Nominees, Winners and PBS

So the award nominees and winners are starting to become available on DVD at the library and most are only marginal or worse. The few better ones rise to the level of the several PBS shows also at the top of the list presented below.

Call the Midwife (Season Seven) -2017 (3.2). The series continues to maintain its quality as it progresses chronologically further into the 1960s, with character progression, succession and suppression. Color is added by a midwife from Jamaica.

Loving Vincent – 2017 (3.0). One hundred or so artists painted thousands of oil paintings over the course of two years, in a style like Van Gogh, and these were brought to life through animation to make this evocative movie. The story line is that the postmaster who was friends with Vincent was given a letter Vincent had written to his brother Theo but not mailed before Vincent died, The postmaster deputizes his aimless son to deliver the letter, but the young man quickly finds Theo is also dead. He then embarks on an inquiry of the locals, trying to determine whether Vincent had in fact shot himself or been shot by someone else, perhaps by accident. The frames of the film pulse with the motion evoked by the paintings of Van Gogh, and the faces of the historical people are rendered as there similar looking actors. As the young man discovers the real Vincent, we are motivated to reacquaint ourselves with him also.

The Breadwinner -2017 (2.9). Adapted from a novel, this animated drama tells the story of a young girl in Afghanistan who poses as a boy in order to work and earn money for her family after her father is sent to prison by the Taliban. The movie alternates between the somewhat bleak story of the family struggles and a more colorful storytelling of an ancient fable about a young boy facing monsters in order to save his village.

Little Women -2018 (2.9). The Alcott classic makes yet another appearance, this time on PBS as a two part presentation. The appeal of the story and quality of production and acting beg for a more in depth treatment spread over many episodes. Though there are items from the life of the author in this story, it is not an autobiography. The American Masters film on Alcott gives the true story of her life and makes a good double billing with the new movie.

Unforgotten (Season Two) -2017 (2.9). The series improves ever so slightly as we know the detectives and the investigative techniques better and become better detectives ourselves. Still the ending to the second season is a new twist product of cleverly believable writing.

The Big Sick -2017 (2.8). Based on a true story and starring the real Pakistani American comedian, this romantic comedy starts of fun decently paced but then begins to bog down a bit and seem a little draggy. The chemistry is good between the leads and the supporting cast is adequate, but the script spends too much time on the comedy club supporting characters and too little time on the Pakistani family conflicts over the cultural traditions. Nevertheless it is basically a fun movie to watch, knowing the big sickness is not going to be the end.

The Florida Project – 2017 (2.8). Independent filmmaker Sean Baker wanted to entertain and inform with this movie about a six year old girl and her single mother living a “nearly homeless” life in a rundown motel near Disney World in Florida. The girl and her playmates are intended to be entertainingly reminiscent of Spanky and Our Gang, while the plight of the mother trying to come up with motel rent informs us of this other world under our noses. The mother is not a particularly sympathetic character, indeed she is an easy target for justified criticism. Willem Dafoe, the only professional in the cast, playing the beleaguered resident motel manager serves as a brusquely sympathetic link between the precarious life of the girl and her mother and the rest of the world that is considered more normal. The DVD special features are helpful in understanding how Baker works and in meeting the cast.

I, Tonya – 2017 (2.8). In a variation on Rashomon, the story of ice skater Tonya Harding is told through enacted interviews with the skater and others in her life, interwoven with enactments of the events in her life as they are being told by the various participants. We may already know the story, the movie says, or do we only have an amalgamation of viewpoints with varying truth. The film moves along, the skating special effects are seamless and while you may not particularly like her, you have to begrudge a degree of sympathy. Supporting Actress Oscar winner Allison Janney as the mom is a real life Cruella.

Lady Bird – 2017 (2.8). A promising writing and directing debut for actress Greta Gerwig, this dramedy brings some freshness to the story of a high school student wanting to break out of her shell and go to a college away from home. There is a lot going on in her life and it would be fun to follow her experiences in more depth as was done in a very good TV series with similar themes almost 25 years ago – My So-Called Life.

The Post – 2017 (2.8). The decision whether to publish the Pentagon Papers revealing the decades of deceit behind America's involvement in Vietnam was a monumental one for Katherine Graham, the owner of the Washington Post. She had taken over the helm after the unexpected death of her husband and was in the process of taking a huge segment of the company public. The New York Times was under a temporary court injunction not to publish, so legal exposure for the Post could be enough to scare off investors and potentially be the beginning of the end for the paper. In the short period of time portrayed in the movie, Graham with the support of her editor Ben Bradlee decides to do it and the Supreme Court ultimately comes down in favor of the newspapers. Steven Spielberg puts his familiar touch on the direction, at times unable to resist a tendency to be hokey, but Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks do good jobs as the principals.

Unforgotten (Season One) -2015 (2.8). In this Brit mystery miniseries a body is discovered after being buried for who knows how many years. Identifying the deceased, determining if there was foul play and trying to track down witnesses and suspects after decades falls to a special task force dedicated to seeking justice for the unforgotten. The format of the script alternates between the crime lab and detectives diligently pursuing every lead, while we also get glimpses into the current lives of several people who soon become persons of interest. They all seem to be hiding something, but is it material to determining responsibility for the death and will the police be able to figure it out by season end?

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – 2017 (2.7). This movie had a lot of promise, with an unsolved heinous crime in a small town, a dying policeman taken to task by the mother of the victim and supporting characters who interestingly filled out the cast. Unfortunately about midway through the script took a turn for the worse deteriorating into a succession of criminal acts of vengeance that nobody seemed interested in stopping or punishing and that did nothing to actually solve the crime.

Molly's Game – 2017 (2.6). This overlong drama about a very bright Olympic skier who became the organizer of a poker game for high rollers contains lots of fast and witty dialogue but the movie drags and fails to create any empathy or much drama. We know from the start that she will eventually run afoul of the law, but we are not sure until the end what will be her punishment. Apparently we are supposed to be uplifted by her ultimate decision on a plea bargain and the effect that has on her sentencing, though the main effect on the audience may be relief that the movie is finally over.

Call Me By Your Name – 2017 (2.5). The 17 year old precocious son of a professor spends the summer at their Villa in northern Italy and is enraptured with a confident man who comes to stay a while and work under the professor. This happens at a time when the boy is confronting his sexual identity, a task with which the visitor helps him, while the parents seem to remain a bit disengaged. This movie is for those drawn to the subject matter, otherwise it plods.

The Shape of Water – 2017 (2.5). Guillermo del Toro likes his creatures and odd stories and this movie is another one. A fish man from the Amazon is of interest to cold war scientists. He is in an American facility being tortured by the evil security head while a mute cleaning lady becomes romantically interested in him. Lonely oddball people meet fish man, so therefore give it the Oscar.

The Square – 2017 (2.4). This movie had something to say, but good luck figuring out what it was, in spite of two and a half hours of trying. The fact that it is a Swedish film is not the problem. The script is a muddle with scenes supposedly connected but with the links not actually interesting enough to click on; yet nevertheless they just keep playing themselves. Beggars and people needing help, immigrant prejudice, pretentious art and a hodgepodge of other garbage, like a predator ape man at a fund raising gala for a museum and quite literally an overhead shot of the museum director looking through a dumpster of trash bags. Oh and do not forget about the after sex scene where the participants have a tug of war over the used condom.