Golden Globe Nominees: "Belfast" and "Power of the Dog" lead

by Nathaniel R

Kenneth Branagh's childhood memoir Belfast and Jane Campion's stirring psychosexual western Power of the Dog lead the 79th annual Golden Globe nominations with seven each. Among comedies or musicals, which are always the highlight of the Globes since that's the only award bodies to take those genres of film seriously, early releases like Cruella and In the Heights had to settle for just one nomination each (in acting) ... but December arrivals Cyrano, Don't Look Up, Licorice Pizza, tick tick..BOOM!, and West Side Story all snagged multiple nominations including Best Picture. 

This year, the HFPA threw no surprises at all into their top-of-the-line nominations (which is not like them) unless you count Javier Bardem in Being the Ricardos and Mahershala Ali in Swan Song as Drama Actor nominees but the Globes have always been kind to December films led by high profile stars, whether or not they have opened or proved anything like conversational staying power. But perhaps this 'no surprise... only assumed future Oscar nominees' field is because the Globes have had other things on their mind than screenings and their ballots...

Click to read more ...

Interview: Aly Muritiba on Brazil's queer Oscar submission "Private Desert"

by Nathaniel R

Sometimes the long lead up to a movie's release can alter a story. In the case of Aly Muritiba's Private Desert, most people who come to it will already be aware of its central premise though the movie treats that as a "reveal". Happily the film works either way. Crossing the border can also change how a movie feels. The initial protagonist, Daniel (Antonio Saboia) is viewed sympathetically but his offscreen history (police brutality) is likely to spark different reactions from country to country, depending on societal views on policing and masculinity.  In the minimalist but never simple story, a lonely cop spontaneously drives several hours to finally meet the woman he's been romancing online. She abruptly ghosts him after an implicit request for reciprocal nudes and we glean, quite a long time before he does, that he's fallen for a queer person. 

We had the pleasure of talking to the director Aly Muritiba about the film, the careful casting of his second lead, and Brazil's contentious history of Oscar selections...

Click to read more ...

Regional Critics Round 2: Power of the Dog x 3

by Nathaniel R

If you're keeping track you'll know that NBR chose Licorice Pizza and NYFCC selected Drive My Car as best of the year while Washington DC, Sunset Circle, and Detroit Film Critics threw in Belfast, Dune, and Cyrano as their top picks. We knew we'd have a repeat winner soon and so it has come to pass: Drive My Car and Licorice Pizza are both cited again. But we also finally get The Power of the Dog in the top spot, thrice over (that took long enough given all the Best Director kudos already!) After the jump 5 more critics groups: Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and New York (Online), and Boston (Online).

The winners and a few comments after the jump... 

Click to read more ...

Some Thoughts on the Best Actor Race

by Eric Blume

While Nathaniel updates the Oscar charts over the next two days, I thought I'd chime on with some thoughts on one of the year's most packed-with-candidates categories, Best Actor.  It's always good for TFE readers to talk about the big races, and I'm here to offer a perhaps unpopular take. Since the debut of King Richard at TIFF in September, many have crowned Will Smith as the runaway winner of this year's Oscar.  Smith is a well-liked, bona fide movie star with twenty years of box office hits and solid performances.  He may indeed be our victor.  But after finally catching up with the film this past weekend, I'm going to put it out there that I don't think his victory as assured as so many do.

Sure, Smith gives a charismatic and spirited performance in the film, and his megawatt charm holds the picture together despite its weaknesses and cliches.  But there's not much of an arc to this character, who finishes the picture right where he starts it...

Click to read more ...

Best International Film: Chile, Netherlands, Spain

by Cláudio Alves

I'm pleased to bring you the annual grouped reviews of the less high profile submissions for Best International Film Oscar. Many major contenders have already been reviewed (check the end of this article for links), but others remain unexamined. With 93 titles to consider, that's bound to happen. So as we wait for December 21st, when the Academy announces its 15-wide shortlist for this particular race, let's take a look at some of those submissions, starting with three previous champions from the category's history.

Chile won once before, while the Netherlands has three Oscars, and Spain counts four previous victories. This year, they submitted a portrait of colonialism, a drama about war's hell, and a dark comedy starring an Oscar-winning international star… 

Click to read more ...