Best Pictures #57: 2019 (92nd) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee: Little Women (2019)

by A.J.

Best Pictures #57

 2019 (92^nd) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

Little Women (2019)

“I'm so sick of people saying that love is just all a woman is fit for.”

With Little Women, first published in 1868, Louisa May Alcott crafted a story so nearing perfection that not only has it become a classic, but it is difficult to mess up when retelling it. The fourth big screen adaptation Alcott’s novel, written and directed by Greta Gerwig, finds a fresh approach to the lives of the March sisters without making any major changes to the well-loved story. Gerwig uses a flashback structure, a steady and lively pace, equally lively performances, and a lovely score by Alexandre Desplat to make this period drama easily engaging to a modern audience. 

Gerwig begins her film near the end of Alcott’s story with Jo (Saoirse Ronan) living in New York trying to carve out a career as a fiction writer. Her sisters are scattered and wrapped up in their adult lives. Meg (Emma Watson) is raising a family and keeping a house while struggling with money. Amy (Florence Pugh) is learning painting in Europe. Only selfless and caring Beth (Eliza Scanlen) remains with their parents at the March family home in Massachusetts. Then the film flashes back to where to the novel and other film versions begin, with the sisters as adolescents living together under one roof with their mother, Marmie (Laura Dern, with infinite patience and warmness and wisdom). Their father is away serving with the Union army in the Civil War. It is seven years before we began with Jo living in New York.

There is real joy and emotion in the scenes of the March sisters together (that’s the appeal of watching any version of Little Women) but we get time with each of the sisters on their own. We get to know them as individuals and are privy to what is in their minds and hearts. Gerwig put together a fine ensemble but Saoirse Ronan and Florence Pugh have been singled out by the Academy with Oscar nominations in the Lead and Supporting categories, respectively. This is no surprise since Jo and Amy are the two showy roles.

Ronan brings just the right kind of energy to the rebellious, strong willed, sometimes abrasive, but always charming, Jo. She is full of life and personality without becoming a caricature. On the other hand, I found Florence Pugh’s performance as the youngest sister Amy (a child when the novel begins) so broad as to be distracting. Pugh plays Amy throughout the film, but the younger Amy’s behavior and actions have not been altered in any significant way. So, in the flashbacks we see an adult Florence Pugh speaking and acting like a child even though she looks like a teenager at the youngest (even with her Cindy Brady haircut). This unfortunately makes the younger Amy come off as odd and extra bratty.

Timothèe Chalamet is a perfect fit for the role of Laurie, the dreamy and charming boy next door destined to be intertwined with the March sisters. Chalamet brings a lively physicality to his performance, moving his long, slender body with a lilt that matches the energy of the movie. In smaller but no less entertaining roles are Meryl Streep and Tracy Letts. Streep plays the intimidating and acerbic Aunt March, who is rich enough to be able to speak her mind. She is full of 19^th century quips and zingers that are delivered wonderfully. Letts plays a grumpy New York publisher that is willing buy Jo’s stories if they are spicy and if Jo’s female main characters get married at the end, or die. Jo’s conversations with him are entertaining but also come right up against being too meta for the movie's own good (if you weren’t sure about Jo being a stand-in for Alcott, these scenes leave no doubt).

I have to admit that as much the jumps back and forth in time work for the overall structure of the film some of the cuts are not immediately apparent and it takes a moment to figure out where you are in the timeline. Once you get into the rhythm of the pacing, however, you’ll find yourself caught up in the film’s enthusiasm and love for its characters. Right from the start this version of Little Women lets you know that it is not a pageant, not just another recreation of a familiar story, but a new perspective on a classic story that gets to the core of what makes this story timeless. The climax of Gerwig’s adaptation, is not whether or not Jo gets married and to whom, but how she is able to stay true to herself and her dreams and her family.

Nominees: Amy Pascal, producer

Director: Greta Gerwig

Screenplay: Greta Gerwig, based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott

Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, Laura Dern, Timothée Chalamet

Production Companies: Columbia Pictures, Regency Enterprises, Pascal Pictures

Distributor: Sony Pictures

Release Date: December 25^th, 2019

Total Nominations: 6, including Best Picture

Other Nominations: Actress-Saoirse Ronan; Supporting Actress-Florence Pugh; Adapted Screenplay-Greta Gerwig; Costume Design-Jacqueline Durran; Original Score-Alexandre Desplat

Best Pictures #55: 2019 (92nd) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee: Marriage Story

by A.J.

Best Pictures #55 

2019 (92^nd) Academy Awards Nominee 

Marriage Story

“Divorce lawyers see good people at their worst.”

Despite its annoyingly vague title, Marriage Story is actually about a divorce. On one level writer-director Noah Baumbach’s latest film feels like a divorce procedural. We follow a young attractive couple (Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver) as they agree to keep things simple and not involve lawyers, then involve lawyers, begin a custody battle, and try to navigate all of the emotional and legal complexities of legally dissolving a marriage. On another level, Marriage Story is a showcase of brilliant performances ranging from subtle to ostentatious, comical to moving. I enjoyed Marriage Story far more than I expected though I hesitate to recommend it since very few people (myself included) are able to have a good time by watching people argue and get divorced for over two hours. The divorce gets rocky but the film doesn’t so much and if you are in the right mood for a relationship/divorce drama you’ll find a decent, somehow, feel good movie.

This is the kind of movie that hangs entirely on its performances. Fortunately, the leads and supporting players all turn in strong performances. Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver have both earned Oscar nominations for their performances as the wife and husband seeking to uncouple themselves while remaining involved with their eight-year-old son and maintaining their careers. Both earn and lose and then earn back your sympathy. Charlie (Driver) is a successful New York theater director whose latest avant-garde production is headed to Broadway. Nicole (Johansson) once starred in a popular Hollywood movie but since meeting and marrying Charlie has committed herself to the stage. A Los Angeles native, Nicole has always wanted to spend more time on the West Coast and now has landed a role in a pilot that will likely become a series. Charlie thinks of them as a New York family and expects Nicole and their son to move back to New York once the pilot is done. When Nicole decides to officially file for divorce the real conflict between them begins.

Baumbach’s script does not overtly take sides though it leans toward Charlie, especially toward the end of the film. The explosive climatic argument between Nicole and Charlie gives a chance for both actors to express intense emotions, but it is Driver who gets to let out overwhelming pathos. A court appointed observer—played with welcome awkward comic deadpan by Martha Kelly—is assigned to visit and interview both parents, but we only see the visit Charlie. Charlie does his best to present as an ideal father before the visit falls into dark comedy. In a wonderfully delivered monologue early in the film, Nicole gives us her backstory, both life events and emotional. After this scene the perspective shifts to Charlie and never really shifts back to Nicole. We are as blindsided as Charlie is by claims on money and custody by Nicole’s lawyer.

Nora, Nicole’s flashy and smoothly confident high-powered lawyer, is played with impressive ease by Laura Dern, who has earned a Best Supporting Actress nomination. We’re just as charmed and dazzled by her as Nicole, and just as stung by her as Charlie. Alan Alda delivers some great low-key comedy as Charlie’s first divorce lawyer. He’s old enough that his hands shake but also old enough to know how bad a divorce can get, and how it will likely end, so, he recommends just starting there. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum is Ray Liotta as Charlie second divorce lawyer, a high powered and extremely expensive pit-bull. He speaks with such speed and ridiculous intensity that he can’t help but be funny and believable as a ruthless lawyer. Julie Hagerty is a welcome presence as Nicole’s actress mother. She has so much flighty warmth that she secretly helps Charlie find a divorce lawyer.

I’m sure certain viewers that have been through a divorce or even a bad breakup will find something relatable with the characters and situation in Marriage Story. I wouldn’t be surprised if other viewers find these characters and their situation unrelatable. Nicole and Charlie, though not wealthy, are in a very upper middle class bracket. They are so accomplished that momentous life changing events like landing a starring role in a TV show and earning an Emmy nomination for directing (Nicole) and winning a MacArthur “genius” grant (Charlie) are just background plot points. Whether you can relate or not, the performances from Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver are of such a rare quality as to keep you invested in their emotional journey.

Nominees: Noah Baumbach, David Heyman, producers

Director: Noah Baumbach

Screenplay: Noah Baumbach

Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Adam Driver, Laura Dern, Alan Alda, Ray Liotta

Production Companies: Heyday Films

Distributor: Netflix

Release Date: November 6^th, 2019

Total Nominations: 6, including Best Picture

Other Nominations: Actor-Adam Driver; Actress-Scarlett Johansson; Original Screenplay-Noah Baumbach; Supporting Actress-Laura Dern; Original Score-Randy Newman