OVP: The Life Ahead (2020)

Film: The Life Ahead (2020)

Stars: Sophia Loren, Ibrahima Gueye, Abril Zamora, Renato Carpentieri, Babak Karimi

Director: Eduardo Ponti

Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Original Song-"Io Si")

Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

Earlier this year, you may recall, we devoted an entire month to Sophia Loren for our Saturdays with the Stars series, and in it we ended in 1977.  But Loren continued acting, and unlike most of the stars we've featured in that series, still works, albeit quite irregularly.  Her son Eduardo Ponti convinced her to come out of retirement for this movie, a recreation of the novel The Life Before Us, which was also made into a big-screen adaptation in 1977 with Simone Signoret playing the same part that Loren does here.  As a result, we're revisiting Sophia before our year closes, a fitting signifier that perhaps more than any sex symbol we've talked about this year, her stardom was able to sustain through multiple different phases of the movies, starting in the early 1950's with Italian cinema, and making it all-the-way to the streaming era.

(Spoilers Ahead) The picture, while it stars Loren, does not put her in the center of its plot.  Instead, that figure is Momo (Gueye), a young orphan boy who commits petty crimes & has started to deal drugs when he is brought by his benefactor Dr. Cohen (Carpentieri) to Madame Rosa (Loren).  Rosa is an aging woman who was once a prostitute, but in the years since has taken it upon herself to care for the children of prostitutes.  Initially Rosa & Momo dislike one another, but they grow to have an appreciation for each other, with Momo learning that Rosa was a Holocaust survivor, a period of her life that still haunts her as she drifts in and out of states of dementia.  The movie watches as the roles shift, with Momo fighting those around him to take care of Rosa as she is hospitalized, and eventually he breaks her out so she can die at home.

The Life Ahead is a simple story, one that's been told not just in iterations of Romain Gary's novel, but just in general.  We all can name a dozen "older person befriends child, both of them learning from the experience" movies off the top of our heads, and The Life Ahead doesn't break any ground on this front. If anything, it stays too closely in the lines, with very little struggle in the end; the drug dealer that Momo is dealing with lets go of his successful dealer with shocking ease, and while this is refreshing that it doesn't invite cliche, it also lacks a lot of stakes for the young man.

The thing that elevates the movie is Loren's work as Rosa.  She's only in a third of the movie, if that (I didn't have my stopwatch out), and one suspects if she wasn't Sophia Loren, the "Last Golden Age Movie Star" we might be seeing a supporting play here (it borders between lead/supporting in a similar way to Jennifer Lopez in Hustlers last year), but she makes her mark.  Loren is so iconic, her beauty so ingrained in movie memories, that she uses that to quickly establish her character in the opening scenes, and then invite us into her own world.  There's an authenticity in the way that she remembers her childhood, the hardness of her youth, and the way that she sustains the fears from the concentration camp.  Loren is a confident performer, a movie star but also a serious actress, and she guides us through the horrors of her life, & the fears she has for losing her memories, and dying.  It's a studied piece of work, one lovingly gifted to her by her son, and the best she's been in decades.

Saying Goodbye to 2020

This is my 3000th article on this blog.  I initially wanted to do something a little bit more momentous for this post (I had something planned), but it got away from me & while there were other less momentous ideas (and we'll get to that big moment hopefully in the coming weeks), I thought it would be interesting to do a rare personal article, something not pitting politics or film against each other (as is usually the battle for my attention).  Because, while this is a big moment for me, tomorrow is a big moment for all of us.  Tomorrow is, and I cannot believe we get to finally say it, the last day of 2020.

This year has been long, arduous, and bitter for most.  I have been blessed in some regard this year in the sense that (knock on wood), I have not had to endure as much of the tragedy of Covid that others have.  I have had loved ones who have had the disease, but (again, knock on wood) all of them have gotten through it with merely a bad cold & no trips to the hospital.  I lost a family member in 2020, but she had a long life (and this was not related to Covid), and happened before quarantine so that much of my family got to send her off without having to abbreviate the sendoff (like so many have this year).  My job allowed me to work from home, and I made it through 2020 with steady employment.  I'm aware these things are gifts, they are things that others didn't get to claim.  There are going to be faces that we won't get to see in 2021, lights cut off too short that will be impossible to replace, and will forever be remembered.

But I didn't get through the year unscathed.  I took quarantine very seriously, possibly more seriously than I should have (and certainly more seriously than most).  I went literal weeks on-end without human contact (in-person that is) and for the first 70 days I saw no one (that's not a joke-I saw no single person that knew my name for 10 weeks).  While I'm pretty introverted, and generally got past it after the first three weeks (which were a chaotic adjustment, more than I would've expected), this was not easy.  As someone who has struggled throughout his life with issues of self-worth, that's a long time to spend with a person that frequently frustrates you & whom you don't always like.  Three months in, I started to wonder what I'd be like when I got out of the other end of this, trying to scrape by in a house with no reprieve.

I made a vow about that time that while this year would not be the year I wanted (not be the year anyone wanted), I was going not going to let it be a "lost year" and if I was going to be spending time with myself, we were going to work through our problems & come out better on the other side of this.  With the lack of a commute, I had ten extra hours on my plate each week, and I started to use them not just to watch reruns of Bob's Burgers while curling up in a ball eating Hamburger Helper, but instead to actually be real about the goals I always dream for myself (but never follow through on), and just do them.

And in the rare happy ending this year, I actually did.  I have lost 36 pounds, and weigh less than I have since I was at least 29, and probably by March I'll be at a weight that I haven't been at since college.  I needed to lose the weight (my doctor agreed with this assessment, so this isn't about fat-shaming), but I'd be lying if it didn't bring with me a sense of confidence, more so because of the sense of accomplishment I see when I look in the mirror & know "I did that."  It's not done, but it's getting there, and I'm very excited to premiere this new look to the friends whom I haven't seen in months (and if/when I ever get to start dating again).

I have different attitudes toward money-I spend less on things I don't want, and was real about what wasn't working about my eating out habits before this.  I finally got below 2000 OVP movies left in the project (and kept sailing through it to the point where I will get below 1900 without issue next year), and finished a Shutterfly project I'd been putting off for two years.  I Marie Kondo'd my house, and invested in new things for my kitchen, living room, & home that always felt like dreams more than reality.  I worked through dozens of smaller projects that I won't bore you with, many of them having been on my To Do list so long I was shocked at how easily they eventually fell off once I decided they should be done.  I donated money to campaigns (some that won, some that didn't), and I served as an election judge (and weeks before that, cast my vote for my longtime personal hero Joe Biden and our country's first female vice president Kamala Harris).  And I let go of other things, things that I decided I didn't have a use for anymore-dreams that no longer felt like wishes, and more like chores.  I didn't travel this year, I didn't find the love of my life & I missed my friends & family more than I can possibly say, but looking back on 2020, it was most decidedly not a "lost year."

