Friday, March 22, 2024

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING - OSCAR WEEK 2024

 By José Alberto Hermosillo


BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING 2024 PANEL

To select the Best Makeup and Hairstyling nominees, the Makeup Academy Branch has its own implicit statutes, which require choosing an element from these three categories: a period piece, a contemporary/dramatic film, and a fantasy/Sci-Fi movie. 

Established in 1981, the Makeup and Hairstyling category has recognized some of the most iconic character transformations in history. 

In recent years, a strong connection between the winning actor/actress and the winner of the Makeup & Hairstyling category has grown. 

For instance, in 2007, “La Vie En Rose” won Best Makeup and Hairstyling, and Marion Cotillard took the Best Actress award for playing the quintessential French singer Êdith Piaf. In 2012, “The Iron Lady” won Makeup and Meryl Streep Best Actress. In 2014, “Dallas Buyers Club” won Makeup, and Matthew McConaughey earned his first Best Actor Oscar. In 2017, “The Darkest Hour” won Makeup and Gary Oldman Best Actor. In 2022, “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” got Makeup and Jessica Chastain Best Actress. In 2023, Brendan Fraser won Best Actor, and “The Whale” won Best Makeup and Hairstyling. In 2024, “Poor Things” won Best Makeup, and Emma Stone won her second Oscar for playing Bella Baxter in the gothic female version of Frankenstein. 

The 2023 selected films meeting the criteria are: “Golda,” “Maestro,” and “Oppenheimer,” which are period pieces; “Poor Things” can be considered fantasy, and “Society of the Snow” in the drama category. 

THE BEST MAKEUP AND HAIR STYLING NOMINEES ARE:

“Golda”
“Maestro”
“Oppenheimer”
“Poor Things” WINNER!
“Society of the Snow”

“Golda”

Academy Award-winning actress Hellen Mirren (“The Queen,” “Gosford Park,” and “The Madness of King George”) as Israel’s Prime Minister Golda Meir faces one of the most challenging crises of her government, The Yom Kippur War in 1973.

"Golda” poster, makeup panel ©2024 Festival in LA

"Golda” makeup panel. Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo ©2024 Festival in LA

Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling Nominees: Karen Hartley Thomas, Suzi Battersby, and Ashra Kelly-Blue.

“Golda” makeup display. Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo ©2024 Festival in LA

“Golda” makeup display. Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo ©2024 Festival in LA


“Maestro” 

Bradley Cooper directed and portrayed the life of the first American-Jewish conductor-composer and music instructor, Leonard Bernstein, in this intense, elegant, and educative film.

"Maestro,” makeup panel. Photo ©2024 Festival in L

“Maestro,” makeup panel. Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo ©2024 Festival in AL

Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling Nominees: Kazu Hiro, Kay Georgiou, and Lori McCoy-Bell.

“Maestro,” makeup display. Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo ©2024 Festival in LA

“Maestro,” makeup display. Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo ©2024 Festival in LA

“Maestro,” makeup panel. Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo ©2024 Festival in LA

“Maestro,” makeup panel. Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo ©2024 Festival in LA

“Maestro,” makeup display. Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo ©2024 Festival in LA

“Oppenheimer” 

Irish actor Cillian Murphy brings to life the American scientist and physicist  J. Robert Oppenheimer and the crucial moment in history of developing the atomic bomb.


"Oppenheimer,” makeup panel. Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo ©2024 Festival in LA

Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling Nominee: Luisa Abel.

"Oppenheimer,” makeup display. Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo ©2024 Festival in LA

"Oppenheimer,” makeup display. Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo ©2024 Festival in LA

"Oppenheimer,” makeup display. Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo ©2024 Festival in LA

“Poor Things” 

Emma Stone plays Bella Baxter in the gothic female version of Frankenstein.

"Poor Things," Poster ©2024 Festival in LA


"Poor Things," makeup panel with Willem Dafoe. Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo ©2024 Festival in LA
“Poor Things,” makeup panel with Willem Dafoe. Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo ©2024 Festival in LA

Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling Nominees: Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier, and Josh Weston. WINNERS!!!

