Over the Moon - 1 nomination

Best Animated Feature Film - Glen Keane , Gennie Rim , Peilin Chou 

Over the Moon is the most underrated film of the year.  When I saw it, nobody had seen it or even heard about it.  The animation is exquisite and it is a musical to boot, with truly extraordinary Broadway singers singing gorgeous songs that somehow were also overlooked in the Original Song category.

The story is of a young girl, Fei Fei, a smart, wonderful kid still coping with the tragic loss of her mother (so Disney, amiright? Why does there always have to be a dead parent?  Sheesh.) who rockets herself (and her about to be step-brother) to the moon in search of her idol, the moon goddess Chang'e.  Chang'e has experienced grief and loss herself, and is awaiting a gift that will spark the return of her love, Houyi.  Chang'e tells Fei Fei that Fei Fei has a gift that Chang'e requires to bring Houyi back.  The girl and the goddess find that their shared experience of grief is what is holding each of them back, and they find peace when discovering all of the love they have in their lives, even without their lost loved ones.

I can't say enough good things about this film.  If you're like me, you remember how the colors of the movie Avatar affected you when you first saw them in all their 3-D glory.  The colors of this film - both audio and visual - burn so brightly that you don't need a child with you to justify watching it.  It's just magnificent.

Watch the trailer here.

Onward - 1 nomination

 

Best Animated Feature Film - Dan Scanlon, Kori Rae 

On Ian Lightfoot's 16th birthday, his mother gives him a gift from his deceased father who he had never met.  The gift is a scepter and a magical incantation which will bring the father back for just a day.  When the spell only goes sort of right, Ian and his brother decide to embark on a quest to complete the spell and see their dad again. Naturally, their mother finds out about these shenanigans, and decides to chase them on a manticore.  In this magical land, they encounter the most delightful obstacles like a tiny fairy biker gang and much more.  It is everything you'd want from a Pixar film, with a hint of Dungeons and Dragons.

The cast is a who's who with the leads voiced by Tom Holland and Chris Pratt, while the mom and manticore are voiced by Julia Louis Dreyfus and Olivia Spencer.

Onward is nominated for Animated Feature and is utterly adorable.  I don't have any little kids and I enjoyed watching it myself.

Watch the trailer here.

Hillbilly Elegy - 2 nominations

 

Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling Eryn Krueger Mekash  Matthew W. Mungle  Patricia Dehaney

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role - Glenn Close

I loved the book.  Hillbilly Elegy is based on the true story of JD Vance who grew up in Appalachia with a drug addict mother who has bouts of sobriety but can't get out of her own way; and a strong grandmother who was there for him when life got too hard.  In the film, JD is called back home to help his mother right at the moment when he has the most important interview of his life out of Yale Law School.  JD walks the tense line between escaping and managing his difficult past.  

What makes the book extraordinarily beautiful is how carefully and intentionally Vance looks at his childhood.  This film attempts that, but then adds in this weird high stakes "which life will he choose"/"will he make it in time" which is totally unnecessary to the story.  But when the film is focusing on his family and his childhood, we get a glimpse into a life about which most of us know very little.  The movie has a lot to teach us about the cycle of poverty and how difficult it is to escape, even when one is ready to "lift himself up by the bootstraps."

The performances are unsurprisingly magnificent - Amy Adams and Glenn Close deliver sensitive and difficult portrayals of women doing their best in a truly hard life.  I dearly hope that Close will win her first Oscar this year (her 8th nomination with no wins, the most for an acting category), ironically, she is up against Olivia Coleman who nabbed the Oscar from Close's clutches the last time they went head to head in 2019.

A lot of critics viciously panned this film (it has a 26% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics, while at the same time, has an audience score of 84%).  If you know nothing about the book, it is just fine and worth watching if you can't find something else.  I don't think it deserved the hate it got, but I don't think it made the most of the real story.  If I had known absolutely nothing about the book, I think I would have said it was good enough to spend a couple of hours watching it, but wouldn't have insisted that everyone I know watch it immediately (like I do with Nomadland and One Night in Miami, seriously, have you watched those yet???)

Watch the trailer here.

