Documentary Features

 

Black Box Diaries

Shiori Ito, Eric Nyari and Hanna Aqvilin

Journalist and filmmaker Shiori Ito takes her sexual assault by a high profile entertainment professional to the police. They ignore it, bungle it, disbelieve it, even with some video evidence substantiating her claim. As a result of her going public, the entire Japanese justice system is put on trial. If you're not filled with outrage when you watch this excellent and very personal story, take a hard look in the mirror.

No Other Land

Basel Adra, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal and Yuval Abraham

In a shocking turn of events, the Oscars once again nominates a film whose sole purpose is to make Israel look bad. I don't know much about the details of this history, and from the documentary, I would agree that Israel is in the wrong. But why is there never, in the history of stories about Israel at the Oscars, anything about just plain old Israelis living their lives? Nothing about the peace activists who spent every day driving Palestinians to medical appointments but getting slaughtered by those very people? It's so one note that this film barely deserves comment.

Porcelain War

Brendan Bellomo, Slava Leontyev, Aniela Sidorska and Paula DuPre' Pesmen

While most of the people in Ukraine have left with their lives, 2 artists and their many friends (who were not soldiers before the war) stay back to fight as citizen soldiers. One of the artists does have military expertise, and he will train anyone who will help. Watching this juxtaposition of beauty and warfare is jarring and heartbreaking. It sure puts recent comments by certain political "leaders" under a microscope in terms of who are the aggressors and despots.

Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat

Johan Grimonprez, Daan Milius and Rémi Grellety

The strange bedfellows of popular jazz and Congolese politics come together in this long and somewhat meandering documentary. I found it hard to watch despite the incredible line up of jazz greats who spoke up when Patrice Lumumba was essentially dragged from office by the United Nations and the United States. Ironically, Russia is one of the countries to speak up against the interference in sovereign nations. This was not really my favorite, and I think it could have used an editor.

Sugarcane

Julian Brave NoiseCat, Emily Kassie and Kellen Quinn

There is a haunting similarity to the Nickel Boys in this documentary, this time with eyes to the Canadian Indian residential school system, the tyrants who ran these schools and the mysterious disappearance of Native family members. Only to discover that these children were often beaten to death. The ones who survived carry years of painful memories and PTSD. It's a hard one to watch, but excellent.

Maria - 1 nomination

 

• Best Achievement in Cinematography

• Edward Lachman

In the time leading up to the Oscars announcement, if you had told me that Maria was going to receive just one nomination - and not for Angelina Jolie - I would have told you that you are nuts. This epic film on the complicated life of Maria Callas, thought to be one of the greatest opera singers of all time, is wonderful. If you are a fan of opera, so much the better but not a prerequisite for enjoying the movie. When we meet Maria at the beginning of the film, she is already rather isolated with her butler and her maid, and she hasn't performed in years. Her health is declining and for reasons unclear to her employees and dear friends, she has agreed to be the subject of a documentary film. At the same time, she is meeting quietly with music conductor Jeffrey Tate to see if her voice is strong enough to maybe perform again. All the while, we are reliving her young life including her tragic affair with Aristotle Onasis and singing for Nazis as a young woman to keep her family safe.

Here's the incredible thing; the Oscars has a history of rewarding those who learn to sing for their movie roles, or those who we simply know as actors who showcase their vocal talents in a film - especially in biopics. Sissy Spacek in Coal Miner's Daughter (won), Gary Busey in The Buddy Holly Story, Renee Zellweger in Judy (won), Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon (won) in Walk the Line... the list goes on and on. But not to nominate Angelina Jolie who learned how to sing OPERA? She was magnificent as an actress (as she almost always is), but when I watched the film, I assumed that the performance was all dubbed. It was not. This is perhaps the most offensive of the snubs this season, just for that feat alone. You should watch it for the same reason.

 

Animated Shorts

The shorts this year were a bit erratic - some great, some weird, and at least one that i still don't know what it was about. Every year with the shorts, there is one category that is all over the place in terms of quality, and this year, that honor goes to the animated shorts. 

Beautiful Men
Nicolas Keppens and Brecht Van Elslande

Three brothers go to Turkey for hair transplants on a particularly foggy weekend. One of the brothers is hiding a secret - while he thought he had booked transplants for all of them, he accidentally only booked one. Over time, we see that each carries different kinds of personal insecurities, but beneath it all, they care for each other deeply.

