Film
My Mom’s 2019 Oscar Picks
Welcome back to my legion of faithfuls (waves to 6 people) who come to this blog every year for the hottest Oscars take in Hollywood: my Mom’s! I’m not even pretending to use this blog space as anything other than a place for me to put this post. It’s now the blog equivalent of a Parking Chair, but I only park here once per year. C’est la vie!
Scandal alert: this is the first year my mother and I did the majority of this post asynchronously. That is, instead of a face to face conversation or a phone interview, which I record and then later transcribe, my mother emailed me her picks and I emailed her mine. Then we responded, when we could, to each other’s picks. What can I say? I was pressed for time this year, still watching movies up until last night (Friday, the 22nd). But as I said, this is an important tradition* for me and my Mom so we decided to try this format.
Please note that, whenever possible, I have tried to use my mother’s writing verbatim, including punctuation and emojis. But she did not enjoy this format. She told me, “You have a PhD and you’re a writer. How am I supposed to compete with that? You need to cut back some of what you wrote so there is more focus on me. This is my blog.” Sorry, Mom. We’ll do better next year. Onward!
I had some trouble getting out to the movies before many of these titles disappeared from theaters, so I haven’t yet seen Vice or If Beale Street Could Talk. Out of the remaining nominations, my pick is Rachel Weisz in The Favourite, with Emma Stone (also in The Favourite) coming in a close second. I loved Weisz’s performance because it really could have become hyperbolic as tensions escalate between the women, but she balances the humor in the part, with the shrewdness of the character. Also, I was initially worried that these characters would feel anachronistic (like Girl Power for the 1700s!). But they didn’t. It really worked for me.
I did not see Vice😢 or If Beale Street Could Talk. My choice for BestActress in a Supporting role is Emma Stone in The Favourite. She was mean, cunning, gorgeous, and kind, all in one role. Fabulous!!!
Why did you pick Emma Stone over Rachel Weisz?
They were both phenomenal. It was very difficult but in the final analysis, the role that Emma Stone had to play was just amazing. And she had to do everything. Rachel Weisz just had to be The Bitch that Ran the Place. So I give it to Stone.
This was a tough choice for me. Mahershala Ali was the perfect snob and super refined but in the end, I’ll go with Richard E. Grant, the British Actor I never heard of. He stole the movie. I am glad the Academy saw how superb he was in the role of an old, gay (and, eventually, sick) has-been writer in Can You Ever Forgive Me?
I liked Sam Elliott’s performance in A Star is Born but the role wasn’t very interesting to me; it felt like he received an Oscar nomination for being Sam Elliott more than anything else. Mahershala Ali had a pretty thankless role in Green Book so I don’t have much to say on that, except that he did the best he could with a poorly-written character. I generally love Adam Driver in anything he does, but I don’t think he did anything special in BlacKKKlansman. So, for me, the best performance was absolutely Richard E. Grant in Can You Ever Forgive Me? I appreciated his performance for a few reasons. First, he plays an outrageous person, but his performance is never outrageous. Second, every time he appears in a scene, I just want to look at him. His presence is such a force. Third, those blue eyes. My God.
For sure, without hesitation, I choose Rami Malek for best Actor in Bohemian Rhapsody. I did not know who Fred Murphy [sic] was or who the band Queen was (sorry), but he was the singer and made the band what it became. The music was fantastic and memorable. He and the film was loved by all age groups (I can attest to that).
How can you attest? Did you take a poll?
Well, as you know, I’m just a movie critic once a year. I don’t have to take a poll. I do everything by what I feel in my gut, and I also asked my friends what they thought. They are all very sophisticated women with college degrees. At Book Club last Thursday night all of them screamed when I said that Rami Malek was my pick.
Also, did you really not know the band Queen before seeing this movie?
Yes. I was never big into listening to music like that. I remembered the songs like “Another One Bites the Dust” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “We will Rock You,” but didn’t know who the band was. I only went to one concert in my whole life, The Rolling Stones in 1989 (Steel Wheels Tour). Why would I go to a concert? The only star I ever went berserk over in high school was Elvis Presley.
I am ill-equipped to weigh in on this category because I haven’t seen Vice or At Eternity’s Gate. As for the rest? Oh, Bradley Cooper! You are very handsome and your singing voice is much better than what I expected it to be (fuck those haters, Bradley). But this was a weird performance for me. Jack never felt like a real character, just a Generic Drunk Tortured Guy, which impacts the efficacy of love story for me.
Now, as for Viggo Mortensen in Green Book. If there was an Oscar category for Best Onscreen Food Consumption, my dude would win, hands down. But other than the great eating, I found his performance to be Too Much. It’s like he was an understudy at the Thatsa Spicy Meatball! School for Italian Accents. It distracted me.
Bohemian Rhapsody was a real shitshow, so it is hard to objectively discuss Rami Malek’s performance. In a lot of scenes I just couldn’t get past those teeth. It was like John Travolta in The People vs OJ Simpson-level distracting, but in a bad way instead of a good way.
My pick for Best Actor in a Leading Role, therefore, is Ethan Hawke in First Reformed. Yes, I know he wasn’t nominated. But he gave the performance of his career in that film. At a time when many of us tire of seeing another film about a Straight White Guy Struggling with His Demons, this version of that story was so compelling. I always respect performances in which the actor is onscreen a lot but doesn’t necessarily get to do much. A lot of this movie is staring at Ethan Hawke’s face and IT. IS. NEVER. BORING. 10/10, would gaze again.
I CRY FOUL BALL! YOU MAY NOT CHOOSE SOMEONE WHO IS NOT NOMINATED. The Academy will hear about this, Dr. Klein.
I said what I said.
Well I was a lady and I followed the rules. Even when I was mad that Won’t You Be My Neighbor didn’t get a Best Documentary nomination, I saved it for the end. [see below]
I’ve seen all of these performances! And truly, all five of these women were fantastic, with Lady gaga being a little less fantastic than her competitors. No shade on Gaga; she was great. But she can’t be the best at singing, song-writing, performing AND acting.
As for the rest, and I know this is a cop out, but my runner up is actually a three-way tie between Yalitza Aparicio in Roma, Glenn Close in The Wife, and Olivia Colman in The Favourite. This year’s Best Actress in a Leading Role category is a testament to how difficult it is to compare excellent acting performances. All three these movies were so different—in tone, subject, and character—that it’s hard for me to rank them.
Having said that, the performance that stands just a little above all of these other amazing performances is Melissa McCarthy’s in Can You Ever Forgive Me? Where to start? I love how McCarthy took this character whose clothing, hair, and posture all ask you to look right past her, and plays her in such a way that all you want to do is look directly at her. This performance perfectly complements the film’s plot, which focuses on a writer who has spent her career telling her readers about other people’s lives and words. I really only know McCarthy from her comedic roles, where she is superb (long live Sean Spicer!), but damn, I hope she gets #alltheroles going forward.
I saw all the films and believe all of these actresses deserve the Oscar (except Lady Gaga) but Olivia Colman rose above them. She is almost the new Meryl Streep (no nomination for Meryl this year. Must be the first time in many years). Colman played the role of the aging lesbian, with bandaged legs (must have diabetes [editor’s note: she had gout]), and no children of her own. She was superb!!!!!!
Still not sure what to think of The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. We watched it drunk on Christmas Eve, which may explain that. My pick is Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty’s Can You Ever Forgive Me? This movie had great performances, but they were only possible through a script that was both funny and sad, and then weirdly redemptive. They built these characters who are assholes who I still like and understand so much that I would definitely go drinking with them in real life. Also, the scene in which they discover piles of old cat poop under Lee’s bed felt realer than real, as we own a house-pooping cat. Bonus points for that scene.
My pick is The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Love the Cohen brothers–watch this movie sober. It is hysterical and soooooooooooooooo clever! Only the Cohen boys can think this way!!!!
Roma. To me, the film was one of the best I’ve ever seen. The way they started that movie–with her washing the driveway…from that moment I was in that movie. I was so mesmerized by that film. Everything about it, I liked. I also like The Favourite. It was fascinating to watch three women conniving each other. The last quarter of the movie was so real to me. The sadness. And The Queen really loved those two women, and they’re destroying each other in front of her. And then the one she loved the most, she banished from England.
This one is also very hard for me in the same way that the Best Actress category was hard. The Favourite, Roma, and First Reformed were all perfect vehicles for the stories being told. The Favourite is filled with saucy tongue twisters and sick burns. Roma, like all good neorealist texts, spend a lot of time contemplating the mise en scene, rather than chatting. But for me, First Reformed is the winner. There are so many reasons for this but I will just mention one: when Pastor Toller lies on top of Mary (she asked him to!) and the entire movie shifts to a different plane of reality. It was completely unexpected and so different from everything else that had come before in the film and yet, it worked.
Saw all but Vice. Actually, saw Cold War. Don’t go! Depressing and stupid movie. The winner without question is Alfonso Cuarón for Roma!!!!!
At last we agree on something! I can’t say Roma was my favorite film of the year (that’s why I don’t give it Best Picture) but the direction on this is pretty phenomenal. That ocean scene at the end was absolutely perfect. I love Italian Neorealism (my favorite is Umberto D) and this movie does that kind of filmmaking so well. Gorgeous.
A close second for me is Spike Lee for The BlacKKKlansman. This is not my favorite of Spike Lee’s movies (that would be the Oscar-deprived Do the Right Thing) nor is it my second favorite (She’s Gotta Have It) or even my third (Bamboozled). But that’s not saying much, as I very much like Spike Lee. I also want to note that I love Yorgos Lanthimos’ work and I loved The Favourite, but as with Spike Lee, this is definitely my 4th favorite Lanthimos film (that order would be #1 The Lobster, #2 Killing of a Sacred Deer, and #3 Dogtooth).
This year I saw all of the Best Picture nominees, but Vice. Very upset that I did not see it but will do so as soon as it returns. I truly enjoyed all the films that I saw; some were beautiful to watch, some were funny, charming, violent and some educational. Of all of them were but A Star is Born (BORING) !!!! I did learn that Lady Gaga is no joke! She can really sing.
You didn’t know Lady gaga could sing?
You know how it is with the performers who wear crazy outfits and do crazy things? They usually don’t have great voices. I think she wore a meat dress one time.
This year I choose Roma as Best Picture. Actually, Roma was one of the best films I’ve ever seen (and you know I have seen a lot of films). It was an amazing film to watch. Black and white film captured the time and turmoil of Mexico, along with the inner heart ache of the family. Tragedy, love, and survival. What I found interesting is that so many people couldn’t get through Roma.
Because it was long and slow?
BUT IT WAS AWESOME.
I will have an easier time eliminating some of the so-called frontrunners that I don’t think deserve this award: First, Green Book had a hokey script and hokey acting (great soundtrack tho) and truly, Hollywood should be done making message movies about Racism of the Past just so that White People can feel better about the kind of racism we have today.
As for A Star is Born, I love the story (my favorite version is the 1954 Judy Garland version) and I love musicals and I also really like both Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga. And that Grammys scene was A+ But the movie was uneven and needed another round of editing.
The film which has inexplicably received a lot of awards is Bohemian Rhapsody. This movie failed on so many levels. It was only worthwhile because I saw it with my kids and then, for the next 6 weeks, we would randomly burst out into verses of “Bohemian Rhapsody” or “Don’t Stop Me Now.”
So I’m giving Best Picture to The BlacKKKlansman for a few reasons. First, the actual story of Detective Ron Stallworth is truly bananas, and every actor in this film (yes, I am talking to you, Topher Grace) really brought their A game (ironically, Adam Driver was the least compelling to me among these performances). Also, the dialogue was sharp and funny. He made some interesting stylistic choices (like those extended dance scenes) that worked, and others that fell flat for me (the final scenes with Stallworth and Patrice felt too abrupt). But what put this one over the edge for me is that I saw it with my 12yo daughter and, when the footage from the Unite the Right rally plays in the final moments before the credits, her jaw dropped. She had seen that footage before, of course, and we had even discussed what happened in Charlottesville as a family. But seeing that footage of violent racism from 2017 nestled at the end of the story of violent racism from almost 40 years ago is a real gut punch. Where Green Book aims to make audiences feel good about race relations before the final credits, The BlacKKKlansman brings it directly in line with the present.
And frankly, the fact that Mr. Lee has previously received only two Oscar nominations in his long and rich career (School Daze, Malcolm X, Clockers, Summer of Sam, 25th Hour, Inside Man) and never for One of the Big Ones (Best Picture, Best Director), I think this is his time now.
Any other thoughts about this year’s slate of contenders?
My pick for Best Song is “When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings” but “Shallow” from A Star is Born will win. Best Make up will be Vice. I’m glad A Quiet Place was nominated for sound editing. Also, I was very disappointed that Won’t You be My Neighbor? was not nominated for Best Documentary. Best Cinematography is The Favourite.
Are you disappointed that Leonardo Di Caprio didn’t receive any nominations this year?
Well he wasn’t in anything this year. And you can’t choose something that wasn’t nominated or else we’d have bedlam [Note: she is referring to me and my Best Actor pick]. But I don’t have any threats this year.
Now, I’m not writing any more because I’m tired of this [typing].
That’s it, Dr. Klein. Call me xoxoxo.
*For those who might be new to My Mom’s Oscar Picks (waves to 1 person who thought this was porn), this tradition began in 2011, a few months after my father died. His passing was not unexpected but it was a violent, visceral, and fully shared family experience that remains incredibly vivid, over 7 years later. So this annual blog post is like a gift of connection that my mother and I can give each other each year, during a time of year when it is cold and dark outside, and reminiscent of sadder times.
