2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25
One of the most spectacular Oscar-winning films of 2014 can rightly be called Gravity. Alfonso Cuaron did not just shoot science fiction, he created a drama, a space epic about loneliness. So who is he, the new Oscar winner?
Director's biography
Cuaron was born in 1961. At the National University of Mexico City, he studied cinematography and philosophy. After completing his studies, he began working in television. He had to start as a technician. Then he became a director all on the same Mexican television.
TV career helped Alfonso get on several film projects as an assistant director. And in 1991, he himself releases his own tape on the screen.
Debut
The debut project was called "Solo con tu pareja". If translated literally, it will turn out "Only with my partner." Although this film was included in the filmography of the director under the name "Love in the Time of Hysteria." Under this title, the picture was released in the English version.
Alfonso Cuarón co-authored with his brother Carloswrote a script for a comedy about a businessman who loves changing mistresses. But the fun ends when he is diagnosed with AIDS. However, later it turns out that it is false. The film was made, Cuarón produced it himself. The picture did not go unnoticed. The audience enthusiastically received it. And for an amazing virtuoso balancing on the verge of drama and farce, the brothers were awarded the silver "Ariel", an award from the Mexican Academy of Cinematography.
Success was seen in the US as well. Sydney Pollack invited Alfonso to the set of the TV series Fallen Angels. He directed one of the series. The episode was called "Indirect Killer". The director coped with the task brilliantly, which was noted in 1993 by the Cable Ace Award.
Fairy tale for children
"Little Princess" came about almost by accident, taking the place of "Love Addict". Cuarón was supposed to shoot it for Warner Bros. Alfonso, whose filmography will later be replenished with another fabulous story, found the script for "Princess" and insisted on the need for its film adaptation.
The plot of the picture is the story of little Sarah. Cherished by a loving father, the girl is forced to leave fabulous India and move to a boarding school, as her dad is called to the front. Brought up in an atmosphere of adoration, the cheerful and kind "princess" is perceived within the walls of the orphanage as an exotic flower, unsuitable for harsh conditions. But it is precisely those qualities that others perceive as weakness that give Sarah strength and courage.help your new friends.
And although the film was rather coolly received by the audience, film academics reacted favorably to it. Alfonso's tale was nominated for two Oscar nominations.
Great Expectations
The next project, directed by Alfonso Cuarón, is a cinematic adaptation of the Dickens classic.
Cuaron transferred his heroes to our time, and to embody them on the screen he invited Ethan Hawke, Robert de Niro, Gwyneth P altrow.
Ethan Hawke plays Finn, an artist who is invited to New York by a mysterious patron. In The Big Apple, Finn once again faces his childhood love. Estella is just as beautiful, just as desirable, and the passion for her will lead the artist to the top, where even the wildest dreams come true. But the same love will make Finn's deepest fears raise his head.
The rolling fate of the film was unsuccessful. Both critics and viewers did not appreciate the tape. Although Alfonso Cuaron made a beautiful story with beautiful actors.
Return to Mexico
The next film the director began to shoot at home. To work on the painting "And your mother too" Cuarón invited his brother. Carlos agreed to be a co-author, and in 2001 the tape was released.
The manner in which Alfonso filmed "And Your Mother Too" can be called mockumentary.
The plot of the picture almost defies intelligible retelling. This is a teen road story. Two friends, who decided to have a blast, accidentally meetLouise. Together they decide to go in search of the mythical Heavenly Mouth Beach. It is believed that in that blessed place all dreams come true.
Along the way, the characters "cling" to themselves all sorts of adventures, have frank conversations about sex, smoke weed. Basically, they just live. Enjoy youth, drive, sex. It's just that you have to go back. And as a result - the end of friendship. Unsupported by anything other than an invented piece of paper with rules, it does not withstand the growing up of the main characters.
The picture contains very naturalistic scenes, as well as signature long takes, so loved by Cuarón.
But, despite some similarities, “And your mother too” is not the Mexican equivalent of “American Pie” at all. Not at all, this film is much more dramatic than the usual teen comedy road movie.
The picture was successfully released worldwide and was shown in almost thirty countries. And young actors Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal got a chance to try their hand at Hollywood.
Storyteller Alfonso Cuarón
Movies shot by the Mexican director, shortly after the tape "And your mother too" replenished with another fairy tale. Alfonso was entrusted with the creation of the third part of the saga of the famous Harry Potter. Prisoner of Azkaban was filmed for almost a year. Cuarón spent all this time in England.
His view of the magical world turned out to be darker and more aggressive. It clearly slipped notes of Dickens' novels. Some fans did not accept this version of the wizard boy story.
But the creator of Harry Potter JK Rowling was delighted with the creation of the Mexican. She called "The Prisoner of Azkaban" the best film adaptation of the novel, accurately conveying the essence of the book.
Child of Man
After Harry Potter, Alfonso Cuarón took on the film adaptation of Dorothy James' book "Children of Men". This time he had to work with world stars: Michael Caine, Julianne Moore, Clive Owen.
The plot of the novel develops in an atmosphere of global destruction. The usual civilized world has disappeared. Terror and anarchy are everywhere. Humanity is dying. And not only because of mass self-destruction, but also because it has lost the function of reproduction. And the appearance in such a world of a pregnant black woman is truly a miracle. And this miracle is trying to save Theo, a former left-wing radical who performs humanitarian missions for the ministry to the best of his ability. Theo is played by Clive Owen.
The film itself has been dubbed by some critics as "The gospel of the era of anti-globalism". Indeed, there are plenty of Christian motives in it. And a hint of an immaculate conception, and persecution of a mother and her child. Even the ship on which the last human child is serving is symbolic. He is like Noah's ark, leaving a sinking world in search of a bright Tomorrow.
"Child of Man" received an award in Venice and three nominations from American film academics.
The long awaited Oscar
Yes, even though Cuarón's films were nominated for the prestigious Academy Award, the Oscar stubbornly left the director's hands.
The more pleasant was the victory in 2014. The long-awaited figurine was awarded to Alfonso Cuarón's film Gravity.
Science Fiction again, this time science fiction. Again in the lead roles are the actors of the "highest standard" - Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. They play out a three-dimensional cosmic drama on the screen. Two astronauts, left without communication, with oxygen threatening to run out, are forced to fight for their lives.
The picture is amazing visual effects, amazing camera work. In terms of impact on the viewer, the film can be compared with Stanley Kubrick's A Space Odyssey.
In an interview, Cuarón notes that his painting is primarily about accepting loneliness. About the fact that you need to come to terms with it, get used to it, and then start the path to the loneliness of others. And on the example of two space prisoners, the director gets the opportunity to illustrate this idea more vividly.
The audience liked the tape. At the end of 2013, it was named one of the best films. Yes, and critics favorably responded to the picture, emphasizing the undeniable advantages that Gravity fully possesses.
Director Alfonso Cuarón has already announced new plans. The project is called "Believe". The Mexican will work on it with J. J. Abrams. Spectators are waiting for a science fiction series about a girl endowed with incredible abilities. Not without a charismatic villain. He will be played by Kyle MacLachlan. Judging by the pilot episode, the series promises to be no less intriguing than Cuarón's previous films.
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