Parasite's Architectural Storytelling

by Cláudio Alves

This year's Oscar nominations weren't particularly rich in surprises, positive or otherwise. Still, there are plenty of things to be ecstatic about like the Best Production Design nomination for Bong Joon-ho's Parasite. It's relatively unusual to see non-anglophone films score nods outside the Best International category and even rarer for the Academy's design branch to recognize excellence in contemporary narratives. Usually, period movies, sci-fi adventures and fantasy extravaganzas are de rigueur choices in these categories. However, the Korean masterpiece turned awards season juggernaut was able to overcome whatever prejudices the Academy might have and score a very deserved nod for the work of production designer Ha-jun Lee and set decorator Won-woo Cho.

With that in mind, let's celebrate this miracle of design, an essential element for a film about class in which social hierarchies are materialized in architecture…

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Most Memorable 2019 Houses

Previously on 'Year in Review'

by Lynn Lee

Domestic spaces in movies can say a lot about the characters who live in them – class, income level, personal history, not to mention personality, tastes, even relationship dynamics (or lack thereof).  But how often does a home take on so much significance it effectively becomes a character in its own right?  2019 was a banner year for that kind of transmutation, as it turns out. 

Here are five homes (or in the first case, an anti-home) that particularly stood out:

5. Charlie’s L.A. apartment in Marriage Story
The nondescript flat Charlie Barber (Adam Driver) reluctantly rents in Los Angeles starts out as almost literally a blank space and quickly becomes remarkable for what it’s not: a home...

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ACE and Art Directors Guild Awards Nominations

by Murtada Elfadl

American Cinema Editors (ACE), the honorary society of film editors, today announced their nominations for 2019. For the first time in their history three foreign language films are among the nominees The Farewell, Parasite and I Lost My Body. Some of the films that solidified their awards path with editing nominations include The Irishman, Jojo Rabbit, Joker and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. All these films have been recognized by all the guild that have announced awards so far.

Missing from the list again is Little Women which was also blanked earlier today by SAG. Hustlers seems to be only about Jennifer Lopez, it missed here and so far only the costume designers showed that they have taste. Taking the spot of the contemporary crowd pleaser with both guilds is Knives Out.

The big miss with the production design guild awards is again Little Women. Marriage Story also didn’t make the cut, production designers becoming the first award body to blank that film. The full lists are after the jump.....

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European Film Awards honor Antonio Banderas, Juliette Binoche, and The Favourite

True giants of cinema gathered in Berlin today for the annual European Film Awards. It was honestly a bit overwhelming to see Wim Wenders, Juliette Binoche, Claire Denis, and Pedro Almodóvar all sitting side by side in the front row. How to even imagine the cinema without them? 

In a surreal sort of way, what was happening on stage was even more overwhelming... but for its inexplicable surreality (more on that in a bit) and its time travelling nature.Regarding the latter due to the indifferent nature of release dates across borders the overall champ was The Favourite which had its American awards run a full year ago. 

The winners and more commentary follows.

Costuming goddess Sandy Powell and the producers of The Favourite

FILM The Favourite
COMEDY The Favourite...

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Tweetweek: 1917, Movie Real Estate, and 'The Bad Place'

by Nathaniel R

So we were at the first screening of 1917 yesterday at the DGA theater in NYC and as you may have noticed if you were online, the Oscar pundits and online film press collectively went berzerk for it, immediately declaring it was going to win everything, it was best this and that... even of the decade! 'Nobody's ever done this before' (uhhhhh. people have been doing continuous take movies since at least Hitchcock's Rope in the 1940s and probably before that and one of 'em just won Best Picture five years ago!)  For the record we enjoyed it and it is quite technically impressive... but deep breaths people. "Consider" your opinions before tweeting them out before the credits of the thing you just watched have even stopped rolling!

Much is made in 1917 about the futility of medals and yet my dumb ass still wants one for noticing each and every invisible cut in this “one-take” movie

— Kyle Buchanan (@kylebuchanan) November 24, 2019

I'm not going to share the generically breathless super-hypey tweets (they all sound pretty much the same) but more 1917 reactions are after the jump, plus The Bad Place, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Dick Tracy, Cats, and Best Real Estate Envy movies. So read on for more curated tweets...

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