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Overheard about Margot and the Wedding: "It's so dysfunctional. " "Very well-acted." "We're not members of the Nicole club, but she was great." Also pretty good is Jack Black. I bet he'll get some awards traction.
I think Kidman is a great actor, but she's making too many movies. I think her performance in Margot would be all the more special if she allowed some breathing room between projects. She is not necessarily a chameleonic actor, so being too prolific is working against her. As for the movie, the more it settles in my brain, the more I see it as just a medley of button-pushing. Every scene is devoted to one character pushing another character's buttons through an intermediary. I guess that's life, but it gets repetitive.
People are still buzzing with admiration for Blanchett's performance in I'm Not There. Otherwise seen:
L'Amerique Lunaire. A 1962 short by Francois Reichenbach with a beautiful, jazzy score by TFF tributee Michel Legrand. It's about Native Americans, and the "men who cannot live without machines." It was introduced as a prototype of Koyaanisqatsi. It's a beautiful and rarely scene meditation on how everything passes away except our beautiful land.
Brick Lane. Heavy-handed and forgettable drama about a Bangladeshi woman in London who yearns for love and for her homeland.
Jellyfish. Winner of the Camera d'Or at Cannes, this is an Israeli everyone-is-connected dramedy, similar in conceit (but inferior in execution) to the Czech film Up and Down, which played Telluride three years ago.
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I've heard that from a few people recently about Kidman but Kidman is not working more than any other major actor out there or more than she ever did, she has always worked. She had one movie released last year and this year in 2 with one very minor role in The Golden Compass. I think I will miss her any year she doesn't work.
I guess it depends on what she wants, admiration or doing good work that will be around for years. Chameleonic or prolific, as long as the performer gives a great performance. There are few performers that can go to plunge into the darkness of human emotion the way Kidman does. Maybe she should do some stage work or work outside of the States.
Something I find very weird: the heaviest Oscar buzz at the moment is for Jennifer Jason Leigh in Supporting, not for Kidman or Black, yet you didn't even mention her. Hollywood Reporter raved JJL to the skies, as did early test-screening reviews on Aint It Cool. They had high praise for Kidman and Black too, but felt most confident about JJL's Oscar chances.
I wasn't much of a fan of The Squid and the Whale, so I'm curious about Margot. I think the constant "button-pushing" would get on my nerves after a while. But I would like to hear more about Jennifer as well. I've heard her perfomance is absolutely outstanding. I would like to see Kidman take a breather. Word is she's going right from filming "Australia" for close to 6 months to filming "The Reader" in Germany in September. The content of "The Reader" is sure to make some headlines. Maybe that's what she likes. And if Golden Compass does well, she's already signed on to the 2 sequals. And she reportedly already has quite a line up of upcoming projects. Thinking back to all her comments from the past, I've been surpised by the amount of time she's spent working since getting married and that all of her projects have taken her out of the US - London, Australia, Germany. Potential locations - Monte Carlo, Russia, China. Slow down girl. Enjoy the fruits of your labor. Have that baby and get the goat you say you want.
I'm glad you folks brought up JJL. She's good. Nothing extraordinary. It's quality JJL work. I think people are talking Oscar simply because this is finally a role and a performance and a movie that AMPAS can cozy up to a little. Know what I mean? The establishment is finally going to allow themselves to gush over her without reservation.
Oh, but the thing about Kidman isn't so much the frequency of her movies in general -- it's the frequency of the bad movies. Stepford Wives came right on top of Bewitched. Now we have to contend with Invasion. Etcetera. She needs to be more choosy. I get the feeling that she just loves to work and will take anything to fill up her schedule.
Cate B has definitely made more movies than Nicole Kidman but the difference is anything Nicole Kidman does, every one takes note but Cate can get off quietly.
Having said that, in all so-called bad movies Nicole Kidman in, she was never bad.
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