Five Favorite Female Performances in Musicals

Again, an oddly precise list, however i simply adore musicals, and many of my favorites seem to be female led, about a year ago i did a list of my seven favorite musicals (here). You will see that most of the films on the list have female leads, and continuing my Five Favorites series, i decided to list my five favorite female performances in movie musicals.

• Nicole Kidman as Satine in Moulin Rouge

Oscar nominated, Kidman's performance in this film is often unfairly overlooked, but Kidman is perfect in this role as the effervescent, sexy and sensual nightclub singer and courtesan, she manages to be fragile and honest, as well as being the powerful and manipulative femme fatale. Kidman also has a fantastic singing voice, and the soundtrack of this movie is one of my favorites. Her performance during the reprise of Come What May is particularly spectacular, and the pain in her voice is all too apparent.

• Julie Andrews as Mary in Mary Poppins

 One of the earliest modern musicals, Mary Poppins set a stunningly high bar for movie musicals in the century that followed, Julie Andrews is so ideally suited to the role of Mary Poppins that it would be utterly inconceivable to imagine anyone else playing her on screen, Andrews imbues the role with grace and class, and her voice is crisp and elegant. Andrews' performance is so iconic that it influenced performances not only in musicals but other cinematic nannies for years to come, and Mary Poppins became instantly the quintessential English nanny for audiences across the globe.

• Jennifer Hudson as Effie White in Dreamgirls

 I love this movie, and Hudson's performance is one of the reasons why i adore this film so, vocally Hudson is an incredibly strong vocalist, and her performance in this film is entirely believable, her arc in this film is incredibly sad and full of pain, and Hudson's acting chops are unbelievable for someone who was discovered on American Idol. She deservedly won the Oscar for her performance in Dreamgirls, and her rendition of And I Am Telling You cements her place as one of the best female vocalists since Aretha Franklin.

• Catherine Zeta Jones as Velma Kelly in Chicago

 Although a supporting performance, Jones performance in Chicago is one of the best things about this film, despite Catherine Zeta Jones not being the best vocalist in Hollywood or even in this film, her performance succeeds due to her managing to craft a believable personality from this vaudevillian sex kitten Velma Kelly, her performance is delightfully catty, and she is unbelievably cool in the role. So despite not being the greatest vocalist, somehow Catherine Zeta Jones is the best thing about Chicago.

• Madonna as Eva Peron in Evita

How could i not? Yes, I am a huge fan of Madonna, and yes that probably makes me biased, but Madonna is simply astounding as Eva Peron, despite being cruelly snubbed an Oscar nomination, her performance in this film remains iconic and transgressive. Watching this film, not as a contemporary, but as a modern viewer, and being such a huge fan of Madonna makes her performance all the more impressive, her performance is chameleonic, and throughout the entire film, i never noticed Madonna once, she became Eva Peron in spirit and in appearance, and as the film contains virtually no speaking whatsoever, her acting is done almost exclusively through expression and song. Madonna's performance is not only one of the greatest in a musical, but one of, if not the best female performances of all time, she is simply astounding, and easily exceeds all expectations.

Factory Girl

Factory Girl is a 2006 biopic of actress, model and muse Edie Sedgewick, and her relationship with Andy Warhol. Sedgewick first met Warhol whilst working as an art student in cambridge, she moves to New York City in order to pursue her career as an artist, she ended up appearing is a number of his films during the 1960's and became his muse for a while. Her relationship with Warhol led to her becoming a worldwide celebrity and icon, and she tragically passed away in 1971 at the age of 28.

The film is shot very much like a documentary, the camera, whilst always being in the right place at the right time, is never flashy, and never overbearing, this gives the whole film a cinema verité feel, where the camera is simply observing, and is never a feature of the film. The narrative of the film is also documentary like, as in Grey Gardens, the cameras simply roll and watch the drama play out, there is no attempt to streamline the film into a distinct and linear narrative, whilst the action is all chronological, there are huge jumps in time and narrative and the film takes place over an indeterminate period of time.

