I am cheating on my rules today. I wanted this project to be exclusively about films that are new to me (or that I at least have not seen in my post college life), but with the amount that I have been struggling just watching and posting anything lately, I chose to give myself a pass today. While the movie I chose to watch may seem odd given my current mental state, just trust me when I say it makes sense to me.
Melancholia (2011, Dir. Lars von Trier)
I adore this film in ways that it is going to be difficult for me to fully explain today. Rather than fail to talk about everything the film does to make it the masterpiece it is, I want to touch on an extremely personal aspect of it that resonates with me. Lars von Trier’s previous film Antichrist (2009) was created in a self-admitted state of deep depression. While a great film itself, that film felt the weight of the director’s depression in an unrelenting way.
Two years later, and von Trier was in a less depressed place and was able to look back on that extreme depression from a happier place on the other side. This hindsight keeps the mood similarly heavy, but it allows for less absolutes in intensity. This allows for a more honest portrayal of mental illness. Like her director, Kirsten Dunst came at the material from the prospective of someone who had openly dealt with depression previously. She uses this experience to deliver a perfect performance that depicts serious depression outside of normal fictional portrayals and instead creates something much more brutally honest. It is in this honesty stemming from the director and actress’s experience that results in Melancholia being one of the films that most perfectly crafted depictions of mental illness set to film.
I am sorry I went AWOL for the last week plus. On Sunday the second, I got my first COVID shot and proceeded to get almost immediately extremely sick. My need to do nothing but sleep led me to missing a few posts and from there the anxiety and depression really took hold. Each day missed begat the next day missed until more than a week went by without a single post from me. I have felt awful about myself because of the misses, but as I felt worse it became harder to motivate myself to watch anything and thus it became a spiral down. Thankfully, tonight I managed to take a seat on my couch, let a cat jump on my lap, and watch a movie. Thank you for putting up with a longer blog section and a shorter movie review as I get back in the swing of things.
Wildlife (2018, Dir. Paul Dano)
To this day the only film directed by Paul Dano is a complicated depiction of a volatile family set in 1960. Jerry (Jake Gyllenhaal) has been uplifting his family in search of an easy answer, and after he refuses to take his job back following a wrongful termination, he instead leaves the family to fight wildfires until the first snow. This abandonment is one too many transgressions for his wife Jeanette (Carey Mulligan) to take. The bulk of the film follows Joe (Ed Oxenbould) as he watches his mother attempt to process her remaining feelings for her husband and the selfish actions that he takes.
For being a freshman director, Paul Dano displays a precise handling of tone in his period drama. Shot primarily from Joe’s point of view, Dano taps into the emotions of an overwhelmed 14-year-old watching both parents individually tear apart their marriage. While some of the personal complexities may be over Joe’s head, Dano captures these intricacies without betraying Joe’s point of view. As a whole the film is superb, but if there is any flaw, it would be that Gyllenhaal is not especially convincing at playing someone from 1960. This deficiency is further exacerbated by casting him aside Mulligan who was born to play roles from the mid-20th century. It is not enough to ruin the film by any extent, but it did stand out.
As with last night, I once again looked to my criterion shelf for tonight’s viewing. More than picking a film at random tonight, I wanted to acknowledge the importance of the holiday with my choice. My initial inclination was to allow myself a re-watch and revisit Jacques Demy’s workers strike musical Une Chambre en Ville (1982). That film is a personal pick of a hidden gem and I was close to putting it on when an obvious alternative caught my eye.
Che: Part One and Che: Part Two (2008, Dir. Steven Soderbergh)
Both IMDB and Letterboxd consider each half of the four-and-a-half-hour biopic about the Marxist revolutionary to be separate films, and while I am going to be combining them for the sake of discussion, I do find the separation to be useful. Each part tells a somewhat self-contained story of a South American revolution under the guidance of the Argentinian Ernesto “Che” Guevara (Benicio Del Toro). Che: Part One focuses on his work liberating Cuba and helping to install Fidel Castro (Demián Bichir) in the 1950s while Che: Part Two looked at his attempt at another revolution in Bolivia which led to his capture and execution.
The interplay between the two films is intriguing. The film was originally in development by Terrence Malick who wanted to create a film exclusively focusing on Guevara’s attempted revolution in Bolivia. After financing fell through Malick left the project and Soderbergh took over. One of Soderbergh’s first decisions was that Guevara’s time in Bolivia would be better served with background and thus the first part was created to support the now second part. Considering that part one was created as a supplemental piece, it is interesting that part one is significantly more entertaining and a more artistic use of filmmaking.
