by Cláudio Alves
The cinema of 2019 has been rich with technological wonders. Septuagenarian actors are now able to have virtual facelifts and look like middle-aged men again. Movie stars can be returned to their youthful selves of the 1990s and there's even the possibility of CGI cloning. This trend is so weirdly generalized that it can be found in a wide variety of projects: MCU tentpoles, auteur's forays into the land of action cinema, and three-and-a-half-hour-long meditations on mortality.
Not surprisingly, these various achievements might be in contention for the Best Visual Effects Oscar, but it's unlikely all of them will be honored...
CAPTAIN MARVEL
Samuel L. Jackson's transformation remains the year's most impressive de-aging effect. It's seamless, admirably consistent and corresponds to what we know Jackson looked like in his younger years. Pity the rest of the film's effects weren't as impressive.
GEMINI MAN
Will Smith's intergenerational twinning is astounding in many of Gemini Man's high-octane action scenes and the achievement is even more impressive when you consider Ang Lee's use of HFR. In quieter moments, especially those in direct sunlight, the illusion is less successful and the film has the misfortune of ending with its least convincing scene, effects-wise.
THE IRISHMAN
Martin Scorsese's grand opus suffers from the most extreme of these tech wonders because it tries to convincingly return 76-year-old Robert De Niro to the semblance of a thirtysomething man. Perhaps because The Irishman's thespians didn't wear any sort of tracking device or reference dots on their faces, the effect tends to come off as unnatural and plastic-looking. Thematically, there's some value to this. The flashbacks look like remembrances corrupted by the self-image of aged men who have forgotten the feel of youth and can only think of the past as a prelude to Death and old age. Still, it's difficult to fully accept the grotesque effects during the first few hours of The Irishman.
Which of these de-aging wonders do you prefer? Do any of these films deserve an Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects?