The Divergent series has, in many ways, been doomed from go. Propping up the dystopian hero’s story is a clumsily conceived, confusing “faction” system that makes so little sense it can cause spontaneous combustion if meditated on for extended periods of time. So, here we are, considering Allegiant, the third entry in the series based on Veronica Roth’s popular YA books, directed by Robert Schwentke. While the overlong, bland, uninspired, nonsensical movie didn’t cause said spontaneous combustion, my explosive demise is imminent; there’s another one coming out next summer, part two of this miserably drawn-out finale, and if there’s any silver lining, it’s that we can at least say there’s an end game in sight.

Again, we join Tris (Shailene Woodley) as she continues to unravel the mystery of “the founders,” the people who set up the cockamamie faction system however-many years ago. To catch up: Until the final events of Insurgent, Chicago had been divided into districts, whose residents are assigned according to their dominant personality traits. Upon opening a mystery box left by the founders, Tris and the rest of Chicago learns that there are people beyond the sky-high city walls that have confined them for all this time, a revelation that effectively collapses the longstanding faction system and sends plucky Tris, her super-soldier boyfriend Four (Theo James) and their rebellious friends on a quest to find out, once and for all, what’s beyond the wall.

An underwhelming run-n-gun sequence follows our heroes as they evade military forces sent by Four’s mom, Evelyn (Naomi Watts), who in the last movie disposed of the tyrannical Janine (Kate Winslet), only to (predictably) adopt the former leader’s totalitarian tendencies. The group makes it over the wall, but not before two of the series’ prominent characters of color—played by Mekhi Phifer and Maggie Q, who are each given virtually no dialogue as a parting gift—are gunned down, likely to make room for the new influx of white actors we’re about to meet (Daniel Dae Kim shows up for a second too, another minority bit-part designed to create a false sense of diversity). Not an uncommon Hollywood practice, but frustrating nonetheless.

On the other side of the wall, we find a Martian-looking wasteland, an army bearing futuristic weaponry, a new city (built, amusingly, on the remains of O’Hare International Airport), and a benevolent leader David (a sleepy Jeff Daniels), who informs Tris that she is the sole success of the “Chicago experiment” the founders set up all those years ago. There are details, but they’re too stupid and uninteresting to get into here. The basics are, Tris is the key to the prosperity of the human race, and David, who (surprise!) isn’t as benevolent as he appears to be, pampers her into ignoring her friends to concentrate on fulfilling his Hitler-y dreams. Four, Christina (Zoe Kravitz), and Tris brother Caleb (Ansel Elgort) do their best to snap Tris out of her self-aggrandizing daydream while also dealing with a civil war that’s broken out back in Chicago between Evelyn and Johanna’s (Octavia Spencer) respective followers.

The logic of the faction system was already frustrating, but now the series introduces this master-race narrative that only makes things worse. It simply isn’t clear what the message is Roth and the filmmakers are trying to get across. Is it that everyone’s special? No one is special? Tris seems pretty special. So do her friends. They all specialize in one thing—Four kicks major ass, Caleb’s good with tech—but the movie seems to be saying that their laser career focus is the result of genetic tampering or something, which leads us back to the secret behind the faction system mess. I can feel my body wanting to burst now, as I type this.

The enjoyable thing about Insurgent was that the action was urgent and inventive, but the set pieces here feel more trite and way less entertaining. The folks beyond the wall have nicer looking lasers and flying bubble ships than the dirty trucks and machine guns we’ve seen in the previous installments, which is a welcome change, but one can’t get over the fact that every bit of art design we see feels woefully generic, as if they were scrounged from a bin of unused video game assets. Unexpectedly missed are the surrealistic dream sequences from the first movies.

Perhaps the biggest head-scratcher of all is how a movie can fail so epically with such an amazing cast of seasoned vets and young stars populating the screen at any given moment. For goodness sake, you’ve got Spencer, Watts, and Daniels bouncing off of Woodley, Elgort, James (who’s not half bad here, actually), Kravitz, and Miles Teller, whose charisma can make the most terrible line work, at least to some extent. The Whiplash star is a standout as the opportunistic Peter, whose flips in allegiance have been enjoyable throughout the series. My feeling is that the cast makes a terrible script feel somewhat coherent and emotionally grounded, and for that the unlucky few who actually see this movie in a theater should be thankful.

Boyd Holbrook turns in an excellent performance as Mo Lundy, a former convict who spends time in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. The details surrounding the accused crime aren’t important, which is why first-time filmmaker Jason Lew doesn’t bother divulging them. Instead, The Free World concentrates on the struggles of adapting to life outside the prison walls. Lew constructs the film with as a subdued indie noir, but the results are surprisingly potent due to an electric third act.

Now a free man, Mo works at an animal shelter appropriately called Second Hope. The transition into the free world is challenging for Mo, who finds it easier to sleep in his closet than in a bed. Even though he keeps to himself and doesn’t cause trouble, the local police still treat him like a criminal. While on duty one night, a woman (Elisabeth Moss) finds her way into the shelter and passes out covered in blood. Over time, the two get to know one another and discover how similar they are to each other.

The Free World manages to take simple material and elevate it through artful cinematography and terrific performances (Holbrook especially). While there are some tonal quirks—like an out-of-place car chase scene near the end—the film remains an impressive debut from Lew who, at the very least, shows promise as an upcoming filmmaker.

Rating:
7/10

Surprise: The action scenes in Insurgent, the follow-up to 2014’s dystopian sci-fi sensation Divergent (as if you haven’t heard), are actually pretty good. Take a late, trippy scene in which our returning, plucky heroine, Tris (Shailene Woodley), sprints after her mom (Ashley Judd), who’s trapped in a room on fire and detached from its building, floating away toward the horizon. Tris scrambles across rooftops and clings to hanging electrical wires, rubble whizzing by her face, as the mass of concrete and broken plumbing threatens to fly off into the stratosphere like a child’s lost balloon. It’s a thrilling, urgent sequence that manages to feel dangerous despite it taking place within a virtual landscape. (Tris’ mom is dead and, you know, rooms don’t fly. I’ll explain in a bit.) If only Insurgent were a straight-up action movie, it may have stood a chance.