While both films chronicle a revolution that marked a period of Guevara’s life, they do so in unique ways. Che: Part Two is somewhat indistinguishable from any war film. Politics and economics may take a more front seat approach than in more American focused wars, but the cinematic language is the same. It tells a conventional chronologic narrative. Conversely, Che: Part One jumps years between Guevara’s time in the revolution before Castro rose to power and his time as an ambassador for Cuba. These are as easily distinguishable with the revolution shot in color and time as an ambassador in black and white. By piecing together the first film non linearly, Soderbergh develops more nuanced themes and results in a more entertaining watch.
I need to figure out my sleep schedule. This is coming out super late, but this is just where I am right now, I guess. On the bright side, I feel like I have a little more direction in the movies that I am going to watch over the next bit of time. In the past decade, I have done quite a bit of Criterion Blu-ray collecting, and my collection has vastly outpaced the films I have actually watched. So, for the next month or so, I am going to attempt to watch an unwatched criterion release from my shelf.
My Brilliant Career (1980, Dir. Gillian Armstrong)
My Brilliant Career may be the most clear-cut example of a “women’s film” ever created, but I do not mean that in a disparaging way. Gillian Armstrong’s sophomore feature checks off many of the cliched boxes for those films. It is a period drama/ romance where a young woman rebuffs the dated ideas of what a woman’s role in the world is. In this way, the film has a significant amount in common with Armstrong’s most well-known film Little Women (1994), and much like with her take on that classic Armstrong elevates the formulaic story into something special.
What enhances these tales is Armstrong’s respect for her leads. Sybylla (Judy Davis) is a woman ahead of her time, but rather than fully endorse the anachronistic protagonist, Armstrong paints a picture as woman whose flaws enhance her complexity. Sybylla’s objection to marriage come from a place of self-actualization, but they also leave her alone and longing at times for the simplicity of the women around her. By embracing this dissonance, My Brilliant Career takes a simple formulaic story and builds an engaging and wonderful picture.
Once again, today got away from me, but I am going to keep these posts coming even if they end up coming progressively later. Thankfully today I suffered less indecision paralysis. Instead of mindlessly perusing the numerous steaming services at my fingertips in hopes of finding something strikes my fancy I focused on the list of films that are leaving the Criterion Channel after tomorrow.
They Live By Night (1949, Dir. Nicholas Ray)
My personal film journey more or less skipped over the film noir stage of exploration. I went from zero to Bergman in no time flat, so while I have watched close to 2,200 films since I started tracking my watches, the noir genre remains a largely untapped pool of films. While I plan on using this November – aka Noirvember – to fill in my numerous noir blind spots tonight felt like a good chance to get a head start by watching the debut feature by Nicholas Ray, They Live By Night.
They Live By Night is a classic tale of a criminal and his girl living on the run from the law. Bowie (Farley Granger) is a recently escaped convict who falls quickly in love with Keechie (Cathy O’Donnell) the niece of one of the men who helped him to escape. When an altercation with a cop brings about too much heat, Bowie convinces Keechie to take to the road with him.
While Ray would direct In A Lonely Place, a more seminal noir film, just a year later, They Live By Night is a fully enjoyable if unremarkable movie. Very little stands out about the film, but what it does, it does perfectly.
Getting this one out really late tonight, and I’m not entirely sure how it became 2am but seems like I sound get started on today’s post. On one personal note, I finally got a call back from my local COVID clinic and I am getting my first shot on Sunday. Hopefully I will be able to return to theaters sometime soon. Only one new to me film today, but I did also re-watch Tangerine (2015, Dir. Sean Baker) and that continues to be one of the best films of the last 10 years. But that film is not eligible for today’s post, so instead an extremely tonally different film.
The Blackcoat’s Daughter (2017, Dir. Oz Perkins)
A24’s horror offerings are some of the most divisive offerings in today’s cinema landscape. General audience are prone to finding the slow burns a tedious watch while critics tend to be more receptive to the films’ focus on atmosphere over plot. The Blackcoat’s Daughter may not quite have the reputation of some of A24’s bigger horror titles, but it fully embodies the studio’s horror film style.
