The Oscars 2020. Pt.3.

A direct continuation of Part 2; https://watchitdie.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-oscars-2020-pt2_17.html

Marriage Story: This is a movie about a marriage.

More specifically it is about the end of the marriage between Charlie and Nicole Barber. Their divorce and subsequent custody battle over their son Henry.

Every time something like the Oscars or the Eurovision Song Contest comes along I must sound like an absolute pervert. Constantly talking about sex, sex scenes, nudity and the way it is protrayed.

The truth is that sex and relationships are really the most important and complex things that humans do. Societies where it is not considered important tend not too last long.

So these topics really affect all people.

Their complexity means that they come up time and time again because it is really impossible to come up with a single correct answer. Not only do societies attitudes towards sex and relationships change over time individual's attitudes change over time.

The relationship story told in Marriage Story is likely to particularly resonate with people who work in the industry and attend the Oscars.

The Nicole charater is an actress. While the Charlie character is a director. The action is divided between New York City and Hollywood. Reflecting a traditional split betwen high class New York and low class Hollywood.

I'm also sure you won't have to work hard to find a Brexit metaphor in a movie about a bitter divorce.

Marriage Story is similar to The Farewell. In the sense that it is a character driven piece all about emotions, families and cultural differences. Although between the two coasts of America and individuals. Rather than between nations.

In discussing The Farewell I said that these type of movies are traditionally associated with the independent film industry. To be lauded by the Oscars they need to have something absolutely exceptional about them.

Marriage Story features several exceptional elements.

Firstly it is produced by Netflix. Independent film festivals such as Sundance traditionally celebrate small independent movies. While the Oscars is the preserve of movies made by the big Hollywood studios.

In the space of a few short years Online Streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon have suddenly become the big Hollywood studios. A huge shift within the industry.

Netflix and Amazon not only produce the big movies of the Hollywood studios. They also produce the small independent movies. Along with traditional TV shows.

Along with the recent rise in movie quality, so-called "Prestige TV" this has really blurred the lines between TV and movies.

It used to be that people would go to cinemas to watch movies and watch TV shows at home. Now they just stay at home and stream everything. A high quality movie like Marriage Story immediately followed by trash Reality TV like; "Love Island."

This is obviously bad news for people who operate cinemas. It has also created concerns that the artform is being cheapened amongst traditionalists who see movies as an immersive, visceral experience.

Marriage Story very much encapsulates that trend. It recieved a limited cinema release. Then a month later was available to be streamed at home. A transition which has traditionally taken at least a year.

The plot of Marriage Story is also reminiscent of the TV show; "The Affair."

That show centres around an affair between two married people. Over the course of its five seasons that affair ends up destroying, I think, four marriages. Along with all the custody battles that ensue.

The first three seasons of The Affair are set in and around New York City. However in the final two seasons the action shifts to Hollywood. The high class literary world giving way to a Hollywood adaptation of the novel. 

I obviously very much approve of The Affair. It is after all just a very long and high budget love letter to me. Seriously. The; "Whitney Solloway" character is just a woman I used to share a house with.

It is also crucially an Israeli love letter to me. Which rather undercuts the arguments of people who claim I must be abused to protect Israel from me.

Are we really surprised that Scarlett Johansson was heavily involved in both Jojo Rabbit and Marriage Story. It's as if we're both veterans of the same sh*t storm.

At it's core The Affair is an examination of the subjective nature of human memory. Each episode centres around a single event. Told first from the perspective of one character. Then told again from the perspective of another.

It is often surprising how much the accounts differ. Not just in how each character interprets events on an emotional level. Also in how they differ in their recollection of what are undeniable facts. Things like the weather conditions on a particular night, which can be independently verified.

This subjective nature of memory and the human experience is important to all forms of human interaction. However it is particularly contentious when it comes to issues of sexual harrassment, sexual assault and rape. Issues that Hollywood has been forced to deal with extensively of late.

This makes The Affair's five year journey interesting. It began in 2014, before the Harvey Weinstein and #MeToo issues exploded in 2017.

Dealing with sex and relationships it is almost essential that The Affair features sex and nude scenes. This saw it particularly targeted by campaigners concerned that the actresses involved were being exploited.

Campaigners who seemed completely oblivious to the fact that these were exactly the issues the show was trying to deal with. Several years before it became fashionable. In fact you could argue that The Affair laid the groundwork for those issues being discussed publicly.

The final season actually centres around the central, writer character being involved in what is named as a #MeToo scandal. Which seemed like a big; "Society is Eating Itself, F*ck You!" from the show to its critics.

The Affair is most definitely Presitge TV. Everything about it from the writing, direction and acting is of the highest, cinematic quality. It is one of those pieces where very little actually happens. However you are absolutely engrossed in watching the cast not do very much.

