Soundtracking: Juliet, Naked

by Chris Feil

Musical standom sometimes has more to do with defining ourselves than it does the music itself. Instead, the music is just the key that unlocks something within us and lays a foundation for obsession over an artist’s life and legacy. That obsession is fueled online, between warring factions of “teams” and Reddit board investigations of creative minutiae in search of greater meaning, no musician safe from the scrutiny. It’s almost entirely separate from the music that inspires the standom. That divide between musical obsession and connection is at the core of Juliet, Naked, a film as delightfully revisitable as an underrated album.

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What's on your cinematic mind?

Do tell in the comments. It's the quiet before the storm in terms of the (prestige) film year so where has your cinematic mind been drifting? 

The New Classics: It's Such a Beautiful Day

by Michael Cusumano  

Scene: Immortality
Bill, the protagonist of Don Hertzfeldt’s animated masterpiece It’s Such a Beautiful Day (2012), is the picture of ordinariness. With only his simple rectangle and line hat to distinguish him, he is every man.

The sweeping classical music on the soundtrack as we are plunged into Bill’s existence briefly tricks into thinking that Bill's life might be an extraordinary one. The film shares some selections with The Tree of Life, released the year before. But where Terrence Malick matched that music to images of equal grandeur, like the creation of the universe and butterflies landing on Jessica Chastain, Hertzfeldt goes in the opposite direction, using symphonies to elevate depictions of the most insignificant events conceivable. Bill’s life is as humdrum as his appearance...

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Best International Feature: Parasite, The Whistlers, and Denmark's Hopefuls...

by Nathaniel R

Park So-dam and Choi Woo-sik as con-artist siblings in Parasite (2019)

UPDATED SEPTEMBER 2ND 2:00 PM: The titles competing at the 92nd annual Oscars for Best International Feature are coming at us fast and furious now. In the past few days the number has climbed to an "official" 26 submissions...with probably 60ish titles still to come. 

SOUTH KOREA
It was widely expected that South Korea would select Cannes Palme d'Or Winner Parasite to represent them but we've been surprised by the country's selection before (why oh why did they pass on The Handmaiden in its year - argh!). Thankfully they didn't surprise us this year. This is Bong Joon-ho's best movie ever, give or take the also-quite-brilliant but Oscar-shunned Mother (his only other film that was submitted by South Korea) so it would be sweet to see it actually compete for the gold.

Denmark's finalists, Romania's selection, and the official submission chart updates are after the jump...

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Review: Jennifer Kent's "The Nightingale"

by Ben Miller 

In the world of Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale, no one is safe unless they've won the lottery.  If you lucked into being born as a white English male in 19th century Tasmania, you can rest easy in the knowledge you are powerful.  If you are a woman, of another race, or from another country, that same luxury is not afforded to you.  Death and misery looms around every corner.

The titular Nightingale comes in the form of Clare (Game of Thrones Aisling Franciosi) as she serves as a maid and singer for a group of British officers.  She is held there as penance for her crimes of thievery, being Irish and being a woman. She is overseen by Lieutenant Hawkins (Sam Claflin), who is procrastinating processing her release, due to his infatuation with her.  Clare’s husband Aidan (a wonderfully warm Michael Sheasby) tries to persuade Hawkins to release her, but to no avail.  Things spiral violently out of control.  When Clare survives the unthinkable, she seeks revenge on those who have wronged her.

This might read like a simple rape and revenge film on paper, but it is much more nuanced and realistic than that in execution...

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