I’m finally about to sit through Pablo Larrain ‘s Maria (Netflix, 12.11) which I blew off seeing during last September’s Telluride Film Festival.
Reviews have been middling to mediocre, and I just know it’s going to sap my spirit and send me into the doldrums.
In my eyes, ears and soul the first two of Larrain’s feminist dramas — Jackie and Spencer — were torture to sit through, and it’ll be a miracle if I wind up being pleasantly surprised by Maria.
Later today I’m also going to sit through Part Two of TheBrutalist, and I guess I’m kind of wondering how the…uhm, violation scene will be handled.
John Williams is best known for having composed knockout scores for a long list of Steven Spielberg films, reaching all the way back to the Gerald R. Ford administraion. But of all his rousing musical world-builders, the absolute peak was his score for E.T., the Extra Terrestrial (’82). The final four minutes of Spielberg’s suburban family fantasy is owned by Williams’ violins, horns and cymbal-crash moments. It’s as if the film’s emotional finale exists to support Williams’ music rather than the other way around.
YouTube commenter: “Very few movies have an emotional climax this poignant and tear-inducing, and so much of that comes from Williams’ score here. Really one of his greatest moments, and Spielberg trusts that Williams will deliver.”
HE’s own Bobby Peru wrote the other day that I’ve become a broken anti-woke record. “Several posts per week for years about the same topic is ridiculous,” he wrote, “especially when the culture has moved on from an antiquated term that only still holds water in conservative echo chambers.”
HE’s wise and comprehensive reply will, of course, be lost on the likes of Mr. Peru. Because members of the woke left**, like vampires, are unable to see their own reflection:
“You can kvetch and complain all you want, Bobby, but the below video is a dose of trans-mocking humor, and it’s FUNNY.
“You can kvetch and complain all you want, Bobby, but Kamala Harris lost the election because she wouldn’t acknowledge that woke-ism (which includes (a) an across-the-board dismissal of straight white dudes and (b) a screeching rejection of the way things used to be before progressive left INSANITY invaded the culture around six or seven years ago) is even a thing, much less a form of social retribution.
A few weeks ago Bill Maher described the Democratic party as a ‘Portlandia sketch.’
“Wokeism, you’ve written, is ‘an antiquated term that holds water only in conservative echo chambers’? The presidential election happened only six weeks ago, and a mass rejection of progressive left insanity was a significant factor in Kamala’s loss. SIX WEEKS AGO.
“You can kvetch and complain all you want, Bobby, but wokeism (or fear of woke judgment about any number of sins and shortcomings, including presumed transphobia) is why Emilia Perez is one of the five Best Picture hotties as we speak. Criticizing this film COULD lead to accusations of bigotry and a subsequent loss of income and so (hellooo?) people are playing it safe by saying they love it, and this is an ongoing social awareness thing RIGHT NOW. Which signifies, obviously, that people haven’t ‘moved on.’
“Gender-neutrai acting awards represent a kind of fungus on the brain. Nobody wants members of the trans community to get anything but a fair and unbiased shake in any field of endeavor, but trans trendiness resulting in the elimination of basic gender norms that have been in place since the first stirrings of life on planet earth?…get outta here, man!”
Friendo #1: “Your readers, like Bobby, are insane on the subject. They don’t get it. They’re quadrupling down on living in their bubble. They don’t get the MYTHOLOGY of the trans issue — that it’s not about ‘trans rights,’ but about the progressive left’s hostility to gender norms. We can see that in something as trivial-yet-revealing as the movement in movie awards toward gender-neutral acting categories.
“Ordinary. People. Do. Not. Like. This. Shit.
“And yes, that’s why Emilia Pérez –an utter mediocrity as far as I’m concerned (you can feel the film slide into emotional and dramatic oblivion in its second half) — is shaping up as a potential Best Picture winner.”
Friendo #2: ‘You should remind Bobby that the UK just banned puberty blockers, which makes the US the only major nation that hasn’t.
