Precious (2009) - Overcoming adversity showcased in gripping drama

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+ Best Adaptation of the Year + Best Independent Movie of the Year + Most Deserved Hit of the Year

 

New-comer Gabourey Sidibe in the title role wears a crown and butterfly wings on this poster for Lee Daniels' Precious

Precious doesn't have an enviable life: She's 16 years old; her weight is that of a small elephant; she's pregnant for the second time in her life; and the child is her own father's.

 

Precious is written by Geoffrey Fletcher (Violet & Daisy (2011)), based on the 1996 novel Push by Sapphire (The Kid (2011)), and co-produced and directed by great Pennsylvanian filmmaker Lee Daniels (Shadowboxer (2005)).

The girl's mother is one of the meanest, ugliest characters to go down in cinema history, played eminently by Mo'Nique (Blackbird (2014)). Gabourey Sidibe (Antebellum (2020)) is terrific too, as are other female actors in Precious: Paula Patton (Warcraft (2016)) is beautiful and excellent. The dream sequences make us 100 % aligned with the trialed teenager and her dreams of escape. Despite the grim realities, this is also a film with hope, even though I could have wished for that extra little oomph in the ending.

Precious is hard to forget. It puts things in perspective. It is a beautiful and fantastic film. 

 

Related posts:

Lee Daniels: 2013 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED VI]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V] 

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV] 

The Butler/Lee Daniels' The Butler (2013) - Whitaker and Winfrey shine in Dainels' cathartic, insightful historic drama 
The Paperboy (2012) - Daniels' off-putting and interesting Florida-yarn huffs and puffs

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 10 mil.  $

Box office: 63.6 mil. $

= Huge hit (returned 6.36 times its cost)

[Precious premiered 16 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 110 minutes. Shooting took place from October 2007 - January 2008 in New York. The film opened #12 to a 1.8 mil. $ first weekend in 18 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #3 and in 1,003 theaters (different weeks), grossing 47.5 mil. $ (74.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain with 2.7 mil. $ (4.2 %) and the UK with 1.9 mil. $ (3 %). The film was nominated for 6 Oscars, winning for Best Supporting Actress (Mo'Nique) and Adapted Screenplay. It lost Best Picture to The Hurt Locker, Actress to Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side, Director to Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker and Editing also to The Hurt Locker. It also won 1/4 BAFTA nominations, 1/3 Golden Globe nominations, 5 Independent Spirit awards, an AFI award and a National Board of Review award, among countless other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. The film sold more than 1.5 mil. DVD's in its first week of release in North America. Daniels returned with The Paperboy (2012). Sidibe returned in Yelling to the Sky (2011); Mo'Nique in Steppin: The Movie (2009). Precious is certified fresh at 92 % with a 7.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Precious?

The Night Listener (2006) - Robin Williams leads strong cast in twisted, edgy late-nighter

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Stars look less than hopeful on this dark and gloomy poster for Patrick Stettner's The Night Listener

A prominent radio host storyteller in New York gets dumped by his younger boyfriend and comes into connection with a 14 year-old boy, who has been abused. - But is the boy real?

 

The Night Listener is written by Terry Anderson (The Young Graduates (1971, original story)), Armistead Maupin (Babycakes (1984, novel)) and co-writer/director Patrick Stettner (The Business of Strangers (2001)). It is an adaptation of the same-titled 2000 novel by Maupin, and is based on a true story that presented itself to Maupin.

It is a very dark and sombre Christmas movie, which benefits immensely from its strong actors: Robin Williams (Mork & Mindy (1978-82)) is credible in the protagonist role, and we more or less understand what makes him travel to Wisconsin to know for sure about the boy. Rory Culkin (Hick (2011)) is taunting in the central, controversial role as said boy; it is a 'grey zone' role involving scenes with sexual overtones that will strike some as off-putting, (although the two characters only speak on the phone together.) SPOILER Toni Collette (Knives Out (2019)) is central and chilling as the woman who invents incest stories (and a human being) to gain attention and sympathy.

The Night Listener is a disturbing 'late-night-watch'-type movie for grownups. 

