Rookie director Oren Moverman’s The Messenger faces the same obstacle in the fall awards season as the Michelle Monaghan star vehicle Trucker. It’s one of many marginal outsider films that has to get seen before it has a chance. The movie is a stark portrait of two soldiers (Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster) who have to deliver news to families that their loved ones have died in Iraq. Not only do they have to handle their assignment delicately, but they must also absorb the shock, pain and grief of the bereaved.
Harrelson is having a very good year; he’s also terrific in a very different comedic role in Zombieland. Foster, who impressed in Six Feet Under and 3:10 to Yuma, shows chops I had never seen before. Steve Buscemi and Samantha Morton also offer standout performances.
Micro-indie Oscilloscope, which plucked the movie off the fest circuit after Sundance, opens the movie limited on November 13. Last year, awards buzz for Michelle Williams in O-scope’s Wendy and Lucy helped to propel the movie further than it might otherwise have gone. But Williams wound up with an Indie Spirit nomination. That may be the award ceremony that Monaghan, Foster and Harrelson also wind up attending.
The trailer for The Messenger is on the jump.
by Anne Thompson, posted to Awards, Indie Spirits, Oscars, Independents, Video, Trailers on October 17, 2009 at 1:10pm PDT | Permalink | Comments (1)
Updated 11/18/2009
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Opened Sarasota film fest with 400 military and 1200 civilians in attendance. Very Powerful. A Must See!