Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio - 1 nomination

 

Best Animated Feature Film
Guillermo del Toro
Mark Gustafson
Gary Ungar
Alexander Bulkley

In doing a little research to prepare for this blog post, I attempted to identify how many times Pinocchio has been made as a film.  The earliest one I could find is from 1911, and of course in 1940 there was Walt Disney's version. There were two film versions THIS YEAR and last year, the Italian version had a nomination for makeup and hairstyling.  The latest iteration is nominated for Animated Feature, and as far as I'm concerned, this could very happily be the last one.

Now, as a person who follows pop culture enough to be reading a blog post from a nobody like me, I'm going to take for granted that you know the story of Pinocchio, which begins when Gepetto the wood worker crafts a wooden puppet to honor his son who passed away, and the puppet comes to life.  Most of us consider this story to be a myth to teach children not to lie. In actuality, Pinocchio lies rarely in the story and yes his nose does grow, but that is hardly the lesson.  The real lesson of Pinocchio is that children should listen to their parents and not get sidetracked by vices and those who would lead them astray, and that's why his little buddy Jiminy Cricket is a manifestation of his conscience.  Bet you don't really remember that part, do ya?

Sure, this version is a little darker and a little more fantastical as only Guillermo del Toro could do it, but to all who are considering yet another remake I say, NO. Ask around... do you know anyone whose favorite story is Pinocchio? No you don't. It's a bonkers drug trip with very little redeemable value that filmmakers seem to enjoy but I've had enough. As Pinocchio learns in the story, JUST SAY NO.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever - 5 nominations

 

Best Achievement in Costume Design Ruth E. Carter

Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling Camille Friend Joel Harlow

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song) Tems Rihanna Ryan Coogler Ludwig Göransson For song "Lift Me Up"

Best Achievement in Visual Effects Geoffrey Baumann Craig Hammack R. Christopher White Daniel Sudick

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Angela Bassett

There's so much to this amazing film which I utterly loved that it's just too much to convey in a blog post. The best way I can approach this is in chunks.

Chunk One:

Wakanda is mourning the loss of their King T'challa, especially his mother, Queen Ramonda, and his sister, Shuri, who are holding the country together.  They are naturally devastated and together they are trying to forge ahead. Ramonda begs Shuri to pursue scientific research to restore the herb that a person ingests to become the new Black Panther, but Shuri is reluctant believing that this role is now defunct with her brother's passing. It can't be overstated how powerful the death and mourning rituals are portrayed in the film, and the costuming is beyond remarkable.

Chunk Two:

The world wants vibranium.  Researchers find a deposit in the ocean and are racing to mine it thanks to a vibranium detector invented by a young brilliant college student, when a group of blue water-breathing superhumans defend their territory with their leader Namor.  Namor wants to fend off any attacks from humans and take the fight to them (call it the Bush doctrine of the MCU), while the Wakandans believe in defending their resources rather than conducting offensive attacks.  Namor threatens the Wakandans that they either deliver the young inventor to him, or suffer the consequences.

Chunk Three:

Shuri struggles with the call to become the Black Panther, and ultimately must decide how she will lead her people. She is led down a difficult path when she communes with the now-dead Killmonger who urges her to seek revenge, while her inner voice pushes her toward brokering peace.

All of this to say, see the movie for yourself - my description is far too clinical for a film that is meant to be enjoyed.  Every element of this film works in concert to produce a gorgeous, meaningful experience.  I cried multiple times (we know that means nothing), and truly the Costume Designer Ruth Carter must win again (she won for Black Panther) - I don't know how she topped herself but she truly did.  Angela Bassett, who is always a powerhouse, changed my DNA in this role.  It is her world, and we all just live in it.

Aftersun - 1 nomination

 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Paul Mescal

I don't know, guys. This one is a bit of a puzzler for me. The story is simply a vacation experience with a father and daughter who spend time together, love each other, and there is very little drama.  We gather that there is something that the father is going through, though it is never shared with us. The vast majority of the film is just scenes from a vacation, with a lot of moments where you are wondering, is something terrible about to happen?  Nope, nothing significant happens at all. It's just slightly more interesting than someone taking you through their vacation videos and photos.

Now, if you do any reading about this movie, you learn that the daughter is attempting to, as an adult 20 years later, learn more about her father, trying to identify which of her memories from the vacation are real and which are not, and exploring "the father she never really knew" through the lens of this experience.  The problem is, if you have to get all of that from reading about the film and not at all from the film, then it has missed the mark.  There are tiny moments that I would guess last less than 5 total minutes in the movie hinting at confusion and suggesting that this is all memory, but not enough to make clear this film as a flashback.

I can't even say the movie was confusing but the performance was remarkable. Ok, it was fine (and one could argue that Mescal's character is actually in a supporting role) but hardly Oscar nomination worthy.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery - 1 nomination

 

Best Adapted Screenplay
Rian Johnson

A group of friends who love mystery and puzzles gather at the home of Tech billionaire Miles Bron. Each comes with his or her own back story and complications, and they are particularly jarred when their former friend (and Bron's former business partner) Andi Brand arrives and joins them for this exclusive experience.  But when renowned private detective Benoit Blanc receives his own invitation, the group (and especially the host) is curious, as Bron never sent Blanc an invitation. We learn that Bron is on the brink of marketing an alternative energy source called Klear which he claims is safe, but perhaps at least one member of the group knows otherwise.  The real mystery unfolds when two members of the group are killed, and Benoit Blanc must leap into action and solve the crimes. The movie is great fun and holds up to the original Knives Out film, for which Rian Johnson was also nominated.  (And in an Oscars twist, his first nomination for Knives Out was for Original Screenplay. In this film, because the character and story is based on that original film, he is now nominated for Adapted Screenplay.  Isn't that fun? Or am I just an Oscars nerd? Oh well, two things can be true.)

