More Oscar Catch-Up: I'm Still Here, Nosferatu, The Apprentice, Etc.

The race to see as many Oscar-nominated films continues as odds for the winners continue to shift. Anora has suddenly surged to front of the pack with major wins at the Critics Choice, DGA, PGA and WGA, plus Mikey Madison unexpectedly won Best Actress at the BAFTAs. Emilia Perez and The Brutalist have slipped behind. Conclave surprisingly won big at the BAFTA Awards with prizes for Best Picture and Best British Picture and next week's SAGs will offer more trends. (Separate blog on the BAFTAs to come.) I think Conclave may win the ensemble award at the SAGs, but that's not necessarily a predictor for the Best Picture Oscar. 

Selton Mello and Fernanda Torres in
I'm Still Here.
Credit: Sony Pictures Classics

This week I had jury duty, but was let go after only one morning when I wasn't chosen and all the other cases were either settled or dismissed. Since I had a free day, I took the subway from the courthouse to Kew Gardens for a 1:30PM showing of I'm Still Here, the Brazilian film nominated for Best Picture, Actress and International Feature. (Not to be confused with Sondheim's song from Follies.) I've now seen all the Best Picture nominees except for Nickel Boys. I'm Still Here is a moving portrait of a real-life family devastated by Brazil's military dictatorship. Fernanda Torres won the Golden Globe for Best Dramatic Actress but will probably lose the Oscar to Demi Moore. Now that I've seen all the Best Actress nominees, If I were a voter, I'd go with Torres. But I'm still miffed Marie-Jean Baptiste was not nominated for Hard Truths. I'm Still Here could win Best International Feature since previous front runner Emilia Perez has been surrounded by controversy because of leading actress Karla Sofia Gascon's anti-Muslim and anti-Black tweets surfaced. 

Nosferatu is nominated in four categories (Cinematography, Costumes, Production Design, Hair and Make-Up) so it seemed like a good idea to take it in when a lead performer in an Off-Broadway show I was scheduled to review wouldn't going on that night. This is a hypnotically mesmerizing horror film, instilling terror. The scariest parts were not horrific blood sucking, but the shadow of Count Orlock appearing on fluttering curtains. Kudos also to the rat wrangler.

Jeremy Strong and Sebastian Stan in
The Apprentice.
Credit: Tailor Films

Memoir of a Snail was the final film of the Animated Feature category. It's a charming Australian film about a introvert, snail-obsessed woman dealing with loneliness. Then, last night, we watched The Apprentice on Amazon Prime for $6. I was really reluctant to watch this Trump bio because I'm sick of seeing and hearing him. But I'm glad I did, Ali Abbasi's penetrating portrait of greed charts charts rise to power in the New York real estate world from the 1970s to the 1990s. The focus is on Trump's relationship with cutthroat lawyer and power broker Roy Cohn. Screenwriter Gabriel Sherman's theme is that Trump learned his wolfish strategies for success from Cohn's ruthless mentoring. There are several prophetic moments where Trump's behavior as President is foreshadowed. Cohn's three rules for success are drummed into Trump: always be on the attack, deny everything and admit nothing, and never acknowledge defeat. Sebastian Stan nails Trump's quirks and gestures and Jeremy Strong is stunningly evil as Cohn, a hollowed-out, hypocritical demon. 

 

2024 Oscar contenders seen:
Between the Temples (Angelika Film Center)
Conclave (Angelika Film Center)
Gladiator 2 (Regal Kaufman Astoria)
Wicked (IMAX at Lincoln Square)
The Piano Lesson (Netflix)
Hard Truths (Walter Reade/Lincoln Center)
Maria (Netflix)
His Three Daughters (Netflix)
A Real Pain (Kew Gardens Cinema)
Emilia Perez (Netflix)
Queer (Angelika Film Center)
Flow (Angelika Film Center)

Anora (Amazon Prime)

A Complete Unknown (Regal Kaufman Astoria)

Babygirl (Kew Gardens Cinema)

The Substance (Amazon Prime)

The Last Showgirl (Angelika Film Center)

Dune: Part Two (Max)

Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (Netflix)

The Room Next Door (Kew Gardens Cinema)

The Wild Robot (Amazon Prime)

Inside Out 2 (Disney Plus)

The Brutalist (Kew Gardens Cinema)

Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat (Amazon Prime)

Black Box Diaries (Paramount Plus)

Sugarcane (Disney Plus)

Nosferatu (AMC 34th Street)

Memoir of a Snail (Amazon Prime)

I'm Still Here (Kew Gardens Cinema)

The Apprentice (Amazon Prime)

Doc. Shorts

The Only Girl in the Orchestra (Netflix)

*Eternal Father (New Yorker/YouTube)

I Am Ready, Warden (Paramount Plus)

Instruments of a Beating Heart (NY Times)

Live-Action Shorts

I'm Not a Robot (New Yorker/YouTube)

*Short-listed but not nominated

Razzie Nominees Seen:

Unfrosted (Netflix)

Megalopolis (Amazon Prime)