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 3 mil. $

Box office: 10.6 mil. $ 

= Big hit (returned 3.53 times its cost)

[The Night Listener premiered 21 January (Sundance Film Festival, Utah) and runs 81 minutes. The story is based on Maupin's experience of getting sent an abuse story novel manuscript in 1992, allegedly from a 14 year-old boy, who turned out to be a creation of the woman Vicki Johnson. Williams was paid 65k $ for his performance in the film. Shooting took place around April 2005 in New York and New Jersey. The film opened #10 to a 3.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it never achieved a higher rank and grossed 7.8 mil. $ (73.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 1.3 mil. $ (12.3 %) and Mexico with 577k $ (5.4 %). Stettner has only returned as writer/director of a TV-series episode in 2012 but has otherwise left filmmaking completely. Williams returned in RV (2006); Collette in Murderous Intent (2006); and Culkin in Lymelife (2008). The Night Listener is rotten at 40 % with a 5.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of The Night Listener?

Audition/オーディション (Ōdishon) (1999) - Miike hamstrings your sleep

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+ Best Feel-Bad Movie of the Year + Best Gore Movie of the Year + Best Japanese Movie of the Year

 

Piano string torture and gore galore is promised on this hype-filled, chilling poster for Takashi Miike's Audition

A lonely businessman follows the advice of a friend and makes auditions in order to find a new partner, under the guise of making a fiction film. But the woman he falls for turns out not to be the one ...

 

Audition is written by Daisuke Tengan (Warm Water Under a Bridge/Akai hashi no shita no nurui mizu (2001)), adapting the same-titled 1997 novel by Ryu Murakami (The Mask Club (2001)), and directed by Takashi Miike (Fudoh: The New Generation/Gokudô sengokushi: Fudô (1996)).

The well-made romantic drama develops into a gruesome torture horror, in which the young woman's memories of needle torture appears to be a metaphor for incest. Enormously grim but not without effect or direction, Audition far outshines Miike's other Western break-out cult hit, the equally hard to watch Ichi the Killer (2001).

Audition is a fascinating, dark downwards spiral.

 

Related post:

 

1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Watch a 4-minute clip from the film here

 

Cost: Reportedly 250k $

Box office: Reportedly 359k $

= Big flop (returned 1.43 times its cost)

[Audition premiered 2 October (Vancouver International Film Festival) and runs 113 minutes. Shooting took around 3 weeks in Tokyo, Japan. The film grossed 113k $ in North America (31.5 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Turkey with 64k $ (17.8 %) and France with 53k $ (14.8 %). The film reportedly had a very small reception in production country Japan and no Asian countries have listed grosses at Box Office Mojo. There is uncertainty surrounding both the cost and total box office number in this case. Miike returned with Dead or Alive/Dead or Alive: Hanzaisha (1999); he directed 4 features, a TV movie, a video and a miniseries that were all released in 1999! Ryo Ishibashi (Black Dawn/Gaiji keisatsu: Sono otoko ni damasareruna (2012)) returned in Rinjin wa hisoka ni warau (1999, TV-series) and theatrically in Brother (2000); Eihi Shiina (Hold Up Down/Hôrudo appu daun (2005)) in Eureka (2000). Audition is certified fresh at 82 % with a 7.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Audition?

The Celebration/Festen (1998) - Vinterberg's charged, stirring Dogme drama masterpiece

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+ 3rd Best Movie of the Year

+ Best Drama of the Year + Breakthrough Actor of the Year: Ulrich Thomsen

Four of the film's leads evocative faces clash in a broken mirror in this stark and intriguing poster for Thomas Vinterberg's The Celebration

Christian is going to his father's 60th birthday celebration on their family's castle hotel. With him he carries two speeches, which are going to change his family forever.

The Celebration is written by Mogens Rukov (Reconstruction (2003)) and its Danish master co-writer/director Thomas Vinterberg (The Hunt/Jagten (2012)), whose 3rd feature it is, as well as his best film overall. It represented a kick in the ass on Danish cinema, Danish cultural centrism and Danish traditions in general, which the film - and us as audiences - invariably laugh at. (It is the first of the so-called Dogme films: Read about some of the wave's specifications below.) The humor in this heavily themed drama is liberating and pivotal, saving The Celebration from becoming a depressing acquaintance.
It is fantastically put together script and editing-wise, impressively shot on a simple Sony Handycam (by cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle (Kursk (2018)).) The Celebration is full of great ideas, which simply work, and great Danish actors who give career-defining performances: Paprika Steen (The Substitute/Vikaren (2007)), Ulrich Thomsen (Centurion (2010)) as Christian, Thomas Bo Larsen (A Second Chance/En Chance Til (2014)), Henning Moritzen (Roser og Persille (1993)), Helle Dolleris (Karla og Jonas (2010)), Trine Dyrholm (Fluerne på Væggen (2005)) and Klaus Bondam (Lykkevej (2003)), who is wonderful as the party's German toastmaster.
The Celebration is funny, gripping and intense, a fiery drama that booms with energy.

