"Don't you people know how to park?" This racist attack towards an Asian-American man named Danny, played in The Paper Tigers by Alain Uy, represents a painfully common act of racism against Asians and Asian-Americans, especially since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Audience members, when seeing something like that in a film, might be primed to anticipate Danny fighting back (especially since he used to be a very talented martial artist) or at least say something aggressive back. This is, after all, a movie about kung fu.
Danny doesn't fight back. He has his kid (played by Joziah Lagonoy) with him. Not fighting back is a teachable moment for his son. It's better to walk away than fight, he tells him. But Danny's messaging is inconsistent. Later in the film, he'll tell his son Ed that he should fight to defend his friends. His ex-wife disagrees. It's difficult to put much stock into anything Danny tells Ed because in addition to his inconsistency, he's often not there for him. He's late picking him up, and he has to cancel trips to amusement parks due to emergency deadlines, all the while Ed's mother inevitably comes across looking like the mean parent.
The failed-father dynamic in The Paper Tigers isn't particularly interesting, but it's not like the film, written and directed by Tran Quoc Bao, is trying very hard to make it work. Instead, the film puts most of its efforts into two elements: comedy and action. The Paper Tigers is a martial arts comedy; its martial arts scenes are the film's finest moments, but its comedy is flat. Nothing is funny in this movie, not the jokes about "breakfast pasta," not the flatulence, not the funeral selfies, not even the awkward white guy in the movie. The white guy (a very muscular Matthew Page as Carter) is a former high school rival of the Three Tigers (more on them in a moment), constantly losing to them and feeling bitter about it as an adult yet emboldened, for he clearly kept in shape over the years and now is a kung fu teacher, while the others (or at least two-thirds of them) got a little flabbier.
Carter, though, takes things a little too seriously, learning to speak Chinese while passionately delivering honorable kung fu beliefs (which are dismissed as fortune cookie sayings by Danny). Carter blurts out his trust of the "old ways" and says other things that certainly come across as appropriation, and yet the film can't even get that right. The character of Carter should be low-hanging fruit for the film, but even though middle-aged white guys can say some pretty cringe-worthy things, none of them (we should hope) would never go so far as to say something like "we Chinese have a saying."
The Paper Tigers centers on three middle-aged men who excelled at martial arts under the tutelage of Sifu Cheung (Roger Yuan) when they were teenagers but who've grown apart in their older years. Aside from Danny, Hing (Ron Yuan, Roger Yuan's real-life brother) has suffered from a leg injury and has gained weight, while Jim (Mykel Shannon Jenkins) has continued to keep his body in pristine order as a boxing coach but has forgotten kung fu. The three of them, formerly known as the Three Tigers, reunite when their sifu has mysteriously died from a heart attack. Suspecting foul play, they try to discover the true cause of his death and who might have had a hand in it.
Some of the actors (like Page and Ron Yuan) certainly try to make this bizarre humor work (to no avail), but most of this silliness isn't their fault, but that of Bao's script. The script sometimes tries to instill some weight and emotion (like Danny's problems being a reliable father and his past issues living up to Sifu Cheung's expectations), often with some kind of "but the truth is" sappy speech, but it doesn't succeed, instead trying too hard to go for laughs. True, kids might laugh at it, but they'll likely be the only ones chuckling at these antics.
If there is anything to be praised in the film, however, it's the unpredictable fight choreography of Ken Quitugua, who also appears as Zhen Fan, the film's villain. Adding to the delight of watching this masterful choreography is Daniel L.K. Caldwell's score; the two fit perfectly together. Music and fighting, though, can't save a movie like this, making this a very disappointing film. Unfortunately, it might pain you to try and remember whether or not you saw The Paper Tigers one week after viewing it.
The films Alfred Hitchcock directed can probably be split up into five (more or less) distinct stages: The first is his films that only the most die-hard Hitchcock enthusiasts and film historians are aware of. The period is from 1923 (with the first film he directed, the silent short Always Tell Your Wife) until 1934; it includes all of the silent films he directed and Blackmail, the first talkie film he directed.
Later stages of Hitchcock's illustrious career include a third stage (his longest, the time when he reigned as a king in Hollywood, starting with the Best Picture-winning gothic drama Rebecca in 1940 until some of his best films, such as Vertigo, North by Northwest, and Psycho) and the final stage: the last thirteen years of his career that include some memorable films (like Marnie) and some that few have seen (like the critically reviled Torn Curtain).
The 39 Steps from 1935 exists in a second stage of Hitchcock's filmography. It's during this period that amateur film historians (including me) start to recognize some of the titles he's been associated with: The Man Who Knew Too Much from 1934 (which he remade in 1956), Sabotage from 1936, and The Lady Vanishes from 1937. While I'm not an authority on Hitchcock by any stretch of the imagination, it seems that during this period, he really started to establish himself as a master of the cinema, and many elements he would be forever known for (trains, blonds, a wronged man, and that sort of thing) start to become common fixtures in his thrillers.
In the film, Richard Hannay (played by Robert Donat, whose sophisticated demeanor and elocution make him seem like the lovechild of David Tomlinson and Colin Firth) is an Englishman who's returned from Canada. Hannay goes to a music hall for some fun, and the main attraction of the night is a man dubbed Mr. Memory (Wylie Watson), whose cool trick is that he can call out the answer to any question any audience member has, regardless of how trivial it is. The audience is enjoying it all until shots are fired, causing obvious panic.
Hannay discovers that the person who fired the shots is a woman named Annabelle Smith (Lucie Mannheim, the Jewish actor who fled Germany and started participating in anti-Hitler propaganda broadcasts). Flirting with Smith, the two go back to his place where they start to have a late-night snack, and at this point she explains to him that she was the one who fired the shots in order to help her escape from spies who were pursuing her belonging to an organization called the 39 Steps. This may sound preposterous to a guy like Hannay, but he will soon discover how such a story isn't always easy for the listener to accept, and he soon finds himself (like many characters in Hitchcock movies) in way over his head. Why? Soon the agents who are after Smith start to go after Hannay. He escapes on a train to Scotland, heading there because there is a small town circled on Smith's map. However, Hannay finds himself framed for murder, so he must avoid both the law and these foreign agents chasing after him.
Why is the sinister organization named the 39 Steps? We're never told, but it doesn't matter. The twist—in which Hannay and the audience learn exactly what they are and exactly what they want (and exactly how they plan on getting it)—these days must seem a bit hard to buy, but it's clever nevertheless. The film's pacing sometimes feels dated, but for the most part it breezily moves about its eighty-six minutes in ways that are totally agreeable, even to modern-day audiences. The actors all look like they must have been having a good time as well, particularly Donat, Madeleine Carroll (who plays a woman caught up in Hannay's mess), and Godfrey Tearle, who despite only appearing in a few scenes as the film's main antagonist, seems to have relished every moment of it.
The film is a thriller, but it's a humorous one, as well. The banter between Donat and Carroll's characters, despite being a bit creepy at times, is mostly spot-on and charming. Donat's ability to convincingly portray Hannay as a man who can so confidently and quickly speak out of his rear end effortlessly despite all these problems he steps in shows just how much of a natural he was. A few years after The 39 Steps was released, Donat won Best Actor for Goodbye, Mr. Chips, beating Mickey Rooney for Babes in Arms, James Stewart for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Clark Gable for Gone With the Wind, and Laurence Olivier for Wuthering Heights.
Critics praised The 39 Steps when it was released. Proving a box office hit and a critical success, The 39 Steps certainly has maintained enthusiasts over the years, like Orson Welles, who called the film a masterpiece, and Robert Townsend, who once said that "contemporary escapist entertainment begins with The 39 Steps." That's not hyperbole. The cleverness has remained, as have the effectiveness of smaller things (like the way tension can be sustained with each ring of the phone), even if nearly a hundred years have passed.
