Oscar Outcomes from the Upside Down

There's a lot of confusion over what exactly went down last night. Allow me to explain:

Civilization has failed.

Remember election night? I know you do. We were all heading in one direction together (or so we thought) and then everything changed. We either jumped timelines, or we entered the Upside Down, or we revealed the glitch in the Matrix and now...well now there is no spoon! No spoon, no democracy, no red envelope.

And remember Super Bowl? Atlanta was going to win but then they just didn't.

Why would the Oscars be any different? 

Was Warren Beatty too old to be given the right to read the wrong card? Was Emma Stone sabotaging the outcome with her red envelope? Did Russia somehow have a stake in Moonlight? No, no and I'm not sure. But that doesn't matter because the fabric of what we once thought was reality has begun to crumble and so now we have to start accepting that things will not proceed in the manner to which we have become accustomed. 

Let me bring this back to movies because that's all I really ever want to talk about. I feel horrible that the La La Land people had to give their happy speeches and then have the awards taken away. That is really crappy. AND I feel terrible that the Moonlight people had to accept their award amidst such awkwardness after having spent several minutes believing that they had not won. Bummers all around! But I think the Oscar voters actually got this right! Let's look at what WAS actually awarded last night:

La La Land was a bewitching musical that captured people's imagination, for sure. I also know that a lot of people felt that it was over rated because its story was a little thin. So La La Land got celebrated for its special elements; music, cinematography, production design and Emma Stone's undeniable charm and vulnerability. It also got recognition for the director who brought all of these pieces together to really surprise and delight so many people this year.

And then there are Moonlight and Manchester by the Sea which were both more solid stories overall. And they both won in their respective categories for writing. Both films got recognized for their outstanding performances and ultimately the voters determined that Moonlight was the better overall film (which I happen to agree with.) 

So it got confusing because of the alarming fact that logic and linear time and perhaps the laws of physics no longer hold sway in this new age, but ultimately the outcomes were not unfair so at least that's a good thing. For now, I'm just going to concern myself with how we will make films in the absence of gravity or what kind of stories I can write about the rapid evolution of weaponized cats because I'm pretty sure anything is possible now and I just want to be ready. 

Now! Will someone please recommend a really mindless, fluffy, non-serious, non-depressing bit of escapist entertainment for me please? My brain needs a serious Oscar cleanse. Immediately.

Wrap Up

I made it through my Oscar Gluttony! Now all that's left is the exaggerated celebration and self-aggrandizement of the evening itself! I'm so excited for dresses, political speeches, gaffes and good food as I sit at home and pretend I don't want to be in Hollywood!

Out of a possible 61 nominated films, I saw 57 of them! (That's totally an A if you are wondering. Which you weren't, because nobody cares about that, right? Not me. I don't.)

Good news: Oscar is definitely less white this year. Bad News: I can only come up with 19 movies that pass the Bechdel test! I would have thought there were more.

Nominations that I was sad to see overlooked:

Emily Blunt in The Girl on the Train
Manchester By the Sea for editing
Hell or High Water and Silence for Directing

And here are my picks for each category:

Actors - 
Casey Affleck 
Mahershala Ali
Emma Stone
Naomie Harris

Films - 
Best - Moonlight 
Animated - Kubo and the Two Strings
Foreign - The Salesman
Documentary - 13th

Cinematography - Silence

Costumes - Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 

Directing - Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester By the Sea)

Editing - Moonlight

Make Up - A Man Called Ove

Music - 
Score - Moonlight
Song - Moana

Production Design - Hail, Caesar!

Shorts - 
Animated - Piper
Doc - The White Helmets 
Live Action - Timecode

Sound - 
Editing - Arrival
Mixing - Arrival

Visual Effects - Rogue One

Writing - 
Adapted - Moonlight 
Original - Manchester by the Sea

Enjoy the Oscars, everyone!

Short Films

Animated Shorts - 

Blind Vaysha - Fascinating story of a girl who sees only the past with her left eye and only the future with her right, which leaves her blind. It was an interesting metaphor until they hit you over the head with it at the end and took away the cleverness of it.

Borrowed Time - Tragic tale of a son who kills his dad while trying to save him. I felt like I could not relate to it, but it was well done.

Pear Cider and Cigarettes - This one came with a warning to have the kids leave the theatre. Sex, drugs, alcohol and bad choices lead to a young man's death. This seems to be a very personal love letter to a dead friend, so I feel bad about the fact that I didn't care at all and couldn't wait for this to be over.

Pearl - As I sit here, I'm having a hard time remembering this short. It was about a dad and daughter and their connection through a car and a guitar. It felt like it would be an interesting commercial for Apple or Subaru or Starbucks or something.