2021 contains a lot of promise.  I'm sure many of the people who are reading this are anxiously awaiting their vaccine and a return to normalcy.  But as we close out the year, it's okay if you're like me, and spent this year learning about yourself, and in the process changing your life or sense-of-self for the better, and are thus nervous about that return to normalcy since pre-Covid your life wasn't working the way you wanted it to either.  2020 was a heinous, awful experience, but it was also a dire reminder that life is short, and that if you got to be a better version of yourself through all of this quarantine goal-achieving, it's okay to not be the same person you were on the other end of it.  You don't have to compromise the person you were able to carve this year so that everyone else gets a sense of routine back; other people's assumptions don't have to define you.  In 2020, I had to decide between letting isolation overrun my life, or whether I'd finally stop listening to the people in my life (including myself) who said "no" and "can't" and "never," and I chose to finally believe in me again.  I'm leaving a lot behind in 2020, and I hope you do the same.  But that sense of purpose, of hope-from-the-darkness, of renewed self-worth...that's joining me in 2021.

Losing the EGOT

Occasionally I find myself sorting through particularly random trivia (this happened a few days ago in a conversation with a friend), and one of my favorite bits of trivia surrounds the younger of the acting Redgrave sisters.  While Vanessa was the great actor of her generation, Lynn had something else special about her.  Lynn managed to be the only person in the history of entertainment to receive nominations for an Emmy, Oscar, Grammy, and Tony award...and not win any.

This is of course both a huge compliment and an enormous disappointment.  Redgrave managed to get nominated for three Tonys, two Emmys, two Oscars, and a Grammy in her career, something almost every actor would kill for, but you have to assume that she wishes she could have taken the stage just once to accept one of those major awards (to her credit, she did pick up a pair of Golden Globe Awards).

We took a look at Redgrave's record six years ago, but I was curious after the conversation with my friend if there had been any new additions to this list, if any people who had been on the list had migrated off of it, and most importantly, if someone had tied Redgrave's record.  Below you'll find that her record is still intact, though there's still room for some performers to go after it, and a few more have been added to the challenge since six years ago.  I've listed below every living performer I could find that has been nominated for (and lost) three of the four of Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, & Tony.  If you have a name I don't have on the list, please bring it to the comments (particularly for the Grammys, this is hard to research), and I'll update accordingly!

(Note: All of these are listed alphabetically)

Lauren Ambrose

Nomination She's Missing: Oscar

Emmys Lost: 2002 & 2003-Lead Actress in a Drama (Six Feet Under)

Grammys Lost: 2019-Best Musical Theater Album (My Fair Lady)

Tonys Lost: 2018-Best Actress in a Musical (My Fair Lady)

She Shouldn't Feel Too Sad: She won two SAG Awards for her work on Six Feet Under.

Can She Seal the Deal?: I would assume not.  Ambrose getting the lead in My Fair Lady is surprising in retrospect (her career had been relatively mixed since her breakout role in Six Feet Under ended, and I suppose this was a case of the "play" selling tickets more than any of the stars).  Currently she is on Servant for AppleTV, but hasn't done a film role in almost a decade, so an Oscar nomination would be a surprise.

Antonio Banderas

Nomination He's Missing: Grammy

Emmys Lost: 2004-Best Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie (And Starring Pancho Villas Himself), 2018-Best Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie (Genius)

Oscars Lost: 2019-Best Actor (Pain and Glory)

Tonys Lost: 2003-Best Actor in a Musical (Nine)

He Shouldn't Feel Too Sad: Banderas won a Drama Desk for Nine, and finally pulled off a Goya earlier this year for his work in Pain and Glory

Can He Seal the Deal?: Of all of the people on this list, Banderas has the most grounds to be mad, as under current awards rules he would have tied Lynn Redgrave for this award.  Banderas was a key vocalist on the cast recording on Nine, and that was nominated in 2004 for Best Musical Theater Album (but lost to the Bernadette Peters revival of Gypsy).  Today Banderas would've been nominated for a Grammy for the award as a principle vocalist, but at the time he wasn't because it was only the producers of the album that got nominated.  I don't know if Banderas has it in him to do another play (he hasn't gone back to either musicals or the theater in recent years), and so I kind of wonder if this is a trivia answer that will never be, but was very close to becoming reality.

Gabriel Byrne

Nomination He's Missing: Oscar
Emmys Lost: 2008 & 2009-Lead Actor in a Drama (In Treatment)
Grammys Lost: 1998-Spoken Word Album (The Nightingale and the Rose)
Tonys Lost: 2000-Lead Actor in a Play (A Moon for the Misbegotten), 2016-Lead Actor in a Play (Long Day's Journey Into Night)
He Shouldn't Feel Too Sad: He did win a Golden Globe for his work on In Treatment

Can He Seal the Deal?: The trick to "pulling a Lynn Redgrave" (patent-pending) is to be able to make positions second through fifth, but not manage to grab first.  I think that Byrne could well nab an Oscar nomination, considering he is a multi-hyphenate entertainer (he not only acts, but also writes, directs, and produces), and doesn't seem too likely to win any of the other awards anytime soon.  He rarely does Broadway and his television show isn't on anymore.

Adam Driver

Nomination He's Missing: Grammy

Emmys Lost: 2013, 2014, & 2015-Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Girls), 2020-Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series (Saturday Night Live)

Oscars Lost: 2018-Supporting Actor (BlacKkKlansman), 2019-Actor (Marriage Story)

Tonys Lost: 2019-Lead Actor in a Play (Burn This)

He Shouldn't Feel Too Sad: Driver has failed to secure any major entertainment award in his career, so there should be some sympathy for him, but it feels doubtful he's going to end his career empty-handed considering its current trajectory, so don't worry if you're a fan.

Can He Seal the Deal?: I would assume that Adam Driver is the type that might randomly get a Spoken Word Album nomination at some point (not for a memoir, but more so for a table read recording of The Crucible or something similar).  But Driver's career trajectory (he has been nominated for three of these awards in the past two years alone) indicates that a win is more likely to stop him from reaching Redgrave's record than a missing Grammy nomination.  He seems certain to win one (probably the Oscar or Tony) in the next few years.

James Franco

Nomination He's Mising: Tony
Emmys Lost: 2002-Lead Actor in a Miniseries (James Dean), 2011-Outstanding Special Class Programs (The 83rd Academy Awards...yes, James Franco was nominated for an Emmy for his comically bad hosting of the Oscars...let that sink in for a second), 2016-Outstanding Short Form Variety Series (Making a Scene)
Oscars Lost: 2010-Best Actor (127 Hours)
Grammys Lost: 2014-Spoken Word Album (Actors Anonymous)
He Shouldn't Feel Too Sad: Franco missed the Emmy but picked up the Golden Globe for his work in James Dean, and he missed the Oscar but pulled off another Globe for The Disaster Artist.

