Don’t miss: Awards-worthy The Sessions and Middle of Nowhere
Helen Hunt and John Hawkes in The Sessions. Like Middle of Nowhere, it is a low-profile, high-impact film worthy of awards consideration.
In this movie season of CGI tigers, CIA exfiltrators and US presidents, extraordinary films about extraordinary figures, it’s easy to overlook stories about ordinary folk facing extraordinary circumstances.
Cases in point, The Sessions and Middle of Nowhere, micro-budget films with macro-emotional impact and performances richly deserving of awards consideration. Coincidentally, the heroines of each of these unusual triangles are health-care workers.
The Sessions, from writer/director Ben Lewin, stars John Hawkes as real-life poet Mark O’Brien, whose polio-related disability confined him to an iron lung for much of the time. The film, a spiritual comedy, chronicles his encounters with a sex surrogate (Helen Hunt). Though there are naked bodies and naked emotions, it’s not at all about sex, but intimacy. And Hawkes and Hunt are deeply moving.
Middle of Nowhere, from writer/director Ava DuVernay, stars Emayatzy Corinealdi as a hospital nurse in emotional and existential crisis: Her husband is serving time in prison and she is a caregiver deeply in need of care not forthcoming from her mother (Lorraine Toussaint). With a husband and her desire in lockdown, what happens when a bus driver (David Oyelowo) comes along and unlocks her heart?
I cannot overpraise the films and the sensitive performances. All five actors are nominees for Independent Spirit awards. If there is any justice, all five will receive Oscar nominations as well.
Which other low-profile, high-impact films are worthy of awards consideration this year?
Name some low-profile, high-impact films of 2012 that are awards-worthy: http://t.co/CYc8tSrR
RT @CarrieRickey: Name some low-profile, high-impact films of 2012 that are awards-worthy: http://t.co/CYc8tSrR
RT @CarrieRickey: Name some low-profile, high-impact films of 2012 that are awards-worthy: http://t.co/2AnbUUzx (Yay!)
RT @AVAETC: RT @CarrieRickey: Name some low-profile, high-impact films of 2012 that are awards-worthy: http://t.co/2AnbUUzx (Yay!)
Two performances in two amazing films to note:
Thure Lindhardt, a Danish actor, plays the lead role in Ira Sachs’ extraordinary co-dependency drama KEEP THE LIGHTS ON. His performance is as raw and brave as the film.
I also highly recommend the forthcoming ANY DAY NOW, which features a stunning performance by Alan Cumming in a film that is equally powerful.
To me the two outstanding examples are Bernie
and Margaret. I realize that the latter movie is a
year old by now, but it still hasn’t received a fraction
of the attention (and I’m not talking only about
Oscar hucksterism, because few of the best films
ever reach that plateau. Why don’t they give all the
prizes to Lincoln and Argo now and let us move on to something
more interesting?)
Sorry–here’s a corrected/expanded version:
To me the two outstanding examples are “Bernie”
and “Margaret”. I realize that the latter movie is a
year old by now, but it still hasn’t received a fraction
of the attention it deserves. (I’m not talking only about
Oscar hucksterism, because few of the best films
ever reach that plateau anyway. Why don’t they give all the
prizes to “Lincoln” and “Argo” now, spare us three months more
of flack, and let us move on to something more interesting?)
RT @AVAETC: RT @CarrieRickey: Name some low-profile, high-impact films of 2012 that are awards-worthy: http://t.co/2AnbUUzx (Yay!)