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.

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.

Sinners - 16 nominations

 

Best Casting: Francine Maisler

Best Achievement in Cinematography: Autumn Durald Arkapaw

Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling: Ken Diaz, Michael Fontaine, Shunika Terry

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score): Ludwig Göransson

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song): Ludwig Göransson (music and lyric), Raphael Saadiq (music and lyric) - For “I Lied to You”

Best Sound: Chris Welcker, Benjamin A. Burtt, Felipe Pacheco, Brandon Proctor, Steve Boeddeker

Best Achievement in Visual Effects: Michael Ralla, Espen Nordahl, Guido Wolter, Donnie Dean

Best Motion Picture of the Year: Zinzi Coogler, Sev Ohanian, Ryan Coogler

Best Achievement in Directing: Ryan Coogler

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Michael B. Jordan

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: Delroy Lindo

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Wunmi Mosaku

Best Original Screenplay: Ryan Coogler (writer)

Best Achievement in Production Design: Hannah Beachler (production designer), Monique Champagne (set decorator)

Best Achievement in Costume Design: Ruth E. Carter

Best Achievement in Film Editing: Michael P. Shawver

---

Identical twin brothers Elijah “Smoke” Moore and Elias “Stack” Moore (both played by nominated lead actor Michael B. Jordan) return home after years in Chicago looking to start fresh by opening a juke joint for the Black community. They recruit family and friends, including a young blues guitarist, but their hopes are soon eclipsed by a deadly supernatural threat in the form of vampires descending on the town. As the night unfolds, survival becomes as much about confronting internal demons as the literal vampire menace. The brothers may not share a fate in the long run, but they certainly share a destiny.

There’s something bafflingly special about this movie, and that’s not just about 16 Oscar nominations, but also that Sinners had nominations in every single category for which it was eligible except one (lead actress), and it didn’t really have a lead actress. Ruth Carter has worked with Coogler before and has won 2 Oscars for Costumes for the Black Panther films, thanks to that association. Ludwig Goransson is also Coogler’s longtime music collaborator who also won an Oscar for the original Black Panther film. Coogler has a talent for assembling a band of exceptionally talented artists in front of and behind the screen, and this film is surely his masterpiece.

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A Real Pain - 2 nominations

 

• 
  • Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

  • Kieran Culkin
• 
  • Best Original Screenplay

  • Jesse Eisenberg

I love a double entendre in a movie title, and this one is "chef's kiss" perfect. A Real Pain follows Jewish cousins who join a Holocaust remembrance tour in Poland. Each member of the tour has a different reason for being there - some Jewier, some less so, one a real life survivor of another attempted genocide. These cousins are there to honor their grandmother who was a survivor - one nervous and generally uncomfortable, the other a natural charmer, high strung, and more than a bit annoying (Keiran Culkin giving an incredible performance with so much depth). They are on a journey to learn, and also to reconnect at a time when they have lost some of their former closeness. As the story unfolds, we learn a bit more about the trauma and the suffering they each carry.

The beauty of the title is that the one cousin (Culkin) is obviously a real pain... in the ass. But they are also both carrying a genuine pain from their pasts, from their declining relationship, from their concern for each other's well being. And then there is very real pain they are absorbing while visiting concentration camps and tracking their grandmother's lived experience which is inextricably linked to the Jewish generational trauma. This film spoke to me and even when Culkin was at his most annoying (and most of the time that kind of character is very off-putting for me), I was still rooting for him. I know people with that personality who at their most charming are intoxicating, but when disregarding societal norms and speaking without regard for how others may perceive them is utterly grating.

The writing in this film is superb and having listened to a number of interviews with Jesse Eisenberg, it turns out that his first love is play writing, not acting. He is so truly good at both. I highly recommend this one, and maybe you'll learn a little something about history along the way.

The Apprentice - 2 nominations

 

• 
  • Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

  • Sebastian Stan
• 
  • Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

  • Jeremy Strong

Guys, I really really wanted to like this movie. I wanted to tell you that watching the young Donald Trump being mentored by the notorious Roy Cohen was a pleasure, and how deeply I've misjudged the person. I wanted to tell you that I found, if not compassion, at least an understanding of the immoral bully we see today. I especially wanted to tell you about the charms that the person of the moment grew out of, but at least a reminder that there was a time when Trump, molded in the image of a somehow worse person, Roy Cohen, was at least a human in search of success who was taught to behave in the worst ways for nothing but selfish reasons. (and let's repeat the refrain here - movies are not documentaries - you don't watch a narrative film to find out the truth, so even that beginning makes me remind myself that I shouldn't have been connecting the film's narrative with the real life DJT, no matter how similar the real life events may have been.)

But the film was difficult to watch. There are Easter eggs sprinkled throughout the movie intended to wink at us and say, "remember when he said THIS thing on the campaign trail? This is where he got that!" The true irony of Roy Cohen looking any person in the face and asking how they could possibly have no loyalty and no compassion was laughable, and therefore, kind of brilliant.

What WAS superb though were these two performances. Sebastian Stan infuses mannerisms without becoming an impression. Jeremy Strong, who is likely one of the great actors of our age, is subtle and sinister and unapologetic without becoming a cartoon.

My friends who adore Trump will perhaps comment and say that I suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome (as though being a person who can't abide a leader who appears to have no human decency nor shies away from saying the most vile things, not to mention the constant lying - sometimes about the most obvious things is a bad thing), but I would simply respond with the number of times that I have lauded decisions and policies with which I agree (and yes, there are some). And in response, perhaps I would ask that person how many times they have denounced the most obvious of disgusting comments without explaining them away. So no, I didn't have trouble with the movie because I don't agree with many of Trump's policies and most of his behaviors, I had trouble with the movie because watching anyone debase others with glee is just hard for me to watch.  Make up your own mind, but it wasn't for me. 

And please, if you are going to threaten to kill my dog or me or my family because you don't like my review of a movie, please spend that time taking a hard look in the mirror. You are welcome to write your own review.

A Complete Unknown - 8 Nominations

 

• 
  • Best Sound

  • Tod A. Maitland 
  • Donald Sylvester 
  • Ted Caplan 
  • Paul Massey 
  • David Giammarco
• 
  • Best Motion Picture of the Year

  • Fred Berger 
  • James Mangold 
  • Alex Heineman
• 
  • Best Achievement in Directing

  • James Mangold
• 
  • Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

  • Timothée Chalamet
• 
  • Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

  • Monica Barbaro
• 
  • Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

  • Edward Norton
• 
  • Best Adapted Screenplay

  • Jay Cocks 
  • James Mangold
• 
  • Best Achievement in Costume Design

  • Arianne Phillips

In a very musical year at the Oscars, A Complete Unknown was truly one of my favorites of the year. The performances from Timothee Chalamet, Ed Norton, and Monica Barbaro blew me away - and for the film, I understand all three had to learn guitar and Ed Norton banjo for an unbelievably convincing turn as Pete Seeger. It is a biopic that begins when Bob Dylan arrives in New York, figures out where Woody Guthrie is hospitalized, and visits him with this guitar and his impressive lyrics. He and Pete figure out pretty quickly that this kid has the makings of a star. We watch Dylan's rise to fame and his ultimate ambivalence about what stardom does to his life. He doesn't appreciate being in the spotlight, and he REALLY doesn't want to be locked in a box of what "folk music" means. He doesn't want to be anyone's performing monkey, so he won't play the game, nor will he play Blowin' in the Wind, no matter how much the audience wants to hear it.

All of this tumult though is overridden by the pure joy of Dylan's songs and try as I might to be quiet in the theater, I couldn't help singing along. The music is timeless, and even when you're watching what sometimes looks like a petulant child (do you think that I like doing every thing required of me in MY job? That's called being a grown up, Bob), the performances and the story are so compelling that they can't be resisted by the hardest of movie goers. I hope that audiences of all ages are going, but if you're over 50 and you haven't seen it, I just don't know what you are doing with your life.