Can He Seal the Deal? I'm starting to think no.  Franco has done stage work (he did a turn in Of Mice and Men six years ago), but he wasn't nominated for a Tony Award (instead they went for his costar Chris O'Dowd).  Franco's sexual misconduct allegations have hurt his career; after his surprise Oscar snub in 2017 for The Disaster Artist, he has made direct-to-video & unreleased films, and his only more mainstream work was a cameo in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs and The Deuce, which was a middling success at best for HBO.  Winning an Emmy at this point seems more probable than a Tony nomination.

Ed Harris

Nomination He's Missing: Grammy
Emmys Lost: 2005-Lead Actor in a Miniseries (Empire Falls), 2012-Supporting Actor in a Miniseries (Game Change), 2018-Lead Actor in a Drama Series (Westworld)
Oscars Lost: 1995-Supporting Actor (Apollo 13), 1998-Supporting Actor (The Truman Show), 2000-Lead Actor (Pollock), 2002-Supporting Actor (The Hours)
Tonys Lost: 1986-Actor in a Play (Precious Sons)
He Shouldn't Feel Too Sad: He has two Golden Globe awards, for The Truman Show and Game Change

Can He Seal the Deal?: For a long time there, it seemed like Ed Harris would surely win an Oscar.  He received a staggering four nominations in the span of seven years, and one could make a pretty convincing argument that he was in second in two, if not three of those years (Amy Adams-take note).  Harris has since fallen on hard times with the Academy and has had no more luck with Emmy (not even his grand return to TV with Westworld has gotten him a trophy so far).  This of course could happen, as the Spoken Word Album category can slip someone in at almost any time, and Harris is famous enough that he could make it for some reading of Shakespeare or Arthur Miller.  However, he's never been a particularly "awards-seeking" performer (otherwise he would have beaten James Coburn in 1998), and I don't see this happening.

Marsha Mason

Nomination She's Missing: Tony
Emmys Lost: 1997-Guest Actress in a Comedy (Frasier)
Oscars Lost: 1973-Best Actress (Cinderella Liberty), 1977-Best Actress (The Goodbye Girl), 1979-Best Actress (Cinderella Liberty), and 1981-Best Actress (Only When I Laugh)
Grammys Lost: 2000-Best Comedy Album (The Prisoner of Second Avenue)
She Shouldn't Feel Too Sad: Mason won Golden Globes for both Cinderella Liberty and The Goodbye Girl

Can She Seal the Deal? The better question has to be how has she not?  Marsha Mason is one of my minor obsessions (she's been nominated for four Oscars, is still living, and yet somehow she disappeared off the face of the public sphere after her divorce to Neil Simon), and the real question was how was she ever going to get a Grammy nomination considering how minor her celebrity is.  With the Comedy Album citation, though, she's actually most well-known these days for her work on Broadway, as she's done six different productions in her career and is constantly working in the New York stage.  Make it happen Marcie!

Kate Nelligan

Nomination She's Missing: Grammy
Emmys Lost: 1989-Actress in a Drama Series (Road to Avonlea)
Oscars Lost: 1991-Supporting Actress (The Prince of Tides)
Tonys Lost: 1983-Actress in a Play (Plenty), 1984-Actress in a Play (A Moon for the Misbegotten), 1988-Featured Actress in a Play (Serious Money), 1989-Actress in a Play (Spoils of War)
She Shouldn't Feel Too Sad: She did win a BAFTA for Frankie and Johnny

Can She Seal the Deal?: The longtime Canadian stage actress enjoyed most of her awards-success at the Tonys, where in the 1980's she was a frequent contender but always missed (it can't feel too bad losing to the likes of Jessica Tandy and Glenn Close, though).  Her one-and-done nomination in 1991 at the Oscars makes her the person who has been on this list the longest, and as a whole she rarely acts anymore (on the stage or otherwise), so unless she has a particular penchant to get involved with an album and score a truly random nomination, this seems like the least likely of the list to happen.  It is interesting, though, how such a comparatively obscure (certainly the least well-known of these performers) actress could so quickly score 3/4 of an EGOT loss.

Kathleen Turner

Nomination She's Missing: Emmy
Grammys Lost: 2001-Spoken Word Album (The Complete Shakespeare Sonnets)
Oscars Lost: 1986-Lead Actress (Peggy Sue Got Married)
Tonys Lost: 1990-Actress in a Play (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), 2005-Actress in a Play (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?)
She Shouldn't Feel Too Sad: She has two Golden Globes for Romancing the Stone and Prizzi's Honor.

Can She Seal the Deal?: Of the people on this list, I think this is probably the most shocking person on the list, considering that she almost certainly was close to getting nominated at the Emmys for playing Chandler's mother on Friends.  I would suspect, therefore, that she's also the most likely person to pull the Lynn Redgrave of anyone listed here.  She just needs a solid guest spot on a cable television series (probably not too hard considering their penchant for going for former headliners of a certain age for guest roles), and to not win the Tony Award (she probably would have won in 2005, but no one was going to take out Cherry Jones in Doubt).  I think that's manageable, and that she's probably going to make it thanks to the bizarre dozens-of-people-nominated Shakespeare Sonnets nomination she got in 2001.

Vanessa Williams

Nominations She's Missing: Oscar
Emmys Lost: 2007, 2008, and 2009-Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (Ugly Betty), 2009-Performer in an Animated Program (Mama Mirabelle's Home Movies)
Grammys Lost: 1989-New Artist and Female R and B Performance ("The Right Stuff"), 1990-Female R and B Performance ("Dreamin"), 1992-Female R and B Performance ("Runnin' Back to You"), 1993-Record of the Year ("Save the Best for Last"), Female Pop Vocal Performance ("Save the Best for Last"), Female R and B Vocal Performance ("The Comfort Zone"), & Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals ("Love Is"), 1995-Female Pop Vocal Performance ("Colors of the Wind") & Female R and B Performance ("The Way That You Love"), 1997-Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album (Star Bright)
Tonys Lost: 2002-Actress in a Musical (Into the Woods)
She Shouldn't Feel Too Sad: She was Miss America, but umm, yeah, maybe she should get a little pity here.

Can She Seal the Deal?: Yeah, that list of Grammy losses is massive.  Williams is one of the most nominated women in the Recording Academy to never win.  Despite her seventeen year absence, I think her best shot would be to pick up one of the below-the-line Grammy Awards rather than take an Oscar nomination.  Williams did sing an Oscar-winning song, of course (1995's "Color of the Wind"), but she's not very much of a songwriter, and the movies have oddly never taken to her like music, television, and the theater.  So my gut says no, she can't quite get there (prove me wrong, casting directors), but may well win one of the other three awards before all is said and done.

And those are the ten!  Like I said, I researched pretty thoroughly, but if you trivia sleuths have an eleventh person let me know!

