12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen)

Sad Professor

Steve McQueen's latest, staring Chiwetel Ejiofor (who most people will remember from Serenity) and an amazing supporting cast, including Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender, Paul Giamatti, Paul Dano and Benedict Cumberbatch, among others.

Impressive trailer, though the music is a bit heavy-handed. Zimmer is doing the soundtrack. Shame's score was, um, heavily inspired by "Journey to Line" so I'm guessing McQueen is a fan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiw1cYXQw4g

It's out here in late January.

krudler

Hell of a cast alright, hope it doesn't descend into "white people are bad m'kay" which it easily could. Good to see Chiwetel Ejiofor get a big role, he's great in everything

stealinhorses

Serious version of Django? :P

duckworth

Good God, I hope the trailer is misleading and its not the one-note Spielbergesque schmaltz-fest it looks like.

The last two films by Steve McQueen were the some of the most exciting work in years and I have high hopes for this. Trailer looks awful though.

stealinhorses

Yeah, I'm a huge fan of his sense of aesthetics when it comes to camera work, lighting, etc., and love the grittiness and raw emotions he brings into each frame.
This however looks like a typical Hollywood flick, maybe a solid 8/10 with good performances from the lead cast and a compelling story, but definitely not expecting 10/10 material (IMO) like Shame or Hunger.

Looper007

stealinhorses wrote: »

Yeah, I'm a huge fan of his sense of aesthetics when it comes to camera work, lighting, etc., and love the grittiness and raw emotions he brings into each frame.
This however looks like a typical Hollywood flick, maybe a solid 8/10 with good performances from the lead cast and a compelling story, but definitely not expecting 10/10 material (IMO) like Shame or Hunger.

It's the studio who cut's the trailer not Mcqueen. They have to sell this film and don't want it to come across like it's non stop bleak fest. No way will this film be a Hollywood version of Slavery, this will be tough and in your face and Fassbender looks like he be playing a right bastard.

Kess73

If it is even half as good to watch as the book by the same name is to read (or half as good as Stolen Into Slavery for that matter), then it will be well worth a few hours of anyone's time.

fish fingers

Fassbender has a fine Irish beard. Looks good.

johnny_ultimate

It is a pretty ridiculously Hollywood-y trailer, but wouldn't dream of calling it one way or t'other given the director and subject matter. I was left a tad underwhelmed by Shame, certainly in comparison to Hunger, but always curious to see what a director as distinctive as McQueen will do next.

Dermighty

stealinhorses wrote: »

10/10 material (IMO) like Shame

Joke of the year right there.

stealinhorses

Thanks, glad to make people happy!

Technocentral

Sad Professor wrote: »

Steve McQueen's latest, staring Chiwetel Ejiofor (who most people will remember from Serenity) and an amazing supporting cast, including Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender, Paul Giamatti, Paul Dano and Benedict Cumberbatch, among others.

Impressive trailer, though the music is a bit heavy-handed. Zimmer is doing the soundtrack. Shame's score was, um, heavily inspired by "Journey to Line" so I'm guessing McQueen is a fan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiw1cYXQw4g

It's out here in late January.

Could be good, but why did they get the same editor who cuts crud like the "Fast and Inane" series to cut the trailer?

Looper007

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

It is a pretty ridiculously Hollywood-y trailer, but wouldn't dream of calling it one way or t'other given the director and subject matter. I was left a tad underwhelmed by Shame, certainly in comparison to Hunger, but always curious to see what a director as distinctive as McQueen will do next.

Shame's a good film held together by an amazing performance from Fassbender. I think 12 year a Slave with such a great cast and the way Mcqueen goes about his work and the material he has to film shouldn't disappoint.

JP Liz V1

krudler wrote: »

Hell of a cast alright, hope it doesn't descend into "white people are bad m'kay" which it easily could. Good to see Chiwetel Ejiofor get a big role, he's great in everything

Oscar nomination for him perhaps

Corholio

This is getting rave reviews at the Toronto Film Festival. Some calling it the best film based on slavery ever.

http://www.movies.com/movie-news/12-years-a-slave-review/13460

ButtersSuki

I see Brad Pitt is going for the same accent here as he used in Inglorios Basterds....well that won't be grating:rolleyes:

I loved Hunger but was very underwhelmed by Shame. I'll definitely go ans see this , despite the trailer.

rossc007

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2024544/

Released here in the US without much of a fanfare, one of the films of the year in my opinion. Really visceral experience, theater was dead silent when the credits rolled, which is a rare experience here.

