Krakow festival puts some steel into film music

Posted on May 28, 2012 by admin

Composer Elliot Goldenthal and conductor Diego Navarro in concert at the Krakow Film Music Festival

By Ray Bennett

KRAKOW, Poland – Julie Taymor talks about meeting Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono when she made “Across The Universe”, which is filled with Beatles music. Taymor and McCartney alone sit next to each other in a screening room. “It’s quiet, and then I hear him singing along to one his songs, and I knew it would be all right,” Taymor says.

She meets John Lennon’s widow – “and her lawyer” – at her home in the Dakota Building. Taymor and partner Elliot Goldenthal have decided that Lennon’s song that goes “I want you, I want you so bad … “ will be perfect for a scene in which the lead character answers Uncle Sam’s demand that he must be drafted during the Vietnam War. Ono stares at Taymor: “You know he wrote that about me.”

Still, they got the movie made with the songs they wanted although the director says she will not listen to the soundtrack CD because of the edits and changes that were made. She says she loves what Goldenthal – and fellow music producers T-Bone Burnett and Teese Gohl – did with the arrangements for the film’s stars and assorted guest artists.

Goldenthal speaks of the “chromosomes” in a Beatles song: “If you try to duplicate their sound and you get one chromosome wrong, it’s a disaster, so you must go another way.”

They spoke at a 90-minute Q&A session on the Art of Collaboration that I moderated at the Krakow Film Music Festival in Poland. Artistic Director Robert Piaskowski invited them along with other filmmakers and composers for the annual three-day event staged first in 2008.

Tom Tykwer’s ‘Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer” accompanied by full orchestra and chorus in Krakow

Along with screenings, panel sessions and parties, there were three extraordinary concerts held in the vast Nowa Huta Steelworks, two of which I attended. Audience members had to negotiate the industrial area’s gates and then ride buses more than two miles to the vast central hall of an enormous building once called the Vladimir Lenin Steelworks, which remains a functioning factory known as the Tinning Plant of Arcelor Mittal Poland. For the festival, it was converted to a concert hall with 4,000 seats, a stage big enough for full orchestra and chorus, and a giant movie screen. What the venue lost in acoustics, it more than made up for in atmosphere.

On May 24, German filmmaker Tom Tykwer and fellow composer Reinhold Heil were on hand for a screening of Tykwer’s 2006 period drama “Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer”. The film screened in its entirety accompanied by the Sinfonia Cracovia conducted by Ludwig Wicki with two choirs and soprano Karolina Gorgol-Zaborniak.

Tykwer and Heil said it was the first time they had heard the complete score (which also featured music by Johnny Klimek) with orchestra and chorus combined. Budget restrictions meant that for the film the two parts were recorded separately.

The tale of a cruelly mistreated orphan who grows up to be a uniquely gifted but murderous creator of perfumes stars Ben Whishaw in the lead with Dustin Hoffman, Alan Rickman and Rachel Hurd-Wood. Some of the English dialogue was lost amidst the live music (although not to the local audience due to Polish sub-titles) but the picture is strange and engrossing and the live orchestral performance added to its epic moments.

The closing concert at the same venue featured excerpts from Jerry Goldsmith’s score for “Alien” (1979), James Horner’s for “Aliens (1986); Goldenthal’s for “Alien3” (1992), and John Frizzell’s for “Alien Resurrection” (1997) in a suite called the Biomechanical Symphony. With clips from the films and Sinfonia Cracovia conductor Diego Navarro’s fiery command of the baton, the music was dynamic and haunting, and made me reach for Twentieth Century Fox’s splendid Blu-ray “Alien Anthology” as soon as I got home.

Elliot Goldenthal and Julie Taymor, right, with Krakow radio personality Magdalena Miska-Jackowska and Varése Saraband’s Robert Townson, who presented the Goldenthal concert

The second part of the evening featured suites that Goldenthal had prepared of music from his films “Titus” (1999), “Frida” (2002) and “The Tempest” (2010) with Taymor, “Interview With The Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles” (1994) with frequent collaborator Neil Jordan, and “Batman Forever” (1995) with Joel Schumacher.

