There have been so many amazing films in 2013 that I can't wait until year's end. I have to talk about some of them now, in preparation for the March Academy Awards party we'll host for family. Ballot cards include all the Oscar categories. The person with the most perfect picks wins the prize!! So here goes…and the nominees are...
Dallas Buyers Club: A very gaunt Matthew McConaughey dominates as Ron Woodruff, the HIV/AIDS- stricken wheeler dealer from a hometown Dallas trailer park where rodeos and sex trios reign supreme and sometimes overlap -- i.e. the opening scene, so don't miss it. The guy has guts. He overcomes homophobic instincts to reject all the wallflowers, sunflowers, and other flowers who suffer from HIV/AIDS, to advocate for meds and vitamins that allow him (and them) to survive years beyond his original death sentence of thirty days. This after a near death experience from high doses of AZT that he bought on the downlow from a hospital orderly who's paid handsomely for his trouble. Desperate for a cure, Ron finds a clinic south of the border dishing out cocktails of safer drugs and vitamin regimens to raise T-levels and keep patients alive. Determined to survive and make some bucks while he's at it, he travels the globe for drugs and signs desperate AIDS patients up for the Dallas Buyers Club. Drugs are guaranteed as long as you pay your monthly dues. There's no end to the challenges along the way -- FDA officials, customs officers, good and bad cops, good and bad docs, the old hometown gang, and of course, death. Poignant, riveting, informative. Maybe a best actor nomination.
12 Years A Slave: A shocking, painful journey of an educated African American man who's plucked from his comfortable family life in the northeast and tricked into slavery in Louisiana. The person on whom the film is based wrote the book by the same name in the late 1800's. The cinematography, like the closeup of the Mississippi steamer's paddlewheel that forces water through its blades in rhythmic bursts, matches the harsh reality of the main character's many predicaments. The slave owners of the South are depicted as cruel, crude and opportunistic toward their human property. Slaves are bought, sold, beaten, and raped without any consideration for families, bodies, or humanity. The plantation scenes are raw as we bear witness to them 150 years later. The characters jump off the screen -- a refined, educated black man whose fortitude allows him to endure until justice catches up and he's saved by a white man, his friend from home; a crazed white owner whose dark, delirious passion drives him to abuse a young black girl repeatedly; the young black girl whose physical wounds are second only to the psychological damage that has taken hold; and another white owner who shows short-lived compassion, but fails to deliver when push comes to shove. Several award nominations are guaranteed.
Captain Phillips: Played by Tom Hanks, this guy kept me on the edge of my seat the whole entire movie, and I knew the ending, so it wasn't as if I feared the worst. Surviving to the finale was an exercise in patience amid terror. The fact that this was based on a true story, although depicted through the lens of a Hollywood movie director, gave it even more zeal and blood-curdling power. So what if a certain scene was fabricated? We know it's all in the realm of possibility for anyone captured by Somali pirates who are beholden to warlords in a country without a heart, soul, or credible leader. So, for that reason, I don't hold it against the producers who brought the story to life. The basic story and reality of terror is believable. The zinger, however, came after the movie was out. According to the New York Daily News (Oct. 7, 2013), crew members are suing the shipping company because they wandered within 260 miles of the Somali coast. They were instructed to stay at least 600 miles out. Many hold the good captain responsible. That sequel will air in court in December!
Gravity: Who doesn't like watching two beautiful Hollywood actors float around in space and maneuver in the intimate quarters of a celestial cockpit until things go wrong, get fixed, go wrong again, get fixed again, yadda, yadda, yadda? The mostly quiet ambience of the film and performances delivered by Sandra Bullock and George Clooney was so mesmerizing that I found myself pulled into the surreal universe beyond planet Earth without any hint of takeoff. I was there, with them, contemplating the next invasion of cosmic debris. Bullock is surely worthy of an Oscar nomination, but Clooney's time on screen is limited. He did his usual, and left the girl behind. No nomination for him.
