Although I love movies based on true stories, especially those as impactful as the one in “She Said,” I was skeptical at how quickly the movie was produced. After all, the Weinstein scandal didn’t happen very long ago. While walking into the theater, I wondered if the movie I was about to see was going to be just another mediocre installment of the media-to-movie pipeline. 

Although the story is powerful, “She Said” doesn’t add much to what is already known about the Weinstein scandal. Reenacted recordings of Weinstein and testimonials of the real victims help bring the story to life. However, there’s not enough grime to make the story as impactful as it truly was.

What truly makes “She Said” are Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan’s performances. Mulligan, who is no stranger to playing elaborate female characters, takes on the role of The New York Times reporter Megan Twohey. In the movie, Twohey is initially investigating Donald Trump’s sexual harassment allegations amid his 2016 presidential campaign.

After taking maternity leave, Megan joins fellow reporter Jodi Kantor (Zoe Kazan), in investigating recent allegations of sexual harassment against powerful movie producer Harvey Weinstein. These claims come from actresses Rose McGowan and Ashely Judd, who plays herself in the movie. The allegations lead to a growing investigation with victims’ upsetting accounts of Weinstein’s sexual abuse.

With Twohey having a dominant personality while Kantor is more gentle, the two leads compliment each other well. Twohey’s height becomes somewhat of a running joke in the movie as it makes her appear more intimidating than Kantor. Both women are wives and mothers and their time at home takes up a portion of the movie. This highlights their dedication to exposing Weinstein even when they’re outside of the office. 

“She Said” effectively balances the story of the investigation and the stories of the victims. Rather than focusing solely on the reporters, the film gives a voice to the women affected by Weinstein’s hideous acts. With superb casting of actors who resemble their real-life counterparts, the movie successfully retells one of Hollywood’s biggest scandals.  

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Ambition and Diversity are the paths forward

Breaking the glass was the Oscar’s motto this season.  From women coming out to share their experiences of dealing with sexual harassment and assault in the workplace igniting the #metoo and #timesup movements; to film representing more people than the typical white, straight male with Jordan Peele’s satirical thriller, Get Out, starring a black protagonist, Daniel Kaluuya.  Women were finally portrayed and critically revered by a female director as Greta Gerwig crafted a touching and amusing coming of age story, Lady Bird, with Saoirse Ronan in the lead.

For the second straight year, a film depicted the dynamic of homosexuality in Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me by Your Name.  These films are able to give exposure to the life of the voiceless in a beautiful, touching way that resonates with all viewers.    

Director Christopher Nolan’s presence at the Oscars was long overdue, as he finally got recognition for constructing the most ambitious storyline of his career yet.  Instead of depicting the evacuation of Dunkirk beach with the redundant, dramatized story of war; Nolan goes off the rails and throws audiences into the intense, suffocating, hopeless, and triumphant moments of war with a script not heavily focused on dialogue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SpdtWx8__s

Dunkirk might not have won Best Picture, but out of all the movies, it and Get Out will be revered throughout history because of their unorthodox methods of storytelling contrary to Hollywood.

Even the Shape of Water, at its most simplistic level, is a love story about a mute woman and a fish creature.  But deep within del Toro’s beautiful and touching film is a story about isolation, love, and fear; all emotions that resonate with audiences.

Not only did this Oscar season see a focus on creative, unique storylines and an effort to highlight the work of women and minorities, but also it gave us a glimpse to the future of the film medium with Netflix producing a movie nominated for four Academy Awards: Mudbound.  No longer will films nominated for awards be solely available at a theater, but rather in audiences’ homes.  

Can we please make this like two hours

Alright time to complain.  There is no reason to make the Oscars run for almost four hours, simply mind-boggling.  Other than advertisement money, I do not see the benefit of ABC dragging this already somewhat silly premise of a show into four hours.  The audience at home doesn’t want to sit through it, but does because what the hell else is on TV on a Sunday night? The nominees in the crowd would also highly encourage a shrinkage in airtime, especially since the Academy chooses to not serve alcohol during the show.

Sufjan Stevens, Thank You

Stevens’ performance was the best musical showing of the night, as the soft-spoken multi-instrumentalist perfectly encapsulated the studio sound and emotions from Call Me by Your Name.  His performance wasn’t flashy, bombastic, or overdramatized.  It was raw, real, heart-wrenching and deeply engaging: music at its best.  Also, the song is four minutes long not two…

Star Wars, that was pitiful

I was fine with the Academy allowing characters from Star Wars: The Last Jedi to announce an award on stage, but wow, that was awkward.  Not awkward in a funny Ricky Gervais, David Brent, way, but more shooting for extremely uncomfortable.  

Jimmy Kimmel was great…until he left the show for reasons unknown to even himself….

