ONE regret of Yours Truly dating to The 51st New York Film Festival is that I did not see tender, lovely and controversial “Blue is the Warmest Color” in its New York premiere.
Of course, one had opportunities, but was being a bit of a brat, whining about not wishing to see a nearly three-hour film. And not any long film, but one that made history at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival in winning the Palme d’Or for both director Abdellatif Kechiche and its two lead actresses, Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux.
It also contains explicit sex scenes, hinted at in its rating. And it has been banned from some theaters. (See trailer at top).
Regarding the ecstasy and agony of young lesbian love over the course of several years, “Blue” garnered universal raves. It doesn’t have any marquee names, which is in part why it is opening in only four U.S. theaters today.
“Blue” will eventually open wider but certainly nothing on the scale of the 3,000-plus theaters in which the “The Counselor” is enjoying its opening today. (“Blue” is also opening in India, Japan and Spain today, while “The Counselor” also opens in the United Kingdom).
Few moviegoers will see “Blue,” a very deserving, if disturbing, film. On the otherhand, massive numbers (at least have the opportunity to do so) will see “The Counselor.” What a pedigree, has this latter film! The director is Ridley Scott. Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and octogenarian Cormac McCarthy (“No Country for Old Men.”) makes his screenwriting debut.
“The Counselor” boasts a dreamlike cast: Michael Fassbender (who seems lately to do no wrong, cinematically speaking), Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz, as well as spouses Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz. (See trailer below).
Set on the Texas-Mexican border, “The Counselor” commences a bit awkwardly with some sexy bedroom banter between Counselor, MF’s only moniker in the movie, with his betrothed, Laura (PC). He loves Laura to death, a good, godly and naive woman for whom he is prepared to do anything.
Indeed, Counselor’s love knows no legal bounds, leading him down a slippery slope into the underworld of cocaine – not a place for a decent man such as he. Too late, especially by the time his paths cross two lowlifes, Westray (BP) and Reiner (“No Country for Old Men alum JB.)
The film is beautifully shot. The performances are universally good; vixenish CD, for instance, further hones her facility for playing sexy with a bit of humor. What a pity then, that the film fails to make a good case for itself.
Place the blame squarely on the high-falutin’ palaver CM insists on that doesn’t amount to a hill of beans. Muddled, muddled is this puzzle. Too many minced words; too many soliloquies about greed not being good. A surfeit of this type of verbiage wrapped awkwardly around killings, beatings, decapitations, big cats and drug deals gone bad. And to what end?
In the final analysis, “The Counselor” – with every advantage – fails the client. That is, the moviegoing public.
"Blue is the Warmest Color" is rated NC-17 for explicit sexual content. Visit http://www.ifcfilms.com/films/blue-is-the-warmest-color to learn more about the film. "The Counselor" is Rated R for graphic violence, some grisly images, strong sexual content and language. Visit http://www.thecounselormovie.com/us/ to learn more about the film.
Don't take it personally if Brad Pitt doesn't remember who you are. Photo from Brad Pitt Facebook page.
PLEASE note that Brad Pitt is not dissing you or otherwise being a jerk. There is a perfectly logical explanation, besides his self-diagnosed prosopagnosia, that he can't remember you to save his life.
His forgetfulness may have more to do with his gender than the aforementioned brain disorder that causes face blindness.
Research from Canada’s McMaster University contends that women remember faces better than men because unbeknownst to them they pay more attention to the features of others.
“Our findings provide new insights into the potential mechanisms of episodic memory and the differences between the sexes,” Jennifer Heisz, an assistant professor in McMaster’s kinesiology departmentat and study co-author told the university's news service. The results are published in Psychological Science. “We discovered that women look more at new faces than men do, which allows them to create a richer and more superior memory.” (http://www.bit.ly/8lc3yd)
It is not likely that BP’s partner, Angelina Jolie, has this issue and the resultant fallout. "So many people hate me because they think I'm disrespecting them," BP disclosed to Esquire magazine in an interview promoting his new film, “World War Z, about a zombie pandemic that threatens to destroy the world. The film had its world premiere in London on Sunday (2 June), premiered in France yesterday, and will continue its rollout across the globe later this month through mid-August.(See video above).