That makes is a highly relevent talking point about the blurring of the lines between movies and TV shows. You could almost say that Marriage Story is the TV show while The Affair is the movie.

That leads into a very particular industry discussion about one of The Affair's female leads. The British actress Ruth Wilson.

Amongst people in the industry Ruth Wilson is held in seriously high regard. It wasn't just me who saw her performance in 2008's "The Doctor Who Hears Voices" and thought; "Wow. She's really good." It was pretty much everyone in the British entertainment industry who saw it and thought; "Wow. She's really good."

So it is arguable that Ruth Wilson is exactly the sort of person AMPAS wants as a member. Particularly as they try to boost the role of women within their organisation. They certainly gave an Oscar to Julianne Moore for a similar feat of acting. In 2014's; "Still Alice."

The problem is that to be considered for membership of AMPAS an actor must have appeared in at least two movies; "of Oscar quality." Ruth Wilson is primarily a stage and TV actor so has not made those two movies. Therefore is ineligable for AMPAS membership.

As the line between TV and movies becomes ever more blurred maybe it is time for AMPAS to recognise Ruth Wilson's role in The Affair as a movie of Oscar quality.

The other thing exceptional about Marriage Story is that it features Laura Dern. Who, as the daughter of Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd, is considered Hollywood royalty.

As the #MeToo movement was exploding in 2017 Laura Dern was being considered as a potentional President of AMPAS. However lost out on the role to yet another old, white man. In 2019 Laura Dern did finally join AMPAS' board of governors.

So her Best Supporting Actress success here also seems to reflect her success in rising within the professional association.

Laura Dern also starred in the defintely Prestige TV show; "Big Little Lies." Alongside Oscar winner Nicole Kidman and multiple Oscar nominee Reese Witherspoon. Providing another talking point at the blurring of the line between TV and movies.

Particularly the binge-watchers amongst us might argue that Marriage Story is a two hour movie you can stream on Netflix.

While Big Little Lies is a fourteen hour movie you can stream on Netflix.

Ferrari Vs Ford: Outside of the US this was released under the less jingoistic title: Le Mans '66.

It tells the story of a feud between the American Ford motor company and the Italian Ferrari motor company.

Ford is famous as the company that brought motoring to the masses. Being the first to employ production line techniques Ford produced the first car everyone could own. Ferrari are famous for producing the cars everyone dreams of owning.

In 1963 Ford attempting to boost its prestige by buying Ferreri. Ferrari refused the offer, very publicly snubbing the son of Henry Ford in the process.

So Henry Ford II decides to take that prestige from Ferrari anyway. By building a car that could defeat Ferrari on what they considered to be their home turf. The legendary Le Mans 24 hour endurance race.

In retirement my mothers now watch a lot of movies at the cinema. They're part of almost buyers club which provides heavily discounted tickets to retired people during the day time. That obviously contributes to the discussion of how to combat falling cinema attendances in the face of the likes of Netflix.

I was visiting them in Salisbury, UK just before this movie came out. So we were chatting about whether it was worth going to see. In turn that became a discussion about how difficult it is to make movies about sport.

People who are not interested in the sport to begin with are just not going to be interested in the movie.

In 2010 Sandra Bullock won Best Actress for; "The Blind Side." About a talented, young American Football player. I can assure that no-one outside of America gave a damn about this movie.

People who are interested in the sport will probably just want to watch the sport instead.

Although I've recently lost my way with it I'm quite a big motorsport fan. I know all about the Ford GT40 from the movie and as I look up from this computer screen I see a print of Michael Schumacher's Ferrari F310B.

Yet even I thought this movie sounded like hard work.

It must be said that even amongst motorsport fans the Le Mans 24 hour endurance race is considered particularly dull. Not even the racecar drivers stay awake for the whole thing.

In order to make a movie about sport bearable, let alone enjoyable, the story-telling has to absolutely excel. The writing, direction and the performances of the actors all have to be totally top class to convey the human stories of the participants. Rather than just the monotony of the sport.

One thing that Ferrari Vs Ford had in favour is that it stars Matt Damon.

He also starred in probably one of the best made sporting movies of all time. "Invictus" from 2009. This managed to convey the immense journey the South African Rugby Union team went on to unite their nation just after the end of Apartheid.

Making Americans care about the 1995 Rugby Union World Cup is certainly one hell of an achievement.

Once you've started talking about the movie Invictus it's quite easy to start talking about The Invictus Games.

It's founder, Prince Henry of Sussex is now apparently going to break Hollywood. Despite his paramour, Meghan Markle only ever being a success in that land of really cheap productions, Toronto, Canada.

I think though the people behind Ferrari Vs Ford should feel proud. Their peers and collegues looked at the difficult task they'd taken on and were impressed by the results. The movie won both of the Oscars it was nominated for;

Best Sound Editing for Donald Sylvester and Best Film Editing for Andrew Buckland and Michael McCusker.