The film features undeniably fine performances, and Sienna Miller is surprisingly good in the leading role, i will admit to not having seen a lot of her work, and knowing of her largely from her relationship with Jude Law, her affair with Daniel Craig and her featuring in The September Issue, however she is oddly perfect in the role of Edie Sedgewick, a woman who is fragile, vapid and foolish, who places all her trust in Warhol at the begining of the film, and whose blind faith will ultimately lead to her being cast off and left for ruin. Despite the film being filmed and told in a cinema verité style, the film is nonetheless very much told from Edie's point of view, the audience is expected to understand and empathize with her despite the carelessness of her actions, and we are supposed to blame her entourage for her situation, and her subsequent decay.

However the real star of this picture is Guy Pearce, who plays Andy Warhol, few actors have the confidence to take on such a hugely iconic and challenging role, and yet Pearce pulls it off with style and panache. What is so impressive about his performance is that we really feel like we know him, despite the fact that he rarely, if ever takes off his sunglasses, Pearce's performance is so deft and powerful that he takes an icon down from his pedestal, and makes him human, he penetrates the sunglasses and the wigs, the blind stares and ironic glazed voice and makes a real character whilst remaining faithful to the status of such a powerful and influential artists.

Factory Girl is a film which succeeds on the strength of it's performances and its visual pastiche, whilst the story suffers, and is reduced to a mere series of vignettes, the lack of narrative is interesting to follow and gives the film an interesting flair, however the film is simply unable to craft a convincing or understandable story from it's wonky narrative. Rating: C+

Edie Sedgwick: To me, New York was Jackson Pollock sipping vodka and dripping paint onto a raw canvas.

Five Favorite Comedic Actresses

This might sound like a weirdly specific post, but i am a real fan of female driven comedies, and i find that on the whole women in comedy tend to be far more obnoxious than men. I simply loathe the "frat pack" school of comedy, and i feel that Adam Sandler is the biggest insult to comedy and cinema since Gigli. Female led comedies tend to have far more subtlety than those led by males, and particularly in television female driven comedies beat male comedies two-to-one. Just to clarify i will also not be including musicals (mainly because i will probably do a separate post on this at some point). The following are five performances i feel to be particularly scene stealing.

• Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids : Rightly nominated for an Oscar for her performance, Melissa McCarthy is fantastic as the brash, loud, uninhibited Megan, Bridesmaids succedes largely due to her performance, and her bathroom spewing scene aside, McCarthy manages to concoct a character who is far from two dimensional, and who has a real heart beneath the brash one liners.
  

• Rebel Wilson - Pitch Perfect : This is a pretty fantastic film, and again Rebel Wilson is one of the best things about it, her role was largely improvised, and if Wilson was introduced in Bridesmaids, in Pitch Perfect a star is born. Wilson plays Fat Amy, an Australian expatriot studying in the United States specializing in mermaid dancing and horizontal running, Wilson gives a bravura performance featuring the now iconic; "I'm gonna finish him like a cheesecake!".
  

• Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada: Who knew that acclaimed thespian Meryl Streep was also funny? This performance is not only witty and funny but also clever, reportedly the original character is based on vogue editor Anna Wintour, but Streep is smart enough to distance Miranda Priestly from Wintour in look and demeanour. By changing the characters appearance and making her an american, Streep crafts a character with a chilly tone and an iconic catchphrase; "that's all...".
  

• Renee Zellweger - Bridget Jones Diary: Here Zellweger is given a virtually impossible task, taking such an iconic literary creation and recreating it on screen, particularly for an american, Renee Zellweger accomplishes this task with surprising elegance. Her slightly posh english accent is perfectly on point and she successfully carries the entire emotional weight of the film. The scene in which Jones searches for tuna is particularly genius, where the fuck is the fucking tuna? 
  

• Reese Witherspoon -Legally Blonde : I love this film, and it is majorly due to Witherspoon's performance, somehow her dumb-blonde persona is really rather smart, and the film manages to be witty and intelligent, Reese Witherspoon embraces her character, and she is sweet and innocent. 
  

Finding Our Breakfast on Pluto

During the mid 70's a young trans-woman named Patrick "Kitten" Brady journeys from Ireland to London to find her long lost mother who was swallowed up by the  greatest city in the world. Played by Cillian Murphy, Kitten ends up working as a magician's assistant, a prostitute, a womble and a in a peepshow, the offspring of a priest, Kitten grows up in revolutionary Ireland, close to the border on Northern Ireland raised by his adoptive mother an environment from which he eventually escapes living rough for a few years.

This beautifully quirky dark comedy uses over thirty short chapters to explain the story of Kitten, a young transwoman, despite Kitten being trans, the film never judges her for her coices or for the hard decisions she has to make, and Kitten becomes a prostitute, and impersonates a BT saleswoman in order to find his mother. Cillian Murphy is astounding in the lead role, and he takes on not just the look of a woman, but also the mannerisms and posture. The character of Patrick is so much more than just a trans character, and throughout most of the film, inhabits a space somewhere between the hetero-normative binary system of male and female.

Kitten is essentially neither male nor female, although he starts the show biologically male, he spend the vast majority of the film inhabiting the space in between, Kitten's gender is a reference point for his emotions as he goes through his journey, he starts the film as Patrick, a young boy being raised near the Irish border by a woman he believes to be his mother, after he discovers his adoption, he begins to experiment with his appearance, taking on a more feminine or effeminate appearance.

Not knowing who his mother is, he spends the rest of the film in a sort of limbo, not knowing where he comes from, or who gave birth to him, and thus his external gender is also in a sense of limbo, he retains the names Kitten and Patrick, and works in a typically female industry with male clients, he also dates men and solicits work from male clients as a prostitutes. Towards the end of the film, when Patrick goes to see her mother, her appearance is drastically different, loosing the male aspects of her style and becoming a true physical woman.

Intentionally this happens before she even sees her mother, showing that the turning point of the film is not Kitten finding her mother, and discovering where she came from, but discovering who she is as a person and who she wants to be, she realizes that finding a sense of self will not come from finding her mother, but from finding herself. Cillian Murphy provides one of cinemas greatest performances in Breakfast On Pluto, a delightfully quirky dark comedy that remains one of the most sensitive and realistic portrayal of a trans character to date. Rating: A

Patrick "Kitten" Braden: Not many people can take the tale of Patrick Braden, aka St. Kitten, who strutted the catwalks, face lit by a halo of flashbulbs as "oh!" she shrieks, "I told you, from my best side darlings."

Adapting Wonderland

I will start today's post, like so many, with a story, the other night i decided to watch Tim Burton's 2010 adaptation of Alice In Wonderland, a happy accident lead to me actually watching the Walt Disney 1951 animated classic. I had seen the animated film before, but not for some years, and in re-watching the movie, i discovered it to be an interesting an beautiful picture if not a particularly watchable one, i watched the Tim Burton version the following day, and found it to be again a beautiful picture but nonetheless a flawed one.

Disney adapted Alice in Wonderland first in 1923 as a 21 year old student, however the film, which was part live action was never released to the public, and after the success of Snow White in 1938 he decided to make the film, Disney made several attempts to streamline the story and convert Carroll's nonsense literature into something less episodic and more suitable for film, however with limited success, as the movie still feels highly disjointed. Tim Burton's Alice is far more successful, however i use the word more with caution, as the story still has problems, despite being far more effectively streamlined, the story still lacks an emotional connection, and we never really get to know Alice Kingsley as a person, despite her being given a slightly more fleshed out back story than in the original film. The plot of the film is more successful, Burton creates a trajectory and a story arc for Alice that is lacking in the original version, unfortunately the plot, although successful uses a plot device about a character embracing their destiny which at this point is incredibly overused.