But alas, those familiar with the first film and Veronica Roth’s hit young adult book series on which the franchise is based know that the series’ focus lies not in exciting set pieces, but in an ill-conceived mythology centered on a walled-in city (formerly Chicago) that herds people into factions based on predominant personality traits. A few moments of thought reveals this faction system to be laughably illogical and impractical, and yet it there it is, the bubble of idiocy within which all of the film’s events are informed and take place. So, while the action is entertaining when judged on its own, it always leads us back to the story’s dimwitted conceit. Practicality isn’t a storytelling prerequisite (especially when it comes to sci-fi), but there’s a point where suspending one’s disbelief so actively and extensively becomes a mind-numbing chore. Just like its predecessor, Insurgent is a head-scratcher from beginning to end, further cementing the series as the inferior alternative to the mighty Hunger Games juggernaut.

Things pick up shortly after the events of the first film, with Tris and her boyfriend, Four (Theo James), sharing a light chat and a kiss on a farming compound overseen by Amity (the pacifist faction), where they’re hiding from the military forces of Jeanine (Kate Winslet), the leader of Erudite (the rich, entitled faction). Her death, Tris thinks, is the key to city-wide peace, or something. Joining the killing-machine lovebirds on the farm are Peter (Miles Teller), Tris’ Dauntless arch-rival, and Caleb (Ansel Elgort), her formerly Erudite brother, but the four hideaways get quickly disbanded when a tank-driving hoard of Jeanine’s troops, led by merciless Dauntless turncoat Eric (Jai Courtney), raids the compound in search of Tris.

Oh, that Tris. She’s so special. Jeanine’s hunting her down because she found a mysterious box in Tris’ old Abnegation home. She needs a Divergent—someone who carries the primary traits of all five factions—to open it: Contained within is a message from the architects of the city (not Chicago, the new city, the one based on segregation), and only when someone endures all five faction-themed “sims” (that floating room deal was the Dauntless sim) will its contents be revealed. There are plenty of Divergents running around, but none that Jeanine’s managed to capture have thus far been able to survive the five virtual trials. She needs a special Divergent. The best Divergent. Who do you think that could be? Hm?!!

The main appeal of female-centric young adult series like Twilight, Hunger Games, and Divergent is that they provide young girls with a powerful, brave, sought-after, special heroine to project themselves onto, thereby feeding into their wildest center-of-the-universe fantasies. Allegory is the vessel by which these stories deliver their coming-of-age messages (Insurgent‘s happens to be one of self-forgiveness), but the problem with Roth is that she piles on so much on-the-nose allegory and symbolism that her messages feel hokey and forced and obtuse. The film’s cast is talented for days, and its director, Robert Schwentke, despite having a hit-or-miss catalogue (Flightplan, R.I.P.D., RED), has proven to be a very capable filmmaker. Everyone involved is capable of making good stuff, but what ultimately does them in is the shoddy source material.

The actors are pros put forth a decent effort, though it’s clear some of them would jump ship if they could. Teller and Elgort, who’ve each found major success in the 12 months since the first film, feel a bit overqualified for their roles at this point, but they make lemons out of lemonade, particularly Teller, who plays a great, love-to-hate-him turncoat weasel. He’s always a welcome on-screen presence, especially when he manages to squeeze some real humor out of otherwise lifeless scenes with nothing but a sarcastic eyebrow raise or a shifty glance. Woodley doesn’t do the action hero thing as well as Jennifer Lawrence does, but she’s better at looking vulnerable: when she’s in pain or letting out a heartened battle cry, her voice shakes and then cracks a bit, kind of like Sia when she belts out the chorus of “Chandelier”.

Though their performances feel uninspired across the board, the older actors lend the film some gravitas. Winslet plays Jeanine as a straight-up sociopath authority figure, showing no remorse for subjecting innocent Divergents to her evil experiments (though technically, the city’s founders designed The Box and how to open it, so are they evil too?), and Naomi Watts shows up as Four’s thought-to-be-dead, insurrectionist mother and leader of a group the heroes fall in with called the “factionless” (they’re essentially the opposite of Divergents). What’s strange is—and forgive me if this sounds lewd—Watts (who looks insanely good for her age) seems to have more sexual chemistry with James than Woodley does, despite playing his mom. Just throwing that out there. Octavia Spencer pops up for a second as the leader of Amnity, but she’s quickly forgotten before she can make an impression.

The visual effects are impressive, especially during the inevitable simulation set pieces, though the digital effects team seems to have a strange fascination with floating rubble (tons and tons of frozen-in-time rubble). What stands out more is the tangible stuff, the fight and action choreography, which is way better than it has any right to be. A nighttime Erudite vs. Dauntless ambush sequence is the best moment in the entire series, as it actually convinces you that there are human lives at stake (instead of miraculously dodging a zillion bullets, people actually get shot).

Without spoiling too much, I will say that the forthcoming two entries in the series, the Allegiant two-parter, have hope of not being bogged down by the same nonsensical premise as the first movies. But as far as Insurgent is concerned, it’s still stuck in the muck. The reveal of what’s inside “the box” is so dumb it hurts to think about. It simply doesn’t make any sense, which seems to be this series’ unintended overriding theme. Funny thing is, during the climax, Woodley actually says, “I know it doesn’t make any sense, but you have to trust me,” to Four as he stares at her quizzically. That was worth a chuckle. If you’re able to push aside the confused machinations of the larger plot during the scenes of flashy violence, you may be able to find a bit of enjoyment in Insurgent. Beyond that, there isn’t much nice to say.

We’re at the midpoint of the Mill Valley Film Festival and this is where I jump in. Having made the trek from Los Angeles to join in our coverage of the festival, I’ve been immediately greeted with colorful fall trees and some compelling film viewing.  I was lucky enough to catch Whiplash, an intense and (literally) rhythmic film, that kicked off my first Mill Valley Film Festival experience with some serious energy. But like the tree covered hills surrounding this quaint town, the festival continues to show it’s versatility with unpredictably high highs, and deep and somber lows. Stay tuned for the rest of the week as Bernard and I team up to give you more coverage from Mill Valley!

Out in the Bush

[Ananda]

There’s a luxurious feeling associated with watching a matinee on a Wednesday. And after Whiplash’s intensity I was ready to relax with Charlie’s Country. Starring David Gulpilil — a man known as much for his eccentric outback lifestyle as his straightforward acting approach in such films as Walkabout, The Last Wave, and Rabbit-Proof Fence — the Un Certain Regard acting award at Cannes was presented this year to Gulpilil for his performance. While Charlie’s Country is indeed a quiet sort of film, with many gorgeous vistas of the Australian outback, it is anything but calming, providing a distressing depiction of life for the “Blackfellas” of Australia, stuck living at the hands of white law enforcement who essentially introduced the traps the Aboriginal people now fall into: drugs and alcohol.

