I know that as of now, Mother and Child has not found distribution and that reviews have been pretty good, especialy for Annette Bening. If the movie was not picked up anywhere in Toronto, is it too late for it to find a distributor to be released late this year?

I hope the film finds a distributor. I'm excited to see Kerry Washington and my girl Shareeka Epps (who should be an Oscar nominee) in this film.

If Hilary Swank will be part of the race this year, then Annette must be, too!

Many films without distributors at Toronto will find them over the next few weeks/months; a few will go straight to DVD and cable.

But it is unlikely that Mother and Child will be part of this year's Oscar campaign, and there is no guarantee it will be part of next year's if released then.

(To put this in context - only one film that played in the 2008 TIFF and released this year is a factor in this year's race - The Hurt Locker. There have been some in the past of course released the following year and significant, like Crash and Away from Her. But they both were acquired during the fest, made a big impact there, and were considered contenders pretty much from that time).

I don't remember Away from Her really turning heads at TIFF. It got good reviews but it wasn't until it opened the following year that people really started to take notice of it.

The Visitor is another example that didn't bowl critics over (although they did like the film but the praise was reserved) when it opened at TIFF and went on to a better critical and public reception when it opened wide the following year. In fact lots of people in oscar prediction circles such as this (except for me, hehehehe) hadn't even heard of the Visitor until it opened wide.

I have a sneaky suspicion that a Visitoresque scenario could happen for the Patricia Clarkson vehicle Cairo Time.

Julie Christie was proclaimed a likely best actress nominee from the moment the film played at Toronto. When LG acquired the film at TIFF, the reports said they were doing so in order to get her an best actress Oscar.

The Visitor is an example of the (rare) film that goes on to receive some award attention the following year. As I said, it does happen. But it doesn't change the fact that most films acquired there and released the following year don't.

Mother and Child could be an exception. Nothing I wrote suggested it couldn't be. More often than not, though, it doesn't.

For a far more satisfying bit of Oscar bait, see Rodrigo Garcia’s Mother and Child, which would top Up in the Air on the strength of Naomi Watts’s wondrously heartless performance alone.

TIFF gives ’em something to talk about, by Peter Hemminger in Film Features

http://www.ffwdweekly.com/arti...-to-talk-about-4513/

BEST ACTRESS: Naomi Watts

This message has been edited. Last edited by: steandric,

Reading all the great reviews for Annette Bening let's just hope this movie will be released in time for the 2009 Academy Awards. It could give Annette the Oscar she deserves so so much...

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Just an award,

If you want Bening to win, you probably should hope for a 2010 release. Rushing it into the marketplace almost never works.

Not sure what you mean by "on-time." I expect there will be Oscars awarded for 2010 films.

Hell, at this rate maybe there will be 20 best pic nominations and 10 for each acting category!

Reading the review for this movie in Variety, I have to ask -- who is the audience for this movie?

I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up on HBO or Showtime as a premiere and becomes Emmy eligible.

quote:

Originally posted by seanflynn:
If you want Bening to win, you probably should hope for a 2010 release. Rushing it into the marketplace almost never works.

Not sure what you mean by "on-time." I expect there will be Oscars awarded for 2010 films.

Sorry I meant "in time to be nominated for the 2009 Academy Awards".

Do you think she'll have more chances if the movie is released in 2010? If it's released too soon people could just forget it (it's not a big movie)? Wasn't Million Dollar Baby released at the very end of the year and the big winner of the Academy Awards 2 months later?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Just an award,

Million Dollar Baby was a great film with great reviews with Clint Eastwood attached and Warner Bros. behind it.

Mother and Child doesn't remotely have that pedigree.

Besides, by this point in 2004, its Xmas releases and Oscar marketing were already in the works.

Mother and Child doesn't even have a distributor yet, no guarantee that it can open in the kinds of theatres (Arclight, Grove, Lincoln Square, Union Square and similar) that a late entry platform absolutely needs to get attention. Actually, it is virtually impossible that it could.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: seanflynn,

quote:

Originally posted by seanflynn:
I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up on HBO or Showtime as a premiere and becomes Emmy eligible.

That's a good call. I hadn't thought of that.

seanflynn, the film is called Mother and Child, not Mother and Son. The latter is a Sokurov, i think