Ethan and nm0001054 autoJoel Coen[/link]'s movie tt0477348 autoNo Country For Old Men[/link] has triumphed at the 2008 Critics' Choice Awards in Los Angeles.
The film landed the coveted Best Picture award as well as the Best Supporting Actor accolade for nm0000849 autoJavier Bardem[/link] at the ceremony on Monday night.
The awards, which are given out by the Broadcast Film Critics Association, are not covered by Writer's Guild contracts so was not affected by the ongoing strike which has forced other events, including the prestigious Golden Globe Awards, to be cancelled.
Other winners at the ceremony include nm0000358 autoDaniel Day Lewis[/link], who picked up the Best Actor gong for his role in tt0469494 autoThere Will Be Blood[/link], and nm0001046 autoJulie Christie[/link], who won Best Actress for Away From Her.
nm0752407 autoAmy Ryan[/link] was honoured as Best Supporting Actress for Gone Baby Gone - nm0000255 autoBen Affleck[/link]'s directorial debut - and teen pregnancy movie tt0467406 autoJuno[/link] was named Best Comedy.
Hairspray was also among the big winners of the night, scooping two awards for Best Acting Ensemble and Best Young Actress for its 19-year-old star nm2284889 autoNikki Blonsky[/link].
nm0000123 autoGeorge Clooney[/link], who was nominated for his starring turn in nm0165750 autoMichael Clayton[/link], presented the inaugural nm0796954 autoJoel Siegel[/link] Award to his Ocean's 13 co-star nm0000332 autoDon Cheadle[/link] for his humanitarian work - and he used the opportunity to call for a resolution to the writers strike.
He told the audience, "When the strike happens, it's not just writers (affected). Our hope is that all the players will lock themselves in a room and not come out until they finish. We want this to be done. That's the most important thing."
The main category winners are as follows:
Best Picture
tt0477348 autoNo Country for Old Men[/link]
Best Comedy
tt0467406 autoJuno[/link]
Best Actor
nm0000358 autoDaniel Day-Lewis[/link], tt0469494 autoThere Will Be Blood[/link]
Best Actress
nm0001046 autoJulie Christie[/link], Away from Her
Best Supporting Actor
nm0000849 autoJavier Bardem[/link], tt0477348 autoNo Country for Old Men[/link]
Best Supporting Actress
nm0752407 autoAmy Ryan[/link], Gone Baby Gone
Best Acting Ensemble
Hairspray
Best Young Actor
nm2520301 autoAhmad Khan Mahmidzada[/link], The Kite Runner
Best Young Actress
nm2284889 autoNikki Blonsky[/link], Hairspray
Best Director
Ethan and nm0001054 autoJoel Coen[/link], tt0477348 autoNo Country for Old Men[/link]
Best Writer
nm1959505 autoDiablo Cody[/link], tt0467406 autoJuno[/link]
Best Composer
nm0339351 autoJonny Greenwood[/link], tt0469494 autoThere Will Be Blood[/link]
Best Song
Falling Slowly, nm0360598 autoGlen Hansard[/link] + nm2461627 autoMarketa Irglova[/link], Once
Best Foreign Language Film
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Best Animated Feature
Ratatouille
Best Family Film
Enchanted
Best Documentary
Sicko
Best Picture Made for Television
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee...
The film landed the coveted Best Picture award as well as the Best Supporting Actor accolade for nm0000849 autoJavier Bardem[/link] at the ceremony on Monday night.
The awards, which are given out by the Broadcast Film Critics Association, are not covered by Writer's Guild contracts so was not affected by the ongoing strike which has forced other events, including the prestigious Golden Globe Awards, to be cancelled.
Other winners at the ceremony include nm0000358 autoDaniel Day Lewis[/link], who picked up the Best Actor gong for his role in tt0469494 autoThere Will Be Blood[/link], and nm0001046 autoJulie Christie[/link], who won Best Actress for Away From Her.
nm0752407 autoAmy Ryan[/link] was honoured as Best Supporting Actress for Gone Baby Gone - nm0000255 autoBen Affleck[/link]'s directorial debut - and teen pregnancy movie tt0467406 autoJuno[/link] was named Best Comedy.
Hairspray was also among the big winners of the night, scooping two awards for Best Acting Ensemble and Best Young Actress for its 19-year-old star nm2284889 autoNikki Blonsky[/link].
nm0000123 autoGeorge Clooney[/link], who was nominated for his starring turn in nm0165750 autoMichael Clayton[/link], presented the inaugural nm0796954 autoJoel Siegel[/link] Award to his Ocean's 13 co-star nm0000332 autoDon Cheadle[/link] for his humanitarian work - and he used the opportunity to call for a resolution to the writers strike.
He told the audience, "When the strike happens, it's not just writers (affected). Our hope is that all the players will lock themselves in a room and not come out until they finish. We want this to be done. That's the most important thing."
The main category winners are as follows:
Best Picture
tt0477348 autoNo Country for Old Men[/link]
Best Comedy
tt0467406 autoJuno[/link]
Best Actor
nm0000358 autoDaniel Day-Lewis[/link], tt0469494 autoThere Will Be Blood[/link]
Best Actress
nm0001046 autoJulie Christie[/link], Away from Her
Best Supporting Actor
nm0000849 autoJavier Bardem[/link], tt0477348 autoNo Country for Old Men[/link]
Best Supporting Actress
nm0752407 autoAmy Ryan[/link], Gone Baby Gone
Best Acting Ensemble
Hairspray
Best Young Actor
nm2520301 autoAhmad Khan Mahmidzada[/link], The Kite Runner
Best Young Actress
nm2284889 autoNikki Blonsky[/link], Hairspray
Best Director
Ethan and nm0001054 autoJoel Coen[/link], tt0477348 autoNo Country for Old Men[/link]
Best Writer
nm1959505 autoDiablo Cody[/link], tt0467406 autoJuno[/link]
Best Composer
nm0339351 autoJonny Greenwood[/link], tt0469494 autoThere Will Be Blood[/link]
Best Song
Falling Slowly, nm0360598 autoGlen Hansard[/link] + nm2461627 autoMarketa Irglova[/link], Once
Best Foreign Language Film
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Best Animated Feature
Ratatouille
Best Family Film
Enchanted
Best Documentary
Sicko
Best Picture Made for Television
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee...
- 1/8/2008
- WENN
This review was written for the theatrical release of "The Kite Runner".Director Marc Forster's highly effective and straightforward adaptation of Khaled Hosseini's international best-seller "The Kite Runner" already has garnered news because of a rape scene involving one of its young actors. That has resulted in a delay of its theatrical release. But the controversy aside, the film is a faithful rendition of a beloved book that should garner critical and award recognition and the attention of discerning audiences.
The story is told in three distinct sections. The first, set in 1978 Afghanistan, concerns the fateful friendship of two young boys: Amir (Zekeria Ebrahimi), who lives with his sophisticated, well-heeled widower father Baba (Homayoun Ershadi), and Hassan Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada), the son of his father's faithful servant. The two 12-year-olds share a close bond, thanks to their common love of American action movies and kite flying.
But when Hassan runs afoul of some neighborhood bullies and subsequently is sexually violated by one of them -- Forster films this scene in a discreet but effective manner -- Amir is too frightened to intervene and keeps silent afterward. This failure to act haunts him throughout the years, even after he and his father have relocated to California in the aftermath of the Soviet invasion.
Cut to a decade later, when the now-adult Amir (Khalid Abdalla) is an aspiring writer and his father is a gas-station attendant. When Amir meets the daughter (Atossa Leoni) of another Afghan expatriate, the pair fall in love and get married after an old-fashioned arranged courtship.
In the last section, set in 2000, Amir is now a published author and happy, despite the death of his father and the couple's childlessness. But his contentment is interrupted by a call from an old family friend (Shaun Toub) who informs him that the now-deceased Hassan had a young son (Ali Dinesh) who was abandoned to an orphanage. The still-guilt-ridden Amir thus travels to the now dangerous city of Kabul in order to rescue the boy, who bears an unexpected connection to him, and bring him to America.
Benioff's faithful if necessarily condensed screenplay adaptation handles well the book's complex narrative and is particularly effective in its sensitive middle portrait of its culturally dislocated characters. If the melodramatic final section, in which Amir personally encounters the violent horrors of the Taliban regime, feels rushed and not entirely convincing, the sheer dramatic force of the events compensates for its contrived elements.
With the not-surprising exception of the lyrical kite-flying sequences, Forster's direction is understated and all the more effective for it. He also has elicited wonderfully naturalistic performances from his trio of child actors, as well as from the low-key but highly effective Abdalla in the lead role and the effortlessly charismatic and commanding Ershadi as the highly principled father.
