Best Pictures #62: 2019 (92nd) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee: Jojo Rabbit

by A.J.

Best Pictures #62 
2019 (92^nd) Academy Awards Best Picture Nominee

Jojo Rabbit

“You're not a Nazi, Jojo. You're a ten-year-old kid who likes dressing up in a funny uniform and wants to be part of a club.”

A good movie lets you know what you’re in for right away. A great movie surpasses those expectations. You’ll know within the first ten minutes of Jojo Rabbit whether this film is for you or not. It opens with real footage of crowds roaring ecstatically for Adolf Hitler while a German version of “I Want to Hold Your Hand” plays over the titles. This is how 10-year-old Johannes sees Hitler. In fact, his goofy, encouraging imaginary best friend is none other than Adolf. Any comedy set in Nazi Germany is going to be tricky to say the least, even for a talented filmmaker like writer-director Taika Waititi. In previous films, Waititi has tackled broad, dark comedy (the vampire comedy What We Do In The Shadows) and mixed comedy and sentimental drama (the wonderful Huntfor the Wilderpeople). In Jojo Rabbit, Waititi combines sharp satire, broad comedy, devastating drama, and sincere sentiment with incredible results. Movies like Jojo Rabbit don’t come along too often. This is without a doubt one of the best movies of 2019.

Roman Griffin Davis plays Johannes who is young enough that he believes all of the most awful and absurd antisemitic Nazi propaganda. He wants to be the best Nazi he can be, but doesn’t measure up. Older members of the Hitler Youth nickname him Jojo Rabbit after he can’t bring himself to kill a rabbit. His mother, Rosie (Scarlett Johansson) is raising is him alone—his soldier father is presumed dead, or possibly a deserter—and trying to counteract the hateful propaganda Jojo has been absorbing. She is also secretly sheltering a Jewish girl, Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie), in an upstairs crawlspace. When Jojo discovers Elsa, he knows he can’t turn her in without getting his mother in trouble, so he decides question her about being Jewish to write a book. His initial shock and fright turn to confusion: she has no horns and doesn’t sleep upside down. In fact, she appears to be a normal girl and he develops a crush on her.

Waititi walks a fine line both as a filmmaker, maintaining the film’s dark comic tone, and as an actor, playing the imaginary Adolf. His performance is broad and over the top but it matches what 10-year-old Jojo would conjure up. Scarlett Johansson has earned a Supporting Actress nomination for her role as Jojo’s mother and I think it’s well deserved. Her portrayal of a someone doing all she can to be a good parent and a good person is compelling. Sam Rockwell turns in another good performance as a washed-up Nazi officer that may actually be hiding a sense of decency. In a small but chilling role Stephen Merchant plays a Gestapo officer that comes to investigate Jojo’s house; his thin but imposing 6’7” figure is used for unease and intimidation. Archie Yates as Yorki, Jojo’s only friend in real life, is a natural born scene stealer.  

This film is not meant to be an actual representation of life under Hitler’s Third Reich. This is a fable about a how a young boy experiences the horrors of the Nazi regime and is able to survive not just with his life but with his heart and soul. The screenplay, adapted by Waititi from the novel Caging Skies by Christine Leunen, believes that fanatism is absurd, so everything presented on screen follows that principal. Nazis are presented as ridiculous because their whole belief system is based on the hateful absurdity that a certain group of people are superior to others. The comedy in this movie is audacious and even uncomfortable but it never mocks or minimizes the horrific actions of the Nazis. When one Nazi gives a Hitler Youth child a live grenade and tells him to run and hug an American soldier, it’s not remotely funny.

Jojo Rabbit shouldn’t work but it does. A large reason for that is the sweet nature of Roman Griffin Davis and his scenes with Thomasin McKenzie, also giving a great performance. Another reason is Taika Waititi’s sensibilities as a filmmaker. He knows just how far to push the comedy and how to play the drama scenes for incredible effect. Advertisements have marketed Jojo Rabbit as an “anti-hate satire” which it certainly is. It is also a story about how hope can survive even in the darkest of places and times, until one day it can step outside again and dance.  

Nominees: Carthew Neal, Taika Waititi

Director: Taika Waititi

Screenplay: Taika Waititi; based on the novel Christine Leunens

Cast: Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin McKenzie, Scarlett Johansson

Production Companies: Fox Searchlight Pictures, TSG Entertainment, Defender Films, Piki Films

Distributor: Fox Searchlight Pictures

Release Date: October 18^th, 2019

Total Nominations: 6, including Best Picture

Other Nominations: Supporting Actress-Scarlett Johansson; Adapted Screenplay-Taika Waititi; Costume Design-Mayes C. Rubeo; Production Design-Ra Vincent, Nora Sopková; Editing-Tom Eagles

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

Under the Skin Review

by A.J.
 
It begins with images that are only vaguely familiar: a black circle... a pupil? An eyeball? What we see in Under the Skin is intriguing, mysterious, and understandable enough. Some critics have made comparisons between this film and the films of Stanly Kubrick. Bizarre, ethereal imagery, long shots, quiet scenes, and a lack of explanation usually draw comparisons to Kubrick, but what those people really mean is that it reminded them of the last half hour of 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick’s movies are thought provoking but actually very comprehensible). On the spectrum of auteurs, director Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin falls somewhere between David Lynch and Alejandro Jodorowsky, and in the best way possible too. 

Scarlett Johansson plays a woman with black hair, an English accent, and a fur coat. She roams rural Scotland in a van picking up men with the unspoken promise of a sexual encounter. This is not as easy as you might think, even for an alien (?) that looks like Scarlett Johansson. What does she really want these men for? What really happens to them? Each encounter shows a little more, though that doesn’t mean it reveals more about what is happening. 

This very well might be Scarlett Johansson's best performance. She brings curious life to this not quite human creature. Even when using her charm and sex appeal she seems to be operating on autopilot until she has an encounter with a severely deformed man. After that she strays from her routine and becomes curious and confused by her surroundings and her body. Her journey from then on is as unknown to her as it is to us, and the movie comes as close as it ever does to meeting us halfway. 

Under the Skin makes no direct statements. There is nothing resembling traditional exposition. That will frustrate some and excite others. However, this does not mean it is impossible to follow what is happening on screen; anyone familiar with science-fiction/horror movie tropes is likely to have a good idea of what’s going on. There is plenty to ponder, but this movie shouldn't cause too much frustration to those intent on solving its mystery since Under the Skin is ultimately a Rubik's cube, not a puzzle with missing pieces.