Animated Shorts

 

• The Three Sisters

This adorable short about three sisters living on an island in adjacent little apartments was an actual delight. When a big, burly sailor comes to rent a room, one sister moves in with the other, and all three move in on him… one at a time.

• Forevergreen

A sweet short about a little bear who is adopted by a large tree in the forest. He is fed, shaded, and well cared for in a nicer update to The Giving Tree. But when he is exposed to processed foods, he risks everything he has to chase after more and his consumption results in disaster and tragedy. But the world has a habit of healing itself over time and this little says more in a few minutes than most movies say when they are full length.

• The Girl Who Cried Pearls

This one had a very good story with very creepy animation. It is a tale told by an old wealthy man about his impoverished and lonely childhood living in an abandoned and broken-down apartment next door to an abused child. Her sorrow has a twist that ultimately allows him to leverage the outsized greed and willingness to swindle a poor child. Like all good fables, this one has a great twist where all who are good prosper and all who are evil do not.

• Butterfly

An incredible story about a true athletic hero and survivor of the Holocaust and his story of growing up swimming, only to be greeted by the deepest kind of Jew hatred. There is triumph of the human spirit and the glimmer of hope when the athlete is ushered back into society by his loyal and steadfast friends. The animation and the story were heartbreaking and uplifting all at the same time.

• Retirement Plan

Someday, when I have time, I’ll… how many times do we think these things in our lives? We will travel, read, and enjoy our lives. In this little uplifting short, we see the outcome of actually doing all of the things that are dreamed about and when done properly, one can be ushered to a quiet, fulfilled, and peaceful death. (but don’t forget to live a little now!)

Documentary Shorts

 

• All the Empty Rooms

Steve Hartman is a newscaster who brings people the feel-good story at the end of the broadcast. Something that takes all of the bad headlines and puts a shiny, happy smile at the end of the show. Until the day he decides to work with a photographer to capture the bedrooms of every child who has been killed by gun violence. He builds relationships with each family, learns the story of their lost child, and creates a tribute to the child’s innocence wondering who the boy or girl might have become had life not been cut tragically short. A beautiful and moving short.

• Armed With Only a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud

War correspondent Brent Renaud lost his life doing what he loved, showing the world the stories of terrible wars abroad, and some horrifying violence at home in the United States. He remained transfixed with bringing terrifying images to those who remain at a distance from what is happening and not always being shown to those who are not necessarily paying attention. Each time a documentary marking the life of these journalists and their deaths, I can’t help but wonder why anyone would do a job like this. Some people are just built that way, and they will risk anything to do the work they’ve chosen. It’s a hard film to watch but I can’t say that this short was much different than any of the others with the same theme about other war photographers.

• Children No More: Were and Are Gone

Here is a short about Israelis who are protesting the war between Hamas, a terrorist organization, and the state of Israel. It’s fair to say that the film makes attempts at showing a fuller picture than those ridiculously claiming “genocide,” and at least allows at least one calm Israeli voice through - the general sentiment being that of course people can and should mourn anytime innocent people are killed, but the ideal and the reality of fighting a terrorist organization embedded in civil society (itself a war crime) and the film never mentions that the death rate in Gaza is the lowest in history for urban warfare. I love the heart of people who mourn the deaths of innocents, but to do so without any rational context (and this film gives almost none) is at best absurd and at worst, dangerous propaganda when around the world, Jews are at risk every day while Jew hatred abounds.

• The Devil is Busy

An extraordinary film about one small women’s health care clinic in a state that allows abortions to be performed up to 6 weeks (and let’s face it, most women don’t even know that they are pregnant at that point). The head of security who works 12+ hour days shows us how the women are screamed at, how protesters harass anyone who goes to the clinic, and how anyone even near the clinic is generally at risk for his or her own life. This outstanding short will hopefully enrage you, and remind us all that women’s health care belongs with women and their doctors. Most important of all, if you don’t believe in abortion, don’t have one. Otherwise, butt out.

• Perfectly a Strangeness

I saw this film and I still don’t know what the heck it was about. Three mules are crossing the dryest of deserts and somehow arrive at an observatory. Then there are some beautiful images of the observatory and perhaps telescope at work. How the mules are part of the story is totally beyond me. What this film was even about - if it was indeed about anything (which I can’t guarantee) - well, I have no idea. Having seen some of the other films on the short list, I genuinely can’t figure out how this one made it to the top 5.

