Oscar Nominees

Having finally seen Women Talking I can now comment on the full slate of Oscar nominations for Best Picture, as well as many of the subcategories. Fortunately, my favorite English-language movie of the year, The Banshees of Inisherin, is also the leading Oscar nominee, with nods for Director, Actor, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress as well as Picture. Maybe it wasn’t that great a movie, but the competition is unusually thin, especially if, like me, you just didn’t like Everything Everywhere All At Once.

The oddsmakers are favoring Ke Huy Quan from that film for Supporting Actor, but for me Brendan Gleeson gave the performance of the year and shouldn’t even be in the “Supporting” category. The other nominees include Brian Tyree Henry from Causeway and Barry Keoghan from Banshees. Both gave fine “performances,” but I couldn’t understand half their dialogue, which would seem a basic requirement for this award. Judd Hirsch’s dialogue in Fabelmans was perfectly clear but he was so obstreperous I cringed when he was onscreen.

Kerry Condon was a revelation in Banshees. Her role as Colin Farrell’s sister seemed minor at first, but by film’s end you realized how much she added to the otherwise male-heavy story. I thought I was discovering her and was surprised that I wasn’t alone. (I wonder if her residing in LA the last ten years instead of, as she sounded, Ireland made a difference for the Academy.)

I hope Colin Farrell repeats his Golden Globe win as Best Actor, although I am slightly less impressed after watching his almost identical performance in In Bruges ten years before.  I didn’t like Austin Butler’s rendition of Elvis, I didn’t, and probably won’t, see Brendan Fraser in The Whale, and I didn’t notice any acting by Paul Mescal in the plotless Aftersun, which is the exact quality the L.A. Times theater critic raved about recently. Bill Nighy was wonderful, as usual, in Living, which I discount because it was a pale imitation of Ikiru (although Kazuo Ishiguro cast a cloud over Takashi Shimura’s original interpretation at his SBIFF panel appearance).

The big battle is expected to be the Best Actress race between Cate Blanchett and Michelle Yeoh. The other three nominees–Michelle Williams, Ana de Armas and Andrea Riseborough–can be dismissed out of hand. We have been to tributes to both Cate and Michelle and were impressed by each of them. Unless voters feel that it’s Michelle’s turn, however, I expect the award to go to Cate, and I will approve.

I have no credentials to opine on the technical categories, but as a layman I would give awards to Avatar for Visual Effects; to Wakanda Forever for Costume Design; to All Quiet on the Western Front for Cinematography and, spreading the wealth, to Top Gun: Maverick for Editing. I remember being struck by the score of more than one movie, but I can’t remember which they were. Since All Quiet is the only film nominated for both Score and Sound, I have to think that was one of them. One award I would not give is Original Song. In general, they have nothing to do with their movie and only play over the final credits, when most of the audience is leaving or has left the theater.

International Feature is easy, for Argentina, 1985 was my favorite film of the year. I haven’t seen two of the nominees, but having seen short clips and heard from their directors I feel certain that they wouldn’t change my choice.

Top Ten 2021

Without much effort, my Top Ten for 2021 could all be movies made outside the U.S.; only a personal affinity for Don’t Look Up, a movie more scorned by the critics, prevented a shutout. Whether this had anything to do with Covid restrictions on film production, I don’t know. I do know that it relates to my preference for movies about real people and real-life situations, a genre that seems to mainly reside outside Hollywood. I’ve relegated the single most affecting movie I saw, In the Same Breath (made in the U.S. but filmed largely in China), to a separate category of Documentaries and will list the ten best feature films in alphabetical order:

A Hero The title is just as ambiguous as the numerous moral issues addressed directly and obliquely in this warm but chilly thriller from Iran.
Belfast Wonderful actors inhabit Kenneth Branagh’s recalled childhood and a historic time in Van Morrison’s Northern Irish capital.
Don’t Look Up  On the one hand, this is the most ‘unrealistic’ film on this list. On the other hand, it’s the starkest depiction of the world I feel I’m living in.
Drive My Car Quietly engrossing, this film about theater delved the deepest into humanity, both Japanese and universal.
Hand of God Paolo Sorrentino’s specifically Neapolitan reminiscence was good-hearted and colorful, producing smile after smile.
I’m Your Man A German thesis movie in which the recognizable and gripping human dimensions made one forget the “sci-fi” setting.
The Lost Daughter Elena Ferrante’s world of psychological quandaries, albeit in Greece, not Italy, intensely conveyed by Jessie Buckley and Olivia Colman.
Parallel Mothers Pedro Almodovar and Penelope Cruz–what could go wrong?–and some Spanish history, routine but masterful.
The Power of the Dog For plot, bravura acting, serious (New Zealand) scenery, this was the one to think about, talk about and debate.
The Worst Person in the World A clever scrapbook of an immensely appealing Renate Reinsve’s relationships in an everyday Oslo.

Best Documentaries
In the Same Breath A literally breath-taking account of Covid in Wuhan and a depressing coda of Covid in America.
Velvet Underground Todd Haynes’s direction created a visual counterpart to the music, mixing archival footage and reminiscent interviews.
Lost Leonardo Documented all sides in the Salvador Mundi saga, letting the viewer come to their own conclusion.

Honorable Mention
Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn
CODA
Munich: The Edge of War
Tragedy of Macbeth
Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

Pre-Oscar Choices

Before being influenced by Academy voters, here are my favorites for Oscars this year. An updated post will appear once the nominations are out and maybe after I’ve seen a couple more of the designated films.

Best Picture
Drive My Car
Belfast
A Hero
I’m Your Man
Hand of God
Power of the Dog
The Lost Daughter
Don’t Look Up

Best Actor
Hidetoshi Nishijima
Amir Jadidi
Benedict Cumberbatch
Will Smith
Cooper Hoffman

Best Actress
Emilia Jones
Olivia Colman
Caitriona Balfe
Lady Gaga
Penelope Cruz

Supporting Actor
Troy Kotsur
Kodi Smit-McPhee
Dae-Young Jin
Mark Rylance
Jared Leto

Supporting Actress
Jennifer Lawrence
Toko Miura
Jessie Buckley
Luisa Ranieri
Ruth Negga

Director
Todd Haynes
Jane Campion
Ryusuke Hamaguchi
Asghar Farhadi
Joel Coen

The Power of the Dog: P.S.

Given Jane Campion’s track record as a director and the movie’s source in a novel, I have to assume that every twist in the relatively slow-paced drama had a purpose, but the film left me scratching my head with the following questions:

What turned Phil from the meanest, nastiest character in recent film into a sensitive mentor to Peter overnight? Was he grooming him for sexual favors? Did he simply relate as a fellow gay male (but if so, why the change when it happened)? Was he trying to destroy Rose (and by extension his brother’s marriage) by tearing Peter away?

What was the significance of the rope that Phil was making for Peter? Did it have anything to do with Peter’s father having hanged himself? And how do you know, anyway, when a rope is “finished”?

What was the significance of Rose’s first husband having committed suicide? There are a lot of other ways a frontier woman could become a widow.

Could Phil and George really be brothers? One was brilliant, the other was dumb; one was skinny, the other fat, etc., etc. Why did Campion cast two such dissimilar actors in these roles?

Was “the Old Gent” a plausible father to these two men? He said nothing, had no discernible personality and seemed a cipher. Where did the strong personality (Phil) and business success (George) come from?

What to make of “Bronco Henry,” the long-dead cowboy who made an appearance in the script every 15 minutes? Were those references there to keep homoeroticism hanging in the air, much like the skinny-dipping and topless cowhands?

What was Benedict Cumberbatch saying? I couldn’t understand half his lines, muttered under his breath, and was less than convinced by his American accent. (I hate it when a director can’t make the dialogue intelligible and I find myself straining, or even rewinding, to hear something.)

How did Phil get so good at the banjo? That didn’t mesh with the personality we saw at the outset. Of course, neither did the classics degree from Yale.

Why was Phil so upset that Rose gave away the hides (and how did he instantly know)? Why did he like to burn them? Was there some symbolism in the gloves that the Indians made from them?

Why was Phil so opposed to George’s marriage? Although they shared a bed when traveling, it wasn’t like they got along, understood each other or had anything in common – except Bronco Henry, and as it turned out they didn’t really share that either.

We saw Peter surgically slit the dead steer, but how did he collect and preserve anthrax spores, and did he have a plan to use them or was it just chance that Phil needed more leather strips to “complete” the rope and Peter had some in a bucket? As perfect crimes go, this one seemed well beyond plotting.

Peter’s voice-over before the action begins “explains” the plot, but are we to believe that all his interactions with Phil are designed to “save” his mother? It sure didn’t look that way, which is why the film’s ending has such punch. Or is this unearned bookending by the director?

Campion’s forte, I believe, is psychological intensity, borne out here by all the sustained close-ups on Cumberbatch’s face. Understanding him is the key to so much of the film’s action. But, as alluded to, I couldn’t make sense of his psychology or any of his relationships. To take one more example: for the film’s first half, I thought we were heading toward a showdown, or even sexual encounter, between Phil and Rose (see, e.g., Stanley Kowalski and Banche DuBois). But poof! that disappeared, and we went off in another direction. And Phil no longer seemed to care.

Maybe answers to all these questions are out there. Or maybe it’s just more important that the movie made me ask them.

Oscar Wrongs and Rights

People frequently ask for my Oscar predictions or preferences, so I will hazard the latter. The New York Times, among others, takes the fun and guesswork out of the former by polling voters and announcing results that tend to be more accurate than they are for the political elections.
To my mind, Trial of the Chicago 7 and Nomadland were the only two films from 2021 that I could unequivocally recommend, and I would award them the major prizes. Aaron Sorkin did his usual masterful job of screenwriting, weaving together distinct personalities, informal debate and courtroom testimony into the most traditional, but satisfying, story arc. I give him the Original Screenplay Award as well as the Big Kahuna, Best Picture. Chloe Zhao is a shoo-in for Best Director, not only for coaxing drama out of an undramatic story but for getting memorable turns out of real-life, non-actor nomads. She also deserves some of the credit when Frances McDormand is named Best Actress and Joshua James Richards wins for Best Cinematography.
Best Actor has been conceded to Chadwick Boseman, with sympathy for his untimely passing muting any possible contest with Riz Ahmed. My two caveats are that Delroy Lindo of Da 5 Bloods would be my choice if he were nominated, and Boseman’s portrayal of James Brown in Get On Up was less recognized but even more deserving. McDormand should win Best Actress in a unanimous decision.
Supporting Actor is easy for me, but harder for the voters. Sacha Baron Cohen was brilliant in Chicago 7–so unlike his Borat role that I didn’t recognize him at first. He commanded the screen but never overpowered the ensemble. Daniel Kaluuya is the favorite but not with me. For 1., I couldn’t understand what he said half the time, unlike the rest of the Judas and the Black Messiah cast, who articulated just fine. 2. I consider his a lead role, not supporting. He is the featured face in every ad for the movie; and if a movie about the murder of Fred Hampton isn’t about Fred Hampton, who is it? The producers tried to make Lakeith Stanfield the “lead,” but the Oscar nominators put him in the Supporting category as well. As one observer noted, “if Kaluuya and Stanfield are both supporting actors, who is the lead?” In fact, both were co-leads, and Jesse Plemons should not only be deemed a supporting actor but should have gotten an Oscar nod for his performance.
For Supporting Actress, I give the nod by default to Olivia Colman based on past performance, since The Father, alone in the Oscar field, has not been released on streaming yet.
For Adapted Screenplay, I’m happy to go with Nomadland, although White Tiger, from left field, could be more deserving. I have no idea what the Borat screenplay could be “adapted” from. It was a hilarious movie, but it’s hard to believe it even had a screenplay.
International Feature Films were a marvelous collection of cross-cultural experiences. Quo Vadis, Aida?  was simply a great film, with a serious subject and sensational acting. It wins my award, but Better Days is not far behind. I haven’t seen the Tunisian film yet.
The only other category I qualify for is Best Documentary. I didn’t like Collective, Time or Crip Camp, so that leaves two cute, lightweight foreign films, My Octopus Teacher and The Mole Agent. The former got a lot more play, while the latter was more original–a fun choice that I doubt the Academy members will be making. I like nature docs, but when you come down to it, despite the somewhat tortured psychological overlay, that’s what Octopus was, so I’ll go with the Mole.
These are the films and artists I hope win, but just as important to me are the ones I hope will lose, which is mainly Mank. Somehow it garnered the most nominations, although no one I know has claimed to like it. In fact, many, like me, actively disliked it. If it were to be shut out of awards entirely, I would consider the night a success. The other most overrated nominee is the Romanian Collective, which remarkably was nominated in two categories: Documentary and International Feature. Perhaps it is the pleasure of seeing a Communist country exposed as corrupt that has drawn such attention, but I found the story disjointed and the technique amateurish. I also disagreed with the critics about One Night in Miami. I was relieved to see that it wasn’t nominated for Best Picture or Director. I was still amazed that it was nominated for Adapted Screenplay, as it played so much like the stage play it originally was. In most years, Promising Young Woman would be considered an average film, although Carey Mulligan is a deserving Best Actress nominee, as are all the women so nominated. That, to me, is the strongest category of the night.
PS: Today (3/21) the L.A. Times ran a piece about the Oscar nominees from 20 years ago. Their point was to assess what the voters had gotten right or wrong, in hindsight, and what deserving films and actors were overlooked. For me, however, the point was how weak this year’s nominees are in comparison. Gladiator (Russell Crowe) took home the Oscar; the other nominees were Erin Brockovich (Julia Roberts), Chocolat (Juliette Binoche), Traffic (Benicio del Toro), and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Zhang Ziyi). It’s hard for me to see any of the 2020 nominated films breaking into that lineup.

