A week has passed since the reveal of this year’s nominees for the Academy Awards. From an early age my mom took me to the cinema to watch the most iconic movies – yes, I mean Shrek 2 and Flushed Away, to name some – so it comes as no surprise that I developed a taste for this form of art. Until today, going to the cinema is still one of my favourite social experiences. Unfortunately, COVID and moving to Helsinki (expensive tickets!) have slowed down my cineaste habits. However, there is always television and streaming services that can help one keep updated with some of the newest movies and even some classics.
I like to follow certain themes when it comes to watching movies. So far, I am a fan of Spooktober, the Christmas season and the Awards season. Be aware that I am not strict in the sense that if I want to watch something that doesn’t fall under a category, I will do it regardless. I just think themes are fun and actually motivate me to get through the movies that I have always wanted to watch. This is also why I am constantly creating lists and challenges. For instance, as COVID hit I started a “100 years marathon” where I was watching a movie from each year from 2020 back to 1921 (I am currently in 1987). Back in 2015, I also started a Disney marathon with my partner with the promise that we would go to Disneyland Paris once we finished. After 7 years, we are really close to it (Wall-E was the most recent one that we watched).
Now that I have done my very long introduction and that I feel that we are standing on a more personal level, let me welcome this year’s award season. I don’t think the Academy is the greatest institution nor do I think that it only nominates amazing movies or that all great movies are mentioned by it. I do enjoy rituals. I have watched the ceremony since 2013. From there on, each year, I tried to watch as many nominated movies as possible. In 2018, I did my first Oscar party where I, my partner and my friends watched the movies before (sometimes together, sometimes apart; sometimes at home, sometimes at the movie theater) and made bets on each category (the prize was usually a bar of chocolate or just to temporarily feel like a winner). In a way, this ceremony brings like-minded people together either to appreciate it or to criticize it (sometimes both simultaneously).
Apart from all the problems associated with it, for someone that likes to watch movies, some good ones come out of it and I could say I probably wouldn’t have watched them it if it wasn’t for this ritual (The Father (2020) or Captain Fantastic (2016)). Yet, I would never limit myself to the nominated movies for I would miss some of my favourites quality-wise (The Handmaiden (2016) or Before Sunrise (1995)) and guilty-pleasure wise (the High School Musical trilogy or The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005)). For example, I haven’t watched all of this year’s nominations, but I feel like Annette was snubbed (I loved it and it won best director and composer at the Cannes Festival). So here is a movie that I recommend watching without reading much about it, that was not recognized by the Academy.
But now onto the ones that were. I am definitely happy Andrew Garfield got some recognition for his work in Tick Tick Boom… I have watched this film twice now and fully recommend it to those who enjoy a musical and wonder what they are doing with their time in their twenties. Very relatable!
As for original songs, it felt good to see Dos Oruguitas from Encanto there, a beautiful song on its own, but when paired with its correspondent scene, transcends everything. In my opinion, this was one of the best-animated movies this year. It can be enjoyed across generations. It is fun, colourful and rich in songs as well as emotions and allusions to the Colombian civil war.
If we talk about predictability we can talk about Dune and Don’t Look Up, even if not necessarily in the same way. Don’t Look Up is the typical Oscar-bait film that you expect to make it to the nominations but might not even take one statuette home in the end (as The Trial of the Chicago 7 from last year which was nominated for 6 awards but went home empty-handed). For sure Don’t Look Up is entertaining, relatable and with an amazing cast, but it doesn’t go over the threshold of regular in its originality and technical aspects. Obviously, we could also say that remaking of Dune is not that original either. And for sure remakes are a trend (this year we also had West Side Story). This is a great way to bring back something old that used to be a reference and epic. Yet, I do think there has to be some originality attached to it for the film to stand on its own. And Dune has that. Technically this film is perfection and the world-building is done so well that it is easy for the audience to feel that they are inside this universe and story. So, it was no surprise that it was nominated for 10 categories. It was a surprise, however, that Villeneuve was not nominated for directing.
As for other nominations, I felt that Power of the Dog, the most nominated movie, was also a typical Oscar movie that deserves praise, but that I didn’t particularly enjoy that much (Nomadland (2020) and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) also fall under this category). But if you enjoy technically beautiful films that don’t reveal all the cards, this could be a good one to watch.
The last film I watched was Belfast, which got me thinking a lot about family and religion, about being a kid and having geographical roots. It is a fairly simple film with performances that feel very natural.
In the end, I still have a lot of films to get through. The Academy is making (very) small steps towards more diverse nominations and among these, I am the most excited to watch Drive My Car and The Worst Person in the World.
I hope the sharing of my relationship with cinema gave you some ideas for both adopting new rituals and for some movies to watch :)