A new series by Juan Carlos Ojano
Women are at the center of the Oscars conversation*. Two female nominees for Best Director. Chloé Zhao making Oscar history. Highest number of female-directed films nominated at the Oscars as well as highest number of eligible films at the Oscars in total. Maybe it’s too early to say, but this year is looking like the bellwether of a significant change that is about to happen in the cinematic experience and landscape in the years to come. In a time when cinema as we know it was changing right in front of our collective eyes, this year in film has shown that the future is female indeed.
As for Best Actress - save for one co-lead situation - women are also the center of their respective films’ narratives (longtime Oscar fans know that’s not always the case). The roles nominated during this time exemplify the complex emotions of the year. Social unrest and grief are big forces that confronted us that year. And look at what we have: their nominees’ character introductions are reflective of that.
Are you ready? *The year is 2020...
Viola Davis as Ma Rainey in MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM
Directed by George C. Wolfe / Written by Ruben Santiago-Hudson
After we see two Black boys running in the woods, they reach their destination: a long queue of people eagerly waiting to enter the tent where a performance is held. A soulful voice is already heard (not Davis’). And then cut to the interior of the tent: the camera swoops into Davis, center-framed, as she performs onstage. Important to note this shot starts from the side of the audience. Then this changes until we not only see her totality, but gets really close to her face. Three things to mention here: a visual embodiment of Ma Rainey’s intrinsic bond with her Black audience through music (and then contrast this to Levee’s fate as a composer), a performer who is in control of her audience and music (something she will reckon with later), and her ability to own her image and sexuality (as with this closeup).
Andra Day as Billie Holiday in THE UNITED STATES VS. BILLIE HOLIDAY
Directed by Lee Daniels / Written by Suzan-Lori Parks
The film begins with two layers of horror. We see a photo of the Will Brown being burned alive after being lynched by a mob of White racists. Text overlay states that an anti-lynching bill was not passed in 1937 and that Billie Holiday rose to fame because of Strange Fruit, a song about lynching. Dissolve to Day, center-framed, standing in the middle of the stage. Spotlight on her, she is the only person that we see on stage. At first surveying her crown, and then in another shot, defiant as she looks into the camera. The juxtaposition of the first image and her entrance signifies the proximity of her stardom to the sociopolitical context of the time, an idea which will be further explored as the FBI gets involved. As framed by this film, her magnum opus is the unbreakable bond that connects her to the larger fight for racial equality in the US.
Vanessa Kirby as Martha Weiss in PIECES OF A WOMAN
Directed by Kornél Mundruczó / Written by Kata Wéber
Even before we see Kirby, we are already informed of her pregnancy. Her husband (in the previous scene) is talking about her soon-to-be-born daughter. In the next scene, balloons spelling “it’s a girl” are attached to the wall. Meanwhile, a cake with a baby is being sliced and is about to be eaten. Our first glimpse of Kirby is actually her belly, center-framed. A woman feels the baby’s kick while asking questions about the baby. Another woman feels it too and says that she’s lucky. Probably caring more about the baby than the mother herself. Lo and behold, Kirby’s face denotes something less than celebratory. She even says “we’ll see how it goes”. Martha is probably not comfortable with being this much center of the attention, but her pregnancy will be the axis of her character that will shape her journey.
Frances McDormand as Fern in NOMADLAND
Written and Directed by Chloé Zhao
After a title card stating that a company shut down its plant, we see Fern opening her storage unit in the dead of winter. She’s the only person in the shot, center-framed and isolated. There’s already an air of gloom, perhaps even grief, in this shot even before we know anything about her. She takes a box of plates and puts it inside her van, already introducing us to her lifestyle as a nomad. She opens a box of clothes and takes a jacket. She looks at it, gets teary eyed, even hesitates for a moment what to do with it, and then hugs it tightly. We know whoever owned that jacket is already gone. In just two shots, McDormand and director Zhao already establish Fern as a character: emotional state, lifestyle, environment. It’s a mournful milieu that the film immediately establishes in that moment, an embodiment of Fern’s experience.
Carey Mulligan as Cassandra “Cassie” Thomas in PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN
Written and Directed by Emerald Fennell
While three male douchebags are making sexist comments about their female coworker, they notice a drunk woman alone, sitting on a couch. Reveal Mulligan, center-framed, in a Christ-like position - arms are spread out, looking down due to drunkenness. (I do not believe this evocation of religious imagery is incidental given later shots in the film). It’s also thematically coherent that Cassie, recalling Jesus on the cross, is in an act of self-oblation. Of course, the meaning is much more sinister and perverse than the Biblical reference. And also: this drunkenness is an act. (Bonus: I added an earlier shot where, for about a second, we see Mulligan from afar, albeit not focused. Cassie is just lurking around the corner even before we met her.)
Any other observations from these introductions? Whose introduction was your favorite? Let us know in the comments.