Actor Gary Oldman, in 'Mank'.
Not having enough physical and emotional mental strength, nor too much capacity for fun, nor excessive cinephile curiosity, I do not see the Oscars ceremony live for the first time. I watch it delayed the next morning, struggling with technology, with very limited interest, speeding up the images. And it is very boring. I perceive the abundance and apotheosis of black and Asian people, the protagonism of inclusion, indigenism, progressive concepts. For Trump, that beast that has ruled the United States for infamous time, the spectacle would have choked him. What I no longer know is whether that diversity is accompanied by the talent, sensitivity and art that are needed to make great cinema. And, of course, I don't care about the ethnic, cultural and sociological identity of the authors.But it is clear to me that the cinema should not adhere to mandatory quotas, ethnic groups, militancies, affiliations, those little things so convenient and politically correct.
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Win the cinema, lose the Oscars
The winners of the Oscars 2021
Likewise, I am aware that due to the plague and all the limitations it has imposed on the cinema, I have not been able to see many of the nominated films. I will try to recover them, even if my instincts do not provoke me too much passion. Maybe I'm wrong and there are many pearls among them. Therefore, I can only value those that I have witnessed. There is only one American movie that I have fallen in love with. It's called
Mank
and everything fascinates me about it: the story, the script, the dialogues, the performances, the atmosphere, the time, the black and white, the genius of director David Fincher conducting that extensive material. It is produced by Netflix, which has financed other jewels such as
Rome
and
The Irishman
in previous years
.
I imagine that Hollywood is naturally suspicious of this competition, that it fears running out of the lion's share when so many things are changing (and many for the worse) in the way of seeing cinema.
Of the 10 nominations that
Mank
had
, he has
only been awarded two minor awards.
May the devil forgive you.
“There is only one American movie that I have fallen in love with.
It's called 'Mank' and everything fascinates me about it "
And he has won
Nomadland's
highest
accolade.
In
Mank
abound sophisticated losers, including its protagonist, screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz legendary.
Although they are glamorous, economical, professional and worldly losers.
However, the
Nomadland
universe
It is populated exclusively by people in the open, loneliness that survive traveling the country in their worn out vans, taking occasional jobs that allow them a minimum of food, with the weight of their broken dreams, willing to continue pulling in the midst of misfortune, the cold , poverty or desolation.
But it turns out that all of them help each other without expecting anything in return, they protect each other, they love each other a lot, they promise to meet again in their wanderings, they grant each other mountains of warmth.
And I find so much solidarity among those who have almost nothing too idyllic.
Frances McDormand in a picture from 'Nomadland' Courtesy of SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES
I understand that many viewers are moved by the situations, the characters and the poetics displayed by the Chinese director Chloé Zhao. But I, admitting the narrative virtues of this lady (her way of portraying landscapes is very beautiful), her very good intentions, her humanistic and lyrical vocation, her obsession to show us that what she is telling is true (including the unnecessary and irritating inclusion of removing the protagonist defecating), the toughness and vulnerability exhibited by that good actress named Frances McDormand, I can't get emotionally involved in what they describe, I don't vibrate, I see everything from the outside. I don't know if the problem is mine or the way they describe these warm solitudes.
And I have no doubt that the most beautiful, sad and cheerful, original and close European film that I have seen this year is the Danish
Another Round.
Nothing to object to the recognition that Anthony Hopkins has obtained, a very notable actor with varied registers. The old man with Alzheimer's who plays in the overrated
father
was a hottie. He has taken advantage of it. But the one performance that I will keep grateful and eternal memory of is Gary Oldman's
Mank
. His composition of that alcoholic, scathing, brilliant, transgressor, honest and brave character who in the end realizes that the great power only considered him the monkey that amuses the organ grinder is admirable.