Zazie d'Or 2016

Awards time is over and Oscars have just been given, with a bit of a mess at the end, but luckily enough you can always rely on the only cinema award that will never fail you: the Zazie d'Or!
And this year's winners are:
The LITTLE ZAZIE D’OR (Best First Feature Film Prize) goes to 
Divines by Houda Benyamina (France) 
Two girls in the Parisian banlieu and their unstoppable desire of a better life. 
Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, César du Premier Film and now the Little Zazie d'Or. 
A consecration!

The Zazie d'Or for BEST COSTUME DESIGN goes to 
Marie Zophres for HAIL, CAESAR! by Joel and Ethan COEN (US)
Nominated to the Oscars for her work on La La Land, this woman made marvelous things for the Coen Brothers movie (just think about Tilda Swinton dresses!). Adorable!

The Zazie d'Or for BEST CHOREOGRAPHY goes to the dancing number  No Dames in HAIL, CAESAR! by Joel and Ethan COEN (US)
This is like going straight back to the '50s... just perfect!

The Zazie d'Or for BEST SONG goes to
CLAUDIO SANTAMARIA for Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot (Italy)
I know, everybody loved Luca Marinelli singing Un'emozione da poco by Anna Oxa (and yes, I have adored it!), but this song at the end of the movie was very melancholic and very powerful too.
In Jeeg Robot we trust!

The Zazie d’Or for BEST ACTRESS(ES) goes to
SONIA BRAGA for AQUARIUS by Kleber Mendonça Filho (Brasil)
If there is an actrice who should be celebrated for her work in a movie, this is for sure Sonia Braga for her incredible role in Aquarius. The most badass woman of contemporary cinema is a 65 years old woman who is not afraid of anything and anybody. Don't mess with her.
She is stronger than you can ever imagine. Girlspower!!!

AQUARIUS by Kleber Mendonça Filho (Brasil) is also winning the ZAZIE COUP DE COEUR 2016!

The Zazie d’Or for BEST ACTOR goes to 
CASEY AFFLECK for Manchester by the Sea by Kenneth Lonergan (US)
I don't have to write anything about it. You just need to watch this video. 
You'll get it by yourself why this actor has won all the possible available prizes on earth for his role as Lee. And if you don't get it, I warn you: you actually don't have a heart. And it's your problem!

Manchester by the Sea by Kenneth Lonergan (US) is also winning the SPECIAL ZAZIE D’OR and he Zazie D'Or for BEST SCREENPLAY!
Because hey, you don't come across this kind of movies very often, and this story is just unbelievably good, well written, carrying heavy emotions with a lightness of touch that is filled with grace, love and humanity. 

The Zazie d'Or for BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY goes to  
André Turpin and 

The Zazie d'Or for BEST DIRECTOR goes to Xavier Dolan 

for Juste la fin du monde (Québec)

At each new movie Dolan never gets tired of growing and getting better. This guy is never where you expect him to be: he is always ahead, a step further anybody else. 

I love him for that.

André Turpin, who has been working with him in all his latest movies, does a magic thing with light, here. So delicate and yet so precise. The skills of the two combined is almost too much to handle. Looking forward to seeing when they'll be going next! 

The special prize "Se non ci fosse bisognerebbe inventarlo" goes to 
KEN LOACH for I, Daniel Blake (UK)
Because in this cynical and nasty world, the fact that there is someone like Ken Loach who still cares about people, gives us hope and an immense joy. Grazie, Ken!

The ZAZIE D’OR 2016 goes to

American Honey by Andrea Arnold (US) 
There is something in this bunch of guys that really breaks my heart.
I've always loved Andrea Arnold cinema and I hope one day she will get the recognition she deserves. 
In the meantime, Zazie loves her very much!!!

The JEREMY IRONS PRIZE (Man of my Life Award) 2016 goes to
JEREMY IRONS HIMSELF!
Why should I give this prize to somebody else when I have the real one near me???!

As every year, Zazie would like to thank Saccingo for the creation of the Zazie d'Or drawing!

