Why is it so difficult to watch the best movies of the year? I have not yet seen two of the ten films nominated for Best Picture - The Substance and I'm Still Here - and that bums me out.
But it was certainly no easy feat to see the other eight - plus many other good ones that weren't nominated. It took a little illegal bootlegging (shhh) and some convincing my wife to let me sneak out to the movies once in a while. All I'm saying is that I wish these films were a little more accessible. The Oscars are probably less relevant than they've ever been. There are many reasons for the loss of popularity, but the fact that it's so hard to watch the nominated films certainly doesn't help.
Anyway. Of the eight nominated Best Picture films I saw, here are my rankings:
8 - Nickel Boys
On paper, I should have loved Nickel Boys. It's an important gripping story about two black boys trying to navigate a brutal Jim Crow-era reformatory in Florida. But I found the storytelling kept me at a distance. The director, Ramell Ross, uses first-person shooting technique, which, while certainly innovative, also served to alienate me from the characters and action of the story. File this one under: films I wish I enjoyed more than I actually did. (I did like this piece of African jazz that played over an important montage near the end.)
7 - Emilia Perez
Describe the premise of Emilia Perez to anyone who hasn't seen it and you will sound insane: A lawyer helps a Mexican drug lord seek a sex change. And then later the two of them start an NGO to help victims of cartel violence. And it's a musical.
Not all of it lands. The hospital song and dance number is ridiculous out of context - and for that matter, in context. The ending really goes off the rails in particular. But you have to admire the chutzpah.
6 - A Complete Unknown
I'm kind of over musical biopics. There's a new one every year and they all have basically the same story beats. (Walk Hard: the Dewey Cox really hammered home this point to me.) I'm not even sure A Complete Unknown gave me much insight into who Dylan was and what drove him. But Chalamet is great. And it's a thrill to feel like you're witnessing an important moment in music history. Months later, I'm still smiling as I think about that performance of "The Times They are A-Changin'."
5 - Dune - Part 2
I'm generally not a sci-fi guy, but there was something about the Dune movies that just grabbed me. Maybe the downcast vibe and the desert setting. Maybe the relative simplicity of the story. After I watched the two movies, I briefly entertained the idea of picking up Frank Herbert's novel, before ultimately deciding there are many things I'd rather read instead. But still, the fact that I even considered reading the book is a testament to the movie.
The sandworm sequence is one of my favorite movie moments of the year. Lisan al Ghaib!
4 - The Brutalist
Hardcore cinephiles loved The Brutalist. To me, it was half a great movie. I was really invested in the first half: following WWII, talented architect Laszlo Toth immigrates to America from his native Hungary, finds his now-assimilated brother and his brother's new wife, builds a weird chair, gets a commission from the son of a rich man to build a library, builds the library, is yelled at by the rich man, gets addicted to heroin, falls out with his brother, is effectively adopted by the angry rich man. All of that was great.
And then things start to meander. Laszlo's wife joins him, Laszlo goes to Italy so the movie can show us cool shots of a marble quarry, there's a horrifying sexual assault, and later there's a weird epilogue set in 1980 back in Italy.
I found myself checking my watch during the second half. A few times. But hey, that first half was great.
3 - Wicked
It's a huge, overblown spectacle. It's really long. The music is good, sometimes great. This is not the kind of movie I usually like. (And I like musicals, so that's not why.)
Whatever. I watched it with my family and we all loved it. And that last half hour, Elphaba and Glinda arrive in Oz, flying monkeys, escape, "Defying Gravity." Damn. I had goosebumps, I had tears in my eyes, I was clutching one of my kids. I could be cynical, but really how many movies make you feel that way?
2 - Conclave
The process of picking a new pope is kind of fascinating (and, as it turns out, maybe more timely than the filmmakers expected). But what makes Conclave great is that it could have been about pretty much any kind of election. The important part is the jockeying for votes, the backroom dealings, and the secret alliances behind the decision.
Conclave has been categorized as a drama/thriller, which seems odd when you consider that it's a movie about old men talking in rooms. (The youngest principal actor, Carlos Diehz, is fifty-three years old. I just looked it up.) But I was invested from beginning to end. And by the way, I did not see that ending coming.
1 - Anora
When I need to quickly recommend Anora, I describe it as Pretty Woman, if it were directed by a really gritty Indie director. I'm not sure this does it justice. Like few other movies I've seen, it covers such a range of human emotions. It's thrilling, and romantic, and hilarious, and sometimes achingly sad. More than any other movie on this list, it also looks like the real world. The sequence where Annie and the three goons drive through obscure Russian neighborhoods in search of Ivan feels like a private tour of Hidden Brooklyn.
Sean Baker is fast becoming my favorite director in Hollywood. (I loved Tangerine and The Florida Project too, though I haven't seen Red Rocket yet.) Plus, he's from Summit, NJ, right next to where I grew up. So that's cool.
If Anora wins the big prize - and I'm starting to think it will - it will be the first time since the 2020 (Parasite) that the Best Picture winner was also my favorite of the nominees.
Other good movies I saw this year:
Good One
A Real Pain
Juror #2
Sing Sing
The Wild Robot
Gladiator 2
Thelma
Kneecap
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