The film feels totally convincing in all its technical aspects, including its use of Chinese locations to double for the story's Afghan setting.
THE KITE RUNNER
Paramount Classics
DreamWorks Pictures
Sidney Kimmel Entertainment
and Participant Prods. present
a Sidney Kimmel Entertainment,
MacDonald/Parkes production
Credits:
Director: Marc Forster
Screenwriter: David Benioff
Producers: William Horberg, Walter F. Parkes, Rebecca Yeldham, E. Bennet Walsh
Executive producers: Sidney Kimmel, Laurie MacDonald, Sam Mendes, Jeff Skoll
Director of photography: Roberto Schaefer
Production designer: Carlos Conti
Music: Alberto Iglesias
Costume designer: Frank Fleming
Editor: Matt Chesse
Cast:
Amir: Khalid Abdalla
Baba: Homayoun Ershadi
Young Amir: Zekeria Ebrahimi
Young Hassan: Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada
Rahim Khan: Shaun Toob
Ali: Nabi Tanha
Sohrab: Ali Dinesh
Farid: Said Taghmaoui
Soraya: Atossa Leoni.
MPAA rating: PG-13
Running time -- 122 minutes.
The story is told in three distinct sections. The first, set in 1978 Afghanistan, concerns the fateful friendship of two young boys: Amir (Zekeria Ebrahimi), who lives with his sophisticated, well-heeled widower father Baba (Homayoun Ershadi), and Hassan Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada), the son of his father's faithful servant. The two 12-year-olds share a close bond, thanks to their common love of American action movies and kite flying.
But when Hassan runs afoul of some neighborhood bullies and subsequently is sexually violated by one of them -- Forster films this scene in a discreet but effective manner -- Amir is too frightened to intervene and keeps silent afterward. This failure to act haunts him throughout the years, even after he and his father have relocated to California in the aftermath of the Soviet invasion.
Cut to a decade later, when the now-adult Amir (Khalid Abdalla) is an aspiring writer and his father is a gas-station attendant. When Amir meets the daughter (Atossa Leoni) of another Afghan expatriate, the pair fall in love and get married after an old-fashioned arranged courtship.
In the last section, set in 2000, Amir is now a published author and happy, despite the death of his father and the couple's childlessness. But his contentment is interrupted by a call from an old family friend (Shaun Toub) who informs him that the now-deceased Hassan had a young son (Ali Dinesh) who was abandoned to an orphanage. The still-guilt-ridden Amir thus travels to the now dangerous city of Kabul in order to rescue the boy, who bears an unexpected connection to him, and bring him to America.
Benioff's faithful if necessarily condensed screenplay adaptation handles well the book's complex narrative and is particularly effective in its sensitive middle portrait of its culturally dislocated characters. If the melodramatic final section, in which Amir personally encounters the violent horrors of the Taliban regime, feels rushed and not entirely convincing, the sheer dramatic force of the events compensates for its contrived elements.
With the not-surprising exception of the lyrical kite-flying sequences, Forster's direction is understated and all the more effective for it. He also has elicited wonderfully naturalistic performances from his trio of child actors, as well as from the low-key but highly effective Abdalla in the lead role and the effortlessly charismatic and commanding Ershadi as the highly principled father.
The film feels totally convincing in all its technical aspects, including its use of Chinese locations to double for the story's Afghan setting.
THE KITE RUNNER
Paramount Classics
DreamWorks Pictures
Sidney Kimmel Entertainment
and Participant Prods. present
a Sidney Kimmel Entertainment,
MacDonald/Parkes production
Credits:
Director: Marc Forster
Screenwriter: David Benioff
Producers: William Horberg, Walter F. Parkes, Rebecca Yeldham, E. Bennet Walsh
Executive producers: Sidney Kimmel, Laurie MacDonald, Sam Mendes, Jeff Skoll
Director of photography: Roberto Schaefer
Production designer: Carlos Conti
Music: Alberto Iglesias
Costume designer: Frank Fleming
Editor: Matt Chesse
Cast:
Amir: Khalid Abdalla
Baba: Homayoun Ershadi
Young Amir: Zekeria Ebrahimi
Young Hassan: Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada
Rahim Khan: Shaun Toob
Ali: Nabi Tanha
Sohrab: Ali Dinesh
Farid: Said Taghmaoui
Soraya: Atossa Leoni.
MPAA rating: PG-13
Running time -- 122 minutes.
- 10/8/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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