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan - 2 nominations

 

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role - Maria Bakalova

Best Adapted Screenplay Sacha Baron Cohen (screenplay by/story by)  Anthony Hines (screenplay by/story by)  Dan Swimer (screenplay by/story by)  Peter Baynham (screenplay by)  Erica Rivinoja (screenplay by)  Dan Mazer (screenplay by)  Jena Friedman (screenplay by)  Lee Kern (screenplay by)  Nina Pedrad (story by)

Oy, caramba, the day has arrived in which I try to describe the Borat sequel, or as the title offers, the subsequent moviefilm.  First, for the few of you who have not seen either Borat film nor any of Sacha Baron Cohen's other shows or movies, you should know that he uses his original characters to play in the world authentically in order to reveal something about the people with whom he is interacting.  So, he will go to a baker and ask for her to write "Jews will not replace us" on a cake, and we see that she is happy to do it with no pushback whatsoever (good thing it wasn't a cake for a gay wedding, eh?). Or he'll sing a song at a rally and get the crowd to gleefully sing along a full throated, "“Obama, what we gonna do? Inject him with the Wuhan flu. Hillary Clinton, what we gonna do? Lock her up like we used to do. Fauci don’t know his head from his ass. He must be smoking grass. I ain’t lying, it ain’t no jokes. Corona is a liberal hoax. Dr. Fauci, what we gonna do? Inject him with the Wuhan flu. WHO, what we gonna do? Chop ’em up like the Saudis do!”

It is no small feat to pull off these films because they are almost entirely improvised, and in this case, given that the people Baron Cohen is exposing are armed to the teeth, these scenes come with no small amount of danger were he or his co-star Maria Bakalova to be exposed.  For him, having already made a film as Borat, this endeavor came at great personal risk.  Bakalova is put in several very awkward situations as she is playing a young teenager being offered to Mike Pence as a bride and literally, only one person in the entire film counsels her that she doesn't have to be human trafficked - and you guessed it, it took a sensible black woman to speak this truth to this "child." (In real life, she is in her 20's but looks younger.)

This film has its sites almost entirely set on the Trump revolution.  The best part of this ruse for me is always that when he is speaking in "Kazakh," Baron Cohen is speaking in fluent and beautifully accented Hebrew.  A special screw you to the anti-Semites who don't realize that Baron Cohen is actually a Jew.

In fact, there is one scene that particularly touches my heart.  "Borat" goes to a synagogue dressed as a "Jew" (in completely stereotypical and offensive gear) and he meets Holocaust survivors.  He expresses anti-Semitic bile and what do they do?  They embrace him, they educate him, they humanize themselves for him.  I am told that Sacha Baron Cohen NEVER reveals his true identity once he has finished filming a scene, but that he made an exception for this one experience.  I hope that's true.

The movie manages to be funny, but it is still utterly terrifying for even the most moderate politically on both sides. This should be a wake up call.  It reminds me of an old Spanish saying, "Dime con quien andas, y te dije quien eres."  Tell me who you walk with, and I'll tell you who you are.  Trumpers "who just liked his policies," this film is specifically for you.

Watch the trailer here.

One Night in Miami - 3 nominations

 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role - Leslie Odom Jr.

Best Adapted Screenplay - Kemp Powers (screenplay by)

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song) Leslie Odom Jr. (music and lyric by)  Sam Ashworth (music and lyric by)  For song "Speak Now"

I have been eagerly awaiting this post about a movie that I loved so much.  The story imagines a night after newly minted Muslim Muhammad Ali wins a big fight in which four friends gather - Cassius Clay (Eli Goree, and Cassius is still going back and forth on his name), Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge), and Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr) to celebrate, to reflect on the civil rights movement, the role of celebrity and using one's voice to speak out against injustice, and even to decide the age-old question, is it enough to succeed despite obstacles like systemic and overt racism, or must one use one's celebrity for the cause?  And isn't that so relevant in the age when celebrities are criticized for using their platforms, while simultaneously knowing that change comes with those with privilege speak out.  (It's "shut up and sing" versus "silence equals complicity.")

