Annie Award Nominations

[Damien]

As someone who has visited Martha's Vineyard many times, I was thinking while watching The Ghost Writer how cool it was that they shot a movie there. But then it struck me that Polanski couldn't step foot in the States so those exteriors must have been shot somewhere in the UK, so additional kudos to production designer Albrecht Konrad.

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I love the irony of how the US is the one country Pierce Brosnan's character can travel to without fear of arrest, while it's also, of course, the one country Polanski can't go to,

[Sabin]

Tom Wilkinson's performance in The Ghost Writer reminds me of William Hurt's in A History of Violence for its one scene hamminess. I think Wilkinson is substantially better.

That house looked absolutely fantastic, even though the green-screening was a little shoddy.

[ITALIANO]

I'd say that a movie directed by Polanski is certainly more "high profile" than any Harry Potter, but I won't insist. I wouldn't even have mentioned it if I hadn't realized that, despite the fact that it's almost ignored in Oscar-related discussions, and it will probably get zero nominations, it's still, as Damien says, much, much better than Inception, The Social Network, and other much-celebrated movies of this year. (I recently saw Winter's Bone and it's better than this one, too).

[anonymous1980]

I click on this link for the Annie noms and see that it's a discussion of The Ghost Writer, I momentarily had to question whether the The Ghost Writer was actually animated.

[Damien]

I'm not sure how this thread became focused on The Ghost Writer but I just saw it tonight and it really up there with Polanski's great paranoiac movies. He is so damn adept at creating a sense of foreboding -- without the slightest bit of his visuals calling attention to themselves. And he is masterful at knowing when to use editing between one-shots and when to have two people in the same frame to express psychologically and emotional import. He also doesn't get enough credit for his direction of actors, but, save for Tom Wilkinson who seems to have phoned in the same performance he gave in Duplicity, the entire cast is splendid. And the film deserves an Art Direction nomination for that beach house, which in its cold modernity both reflects the characters living in it and becomes a character itself.

The Ghost Writer is certainly better than any of the films I've seen so far that have been bandied about in Oscar discussions.

[Sonic Youth]

This is the best discussion of animated films Damien's ever had.

(Now I know who won the Eur. Film Awards. Oh, well.)



Edited By Sonic Youth on 1291695888

[Damien]

In the meantime, Polanski's The Ghost Writer has won most of the (admittedly forgotten) European Film Awards - including Best Picture (beating, among other nominees, the very good French movie Of Gods and Men, the good Israeli movie Lebanon, and the German movie Soul Kitchen which I still haven't seen).

Coming from the director of Head-On and The Edge of Heaven, Fatih Akin's Soul Kitchen -- which plays like a broad, stupid American comedy -- is probably this year's bigest disappointment for me.

[OscarGuy]

Harry Potter has been nominated in score, cinematography and art direction categories in the past, therefore, it makes it a more visible and high profile film than a film that came out early in the year and didn't do much at the box office.

[ITALIANO]

Well... I wouldn't say that Harry Potter is a more high profile film than The Ghost Writer... but it probably depends on the point of view.

[OscarGuy]

Desplat has two other more high profile films that he'll get nominated for ahead of Ghost Writer. And whether he gets two nods like John Williams has done or not remains to be seen, but he scored both The King's Speech and Harry Potter.

[ITALIANO]

Desplat's score (which also won at the European Film Awards) certainly deserves at least a nomination. I know that Olivia Williams won't be nominated but I agree that she's great in this movie.

[Sabin]

(ITALIANO @ Dec. 06 2010,3:35)

The Ghost Writer isn't Polanski's best movie ever of course, but it's still, in my opinion, better than some much-promoted movies of this year. I wonder if it can get some Oscar nominations, despite its controversial director.

I doubt it. His genre films are never taken incredibly seriously. Which is a shame, because it's quite good. When the film reveals its hand with regard to its central conspiracy, I let out a groan; but everything that buffers it is incredibly entertaining. The entire cast is phenomenal especially Olivia Williams and Tom Wilkinson. And it's a marvel of great visual choices. Alexandre Desplat's score is one of the year's best as well. Who knows? Maybe at least a screenplay nomination.



Edited By Sabin on 1291672218

[ITALIANO]

In the meantime, Polanski's The Ghost Writer has won most of the (admittedly forgotten) European Film Awards - including Best Picture (beating, among other nominees, the very good French movie Of Gods and Men, the good Israeli movie Lebanon, and the German movie Soul Kitchen which I still haven't seen).

The Ghost Writer isn't Polanski's best movie ever of course, but it's still, in my opinion, better than some much-promoted movies of this year. I wonder if it can get some Oscar nominations, despite its controversial director.

[OscarGuy]

http://www.cinemasight.com/2010....tions-2

They have been announced. Follow my link above to see the film and short subject nominees. My note in the article says beware the results.