Movies: Glenn Close in 'Albert Nobbs'

Glenn Close winning her first Oscar nomination since "Dangerous Liaisons" for "ALBERT NOBBS"

BY NATHANIEL ROGERS

Albert Nobbs is story of a woman living as a man in Ireland in the early 20th century. Albert (Oscar nominated Glenn Close) serves as a waiter at a little upscale hotel. His world is so small that he barely leaves the hotel and hardly ever utters full sentences to anyone but himself. Those private conversations generally involve the counting of shillings. Nobbs' inner life isn't quite as small. The waiter dreams of saving up enough to buy a small tobacco shop and run his own little business. When he meets a painter by the name of Mr. Hubert Page (Oscar nominated Janet McTeer) whose situation is not dissimilar but whose emotional life is obviously richer, his eyes are suddenly opened to new possibilities, including romance... or at least cohabitation.  But dreams aren't easy when a flea in your undergarments can give you away, when your career could be finished with one misstep around a wealthy patron, when a stroke of bad luck could put your employer out of business, or when the woman you set your sights on for companionship (Mia Wasikowska) might not have the purest of motives in returning your affection.  

You know what's just as a hard as opening a tobacco shop when you're a woman living as a man in early 20th century Ireland? Getting your dream movie made when you're an actress of a certain age in the early 21st century. 

Glenn Close first played the role of Albert Nobbs on stage in 1982, which was coincidentally her first year in the movies (The World According to Garp). It seems like she's been trying to bring this role to the screen ever since. It only took her thirty years to do it so she's a bit quicker than Albert.

MORE AFTER THE JUMP...

Movies: Identity Crises with Antonio Banderas, Glenn Close and Marilyn Monroe

Pedro Almodóvar And His Latest Plaything from "The Skin I Live In"

NATHANIEL ROGERS
...would live in the movie theater but for the poor internet reception. He blogs daily at the Film Experience. Follow him on Twitter @nathanielr.

 
NOW PLAYING
This weekend at the multiplex it's the battle of the 80s remakes with sci-fi horror film THE THING (previously in theaters in 1982) vs. "everybody cut everybody cut" dance drama FOOTLOOSE (previously in theaters in 1984). The latter proudly and absurdly waves a "this is our time" tagline despite being a remake of another generation's touchstone.

But no matter. The only one that truly matters is Pedro Almodóvar's new gem THE SKIN I LIVE IN. While it's not quite on the level of his five masterworks (Law of Desire, Women on the Verge..., All About My Mother, Talk To Her, and Volver if you ask me) very few films are. Second tier Almodóvar is still better than most movies made in any given year. For his latest he's reunited with his only male muse Antonio Banderas for their sixth film together and their first since Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1990) in which sexy Antonio held a beautiful woman prisoner until she loved him. Twenty-one years later and Antonio is up to his old Stockholm Syndrome tactics again. This time he's a brilliant cold plastic surgeon and the woman he's holding captive (Elena Anaya) seems to be a semi-willing guineau pig in a series of illegal surgeries which will give her flawless new skin. But why does he keep her locked up? What exactly happened to the surgeon's wife and daughter who are nowhere to be seen? How long has this been going on? 

Like most Almodóvar films this one is novelistic with intriguing details that could make their own movies, has themes of identity and sexuality that are of interest to LGBT audiences, features smartly executed twists which bring the story into perverse focus, and wows with stunning imagery including simple but freakishly haunting costumes from Paco Delgado (with an assist from Jean Paul Gaultier). I hate to quote Peter Travers from Rolling Stone since his whole raison d'etre as a film critic is to be quoted but they used to promote Pedro's movies with this blurb:

"Pedro Almodóvar doesn't just make movies. Almodóvar is the movies."

A more succinct and correct appraisal I've rarely read.

BONUS SCENES

Did you know they had personal trailers in the 19th century? How else to explain Aaron Johnson's physique in Albert Nobbs?

More identity crises AFTER THE JUMP...

Glenn Close Dons Man Drag for Romantic Drama 'Albert Nobbs': TRAILER

A new trailer has just been released for the Glenn Close drama Albert Nobbs, in which Close dons drag to work as a butler, and then falls in love with a woman, who is already taken by the man below.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

THR writes: "The movie, directed by Rodrigo Garcia, is adapted from a short story by Irish novelist George Moore. Close, who co-produced and co-wrote the movie, first played the title character in a 1982 stage production and had been trying to mount a screen version ever since."

Movies: Project NIM, Streep's Third Oscar, Filling Classic Shoes

Nim is raised by humans and hot hippies in the 1970s

NATHANIEL ROGERS
...would live in the movie theater but for the poor internet reception. He blogs daily at the Film Experience. Follow him on Twitter @nathanielr.

 
 NOW PLAYING
It's a skewed movie-verse in which we live, this one wherein Kevin James gets to be called a movie star. ZOOKEEPER a terrible film about talking animals who know a lot about human behavior opens on thousands of screens tomorrow while PROJECT NIM, a terrific film about a "talking" animal who learns a lot about human behavior opens on a handful. Choose the documentary! Project Nim, which comes to you from the director of the Oscar winning documentary Man on Wire investigates a 70s experiment in which a baby chimp was raised by a New York family and taught sign language, only to be cruelly abandoned and handed back and forth between medical labs and animal reserves in a tug of scientific war. Nim shades its provocative story of human arrogance and interspecies curiousity with abundant humor, depressing facts, a seasons worth of soap opera fodder between its human cast members, and highly amusing period details.

Also Opening: Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis plot to kill their HORRIBLE BOSSES Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Spacey and Colin Farrell in a bald cap. (Bald is always shorthand for evil at the movies, Professor Xavier excepted.)

BONUS SCENE

Project Third Oscar. By now you've seen Meryl Streep's latest "give me my third Oscar, already!" campaign, also known as the teaser for "The Iron Lady", and you already know of her rich Oscar history as the most nominated actor of all time (Jack Nicholson is now a distant second). She's been nominated 16 times thus far, winning twice early in her career.

 

MORE AFTER THE JUMP

Glenn Close to Play Susan Boyle

Imho, a perfect role for Close.

Brit tab The Sun reports:

"Glenn said 'aye' to film bosses this week and is about to start work on her SuBo shuffle and catchphrase 'bloody fantastic'. A source said: 'The film is full steam ahead now the leading role is sorted. It was always going to be a tricky one to cast. SuBo's incredible story is so well-known across the planet that the film is bound to go down a storm.'"

Photo: Glenn Close as a Man

Glenn Close on the set of Albert Nobbs.

Nathaniel Rogers writes: "She plays a cross dressing woman in 1890's Ireland...The movie is based on the short story turned play The Singular Life of Albert Nobbs which the diva actress previously played on stage... before she was ever in a movie!"

More here...