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Hayden
Location: CDMX
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- #81
- Posted: 05/01/2021 18:09
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| CA Dreamin wrote: | | PurpleHazel wrote: | | I don't completely disagree about the blend of movie stars with real-life people. But there's a very long tradition of narrative films using non-professional actors who work/live in the same millieu (please check out La Terra Trema), so totally disagree that Zhao should've made a documentary. Nomadland does have a story, as loose as it is, but if she wanted to make a doc with some narrative, she would've had little control over what narrative(s) emerged from the hundreds of hours of footage that she would've had to shoot. Maybe no narrative would've emerged at all; maybe it would've been a bad film. |
I understand the tradition of blending professional actors and real-life people, but it doesn't work in Nomadland (for me, anyway). Watching the film, I just couldn't disregard my knowledge that McDormand and Strathairn were not actually part of the group, and are actually millionaires in real life. Now this doesn't automatically bring the movie down. However, both of their characters ultimately chose the nomad lifestyle because they both had relatives who offered them a place to stay. This undercuts the film's goal of bringing us a closer to the real nomad communities comprising of the real people who are actually stuck in that situation. I think a documentary would have better achieved that goal. It's like Zhao wanted to have her cake and eat it too. She wanted to bring out the experiences of the real nomads, while telling an interesting fiction story at the same time. And for me, it simply doesn't work, because frankly I couldn't bring myself to care about McDormand's and Strathairn's fictional characters while Bob Wells and Swankie were right there beside them. I agree with you the documentary process can be a crap shoot because filmmakers have little to no control over what narratives will emerge, and therefore risk making a bad movie. However, just based on the few scenes with Bob Wells and Swankie, I think there was enough substance to make a decent doc. But how many people would have noticed?
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| PurpleHazel wrote: | That's a false equivalence. How can you expect anyone who's participated in this thread to have heard of or seen a British TV documentary? Raise your hand if you've ever seen La Terra Trema (other than Hayden  ). Raise your hand if you've ever heard of An Inconvenient Truth. Sure, having Frances McDormand star in a movie as opposed to unknown actors probably means significantly more people will hear about it. But there are also a lot of movies with well-known actors released every year that no one's ever heard of. Just came across a movie Billy Bob Thornton directed and starred in called Daddy and Them; also stars Laura Dern, Ben Affleck, Jamie Lee Curtis and Andy Griffith. Never heard of the damn thing. |
I agree it's a false equivalence but I think it's an accurate generalization. I didn't know that doc existed either until I googled "nomad documentary". I think it makes the points that docs are generally underexposed, while raising awareness that Zhao wasn't the first filmmaker to explore the nomad lifestyle. But yes, point taken. An Inconvenient Truth was, and still is, a well-known film. However, it's an exception to the rule. The vast majority of docs don't come anywhere near that level of awareness.
Anyway, the Bob Wells scenes were the best scenes of Nomadland.
And also, good list. Glad to see a fellow fan of Collective. While we disagree on Nomadland, our lists will have plenty of overlap. |
Regarding Nomadland, here's a recent Letterboxd review that I think maybe sums up your thoughts (or backs them up). https://letterboxd.com/silentdawn/film/nomadland/
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Applerill
Autistic Princess <3
Gender: Female
Age: 30
Location: Chicago
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- #82
- Posted: 05/01/2021 23:22
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Hayden, can you make Shiva Baby #25 on my list? I'd like to also see Gunda over streaming by tomorrow, but I don't know if that's gonna happen
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PurpleHazel
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- #83
- Posted: 05/02/2021 00:34
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Is Gunda going to be available on Netflix, Amazon or HBO Max?
Last edited by PurpleHazel on 05/02/2021 01:50; edited 1 time in total
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LedZep
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Applerill
Autistic Princess <3
Gender: Female
Age: 30
Location: Chicago
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- #85
- Posted: 05/02/2021 00:44
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I don't think so. Just virtual cinemas (I rented it from Music Box Direct)
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jnfbn
Gender: Male
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- #86
- Posted: 05/02/2021 01:04
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I beg everyone to watch This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection & The Metamorphosis of Birds and Days. All criminally overlooked.
Films
1 . Never Rarely Sometimes Always
2 . I’m Thinking of Ending Things
3 . This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection
4 . The Metamorphosis of Birds
5 . David Byrne’s American Utopia
6 . Days
7 . The Father
8 . Sound of Metal
9 . Another Round
10 . Dick Johnson Is Dead
11 . What the Constitution Means to Me
12 . Driveways
13 . The Mole Agent
14 . Collective
15 . The Wolf House (La casa lobo)
16 . Vitalina Varela
17 . The Personal History of David Copperfield
18 . Nomadland
19 . City Hall
20 . First Cow
21 . His House
22 . Bacurau
23 . Quo Vadis, Aida?
24 . Boys State
25 . Minari
26 . Soul
27 . One Night in Miami...
28 . Promising Young Woman
29 . Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
30 . Shiva Baby
31 . The Man Who Sold His Skin
32 . Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
33 . Da 5 Bloods
Female Performance
1 . Sidney Flanigan - Never Rarely Sometimes Always (a subtle burner, i had hard time watching the scene that gave the film its name.)
