The New York premiere of Black Swan was held last night at the Ziegfeld which is the theater for premiere's here in Manhattan. I have so many fond memories of the place. All the stars were in attendance including Darren Aronofsky, Vincent Cassell and Barbara Hershey. Plus the deliciously dark rival ballerinas Mila, Natalie and Noni.
I think it goes without saying but I'll say it: Winona Ryder is still one of the most beautiful women on the planet. Those eyes. That coloring. Gah.
Why Noni is wearing a tux we can't be sure but we love that she did. Why Aronofsky refuses to shave that Flynn mustache we can't be sure but we wish he would. Why Natalie is carrying around Nabokov's Lolita* we... wait, what?
There's got to be a story there. I hope it does not involve obsessive fans of The Professional.
*Okay, it's apparently a clutch by Olympia Le Tan - thx Dom - fashioned as a replica of the literary classic. The replica costs only $1,321.00more than the real thing. But can the real thing hold your lipstick, keys and money?
The Golden Horse Awards were held last night. They're often thought of as the Chinese Oscars because the tradition goes back the furthest and honors a wide pool of Chinese language films from multiple countries (China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, etcetera). Though neither Monga, Taiwan's submission for Oscar's Foreign Language Film competition, nor Aftershock (China's submission), were nominated for Best Picture they both had multiple nominations .
Monga, a popular youth crime drama we've mentioned before,won Best Actor for 28 year old Ethan Ruan (left), who amusingly brought a cardboard cutout of his co-star who was not nominated. And yes he brought the cutout with him onstage when he won. He said...
Woo! Sorry, I brought my buddy along. [mimicing his co-star] 'Hi everyone. I'm Mark Chao'
...to big laughs from the crowd.
Here's the Best Actor presentation. The clips begin at 2:25 after Li BingBing and Tony Leung Ka Fai (yes, the other Tony Leung) are done with their banter. Oh, awards-show banter... you are truly the universal language.
In case you're wondering about that gayish clip in the reel, that's the Cannes prize winner Spring Fever which is from China but was banned there so it's major release was in Taiwan. It won three awards. You can see the film instantly on Netflix.
But back to Monga... look how surprised Ethan is by his win! Sweet.
Leading Actor Nominees from left to right: Ni Dahong (Judge), Hao Qin (Spring Fever), Xueqi Wang (Bodyguards and Assassins) and Ethan Ruan.
In his acceptance speech he says that he joined the business with the hopes that he'd win this prize in 20 years time. He didn't have to wait that long. His movie career has barely begun.
Complete list of 2010 Golden Horse Winners
<--- PICTURE When Love Comes
[Please note: When Love Comes, which had 13 nominations (!) was released after the Oscar submission deadline for Best Foreign Film. It's possible we'll see When Love Comes as Taiwan's Oscar submission in 2011.]
OUTSTANDING TAIWANESE FILM The Fourth Portrait
DIRECTOR Chung Mong-Hong, The Fourth Portrait
OUTSTANDING TAIWANESE FILMMAKER Lee Lieh, Monga
[Please note: I'm not sure why Taiwan gets extra special treatment but they really cleaned up in the awards since When Love Comes, The Fourth Portrait and Monga are all from Taiwan.]
NEW DIRECTOR Ho Wi Ding, Pinoy Sunday
ACTOR Ethan Ruan, Monga
ACTRESS Lu Li-Ping, City Monkey
SUPPORTING ACTOR Pen-Fon Wu, Seven Days in Heaven
SUPPORTING ACTRESS Lei Hao, The Fourth Portrait
SCREENPLAY Liu Jie & Gao Shan, Judge
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Essay Liu, Seven Days in Heaven
ART DIRECTION Peng Weimin, When Love Comes
CINEMATOGRAPHY Chang Chan, When Love Comes
EDITING Robin Weng, Jian Zeng, Florence Bresson, Spring Fever
MAKE-UP & COSTUME DESIGN Dora Ng, Bodyguards and Assassins
[Note: How strange is it that these categories are combined?]
VISUAL EFFECTS Yong-Gi Lee, Xiang Yu Nan, Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame
[Note: As an outsider I'm kind of surprised that the Chinese Oscar submission Aftershock did not win this battle since it's such a mammoth hit overseas.]
FILM SCORE Peyman Yazdanian, Spring Fever
ORIGINAL SONG Summer Lei "Taipei Exhcanges," from Taipei Exchanges
SOUND EFFECTS Duu Chih Tu, Monga
ACTION CHOREOGRAPHY Sammo Hung, Ip Man 2
NEW PERFORMER Chien Na-Lee, Juliets
DOCUMENTARY Hip-Hop Storm
SHORT FILM Magabahai
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT Hsu Li-Kong
SPECIAL CONTRIBUTION Sun Yueh
Red Carpet Lineup Some memorable outfits. You have to go there if you're talking awards shows. It's the law.