Those who love Hitchcock-directed films surely should seek this one out if they haven't already. You'll get a Hitchcock cameo (towards the beginning) and other neat tricks that seem quite ahead of its time, like a woman's scream being replaced by a train whistle as it races by. Whether it's on a train or in a kitchen, Hitchcock knew how to do suspense, even back in the mid-30s when he directed The 39 Steps, his twenty-first film. True, at times it seems quite similar to later films (especially North by Northwest), but that shouldn't count too much against it. In essence, The 39 Steps is just as suspenseful and unpredictable as many of the later films he directed.
If I am about thirty-four and a half years old, that means that I have roughly been on this Earth for 413 months. Of those 413 months, twelve of them have been spent visiting and even at times living in The Villages. The Villages is the largest retirement community in the country, with well over a hundred thousand retirees living in this retirement fairyland in the middle of Florida. A person in his thirties certainly stands out, especially if he's driving a golf cart. But drive one I did during periods of house sitting, visiting, and even staying for several months in between contracts. As a U.S. citizen living abroad, I still use my parents' address in The Villages as my permanent residence, and I often catch myself whispering to whoever needs my address (the bank teller or the pharmacist, for example) that "I really don't live here."
You also might have heard of The Villages. Perhaps you've heard the dirty rumor that The Villages has the highest STD rate in the country, which was basically debunked a few years ago by villages-news.com but might forever be in the public's imagination thanks to a 2009 article in the New York Post that included gossip about a couple getting caught having sex in their golf cart, rumors of a black market for Viagra, and cops talking about breaking up men jousting with their canes to fight over women. You most certainly heard of The Villages if you were following last year's presidential election, thanks to constant media coverage of the community's supposed disappointment in Donald Trump's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, with articles from Business Insider, New York magazine, the Associated Press, NBC, USA Today, and many others. (At any rate, Trump won Florida 51 to 48, winning almost seventy percent—practically identical to his 2016 result—of Sumpter County, where most of The Villages is.) Or maybe you just have an older relative who escaped the cold of northern states and has found their own slice of heaven in Florida. With all this awareness of The Villages, it was inevitable that some kind of film would be made about it. It's very fortunate for moviegoers that the unavoidable film was in capable hands.
With all that you have likely heard of this unique part of the country, there is almost nothing I can tell you about The Villages that you won't learn in the new documentary titled Some Kind of Heaven. Directed by Lance Oppenheim (a Floridian making his directorial debut here) and produced by Darren Aronofsky, this film will show you all the good, bad, and ugly of a community self-described as "Florida's friendliest hometown." "You come here to live," one resident says. "You don't come here to pass away." Within the first sequences of the documentary, you'll see how The Villages offers something for everyone—synchronized swimming, rowing, pickleball, and golf courses aplenty are just some of the activities available for residents. There's even a club for people named Elaine. The documentary, however, is not as concerned with the almost idiosyncratic vibe there but instead four residents: a married couple named Anne and Reggie, a widow named Barbara, and a bachelor named Dennis.
Barbara is the most normal of the four. She's from Boston, a place she desperately wants to return to. Her husband passed away, and she's working full time at a job she doesn't particularly like. She tells the interviewer that her time in The Villages "hasn't been the fantasyland" she hoped it would be, right before she bursts into face-saving laughter as her dog starts humping the cat. Audience members will certainly feel for a person like Barbara and others who have not found the happiness they thought they would find there, like Dennis, who lives in a van and illegally parks for the night on Villages property. He fully states that his intention is to find a wealthy woman whom he can move in with. Much of Anne's story focuses on her crumbling marriage to Reggie, a very peculiar individual struggling with addiction to THC. Some of these characters' paths take some unexpected turns, especially when the law gets involved.
During the times I housesat for my parents in The Villages, I usually would go outside only for things like going to see a movie or getting groceries. I avoided everything else at all cost, and other than doctor appointments, there was little else I found in common with the permanent residents (or semi-permanent ones coined "snow birds," those who retreat to northern states during the miserably hot and humid summers). I've seen enough of The Villages—with its humidity, omnipresent golf courses, and deep-red conservatism—to know that it's not for me, and it never will be (even forty years from now). Knowing The Villages so well might have impacted how I responded to Some Kind of Heaven, and I'm not sure if it helped or hurt my enjoyment of the film. The target audience therefore is people who have never been there or even heard of it. Actual Villagers will probably be wondering why they've bothered to watch a movie that shows them their daily experiences, although the film's occasional melancholy likely preaches to the choir that is those who have moved there and haven't found the paradise they were hoping for.
Other residents of The Villages—the people who've truly fallen in love with this wonderland in a country they don't recognize anymore—might be insulted. True, some of the film's perspective is predictably smug, with an attitude that shouts "look at all these old geezers running around here!" Yet much of Some Kind of Heaven is equal parts inquisitive and informative, as many great documentaries are. And viewers will likely find themselves rooting for the four Villagers we follow (especially Barbara), even when they do foolish things. Much acclaim should be given to Oppenheim for channeling a style that embraces surrealism while being humanist at the same time. There isn't much of a thesis in this documentary, but it really shines when focusing on the four characters. Perhaps it was easy for Oppenheim to get these folks to spill the beans so easily; older people, after all, are more trusting than younger people. Hopefully their children and grandchildren won't be too upset at him.
I admit to having no idea what the word "slalom" meant before a simple online search took me to a basic definition: to zigzag between obstacles. It is a fitting title for the debut feature film of writer and director Charlène Favier, a drama about a 15-year-old ski prodigy and her strict, predatory instructor. The girl, named Lyz and played by Noée Abita, has a variety of expected obstacles: navigating obnoxious boys and jealous friends on top of schoolwork that bores her, separated parents, and the enormous pressures of her competitive sport. Her wolfish coach, played by Jérémie Renier, makes things considerably worse.
Not long after the Me Too movement started in the United States, toppling about 200 men in various different fields, it found its way to France with #BalanceTonPorc (OutYourPig). However, in France, few men were held accountable initially. What made things worse was the infamous letter signed by 100 women calling the movement "puritanism." "To these women and the many who agreed with them," Monique El-Faizy wrote earlier this year, "#MeToo was a puritanical overreaction and an affront to French values and the country's cherished culture of seduction."
Things started to change last year with the publication of Vanessa Springora's memoir titled Consent, which detailed her relationship that started when she was fourteen with writer Gabriel Matzneff (who for a long time has openly written about his child rape activities but never faced prosecution). Then, Camille Kouchner published La Familia Grande, in which she accused her stepfather, the political scientist Olivier Duhamel, of sexually abusing her brother when he was fourteen. Adèle Haenel walked out of the César Awards after Roman Polanski won Best Director. More allegations came, and #BalanceTonPorc spawned #MeTooIncest and #MeTooGay to more broadly tackle the problem. France was catching up and changing.
As France and the world continue to challenge sexual abuse and the protection of the abusers, films like Slalom are vital. Several U.S. films have been themed around Me Too (like The Assistant and Athlete A, both from last year), but to my knowledge Slalom is the first OutYourPig movie from France. Given what we know about Matzneff, Duhamel, and others, it is fitting that the protagonist in this drama is underage, and even though Abita was in her early twenties during filming, she convincingly looks and can act like a teenager. (It's the same reason why Léa Mysius cast her in Ava as a teenager.) The coach character Renier plays (named Fred) is overly cruel to Lyz in front of the others on the team, but at least some of them feel there is a method to his madness. "He crushes, you listen," one of the other teenage girls tells her, "and you get better." There is a cycle to Fred's behavior—he's harsh, then soft, then "cool," then loving.
Lyz undoubtedly is passionate about skiing, so she doesn't let his authoritarian methods hinder her ambition, instead excelling at skiing and becoming Fred's favorite. But in addition to the favoritism, there is lots of inappropriate touching from Fred. Lyz possibly has a crush on him, and her lack of a father figure and largely absent mother probably make her especially vulnerable to Fred's attention and seduction, but even when his touching becomes explicitly sexual, she tells Fred of her love for him. He might have fallen in love with her, too, if he didn't soon realize the suspicions of those around him, including his wife (played by Marie Denarnaud).
