Oscar Watches: Part 1

working my way through some of these noms

I often try to watch as many of the Oscar nominated projects as I can, but I am also only a humble little fool with only so much time and so much access to different movie-watching platforms. I am also, first and foremost, a hater. Meaning, I won’t watch the movies I think look goofy (at best) or absolutely irresponsible and bad (at worst). I will not be watching: Emilia Perez, September 5, The Brutalist, or Conclave. And I will not go out of my way to access: Anora or A Complete Unknown — if they come to some streamer, sure, but they’ll never get my rental money!!

I’ve already watched Wicked three times (and counting), so don’t worry about where that one is. It’s five stars and it is perfect.

I’m going to do my best to avoid spoilers, but if you think generally referring to the plot is a spoiler then 1) grow up and 2) stop reading 3) see point 1

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NOMINATED

The Substance (dir. Coralie Fargeat) - 1.5 stars

• Nominated for: Best Picture, Director, Lead Actress, Screenplay, Hair & Makeup

An ironic title considering substance is exactly what this film lacked. Woof. This was such a disappointing watch that went on WAY! TOO! LONG!

The plot of the film is simple: Demi Moore plays Elisabeth Sparkle, a once famous actor who now hosts a workout show. One day she overhears Harvey, the TV-exec guy played by Dennis Quaid, talking about how they need to replace her. She gets into a car accident, a nurse is weird, and then she gets a piece of mail that guides her to The Substance, which essentially allows one to make a younger, ‘hotter’ (Demi Moore is so hot but ok) copy of themselves but YOU ARE ONE (they tell us this about 20938239 times). Demi’s copy-person-thing is Sue (really???), played by Margaret Qualley, who I also enjoy. Both of these women are talented and I have enjoyed their performances in the past—I mean, Demi Moore is literally Demi Moore!!!!

Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley

BUT THIS MOVIE……..y’all……..you can really tell this was made by a white French feminist because good grief. This film does very little to actually set up anything about Elisabeth and her relationship to herself, her body, and her fame. We know virtually knowing. And as my internet pal Juleena pointed out, when watching you think maybe it’s because We’re All In The Know, yet the rest of the film undermines that assumption by doing very little work beyond close up of Margaret Qualley’s ass and excessive bodily fluids, prosthetics, and a bunch of chicken bones.

I’m going to repeat what I put on Letterboxd: Dennis Quaid being in this movie is like Brad Pitt producing Women Talking. Ironic and not in a good way. As far as whatever thesis or message this film was going for, it is undermined not only by this but by an unwillingness to actually go there and instead relies on repeated shock value and seems to have very little empathy for Elisabeth to begin with. Very much overstays it’s welcome and could’ve been much shorter — frankly, it has the depth of Saltburn, Triangle of Sadness, Blink Twice, Civil War, etc: very first year course paper that you think is profound but points out the most entry level shit — only there’s the added component here of aesthetics doing more heavy lifting and yet none at all. “Show don’t tell” only works when you actually show us something.

I could go on, but to what end? If I have to see or read one more thing about this being a feminist film I might go insane. What does anything even mean anymore!!!

Do not spend any time from your one wild and precious life on this earth watching this movie.

NOMINATED *and* SNUBBED

A Different Man (dir. Aaron Schimberg) - 4 stars

• Nominated for: Makeup & Hair Styling

• Snubbed: Adam Pearson, Sebastian Stan, Original Screenplay, Director

After I finished this film I emailed my supervisor urging him to watch it, because I really wanted his disability studies perspective on it. The plot of this movie is this: Edward (Sebastian Stan) is a struggling actor who has neurofibromatosis. He meets his new neighbour, Ingrid, and they become pals but the subtext is that he has a crush on her. She is a playwright. He’s an actor. You get it. Edward decides to participate in a medical trial that “cures” this genetic condition, somehow? Some gnarly stuff happens and voila, Edward looks like Sebastian Stan. As a repair man comes to fix something in his apartment, he says that Edward is DEAD. He changes his name to Guy and starts a new life as a real estate agent, as one does.

Sebastian Stan as Edward, Renate Reinsve as Ingrid.

One day, Guy/Edward is walking down the street and spots Ingrid. He sees her go into a community theatre and decides to follow — where inside he finds that she has written a play about….EDWARD! And he is Edward, but she doesn’t know that, you know? Tension! Anyways, he ends up auditioning, and he’s like oh no I was born for this role, whatever, but of course it doesn’t go well. The next day he comes back wearing the mask of his former face (oh yeah, the clinic made him a mask of his old face as a memento…) and auditions again, and Ingrid and her theatre people are like pardon?? But also, okay?? Anyways, the long and the short of it is that he gets cast as Edward and he starts hanging out with these people and having sex with Ingrid. There is a lot of discourse happening with Ingrid who is like oh well idk should I cast somebody with real disfigurement? or is it weird to cast somebody just because of that? I mean “EDWARD IS MY CREATION” so….you know….awkward for Edward-Guy. BUT THEN during rehearsals one day, the charming Oswald (played by Adam Pearson, who actually has neurofibromatosis type I) shows up and essentially everybody falls in love with him and his whole vibe. From here, drama and tension ensues because of course Oswald ends up playing Edward and Guy-Real-Edward is frustrated and then some SHIT GOES DOWN.

Sebastian Stan as Guy, Renate Reinsve as Ingrid, and Adam Pearson as Oswald

I will end my plot recap there lest I spoil anything, but yeah, there was something quite compelling about this film. I knew it would be interesting but there were moments I was genuinely surprised and did a little gasp!! With regard to the disfigurement angle, I don’t live with any disfigurement or visible disability, so I can’t speak to whether or not that was well handled — but I will say, the director Aaron Schimberg was born with bilateral cleft lip & palate, and this is part of his interest in films that focus on disability and disfigurement; it didn’t feel like the camera had a fetishizing gaze.

Overall, I really enjoyed this! It wasn’t what I expected which turned out to be a good thing, and I do think it is the best performance I have ever seen from Sebastian Stan. Adam Pearson was effervescent and captivating, and Renate Reinsve was wonderfully infuriating as Ingrid. There is something interesting about the way that Oswald’s disfigurement is never addressed head-on the way that Edward’s was—when Ingrid and him first meet she makes a comment about it, whereas she never says anything to Oswald. I don’t think this is a good or bad element of the film, but certainly adds to the tension that Edward-Guy feels and responds to.

Definitely worth a watch! ADAM PEARSON WAS SNUBBED THOUGH.

SNUBBED (OR JUST OVERLOOKED)

Night Bitch (dir. Marielle Heller) - 3.5 stars

Let me preface this by: I did not know this was a book and thus have not read the book. If you have a copy to lend me, please do!!

The plot of this 1h39m film (a perfect runtime) is this: a woman has given up her life as an artist to be a stay at home mom with her son, while her husband does something for work that takes him out of town often. She is, basically, getting major cabin fever and feeling exhausted by the isolation, pressure, and inability to keep being Her. The character names are just Mother, Husband, Son, etc, which is a bit of a fun element. Anywho, Mother thinks she is becoming a dog. Is she??? Drama ensues. Comedy also ensues. You get it!

I really want to know what my friends who are mothers and parents think of this film (if they have time to watch it), because I thought it was a funny and honest depiction of what some women go through (based on what I know from being in the world and knowing how patriarchy works lol). My only wish for this film is that they went a bit more feral with it!!!!! Otherwise, it was perfectly good way to spend 1h39min of my life and frankly, Amy Adams should already have one Oscar MINIMUM. So….kinda wild they didn’t pay any attention to this film, because the Academy loves when gorgeous women get a little gross in the movies. That said, she was nominated at the Film Independent Spirit Awards but her competition is STIFF and uh, I wouldn’t want her to win over some of those folks. BUT THIS WAS STILL A FUN FILM.

Hard Truths (dir. Mike Leigh) - 3.5 stars

I feel complicated about this film, which is, I supposed, a sign that it did accomplish something. I know how this might sound but the truth is, when you have trauma, you don’t always know what is going to trigger you. As much as people want to believe that there are easy ways around triggers—just do a warning!—triggers can absolutely be the most random possible shit and you don’t see it coming and then it happens. Nothing about this film led me to believe that I would be triggered. I knew the plot and the overall vibe and I knew it would be heavy, but I didn’t think I would feel nauseous and scared. Which feels embarrassing to admit…yet here we are!

This film is more of a character study than something where the actual timeline or plot is that important. I guess it’s mother’s day so it takes place during the days leading up to that…which is part of the plot but like…this is a very character-forward story. Essentially, Pansy (played expertly by Marianne Jean-Baptiste) is a very angry, anxious woman who lashes out at everybody and anybody. Her sister is essentially her only friend, her son (Moses, played by Tuwaine Barrett) and husband (Curtley, played by David Webber) are both withdrawn from her and, again, she is lashing out at EVERYbody. What made this film so difficult for me, I think, was that Jean-Baptiste embodied this role so profoundly. The physicality of it, the very clear and persistent undercurrent of anxiety that follows Pansy and is essentially radiating off of her — moments that, to me, felt coded as OCD (and not because she likes clean!!). Her son also felt possibly autistic-coded (as well as another character, Virgil).

Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Michelle Austin / MJB

I struggled with this film a bit more because we saw it in person at the Bytowne. People were laughing beyond what I felt was the right time to laugh — didn’t they know the tonal shift? Weren’t they afraid of somebody getting hurt? What was so funny about somebody that is clearly so fucking sad? — and I wasn’t able to really ground myself. It was just…a lot. I don’t often go to the theatre anymore because autism things, but I wasn’t prepared for my unexpected emotional reaction. SUCH IS LIFE!

Pansy and her sister Chantalle, played with so much tenderness, strength, and charisma by Michelle Austin, are processing the death of their mother (and unknown length of time before we meet them) as well as their children, their relationship, and just being alive. We see them interact with their own children, we see Chantalle with her clients at her salon, and we also see Chantalle’s daughters Kayla (Ani Nelson) and Aliesha (Sophia Brown) who are both playful and kind and career-focused and have a very different relationship with their mother than Pansy has with her son. When the whole family comes together, it’s very, very, awkward.

Ani Nelson, Michelle Austin, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, David Webber’s back, Sophia Brown, and Tuwaine Barrett)

It was just A LOT. The emotions are so raw and the direction and score leave so much room for you to sit with all of the discomfort on screen. The performances in this film—and honestly, the tonal choices—are something the Academy usually eats up, so it is surprising that they chose to snub this film. Marianne Jean-Baptiste in particular is so extraordinary talented in this film she gave me trauma flashbacks!!!