My Mom’s 2018 Oscars Picks
Welcome to the 5th Annual edition of “My Mom’s Oscar Picks.” We started this tradition 6 years ago, not long after the death of my father, at a time when my mother and I both found a lot of solace in going to the movies. Since that time, we both look forward to this annual tradition, and do our best to see as many of the Oscar-nominated films as we can. She has even developed her own fanbase, and had the good fortune of meeting a few of them face to face this summer when my university hosted the media studies conference, Console-ing Passions. One conference attendee actually gasped when he saw her, exclaiming “You’re Nana? I love your Oscars blog!” She was tickled.
For those who are new to this tradition, here is what I initially said about my Mom’s qualifications for this job, back in 2012:
Perhaps the best thing about my mother’s cinephilia is her pithy, honest responses to them. Her critiques generally match up with what the professional critics have to say. And she sees enough of the new releases to have a solid understanding of the contemporary cinematic landscape. She can tell when a film is being manipulative (like War Horse [2011, Steven Speilberg]) and when it is being subtle. Her one blind spot is experimentation. My mother doesn’t like films that are “too weird” or that steer too far away from conventional cinematic language. For example, she really enjoyed The Artist (2011, Michel Hazanavicius), which, with its lack of sound, can certainly be labeled as “experimental.” But she hated Tree of Life (2011, Terence Malick). We have discussed her hate for this film on several occasions. I think she is actually mad at Terence Malick for making this film and for luring her into the theater to see it.
This year we were able to conduct our Oscars picks in person, because we got together in New York City to celebrate her birthday. This conversation was recorded just after a heavy Italian dinner and several glasses of wine. So without further ado, let’s begin.
Me: Welcome back
Nana: My pleasure
You enjoy this a lot, don’t you?
Yes, I do
I’d like to start the way we usually start, by putting our cards on the table and listing all the Oscar-nominated films that we did not get to see this season. So out of the Best Picture nominees, can you tell me which films you haven’t had a chance to see?
The only films I did not see were Get Out and Phantom Thread, unfortunately.
The films I didn’t see are Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri…
[Nana makes surprised noises]
…and Darkest Hour
[Nana makes outraged noises]
…yes, because I’m tired of movies about World War II. Now with that on the table, I think we should start with the acting awards.
Before we do that, I’d like to make a comment.
Go ahead.
Every year as I look at the pictures I’m to review—and I love doing it—I’m told it’s never as good as the year before…
Who tells you this?
Hmmm…people…out there [gestures in the air]
People? Just a vague group of people?
Yes. And they’re saying the acting is not what it was…
Where are you getting this information?
From the right wing?
No, that’s not what I’m asking…
Maybe from the left wing, because they’re into the theater? [laughs]
This is what is called a “straw man argument,” mother. It’s where you come up with an opposing argument that doesn’t exist so that you can make your point. I don’t think people are actually saying this.
Well, it’s interesting. I don’t really go to a movie unless I’ve read good reviews, like in New York Magazine, The New York Times, and Time magazine…
So you get your reviews from the liberal, lamestream media?
They are so liberal! But that’s okay, because they know their stuff.
The fake news?
Well, whatever you call it…but every year I am more impressed with the nominated films. And this year is an example of that…
I agree. I thought the films this year were very strong…
Exactly.
Okay, let’s start with the Best Supporting Actor categories. This year’s Best Supporting Actress nominees are:
Mary J. Blige, Mudbound
Allison Janney, I, Tonya
Lesley Manville, Phantom Thread
Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
Octavia Spencer, The Shape of Water
And you’ve seen all of these nominees?
Yes.
Who is your pick?
Without question, Allison Janney in I, Tonya was absolutely amazing. I loved Laurie Metcalf in Ladybird, but there’s no comparison…
I’m with you on that. I, too, saw every film in this category so I feel like I can speak with some authority here…
Exactly.
Octavia Spencer is a great actress, but I don’t think she did anything special in The Shape of Water, Laurie Metcalf did a great job of depicting the complicated relationship between a mother and her teenage daughter in Ladybird, and I also enjoyed Leslie Manville in Phantom Thread. Now, as for Mary J. Blige, you may not know this because you’re so very old, Mary J. Blige is actually a singer…
I’ll be darned!
Yes. When I saw her in Mudbound I didn’t even realize it was her until after it was over. And I thought she was fantastic. But, Allison Janney—playing this chain-smoking bitch who is awful but still compelling on screen—that’s a tough line to walk.
Amazing.
So we’re in agreement?
Yes.
Now let’s talk about Best Supporting Actor. The nominees are:
Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
Woody Harrelson, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water
Christopher Plummer, All the Money in the World
Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Who is your pick?
I have seen 3 Billboards, The Shape of Water, and All the Money in the World (Christopher Plummer was great) but I choose Sam Rockwell.
Why is he your pick?
He played this angry sheriff’s deputy. He just couldn’t handle that this woman, the mother of the murdered girl, was causing all this trouble. The movie moved from one horrific scene to another, and he was just phenomenal.
Why do you pick him over the other nominated actor from the same film, Woody Harrelson?
He was superb. But I really had a problem with that nomination. He was not in the film as much as Sam Rockwell, and his role was not as striking.
I have to say, I am a little out of my depth here because I have only seen 2 out of the 5 nominated performances. With that in mind, my pick is Willem Dafoe. The Florida Project—and I’ll talk about this more later—was my favorite movie of the year. It’s a realist film, focused mostly on children who are living in precarity in Orlando. Dafoe plays the super of this apartment building where a lot of the action is set. His character is engaged in the lives of the residents of this building—they don’t pay the rent on time, they’re on probation, they’re doing illegal things like prostitution—and he’s this compassionate figure. It’s not a showy role. It’s subtle and lovely.
Let’s discuss Best Actress in a Leading Role.
The nominees are:
Meryl Streep, The Post
Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water
Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Margot Robbie, I, Tonya
Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird
Now have you seen all of these?
I have!
Who is your pick?
Well, it’s tough because this year, more than any other year that I have been doing this job for you…without pay…
FAKE NEWS!
…the roles for women were amazing. All of them were superb. I had to weigh between Margot Robbie, Frances McDormand, and Sally Hawkins. But in the final push, I give the Oscar to Margot Robbie. She is so drop-dead gorgeous, and they tried to make her look not as gorgeous, but that didn’t matter. Evidently, she learned to ice skate? She was amazing. This year it was tough to pick the Best Actress.
Don’t you think that’s exciting? That there were so many great roles for women?
Yes! They dominated these movies. It’s almost unfair to have to choose just one.
My pick is also Margot Robbie. Acting is such a subjective category. It’s hard to pin down what makes one performance better than another. But part of it for me was the movie itself. I loved I, Tonya. The Tony Harding scandal happened when I was in high school and it was a such defining moment. The scandal was such a big deal. I remember watching the Olympics and not knowing if Harding was even going to skate. And then she does, but she has a problem with her skate. It was so much drama!
That was insane.
It’s hard for me separate my interest in that story, from the performances of the actors portraying that story. But she was so convincing. Her character aged throughout the film, and she was convincing at all those different ages. I also thought she conveyed the ambiguity of Tonya Harding: is she innocent? Or she manipulating us all?
Harding’s 1994 Olympic Performance
That’s still a question. And we didn’t like her in those days. We hated her.
Right, the media portrayed her as this villain and Nancy Kerrigan as this angelic victim. But this was such a sympathetic portrait of her…Well, look at us, in agreement again.
Woop!
Now here is where we’ll disagree: Best Actor in a Leading Role:
Timothée Chalamet, Call Me by Your Name
Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread
Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out
Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour
Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq.
You said you didn’t see Get Out or Phantom Thread, and I’m assuming you didn’t see Roman J. Israel, Esq…
No…
I don’t think anybody saw that.
My pick, without question, without hesitation, is Gary Oldman. That film…
[groans]
…and I know you don’t want to see another [World War II film], but this is different. It all takes place in the bunker…
How many more movies do we need about World War II?
Well, I agree with that. But Gary Oldman was so great…you know I never heard of Gary Oldman?
Really?
Really.
Well, Gary Oldman was Winston Churchill in this film…
So you’ve met Winston Churchill?
[ignores my question]. I read the book Clementine, which is the story of his wife, and what she dealt with…so it was amazing to see how this man had such balls. He told British Parliament he was doing this…
Can you separate the historic importance of the movie’s topic from the performance?
I can’t. Because he made it real. We’ve all read about Churchill. We all know about him. But he made it real. This film you’ve got to see.
I’m not going to see it.
My pick—and again, I haven’t seen 2 out of the 5 nominated performances—is Timothée Chalamet. First, it’s rare for Hollywood to tell the story of a romance between two men in a non-tragic way. Usually, when these stories are told, someone is getting AIDS, getting rejected by their family, getting rejected by society. It’s rare to see a mainstream film depict a same sex couple having a romantic summer together in the same way that heterosexual couples have been. On top of that, I found Chalamet’s performance so believable. He’s in his twenties, but he’s playing a 17-year-old, and it works. The way he moves, the way he would slink around with his sunglasses and headphones, creeping around the edges of things, lying in bed masturbating, every inch of him was an angsty teenager who is having a sexual awakening. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. He stole the film from his co-star Armie Hammer, and everyone else.
I disagree. I did not feel any magnetic energy between them. I thought it was all so fake. I didn’t see true passion.
I agree with you on that with regard to Armie Hammer’s performance. I didn’t feel his passion for this younger boy. But Chalamet? He was practically vibrating with it. Like the scene where they kiss in his bedroom and he’s not sure where to put his hands or how to hold this man, he’s this sexually inexperienced kid. He’s just grabbing onto his body. It was so intense.
I didn’t get that at all. Look, if Gary Oldman doesn’t win this Oscar, we’re finished.
[editor’s note: she makes this threat every year]
Let’s talk about Best Picture. The nominees are:
Call Me by Your Name
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
Get Out
Lady Bird
Phantom Thread
The PostT
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Another tough one.
Why don’t you start by telling me what your favorite movies were, then your pick for Best Picture?
It’s very tough. Let’s go through each of them. Darkest Hour? Oldman was the best. Dunkirk? Nah. Call Me By Your Name? No way. There was a lot of hype [about that film]. The only thing I liked about it was the gorgeous scenery of Italy’s countryside. Ladybird? A lot of people felt this was the best film. I thought it was an interesting film, but not the Best Picture. I didn’t see Phantom Thread. The Post was superb. 3 Billboards I loved until I saw The Shape of Water. That film is so brilliant.
Why?
I liked the creative impact of the sets. It has this young woman who was unable to speak and then this monster that they found and brought into the laboratory. Then there’s Michael Shannon’s character, who is so scary, and Octavia Spencer’s character, who grounds everyone in reality. And Sally Hawkins was so great. I mean she had such an amazing life. Every morning she’d get into the bath tub and masturbate.
Then they have sex in the bathroom!
Yes! Very cool. And then when she wound up flooding the bathroom? The whole thing becomes a love story between this monster and the woman who can’t talk. When I first read about it I thought “This is ridiculous. I’m not going to this movie.” Well, I don’t want to go into the whole thing, but by the end of the film, my friend and I were so choked up. I actually cried. I was so emotionally upset about these two who loved each other and wound up in the water. The whole thing is such a fantasy. But it was beautifully done. And that director, writer, producer? [She means Guillermo del Toro]. He really should win Best Director.
I’m with you. I loved The Shape of Water. I was totally entranced. You fall into the world del Toro creates, and he makes you believe this world exists. And one thing I didn’t think about until I heard an interview with the actor who plays the monster…
Where?
On NPR’s Fresh Air. The actor mentions that the two romantic leads never speak. I didn’t even realize that until after the film was over…
I realized that.
The both of them were very lonely people, monster and woman. She probably never thought she’d have a romantic relationship. The monster obviously didn’t.
But this is the one thing that confused me [about the movie]: this monster was chained up in the lab and beaten. But at the end of the film he’s able to heal her wounds, and his own wounds, and he had the power to take her in the water and make her breathe like a fish…
You’re right…
…But I don’t even care. I loved it.
Before I give my Best Picture pick, let me say what my Best Picture criteria are. For me, Best Picture is like Best in Show at the Westminster Dog Show. It’s everything: great performances, great script, beautiful or interesting direction, compelling story. And then I add in one more quality for Best Picture, which for me is a timeliness. I like to ask: why is the film being made at this moment? What is it doing for its audience?
I don’t think about that part.
So, Get Out, do you know the premise? A black guy is dating a white girl, she brings him home to meet her family, and shenanigans ensue, and not the kind of shenanigans you’re expecting. I thought it was very clever. Horror films are all about showing us what we’re afraid of, what we try to repress. And in that regard, it was an excellent horror film. But part of me still has trouble thinking of a horror film as a Best Picture winner. And I realize that is a ridiculous bias for someone who studies film for a living to have. But I can’t quite see it as Best Picture.
Ladybird is not my pick because it wasn’t a “big” or “grand” enough for Best Picture. Phantom Thread was a beautiful film but for me, the final moments really threw me for a loop. It rattled me so much that I didn’t really process it as I was watching it. I feel like I need to see it again, knowing what I know.
But my pick for Best Picture, believe it or not, is The Post.
WOW!
I know.
That’s not gonna win.
I know. Let me tell you why it’s my pick…
[rolls eyes] Because of what’s happening today…
Now why do you say it with that tone?
Because I don’t think that should be why you pick a film for Best Picture. You should pick THE BEST PICTURE! The Shape of Water was the best film released this year!
Can you just back off and let me explain? First of all, the cast of The Post was amazing: Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk, Bradley Whitford, Carrie Coon, David Cross, absurd cast!
The second thing I loved about this film was its subject. I knew very little about the Pentagon Papers going on, and so it was fascinating to hear about this chapter in American history. What I also liked about this movie—and here is where you were rolling your eyes at me—is this question the film asks: what is the role of the media? What is their duty, where is their allegiance? Is it to protect national security or is it to report on the news in the most honest and complete way that they can?
