Not a role that I liked, but I do hope she wins (admittedly I’m not familiar with the other nominees) — I really liked her in Field of Dreams. She is 75 today. When she was 35 she was nominated for best supporting actress in Twice in a Lifetime (1985), and per wiki this 40-year gap is the longest between two nominations for an actress.
The Short Film nominees have been in the theaters (and are most likely streaming as well) for about a week. I saw Animated and Live Action Yesterday and thought I better post my thoughts before they begin to blur together in my memory.
Best Live Action Short Film
Butcher’s Stain
A Friend of Dorothy
Jane Austen’s Period Drama
The Singers
Two People Exchanging Saliva
The good news is that this year’s nominees are not as relentlessly downbeat as is traditional in this category. The bad news is that the most downbeat nominees are the most likely to win (the voters like their faux profundity, yes they do). My favorites are the most upbeat, The Singers, which is a nice little shaggy dog of a story, and Jane Austen’s Period Drama, which is just laugh out loud hilarious. Neither has any chance. Most likely winners are either the dystopian Two People Exchanging Saliva or Butcher’s Stain, which makes a timely political statement. A Friend of Dorothy is the nominee that is most out of place. Nice, but aside from the obvious theme, not much there there,
Best Animated Short Film
Butterfly
Forevergreen
The Girl Who Cried Pearls
Retirement Plan
The Three Sisters
Another category which usually downbeat (because profound is always tragic, dontcha know). So the most downbeat nominee, Butterfly is the one most likely to win (though it deserves some merit for the innovative animation). Both Forevergreen and The Three Sisters are pleasant, but not remarkable. I liked The Girl Who Cried Pearls, despite the poor story resolution and Retirement Plan is clever and sly, so I’m torn between these two as to the “best”.
I actively hated The Three Sisters. The messaging of it was so bizarre and tone deaf. Women are sad and lonely and drab unless a man is in their life, no matter how gross he is. Any man will do. I kept waiting for the twist that would turn that idea on its head but nope, that’s literally all the story is. No thank you.
Butterfly is heads above all the other nominees both in animation and story. I was really enjoying Forevergreen until they added the religious glurge at the end.
I just saw a movie I liked: Song Sung Blue. A nice story, albeit a bit sad. A good movie. It helps that I like Neil Diamond’s music but I don’t think that’s required to like this movie.
For the 3rd year in a row, I have now completed seeing all 50 nominated films in all 24 categories! This year was much easier to see all the films than the past two. (Could have finished last week but was putting off The Lost Bus and Relentless. Turns out the Dianne Warren doc was actually rather good!)
I still have Train Dreams to watch, otherwise I’ve seen all the other Best Picture nominees. And I’m sticking with (in no particular order) Frankenstein, Hamnet, and Sentimental Value. But I predict (do not want, and will not agree, but predict) that Sinners will win Best Picture.