Piper - I didn't want the Disney/Pixar short to be my favorite; it makes you feel like such a corporate sell out, right? I mean animation doesn't have to be cute or for kids...it can be so many different things! But Piper blows everything else out of the water as far as I am concerned! The textures of the sand, feathers, shells and water were so intricate and realistic. It tells a succinct and sweet tale of overcoming fear and growth through stepping out of your comfort zone. Plus, the bird is super cute! Winner.

Live Action Shorts - 

Ennemis Interieurs - This one was my least favorite. It was about the French police interrogating an Algerian man who wants to apply for citizenship. He's being treated like a terrorist and asked to name names. The production design and costumes felt thin and the acting was heavy handed, making it come off less like a thoughtful drama and more like political theatre.

La Femme et la TGV - I was dozing by this part of the evening...Oscar weariness in full effect! This was a pretty decent story about a woman's love affair with the railroad that felt like it needed a little something more. I craved a greater sense of magical realism or more interesting secondary characters, but that's just me.

Silent Nights - A melancholy tale about a young Danish woman juggling her volunteer work, her drunk mother and an affair with a refugee from Ghana that she later finds out left a wife and kids at home. The message to not judge a person when you don't know their life is nicely done, but overall the ending did not feel quite satisfying to me.

Sing - This one is heartwarming! It questions the notion of whether you should sacrifice the team for the win or honor everyone for doing their best. The adult (the teacher, the old guard) wants to focus on the win, but the new generation of children feels differently. It is beautifully acted by its two principle young ladies.

Timecode - My favorite! A wonderfully odd little piece about two security guards who only see each other at shift change. Their work is dreary until they begin communicating with each other through the security footage and, of all things, dance! It is an exciting and fun film about connections with excellent control over it s tone, pacing and imagery!

The Lobster

I don't even know if I can review this one.

I admire the ambition of creating some truly bizarre alternate universe like they did in The Lobster. I'm super intrigued by the unique-ness of a mind that can invent something so out there.

However, I straight up fell asleep trying to watch this movie. I pretty much exist in a state of always tired, so that's not optimal for some movie viewing. I readily admit that. Perhaps in my younger years this film would have had a chance?

I know there was a hotel for finding a mate and some hunting expeditions and another world within the world of people in the forest with different rules than the people at the hotel. Then there was some city excursion to make something happen? I just couldn't get a strong enough hook into what in the Sam Hill was happening before sleep came and claimed me. I was so confused by what I did see that the idea of trying again sort of exhausts me now.

But I'm willing to bet it is a thought provoking movie if you can keep your brain turned on, that is.

Michael Shannon in Nocturnal Animals

Nocturnal Animals was super weird. It was comprised of two different worlds: the real life of Amy Adams' character and the world of the manuscript that her ex-husband has sent her to read. Both of these worlds feels sort of hyper-real and exaggerated in their own ways. I can't tell if everything about the movie was supposed to feel kind of fake and glossy or if that is simply how designer Tom Ford sees the world. I'm sure his experience of every day life is quite different from mine, so who knows?

There is an interesting mystery that takes place at first, wondering how the book world will relate to the real one and waiting to find out what horrible thing Amy did to her ex-husband in the past, but in the end the mystery didn't pay off for me.

Michael Shannon is completely bizarre and yet authentic in his role. His performance does feel like the one thing in this film that cuts through all of the pretense; I can see why he stood out.

Visual Eye Candy!

Here is a mish mosh of reviews for movies that got nominated for looking good, in one manner or another.

Production Design -

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - This was a charming return to the "world of Harry Potter". The Beasts were fun to learn about, the setting of the 1920s was very pleasing in both costume and production design and Eddie Redmayne was not too bothersome for me! Although, why is it that in England the muggles are just harmless fools and in the U.S. the non-mag are sinister and organized and talking about Salem? Don't they know we modern day witches still get nervous about being burned at the stake? Neverheless, my kids loved this and are looking forward to this entire franchise unfolding.

Hail, Caesar! - This movie felt like a loosely constructed story whose purpose was to visually explore Hollywood's golden era. The Esther Williams-esque swimming pool musical number was unbelievably gorgeous. And the technicolor saturation of the set for a dinner party where a hick actor tries to transition from Cowboy Action to High Society Drama is so beautiful that you believe that film will never be that beautiful again (even thought it is right now, while you are watching it.) Apart from the loveliness, it couldn't really hold my attention at all.

Passengers - Tone was a mess in this film! Sometimes creepy, sometimes funny, barely thoughtful, attempting epic action and somehow landing on meant-to-be love story, this film is about the Passengers who must live their entire lives on a space ship traveling to a far off planet to transplant a segment of humanity. Lots of times this film made no sense. The look of the spaceship was pretty cool but not enough to make this film cohesive in any way!

