The Official Review Thread of 2020

[Big Magilla]

THE MAURITANIAN
Cast: Tahar Rahim, Jodie Foster, Benedict Cumberbatch, Shailene Woodley, Zachary Levi.
Dir: Kevin Macdonald.

Succeeds where The Report failed as an interesting film about the Donald Rumsfeld approved horrors of GITMO. Less gruesome than Zero Dark Thirty, it saves most of its torture scenes until we're so well into the film that they don't overwhelm it.

Tahar Rahim is excellent in the lead, but there are a good six actors likely to be nominated for an Oscar ahead of him and there's only room for five. That leaves Jodie Foster to carry the mantle for the film, which she is perfectly capable of doing. In fact, I suspect that the liberal-minded Golden Globe voters had just that idea in mind when they gave her their supporting actress award. While she's good in what is arguably her best performance since Silence of the Lambs thirty years ago, she doesn't have a bravura moment that cries out "Oscar." She's just steady as she goes, which is good enough to secure a nomination. What the Golden Globe award does, however, is give the film the exposure it might not have otherwise gotten. An Oscar nomination will give it further exposure. I suspect voters will consider that the end of the trail for her this year.

[Big Magilla]

The song is beautiful, haunting, and marvelously simple. I don't know how much it resonates in the context of the film or if it works as part of it, but it reminds me a bit of the also simple and mesmerizing Moon Song from Her. Right now, I hope it gets nominated, although year after year I see how a personal favorite of the shortlisted songs is left out in the end.

It's a contender for sure, but like most of its competition, it plays over the end credits. It resonates in that water (which of course comes from rain) is vital in the growing of minari AKA water dropwort. That's all I will give away.

[Sabin]

Harry Goldfarb wrote
I have not seen Minari yet, and I have avoided knowing anything about the movie ... however, today I came across a playlist on Spotify of the shortlisted songs and I have listened to Rain Song ... how this song has not appeared more in this awards season?

The song is beautiful, haunting, and marvelously simple. I don't know how much it resonates in the context of the film or if it works as part of it, but it reminds me a bit of the also simple and mesmerizing Moon Song from Her. Right now, I hope it gets nominated, although year after year I see how a personal favorite of the shortlisted songs is left out in the end.

"The Rain Song" can be nominated for sure. So, can Steven Yeun and Han Ye-ri. I think Minari could do really well.

[HarryGoldfarb]

Right now, I would predict it ends up with nominations for Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay, Original Score, Cinematography, and Film Editing.

I have not seen Minari yet, and I have avoided knowing anything about the movie ... however, today I came across a playlist on Spotify of the shortlisted songs and I have listened to Rain Song ... how this song has not appeared more in this awards season?

The song is beautiful, haunting, and marvelously simple. I don't know how much it resonates in the context of the film or if it works as part of it, but it reminds me a bit of the also simple and mesmerizing Moon Song from Her. Right now, I hope it gets nominated, although year after year I see how a personal favorite of the shortlisted songs is left out in the end.

[Sabin]

I could see Minari winning Best Picture. It's very easy to like. I have a few issues with it but it's a lovely, appealing, and beautiful evocative production that I have a hard time seeing Academy voters disliking. Damien would've liked this one, I think. It follows the Yi family as they go to Arkansas from California to follow Jacob's dream of owning a farm, taking care of his family as more than a chicken sexer, and be seen as a success. He's a complicated dreamer. He has a strong set of values that serve him well but he's also prideful and it's clear he doesn't understand entirely what he's doing. The film is a series of rolling dynamics (Jacob's optimism vs. his wife Monica's realism) with the second act starting with Grandma (Youn Yuh-jung) coming from Korea to stay with them. She isn't a meddlesome figure there to liven things up. She's 1 part rappin' granny, 1 heritage reminder, and 1 part tragedy machine. She doesn't change their lives. She just lives there. Lee Isaac Chung does a very great job of balancing all subplots in this story. They all cohere strongly. It's beautifully shot, edited, and scored, and the entire ensemble is excellent. My biggest complaint about the film is that I'm not sure it's ever really about anything more than the story of immigrants trying to make something in this country, but it's always throwing out flowery metaphors to make one think it is. Every few minutes, a character will say something that sounds like it's profound but none of them really tie together to convey a message. The dialogue is at its best when it's specific and personal, like when Little David can't help but notice the smoke plumes coming out of the factory where Jacob works and asks what that is and Jacob tells him that there isn't any use for male chickens so... "let's make ourselves useful."

