Oscar hopefuls Part 1: Phantom Thread and Lady Bird

Yesterday I attended the AMC Best Picture Showcase, a marathon of this year's Oscar Best Picture nominees.  The 9 nominated movies are being shown over 2 Saturdays, leading up to the Oscar ceremony on Sunday March 4th.  So for this post I'm taking a little break from tv to review the first 2 films that I watched yesterday.

1.  Phantom Thread: To be honest, I was probably least excited to see this movie as part of the marathon.  The film tells the story of extremely fussy and disagreeable fictional London dress designer Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day Lewis, in what is said to be his last-ever film role).  Just reading about this movie, it seemed like it would be stuffy and pretentious.  And it is, but it's also much more.  The movie begins with Reynolds wooing beautiful young waitress Alma Elson (Vicky Krieps).  At first their romance seems a little strange but still kind of sweet.  It soon becomes clear, however, that Reynolds is mostly just using Alma as his dress model and eventual caretaker.  After all, she has the perfect body, as he tells her while creepily taking her measurements in his workroom after their first date.  Reynolds has a strangely close relationship with his sister and business partner Cyril (Lesley Manville).  Cyril disapproves of Alma and considers her to be a distraction to Reynolds and his work.  Alma unsuccessfully tries to get her man to lighten up and stray a little from his strict daily routine.  He also verbally abuses her; she eventually begins to fight back, but she's still miserable in their life together.  I'm not condoning mental abuse, but the one-liners that fly around between Reynolds, Alma, and Cyril are actually pretty funny, in a biting and demented kind of way.  Sample: "I'm admiring my own gallantry for eating it the way you prepared it" (during an extended fight about how Alma cooked asparagus). 

About halfway through the movie takes a sudden, dark turn involving (SPOILER ALERT) poisoning that completely took me by surprise.  Apparently almost killing your significant other is a surefire way to keep them in line and bring you closer together.  And when they start treating you badly again, just poison them again to show them that you're really serious.  I like dark, twisted tv shows and movies, so the 2nd half of this movie (especially the truly demented ending) was right up my alley.  The actors, particularly Day Lewis, who has proven that he can deftly tackle any role, are all strong.  The film is full of subtle, mind-bending acting, instead of the typical Oscar-bait dramatic waterworks, which will probably exclude it from winning any major awards (Day Lewis is also nominated for Best Actor).  The simple scenes with all 3 actors lobbing gentle barbs around the breakfast table were definitely my favorites to watch.  I recommend this movie if you enjoy twisted thrillers and extreme sarcasm.    

2.  Lady Bird: I was definitely excited to see this movie, and it didn't disappoint.  Set in 2002-2003, it's a coming of age story about Sacramento high school senior Christine "Lady Bird" McPherson (Saoirse Ronan), a Catholic school student who dreams of escaping her town and going to college on the East Coast.  She has a difficult relationship with her strict mom Marion (Laurie Metcalf) and idolizes her devoted dad Larry (Tracy Letts).  Also living in the McPherson home is Lady Bird's older brother Miguel (Jordan Rodrigues) and his girlfriend Shelly (Marielle Scott), who both work at the local grocery store.  Lady Bird's best friend and classmate is Julie (Beanie Feldstein), a somewhat precocious and overweight young girl.  Lady Bird is a member of her school's theater program, where she meets boyfriend Danny (Lucas Hedges), a sugary sweet romance that eventually ends (due to Danny being gay) in favor of emo tough guy Kyle (Timothee Chalamet).  Lady Bird also (for a brief time) ditches Julie for popular girl Jenna (Odeya Rush), but she reunites with her best friend at the Senior Prom before Lady Bird heads off to New York. 

The biggest strenghth of this movie is the portrait that it paints of a small-town, struggling family.  Marion works extra shifts as a nurse to make ends meet, and Larry losing his job plays a major part in discussions about where Lady Bird can go to college.  Metcalf has been the discussion of most of the Oscar talk surrounding this movie, and rightly so.  However, Letts (although not nominated) was in my opinion just as strong, but his performance is much more subtle.  Ronan (also nominated) is also very strong as always.  When her character arrived in New York, I thought of her performance in Brooklyn several years ago, as an Irish immigrant arriving in New York, also to start a new life.  She easily inhabits any character that she takes on, and Lady Bird definitely would not have been as strong in the hands of a lesser actress.  The sugary sweet moments are a little much for me at times (especially during the Lady Bird/Danny relationship), but these moments are cut down by some sharp-tongued moments in other parts of the movie, such as when Lady Bird is suspended for making an inappropriate abortion joke at a school assembly.  The movie's funny portrayal of a Catholic high school brought back memories of my own Catholic school education, and its handling of Danny's coming-out (specifically his fear of his religious family's reaction) is heartbreaking.  I recommend this movie if you like a good coming-of-age story; it's an 80's John Hughes movie for a new generation.

Soon I'll be posting about the other 2 movies that I watched yesterday, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri (hated it) and The Shape of Water (liked it), so stay tuned.