It’s not a huge surprise, but today comes word from Fox Searchlight that the entire cast of The Tree of Life — notably Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain — will be campaigned in the supporting categories this awards season. It’s a strategy that’s been used for several ensemble films in the recent past, like Babel and Slumdog Millionaire. (Babel‘s Adriana Barraza and Rinko Kikuchi ended up scoring Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actress, while Slumdog‘s Dev Patel earned a SAG nod in the supporting-male race.)
For Pitt, the move heads off any potential vote splitting between his performances in Tree of Life and Moneyball, since the latter is clearly a lead role. But for Chastain, it’s muddier: The actress, who’ll end up costarring in six films released in 2011, will now be the recipient of supporting campaigns for Tree and The Help, just for starters.
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Tree of Life wins Fipresci prize!
The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) grants its Grand Prix for Best Film of the year to TERRENCE MALICK’S THE TREE OF LIFE. The prize is the result of a vote by 205 critics across the world, all members of FIPRESCI on any feature-length film from the previous 12 months. The prize will be presented at the opening gala of San Sebastian Festival’s 59th edition on September 16th at the Kursaal Auditorium.
TERRENCE MALICK’S THE TREE OF LIFE will open the Zabaltegi-Pearls section at this year’s edition of the San Sebastian Festival, after having carried off the Golden Palm at the Cannes Festival in May this year. Starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn, the film is a poetic, personal reflection on the meaning of human life.
Terrence Malick, who bagged the Golden Shell for Best Film with Badlands, thanked all members of FIPRESCI for the recognition.
Read more/discuss. Thanks Gabriella.
TIFF: Macleans review
Moneyball Brad Pitt is having a remarkable year. First he plays the dark side of the American Dream in Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life, which won the Palme d’Or in Cannes; now he switch-hits to the sunny side in Moneyball‘s amazing-but-true story of Billy Beane, a general manager who changed the face of major league baseball. Here, after a string of quirky, character roles, Pitt finally unleashes his natural wit and charisma in a role that soaks it up—he has the lustre of a latter-day Warren Beatty or Robert Redford. A movie star hitting his prime. But what makes the film really click is the hilarious odd-couple chemistry between Pitt and the deadpan Jonah Hill, cast as the nerdy Yale economist hired by Beane to build a winning strategy by number-crunching. Directed by Capote‘s Bennett Miller, this is one helluva good sports movie. Expect Pitt get an Oscar nomination.
Japan Times
BEVERLY HILLS, California — Terrence Malick kicks off his new film, “The Tree of Life,” with a bang. The Big Bang, actually. Over the next 138 minutes, the viewer witnesses a journey through history that ends up in a small town in Texas. Critics seem to agree that you’ll either love it or hate it.
“Terrence Malick has vision,” Brad Pitt, who stars in the film, tells The Japan Times. “He’s not about commercial concerns, he’s about stretching filmmaking to the limit.”
It’s a vision that not everyone is seeing, but those who do are impressed. The critic Roger Ebert called the film a “form of prayer” that made him “alert to the awe of existence.” The film also won the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival in France.
Malick is famous for not giving interviews. He has directed six films since debuting with the short “Lanton Mills” in 1969. This lack of output has been attributed to his perfectionist approach to making movies. As Japan Times film critic Giovanni Fazio pointed out in last week’s review of “The Tree of Life,” this can be both a curse and a blessing.
However, Pitt stands by Malick’s perfectionism, “When Terrence makes a movie, he takes his time. He can’t be dictated to. He’ll wait just as long as he needs to start shooting.”
Read more @ BP Press. Thanks Anu.
