Oscar Round-up

As every movie-related article will tell you, it's a weird year for the Oscars. Release dates were delayed, which has probably contributed to what is probably a weaker crop of films than usual. Weirder still, most of us haven't been to a movie theater in over a year. I think the last film I saw in theaters before the pandemic was 1917, which would have been in January of 2020 (and would have been as good a theater experience as any to tide me over for a while). Usually, I try hard to see as many of the Best Picture nominees as possible. Last year, I saw all but one. (Ford vs. Ferrari, which I rented shortly after the ceremony. It was fine.) This year I missed three, which was a bummer. As much as I prioritize seeing as many of these films as possible, I am not, as a matter of principle, willing to pay $20 on a rental.  The good news is that more nominees than ever are available on streaming, including non-English Language films and documentaries, so I ended up watching plenty.

I missed Minari, Judas and the Black Messiah, and The Father. Here are the other five, in the order I enjoyed them. Spoilers for all, of course!

5 - Mank

Here's a movie that relied too much on the audience's appreciation for another movie. I can't imagine really enjoying Mank, or even "getting" it, without having intimate familiarity with Citizen Kane. Heck, I've seen Citizen Kane a bunch of times, outside of a few moments of pride in feeling like I got the Easter Egg (the broken bottle to echo a broken snow globe, etc.), I was left cold. The dialogue was witty but so stylized it was hard for me to empathize with Mank, et al as real people. Clearly, this is a well-made film and between its black and white moodiness and its history of Old Hollywood, I'm not not surprised critics went nuts for it. Didn't do it for me, although bonus points for Bill Nye the Science Guy as Upton Sinclair, a truly inspired and deeply weird piece of casting.

4 - Nomadland

If Nomadland wins Best Picture - and I think it's the favorite - it will quite possibly be the Best Picture I've enjoyed least. Ever. It's not like I don't get it: Frances McDormand is a national treasure, the cinematography was brilliant, the politics are subtle but timely. But it was slow and meandering, and had only the bare bones of a plot. The character wasn't uninteresting. She's dealing so much grief - for a husband, but also for a town, a job, a way of life - and I wanted to see her find happiness, and end up with David Strathairn, even though I had a feeling it wasn't going to happen. But I felt like the movie was more interested in nomad culture itself than in Fern's character, and to me, the interest felt misplaced.

3 - Trial of the Chicago Seven

There's a big divide between #3 (a movie I liked) and #4 (a movie I didn't). This was a lot of fun. A fascinating moment in history, with obvious resonance for our own time. A quick, witty script by Aaron Sorkin, (still) at the top of his game. A whole bunch of excellent character actors having a good time together. A lot of the credit has rightly gone to Sasha Baron Cohen and Eddie Redmayne, as Abbie Hoffman and Tom Hayden, respectively, who represent two opposing ideologies even though they're on the same side. (Their argument before the end of the trial is one of the film's best scenes.) And how about Frank Langella in the totally thankless roll of Judge Julius Hoffman?

2 - A Promising Young Woman

This is the kind of superhero movie I can go for: one in which the heroine uses her wits to put every entitled, douche-y guy in his place. Take that, McLovin'! Like many superheroes, Cassandra has a tragic backstory, but the movie's greatest strength is its tone, which is full of energy, dark humor, against a backdrop of righteous anger. It's a great revenge story, and its twist ending feels earned. The problem for me is (SPOILER ALERT) the reveal that Ryan witnessed, and failed to intervene in the rape of Cassie's best friend. It's a gut punch, that left just feeling sad and kind of gross. Would it have killed the film's creators to depict one token example of non-toxic masculinity? Would the movie have really suffered for it? I get that to some, this kind of criticism seems based in my own male fragility. Maybe it is. Still, in the past year I've watched a bunch of films that deal with #MeToo-related issues: this one, The Assistant, and Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always, as well as the limited Netflix series Unbelievable. I liked all of them! I'm down with believing women! I think harassment and assault happen all too frequently and need to be stopped! But I mean... I also think a lot of guys are pretty decent. Or at least more than these movies seem to suggest.

1 - Sound of Metal

The synopsis sounds like standard tearjerker stuff: Musician has to cope with loss of hearing. What's amazing is that this film never felt overly melodramatic or manipulative. (And at several moments, it made me a little misty.) I think part of what works is Ruben's character: he's not especially kind of pleasant. He can be prone to outbursts. Basically, he's a human being instead of some sort of tragic angel, and  Riz Ahmed (who is awesome, by the way) makes us relate to his suffering, even when Ruben is being a bit of a jerk. Paul Raci's deaf guru provides a great counterbalance. The final sequence, set in Paris, is strange and poignant. And of course the sound design just makes the movie. Is it Best Picture material? All I know is it's a good one.

A few more nominated movies I saw:

Another Round (Best International Feature)

Diverting comedy-drama about four high school teachers in Denmark who start turning up to work buzzed. (Because what could possibly go wrong?) Every time Mads Mikkelsen is on  screen, I kind of can't look away. It has some sweet, funny, human moments (as well as some insights into Danish culture), but I didn't find it especially weighty.

Collectiv (Best International Feature and Best Documentary)

I wouldn't have believe that this year's best documentary is about the illegal dilution of cleaning supplies in Romanian hospitals, but here we are. Collectiv is like the Romanian answer to Spotlight, a movie in which you spent two hours rooting for intrepid reporters to expose a corrupt system. Those clips of the nightclub fire are totally horrifying.

My Octopus Teacher (Best Documentary)

It's one of the oldest stories: man meets octopus, man films octopus, man waxes poetic about his place in the universe. Seriously, it's a pretty incredible story, and the relationship between man and octopus is probably as close as we can hope to get to the nonfiction version of ET.

Crip Camp (Best Documentary)

It starts out as kind of a nostalgic reminiscence of Camp Jened, a summer camp that, during the 1970s, provided disabled kids with a safe space and way to find their voice. Many of the campers would one day establish themselves as important voices in the Disabled Rights Movement, which culminated with the twenty-five-day occupation of a San Francisco federal building. Crip Camp presents this relatively obscure chapter of recent history in an engaging and personal way. The title, which suggests gangs more than disabled right advocates, is the worst thing about it.

Life (Best Documentary)

An African-American wife raises three sons while her husband/their father serves time in prison. The combination of home movies and original footage is really affecting here. The film's main focus is the strength of the mother, who does seem like a total badass, and the human cost of having a father in prison. I get that the crime (armed robbery of a credit union) wasn't really the point. But... I wanted more about the crime and the ensuing punishment. The film seemed to take it as a foregone conclusion that the sentence (sixty years, I think) was longer than the crime warranted. And I'm prepared to believe that was the case. But why not spend at least a little proving it?