Composer and director winced when the mix jinxed phrases in the “Frida” score but they joined the general applause for Polish soloist Joanna Slowinska’s passionate delivery of Goldenthal’s Latin songs from the film and the contribution of Mexican players Ernesto Anaya, Pancho Navarro and Camilo Nu. Maestro Navarro threw himself into each piece and Goldenthal’s extraordinarily vivid score for “Titus” resounded around the vast walls of the steelworks.

The Krakow Film Music Festival is linked with the annual Tenerife International Film Music Festival in July in the Canary Islands where native-born Navarro is festival director. Along with Jan A.P. Kaczmarek’s Transatlantyk Poznan International Film and Music Festival in Poland in August and the World Soundtrack Awards at the Ghent Film Festival in Belgium in October, they have become major and much-valued events in the world of film music.

Krakow 2012 concert audience inside the former Lenin Steelworks [Photos courtesy of Krakow Film Music Festival

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HMV calls for votes on Best of British films and albums

Posted on May 4, 2012 by admin

Queen Elizabeth II’s 1953 Coronation Parade on Oxford Street, London / Photo: EMI Music

By Ray Bennett

HMV has launched a national poll on Facebook that asks fans to choose the best British movie and record album from the past 60 years to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

The Best of British campaign lists 60 titles in both categories with votes open to Facebook users until May 20. Fans may select five films and five albums released since 1952 from HMV’s suggested long-lists and nominate their own titles. Results of the survey will be published just ahead of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in the first week of June. Entrants have the chance to win a complete set of all 60 albums on CD and the 60 films on DVD.

HMV spokesman Gennaro Castaldo said, “The beginning of Elizabeth II’s reign and the bright new future it represented didn’t just coincide with a flowering of British popular culture, it helped to provide the very spark that lit the touch-paper for an explosion in music and film talent.”

The film list runs from “A Clockwork Orange” to “Zulu” with Harry Potter, the Pythons and James Bond well represented plus war pictures, art films, epics, crime dramas, comedies, and Oscar winners. The term British is extended to include Steve McQueen’s much-loved “The Great Escape”.

The album list runs from Adele to the Who with plenty of classic rock including the Beatles, Rolling Stones and David Bowie plus the Coldplay, Kasabian, Dizzee Rascal and the Smiths but curiously no Kinks.

HMV said, “The two long-lists that voters can choose from reflect our nation’s rich post-war cultural heritage, and feature a broad and diverse selection of iconic and contemporary artists, musical genres and cinematic styles.”

The retailer said it will feature many of the titles named in its poll in a Best of Britain online and in-store promotion including releases priced at two for £10. Window and in-store displays in all 240 outlets will support the campaign in the last week of May and first week of June. Advertising will highlight a special version (pictured) of HMV’s traditional dog and trumpet with a nod to the Queen’s favourite corgi instead of the traditional mascot Nipper.

This story appeared in Cue Entertainment.

The survey long-lists follow: Continue reading →

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Richard Curtis in praise of ‘Animal House’ and sketch movies

Posted on May 2, 2012 by admin

John Belushi as Bluto in ‘Animal House’ directed by John Landis

By Ray Bennett

LONDON – Universal Studios has released many movies by British comedy writer Richard Curtis including “Notting Hill”, “Love Actually” and “Bridget Jones’ Diary”. No surprise, then, that he was asked to host a Grand Classics charity screening at the Electric Cinema as part Universal’s 100th anniversary celebrations.

Perhaps also it should not have been a surprise that from the studio’s vast range of pictures he chose “Animal House” (1978), which he called “a great cheerful American comedy” because it’s on his Rotten Tomatoes list of the five films he cannot live without.

Curtis slipped up in his introduction as Universal obviously had handed him a list of films it distributes on DVD. He said, “Universal made lots of good films, I know that now. I’ve got a list here”, and he cited ‘Citizen Kane’ – “the second greatest film of all time”, which was actually made at RKO, and ‘Duck Soup’ – “the greatest film of all time”, which was shot at Paramount.

Back on track, he said, “I think ‘Animal House’ is a fantastic movie, it’s one of my favourite films, or certainly it was the last time I saw it. I think it’s a part of a wonderful strand of movies that will never win any Oscars and yet will mean more to people and bring delight to people than many others.”

Curtis said “Animal House” is given the demeaning label of a “sketch movie” but it ranks in a tradition of films that are made up of small comic units timed perfectly. He cited “Duck Soup”, Jacques Tati’s films, the “Carry On’ series, movies by Woody Allen and Mel Brooks through the Monty Python films, which he noted are voted consistently as the greatest British comedies. He named “Airplane”, “The Naked Gun” and “Spinal Tap” through to “The Hangover” and “Bridesmaids”.

