The Unfettered Critic – March 2021

A long time ago in a memory far, far away, when the word “pandemic” likely triggered blank stares, your diligent Unfettered duo wrote an annual column related to the year’s Academy Award nominations. This year, as we write this, the nominations have yet to be announced, while the awards ceremony, usually presented at the end of February, has been moved—in hopes of forestalling a “superspreader” event—to April 25.

On the other hand, the Golden Globe awards, generally a prequel to the Oscars, will go on as normal! (Or at least as though normal.) Nominations have been announced, and the broadcast is set to air on February 28.

You may have heard the Globe winners’ names by the time you read this, but as we write it, we haven’t. So we offer our thoughts about a few nominees that we’ve watched in the comfort of our abode. We haven’t seen everything (who could possibly subscribe to the burgeoning number of streaming “services”?). But we have opinions about the productions we have seen.

These include Mank, the movie with the most Globe nominations—six in all. It tells the tale of screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz as he develops the script for Citizen Kane, which many critics consider the greatest movie ever made. Directed by David Fincher from a script by his father Jack Fincher, Mank looks great. Shot in moody black and white, it emulates the groundbreaking cinematography, directing style, and score of the 1941 film. Unfortunately, it doesn’t emulate the crisp narrative style of Kane. Instead, it weaves a thick, unflattering homage to all the real-life people that Mankiewicz transformed into Kane’s cast of characters. If you are not a student of early Hollywood, a lot may slip past you. “Who’s that?” “What was his name again?” “Why did that guy kill himself?” As good as Gary Oldman as Mank is, and he really is, you won’t empathize with him—and you may not fully recognize what movie he’s writing. The film pauses when his script is finished, then skips to him winning an Oscar for it. But we—and apparently many of the critics—were hoping to see a film about the making of Citizen Kane, and alas, that’s not there. You won’t even learn what inspired “Rosebud.”

It’s easier to enjoy The Trial of the Chicago 7 (written and directed by the great Aaron Sorkin), another depiction of an historical event (which some of us baby boomers may remember because of names like Abby Hoffman, Tom Hayden, and Jerry Rubin). And you won’t need advance knowledge to understand what inspired the film version of playwright August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. It’s all there on the screen, depicting an era when the glorious blues created by Black artists of the ‘20s almost serve as a bridge over the prejudices of its white audience. Almost. Performances by Viola Davis and the late Chadwick Boseman are deep and moving, and worthy of awards.

On a lighter note, there’s the filmed version of the Broadway mega-hit Hamilton, which we predict won’t be beat in the “Musical or Comedy” category—certainly not by competitor The Prom, a lively little piece of fluff that boasts the alluring star power of James Corden, Meryl Streep, and Nicole Kidman…to no avail. We’d recommend that you instead take a side trip to Soul, a nominee in the best Animated Film category. Soul will leave you feeling better than most of the above, and maybe even humming a little tune as you leave the theater—or rather, your living room.

Who could ask for anything more?