Nathaniel Gives Thanks

While it's not quite time for end of the year list-making shenanigans, it is EXACTLY the time to give thanks. As you all prepare to stuff your faces with family and friends (or friends who are family which are the very best kind of people) we know as Film Experiences readers that you'll also be thinking about the movies. In fact, you're probably catching up on movies this long holiday weekend. I'm hoping to revisit A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood myself and I'll probably squeeze in a screener or two. But this morning I thought I'd share a very random list of ten things I'm grateful for and I hope you'll spread more love in the comments.

This thanksgiving I am particularly grateful for... 

- movie theaters which can (and should) be visited weekly. The year would have been so much duller without the bonkers earnestness of Serenity in January, the visual spectacle of Alita Battle Angel in February, the creepy twinning of Us in March, Rocketman's jubilant musical bravado in May, Emma being so boss in Late Night in June, and so on. Will these movies make anyone's top ten lists? Who cares! There's more to the movies than awards season... 

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FYC: Lulu Wang for Best Director

by Cláudio Alves

With the advent of Awards Season, we have to contend with the disappointment that always comes hand-in-hand with the excitement and the joy. No matter how much great work is nominated and rewarded, there's always a snub to point out and cry over. The recent Independent Spirit Awards nominations perfectly exemplify such dynamics. This year, they decided to spread the wealth and ignored the Siren's call of just nominating Oscar-viable titles. All in all, it's a wonderful collection of honors and achievements, but even here there is cause to complain about the dreaded snubs.

Why didn't Lulu Wang score a nomination for Best Screenplay or Best Director? How can The Farewell be up for Best Feature and not for either of those awards?...

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Honorary Oscars 2019 - The Speeches

by Nathaniel R

Our dream is to one day attend that invite only Honorary Oscars / Governor's Awards. The ceremonies aren't televised but for clips for YouTube and such but everyone who is anyone in Hollywood is there with an emphasis on Hollywood's golden history which we here at The Film Experience have always appreciated. Sites that only cover new releases -- what are you doing with your lives?!?

Here are the speeches and some notes from the special night.  First up Geena Davis, Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award winner who shares that it was really Thelma & Louise (1991) that changed her life (you and me both, diva!) and set her on the path that she's now being honored for. Her face when Tom Hanks says her name... ❤

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Lina Wertmüller's History-Making "Seven Beauties"

The Governors Awards (Honorary Oscars) will be held on October 27th, 2019 with director Lina Wertmüller, actress Geena Davis, director David Lynch, and actor Wes Studi celebrated. We'll be discussing each of them before then.

by new contributor Camila Henriques

In Seven Beauties, Lina Wertmüller is not interested in sparing the audience. That becomes clear in the first minutes of the film, when we’re presented with a myriad of images of the Second World War: Hitler, explosions, destruction. In the background, a voice over speaks with a hint of melancholy and irony about “the ones who keep going and going just to see how it will end”... 

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Love & Anarchy: Lina Wertmüller's unruly tragedy

The Governors Awards (Honorary Oscars) will be held on October 27th, 2019 with director Lina Wertmüller, actress Geena Davis, director David Lynch, and actor Wes Studi celebrated. We'll be discussing each of them before then.

by Cláudio Alves

Lina Wertmüller's films always feature great faces. They're not classically beautiful, but rather interesting to look at, like the visages sculpted by shadow in Caravaggio's paintings. In Love & Anarchy, Giancarlo Giannini is a storm of freckles, his green eyes lighthouses guiding us through the waves into his soul. Contrastingly, Mariangela Melato is a spectacle of powdered pallor, a vampiric Jean Harlow or perhaps a tarted-up marble statue, gorgeous and obscene in equal measure...

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