He said it was a strand of films that people love but don’t remember in the way they do sentimental romantic comedies such as “The Apartment” and “Some Like It Hot”. “But they make people the most happy, I think. ‘Animal House’ is a great example of films that are made by people dedicated absolutely to making every scene as funny as they can,” Curtis said.

The film is notable also as part of another US tradition, he said: “One of the great traditions of American cinema still thriving is its determination and ability to turn its TV stars and its comedians into movie stars. It always has done that and still does. My daughter and I were talking about this, and someone like John Belushi, his fantastic work on ‘Saturday Night Live’ would be pretty well forgotten were it not for his extraordinary work in ‘The Blues Brothers’ and ‘Animal House. They’ve done it with Steve Martin, Robin Williams, Kristen Wiig, Steve Carell … these people who are encouraged to go from television. Often, it takes a few failures to make it.”

He said that it had worked for some British comic actors such as Sacha Baron Cohen – “another maker of great sketch movies” – and Simon Pegg and Nick Frost: “I would always encourage everyone who works in the British film industry to look at the genius of some of the people that are on television and see if it can be turned into genius in the movies. I always felt that Rik Mayall was as good as Eddie Murphy and yet he never got to make movies in the same way that Eddie Murphy did.”

Of “Animal House”, he said: “It is incredibly well-cast and acted beautifully; everybody doing their finest work. Kevin Bacon has never been better. It’s edited beautifully, as far as I remember. Editing is much flashier in action movies. They give it an Oscar: ‘Well, it was a good fight’. But the fight to make jokes funny is as difficult as it is to make action scary,” he said.

“I particularly love the score of this movie. They were going to make the cheapest, tackiest movie they possibly could with the most amount of naked women they could get away with for a 15 certificate, and the person they asked to do the score was the single greatest composer in the history of Hollywood, a man called Elmer Bernstein, who had done ‘The Magnificent Seven’, ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ and ‘The Great Escape. When you first hear the music you think that it must be the music from ‘Patton or something, so I would ask you to listen out for the score.”

Curtis praised the film’s director John Landis and said he was amazed to see that in the six-year period 1977-1983, Landis made “The Kentucky Fried Movie”, “Animal House”, “The Blues Brothers”, “An American Werewolf In London” and “Trading Places”. He said, “I don’t think anyone else has had such a comedy run in the history of the movies.”

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Restored ‘Lawrence Of Arabia’ set for Blu-ray

Posted on February 16, 2012 by admin

By Ray Bennett

Held by many to be the greatest film ever made, David Lean’s 1962 masterpiece “Lawrence Of Arabia” has been completely re-mastered and restored in 4K resolution and will be re-released in cinemas and on Blu-ray Disc.

A preview of the restored epic, which won seven Academy Awards including best picture, was screened at the Hollywood Post Alliance (HPA) Technology Retreat in Palm Springs, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Sony Pictures Entertainment EVP Grover Crisp, who oversees asset management, film restoration and digital mastering for the studio, showed before-and-after clips, the trade paper reported. He said that the emulsion was cracked on the original and the negative was badly scratched.

At the same HPA session, Disney screened clips from the 1960 Hayley Mills film “Pollyanna”, which also has been restored and re-mastered. THR reported that Disney Studio Operations VP Sara Duran-Singer explained the studio has three processes to re-master its catalogue with 4K – which has four times the resolution of current high definition – reserved for films that have historic value including its classic animations.

“The more time we wait, the more difficult (restoration) will be. In a perfect world we would scan everything at 4K. The reality is there are budget constraints,” Duran-Singer said.

This story appeared in Cue Entertainment.

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‘The Artist’, ‘A Separation’ wow London critics

Posted on January 20, 2012 by admin

Michael Fassbender was named British actor of the year for ‘Shame’ and ‘A Dangerous Method’

By Ray Bennett

Entertainment’s “The Artist” and Artificial Eye’s “A Separation” were the big winners with three prizes apiece at the 32nd annual London Film Critics Circle Awards presented on Thursday.

French filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius was on hand to collect the awards for best film and best director joined by star Jean Dujardin, who was named actor of the year.