Visually both films are stunning, the 1951 film was designed mainly by Mary Blair, who would subsequently become renowned for her work on the theme park ride Its A Small World, the film is a visually delightful psychedelic adventure, no doubt slightly LSD inspired, however the imagery in this version remains reasonably light, the 2010 adaptation is another story. Tim Burton's film, is, to put is simply, a Tim Burton film. The film is visually quite dark, and the world of wonderland was created entirely on a green screen. This was not entirely de rigeur at the time like it is now, and Alice In Wonderland was really only the second film after Sky Captain to use this technique.

Extensive green-screen usage is seen to be incredibly easy, but it is actually incredibly difficult and can be jarring if not used properly, Oz the Great And Powerful used a similar effect for the Brick Road sequences, and with no reference point between the actors and their environments, and no interaction, everything looks out of perspective, and the actors look oddly small, this effect is absent from Alice, and this is partly due to Burton successfully blending the actors with their environments, some characters are entirely CGI, some are a blend of CGI and live action, some are live action that has been modified using CG, such as the Red Queen's head and Tweedledee and Tweedledum. The film is a seamless blend, and although being visually spectacular, the effect was never jarring.

Both films were hugely influential, the 1951 film which rode on the wave of fairy tale adaptations started by Snow White, and it later convinced Disney to search for the rights to other literary works such as Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh and Mary Poppins. The 2010 film was responsible for the recent wave of fairy tale live action adaptations which include the recently released Malecifent and Oz, The Great and Powerful. The film was also responsible for studios taking fairy tale heroines and making them warriors in armour with a sword, a trend which is rarely well achieved. However both of these films remain visually delighting adventures.

Five Favorite Woody Allen Films

Well the most recent article in my Five Favorite list series' is of Woody Allen films, i am a huge fan of Woody Allen and recently included him on my list of favorite directors, Allen is a true auteur, a director with vision and charm, and even when Allen's films are sub par, they're still pretty great.

• Vicky Christina Barcelona

This delightful tragicomedy stars Scarlett Johansson  in one of her most successful roles yet, Rebecca Hall and Javier Bardem also star in this beautiful drama set in and around the spanish city. In typical Woody Allen fashion two best friends decide to spend their summer in Barcelona, where they meet a wealthy and talented artist who attempts to seduce them, in a supporting role, Penelope Cruz shines as Maria Elena, the unstable ex wive of Javier Bardem's character, a role for which she was awarded an Oscar. Vicky Christina Barcelona whilst perhaps being a little corny and reductive, is one of the more delightful pleasures of the Woody Allen canon.

• Midnight In Paris

A recent addition and a best picture nominee, Midnight in Paris is one of Allen's most complex movies thematically and structurally, featuring a man with the ability to go back to the twenties in Paris at midnight, the film deals with complex themes of nostalgia, modernism and melancholia. The film is stunningly beautiful, and will make anyone want to visit Paris, and features a collection of eclectic and iconic supporting characters including Gertrude Stein, Salvador Dali and F Scott Fitzgerald. The film is a wonderful ode to a magical city and is an interesting look at the way we always want for a different time and a different place.

• Hannah and her Sisters

Typically this is the Woody Allen film loved by those who loathe Woody Allen, and i love it too, the film is essentially a love letter to his then partner Mia Farrow, who plays the titular character of Hannah. The film follows the complex relationships of an extended family over multiple years,Woody Allen himself plays Farrows ex-husband, a TV writer and Julia Louis Dreyfus has a small part. Hannah and Her Sisters is perhaps one of the most unexpected of Allen's films, and doesn't feel cliche or kitsch.

• Blue Jasmine

Allen's most recent film features a stunning performance from Cate Blanchett, as Jasmine, a once wealthy socialite who has fallen into a trap of illness, poverty and homelessness. One of Allen's most current films, Blue Jasmine is essentially a film à clef about Bernie Maddoff, and the fallout from that situation, throughout the film we are unsure whether to judge Jasmine or blame her for her situation, and towards the end of the film, her fate is sealed. Blue Jasmine is smartly written and impeccably acted.

• Manhattan

Not just Allen's best film but one of the greatest of all time Manhattan is iconic and smart, a love letter to his hometown, Manhattan features a dreamlike, fantasy version of new york, and one of Allen's best acting performances seen on screen. Manhattan has subsequently influenced countless other films notably Frances Ha and the entire mumblecore movement, Manhattan is unabashedly romantic, and a heartfelt love letter to one of the greatest cities on earth.

Saving Mr Banks

Saving Mr Banks is a 2013 adaptation of the making of the film Mary Poppins, and of the 20 year legal battle that preceded it. Mary Poppins was released in 1964, however Walt Disney first attempted to secure the rights in the 1940's, he repeatedly asked every year for twenty years, until the author of the story PL Travers finally acquiesced, mainly due to the fact that she had no money. Disney brought Travers to Los Angeles for a two week story meeting in order to discuss the project, and ended up attaining the rights and making the movie.

Mary Poppins is one of my favorite movies, and i was intrigued to see this film, to discover the story behind one of the most iconic movie musicals of the century, i had absolutely no idea that it was such a laborious and torturous process, Travers was fiercly protective of her creation, and didn't like the idea of Walt Disney changing it, in fact she was so enraged by the finished film that she refused all ideas of a sequel, and in fact started to write more Mary Poppins novels as a result. The fact that the film was released by Walt Disney Pictures is also significant, this is the first time that Walt Disney himself has been used as a character in a major motion picture, and yet the film makes no attempt to sugar coat him or objectify him, he is shown to be a smoker, to be overly familiar and to be conniving. Towards the end of the film Disney is openly shown to have crossed Travers, and he is not always shown in a highly positive light.

That said, the entire film is coated with a sickly sweet sap of melodrama, in reality Travers never came round to the film and was angry with the way she had been treated by Disney, the entire film is aggressively sentimental, and implores you to like it, but it pays off, there is a real emotional weight to the film, and i found myself getting teary eyed on more than a few occasions, the entire film has a parallel storyline structure, with Travers' experiences in Burbank mimicking her experiences as a child with her alcoholic father, although this structure allows us to connect emotionally to Travers, the parts which take place in her childhood are significantly less interesting than those taking place in Los Angeles, and the flashback's seem to take the audience out of the moment.

The film is impeccably acted, Emma Thompson gives an Oscar worthy performance as the grouchy, moody muttering Travers, a woman who is deeply complex and barely human, Thompson turns Travers into a complex and difficult woman, a woman scarred from her experiences as a child and who is not hard-hearted, but merely protective of her beloved creation. Tom Hanks is also fantastic as Walt Disney, Hanks has some pretty big shoes to step into, playing such a well known, well liked and iconic man, yet Hanks manages to perfectly portray the man as clearly good-natured and likeable, but also cunning and conniving.

Despite being aggressively good hearted and sentimental, Saving Mr Banks is a story with real emotional weight, which could push even the most emotionally constipated person to tears, the film is an interesting exploration of a little known story, and despite it's jettisoning of the facts for something more dramatic, Saving Mr Banks succeeds of impeccable performances and an interesting plot. Rating: B

P.L. Travers: You think Mary Poppins is saving the children, Mr. Disney?

Marina Abramovic - The Artist Is Present

The Artist is Present is a 2012 avant garde documentary which first aired on HBO, detailing the serbian born performance artist Marina Abramovic and the performance at the MOMA in 2011. At the MOMA Abramovic performed a 736 hour and 30 minute static and silent performance art piece which featured recreations of seven of her previous performances by upcoming performance artists and a piece in which Abramovic sat immobile in the museum's atrium and visitors were invited to sit opposite her to feed from her energy.

The Artist Is Present was the largest exhibition of performance art ever featured at the Met, and was the first true retrospective of Abramovic's work. This documentary covers the genesis, creative direction and preformance of Abramovic's piece. What was so groundbreaking about The Artist Is Present was how Abramovic gave equal time and attention to each visitor, whether they were famous or not, the presence of Lady Gaga, James Franco and Sharon Stone was of little or no consequence. The documentary does largely the same thing, Gaga and Stone are not shown, and Franco, one of Abramovic's personal friends features only shortly in the video.

