The nominees for IFP’s 2009 Gotham Awards were announced just a few minutes ago, via a live webstream starring A.O. Scott, critic of film for the New York Times and At the Movies, who recently coined the term “festivalism” as a pejorative to describe the audience-limiting nature of contemporary art house film and the institutions that present it. Before launching into the list of names and titles, Scott disclaimed any personal connection to the nominees. “I had nothing to do with this, I am only reading the nominations, he adlibbed. “Chances are I probably hate most of the movies that are nominated.” Debate over the sincerity of that statement is sure to consume all 238 people who watched the live Ustream broadcast for days.
Anyway, I quite like several of the movies nominated, including The Hurt Locker (Best Feature, Best Ensemble Performance, Jeremy Renner for Breakthrough Actor), The Maid (Best Feature, Catalina Saavedra for Breakthrough Actor), October Country and You Won’t Miss Me (both nominated for Best Feature Not Coming to a Theater Near You). indieWIRE has the full list of nominees.
October Country, Donal Mosher and Michael Palmieri’s debut documentary feature describing a year in the lives of four generations of Moshers living in a depressed upstate New York suburb, is a rare work of impressionistic nonfiction. Its patchwork of visual detail often reminded me of the photographs of Gregory Crewdson (whose work you might have seen on the cover of this Yo La Tengo album, or this Six Feet Under campaign). Crewdson’s work usually imbues suburban and domestic scenes with the aura of the supernatural; nothing actually horrific is visible in the frame, but the presence of something is always implied, out of frame, in the air. With their arresting images of smoked-clogged rooms and American flags convulsing in the wind, Mosher and Palmieri demonstrate a similar knack for lighting and framing the mundane to spin it towards the surreal, suggesting an invisible but not imperceptible force altering the proceedings. The style fits because the Moshers are essentially living a ghost story, with each member so haunted by past decisions that’ve lost control of the future.
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The economy may be failing, but Hollywood’s hype machine has been working overtime. It’s latest manufactured frenzy has finally reached a crescendo: Watchmen hits theaters today. Does it live up to the hype? Does it live up to the graphic novel? Does it live up to its own three hour run time? In searching for answers to these questions, the FilmCouchers meet in a epic battle on the precipice of the Apocalypse, or you could say, we disagree.
Karina checks in with an update on the True/False Film Festival. The little Missouri fest is quickly becoming one of the places to see top-notch documentaries. We discuss Love on Delivery, October Country, and We Live In Public.
FilmCouch 111:
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