'Celluloid Ceiling' survey results released

The industry news of the day is a far cry from the delights of watching the Tina Fey and Amy Poehler-hosted Golden Globes ceremony on Sunday. The telecast enjoyed its best ratings in seven years, thanks, in large part, to Fey and Poehler. But the realities of working females in Hollywood is nothing to smile about, so say the results of the annual “Celluloid Ceiling” survey released earlier today.

The employment survey focused on the top 250 domestic movies of 2013. According to the analysis, just 16 percent of the year’s 2,938 filmmakers were women, a figure that is down 2% from 2012. One of its unsurprising findings included a breakdown of employment by genre: women were most likely to be found working on drama, comedy and documentary films, and least likely to be found contributing to animation, horror and sci-fi projects.

Two major roles, those of director and writer, saw a decrease in women participants. The number of women directors currently stands at 6 percent, a downturn of 3 percent from 2012, while women make up 10 percent of working writers in Hollywood, down 5 percent.

As disheartening as it is to read a litany of these statistics, the female talent that is currently breaking through the ranks, bumping into that “celluloid ceiling” until it gives, is top-rate. There have been many articles written about the untapped wealth of women filmmakers, and they have inspired us to contribute our own small share of the positivity. The below list names just a few of the successful women working behind-the-scenes today, in roles that are indispensable to their lauded projects.

And for a great, thorough breakdown of female influence in Hollywood, take a read through indiewire’s “A to Z” list of women in film here.

Director: Nicole Holofcener, Enough Said
The pack of talented directors whose 2013 films have been raking in award nominations and box-office receipts is undoubtedly one of the strongest in years. Steve McQueen, David O. Russell, Alfonso Cuaron… they have produced important, fun work all. But the acknowledgment of their talent doesn’t make it any less of a shame that an innovative, albeit unshowy director like Nicole Holofcener should get widely overlooked when it comes time to tip our hats to the best films of the year. Enough Said is small, quiet, awkward, funny, sad, awkward-funny, awkward-sad, and pretty darn true to life. We love that star Julia Louis-Dreyfus has received some well-deserved attention, but Holofcener should be running the awards circuit alongside her. We do have confidence, however, that someone with such a resonant voice can’t be marginalized forever, and Hollywood at large will eventually catch up.

Eventually.

 

Writers: Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith, Saving Mr. Banks
It seems only natural that one of the best female roles of the year, the difficult and complex Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers, should have been written by two women. Saving Mr. Banks is a tough story to tell, as so much of the present action between Travers and Walt Disney is dependent upon an understanding of Travers’ past. Although some, like our critic David Noh, found the Banks script a little thin, Marcel and Smith succeeded in fully fleshing out the most important part of the film, Travers herself. It helped that they had feminist firebrand Emma Thompson to bring their character to life, too. Marcel will next tackle the hyped 50 Shades of Grey script. If that choice gives some female advocates pause, no one can say Marcel hasn’t landed one of the most hotly anticipated, and therefore most competitive, films of 2015.

 

Producer: Megan Ellison, American Hustle
Ellison is a fascinating story, one which may warrant a film in its own right someday. The daughter of the third-richest man in America, software company Oracle Co-Founder Larry Ellison, 28-year-old Megan’s brief list of producing credits thus far is, frankly, ridiculous. True Grit, The Master, Spring Breakers, Zero Dark Thirty, Her, and, of course, American Hustle (you might have noticed her up on stage with the rest of the cast when Hustle won for Best Musical or Comedy at the Globes Sunday night), to name just a few. As a 2013 story in Vanity Fair recounts, when Kathryn Bigelow and writer Mark Boal were seeking financing for Zero Dark Thirty, trying to find backers for their film outside of the major studios, Ellison offered to write a check for the movie’s entire budget herself. Lest you think Ellison is one who simply likes to swing her weight about with the help of Daddy’s hefty checkbook, however, the aforementioned list of projects testifies to the fact that she has a nose for this kind of thing. She’s currently working on the new Terminator reboot series, and the Seth Rogen-penned animated comedy, Sausage Party. Starting off with money helps, of course, but clearly Ellison knows how to make her own.