Kimmel performed a strong monologue by not overdoing the jokes affiliated with #metoo and #timesup, but when he did punch, he damn well delivered.  The jet ski bit was amusing as well; even he understands the show is too long. Where things went sour was when he took some of the nominees across the street to surprise guests watching Wrinkle In Time at the TCL Chinese Theater.  Simply put, it was just extremely unnecessary.  

Award Shows are kind of stupid

Now, award shows like the Oscars do have their purpose.  In that, they highlight great achievements in art and give platforms to minorities of race and gender by honoring their work, like the Oscars awarding Jordan Peele whereas the Grammy’s failed once again.

However, sometimes people get too fixated on the awards themselves.  Yes, it’s fun to root for your favorite director or favorite movie, but I think Christopher Nolan and Paul Thomas Anderson aren’t going to lose sleep over an Oscar loss.  It’s refreshing and rewarding to have one’s work acclaimed and recognized by many, but to many people in the film business, awards are an afterburner to the art itself.  

The post Breaking the Fourth Wall: Oscars 2018: What we learned appeared first on KRUI Radio.

These movements echoed throughout Iowa City on Jan. 20, when over 900 women and men marched downtown.

A participant and Women in Business Member, Abby Gainer, said the Women’s March brought solidarity and comfort to her state of mind, saying too many times women get in this mindset that they are in the struggle and fight for equality alone.

“The march was great for solidarity and bringing light to the movement, but the most important thing women can do each and every day is to hold people accountable for saying something negative about a woman that has nothing to do with her personality, but her appearance and body,” Gainer said.

The Women’s March may have been a one-day event, but its ideas and aspirations are coming back to Iowa City- this time on screen.

Throughout the entirety of March, FilmScene will only be screening films made solely by women. On the arthouse theater’s website, it states this about the upcoming event:

“In order to celebrate talented local, national and international female artists, FilmScene proudly presents Women’s March. Showcasing films made exclusively by women throughout the entire month of March 2018, featuring new releases alongside classic cinema, films with local roots, and dialogues about the female perspective in the industry.”

The program director at FilmScene, Rebecca Fons, said female filmmakers should be spotlighted and showcased because of their lack of exposure in cinema. She said this idea hit center-stage when the Weinstein allegations came out on Oct. 5, causing FilmScene to discuss internally what its responsibility is as an exhibitor of film.

“We hope to achieve edu-tainment, in that we’ll be showing people films, so you’re going to be entertained, but there’s a little bit of eat your vegetables too,” Fons said. “I think people will come away with a better understanding of female voices in the industry today, yesterday, and tomorrow.”

Part of understanding the #timesup and #metoo movements is becoming familiar with gender roles in the history of film.

With that knowledge Hanna Bonner, Executive Director of Bijou in Iowa City, said the movements have brought to life a history of gender discrimination in film, but one aspect of the movement that’s puzzling to her and many people is what to do with movie classics that currently appear as sexist, or misogynistic towards women; but in their release the subject matter was the status quo.

“I think it’s a complicated thing to reconcile your politics with things you take pleasure in viewing,” Bonner said. “Some of my favorite movies, maybe the gender politics don’t match my own politics, but the visual language and grammar is something I enjoy regardless.”

Since the Weinstein allegations came out, the entertainment world has been in a conundrum on what to do with problematic subject matter in films. For example, last Christmas CNN’s Carol Costello ran an opinion piece about the sexist nature of the Holiday classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life”, and if the movie should be retired.

She’s not alone on this idea, as throughout history people have sought to ban or censor art because of its offensive material. Just this past Monday, Feb. 12, a Minnesota school district banned Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” and Mark Twain’s “Huckleberry Finn” from the school’s curriculum because of their racist language.

Bonner said offensive material can be viewed if audiences are active spectators by critically engaging with what’s problematic in the content. The controversial subject matter is how people living today learn from the past. Rather than reading about it in a textbook, actually feeling characters’ emotions from specific moments in time is a fundamental way of learning about history.

“We can educate ourselves on what the tone and temperature was then,” Fons said. “In doing that, we can compare films from now and say ten years ago, and look at what’s changed and stayed the same.”

Understanding the patriarchal frame of cinema is only one aspect of being a better voyeur, the next step is exposure and highlighting the incredible work done by females in film over the course of history

FilmScene plans on doing exactly that this March with some events already planned, such as “Pioneer Wednesday” where the arthouse will screen movies done by women who worked to break the glass ceilings in film. Mondays are designated for contemporary movies directed by women, with most of the women being out of the mainstream spotlight. Saturday’s will be for local films directed by women and FilmScene will also be hosting an animation camp for young girls.

“It comes down to having options for representation, being able to see more of a spectrum of behavior instead of one type of way of portraying gender,” Bonner said.

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