SPOILER ALERT - if you haven't seen the film and don't want to know what happens, do not read on. I will not address all of the surprises in the movie except one, and unfortunately, I think it's the hole in the plot that makes no sense. The story unfolds and we learn that Andi has a twin sister and that Andi herself has died, and that the person who actually shows up to the island, the person who received the invitation to the island, is actually the twin sister Helen.  (Janelle Monae plays both parts.) We learn that it is Miles Bron who, in fact, killed Andi, and that Andi didn't die by suicide.  When Helen/Andi arrives at the island, Bron welcomes her and says he is really glad she came.  But here's the thing, HE killed Andi.  HE knows that the real Andi is dead. So why would he send the real Andi an invitation to the weekend, and why would he not know that the person who stands before him is Helen, and not the Andi that he murdered? This plot hole undermines the entire story, so it's a pretty big one. Unless someone can point to something in the film that reveals that Bron knew that the guest was Helen all along (and there is nothing in the movie to suggest that he thinks this person is anyone but Andi), it's a bit of a problem.  Having said that, it's a super fun film and who even cares?  

I heard Rian Johnson interviewed and one of the points that he makes is that a well written murder mystery film like these or Agatha Christie's don't need hints so that the audience can solve it ourselves. They need to be joyrides with big surprises at the end. And this one was more than enough for me to be entertained.

Causeway - 1 nomination

 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Brian Tyree Henry

Causeway is a lovely film following Lynsey who has returned home from military service with a traumatic brain injury.  She moves in with her mother, cleans pools for work, and does therapy and rehab in an effort to return to active service.  Along the way, she develops a relationship with her auto mechanic who himself is living with post traumatic stress disorder after the auto accident death of his nephew.  They find solace and comfort with each other, and Lynsey realizes that her ambition to return to Afghanistan may not actually be what's best for her physically, mentally, or emotionally.

This is not the first time that Brian Tyree Henry has had some Oscars buzz but this marks his first nom.  He is an incredibly talented actor, and much like Andrea Riseborough's nomination, it's nice to see a performance recognized in a film that wouldn't otherwise have received much attention. It's a beautiful performance and I'm certain that this will not be Henry's last nomination and he will eventually have that statuette on his mantle.  I enjoyed the film very much.

Living - 2 nominations

 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Bill Nighy

Best Adapted Screenplay Kazuo Ishiguro

Living is based on a film called Ikiru by Akira Kurosawa. We know Kazuo Ishigiro to be an excellent screenwriter, and this movie is no exception.  Unbelievably, Living marks Bill Nighy's very first Oscar nomination, and he delivers such a pristine, beautiful, perfect performance that the tears I shed while watching were not only for the story, but for the sheer excellence of the portrayal.  At its heart, it's a simple story of a staid, quiet man whose routine is boring, whose work as a basically ineffective government bureaucrat is relentless, and whose life has devolved into simply turning the calendar from one day to the next.  When he is given a terminal diagnosis, he decides to try to have a bit of fun.

We have certainly seen this kind of story before - a terminal diagnosis awakens the dead-inside person up to live life more fully.  What is special about this film is that the turn Nighy's character Williams takes is not simply to fun, but in doing good for others, and then hopefully inspiring those around him to do the same.  It's hard to know what Williams' legacy will be, but he can end his life knowing that he made an impact with someone.  I loved this film, and I hope that the Oscars recognition will attract audiences to see it.  It's worth your time, it's absolutely lovely.  

The Whale - 3 nominations

Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling Adrien Morot Judy Chin Anne Marie Bradley

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Brendan Fraser

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Hong Chau

Charlie is an online University teacher, an estranged father, and basically a shut in who never leaves his home and never interacts directly with anyone except for his best friend.  His heart is broken (literally and figuratively) because his partner died, and is also broken because he is in congestive heart failure.  Visually, his defining characteristic is that he is extremely morbidly obese, and emotionally, his defining feature is that he sees the world of possibility, he yearns for honesty, he believes in the goodness and kindness of people.  His greatest ambition is to repair his relationship with his daughter who he hasn't seen in 8 years, and she is willing only if he will pay her.  His illness is severe and his best friend and nurse Liz begs him to go to the hospital, but he declines wanting to save his fortune to bequeath to his daughter.  Fundamentally, Charlie doesn't believe himself worthy of anything because of his size - not the love of the people around him, not the respect of his students (and he keeps his Zoom camera off while he teaches), not anyone who could share his life and ease his burden.  He is repeatedly visited by a young Christian missionary who wants nothing more than to bring him back to Jesus - this is never going to happen because his partner died by suicide over the church's guilt for being gay.

This film is good.  It is touching. It has garnered plenty of controversy for gratuitously leaning into Charlie's size, and making every element of his fatness grotesque. But the universal praise for Fraser's performance is there too, and I'm thrilled to have him back in the mix.  Brendan Fraser is a brilliant actor and he squeezes this role for every bit of raw emotion he can find.  The performance alone is worth it, and I found the film to be worthy, as well.  It's a little schlocky, to be sure, but for me, still worth seeing.  If you only have time for 3 of this year's nominated films, this is not the one I would choose. But if you've got the time and inclination, I enjoyed it and I might have even shed a little tear.