Enrique

On June 24th, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced some momentous news about next year's Oscars--there will be 10 nominees for Best Picture, instead of the usual 5. This is probably the biggest embarkment the Academy has taken since the inception of the supporting actor/actress awards in 1936. "After more than six decades, the Academy is returning to some of its earlier roots, when a wider field competed for the top award of the year," said President Sid Ganis. "The final outcome, of course, will be the same – one Best Picture winner – but the race to the finish line will feature 10, not just five, great movies from 2009." This was clearly done in response to much debate concerning the exclusion of certain genres of films, such as animated features and action/adventure films, namely "WALL-E" and "The Dark Knight". The Academy's decision opens the doors for more movies to vie for the ultimate honor of being named Best Picture of the Year. The following films, in no particular order, are my Top 10 picks for Best Picture, for your consideration:

1. Nine

Directed by Rob Marshall
Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, Judi Dench, Sophia Loren, Kate Hudson, and Stacey Ferguson

"A vibrant and provocative musical that follows the life of world famous film director Guido Contini (Day-Lewis) as he reaches a creative and personal crisis of epic proportion, while balancing the numerous women in his life including his wife (Cotillard), his mistress (Cruz), his film star muse (Kidman), his confidant and costume designer (Dench), an American fashion journalist (Hudson), the whore from his youth (Ferguson) and his mother (Loren). The original 1982 Broadway production of “NINE,” with music and lyrics by Maury Yeston, won five Tony Awards including Best Musical." -The Weinstein Company

2. Invictus

Directed By Clint Eastwood
Starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon

Based on John Carlin's book "Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Changed a Nation". "The inspiring true story of how Nelson Mandela (Freeman) joined forces with the captain of South Africa's rugby team (Damon) to help unite their country. Newly elected President Mandela knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallies South Africa's underdog rugby team as they make an unlikely run to the 1995 World Cup Championship match." -IGN

3. A Serious Man

Directed by Joel & Ethan Coen
Staring Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Sari Wagner Lennick, Fred Melamed, Aaron Wolff, and Jessica McManus

"The story of an ordinary man’s search for clarity in a universe where Jefferson Airplane is on the radio and F-Troop is on TV. It is 1967, and Larry Gopnik (Stuhlbarg), a physics professor at a quiet Midwestern university, has just been informed by his wife Judith (Lennick) that she is leaving him. She has fallen in love with one of his more pompous acquaintances, Sy Ableman (Melamed), who seems to her a more substantial person than the feckless Larry. Larry’s unemployable brother Arthur (Kind) is sleeping on the couch, his son Danny (Wolff) is a discipline problem and a shirker at Hebrew school, and his daughter Sarah (McManus) is filching money from his wallet in order to save up for a nose job." -Focus Features

4. Up In The Air

Directed by Jason Reitman
Staring George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, and Anna Kendrick

"From Jason Reitman, the Oscar nominated director of “Juno,” comes this dramatic comedy starring Oscar winner George Clooney as Ryan Bingham, a corporate downsizing expert whose cherished life on the road is threatened just as he is on the cusp of reaching ten million frequent flyer miles and after he’s met the frequent-traveler woman of his dreams (Farmiga)." -Paramount Pictures

5. An Education

Directed by Lone Scherfig
Staring Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, Rosamund Pike, Dominic Cooper, Olivia Williams, and Emma Thompson

"Written by Nick Hornby, An Education is the story of a young girl's choice between Oxford and the university of life. Sixteen and gifted, Jenny (Mulligan) is destined for Oxford. Her parents' own dreams of fulfilment are built on Jenny's success. However, her eyes are opened to a world of glamorous possibility beyond the boundaries of suburbia when she meets the considerably older, distinctly urbane, David (Sarsgaard)." -BBC Films

6. Precious

Directed by Lee Daniels
Staring Gabourey Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Mariah Carey, Paula Patton, and Lenny Kravitz

Already won the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize for Best Drama at the Sundance Film Festival this past January. "Set in Harlem in 1987, it is the story of Claireece "Precious" Jones (Sidibe), a sixteen-year-old African-American girl born into a life no one would want. She's pregnant for the second time by her absent father; at home, she must wait hand and foot on her mother (Mo'Nique), a poisonously angry woman who abuses her emotionally and physically. School is a place of chaos, and Precious has reached the ninth grade with good marks and an awful secret: she can neither read nor write." -Lionsgate

