Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving as we head into the thick of holiday season. Gift shopping and festive gatherings mingle and jostle for our attention amid a flurry of friends, family, and significant others. And with the shortened time span between the last shindig and the next, it’s enough to leave your head spinning. Plus with the polar blast we had this past week, you might not want to leave the house in the bitter evenings. For that, I have some viewing recommendations that are both entertaining and seeking some awards attention.
AppleTV Plus had been working with scads of well-renowned directors on various projects. Blitz is no exception. Directed by Oscar winner Steve McQueen, it is the early 1940s in London. Churchill is prime minister and the Nazis are shelling up the city. As an initiative to protect the youth of the nation, children are to be taken into the countryside while the war rages back in the metropolises. Here a young man named George is sent away by his mother Rita on a group train, much to his chagrin. In a fit of anger and after much teasing by fellow passengers, George jumps from the train to make his way back to the city and his family. What follows is an odyssey through omnipresent fear and uncertainty. Along the way he encounters fellow children, kind soldiers, and dangerous looters; all in attempt to seek refuge in his mother’s arms.
Saorise Ronan has been a very reliable presenter of these characters of great resolve and strength. From her work with Greta Gerwig to her breakout role in Atonement, her gaze has spoken volumes despite her years. Newcomer Elliott Heffernan give the best child performance of the year. This film hinges, and succeeds, on this bond. All the while McQueen and cinematographer Yorick La Saux bring a beautiful pall to this chapter in that horrible war. If you enjoyed Dunkirk, check this film out.
Switching gears a bit, Netflix is racing up behind with their own awards darling. Emilia Perez starts out with a disillusioned lawyer, also named Rita (Zoe Saldana) just fresh from a case that has racked her. Shortly after, she is nabbed off the street to meet with a cartel leader who has an unusual request; he is transgender and wants to become a women. And she (the Emilia in question) enlists Rita to find safe passage to Europe and secure a doctor for the procedure. She also seeks asylum for Emilia’s wife (Selina Gomez) and kids in Switzerland, while the former leader is presumed dead.
Cut to four years later, Rita is successful and living a grand life when she encounters a woman at a business dinner. Finally, she recognizes her; it’s Emilia. She now wants Rita to get her family back, as well as set up a relief charity for the families devastated by cartel violence as an act of penance. And did I even mention this is a musical.
In a crazy move that toes the line between shrewd social drama and telenovela, director Jacques Auidard creates a universe all his own. Filled with flawed yet highly relatable characters, Zoe stands out as the fearless actress we have seen from Marvel and Lioness. The pain and frustrations of Rita’s position from the beginning to the very end are written on Saldana’s face. And as a singer and dancer, she blew me away from one brilliant set piece to the next.
Real trans actress Karla Sofia Gascon brings both empathy and compassion to a questionable figure you can’t help but sympathize with. In a haunting sequence we understand Emilia’s, pre-transition, pain and want to change. Later, after the transition, there is a beautiful duet between Emilia and her youngest child that is heartbreaking. It is easy to see why Cannes gave best actress to the whole cast. Theirs is the heart and soul of this magnificent experience.
