50th Nashville Film Festival: A Hidden Life, Atlantics, and Clemency

The Fall festival season is coming to a close, unlocking certain question marks surrounding the awards race and, more importantly, exposing the movie-going demographic to some exciting titles that are coming to general audiences in the near future. For its 50th anniversary, the Nashville Film Festival, typically running through April each year, was apart of the Fall festival circuit, with access to some of the year's most anticipated releases. I had the good fortune of attending the festival's semi-centennial, albeit only in sporadic doses. I missed out on major Oscar contenders like Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story and Taika Waititi's Jojo Rabbit, while some of the more under-the-radar indies like Burning Cane, Gay Chorus, Sequin in a Blue Room, and Standing Up, Falling Down played at inopportune times for my schedule. I will be catching up on each of those (and others) when I can, but now I would like to discuss the three films I was able to see at this year's festival: A Hidden Life, the latest from Terrence Malick, Atlantics, the directorial debut of Mati Diop, and Clemency, the buzz-filled Sundance vehicle for Alfre Woodard.

Oscar Viewing Diary - Class of 2018

Logging Each of the Oscar-nominated Films I've Seen by Year!

(2018)

Screened:
(will update as I screen more nominees)

Animal Behaviour - Amusing if overlong Animated Short nominee posits animals in the roles of humans in a group therapy session.

At Eternity's Gate - Julian Schnabel directed Willem Dafoe to his fourth nomination for this typically expressionistic portrait of Vincent van Gogh.

Avengers: Infinity War - The Marvel Cinematic Universe nabbed their annual Best Visual Effects nomination over Best Picture-nominated Black Panther.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs - Netflix-backed Western anthology from the Coen Brothers received 3 well-earned nominations, including Best Adapted Screenplay for the directing duo.

BlacKkKlansman - Spike Lee's biggest Oscar play yet in his 30+ year career, receiving his first nomination as a director.

Black Panther - Marvel's Oscar success here is a momentous occasion outside of its genre roots, crafting a savvy, formally intelligent blockbuster that has genuine cultural relevance.

Black Sheep - Vivid documentary short about a black londoner recounting his personal experiences living in a racist neighborhood proceeding the murder of Damilola Taylor.

Bohemian Rhapsody - Controversial Freddie Mercury biopic plagued by production drama eventually became an unexpected awards magnet, particularly for its star, Rami Malek.

Can You Ever Forgive Me? - Marielle Heller's follow-up to Diary of a Teenage Girl scored acting nominations for on-screen besties Melissa McCarthy (2nd nomination!) and Richard E. Grant (1st nomination!).

Cold War - Pawel Pawlikowski is the only director nominated in this year's Best Director lineup whose film was not Best Picture nominated, a rarity in the expanded nominee era.

End Game - Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, heroic documentarians behind Celluloid Closet and Times of Harvey Milk, return with this survey of medical professionals and patients coming to terms with end-of-life options.

Fauve - Canadian-produced short feature follows two rabble-rousing young boys as they trek through an open pit mine, leading to a grim outcome.

The Favourite - Yorgos Lanthimos has gradually become an Oscar household name, scoring his first Best Director nomination after success with Dogtooth  and The Lobster.

First Man - Damien Chazelle's dazzlingly constructed fourth feature was by no means the Oscar juggernaut its predecessor was, but had a respectable showing with four nominations.

First Reformed - At once a Best Actor contender for Ethan Hawke, Paul Schrader's writing was the only nomination for this patiently insinuating parable of personal, spiritual, and environmental mortality.

Free Solo - Documentary follows thrill-seeking rock climber Alex Honnold in his attempts to free solo climb the daunting El Capitan.

Green Book - Has managed to sustain its awards momentum ever since taking the top prize at Toronto, receiving five nominations despite criticisms of the film's perspective on race relations.

If Beale Street Could Talk - By far the best movie to receive a nomination in any category, Barry Jenkins' follow-up to Best Picture-winning Moonlight is an aching, rapturous adaptation of James Baldwin's novel.

Incredibles 2 - Much-awaited sequel to the 2004 Pixar hit scored yet another Best Animated Feature Oscar nomination for the company.

Isle of Dogs - Wes Anderson makes a successful return to stop-motion animation nine years after Fantastic Mr. Fox, scoring well-deserved nominations for Animation and Score.

Late Afternoon -Breathtakingly lovely hand-drawn animation and surprising emotional undertow earmark this short feature about an elderly woman cycling through her memories.

Mary Poppins Returns - One had hoped this would be the year where Emily Blunt scored her first acting nomination, but the film was successful in other areas, reaping four nominations.

Mary Queen of Scots - In a refreshing change of pace, Queen Anne managed to spark more enthusiasm than Queen Elizabeth did this season, though the Costume and Makeup branches were seemingly impressed.

