Wind River, Three Billboards and Dick Tracy

11/25/17 Wind River, not yet nominated, 2017

Wind River received a lot of buzz when it was released in the summer, but I could not get myself to a theater, but I heard a lot of good things. Jeremy Renner stars as Cory Lambert, a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Agent, living out in Wyoming. His territory includes the Wind River Indian Reservation. Cory's job is pretty solitary, keeping out on the plains (or prairie?) for many hours as he protects livestock and tracks the wildlife. Cory is a pretty stoic character, and the reasons for that are slowly revealed to the audience; but he does have a young son whom he loves very much, and tries to spend as much time with him as possible. Cory is white, but his ex-wife is Native American, and he has a pretty good relationship with the Native American community. During one of his regular days at work, Lambert discovers a body in the snow, and he identifies it as a young girl he knows, and he knows her family. For a variety of reasons having to do with tribal land being a sovereign nation, but the land around it belonging to the US government or under state jurisdiction, an FBI agent, Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen) comes in to help solve the murder. Graham Greene is the tribal sheriff, and enjoys Agent Banner's discomfort at the cold and riding on a snowmobile at high speeds, but realizes that she may be the only one who can resolve the murder, since often the federal government is reluctant to help at all. As Lambert, Banner and Ben start to uncover what happened to Natalie, and why, we get a brief glimpse into life on a reservation and the challenges that Native Americans face to their culture, raising their children, and of being treated with humanity by whites. The movie is beautiful in its stark treatment of winter, and the vastness of the land. The characters are restrained in their grief and their anger; there is not a lot of joy or happiness in the film; peace is the best you can hope for. Lambert is the link between the white community and the Native American community, and I think Renner did a wonderful job, but I was so moved by Martin Hanson (Gil Birmingham) who was Natalie's father, and was so powerful in his brief time onscreen. Elizabeth Olsen held her own with the mostly male cast. In addition to bringing some focus to our Native American communities, hopefully the movie will also raise awareness about rape and assault against Native American women, which often goes unreported. It's a disgusting shame that these women and these communities are so ignored and disrespected and mistreated. It's a great movie introducing many of us to modern day Native Americans. 



12/2/17 Dick Tracy, Best Art Direction, Best Makeup, Best Original Song, 1990

I vaguely remember when Dick Tracy was released, but I don't remember very many good reviews or comments; people seemed to be mostly interested in Madonna's relationship with Warren Beatty. The plot was pretty typical cops versus bad guys, but what made it different was the incredible art direction which brought Chester Gould's comic strip to life. Only primary colors were used, which apparently was more of a challenge than you might imagine. Honestly, that was the hook for me, the set and the makeup, which was transformative, something I think I mostly associate with science fiction or fantasy films (at least on such a big scale, it wasn't just one or two characters). Madonna sang the Oscar winning song, but it was written by Stephen Sondheim; I don't know, aside from "Blaze of Glory" by Bon Jovi for Young Guns II, none of the songs really stick out for me. Beatty directed, produced the movie and starred as Dick Tracy, ace detective; Glenn Headley plays Tracy's long suffering girlfriend, Tess Trueheart; other good guys include Dick Van Dyke as the district attorney, Charles Durning as the chief of police; and the bad guys feature Al Pacino, in an Oscar-nominated role as Big Boy, the leading crime boss in town; Dustin Hoffman as Mumbles (honest to god, one of the most annoying characters ever); Madonna as sultry singer, Breathless Mahoney. Tracy also befriends a street urchin who goes only by "The Kid". I guess I'm pretty happy I didn't hate the movie, and in fact, didn't mind it. There were a lot of big movies in 1990, including Dances with Wolves, Ghost and Goodfellas, to name just a couple, so, perhaps it's not a surprise that  Dick Tracy rarely gets mentioned.

12/9/17 Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, not yet nominated, 2017

I realize I am flying in the face of popular opinion, and it took me a few days to accept it, but I really didn't LOVE Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. I wanted to, I love Frances McDormand who stars as Mildred Hayes, a grieving mother, and she is getting a lot of Oscar buzz. It's a great cast: Woody Harrelson as the beleaguered sheriff, Bill Willoughby; Sam Rockwell as the anger and violence prone racist police office, Jason Dixon, and several other strong actors in supporting roles: Peter Dinklage, Clarke Peters and John Hawkes. The "Three Billboards" of the title refer to the billboards rented by Mildred Hayes to poke, cajole, berate the sheriff's department for lack of progress in the rape and murder of her daughter. This act does not sit well with many in the town, including her son who is dealing with his sister's death in his own way; Dixon who drinks a bit too much for his own good; and Willoughby, who seems to have good intentions, but zero evidence. Mildred is an angry, hateful woman, who has trouble accepting any type of kindness from anyone. I don't want to ruin it for you, so I'll be careful about spoilers. I don't mind dark humor, but the fact that this has been called by some "a dark comedy", I don't think so. There are moments of humor, and I did laugh out loud a few times, but that doesn't make it a comedy (from the commercials, I really thought it was a Coen Brothers' movie, sadly, it was not), it's hard to laugh about rape and murder...just saying. McDormand totally embraced Mildred's anger and determination, but I was hoping to see some compassion, perhaps, for her son. My thought (perhaps I'm digging too deep) was that because this was written and directed by Martin McDonagh, who has Irish and British citizenship, that he was trying to make a point about American policing and race relations, I thought he kept using a sledgehammer and nuance be damned. Dixon acts with impunity and is tolerated by many. I thought Rockwell's performance was terrific; I mean, I found myself cheering for him (twisted, I know). There is more about the movie that bothered me, but to tell you now would be risking spoilers. If you'd like to chat after you see it, let me know.