Through Her Lens: 2018 (The 91st Oscars)
Wednesday, December 1, 2021 at 8:00PM A series by Juan Carlos Ojano
Previously: Episode 1 - 2020-21 / Episode 2 - 2019
Eyes were on the Best Director category at the 91st Academy Awards after Greta Gerwig became only the fifth woman to be nominated in the said category the previous year. Contemporaneous articles expressed disappointment with this fact, but this Oscar year was also plagued with other issues: no ceremony host, plans to give out awards during commercial break, and divisive films like Green Book, Bohemian Rhapsody, and Vice being major factors, too.
In a way, these other controversies clouded what could have been a more extensive discussion regarding representation in the Best Director category. Out of the 347 films included in the Reminder List of Eligible Films in 2018 (91st Academy Awards), 62 of them (or 17.9%) were directed/co-directed by women.
OSCAR-NOMINATED FEMALE-DIRECTED FILMS (in alphabetical order): Animal Behaviour*, Bao*, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Capernaum, Free Solo, Late Afternoon*, Marguerite*, Mary Queen of Scots, Period. End of Sentence.*, and RBG. (*not in the eligibility list for Best Picture)
OUR ALTERNATIVE SET OF FIVE...
Debra Granik - Leave No Trace
After her Best Picture-nominated Winter’s Bone, Granik goes back into the survivalist terrain to tell the story of a father and daughter living in the forest as the former grapples with PTSD. Throughout the film, Granik films scenes with tangible directness. However, the difference between the scenes in the wilderness and in the urban area is remarkable. The former ebbs and flows with natural grace while the latter has a suffocating steadiness that quietly spells out the difference in the headspace of these characters, particularly the daughter’s, given her newly dislocated experience. The strength of Granik’s work is in giving the space for the character’s personal journeys as opposed to attempting to amp up the stakes of the narrative through manufacturing forced tension or melodrama. Streaming on Hulu and Kanopy.
Claire Denis - Let the Sunshine In
What is very striking about this romantic drama is its focus. While it remains matter-of-fact with its narrative, it is on how Denis frames these scenes that spell the difference. Through specific camera movements and framing choices, she is more interested in investigating the nuances of human behavior. A long take that pans back-and-forth between two characters asks us to watch our protagonist patiently. Putting Juliette Binoche’s face in the center frame intensifies a heated argument. But ultimately, Denis used these techniques to unmask the emotional vulnerability of its protagonist. Not by cheap manipulation but by keen observation. It’s a distinctive relationship of the camera to its protagonist that makes this film empathetic and luminous. Streaming on AMC+, The Criterion Channel, and DirecTV.
Tamara Jenkins - Private Life
Focusing on a middle-aged couple with infertility issues, the premise of this film might seem deceptively simple. But in Jenkins’s hands, the film becomes a highly engaging dramedy that dares to utilize its amalgamation of genres for maximum effect. The usually uncomfortable humor is coupled with the underlying drama of failing to conceive. The staging of the scenes have a sophisticated specificity that shows the layers of these characters and the environment that they are operating in. A clinic for artificial insemination becomes an honest examination of the process and its machinations. The man watches porn while the woman is sedated - both of these moments have a comedic tone but one that mines its humor in the honesty of it. Also, the film caps with a brilliant final shot: a moment of uncertainty and hope. Streaming on Netflix.
Lynne Ramsay - You Were Never Really Here
In one of the most terrifying films in recent memory, Ramsay dives straight into the depths of pain and trauma in this terrifying odyssey. She tackles the culture of violence and retribution through the eyes of someone so closed off and the result is highly unnerving. The film realizes its power in the unpredictability of violence and the varying degrees where it operates. Not on how much we see, but on how little we see and on when it would happen. Ramsay curates these elements with a lacerating pulse; the film’s cinematography, film, editing, and sound design are all on top form as she visualizes the horrors in the protagonist’s psyche. Its use of surveillance camera footage embodies that decisiveness on when to look and when to look away. Meanwhile, the climactic carnage is an unforgiving masterstroke. Streaming on Prime Video.
Lucrecia Martel - Zama
This auteur goes back to the 18th century colonial Argentina to tell this haunting tale of power and greed. The film is a portrait of the titular character stuck in that cycle, but it is less straightforward than it sounds. Martel’s directing prowess is in full force here. She allows scenes to play out more like impressions than something complete. Her style makes scenes feel like they always have a layer just a bit obscured from the naked eye, whether it be through framing that just feels slightly off or rhythm that is pensive despite the scene’s length. Martel never lets the audience be complacent and instead invites us to always look closer. The sound design immerses you even more into the world of the unknown, a worldview that feels peculiar yet grounded. What Martel does in this one is hard to describe. Streaming on Kanopy.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Karyn Kusama - Destroyer
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi & Jimmy Chin - Free Solo
Sara Colangelo - The Kindergarten Teacher
Chloé Zhao - The Rider
Sandi Tan - Shirkers
What would your dream ballot have looked like that year?
Reader Comments (7)
Dream ballot?
Coogler, Guadagnino, Lanthimos, López Estrada, Pawlikowski
Great writeup. I agree with about half of these. Torn, but my 5 would be:
Kusama - Destroyer
Colangelo - Kindergarten Teacher (Maggie should’ve been nom’d too)
Granik - Leave No Trace
Jenkins - Private Life
Zhao - Rider
I really really really wanted to like You Were Never Really Here, but found it so inert and removed. Just could not get on its wavelength.
Would definitely include Ramsey and Martel alongside Lanthimos, Cuaron, and Chang-dong Lee for Burning. That would be an epic 5.
Granik - Winner
Marielle Heller
Ramsey
Jenkins
Colangelo
Leave No Trace might be the most underrated film of the last decade
My dream ballot:
Hirokazu Koreeda Shoplifters
Chloe Zhao The Rider
Debra Granik Leave No Trace
Damien Chazelle First Man
Armando Ianucci The Death of Stalin
Pawel Pawlikowski is a very close 6th and would have been my choice among the actual nominees.
Co-sign on CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?, CAPHARNAUM, PRIVATE LIFE and THE RIDER. I'd also throw in SUMMER 1993 (don't know its eligibility, but it was a 2018 movie for my country) and Isobel Coixet for THE BOOKSHOP.
I liked both Destroyer and Capernaum a lot, but I don't think they'd quite make the list for for my top 5. I'd add Martel and Zhao to Lanthimos and Pawlikoski. For that 5th slot maybe Ramsay - although maybe Brady Corbet or Boots Riley.