Marriage Story Deep Dive

What was interesting about Marriage Story was the relationship between Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson, two of my favorite actors.  The attraction was clear, but so was the inevitable conflict. You didn’t see one as right, the other wrong; or one good, the other bad. You saw two individuals – fortunately, talented – who each needed, or expected, something from the relationship that the other wouldn’t, or couldn’t provide. It made sense that at the end, post-divorce, they could remain friends.

What didn’t make sense was most everything else. I know there must be lawyers who take over their clients’ cases and drive them in directions they don’t want to go, and there are clients who don’t know better; but the Ray Liotta and Laura Dern lawyers were so extreme I couldn’t enjoy watching the movie.  Why didn’t either Charlie or Nicole say, Hey, this isn’t what I want, and why am I paying you so much? When Nora Fanshaw tells Nicole, “I got you a 55-44 split on child custody,” over Nicole’s desire for a 50-50 split, I smelled an ethics violation as well as a director’s need to overemphasize a point to caricature. Of course, all the other characters were pretty cardboard, and what was Wallace Shawn doing in this realistic film playing, as usual, Wallace Shawn?

One other nagging issue: while I understood Charlie’s need for control, as a theater director, I couldn’t accept his irrational need to keep his son in New York, let alone the alternate life he had to set up in LA. How did he think he could take care of a young boy with a demanding job and no relatives for backup and uncertain financial prospects; whereas Nicole, in addition to being the mother, had a mother and sister ready to help and seemingly a better job? Wasn’t this reason enough to work out a mutually acceptable settlement instead of a fight?

Movie Butts

Why does almost every movie have to have a scene, or more, of characters smoking? At one point I used a cigarette rating at the end of every review, to comment on how extensive or unnecessary the smoking was – e.g., obviously a film taking place in the 1930s had more reason to show smoking than a movie taking place today – but that became tiresome and distracted,  I admit, from more important critical judgments.  I have decided, therefore, to set up this separate post as a resting place for my comments about smoking in films, as I see them.

Long Shot. Set in modern-day Washington, apparently, there is no reason to have a character smoke; yet Secretary of State Charlize Theron spots a pack of Gauloises in the Situation Room and bums a fag from one of the Chiefs of Staff to smoke while negotiating a hostage release on the phone with a Middle East leader. Would a Federal building, let alone the War Room of the Chiefs of Staff (or whatever it was), not be a No-Smoking area?