Fed up when a police officer takes away the hunting spear he’s crafted in order to stave off the starvation threatening him, Charlie heads into the bush to live as his ancestors did. When the relentless rain of the bush makes him ill, he’s forced into medical attention at the city hospital, and is then sucked into life with the Aboriginals there, drinking and smoking and wasting the money he has. Eventually he ends up in jail and has the last of his freedoms stripped, including his identity as they shave his iconic white curls and beard.

The film is not without hope, and director Rolf de Heer steers Charlie back to his homeland and back to the roots he values. Charlie’s Country ambles through this moment of Charlie’s life, lingering on Charlie and his tendency to quietly watch what’s happening around him, the confusion of the injustice he endures reflected in his glassy eyes back at the audience. The film has many funny moments, and was based largely off Gulpilil’s own experiences and life, but its lasting impression is a somber reminder of the way mankind creates its own problems and punishes others for them.

Holding Out for An Anti-Hero

[Ananda]

Charlie’s Country provided the sort of introspection that a well-performed mirror-on-society film can, and it put me in a pensive place. Then Nightcrawler came and jerked me right out of my revery.

Led in full force by a sinewy Jake Gyllenhaal, Dan Gilroy’s directorial debut shocks the system, pulling its viewers down into the underbelly of LA’s late night crime journalism world. Almost more villain than anti-hero, Gyllenhaal plays Lou Bloom, an intrepid but aimless young man whose every bit of diction sounds like the worst of self-help book drivel. What is it about a sociopath that makes them so easy to love? Perhaps because their lack of emotion is so easy to interpret as naiveté?

When Bloom happens across a crime scene one night, he first encounters the audacious and questionable freelance video journalists of Los Angeles. Those who listen to police scanners and roam the streets of LA late at night looking for whatever crime scene will be juiciest to sell to the blood-hungry morning news outlets. Bloom decides to try his hand at it, and as a fast learner he only pushes the boundaries further and further in his relentless pursuit of whatever angle is grisliest. But Bloom’s entrepreneurial spirit knows no bounds, and his ambition drives him beyond the level of the crime he captures on camera.

Gilroy proves a surprisingly astute director, his writing experience translating to engaging characters in all their depraved and unethical glory. Full of noir-ish atmosphere, the film has just enough wickedness to seem fantastical. And thank goodness, or this LA lady might have a hard time ever leaving her house at night again.

The Race-Relations Do-Si-Do

[Bernard]

While Ananda was a few miles down the road in Corte Madera watching the unsettling Nightcrawler, I was in San Rafael, where I was equally unsettled, but in a different way. A custody drama between a white family and a black family that left me perplexed and mildly offended, Black and White, directed by Mike Binder, fumbles its messaging on black stereotypes and white guilt and sullies things even further with inexplicable outbursts of gag comedy. My face was in perpetual “cringe mode”, as at times I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and hearing.

Kevin Costner (who also starred in the ultimate white-guilt fantasy, Dances With Wolves), stars as drunk, rich widower Elliot, who lives in LA. When we meet him his wife’s just died in a car accident, and his daughter died a few years prior giving birth to his granddaughter, Eloise (Jillian Estelle). Fighting Elliot over custody of Eloise is her grandmother (Octavia Spencer) and her absentee, drug-addicted dad, who use Elliot’s racist-ish tendencies and his alcohol abuse as leverage in the case.

Binder on the red carpet

A few things about this film rub me the wrong way. For one, despite the seriousness of the themes and subject matter, the film will throw a random, silly joke in your face that feels tonally inappropriate, frankly. There’s a running joke in the film involving Eloise’s nerdy math tutor handing people essays he’s written on an impossible number of subjects. When he’s on the witness stand, he pulls out an essay and hands it to the judge, evoking a hearty laugh. Seemingly moments later, we see Elliot half-apologetically explaining why he called Eloise’s father a “street nigger”. This ping-ponging from comedy to racial drama is incredibly uncomfortable, making the film is an awkward example of white ignorance.

It’s hard to watch Snowpiercer without thinking about the last several months of controversy surrounding it. The film, an international production by Korean director Bong Joon-Ho (Memories of Murder, The Host, Mother), had its distribution rights bought up by Harvey Weinstein for the US. The trouble started when it was revealed that Weinstein, feeling the film wouldn’t be understood by midwestern audiences, wanted to cut at least 20 minutes from Bong’s preferred cut. After months of small updates on the matter, an agreement was finally made. Weinstein would release the final cut of Snowpiercer without any alterations, but it would be a limited release instead of a wide one.

The story behind Snowpiercer‘s release, despite having a happy ending, unfortunately changed the way people approach the film. After months of battles over editing, viewers will quietly debate over whether or not Weinstein’s suggestions weren’t exactly so out of line. It’s a shame because, tossing all surrounding controversy aside, Snowpiercer is quite entertaining. It’s a blockbuster in a single location, with enough quirks and artistry to remind audiences how a film like this could only be made outside of the Hollywood studio system. It’s a flawed and sometimes messy film from time to time, but in a manner that’s more risky and exciting instead of frustrating and incompetent.

In the near future, a chemical intended to lower the world’s temperatures ends up working so well that it brings about a new ice age. It’s impossible to live outside, and the small number of remaining survivors live on the titular train. The Snowpiercer travels around the world endlessly, and a highly enforced class system is in place on the train to maintain order. The story starts in 2031, 17 years after the train began running, in the tail section. The tail is reserved for the lower class citizens, with its inhabitants living in squalor with nothing to eat but gelatinous protein bars. Curtis (Chris Evans) and Edgar (Jamie Bell) are in the process of leading a revolt against the oppressive forces from the front of the train, which we only get brief glimpses of from the bizarre characters that visit the back of the train from time to time (this includes a brilliant Tilda Swinton in a performance that single-handedly elevates the entire film).

Curtis and his cohorts (including Octavia Spencer, John Hurt and Bong Joon-Ho regular Song Kang-Ho) successfully overpower security forces in the tail section, thus beginning their journey to confront Wilford, the mysterious engineer making sure the train operates smoothly. Bong, who’s known for his masterful ability to throw abrupt tonal shifts into his work without losing audiences, thrives in his film’s setting. Each train car acts as its own little universe, giving Bong an excuse to change the film’s dynamic while expanding its scale. A huge action sequence can be followed with a bizarre, expository visit to the train’s school, followed by a tense fight scene with almost no dialogue. These sequences, which also show off the incredible set design, are handled with aplomb, and make sure that Snowpiercer never spares a stale moment.

