Oscar Catch-Up Part 2: All Quiet on the Western Front, To Leslie, Living, My Year of Dicks

Well, some of these movies were harder to find than others but I finally did it! Nominated for acting, writing, a host of technical awards, or short-form animation, this is quite the collection and there is sure to be something to intrigue even the most jaded Oscar watcher.

All Quiet on the Western Front: A German adaptation of Eric Maria Remarque's 1929 novel by director Edward Berger (who also co-wrote the screenplay with Lesley Paterson and Ian Stokell), this movie is incredibly harrowing and gorgeously shot. There were multiple frames of this film that I would pause and stare at because they were beautiful to behold. But of course, at the end of the day, this is a dark and bloody movie about World War I, and all that beauty fades away amidst all the bloodshed. 

Felix Kammerer plays Paul, a young German schoolboy who is swept up in the patriotic fervor overtaking his country and quickly enlists alongside his other friends who are all turning eighteen. They are shipped off to the front and are filled with naive dreams of what a grand adventure this is all going to be. Their very first day quickly disabuses them of any notion that this is going to a fun boyhood romp, and for the next two and half hours, you will be forced to witness just how hellish war can be. I particularly appreciated the manner in which the movie highlighted the incongruity between the top brass who are negotiating a peace deal versus the actual men who are fighting their bloody war - there is such a discrepancy in the living conditions and realities that these two sets of humans are experiencing, and it wasn't something I had seen emphasized in a war movie before. Because I saw this movie on Netflix, I was able to pause it periodically to give myself breaks, which ultimately probably did the filmmakers a disservice but was of great service to my brain. It's a good movie, but it is also a very typical Oscar movie, grim and bleak and portraying the darkest days of humanity. Watch it if you're a completist, but if you know this genre is not your thing, you probably won't regret giving it a pass.

To Leslie:  Directed by Michael Morris and written by Ryan Binaco, this movie has gotten infamous due to the unexpected Andrea Riseborough Best Actress nomination that is mired in controversy for potentially dubious campaigning practices. But let's put all that aside and consider the movie itself. Is Riseborough turning in an impressive performance, with a marvelous Texan accent to boot (she is very British in real life)? Yes. Do I think this performance is the best thing I've seen all year? Not particularly. Is it very typical Oscar fare? You betcha.

This is the story of Leslie, a woman who won $190,000 in a lottery. We then pick up her story six years later, to find that she pissed away all that money, is estranged from her entire family, and continues to make extremely poor decisions because she is an alcoholic. What follows is a tale of a woman who returns to her hometown, occasionally tries to get on the right track, but keeps backsliding and is her own worst enemy, until a terribly generous and compassionate man decides to give her a shot. This man is played by Marc Maron, who I obviously love from listening to his podcast every week, but who is definitely doing some questionable accent work. His relationship with Leslie is quite sweet and ultimately, this movie did end up going in a direction I hadn't initially expected. It's a perfectly reasonable watch, but this is the kind of big "ACTING" role that the Oscars love but doesn't quite translate into making the overall movie something magnificent and memorable.

Living: I had to go to my local independent cinema to watch this movie - that's how dedicated I am to the cause. And also how dedicated I am to Bill Nighy, who has never been nominated for an Oscar before. Directed by Oliver Hermanus, with a screenplay by Kazuo Ishiguro, who adapted it from Akira Kurosawa's 1952 Japanese movie, Ikuru, this is the story of Mr. Williams (Nighy), a very boring bureaucrat who works for the London County Council in 1953 and seems to be a very plodding, ordinary sort of man. However, when he finds out he has terminal cancer, he decides to shake up his life and find some joy before it's too late.

This is a very sweet movie, very British and melancholy, and also deeply profound about the human yearning for meaning in a rather pitiless existence. Those of us with office jobs will probably relate a little too closely with the plight of Mr. Williams, recognizing in him the tendency to become defeatist drones who just drearily shuffle paperwork from 9 to 5. But his quest to make human connections and find purpose in his final days is rather startling and it is of course impossible not to root for Nighy throughout the entire movie. I do want to be clear - this is a very slow and deliberate film, and it's the cinematic equivalent of reading an Ishiguro novel. It is all vibes, and very British, so steep in it like an Earl Grey tea bag and delight in the experience. 

My Year of Dicks: Best Short Film (Animated) is not a category I pay much attention to. But this year, a number of hosts on pop culture podcasts I enjoy were very excited about their friend Pamela Ribon being Oscar-nominated for writing this hilarious and charming short film based on her 2014 memoir. It is the story of 15-year-old Pam, a virgin who has decided this must be the year she pops her cherry. And in five chapters we meet the various boys she encounters on this quest. Each chapter is told in a slightly different style, always with an over-the-top voiceover from the melodramatic Pam, who thinks that she is the star of a romance novel and talks like a Victorian heroine even though what she wants is decidedly un-Victorian. 

Directed by Sara Gunnarsdottir, this movie offers up wonderful insight into the mind of a teenage girl, the grossness (and then occasional sweetness) of teenage boys, and the awkwardness of parents. It's only twenty-five minutes long but it tells a classic tale in a novel fashion. Ultimately, it is a delicious romcom, and it will make you chuckle and sigh as you think about all of your failed relationships and the voices in your head that don't always give you the best advice. This is a great opportunity to check out an Oscar movie that won't take up all of your time and will make you smile - what more do you need?