Make Up - 

Suicide Squad - Oh my dear! I can't understand how the Marvel movies are nailing it so consistently right now while the DC films are just a shambles. I couldn't care about this film in the early set up stages! I couldn't invest in any way and I could NOT stay awake. Rough screening. The make up was whatever. Why not have make up win for a movie of quality?

Star Trek Beyond - This is a great deal more enjoyable than Suicide Squad. The story is predictable but it holds together and it holds your interest, at least a little. These Star Trek films feel like play to me. A bunch of overgrown kids getting together for some tongue-in-cheek fun. They seem to genuinely enjoy what they are doing and that makes it easier to go along with a movie that feels a little light and silly at times. So what is the purpose of the Oscar? To go the one individual who took on the most arduous task of make up work, no matter what the film? Or can it be about using an art form to advance story telling and to make an already great film even more impactful? It doesn't have to be one way or the other, but I do know what my vote would be!

Animated Features

Kubo and the Two Strings - I thought this movie was as close to perfect as anything I have seen all year. Beautiful to look at, poignant, sweetly humorous with a satisfying story and a wonderful message. I don't know what more you can ask for?

Moana - Funny and light with a great feminist hero, I enjoyed this movie a lot. My kids enjoyed it even more! There was something slightly empty about it, though? I liked it and them immediately started forgetting about it and probably won't ever need to see it again.

Zootopia - We saw this one so long ago! We loved it for its sharp sense of humor and inventive world. It was a really engaging adventure story and my friend Navin Pinto worked on it! Isn't he amazing? I think so, too. This one is a family favorite because of Flash the Sloth alone. He is the greatest animated character of the year!

The Red Turtle - A film about a castaway making a whole life on a remote island. The whole film is done without dialog. The character of the red turtle is the most visually interesting thing in the film, so yeah, I got a little bored. It is kind of a slow meditation on life, at times beautiful and at times perplexing. It mostly presents as a fairly realistic story so the few times that it crosses over into magic left me a little confused.

My Life As A Zucchini was not available for me to view.

Documentaries

The documentaries that are nominated every year absolutely gut me. By and large, this category is crammed with heavy, serious, depressing topics. Hard though they are to digest, I am always glad I get a chance to feel empathy for a new human experience and connect to the humanity of people who may or may not have anything in common with me.


Life, Animated - First of all, this film has illustrations by Mac Guff. (Don't get excited! There is no "r" in that name; it turns out it is not MacGruff, the crime dog!) This film is about an autistic boy's fascination with Disney's animated movies and how his parents used that to build a framework through which he could interact with the world. His mother describes losing him into autism and wanting to keep him so close and hug him so hard that whatever it was would go away! Ugh! So much truth in that. What mom or dad hasn't wanted to hug away all the ills that threaten the peace of our children? Ultimately, this is a pretty (cautiously) optimistic film.

13th - (Trigger Warning: Trump, violence) - Ava DuVernay's study of the criminalization of being black in America. It is moving, tough to watch, well put together and perfectly argued, in my opinion. I wish I could force half of America to watch this film with an open mind. At one point I openly wept at the juxtaposition of historical racial violence and modern day politics. Utter f*&king heart break.

I Am Not Your Negro - Another tough look at the racial history of America and the legacy of slavery. James Baldwin, an author and witness of the times, shares his views on the damage the white man has done to himself and his brothers with particular attention paid to his friends, Medgar Evars, Martin Luther King, Jr, and Malcolm X. This documentary is compiled of James Baldwin's readings and recorded appearances, with his written word performed admirably by Samuel Jackson. Assembling this sort of documentary is a tougher job. Its not easy to structure an argument and make clear points when you are restricted to the material you have from that one individual. It wanders a bit compared to the straight arrow of reasoning you receive in 13th, but its impact is no less disturbing or great.

Fire At Sea - There were two different movies going on. One was the quiet, traditional people of Lampudesa, a small fishing village of an island located between Sicily and Africa. The other movie was about the military ships stationed on Lampudesa who spend their days fishing refugees out of the ocean and the island doctor who tries to care for them. One would think that the refugee presence would have an impact on the residents but the viewer is never privy to it. I wish the juxtaposition of the two worlds paid off better. I also got no info about what happens to the refugees after they arrive here? Are they processed and moved on? Do they live here in camps? I left with a lot of questions. This one will probably win!

OJ: Made in America - This is a documentary series! It is seven and a half hours long. Techinically, they released it to a few theatre screenings first, making it eligible for Oscar nomination. I would prefer that they don't do this to me in the future! This challenge is taxing enough, people! It's hard to measure a weekly series against single sitting documentaries. This doc was comprehensive, for sure. It added a little context for me that I was less aware of, however, I watched the OJ trial in the 90s so there wasn't much that was new here for me.

