OK It’s “Best Picture” Time
Photo Credit: Vanity Fair
I spend so much time scrolling on stupid shit on my phone. To take advantage of my prime years as a guy in his mid-20s, I’ve resolved to instead watch a lot of cool shit on big screens. It’s like the stuff I’m scrolling on, but longer and more psychologically rewarding and artistically stimulating and profound. I highly recommend it; Not only does it get me off my ass in bed and back down on my ass in a theater with a beer, but I can be snobbier than ever before. Recently, as a bit of a goof and to enhance my snobbery, I decided to watch all the Best Picture nominees at this year’s Oscars. What can I say, I love the academy!
I have absolutely no idea what will win the big prize this year, and fortunately that’s because so many of these are just so damn good. To make a numbered ranking list is pointless because my opinions where they are in a numerical list changes every day, and it’s unfair to my future self to arbitrarily and strictly order these like that. However, I’ve managed to put these into a somewhat coherent order based on thinking about which ones I believe push the film medium forward the most. Basically, how different are these movies from my understanding of what movies are and what they can do? Which ones most challenged my understanding of what one could experience through film?
So, I’ve made a few broad categories to organize these opinions into a coherent spectrum of quality, and the categories are definitely going from worst to best. Sure some of these I wasn’t as big a fan of, but I enjoy the part of my life when I saw each movie for the first time. Oh, except for…
Regressive
All movies present in this category made me physically and emotionally uncomfortable.
Emilia Perez
As the subject of one of the more bizarre and intense media trajectories for a movie that I can think of, Emilia Perez has already been talked about a whole lot. I’m not Mexican and I’m not trans, so please read more qualified and experienced people than me describing why this thing pissed them off. However, I don’t feel that a crucial aspect of why this movie fucking sucks has been described enough: the music.
Overproduced, corny, and lyrically vapid. Vocally breathy and low-effort in performance, off-pitch, yet simultaneously so high-effort in intention too. The songs do little to advance any plot or provide any character depth. Truly, why is this a musical? Confidence can take you a lot of places in life, but these musical numbers are so distastefully arrogant. I can’t understand why people think this is enjoyable, and I pride myself on trying to learn more about different ways and perspectives to enjoy life with. This is just incomprehensibly difficult to enjoy for me. A few nominations at the Oscars, like for Zoe Saldana, are understandable. But 13?? This is a Razzies winner in much of what it’s up for. The Best Editing nod is absurd, the Best Director nod is head-scratching, and all nominations with anything to do with the music is terrifying.
“Emilia Perez” is clearly taking itself incredibly seriously, which much of the subject matter truly deserves, but certainly not like this at all. The result is a confused mess in every way, making its self-aggrandizement and self-martyrdom all the more excruciating. The word ‘snide’ keeps coming to me, which is so potent here. The wack ass bullshit music consistently made me disgusted to have ears. Especially as I am a fan of nine other movies up for the same award, this winning Best Picture would radicalize me in ways I can’t yet foresee.
Hey That There Was a Good Time
Not my favorites, but mostly just in comparison to the best in this category. They’re a good time!
Wicked
When I think of “Wicked”, two words immediately come to mind: theater kids. Besides having absurd home-wrecking in-movie dynamics (some odd cross section of life imitating art and visa versa), this movie is a shining example of what theater kids can unleash, and it’s an unabashed triumph for musicals as a whole. It’s glorious, but just not something I personally feel all that emotionally connected to. The runtime is too long as well, and I was checking my watch a bunch in the second act waiting for the movie to kick into gear. When it did, I was there for it, and just wish it could’ve kept a consistently thrilling pace throughout.
A Complete Unknown
It’s just kinda a movie about a dude. Its deftness, warmth, and brevity encapsulate Dylan’s demeanor with reverence, all while showing him being a real ass to gorgeous women a lot too. Chalamet eats this role alive with no semblance of crumbs being left behind. Without being much more, “A Complete Unknown” excels in being lightweight but so rich and sharp, illustrating the mythos of what Dylan represents without worrying about over-analyzing the guy. Boyd Holbrook deserves a big shoutout for his depiction of Johnny Cash, who stole the scene every time he was around. Jonah Skeen crushes it in that ending too - oh how I wish I would be partying then and there.
Ooh La La That’s a Beauty
Lots of interesting stuff happening here, and I’m glad I was there to see it.