I was a moved. It's not a masterpiece but it's quite a good film. I wish we had more movies like it every year... and we do! They just don't have A24 and Plan B behind them, but that's fine. I agree that Youn Yuh-jung might be a contender for Best Supporting Actress due to how much she factors into the direction of the story. Steven Yeun has picked up quite a few nominations. He's quite good. But really Han Ye-ri should be more in the conversation. She does a great job of making Monica more than a doubting wife.

Right now, I would predict it ends up with nominations for Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay, Original Score, Cinematography, and Film Editing.

[anonymous1980]

EMMA
Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Johnny Flynn, Josh O'Connor, Bill Nighy, Mia Goth, Callum Turner, Miranda Hart.
Dir: Autumn de Wilde.

The latest adaptation of the Jane Austen classic novel about a young woman who interferes with other people's love lives at the expense of her own. I *think* I have seen the Gwyneth Paltrow version though I barely remember it. Nevertheless, this is still an utterly delightful, earnest version of the novel that manages to be funny, sweet and fresh. It is certainly a joy to watch, thanks to the always terrific Anya Taylor-Joy who continues to impress with her acting prowess and she's deservedly on the rise this year. She's supported by a strong supporting cast and a beautifully mounted production. This is Autumn de Wilde's first film and I have to say she nailed it with flying colors. This JUST missed my Top 10 of 2020 (but who knows, I may change my mind).

Oscar Prospects: I think deserving of Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Score (no chance now), Song (no chance now), Production Design, Cinematography and Costume Design.

Grade: A-

[Greg]

MINARI
Cast: Steven Yeun, Yeri Han, Alan Kim, Noel Chow, Yuh-jung Youn, Will Patton.
Dir: Lee Isaac Chung.

What a wonderful film. It's now available on pay-per-view in the U.S., so no more excuses for not seeing it other than it's not affordable but it costs no more than a ticket for two at a theatre which you can't go to now anyway.

I saw Parasite on Amazon just after it won the Best Picture Oscar for about $3, and, I don't have Amazon Prime.

[Sabin]

The biggest problem with French Exit is that it doesn't really set you up for the journey at the beginning of the film. It saves a crucial scene after Michelle Pfeiffer picks up young Lucas Hedges from school and whisks him away until the end of the movie in defiance of audience satisfaction. To do something like that, you'd better show them the adventure of a lifetime. That is not what we get and the film plays like a great example of why authors should not adapt their own work. But we're never quite given a proper introduction to either Michelle Pfeiffer or Lucas Hedges and why we should care about them present day. They are presented to us like a bundle of affectations we just wonder about as the film moves along, like how people describe Wes Anderson movies. The basis of the plot is pretty simple: Michelle Pfeiffer is a drunk ambivalent widow who's suddenly gone broke, and whisks her zombie, go-nowhere son (Lucas Hedges) along with her to France (despite the fact that he is engaged and hasn't told her yet) along with her cat whom we learn later on in the film might contain the spirit of her dead husband. Now, I would say that there is plenty in the relationship between the mother and the son that we might not need the cat with the spirit of the dead husband let alone the psychic or the random stranger in France who happens to know Michelle Pfeiffer's fame, etc. But this isn't really a movie that's interested in developing its random ideas. It's just a lark intent on piling unexpected twists to explain to us who the characters are and give them opportunities to say wonderful things. I can't say for sure which films or books it is aping but I would imagine that in screen form we have a better idea of who they are, what they want, and where they've been from the get-go. The film reminded me of why Steve Kloves removed the big dinner scene in Wonder Boys lest it capsize the narrative.

Despite an entertaining start, French Exit ends up feeling like an inside joke, like being stuck in a feature length version of the second half of Mistress America, and never quite something universal, and it's very easy to see how this material -- especially through the eyes of Lucas Hedges' character -- could've been moving but instead it feels ramshackle and slight.