 

Editor: Thelma Schoonmaker, The Wolf of Wall Street
Behind every successful man is a woman, and behind every successful director is an editor. You’ve got both in the person of Thelma Schoonmaker, Martin Scorsese’s longtime collaborator. The 73-year-old Schoonmaker is the recipient of three Oscars herself, for Raging Bull, The Aviator, and The Departed, accolades that only underscore the fact that without her, there would be no heralded Scorsese oeuvre. More recently, there would be no Wolf of Wall Street if Schoonmaker hadn’t worked tirelessly to cut the film down to its current runtime of 179 minutes. In an interview with Variety, Schoonmaker admitted the final stretch of cutting Wolf was “particularly horrendous.” But does she mind not being front-and-center alongside Scorsese, mind never having directed a picture herself? “I think if I was working on disappointing films, well maybe” she would direct, she muses. “But I get this wonderful treasure trove. How many editors can say that?”

 

Cinematographer: Rachel Morrison, Fruitvale Station
Young film student and director Ryan Coogler may be the hot topic of conversation surrounding Fruitvale Station, but, like Schoonmaker, without Morrison’s expertise, there would have been no Fruitvale Station, and no breakout for Coogler. Morrison has been carving out her niche in one of the industry’s most male-dominated roles (which is saying something), cinematography, since 2002. She’s worked on kitschy TV series “Room Raiders” and “The Hills,” and, more recently, on the Alan Cumming indie Any Day Now. But it was her collaboration with Coogler that brought her work to a broader audience, a coup that will hopefully land her more of the same interesting, progressive projects in the future.

 

‘Lone Survivor’ stands tall at no. 1

Looks like audiences agree with Lone Survivor’s marketing team, which has been heralding the Afghanistan combat drama as the best war film since Saving Private Ryan.  It certainly made one of the strongest debuts among its genre cohorts, pulling in higher opening-weekend numbers than both Zero Dark Thirty ($24.4 million) and Black Hawk Down ($28.6 million). Survivor’s weekend haul of $38.5 million also far exceeded Universal’s conservative estimates – the studio had the movie tracking somewhere in the high teens – and, most impressively, has earned the film the title of second-most impressive January bow. The only other movie to have had a stronger January opening was Cloverfield, which grossed $40.1 million in 2008.

Many pundits are attributing the film’s success to a savvy promotional campaign that highlights the real-life heroism of its protagonist SEALs, while downplaying the fraught political implications that still surround the American invasion abroad. Whatever the initial appeal, critics and audiences alike are standing firm behind the movie, which has earned a rare A+ CinemaScore rating. The Mark Wahlberg-starrer should continue to hold strong in the weeks ahead.

It was an older crowd that helped lead Lone Survivor to victory over the weekend (the film’s demographic breakdown was 57% over the age of 30, as well as 57% male), while younger, and one would assume many repeat, viewers were (still) lining up for Frozen. The animated box-office behemoth has earned $317.7 million to date, and can now boast a Golden Globe win for the year’s Best Animated Feature to boot.

It’s unlikely the aforementioned honor will surprise anyone who’s leant an attentive ear to industry buzz of late, but the continued ascent of Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street might. After getting off to an OK start at the box office, the comedy/drama has steadily risen among the weekend’s rankings. Likely benefitting from continued controversy surrounding its debauched subjects, Wolf earned $9 this weekend to bump its overall gross to $78.6 million. Star Leonardo DiCaprio’s Golden Globe win last night may give the movie an additional boost this coming weekend. Estimates surrounding the film’s eventual total cume continue to expand: As of this morning, general consensus has Wolf topping out at well over $100 million by the time it leaves theatres.

David O. Russell’s crowd-pleaser American Hustle has already reached that milestone, officially crossing the $100-million mark as of yesterday. Another big Golden Globe winner (stars Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence both took home statuettes last night, and the film as a whole won for Best Musical or Comedy), Hustle grossed $8.6 million this weekend. The film tied with The Legend of Hercules for fourth place. That amounts to another strong showing for Hustle, but an underwhelming debut for the latest sword-and-sandal epic. Hopefully, The Rock’s take on the oft-adapted Greek legend will fare better this summer.

In fifth place, August: Osage County reaped $7.3 million from 905 locations. Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones performed as expected, slipping roughly 66% to earn $6.3 million. It remains on track to become the franchise’s least successful offering yet.