Snowpiercer isn’t without its flaws though. The script, adapted from a French graphic novel by Bong and Kelly Masterson, isn’t exactly subtle with some of its ideas (Early on Curtis says “I’m not a leader”, a line that stamps LEADER in big letters on his forehead), and some elements are introduced for no apparent reason (one character’s clairvoyant abilities is ignored almost immediately after it’s introduced). Still, Bong’s political commentary on the need for oppression to survive is far more interesting of a topic for this kind of film, and the way he expands his film’s scope toward the end is quite entertaining. Snowpiercer may not be the masterpiece that people were hoping for, but that shouldn’t take away from the fact that it’s a hell of a fun ride.

Snowpiercer trailer

The 20th Los Angeles Film Festival has begun! Despite its location in the heart of the film industry in downtown Los Angeles, and the now 20 years it has under its belt, the LA Film Fest hasn’t yet joined the ranks of Sundance, Cannes, and Toronto. But this year’s offerings prove the LA Film Festival can hold it’s own with 35 premieres, 23 of those World Premieres. Put on by Film Independent, who also stage the annual Independent Spirit Awards, the film festival has a distinct indie feel, and first time and emerging artists are given deserved exposure. The festival kicked off with the North American premiere of Joon-Ho Bong’s dystopian flick, Snowpiercer. Despite its rocky entry and noted squabbles over editing for the North American release, the film is here and it’s magnificent.

Set in 2031, the future of the world is cold and bleak. Literally. The world has been frozen over when an attempt to counter global warming backfired and the world is now a snow-covered tundra. The last few survivors live aboard the Snow Piercer, a train that travels along a worldwide track at breakneck speeds powered by a perpetual-motion engine. Over the past 17 years that the train has traveled on its endless loop, a class system has emerged. Those up front near the engine live in luxury, those at the tail live in destitution. Led by elderly Gilliam (John Hurt), a revolution begins to form and at its forefront is Curtis (Chris Evans playing a decidedly darker hero than the recent Captain America), along with his doting friend Edgar (Jamie Bell). They’ve been receiving messages from someone at the front, encouraging their revolution. After several of their children are taken and yet another innocent man is punished, they decide the time has come to fight back. Their first mission: rescuing an ex-security man from the jail section, Namgoong Minsu (Kang-ho Song), who can open the gates as they make their way to the front of the train.

The film pays sincere homage to its comic roots. Based on the French graphic novel Le Transperceneige by Jacques Lob, many of the film’s sequences play out in well formed sequences that could easily have been taken directly from frames on the novel’s pages. The exaggerated characters feel the most cartoonish at times, but always to excellent effect, the standout character easily being Tilda Swinton’s Minister Mason, a first class train citizen in charge of representing the almighty Wilford, he who built the train and runs its engine. Mason, with her large lipstick stained teeth, school-girl bob, and her stylized Yorkshire accent is excellent material for Swinton’s skills.

The film is well paced, fleshing out its characters as they level-up to each new section of the train. And the train! An ingenius setting for a revolution, each section narrow and yet wholly original in its purpose. Food manufacturing. Water source. Sushi bar. Sauna. School room. Night club. Each of them bringing some new insight into the train’s hierarchy, and each building to what awaits beyond the final gate: the engine room. Art Director Stefan Kovacik continually impresses with each subsequent scene.

The end threatens to weigh the film down. While Chris Evans easily impresses wielding an axe, shooting a gun, and looks damn good with bruises and blood covering him for most of the film, his wide-eyed wonder during the film’s complicated ending is entirely out of character for the action-oriented Curtis. The final 20 minutes are easily where the Weinsteins could have insisted on some editing and the film would have been all the better for it. But as drawn out and self aware as it is, each revelatory moment in the ending adds to the epic feel of the film and Ed Harris’s portrayal of the enigmatic Wilford, while somewhat expected, is still worth the film’s build.

By far the best sci-fi film I’ve seen yet this year, and proof that international films make for more interesting dynamics, Snowpiercer is easily the original action film a summer full of big budget explosions needs.

On New Year’s Day 2009, Oscar Grant, a black 22-year-old Bay Area resident was pulled off a BART train and taken into custody by a police officer. Unarmed and defenseless, he was shot in the back and killed on the Fruitvale BART station train platform in front of dozens of passengers. The incident was captured on a cell phone camera and went viral, making national news. The shocking footage opens director Ryan Coogler‘s debut feature, Fruitvale Station, a dramatization of Oscar Grant’s last day on earth which aims to humanize the shamefully under-discussed news story by spotlighting quiet, ostensibly meaningless moments in his final hours. This intimate, personal perspective on Oscar’s story illuminates the magnitude and cultural significance of his death in a way no news story ever could.

The decision to open the film with the raw footage is brilliant, providing weighty context for every scene that follows. After the clip, we loop back from New Year’s Day to New Year’s Eve and the beginning of Oscar’s (Michael B. Jordan) day. He’s bickering with his girlfriend, Sophina (Melonie Diaz) in their bedroom, trying to convince her that a recent affair was a one-time-only mistake. Diaz and Jordan have real chemistry, and their speech dynamic feels natural. When their daughter Tatiana (Ariana Neal) knocks on the door, and Oscar hurries to hide a zip of weed before letting her in. He clearly ain’t no saint, but who is?

Coogler’s unobtrusive camera follows Oscar throughout his day as we’re introduced to the pile of mistakes he’s accumulated. He’s lost his job at the grocery store, he’s an ex-convict (which we discover in an unforgettable flashback scene), and he’s got an explosive temper, but he clearly loves his family and is trying hard to shake his demons for their sake. His life is a mess, but he’s determined to clean it up.

Jordan respects the role and convinces us that he was born to do it. He embraces the ugliness of his mean streak while convincing us that he’s a caring family man deep down, a challenge that would be easily flubbed by most young actors. He’s got the chops to be truly great. Octavia Spencer is characteristically captivating as Oscar’s mother, Wanda Grant, a soft-spoken, caring matriarch with an exhausted patience for his bullshit (she’ll never forget how Oscar going to jail affected her granddaughter.) Still, she loves her son, so when he tells her that he and Sophina are going to San Francisco to watch the fireworks she thoughtfully suggests they take BART instead of driving.

