Blog - The Film Experience

Upon the US release of Paddington 2 in 2018, film critic David Ehrlich wrote about a new age of optimistic movies. He called this phenomenon, nice core. They were films that emerged in the era of Trump and Brexit, little rays of celluloid sunshine that celebrated the power of kindness and the wonder of humanity from filmmakers living in an increasingly cruel world. If you're looking for formalistic vanguard or challenging experiences, you won't find it in this type of cinema, though that doesn't have to be necessarily bad. Art of modest ambition whose main purpose is comfort shouldn't be undervalued.

One could almost say that, when ironic detachment becomes standard, the exaltation of sincere cinema can be a radical gesture…

12 Chatty Moviegoers |

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Blinded by the Light,

Pride,

Yesterday

Sunday

Feb092020

Cinema as the theatre of memory

Sunday, February 9, 2020 at 2:30PM

Cinema is the ephemeral crystalized. The camera transforms the now into a remembrance like the petrified bodies of Pompeii, those monuments of frozen life that frightened Ingrid Bergman in Rossellini's Journey to Italy. I still recall when I first watched that classic and felt as if I was witnessing a film reacting to its own limited existence. When Bergman cries we see a star realizing she's no more than a shadow of yester, like those burnt cadavers her image is an unwitting memento mori. Since then, cinema's relationship to time has fascinated me, especially when it comes to the portrayal of memory. Rossellini showed me cinema remembering itself and Resnais shattered the recollection of personal history, Chris Marker paralyzed the days long gone and Varda made them abstract.

While these are names of the European vanguards, cinema as theatre of memory isn't a phenomenon exclusive to the art house. We need only look at this year's Oscar contenders to find ways of picturing memory on the big screen…

2 Chatty Moviegoers |

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short films

Thursday

Jan162020

Welcome to the one-nomination club

Thursday, January 16, 2020 at 10:30AM

It's easy to feel overwhelmed by the injustice of Oscar snubs, the general lack of diversity and other matters that forever plague the Academy Awards. One must remember, however, that, in the middle of this week's justifiable discontent, there are silver linings to consider. While the 92nd round of Oscar nominations are exhaustively dominated by Best Picture contenders (the most films ever with double digit nomination tallies), a few films managed to squeeze into the mix with just one nomination. In the past, many a great film ended the season with just a sole Oscar nod for its trouble.

Looking back at the last few years, we have such gems as First Reformed, Border, 20th Century Women, The Lobster, Elle, Silence, 45 Years and Gone Girl among many other notable movies. These films' nominations are little morsels of hope that remind us that the Academy isn't completely wrong, not always. So, let's celebrate those films that might not have conquered handfuls of nominations, but are still in the Oscar conversation…

21 Chatty Moviegoers |

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Wednesday

Jan082020

Can a Good Speech Save An Oscar Campaign?

Wednesday, January 8, 2020 at 9:00AM

Remember when Meryl Streep received the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 2017 Golden Globes? Her speech was one for the ages, full of good humor, pathos and a riveting call to arms. So titanic was this acceptance speech that, to this day, I believe that it's what secured a Best Actress Oscar nomination for Florence Foster Jenkins. The performance did get a lot of precursor love, but growing Streep fatigue and a stacked race seemed like indicators of an incoming snub. Then, the Golden Globes happened, right at the end of Oscar voting, and it all changed.

Her speech saved her campaign, even though that wasn't the intention of the gesture, and turned her into a lock many didn't see coming until nomination morning arrived. This year, Tom Hanks might follow in Streep's steps…

35 Chatty Moviegoers |

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