Tanna

Tanna is based on a true marriage dispute among the tribal people of Vanuatu. It closely resembles Romeo and Juliet in content. What makes it special is that its actors are the modern day tribal people of Vanuatu who agreed to act out the story. These people have chosen to uphold the old ways and continue their tribal lifestyle even with some modern day homes and electricity on their island! It's pretty astounding.

The film is beautiful! The mists of the forest, the blue of the waters and the backdrop of an active volcano are all breathtaking. The tribal life depicted is genuine, so the acting is natural and feels special and real. 

It really feels like a gem, like you are being afforded the opportunity to witness something that few people would otherwise see. I am struck by the brilliance of this project. If a documentary had been made about the life these tribes live, that would have been interesting and informative, I'm sure. But the choice to have them enact a story from their own history and in so doing, let us in to their lives and customs is a really magnificent and beautiful way to connect us to a very unique culture in a small corner of the world. 

The Salesman

Trigger warning: Sexual Assault

The Salesman was not what I expected!

I knew it was an Iranian film about a couple that is putting on a production of Death of a Salesman and that's all I knew. It is about so much more than that!

It is about marriage and hardship. It is about assault and the aftermath. It is about shame and the wedges it drives between people. It is about revenge and entitlement. It is about empathy and pushing the limits of understanding. Holy cow! It made me think so much and feel so confused about really complex situations!

The acting was really great, the pacing admirable; just all around great film making!

Isabelle Huppert in Elle

Trigger Warning: Rape Story Told by Men

Elle. WTF?

Can I just stop there? I don't know what to do with this movie.

Paul Verhoeven made a film about a woman who gets raped. But this woman is Elle and she is different. Her father was a sociopath serial killer and so maybe she has problems, too? Or maybe she is just another strong woman who gets called a bitch at work? Maybe she is cold and heartless? Or maybe she is just confident and knows what she wants?

Maybe this film is really feminist? But then why does it make me so uncomfortable?

The rape is brutal. And so is the violent sex that later becomes consensual. The one thing I can say in defense of this film is that they never romanticize these scenes. They aren't shot to be sexy, thank goodness. They are fairly disturbing and mostly offered without a defined point of view. 

What I don't like about the film is watching a story about rape and sex that is told by a male director, with three male writers, a male cinematographer, a male editor and based on a book by a male author. I think it is time we took the depiction of rape in film seriously, and that has to mean that we include women's points of view in how these stories are told. Maybe each of these men is close to a woman who has been a victim to male brutality and made it out of a deep sense of activism? I know I should leave space for that, but also, I just don't buy it.

I could not help several times during the film imagining three or four white men having coffee and one of them saying, "But what if she kind of likes the rape?" And then I want to vomit. 

While the film making was sound and the story did hold some interest, I would prefer we don't see any more films like this. Thank you.

Visual Effects

Rogue One - This is such a nuanced and more grown up look at unrest and resistance. These characters have guilt, darkness, blood on their hands. Everyone who signs up for the mission to sabotage the death star is looking for some redemption. They have either done too much for their causes or not enough. There is a high price to be paid for this, too! 

My favorite part about Rogue One is that there are so many people that have to dig deep in dire circumstances in order for the mission to be successful. If any one of them had failed, the rebellion would have lost. Each one of these heroes not only had to draw from immense bravery but they had to do so with no guarantee that their plan could ever be carried out. They have to rebel on their hope and faith alone! So tragic.


When I think of Luke and Leia with their clean white outfits and their straightforward, indignant defiance of the Empire, I can't help but feel their privilege has protected them from a lot. But no matter. I don't care how or when people join the fight as long as we are all working together to defeat Trump. Or the evil empire! Whatever. What were we talking about?

Oh, Visual Effects! Yeah those were pretty cool, too.

Doctor Strange - Seriously mind blowing effects! I get dizzy watching these sequences where you manipulate the time space continuum and bend a whole city street around you just to be a pip to someone who is chasing you. I mean, I don't just get dizzy because they are turning the world upside down, but also just thinking about how to conceive of, design and implement an action sequence that incorporates such unreality.  It's pretty cool, but it's even better when it happens in a movie that is actually enjoyable in terms of plot and character as well!

Jungle Book - This live action realization of the old Disney cartoon has non stop visual effects, some which looked seamless and others not so much. The movie was fine but I really don't like talking animals! I prefer the animated classic.

Deepwater Horizon - Wow! The movie exhaustion is setting in. It took me two nights to get through screening this and I still nodded off several times. It was a standard "Mark Wahlberg-is-a-hero" kind of movie. Lots of loud and complex noises (it's nominated for Sound Editing, too) and the hero does a LOT of slow motion hugging at the end.

Kubo & the Two Strings is under Animated films.

Songs?

Why do I even watch this category? It's not even about the film making! I already reviewed Moana and La La Land. These are the other films with original songs that have been nominated. 

