A Complete Unknown (2024, R)

I thought I was also going to get in I’m Still Here this week, but it just left my local theater, so this is the last film I’ll be seeing before the Oscars on Sunday. I thought this was a pretty solid musician biopic—the story is kind of thin, but the music performances are excellent, and I like the focus given to the 1960s folk scene as a whole.

What’s It About?

In the early 1960s, Bob Dylan comes to New York City and gets plugged into the local folk scene. He idolizes his music heroes, like Woodie Guthrie and Pete Seeger, but he also experiments and pushes the boundaries of the genre in ways not everyone is comfortable with. As Bob rises in prominence and develops a rocky relationship with fame, he refuses to make apologies for himself or his music.

Who’s in It?

Obviously, the film centers around Timothée Chalamet’s performance as Bob Dylan. He definitely delivers on the songs—there are a ton of great numbers in this movie! I’m less familiar with Bob Dylan in interviews/etc., but I assume Chalamet’s likeness is pretty spot-on. For me, though, it feels a little more like an impersonation than truly inhabiting the character, and as a result, some of Dylan’s own perspective feels lost within the story. But while it’s primarily Chalamet’s movie, he’s surrounded by a top-notch supporting cast. Edward Norton is terrific as folk purist Pete Seeger, and Elle Fanning does well with her role as Sylvie Russo, a frustrated romantic partner to the mercurial Bob. I’m not very familiar with Monica Barbaro, but she’s wonderful as Joan Baez. And we get two Narcos alumni, even though they were on different shows and don’t share any scenes in the film: I really enjoy Scoot McNairy as an ailing Woodie Guthrie, and Boyd Holbrook tears up his small role as Johnny Cash. I caught a number of Broadway folks in minor roles too, ranging from Dan Fogler to Norbert Leo Butz to Joshua Henry.

What’s It Nominated For?

A Complete Unknown was nominated for eight Oscars:

·        Best Picture

·        Best Leading Actor – Timothée Chalamet

·        Best Supporting Actor – Edward Norton

·        Best Supporting Actress – Monica Barbaro

·        Best Director

·        Best Adapted Screenplay

·        Best Costume Design

·        Best Sound

What Do I Love About It?

·        As I said, this is definitely The Bob Dylan Movie and Timothée Chalamet is at the center for the film, but I really like that the movie covers the whole landscape of the folk music scene at the time. We see how Bob and his music interact with the greats of the previous generation like Woodie Guthrie and Pete Seeger, seeing who embraces him and who urges caution in his exploration of the genre. We see his collaborations with Joan Baez and their tempestuous relationship. We see the letters he exchanges with Johnny Cash and how the two admire each other’s work. We see how folk brushes up against other styles of music, from fellow Americana genres like blues to the rise in rock ‘n’ roll.

·        To that end, I like seeing the politics on display among the folk artists. Literal politics, of course, like anti-war sentiment and support for the Civil Rights movement, and at the start of the film, Pete is appearing before a judge over backlash to “This Land is Your Land.” But there’s musical politics too, gatekeeping over what is or isn’t considered “real” folk music. While Bob experiments and incorporates new styles into his work, purists like Pete view folk as something that needs to be preserved and protected from the dangerous incursion of rock elements, and Bob comes to resent the fans who don’t want him to evolve and just want to hear him play “Blowin’ in the Wind” until the day he dies.

·        I really enjoy all the music performances. Yes, Chalamet is excellent, but all the actors playing the various musicians do a wonderful job here. Great work from everyone!

·        I have to make one more shoutout to Boyd Holbrook and Scoot McNairy. I realize the writing for their characters on Narcos and Narcos: Mexico didn’t do them any favors, and I was selling both of them short because of it. McNairy’s performance as Woody Guthrie makes me remember how good he was in Halt and Catch Fire. And Holbrook’s scenes as Johnny Cash are some of my favorites in the film—even though it’s a pretty small role, I feel like Holbrook has been “unlocked” for me now, and I get why his fans love him so much.

Warnings

Language, drinking/smoking/drug use, light sexual context, brief violence, and thematic elements.

The Brutalist (2024, R)

*Premise spoilers.*

I’ve had difficulties in the past with managing my attention on super-long Oscar movies, but I think I did fairly well this time around. I took periodic short breaks to get up and move around for a few minutes, and I kept my hands occupied with something stimmy. I wouldn’t say I was laser-focused the entire time, but my attention mainly stayed with it.

What’s It About?

László Tóth, a prominent Hungarian architect, flees Europe after the war and comes to Philadelphia. As he struggles to make ends meet as a poor Jewish immigrant, he catches the attention of a wealthy American tycoon who’s learned of his work. László is hired to design an ambitious build for him, but matters grow strained when others question his singular vision.

Who’s in It?

