Best Shot: The Night of the Hunter

*This post is part of Nathaniel’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” Series.

For on reason or another, I never got to take part in this fantastic series at The Film Experience, even though I had seen most of the films discussed. The season finale seemed like the last chance to finally participate, but that meant I had to watch Charles Laughton’s sole directorial effort The Night of the Hunter for the first time.

The film tells the story of two kids, John and Pearl Harper, whose father is executed on charges of murder but leaves a large sum of money left behind, hiding it before his arrest and only telling the kids of its place. When Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum) spends a night with Harper in jail before his execution, he finds out about the money. Once out of jail, and posing as a man of god, he marries the widow of Harper (Shelley Winters) hoping to obtain the money, but things go awry.

Six shots I like for their sheer beauty.

Nathaniel’s choice is obviously an informed one. The film is one of the best shot films I’ve ever seen and there’s an abundance of shots to choose from which makes it easier and harder for me at the same time. You can’t watch this film and not notice the amazing work Stanley Cortez has done with shadows. He manages to create intensity, eeriness and tranquility, define characters and set moods all with his noir-like lighting. (Although, if this were a review of the film, I’d definitely have to mention how helpful the music and the sound work are.)

In the end, I narrowed my favourites down to these:

Second Runner-up:

The house! Because every time there’s a long shot of the house, it promises something unexpected, important or just scary happening. The same shot of the Harpers’ house repeats several times during the film and then, a couple of times , there's a shot of Cooper's house; but each time it got me excited to see what was next.

Runner-up:

Double creepy shot of Powell. Because of the great villain he is and the great performance by Mitchum.

Favourite shot:

Because very early on, this shot summarizes the film. John is rendered black in a silhouette, as if he is in hiding, and Powell, sneaks up on him, as he chases him during the whole film.

Oscars 2010 Predictions: Round 1, October

I’ve never really done Oscar predictions before. This might turn out to be a real embarrassment once the actual nominations come out, but I figured if everyone else is doing it, I’ll take my chances too.

Last year was the first time that we had ten nominees for best picture. Well, we had that a very long time ago as well, but it’s hard to make a connection between today’s nomination trends and those of the thirties. If last year proved anything, it was that the ten-wide best picture field opens the race up to a larger variety of genres and themes. The nomination of a film like The Blind Side, a rather mediocre crowd pleaser may become a trend in the future; something other bloggers are referring to as the “The Blind Side Spot”. The inclusion of both Avatar and District 9 can be reason to believe the Academy might gradually loosen up toward genre films.

Surprise nominees are bound to pop up later in the year, but at this point in the race, there are a few films that look solid on their path to Kodak theatre. Nonetheless, the race has just started and it looks like the perfect time to begin writing about it.

I’m only predicting the top categories, plus my two favourite categories of cinematography and editing. Maybe in the future I’ll start covering the whole race, but for now, here are my hunches:

(This is far from a favourites list, by the way. So this is not what I want the nominations to turn out like, but this is what I think it will be.)

Best Picture

1- The Social Network

2- Toy Story 3

3- The King’s Speech

4- 127 Hours

5- True Grit

6- Inception

7- The Kids Are All Right

8- Winter’s Bone

9- Fair Game

10- Another Year

Almost predicted: The Way Back

Nominees?

The first five are what I’m most certain about given festival reaction and critical and public approval. Inception’s nomination will depend on the genre bias, but then again, if Avatar is not too sci-fi, how could Inception be?

The Kids Are All Right came out in the summer but it’s still very much in the conversation, even if it’s mostly surrounding Bening and Moore’s performances. The last three are kind of shaky. They look better to me on paper than any other film does. Another Year and The Way Back both have release date problems. Will it prove to be too little too late? Only time can tell. Does Ben Affleck’s The Town have enough pull to grab a nomination? What other category can you see it nominated though? Is Secretariat too middle-brow for a best picture nomination or is there really going to be a “Blind Side Spot”?

Best Director

1- David Fincher (The Social Network)

2- Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech)

3- Danny Boyle (127 Hours)

4- Christopher Nolan (Inception)

5- Joel & Ethan Coen (True Grit)

Almost predicted: Peter Weir (The Way Back)

I assume Christopher Nolan was very close to being in the top five two years ago. Maybe this time he will finally crack the list. The Coen Brothers usually do fantastic work and True Grit, at least from the trailer looks like another hit.

Best Screenplay Original

1- Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech)

2- Christopher Nolan (Inception)

3- Lisa Cholodenko, Stuart Bloomberg (The Kids Are All Right)

4- Mike Leigh (Another Year)

5- Bill Ivory (Made in Dagenham)

Almost predicted: Sofia Coppola (Somewhere)

The only one I’m a little sceptic about is Made in Dagenham. I wonder if it’s really going to be a big hit in the States. If not, what’s gonna take its spot? Somewhere? Blue Valentine? The Fighter?

Best Screenplay Adapted

1- Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network)

2- Michael Arndt (Toy Story 3)

3- Joel & Ethan Coen (True Grit)

4- Danny Boyle (127 Hours)

5- Debra Granik (Winter’s Bone)

Almost Predicted: Peter Weir (The Way Back)

This category looks like a slam dunk for Aaron Sorkin.