OVP: Mulan (2020)

Film: Mulan (2020)

Stars: Yifei Liu, Donnie Yen, Jason Scott Lee, Yoson An, Gong Li, Jet Li

Director: Niki Caro

Oscar History: 2 nominations (Best Costume Design, Visual Effects)

Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

I initially swore that I was done with live-action remakes of Disney films.  I think it's super lazy of Disney to constantly repurpose its beloved tales, and not create new stories for audiences, and I am sure I'm not alone in that regard.  I made an exception, however, for three reasons.  One, this is what my mom wanted to watch over the Christmas break & I love my mom (and in 2020, it's rare you get to enjoy time with the people you love, especially if you're like me & living alone).  Two, it's not exactly a carbon copy remake of the film like Beauty & the Beast or The Lion King were-the film cuts the musical aspects, as well as several key characters (Mushu & Li Shang) in favor of a more action-forward telling of the legend, so it didn't feel like it was a movie I needed to avoid (exactly) on principle.  And third, while it's not a guarantee, with 2020 bereft of obvious nominees for Best Visual Effects, Mulan is the rare traditional nominee for that category that could go well with the Academy if they so choose.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie is about Mulan (Liu), a young woman who idolizes her father and wants to be a warrior, but as this is Imperial China, she is expected to be a wife & mother to bring honor to her family.  After her father is called to war, Mulan goes in his place disguised as a young male soldier, using a false identity.  Initially disregarded, Mulan proves herself to her commanding officer (Yen) and befriends her fellow soldiers, including Chen Honghui (An), who becomes something of a love interest to her after she's revealed to be a woman.  She does so during a gigantic fight sequence against Bori Khan (Lee) and his accomplice Xianniang (Gong Li), whom she eventually beats in a later standoff, getting her respect & a position in the Emperor's (Jet Li) personal guard.

The film doesn't stray too far from the original idea, even if the musical numbers and key characters are cut.  We even see recreations of some of the initial movie's most famous scenes (the matchmaker, the fights in the mountains, the father-daughter reconciliation at the end of the movie).  And the film goes beyond that by giving us hints of the initial movie, including one in particular that I loved (Ming-Na, the original voice of Mulan, makes a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo).

However, the movie still struggles in its conversion, and especially with its new elements.  Lead actress Yifei Liu has none of the spark of Ming-Na's work, and is dry & dispassionate as the lead.  She can kick ass, but Mulan is many people's favorite Disney Princess because she has a fire to prove herself, to show the world who she is after she discovers it for herself ("who is that girl I see, staring straight back at me?")...Liu's performance is disinterested in this, and more focused on striking an intimidating pose, and it totally undersells the movie.  Additionally, Gong Li (the best actor in this movie) does a solid job, but her character is horribly written (there's too little interest in her back story, which makes many of her decisions to keep following Bori Khan confusing).  These are things that take away from the movie, and while it doesn't have a cookie cutter vibe (this is better than Beauty or Lion King), it also feels unnecessary, never going beyond just "different" to "good."

Saturdays with the Stars Season 2 Finale

Two of our legendary Stars of 2020,
Sophia Loren & Jayne Mansfield

Yesterday with The Three Musketeers we hit the finale of our second season of "Saturdays with the Stars," and before we start the new year (and a new season, devoted to Hitchcock's leading ladies), I wanted to take time to celebrate another season, and one I treat as a success.  We never missed a Saturday (there was one close call, but that was really it-being stuck at home made at least this part of 2020 easier), and I saw a lot of new movies & now have a better understanding of twelve stars, some of which I knew next to nothing about before this year.  And I hope you learned something as well!

It's always fascinating to me to focus on an actor's career, rather than as we typically do in film discussions on a director's.  Watching these women, particularly under the guise of "Sex Symbols" was intriguing to me because Hollywood had different attitudes toward these beautiful women as the public began to find their sexuality passé, or eventually, absent.  It is kind of heartbreaking to watch someone like a Jayne Mansfield or Raquel Welch, who clearly chose poorly at select moments of their careers & paid the price for it, and fascinating to watch a figure like Sophia Loren or Ann-Margret who was able to rise above their studio-forced persona and eventually gain mainstream critical recognition in their lifetimes.

Every film I watched this year was a movie I was seeing for the very first time, as well, so once again I was blown away by the expanses of Classic Hollywood, rich with westerns and noir and musicals that I'd never been exposed to.  Next year we'll do our third and final tour of Classic Hollywood actresses (after that, if we continue the series, we're going to either add men or a more modern element for a fourth season), so we'll continue to mine this well, but before we do that, let's hand out some superlatives for this year's leading ladies.

Favorite Performance from Each Star

January: Jean Harlow-Red Dust

February: Betty Grable-I Wake Up Screaming

March: Lena Horne-Cabin in the Sky

April: Rita Hayworth-Separate Tables

May: Lana Turner-The Postman Always Rings Twice

June: Marilyn Monroe-The Misfits

July: Jayne Mansfield-Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?

August: Sophia Loren-Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

September: Gina Lollobrigida-Come September

October: Nancy Kwan-The World of Suzie Wong

November: Ann-Margret-Carnal Knowledge

December: Raquel Welch-The Three Musketeers

5 Favorite Actresses of the Year (Alphabetical)

Jean Harlow

Rita Hayworth

Sophia Loren

Marilyn Monroe

Lana Turner

5 Favorite Performances of the Year (Alphabetical)

Rita Hayworth, Separate Tables

Sophia Loren, Two Women

Sophia Loren, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Marilyn Monroe, The Misfits

Lana Turner, The Postman Always Rings Twice

10 Favorite Films of the Year (Alphabetical)

Cabin in the Sky

Cover Girl

I Wake Up Screaming

Imitation of Life

Libeled Lady

The Misfits

The Postman Always Rings Twice

Red Dust

Separate Tables

Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Top 10 Performances of the Year (Not By Our Leading Ladies)

Clark Gable, The Misfits

David Niven, Separate Tables

Eli Wallach, The Misfits

Ethel Waters, Cabin in the Sky

Eve Arden, Cover Girl

Jennifer Jones, Beat the Devil

Juanita Moore, Imitation of Life

Laird Cregar, I Wake Up Screaming

Susan Kohner, Imitation of Life

Thelma Ritter, The Misfits

The Three Musketeers (1974)

Film: The Three Musketeers (1974)

Stars: Michael York, Oliver Reed, Frank Finlay, Richard Chamberlain, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Geraldine Chaplin, Charlton Heston, Faye Dunaway, Christopher Lee, Simon Ward, Raquel Welch

Director: Richard Lester

Oscar History: No nominations, though Welch won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical, so it's possible she was close?

Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

Each month, as part of our 2020 Saturdays with the Stars series, we highlight a different actress known as an iconic "film sex symbol."  This month, our focus is on Raquel Welch-click here to learn more about Ms. Welch (and why I picked her), and click here for other Saturdays with the Stars articles.

