Media Captures - March 2022

It Was the Music – 11

I’ve never rated anything this high before, but, if you love music you’ll get the reference.  And make no mistake, this is no Mocumentary.  It’s as down home and real as it can get.  “It Was the Music” is a 10-part documentary series available on several streaming services.  It could basically have been called the “Joy of Music.”  It is being offered at a $10 surcharge for the whole series.  That’s the bargain of the century considering it’s less than what you’ll spend on a fast food meal these days,  This ain't fast food.

Alvy Singer said to Annie Hall, that you can divide life into two parts, the horrible and the miserable.  This movie goes the other way, essentially saying you can divide life into two parts – that which makes you happy, and everything else.  What makes you happy?  Is it time with the family, concerts, fishing, hunting, church, movies, art?” 

As this musical journey unfolds, one of them finally says it:  Those two hours on stage, trying to connect with an audience, is a happiness like no other.

This movie is mostly about two married performers who after 30 years, decide it is time to tour together, instead of with others.  Larry Campbell has been the lead guitarist for Bob Dylan, and played with many others, and Teresa Williams is a Tennessee singer trying to keep “Americana” alive.  They don’t care where they play.  If it’s a bar with 15 people or at Lincoln Center to thousands, they just adjust the size of the band a little and give it everything they’ve got.  The documentary film maker Mark Moskowtiz saw them by chance and was so blown away, he decided to feature them.  He wanders through their and their friend’s legacies with patience and reverence.  Some of their friends you will have heard of, some you will not have.  They’ve been doing it for the love of music for a long time. 

The film meanders through Larry and Teresa’s life, including barbeques, parties and arguments.  There are dead spots of commonality, but they are countered by brilliant musical tales.  What resonated the most with me was the love of albums.  Remember when you played an album til the point that you had scratched it, and then you knew where the scratches were?  That love of an album and its flow doesn’t exist today, and it’s just one of many, many points that are made over the course of this wonderful journey.

This is hypnotic, reverential, and a must-see for music lovers.

Belfast – 10

Kenneth Branagh tells the story of his growing up during the civil unrest in Belfast in the 1980’s and with the help of a compelling soundtrack featuring Van Morrison, crafts one of the great family drama stories in movie history.  It’s heart-warming to the core.

Jamie Dornan (surprise) is pa.  He’s had gambling issues, and back tax issues, but he loves his family and has to work away from Belfast to survive.  There are some violent Protestants who want to evict the Catholics from the neighborhood and he is resistant to that.  Guess there’s always someone to hate, and some reason to build a wall to keep them at bay.  Jude Hill is 11-year old Buddy and he roams the streets of Belfast on the brink of love or trouble most days.  Ciaran Hinds and Judi Dench are the grandparents and both got Oscar nominations.  Their family unit is perfectly situated within their neighborhood unit, a great place to grow up, until unrest materializes.

The story telling is wonderful, but it is the performance of Caitriona Balfe as Ma who elevates this movie.  She dances through the highs and lows, the parties and the danger with a spirit we rarely see on screen, but often see in real life mothers.  She is wonderful and it’s the crime of the century that she won’t be picking up an Oscar, because she wasn’t even nominated.  I watched this movie for the first time for the story.  I will watch it again to just drink in her performance. 

 

Licorice Pizza – 8

Director Paul Thomas Anderson, 3 names needed, is an acquired taste that I’ve never quite acquired, although I consider “There Will Be Blood” a classic.  It’s funny because it goes on to a strange list for me.  It’s a movie that I totally loved and yet I never want to sit through it again.  That’s a very short list.

I admire Anderson’s unpredictability and visual style.  Sometimes I just don’t understand why he’s telling the story the way he is. 

In this movie, the story is about Gary, a young man in the San Fernando Valley around 1973 with an entrepreneurial bent even at 15.  First he’s a child actor, then sells waterbeds, then has a pinball parlor. 

All of these phases are captured perfectly and are sometimes hilarious.

He feels an attachment to a girl who is 25, or so she says.  Gary is played by Cooper Hoffman and Alana Kane is played by Alana Haim of the singing group Haim.  Haim starts the movie not resembling a movie star but finishes it as one.  The story wanders around San Francisco with some strange tangents.  I’m going to summarize my impression this way.  I loved the first half, but the second half seemed to drag.  While I would have edited it a lot differently, there’s no one going to take scissors to Paul’s movies, and I respect that.  It costs them a little here, but the movie is still worth seeing, especially if you experienced the 70’s.

Drive My Car - 9

This is a lock for best foreign film but I will confess it took me 3 nights to get through the three hours.  Yes, it's brilliant.  It's got a slow melancholy pace that slowly picks the plot apart.  Much time is spent in an old Saab.  I was thankful that it had ended, but fully realized that it could have gone on for another hour.

