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The Weekender: Boston's Saturday Morning Newsletter
A Massachusetts movie buff's guide to this year's Oscar best picture nominees
Editor's Note: This is an excerpt from WBUR's daily morning newsletter, WBUR Today. If you like what you read and want it in your inbox, sign up here.
The 96th Academy Awards (aka “the Oscars”) will be held tomorrow in Los Angeles, and if you need a refresher on who’s up for what before the show, you’ve come to the right place.
The resident movie buffs here at WBUR (and NPR) have been monitoring the best of cinema closely over the past year. So if you don’t have time to catch up watching all these Oscar-nominated flicks before Sunday, you can read about them instead.
Here’s a rundown of all the best picture nominees and their reviews — with an extra spotlight on those with a Massachusetts connection.
Massachusetts’ contendahs
The Holdovers: There are more than just glimpses of Massachusetts in this movie; in fact, it was entirely filmed here! Director Alexander Payne told WBUR film writer Erin Trahan that crafting the film’s vintage vibe was easy since “change comes slowly to New England.”
- Best actor nominee Paul Giamatti also received critical acclaim for his role, which he discussed in with Here & Now‘s Robin Young. Meanwhile, best supporting actress nominee Da’Vine Joy Randolph was on NPR’s It’s Been a Minute to chat about the personal stories that inspired her moving “Holdovers” performance.
Maestro: This is the second film directed by Bradley Cooper to receive a best picture nomination. On the local level, we’re doling out congratulations to Tanglewood in Lenox, which served as the stage for this splashy Leonard Bernstein biopic.
- Cooper is also up for best actor for his portrayal of Bernstein, which is reminiscent of “a Muppet,” WBUR film critic Sean Burns wrote in his review of the movie. “But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t wildly entertained,” he added.
American Fiction: A satirical look at the publishing industry through the lens of Black writers, “American Fiction” weighs the pros and cons of being a sellout. The film is up for four awards besides best picture, including best actor for Jeffrey Wright. And keep an eye out as you watch this movie: A few Coolidge Corner haunts — in particular Brookline Booksmith — provide the background for some scenes.
- Radio Boston dug into the film’s representation of Black communities in Boston, and Bostonians in Hollywood, this week with film critic Ty Burr and and Bay State Banner writer Olivia Grant. You can listen to that segment here.
Outside the commonwealth (but we won’t hold it against them)
Oppenheimer: There are — wait for it — 13 Oscar noms for this movie. Not only is that the most nomination for any movie this year, “Oppenheimer” is a heavy favorite to win best picture. Best actor nominee Cillian Murphy’s enigmatic performance really captured critics’ attention, playing the titular character “with magnetic, arrogant unknowability,” Sean wrote in his review.
Killers of the Flower Moon: In Martin Scorsese’s three-and-a-half-hour epic, best actress nominee Lily Gladstone “provides the serene soul of a movie roiling with anguish and toxicity,” Sean wrote in this appreciation of the relatively unknown actress. The movie — which is nominated for 10 Oscars — tells the true story of the Osage, a Native American tribe that was brutally terrorized through the 1920s after oil was discovered on their land. NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour has a full discussion of the film here.
- Radio Boston also sat down last week with David Grann, author of the book the film is based on, to learn more about Osage history and how the events in the movie led to the birth of the FBI.
Poor Things: This is a movie that embraces the weird. Best actress nominee Emma Stone plays Bella, a sort of Frankenstein’s monster implanted with the brain of a child who must learn to understand the outlandish Victorian world around her. This film “is a family un-friendly version of ‘Barbie,’” wrote NPR film critic Justin Chang.
Anatomy of a Fall: Actress Sandra Hüller stars in two of this year’s best picture nominees, but “Anatomy of a Fall” is the one that garnered her a best actress nom. This courtroom drama is “the kind of sophisticated entertainment that one usually has to find overseas or on television these days,” Sean wrote in his review.
Zone of Interest: In this Holocaust movie, the audience never goes inside the gates of Auschwitz, but it’s horrifying just the same. From their home next to the concentration camp, Nazi commandant Rudolf Höss, played by Christian Friedel, and his wife Hedwig, played by Hüller, ignore the gut-wrenching cries outside. “At first, your heart catches in your throat at every gunshot or scream,” Sean wrote in his review. “[But] as the movie wears on, we in the audience find ourselves growing similarly desensitized.”
Past Lives: For everyone who’s ever wondered about what could have been, Celine Song’s “Past Lives” tells the story of two childhood friends who reconnect — a love story that could be perfect if one half of this pair wasn’t married. “This is a movie about nice people in a tricky situation doing their best to be honest and kind, which is somehow so suspenseful,” Sean wrote.
Barbie: Gerwig’s film about life in plastic may have been snubbed at the Golden Globes, but at the Oscars, “Barbie” is up for best picture (and seven other awards). Supporting actors America Ferrera and Ryan Gosling are also nominated for their performances in this billion-dollar blockbuster. But box office success aside, “at the end of the day, this is still a two-hour toy commercial,” Sean wrote.
P.S. — Don’t get bummed if your favorite film doesn’t win best picture. “Getting too invested in the Oscars will always break your heart,” Sean wrote this week for our arts and culture newsletter, The ARTery. Read the rest of his thoughts on what he loves — and doesn’t love — about Oscars week in this excerpt of the newsletter.
