They’ve also unintentionally pulled back the curtain on just how difficult it is to make great art that speaks to both the issues facing America and the world today, as well as the viewer’s aesthetic eye and emotional heart.įilmmakers throughout history have, occasionally, struck a perfect balance when it comes to the tricky alchemy that great political art requires. With this year’s Oscar slate, the Academy has done an impressive job of showcasing the diversity - across every dimension, from style to demographic - of modern cinema (as well as, of course, burnishing its own bruised social credentials).
“ Promising Young Woman” is heavy-handed, to say the least, in its commentary, the textbook definition of style over substance.Īs flawed as some of the films in the group are, however, they’re all at the very least compelling in some way, which can’t always be said of the Academy’s choices. “ Nomadland,” adapted from journalist Jessica Bruder’s nonfiction 2017 book about mostly retirement-age American transients, is the runaway Best Picture favorite, but suffers from a narrative indecisiveness that many critics have mistaken for profundity.
Historical dramas like “ Judas and the Black Messiah” and “ The Trial of the Chicago 7” stumble over genre tropes that blunt their impact. Even the best of them illuminate how difficult it is to simultaneously pull off both trenchant social critique and emotionally satisfying storytelling. This group might not suffer from the stodgy grandeur that “political” Oscar-bait movies often cloak themselves in (hello, “The Ides of March”), but they have plenty of their own flaws on display. Which isn’t to say that they’re all great.
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