Finn

2014 BAM Award Nominations

Posted on by bernardovillela

Here in a live blog format you will see this year’s nominees in the BAM Awards (Bernardo Villela’s personal selections) be posted.

The honorees will be announced on January 9th. When the list is complete it will be indicated. Please note that the parenthesis around the word in Original indicates that at times songs not written specifically for a film are considered.

Best Picture

A Birder’s Guide to Everything
Calvary
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Finn
Into the Woods
The Judge
St. Vincent
Stations of the Cross
The Way He Looks

Best Director

Richard Linklater Boyhood
John Michael McDonagh Calvary
Rob Meyer A Birder’s Guide to Everything
Daniel Ribeiro The Way He Looks
Frans Weisz Finn

Best Foreign Film

20 Lies, 4 Parents and a Little Egg
The Custody
Finn
Ilo Ilo
It’s Not Me, I Swear
Misunderstood
The Mystery of Happiness
Stations of the Cross
The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears
The Way He Looks

Most Overlooked Picture

20 Lies, 4 Parents and a Little Egg
The Boxtrolls
The Famous Five 3
Finn
It’s Not Me, I Swear
Labyrinthus
Mission: Sputnik
Misunderstood
Stations of the Cross
The Way He Looks

Best Actress

Amrita Acharia I Am Yours
Juliette Binoche 1,000 Times Good Night
Essie Davis The Babadook
Charlotte Gainsbourg Nymphomaniac: Volume 2
Shailene Woodley The Fault in Our Stars

Best Actor

Nicolas Cage Joe
Brendan Gleeson Calvary
Tom Hardy The Drop
Tom Hardy Locke
Robert Downey, Jr. The Judge

Best Supporting Actress

Ximena Ayala The Amazing Catfish
Ellen Burstyn Flowers in the Attic
Jessica Lange In Secret
Melissa McCarthy St. Vincent
Meryl Streep Into the Woods

Best Supporting Actor

Jan Decleir Finn
Robert Duvall The Judge
Gabriel Garko Misunderstood
Logan Lerman Fury
Brendan Meyer The Guest
Mark Ram 20 Lies, 4 Parents and a Little Egg

Best Cast

Nils Verkooijen, Mark Ram, Marcel Musters, Anneke Blok and Marieke Heebink 20 Lies, 4 Parents and a Little Egg
James Corden, Anna Kendrick, Daniel Huttlestone, Emily Blunt, Christine Baranski, Tammy Blanchard, Lucy Punch, Tracey Ullman, Lilla Crawford, Joanna Riding, Meryl Streep, Mackenzie Mauzy, Chris Pine, Billy Rasmussen etc. Into the Woods
Dylan O’Brien, Will Poulter, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Aml Ameen, Ki Hong Lee, Blake Cooper, Dexter Darder, Kayla Scodelario, Patricia Clarkson, etc. The Maze Runner
Charlotte Gainsbourg, Gabriel Garko, Giulia Salerno, Anna Lou Castoldi, Asia Argento, Olimpia Carlisi, Alice Pea, Carolina Poccioni, etc. Misunderstood
Robert Downey, Jr., Robert Duvall, Vincent D’Onofrio, Vera Farmiga, Billy Bob Thornton, Dax Shepherd, Emma Tremblay, etc. The Judge

Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Leading Role

Annalise Basso Oculus
Lauren Canny 1,000 Times Good Night
Joey King Wish I Was Here
Giulia Salerno Misunderstood
Flora Thiemann Mission: Sputnik
Lea van Acken Stations of the Cross

Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Leading Role

Spencer Bogaert Labyrinthus
Antoine L’Écuyer The Custody
Antoine L’Écuyer It’s Not Me, I Swear
Kodi Smit-McPhee A Birder’s Guide to Everything
Garrett Ryan Oculus
Nils Verkooijen 20 Lies, 4 Parents and a Little Egg

Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Supporting Role

Anna Lou Castoldi Misunderstood
Adrianna Cramer Curtis 1,000 Times Good Night
Lilla Crawford Into the Woods
Catherine Faucher It’s Not Me, I Swear
Lorelei Linklater Boyhood
Emma Verlinden Labyrinthus

Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Supporting Role

Peter DaCunha Tormented
Reese Hartwig Earth to Echo
Daniel Huttlestone Into the Woods
Felix Maesschalck Labyrinthus
Art Parkinson Dracula Untold
Tye Sheridan Joe

Best Youth Ensemble

Kodi Smit-McPhee, Katie Chang, Alex Wolff and Michael Chen in A Birder’s Guide to Everything
Valeria Eisenbart, Quirin Oettl, Justus Schlingensliepen, Neele-Marie Nickel and Davina Weber The Famous Five 3
Spence Bogaert, Felix Maesschalck, Emma Verlinden, Nell Cattrysse and Pommelien Tijs Labyrinthus
Flora Thiemann, Finn Fienbig, Luca Johanssen, and Emil von SchönfelsMission: Sputnik
Giulia Salerno, Anna Lou Castoldi, Carolina Poccioni, Andrea Pittorino Misunderstood
Raúl Rivas, Daniel Cerezo, Claudia Vega, Fran García, Marcos Ruiz, Christian Mulas, Aníbal Tártalo, Alberto López, Javier Cifrián and Álex Angulo Zip and Zap and the Marble Gang

Best Original Screenplay

Anna Brüggemann and Dietrich Brüggemann Stations of the Cross
Bruno Forzani, Hélène Cattet The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears
Steven Knight Locke
Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Dan Hageman, and Kevin Hageman The Lego Movie
Janneke van der Pal Finn

Best Adapted Screenplay

Jane Goldman, Simon Kinberg and Matthew Vaughn X-Men: Days of Future Past
Gary Hawkins and Larry Brown Joe
James Lapine Into the Woods
Dennis Lehane The Drop
Jordan Roberts, Daniel Gerson, Robert L. Baird, Duncan Rouleau, Steven T. Seagle and Paul Briggs and Joseph Mateo Big Hero 6

Best Cinematography

Eric Adkins and Pat Sweeney The Boxtrolls
Dion Beebe Into the Woods
Manuel Dacosse The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears
Florian Hoffmesiter In Secret
Nicola Pecorini Misunderstood

Best Editing

Sandra Adair Boyhood
Bernard Beets The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears
James Herbert and Laura Jennings Edge of Tomorrow
Wyatt Smith Into the Woods
Marie-Hélène Dozo Stop the Pounding Heart

Best Visual Effects

The Boxtrolls
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Edge of Tomorrow
Into the Woods
Interstellar

Best Sound Editing/Mixing

The Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Edge of Tomorrow
The Lego Movie
Locke
The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears

Best Makeup

Gone Girl
Into the Woods
Maleficent
The Theory of Everything
Unbroken

Best Art Direction

Curt Enderle The Boxtrolls
Alan Spalding, Said El Kounti and Hauke Richter Son of God
Dennis Gassner, Andrew Bennett, Ben Collins, Chris Lowe, and Mary Mackenzie Into the Woods
Julia Irribarria The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears
Juan Pedro De Gaspar and Géza Kerti Zip and Zap and the Marble Gang

Best Costume Design

Colleen Atwood Into the Woods
Deborah Cook The Boxtrolls
Nicoletta Ercole Misunderstood
Louise Mingenbach X-Men: Days of Future Past
Pedro Moreno Cannibal

Best Score

Ramin Djawadi Dracula Untold
Pino Donaggio Patrick
Michael Giacchino Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Fons Merkies Finn
A.R. Rahman The Hundred-Foot Journey

Best (Original) Song

“Everything is Awesome” Jo Li The Lego Movie
“The Boxtrolls Song” Mark Orton, Loch Lomond and Sean Patrick Doyle The Boxtrolls
“Quattro Sabatino” Dario Marianello, Peter Harris, Alex Tsilogiannis, Thomas Kennedy and Edmund Saddington The Boxtrolls
“The Bald Guy” (“Skallamann”) from Baldguy Cast in Fun in Boys Shorts
“Prologue: Into the Woods” James Corden, Anna Kendrick, Daniel Huttlestone, Emily Blunt, Christine Baranski, Tammy Blanchard, Lucy Punch, Tracey Ullman, Lilla Crawford, Joanna Riding, Meryl Streep and Stephen Sondheim Into the Woods

Neutron Star Award

TBA 1/9

Ingmar Bergman Lifetime Achievement Award

TBA 1/9

Robert Downey, Jr. Award for Entertainer of the Year

TBA 1/9

Special Jury Prizes

TBA 1/9

Nominations

Into the Woods – 12
Misunderstood – 9
The Boxtrolls, Finn – 7
The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears – 6
Labyrinthus, Stations of the Cross – 5
A Birder’s Guide to Everything, 20 Lies, 4 Parents and a Little Egg – 4
Edge of Tomorrow, The Lego Movie, Locke; 1,000 Times Good Night, Finn; It’s Not Me, I Swear; Mission: Sputnik, Stations of the Cross, , The Way He Looks, Boyhood, Calvary, The Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, The Judge – 3
Zip and Zap and the Marble Gang, Joe, Dracula Untold, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Labyrinthus, Oculus, In Secret, The Drop, The Famous Five 3, The Custody, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, St. Vincent -2
Fun in Boys Shorts, Dracula Untold, Patrick, The Hundred-Foot Journey, Cannibal, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Son of God, Unbroken, The Theory of Everything, Maleficent, Gone Girl, Interstellar, Stop the Pounding Heart, Big Hero 6, Earth to Echo, Tormented; 1,000 Times Good Night; It’s Not Me, I Swear, Wish I Was Here, The Maze Runner, The Amazing Catfish, Flowers in the Attic, I Am Yours, The Babadook, Nymphomaniac: Volume 2, The Fault in Our Stars,The Mystery of Happiness, Ilo Ilo, Fury, The Guest– 1

2014 BAM Award Considerations – October

Posted on by bernardovillela

I decided that with the plethora of BAM Awards-related post towards the end of 2013 and the start of this year it was best to wait to the end of this month before officially recommencing the process.

I will post these lists towards the end of the month to allow for minimal updates. By creating a new post monthly, and creating massive combo files offline, it should make the process easier for me and more user-friendly for you, the esteemed reader. Enjoy.

Eligible Titles

Dracula Untold
Hellaware
Summer of Blood
Mercy
Alexander and the Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Annabelle
Ouija
St. Vincent
The Day the Series Stopped
In the Heart
Abuse of Weakness
Moebius
1,000 Times Good Night
Fury
For a Woman
Cannibal
Finn
The Judge
Gone Girl

Best Picture

St. Vincent
Fury
Finn
The Judge
Gone Girl

Best Foreign Film

1,000 Times Good Night
Finn

Best Documentary

The Day the Series Stopped

Most Overlooked Film

As intimated in my Most Underrated announcement this year, I’ve decided to make a change here. Rather than get caught up in me vs. the world nonsense and what a film’s rating is on an aggregate site, the IMDb or anywhere else, I want to champion smaller, lesser-known films. In 2011 with the selection of Toast this move was really in the offing. The nominees from this past year echo that fact. So here, regardless of how well-received something is by those who’ve seen it, I’ll be championing indies and foreign films, and the occasional financial flop from a bigger entity.

Dracula Untold
Alexander and the Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
1,000 Times Good Night
Finn

Best Director
St. Vincent
Fury
Finn
The Judge
Gone Girl

Best Actress

Kim van Kooten In the Heart
Isabelle Huppert Abuse of Weakness
Juliette Binoche 1,000 Times Good Night
Mélanie Thierry For a Woman
Olimpia Melinte Cannibal
Rosamund Pike Gone Girl

Best Actor

Luke Evans Dracula Untold
Bill Murray St. Vincent
Koen de Graeve In the Heart
Jae-hyun Jo Moebius
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau 1,000 Times Good Night
Robert Downey, Jr. The Judge
Ben Affleck Gone Girl

Best Supporting Actress

Melissa McCarthy St. Vincent
Eun-woo Lee Moebius
Vera Farmiga The Judge

Best Supporting Actor

Youg-ju Seo Moebius
Logan Lerman Fury
Jan Decleir Finn
Robert Duvall The Judge

Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Leading Role

Lauren Canny 1,000 Times Good Night

Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Leading Role

Chandler Riggs Mercy
Ed Oxenbould Alexander and the Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Jaeden Lieberher St. Vincent
Mels van der Hoeven Finn

Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Supporting Role

Emma Tremblay The Judge
Adrianna Cramer Curtis 1,000 Times Good Night
Kerris Dorsey Alexander and the Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Supporting Role

Dario Barosso St. Vincent
Art Parkinson Dracula Untold
Joel Courtney Mercy

Best Cast

St. Vincent
Moebius
1,000 Times Good Night
Fury
Finn
The Judge
Gone Girl
Dracula Untold
Alexander and the Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Best Youth Ensemble

