Oscar 2012 contenders so far: "We Need To Talk About Kevin", "Drive" and "Melancholia" - from Cannes to Toronto

Directed by: Lynne Ramsay

Genre: Drama; Mystery/Suspense;

Starring: Tilda Swinton; John C. Reilly; Ezra Miller;

Release date: 12th May, 2011 (Cannes Film Festival); 4th September, 2011 (Telluride Film Festival); 9th September, 2011 (Toronto International Film Festival); 9th December, 2011 (USA - limited)

"Tilda Swinton gives a tour-de-force performance in an impressionistic film about guilt, regret and loss. (...) Moviegoers seek out a film like Kevin for the experience of a top-flight director taking complete charge of a fractured, intricate narrative design and a top-flight actress at the peak of her game. With this film, Tilda Swinton establishes herself as the one to beat for best-actress honors at 2011 Cannes. (...) All these narrative tricks and the intense scrutiny on a single character put a viewer at a remove from these events, however. This is a coolly cerebral film with odd music choices -- ranging from the Beach Boys to vintage country -- and a few odd images such as a microscopic view of breast cancer cells dividing, apropos of absolutely nothing. It's a film to think about and debate over but not one to embrace."

by Kirk Honeycutt in Hollywood Reporter

"It is a movie which is a skin-peelingly intimate character study and a brilliantly nihilist, feminist parable: what happens when smart progressive career women give birth to boys: the smirking, back-talking, weapon-loving competitive little beasts that they have feared and despised since their own schooldays? Producer-star Tilda Swinton brings her A-game to the role of Eva, the gaunt and haunted middle-aged woman living through an unending hell: her teenage son Kevin is in prison for committing a Columbine-style atrocity at his high school and she is perpetually assaulted and abused by the bereaved parents. (...) Ramsay's superb film reminds us that someone does the dirty, dreary work of explaining, feeling unhappy, going on prison visits and generally carrying the can."

by Peter Bradshaw in Guardian

"In what is at times a one-woman show, Tilda Swinton is magnificent as a mother whose life is shattered after her teenage son (Ezra Miller) goes on a killing spree at his high school. Her troubled relationship with him, her marriage to Franklin (John C. Reilly), as well as her struggles to cope in the aftermath of the massacre, is told in a fragmented, flashback-heavy manner that may or may not yield a reliable narrative. Her face is hard to take your eyes off: a picture of harrowed misery; a scene-of-the-crime landscape you study and assess like a detective carrying out a procedural; a mask constructed to face a hostile world in the aftermath of the slayings. (...) Some may find the colour symbolism — every other object or space is livid red — as well as the stress placed on texture an ambience rather overdone. But with no resolution or redemption on offer, it’s remarkable how easily Ramsay sustains our interest right to the very end."

by Sukhdev Sandhu in Daily Telegraph

Oscar potential categories:

Best Leading Actress (Tilda Swinton)

Directed by: Nicolas Winding Refn

Genre: Drama; Action/Adventure; Mystery/Suspense;

Starring: Ryan Gosling; Carey Mulligan; Albert Brooks; Ron Perlman; Christina Hendricks;

Release date: 20th May, 2011 (Cannes Film Festival); 17th June, 2011 (Los Angeles Film Festival); 10th September, 2011 (Toronto International Film Festival); 16th September, 2011 (USA);

"Nicolas Winding Refn's BRONSON landed on my top ten a few years ago, and immediately marked him as a director to watch- and when I found out he was doing a noir-style action thriller with Ryan Gosling, I was pumped to say the least. (...) Granted, the whole “getaway driver with a heart of gold” thing has been done before, but DRIVE still feels wholly original. Gosling's nameless character is a fascinating figure. Soft spoken, and polite, he avoids any kind of macho posturing (minus his trademark jacket with a scorpion on the back). (...) Refn's work behind the camera is startling, with him catching the neon grit of L.A, with DP Newton Thomas Siegel, extraordinarily well- with a touch of stylization to give it a cool, eighties- MTV/MIAMI VICE vibe that I loved. (...) Brooks is downright iconic as this cold-blooded businessman who's not portrayed as cruel or psychotic, but rather as a guy doing what he has to do to keep what he thinks is his due. He's a reluctant killer, but at the same time, he's capable of cutting a guy's Adam’s apple out with a straight-razor just to prove a point. (...) And make no mistake, DRIVE is art."

