Sunday 16 February 2014

OH FOR A BAFTA

I am missing the BAFTA's this year in London. I needed a change.  It will soon be the Chelsea Flower Show and time passes so quickly I like to do different things. I love film, but I have to finish mine, The gun the cake and the butterfly at Anarchy Post. If it had not won, I would not have changed it, but I did, and I felt that I should change the things that needed a little lift, add a scene or two and alter the end. It is now irrelevant. Like so many things in life, time, if nothing else moves life on.
Some people are no longer in my life, new things were happening. I wanted to tell a different tale. I had fun in the studio with Duka Sokoli and Lisa Zane, but always missing Justine. There is something about Justine Glenton. I love working with her.


I have known for many months that Cate Blanchett's portrayal of a neurotic,once rich but now newly broke wife, was a winner, in Blue Jasmine. As I have been rich myself, I felt for the character, this impoverished woman, bereft of love, full of lies and loneliness with a drinking problem. With many human failings and spending habit. It could so easily have been many of my friends. Of course it is  based loosely on modern version of A street car named desire. Tennessee Williams a brilliant playwright hands over the reigns to Wood Allen to give it a new boldness with Cate's dramatic characterisation.  However Woody must takes  credit for re writing the script, and Cate who has played the part of Blanche is definitely doing so again in this contemporary tale.  I totally loved the film.  A film for me has to be a coup de foudre, and there were no love stories going on. She had stiff competition she was against Emma Thompson in Saving Mr Banks about Mary Poppins and Dame Judi Dench in Stephen Frear's Philomena, a heart rending tale about an adoption. Both of these cinematic tales I loved.
Awards are not necessarily about the best film.  It is the whole package that is taken into account. Clearly if you have the backing of Harvey Weinstein it is a good thing and you have great ingredients like slavery, you are likely to win. It sounds like a worthwhile film, 12 years a slave,  but is it the best?
To whip up interest and get your film seen you need the stars.
George Clooney is a popular candidate, with all the women I know, and is clearly lots of fun with a cheeky sense of humour he makes a visit on a space ship in Gravity even more exciting for me.
The BAFTA's are not just about film, they are also about clothes and Angelina Jolie was beautifully dressed in Saint Laurent. My favourite label at the moment.
I have been watching a season of old Oscar winners and I love Leslie Caron in An American in Paris, Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra, Vivien Leigh in Gone with the wind, which I am ashamed to say, I have only just watched.
Congratulations to Helen Mirren and Jeremy Irons for winning an Academy Fellowship..
The Guardian has a full list of winners.



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