Adrien Brody gives a nicely complex performance as László. He’s a man who’s suffered horribly, and he continues to be degraded by his purported American benefactors. But he’s also difficult and deeply flawed, and he sabotages himself a lot with self-destructive behavior and prioritizing his own goals to the point that he pushes others away. I’m always glad to see Felicity Jones, and she’s excellent as László’s wife Erzébet. They’re separated during the war and Erzébet spend a good chunk of the film trying to get to America to reunite with her husband. Once she’s on the scene, she’s determined make the most of her survival and create a new life for herself in her new country. The film also features Alessandro Nivola as László’s assimilated cousin, Guy Pearce as the millionaire who takes an interest in him, and Joe Alwyn as the millionaire’s son—I tend to associate all three of those actors with some of their most well-known “asshole roles,” and I’d say this film fits the pattern for each of them.

What’s It Nominated For?

The Brutalist was nominated for ten Oscars:

·        Best Picture

·        Best Leading Actor – Adrien Brody

·        Best Supporting Actor – Guy Pearce

·        Best Supporting Actress – Felicity Jones

·        Best Director

·        Best Original Screenplay

·        Best Cinematography

·        Best Original Score

·        Best Production Design

·        Best Film Editing

What Do I Love About It?

·        I mentioned this above, but I like that László is allowed to be so messy and complicated. His suffering doesn’t negate his flaws, just as his flaws don’t negate his suffering. In the film, he’s cheated and demeaned by self-serving opportunists, but his actions also make things worse for him on numerous occasions.

·        The score is just excellent, super evocative. That’s not an Oscar category I actively follow, but I’ve seen most of the Best Original Score nominees this year, and I love that so many of them are really fantastic in such different ways. In the case of The Brutalist, the score has a sort of architectural quality to it—it complements the story so well.

·        All the relationship dynamics here are really interesting, especially László’s interactions with Erzébet, his cousin Attila, and the millionaire Mr. Van Buren. There’s a lot to dig into here with these characters.

Warnings

Strong thematic elements (including discussion of genocide,) violence (including rape,) sexual content, drinking/smoking/drug use, and language.

Y tu Luna también: Everything Will Be Fine: Season 1, Episode 4 – “Me Too” (2021)

*Spoilers for the end of episode 3.*

First things first: Andor season 2 trailer!!! I screamed, I hand-flapped, I jumped up and down, I immediately watched it three more times! Still processing the news that they’re going to be dropping three episodes a week. On the one hand, I want all the Andor content and give-it-me-to-now-please!!!, but on the other, this is the last Andor we’re gonna get and I don’t want it to be over in four short weeks. Either way, I am sooooooo ready for April 22^nd!

We’ve hit the middle of the season now. Some big things happening in this episode, which set up the major conflicts for the second half of the show.

At the end of the last episode, Julia came home to realize that Ruy had the locks changed while she was out. This understandably infuriates her, and it pushes her to hire a lawyer, even though they’d previously agreed to handle things themselves. Ruy’s behavior catches up with him at work too, when a major revelation is exposed live on air.

Let’s just say that no one is exactly Team Ruy here. When he confronts Idalia about letting Julia into the house after he changed the locks, she shrugs until he leaves and then mutters, “‘My house.’ Like you paid for it.” Julia has reached her absolute limit and will not put up with any of his shit anymore. And at work, he’s back into a corner to the point where he says, “I think it’s necessary to clarify that I’m not a male chauvinist”—and if you have to say that out loud, you’re probably not doing awesome! His friend Raisa is one of the few people who hasn’t written him off, but with an attitude that suggests tough love is coming his way.

Julia is facing just how far things have deteriorated with Ruy, and while she’s previously run from that by going off to be with Fausto, she’s now ready to do something about it. The scene between her and her lawyer is really well done, especially when he has her do an exercise where she voices what Ruy does that makes her angry—I think the most insightful one is, “It angers me that your refuse to accept your failure, and yet you drag everyone else down with you.”

We also get some nice stuff between Julia and Andrea here. Andrea is upset about something that went down at school, plus Julia is trying to shield her from the ugly things that have been going down between the grownups. This leads to the “I’ll buy you anything you want (except a black rooster)” style of parental coping, so we get to see Andrea making it rain with dolls and princess costumes. (Side note: I’m not positive, but I think the dress she picks out is a Tangled costume.) As Andrea debates which prince doll to pair with her princess, wondering which one would lead to a happily-ever-after, she unintentionally strikes a chord with her mom. “Oh, my love,” Julia says sadly, “that ‘happily ever after’ stuff is a lie.” I love the scene that follows, because Julia is very clearly talking about her own situation, but in such a smooth, kid-friendly way that Andrea doesn’t fully pick up on it. So Julia gets to process her feelings without making it overly weird, and Andrea’s guileless response is all the better for it.