Why isn't Oscar nomination day a Federal Holiday?

I ask myself this every January when guzzling coffee and settling in to watch the announcement. Who has the mental space to concentrate on other things when the Oscar nominations are read? Who has connections with the White House to make this Federal Holiday happen. This year it's Riz Ahmed and Allison Williams reading the lucky names (obviously we'll have much more to say about this later today and for the next couple of days. Behold...

"Close" gains Oscar momentum

by Nathaniel R

A few nights back I had the pleasure to attend a screening and reception for Close, Belgium's Oscar submission hosting by legendary indie producer Christine Vachon. Vachon joked that when people mistook her for the producer of Close, since she was hosting the event, she didn't actually want to correct them. "I wish I had produced this!" 

The film, which is stronger overall and certainly less divisive than Dhont's debut, the trans drama Girl (2018), has been a major hit on the festival circuit. It's about the intimate friendship between two 13 year-old boys. We first meet them in summertime bliss but a return to school, followed by stares and mild teasing from other kids, makes them self-conscious about their friendship. Not everyone loves the film but those that do really spark to its observational strength, patience and naturalism, and the potency of its emotional throughline despite coming at the drama sideways with very little audience hand-holding. I myself was jolted back to memories of that age...

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Review: "Inu-Oh", a punk riot and true spectacle

by Nathaniel R

Last week we had the pleasure of an invitation to the East Coast premiere of the anime rock opera Inu-Oh, which opens in theaters today. It's distributed by GKids, a company which has long championed non-Hollywood animation for US audiences who we all know can be stubbornly myopic about animation, viewing it as a genre rather than a medium capable of all kinds of genres and visual experiences. The screening was at Japan Society here in Manhattan. I bring this up primarily because I had somehow never been there and must highly recommend the venue which has monthly screenings of both anime films and acclaimed live action Japanese films, too (recent films included everything from Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke to the kaiju film Mothra, to Akira Kurosawa's Kagemusha).  Seeing specialty films, which generally play to tiny arthouse crowds, in a beautiful respectful context to a large packed crowd is always a thrill (one of the reasons film festivals, never lose their thrill).

And Inu-Oh deserves a big screen so don't wait until streaming if it hits a theater near you...

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Touring 'The First Lady' Suites

By Abe Friedtanzer

Showtime’s new anthology series The First Lady debuted this past weekend. The series looks simultaneously at three First Ladies throughout history: Eleanor Roosevelt (Gillian Anderson) in the 1930s and 40s, Betty Ford (Michelle Pfeiffer) in the 1970s and Michelle Obama (Viola Davis) in the 2000s and 2010s. The Film Experience will be covering its run (more soon on invididual episodes). 

The network is rolling out a very specific type of red carpet to celebrate the series as it begins airing. Reporting for The Film Experience I was able to visit one of the First Lady Suites, which is a transformed presidential suite at the Ritz-Carlton in downtown Los Angeles. This is also happening in New York, Chicago, and Washington D.C. This was quite the lavish and detailed visual experience.

I snapped a few photos to complement my written descriptions of the visit…

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Behind the Scenes at an Annual Oscar Party!

By Christopher James

We come to this place for magic. We come to the Dolby theaters to love, to cry, to watch a truly unhinged Oscar night. The Oscars have reached an interesting inflection point in their history. How do they adapt to the changing times without leaving behind what makes them special? As a movie fan, of course, like Nathaniel I want the Oscars to err on the side of more-is-more. They should be the Super-Bowl of movies that everyone is excited to watch or, yes, half watch. How have we (by we, I mean people who don’t have an interest in football) been conditioned to watch the Super-Bowl each year? Simple: the Super-Bowl party. Who doesn’t love an excuse to party and hang out at a friend’s house on a Sunday and watch something that everyone will talk about the following day? The Oscars should be longer, bigger, more fun and be the type of event that people want to throw parties for.

Throwing an Oscar party each year (sans last year for obvious reasons) has been one of my greatest joys. I invite you behind the scenes of (East) Hollywood’s biggest night (aka me packing thirty rowdy Oscar watchers in a small apartment)...

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