Absolutely. I agree.
The Post made this concept so clear, at a time when many Americans have forgotten the role of the fourth estate.
And how she [Kay Graham] made that decision to publish. A woman did that! She told all those guys with the white hair “I own the paper, I’ll make the decision”
And when I left the theater, I felt inspired and hopeful about the ability of journalism to speak truth to power. I know you don’t feel as pessimistic about the world right now as I do, but this movie made me feel like there might still be something left in this country that will keep us together as a country: the truth and the facts…
Yeah, well…
There were so many great movies this year, but the one that hit every button for me was The Post. I know it won’t win…
Well, it may. Because it’s a very liberal group that votes [she means the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]…
WHAT?!
It is! [The Academy] may feel what you feel…
Wait, wait, wait…so you’re telling me that a movie about exposing a government conspiracy and revealing the truth about a highly controversial war to the American people is a “liberal” value. Isn’t that an American value?
I think that’s all very nice and I think what you’ve said is true, but I’m talking about the best picture…
Right, but you also just described my pick as “liberal”…
Well, it’s going to be pushed in that category because right now it’s all about real news versus fake news and all the bullcrap…
It’s not bullcrap. It’s incredibly important! The only way the average American knows about what is happening in the world is through the news. Are you flying to Syria to see for yourself what’s happening there? No, you rely on journalists for that.
You know what a similar thing is? I loved Gary Oldman in Darkest Hour, but I would never give that Best Picture because we all know that story.
But the story of the Pentagon Papers is not as well-known as the events of World War II…
Oh, everyone knows about that! Unless you were born…right now. The film that shows the creativity of today, of thinking over the top, is The Shape of Water. Who ever in their head to think up a movie about a monster in a tank, a woman who can’t speak…
Look, my second choice is The Shape of Water. But I’ve got to go with my gut and my gut says The Post was the best film of 2017.
You know what my second choice is? Three Billboards. You haven’t seen it.
I haven’t, but I wish I had, because I would love to argue with you about it, because everyone I’ve talked to about it has said it was complete garbage.
OH MY GOD! Film people?!
Yes. And you know a movie has to be about more than good acting performances. You’ve been doing this job long enough to know that.
So, that about wraps it up. Is there anything else you want the people to know?
[long silence]
If my picks don’t win, we’re gonna have a problem doing this next year.
Really? Because because you say that every year, and every year you come back.
Well, last year [my Best Actor pick] Leonardo won. So I came back. This year Gary Oldman better win.
So you are willing to state, on the record, that if Gary Oldman doesn’t win Best Actor, you will not be doing this next year?
Exactly. So my fans better put pressure on…
Okay, well thank you so much for doing this.
My pleasure.
And happy 75th birthday!
What?! How dare…[angry sputters, I turn off the mic]
**********
So, Nana-fans, what do you think of our picks for 2018? And are you in any way concerned that Nana will quit if Gary Oldman doesn’t win Best Actor? Share your thoughts below.
My Mom’s 2017 Oscar Picks
Welcome to the 5th Annual edition of “My Mom’s Oscar Picks.” Please know that my mother takes this interview very seriously and prepares for it every year by seeing as many of the nominated films as possible. She often tries to talk to me about these films right after she’s seen them but I have to cut her off with “Save it for the blog, ma!” Now, at long last, we can finally rip La La Land to shreds. So, without further ado, please enjoy my Mom’s 2017 Oscar Picks.
****
Mom: So, we’re ready to do my interview. But I have some comments.
Me: You have comments before we start?
Mom: Yes. As you know, I enjoy going to the movies tremendously…
Me: I do know this.
Mom: I read the reviews. I choose the movies I want to see and I pay my money. Sometimes I rent them. So I’m a different kind of reviewer, from the people who don’t have to do any of that…
Me: You’re saying you work for it? Unlike professional film critics who are given special opportunities to see all of the films.
Mom: Exactly. When I go to a film, I take it very seriously. And I must admit, every year the films are getting better, there’s a tremendous variety. That’s the positive note. Now, on a negative note: films have become too long.
Me: I agree!
Mom: I think any film that goes over the 2 hour mark is losing the audience. It is not good.
Me: I could not agree more, mother.
Mom: So that’s my comment. We can begin now.
Me: Great! Once again, I want to thank you for joining me for this interview. And I want you to know that your fans have been very anxious. They were worried that perhaps they missed this post…these are just 2 individuals, by the way…
Mom: [laughs loudly] Two people! That’s not bad…
Me: And I assured your 2 fans that they hadn’t missed the post and that we were doing this interview on Saturday…
Mom: [continues laughing]
Me: So every year I like to start the interview with some self disclosure about which nominees we saw and which nominees we didn’t see. As you said, unlike the professionals, we aren’t provided with screeners. That limits what we are able to see and not see.
Mom: Exactly.
Me: I’ll go first. Out of the big categories—Best Picture, Best Actor and Actress, Best Director, etc.—this is what I haven’t seen: Lion, Elle, Jackie, Florence Foster Jenkins, and Nocturnal Animals. These omissions will obviously impact my picks.
Mom: Well, let’s look at Best Picture. I’ve seen every film in that category except Hidden Figures, unfortunately. It has not been On-Demand, you can’t even buy it. I would have gone to see it in the theater, but as you know, I’ve had that awful cold-slash-virus. I just didn’t want to take the chance [of spreading the virus].
Me: And you haven’t seen Elle, right?
Mom: No I did not, and I have a comment about that.
Me: Okay we’ll talk about that…Did you see the Meryl Streep film, Florence Foster Jenkins?
Mom: Ohhhhhh, you can’t miss that! She is…well…
Me: Wait, let’s hold off on talking about acting.
Mom: OK. Go ahead.
Me: This year, instead of starting with what we liked the best, let’s start with what we liked the least out of the Best Picture nominees.
Mom: I do not understand why Arrival was even nominated. It was a “blah” movie.
Me: Really?
Mom: I’ve seen better Sci-Tech [Note: She means “scifi”], horror, scary, weird stuff and I’ve liked them all much more than I liked Arrival…You know I had problems just staying and watching it.
Me: I’m with you. I didn’t love it the way so many other people did. It was an interesting story, certainly not a story I’ve seen before. It was beautifully put together—the sound, the cinematography, were all really lovely—but I agree with you that, at times, I had trouble paying attention to it.
Mom: And then when you finally got to the end and realize what it was about? It was just—in my opinion there’s only one word I can think of: silly.
Me: I’m with you.
Mom: I didn’t care for the whole premise of the thing. It was so silly. I’ve seen better stuff in Star Wars! They were up in that thing, and they go up there, and the arm comes out. I think people who like unusual, not-enjoyable films will like it.
Me: What else didn’t you like out of the Best Picture nominees?
Mom: La La Land.
Me: Oh good, can we get started on La La Land?
Mom: So I certainly wouldn’t say “Don’t go see it.” It was interesting and lovely to watch. The best part of the film was the male lead [Ryan Gosling] because he looked fabulous in his clothes.
Me: He does, Mommy!
Mom: And she [Emma Stone]…was inconsequential.
Me: I’m very confused as to why this movie has so many nominations.
Mom: Me too.
Me: There are two possible explanations. First, Academy voters love stories about Hollywood. They go crazy for movies like this. It’s very nostalgic for old Hollywood. I think the other reason is that we haven’t had a lot of musicals recently and people have forgotten what a musical is supposed to be like. This was not a musical. This was a movie where sometimes the actors would sing and dance.
Mom: I don’t know what the justification was. The best part of the film was Ryan Gosling’s clothes and how he looked in them. It was fascinating to watch, I understand, that the two of them were never really dancers or singers. Is that true?
Me: Ryan Gosling, when he was a child, was a singer and dancer. He did the Mickey Mouse Club.
Mom: Oh! 
Me: But it’s not his thing and I think it showed. I think their dancing was very perfunctory. If I’m gonna watch a musical, I want to see beautiful dancing. I want it to look natural. I don’t want to be thinking, as I’m watching, “I wonder how long it took Ryan Gosling to learn this dance?” You don’t think that when you watch Fred Astaire dance. You don’t wonder about how hard Fred Astaire trained.
Mom: Not even close. Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire…The one scene in La La Land that I will almost consider watching again, the one scene that was phenomenal in the whole film, was the opening scene.
Me: On the bridge? Yes.
Mom: I learned later that that take took two whole days to film. They shut down that freeway. Can you believe that? Can you imagine the people who had to use that?
Me: Yeah I thought the opening number was pretty good. It was a true musical opening: you have the characters hanging out and then all of a sudden they start singing about whats going on, there are all these different people joining in and its very natural. It was a great opening and the film never got back there.
Mom: What was different about that, compared to something from years ago, is that they shot it right there on the bridge. It wasn’t “Make a bridge and then we’re going to film this.” I thought that was fascinating and it’s the best thing I can say about La La Land.
Me: I think we’re in agreement. Lets move on from that. What else didn’t you like?
Mom: I was not impressed at all with Hell or High Water.
Me: I really liked that!
Mom: I didn’t care for it.
Me: I don’t think it was one of the Best Pictures of the year.
Mom: That’s what I mean. I decided to watch it because it was finally available to rent. This is not something I would go to see in the theater. Another nominated movie is Hacksaw Ridge.
Me: I hated that movie.
Mom: If you’re into realism and war movies, then it was phenomenal.
Me: Really?
Mom: Ohhh! Yes.
Me: Mom, I whole-heartedly disagree.
Mom: That’s the way it is.
Me: Hacksaw Ridge was my least favorite out of all the Best Picture nominees.
Mom: Oh I know. I’m not saying it was a favorite. I was surprised that I didn’t have a positive feeling about it. But I started thinking about what it is [Mel Gibson] was trying to do.
Me: The story itself—its based on a true story—is fascinating. There’s this man [Desmond Doss] who saves 75 men during single battle. That’s amazing. Having said that, I found the whole film to be very hokey. I thought it was disjointed. There were portions of the movie that were funny, that were out of place, like Vince Vaughan cracking jokes, I thought that was weird. And I thought [Gibson] got way too grisly. I mean, I like gore…
Mom: I do too…
Me: But I thought he reveled in those dead bodies in a way that I don’t think war films should do. It was almost pornographic. You’d see the rats eating the faces of the dead soldiers. It was too much.
Mom: He was trying to show, as realistically as possible, the way that…
Me: [interrupts] But we know! We all know war is horrible!
Mom: If you will recall, you had a lot of criticism about a film I happened to like very very much…
Me: American Sniper?
Mom: Yes.
Me: I didn’t like American Sniper but it was a better movie than Hacksaw Ridge!
Mom: You felt American Sniper glamorized war and this film [starts laughing] did not glamorize war.
Me: No, it did not. But it was just so gory. And it wasn’t necessary because we all know war is hell. [Note: I read All Quiet on the Western Front in my 7th grade English class]
Mom: Maybe this is another criticism: I don’t think [the Academy] should worry about nominating a certain number of films every year. I think they struggled this year.
Me: I agree!
Mom: Arrival should have never been nominated, you hated Hacksaw Ridge…
Me: Right. Why don’t we transition to what we did like?
Mom: I’m going to tell you the one I think should win and then I’m going to tell you the one that I think probably will win.
Me: Okay.
Mom: The one I think should win is Lion. I thought Lion had everything—where it was filmed, the emotion of the child, the filming of it, incredible! And I’m pretty sure it was filmed somewhere in India. [Note: Nana is correct. Principal photography for Lion was shot in Kolkata, India]. And of course the acting was phenomenal. Dev Patel was just amazing. But the movie that will win? Fences. Because Fences is an August Wilson play, and he’s a superb writer. I’ve seen this play on Open Stage here [in Harrisburg, PA]. It’s always been memorable and of course when you add Denzel Washington and Viola Davis..
Me: They were great.
Mom: Yes. But if I were voting as a [member of the Academy]…
Me: And that’s what I’m asking for here, for the film you liked the best…
Mom: Then it’s Lion.
Me: So this is unfortunate, mom, because both of our Best Picture picks are the one nominee that the other hasn’t seen.
Mom: Awww.
Me: Because my Best Picture pick is Hidden Figures, and I will tell you why. For me, the Best Picture has to hit every note. It has to be well-made, well-acted, it has to have a good script, the story has to be interesting and important. And what I liked about this film is that it told a remarkable story. When I watched this movie I couldn’t believe that I had never heard about these women working at NASA in the 1960s. How did we not know that these women were so important?
Mom: How did that happen?
[Note: How did this happen? The answer is, of course, racism]
Me: So that’s one reason I loved it. The other reason is that the story is told well. The women in the movie are incredibly charming—I don’t think any of them deserve acting an award because no one performance stood out to me. Best Picture winners tend to be inspiring, profound. For me, the movie that I came out of the theater and felt really great about, is Hidden Figures.
Mom: That’s how I felt about Lion. But I am going to see Hidden Figures next week.
Me: You should. And I’m going to see Lion. Let’s move on and talk about two other movies we haven’t talked about much, but that we both liked. The first is Manchester by the Sea.
Mom: Oh yeah.
Me: You liked it, but its not your pick.
Mom: No. Lion, especially, is better. Casey Affleck is not going to get Best Actor. In the beginning [of Awards season], there was a lot of publicity and hype. But it’s never gonna happen this year because, guaranteed, there will be a black actor chosen for Best Actor. I’ll wager you five dollars.
Me: Are you saying that because you think [Denzel Washington] doesn’t deserve it and he’s just going to win because he’s black?
Mom: Well last year, all that hype [she is referring to the 2016 “Oscars So White” campaign] was unwarranted.
Me: It was warranted.
Mom: The only black actor who wasn’t nominated last year but should have been was the guy who was in the Grateful Dead.
