Oscars 2019 - Roma so good, Green Book so bad

No time to rant about all the pictures I wish had been nominated, just a quick skim through the actual nominees. So here in reverse order who I would like to see Best Picture

Look it’s not that Green Book is a terribly made film, I was even reasonably moved by the ending and as I said in my other post, I thought Mahershala Ali was brilliant in the film. Technically, it’s a well-made and well-paced film. But oh my god, are we really still making films which centres the story of a guy going from super-racist to accepting that black people are actually people? Do we still make films that have to show what racism is and that it’s a Bad Thing by doing it through a racist white person’s eyes? Dr Don Shirley sounds like a fantastically interesting person, and yet we barely get to know him, despite Mahershala Ali’s best efforts. Choosing to go play in segregated deep South towns to try change racist hearts and minds was an act of bravery and presumably a difficult choice, but this is barely explored because it’s more important that Viggo Mortensen’s character discovers that racism is a thing and a bad thing too. American history is full of different approaches to how to fight racism and white supremacy, dating right back to the beginning of racialised slavery, and this was possibly never more true than the 50s and 60s. But the film doesn’t engage with this discussion, or whether Dr Shirley is engaged in a form of respectability politics or something more complex. It doesn’t engage with racism and its forms and effect in anything but the most basic and shallow level and worst of all makes it about how it affects a boring racist white guy. It centres on this boring guy, but also doesn’t seem to have a clue how it wants us to relate to him either. It’s just so bizarre. And while it might have just been the screening I was in, but it seems to think that the racist humiliation of a brilliant black man is a punchline. I could go on and on, but if you want to see a film about racism in that era, watch If Beale Street Could Talk, not only because it deals with the topic a million times better but also because it is extraordinarily beautiful and affecting, neither adjectives that could be applied to Green Book.

If Bohemian Rhapsody was fictional it would be a solid, ok movie, with a reasonably interesting story. It’s just a shame to discover that the real story was actually more interesting.  It’s not a terrible movie, and the live scenes are done really well. Rami Malek is good, but the involvement of other Queen band members seems to make it obsessed with making them come out well rather than being that interested in getting any deeper understanding of Freddie Mercury. I don’t know if it’s bad casting or what, but the rest of the band come across as deeply boring and annoying and determined to share glory that possibly doesn’t belong to them. It just feels like a missed opportunity.

A Star is Born is better than Bohemian Rhaposdy but has at least 80% more Bradley Cooper than it needed. It’s solidly made, and it massively benefits from a very compelling performance from Lady Gaga who brings her scenes to life.  But I couldn’t get past how awful Jackson Maine is as a character. Are we supposed to even slightly root for him or their relationship? He is spectacularly creepy and controlling and if was made with him as the villain of the piece, then it would have been far more interesting, but it seems to think he’s a sympathetic character. This film is obsessed with Bradley Cooper when it should be obsessed with Lady Gaga. Err who directed it again? Oh right….

I’m not sure enjoyable is the right word for Vice, given the subject matter, but it certainly grabs you and takes you on a ride.  It’s well researched, well scripted and well acted, although perhaps sometimes shallower than it realises – trying to connect different issues and events, but not quite pulling it off, unless you already agree with its point of view (which I did largely, but didn’t feel that should be taken for granted).  It’s a massive step above the three films above, but not quite in the class of the films below.  Christian Bale is superb though. It just felt a bit enamoured of differing documentary styles (such as those of Michael Moore and Adam Curtis) and sometimes tries to fit the story into the style rather than the style to the story. But it’s a minor quibble for a very interesting, and terrifying film!

Some people seem to be a bit sniffy about Black Panther being nominated for Best Picture because it’s a genre, action movie. Well Avatar was also nominated and it’s a million times better than Avatar. Thor Ragnarok may be my favourite Marvel picture but Black Panther almost certainly is the most interesting story-wise, particularly given the dynamic between T’Challa and Killmonger, and visually as interesting as any of the others. It’s also achieved a place in the cultural sphere that probably goes beyond any other individual MCU movie.   It’s as good as you can hope for from a superhero movie, or an action movie, it goes beyond any of those perceived ‘artistic limitations’ and is just a damned good, interesting, visually stunning and entertaining movie.

Unlike Green Book, Blackkklansman actually understands racism and its many manifestations. It fully understands racism’s current place in the world and manages to make a historical picture that tells us a lot about today.  It shows a variety of strategies and arguments for fighting it and always shows that the fight has to continue. And yet, it’s never preachy, or boring, or cliched. It’s dynamic, funny, bold, brilliantly scripted and brilliantly acted and whereas Green Book misues humour, Blackkklansman uses it to draw you in before knocking you out emotionally. It’s quite probably my favourite Spike Lee joint so far, and would be a very deserving winner.

I have to say I have not to date been a massive fan of Yorgas Lanthimos’ films (hated Dogtooth, thought Sacred Deer was flawed but ok, and liked the first half and not the second half of The Lobster). But perhaps letting him bring his unique visual style to someone else’s script is what I have been waiting for.  The Favourite is totally brilliant. A story I have seen done very differently, and a wonderfully fresh and interesting way of telling a historical story.  I laughed, sometimes out of shock, and I was also moved. The visual flair was disturbing and disorientating in the best way. The sets and costumes were phenomenal and it revelled in the awfulness of the characters in the most wonderful way. And most of all, I was always totally gripped by three incredible central performances.  It’s quite hard to believe that such a strange, OTT, and wild film has been nominated for Best Picture, but I am so glad it has been.

But my favourite is not The Favourite, it is Roma. I’m really sad that it didn’t have a proper cinema release, as this is a film that should be seen on the big screen. Visually, it’s just gorgeous and stunning, with the black and white cinematography used to maximum poetic effect. The performances and script are wonderful and hopefully Yalitza Aparicio has a brilliant career ahead of her because we need more than one starring role from her.  But most of all, this is one of the most moving films you will see. For the first half or so, I was thinking this is a lovely, sweet, often funny, always interesting movie, but not quite getting what all the critical acclaim was about. But it is judged perfectly. That first half has made you warmly involved in these characters’ lives but then it just pulls you on the most brilliant, heart stopping emotional journey. I don’t want to give anything away, but it is truly heartbreaking and memorable. It is an exquisite and expert piece of film making from Alfonso Cuaron and I hope it wins Best Picture.