Another group with one of my top films of the year in it. See, the Academy did some things right:
The Seed of the Sacred Fig (دانهی انجیر معابد)
1 nomination
- International Feature: Germany (The Teacher's Lounge, All Quiet on the Western Front, Never Look Away, Toni Erdmann, The White Ribbon, The Baader Meinhof Complex, The Lives of Others, Sophie Scholl: the Final Days, Downfall, Nowhere in Africa, Beyond Silence, Schtonk, The Nasty Girl)
Cast: Soheila Golestani, Missagh Zareh, Setareh Maleki, Mahsa Rostami, Niousha Akhshi, Reza Akhlaghirad, Shiva Ordooie
This is one of the best movies of the year. The Seed of the Sacred Fig is not fucking around. This is a tense, extraordinary thriller about the present moment in Iran. This is a film invested in justice and truth and opposed to the theocratic regime in Iran. It stages really brilliantly the way that patriarchy as an ideology must insist upon controlling others, the way it damages the world, and the way patriarchy cleverly and insidiously frames everything as "for your own good" and "really doing this all for you" because those who are not "adult" (whatever that means) and "male" (they're happy to exclude people from this category as well) couldn't possibly make decisions for themselves and couldn't possibly understand the world that we all live in. Mohammad Rasoulof's film is not only tense and exciting and smart, it also analyzes this world and this ideology, taking it to its logical conclusion. The movie itself was made in secret and then smuggled out of Iran, but the film's editor—who, frankly, also deserves an Oscar nomination—has edited in smartphone footage of protests, police violence, forced disappearances, and killings that were taken by people in Iran living under this regime. Although the movie takes a slight turn toward melodrama and chase scenes by its final act, I can't say I minded at all. The movie already had me in its grip long before that.
Will win: N/A
Could win: N/A
My rating: #6 out of 98
1 nomination
- International Feature: Denmark (Flee, Another Round, Under the Sand, A War, The Hunt, A Royal Affair, In a Better World, After the Wedding, Memories of a Marriage, Pelle the Conqueror, Babette's Feast, Harry and the Butler, Paw, Qivitoq: the Mountain Wanderer)
Cast: Vic Carmen Sonne, Trine Dyrholm, Besir Zeciri, Ava Knox Martin, Joachim Fjelstrup, Tessa Hoder, Benedikte Hansen, Per Thiim Thim
I am honestly stunned that this movie was nominated for International Feature. Not that it isn't a good movie; it's a good movie. But it's a really rough watch. As I wrote in my earlier review of this movie, I loved the score of this, and I loved it's insanely expressionist visuals. I also adored the central performances—particularly Trine Dyrholm's—but this is a bleak, dark, terrifying post-war portrait, and it doesn't really see a way out of the terror it portrays. Like... is there any way a movie called The Girl with the Needle isn't about murdered infants? Because that is definitely what this is about. What Magnus von Horn does so well, though, is to create in addition a kind of wonderful visual puzzle, where we see things in a distorted way: faces overlap and begin to look like other faces, we hallucinate along with the main character as she drugs herself, the world of the film reflects the distortion already present in society. I certainly appreciated this; I'm just not sure there's much to enjoy, if you know what I mean. It's just a really strange choice for the Academy. I was surprised it made the December shortlist, and I'm surprised it made the list of nominees. Anyway, it has no chance of winning the Oscar, and I find its inclusion here really shocking.
Will win: N/A
Could win: N/A
My rating: #42 out of 98
1 nomination
- Costume Design: Dave Crossman (Napoleon) & Janty Yates (Napoleon, Gladiator)
Cast: Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, Connie Nielsen, Fred Hechinger, Joseph Quinn, Matt Lucas, Derek Jacobi, Tim McInnerny, Lior Raz, Peter Mensah, Alexander Karim, Yuval Gonen
Although I thought this movie was sort of bland and generic—I thought the same about Ridley Scott's last movie, Napoleon, as well—all of its technical elements were fairly wonderful. I loved Harry Gregson-Williams' score; I loved the production design; I loved the costumes; I even loved the special effects (except for those fucking sharks in the naumachia). I also really enjoyed (most of) the acting. Fred Hechinger and Joseph Quinn were very good, and Denzel chewed the scenery in the most pleasurable way. The movie itself has lots of problems, but it isn't quite bad. It just doesn't really live up to the promise of a fun romp through the Roman empire. It's not quite fun enough, you know? But this costume design nomination is well deserved, and actually I'm a bit surprised this didn't land one or two more below-the-line nominations. It at least should have gotten more nominations—three—than Napoleon did last year. Not that it will win anything. It won't.
Will win: N/A
Could win: N/A
My rating: #59 out of 98
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