What helps the indie studio’s horror films to be so effective is in the pacing. While the films rely on a smoldering tension build they offset this by starting more tense than standard fare. The Blackcoat’s Daughter does this by opening with a character’s dark premonition. This combined with a physically unsettling score ensure that even as the film is slow to build from these initial moments, the film remains tense throughout. When the film finally hits a gruesome climax, it offers a relief from the protracted build in addition the acute anxiety. One day the A24 horror formula may become tired, but until then it continues to offer the most expertly controlled films being released, and The Blackcoat’s Daughter deserves to the thought of with the rest of the excellent catalogue.
I am feeling some difficulty in choosing movies these days. Between Oscar watching and then Festival participation, my viewing has been largely prescribed for months and I had forgotten the paralyzing feel that looking at a streaming service can give. Regardless I found an interesting one for tonight’s viewing.
The Comedy (2012, Dir. Rick Alverson)
Despite what the title may indicate, The Comedy is anything but. Instead, Rick Alverson creates a modern tragedy by exploring the life of a man who uses ironic comedy as a nihilistic crutch. This comedy while may have served him well in the college as a juvenile defense against a world he was unprepared for, at 35 these mean jokes are a means to an end, and he can only feign temporary contentment.
Time Heidecker is fabulous as the lead Swanson. He manages to capture the shallow enjoyment from the character’s prank-based humor with the deep loneliness and misery that consumes him when he is on his own. Alverson and Heidecker combine to create a damming view on the nihilism that the South Park era has embraced. The life outlook that comes from using cruel humor as an expression of self and preferment deflection. While Swanson may get the occasional laugh, he is more likely to get groans from his friends or the cops called on him by strangers. He may think that he is comedian, but in reality, he is just a pathetic and lonely man.
With the specter of the Oscars in the rear view, it is time to return to more normal movie viewing. It is another late night tonight, but I am taking a bit of time off work to try and get my life a little bit more under control, so finishing tonight’s film after midnight was not as big of a deal.
Cool Hand Luke (1967, Dir. Stuart Rosenberg)
It has been a while since I mentioned this, but while I am framing this as movies that are new to me, what I mean is movies that I have not watched since I started meticulously cataloguing the films that I watched. All that is to say, I watched Cool Hand Luke for a class my freshman year of college, but that was almost 14 years ago now (wow I feel old), so it feels like prime time for a revisit.
The 1967 prison break film holds up well after all these years. Paul Newman is perfect as the enigmatic Luke, a man who authority and they system has let down. Likewise, George Kennedy magnificently portrays Dragline the boisterous yin to Lucks cool and collected yang. The juxtaposition between the two characters creates a wonderful dynamic that keeps the film moving at an entertaining pace. When Luke is quiet and introspective, Dragline is always there to bring the hype.
The context in which I watched the film in college was for a section on alternative Jesus figures, and Cool Hand Luke is not subtle with the imagery. This is no more obvious than with the crucifixion pose of Luke post eating 50 eggs which is iconic if blunt. The constant religious imagery does tire after some time but building to the climax in the country church makes it all worth it. The film is still one of the all-time greats.
Much of my movie viewing this year had been building up to tonight’s Academy Awards. I posted my personal predications and picks earlier this afternoon and then prepared myself for the film industry’s biggest night. The three-and-a-half-hour ceremony took the place of my movie watching for the evening.
The 93rd Academy Awards
Where to begin? I guess first and foremost, I will address the winners. They were fine to good. My Octopus Teacher winning for documentary is my biggest gripe, but all in all the Oscars went to good choices if not what I would consider the best choice. Seeing Chloé Zhao become only the second woman to win best director and be the second woman helmed film to win best picture (both were previously done by Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker) was heartwarming. My personal favorite actress Carey Mulligan once again failed to win, but I cannot begrudge the academy for choosing Frances McDormand. If all I did was read the winners the next morning, I would have little to say.
The ceremony itself was a mess. The Academy’s continued decision to go without a host after the Kevin Hart controversy reached its pinnacle this year as the ceremony was completely without guidance. While the bad jokes can get tiresome after some time, surely there must be a middle ground between too many bad jokes and a ceremony that is nothing but presentations. When there was finally a reprieve with a name the tune segment three quarters of the way through the film, it was a welcome reprieve, but one that came much too late.
And then there was the giant unforced error of the final three awards. The producers not knowing the results took a huge gamble and put the acting awards after best picture. They likely did so in the assumption that Chadwick Boseman would win posthumously, and they could end the ceremony on an uplifting moment for him. When that did not happen, the result was the most anticlimactic ending in Oscar history as Anthony Hopkins was neither present nor had a proxy to accept the award for him and the ceremony went unceremoniously to closing credits. Chloé Zhao’s accomplishments winning best picture were overshadowed by the mess that followed, and Hopkins who gave arguably the greatest performance of his life will forever be unjustifiably remembered as the man who stole Chadwick Boseman’s Oscar.
I love the Oscars. For the past few years, I have made it my goal to watch every single film nominated for an Oscar, and this year I finished with weeks to spare. In time for tonight’s ceremony, here are my predictions and my personal picks for this year’s event
Visual Effects
My Prediction: Tenet My Pick: Tenet; Would I pick a non-nominated film? No
Visual effects is likely the category most impacted by the COVID epidemic. With many summer blockbusters being delayed until they can open in theaters, it left Tenet as the presumptive winner.
Costume
My Prediction: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom My Pick: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; Would I pick a non-nominated film? No
I love the costumes in Emma, but while those are all pristine, what elevates Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’s costuming is the slight layer of grime that covers them. They help build the world of the session musicians through their purposeful imperfections.
Makeup and Hairstyling
My Prediction: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom My Pick: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; Would I pick a non-nominated film? No
Makeup and Hairstyling should go to Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom for similar reasons as to why costuming should. The craft works in storytelling rather than simply looking great.
Production Design
My Prediction: Mank My Pick: Mank; Would I pick a non-nominated film? No
The recreation of classic Hollywood in David Fincher’s Mank is as beautiful as it is meticulous.
Sound
My Prediction: Sound of Metal My Pick: Sound of Metal; Would I pick a non-nominated film? No
New this year is the combining of sound editing and sound mixing, and there is potentially no more obvious a choice in this year’s ceremony than the Sound of Metal for the new category. The way the film intercuts the noise from the camera’s perspective with that of the quickly deafening protagonist is the most interesting sound design of the year.
Original Song
My Prediction: Speak Now (One Night in Miami…) My Pick: Speak Now (One Night in Miami…); Would I pick a non-nominated film? Yes – The 11-minute rendition of Silly Games from Small Axe: Lovers Rock
And now the one category that I always feel the most uncomfortable picking. My passion is in film, not music. Regardless, predicting Leslie Odom Jr. to become an Emmy away from an EGOT seems the obvious choice. My non-nominated choice was not eligible for multiple reasons, but I needed to call out how perfect this rendition of the reggae classic is in context of the film.
Original Score
My Prediction: Soul My Pick: Soul; Would I pick a non-nominated film? Yes – Wendy (Dan Romer and Benh Zeitlin)
Soul is going to win this without much competion, so in lieu of talking about that I want to shout out the amazing score to the not as amazing Wendy. Benh Zeitlin again teamed up with Dan Romer to create the score to his follow up to Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) and the music to Wendy has just as much magic and mystery as the prior score.
Editing
My Prediction: The Trial of the Chicago 7 My Pick: The Father; Would I pick a non-nominated film? No
The Trial of the Chicago 7 will likely walk away with this as its lone Oscar, but all of the editing the film does to intercut different times is done even more masterfully by The Father where the editing is used to blur time and characters to express the impact of dementia.
Cinematography
My Prediction: Nomadland My Pick: Nomadland; Would I pick a non-nominated film? Yes – Gunda
Joshua James Richards sweeping photography of the various landscapes Fern calls her temporary home are breathtaking and should guarantee an Oscar for Nomadland. However, if the academy had looked beyond the traditional fare to Gunda, the experimental documentary about a mother pig, they would have found some of the best black and white cinematography in years.
Short Film, Live Action
My Prediction: The Letter Room My Pick: The Letter Room; Would I pick a non-nominated film? No
It almost seems a little unfair of this category to be won by a short with big name actors (Oscar Isaac and Alia Shawkat), but The Letter Room is the obvious best of the bunch.
Short Film, Animated
My Prediction: If Anything Happens I Love You My Pick: If Anything Happens I Love You; Would I pick a non-nominated film? No
If Anything Happens I Love you is the best short film which is animated, which is what this category is really a measure of. I would still like to call out Opera for being the best-animated short film, even if it lacks the emotional connection to win.