“The woke thing is a disease that has spread all over, and even other countries are now pissed at the US. I was watching The Brutalist (but it could be any Oscar movie) and I thought, okay, here we go. Now the Black character has entered the story and we must patiently wait for the narrative to play out so everyone can not feel guilty about themselves and the Academy will accept their film as meeting the standards of the DEI mandate. EVERY MOVIE. EVERY MOVIE.
“Remind Bobby that Hollywood can only tell the same story, and tell it over and over and over again.
“It’s Christian rock, essentially. Bow down to the gods of woke or you will be punished. We just accept it now and try hard to like movies within that context but they are all mandated to be woke. Some are better movies than others but every one them adheres to the ideology. Even A Complete Unknown adheres in this respect by leaning hard into the heartache felt by Elle Fanning‘s Sylvie Russo (aka Suze Rotolo) and Monica Barbaro‘s Joan Baez (had it with that sellfish asshole!)
“They seem to want their films to appeal to women’s studies graduates from Oberlin.”
** HE remains a sensible left-centrist. Okay, just a centrist.
If there’s a slight problem with ACompleteUnknown, it’s that Timothee Chalamet’s Bob Dylan is a little too elusive and circumspect — too much of an artful dodger or a snotty sidestepper — to register in straight dramatic terms.
It needs at least one scene in which Dylan lays his cards on the table and says “this is what I want” or “this is who I fucking am or at least who I’m not any more”…something like that.
And if you ask me, Dylan’s ramblingremarks at the BillofRightsdinner at the Americana hotel on 12.13.63 (three weeks after JFK’s murder) are fairly declarative in this sense.
Martin Scorsese read from Dylan’s remarks in a passage from NoDirectionHome (‘05), his 208-minute documentary about roughly the same period in Dylan’s life that ACompleteUnknown covers. Re-using this event — this scene, these words — would have added a little something to James Mangold and JayCocks’ upcoming feature.
Excerpt: “Man, I just don’t see any colors at all when I look out. I don’t see any colors at all, and if people have taught anything through the years [it’s] to look at colors. I’ve read history books, but I’ve never seen one history book that tells how anybody feels. I’ve found facts about our history, I’ve found out what people know about what goes on but I’ve never found anything about what anybody feels about anything that happens.
”It’s all just plain facts. And it don’t help me one little bit to look back.
“I wish sometimes I could have come in here in the 1930s like my first idol – used to have an idol, Woody Guthrie, who came in the 1930s. [Applause] But it has sure changed in the time Woody’s been here and the time I’ve been here. It’s not that easy any more. People seem to have more fears.
“There’s no black and white, left and right to me anymore. There’s only up and down and down is very close to the ground. And I’m trying to go up without thinking about anything trivial such as politics.”
But my gut tells me he’s griefstruck by the news that Paul “hawknose” Mescal will play him in the Sam Mendes Beatle flicks. For vanity reasons alone. It’ll be like Cary Grant being portrayed by Seth Rogen.
In HE’s judgment, the decision of the Critics Choice members to ignore the obviously superior Babygirl in the Best Picture category, not to mention failing to nominate Nicole Kidman and HarrisDickinson in their respective acting categories, is a bad thing.
It is, in fact, conclusive proof that they’re mostly a congregation of prissy little status quo cowards ….subservient suck-ups, I mean, who haven’t the character or courage to stand up for a film that really and truly excites and provokes.
“Americans get the willies when it comes to strong sexual content,” a friend remarks. People like this are what’s wrong with the film world.
Conclave and Wickedlanded 11 nominations each, and Anora — clearly the best of the bunch — only landed four noms.
Wicked is fine — I felt agreeably rocked when I caught the NYC all-media — but please don’t drop to your knees and give this YA girl fantasy the top prize…no!
The CC empties nominated The Substance for Best Picture but blew off The Apprentice? We all love Hugh Grant but nominating his Heretic performance while blanking Sebastian Stan‘s Donald Trump, not to mention Jeremy Strong‘s Roy Cohn in the supporting category? C’mon!