Continued BP: "Every now and then, someone will give me context, and I'll say, 'Thank you for helping me.' But I piss more people off. You get this thing, like, 'You're being egotistical. You're being conceited.' But it's a mystery to me, man. I can't grasp a face, and yet I come from such a design/aesthetic point of view."
Participants in the McMaster experiment were shown faces on a computer screen while eye-tracking technology took note of where – eyes, mouth, nose – they looked on an individual face. Each face was given a name that participants were tasked with remembering. Basically, women paid more attention and had more recall.
“But this strategy operates completely outside of our awareness,” JH asserted. “Individuals don’t usually notice where their eyes fixate, so it’s all subconscious.”
Scanning patterns of a female and a male when viewing the same face for the first time.
And it can also be taught. To that end, BP need not despair. Indeed, he and others similarly afflicted can be taught a few techniques that will improve their face recognition abilities.
“The results open the possibility that changing our eye movement pattern may lead to better memory,” said study co-author David Shore, a McMaster psychology professor. “Increased scanning may prove to be a simple strategy to improve face memory in the general population, especially for individuals with memory impairment like older adults.”
A few scanning exercises may be just the thing to get BP out of the house more often. He also revealed to Esquire that he doesn’t venture out much for dread of encountering yet another face he does not recognize.
Print ad of Brad Pitt for Chanel No 5 as seen at Chanel booth at Bloomingdale's, New York (59th St.). Photo by Yours Truly.
COMING down the escalator yesterday from the Bloomingdale’s second-floor women’s shoe department where I did not find the all-weather, waterproof boots that I am in search of, Yours Truly is struck by a huge image of a blond white man.
Initially, I believe it to be William H. Macy as he looks in "Shameless" (http://www.sho.com/sho/shameless/home). Almost instantly, I dismis the notion – the man in the photo is too handsome, too young. Looking again, I wonder. Could it be? ... Brad Pitt staring back from the gigantic photo that is an advertisement for Chanel No 5 Parfum for women, not for men?
Safely off the escalator in the men’s department at the 59th street store in New York, I study the photo (pictured at top). It is an arresting sight. The man in the photo exhibits a combination of earnestness, virility, self-confidence and authenticity. It is an aspirational image, but its subject is approachable. He is quite handsome but not in a threatening way. It is a photo that stops one in one’s tracks as it does me in mine.
It looks like BP at the same time that it looks like a BP lookalike. Intensely curious, I step into the Chanel booth to seek answers to this gnawing question. Just then, a Chanel representative approaches and offers assistance.
I get right to the point of my visit. It is indeed BP in this stunning photograph. Chanel rep D. Harry also gives me to know that BP is the first man to be the face of Chanel No 5. This distinction puts him in league with Audrey Tautou, Nicole Kidman, Ali MacGraw, and Catherine Deneuve. (See video of CD's Chanel No 5 commercial below.)
How is it possible that this escaped my notice? Is not fashion and beauty part of my business? Put it down to busyness, too: I was engrossed in both the 50th New York Film Festival and the 2012 Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival around the time that the buzz started around this event. Alas, one cannot know everything and one clearly does not.
A bit of research last night does confirm the BP-Chanel connection. It also reveals that BP has been widely ridiculed, including in a “Saturday Night Live” parody, because the corresponding Chanel No 5 television commercial is deemed by many the worst sort of drivel. Perhaps because I saw the photo before I even knew of the existence of the commercial directed by Joe Wright (“Anna Karenina”), I do not judge it so harshly. (See bottom video). One would be hard-pressed to make the same claim about the print ads, one in particular when it is increased many fold its size.
Chanel rep DH and I are now on the other side of escalator in front of the Chanel booth peering at a smaller, yet still-large version of the same photo. To our left is another smaller, yet large photo of BP – chin in hand (channeling “The Thinker,” perhaps?) – looking pensive. Both draw in the viewer. The largest photo, however, is the coup de grace.
