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2012 Academy Awards through the KINO eye of 2011
By admin | March 1, 2012
This year’s Academy Awards saw two winning films in the most prestigious categories Best Film, Actor In a Leading Role, Directing, Costume Design, Music (The Artist by Michel Hazanavicius) and Best Foreign Language Film for Nadar and Simin, A Separation by Asghar Farhadi. Both masterpieces were still subject to reviews in 2011 KINO issues No. 100 and No. 101 by KINO – German Film editor Dorothea Holloway. Please, enjoy!
The Artist by Michel Hazanavicius
Scene from The Artist with Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Béjo, courtesy Cannes Film Festival 2011
Jean Dujardin picked up the award for Best Actor for his role as the silent film superstar George Valentin in The Artist, an homage to the Hollywood of the 1920s. Valentin appears with a cute cocker spaniel who unquestionably obeys him. All of the tricks succeed. We have a ripping good time and delight in this sweet little dog. The Artist was a jewel of gaiety in Cannes’ predominantly serious programme. Moreover, it is simply wonderful what »comes across« just through facial expressions and body language, without any speech. Then the talkies appear. Valentin’s partner Berenice Bejo makes a career as an actress in the talkies and the silent star disappears. There are a couple of unexpected, delightful surprises. The Artist – with cinematography by Guillaume Schiffman – was one of the favourites in Cannes. At the awards ceremony, Jean Dujardin showed his gratitude by performing a tap dance.
(KINO – German Film No. 100, p. 15)
Nadar and Simin, A Separation by Asghar Farhadi
Asghar Farhadi with the Golden Bear for Nader and Simin, A Separation, courtesy Richard Hübner/Berlinale
For some time now, highly acclaimed films have been coming from Iran, and Ron had always awaited them with bated breath. The Competition at this year’s Berlinale featured Asghar Farhadi’s film Nadar and Simin, A Separation. When speaking about this masterful award-winner, I can only repeat what Martin Blaney wrote in the Berlinale Bulletin in this issue: »The family drama had been a hot favourite for the top honours from the moment of its international premiere in the Competition halfway through the Berlinale. It was warmly received by both critics and audiences alike.« Nadar and Simin are appearing in front of the divorce judge. An everyday story happening everywhere in the world. But it is the way Farhadi shows why Simin, the wife, wants to leave the country with their daughter and how the husband Nadar insists that the daughter stays with him in Teheran because he doesn’t want to leave his sick father – this makes us reflect, empathise and feel moved. Simin moves out of their family flat to her parents, and Nadar employs the carer Razieh to look after his father: she is pregnant and needs the money. Her husband mustn’t get to hear about this. When Razieh has to wash the sick man, she calls a hotline for religious questions … Yes, as a female carer, she may wash the sick man. But it becomes more complicated and tragic. Nadar and Simin come from different social strata, and their world views can’t be reconciled. What’s worse, they insult one another and file suits. We become witnesses to a drama in which we are unable to intervene or help. All done without any kind of razzle-dazzle, highly explosive as well as being political.
Nadar and Simin, A Separation received the Berlinale’s main prize, the Golden Bear, as well as Silver Bears for the male and female acting ensembles.
(KINO – German Film No. 101, p. 7)
Topics: Film Reviews, International Reports, Misc. | Comments Off on 2012 Academy Awards through the KINO eye of 2011
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