Saying Goodbye to David Lynch and Hello to a Chaotic Awards Season
A review of The Brutalist and A Real Pain
First and foremost, we need to acknowledge that the great David Lynch sadly passed away last week at the age of 78.
If you don’t know who David Lynch is, 1) that is embarrassing and 2) …
David Lynch:
was a visionary director
never compromised his artistic vision
didn’t care if people “got” his movies
was responsible for generations of film lovers
created Prestige Television
loved to smoke
read LA weather reports on the radio just because he wanted to
first showed us a Dune adaptation was possible
died with a full head of hair
I am still making my personal journey through Lynch’s filmography, and candidly I will say that I’m not obsessed with a lot of his work. I don’t love Eraserhead and I like Twin Peaks just fine. I do love Mulholland Drive, but Blue Velvet has regrettably been on my watchlist for years.
A great thing about being a cinephile is that there will always be more to watch, more to explore. No matter how much time passes, I can always push play and visit Lynch’s work and thus, his brain and vision at that moment in time. It can be just as how I remembered it, or it can be brand new. Even if I didn’t like something before, it won’t mean I won’t like it forever.
Through their work, a director lives forever and I think that’s beautiful. I’m not ready for the greatest generation of filmmakers to leave us.
Not ready at all!
No One Is Being Normal About this Awards Season
The Brutalist (2024):
The Brutalist is about a talented architect, played by Adrian Brody, who escapes to the United States from Post-World War II Eastern Europe. He finds himself jobless, unwanted, and at the mercy of rich patrons played by British/Australian men with the thickest Mid-Atlantic accents I’ve ever heard in my life.
In a world where the worth of everything is measured through shareholder value, it should be noted what actually lasts can’t be evaluated with dollar signs. There is no way to quantify the impact of art and this movie wants its viewers to know great monuments (art, movies, science, impact, etc) can outlast a lifetime. The ending leaves you thinking about how that history or a life can be reclaimed by the voiceless, for better or worse.
I thought this movie was profound. As a first-generation American, I found myself thinking about my parents, and if they ever stopped to think that being an immigrant in the United States was better than staying home. But what is home? Do some immigrants today ask themselves “what did I come here for?” I bet some do.
As with everything these days, there’s been annoying discourse growing around The Brutalist:
the movie is too longggggg (tired complaint, plus it has a built-in intermission)
they used AI to design buildings and to fix accents!!! (the director just rebutted this, also it’s been happening in hollywood for years)
If something is rotten in the state of Denmark, it’s coming from the Netflix corporation. It seems too targeted of an attack and straight out of the awards season saboteur playbook. A last ditch effort in favor of Emilia Perez.
Can no one be normal about awards season? Selena Gomez’s bad Spanish, the Brutalist used AI, Anora didn’t use an intimacy coordinator, Wicked’s cinematography, good movies getting completely shut out, etc.
It’s making my head hurt!
A Real Pain (2024):
Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin) and Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) journey to Poland to see where their grandmother used to live.
I thought this was a fine movie. It was written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg and trust me, we can tell. The script is full of that nervous/anxious energy that he’s known for, so of course the perfect other person to cast was Kieran Culkin. The two have great banter, but it fails to “show, not tell.” Honestly, they both just play characters we have seen already and if you want to watch a better movie about a heritage trip to Eastern Europe, just watch Everything is Illuminated.
My biggest problem with A Real Pain is that Culkin is clearly a co-lead. The film literally ends on his face. I get why they are running him in Best Supporting, because he will probably win, but this my friends, is category fraud.
The same thing is happening with Emilia Perez and Zoe Saldana. She has more screen time than the “lead” of the movie! There’s category fraud everywhere for those with eyes to see!
Once again, no one is being normal about awards season, including myself.