In the Shadow of the Cypress
Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi

Ok, so here's what I've got for you - a husband and wife are living by the sea and he is living with tremendous PTSD from the war, and is occasionally violent with his wife. Soon, a whale beaches itself, and the wife is obsessed with saving it, and while the husband is also trying to help, he is confronting his own demons. That's about all I can tell you - I have no idea what this movie was. (sorry)

Magic Candies
Daisuke Nishio and Takashi Washio

Poor Dong Dong never gets asked to play but he has a rich inner life. He buys a set of candies with patterns that appear to be familiar, and when he eats them, he goes on the wildest drug trips ever in a children's short. The sofa comes alive, his grandmother returns to him as bubble gum and with each new conversation, he learns a little bit more about empathy, especially for the father who loves him very much.

Wander to Wonder

Nina Gantz and Stienette Bosklopper

Speaking of crazy ass drug trips, Mary, Billybud, and Fumbleton are tiny people on a children's show who one might assume are CGI, but are in fact real. They starred with a full sized human person, who we discover is dead, leaving them to figure out how to feed themselves. (And the big fire scene was a little "too soon" for my taste.) This one was a little creepy and very weird, but also very clever, just not the best of the lot.

Yuck!
Loïc Espuche and Juliette Marquet

Kissing! Who would ever want to do that? YUCK! But when a little French boy meets a pretty cute little French girl, the act may become irresistible. The problem is, in this world, when you are ready and willing to kiss, those little lips light up in Barbie pink telling the world how you're feeling. This poor boy, shunned by his friends, discovers that eventually, everyone wants a bit of lip lock and he is not alone.

Gladiator 2 - 1 nomination

• Best Achievement in Costume Design

• Janty Yates 
• David Crossman

If you had asked me how many nominations Gladiator 2 was going to get before the announcement date, I would have told you probably in the area of 6-8. The original, which I disliked, got 12 noms, just short of the record 13, and won 5.

This film serves as a true sequel, many years later, and as the movie progresses, we see the familial and generational connections to the original. It's a trope we see over and over again - Luke Skywalker is no coincidence, that's Darth Vader's son! Again in this version, there are two (not one) tyrannical rulers who love watching the blood sport, there are two strong warriors (not one) fighting for what's right, and there is one unknown son coming back and discovering his true identity. This one was much more interesting, much more compelling, and even the gladiator scenes in the arena were much more creative (I'll leave you to discover the sharks for yourself).

This is not a movie for everyone - I probably could have given it a pass without  the Oscar noms, but I was shocked to discover how much I enjoyed it. I felt this one had more depth to the characters and more intrigue that keeps you on the edge of your seat, rather than just the choreography of fight scenes. Worth it for a Saturday night streamer when you can't find something else to watch. Between Denzel, Paul, and Pedro, it's nice eye candy if nothing else.

September 5 - 1 nomination

 

• Original Screenplay

• Moritz Binder 
• Tim Fehlbaum 
• Alex David

September 5 follows the television producers and crew on site at the German Olympics when the Israeli team and their coaches were taken hostage. Original footage from the reporters and the terrorists is interwoven with the movie being shot today. The interviews and clips are almost exclusively real clips from the 70s, adding a sense of authenticity and realism to the narrative storyline. The real question at hand remains, what do you air during a terrorist attack? There's an incredible moment when the crew is broadcasting the police raid that is happening right outside the doors of the rooms where the hostages are being held and a member of the tv crew realizes that the terrorists are watching tv and seeing the "surprise" attack in real time. Journalistic ethics are perhaps the most antiquated of the relics in the film, and I was nostalgic for that, as well as a time when kidnapping and murdering Jews was pretty universally considered a bad thing. Those were the days.

Nonetheless, I loved this film. It's Apollo 13 at the Olympics - we know the outcome and yet we are on the edges of our seats at every moment. I would have loved for this movie to get more attention. The palpable tension of a German translator observing that the Germans have once again let the Jews down spoke to a society that has the good grace to admit that killing Jews is wrong.

Live Action Short Films

 

A Lien

Sam Cutler-Kreutz and David Cutler-Kreutz

Here's something I'll bet you didn't know as you think about the immigration debate. ICE has a practice of arresting and deporting green card applicants AT THEIR IMMIGRATION INTERVIEWS. Yep, you read that right. The people who have filled out all the forms, lived productive non-criminal lives, contributed to the economy, and sometimes even gotten married to citizens (as they are allowed to do), are then picked up and deported despite following the rules to naturalize. Now maybe you'll say "but they came here illegally!" Sure, let's accept that as true. Do we really want to be the nation that kicks out those who have become part of our American fabric, especially when they are doing everything else they can to follow the rules? This ain't Cobra Kai, and No Mercy ain't an admirable way to live.

