This was an interesting awards season for sure. CODA premiered at Sundance in January and became the little engine that could and survived all season to end up winning. But during the season, it didn't seem like much of a contender until it won SAG and then the PGAs. Before that, it looked like it would go to The Power of the Dog, but it faded for some reason. It was actually exciting to watch and we didn't really know who would win until the winner was read out. And CODA ticked off a bunch of firsts or rare feats such as: first Sundance film, first film from a streaming service (Apple TV+), and the first predominantly deaf cast to win BP. It was the 6th film without a Best Director nomination and the fewest nominations since 1932's Grand Hotel to win BP. Some crazy stats that are directly influenced by the newer, more diverse Academy from the last couple of years. It feels like the Oscars are changing for the better, hopefully that continues to hold true going forward.
2021 Best Picture
I see why this won Sundance and gained so much momentum that it became a Best Picture winner. This is a hilarious film that is a crowd pleasing coming of age film that will be a tearjerker at times. Just read that back and realize it hits a lot of emotional notes and can easily get the vote of people throughout the Academy. So the film is about a girl (Emelia Jones, who I maybe would fight for a Best Actress nomination if I was feeling feisty) who is hearing but comes from a family of deaf people, hence the title (child of deaf adults). They are fishermen out of Massachusetts and are struggling. Ruby also loves to sing and can at any time because her family can't hear her. She has a crush on a boy (played by the kid who starred in Sing Street which is absolutely fantastic, by the way) who signs up for choir, so she does as well. There are family issues about not bringing in enough money, Ruby needing time to focus on choir and not being able to interpret for them, and just normal school age drama. The draw is Ruby's interactions with her family which is Marlee Matlin and Troy Kotsur as her mom and dad. There's so much humor from them and how they live and how they respond to Ruby that makes you crack up laughing. We become invested in Ruby succeeding at singing and also getting into college and getting with her crush and balancing her family issues. There's a lot going on but it's such a feel good film and such a likable journey that it's so easy to get caught up in the film and laugh and cry and get angry at what goes on. It has that universal appeal and I feel like that is why it won Best Picture. So many people probably loved it and wanted to reward a predominately deaf cast that they gave it a win. Is this an amazing BP winner on par with like Gone with the Wind, Lawrence of Arabia, or No Country for Old Men? No, of course not! This would probably rank in the bottom half or third of BP winners, but is a wholly enjoyable film. It's easy to root for which is probably why it won and it has the deaf quality going for it, too, to make it easy to vote for. It's honestly nothing amazing and is like a ton of other films, but this was what was nominated and it won. It might not be my winner, but I have to find that out for myself.
Belfast
This film is Kenneth Branagh's ode to his childhood upbringing in Northern Ireland at the start of the Troubles. This kind of film has become the thing for big name directors in the last couple years with Alfonso Cuaron's Roma and Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans. Like Roma, Belfast is (mostly) shot in black and white and looks incredible, as all black and white films should honestly. It tells the story through the perspective of Buddy, who is the stand-in for Branagh's younger self. And let me tell you that Jude Hill is a terrific child actor and if you've followed this blog before, you know I abhor child actors, especially nominations because they are usually pretty awful. Hill is so expressive and appropriate childlike that I don't feel like I was watching some precocious child actor try to be too cutesy. He was a perfect foil for the story and absolutely made it better. This is a very short film by normal Oscar standards today at just over an hour and a half and that is probably my biggest gripe about the whole thing. If this was expanded to two hours, I think it could have gone more in depth with Judi Dench's Granny character, spoke more about the Troubles and how it was effecting the family, maybe delve into Buddy's little romance a bit more. It felt like there could be more done to make this a fuller story. It comes off almost like the fleeting memories of a young child as it darts between fun little short scenes where say Buddy has a talk with his Pops (Ciaran Hinds) about math and girls to a scene where the street is being overrun by rioters wanting Catholics to leave. Yet still I loved the film a lot. Those short scenes help establish the characters and help make this a heartfelt film at its core. There are a rollercoaster worth of emotions as you watch this story play out because it touches on Buddy's budding romance, the terror of the Troubles, family financial frustrations, and childlike curiosities. I also was blown away by the framing and shot compositions in a lot of the scenes. Just exquisite shots where you'll see Buddy's parents arguing on one side of the frame in a doorway and Buddy hiding on the other with like a door jam or wall separating them. Beautiful stuff that is found throughout the film, not just in a couple scenes. I wish I could show pictures of what I mean here! There are other shots where the camera is below the characters pointing up at them and it just feels like we are small and young and looking at these towering figures which are the parents or grandparents and it's really smartly done without being excessive. The more this film sat with me, the more I enjoyed it and wanted to watch it again. Great performances by all the aforementioned actors but also Caitriona Balfe and Jamie Dornan, too. Really great and enjoyable personal film from Branagh that I wish was just a little longer and more filled out, but still a great watch.