Trolls - dreadful

Jim: The James Foley Story - Tough to watch story about the frontline conflict journalist that was murdered by Isis. I really felt for the painfully normal family that did not understand their crazy son/brother and his need to throw himself in harm's way. I didn't quite understand it either; I vacillated between finding theses private war journalists heroic and utterly idiotic. Not one of the best made docs, but Sting did the song.

Fences

Fences is a little movie about really solid character study and deeply rooted acting but it had little else to offer me. Denzel Washington and Viola Davis are really great in their roles. They both had moments where they really broke through and got to me, talking about how life gets away rom you, how your obligations bury you if you aren't careful and how easy it is to mow your own needs and desires under the burden of day to day living. Those powerful monologues really stood out and captivated.

On the whole though, the film was fairly repetitive and lacked visual interest. I have seen Fences as a play and I think it succeeds better with the live element working for it.

Silence

I admit that I felt wary of watching Silence, a Scorcese epic piece about Christianity. This journey did not sound at all appealing to me. But from the first frame he had my attention. A spooky, smoky foreign world of conflict and brutality unfolded right before me, with beauty and dread in equal measure. After watching Fences directed by Denzel Washington and Mel Gibson's current effort, Martin Scorcese reminded me what real film making looks like. Or used to, anyway.

I had a little trouble accepting Adam Driver and Andrew Garfield as Portuguese Jesuit priests. They just read as slightly douchey millennials for the first 30 minutes or so. But that's ok. I had nearly three hours to adjust to them and did finally accept them.

The film deals with how Japan's rulers set about to ruthlessly eradicate Christianity from their country. They hunted and tortured Christians, yes. But in this story a great deal of time and resources were spent on psychologically breaking the priests and forcing them to apostatize, or publicly renounce their faith.

Faith is such a loaded subject. It's hard to imagine a story about religion not tilting into propaganda for some sort of conservative or liberal agenda. Silence asked a lot of tough questions without leading you toward any predetermined answers, which I appreciated. Can you have an inner faith without an outer expression of it? Do any two people experience their beliefs in the same way? Is there only one interpretation of Christ-like behavior? Who gets to decide? Are the rules of a doctrine more important than the people who subscribe to it?

I appreciated the absolute mastery of skill. Beautiful imagery throughout; beauty in service of story is so magical! Editor Thelma Schoonmaker sets a patient, prayerful pace that somehow doesn't drag and kill your desire to keep following along. Gods, I love her!

I was thoroughly surprised by my own enjoyment of this film. I'm disappointed Silence didn't attract a little more Oscar love.

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

This sums up 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi better than any thing I could write: For Your Consideration.

Did you watch that? Please watch that.


13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi is nominated for Sound Mixing. I have rarely heard such amazingly exaggerated and over-done sound! Every bullet fired has about 20 different sound components to it. This must have been a lot of work for the Sound Mixers! 

I'm glad these Sound Mixers are getting recognition. I once worked on a mix stage the week after a Michael Bay mix had wrapped. The mixers practically had PTSD because they had to sit with him for so long. Apparently, they were instructed to never look him in the eye. If that's true, what a jack ass!

Hell or High Water

Trigger Warning: Political Content

Hell or High Water is about some bank robbers in modern day Texas and the Jeff Bridges' character who tries to stop them. In fact, Jeff Bridges is nominated. I guess that makes sense? All the acting is solid in this film, but I'm not sure he was an obvious stand out. 

Someone told me in advance that this film is about the misunderstood Trump voters. These are the rural Americans who are desperate and suffer in poverty and who live with no hope at all. The film opens on a bit of graffiti that states there have been no bailouts for veterans. In fact, throughout we are treated to billboards, signs and advertisements that offer quick cash loans, debt relief and financial assistance. It is woven into their scenery, a part of the landscape. These are the Americans who see nothing positive about the future, but long for a past to which they cannot return. Not a single character big or small in the movie appears to have any satisfaction about their life whatsoever, with the possible exception of Jeff Bridge's, who may enjoy his job and is not looking forward to retirement.

I was fascinated by the tone of this movie. It is, in fact, a Robin Hood story. However, it is not glorified or celebrated, just reported. The bank robbers are clearly making bad choices throughout and while you might understand their plight, I felt no pull toward cheering them on. I imagine the consensus might be different at a screening in rural Texas?

As I watched, the documentary I Am Not Your Negro was brought to mind. In that doc James Baldwin talks about watching American westerns at the cinema as a child. He speaks of John Wayne and explains that even as a child it was clear to him that only white men were entitled to revenge. No people of color in the movies were ever urged on toward revenge, but it appeared to be the celebrated birthright of white men. That sort of blew my mind.

