Category: Oscar Nominee

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Blind Vaysha (2016)/Polarbearman (2018)/Black and White Trypps Number Four (2008)/Juke and Opal (1973)

The titular character of Blind Vaysha was born with one eye that sees only the past and the other that only sees the future. She can never live in the present. A beautifully animated tale, it’s an interesting parable that is ruined slightly by an ending that pushes for reflection instead of just allowing it to happen naturally.

Polarbearman features Lee Pace as a solitary man in a house with water levels gradually rising to the point where his only recourse is to move higher and higher until he is stranded on the roof. As a representation of the effects of climate change, it’s a metaphor for the dire situation for polar bears and the melting ice caps.

The other two shorts are part of my attempts to watching Richard Pryor’s filmography. The first experimentally flickers through footage from his stand-up routine. It’s not really my cup of tea. The other is a sketch from a Lily Tomlin special. It features Lily as the manager of a greasy spoon and Pryor as a junkie and friend who interact with a few characters who come into the diner, including Alan Alda. It’s an interesting slice of life bit incorporated with realistic characters and relationships.

Oscar Nomination: Best Animated Short Film (Blind Vaysha)

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When We Were Kings (1996)

Featuring footage from the actual events and commentary from more modern talking heads, this documentary conveys the story of The Rumble in the Jungle, the historic fight in Zaire between Mohammad Ali and George Foreman. It doesn’t shy from questioning the ethics of having such an event sponsored by a brutal murderous dictator, but it also celebrates bringing two excellent American Black athletes to compete in an African country. It’s a bit biased in favor of Ali, not giving nearly as much time nor characterization to Foreman. That’s somewhat in conjunction with presenting the fight as an underdog story about the past his prime Ali against the younger Foreman, but it also allows the charismatic, bombastic Ali to shine . I question a bit the choice of two old white males, George Plimpton and Norman Mailer, to provide the descriptions of the actual fight as well as the bizarre characterization of a succubus taking away Foreman’s power, particularly as it was paired each time with the performance of Miriam Makeba , but Mailer’s take on the fight’s final moments were enthralling. I loved the footage of Zaire 74, the concert event that was to lead up to the fight until it was postponed due to Foreman’s injury, and am looking forward to checking out the documentary that focuses more on those musical acts.   Sports

Oscar Win: Best Documentary, Features

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A War (2015)

After a soldier under his command dies while on duty, commander Pilou Asbæk vows to join his men on every subsequent patrol. The squad is ambushed while patrolling a Afghani village and Asbæk calls in an airstrike without proper identification, an act that has him sent home for the murder of eleven civilians. I haven’t seen many films set during the recent fighting in Afghanistan and this one doesn’t make any attempt to portray good sides or bad sides. It casts everyone involved as casualties of the situation from the soldiers fighting to their families back home to the civilians who are all caught in the middle of an awful situation where no one wins.  War

Oscar Nomination: Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

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Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (1978)

Carol Laure’s husband Gerard Depardieu is so concerned with her apparent depression that he thinks having complete stranger Patrick Dewaere sleep with her will solve what is ailing her. The two men become friends, but nothing they do improves Laure’s condition, even after the men decide impregnating her is the solution. I love the first half of the film where the men don’t even bother trying to discuss what’s wrong with the woman, or even if she thinks there is something wrong. They talk over her, bring in other men to weigh in, and ignore that the one person who does get an emotional reaction from her is another woman who sits and listens. It’s a funny and relatable tale of relationships. But then the trio being working at a summer camp and the film takes a turn that throws away everything else that happened, culminating in a completely nonsensical ending that just left me befuddled.

Oscar Win: Best Foreign Language Film

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Kon-Tiki (1950)

This is the film I thought I was getting when I checked out the other Kon-Tiki movie. The impact of this one might be greater after seeing that newer film. This shows the actual footage from the expedition shot by Thor Heyerdahl and his crew. There’s a much more real sense of the danger and scope of what the group was putting themselves through versus the somewhat sanitized, artificial Hollywood-ized version seen in the narrative film.

Oscar Win: Best Documentary, Features

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The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936)

Based on the same battle as the infamous Tennyson poem, Errol Flynn and his brother Patric Knowles are British officers stationed in India. A love triangle develops between the two brothers when Flynn’s fiancé Olivia de Havilland inexplicably falls in love with Knowles. This love story is used as the impetus for all of the military actions in the film, especially the final titular charge, and requires the viewer to ignore the chemistry between Errol and Olivia. While the similar looking Knowles is excellently cast as Flynn’s brother, he lacks the charisma and charm of the other actor.   War

Oscar Win: Best Assistant Director

Oscar Nominations: Best Sound, Recording; Best Music, Score

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Romance (1930)

When Gavin Gordon’s grandson announces he wants to marry a woman of a different social class, Gordon recounts his own similar tale from years earlier when he fell in love with opera singer Greta Garbo. Garbo is quite capable when portraying a tragic romance, but the film itself doesn’t offer much else. It is short and simple but it feels longer than it actually is.

Oscar Nomination: Best Actress in a Leading Role; Best Director

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The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (1961)

On their overseas flight to Italy, Vivien Leigh’s rich husband suffers a fatal heart attack. She decides to continue on with the trip, but her loneliness pulls her into the clutches of madam Lotte Lenya and a gigolo in her stable, Warren Beatty. The early parts of the film were the best part with Leigh being an independent woman in Rome, wearing beautiful dresses, and surrounded by gorgeous scenery. Then Beatty plays a much bigger role and it becomes ludicrous. His fake tan and atrociously comical accent are incredibly distracting, even Leigh’s hair and costumes become dowdy in his presence. While the assumed ending is probably fitting for a Tennessee Williams work, I prefer to believe a happier ending; Vivien deserved it after being saddled with Warren for so long in the film.

Oscar Nomination: Best Actress in a Supporting Role

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Jane Eyre (2011)

Another retelling of the classic tale, this version features Mia Wasikowska in the title role and Michael Fassbender as love interest Edward Rochester. The layout of the story is of course very similar to the 1943 version but a longer runtime allows the story to breathe a bit more. I found the jumping between time lines at the beginning of this film to be a bit disorienting, but it got better as it settled into a linear telling. I found both of the leads’ portrayals to be superior to the aforementioned version. The period costume and setting details are beautiful and perhaps the best part of the film.

Oscar Nomination: Best Achievement in Costume Design

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Berkeley in the Sixties (1990)

I expected this to focus solely on Vietnam War protesting at Berkeley. Instead it offers a more complex history of activism at the university throughout the decade, told through actual footage from the events and the reminiscences of people who were there. It seems to give a fairly complex view of activism including the difficulties in fighting the establishment and also managing the inner conflicts that always happen within activist groups. While the entire documentary has some interesting details, I found the bits detailing activism closer to the campus, such as the establishment of People’s Park, to be more engaging and thorough in its telling.

Oscar Nomination: Best Documentary, Features

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