Don't Look Up
This absolutely feels like filler, and I'll explain, but this film is so representative of the pandemic and that feeling. Don't Look Up is an unfortunately apt representation of how people are today. So why does this feel like filler, you ask? Because this was the year that the Academy went back to a full ten nominees instead of the possible 5 - 10. And this film feels like it was one of those on the edge of not being nominated versus actually nominating it. This film got four nominations and won none of them. It just kinda seems like the Academy really loves Adam McKay's work, understandable since the Academy has a decidedly left leaning stance with its members, and they've nominated his previous works for Best Picture as well. The film is about some scientists who discover a huge comet is hurtling straight towards Earth and will impact the planet in a couple months. Initially, they get the run around when trying to tell the world and then once believed and used for cheap political points, some people believe it's fake and made up or not as serious as the scientists claim. You can see the parallels to the Covid pandemic and response from various political figures and people in general. I only say it feels like filler because it never had a shot at winning and is the kind of film to look back on in 10 - 20 years and and be like oh yeah, that film was nominated for BP. Not to say I didn't enjoy it, though! It's biting satire with a stacked all star cast and a breezy, hilarious script. The film moves at a good pace and makes you frustrated and disgusted at how people might react in the situation because we lived through exactly that with the pandemic. It's an entertaining film and actually has good special effects for the end of the world scenes. Definitely worth seeking out to watch, just don't expect some kind of high level BP film and realize this is more like a really well made disaster flick and your head will be in the right place to enjoy it more.
Drive My Car
I had to sit on this one for a bit after watching and let it digest. I don't think I can give a very good review or put my thoughts down to do justice to this film. It has so many layers that I feel I'd need to watch it like two or three more times to be fully comfortable in talking about it in a coherent way. Hopefully that doesn't scare you off because it is a phenomenal film and it's one of those films that will forever make the greatest films of all time lists that covers world cinema and not just American blockbusters. This is a Japanese film, but it goes a little deeper than that and I'll explain how in a second. But my love for Asian cinema has grown so much recently because of these great films from Japan or Korea (Parasite) or Thailand (shoutout Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives) or Hong Kong (In the Mood For Love, holy shit). There are lots of others but I am now fully experiencing them and the fact that the Academy nominated a Japanese film based on a Haruki Murakami short story, or rather a couple from what I learned, is opening up the world of film to so many folks who just don't have that appreciation yet. So Kudos to the Academy for that. But what about the film itself? Well, like I said it's layered but the gist is a famous actor/director goes to a town to put on a presentation of Uncle Vanya, which is a play by Anton Chekhov. He does this after his wife drops dead suddenly after a brain hemorrhage. That happens about 40 minutes into the three hour film and that's surprisingly when the opening credits start rolling. That first 40 minutes is jam packed full of all kinds of intrigue that made me wonder just where this film was driving me. Hidetoshi Nishijima is the main actor and we see he is a stage actor and his wife a TV writer. We then see that she is cheating on him and he goes for a long drive and comes back and he finds her dead. Now we sort of start the real story which is one that leans heavily into different topics such as loss, grief, love, expression through art, how art can answer or pose questions in our life, solace, regret. It goes on and is why I need multiple viewings to fully grasp everything. Nishijima takes on the play and has a young female driver drive his car which he at first objects to because that's his time to learn his lines and be with his wife as he listens to a recording of her saying lines from his play and he responds as part of his method of learning lines. These two develop a relationship that eventually shows to be more father-daughter, but I definitely at times was wondering if it'd become more or what her deal was because she is processing her own trauma. This on top of the actual play where we see them go through the extensive rehearsals which is multilingual with Korean, Japanese, Mandarin who also speaks English, and Korean sign language as part of the actual play, which is super fascinating to me. There is so much going on and I kept running into the same word when reading reviews about this film which said engrossing, engrossing, engrossing and it truly is. It pulls you in and rewards your patience with a fulfilling story that just has this vibe that I can't explain but it keeps me invested, engrossed maybe? Kidding aside, the acting performances are phenomenal and Nishijima probably should have been nominated in Best Actor and I hate that he wasn't. The story is so dialogue focused that it makes sense it was nominated for screenplay and I am happy that it won Best International Feature. And Ryusuke Hamaguchi absolutely deserved his Best Director nom because this film is gorgeously shot, has so many beautifully framed shots, the story is so complex and rewarding, and the performances are great. This film is amazing and should be a gateway for many people to look into other amazing Asian films like this one.
