Category: Best Writing

Posted on 2022-04-17 | No Comments |

Cries and Whispers (1972)

While Harriet Andersson painfully dies of uterine cancer, her sisters Liv Ullmann and Ingrid Thulin and servant Kari Sylwan keep watch, struggling to care for her while dealing with their own issues. I’m sure much of the film went over my head as it is quite stylized and the perspective quickly changes between the four women, but the performances reflect lives of pain and loneliness. Unforgettably the rooms these women embody are dramatically and oppressively covered in red while they themselves drift around in white dresses.

Oscar Win: Best Cinematography

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture; Best Director; Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced; Best Costume Design

Posted on 2022-04-14 | No Comments |

Belfast (2021)

The coming of age tale of nine year old Jude Hill, including an absentee father working in London and an attraction to a Catholic classmate, is disrupted when the Troubles comes to his neighborhood. His entire family must decide which path they will follow from that point on. The whole film feels like a personal memoir for writer-director Kenneth Branagh, very similar to Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma all the way to the black and white cinematography. It’s an oddly short film for the subject manner and I wish there was more time spent on characterization, particularly of grandparents Ciarán Hinds and Judi Dench who are both delightful and wise in their roles. The film is often shot from a lowered perspective, giving a great feeling as if it is truly from a child’s perspective.

Posted on 2022-04-09 | No Comments |

Amarcord (1973)

It is hard to not immediately compare this to The Hand of God as they are both Italian films featuring a teenager as he comes of age surrounded by a cast of eccentric characters. It’s obvious this influenced that other film. While I’m still rather done with films centered on white, teenaged boys, especially when they all seem to feature adults sexually taking advantage of children, this one exceeds the others as it allows the focus to move away from the boys and let the other characters have time to shine. Set in a Northern Italian seaside village during the 1930s Mussolini era, it offers a real sense of time and place while also having just enough surreal, dreaminess to invoke a feeling of nostalgic memory.

Oscar Win: Best Foreign Language Film

Oscar Nominations: Best Director; Best Writing, Original Screenplay

Posted on 2022-04-03 | No Comments |

Five Easy Pieces (1970)

With his best friend in jail and his girlfriend pregnant, educated drifter Jack Nicholson returns to his family home on a Washington island after learning from his sister that his estranged father has suffered a stroke. Unable to find himself despite all his drifting, the oppressive family atmosphere proves difficult for Jack. It’s a film very much of its era, which unsurprisingly features a strong performance by Nicholson. By setting the majority of the film around his extended family, there’s no reason given for why he became the man he is, but it is obvious he has no idea why as well.

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture; Best Actor in a Leading Role; Best Actress in a Supporting Role; Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced

Posted on 2022-04-02 | No Comments |

Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)

When boxer and amateur pilot Robert Montgomery’s plane crashes, he’s prematurely pulled into the afterlife before his time by Edward Everett Horton. Horton’s boss Claude Rains finds Montgomery a new body to inhabit and he falls in love with Evelyn Keyes when he’s resurrected. I long ago saw Warren Beatty’s 1978 remake of the story, but this version is particularly adorable. Rains steals the show as the bemused and ever-patient Mr. Jordan. Honorable mention is given to James Gleason portraying Montgomery’s manager who is dragged in to the whole changed body scenario.

Oscar Wins: Best Writing, Original Story; Best Writing, Original Screenplay

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture; Best Actor in a Leading Role; Best Actor in a Supporting Role; Best Director; Best Cinematography, Black-and-White

Posted on 2022-03-22 | No Comments |

Salvador (1986)

Abandoned by his family and down on his luck, out of work journalist James Woods convinces his buddy Jim Belushi to travel with him to El Salvador with hopes of finding some work covering the civil war happening there. From the moment they arrive, they realize that they are a bit unprepared as the war is more serious than they thought. Not quite as intense as some of Oliver Stone’s other films, this still manages to convey some of hard truths regarding United States involvement in Central America and its impact on the people there. Woods is unsurprisingly good as an opportunistic journalist while Belushi is a bit too light with comedy relief in a film like this.

Oscar Nominations: Best Actor in a Leading Role; Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen

Posted on 2022-03-19 | No Comments |

Don’t Look Up (2021)

Two astronomers Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio discover a comet hurtling towards earth and find out in a post-truth worth that it’s impossible to get anyone to take the threat seriously and more importantly to find leaders who find it politically beneficial to do something about it. The satire is a bit too on the nose most of the time and the film drags for way too long. None of the characters feel real in any way, but there are some entertaining moments scattered throughout and the overall plot is probably as realistic as any other take on the story could be.

Oscar Nominations: Best Motion Picture of the Year; Best Achievement in Film Editing; Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score); Best Original Screenplay

Posted on 2022-03-18 | No Comments |

The Power of the Dog (2021)

In 1920s Montana, ranchers Jesse Plemons meets and marries widowed inn owner Kirsten Dunst, much to the chagrin of his abusive brother Benedict Cumberbatch. During the summer, Dunst’s son Kodi Smit-McPhee visits the ranch and also endures Cumberbatch’s abuse but overtime finds common ground with the rancher. Not being a fan of Jane Campion nor really of Westerns, I didn’t have high expectations of going in, but I came away quite impressed. There’s a long interwoven tale here of shifting power dynamics, sexuality, and gender roles that slowly reveals itself and doesn’t become clear until its final moments, and maybe not even then. The performances are strong across the board and play against each other in incredible ways.

Oscar Win: Best Achievement in Directing

Oscar Nominations: Best Adapted Screenplay; Best Motion Picture of the Year; Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role (2); Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role; Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role; Best Achievement in Production Design; Best Sound; Best Achievement in Cinematography; Best Achievement in Film Editing; Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score)

Posted on 2022-03-15 | No Comments |

The Lost Daughter (2021)

Middle-aged, translator and college professor Olivia Colman’s Greek vacation is interrupted by the arrival of a large extended family’s arrival to her previously secluded beach. The family, especially a mother and her young daughter, awakens complicated feelings about her own experiences raising her two daughters. The film rests on Olivia’s performance and she carries it incredibly well. While her decisions don’t always make sense, the emotions she conveys are real and raw. She’s a complicated woman with complex experiences regarding career and family that are portrayed in a unique manner. While they don’t necessarily have similar mannerisms, the casting of Jessie Buckley as the younger version of the character gives a fairly seamless connection between the present and flashbacks.

Oscar Nominations: Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role; Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role; Best Adapted Screenplay

Posted on 2022-03-14 | No Comments |

Grand Canyon (1991)

With a cast including Kevin Kline, Mary McDonnell, Steve Martin, Alfre Woodard, and Danny Glover, my interest was piqued regarding this film. Set in Los Angeles, the film follows a somewhat interconnected cast of characters living and working in a city that is apparently under siege. There are almost car jackings, abandoned babies, and characters getting shot over a wristwatch. In between all the violence is heavy-handed dialogue philosophizing about all these experiences. The connection between the characters is so tenuous that I wasn’t even sure why Alfre and her friend Mary-Louise Parker were even in the movie until over halfway through. The one bright spot was the relationship developing between Woodard and Glover. There was a natural, sweetness as the two got to know each other.

Oscar Nominee: Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen