Tag: The Sessions

Off the Red Carpet: Week 3 (10/17 – 10/24)

Three weeks have passed since I started this column, we’re 18 weeks away, and I’ve seen yet another two major contenders thanks to the Chicago International Film Festival (I might’ve seen three if not for CIFF’s awful secret screening selection), “The Sessions” and “Silver Linings Playbook.”

“Silver Linings” is exactly the kind of film that could take Best Picture and sweep some of the acting awards if I didn’t think “The Master” could absolutely dominate in the acting branch, and that’s because it’s a crowd pleasing romantic comedy with a lot of depth and poignancy about disabilities. It’s more about disabilities than even “The Sessions,” which just uses its problem as a plot device. If it did, it would probably be the first straight rom-com to win since “Annie Hall.”

But this was a busy week elsewhere, so let’s get down to it.

Joaquin Phoenix calls Oscar season “bullshit,” heads explode amongst people who care about this stuff

Sometimes I’m really disappointed by the media. They have a habit of making a story out of nothing because when one person reports it, everyone else has to spread it around. Joaquin Phoenix said in a terrific interview with Elvis Mitchell for Interview magazine that he thought the whole act of campaigning and comparing people’s performances is “total, utter bullshit.” “It’s a carrot, but it’s the worst tasting carrot I’ve ever tasted in my whole life. I don’t want this carrot.”

That quote alone should give a sense of how batshit crazy and awesome the rest of the interview actually is, but pundits decided to pick out this quote and make a big deal about it, some claiming that he now doesn’t stand a chance at even a nomination.

Well, he’s too good in “The Master” for that. This wouldn’t be the first time someone has put down the Oscars and completely opted out of coming to the ceremony and still won (see: Woody Allen, for one). It’s clear that after two losses (“Gladiator,” “Walk the Line”) he’s tired of the posturing and is seeking a different kind of truth in his performances. So everyone can just calm down. (via Entertainment Weekly and Interview Magazine)

Gotham Award Nominations Announced

The Gotham Awards are significant because they’re the first batch of nominations in this long, long, long awards season. They recognize indie films that would otherwise need a boost amongst the studio fare, and this year they’ve helped put “Moonrise Kingdom” and “Beasts of the Southern Wild” back into the conversation. “Beasts” didn’t score a Best Feature nod, opting instead for the lesser known “The Loneliest Planet” and “Middle of Nowhere,” but director Benh Zeitlin scored a nomination and could make some surprise waves come Oscar time. Also in the fray is Richard Linklater’s “Bernie.” There is a small but vigorous campaign to get Jack Black nominated for an Oscar, and this is his first step in that direction. (via In Contention)

George Clooney could be first to be nominated in six Oscar categories

Guy Lodge of In Contention observed in a case of severe data overload that if “Argo” is nominated for Best Picture, producer George Clooney would be the first person to ever be nominated in six separate categories, Best Picture (“Argo”), Best Adapted Screenplay (“The Ides of March”), Best Director and Original Screenplay (“Good Night, and Good Luck”), Best Actor (“Michael Clayton, “Up in the Air,” “The Descendants”) and the category he won for, Best Supporting Actor (“Syriana”). Does Clooney sing? Maybe we can get him nominated for Best Original Song next year. (via In Contention)

“Holy Motors” and “After Lucia” take top prizes at CIFF

CIFF doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of the awards season, but I was there to enjoy it, and for “Holy Motors” to win its first major prize, along with an acting prize for Denis Lavant, says something. I’ve even heard people making a case for Best Original Song for Kylie Minogue’s cameo. I’ll remind you that I hated the film and appear to be the only person on the planet who thinks this way, but there’s no denying it’s not exactly up the Academy’s alley. “After Lucia” however is Mexico’s entry in the Foreign Film race, so any recognition is always a good thing. (via Hollywood Chicago)

Best Costume Design for “Django Unchained”?

Some pundits seem almost adamant in declaring that Quentin Tarantino’s latest film doesn’t really stand much of a chance this Oscar season, but I came across this interesting blog that says otherwise in one peculiar category: Best Costume Design. “Django’s” period clothing is done by Sharen Davis, nominated twice previously for “Ray” and “Dreamgirls.” The article also points out that Tarantino is responsible for some of the most iconic costumes in recent memory but has nothing to show for it. (via Clothes on Film) Continue reading “Off the Red Carpet: Week 3 (10/17 – 10/24)”

CIFF Review: The Sessions

On paper, “The Sessions” is kind of an icky topic. How do you make a feel-good comedy about a paraplegic trying to lose his virginity and not make it completely gross, if not exploitative?

Well, you have to make the lead character relatable, and John Hawkes as Mark O’Brien displays a congenial sense of humor, emotional range with very little movement and always seems natural, never “constantly acting” like he’s Daniel-Day Lewis in “My Left Foot.”

So “The Sessions” is warm, relatable, funny and well acted, but it deigns to only be a crowd pleaser when it could be an insightful look at disabilities.

It’s about a guy who contracted polio at a young age and now has no control over any of his muscles below his neck. He lives in an iron lung and can only go out for four hours a day, but he managed to graduate college and become a poet. This is all a true story by the way.

After firing an aide and being heartbroken by a new one, Mark confides in a priest (William H. Macy) to ask if it would be alright if he had sex with a sex therapist before marriage. The sex surrogate, as she is called, is the lovely Cheryl (Helen Hunt), and her prescription is six, two hour sessions in which she helps him explore the feelings of his body, control his ability to ejaculate and ultimately achieve, ahem, “full penetration” and “simultaneous orgasm.”

Although Mark has a major, physical disability, the thing that really cripples him is his fear of sex, intimacy and ultimately being alone. “I love you, but I’m not in love with you,” he says to his priest, parroting the answer he usually gets from women. He expresses thoughts that will make his plight very accessible to both men and women. His worries are brought out by his religion, his childhood trauma of dealing with polio and his bookish interpretation of sex.

Do these traits make him unique? Maybe not. He’s not defined by his physical disability, always a no-no in terms of movie characters portrayed with them, but we don’t get the insight we get in something like “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” another film about a writer trapped in his own body who also has a wicked sense of humor. That film takes us inside the head of its character and doesn’t just paint him as an average Joe afraid of sex.

Part of this theme of romantic anxieties is strengthened by the presence of Cheryl. “The Sessions” is as much about her as it is about Mark. It paints her as a woman in a sexless, unexciting marriage and charts her own coming-of-age to overcome her fears of commitment to Mark. You’ll notice that when she’s helping Mark, he’s always on the right side of the bed, she on the left. When she returns home, it’s the opposite. She too is in a position of need.

It might all work a little better if the movie weren’t so awkward about sex. Most of the supporting characters have bad experiences with it, treating it with disdain and dry humor. Mark’s new aide Vera (Moon Bloodgood) uses the word “dick” instead of “penis.” “Why do you call it a dick,” Mark asks. “Because penis sounds like a vegetable you don’t want to eat.” And every reaction to a smutty comment is always granted the same blank look of uncertainty that Mark would return.

Hawkes is the best part of “The Sessions.” He has a way of striking the pose of strain, veins popping, head looking up and away, and still we know when he’s joking, confused or nervous. He doesn’t suddenly show unreasonable amounts of expressiveness. And for a disabled performance, Hawkes is fairly understated and doesn’t have a real “money moment,” which is a plus in the believability department.

The believability is exactly what makes “The Sessions” such a crowd pleaser. It’s not about disability, but in avoiding that it finds likely characters with understandable flaws. It’s as charming as its stars.

3 stars