Favier and Marie Talon's script is a potent one, and it's important to remember that decades ago, the angle of the (likely male) filmmakers would have been to make this story as an innocent coming-of-age tale of innocent yet deep romance. Yet here, Favier and Talon are on the side of Me Too, not Catherine Devenue (one of the co-signers of the anti-#MeToo letter). In addition to the sharp script and the phenomenal acting (especially from the film's two leads), cinematographer Yann Maritaud's camera actively pursues the skiers as they race downhill in a way that is thrilling.
At times, Slalom is predictably not an easy film to watch, especially when Lyz and Fred are alone together. That's the point, though. Nothing about the Me Too movement has been easy. It has required a great deal of bravery from victims, and it has required that society change its behavior and hold perpetrators accountable. This has not always happened, as we have seen. In addition to the initial pushback in France, there are signs that things may be heading in the wrong direction, especially this past week, which saw the release of Bill Cosby after only three years behind bars after being found guilty of three counts of aggravated indecent assault; sixty women have accused Cosby of rape and other sexual misconduct. This fight to change society is far from over, and many more movies like Slalom are needed.
Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell is a new documentary on Netflix about Christopher Wallace (better known to all as Biggie, Biggie Smalls, and the Notorious B.I.G.) that in roughly ninety minutes will tell us "what rap planet this guy came from." That's fundamentally sort of the problem with the film. It's a fine documentary (or at least fine enough), especially for music fans and in particular rap and Biggie fans. But it's a documentary that wants to tell you everything. Biggie's music won world-wide acclaim; simply letting us hear more of it would have better accomplished the film's objective, and yet we hear surprisingly little of it.
Most of what we get instead are talking heads. Many of these are necessary, though, like when jazz musician Donald Harrison talks to us about how he recognized Wallace's talent for music early on. Faith Evans (Wallace's widow and collaborator) and Sean Combs also provide essential narratives of what the actual Christopher Wallace was like, not simply as an artist but as a person.
But the most compelling scenes feature Biggie's mother, Voletta Wallace. An immigrant from Jamaica and a fan more of country and western music than gangsta rap, she has been protective of her son's legacy since his death, and her voice can be heard on several Biggie tracks and the final album he appeared in: The King and I, by Evans. Voletta's candor is almost slightly ironic because any criticism that has ever been issued towards Christopher Wallace (aside, I suppose, criticism of his lyrics) has been from his mother. Yet her discussion of her son further humanizes him in a way much of the rest of this documentary fails to do so. They are candid moments that help enlighten viewers on the narrative behind some of his lyrics.
Voletta's immigrant identity clearly had an impact on her son's music. One of his best songs ("Respect" from the album Ready to Die) takes heavy inspiration from Jamaican music. Being the child of an immigrant, we are told, also helped Biggie be established as an "outsider," and one wonders if this added to his natural shyness. However, one will likely be disappointed if they wanted more of a character study of Christopher Wallace, though the documentary certainly is a film for musicologists with its discussion of the musical inspiration for Wallace and his impact on the music world.
But that can only take a film so far, and the essential problem with Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell is that most audience members (including critics) get bored easily by biographical films, as they can be quite dull and fall heavy on the telling side instead of showing us something new. Biographical documentaries are not much better. The usual elements are all there: a rags-to-riches story of a musical genius who also had a lot of tragedy and drugs in his life. Essentially, you've seen this before.
What fans of Biggie already knew—that his rap was a different kind of rap, that his music was loved around the world, that his collaborations with Puffy made them comparable to other brilliant artistic pairings (like Coppola and Pacino or De Niro and Scorsese, we're told)—they will be reminded of in this documentary. But if fans were hoping for something more, they are likely to be disappointed. It often simply feels like talking heads reminding us that he was a genius. Simply listening to his songs is a much more potent lesson than most of what is found here.
There have been more than enough articles by now about what an unusual year 2020 was. The pandemic, the injustice, the chaos, the fires, the violence. It was a year to remember, one in which society will hopefully learn from as we move forward. (I think we're all still not sure if 2021 is that much better.) The motion pictures arts industry, though, persevered and continued doing what it does. Remarkably, the 56 films nominated for Oscars at the 93rd Academy Awards more or less feel like films nominated in any other year. That's either a plus or a minus, depending on your perspective.
One noteworthy aspect of these nominees is that, slowly but surely, attempts to increase the diversity of the nominees seems to be working. There is an international feeling to these films, for example, and it's possible that all four winners in the acting categories could be non-white, which would be a first. It's also worth remembering that films like Judas and the Black Messiah would have hardly stood a chance at being nominated for Best Picture even ten years ago. The Academy still has a long way to go, though they've done so much better than the Golden Globes, which notoriously has not.
What's my overall take on these nominated films? Like most years, there are good, bad, and ugly movies on this list. I am disappointed that some of my favorite films from the previous year, like Miss Juneteenth, His House, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Saint Frances, Boys State, Host, The Invisible Man, On the Record, and Disclosure were not nominated, but this always happens. Most of the films that have been nominated by the Academy, however, are certainly worth a watch.
Without further ado, here is my ranking of all 56 films nominated for Oscars this year:
56. A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon Animated Feature Film (Richard Phelan, Will Becher, Paul Kewley)
I can't even remember if I finished Shaun the Sheep: Farmageddon; that's how much I did not enjoy it.
55. The One and Only Ivan
Visual Effects (Nick Davis, Greg Fisher, Ben Jones, Santiago Colomo Martinez)
The One and Only Ivan feels like a collection of outtakes from the recent Dumbo remake, and it's completely devoid of energy and full of bad Bryan Cranston acting. The effects are great, but the movie is far from it.
54. Hillbilly Elegy
Actress in a Supporting Role (Glenn Close), Makeup and Hairstyling (Eryn Krueger Mekash, Matthew Mungle, Patricia Dehaney)
It's fair to say that expectations were a little higher for Hillbilly Elegy, a movie many hoped would finally get Glenn Close an Oscar. Instead, it's a dreadfully boring two-hour film in which people repeatedly scream at each other. Even the Onion poked fun at it.
53. Yes-People Short Film (Animated) (Gísli Darri Halldórsson, Arnar Gunnarsson)
This short from Iceland features interesting animation, but there isn't much of a plot (or point) to it.
52. Emma. Costume Design (Alexandra Byrne), Makeup and Hairstyling (Marese Langan, Laura Allen, Claudia Stolze)
I wish I could say I liked Anya Taylor-Joy's recent work, but I don't. They're either slightly overrated, like The Queen's Gambit, or terribly overrated, like Emma. There is nothing in this newest Jane Austen adaption that's worth remembering.
51. Pieces of a Woman
Actress in a Leading Role (Vanessa Kirby)
What Pieces of a Woman has going for it mainly is its women actors, especially Venessa Kirby's nominated performance as a woman struggling through the aftermath of a miscarriage. Ellen Burstyn is also fantastic as her overbearing mother. However, Shia LeBeouf is also in it, and he's very...Shia LeBeoufy. Sexual assault allegations against him last year only make some of these moments even more difficult to watch. The film is also challenging to watch past an hour, as it drags on and on.
50. Better Days
International Feature Film (Hong Kong)
Hong Kong's entry in this competition this year is Better Days, a melodrama starring Zhou Dongyu and Jackson Yee that tries to tackle two societal issues: bullying and the immense pressure students (particularly in Asia) are under. (The enormous pressure from school entrance exams in China is unlike that of any other nation.) Better Days is a film I wish I had liked as much as everyone else (it currently has a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes), but the film is considerably over the top in a way that almost fetishizes bullying, and it unfortunately just feels like a one-note film.
