The Birth of a Nation (2016)

Remember back when The Birth of a Nation premiered at Sundance? It became an immediate Oscar front runner until it was derailed by controversy surrounding the director. But let's face the truth: it was never going to win Best Picture. I saw this movie just a week after Green Book won Best Picture in a year of landmark movies by black directors. The Academy was never going to award a movie about a black slave revolt. It's simply too radical for mainstream Hollywood. It's a powerful and provocative movie. And if it makes you uncomfortable, that was the intention.

On the Basis of Sex (2018)

On the Basis of Sex is a fine biopic with solid acting. It's a pretty ordinary telling of an extraordinary life. It focuses specifically on one case in Ruth Bader Ginsburg's illustrious career. The movie does not benefit from choosing to spotlight a tax case. Yes, obviously it is the case that "topples the whole system" but even she knew that there is nothing interesting about tax law. The courtroom scene, I presume, is dramatized. I'm not going back to the court transcripts, but I have to imagine that Ginsburg, the brilliant perfectionist she is, didn't botch her submission. Like many biopics, it ends with words on the screen detailing what happens next. It ends with a short sentence on her confirmation vote of 96-3. But that's of little significance. Ginsburg is a pioneer in the women's rights movement. Who cares what the confirmation vote was? It really detracts from the theme of the movie.

Sorry to Bother You (2018)

Sorry to Bother You is a wickedly funny dark comedy. The social commentary in the film is bold and brilliant. The premise of the movie as seen in the trailer is absurd in itself. LaKeith Stanfield plays a telemarketer who has to put on his white voice in order to be taken seriously over the phone. His white voice is non other than David Cross, Tobias Funke himself who sounds supremely white. From there, the movie takes several unforeseen left turns through organized labor, modern slavery, human experimentation, and communism. The movie is genuinely scary at times because we see this absurd alternate world that is not-all-that-far from our own reality. We are slaves to a system of exploitation for profit without regard to human rights or dignity--not to mention the millions of people that live in actual slavery.  This vision of the world we live in is so dark that you can't help but laugh out of pure discomfort. 

Call Me By Your Name (2017)

An idyllic setting. A beautiful story about love. Brilliant acting. Incredible subtlety. Interesting shots. Pretty music. And the 80s--that's the fashion.

It's a supremely Italian movie. What do people do in Italy in the summer? It's a whole lot of nothing. Point made. But isn't it just wonderful to do nothing in an Italian villa? Ride your bike into town. Go swimming. Read. Dance. Eat. It's a privileged showy life complete with domestic servants. They read French/German poetry, play piano, and speak three languages (why do they all speak French, the local girls too? It's unnecessarily extra if only to make them seem more pretentious). 

But let's not let that detract from the careful sensitivity of Guadagnino's directing and the performances of young Chalamet, Hammer and accepting father Stuhlbarg. 

Nocturnal Animals (2016)

Tom Ford's second feature film has the visual style that you would expect from a designer. The cinematography is striking. The use of color and bold costuming is fitting with the dark theme of the movie with the West Texas twang. The acting is phenomenal across the board. I especially liked Michael Shannon's performance, but he is good in everything. Aaron Taylor-Johnson surprisingly won the Golden Globe--no one was predicting that. He is good, as a crazy person, but the role isn't as interesting as Shannon's. The casting of Isla Fisher is brilliant because it's like a little inside joke that she looks exactly like Amy Adams. At first, I couldn't tell if she was supposed to be playing a young Amy Adams, but it's a separate story line (though very purposeful). The writing is drawn out making the film thrilling and suspenseful and multilayered. Tom Ford is a storyteller too. He can just do it all. I was at the edge of my seat the whole time. Every time Amy Adams had to close the book and just take a break, I was breathing deeply right in sync, my heart beating fast.