LOOK, THE NEWS IS ALL BAD.
asserted
NEWS → look → ?
Wars, plagues, vice presidents completely lacking a moral compass . . . and that’s just the bad news generated by Russia.
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that → lack → Russia
The one bright spot, at least for your humble narrator, is that there’s a whole mess of good movies on the horizon as we head into awards season.
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we → ’ → season
I reviewed one of them this week: Fjord is a fascinating movie, the Palme d’Or winner at Cannes earlier this year and a surefire foreign feature nominee at the Oscars in March.
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Fjord → review → March
It was on a handful of screens last weekend and is expanding wider this weekend; I hope you check it out if you get a chance.
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you → expand → chance
But if Fjord is not to your liking—and it’s a 2.5-hour Norwegian-and-English-language film, so I can understand why you might hesitate—you can check out the surprise hit of the fall: You Can See Everything is poised to be the highest-grossing documentary in some years following its $15 million opening weekend on just 855 screens.
uncertain
You → ’ → screens
It too expands this weekend and is the talk of the town.
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It → expand → town
I don’t know if it’ll get a best documentary nod (the documentary branch is notoriously stuffy and may well resent the games that co-directors Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim play with the genre’s form), but I can’t imagine it won’t get a best picture nomination.
uncertain
it → know → nomination
This is a movie unlike any I’ve ever seen, and I think the Academy’s going to go nuts for it.
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Academy → see → it
All of which is to say: We’re off to the races.
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We → say → races
Here are a handful of movies I have circled on my calendar as we hit the meaty part of awards season.
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we → circle → season
Fatherland, opening in limited release this weekend and expanding next weekend, is the latest film from Paweł Pawlikowski.
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Fatherland → open → Pawlikowski
The Polish entry for best international feature at the Oscars next year is the latest in what has been described as his historical trilogy, following Ida (2013) and Cold War (2018).
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what → describe → Ida
I was a little soft on Ida but found Cold War to be tremendously moving, a fascinating meditation on the ways in which the Communist state deformed art and artists alike.
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state → find → art
So it is with some surprise that I find myself anticipating Jesse Eisenberg’s The Debut so keenly.
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myself → find → Debut
The film stars Julianne Moore as a housewife who wants to be an actress and decides to join an amateur stage musical.
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who → star → musical
One of the reasons I’m so curious about the film is that it may well get a best original song nomination for Eisenberg.
uncertain
it → ’m → Eisenberg
It hits theaters on December 11.
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It → hit → December
Wild Horse Nine (out on November 6) is a movie, written and directed by Martin McDonagh, about bickering hitmen (Sam Rockwell and John Malkovich) on an unusual job in an unusual locale.
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Nine → write → locale
In other words: It sounds a lot like In Bruges.1
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It → sound → Bruges.1
Given that In Bruges is one of the ten best movies of the first decade of this century, I’m pretty excited.
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I → give → century
Behemoth! (December 4), meanwhile, sounds very different from everything else Tony Gilroy has ever made: something to do with orchestras and relationships, with Pedro Pascal as a cellist?
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Gilroy → sound → cellist
I don’t know!
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I → know → ?
And yet, Tony Gilroy made another of the best movies of that same decade, one Michael Clayton, as well as the best piece of Star Wars content since Revenge of the Sith, his Disney+ show Andor.
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Gilroy → make → Sith
(I interviewed Gilroy about it last year, no big deal.)
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I → interview → it
So yeah, I’m pretty excited for Behemoth!
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I → ’m → Behemoth
And one last big film seems likely to rack up some nominations: I speak, of course, of Dune: Part Three.
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I → seem → Dune
Now, I’m one of the weird few who seem to have preferred the first Dune film to the second, but the buzz on this third entry is through the roof.
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buzz → ’m → roof
Denis Villeneuve has never really gotten the love he deserves from the Academy, but this might be the one that finally breaks through with awards voters.
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that → get → voters
We’ll see!
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We → see → ?
Sony Exits the Physical Media Game
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Sony → exit → Game
It looks like Sony is readying a complete exit from the home video market, as news broke this week that the Japanese electronics firm is no longer planning on offering its flagship 4K UHD player in Japan.
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firm → look → Japan
This is not quite an extinction-level event for hoarders collectors of physical media, but it’s not a great sign.
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it → ’ → media
I’ve always said that the biggest concern for those of us who still buy little discs with motion pictures embedded within them isn’t that studios will stop releasing them (or allowing third parties to manufacture them) but that the manufacturers of the players themselves will decide the squeeze is no longer worth the juice.
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squeeze → say → players
And look, I get it: No one really cares about this.
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one → look → this
They have streaming!
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They → have → streaming
It’s convenient!
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It → ’ → ?
And they don’t care about the degraded image quality, or the fact that rights keep hopping from service to service, or that when you “buy” a streaming movie you’ve really bought only a temporary license that can be taken away.
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that → care → license
But they should care!
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they → care → ?
In a world of media consolidation, where just a handful of corporations headed by a few billionaires control most of what you see, do you really want to trust that the movies you love will be available, in perpetuity, sans edits?
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you → head → edits
…and 21 more, not listed.
The Aporia
