Oscars: Rounding up our top th

Nicole (Scarlett Johansson) cuts the hair of her almost ex-husband Charlie (Adam Driver) in Marriage Story. Photo: Netflix

Oscars: Rounding up our top three best picture nominations

All you need to know about ‘Little Women’, ‘The Irishman’ and ‘Marriage Story’.

Oscars: Rounding up our top th

Nicole (Scarlett Johansson) cuts the hair of her almost ex-husband Charlie (Adam Driver) in Marriage Story. Photo: Netflix

Intensely captivating ‘family viewing’

Film: Marriage Story 

Director: Noah Baumbach

Major nominations: Best Actress (Scarlett Johansson), Best Actor (Adam Driver), Best Screenplay

What Marriage Story is able to do is create an intensely captivating film which draws the viewer into its harrowing tale of a family struggling to hold onto the familiar while it agonisingly falls apart. 

There’s little doubt that this Noah Bombauch film will resonate with a varied audience owing to its ability to explore the realistic dynamic of a family torn by divorce. The pensive film has scored six nods from the Academy Awards and it’s not too hard to see why. 

From the opening sequence where Nicole (Scarlett Johansson) and Charlie (Adam Driver) are first introduced to the audience in their psychiatrist’s office, we see a couple attempting to highlight each other’s positive qualities but failing to appreciate the value of separating amicably and it soon becomes clear that something has gone wrong. 

We don’t have to wait too long too as it quickly becomes clear why things didn’t work out between the pair.

What is surprising is that they should be at the zenith of their careers, enjoying their love and basking in their combined success. Charlie is a burgeoning director who finally has all the attention of the New York theatre scene’s big players while she is his muse — a talented actress originally from Los Angeles who relocated to start a family with her husband.  

Miserable, erratic and temperamental

Miserable, erratic and temperamental, Johannsson does a phenomenal job of carving out Nicole’s fears of becoming a single mother, finding a new path and having to rethink her soon-to-be new identity. 

Watching the process unfold is somewhat nerve-wracking, Nicole’s life is a mess that can be best described as broken in all the right places because divorce isn’t supposed to be easy. 

Driver portrays  Charlie’s controlling ways succinctly. He is able to encapsulate the shock and betrayal that Charlie feels at becoming a young divorcee.

Themes of melancholy, resentment, hurt

Marriage Story is intentionally layered with themes of melancholy, resentment, hurt and decked with additional slabs of tenderness and kindness.

There is a gentle flow in the film that creates a stylish mood of hippie happiness, all the while driving home the brutally honest point that divorce in any shape or form is devastating for all parties and its ugliness cannot be avoided. 

Joyful moments of womanhood

Film: Little Women

Director: Greta Gerwig

Major nominations: Best Picture, Best Actress (Saoirse Ronan), Best Adapted Screenplay 

Though it’s up against some strong contenders for the best picture gong, Little Women holds its own as a film depicting the intricacies of a plot filled sisterhood which is convincing in unmasking the joyful moments of womanhood and the very real underlying emotions of women finding their feet in an era that wants to confine them to pretty dresses and pigtails. 

Director Greta Gerwig may have been overlooked for best director by the Oscars, but she can revel in having created a colourful, lively and thoroughly absorbing film adaptation of the classic novel. 

Many gems and Meryl Streep

So enthralling is Gerwig’s take on the drama that from start to finish, there are gems to be savoured and enjoyed such as when a publisher tells Jo that female characters should either be married or dead in works of fiction. 

The story goes that the oldest sister, Meg (Emma Watson), is the voice of reason and as the firstborn is authoritative and a natural leader. Beth (Eliza Scanlen) is a gentle soul while Jo played by Saoirse Ronan is an ambitious writer and the lastborn, Amy (Florence Pugh), is a painter. 

Meryl Streep takes on her role of the rich, unapproving and tough to please with ease. The dialogue in the film is outstanding, it is witty without trying too hard, intelligent and entertaining.

For those particularly invested in feminism, Jo’s outright activism is refreshing as she aims to build her own narrative for the empowered female in a time unkind to such actions. 

Gritty organised crime

Film: The Irishman

Director: 

Major nominations: Best Director (Martin Scorcese), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Al Pacino and Joe Pesci)

No stranger to winning accolades for his work, producer and creator Martin Scorsese brings yet another depiction of gritty organised crime dressed flawlessly in the form of Al Pacino and Robert de Niro. 

Scorsese’s love affair with wrong side of the law

Having been behind the production of blockbuster movies, such as The Wolf of Wallstreet and Shutter Island, Scorsese rekindles his love affair with the wrong side of the law as he enlivens Charles Brandt’s book, I Heard You Paint Houses.

This is a fast-paced action film,  gripping, compelling and engaging as it journeys through the life of aWorld War 2 veteran who swaps his pension for an exciting life as a hitman. 

Scorcese is brilliant in his ability to tell crime dramas, his consistency is palpable as he fleshes out characters that are smooth, complement each other and give life to his vision. The Irishman is long, be prepared to spend three-and-a-half hours engrossed in the drama, it is well worth it. 

Impact of war and violence

Frank, played by De Niro, is a man who has been emotionally impacted by the war and the violence he experienced in it. He has regrets but is closed off from fully engaging with how his emotional turmoil has left him damaged. 

His friendship and subsequent business relationship with Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci) and Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino) look at the dealings of mob bosses and the casino industry. The film is involved, but paying attention isn’t tricky as Scorcese has enough twists to keep the story fascinating and absorbing.