Related posts:

 
Thomas Vinterberg: Far from the Madding Crowd (2015) - Vinterberg's plush but grating English adaptation

The Hunt/Jagten (2012) - Vinterberg's strongest film since 1998 is a reversed Celebration  

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Submarino (2010) - Vinterberg's elegant, downbeat Copenhagen-set social realism drama
Dear Wendy (2004) - Vinterberg and Von Trier's unpopular, gun-themed mega-flop 

1998 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess  

 Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 1.3 mil. $
Box office: 1.6 mil. $ (North America only); gross likely exceeds 5.6 mil. $
= Big hit (likely returned in excess of 4.3 times its cost)
[The Celebration premiered in May (Cannes Film Festival, in competition) and runs 105 minutes. The inspiration for the film was a radio program in which a man told about his experiences coming from an incestuous family. - The man was later revealed to have invented the whole story. Shooting took place in Zealand, Denmark. It was the first film to follow the 1995 Dogme manifesto, which detailed that films should be made according to several rules, barring non-diegetic music, sound editing, elaborate setups and crediting the filmmaker. The film opened #52 to a 50k $ first weekend in 28 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #41, only decreasing in theater number, and grossed 1.6 mil. $. In its production country Denmark the film sold impressive 403k tickets, amassing approximately 4 mil. $. Its performance in other markets is not known. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to two notches harder than this one. The film was Denmark's annual entry for the Oscars, but it was not nominated. It was nominated for a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, won 2/2 Bodil awards (Danish film critics' award), the Jury Prize in Cannes, was nominated for a César award, won 1/3 European Film award nominations, an Independent Spirit award, 7/7 Robert awards (Denmark's Oscar) and many other honors. It has been adapted to the stage. Vinterberg returned with 4 video and TV credits before his theatrical return with little-seen Canadian indie The Third Lie (2000). Thomsen returned in Angel of the Night/Nattens Engel (1998); Larsen in I Wonder Who's Kissing You Now (1998); Moritzen in 4 TV credits before Her i Nærheden (2000); and Dyrholm in A Regular Thing/Kys, Kærlighed og Kroner (1998, short), Taxa (1997-99) and theatrically in In China They Eat Dogs/I Kina Spiser De Hunde (1999). The Celebration is fresh at 92 % with an 8.09/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Celebration?

Farewell to the Ark/さらば箱舟 (Saraba hakobune) (1984) - The next to last film from Japanese surrealist Terayama

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A mysterious, beach-set, surrealist poster for Shûji Terayama's Farewell to the Ark

All the clocks of an entire village are buried. A relationship between two cousins is plagued by the chastity belt forced upon her by her father, along with taunts from the villagers and accusations of impotence, - which lead to homicide. The couple attempt to flee. SPOILER But they invariably return to where they came from, the man loses his mind and is killed.

Farewell to the Ark is written by Rio Kishida (The Boxer/Bokusâ (1977)) and co-writer/director Shûji Terayama (Pastoral Hide and Seek/Den-en ni shisu (1974)) as a loose adaptation of One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967) by Gabriel García Marquez (Of Love and Other Demons (1994)). The film has visually amusing and distinguished qualities; the hole in the ground, the green goddess sequences, the escape and the ending. As well as occasionally poetic observations.
- But overall the magical allegory of Farewell to the Ark is too ambiguous too relay much else than that modernism stinks. Another problem is that this very theatrical, circus-like film drags out.

