Ok, I'm clearly not going to watch any more of the Oscars nominees before the awards ceremony and I also really don't want to grade this stack of student papers, so here are some quick thoughts on the movies:
Sound of Metal
...was my favorite. I love, love, loved this movie. It's a moving story about a man coping with hearing loss, but more than that, it's just a really profound meditation on impairment and disability (impairment being the functional limitation due to particular bodily constraints, disability being the restrictions caused by society that limits accessibility by not accommodating different needs*), and on sound, and hearing. And it uses the medium of cinema in really extraordinary ways to convey these ideas. I don't think it's very likely that Riz Ahmed or Paul Raci will win for their performances, though both are worthy (and I especially appreciated Linda Holmes' point, on Pop Culture Happy Hour, that Paul Raci is the only person nominated for Best Supporting Actor who is truly a supporting role — someone whose presence is there to support the main actor in telling the story. I don't think it will win Best Picture, but I think it should — of all the nominees that I've seen, it's the most creative, compelling, and interesting film.
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
It seems obvious to me that Chadwick Boseman will win Best Actor, and I'm good with that. Not only because I'm just still so heartbroken by his passing, and this seems like a proper homage (that should have come so much earlier), but also, it is a terrific performance. Also on PCHH, Glen Weldon noted that his performance crucially captures the character's charm, and that the movie/play simply doesn't work without that, which is a really excellent point. In the wrong hands, his character could just seem like a sociopath, but he really powerfully brings together all the facets of the man's personality.
I'm also rooting for Viola Davis to win Best Actress, because she is absolutely phenomenal. I think she is one of the greatest actresses of our time, frankly, but this role is particularly fascinating, and she is electrifying in it. Like Boseman, she really illuminates the complexities of the character — diva, rebel, hard-nosed pragmatist, woman wronged. It's so, so good.
But though I thought they were both outstanding, I didn't love the movie. For one, it felt very much like a play that had been adapted into a movie — it had a static, set-piece quality, and the dialogue seemed theatrical to me. The emotional rhythms felt too abrupt and extreme for cinema — there was a manic quality to the way it rocketed from one intense eruption to another. And as a depiction of racial trauma, that makes sense — it escalates suddenly, unpredictably —but it made the movie feel off-kilter to me.
Judas and the Black Messiah
I think Daniel Kaluuya will win Best Supporting Actor, and I think he deserves it. What most impressed me about his performance was the bodily aspect — Kaluuya disappears into the role. I literally forgot it was him, repeatedly. I haven't watched a ton of footage of Fred Hampton, so I don't know how true to life the performance is, but Kaluuya's body language and cadences of speech are unlike anything I've seen from him in other movies. It's fascinating.
As a movie, to be honest, I think it's fairly standard biopic fare. What sets it apart is that it tells a story I actually care about, and one that doesn't get enough attention, but I don't think it tells that story in a particularly innovative way, and it doesn't really delve that deeply into the emotional complexities.
One Night in Miami
I don't know that this will win anything, but I'm holding out hope for Best Adapted screenplay. I'm really pissed that Regina King didn't get nominated for Best Director, because I think she should have been, and probably should have won it. I loved this movie, and thought it was an incredibly thought-provoking and fascinating meditation on social change and the relationship between iconic individuals and social movements. 4 men: a football player who becomes a movie star, a boxer, a singer, and an activist and religious leader. Forget for a moment who the people in the movie are, and consider: what structural role do the people in those positions play? Which does "the most" and how? Now think, too, of what those roles meant then, as opposed to today? And think, who are the emblematic figures of our own moment, and what roles do they play? And think: how are these different men remembered, and for what? I think the movie delves into all these questions, and in wonderfully nuanced ways. And it works, not just because the performances are all top-notch (of the four, actually, Leslie Odom Jr. was probably not the one I'd nominate, but that's really just a testament to how strong all of them were), but also because of Regina King's vision as a director in getting those performances, and getting the emotional register of the film exactly right.
Minari
Uh... nobody warned me how grim this movie is. I can deal with grim! It's just surprising to me that I haven't seen any conversation about that in the discussion of this movie, which I was thinking was going to be more of a quirks-of-cross-cultural-adaptation story. I cried my eyes out. I thought it was a good movie, but I will confess that I wasn't particularly blown away by it. It was moving, and interesting, and good! I do not dislike it! But I am a little surprised by how much critical acclaim it's getting. I'm glad to see Steven Yeun and Youn Yuh-Jung nominated, and the latter is the only performance in the category I've seen so I'm rooting for it by default.
Nomadland
I am even more surprised by the adulation for Nomadland. It is a good movie, yes. But it's a total arthouse flick. It actually reminds me a lot of Kelly Reichardt's movies. Which I enjoy! But I tend to think of them as being somewhat niche. It's slow, and pretty plotless, and has that same kind of weary emotional tenor — and that same interest in the difficulties of working class people, which I appreciate, though I agree with critics who are frustrated that the movie doesn't really say much about Am@zon and its role in producing that hardship. But I also appreciated its understated quality. Frances McDormand is terrific, and I will only be a little bit mad if she beats Viola Davis. Chloe Zhao's direction is absolutely masterful, and I won't be mad if she wins. But I really have to wonder if this is a pandemic thing, that people are just more willing to sit still and watch and appreciate a slow movie? It seems kind of remarkable to me. Because this is very much a gay cowboys eating pudding kind of movie.
Promising Young Woman
Loved it. I think Carey Mulligan is absolutely perfect, and I might even have given Bo Burnham a Best Supporting nomination. The performances are really excellent, and, I think, are crucially not too heavy-handed, because it would be easy for many of them to seem like caricatures, but they are just this side of not, while also reminded you that these caricatures exist and play specific roles in our cultural imagination. And that is thanks to Emerald Fennell, who I think absolutely deserves Best Director, and Best screenplay, because really, this movie has to strike such a fine balance, and it nails it.
I don't want to say too much about the movie, because I think the constant surprises are crucial to its delicious pleasures, but I will mention one thing, which is that I think people who get frustrated because it's not more of a masculinist violent revenge movie are missing the point. There's a line from an excellent interview I read with Fennell that sums it up: "I think so often in these kinds of films, and particularly when it pertains to violence, it is not feasible that a woman commits acts of violence against men in the night. It's not a fair thing to expect. And I think this film is very clear about what happens if you were to try."
I think the movie is really an amazing meditation on rape culture today, and the idea of justice, and it's really fascinating, too, as a reflection on fantasy versus reality. I know some people didn't like it and I'm interested to hear why, but I thought it was brilliant.
Emma
I just saw that it was nominated for costume design and YES. I think they could've given Anya Taylor-Joy a Best Actress nomination too, honestly, she's so great. And it's such a fun adaptation. But having just rewatched it, for sure, the costumes are just so wonderful. A whole mood, as the kids say nowadays.
That's it, that's all I've got. The only other movies that I really do want to see, actually, are Another Round, Soul, Better Days, The Man Who Sold His Skin, and Wolfwalkers. Point being, my opinions about most of the major categories aren't likely to change much anyhow, though I might have watched Trial of the Chicago 7 or Mank out of a sense of duty.
Anyhow, we'll see what happens...
*I'm paraphrasing, drawing from an essay by Eli Clare, The Mountain.
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