Everything about this film is magic.  Regina King's directorial debut is magnificent, and honestly, I'm just furious she was overlooked in the Director category.  It feels like a play but also one that has been perfectly adapted to the screen.  I could easily have awarded the first-ever 4-way tie Oscars to the four men on screen for lead actor (despite Odom's having been relegated to the Supporting Actor category).  The song is powerful but in the perfect Leslie Odom Jr way - the man can deliver a sledgehammer of a song with a softness that kills me.  The song makes me cry every time I hear it - because truly people, is there anything more relevant than "SPEAK NOW" as a call to action?

In addition to King's unforgivable snub, I would have liked more acting nominations, an editing nomination, a cinematography nomination, and an original score nomination.  I'm disappointed that this film hasn't gotten more PR and the attention that it truly deserves.  In a year when Mank can get 10 Oscar nominations, it's absurd that One Night in Miami totals out at 3.  See this film.  And, if it truly inspires you, I highly recommend the documentary, "The Two Killings of Sam Cooke" which examines Cooke's life in much more depth.

Hear the nominated song, "Speak Now" here.

See the trailer here.

Pieces of a Woman - 1 nomination

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role - Vanessa Kirby 

This is a tough one to describe without revealing important parts of the story, so I'll be general in my description of the film.  Vanessa Kirby plays Martha who is about to have a baby with husband Sean (Shia LeBeouf).  It is a very specific birth plan for a home birth with a doula, who unexpectedly is delayed due to another lengthy birth, and she sends another trusted and experienced doula in her place. I'm cautious to reveal too much, because the tension of the story should be experienced without knowing the outcome, but needless to say, it's a film and so there is a tragic incident with which Martha and Sean must deal with, with the support of their family.  Naturally, even those relationships are fraught and come with the regular ups and downs of family support.

Though he is not nominated, Shia LeBeouf does deserve some recognition.  I have trouble connecting with him as an actor, and so every time he delivers an amazing performance, I am somehow surprised.  Vanessa Kirby also delivers a strong performance, but frankly, I'd have nominated him over her, and I can't articulate why.

Pieces of a Woman definitely has triggers for those who may be dealing with loss and grief, and I thought it was an ok film.  Despite the high tension scenes, most of it plods along pretty slowly and is decidedly forgettable - this is not one we will be talking about next year or even next month.

Watch the trailer here.

The United States vs. Billie Holiday - 1 nomination

 

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role - Andra Day 

"Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees"

Music and Lyrics by Abel Meeropol, recorded by Billie Holiday, 1939

Everything that I've read about the real story of Billie Holiday suggests that this film is not so much a true story, but very much inspired by one.  The premise is that the government went after the singer ruthlessly because of the song Strange Fruit, which seemed to be sparking a revolution.  The CIA plants an operative in Holiday's inner circle, and he betrays her again and again.  Her very serious drug addiction make the performance particularly heartbreaking.

There is a through line in this film in which Holiday is prevented from singing the most important song of her career, Strange Fruit, and that what finally breaks her is seeing an actual black man hanging from a tree.  I found this moderately offensive.  Billie Holiday never needed to be motivated by seeing a man lynched - she knew what was happening in the world, she was horrified by it, and she talked and sang about it.  It's absurd to suggest that the only thing that could get her to be brave enough to sing the song on stage is seeing it herself while on tour.  Other than this small quibble, the story is compelling.

But let's talk about Andra Day and her chances at winning the Oscar.  

First, let's look at some Oscars history with actresses taking on the roles of real historical singers and bringing them alive.
Sissy Spacek duplicates Loretta Lynn and wins the Oscar.  
Renee Zellweger duplicates Judy Garland and wins the Oscar.
Reese Witherspoon duplicates June Carter Cash and wins the Oscar.

Second, there are the performances of actresses looking directly in the camera and singing the heartbreaking song with so much emotion that they win the Oscar right there and then.

Anne Hathaway sings "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables and wins the Oscar.

Jennifer Hudson sings "You're Gonna Love Me" from Dreamgirls and wins the Oscar.

Andra Day's performance as Billie Holiday can't be denied.  Yes, she has that signature scratchy voice (even a little bit prematurely in the film) and she sounds exactly like the original.  Then, she looks that camera directly in the eye - it's relentless - and she sings the song with anger and sadness oozing from her eyelashes... 