The Souvenir. This may set the mark for 2019 for constant, distracting fagging. The loathsome male lead apparently can’t breathe without a cigarette in his hand or his face. Plenty of others indulge, too, to show that this is all taking place in the distant past of 1983.

Non-Fiction. Here, at least, the characters are slightly guilty about their cigarettes – making apologies and stepping out-of-doors to light up – and usually not doing much more than that. Of course, why even that is necessary to the plot or the characterizations is not evident.

Gloria Bell. Julianne Moore becomes a chimney half-way through the film. At least she looks uncomfortable holding her cigarette.

Late Night. Cigarettes appear wildly out of the blue on two occasions: late in the game when Emma Thompson’s three-year-old affair is revealed, she lights up in bed; and in a meta moment, Mindy Kaling’s colleague has a smoke on the street while she tells him of a benefit for lung cancer she is about to emcee.

Yesterday. This film pulls off the cleverest obligatory but gratuitous  smoking reference: when the lead character, out of the blue, says if he smoked he’d need a cigarette, his companion expresses bewilderment because cigarettes, like Coke, Harry Potter and the Beatles, were erased from human consciousness during a global 12-second electric grid collapse.

Wild Rose. Just two shots, I think, enough to check the box. The neighbor on her porch next door is puffing away, and our heroine lights up once, for no obvious reason.

Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood. Brad Pitt and Leo DiCaprio are smoking cigarettes pretty much the entire movie. Sure, we have to know it’s a time past – but even in 1969 most of my acquaintances weren’t smoking – and Pitt and DiCaprio have to look “cool.” But that’s my problem. How can having two of Hollywood’s leading heartthrobs looking cool with a cigarette in their mouth not have an effect on a teenager today? When Tarantino accompanied the closing credits with DiCaprio’s character filming a commercial for Red Apple cigs, I was hoping it would turn into a public-service disclaimer, but no, the character just dumped on the brand.

Aquarela. For no reason at all, in the opening scene of Russians pulling a car out of a frozen lake, one of the rescuers lifts his mask to light a cigarette.

Judy.  It’s hard to argue with the profligate use of cigarettes by Judy (and cigar by Louis Mayer), given her general dissolution and similar abuse of alcohol.

Knives Out. For little or no reason, Jamie Lee Curtis lights up near the end: the typical cigarette cameo.

Marriage Story. Ditto above; after not smoking through an immensely stressful story, Adam Driver is seen smoking on the street before we leave.

Hustlers. Almost surprised there weren’t more cigarettes, but again the characters pulled them out well into the movie, after any plot need.

Honeyboy. The constant presence of cigarettes could be justified as emphasizing the low-life character of Honeyboy’s father; but the movie took it farther by having the 12-year-old become a smoker, too.

Uncut Gems. 75 minutes into the film a minor character lights up a cigarette following a seder – no relationship to the plot or a characterization, just an isolated incident of smoking.

Seberg. Period-appropriate smoking, I suppose, by several characters, ramping up as the movie moves along.

Top Ten 2018

Just in time for Oscar voting, I list my favorite films of 2018. As I grow older, I find I rate films less on artistic merit or innovation or cultural relevance and more on the questions, Did I enjoy myself and Would I recommend the film to all my friends? Thus, my choices may seem more mainstream than my list of two decades ago, but this also brings me more in line with the Academy and will give me relevant rooting interests come February 24.
That said, my two favorite movies this year both happened to be documentaries, only one of which is up for an Oscar.