“A Separation” won as best foreign language film and the film’s director Asghar Farhadi won for best screenplay. The film’s Sereh Bayat was named best supporting actress. The two could not attend and producer Negar Eskandarfar accepted the awards on their behalf.

Director Lynne Ramsay accepted the Attenborough Award for British film of the year for Artificial Eye’s “We Need To Talk About Kevin”. Director Asif Kapadia picked up the prize for best documentary for Universal’s “Senna”.

Michael Fassbender (pictured) was there to accept the award as British actor of the year for Lionsgate’s “Shame” and Momentum’s “A Dangerous Method” and Olivia Colman picked up the Moet & Chandon Award for British actress of the year for Fox/Pathé’s “The Iron Lady” and StudioCanal’s “Tyrannosaur”.

Donald Sutherland presented the Dilys Powell Award to Nicolas Roeg

There were video messages from Anna Paquin and Meryl Streep who tied as best actress. Paquin won for 20th Century Fox’s “Margaret” and Streep was honoured for “The Iron Lady”.

Kenneth Branagh accepted his award as best supporting actor for Entertainment’s “My Week With Marilyn” and Craig Roberts was on hand to receive his prize as young British performer of the year. Production designer Maria Djurkovic accepted the new Sky 3D Award for technical achievement for her work on StudioCanal’s “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”.

“Don’t Look Now” star Donald Sutherland presented the Dilys Powell Award for excellence in film to that film’s director, Nicolas Roeg.

London Film Critics Circle Chairman Jason Solomons, of The Observer, hosted the awards at BFI Southbank, in aid of their charity the BFI Archive and its work on the “Rescue the Hitchcock 9” campaign to restore Alfred Hitchcock’s silent films.

Solomons said the quality of the films and performances honoured at the event showed the increased influence that critics have on the major industry awards.

“Our wide-range of viewing has thrown up great surprises and championed small films, shining a light on new, exciting, challenging and thrilling work from around the world of film. Without the enthusiasm of critics, terrific films such as ‘The Artist’, ‘A Separation’ and ‘Margaret’, and amazing performances such as those by Olivia Colman and Michael Fassbender would not be receiving the wider, global attention occasions such as this can inspire,” Solomons said.

This story appeared in Cue Entertainment; Thanks to the London Film Critics Circle for the photos.

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‘The Artist’, ‘Tinker Tailor’ lead in Bafta film nominations

Posted on January 17, 2012 by admin

Gary Oldman as George Smiley in Tomas Alfredson’s film of John Le Carré’s ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’

By Ray Bennett

StudioCanal’s “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” and other UK films joined many of the movies that were celebrated at the Golden Globes in nominations announced today for the British Academy Film Awards.

Presented on Feb. 17 by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, sponsored by Orange, and set to be telecast live on BBC1, the awards pit “Tinker Tailor” against Globes winners “The Artist” (Entertainment) and “The Descendants” (20th Century Fox) plus Icon’s “Drive” and Disney’s “The Help” in the competition for best film.

The espionage tale faces Entertainment’s “My Week With Marilyn”, Universal’s “Senna”, Momentum’s “Shame” and Artificial Eye’s “We Need To Talk About Kevin” in the best British film category.

“Tinker Tailor”, with 11 nominations including Gary Oldman as best actor and Tomas Alfredson as best director, follows “The Artist”, which leads with 12 including Jean Dujardin as best actor, Bérénice Bejo as best actress, and Michel Hazanavicius as best director.

Entertainment’s “Hugo” by Globes-winning director Martin Scorsese won six nominations followed by “My Week With Marilyn” with six, and “The Help” and “War Horse”, both from Disney, with five apiece.

Oldman and Dujardin square off as best actor against George Clooney in “The Descendants”, Jean Dujardin in “The Artist”, Michael Fassbender in Momentum’s “Shame” and Brad Pitt in Sony’s “Moneyball”.

Bejo and Globes winners Meryl Streep, for Fox’s “The Iron Lady” and Michelle Williams, for “My Week With Marilyn”, face Tilda Swinton, for “We Need To Talk About Kevin” and Viola Davis, for “The Help,” as best actress.