The Brutalist
I’ve written a bunch already on this bad boy here (Letterboxd), but basically the first half is a 10/10. I wish it kept that momentum going through the second half, but the good of this movie ought to be talked about, celebrated, and otherwise shared. The acting of Brody and Pearce in particular is sensational. And seeing this in the Somerville Theater on a big screen was the best thing I could’ve done to enjoy this; The quality of the literal film and the cameras capturing these pictures is absolutely delicious. I can’t believe that the first half of a movie, clocking in at over an hour and a half, could grip me so tightly.
Conclave
My biggest gripe with this is that I knew everything that was going to happen a good bit before it did; It’s just a bit too Hollywood, both in its predictability and its sensationalism. However, that’s a positive as well. Good Hollywood movies like this are thoroughly entertaining, and I highly respect the ability to craft an experience this whip-smart and engrossing. Terrific acting in this elevates the script, which itself is still well made. Gorgeous shots of dudes in robes in the Sistine Chapel is enough to sell me already, and then tell me that two of those men are Ralph Fiennes and STANLEY TUCCI?? Braivisimo.
WOWZA THAT’S INCREDIBLE
Glorious, terrific, tremendous, slay, phenomenal and any other similar word you can think of. Masterworks.
Anora
I’ve seen a few Letterboxd reviews remonstrating a lack of character depth for Anora. I can see where they’re coming from, but think there’s other ways to look at that and also celebrate the incredible things this movie does at the same time. I thought the complexity of Anora’s character was thoroughly displayed through her actions and how she chose to communicate with others, in a way that wouldn’t be possible if we were given more expository dialogue of her inner thoughts. Often shown in genuinely hilarious ways, her indomitable spirit and relentless energy comes from her desire for connection. How she filtered that longing, both in giving and receiving it, was through sex and verbal accostation; I believe her belief in Vanya stems through that. And I was rooting for her so hard, aided of course by her relentless energy and insane charisma, and my empathy for her largely came from how the movie showed her interpretation and decisions in absurd, difficult circumstances. There are of course other good contenders for Best Actress, but to me Mikey Madison had the best acting performance of any human being bar absolutely fucking none. Nobody in the Best Actor category can walk in her shoes.
I also loved how sound is used throughout. Dialogue’s literal meaning is often less important than how it’s vocalized, and the waves of intensity and chaos makes periods of silence hit like a truck. That a lot of the dialogue is in Russian adds to that. I got a lot of “Uncut Gems” vibes here with how dire the plot’s situations were and the desperation of the main characters. But while there’s a cruel, strained comedy to “Uncut Gems”, “Anora” is instead uproariously funny, and effortlessly balances that comedy with a more profound tragedy of Anora’s situations and how she interprets other’s perceptions of her.
Dune 2
This movie fucking ROCKS. Maybe the most enjoyable movie experience I’ve had in years. Well-paced, effective in its storytelling, contemplative, and so satisfyingly weird, “Dune 2” is such quality fun. Similarly to my thoughts on “The Brutalist”, I’m glad I got to see it on a real big screen. My second time watching it at the Museum of Science was a fascinating experience, but my first viewing in IMAX was such an incredible rush of all of my senses. The action is at times incomparably immense in its scale and at times deeply personal and limited to a couple characters, but it is always personal and absurdly entertaining. Maybe Chalamet should’ve been nominated twice. And talk about creativity! It outdoes the first movie in every sense, and is visually incomparable.
Culturally though, it’s hard not to compare it in this Oscars-context to “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, and perhaps it ought to be. Both are fantastical journeys with a crystal-clear vision of their source material, ultimately creating an experience that is as visually rich as it is relatable to the human experience.
The Substance
I believe that truly great movies are greater than the sums of their parts. Every detail is supporting the rest of itself, every decision by an actor, director, cinematographer, sound engineer, and editor to name a few, supports the others in that team. A result of that is that themes are not just presented but strengthened; They aren’t explained but shown, and given depth for the viewer to further examine them. “The Substance” is such a great movie which presents so many themes clearly and with nuance: celebrity, aging, womanhood, isolation, yearning, and self-identity to name a few.
