Best picture and other rankings for the 2021 Oscars
For the past four years, I have watched every movie nominated for best picture at the Oscars. Below are my rankings for the 2021 Oscars.
Best Picture
Nomadland 9.5/10
This meditative road trip movie is not going to be a crowd-pleaser but it deserves the best picture prize. The story follows Fern (Frances McDormand) a woman in her 60s. Following the collapse of a company in rural Nevada she packs her van and sets off on the road exploring a life outside of conventional society as a modern-day nomad. Nomadland tackles the biggest of issues; finding meaning and purpose in life in a late-capitalist world that throws so many on the scrap heap. Meaning slowly unfolds, not through the plot, but through visual storytelling, soundscape, and snapshots of people’s lives (some real-life nomads, some actors). Francis McDermond is brilliant. Some will find it slow and boring – I found it deeply moving.
Minari 9/10
While Nomadland is a story of the collapse of the American dream, Minari is the story of the realization of the American dream. It’s 1983 and the Korean immigrant Yi family moves from California to their new plot of land in rural Arkansas following the dreams of the father, Jacob, to farm and sell Korean produce. His wife, Monica, is not sold on the idea of moving to Arkansas away from their Korean network of friends to start a farm and a new life. And after a bumpy start, Grandma moves in. Yuh-Jung Youn plays Soonja the Grandmother, in one of many stand-out performances. This is an authentic, funny, and moving immigrant and family story that covers class, race, and gender issues.
Promising Young Woman 8/10
Promising Young Women is not a comfortable watch, and nor should it be. This isn’t a movie that you can describe as enjoyable, but it is important, powerful and timely given the #MeToo movement and various recent revelations in Australia in particular. This movie puts up a mirror and forces us to look at ourselves. The main protagonist, Cassie, finds meaning in trying to avenge a hideous crime involving her childhood friend Nina. She goes to bars and nightclubs, pretending to be extremely drunk and vulnerable, before turning the tables on the predators.
The movie doesn’t play out as conventional movies like this usually do, and it challenges stereotypical ideas of sexual predatation. Personally, I would have finished the movie about 3 minutes before it does. The shoehorned “happy ending” didn’t fit with the realism of the vast majority of the movie. The reality is these crimes more often than not go undiscovered and unpunished.
Trial of the Chicago 7 7.5/10
I love when movies introduce me to important historic moments that I wasn’t aware of and Trail of the Chicago 7 does that. It’s a fascinating story about a bunch of different activist groups converging on the Democratic Party Convention in 1968 to protest and draw attention to the Vietnam War. The different tactics of the various groups play out and the end result is a violent confrontation with police. To make a lesson of the leaders, the hostile Nixon administration charges seven ring leaders with charges like Conspiracy. A dramatic courtroom drama unfolds (including an outrageously unfair trial, especially for Bobby Seale of the Black Panthers who was not even involved in the incident).
The different tactics and campaign approaches of the group continue to play out, and off-screen Black Panther leader Fred Hampton (who had been quietly advising Bobby Seale) is killed by police (more on Fred below). An entertaining movie, let down a little by the heavy-handed “Hollywood” treatment in the film-making.
Judas and the Black Messiah 7.5/10
Black Panther Party leader, Fred Hampton, appears in both The Trail of the Chicago 7 and Judas and the Black Messiah, where he the “Black Messiah” and a major focus. This movie is set in 1960s, but feels so topical and relevant to the #BlackLivesMatter movement. A young man, Bill O’Neal , is co-opted by the police and infiltrates the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party to feed information to a deeply racists FBI. A young and charismatic leader, Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya who is mesmerizing), unites other brown and white revolutionary groups into a rainbow coalition and leads the Panthers to create various health and social services to make a practical difference to people’s lives. His approach is deeply threatening to the police and FBI who seek to bring him down. The story is told through the eyes of the Judas, the traitor in the organization, Bill O’Neil, and his FBI handler. A movie that feels both big/epic and intimate at the same time.
Sound of Metal 7.5/10
Ruben (in a standout performance by Riz Ahmed) is a heavy metal band drummer in a band with his girlfriend, Lou, when he starts to rapidly lose his hearing. The movie follows Riz as he at first denies, then struggles to deal with the loss of his hearing, before joining a small deaf community overseen by a Vietnam War vet. Through brilliant sound mixing this movie captures what it is like for someone with hearing to go deaf. It’s disorienting and frustrating for the audience, mirroring what Riz is experiencing. The movie touches on the controversy of cochlear implants in the deaf community – deafness not being something to be “fixed,” but a unique culture and language that brings richness and community. Should be a shoo-in for film editing and sound Oscars.
The Father 7/10
In some ways, this movie is similar to Sound of Metal in that it uses visual storytelling (more than one actor playing the same role and timeline jumps back and forward) to mirror dementia that Anthony (Anthony Hopkins) is experiencing. It’s disorientating and frightening. Anthony refuses assistance from his daughter Anne (played – mostly – by the always-excellent Olvia Colman) and doubts her, his own mind, and reality. It’s heartbreaking for Anne, as it is for anyone in the audience who has experienced what it is like to live with someone experiencing dementia.
Mank 5.5/10
This movie is beautifully shot in shadowy black and white, with striking cinematography. Mank pays homage to one of the greatest movies of all time, the 1941 movie Citizen Kane. The movie presents 1930s Hollywood and tells the story of Orson Welles asking washed-up alcoholic, Herman J Mankiewicz, to write the screenplay for what will become “Citizen Kane”. But it is a hit and miss for me. It’s an obscure and incoherent film that is aimed squarely at film buffs who know the Hollywood figures and all the intrigue around that time and that specific movie. Will still probably win the Oscar for Best Production Design.
Best Actor
Posthumous award to Chadwick Boseman in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (with Riz Ahmed a close second)
Best Actress
Frances McDormand (but I think Carey Mulligan might win this one)
Best Adapted Screenplay
Nomadland
Best Director
Chloe Zhao (Nomadland)
Best Original Screenplay
Minari, but I think Promising Young Woman will win.
Best Supporting Actor
Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah)
Best Supporting Actress
Youn Yuh-jung (Minari)
Best Cinematography
Nomadland (with Mank, filmed in black and white, a close second)
Best Film Editing
Sound of Metal
Best Production Design
Mank
Best Sound
Sound of Metal
