We have decided to temporarily suspend our year-by-year viewing of the Oscar winners in order to spend a few weeks going through all the nominees of the 2018 Academy Award for Best Picture. We'll be watching and reviewing several every week, and this week we finished with the films Lady Bird, Dunkirk and Get Out.
Lady Bird
Plot
Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) is on the cusp of adulthood but she must navigate boys (Lucas Hedges and Timothée Chalamet), a nagging mother (Laurie Metcalf), a depressed Dad (Tracy Letts), friendship dynamics and a yearning desire to go to an esteemed, cultured college.
Doug says
During the first few scenes of this small indie flick, I found myself bored already of the stereotypical ‘not-cool-but-still-oh-so-hipster’ Christine (she listens to ‘Of Mice and Men’ audiobooks, she writes poetic messages all over her walls, she calls herself ‘Lady Bird’ because she thinks having a parent-given name is so weird). It’s all quite try-hard and dare I say it, it’s been done. To death.
But as the film continues, it becomes clear that this isn’t about her as a hipster try-hard annoying kid, but actually about people and how your dreams aren’t always what you want. It also paints love - particularly mother-daughter love - not as the saccharine always-lovely relationship painted by American literature & art, but as an often savage and hurtful thing. As Paul says, no character is allowed to remain 2D for long. The school ‘it’ girl Jenna emerges as someone who wants a placid life, remaining right where she is. Christine’s best friend (in one of the most painful scenes) has refused to go to the prom because she feels alone and sad. And by choosing a modern setting and the age-old theme of coming-of-age, it’s a film that can discuss many different elements - homosexuality, popularity, what it means to be yourself, religion - and get away with it.
I liked how the nun is painted as an old wiser figure with a sense of humour. It’d be easy to go a different way but throughout this film, every predictable path is eschewed in favour of something more real, and more unexpected. You do end up caring for each and every person in it - and Timothee Chamalet pops up again doing such a 180 performance from Call Me By Your Name that casting agents everywhere must be agog at his performance range.
Ultimately this film belongs solely to Laurie Metcalf. Saoirse Ronan does a good job, but she cannot compete with the emotional powerhouse that is Metcalf’s talent. Even in a scene where Ronan faces the camera, pleading with Metcalf to talk to her, we end up watching the hunched, tightness of Metcalf’s back muscles rather than Ronan’s face. It’s an astonishing, layered turn and although Alison Janney in I Tonya is slated to grab Best Supporting Actress, it’s going to be a tough one. While Three Billboards talked about the power of rejecting violence, here the lesson is summed up neatly by the nun teacher: isn’t noticing someone the same thing as love?
Mark: 9 / 10
I'll also be pointing out the number of people of colour with a speaking role in each film. This is to see if the 'Oscars So White' scandal has actually had any effect on Hollywood's conscience.
People of Colour: 5 speaking roles, most of which are large supporting characters
Ahhh, to be a 17-year-old millennial. The world is your oyster, with hundreds of opportunities at your feet. You’ve been groomed for top A Level grades and you’re ready to tackle that BA, all paid for by the Student Loan. Before that, you could save elephants in Thailand, teach orphans in Ghana and/or grow some dreadlocks and smoke dodgy cigarettes under the Cambodian night sky- and your university place will be waiting for you when you get back. What a time to be young!
Oh, but don’t inadvertently shame your parents who didn’t have these advantages. And don’t spend too much money having fun because inflation’s on the rise. And don’t be too expressive with your body art because employers hate that. And besides, you might not get a job after 3 years slaving over critical theory essays because the recession is just around the corner and you’ll be stuck with a succession of unpaid internships. And don’t moan about it because there are children far worse off than you.
That is the essence of Lady Bird - and it illustrates these 2002 teenage girl woes with a dead-pan, dry commentary intertwined with touching tragicomedy. It has the poignancy of 10 Things I Hate About You with the power of The Perks of Being A Wallflower.
The best part of this film is how the writers change our attitudes towards characters just by quickly revealing something about them. Lady Bird’s obnoxiously vegan sister-in-law reveals that she was kicked out by her parents due to their aversion to pre-marital sex. Lady Bird’s ineffective father turns out to have depression. These moments are sudden, and transform characters from 2D to 3D in the blink of an eye, reflecting how, as we enter adulthood, we see our elders no longer as heroes and villains, but as complex, vulnerable individuals.
I also loved Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf- both nominated for acting Oscars. They flit seamlessly from bickering to bonding like real mothers and teenage daughters and they steal the show.
I knew I’d love Three Billboards and The Shape of Water, and I knew I’d be diffident towards Darkest Hour and The Post. But Lady Bird has completely taken me by surprise and become a strong contender for my favourite nominee. It’s funny, devastating, insightful and touching all in the space of just 94 minutes. I adored it, and most audiences will too.
Mark: 10/10
Dunkirk
Plot
Soldiers desperately try to escape the French beaches as the German army closes in. P&O Ferries have their work cut out.
We’ve seen many a war film during our journey through historical Oscar winners, and Dunkirk felt like a throwback to the days of Mrs Miniver and The Best Years of Our Lives (with better special effects, obviously).
But for me, this doesn’t work in Dunkirk’s favour. By making the Germans an unseen force (in fact, they’re never referred to as Germans, but as “the enemy”), Nolan hasn’t adhered to political correctness at all. The enemy is sinister, mythical and insidious, like Dracula or the hunter who shoots Bambi, totally dehumanising an army that suffered in similar ways to ours. To make it even more one-sided and patriotic, he has made Hans Zimmer throw some Elgar into the soundtrack and has Churchill’s big speech read out at the end. It’s not the balanced depiction of history that the 21st century demands.
Also, there’s virtually no decent characters. The younger actors all blend into one mess of sweaty, frightened soldiers with the same haircut, and the older ones stare with fear and bravery into the middle distance just like they were taught to do at the Greer Garson acting school.
But what the film lacks in character, it makes up for in atmosphere. It’s intense, especially on the big screen, and the battle scenes and crowd scenes are choreographed to evoke a sense of terror and awe that is quite captivating. I also liked the use of three different perspectives (the beach, the boats and the air) to further add to the sheer scale of this unique episode in history, as well as different time spans for each.
So mixed feelings about this one- it’s spectacular and structurally innovative and I was never bored, but it’s got one-dimensional English/American patriotism written all over it. If you share Facebook posts about people showing disrespect because they’re not wearing a poppy in November, you’ll love it.
Mark: 5/10
Doug says
Ugh. I don’t have time for this film, so let’s just start with the positives and plunge into what disturbed me about this film being made today in 2018.
It’s well made, Nolan is a craftsman. The scenes, settings and every element is perfectly lit, framed, and shot. You’ve got the great Mark Rylance driving the most captivating element of the plot (and indeed of the whole Dunkirk thing: the tiny civilian boats coming to rescue the army). Visually it’s stunning. The mixing of the chronologies is genius, blurring timelines so that everything seems to happen at once despite taking place at very different times. So that’s what’s good.
What’s bad? Well to put it bluntly, this film is dangerous. It’s propaganda on a higher level than Darkest Hour. It’s fodder for any Brexit voter who likes to shout racist slurs while waving the Union Jack to God Save The Queen. Why? Well for a start - why was this film even made?
It’s a film about white men in the army doing a tactical manoeuvre that - yes was brilliant and stirring - but also doesn’t seem to justify why we’re showing this today. But that aside - the Germans are shown entirely as dark shadowy figures. It’s very much an ‘us and them’ film, and you’ve even got the eminent Kenneth Branagh (who I am growing to loathe with each new overdone wannabe-Olivier performance) saying something stirring or other. Everything is trite - a boy falls down the stairs in a boat and blinds himself, cue twenty minutes of Cillian Murphy looking a bit guilty. But I didn’t care. About any of it.
Because much like Darkest Hour, this is trying to spoonfeed patriotism blindly, and with two of these films appearing in the Best Picture category, it’s a worrying reflection of what’s going on in the world today.
Mark: 3 / 10
People of Colour: 0
Doug says
Paul says
Get Out
Plot
Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) is finally meeting his girlfriend Rose’s (Allison Williams) parents (Bradley Whitford and Catherine Keener). If you thought YOUR partner’s parents were difficult to be around, then you ain’t seen nothing yet.
Doug says
I was told that this is a film about a black man being locked in a cellar and spending the entire film trying to get out. I was unenthused. However whoever told me this had clearly watched the wrong film as it is entirely, thoroughly not that.
Instead it’s a weird dreamlike film that delivers punches wrapped in such eloquent and jarring metaphors that you are left reeling. It’s hard to pick specific moments but the targets include white ‘allies’ of black civil rights who are anything but (‘I would have voted for Obama 3 times’ is a catchphrase), the objectification of the black body by the white gaze, and most savagely, how black people often have to ‘act white’ in order to be fully accepted.
Daniel Kaluuya thrills and leads an excellent ensemble cast. The moments of horror aren’t cheap and one in particular - where a black maid smiles at Chris (Kaluuya) with fixed happiness while tears of wretchedness drop from her eyes - lingers uncomfortably afterwards. When it’s revealed what’s going on - the situation is far enough from reality to be fully absorbing, while the underlying links and metaphors cut deep.
It’s a film about race - specifically in the US but with strong links to all Western countries - but it manages to tread the line between making pertinent, clear points about our society, and delivering a brilliant, intricately-plotted horror film. Extraordinary, and far from what I thought it would be. It’s also our only nomination with the lead being non-white. A brilliant contender for this year’s awards.
Mark: 10 / 10
People of Colour: 6 speaking roles, (1 lead, 4 supporting, 1 cameo)
And we finish this side-project with the Best Picture wild card- a horror/thriller. This is one of the rarest genres to be recognised at the Oscars. According to my 5-minute research, The Exorcist was the first horror film to even be nominated in 1973 and The Silence of the Lambs is the only one to win in 1991. In a genre fraught with blood, guts and gore, a horror film that gets nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars immediately has high expectations.
And bloody hell, Get Out delivers big time. There is a constant sense of unease and discomfort that escalates slowly, so if you’re a nail-biter, you may need a manicure afterwards (and maybe even a pedicure if you’re especially panicky).
And yes, this is all about race. Specifically, the film attacks the pseudo-liberalism found amongst white people who say things like “I love Oprah” or “I actually prefer Whitney’s version to Dolly’s because it’s more soulful” and think that this basically makes them Rosa Parks. When the parents’ sinister secret is revealed, the film further attacks white peoples’ fascination with African-American biology and how they can assimilate it into white culture.
Deep, yes? It’s scary for all races because audiences clearly see the sort of insidious racism inherent in white people. White people especially will, and should, feel squeamish because they will see their own actions and words that do more harm than good.
Get Out is on one level a very exciting, mysterious piece. But it’s also important because it’s one of the few horror films that extends the genre into unknown territory (akin to Scream or Cabin in the Woods) and we also see the storyline all through the eyes of an African American character- which, for the Academy Awards, is pretty innovative.
Mark: 10/10
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