Category: Oscar Nominee

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The Collector (1965)

After coming into a large sum of money, socially awkward, amateur entomologist Terrence Stamp buys a country estate and abducts Samantha Eggar, a young London art student who has caught his eye. The film disorientingly begins from Stamp’s perspective, providing a chance for the viewer to sympathize with the lonely and traumatized young man only to turn that sympathy into realization of what that trauma has created. It’s very claustrophobic and demanding with solid performances from the two leads. I’m fascinated by old homes with secret hideaways, such as priest holes.  Horror

Oscar Nominations: Best Actress in a Leading Role; Best Director; Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium

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The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967)

Real life sisters Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac portray twin sisters who run a dance school in Rochefort, longing for love and the bright lights of Paris, while their mother runs a cafe in a plaza where a carnival has been scheduled. It’s a beautiful, candy-colored musical spectacle that is chock-filled with coincidences and mixed connections. For some weird reason, the sisters’ wigs are extremely distracting, making them look like 20 years older than they are, but the ear-wormy music and the appearance of Gene Kelly make up for it. I still prefer Demy’s The Umbrellas of Cherbourg as a complete production, but this is very cute and simply more feel-good.   Musical

Oscar Nomination: Best Music, Score of a Musical Picture (Original or Adaptation)

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Breaking the Waves (1996)

After he is rendered paralyzed in an oil rig accident, Stellan Skarsgård implores his simple-minded, religious wife Emily Watson to find other men to have sex with. Despite her misgivings, her love for her Danish outsider husband pushes her to fulfill his desire, bringing down the judgment of her conservative Scottish community and leading herself to more and more danger. If someone is familiar with Lars von Trier’s work, they won’t be surprised with the direction this film takes. Similar to Björk in Dancer in the Dark, the beautiful innocence portrayed by Watson is too much to take at times. The Scottish isles are gorgeously stark making a perfect complement to the hostilities of most of its residents.

Oscar Nomination: Best Actress in a Leading Role

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Kiss of Death (1947)

When his gang fails to look after his wife and family while he’s in prison, Victor Mature turns stool pigeon and agrees to work with the police to take the gang down. His gang, particularly enforcer Richard Widmark, are a particularly brutish lot, so it’s not quite as bothersome to root for the snitch in this case. The part that is a bit off-putting in this otherwise diverting piece of crime drama with a nondescript name is the fact that the love interest of the flick is young baby-sitter of Mature’s children.   Crime  Noir

Oscar Nominations: Best Actor in a Supporting Role; Best Writing, Original Story

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Licorice Pizza (2021)

On school picture day, fifteen year old child actor Cooper Hoffman hits on much older photographer’s assistant Alana Haim and somehow this develops into a relationship. The plot meanders aimlessly with the teenaged Hoffman starting various businesses and still trying to get into Alana’s pants while she tags along on his adventures. Paul Thomas Anderson’s films are very hit or miss for me and this is very much a miss. Aside from the disturbing age difference in the primary relationship, the actions of the characters rarely make much sense or feel realistic in any way. It doesn’t help that the leads are rather dislikable in their own ways and more dislikable whenever they’re together.  Best Picture Nomination

Oscar Nominations: Best Motion Picture of the Year; Best Achievement in Directing; Best Original Screenplay

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Paisan (1946)

The second of Rossellini’s war trilogy, this collection of six different episodes tell of a variety of experiences had during the Italian Campaign: an Italian woman agrees to guide American soldiers through a German minefield, a Neapolitan street urchin befriends a drunken Black soldier only to steal his boots after he falls asleep, a different American soldier meets an Italian prostitute only for her to realize they’ve met before, an American nurse and Italian man together risk their lives through battling areas to find news of loved ones, three American chaplains of different religious persuasions take refuge in an Italian Catholic monastery, and members of the OSS fight alongside Italian partisans in the Po delta. . The stories, each written by a different screenwriter, vary in strength but all focus in some way on the interactions between Italian citizens and Allied military members. Language barriers and suspicions of loyalty often get in the way of accomplishing goals and finding peace.  War

Oscar Nomination: Best Writing, Story and Screenplay

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Mulholland Drive (2001)

Aspiring actress Naomi Watts arrives in Los Angeles to stay at her aunt’s empty apartment while she goes on auditions, only to find amnesiac Laura Harring showering in the bathroom. Or maybe not. The film is not told in any straightforward sort of way and much is open to interpretation, which is expected from many of David Lynch’s works. It’s definitely not my cup of tea, but looking at some analyses, it’s at least reassuring to note that the interpretations I’ve come up with aren’t that far off the mark of what other people have thought up.

Oscar Nomination: Best Director

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Music for Millions (1944)

During World War II, God-fearing Margaret O’Brien moves in with her pregnant, older sister June Allyson who lives with other female members of Jose Iturbi’s orchestra in a boarding house. The duo must keep Margaret hidden from the boarding house matron, contend with a surly band leader, and endure telegram-stealing housemates. I wouldn’t have cast O’Brien and Allyson as sisters based on looks, but they certainly are matched in their perky earnestness. The film tries to bite off too many pieces and would have been better just focusing on the sisters’ relationship.   Music

Oscar Nomination: Best Writing, Original Screenplay

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Rome, Open City (1945)

The first film in Roberto Rossellini’s war trilogy, this was secretly filmed during the Nazi occupation of Rome and follows a group of people coping with the occupation, most notably a Resistance fighter trying to find a way out of the city with the help of a Catholic priest. The realism of the film is sometimes difficult to watch. History has painted Italy during World War II with the broad brush of being an part of the Axis powers, but this film powerfully explores what happened afterward when they were subjected to the same atrocities the Nazis had been committing throughout Europe. Additionally there is an intriguing exploration on religion and faith and how one can hold on to such things while bearing witness to such atrocities.  War

Oscar Nomination: Best Writing, Screenplay

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Grand Prix (1966)

There are almost two distinct films here: one an almost documentary-level film of Formula One racing footage, the other a melodrama involving racers and their love interests. Together they make for one exceptionally long movie. I find as a spectator that car racing as a sport to be quite tedious and Formula One as depicted here is even more difficult to follow with little sense of who is leading and who is far behind. The footage is still absolutely incredible and creative in its editing. The soap opera level writing is decent quality for the style, giving the sense that the women on the sidelines are almost on par with war widows, never knowing if their loved one will survive the next race.  Sports

Oscar Wins: Best Sound; Best Film Editing; Best Effects, Sound Effects

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