The Muriels: Best Cinematic Breakthrough
By Craig Kennedy - February 10th, 2009; 10:03 pm
Tonight’s Muriel is the Best Cinematic Breakthrough awarded to a performer, filmmaker, or technician who made a notable debut in film, took his/her career to a higher level, or revealed unforeseen layers to his/her talent during the year 2008.
Here’s how I voted:
- James Franco – To me he used to just be the weakest part of the Spider-Man movies, but in 2008 he was the highlight of an overrated comedy (Pineapple Express) and then turned around and proved his facility for drama in Milk. Though the movie was a hit and miss goof, Franco’s fully committed and funny performance as stoner Saul in Pineapple made me stand up and notice and Milk sealed the deal.
- Anne Hathaway – The girl from Princess Diaries has come a long way. She showed glimpses of greatness in Brokeback Mountain and she delivered on that promise in Rachel Getting Married.
- Lance Hammer – Ballast was made with the confidence of a person who has made a half a dozen movies.
- Rebecca Hall – Vicky Cristina Barcelona wasn’t Rebecca Hall’s first film, but it’s the film where she established herself as an actress to watch out for. She took a potentially unlikeable character and grounded the entire film. What did she get for her troubles? Left off the movie poster.
- Michael Shannon – After a movie career of intriguing but mostly supporting roles, Shannon carried a movie in the terrific Shotgun Stories. Oh yeah, he got an Oscar nomination for Revolutionary Road, a flashier, but less interesting performance.
Read on for the winner…
Those are five mighty fine picks, Craig. I cannot argue with any of them.
Craig, have you had the chance to rent Freaks and Geeks yet?
One thing is clear — there seem to have been a lot of breakthroughs, which I hope is good news for the future, including Rourke. I’m especially interested in Rebecca Hall, who looks like she may have quite a range.
Viola Davis qualifies, as well — though maybe she’ll be a factor on next year’s list.
Although I can’t really dispute the choice of McDonagh, it does seem a little ironic to vote this distinction to someone who’s already won an Oscar (for his live-action short, Six Shooter).
One I’d add is Emile Hirsch, who showed us he can play action hero (Speed Racer) as well as character (Milk).
I was way out of left field on this one. My picks included:
Andrew Garfield, Boy A
Christ Smith, The Pool
Gad Elmaleh, Priceless
McDonagh
Joachim Trier, Reprise
Also, looks like I was almost proven wrong already! I thought HND would be the winner with the fewest votes, and McDonagh only had one more than HND did.
But Paul already said that there’s one that beats it. My money has to be on Best Cinematic Moment for winner with the fewest votes.
That’s a great list, Craig.
Both James Franco and Anne Hathaway made amazing breakthroughs this year. And it’s too bad there hasn’t been more love in general for Ballast. And I second Pierre’s callout to Rourke. I noticed that RDJ was on the full list as well. This year was definitely a spectacular breakthrough year for him, putting him back on top where he belongs. I hope that we won’t have to wait too long for him to land another role along the lines of Chaplin where he can really show off his talent.
I bet there would have been more love for Ballast if more people had actually had the opportunity to see it. Does it have a DVD release in the near future?
“Although I can’t really dispute the choice of McDonagh, it does seem a little ironic to vote this distinction to someone who’s already won an Oscar (for his live-action short, Six Shooter).”
I think McDonagh is a fair choice, since this is really his feature debut and the movie had everything working against it, so it’s impressive to see it get recognition now but there were a lot of great contenders. Rebecca Hall would have been a great selection.
On the other hand, while I don’t want to swim against the love for Downey and Rourke, a career resurgence and a breakthrough are two different things. I don’t think two actors who were formerly stars in their own rights returning to their former prominence after years of problems is necessarily a breakthrough. We knew full well they both had the talent and presence to carry a film. Best Career Resurgence, surely.
Love this vote, Daniel: Andrew Garfield, Boy A. Good Choice!
. . . Courtney Hunt . . . Melissa Leo . . .
I agree, joel, about McDonagh being a fair choice. But, given the fact that getting an Academy Award denotes a culmination of sorts, it seems a bit ironic that a “sitting” Oscar winner could be regarded as having experienced a breakthrough.
Whether Rourke’s reemergence is truly a breakthrough, all I’m saying is I hope he continues to do good work.
Andrew Garfield gave the year’s most cruelly underrated performance.
Good points, Pierre.
As hard as I tried, I couldn’t keep Boy A in my Top Ten list. It did slot in at 11.
K. I did rent it (post-Pineapple) and watched the first few terrific episodes, but found myself unable to stick with it (there are movies to see and all). It joins a long distinguished list of TV shows I ought to catch up on but am having trouble making the time.
This was a hard category to vote for. I’m still not completely satisfied with my choices beyond the top 3. Other people’s suggestions are good ones.
As much as I liked Rourke in Wrestler and Downey in Tropic Thunder/Iron Man, I’m with Joel. Neither guy showed me something I didn’t know they were already capable of. Very glad to see them back at it, but it wasn’t a breakthrough to me.
Jeff, the monkeys tell me that Ballast is tentatively scheduled for April, but an exact date has not been set.