Surprising omissions from the nominations include Anna Paquin as best actress in Fox’s long-delayed Kenneth Lonergan film “Margaret”, Olivia Colman as best actress and Peter Mullan as best actor in “Tyrannosaur”, which did get a mention for director Paddy Considine and producer Diarmid Scrimshaw in the best British debut category. Other much-praised contenders missing include Felicity Jones as best actress for Paramount’s “Like Crazy” and Vanessa Redgrave as best supporting actress for “Coriolanus”, which won a best debut nomination for director Ralph Fiennes.

This story appeared in Cue Entertainment

A complete list of nominees for the 2012 Orange British Academy Awards follows: Continue reading →

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‘The Artist’ top in Golden Globes

Posted on January 16, 2012 by admin

Golden Globe winner Jean Dujardin with Bérénice Bejo in best comedy ‘The Artist’

By Ray Bennett

Entertainment’s “The Artist” and 20th Century Fox’s “The Descendants” were the big winners at the Golden Globes last night. “The Artist” took three awards including best comedy or musical, while “The Descendants” won two including best drama.

The awards presented on Sunday in Los Angeles saw “The Artist” star Jean Dujardin pick up the prize for best actor in a comedy and musical, and the film’s composer Ludovic Bource win for best score.

George Clooney was named best actor in a drama for “The Descendants”, which 20th Century Fox will release in UK cinemas on Jan. 27.

Martin Scorsese won as best director for “Hugo”, to be released on DVD and Blu-ray by Entertainment in Video, which also has “My Week With Marilyn”, for which Michelle Williams was honoured as best actress in a comedy or musical for her performance as Marilyn Monroe.

Meryl Streep won as best actress in a drama for her performance as Margaret Thatcher in “The Iron Lady”, which Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will release.

Woody Allen picked up the screenplay award for his comedy “Midnight In Paris” while Christopher Plummer was named best supporting actor for “Beginners”. Both are on Universal Pictures UK.

Paramount Home Entertainment will release Steven Spielberg’s “The Adventures Of Tintin”, which won the award for best animated feature and Disney has “The Help”, for which Octavia Spencer was named best supporting actress.

StudioCanal will release “W.E.”, for which the film’s director Madonna won for best original song for “Masterpiece” co-written by Julie Frost and Jimmy Harry.

On the TV side, Golden Globe Awards went to three series released for home entertainment by TCFHE: Showtime’s “Homeland” won as drama series while star Claire Danes won as best actress in a TV drama; “Modern Family” won as best TV comedy or musical series; and Jessica Lange was named best supporting actress in a TV series, mini-series or move for “American Horror Story”.

Former “Friends” star Matt LeBlanc won as best actor in a TV comedy or musical for the BBC sitcom “Episodes”, shown in the US on Showtime and released on DVD here by BBC Video, which also handles the BBC crime show “Luther”, for which Idris Elba was named best actor in a TV mini-series or movie.

Kate Winslet won the prize for best actress in a TV mini-series or movie for “Mildred Pierce”, released by Warner Home Video, which also has “Game Of Thrones”, for which Peter Dinklage won as best supporting actor in a TV series, mini-series or movie.

ITV’s “Downton Abbey”, released on home video on the Playback label, won the award for best TV mini-series or movie.

Laura Dern was named best actress in a TV comedy or musical for HBO’s “Enlightened” and former “Frasier” star Kelsey Grammar won as best actor in a TV drama series for Starz Entertainment’s “Boss”.

This story appeared in Cue Entertainment.

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FILM REVIEW: Meryl Streep in ‘The Iron Lady’

Posted on January 6, 2012 by admin

The Iron Lady Cliff

By Ray Bennett

LONDON – Like lawyers for the defence with their clients, actors do not ask if the characters they play are guilty or not, they seek only to give a good account of them.

Meryl Streep cannot be blamed for her wish to find humanity in the character of Margaret Thatcher and it’s not really her fault that it goes missing in “The Iron Lady”.

Streep’s gift for mimicry is equal to the task along with the right makeup, prosthetics and lighting, but it’s not a gripping performance. The film is a dull and undistinguished attempt at iconography that reveals little of a politician who became adored and reviled in equal measure.

Screenwriter Abi Morgan has made a peculiar decision to spend a good third of the film in speculative and quite dubious scenes that show Thatcher as a doddering and delusional old woman.

Given the cut and thrust of political, social and cultural life during her time in politics, not to mention strikes, military conflict and the end of the Cold War, the writer should have found lots more to chew on. Many events are rushed through and the Falklands conflict is employed to depict her as a doughty and resolute heir to Churchill as opposed to just another politico in need of a war.