Best Film Editing of course being the Oscar Britain really wanted to win for 1917.

There is of course a worry. That the movie, in part, recieved its attention because people in Hollywood knew about that conversation with my mothers.

Which has got to be really worrying if you're counting on Britain being able to dazzle the World with it's cunning secret plan.

The Irishman: As directed by Martin Scorsese.

Believe it or not I've only actually seen three Martin Scorsese movies. "Goodfellas" from 1990. "The Departed" from 2006. "The Wolf Of Wall Street" from 2013.

So I've never seen "Taxi Driver" from 1976. Nor any part of the "Godfather" Trilogy. I've got a feeling they might cut rather close to the bone with me.

However I know that a lot of people have seen all of Martin Scorsese's movies and consider them amongst the greatest movies ever made. In accepting his Best Director Oscar Bong Joon-ho thanked Martin Scorsese as someone he'd studied in film school. Essentially the reason he got into movies.

Like a lot of filmmakers Martin Scorsese has a group of regular collaborators.

This is really one of the main functions of all the discussions that take place during the awards season. They're a way of getting the measure of potential new collaborators. So it's not really a question of coming up with the right or the wrong answer. So much as coming up with the same answer as the rest of the clique.

Amongst actors Martin Scorsese has three really highly-rated regular collaborators; Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci.

On some movies Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci have all worked together. On other movies Martin Scorsese, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci have all worked together. What has never happened is that Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci have all worked together on the same movie.

So there was a lot of excitement for The Irishman amongst Scorsese fans. As the movie that would see the four all work together for the first time. With Joe Pesci being brought out of retirement to do so.

It serves almost as a career retrospective for Martin Scorsese. Bringing together his favourite collaborators for one of his classic gangster/mafia movies.

The Irishman, like Marriage Story, is also produced by Netflix. Meaning that it had a limited cinema release before being available to stream at home just a month later.

Further highlighting the blurring of the line between TV and movies The Irishman is a seriously long film. Coming in at over three hours. Creating speculation that people streaming it at home would treat it as a TV mini-series rather than a movie. Streaming it in three, one hour episodes.

Ever the traditionalist Martin Scorsese urged people to see the movie in the immersive experience of a cinema. I think nothing fills him with more dread than the prospect of people watching his epic on their phones.

One reason why the movie had to be made by Netflix is its sheer cost. It makes extensive use of this new digital de-aging technology.

I think this is a form of motion capture animation. So the faces of the actors you see in the movie are not really their faces. They are computer renderings of their faces. Made to look much youger.

This is one of the hot new technologies in Hollywood at the moment. It has been used in a couple of films this year; Samuel L. Jackson's small role in; "Captain Marvel." Along with Ang Lee's "Gemini Man." I think it's also similar to the computer rendering to give human actors feline fur in; "Cats."

Although this is one of those highly technical aspects of filmmaking that I can't even really pretend to understand.

The Irishman tells the life-story of Frank Sheeran. An Irish-American World War Two veteran who went on to work for the Italian-American mafia.

That alone makes him an interesting man. Despite both being heavily Catholic Irish-American and Italian-American immigrants have traditionally really not got on with each other.

This is a topic that Martin Scorsese keeps returning to in his work. Such as casting Leonardo DiCaprio as a member of the Boston, Irish-American mafia in The Departed.

Showing his power Scorsese's interest has fuelled a wider interest within the industry. Such as 2015's "Brooklyn." A love affair between an Irish-American woman and an Italian-American man.

As with Marriage Story I don't think you would have to work too hard to find a Brexit metaphor in all this.

Despite the situation amongst American immigrants Ireland, as a majority Catholic nation, has traditionally found itself close to other majority Catholic EU nations. Particularly Spain. Hence Britain's recent, urgent efforts to open up a Madeline McCann style dialogue with Spain.

The specific work that Sheeran does for the Bufalino crime family is that of a contract killer, a hitman. He paint's houses, with blood. Sadly since 2014 just killing people has become a worringly large part of my job description.

The movie really centres around Sheeran's claim that it was he who murdered Trade Union boss Jimmy Hoffa. On the orders of the Italian-American mafia. One of the greatest unsolved conspiracy theories in modern US history.

That rather topically links politics with organised crime and organised murder. There does seem to be a tendency for houses to get painted when the Democrats are campaigning for things at the moment. Particularly houses of worship.

In light of the Trump Impeachment scandal The Irishman has become an incredibly topical and relevant movie.

In 1964 Jimmy Hoffa was convicted of Jury Tampering by US Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy's famous; "Get Hoffa Squad." His sentenced was commuted by President Nixon in 1971. According to the movie it was his attempts to rise back to the top of the Trade Union movement that saw him cross the mafia one last time.