Coogler’s passion for his subjects is felt throughout the film, and he shows that he’s a director of taste and discipline. The key to the film’s success is making sure we get to know Oscar as a person, and he keeps his priorities straight. There are occasional moments of high drama that jar the tone of realism (Tatiana clairvoyantly asking her dad not to get on the BART train is totally unnecessary), and the post-Fruitvale scenes feel a little bloated, but for the most part Coogler makes all the right moves.

Returning to the titular train station for the film’s third act is as terrifying as you’d imagine. Watching the raw footage the first time was hard enough, but now we feel like we know Oscar inside and out, which makes the reenactment of his death simply earth-shattering. The fact that this dramatization is somehow more gut-wrenching than the raw footage is a testament to the power of cinema.

When I got out of the San Francisco press screening for Fruitvale Station, all I wanted to do was rush home, kiss my wife, and tell her I love her. I darted out of the theater in a panic, a sense of urgency compelling me to walk faster, faster, faster. I wanted to get home so bad I could burst. Then, I remembered something that stopped me cold. My ride home? A BART train. Fruitvale Station will rattle you to the core.

We spoke to Michael B. Jordan (The Wire, Friday Night Lights), who plays Oscar in the film, and Octavia Spencer (The Help) who plays Oscar’s mother, Wanda Grant, in a tiny roundtable interview the day after the film’s premiere in Oakland. They spoke to us about their reactions to the shooting, meeting Oscar’s family, learning to curb their expectations in the movie industry, and why the film is able to touch the hearts of people across the globe. Check out the edited transcript below.

Read More Fruitvale Station Interviews:

Ryan Coogler
Ahna O’Reilly
Melonie Diaz

Before you were approached for the project, how knowledgeable were you on the Oscar Grant story?
Octavia Spencer: I did hear about it when it happened, but to put it in context, that was also the year that Barack Obama had been elected, so I was in more of a jubilant state of mind and decided since I was in that celebratory state of mind, I wasn’t really going to allow anything else to permeate that. I didn’t, unfortunately, revisit it until it was brought up as a project.

Michael B. Jordan: Same here. I remember being on my laptop and somebody posted the video on my wall. I remember looking at it and being disgusted by it, watching it over and over again trying to make it make sense, rationalize it, or justify it, but there was no justification. I felt helpless and a little bit angry. It feels like there’s nothing you can do in the moment, so life goes on. Four years later, this project pops up and I had to jump at the opportunity. I felt a certain responsibility to get the story out there.

What attracted you to the project?
Michael B. Jordan: The opportunity to express [myself] as a person of color, as a person from the inner-city who’s been put in situations like that before. Also the opportunity to give this guy some of his humanity back that was kind of lost over the [course of the] trial. To tell this guy’s story and hopefully prevent it from happening again.

Octavia Spencer: It resonated with me as a woman. I’m not a mother, but I have nephews who would be contemporaries of Oscar’s and Michael’s. I almost didn’t take the part because when I saw the video I felt that all I had to offer it was anger. Because the Trayvon Martin case was so topical, I felt like anger was the wrong emotion to associate with it because it was so public and it was so volatile an issue here in the Bay Area. My agent made me read the script and I found it refreshing to learn that Ryan Coogler—who is also an African-American male—could have written a movie that was an indictment of our judicial system, an indictment of our public service, but he didn’t. What he did was choose to—as Michael said—restore some of Oscar’s humanity, showing his flaws and showing him doing regular human interaction with his family. That was really profound.

How did you approach the movie already knowing the fate of Oscar Grant?
Michael B. Jordan: Honestly, you have to put yourself in that position. That’s the last 24 hours of his life. His death is such a small fraction of the film. I think the movie is about this young man who’s trying to do right by the people he loves, trying to figure out this thing called life that nobody seems to have the blueprint to. You have to make mistakes. You have to get to know him through the family—through his daughter, through his mom, through Sophina, his best friends—and kind of live in the moment, honestly. That’s all this movie [is]—Oscar’s moments.

Octavia Spencer: It’s acting 101. You can only deal with the given circumstances. Wanda has no idea that her son is going to die at the end of the day. Neither does he. You have to really immerse yourself in the world.

Neither of you have kids, so what did you channel to portray such loving parents?
Octavia Spencer: I am not a parent, but I do have family members that I love. It’s about the truthfulness of the relationship and the bonds that we feel with our family members. That was the toughest part for me. It’s about being true to the relationship.

Michael B. Jordan: I love kids. I’ve got little cousins running around, so I’m always interacting with younger kids. Honestly, I can’t wait to be a dad one day. Sometimes when you deal with so many adults in this industry with ulterior motives it’s like one big chess match. You’re always trying to figure out somebody’s angle. When you’re around a kid who has no bad habits, still learning good from bad, it’s refreshing to be around that. Playing with that relationship was a lot of fun.

How was it when you met Oscar’s family for the very first time?
Michael B. Jordan: My approach was meeting everybody and getting as much information up front, before I started doing this thing. Then, just building this guy up. You have the skeleton, then you have to keep layering up, layering up. By the time we actually started filming, you have a pretty good idea of who this guy is, and then you just live with him throughout the rest of the film. That was my approach.

Octavia Spencer: I second that. We had different windows of opportunity to do that, for me much more limited, but I’m also not carrying the entire film as Michael is. It was important to meet Wanda because there’s only so much you can gleam from the information provided via the internet. Ryan is a prolific researcher and he viewed her a lot, so I was given those tapes. When I actually had the chance to sit down and meet with her and realize that we were so different…those are things you can’t possibly know. It was about trying to emulate the essence of Wanda because I had a truncated window of prep time. I knew all that I needed to know except for those intangibles, and meeting her filled in the blanks.

Michael, you played a character on Friday Night Lights, Vince, who is, similarly to Oscar, trying to turn his life around. What’s it like creating a character over seasons as opposed to a single day, as in Fruitvale Station?
Michael B. Jordan: I’ve been fortunate enough to work with some very talented writers that seem to write human relationships so well. With Vince, it’s a different pace because it’s a longer arc. With this movie…I feel like if you spend a day with anybody, from sunup to sundown, through their day to day routine, you can get a pretty good idea of who somebody is. I think that formula works very well with Oscar because that day was so eventful for him. He interacted with a lot of people that he cared about the most and was putting them in a vast number of situations that show different sides of him. You got a chance to see him when nobody was looking…which I think really defines somebody’s character. Then, you see him through different flashbacks and different tools of storytelling. You got a chance to see this guy when he didn’t have such a handle on his temper. You see him in moments with his daughter. You see all these different, complex sides of this guy all compacted into one day. You try to do the best you can to make him as real as possible. You just want to make it real and relatable.