Short Film, Documentary
My Prediction: Do Not Split My Pick: Do Not Split; Would I pick a non-nominated film? Yes – Hysterical Girl
Do Not Split is an amazing piece of cinema verité about the Hong Kong protests which should win of the nominated films, but the shortlisted but not Nominated Hysterical Girl was easily my favorite of the year.
Documentary Feature
My Prediction: My Octopus Teacher My Pick: Time; Would I pick a non-nominated film? Yes – Dick Johnson is Dead or Gunda
It turns out that I have a lot to say about this category. My Octopus Teacher is emotionally exploitative in the way that should win over much of the Academy warranted or not. Of the other nominated films, Time was in my opinion the best and the most important for our time. The Academy failed to nominate the two best documentaries of the year though. Dick Johnson is Dead was as entertaining in the increasingly outrageous death sequences as it was moving as Kirsten Johnson prepped for the inevitable. Gunda was on the opposite end of the spectrum but equally impressive. The experimental documentary consisting of nothing but gorgeous close up photography of a litter of pigs created untold emotion through its simplicity.
Animated Feature
My Prediction: Soul My Pick: Wolfwalkers; Would I pick a non-nominated film? No
This category becomes increasingly aggravating. Disney and Pixar create many great films, but when they release middling work for them (still very good, just not what they can do) the Academy needs to watch the other nominated films and recognize the superior film even if it is not from one of the brand name studios.
International Film
My Prediction: Another Round My Pick: Another Round; Would I pick a non-nominated film? No
I have watched the last scene from Another Round dozens of times at this point as it is one of the greatest scenes of the year. While I have shown this scene preferential treatment, the entire film is a must watch and should win this with ease.
Adapted Screenplay
My Prediction: The Father My Pick: The Father; Would I pick a non-nominated film? No
The way that The Father blends time and realities to replicate the confusion of Anthony as dementia sets in is an achievement in writing more than worthy of this Oscar
Original Screenplay
My Prediction: Promising Young Woman My Pick: Promising Young Woman; Would I pick a non-nominated film? No
Emerald Fennell’s sobering take on the rape revenge thriller imparts a sense of reality to the genre while also welcoming those who would be otherwise turned off from it.
Supporting Actor
My Prediction: Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah) My Pick: Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah); Would I pick a non-nominated film? No
While he is for some reason competing against LaKeith Stanfield the lead in the same movie, Kaluuya as the charismatic Black Panther leader Fred Hampton should be an easy choice for the Supporting Actor award.
Supporting Actress
My Prediction: Yuh-jung Youn (Minari) My Pick: Yuh-jung Youn (Minari); Would I pick a non-nominated film? No
The long time Korean actress’s first foray into American film put in an exquisite performance as the grandmother moving in to help watch the children in Minari.
Lead Actor
My Prediction: Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) My Pick: Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom); Would I pick a non-nominated film? Yes – John Magaro (First Cow)
While this may have been a closer race in different circumstances, Chadwick Boseman should be a shoo in to win the award posthumously. From the completely snubbed First Cow, John Magaro as the sensitive Cookie living his baking dream in the untamed west would get my vote if nominated.
Lead Actress
My Prediction: Viola Davis (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) My Pick: Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman); Would I pick a non-nominated film? Yes – Sidney Flanigan (Never Rarely Sometimes Always)
Most of the season, it has seemed like Carey Mulligan was going to win her first Oscar over Frances McDormand getting her third, but while I would not vote for her, Viola Davis in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom seems to have the momentum going into tonight’s ceremony. Of the non-nominated performances, Sidney Flanigan was so perfect in Never Rarely Sometimes Always that the film’s complete Oscar sub is frustrating.
Director
My Prediction: Chloé Zhao (Nomadland) My Pick: Chloé Zhao (Nomadland); Would I pick a non-nominated film? No
Chloé Zhao has an incredible auteurist voice which is front and center in Nomadland. She works at a deliberate pace and allows Frances McDormand to express every feeling that Fern experience. Without Zhao’s incredible control, Nomadland would not be the masterpiece that it is.
Picture
My Prediction: Nomadland My Pick: Nomadland; Would I pick a non-nominated film? Yes – Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Everything that I said for Director holds for best picture. Nomadland is a masterpiece, and I will be happy to see best picture go to a woman director for only the second time (Kathryn Bigelow won in 2010 for The Hurt Locker). And while I had Nomadland as my favorite film of the year when I put together my list in January, Never Rarely Sometimes Always has supplanted it in my mind. It is the most emotionally moving film of the year and what I would have wanted to see win had it been nominated.
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