Robert F. Kennedy was appointed Attorney General by his brother, that Democrat hero President John F. Kennedy.

In a further act of spectacular nepotism JFK then tasked Bobby Kennedy with carrying out back-channel diplomacy to resolve the Cuban Missile Crisis. Something far beyond his role as Attorney General. Sheeran claims that he and the mafia helped organise the Bay of Pigs Invasion.

President Trump tasking Rudy Gulliani to investigate Ukrainian inteference in the 2016 Presidental Election seems positively tame, vanilla and ordinary in comparison.

The Irishman, like Joker, was one of the huge favourites going into the Oscars. Having recieved 9 nominations.

With the help of Joker this turned Martin Scorsese into the big hate figure for the diversity protesters. Yet another old, white man being rewarded by the Oscars while much more talented female and non-white filmmakers were being ignored.

It is very easy to make the argument that it was this backlash which meant The Irishman did not win any Oscars at all.

As the protesters fail to realise that Martin Scorsese has been battling to get The Irishman made for pretty much as long a Lulu Wang's been alive.

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood: This is directed by Quentin Tarantino.

I should start by pointing out that for all his previous movies Quentin Tarantino worked with this producer called Harvey Weinstein. This is the first movie Quentin Tarantino has done without Harvey Weinstein.

I think it's fair to say that the Weinstein scandal embarrassed us all. Every year much of my Oscar coverage celebrated his legendary lobbying campaigns. To get the movies he produced nominated for and winning Oscars.

Although I should point out that I never worked as closely with Harvey Weinstein as Quentin Tarantino did.

The 2018 Oscars actually clashed with the 2018 Winter Olympics held in the Republic of Korea (RoK/South). I don't think anyone in Hollywood minded at all. That was the one year they all just wanted to be left alone.

As the title suggests Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is a very Hollywood movie. All about Hollywood and the movie industry.

Set in the year 1969 it centres around the actor "Rick Dalton" (Leonardo DiCaprio) who is suddenly really unpopular within the industry. So he has to decide whether to take work in Italy in the so-called; "Spaghetti Westerns."

It is a story about his relationship with his agent Marvin Schwartz (Al Pacino). It is about his relationship with his stunt-double and sometimes driver Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). It is also about his relationship with his new neighbours.

The real-life actress "Sharon Tate" - here played by Margot Robbie - and the real-life director "Roman Polanski" - here played by Rafal Zawierucha. Just two of the real-life Hollywood figures who are portrayed in the movie.

Roman Polanski is of course a figure just as controversial as Harvey Weinstein. For really the exact same reasons.

In 1977 Roman Polanski was convicted of the rape of a 13 year old girl. Fearing a 50 year prison sentence he fled to France where, as a French citizen he has avoided extradition ever since. There have been a further four accusations of rape against Roman Polanski involving girls under 18 years of age. The youngest being just 10.

Yet people still insist on working with him

Just today the entire board of directors of the Cesar's - France's equivalent to the Oscars - have been forced to resign. Over their decision to nominate Roman Polanski's latest movie; "An Officer And A Spy" for 12 awards.

Being all about Hollywood the movie has been extremely popular amongst all the parties and gatherings of award season. I suspect all the conversations about the, say, "Marvin Schwartz" character haven't all been about the Marvin Schwartz character in the movie.

For his performance Brad Pitt finally won his first acting Oscar Best Supporting Actor. After 33 years of trying.

I suspect there are a fair few people in Hollywood who can lay claim to having been Leonardo DiCaprio's stunt-double.

In the movie the Cliff Booth character gets into an argument with a group of Hippies. The real-life 'family' of Charles Manson.

Later the Manson family are preparing to murder Sharon Tate at her home. When they are confronted by Dalton and Booth. Recognising Booth they attempt to kill them instead.

In 1969 the real-life Sharon Tate was really murdered in the home she shared with her husband Roman Polanski. By the real-life Charles Manson and his followers. One of the most notorious crimes in American history.

I think it's well acknowledged now that Charles Manson was seriously mentally ill. Particularly Schizophrenia and Paranoid Delusional Disorder. Brought about by heavy drug use. Mainly LSD.

However I think he can serve as an example of any angry white man. Of the type so focused on in Joker.

In conducting the murders - Sharon Tate was not his only victim - Manson hoped that they would be blamed on Black Supremacists. The likes of Malcolm X and the Black Panthers. This would trigger a race war.

Not because Manson was particularly a White Supremacist. He just wanted to watch the World burn.

So suddenly we're back to Democrat campaign strategy, #OscarsSoWhite and houses getting painted.

(Originally posted at 18:10 on 14/2/20 (UK date)).

19:45 on 17/2/20 (UK date).