Some really powerful performances, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Fassbender in particular, which is fortunate for the later after the stinking mess that was The Counselor.

Shane-KornSpace

Steve McQueen returned with his new movie, documenting (part of) the life of a black free-man, Solomon Northup.
Northup is kidnapped and sold in to slavery during a visit to Washington.
The movie stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon Northup.
Also starring is Michael Fassbender.
There are also a few familiar faces, who make a brief appearance.

Last night I took it upon myself to watch this movie.

But I was rather disappointed by the lack of depth given to any of the characters. I didn't get to like any of the slaves, because I didn't get to know any of them.
I felt like McQueen just wanted to shock us with the frequent scenes of torture and rape.
We're given (very often, I may add) long shots of nature, with very drawn out , slow dialogue. Then a scene of torture or rape.
This happens throughout the movie on a number of occasions.

I'd like to see what other people think about this movie!

FloatingVoter

9/10 - the only thing stopping Michael Fassbender from collecting Best Supporting Oscar is the sadistic nature of the character. Dark and essential viewing.

Da Shins Kelly

Holy hell. Just finished watching this. Thoughts and emotions all over the place. A stunning piece of work. Will give a more detailed review later. Have to take a bit of time to digest it.

Okay, so I thought it was a great film. Based on the memoir by Solomon Northup, who was born a free man in New York and was seemingly well respected in the community, he is kidnapped in Washington and sold into slavery. The story follows that period of his life.

The depiction of Northup's life is uncomfortable viewing, but essential, in my opinion. The film is stimulating on an emotional level as well as an intellectual one, and I can't actually remember the last time I was so taken aback by a film. It closely follows the narrative of the book from the moment of Northup's kidnapping, throughout his years of enslavement, and we bear witness to the true hardship and horror of slavery in the American South at the time. The film is unflinching in its depictions of violence (which I did not think were included simply to shock, we are talking about the real life memoir of someone who was actually enslaved here), totally unrelenting from the moment Solomon realizes he has been kidnapped. The film gives a real glimpse into what is probably the darkest period of American history in a way that is brutal, but also treats the topic with real reverence and humanity. The script plays a huge part in this, I think. It's just a beautifully written piece of work. Some really wonderful pieces of dialogue in there that really capture all the complex relationships between the various characters as well as capturing the injustice of it all. Visually, the film is stunning. Some beautiful landscape shots, close-ups and some of the drawn-out, difficult to watch shots too, which can be expected from McQueen. The score by Hans Zimmer is dark and beautifully compliments the film.

Stunning performances all-round really help the film too. Many of the actors don't get a huge amount of screen time, but they all utilize it well. Sarah Paulson is wretched as Mrs. Epps, Benedict Cumberbatch embodies the conflict of Ford excellently and Paul Dano is repulsive as Tibeats. However, the truly great performances come from Michael Fassbender, Lupita Nyong'o and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Fassbender really pulls it out of the bag as the truly terrifying and sadistic Edwin Epps, a plantation owner, totally rotten to the core. Lupita Nyong'o is heartbreaking and frail as Patsey, and it's a fantastic breakout performance for her. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see both of them winning come Oscar time. However, it is Ejiofor's performance that really drives the film. Solomon Northup is an extraordinary individual, and Ejiofor's performance captures wonderfully the conflicts within the character between the pain of the injustice of the situation that he has been landed in, and his strength in facing it. He's in every scene, even if just standing in the background, and is completely captivating at all times. He never over-does it at any moment. There's a real dignity and sympathy to how he plays the character. It's an incredible performance.