There’s a neat video on the ’Tube about this movie’s visual style being neo-expressionist. A thought I had early in watching this was how Kubrick Clockwork Orange-esque this was: the hallways, pastel colors, and hyper world “The Substance” takes place in all being reminiscent. “Shy” is not a word this movie has ever heard of before, and the hyper visuals are enchanting. Furthermore, the seemingly-simplistic aspects of this movie’s society just strike me as efficient means of advancing the plot and character development through abstraction. Why waste the movie’s bandwidth by explaining the particular contraptions of rising to fame when you can instead just show that she’s in a “New Show”? It’s a genius work of concision in storytelling, and a genius balance of what could have very easily gone off the rails. Instead, the train started off by going near full speed and never stopped going faster. Talk about thrilling.
Demi and Margaret are asked to do incredibly difficult acting, including a ton of physical body movement and extreme facial expressions, and they pull it off seamlessly in the envelope of this extreme movie. Again, I’m so impressed with the balancing act that makes it all so coherent and fun. Wow wow wow.
I’m Still Here
Best soundtrack in all of these movies for sure. If you, like me, have an unending love for Brazilian psych-rock from the 1970s, do yourself a favor and get on this shit! It felt like the director was flexing his tremendous taste of art, philosophy, and music for the first half hour, which was embodied in the tender, charming family dynamic you’re introduced to. That initial warmth and idyllic situation is the base to compare the many twists and turns experienced by these characters afterwards. And if this description sounds like a movie you’ve heard before, it’s because it has been told a bunch of times already. What makes this such a clever and innovate movie though is its near-singular focus on Fernanda Torres’s character. When she learns new things, we learn new things. When she makes decisions, we know the reasons for why she makes those choices. Throughout, that deepens and deepens that character, who is both experiencing and changing the reality she and her family are a part of, and Torres delivers on every level. It’s deft beyond belief and, in understanding both how fascism takes hold and how it can be survived, is absolutely vital.
The word that keeps coming to me with this is ‘mature’. And that’s not just because Fernanda Torres eats rum raisin ice cream in this. Nothing about this movie stuck out to me as being under-thought, and everything delivered towards immersing the viewer in this story. One of the best aspects of an awards ceremony like the Oscars is its ability to showcase the very best of its industry, and “I’m Still Here” will undoubtedly stand the test of time as a pinnacle of everything film can achieve.
Nickel Boys
The first-person perspective of “Nickel Boys” is so unique in how it forces the viewer to step into the body of these men. Sounds, sights, choices, and experiences of these characters becomes the viewer’s too. I walked out of the theater acutely aware of my own perspective, looking down at my hands as though I were a soul placed into a shell. It took a few minutes to get used to at the beginning, and a slow-burning second act threatened to dilute that immersive experience, but the precision in making this approach effective is so exciting for the film medium as a whole. Movies have a unique potential to make us empathize for others, understanding difference to often be simply due to contextual and societal differences, and “Nickel Boys” feels like a leap forward in the medium to realize that potential. The ending was not just a gut punch but a full-body sensation of devastation. That’s due to the film so evocatively depicting memories and emotions, and also to the tragedy of what happened at that “school”. Terrible people get away with insidious actions so often that it can be explained systemically; the many tendrils that the Racial Contract describes are shown effectively here. No other movie here so totally affected me as “Nickel Boys” did.
“Tezeta (Nostalgia)” is a song I have listed to a whole lot in the past few years, and I now hear a deeper beauty to the song from its use in this film. The soulful saxophone, the warm guitars, the stark but gentle piano. Even if this movie doesn’t win the big prize, my life will be forever changed by the experience of watching this, and I hope it will go down as both a monumental movie in itself and the touchstone influence for movies of similar profundity and innovation in coming years.
In Conclusion,
There are so many terrific things worth celebrating that are spread throughout these movies. Direction, writing, cinematography, acting, editing, sound and music, costuming, stunt coordination, and practical and computerized effects to name a few. Even in that horse shit, self-aggrandized nightmare that was “Emilia Perez”, Zoe Saldana does well to realize the movie’s peculiar vision, and the audacity of the movie to attempt a musical about a trans former drug lord is worth taking some inspiration from, while gone about in a totally different way of course. Anyways, a win for any of those 9 decent movies is a win because “Emilia Perez” wouldn’t, and despite being a deeply flawed industry like many others, the film industry is in a lovely place insofar as so many movies can justifiably be in the running for Best Picture.
Although I really did write this all for fun, it also just struck me that it’s an drawn-out, incessant advertisement to follow me on Letterboxd. Autumn and Joe are already real ones in that regard, and I would love to make that site more of a community of friends to rejoice in a shared appreciation for things that make life super worthwhile. Yay art! Yay writing about art! Yay friends!
- Jackson