{"id":272,"date":"2021-04-25T16:39:06","date_gmt":"2021-04-25T20:39:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/myweb.fiu.edu\/escarbro\/?p=272"},"modified":"2021-04-25T16:55:40","modified_gmt":"2021-04-25T20:55:40","slug":"pre-oscar-movie-wrap-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myweb.fiu.edu\/escarbro\/2021\/04\/25\/pre-oscar-movie-wrap-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Pre-Oscar Movie Wrap-Up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We\u2019re over a year into COVID, which led loads of people to watch more movies. I wish I could say I got to see more films too but for half the year I was experiencing vertigo, which prevented me from watching as many movies as I\u2019d like.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strongest Oscar-contenders this year, I believe, are in the best feature-length documentary category. I think documentaries deserve their own list, and I loved so many of them this year (including Crip Camp, My Octopus Teacher, and Time \u2013 all nominated- but so many that deserved a nom and didn\u2019t get one). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For this brief post, I\u2019ll tell you the three categories I’m looking forward to while watching the Oscars, and then list some movies I really enjoyed this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cinematography: Joshua James Richards, Nomadland<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think Zhao\u2019s The Rider<\/em> is a far superior movie (see my letterboxd review), but I do think the cinematography in both Nomadland<\/em> and The Rider<\/em> is drop dead gorgeous. And both were thanks to Joshua James Richards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writing (Original Screenplay): Aaron Sorkin, The Trial of the Chicago 7<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You either love Sorkin or hate him \u2013 and I love him. I think it\u2019s a weakness. I just love the dialogue and hope he wins for this movie. President Bartlet forever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Directing: Another Round, <\/em>Thomas Vinterberg<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*I* *haven\u2019t* *seen**Minari<\/em>**yet* – so I know I\u2019m not a competent judge.  But I do love Vinterberg for his moody interiors and strained relationships. I\u2019m a Dogme95 fan (The Celebration<\/em>)\u2013 and he seems to work well with Mads (he\u2019s excellent in Vinterberg\u2019s The Hunt<\/em>). I was charmed by the movie \u2013 drunk it in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Although I think it would be awesome for an Asian woman to win the best director…it’s just hard for me to give Zhao it for this one. I hope that now she’s getting the attention she deserves she doesn’t cave to corporate control. Amazon got off way too easy in Nomadland<\/em>.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some great movies from this past year that got ZERO Oscar recognition:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Family Romance LLC  <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This technically might be 2019 (?) but wasn\u2019t available to me until 2020. Directed by Werner Herzog, it reads like a documentary, although it is a fiction film. I won\u2019t give too much away but it is about a Japanese man who runs a business \u201crenting out\u201d actors to perform important social roles (think rent a father for a wedding, or rent a girlfriend for a family dinner). It so easily could be morally flatfooted, but isn\u2019t. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Never Rarely Sometimes Always<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t quite understand how this got nominated for nothing. It\u2019s on a bunch of critics \u2018best of\u2019 lists \u2013 and is on mine. The teenage actors were great \u2013 and the titular scene was heartbreaking and beautiful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I\u2019m No Longer Here (Ya no estoy aqui)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beautifully shot! Director of a fav tv show of mine, \u201cLos Espookys.\u201d This movie follows teenagers who are obsessed with the cumbia music and dancing scene. I found the movie mesmerizing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Controversial likes from this past year:<\/strong>\u00a0Cuties\/Mignonnes<\/em>,\u00a0Bacurau<\/em>,\u00a0Deerskin<\/em>, Tommaso<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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        Favorite horror from 2020: Gretel & Hansel<\/em>, She Dies Tomorrow<\/em>   <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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          *I haven’t seen Possessor yet (but like both Cronenberg the elder and younger)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          We\u2019re over a year into COVID, which led loads of people to watch more movies. I wish I could say I got to see more films too but for half the year I was experiencing vertigo, which prevented me from watching as many movies as I\u2019d like.   The strongest Oscar-contenders this year, I believe, are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":422,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,15,9,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aesthetics","category-art","category-film","category-pop-culture","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myweb.fiu.edu\/escarbro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myweb.fiu.edu\/escarbro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myweb.fiu.edu\/escarbro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myweb.fiu.edu\/escarbro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/422"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myweb.fiu.edu\/escarbro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/myweb.fiu.edu\/escarbro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myweb.fiu.edu\/escarbro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myweb.fiu.edu\/escarbro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myweb.fiu.edu\/escarbro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}