The Lost Bus - 1 Nomination

 

• Best Achievement in Visual Effects: Charlie Noble, David Zaretti, Russell Bowen, Brandon K. McLaughlin

The fires in Paradise, CA were devastating on so many levels but there is at least one story that I didn’t know prior to this film, and that follows a school bus driver and a teacher who escorted a group of children away from and through the fires. I don’t know the extent to which the film is accurate, but the portrayal in the film shows obstacle after obstacle getting in the way of this one bus with terrified children and two adults who were prepared to do all they could to rescue them. It is an edge of your seat movie which America Ferrera and Matthew McConaghey ably lead, but as the Oscar nomination indicates, the star of the film is indeed what is accomplished through the visual effects. They make the impact that movies like Towering Inferno made in the 70s, and it is just the slightest of exaggeration to say that you can almost feel the heat on the bus. Without the extraordinary effects, this film is really nothing and there is a scene so powerful toward the end of the film that even knowing the outcome of the reality the movie is based on does nothing to mitigate the tension and the fear drummed up by the screenplay.

This movie is hardly a “do not miss under any circumstances,” but it was very good and worth a Saturday night if you’re looking for something to watch.

The Perfect Neighbor - 1 nomination

 

• Best Documentary Feature: Geeta Gandbhir, Alisa Payne, Nikon Kwantu, Sam Bisbee

If you’re a big fan of true crime, you’ll love this one. A woman lives in a communal area where children run around the yard and play and laugh and live life. She doesn’t love the neighbor kids and she constantly yells at them, throws things at them, and generally harasses them. But over time, she ratchets up the abuse, takes an ipad, and over and over again, their parents come to ask her to stop overstepping. These are, after all, children playing in the yard - not at 2 a.m. but whenever they were outside. And at some point, one of the moms goes over to talk, and she pulls a gun and kills her. This being a “stand your ground” state, she figures she can claim that she was afraid and get away with wielding a deadly weapon and murdering a neighbor without consequence.

This excellent documentary asks us to think about what justice means, how communities come together and support one another, and the difficult conversation about race and what people assume they will and won’t get away with. Even if you doubt any disparity in the justice system for different people, you have to ask the question, why might I be nervous that a murderer won’t be held accountable in a situation like this?

Mr. Nobody Against Putin - 1 Nomination

 

• Best Documentary Feature: Helle Faber, Alzbeta Karaskova, Pavel Talankin, David Borenstein

Victor Abakumov is a beloved teacher in a small town in Russia. The kids hang out in his office. The “weirdos” find their place and their voice with him. He is one of those teachers who goes the extra mile because he genuinely loves what he does and the children under his care. But he is not a fan of Putin’s and proudly hangs the flag of resistance in his office. When his job is slowly taken over by near constant filming of teachers and uploading them so that the state can make sure that teachers are teaching a pro-Russian curriculum (obviously full of insane revisionist history), he becomes more and more disillusioned and in more and more personal danger. He volunteers to discreetly smuggle all of his footage of the propagandizing out to journalists in England, and that is primarily how this footage becomes a documentary film. Along the way, he sets up personal testimonies about loving Russia but hating the war, hating the administration and Putin, and dearly hoping that someone will come along to intervene, and hoping that the children he cared so much about will stop being recruited to fight and die in the Ukranian war. (In America, I guess some people would call that, “love it or leave it” though so far in this country, we are rarely jailed and murdered by the state for having opposing views.)

We can see this teacher’s heart breaking as he gets deeper and deeper and clearer and clearer that his only path forward is out. It is an edge of your seat movie, but also so emotional and raw, and frankly, just a bit on the scary side as we see what happens at the endpoint of authoritarianism. Instructive on multiple levels if the brain can accept any form of nuance, and perhaps a must see for a lesson in how those who dabble as authoritarians ultimately become when they succeed.

Cutting Through Rocks - 1 Nomination

 

• Best Documentary Feature: Sara Khaki,Mohammadreza Eyni

This film was completely unexpected. Sara Shahverdi is a different kind of woman living in a small town in Iran with a big family and an incredible work ethic. She runs for city council and not only does she win (the only woman in the entire list of 200 council members across all of Iran), she gets the highest number of votes, which also entitles her to the community’s stamp. She spends her days helping people, stamping legal documents, managing construction, riding her motorcycle and busting gender roles. This is not always welcome in her community, but her strong will and her ability to win people over are incredibly inspiring. Her personal crusade is not only to make people’s lives better, but specifically to help girls be safe, be educated, and to do more with their lives than they ever thought they could (and certainly more than getting married at age 10, 12, 15). What a warrior. But not everyone is on board with her ideas, and suddenly the state accuses her of having too much masculine energy and puts her under review, whose final outcome could be forced gender reassignment surgery. But don’t worry, Sara would never go down without a fight.