1,000 Times Good Night
Finn
Mercy
Alexander and the Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Best Original Screenplay

St. Vincent
Moebius
1,000 Times Good Night
Fury
Finn
The Judge

Best Adapted Screenplay

Gone Girl
Dracula Untold
Alexander and the Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Best Score

Fury
Finn
Gone Girl
Dracula Untold

Best Editing

St. Vincent
Moebius
Fury
Finn
The Judge

Best Sound Editing/Mixing

Fury
Finn
The Judge
Gone Girl
Dracula Untold

Best Cinematography

St. Vincent
Moebius
1,000 Times Good Night
Fury
Finn
The Judge
Gone Girl

Best Art Direction

St. Vincent
Moebius
Cannibal
Finn
Gone Girl

Best Costume Design

St. Vincent
Moebius
Fury
Cannibal
Finn
Dracula Untold

Best Makeup

St. Vincent
In the Heart
Moebius
1,000 Times Good Night
Fury
The Judge
Gone Girl

Best Visual Effects

Dracula Untold

Best (Original) Song

St. Vincent
In the Heart
1,000 Times Good Night
Finn
The Judge

Review: Finn

Posted on by bernardovillela

Finn is about a nine-year-old boy, played by Mels van der Hoeven, who lives in a small town with his father (Dan Schuurmans). One day Finn notices someone has moved into the abandoned farmhouse that he passes as he goes to and from school. He is drawn there by a wonderful sound he’s never heard before: a violin playing. He starts to take lessons with the old player (Jan Decleir), and skipping soccer practice. His father discovers this and forbids him. As the story moves on it becomes clear that his father’s concern is not just about Finn fitting in. All this time Finn wants: to know more about his mother, to fix their relationship, his father to open up, and to know what’s so bad about the violin anyway.

It would be easy to watch the trailer, or read other online synopses and dismiss Finn as being just another run-of-the-mill family dramedy. You may be lead to believe that it’ll be cutesy and geared mostly for children, however, one of the best things about it is that it respects all its potential audience members, and would likely entertain them in equal measure. For while Finn definitely seeks to speak to both children and parents it portrays a world that can draw both in.

The world of the story is seen mostly through Finn’s eyes, and though he’s known his pains (like never knowing his mother) it is a still a world that most children have experienced at one time or another: a world of magical realism. Finn openly wonders about the connections between music and magic, the ability to induce visions; in short believes in the unseen world and is not shy to talk about it. Resistance is met when he does share it though. He estranges his best friend and confounds his father, to say the least. So there is a balance struck.

Finn (2013, Attraction Distribution)

This balance allows for the creation of a bittersweet, sensitive narrative and as events unfold and revelations are made joys and sorrows walk hand-in-hand. The gorgeous nature of this film is precisely that the journey it takes you upon ebbs and flows. With each narrative progression truths are being revealed and though the truth invariably introduces new pains (pains both Finn and his father seek to avoid) it is ultimately freeing and allows them to move on with their life.

The journey taken here is most definitely a heart-rending one. It’s a film that could easily rest on the laurels of its mellifluous orchestrations, and captivating pastoral scenes of the low country but combines that with a universal, unpretentious and moving story. Due to the fact these things play off of one another the film is allowed to true resonance and cannot be dismissed as nice, cute or quaint, but rather a wholly realized intimate family portrait that should be shared not only at the holidays, but by families the world over.

This is a film populated by deceptively hard characters to play: Finn, has to be simultaneously precocious in that he seeks greater meanings in life and his activities, but naive enough to believe in the improbable and even impossible. The deft scripting assists in that regard but van der Hoeven is often the one, as the film’s namesake, carrying the scenes, who needs to connect with the audience and does. Shuurmans has to be simultaneously quiet definitively hurt and guarded. He has to be brusque with his son without ever alienating the audience and he succeeds in spades because as bad as the arguments get it’s always clear he is torn, has his reasons, but believes he’s doing right by his son.

The film flows with such ease that it washes over you like a dream, which is fitting. This is a factor that should also make this film one that’s conducive to revisiting. Considering that this film is repped by Attraction Distribution, who have had a good track record lately of getting European produced family fare seen in both Canada and the US, prospects of the audience for this film widening are quite good. This is most definitely a film worth finding. This kind of beauteous, lyrical family drama has nearly been the exclusive purview of Benelux in recent years. It is a moving, sincere film ought to be discovered, and one of the best of the year to date.

10/10