Dheepan

After having won two Zazie D’or (one in 2009 for Un Prophète and the other one in 2012 for De Rouille et d’os), Jacques Audiard has finally received a well-deserved Palme D’Or at this year Cannes Film Festival for his latest work, Dheepan. 
I was very lucky: for the first time at the Festival in my whole life, the first movie I was able to see was this one. 
On Friday, May 22 at 11.30 am. 
Such a great time of the day to see a movie: the sun of the Riviera outside and the new movie of my favourite European film-maker inside. 
How could I ask for more?

Dheepan, a Tamil warrior from Sri-Lanka who is sick of the war and would like to change his life, manages to leave his country under a false identity and pretending he’s got a family (a wife and a daughter). In reality, the two women are two complete strangers coming from the same refugee camp: the girl is an orphan, and the young woman is trying to reach a cousin who lives in England. The three arrive in France and Dheepan, who declares to have been tortured in his own country, finds a job as a caretaker of few buildings in the Parisian banlieu. None of them speak French, they don’t know each other, and the place is hostile, so things at the beginning are pretty tough, but Dheepan, Yalini and Illayaal, who are willing to have a better life, try their best to succeed. When things seem getting better, Dheepan’s past and the gloomy reality of their present, hit back in a bad way.
War, unfortunately, is not over yet…

Audiard’s cinema is a dark fairy-tale.
His characters are always struggling against something or someone, they have to suffer, they have to go through a lot (metaphorical and physical pain, emotional crisis, solitude) to finally arrive at the end of the tunnel and see the light. But it is worth it, because at the end of this tough path, they are different human beings. They have grown up. They’re better or - at least - they have found a better life.
From a young and almost-innocent petit-voyou that in jail transforms himself into the new leader of the whole prison, to a woman who has to learn how to survive without an important part of herself, to three perfect strangers who have to understand how to be a family and how to survive in an unknown and unwelcoming country, Audiard’s heroes always teach us a lesson of great humanity.

The director’s camera is constantly at their side. 
Audiard’s way of filming is a a pure joy for the eyes: the camera seems to caress Dheepan’s face, to follow him in his discovery of a new world, a world that sometimes looks too familiar to this man: when his past comes back, when violence takes over, when the drug dealers behaviour reminds him of the Sri-Lanka warriors’one.
Audiard’s France is not a country for old men, that’s for sure.
It is a pretty gloomy place where the mixture of culture doesn’t seem to have produced nice results, where poor fight against other poor, where the ugliness of social housing reflects the ugliness of human people living into them.

Dheepan is a movie of subtle understatement.
Apparently a minor work, but in reality a stunning one: a heap of Audiard’s finest qualities.
With that particular, unique combination of realistic and poetic elements for which this director seems to have the magic formula.
And maybe I am just a naïve person, but to know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, in Audiard’s movies, gives me hope, strength and trust.
In cinema, at least, if not in life.

Zazie D'Or 2014

Dear Readers,
Yes, it is THAT time of the year, when your cinema blogger de confiance gives away her prizes. So forget about Oscars, Golden Globes, Golden Lions, Golden Palms, Golden Bears, BAFTAs and Césars. The one and only cinema awards is, of course, the fabulous ZAZIE D’OR! 

The LITTLE ZAZIE D’OR (Best First Feature Film Prize) 2014 goes to 
PARTY GIRL by Marie Amachoukeli-Barsacq, Claire Burger & Samuel Theis (France/Germany)
I have loved so much the energy of this movie! Angélique is a woman who lived her life the way she wanted, and now that she is getting old, everybody is telling her she should behave in a wiser manner. But can we change our real nature just because we're not young anymore? Hopefully not!!! 

The Zazie d'Or for BEST COSTUME DESIGN 2014 goes to
MILENA CANONERO for THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL by Wes Anderson (US)
You can only dream of living in a classy hotel like the Grand Budapest Hotel: from the Lobby Boy till the richest guest, everybody is dressed in a heavenly way. 
Glamour has never been so irresistibly rétro!