7. The Hurt Locker

Directed by Kathryn Bigelow
Staring Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, and Brian Geraghty

"Three members of the Army's elite Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) squad battle insurgents and each other as they search for and disarm a wave of roadside bombs on the streets of Baghdad-in order to try and make the city a safer place for Iraqis and Americans alike. Their mission is clear-protect and save-but it's anything but easy, as the margin of error when defusing a war-zone bomb is zero. This thrilling and heart-pounding look at the effects of combat and danger on the human psyche is based on the first-hand observations of journalist and screenwriter Mark Boal, who was embedded with a special bomb unit in Iraq. These men spoke of explosions as putting you in "the hurt locker"." -Summit Entertainment

8. Bright Star

Directed by Jane Campion
Staring Ben Whishaw, Abbie Cornish, Paul Schneider, Kerry Fox, and Thomas Sangster

"London 1818: a secret love affair begins between 23 year old English poet, john Keats, and the girl next door, Fanny Brawne, an out-spoken student of high fashion. This unlikely pair began at odds, he thinking her a stylish minx, while she was unimpressed not only by his poetry but also by literature in general. However, when Fanny heard that Keats was nursing his seriously ill younger brother, her efforts to help touched Keats and when she asked him to teach her about poetry he agreed. The poetry soon became a romantic remedy that worked not only to sort their differences but also to fuel an impressioned love affair." -Pathé Distribution

9. The Lovely Bones

Directed by Peter Jackson
Staring Saoirse Ronan, Rachel Weisz, Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, and Susan Sarandon

"Based on the critically acclaimed best-selling novel by Alice Sebold, and directed by Oscar winner Peter Jackson from a screenplay by Jackson, Fran Walsh & Philippa Boyens, The Lovely Bones centers on a young girl (Ronan) who has been murdered and watches over her family and her killer (Tucci) from heaven. She must weigh her desire for vengeance against her desire for her family to heal." -DreamWorks Pictures

10. Up

Directed by Pete Doctor & Bob Peterson
Staring Edward Asner, Christopher Plummer and Jordan Nagai

From the Academy Award-nominated team of director Pete Docter (Monsters, Inc.) and co-director Bob Peterson comes Up, a comedic adventure taking off and lifting spirits. Carl Fredricksen spent his entire life dreaming of exploring the globe and experiencing life to its fullest. But at age 78, life seems to have passed him by, until a twist of fate, and a persistent 8-year old Wilderness Explorer named Russell, gives him a new lease on life. Up takes audiences on a thrilling journey where the unlikely pair encounter wild terrain, unexpected villains and jungle creatures. When seeking adventure - look Up.

The Short List:

1. Nine
2. Invictus
3. A Serious Man
4. Up In The Air
5. An Education
6. Precious
7. The Hurt Locker
8. Bright Star
9. The Lovely Bones
10. Up

"Having 10 Best Picture nominees is going to allow Academy voters to recognize and include some of the fantastic movies that often show up in the other Oscar categories, but have been squeezed out of the race for the top prize," commented Ganis. "I can’t wait to see what that list of ten looks like when the nominees are announced in February."

This film has renewed my belief that Hollywood can indeed capture the essence of romance. Academy Award winner Jane Campion has returned in full force with this remarkably poignant tale about renowned poet John Keats and the love that inspired his work & enticed his life. In the same fashion as her acclaimed film The Piano, Campion brings about a subtle melancholy mood that is subdued only by the strength of the actors on screen. With a relatively unknown cast, the audience is drawn in not by glamor or popularity but by the performances themselves. Such seems to be the trend with many the actor under Campion's direction, including Holly Hunter, Anna Paquin, and Nicole Kidman to name a few. And once again, she has created a masterpiece of character driven storytelling with Bright Star.

