Best Picture nominees: mini-reviews, for small screens
Where to stream the nominated movies.
It’s Oscar season, and ... meh. That’s not a “meh” for the quality of the nominees this year; some terrific films are in the race. But for those of us who fell in love with movies because of their immersive, larger-than-life-ness, the year’s been a big cinematic sigh. With cinemas shuttered for much of 2020, and many potential moviegoers still waiting for vaccinations before venturing out, it’s been a time of watching movies at home, wondering what the experience might feel like in their proper size. And the Oscars (on April 25) feel weirdly off-kilter; pushed out two months from their usual late-February slot, and decidedly unfestive this year (no Oscar parties, alas).
However, let us look on the bright side: This year’s Best Picture nominees, with one exception, are currently available for streaming. (That exception is “Judas and the Black Messiah.”) .
So let’s take a look at this year’s eight best picture candidates, viewed virtually.
“Nomadland”
Chloe Zhao’s “Nomadland,” which won the Producers Guild Award March 25 (often a harbinger of Oscar gold), showcases a brilliant Frances McDormand as a woman for whom home isn’t a place, but something you carry. It’s a quiet, meditative film of often stunning beauty (gorgeous cinematography), and while I watched it wishing I could have seen McDormand work her magic on a largerthan-life screen, it nonetheless has pleasantly haunted me thereafter. (Available on Hulu.)
“Minari”
“Minari,” a delicate drama, follows a South Korean immigrant family in pursuit of their American dream. In another year, a film this quiet might have easily been overlooked, but luckily we can call “Minari” a pandemic gift. The film is a gentle love letter to family. (Available on Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, Vudu.)
“The Father”
The British film “The Father,” directed by Florian Zeller (based on his play), is a very different kind of family drama — a devastating, artful portrait of a man slipping away. Anthony (a masterful Anthony Hopkins, nominated for best actor), struggling with early stages of dementia, has moved in with his daughter Anne (Olivia Colman, nominated for supporting actress) and we watch as he desperately tries to impose order and control on a life that increasingly seems unfamiliar. Zeller puts us directly inside Anthony’s confusion: Familiar faces suddenly seem to be strangers (literally, due to clever casting changes that keep us confused as well) as his life becomes a frightening hall of mirrors. (Available on Amazon Prime Video and Google Play.)
“Sound of Metal”
“Sound of Metal,” from first-time feature filmmaker Darius Marder, likewise shows us a central character trying to find his way through a major life change. Ruben (best actor nominee Riz Ahmed) is a punk-metal drummer who is horrified one day to realize that he has experienced significant hearing loss. I loved how this movie uses sound, letting us hear things the way Ruben hears them: the eerily vibrating silence, the faraway quality of the voices, the way he flails away on his drums, desperately trying to make a noise he can hear. This is another one I would have loved to have seen in a theater, letting that sound wrap around me, but I’m happy to have seen this film in any way. (Available on Amazon Prime Video.)
“Mank”
It’s been several months since I watched “Mank,” David Fincher’s black-and-white tale of Old Hollywood (its title character, Herman J. Mankiewicz, is the screenwriter of “Citizen Kane”), but I remember very clearly how I felt when I finished it: simultaneously impressed and disappointed. I wanted to love it; I didn’t. The film is clearly a labor of love for Fincher, whose meticulous devotion to the period (World War II-era Hollywood) is evident in every soft-gray frame — and the more you know about old movies in general and “Citizen Kane” specifically, the more you’ll enjoy spotting the many affectionate references Fincher throws in. But ultimately, for me, “Mank” felt like an overlong exercise in style. The Academy disagrees with me; “Mank” received 10 nominations, more than any other movie. (Available on Netflix.)
“Promising Young Woman”
The audacious, candy-bright and wicked-dark thriller “Promising Young Woman” stars Carey Mulligan as a young woman determined to seek vengeance for an act that the movie takes its time revealing to us. “Promising Young Woman” is fierce, feminist and not perfect; I struggled with its ending, and its playful tone occasionally slips off the precipice on which it dances. (Available on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, Vudu.)
“The Trial of the Chicago 7″
Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” like typical Sorkin fare, is a) crammed full of rapid-fire dialogue, to such an extent that watching it is occasionally exhausting, b) longer than it needs to be, and c) slyly entertaining. Some of it feels all too scripted, but a lot of it is an accurate representation of a remarkably theatrical event: the aftermath of anti-war demonstrations during the 1968 Democratic National Convention, when eight defendants were put on trial. The movie works well on a small screen — the diminution calms things down a bit. (Available on Netflix.)
“Judas and the Black Messiah”
I haven’t yet seen Shaka King’s “Judas and the Black Messiah” (it’s not currently available for streaming), but hope to watch it before Oscar night. A.O. Scott of The New York Times called it a “tense, methodical historical drama,” in which LaKeith Stanfield plays reallife character Bill O’Neal, at once head of security for the Black Panther Party in Chicago and paid informant for the FBI. Daniel Kaluuya plays Illinois Black Panthers head Fred Hampton.