Tag: The Central Park Five

Off The Red Carpet: Week of 11/28 – 12/5

I was tempted to just post this article on Tuesday, because this week has been HUGE for Oscar news. Three categories shortlisted and the first of the critics’ awards dropped; that’s a lot to cover.

New York Film Critics Circle Announce 2012 Awards

I wrote more on the Oscar chances for all of these movies now that the NYFCC has had their say at a new blog called The Artifice. Just know that “Zero Dark Thirty” is now the movie to beat, McConaughey and Weisz have earned a new life, and “The Master” is facing an increasingly uphill battle at a nomination. (via nyfcc.com) UPDATE: Turns out the movies that do not appear on this list didn’t do as badly as everyone expected. The NYFCC has a complicated ballot voting system to determine winners in each category, and this year just about every category was taken to multiple rounds of voting to determine a consensus, proving that 2012 has a wide array of great movies with supporters in every camp. In fact, “Lincoln,” which performed so handsomely here, actually placed fourth on the overall ballot for Best Picture, behind “The Master” and “Moonrise Kingdom.” (via J. Hoberman)

Best Picture: Zero Dark Thirty

Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow – Zero Dark Thirty

Best Screenplay: Tony Kushner – Lincoln

Best Actress: Rachel Weisz – The Deep Blue Sea

Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln

Best Supporting Actress: Sally Field – Lincoln

Best Supporting Actor: Matthew McConaughey – Bernie, Magic Mike

Best Cinematographer: Greig Fraser – Zero Dark Thirty

Best Animated Film: Frankenweenie

Best Non-Fiction Film: The Central Park Five

Best Foreign Film: Amour

Best First Film: David France – How to Survive a Plague

searching-for-sugar-man-main

Documentary Feature category shortlisted

Maybe normal people think it’s crazy that documentaries, of all things, could make some movie buffs so up in arms. And yet that is the case every year when the Documentary Branch of the Academy announces their shortlist. Now granted, last year these people snubbed Werner Herzog, Errol Morris and Steve James, so it was unlikely there was going to be even greater fervor this year. But, despite me having seen only a handful, the number of films I’ve heard of on this list of 15 and the number still absent speak to how great a year it’s been for documentaries. All this despite the branch’s head Michael Moore instating new rules, such as the requirement to get your movie screened in New York and L.A. and reviewed by The New York Times. Here’s the list: (via Oscars.com)

“Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry”

“Bully”

“Chasing Ice”

“Detropia”

“Ethel”

“5 Broken Cameras”

“The Gatekeepers”

“The House I Live In”

“How to Survive a Plague”

“The Imposter”

“The Invisible War”

“Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God”

“Searching for Sugar Man”

“This is Not a Film”

“The Waiting Room”

So missing from this list is “The Central Park Five,” which if you were paying attention above just won the NYFCC honors, “West of Memphis,” “The Queen of Versailles,” “Paul Williams Still Alive,” “Marley,” “Jiro Dreams of Sushi,” “Samsara” and “Marina Ambrovic: The Artist is Present,” which, admittedly, could be a short list all its own. This list of 15 could be a lot worse than it is, and the few that have been snubbed won’t have any trouble getting seen. This is me trying to not get too angry.

SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN

Visual Effects category shortlisted

The Academy announced on Thursday the list of 10 potential nominees in the Visual Effects category. The full list is below: (via Oscars.com)

“The Amazing Spider-Man”
“Cloud Atlas”
“The Dark Knight Rises”
“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”
“John Carter”
“Life of Pi”
“Marvel’s The Avengers”
“Prometheus”
“Skyfall”
“Snow White and the Huntsman”

You’ll immediately notice the snub of “The Impossible,” which has an unbelievably lifelike depiction of a tsunami hitting Thailand. My guess is that “The Impossible’s” sequence, while dazzling, is just a small part of an otherwise effects free movie, thus paving the way instead for these 10 gargantuan Hollywood blockbusters. “Snow White,” “John Carter” and “Spider-Man” may all be surprises, but more pleasant surprises would’ve been something like “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” “The Grey,” “The Cabin in the Woods,” “Looper,” “Flight” or even “Chronicle” from way back in February.

