I've rated it 6/5 here. I'm willing to say it was certainly the best Israeli film I've ever seen - if not one of the best movies from anywhere. What non-Israelis watching this with translations won't get is how totally natural and unscripted the dialogue is. I'm also not sure you'll get the humour included - some of which are "in-jokes" that only someone who lives here would truly get.
Can't say much about the humour, of course, but it seems clear how natural the dialogue is even with subtitles as Folman has simply animated verbatim interviews and not recreated it.
What non-Israelis watching this with translations won't get is how totally natural and unscripted the dialogue is. I'm also not sure you'll get the humour included - some of which are "in-jokes" that only someone who lives here would truly get.
I'd like to add that before seeing the movie, I'd recommend non-Israelis to read up a bit about the background to the 1982 Lebanon War. The film assumes that the audience is literate in 1970s-1980s Middle Eastern history. The movie can be appreciated by those unfamiliar with the Lebanese civil war, Black September in Jordan, the PLO in the 1970s-80s, terrorism against Israelis and Israel's response to it up to that point, and other related topics, but the movie is much richer with this background.
I'm not feeling up to doing the contest this year (eyes don't like this much reading) but I will be watching come Sunday night and these are my choices/guesses/predictions:
Actor in a Leading Role Sean Penn Milk - Prediction Brad Pitt The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Preference
Actor in a Supporting Role Heath Ledger The Dark Knight - If he doesn't win, then everything I've noticed about Hollywood lately is wrong. Michael Shannon Revolutionary Road - Long shot
Actress in a Leading Role Kate Winslet The Reader - Prediction - It seems to me this is her year. Meryl Streep Doubt - Also ran Angelina Jolie Changeling - She's had a number of good performances, and honestly, I think she was overlooked for ''A Mighty Heart''. I've said before, her performance was amazing in that, however I'm not entirely sure Hollywood has re-embraced the Earth Mother.
Actress in a Supporting Role This category is always difficult for me to pick. I think it is between Davis and Henson, but I'll go with Viola Davis Doubt
Animated Feature Film WALL�E - High probability, although honestly, I didn't much like it. That could be because I saw it with 4 noisy kids on Christmas Day (my gift to the boys). I will try to borrow it from them and see it alone and perhaps I'll change my mind.
Art Direction The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Guess
Cinematography Slumdog Millionaire - It seems to be the trend.
Costume Design The Duchess - A complete guess, but it seems that the voters tend to like the high concept designs.
Directing Slumdog Millionaire - I can't imagine Boyle not winning here, he's won everything else.
Documentary Feature Man on Wire - Guess. I'm thinking that the second choice will win Best Foreign Film and perhaps it won't double up, so this is my prediction.
Documentary Short The Final Inch - Purely a guess.
Film Editing The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Prediction - This simply required a huge editing effort.
Foreign Language Film Waltz with Bashir - Prediction
Makeup The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - For the sheer effort of it.
Music (Score) WALL�E - What I liked about it.
Music (Song) Down to Earth - WALL�E - They do love the animated film music.
Picture Slumdog Millionaire - Prediction. This train seems unstoppable. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - A strong second.
Short Film (Animated) Presto - Guess, it's the only one I've heard anything about.
Short Film (Live Action) On the Line - Another guess.
Sound Editing Slumdog Millionaire - Prediction The Dark Knight - Okay, maybe it's me, but I had issues with the sound on this. Or at least the sound on the DVD. And maybe this is what sound is supposed to be in the theatre, but geez, this is the only complaint I really have about this film. I spent most of the viewing time turning the sound up, then turning the sound down, then turning it back up... You get the point. The dialogue was quite hard to hear at a volume that kept the sound effects from hurting my ears. Conversely (logically), I couldn't understand a bloody thing that was said in some scenes without blaring the volume.
Visual Effects The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Choice. The visual effects were excellent.
quote:Originally posted by wildheartlivie The Dark Knight - Okay, maybe it's me, but I had issues with the sound on this. Or at least the sound on the DVD. And maybe this is what sound is supposed to be in the theatre, but geez, this is the only complaint I really have about this film. I spent most of the viewing time turning the sound up, then turning the sound down, then turning it back up... You get the point. The dialogue was quite hard to hear at a volume that kept the sound effects from hurting my ears. Conversely (logically), I couldn't understand a bloody thing that was said in some scenes without blaring the volume.
I had exactly this problem in the cinema. It was impossible to hear at least half the dialogue, and really got on my nerves. Interesting to hear that has crossed over onto DVD. Sounds like shit sound editing to me, not Oscar worthy sound editing.
I wonder whether Sean Penn won because enough of the members wanted to send a "Fuck you" to the Californians who voted for Proposition 8.
I think its more likely that he won because he gave the best male lead performance of the year in the opinion of most members. As much as the Academy members (at least the ones I know) detested Prop 8, I think Penn's performance was so strong that he would have won even if Prop 8 had not been on the ballot.
I liked the broadcast. It was, as promised, toned down and I really thought Hugh Jackman did fine. I didn't realize he was quite that talented. As usual, I missed my guess on the Best Supporting Actress, but that's par for the course. Now I'm contractually obligated (to myself) to see four more films this year, but I would have seen three of them anyway. I am glad that Heath Ledger's family came to this awards show.
I have to agree with GHCool, I don't believe the Sean Penn award was a backhanded "Fuck you". I've seen a lot of clips of the film and I think he was probably well rewarded. In the realm of weird follow-ups, one of Penn's upcoming roles is as Larry Fine in "The Three Stooges".
Documentary Feature Waltz with Bashir - Will win if the voters decide to double up.
Not nominated!
And didn't win even in the category it was nominated in.
(SIGH!)
((On the up side, one of the winning soundtrack mixers from Slumdoge Millionaire is an Israeli.))
I know. What a bummer, right? All my animator buddies were (none of whom are Israeli or even Jewish) are pissed at that as well. Perhaps the Japanese film is actually better, but I doubt it.
Perhaps the Japanese film is actually better, but I doubt it.
I dunno, I'm guessing that it is. I was disappointed too but noted at the end something I didn't know before -- a few categories, including that one, may only be voted on by members who attend a special screening. This means that these categories are likely to be far more objective than the others, because the voters will not see the nominated films far apart or in different circumstances -- and of course they will actually have to see all of them! Departures is probably excellent but just has not got much distribution yet.
To C.L., aren't Jewish people allowed to vote against anything Israeli?!
We have Oscar noms!
Posted - 01/26/2009 : 01:29:56
