The 93rd Academy Awards this year with a delay will be presented this evening of April 25, 2021. Worse than the Golden Globe awards that were presented a month ago, the Oscars have not nominated two good films, the anti-American “The Mauritanian”, and in the foreign section, the Italian film section “The Life Ahead” by Edoardo Ponti, the son of Carlo Ponti Sr. and Sophia Loren. Academy Awards have not also nominated “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” for more than the actress in leading role for Andra Day. Other than “The trial of the Chicago 7” that was also nominated by Golden Globe and did not win much, the only other award deserving films are “The Father”, “Minari” and “Judas and the Black Messiah”, another anti-American film on the fate of “Black Panthers” rebellious group in the 1960s.
The other nominated films for different awards with the following brief descriptions, are too ordinary and boring:
Nomadland: The story of Linda (Frances Mcdormand) who leaves civic life after the death of her husband and loss of job, to join other homeless American nomads like herself. The film is only credited for portraying the other true nostalgic side of American life, in contrast with the glittering ones always have been depicted by Hollywood and American media.
Sound of Metal: The story of Ruben (Riz Ahmed) a drummer who ends up deaf due to his hard and crazy playing. This is a personal nostalgic tale of self-caused misery, who finally appreciates the world in silence around him, being much better and peaceful than bad hearing through his implant.
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom: Based on the same name play, on a recording session of the blues singer, Ma Rainey, has no moving component to be considered a motion picture, and it’s boring and void of any content.
The Father: An exception to a bunch of boring nominees, a directorial debut by Florian Zeller, the young French novelist and playwright, the film with as always the great performance of Anthony Hopkins, portraying well the personal downfall life of a demented man. Anthony, a proud man and father, in denial of his profound memory loss, is depicted well with excellent twists the fate of his regression to a childish state of mind at the end, crying for his mother to take him back home form the nursing home.
Minari: One more exception among the boring nominees, is another Korean film, depicting the story of a Korean family, deciding to move from California to Arkansas, leaving city life for farming. Living in a trailer on their purchased big land, another American dream falls apart by the doom of nature, the system and individual differences and oppositions.
Mank: A cross-sectional life story of Herman Mankeiwicz during the writing the screenplay of “Citizen Kane” would be interesting to see Orson Welles’ reaction if he was alive. Written by Jack Fincher in 1990s who died and did not see his script on the screen, the film is another boring example of modern American cinema that only deserves Netflix.
Judas and the Black Messiah: Another anti-American true story of the “Black Panther Party” in late 1960s who were wiped out by the government in their struggle for the black power. The direction, acting and the story content deserve awards appreciation.
One night in Miami: The film that supposed to be about the night of Muhammad Ali’s title win over Sonny Liston, except for a fee minutes, goes on in a hotel room with four characters, and is mostly about Malcolm X who is pushing Ali to convert to Islam. This theatrical boring film defames both Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X who were both legends in their own terms in American history.
Pieces of a woman: Perhaps the most boring nominate film this year, it is more like a home video than a feature film. The very ordinary story of a still birth has been exaggerated out of proportion as if Hollywood has run out of subject stories to depict on the screen. With bad acting and directing, the film suites more Golden Raspberry Awards than Oscars.
Promising young woman: The story of woman seeing revenge of the death of her best friend by rape is an entertaining thriller, but not deserving Academy Awards.
Another Round: This foreign feature from Denmark that has been nominated for the best international film award and best direction among its American peers, is a promoting alcoholism feature. Four high school teachers try to experiment a psychiatrist’s theory that drinking to the blood level of .05% helps psychological and social performance, leads to more relaxation and creativity. While not purely comic, but serious about its theory is a self-defeat in its theory and filming as it is to the lives of its characters.
The two great films of last year “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” and “The trial of the Chicago 7” that have been briefed in the post about Golden Globe’s will not be repeated here. In brief Oscars could quit this year like many other events that were cancelled since the outbreak of pandemic, due to lack of any major award deserving feature films.
