Cold War, Mary Queen of Scots, The Wife

Movie: Cold War
Nominated for: Best Foreign Language Film, Best Director, Best Cinematography
When I fell asleep: Dozing in and out, it was a fight
When it had me: A beautiful shot of a person at a church
When it lost me: "There's something about her..."
What I have to say: This film is gorgeous. So was Pawlikowski's last movie, Ida. This film asks interesting questions about art and government, national identity and political struggle. This film is a love story that made me feel absolutely nothing. So that's not ideal.
SPOILERS AHEAD
We have a dude at an audition say about a woman, "There's something about her..." My first thought was, "Yeah dude, you want to have sex with her." I mean, how hard is that to figure out? Next you will show me why there is more to it than that and I will begin to believe in this love, right? No. Instead we get this moody European manic pixie dream girl with more darkness about her than her American cousins. She is spontaneous and emotional compared to her love's dour, restrained approach. She jumps into a lake fully clothed! Look at her! So whimsical and broken! What man wouldn't want to use her as a crutch through life? I can't restrain my bored sarcasm or my rampant eye-rolling. The film races along at a fever pace (something I usually appreciate) and we never take a moment to see what their connection is actually all about. The director never thinks to show me what this "something about her" might be. We skip ahead to them living in different countries, her marrying someone else, him starting a career to later abandon it for her. They argue, they aren't together but he says he loves her and she says they are meant to be somehow. Mostly it looks like she is an impulsive, opportunistic, unstable character who says and does whatever comes to mind, while he is depressed and pining for her. Later another guy who forces her into a marriage and pregnancy (aka rape) also tells us that there is "something about her". Gross. Other than some brief backstory we never get a window into what drives her or why she keeps coming back to this dream man of hers. Or why he is willing to make the sacrifices that he does in order to try and be near her. I guess we should take it all on faith. The film is beautiful (I mean really well shot! I don't wish to downplay that aspect of it!) I have read the reviews that claim this is "passionate", "ravishing", "romantic" and "epic." I just couldn't see it that way.






Movie: Mary Queen of Scots
Nominated for: Best Make-up
When I fell asleep: No, I watched it early enough
When it had me: Watching Women Rule
When it lost me: Boring old rape
What I have to say: Can there ever exist sex without rape? I guess the obvious answer is no and no amount of #metoo is making me ready to accept that simple fact. This movie got me down. I had to watch The Queen of Scotland get raped twice and I just would have liked to believe that a QUEEN could just have someone beheaded for treating her so. But a queen also finds herself alone in the room with a man at the most intimate of times and defenseless against the man who is hungry to demonstrate his own power. What a bummer. Between this movie and The Favourite, I just think that it's awfully rough to be the queen and if they offer the job to me, I'm going to say no. Margot Robbie and Saoirse Ronan are great in this movie. I was far more engaged by the story than I expected to be. The make up was noticeable for sure. I just don't think anything will win against the Christian Bale transformation.





Movie: The Wife
Nominated for: Best Actress
How I watched: Laemmle
When I fell asleep: I have been known to doze in this theatre, but not this time
When it had me: Marital torture to Marital bliss in seconds flat
When it lost me: I'm not sure it did
What I have to say: After the previous two reviews I am much happier about writing this one! A leading role for a woman that is nuanced, compelling, fierce, loving and complex! Also, she is a woman of age? I don't know what is going on, but I like it. The acting is great across the board. The story is of the complicated fabric of a marriage that is complicit, passionate, devious, suffocating, rich and unbearable all at the same time. This story gets in there and takes a hard look at a lot of real human stuff! None of the characters are victims or blame free, which is such a pleasant place from which to look at the difficulties of life. I was very impressed and pleased with this as an overall story, whereas I figured it was just a piece to show off some Glenn Close Oscar-level pain. Nope. It's better than that! If you seek highlights, skip those other two movies and check this one out.