First Reviews of Naomi Watts' LUCE & THE WOLF HOUR from the Sundance FF

THE WOLF HOUR (8/10)

[read]

LUCE (B+)

[read]

More Photos at : [Overflow@PhotoBucket]

Preview: Naomi Watts in the psychological thriller "Shut In"

(translated from German)

Nerve-racking: 'Shut in' is a new psycho-thriller, which starts on 15 December in German cinemas. In the lead role, Naomi Watts ( "The Determination - Allegiant") shines.




On her side: young actors Jacob Tremblay ( "Raum", "Before I Wake") and "Stranger Things" star Charlie Heaton. Oliver Platt ( "X-Men: First Decision") completes the cast of this under-skin thriller in the style of "The Boy" and "The Visit". This is why the child psychologist Mary (Naomi Watts) in Neuengland takes care of her care-loving son (Charlie Heaton), who has been completely paralyzed since an autounfall.

When the widow decides to take the orphan boys Tom (Jacob Tremblay) with her, she draws new courage. But on the first night Tom disappears in a dangerous snowstorm and has been considered missing since then. Suddenly, scary things happen in Mary's house and she begins to doubt: Is Tom really dead - or has he returned?

Naomi Watts' performance in "While We're Young" got praises by TIFF review

Soon after, Naomi Watts is going to the gym with Darby and unwittingly taking part in a hip-hop dance class. It’s a rare moment where the actress breaks from her realist shell into a fully blown comedic performance, dancing with grace akin to those inflatable men outside of car dealerships. Outside of this scene, Watts allows the comedy to come naturally instead of playing things up for the camera. It’s a great but unexpected performance from the 2-time Oscar-nominated actress.


[While We’re Young Review]
Sept 17, 2014 by Zachary Shevich
[read full review]

"Sunlight Jr." starring Naomi Watts & Matt Dillon raved by the SF Chronicle Review (4 out of 5)

'Sunlight Jr.' review: Love in dismal surroundings

- by Walter Addiego, SFGate, Nov 14, 2013

"Sunlight Jr." is a compelling portrayal of the grinding life of America's working poor, brought into sharp focus by intense lead performances from Naomi Watts and Matt Dillon. The film is merciless in showing the obstacles faced by a down-and-out couple in strip-mall Florida, but there's a modicum of hope in the genuine love the characters share.

Melissa (Watts) and her wheelchair-using boyfriend, Richie (Dillon), live in a seedy motel, scraping by on her salary as a clerk at a convenience store - called Sunlight Jr. - and his disability checks. Melissa's is a depressing, dead-end job made worse by a nasty, sexist boss and unwanted visits from a sleazy and menacing ex-boyfriend (Norman Reedus) who used to supply her with pills. Small wonder she habitually shows up late, which of course is held against her....

[Review] The central performance is Naomi Watts best about Diana.

Movie Review: ‘Diana’

By Bill Wine, CBS Philly
Nov 7, 2013

Naomi Watts’ leading-lady résumé is lengthy and eclectic.

In a wide array of genres, this British-Australian actress has starred in Mulholland Drive, The Ring, Le Divorce, King Kong, The Painted Veil, We Don’t Live Here Anymore, Fair Game, 21 Grams, and The Impossible, among others; was Oscar-nominated for the latter two; and appeared in support in dozens more.

So her casting as lonely and alienated Princess Diana in the real-life royal soap opera Diana, described as the “most famous woman in the world” if not “Princess of Our Hearts,” seems like — and turns out to be – a good match.

Diana is a romantic biographical drama that covers the last two years of Princess Diana’s life, during which the recently divorced princess campaigned against land mines as part of her humanitarian efforts and engaged in a surreptitious and problematic romantic relationship with a Pakistan-born heart surgeon, Dr. Hasnat Khan, played by former “Lost” regular Naveen Andrews.

She hopes for a fresh start, but a combination of her nosebleed-high public profile, the relentlessly invasive paparazzi who follow her everywhere (although she tries to use that to her advantage at one juncture), and family disapproval render their long-range union impossible.....