Overall, I thought it was an amazing film. It's not an easy watch, many scenes are incredibly brutal, I'll grant that, but I don't think that a film dealing with an issue like slavery should be easy to watch. The film examines not only the cruelty of humans being enslaved by others, but also the seeming lack of solidarity between slaves, as well as the grey areas in slave-master relationships. It's quite complex in many ways really. It's just the kind of film that needed to be made about slavery in the US, and it's mad to think that it took a British director with mainly non-American actors to do it. Perhaps it takes an outsider to cast such a gaze on the issue.

Vinz Mesrine

Absolutely amazing, I can't remember the last time a movie gripped me like that. The 2+ hours flew.

Looper007

Powerful stuff this and Mcqueen's best film to date and that's saying something with films like Hunger and Shame on his C.V.

First off Chiwetel Ejiofor is utterly amazing as Solomon Northup, he should have the Best Actor Oscar in the bag. Also Michael Fassbender is pretty damn scary and gives another top notch performance and shows why many consider him the best actor around (Shame is still his best performance though). Lupita Nyong'o is simply unforgettable too especially

The whipping scene in the end which will leave you in tears

as it's her first on screen performance it's an amazing debut. Paul Giamatti, Sarah Paulson, Paul Dano and Benedict Cumberbatch give excellent performance's in smaller roles.

It's one of the best film's of the past few years and it's worth all the praise it's got. 10/10 for me.

Vinz Mesrine

What role did Ruth Negga play? I've just seen her name in the credits but I don't recall seeing her in the movie at all.

Shiraz 4.99

I caught this last night, not typical McQueen as it didn't contain his signature flourishes, the pregnant pauses, the long takes of dialogue, focused scenes of silence.
I'd seen the hype "essential cinema", "greatest slavery movie ever made", 5 Stars across the board, my bar was already set high going into this.
Did it reach this bar ?, yes, unquestionably, did it exceed the bar ? no, not for me I'm afraid.
Much was made of the graphic nature of the torture, mainly lashing, I found it to be quite bearable, if you survived Apocalypto or Passion of the Christ well this is PG13 in comparison.
Where this shone was in the interaction between the slaves, what they had to do to endure & survive, what they had to ignore just to save their own skin.
Dano, Ejiofor & Fassbender were the standouts for me with Nyong'o (Patsey) being the obvious female candidate.

I can see this picking up awards for fun come Oscar season but I believe it more for the subject material than as a piece of art.
Americans love to accolade this type of film as a means of collective contrition for mistakes of the past.
I preferred last years Lincoln as piece of historical drama.

Overall, 7/10

brevity

I'd love to watch this but I don't know if I'll have the stomach for it.

If I got through Martyrs, I could get through this. Right?

Shiraz 4.99

brevity wrote: »

I'd love to watch this but I don't know if I'll have the stomach for it.

If I got through Martyrs, I could get through this. Right?

Easily, I think the furore about these toture scenes are over-hyped, it's basically a few hangings & some lashing scenes, nothing you haven't seen before.

Tobyglen

Quality film. Excellent and shoe in for best picture this year unless Scorsese produces a masterpiece.

kryogen

So its worth a watch then?

Was going to watch it last night but went with Lone Survivor instead (wasnt in the mood for anything heavy)

Lamper.sffc

An average movie with some brilliantly shot scenes is the best way I can describe it.

hefferboi

Just finished watching 12 Years a Slave. Hard to put into words tbh. I've watched a lot of great movies recently and I thought Rush was the movie of the year before I watched this. It blows everything out of the water imo. Everything was perfect. The score, the screenplay, the story but most of all the performances from the whole cast, especially the lead actor, Fassbender and the lead female. It was tough viewing in parts but it had to be. I thought I was going to have to turn it off before the end or I'd start bawling. I've been close to crying before, like most people, but this was genuinely the first time I actually shed a tear.

Everybody needs to watch this.

10/10

Corholio

Thoroughly enjoyed watching this. It really is a superb piece of filmmaking.

Regarding the 'torture' scenes, there isn't anything most wouldn't have seen before visually, but the context of the actual scenes makes them a tougher watch. I'm really glad there wasn't anything completely over the top torture wise as that would have taken away from the film.

