Flesh + Blood (1985)

I like Paul Verhoeven’s weird portraits of people who don’t really know what they want and are pulled in multiple directions. His films are always sexy, always violent, and always a little gross. This is a story set in medieval times, but it’s no Decameron. This is a joyously grim and totally perverse tale that has a lot more in common with Verhoeven's earlier Spetters than it does with Pasolini's much more celebratory version of the middle ages.

Spetters (1980)

Well Spetters is a stunning early Paul Verhoeven film from 1980. There is a lot to say about it, but it is especially notable for a storyline in which a young man is beating up gay hustlers and stealing their money in order to appeal to a young woman who only likes guys with money. But then a gang of four men, led by the woman's brother, rapes this young guy, who, as it turns out, was behaving in this homophobic way because he is actually queer. This entire storyline is fascinating, and I expect I'll probably need to watch this film a couple more times.

Oscar Noms 2017: 6 of 13

Part 1 - La La Land, Moonlight, Arrival
Part 2 - Manchester by the Sea, Hacksaw Ridge, Lion
Part 3 - Fences, Hell or High Water, Hidden Figures, Jackie
Part 4 - Florence Foster Jenkins, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Passengers, Rogue One
Part 5 - Deepwater Horizon, Kubo and the Two Strings, Moana, A Man Called Ove

Part 6:

Captain Fantastic

1 Nomination

• Actor: Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises)

Director: Matt Ross

Cast: Mortensen, George MacKay, Frank Langella, Samantha Isler, Annalise Basso, Nicholas Hamilton, Shree Crooks, Charlie Shotwell, Kathryn Hahn, Steve Zahn, Ann Dowd, Trin Miller, Erin Moriarty, Missi Pyle, Elijah Stevenson, Teddy Van Ee

I am rather surprised that Matt Ross wasn't nominated in the Original Screenplay category, as well. This was one of my favorite movies of the year, though, so I will take what I can get. It is not perfect, but I didn't care about any of this movie's flaws. I was only paying attention to what I loved about it. But let's talk about Viggo Mortensen and how this is only his second nomination ever. His performances in The Road, The Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring, A Dangerous Method, and A History of Violence have all had some awards buzz around them, but this is only his second Oscar nomination, despite the chatter. This is pretty stunning when you think about it. In any case, I am glad more people are talking about this movie, and I sure hope more people see it. The truth is that Captain Fantastic is an ensemble picture, and this lead performance, although it is clearly the lead of the movie, often takes a backseat to the work done by the ensemble as a whole.

Will Win: N/A

Could Win: N/A

My Rating: #11 out of 91

Elle

1 Nomination

• Actress: Isabelle Huppert

Director: Paul Verhoeven

Cast: Huppert, Laurent Lafitte, Charles Berling, Anne Consigny, Jonas Bloquet, Christian Berkel, Judith Magre, Virginie Efira, Alice Isaaz, Raphaël Lenglet, Vimala Pons, Arthur Mazet, Lucas Prisor, Stéphane Bak

I really really liked this movie, but it is a very troubling film and I have really recommended it to no one. This is primarily because Elle is a film about rape, it is a smart film about ethics and rape and desire, and it asks the audience to do a lot of thinking. The central character is as complex as most Huppert characters; in fact this is a kind of classic Huppert performance – the kind we are used to seeing in more recent Huppert films like The Piano Teacher, Merci pour le Chocolat, and Gabrielle. It is odd, really, that this film has finally scored her her first Oscar nomination. After appearing in numerous Oscar-nominated films (from 1980-1991 that includes Heaven's Gate, Coup de Torchon, Entre Nous, and Madame Bovary), she is only now being recognized by the Academy, even though she has, since then, become an enormous star internationally (nominated for 16 César Awards). In any case, this is her first nomination and it is well deserved – especially since she was also so great this year in L'Avenir. But back to Elle for a second, just so you who haven't seen it have a bit of an idea of what this film is: Huppert's character is raped very early on in the film in a scene that is very difficult to watch. She then decides to take revenge on her rapist. She must figure out who her rapist is first, but meanwhile she is attempting to seduce her married next door neighbor (or is he attempting to seduce her?). There are also plenty of other things with which she must deal: an ungrateful son, a theatrical mother, the remarriage of her ex-husband, an affair with her best friend's husband, sexual harassment at work. This is a complex, fascinating character study that thrills with Hitchcockian levels of suspense. It is also filled with mysterious surprises until the very end.

