With three weeks to go before we discover the winners, Dipson Amherst is once again bringing all three Oscar Shorts programs to Buffalo this weekend. It’s a big deal, not only to be able to see these fifteen films on the big screen, but also because there was a time when you wouldn’t get to see the documentaries. That quintet is always the longest and thus the hardest to fit into a schedule looking to optimize ticket sales.
I love checking them out because they are often a calling card for future features if not excellent stories on their own. My favorites this year were THE LAST REPAIR SHOP (documentary), PACHYDERME (animated), and KNIGHT OF FORTUNE (live action).
And between finishing those off, a busy week at work, beating Mario Odyssey, and finishing TRUE DETECTIVE season 2 (I loved it … a bit more than the first even. Kelly Reilly is my vote for MVP as a truly integral and complex supporting character, something the first season didn’t have despite Michelle Monaghan doing her best to elevate what the script gave her.) … I only got to one feature film this week. Ah well.
What I Watched:
THE 2024 OSCAR NOMINATED SHORTS
(in theaters)
My full breakdown of all 15 nominees at The Film Stage:
BLEEDING LOVE
(in limited theaters & on VOD)
While it is just another story about addiction, Emma Westenberg’s BLEEDING LOVE shouldn’t be dismissed as a result. Written by Ruby Caster from a story by Caster, Vera Bulder, and Clara McGregor, this road movie has the additional wrinkle that the father (Ewan McGregor) trying to wake his daughter (Clara) up to her substance abuse problems also faces them himself. Sober eight years, remarried, and raising a new son, he’s in many ways as unrecognizable to her as she is to him. Their roles have reversed and yet the clarity of experience that should arrive as a result is overpowered by fear and regret.
It’s a necessary detail because too many versions of this dynamic fall prey to the black and white notion that drug use is bad. I don’t say that to argue the opposite. Drug use is bad. I’m instead pointing out that approaching the subject from that binary position breeds inauthenticity more than not because it fosters the inherent hypocrisy that comes with separating “legal” drug abuse from “illegal” as though “law” is some all-powerful force of righteousness. By making Ewan a recovering addict, his horror becomes based in knowledge rather than sanctimony or superiority. His actions are born from empathy rather than authority.
Clara’s character possesses a similar lived complexity because she endured his addiction as a child. Yes, there were fun days. But he also left—eventually for good, but also whenever his high waned. Who then is this man helping her now? He’s a stranger. And that reality births resentment and anger. Maybe that’s why she became an addict too. It definitely affected her start with genetics and painful memories keeping her hooked. Those happy days therefore become a curse warped by nostalgia and hard truths to paint a picture as concrete as it is illusory. The present does the same in reverse too. They’ve never both been sober together.
BLEEDING LOVE is thus about mistakes made. It’s why she can look at him with genuine affection when he proves fatherly without blindly forgiving him for the times he wasn’t. It’s why he can’t in good conscience force her to listen to his demand for treatment (despite being an expert) when he remembers those same demands pushing him away. It leads to pained silences and tearful recognition knowing they’ve both messed up. And the other has no right to believe them when they say they’ve changed. That trust must be earned … even if both have done enough to render the process impossible.
This is why the film is at its best in the last twenty or so minutes once truths are revealed and façades (intentionally worn and not) fall. The journey there isn’t without its moments, but there are a few too many detours through eccentric comic relief distracting us from the heavier drama that results. It’s not that the supporting characters and their circumstances are bad either. Vera Bulder, Jake Weary, and others are great. They simply come and go in ways that prove they were always pawns to the main story—dead ends sending father and daughter back onto their path instead of mirrors asking them to look within. That’s their job alone.
- 6/10
Cinematic F-Bombs:
This weekend sees ANATOMY OF A FALL (2023), HOT SHOTS! PART DEUX (1993), KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON (2023), MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - DEAD RECKONING PART ONE (2023), and OPPENHEIMER (2023) getting added to the archive (cinematicfbombs.com on Sunday, Twitter on Monday).
New Releases This Week:
(Review links where applicable)
Opening Buffalo-area theaters 2/16/24 -
ALTERED REALITY at Regal Transit
BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE at Dipson Amherst, Flix, McKinley Mall & Capitol; AMC Maple Ridge & Market Arcade; Regal Elmwood, Transit, Galleria & Quaker
LAND OF BAD at Dipson Flix & Capitol; Regal Elmwood, Transit & Quaker
MADAME WEB at Dipson Flix, McKinley Mall & Capitol; AMC Maple Ridge & Market Arcade; Regal Elmwood, Transit, Galleria & Quaker
OORU PERU BHAIRAVAKONA at Regal Elmwood & Transit
OSCAR NOMINATED SHORTS: Animation & Live Action at Dipson Amherst & Regal Quaker; Documentary at Dipson Amherst only
Links to reviews of all 15 nominees below.
SIREN at Regal Elmwood
THE TASTE OF THINGS at North Park Theatre; Regal Transit & Quaker
“A gorgeous love story marked by the smiles and stares [Binoche and Magimel] share in the background of what proves a 19th century dramatic symphony of food porn.” – Full thoughts at HHYS.
Streaming from 2/16/24 -
THE ABYSS – Netflix on 2/16
EINSTEIN AND THE BOMB - Netflix on 2/16
OPPENHEIMER – Peacock on 2/16
“Thankfully, despite my qualms with Nolan purposefully structuring things to exploit our belief he's finally told a straightforward story, I was still completely taken by its gravitas. Give Murphy and Downey Jr. Oscars.” – Full thoughts at HHYS.
SNOOPY PRESENTS: WELCOME HOME, FRANKLIN – AppleTV+ on 2/16
THIS IS ME … NOW – Prime on 2/16
OPERATION ARCTIC CURE – Disney+ on 2/20
Now on VOD/Digital HD -
AIR FORCE ONE DOWN (2/13)
THE BOYS IN THE BOAT (2/13)
“This is family-friendly fare with a mission to empower and embolden kids to aspire towards greatness no matter the stage or their apparent disadvantages.” – Full thoughts at HHYS.
THE CRIME IS MINE (2/13)
DESTROY ALL NEIGHBORS (2/13)
DOUBLE BLIND (2/13)
GODARD CINEMA (2/13)
THE IRON CLAW (2/13)
“THE IRON CLAW is an abridged depiction of a "curse" as self-fulfilling prophecy rather than a dissection of that curse's origins. It's enough to move audiences, showcase Efron, and ignite Google searches to discover the everything left out.” – Full thoughts at HHYS.
STRANGE WAY OF LIFE (2/13)
TRUST (2/13)
STRANGER IN THE WOODS (2/14)
LIGHTS OUT (2/16)
MILLER’S GIRL (2/16)
MONOLITH (2/16)
RIVER (2/16)
“While the journey doesn't utilize a single-take device like BEYOND, its frenetic pace and potential for extreme emotions demands a similar level of investment that you'll be more than willing to provide due to its infectious sense of entertainment.” – Full thoughts at HHYS.