Ejiofor was phenomenal as Northup and carried the film on his back superbly, I would gladly trumpet him for the Oscar this year. The different stages of realisation that Northup goes through is portrayed incredibly by Ejiofor, the long lingering shots that McQueen holds on Ejiofor at different times are beautifully shot and drag you into the film completely.

Bullseye1

Great movie and storytelling. Love this guys movies.

jebus84

FloatingVoter wrote: »

9/10 - the only thing stopping Michael Fassbender from collecting Best Supporting Oscar is the sadistic nature of the character. Dark and essential viewing.

the academy love giving actors who play the "bad guys" Oscars in the supporting category

Heath ledger-The Joker
Christoph Waltz -Col. Hans Landa
Javier Bardem-Anton Chigurh .... in the last number of years alone

Da Shins Kelly

jebus84 wrote: »

the academy love giving actors who play the "bad guys" Oscars in the supporting category

Heath ledger-The Joker
Christoph Waltz -Col. Hans Landa
Javier Bardem-Anton Chigurh .... in the last number of years alone

It is a particularly sadistic character though, and a lot closer to home than a character like The Joker. I think he's a shoo-in for the award though.

jebus84

Da Shins Kelly wrote: »

It is a particularly sadistic character though, and a lot closer to home than a character like The Joker. I think he's a shoo-in for the award though.

it reminded me alot of Ralph fiennes role in Schindlers list

I have commented on this on another thread on my oscar predictions

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=87287358&postcount=10


but i think he will definitely get nominated but it seems that leto is the one to beat at present,but I think fassbender gave one the best performances of the last ten years in shame and it was ignored

Was impressed with Lupita Nyong'o also,its a great film and an important one at that

hefferboi

jebus84 wrote: »

the academy love giving actors who play the "bad guys" Oscars in the supporting category

Heath ledger-The Joker
Christoph Waltz -Col. Hans Landa
Javier Bardem-Anton Chigurh .... in the last number of years alone

Ledger made the joker slightly likeable though, imo.

Looper007

FloatingVoter wrote: »

9/10 - the only thing stopping Michael Fassbender from collecting Best Supporting Oscar is the sadistic nature of the character. Dark and essential viewing.

What's stopping Fassbender from getting that Oscar is he's not bothering kissing backside and promoting himself to the Oscar voters (I think he was probably left a bit soured after not getting a best actor nomination for Shame). Jared Leto has gone around and has won pretty much every best supporting actor award there is for Dallas Buyers Club (I thought he was quite good in that film but it's Matthew Mcconaughey who's best thing about Dallas Buyer's Club) but for me Fassbender gave the better performance.

FloatingVoter

jebus84 wrote: »

the academy love giving actors who play the "bad guys" Oscars in the supporting category

Heath ledger-The Joker
Christoph Waltz -Col. Hans Landa
Javier Bardem-Anton Chigurh .... in the last number of years alone

The Joker was a cartoon character.
Hans Landa was a pantomime Nazi nicked from old 1940s "ve haf vays of making you talk".
Both great performances though and well deserving of their wins.
Nobody should have been nominated for anything to do with the last borefest you mentioned (No Country For Old Men). Don't start a war on this - this is about 12 Years a Slave.

Fassbender's character is scarily real. Maybe too real for the Academy.

TrustedApple

Seen this last night with the mother as i am watching all the Oscar films at the moment

Both of us hated the film. Like to me there was notting good about it. It was to long and boring and really i did not care about Solomon like to me the film had about 30 mins of people getting whipped and being honest when it came to the 3rd time of seeing it i was board.

I think Django done the Slave stuff better witch is a big thing to be saying

Jarad leto to be so far is sure for best supporting actor as Dallas buyers club was a lot better film then this as i cared about the story and characters a lot more as they had so much more depth then the characters in 12 years.

To me a 1/5 film 12 years started of 2014 with a extremely bad and boring film

Da Shins Kelly

FloatingVoter wrote: »

The Joker was a cartoon character.
Hans Landa was a pantomime Nazi nicked from old 1940s "ve haf vays of making you talk".
Both great performances though and well deserving of their wins.
Nobody should have been nominated for anything to do with the last borefest you mentioned (No Country For Old Men). Don't start a war on this - this is about 12 Years a Slave.