“Poor Things,” makeup panel with Willem Dafoe. Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo ©2024 Festival in LA

“Poor Things,” makeup display. Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo ©2024 Festival in LA

“Poor Things,” makeup display. Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo ©2024 Festival in LA

“Poor Things,” makeup display. Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo ©2024 Festival in LA

“Society of the Snow” 

Spanish director J. Antonio Bayona produced and directed the third version of the survival drama of the Uruguayan rugby players who crashed in the Los Andes region of South America. “Survive!/Supervivientes de los Andes” was the first version produced by Mexico in 1976. Then, in 1993, “Alive” was made in Hollywood in English. 

"Society of the Snow," Poster ©2024 Festival in LA

"Society of the Snow," makeup pane. Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo ©2024 Festival in LA
“Society of the Snow,” makeup display. Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo ©2024 Festival in LA

Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling Nominees: Ana López-Puigcerver, David Martí, and Montse Ribé.

"Society of the Snow," makeup display. Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo ©2024 Festival in LA
“Society of the Snow,” makeup display. Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo ©2024 Festival in LA

"Society of the Snow," makeup display. Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo ©2024 Festival in LA
“Society of the Snow,” makeup display. Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo ©2024 Festival in LA

"Society of the Snow," makeup display. Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo ©2024 Festival in LA
“Society of the Snow,” makeup display. Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo ©2024 Festival in LA

"Society of the Snow," makeup display. Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo ©2024 Festival in LA
 “Society of the Snow,” makeup display. Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo ©2024 Festival in LA


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Festival in LA ©2024

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Anatomy of a Fall: An Intellectual Dissection of a Broken Marriage

 By José Alberto Hermosillo 


"Anatomy of a Fall" is a sublime, thrilling, and transcendental modern work of art - masterfully written, directed, performed, photographed, and edited.
The family courtroom drama focuses on a freak accident, its repercussions, and the unsettled battle of the sexes continuing after death.

The 2023 Palme d'Or winner contains three familiar and robust characters who speak in different languages - French, German, and English, as common ground. Despite their blood ties, the three members of the family are drawn into life-changing circumstances where death, entrapment, and murder play a significant role in their lives. But absolutely none of them plays the victim in this well-rounded, multi-layered story.
Up in the snowy mountains of Grenoble, France, the apparently harmonious family composed of a successful and busy German author named Sandra Voyter (Sandra Hüller), a frustrated French writer/teacher, Samuel Moleski (Samuel Theis), and their son Daniel (Milo Machado-Graner).
Milo Machado-Graner is a young and promising actor with a successful career in French movies such as "Stuck Together" and "Waiting for Bojangles." The talented actor is extraordinary in "Anatomy of a Fall." He portrays a legally bling, independent teenager who likes to hike with his service dog, Messi, on the snowy trails of the Dauphine Alps, where they live.
Later in the film, we learn that the intellectual couple constantly fights because they blame each other for their child's accident that left him with impaired vision and how to manage their "precious time" to take care of their eleven-year-old son. 
Because of the accident, Daniel developed a high sensitivity to light exposure, which made him partially blind. He is independent but still needs adult supervision. Regardless of his impediment, Daniel plays the piano beautifully and walks daily by the mountain trail with his trained dog.
The dog Messi from "Anatomy of a Fall" at the Oscar Luncheon.
Le chien, Messi has been recognized as the absolute winner of the "Palm Dog" Award for his performance in this movie during this past edition of the Cannes Film Festival. He is making big waves on the red carpets in Hollywood during the 2024 award season.
After Samuel's tragic death, Daniel continued his piano lesson rehearsing "Asturias" (Leyenda), which was composed by Issac Albéniz. The strident music played during "The Fall" and replayed during the gathering of evidence is bringing more confusion and chaos. The music is recurrent and a pivotal part of the narrative.
"Anatomy of a Fall" is divided into three structural parts, the day of the accident, the trial, and the unexpected resolution.
The film cleverly builds tension in some scenes; in others, it lingers through the beauty of the natural locations thanks to Simon Beaufils's gorgeous cinematography ("My Donkey, My Lover, and I," "Knife + Heart).
After the "fall," the trial is immediate. The pace of the film progresses rapidly, as the family has no time to grieve. Furthermore, we see the wife in the house training with her lawyer on what to say or not to say before the trial and how she has to justify the bruises on her arm.
After examining all the evidence and collecting the people's statements, the prosecutors find some discrepancies that may alter the cause of death, whether the case can be considered an accident or murder. Even though the film clearly stipulates the legal repercussions of the "questionable death" happened a year later.
The prosecutors found the husband's recordings with some of the most recent couple's fights playing in the courtroom. That surprisingly new piece of incriminating evidence may point against the famous writer.
The struggle between the two writers becomes a battle of the sexes, with the evident husband's frustration with his wife's success making him look like he is igniting and manipulating those intense discussions. 
The recordings were made without her consent or knowledge, which is considered illegal in some States of the United States. Still, in France, they are used as contentious proof of the couple's instability.