Dune
I love Dune. By that I mean the book (which I admit I didn't finish when I read it in middle school because it was so incredibly dense), the David Lynch film which certain scenes stuck with me for a long time, and the SyFy (though I think it was Sci-Fi Channel at the time) miniseries, both of them! I am well versed in the Dune world, although not anywhere close to the folks who can rattle off the families and history of planets like it's something they studied in high school. I'm a fan, so I was thrilled to see this star studded cast directed by the amazing Denis Villeneuve. This was considered unfilmable because it is so dense in information and because the Lynch version bombed hard. So it was awesome to see a big name take this project on and deliver an Oscar nominated film that made a lot of money and has garnered lots of buzz for Part Two. And that means Part One was never going to win the Oscar because the Academy is never going to reward the first film of an already announced sequel. But what we can do is just take in this marvelous film and enjoy that Villeneuve knocked it out of the damn park. Let me digress for a moment and say how jealous I am of those coming into this film with absolutely no knowledge of Dune as a sci-fi series with a few books, films, miniseries, comics, all of that. I would love to come in completely fresh having no prior knowledge of this world to experience Villeneuve's version. It's got to be incredible and I hope you tell me in the comments if that is your experience. The end result for me is what I have been waiting for a quarter decade. For a story that includes a lot of political intrigue, we don't see those scenes of twenty minutes of political maneuvering or discussing things endlessly about their evil plans. The pace in this film is incredible and we move from one thing to the next without it getting bogged down in scenes that take us out of the world. There aren't galactic senate scenes to halt all progress. This is Villeneuve giving us straightforward sci-fi that everyone can appreciate and love. I do get the criticism that this film is mostly all set up for the sequel and I get that, but feel this film stands on its own just fine. I am beyond excited for Part Two and can see it winning Best Picture if it delivers.
King Richard
I didn't go into this film wanting to hate it, but I was a bit apprehensive that this would be a sappy, mediocre Will Smith Oscar bait film that would be entirely forgettable. That was before awards season really got into swing but it kept getting love and decent reviews and made a lot of money at the box office. It's easy to see why as this is a definite crowd-pleaser that hits all the emotional beats you want it to while giving us a pretty good story of how the Williams sisters were raised to be tennis legends. Yes, this is essentially Oscar bait for Smith, but his performance is good and is a toned down version of his usual roles which is a good thing. It's a pleasant film that doesn't really dive very deep into how much of an asshole Richard really was and that's to be expected when the sisters helped produce the film. But I do wish it had gone more in depth with that because we could have got a more complex, nuanced story that was more than just the rise to prominence for Venus. However, the best thing about this film are the girls that play Serena and Venus, Demi Singleton and Saniyya Sidney, respectively. You have to get their casting perfect for this film to succeed and they nailed these roles. Both are exceptional as the sisters and don't feel like they are wooden or awkward or can't act and were hired because of looks or athleticism. They hard carry this film with Smith and are honestly the stars of the film for me. When I say they had to be perfect, they both were. They have similar looks and their tennis game looks legit and we actually see them hitting balls and doing tennis things, not all hidden with edits and camera angles. Also, one of the girls was left handed and had to learn to play tennis right handed to match one of the sisters and that's insane that they learned the game like that just for them and the film ended up better for it because all of the tennis scenes are rooted in realism. And the two are just really likable young women, so it was easy to root for them in the film and become more engaged in the story. So if you're coming for a Will Smith Oscar win, you're probably staying for some great acting from the sisters and a story that is easy to digest and enjoy. It's not an all time film or anything, but I can point to way worse films in this category and I'd say this one is fine being here.