[Review] Naomi Watts is extraordinary and shines in 'Diana'

Review: Naomi Watts is extraordinary in the flawed 'Diana'

Oliver Hirschbiegel's biopic of Diana, Princess of Wales, is an admirable effort that falls short, though its star, Naomi Watts, shines.

By Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times

Oct 31, 2013

While Diana, Princess of Wales, was living life as the World's Most Famous Woman, happiness was an elusive pursuit: a nagging struggle between a thirst for privacy and a need for affirming public recognition. That the new film "Diana," based on Kate Snell's book about Diana's two-year secret romance with heart surgeon Hasnat Khan, has met with contemptuous reception in Britain only shows that the late royal belongs more to the people she touched and inspired than any one film could hope to dramatize.

While "Diana" is hardly a fully effective film, it admirably tries to understand a lonely public figure made briefly, energetically whole through a nourished intimacy. In that context, German director Oliver Hirschbiegel — whose "Downfall" benefited from Bruno Ganz's last-days portraiture of Hitler — is fortunate that Naomi Watts is under that frosted blond helmet and working those searching, melancholy eyes.

When Hirschbiegel drops his consciously arty touches and focuses on Watts, the actress doesn't take long to establish Diana's tightening solitude — the public smile for adoring throngs and car-banging paparazzi that settles into a grim, blank stare as her driver speeds away. And in the bloom of flirtation and desire after meeting the kind-eyed, coolly arrogant but playful Khan, rendered sharply by Naveen Andrews, Watts becomes a sensitively awkward romantic comedy heroine (even if the direction in these scenes is simply awkward)......

[Review] (spoilers) Sunlight Jr. - "....the performances, especially of Watts, ...shines through out the film."

Saturday, Oct 12, 2013

Movie Review | Sunlight Jr.
- by Gautam Anand, cinemaconfessions -

Purpose of cinema is difficult to define. Most of them are made for entertainment and only some for enlightenment. Sunlight Jr. surely belongs to the latter category and it is made clear right from the outset that the film won't cater to pleasure seeking audiences. It's grim and dark, most of times sad with little, tiny chunks of humor sent in. Though to its credit the film does manage to affect and move you, which was the sole purpose of the film to start with. In that sense, Sunlight Jr. does manage to achieve what it set out to - to enlighten us with the plight of marginalized, and how most of us take the comfort of life for granted. At the same time, film hides no bars in clearly being critical of the state of US governance especially in the area of healthcare. This couldn't have been more apparent in the film, when one of the hospital scenes opens with the shot of American flag. It's really sad state of affairs when the most powerful and rich nation in the world can't devise a healthcare policy which is within the reach of poor.....

"(Naomi) Watts rises above the gauche script with an unshowy and nuanced performance..." THR's review of Diana

Read below the review of "Diana" by The Hollywood Reporter after a London Press screening of the film 2 days ago. Without a British baggage it is definitely more neutrally written.

The Hollywood Reporter's review of "Diana"

LONDON – Savage early reviews in the British press have already buried this glossy biopic about the anguished love life of Lady Diana Spencer, somewhat predictably, as the late royal princess remains a highly divisive figure in her class-riddled homeland. In fairness, Diana is a more enjoyable experience than the worst naysayers suggest, as might be expected from a film starring Naomi Watts under the command of Downfall director Oliver Hirschbiegel. Both have classy Oscar-nominated track records...........

Watts rises above the gauche script with an unshowy and nuanced performance, capturing Lady Di’s not-quite-royal accent and knowingly coy body language without resort to caricature. Alas, Andrews is not so deft............

Despite those brutal early reviews, Diana is not awful enough to be an enjoyably kitsch train wreck; it's too conventional and reverential to give the late princess the full dramatic deconstruction her iconic status demands. Halfway between a guilty pleasure and a missed opportunity, it makes the crucial mistake of treating curious viewers like deferential subjects, demanding far more sympathy than it deserves.

