America reviewed a range of films over the last year, including many of the awards-show contenders. Full reviews can be found by following the links below.
ANORA. At its heart,“Anora” is a film about loneliness. The men who come to Ani’s club are in search of a particular kind of experience, yes, but they’re also on the hunt for connection. While Ani dances for them, her customers tell her about their jobs, their anxieties, even their families. There’s the loneliness of paying for company, and then there’s the loneliness of being paid company. Though she’s friends with her coworkers, Ani keeps everyone else at a necessary distance….
Like Stephen Sondheim’s subversive musical “Into the Woods,” “Anora” is the kind of fairy tale where princes turn out to be ogres and ogres turn out to be, if not exactly princely, certainly more noble.
—Elyse Durham, Jan. 24
THE BRUTALIST. This is a serious, frequently surprising picture that lends itself to multiple interpretations—tackling European history, American industrialism, Jewish identity, the immigrant experience and so on. It is the best film of the year and another crowning moment for the magnificent Adrien Brody more than two decades after his Oscar-winning turn in “The Pianist”....
“The Brutalist” is the rare film that balances its shoot-for-the-stars scope with the personal intimacy of a chamber drama. Brody…never shrinks from view even among the towering structures he creates. He fills the screen while the ambitions of the ruling class loom over him. Welcome to America.
—Ryan DiCorpo, Dec. 20
CONCLAVE. By the time the general public has had a chance to see “Conclave”—something many likely will do, given the movie’s probable prominence at Oscar time—the conversation will be about the ending. Which is, I am sad to say, clever. It sends a message, as any story about a papal election would be destined to do. It is not an ungenerous conclusion, by any means. But whether it is the kind of zinger worthy of a film that is magisterial when it isn’t simply being brilliant is a question. And not the only one….
[Ralph] Fiennes seems destined for nominations this awards season, as does [Stanley] Tucci, [director Edward] Berger and the movie itself. One delightful counteragent to the overload of testosterone is Isabella Rossellini, who, as Sister Agnes, quietly directs the care of the assembled cardinals. But she does have one moment when she delivers a withering indictment of certain men, before a crowd of other men, and then curtsies before exiting the chamber. The audience I was with laughed out loud. But it was clear from the opening credits that the crowd knew its church.
—John Anderson, Oct. 28
A COMPLETE UNKNOWN. The murky ambivalence around Bob Dylan’s character is present to the very end. When we see Dylan ride off into the sunset on his Triumph motorcycle, literally and figuratively saying goodbye to his folk persona, his lovers and his early mentors, we know (actually, the movie tells us anyway) that a world tour, a best-selling album (“Highway 61 Revisited”) and rock stardom are all just around the corner. But we also know that a year later, an accident on that same motorcycle will almost kill Dylan, and cause him to completely vanish from the public eye.
Just like Dylan, of course—to have the instant when his star shines brightest become the moment when he goes completely dark.
—James T. Keane, Dec. 29
EMILIA PÉREZ. I admit that I enjoyed “Emilia Pérez” more than most people I know. It is a story about sin and redemption; I am, as you might imagine, a sucker for those. The film works best as Emilia tries to make amends for her past crimes. “I want a new soul,” she sings to Rita, pre-transition. Gascón plays her regret and vulnerability beautifully, the human counterpoint to the beatific imagery that springs up around her due to her good work…. For Emilia, transitioning is salvation: from the life-crushing agony of gender dysphoria but also from the erosion of her spirit.
—John Dougherty, Jan. 17
INSIDE OUT. By the end of the film, Riley learns to shade the simplistic core beliefs of childhood (“I’m a good person”) with more nuanced, sometimes negative self-appraisals, such as the realization that she can be selfish, or even cruel. This more integrated sense of self is mature and realistic. Inside, Riley learns to accept herself warts and all, and “outside” she is embraced by her old friends and her new teammates.
It is a happy ending—triumphant, even. But the poignancy I felt upon reflection is that this ending is a “triumph” in Rieff’s ironic sense: a triumph of Psychological Man and of what we could call therapy culture. Riley is always fundamentally alone. Her sense-of-self tree grows toward no transcendent goal; it is rooted to nothing more lasting than the lifespan of her own psyche. Her ideals remain her own private achievements and pleasures.
—Colm O’Shea, July 19
NICKEL BOYS. Rarely does a film reach the level of artistic fidelity and innovation that “Nickel Boys” achieves. Ross and [cinematographer Jomo] Fray’s collaboration has birthed a visual masterpiece that complements Colson Whitehead’s narrative genius, giving audiences an immersive look at a story that demands reckoning and reflection. This is not just an adaptation—it’s a new chapter in cinematic storytelling and a testament to the enduring strength of stories that demand to be told and remembered.
—Grace Lenahan, Jan. 10
NOSFERATU. Sex and death. That’s what all vampire stories are about under the corpse-pallid skin. More to the point, they’re about our mixed horror and fascination with sex and death: the thrill of living dangerously, mingled with the fear of what might happen if we get carried away. That tension pulses beneath the surface of romances like Francis Ford Coppola’s darkly sensuous “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (1992) and other modern “sexy” vampire stories.
There is plenty of sex and death in the new “Nosferatu,” written and directed by Robert Eggers. However, it is not a “sexy” vampire movie; if anything, it is sexually anxious. Eggers’s film walks the line between desire and dread, the thrill and terror of surrender.
—John Dougherty, Jan. 3
SEPTEMBER 5. The Greek-born filmmaker Costa-Gavras has said that all films are political—and “September 5” is no exception. While the film makes no direct comment on the most recent conflict between Israel and Palestine, its subject matter—how journalists cover the brutalization and murder of Israelis by Palestinian terrorists—feels ripped from the headlines as Israel faces accusations of war crimes against Palestinian civilians…
Considering our nationwide debate on how reporters cover fraught conflicts, and accusations of both pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian bias lobbed at the news media, perhaps there is no better time for a film like “September 5.” It is bound to engender discussion and even disagreement regarding its merits and intentions, like good art should.
—Ryan DiCorpo, Jan. 31
SING SING. The film does well to sidestep the trap of cheap melodrama that exploits the trials and traumas of incarcerated people. There are no stereotypical cut-outs here, no scenes of shocking violence perpetrated by a vindictive warden or the token “prison gang.” (Although at least one advocacy group believes the film didn’t go far enough in depicting the brutality at Sing Sing.)
Rejecting sensationalism required a deliberate choice, [the director Greg] Kwedar explained, to focus on the program itself—and its capacity for good. “The radical thing is what’s happening inside this space, inside these rooms, where this work is coming [from],” he said. “That feels like a discovery.”
—Ryan DiCorpo, Aug. 16
WICKED. “Wicked” the musical is overall a much lighter piece of work than the novel it is based on. Gregory Maguire’s novel is deeply political (and deeply Catholic), a meditation on how governments, religions and communities seek out scapegoats to redirect popular anger or issue monstrous threats to compel loyalty. Maguire was initially inspired by coverage of the Gulf War, which compared Saddam Hussein to Hitler. As a gay Catholic, his concerns about the church he loves being unable to fully accept him or his family inform the work as well….
“Wicked” the film succeeds as entertainment but it also might inspire us to ask some important questions. In our society, who is good and who is wicked—and who gets to decide?
—John Dougherty, Nov. 22