As I said last week, Raquel Welch's career after Myra Breckinridge never really recovered-she was never able to properly transition away from sex comedies, or roles that traded on her beauty (and curvy figure) in a comic or exploitive way.  That being said, Welch was a star in major studio films throughout the 1970's, and what is generally considered to be one of her best roles (and best films) of that era was The Three Musketeers, a retelling of Alexandre Dumas' classic novel, though told with more comedic elements than you'd generally expect from this story.  The film is an ensemble & star-studded, and while Welch is one of the lead characters, she's not one of the most important, a testament to Welch's inability to land solo roles in films that might have elevated her beyond her plastic screen persona.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie actually sticks pretty closely to the novel, though it only tells half of the story (the movie was followed by The Four Musketeers, and then many years later The Return of the Musketeers, a film that resulted in the tragic death of one of its stars, though that's a story for a different day).  We have young, naive d'Artagnan (York), starting from his humble beginnings in hopes of someday becoming one of the king's musketeers.  After inadvertently challenging all of the three musketeers (Reed, Finlay & Chamberlain) to duels, they start out on adventure to try to stop Cardinal Richelieu (Heston), who is undermining the Queen (Chaplin), who is having an affair with the Duke of Buckingham (Ward).  Despite the Cardinal and his accomplice Milady de Winter's (Dunaway) intentions, the Musketeers (including d'Artagnan) & the Queen's dressmaker (Welch) are able to help the Queen save face, and hide her affair from the King...though we get over the closing credits an indication that there will be more mad adventures with those involved.

The film is more fun than it should be.  The script is meandering, the characters are all two-dimensional, but Richard Lester (who made several films with the Beatles, who at one point were intended to star in this film), knows how to craft comedy, and the action sequences are played for maximum effect.  No one in the film is giving a great performance, but everyone is game.  We see several actors (Welch, Dunaway, & Heston specifically) totally trade on their real-world personas for maximum comedic effect, and the central story around the Queen trying to hide her affair works.  This was a hit for a reason-it's mindless, but pleasant fun.

The movie has a weird place in Hollywood history that I'd be remiss not to mention.  If you watch the movie in its original cut (as I did) you'll notice a preview to the sequel over the end credits.  This was something that films occasionally did at the time (we saw that during our month devoted to Nancy Kwan with The Wrecking Crew advertising a sequel that never came out).  However, this was unusual because the actors involved didn't know they'd made a sequel; the two movies were intended to be one four-hour epic, and the stars of the film only found out that they'd made two movies for Fox when they attended the premiere.  This was technically legal at the time-there were no guarantees that a studio couldn't do something like this, but the stars (who were only paid for one movie) were enraged, and eventually there was a union clause set out by SAG that actors had to be informed how many movies they were being asked to film prior to the release of a film.

Welch won a Golden Globe for this film, and is fun in it.  This is not stretching for her-we see men fall over themselves, including Michael York, trying to bed her in the movie, but at least she feels like she's in on the joke here.  The movie would not, however, win her an Oscar nomination like we saw for Ann-Margret.  The competition was fierce in 1974 (a legendarily good lineup by AMPAS), and had one of those women left, my gut says that Liv Ullmann in Abdication would've bested Welch for this slot (Ullman was deemed ineligible for her seismic performance in Scenes from a Marriage, and considering the hubbub Oscar might've wanted to go with her for literally any performance as a way to acknowledge her work).  

This was the only time in Welch's career she came close to a nomination.  She would continue making bad (but sometimes successful) sex comedies or action-adventures for the remainder of the decade, until the troubled production of Cannery Row cost her her career.  Welch was accused of diva-like behavior on the set, causing the studio to dump her as its lead, and instead cast (the younger) Debra Winger.  Welch sued, and would win over $10 million in the lawsuit for breach-of-contract, but this essentially ended her career.  No one sues the powers-that-be in Hollywood & gets away with it, and while Welch would do television & theater throughout the decade, she'd make no feature films between 1977 and 1994, and even after that her work was simply in cameo roles.  She'd make tons of money on beauty & health products (at 80-years-of-age, Welch still is fashionable & looks decades younger), but her time as a movie star was over.

And with that, the traditional film sex symbol also seemed to fade.  Welch was the last real star of that mold-the kind of buxom, sex goddess role-that had a sustainable career in film.  Some blips on the screen like Bo Derek or Megan Fox popped up, but they disappeared just as quickly.  Television became a much more lucrative spot for these types of stars (think of Farrah Fawcett or eventually the quintessential TV sex bomb, Pamela Anderson), as did modeling, pop music, & reality television.  The only star that comes close to the heyday of sex symbols in the modern era is Jennifer Lopez, who really treads the line between music & movies in a way none of her predecessors would've had to.  We will start a new theme, and a new year of Stars next Saturday, but before then we'll take a look back at what we've seen this season tomorrow as we close out our year devoted to Classic Hollywood sex symbols.

OVP: Score (2019)

 OVP: Best Original Score (2019)

The Nominees Were...

Hildur Guanadottir, Joker

Alexandre Desplat, Little Women

Randy Newman, Marriage Story

Thomas Newman, 1917

John Williams, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

My Thoughts: We move on in our look at the 2019 Oscar races into Best Score.  The music branches are notoriously clique-y, allowing only one newcomer per year as a result, but in 2019 you might have assumed that they had run into a brick wall.  After all, it seemed like the same seven movies were nominated in virtually every one of the tech categories, but by happy (boring) coincidence the music branch got lucky here.  Three of the biggest films of the year were scored by a trio of perennial nominees in the music categories, and they had room for their one newcomer with Joker.  Our fifth nominee, though, isn't nearly as dominant in 2019, and that's because there is one rule that trumps all others when it comes to Oscar: always nominate John Williams.

Williams work in Rise of Skywalker is supposedly his final piece for the Star Wars series (he scored all nine installments of the Skywalker Saga, an impressive achievement).  With Williams' work lately, you have to take the old with the new, and of course we have musical cues to his greatest hits from A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back, but I do feel like we find some new sounds in Rise of Skywalker, continuing what he picked up in Last Jedi.  I think the finality has freed him up to try for new swoops of grandeur here, with piano & strings coming together to create minor moments in the film that really pop.  I know the Academy is default with Williams, but this is nowhere near the worst score in this bunch, and in many ways it's an appropriate capper to Williams work with the series (and potentially his career-at 88 years of age, the only work he has on docket right now is the long-gestating Indiana Jones 5, and he wasn't even nominated for the last one).

No one comes near Williams' nomination count except Walt Disney, but Randy Newman is no slouch in this department (this is his second nomination in just 2019).  Of this bunch, though, I'd argue that Marriage Story is the least successful.  There are times that Newman's work is perfect for what he's doing, but as the film progresses his twee & spritely score (which feels like it is dropped out of a Pixar movie with the melodic piano & over-reliance on wind instruments), doesn't fit the drama that's happening onscreen, and threatens to pull us out of the great work being done by the lead actors.  It's lovely on its own, but in the context of the movie this doesn't work.

