Author: LaurenDolceVita

2021 Oscar Nominations

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Year End1 Comment

It’s Oscar nomination day! As my interest in sports have waned over the years, the Oscars have quickly supplanted that niche for me. Forget the Superbowl; my annual Sunday TV binge will be on April 25 this year. If the Oscars are my Superbowl, then today’s nomination announcement are the start of the playoffs. This post is going to be my thoughts on the nominations. My personal picks and predictions will go up after I’ve watched everything closer to the ceremony.

I promise that I won’t exclusively focus on the negative, but there were two huge snubs that I want to call out before getting too far. Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Eliza Hittman) and First Cow (Kelly Reichardt) were two of the best films of the year, and both being shut out of the nomination process is a travesty. In addition to being more than deserving of best picture and director nods, I genuinely believe that Sidney Flanigan from Never Rarely Sometimes Always and John Magaro from First Cow should have received best actress and actor nominations respectively. For as much as the Academy have gotten better about recognizing more diverse pictures, the understated personal story that are my favorites are still ignored for more commercially viable pictures.

While those too snubs in lieu of more conventional Oscar fare may have frustrated me, Promising Young Woman (Emerald Fennell) walking away with five nominations including picture, director, and actress gives me hope. Fennell’s take on the revenge genre is aggressively anti-commercial. Yet despite that it’s become incredibly popular and will have a huge presence at the Academy Awards this year. I’m especially happy for my namesake Carey Mulligan getting her second Oscar nomination. I just want everyone to appreciate how perfect an actor she is.

With those big items taken care of, I’m going to rapid-fire some more thoughts:

  • Another Round (Thomas Vinterberg) won’t be winning any major awards, but I’m glad to see international films continue to get recognition outside of their specific category. I wish Mads Mikkelsen would have received an acting nomination as well.
  • I finally no longer need to lookup the difference between sound editing and sound mixing, and the Academy combines them. In all seriousness, this change makes sense. It’s a rare film that would win on and not at least be deserving of the other.
  • I’m surprised by how little One Night in Miami… (Regina King) received. For a film completely built on amazing performances, it receiving no nominations in those categories was shocking.
  • Granted I’ve not seen all of the Documentary features, but Dick Johnson is Dead (Kirsten Johnson) not even receiving a nomination makes very little sense to me. It was one of the best films of the year documentary or not.
  • The Assistant (Kitty Green) was another shut out film that I would have loved to see with at minimum a best actress nod. That said this is the one I’m the least surprised by as The Assistant was from very early in the year and was not the most welcoming film.
  • Finally, I find it frustrating that Steve McQueen’s Small Axe films were ineligible for any Oscars. Lovers Rock was one of the best films of the year, and the Oscars’ strict rules invalidated what should have been some strong competitors.

A 2021 Film Journey: Day 73

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Movie ReviewsLeave a comment

Tomorrow the Oscar nominations go live at an ungodly early time. In years past, I’ve attempted to wake up and live tweet them, but mornings have been difficult lately and that combined with today being the first day of daylight savings means I’m not even going to attempt it. Instead, I plan on writing up my thoughts as a bonus post tomorrow. Anyway, instead of continuing my Oscar shortlist binge, I chose to take a one-day break to watch a film I’ve been wanting to see for a while now before returning to nomination viewings.

Enemy (2014, Dir. Denis Villeneuve)

An Enemy Movie Review, Discussion and Maybe an Explanation - Taylor Holmes inc.

Denis Villeneuve is undoubtedly one of my favorite directors working today. In an era where loud and obtuse cinema occupies an ever-increasing market share, it’s nice to have some filmmakers who routinely create methodically paced complex narrative. His style lends itself perfectly for the low concept science fiction films that have brought him the bulk of his fame, Arrival (2016) and Blade Runner 2049 (2017). His earlier film Enemy proves that his style works perfectly for Lynchian psychological thrillers.

More than just the methodical pace, every artistic decision in Enemy builds to a perfect whole. The entire film is dosed in a heavy yellow tint. This combined with purposefully unflattering establishing shots of unappealing architecture lends the film a level of grime which enhances the unease in watching the film. Jake Gyllenhaal also was the perfect cast for the dual lead. His persona can easily be construed as unsettling, and in Enemy this aggressive awkwardness takes front stage. Everything in the film combines to create an edge of the seat experience without resorting to over-the-top action and explosions.

A 2021 Film Journey: Day 72

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Movie ReviewsLeave a comment

Despite it being the weekend, today is another one movie day for me. I spent much of the day relaxing after a long week and relied more on comfort media choices to fill my day. Still, I spent some time this evening crossing another film off of the Oscar shortlist. While much of the last week I’ve been focusing on the international films, today I returned to the documentary wing.

