Babygirl (c) A24
One drawback to seeing movies before they open commercially (humble bragging, sorry) is that I have spoiler questions or thoughts that I couldn’t never bring up in my reviews, because I respect my readers (you’re welcome). But at the end of every movie year, I do have to get them off my chest with spoiler thoughts for people who have finally seen these films. This column is actually a throwback to something my younger self would do: email friends and co-workers (who wanted them or not) thoughts on award shows the night before.
So, read on with caution for
Major Spoilers,
just in case you didn’t see the films.
Emilia Pérez (c) Netflix
THE BRUTALIST / EMILIA PÉREZ
There are two movies that are getting the most love this year, from film twitter (The Brutalist) and the film industry (Emilia Pérez). The latter seems to be the villain of the Oscar season and has been facing criticism of trans ignorance and Mexican stereotypes from a director that is neither (director Jacques Audiard is cis male and French). I totally defer to both those communities regarding their feelings and their dislike of this film. But, I still enjoyed Emilia Pérez and its wide swings, especially the committed performances by the actors. My personal justification is that Emilia (played fiercely by Karla Sofía Gastón) is a crime boss from a poorer section of Mexico, so maybe she doesn’t have the right words for what she’s feeling, but that doesn’t make her journey any less valid. The controversial and unfortunate song “La Vaginoplastica” is bad, but it is sung by a shady doctor who is doing it for the money, so his cynicism and tastelessness in the song may stem from that. As for the horrible Mexican representation, just talk to the Italians who protested The Godfather on its release or me when that seemingly acceptable, horrific Chinese stereotype moment happened in the still-lauded Licorice Pizza. But movie characters do not represent all the members of the group they belong to. Characters are flawed, no matter their race, gender or social standing.
The Brutalist (c) A24
I do like The Brutalist more than Emilia Pérez, but Brady Corbet’s almost four-hour movie seems to be getting a pass for, what seems to me, a rather homophobic moment in his film that changes the course of two main characters. Corbet’s film is about a Jewish architect named Lásló (Adrian Brody) who escapes Europe after WWII and lands in the US to equal amounts of antisemitism and hatred of foreign immigrants from the Americans he meets, including his rich, American employer Harrison (Guy Pearce). At the turning point of the film, Lásló, who is a heroin addict, is having a bad trip and is lying on the streets of Italy when Harrison happens upon him. As Harrison tries to get Lásló back to the hotel, he is so disgusted by Lásló, that he rapes him on that empty street. As a metaphor, this is Corbet’s most blunt and obvious, representing how Americans feel and treat their immigrants. But as the movie leads to its conclusion, Harrison is confronted at a family party by Lásló’s wife (Felicity Jones) who says Lásló has been broken by that horrible event, which Harrison believed he would never remember. Harrison runs away out of shame and is never heard from again. The fact that Corbet chose an act that he thought would be the worst thing ever to happen to a man (being raped) as opposed to other physical harm/disfigurement falls into the stereotype of gay panic, which straight cis men have used as the basis for hate crimes. Although Harrison is married and has children, it is possible that he could be closeted. But Lásló is straight (he is even asked by a prostitute early in the film after a bad sexual encounter if he wouldn’t rather have a male hooker, for which he declines), and to have this moment being the most humiliated moment of both men’s lives again feels like a cis hetero man’s worst nightmare. It is a horrible act, but to have it be the lynchpin that changes the course of the movie feels a bit odd. (Ok, now that I got the most serious talking point out of the way, let’s get to more humorous or things that make you go, “hmmm.”)
Compartment No. 6 (c) Sony Pictures Classics
ANORA
If you want to see a similar sympathetic performance by Yura Borisov (in Anora) but with a totally different feel (gregarious and loud, as opposed to reserved and quiet), you should watch Juho Kuosmanen’s wonderful Compartment No. 6 from 2021, which won a prize at the Cannes Film Festival and is about a woman who has to share a train compartment with a seemingly rude and uncouth young man played by Borisov.
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (c) Netflix
WALLACE & GROMIT: VENGEANCE MOST FOWL
Are we to believe that Wallace, the DIY inventor who makes Rube Goldberg contraptions to get him out of bed and cook his toast, is the same inventor who coded (we never see Wallace at a computer) his new helper gnomes to have a kill mode? What, are these gnomes the new Meg3n or Chuckie?