I share with DH my earlier thoughts about the photo, taken by Sam Taylor-Wood. He concurs. We are now observing the photo together. On closer inspection, it reveals much more than a handsome face. Who knows how much makeup was used because BP is made up to look like he’s wearing very little or nothing at all. The latter may be the case. What is remarkable, though, is that it appears that he did not wish to be doctored too much. The lines under his eyes are clearly visible. And beautiful. He's keeping it real, as if he has lived some life and the lines testify to that.
Like the larger pores on sections of his face, the lines give him character that would have otherwise been lacking. Visible on his neck and chest are small goose bumps. They do not age the 49-year-old nor would anyone think him old, as they may his partner, Angelina Jolie, if she were to be so bold.
BP has a semi-scruffy moustache and goatee. His shoulder-length hair is coiffed, but minimally so – or at least it looks to be. “A lot of people who have seen the photo say he has extensions,” DH says, though it is not obvious to me. In any case, the extensions look good and they look natural. Many a woman can take a page from this book.
“They’ve been up about two months,” DH says of the photos. “A lot of people have noticed it. We did really well in December.” This last bit he says with a gleam in his eyes.
What in the world is Brad Pitt thinking about? Dinner? How he is going to spend some $7 million after taxes? Photos by Sam Taylor-Wood.
For obvious reasons, it is not surprising that Chanel No 5 would have experienced a significant bump in sales in December. The photo, however, is a powerful selling tool, working on numerous subliminal levels, as it does. There is much at work here to unite the fragrance and consumer. Consider the various messages:
1 Buy this perfume and you will attract BP or a BP type;
2. Buy this perfume and you will attract handsome men;
3. Wear this perfume. BP and men like him will like it;
4. Buy this perfume for the special woman in your life and she will see you as BP or a BP type;
5. Buy this perfume for your woman as BP does for his;
6. Buy this perfume and it gets you closer to Angelina Jolie, considered one of the most beautiful women in the world and so on.
At work here is the same sort of subliminal messaging that automakers employ in using attractive women to sell cars, especially red ones.
And is it not as common sensical as it is brilliant to place this advertorial photo for a women’s fragrance in the men’s fragrance department? It makes it easier for men to purchase the perfume for numerous reasons, including avoiding the discomfort and intimidation of venturing into the women’s fragrance department to do so. It’s simply more convenient and no doubt will increase sales to men, as has been the case at Bloomingdale’s, DH confirmed. The placement also suggests to a man, possibly a clueless one, that he is on the right track in buying this fragrance for his woman if BP is endorsing it. After all, BP is the type of guy that men – particularly American men – can trust to tell it like it is, preferably over a beer.
This last brings up another point. The beauty of the photo, notwithstanding, it is more surprising that BP is the face of Chanel No 5, than the fact that the campaign marks the first time that a man has been selected to be the face of the fragrance.
Why Brad and why did Brad do it? As for the actor, it couldn’t be for the money – though reportedly his payday is around $7 million – because his net worth is believed to be nearly $200 million. According to some wags, he’s having a mid-life crisis. If so, better a 91-year-old scent than a 19-year-old girl.
As for Chanel, the label may have chosen BP simply because he is relatable to so many demographics across age, ethnicity, geography and gender. Indeed, as Chanel CEO Maureen Chiquet has said, “No 5 is the most iconic fragrance of our time, and Brad Pitt is the most iconic actor of our time. Women in every culture love No 5. No matter where you are, No 5 is there.”
Translation: Relatable. The same cannot be said of Douglas Booth, for instance. The young British actor (and model), whom I recently saw in an adaptation of Dickens’ “Great Expectations” on “Masterpiece Theater,” is simply too beautiful in an intimidating sort of way. A body like Daniel Craig is too rugged-looking.
Is this the body language of a man having a mid-life crisis?
Though George Clooney is only one year older than BP, he looks about a decade his senior – the younger demographic won’t go for him. Plus, he can look rather severe at times. The mind cannot conjure up a nonwhite actor who would be a potential face except for Will Smith. He looks a little too boyish and comedic. And, of course, there is the added disadvantage that an actor of color might be perceived as not having international appeal. That written, Barack Obama would be an exception, but the president of the United States does not do this sort of thing.
In that case, why not Brad (who doesn’t normally do this sort of thing either), he seems to pass muster.