This film is unlikely to get nominations. Michelle Pfeiffer continues her streak of being very good in films that won't carry her across the finish line.

[Big Magilla]

The Little Things. I'm a softer touch for police procedurals than most here, and I guess I admire the film for trying something beyond the "pursue the serial killer/end up being trapped with him" formula (se7en is by far the gold standard in transcending the genre). But it just doesn't work -- people do things that don't make sense (above all, Malek driving off with Leto), and the finale is pure muddle. I agree Malek is miscast -- he's not an actor you hire to play a straight arrow. He seems to have been cast with his final scenes in mind, but by then it's too late for us to accept that part of him. Leto isn't awful or anything, but it's a mystery why he'd be awards-cited -- unless it was a case of "it was on my TV while I was filling out my ballot". The film does feel dated -- it seems like the main reason it's set in the 90s is because characters having cell phones would have killed the whole plot. A big disappointment.

From the first entry on the film's trivia page on IMDb.:

Writer/director John Lee Hancock originally wrote the screenplay for the film almost 30 years ago (1993) after completing his work on the Clint Eastwood picture A Perfect World (1993).

[Mister Tee]

Catching up on a few things I've watched in recent weeks:

It's glib to say, but Pieces of a Woman feels like pieces of a movie. The opening sequence is quite strong (anonymous calls it "almost uncomfortable", which I say qualifies for understatement of the year -- I'd call it full-on harrowing). But, past that, the film doesn't seem to want to commit to any single element of what flows from the event -- the dissolution of the marriage and the court case are both approached tentatively, like the filmmakers couldn't decide if they wanted to dive full-on into either subject. The camera movement accentuates this issue: there are a lot of what might be called tracking shots, but which here seem more like wandering shots. They create the sense that the creators hope they'll stumble onto a focus -- but it never happens. Things occur (an affair, a break-up, a fight, an epiphany), but they don't feel grounded to any central idea. It's possible the creators thought those elements were too banal to be interesting if handled in a more standard way -- I might agree -- but fuzzing them up by making them elliptical doesn't change that calculus.

I liked Kirby in the opening scene, and in her snit over the tombstone. But her final courtroom scene was, for me, an "oh god, I hope that's not where this is going" scene, and I couldn't enjoy it. Likewise, as many are saying, I like Burstyn a lot throughout (can't believe she's 88), but can't respond to her big speech, not because of any delivery issues, but because the speech doesn't feel organic to the film -- it feels like it was plopped down fully-written, without any thought of it making dramatic sense. (It's also impossible for her to have remembered the moment she describes; she was so young, all she could remember is her mother telling her the story.) As for Shia LaBoeuf -- of all the many acting descendants of Brando, the ones I like least are those who use hostility/insolence as a personality. And the scene Sabin cites -- his impatience Kirby won't have sex with him -- is ridiculous: it's set just weeks after the delivery, at which point it would still be physically painful for her to allow entry. He's an asshole for expecting any more from her.

Onto The Little Things. I'm a softer touch for police procedurals than most here, and I guess I admire the film for trying something beyond the "pursue the serial killer/end up being trapped with him" formula (se7en is by far the gold standard in transcending the genre). But it just doesn't work -- people do things that don't make sense (above all, Malek driving off with Leto), and the finale is pure muddle. I agree Malek is miscast -- he's not an actor you hire to play a straight arrow. He seems to have been cast with his final scenes in mind, but by then it's too late for us to accept that part of him. Leto isn't awful or anything, but it's a mystery why he'd be awards-cited -- unless it was a case of "it was on my TV while I was filling out my ballot". The film does feel dated -- it seems like the main reason it's set in the 90s is because characters having cell phones would have killed the whole plot. A big disappointment.

