Time to make a date with King Kong at your cinema...
MUCH fun was poked at Frances McDormand’s on-stage ululations at the Academy Awards last month, but she let rip a quieter, yet much more resounding, cry when she appealed for people to go to cinemas to watch this year’s Best Picture, Nomadland; the film that also won her a third Best Actress Oscar.
I don’t suppose her cri de coeur played very well with the folk at Disney Plus, the homeviewing platform on which Nomadland has been available since April 30. But it must have sounded like sweet music to the beleaguered cinema industry.
From Monday, UK cinemas are reopening — those that have survived the latest lockdown and are able to re-impose social-distancing measures. Most of the films nominated for Best Picture will be available in the multiplexes, among them Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland ( ★★★★✩ ), which I didn’t adore as much as some, but is the big-hearted tale of an impoverished widow who, without a shred of self-pity, becomes an economic migrant in her own country. It is definitely worth seeing on a big screen.
I also recommend Sound Of Metal ( ★★★★✩ ), about a heavy-metal drummer who goes deaf, for its warmth and observational excellence, and stunning performances by a pair of Brits playing Americans, Riz Ahmed and Olivia Cooke.
Judas And The Black Messiah ( ★★★★✩ ) is also superbly done; see it for yet another transplanted Brit, Daniel Kaluuya, who won an Oscar for his performance as 1960s Black Panther leader Fred Hampton.
I’m in a minority regarding another Oscarwinner, Minari ( ★★★✩✩ ), the story of an immigrant Korean family in 1980s Arkansas. I thought it sweet but overrated.
I wasn’t wild about Godzilla vs Kong ( ★★★✩✩ ) either, but if you’re looking for a film that suits cinemas more than any other, that would be a good one to celebrate the unveiling — at long, long last — of the silver screen.