Sharing my love of all things Oscar. I see all the movies with nominations so you don't have to - and I do my best to research and help pick the winners. Subscribe, share your comments, and feel free to share with others. Follow me on Twitter @JodiBee.
Foreign Film - Japan; Hirokazu Kore-eda Shoplifters follows a Japanese family who is underemployed and makes ends meet by robbing local stores. One day when coming home, the dad and son come upon a small girl on her own balcony, alone, crying, and neglected. They take her with them, they feed her and clothe her and eventually "adopt" her into their family. But as she grows, the local community assumes that her mother probably killed her because she has totally disappeared. While this is happening, the parents want her to start shoplifting, as well, but the the son wants to protect her from this life. Meanwhile, the son begins to question his own life and his own origin story. This family is much more troubled than it seems, and poverty is the least of their problems. Shoplifters was an entertaining but mediocre movie. I heard it referred to as "poverty porn," which I think is not a fair accusation - there are lots of stories about lots of things and lots of different kinds of people. The compelling part of this story is not that they are poor, but that they work so hard to take care of each other. The connections between the characters is what we are drawn to, and this mom and dad who have labored to create a normal life in the context of their poverty is why I think this film was nominated in the first place. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the film, I'm just not sure that it is worthy of an Oscar nomination. *Dear readers, we are there! Tomorrow is the big day, and I have now reviewed ALL of the films. This is a difficult year to prognosticate, but stay tuned tomorrow for my Who Should Win/Who Will Win post!
Foreign Language Film - Germany; Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Cinematography - Caleb Deschanel
Ladies and Gentlemen, the winner of this year's Hidden Gem award is Never Look Away. (The Hidden Gem award is given by me every year to a film that I'd never heard of before the Oscars nomination, but becomes one of my favorite movies of the year. The first winner of the Hidden Gem award was Lars and the Real Girl.) Honestly friends, I didn't really want to see this film. It's 3 hours and 9 minutes, it's about Nazi Germany and the aftermath, and the previews were not compelling. But it's a nominee and I always see every film. So, as Yoda would say, "judge me by my size, do you?" Big mistake.
Never Look Away follows Kurt from his childhood into his adulthood. As a young boy, he demonstrates a talent for art, and it is nurtured by his beautiful Aunt Elizabeth who is a free thinker but suffers from mental illness. In alignment with Nazi policy, she is taken from her family and her doctor, Professor Seeband (in charge of the eugenics program in Germany) sends her to the gas chambers with fellow sufferers.
Kurt grows up and begins his life as an art student, where he meets, falls in love with, and marries fellow student Ellie. Though he has found some success as an artist under the oppressive regime, they escape together to West Germany where he joins a new art school. He struggles to find his voice as an artist until he begins to uncover certain secrets from his past, and finds that the dots connect to Ellie's family, as well.
It is hard to describe this film for how magnificent it was. When the film ended, I wasn't ready to let these characters go, I wanted to know more about their lives and their futures, and just enough was left unresolved that made the story compelling. It was deeply satisfying, and every scene moved the story forward. Normally with a film this length, I can identify 20 minutes that the filmmakers loved but should have cut. Not so with Never Look Away. It was beautiful and heartbreaking and hopeful. The only thing I'm sad about with Never Look Away is that it is being overshadowed by Roma, a remarkably mediocre film. This one deserves to be the winner.
Cold War is the entry from Poland following Wiktor, a brilliant musical director who opens the film auditioning young people to join a troupe that will revive traditional folk music and dancing just following World War 2. Poland is looking to regain its independent identity, and this tour is just the thing to help accomplish that. Wiktor falls in love with a young woman in the cast named Zula, who frankly still seems like a teenager at the start of the film, which for me made it hard to get on board with their love from the beginning. As things grow more dangerous in Poland, Wiktor tries to convince Zula to defect with him to France. She fails to meet him and he goes alone to a new country.