[Full Review]

Diana - film review (4 stars out of 5) - London Evening Standard

- by Robert Jobson, Royal Editor, London Evening Standard

06 September 2013

I went to this movie fully expecting to hate it. Naomi Watts, who plays the lead role, had been extremely defensive, almost apologetic, in all her pre-release publicity interviews. She even made a few bizarre comments about Diana, too, which didn’t help the build-up.

Oliver Hirschbiegel’s film focuses on Diana’s romance with Dr Hasnat Khan. It is a dramatic interpretation of that love story and should be taken as such.

I lived through the Diana years as a reporter. I met and knew the princess personally, chatted to her at media parties and on the road as I chronicled her dramatic life story as a royal correspondent. I was in Angola when she championed the case to ban landmines, in Australia, Sarajevo, New York when she sold her dresses for charity, and Italy – all scenes that the movie covers.......

A review of "Diana" from our friend Sophie

Our friend Spohie who has seen "Diana" at the premiere in London, is kind enough to send us a link to her review which you may read via the link below. Along with Sophie's great review is a few never-before-seen shots from the movie which Sophie is sharing with as below. Our great thanks to Sophie and the original photos source.

*Sophie's [review] of Diana.




**Feature Article:
[Being Diana] -By Hester Lacey/FT Magazine©/Photos by Brigitte Lacombe©

Selective comments on Naomi Watts' performance as Princess Diana from early UK reviews

Diana Early Reviews Are In: Critics Mixed on Naomi Watts' Performance as the People's Princess

• "Watts makes a decent fist of playing Diana—she wears the clothes well (especially the glamorous ones) and the hair looks first-rate. But though she replicates Diana's body language attentively (notably in the re-creation of her famous grilling by Martin Bashir, there's something missing: the Princess's wounded, doe-eyed gaze," ...The Telegraph

• "Watching her here feels almost like an optical illusion, because you simply don't believe that this actress can be giving this performance—it's stilted, overly mannered and bereft of anything human. In trying (understandably) to portray Diana accurately and reverentially, Watts has neglected to portray a person. Not that the blame for this falls squarely on Watts; it's [writer Stephen] Jeffreys' script that fails to give her a soul,"...Digital Spy

• "Watts' elaborate impression of Diana has the upward look, the doe-eyed gaze of seduction and reproach and she can do the estuary-posh voice. [But] there is nothing to show the grown-up wit and charm which entranced many," ...The Guardian

• On the other hand,the London Evening Standard gave the 44-year-old actress's turn a big thumbs up, calling Diana "a very watchable film—and certainly not the turkey some had dismissed it as even before its release."

"The Oscar-nominated Watts gives a brilliant, passionate and believable performance as the tragic Diana. ... the British/Australian actress captures the vulnerability and complexity of the late Princess, in her almost manic, desperate search for love," praised the paper. "If you do as the director asks, and check your baggage in before watching it – ignore the rows over authenticity and some inaccuracies—and see it for what it is, you will not be disappointed."

• "Although Diana veers stickily towards hagiography, it does still, to its credit, touch on some of Diana's trickier aspects—her manipulativeness, neediness, and complicated relationship with the press. What it doesn't do, however, is wrap them around a framework that is in any way compelling. Fundamentally, Diana is thin at its core," offered Screendaily.com, though the website did hail Watts for a "brave performance."

Cast & crew and Screen Daily's review of "Two Mothers"

"Watts and Wright are both superb playing women who didn’t ask to fall in love with each other’s son but who quickly try to rationalise the situation once it takes hold."