In European films, children are usually treated as adults, no matter how complex or disturbing situations they have to endure. The legally blind boy becomes the key witness in the case. 
For a child, it is devastating to lose his father, witness his mother's trial, listen to the recordings of his parents' fights in court, and give his crucial testimony that may incriminate or save his mother.
Testifying as an adult makes Daniel aware of the situation, and he must decide whether he would like to save his mother or help the prosecutor bring her to justice.

The performance by German actress Sandra Hüller ("The Zone of Interest," "I'm Your Man," "Toni Erdmann") is impressive. She displays a wide range of emotions, and even when she lies, we think she is telling the truth.
In "Anatomy of a Fall," French director Justine Trier cleverly plays with the perception of the truth according to each player's needs, interests, and points of view. Justine Trier graduated from the Paris School of Fine Arts and is an Oscar nominee for Best Director; she has an extraordinary filmmaking career with solid previous projects such as "The Age of Panic," "Sibyl," and "Victoria." In all her films, she has three recurrent topics: family, writers, and legal matters.
Justine Triet, Palme d'Or Winner, Cannes 2023. Photo: Par Par Francois BECKER et © 2023 AFP

With the theory of the phenomenon of the unreliability of the eyewitness, "Anatomy of a Fall" can be related to Akira Kurosawa's "Rashomon." A few years later, in 1964, Hollywood came out with the remake of the Japanese classic called "The Outrage" with Paul Newman. This particular Western, directed by Martin Ritt ("Hud," "Hombre," and "Norman Rae"), is another clear example of how the truth can be distorted according to the witnesses' point of view, background, beliefs, and personal experiences.
In 1957, Sidney Lumet's "12 Angry Men" rounded off the perceptions of twelve jury members who had to deliver the conviction or acquittal of an eighteen-year-old boy accused of murder. They had reasonable doubts and concluded that there was not enough hard evidence to prove the boy's guilt.
Since its premiere in Cannes, "Anatomy of a Fall" has collected numerous awards worldwide. In the US, the film has been nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Editing.
In France, the film won six César Awards, including Best Picture. In England, it won the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay. In Spain, it won Best European Film at the Goya's Ceremony, and the list of recognitions for the French/Germain join goes on.
In this legal matter, winning or losing the case in court would not bring peace to the souls of the people involved. Still, it raises more questions about what is next when they lose someone they love in a freak accident and if the accident was intentionally planned or a successful suicide attempt. It all is up to the viewer to figure out what really happened.
Regardless of any conspiracy theory, the film is open to the public interpretation. Let "Anatomy of a Fall" sit for a while to process an unforgettable film that is making big waves around the world for its enormous quality in storytelling.
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Monday, February 12, 2024

Shayda; “A Separation” in Australia

By José Alberto Hermosillo

AFI FEST FILM REVIEW: “Shayda” is a thoughtful and profoundly moving family drama. It chronicles the journey of an Iranian mother and a daughter going through a painful separation from their abusive husband in Australia in the 1990s.
 