49. Pinocchio
Costume Design (Massimo Cantini Parrini), Makeup and Hairstyling (Mark Coulier, Dalia Colli, Francesco Pegoretti)
This newest adaption of Pinocchio has a captivating performance by young Federico Ielapi in the title role and marvelous costumes and make-up effects. Also starring in the film is Roberto Benigni as Geppetto, who took a big risk here, given that the last time he appeared in an adaption of this famous story, he was universally trashed for it. This time, though, he does a good job. That being said, it's impossible to watch Pinocchio and not compare it the 1940 animated Disney classic; even if the Disney version didn't exist, this newer film would still suffer because it lacks any kind of emotional punch.
48. The Midnight Sky Visual Effects (Matthew Kasmir, Christopher Lawrence, Max Solomon, David Watkins)
George Clooney gets to show off his directing and acting abilities in this sci-fi flick about a dying man racing to get a message to a spaceship not to return to Earth because the world has ended. However, Clooney doesn't really offer the others in this impressive cast (which includes Felicity Jones, David Oyelowo, Demián Bachir, and Kyle Chandler) much to do. The end result is a film that may look fascinating at times but ultimately is rather dull.
47. Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
Original Song (Savan Kotecha, Fat Max Gsus, Rickard Göransson)
While there are some moments that genuinely work, namely the earnestness and silliness of it (as well as the sweet—yet morbid—humor) and its fantastic songs (especially the Oscar-nominated song "Husavik", which, frankly, is the best of the nominated songs), Eurovision Song Contest is often a rather lazy comedy from people who have made much better and funnier work in the past.
46. The United States vs. Billie Holiday
Actress in a Leading Role (Andra Day)
Inevitably, there was a major movie about a drug-addicted famous singer. Last year, it was Judy, and this year, it's Billie Holiday, who is depicted being mercilessly harassed by the U.S. government because of she frequently sings the civil rights-themed song "Strange Fruit." Any one of the women nominated for Best Actress would be a fine choice, but perhaps because Andra Day makes her acting debut here, she does her own singing, and there are so many intimate scenes that she pulls of bravely, I'm rooting for her. It's just a pity that her performance is in yet another hackneyed biographical film.
45. Tenet Production Design (Nathan Crowley, Kathy Lucas), Visual Effects (Andrew Jackson, David Lee, Andrew Lockley, Scott Fisher)
This Bond-like action flick revolving around time travel seems (on paper) like it utilizes much of the winning formula that writer/director Christopher Nolan used for films like Inception and Dunkirk. Audiences, though, may have reached the limit of their patience, with the consensus among many being that this is a loud and emotionless dud that is insufferable as it is incomprehensible.
44. Genius Ioci Short Film (Animated) (Andrien Mérigeau, Amaury Gover)
Genius Ioci, the French animated film directed by Adrien Merigeau, is about a character who sees chaos everywhere. "I find chaos," she says. So, too, will the audience, as this film is a little impenetrable and very French, but the abstract animation is spectacular to look at.
43. Mulan Costume Design (Bina Daigeler), Visual Effects (Sean Faden, Anders Langlands, Seth Maury, Steve Ingram)
Mulan was a movie that seemed to consistently drip with more and more controversy each month, whether it was the abhorrent views of its stars, its orientalism, or Disney's bone-headed decision to film it in Xinjiang (where Uighurs and other groups are held in concentration camps). Perhaps because of this, Mulan was not exactly a box office success, and while it wasn't awful, it wasn't particularly good, either.
42. Opera
Short Film (Animated) (Erick Oh)
Opera, directed by Korean animator Erick Oh, may be a bit deep, philosophical, and allegorical (which might mean it's not for everyone), but its elaborate, Renaissance-inspired animation contains what must be over a hundred things going on simultaneously in one long shot lasting about nine minutes. You won't be able to take your eyes off any of it.
41. Over the Moon
Animated Feature Film (Glen Keane, Gennie Rim, Peilin Chou)
You ought to check out Over the Moon for its breathtaking animation alone; there is no other film on this list with such omnipresence of colors. It is also worth noting, especially during a painful and unjust period for Asians and Asian-Americans, that there are more stories like this, although there are still not enough. While Over the Moon is a pleasant watch, especially for children, and its animation is exceptional, the story is a bit peculiar: a young girl whose widower father is starting to date again wants to prevent their union by going to the moon to find the moon goddess Chang'e...or something. It's a bit non-sensical, but if one can get over that and the film's pretty forgettable songs, one should more or less like it.
40. The Man Who Sold His Skin International Feature Film (Tunisia)
The Man Who Sold His Skin, written and directed by Kaouther Ben Hania, aims to offer biting simultaneous critiques of the art world and the exploitation of refugees. In this case, the story, an increasingly allegorical one, focuses on a Syrian refugee in Belgium named Sam (played Yahya Mahayni) whose back is elaborately tattooed for it to be shown off and sold as art. Some of the decisions Hania makes in this story regarding the message and Sam's actions might perplex some, particularly with who the film decides is a hero and who is a villain, but it is a compelling story nevertheless.
39. Another Round Directing (Thomas Vinterberg), International Feature Film (Denmark)
Another Round, Denmark's nominee for Best International Feature which scored an upset nomination for Best Director when Thomas Vinterberg was nominated over Regina King and Aaron Sorkin, is about four teachers experiencing a bit of a midlife crisis who decide to experiment with Finn Skårderud's idea that humans are born with a blood-alcohol-level deficit of 0.05. While experiencing an initial improvement in their teaching practices, things predictably start to unravel. Though the film's unintended message being that alcohol equals better classroom lessons is a peculiar one, Another Round does well thanks to Mads Mikkelsen's leading performance.
Best Picture (Ceán Chaffin, Eric Roth, Douglas Urbanski), Actor in a Leading Role (Gary Oldman), Actress in a Supporting Role (Amanda Seyfried), Cinematography (Erik Messerschmidt), Costume Design (Trish Summerville), Makeup and Hairstyling (Gigi Williams, Kimberley Spiteri, Colleen LaBaff), Production Design (Donald Graham Burt, Jan Pascale), Sound (Ren Klyce, Jeremy Molod, David Parker, Nathan Nance, Drew Kunin
Mank swept the Oscar announcements with ten nominations, and yet it's difficult to see how it will go home with more than a few, if any. It faces stiff competition in its likeliest winning category (Cinematography), and it surprisingly was not nominated for its screenplay by Jack Fincher, the late father of the film's director, David Fincher. The latter Fincher has waited patiently for the top prize (many believe he was robbed a decade ago when The King's Speech defeated The Social Network), but this year, that award is Chloé Zhao's to lose. Mank itself is more or less decent but a little full of itself, and I'm not sure how Gary Oldman was nominated for his clunky performance as the famous screenwriter.
37. If Anything Happens I Love You Short Film (Animated) (Will McCormack, Michael Govier)
Halfway through its short runtime, If Anything Happens I Love You takes an unexpected turn. Perhaps, given its title, it won't be unexpected. At any rate, most of the previous moments (detailing a husband and wife falling out of love and their arguments visualized through 2D animation of fighting shadows) struggle to provoke much emotion. One could argue that when the film takes its sudden turn, it is being manipulative, for who wouldn't be moved by such an event? Nevertheless, it's what will help the short stay with you.
36. The Life Ahead Original Song (Diane Warren, Laura Pausini)
Nominated for Best Song but perhaps surprisingly not for Best International Feature, this Italian film, the third adaptation of the 1975 novel about a young Muslim boy under the care of an older Jewish woman, features the legendary Sophia Loren in her first role in six years. She's supported by fantastic performances by Ibrahima Gueye as Momo, the young boy, and Abril Zamora. The Life Ahead, directed by Edoardo Ponti (Lauren's son)is a bit on the forgettable side, but it's not a bad film. Incidentally, this is Diane Warren's twelfth Oscar nomination, but unfortunately, she hasn't won yet.
35. Burrow Short Film (Animated) (Madeline Sharafian, Michael Capbarat)
The appropriately named Pixar film Burrow is a breath of 2D-animation fresh air. At only six minutes, the film, written and directed by Madeline Sharafian, is the eighth part of Pixar's SparkShorts series, the group of films Pixar employees made for a limited budget with just six months. Featuring Mozart music and a cast of furry animals with limited space underground who nevertheless team together to overcome difficult odds, Burrow is a quite pleasant, agreeable film for all ages.
