May 2021 – This Had Oscar Buzz

147 – Boy Erased (Focus Features – Part Five)

Our Focus Features miniseries comes to a close with 2018′s Boy Erased. Based on the memoir by Garrard Conley, the film stars Lucas Hedges as a young man from a religious family who is subjected to conversion therapy when his parents (played by Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe) discover that he is gay. Though sensitively approached by director/star Joel Edgerton, the film is ultimately is too reserved and stumbles to get inside the head of its protagonist, resulting in a milquetoast response from awards voters and audiences.

This episode, we discuss Hedges’ busy fall of 2018, his soft coming out of sorts, and the Ben Beautiful Boy Erased is Back blur of movies in that season. We also look at Crowe’s quiet end to being considered an Oscar darling and Kidman’s dual THOB fall 2018 with Destroyer. And we get into the film’s ups (a strong cast of bit players!) and downs (that perfume ad scene!) in telling a queer story, and of course “Bloom.”

Topics also include 2018′s Original Song race, sprained ankles at TIFF, and our Top 10 favorite Focus Features films.

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146 – The Place Beyond the Pines (Focus Features – Part Four)

This week, our Focus Features miniseries brings us to The Place Beyond the Pines, Derek Dianfrance’s epic, novelistic tale of fathers and sons. The film reunited Cianfrance with his Blue Valentine star Ryan Gosling as a motorcyclist who turns to crime, with consequences that will reverbate across households and generations. After launching at TIFF in 2012, Focus Features held the film until the following spring, leaving it as a highly divisive afterthought come awards season.

We unpack Cianfrance’s ambitious triptych vision with a stellar ensemble cast of Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Dane DeHaan, Ray Liotta, Rose Byrne, Ben Mendelsohn, and Eva Mendes. We discuss the film’s underserved female characters, early 2010s Gosling fatigue, and its emotionally intelligent exploration of masculinity that still left some viewers cold. And there’s still room to rave over cinematographer Derek Cianfrance and his bold work for this film that left him with a concussion.

Topics also include Cianfrance’s underseen HBO limited series I Know This Much Is True, Michelle Williams’ nomination for Blue Valentine without one for Gosling, and reading A Little Life on vacation.

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145 – Lust, Caution (Focus Features – Part Three)

We’ve come to the midpoint of our Focus Features miniseries with a work from a modern master, 2007′s Lust,Caution from Ang Lee. An erotic thriller set in Hong Kong and Shanghai during the Japanese occupation, Lust, Caution follows a breakthrough Tang Wei as Wong Chia-Chi, a woman who joins an assassination plot where she must seducce the target, played by icon Tony Leung Chiu-Wai. Lee earned a back-to-back Golden Lion win for the film at Venice after Brokeback Mountain, but several factors likely played into Oscar overlooking the film: its NC-17 rating, Lee’s recent Brokeback success, and Oscar deeming the film ineligible for Best Foreign Language Film.

This episode, we go deep on the minutiae regarding the Foreign Language / International Feature elibigibility and nomination process in recent years, including 2007 as a beginning to Oscar adapting procedure for the category. We also look at Tang Wei’s brilliant performance, the film’s international assemblage of talent behind the camera, and Lee’s history of exploring sexual themes.

Topics also include Focus Features’ sizzle reels, the 2007 Venice Film Festival, and the surprising Focus film that unites our three THOB miniseries so far.

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144 – Possession (Focus Features – Part Two)

Our Focus Features miniseries continues with the first official Focus release, 2002′s Possession. Adapted by Neil LaBute from A.S. Byatt’s celebrated novel, the film follows Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart as poetry scholars who fall in love while unearthing a secret love affair between two Victorian poets, played by Jennifer Ehle and Jeremy Northam. The adaptation had a long development process that drew such prestigious names as David Henry Hwang and Sydney Pollack, but arrived to theatres with a whimper of a release due to mild reviews while Focus’ other titles immediately emerged as their bigger Oscar opportunities.

This episode, we look back at Focus’ successful inaugural Oscar year (namely with Far From Heaven and The Pianist) and the history of Paltrow’s British dialect. We also look back at Ehle’s brilliant but under-celebrated career, the final days of USA Films, and what films we think would’ve made it in a Best Picture 10.

Topics also include the film’s perfect sweaters, 2002 cinematic bisexuals walking into bodies of water, and Ehle reading Pride and Prejudice on Instagram.

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143 – The Muse (Focus Features – Part One)

We’re kicking off our May miniseries on Focus Features with the winner of our Listeners’ Choice poll, 1999′s The Muse. To kick things off, we’re looking at how Focus was birthed from the previous companies of USA Films, October Films, Gramercy Pictures and Good Machine. Written and directed by Albert Brooks, The Muse stars Sharon Stone as the titular eccentric tasked with reviving the career of a once-celebrated Hollywood screenwriter (also played by Brooks). The antics result in a slew of cameos, Andie MacDowell baking cookies, and multiple trips to an aquarium, and it all resulted in a Golden Globe nomination for Stone before Oscar looked elsewhere.

But that Globe nomination is now remembered as one of the many bumps in the history of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s practices, namely for the watches they received as part of Stone’s FYC campaign. This episode, we look at the lineup of films from the companies that merged into Focus Features, Brooks’ surprisingly limited Oscar history, and Stone’s ascension in the 1990s.

Topics also include our other Listeners’ Choice film options, the film’s datedness even for 1999, and Elton John’s abysmal original song for the film.

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