Forger the TV commercial, cast the eyes on the photo at a Chanel booth near you, possibly in the men's department.
Visit http://www.chanel.com to learn more about Chanel No 5.
TYPICALLY, anywhere from about late October through the 31 Dec. calendar year deadline is the period when production companies with Oscar pretensions commence to getting their product to the U.S. marketplace, particularly the Los Angeles County part of it.
One doesn’t want to be too early and risk being forgotten in the frenzy of Oscar campaigning. In just the last few weeks titles expected to be in the Academy Awards sweepstakes have opened. They include, “Anna Karenina,” “Cloud Atlas,” “Flight,” “Hitchcock,” “Life of Pi” and “Lincoln.”
The latest to join this lot is “Killing Them Softly.” Brad Pritt and a formidable cast of acting talent star as mob types tasked with seeing that justice is done. It opens today in the United States, as well as Brazil, Finland and Iceland. See video above … More shortly.
Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) and Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) create a formula for recruiting the best talent in "Moneyball." Photos by Melinda Sue Gordon/Columbia TriStar Marketing Group.
THINKING outside the box or defying conventional wisdom is at the heart of “Moneyball,” but it is really about the competitive nature of a determined man, one who just might have something to prove.
The film is based on the real-life story of Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), a former professional baseball player who did not live up to his superstar potential. He quit the talent side of the game and repurposed himself as a management type. (See video below).
Going into the 2002 season, General Manager Billy is tasked with reviving the lowly Oakland A’s, which once again has seen star players poached by elite clubs such as the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. It opens nationwide today. (Also opening are “Abduction,” “Dolphin Tale” and “Killer Elite.”)
In his quest to have a winning season Billy embraces some statistical theories that establishment baseball has dismissed as poppycock. He presses economist Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) into service to morph these theories into a concrete player recruitment blueprint that will bring the A’s into some glory. The result is a formula that instructs that the A’s should court very special types: “old” guys, oddballs, the injured and incessant troublemakers. A’s field manager Art Howe (Philip Seymour Hoffman) ain't buyin' it and refuses to go along.
“The film questions the very idea of how to define success," asserts BP who also has a producer’s credit. "It places great value on this quiet, personal victory, the victory that’s not splashed across the headlines or necessarily results in trophies, but that, for Beane, became a kind of personal Everest.”
“Moneyball” is adapted from the 2003 book of the same name by Michael Lewis, a former Salomon Brothers bond trader. ML, who has emphasized that his book is not the most natural fit for film because of its emphasis on statistical analyses and theories, is pleased with the outcome.
“Whenever a book is adapted into a movie, there are two possibilities: either the filmmakers stick to the book, or they make up their own story … it was an extremely pleasant surprise to see that Bennett [Miller, the director] and the screenwriters did the impossible – not only did I love the movie, but I was stunned by how well it represents my book. It is honest and true to what happened with Billy and the A’s and what they achieved.”
Once everybody is on the same page in "Moneyball" the plan is set in motion. That season the A’s made it to the American League Division Series, which the club lost to the Minnesota Twins.
“Moneyball” has gotten mostly favorable notices, with some critics singling out BP and JH as the economist. There is even talk that BP's performance is worthy of an Oscar nomination.
Philip Seymour Hoffman as a baseball field manager who does not like the way the team is being managed in "Moneyball."
Interestingly enough, several "Moneyball" cast and creative members have Oscar on their resume. BP has a couple of nominations, while PSH won a best actor statuette for “Capote.” That film was directed by BM who earned a nomination for his efforts.
It fell to Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin to cloak ML’s technical jargon into sparkling dialogue. SZ was nominated for his “Schindler’s List” screenplay; AS won an Oscar for his screenplay for “The Social Network.”
Moneyball is rated PG-13 for some strong language.
It also contains explicit sex scenes, hinted at in its rating. And it has been banned from some theaters. (See trailer at top).
“Blue” will eventually open wider but certainly nothing on the scale of the 3,000-plus theaters in which the “The Counselor” is enjoying its opening today. (“Blue” is also opening in India, Japan and Spain today, while “The Counselor” also opens in the United Kingdom).
Posts
