Split Decision: "The Brutalist"

In the Split Decision series, two of our writers face off on an Oscar-nominated movie one loves and the other doesn't. Today, Nick Taylor and Abe Friedtanzer discuss The Brutalist...

NICK TAYLOR: Hi Abe! I hope the cinematic year of 2024 and the numerical year of 2025 have been treating you well! Today we’re here to talk about The Brutalist, which is one of my favorite films from 2024 and one of the most nominated films at this year’s Oscars. Because this is the Split Decision series, I’m gonna guess you are not a fan of this film, or you’re at least more ambivalent about it than I am. But an object this self-consciously huge deserves to be argued about, and I would love for you to start us off by sharing what you think of The Brutalist.

ABE FRIEDTANZER: Hey Nick! I will say that I didn’t hate this film, and even found much to admire about it. I saw it at a morning press screening at the Toronto International Film Festival back in September, so early enough to not have heard much about it and to be able to fully appreciate it. I knew very little of the story, and so naturally my interest was piqued. As soon as the film ended, I wanted to research the true story, only to find out that its events were invented. I had seen Brady Corbet’s previous film Vox Lux (which I hated with a passion) as well as The Sleepwalker (directed by Mona Fastvold with a screenplay by her and Corbet, a role reversal of their duties on this film), which I liked much more. From what I could find, and have been able to since, it doesn’t seem like either of them are Jewish or have any Jewish heritage. Those two factors have irreversibly impacted my perception of the film and made it hard to truly process it in a positive way...

Click to read more ...

Split Decision: “Anora”

Come celebrate Valentine’s Day with the season’s most talked about love story gone wrong. It’s time to discuss Anora in the Split Decision series. Abe Friedtanzer and Juan Carlos Ojano disagree over the merits of this Oscar frontrunner…

ABE FRIEDTANZER: We're starting this conversation one day after one of my favorite films of 2024, Anora, won the Critics Choice Award for Best Picture and nothing else. As you may imagine, I think there's plenty to celebrate about it, and it's a bit strange that it won ONLY the top prize. But it is good to see it back in the awards race after picking up so many critics' prizes and then sort of fading into third or fourth position in most races (like Best Actress). I tried and failed to see Anora at TIFF and then did end up seeing it a few weeks later at a press screening in LA and was quite impressed…

Click to read more ...

The DGA shakes things up with a Mangold nomination

by Cláudio Alves

The guilds are going wild for James Mangold's A COMPLETE UNKNOWN.

The Directors Guild of America has had its say, nudging the awards season in one clear direction. And that is the way for A Complete Unknown, James Mangold's latest biopic which has amassed strong box office numbers and now is a threat for a Best Director Oscar nomination. Nathaniel was right to predict him in our first round of Team Experience punditry. But along with Mangold's inclusion come many notorious absences, including Jon M. Chu, whose best chance at a major Best Director prize was this guild honor whose tastes run closer to the Hollywood mainstream than the Academy's branch tends to be. Denis Villeneuve and Coralie Fargeat are also nowhere to be found, while RaMell Ross and Payal Kapadia were only honored in the First Feature category. 

Discover the complete list of DGA nominees after the jump…

Click to read more ...

Team Experience Oscar Predictions: Pre-Globe Jitters

by Cláudio Alves

Wake up, Ani. The Team Experience sees lots of gold in your near future!Mere hours before the Golden Globes kickstart the televised part of the season and crown the first big precursor winners, let's unveil the Team Experience Oscar predictions. As in years past, various members of The Film Experience's writing team were asked to deliver their Academy Award predictions, contributing to some collective punditry. This season, you can count on my best guesses and those of Eric Blume, baby Clyde, Eurocheese, Abe Friedtanzer, Christopher James, Ben Miller, Nick Taylor, plus the one and only Nathaniel Rogers. For this first set of team predictions, we've focused on the so-called "above the line" categories, plus Animated and International Film for good measure. In other words, the races that tonight's ceremony might shake up…

Click to read more ...

Oscar Volley: Venice and Cannes loom over Best Director

Here's Nathaniel R and Elisa Giudici on the Best Director race...

ANORA, Sean Baker | © NEON

NATHANIEL: Elisa, my far away friend, I miss attending festivals with you. One of the greatest joys of film festivals, as opposed to normal moviegoing / movie coverage, is that it's a departure. It's both more intimate (you're choosing a bunch of films to watch alone even if you're discussing them later with strangers and friends) and more expansive: generally speaking you see films from all over the world (if you're doing it right) and it's more auteur-focused. The latter brings us to today's volley topic: BEST DIRECTOR...

Click to read more ...