I've made my case.  Andra Day should absolutely win the Oscar.  The film is worth seeing not for its historical accuracy, but for the unparalleled performance delivered by Day.  It was astonishing.

See the trailer here.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom - 5 nominations

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role - Chadwick Boseman (Posthumously)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role - Viola Davis

Best Achievement in Production Design Mark Ricker (production design)  Karen O'Hara (set decoration)  Diana Stoughton (set decoration)

Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling Sergio Lopez-Rivera  Mia Neal  Jamika Wilson

Best Achievement in Costume Design - Ann Roth

It's a hot day in 1920's Chicago thanks to the weather, the music, and tensions rising among Ma Rainey's band, her music management, and even her girlfriend and family.  Everybody's got a bone to pick, and some have even bigger dreams to fulfill.  The heart of the film captures the day of a recording session, and boy, the knives are out - metaphorically and literally.  Of course the leads are spectacular - Viola Davis could read the phone book and win a Tony, and Chadwick Boseman is maybe the presumptive posthumous winner of the Lead Actor category.  Inherent to the film's story is the utterly transparent racism endemic to the music industry - black people are talents to be used, not partners with whom to build an empire.

The thing about the film - which may be no surprise given that George C. Wolfe (Tony award winner) is the director - is that it doesn't feel like a film, it feels like a stage play.  But that's also no surprise given that this film is adapted from August Wilson's 1982 play of the same name.  I wouldn't call this a criticism so much as an observation, but the transition to film didn't make much difference in how I would imagine the play was staged.  There weren't many sets, not many actors, when the heat was on from the actors they played "to the back of the room" even when there was no room.

Fans of the blog will know that Production Design and Costume generally accompany strong period pieces, and that's true for this film, as well.  In particular, Ma Rainey's exquisite costuming captured the real singer's style and flair, and heck if the incredible makeup job didn't transform the gorgeous Viola Davis into a reasonable facsimile of the historical figure.

This film is not for everyone - if you can't stand sitting through a dramatic stage play, you won't much like Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.  But if you are like me and a day at the theatre is better than candy, then this one will punch you in the face.

See the trailer here.

 

The Father - 6 nominations

 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role - Anthony Hopkins

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role - Olivia Colman

Best Adapted Screenplay - Christopher Hampton (screenplay by), Florian Zeller (screenplay by)

Best Achievement in Film Editing - Yorgos Lamprinos

Best Achievement in Production Design - Peter Francis (production design), Cathy Featherstone (set decoration)

Best Motion Picture of the Year - David Parfitt (producer), Jean-Louis Livi (producer),  Philippe Carcassonne (producer)

As my husband always reminds me, the Oscars is not the playground of comedic films, and especially not the Best Picture category.  The Father is a brilliant film about a man experiencing middle to advanced dementia, and the burden that places on his daughter, trying (but not always knowing how) to do the right thing for his care.  Much of the film is one scene lived through the father's experience - with different actors playing different roles representing how a person with dementia might remember someone one day and not recognize that person the next day; with a timeline that seems to repeat itself and scenes that don't follow a linear path, with the same confusion that the father experiences day in and day out.  While there have been plenty of Oscar nominated films about the experience of Alzheimer's or dementia (Still Alice, Away From Her, The Savages, Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me) none gives the first-person experience of what it feels like until The Father.

The film is intended to be confusing, and truly the editing is the star of this movie - though Oscar winners Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman remind us with every word and every expression why these two actors are truly giants.  The only nomination I found truly confusing was the production design which worked, but was not truly special - no matter, this award mostly goes to period pieces and I can't really see this film nabbing the gold.

Unlike most of the Best Picture nominees,  I can't say that this film is for everyone.  Dementia touches people's lives differently and for some, this film will just be too hard to watch.  It is a highly original take and it feels true.  I don't know enough about the disease to know how accurately it is portrayed, but it is certainly the first time I can recall that a film tackles the subject from the inside - we aren't watching what happens to someone living with dementia, we are living it with him.  It's a powerful film.