The roughness around the edges of “Mamma Mia!” was among its pleasures but director Phyllida Lloyd’s latest film is similarly shoddy to no good effect. The main problem is the script, which attempts to present Thatcher in the manner of “Norma Rae” or “Made In Dagenham”, which were about women who fought in a man’s world.

British politics was and remains overwhelming a man’s world but the UK’s first female prime minister carried anything but a banner for feminism. The film establishes her as the daughter of a grocer but makes him an outsider as opposed to the successful owner of two shops, a strict Methodist, and an alderman and town mayor.

It is not mentioned that Thatcher’s degree at Oxford was in chemistry, which helps to explain her detached focus on detail, nor does it note that before she entered politics she earned a law degree.

The film does not mention that the man she married, Denis Thatcher was a millionaire 10 years older than she and that he paid for her law studies and financed her political campaigns. Her late husband is seen in the film in scenes of Thatcher’s hallucinations and Jim Broadbent plays him as the cheery old boy from the lampoons in Private Eye. As his wife pursues her career, the film doesn’t mention that he kept his Rolls Royce in a garage so as not to make voters resentful.

Key moments in Thatcher’s career are sketched in flashbacks and there are many scenes of her with a stout and superior air as she is harangued by political opponents and threatened in her car by protestors. Streep gets her monotonous voice pretty well but while there’s a scene of her being taught not to screech so much, nothing is said about how her pronunciation became so excruciatingly posh.

None of the men who were colleagues, supporters or opponents are given anything memorable to say, and her encounters with Ronald Reagan, of which a great deal was made at the time, are summed up in a brief dance clip.

Naïve and without ambition, “The Iron Lady” will annoy devotees who will hate to see her portrayed in her dotage and irritate those who regard her as an unfeeling snob who caused a great deal of misery and harm. Those who oppose her are made to appear like bullies.

The attempt to burnish her feminist aura simply fails. In “The Social Network”, Mark Zuckerberg’s girlfriend tells him that his lack of success with women is not because he’s a computer genius, it’s because he’s an asshole. The same could be said about Margaret Thatcher. It’s not because she’s a woman.

Opens: UK Jan. 6, Fox/Pathé; Cast: Meryl Streep, Jim Broadbent, Alexandra Roach, Harry Lloyd, Olivia Colman, Roger Allam, Susan Brown, Nick Dunning, Nicholas Farrell, Iain Glen, Richard E. Grant, Anthony Head, Michael Maloney, Pip Torrens, Julian Wadham, Angus Wright; Director: Phyllida Lloyd; Screenwriter: Abi Morgan; Producer: Damian Jones; Executive producers: Francois Ivernel, Cameron McCracken, Tessa Ross, Adam Kulick; Co-producers: Anita Overland, Colleen Woodcock; Director of photography: Elliott Davis; Production designer: Simon Elliott; Music: Thomas Newman; Costume designer: Consolata Boyle; Editor: Justine Wright; Production companies: DJ Films, Pathe, Film 4, UK Film Council; Rated 12A, 105 minutes.

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Best Film in 2011: ‘The Artist’, plus more of the year’s best

Posted on December 31, 2011 by admin

Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo in Michael Hazanavicius’ ‘The Artist’

By Ray Bennett

Here are my choices for the best in film in 2011. Some of these films will be released in the UK over the next couple of months but they are all eligible for the major awards.

Best Film 2011

1. The Artist

2. The Descendants

3. War Horse

4. Midnight In Paris

5. Submarine

6. Rango

7. Like Crazy

8. Coriolanus

9. Drive

10. The Guard

Honorable mentions: The Help, The Ides Of March, Like Crazy.

Best Director 2011

Michael Hazanavicius, The Artist; Alexander Payne, The Descendants; Steven Spielberg, War Horse; George Clooney, The Ides Of March; Woody Allen, Midnight In Paris

Honorable mentions: Richard Ayoade, Submarine; Drake Doremus, Like Crazy; John Michael McDonagh, The Guard

Best Actor 2011

George Clooney, The Descendants; Jean Dujardin, The Artist; Ryan Gosling, Drive; Brad Pitt, Moneyball; Brendan Gleeson, The Guard

Honorable mentions: Ralph Fiennes, Coriolanus; Peter Mullan, Tyrannorsaur; Owen Wilson, Midnight In Paris,

Best Actress 2011

Anna Paquin, Margaret; Bérénice Bejo, The Artist; Rooney Mara, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo; Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy Mae Marlene; Charlize Theron, Young Adult

Honorable mentions: Olivia Colman, Tyrannosaur; Viola Davis, The Help; Felicity Jones, Like Crazy.