34. Collective Documentary (Alexander Nanau, Bianca Oana), International Feature Film (Romania)
Similar to the Macedonian film Honeyland last year, Collective is nominated for both Best International Feature and Best Documentary. The film, which focuses on a group of journalists from the Romanian sports newspaper Gazette investigating the government's handing of the aftermath of the 2015 fire tragedy at the Colectiv club and the controversy regarding Hexi Pharma diluting disinfectants, certainly has a variety of admirers, with NPR's Linda Holmes and even Barack Obama being fans. It goes without saying that due to the subject matter of Collective, it may be a difficult watch for some viewers, but it is definitely worth a watch.
33. A Love Song for Latasha Documentary (Short Subject) (Sophia Nahil Allison, Janice Duncan)
Directed by Sophia Nahil Allison, this documentary details the painful episode in 1991 in which Latasha Harlins was murdered in a convenience store by Soon Ja Du. (Despite Du being tried and convicted of voluntary manslaughter, Judge Joyce Karlin gave Du a light sentence that included probation and community service. Harlins' murder and the light sentence Du received are credited with contributing to the 1992 Los Angeles riots.) Most of the film contains interviews with Shinese Harlins (Latasha's cousin) and innovative animation and reverse effects. Given that this country is in the midst of more gun violence and racial injustice, this humanizing portrait is necessary viewing.
32. Colette Documentary Short (Anthony Giacchino, Alice Doyard)
Colette is a documentary short about a 90-year-old French Resistance fighter named Colette Marin-Catherine who journeys to the German concentration camp where her brother was killed. Accompanying her is an aspiring historian named Lucie Fouble. Both, expectedly, find the experience to be a life-changing and immensely difficult one, with scenes of Colette reacting to the mayor of Nordhausen and both Lucie and Colette moving about the camp being the most memorable. Filmmakers Anthony Giacchino and Alice Doyard capture, as they say, the authentic experience of someone like Colette.
31. Greyhound Sound (Warren Shaw, Michael Minkler, Beau Borders, David Wyman)
The World War II thriller Greyhound, directed by Aaron Schneider and written by the film's star, Tom Hanks, certainly possesses flaws: its formula is predictable, making the film at times stale, and its score by Blake Neely too obviously channels the works of Hans Zimmer. Of the two Tom Hanks movies last year, this is the less interesting one. However, its visual effects and sound effects are more or less convincing, and while, with one battle sequence after the other, there is not much room for character development, it still makes for an engaging experience, especially as the Greyhound desperately tries to outmaneuver the U-boats. Schneider and Hanks also deserve credit for packing such a punch in under 90 minutes.
30. My Octopus Teacher Documentary (Pippa Ehrlich, James Reed, Craig Foster)
My Octopus Teacher was the last movie I saw in 2020, putting it on Netflix at the end of a restless night. It was a miracle I was able to stay awake, as narrator Craig Foster's soothing voice is a sedative. Still, this documentary, about Foster's year building up trust and perhaps even rapport with an octopus off the coast of South Africa, proves to be a moving and engaging one, especially as we witness all the perils this creature deals with to survive on a daily basis. It definitely seemed like a fitting film to conclude 2020.
29. Love and Monsters Visual Effects (Matt Sloan, Genevieve Camilleri, Matt Everitt, Brian Cox)
Love and Monsters is a post-apocalyptic tale about a young man played by Dylan O'Brien and his dog on their way to a colony to find a girl he dated before the world ended. The film's action and horror sequences work better than its comedic moments, and because most of the characters are not particularly interesting, much of the tension will stem from whether or not the dog survives in their battles with giant mutant insects. That being said, if you're into post-apocalyptic films, this one will certainly suffice, and it has earned its nomination for Best Visual Effects.
Time mostly focuses on Sibil Fox, an entrepreneur and activist who served time for an armed robbery she committed with her husband, Rob, who received a significantly harsher punishment of 60 years. The documentary, directed by Garrett Bradley, takes its 80 minutes to depict Sibil's long fight to free her husband. Time is shot in black and white, a rare thing for documentaries, and its music by Jamieson Shaw and Edwin Montgomery is fantastic. However, its argument that slavery evolved into mass incarceration of people of color was more effectively made in the Ava DuVernay-directed documentary 13th a few years ago.
27. Hunger Ward
Documentary (Short Subject) (Skye Fitzgerald, Michael Scheuerman)
Of all the films on this list, Hunger Ward is the most difficult to watch. The documentary depicts child malnutrition in Yemen due to the Saudi-led and U.S.-supported war crimes in the Yemeni Civil War. (More than 85,000 children have died of malnutrition in Yemen since 2018.) It goes without saying that one will be witness to some of the children struggling through this terrible conflict, and the film bravely depicts their horrifying conditions. Whether you can make it through the film or not, please consider donating to support Yemeni healthcare workers in hunger wards depicted in this documentary.
26. White Eye
Short Film (Live Action) (Tomer Shushan, Shira Hochman)
White Eye is a short film from Israel in which a man named Omer (played by Daniel Gad) one night discovers his stolen bicycle outside a meat-packaging plant. Through the course of the film's realistically tense twenty minutes, Omer tries to track down the thief and retrieve his bike. Things, though, are more complicated than they seem. The film, directed by Tomer Shushan, offers subtle yet powerful moments that can feel like gut punches, with many viewers around the world (due to the themes involving refugees, race relations, and immigration) likely responding to it.
25. Wolfwalkers Animated Feature Film (Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart, Paul Young, Stéphan Roelants)
Wolfwalkers, from Ireland, certainly features some of the most gorgeous animation of any of the animated films on this list. Its traditional 2D animation is very much welcomed in this age of omnipresent 3D animation. Taking, it seems, heavy thematic inspiration from the animated films directed by Hayao Miyazaki, Wolfwalkers also conveys an important reminder about humans' destruction of the environment and other species, as well as gently reminding its audience that for the most part, they have nothing to fear from wolves. Additionally, the voice cast is great, particularly Eva Whittaker, Honor Kneafsey, Simon McBurney, and Sean Bean.
24. One Night in Miami Actor in a Supporting Role (Leslie Odom, Jr.), Original Song (Odom, Sam Ashworth), Adapted Screenplay (Kemp Powers)
One Night in Miami, based on the play by Kemp Powers (who adapted it for the screen and who co-directed Soul), features some of the finest acting of last year. Thus, while I found the film a bit more boring than most others did, it was surprising when the Academy didn't nominate Regina King, the Oscar-winning actor who made her feature film directorial debut and was widely expected to be nominated. (It wasn't that surprising, though. The Academy doesn't appear to be the biggest fan of Black women—or any women, for that matter—directing films.) That being said, the performances by its four leads are quite good, with the best being Leslie Odom Jr.'s role as Sam Cooke. Odom, in either the acting or song category, is the film's best chance at an Oscar win.
23. Onward Animated Feature (Dan Scanlon, Kori Rae)
Onward, the considerably less memorable Pixar film from last year, is nevertheless a fun, heartfelt one, focusing on the relationship of two elf brothers voiced by Tom Holland and Chris Pratt. Onward is fortunate to feature such moments because its humor is lacking (in a way that Soul, for the most part, is not), and its climactic scene is very Marvel-y, which probably was inevitable given that it stars Spider-Man and Star-Lord. Still, Onward is worth the watch, and kids will likely be enthralled by it; the movie may be more forgettable than Soul, but that doesn't mean it's not good.
22. Feeling Through Short Film (Live Action) (Doug Roland, Susan Ruzenski)
Making history as the first film to star a Deaf/Blind actor (Robert Tarango) in a lead role, Feeling Through is a humanist piece of art about an unlikely friendship between a Deaf/Blind man named Artie trying to get home late at night and a young man named Tareek (played by Steven Prescod) who helps him along the way. Directed by Doug Roland and executive produced by Oscar-winner Marlene Matlin (who is also deaf), the film has been gaining lots of discussion heading into the contest. It's worth reminding people of the importance of representation in film; even just a decade ago, Artie very likely would have been played by someone who wasn't Deaf/Blind.
