Nominees: Leave No Trace, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, The Rider, Transit, The Other Side of the Wind, Eighth Grade, Roma, Dark River, Woman at War, The Favourite, Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski
Oscars pick: Green Book
Nominees: Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman, Bohemian Rhapsody, Roma, The Favourite, A Star is Born, Vice
Phew, somebody open a window cause Oscar stunk it up this year! Vice was awful, Rhapsody shouldn't have been allowed anywhere near the award. And while race and race relations between blacks and whites was a hot topic for the Academy, they didn't even bother to nominate the best film centered on the subject (Beale Street) and their big winner was among the weakest. Green Book was, okay - but you weren't giving an award for "Most 'Okay' Motion Picture". You're saying this was the best the season had to offer. Embarrassing. Because there was so, so much better out there. Like, Leave No Trace, Eighth Grade, and my pick...
If Beale Street Could Talk is another winner from director Barry Jenkins, who adapts the James Baldwin story with the same empathy and directorial precision we saw in his Oscar winner, Moonlight. While he omits scenes and makes a few changes to the source material, it still retains the frustration and anger over the injustices suffered by these characters...
However Jenkin’s isn’t only crying out against the insanity of this situation and the racism faced by minorities overall, he's also celebrating a love story. He shows us the beauty in that love, in both small and big ways, and the foundation of respect the couple share as they bond. A bond that can’t be shattered when one partner is falsely accused of rape.
This blending of serenity and outrage brings to mind the masters of Japanese cinema, humanists like Mizoguchi, who could show us grace in the little things (a walk, a gift, a meal, a look) and how these graces can sustain us, even when the sorrows and suffering of hell threaten to engulf everything pure and good in the world.
Despite a few off-key moments (the cop looking cartoonishly evil) my reaction to the film was mostly, overwhelming positive. From score to photography, story, and performance. Beale Street is a stunning social/character piece. I'm really looking forward to future productions from Jenkins. He's quickly become a favorite.
My top film rakings for 2018
🎭 Acting? Real difficult decisions here, especially with the ladies. With the gentlemen... John C. Reilly had a stellar year. The character actor showed a lot of range and nuance in the Sisters Brothers - where it starts off like he's simply going to play his typical (if wonderful) big, dumb lug - but as the film progresses we see he's truly the heart, mind, and soul of the duo. He provides humor, but there's also a lot more to him. He's always trying to improve himself, longing for a future with stability, love, and family. Eli's a great character, but Reilly wasn't done there, as he also disappears into the role of Oliver Hardy in Stan & Ollie.
In addition to my winners and nominees, I liked Zhao Tao in Ash Is Purest White, Dominique Fishback in Night Comes On, Samal Yeslyamova in Ayka, Rooney Mara in Mary Magdalene, Kiera Knightly in Colette, Karen Gillan in The Party’s Just Beginning, Chloe Grace Moretz in The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Steve Coogan Stan & Ollie, Charlie Plummer, Lean on Pete, and Zain Al Rafeea in Capernaum. Several gems at support include Regina King, Beale Street, Kirin Kiki, Shoplifters, Richard E. Grant, Can You Ever Forgive Me? And a whole bunch from Buster Scruggs - Zoe Kazan, Bill Heck, Tim Blake Nelson, Harry Melling, Tom Waits, and Grainger Hines.
Honorable Mentions:
Ben Foster, Leave No Trace * Rupert Everett, The Happy Prince * Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody * Marcello Fonte, Dogman * Alessandro Borghi, On My Skin * Willem Dafoe, At Eternity's Gate * John Huston, The Other Side of the Wind * Jakob Cedergren, The Guilty
Honorable Mentions:
Halldóra Geirharðsdóttirm, Woman at War * Charlize Theron, Tully * Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me? * Thomasin McKenzie, Leave No Trace * Colman, Weisz, and Stone, The Favourite * Jessie Buckley, Beast * Ruth Wilson, Dark River * Julianne Nicholson, Who We Are Now * Sakura Ando, Shoplifters
Supporting Actress: Elizabeth Debicki, Widows
Supporting Actor: Steven Yeun, Burning
