By the expression “beautiful season”, we generally designate summer, for its extra heat and sunshine. However, as far as American cinema is concerned, it would rather be autumn. Indeed, while the trees are colored ocher and red, Hollywood releases its choice pieces. Then the marathon of award ceremonies begins, culminating in the Oscars. This year is no exception.
If it is at this stage too early to come forward in terms of favorites, a first observation is nevertheless necessary. In fact, if there is one certainty that emerges in terms of American cinema, it is that there is a strong risk of seeing a traffic jam in the category of the Oscar for the best female interpretation.
In this regard, the names of Carey Mulligan, Jessica Chastain, Viola Davis, Ana de Armas, Florence Pugh, Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Lawrence could quickly impose themselves. Carey Mulligan stars in the highly anticipated She Saidof Maria Schrader, which chronicles the investigation by two female journalists into sex crime allegations against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. We know the rest. From the star of Promising Young Womanwe expect nothing less than a punchy film (November 18).
Ditto for Jessica Chastain (Oscar winner last year for The Eyes of Tammy Faye) with hospitable suspense The Good Nurse. Realized by Tobias Lindholmscreenwriter of Danish hits The hunt and Breathalyzerthe film relates the hunt for serial killer Charles Cullen from the point of view of a fellow nurse played by Chastain (late 2022).
The always fabulous Viola Davis embodies the title role in the film The Woman Kingof Gina Prince Bythewoodabout a woman who leads a faction of female warriors, the Agojie, in the kingdom of Dahomey, now Benin (September 16).
In Blonde hair, Ana de Armas brings none other than Marilyn Monroe to life. Virale, the trailer for the filmAndrew Dominick portends the best (September 23).
Doubled by Pugh and Weaver
As for Florence Pugh, her collaboration with the director and actress Olivia Wilde for Don’t Worry Darling has been arousing curiosity for months. Certainly, the romance in the city between the filmmaker and her male star, Harry Styles, has something to do with it, but the film, in which a young model wife of the 1950s comes to find the apparent perfection of her community suspect. , is very intriguing. As it happens, 2022 will be a banner year for both Pugh and Styles, with the former also starring in The Wonder and the second, of My Policemantwo British productions (see our text on international cinema).
Doubled, also, for Sigourney Weaver: in The Good House of Maya Forbes and Wally Wolodarsky(September 30), she is a real estate broker who reconnects with a former lover played by Kevin Kline (her costar in The Ice Storm), and in Call Jane of Phyllis Nagy (October 28), she comes to the aid of the character of Elizabeth Banks, a wife wishing to have an abortion in a context where the thing is illegal. Set in the 1960s, this second film is sadly current.
Finally, Jennifer Lawrence, winner of the Oscar for best actress for Silver Lining Playbook (Good side of things), is back in force with the drama Causeway realized by Lila Neugebauerafter the powerful, and scathing, satire Don’t Look Up. Producer of the film, Lawrence plays a soldier who, after suffering a major head trauma in Afghanistan, struggles to reacclimatize to normal life (end of 2022).
Another actress we will hear a lot about is Kate Winslet, since she sits in the credits ofAvatar: The Way of Waterof james cameronalso director of titanic, need we remind you. We both know a lot and very little about the second of five installments in the ambitious ecological science fiction saga. One thing is certain, Cameron promises an epic immersive experience (December 16).
Above all, we should not forget Julia Roberts who, in Ticket for Paradisein addition to reuniting with his old friend George Clooney (the saga Ocean), revives the romantic comedy, here signed Ol Parker. Yes, we can’t wait (October 21).
gay lovers and superheroes
Among these gentlemen, rare are the Hollywood productions centered on them to arouse real interest (for that, you have to look at Great Britain). Among the exceptions stands out Brosa production of Judd Apatow misrepresented as the first gay romantic comedy from a major studio. Love, Simon and the recent Fire Island were there before, but Bros does not seem less promising (September 30).
In a more cinephile register, we are impatient to discover White Noisepet Noah Baumbach, with Adam Driver, but also the actress and director Greta Gerwig (with whom Baumbach forms a couple in the city). A satirico-apocalyptic story, it is an adaptation of the cult novel by Don DeLillo (late 2022).
Of course, there will be superhero movies. At DC, the director Jaume Collet-Serra secured the services of the ultra-popular Dwayne Johnson to play black adaman antihero whose, judging by the echoes, the nature of “false villain” perhaps conceals that of a “true good guy” (October 21).
As for the Marvel competitor, it will be Black Panther’s turn to stack up in Black Panther: Wakanda forever realized by Ryan Coogler. In the absence of the late Chadwick Boseman, however, mystery hangs over the identity of the successor. Letitia Wright, aka the scholar Shuri, was a favorite, but her stance on vaccinations muddled the waters — at Disney, we usually abhor controversy (November 11).