Napoleon - 3 Nominations

 

• Best Achievement in Visual Effects

• Charley Henley
• Luc-Ewen Martin-Fenouillet
• Simone Coco
• Neil Corbould

• Best Achievement in Production Design

• Arthur Max (production designer)
• Elli Griff (set decorator)

• Best Achievement in Costume Design

• Janty Yates
• David Crossman

This biopic chronicles Napoleon Bonaparte's life story, his rise to power, and his famous relationship with his (mostly) beloved wife, Josephine.  He spends his early years in battle and rises to popular acclaim through his prowess as a tactician, and his ability to rally people behind him. Eventually, amid calls from the people, Bonaparte is anointed as Emperor by the Pope, and he continues to win serious battles against the Austrian and Russian armies. Meanwhile, a drama ensues at home when his mother realizes that Josephine is unable to produce an heir, and she pushes Napoleon into an affair with a mistress who is able to do so.

Once he commands the troops to a devastating loss at Waterloo, Bonaparte is exiled to the island of St. Helena where he writes his memoirs until his death.

It was good to see Joaquin Phoenix execute this role so beautifully, as I find him hit and miss. There is no question that the three awards for which this film is nominated - all technical categories - are well deserved.  Josephine's period piece dresses alone garnered the nomination, and the palaces in France did the same for Production Design.  This Ridley Scott film will hardly go down in history as a great biopic, but if you have interest in the history of this time period, it's certainly worth watching.

El Conde - 1 nomination

 

• Best Achievement in Cinematography

• Edward Lachman

This film is bonkers in the best way! Here's a fantastical film that proposes that Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was a vampire, and he is now 250 years old and has determined it's time to die. He gathers his adult children and his wife who are primarily concerned with inheritance, and one member of the family invites a Christian nun to exorcise the demon and murder him.  Of course the nun is charmed by Pinochet and they end up becoming intimate, and he turns her into a vampire! More shenanigans ensue, but the movie is charming, funny, and totally engaging.  The characters and the plot are so engaging in this film, it's a spoof of the vampire genre but has terrific twists and turns throughout.  The film is clever and rarely gory nor about classic vampire tropes.  When I saw that there was a nominee that is a vampire picture, I was not happy.  This is not my genre. Yet El Conde turns the genre so on its head that I was shocked to discover that I really enjoyed it.

Spider Man: Across the Spiderverse - 1 nomination

 

• Best Animated Feature Film

• Kemp Powers 
• Justin K. Thompson 
• Phil Lord 
• Christopher Miller 
• Amy Pascal

Spider Man is a multiverse film making it a little bit tough to summarize in a blog post. Our Spider Man, Miles, goes on an epic adventure with Spider Woman, Gwen, and he meets a universe with a ton of other versions of Spider People.  They encounter a villain named "the Spot" who is traveling across the multiverse to gather powers from other super villains.  The triggering of "canon events' - key moments in people's lives that alter their futures, and when you travel to other worlds which have potentially not yet had your canon event, you sometimes discover that people who are important to you are alive, while others who are important to you are not.  The film is surprisingly logical when you are watching it, and surprisingly difficult to describe.

But here are some key highlights.  Spider verse is likely this year's film with the hands down most impressive animation. The story is engaging but it would be nothing without the superb and creative approach to this animated feature, and that just blew me away.  It's a fun one and you can watch it with your slightly older kids.

Robot Dreams - 1 nomination

 

• Best Animated Feature Film

• Pablo Berger 
• Ibon Cormenzana 
• Ignasi Estapé 
• Sandra Tapia

This is the winner of the Hidden Gem Award!  Each year, I select a film that I would never had heard of if not for its Oscars nomination that I end up loving. What a sweet, lovely, adorable film that says so much without a single line of dialogue.

Dog (that is his name) is lonely and he orders a robot to become his friend. Robot arrives and the two build a beautiful friendship with fun, activities, and even just the beautiful opportunity to hold someone's hand when they walk down the street. One day, they go to the beach and have a fantastic day, when the robot seizes up and cannot be moved for love or money.  Dog races home to get his toolkit, only to discover that the beach has been closed and locked up with no access until the following June! Robot has dreams of reuniting with Dog while he waits on the sand. Meanwhile, Dog finds a new robot friend though his first robot remains on his mind.  Without giving away the ending, I can't recommend Robot Dreams enough. It's a testament to the power of friendship and how vital it is not to be lonely.  It's worth it!

International Features

IO CAPITANO: Italy

While international films can be difficult to watch, this one was absolutely brutal.  Seydou and his cousin Moussa leave Senegal dreaming of going to Europe to find jobs and send money home.  They are 15 years old and they know that it can be risky, but they have saved their money and set out not telling anyone from their family. The hardships they endure include being kidnapped, beaten, starving, and near death more times than I can count, and the film shows both the horrors and the occasional kindnesses they receive along the way. What shows through more than anything is not just their grit, but especially Seydou's humanity, his sense of morality and character, and that nothing will stop him from achieving his ultimate goal. This is an incredible cinematic feat, but it is NOT for the weak of heart.  I cried many times.

PERFECT DAYS: Japan

I really really wanted to love this movie.  It is from Wim Wenders who is responsible for movie masterpieces like Paris, Texas. And, the lead character Hirayama who is a diligent toilet cleaner by trade (and whoa, the public toilets featured are nicer than some people's homes for the designs and architecture, plus the Japanese people must be much more restrained than public toilets you find in the United States, so often soiled by the grossest of indiscretions). He appreciates all of the small things in life, and his daily routine, from which he never deviates, is simple.  He is an avid reader and a music lover. But this slice of life movie offers very little by way of plot (and I think that might be the point) - the first nearly 45 minutes is two full day rotations of his routine from dawn to dusk. I rarely enjoy slice of life films, and though this was certainly one of the better ones, if you like an engaging plot, this might not be for you.

SOCIETY OF THE SNOW: Spain

Society of the Snow is actually nominated for two Oscars, including for Makeup and Hairstyling.

On the other hand, Society of the Snow is Spain's version of the plane crash in the Andes. In the United States, the film was called Alive, and this is a far superior telling of the experience. After the crash, those left alive went through horror after horror, and the plane crash itself is responsible for only some of the deaths on the mountain. The crew had to balance conserving their small number of resources with building enough muscle and strength to try to hike their way out of there. The performances and indeed, the makeup and hairstyling, are phenomenal.

THE TEACHERS' LOUNGE: Germany

Carla, a teacher in a public school loves her profession, and loves her students. Some thefts in the teachers' lounge leave one of her students accused of the crime. She decides to set up a sting operation, leaving her wallet exposed and her computer open and recording. When a colleague's uniquely patterned shirt is identified in the video, all hell breaks loose at the school. Carla is attacked for gathering evidence illegally, and the colleague's son (one of Carla's students) begins to act out as he tries to discover why his mother has been placed on administrative leave.  It's an emotional journey as Carla begins to doubt her own accusation and the other teachers get whipped into a frenzy.  It's a really good movie that is absolutely worth your time.

THE ZONE OF INTEREST: United Kingdom

As a reminder, The Zone of Interest is actually nominated for 5 Oscars including Best Picture, and you can find the review of this film earlier in the blog list.

Documentary Features

 

BOBI WINE: THE PEOPLE'S PRESIDENT: Moses Bwayo, Christopher Sharp and John Battsek

Bobi Wine is a famous musician in Uganda who uses his notoriety to challenge the 35-year term of the nation's President. As with any longterm ruler, President Museveni is corrupt and Wine envisions a better future for the people.  He uses his music to rally the people to courageous stand up for what's right.