The same can be said for Desplat's Little Women, though it better captures the theme of the film.  Plucky and rich, Desplat's work here doesn't have enough soul.  You feel like he composed it in the March drawing room with a piano & a piano bench full of sheet music, it has that sort of feel...which should work within the movie, but it feels too feather-weight.  This is my problem in general with the movie, which I am less favorable toward the further I get away from it (we'll get to it, but I think Saoirse Ronan is wrong for the lead & that causes problems with the picture), but the score is too generic & doesn't distinguish itself within the film or immediately recall it upon a separate listen.

This is not true for Thomas Newman's work for 1917, which instantly transports me back to the trenches.  This is occasionally for the worse-Newman's score threatens at time to overtake the picture, particularly in dialogue-less moments where it becomes its own character.  But Newman knows what he's doing (he is the true student of Williams), and there are pieces of the movie where the crescendoes & wind instruments swell to a point where you get the grandeur of what Mendes is doing.  1917, unlike Little Women, has aged better in my mind-it is such a methodical, technical achievement-and the score is part of what brings out that excellence.  It keeps the movie's "too fast" pacing going.

Hilda Guanadottir is the only new name for Oscar of this bunch, and in order to get a shot with this branch you either need a big movie or a big score, and she has both.  Joker's score is iconic, recalling the movie quite quickly upon re-listen; Guanadottir's main themes using minor strings & an almost rusted quality to her music to create a sound that matches the movie.  However, it's too repetitive, and uses the same chord progressions without enough newness.  This sort of thing might work in a sequel (where you can match the sounds of multiple movies), but in a stand-alone movie it makes it feel one-note.

Other Precursor Contenders: The Grammys eligibility window for the best film score nomination is not the same as Oscar's so oftentimes you'll see films from two different years getting citations, and that's the case here.  For the Grammys held in 2020, Avengers: Endgame and The Lion King both showed up (but lost to the TV score of Chernobyl), while for the upcoming 2021 Grammys Ad Astra, Joker, 1917, and The Rise of Skywalker are fighting it out for the trophy.  The Globes went for nearly an identical cutout of the Oscar lineup, picking Joker as its winner, and replacing Rise of Skywalker for Motherless Brooklyn, while the BAFTA Awards also picked a near copy of the Oscar lineup, again honoring Joker as the victor, and then replacing Marriage Story in favor of Jojo Rabbit.  The Oscars did a shortlist for Best Score in 2020, so we know that the ten also-rans were Avengers: Endgame, Bombshell, The Farewell, Ford vs. Ferrari, Frozen II, Jojo Rabbit, The King, Motherless Brooklyn, Pain & Glory, and Us, of which I suspect Jojo Rabbit probably bested Motherless Brooklyn since the former was one of the Best Picture nominees (and from perennial Oscar favorite Michael Giacchino).

Films I Would Have Nominated: I honestly would start from scratch with this lineup.  It's not that all of these choices are bad, it's that many of them are lazy.  I would have added in the stilted tensions of Us, the soaring terror of Midsommar, the glories of Ad Astra, the elegant symphonies of A Hidden Life, and the city-capturing Last Black Man in San Francisco, all of which beat out this lineup.

Oscar’s Choice: There was a chance that Thomas Newman was going to upset & finally get his Oscar here, but it was a small one (made smaller by Parasite clobbering the film in the big categories).  Joker wins, and by a decent margin.

My Choice: 1917 is going to get my trophy though I toyed with Rise of Skywalker overtaking it.  Following them would be Little Women, Joker, and Marriage Story in the back.

Those are my thoughts-how about yours?  Are you with Oscar picking the super-villain, or you with me giving Thomas Newman his overdue trophy (this is his second OVP trophy, and first in Original Score)?  Do we think John Williams will ever get that sixth Oscar?  And why do you think this is the clubbiest of all of the Oscar branches?  Share your thoughts below!

Also in 2019: Original Song, Production Design, Cinematography, Costume, Film Editing, Visual Effects, Makeup & Hairstyling, Animated Short, Live Action Short, Previously in 2019

Past Best Score Contests: 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016

OVP: Hillbilly Elegy (2020)

Film: Hillbilly Elegy (2020)

Stars: Amy Adams, Glenn Close, Gabriel Basso, Owen Asztalos, Freida Pinto

Director: Ron Howard

Oscar History: 2 nominations (Best Supporting Actress-Glenn Close, Makeup & Hairstyling)

Snap Judgment Ranking: 1/5 stars

I like reading, but I don't do it as often as I should or like, and shouldn't get credit for being a devoted reader if you're a bibliophile (I put away maybe 15-20 books a year-consider that a "frequent reader" or a "casual one" on your terms).  So it's not often that I get to see a movie based on a book from the past ten years and say "I read the book," but Hillbilly Elegy is weirdly a movie I can claim that about.  I was in a book club briefly that was focused on more modern literature, and one of the titles that was chosen was JD Vance's memoir, and so I went into it with little knowledge of what it was about (I didn't read it), and came away...truly hating the book.  The book is part a story of Vance's rough childhood, with a drug-addicted mother & a hard scrabble existence in rural Kentucky & Middletown, Ohio, but it's also a disgusting, oftentimes prejudiced look at race, economics, education, & the government.  It is not a film that I would normally pay money to watch, but considering both Adams & Close are in the Oscar conversation (and that it was free on Netflix), I did catch it, and while it's an improvement on the book...well, you saw the star rating, right?

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie alternates between 1997 and 2011, and focuses on JD (Basso as an adult, Asztalos as a child), whose childhood is spent in near constant states of disarray due to his mother Bev's (Adams) issues with drug addiction, while as an adult he feels out-of-place with his Ivy League colleagues as he tries to get an internship as a second year at Yale Law.  JD is forced to take a trip back to see Bev, risking his interview, because she's become addicted to heroin, and has hidden his girlfriend Usha (Pinto) from them because (without saying so, but it's the clear implication) she's not white & he's not sure how his mother will handle that.  As the movie goes along, we see JD's relationship with his grandmother Mamaw (Close), which greatly influenced his life as she was a stabilizing factor in him not ending up like his mother, and in the end he gets the internship (abandoning his mother at a hotel after giving a speech about "family coming first" without even a hint of understanding the irony of that action), and as we see over the credits, his mother becomes sober & he marries Usha.

Ron Howard does a decent job of repurposing really problematic source material, even if he isn't always successful-I want to give the film that before we start because it could've been considerably worse.  Howard, unlike Vance, is a Democrat, and therefore doesn't share all of Vance's beliefs, and cuts out a lot of Vance's libertarian views on welfare (which are hypocritical in the books as he ignores the moments in the story when his family does take government money or charity), as well as Vance's problematic views on race.  Howard tries as hard as he can to simply make this a sentimental story about family & hard times, something that he has done before, and with great success.