21. Nomadland Best Picture (Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey, Chloé Zhao), Actress in a Leading Role (McDormand), Director (Zhao), Cinematography (Joshua James Richards), Film Editing (Zhao), Adapted Screenplay (Zhao)
Nomadland will likely win Best Picture this year, although that would make it one of the most mediocre movies to have won in recent memory. This is not to suggest it's bad. Chloé Zhao, who seems on track to make history as the first woman of color and only the second woman ever to win Best Director, is about as deserving of the word auteur as anyone, given that she could win a whopping four Oscars for her work here. Her ability to take a somewhat different source material and turn it into compelling cinematic narrative is remarkable, and it's always a joy to watch non-actors in films like this (a film in which they constitute the majority of the roles) because it makes everything seem much more authentic.
20. The Present Short Film (Live Action) (Farah Nabulsi, Ossama Bawardi)
The Present, directed by Farah Nabulsi, is the kind of film that very likely will make your blood boil. Depicting the terrible apartheid conditions Palestinians face, Nabulsi and her co-writer Hind Shoufani accomplish such a task in a simplistic, succinct way, showing us a man (played by Saleh Bakri) trying to get through an Israeli checkpoint and back to get to his wife to give her a present. Much of the film's success lies not just in Bakri's performance but also in the guerrilla filmmaking of Nabulsi, as much of the checkpoint footage was shot without official permission.
19. Quo Vadis, Aida?
Best International Feature (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Written, directed, and produced by Jasmila Žbanić, Quo Vadis, Aida? centers on an English-teacher-turned-UN-translator named Aida (played by Jasna Duričić) desperately trying to save her family from the chaos and violence in the lead-up to the Srebrenica massacre during the Bosnian War in 1995, in which more than 8,000 people were slaughtered. The film contains one tense moment after another, especially as as the Dutch UN forces, Bosnian military officials, and everyday Bosniak citizens are caught up in moments in which the audience essentially knows what's coming, even if one is unfamiliar with the Srebrenica massacre. These tense moments, however, are not gratuitous, as they may have been in the hands of weaker filmmakers.
18. The Mole Agent Documentary (Maite Alberdi, Marcela Santibáñez)
The Mole Agent is the third film to make the shortlist for Chile's Best International Feature (after No and A Fantastic Women), but it suffered a similar fate and was not nominated for that category. However, it has richly earned a nomination for Best Documentary. The film is about an older man named Sergio who is hired by a private investigator to go undercover for a few months at a retirement home where a client believes her mother is being abused. The resulting content is not what I expected; instead of being similar to Collective (a hard-hitting tale of investigative journalism), The Mole Agent is a delightful, tender film that simultaneously submits to its viewers reminders of society's cruelty to older people.
Da 5 Bloods, one of two Spike Lee movies of last year (the other being the David Byrne concert movie American Utopia) starts better than it finishes, but it is a movie that impressively changes gears frequently and features amazing performances by its main actors (Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Norm Lewis, and Isiah Whitlock Jr.) as four Vietnam War veterans returning to Vietnam to retrieve gold they had buried during the war. It also features one of the final performances of Chadwick Boseman as the group's squad leader. How Lindo was robbed of a nomination is something I will never understand, but apparently Oscars are still so white, even in this year of slightly more diversity.
16. News of the World Original Score (James Newton Howard), Cinematography (Dariusz Wolski), Production Design (David Crank, Elizabeth Keenan), Sound (Oliver Tarney, Mike Prestwood Smith, William Miller, John Pritchett)
News of the World is a Western (Tom Hanks' first, actually) that shines the most when it engages in moments of thrills, especially as the character Hanks plays (a Civil War veteran who makes a living telling people the news and who tries to reunite a young German girl with her family) engages in tense gun fights with some very bad guys. Other moments, though, certainly have the potential to roll one's eyes, but the film deserves its nominations, especially its gorgeous cinematography.
The White Tiger probably likes to think of itself as a more woke version of the Best Picture-winning Slumdog Millionaire, but it doesn't seem to have succeeded. At its core, it's still a Western-gazing film focusing purely on the struggles of Indians. That being said, what worked in Slumdog Millionaire also works in The White Tiger, with the latter feeling more rightfully combative and shunning Hollywood's liberal do-gooder attitudes about rags-to-riches stories, and it doesn't feel quite as cringy as Slumdog Millionaire. The White Tiger, in addition to its rich screenplay adaption by its director, Ramin Bahrani, features stellar acting from its cast.
14. A Concerto Is a Conversation Documentary (Short Subject) (Ben Proudfoot, Kris Bowers)
A Concerto Is a Conversation is an intimate, sweet documentary depicting a conversation between composer Kris Bowers (who co-directed the film with Ben Proudfoot) and his grandfather, who doesn't have much time left as he's struggling with cancer. The two discuss their history, particularly the grandfather's struggles growing up in the Jim Crow era. The film, crisply edited and finely accompanied by Powers' music, accomplishes so much with so little time. It's one of the most charming of the films on this list.
13. Do Not Split Documentary (Short Subject) (Andres Hammer, Charlotte Cook)
The Field of Vision documentary Do Not Split,directed by Anders Hammer, bravely depicts the 2019-2020 protests in Hong Kong with fierce and unhindered determination. Much of the shocking footage in this short documentary contains the brutal tactics by the Chinese Communist Party and the police against the pro-democracy protests in the city, day and night. (The CCP has, shockingly, not been thrilled with the nomination.) Audiences outside of Hong Kong are likely to get their most intimate look at the chaos there they've ever seen, which serves as a potent reminder during these days in which the world is forgetting what happened and what continues to happen there. China is certain to be a topic of Oscar night, as Better Days will represent Hong Kong at the ceremony, Mulan features a Chinese cast, Over the Moon is a China-U.S. production, and Chloé Zhao, who is from China, is nominated for Nomadland.
12. The Letter Room
Short Film (Live Action) (Elvira Lind, Sofia Sondervan)
This Oscar-nominated short has star power: Oscar Isaac plays a letter inspector at a prison who becomes very interested and invested in correspondence between a woman and a man on death row. The Letter Room has a few humorous moments throughout, but it's a simple tale and very watchable. Isaac, who also is an executive producer of the film, gives yet another commendable performance, making everything he does on screen look so easy.
11. Two Distant Strangers Short Film (Live Action) (Travon Free, Martin Desmond Roe)
Two Distant Strangers is a film in which it is better if you know as little as possible about it going in. If you do require at least some information, know that it utilizes a popular formula while engaging in serious societal issues; the reasons for the juxtaposition of the two should be obvious to most viewers. One can debate whether or not marrying the two for a film like this is appropriate or not, but in the end, it's an engaging yet deeply painful story, all the while offering a forceful repudiation of Green Book-mentality that the Academy awarded just a few years ago.
10. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom Actor in a Leading Role (Chadwick Boseman), Actress in a Leading Role (Viola Davis), Costume Design (Ann Roth), Makeup and Hairstyling (Sergio Lopez-Rivera, Mia Neal, Jamika Wilson)
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, the adaption of August Wilson's play directed by George C. Wolfe, while arguably coming across as too theatrical, is worthy of much praise for is its fine performances. Should Chadwick Boseman win, he would be the third actor to have won posthumously, after Peter Finch for Network and Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight. But like Finch and Ledger, Boseman (while he does have stiff competition from Steven Yeun and Riz Ahmed) likely gives the best performance of the bunch. You can't take your eyes off him. Boseman and his fellow-nominated performer, the incomparable Viola Davis, are supported by a great cast that includes Michael Potts, Colman Domingo, and Glynn Turman, all of whom could have been nominated, as well.