The Zazie d'Or for BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY 2014 goes to
RYSZARD LENCZEWSKI & LUKASZ ZAL for IDA by Pawel Pawlikowski (Poland)
The magnificent light and black & white of this picture are almost as unforgettable as the story. The poetry and the beauty of the images undoubtedly contribute to the final result: one of the gems of the cinematographic year. 

The Zazie d’Or for BEST ACTRESS 2014 goes to
ANNE  DORVAL for MOMMY by Xavier Dolan (Québec)
Already absolutely amazing in other Dolan's movies (she was his mum in Dolan's first film J'ai tué ma mère, then Nicolas's mum in Les Amours Imaginaires), Anne Dorval is simply SUBLIME in Mommy. Her Diane is vulgar in the way she dresses, she speaks, she moves, but she is incredibly strong, funny and touching when it comes to her mum's feelings. 
An actress who is not afraid of anything and who should be covered in prizes.

The Zazie d’Or for BEST ACTOR 2014 goes to 
JAKE GYLLENHAAL for NIGHTCRAWLER by Dan Gilroy (US)
After few years of confusion, Gyllenhaal has re-born again to great cinema thanks to his collaboration with québecois film-maker Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners, Enemy), but it is with this American movie that he has found the role of his life. He is more than perfect as Louis Bloom: he is scary, inhumane and unable to show any feeling (because he doesn't have any, probably). 
Let's hope his career will keep going this way!

The Zazie d'Or for BEST DIRECTOR 2014 goes to
XAVIER DOLAN for MOMMY (Québec)
When you make bold choices like using a square format for your movie, you've got all my attention. But when you decide to open it twice during the movie, well, in that case you have the Zazie D'Or as best director. Because you deserve it!

The ZAZIE COUP DE COEUR 2014 goes EX-AEQUO to 
DEUX JOURS, UNE NUIT by JEAN-PIERRE & LUC DARDENNE (Belgium)

and
BOYHOOD by RICHARD LINKLATER (US)
Two very different movies, coming from two different parts of the world, but both able to give us hope in human kind. A rare and very precious thing. What a blessing!

The SPECIAL ZAZIE D’OR and the Zazie D'Or for BEST SCREENPLAY 2014 go to 

WINTER SLEEP by NURI BILGE CEYLAN (Turkey)
As I often wrote in this blog: there is cinema and then there is Bilge Ceylan's cinema. A league of his own, this Turkish film-maker has created in these last few years two of the most incredible and wonderful pictures ever. My admiration towards him has no limits.

The ZAZIE D’OR 2014 goes to 
MOMMY by XAVIER DOLAN (Québec)
I AM SURE YOU DIDN'T SEE THIS COMING...!!!

The JEREMY IRONS PRIZE (Man of my Life Award) 2014 goes to
American actor JAKE GYLLENHAAL
I have to confess he didn't have to work hard to have this prize. He just had to show up with his beard in Enemy by Denis Villeneuve. And the lucky thing was, he had to play his double as well! 
Because two Jakes on screen is meglio che one...

As usual, thanks to Sergio Saccingo Tanara for the design of the Zazie D'Or Award! 

Zazie d'Or 2013

Oscars? Golden Globes? Golden Lions? Golden Palms? Golden Bears? BAFTAs? Césars?
Totally has been! Totally out of fashion! The most prestigious cinema award worldwide is – no doubt about it - the one and only ZAZIE D’OR!
Last year, Zazie has been 84 times to the movies and this, dear readers, is the BEST OF IT ALL:

The Zazie d’Or for BEST PICTURE 2013 goes to
LA VIE D'ADELE by Abdellatif Kechiche (France)
They are two girls in France but they could have been a boy and a girl in Japan or two boys in Alaska. Kechiche proves (thanks to two actresses en état de grace) that the first love and the first pain of love are universal and unforgettable. M A G N I F I Q U E !

The SPECIAL ZAZIE D’OR 2013 goes to
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS by the Coen Brothers (US)
A folk singer, a cat named Ulysesse, a bunch of beautiful songs, a cold winter in the NY of the 60s. And the genius of the Coen Brothers to turn a disastrous series of events into the most pleasant cinema moment of the year. W O N D E R F U L !