But JD Vance is not Jim Lovell or James Braddock...he's no hero, and he's certainly not compelling.  Howard likely couldn't get the rights of the book & totally sideline JD's narrative in favor of the more interesting one between the two principle female characters, and as a result we are left with a rather ordinary child whom everyone keeps saying "has promise."  The reality is, though, that he doesn't-JD as written in the movie doesn't appear to be that smart.  In a truly uncomfortable scene, one that is meant to show the "otherism" of the intellectual, moneyed counterparts of his at Yale, he attacks them for thinking ill of his mother, but before that talks about his family as if he's ten, attacks their own experiences, and he does appear to have a severe lack of maturity & worldview that makes JD the character insufferable throughout (this was one of the many problems with the book).  JD is unlikable, and while obviously he rose above tough surroundings to make it to Yale (one has to assume that he has a modicum of intelligence, or at least ambition, in real life to get to that level), the character in the movie is hopeless.

You of course don't buy a ticket to this movie to talk about JD, even though it's his story; you buy it because Amy Adams & Glenn Close are starring in the movie.  I'm sorry to say that if you're here for them to finally win their overdue Oscars, they're either not getting them or they're getting them for the wrong performances.  Adams has no grounding in this woman, playing each scene to the hilt & creating no consistency in her; the script does her zilch favors (as does the entire quandary around JD being a black hole for charisma), but this is the worst performance I've seen from Adams.  It's a mess from a brilliant actress.  Close is better, and the only thing remotely worth saving in this movie (she plays her part much more subdued than Adams), but it's still dismissible, and she cannot ground the childlike idolization of Mamaw with her being a real woman.  It's a part that'd be easy to root for if you liked the movie...but I cannot fathom why someone would like this movie.

The Nest (2020)

Film: The Nest (2020)

Stars: Jude Law, Carrie Coon, Charlie Shotwell, Oona Roche, Anne Reid, Michael Culkin

Director: Sean Durkin

Oscar History: No nominations

Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

One of the weirder aspects of 2020 in terms of my film-watching is the lack of trailers.  While I have watched trailers for films, they haven't been an omnipresent part of my life, not in the way they usually are.  This time of year, I'd have been seeing, say, the trailers for Soul and Wonder Woman virtually every three days as I plopped into another screening leading up to Christmas.  In 2020, though, I don't have that experience.  There isn't a ubiquity with movies.  This means that I'm less likely to take chances on random films that I might otherwise not (movie trailers, like most advertisements, work to some degree, and seen enough times will make me want to check out a picture), but it also means I don't know what I'm getting into for a film unless it's a sequel or remake.  I realized that about twenty minutes into The Nest, a drama from earlier this year with two leads so good I didn't feel I needed to test drive it with critical consensus (Coon & Law are enough to "buy the ticket"), but I also had no clue what direction we were heading.  This was one of several thrilling aspects about The Nest, a complicated look at marriage & money that doesn't exactly pay off, but is intriguing enough to be worth your time.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie focuses on Rory O'Hara (Law), an English businessman, and his horse trainer wife Allison (Coon), who are living in 1980's New York City when Rory decides that a job opportunity in the UK affords him a new lease on life.  Allison is reluctant (they and their two children have moved a lot for Rory's jobs, and she doesn't want to uproot them yet again), but she acquiesces when Rory insists it's a good financial opportunity for the family.  As they move, Rory seems successful, but this turns out to be smoke-and-mirrors.  He is running the family into-the-ground with debt, and despite their opulent surroundings, they are behind on their bills & risking their financial security to appear wealthy.  This causes trouble in their marriage & parenting, as Allison becomes an absent mother and Rory's need to sink risky deals causes strife at work, with him living a false life.  The film ends with their lives found out, with Allison uncovering that her husband is not, in fact, a wealthy success but barely making ends meet (she does this at a business dinner), and the family is forced to confront, honestly but now together, their collective lies about their situation (so that they can actually be happy).

The Nest has a few moments of sheer brilliance.  The best part is coming from Law's & Coon's performances, because they play Rory & Allison as if we're in the middle of a movie from the start.  Allison has growth, but she starts out already knowing her husband is probably going to fail-you see that in the way she hoards her own money.  We initially assume this is because he doesn't share it with her, or because she's hiding a secret...but the movie's script (and the enigmatic musical score keying this up as more of a thriller or horror film than marital drama) turns our assumptions about this woman on their heads as we learn she's protecting the money from her husband, not hoarding it, because she knows he'll spend this money.

This confidence about the characters really works from the start nearly to the finish, as we spend much of the movie rethinking past actions.  Rory goes to meet his long-ignored mother (Anne Reid in a great cameo), and we again assume that she's not part of his life because of some problem of his childhood, but as the movie goes, we understand that Rory is a constant liar, needing to better himself (even without hard work), and it's possible his mother couldn't handle that anymore in her life.  

These sharp observations from the lead actors are so terrific, that it almost makes up for the movie not really going anywhere.  The ending is a cheat-I don't honestly know how the movie should've ended, but them just pretending that everything is suddenly going to be okay runs counter to a lot of the rest of the film.  It also doesn't help that there was such ominous attitude toward the house, and the dead horse (it's a red herring, but occasionally the hints that we're about to enter a horror movie feel like a distraction more than a twist on our expectations), that you leave wanting more mystery, more climax, to the film's ending.  But it's a really great piece-of-work from lead actors Law & Coon, both providing mountains of backstory to their portrayals.

OVP: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020)

Film: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020)

Stars: Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman, Glynn Turman, Colman Domingo

Director: George C. Wolfe

Oscar History: 5 nominations/2 wins (Best Actor-Chadwick Boseman, Actress-Viola Davis, Costume*, Production Design, Makeup & Hairstyling*)

Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

August Wilson is one of the towering figures of the American stage, a brilliant playwright who only four years ago (posthumously) was able to translate one of his titanic works to the screen, with 2016's Fences.  Denzel Washington has stated he intends to produce every one of Wilson's ten "Pittsburgh Cycle" films to the screen in the coming years, with Ma Rainey being the second one.  With Fences, I felt it was a gorgeous screenplay, but one that didn't translate properly to the movies, frequently feeling like a screened play rather than one that was authentic to the cinema itself, and in the process parts of it felt too loud & lost (even with solid actors & writing).  Ma Rainey adds new complications to this problem by occasionally feeling like it's letting the air out of the story's claustrophobia, even if (once again) the writing is of another realm.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie takes place in Chicago in the 1920's.  Ma Rainey (Davis) is the "Mother of the Blues," the biggest African-American music act in the country, and she knows that she has this little perch of power even if she is unable to enjoy the same luxuries & treatment a white woman in her position would achieve.  The film alternates between Ma's moments of reflection & "star" behavior, and counters it with her band, principally her trumpet player Levee (Boseman), who has a new musical style & wants to find his own voice & success, rather than staying in Ma's shadow.  As the film wears on, the two characters are given more backstory to the audience, with Ma showing the struggles she has with the white men in her life, knowing she's only worth anything to them because of her voice (and the money that it brings), while Levee cannot escape the trauma of his childhood (when white men gang-raped his mother).  The other bandmates watch as Ma, who has survived & will continue to be the exception, gets to continue her success even though it's one that isn't commensurate to the money & success it affords her label, but knowing that Levee will meet his doom with his youthful impetuousness.  In the film's closing moments, Levee is fired by Ma, and it turns out that the songs that he was going to record for the label, the ones he'd been promised to record, will be sold for a mere pittance to the label instead.  In a blind rage, after one of the other bandmates accidentally scuffs the shoes Levee bought in the opening scene (and can no longer afford), he kills him, the violence of his childhood continuing on into his adulthood, finally consuming his hope & promise.

