The OSCARS 2021

[Johann]

Bet on MANK.

[Chris Knipp]

ALAN S. KIM AND STEVEN YEUN IN MINARI

Johann:
Mank is the logical cinephile's choice, a celebration of cinematic complexity recreating a memorable, generous period of Hollywood production.

Other titles in the list also have virtues of their own.

I go always by what moves me most.

Mank dazzled me but left little emotion and has faded from my mind and heart.
Let's look at the other Oscar candidates. ]

Best Picture
The Father
Judas And The Black Messiah
Mank
Minari
Nomadland
Promising Young Woman
Sound Of Metal
The Trial Of The Chicago 7

Some indeed may be most moved by The Father, touching as it does on the sadness of an old man losing his touch on memory and functionality, however I found it manipulative of our emotions.

I think we can dismiss Sound of Metal and Promising Young Woman. The first approaches a too special world it cannot quite reach, that of the deaf; the second hits on a hot concern, sexual harassment, but even if you grant the excellent Carey Mulligan's casting as right, the whole movie seems fake and forced.


Nomadland is overhyped, for what reason I don't know (accidents or distribution and promotion?) which bring out that it too, despite its apparent seamlessness and authenticity, is in its own way artificial. The plunking down of a very famous actress among a lot of "real" people to jazz up a story about semi-homelessness was a shrewd or lucky move on Chloe Zhao's part and I'm happy for her, but the whole thing feels totally false to me, and frankly not all that interesting.


The Trial of the Chicago 7 I like a lot: I'm such a big Aaron Sorkin fan I will forgive him almost anything and the casting is fun, the subject an essential moment in modern American history. It's just that this seems more like a great slice of TV than a movie movie. It lacks cinematic qualities.

Which leaves us with my two hands-down favorites, Judas and the Black Messiah and Minari. The acting in Judas is tremendous, the cast, director, and most of the writers are black, the subject matter is even more crucial to America's current concerns than the other thematically "relevant" films on the list.

But Minari is the film that I anticipated most eagerly and the one that moved me the most. Its subject, a little Korean family making its way in midwestern America, is a new and important one. Its director and actors, everyone involved, is working as if it matters more than their life itself. This is a deeply meaningful and beautiful film.

And so Minari is my first choice, Judas and the Black Messiah my strong runner-up.



DANIEL KALUUYA (CENTER) AS FRED HAMPTON IN JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH

[Chris Knipp]

Minari trailer
Admittedly, I can't watch this without tearing up.


Peter Bradshaw's enthusiastic review appears in the Guardian today (April 1, 2021). Five stars (very rare):

Minari review – a Korean family sows seeds of hope in Arkansas
Infused with a wonderful sentimentality, Lee Isaac Chung’s fictionalised account of his rural US childhood explores the growing pains of a family farm
"Instant classic."

I believe this film will be remembered when all the other 2021 Best Picture noms will be forgotten, cared about still when they are no longer cared about.

That's right: "a wonderful sentimentality." He nails it. Sometimes, sentimentality can be wonderful. This is the celebration of an iconic American - Asian American, Korean American - experience. It's full of pain, but also treasured. It has to be sentimental. Its burden of emotion is too heavy to be anything else. But it's a good sentimentality, a "wonderful" sentimentality.

[Johann]

I'm not qualified this year to pick winners, as I've seen none of the contenders.
Your choices seem on the money Chris.
I said bet on MANK just on the strength of the trailer.

I'll miss this years broadcast due to physio.
We'll see how things go...

[Chris Knipp]

Seen or not, Mank is the obvious cinephile's choice. I'm rarely as well prepared as I am this time, having not only seen but written reviews of all eight Best Picture noms. I also rarey feel as strongly for my favorite as I do for Minari, almost as much as for Brokeback Mountain. And its losing may hurt almost as much.

[Chris Knipp]

The Winners - Oscars 2021
[Source: The Guardian]

Best original screenplay
Judas and the Black Messiah
Minari
Promising Young Woman – WINNER
Sound of Metal
The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best adapted screenplay
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
The Father – WINNER
Nomadland
One Night in Miami
The White Tiger

Best international feature film
Another Round – WINNER
Better Days
Collective
The Man Who Sold His Skin
Quo Vadis, Aida?

Best actor in a supporting role
Sacha Baron Cohen, The Trial of the Chicago 7
Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah – WINNER
Leslie Odom, Jr, One Night in Miami
Paul Raci, Sound of Metal
Lakeith Stanfield, Judas and the Black Messiah

Best makeup and hairstyling
Emma
Hillbilly Elegy
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – WINNER
Mank
Pinocchio

Best costume design
Emma
Mank
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – WINNER
Mulan
Pinocchio

Best director
Thomas Vinterberg, Another Round
Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman
David Fincher, Mank
Lee Isaac Chung, Minari
Chloé Zhao, Nomadland – WINNER

Best sound
Greyhound
Mank
News of the World
Sound of Metal – WINNER
Soul

Best live-action short film
Feeling Through
The Letter Room
The Present
Two Distant Strangers – WINNER
White Eye

Best animated short film
Burrow
Genius Loci
If Anything Happens I Love You – WINNER
Opera
Yes-People

Best animated feature film
Onward
Over the Moon
A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
Soul – WINNER
Wolfwalkers

Best documentary short
Colette – WINNER
A Concerto Is a Conversation
Do Not Split
Hunger Ward
A Love Song for Latasha

Best documentary
Collective
Crip Camp
The Mole Agent
My Octopus Teacher – WINNER
Time

Best visual effects
Love and Monsters
The Midnight Sky
Mulan
The One and Only Ivan
Tenet – WINNER

Best actress in a supporting role
Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy
Olivia Colman, The Father
Amanda Seyfried, Mank
Youn Yuh-Jung, Minari – WINNER

Best production design
The Father
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Mank – WINNER
News of the World
Tenet

Best cinematography
Judas and the Black Messiah
Mank – WINNER
News of the World
Nomadland
The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best film editing
The Father
Nomadland
Promising Young Woman
Sound of Metal – WINNER
The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best original score
Da 5 Bloods
Mank
Minari
News of the World
Soul – WINNER

Best original song
Husavik, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
Fight For You, Judas and the Black Messiah – WINNER
Io Sì (Seen), The Life Ahead
Speak Now, One Night in Miami
Hear My Voice, The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best picture
The Father
Judas and the Black Messiah
Mank
Minari
Nomadland – WINNER
Promising Young Woman
Sound of Metal
The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best actress in a leading role
Viola Davis, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Andra Day, The United States vs Billie Holiday
Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman
Frances McDormand, Nomadland – WINNER
Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman

Best actor in a leading role
Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal
Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Anthony Hopkins, The Father – WINNER
Gary Oldman, Mank
Steven Yeun, Minari

[Johann]

I tuned in to the Oscars and enjoyed it.
Different this year, and it was odd to see no masks.
I got to see performances of all five best song nominees before the broadcast, and they were all stellar songs, hard to pick a winner.

Congrats to all winners!