* [Screen Daily Review in Full]

[Cast & crew]

Production companies: Screen Australia, Screen NSW, Cine +, Canal +, Hopscotch Features, Ciné-@, Mon Voisin Productions, Gaumont, France 2 Cinema

International sales: Gaumont, www.gaumont.fr

Producers: Michel Feller, Barbara Gibbs, Andrew Mason, Philippe Carcassonne

Executive producers: Naomi Watts, Troy Lum, Sidonie Dumas

Screenplay: Christopher Hampton, based on the novel The Grandmothers by Doris Lessing

Cinematography: Christophe Beaucarne

Editors: Luc Barnier, Ceinwen Berry

Production designer: Annie Beauchamp

Music: Christopher Gordon

Main cast: Naomi Watts, Robin Wright, Xavier Samuel, James Frecheville, Sophie Lowe, Jessica Tovey, Gary Sweet, Ben Mendelsohn

[Review] "Perfect Mothers" with Naomi Watts: "cougar movie" of the year

[original in French]

By Vincent Malausa, Le Plus

"Perfect Mothers" tells the story of two childhood friends who are enamored of their respective sons. Naomi Watts and Robin Wright flare up the new film of Anne Fontaine. Despite its unlikely pitch, the film is a funny UFO, between disorder and novel of erotic station fable.

Anne Fontaine did not realize that the masterpieces (this is an understatement), but it could be that strange Australian exile which earned us this "Perfect Mothers" has enhanced its cinema obsessed with the chic and sensuality.

Often there was a side toc in the films of the filmmaker, sometimes for the worse ("Nathalie...", mediocre infringement of Wong Kar - wai) but also for the best (the nice Apple "The girl from Monaco").

With the nearly impossible pitch of "Perfect Mothers", Anne Fontaine pays the luxury of the incredible with a pretty huge courage: the creation of a completely delusional love quartet in which two sublime forties to amourachent each of the son of the other.....

[Review with Spoilers Alert] "Two Mothers" from Sundance FF

Two Mothers (*with spoilers)
A Review by Tim Grierson, Screen International

Dir: Anne Fontaine. Australia-France. 2012. 112mins

A thoughtful, sexy, mature and (most importantly) non-judgmental examination of potentially tawdry material, Two Mothers charts the emotional havoc unleashed when two very close female friends begin relationships with each other’s grown son. Buoyed by nuanced, muted performances from Naomi Watts and Robin Wright, the English-language debut from French director Anne Fontaine (Coco Before Chanel) is at heart about the unfathomable mysteries of human desire, in the process delivering a romantic drama in which sadness and joy are never far apart.

Watts and Wright are both superb playing women who didn’t ask to fall in love with each other’s son but who quickly try to rationalise the situation once it takes hold.

After its Sundance screening, Two Mothers will open in France through Gaumont, and internationally the star presence of Watts (and, to a lesser degree, Wright) will help spur sales. The salacious subject matter may also attract business, although Fontaine’s handling of the material veers toward the intellectual and heartfelt rather than to the trashy or sleazy. (...read on after jump)

[The Impossible] Naomi Watts & Maria Belon interview w/The HeyUGuys (video, feature & review)

The HeyUGuys Interview – Naomi Watts and Maria Belon Talk The Impossible

Dec 28, 2012 by David Sztypuljak

Yesterday we heard from the director Director Juan Antonio Bayona for his movie The Impossible and today we get to hear from real-life survivor Maria Belon as well as the woman who plays her so brilliantly in the movie, Naomi Watts.

Seeing the two ladies together in the same room was a real treat as you could tell that Naomi had a huge respect for Maria and what she and her family had been through back on Boxing Day 2004 when the huge tsunami hit the Indian Ocean tragically killing nearly 300 000 people. The Impossible does its best tell just one small part of what happened that day through the eyes Ewan McGregor (Henry) and Naomi Watts (Maria).

Usually in these junket interviews you know exactly what you’re getting before you arrive at the hotel but having Maria and Naomi paired was a last minute change but it such a wonderful pairing. As I said above, seeing the mutual respect that the two ladies had for one another was simply wonderful. Maria was obviously so honoured and proud to have had Naomi play her in the movie and this had been a project very close to both their hearts for such a long time. (...more after the jump)

A film critic's nice quote on Naomi in "J. Edgar"

 "The most affecting performance of the lot comes from Naomi Watts as Helen Gandy, Hoover's personal assistant during all his years at the FBI and keeper and destroyer of his personal files. Watts gives the most convincing performance and throughout the film offers a character with the most questions to be asked. Just who was this woman that dedicated her entire life to her career, was never married and stuck by Hoover until the end? The film doesn't care to answer these questions, but perhaps Watts' performance was never meant to outshine everyone else."