Licorice Pizza
Let's just go ahead and get this out of the way right from the start: this film is a little bit controversial because of the age difference between the two characters and I think it's a legitimate qualm with the film. For some people, it's going to temper how they feel about the film and maybe even outright get them to hate it and I completely understand. The story is about Gary (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman's son, Cooper), a 15 year old who meets Alana (played by musician Alana Haim) at school picture day who is 25 years old. Gary flirts with Alana and asks her out and she does show up to the date later and a very tumultuous relationship begins. Now, if you flip the sexes and make the guy 25 and the girl 15, it comes off super creepy and probably not something you'd want to watch onscreen, especially not in a lighthearted, romantic way. I agree a bit with that thinking as it keeps me from rooting for them and being disgusted by Alana's character. Most other people don't seem to care because this is a Paul Thomas Anderson film and he delivers another well made film. If you can get beyond the icky age difference, the two leads are making their film debuts and they are very raw. This gives their performances a very naturalistic feel, which at times it works really well and others it feels strained and like we are watching people audition. So the two leads are going to be your bellwether on if you like the film or not. It's a slice of life picture set in the mid 70s in California and I guess has a lot of influence from PTA's upbringing and those of people he knows who grew up there. The title comes from a chain of record shops in the area at the time, which I'm sure you were wondering about. The story is decent enough as it goes from adventure to adventure with the two leads like Gary selling waterbeds, or him opening a pinball arcade up, or them getting involved with different sort characters like Sean Penn, Bradley Cooper, and Benny Safdie who all play real people from the area around that time. The music and songs used in the film are pretty great and what you'd expect for a film set in California in the 70s. The components are all there for this to be another PTA classic, but it just falls short with the weird age difference thing for me. Sorry not sorry, we like what we like. Probably the weakest effort from PTA for me personally besides the messy Inherent Vice and hope his next film is back to the level of his other amazing films.
Nightmare Alley
Guillermo del Toro doing what he does best, as usual. This is a neo-noir psychological film that drifts into melodrama and I am here for it. I love those old films where the mystery and tension are so thick you can wrap yourself up in it and the performances are either so overwrought with emotion or such sparingly enigmatic puzzles to figure out. The performances in this film may have more nuance to them, but they echo those of older films in this type of genre. Del Toro said that he didn't remake the 1947 film of the same name, he adapted the book that film was based on. It does make me want to watch the Tyrone Power version right now to see how they line up next to each other. Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, and Rooney Mara are all fantastic as you would imagine and fit into a neo-noir film perfectly. Cooper can play the brooding, mysterious lead to great effect, Blanchett can be the sultry, femme fatale sort of figure, and Mara can play that supporting woman who has her own strengths wonderfully. The rest of the cast is stacked with Willem Dafoe, Ron Perlman, David Strathairn, Toni Collette, Mary Steenburgen, Richard Jenkins, and some other folks you'll recognize by face. As you'd expect from a del Toro film, the set and production design are top notch and really add to the overall feel of the film with the carny exhibits and tents with dead babies in jars and all the usual things you'd find at a freakshow. The story is about Cooper who has a sordid past who finds himself at a roadshow carnival and starts working there and learns to be a mentalist and then becomes renowned for it but is essentially just grifting and tricking folks for money. We see how that leads to his downfall but I enjoyed it all the way through the film. A lot of the complaints I read online were that the pacing was too slow and people felt like not much happened, which I completely disagree with. I think this film probably lands differently with people that love the old time neo-noir thrillers and the atmospheric genre films that del Toro is known for. It's runtime is two and a half hours but I didn't feel that length as there was a lot to enjoy in all aspects of this film. This is a great film to grab some popcorn and some drinks and sit back and enjoy the vision that del Toro has lovingly crafted.
The Power of the Dog
This film was your front runner for most of the season and I absolutely thought it was going to win BP even with the momentum CODA had picked up prior to Oscar night. Having now seen it, I understand what everyone saw in this film for it to be the presumptive winner for much of the season. Jane Campion won Best Director for this film and it's to see why she did. It's beautifully shot with so many expertly crafted scenes and shots exquisitely framed. I love the scenes at the beginning and end of the film where we see Benedict Cumberbatch's character walking outside the house with the camera moving through the house as we see glimpses of him through different open windows. It evokes thoughts of The Searchers and that famous doorway scene. Cinematography is fantastic as you'd expect from a Western film shot in New Zealand to be (though the film takes place in Montana). The acting throughout the film is superb with four total acting nominations to show for it. The minimalist score from Jonny Greenwood suits the film so well instead of having these sweeping, epic string symphonies you'd get in other Western films. It really punctuates scenes where a bit of atonal violin adds tension and dread or even the lack of music adds to the feel of the film. The film is almost a slow burn where after an hour and fifteen minutes into a film that is just over two hours long, I wasn't sure exactly where it was heading. It's paced well, though, and the different chapters help it move quickly. It also supposes that the viewer is intelligent and can fill in missing info on their own or just let it ride and not worry about a lifetime of backstory to see where it all ends up. This isn't going to be for some folks, but it grabbed me quickly and I had to watch to see what was going to happen. There's not even a twist or anything at the end, it just ratchets up the tension (and dread, for me) and allows you to fill in the blanks and decipher some hints about motivations. So the film leaves a lot up to the viewer and I think it succeeds in that way because I'm still thinking about the film and what it means or doesn't mean or what the motivations of the characters are. Apparently the book is more explicit in why things happen with more backstory to guide you into understanding what is going on, so I like that this film didn't hold our hand and tell us everything and allowed us to soak in the acting and the story and go from there. Interestingly enough, this was the first film since The Graduate to only win Best Director and no other awards. Not sure this will be iconic as that film still is, but this one is fantastic and right up my alley for an Oscar film. Probably would have made for a much better winner looking back in ten or twenty years, too.