Best Actress

1- Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right)

2- Natalie Portman (Black Swan)

3- Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone)

4- Lesley Manville (Another Year)

5- Naomi Watts (Fair Game)

Almost predicted: Sally Hawkins/ Nicole Kidman (Made in Dagenham/ Rabbit Hole)

Can they both get in?

This is really the hardest category to predict. Except for the top two, everyone else could potentially be a nominee. The precursors should give us a better view.

Best Actor

1- Colin Firth (The King’s Speech)

2- James Franco (127 Hours)

3- Jeff Bridges (True Grit)

4- Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network)

5- Javier Bardem (Biutiful)

Almost predicted: Robert Duvall (Get Low)

Colin Firth looks like the winner to me this year. He’s got leftover momentum from last year’s nomination. He’s a movie that is clearly well-liked by the audiences and critics alike and is a front-runner for best picture, which never hurts. The fifth spot is really the most uncertain, but I haven’t seen Bardem or Duvall yet so I’ll hold off for now.

Best Supporting Actress

1- Helena Bonham Carter (The King’s Speech)

2- Miranda Richardson (Made in Dagenham)

3- Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom)

4- Diane Wiest (Rabbit Hole)

5- Melissa Leo (The Fighter)

Almost predicted: Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit)

Unlike lead actress, no one really looks like a nominee here. Jacki Weaver’s campaign has apparently started already and having seen her film, I’m definitely on her side for a nomination. None of the other major players in this race have been seen by the public yet. Maybe in a month, we’ll have a better picture.

Best Supporting Actor

1- Geoffrey Rush (The King’s Speech)

2- Christian Bale (The Fighter)

3- Andrew Garfield (The Social Network)

4- Matt Damon (True Grit)

5- Sam Rockwell (Conviction)

Almost predicted: Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right)

Three overdue actors. Can we see all of them at once?

I have a feeling the final would definitely come out of these six. No one else looks as likely to me, but Rush looks like the only sure-fire nominee here.

Best Cinematography

1- Roger Deakins (True Grit)

2- Jeff Cronenweth (The Social Network)

3- Enrique Chediak, Anthony Dod Mantle (127 Hours)

4- Wally Pfister (Inception)

5- Matthew Libatique (Black Swan)

Almost predicted: Russel Boyd (The Way Back)

Just give Deakins his Oscar already. What’s the man gotta do?

But luckily, my most favourite cinematographer looks to be on the right path to his (MUCH delayed) first win, and I’m not the only one who thinks so.

Best Editing

1- Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall (The Social Network)

2- Lee Smith (Inception)

3- John Harris (127 Hours)

4- Roderick Jaynes (True Grit)

5- Tariq Anwar (King’s Speech)

Almost predicted: Andrew Weisblum (Black Swan)

Best picture nominees usually take up most of this category, so I’m going with those for now. I think The Social Network deserves the Oscar among the films that I’ve seen already, but this post is only about prediction, not preference, so let’s pretend I never said that. Black Swan’s trailer was also superbly edited. Is the film itself the same?

The metamorphosis of Rooney Mara

From the sweet and lovable Erica Albright of The Social Network:


to the mysterious and charismatic Lisbeth Salander of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo:


Can she be just as good in her second film with David Fincher?
Can Fincher's unique directorial style elevate the original film?
I can't wait to find out!

Recent Updates

So, I haven’t updated this blog in ages. It turns out that being a full time fourth year engineering student and having a part time job on the side doesn’t really fare well with being a cinephile. I’d promised myself when I started this blog to use it to channel my thoughts on all the films I watch, but the blog certainly doesn’t reflect how much time I spend watching films and it definitely doesn’t reflect how much time I spend reading and thinking about them. But as it has been proved to me so many times before, it’s much easier to meet a deadline when you promise someone other than yourself. So here it is; written in digital ink. I will update this blog more frequently from today on.

I have three regular features in mind that will kick off in early November. First one is something I’ve thought about since day one; a column on Iranian cinema, to pay my dues to the directors and films that developed my love for cinema in the first place. Second is a feature called “Guilty Pleasures”, where I’ll be writing about films that I enjoy, but seem to be the only person who does so. And the third one, well I’m keeping that one a surprise for now. (you can read: I haven’t found a nice title for it yet.) This feature will be Oscar related though.

Jeon Do Yeon in The Housemaid

Before I get to all of that however, I will put up a post of one-line (or slightly longer) reviews of all the films I’ve seen in the past month or so, but never had the chance to fully review. Look forward to comments on The Social Network, Uncle Boonmee who Can Recall his Past Lives, The Hunter, The Housemaid, Easy A, A Screaming Man and some oldies.

Final note is that Michael, from Serious Film, has put together an amazing dish of Mad Men delight which you will definitely enjoy if you’re a fan of the show; and let’s be honest, who isn’t? Also, Everyone’s favourite film blogger and list maker, Nathaniel Rogers, from The Film Experience, has put up an interesting list of record holders for the youngest Oscar nominee in the Best Actress categories. Robert who contributes to Nathaniel’s blog also finished his fantastic series (Modern Maestros) this week. If you’ve never checked it out before, you’re missing out, but you can see the whole index here.

Michael's choice for the second best shot of the season. Click to see his top choice.