Best Live Action Short Film Category shortlisted

This may come as a shock, but the Live Action short category is actually news! The news here is that the shortlist has a record 11 films on it due to a tie in the voting. That won’t mean any more or less nominees, still anywhere from three to five, but it’s something. The only names you’ll recognize however are Ron and Bryce Dallas Howard for their short film “when you find me.” Good luck seeing any of these. (via Oscars.com)

“A Fábrica (The Factory),” Aly Muritiba, director (Grafo Audiovisual)

“Asad,” Bryan Buckley, director, and Mino Jarjoura, producer (Hungry Man)

“Buzkashi Boys,” Sam French, director, and Ariel Nasr, producer (Afghan Film Project)

“Curfew,” Shawn Christensen, director (Fuzzy Logic Pictures)

“Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw),” Tom Van Avermaet, director, and Ellen De Waele, producer (Serendipity Films)

“Henry,” Yan England, director (Yan England)

“Kiruna-Kigali,” Goran Kapetanovic, director (Hepp Film AB)

“The Night Shift Belongs to the Stars,” Silvia Bizio and Paola Porrini Bisson, producers (Oh! Pen LLC)

“9meter,” Anders Walther, director, and Tivi Magnusson, producer (M & M Productions A/S)

“Salar,” Nicholas Greene, director, and Julie Buck, producer (Nicholas Greene)

“when you find me,” Ron Howard, executive producer, and Bryce Dallas Howard, director (Freestyle Picture Company)

“Amour” sweeps European Film Awards

It isn’t so often a Palme D’Or winner can actually devour every other award its up for. “Amour” won Best European Picture, Director for Michael Haneke, Actor for Jean-Louis Trintignant and Actress for Emmanuelle Riva. That’s why this is increasingly looking like an even bigger Oscar contender than some are predicting. For what it’s worth, Haneke has already won Best Director for both “The White Ribbon” and “Cache.” (via Indiewire)

Week 7 Predictions Continue reading “Off The Red Carpet: Week of 11/28 – 12/5”

CIFF Review: The Central Park Five

In 1989 five black teenage boys were convicted of raping a white woman while she was jogging at night in Central Park in New York. Their trial achieved national attention, and the boys were put in jail for the maximum time allowed to juvenile offenders. But the case was a farce, the boys were innocent, and in 2001, a man came forward and admitted his guilt. The boys, now grown, have since been cleared of all charges, but the state of New York has not recognized their own wrong doing by way of compensation.

The documentary “The Central Park Five” does so much more than exonerate these five people. It holds a scathing light up to our system of justice and our society.

“The Central Park Five” screened Sunday at the Chicago International Film Festival and was followed by a brief Q&A with the directors Sarah Burns and David McMahon, as well as one of the five subjects involved in the case, Raymond Santana. The three of them explained how they are still fighting, how this film has prompted New York State to subpoena the film’s footage to further prolong the Five’s deserved trial and how this film must be seen to allow society to reconsider their human nature. The film opens in Chicago in December at the Music Box.

The film starts by animating 1980s New York, a place filled with rampant racism and crime, with the same anger and frustration as “Do the Right Thing.” Hatred, death, violence and drugs were a part of daily life. “We were supposed to be afraid,” one historian says. “It would’ve been irrational to not be.”

In this town, society had dictated unspoken safe havens. Central Park was one of them. For this to have happened there changed the realm of our mental security, and society needed a way to rationalize this intrusion.

We assigned a label to the crime, “Wilding,” to help define this act of aggression. We diverted to defensive instincts, calling for the Death Penalty and demanding revenge in the way we did in the time of Jim Crow laws. We ignored evidence and rationality because we so believed in our outrage. This was not a war for justice but a fight for our subconscious peace of mind.

Directors Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon make a point to recreate all the details of the case with vivid accuracy. By splicing together and even repeating similar points by each of the five men interviewed, we get a broad picture of the events of those days, one even more stirring thanks to the metaphorical images on display here.

It shows how the police interrogation system is flawed. It shows how the news media behaved with massive oversight. It shows how a parole board can doom the innocent.

But more importantly, “The Central Park Five” gets at the human nature that caused these kids to condemn themselves, that caused society to persecute them with vitriol and that still prevents the police force from admitting their wrong doing.

For all these people, they too were acting out of defense and confusion. They confessed because they were told it would help. They just wanted to go home. They had no clue of the severity of their actions. After full days of interrogation, they caved. They admitted to something they did not believe in because the broader society did. The culture has enabled an inability for them to succeed.

One kid, Korey Wise, displayed the worst case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. When the cops came for his friend Yusef Salaam, they said his own name was not on the list, but he could come down to the precinct if he wanted to stay with his friend. Because he was 16, he got upwards of 25 years in prison.

When the film turns to the trial, it speaks to Juror #5. He kept the jury sequestered for days because he didn’t believe their guilt with a lack of hard evidence. Eventually he too caved under the pressure of the other jurors who had enough in seeing the video confessions. He just wanted to go home.

Upon seeing this film I questioned my own actions. When was I so convinced of something that I called for blood? What did I miss and could not be told out of my own rage? For me to say the cops should now be held responsible misses the film’s point, that we look for an easy villain, a scapegoat, to put our own mind at ease. Justice is more complex than that.

It’s hard to call “The Central Park Five” inspirational. I left the film vindicated at the Five’s freedom, but broken at the sight of our oppressive culture.

4 stars