The Butler: In the tradition of old Hollywood movies, this one has it all -- a sympathetic boy who's forced to tolerate the brutality toward his parents at the hands of a white slave owner (one is raped and the other is killed); a heroic climb up the segregated job and social ladders that leads to the White House, marriage, a family, and a comfortable life; the deep divides of the 60s, which take their toll on his family; and the history of the civil rights movement demonstrated by presidents who occupied the White House. Forrest Whittaker delivers, Oprah shines, and the film sparkles from beginning to end. Call it whatever you like, I loved it, twice. It's my history. I lived those years. I fought those injustices. I nominate both leads.
Blue Jasmine: Cate Blanchett's performance as the wife of the New York stockbroker Alec Baldwin who takes everyone down the rabbit hole with him when all Hell breaks loose in the economic crush of 2008 is superb. Classic Woody Allen against the bright lights, tall buildings, and upscale lifestyles of New York City. She'll be a sure nomination boosted by the final scene of her in the park.
All Is Lost: I sat riveted during the entire voyage in the South Pacific, fascinated by a man's sheer determination and strength to survive the elements and hope for rescue, first on his sailboat, and later, on his lifeboat. It would be less than truthful to omit that I was hypnotized by Robert Redford's performance, but I've always been hypnotized by him. Other than that, I don't have a lot more to say. Is that the mark of a four-star movie? Maybe. Will he be nominated? Surely. The movie? Probably.
Before Midnight: It's been so long since we saw this little gem, that my moment-by-moment reactions to it are dulled by time. But the ones that linger in memory are worth noting. This is a relationship that has matured beyond the one first seen in Before Sunrise (1995) when the couple meets on a train in Europe, and later in Before Sunset (2004) when they meet again at a book signing for him. Same actors different decades. But in the spirit of full disclosure, I didn't' see the earlier versions, only read the reviews and recall the chatter. Judy Delpy and Ethan Hawke starred in all three, the latest one set in a seaside Greek village where they vacation with their children and friends at a family home overlooking the sea. More comfortable and less enamored with each other, the couple is gifted a night at a hotel in town without the kids. That's when the brutal argument erupts. What married couple hasn't had one of these? Something small simmers below the surface until it explodes into something gigantic. Eventually (hours, days or weeks), it fizzles into the comfort of time, history, and place. The sumptuous backdrop of the charming European countryside and the midnight table by the water is intoxicating. The mature love and enduring romance ring with authenticity. Not likely for Oscar nods, but worth the rental.
Mud: A gritty fugitive meets two ragamuffin teen boys, each with his own fantasy about the secretive Robinson Crusoe deserted island that's a boat ride away from the Arkansas river town where life is not so perfect and much of the action emerges. Throw in a thwarted romance that inspires the boys to somehow reconnect Matthew McConaughey's character with the Reese Witherspoon love of his life, and you have plenty of complications. That's because the fugitive is on the most wanted list of the local authorities for a string of minor to major run-ins with the law. It's an honest, well-honed performance by McConaughey that has even more power because of the contrast to the innocence of the boys whose lives could easily go in his direction, given just enough wrong moves. Not sure, but maybe a nomination somewhere in those Mississippi swamps.
The Sapphires: This was the sleeper of the year for me, my Searching for Sugarman. Aborigine girls from down under win a contest to entertain soldiers in Vietnam. Before the journey begins, however, they're trained by a would-be opportunist promoter played by Chris O'Dowd, who blew me away in this role. He's the guy who takes these diamonds in the rough, singing country music, and turns them into blazing hot sapphires belting out soul tunes with all the right notes and moves. He's roguish, charming, adventurous, spirited, hilarious, and beguiling. Heart and soul. The perfect foil to the girls' innocent, spunky, tenacious, adventurous, sensual, and courageous hearts and souls. It's a story that's born against the backdrop of the white man's injustices toward the native population in Oz, and plays into the 1960s era of missteps in Vietnam that leave too many dead, too many addicted, too many wounded, and too many confused by the fog of war. The girls are triumphant and O'Dowd is the hero. MUST SEE MOVIE based on a real story. I nominate O'Dowd and the movie for Oscar consideration.
No comments:
Post a Comment