J. Edgar' Review (2011)
By: Brad Brevet, RopeOfSilicon

Naomi Watts as Elizabeth in "Mother and Child"

- by Alex in Movieland

There were at least three performances of Naomi Watts released in 2010, none of which gained too much love from the critics. However, I was completely captivated by her performance as a cold-hearted seductive lawyer in the fabulous indie film Mother and Child.

One might actually argue that this is a leading performance, due to the three-separate-stories structure that dominates the first part of the film. Mother and Child is a story about adoption and talks about three different women, each of them representing a different perspective on the subject: a woman obsessing on a decision made years ago, the child she gave up for adoption who’s now a successful lawyer and a woman desperately trying to adopt.

[Reviews] Watts elevates her ‘game’

Award-worthy performance helps boost film out of nebulous politics into an interesting take on modern-day marriage

By Dave Taggart, CavalierDaily on Nov 11, 2010

Whether she’s walking the halls of the CIA, dealing with a foreign contact in a tense situation or preparing breakfast for her family, Naomi Watts inhabits Fair Game with a cool, steely-eyed demeanor that rarely breaks, even when surrounded by her collection of well-off Washingtonian friends at dinner parties. Watts perfectly embodies Valerie Plame, the infamous ex-covert CIA agent who was said to be exposed by members of the Bush administration following her husband’s controversial op-ed contradicting the White House’s assertion about Iraq’s supposed purchase of nuclear materials from Niger. Indeed, Watts marches through each scene with a military-style determination that transcends the politics of the movie, creating an interesting study in character instead.

This is no easy task, and as Game spends its 108 minutes struggling to find its own identity, Watts’ performance becomes all the more appreciated. The story itself swings back and forth between being a pertinent yet tepid political thriller and a domestic drama tracking the dissolution and then recovery of a marriage. The ever-righteous — sometimes to a nauseating degree — Sean Penn plays Plame’s husband, Joe Wilson, and their scenes together in their Georgetown home are among the best the film has to offer.

[Reviews] Masterful performances by the leads, Naomi Watts and Sean Penn.

The dramatic courage of 'Fair Game'
- Chris Matthews, MSNBC

Let me finish tonight with a stirring movie I saw last night, "Fair Game."I had heard of the first-rate script, the masterful performances by the leads, Naomi Watts and Sean Penn.

What I was not prepared was "Fair Game" itself, the wondrous, dramatic courage of it all.

The movie opens with this preternaturally gutsy CIA agent out in the world of terror, trying to stop the spread of nuclear weapons from getting into dangerous hands. I was simply overwhelmed by the sheer "guts" of Naomi Watts' character. Anyone would be, especially an American, especially someone who has children like we do, young adults, and thinking how inspiring this must be to them, to have this "pull" to go out there and risk all for our country like this young woman did.

[Review] film review: FAIR GAME by Leonard Maltin

film review: FAIR GAME

My conversion is now complete: I am a card-carrying Naomi Watts fan. I don’t know why I wasn’t her biggest booster before; I’ve liked her work in films as diverse as King Kong and The Painted Veil, but after seeing her this year in Rodrigo Garcia’s Mother and Child, Woody Allen’s You Will Meet a Tall, Dark Stranger and now Fair Game, I am hooked. She is the real deal, and she gives yet another terrific performance as CIA agent Valerie Plame. The fact that she’s working opposite the extraordinary Sean Penn, as Joe Wilson, only ups the ante.

What I like best about this film is that it doesn’t treat its torn-from-the-headlines pedigree as a shield or a battering ram to win us over. It takes a more matter-of-fact approach, as indicated by an early dinner-party scene in which a group of friends—