Since I, like most people, never saw McDonagh’s Oscar short, I think his feature-length debut merits ‘breakthrough’ status (I didn’t pick him though – my votes were for Franco, Hammer, Aronofsky, Rosemarie DeWitt, and I was the lone voter for Shea Whigham).
“As hard as I tried, I couldn’t keep Boy A in my Top Ten list. It did slot in at 11.”
Same here, Joel. Very close.
I don’t think Craig is going to be publishing everyone’s top 10 list individually, but mine (I also listed them at my own place a couple weeks back) had Boy in at #5, which is way higher than I would have expected it to be a few months ago, but still a spot that I’m comfortable with.
And I had Garfield’s performance as best of the entire year – behind Rourke.
But then what constitutes a breakthrough? Especially if so few people saw the film?
Your last question was subconsciously a component in my own thinking…not so much with Hammer, but I felt the others all made leaps in the general public’s consciousness. Even though no one saw Shotgun Stories, Shannon gets in because of his Oscar nom (ironic that I didn’t care for that particular performance, no?).
There is also a “debut” component to Garfield in Boy A and I think he technically sneaks in on that level. Lions for Lambs actually came out in the US first, but Boy A was also made in 2007.
Ironically, more people probably saw Boy A than Lions for Lambs. Point taken though. I vote for Rebecca Hall then.
I don’t even remember Rebecca Hall in The Prestige. Not sure if that says more about the movie or my memory. Nothing I saw led me to anticipate what she delivered in VCB though. As I said above, she really grounded the whole film for me with a character that could easily have been completely unlikeable.
I know the distribution for Boy A really muddled things up. Garfield won the BAFTA for Best Actor in a TV movie for Boy A last year, and I don’t even know what he was eligible for when it was released theatrically.
And speaking of The Prestige, it always escapes me that Scarlet J is in it as well. And that it’s a Nolan/Bale/Caine reteaming. Jackman takes up more of the marquee in that one than he should.
I think the Prestige suffered a lot from post-Memento hype. At the time, I liked it quite a bit though I know most people didn’t seem to.
I absolutely loved it on first viewing, especially since The Illusionist had left such a bad taste in my mouth.
I really want to see The Prestige again from start to finish. And Memento, man I haven’t seen it since the theater so I have hardly any memory of it.
Daniel, I’m with you 100 percent on the Prestige. I couldn’t believe anyone thought the Illusionist was surprising or anything other than pretty, especially that anyone would prefer it to The Prestige. I have it on DVD, but have not rewatched it, so I’m curious as to whether it will hold up. I believe Rebecca Hall was Christian Bale’s character’s (one of them, at least) wife. She had a much better chance to shine in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, though, and did very much ground that film.
I think McDonagh is a great choice. I remembered his name from Six Shooter when In Bruges came out, but I doubt many other people did. I think winning an Oscar for a short must feel amazing, but you know it’s the sort of thing you get quizzical looks about for the rest of your life from strangers who meet you at cocktail parties:
“Eddie, dear, this man has an Oscar, did you know?”
“Really! That’s fantastic. Are you an actor?
“No, I’m a writer and director. I won an Academy Award for my short live action film, called “Six Shooter.”
“For a short action film? Like Die Hard? Man, I love that film, Bruce Willis really brought it back then. So, wait–you directed that one with Mark Wahlberg with the big gun on the poster, didn’t you? That was Shooter something.”
“No, my film is a short, a live-action short called Six Shooter. It starred Brendan Gleeson. It wasn’t a feature, so it didn’t get into many theaters, you see.”
“You won an Oscar for a movie that didn’t get seen? Because it was so short?And starred Brendan Gleeson?”
“Yes, pretty much.”
“Huh. Well, an Oscar’s an Oscar, I reckon. Have a drink anyway.”
Getting an Oscar nomination for a feature film screenplay, that’s playing with the big leagues. I say that’s a breakthrough, even if his shelf already has more hardware than any of us hope to see.
Good list, Craig.
You know who went up in my estimation? Michelle Williams. I had her in the “jury’s still out” category. But she held her own well in Synecdoche, and reportedly delivered in Wendy and Lucy. Kelly Reichardt could make the list, by becoming the thing in the American indie scene.
Jenny Lumet.
The winner next year: Nora Arnezeder
By the way, no one mentioned Sally Hawkins yet?
You’ll be happy to note KB that Sally made #4 on the Muriels list.
Jenny Lumet is a fantastic choice.
I was more impressed with Michelle Williams in Synecdoche than Wendy & Lucy. It was a flashier part I guess.
I kinda want to watch Prestige again.
Hahah JB. The world is too jaded to be impressed with a mere Oscar short! That’s the part of the show where everyone is peeing or reheating their nachos.
There’s an actor/writer/director in Little Rock I’ve met who won an Oscar in 2001 for his short, “The Accountant.” It’s one of those dynamics I’ve noticed with how people talk about him.
I so want to see Rachel Getting Married and Happy-Go-Lucky already.
I’d bet it means a helluva lot to the guy who won and his family. Everyone else can, in the parlance of one Marion Cunningham, sit on it.
Next year, I think jennybee may be on the list, considering her affinity for writing dialogue.
McDonagh’s Oscar win may be forgettable — or, more accurately, semi-rememberable, but it looks just as good on the mantel as all the others. . . .