How do you suppress expectations before you begin a project like this?
Octavia Spencer: You don’t have them! You can’t have expectations because the reality of Fruitvale Station, when you look at all the independents that people shoot—usually, they don’t get to go the festival route. Sometimes, they sit in a can and nobody ever gets to see them. You can’t enter into anything like that with expectations. At least, I don’t.

Michael B. Jordan: From a young age of acting, going to auditions and getting your hopes up all the time…you think you did a good job. “I’m going to get it!” When you’re young, you don’t understand that there are so many other things that come into play. When you have a few letdowns, you start to mentally train yourself to not have expectations. You learn how things work in the system. You realize how not in control you are. Once you understand that, it’s easier for you to put your all into [something], walk away and say, “Whatever happens, happens.”

The film is about a specific community, the East Bay Area, that’s generally unfamiliar to people across the country. Why do you think it touches people across the globe, like it did at Cannes?
Michael B. Jordan: It’s universal. Everybody knows what it’s like to lose a loved one, lose life, or to care about somebody, or to love somebody. [Fruitvale Station] is like a love story in so many ways. It’s about Oscar’s love for his family and his family’s love for [him.] Anybody who’s had a best friend or a mom or a daughter who they care about can relate to somebody being taken away from them. I think when [someone’s] taken away in such a fashion that [Oscar] was, it hits people and they’re affected by it. That’s one of the many themes that people relate to no matter what language you speak or where you’re from.

Octavia Spencer: Absolutely. A mother’s love, a father’s love—those are universal themes. Injustice is a universal theme. We all can understand that and I think that’s why the jargon that might not translate into another language…you still see the human emotion on the screen, and it reads.

Was there a particular scene that you read in the script that made you think, “I really have to do this.”
Octavia Spencer: The script as a whole captured my heart. That’s the other thing that you learn as an actor: Don’t fall in love with scenes! It may not make it to the final cut.

Michael B. Jordan: As a whole, I read the script and I was very moved. I cried while reading, which was not an easy thing to do. Favorite scene? There’s a couple, but probably the prison scene. The scene with the dog I had fun reading and shooting at the same time. After shooting, I thought, “That was one of my favorite scenes.” Those two really jumped out at me.

Octavia Spencer: At my second viewing at Cannes I got the profundity of [the dog scene.] I don’t even know if Ryan intended to do this, but the pitbull is a symbol of fear and terror—marginalized. Then, he’s killed and the driver never slows down. It’s not a stretch to say that the character of Oscar Grant was viewed in the same way. It was this beautiful harbinger use of foreshadowing by Ryan. I just thought it was a dog the first time, but when I saw it the second time, I was like, “It’s a pitbull!” It really affected me. You know, I’m an English major, so you always have to look for, “What’s the metaphor?” and all that stuff. I thought that was very profound.

What has the feedback from people in the Bay Area been?
Octavia Spencer: We just got her last night, but I can tell you the feedback in the theater that we were in was very positive. Usually, when you have Q&A’s, a lot of people leave, but they stayed. I guess time will tell, but gauging from the audience last night it was very positive.

Michael B. Jordan: That was the first time anybody from up here had a chance to see it, so we’re curious to see how it affects the community who lost [Oscar.] Time will tell.

Fruitvale Station opens in theaters this Friday.

]]> http://waytooindie.com/interview/interview-michael-b-jordan-and-octavia-spencer-of-fruitvale-station/feed/ 0 http://waytooindie.com/interview/interview-ahna-oreilly-of-fruitvale-station/ http://waytooindie.com/interview/interview-ahna-oreilly-of-fruitvale-station/#respond Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://waytooindie.com/?p=13324 We spoke to Ahna O’Reilly (The Help) who plays Katie, a girl who meets Oscar by chance, shares a pleasant interaction with him, and later becomes a witness to the horrific shooting in a tiny roundtable interview the day after the film premiered in Oakland. She talked to us about her friendship with The Help […]]]>

We spoke to Ahna O’Reilly (The Help) who plays Katie, a girl who meets Oscar by chance, shares a pleasant interaction with him, and later becomes a witness to the horrific shooting in a tiny roundtable interview the day after the film premiered in Oakland. She talked to us about her friendship with The Help and Fruitvale Station costar Octavia Spencer, her first time watching the film with an audience, shooting at the titular train station, and more. Check out the edited transcript below.

Read More Fruitvale Station Interviews:

Ryan Coogler
Michael B. Jordan and Octavia Spencer
Melonie Diaz

How was the premiere?
It was wonderful. I felt more excited for this premiere in Oakland than any one we’ve had.

How familiar were you with the story of Oscar Grant?
Embarrassingly, not enough. I lived in LA at the time it happened, but my parents still lived here. I remember talking about it with them vaguely. One of the things that is most crazy and upsetting about this is that I didn’t have one conversation with people about it in LA. Most people that see this movie, this is the first they’re going to hear of it. One of the main differences between the premiere last night (in Oakland) and the other premieres we’ve had—at Sundance, at Cannes—is that most of those people had no idea who Oscar Grant was. When I’m talking to people about this movie, it’s rarer that they know who Oscar Grant is. That is tragic.

You don’t work with her on the film, but talk about your friendship with Octavia and how she got you involved with the film.
Octavia and I worked together on The Help, but we actually worked together before that. She and I have been friends for years. She’s one of my best friends. I was working on a film in Savannah, Georgia at the time they were shooting Fruitvale Station. She called me and she said, “Can you come be a part of this movie? We need someone to play this part. Please please please?” I was like, “I would do anything for you!” I read the script and I thought, she’s giving me such a huge gift. She’s acting like I’m doing her this huge favor, but she’s just given me such a gift. Being from the Bay Area, to be a part of telling this story, to be working with such an incredible group of artists—it doesn’t get any better.

