Nathaniel Gives Thanks, 2020
Thursday, November 26, 2020 at 1:10PM 
by Nathaniel R
HAPPY THANKSGIVING, READERS! It occured to me the other day that for as crappy as pandemic shut-in 2020 has been, we should be grateful for it... at least here in the US. Without the pandemic, despite a quarter million lives lost, we would surely have been stuck with the worst and most corrupt government in our history and the end of Democracy as fascists cemented their rule. It's not that the threat is gone exactly. Due to numerous ills embedded in American society, we could still see Democracy vanquished. But we have bought ourselves at least a couple of years reprieve (more if we're lucky and continue getting out the vote). So, I never thought I'd say this but "thank you, COVID" (?)
On a lighter and more movie-site note here are 15 showbiz things that I was personally grateful for this past year...
• The opportunity to moderate a Beanpole discussion at Film Forum (before movie theaters closed *cries*) for the absurdly talented 28 year-old Russian director Kantemir Balagov. The movie wasn't nominated at the Oscars but at least it made the international finals!
• The sound design of Sound of Metal for putting us inside Riz Ahmed's head. It's the closest we've ever been to his perfect face and we're grateful...
• The Queen's Gambit but especially getting lost in Anya Taylor Joy's anime-sized eyeballs and discovering how fun brilliant director Marielle Heller (Diary of a Teenage Girl, Can You Ever Forgive Me?) is as an onscreen talent, too, in the part of Anya's drunk adoptive mother. (Who'da thunk it?)
• Pedro & Tilda & The Human Voice
• The opportunity to jury at the Calgary International Film Festival and Oscar panel it at Middleburg, if only virtually... here's to attending such things in the flesh again some day.
• Half pleasures are still pleasures: getting to see Jason Scott Lee and Gong Li onscreen again if not the film housing them (Mulan); the second hour but not the first of The Nest (seriously, filmmakers: pacing. Get to your point); the visual flamboyance of Over the Moon; the idea of Charlize Theron being immortal via The Old Guard because we love the idea of new Charlize movies annually till we expire, even the mediocre ones.
• The remake of The Boys in the Band for casting gay actors in gay roles and the actors themselves for doing wonderful work therein. We salute everyone who had a hand in the casting happening that way. But because I am perpetually misunderstood on this topic I would also like to note that I loved the straight actor Paul Bettany in Uncle Frank (liked the film, too, unlike Christopher). I have no objection to straight actors doing gay roles (and vice versa - sexuality is complex and often fluid) as long as there isn't discrimination in the hiring practices of Hollywood. And we know for a fact that there is since gay parts go to gay actors so very rarely that it's defacto newsworthy every time it happens!
• Cartoon Saloon delivering yet again with the visually spellbinding Wolkwalkers. (So tired of Oscar voter laziness in assuming that only Disney and Pixar are deserving of golden statues)
• The showbiz ascendance of South Korea. It's been in the works for years, of course, but 2020 was pure fireworks, including but not limited to: Parasite winning Best Picture + Two gripping seasons of royal drama / zombie horror Kingdom (the best quarantine watch) on Netflix + BTS's joyful earworm "Dynamite" hitting #1 + the upcoming Korean-American Oscar contender Minari (which is as lovely as you've heard.)
• That dirty limerick Kate recites to Saoirse in Ammonite
• An exhausting but very rewarding more than double-sized Smackdown season. And especially everyone who played along at home watching the movies and all of our special guest panelists. How are we going to top that next season?
• The silly distractions of TikTok but especially @yoleendadong @jtfirstman @tuckercomedy @joshhelfgott @jen_nicole33 @anastasianarinksy @merissaria @nickydoobs @jkabobs and @johnnysibilly01
• a new friend I've been foisting endless movies upon. But his favourite movie is Chungking Express and he read our Montgomery Clift Centennial without prompting so the taste level was already there.
• Taylor Paige's extra-saucy very funny body language in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and that Chadwick Boseman got such a wonderful posthumous showcase. And the diametrically opposed way that Viola Davis stares at each of them. (We've heard Paige is great in Zola, too, which is coming in 2021, so we may have a new movie star on our hands soon)
• Finally, I'm (very) grateful for the team of cool voices I get to share daily with you here at The Film Experience.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE AND IF YOU'RE OUTSIDE THE US OR DON'T CELEBRATE, HAPPY DAY IN WHICH YOUR AMERICAN FRIENDS LIST ALL THE THINGS THAT THEY'RE GRATEFUL FOR.
Reader Comments (27)
So glad you watched and enjoyed The Queen's Gambit. It will be so much fun to watch Anya's career rightfully explode over the next few years, and Marielle Heller is a delight. I've been "saving" What the Constitution Means to Me (like American Utopia) for a special night, because I know it will be something special, in part since she is involved.
And like you, I'm grateful we'll soon have a leader who is kind and respects our system of government and our people. It's a start!
I'm so grateful that you've found a way to persevere as an independent site (and mantain the community here, despite some bumps). Thank you, Nathaniel.
Happy Thanksgiving!
I’m thankful for this website, which I’ve visited daily since 2009, and the contributors that make it worth visiting daily! Thank you guys!! Here’s to several more Thanksgivings and, of course, films.
P.s. Update your review page, Nathaniel! I use it and it’s letter grades to decide which new films to watch.
Happy Thanksgiving! Thanks for helping keep us entertained in this crazy year!
thefilmexperience has been my favorite website and somehow my second home for near a decade!
So As a regular visitor I just wanna thank you Nathaniel and whole thefilmexperience family for giving us one more year
I hope this journey goes on forever!
Hoping this mean you loved Ammonite as much as I did
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your amazing thefilmexperience team! Wong’s Chungking Express as favourite film? A man to marry (I’m not joking...)
I'm thankful for The Film Experience. xxx ooo xxx
Happy Thanksgiving!
I am absolutely thankful for this website, as it is one of the few places I've been able to visit which has kept my blood pressure low in 2020. Happy Thanksgiving to all!
I'm thankful for your continued work on this lovely site, which after reading for more than a decade, feels a lot like home :)
Thank you for all that you do to make TFE awesome, and for just being an all-around good human being.
P.S. You're still the best writer of all of us!
Thank you so much for this site. It has really helped through this year and always reenergizes my love of film.
Happy Thanksgiving to You and Yours, The Film Experience and Nathaniel!!
Thank you, Nathaniel and everyone, for this wonderful site!
Thank you for the cinema-loving oasis you've built with this site. I've been a fan for many years and am proud to consider myself part of Team Experience. You're amazing and so is your work. Hope you have a stupendously happy Thanksgiving just like you deserve.
Yay Nathaniel for giving kudos to The Boys in the Band on film (new release). Wasn't able to make it to Broadway to see, but thanks to Netflix got to see it anyway and loved the different take on the same subject matter. I've argued with friends over the "self-hatred" of the movie for years. My point is that BITB is history. When I came out in Houston Texas in 1973, most gay men had cornered the market on bitchiness and self-hatred. I admit that's very sad, but I think we deserve a period piece that captures that period of gay life, and the new BITB is that period piece. Thought the cast as a whole was great; especially pleased with Jim Parsons.
Did you like Ammonite, Nathaniel?
Wishing you a happy 2021, Nathaniel!
Did you just say that you were thankful 200K people died so that your candidate could win? A little inappropriate and hateful, don't you think?
Was watching last night and wondered is that the woman who directed Can You Ever Forgive Me? Thanks for confirming it.
I binged The Queen's Gambit yesterday and kept on trying to figure out who the actress was who played "Mother." She seemed so familiar. The best I could come up with was Veronica Cartwright's daughter in spirit. What a talent.
I too am grateful for the confluence of events that helped us get a regime change in America without too much drama (thus far). It's probably impossible to parse out all the factors but I'm grateful it happened.
As for Chunking Express, not my favorite Wong Kar Wai film (that would be either Happy Together or In The Mood For Love), but I would be thrilled to know/date anyone who had even ever heard of Wong Kar Wai, or honestly, even just someone willing to watch a movie with subtitles!
Lots to be grateful for, even in this terrible year.
Guest guest guest — this shows that you don’t get it. It is not a “preferred Candidate” issue. Thst would be in notmal election circumstances. — T ****p is a direct threat to Democracy. And a direct threat to the health of hundreds of millions. As we saw in his purposefully lie-filled avoidance which sent our death rates soaring. His childish narcissism and mentsl illness is a direct threat to lives all over the world with the power of the US presidency. So it’s not a matter of “which candidate are you rooting for?” — it’s A matter of life and death for millions.
Dave - just as i was reafung your comment he reminded mr of a wong kar wai program coming up tgat we need yo watch ;)
Yokobama — i duf but not as much as i was hoping too.
Thank you for running this wonderful site for all these years! I can’t even remember when I discovered it it’s been so long. Maybe 2006? I just love it so much. I check it daily, sometimes more than once, and it’s often a bright spot in my day. Easily my favourite site to read and discuss great movies and great actresses. Thanks again!!
Happy Thanksgiving ! Long live The Film Experience.
Elbow bump from France
Thanks for writing that rebuttal to Guest Guest Guest Nathaniel, so I didn't have to. That person likely doesn't realize that the USA just avoided becoming a literal dictatorship. Without Covid, it's *quite* possible the orange horror would have legit won the election (painful as that is to contemplate). We're not out of the woods by a long shot but this definitely brings some peace of mind.
Anyway, TFE is an excellent, wonderful site and you are a treasure. Thankful.
This Blog is so good that even those who don't agree with the owner's political point of view end up coming back. Because this is really a very precious place for cinema lovers.
It would be the ideal world if people could live and accept different opinions, because a world with only one point of view, even if political, is impossible to exist. Political power in this country will always be changing hands. Always.
Political power may always change hands, but the point of view that the USA can be a leader in democracy needn't.