GreatWorldOfSound Tagged Articles at Cinematical

If I had to think of one moment that summed 2007 up for me as a critic and moviegoer, then that moment came before an early-morning press screening at Cannes. Two film writers were speaking about a film from the day before -- excited, animated, engaged. One of them said "Le Scaphandre et le Papillion?" She then made a hand gesture worth a thousand words, and then exclaimed "Cinema!" And I felt the same way about The Diving Bell and the Butterfly as she did -- that it was a work of pure cinema, using every possible element of film to make a powerful piece of art, one that was engaged with the real world we live in while also existing as a strong, expressive creative work in and of itself. That's worth looking for, at the movies -- and, this year, it was easier than you might think to find it. These, then, are the films that made me exclaim 'Cinema!" in 2007, in no particular order after #1.

1. No Country for Old Men

The best film of the year -- wildly engaging, supremely confident, completely thrilling. Lesser filmmakers would have turned Cormac McCarthy's book into a tedious shoot-'em-up; thanks to Joel and Ethan Coen, we get a pulse-pounding, thought-provoking existential action flick -- a Greek tragedy with shotguns, a story of the American West whose true themes and concerns are eternal. I've seen No Country for Old Men five times now, and I get something new out of it every time -- it's a rich and dense work that also has sugar-rush surface-level pleasures. With three of the best male performances of the year (Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones and Javier Bardem) and a tone that somehow both fulfills and thwarts what we expect from the movies, No Country for Old Men may be the Coen's masterpiece.

IFP's 17th annual Gotham Awards were held Tuesday night in Brooklyn, honoring the best in independent film for 2007. With only six categories, the Gothams seem like a pretty reasonable alternative to the bloated spectacles of certain other award ceremonies I could name.

Sean Penn's Into the Wild (pictured) took Best Picture honors, beating out Great World of Sound, I'm Not There, Margot at the Wedding, and The Namesake. Michael Moore's healthcare exposé Sicko won Best Documentary, up against The Devil Came on Horseback, Jimmy Carter: Man from Plains, My Kid Could Paint That, and Taxi to the Dark Side.

Since this is the first awards event of the season, a victory here could be seen as a good sign for the Golden Globes and Oscars. Sicko was probably a shoo-in for an Oscar nod anyway, but Into the Wild definitely needed the boost, since the field of excellent films this year is especially crowded.

The Best Ensemble Cast category had some heavyweights -- Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, The Last Winter, Margot at the Wedding, The Savages, and Talk to Me -- and apparently the juries couldn't choose, because Before the Devil and Talk to Me shared the award.

Craig Zobel was named Breakthrough Director for his music-biz satire Great World of Sound, which had more nominations (three) than any other film. Juno's Ellen Page took the Breakthrough Actor award.

The sixth category is my personal favorite: Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You, honoring a flick that's been well-received at festivals but that hasn't gotten distribution yet. The winner was Frownland, Ronald Bronstein's dyspeptic do-it-yourself quasi-comedy about a neurotic, stammering mess of a man. I saw it at South By Southwest and loathed every frame of it; others have adored it. It's that kind of movie.

The Hollywood Reporter has more details on the ceremony itself, which also included tributes to Roger Ebert, director Mira Nair, actor Javier Bardem, production designer Mark Friedberg, IFC Center founder Jonathan Sehring, and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The ceremony will be broadcast on NYC TV and The Documentary Channel on Dec. 4 and 8.

Ah, the wonderful, tasty gobble of a turkey -- brined birds and sausage stuffing have helped to make Thanksgiving one of my favorite holidays, due to its delicious, gluttonous ways. I wish I could tell you that this indie flick is going to be a rousing film to watch after the bustle of Thanksgiving football, but it looks like this is just a political turkey. The Hollywood Reporter has posted that Plum Pictures has signed on for Craig Zobel's Turkey in the Straw, which he co-wrote with Barlow Jacobs and will direct.

Turkey is a black comedy set in the South, but instead of focusing on Paula's home cooking and strange marshmallow, yams, and coconut balls, it's about "a race for county commissioner in a small town that takes an unexpected turn when one candidate shoots the other." I'll be completely on-board with this if they take the Zell Miller route and demand a duel, because sometimes there's nothing funnier than a little taste of reality to instigate the fiction. Whatever the case, production is set to begin in early 2008 in South Carolina.

This film was picked up by Plum the same day that Zobel's last film, a music satire called Great World of Sound, nabbed three Gotham nominations. Considering the fact that it already won the three other awards that it has been nominated for, methinks we'll be hearing a lot more about Zobel, Sound, and this Southern Turkey in the future. But you might have already seen his work -- he's one of the Homestar Runner guys, and invented Strong Sad and Pom Pom.