2 . Mary Twala - This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection (people please watch this film)
3 . Jessie Buckley - I’m Thinking of Ending Things
4 . Vitalina Varela - Vitalina Varela
5 . Frances McDormand - Nomadland
6 . Wunmi Mosaku - His House
7 . Toni Collette - I’m Thinking of Ending Things
8 . Heidi Schreck - What the Constitution Means to Me
9 . Youn Yuh-jung - Minari
10 . Carey Mulligan - Promising Young Woman
Male Performance
1 . Anthony Hopkins - The Father (seriously his best performance...)
2 . Riz Ahmed - Sound of Metal (phenomenal)
3 . Mads Mikkelsen - Another Round
4 . Delroy Lindo - Da 5 Bloods
5 . Paul Raci - Sound of Metal
6 . Jesse Plemons - I’m Thinking of Ending Things
7 . Alan Kim - Minari
8 . Kang-sheng Lee - Days
9 . Sope Dirisu - His House
10 . Dev Patel - The Personal History of David Copperfield
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Hayden
Location: CDMX
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- #87
- Posted: 05/02/2021 02:20
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| jnfbn wrote: | I beg everyone to watch This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection & The Metamorphosis of Birds and Days. All criminally overlooked.
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I'm assuming you knew about these all beforehand, but did my rec post a few pages back help any?  (I agree that those are all year best films).
Your list looks great jnfbn (Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets is another easy rec). And I appreciate the acting lists. He's my blurb about Never Rarely Sometimes Always from (Jesus...) a year ago—
| Quote: | I have never once seen a chicken tictactoe machine in all of cinema.
Sometimes films make words feel very silly. Everything here hits. The appointments, the phone calls, the people, the places, even just the little things like subway rides and karaoke booths. Harsh, genuine, a reminder to always fight against a system that isn't working. The use of transactions is devastating. The use of things left unsaid even more so.
Sidney Flanigan's performance is phenomenal — it'll be downplayed as understated, but there were times it felt colossal. To see someone so young and so tired will hopefully hit a few people over the head. Doesn't feel like a debut in the slightest. Didn't know what the title meant before going into it either, fantastic choice. The intrusiveness is ridiculous.
Mandatory, in a sense. There's this essentialness to it I haven't felt with a film released in quite some time. It's just something everyone should watch. |
Really wanted Flanigan to gain awards momentun. She deserved an Oscar nom. Twala also deserved an Oscar nom, but that wasn't going to happen....
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Hayden
Location: CDMX
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- #88
- Posted: 05/02/2021 02:21
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| LedZep wrote: | https://letterboxd.com/spooky_m/list/2020/
Dunno if I'll be in any sort of condition to watch another movie or two tomorrow, but still check the list before closing the poll Hayden. |
LedZep, I can't access this  Is it published? All I can see are your 90s/00s/10s lists.
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Hayden
Location: CDMX
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- #89
- Posted: 05/02/2021 02:23
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| Applerill wrote: | | Hayden, can you make Shiva Baby #25 on my list? I'd like to also see Gunda over streaming by tomorrow, but I don't know if that's gonna happen |
Course, easy add. I'm edging it up a few places on my own chart. Has the makings of a cult classic.
And looking forward to the Gunda feedback 
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CA Dreamin
Gender: Male
Location: LA
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- #90
- Posted: 05/02/2021 03:08
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I saw The Painter and the Thief today and slid it onto my list at #35, bumping everything beneath down a spot. Probably won't make a big difference but worth mentioning. | Hayden wrote: | | CA Dreamin wrote: |
I'm aware a number of these entries are from 2019, but didn't get a US release until 2020. Still, they may not be eligible. Hayden, if you're going to omit any of these entries, let me know and I'll find some more filler, haha. |
All good CA Dreamin. Tallied. (Portrait of A Lady on Fire is a bit of a slippery release, but I suppose it was 2020 in the US). Your list definitely made a bit of a shake up too (especially in our top 10). I think we have a surprise order at this point. Glad you dug Beanpole so much, definitely one of those films that deserved more love than it got. Wish it had been in the main comp at Cannes that year...
Regarding Nomadland, here's a recent Letterboxd review that I think maybe sums up your thoughts (or backs them up). https://letterboxd.com/silentdawn/film/nomadland/
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Yeah I know. Portrait already did well on last year's list but I was only trying to improve my personal list. I rewatched it a couple weeks ago, and it only got better. As for Beanpole, I didn't put it at #1 just to give it a boost. I legit felt it was the best thing I watched from 2020 without question. My hope for the results is that I help it land somewhere on our list.
I didn't dwell on the Amazon warehouse aspect of Nomadland, as the LB reviewer did. I guess there's something to be said there. But yeah, overall my two cents and that reviewer's two cents are very similar. Although I didn't give the film as low of a rating as he did. Mostly because I respect that Zhao didn't stoop to the level of exploiting the real nomads in any way. I don't think it was 'toxic poverty porn garbage' but it could have descended to that level. But no, I appreciate that Zhao treated them with respect and allowed them to share their stories/experiences. The scene where Bob Wells goes into detail about his son was very effective. I just wish Zhao spent a lot more time capturing moments like that, and a lot less time on Fern-Dave drama.
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on such a winter's day
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