Paraphrasing the title of the Oscar-winning 2011 Iranian film “A Separation” directed by Asghar Farhadi, another story of the separation of Iranians comes to the screen -- “Sayda,” based on the personal experience of first-timer Iranian Australian director Noora Niasari, remarkably delivers a vivid portrayal of an abused Iranian single mother and her daughter roaming in a foreign land.

Director Nooria Niasari, Australia. Photo ny José Alberto Hermosillo. Copyright © Festival in LA, 2023
 
The collaborative effort took six years to come to fruition. Noora’s mother was not only her inspiration but a person who stood up by her side during production. Academy Award-winning actress Cate Blanchett, who worked as an executive producer, was an essential part of the project, said Niasari at a Q&A after the screening of her film during the AFI Fest in Los Angeles in 2023.
 
The Persian-born director Noora Niasari, who grew up in Australia, went back to Iran at the age of nineteen to learn more about her roots and cultural identity and other elements that would help her to enrich the film. The symbolism of Shayda’s clothes, shapes, and colors represents the emotional journey and a transformation, making Shayda’s silhouette become a butterfly, visually speaking. 

In terms of place and time, the film is a powerful analogy of how people lived the Autumn in Australia during the 1990s.

The film strongly suggests Shayda’s darkest moments, including the reference to when she was beaten, raped, and sent out to the street with her six-year-old daughter, Mona. To overcome adversity, she seeks refuge at a women’s shelter where she finds counseling, legal aid, and friends who live in similar circumstances, who taught her how to empower herself to confront her husband and his family.
 
Over the Persian New Year Celebration, Shayda would like to take comfort in the Nowruz rituals that symbolize a new beginning. But real life takes work. Escaping domestic violence and her country’s totalitarian ideology. Sayda needed to recapture her cultural identity by keeping in touch with her Iranian food, poetry, music, dances, traditions, and, above all, with the Iranian people in Australia.
 
In this stressful cat-and-mouse drama, Shayda must be as far as possible from her abusive husband, Hossain (Osamah Sami), but the law does not grant her wishes. The patriarchal Australian system, without knowing that the father wants to take his woman and daughter back to Iran to preserve his misogynist dominance, rules favor the father’s visitations.


Actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Photo by José Alberto Hermosillo. Copyright © Festival in LA, 2023

Staring Teheran-born actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi (“Holy Spider” & “Tatami”) is as remarkable as Shayda. She displays a wide variety of emotions, playing a mother who is aware of her daughter’s well-being but who also needs some empathy for herself.

 

Actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi & Selina Zahednia, Photo courtesy of Sony Classics, 2023,

Mona, the little girl, is confident and expressive; young actress Selina Zahednia plays her. She understood acting from the beginning. The mother-and-daughter relationship looked natural in front of the camera due to Selina and Zar Amir’s chemistry. They bond together by practicing their scenes in a child-friendly environment for two months.
 
“Shayda” is a woman-driven story that describes the repercussions of the Australian immigration system and resonates as part of the image of the Great Southern Land we have not seen before.
 
Noora Niasari dedicated her first work to her mom and all the brave women of Iran. She will continue working on her trilogy and just announced that her next project is an adaptation of Mahsa Rahman’s novel “Raya” in North America.

“Sayda” is an affectionate female-driven film with a sense of belonging. This cathartic project reflects the challenges experienced by a single mom during her separation from her abusive husband, moving away from her totalitarian country to find shelter and personal fulfillment for her and her daughter in a new land that represents a new beginning for both women who dream of a better future. 


Director Nooria Niasari & film critic José Alberto Hermosillo. Copyright © Festival in LA, 2023

Actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi & film critic José Alberto Hermosillo. Copyright © Festival in LA, 2023

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