This weekend I had the pleasure of spending a day at Indie Memphis. I've been attending this festival since I moved back to Mississippi in 2014, and although it has changed a bit since then, it has remained a singular voice in the festival world. I've seen some incredible Oscar contenders at Indie Memphis over the years--"Tangerine," "Anomalisa," "Manchester By the Sea," to name a few...as well as films that would never find their way to the Oscar radar.
I've seen the festival shift further toward more local fare but also with a sense of programming urgency. Indie Memphis, particularly the Indie Memphis of 2018 is saying something. You could feel it everywhere.
Last year I was disappointed that none of the major Oscar players made the cut, but this year, "If Beale Street Could Talk" fit both into their mission as well as mine.
This certainly makes me think as I am finishing the final touches of my own programming block for Oxford Film Festival. After sitting next to and chatting with Melanie Addington, the exec director of OXFF at the "Beale Street" screening, I decided to revisit my list with new eyes. I should have everything decided upon by tomorrow afternoon. Exciting and terrifying all at the same time.
In addition to "If Beale Street Could Talk" I saw "Sepulveda," co-directed by Jena English and Brandon Wilson. The film follows three friends who take an existential road trip down the longest road in Los Angeles County.
Their trip brought back so many memories of my year in LA. I remember traveling to El Segundo looking for a job, living on a couch in Redondo Beach, and staying in a hotel room in Torrance as I tried to little avail to pull together the fallen pieces of my life so I could stay in Southern California. I couldn't hold those pieces together. Little did I know that everything had to completely disintegrate before I could start my life completely over. The girls of "Sepulveda" are just getting started on this journey called adulthood.
Before Indie Memphis I saw Luke Davies and Felix van Groeningen's adaptation David Sheff''s "Beautiful Boy" and son, Nic Sheff's "Tweak."
"Beautiful Boy," the film, begins with David discovering that Nic has been using, sending him to his first treatment. I think most people already know how this story ends, but in case you don't, I won't spoil it for you.
I had almost no expectations for this film by the time I sat down in the theater. When I interviewed Timothee Chalamet last year I came very close to disclosing my own addition/recovery to him, out of pure excitement for him playing a role so similar to my own life. My excitement also came from the hope that Timothee might win an Oscar for playing Nic as the writing was already on the wall for that year's loss to Gary Oldman. I decided to wait, expecting to talk to him this year. Still holding onto hope for that one.
The film is not necessarily relentless in its storytelling of Nic's multiple relapses, but it is incredibly truthful. The women in Nic and David's lives are pushed to the side as David himself becomes immersed in the grappling of his love/codependency for his son. They - Marua Tierney and Amy Ryan - are both incredible, but this is a story about David and Nic.
Timothee Chalamet gives an even better performance than he did last year in "Call Me By Your Name," and I wonder if the subtle nuances in his acting will actually keep him from the Oscar he very well may (yet again) deserve. Addicts are not necessarily terrible people. They are often loving, intelligent souls. Nic, as portrayed by Timothee is one of those addicts. As we watch Nic manipulate, rage, love, act out, steal...it's all incredibly navigated by an actor well beyond his years. A lesser actor would have shown us only the ecstasy that comes with each hit. Felix and Timothee wisely show us that using, in the end, is more about numbing and eventually using to exist, not about getting high.
After "Sepulveda," I saw "Suspiria." For years I have been a fan of Dario Argento's "Suspiria," and having revisited it twice in the past few years having had opposing reactions. I first thought I had been overrating it in my head all of these years and then, on a more recent viewing, moved back toward horror masterpiece.
Luca Guadagnino has made a completely different film than Argento, but it is also a masterpiece.
This film's is still centered at a world renowned dance studio, but Luca has set the film in 70s Berlin, with more focus on Josef Klemperer, a Holocaust survivor who was separated from his wife during WWII. He is now a psychiatrist (I think) who starts the film trying to help one of the dance studios's victims, Patricia, played by Chloe Grace Moretz.
Patricia couldn't handle the pressure that being the lead in Artistic Director Madame Blanc (Tilda Swinton)'s dance requires. Not going to spoil the depths of those requirements here, but Susie (played by the incredible Dakota Johnson) is more than up to the task. The Suzy of Argento's film is ambitious, but nothing compared to the Susie of 2018/1977.
I was completely riveted by this film, honed into every frame, every scene and every performance. It is not a horror film, necessarily, but could very well be a companion piece to Aranofsky's "Black Swan." I would love to see Nina in this troupe.
I'm sure this won't be the last time I talk about "Suspiria." It is very early in my Oscar season viewing schedule, but the moment this film ended it rocketed to the top of my list of favorite films of the year.
Finally, I saw Barry Jenkins's "If Beale Street Could Talk." This film is absolutely gorgeous. This is not a film where the cinematography and design takes a back seat. They are front and center with the acting, writing and direction.
The thing I mostly want to talk about with this film is where our characters end up, but I cannot spoil that here. Instead I will say that this is one of the most romantic films I have seen in years, set equally against the most pressing problem our current society is facing--systematic and individual racism. I will say this...this film perfectly examines what it means for a couple to have a happy life--a family, a home, friends and how one race in particular must settle for a lesser happy ending than another.
This won't be the last time I talk about this film. I'll give you a chance to see it for yourself before I delve much deeper. I'm not quite sure how this film will play with the Academy, but I do think that Regina King has an opportunity to take Supporting Actress all the way to the finish line.
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