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.