Me: What?
Mom: He was a supporting actor in the Grateful Dead.
Me: The Grateful Dead? The band?
Mom: Oh wait, I mean, The Hateful Eight.
Me: Jesus Christ, mom.
Mom: [laughing]
Me: That was Samuel L. Jackson. But I do disagree with you here, mom. Every year, not just last year, the films with the most hype generally have all white casts and directors. So we’re going to have to agree to disagree. But my question to you was about Manchester by the Sea and what you thought of it.
Mom: I enjoyed it. I don’t know that I enjoyed it as much as my friends did. It was a very dark movie.
Me: It was!
Mom: You know I love violence, like Quentin Tarantino violence, but I don’t love realistic violence, like children dying in fires. I get very very upset with stuff like that.
Me: I agree with you on Manchester by the Sea. It was very well done but it was a tough movie to watch. I saw it as part of a double feature with Fences…
Mom: Ohhhh…
Me: I cried—and I’m not exaggerating here—from the halfway point in the film, where we find out what’s happened to the children—until the final frame, I sobbed like a baby. But I did enjoy it. It deserves a Best Picture nomination. I especially like that the story ends—not with Affleck’s character being redeemed and fixed, but with him still broken. He’s just going to live his life.
Mom: It was realistic.
Me: It was so realistic, and I appreciated that. So, good for them. Now let’s talk about Moonlight. Again, I thought this was a beautifully done film, it was a story you don’t hear very often—love stories involving black gay men—it’s not a story that is told by mainstream cinema. I appreciated that. It wasn’t my favorite movie of the year, but I really did like it.
Mom: Oh it was just wonderful. It was my second favorite of the year, after Lion. That was so well done. I’ve never seen a film where 3 different actors play
one role, plus the mother of the boy [Naomie Harris]. She starts out at the beginning as a normal nurse’s aid, and then you see her in the 2nd part, when she gets down into drugs, and then the 3rd part, where she’s older and in that rehab center. She was phenomenal. That’s gonna be a tough one for me to call.
Me: I’m with you. My pick for Best Picture is Hidden Figures, but if I had to pick a second, it would be Moonlight or Manchester by the Sea.
Mom: Oh Moonlight! It was so different! That’s one where you put a star on top for being an unusual film. It was so creative. I don’t know how much is grossed…
Me: Neither do I.
Mom: But it was one of the best.
Me: There we are in agreement. Let’s get into the acting awards. I think it’s gonna come down to two people: Casey Affleck for Manchester by the Sea and Denzel Washington for Fences.
Mom: And it better not be Ryan Gosling.
Me: I agree. Because I saw Fences and Manchester by the Sea on the same night, I could really compare those two performances. I gotta say, for me, it’s a draw. Both actors gave superb performances and they were very different roles. One was a big, loud man who is always telling stories and is full of bluster [Fences]. The other is this quiet, withdrawn role [Manchester by the Sea]. But I loved both. Who is your pick for Best Actor? Are you just gonna say Dev Patel and bypass the whole system?
Mom: No. Denzel is going to win.
Me: But who do you think did a better job: Casey or Denzel?
Mom: [long pause] They were such different roles. But Denzel showed deep remorse and sadness in his performance, but he also showed how you could be upbeat, to laugh and enjoy a marriage. Casey Affleck was just morose. I’m trying to remember: was there any point when he laughed?
Me: In the flashbacks with the wife and kids.
Mom: I have to give it to Denzel this year.
Me: What about Best Actress? Here I have to confess that I’m very ill-equipped for this category, because I have not seen 3 out of 5 performances.
Mom: I saw all of them but Elle.
Me: My pick is Ruth Negga from Loving. In fact this is a movie that should have been nominated for Best Picture over La La Land and Hacksaw Ridge.
Mom: I didn’t see Elle, so I’m going to say that one.
Me: Tell me why Ruth Negga doesn’t deserve it.
Mom: I just wasn’t moved by her performance.
Me: Didn’t you see her as this quiet Southern girl who is in love and then finds herself at the center of this history-making Civil Rights case? I can’t believe the man who played her husband [Joel Edgerton] wasn’t nominated. He was great, too.
Mom: I kept falling asleep. I watched it when I still wasn’t feeling that well.
Me: I was really moved by the film. Her performance was quiet and sub
tle, but very moving.
Mom: Well, I’m gonna take a stab at something—its never gonna happen—but you really must see Florence Foster Jenkins…Meryl Streep is a genius. There isn’t another actor out there, male or female, who compares. [The Academy] at least nominated her, which she deserves.
Me: But she won’t win. She’s won too many times. She has enough Oscars. They need to just retire her from the Oscars. She can still be in movies, but no more Oscars. It’s not fair. So you’re saying your pick is Meryl Streep?
Mom: No, my pick is Isabelle Huppert in Elle.
Me: Even though it’s the one film you didn’t see?
Mom: Right.
Me: Okay! Moving on to Best Actor in a Supporting Role.
Mom: This is a tough one. It’s between Mahershala Ali in Moonlight, and of course, Dev Patel. I’m going with Dev Patel because his performance blew me away.
Me: I’m going to totally blow your mind and go with Lucas Hedges from Manchester by the Sea. The whole time I’m watching the movie I’m asking myself “Who is this kid? Where did he come from?” He was perfect. How about Supporting Actress?
Mom: This is another tough one. Let me tell you who should win: Naomie Harris. I felt furious with her character, but I also felt sympathy for her. But I think Viola Davis will win.
Me: My pick is Viola Davis. I feel like I’ve seen the Naomie Harris character before: the drug-addicted single mom looking for redemption, etc. But Viola Davis’ character was new to me: a late in life marriage to a man she loves but also disagrees with a lot. And maybe it had something to do with the way it was filmed: it really showcased her acting.
Mom: She’s great in anything she’s in.
Me: We’ve covered the major categories but I do have a follow up question for you: are you disappointed that Leonardo Dicaprio wasn’t nominated for anything this year?
Mom: Well, I don’t think he was in anything this year.
Me: That doesn’t matter.
Mom: [laughs]
Me: Any final thoughts?
Mom: I’ve enjoyed watching the films. It gets even more interesting with your chosen field [film professor] because we can have pretty good discussions about this. It’s a joy.
My Mom’s other 2017 Oscar picks:
Cinematography: La La Land
Costume Design: Florence Foster Jenkins
Director: Moonlight
OG Bae of All Time: Leonardo Dicaprio
If you’d like to read my Mom’s previous Oscar Picks, click:
My Mom’s 2016 Oscar Picks
Dearest readers, please forgive my lengthy absence from the blog. There are many causes for this: I’ve been freelancing more, I’ve been working on my next book project, and perhaps, most significantly, I have come to conclusion that blogging is not going to get me a raise at work or pay for my kids to go to college. In fact, as I recently argued in an essay for Film Criticism , I believe that the academic film blog as a concept is dead or dying.
But don’t start the dirge for Judgmental Observer just yet. I still have things to say that can only be said in the loose, informal, ad-free space of the blog, such as my mom’s annual Oscar Picks! If you’d like to catch up on my mother’s picks in previous years, you can see 2012, 2014 and 2015. As for the rest of you, let’s get started, shall we?
Me: Welcome back to the blog, Mom! It’s been a year since we heard from you, and your fans eagerly await your picks. Are you ready to discuss the 80th Annual Academy Awards?
Mom: Oh I can’t wait!
Me: As always, in the interest of full disclosure, I’d like for you to tell the readers which of the nominated films you were not able to see. Let me give you my list: Bridge of Spies, Brooklyn, 45 Years, Trumbo, or Steve Jobs.
Mom: Unfortunately, I did not see: Brooklyn, Room, Carol, 45 Years, Joy, or Trumbo.
Me: Let’s start our discussion with the Best Actress in a leading role category. What were your favorite performances of the 2015 season?
Mom: I really don’t have an opinion one way or another because I wasn’t able to see any of these performances.
Me: That’s so unlike you! Well, I’ve seen three of the five nominees (Carol, Room and Joy) and I thought all of the women whose performances I saw were great. So Joy was one of my least favorite films of the year. Normally I’m a big fan of David O. Russell but I found her casting in this film–as a down-on-her-luck single, 34-year-old, working mother–to be completely absurd. Jennifer Lawrence is a great actress but no amount of acting will make that young, fresh-out-of-the-womb face look 34 and tired. I thought Brie Larson was excellent in Room but for me, the young actor who plays her son, Jacob Tremblay, stole the show. So my pick for Best Actress is Cate Blanchett in Carol. I didn’t enjoy her performance on an emotional level–I found it icy and severe–but it worked in the context of this film as a stylized melodrama. There are also so few great roles for women, it’s always hard to pick “best” performances.
Me: So let’s move on to the category I know you’ve really been looking forward to discussing: Best Actor in a leading role.
Mom: The actor who should win the Oscar…is without question… [takes dramatic pause] WITH…OUT…QUESTION…
Me: Who? Who are you gonna pick? I’m on the edge of my seat…
Mom: …Leonardo DiCaprio! For his role in The Revenant. Now I will tell you why. I was blown away. It was a phenomenal film, and his acting in the film, and what he went through…
Me: But what did he do, exactly?
Mom: To portray someone living in the beginning of our country, going through horrific weather and violence between his own people, hunting for skins and hiding from the Indians–his portrayal of this man was just amazing. But not only that, he also gave you the feeling of getting to know what someone in that situation would go through. It was much more than surviving the violence. It was also learning about a man who wanted to move on to a better place. And he truly loved his son…
Me: Okay but you’re not telling me about Leo’s performance. You’re just describing the plot of the film.
Mom: He just came through as someone who survived the worst conditions. I found it fascinating that Leonardo DiCaprio performed just about every scene himself. Evidently the temperature was 20 below zero. It was a horrific situation for everyone involved in the film and the director just pushed them through it, which was worth it. In my opinion, this was the best film of the year.
Me: Hold on, let me chime in here even though I am woefully underprepared for this category–the only performances I saw were Damon’s and DiCaprio’s. I thought Matt Damon was fine in The Martian but nothing special. Honestly I’m a little shocked that he was nominated at all for this role. As for DiCaprio, I agree with you, it was a great performance. I will say this though–and I’m not trying to be cynical–but a lot of the role felt to me like it was screaming “Nominate me for an Oscar!!!” And I feel like sometimes actors will take on these roles and then make a big fuss in interviews over all they had to go through to prepare, all the suffering, and I’m kind of over that. I don’t care what you had to do to play the role. I just care about what appears onscreen. Having said that, I do think Leo deserves to have an Oscar on his shelf and I do think he will win this year, perhaps as an acknowledgment of his past body of work.
Mom: I see what you’re saying, but his performance was incredible. No matter how much people might say that he took on a role to show how tough it was and how he can do all of this stuff, I just don’t think that’s true. DiCaprio, no matter what role he takes, he is so brilliant. Every film he’s been in, and every time he’s been nominated, I feel like he should have won.
Me: I think we need to establish for our readers, that you do in fact have a Leonardo DiCaprio bias. I think you heavily favor him anytime he’s in a film. Why do you think that is?
Mom: The first role I ever saw him in was The Aviator, then Catch Me if You Can, then Blood Diamonds…
Me: You really liked him in J Edgar.
Mom: That’s another one! I cannot believe he did not win for that role…I mean, talk about a difficult role.
Me: Here is something you have said to me in the past: “Leonardo DiCaprio is penalized by the Academy for being a good-looking man.” Can you say more about that?
Mom: Absolutely. I still believe that and it’s been part of the Academy’s nomination process for a long time.
Me: Why do you say that?
Mom: Two absolutely gorgeous men–Paul Newman and Robert Redford–have been nominated many times. And Newman won once [editors note: Newman received an honorary Oscar for his body of work in 1986]. Redford, another incredible actor, has never won [editor’s note: Redford won an Oscar for Best Director in 1980 for Ordinary People]. I think the Academy is absolutely biased against handsome men.
Me: That theory is insane, Mom. Plenty of handsome men have won Oscars!
Mom: I’m talking model-looking, gorgeous men. There have been very many nice-looking men who have won. I just feel it’s a bias. When you’re that good-looking, they just look at you as a pretty boy actor. But that’s not done with women. Just with men.
Me: Last year you threatened to quit my blog if JK Simmons didn’t win Best Supporting Actor for Whiplash:
Mom: [laughing] Yes I said that.
Me: And luckily for my readers, Simmons did, in fact, win the Oscar.
Mom: Of course he did.
Me: Are you prepared to never appear on this blog again if Leonardo DiCaprio doesn’t win Best Actor for The Revenant?
Mom: AB. SO. LUTELY.
Me: Really? You’re willing to give up all this?
Mom: Yes. I’m sorry. I must. If he does not win this year for Revenant, I’m done.
Me: Okay. Before we leave this very contentious category, I would like to talk about a performance I thought was snubbed by the Academy this year: Steve Carrell’s performance in The Big Short. I thought he was absolutely fantastic in that movie. There were a lot of characters in that film and a lot of visual tricks–it was a very “busy” movie–and he was the emotional heart of that film. He took what was a very reflexive and theoretical film and he expressed the human toll of the short selling phenomenon. And by the same turn, I was frustrated that out of that entire cast it was Christian Bale who got the Oscar nomination. This brings me back to my earlier complaint regarding Leo: I just hate how performance gets wrapped up in process. We all know that Christian Bale learned how to play the drums for his role as Michael Burry. And he didn’t even need to learn how to drum! There was no point to that stupid scene where he drums–the movie would have been the same with or without it. He just wanted to make a big fuss about his process. Then he gets a nomination and Steve Carrell doesn’t.