THE ETERNAL MEMORY: Maite Alberdi

This film CRUUUUUUUUUSHED me. It follows Augusto, who has Alzheimers, and Paulina, an extraordinary actress who is also Augusto's caretaker. At the beginning of the film it is still early in the progression of the disease, and the sweet, kind, accomplished Augusto still reads and worries with his love about what it will be like when he no longer remembers her and worse, when he no longer remembers himself.  But he seems so robust that you almost don't believe that he will have a severe decline. Yet Alzheimers eventually takes everyone and watching Paulina so beautifully and compassionately love him, even in the times when he has no idea who she is, is heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. I sobbed.

FOUR DAUGHTERS: Kaouther Ben Hania and Nadim Cheikhrouha

This was an incredible film in which a woman and her two daughters try to unpack the process by which the older two daughters (who are now in jail) became radicalized and joined ISIS.  In unpacking the past, the filmmaker hires two actresses to play the older daughters in reenactments of the horrors that all four girls had to live through, and we see the impact of constant trauma on the psyches of all four children.

TO KILL A TIGER: Nisha Pahuja, Cornelia Principe and David Oppenheim

A young 13 year old girl is raped by 3 young men in a village in India and somehow, the village takes the side of the boys. Under "normal" rape circumstances, they would require the raper and his victim/survivor to get married, since (and I'm not making this up, this is the language villagers used) the girl now has a "terrible stain on HER." But this young girl's father does the unthinkable and supports his daughter. They report the rape to the police and the case gets international attention.  Very few rapes are reported in India, and I can't tell you how many villagers came to threaten this family for taking this to law enforcement. It is absolutely infuriating, but a shockingly outstanding ending to the film.

20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL: Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath

I sense that this one is the winner.  These incredibly brave AP reporters stay in Mariupol, Ukraine during the first few days of the war and document and show the world the terrible evil that Putin and Russia are perpetrating on the innocent people there. While Putin lies about not targeting civilians, this small town has tanks blowing up apartment buildings. Pregnant women are under fire in the hospitals. And still the filmmakers capture the footage and broadcast it to the world any chance they get. This film is a punch to the face, but hopefully it will help combat the absurd people who are supporting Russia in this war, and maybe will even soften the hearts of a handful of lawmakers to realize that we MUST support Ukraine in this war.

Animated Shorts - 5 nominees

LETTER TO A PIG: Tal Kantor and Amit R. Gicelter

Here's an incredibly challenging film about a Holocaust survivor who comes to tell a classroom of young Israeli kids about his harrowing escape from the Nazis, and a pig who functionally saved his life by distracting soldiers searching the sty. While he is talking, some teens can't pay attention, but one girl in particular slips into a dream/nightmare imagining herself in his shoes.  It is hard to compete with anything Holocaust at the Oscars, and so this one is certainly a contender for the win.

NINETY-FIVE SENSES: Jerusha Hess and Jared Hess

95 senses manages to be both light hearted and serious following an inmate on death row who is about to be executed reviewing all the ways that the senses can make an impact on one's life.  It's a sad tale but it has a very light tone.  That's pretty masterful.

OUR UNIFORM: Yegane Moghaddam

Here a filmmaker reflects on what it was like to be raised in Iran and how the clothes the girls wear impact their identity and growth. And when she moves to the United States, her world opens just by being able to express her own style and preferences with her wardrobe.

PACHYDERME:Stéphanie Clément and Marc Rius 

This film is an incredibly subtle recounting of her childhood when she visits her grandparents each summer for 10 days. She shares her routines and her peculiar experiences with her grandfather. Over time, we begin to understand that the weight on her heart is related to childhood abuse.

WAR IS OVER! INSPIRED BY THE MUSIC OF JOHN & YOKO: Dave Mullins and Brad Booker

This clever little film shows soldiers on either side of a conflict who play chess by carrier pigeon.  In this fantasy, just playing together develops a sense of humanity of the "other" and creates a friendship where they just saw enemies before. If this one wins and the acceptance speeches call for a ceasefire in Gaza, I'll lose my damn mind. Let's bring the hostages home NOW.