While I have never assumed that things in Iran were great for women, this film gives a deep dive into what communal attitudes are, and what it’s like when women have essentially no say in their own lives. Hardly shocking but certainly tragic, and one wonders how much farther that society would advance if they didn’t disempower literally half of their brain trust. What a fantastic documentary well worthy of your time.

Come See Me in the Good Light - 1 Nomination

 

• Best Documentary Feature: Ryan White, Jessica Hargrave, Tig Notaro, Stef Willen

If you know me really well, you know the true delight I feel being able to congratulate genius comedian Tig Notaro on an Oscar nomination. So that alone was enough for me to be excited about this film, but then to meet and really learn about poet Andrea Gibson was the win of watching this film. Facing a difficult cancer, following her through the ups and downs of tumors shrinking then growing, seeing her manage her own grief but also experience that of her wife, and what it is to finish out one’s life while still having goals and joys and experiences - this film captures what sucks about dying and what is magnificent about living.

When you google Gibson’s poetry, you see beauty and laughter and insight and WOW, what a special human taken far too soon from the world. What I loved the most about this documentary is that it altered the “nearing death” genre and choosing to end the narrative before Andrea died, allowing us and those who knew her to remember her only as the very alive spirit that she was, and shielding us from the aftermath. This was the true brilliance of the documentary - it didn’t make death look easy, it didn’t make Andrea look angelic, but it absolutely made the point of the film to be the impact of life rather than the finality of death.

This was one of my favorite movies of this Oscars season, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. It is available on Apple Plus.

The Alabama Solution - 1 Nomination

 

• Best Documentary Feature: Andrew Jarecki, Charlotte Kaufman

It’s one of the deadliest prison systems in the country, an inauspicious description to be sure, where violence, abuse, neglect, and death is ubiquitous. The film captures a number of stories of the worst kind of incidents, and while anyone would argue that prison is not meant to be summer camp, it is also not meant to be a death camp either. While we can’t know the full account, there are former prison guards who have corroborated some of the accusations, and in at least one case, a family’s pursuit of justice for their son is recounted. But the other fascinating part of this film is the sort of Norma Rae level organizing done from inside this prison where prisoner workers went on strike which spread throughout Alabama and beyond, where incarcerated people demanded better living conditions and better treatment.

Naturally, the Governor refused to accommodate any of the requests and moreover, also failed to investigate any of the accusations - despite the fact that illegal cell phones captured and smuggled out video evidence of the abysmal treatment.

Now here’s the challenge that lays before us, friends.

• It’s hard to find empathy for those who have committed evil acts, and yet should the state on behalf of the people of the state commit evil acts upon those who have committed evil acts to teach them not to commit evil acts?

• The law is the law, breaking the law is bad. Smuggling cell phones into prisons is illegal. Taking video evidence without consent is illegal in some states. What happens when illegal cell phones taking illegal video captures illegal behavior from the people who represent the law and not those breaking the law? Is it possible to keep from having one’s head explode with the conundrum of championing the breaking of the law against people who are jailed for breaking the law? (If that’s not an Ouroboros of a problem, I don’t know what is!)

The bottom line here is that this is an excellent documentary that you should watch. I don’t assume that documentaries always represent the full story nor the full truth, but this documentary does what the best of them do… it inspires us to at least want to learn more and to ask ourselves some hard questions that by any moral person would at least be thought provoking if not outright troubling. If you can live in a simple and happy land where this movie makes you shrug and say, “whatever, they broke the law, they deserved it,” then I hope no one in your orbit ever lands in an Alabama prison. (or any prison, for that matter.)

Weapons - 1 Nomination

 

• Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Amy Madigan

Weapons is the perfect example of a movie that I would never have watched if there hadn’t been an Oscars nomination involved. I’m not a big fan of horror/psychological thriller, and I’m definitely out on jump scare movies. But the return of the brilliant Amy Madigan to the big screen was ample reward for braving the film, and what beautiful symbiosis to be nominated 40 years on the nose after her first nomination for a movie that I barely remember, and 37 years after Field of Dreams for which she deserved to be but wasn’t nominated at all (“It’s just like the 60’s!”)

The film begins with the disappearance of all but one of an entire class of children in a small town, and their teacher (Julie Garner) who becomes obsessed with finding them. When she visits the remaining child’s parents, it is clear that something is not quite right with them and she meets the mother’s aunt (Amy Madigan) who appears unwell but recovering and apparently there to take care of the child. As the teacher and the father (Josh Brolin) of one of the missing children get closer and closer to solving the mystery, this bizarre and particularly creepy aunt becomes more and more suspicious.

