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CONTENTS Page 4 5-7
Editorial Joy The story of the title character, who rose to become a founder and matriarch of a powerful family dynasty.
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Favourite Films of 2015 Reflecting on what has been a fabulous year for movies, MbM selects eleven favourites: Youth. Carol. The Assassin. Trumbo. Gemma Bovery. Slow West. Love & Mercy. Hitchcock/Truffaut. Me And Earl And The Dying Girl. Brooklyn. Room.
14-18
Favourite Actors of 2015 Ten actors that captivated, inspired MbM throughout the year: Joaquin Phoenix. Dustin Hoffman. Emory Cohen. Michael Fassbender. Bryan Cranston. Matt Damon. Michael Caine. John Cusack. Paul Dano. Mark Rylance.
19-24
Favourite Actresses of 2015 Twelve actresses that dominated the screen with their remarkable performances: Julianne Moore. Cate Blanchett. Caren Pistorius. Gemma Arterton. Greta Gerwig. Olivia Cooke. Rooney Mara. Qui Shu. Rachel Weisz. Kate Winslet. Brie Larson. Saoirse Ronan.
25-30
Favourite Directors of 2015 Their films were memorable and inspired those who saw them and MbM honours the directors who made them: Richard Glatzer & Wash Westmoreland. Todd Haynes. Hsiao-Hsien Hou. Jay Roach. Anne Fontaine. John McClean. Bill Pohlad. Kent Jones. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon. John Crowley. Lenny Abrahamson. Paolo Sorrentino.
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Carol
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Joy PHOTO CREDITS: 20th Century Fox Studio Canal Entertainment One Soda Pictures KVH Media Group Sony Releasing Cohen Media Group Fox Searchlight Lionsgate BBC Warner Bros Getty Images Universal Pictures Artificial Eye
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Acknowledgements We would like to thank Premiercomms.com for their invaluable help.
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EDITORIAL
Hello World! Hello New Year! It is customary at the beginning of the year to reflect on the one that has just gone, so this issue surveys 2015 and selects MbM’s Favourite Films, Actors, Actresses, and Directors. It has been a very good year. The highlight was undoubtedly the London Film Festival, where the majority of the films selected were seen. Bear in mind that a few of these titles will not have been generally released yet, but it does not disqualify them from our selection because the lists are based on the year in which they were first seen by MbM. Readers will probably not be surprised by many of the films chosen because they have been justly praised in past issues. An interesting point that you may not be aware is that press screenings at film festivals invariably clash with one another causing the delegate to miss a film in favour of another. When this happens, the film will not be reviewed until it is publically distributed after the festival. The cover star is Jennifer Lawrence who plays the eponymous Joy in David O Russell’s latest film which is our main feature review. We cannot close the door on one year without opening the door on 2016 and look at the expected highlights of the Sundance Film Festival which opens in a few weeks in Utah. COMPLETE UNKNOWN. Directed by Joshua Marston. Starring: Rachel Weisz, Michael Shannon. When Tom and his wife host a dinner party to celebrate his birthday, one of their friends brings a date named Alice. Tom is convinced he knows her, but she’s going by a different name and a different biography – and she’s not acknowledging that she knows him. FRANK & LOLA. Directed by Matthew Ross. Starring: Michael Shannon. Imogen Potts. A psychosexual noir story set in Las Vegas and Paris. INDIGNATION. Directed by James Schamus. Starring: Logan Lerman. Sarah Gadon. 1951. Among the new arrivals at Winesburg College in Ohio are the son of a kosher butcher and the beautiful, brilliant daughter of a prominent alum. An emotionally soaring film based on the novel by Philip Roth. WIENER-DOG. Directed by Todd Solondz. Starring: Great Gerwig. Kieran Culkin. Danny DeVito. Julie Delpy. Several stories featuring people who find their life inspired or changed by one particular dachshund, who seems to be spreading comfort & joy. UNLOCKING THE CAGE. Directed by Chris Hegedus, Donn Pennebaker. Documentary. Animal rights lawyer Steven Wise and his unprecedented challenge to break down the legal wall that separates animals from humans. MAGGIE’S PLAN. Directed by Rebecca Miller. Starring: Greta Gerwig Gerwig. Ethan Hawke. Julianne Moore. Bill Hader. A young woman’s determination to have a child catapults her into a nervy love triangle with a heart-throb academic and his eccentric critical-theorist wife.
