Jay Kelly,, Noah BaumbachThe new film on the personal sacrifices required by the people who make films and people who support these people, had its first North American at the Telleluride Film Festival The Werner Herzog Theater on Saturday evening, two days after its International Arc at Venice Film Festival. I have no doubt that by reading this sentence, some will say reflexively: “Booo!” Who cares about people’s problems in Hollywood? Real world people have real problems. ” And I can understand where they come from. But do you know who will not be among them? Residents of Hollywood, who also explain the vast majority of people in the Academy of Arts and Cinema Sciences. For this reason – and even more because the film is extremely well done in all respects – I suspect that Jay Kelly will be an important player this Oscar season.
The film, which Netflix will be released in theaters on November 14 and on its streaming platform on December 5, stars George Clooney As a title character, who not only looks like and behaves a lot like George Clooney (read: sweet and charming) and is also a movie star (described as one of the last real Cinema stars), but also shares a similar story both personally (from Kentucky) and professionally (a favorite of criticism and the public). I do not want to suggest that Clooney is playing himself at all – he is, I can say that someone who has covered and crossed with him over the decades, a much more thoughtful and generous guy than Kelly – but they certainly share a lot in common.
Jay Kelly, like all the big cinema stars, is supported by a “team” that includes a manager (Adam Sandler), a publicist (Laura Dernwho won an Oscar for Baumbach Wedding story), a makeup artist (Emily Mortimer) and a bodyguard. He has a ton of fans, but also, as is the case with all the major cinema stars, many people who are not fans. In the case of Kelly, her two daughters (Riley Keough And Grace Edwards) and father (Stacy Keach) have major problems with him. The same goes for a friend of his days long during theater (Billy Crudup), an unpleasant meeting with whom an existential crisis for Kelly triggers.
The film becomes a road film while Kelly, on the spur of the moment, goes towards Europe in pursuit of its youngest daughter and en route to a film festival to harvest a career production price, forcing those around you to drop and join it, and to force it to be among regular people for the first time in decades. The whole test encourages Kelly to rethink the key people and the decision points of his life, and literally – through the magic of the film – enters these moments as an observer of his young me (Charlie Rowe). As you may have gathered, there are undeniable echoes Sullivan Travels And 8 1/2.
The original scenario of the film, by Baumbach and Mortimer, is the razor -sharp – of the scene “Pickles Never Expire” with one of the first directors of Kelly (winner of Oscar Jim Broadbent), whose career did; to interactions between Kelly and her former classmate, who takes a wild turn; When Kelly and her manager frankly approach the nature of their long association. Baumbach has received scripting names for Cammar and whale,, Wedding story And BarbieAnd this script is in the same league, so I think the price conversation Jay Kelly Must start there.
Then there is Clooney. It took real guts to an A-Lister to take a game like Kelly; The somewhat disdainful “note” that Clooney and Kelly receive occasionally is that they are still playing themselves, and it is a film that could still perpetuate this erroneous belief. (After Sunset Blvd.Many assumed that Gloria Swanson In fact lived a life like the disturbed has -been that she played in this film, and her career was not particularly helped by her success.) But only an extremely qualified actor could transmit all the things that take place silently below the surface of Kelly, and I suspect that the Academy, which appointed Clooney for four previous performances – in 2005 Syrian (for which he won the best support actor), 2007 Michael Clayton2009 In the air and 2011 Descendants (for which he lost against Jean Dujardin For a performance in another film on the toll that Hollywood can take care of, The artist) – I will do it again for this one.
Then there are the supporters of supporting the huge casting of the film (which will surely be nominated for the best price of SAG). At the top of the list is Sandler, who, for almost 40 years, acts in films, and even if many of them have not been exactly cherished criticism, he brought many people during these years – and now gave a lot of performances for which he stretched impressively, including those in 2002 in 2002 Drunk Punch2004 Spanglish2007 Reign over me2017 Baumbach film Meyerowitz stories (new and selected)2019 Uncoupled gems2022 Hustle And now this one. His character is a decent and worker guy who loves his family, but who is also an operator (“puppy!”) And often puts his precious client first, by belief – or hope – that they are really friends, and must then face the possibility that he has been deceived from the start. I suspect that the combination of the accumulated good will and this nuanced performance can make an invitation to the Oscars for the first time as a candidate, as it should be.
This same courtesy should be perceived at CRUDUP, which absolutely crushes a complex mission with very little screen time. The acting method and the little parking is mini-masters.
I could continue in last, Keach, Patrick Wilson,, Eve Hewson And the other artists, who shine under the direction of Baumbach (Baumbach has never received any best director Oscar Name, but that could change); The collaboration between the director of photography Oscar Linus Sandgren and production designer winning an Emmy Mark Tildesleywhich made the scenes in which the present meets the past, as well as an impressive openness; The original partition by the great Nicholas Brittell (Succession And Moonlight), which particularly punctuates the culmination of the film; And more. But the main thing is that all these elements will probably be added to a good range of names to the Oscars and will make Jay Kelly A serious competitor for the best film.