Anuja

Adam J. Graves and Suchitra Mattai

This beautiful little film stars two young orphan sisters working in a sweatshop in India. The younger, Anuja, is brilliant with math and has the opportunity to go to a fancy boarding school. She and her sister can be lifted out of poverty with a proper education. She faces a serious dilemma, take this once in a lifetime opportunity, or stay with her sister and work their fingers to the bone until they are dead? It was an excellent short and I'm extra proud to say that I'm friends with the composer!

I'm Not a Robot

Victoria Warmerdam and Trent

I saw a meme not long ago that said, "What makes us human? It turns out, it's the ability to identify traffic lights in 4 of these pictures." Surprise, upon trying to authenticate not being a robot, a young music producer fails to pass the Captcha tests. It is from this that she is able to surmise that she is actually her boyfriend's robot, and she is NOT happy.

The Last Ranger

Cindy Lee and Darwin Shaw

This gorgeous film follows the dedicated professionals who risk their lives to protect rhinos against those who would cut off their horns and leave them for dead. When a ranger offers her young friend the chance to join her and see the many magnificent animals, they encounter a dangerous situation that changes both of their lives forever. This movie is based on a true story.

The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent

Nebojša Slijepčević and Danijel Pek

I read an article not long ago wherein a history teacher presented his class with a question, "if you had lived during the times when slavery was legal, would you have enslaved people or would you have been an abolitionist?" (I'm guessing he won't be allowed to teach about enslaved people in America soon enough, but this is while it was still legal.) "Guess what," he wrote, "everyone in my class would have been an abolitionist." But what happens when people are taken away right in front of you? What if the takers are armed? Do you speak up and stand up, or do you protect yourself and your family and say nothing? We all like to believe that we would be the bold ones, but would we? We never know until we are in that situation, but if history tells us anything, most people would stay quiet, even when they expect themselves to be brave. And that's what this film is about.

Documentary Shorts

Death by Numbers
Kim A. Snyder and Janique L. Robillard

Here's a powerful story of a Marjorie Stoneman Douglas high school student who was shot by a fellow student and asked to testify at his trial years later. Her strength, her courage, her righteous anger leaves us asking why we can't solve this problem, why certain weapons are available to the public (and for the record, I am not anti gun). In the context of the next film in the list, it is very hard not to be rooting for the shooter to get the death penalty for killing over a dozen people and severely injuring over a dozen more. One wonders what the difference is between this murderer and...

I Am Ready, Warden
Smriti Mundhra and Maya Gnyp

This one. As a young troubled nineteen year old, John Henry Ramirez murders a young father for the change in his pocket. He is sentenced to death (one horrifying murder, but still, ONE) and he seems to have made peace with his fate. He says goodbye, he takes responsibility, he apologizes, he becomes a better man, and he says that if his death can help soothe the pain of the family who lost the father, then it would be worth it. In this one, we are rooting quite strongly against the death penalty - including a pro-death penalty elderly woman who befriends John and fights for a reprieve from the Texas Governor (like that would ever happen).

Incident

Bill Morrison and Jamie Kalven

What to do when police violence is pieced together quite literally before your eyes? This is not me making a political statement, I'm not a person who wants to defund the police, nor am I a person who disbelieves that there are inequities in our justice system. But this case, this one case, we see a situation unfold escalated by two rookie police, and we see the holstered gun removed from the dead man - perhaps to reinforce the bogus claim that he was about to shoot - a blatant lie.

Instruments of a Beating Heart

Ema Ryan Yamazaki and Eric Nyari

Weirdly, this sweet documentary is the only one that made me cry. The little group of 1st graders, about to become second graders, work tirelessly to learn Ode to Joy so they can properly perform and welcome the incoming 1st graders. Ayame works hard to win the part of the cymbal player, but then struggles to keep up with the rest of the class. Her music teacher is tough but when she triumphs, the celebration is palpable.

The Only Girl in the Orchestra

Molly O’Brien and Lisa Remington

Badass Oren O'Brian is the first woman ever to be hired to the New York Philharmonic, hired by the great Leonard Bernstein. And you guessed it, she was a DEI hire - or what even is that? With a legacy of superb playing of the double bass, and teaching student after student to find his or her greatness, we learn that sometimes, the only way to crack through the discrimination of a time, is for a great leader to decide that it's time to hire someone who doesn't look like "the guy we've always hired." She shows that inclusion is most often not about hiring the less qualified person, and more about not hiring the less qualified person who looks like all the other qualified ones. Somebody with vision HAS to decide. And Oren showed them, surviving for over 40 years with her instrument in one of the greatest philharmonics in the world.

 

Never Too Late

from Elton John: Never Too Late; Music and Lyric by Elton John, Brandi Carlile, Andrew Watt and Bernie Taupin

A documentary 50 years in the making, Elton John: Never Too Late is exactly the film you think it is. With footage over the superstar's career and talking heads explaining EJ's genius, it is nearly impossible to believe how much he has been through in his life. His musical gift is immeasurable and almost unmatchable, he has done everything a pop star would be expected to do and so much more. Last year, John joined the ranks of the other 19 people officially crowned with the four-fecta, an EGOT, having won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony (and in some cases, multiples of each). This is not going to garner EJ another Oscar, to be sure, but I'm a fan of his music and of his person, and I enjoyed this one so much. Like A Complete Unknown, be sure to watch this film (on Disney+) with forgiving people in the room, because there's no way you'll escape singing along, out loud, to the very best of Sir Elton John.

The Six Triple Eight - 1 nomination

 

• Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song)

• Diane Warren
• • "The Journey"

Guys, guys, guys, guys. What is it going to take for Diane Warren to win a freakin' Oscar??? (don't talk to me about honorary Oscars) This woman has been nominated for Oscars for Original Song SIXTEEN TIMES, and if that's not impressive enough for you, may I also add that she has been nominated EVERY YEAR for the last eight years? Readers of the blog know that I'm still mad about "Til It Happens to You" from The Hunting Ground which she wrote with Lady Gaga and that produced one of the most moving moments in Oscars history during the telecast. But ok, let's say I'm willing to let that go - may I also add that this being the only nomination for The Six Triple Eight is enraging. If Warren also doesn't win (which I suspect she won't again this year), I'm going to raise my fist for both injustices now.

The Six Triple Eight is based on a true story of a regiment of all black women in World War 2 who were given the perhaps impossible challenge to sort and distribute over 17 million pieces of mail to American soldiers and from them to their families; and they did so in less than 3 months. They took their jobs seriously, and in cases where they couldn't read the writing clearly enough to distribute it, they undertook other methods to decipher where the letters were meant to go. The performances in the film were moving and heavy duty, the screenplay hit all the right notes. If you watch the movie (and you should), you'll help me decipher why it got so little attention. Everyone to whom I have recommended this picture has thanked me for it. So will you. And you won't even need to send me a thank you note.

The song is beautiful and so instead of posting the trailer as I usually do, I'm posting the YouTube video of H.E.R. singing the song. Enjoy!

Nosferatu - 4 nominations

 

• • Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling

  • David White
  • Traci Loader
  • Suzanne Stokes-Munton
• 
  • Best Achievement in Cinematography

  • Jarin Blaschke
• • Best Achievement in Production Design

  • Craig Lathrop (production designer) 
  • Beatrice Brentnerova (set decorator)
• • Best Achievement in Costume Design

  • Linda Muir

Young Thomas has been sent to Transylvania to close a lucrative Real Estate deal by his employer. Leaving his young, beautiful wife Ellen at home, he discovers a creepy castle and an even creepier owner. He is aware that something odd is going on as he passes out and awakens with a bite mark, and each night as he dreams terrible dreams, he awakens with more bite marks in the morning. He insists on leaving, but not before the owner gets him to sign a contract in a foreign language that is presumably the land sale document. Though he questions if he should sign a document which he can't read, he also is lured by the commission he will earn and be able to take care of his beloved wife and make the couple rich.

Of course when he returns home, he realizes what he has done - he has signed a document nullifying his marriage opening the door for Nosferatu to join with Thomas' wife, and who Nosferatu has claimed as his own for decades. On the other hand, if his wife does not submit to the vampire willingly within three nights, it is made clear that Thomas will be killed. Ellen summons the vampire to her room, and tricks him into having sex with her and draining her blood until sunrise, killing Nosferatu with sunlight and herself in sacrifice for Thomas.

This is not my kind of movie and I'll bet if you go back into the blog history, you'll be hard pressed to find a single film of this genre that I liked. Not so with this one, it was gorgeously filmed and the story was so engaging that I liked it very much. I most certainly would not have seen it if not for the Oscar nominations, but that just teaches me a lesson that sometimes a good film is a good film, even when it comes in a package that I wouldn't normally open. I'm hardly opening my veins for the next vampire flick, but when I'm wrong, I'm wrong. This one was worth the view.