Cold War – 6.5

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Filmed in bleak-and-white, Cold War tells the oft-told tale of a man driven by lust who gives us his career, his country, and ultimately his life enslaved by his infatuation. She does little to merit his devotion and much to mock it, leaving me to impatiently and vainly implore him to get over it. The setting in Warsaw, Berlin and Paris, 1949-1964, lead us to hope for a geopolitical dimension that will justify the double entendre of the title, but all we get is changing music and hairstyles over the decades. Rather than sympathy or emotional entrapment, I felt dislike for the female lead, which made this a not very satisfying love story.

Top Ten 2018

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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.

Capernaum – 8

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A tremendously powerful film about a 12-year-old street urchin in Lebanon who alternately games the system and is thwarted by it. The depiction of Arab street life might be hard to take for the unfamiliar viewer, but resonated with my North African Peace Corps memories. The plight of the refugee woman and son, not to mention Zain’s family life, seemed dramatically hopeless, but director Nadine Labaki tacked on a happy ending out of the blue that made the viewing experience enriching, not devastating. (Incidentally, this was a nice companion piece to fellow Oscar nominee, Shoplifters.)

NY Times Critics

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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.

If Beale Street Could Talk – 6

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Beale Street is a long, slow street we’re asked to walk, without a happy end in sight. There is one scene that crackles, when the future in-laws come over to hear the news, but if that record plays at 78, the rest is 33-1/3. The two lead actors are bland in their goodness, and the camera keeps lingering. I know we’re supposed to just accept the premise that a random black man can be jailed for rape for no good reason, but the lack of an accuser, witnesses, forensic evidence, motive or opportunity makes this crucial aspect of the plot a troubling hole, rather than a cause for sympathy. And contrary to the title, New Orleans and jazz don’t play much of a role.

Vice – 7.8

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Watching this, I was two-thirds ashamed to be an American, with our recent history running from Richard Nixon through the phony justifications of the Iraq invasion, but one-third proud to live in a culture that could produce such a clever, popular takedown of a living public figure. Some caricatures misfired – especially Steve Carrell’s Donald Rumsfeld – but I appreciated the effort to match actor with historical figure, like Eddie Marsan for Paul Wolfowitz. Most of the plot was familiar, but the light it concentrated on certain facts, such as Cheney’s sweetheart deals with Halliburton and the lack of a background check when he selected himself for the vice-presidency, still made me cringe. Christian Bale was amazing, but I doubt his Oscar chances: some voters must be Republicans; some will say it was impersonation, not acting; and others will just be so repulsed that they won’t want to see Cheney/Bale get any awards. I can see why this movie is not for everyone: it is tendentious, flip – one reviewer called in “meanspirited” – and treats very serious matters like a Doonesbury cartoon; but director Adam McKay’s storytelling style was original and consistent, and I laughed when I wasn’t cringing.

Shoplifters – 8

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A meditation on family, Shoplifters also hits home as a reflection on what counts as progress in Japanese society since Yasujiro Ozu’s very similar films in the 1950s. Most obvious is the style of filmmaker Kore-eda, shooting from tatami-level. Then there is the plot of everyday family matters, one vignette of daily life after another – no guns, no violence, no sex, no action. Driving home the comparison is the one bird’s-eye shot of the traditional wooden house, surrounded by concrete apartment buildings. It takes awhile to figure out who is who, and longer to figure out how they are related, or not. And then the meditation continues after the film ends, as you contemplate why this family seems to get along better than any other family you’ve seen in a movie for ages. Maybe it’s the food?