To your left is 30 year old star actor Nicholas Tse (nominated for supporting actor for Gods and Assassins) who came to the awards show without a shirt underneath his suit. To your right are the evening's hosts, who know from fashion statements, and didn't let the audience forget he wasn't wearing one.
Left: Lu Li-Ping (City Monkey) who won Best Actress. Apparently the local fashion police were not pleased with her outfit, comparing it unfavorably to seafood (?). I guess I can see the undulating clam motif?; Right: Jingchu Zhang who was nominated for the disaster drama Aftershock.
From left to right: acclaimed actress Kara Hui (a winner last year at multiple ceremonies for At the End of Daybreak); Sandee Chan (those half gloves always remind me of Lady Gaga now) is a musician and performer who was nominated for composing the score for Monga. TFE reader Tony (who helped me immensely with this posts - thanks!) tells me her score is brilliant; and Chiling Lin who some people called "Best Dressed" for the evening (she's wearingValentino). If she looks familiar to you that's because she was recently the plot-turning obsessively tea-making wife of Tony Leung Chiu Wai in last year's lengthy action epic Red Cliff.
That's all for now. Even if you don't know the films do you like the awards show reportage from far away lands? If you speak Chinese and are more familiar, do you think the deserving players won? *
Toronto kicked off last night but before we get to our coverage there -- we'll be hearing from the same folks who covered Toronto for The Film Experience last year -- Venice is starting to wrap up. Awards will be announced before you know it.
The most 'Hollywood' Venice premiere was probably The Town which brought out the happy familiar faces of Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm and last year's Best Actor nominee Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker).
Is it just me or is it always a bit odd to see Jon Hamm smiling? He's smiling so much lately and with that career you'd be smiling too. But it's so UnDraper! These townies had prophetic reason to be happy. Reviews were kind. Here's a sampling:
Cinema Blend "bigger by nearly every measure" [than Gone Baby Gone]
Newsweek "Affleck’s heist movie is part of a career turnaround so amazing that he looks like the new Clint Eastwood"
One of the most exciting things for cinephiles about film festivals is that they tend to be more auteur-focused than any other movie event.
Tykwer, Miike, Ozon and Guadagino
Tom Tykwer was promoting his latest Drei, a film about a bisexual love triangle between a long time couple and the man they both fall for (unbeknownst to each other). Obsessed With Film called it "punchy and inventive" but wasn't completely bowled over. Tykwer has yet to recapture the type of international enthusiasm that greeted his breakthrough Run Lola Run (1998) but every few years or so we get another good looking movie like Perfume or The International. Takashi Miike makes a new movie as often as I write a blog post. At least it seems that way. He's twice or thrice as prolific as Woody Allen. The man behind violent sensations like Audition and Ichi the Killer (and many others with less staying power) was premiering 13 Assassins.
François Ozon is one of the best directors of eye candy movies in the world with a gorgeous filmography that includes 8 Women, Water Drops on Burning Rocks and 5x2 among other gems. He's also sweet to look at offscreen. I'm just saying. The gay auteur was in Venice to premiere Potiche, his latest confection starring a starry buffet for hungry francophiles: Catherine Deneuve, Karin Viard, Sergi Lopez, Gerard Depardieu, Judith Godreche among others. Yum yum. Ultimate Addict was totally entertained citing its "snappy, hilarious dialogue" and calling Deneuve "a joy to watch" though you can cut and paste that description into every Deneuve review, n'est-ce pas?
Luca Guadagnino, Tilda's I Am Love director was also in town. He's on Tarantino's competition jury. I include him because I am nuts for I Am Love and his proposed Auntie Mame remake with Tilda in the lead is the greatest movie ever made that doesn't actually exist yet. Ohmygod I want to see that like three years ago. Please make it. If only I were a multi-millionaire and could fund the project myself. This is why I should have been born rich instead of poor. I could have supported so many worthwhile creative endeavors. (Sigh)
Michelle, Tilda, Paz and the immortal Deneuve
But we mustn't forget the actresses beautifying the red carpet.
Michelle Williams is sharing a closet with Carey Mulligan? They're like twin pixie fashionistas. Michelle was in town for her role as Kelly Reichardt's (Wendy & Lucy) main muse, this time in the western Meek's Cutoff.
Time Out London "just as rich, nuanced, mysterious and low key as anything she's made."
Guardian "far from action packed, but still gripping."
Tilda Swinton appears magically wherever there are A list festivals. It's a rule of the cinema nature ...a benevolent one, too.
Paz Vega. Remember her? Would Spanglish jog your memory or have you tried to forget it? She's in town with the Italian drama Vallanzasca.
Anyway... we could do this all day. But the question is now who will take the prizes from Tarantino's jury? Guy Lodge has predictions. Will Natalie Portman's psycho ballerina win her the Best Actress prize? Will a non-English language picture rise to the top, forcing the media to note that not all movies are from Hollywood? Venice pulls the curtains closed tomorrow.