9. The Father Best Picture (David Parfitt, Jean-Louis Livi, Philippe Carcassonne), Actor in a Leading Role (Anthony Hopkins), Actress in a Supporting Role (Olivia Colman), Film Editing (Yorgos Lamprinos), Production Design (Peter Francis, Cathy Featherstone), Adapted Screenplay (Christopher Hampton, Florian Zeller)
The Father, co-written by director Florian Zeller and adapted from his 2012 play, is the most heartbreaking cinematic undertaking of the pain of dementia yet. The last big Oscar movie to tackle the subject was Still Alice in 2014, but there are notable differences between the two, namely in how theatrical and unpredictable everything is in The Father, with two actors playing each role (except for Anthony Hopkins playing the main character, the one thing that remains constant throughout the film) to help audiences understand what the protagonist is going through. Indeed, it's difficult to tell what is real and what isn't. Like Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, The Father sometimes is too theatrical, but Hopkins' performance as Anthony, an older man suffering from dementia, is able to secure complete empathy from the audience, even as they may cringe at his behavior. Hopkins has been on a roll as of late; this is the Oscar-winner's second consecutive nomination.
8. Judas and the Black Messiah Best Picture (Shaka King, Charles D. King, Ryan Coogler), Actor in the Supporting Role (Daniel Kaluuya), Actor in a Supporting Role (Lakeith Stanfield), Original Screenplay (Will Berson, Shaka King, Kenny Lucas, Keitha Lucas), Cinematography (Sean Bobbitt), Original Song (H.E.R, Dernst Emile II, Tiara Thomas)
Judas and the Black Messiah, much like several other films on this list, is certainly a film for our times. This will become more than evident when viewing this given all the turmoil currently in the United States. And while its story is quite an important reminder of the government's history of oppressing its own people (and its storytelling methods will likely engage most viewers), its strongest qualities are its acting performances. Despite the oddity in having both Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield nominated in the Supporting Actor category despite being in lead roles, they are among the most memorable performances of the year. Also great are others in the cast, namely Dominique Fishback, Jesse Plemmons, and Martin Sheen (though his J. Edgar Hoover makeup is distracting).
One could argue that Cohen and team are nominated for this award because the first Borat didn't win the Oscar in the same category fourteen years ago. (It lost to The Departed.) Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is noticeably weaker than the first movie, partly because our tastes have changed and partly because Borat doesn't seem as fresh as he did all those years ago. Still, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is undoubtedly the funniest film on this list, and comedies should be rewarded more. In a year of such deep and painful films, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm offers the right balance of escapism and justifiable alarmism. Furthermore, any movie that takes aim at anti-maskers and Rudy Giuliani is commendable in my book.
6. Soul Animated Feature Film (Peter Docter, Dana Murray), Original Score (Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Jon Batiste), Sound (Ren Klyce, Coya Elliot, David Parker)
It's difficult not to compare Soul to Inside Out, but given their similarities (and the fact that they were both directed by Peter Docter), it's impossible not to. Unfortunately, Soul falls short compared to Inside Out. Still, Soul contains the usual Pixar magic: stupendous, imaginative animation mixed with complex ideas and emotional moments. How could it not be about such things? There are certainly laughs, too, with moments involving a cat being the funniest. But the thought of the film is what audiences likely will remember the most; a lot of this movie spoke to me, for example. I just wish the filmmakers had gone further with the sentimentality.
5. Sound of Metal Best Picture (Bert Hamelinck, Sacha Ben Harroche), Actor in a Lead Role (Riz Ahmed), Actor in a Supporting Role (Riz Ahmed), Film Editing (Mikkel E.G. Nielsen), Sound (Nicolas Becker, Jamie Baksht, Michelle Couttolenc, Carlos Cortés, Phillip Bladh, Original Screenplay (Darius Marder, Abraham Marder, Derek Cianfrance)
Sound of Metal is able to be didactic without coming across as too offensive, although the film's depiction of deafness and from whose perspective the film should have been has caused some understandable debate. The debate aside, the two performances that will stay with you the longest are Riz Ahmed as the main character, a heavy metal drummer who loses his hearing, and Paul Raci as Joe, the man running the center that helps deaf people. Both acting jobs are earnest and about as naturalistic as any acting from the previous year. If Chadwick Boseman were not the frontrunner this year, this award would very likely go to Ahmed.
4. Promising Young Woman Best Picture (Ben Browning, Ashley Fox, Emerald Fennell, Josey McNamara), Actress in a Leading Role (Carey Mulligan), Directing (Fennell), Film Editing (Frédéric Thoraval)
Promising Young Woman, the revenge thriller written and directed by Oscar-nominated Emerald Fennell in her feature film debut as a director,features a performance by Carey Mulligan that is quite likely her finest so far. With all due respect to Vanessa Kirby and Frances McDormand, this year is a really tough year to pick a winner between Mulligan, Davis, and Day. (With Day's win at the Golden Globes, Davis' SAG win, McDormand winning the BAFTA, and Mulligan being the victor at the Critics Choice Awards, this category is the most challenging to predict this year.) While the film, particularly its climatic moments and resolution, have been a bit divisive, Promising Young Woman is perhaps the most thought-provoking of the films on the list, tackling the most obvious MeToo scenarios and the less discussed versions.
3. The Trial of the Chicago 7
Best Picture (Marc Platt, Stuart Besser), Actor in a Supporting Role (Sacha Baron Cohen), Cinematography (Phedon Papamichael), Film Editing (Alan Baumgarten), Original Song (Daniel Pemberton, Celeste Waite), Original Screenplay (Aaron Sorkin)
The Trial of the Chicago 7 features one of the best ensemble casts of the year (and possibly ever), with stellar performances by Eddie Redmayne, John Carrol Lynch, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Mark Rylance, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Frank Langella, who, in my humble opinion, should have been nominated instead of Sacha Baron Cohen, who got the nomination for his shaky performance as Abby Hoffman. Aaron Sorkin's script is among his best ever, and his direction is quite good, as well. That intro is exhilarating, perfectly edited by Alan Baumgarten, yet it's just so disappointing that Sorkin ends the film in such an unbelievably cheesy and old-fashioned way.
2. Crip Camp
Best Documentary (Nichole Newham, Jim LeBrecht, and Sara Bolder)
Higher Ground Productions is on a roll. The company, founded by the Obamas, also won last year in this category for American Factory, which detailed the cultural complexities when a Chinese company took over a former U.S. car factory. In similar fashion, Crip Camp educates audiences about a tale they ought to be more familiar with: campers with disabilities from a summer camp in the 1970s who later became activists in the disability rights and independent living movements. The film does so in a way that comes across feeling less gazing than Sound of Metal does. Crip Camp is even better than American Factory, featuring a rich amount of power, charm, and exceptional filmmaking.
1. Minari
Best Picture (Christina Oh), Actor in a Leading Role (Steven Yeun), Actress in a Supporting Role (Yuh-jung Youn), Directing (Lee Isaac Chung), Original Score (Emile Mosseri), Original Screenplay (Chung)
Lee Isaac Chung's humanist tale is the film on this list that has stayed with me the longest. His semi-autobiographical story is of a Korean-American family in 1980s Arkansas trying to make it as independent farmers. Steven Yeun plays Jacob, the father of the family, who is bitter about Korean city folks and incredibly eager to achieve the American Dream. Yeun, the first Asian-American to be nominated for Best Actor, faces stiff competition from the other nominees, but it is his finest performance in his fantastic career. He's not alone; the entire cast—Han Yen-ri as the mother, Alan S. Kim and Noel Cho as the two children, the legendary Youn Yuh-jung as the grandmother, and Will Patton as a local farmer employed by Jacob—are phenomenal. Like Crip Camp, it was one of the best films of 2020, and I hope it scores an upset and wins the top prize.
One of the highest honors bestowed upon iconic actors over the years has been to declare that one could listen to the actor read the phonebook. As far as I know, there's never been a film containing an actor reading the phonebook for our entertainment. There is, however, a new one featuring Tom Hanks reading the newspaper from town to town in the Old South.