Watch the trailer here.

The Trial of the Chicago 7 - 6 nominations

Best Motion Picture of the Year Marc Platt (producer)  Stuart M. Besser (as Stuart Besser) (producer)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role - Sacha Baron Cohen

Best Original Screenplay - Aaron Sorkin (written by)

Best Achievement in Film Editing - Alan Baumgarten

Best Achievement in Cinematography - Phedon Papamichael

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song) Celeste (as Celeste Waite) (lyric by)  Daniel Pemberton (music by/lyric by)  For song "Hear My Voice"

Possibly the most relevant of the Best Picture nominees, The Trial of the Chicago 7 asks today's questions about how to make change, can violence be justified, can words incite people, are ideas dangerous, and what is the best way to channel rage into social justice.  It is inspired by true events wherein 8 defendants - Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin (of the Yippies), David Dellinger and Tom Hayden (Students for a Democratic Society), Rennie Davis, John Froines, and Lee Weiner (National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam), and Bobby Seale (Black Panthers) - were charged with conspiracy to cross state lines to incite a riot. The presiding Judge Hoffman conducted himself anything but impartially (see, not just this film but historical records) and had all of his substantive decisions in the case overturned by the Seventh Circuit.   Seale was notably barely involved with the protests, was denied the right to act as his own attorney, and refused a continuance to wait until his post-surgery lawyer was able to appear before the courts - eventually Judge Hoffman released Seale from the case.

I would hardly call myself a historian, but I learned so much from this film, enough to want to do additional research about the real trial of the 7.  There is so much more to know, but the editing back and forth between the trial and the events of the day make for a very very compelling film (and this is the first time in the history of this blog that I've used "very" twice.). Of course the performances are magnificent, this film assembles some of the finest actors of the day.  I don't know if anyone else has a visceral reaction to Borat as Abbie Hoffman, but it's a dazzling portrayal.

But this film is meant to be so much more than a movie.  It is intended to be mirror for what is happening in our world now.  We are meant to be judge and jury of what we do today, of the opinions we hold now, of the way we view and talk and scream and protest those who disagree with us, even those who appear to be on "our side."  Don't watch this film as historical fiction, that would make it just another fantastic Sorkin production that's finished when the movie concludes.  Watch this film as historical teacher, and decide which part you want to play in making social change.

Listen to the nominated song, "Hear My Voice" here.

Watch the trailer here.

 

Sound of Metal - 6 nominations

 

Best Motion Picture of the Year Bert Hamelinck (producer)  Sacha Ben Harroche (producer)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role - Riz Ahmed

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role - Paul Raci

Best Sound Nicolas Becker  Jaime Baksht  Michelle Couttolenc  Carlos Cortés Navarrete (as Carlos Cortés)  Phillip Bladh

Best Original Screenplay Darius Marder (screenplay by/story by)  Abraham Marder (screenplay by)  Derek Cianfrance (story by)

Best Achievement in Film Editing - Mikkel E.G. Nielsen

Sound of Metal is the unlikeliest of Best Picture nominees, and is one of my top 10 favorite films of 2020. Riz Ahmed plays Ruben, a heavy metal drummer on the road with his girlfriend and bandmate, when he notices that he has drastically lost most of his hearing.  This doesn't help his drug addiction and miraculously, he finds a deaf sober living community - one which can help him get clean and find his new life as a deaf man.  It is a place for him to learn sign language and deal with his demons.  When Ruben learns about cochlear implants - a very controversial and polarizing technology in the deaf community - his safe place makes it clear that this community is for deaf people only and if he is ready to make peace with his new life as a deaf man, he is welcome to stay, but if not, he must leave.  (For a more in depth view of the two sides of the cochlear implant debate and the discussion within the deaf community, see Oscar nominated documentary, Sound and Fury, available on Amazon Prime and for rent on Apple+.)

I've had a lifelong obsession with sign language and at one time in my life, could easily carry on a simple conversation in sign.  So yes, this movie already had very soft ground for me to like it.  But the performances delivered by Paul Raci (who looks like he has been signing his whole life) and Riz Ahmed bring the excellence of this movie to a whole new level.