So here is a modern day movie that does present sympathetic characters on their white man's quest. I'm happy to see that today, though some may still hold to the quest, it is not so easily exalted.

The film is also lovely. The washed out color palette of the movie is consistent and pleasing and a reminder that everything is this world is fading and past its prime. I tend to not favor westerns, but I found Hell or High Water thought provoking and enjoyable!

Sully

Breaking News: Sully is a film about Aaron Eckhart's fake mustache. And frankly, I need to know more. Did the mustache help land the plane? Has the mustache been properly vetted by the TSA? Does this mustache have an agent, or what???

The Good News: Sully starts right off with the airplane already disabled and the pilot, Chesley Sullenberger already making critical assessments. I'm so grateful we didn't begin with some "normal morning" scenario trying to build false suspense to a plane crash (er, uh...forced landing) that we all already know about. 

Tom Hanks is an excellent actor, obviously. 

It is somewhat interesting that Sully was worried about his job and reputation in the week that followed his landing on the Hudson, while all of us at home already considered him a hero. That held my attention for about five to ten minutes.

The Bad news: This movie was pretty boring. It takes place entirely in crappy hotel rooms, crappy hotel meeting rooms and on long phone calls between Sully and his wife where they talk about the finances. I wish I was making this up!

The color palette of the whole thing looked like slightly graying cottage cheese or old faded mustard stains. Not appealing to the eyes at all! You had endless swatches to choose from, Clint Eastwood, and these are the ones you picked? I'm confident that your choice was deliberate, it just wasn't effective or pleasing.

This was nominated for sound editing. I apologize to the sound editors, I couldn't really focus on their work, which may have been quite good? I can't really think of much sound other than plane engines, so, yeah, I don't know.

My friend took issue with the fact that no one ever spoke to Sully without saying his name, sometimes twice! Go ahead, I dare you! If you watch the movie, start counting how often they say his name. You'll be able to think of nothing else.

However, I don't really recommend it.

A Man Called Ove

A Man Called Ove is a swedish film about an old curmudgeon who wants to kill himself but can't quite find the time. It is a dark comedy and a feel good piece all rolled into one.

There is a lot of sweetness about the bitter old man in this film. Through flashbacks we learn that he was always a difficult person to connect with, perhaps on the Aspergers scale? Only his wife seemed to give his life purpose or meaningful structure and since he visits her grave daily, we know he is lacking in the means to enjoy the time he has left.

The dark comedy is enjoyable, thrusting Ove into all sorts of unexpected and trying situations, like trying to retrieve a borrowed coin from a children's clown. After setting him up as so unforgiving, the plot strains credulity here. It is hard to imagine him actually accepting strays of the feline and human variety into his home and yet, through peer pressure he somehow does.

You know eventually he will come around to a warmer version of himself and he does on a fairly grand scale. It is predictable but also sweet and enjoyable. 

The film is nominated for Make Up and I had to read up to figure out why. Apparently the young and old versions of Ove were played by the same actor! I never would have guessed it when watching the film. Well, played, guys! You get my vote for Make Up for sure!

Natalie Portman in Jackie

Do you ever watch a movie wrong? Sometimes I think I do. Jackie fell curiously flat for me. There were bright spots and lovely moments but overall I couldn't quite figure out what I was watching. I'm not really sure why and I don't feel confident that this movie was off base in any way. I think I just did it wrong.

First off, I was surprised by the scope of this story. For some reason, I expected this movie to be more about Jackie's life and it had an extremely narrow focus. This film centers around an interview that Jackie gave that covered the events of the assassination, her transition out of The White House and the planning for JFK's funeral. 

I just read that this film is an expressionist biopic. I can see that. If I list things I liked from the film it looks like this: Jackie's rapturous face when listening to music, her monotone, matter of fact assessment of her husband's death, her urgent need to begin controlling her husband's legacy, her sassiness to the reporter, her bravery. I don't know how to put these things together into a cohesive experience. 

Natalie Portman faced a tough task and handled it beautifully. The music felt like it was too insistent and the directorial choices left me constantly confused. So the film either needed to push the expressionism farther or it needed some opening sequence that set me up for what I was getting into? Or not. I could have just watched it wrong. It happens all the time.

Documentary Shorts

I have just spent the morning getting emotionally pummeled by these little gems of film making called the documentary shorts.  Join me on a tour of them, won't you? I'm going to spoil them all for you. Most people have no plans to watch these, right?

Joe's Violin - Joe grew up in Warsaw in the 1930's. Need I say more? Are you already crying? You should be. He survived by escaping to the Russian held side of Poland and spending six years in a siberian labor camp. When he was freed the first thing he did was trade a carton of cigarettes for a violin, because he used to love playing violin with his mother, who didn't survive. Now Joe is donating his violin to a school and gets to meet the girl who will now play for him the song that most reminds of his mother.