Boys State (2020, Dir. Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss)

Boys State' Review: Give Me a Teen and I'll Show You a Politician - The New York Times

Boys State is a documentary capturing a mock government event ran by more than a thousand Texan, high school boys. The film spends its runtime documenting a single year’s event by following four students. Two of the students run the respective fake parties, the Federalists and the unfortunately named Nationalists. The other two are running to be the gubernatorial nominee for the Nationalist party.

The politics of the students on screen are predictably largely conservative given their residence. This combined with the lack of nuance exhibited by most teenagers leads to some uncomfortable moments. Much of the political discourse debated in the mock congress is heavily influenced by the edgelord nature of young men. The topic of secession is frequently brought up, and that combined with the extreme jingoism expressed in speeches hints at fascism.

These uncomfortable moments bring about my main objection to the film. The film lacks a distinct directorial voice. Everything is merely captured on camera and distilled into little more than video blog from the boys present. The extremist fervor evokes no response from the directors, as if they are going out of their way to have no political voice. A too biased director can ruin a film, but Boys State proves that it’s possible to go too far the other way. While non-fiction, a documentary isn’t just a list of facts. Vision and messages are required to bring a topic to the larger world.

A 2021 Film Journey: Day 71

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Movie ReviewsLeave a comment

Another quick one tonight. Even with it being a Friday night, I’m too exhausted after a long work week to make it through more than one film tonight. Even with only one film watched, tonight I pass the halfway point for watching the Oscar best international film shortlist (8 of 15). I won’t be able to quite finish them this weekend, so any I miss that don’t end up with a nomination may fall off my radar, but I’m happy with the large chunk I’ve made it through thus far.

Quo vadis, Aida? (2021, Dir. Jasmila Žbanić)

Quo vadis, Aida? / Italia / aree / Home - Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa

That was a downer of a way to end a week. Quo vadis, Aida? chronicles the moments leading up to the Srebrenica massacre from the eyes of a UN translator and native Bosniak Aida (Jasna Đuričić). When the Serbian army shows up to the UN compound, Aida must balance her obligations to her job cordially translating for those who would bring her people harm with her dedication to her husband and sons. What starts as a dry war drama quickly devolves into a devastating depiction of the extremes of a mother’s love.

While not exclusively told from her point of view Aida’s presence is felt in every moment of the film. Đuričić makes the most of the extensive camera time. As the inevitability of the impeding genocide becomes more apparent, she loses her professional demeanor and becomes frantic in her body language. This performance is punctuated by the mostly dialogue free coda. The film drops the intensity and instead becomes hauntingly calm. Đuričić depicts Aida a stone faced and broken while forced to move on in life while being completely unable to in practice.

A 2021 Film Journey: Day 70

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Movie ReviewsLeave a comment

These opening sentences are getting a little redundant. Today I’m once again treating myself to a film from the international feature Oscar shortlist. The only thing that separates today from yesterday is that I did find time today to watch a documentary short from that shortlist after. Regardless, I’m going to keep writing these introductory paragraphs for now, but I will be allowing them to get shorter if there’s not much to say.

Charlatan (2020, Dir. Agnieszka Holland)

Charlatan' Review | Hollywood Reporter

I don’t feel like I have a good grasp on how to access Charlatan from a narrative standpoint. The story of Jan Mikolásek feels like it should be told fantastical. A man with a supernatural heeling power who can diagnose any patient through their urine should be larger than life, but the film is aggressively grounded by its nature as a biopic. Given the grounded tone of the film, I feel the film must play better to a demographic of people who know of Mikolásek going into the film.

From a filmmaking standpoint, Charlatan succumbs to the standard biopic pitfall. In trying to tell Mikolásek’s entire life in two hours, the film becomes little more than an episodic collection of scenes from a man’s life. The framing device of him explaining it to his lawyer while incarcerated does little to tie each individual scene together. The film adequately tells the life story of a man but has no cohesive artistic message. It’s not a bad movie; it just lacks anything special and plays out like any other biopic.

Do Not Split (2020, Dir. Anders Hammer)

Do Not Split

Tonight’s documentary short stands in stark contrast to the film that preceded it. Do Not Split was a film with a very distinct style and thematic message. The film captures the Hong Kong protests from late 2019 from a filmmaker on the front line with the protesters. The film is brutally honest in its portrayal and creation. Any interviews are taken on the streets and oft interrupted rather than staged far away from the topic. If I’m being honest, this film meshes with me politically in a way that makes it difficult to be completely objective about it. I can acknowledge that the score was a bit over the top melodrama but having spent much of last summer at police protests of my own I got overly invested in the protesters on screen.

A 2021 Film Journey: Day 69

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Movie ReviewsLeave a comment

Time completely escaped me today. Work was busy and after running multiple long meetings my body just turned off for a while. Thankfully, I awoke from my stupor in time to fit another Oscar shortlisted international film in.