Me: Let’s talk about our picks for Best Supporting Actor. Out of all of these performances–and of course I can’t speak about the Bridge of Spies actor–I’m gonna have to go with Tom Hardy. I thought he was great in that movie. He’s a gorgeous man who you want to stare out but he made himself into such an ugly person in this film–not just physically, but his overall character. He was just so despicable you almost had to look away from him, which is hard because, holy cow, it’s Tom Hardy! I did like Mark Ruffalo in Spotlight but that was a more understated role.
Mom: I agree with about Christian Bale. He should not have been the nominee from The Big Short. As for Tom Hardy, I just thought he was so overshadowed by Leo in that film. I can’t even remember a lot that he did…
Me: He was the antagonist! He had the second biggest role in the film!
Mom: I just didn’t think it was that impressive…
Me: Wow you ride hard for Leo.
Mom: Mark Ruffalo in Spotlight was phenomenal. I’m glad he was nominated. And Mark Rylance in Bridge of Spies was so low key and brilliant. I’ve never seen him before, I don’t know who he is. But throughout the film I just kept thinking “This guy! He’s got it down.” But then I did see Creed and the way Sylvester Stallone portrayed the old boxer trying to help the young boxer, the way he moved his body, his whole persona, I just thought he was terrific.
Me: Was he really terrific, Mom?
Mom: Yes.
Me: Wasn’t he just a big dumb guy?
Mom: When you see Stallone you expect to see him in the role of a warrior, of a fighter who wins. But in this film he’s a down and out ex-hero and I thought he added a lot of passion to that film.
Me: Let me bring up another role I felt was snubbed this year and that is Oscar Issac’s performance in Ex Machina. It was an amazing movie and his performance as this sleazy tech bro–young, thinks he’s hot shit–was great. He was the puppet master for most of the movie, until he isn’t, and he plays the role very cool and hard to read, yet there’s this vulnerability there too. That was my favorite supporting actor performance of the year. Also, that jumpsuit!
Me: Let’s talk about our pics for Best Picture. What was your favorite film of 2015?
Mom: The Revenant.
Me: Seriously?!?
Mom: There was so much involved in that film. The one thing I remember while watching it was the beauty of the photography. It was a joy to watch. The realism of the violence, and what the characters endured, their lives were so tough… I just thought it was a beautiful film. No other film from 2015 had such a dramatic effect on me.
Me: I agree with you. The cinematography was unreal. Iñárritu is famous for those amazing long takes he uses that last for minutes. The film is filled with those gorgeous landscapes. But for me my Best Picture selection is The Big Short. First, it’s incredibly timely–it’s talking about the subprime mortgage crisis, which America is still reeling from right now, and which literally impacted everyone in the world. To make a movie where your topic is sort of dry and dull and you make it compelling to a mainstream audience, to non-experts, is so important. I mean, that’s how we got into this crisis in the first place–people being uninformed. As a society, Americans (I include myself here) don’t know much about how Wall Street or the stock market works. The economic recession was the direct result of a few people who had specialized knowledge and who took advantage of loopholes that no one else knew about. I appreciate a movie that illuminates that to the audience. In addition to that, it was a really innovative film. I love how they illustrated difficult concepts like “synthetic CDO” with Selena Gomez and an economist playing craps. And of course the performances were great, as was the script. For me, The Big Short hits all my Best Picture marks.
Mom: Well my second choice is Spotlight. This was a film highlighting one of the greatest tragedies in this country.
Me: I just watched Spotlight and I did find the story to be equally compelling and horrifying. This crazy conspiracy! It highlights how important good journalism is to justice and truth in this country. In many ways it reminded me of All the President’s Men. But overall I wanted a little more from that movie.
Mom: You kept hearing it was wonderful and then you watched it and it let you down.
Me: Yes that’s true.
Mom: That’s the problem. It’s best to see movies cold, before you hear the reviews. Now one film I am very sad to see with a nomination for Best Picture is Mad Max: Fury Road. It was absolutely horrible…
Me: Whoah, whoah. I am delighted that film was nominated. In fact, that film is my second choice for Best Picture…
Mom: [horrified noises] If you like a film that is nothing more than looking at filthy, dirty men with blood coming out of their mouths, and their bodies torn apart…
Me: It sounds like you’re describing Revenant, you realize that?
Mom: …and there’s this stupid guy, playing the guitar…
Me: Yes, see that’s what was missing from The Revenant! We needed a bear playing a flaming guitar!
Mom: Now that’s not fair. Mad Max was absolutely disgusting.
Me: How can you praise The Revenant and the Hateful 8 for their violence but critique Mad Max for its violence?
Mom: Mad Max made The Revenant and The Hateful 8 look like a fairytale.
Me: WHAT?! What is the difference?
Mom: There’s a huge difference! The violence in Mad Max is pretend and it’s over-the-top. I mean one character in Mad Max captures this guy and straps him to the front of his car so he can drain the blood out of him. [shakes her head in disgust]
Me: Well I loved Mad Max…
Mom: LOVED IT???
Me: They took this character who is the star of this franchise, this hero, Mad Max and they put him in the film with the words “Mad Max” in the title. So you’re going into this movie assuming Mad Max is the center of the story, the hero of the narrative. The movie starts with him…
Mom: …eating a live lizard…
Me: …and then he is literally pushed aside so that we have these female heroes instead. And it’s one-armed Charlize Theron? Come on, that was awesome. It was a feminist action film. I mean, if you’re going to praise a movie like Revenant for its intense and realistic depiction of violence, why critique Mad Max for that?
Mom: First of all, The Revenant was about American history. Mad Max is nothing but horrific people rolling through a desert
Me: I see no difference there. Revenant was nothing but horrific people rolling through the woods.
Mom: You’re insane.
Me: Okay, let’s discuss The Martian.
Mom: I really enjoyed it.
Me: Me too.
Maisy [my 9yo daughter]: Can I say something about The Martian? I thought it was awesome! It was so cool.
Me: Yes, that’s why I liked it. It was such a great family movie. I wish there were more movies like that for the whole family to go to.
Mom: It was a very pleasurable movie. I learned about how an astronaut could grow plants in space!
Me: Okay, any final thoughts, Mom?
Mom: Yes, one person who I felt really deserved an Oscar nomination was Samuel L. Jackson in The Hateful 8. He was just great in that film. I can’t believe he wasn’t nominated.
Me: Well, Mom, as always, it was a real pleasure talking to you about the Oscars.
Mom: Thanks for having me!
Editor’s note: I received this email from my mom today:
***
There you have it, folks. We’ll be back again in a year to discuss the 2016 nominees, that is unless Leonardo DiCaprio loses the Oscar. Then I’ll be on the search for another mom who wants to talk movies with me. Keep an eye out just in case, won’t you?
“Clueless” and the End of Gen X
Did you know that Clueless was released 20 years ago? That’s the year I graduated from high school and the year, I think, Gen X was pushed out of the cinematic spotlight. I wrote about this for Salon:
“In an early scene in “Clueless,” a close-up reveals the sagging waistbands of a pack of young, SoCal teens, all loping to class in the signature Generation X uniform of baggy jeans, exposed boxer shorts and wallet chains as World Party’s cover of Mott the Hoople’s “All the Young Dudes” blares on the soundtrack. Then Cher Horowitz’s (Alicia Silverstone) chipper, California Girl uptalk—surely the vocal fry of the 1990s—cuts through the straining authenticity practiced by the pack:
Here, with a single toss of her healthy blond coiffure, Cher, the “Clueless” protagonist and moral center of Amy Heckerling’s 1995 adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Emma,” dismisses the entire ethos of Generation X. As Jeffrey Sconce explains: “X’ers have long been regarded as the most cynical, detached and ironic of population clusters. Boomers, the logic goes, got all the good jobs and prime real estate, while Gen Y (aka, “the Millennials”) got a renewed sense of earnestness, enthusiasm, and optimism. X marks the spot in between—those pissed off at baby-boomers for their narcissistic entitlement and pissed off at the Millennials for not being more pissed off.”
Read the rest here.
My Mom’s 2015 Oscar Picks
My Mom takes her yearly Oscar picks seriously (you can read her previous picks here and here). She tries to see all of the critically acclaimed films. She even attended a screening of the Live Action Short Films. Her pick? Boogaloo and Graham (Michael Lennox and Ronan Blaney). I’ll have to take her word for it. You can watch that short here:
Amanda: We need to start by putting our cards on the table by telling the readers what we haven’t yet seen. I’ll admit, 2014 was a very busy year for me, and many of the nominated films never even played in my city, so while I tried to cram in as many of these as I could before our annual interview, there are still a lot I never saw. The critical darlings I have yet to see include: The Imitation Game (Morten Tyldum), Foxcatcher (Bennett Miller), Still Alice (Wash Westmoreland), The Judge (David Dobkin), Wild (Jean-Marc Vallée), and Inherent Vice (PT Anderson).
Mom: Of the big movies, I haven’t seen Selma (Ava DuVernay) or Still Alice. Everything else, I have seen.
Everything else?
Everything else.
Impressive! So what is your pick for Best Picture?
It’s very difficult this year; I loved all of them. One of my favorite films through the entire process was Theory of Everything (James Marsh). I thought it was phenomenal the way Hawking’s life was portrayed. But, recently I’ve changed my mind a little, maybe because I’ve been reading the reviews and editorials and American Sniper…
[loud groan]
…was one that they truly loved because it managed to bring people back into the movie theaters.
It did, but is that what a Best Picture is? A film that a lot of people go to see? Because if that’s the case, then 50 Shades of Grey (Sam Taylor-Johnson) will win the Oscar for Best Picture next year.
Good point. But I loved American Sniper because it’s portrayal of an American soldier going to war and what he had to deal with and the effect on him as well as his family, was so powerful.
I agree with you there. It was powerful. But for me, the big problem with American Sniper is that I thought it’s message was very confused. I don’t know what Clint Eastwood thought he was doing with that movie because it seems to be telling two very contradictory stories about contemporary war. I thought the film glamorized Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper), who was a devoted soldier and an excellent marksman, but what was problematic for me was that it also glamorized what he was doing: shooting people. I think it’s possible to honor the soldier and tell his story without glamorizing killing. Having said that, it was a well-made film because Eastwood is a good filmmaker.
But Eastwood is giving us the perception of the soldier. If my son, or grandson, or granddaughter, were in the army and going in and out of those homes, I would like a sniper there to protect them!
I’m not disputing the need for a soldier like Chris Kyle. I’m disputing the way Eastwood depicted the act of killing, the way he glamorized it. I think that was irresponsible and I also think that’s precisely why the film is so popular right now.
Well, look, Eastwood was just following the book written by Chris Kyle, that’s all he did…
[side eye]
Look, we’re not going to agree on this one. But still, I keep coming back to Theory of Everything. That’s my pick for Best Picture. I know you didn’t care for it.
Can you tell me something that was good about Theory of Everything that *doesn’t* include Eddie Redmayne’s performance?
Well, it’s the story of this genius and what he endured and what he’s accomplished and the fact that he’s still alive. I thought it was a beautiful film.
Let me pause you right there. I agree that Stephen Hawking’s story is amazing. The fact that he was struck with this debilitating disease and the fact that he was also a genius who profoundly shaped the way we understand the universe, those are two remarkable stories happening to the same man at once. But that’s my point — Hawking’s is a great story on its own, regardless of how the filmmaker tells it. I don’t feel like the movie did anything interesting with this truly remarkable story. I think Hawking deserves a better film than this. Eddie Redmayne’s performance is the only redeemable part of the film for me.
I should also say that one of the other best films I saw this year was Whiplash (Damien Chazelle).
I was very “meh” on Whiplash.
I thought the portrayal of Fletcher, by J.K. Simmons, and this young vulnerable boy (Miles Teller) at a music conservatory — and this was obviously supposed to be Juilliard — was so amazing. We get to watch this professor, who knew he found a great talent who was not responding, and the way he chose to address that. Definitely one of the most memorable films that I’ve seen.
I’ll give it that. And frankly, I thought Miles Teller, who plays Andrew, should have been given a Best Actor nomination…
I don’t know about that — he was so overshadowed by Simmons.
[angry noises]
And you know, the problem for me this year is that there were a lot of really wonderful films. It’s hard to pick.
I disagree! I was disappointed with pretty much everything I saw.
So let’s talk about Boyhood (Richard Linklater). I thought it was very cute, very nice, how they filmed this boy from when he was a child up through his young adulthood but…
[ she trails off, shrugs her shoulders]
I agree. I love Linklater — Dazed and Confused (1993) is one of my favorite films — and the performances in Boyhood were just fine. But had this been a film with different actors playing the role of Mason (Ellar Coltrane), I don’t think I would have given it a second thought.
Exactly. It was very sweet, but that’s all it was.
Boyhood was very satisfying. I really enjoyed the cinematic experience of watching a character age over time. Just lovely. But now that the film is over? I just don’t care. I mean, whatever, he grew up, so what?
Right. Another film we haven’t talked about is The Imitation Game, which was superb because of Benedict Cumberbatch. Other than that? It wasn’t that great.
And we can’t base a Best Picture pick solely on the strong performance of the lead actor. Let’s chat briefly about Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson). I am huge Wes Anderson fan. But I fell asleep during this movie and I had no interest in waking up.
I thought it was stupid!
I also thought it was stupid. I guess we can move on then?
I’d like to talk about Selma even though you haven’t had a chance to see it yet. I thought the film was well-directed, but there was nothing remarkable about it. The best thing about it — beyond the story — was the performance by David Oyelowo. I thought he was really great in this role and that he absolutely should have been given a Best Actor nomination. Eddie Redmayne remains my Best Actor pick but Oyelowo’s portrayal of Martin Luther King, Jr. was subtle and powerful at the same time. It would have been very easy to get it wrong — after all, we’ve all seen footage of King giving speeches on television, but Oyelowo did a lovely job. But as for the film itself? Like Theory of Everything, Selma tells a remarkable story in a rather bland film. A Best Picture has to do something other than pick a good story. It’s also about how the story is told.