  1. The King. Of all the movies I saw, this is the one I would be happiest to watch again. It featured a bunch of interesting musical acts, an acute commentary on our society and, of course, Elvis. It was less a documentary than an essay, like nothing I had ever seen.
  2. Free Solo. Also an unusual documentary, as the filmmakers were an important, and visible, part of the story they told. Alex Honnold was a charming subject, and the footage of his climbing was so gut-gripping I had to look away, even knowing the outcome.
  3. BlacKkKlansman. This had humor, spirit and message in equal doses, with more going on and more interesting characters than any other film, justifying its nominations for Film, Director, Supporting Actor, Score and Editing. I hope it gets something.
  4. Bohemian Rhapsody. Totally unoriginal and perhaps not truthful, but this rendition of the Queen story milked the rock-band story – creation/success/breakup/reunion – to perfection. You felt good not just about Freddie Mercury but for all the supporting characters, as well. And I liked the music.
  5. Green Book. Another “based on a true story” whose accuracy has been questioned, but who cares? It’s the feel-good movie of the year, with comedy leavening the heart-warming story of race relations. Mahershala Ali should win an Oscar, but Viggo Mortenson’s performance was even better.
  6. 8th Grade. An excruciatingly realistic account of a not-popular girl’s rough voyage through that terrible middle school year. Who couldn’t identify with at least some of the scenes and situations, yet Elsie Fisher’s courageous performance kept the experience watchable. (Similar kudos to the less-seen Searching.)
  7. Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Those daffy Coen Brothers added to their legacy with this collection of five offbeat Western short stories, from humorous to tragic, dastardly to noble. You never knew what was coming next, either in the story you were watching or the one to follow. Zoe Kazan was my star.
  8. Juliet, Naked. Off the beaten awards path, this small rom-com starred some of my favorite actors: Chris O’Dowd, Ethan Hawke and Rose Byrne. That it centered on an obscure rock star and his music placed it right in my alley.
  9. Black Panther. I felt good watching a blockbuster in which excellent black actors and strong female characters ruled the screen. There was also an uplifting story, visual delights aplenty and lots of African art.
  10. Game Night. A bauble, compared to some of the above, but it had a fun premise, kept me guessing to the end and starred some of my favorites: Rachel McAdams, Jason Bateman and Kyle Chandler.

Favorite Foreign Film:

Shoplifters. A casually adroit comment on Japanese society and the concept of family, told in a style that resonated with Japanese cinema of the last 60 years.

The Year’s Worst Films (all of which received favorable notice to some degree from NYTimes critics)
Support the Girls; Vox Pop; A Private War; Death of Stalin; At Eternity’s Gate; Ocean’s 8.
My Oscar Awards (from Academy nominations)
Film: BlacKkKlansman
Director: Spike Lee
Actor: Viggo Mortenson
Actress: Olivia Colman
Supporting Actor: Adam Driver
Supporting Actress: Regina King
Adapted Screenplay: Buster Scruggs
Original Screenplay: Vice
Cinematography: The Favourite
Although I wouldn’t be upset if Oscars went to Rami Malek, Christian Bale, Glenn Close or any of the films also on my list. I have omitted Mahershala Ali and Emma Stone only because I don’t see how their roles can be classified as “supporting,” as I understand that term. They were both co-stars, and quite excellent at that.

NY Times Critics

It would be good to know that a certain critic’s taste coincided with your own, especially if that critic were on The New York Times, which is my primary source of movie information. One easy test of this came this weekend, when the Times printed an Oscars section in which their two chief critics, A.O. Scott and Manohla Dargis gave their lists of who the 2019 nominees should be. Alas, their choices were so far from mine that I worry about relying upon their recommendations in the future.

To wit:
The most unwatchable performances for me this year were Natalie Portman in Vox Lux and Willem Dafoe in At Eternity’s Gate. Dargis had both of them on her lists of Best Actor and Best Actress. For Best Picture, Dargis listed The Death of Stalin, which we went to based on her review and thought was terrible. She also included Zama, which we saw at the NY Film Festival two years ago and led us to decide not to go to the Film Festival again. She touted both of those for Best Screenplay, as well.

I saw seven of the ten films listed by Scott for Best Picture and was less than impressed with four of them: If Beale Street Could Talk, Let the Sunshine In, Private Life and Support the Girls. The last, especially, left me cold, in contrast to both critics, who also gave it nods for Best Actress (Dargis), Supporting Actress (Dargis, twice) and Screenplay (Scott). Both critics surprised me by nominating Brian Tyree Henry from Beale Street as Best Supporting Actor. He wasn’t bad, but it was such a small role – one scene – compared to Adam Driver, say, in BlackKklansman.

A couple more films that I haven’t seen get a lot of love – namely, Happy as Lazzaro, Sorry to Bother You, Can You Ever Forgive Me? and Burning. Normally I would make an extra effort to catch up with them, but based on the apparent dissonance in our taste, I can no longer be so sure.