Truthfully, when a friend recommended the film, I watched it because he said it was excellent, but I was skeptical.  I have no interest in heavy metal music.  Little did I know that this movie is a character study, it's about transformation; it's about what to hold onto and what to let go of, what to mourn and what to birth, about the difference between "making the best of it" and "making the most of it."  Maybe that's true for most stories dealing with addiction recovery, but this one is special.

If you have time to see only 3 films from the Oscars pool, this should be one of them.

Watch the trailer here.

Promising Young Woman - 5 nominations

Best Motion Picture of the Year Ben Browning (producer)  Ashley Fox (producer)  Emerald Fennell (producer)  Josey McNamara (producer)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role - Carey Mulligan

Best Achievement in Directing - Emerald Fennell

Best Original Screenplay - Emerald Fennell (written by)

Best Achievement in Film Editing - Frédéric Thoraval

Promising Young Woman tells the story of Cassandra (Carey Mulligan), a medical school dropout cum coffee barista who is handing out street justice to those involved in a trauma-inducing crime she and her best friend experienced while in medical school.  In the process, she has a little side hustle of trapping and scaring the hell out of potential rapists and self-defined "good guys" who take home drunk women that they might "get lucky" and luck themselves right into raping said women.  Cassandra won't stop until she has sought revenge against the rapist, the cheering by-standers, and those professionals in the college system who are impotent or unwilling to bring to account those who perpetrate criminal behavior; because it's difficult to prove, because it hurts the university's crime statistics, and worst of all... because the rapist has "such a promising future."

Sounds heavy, right?  Not so with this impressive film that manages to inspire emotions that run the gambit - there are really funny parts in this revenge movie.  There are tense parts, there are scary parts, there are emotional parts, and all of the parts merge to form a delicious whole.  Credit is due to Carey Mulligan who is so utterly likable and so brilliantly tactical that we root for her, even as she does her worst.  While I doubt that this film will win Best Picture, the screenplay has a shot.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that I used to work in student affairs and the professionals I know have always taken rape quite seriously as a crime, and my observation is that they put the students who report as their top priorities.  I worry that their good work comes into question with films like this, but having said that, there is enough evidence that many universities have failed in their duty of care for the students that this story is easily believable.  In fact, if this film speaks to you, I highly recommend another film called, "The Hunting Ground," for which Diane Warren and Lady Gaga received an Oscar nomination for Original Song.  This documentary captures the realities of rape on campus and what university administrators are doing - or not doing - about it.

Promising Young Woman is worth it for the performances alone, but is worthy of all nominations it has received.

Watch the trailer here.

 

Nomadland - 6 nominations

 

Best Motion Picture of the Year Frances McDormand (producer)  Peter Spears (producer)  Mollye Asher (producer)  Dan Janvey (producer)  Chloé Zhao (producer)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role - Frances McDormand

Best Achievement in Directing - Chloé Zhao

Best Adapted Screenplay - Chloé Zhao (written for the screen by)

Best Achievement in Film Editing - Chloé Zhao

Best Achievement in Cinematography - Joshua James Richards

Sure, the film begins by setting the premise that a town shut down due to the Great Recession and gives the impression that Fern (Frances McDormand) is living in her van because of that.  Then we learn that her husband died and we start to think that grief sent her into a nomadic lifestyle - one that has her working seasonal gig jobs to earn enough money to live on, but nothing lucrative enough to support setting down roots and living in a permanent home or apartment.

Then the movie quietly unfolds as we see communities of people who live this way - as nomads - with intention.  The freedom, the open space, the room to breathe, the friends made along the way, these are what drive these people to drive.  There isn't a lot of dialogue which is just the playground for Frances McDormand to take her gorgeously weathered face and tell us everything we need to know.  We breathe as she breathes.  It is well known by now that many of the people featured in this film are authentic nomads.  Chloe Zhao is not the first to use real people in a film, but McDormand is one of the few great actors who looks and feels at home among them - she doesn't outshine them with her performance and the brilliance of it is that she adjusts to them, becoming one of them in a way that only an actor of her caliber can do.