Unfortunately for specialty enthusiasts, two critically favored films also underperformed. Her earned $5.4 million, which, while in itself not a terrible figure, is nonetheless fairly weak considering the number of theatres in which the film screened (1,729). And although Inside Llewyn Davis seemed to connect with coastal audiences, averaging about $100,000 per theatre when it opened in NY and LA, it struggled to find a wider viewership. From 729 locations, Davis grossed just over $1 million. Let’s see if the continued onward march of awards season can do anything for these two struggling originals.

Battering 'the best'

Considering the many nomination announcements in recent weeks, including those for the Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe awards, as well as the unveiling of the 2014 New York Film Critics Awards winners, it seems this year’s Oscar frontrunners can boast clearly defined leads. To recap: The NYFCC named American Hustle its Best Picture of the year, while, with four nominations, 12 Years A Slave garnered the most SAG nods. The Golden Globes divided its love equally between the two contenders, nominating each for seven awards. In other words, American Hustle (which opens wide tomorrow) and 12 Years Slave are the industry’s sweethearts, and America -- or at least her film critics -- loves them. Right?

Not quite. Peter Debruge of Variety recently published a screed that attributed Hustle’s popularity to a fortuitous alignment of its stars – all of the film’s major names are at the top of their games, and, in the case of Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, and director David O. Russell, fresh off last year’s award-winning Silver Linings Playbook, at the height of their popularity, guaranteeing their collaboration would generate a certain amount of fanfare. But Hustle, Debruge contends, doesn’t deserve the praise: It’s a hot mess. Stephanie Zacharek of The Village Voice doesn’t lambast 12 Years A Slave, but she does challenge the positive consensus. “Is there any blood in its veins?” she asks.

If the old adage “you can’t please everyone” won’t surprise anyone, some might be taken aback by the contemporary negativity surrounding other roundly popular, and what are now considered canonical, films. TIME magazine, for instance, had this to say about greatest-film-of-all-time Vertigo back in 1958: “The mystery is not so much who done it as who cares.”

Inspired by this spirit of contrariness -- or maverick insight, if you prefer -- we’ve compiled a list of against-the-grain reviews for some of the most critically lauded and beloved films of all time. Taste certainly does lie in the eye of the viewer.

We like to think the one who called Audrey Hepburn awkward had a cataract.

Gone With the Wind – Reviewed by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. for The Atlantic, 1973

And how badly written it is! There is hardly a sharp or even a credible line. It is picture-postcard writing, as it is picture-postcard photography (and, for that matter, picture-postcard music). Melanie and Scarlett, the women's-serial rewrite of Amelia Sedley and Becky Sharp, are too much: one too good to be true, the other too wicked. As Ms. Scarlett, Vivien Leigh gives a thin and shallow performance. She does not enrich the part by the slightest idiosyncrasy or originality. It is far more external and far less interesting as a rendition of a Southern bitch than Bette Davis' Jezebel or Miriam Hopkins' Temple Drake. Olivia de Havilland and Leslie Howard are beyond belief.

Full Review

Casablanca – Reviewed by TIME magazine, 1942

Nothing short of an invasion could add much to Casablanca.

Rebel Without a Cause – Reviewed by Box Office Magazine, 1955

Others, and presumably they will be a vast majority, may be prone to opine that the story has few, if any, believable characters, situations or passages of dialogue.

Thus handicapped by the script's utter implausibility, which is alleviated not one whit by the strained direction of Nicholas Ray, Dean's delineation is far below the arrestingly high standards set by the above-mentioned portrayal in "Eden." His supporting cast, both its juvenile and adult components, are projected with even less effectiveness.

Full review

Vertigo – Reviewed by TIME magazine, 1958

The old master, now a slave to television, has turned out another Hitchcock-and-bull story in which the mystery is not so much who done it as who cares.

Lawrence of Arabia – Reviewed by Bosley Crowther, The New York Times, 1962

The fault seems to lie, first in the concept of telling the story of this self-tortured man against a background of action that has the characteristic of a mammoth Western film. The nature of Lawrence cannot be captured in grand Super-Panavision shots of sunrise on the desert or in scenes of him arguing with a shrewd old British general in a massive Moorish hall.

The fault is also in the lengthy but surprisingly lusterless dialogue of Robert Bolt's over-written screenplay. Seldom has so little been said in so many words.

Full Review

My Fair Lady – Reviewed by Geoff Andrew  for Time Out: London

Hepburn is clearly awkward as the Cockney Eliza in the first half, and in general the adaptation is a little too reverential to really come alive.

Full Review

Rosemary’s Baby – Reviewed by Renata Adler, The New York Times, 1968

Everyone else is fine, but the movie—although it is pleasant—doesn't quite work on any of its dark or powerful terms.

I think this is because it is almost too extremely plausible. The quality of the young people's lives seems the quality of lives that one knows, even to the point of finding old people next door to avoid and lean on. One gets very annoyed that they don't catch on sooner. One's friends would have understood the situation at once. So that for most of its length the film has nothing to be excited about.

Full Review

Chinatown – Reviewed by Gene Siskel for The Chicago Tribune, 1974

As much as I admire the work of both (Roman) Polanski and (Jack) Nicholson, I found "Chinatown" tedious from beginning to just before the end. . . .

The majority of problems are to be found in Polanski's direction of Robert Towne's ("The Last Detail") script. The opening shot of almost every scene has been so artificially overcomposed as to make one aware of Jack Nicholson wearing '30s clothes while standing in a room decorated to look like a '30s room while talking to stereotypes plucked from an assortment of '30s movies.

The Silence of the Lambs – Reviewed by Dave Kehr for The Chicago Tribune, 1991

It`s easy to understand why [director Jonathan Demme] might want to shake off the cute and cuddly image that has settled on his work (though his films have always contained a beckoning dark side, an edge of violence and despair).

But ``The Silence of the Lambs`` does more than avoid sweetness and light. It`s a gnarled, brutal, highly manipulative film that, at its center, seems morally indefensible.

Full Review

The Artist – Reviewed by Jaime N. Christley for Slant Magazine, 2011

The idea of making a film about the American cinema between 1927 and 1933 seems as daunting a prospect as making a film about the entire cinema—in other words, the difference between conceiving the magnitude of a galaxy and the magnitude of the universe. You might as well make a 100-minute film about the Renaissance. Michel Hazanavicius's The Artist neatly sidesteps this unsolvable dilemma by ignoring everything that's fascinating and memorable about the era, focusing instead on a patchwork of general knowledge, so eroded of inconvenient facts that it doesn't even qualify as a roman à clef.

Full Review

American Hustle – Peter Debruge for Variety, 2013

How has “Hustle” conned so many intelligent people into declaring it a masterpiece? This is a messy C-minus movie at best, one that makes Michael Bay’s “Pain & Gain” look downright disciplined by comparison.

Full Article

12 Years A Slave – Reviewed by Stephanie Zacharek for The Village Voice, 2013

It's all so perfect, so right.

But is there any blood in its veins? 12 Years a Slave is a pristine, aesthetically tasteful movie about the horrors of slavery. Aside from a characteristically nuanced lead performance by Chiwetel Ejiofor—plus an oak-tree-tall supporting one by Benedict Cumberbatch, as well as a breath of movie-star vitality from Brad Pitt in a very small role—it's a picture that stays more than a few safe steps away from anything so dangerous as raw feeling. Even when it depicts inhuman cruelty, as it often does, it never compromises its aesthetic purity.

Full Review

Golden Globes gives most nods to 'Slave,' 'Hustle'

If the New York Film Critics Circle is Team American Hustle, having named David O. Russell's manic, crowd-pleasing dramedy its Best Film of the year, and the Screen Actors Guild is Team 12 Years A Slave, having nominated Steve McQueen's lauded period piece for the most number of awards, then the Golden Globes is neutral Switzerland. The Globes is the latest organization to sound off on those films and performances it believes outshone the rest of the film industry's output in 2013. At seven each, American Hustle and 12 Years A Slave have walked away with the same number of nominations.

Clearly these two are the frontrunners, but what about the rest of the nipping-at-their-heels contenders? Forest Whitaker is notably absent from the below list, while Kate Winslet is a new addition to the conversation. There's still over a month before the Oscars announce their bids, however, leaving plenty of time for the players (or rather, their studio handlers) to rearrange themselves on the great awards chessboard.

2014 Golden Globe Nominations: Motion Pictures

Best motion picture, drama
12 Years a Slave
Captain Phillips
Gravity
Philomena
Rush

Best Actor in a motion picture, drama
Chiwetel Ejiofor,12 Years a Slave
Idris Elba, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips
Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
Robert Redford, All is Lost

Best Actress in a motion picture, drama
Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock, Gravity
Judi Dench, Philomena
Emma Thompson, Saving Mr. Banks
Kate Winslet, Labor Day

Best Director – motion picture
Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity
Paul Greengrass, Captain Phillips
Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
Alexander Payne, Nebraska
David O. Russell, American Hustle

Best Screenplay – motion picture
Spike Jonze, Her
Bob Nelson, Nebraska
Jeff Pope Steve, Philomena
John Ridley, 12 Years a Slave
David O. Russell and Eric Singer Warren, American Hustle

Best motion picture, musical or comedy
American Hustle
Her
Inside Llewyn Davis
Nebraska
Wolf of Wall Street

Best Actress in a motion picture, musical or comedy
Amy Adams, American Hustle
Julie Delpy, Before Midnight
Greta Gerwig, Frances Ha
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Enough Said
Meryl Streep, August: Osage County

Best Actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy
Christian Bale, American Hustle
Bruce Dern, Nebraska
Leonardo DiCaprio, Wolf of Wall Street
Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis
Joaquin Phoenix, Her

Best Animated Feature film
The Croods
Despicable Me 2
Frozen

Best Foreign Language Film
Blue Is The Warmest Color (France)
The Great Beauty (Italy)
The Hunt (Denmark)
The Past (Iran)
The Wind Rises (Japan)

Best supporting Actress in a motion picture
Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine
Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
Julia Roberts, August: Osage County
June Squibb, Nebraska

Best supporting Actor in a motion picture
Bradley Cooper, American Hustle
Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
Daniel Bruhl, Rush
Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips

Best Original Score – motion picture
All Is Lost - Alex Ebert
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom - Alex Heffes
Gravity - Steven Price
The Book Thief - John Williams
12 Years a Slave - Hans Zimmer

Best Original Song – motion picture
"Atlas," The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
"Let It Go," Frozen
"Ordinary Love," Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
"Please Mr. Kennedy," Inside Llewyn Davis
"Sweeter Than Fiction" One Chance

Globes favor 'Social Network,' BAFTA likes 'King's Speech'

By Sarah Sluis

The Golden Globes have come and gone, and in their wake they've rewarded The Social Network with the highest honor, Best Motion Picture - Drama. But the race is far from over. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), whose ceremony is held closer to the Academy Awards, announced their nominations, and The King's Speech is the frontrunner with fourteen nominations.

So, as it stands, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association rewarded the Citizen Kane-inspired close-up of the American entrepreneurial spirit, and the BAFTAs are giving a pat on the back to their former king who cured his stutter. Will the Academy Awards be about the movie, or a statement about the kind of film that should win? If it's the latter, I think The Social Network has an excellent chance, given its all-American anti-hero and embrace of the Internet. Or the statement could be more traditional: The Academy is known for being a bit of an Anglophile, and British films win in significant numbers. There's also the fact that The King's Speech has the backing of The Weinstein Co., which has a history of successfully securing both Oscar nods and wins. With The King's Speech the frontrunner for BAFTA and The Social Network the winner of the Golden Globes, I think the Best Picture race has narrowed to those two (with The Fighter the underdog, just like Micky).

Best Director:

The BAFTAs, Golden Globes, and Directors Guild of America matched four out of five nominees for Best Director: Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan), Tom Hooper (The King's Speech), David Fincher (The Social Network) and Christopher Nolan (Inception). Of these four, only Fincher has been previously nominated in the directing category (Benjamin Button). With The Social Network playing so strongly in the awards season, I wouldn't be surprised if Fincher grabs the Best Director prize. Also, his 2007 film Zodiac, which was snubbed entirely during awards season, now turns up on a lot of retrospective "top ten of the decade" lists, and Academy Awards are often given based on the body of work. Aronofsky and Nolan, who have both directed fine films, could also win using this logic, but their lack of nominations makes me think the Academy wouldn't mind having them wait a bit longer. As a counterpoint to that argument, Tom Hooper is a relatively fresh face on the directing scene, whose main credentials are the stunning HBO miniseries "John Adams" and the Brit-focused movie The Damned United (he's also a prolific director on British television). The DGA (Directors Guild of America) will announce their pick for Best Director on Jan. 29, and after that this category will be a near-lock, given the DGA award's correlation with the Oscar for Best Director.