Let’s move on to the only movie that I think should never win Best Picture and that is Birdman: The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance (Alejandro González Iñárritu).
And that is actually my pick for Best Picture.
Ooooooooooo…
And let me tell you why. It was the only movie from the Best Picture list that really stuck with me after it was over. The movie is essentially, except for the very end, a single take (or what appears to be a single take). The movie never pauses. To achieve this — beyond the use of CGI to mask the moments where the cuts actually took place — Iñárritu and his crew had to plot out where every actor had to be at every moment. Everyone had to hit their marks at the exact right time. To do all that, to coordinate all that with everyone on set, is amazing. And then on top of the technical feats, I thought the story of an aging action hero trying to do an adaptation of a Raymond Carver story for the stage, was really smart and timely. It stuck with me.
So you want Birdman?
Yes.
As Best Picture of the year?
Yes.
[side eye]
So let’s talk quickly about the acting categories. We’ll start with Best Actor in a leading role.
This one is tough for me. Through the entire season, Eddie Redmayne has been my choice. But, there was another actor whose performance has haunted me, and that’s Steve Carell in Foxcatcher. He is very disturbing — you hate him. He attracts these young men who are wrestlers and he wants to be their coach, their father, everything. I went home and Googled this guy, duPont, and Steve Carell looked, talked, and acted just like this man. One of the most disturbing films I’ve ever watched. But his performance of this mentally deranged man was really impressive. Still, Redmayne is my pick.
Me too. He truly gave the best performance. And granted, the role provided a lot of opportunities for Redmayne to demonstrate his acting skill. He had to both impersonate a living person whose demeanor and expressions are well known and it was also a very physical role, mimicking the impact of ALS on his character’s body. It was pretty amazing…
Amazing!
So we agree on that. Let’s move on to Best Supporting Actor. I haven’t seen two of these movies, so…
Well, I’ve seen all of these films and if JK Simmons doesn’t win for Whiplash then I am done with these interviews.
Really? You’re willing to give up ever appearing on this blog again…
You’ve seen Whiplash?
Yes, but…
Well then. I would accept no pay to keep me back in [your blog]…
So I’m going to have to call the Academy is what you’re saying?
Uh, yeah.
Wow, that’s a shame, because I think Ed Norton should win for Birdman.
[ noises of disgust, growls?, other indistinguishable noises]
Why can’t I have my pick?! On top of all the crazy stuff that was going on in that movie, all I could think about was Ed Norton. He was electric in that film: funny, twitchy, narcissistic. So dynamic…
I can’t even remember him from that film…
WHAT? We clearly didn’t see the same movie. He’s my pick, he’s not going to win…
He better not…
But he’s my pick all the same. Let it be noted.
[blows a raspberry]
Best Actress. Now I’ve only seen two of these so I don’t feel qualified to make a pick.
I’ve not seen Still Alice but I hear Julianne Moore is great.
She is great in everything she does. Let’s just both award this to Julianne Moore.
Yes, let’s do it! I’ll you why: I wasn’t impressed with any of the female roles this year.*
Know why? Because all the female roles were shit.
Well, you might be right.
Best Supporting Actress. Once again, I haven’t seen two of the nominees but I think Patricia Arquette deserves this one. I was so fascinated by her character. We meet her as this struggling single mother who gradually collects these degrees and then becomes an intellectual in her own right. But she keeps marrying the worst men.
I’ve seen all of them and none of them impressed me. They were all just there. Sure, we’ll give it to Patricia.
Closing thoughts?
I just really hated Birdman.
Noted.
FIN
*The day after this interview, Nana admitted to being a little hasty with her Best Actress pick. Over breakfast she told me she wanted to change her pick to Reese Witherspoon in Wild. She also called me from the road today to be sure that change was noted. Please note it.
In Defense of Academic Writing
Academic writing has taken quite a bashing since, well, forever, and that’s not entirely undeserved. Academic writing can be pedantic, jargon-y, solipsistic and self-important. There are endless think pieces, editorials and New Yorker cartoons about the impenetrability of academese. In one of those said pieces, “Why Academics Can’t Write,” Michael Billig explains:
Throughout the social sciences, we can find academics parading their big nouns and their noun-stuffed noun-phrases. By giving something an official name, especially a multi-noun name which can be shortened to an acronym, you can present yourself as having discovered something real—something to impress the inspectors from the Research Excellence Framework.
Yes, the implication here is that academics are always trying to make things — a movie, a poem, themselves and their writing — appear more important than they actually are. These pieces also argue that academics dress simple concepts up in big words in order to exclude those who have not had access to the same educational expertise. In “On Writing Well,” Stephen M. Walt argues:
jargon is a way for professional academics to remind ordinary people that they are part of a guild with specialized knowledge that outsiders lack…
This is how we control the perimeters, our critics charge; this is how we guard ourselves from interlopers. But, this explanation seems odd. After all, the point of scholarship — of all those long hours of reading and studying and writing and editing — is to uncover truths, backed by research, and then to educate others. Sometimes we do that in the classroom for our students, of course, but even more significantly, we are supposed to be educating the world with our ideas. That’s especially true of academics (like me) employed by public universities, funded by tax payer dollars. That money, supporting higher education, is to (ideally) allow us to contribute to the world’s knowledge about our specific fields of study.
http://ougaz.wordpress.com/about/
So if knowledge-sharing is the mission of the scholar, why would so many of us consciously want to create an environment of exclusion around our writing? As Steven Pinker asks in “Why Academics Stink at Writing”
Why should a profession that trades in words and dedicates itself to the transmission of knowledge so often turn out prose that is turgid, soggy, wooden, bloated, clumsy, obscure, unpleasant to read, and impossible to understand?
Contrary to popular belief, academics don’t *just* write for other academics (that’s what conference presentations are for!). We write believing that what we’re writing has a point and purpose, that it will educate and edify. I’ve never met an academic who has asked for help with making her essay “more difficult to understand.” Now, of course, some academics do use jargon as subterfuge. Walt continues:
But if your prose is muddy and obscure or your arguments are hedged in every conceivable direction, then readers may not be able to figure out what you’re really saying and you can always dodge criticism by claiming to have been misunderstood…Bad writing thus becomes a form of academic camouflage designed to shield the author from criticism.
Walt, Billig, Pinker and everyone else who has, at one time or another, complained that a passage of academese was needlessly difficult to understand are right to be frustrated. I’ve made the same complaints myself. However, this generalized dismissal of “academese,” of dense, often-jargony prose that is nuanced, reflexive and even self-effacing , is, I’m afraid, just another bullet in the arsenal for those who believe that higher education is populated with up-tight, boring, useless pedants who just talk and write out of some masturbatory infatuation with their own intelligence. The inherent distrust of scholarly language is, at its heart, a dismissal of academia itself.
Now I’ll be the first to agree that higher education is currently crippled by a series of interrelated and devastating problems — the adjunctification and devaluation of teachers, the overproduction of PhDs, tuition hikes, endless assessment bullshit, the inflation of middle-management (aka, the rise of the “ass deans”), MOOCs, racism, sexism, homophobia, ablism, ageism, it’s ALL there people — but academese is the least egregious of these problems, don’t you think? Academese — that slow nuanced ponderous way of seeing the world — we are told, is a symptom of academia’s pretensions. But I think it’s one of our only saving graces.
The work I do is nuanced and specific. It requires hours of reading and thinking before a single word is typed. This work is boring at times — at times even dreadful — but it’s necessary for quality scholarship and sound arguments. Because once you start to research an idea — and I mean really research, beyond the first page of Google search results — you find that the ideas you had, those wonderful, catchy epiphanies that might make for a great headline or tweet, are not nearly as sound as you assumed. And so you go back, armed with the new knowledge you just gleaned, and adjust your original claim. Then you think some more and revise. It is slow work, but it’s necessary work. The fastest work I do is the writing for this blog, which as I see as a space of discovery and intellectual growth. I try not to make grand claims for this blog, mostly for that reason.
The problem then, with academic writing, is that its core — the creation of careful, accurate ideas about the world — are born of research and revision and, most important of all, time. Time is needed. But our world is increasingly regulated by the ethic of the instant. We are losing our patience. We need content that comes quickly and often, content that can be read during a short morning commute or a long dump (sorry for the vulagrity, Ma), content that can be tweeted and retweeted and Tumblred and bit-lyed. And that content is great. It’s filled with interesting and dynamic ideas. But this content cannot replace the deep structures of thought that come from research and revision and time.
Let me show you what I mean by way of example:
Stanley has already taken quite a drubbing for this piece (and deservedly so) so I won’t add to the pile on. But I do want to point out that had this profile been written by someone with a background in race and gender studies, not to mention the history of racial and gendered representation in television, this profile would have turned out very differently. I’m not saying that Stanley needed a PhD to properly write this piece, what I’m saying is: the woman needed to do her research. As Tressie McMillan Cottom explains:
Here’s the thing with using a stereotype to analyze counter hegemonic discourses. If you use the trope to critique race instead of critiquing racism, no matter what you say next the story is about the stereotype. That’s the entire purpose of stereotypes. They are convenient, if lazy, vehicles of communication. The “angry black woman” traffics in a specific history of oppression, violence and erasure just like the “spicy Latina” and “smart Asian”. They are effective because they work. They conjure immediate maps of cognitive interpretation. When you’re pressed for space or time or simply disinclined to engage complexities, stereotypes are hard to resist. They deliver the sensory perception of understanding while obfuscating. That’s their power and, when the stereotype is about you, their peril.
Wanna guess why Cottom’s perspective on this is so nuanced and careful? Because she studies this shit. Imagine that: knowing what you’re talking about before you hit “publish.”
Or how about this recent piece on the “rise” of black British actors in America?
Carter’s profile of black British actors in Hollywood does a great job of repeating everything said by her interview subjects but is completely lacking in an analysis of the complicated and fraught history of black American actors in Hollywood. And that perspective is very, very necessary for an essay claiming to be about “The Rise of the Black British Actor in America.” So what is someone like Carter to do? Well, she could start by changing the title of her essay to “Black British Actors Discuss Working in Hollywood.” Don’t make claims that you can’t fulfill. Because you see, in academia, “The Rise of the Black British Actor in America” would actually be a book-length project. It would require months, if not years, of careful research, writing, and revision. One simply cannot write about hard-working black British actors in Hollywood without mentioning the ridiculous dearth of good Hollywood roles for people of color. As Tambay A. Obsenson rightly points out in his response to the piece:
Unless there’s a genuine collective will to get underneath the surface of it all, instead of just bulletin board-style engagement. There’s so much to unpack here, and if a conversation about the so-called “rise in black British actors in America” is to be had, a rather one-sided, short-sighted Buzzfeed piece doesn’t do much to inspire. It only further progresses previous theories that ultimately cause division within the diaspora.
But the internet has created the scholarship of the pastless present, where a subject’s history can be summed up in the last thinkpiece that was published about it, which was last week. And last week is, of course, ancient history. Quick and dirty analyses of entire decades, entire industries, entire races and genders, are generally easy and even enjoyable to read (simplicity is bliss!), and they often contain (some) good information. But many of them make claims they can’t support. They write checks their asses can’t cash. But you know who CAN cash those checks? Academics. In fact, those are some of the only checks we ever get to cash.
Academese can answer those broad questions, with actual facts and research and entire knowledge trajectories. As Obsensen adds:
But the Buzzfeed piece is so bereft of essential data, that it’s tough to take it entirely seriously. If the attempt is to have a conversation about the central matter that the article seems to want to inform its readers on, it fails. There’s a far more comprehensive discussion to be had here.
A far more comprehensive discussion is exactly what academics have been trained to do. We’re good at it! Indeed, Obsensen has yet to write a full response to the Buzzfeed piece because, wait for it, he has to do his research first: “But a black British invasion, there is not. I will take a look at this further, using actual data, after I complete my research of all roles given to black actors in American productions, over the last 5 years.” Now, look, I’m not shitting all over Carter or anyone else who has ever had to publish on a deadline in order to collect a paycheck. I understand that this is how online publishing often works. And Carter did a great job interviewing her subjects. Its a thorough piece that will certainly influence Buzzfeed readers to go see Selma (2015, Ava DuVernay). But it is not about the rise of the black British actor in America. It is an ad for Selma.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not calling for an end to short, pithy, generalized articles on the internet. I love those spurts of knowledge, bite-sized bits of knowledge. I may be well-versed in film and media (and really then, only my own small corner of it) but the rest of my understanding of what’s happening in the world of war and vaccines and space travel and Kim Kardashian comes from what I can read in 5 minute intervals while waiting for the pharmacist to fill my prescription. My working mom brain, frankly, can’t handle too much more than that. And that is how it should be; none among us can be experts in everything, or even a few things.
But here’s what I’m saying: we need to recognize that there is a difference between a 100,000 word academic book and a 1500 word thinkpiece. They have different purposes and functions and audiences. We need to understand the conditions under which claims can be made and what facts are necessary before assertions can be made. That’s why articles are peer-reviewed and book monographs are carefully vetted before publication. Writers who are not experts can pick up these documents and read them and then…cite them! In academia we call this “scholarship.”
No, academic articles rarely yield snappy titles. They’re hard to summarize. Seriously, the next time you see an academic, corner them and ask them to summarize their latest research project in 140 characters — I dare you. But trust me, people — you don’t want to call for an end to academese. Because without detailed, nuanced, reflexive, overly-cited, and yes, even hedging writing, there can be no progress in thought. There can be no true thinkpieces. Without academese, everything is what the author says it is, an opinion tethered to air, a viral simulacrum of knowledge.