Will Win: N/A

Could Win: Actress

My Rating: #20 out of 91

Loving

1 Nomination

• Actress: Ruth Negga

Director: Jeff Nichols

Cast: Joel Edgerton, Negga, Terri Abney, Sharon Blackwood, Will Dalton, Alano Miller, Chris R. Greene, Nick Kroll, Michael Shannon, Jon Bass

I really enjoyed this movie. This is the first Oscar nomination for a Jeff Nichols movie, which I don't think I understand given his amazing output. (Nichols had two films out this year and I liked the other one even better.) But I am glad Negga is getting attention for her performance. Loving is not your typical Nichols movie, either. It has no real science fiction qualities to it, and it is not really a mystery, but it is essentially a story of the South, which is what Nichols does, and it is also – for a movie whose outcome we already know – a film absolutely chock full of suspense. This is, of course, also one of the things Nichols does really, really well, and he uses his techniques of suspense here excellently. It is worth noting, too, that Loving's script and photography are also both very good, and the film's central performance – by Joel Edgerton – was also one of the best of the year.

Will Win: N/A

Could Win: N/A
My Rating: #26 out of 91

Nocturnal Animals

1 Nomination

• Supporting Actor: Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road)

Director: Tom Ford

Cast: Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Isla Fisher, Ellie Bamber, Armie Hammer, Andrea Riseborough, Michael Sheen, Laura Linney, Karl Glusman, Robert Aramayo, Jena Malone

I adored this movie. It is my #3 for the year. It is a really difficult film, and I understand why so many people had so much trouble with it, but I both really enjoyed the movie and thought it interrogated many interesting things. In fact, I loved it. It's creepy and mysterious and violent, but it is also sexy and unsparing and sad. Nocturnal Animals is a film about revenge, about being unfair to the people in our lives and then about suffering the consequences of that unfairness. Nocturnal is also about art or about trying to make something that expresses how the artists (or non-artist) feels. Let's just be honest and say that I have a lot of trouble articulating why I loved this movie as much as I did, but I thought it was brave and intriguing and gorgeous, while also being very difficult – which is why I've really not recommended it to anyone. As for Michael Shannon's nomination, this came as rather a big surprise to everyone, I think, but it is well deserved. Isn't it odd that Shannon now has two nominations and that they're for Revolutionary Road and this movie? So strange.
Will Win: N/A

Could Win: N/A

My Rating: #3 out of 91

Back to:
Part 1 - La La Land, Moonlight, Arrival
Part 2 - Manchester by the Sea, Hacksaw Ridge, Lion
Part 3 - Fences, Hell or High Water, Hidden Figures, Jackie
Part 4 - Florence Foster Jenkins, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Passengers, Rogue One 
Part 5 - Deepwater Horizon, Kubo and the Two Strings, Moana, A Man Called Ove

Oscar Nomination Wish List

The nominations are tomorrow at 8:18am, and I am pretty excited. I tell people this is like my Christmas morning, and I guess that's fairly true. What I really love about nomination morning is the surprises, though, so what I am really hoping for is for strange things to happen, unexpected people to get in, shocking inclusions.

Here are things I am hoping for for Tuesday morning. Many of these are longshots, but I will be crossing my fingers anyway:

• Isabelle Huppert, Best Actress for Elle
• Annette Bening, Best Actress for 20th Century Women
• Down with Florence Foster Jenkins in all categories including Best Actress. Meryl Streep needs to give us all a break.
• Up with Deadpool in all categories. I haven't seen it yet, but who cares. 
• Paul Verhoeven, Best Director for Elle (it could happen!)
• Down with Jackie in all categories
• Tom Ford, Best Director for Nocturnal Animals 
• Up with Nocturnal Animals in all categories
• The Red Turtle for Animated Feature
• "Take Me Down", Best Original Song for Deepwater Horizon
• "Gone 2015", Best Original Song for Miles Ahead
• "Drive It Like You Stole It", Best Original Song for Sing Street
• Andrew Garfield, Best Actor for Hacksaw Ridge
• Jay Wadley, Best Score for Indignation
• Alexandre Desplat, Best Score for The Light between Oceans 
• Moonlight in all categories (I'm hoping for it to appear in some surprise categories)
• Saela Davis, Anna Rose Holmer, and Lisa Kjerulff, Best Original Screenplay for The Fits 

I guess that is enough dreaming...

Black Book

This weekend I watched Zwartboek (Black Book) after allowing the DVD to sit on my shelf since September. It was really good, too, so I shouldn't have waited so long to watch it.

The reason I have been delaying watching this film is its opening sequence, which is one of those (so very typical) framing devices where movie starts with the end of the movie. These drive me crazy because they usually spoil the ending. Black Book, for instance, is a drama about World War II in Holland, and it's filled with twists and turns. The thing is, you can never really be worried that the character is going to die because you've already seen where she ends up in the future.

It's a really good film, though, and a sexy one. The lead, Carice Van Houten, is really great: always interesting, totally hot, and a great actress. Sebastian Koch, who played the writer in The Lives of Others is also in the film and is, again, great.

Black Book is suspenseful, fairly intelligent and very pretty to look at. It contains a couple of really powerful moments, emotionally speaking, and the film never strays too far from its heroine (a smart decision, considering how compelling Carice Van Houten is). It runs out of steam near the end of the picture, and as I already mentioned, the framing device is contrived and unnecessary, but this is a good movie that I really liked, worth watching for the film's lead actress alone.