Best Supporting Actor 2011

Christopher Plummer, The Beginners; Jonah Hill, Moneyball; Mark Ruffalo, Margaret; Kevin Spacey, Margin Call; Nick Krause, The Descendants

Best Supporting Actress 2011

Vanessa Redgrave, Coriolanus; Shailene Woodley, The Descendants; J. Smith-Cameron, Margaret; Jessica Chastain, The Help; Sally Hawkins, Submarine

Best Newcomers 2011

Yasmin Paige, Submarine; Craig Roberts, Submarine; Jeremy Irvine, War Horse

Best Animated Picture 2011: Rango

Best Foreign Language Film 2011: Honey

Key dates:

Golden Globes: Jan. 15; Orange British Academy Film Awards nominations: Jan. 17; London Film Critics’ Circle Awards: Jan. 19; Oscar nominations: Jan. 24; BAFTA awards: Feb. 12; Film Independent’s Spirit Awards: Feb. 25; Oscars: Feb. 26.

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‘Drive’, ‘Tinker Tailor’ top London critics’ nominations

Posted on December 20, 2011 by admin

By Ray Bennett

US crime thriller “Drive” and UK espionage mystery “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’ claimed six spots to top the nominations for the 32nd London Film Critics’ Circle Awards.

Nominations for “Drive”, released in the UK by Icon, included best film and best director for Denmark’s Nicolas Winding Refn plus best actor for star Ryan Gosling (pictured), best supporting actor for Albert Brooks, technical achievement for composer Cliff Martinez, and best British actress for Carey Mulligan, who also was cited for “Shame”.

Nominations for “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”, released here by StudioCanal, were for film, British film, actor and British actor for Gary Oldman, screenwriter for Peter Staughan and the late Bridget O’Connor, and technical achievement for production designer Maria Djurkovic.

Artificial Eye had two films with five nominations apiece. Iran drama “A Separation” picked up five nominations: film, foreign-language film, director and screenwriter for Asghar Farhadi, and supporting actress for Sareh Bayat.

Domestic drama “We Need To Talk About Kevin” received nods for British film, director for Lynn Ramsay, actress and British actress for Tilda Swinton, and technical achievement for sound designer Paul Davies.

Entertainment’s silent black-and-white comedy “The Artist” earned four nominations: film, director and screenwriter for Michael Hazanavicius, and actor for Jean Dujardin.

Momentum’s story of sex addiction in New York, “Shame”, also picked up four: British film, actor and British actor for Michael Fassbender, plus Mulligan.

George Clooney rounded out the best actor category for “The Descendants” while Kirsten Dunst (“Melancholia”), Anna Paquin (“Margaret”), Meryl Streep (“The Iron Lady”) and Michelle Williams (“My Week With Marilyn’) also were nominated for best actress.

London Film Critics’ Circle Chairman Jason Solomons praised what he termed “the breadth, intelligence and style” of the choices: “This is the surely classiest set of nominations around this year with truly superb work reflected in the directing and foreign language categories.”

The winners will be named at a ceremony at BFI Southbank on Jan. 19. A complete list of nominees follows:

FILM OF THE YEAR

The Artist (Entertainment)

Drive (Icon)

A Separation (Artificial Eye)

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (StudioCanal)

The Tree of Life (Fox)

The Attenborough Award: BRITISH FILM OF THE YEAR

The Guard (StudioCanal)

Kill List (StudioCanal)

Shame (Momentum)

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (StudioCanal)

We Need to Talk About Kevin (Artificial Eye)

FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR

Mysteries of Lisbon (New Wave)

Poetry (Arrow)

Le Quattro Volte (New Wave)

A Separation (Artificial Eye)

The Skin I Live In (Fox/Pathé)

DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (Picturehouse)

Dreams of a Life (Dogwoof)

Pina (Artificial Eye)

Project Nim (Icon)

Senna (Universal)