Notes on a Riot
image source: PBS news hour
Like many professors, I live on the same campus where I work. As a result, I’ve watched drunk East Carolina University students urinate and puke on my lawn and toss empty red solo cups into the shrubbery around my home. But one evening I had a more troubling run-in with a college student. It began when I woke to the sound of my dog barking. It took me a minute to orient myself and understand that my dog was barking because someone was knocking on the front door. It was 2 am and my husband was out of town, but I opened the front door anyway. On the stoop was a college-aged woman dressed in a Halloween costume that consisted of a halter top, small tight shorts, and sky-high heels. The woman was sobbing and shivering in the late October air and her thick eye make up was running down her face. She was incoherent and hysterical– I could smell the tequila on her breath — so it took me a while to figure out what she wanted .
She told me that she was visiting a friend for the night and that she had lost her friend…and her cell phone. She had no idea where she was or where to go. I think she came to my door because my porch light has motion detectors and she must have thought it was a sign. As she rambled on and on I could hear my baby crying upstairs. I told the woman to wait on my stoop, that I had to go get my baby and my phone, and that I would call the police to see if they could drive her somewhere. “Nooooooo,” she wailed, “don’t call the police!” I urged her to wait a minute so I could go get my baby and soothe him, but when I returned a few minutes later with my cell phone in hand, she was gone.
image source: http://www.nydailynews.com/
I felt many emotions that night: annoyance at being woken up, panic over how to best get help for the young woman, and later, guilt over my inability to help her. But one emotion that I did not feel that night was fear. I was never threatened by this young woman’s presence on my stoop and I never felt the need to “protect” my property. Why would I? She was a young woman, no more than 19 or 20, and though she was drunk and hysterical, she needed my help. I was reminded of this incident when I heard that Renisha McBride, a young woman of no more than 19 or 20, was shot dead last fall after knocking on Theodore Wafer’s door in the middle of the night while drunk and in need of help. Wafer was recently convicted of second-degree murder and manslaughter (which is a miracle), but that didn’t stop the Associated Press from describing the Wafer verdict thusly:
McBride, the victim, a young girl needlessly shot down by a paranoid homeowner, is described as a nameless drunk, even a court ruling establishing her victimhood beyond a shadow of a doubt. Now, just a few days later in Ferguson, Missouri, citizens are actively protesting the death/murder of Michael Brown, another unarmed African American youth shot down for seemingly no reason. If you haven’t heard of Brown yet, here are the basic facts:
1. On Saturday evening Michael Brown, an unarmed African American teenager, was fatally shot by a police officer on a sidewalk in Ferguson, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri.
2. There are 2 very different accounts of why and how Brown was shot. The police claim that Brown got into their police car and attempted to take an officer’s gun, leading to the chain of events that resulted in Brown fleeing the vehicle and being shot. By contract, witnesses on the scene claim that Brown and his friend, Dorian Johnson, were walking in the middle of the street when the police car pulled up, told the boys to “Get the f*** on the sidewalk” and then hit them with their car door. This then led to a physical altercation that sent both boys running down the sidewalk with the police shooting after them.
3. As a result of Brown’s death/murder the citizens of Ferguson took to the streets, demanding answers, investigations, and the name of the officer who pulled the trigger. Most of these citizens engaged in peaceful protests while others have engaged in “looting” (setting fires, stealing from local businesses, and damaging property).
http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/
Now America is trying to make sense of the riots/uprisings that have taken hold of Ferguson the last two days and whether the town’s reaction is or is not “justified.” Was Brown a thug who foolishly tried to grab an officer’s gun? Or, was he yet another case of an African American shot because his skin color made him into a threat?
I suppose both theories are plausible, but given how many unarmed, brown-skinned Americans have been killed in *just* the last 2 years — Trayvon Martin (2012), Ramarley Graham (2012), Renisha McBride (2013), Jonathan Ferrell (2013), John Crawford (2014), Eric Garner (2014), Ezell Ford (2 days ago) — my God, I’m not even scratching the surface, there are too many to list — I’m willing to bet that Michael Brown didn’t do anything to *deserve* his death. He was a teenage boy out for a walk with his friend on a Saturday night and his skin color made him into a police target. He was a threat merely by existing.
Given the amount of bodies that are piling up — young, innocent, unarmed bodies — it shouldn’t be surprising that people in Ferguson have taken to the streets demanding justice. And yes, in addition to the peaceful protests and fliers with clearly delineated demands, there has been destruction to property and looting. But there is always destruction in a war zone. War makes people act in uncharacteristic ways. And make no mistake: Ferguson is now a war zone. The media has been blocked from entering the city, the FAA has declared the air space over Ferguson a “no fly zone” for a week “to provide a safe environment for law enforcement activities,” and the police are shooting rubber bullets and tear gas at civilians.
But no matter. The images of masses of brown faces in the streets of Ferguson can and will be brushed aside as “looters” and “f*cking animals.” Michael Brown’s death is already another statistic, another body on the pile of Americans who had the audacity to believe that they would be safe walking down the street or knocking on a door for help.
What is especially soul-crushing is knowing that these events happen over and over and over again in America — the Red Summer of 1919, Watts in 1964, Los Angeles in 1992 — and again and again we look away. We laud the protests of the Arab Spring, awed by the fortitude and bravery of people who risk bodily harm and even death in their demands for a just government, but we have trouble seeing our own protests that way. Justice is a right, not a privilege. Justice is something we are all supposed to be entitled to in this county.
***
When the uprisings in Los Angeles were televised in 1992 I was a freshman in high school. All I knew about Los Angeles is what I had learned from movies like Pretty Woman and Boyz N the Hood –there were rich white people, poor black people with guns, and Julia Roberts pretending to be a prostitute. On my television these “rioters and looters” looked positively crazy, out of control. And when I saw army tanks moving through the streets of Compton I felt a sense of relief.
That’s because a lifetime of American media consumption — mostly in the form of film, television, and nightly newscasts — had conditioned my eyes and my brain to read images of angry African Americans, not as allies in the struggle for a just country, but as threats to my country’s safety. I could pull any number of examples of how and why my brain and eyes were conditioned in this way. I could cite, for example, how every hero and romantic lead in everything I watched was almost always played by a white actor. I could cite how every criminal, rapist, and threat to my white womanhood was almost always played by a black actor. And those army tanks driving through the outskirts of Los Angeles didn’t look like an infringement on freedom to me at the time (and as they do now). They looked like safety because I came of age during the Gulf War, when images of tanks moving through wartorn streets in regions of the world where people who don’t look like me live come to stand for “justice” and “peacemaking.” Images get twisted and flipped and distorted.
bossip.com
The #IfTheyShotMe hashtag, started by Tyler Atkins, illuminates how easily images — particular the cache of selfies uploaded to a Facebook page or Instagram account — can be molded to support whatever narrative you want to spin about someone. The hashtag features two images which could tell two very different stories about an unarmed man after he is shot — a troublemaker or a scholar? a womanizer or a war vet? The hashtag illuminates how those who wish to believe that Michael Brown’s death was simply a tragic consequence of not following rules and provoking the police can easily find images of him flashing “gang signs” or looking tough in a photo, and thus “deserving” his fate. Those who believe he was wrongfully shot down because he, like most African American male teens, looks “suspicious,” can proffer images of Brown in his graduation robes.
Of course, as so many smart folks have already pointed out, it doesn’t really matter that Brown was supposed to go off to college this week, just as it doesn’t matter what a woman was wearing when she was raped. It doesn’t matter whether an unarmed man is a thug or a scholar when he is shot down in the street like a dog. But I like this hashtag because at the very least it is forcing us all to think about the way we’re all (mis)reading the images around us, to our peril.
The same day that the people of Ferguson took to the streets to stand up for Michael Brown and for every other unarmed person killed for being black, comedian and actor Robin Williams died. I was sad to hear this news and even sadder to hear that Williams took his own life, so I went to social media to engage in some good, old fashioned public mourning, the Twitter wake. In addition to the usual sharing of memorable quotes and clips from the actor’s past, people in my feed were also sharing suicide prevention hotline numbers and urging friends to “stay here,” reminding them that they are loved and needed by their friends and families. People asked for greater understanding of mental illness and depression. And some people simply asked that we all try to be kind to each other, that we remember that we’re all human, that we all hurt, and that we are all, ultimately, the same. Folks, now it’s time to send some of that kind energy to the people of Ferguson and to the family and friends of Michael Brown. They’re hurting and they need it.
The Postfeminist Gift of Gwen Stacy, or Gwen Stacy is SOME PIG!
When my 4-year-old son asked me if I would take him to see The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Marc Webb) on Memorial Day, I’ll admit that I wasn’t even aware the sequel (to the reboot) had been released. I was also unaware that X-Men: Days of Future Past (Bryan Singer) or Captain America: Winter Soldier (Joe Russo) were playing in the same theater. I guess I’ve lost my taste for super hero films. I used to love them. In fact, when I was 13-years-old I became obsessed with Batman (1989, Tim Burton). I had posters and collected trading cards and listened obsessively to the soundtrack:
My interest in films like Tim Burton’s Batman and Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man (2002) was due less to their super hero antics (the amazing weapons, the acrobatic fight scenes, the spectacle of urban destruction) and far more to do with the idea of normal people who feel an obligation to act on the behalf of others. Because I loved these dark, brooding, almost-noirish heroes, I forgave these films for their lifeless female characters. Or rather, I never thought much about them. I never once identified with Vicki Vale (Kim Basinger) or Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst). I didn’t want to be rescued by Batman (Michael Keaton) or Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire), I wanted to be Batman and Spider-Man and rescue folks myself. Now, it’s no secret that super hero movies have a major gender (and race and ethnicity and sexuality problem). Almost all of the major stars of the super hero franchises are white, heterosexual, cis men. And after a while, the white male fantasies of control and power over a chaotic and inherently evil world were no longer interesting to me. I stopped going to see super hero movies.
http://www.dvdizzy.com/images/b/batman-01.jpg
Though I did not see the first film in the franchise reboot, The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), I wasn’t expecting to see anything other than 142 (!!!) minutes of CGI fight scenes, smashed cars, franchise-building, and pretty girls who need rescuing — and that’s exactly what I got. Now I don’t want to shit on Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone). She’s adorable. Her outfits are amazing (amazing!). She’s the valedictorian of her graduating class. Her hair curls in all the right places. She snagged a sweet job (internship?) at Oscorp Industries immediately upon graduating. She wrinkles her little nose when she laughs. She even got into Oxford to study sciency stuff. She also uses her knowledge of high school science to help Spider-Man magnetize his web shooters, a key trick allowing Spider-Man to wrangle with Electro (Jamie Foxx).
http://turntherightcorner.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/the-amazing-spider-man-2-teaser-trailer-gwen-stacy.jpg
All of these character traits and plot points appear, on the surface, to elevate Gwen above the usual superhero girlfriend role. Indeed, when Gwen finally decides to leave New York for England (Oxford! Science stuff!) Spider-Man cribs a move from Charlotte’s Web, by writing the words “I Love You” in giant web-letters. He then tells Gwen that he will follow her to Oxford. He will follow Gwen anywhere. He will be her trailing, Spidey-spouse, doing fixed term work across the Pond. OMG, swoonsville, right ladies?
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/
But even as someone who knows nothing about the Spider-Man I know that shit is not going to happen. Spider-Man cannot give up his gift, his “great responsibility,” for the love of a woman. He can’t be secondary because he’s primary. He’s the protagonist. And Electro is totally sucking up all of New York City’s power so Spidey basically says “Now I’m gonna tie your ass this police car with some of my webs. Bye.”
This enrages Gwen, who is all “Fuck off, Spider-Man,” because she is a modern postfeminist woman (with GIRL POWER!) and she makes her own choices, and no one, not even fucking Spider-Man, is going to tell her what to do. She yells something to this effect and it is adorable but pointless because as we all know, this is not Gwen’s movie. Still, Gwen pulls out some scissors or a Swiss Army knife or something and hacks away at those sticky webs and then shows up at the big show down between her boyfriend and Electro at some magical place in New York City where all the electricity is kept. Gwen uses her vast knowledge of New York City’s power grid (what?), to help Spider-Man destroy Electro and save New York City from a black out, which is a super dire situation because then planes crash.
http://www.gannett-cdn.com/
Despite Gwen’s key contribution to this epic CGI-battle, the whole scene felt a lot like the scene at the very end of the film (SPOILER ALERT!) when a little boy, dressed up in a Spider-Man costume, attempts to face off against an Oscorp-generated villain, Rhino (Paul Giamatti). It’s admirable and it’s adorable (his costume is too big for him!), but ultimately, we take a deep sigh of relief when Spider-Man finally appears on the scene, thanks the little boy for his bravery, pats him on the head, then delivers him into the arms of his weeping mama. Gwen is like that little boy: we admire her, she’s adorable and brave, but ultimately, she needs to move aside so the real heroes can do their work. Superheroing is a (white) man’s game. It is not for women and children. It’s not for poor, lonely, invisible Electro either.