I must make mention of the cinematography, the exquisite character brought to life in this film.  I'm not such a nature lover - I appreciate its beauty and then I go back to my hotel.  This film takes nature and elevates it to become a partner in the nomad's life.  The reason for the life and not the decoration of it.  My only disappointment with this film is that it was not nominated for Original Score, which perfectly adorns the backdrop of the story.

Nomadland is not only a best picture nominee, it's a best picture.  If you can only see three of the nominees this year, make Nomadland one of them.

See the trailer here.

Minari - 6 nominations

 

Best Motion Picture of the Year - Christina Oh (producer)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role - Steven Yeun

Best Achievement in Directing - Lee Isaac Chung

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role - Youn Yuh-jung

Best Original Screenplay - Lee Isaac Chung (written by)

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score) - Emile Mosseri

A family whose father has big dreams moves to Arkansas.  They have been living in California with the parents working as "chicken sex-ers" and have also taken day jobs to do the same in their new small town.  (Chicken sexers are people who spend their days looking at baby chicks to figure out what gender the baby chicks are - a job that I, frankly, didn't even know existed.). But the father has also purchased a home with a field to create a small farm with Korean vegetables and fruits, counting on an idea that a growing Korean community in Arkansas would want access to their traditional foods with no local vendor to provide them freshly grown.  But the mom is not so sure about this idea, particularly because the town is quite far from quality medical care, and the small son has a serious heart murmur issue.  She invites her mother (who is a bit of a spitfire) to move in with them from Korea and now the family lives in an on-property trailer with three adults and two children.  

Minari is a story of dream-chasing, family relationships, and priority-setting.  This film has beautiful moments, gut wrenching moments, and everything in between.  It is the honest, funny, and sometimes tragic story of a family finding their place in the world.  It is about identity, but also about community.  At its core, it's about adult relationships and how people who love each other don't always actively value or invest in each other.  Minari is a quiet film and the acting (in two languages) is superb.  

While I doubt that it will win Best Picture, it's a lovely movie and I recommend it highly.

Watch the trailer here.

Mank - 10 nominations

 

Best Motion Picture of the Year Ceán Chaffin (producer)  Eric Roth (producer)  Douglas Urbanski (producer)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role - Gary Oldman

Best Achievement in Directing - David Fincher

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role - Amanda Seyfried

Best Sound Ren Klyce  Jeremy Molod  David Parker  Nathan Nance  Drew Kunin

Best Achievement in Production Design Donald Graham Burt (production design)  Jan Pascale (set decoration)

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score) Trent Reznor  Atticus Ross

Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling Gigi Williams  Kimberley Spiteri  Colleen LaBaff

Best Achievement in Costume Design - Trish Summerville

Best Achievement in Cinematography - Erik Messerschmidt

Mank is a highly stylized film following the life of Herman J Mankowicz - an aging, alcoholic screenwriter upon whom Orson Welles calls to write Citizen Kane. In the shadow of the rise of Nazi Germany and a controversial gubernatorial race, people read the script and see parallels between the protagonist and William Randolph Hearst, and the comparison is hardly flattering.  Through a relationship with Hearst's lover played adorably by Amanda Seyfried, Mank finds himself introduced to WRH and the fireworks ensue.  And honestly, that's just some of what happens in this overly long, somewhat disappointing film.

Don't get me wrong, I liked it, and I sat all the way through it (which is hardly a selling point). The black and white cinematography was a great choice for creating the setting, the style, and the tone bringing us back to the great black and white films of the 50's.  The costumes, production design, and hair styling do the same.

Have you ever watched a film that is so intentional but so over the top about being a period piece that you occasionally say out loud a real throwback Edward G Robinson-esque, "yeah, see" while the film plays on your screen?  (Just me? Cool cool cool.) If you never have, I swear while you watch this film, you will.  And yet, it's the most nominated film of the year.  

The parts are good - the cast is good, the directing is good, the design elements are good, and yet somehow, the whole is not as good as the sum of its parts.  Unless you feel passionately about seeing all of the nominated Best Picture films (an instinct I certainly understand), I wouldn't prioritize this one.  Instead, just watch Citizen Kane.  Now that's worth it.

To watch the trailer: