Best of 2020, Part 2: Acting, Directing, Screenplays

 

ACTING

Year in and year out, I find myself in a bit of a mid-list rut that has persisted since I decided to sit down and write every best-of moment at once and then post it on myspace (I gave best actor to Clint Eastwood. It was a dark time). For whatever reason, I just don't know what to say about all the big name categories. Like, I have so much to share with you about the spurt-y blood effects in Possessor or weird birdcage dresses in Emma or the carnivorous sets in Promising Young Woman, but I can't say I've got much impart about actors or writers or directors. It's a mystery, and you'd think I'd have accepted it by now, rather than complaining about it anew every year, but I am who I am (and who I am is stubborn trash).

So here's the deal: if you're looking for a punishingly long movie rundown in which you get to read lovingly crafted mini-essays about all the below-the-line aspects of filmmaking, come down tomorrow and you won't be disappointed. For now, however, rather than trying to say something about everyone, I'm just going to present my five nominees in the acting, writing, and directing categories, followed by some brief thoughts on the category at large. Which means this might only take you 10 minutes to read, rather than the rest of the year, and it'll only take me an hour or two to write, rather than until the heat death of the universe! What a concept. So let's get to it--I shall gird my loins and grit my teeth and all those other important gestures I apparently need to say nice things about acting.

Note: I've scattered a few youtube clips of the performances throughout. No rhyme or reason, just whatever I felt like going to find, whenever I felt like finding it.

Best Actress
5. Frances McDormand-Nomadland
4. Wunmi Mosaku-His House
3. Rachel McAdams-Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
2. Sidney Flanigan-Never Rarely Sometimes Always
1. Viola Davis-Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

Honorable mention: Radha Blank-The Forty-Year-Old Version

A wacky kind of category this year, in that I legitimately played with all of the top 4 the #1 spot, and I think my ranking would change all over again if you asked me tomorrow. How do you deny Wunmi Masaku's haunted stoicism, or Rachel McAdams carrying the whole film on her sunny ridiculous shoulders? (Nothing this year made me laugh harder than "the elves went too far!") It's so tempting to give the whole deal to McAdams--she falls in love with Will Ferrell and makes it seem real! How's that not Oscar-worthy? Still, the real contest is probably between Flanigan and Davis, and it's difficult to deny the way Flanigan moves and speaks like an embankment, right up to the moment she crumbles and then re-assembles herself (definitely check out the scene from Never Rarely Sometimes Always that won the best scene of the year in the post from yesterday). But ultimately I had to stick with Davis's megalith of a woman, all gestures and ambitions and flouted love compressed like a neutron star.

Actor
5. Clarke Peters-Da 5 Bloods
4. Steven Yeun-Minari
3. Chadwick Boseman-Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
2. Riz Ahmed-Sound of Metal
1. Delroy Lindo-Da 5 Bloods

Honorable mention: Kingsley Ben-Adir-One Night in Miami

Another great category here. Particularly happy to give Clarke Peters a shout-out, since awards bodies don't seem to be interested--absolutely nothing in Da 5 Bloods would work if it didn't have Peters as the gentle beating heart at its center. Also love to see Steven Yeun in this post Walking Dead phase of his career, where he continues to deliver difficult, nuanced performances. Chadwick Boseman has been winning the lion's share of prizes this year, and with good reason: his turn in Ma Rainey is as ferocious and dedicated as anything you'll see this year. I almost went with Riz Ahmed, who would easily win this category in another year--what a masterclass of restraint and interiority (shame there aren't any great youtube clips, but seriously, go watch the movie--but not this week, as I am re-re-encouraging you to participate in the Amazon boycott that lasts until the 13th). But I couldn't put anyone above Delroy Lindo this year, who navigates the wildest turns of an already wild movie with grace. Lindo's character sees ghosts, he says, and it's not difficult to take him at face value. And remember that impossible, minutes-long monologue to the camera near the end of the film? How difficult it must have been to pull that off at all, much less sell it with the energy and conviction that Lindo brings. Just a fantastic, charismatic, lived-in performance, and it'll be a real bummer if he gets passed over by the Academy.

Supporting Actress
5. Youn Yuh-jung-Minari
4. Yeri Han-Minari
3. Maria Bakalova-Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
2. Candice Bergen-Let Them All Talk
1. Miranda Hart-Emma.

Honorable mention: Molly Parker-Pieces of a Woman

Another strong showing for Minari's stellar ensemble--couldn't decide between Youn Yuh-jung's scrappy grandma and Yeri Han's mix of defeat and tenacity, so I just went with both. Bakalova is ridiculous but undeniable--somehow, improbably, this Borat sequel has a legitimate emotional arc whose power comes entirely from Bakalova's giddiness and loyalty. Plus, she's doing improv comedy in a second language with people who literally might start shooting if they knew what was going on. I know we don't grade on degree of difficulty, but come on. (Also, "I swallowed the baby" made me aspirate half of my entire meal.) (Uh, tw: talk of abortion, implied incest in that clip, because it's a Borat movie.) Candice Bergen never plays down, even when the film is playing down on her, playing the broke palimpsest queen of the cruise ship. My top choice, though, has gone completely under the radar. Maybe I've got a very specific Miranda Hart-related weakness? Every time I see her in a movie, I want to toss a bunch of golden statues at her, but nobody else every joins me on that particular train. But Hart is such a joy to watch here: silly, clever, kind, and confused, the kind of woman who has already forgiven life for what it has done to her, but still doesn't quite know what to do in return. This picnic scene is the clear Oscar clip (if that were happening, which it's not, tragically), but it doesn't necessarily convey the way she radiates her own warm into the rest of an (intentionally) chilly movie.

Supporting Actor
5. Daniel Kaluuya-Judas and the Black Messiah
4. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II-The Trial of the Chicago 7
3. Chris Lowell-Promising Young Woman
2. Aldis Hodge-One Night in Miami
1. Paul Raci-Sound of Metal

Honorable mention: Bo Burnham-Promising Young Woman

Some very off-consensus picks here and some very on-consensus ones. Kaluuya, arguably the Oscar frontrunner, makes for a stirring Fred Hampton--the oration sequences alone are worth the price of admission. Abdul-Mateen II and Hodge feel like the clear standouts of their respective large ensembles to me, but the conversation at large hasn't really mirrored that (and both are missing on Youtube as well, with their more famous screen partners burning all the available oxygen). I might be courting controversy by including Chris Lowell; I don't want to spoil the film if you haven't seen it, but I freely acknowledge that singling him out over every performance in the film is...a choice. But the petulance and the pathetic way he screws up his face to cry have stuck with me, and it's my party, so here he is. (Here's a scene, but definitely don't click on it if you haven't seen the movie already.) Which brings us to Paul Raci, who's the clear and obvious winner, and is probably my pick for performance of the year (give or take Delroy Lindo). 

Director

5. Kelly Reichardt-First Cow
4. Emerald Fennell-Promising Young Woman
3. Chloe Zhao-Nomadland
2. Eliza Hittman-Never Rarely Sometimes Always
1. Darius Marder-Sound of Metal

Honorable mention: Isabel Sandoval-Lingua Franca

Lots of wonderful choices this year, from Reichardt's stew of control and intuition, the wild provocations and immaculate framing that Emerald Fennell threw into Promising Young Woman, and soon-to-be Oscar winner Chloe Zhao's keen eye for lives lived circling the margins in Nomadland. It would have been easy to give #1 to Eliza Hittman, whose even-handedness and dogged downplaying of real-life horrors are a real achievement. But the choice was ultimately (a little too) easy for me, as Marder put together one of the most well-crafted and observed movies of the year and made it sing, if only to itself.

Original Screenplay
5. Relic
4. Becurau
3. Minari
2. Sound of Metal
1. Never Rarely Sometimes Always

Honorable mention: The Forty-Year-Old Version

Eclectic group of nominees here, from the labyrinthine memory horror of Relic to the genre-mashing antics of Bacurau. I don't necessarily love Minari as much as everyone else (though you'd be hard-pressed to see that, given all its mentions thus far), but I couldn't deny the grace and depth with which it blends childhood and migration narratives. Almost put Sound of Metal at the top, as my love for that movie is clearly just a little out of control, but decided at the last minute on Never Rarely Sometimes Always's immaculate structure and heavy silences.

Adapted Screenplay
5. The Invisible Man
4. Emma.
3. One Night in Miami
2. Nomadland
1. First Cow

Honorable mention: News of the World

I've been struggling all year to fill this category--somehow most of what I watched wasn't adapted, and if it was, I didn't love it. So I've rounded out my nominees somewhat by default, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to be found here, like Invisible Man's clever genre reworking or the way that Emma. skips over its source material like a rock sliding over ice. One Night in Miami is a great example of how to adapt a stage play, if you're looking for something that is both loyal to the theater experience and a successful piece of film. Nomadland would be a great call, I'm giving it to First Cow's look at frontier entrepreneurship, the possibility of dreams, and the inevitable ugliness baked into the founding American myths.

And once again, that's it for tonight! I'll be back tomorrow (or Saturday, depending on real-world responsibilities) to wax poetic about CGI faces sci-fi laser sounds, and I'll be back again on Sunday to offer up some predictions for Monday's Oscar predictions. 

Best of 2020, Part 1: The Top 20

Well then.

What a goddamn year we have all had since the last time I posted something here. It feels gauche to try and sum up everything that's happened in some pithy but respectful way before pivoting to something miniature like my movie year, but it also feels gauche to pretend that nothing happened at all, so I'll split the difference by trying to mime the apocalypse and then sitting quietly in my apartment for a year and assume that y'all get what I mean.

Now, my year in movies is certainly a tiny little drop in a large and very sad bucket, but it's my drop, and this space is my own dumb bucket, so I assume that if you're here, you're willing to shrink your world to a scale in which all this can feel relevant. And what a year for movies it was and wasn't, where the question of whether or not cinema was going to scrape through 2020 in any kind of meaningful form reared its ugly head. Well, yes and no. It turns out that cinema, like roaches, cargo shorts, and Denny's, is here to stay, no matter how hard we all try to make them go away. The dire predictions that movies themselves would cease to be, dissolving into the ether with one final, defeated wail, seem to be have been exaggerated. That said, moviegoing as a concept might still be on its last legs. There's a debate to be had on streaming vs. the theater experience, but I don't want to have it, so I'm gonna just cross my fingers and hope.

As to the year itself: I acknowledge that posting a dump of 'Best of 2020' lists in mid-March seems poorly timed, but movie schedules (and my own silly whims) are inevitable, so here we are. Partly, this delay comes from multiple release date delays, where the biggest prestige-y releases moved from November-December to January-February (some of which still haven't opened yet in an accessible way) (I am glaring at you, The Father--I'm rooting against all your Oscar hopes just because making people wait til April is a heinous crime). Partly, the delay mirrors the Oscar/prestige movie season calendar. Normally, I'd post these lists a couple weeks before the Oscars (mid-February) and call it good. Following that metric, I theoretically have until mid-April to match my own yearly traditions, but I didn't want the grim specter of these lists and the very minor pressures they exert following me around another month (truly, I have the hardest life).

But the biggest delay was me. Simply stated, this year took away most of my movie-loving oomph. I know that I have an immense level of privilege to have been paid to work from home for the past year, and that neither the violence perpetrated by the past regime's policies, nor the social inequities (currents that were always there) fought over last year were targeted at a cis white man like me. My shit was easy, and I recognize that, but nevertheless the general malaise of being a person in 2020 was enough to take me out of the movies, enough so that I legitimately believed that I wasn't going to do these for 2020. But then, something dumb and wondrous happened: the Golden Globes released their nominations at the beginning of February, and I realized that I'd hardly seen anything nominated. And I would be damned all the way to Mega-Hell before I let the Golden Globes have more informed opinions than I did about the movie year. Imagine. 

So, I got my ass in gear. At the start of February, I'd seen 19 movies from the 2020 calendar year. Now, 5-ish weeks later, I'm sitting on 74. Which, strangely, is tied for the second highest number of movies I've seen from a year when it's time to sit down and write some lists (thus definitively proving, for now and all time, that grad school has had a stronger negative effect on me than the actual apocalypse). While there are still some glaring omissions in my viewing, I feel great about how far I've come, and am thrilled to have resurrected something that I loved. The world is gonna have to try a whole lot harder to keep me from wasting your time and mine with thousands of words about why Barb and Star is masterpiece we need right now. (Note to the universe: this is not an invitation. I am very tired and am doing my best.)

2020 was an...eclectic movie year, to say the least (and should we expect anything less?), so I imagine and hope that these lists will also be a little goofy. But horrific year or no, there were plenty of stellar options if you were willing to look around--and since the multiplexes were swallowed by the earth and the big blockbusters and Marvel movies shrunk into the night, the only way you saw anything at all this year is if you were willing to look. And if you didn't know where to start, then it's your lucky day! I have a metric shit-ton of opinions, and all of them are objectively correct. And what's out there is really wonderful--I've got 25 movies that all feel like they need to be in the top 20 (or even top 10), and no idea which ones make it in. Chaos!

If you're new here (which is certainly not the case, as the only people still reading already signed a blood pact with me decades ago that requires them to come back), then here's how the format works. I'll rattle off my top 20 of the year, while doing my very best not to lovingly drown brevity in my bathtub. This means I've imposed a two-sentence limit on myself per film, because a) I am very old, and my withered hands can only type for so long before blowing away in the wind, and b) I will at least pretend to respect your time, if not my own. All that said, I break this rule every single year (and have already disrespected brevity to an upsetting degree), so we'll see how it goes. After that, I'll offer some more thoughts on the best scenes and the worst movies of the year, if you still need something to read.

(You know what? We are all sitting in our homes in quiet desperation, begging for any kind of distraction for even a moment. I gotta stop apologizing for giving you something to read. You're welcome. I have venmo and cashapp.)

In interest of transparency, here's a list of the movies I saw this year. It's difficult to identify exactly where the holes in my viewing are (though international fare is always a big sticking point), given the whole movie year could be reduced a flat list on a couple streaming websites, but here we are. Sorry to Driveways, The Father, Beanpole, Shirley, She Dies Tomorrow, French Exit, Kajillionaire, Swallow, etc. Also, a note on Small Axe: I've decided that, since it was conceived of as a TV offering and was made as such, and director Steve McQueen is on record saying that he intended it to be TV, I'm gonna go ahead and call it TV and say none of the individual films of the series are eligible here. And I think that's fine? Lately, we seem to do this thing where if something on TV is good enough, we stop saying it's TV and give it honorary film status. Why? I think it's ok for things to be themselves. There may be a perception that TV implies a lesser quality, but I don't know if we need to perpetuate that. And, of course, the distinction (or lack thereof) between streaming and theatrical releases further confuses this, particularly in a year where all theatrical releases are hypothetical. I'm definitely not saying that if you've got Small Axe as a film or films, you're wrong. You're probably right! But I'm an obstinate young thing, so here we are. This also applies to TV films like Bad Education, miniseries like I May Destroy You or It's a Sin, etc.

Here's what I saw:

#Alive, Ammonite, Amulet, And Then We Danced, Another Round, The Assistant, Bacurau, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar, Birds of Prey, Black Bear, Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Calm with Horses, Collective, Crip Camp, Da 5 Bloods, Dick Johnson is Dead, Emma., Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, First Cow, The Forty-Year-Old Version, Gretel and Hansel,Happiest Season, Hillbilly Elegy, His House, I'm No Longer Here, I'm Thinking of Ending Things, The Invisible Man, Judas and the Black Messiah, Let Them All Talk, The Life Ahead, Lingua Franca, The Little Things, La Llorona, Love and Monsters, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Mank, The Midnight Sky, Minari, Miss Juneteenth, Monsoon, Mulan, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, The New Mutants, News of the World, Nomadland, Onward, One Night in Miami, Palm Springs, Pieces of a Woman, Possessor, The Prom, Promising Young Woman, Relic, The Rental, Ride Your Wave, Sorry We Missed You, Soul, Sound of Metal, A Sun, Tenet, Time, The Trial of the Chicago 7, Underwater, Undine, The Vast of Night, Vitalina Varela, The Way Back, We Are Little Zombies, Welcome to Chechnya, Wild Mountain Thyme, Wolfwalkers, Your Name Engraved Herein

Alright, without further ado (a crushing blow to big fans of ado), let's get to it!

(just a heads up: a piece of these here and there might be stolen from my letterboxd review, because either a) I liked what I wrote there and thought it would add something here or b) was being very lazy)

(second heads up: I'll list where these movies are available to stream. Some of these titles are available to rent on Amazon, but I'd like to take a second to encourage you to observe the Amazon boycott in support of unionizing workers that lasts through Saturday, March 13th.)

Honorable mentions: I'm going to break tradition this year and give five, five! honorable mentions ("what?" you shriek, clutching your pearls), because movies #25-12 are all at basically the same level, and could switch orders at the slightest provocation. So, although they didn't grab a somewhat arbitrary top 20 slot, I'm still grateful for the stillness and horrific accountability of La Llorona, the warmth and character of Miss Juneteenth, the wounded placelessness of Monsoon, the romance and motion of And Then We Danced, and the night terrors of His House

20. The Vast of Night  (dir. Andrew Patterson)
A comforting (maybe too comforting?) blend of intimacy and spookiness, complete with a couple of long takes (and an ending) that are pretty dazzling in their confidence and execution. I admire the ambition of this small-scale sci-fi, drifting somewhere between a radio play and a one-take movie.
(streaming on Amazon Prime)

19. The Invisible Man (dir. Leigh Whannell)
Lots of horror films carrying the weight of their own allegories this year (two of which, His House and La Llorona, are in the honorable mentions and absolutely deserve your time) vying for attention, but I've given the slightest edge to this claustrophobic take domestic abuse (and maybe that edge only comes from the fact that I saw this in theaters). A claustrophobic and ingenious spin on the source material that contains some of the most shocking moments of the year.
(streaming on HBO max, rentable on Amazon, Google Play, Youtube, etc.)

18. Wolfwalkers (dir. Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart)
One of the most beautiful animated movies I've ever seen--the rare kind of work that feels like it's taught you things about your imagination that you didn't know. The color, the music, the expressive lines that melt into abstractions during emotional scenes, all pulling together to create remarkable and distinctive constellations.
(streaming only on Apple TV, unfortunately)

17. Minari (dir. Lee Isaac Chung)
Such an intimate and striking portrait of a family doing their best--cliché to call something quintessentially American, but it fits here. Remarkable work from one of the best ensembles of the year: can't recall anything that's quietly taken my breath away like the way Steven Yeun and Yeri Han look at each other/the camera in a crucial scene near the end.
(rentable on Amazon, Google Play, Youtube, etc., for a hefty fee)

16. Emma. (dir. Autumn de Wilde)
Surprised by the staying power of this sassy Easter basket Jane Austen adaptation, but it's stuck with me all year: the way it 'opens up' Jane Austen and makes it modern without seeming to strain for it, the way it braids music into and out of the onscreen action, the way it navigates multiple tonal shifts from farce to romance to (light) tragedy and back in the space of a single scene. Throw in the precarious, eye-popping costumes and the most ravishable male cast this side of Magic Mike and there you go.
(streaming on HBO max, rentable on Amazon, Google Play, Youtube, etc.)

15. Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar (dir. Josh Greenbaum)
The unhinged, wholesome antics we all needed from a 2020 comedy, where the beaches are magic, the hair is big, and Jamie Dornan sings to seagulls and it feels right. Like Trish rising from the sea, Barb and Star gave us a world of goofy wonder when those qualities were needed most.
(rentable on Amazon, Google Play, Youtube, etc., but for a fairly significant fee)

14. Wild Mountain Thyme (dir. John Patrick Shanley)
Why yes, I do have 2020's lurid, critically reviled fever dream about horny sad farmers with destinies in my top 20--you can thank your lucky goddamn stars that it's not in my top 10. A totally singular experience that I started watching and enjoying ironically, but soon forgot to be ironic about it--very stupid, very silly, very overwrought, puzzling, romantic (I guess), and totally perfect, with what is arguably the single most surprising sentence in the history of film, or possibly the English language.(rentable on Amazon, Google Play, Youtube, etc.)

13. The Forty-Year-Old Version (dir. Radha Blank)
What a total delight this movie is, and a singular effort from Radha Blank, who writes, directs, produces, acts, raps, and rocks the hell out of an evening gown/tux jacket combo. One of the funniest movies of the year, and one of the sweetest, all while never losing the little seeds of anger and grief that motivate the protagonist.
(streaming on Netflix)

12. One Night in Miami (dir. Regina King)
Another movie anchored by a fantastic cast, this one essentially a four-hander playing four icons taking a moment to sit and reflect. A little stagy, but the staginess preserves and accentuates how the energy ebbs and flows between everyone, different peaks and match-ups growing organically out of the last.
(streaming on Amazon Prime)

11. Relic (dir. Natalie Erika James)
Such an ugly and upsetting movie that nevertheless retains a degree of tenderness, crawling over broken glass and down a well to find itself again. An taut and hideous horror movie, a look at love across generations, and the closest we'll probably ever get to a Danielewski/House of Leaves adaptation--plus one of the best endings of the year.
(rentable on Google Play and Youtube)

10. Promising Young Woman (dir. Emerald Fennell)
Where to even start with this one? The casting is fantastic, the kind of casting that illustrates what an invisible art looks like when it screams at you, and the whole ensemble is great, the framing/costuming/color choices are wild, and every single needle drop is on point. So how the hell do I feel about the rest of it? I'm honestly not sure. We can debate if the ending is successful or if it's wish fulfillment (or if it's successful because it's wish fulfillment), and we can talk about the film's ratio of respectful to exploitative in regards to using sexual abuse to drive a storyline, and we can talk about whether the movie wants to give us a girl-power revenge fantasy, or if that's just what the advertising tried to sell--we can talk about all these things, but I don't know that it makes a difference. It's ridiculous to say that the conversation, and not its content, is the point, but to an extent...maybe? Love it or hate it, people who see this movie have thoughts. It's a scream of thereness about something that makes people avert their eyes. Massive, strange, disturbed and disturbing. I don't even know if I like this movie, but I've thought about it more than most of the movies I've seen in the past year. Go get it Paris Hilton!
(rentable on Amazon, Google Play, Youtube, etc. for a hefty fee)

(Take that brevity! Get in my bathtub and start drinking!)
(I don't know.)

9. Lingua Franca (dir. Isabel Sandoval)
A lovely lowkey movie in which warmth and anxiety sleep in the same bed. I love how sensual and observant this movie is, due no doubt to Sandoval's careful attention to the choreography of bodies, individually or together,  and attention to the holes in a life that stillness fills, for better or worse. 
(streaming on Netflix)

8. Nomadland (dir. Chloe Zhao)
A gorgeous and delicate portait that Zhao carves out of the silent spaces of the American West. It's tough to make big and empty feel positive and necessary, and even more tough to do so with a series of little moments of fullness. Nomadland is a kinetoscope of grief, of the way that endings grow out of beginnings, and vice versa, and deserves all the accolades it's been receiving. The way we experience so little of the people on screen beyond the little events of their day--what it's like to refurbish a van, to be a line cook, or to sit quietly in the desert and wait for nothing. There's a quietness here that feels rare, both in movies and in the world at large. Plus, it's one of the most visually stunning movies of the year: I think this is the first movie I've seen from last year where I felt truly gutted that I didn't see it on a big screen.
(streaming on Hulu)

7. Bacurau (dir. Juliano Dornelles and Kleber Mendonca Filho)
Absolutely bonkers: what a joy to get something this angry and unhinged. I hesitate to say anything at all about this movie, since it's best experienced when you've got absolutely no idea what you're in for, but if you want some idea, gird your loins for a murderous Udo Keir, UFO drones, sudden horrific violence, soup, corruption, drugs, etc. (not necessarily in that order). The kind of movie where you need to scrape your jaw off the floor every few minutes. It's drunk on its own audacity, and rightfully so--a furious festering wound scraped into the landscape by the colonial legacy, the influence of a gleefully corrupt and and despotic government, erupting in a moment that lasts a second and a century.
(streaming on the Criterion Channel, rentable on Amazon, Google Play, Youtube, etc.)

6. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets (dir. Bill Ross, Turner Ross)
I'm still staggered and astounded by this one, which I rented on a whim months ago. A documentary about a local bar closing at the height of the recession (that was filmed recently in a bar that is not closing, populated by non-actors found in other bars), Bloody Nose... has more authenticity and empathy growing out of its pockets than it knows what to do with. This isn't to say that the bar, or its patrons, gets romanticized or idealized, just that they occupy space, and all the monstrosities and joys that that entails, at least for one night.
(rentable on amazon, google play, youtube, etc.)

5. Dick Johnson is Dead (dir. Kirsten Johnson)
Another documentary with a tightrope premise: what if the filmmaker films her aging father until he dies for real? Holding time in your hands like it's made of silk, and trying not to let it wrap around your hands, in case you start to believe that it can stay there. For whatever reason, I think about the old TV stars and their families all the time--how nice, or maybe not, it must be to have hours and hours of proof of who they or their loved one used to be. Or maybe watching it makes the passage of time just a little too sharp. Or hey, maybe no one has actually ever gotten any catharsis from watching, I dunno, the the 70s run of All My Children. Anyway. More documentaries with a dancing Jesus in them.
(streaming on Netflix)

4. Time (dir. Garrett Bradley)
Three documentaries in the top 10 is certainly a rarity for me, but that's the kind of year it is. Astounding how an 82-minute movie can make time and waiting so tangible. No, maybe that's not entirely accurate. It's not that the film makes the passage of time manifest; it destroys it entirely, crushing it under an industrial press, so that children rub shoulders with teens rub shoulders with adults, and the distinctions don't matter because they all happen in the same hypothetical negative space. Bradley's look at the punishing effects of incarceration on one family underline the utter injustice of what its subjects experience by feats of subtraction. I've read reviews that wanted this movie to show the passage of time more concretely and chronologically, but why? The footage we see shot across decades spills into two pools--waiting and not waiting--and every moment that belongs to waiting sutures itself to the rest. At any rate, it's a poignant and necessary movie--take 90 minutes and watch it.
(streaming on amazon prime)

(Just wanted to step in and marvel not only at the relative strangeness of having three documentaries in a row, but also at how they're all, in their own way, about figuring out how to pass time, or to let time pass you)

3. Never Rarely Sometimes Always (dir. Eliza Hittman)
Another movie to make you feel quietly angry and bolstered, but at what cost, on a Friday night (and what does anyone want, if not that?). The film's "Rural Teen Abortion Odyssey" logline doesn't really do much work as far as selling it is concerned, and I can't honestly claim that the movie isn't essentially what you're expecting. Still, if you're in the mood for some bracing realism, you'd be hard-pressed to find something better than Hittman's muted journey out of hell to a slightly larger hell, and then back again. Never Rarely... never overstates its case, nor tries to sensationalize things to get the audience inside. Instead, quiet moments cascade like a tidal wave in a snow globe--there's no real escape to be had, but you do what you can. But when the movie does decide to punch, it punches hard: the scene from which the movie gets its title is as powerful and upsetting as anything I saw in movies this year. And for all the exploitation and the pain, there are tiny moments of strength, if not joy. Holding a friend's pinkie around a corner isn't nothing, and the film sings when its two teenage protagonists see and understand each other.
(streaming on HBO max, rentable on Amazon, Google Play, Youtube etc.)

