Random Oscar Reviews (2022)
Here are four of the Oscar Best Picture Nominees that I watched this year that I really enjoyed. Reposted as the Oscar Nominees are released for 2024, even though I watched these back in 2022, I found the post in my archive as I transferred over to SquareSpace 7.1.
No Adults Allowed
Hope and Glory (1987)
The London Blitz during World War II from the perspective of a young boy living with his family.
It is a great film following (or perhaps the inspiration for) other films like The Florida Project, Pan’s Labyrinth, and Belfast (all of which I recommend). Those dealt with difficult horrors like American Poverty, The Spanish Civil War, and The Troubles respectively, but by using childhood innocence as the lens, directors have told beautifully warm and imaginative stories amidst these backdrops. I’m a big fan of this narrative device. It makes these huge events very personal and accessible to the viewer.
The other nominees of the year were Broadcast News, Fatal Attraction, Moonstruck, and the winner, The Last Emperor. Now that I’ve watched all five, I think Hope and Glory is just as good, if not better than The Last Emperor. Either would have been worthy winners.
College Reunion
The Big Chill (1983)
A group of friends who attended the University of Michigan, reunite after 12-15 years when their friend Alex dies by suicide.
My Class’s impending 10 Year Reunion is coming next year, and it was stunning to be immersed in this University of Michigan friend group’s 15 Year Reunion filmed 40 years ago. Fun, smart, dark, casual… a recognizable cast made me feel a part of their weekend. I just wanted more of their interactions. I particularly enjoyed how even 40 years ago, the core of it could have been a friend group today. I felt myself there with them. I saw my own friends in them and our same familiar issues arising. It’s comforting to know that despite the doom and gloom (or inversely the optimism of progress) that not much has changed in a half century.
The other nominees of the year were The Dresser, The Right Stuff, Tender Mercies, and the winner, Terms of Endearment. I still haven’t seen The Dresser or the Terms of Endearment. But so far it looks like a strong year, The Right Stuff and Tender Mercies were both very good as well.
Parents & Sons
Ordinary People (1980)
Following the accidental death of one of their two sons and the attempted suicide of the other, a family moves forward.
Great movies all stem from relationships that the audience can empathize with despite the different (often more extreme) circumstances. The three main characters are deeply introspective and honest. It’s brutal, but powerful, with Robert Redford clearly has incredible emotional intelligence to direct a story like this so well. All the actors do a great job of encapsulating their character’s trauma and developing with the others to find common ground. They handle mental health and the coping mechanisms post tragedy really well.
Ordinary People won the Oscar that year, the other nominees are Coal Miner’s Daughter, The Elephant Man, Raging Bull, and Tess. I have only seen Raging Bull of the group.
Class Is Nothing
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
It’s the story of a surly oil rig worker, whose rootless blue-collar existence belies his privileged upbringing.
Sometimes, I wonder why Jack Nicholson is so popular, and I come across a classic, and realize this is why. He so poignantly portrays a man-child with upper class background masquerading as a blue collar worker. With his wild raw energy keeping you hooked through the ambiguity of the story. It feels like the path not taken for some of us men who have picked more conventional routes in life, with heavy introspection, and the aching loneliness that has plagued men more and more over time.