Fassbender's character is scarily real. Maybe too real for the Academy.

That's the thing. A lot of this stuff will be very close to home for some Americans. It's a huge part of the history over there. The cartoonish nature of something like Django Unchained makes it a bit easier to swallow, I think, because it doesn't seem so real. With this, it's based on a memoir by someone who actually lived it and it's brutal stuff. These people are real people, ancestors of current generation Americans. The only reason I can see it getting snubbed is if it's a bit close to home for some people. I also wouldn't be even a little bit surprised if some people are irked by the fact that a foreigner has come with with a largely foreign cast and made a movie like this about their history.

Vinz Mesrine

samapple789 wrote: »

Seen this last night with the mother as i am watching all the Oscar films at the moment

Both of us hated the film. Like to me there was notting good about it. It was to long and boring and really i did not care about Solomon like to me the film had about 30 mins of people getting whipped and being honest when it came to the 3rd time of seeing it i was board.

I think Django done the Slave stuff better witch is a big thing to be saying

Jarad leto to be so far is sure for best supporting actor as Dallas buyers club was a lot better film then this as i cared about the story and characters a lot more as they had so much more depth then the characters in 12 years.

To me a 1/5 film 12 years started of 2014 with a extremely bad and boring film

You're wrong, very very wrong.

TrustedApple

Vinz Mesrine wrote: »

You're wrong, very very wrong.

Well i dont think so as its my view about the film i think its shocking bad. Its up there with gravity as crap in my eyes.

hefferboi

samapple789 wrote: »

Well i dont think so as its my view about the film i think its shocking bad. Its up there with gravity as crap in my eyes.

Hard to respect that opinion to be honest.

Vinz Mesrine

samapple789 wrote: »

Well i dont think so as its my view about the film i think its shocking bad. Its up there with gravity as crap in my eyes.

So you don't like this, Black Swan or Gravity but really like Piranha 3dd, Scott Pilgrim and Charlie st Cloud?

Ok then.

TrustedApple

Vinz Mesrine wrote: »

So you don't like this or Gravity but really like Piranha 3dd and Charlie st Cloud?

Ok then.

You have to understand that people have different tastes in film i think 12 years is crap can you not deal with it ?.

Considering you are reading my old posts i think its quite sad when on boards you post to attack the post not the poster

I am watching blue jasmine at the moment and i am loving it just better then 12 years in my view.

Looper007

samapple789 wrote: »

Well i dont think so as its my view about the film i think its shocking bad. Its up there with gravity as crap in my eyes.

either you're trolling mate cause even some people who don't like it still give it a 6/10 or admire it's intentions.

Vinz Mesrine

samapple789 wrote: »

You have to understand that people have different tastes in film i think 12 years is crap can you not deal with it ?.


I am watching blue jasmine at the moment and i am loving it just better then 12 years in my view.

Its not "crap", far from it.

It's ok though, people like your good self who enjoy the "...... Movie" movies probably shouldn't have their opinions on movies taken seriously anyway.

callaway92

Fassbender has to win Best Supporting Actor. He was brilliant in this.

TrustedApple

callaway92 wrote: »

Fassbender has to win Best Supporting Actor. He was brilliant in this.

He was the only thing good about this film thats the only good thing i will say about it

Looper007

callaway92 wrote: »

Fassbender has to win Best Supporting Actor. He was brilliant in this.

I agree he should be sweeping the awards but it's seem Jared Leto is the one doing it for some reason, he's actually very good in Dalles Buyer Club but not on the same level as Fassbender for me.

Da Shins Kelly

Looper007 wrote: »

I agree he should be sweeping the awards but it's seem Jared Leto is the one doing it for some reason, he's actually very good in Dalles Buyer Club but not on the same level as Fassbender for me.

He must be doing all the schmoozing necessary, which apparently Fassbender is refusing to do. It's kind of farcical that that is what it takes most of the time. Remember last year when Joaquin Phoenix called the whole Oscars process a bunch of bullsh*t or something and then nearly got left off the shortlist completely? It kind of undermines what they're trying to do when they care more about people licking their arses than they do about the actual work involved.