Tag: Kristine Froseth

Oscar Predictions: Oh, Canada

Playing a dying documentary filmmaker recounting his life, on paper Oh, Canada sounds like the kind of project that could give 74-year-old Richard Gere his first Oscar nomination. It reunites the actor with his American Gigolo collaborator Paul Schrader some four and a half decades later. Schrader is adapting the Russell Banks novel, who also wrote Affliction. The director’s version of that source material resulted in Nick Nolte being up for Best Actor in 1998 and James Coburn winning Supporting Actor.

Canada premiered in France at Cannes. The supporting cast includes Jacob Elordi (playing Gere’s younger self), Uma Thurman, Michael Imperioli, Victoria Hill, Penelope Mitchell, and Kristine Froseth.

There’s only a smattering of reviews and they’re mixed with a current 60% RT score. Schrader has been a busy man lately. 2018’s First Reformed nabbed him a nod for Best Original Screenplay (somehow his first). Follow-ups The Card Counter and Master Gardener were not on the radar of voters. It’s highly unlikely this will be either.

As for Gere, that acting nom should remain elusive. He was rather famously omitted for 2002’s Chicago, despite the movie taking Best Picture and four of his costars being recognized. My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…

Oscar Predictions: How to Blow Up a Pipeline

The environmental heist thriller How to Blow Up a Pipeline debuted in limited release over Easter weekend to solid results. From director Daniel Goldhaber, this is a fictionalized adaptation of Andreas Malm’s nonfiction 2021 novel. The cast includes Ariela Barer (who also co-scripted), Kristine Froseth, Lukas Gage, Forrest Goodluck, Sasha Lane, Jayme Lawson, Marcus Scribner, Jake Weary, and Irene Bedard.

Pipeline first screened at the Toronto Film Festival to impressive reviews and was quickly snatched up by Neon for distribution. The Rotten Tomatoes meter stands at 95%. I would not be surprised if its distributor (who shepherded Triangle of Sadness to a BP nom last year) make a serious campaign push here.

It could be a long shot for BP, but I wouldn’t totally discount it. This could also be a contender for an Adapted Screenplay nod. My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…

Oscar Predictions: Sharp Stick

Lena Dunham gained notoriety through her HBO series Girls and five years after its conclusion, she’s brought her directorial effort Sharp Stick to Sundance. The comedy stars Kristine Froseth, Taylour Paige, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jon Bernthal, Scott Speedman, Tommy Dorfman, and Dunham herself.

Stick is measured at just 45% on Rotten Tomatoes and is one of the festival titles that drew a truly mixed to negative reaction. While Girls received plenty of Emmy nominations during its run, awards chatter is highly unlikely to materialize for Dunham’s cinematic project. My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…

The Assistant Movie Review

On Netflix’s popular series Ozark, the words of Julia Garner’s Ruth often speak louder than her actions. Her boisterous character serves as a de facto assistant to Jason Bateman’s beleaguered money launderer and the performance has earned her Emmys. The Assistant, written and directed by Kitty Green, finds Garner in a much different occupation in terms of duties and with her overall demeanor.

Jane works as a film production assistant to a mostly unseen and unheard big shot. She works long hours steeped in tedium as she cleans up the literal and figurative messes of her boss and his minions. From travel arrangements from their New York office to L.A. to making excuses to the whereabouts of her superior to his wife, this is not the dream job that Jane envisioned. Even her hopes that this is leading to something bigger and better seem to be diminishing.

The camera rarely leaves Jane on the Monday that the proceedings occur. Aspiring actresses flow in and a mysterious and very young new assistant is flown in from Idaho and put up in a fancy hotel. Sitting with her fellow junior staffers (Jon Orsini and Noah Robbins), they develop a strained if well-meaning support system.

Yet our title character knows she’s in a hostile work environment. When Jane approaches the company’s HR head (Matthew MacFayden), it’s made chillingly clear that her complaints are falling on deaf ears. We get the idea that if she just keeps quiet, her mundane existence in this drab office will improve. At what cost? Her words and actions don’t matter.

Like that office, The Assistant is not flashy. The Weinstein type figure feet away from Jane’s desk is left to our imagination. All we have to see is her weary but expressive face to know that he’s dangerous. It is Garner’s performance, wildly different from her Ozark persona, that kept my attention. This is essentially a horror film where the scary incidents are usually hinted at or, more sadly, joked about. They develop over Jane’s long day where it seems the next day will be just as long and with no resolution in sight. That’s pretty frightening.

*** (out of four)