The Academy Awards countdown: 39 days.

Golden Globe nominations: A whole lot of 'Whaaat?'

By Sarah Sluis

So maybe this hasn't been the strongest year for movies. But does that really justify the Hollywood Foreign Press nominating the flop The Tourist in three categories? When I outlined the film's dismal box-office prospects the Friday it opened, I wondered if Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp would be enough to save the film. Well, it earned just $17 million opening weekend, but the star wattage of Jolie and Depp was enough to blind the Foreign Press Association to its negative reception stateside. I imagine the dialogue going something like this--"We need Depp and Jolie on the red carpet--we can't disappoint the people running E!'s Red Carpet show!" How big of a joke were The Tourist's nominations? They "drew audible laughter from the crowd of press and publicists assembled at the Beverly Hilton for the pre-dawn announcement," according to THR.

The other big "What" came from the HFPA's total shut-out of The Coen Brothers' True Grit. I don't see the movie until tomorrow, but it's currently tracking at 93% positive on Rotten Tomatoes. The Tourist? 20%.

Another big shut-out, but one that will receive less attention, was Sofia Coppola's Somewhere, which received zero nominations. Perhaps they didn't like the movie's jabs at press conferences and foreign awards shows? Stephen Dorff and Elle Fanning both turned in solid performances, but at the very least a writing or directing nomination was deserved. Never Let Me Go didn't receive any nominations (though it was better than many nominated films), but that's less of a surprise as its early, October release shows that Fox Searchlight wasn't putting too much faith in it for awards season.

The Hollywood Foreign Press did make a couple of good decisions. It nominated Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams for Blue Valentine, one of the best movies I've seen all year. Jennifer Lawrence also got a nod for Winter's Bone, an Ozarks drama that's quietly powerful. But really, a lot of these nominations are a joke. The silver lining? The star power will make for an entertaining broadcast, and smart people betting on winners in awards pools may just get lucky.

Golden Globe nominations a mixed bag for female directors

By Sarah Sluis

Today the Golden Globe Nominations were announced, and, as usual, there weren't quite enough nominations to cover all the great performances (in particular, Nicolas Cage's crazy-amazing performance in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans). Inspired by New York Times critic Manohla Dargis' recentdocumentation of the lack of female directors in Hollywood, particularly for studio films, I also decided to tally up the nominations for female-directed movies. Results and analysis follow.

The Takeaways

* Golden Globes reward more female directors, but this is because its picture and acting nominations are genre-specific: "Best Drama" and "Best Comedy/Musical." More females direct in the latter category, allowing them to rack up more nominations. When it comes to the Oscars, however, the majority of the nominees usually come from the more prestigious "Drama" category.

*Of the twenty films nominated for a form of Best Picture (Drama, Comedy/Musical, Animated, Foreign Language), three were directed by a female. Kathryn Bigelow recieved a nomination in the Drama category, and Nora Ephron and Nancy Meyers were nominated in the Comedy/Musical category. This is slightly higher than the 60 females out of 600 directors (10%) that Dargis figured for 2009, but given the small sample size, this isn't significant.

*Zero of the ten "Best Actor" nominees were directed by females. Four of the ten "Best Actor" nominees were directed by females, including two directors not nominated in the "Best Picture" categories. Sandra Bullock was nominated for her performance in Anne Fletcher's The Proposal and Carey Mulligan for Lone Scherfig's An Education. This correlation is difficult to judge, but it could reflect a well-known Hollywood bias that female directors are only offered women's films.

*One female, Kathryn Bigelow, was nominated for "Best Director." She's running against her ex-husband, James Cameron (Avatar).

Bigelow, the sole director to receive a nomination for "Best Director," was highlighted by Dargis as an example of Hollywood's unequal treatment of female directors. Before Hurt Locker, she hadn't directed a film since 2002.

Dargis compares her to director Michael Mann, who was in a similar

standing to her at the time. Both directed films (Ali and K19: The Widowmaker, respectively) in the early aughts that underperformed.

