Two sure Oscar contenders grace Columbus screens this weekend, offering an opportunity to see some of the best filmmaking has to offer while we ready ourselves for the slog that is likely to be the cinematic landscape for the rest of January.
The Revenant
Based loosely on the true tale of 19th Century American frontiersman Hugh Glass, the film treks behind Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio – who can take a beating) as he crawls across hundreds of the most formidable miles to avenge a mighty wrong.
With no more than 15 lines in English, DiCaprio manages to capture the essence of this grieving survivor brought to his most primal self. This is easily the most physical performance of his career.
Tom Hardy is once again an utterly compelling presence as Glass’s nemesis, John Fitzgerald. Other actors might have read this character as flatly backwoods evil, but Hardy never forgets Fitzgerald’s humanity, giving the villain depth, humor, even sympathy.
Of equal importance to these performances is the imagination director Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu brings to bear. It guides Emmanuel Lubezki (Oscar winner for Inarritu’s Birdman), whose magical camera, like a careening ghost, weaves through carnage and nature before circling into the heavens.
After winning the directing Oscar last year for Birdman, Innaritu takes the human journey toward redemption to the out of doors with a brutally gorgeous, punishingly brilliant film.
Grade: A
Carol
Director Todd Haynes has crafted a keenly insightful love story full of bittersweet grace, propelled by two glorious performances.
Rooney Mara is Therese, a department store clerk in 1950s New York whose senses are awakened after Carol (Cate Blanchett) visits her counter at Christmastime. Though Carol is older, and married, the two fall for each other, stealing precious moments with the discretion their world demands.
Though the period details are meticulous, Haynes bathes his film in an almost ethereal melancholy, transporting you to a world enveloped in the ache of those pretending to be something they are not.
Edward Lachman’s cinematography is an artful masterwork, and Haynes’s framing has a subtle but important impact. He often keeps Carol and Therese separated by rooms, windows, or other people, and each knowing glance carries enormous weight as two wonderful actors convey the costs of love in a way that settles in your bones.
Great films are able to make complex issues resonate through fully realized characters and intimate, thoughtful storytelling. Anchored in love and restrained longing, Carol is absolutely great, as moving as any film you’ll see this year.
Grade: A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4z7Px68ywk
Also opening this week in Columbus:
- 400 DAYS (NR)
- THE FOREST (PG-13)
- THE MASKED SAINT (PG-13)
- YELLOW DAY (PG)
Reviews with help from George Wolf.
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