MD on IG Review: Lady for A. Day

It is striking how mesmerizing Andra Day's transformation into the iconic Billie Holiday is compared to the rest of Lee Daniels' The United States vs Billie Holiday. While Day (in basically her first film role) utterly commits to her raw, fierce, heartbreaking portrayal, she is surrounded by stilted dialogue, one-note performances and Daniels' own overindulgent tendencies (pick a tone, Lee). You'll have to endure all that though (plus Leslie Jordan's ridiculous wig) because Day as Lady Day is an absolute must-see.

MD Rating: 6/10

The United States vs Billie Holiday is now streaming on Hulu.

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Indie Favorites Dominate the 2020 Dorian Award Nominations

Minari

GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics has announced the nominations for their 12th Annual Dorian Awards, honoring the best in film for 2020 (plus the first two months of 2021 à la the Oscars). Leading the pack with 6 nominations is Lee Isaac Chung's tender family drama Minari, including nods for both Film of the Year and Foreign Language Film of the Year. Chloé Zhao's powerfully moving Nomadland (the #1 movie in both my and Chris' top 10 of last year) close behind with 5 nominations. Promising Young Woman (4 nominations), First Cow and Sound of Metal (3 nominations each) round out the contenders for the Film of the Year prize.

The four acting races include a diverse array of talent, including two nominations for the late Chadwick Boseman (for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and Da 5 Bloods); he is among the contenders for the "Wilde Artist of the Year" award as well. Meanwhile, four of the five finalists for Director of the Year (Emerald Fennell for Promising Young Woman, Regina King for One Night in Miami, Kelly Reichardt for First Cow and Zhao) and Screenplay of the Year (Radha Blank for The Forty-Year-Old Version, Eliza Hittman for Never Rarely Sometimes Always), Fennell and Zhao) are women.

Nomadland

King and Zhao are also nominated for Artist of the Year (along with Elliot Page and Dolly Parton), with Blank also a finalist for the "We're Wilde About You" Rising Star Award. She is joined in that category with two other multiple nominees, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm's Maria Bakalova (a supporting actress nominee) and Never Rarely Sometimes Always lead actress nominee Sidney Flanigan. They are joined by One Night in Miami's Malcolm X, Kingsley Ben-Adir, and young Minari scene-stealer Alan S. Kim.

LGBTQ-themed films, naturally, fared well, with two romances – Two of Us from France and I Carry You with Me from Mexico – named finalists for Foreign Language Film of the Year. The latter is also a contender for LGBTQ Film of the Year, along with Ammonite, The Boys in the Band, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Supernova and Uncle Frank. And Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen and Welcome to Chechnya were nominated for both Documentary of the Year and LGBTQ Documentary of the Year.

Promising Young Woman

GALECA (of which Movie Dearest's own Chris Carpenter and myself are long-standing members) will announce the Dorian Award winners in all categories (including this year's recipient of the "Timeless Award" for lifetime achievement) on April 18th in an original special on Revry TV.

For more information about GALECA, you can visit the official website or do the social network thing via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

And the nominees are...

FILM OF THE YEAR: First Cow, Minari, Nomadland, Promising Young Woman and Sound of Metal

FILM PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR - ACTOR: Riz Ahmed in Sound of Metal, Chadwick Boseman in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Anthony Hopkins in The Father, Delroy Lindo in Da 5 Bloods and Steven Yeun in Minari

FILM PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR - ACTRESS: Nicole Beharie in Miss Juneteenth, Viola Davis in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Sidney Flanigan in Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Frances McDormand in Nomadland and Carey Mulligan in Promising Young Woman

SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR - ACTOR: Chadwick Boseman in Da 5 Bloods, Sacha Baron Cohen in The Trial of the Chicago 7, Daniel Kaluuya in Judas and the Black Messiah. Leslie Odom, Jr. in One Night in Miami and Paul Raci in Sound of Metal

Sound of Metal

SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR - ACTRESS: Maria Bakalova in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Candice Bergen in Let Them All Talk, Olivia Colman in The Father, Amanda Seyfried in Mank and Youn Yuh-Jung in Minari

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR: Lee Isaac Chung for Minari, Emerald Fennell for Promising Young Woman, Regina King for One Night in Miami, Kelly Reichardt for First Cow and Chloé Zhao for Nomadland

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR: Another Round, Bacurau, I Carry You with Me, La Llorona, Minari and Two of Us

DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR: Collective, Crip Camp, Dick Johnson Is Dead, Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen, Time and Welcome to Chechnya

SCREENPLAY OF THE YEAR: Radha Blank for The Forty-Year-Old Version, Lee Isaac Chung for Minari, Emerald Fennell for Promising Young Woman, Eliza Hittman for Never Rarely Sometimes Always and Chloé Zhao for Nomadland

LGBTQ FILM OF THE YEAR: Ammonite, The Boys in the Band, I Carry You with Me, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Supernova and Uncle Frank

First Cow

LGBTQ DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR: Born To Be, Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen, Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado, A Secret Love and Welcome to Chechnya

VISUALLY STRIKING FILM OF THE YEAR: Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn, Mank, Nomadland, Soul and Wolfwalkers

CAMPY FLICK OF THE YEAR: Bad Hair, Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, The Prom and Wonder Woman 1984

UNSUNG FILM OF THE YEAR: The Assistant, Driveways, First Cow, The Forty-Year-Old Version, Miss Juneteenth, Never Rarely Sometimes Always and Shirley

THE WE'RE WILDE ABOUT YOU RISING STAR AWARD: Maria Bakalova, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Radha Blank, Sidney Flanigan and Alan S. Kim

WILDE ARTIST OF THE YEAR: Chadwick Boseman, Regina King, Elliot Page, Dolly Parton and Chloé Zhao

Reverend's Interview: Supernova Explodes with Gay Love and Loss

I've been recommending the movie Supernova to friends for the last couple months now. When I first mentioned it, virtually all of them have thought of the lame 2000 sci-fi/horror flick that starred a frequently naked James Spader and Angela Bassett. Uh, not THAT Supernova. This new, grounded-in-reality Supernova stars Oscar winner Colin Firth and Oscar nominee Stanley Tucci as a longtime gay couple faced with the challenge of one partner's early onset dementia. It is now playing in select theaters and will be available for streaming beginning February 16th.

Firth and Tucci are both receiving awards buzz for their performances as Sam and Tusker, respectively. The men have spent 20 years together, and they are as passionately in love as they have ever been. But in the two years since Tusker was diagnosed with early onset dementia (specifically Posterior Cortical Atrophy, or PCA), their lives have had to change. As Tusker’s condition progresses, Sam is forced to place his life on hold and become his partner’s full-time caregiver. Their time together has become the most important aspect of their lives, so they plan a road trip across England while Tusker is still able to travel, to see friends and family and revisit memories from their long life together.

Supernova was written and directed by the relatively-new British filmmaker Harry Macqueen. It is only the talented Macqueen's second feature following a successful acting career. He was inspired to write it after both a former co-worker and a close friend's father were diagnosed with early onset dementia in 2015. Macqueen was also struck by the documentary Right to Die?, which follows a 59-year old man and his wife of 37 years to a clinic in Switzerland that specializes in physician assisted suicide. Once there, the man legally took his own life rather than prolong his declining condition.

"The man in the documentary, my colleague, and my friend’s father all had versions of young onset dementia that had played out in very different ways," Macqueen writes in the film's press notes. "These experiences made me want to find out more about this disorder specifically, as well as the vital debate around end-of-life choices – one that still rages to this day in many countries around the world. Running parallel to this was my passionate desire to write a story that framed a same-sex relationship in an original manner; to present a loving relationship for which the sexuality of the characters didn’t in any way shape the narrative."

Macqueen developed the screenplay over a three-year period, working closely with leading dementia specialists at University College London (UCL) and The Wellcome Trust, a charity dedicated to supporting science and research in the fields of biomedical research and medical humanities. He also collaborated with many individuals and families affected by the condition.