The tour continues and they find themselves together again in France (he, living there, her on tour there), and they both leave their partners to reunite as a couple, this time living in France. (By now she is a fully formed adult, and I grew more comfortable with their relationship.) They produce a magnificent album and they begin to have success when Zula becomes dissatisfied with their fancy lives and insists on returning to Poland. Eventually he goes after her and is arrested and put into a labor camp. She finds him there and pulls strings to get him out of prison early, but that does not mean that their lives will get better, as the complications of living in such a difficult place crush any hopes they have for the future. As she sings in a traditional Polish song, "oy yoy yoy."
I enjoyed Cold War but (as I did last year with Call Me By Your Name), I have a very difficult time with romantic relationships between adults in their 30's and teenagers. (Call Me By Your Name was a 17 year old and a 24 year old, I know.) I understand the need for this device in this film, but it doesn't mean that I have to like it. At least in this one, eventually we see the couple together when they are both adults. It is a sad, confusing, touching story. The use of black and white is so right on with this film, and it is interesting that two films this year both nominated for Director and Cinematography are shot in black and white. I don't suspect that Cold War will win any awards, but it is worth seeing.
12 year old Zain lives in poverty with his family in Beirut. There are so many children in his home that we, the audience, never actually see all of them on screen together at one time. His negligent parents are way out of their depth in being able to care for and feed all of their children, and as the oldest, Zain works to support his family. When a grown adult comes to the family to marry Zain's beloved younger sister, he does everything he can to prevent it but he is too small to protect her. Following a tragic incident, Zain has had enough of this family and he runs away from home. When he arrives at a small beachside town, he meets an Ethiopian immigrant mother, Rahil, who takes Zain into her home (tin shack) where he discovers the most adorable baby of all time. They all live together until one day, Rahil is picked up by immigration and locked up, disappearing without Zain or baby Yonas ever knowing where she has gone. Suddenly, Zain must provide for himself and this baby, which proves to be an overwhelming and impossible task. Human traffickers are more than happy to take the baby from Zain who knows in his heart this is the wrong thing to do. In Zain's life, there are simply no good choices.
Capernaum is truly a heartbreaking film. It is the one film this year where I literally sobbed in the theater. Capernaum is the runner up for my "hidden gem" award - meaning the film that I had never heard of prior to it receiving a nomination, and truly becoming one of my favorite films of the year. I highly, highly, can't highly enough, recommend seeing it. Just bring a box of tissues.
Best Picture - Gabriela Rodríguez and Alfonso Cuarón
Actress in a Leading Role, Yalitza Aparicio
Actress in a Supporting Role, Marina de Tavira
Cinematography, Alfonso Cuarón
Directing, Alfonso Cuarón
Foreign Language Film, Mexico; Alfonso Cuarón
Production Design, Eugenio Caballero (Production Design); Bárbara Enríquez (Set Decoration)
Sound Editing, Sergio Díaz and Skip Lievsay
Sound Mixing, Skip Lievsay, Craig Henighan and José Antonio García
Writing (Original Screenplay), Written by Alfonso Cuarón
Roma follows the life of a domestic worker, Cleo, in the household of a middle class doctor in Mexico in the early 70's. The family has four kids and a handful of staff working for them. When the doctor leaves his wife, the family carries on with the occasional getaway, and they bring Cleo along. It is clear that the family has great affection for her, and she loves them too as she cares for the children as her own. When she becomes pregnant as a single person, they promise to keep her on, and they take care of her throughout. There are moments of activity or outings, but the best description of this film is perhaps, "slice of life." Almost everything that happens is really nothing happening, with the exception of some depictions of political upheaval at the time.
I felt a little bit insecure in my lack of appreciation of this film, so I started looking around not for reviews, but for synopses of the film. Even The Academy couldn't squeak out more than two lines, and IMDB got as far as one. That's it. There's not much to describe. So, you either love a movie where not much happens and there's a small window into one young woman's life, or you don't. This film is a love letter to Alfonso Cuaron's childhood maid, the film is dedicated to her. The movie ends (this is not a spoiler, I promise) with Cleo heading up the stairs to do laundry. Just another day in her life, even following a difficult time for her personally. There isn't a lot of emotion or gravitas to the film, so I can't quite figure out what all the hype is about.
I will give credit where it's due, the cinematography is absolutely beautiful, and it's worth noting that Cuaron has had other successes (see Gravity's cinematography win, and Children of Men's cinematography nomination - this guys knows how to shoot a film, and/or how to hire people who do.)
I would so like to say that Roma was wonderful and worth all of these nominations, but even the acting categories - the Supporting Actress barely made my radar and the lead actress has such a flat affect for most of the film that it was hard to connect with her character. I'm sorry Roma lovers. It just wasn't for me.
A Fantastic Woman, Chile; Directed by Sebastián Lelio
A Fantastic Woman is the story of Marina, a trans woman in a loving relationship with her partner, Orlando, who dies suddenly at the beginning of the film. The humiliations exacted upon her from government officials and most of Orlando's family are indescribable. From the moment that Orlando's son comes home for the funeral, he all but kicks Marina out of her home, and even steals her dog. She is told explicitly that she is not welcome at the funeral to mourn her lover. Marina is strong in some ways and also extremely vulnerable. She has an exquisite voice, and she will not be so easily knocked off the path to her dreams. It's a beautiful movie.
The Insult, Lebanon; Directed by Ziad Doueiri
Here's how the day begins - a Lebanese Christian, Tony, has an illegal drain system on his balcony. A team of construction workers have been charged with doing repairs on the building, one of these repairs is to bring this drain system up to code, but it so happens that the foreman is a Palestinian Muslim, Yasser. After repairing the drain, Tony takes a hammer to it, and Yasser yells at him and curses at him. The next day, Yasser goes to Tony to apologize, at which time Tony screams that it would have been better if the Israeli's had killed all of the Palestinians, in exchange for which Yasser punches Tony. This results not only in a lawsuit, but in the entire community taking sides, each insult escalating into greater and greater insults. (Somehow, this dispute between these two men is ultimately blamed on the Jews, so you can tell how insane the escalation goes.) The story is personal, political, existential, and very well done.
Loveless, Russia; Directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev
Two divorcing parents begin the movie by discussing how neither of them wants their son, and how they will give him up to an orphanage, sadly, this 12 year old boy overhears this discussion and goes to bed devastated. They have both moved on from each other and already have new partners, both so self absorbed that they have no idea what their son is doing most of the time. It is not until the school calls that either has any idea that their son is even missing. The rest of the film is them and a search and rescue team trying to find the boy. I found the film slow, frustrating (because the characters are such assholes), and deeply unsatisfying.
On Body and Soul, Hungary; Directed by Ildikó Enyedi
There's always a weird one in the foreign film category, and this one is it. An older man, Endre, and a strange young woman, Maria discover that they are dreaming the same dreams in which they frolic together as deer in the wilderness. They build a strange friendship and relationship, he the confirmed bachelor no longer interested in love, and she the icy loner who seems to have no need for the most casual of connection. I didn't dislike the film, but it takes a certain amount of focus to watch.
The Square, Sweden; Directed by Ruben Östlund
"The Square is a sanctuary of trust and caring. Within it we all share equal rights and obligations." This is the display in modern art museum curated by main character, Christian. And then the film embarks on a series of "what would you do" scenarios - would you help a person being attacked, would you stalk a community if you thought a member of that community stole your wallet and phone, would you stand idly by while a woman is being dragged by her hair, would you call a woman after you've slept with her, would you bring your children to a poor community and engage them in helping others, the list goes on and on. The film is as much a cutting edge art piece as is portrayed in the film. It is long, but if you like a good thinker, this is a good movie for you.