2. First Cow (dir. Kelly Reichardt)
Dreams, like baking, are hard: everything has to go exactly right at the exact right moment, with the exact right materials, and even then, it still might not matter. This is even more true when trying to bake (or dream) in a world excited to watch you fail, and ready to help you along the way. If Minari is the year's quintessentially American movie, then First Cow is its relative from 200 years prior, old bones waiting in the dirt to remind people of their own size. Reichardt's film is one of the most precisely controlled and carefully observed of the year: think of the way the entire film changes when Toby Jones looks sideways toward the camera, nothing emphasized or underlined except the way that slide re-builds a hierarchy that had been coming down, or the way the camera lingers on a crestfallen young worker who doesn't get to buy himself a biscuit, and how this moment of spontaneous empathy curdles into something worse as the film progresses. Throw in the evocative, minimalist design and some disgustingly pretty cinematography, and you've got the recipe (heh) (I've got to drop this already tenuous baking thing) for something truly special. I do wish that the film allowed itself to be more explicitly queer (the director herself said that she only sees the two men at the center of the movie as friends, but like...I don't know), but I still love it for what it is: a lonely forest poem about what it's like to get crushed by capitalism.
(streaming on Showtime, rentable on Amazon, Google Play, Youtube etc.)

1. Sound of Metal (dir. Darius Marder)
At first, I wondered if I only loved this movie because it happened to be the right movie at the right time. And certainly, that contributed: it was the first movie I watched to break my months-long movie slump, and deals with a character who loses something he loves, and has to learn how to love it differently, or find something new. Granted, I'm not in any way comparing anything that's happened in my life to the challenges that this character, or anyone in the deaf community, have faced; I just mean that this movie was well primed to reach someone who was feeling a little empty, and was wondering how to re-examine that emptiness. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the immersive sound design (surely one of the technical achievements of the year), or the skull sessions between Paul Raci and Riz Ahmed's characters, or the film's large ensemble of deaf actors. Sound of Metal is a ragged, driven, frenetic work that is totally absorbing from the first shot to the note-perfect ending. But if we're being honest, I mostly just want to talk about how I felt watching it. How it helped me remember what I love about movies, and how to step outside of and then back into myself, and how happy and thankful I am that something got me there. Thinking about when I was baptized as a kid, standing in chest-high water and thinking on the way down that the pastor could easily drown me if he wanted to, everyone looking on and me with no way to stop it. Anyway, I don't know that the experience made me better or worse, but I didn't drown, at least not on that day.

(streaming on Amazon Prime)

Well there we go! I've only been working for three-ish hours! It's worth briefly pointing out how films have directed by women have dominated the conversation this year. For my part, this is the first year where films directed by women have made up the majority of my top 20. 
Now, I'm going to grab a snack, and then, if you've got more in you (and you've left already, so why wouldn't you?), I'll run through the best scenes and worst movies of the year.

(I'll try to link to the scenes on Youtube, but no promises)
(Also: I generally avoid endings on this list, so as to avoid spoilers, but I've ended up picking a few with spoilers anyhow, so watch out--I'll mention the ones that I think give away too much)

10. Face Reveal-Welcome to Chechnya
Because of the danger that openly queer Russians/people from Chechnya if their identities were made public, Welcome to Chechnya employs digital face-masking effects, allowing the emotions and expressions of its subjects to come through without compromising their safety. When one of the subjects decides to go public with the story of the abused he faced at the hands of Chechen authorities, his disguise melts away--it's a powerful and upsetting moment that underlines what's at stake.
(The only version of this available on youtube was recorded directly off of someone's TV, but here you go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNC3hBCgERA)

9. Stars are Blind-Promising Young Woman
On first blush, it's a total oasis--a ridiculous pharmacy singalong to Paris Hilton's "Stars are Blind" that is unapologetically joyful in a difficult film. In retrospect, it's...something else, but I love it both for the silliness and the way it morphs into a different experience later.
(No clip, sadly, but hey, go listen to the song! It's a banger.)

8. They're Up There Right Now-The Vast of Night
This movie is great at sticking its audience in a tense or uncomfortable situation and then making them stew in it for a while, and this late-movie confession, in which our intrepid investigators visit an old woman who claims to know about aliens. It's a great mix of paranoia and possibility--neither the characters nor the audience knows how seriously we should take this story. It helps that actress Gail Cronauer sells the absolute shit out of this moment.
(A brief clip of a long scene. Maybe a little spoilery? But I think it's fine--it doesn't give away anything I didn't already write. Also, I, uh, do not co-sign the description at this link, but it's the only version on Youtube, so: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKP1xp8AZ7A )

7. Human Resources-The Assistant
An infuriating and defeating piece of an angry, upsetting movie. Believing that her boss (a Harvey Weinstein stand-in) is taking advantage of a new young hire, Julia Garner's character goes to human resources to see what it is she can do. It's a masterclass in how entire systems are built to protect and maintain abusers, and how easy it is to be trampled underneath them.
(The second half of the scene, in which the HR guy stomps down on her complaint: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=972P9XLWyoE

6. The Restaurant-The Invisible Man
Huuuuuge spoilers here, but I couldn't not include it, so. One of the more surprising scenes of the year.
(Again, big spoilers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGHpgXgpSh4)

5. Edgar's Song-Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar
Look, when Jamie Dornan bursts into song about scampering up a palm tree, I have no choice. 
(Tragically, the scene itself isn't on youtube, which is a bummer, cuz it's great, but here's the song itself, anyway: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCe4votU-8A)

4. Chain Gang-One Night in Miami
Leslie Odom Jr.'s Sam Cooke flips a disastrous concert on its head. Such a great moment--the ensemble gets to shine together, Leslie Odom Jr. gets to flex his vocal muscles, and the moment itself, Cooke reconciling with Malcolm X, is indelible. 
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMP_a1MhANA)

3. Real Stillness-Sound of Metal
Near the end of the second act, Riz Ahmed's character makes a decision that leads into direct conflict with Paul Raci's mentor. I won't talk about the details (spoilers), but this scene is a showcase of some of the year's most powerful acting. If you haven't seen this movie, go watch it! (...but not right away, as it's only available on Amazon, and I'll re-encourage you to participate in the Amazon boycott that lasts until the 13th.)
(no clip)

2. A Funeral-Dick Johnson is Dead
Going against my no end/near end scenes principle to include this one. I won't say anything, for fear of spoiling it, but I'll just say that it made me cry like a baby, and then laugh, and then cry again. What a great movie.
(no clip)

1. The Titular Scene-Never Rarely Sometimes Always
This scene hits like a truck. Sidney Flanigan's pregnant teen has to answer some personal questions with 'never,' 'rarely,' 'sometimes,' and 'always.' What follows is a rare moment of emotional vulnerability (intended or not), and a window in the world that pushed her into the place she is now. It's a massive and painful feat of writing and acting.
(clip tw: discussions of physical/sexual assault. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfZ15TaQ3ZM)

And finally, the worst movies of the year! While I don't want to dwell in negativity, there can be some joyful catharsis in burning down the things that don't spark joy. So let's burn some things! Do note that I avoided a lot of the movies that were widely regarded as bad, so this can just as easily stand as a most disappointing list. Still, shockingly, Hillbilly Elegy isn't gonna make this list. I'm flabbergasted too. But rest assured--it'd probably be #6. 

5. Black Bear
How did this happen, and more importantly, what does anyone see in this? I hate calling a movie pretentious (lots of movies are pretentious, and so am I), but it's hard to think of a movie more obsessed with how great it is. Dumb, self-assured, weird about women. Not even Aubrey Plaza can save this.

4. The New Mutants
Look, the X-Men were such a pivotal part of childhood and adolescence that I'm gonna drag myself to every last one of these--I trudged out to a multiplex in Prague in February to catch an 11.00 pm showing of Logan just so I didn't miss it in theaters--but why does that have to be a punishment? What a waste of a decent premise and interesting and underused characters this movie is.

3. The Little Things
This is apparently Oscar-bound, and I have trouble classifying what kind of crime against humanity that is, as it fits so many categories of crime against humanity. Terrible acting! Hopelessly derivative! Only in death can women be good! I swear if Jared Leto gets an Oscar nom for this I am going to eat my own arm.

2. Mulan
Is this a better film than The Little Things? ...Maybe, but it is still atrocious, and Disney deserves to be punished, so here we are. These live-action remakes are inherently artistically bankrupt, but this version also has the good/bad sense to remove everything that was interesting and worthwhile about the original and replace it with literally nothing. Throw in a deeply unnecessary chosen-one narrative: Mulan isn't special because she's loyal, or brave, or caring, she's special because she is literally the most magical person in China, and always has been. Just thinking about this makes my heart race with righteous fury.

1. The Prom
Speaking of righteous fury: what the ACTUAL GODDAMN SHIT was anyone involved with this thinking? I'm not gonna beat a dead talentless comedian by reiterating that James Corden's performance is one of the worst in the history of cinema, and how you can see little gold statues dancing in his eyes during his big crying moment, what a monstrosity, and telling Ryan Murphy that his stuff is bad only makes him stronger. But like...had no one edited a feature film before being involved with this movie? Or been near music? God I hate this movie so much. It is so, so stupid. And so poorly made! Someone put Ryan Murphy in timeout, wherein 'timeout' means 'inside an active volcano.'

And there you have it! I'll be back tomorrow with performances, screenplays, and directing, wherein I'm sure I will use too many words to say either too much or too little. But in the meantime--what do you think? What movies did I miss? What deserves another chance? 

Final 2019 Oscar Predictions

If you're feeling vaguely blogged out, I can't say I blame you. I also tend to feel the exhaustion down into my overworked fingertips by the time I get to the end of the big February blog week, with Oscar rearing its inevitable leviathan head, forcing me to keep my own deadlines. But what can I say? For better or worse, spending entirely too much time writing overly elaborate movie posts in February is who I am. This is my fifteenth year of doing it, and no force on this or any other earth can stop me. And why should it? The Oscars are silly, they're serious, they're too much and not enough and why should anyone care? But for all their flaws, they set the pace, and the wild-eyed, movie-crazed community that has sprung up around them is one of the best parts of my day (because yes, you can in fact follow the Oscars every single day of the year! Count your lucky stars that I'm not inflicting that on you). So here I am. I've got a whole bunch of thoughts about my precious little gold men, and I'm ready to unleash them in a confetti and red carpet-laden torrent.

So let's do it! If you're here, you know what you're in for, and what we're all in for is glorious. Do note that I tend to predict more for fun than I do accuracy. There are plenty of places online if you want the best odds on what wins every category, but over here we try and guess when the Academy might release the hounds.

Best Picture
The nominees:
1917
Ford v Ferrari
The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Little Women
Marriage Story
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Parasite

Still some uncertainty here, despite what some sources might tell you. Easy money says that 1917, the last movie out of the gate and the one that built its momentum at the perfect time, takes a quick win here. And that's certainly likely--the movie is obviously well-liked, it the right shade of noble manliness to appeal to the Academy, and it's got a snazzy technical hook to keep it in the conversation. But there are a number of nominations that a movie is supposed to get if it wants to win best picture (specifically, best director, screenplay, film editing, any acting nomination, and the Screen Actors Guild best ensemble category). Plenty of movies have won best picture after missing one of these nods, but no movie has ever won having missed more than one. And, wouldn't you know it, 1917 missed three. So bear in mind that if you call 1917 for the top prize, you're predicting something completely unprecedented.
Of course it only complicates matters that 1917's biggest competition, Parasite, would be equally unprecedented, as no film not in English has ever won best picture. Still, Parasite has *huge* pockets of support (it won the Screen Actors Guild ensemble prize as well as the American Cinema Editors prize--the first time a non-English film has won either of those prizes). If we want to spend any time talking about the old/new Academy (i.e. the pre-#oscarssowhite Academy and the 3.000 new members they've invited in the past few years in an attempt to diversify), here's where we do it, as voting for Parasite now--an already beloved movie--would make a huge statement about the kind of institution the Academy wants to be.
Other than these two? There's a sliver of a chance that Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, once the presumed frontrunner, ekes out a win based on its overall likeability (voters vote for best picture with a ranked system, which means that being well liked is just as important as having a lot of passionate support). And Jojo Rabbit, for whatever infernal reason, has had a huge energy surge in the past 10-ish days (aka exactly when the ballots were due). I don't think it'll happen, but we still (for now) live in the shadow of a Jojo Rabbit best picture win.

Will Win: 1917
Could Win: Parasite
Should Win: Little Women
Should Have Been Here: One Cut of the Dead

Director
The nominees:
Bong Joon-Ho-Parasite
Sam Mendes-1917
Todd Phillips-Joker
Martin Scorsese-The Irishman
Quentin Tarantino-Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

1917's flashy one-take concept probably guarantees Mendes his second Oscar, but if the Academy really gets in a Parasite mood, Bong Joon-ho could become just the second person to win best director for a non-English film (after last year's Alfonso Cuaron/Roma). Tarantino's also a vague threat for the sentimental vote, but this is mostly Mendes' award to lose.

Will Win: Sam Mendes-1917
Could Win: Bong Joon-Ho-Parasite
Should Win: Bong Joon-Ho-Parasite
Should Have Been Here: Nadav Lapid-Synonyms

Actress
The nominees:
Cynthia Erivo-Harriet
Scarlet Johansson-Marriage Story
Saoirse Ronan-Little Women
Charlize Theron-Bombshell
Renee Zellweger-Judy

The narrative will be the same for all the acting categories: there's one ironclad frontrunner, and any of them missing would be a huge upset. Each of them has won all of the four major televised awards thus far (critics choice award, golden globe, screen actors guild award, british academy award), and only one person has ever lost the Oscar after doing so. Your frontrunner here is Zellweger--so strange that no other narrative got any breathing room this year, given she already has an Oscar, and neither she nor the film is particularly beloved. Still, what can you do?

Will Win: Renee Zellweger-Judy
Could Win: Scarlet Johansson-Marriage Story
Should Win: Scarlet Johansson-Marriage Story
Should Have Been Here: Lupita N'yongo-Us

Actor
The nominees:
Antonio Banderas-Pain and Glory
Leonardo Dicaprio-Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Adam Driver-Marriage Story
Joaquin Phoenix-Joker
Jonathan Pryce-The Two Popes

One of the only mercies this year is that, despite its monstrous nomination tally, Joker is unlikely to win that much. That said, the ones it might win are categories it will probably steamroll. Case in point: Phoenix here.

Will Win: Joaquin Phoenix-Joker
Could Win: Adam Driver-Marriage Story
Should Win: Adam Driver-Marriage Story
Should Have Been Here: Willem Dafoe-The Lighthouse

Supporting Actress
The nominees:
Kathy Bates-Richard Jewell
Laura Dern-Marriage Story
Scarlet Johansson-Jojo Rabbit
Florence Pugh-Little Women
Margot Robbie-Bombshelll

Ok, this is the one place where we might anticipate a bit of nasty, nasty chaos. Laura Dern's Oscar seems assured, and you'd be silly not to predict her. However. Marriage Story has taken a huge dive--once the frontrunner, now no one seems to talk about it, or even like it. And some people are mystified that Dern's role is the Oscar-winning performance. Enter Jojo Rabbit, a movie that has been gaining steam, and Scarlet Johansson, who is nominated twice this year (and 7 out of 11 double nominees have won Oscars in their year). So...who's to say? It's not smart to bet against any of the acting frontrunners, but this might be the place for anarchy.

Will Win: Laura Dern-Marriage Story
Could Win: Scarlett Johansson-Jojo Rabbit (though I was planning on predicting a surprise Scarjo win until the last possible second--I'm just not brave enough)
Should Win: Laura Dern-Marriage Story
Should Have Been Here: Jennifer Lopez-Hustlers (shoulda been you, Jen)

Supporting Actor
The nominees:
Tom Hanks-A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Anthony Hopkins-The Two Popes
Al Pacino-The Irishman
Joe Pesci-The Irishman
Brad Pitt-Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

No intrigue here. Pitt wins in a lazy walk.

Will Win: Brad Pitt-Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Could Win: Joe Pesci-The Irishman
Should Win: Brad Pitt-Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Should Have Been Here: Song Kang-Ho-Parasite

Original Screenplay
The nominees:
1917
Knives Out
Marriage Story
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Parasite

Probably a fight between Parasite and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, depending on which the Academy decides needs more recognition. I don't imagine that 1917 will win here, but watch out if it looks to sweep.

Will Win: Parasite
Could Win: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Should Win: Parasite
Should Have Been Here: One Cut of the Dead

Adapted Screenplay
The nominees:
The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Little Women
The Two Popes

Another tough-ish call. Do we get to see Greta Gerwig with an Oscar in her hands, or does Jojo Rabbit's late-breaking energy win the day? Or does The Irishman rally at the last minute? It's probably one of the first two, but just flip a coin.

Will Win: Jojo Rabbit
Could Win: Little Women
Should Win: Little Women
Should Have Been Here: Hustlers

Production Design
The nominees:
1917
The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Parasite

One big question for all the craft categories--should we expect 1917 to sweep, or should we expect some of the other best picture nominees to give it trouble? If we believe the second option is true, then look for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood's big LA '69 vibes to carry the day here when pitted against the mostly outdoor shenanigans of 1917. It'd be nice to dream that Parasite has a chance, but it might be too contemporary, and the Academy rarely looks at non-period pieces in the design categories.

Will Win: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Could Win: 1917
Should Win: Parasite
Should Have Been Here: Midsommar

Costume Design
The nominees:
The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Little Women
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Once again we've got Once Upon a Time in Hollywood looking to unseat another best picture nominee, this time the big civil war gowns in Little Women. As is becoming a theme, look for Jojo Rabbit to upset here if its big energy translates into actual wins.

Will Win: Little Women
Could Win: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Should Win: Little Women
Should Have Been Here: Booksmart

Visual Effects
The nominees:
1917
Avengers: Endgame
The Irishman
The Lion King
Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker

Maybe one of the toughest categories to predict? Or at least one with the widest possible spread of winners. Generally, if a best picture nominee gets in here, it wins, unless more than one best picture nominee gets in (like this year's 1917 and The Irishman), in which case all bets are off. Still, either of those could carry the day, based on how popular they are (and 1917 is looking to be popular). That said, neither even remotely resembles the bigger, effects-driven pictures that tend to win here. The Lion King could echo The Jungle Book's 2016 victory for essentially the same concept (photoreal animals), and it's easy to forget that, despite being an atrocity against all cinema, The Lion King is one of the highest grossing and widely seen films of the year. Which brings us to Avengers: wildly popular, obscenely profitable, and never embraced by the Academy. Maybe Oscar decides that now's the time to reward the Marvel gang, or maybe they decide to continue their decade-long indifference.

Will Win: 1917
Could Win: The Lion King
Should Win: Avengers: Endgame
Should Have Been Here: Detective Pikachu

Makeup and Hairstyling
The nominees:
1917
Bombshell
Joker
Judy
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

This is presumably Bombshell's to lose? Celebrity lookalike makeup and showy prosthetics tend to win out here, and Bombshell has both in spades. Look for 1917 to upset here--if it wins this, then be prepared for it to have a huge night.

Will Win: Bombshell
Could Win: 1917
Should Win: 1917
Should Have Been Here: Midsommar

Film Editing
The nominees:
Ford v Ferrari
The Irishman
Joker
Jojo Rabbit
Parasite

Ok, this is *definitely* one of the hardest of the night, as any one of these movies could win. Look to Ford v Ferrari for the easiest answer--it's got lots of showy car-race scenes, and apparently enough people loved it to get it a best picture nom, so. Editing giant and legend Thelma Schoonmaker cut The Irishman, and the Thelma love/the respect for the immense degree of difficulty involved in shaping a 210-minute movie might win out. Parasite might have the showiest editing, and everyone who sees it praises it for its pacing and suspense. Joker could take the award on account of a vague pro-action movie bias in this category, and Jojo Rabbit, like in so many other categories, could capitalize on its late-breaking popularity here. So watch your screens! If Ford or Irishman (and probably Joker as well) wins this, it means nothing for the big races. Parasite winning this doesn't automatically mean it'll win best picture, but it's hard to imagine Parasite winning best picture without triumphing here first. And if Jojo Rabbit wins, then all bets are off--go hug the ones you love, because Jojo will be coming for all the big awards.

Will Win: Joker
Could Win: Parasite
Should Win: Parasite
Should Have Been Here: Uncut Gems

Cinematography
The nominees:
1917
The Irishman
Joker
The Lighthouse
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Finally, after the tough categories, something easy: 1917 wins this in a walk. No way anything else takes it down.

Will Win: 1917
Could Win: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Should Win: The Lighthouse
Should Have Been Here: The Last Black Man in San Francisco

Original Score
The nominees:
1917
Joker
Little Women
Marriage Story
Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker

Also a (fairly) easy call? Joker's got all the steam it needs to come out on top. Again, if 1917 is going to dominate the evening, than a win here would be an early indicator.

Will Win: Joker
Could Win: 1917
Should Win: 1917
Should Have Been Here: The Last Black Man in San Francisco

Sound Mixing
The nominees:
1917
Ad Astra
Ford v Ferrari
Joker
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

The only question--are Ford v Ferrari's very loud car races enough to push past 1917, the best picture frontrunner in a category that is traditionally very war-friendly? Maybe, but probably not.

Will Win: 1917
Could Win: Ford v Ferrari
Should Win: 1917
Should Have Been Here: The Lighthouse

Sound Editing
The nominees:
1917
Ford v Ferrari
Joker
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker

Copy and paste the argument from above. It's always tempting to call a split in this situation, with each movie taking one sound award, but there's no easier way to screw over your prediction success than to all the wrong split, so I'll stick with 1917 and call it good.

Will Win: 1917
Could Win: Ford v Ferrari
Should Win: Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker
Should Have Been Here: The Lighthouse

Original Song
The nominees:
"I Can't Let You Throw Yourself Away"-Toy Story 4
"I'm Gonna Love Me Again"-Rocketman
"I'm Standing with You"-Breakthrough
"Into the Unknown"-Frozen 2
"Stand Up"-Harriet

Oof, what an atrocious batch of nominees (and tough luck this year for song titles not starting with "I"). Conventional wisdom suggests that the Rocketman song wins, both for Elton John love and to recognize a movie that might have seemed under-recognized. I suppose "Stand Up" could win as a 'we're not voting for you for best actress, but we still like you" prize for Cynthia Erivo (who co-wrote the song), and "Into the Unknown" might win by default in a year with no particularly exciting options.

Will Win: "I'm Gonna Love Me Again"-Rocketman
Could Win: "Stand Up"-Harriet
Should Win: "Stand Up"-Harriet
Should Have Been Here: "Glasgow"-Wild Rose

Animated Film
The nominees:
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
I Lost My Body
Klaus
Missing Link
Toy Story 4

Another tough category--anything but How to Train Your Dragon has a shot. Toy Story was the lackluster frontrunner for most of the season, with most people assuming that voters would autopilot-vote for Pixar in a year without a clear frontrunner. But then Missing Link won the golden globe, Klaus won the British academy, and I Lost My Body and Klaus dominated the Annies (the Oscars of animated movies) while Toy Story was shut out entirely. So now who knows? It's a free for all, and when there's a free for all, the winner is all too often the easiest choice. But who knows?

Will Win: Klaus
Could Win: Toy Story 4
Should Win: I Lost My Body
Should Have Been Here: Frozen 2 (which wasn't great, but I liked it and you can't stop me)

International Film
The nominees:
Corpus Christi-Poland
Honeyland-North Macedonia
Les Miserables-France
Pain and Glory-Spain
Parasite-South Korea

Easy choice--whenever a non-English language film is has a shot in the major categories, the win here is a given.

Will Win: Parasite-South Korea
Could Win: Pain and Glory-Spain
Should Win: Parasite*
Should Have Been Here: Atlantics-Senegal

*I haven't seen Les Miserables or Corpus Christi

Documentary Feature
The nominees:
American Factory
The Cave
The Edge of Democracy
For Sama
Honeyland

Whooo boy, no idea. Honeyland might have the edge, as it's the only movie here nominated in any other category, and it's critically beloved. But both For Sama and American Factory have won the lion's share of industry awards. Search me.

Will Win: Honeyland
Could Win: American Factory
Should Win: abstain (I've only seen Honeyland and American Factory, despite all of these being readily available online. I'm so bad at watching documentaries.)


And there's that! I've got 1917 as the big winner of the night with six Oscars to its name, and with at least two more possible wins waiting in the wings. Still, I've got Joker winning three just to remind us that everything is terrible.
We'll see how it turns out! The Oscars begin on Sunday at 6 PM mountain time, so tune in then to see how furious or happy we all get to be!

Best of 2019, part 3; craft categories

And now the part we've all been waiting for (wherein 'we' means me and 'have been waiting for' means 'have been putting off or unable to do because of other work'): that blessed moment of the year where I get to sing all of you sweet songs about weeping cellos, oozing prosthetic fantasias, and alphabet sets sutured together with white midnight lights. I am talking, of course, about all the movie stuff that everyone needs but never gets the amount of ink it deserves: the crafts! Do you love Star Wars? What kind of movie would it be without the loudest and most jubilant opening score in movie history? You say you want to watch Marvel movies? Where would you be without the army of patient artists spending hours of their life casually animating realistic Incredible Hulk dick physics? We don't have movies without all the people below the line, their names lighting up empty theaters after we've all ducked out of the credits. Well, the hell with that. I deeply, deeply love these parts of moviemaking, and what's more, I love writing about them more than all other parts. Don't ask me why I liked a screenplay or a performance, but please ask me what my favorite dress in Little Women was, or why I want the makeup crew for Us to do all my Halloween looks. Ask me these questions every time you see me, and I will be your very best friend. Until you see me next, however, allow me to take a minute (or many minutes) of your time to regale you with all the movie details that I loved this year. And there were so many of them, so get ready for me to be really goddamn positive.

