDirector#BestActor #BestActress