Enjoy the read Brian Mills Magazine Editor
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Paul Ridler Magazine Designer
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JOY Warning: this film will move you emotionally unless you left your feelings at home. * Spoiler Alert *
Directed by David O Russell Starring: Jennifer Lawrence. Robert De Niro. Bradley Cooper. Edgar Ramirez. You said to me that David O Selznick married Jennifer Jones, an All-American girl from Oklahoma, because in America all races and all classes can meet and make whatever opportunities they can; and that is what you feel: you reach into peoples’ homes with what you sell. You said that. – Joy Joy Mangano (Jennifer Lawrence) and her ItalianAmerican family across four generations centres on the girl who becomes the woman who founds a business dynasty by inventing the Miracle Mop and becomes a matriarch in her own right. Betrayal, treachery, the loss of innocence and the scars of love, pave the way in this intensely emotional and human comedy/drama about becoming a true boss of family and enterprise facing a world of heartless and unforgiving commerce. Allies become adversaries and adversaries become allies, both inside and outside the family, as Joy’s inner life and vibrant imagination carry her through the hurricane she staggers against. www.moviesbymills.com
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The time-frame is from childhood to middle-age and along the way Joy has lost herself in a fictional world of her mother who is constantly comforted by TV soap operas. Joy has lost the truth of herself and her only treasure is her grandmother Mimi (Diane Ladd) who teaches her to follow her dream and never give up. Her wasted seventeen years are symbolised by the Cicada, a creature that goes underground for that length of time, and for Joy it is like the incubation of her soul. The film changes rhythm half-way though when Joy discovers who she really is and claims the right to be that being who has been struggling so long to break free. It takes guts, stamina, and ice-cold wake-up-call to reality to the crooked business world of sharks and demons before Joy is able to like herself again. She has been the rock of her family, forfeiting her dreams to make everyone else’s come true – the ultimate accommodating persona. Her ex-husband, Tony (Edgard Ramirez) who still remains her friend, tells her: Your dreams are on hold for now. When her Miracle Mop is displayed on TV in front of millions of viewers it fails to generate any sales from phone-ins because the sales person does not know how to use it. It seems that all is lost until Joy faces Neil Walker (Bradley Cooper) the owner of the company that runs the Show and convinces him that she is the only one to present her product and should be given a second chance to do just that. It is one of several uplifting moments in the film that has the callers calling in and the sales figures rising by the second. Make no mistake about it, I went into this movie not expecting it to be this good, but the combination of David 0 Russell and Jennifer Lawrence work handsomely – word-of-mouth will do the rest. Like the mop the story promotes – it is an easy sell and should clean up nicely at the box office. How nice to see Diane Ladd again, who plays Joy’s grandmother, Mimi. She is still fondly remembered for Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.
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Jennifer Lawrence and Robert De Niro in Joy
Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro and Edgar Ramirez in Joy.
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No.11
YOUTH
There are magical moments that emphasize the Spa as a character itself and this is captured by cinematographer Luca Bigazzi in almost absurd beauty: the hypnotic sequence with enormous bubbles that shimmer in a spotlight.
No.10
CAROL
Haynes observes his heroines through windows streaked by reflections, dust or raindrops. The ending is a masterstroke conveyed with just a look.
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No.9
THE ASSASSIN Once again we see a director who works closely with his cinematographer, Mark Lee Ping Bing, to bring us unforgettable imagery
No.8
TRUMBO
A film which will find its way to a film collector's DVD shelf, I am sure
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No.7
GEMMA BOVERY
And after seeing Gemma Bovery, I guarantee it will remain in your head and your heart too.
No.6
SLOW WEST
While expecting to succumb to a Hollywood closure it instead leans toward a European ending with a brilliantly uncontrived and meaningful scene that is rarely ever witnessed today
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No.5
LOVE & MERCY
For Dano, proof again what a talent he is. He just keeps getting better and better
No.4
HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT You could watch many of Hitchcock's films with the sound off without losing any sense of what the film was about
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No.3
ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL This is a wonderful film that sprouts buds on many a wallflower's heart. Weepies were once the mainstay of films of the forties and it is nice to see them return again
No.2
BROOKLYN
A film that hearkens back to the forties style of storytelling that wrings your heart dry with emotion and empathy
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No.1
ROOM
A taut narrative of captivity and freedom, an imaginative trip into the wonders of childhood, and a profound portrait of a family's bonds and fortitude
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No.10
JOACHIN PHOENIX in Irrational Man
No.9
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DUSTIN HOFFMAN in Esio Trot
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No.8
No.7
EMORY COHEN in Brooklyn
MICHAEL FASSBENDER in Steve Jobs
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No.6
No.5
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BRYAN CRANSTON in Trumbo
MATT DAMON in The Martian
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No.4
No.3
MICHAEL CAINE in Youth
JOHN CUSACK in Love & Mercy
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No.2
No.1
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PAUL DANO in Love & Mercy
MARK RYLANCE in Bridge of Spies
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No.12
Julianne Moore in Still Alice
No.11
Cate Blanchett in Carol
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No.10
No.9
Caren Pistorius in Slow West
Gemma Arterton in Gemma Bovery
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No.8
No.7
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Greta Gerwig in Mistress America
Olivia Cooke in Me and Earl And The Dying Girl
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No.6
No.5
Rooney Mara in Carol
Qui Shu in The Assassin
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No.4
No.3
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Rachel Weisz in Youth
Kate Winslet in Steve Jobs
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No.2
Brie Larson in The Room
No.1
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Saoirse Ronan in Brooklyn
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No.12
Richard Glatzer & Wash Westmoreland (Still Alice)
No.11
Todd Haynes (Carol)
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No.10
Hsiao-Hsien Hou (The Assassin)
No.9
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Jay Roach (Trumbo)
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No.8
Anne Fontaine (Gemma Bovery)
No.7
John McClean (Slow West)
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No.6
Bill Pohlad (Love & Mercy)
No.5
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Kent Jones (Hitchcock/Truffaut)
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No.4
Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (Me And Earl And The Dying Girl)
No.3
John Crowley (Brooklyn)
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No.2
No.1
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Lenny Abrahamson (Room)
Paolo Sorrentino (Youth)
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