Is your character is based on anyone?
Ryan told me that [my character] was a combination of a lot of different people. Because it was a combination of people, I didn’t feel I had to base my character on someone 100 percent real. There wasn’t someone I had to go interview. Because this movie came to me so last minute, I was kind of thrown into it. I watched the Youtube footage, I read up on it, but I was kind of thrown into it, which was perfect, because that’s what it was on the train—everyone was just thrown into that dramatic and heart-wrenching and horrible situation. It worked for me to just show up. The grocery store scene is just someone talking to me out of the blue. I actually had no real preparation to do other than I wanted to do my research on Oscar Grant.

Your scene with Oscar in the grocery store goes a long way in showing what kind of a guy Oscar was.
I think the scene is so lovely in that we see Oscar being a great dad, we see him in this moment with this dog, and then we see him having a total random act of kindness with a stranger, and that is such a beautiful trait in him to just want to lend a hand to a community member. Ryan was talking last night about how a lot of what this movie is about is community. I love that little random act of kindness. I think we’re increasingly closed off to the people around us—we’re always on our phone, we’re not looking up and taking people in. That’s what I’m doing in the scene. I’m totally ignoring him, kind of hoping he’s not going to keep talking to me. That’s how I often feel in life, and I have a sense of shame about it. Why didn’t I just say hello to the person helping me out? Why didn’t I just ask them how their day was going? Those little things matter so much. It shows a beautiful side of [Oscar.]

How was it was it watching the movie for the first time with an audience at Sundance?
[It was] incredible. You could hear a pin drop towards the end of the movie. All you heard was people being emotional. [It] didn’t matter—age, sex, race—everyone was shocked. I was a mess. I was sitting next to Michael, gripping him. I knew [the film] would be powerful, but what Ryan did with it really bowled me over. When you have a film going to Sundance, the fact that the film is going to Sundance is exciting, so I was already like, “This is great! We’re here! We made it!” I had no idea [the film] would have the life that it has. I think everyone’s pinching themselves, and it couldn’t happen to a greater group of people who are in this for the purest of reasons—to tell honest, socially relevant stories.

How was it working with Ryan Coogler?
The first scene I shot was the grocery scene, and it was a night shoot. I remember being in [the store] and seeing how he was interacting and talking with everybody and thinking I would literally serve coffee to people on set on his next movie. I want to be around him. He has such a quiet, powerful presence. I think one of the greatest qualities a director can have is finding the balance between being collaborative and wanting to hear everybody’s ideas, but also having a very clear vision. He totally embodied that.

(On the film’s script)
I think it’s brilliant that he started the movie with the real footage. Even if you’ve never heard of Oscar Grant, you know how it ends. The fact that he keeps us glued to the screen, knowing how it’s going to end—that’s an incredible accomplishment.

What was it like filming at Fruitvale Station?
That was one of the most powerful days of work I will probably ever have. On any day of work, you get there and it’s a little chaotic. Who’s going to hair and makeup? Who’s doing what? People are being rushed to where they need to go. Then, we all got [to Fruitvale Station] and it’s like, oh yeah, we’re here. We can see the bullet hole. Ryan took a moment of silence and a prayer circle. It was very, very powerful. Then, you have to get going because you have only until sunlight to make it happen. You’re dealing with a moving train. Those are technically difficult things to have to shoot. It was wild on many levels.

Not all of the train stuff was shot on the same day. The interior train stuff we did down at the Bart repair station. When we were on the Fruitvale Station platform it was a separate shoot.

Why is this film, about such a specific Bay Area community, able to touch people across the world?
I personally wondered how many Europeans watching [the film would know] what Oakland, California is. They know San Francisco, but will they know Oakland? It’s a really American story about a very specific place in our country. You wonder how it will translate [and if] the humor will resonate with them. When [the screening] was over, it got a 10 minute standing ovation. That was incredible. For this [tiny movie]—in terms of budget and scale—[to touch] people from around the world…I’m speechless thinking about it. It’s a universal story. Ryan is asking us, the audience, to think about how we treat each other as human beings. [Can we] erase our ideas about what you are because you’re black or you’re from Oakland or you’re 22 or you were in prison? Can we try to push all that aside and try to look at the heart of this person? People from anywhere should be able to think about that. I think that’s why it succeeds.

The French know about the American South. That’s something people have ideas about. They know about New York, Boston. Oakland? I doubt [it.]

Fruitvale Station opens in theaters this Friday.

]]> http://waytooindie.com/interview/interview-ahna-oreilly-of-fruitvale-station/feed/ 0 http://waytooindie.com/review/movie/smashed/ http://waytooindie.com/review/movie/smashed/#respond Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://waytooindie.com/?p=9110 Trying to balance a humorous, honest and emotional film about alcoholism seems like an impossible task but it is what James Ponsoldt’s Smashed attempts to do. The film has earned some recognition by winning the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival as well as a nomination for the Grand Jury Prize and recently receiving an Independent Spirit Award nod for Best Female Lead. While Smashed centers around a characters dependence on alcohol, the film itself is largely dependent on the performance of its characters to carry it. For the most part they do but were relied on too much as the script wears thin by the third act.]]>

Trying to balance a humorous, honest and emotional film about alcoholism seems like an impossible task but it is what James Ponsoldt’s Smashed attempts to do. The film has earned some recognition by winning the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival as well as a nomination for the Grand Jury Prize and recently receiving an Independent Spirit Award nod for Best Female Lead. While Smashed centers around a characters dependence on alcohol, the film itself is largely dependent on the performance of its characters to carry it. For the most part they do but were relied on too much as the script wears thin by the third act.

Kate (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and Charlie Hannah (Aaron Paul) wake up in urine stained bed sheets but shrug it off as not a big deal which implies that it is a common occurrence. Kate is seen showering with a beer after a heavy night of drinking before heading off to work as an elementary school teacher. Before entering class, she takes some drinks from her flask. When she is teaching, however, she is the fun teacher that is very energetic playing with all the kids. That is until all the movement causes her to throw up in front of them.

Someone without a strong dependence on alcohol would most likely feel ashamed by this and would have seen the incident as a sign. But instead Kate goes out the same night to a local bar and does karaoke, of course under the influence of alcohol. One event leads to another and she ends up smoking crack after a prostitute convinces her to give her a ride. She wakes up on the street the next morning and finally starts to consider the fact that she has a problem.

After talking to one of her co-workers about her problem, Kate gets introduced to an Alcoholics Anonymous program. She starts attending meetings with her co-worker and begins to transform into a new sober person. People told her that the beginning of sobriety was the hardest yet it was not as difficult on her as it was on the relationship between her and her husband. The story ends up being whether Kate can continue to fight through her addiction by herself or cave into her old destructive self by staying with Charlie.

