The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2018)

[DarkImbecile]

Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite, with Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz

[domino harvey]

I read a comment elsewhere by someone who read the script that this film is unbelievably foul-mouthed and mean-spirited and about as far from awards bait as a period piece can get. This trailer seems to prove that. Can't wait!

[mfunk9786]

This looks amusing. Especially after The Killing of a Sacred Deer had its moments but was ultimately a big loud failure, a pivot from high concept miserablism is welcome.

[flyonthewall2983]

Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite, with Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz

I bet Olivia Colman steals the show

[Lost Highway]

Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite, with Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz

I bet Olivia Colman steals the show

She is the rare actor who I'll watch in anything she's in and I hated all of Lanthimos' previous films.

[Cremildo]

I bet Olivia Colman steals the show

I wouldn't bet against you.
Colman did exactly that in The Lobster, even though it was a minor role.

[Boosmahn]

This sounds interesting... I really liked The Lobster but have yet to see Killing of a Sacred Deer. It can't be as bad as you're implying it is, right, mfunk?

[swo17]

It's absolutely worth seeing to make up your own mind about it

[jazzo]

Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite, with Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz

I bet Olivia Colman steals the show

She is the rare actor who I'll watch in anything she's in and I hated all of Lanthimos' previous films.

If you're region-free, I heartily recommend her television show, FLOWERS.

[domino harvey]

Colman is widely tipped to be nominated for her work here

Interestingly, the film will have no original score and will be a piecemeal collection of classical recordings

[Lost Highway]

I bet Olivia Colman steals the show

She is the rare actor who I'll watch in anything she's in and I hated all of Lanthimos' previous films.

If you're region-free, I heartily recommend her television show, FLOWERS.

That's been on my "to watch" list for a while.

[Roger Ryan]

...Interestingly, the film will have no original score and will be a piecemeal collection of classical recordings

Which means the Kubrick comparisons will be even more plentiful this time around!

[mfunk9786]

...Interestingly, the film will have no original score and will be a piecemeal collection of classical recordings

Which means the Kubrick comparisons will be even more plentiful this time around!

On every level but quality, I'm sure

[swo17]

Is this revenge for all my posts about Xavier Dolan?

[domino harvey]

No, Xavier Dolan is revenge for all your posts about Xavier Dolan

[mfunk9786]

Is this revenge for all my posts about Xavier Dolan?

I've still only seen one Dolan film, but it was better than every Lanthimos film I've seen put together. But no, my pointing out that this will not be as good as Barry Lyndon wasn't intended to troll anyone, it was just a pre-fact

[swo17]

You weren't supposed to put them together

[domino harvey]

Will open the NYFF

[BenoitRouilly]

The Favourite will be in competition at the Venice Film Festival 2018

[domino harvey]

Did we learn nothing from Criterion's Some Like It Hot cover?

[domino harvey]

Screened today and everyone loves it. Coleman and Stone getting the most raves and both seem to be locks for noms, as expected (though not everyone agrees on who is supporting and who is lead)

[Persona]

This has looked the most promising to me of Lanthimos' work so far, with a context that really suits his work at the same time that this looks less affected and stilted than his other movies, and focusing on the actresses and allowing them to shine.

I'd be worried that the critic crowd at Venice are a bunch of push-overs with all the raves so far for First Man, Roma, and The Favourite, but the reactions to something like The Mountain have been far more tempered and even negative, so perhaps the festival has simply started with a bang for the most part (and The Other Side of the Wind tomorrow!).

[Magic Hate Ball]

This looks like a delightful take on The Draughtsman's Contract, I can't wait.

[DarkImbecile]

You guys, this movie made me so happy.

If I had to choose, Roma is the better film, but I’ll be surprised if this isn’t my favorite (sorry) film of the year. It’s a singularly delightful and rewarding experience: if at any point you tire of the script’s rich dialogue, deft characterization, acidic humor, and dense plotting, you can focus on the fantastic natural-light cinematography, immaculate costume and production design, and an embarrassment of acting riches that in a just world would lead to three best actress nominations for the stellar work by Weisz, Stone, and Colman (any gaps in quality between them are basically indiscernible), and supporting actor recognition for Nicholas Hoult.

More later, but goddamn.

[mfunk9786]

Brings me no particular joy (and surely no surprise to our forum's Lanthimos believers) to announce that I found this to be pretty terrible. One of the most excruciating sits at a movie theater is a film that finds itself smart and funny but is neither. One that throws around the word "cunt" like a flagging late-80s stand-up comedian who's being heckled, praying that the word alone will get a guffaw or two. Lanthimos insists on throwing in one fisheye lens shot per scene and trying to do his own Barry Lyndon lighting on lifeless hi-res digital, as though either of these things are suitable substitutes for a directorial point of view. Instead, it mostly looks kind of ugly - a good fit for the one-note blackhearted plot that heads nowhere particularly interesting. Emma Stone is the best thing here - because she's the most comedically gifted and can sell a whole island with her wide eyes and mischievous smirk. All the actors show up to one degree or another - it's surprisingly lively for Lanthimos. But unfortunately, when the jokes aren't landing and the shock (can you believe these royals are rolling around in the mud and puking? Wow) isn't either, the whole experience feels remarkably hollow. I'll keep trying with this guy, but if his writing wasn't the stumbling block, maybe it's just never going to work for me again.

Guessing I should never go back and re-watch Dogtooth.