Once the script was finished, Macqueen and his producers moved on to casting. They discussed the notion of making one of the couple American, and what that might do to the dynamic of the film's primary relationship. “The fact that one of them was American became a strategic way of not making the project feel too British,” notes producer Emily Morgan. “We liked the idea of coming at it slightly from left field, so that there was an edge and originality to the pairing.” That's when they came up with the notion of approaching Stanley Tucci, who lives in London. “He has that edge of being American, but at the same time he’s so embedded in the UK,” added Morgan. “He was an ideal choice.”

Tucci, for his part, was "floored" by Macqueen's screenplay. It was during Tucci’s first meeting with Macqueen that the subject of who would play Sam, the other half of the relationship, was first broached. “We got on famously,” Macqueen remembers, “and during my meeting with him, he said, ‘Can we talk about who plays opposite me? Have you thought about Colin Firth? Because I could get the script to him.’ Of course, I said, ‘That would be amazing, thanks very much.’ And Stanley said, ‘Good, because I gave it to him yesterday, and he read it and loves it and he wants to meet you.”

Firth and Tucci have been friends ever since they met on the set of the 2001 film Conspiracy. As Tucci recently said in Entertainment Weekly of his 20-year relationship with Firth: "Our love for each other, our respect for each other, that intimacy was already there. When you have a really good friend, it's like a lover. You know a lot about each other, things that other people don't know — things that even spouses don't know — and that makes you incredibly close."

The resulting movie is beautiful, moving and reflective. It resonated with me strongly as both a gay married man in my 50's and as a full-time hospice chaplain. I mentioned this to writer-director Macqueen at the start of a recent phone interview that he was kind enough to grant to Reverend. He responded, "That's so lovely, thank you. I wanted to approach (the subject) as honestly as possible. I spent a lot of time researching it and trying to get it right. A woman whose husband died last year of PCA attended the premiere in London and thanked me for capturing her experience. She said it was difficult trying to get her friends to understand what she had gone through, and she could now tell them to watch Supernova. That's why I made it, really."

Macqueen (center) on the Supernova set with Tucci and Firth

Here is the remainder of my interview with Macqueen:

CC: What was it like on set with Firth and Tucci? Did any difficulties or challenges arise?
HM: It was awful, they are absolute tyrants (laughs). In all honesty, they are lovely guys and incredible actors. Right from the start, they fell in love with the script and they really trusted me. They were on board 100% right from the start. They also worked incredibly hard, especially Tucci.

CC: You obviously did your research while writing the film. Have you learned anything additional about dementia since its completion?
HM: I'm still involved in that world quite a lot. Here in the UK, and I expect it's the same in the United States, most people who have had COVID-19 now have dementia. It is scary as I expect we'll be seeing even more cases of early onset dementia from now on.

CC: Talk to me about your film's interesting music score by Keaton Henson. Who is he?
HM: I'm glad you noticed that. This is his first film. He's a folk musician over here and has quite an underground following. It's interesting because he doesn't like to perform live. I heard a piece of his he wrote for an orchestra here in London and I was blown away by it. His music isn't meant to be overly glossy. I think he did a great job on the film.

CC: Are you working on something new? What's next for you?
HM: I'm trying my best to. It's a funny time to be trying to create stuff with so many crazy things going on in the world, but I am writing a couple of new films and doing some writing for television too. I'm also an actor and will be acting in a film too but it's been postponed (due to the pandemic).

CC: Is there anything else you would like readers to know?
HM: (Making Supernova) has been one of the most profound and important experiences of my life. The characters and themes reflect my attempt to do these people and their stories justice in a truthful and original manner – to place a selfless, loving relationship in the context of an immediate future that hangs in the balance. From the outset, my desire was to make an empowering, powerful, challenging, and timely film about what we are willing to do for the people that we love.

In this regard, Macqueen definitely succeeds. Supernova is one of the best films of the last year. For more information about it as well as local theatrical showtimes, visit the film's official website.

By Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film and stage critic of Movie Dearest and Rage Monthly Magazine.

Movie Dearest's Top 10 of 2020

No doubt about it, 2020 was a long, trying, heartbreaking, infuriating, bewildering year. Yet amid all the social, political and cultural turmoil, I found comfort in "escaping to the movies", even though that generally meant relocating to the couch and firing up the Roku. I was rewarded with a myriad of cinematic delights, from a diverse array of filmmakers, ranging from eye-opening documentaries and eye-popping animated films to boundary-pushing dramas and subversive comedies.

Yes, 2020 will be remembered for many things (good, bad and very, very ugly) but, for me at least, I will hold the memories of my favorite movies from this past year close, and cherish them for offering welcome respite from the perils of reality.

Note: Although the Academy and several other awards groups, not too mention critics, have extended their eligibility dates into 2021, I decided to include below only films that were released - either wide or limited, theatrically or digitally, or any combination thereof - within the calendar year of 2020.

Road Trip

1. Nomadland - Chloé Zhao accomplishes a rare feat here, creating an intimate experience – about a woman (a sublime Frances McDormand) who has lost everything, struggling to survive as a literal "nomad" in contemporary America – within a larger message (how this country can fail its people) that never turns sentimental or didactic. A truly beautiful film that will stick to your soul for some time.

Female Trouble

2. Promising Young Woman - Carey Mulligan, irresistibly magnetic as the post-promising femme of the title, is on a mission in this blistering, darkly comic deconstruction of male/female relationships and everything that can go wrong therein. Actress-turned-writer/director Emerald Fennell goes far afield from her Call the Midwife past with this, her feature film debut. Challenging, chilling and shockingly cathartic.

Brian's Swan Song

3. Driveways - One can find kindness in unexpected places, a truth for the characters in this quiet drama from director Andrew Ahn as well as for those thankful viewers who have stumbled upon this "hidden gem" of a film. The late Brian Dennehy, in one of his last performances, shines as an unexpected grandfather figure to the lonely boy next door (Lucas Jaye). A simple, lovely story of love, loss and acceptance.

Eight is Enough

4. My Octopus Teacher - When one thinks of a nature documentary, words like "personal" and "intimate" hardly come to mind, but such is the case with this moving exploration of man's relationship with nature, specifically one man (documentary filmmaker Craig Foster) and one animal (the titular mollusc) and the surprising, unique relationship they develop over a year's time, together, in her octupus' garden under the sea.

Strangers on a Trail

5. News of the World - Tom Hanks (in, believe it or not, his very first western) portrays a traveling "news reader" who finds himself charged with returning a young orphan girl (Helena Zengel, in a dazzling debut) to a family she's never known in Paul Greengrass' sprawling, picturesque throwback to John Ford yarns of the past. Through their perilous travels, the two overcome hardships and language barriers to forge a connection beyond words.

Gingers, Snap!

6. Wolfwalkers - Ireland's Cartoon Saloon champions traditional animation once again with this, the final chapter of director Tomm Moore's "Irish Folklore Trilogy" (following the equally beguiling The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea). Filled with richly detailed backgrounds, expressive characters and dynamic action, each frame of this enchanting tale of lasses getting their lupine on is a work of art, a colorful, Celtic feast for the eyes.

The Farmer's Son

7. Minari - The Asian vegetable minari thrives in out of the way places, an appropriate metaphor for the South Korean immigrant family that relocates to rural Arkansas to start a produce farm in Lee Isaac Chung's fond remembrance of his own 1980s youth. As the parents, Steven Yeun and Yeri Han ground the tender story, while young Alan S. Kim and old Youn Yu-jung take turns stealing scenes... and hearts.

In Old Chicago

8. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom - The real Ma Rainey was "Mother of the Blues", the "black bottom" was a popular dance in the '20s, and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, a dramatization of a turbulent recording session wherein Ma (a volcanic Viola Davis) clashes with upstart trumpeter Levee (Chadwick Boseman, simply electric in his final role), is director George C. Wolfe's mesmerizing screen adaptation of the August Wilson stage classic.