West Side Story
Did this need to be remade? No. Is it lame that Steven Spielberg decided to remake it? Yes. It could NEVER live up to the original. It would be like remaking Jaws or Schindler's List. You can never live up to a timeless classic like this one. The main thing right off the bat for me is that this film doesn't have the edge and sharpness to it that the original does. The original has this feeling of yeah, it's a musical, but the energy and tension is visceral and you feel it all the way through the film. I never felt that in this version. It felt muted and softened and moments like the rumble where Riff and Bernardo are killed don't feel as horrifying or like the gut punch it should be. The cinematography for most of the film is pretty good and a lot of the dance scenes, specifically for America, are vibrant and interesting pieces to watch unfold. But there's a lot of dullness to the film, where it feels like sets and not real life. Yeah, the original had lots of sets, but they felt lived in and meshed well with the outside shots of the neighborhood. Maybe it's because cameras are so much better that we can easily see what looks artificial. But what I really hated about the look of the film are all the damn lens flares. Is this directed by Spielberg or JJ Abrams? It was obnoxious and I can't stand that in films that don't need it. This isn't a sci-fi adventure, it's a beloved musical. Why are all the lights as bright as the sun? The acting is mostly pretty good. None really come close to being better than the original besides maybe Rachel Zegler over Natalie Wood's character. I know some will fight back on that but I did like Zegler a bit more than Wood. Ariana DeBose is very good and easily earned an Oscar win, but Rita Moreno gives arguably the best Supporting Actress performance ever. The rest of the cast are fine, if a bit lackluster. The dancing is not at all up to par with the original, the songs are still as great as ever. The main change is that Moreno plays Valentina who takes the place of Doc from the original. This film felt more like a well made homage than its own unique version of the story. It's like the touring version of the musical with maybe one original member versus the main run from Broadway. It's like the remake of a beloved cultural hit that they tried to modernize a bit fifty years later. Oh, wait. It just feels a bit lesser in every way and it's a shame because it is still entertaining because this is the story and musical we all know and love. It's not bad by any means and this hopefully sparked a love in people for musicals because it makes me want to go back and watch the original again.
A really strong, diverse group of nominees. It's got a little bit of everything and I love the full ten nominees that they changed to last year. I'd rather have more films in the category than wonder why it was only eight films and why they left out such and such films. There still is a little bit of that with the full ten, as I'd put Tick, Tick...Boom! in this group and have it be a top contender. Don't Look Up is entertaining, but it feels like it will be completely forgotten about and mostly already has just a year later. It's definitely the weakest of the group by far. Licorice Pizza is alright but is clearly PTA's worst effort and has a creepy undertone to it that I just can't shake off. King Richard is standard Oscar bait and is an enjoyable film on its own, but the girls really make it worth watching. If not for them, it would just be Will Smith trying hard to win an Oscar, which isn't my idea of fun. West Side Story should never have been remade as it just cannot capture the magic and feeling of the original no matter if it's Spielberg at the helm. It's expertly made and looks great and is very familiar, but it just lacks that edge or something special the first one had. CODA is entertaining and probably should not have won, but I'm okay with it really. It's middle of the pack just because it's such a heartwarming little film. If it wasn't nominated, I don't think we'd miss it, honestly. Belfast is a great little film from Kenneth Branagh and I really enjoyed it a lot. Gorgeous looking with a wonderful story and great acting. Nightmare Alley is a great genre film that throws back to old school film noir and is packed with great talent and is fun to watch. Drive My Car was so surprisingly good that I can't wait to watch a three hour film again to be able to soak in everything it has to say because it is so layered. Highly recommend it. Dune could be a winner, but like the Academy, I'd rather wait and see how Part Two turns out because it just may be Best Picture worthy. Such a great adaptation of the classic book. I guess I'd give the win to The Power of the Dog because it really is fantastic and looks amazing and has an intriguing story and acting to match the story. I think it would have made a good winner that we would look fondly on in the years to come. Overall a very strong year and I'm so happy that we are getting such great films in this category.
Oscar Winner: CODA
My Winner: The Power of the Dog
Dune
Drive My Car
Nightmare Alley
Belfast
CODA
West Side Story
King Richard
Licorice Pizza
Don't Look Up
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