The fall festivals are underway, premiering some highly anticipated films and warming us up for awards season. The Venice Film Festival came to a close yesterday with its awards ceremony. The jury – chaired by Quentin Tarantino – awarded the Golden Lion for best film to Somewhere by Sofia Coppola (this just in: was it a case of favouritism?)
Stephen Dorff in Somewhere
Somewhere is about Johnny Marco (played by Stephen Dorff), an actor staying indefinitely at the Chateau Marmont hotel in Beverly Hills, filling his nights with anonymous sexual encounters and sleeping through the press junkets he is supposed to attend during the day. His 11-year-old daughter Cleo (Elle Fanning) shows up, finds a place in the rhythms of his daily life and joins him on an overseas trip for the Italian premiere of his film. Naturally, the two of them bond. But this being Sofia Coppola, don’t expect any big moments of redemption. This is an understated film very much in the vein of Lost in Translation, although most critics agree that it doesn’t quite reach that level (Variety really likes the film, while British reviews were a bit more restrained).
The opening film in Venice was Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan. Most of the talk afterwards centered on Natalie Portman’s performance, deemed Oscar-worthy by some (the buzz surrounding Portman had as an interesting side-effect that she is now being considered for Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity, suddenly in possession of star power comparable to that of Angelina Jolie). No awards for Aronofsky or Portman though. But there was the Marcello Mastroianni Award (for best young actor or actress) for Mila Kunis, who plays Portman’s rival.
The second big festival this week (still underway) is the Toronto International Film Festival. Although it doesn’t have any golden statues to hand out (there is a people’s choice award, presented next weekend) it is much more influential than Venice, especially when it comes to the North American market and to the Oscar buzz. It’s still too early to name Toronto’s favourites, but there are at least two films that have had a very favourable reception. Ben Affleck’s The Town got good reviews as a solid – albeit conventional – crime drama, praised for the way it localizes the action in Boston. The King’s Speech – the true story of King George the Sixth (Colin Firth) who suffered from a debilitating stammer – had people talking Oscars and was inventively summarized by JoBlo as a bromance disguised as a period drama.
No doubt more from Toronto next week, but to close off today’s news: a few casting notes. Deadline reports that Liam Neeson has joined the cast of Battleship (based on the board game, remember) which may mean we have to start taking this film seriously. And Noomi Rapace‘s tour of Hollywood has led to her being cast in Sherlock Holmes 2, opposite Robert Downey, Jr (The Hollywood Reporter has the exclusive). There is also a rumor of her appearing in a film called Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, but that remains to be confirmed.
Cheat Cut 