Dargis writes, "What

did a $22 million difference in box office mean for the directors

of "Ali" and "K-19"? Well, Ms. Bigelow didn't direct another feature

until 2007, when she began "The Hurt Locker," a thriller about a bomb

squad in Iraq that was bankrolled by a French company and is said to

cost under $20 million." Mann, by comparison,

directed three big-budget movies, and produced several more--all a mix

of hits (Collateral) and misses (Miami Vice). She goes on to say,

"I

imagine there are a host of reasons why Mr. Mann has been able to

persuade executives to keep writing such large checks. He's a dazzling

innovator, and big stars keep flocking to his side, despite his

reputation for difficulty. But Ms. Bigelow is one of the greatest

action directors working today, and it's hard not to wonder why failure

at the box office doesn't translate the same for the two sexes."

Dargis seems to have drawn the conclusion that women are held to higher standards than men, and have to be that much better in this position in order to succeed.

The other key to equality in film direction is making projects open to both

male and female directors. Lee Daniels directed a great film (Precious) with a female cast, just as Kathryn Bigelow has distinguished herself for her "testosterone" action film. Besides Bigelow, Scherfig (An Education) and Jane Campion (Bright Star) have been mentioned as the standout directors of the year, but their films' lack of nominations could push them out of the running. Bigelow's nomination for The Hurt Locker makes her chance of being nominated for Best Director at the Oscars that much more likely.

Golden Globes Recap: Brit takeover

By Sarah Sluis

The Hollywood Foreign Press gave out its Globes last night, and the winners were decidedly global. Brits in particular seemed to rule the night, with Kate Winslet winning both Lead Actress (Drama) and Supporting Actress categories, Sally Hawkins and Colin Farrell topping the Female and Male Lead Actor

(Comedy) categories, and late Australian actor Heath Ledger winning the Best Supporting Actor. Mickey Rourke was the only American of the bunch to win a motion picture award, taking home a statue in the Best Actor (Drama) category. Slumdog Millionaire, directed by Brit Danny Boyle and shot in India, won four awards: Best Drama, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Original Score.

Winslet's double win in the acting category, the first of its kind, came as the result of a bit of finagling by production company/distributor Weinstein Company. Kevin Lally wrote earlier about lead roles being recast as supporting ones twice this year (how, exactly, did The Priest in Doubt count as a supporting role?). Certainly if Winslet were nominated in both categories as "Lead," voters might have split their vote between her two performances, giving her a majority of the votes without winning enough to carry either of her performances, which also seems unfair. If the Globes miraculously magnified her presence by giving her two awards, could the Oscars move in the opposite direction, viewing her as "overexposed" and looking closely at the other top performances of the year?

While the Kate Winslet double coup seems unlikely to be repeated at the Oscars, Slumdog Millionaire's quad-win bodes well for its Oscar reception. The win most likely to be repeated is that of A.R. Rahman for Best Original Score. With over 109 credits to his name, calling him the Bollywood John Williams doesn't really do him justice. His prominent, easily applauded score in Slumdog (and collaboration with hip artist M.I.A.) made me wonder why I haven't heard him in more Hollywood films.

Director Danny Boyle's cross-genre filmmaking sets him apart from most other filmmakers. Whether he's

working in horror, romantic comedy, crime, fantasy, or drama, his films are packed with motion--"lots of running," a friend noted, one eyebrow raised. Like all great genre filmmakers, he makes a point to subvert our expectations. His characters achieve a goal (like getting on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?", the compound in 28 Days Later, the Beach in The Beach, the bag of money in Millions) but find their needs still unfulfilled, their goals still out of reach.

I applaud Danny Boyle, and hope the Academy will second the Globes and give Boyle Oscar recognition. A true crowd-pleaser, Slumdog Millionaire, which I saw months ago, gave me a warm feeling that actually held up, without descending to maudlin sentimentality (the one critique I see levied against the film). Compare that to my initial shock-sadness of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which turned sour a few weeks out--EW calls it "Honey, I Gassed the Kid"

Academy members turn in their ballots today, if they haven't already (making a Globes influence, at least during this round, less probable)--to be tallied and announced January 22, 2009 at 5:30 a.m. PST--which, like every year, will lead to stories of nominees peeking out from under their sleeping mask to answer a phone call from an agent or publicist.