I have to admit that for all my protestations about having to watch the movie, I really enjoyed it. The cast was superb, the story was tight, and the scares were… well… not terribly scary (though more than sufficiently for my taste). It was more psychological thriller than horror film (thank goodness) and I was surprised and delighted at how good it was. It’s hardly a “don’t miss” but if you have a little time and HBO Max, I vote to see it. While Amy Madigan is not currently favored to win the category, her performance was strong and could grab an unexpected upset.

Song Sung Blue - 1 Nomination

 

• Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Kate Hudson

Based on a true story, Song Sung Blue tells the heartwarming and equally heartbreaking story of Mike and Claire - otherwise known as Lightening and Thunder - who reinvent the celebrity impersonation genre building a following for Neil Diamond “essence.” They create such an outstanding stage show in Milwaukee that they make a name for themselves and get invited to open for Pearl Jam (which apparently, did actually happen!) As their stars are on the rise, tragedy strikes Claire as a car plows into her while she is just standing in front of the couple’s home, thrusting her into a deep depression as she battles her way back to normalcy.

Kate Hudson garnered her second Oscar nomination, this time for actress in a leading role and boy does she deserve it. It’s stunning that Hugh Jackman wasn’t recognized because the pair make the film what it is, and one without the other is like peanut butter without the jelly - good on its own, no question, but the magic that happens when together makes the whole better than the sum of its parts. I don’t know what it is that put her over the top without him, but the most important thing about Song Sung Blue garnering the single nomination is that I at least get the opportunity to invite you to see the film. If it does nothing more than remind more people that Neil Diamond’s music is so much more than Sweet Caroline (and hello Sulemon!), then the movie has more than done its job.

If I Had Legs, I'd Kick You - 1 nomination

 

• Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Rose Byrne

Doing it all gets a whole new meaning in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You. Rose Byrne plays a therapist whose child is dealing with an eating disorder and being nourished by a feeding tube, whose family has been displaced from their home due to a flood, whose husband is away on military duty, and whose patients need her in some healthy and sometimes toxic ways. Each one of these stressors would be more than enough, but they also come with a dose of guilt, shame, and plenty of judgement from others about how she “should” be managing them. If you’re anything like me, just reading that paragraph gave you a pang or two (or more) of discomfort, and boy does Rose Byrne play the life as most of us experience it - desperately wanting to do a good job, every success in one area is also a failure in others, and more than a modicum of sincere frustration and genuine anger.

The film has the chaos of Marty Supreme without all the funny parts, and certainly without any big wins. Nobody wants to live like that, and yet most who do have no choice and very little way out. How much can one person take without cracking up completely? That’s the question this movie grapples with, ironically with a therapist who can’t simply change her circumstances by simply changing her attitude. This film is both hauntingly familiar and disturbing enough to avoid if you can’t hack it. But if you do, you might just learn something important. (or you’ll have a movie to tell your friends/family, “JUST WATCH THIS, it will explain everything for me!”)

Sirat - 2 nomination

 

• Best International Feature Film: Spain

• Best Sound: Amanda Villavieja, Laia Casanovas, Yasmina Praderas

A man and his young son are searching raves taking place in the desert looking for their daughter/sister who they haven’t seen in many months. She is an adult but still, they haven’t even heard from here and they are worried, walking around asking everyone they can if they remember seeing her. When the rave is raided by soldiers, they follow some “professional ravers” to another potential venue. The ravers warn them that they don’t have the right kind of vehicle to transverse the treacherous terrain, but they go nonetheless, determined to find their family member. There is something very suspicious about these ravers though, and we are always just a bit on edge while the three vehicles do what they can to stay together.

And then there is THAT moment. The moment when the movie you think you have been watching becomes a different movie entirely. A moment so dramatic and unexpected that the gasp I let out took a few minutes to subside. Those moments continue all the way to the very end of the picture, and it is for these twists and turns that I award Sirat my “hidden gem award.” Longtime readers of the blog know that the award is given every year to a film that I hadn’t even heard of before it was nominated for an Oscar, and then once seen it became one of my favorite and unforgettable movies of the year. For the reason, I highly suggest seeing Sirat. While it is not an easy film, it will not easily be forgotten.

KPOP Demon Hunters - 2 nominations

 

• Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song): EJAE (music and lyric), Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu-kwak, Lee Yu-han, Nam Hee-dong, Teddy Park, 24, For “Golden”

• Best Animated Feature Film: Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans, Michelle Wong

KPop Demon Hunters follows a globally famous K-pop girl group who secretly live double lives as elite demon hunters. By day, they perform sold-out arena concerts and maintain flawless public personas; by night, they battle supernatural forces feeding off human emotion and fame. When a rival boy band comes around and begins stealing audience attention, they also and begins exhibiting suspicious, otherworldly abilities, the group discovers that the demons they fight are evolving—and infiltrating the entertainment industry itself.

This film has a tremendous shot at winning both of its categories (sadly, I’d like the Diane Warren song to win) and the animation is magnificent. It takes the best of South Korean razzle dazzle and combines it with a beautiful soundtrack and leverages that into a pretty delightful and impressive film.

It Was Just an Accident - 2 Nominations

 

Best International Feature Film: France

Best Original Screenplay: Jafar Panahi (writer), Shadmehr Rastin (script collaborator), Nader Saeivar (script collaborator), Mehdi Mahmoudian (script collaborator)

France’s submission for International Feature takes place in Iran, where a car pulls into a mechanic’s shop containing a man, his pregnant wife, and his daughter. The lovely mechanic, Vahid, hears the squeaking of the man’s prosthetic, and he is certain that he recognizes the man as his sadistic jailhouse captor. Vahid finds a way to knock out and kidnap the man and digs a grave to bury him alive, but Vahid isn’t certain that the man he suspects is the man he remembers. He rounds up a mismatched little crew of fellow former prisoners to help him confirm the identity, but his kind nature continues to impede his plans for revenge.

Somehow this film finds a way to be funny, profound, and ask important questions about ethics, regret, and forgiveness. It was the most unexpected of the Oscars films for me both for the quality of the story but also, for the surprise of a challenging movie that still made me laugh time and again while dealing with truly difficult stories. Iran is hardly the expected setting of a comedic drama, but It Was Just an Accident executes brilliantly.

I’ve now seen 4 of 5 International Features (and frankly, the one I’m delaying until the very end is one I’m dreading) and I would rank this one in 4th place of the 4 I’ve seen so far. Having said that, if you have the time and you’re looking for a good foreign language movie to see on some night at home, this one is certainly worth it.

Avatar: Fire and Ash - 2 Nominations

 

Best Achievement in Visual Effects: Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, Daniel Barrett

Best Achievement in Costume Design: Deborah L. Scott

In the 3rd installment of the Avatar story, Jake and his Navi family are still being hunted by the military and now they have discovered a new enemy, the Ash tribe who are hungry for power and will do anything to obtain it. James Cameron again takes us to a magnificent place where the spiritual and the ecological meet. The film does its best to teach simple values and while the tropes of good and evil may be overly binary in the Avatar universe, I still find the movies both exciting and entertaining. Visually, they are incomparably stunning - that goes for all of the technical categories, the costumes, the makeup and hairstyling, the visual effects, the production design, the sound design; there isn’t a detail in this world that isn’t both bespoke and utterly detailed.

This isn’t a film that you mustn’t miss. It’s not likely to win either one of the awards for which it is nominated. But I enjoyed it and if you’re a fan of this genre, you will too.

Blue Moon - 2 Nominations

 

• Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Ethan Hawke

• Best Original Screenplay: Robert Kaplow (writer)

It is opening night of Oklahoma!, and Richard Rogers’ big night without his longtime collaborator, Lorenz Hart. Hart has arrived early to the bar where the show’s after party at Sardis is set to take place, and at first, he resists the temptation to drink, but not to rant. Rogers has taken a hiatus from working with Hart both to give Hart time to deal with his alcoholism, and also because when he was drinking, he was an unreliable partner. Hart has a lot of opinions about Oklahoma, but primarily that it was too silly and happy and upbeat (minus the rape, of course), and wants Rogers to get back to working with him on more serious pursuits.

The film is very close to a monologue, and Ethan Hawke is in every single scene. I imagine pages and pages of lines without a single interruption. It’s Olympic level acting, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him better. His longtime partnership with Director Richard Linklater takes a whole new path with this movie where little happens but you simply can’t look away. I’m pretty sure that I had my mouth agape for a good portion of the film, just dazzled by this performance that was nothing like I’ve seen before.

It doesn’t matter if you know who Rogers and Hart are, if you’ve ever seen Oklahoma!, or if you know anything about New York theater. I hope you’ll see the film just to see Hawke’s work in this role, a truly unexpected but brilliant execution. It’s not a showy movie, but it’s fantastic.

Train Dreams - 4 Nominations

• Best Achievement in Cinematography: Adolpho Veloso

• Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song): Nick Cave (music and lyric), Bryce Dessner (music), For “Train Dreams”

• Best Motion Picture of the Year: Marissa McMahon, Teddy Schwarzman, Will Janowitz, Ashley Schlaifer, Michael Heimler

• Best Adapted Screenplay: Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar

Train Dreams is a quiet, sad, beautiful film with powerful performances - it’s a totally different speed than the entire crop of other movies in the Best Picture category. Joel Edgerton plays a railway construction worker who meets and marries Gladys. As the country’s need for logging increases, he transitions to this seasonal work, coming home each year to be with his wife and eventually daughter. When a tragic fire burns down his home, he is haunted by the idea that perhaps his daughter is alive and looking for a way home.

This is not an upbeat movie, but I found it to be wonderful. In the hullabaloo of loud and frenetic stories, Train Dreams changes the pace and makes an impact. If you’re not fond of the slower paced, or of the performances that are as much internal as expressed, then perhaps this wouldn’t be for you. But the scenery alone (and therefore, the Cinematography nom) is worth the price of admission.

 

The Secret Agent - 4 Nominations

 

Best Casting: Gabriel Domingues

Best International Feature Film: Brazil

Best Motion Picture of the Year: Emilie Lesclaux

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Wagner Moura

For a second year in a row, Brazil has a strong showing for the Oscars, with almost identical nominees (Best Pic, International Feature, and a lead acting role) with only the addition of the new category for the Casting award. Brazil of the 70s is certainly rich fodder for movie making. This time, Marcelo is returning to his hometown as anonymously as possible in kind of a witness protection program to see his young son who has been staying with his wife’s parents while he has been on the run. Simultaneously trying to keep his cover as he looks through official records to see what information he can get about his mother, while also hiding from those who want to do him harm thanks to a patent he holds to a game changing invention. His is a dangerous life but this doesn’t keep him from dreaming of a future with his son.

The Secret Agent unfolds just slowly enough to be intriguing and just fast enough to keep you engaged. From the opening scene, it’s clear that this is a dangerous place. Dangerous to drive, dangerous to live, dangerous to connect, dangerous to share anything real about oneself, and definitely very dangerous to have invented something that powerful people want. I think this is the likely International Feature winner (much like I’m Still Here last year) but unlikely to win the others.

I’m still getting my arms around the casting category, but this is surely a tribute to the lead actor and everyone in the supporting cast who surrounds him. I thought this film was outstanding and so worth watching. It’s another chapter in the brutality of an authoritarian regime, surely a worthwhile topic for the days we are living through now, eh?

F1 - 4 nominations

 

Best Sound: Gareth John, Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary A. Rizzo, Juan Peralta
Best Achievement in Visual Effects: Ryan Tudhope, Nicolas Chevallier, Robert Harrington, Keith Dawson
Best Motion Picture of the Year: Chad Oman, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Joseph Kosinski, Jerry Bruckheimer
Best Achievement in Film Editing: Stephen Mirrione

Put your hand up if you remember my favorite film genre: that’s right, musicals! But tied for first with musicals is without a doubt sports movies. Sports movies have heart - someone (or a team) work hard to overcome obstacles and they win! or they lose! but they learn something about grit and cliches like “the love of the game” and “it ain’t over til it’s over.” And when that last second arrives, “it all comes down to this.” If you’re not on the edge of your seat, or crying a little bit, then either you are made of stone or the movie wasn’t very good.

F1 was every cliche in the sports book. The seasoned athlete who has wisdom, experience, and calm is engaged to work with the young hotshot who knows everything and has it all ahead of him. The seasoned pro thinks all of the technology for training is ridiculous, the young gun thinks the old pro is past his prime and too old school to teach him anything. Then the wizened teammate begins to make big scores for the team moving them closer and closer to their goal, and their relationship blossoms while they chase the dream. Yep - that’s all in there, including the forbidden and unprofessional courting of the woman on their team; this time she is an expert on aerodynamics and building cars that go really fast.

But I just told you that I love a sports movie and F1 is no exception. Every single nomination for the technical achievements is well deserved - the sound, the editing, the visual effects combine to make one hell of an exciting, edge of your seat experience. A best picture? No. Nothing has me more surprised than the inclusion of F1 in that prestigious list, and I wonder if that isn’t just Jerry Bruckheimer and Brad Pitt working the circuit to make the top 10. I could easily replace F1 with two or three of the other films that have nominations this year. Having said that, a super fun romp with a lot of heart makes F1 a fantastic watch for a light evening with a great bowl of popcorn.

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!).

Hamnet - 8 Nominations

 

Best Casting: Nina Gold

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score): Max Richter

Best Motion Picture of the Year: Liza Marshall, Pippa Harris, Nicolas Gonda, Steven Spielberg, Sam Mendes

Best Achievement in Directing: Chloé Zhao

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Jessie Buckley

Best Adapted Screenplay: Maggie O’Farrell, Chloé Zhao

Best Achievement in Production Design: Fiona Crombie (production designer), Alice Felton (set decorator)

Best Achievement in Costume Design: Malgosia Turzanska

Hamnet is the beautiful and deeply moving story of William Shakespeare and his family; how he met his wife, his rise in popularity, and the family that he left behind when he went to London to put on what would become enduring work that would live well beyond his lifetime. With this film, Chloe Zhao has done something powerful. While we have seen films before that play out a “real life” story that eventually become a Shakespeare play (a la, Shakespeare in Love), this feels grounded in a world that feels as real as it is theatrical, and as theatrical as it is real. Of course the technical categories lend themselves to the experience, but what makes this movie are the performances from Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, and the three child actors who play their children. (At this point, I can’t see anyone taking the gold from Jessie Buckley.)
We know that Chloe Zhao is an outstanding director, but the thing that connects her Oscar winning Nomadland to Hamnet is her ability to have enduring compassion for her women leads while still showing them to be fully human, whether pooping in a bucket in a van or giving birth alone in the woods.
And here is my big reveal - if you are going to see only 2 or 3 of the nominated Best Pictures this year, make sure that Hamnet is one of them.

Sentimental Value - 9 Nominations

 

Best International Feature Film: Norway
Best Motion Picture of the Year: Maria Ekerhovd, Andrea Berentsen Ottmar
Best Achievement in Directing: Joachim Trier
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Renate Reinsve
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: Stellan Skarsgård
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Elle Fanning
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas
Best Original Screenplay: Joachim Trier (writer), Eskil Vogt (writer)
Best Achievement in Film Editing: Olivier Bugge Coutté

Sentimental Value centers on estranged sisters Nora and Agnes, who reconnect with their once-famous but emotionally distant filmmaker father Gustav after their mother’s death. Gustav, a celebrated director whose career has slowed, returns with a personal new script inspired by their family history and hopes that Nora will star in it, but she refuses, leading him to cast an American actress instead, which further fractures their uneasy reunion.

This is one of two films this year to appear in both the International Feature and Best Picture categories, and I was deeply moved by this one, and impressed with the play within a play nature of the story. What I loved about the movie, in particular, is that the complexity of real relationships isn’t often smoothed over by a perfect reconciliation with a hug and a tear and a confession; sometimes people are able to move forward even when their affection isn’t perfect, and their wounds are not completely healed.

The acting was quite brilliant, but I was mostly blown away by the screenplay. A most deserving film to be honored by the Oscars, and a worthwhile watch for those who delight in storytelling that takes its time.

Frankenstein - 9 nominations

 

Best Achievement in Cinematography: Dan Laustsen

Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling: : Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel, Cliona Furey

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score): Alexandre Desplat

Best Sound: Greg Chapman, Nathan Robitaille, Nelson Ferreira, Christian T. Cooke, Brad Zoern

Best Motion Picture of the Year: Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale, Scott Stuber

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: Jacob Elordi

Best Adapted Screenplay: Guillermo del Toro

Best Achievement in Production Design: Tamara Deverell (production designer), Shane Vieau (set decorator)

Best Achievement in Costume Design: Kate Hawley

I thought I’d seen enough Frankensteins to last me a lifetime, so when Guillermo del Toro announced that this would be his new film, I was not excited. But knowing that GDT, who made Pan’s Labyrinth and other extraordinary genre reinventions, was at the helm, I was open to it.

This Frankenstein is a whole other narrative. The obsessive scientist who methodically puts together a human body and reenvisions how one could animate that body pieced together is a whole story in itself. Oscar Isaac’s brilliant portrayal of the man obsessed with solving a puzzle and his descent into madness is gut punching. The level of detail put into the human anatomy of the work gives the audience the feeling that this crazy idea could become reality.

That’s the first half of the film, though the story is not told in a linear way. But the second half of the story is through the eyes of Frankenstein’s creature himself and how being animated and being alive are two different things. We realize that it’s not just a question of just because you can doesn’t mean you should, it’s also the impossible question of now that you did, what’s next for now and for eternity? In every iteration of the monster genre, there is the moment before and the moment after and the binary is about alive and revived, but not really about being human. This new iteration is much more about becoming than being, and it completely changes the story to make it a richer, much more interesting tale. It’s the questions, not the answers, that makes this film so special.

Del Toro also makes the brilliant choice to connect the past to the present by filming in black and white, and that’s why the cinematography is so magnificent. It gives old world vibes while making a Frankenstein that is utterly new, utterly fresh, and completely worth your while - even if you are not a fan of this genre (which, as I mentioned, I am not). Every one of these 9 nominations is deserved, including the one for Jacob Elordi who gives Frankenstein’s creature the humanity I could never have anticipated - he what makes the whole film come together and work.