This became most apparent in the final battle of the film between Spider-Man and the newly villainized Harry/Green Goblin (Dane DeHaan, looking like a cracked out, lost member of One Direction). Because although Gwen reminded Spidey about how magnets work and knew how to access New York City’s power grid (again, I must ask, how does an 18-year-old who jut started working at Oscorp know this?), she is, at the end of the day, just a woman. And a woman’s main value in cinema, especially a summer blockbuster reboot of a successful comic book franchise, is in her to-be-looked-at-ness. That is, Gwen’s purpose is to be an object of the Gaze: Spidey’s gaze, Green Goblin’s gaze, and the audience’s gaze. Her greatest value and power in the film lies in what she means to Peter Parker/Spider-Man. Gwen’s photograph appears all over Peter’s bedroom. She is an image to be adored. She is Peter’s everything. She is his crime-fighting muse. After they break up, Spider-Man sits atop New York City buildings, stalking watching Gwen going about her day. We watch her too. Her outfits are amazing.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/03/05/article-2288354-186FE7B6000005DC-84_306x734.jpg
Gwen exists to be looked at and she exists as an object of exchange. Harry/Green Goblin values her only because Peter values her. That is, Gwen’s worth is determined by the men around her. As Gayle Rubin argues in her seminal essay, “The Traffic in Women: Notes on the ‘Political Economy’ of Sex” (1975):
If Harry possesses Gwen, he can exchange her for something he values, in this case, the blood of Spider-Man (which Harry believes will save his life). Gwen gains nothing in this exchange of her body (other than, she hopes, the opportunity to remain alive) because she is the object, the gift, that the powerful white men toss back and forth like a beautiful little rag doll. In the film’s (almost) final battle scene, Harry, now in full Green Goblin mode, scoops up little Miss Gwen and carries her off to a Dangerous Place. Spider-Man, predictably, chases after his love, intent on both saving her life and stopping Green Goblin.
http://cdn1.sciencefiction.com/
And so, near the end of Spider-Man 2 we find ourselves in a familiar situation: our beautiful damsel, our muse, the gift/ransom exchanged between two men (one selfless, the other selfish), is literally dangling by a string. Here Gwen becomes more valuable than ever because she is now the audience’s gift. Because we identify with Spider-Man, the protagonist, Gwen’s peril is intended to fill us with the worst kind of dread. If she dies, how will Spider-Man feel? I mean, it’s gonna really fuck him up, right? Gwen’s life is the film’s climax.
http://schmoesknow.com/
Look, I get it. The movie’s title is The Amazing Spider-Man 2, not Gwen Remembers How Magnets Work or Gwen Goes to Oxford. Of course every supporting character’s role is there to do just that — to support the story of the Amazing Spider-Man. But I suppose it’s Gwen’s postfeminist accoutrement that leaves a sour taste in my mouth. I almost wish Gwen were more helpless and passive, stupider and more frightened. But it’s the fact that Gwen is so damn capable: she’s pretty and smart and plucky and brave and has the love of a good man. She is living the postfeminist dream (until she dies, that is!) and for that, she gives the film an appearance of some kind of gender equality. “Look, she helps Spidey! Look, she’s pursuing a career!” At the end of the day, these stories belong to the same white men they’ve always belonged to.
My Mom’s 2014 Oscar Picks
Most bloggers publish their Oscar picks hours, or at the latest, days, after the nominations are announced. Because that’s when most people are interested in hearing about Oscar picks — before the Oscars. But Nana and I aren’t “most bloggers.” Sure, we’ll give you our Oscar picks, but we’re going to publish them just hours before the actual ceremony. That’s because Nana and I like to throw caution to the wind. We’re free-thinkers. We’re iconoclasts. We’re rebels. But mostly? We’ve both been really, really busy the last few months and didn’t have the time to sit down and discuss our Oscar picks today, the day of the big O.
Amanda: Okay, Nana, so we don’t have a lot of time because we sort of waited until the last minute — we were both trying to see as many of the 2013 films as we could. So before we begin our conversation, in the interest of full disclosure, I think we need to tell our readers what movies we haven’t seen. I’ll start with mine: The Wolf of Wallstreet (Martin Scorsese), Nebraska (Alexander Payne), Philomena (Stephen Frears), Captain Phillips (Paul Greengrass). So there are quite a few holes in my ballot, I’m afraid. What about you?
Nana: Wow. Well, you’re going to have to see those.
I know, Nana, I know.
The movie Her (Spike Jonze) is the one Best Picture nominee that I have not seen.
That’s the only one?
Yep.
Wow. Good job, Nana.
Thanks.
What are your picks for best actress in a leading role?
Frankly, all five of them were very, very good. I enjoyed all of their performances. But, by far — and it will be an absolute crime if she does not win — the best performance was by Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen). Her role was so interesting: it was a woman who had experienced great wealth and then lost it suddenly, and it really affected her mentally. To watch her try to cope with life from one extreme to another was fascinating. She’s just absolutely gorgeous and she’s such a wonderful actress. At the end you almost just had to cry with her.
Almost! Well my pick is definitely Sandra Bullock in Gravity (Alfonso Cuaron). Now I did enjoy Amy Adams in American Hustle (David O. Russell) and it was a hard role because she was playing alongside Jennifer Lawrence, who clearly had the showier role. But I think she made her character matter in that film, and she made me care about her. But still, I have to stick with Sandra here because it’s very difficult to carry a performance by yourself, when you have no humans to interact with, to play off of. Her costars were the films’ special effects. I thought she pulled off the complexity of emotion you need in a controlled role like that. She made me care about the human element in a film which is otherwise about how insignificant humanity is.
Oh I enjoyed that movie, though I did find it almost silly in areas.
What do you mean?
I mean the whole thought of a person being alone in space and what she was going through. A quarter of the way through I almost turned it off.
Wow.
I also watched it on OnDemand at home, so that may have something to do with it.
Ha, yes. What are your picks for best actor in a leading role?
Again, all five were superb (except for Christian Bale, I disliked American Hustle tremendously, I thought it was a stupid movie). As you know, I am such a fan of Leonardo, and I was pulling for him to win up until last night, when I finally watched Dallas Buyer’s Club (Jean-Marc Vallee). But now I think, without question, Matthew McConaughey* must win. He was phenomenal.
Because he lost a ton of weight?
Oh goodness, no. It was the role: this pathetic man who tried desperately to secure a life for himself and had nothing but his weekly paycheck, which always went towards gambling and women. And then the one thing he prided himself on was his sex drive, and how frequently he has sex with women, and then it turns out he has HIV. And then, of course, his friends turn against him. Then, he tries to desperately to bring these drugs into the country, which have been banned by the FDA. Just a fascinating story.
*Note: Nana keeps calling him “Matthew McConnelly”
Well, Nana, as you know, my pick has been, and remains, Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen). In some ways, it’s a similar role to the one played by McConaughey in Dallas Buyer’s Club: a man who finds himself in a horrible situation, a life or death situation, and how does he negotiate that, how does he keep himself alive? For me, I thought it was a very subtle performance — Michael Fassbender had the showy role in this movie — but this actor was expressive and restrained at the same time.
For example, there’s one scene, about halfway through the movie, where Solomon attends the funeral of an older man who has died from heat exhaustion or malnutrition — the result of his status as an enslaved worker. At first, Solomon remains silent as the other slaves sing a funeral dirge. His mouth is tight and his eyes are distant. The director uses a long take here that focuses on Solomon’s face and these subtle degrees of change — the camera stays with him through the entire song, it never cuts, never looks away. But over the course of the song his face makes these micro adjustments. He begins to sing along, half heartedly. Then he begins to sing in earnest. For me, this was the moment when Solomon decided he was going to continue to commune with his own humanity. He was going to mourn this man’s death and recognize that death matters, even though he is in a seemingly hopeless situation. He could have gone two ways — go numb or continue to feel. He chooses to continue to feel here, which is arguably the tougher choice. To convey that with no dialogue? That’s an Oscar, Nana.
Oh, I agree, he did a great job.
What are your picks for best supporting actress in a leading role?
June Squibb, in Nebrasksa, was one of my favorites. At eighty-four years old, she’s just incredible. But she won’t win. My pick — and I don’t know if she’ll win because she’s so hot right now — and that’s Jennifer Lawrence in American Hustle. The only saving grace in that film is Jennifer Lawrence.
Oh I agree with you on that point…
I don’t really think she should have won last year (for Silver Linings Playbook). But for this role? If she doesn’t win, I think it’s because she’s so pretty. People don’t want to like her.
This is a tough one. I can’t pick between Jennifer Lawrence and Lupita Nyong’o. The reason why I’m on the fence is because I think these roles — in a lot of ways — are serving the same function. There are a lot of parallels between Rosalyn and Patsy: they’re both women who have little to no control over their own lives. Their actions and their livelihoods are controlled by men. And the outcomes of their lives are both very much tied to their bodies. Rosalyn’s only power is in her sexuality — in her sloppy up do, her ample cleavage, and her nails that smell like flowers and garbage — and she uses that to get what she wants. But for Patsy, her sexuality is a liability. It’s the reason she is repeatedly raped and why she becomes a target for the jealous wife of her rapist. I think that illustrates, ironically, the way white privilege functions in the cinema: female sexuality is empowering for powerless white woman and destructive for the powerless black woman.
What are your picks for best supporting actor in a leading role?
Ohhh. Absolutely Jared Leto. The way he talked, the way he walked. There was such love in him. And everybody loved him, except his family. Not only was he very sick with AIDS but he was so addicted to cocaine and heroine and whatever else he was taking…And then the scene where he had to put on a men’s suit to meet with his father?
Yes, that was one of the more poignant scenes in the film. When we see him that suit — with no make up, no color — he just looks so despondent, like it’s killing him to be dressed that way.
When you see the relationship between Rayon and his father you can see why he turned to drugs — his family didn’t accept him. And then when he knows he’s about to die and he’s looking in the mirror and he says “When I go to heaven, I want to be pretty.” Oh God.
Yeah, I think he’s my pick, too, Nana. So let’s wrap it up: what is your pick for best picture?
I am still in favor of The Wolf of Wall Street.
WHAAAAAAT?
Yes.
You’re blinded by your boyfriend [Leonard DiCaprio].
[Here Nana precedes to trash other Best Picture nominees and we argue a lot]
The Wolf of Wall Street had everything: it had incredible acting, it had — if they want the sex thing and naked bodies — it had that, it had humor, it had a fascinating story. It was just extremely well done. I’m going with The Wolf of Wall Street.
Okay, so you know I haven’t all of the Best Picture nominees, but I am going to stick with my original pick in this category, 12 Years a Slave. My reason for that — and we’ve discussed this before — is that my criteria for Best Picture is that the whole be greater than the sum of its parts. So a Best Picture winner has to have great performances, beautiful cinematography, a strong script, etc. But then, the picture itself has to be more than that. For me, this movie has been long overdue. I know there have been movies about slavery made in the past, but no other film, in my experience, has delved into the subtle and ongoing damage that the institution of slavery has created in this country like this film has. We see how slavery impacts the relationships between African American men and women — how they are both suffering but in such very different ways (for example, getting rape versus watching helplessly as someone gets raped, those are two very different kinds of horrors). We also see how it impacted the relationships between the male and female slaveowners — how the white mistress was powerless, except when it came to the slaves, the one arena in which she could flex her muscles and exert power. We see that in the scene where Mistress Epps (Sarah Paulson) throws a crystal vase at Patsy’s head. I found those scenes to be so much more devastating than the more overtly violent moments. I think America desperately needed this movie to be made.
Okay, so my final question for you is this: are there any movies or performances that weren’t nominated that you feel should have been nominated?
Hmmm, you know the one film I was surprised didn’t get anything is The Butler (Lee Daniels). I was surprised it didn’t get more. Did Oprah get anything for this?
Nope.
Oh wow. Well the lead, Forest Whitaker, was superb. The role he played — from when he was a little boy and his father was shot in the fields and his mother was raped — and he goes on to get a job in the White House. I really thought that film was wonderful, Not sure why it was snubbed. Also, All is Lost (J.C. Chandor). Poor Robert Redford.
For me this year’s big snub was Spring Breakers (Harmony Korine). Spring Breakers failed to find it’s audience because on the surface it looked like a fun teenpic about “good girls gone bad” on Spring Break — this misconception about the film was encourage by the foregrounding of its Disney princess stars — Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens — and the images of neon-bikini clad revelers that accompanied advertisements for the film. The folks who were drawn in by the ad campaign got a very different picture: a borderline-experimental meditation on capitalism, whiteness, femininity, and the affectless violence and sexuality of contemporary visual culture. So, in other words, not a light film in the least. In fact, I just taught this film in my course, Women and Identity in American Cinema, and one thing my students mentioned is that they didn’t believe that the film’s young stars — particularly Selena Gomez — were even aware of the kind of film they were starring in. Instead, the women acted as they always do — as the beneficiaries of white privilege, immune to critique, physical harm (except for a single gunshot wound), or laws. One of my students explained it this way on our class blog:
While the girls do little, they are rewarded nonetheless, whether their efforts were good or bad. This allows the “white privilege” of the girls to be seen more like armor because they act as though nothing can touch them, they are invincible– immortal. They’ve been taught and proven right many times (robbing a restaurant, etc.) that there are no consequences for them…That is the role whiteness plays in this film, the illusion of immortality and security.
Beyond it’s cunning commentary on race, Spring Breakers offers up one of the best performances of the year with James Franco’s turn as Alien, a cornrow-and-diamond-grill-wearing drug dealer/wannabe-rapper. My students all agreed that Franco definitely knew what kind of movie he was acting in (one student noted “I mean, he has a PhD”). Yeah, that’s the kind of movie this is — the kind of movie that may require one of its actors to have a PhD in order to fully understand the meaning of his own character.
As Jeffrey Sconce notes, Alien is a tragic figure in this movie. While the pretty white girls he brings under his wing are just “playing” at being gangstas and “bad bitches,” this world is his life. When he delivers his “Look at my shit!” speech he means it. He loves his shit and he believes his shit makes him important. But it was the acquisition of so much shit (specifically, the deadly duo of Candy and Britt) that leads to his ultimate demise.
Other snubs? I loved Greta Gerwig in Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach), and really, I feel that film deserved more recognition overall. Also, Don Jon (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), which was a visceral counterpoint to the more philosophically-inclined Her on the subject of online intimacy.
Well, Nana, thanks for talking with me again. Your fans thank you.
judgmental observer 