Top Ten 2015

My Top Ten this year is a bit of a cop-out, although not without precedent among major film critics: with no clear standout movie I will list my favorites in alphabetical order. Spotlight was the closest to a flawless movie, but it didn’t have the emotional power of Brooklyn, which was almost indistinguishable from Carol as the sensitive portrait of a young woman discovering herself. Phoenix was the best foreign film, edging out Number One Fan, but not as good as Barbara, the director’s previous effort. Straight Outta Compton captured a music scene new to me in documentary fashion, but so did Amy, which was an actual documentary. Timbuktu and Theeb were equally powerful and enlightening depictions of Muslim and Arab cultures. While I’m comparing apples and oranges, I can add Tangerine, also satisfying my diversity goals. I may be overrating Trumbo and The End of the Tour compared to other critics, but both caught me at a good time and, if the list is sufficiently flexible, are worth honoring. So, again, here’s the list:

Amy. I went in knowing nothing about Amy Winehouse or her music and departed with a sad appreciation of both. This documentary was so intrusive it made the viewer feel complicit.

 Brooklyn, the season’s softest, sweetest film with an award-worthy performance by Saoirse Ronan, a beautiful script by Nick Hornby out of Colm Toibin and impeccable supporting actors. The feel-good film of the year.

Carol was another novel-based film with built-in depth that constantly churned under the glossy surface of Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara’s silky performances. It was also the best (American) period piece of the year.

The End of the Tour taught me everything I sort of wanted to know about David Foster Wallace in the form of an ego struggle between a writer and a reporter, skillfully portrayed by Jason Segel and Jesse Eisenberg.

Number One Fan (Elle L’Adore) restored my faith in French cinema, as everyday-but-slightly-loopy people with everyday problems get caught in a murder investigation, a cleverly delightful detective thriller.

Phoenix was the movie we all talked about and, perhaps, wanted to see again. It required a leap of faith that left some behind, but as a psychological mystery it was the year’s most intense cinema.

Spotlight was not quite All the President’s Men but it was the next best thing, a rare “true story” that played out as drama. I loved its depictions of journalism, Boston and the Catholic Church’s pedophilia scandal, with telling end credits the coup de grace.

Straight Outta Compton. For joyous musical fun, this was the year’s best treat, although Love And Mercy was not far behind. The story was full of cliché, but Gangsta Rap was enough original to carry the day.

Tangerine was raw, gritty and thoroughly engaging, a view of LA I never want to see, populated by characters I’d just as soon avoid, as well; but the whole thing was oozing with enough energy and humanity to fascinate.

Theeb was a plain story, told with the sparseness of the desert it inhabited, a pared-down spaghetti Western or Lawrence of Arabia. It had a perfect young male lead, it captured the Arab character and it brought back memories.

Timbuktu had more story, more characters and more beautiful scenery than Theeb, but they both put you in a world we so little understand, from Mali here to Jordan there. For haunting images, this film led the way.

Trumbo was Hollywood history – always a lark – and knowing the outcome didn’t diminish my pleasure in getting there. Trumbo pinballed against a dozen similarly vibrant characters; he didn’t change, but each interaction had its fascination.

 

Individual Awards, with Oscar nominees in bold, my other choices in regular:

Best Actor: Bryan Cranston, Paul Dano (Love and Mercy)

Best Actress: Saoirse Ronan, Cate Blanchett, Nina Hoss (Phoenix), Amy Schumer (Trainwreck)

Best Supporting Actor: Sylvester Stallone, Mark Rylance

Best Supporting Actress: Rachel McAdams, Rooney Mara, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Mickey O’Hagan (Tangerine)

Notes: Obviously, the women stood out for me more than the men. I chose Stallone over Rylance only because Stallone was such a surprise and Rylance could have performed his role in his sleep. I don’t know why Blanchett is considered the lead while Mara, who has more screen time, is supporting (the film’s title, maybe?), but both are equally deserving, as are Segel and Eisenberg in End of the Tour, which hurt my selection of either. There really isn’t a strong male lead in any of my Top Ten – hence the choice of Cranston, who hogs the screen without being off-putting.