Extremis - This one is all about the doctors that have to help their patients and the patients' families decide whether or not to get hooked up to a breathing machine at the end of life or just die. A couple of families let you in on their talks with one another as they navigate these difficult waters. Are your eyes leaking? Mine sure were!

4.1 miles - This one starts on a boat and I thought for a second this would be about a sailing race or something. Its about time I got a break, here! But, no! This is a boat captain in Greece who spends every day pulling Syrian refugees, alive and dead out of the water. Have you ever watched people try to resuscitate a four year old drowned child? I have. And I'm sobbing about it.

Watani, My Home - So back in Aleppo, we meet a family that is living in a bombed out building so their dad can be close to the resistance fight. Shocking what these kids have become accustomed to. Their dad is taken by ISIS and believed to be dead and their mother doesn't really care to go on but recognizes the kids need something more so she manages to get them out and accepted into a German refugee program. There is hope for the children but the mom continues to insist she is a dead person. Weeping.

The White Helmets - Hold on, you can't leave Syria, yet! There is more to tell! The White Helmets spend their day rushing to each newly bombed building and pulling people out of the rubble. These guys are brave and optimistic and inspiring with very little reason to be from my weak and coddled perspective. They say every child is their child, every brother, their brother.  Their greatest achievement is pulling a one week old out of the rubble of a building 16 hours after the building fell. They have it all on film thanks to helmet cams they wear. You'll never see anything more tragic and wonderful. I'll never stop crying.

I'm exhausted and frankly, I am one lucky jerk of a person. Maybe I can tone down my complaining a little bit, huh? Just for a couple of days.

Manchester by the Sea

Manchester by the Sea is all about loss and grief and family. You've probably heard this movie is very sad. It is sad because of what it has to say, not because it manipulates you with its choices or because it is pushing the drama to heighten any sense of tragedy.

The movie nails its tone and is filled with such spot on choices! I love the scenes that play out without sound. Several times throughout we watch things unfold without hearing the conversation, without experiencing the particulars. We watch from a distance and listen to the music play out and we get everything we need from those scenes. So much is held back in terms of exposition or on-the-nose dialog and it strikes a great balance between feeling real and getting all the essential information to the viewer.

I also love the use of flashbacks to reveal the past, a past which echoes into the present and informs every choice and action made by the main character.

Much has been said about Casey Affleck's portrayal in this film and for good reason. He too strikes a balance, showing us a person who is never far from falling apart, who feels an intense love and warmth for his family and yet noting at all for himself.

The music at first perplexed me in this film. In an early scene I was watching Casey Affleck clean toilets with a serene, choral piece of music as score. I couldn't figure out why that was the choice until a couple scenes later when I realized that we are basically listening to a mortuary mix tape. The whole movie is a funeral when you judge it by its music! It's kind of chilling.

This is the kind of movie that sticks with you for days, where you will be sitting and apropos of nothing you start musing on what a particular scene meant or suddenly hearing a conversation between characters in a new way. It's certainly worthy of the honors it is receiving.

As a post script, it sure sucks that Casey Affleck allegedly sexually harassed and assaulted those two women a while ago. You can read about the allegations here. Is it possible that was just a mistake during a bad phase in his life? Or is he just always a creep and no one talks about it? Whatever the case, I'm sure it is not much fun for those women to sit back and watch him lauded for his brilliance this time of year. I don't know that I agree that denying him the Oscar helps their cause at all, but I support you if that feels right to you. I just know we need to keep talking about it. It doesn't do any good for anyone to stay silent.

Meryl Streep in Florence Foster Jenkins

Florence Foster Jenkins is a little lark! The movie and the story, actually. Meryl Streep plays a society woman who loves music and can't sing. She tries anyway, and her adoring husband goes to great lengths to keep her from understanding how bad she really is.

The film is competent and well done. The acting is great from all involved and as a period piece it is especially lovely to look at. 

I couldn't quite figure out how I felt about it for the longest time.
Is it wonderful that this woman's dream was so unwaveringly supported by her husband? Is it just a terrible bore that a rich woman's entitlement allowed her to find some success where she had no particular skill? Is it tragic that this woman was self deluded and lied to by everyone around her only to become a laughing stock? I couldn't decide and so I was ill at ease watching it and never really felt connected to the story.

It took to the last line of the film before I finally felt at peace with it. Florence says on her deathbed, "People will say I couldn't sing, but no one can say I didn't sing." Well, crap! Isn't that lovely? Now I almost wish I had spent more time enjoying this movie. Because I pretty much love that message. 

Let people say I couldn't write! No one will say I didn't! Thanks, Florence.

Toni Erdmann

I do not know what to say about Toni Erdmann. This movie both confused and enchanted me.