The Inspector, Generally

9. The Mole Agent - Meet Sergio Chamy, an octogenarian gent eager to try new things, who is hired by a private investigator to go undercover in a nursing home to find evidence of elder abuse. But Sergio finds something else entirely in this quirky documentary (Chile's submission for the International Feature Oscar) that plays like the oddest, most heartwarming reality show ever. If you're into Bernie Sanders mitten memes, this is the movie for you.

Swimming with Shark

10. The Assistant - As a day in the life of the junior assistant (Julia Garner, quietly riveting) to a New York City film producer of the Harvey Weinstein variety unfolds, we are witness to mundane office tasks, unnerving outbursts and a prime example of how not to conduct a Human Resources meeting. In her narrative feature debut, writer/director Kitty Green teaches a master class on the slow burn.

Honorable Mentions – The Next 10:
Why stop at just 10? In alphabetical order...

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm - Sacha Baron Cohen finally won me over with this razor-sharp, ripped-from-the-headlines satire co-starring 2020 "it girl" Maria Bakalova.

Boys State - The best of this year's many political documentaries isn't even about a real government, a good thing as no real one could be this engrossing and enthralling.

The Gentlemen - Guy Ritchie's rollicking crime caper features delicious turns from its all-star cast, especially Michelle Dockery, Hugh Grant and Colin Farrell.

Mank - David Fincher's homage to/dissection of "old Hollywood" by way of Citizen Kane screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz (Gary Oldman), brought to life in gorgeous, glorious black and white.

A Secret Love - 2020's best LGBTQ movies were non-fiction, as seen in this bittersweet gem about the remarkable, decades-long romance of Terry Donahue and Pat Henschel.

A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon - Everyone's favorite Plasticine ovine-of-few-words returned for another outrageous outing, taking him to outer space and back.

Soul - Flavored with a heaping helping of NYC jazz, Pixar goes all existential in this imaginative Heaven Can Wait-meets-Nine Lives (?) fable.

Swallow - Haley Bennett is stunning as a woman obsessed with ingesting various knick-knacks as a means to cope with her crumbling psyche in this not-quite-horror horror film.

The Vast of Night - Moody and steadily unsettling, director Andrew Patterson's thrilling debut turns back the clock to a 1950s "Small Town, USA" on the evening of an extraordinary (extraterrestrial?) encounter.

Welcome to Chechnya - A harrowing, horrifying look into the atrocities inflicted upon gay and lesbian people in modern Russia is without a doubt a hard watch but an absolute must-see.

More Honorable Mentions – What the heck, here's another 10 to enjoy:

• The international true crime/high crimes docs Assassins and The Dissident.
• Gay faves The Boys and the Band and Uncle Frank, headlined by knock-out performances by Jim Parsons and Paul Bettany, respectively.
• Gunda: Pigs is pigs.
• The bittersweet Italian drama The Life Ahead, starring the legendary Sophia Loren and young newcomer Ibrahima Gueye.
• Netflix and Frills: the fab biodoc Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado and the all-star, all-camp musical The Prom.
• The charmingly offbeat indie dramedy Saint Frances.
• Aaron Sorkin's timely take on The Trial of the Chicago 7, featuring a stellar ensemble including Sacha Baron Cohen, Mark Rylance and Jeremy Strong.

Streaming Guide:

• Amazon Prime: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Uncle Frank and The Vast of Night
  
• Apple TV+: Boys State and Wolfwalkers
• Disney+: Soul
• HBO Max: Welcome to Chechnya
  
• Hulu: The Assistant, The Mole Agent and Nomadland (available February 19th)
• Netflix: The Boys in the Band, The Life Ahead, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Mank, Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado, My Octopus Teacher, The Prom, A Secret Love, A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon and The Trial of the Chicago 7
  
• Showtime: Driveways, The Gentlemen and Swallow
• Starz: Saint Frances

 

By Kirby Holt, Movie Dearest creator, editor and head writer.