Saorise Ronan (pronounced Sear-sha) is wonderful in this movie. Brooklyn tells the tale of a young Irish immigrant to America in the early 1950’s. The portrayal of her trauma from leaving her mother, sister and community to start a new life in NYC is heart wrenching. Ronan’s acting is superb and deserves recognition on February 28^th. While I am a 7^th generation Irish immigrant in Southern Ontario I found the experience of a new immigrant struggling between an old and new home very moving. Ultimately the opportunity of a new life wins out but I teared up a fair amount getting there. One of the most moving and beautiful scenes for me was early in the film. Ronan’s character is spending her first Christmas away alone and offers to come to the local parish to serve Christmas dinner to the street people, mostly men, who are also mostly Irish labourers now out of work and far from home. One is invited to stand up and sing, a capella, a traditional Irish folk song. Ronan’s character is brought to tears by this working man’s rendition of the haunting song Casadh an tSugain and with one listen you’ll understand why. Actually if you want to hear the song, go to this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al9-3mW6zw8 You don’t need any Celtic blood in your veins to be moved. Trust me.

Okay I confess, it is a real tear jerker of a movie and wonderfully acted by a cast who are young and mostly unknown here but in my opinion the absolute best of all the movies nominated for Best Picture. Hope it wins. 

A postscript. Unlike in Spotlight, the catholic church comes off much better in this film. I suppose it shows two sides of an ancient and complex organization. Ronan’s character would not have survived her trip or transition without the support of the priest and the parish in Boston. So it goes.

Mustang is nominated for Best Foreign Language Film and is a worthy contender. The film tells the story of five orphaned sisters in Turkey being raised by their very conservative uncle and grandmother. After a particularly exuberant walk home from school, the girls are pulled from school, locked in their home and trained to be married off. The three eldest are quickly locked into arranged marriages that they don’t want. Their reactions offer great insight into the struggle between the generations in Muslim culture. The two youngest girls are too young to be married and begin to plot their escape. The youngest, Lale, is the most liberated of them all and is the brains behind the resistance. At age 10 or 11 as best as I could guess, she leads the escape. One is left thinking what her plan is. Her plan is to go to Istanbul which is over 1000 km away. But this includes learning to drive so she can steal her uncle’s car and drive it 1000 KM and hey? how does she see two young girls surviving on their own in a big city. There is however a plan and it is revealed at the end. In fact, it is revealed at the very start of the film and I smacked my head for not seeing it. The oppression of women looks like it is going to win but in the end a somewhat happy ending for at least two of the sisters. Great film, not too long and very good.

Spotlight is the name given to the investigative journalism team at the Boston Globe. This film dramatizes that team’s work to expose the involvement of the Catholic Church in covering up sexual assault and pedophilia among its clergy. The story starts in Boston but the extent of the cover-up discovered by the Spotlight team reached right around the world. This film reminded somewhat of All the President’s Men. It is a tension filled story of investigation that keeps your attention throughout. The team of actors is a bit of a who’s who of Hollywood and is superb. There is not a Best Actor or Actress here because the team is the star. It suggests that the Academy, in addition to recognizing a more diverse population of actors and film makers, needs to consider an award for ensemble casts. Nonetheless Rachel McAdams and Mark Ruffalo merited nominations for Best supporting roles and really any of the cast was deserving of a nomination. I really like this kind of film, exciting, tension filled with no violence but just good writing and acting. Sadly I wonder if this film describes one of the last efforts of investigative journalism. With the concentration of media in the hands of a very few corporate masters I can see reporters being increasingly limited in their freedom to seek the truth or chase after stories that are critical of our ruling elites. So go see this one while you can still dream of freedom of the press.

Sicario is an American story told by a Canadian Director. The film looks at an aspect of the American War on Drugs and in particular the War on the Drug Cartels in Mexico. It is a very dark look at this issue and pulls no punches about the cartels or the US agencies (DEA, CIA and FBI) who are waging a less than successful war against them. Emily Blunt plays an FBI agent who is seconded to a CIA operation to assassinate a major Drug Cartel leader. There is no question that the target is evil to the core but the agents going after him are far off the rules of law. The moral and legal conscience of Blunt’s character is challenged to its limits putting her a risk from both sides of the conflict. The end of the film is uncompromising and leaves most of the questions asked open for the viewer to reflect about. No is the good guy in the story.

The film is graphic and violent and tough to watch in parts but Blunt, Josh Brolin, and Benicio Del Toro are very strong and believable. The pace of the film is relentless and completely engaging. It is not possible to turn away for fear of missing something important in the plot as events unfold. Great stuff. I can see why it was not nominated in some major categories like acting. It is an ensemble production that does not depend on any one thing but on a combination of really good acting, writing and directing. It has been nominated for some technical awards and I hope it wins a couple because it merits praise.

I

I loved this movie. A very smart script, a great ensemble cast and a rapid fire, black comic look at the financial industry and the economic collapse of 2008. It manages to explain the complexities of the events that led to the crash and show us that it really wasn’t that complex. It was clear to some that it was bound to happen but the financial industry, banks and ratings companies all conspired to keep a very unstable and likely criminal process going that ended up devastating the lives of millions of people worldwide. The knock on the film is that it is really very funny and some feel the issue is too serious to be taken apparently so lightly. I disagree. The humour is very black and while I laughed I was also horrified. The characters all benefit greatly from the meltdown as they bet that it would happen and won very big. They are thrilled and in some cases very cold about the situation. The exception is Steve Carrell’s character who while benefitting is clearly also stunned that the whole thing could happen. The truth is that there was nothing these characters could do to change the situation so they took advantage of it. They couldn’t blow the whistle because they were not in positions of power to do so. The film makers use their stories to demonstrate how bizarre the whole thing was and how easily it could have been stopped if the greedy people who created it had obeyed the law and basic moral principles.

Christian Bale is nominated for Best Supporting actor but Steve Carrell also deserves a nomination in my opinion and the understated performance of Brad Pitt and Ryan Gosling are great. I have been a Steve Carrell fan for many many years. His start on The Daily Show and his role in The Office are classic in themselves but his recent ventures into dramatic roles shows an actor with a range of talent. He has had many nominations but only one win for The Office and he deserves more. It is still early in his film career but I suspect we will see an Oscar or Golden Globe in the not too distant future. So – bottom line? This is a great film, entertaining and informative and with a message to deliver. Enjoy.

Another all white nominee for an Oscar this year – Bryan Cranston (nominated for Best Actor) for a great portrayal of Dalton Trumbo the Hollywood writer who was blacklisted and exiled from Hollywood for being a communist during the McCarthy years. He played a key role in resisting the anti-communist efforts of the Committee on Un-American activities which hurt or ruined the lives of many people not only in Hollywood but beyond. Cranston is very very good in the role and the film is well-written and acted. I was disappointed that Helen Mirren pictured above was not included in this year’s nominees for Best Supporting Actress. She plays journalist Hedda Hopper, one of Trumbo’s and others nemeses as she rode the anti-communist wave in the entertainment industry. She is wonderfully despicable. John Goodman also puts in a great performance as Frank King, one of the only producers willing to hire Trumbo anonymously after his exile. All in all a very entertaining film. I am curious however about a documentary I have not seen called Trumbo that came out in 2007 and is well reviewed. I will definitely track it down and post my impressions. It garnered no awards that I can find but sounds very interesting.