The film opens in Hampstead Village with our heroine Fanny Brawne, played by Abbie Cornish, tailoring her latest ensemble. We quickly learn that Miss Brawne is a seasoned fashion designer who takes much pride in both her work and her opinions. In a time when women did not have conventional jobs, it is peculiar to see that Fanny actually makes a living as a designer. Her father is seemingly no longer alive and she has two younger siblings. So her vocation does lend to the idea that her family is not incredibly well-off and therefore her income is a great asset to her kin. Cornish creates a character that is both passionate and lamentable. As her feelings for Mr. Keats develop, we can slowly see Fanny's vulnerability unravel and her very existence becomes focal upon her relationship. The range of emotions that Cornish portrays is astounding. Campion comments that "Abbie's portrayal of Fanny is transcendent; this performance puts her in a category with the top actors of her generation." I predict that Cornish will easily garnish an Oscar nomination for this role and undoubtedly will now be at the forefront of the public's attention.

Films about poets in general have not been very good recants of their actual biographies. More often than not, such scripts are tailored in a way that focuses too much on their actual lives. Like in the film Sylvia, Gwyneth Paltrow seeks to create a dismal recantation of Sylvia Plath's love life but fails to effectively parallel it to her writing. This is not what Campion achieves in Bright Star. Because she wrote the screenplay herself, as is her creative tendency, she probably knew exactly the story she was looking to tell. Keats had left behind a detailed account of his relationship with Fanny Brawne in the numerous letters he wrote to her and to her sister. Campion clearly paid very close attention to the details of his correspondences and as a result we see how Keats loved and how it reflected upon his work. Though often subtle, Keats' poems are laced throughout the film so methodically it's almost artful. There is an elegant recital of Keats' poem "Ode to the Nightingale" in the closing scene that kept the audience glued to their seats long after the credits started to role.

This quintessence of legendary English poet John Keats is captured in whole by Ben Whishaw. He conceives a man who is both burdened by his failures and idealistic in his ambitions. You can see the sentiment of concern in Keats' eyes when he speaks of those most dear to him, namely his brother Tom and later Fanny. He uses an indirect modesty to recant how life has brought him to Hampstead. He curses his circumstances without being ungrateful to his companion Mr. Charles Armitage Brown, played by Paul Schneider, even though it is clear that he has not profited from his pen. Today, John Keats is considered to be the father of the Romantic movement, but he did not live to see such adoration or success. His dire financial restraints hinder not only his livelihood but ultimately prohibit him form marrying Fanny. The two seemed to be star crossed lovers from the get go who have everything and everyone against them.

Mister Browne establishes himself very early on as a foe to Fanny. Schneider fosters a range of emotions as Keats' best friend and sustains himself to be an annoyance for most of the film. He outright almost sabotages his friend by sending Fanny a Valentine message, proclaiming he is merely playing her "game". But he too inevitably faces his own predicaments with love and finds himself forced to make sacrifices of his own that he had not anticipated. Unfortunately, this directly impacts Keats. And their relationship is suspended as each man struggles with their own predicaments of love. Although Browne often overlooks his mate's personal sentiments, he always meant him well. Perhaps one of the most emotional monologues in the film is when Browne comes to the devastating realization of just what Keats means to him, "I failed John Keats! I failed John Keats! I did not know how tightly he had wound himself around my heart!"

On a cinematic level, Campion creates a vividly lush film that compliments the emotional situations of the characters. There are wonderfully resounding scenes set against open fields of purple flowers and the many splendors of the forest. This is a London that does not exist today, as much of that countryside has long since been developed. There are creative shots of Keats atop a tree reveling in his feelings and off-centered closeups of many an innate object, such as a key worn on a necklace or a detailed cross stitch threading, each capture the moment perfectly. There are numerous other symbolic images of Fanny and John's relationship made throughout the film: the Wall that divides their bedrooms in their adjacent houses, the Cat who fills a void while Fanny is separated from her love, and the Butterfly that transforms from a caterpillar with new found means of freedom.

In Bright Star, we find ourselves in the midst of a truly great romantic film where the simplicity of poetry and passion carry us all the way through to the very end. The acting is utterly superb and I expect that Ben Whishaw, Abbie Cornish and Paul Schneider will all receive recognition come awards season. Once again, director Jane Campion has written a script about human desire and emotional circumstance and created a film that surpasses the predictability of other period films of its kind. Her movie captures the force behind John Keats' greatest works and we can now put a face to the lyrics in many of his poems. "Where Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes, Or new Love pine at them beyond to-morrow." So too does Jane Campion's film Bright Star. 

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Bottom Line: An extraordinary biopic of love & passion. Go see it in the theaters!