It was nearly three hours long and I didn't know that when I went in. I watched the film and felt completely engaged the whole time and when it was over I was so confused! I had lost an hour of my life! How did it get to be so late? Was I abducted by aliens? Or was I simply watching a foreign film? Now that I think about it...is that really the same thing?

Toni Erdmann is about a jokester of a dad with a very serious daughter and his attempts to get closer to her and understand her better. The story wanders, the objectives aren't clear. I kept trying to figure out what the movie was going to be about because I am an American, trained by Hollywood and I can't let go of all of my rigid expectations! 

But that's not true! I did let go. Despite my confusion, the movie held my interest as it meandered from one direction to another. So many awkward situations arise between dad and daughter and that carries a kind of ever-present tension that kept me from getting bored. I was rooting for him and rooting for her and I had no idea what success for either one of them would look like!

There are touching moments, sad moments, hilarious moments, weird moments. It's all in there! And then without warning, there was a moment at the end that broke my heart. I felt it breaking and I felt myself soaring through an out of body experience and I felt at one with this crazy jumbled up ride of a movie.

Ah, that's probably too much. I don't mean to oversell it. And I swear I wasn't high, despite the legality of such substances now.  I'm just trying to define my relationship with this movie. Maybe it was the three hour time commitment but I did feel like I had a relationship with this film...something that seems far more common with foreign films than American ones. It was utterly unexpected and truly unique. I am glad we shared that Sunday afternoon together...I'll always remember it fondly...

Viggo Mortenson in Captain Fantastic

Here's what you need to know about Captain Fantastic, folks! My friend Trin Miller is in it! You know what Trin does? She makes beautiful, dreamy, kissy faces at Viggo Mortenson! How crazy cool is that??? She is the muse of his world and she lives in his memory and his dreams and she inspires him and motivates him and makes him so...well, fantastic! Trin does that! She's so lovely and so good in this movie!

Is there anything else I need to talk about? Viggo is the one nominated for it, strangely. He did a good job, too. Mostly because Trin gave him such a solid anchor, I'm guessing.

The film asks interesting questions about the "system of civilization" that we have all bought into and whether it really works toward achieving the greatest of human potential. Spoiler: it doesn't! But even so, choosing an alternate system creates its own challenges, as it does for the family in this film and compromises and adjustments must be made. I appreciated that the film was able to ask me these questions and push me to think about these issues without turning judgmental or angry. It's a very enjoyable look at one very interesting family trying to make its own choices! And also? Trin is great! Did I say that yet?

Ruth Negga in Loving

The good news: Loving is the true story of the interracial couple whose court case became the Supreme Court test case that eventually legalized interracial marriage. This movie does not try to be overly dramatic and overdone. It is a simple, quiet story about two shy people. It is beautiful to see that these are the last people you would expect to push a cause all the way to the national level and yet their straightforward love for one another, combined with the particulars of their court case led them to be the couple that broke the ban!

The bad news: This is a simple, quiet story about two shy people. Almost too much so. While I respected the lack of over-dramatization, I did wonder if it suffered from a little under-dramatization? I'm not saying it was boring, exactly, and I wouldn't want the film makers to manufacture drama just to keep me interested (which in fact they did in a couple of smallish suspense sequences to pretty good effect) but the film did flat line for me a bit.

More good news: The two main actors turn in really great performances. They were subtle and nuanced and sincere and real. I have no complaints about the acting in Loving. Congrats to Ruth Negga!

Lion

Lion was full of tough situations. It made me say out loud, "Ugh, it's hard being a human you guys!" It's about baggage and unfinished business. It's about being lost and being found and how we never stop being either one of those.

Lion is the story of a five year old boy who is lost in India and through no particular fault of anyone simply cannot get home again. He is adopted and raised by an Australian family and inevitably one day must resume his search for his first home.

The entire depiction of his childhood is terrifying and well told. The viewer knows as little about what is happening as the child on the screen. We are disoriented, confused, scared and sometimes left to guess about what might be going on. It is very effective, suspenseful and engaging. We even feel the same jolt that Saroo must feel when meeting his new mom played by Nicole Kidman with her dreadful nest of bright red 1980's hair!

The second act drags a bit for me. It is fascinating that Saroo is able to find his family only through the power of the internet and Google Earth, but we do have to endure a lot of indecision on his part. There are many repetitive scenes of him staring at the computer and maps yet he is not quite ready to pull the trigger and commit to the search.

The ending is quite emotional and I don't want to say more about that for those that haven't seen it.

The film is kind and gentle and treats everyone in it with respect, which I love. You can grow up feeling lost in the world or lost within your own mind or lost within your own suburban family. Nevertheless, we all deserve to be found, by our loved ones and by ourselves. The message to never give up and to keep searching is powerful and worthwhile.

And also? They make you wait FOREVER for the title to have significance! For. Ever.