What is interestinng about this documentary is that it focuses as much on the spectator as it does on the artist, although the film is definitely an exploration and a celebration of Abramovic's work, the film centers largely on the people visiting the exhibition, what motivates them, how does Marina inspire them, and why they are there. the first part of the film is largely a look back at past Abramovic works, such as her works with Ulay and The Lovers, a piece in which she and Ulay each walked from opposite ends of the great wall of china in order to say goodbye to other and to end their relationship, a beautifully poetic piece.

Marina's sheer power is shown in this film, and her ability to project her emotions are show even through the lens, many patrons discovered themselves bursting into tears in her presence, and the sheer power in her eyes and her face is enough even to make those watching this film cry, Abramovic has the ability to see directly into the soul of those sitting opposite her, this ability is what makes her so powerful and limitless, and this documentary is a success simply because it show off it's greatest asset stunningly, Marina Abramovic is portrayed as one of the most defining performance artists of all time.

The Artist Is Present is a surely made and fascinating documentary, it showcase the incredible performance ability of it's star, Marina Abramovic and it is able to answer the decade old question that has always been asked about Marina; 'why is this art?'. Rating: B-

Marina Abramovic: When you perform it is a knife and your blood, when you act it is a fake knife and ketchup.

Five Favorite Documentaries

Well my last post about my five favorite directors was fairly popular, and i have been going through a documentary phase, and so i decided to list my favorite documentaries. Documentary film making is a powerful genre, and one that cannot be replicated by narrative film, it is retrospective, fascinating and real.

• In Bed With Madonna

Also known as Truth or Dare, In Bed With Madonna offers a unique insight into the world of Madonna, before she was really Madonna, she was just a young girl from Michigan with a dream, and that shines through in this movie. Part documentary, part concert film, In Bed With Madonna is a small snapshot of a time in which Madonna was far more carefree and much less self serious, unafraid to take risks, push boundaries and have fun. The film was hugely influential, becoming the highest grossing documentary of all time, and becoming the blueprint for countless other mimics such as Katy Perry: Part of Me, Believe and Never Say Never. Madonna subsequently followed this up with I'm Going To Tell You A Secret.

• Blackfish

 I have already written about this film rather a lot and i invite people wanting to know more to see my review HERE. Blackfish is less of a documentary and more of a thriller, about an orca named Tillikum, who is responsible for the deaths of three people. The film analyzes the reasons for his being kept in captivity, and is a critique of SeaWorld Entertainments ecological and ethical policy.

• Waking Sleeping Beauty

 This documentary focuses on the Disney renaissance, the era of Disney animation in which i grew up, and by far the most successful and prolific era of Disney animated movies. Waking Sleeping Beauty (review HERE) despite being released by Walt Disney Pictures is a fascinating and unfettered look at the infighting and tension occurring behind the scenes, and is a fantastic tribute to the monumental artists who are solely responsible for the success of that era.

• Bowling For Columbine

This film was also once the highest grossing documentary of all time, and won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2002. Directed by Michael Moore the film revolves around the columbine massacre, a high school shooting in Colorado. The film is a critique of the accessibility of guns in modern America, and looks at issues such as weapons of mass destruction, the climate of fear and the war on terror. The title refers to the fact that the perpetrators were known to have played bowling the morning of the attack, the documentary is fascinating, consuming and infuriating, and will change your opinions of the way we look at violence in modern culture.

• The September Issue

I reviewed this film rather recently, The September Issue is a documentary film about Anna Wintour and the creation of the September issue of Vogue Magazine. An interesting look at the fashion industry, the publishing industry, and the sheer control that Anna Wintour has over the publication, the film offers an insight that can't be found in narrative films such as The Devils Wears Prada, and succeeds in showing us the woman behind the sunglasses and the pageboy bob.