Bugonia - 4 Nominations

 

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score): Jerskin Fendrix

Best Motion Picture of the Year: Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Yorgos Lanthimos, Emma Stone, Lars Knudsen

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Emma Stone

Best Adapted Screenplay: Will Tracy

Longtime readers of the blog will recall that I am an ardent fan of Yorgos Lanthimos movies (and if you’re newer to his work, please go back and check out his first nominated film for International Language, Dogtooth) and he is a superb, authentic, and unique director. He has a slightly off kilter sensibility and has tremendous compassion for the oddball. He and Emma Stone have proven to be a powerful partnership making Oscar nominee after Oscar nominee (and sometimes winner!)

This is another quirky one - two conspiracy theorists, Teddy and Don, have determined that Michelle - a high powered, highly successful executive is an alien from another planet. They kidnap her because they are certain that her alien race is determined to destroy earth and all of its inhabitants. Once she understands what is happening, she attempts to employ every negotiation tactic she’s learned in her career, doing her best to gain their trust enough to let her go. It is never really explained how they have come to such deep knowledge of this alien kind, but every signal is given that at least one of the kidnappers (Jesse Plemmons) is a man who has done his homework.

The film is undoubtedly entertaining, and this is exactly the kind of picture that we expect from Lanthimos. The casting of these actors is spot on, but it is almost tragic that Jesse Plemmons was overlooked for this film. He is utterly believable and has the special sauce that allows you to escape into his reality, even if we “know” that his delusion is impossible. While I wouldn’t put Bugonia in my top three of the Oscar nominees for Best Picture, I’m awfully glad it got this recognition because hopefully more people will see it (including you!).

The Favourite - 10 nominations

Best Picture, Ceci Dempsey, Ed Guiney, Lee Magiday and Yorgos Lanthimos

Actress in a Leading Role, Olivia Colman
Actress in a Supporting Role, Emma Stone
Actress in a Supporting Role, Rachel Weisz
Cinematography, Robbie Ryan
Costume Design, Sandy Powell
Directing, Yorgos Lanthimos
Film Editing, Yorgos Mavropsaridis
Production Design, Fiona Crombie (Production Design); Alice Felton (Set Decoration)
Writing (Original Screenplay), Written by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara

GIRRRRRLLLLLLL FIIIIIIIIIIGGGGHHHHHHTTTTTT!

England is at war and Queen Anne is ill with spiraling mental health.  Her childhood friend and lady lover Lady Sarah has positioned herself as the Queen's bestie, her spokesperson, and the de facto head of government.  They are as close as two women could be, and Lady Sarah is the sole person in Anne's life who speaks truth to power.  Sarah's cousin Abigail arrives on scene in search of employment having lived through severe abuse and loss of status and wealth.  Sarah takes pity on Abigail and finds for her a place in court, but not a great place.  Abigail is no dummy, and her manipulative ways get her in good with the Queen, at her service in - ahem - every way.  The two women vie for Anne's affections and for the power that comes with being the Queen's favorite.

The performances in this film are so good, but Olivia Colman is an incredible standout.  Without a word, she goes from elation to exasperation to sadness to despair.  She is easily manipulated and insightful and wise.  To see Colman win this nomination as a long working but rarely leading actor, it reflects the best of what The Academy can do with a truly exceptional performance.  Her always good peers in Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz are very nearly dwarfed by Colman's Anne.

Of course with period pieces, well done costumes and production design are almost destined for nomination, but I highly recommend paying attention to both when watching the film.  The designs are gorgeous but also intricate and clever.  So much so that you leave the film with a premonition of Oscars noms.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that Yorgos Lanthimos movies are not for everyone.  They are always a little bit twisted and sometimes very weird.  I discovered Lanthimos with his first Oscar nomination with the Greek film Dogtooth.  (SEE IT.)  I continued my devotion with The Lobster, and this film completes the perfect trifecta.  The Favourite is the most mainstream of his narrative films, but his signature strange peeks through.  If you're a Lanthimos person, you'll love this film.  I sure did.

The Lobster - 1 nomination

Original Screenplay - Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou

The Lobster is a dark comedy about a society with limited choices.  One option is to find a partner to be coupled with, but that person must share your defining characteristic - a propensity for nosebleeds, a limp, a talent for flamenco guitar, being a sociopath.  Single people come to a resort hotel and are given 45 days to find their mate, and if unable to do so, to be turned into the animal of their choices. (There is an opportunity to earn additional days, if you can successfully hunt down the people who have rejected society and bring them to justice.)  Couples do everything together, and single people are not allowed to be roaming about society without a partner by their sides.  Then there are the loners.  The people who hide in the woods and treasure solitude - they have dance parties near each other but plugged into their own earbuds. Nothing is communal.  In fact, connecting with another person and finding love is strictly forbidden.  

I found this film to be unique, original, and truly hilarious.  It's the kind of film (ironically) that you must see with friends in order to be able to delve deeply into all of the strange ideas you see in the story.   Yorgos Lanthimos is clearly adept in the world of disturbing dystopian reality (if you haven't seen Dogtooth, an Oscar nominated foreign film from 2009 that he directed, you really must), and The Lobster is one of those movies where you spend the first bit of the film not quite understanding what's going on, and then once you figure it out you're just tickled.  The actors in the film make it so believable, both the high profile stars like Colin Farrel, Rachel Weisz, and John C. Reilly, and the ones about whom we know little like Angeliki Papoulia.

There are so many funny, creepy scenes and one-liners in this film that there is no surprise that The Lobster is nominated for its screenplay.  This is a quirky film, so if you prefer the mainstream, easy to follow kind of story, this film is not for you.  But if you're intrigued by a society that gives a couple a child to make things better, because that's usually what helps an awkward marriage, I think The Lobster is one you will cherish.