98th Oscars - an admittedly blinkered view

As typically I avoided Sunday night's Oscars. I'm of the same view as Woody Allen and this year Sean Penn (who also skipped them and he won), that these ceremonies are a lot of over the top hokum. The Brits have a good term for actors at awards ceremonies - "luvies" - because they sing each other's praises and throw their arms around one another ad nauseum. (What really happened on those film sets?) And I also didn't see most of the nominated films, either because of lack of interest or they never made it to my city (thanks film distributors!). But let me take a stab at some of the nominated films and winners anyway, as blinkered as my view is. As everyone everywhere predicted One Battle After Another (Paul Thomas Anderson) won. I avoided because, well, I wasn't interested in seeing a violence-spewed flic about ex-radicals. I did see nominees Hamnet, Marty Supreme and Sentimental Value. Of those I'd select Marty Supreme - fast-paced and fine acting in a realistic period setting. Hamnet (Chloé Zhao) was basically a family drama about an errant husband (Will Shakespeare) in the 16th century. Screen wife Jessie Buckley won for best actress but I would have chosen Rose Byrne in If I Had Legs I'd Kick You.  Michael B. Jordan won for Sinners, which I didn't see - not really into vampires. I would have chosen Ethan Hawke in Blue Moon, a superb performance to an extent I didn't even know who the actor was (and I'm a long time fan) given the makeup and captivating changed persona. For Best Director I would have chosen Josh Safdie for Marty Supreme (see above). I'll pass on the supporting male and female actors. Norway's Joachim Trier won for Sentimental Value in the international category. For me it was just a meh movie. It's hard for me to comment on some of the other awards because I didn't see most of those movies or have little to compare the winners with. For best documentary I would have liked to have seen the winner Mr. Nobody Against Putin (David Borenstein & Pavel Talankin) and I did think The Perfect Neighbor (Geeta Gandbhir) was excellent, especially given the story was all told from "third party" police bodycam or prison cell footage...... And next year I'll probably also have not seen most of the films on offer. 

Raw footage of a neighbourhood dispute

Here's one film up for an Oscar this month (March 15) you can watch on Netflix. It's nominated for best documentary. It's called The Perfect Neighbor. Directed by Geeta Gandbhir this "immersive" documentary lets the "characters" and action speak for themselves. There is no voiceover or separate third party interviews. The entire film is raw footage taken from police bodycams, dashcams, doorbell ring cameras and police station interrogation videos. The events take place in a working class suburb of Ocala, FL in spring 2023. It's the true story of a neighbourhood conflict between Susan Lorincz, a single middle aged white woman, and her mostly black neighbours. It's a type of dispute that occurs everyday. Lorincz keeps complaining about the kids who live across the street often playing on her property and making a lot of noise. She says the police don't respond enough and she can never get the kids - or their families - to cooperate. When police are called we see the raw footage of their interactions with both Lorincz and the neighbours - both kids and parents. Lorincz seems to have a point though comes across as a little paranoid or in fact mentally disturbed. The neighbours say they cooperate and the kids don't purposely try to harass her but yes sometimes their playthings or they themselves end up on Lorincz's property. There are several instances where the police are called and the tension between Lorincz and the other families escalates. The police are caught in the middle and try to mediate. Without giving too much away eventually a confrontation happens and an arrest is made. We then view the accused in a police cell being interviewed by detectives. This film will hold you because of its stark everyday realism that everyone who lives in an average neighbourhood can relate to, but with the building sense of what's going to happen next. It will make you think about how people interact and the legal framework in which confrontations take place and are dealt with. And while I felt terribly sorry for the victim I also felt some sympathy for the person arrested, guilt notwithstanding. 

Last night I caught a documentary, The Storms of Jeremy Thomas, on the Criterion Channel, about a famed producer I had never heard of. His name is Jeremy Thomas and he's produced or directed more than 30 films with some of the major stars of our time - from Brando to Nicholson and Bowie. And worked alongside such famed directors as Bernardo Bertolucci, David Cronenberg and Nicolas Roeg. The central feature of this film is a road trip as Thomas takes this doc's director Mark Cousins through rural France to the 2018 Cannes festival. The film has snippets from major films of the last four decades and interviews with some of the actors who've worked with him. It's a respectful portrait and certainly interesting for anyone who likes cinema. Thomas is one of those people well known and hailed in the film world but to someone like me it was "who knew?"