The movie has a heavy conversation about the value of black artistry & its exploitation by white capitalists, a conversation that has never really been settled, and one that sadly even in 2020 is worth having.  The movie's juxtaposition of Ma, who is the rare black woman of the era who can demand more (but knows that she can't demand what she's truly worth) with Levee (whose talent is apparent in the end when his song is recorded lifelessly by an all-white orchestra, depriving him of his chance at Ma's success) is heartbreaking.  Wilson shows the ways that for centuries black talent has been stolen with little profit to the creators, and frequently the artists who created it were barely given credit, much less its monetary value, for their workm.  Wilson's rapid-fire dialogue & insightful speeches create a well-rounded story, one that deserved to be committed to the screen.

But the film struggles once again to find its footing within the confines of the screen.  I know some enjoy the concept of a filmed play (there are times this is successful onscreen), but Ma Rainey can't find a balancing act here.  The play appears to take place entirely in the recording studio, giving a heightened tension that would work so well on the stage, and I suspect would've been a better choice for the film (the scenes shot outside almost never work as well).  This expansion gives the viewer too much exposition toward Ma's character, a problem that feels necessary because while Davis is good in this part, she doesn't bring enough backstory to her Ma.  Ma feels like she's meant to have some enigma at first, this sort of unicorn siren who is able to defy the world around her despite her race & sexuality being at odds with the moneyed culture she's surrounded by, but as the movie moves on we need to gain an understanding of Ma, and it doesn't quite click for me as Davis goes.  It doesn't help that Davis doesn't sing the part, and her lip syncing feels hollow during the moments where we need to understand Ma the most.  She's too good of an actress to totally miss this, but the connection to Ma just isn't there the way it's supposed to be.

Or perhaps Viola Davis just gets upstaged, as Chadwick Boseman (despite the title) ensures that he is the star of this production.  The late Boseman has some of the same problems that come to Davis (his monologues feel like they're pitched to a giant live audience rather than someone sitting on their couch...this movie definitely misses in moving out of theaters), but he lands some of his biggest moments.  The final scenes, where Levee understands that the vengeance he's idolized for his father, and told in his head was worth it, was in fact just the same white men who he sought revenge on stealing his father's future the way they did his mother, that this vengeance was just another robbery of his childhood & a cycle he can't escape...it's gut-wrenching stuff.  It's impossible to escape the real-life fact that this will be Boseman's swan song after his shocking death from cancer earlier this year, and this informs some of his monologues about death & "the future" in ways that feel so cruel as we understand what Levee's fate will be, his artistry never getting the chance to fully blossom.  I get the reason to add on an additional scene (with the white men singing in a chorus of Levee's song, showing that the profiting still continues), but it feels like a cheap way to take away from the best parts of Boseman's work, and give the audience some reprieve from the harrowing robbery of one man's spirit that has taken place under their noses for 90 minutes prior.

OVP: Nomadland (2020)

Film: Nomadland (2020)

Stars: Frances McDormand, David Strathairn, Linda May, Charlene Swankie, Bob Wells

Director: Chloe Zhao

Oscar History: 6 nominations/3 wins (Best Picture*, Director*, Actress-Frances McDormand*, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing)

Snap Judgment Ranking: 5/5 stars

Few films this year have instantly gotten the rapturous reviews of Nomadland.  One of several titles that technically came out in 2020 (but will hit wide release in 2021), the movie has been greeted with hosannas for director Chloe Zhao & lead actress Frances McDormand.  I did not see Zhao's last film (The Rider), but heard great things, and was excited to see what all the fuss was about, so when Lincoln Center did a very limited release I jumped at the opportunity & got tickets.  What I found was a beautiful, thoughtful film that lived up to the hype & will make you look at America differently when we escape from this wretched year (and are able to see it once more).

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie is a lot about feeling, and very little on plot, but essentially this is the story of Fern (McDormand).  She's a woman who lives on the outer edges of society, taking on odd jobs in factories & restaurants to essentially ensure that she can pay for food & her van, which she lives in.  As the movie progresses, she's mentored by a series of real-life figures (May, Swankie, & Wells, none of whom are professional actors), as well as briefly being courted by David (Strathairn), another drifter who seems like he'll give up this life to spend time with his grandchild.  The movie doesn't give us anything in terms of flashback, but through stories we understand that Fern has been in mourning for her husband, who passed away, and the house that she used to live in before the Great Recession closed down the factory in her town, & essentially made her destitute.

The movie is the type that probably doesn't play as well on the small screen (that's how I saw it, for the record, as Minnesota's theaters are closed).  I've seen the way that people watch movies (including me, sometimes, I won't lie), where they are half distracted, pressing pause or glancing down at their cell phones while something is happening, and that's not going to work for Nomadland.  This is a film that is as much about establishing a mood as it is about a story (very little actually happens if you just go by plot), and so if you're not fully concentrated you're going to miss something.

Because Nomadland is the rare picture in 2020 that genuinely has "cinematography" as a calling card (other than Mank, this is the only time this has really happened for me this year).  Joshua James Richards recalls Terrence Malick in the wind-swept ways that he lights the screen, and it's really something to behold; always elegant, never forced, just radiant light across the screen.

Nomadland is not for the cynical, but that's not an affliction I carry too heavily, as it's slightly too long & definitely wants to bring hope to situations that many of us look on with pity.  Fern is a woman who has been dealt an impossibly bad hand (a dead husband, lost financial security, & a foreclosed home), but still sees herself as a winner, and wants you to see that too.  McDormand is the perfect choice for such a role, a natural Hollywood outsider who fights some of her more indulgent acting tics (there's no shades of Mildred Hayes even when it might have scored her a bigger onscreen moment to be tough-as-nails), she brings a sensitivity, and a worn quality to Fern that just sings onscreen.  Zhao's ode to a changing America, and the way that the spirit of its citizens is never crushed (even as the bureaucracy of the country insists on it being trampled repeatedly) is a fresh film, and I left enamored & I left full of promise.