by Chris Bumbray in JoBlo.com

"After serving up a pair of intense, emotionally draining perfs in "Blue Valentine" and "All Good Things," Gosling swings to the other extreme with "Drive," channeling Alain Delon's cipher-like hitman from "Le Samourai" -- a cool-as-ice model that conveniently allows screenwriters to forgo the requisite backstory when creating compassionate-criminal types. The key to such one-dimensional characters is that they live by a rigorous code of conduct, and Gosling's unnamed Driver is no exception. (...) There's Bryan Cranston ("Breaking Bad") as the surrogate father who supplies Driver his wheels; Ron Perlman as a ruthless big shot running schemes from his strip-mall pizza joint; and Albert Brooks, cast deliciously against type, as the aforementioned producer-turned-crime-boss. (...) Whereas most muscle-car action pics are visually and narratively flat, however, "Drive" displays stunning style. With its spare storytelling economy, this is the sort of film that would launch a career, if only it were Refn's debut, rather than his eighth feature."

by Peter Debruge in Variety

"Without doubt the most stylish film in years, Drive plays like the best episodes of Miami Vice. (...) At its heart is a lead performance of some magnitude from Ryan Gosling. Hardly ever speaking, he portrays a range of emotions with the flick of an eyebrow or a half-smile. It's intriguing that the two best male performances of the festival, Gosling and Jean Dujardin, star of The Artist, are both largely silent. (...) The opening sequence is as good as the famous car sequence in Bullitt as Gosling gives his clients a five-minute window to complete their heist. (...) The action and characters are purposely cold so those seeking an adrenaline rush will be disappointed, but the visuals, sound, costumes, and acting are outstanding."

by Kaleem Aftab in Independent

Oscar potential categories:

Best Picture

Best Director

Best Leading Actor (Ryan Gosling)

Best Supporting Actor (Albert Brooks)

Best Editing

Best Sound Editing

Best Sound Mixing

Directed by: Lars von Trier

Genre: Drama; Mystery/Suspense; Science-Fiction;

Starring: Kirsten Dunst; Charlotte Gainsbourg; Alexander Skarsgård; Charlotte Rampling; John Hurt;

Release date: 18th May, 2011 (Cannes Film Festival); 9th September, 2011 (Toronto International Film Festival); 11th November, 2011 (USA);

"Only in the happily perverse head of the director of Breaking The Waves and the 2000 Palme d’Or-winning Dancer In the Dark, could Melancholia be seen as safe or traditional. It takes a baffling, almost bone-headed premise, the stuff of schlocky genre movies, and from it creates a mesmerizing, visually gorgeous and often-moving alloy of family drama, philosophical meditation and anti-golfing tract. (...) It’s the actors, often taking on more challenging roles than those to which they’re accustomed, who bring the risk. All of them are excellent here, but Dunst is exceptional, so utterly convincing in the lead role – trouble, serene, a fierce savant – that it feels like a career breakthrough. She has a nude scene, but is spared the sadism the director often inflicts on his actresses. (...) The cinematography (by Manuel Alberto Claro) is softer and less astringent than in recent Von Trier’s films. But that, together with a considerably less visceral assault on our sensibilities (though Justine does use her riding crop on a horse over-vigorously), in no way makes this one of the tamer entries in his remarkable filmography. Rather, it’s a bold and wholly powerful restatement of first principles."

by Sukhdev Sandhu in Daily Telegraph

"Despite the somber nature of the title, the movie is something of a breather, a respite, a chance for von Trier to explore emotional anguish and intricacies in vibrant, often elegant visual ways, with no self-mutilation involved. It’s gorgeous to look at, deeply moody and atmospheric, and it’s always in on its own grim little joke. (...) Gainsbourg’s Claire and Dunst’s Justine are both individual, distinctly human figures, possessed of varying degrees of fear and bravery. Justine, so fragile in the movie’s first half, is an armor-clad warrior in the second — paradoxically, once she concedes defeat, victory is hers. Claire is self-assured in the first half and hesitant in the second: Because she knows how to function in the real world, she’s much less sure about the unreal one she may be stepping into. The actresses’ performances intertwine beautifully, like twin climbing vines vying for the attention of the sun. (...) With cinematographer Manuel Alberto Claro, he’s created a natural world of highly unnatural, manicured beauty. That’s particularly true of the movie’s opening sequence, a preview (set to Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde prelude) of everything to come."

by Stephanie Zacharek in Movieline

"This is all beautifully shot, set to classical music from a booming orchestra, and played in slow motion. It’s a prelude to the film’s big ideas, terrific performances, and thoughtful examination of what it means to be happy and if happiness is even worth pursing. (...) Claire’s half of the film is solid and Gainsbourg gives a strong performance, but Melancholia grabs your attention in Part One and that’s due in large part to Dunst. This is the best performance of her career and one of the best performances of the year. She’s tasked with playing an array of complex and conflicting emotions, go to some dark places, and she does it all beautifully. Coupled with Manuel Alberto Claro’s breathtaking cinematography, it’s not difficult to see why Melancholia will get inside your head."

by Matt Goldberg in Collider

Oscar potential categories:

Best Leading Actress (Kirsten Dunst)

Best Cinematography