Tag: Max von Sydow

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

On the heels of a much-undeserved Best Picture nomination for “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” I began to wonder how it could’ve appealed to so many Academy voters. On paper, Stephen Daldry’s film is total Oscar bait, but in execution it feels more genuinely hurtful than exploitative, melodramatic and weepy.

Much of that has to do with “Extremely Loud’s” extremely unlikeable lead character, the 9-year-old Oskar Schell. Oskar is portrayed brilliantly by the first time actor Thomas Horn, who carries the film and has a strong assertion over this character’s mannerisms, but Oskar’s irritating characterization, either stemming from Jonathan Safran Foer’s popular novel of the same name, or from Eric Roth’s (“Forrest Gump,” “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”) screenplay, does the movie wrong. Continue reading “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”

2012 Oscar Nomination Analysis

The Academy really shook up the Awards season with their 2012 Oscar Nominations.

When the Academy introduced the new rule for Best Picture nominees, they wanted an element of surprise added back into the Oscar race.

They got it.

It seemed as if we all knew what was coming as soon as the graphic was flashed on screen such that only eight nominees would make it into the Best Picture race, with “War Horse” and “The Tree of Life” being the surprises.

But as if to slap all the Oscar prognosticators in the face for thinking the Academy was predictable and boring, Academy President Tom Sherak announced “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” last, a movie long thought dead in the minds of critics and bloggers. I in fact picked all eight of the other nominees save for “Extremely Loud,” and to see it pick up not one but two nominations was something of a gut punch.

The film was critically panned, and rightfully so. What shocks me is how of all the performers in that film, Max von Sydow was the one to steal the last spot in the Best Supporting Actor category, effectively robbing Albert Brooks of a nomination for his chilling work in “Drive.”

This is the first time in several years I have not seen all the nominees prior to their announcement, but I quickly saw ‘Extremely Loud” the same afternoon. I left flabbergasted into wondering why this not only irritating and cloying film, but one that often is more literally hurtful and painful than it is melodramatic and soppy, not only has enough people who like the film but have more than five percent of people who feel it is the best movie of the year. Continue reading “2012 Oscar Nomination Analysis”

Rapid Response: Wild Strawberries

Ingmar Bergman’s “Wild Strawberries” is a gorgeous film with a tenderness and spirituality that is universal.

One of the most beloved, critical favorite directors of all time is the Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. Some of his films are dark and haunting, but most are the most profound, spiritual films ever made.

“Wild Strawberries” is one such of those masterpieces. Made in 1957, the same year as one of his other masterpieces, “The Seventh Seal,” Bergman here follows Dr. Isak Borg (Victor Sjostrom), an aging and lonely professor going on a road trip to accept an honorary degree.

The first post-credits scene is a bizarre and silent dream sequence, one that exists free of time, space and the rules that populate “Inception.” Rather, this is a film that is reflective and contemplative. It has simple characters but reveals deep truths.

Bergman carries us through themes of pain, love, life and loneliness by introducing us to Dr. Isak, his daughter in law Marianne (Ingrid Thulin), and three young travel companions they pick up along the way. Each of them is at critical stages in their lives, and in this long, silent drive they ponder otherwise tough philosophical questions.

The main theme of the film comes out in a touching moment when Marianne reflects on how she departed from her husband, he so cynical and jaded with life that he feels already dead. Why would he want to live in such a terrible world, let alone bring a child into it with his wife, and Isak realizes as he hears this that he is not too different from his son. It is only then that Bergman shows us that removing all the pain in the world from our lives comes at the price of loneliness, leaving us nothing but coldness and death.

In fact, Bergman even explores similar themes of the afterlife as were recently explored in “The Tree of Life” for instance, but he does it so subtly and quaintly, not nearly as epic or grandiose in scale as Malick’s film.

“Wild Strawberries” is a gorgeous film (beautifully shot in black and white by the recently deceased cinematographer Gunnar Fischer) with a tenderness and spirituality that is universal.