Finally, Emma. When I saw ads for it back in Spring, I thought, why does the world need another version of this? -- and now, having watched it, I ask the same. I know, post-Goop, Paltrow is viewed as an enemy of all things human, but I think her version is perfectly good -- both her performance and the film as a whole. I'd actually rate this version below McGrath's film -- McGrath was accused of playing things a bit too comedically, but his film is a sober marvel compared to this one, with its jaunty music accenting the cartoonish at ever turn. I liked Taylor-Joy in The Queen's Gambit, but I don't think she gets the essence of Emma here. Emma is naive and tunnel-visioned, but -- except for her one unforgivable insult -- she generally means well, something Paltrow captured. The way Taylor-Joy plays her, she seems spoiled and entitled throughout -- it's hard to discern what Knightley sees in her. The only things I really like about film are the visuals -- the film could well win an Oscar for its costumes (McGrath's film could have, too, except for running into the buzz-saw that was The English Patient) -- and Johnny Flynn, whose Knightley is the liveliest but also most grounded presence on screen.

[Big Magilla]

Next up for Lee Daniels is his remake of Terms of Endearment with Oprah Winfrey who at 67 is 12 years older than Jennifer Jones was when she told she was told she too old to play the part at 55. It went to Shirley MacLaine who was 40 at the time.

You might want to check your math there, since MacLaine was born in 1934.

LOL again. Second time today!

My math is fine, my memory is the problem. I kept thinking the film was made in 1974, not 1983, so MacLaine would have been 49 and Jones 64 when she was declared too old for the part.

[Mister Tee]

Next up for Lee Daniels is his remake of Terms of Endearment with Oprah Winfrey who at 67 is 12 years older than Jennifer Jones was when she told she was told she too old to play the part at 55. It went to Shirley MacLaine who was 40 at the time.

You might want to check your math there, since MacLaine was born in 1934.

[Big Magilla]

Now I get why I didn't warm up to Minari. I didn't like the Southerner or The Yearling either and yes, you are right, both the old films have many moments in common with Minari.

LOL. Best laugh I've had all week!

[Big Magilla]

THE UNITED STATES VS. BILLIE HOLIDAY
Cast: Andra Day, Trevante Rhodes, Leslie Jordan, Garrett Hedlund, Natasha Lyonne, Adriane Lenox.
Dir: Lee Daniels.

I found this one to be nothing more than an exercise in misery.

Andra Day evokes Billie Holiday but not in the best of ways. She sings beautifully, but mostly she does drugs and gets arrested. The supporting characters are ill-defined and played for the most part as swine. While great care was taken to dress Day up as Holiday, Natasha Lyonne looks and sounds as much like Tallulah Bankhead as Marilyn Monroe did to Martha Raye or vice versa.

Next up for Lee Daniels is his remake of Terms of Endearment with Oprah Winfrey who at 67 is 12 years older than Jennifer Jones was when she told she was told she too old to play the part at 55. It went to Shirley MacLaine who was 40 at the time. Sounds like another disaster in the making.

Oscar prospects: Maybe a nomination for Day, but not a win.

[Reza]

MINARI
Cast: Steven Yeun, Yeri Han, Alan Kim, Noel Chow, Yuh-jung Youn, Will Patton.
Dir: Lee Isaac Chung.

What a wonderful film. It's now available on pay-per-view in the U.S., so no more excuses for not seeing it other than it's not affordable but it costs no more than a ticket for two at a theatre which you can't go to now anyway.

The film evokes films of a by-gone era, among them 1945's The Southerner and 1946's The Yearling in which hardships are endured by strong multi-generational families. Steven Yeun, like Zachary Scott and Gregory Peck in those films, is a dreamer as well as a hard worker, while his wife, Yeri Han, like Betty Field and Jane Wyman in the earlier films is supportive but wary. The kids in it are very good, especially Andy Kim as the 8-year-old with a hole in his heart, both literally and figuratively.

It's rare to a see a full-fledged relationship between a grandmother and grandson on screen, but this year we have two. This one brings back memories of The Green Years in which Dean Stockwell is forced to share a room with his great-grandmother (Gladys Cooper) as are Andy Kim and Yuh-jung Youn (the Anglicized version of her name is used in the credits, not the other way around) here.

In the best of all possible worlds, this year's other grandmother, Glenn Close, would have already won an Oscar or two and Yuh-jung Youn would be this year's clear front-runner for a role that has already won her the lion's share of critics' awards.

Oscar Prospects: Nominations galore, and hopefully, a win for Yuh-jung Youn.

Now I get why I didn't warm up to Minari. I didn't like the Southerner or The Yearling either and yes, you are right, both the old films have many moments in common with Minari.