MUFASA: THE LION KING
In this prequel to The Lion King (the 2019 photo-realistic one), as unnecessary as a prequel to Hamlet, we see the young Mufasa meet the young Taka (the future Scar) and their many adventures as brothers soulmates. A lot of critics feel that any gay tell that was evident in the Scar (as voiced by Jeremy Irons) of the 1994 original animated film has been Disney gay-panic erased. Yes, in the 2019 version, he was played by a less gay coded Chiwetel Ejiofor, but I think there is a gay coded way to take Scar’s betrayal of Mufasa after Sarabi enters their male bonding sanctum. It’s a jealous tale as old as time, or is that from another Disney film?
Heretic (c) A24
BINDING / HERETIC
Two movies about religious crazed kidnappers have a serious plot hole: Why haven’t the previous kidnapped people been asked about? In the indie film, Binding, a young, liberated gay man in Tel Aviv is kidnapped by his religious, conservative boss to a remote shed in the woods to pray the gay out of him. If he’s done it before, where are the other survivors/bodies? In Heretic, after the two female Mormon missionaries are trying to escape the clutches of crazed atheist Hugh Grant, they see all these women who have been trapped by him before. It would seem that the missionary would be concerned about their dwindling female population, right? And what would Hugh Grant have done if they had sent male missionaries? Religious hypocrisy is a prevalent topic this year (see Conclave), but these set-ups are too easy for the filmmakers who just want to dissect their themes.
The Order (c) Amazon MGM Studios
THE ORDER
I liked The Order, a film based on a true story of a radical group of White Supremacists who commit crimes to fund their mission, but I did find the movie leaned so heavily on the criminals’ story (as opposed to the cops and FBI tasked to catching them) that the film feels inadvertently a martyr story for the actual Order.
FLOW
Either animals can or cannot make sentient decisions. Sure, animals are smart enough to get out of predicaments or can indicate preferences, but drive a boat? Come on.
Maria (c) Searchlight Pictures
MARIA / A COMPLETE UNKNOWN
Two directors tell real-life stories similar to ones from early in their career: Pablo Larraín revisits characters from his Jackie film in this year's Maria as did James Mangold with his Walk the Line characters in A Complete Unknown. Yet neither director could convince their Oscar-nominated stars (Natalie Portman in Jackie and Joaquin Phoenix in Walk the Line) to do a cameo for them?
The Substance (c) MUBI
THE SUBSTANCE / LONGLEGS
I am not a fan of The Substance, but it does set up its premise brilliantly, that these are the clear rules of the titled drug, and you must stick to it (the instructions cannot be any more simple, like any Apple product manual) to get this crazy result. On the other hand, the serial killer thriller Longlegs sets up a world of fear and paranoia, but what it doesn’t do is prepare us for the supernatural explanation for how the killer Longlegs commits these crimes. I felt cheated by the ending of Longlegs in a way that I wasn’t when Monstro Elisasue appears during The Substance’s final act.
Slingshot (c) Bleecker Street
SPACEMAN / SLINGSLOT
I’m done with lone man going crazy in the infinite-ness that is space films like Spaceman and Slingshot, even if the lone men are played impressively by Adam Sandler and Casey Affleck, respectively. The best movie of this genre is 2009’s Moon, starring Sam Rockwell and directed by Duncan Jones, son of the OG Spaceman singularity David Bowie.
A Family Affair (c) Netflix
A FAMILY AFFAIR / BABYGIRL
If you need to see a Nicole Kidman film for family movie night about a successful but sexually frustrated woman with a taste for young men, start A Family Affair in the living room for your brood and then excuse yourself upstairs to watch Babygirl alone (per the film with one hand) in your study on your laptop.
Alien: Romulus (c) 20th Century Studios
IMMACULATE / ALIEN: ROMULUS
Of the two horror births I witnessed this year, I choose the hybrid in Alien: Romulus over the devil’s spawn in Immaculate.
Drive Away Dolls (c) Focus Features
DRIVE-AWAY DOLLS / MEGALOPOLIS
Of the two plot-related schlongs this year, I choose Matt Damon’s in Drive Away Dolls over Jon Voight’s in Megalopolis.
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