After a lovely weekend last week at a family wedding, I am back on the case of catching up on the Oscar nominations from the various streaming services so thought I would treat the internets to my considered but not particularly well informed views on those too.
Everything Everywhere All At Once
I was pleased to see Everything Everywhere All at Once is on the list. I wrote about this a while back
here and it's really sharp and clever filmmaking - each one of those multiverses that are flashed through in a couple of frames bringing something different (including references to Twin Peaks amongst others) - really should be watched frame by frame to catch everything, and it’s great to see Michelle Yeoh nominated - it is her performance that holds the whole bonkers thing together, so fingers crossed for her.
Triangle of Sadness
Available to rent on Prime, I watched this after a really heavy day at work and it made me laugh. At lot. A black and gross comedy in three acts about a bunch of the entitled super rich and the people that have to work with or relate to them, this is a fun, over the top and silly morality tale about how the rich, regardless of how undeserving they are, always come out on top. The first act focuses on a male model (Harris Dickinson) who has clearly reached the end of his career, making some entertaining but obvious points on the vacuousness and brutal nature of the fashion industry. As he has looks but no money we watch him negotiating the power relationships in play, ingratiating himself with whoever has the power at any time to maintain his status, initially with his girlfriend of convenience, a social media influencer (Charbli Dean, who sadly died suddenly last year) then with others through the rest of the film The second act is on a superyacht , with Woody Harrelson being overdone but entertaining as the Captain who loathes his charges, and presiding over chaos. The final act on the Island has its own little pleasures, particularly watching the power relationships move around.
The message is clearly delivered; that social inequity is hard to shift, and that the super-rich really are awful, highlighting the knots that the rest of society ties itself into to accommodate them. However, I'm not really convinced it is best picture material, with no more than caricatures rather than any real character or development, and the obvious message is hammered over the head in more ways than one without any subtlety. But it does have laughs and projectile vomiting along the way so if that's what you are looking for in your Academy Best Picture of 2023, this will be the one for you.
So, not really sure why this is taking a place in the nominee list that could have been given to Aftersun but an entertaining couple of hours anyway.
Elvis
I have a soft spot for Baz Luhrmann, and this has his characteristic sparkly visuals, arresting soundtrack and big sentimentality that I love him for. As a biopic, this is fairly standard fare, although some time is spent bringing out the black/gospel/country roots of his music, and does do a fair job of referencing those artists - I love that we got to hear the original Hound Dog before the Elvis version, and the choices in the soundtrack that pull out the thread that continues to the present day. Col. Tom Parker as the narrator was a slightly strange choice and I was always conscious that it was Tom Hanks underneath all those prosthetics and accent but it did show his 'snow' at work. Given that Elvis has such a familiar face, Austin Butler gave us a pretty good impression, until the last few minutes when we saw the real Elvis in newsreels and in his last performance in Las Vegas. That last bit with the real man was what caught in my throat - that great voice to the end, and my breath was taken away all over again at how beautiful he was in his youth. The bits that feel problematic today were a bit swept under the carpet, such as Priscilla's age and the buddying up to Nixon, and so we were given a pretty standard version of Elvis, with his heart and intentions in the right place, constantly thwarted in his ambitions.
I enjoyed it - big, brash and with a sentimental heart and staying to the end of the credits was worth it for the great music choices and pretty visuals. But again, I wouldn't put it above Aftersun and don't think it's the winner.
Still to go
I still haven’t managed to get past the first half hour of All Quiet on the Western Front - need to give it another go, but it just feels a bit weighed down and every time I try I feel I just don't have the energy for it. The Fabelmans is being heavily hyped so that put me off, but I probably will head off to the cinema at some point to watch it. I really can't be bothered with Top Gun Maverick and Avatar pt2 so I'm letting my prejudice lead me there and say they might win but are unlikely to be the actual best picture. I don't know how I missed Tár or Women Talking, so am going to have to try harder to find them in time...
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