Herewith is a rundown of HE’s drop-out moments (or lack of) as they apply to 2024’s leading Best Picture contenders, of which there are 15 or 16.
It was screenwriter William Goldman (Marathon Man, All The President’s Men, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) who first explained what a drop-out moment is — i.e., when something happens in a film that just makes you collapse inside, that makes you surrender interest and faith in the ride that you’re on. You might stay in your seat and watch the film to the end, but you’ve essentially “left” the theatre.
The movie had you and then lost you, and it’s not your fault.
HE’s simpler definition: An element or aspect of a film that is so abhorrent or unsettling or indigestible that you can’t help but respond with “okay, that’s it…I quit.” Classic example: I dropped out of Parasite when the drunken con-artist mom lets the fired maid into the Seoul mansion in the middle of a fierce rainstorm.
1. Sean Baker‘s Anora — no drop-out moments whatsoever…holds you start to finish….builds and builds and then settles in for a surprisingly intimate finish. Bull’s-eye.
2. Edward Berger‘s Conclave — I was fascinated from the get-go and by the ending in particular (no spoilers), but others have been calling it a drop-out moment. I’m not saying they’re wrong, but I was totally “wow…talk about pushing the wokey.”
3. Denis Villeneuve‘s Dune II — I wasn’t able to follow the story, but the acting, cinematography, production design, editing and music were such that I was completely enthralled. I read the Wikipedia plot synopsis as I watched.
4. Jacques Audiard‘s Emilia Perez — I dropped out the instant I learned that a drug cartel kingpin, Juan “Manitas” Del Monte (Karla Sofia Gascon), wants to surgically transition into becoming a woman as a way of escaping from his drug-kingpin life. I stayed in my seat and watched Emilia Perez to the end, but I wasn’t the least bit invested. No way would a big-time cartel guy go trans.
5. Brady Corbet‘s The Brutalist — I totally dropped out during an early bus-station scene in which Adrien Brody‘s Laszlo Toth, a Hungarian holocaust refugee, succumbs to effusive, gushing sobs upon being told by his furniture store-owning cousin (Alessandro Nivola) that his wife Erzsebet (Felicity Jones) has survived the Holocaust horrors of Eastern European Jewry. He was crying way too much…stop it! I felt tortured and doomed by the notion of having to hang with this lethargic simpleton for the next three-plus hours….aaaggghhhh!
6. Greg Kwedar‘s Sing Sing. I dropped out roughly 10 or 15 minutes into the film, which is when I realized it wouldn’t be delivering a story of any kind and was basically a documentary-styled acting-exercise movie.
7. Steve McQueen‘s Blitz. I still haven’t seen it, but I dropped out anyway when I read it wasn’t going to debut at the Venice, Telluride or Toronto film festivals. I knew it would be an underwhelmer.
8. Ridley Scott‘s Gladiator II. I dropped out the instant when I read that Paul Mescal would be playing Lucius Verus, the son of Russell Crowe‘s Maximus.
9. Jesse Eisenberg‘s A Real Pain. No drop-out moments. Total engagement start to finish.
10. Jason Reitman‘s Saturday Night. I dropped out when I learned of the basic premise, which was that the 1975 debut episode of Saturday Night Live was a totally chaotic, juggling-balls, Hellzapoppin’ situation, which it actually wasn’t if you listen to Chevy Chase, who should know.
11. James Mangold‘s A Complete Unknown — I haven’t seen it although I’m told a certain former Oscar blogger has had a looksee and that he believes that Timothee Chalamet‘s performance as Bob Dylan will become a highly favored Best Actor contender. I haven’t seen Babygirl either.
12. Luca Guadagnino‘s Queer — No drop-out moments…the entire film is a drop=in…the sexuality is there, obviously, but subordinate to the spiritual current, the exotic atmosphere, Daniel Craig and Drew Starkey’s truly fascinating performances, the nimble editing, the South American jungle scenes….the trippy mystical vibe kinda sneaks up on you…it’s one of the most fascinating, out-there films about vulnerability, transformative intimacy and emotionality that I’ve ever seen…amazing!
13. Ali Abassi‘s The Apprentice — No drop-out moments. A fascinating, first-rate exploration of Donald Trump and Roy Cohn‘s student-mentor rleationshp in the ’70s and ’80s.
14. Tim Fehlbaum‘s September 5. No drop-outs — held me all the way through.
15. Payal Kapadia‘s All We Imagine As Light. No drop-outs.