Two of Us (2021, Dir. Filippo Meneghetti)

Two of Us movie review & film summary (2021) | Roger Ebert

This movie was much bleaker than I anticipated from the initial setup. Two of Us introduces itself as a fun story of a senior lesbian couple preparing to sell their separate apartments and move together to Rome. All that remains before selling everything and moving away is for Madeleine (Martine Chevallier) to come out to her children. This premise is tailor fit for a sincere, heart-warming romantic comedy. Instead, Madeleine has a stroke leaving her in a partial vegetative state and any semblance of joy evaporates from the film.

With Madeleine rendered speechless for the rest of the film, Nina (Barbara Sukowa) is forced to navigate Madeleine’s family who think of her as nothing more than a neighbor and friend if she is to stay with the woman she loves. Separated from her partner, Nina becomes increasingly desperate in her attempts to stay connected to the point at which it ruins her life. Sukowa captures this spiral brilliantly. Her body language reflects this deterioration by mimicking a woman who hasn’t slept for increasing periods of time.

If Sukowa’s performance is showy in its deterioration, Chevallier gives an equally compelling but completely different performance. Her character being in a post stroke state, every action that Chevallier performs is incredibly subtle yet undeniably there. The slightest cracked smile when in the presence of Nina means everything to her lover looking for any sign that Madeleine is still there. The two contrasting performance sell this depressing romance.

A 2021 Film Journey: Day 68

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Movie ReviewsLeave a comment

As promised, I’m back on my Oscar prep regimen. The actual nominations come out in less than a week, at which point I can plan out my viewings in earnest (with a necessary break for the Seattle International Film Festival April 8 – 18). Regardless I’m going to continue focusing on the short lists in the meantime even if some of them don’t have their name called on Monday. Anyway, tonight’s viewing got a late start, so it’s going to be another short entry today.

Better Days (2019, Dir. Derek Tsang)

Better Days film review: Zhou Dongyu is riveting in Derek Tsang's deeply poignant bullying drama | South China Morning Post

Everywhere I look, this film is listed as a 2019 film, but it’s on the short list for this year, so here we are. Better Days is an exceptionally dark look at the worldwide bullying epidemic. The film opens with the most drastic repercussions of bullying as a young woman, Hu Xiaodie (Yifan Zhang) commits suicide by jumping off her high school building. Chen Nian (Dongyu Zhou) is the only one who approaches Hu Xiaodie’s body to offer her some dignity. This action symbolizes the passing of the bullied torch to Chen Nian. By chance, she runs into a young man named who goes by Xiao Bei (Liu Beishan) who ends up agreeing to act as her protection creating a circle of bullying.

Good intentions aside, the film is a bit of a mess. Early on, Better Days while decisively a drama took on a horror tone to depict the bullying. With a combination of long tension building shorts and rapid intense cuts, the film could fit perfectly with modern horror films. While this decision worked well for a while, eventually the film pushed this element too far with comical horror sound effects only to completely drop the direction decision for the second half of the film. Pacing was another issue that holds the film back. Around the one hour mark it felt on pace to be a standard three act structure for a 90 film. The rising action had concluded, and it was time for the climax. However, the film wasn’t even halfway done at that point and instead of jumping to the climax, it began a new film, this time a romance melodrama. None of the individual decisions in the film are necessarily flawed but combined, they don’t make a cohesive whole.

A 2021 Film Journey: Day 67

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Movie ReviewsLeave a comment

I’m taking another break from my Oscar prep today, but I’ll be back to that tomorrow. Because it’s International Women’s Day, I wanted to take a moment to watch a film directed by a woman. Specifically, I wanted to fill in one of my largest woman-helmed blind spots. Specifically, with the Oscars on my mind It only felt reasonable to watch one of the six films directed by women that received a best picture nomination.

The Piano (1993, Dir. Jane Campion)

The One Movie Blog: The Piano (1993)

I’m genuinely shocked that this film received a best picture nomination in 1994. Not because it was undeserving; on the contrary, it immediately jumps near the top of my favorite films for the year. Rather my surprise is at academy of almost 30 years ago extending a nomination to a film as emotionally vulnerable and feminine as The Piano.

Campion’s control over the film is palpable throughout. Every action in the film is driven by character emotion rather than plot contrivance. Despite never talking Holly Hunter’s Ada is always a captivating presence. In the absence of spoken words, Ada uses her piano to express her feelings. Each scene of her sitting in front of it expresses multitudes. Through little more than looks and songs, her anguish and infatuation blend into a hauntingly complex whole.

