First Images: "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom"

by Nathaniel R

Look, it's the first images from Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, based on the August Wilson play of the same name. It's part of his Pittsburgh Cycle of 10 plays documenting the African American experience (with each of the ten plays set in different decades). Denzel Washington is planning to produce all 10 (2 down, 8 to go... how many more will Viola get to star in?). Ma Rainey's... is set in the 1920s and stars Viola Davis as the singer Ma Rainey and Chadwick Boseman as her trumpeter Levee (the two 'star' roles in the show) and involves a very heated recording session and fights therein. The costumes you see here are by the indefatigable four-time Oscar nominee Ann Roth, who is still doing great work regularly at 88 years of age...

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New Oscar Predictions: Screenplays and International Submissions

OKAY. Finally we have succumbed to the enthusiasm that there just might be a winter movie season after all. Maybe? Perhaps? Might? So it's time to update all those Oscar charts. We'll work our way quickly up to the the acting categories, don't worry, since all the charts are in heavy progress behind the scenes. The following charts are now up: 

• Supporting Actor - Which we just discussed via Trial of Chicago 7 though I've altered one key detail from fears that Judas and the Black Messiah will not arrive at all by late February
• Screenplays - Original & Adapted Contenders
• International Feature Overview - Overall Stats & Wild Guesswork
• International Submissions Pt 1: Albania through Greece
• International Submissions Pt 2: Germany through Norway
• International Submissions Pt 3: Pakistan through Vietnam

What do you think will score in the screenplay categories?

"Trial of the Chicago 7" and Best Supporting Actor

by Nathaniel R

Abdul-Mateen, Shenkman, Rylance, Redmayne and Sharp in "Trial of the Chicago 7"

You've waited long enough. This is our latest ever take on the acting categories in 20 years of punditry. But you know, "2020". Consider it an all purpose hellscape excuse! Though Hollywood is still in disarray there will eventually be another Oscar ceremony. Nominations are still more than five months away (March 15th, 2021) so if this were any other year these prediction charts would essentially be the early August charts. Does that make sense? In other words, much about this Oscar season has yet to be revealed. 

But let's take a stab at Best Supporting Actor since we've just screened The Trial of the Chicago 7 which is basically the kind of movie that dreams of, no fantasizes lustfully, about filling in all five spots. The most Supporting Actor nominations to have arrived from a single film is three, which happened twice in Oscar history via The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part Two (1974). It will probably not happen again with Chicago 7, but it theoretically could given that it's ALL supporting actors all the time.  Let's rank them shall we, in terms of Oscar possibility...

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NYFF Review: Chloe Zhao's "Nomadland"

by Murtada Elfadl

You know you are not watching just any old prestige drama when a film throws in a shot of its lead character - played by a 2-time Oscar winner - defecating a mere three minutes into its running time. Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland is a film concerned with the concrete realities of life. Things that might seem mundane or unmentionable but take up a big part of everyday life. How a woman carves a small place on earth to sleep, eat, work and yes defecate. 

Fern (Frances McDormand), having lost her work and home when the factory that employed her in a now-defunct company town closed, refurbishes her old van and sets out in the vastness of the American West to find seasonal work. She rests when she can, deals with the elements and makes tentative attempts to find a community among the older itinerant people she meets. They exchange DIY tips for survival, share stories and sometimes companionship. But mostly Fern is stubbornly on her own. She is grieving her husband, town and job. Combating her constant grief by constantly moving...

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Ukraine submits "Atlantis" and Bosnia submits "Quo Vadis, Aida?"

by Nathaniel R

The Ukrainian Oscar committee has announced the country's submission for Best International Feature contest at the forthcoming Academy Awards. They will be sending Atlantis by 49 year-old rising director Valentyn Vasyanovych, which is a near-future drama about a former soldier in a decaying country. The soldier volunteers to help exhume war corpses. It's said to be an ambitious work with a reportedly riveting lead performance from film newcomer Andriy Rymaruk...

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