BEST PICTURE
Film Reviews by Marlene Ardoin
Should Win: “Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood”
Will Win: “1917”
Did Win: “Parasite”
“Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood” represents the modern values of taking responsibility for ones actions, being loyal to ones friends, protecting innocence, and the concept of living from the heart and giving from the heart. Tarantino is brilliant at portraying the Los Angeles vibe of that era. Any form of freeloading gets burnt to a crisp with a flame thrower. I loved that Sharon Tate survives in this completely original ending.
“1917” In this film, I think they were going for the nobility of soldiers, which is depicted, but it also shows the futility of war. It is a well-illustrated story in which the Germans are depicted as vicious, drunken, and savage, which is one-sided and not totally true. I am sure that both sides could be described in both ways. None of these qualities can be reserved for any one race. Let’s not be Nazis.
“Ford v Ferrari” is a sad story of sabotage, where a hardworking, everyman mechanic/driver is pitted against a fancy pants executive, who sabotages his moment of glory that was rightfully earned. This film was too depressing for me.
“The Irishman”, unfortunately, was one of those Netflix movies that I did not get a chance to see. It does have some “A” actors in it. These films need to be offered in the theaters longer. Not everyone can afford a Netflix subscription. I did not rush to see it, because it did not sound like a very inspiring story.
“Jojo Rabbit” is another depressing holocaust story, in which humor cannot save. The shot of the little boy’s mother hanging in the Square without her head visible, just her recognizable shoes, took all the humor out of this story for me.
“Joker” Who needs to see a story about a textbook narcissist, who is completely devoid of empathy for others. He clearly hates women, who try to help him, and he has no sense of humor about himself. His mother’s only fault was that she was poor and she raised a narcissist son, who was angry and destructive. I found this film to be on the misogynistic side.
“Little Women” This was a take on a family that is comprised of all women, since their absent father is a pastor in the American Civil War. Jo was the brightest of the sisters, who is taking her missing father’s place as the family provider and caretaker. Sister Amy is the little sister who wants everything that Jo has, which was sabotaging and irritating. Something tells me that the true story was not so neatly wrapped up with such a happy ending.
“Marriage Story” This is what happens when you marry a narcissist or two narcissists marry each other. Each one keeps trying to out narcissist the other. In this case, the wife wins. I thought it was an interesting insight that she married him, because she wanted to be him, a theatrical director. A very knockdown, drag out story. Adam Driver’s take on the husband is like a deer looking in the headlights.
“Parasite” A very clever, original, depressing story of the haves and the haves-not. The haves-not destroy a perfectly nice family, who have not done anything to provoke such criminal retaliation. The moral of the story is: if we cannot have the good life, no one can.
2/8/2020 # 2020 Oscar Predictions