Land of Mine recounts the powerful true story of young German boys at the close of World War 2 who were trained to remove the land mines all over Denmark that had been planted by their fellow German soldiers. The dilemma as a movie watcher is clear - all of the young people who were being put to work were clearly part of the German war machine so to root for them is to root for people who were part of the 3rd Reich. Who knows what kind of atrocities they committed? At the same time, many of these kids (probably age 14 - 17) died doing this dangerous work. We see an evolution in the Dane officer who supervises them, who sees the difference between right and wrong in his own military world. It's an excellent film.
A Man Called Ove (Sweden) - Hannes Holm
Makeup and Hairstyling - Eva von Bahr and Love Larson
Every year, I find a film that I refer to as the year's hidden gem. I define the hidden gem by this criterion - a film that I hadn't heard of prior to the Oscar nominations which turns out to be among my favorites of the year. This year, I have two hidden gems, and A Man Called Ove is one of them. Ove is a curmudgeonly old man who is the self appointed neighborhood policeman. He is the guy who leaves notes for people about which community rule they have violated, goes on rounds around the community every morning to check that everything is in place and as it should be, and yells at cars who drive on their roads, which they have deemed illegal. One day, a family with two young daughters move in next door, and of course the entire family captures his heart, led by a pregnant and very tough mom who requires that Ove become more human. At the same time, we follow Ove's young life with its share of tragedy. This story is beyond touching and very much worth seeing. It will fill your heart with joy.
The Salesman (Iran) - Asghar Farhadi
The Salesman captures the story of two married actors in Iran who are performing Death of a Salesman in Farsi. One night, the wife goes home early and is brutally raped and attacked in her home. The husband, Emad, sets off on a quest to find his wife's attacker, even if he is not clear on what he will do once he finds the man. Meanwhile, his wife is suffering and he doesn't know what to do to support her - on or off stage. It's a wrenching portrayal of a man who wants justice and a wife who wants peace.
Tanna (Australia) - Bentley Dean and Martin Butler
The story of two warring tribes who seek to find peace through the marriage of their children, but the son of one of the tribes and the young woman who is promised to the other chief's son have fallen for each other. It's almost a reverse Romeo and Juliet. The two young people run away to live on their own, but they discover that their choices are limited and their hope for the future is dwindling. In addition, they realize that the consequences to their decision may have disastrous implications for their entire tribe. The incredible part of this film is that the legend is being acted by real tribespeople in Australia, not professional actors. It is a real accomplishment.
Toni Erdmann (Germany) - Maren Ade
I'm not even sure how to describe Toni Erdmann, except to say that if it were up to me, this film would be replaced by the excellent film, Elle, which didn't make the foreign film short list. It's a tough one to describe - the main character is an older man who loves to pop in fake teeth and don wigs and act out absurd pranks in real life. His daughter, a repressed business woman, is working to impress her company and a huge client, and is visited by her father who, when acting out these absurdist fantasies, calls himself Toni Erdmann. She has the prankster inside of her, but it's buried deep deep under her perfect hair and perfect clothes. While annoyed by her father, she also seems to love his antics because she keeps bringing him with her to extremely important events in her life. Their relationship arc is punctuated by a very surprising birthday party in which the daughter embraces Erdmann's crazy antics. I didn't love this film, but in the right mood, it's like a traffic accident from which you can't look away.
Foreign Film - Denmark; Directed by Tobias Lindholm "What would you if it were you" is the operative question surrounding this outstanding film from Denmark. The film follows Claus Pederson, a leader of the Danish army stationed in Afghanistan. Claus is a true leader who boosts his soldiers' morales by going on patrol with them and leading them from the front. At the same time, his wife is at home doing her best to care for her three kids while putting on a brave face for them, all three affected by their father's absence in different ways. While on patrol, Claus and his troops find themselves engaged in a dangerous gun battle, and he makes the decision to call in air support so that they can evacuate a wounded soldier. Afghani civilians are killed, and the debrief calls into question whether Claus operated under military rules of confirmation when making the decision to call in bombs from above, despite the fact that the attack stopped after those bombs were dropped. Back in Denmark, a trial ensues in which the courts must determine if Claus should be held accountable for violating regulations, even though he clearly saved the lives of those under his command. This film is deeply emotional and I'm very surprised it hasn't gotten more attention. All of the actors are superb (at least three of them are from my favorite Danish show, Borgen), and the performances are outstanding across the board. I would even suggest that the lead actor (Pilou Asbaek) should have been considered for an Actor in a Leading Role Oscar nomination. I cried on more than one occasion watching this film, and the challenge of how to balance objective morality and military exigency is well portrayed.
Foreign Film - Jordan; Directed by Naji Abu Nowar Theeb is the story of brothers trying to assist a British officer who is importing train tracks to Jordan in 1916. Along the way, they encounter bandits who try to kill them, and when the child (Theeb) is left on his own, he must find a way back to safety and must trust his own instincts to stay alive. The story is basically a shoot out and then an unlikely buddy story, but I can't really figure out how this film made it to the top 5 foreign films. The child is certainly cute, but each event is overly simplistic and for such a perilous situation, the young actor barely shows any fear. Perhaps that was a character detail that he should be so unfazed by life and death situations with only revenge on his mind, but it might also be that the acting was just not that good. It was a challenge to find this story to be believable, and required so much suspension of disbelief, that I couldn't really find what made the film compelling. In the end, it felt like a linear story that your friend tells you that sounds like "and then this happened and then that happened," with no drama and little to engage the audience.
Foreign Film - Hungary; Directed by László Nemes Son of Saul introduces the world to the Sonnercommandos - Jews in the concentration camps who were forced to sacrifice their innocence as victims, to become the perpetrators. These are the people who helped to usher the new groups of fellow Jews into the gas chambers, and then they were the people to clean up the bodies once they had been killed. They were treated marginally better than other prisoners, but were executed themselves every few months. This film follows one of the Sonnercommandos, Saul, who becomes obsessed with wanting to provide a proper burial to a teenage boy who did not die during the gassing, but died soon after. Without knowing the reasons that he takes on this quest - especially to find a Rabbi who can help him with the proper rituals - we can only assume that this child may remind him of his own child who we guess was murdered upon arrival to the concentration camp. The style of this film would best be described as "in your face," where most of the movie the lead actor's face and head take up the majority of the frame. One has to sometimes deduce what is happening around Saul, because the only thing that is sharp is his expressions, his desperation, his guilt, his anger. There is no respite during this film - it is hard hitting and doesn't allow for the audience to rest from the intensity, much like there was no break for any victim of the Holocaust. The Director, László Nemes, was asked many times why he wanted to make "another Holocaust film," and his answer was simple. The reason we need another Holocaust film is because you are tired of the Holocaust. We can never allow ourselves to forget.
Foreign Film - France; Directed by Deniz Gamze Ergüven Five sisters whose parents have died live in northern Turkey with their grandmother and uncle. On their way home from the last day of school, they are spotted playing at the beach with boy classmates, and their nosy neighbor turns them in. The uncle begins to modify their home into a more and more secure prison, not allowing the girls to go out. Then begins wedding season. Innocently enough, the oldest two girls (who by 1st world standards would still be too young for marriage, but by more traditional religious standards are perhaps old enough) are matched - one with the boy that she loves, and one with a young man who seems at least age appropriate, even if the bride is reluctant. As the girls leave the nest, the imprisonment becomes more severe, and the younger girls fear for their well being as they are clearly not old enough by any measure to get married. The youngest of the five is very clever and entrepreneurial, and their lives may all depend on her. Mustang is a very good film and hard to relate to from a western lens. If we can agree objectively that young children shouldn't be married off against their wills (which I hope we can), then I think we will also agree that the tension in this film is handled perfectly, lulling us into a false sense of security as the first two reasonable marriages happen and then turning such a sharp corner into trapping the younger girls into disastrous situations.
Embrace of the Serpent follows Karamakate, an indigenous person in the Amazon rainforest who is enlisted to help a German anthropologist who has fallen ill with a bizarre sickness. It is rumored that the only thing that can cure him is a special plant called "yakruna," which acts as a metaphor plant representing the natural resources in the jungle. Karamakate is deeply resentful of the white man who has raped the resources of the jungle and brought violence over the rubber trees, and, adding insult to injury, kidnapped indigenous children to "socialize" them to become young Catholics. Parallel to this story is another botanist who comes 40 years later and find Karamakate and asks him to help find the yakruna plant. It becomes clear that this scientist has another agenda, once again representing the deep betrayals that have transpired with the people of the jungle. It's an excellent film - engaging, challenging, difficult to watch at times. On balance, one must ask the questions about the good that natural resources can do versus the preservation of culture and being vigilant about removing everything that is in the jungle and the sea to the point of extinction. This film asks those questions brilliantly.
Ida - Poland, Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski Also nominated for Cinematography - Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski Ida is a powerful story of a young woman about to take her vows as a nun with the Catholic Church when she discovers that she was the child of a Jewish family who was hidden during World War 2. Before the convent will allow her to take her vows, they insist that she spend time with her aunt and learn about her true identity, and in the process, she also learns the details of her family's fate. Issues of faith, identity, justice, and forgiveness are explored. The cinematography in this film is very well done, and this is the second year in a row that a black and white film is honored for its visual artistry.
Leviathan - Russia, Directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev Leviathan examines power and corruption in modern day Russia. The mayor of the city decides that he wants to appropriate the land and home of a member of his community, and the courts are indifferent to the situation. As the homeowner fights for his rights, his family is harassed and attacked. We see the utter uselessness of the justice system, and the very definition of absolute power corrupting absolutely. With such a powerful story, it would be easy to assume that the film would be outstanding, and unfortunately, it just wasn't. It was painfully slow, had some scenarios that were barely believable, and was just a frustrating film to watch.
Tangerines - Estonia, Directed by Zaza Urushadze Tangerines takes place in the country of Georgia during the most recent war. Most of the Estonians have fled back to Estonia, but Ivo has stayed behind to harvest his crop of Tangerines with his friend and neighbor. During this period, soldiers from both sides of the conflict are wounded, and he takes each of them in successively to help nurse them back to health. The tensions of the debate play out under his roof, as they begin to see each other through unexpected lenses. Tangerines, though it may not be a new story, is an excellent film with well drawn characters and engaging dialogue. It's a film that must be seen.
Timbuktu - Mauritania, Directed by Abderrahmane Sissako Timbuktu shows the captivity under which a village lives while Jihadists take over and rule the area, imposing stricter and stricter laws and harsher and harsher punishments for the violation of those laws. Every situation has the power to escalate from minor infraction to whipping, stoning, and execution. The film shows every day people and how no one can escape from these tyrants. Again, this is a film that could have been outstanding, but really wasn't. It was also very slow and it took a long time to understand that there wasn't a plot, per se, but a set of circumstances that happened all in the same place.
Wild Tales - Directed by Damian Szifron Wild Tales is a set of 5 short stories which start calmly and then go completely off the rails. It is dark and funny, and each story becomes so outrageous and unexpected, that you just can't look away. It was truly one of my favorite films of the year (not just in the foreign film category), and I understand why Damian Szifron is becoming one of the hottest and most sought after Directors. Here is just a taste of the stories therein: a model gets on an airplane and discovers she has more in common with the other passengers than she thought, a waitress at a restaurant serves a customer who appears to be the person who killed her parents, a driver of a fancy car attempts to pass a truck who will not let him by and the most escalated versions of road rage ensue, a man tries to fight city hall for towing his truck in a spot where there is no signage, a rich father tries to handle the consequences of his son's hit and run, and a Jewish wedding that goes so off the rails that there is no simple description of it to be had. It's an outstanding film and well worth seeing!
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