The cast ends up being by far the best asset of Smashed. Mary Elizabeth Winstead shines in a role that is dark and depressing. As the film progresses, you see the different sides of her character based on her level of sobriety. Aaron Paul plays a familiar role of the out of control substance abuser as he does in the excellent TV show Breaking Bad but is in the film less than you may imagine. Nick Offerman from another popular TV show, Parks and Recreation, plays the role of Kate’s co-worker who introduces her to AA. Offerman does well in the role but the role itself felt questionable. He is obviously an important part of the story as he leads Kate in the right direction but after one awkward scene you wonder if he was just meant for comic relief.

This leads into what I think was the biggest problem of Smashed, and that is the direction (or lack of direction) the film wanted to take. At times Smashed felt like it was aiming for the end product to be a light dramedy. Demonstrated when Kate is drinking whiskey in her car before teaching class, the music was light and almost cheerful. By the end it feels like it was an attempt to make it a dark character study that is a little harder hitting. By no means is having a balance a bad thing but this felt more like indecisiveness than anything.

Smashed is a sincere character study about a woman that deals with an addiction that grows beyond her control and the consequences that come from it. It is an honest take on a dark subject matter of alcoholism. Unfortunately, the film feels like it is missing clear direction and falls apart a bit in the third act. A couple of the characters felt underwritten, forcing Mary Elizabeth Winstead to do most of the heavy lifting which she fortunately handles well. Smashed fits into the rare category of a film not being long enough, or perhaps edited down too much, for it to be completely effective.

]]> http://waytooindie.com/review/movie/smashed/feed/ 0 http://waytooindie.com/news/awards/2012-oscar-winners/ http://waytooindie.com/news/awards/2012-oscar-winners/#respond Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 http://waytooindie.com/?p=2734 While Hugo started off the 84th Annual Academy Awards strong but The Artist made come back later in the night. Click Read More to see the full list of Oscar winners.]]>

While Hugo started off the 84th Annual Academy Awards strong but The Artist made come back later in the night. At the beginning of the award show Hugo piled on the wins in most of the technical awards such as Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing and Best Art Direction. With the momentum it built early on, it sort of makes sense that it won the Best Cinematography award (although I thought The Tree of Life should have won).

As the night progressed and some of the bigger categories were announced is when The Artist came into the spotlight. The Artist won the top award of Best Picture as well as the prestigious Best Director award. The film received another large award when Jean Dujardin won for Best Actor. It also won for Best Score and Best Costume Design.

Thankfully, there were some upsets throughout the night to keep things interesting in what many thought to be a fairly predictable year. Arguably the biggest upset was when Meryl Streep’s name got called for Best Actress as many, myself included, expected Viola Davis to win. The people from Undefeated accepting the award for Best Documentary even sounded surprised they won that category. Most of the time Best Film Editing winner goes to win Best Picture but The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo won it instead and it was their only one of the night.

The full list of Oscar winners:
(The winners are highlighted in bold red font)

Best Picture:

The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight In Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse

Best Director:

Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Alexander Payne – The Descendants
Martin Scorsese – Hugo
Woody Allen – Midnight In Paris
Terrence Malick – The Tree Of Life

Best Actor:

Demian Bichir – A Better Life
Jean Dujardin – The Artist
George Clooney – The Descendants
Brad Pitt – Moneyball
Gary Oldman – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Best Actress:

Glenn Close – Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis – The Help
Rooney Mara – The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams – My Week With Marilyn

Best Supporting Actor:

Kenneth Branagh – My Week With Marilyn
Jonah Hill – Moneyball
Nick Nolte – Warrior
Christopher Plummer – Beginners
Max Von Sydow – Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Best Supporting Actress:

Berenice Bejo – The Artist
Jessica Chastain – The Help
Melissa McCarthy – Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer – Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer – The Help

Best Original Screenplay:

Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Kristin Wiig & Annie Mumulo – Bridesmaids
J.C. Chandor – Margin Call
Woody Allen – Midnight in Paris
Asghar Farhadi – A Separation

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Jim Rash, Nat Faxon, Alexander Payne – The Descendants
John Logan – Hugo
George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon – The Ides Of March
Steve Zaillian & Aaron Sorkin – Moneyball
Peter Straughan & Bridget O’Connor – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Best Foreign Film:

A Separation
Bullhead
Footnote
In Darkness
Monsieur Lazhar

Best Animated Film:

A Cat In Paris
Chico & Rita
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss In Boots
Rango

Best Documentary:

Hell And Back Again
If A Tree Falls; A Story Of The Earth Liberation Front
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Pina
Undefeated

Best Cinematography:

Guillaume Shiffman – The Artist
Jeff Cronenweth – The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Robert Richardson – Hugo
Emmanuel Lubezki – The Tree of Life
Janusz Kaminski – War Horse

Best Film Editing:

Anne-Sophie Bion & Michel Hazavanicius – The Artist
Kevin Tent – The Descendants
Kirk Baxter & Angus Wall – The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Thelma Schoonmaker – Hugo
Christopher Tellefsen – Moneyball

Best Art Direction:

The Artist
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2
Hugo
Midnight In Paris
War Horse

Best Costume Design:

Anonymous
The Artist
Hugo
Jane Eyre
W.E.

Best Makeup:

Albert Nobbs
Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Pt. 2
The Iron Lady

Best Original Score:

Ludovic Bource – The Artist
Alberto Iglesias – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Howard Shore – Hugo
John Williams – The Adventures Of Tintin
John Williams – War Horse

Best Original Song:

“Man Or Muppet” – The Muppets
“Real In Rio” – Rio

Best Sound Editing:

Drive
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Transformers: The Dark Of The Moon
War Horse

Best Sound Mixing:

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Moneyball
Transformers: The Dark of The Moon
War Horse

Best Visual Effects:

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Pt. 2
Hugo
Real Steel
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Transformers: The Dark of the Moon

Best Documentary (Short Subject):

The Barber Of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement
God Is The Bigger Elvis
Incident In New Baghdad
Saving Face
The Tsunami & The Cherry Blossom

Best Visual Short Film (Animated):

Dimanche
The Fantastic Flying Books Of Mr. Morris Lessmore
La Luna
A Morning Stroll
Wild Life

Best Short Film (Live Action):

Pentecost
Raju
The Shore
Time Freak
Tuba Atlantic

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