Local film enthusiasts give 2021 Oscar predictions
In 2020, with local theaters closed for more than half the year, new films were pushed to streaming devices faster than ever.
This made for a strange year when it came to movie premieres and Oscar contenders – with the Academy Awards being postponed to April 25.
“It wasn’t a bad year for movies exactly. In fact, it was rather an extraordinary year that forced many distributors and studios to think outside the box as they attempted to discover the best ways for getting their films released in a COVID anxiety-induced world of a market that is filled with over saturation and instant gratification,” said Robert Butler, Hollybased filmmaker.
Butler and Noah Damron of Troy, founders of the Oakland County-based Defacto Film Reviews, gave The Oakland Press their top movies of the year.
Best Picture
Both reviewers agreed that “Nomadland,” directed by Chloe Zhao, was their top pick of the year. The film will be released on both Hulu and in theaters on Feb. 19.
“‘Nomadland’ is quite literally the closest thing to a religious experience I’ve had watching a film in my recent adult life. Frances McDormand beautifully captures the soul of a woman looking to find new meaning in the next chapter of her life after the death of her husband and the collapse of their society after the Great Recession,” said Damron.
Other Favorites
Below are the rest of Butler and Damron’s top picks, in order of their favorites:
ROBERT BUTLER
• “To the Ends of the Earth” (d. Kiyoshi Kurosawa) – “No other film brought me so much joy and gratification as much as this Japanese under-the-radar film.”
• “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” (d. Eliza Hittman) – “Filmmaker
Eliza Hitman’s third feature is a bold and compassionate work that captures all the gray areas and nuances on the insights of reproductive rights. The final result is a film that’s always emotionally involving and deeply empathetic.”
• “Promising Young Woman” (d. Emerald Fennell) – “It was a great year for strong female characters. In ‘Promising Young Woman’ it’s even greater for Carey Mulligan, who plays Cassie in the performance of the year and the performance of her career.”
• “Kajillionaire” (d. Miranda July) – “Director July’s vision has always been truly distinctive, her tales have always been tonally kooky and otherworldly, but there is something always painfully resonant and vividly real in what she is saying about human longing.”
• “The Nest” (d. Sean Durkin) – “‘The Nest’ is one of the most elegantly made films of the year, as well as one of the most cautionary.”
• “Fourteen” (d. Dan Sallitt) – “The movie captures the highlights of friendship, as well as the agonizing parts. The film absorbs you with its deep characterizations,
and no other ending pulled me emotionally in as much as this one.”
• “Martin Eden” (d. Pietro Marcello) – “A virtuoso performance by Italian actor Luca Marinelli as the title character to Jack London’s celebrated novel is one of the most emotionally wrenching and artfully crafted films of the year.”
• “Sound of Metal” (d. Darius Marder) – “Riz Ahmed pours every inch of his soul into this performance about a recovering drug addict who’s now enduring deafness that crushes his creative momentum and dreams. What could have been dreary or some hokey Oscar-bait disease movie, ends up becoming empowering and emotionally raw thanks to Marder’s stellar direction and attention to characterizations.”
• “On the Rocks” (d. Sofia Coppola) – “2020 was certainly a distressing year, but ‘On the Rocks’ is the coping mechanism film of the year that delivers much needed delight and joy.”
NOAH DAMRON
• “Sound of Metal” (d.
Darius
Marder) – “‘Sound of Metal’ is a raw and intimate character study made even more singular by its distinct use of sound, or lack thereof.”
• “Possessor” (d. Brandon Cronenberg) – “The subtle, intricate visual storytelling benefits from multiple viewings, if you can stomach the extreme violence. You simply can’t understand the power of ‘Possessor’ until you witness it. This is a true mind-blowing experience.”
• “Promising Young Woman” (d. Emerald Fennell) — “The cinematic equivalent to a Molotov cocktail pointed right at rape culture and institutionalized misogyny, Promising Young Woman is a consistently thrilling and fierce filmmaking debut from writer/director Emerald Fennell.”
• “Minari” (d. Lee Isaac Chung) – “Lee Isaac Chung’s wonderous film about a Korean family living in rural Arkansas amid the 1980’s is pure cinematic beauty.”
• “One Night in Miami” (d. Regina King) – “Director Regina King brings the vibrancy and the ugliness of 1964 to roaring life without ever feeling confined to its stagy roots. … One of the most
to be one of the most entertaining.”
• “Da 5 Bloods” (d. Spike Lee) – “This is some of Spike Lee’s best filmmaking and like his best work, ‘Da 5 Bloods’ doesn’t give easy answers; it’s uncomfortable, messy, thrilling and always profound.”
• “Bacurau” (d. Kleber Mendonca Filho and Juliano Dornelles) – “‘Bacurau’ is a superbly crafted mix of postmodern Brazilian social drama and cutting satire that later explodes into a full tilt spaghetti western, and I loved every gorgeous minute of it.”
• “Another Round” (d. Thomas Vinterberg) – “The extravagant and ultra-satisfying ending leaves you on a high that is hard come down from, which is perhaps the best compliment I can give to ‘Another Round’.”
• “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” (d. Eliza Hittman) – “An authentic and shattering little film, Eliza Hittman’s ‘Never Rarely Sometimes Always’ is able to say so much, while conveying it all with great subtlety.”
For more of Butler and Damron’s reviews and to see their runners-up for best movies of the year, visit defactofilmreviews. com.