Jane Heller

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Not the Oscars but Almost

February 28, 2016

Brie Larson Spirit

That’s Brie Larson during her moving acceptance speech for Best Actress for “Room” at yesterday’s Film Independent Spirit Awards. I was sitting close enough to snap the pic. After years of couch-potato-watching the show, which takes place the day before the Oscars in a huge tent on the beach in Santa Monica, I was invited by my super cool pals at Bank of America, one of the event’s biggest sponsors, to attend, and our table was front and center.

Michael and I arrived at the pier where hundreds of film industry folks were gathered, and we were mobbed by people wanting our autograph (just kidding). A guy did ask me if I was a singer; he said I looked like a rock star. I’m guessing he was drunk.

me at spirit awards

Nobody on the red carpet shouted, “Jane, who are you wearing?” But if they had, I would have said, “My friend Laurie Burrows Grad let me borrow stuff from her closet.” She lent me the sequined black jacket, white buttoned down shirt and black tie. The black jeans were mine, courtesy of The Gap.

Shortly after arriving, I made my way into the Effen Vodka tent (another sponsor) and emerged with one of these pink drinks.

Vodka spirit awards

It had pink grapefruit juice and ginger in it and I forget what else. Suffice it to say, it was tasty. Michael, my designated driver, abstained.

M at spirit awards

Eventually, we made our way into the main tent and found our table. We were seated with our BOA/Merrill Lynch buddies, Kim Merritt and Brandon Burriss, along with some of their other clients, an actor, a producer, etc. All very congenial and fun to be with. Lunch wasn’t the event’s strong suit – chicken that had been sitting there in the heat for who knows how long is just not appealing – but the entertainment and awards made up for it. The show’s hosts were “SNL’s” Kate McKinnon and Kumail Nanjiani from HBO’s “Silicon Valley.” Their parodies of nominated films, like this one of “Carol,” set the tone.

But it was the presentation of the awards that were my favorite part. I loved that both Idris Elba and “the kid” (I never get his name right) from “Beasts of No Nation” were winners.

Beasts stars

“Spotlight” swept the big categories (picture, director, original script, ensemble cast) and I was thrilled about that. I also loved that the producers brought the Boston Globe journalists on whom the characters were based, along with the child abuse victim who blew the whistle on the priests. As for “Room,” not only did Brie Larson snag her award, but Irish writer Emma Donaghue won a Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay and it was so well deserved. I’m amazed how she was able to adapt her bestselling book as a “newbie” (her term).

Emma Donaghue

By the way, “Carol’s” two leading ladies may have gone home without a statuette, but I adored Cate Blanchett’s dress, which was sort of a flowing body tattoo. Rooney Mara’s “style” confounds me.

Blanchett and Mara

When all the awards had been given out, it was time to get up and drive back to Santa Barbara. After sitting for hours, Michael and I were not looking forward to sitting for even more hours in traffic, but we pretended to be happy about it.

M and me at table

Tonight’s the Oscars, and I’ll be back to watching in my baggy yoga pants and a T-shirt, eating takeout pizza with friends and making snide remarks at the TV. I hope I stay awake.

Filed Under: Mainly Jane Tagged With: Bank of America, Beasts of No Nation, Brandon Burriss, Brie Larson, Carol, Cate Blanchett, Emma Donaghue, Film Independent Spirit Awards, Kim Merritt, Merrill Lynch Private Banking, Room, Santa Monica, Spotlight

Movie Night: “Beasts of No Nation”

November 15, 2015

beasts-of-no-nation-poster

This powerful film, written and directed by the man behind the first season of HBO’s “True Detective,” made a brief run in theaters, but is now available for viewing on Netflix. After seeing it on lists of possible Oscar contenders, I decided to take a look, even though I knew the subject would be rough going.

Set in an unnamed country (think: Sierra Leone), “Beasts of No Nation” begins with a young boy (a never-before actor from Ghana who’s terrific) who’s enjoying being a kid, playing with his pals, going to church with his parents and brother, gathering around the family dinner, such as it is when you’re poor and living in an Army occupied territory. He’s happy until full-on war breaks out. Suddenly, his mother is forced to flee, his father and brother are killed and he’s all alone in a place where he no longer belongs.

He’s soon recruited into another kind of army, a group of rebel native fighters led by their “commandant,” played by the great British actor Idris Elba. The boy is taught to fight, taught to slaughter, taught to obey, taught to take drugs, and it’s fascinating and painful to watch him go from playful child to brutal criminal.

Suffice is to say that child murderers are being recruited all the time in countries like the one portrayed here, and we’d rather bury our heads in the sand than face the truth of the situation. This movie forces us to pay attention. As I said at the top, it makes for rough going. It’s especially rough going in light of what happened in Paris the other night. Terrorism is terrorism wherever it rears its head, and “Beasts of No Nation” takes it head on.

Filed Under: Mainly Jane Tagged With: Beasts of No Nation, Idris Elba, Netflix

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About Jane Heller

Jane Heller is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. Her fourteen breezy, witty novels of romantic comedy and suspense are now entertaining millions of readers around the world, along with her two books of nonfiction.

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