I highly recommend it, if for no other reason than it’s absolutely not what you are expecting when you sit down in front of a creation called Frankenstein.

Marty Supreme - 9 nominations

 

Best Casting: Jennifer Venditti

Best Achievement in Cinematography: Darius Khondji

Best Motion Picture of the Year: Eli Bush, Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie, Anthony Katagas, Timothée Chalamet

Best Achievement in Directing: Josh Safdie

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Timothée Chalamet

Best Original Screenplay: Josh Safdie (writer), Ronald Bronstein (writer)

Best Achievement in Production Design: Jack Fisk (production designer), Adam Willis (set decorator)

Best Achievement in Costume Design: Miyako Bellizzi

Best Achievement in Film Editing: Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie

Marty Mauser is a shoe salesman with a dream - to become the world champion table tennis player. He is a hustler, he has a married girlfriend who is pregnant with his baby, and what’s more, each one of his disastrous decisions puts him in danger, or at least right at the edge of it. But he is singularly focused on achieving greatness, much like the actor who plays him and openly says that he aspires to be one of the all-time greats in his own field. The film is frenetic, much like Josh Safdie’s other works (especially Uncut Gems), and this is another year in a row when the Producer/Director is also the Writer/Editor and is nominated for all four categories (including Best Picture). Last year, Sean Baker took home all four prizes.

Does this put Marty Supreme on the path for the big win, Best Picture? In the mix, maybe. For the win? I don’t think so. Having said that, it’s hard to argue that the frenetic style of movie making - when done well - must be a top contender for Editing. And Timothee (who longtime readers of the blog will know I have nicknamed “Greasy” because even after an on-screen shower, he still somehow looks a bit greasy to me) was outstanding. For an actor who brings his A game powerfully in every role, this was his best performance of his career. The nominations in some of the technical categories (costume, production design) are expected for period pieces but are unlikely winners against films like Hamnet and this year’s darling, Sinners.

I highly recommend the film with the caveat that it can be dizzying. If you’re not up for that kind of experience, then give it a skip.

One Battle After Another - 13 nominations

 

Best Casting: Cassandra Kulukundis
Best Achievement in Cinematography: Michael Bauman
Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score): Jonny Greenwood
Best Sound: José Antonio García, Christopher Scarabosio, Tony Villaflor
Best Motion Picture of the Year: Adam Somner, Sara Murphy, Paul Thomas Anderson
Best Achievement in Directing: Paul Thomas Anderson
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Leonardo DiCaprio
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: Benicio Del Toro
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: Sean Penn
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Teyana Taylor
Best Adapted Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson
Best Achievement in Production Design: Florencia Martin (production designer), Anthony Carlino (set decorator)
Best Achievement in Film Editing: Andy Jurgensen

How about a year when 13 nominations isn’t even the most nominations a picture has received? Well, that’s exactly what you get in Paul Thomas Anderson’s film. PTA is a little all over the place for me - some of his movies are bafflingly good (like this one and Boogie Nights) and others are The Master.

Let me tell you a little bit about this very exciting plot. “Ghetto” Pat Calhoun and Perfidia Beverly Hills are young activists and revolutionaries reminiscent of the Weather Underground. They pull off an explosive action to release detained immigrants that could well be defined as domestic terrorism, despite its noble intent. Before they do, Perfidia meets and humiliates commanding officer, Steven Lockjaw who continues to hunt the members of their group for the next 16 years. He will not rest until they are all dead.

Perfidia has a baby, Charlene, but she refuses to change her lifestyle and leaves. Meanwhile, Pat and Charlene flee and become Bob and Willa, hiding from the danger Pat knows will always hunt him. Years pass, and Bob has become a tired and rundown paranoid couch dweller, while his teenage daughter has thrived but has been raised with an off the grid paranoia. When danger comes to his doorstep, he runs, and Willa is taken from her high school to an out of town order of revolutionary nuns. Once he is able, Bob mounts a quest to find his daughter and reunite with her.

And, as is true with all PTA films, I left out quite a bit of the plot, because all of this is to say, you should watch this movie. Simplistic on its face, it asks all the important questions about governmental overreach, domestic terrorism, resistance in the face of injustice, the role of white supremacy, immigration, and more. What does lawlessness look like from those with unchecked power, and what is the appropriate and rational response to it? At its core, the film examines how commitment—to art, to politics, to other people—evolves over time, and whether persistence itself can still count as a form of victory.

This is no popcorn movie, but it is worth every minute of your time. If you don’t finish and do just a little bit of questioning of your own lens and politics, then either the film hasn’t done its job, or you haven’t.