Tag: Sundance Film Festival

2016: The Year of Casey Affleck

Nearly a decade ago, Casey Affleck received a Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. It was that same year in 2007 that he starred in his brother Ben’s well-received directorial debut Gone Baby Gone and appeared for the third time in Oceans Thirteen as part of that blockbuster trilogy.

Since then, Affleck’s career has been a mix of smaller flicks like Ain’t Them Bodies Saints and Out of the Furnace with supporting roles in studio fare like Tower Heist and Interstellar. He also made a strange excursion into directing with the Joaquin Phoenix “documentary” I’m Still Here.

His 2016 started rather unremarkably with two pics that came and went – The Finest Hours and Triple 9. Yet it was that same time early in the year that word came out from Sundance about Manchester by the Sea, Kenneth Lonergan’s drama about grief and family. And the word was quite impressive.

At the close of 2016, Manchester stands as a serious awards contender with its star assured a nomination for Best Actor. It is likely it will come down to Affleck and Denzel Washington (Fences) for the win. The former has already picked up a number of critics prizes for his most acclaimed role thus far. He closed out the year by hosting the “Saturday Night Live” Christmas show, including a very amusing bit involving Dunkin Donuts.

The Sundance Film Festival next month will showcase Affleck’s next project – A Ghost Story alongside Rooney Mara. Who knows what that will bring, but it certainly kickstarted a supremely lauded year for Affleck this year.

Oscar Watch: Other People

In the midst of several Oscar Watch posts deriving from the Toronto, Venice, and Telluride Film Festivals, this evening brings one that slipped my radar months ago. In January at Sundance, the comedic drama Other People debuted. It’s been released in limited fashion this past Friday and has garnered some attention for one particular performance.

SNL’s Molly Shannon has received raves for her role as a dying mother being cared for by her gay son (Jesse Plemons of “Breaking Bad”). For those of us who know Shannon for her wild and broad characters from the famed sketch show, this is said to be quite the impressive departure.

The film itself, from former SNL writer Chris Kelly, has been met with largely positive reviews (85% on RT). However, only Shannon in Supporting Actress stands any realistic shot at Academy attention. It may turn out to be too small a picture in their minds to nominate her. And let’s face it – actors known mostly for comedy often struggle to get their votes anyway. Yet it’s worth a mention as Shannon stands a remote chance at a nod along with four other people.

Oscar Watch: Southside with You

There’s a movie opening in limited release this weekend being a touted as a breezy and pleasant romance featuring two young professionals on their first date in 1989. It’s called Southside with You and you may have heard of the subjects that the date covers. Their names are Barack and Michelle Obama.

The pic comes from writer/director Richard Tanne and was made for a reportedly tiny $1.5 million. Unknown Parker Sawyers plays young Barack with Tika Sumpter (best known for playing Kevin Hart’s love interest in the Ride Along flicks) as Michelle. Southside premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year to positive notices and it currently stands at 88% on Rotten Tomatoes.

While the reviews are just fine, they’re likely not strong enough to garner serious Oscar attention. Sumpter is being singled out for her work, but it would be pretty surprising to see her vault into the Best Actress conversation. Perhaps Tanne is an outside contender for Original Screenplay, though it’s probably a long shot.

SPOILER ALERT: if you want to avoid knowing what happened with this couple after their first date, it’s my hope you’ve literally been living under a rock for about 12 years.

Oscar Watch: The Birth of a Nation

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Just one day after the Sundance Film Festival gave us our first 2016 Oscar contender with Manchester by the Sea, the second landed today in a very big way. It arrived in the form of Nate Parker’s The Birth of a Nation, which Mr. Parker also cowrote and stars in. Nation tells the story of the 1831 slave rebellion led by Nat Turner. Costars include Armie Hammer, Jackie Earle Haley, and Gabrielle Union. The $10 million production reportedly took Parker (a semi well known actor known who’s appeared in Red Tails and Non-Stop) seven years to get off the ground.

At today’s Sundance screening, Nation was greeted with rapturous word of mouth and a prolonged standing ovation. There is expected to be a feeding frenzy among studios to purchase the film’s rights. Expect fervent buzz for this get attention for Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, and Actor with Parker seemingly on his way to becoming a household name.

Bottom line: two days at Sundance have already in January produced two real possibilities come next year at Oscar time.

Oscar Watch: Manchester by the Sea

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It’s only January but the currently happening Sundance Film Festival has given us our first potential Oscar contender for 2016. The film is Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea, a New England set drama starring Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler, and Lucas Hedges. Yesterday’s Sundance screening prompted rave reviews and immediate Oscar chatter. Writer/director Lonergan was nominated in 2000 for an Original Screenplay nod for You Can Count on Me and it could happen here. Affleck, Williams, and Hedges in particular have been singled out for their work. Amazon snapped up rights to Manchester quickly and are planning an awards push.

If it seems too early for these predictions, note that Sundance has provided many eventual Oscar nominees over the years. The last two years have provided three: 2014’s Boyhood and Whiplash and 2015’s Brooklyn. Going back further, the list includes Hannah and Her Sisters, Moonstruck, The Full Monty, Little Miss Sunshine, Precious, An Education, Winter’s Bone, The Kids Are All Right, and Beasts of the Southern Wild.

Obviously there’s a full year for many other contenders to emerge, but there’s little doubt that Manchester by the Sea is the first legitimate one.