Podcast: JoJo Rabbit and Oscar's Screenplay Races
Monday, November 11, 2019 at 10:15AM with Murtada Elfadl & Nathaniel R
Index (38 minutes)
00:01 Taiki Waitit's JoJo Rabbit. Is its satire successful? We're mixed on just about everything within it including the actors though we both loved Scarlett Johansson as the mother to a little Nazi boy.
16:00 A Parasite tangent "It's so metaphorical!"
19:20 JoJo Rabbit's Oscar chances hard to read, right? It could be anywhere from 2 to 8 noms
21:50 Adapted Screenplay - The Irishman, JoJo Rabbit, Little Women, etc?
27:00 Original Screenplay - Marriage Story, Parasite, Bombshell, etc?
35:00 Randomness: Hustlers, Dark Waters, and Cats
37:00 Off to Campaign Events!
Related: Oscar Screenplay charts
You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you?
Reader Comments (11)
Nathaniel, what did you think of Bombshell? There's nothing on your twitter.
I liked Jojo Rabbit slightly more than Murtada, but overall I agree with him. It felt like a very watered-down Wes Anderson movie with none of the charm, individuality, humor, pathos, or risk.
I do feel it will be straight in the Academy's wheelhouse, and that annoys me, because it feels like pure Oscarbait, more than any of the other frontrunners this season, and there are very deserving films that are likely to be overlooked because they don't seem to be as awards-friendly (you mentioned Hustlers and The Farewell, but also Us, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, and the Lighthouse).
I like Jojo Rabbit quite a bit, but I would like it much less if I took it seriously as satire. It's just so toothless. To me, it's just a sweet coming of age story and yeah perhaps that's damning it with faint praise.
BRING ON THE SECOND CATS TRAILER.
chasm301-
That first CATS trailer really needs to be seen with a large audience to be believed. lol.
I saw LAST CHRISTMAS with a sold out theater yesterday and they showed the CATS trailer and it was a mixture of laughter, groans, and disbelief haha
I saw Jojo Rabbit at Toronto before the negative reviews started coming out, and I LOVED IT!!! Yes, it wasn't as satirical as I was expecting and it was maybe a little goofy, but I really responded to what it was, which is a coming-of-age fable about examining the things we love as children and realizing they may be harmful, even dangerous. I know the juvenile humor may be a turnoff, but I think it's just right for a story that's showing us the world from a point of view that is initially juvenile, and then shows us how that perspective changes (which is what I admired so much about Taika Waititi's performance, the way it gradually shifted throughout the film to show us Jojo's understanding of who Hitler is and how that changes). I also don't see how calling something a "sweet coming of age story" is damning it with faint praise (unless you're comparing it to your expectations of it). There's nothing wrong with a film being sweet (which is the other thing I loved, Jojo's relationship with Elsa, which I found really sweet).
We LOVED. JoJo Rabbit... Forget Satire and Parody. We went to see ir not knowing anything about it. It is my favorite movie of the year so far and we have seen almost all that are out.
The boy should be nominated for BA( it won't happen). Scarlett was good but NOT award worthy.
The writing should definite be Nom .... if not the winner.
My feeling about the critics and also this blog is they are too self centered.. The average movie goer is going to love it and NOT pick it apart. Sorry, but that is the way this blog is heading.
@richterscale - Thanks for your response - a lot of what you articulated is what I like so much about it. And yes, by "damning with faint praise" I mostly meant that I'm interpreting it as a sweet coming of age film while I feel it's being positioned (by marketing, by Taika, by the press) as this socially relevant satire. And it doesn't really work as that for me.
Anyway, I've gone twice and enjoyed it both times.
@DAVID The knowledge that the CATS trailer might play before LAST CHRISTMAS has sold that movie for me. (I was gonna go anyway)
JOJO RABBIT - Best Picture, Best Director (Waititi), Best Supporting Actress (Johansson), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Production Design and Best Original Score. If it gets Editing I will say it's going to win Best Picture, but right now I'll not speak of "winning".
.
PARASITE - Best Picture, Best International Film, Best Director (Bong), Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing. Maybe Best Production Design (it deserves) and Best Supporting Actor (Song Kang-ho) if the Academy really goes crazy in love for the movie.
.
I miss the days of the Nathaniel, Joe, Nick and Katie hosted Film Experience Podcast. Nathaniel remains as insightful as ever but Murtada’s film criticism comes across like an algorithm of film twitter consensus. I’m never surprised by his take on a movie. Hes far too “online” and it always feels like he has determined which films to champion before he’s sees them and then just regurgitates twitter takes.
So Jojo Rabbit is going to be the film this year that the people who love it are upset with anyone who doesn't.
loved listening to this episode. and appreciate the passion. i liked (to my surprise) jojo rabbit after first seeing it, but it's already faded for me. murtada might be onto something. in fact, i know he is. especially when he says taika is not funny. i'm living for the snl sketch analogy. preach!