Showing posts with label Oscars 2024. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oscars 2024. Show all posts

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


Related Articles:

IF YOU ARE READING FROM A MOBILE DEVICE, CLICK: view web version FOR OTHER COOL FEATURES SUCH AS TRANSLATE POWERED BY GOOGLE, AN INTERACTIVE FILM FESTIVAL CALENDAR, AND MORE AWESOME ARTICLES.

Festival in LA ©2024

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , ,

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 a 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 comprises a successful, 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. Despite his impairment, Daniel plays the piano beautifully and walks daily along 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 Hollywood's red carpets 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 adding to the confusion and chaos. The music recurs and is 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 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" that happened a year later.
The prosecutors found the husband's recordings of 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 husband's evident frustration at his wife's success making him seem to ignite and manipulate 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 often treated as adults, no matter how complex or disturbing the situations they 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 Triet cleverly plays with perceptions of the truth, shaped by 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." Across all her films, she has three recurring themes: family, writers, and legal matters.
Justine Triet, Palme d'Or Winner, Cannes. Photo: Par Par François BECKER et © 2023 AFP

In light of the theory of eyewitness unreliability, "Anatomy of a Fall" can be related to Akira Kurosawa's "Rashomon." A few years later, in 1964, Hollywood released a remake of the Japanese classic "The Outrage" starring 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 by witnesses' points of view, backgrounds, 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 Awards Ceremony, and the list of recognitions for the French/German joint 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 is all up to the viewer to figure out what really happened.
Regardless of any conspiracy theory, the film is open to 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.
Related Articles: 

IF YOU ARE READING FROM A MOBILE DEVICE, CLICK: view web version FOR OTHER COOL FEATURES SUCH AS TRANSLATE POWERED BY GOOGLE, AN INTERACTIVE FILM FESTIVAL CALENDAR, AND MORE AWESOME ARTICLES.

Festival in LA ©2024
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

Perfect Days: Even a Japanese Toilet Cleaner Got the Blues

 By José Alberto Hermosillo 



“Perfect Days” is a chant for the working class, in which simplicity is one of the greatest gifts a person can have.

 

Veteran German filmmaker Wim Wenders blends Eastern and Western cultures in a compelling, multi-layered, observational drama of intrinsic beauty.

 

It is a cohesive social narrative grounded in universal moral values such as honesty, self-respect, self-discipline, and self-love.

 

“Perfect Days” explores self-preservation in a society where, in some cases, individualism leads to isolation and loneliness. Yet those self-made circumstances are no obstacle to having perfect days and finding happiness in small things.

 

What would be the perfect day for a toilet cleaner in Tokyo or any other city in the world? To have lunch on a bench, contemplating the sunlight spilling through the branches and leaves of the trees, and snapping a shot with a film camera to preserve the natural beauty of his environment. Those are invaluable moments that last forever.



Younger people usually interact with Hirayama in the same way. They do not distance themselves from him or treat him with excessive respect because of his age, as other countries do. They see him as one of their own. The generational gap is the same, as they also wonder about the outdated gadgets he possesses and reproduces. They know he has the knowledge to bring happiness and, at the same time, give them instant emotional satisfaction with American music.


Hirayama is a unique character, distinct from his wealthy sister or his curious, runaway niece. He enjoys a simple life and meticulously reads William Faulkner’s Modern and Gothic American literature and Patricia Highsmith’s novels every day.



“Perfect Days” is a character-driven film that explores Hirayama’s dreams and memories in a more linear, artistic way, like a trip to the Metaverse. Wender’s wife, Donata, created the recurring images that appear in his dreams.

On his way to work, he enjoys listening to American music on a cassette player. Songs such as “The House of the Rising Sun” by The Animals, “Brown Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison, “Perfect Day” by Lou Reed, and “Feeling Good” by Nina Simone made the “Perfect Days” soundtrack unforgettable and valuable for the curious young Japanese generation.


Veteran Japanese actor Kōji Yakusho skillfully and elegantly plays Hirayama, a role that earned him the Best Actor award at Cannes 2023. We remember him from the original 1996 film “Shall We Dance?” Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez made the American version more commercial. He also played a major role in Babel and other iconic films, such as “Cure” and “13 Assassins.”


Wim Wenders recently released another extraordinary documentary, “Anselm,” about the work of the German iconoclast Anselm Kiefer. Wim Wenders is a well-known director, known for his evocative works “Wings of Desire” and “Faraway, So Close!” in Germany, where he also made “Pina,” a documentary that pays tribute to the German choreographer Pina Bausch, and “The Salt on Earth,” another marvelous documentary on the work of the world-renowned photographer Sebastiâo Salgado. He also directed other independent and transcendental features in the United States, such as “Paris, Texas” and “Don’t Come Knocking.”

Other contemporary and memorable films that address the working-class subject include Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or-winning “I, Daniel Blake,” Pablo Larrain’s “Tony Manero” from Chile, and Gabriela Pichler’s “Eat Sleep Die” from Sweden.


With “Perfect Days,” Japan reached its fifteenth Oscar nomination and won two. The first Oscar went to “Departures” in 2008, and the second to “Drive My Car” in 2021.


The Japanese entry for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards, “Perfect Days,” portrays the city of Tokyo as another character, with towns or districts where people gather to eat at a nearby market, buy music at an antique record store, bathe in a public sauna, or go out to a bar for dinner. 

Tokyo’s urban landscape is intriguing, with highways, buildings, and especially the active broadcasting facility of Tokyo’s Skytree Tower, which the film shows a few times as a cardinal symbol of the city’s skyline.


We must remember that no job is degrading or demeaning, and Japanese people know that. You can be a toilet cleaner, a table cleaner, or flip burgers in a restaurant anywhere in the world. As long as you can do it with dignity and respect, you can find satisfaction as an ultimate goal, along with plenty of other activities that bring you happiness outside your work schedule.

The people of Tokyo must be proud of their city’s cleanliness, especially the toilets, because dedicated, professional people like the endearing character of Hirayama take care of them. 


Have you ever wondered whether a Tokyo toilet cleaner can have a perfect day? The answer is yes. Even a hardworking toilet cleaner can have his “Perfect Days” in an automated city with people who lead fast-paced lifestyles. 


“Perfect Days” reaches universality by appealing to all workers who do their jobs with dignity and self-respect and who enjoy the little things that make their lives happier.


Related Articles: 

IF YOU ARE READING FROM A MOBILE DEVICE, CLICK: view web version FOR OTHER COOL FEATURES SUCH AS TRANSLATE POWERED BY GOOGLE, AN INTERACTIVE FILM FESTIVAL CALENDAR, AND MORE AWESOME ARTICLES.

Festival in LA ©2024
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)