OVP: Saving Mr. Banks (2013)

Film: Saving Mr. Banks (2013)
Stars: Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Colin Farrell, Paul Giamatti, Jason Schwartzman, B.J. Novak, Bradley Whitford
Director: John Lee Hancock
Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Original Score)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

I sometimes feel like I should take Prozac right before Oscar season, considering the complete depression that is about to set in from all of the movies.  I mean, just look at last year’s Best Picture lineup: hurricanes, slavery, strokes, mental illness, terrorism, and constant death.  It’s rough out there for an OVP-writer.  I also have to admit that I occasionally have trouble in my writing finding the greatness in a small or pleasant film-the crowd-pleaser was such a jovial part of Oscar’s history in the 1940’s through the 1960’s-films like It’s a Wonderful Life, An American in Paris, Gigi, The Sound of Music, that it’s worth celebrating a bit when a fun film like Babe makes it into the Oscar race.  Of course, for every excellent Babe, there’s an awful Seabiscuit, so I will say that I was nervous headed into Saving Mr. Banks, this year’s feel-good Oscar contender.

And yet, I totally buy into it.  The cross-promotion with Disney crossed the line into obscene during Emma Thompson’s hotel scene, and we still had an hour’s worth of the happiest place on earth, but it works.  Disney is fun-I have no problem with it at the movies.

And this movie is fun-genuine, complete fun.  There’s nothing wrong with that, particularly when it’s filled with strong performances from everyone involved.  Emma Thompson, who has received the bulkload of the hosannas, is deliciously watchable-this is the Thompson we always see in interviews but rarely get the chance to enjoy on-screen.  She’s full of vigor, candor, wit, and as the film goes on, deep substance.  Thompson’s Mrs. Travers (never Pamela, and we eventually learn why), is someone who has been disappointed by life.  She had a deeply traumatic childhood, which unfolds in flashbacks throughout the film.  This device threatens to be cloying (telling multiple stories is always a risk, because the film rarely gets the balance right and one of the stories is generally more interesting than the other), but since we are well aware of the endings of both, the balance seems quite right.  Toward the end of the film, when the clearly depressed and traumatized Thompson has to deal with her demons, Mrs. Travers’ hard-earned tough exterior melts in a scene that again, should be cliché, but isn’t.

That might be the battle cry of this movie, which improves in your memory the further you get from it: “it should be cliché, but isn’t.”  Tom Hanks, playing a jovial, uncomplicated Walt Disney, should be grating and saccharine, but he comes from such a genuine place that I found myself rooting for him just as much as Thompson (after watching this film, one of the great mysteries of this year’s Oscar race remains how he never got any traction considering he is very much her equal in terms of quality).  The scene where he puts his hand on her shoulder while she is weeping, watching her on-screen father walk away during the Mary Poppins premiere-it’s practically perfect in every way.  Only Hanks has that sort of instant warmth and resonant tenor to pull off such a moment without risking hokum.

Honestly, though, the casting director of this film deserves a reward of some sort (is there a Casting Directors’ Guild Awards?  If so, someone nominate Ronna Kress for it).  B.J. Novak and Jason Schwartzman sink right into their fraternal composers effortlessly and Rachel Griffiths has exactly the right dose of magic to inspire a beloved children’s character without ever stretching believability.  And, though he doesn’t have the prestige that Thompson or Hanks inspire (despite the fact that he probably should considering his work in In Bruges), Colin Farrell as young Mrs. Travers' drunken, magical father is so strong.  It’s not quite fair to say that he’s been ignored (every review I’ve read adds in the same caveat that “no one is talking about Farrell, but he’s quite good”), but in terms of talking about him in the Oscar conversation, he is unfairly being skipped over in favor of Hanks, and they both should be in the discourse.

In terms of Oscar, I don’t know where this ranks (I try not to discuss too much with Oscar chances because it so horribly dates a review, but they’re less than two weeks away so I’m going there).  If the Weinsteins were behind a film like this we’d already be calling it a theoretical spoiler for the Best Picture race, but Disney isn’t a major player with AMPAS when it comes to their live-action fare (worth noting, the original Mary Poppins lost to My Fair Lady in the Best Picture race).  I do think that if they see it, Thompson will make it, and I wouldn’t be stunned if Hanks managed dual nominations, but we shall see.

And speaking of seeing-have you (with Mr. Banks, that is)?  What were your thoughts?  Were you surprised how much you enjoyed the film?  Share in the comments!