And the Award Goes To … Part One

Before launching into my picks for the year I wanted to take a moment.  It’s just bizarre.  Most of these award-nominated productions began filming, and many wrapped, long before Covid.  And yet.  There is a theme.  A similarity.  There always is, of course, in one of those weird parallel cognition ways.  You tell me – does any of the following ring a bell?

The majority of films and shows this year have vast silences, huge vistas, small rooms, people trapped by incalculable personal loss, people who don’t fit into the world, people experiencing deep grief and isolation. 

The style is naturalistic, to the point of feeling like these were a series of documentaries, not films.  They have little structure, dialog and minimal progression.  Many can be seen more as a slice of life than a clear story.  A tremendous number are set in the recent past as if to say we need to pause and reflect to times which most of us remember.  There are always a lot history based tales, biographies, but they seem to dominate this year.  It creates an actor dilemma – play the motivation or play the person?

There are not a lot of laughs.  There never are.  I deliberately book-ended my viewing with the “fun stuff” (“WW84” and “The Great”) but even the fun stuff had dark streaks and sadness here and there. 

They are all good, of course.  Hundreds of worthy projects are culled to create this final list.  They have to be extraordinary to make the cut.  So the films and shows I liked the best aren’t necessarily THE best, they are simply what I found to be engaging.  And since that changes for everyone, given their interests and life experiences, it is truly impossible to say which film is “the best”.  Nonetheless, I’ll go there.  (Keep in mind my “favorites” are not reflected in my votes.  My final votes were for actors in films I didn’t care for.  Confused enough?  Read on …)

What I didn’t like --

Again, these aren’t bad, they just didn’t float my boat:  “Ramy”, “Schitt’s Creek”, “I May Destroy You”, “Dead to Me”, “Better Call Saul”, "Ozark" and “Cobra Kai” (okay, that last one is pretty weak …)

Brilliant but brutal --

Very glad to have watched them but felt like my guts were being ripped out:  “Pieces of a Woman”, “Judas and the Black Messiah”, “Minari”, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”, “Sound of Metal”, “Lovecraft Country” and “I Know This Much is True”.

“Meh” –

Definitely worth watching but were either “off” for me, personally, or simply didn’t engage, leaving me fidgety: “Da 5 Bloods”, “News of the World”, “The Father”, “The Little Things”, “One Night in Miami …”, “The Undoing”, “The Flight Attendant”, “Bridgerton”, “The Good Lord Bird”, “The Queen’s Gambit” and “Hillbilly Elegy” which I liked more than the critics but had, IMHO, low energy.  “Mank” has been nominated for the most Oscars.  I get it but felt that it's more art than substance.  And way, way, way too white.

Biggest Winner???

“Nomadland” will likely walk away with many many awards.  Deservedly so.  But seriously not my thing.

Snubs –

I was engrossed by this year’s “Fargo”, which didn’t get any nominations.  At the very least there should have been some acting nods.  Network and even cable TV is virtually non-existent, which is a shame.  There are a number of TV shows I watch regularly which move me, touch me, engross me.  MJ Rodriguez and the entire ensemble from “Pose”?  Stunning.  They shouldn’t be ignored.  And the assumption that only Dramas have real, well, Drama, continues.  Does that mean that the actors on Sci-Fi aren’t worthy?  Is Wonder Woman’s pain any less than that of Diana on “The Crown”?  How is it that “People of Earth”, “Resident Alien” and “Miracle Workers” are overlooked?  It is a bias I will never accept. 

My Faves –

Again, not the best necessarily, but the ones which I connected to the most on a personal level: “Promising Young Woman”, “Trial of the Chicago 7”, “WW84”, “Borat:  Subsequent Moviefilm”, “Hamilton”, “Westworld”, “Mrs. America”, “The Great”, “The Crown”, “Little Fires Everywhere” and “This Is Us”, which has the distinction of being the ONLY non-streaming show nominated. 

Honorable Mentions for Buckets O Blood –

Winner: “Lovecraft Country” (I only got through half of it and had to call it quits).  Runner Ups:  “The Boys”, “Da 5 Bloods” and “Westworld”.

Honorable Mentions for Royal Sexcapades –

“Bridgerton” has all the chatter but “The Great” wins here.  Not only are the “encounters” more, um, non-traditional in “The Great” but there are more of them, including an impressive number before the credits roll on most episodes. 

Enough said.  Read on, in posts above, my picks for the SAG-Aftra Awards this year.