In the new Western News of the World, directed by Paul Greengrass, Hanks plays a Civil War veteran whose new profession involves him roaming around Texas reading the newspaper for a dime and bringing common folks the news of the world. It is not stated in the film if his audience is literate or not. They could have been among the twenty percent of the population who were illiterate at the time, or perhaps they could read but just liked hearing the news from a man we in the real world know as a two-time Oscar winner who has frequently been called "America's Dad." It's also a timely and comforting voice for audience in front of the screen, for one of the first news items he reads involves an epidemic of meningitis. Hanks, who was one of the first celebrities to catch COVID-19, calmly provides his audiences with just the facts.
Sometimes, however, the facts enrage his audience members. The news of the illness incites moans of concern and disappointment among his listeners. So, too, does news of the Grant administration's demands that Texas ratify the Thirteenth, Fourteen, and Fifteenth amendments before rejoining the Union. News of the World takes place in 1870, five years after the Civil War ended and seven years before Reconstruction ended and Jim Crow began. Not-so-subtle hints at this history present themselves as the camera focuses on the sole Black person in the audience as Tom Hanks' Captain Jefferson Kidd references the changes happening across the nation.
The film, though it is discussing relevant topics like disease and fake news, does not seem interested in pointing out that Kidd fought on the side that tried to keep Black people enslaved. For all we know, he could have been a slaver. The consequence of this omission is that the film features essentially an all-white cast. The only people of color in the film randomly show up just to nod their head when Kidd speaks. Even the sole group of Native Americans who appear in the film, practically unseen in a terrible tempest of sand, give Kidd a horse and then stoically walk on by in the worst Hollywood way.
The plot of News of the World is that while on his way to the next town, Kidd discovers a wagon party that was violently attacked. The only survivor is a young German immigrant played by Helena Zengel named Johanna Leonberger. She doesn't speak English and she basically doesn't speak German, either. She does speak Kiowa, however, the language of the Native Americans who raided her German family's farm and took her in. Being unable to communicate with her, Kidd finds he has no choice but to try and take her to her German aunt and uncle.
Johanna, who Kidd later finds out goes by the name Cicada, is similar to the real-life tale of Herman Lehmann, the son of German immigrants who was captured by Apaches in 1870. Eventually running away from the Apaches, he received asylum with a Comanche tribe. However, Lehman was eventually reunited with his German family, but he had difficulty readjusting and didn't like his white family members. Cicada feels this way, too, running away from Kidd and disobeying him whenever she can, sometimes perhaps to annoy and humiliate him. This, plus their obvious communication barrier, makes their odyssey even more complicated.
Zengel, the rising German star in her first Hollywood film, is terrific, but why couldn't the film (adapted from Paulette Jiles' novel) simply have the character be Native American? Given Hollywood's problem with diversity, this is disappointing. While child captives were not uncommon during this period, this story has already been told by Hollywood (The Searchers, Dances With Wolves, The Captives), and the point remains that this was a missed opportunity to add even a tiny amount of diversity. It's not surprising; the only somewhat diverse film Greengrass has directed features a cast mostly playing Somali pirates.
That complaint aside, News of the World is fine. It works better as a tense thriller than an old-fashioned Western, with its best moments being those in which Kidd and Cicada have to outmaneuver a variety of evil men trying to harm them. Unfortunately, these moments are few and far between, and while the sequences are unpredictable, the film's overall trajectory more or less is not, resulting in the kind of film you'll likely forget you watched several months from now.
It's not without its silly moments, either. Cicado picks up enough English to be able to ask something like "Captain, Johanna go?" This makes sense; children pick up languages considerably easier than adults do. Kidd, however, goes from learning the words for bird and buffalo to putting together relatively complex sentences in Kiowa like "you belong with me."
Awkwardness aside, Hanks, in his first Western, shines. His acting is made better when he plays off Zengel, who apparently didn't know who he was when she was cast. As Kidd, Hanks plays a man who is an empathetic and calm individual who knows how to defuse volatile situations but will use force when necessary. The way he reads the newspaper, as well, makes one wish there had been more of that in the film. Most people would, after all, probably watch Tom Hanks read an entire newspaper.
The anthropologist Philip Carl Salzman noted in 1983 that nomadic people tend to behave more independently, display self-sufficiency, and emphasize autonomy. These ideas are visualized in Nomadland, the new film adapted for the screen by Chloé Zhao, especially through its main character, Fern, played by Frances McDormand, in this cyclical drama about a woman who lives out of her van, working from temporary job to temporary job.
But Nomadland isn't simply a look at the psychology of an independent-minded nomad criss-crossing her way in a van across the American west. It's also a look at how economics can profoundly impact everyday people. Based on the non-fiction book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder about older Americans looking for seasonal work after the Great Recession, Fern is a fictional character in a real-life crisis many will recognize.
With all that has happened in the past year, it might be easy to forget that 73,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost in the United States since 2001. Even without the pandemic, things have radically changed for a significant amount of workers in this country. Despite things in large part getting better (at least before the pandemic), the nation has tolerated certain segments of the public being left behind. It's the price we apparently are willing to pay. Nomadland is a reminder of the cruelty in doing so.
Fran was married to a man for years before his death, and they both worked in Empire, Nevada, the real-life census-designated place that now is a ghost town. With the factory closed and her job lost, Fran, with limited options, gets rid of most of her stuff and departs Empire to search for work. The first job we see Fern work in after she leaves is for Amazon in a warehouse for seasonal work. It's a bit surprising that Amazon would agree to let the production film there, but to paraphrase Wilfred Chan at Variety, Amazon is treated with kid gloves. Chan writes that "because the film is primarily a character study of [Fran], it exchanges Bruder's sharp indignation over capitalist exploitation for a muddled message about individual freedom that downplays the real stakes of gig labor." I agree. It all sometimes feels like quasi-Amazon propaganda, that they're the good guys trying to help those in need, when in fact, they often make the problem worse.
Zhao, to her credit, deserves praise for telling stories that most Americans never hear. Her previous film, the 2017 drama The Rider, focused on Native Americans in the Badlands and also featured a non-trained acting cast. The main character in that film is a rodeo star struggling with poverty after his career is cut short due to an injury. Her screenplay adaption of Nomadland, as Chan said, avoids the more overtly political messages of its source material, but it at least feels authentic and humanist. For example, the way the story occasionally jumps forward without showing us every step of Fern's path helps the film show the vast scope of her difficult and eventful year.
Aside from a little bit of Fern's background, not much of the others' is given, but this is not required. This film is purely about these characters' present. One important piece of information given, though, is when someone glibly defends Fran's nomadic ways as being a part of "American tradition" similar to the Pilgrims, and there's just so many mixed feelings upon hearing something like that. It's an important moment in the script. Zhao also deserves praise for offering friendly reminders of the gorgeousness of the west, especially as Fern goes to various locations, like Badlands National Park and redwoods.
And of course, should Zhao be nominated for Best Director, it will also be due to her ability to get exceptional performances from her cast members, both from the traditional and untraditional actors. In films like Nomadland, often the non-trained actors are more interesting than the trained ones. This is particularly true of real-life nomads in the film, namely Bob Wells, Swankie, and Linda May, who play fictional versions of themselves. McDormand and especially David Strathairn (the only other professional actor in the cast), though, have made a career of often being as naturalistic as possible, so they fit in seamlessly.
Yet this isn't to suggest that there are no issues with Nomadland. One issue is the focus on Fern's search for answers as much as for work. This is a slightly uncomfortable part of the film, almost suggesting that her struggles are due to some kind of "free spirit" and migratory disposition instead of the seismic changes to the workplace and a nation leaving behind a significant amount of its workers. Fern isn't necessarily a vagrant, proudly (sometimes stubbornly) refusing a helping hand or a warm bed and stability. "You know I'll pay you back, right?" she asks in one moment when given some money. It would be tempting to use words like "odyssey" for how Nomadland unfolds, for that would romanticize poverty, but sometimes it's just how the film feels. It shouldn't feel that way, though. It shouldn't feel like an adventure.
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