21 Comments

I had the misfortune to listen to the episode of Fresh Air where she's interviewing Cooper about this role and I found myself wanting to throw things at everyone involved except for the actual conductor she had on with him. At the end she made us listen to Cooper conducting? Why? Also if they mentioned the nose it must have been before I got in the car. I hope. Totally unnecessary and icky.

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Oh come on, no mention of Cooper's six years of conducting practice in preparation for the role? (Seriously, six fooking years, for around six minutes of film?!!) I don't think Cate needed six years to prepare for Tar.

No mention of the always glorious Mulligan?

It was visually sumptuous, at least for a particular era, and for specifically rarified and wealthy artists.

The modern psychobabble about his own homophobia was jarring. No such analysis would have been applied in that era, nor would it have been acceptable for him to be 'out', so the point is moot.

The makeup was flawless, especially the aging of the characters.

As far as I'm aware, they didn't reconcile. Caring for a dying spouse and shared children didn't signify resumption of married life.

I too was disappointed in the lack of any attempt to offer insight to Bernstein's creativity or process. Weirdly, West Side Story didn't even get a passing mention. However, the film was specifically about the marriage. I acknowledge the narrow focus, but it still felt a tad empty.

The wide preoccupation with and condemnation of Cooper's prosthetic nose is puzzling to me. It was very well done. Certainly far better crafted than the Kidman nose playing Virginia, for which she won an Oscar.

My impression has been that a lot of the hate directed at Cooper is because he made Oscar bait. Yet, Oscar bait is dirt common in the land of American films. Some are lauded for it, others are effectively bullied and shut out for daring to play the game. There's a bunch of Oscar bait in this year's awards line up. Only Cooper has been condemned.

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I hate a lot of the films this year which are obvious Oscar bait! Holdovers, Oppenheimer, KOTFM; they all are shit.

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I stopped going to movies altogether...not even out of principle but just out of change of habit...I FULLY meant to go see Barbie, but never did...Saw Maestro on Netflix (was surprised how QUICKLY it went to streaming....remember how you use to have to wait MONTHS)

Now i don't even do paid subscription streaming. I just watch movies on youtube...But what a TREAT! been on a Powell Pressburger kick lately...check out "Canterbury Tale" and "I Know where I'm Going"

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On principle, I'm never going to see Opp.

I actually enjoyed Holdovers, simply for being an old fashioned contained story, told in a traditional manner. It was almost a relief.

The more I think about Flower Moon, the angrier I get, so I no longer think about it.

I'm still gagging that The Zone of Interest got a nod for best adaptation. Since when did appropriating a book title count as an adaptation? 🤣

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hah. I haven't read the book. I kind of love the movie though. probably my second favorite film of the year after Past Lives.

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Martin would be insulted. The book was deep and complex. The film, not so much.

I was compelled to look up what happened to the Hoess family after the war, particularly the children. The post war chapter, while scant and difficult to find, is itself a fascinating story.

Film should win for sound, I expect.

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I thought the film was quite thoughtful and complex, and a welcome corrective to how Hollywood handles Holocaust stories. Wrote about it here: https://www.americanpurpose.com/articles/the-humanity-of-evil/

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Don't forget the sleepwalking child, Hedwig's mother fleeing the little oasis in the dead of night, having initially gushed about all that her daughter had achieved, how far she had risen in life, and swimming in a river contaminated with the ashes of incinerated Jews..

Then there's the silent cut to the modern day museum, a subdued gut punch.

No one was cheering them on.

Certainly there was nuance.

BTW - in the book, a brittle satire, the banality and the evil is ultimately hammered home, no ambiguity from Amis. Not to mention Rudolf engaging someone to kill his unfaithful wife.

Maybe they should have claimed 'inspired by the book' rather than claim it's a adaptation.

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On second thoughts, Martin would be chuffed that there's a film.

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"Weirdly, West Side Story didn't even get a passing mention. "

right? Literally only ONE comment that name-dropped Stephen Sondheim as the "young up and coming librettist"...I was REALLY hoping for some rehearsal footage a la the glorious musical segments in the Coen's 'Hail Caesar'

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From the film, you wouldn't even know he wrote for musicals. He was too busy having sex and occasionally conducting.

The political context of West Side would have been interesting, also, but I suppose showing all of this would have required a great deal more work than ended up on the screen.

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they do talk about the musicals somewhat, but not in a way that allows you to understand or see why they were important in any way.

it's simultaneously a film that's trying too hard and a film that is extremely lazy.

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That must have been one of the bits with fast talking and hand waving, or one of the bits with mumbling and hand waving, (signifying artistic brilliance), so I missed it. You were paying much better attention than I did.

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Thank you for confirming my lack of desire to see this film. I liked the Boy and the Heron but it really wasn’t Miyazaki’s best work.

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I thought boy and the heron was pretty great...especially compared to the last one, which was just so so.

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Did you review American History, apologies if you did and I've forgotten already!

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Do you mean American Fiction…?

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Thanks, I'll revisit before I watch it.

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Bradley Cooper’s one of the most overrated actors ever. I remember his crocodile tears on Inside The Actors Studio. And what’s that awful movie he made with Jennifer Lawrence supposedly about mental illness? Just nerves raw, rubbed all the wrong way, drivel. Glad you’re pointing out the obvious. Peak white male mediocrity.

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