In discussing the history of the Muriels, I would be remiss not to mention some of the personal changes that have happened along the way. Most notably, I became a family man, meeting the lovely Angela in 2008 and eventually marrying her in 2011 to start a family with her and her (now our) son. But with all the commitments that have come with having a family, some things have been back-burnered. More specifically, I just haven’t had time to watch movies like I used to when I was single. To wit – in 2007, I watched more than 150 new releases, whereas I tend to average 60-70 nowadays, nearly all of which I end up catching on DVD or streaming on Netflix.
In 2011, something happened that had never happened before – a movie won a Muriel Award before I’d had a chance to see it. The movie was Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation, which took Best Screenplay that year in addition to contending for a number of other awards, including placing #3 in Best Film. Of course, the primary reason for my not seeing it until after the Muriels deadline is because of Sony Pictures Classics and their, well… leisurely release patterns, in which many Oscar-nominated foreign films don’t arrive in Central Ohio until after the Oscar telecast. Thankfully, I was able to catch up with the film while it was still in theatres later that winter, and I ended up making it part of probably the greatest new-release double feature I’ve yet experienced, at the tail end of a night in which I also took in Kenneth Lonergan’s Margaret (two masterpieces, says I).
2011 was also the year of Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life, which like its 2009 and 2010 Best Film-winning counterparts, also walked off with roughly half a dozen Muriels in total. Yet there were plenty of other interesting films in the mix, including Abbas Kiarostami’s Certified Copy (#2 in Best Film, as well as Best Female Lead), Take Shelter (Best Male Lead for Michael Shannon, plus a top-10 finish in Best Film), Lars von Trier’s Melancholia, and more. All this plus breakout years for two performers who would quickly become Muriel favorites, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. It’s almost enough to make you forget our rather unorthodox choice of Melissa McCarthy for Best Female Supporting.
What my recent years of movie-watching have taught me with regards to the Muriels is that you just can’t see everything you want to see. In the first few years after the Muriels began, I would tie myself in knots trying to cram as many movies into my moviegoing year as possible, in the interest of making the most comprehensive Muriels ballot I could. But my more recent experiences have taught me that’s more than just impossible –it’s downright undesirable. For me anyway, there’s little joy in ticking titles off a list from a sense of perceived obligation. If I want to see something, I’ll see it. And if I can’t end up seeing it until after I have to complete my ballot, that’s just fine. Even now that I’m seeing less than half the new movies I once saw, I still see plenty of good stuff to complete a perfectly respectable ballot, and sometimes I still have to make some difficult choices in leaving off worthy picks.
Thanks as always to Ang for being so understanding and patient with me every time Muriels season rolls around. Telling you all the winners before anyone else knows (don’t get any ideas, people!) is a small price for me to pay for all her love and support.
Coming tomorrow: The Muriels cozy up to the Skandies in more ways than one.
No comments:
Post a Comment