A 2021 Film Journey: Day 66

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Movie ReviewsLeave a comment

Today’s viewings were a change of pace from my more recent fare. I’ve been in serious need of a cleaning day, and since I was in the midst of a three-day weekend it made sense to choose today. I spent most of the day deep cleaning my kitchen, but thankfully the kitchen has a perfect view of my TV so I could watch something at the same time. In order to mitigate the distraction from cleaning, I chose to watch something that had a greater emphasis on sound than visuals. Thus, I put on a pair of musical documentaries.

Don’t Look Back (1967, Dir. D.A. Pennebaker)

Bob Dylan – Don't Look Back – (((withoutsound)))

First off was D.A. Pennebaker’s documentary on Bob Dylan’s 1965 England tour Don’t Look Back. The tour coincides with the release of Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues”, one of the first major deviations in the man’s career. Throughout he’s confronted by fans who question his stylist changes and reporters who try in vain to extract any meaning from the aloof Dylan.

From the recorded live performances in front of hauntingly silent crowds to the never ending afterparties of stoned philosophizing, Dylan’s persona permeates the entire film. Through the unprecedented access the audience is privy to the many sides of Dylan. His virtuosic song writing stands in complete contrast to his more reserved or jokingly masked interactions with others. He tells reporters that he doesn’t think about the meaning to the songs, but the impact they have on others can’t be denied. Despite Pennebaker’s camera focusing on Dylan at all times, he remains an enigma throughout.

The Decline of Western Civilization (1981, Dir. Penelope Spheeris)

The Decline of Western Civilization, the Documentary by Penelope Spheeris | Fandor

While the music of Bob Dylan may not have much sonically in common with the Los Angeles punk scene in the late 70s, The Decline of Western Civilization made for an excellent pairing with Don’t Look Back. 10 years after Dylan was the peak musical countercultural scene, the folk scene felt quant rather than controversial. The hippie culture failed to accomplish anything with its peace protests, and the younger generation turned to punk music as a more aggressive musical outlet.

Director Penelope Spheeris focus on the punk scene of the time by intercutting live performances with interviews of the bands and the fans separately. All sources interviewed point towards the anarchic vibe of punk culture as to what makes it special, for better or for worse. Band managers shake their head in frustration at their inability to control their bands, but without the alcohol and coke binges the movement wouldn’t work in the same way. Spheeris captures both the grit and the passion that make the punk scene what it was.

A 2021 Film Journey: Day 65

On By LaurenDolceVitaIn Movie ReviewsLeave a comment

Tonight, I returned back to preparing for my annual attempt to watch all Oscar nominations. And while I’ve mostly focused on the short lists with the official nominations still a week away, today I went with something a little different. I went with two films that I passed on in January in preparation of my year end list but am confidant will be named multiple times on the 15th.

Mank (2020, Dir. David Fincher)

Netflix drops first trailer of David Fincher's new film | Dhaka Tribune

I didn’t pass on Mank back in January because I didn’t think I’d like it. I think everything David Fincher’s done in at least the last 15 years have been good to great, and yet except for The Social Network (2010) his films are routinely a little too cold for me to love. Mank fits perfectly with Fincher’s other films in that way. Technically he is one of the strongest directors working today. His scenes are all well calculated and precise. Where he doesn’t work for me as well is in his characters. There’s always a distance with his characters. It feels like their story is being told rather than them telling their story.

 While the film once again fails to convince me to love it mostly due to the characters, Mank again proves that Fincher deserves the reputation he’s garnered. The film is meticulously pieced together interconnecting scenes from different times to tell an engrossing story of old Hollywood.  Every moment fits the films need wonderfully; the two-hour plus film has no fat to trim. Gorgeous black and white photography from Erik Messershmidt combine with another memorable Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross score to add the visual and audial flare to Fincher’s vision.

The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020, Dir. Aaron Sorkin)

The Trial of the Chicago 7 trailer: Aaron Sorkin's starry courtroom drama looks unmissable | Entertainment News,The Indian Express

While most of Mank worked for me, very little of The Trial of the Chicago 7 did. Sorkin’s schmaltz has soured over the years, and by touching on a raw subject in police brutality, the film left me worked up rather than satisfied. 2020 was not the year to go halfhearted on complaints against the police. The film is too content to let the eventual acquittal of the Chicago 7 be an appropriate level of justice. Sorkin’s tying everything in a bow was not the treatment this subject required.

This frustration with the film was compounded with the acting. I’ve reached the point where Eddie Redmayne does not work for me. His over-the-top caricature appears a complete farse anymore, and his Tom Hayden came across smarmy. Equally absurd was Jeremy Strong’s portrayal of Jerry Rubin. The stoner comedy bit was too extreme and did not work with the tone of the film. Weirdly the only performance in the film I genuinely appreciated was Sacha Baron Cohen’s Abbie Hoffman. In a film of over the top and out of place comedic characters, the actor known for playing over the top comedic characters was the only one who could find the appropriate tone for the film.