Evil Does Not Exist (2023)

I liked Evil Does Not Exist (悪は存在しない) so much better than Drive My Car and Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy! This is a mysterious, slow-building eco-thriller that had me thinking about it hours and hours after I watched it. The film is still bogged down by Hamaguchi’s penchant for long sequences of boring conversations in cars and other static locations, but weirdly those worked for me better in Evil Does Not Exist. And because the movie begins much more slowly and contemplatively, I forgave the long conversations in the car and at the community center. The ending is great!!

Oscar Nominations 2021: 2 of 9

1. The Power of the Dog, Dune, Belfast, and West Side Story

King Richard

6 Nominations

• Picture
• Actor: Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness, Ali)
• Original Screenplay: Zach Baylin
• Supporting Actress: Aunjanue Ellis
• Film Editing: Pamela Martin (The Fighter)
• Song: Beyoncé Knowles-Carter & DIXSON

Director: Reinaldo Marcus Green

Cast: Smith, Ellis, Saniyya Sidney, Jon Bernthal, Demi Singleton, Tony Goldwyn, Mikayla Lashae Bartholomew, Daniele Lawson, Layla Crawford, Erika Ringor

I get the sort of heartswell that this movie produces, I think, but I just didn't respond the way most others did. It felt like a movie with very few stakes. Like... will Venus and Serena become the best tennis players in the world? I just don't know! I think I wanted something more complicated and less hagiographic. In any case, most other people I know really liked this film, and Will Smith has been the anointed frontrunner for Best Actor since this movie appeared in theatres. It was nowhere near one of my favorite performances of the year, but Smith is an excellent actor and a big movie star, and he doesn't have an Oscar yet. I am going to be happy to watch him win one. Aunjanue Ellis is a jobbing actor who has been working steadily for about 20 years, and it's great to see her get some recognition. She won't win on March 27, but her nomination is good news. Beyoncé has actually never been nominated for an Oscar, so, as this is their first opportunity to give her one, I think the Academy will choose to do so. While we're talking about Best Actor, I want to say that I am really, really sad that Simon Rex didn't make it into this category. His performance in Red Rocket is astounding; he's wonderful. You can see my other favorite performances here.

Will Win: Actor, Original Song

Could Win: N/A

My Rating: #43 out of 56

Drive My Car (ドライブ・マイ・カー)

4 Nominations

• Picture
• Director: Hamaguchi Ryūsuke
• Adapted Screenplay: Hamaguchi Ryūsuke & Oe Takamasa
• International Film: Japan (Shoplifters, Departures, The Twilight Samurai, Muddy River, Kagemusha: the Shadow Warrior, Sandakan No. 8, Dodes'ka-den, Portrait of Chieko, Woman in the Dunes, Kwaidan, Koto, Immortal Love, The Burmese Harp, Samurai 1: Musashi Miyamoto, Gate of Hell, Rashomon)

Director: Ryūsuke

Cast: Nishijima Hidetoshi, Miura Tōko, Okada Masaki, Kirishima Reika, Park Yoo-rim, Jin Dae-yeon, Sonia Yuan, Abe Satoko

I am so surprised that everyone has responded to Drive My Car the way they have. Four nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay is so many nominations! The Academy loves this movie. I thought it was really good, but I don't understand why everyone is over the moon. For example, Shoplifters, which was nominated a few years ago, felt like a much better movie than this one. Oh well. It's weird how some things catch on and others don't. In any case, the performances are very very good, and the theatre sequences are great. This film is a shoo-in for the International Film award; it's Japan's seventeenth nomination in this category, and this will be its fifth win.

Will Win: International Film

Could Win: N/A
My Rating: #21 out of 56

Don't Look Up

4 Nominations

• Picture
• Original Screenplay: Adam McKay (Vice, The Big Short) & David Sirota
• Film Editing: Hank Corwin (Vice, The Big Short) 
• Score: Nicholas Britell (If Beale Street Could Talk, Moonlight)

Director: McKay

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Rob Morgan, Cate Blanchett, Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill, Tyler Perry, Timothée Chalamet, Ron Perlman, Himesh Patel, Melanie Lynskey

This is a pretty good movie. I didn't really like it, but it's a solid picture, and I laughed quite a lot. It's a really smug movie, though, and I guess that's Adam McKay in general, so there's no getting around that. Nicholas Britell's nomination was a bit of a surprise, and I'm happy to see him there. I don't think this can win anything, but it could maybe eke out a screenplay win. McKay won the screenplay award for The Big Short, and people do tend to like the kind of milquetoast politics Don't Look Up is peddling. But listen, I'm really not trying to be hard on this movie, and in fact, it deserved an Original Song nomination that it didn't get. I was in love with the Ariana Grande song in this movie, with hilarious lyrics like "Just look up / Turn off that shit-box News / 'Cause you're about to die soon everybody". It was one of the best things in the movie! Ariana Grande was robbed.
Will Win: N/A

Could Win: Original Screenplay

My Rating: #46 out of 56

Nightmare Alley

4 Nominations

• Picture
• Cinematography: Dan Laustsen (The Shape of Water)
• Production Design: Shane Vieau (The Shape of Water) & Tamara Deverell
• Costume Design: Luis Sequeira (The Shape of Water)

Director: Guillermo Del Toro

Cast: Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Toni Collette, Richard Jenkins, David Strathairn, Willem Dafoe, Ron Perlman, Mary Steenburgen

I do not know how this got nominated for Best Picture, but let's just say up front that this movie deserves its below-the-line nominations. This is a gorgeous looking film, and if I thought most of the performances were off, I can't come for the way the film looks. It's impeccable. You may know that this movie is a remake of a 1947 noir starring Tyrone Power, and one understands why Del Toro was so drawn to this original film. His team – Dan Laustsen, Shane Vieau, and Luis Sequeira – didn't win Oscars for their work in The Shape of Water, though, and I don't think they're going to win for this movie either. My take on this film is that I think it's enjoyable if you haven't seen the original, so, by all means check it out.

Will Win: N/A

Could Win: N/A
My Rating: #45 out of 56

3. CODA, Licorice Pizza, Being the Ricardos, and The Lost Daughter
4. The Tragedy of Macbeth, Encanto, No Time to Die, and Flee
5. Tick, Tick... Boom!, Parallel Mothers, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, and The Worst Person in the World
6. Cruella, Spencer, The Hand of God, and Lunana: a Yak in the Classroom
7. Cyrano, The Mitchells vs the Machines, Luca, and Raya and the Last Dragon
8. Spider-man: No Way Home, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and Free Guy

9. House of Gucci, Coming 2 America, and Four Good Days

Drive My Car

Drive My Car (ドライブ・マイ・カー) is a good movie. It's a slow burn, but it has some truly beautiful sequences in it, and I loved every moment that we spent in the theatre. Rehearsals were fascinating, and the finished theatre product (with which the movie ends) was heartbreaking and gorgeous. This is a film about grief and loss and wanting to hold onto what we have instead of appreciating what we have. But it's just not a great film. It never takes off and begins to soar, really. 

And, I have to say, the Murakami-ness of it all annoyed me. I think maybe I am one of the only people I know who doesn't love Murakami. But I don't understand why he introduces so many elements into one story. Often they appear (as with the driver's mother's dissociative identity disorder – is that what it was? – at the end of Drive My Car) just for one sequence and they never come back again. I find this annoying, like he's giving me 15 extra pieces for a jigsaw puzzle that just never fit, even when the puzzle is done. 

Don't get me wrong, the acting is great (Hidetoshi Nishijima and Yoo-rim Park are especially wonderful), the filmmaking is beautiful, the music is lovely. But this is a long and talky film that, for me, never quite lifted off.