In interest of putting a face on some of these things, I've added some visuals to the lists. They should enlarge when you click on them, but I make no promises, as my technical skills are less than garbage.

Note: I didn't include pictures or videos for film editing or the sound categories, because I don't really know how to capture film editing compellingly in a way that didn't wast either my time or yours, and I don't have the resources to make audio clips for the sound categories (which I would love to do every year #soundeditingforever).


Production Design
5. Shadow-monochrome yin-yang fantasies, a perpetually cold and dripping world, everything falling off a jet black cliff at sharp angles.

(source)

4. The Lighthouse-much credit has been given to another film whose sets were famously built from scratch (which we'll certainly get to in a moment), but less has been said about the equally mind-boggling achievement of construction for The Lighthouse, in which everything you see on screen was physically constructed for the movie. It's a proper little maritime hell, full of coal dust and fetid mattresses, pocketed by walls built to let the wind in.

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3. 1917-gets that the world needs to feel like a primordial hellscape, all mud and bones and rats trapped in coiled wires. It's somewhat rare to get a war movie that feels as lived-in and as resolutely hideous as this one.

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2. Midsommar-incredible detail on each wall, an entire history of sunny sacrifice and ursine frolics on every surface, combined with those malevolent arches and the ubiquitous and unknowable Great Big Yellow Triangle.

1. Parasite-the biggest design story of the year, when it was revealed that all of the spaces in this movie, from the massive Kim home to the entire (floodable) street on which the Parks live, were built from scratch for the movie. That wouldn't be as impressive as it is, of course, if the spaces themselves aren't the character-defining horror opuses that they are--the Kim house's cube monstrosities and the grey sewage chains that float that linger in the walls of the Park apartment.

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Honorable mention: the wonderfully over-decorated murder mystery mansion of Knives Out

Costume Design
5. Little Women-beautiful character work here, tracking Emma Watson's fancy/not-fancy/fancy-but-apologetic finery, Florence Pugh's growth from resident chaos spirit/foot model to debutante, and Saoirse Ronan's vaguely mannish anti-marriage duds.

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4. Shadow-again, totally astounding what this movie accomplishes with its colorless palette-dragon armor, mentally unstable robes, and peasant guerilla chic.

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3. Hustlers-a decade's worth of finery for multiple colliding worlds--the pop performative panache of the club, the undercover evening gown armor when out on the take, and that fur coat. Plus, SWIMONA.

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2. Dolemite is My Name-Zany, bordering on totally insane work here. The colors like an unhinged easter basket! The hats the size of several planets! Garish and vibrant peacockish and strangely practical--a color wheel rioting across the highway.

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3. Booksmart-'the costumes are the jokes' is an *extremely* difficult concept to land, but Booksmart manages to let its audience know exactly who and what they're dealing with every time we see a new outfit, while still managing to be one of the funniest parts of the movie. And what costumes! Who wouldn't want to go out for a night on the town in one of those navy jumpsuits, or the dresses that look like they were bedazzled by the devil, or the slinky vintage murder mystery gown with the plunging neckline, or a Jareds, Jareds all the way down T-shirt?

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Honorable mention: festive murder-wear and the massive May Queen dress in Midsommar

Visual Effects

5. 1917--subtle but essential: all the planes, tanks, explosions, and nightmares stretching into infinity needed--as well as all the careful painting to remove all the film-making apparatuses--to create the look the movie's going for. 

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4. Ad Astra-atmosphere swan dives, moon fights, mars launches, and edge-of-the-system man caves--everything you need to sort out your daddy issues in space.

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3. Godzilla: King of the Monsters-I'm sorry, like I'm not gonna get real excited about watching Godzilla slap King Ghidorah with an entire city? I can only be who I am, and who I am loves watching big ol' monsters slap each other in glorious HD.

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2. Detective Pikachu-I was initially skeptical about this movie's look, but the finished project ended up with just the right combination of cuddliness, plausibility, and the sweet sweet dreams of a 10-year old me.

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1. Avengers: Endgame-Was there any other choice? It's a bit of a week year for this category, but that doesn't mean the capper for (this part of) the Avengers era is any less deserving of the accolades. There's so much muchness, but it's always legible and, at its best, kind of breathtaking.

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Honorable mention: I dunno, the spaceships, I guess, in Star Wars: Episode IX--The Rise of Skywalker

Makeup and Hairstyling

5. Captain Marvel-another vaguely underpopulated category this year, but I'll make some room for the crunchy popcorn skrull effects. Brie Larson's 90s feathering, and Annette Bening's functional computer haircuts.

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4. Judy-I'll admit that it is fully weird that we're two in and I've yet to find something I'm super passionate about? Maybe I haven't looked hard enough, or maybe it's an off year. But sure, I'll pay my respects to Judy's Judy transformation.

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3. Us-Now we're getting somewhere! Minimalist work, but extremely effective, delineating the lines between under/over-worlders, helping us (heh) track the differences between the characters and their doppelgänger while drawing our eye to all-too-present similarities.

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2. Midsommar-Do I have this hear just for those horrific exploding falling old people heads? I mean, it's part of it, but that would discount the last-act corpse arts and crafts, the body-altering arts and crafts that look like they've been cobbled together by a child with a passion for interior design, the other great gore moments, the incest prosthetics, and all the festive braids.

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1. 1917-it's strange--gore, wounds, and other horror elements are one of the most fundamental things movie makeup delivers on the regular, but it's the aspect of makeup that least frequently gets rewarded (at least in the face of old-age makeup, celebrity impersonation makeup, and heavy prosthetics). So I'm thrilled that a movie like 1917--for which gore makeup is absolutely essential--is getting some recognition. My favorite thing about this movie is the tangible, corporeal rot and filth of it all--everything is bodies and open wounds and blood and dirt mixing together into some kind of inescapable slime. And then imagine having to make sure that, since the movie pretends to take place in real time, you have to keep those effects looking completely continuous for the entire movie. Add in the subtle work to imply exhaustion as the movie goes on, and you've got a worthy winner.

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Honorable mention: natty period dos in Little Women

Note: I feel like I should mention why I kept Bombshell out of this category, as everyone who sees that movie talks about its (soon to be Oscar-winning) makeup. Simply put--I don't know what we gain from making the characters look so much like their real-life counterparts. Sure, it's well done (or not, as John Lithgow/Roger Ailes kind of looks like Jabba the Hutt....which, ok, maybe is well done after all), but to what end? Do we really get more from this movie because Charlize Theron looks so much like Megyn Kelly? So yes, the technique is impressive, but I'm not sure it served the movie--or at least it didn't serve my experience of the movie, and this is my party, so here we are.

Film Editing

5. Synonyms-hope you're not tired of me talking about how this movie looks and feels wild and unique, cuz here I go again! The pacing of this film is so bizarre (in a good way), scenes spilling into and over each other and then off the screen with seemingly little guidance, everything cut to the relentless rhythm with which the main character rattles off his synonym lists.

4. Little Women-does a stellar job of sorting through the film's two periods and jumping between all of its major storylines, keeping all of the plates happily spinning without losing the audience.

5. Hustlers-knows when to pile on the energy and when to dial down again to take a breath. The multiple montage moments (being friends with Ramona, drugging guys, etc.) are all phenomenal.

2. Uncut Gems-This movie wants to punish you with tension, it wants you to feel sick to your stomach--and the edit is how it gets there. Uncut Gems goes from 0-100 in all of ten seconds and knows to never take its foot off the gas.

1. Parasite-arguably the high-wire act of the year, in which comedy, drama, and horror are all wound together into a candy-colored tripwire and tossed out in front of an unsuspecting audience. Each scene--even the quietest ones--manage to seem a little breathless, a little manic, as each moment stacks on top of the one before it until the whole jenga tower falls in one unholy cacophony. 

Honorable mention: the languid, vaguely upsetting rhythms of Transit

Cinematography

5. 1917-Points, I suppose, for the degree of difficulty, but I'm more interested in the shifting shadows and colors of the night run, the way the sunrise pops, or how face drained of color fade into the wood, or the obsessive kinetic movement that all but knocks actors down in the final battle scenes.

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4. The Lighthouse-like a series of haunted daguerrotypes, all dank and perilous squares, greys shot through with a hateful wight light.

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3. Synonyms-A movie whose visual appeal is exceptionally difficult to capture in a picture or gif, as it's all about motion--the way that the camera tears the city apart looking for something, anything, the way characters, objects, locations drift in and out of the frame, and never exactly where you'd expect. It's the way the visuals mirror the main character's belief that the Seine is a test, and looking at the river's famously beautiful banks will keep you from discovering the truth about Paris, and so you have to avert your eyes from everything that you're expected to see.

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2. Atlantics-the sea, a solemn verdigris affair, the club, all green fireflies easily scattered, and the rest world, trapped in an ochre haze.

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1. The Last Black Man in San Francisco-life through a lens--or a few lenses, really--everything color and softness and fantasy, and time speeds up and slows down however we want it to, holding gilded age where and when it can, even when its pillow-eyes catch catch on a rusted nail or a pile of dead fish.

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Honorable mention: the alternating warm and perilous real-life tableau in Honeyland

Original Score

5. Atlantics-an unnerving and unsettling (or maybe resettling) synth soundscape from first time composer Fatima Al Qadiri--a perfect lilting elegy woven into the sea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJkGbX8i5M4

4. Parasite-a strangely under-celebrated element of the movie that's totally integral to its success. The Vivaldi strings chase the onscreen characters like cackling little shoulder devils.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYfWvatyNAQ

3. Uncut Gems-an 80s educational video meets an 80s drug-fueled trip through space and smashes together into this utterly bananas mix of chanting, drums, electronica, and madness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZseRH6vEbI

2. Monos-I know I've said it before, but Mica Levi has to be the most talented and/or innovative composer working in movies now, right? Just listen this movie's mix of whistles, flutes, wind sounds, low strings, and screaming electronic sounds. The result is something that feels like the voice of nature itself--the mist-bedecked mountains crying to the child soldiers scampering about them. This was almost my #1 pick (and I did have it there for most of the year, and I almost changed it back right now just listening to some of the tracks), so definitely don't miss checking this music out. (The movie itself is...good? I respect it more than I like it. Don't watch it if you're not interested in watching a whole bunch of kids die.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uVmqBvahsE

1. The Last Black Man in San Francisco-ultimately, though, I couldn't give it to anything but this, one of the most beautiful compositions for movies in this (and plenty of other) years. This score has so many voices--sometimes it's lush and open, sometimes it's nothing but a few furious woodwinds chirping at each other. The vocal and choral selections are out of this world, and when everything coalesces--. It's something else. Really, this whole album should be in your playlist, but since I can't put all 26 tracks here, I will say I am extremely fond of the progression of "They lost the house?" into "Rock Fight," building, crescendoing, and then dropping all in the space of three-ish minutes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKhgddvJQjE&list=OLAK5uy_kzDqK6rUq5yNlzbuBoeg_sscOM8HJxeIo&index=12&t=0s

(this takes you to a playlist that will play both of these tracks back to back. And if, y'know, you just let the playlist keep going, what harm will that do?)

Honorable mention: periennial not-bride bridesmaid Thomas Newman's propulsive work in 1917

Sound Mixing

5. Little Women-whole worlds evoked sonically, the throaty gasps of empty houses, resentment scraping across the ice, the impersonal everywhere-ness of the big city contrasted with the open sounds of The World We Wanted--and everywhere the girls' voices, tying the threads together by virtue of their own constant voiced thereness.

4. Hustlers-this could have gotten in just on its most notable sound flourishes--the way that sound processes and shapes the present-day conversation, and the way all audio but the hidden wire drops away in one pivotal scene--but Hustlers has more than that. A club that *actually sounds like a  club* but is still audibly legible, constant shifting group dynamics organized by volume, and just the right levels for the near-constant needle drops.

3. 1917-in its bones, 1917 wants to be a horror movie more than it wants to be a war movie, and the sound mix is where this most obviously shines through. Consider the haunted emptiness of No Man's Land that segues into It's Only a Rat jump scares, then punctuated by some old-fashioned explosive chaos. I love how quiet this movie is (only really ramping up for its final battle scene). Consider one scene (vague so as to avoid spoilers) in which some sudden violence happens. When that violence happens, it's quiet and mundane, and the scene continues to sound quiet and mundane, despite the drama and desperation on screen--just like the in the real world, horrible things happen quickly and quietly.

2. The Nightingale-speaking of horrible things! The Nightingale is one continuous doomsday tapestry where you aren't the only thing screaming in the night--there's a whole world singing its sorrow songs to a inky black sky like a sponge. Trauma punctures the silence, but it's never really silence--if the bugs aren't screaming, the birds are, and if it's not them, it's everyone else.

1. The Lighthouse-no man is an island, but two men and a very mean bird certainly are. A soundscape that makes it all too easy to believe that anyone listening to this every day would go insane: all sea howls and guttural gales and that screaming foghorn that does not let up for even one minute for the entire movie.

Honorable mention: the sea sure is a scary place in Styx

Sound Editing

5. They Shall Not Grow Old-of the WWI sound triumphs in theaters this year, I've got to give the edge to Peter Jackson's docu-archive-chimera that recreated the soundscapes of hundreds of archive newsreels and silent film footage from the period in order to bring them to some kind of life.

4. Midsommar-for the wet, meaty slap, like the sound a seal make when it jumps into a boat, of the old man's exploding head alone, but also for the subtle moans of nature, the polite, confused swallowing of pubes, and the oh-so-satisfying primal crackle of roasting a bear suit.

3. Avengers: Endgame-I suppose at some point I've got to stop putting Avengers movies in this category, but who I am I to say no to those optimistic little time travel pops, the stentorian, city-sized rumble caused by every Marvel character in the known universe standing on top of each other, or the biblical scrape of Captain America's shield ripping apart?

2. Shadow-not entirely unlike Midsommar, this one gets in for some of its more delightful carnage sounds, like a baby helicopter careening through a city made out of overripe fruit. But there's still more to love--the inevitable clang of ridiculously sized glaive slamming into an umbrella made of knives, or the weaponized thrums of a gu zheng singing that sound characters make when they want to kill the person next to them.

1. The Lighthouse-a bevy of curséd pots, bells, sea stars, effervescent fuckable light bulbs, old man farts, and slimy rocks are dropped into Poseidon's whirling anus and they all rattle about until they can tear themselves apart.

Honorable mention: someone please be proud of me for finally not default-nominating the Star Wars movie in this category every year. ...But I'm still giving Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker, because I have an addiction, and the first step is admitting I'm powerless and that my sound editing preferences have become unmanageable.

Original Song

5. "Into the Unknown"-Frozen 2-be forewarned, this category is fairly sparse (at least from the movies I've seen), so gird your loins for a whole bunch of Frozen 2, whose soundtrack, while not as good as the original, still might not deserve the drubbing it got. Who doesn't get at least a little amped listening Elsa singing about driving her car off a cliff or whatever?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIOyB9ZXn8s

4. "Lost in the Woods"-Frozen 2-Look, I love this deeply stupid 80s power ballad parody, and you can't stop me. Jonathan Groff gets his big Disney moment, backed up by a choir of singing reindeer while he does his best REO Speedwagon impression. How could I not want that?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiGcfay5jNY

3. "Stand Up"-Harriet-I didn't totally love the movie, but whoo boy can Cynthia Erivo sing, and this song smartly lets her do just that. A rousing and gorgeous send-off for the movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEMsIHVejWM

2. "Willow"-High Life-Robert Pattinson should be required by law to sing an end credits song for every movie he's in, and that's the objective true. That's science. High Life is a fairly bonkers movie, and by the time you hit the end credits, RPatz singing about centipedes feels as right as anything could. In all seriousness, this is a lovely and lilting song, and I've listened to it more than I have almost any other movie song from 2019.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xNSN6Kd8rI

1. "Show Yourself"-Frozen 2-I'm sorry, what else did you expect? One of my favorite scenes of the year, a massive, to-the-skies roar that absolutely titillated the closeted baby gay in my past.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md7dK5-qvHc (Note: this link is the lyric video, but if you want the scene, I link to it in the first Best of the Year post.)

Honorable mention: what a missed opportunity it was that the Academy didn't nominate "A Glass of Soju" so we could see them frantically try to stage a Parasite music number.

SUPER honorable mention: the best movie song of the year, without a doubt, objectively, is "Glasgow" from Wild Rose. It's a stone-cold banger and a huge emotional piece--it can make me vaguely teary, and I haven't even seen the movie. But, tragically, my rules keep me from nominating something from a movie that I haven't seen. So know that had I not been lazy and seen Wild Rose, it would absolutely be at the top of this list. At any rate, give it a listen yourself--I've listened to it more than any other movie song this year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-l-Ly0ly4M

Well, that's the end of the lists for the year, believe it or not (and I definitely can believe it, given the work I've put off/the time I've put in/the hurt in my stupid, aging hands). I'll be back before the Oscars to post some final predictions, but this is (for me, at least) just about the end of the 2019 cinematic year! Come Sunday it's New Years Oscar eve, and then I can finally get with the rest of the world and acknowledge that we're supposed to be living in 2020. 

For those playing along at home, here are the movies that showed up most frequently in the lists:

The Lighthouse-8

Midsommar-7

Little Women-7

Parasite-6

Hustlers-6

As for wins, One Cut of The Dead won each of the two categories for which it was nominated (Picture and Original Screenplay), but three other movies also won two each: Parasite (Production Design, Film Editing), The Last Black Man in San Francisco (Cinematography, Original Score), and The Lighthouse (Sound Mixing, Sound Editing). 

And that's that! Here's to a wonderful year of movies, and here's hoping for another one that's just as good! If, somehow, you're still reading, and have been reading, thanks so much! I do love the support, even if I write these just for the sake of writing them, and even if I constantly berate you in text for having the gall to sit down and read these things.