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertain
[Farewell to the Ark premiered 8 September (Japan) and runs 127 minutes. Details about its making and release are not immediately found. Terayama passed away before its release. It competed for the Palme d'Or at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival. Terayama had one last film to his name, which also came out in 1984: Our Age Comes Riding on a Circus Elephant/Jidai wa sakasu no zo ni notte' 84. 285 IMDb-users have given Farewell to the Ark a 7.3/10 average rating.]

What do you think of Farewell to the Ark?

The Art of Crying/Kunsten at Græde i Kor (2006) - Fog's South Jutland incest drama adaptation is a deeply affecting masterpiece

♥♥♥♥♥♥

+ 3rd Best Movie of the Year
+ Best Danish Movie of the Year + Best Drama of the Year + Best Adaptation of the Year

'When dad is happy he forgets to kill himself' reads the tagline on this ominous Danish poster for Peter Schønau Fog's The Art of Crying

In 11 year-old Allan's family in Southern Jutland, his father Henry regularly gets 'poorly' and has to be 'comforted' by Allan's sister Sanne, while their mother leaves them on sleeping pills. But when funerals hit their small town, Henry gets an occasion to shine; by getting everyone to cry with his eulogies.

The Art of Crying is written by Bo Hr. Hansen (Word of God/Gud Taler Ud (2017)), adapting Erling Jepsen's (Frygtelig Lykkelig (2004)) same-titled, autobiographical 2002 novel, and directed by debuting Danish master filmmaker Peter Schønau Fog (You Disappear/Du Forsvinder (2017)).
It is an exceptional, original, heartbreaking and often awfully funny film, which manages eminently to catch the dilatory cadence of the people and region it takes place in, and their rather chilling gloom, especially as it plays out in Henry's intimate and also overly intimate relationship with death. Dark humor also runs as an invisible current through the flat landscapes and the people that move around in them, and through Jepsen and Hansen's dialog.
The film's superb quality of course also stems from first rate performances all-round: Especially Jesper Asholt's (Truly Human/Et Rigtigt Menneske (2001)) portrayal of the terribly destructive Henry and Jannik Lorenzen (Young at Heart/Ungt Hjerte (2016)) and Julie Kolbeck as his two unlucky children are fiercely real in their deeply moving performances.
The Art of Crying is likely the best Danish film in years.

Related posts:

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

The 2000s in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Watch a short clip from the film here, in which Allan and his milkman father Henry are out on a visit  

Cost: 16.5 mil. DKK, equaling approximately 2.53 mil. $
Box office: 2.2 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 0.86 times the cost)
[The Art of Crying premiered 9 September (Toronto International Film Festival, Canada) and runs 107 minutes. The funding includes 8.2 mil. DKK in state support. The film was the 18th highest-grossing in Denmark in 2007 with 2.2 mil. $ from 228,303 admissions, an impressive number in the small country, but although it was screened at at least 15 festivals and released regularly in a few countries, it hasn't registered foreign grosses (besides 16k $ in Mexico). The film won an AFI award, 2/4 Bodil award nominations (Denmark's film critics' award), the Nordic Council film prize, 8/11 Robert awards (Denmark's Oscar) and many other honors. It was also Denmark's entry for the 2008 Oscars, but it was snubbed. Fog returned with You Disappear/Du Forsvinder (2017). Asholt returned in Temporary Release/Ledsaget Udgang (2007), Lorenzen in April 9th/9. April (2015). 1,996 IMDb users have given The Art of Crying a 7.5/10 average rating.]

What do you think of The Art of Crying?

Labyrinth of Passion/Laberinto de Pasiones (1982) - Sexual mix-ups in screwball Madrileña style

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One telling, humorously ambiguous poster, ripe with sexual innuendo for Pedro Almodovár's Labyrinth of Passion

A female nymphomaniac pop star falls in love with a gay, Middle-Eastern prince.

 

Labyrinth of Passion is written by Terry Lennox (Hungry for You (1996)) and Spanish master filmmaker, co-writer/director Pedro Almodóvar (Folle... Folle... Fólleme Tim! (1978)), whose 3rd feature it is.

It was made at the height of the Movida Madrileña period in Spanish film, near its end: A period of artistic wildness, experiments in sexuality and drugs, frivolity and hedonism coming after Spanish dictator Franco's death in 1975 and before the fatal arrival of AIDS in the 1980s.
The one-line plot outline above is just the main narrative center of the film, which is also about a dry cleaner's daughter, who is raped by her delusional father every other day; a gay terrorist who falls in love with the prince he is supposed to assassinate; a psychotherapist who is mad to make love to an old gynecologist, who loathes sex, until he has sex with his daughter. And a porn star. And a punk band. ...
It sounds chaotic and wild, and it is, and yet somehow it doesn't feel nearly as wild as it sounds. Some of that comes from the fact that all the incest and sex talk in Labyrinth carries no weight or importance with it whatsoever. The way it handles incest is shallow, (some will say offensive), if we need to be honest, and we need to since incest is such a serious issue.
It is all made in a sort of liberated craze, where none of the actions of the characters bear much weight; perhaps because Almodovár here swears to the super-light screwball comedy format, and still wants to throw heavy topics into his film.
In any case, Labyrinth of Passion is not a very good film. It among Almodovár's weakest films that I have seen, and it looks like a bunch of experiments and film-schooling in direction and storytelling that obviously paid off, because Almodovár became so incredibly good at it just a little later on, (his Law of Desire (1987), for instance, is a fantastic film.)
The fun basic idea that the script here reportedly came out of was that Madrid should be seen as the world's most important city; 'a city everyone came to, and where anything could happen.' This locally championing optimism carries some on into the finished film, but Almodovár has also admitted about the film himself: "I like the film even if it could have been better made. The main problem is that the story of the two leads is much less interesting than the stories of all the secondary characters. But precisely because there are so many secondary characters, there's a lot in the film I like."
While Labyrinth of Passion is not funny or smart enough to be a good film, and narratively is something of a jumble, it does feature Antonio Banderas (Law of Desire (1987)) in his second film, (the first, Pestañas Postizas (1982), premiered 8 days before Labyrinth of Passion), among many other Spanish actors, of whom none, however, can be said to really stick out and distinguish themselves in this film. Banderas plays the gay terrorist, who becomes infatuated with the prince he is supposed to help assassinate. With his heightened sense of smell, he tries to find the prince again in Madrid. Banderas is certainly one of the film's mollifying elements.

 

Related posts:

Pedro Almodóvar: 2019 in films - according to Film Excess  

Pain and Glory/Dolor y Gloria (2019) - Almodóvar's 8½ 

I'm So Excited!/Los Amantes Pasajeros (2013) - Almodóvar flees with unfavorable comedy 
The Skin I Live In/La Piel que Habito (2011) or, Almodóvar's Extreme Make-Over
Broken Embraces/Los Abrazos Rotos (2009) or, Mysteries in Love and Life

Talk to Her/Hable con Ella (2002) - Almodóvar's beautiful coma love drama 
Live Flesh/Carne Trémula (1997) or, A Spanish Fix

The Flower of My Secret/La Flor de Mi Secreto (1995) - Paredes star turn in charming Almodóvar work 

High Heels/Tacones Lejanos (1991) - Superficially worthwhile Almodóvar crime melodrama 
Labyrinth of Passion/Laberinto de Pasiones (1982) - Sexual mix-ups in screwball Madrileña style 

 

Watch a clip for the film here

Cost: 21 mil. ESP, approximately 161k $
Box office: 98.6 mil. ESP, approximately 755k $ (Spain only)
= Big hit (returned 4.69 times its cost)

[Labyrinth of Passion premiered 25 September (San Sebastián Film Festivail) and runs 100 minutes. The budget, though small, was more than 3 times that of Almodóvar's preceding film, Pepi, Luci, Bom and Other Girls on the Heap/Pepi, Luci, Bom y Otras Chicas del Montón (1980). Shooting took place in Spain, including in Madrid, co-financed by local cinema chain Alphaville. One of Alphaville's Madrid cinemas kept screening the film at midnight for a decade. The film played solely in Spain until several years later, when it started spreading to more markets, as Almodóvar's star grew. Almodóvar returned with Dark Habits/Entre Tinieblas (1983). Cecilia Roth (El Angel (2018)) returned in Octubre, 12 (1982, short) and theatrically in Best Seller (1982); Imanol Arias (De Sable et de Feu (2019)) in La Colmena (1982); and Banderas in Y del Seguro... Líbranos Señor! (1983). Labyrinth of Passion is fresh at 92 % with a 7.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Labyrinth of Passion?