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR

Asghar Farhadi – A Separation (Artificial Eye)

Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist (Entertainment)

Terrence Malick – The Tree of Life (Fox)

Lynne Ramsay – We Need to Talk About Kevin (Artificial Eye)

Nicolas Winding Refn – Drive (Icon)

SCREENWRITER OF THE YEAR

Asghar Farhadi – A Separation (Artificial Eye)

Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist (Entertainment)

Kenneth Lonergan – Margaret (Fox)

Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (StudioCanal)

Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash – The Descendants (Fox)

The Virgin Atlantic Award: BREAKTHROUGH BRITISH FILM-MAKER

Richard Ayoade – Submarine (StudioCanal)

Paddy Considine – Tyrannosaur (StudioCanal)

Joe Cornish – Attack the Block (StudioCanal)

Andrew Haigh – Weekend (Peccadillo)

John Michael McDonagh – The Guard (StudioCanal)

ACTOR OF THE YEAR

George Clooney – The Descendants (Fox)

Jean Dujardin – The Artist (Entertainment)

Michael Fassbender – Shame (Momentum)

Ryan Gosling – Drive (Icon)

Gary Oldman – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (StudioCanal)

ACTRESS OF THE YEAR

Kirsten Dunst – Melancholia (Artificial Eye)

Anna Paquin – Margaret (Fox)

Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady (Fox/Pathé)

Tilda Swinton – We Need to Talk About Kevin (Artificial Eye)

Michelle Williams – My Week With Marilyn (Entertainment)

SUPPORTING ACTOR OF THE YEAR

Simon Russell Beale – The Deep Blue Sea (Artificial Eye)

Kenneth Branagh – My Week With Marilyn (Entertainment)

Albert Brooks – Drive (Icon)

Christopher Plummer – Beginners (Universal)

Michael Smiley – Kill List (StudioCanal)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS OF THE YEAR

Sareh Bayat – A Separation (Artificial Eye)

Jessica Chastain – The Help (Disney)

Vanessa Redgrave – Coriolanus (Lionsgate)

Octavia Spencer – The Help (Disney)

Jacki Weaver – Animal Kingdom (StudioCanal)

BRITISH ACTOR OF THE YEAR

Tom Cullen – Weekend (Peccadillo)

Michael Fassbender – A Dangerous Method (Lionsgate), Shame (Momentum)

Brendan Gleeson – The Guard (StudioCanal)

Peter Mullan – Tyrannosaur (StudioCanal), War Horse (Disney)

Gary Oldman – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (StudioCanal)

The Moët & Chandon Award: BRITISH ACTRESS OF THE YEAR

Olivia Colman – The Iron Lady (Fox/Pathé), Tyrannosaur (StudioCanal)

Carey Mulligan – Drive (Icon), Shame (Momentum)

Vanessa Redgrave – Anonymous (Sony), Coriolanus (Lionsgate)

Tilda Swinton – We Need to Talk About Kevin (Artificial Eye)

Rachel Weisz – The Deep Blue Sea (Artificial Eye)

YOUNG BRITISH PERFORMER OF THE YEAR

John Boyega – Attack the Block (StudioCanal)

Jeremy Irvine – War Horse (Disney)

Yasmin Paige – Submarine (StudioCanal)

Craig Roberts – Submarine (StudioCanal)

Saoirse Ronan – Hanna (Universal)

The Sky 3D Award: TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT

Manuel Alberto Claro, cinematography – Melancholia (Artificial Eye)

Paul Davies, sound design – We Need to Talk About Kevin (Artificial Eye)

Maria Djurkovic, production design – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (StudioCanal)

Dante Ferretti, production design – Hugo (Entertainment)

Alberto Iglesias, original score – The Skin I Live In (Fox/Pathé)

Chris King & Gregers Sall, editing – Senna (Universal)

Joe Letteri, visual effects – Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Fox)

Cliff Martinez, original score – Drive (Icon)

Robert Richardson, cinematography – Hugo (Entertainment)

Robbie Ryan, cinematography – Wuthering Heights (Artificial Eye)

The Dilys Powell Award: EXCELLENCE IN FILM

Nicolas Roeg

NB. The British categories refer to the British Isles, and therefore films, filmmakers, actors and actresses from both the UK and Ireland are eligible.

This story appeared in Cue Entertainment.

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