A director's wife dies suddenly right after he discovers she was having an affair.  He is overwhelmed with grief.  Two years later he travels to a theater to direct a Checkov play and casts his wife's ex-lover as the lead.  

He is forced to have a driver of his car by the management, and when she talks of her grief, they begin to dissect their lives.  I admit it.  It's damn good.

Black Crab - 7

This is one of those Netflix movies filmed in several different languages and dubbed in.  It makes for strange viewing for me.  The world is on the brink of ending and Noomi Rapace, who is Netflix's go to actress in these movies, must skate across the frozen archipelago with the thing that will save mankind, and we don't know what it is, other than it isn't love.  

So, they skate and they skate, and my legs got tired just watching it.  One of those end of the world movies that's not bad, not great.  

 

Oscar Forecast:

There are many problems with the Oscar broadcast:

• I have read numerous predictions.  There is little drama on who will win.  Very little suspense.
• They are moving some technical awards off-air to shorten the broadcast.  A more entertaining broadcast is what is needed.  With these awards there is a real possibility that Monday you will see an advertisement for “Dune, winner of 5 Academy Awards” and go “What?  When did that happen?”
• There is no box office.  Again.  I have shouted from the beach (we don’t have a mountaintop) about how wonderful CODA is, and it has amazing word of mouth.  And yet, it has been streamed less than a million times, and did no box office.  Yet it’s considered a hit.  Meanwhile fellow best picture nominee West Side Story is considered a monumental box office flop at $10 million, probably just over a million tickets sold.  Strange times for Hollywood to try to muster together a tribute to its work.

Here goes:

Best Picture
Will Win:  CODA
Should Win:  CODA, but don’t be surprised if Power of the Dog sneaks in after months and months as the favorite.  Power of the Dog waits until the last half hour to exert its brilliance, whereas I truly believe that CODA will be one of those beloved family movies like Sound of Music, with great staying power.  Think “Shawshank Redemption” which was a flop until it hit cable and achieved legendary status.  I’ve moved CODA on to my list of 250 favorite movies, which I’m sure is fascinating news.

Best Director:
Will Win:  Jane Campion
Should Win:  Jane Campion.  I expect it to be a coronation night for Jane, but it is a travesty that CODA’s director Sian Heder wasn’t nominated.

Best Actor:
Will and Should Win: Will Smith

Best Actress:
Will Win:  Jessica Chastain for The Eyes of Tammy Faye, although Penelope Cruz has late momentum.
Should Win:  Caitriona Balfe (oops, not even nominated) for Belfast
As much as I love Jessica, this just feels like a movie where the objective was not to entertain or tell the story, but to win her some awards, whereas Caitriona is the sparkplug of Belfast as the mother.  Can’t believe she’s been overlooked.

Best Supporting Actress:
Will and Should:  Ariana Debose, the lock of the night, although I’m a monster fan of Jesse Buckley, whose day will come.

Best Supporting Actor:
Will and Should :  Tony Kotsur, CODA
If there’s an upset here it will be Kodi Smith-McPhee, who turns the Power of the Dog into something special. 

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Will and should:  CODA

Best Original Screenplay:
Will Win:  Licorice Pizza
Should Win:  Belfast
I’m thinking I’m calling a race that’s too close to call.

Best Foreign Film:
Will and should:  Drive My Car, an even bigger lock than Debose.

Best Animated Feature:
Will Win:  Encanto
Should Win:  Flee
While Encanto is a Bruno juggernaut, and Disney would be mortified, Flee is unforgettable.

Best Documentary Feature:
Will Win:  Summer of Soul
Should Win:  Flee
See Above, and see Flee if you get a chance.

Best Original Song:
Will Win:  No Time to Die
Should Win:  We Don’t Talk about Bruno (not even nominated because you really can’t predict what will be a hit.)

Best Costume Design:
Will win:  Cruella
Should win:  West Side Story

Best Makeup and Hairstyling:
Will win:  The Eyes of Tammy Faye

Best Live Action Short
Will Win:  The Long Goodbye

Best Animated Short:
Will Win:  Robin Robin

Best Documentary Short
Will Win:  Audible

The following categories will all go to DUNE
Score - Hans Zimmer
Best Cinematography
Best Editing
Best Production Design
Best Sound
Best Visual Effects

Oops that’s six.  One will wash out, so I’ll stick with my prediction of 5, most of which will happen before the broadcast airs.  Let's see how that plays.

Should you choose to watch, enjoy.  If the producers don’t start the show with “Both Sides Now,” they are idiots.  A good drinking game will be to take a swig every time Ukraine or Zelensky are mentioned.