The ZAZIE COUP DE COEUR 2013 goes to 
12 YEARS A SLAVE by Steve McQueen  (US)
Before seing this movie I had no idea what being a slave meant. After having seen it, I do.
Very much so.

Zazie would like to give a special prize to the entire cast of this movie for their excellent performances: CHIWETEL EJIOFOR, LUPITA NYONG'O, MICHAEL FASSBENDER, SARAH PAULSON, BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH, PAUL DANO, PAUL GIAMATTI, they are all amazing. BRAD PITT, I am afraid, IS NOT included (but we thank him, anyway, because without his presence the money to produce the film would have never been found).

The Zazie d'Or for BEST DIRECTOR 2013 goes to
NICOLAS WINDING REFN for ONLY GOD FORGIVES (Thailand)
This is a prize that will surprise many of you, I know. Nobody liked this movie except me and few other people. Well, j'assume! I have always loved his cinema, and I adore the way he films. I am completely under his spell. I can stay in front of the screen for hours if Winding Refn is behind the camera.

 

The Zazie d’Or for BEST ACTOR 2013 goes to
BRUCE DERN for NEBRASKA by Alexander Payne (US)
You don't need to have made the Actor's Studio to give the performance of the year. You don't even need to be young and beautiful, to loose 30 kgs, to have a handicap or a mortal illness. Sometimes you just need to be Bruce Dern in a black & white movie. This one.

The Zazie d’Or for BEST ACTRESS 2013 goes to
CATE BLANCHETT for BLUE JASMINE by Woody Allen (US)
Yes, I know, she has already won all the prizes in this world. I’ve tried to find somebody else, I thought a lot about the girls of La vie d’Adèle, but then I had to admit it: the most unforgettable one, is her Jasmine. There's nothing I could do about it!

The Zazie d'Or for BEST SCREENPLAY 2013 goes to
RICHARD LINKLATER+JULIE DELPY+ETHAN HAWKE for BEFORE MIDNIGHT by Richard Linklater (US)

These three people have done something unique in cinema history: they have created a couple 20 years ago and they told us their story ever since. We have grown up with Jesse and Céline: we have shared with them the joys of youth, the doubts of maturity and now the difficulties of the middle age. The dialogues of these movies should be studied in every cinema school, because they're simply perfect. 
I hope we will meet them again!

 

The Zazie d'Or for BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY 2013 goes to
BRUNO DELBONNEL for INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS by the Coen Brothers (US)
Delbonnel, the man behind the magic light of movies like Faust and Le Fabuleux déstin d'Amélie Poulain, works for the first time with the Coen brothers and the result is more than special: the vintage patina of the '60s combined with the cold light of a NY winter is absolutely splendid!

The Zazie d'Or for BEST DOCUMENTARY 2013 goes to

STORIES WE TELL by Sarah Polley (Canada)

I adore Sarah Polley's cinema. Here she relates an incredible personal story: the discovery of her father not being her real father and her search for the natural one. In a strange mix of fictional super 8 films and interviews with the "real" people, she drags us into a very touching family history plenty of emotions, funny moments and universal questions about ourselves.

The Zazie d'Or for the BEST ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK 2013 goes to
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS by the Coen Brothers (US)

What can I say? I'm listening to this record in a loop since the day I watched the movie for the first time (back in October 2013...)

The LITTLE ZAZIE D’OR (Best First Feature Film Prize) 2013 goes to 
HAIFAA AL-MANSOUR for WADJDA (Saudi Arabia) 
I have the greatest respect for a woman who is trying to make movies in a country where cinema doesn't exist and where women barely exist. She has filmed all the street scenes hidden inside the back of a truck, proving that, sometimes, revolutions can start with a little girl and her bike. W la Liberté!

The JEREMY IRONS PRIZE (Man of my Life Award) 2013 goes to
Irish actor GABRIEL BYRNE
In Le Temps de l’Aventure by Jérôme Bonnell, Byrne proves to be the sexiest 60something on planet earth. In the movie, he takes a commuter train to go from Calais to Paris because he is afraid of the tunnel under the English Channel. If you assure me that I’m going to meet somebody like him on a train like that, I swear to avoid the Eurostar for the rest of my life! Gabriel, here I come...

And for you, dear readers, what has been the best of 2013?

The Oscars 2013 - Part 1: Getting Ready

The day I had the certainty that I was going to LOS ANGELES to see the OSCARS, was also the day I started freaking out about it. 

I thought: ok, this is not going to happen. This is too good to be true. 

Something will come up, FOR SURE, obliging me to stay at home: I will fall down from the stairs again, I will have a flu, there will be a strike at the Paris airport, or at the Los Angeles airport, the city will be hit by a snow storm, or there will be a locusts invasion.
No doubt something will prevent me to be on board of that plane to Los Angeles!!!
I was so scary that I gave the incredible news just to few people.
My colleagues and a bunch of friends knew, but on the social networks I kept a low profile. I was very discreet until the very last moment. I was so discreet that I started doubting I was actually going. Nevertheless, on Saturday February 23, there I was: in good health, no falls, no strikes, no snow storms and not even the famous locusts invasion!
Passport and tickets in my hands, ready to sing: Silver Jet take me, I’m all set, Take me, Through the sky etc… (yes, I know Astrud Gilberto was actually going to Brazil but hey, I couldn’t find a better song!).
The big adventure was about to start…
… and it started soon enough, because in the Lounge of Air France the first person I bumped into was the adorable French actress Emmanuelle Riva, who received a Zazie d’Or on Thursday and a César on Friday (and maybe she was about to win an Oscar on Sunday!).
I still had in my hears her wonderful words from the César ceremony (sorry guys, I wasn’t able to find them on the net to be put in this post) and I could still see her smiling, in a beautiful red Lanvin dress, with her lovely eyes looking into the audience. If you can tell me where I could sign to get old like this, I immediately do it (this fabulous Lady is aged 86):

Once arrived in Los Angeles, I started freaking out about my appearance.
Of course, now that I have solved the problem of getting there, the new step was: in which conditions can I arrive at the ceremony? I imagined all these beautiful, gorgeous actresses getting ready for the Oscars since at least two months in advance, with a multitude of hair-dressers, make-up artists, stylists and personal trainers around them.
How can I possibly compete? – I ask myself.
In fact, I couldn’t.
I didn’t even have time, before leaving, of having a face massage, or a quick plastic surgery, but I knew one thing: I wanted a bright, shining, impeccable manicure and pedicure.
I was staying in Culver City and on Sunday morning, after a good night rest (thanks, sleeping pills kindly provided by my mum!), I was ready to go to the prestigious appointment that my hotel booked for me in a beauty salon around the corner. 

I don’t know exactly what kind of glamorous place I had in mind that day, but one thing was for sure: it wasn’t the beauty salon I was stepping in (I think in Barbès-Rochechouart I could have found nicer places… the Parisians will understand what I’m talking about here!).
Well, it was too late to change my mind and so I bravely ventured into the salon and said I had an appointment (unfortunately). It was then that I realized I had a new, worrying problem: understanding the women working at the salon. They were four Chinese women talking with a strong whateverchinesecity accent and I couldn’t understand a single word. Before entering, I was fantasising about asking an advise on the colour I should use, but clearly enough they couldn’t have a clue, so I chosen a dark grey and they looked at me in disbelief: are you suuuuuuure? 

I wasn’t sure of anything, at that stage, not even of my name, but I strongly assure them that yes, that was the colour I wanted. And just when I thought the worst was over, a new drama was about to happen: the woman making the manicure and the one making the pedicure (contemporarily) didn’t agree on each other methods, and they spent the whole time yelling in Chinese (very bad words, I'm telling you!). 

After 1 hour that looked like 1 geological era to me, I was ready to leave the place. Just one minor concern: will my shoes ruin the nail polish on my feet? Oh, no, not AT ALL! Said one of the two contenders to Top Esthetician… while the other one reinforced: and the manicure will last two full weeks!
And off I went, towards the hotel. 

Useless to say: my feet were a DISASTER and the nail polish on my hands lasted JUST a couple of days.

Oscars, here I come!!!