A Night at the Garden - Tours a haunting seven minutes of the 1939 American Nazi rally that drew nearly 20,000 spectators and eerily reflects modern-day Trump rallies.

One Small Step - Sweet, warm, dialogue-free Animated Short nominee about a Chinese-American father and daughter, the latter of whom aspires to work for NASA.

Period. End of Sentence. - Women in a small rural community in India advocate for and manufacture high quality sanitary pads, despite the stigma around menstruation.

A Quiet Place - Another would-be nomination for Emily Blunt, John Krasinski's foray into horror managed only a single nomination for Sound Editing.

RBG - Modest but inspiring account of the life and career of Ruth Bader Ginsburg is considered the front runner in this year's Best Documentary Feature category.

Ready Player One - Steven Spielberg's kinetic explosion of gaming and studio property was quite the CGI showcase and resulted in a nomination for Best Visual Effects.

Roma - Alfonso Cuarón is nominated as a director, writer, producer, and cinematographer for this semi-autobiographical snapshot of a specific time and place.

Shoplifters - Hirokazu Koreeda's Palme d'Or winning depiction of a makeshift family is a precisely calibrated and impeccably acted masterpiece.

Solo: A Star Wars Story - The second standalone entry into the Star Wars universe failed to excite critics and audiences, but still managed a nomination for Visual Effects.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse - Technically awe-inspiring, universally beloved Spidey toon broke ground with its innovative use of animation, resulting in a Best Animated Feature nomination.

A Star is Born - Bradley Cooper is as acute, complex, and impactful behind the camera as he is in front, directing himself and Lady Gaga to acting nominations.

Vice - Adam McKay returns with more brazen political commentary after The Big Short, scoring his second nomination as a director for this Dick Cheney biopic.

Weekends - Structured on a series of repetitions and contains no dialogue, much like One Small Step, centering on a young boy with divorced, somewhat neglectful parents (unlike One Small Step).

The Wife - Glenn Close received her seventh nomination in this slow-burn marital profile/character study and could potentially nab her first win.

Have Yet to See:


Bao -
Border -
Capernaum -
Detainment -
Hale County This Morning, This Evening -
Lifeboat -
Madre -
Marguerite -
Minding the Gap -
Mirai -
Never Look Away -
Of Fathers and Sons -
Ralph Breaks the Internet -

Skin -

2018 Oscar Nomination Predictions

Months of speculation, controversy, and online debate have led to this moment...my return to the blog! Just kidding, it's the Oscar nominations! As I usually do, I thought I would share my predictions and work through my own thoughts on the awards race so far and the impending nominations.

I will try not to despair so much over many of the questionable choices AMPAS will make on nomination morning, since there's always the chance that I will be pleased with the individual lineups. But I would like to point out that our the ways in which we engage these movies and responses to them play an important role in their fate as cultural touchstones. If I happen to find Green Book and Bohemian Rhapsody to be pedestrian and simplistic in how they handle issues of race and sexuality (each applying to both films) and you happen to enjoy them, then your first reaction doesn't have to be indignation. It's not that I personally find people who like this movie to be racist or homophobic. I just wonder why these are always the only types of racial or queer stories that are ever accepted into the cultural consciousness. If you do like these movies, then that might be an important question to ask yourself.

So, with that being said, let's look at my probably wrong and misguided predictions:

Best Picture

1. Roma
2. Green Book
3. A Star is Born
4. The Favourite
5. BlacKkKlansman
6. Black Panther
7. If Beale Street Could Talk
8. Crazy Rich Asians
9. Vice

if there are 10...
10. First Man

On the cusp: First Reformed, Bohemian Rhapsody, Leave No Trace

Also in the running: Mary Poppins Returns, A Quiet Place, Cold War, Widows

Outside shots: Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Eighth Grade, The Rider, Boy Erased, You Were Never Really Here, We the Animals

-- Not predicting Bohemian Rhapsody, despite its durable, if bewildering, precursor support. I do think it's an egregious movie, although that hasn't stopped me from predicting them before. My own feelings aside, it just strikes me as a populist choice that garners industry attention within various guilds, but ends up with little-to-no support from the Academy. Is it the kind of movie that will receive enough #1 votes to get nominated? You could make the same argument against Crazy Rich Asians chances, which showed up in the same places as Bohemian Rhapsody (Golden Globes, PGA, SAG), but isn't regarded as much of a threat for a nomination. The only difference is that people actually like Crazy Rich Asians and it doesn't whitewash what it pertains to be about (looking at you, too, Green Book). I'd say everything else is pretty safe, aside from If Beale Street Could Talk, which is the best movie of the year so of course it has the best chance of missing.

Best Director

1. Alfonso Cuarón - Roma
2. Bradley Cooper - A Star is Born
3. Spike Lee - BlacKkKlansman
4. Ryan Coogler - Black Panther
5. Debra Granik - Leave No Trace

On the cusp: Yorgos Lanthimos - The Favourite, Peter Farrely - Green Book, Barry Jenkins - If Beale Street Could Talk

Also in the running: Adam McKay - Vice, Pawel Pawlikowski - Cold War, Damien Chazelle - First Man, Paul Schrader - First Reformed, John Krasinski - A Quiet Place

Outside shots: Steve McQueen - Widows, Chloe Zhao - The Rider, Lynne Ramsay - You Were Never Really Here, Rob Marshall - Mary Poppins Returns

-- Among any of the potential "surprise" nominees, Debra Granik's name being called would get the biggest hurrah from me. First, because it would be a great win for Team Campion, and second, because her work in Leave No Trace is the kind of direction I'd like to see rewarded more frequently. Soulful yet tough-minded command in its accumulative emotional impact and subtle coaxing of its communities and POVs. It'll probably be Peter Farrely, but if voters watched their Leave No Trace screeners at the right time, then I'm willing to believe it will stick with enough of them to make this happen.

Best Actress

1. Glenn Close - The Wife
2. Lady Gaga - A Star is Born
3. Olivia Colman - The Favourite
4. Melissa McCarthy - Can You Ever Forgive Me?
5. Emily Blunt - Mary Poppins Returns

On the cusp: Toni Collette - Hereditary, Nicole Kidman - Destroyer, Yalitza Aparicio - Roma, Elsie Fisher - Eighth Grade, Julia Roberts - Ben is Back

Also in the running: Viola Davis - Widows, Regina Hall - Support the Girls, Rosamund Pike - A Private War, Carey Mulligan - Wildlife

Outside Shots: Amandla Stenberg - The Hate U Give, Charlize Theron - Tully, Kathryn Hahn - Private Life, Constance Wu - Crazy Rich Asians

-- I fear it isn't going to happen for Emily Blunt. Though she wouldn't be my first choice for a nomination, I would be thrilled to see Blunt finally rewarded all these years after The Devil Wears Prada, which should have been her first Oscar nomination. The film's charms do fade the further you get from it, so it would not surprise me to see it get less support than it needs for a nomination outside of the technical categories. I'm still predicting her, but am keeping an eye out for people like Collette or Kidman who leave a more potent impact.

Best Actor

1. Bradley Cooper - A Star is Born
2. Viggo Mortensen - Green Book
3. Ethan Hawke - First Reformed
4. Rami Malek - Bohemian Rhapsody
5. John David Washington - BlacKkKlansman

On the cusp: Christian Bale - Vice, Ben Foster - Leave No Trace

Also in the running: Willem Dafoe - At Eternity's Gate, Ryan Gosling - First Man

Outside shots: Joaquin Phoenix - You Were Never Really Here, John Cho - Searching, Robert Redford - The Old Man and the Gun, John C. Reilly - Stan & Ollie, Lucas Hedges - Boy Erased

-- The BFCA and Globe wins probably make my decision to exclude Bale in my predictions seem like a lapse in good judgment, but this does seem like one of those years where a supposed lock is shockingly left out on nomination morning. Bale in Vice has been a foregone conclusion for so long while people like Hawke, Malek, and Washington keep inspiring passionate fans to vote for them.

Best Supporting Actress

1. Regina King - If Beale Street Could Talk
2. Amy Adams - Vice
3. Rachel Weisz - The Favourite
4. Emma Stone - The Favourite
5. Claire Foy - First Man

On the cusp: Thomasin McKenzie - Leave No Trace, Nicole Kidman - Boy Erased, Michelle Yeoh - Crazy Rich Asians, Margot Robbie - Mary Queen of Scots

Also in the running: Emily Blunt - A Quiet Place, Elizabeth Debicki - Widows, Danai Gurira - Black Panther

Outside shots: Linda Cardellini - Green Book, Cynthia Erivo - Widows, Tilda Swinton - Suspiria

-- I feel pretty confident about King's chances at this point, mostly because none of the other contenders have cemented themselves as a serious front runner the same . Adams will get in for being perfectly fine in a movie that doesn't ask her to dig as deeply as she does in her best nominated performances. Stone and Weisz will ride their category fraud campaign to easy nominations on the coattails of The Favourite's Best Picture and Best Actress momentum. I'm still predicting Foy for the last slot, even though First Man failed to catch on leading up to the nominations. I could see any of the four actresses outside of the predicted five (McKenzie, Kidman, Yeoh, Robbie) making it over her, but Foy benefits from playing a role they love (Concerned, Supportive Wife) and, more importantly, for supporting the emotional core of the movie in a role that they love. Whether First Man is completely dead as an Oscar contender is debatable (I still think it could happen), but I would not underestimate Foy.