emma stone truly gives an unprecedented performance in skill and complexity, portraying bella in such a way that allows her to start anew and live life on her own terms. ultimately liberating herself of societal expectations and norms- acting how she wants to regardless- upon a voracious desire to learn everything she can about the world through literature and real life experience, ultimately choosing to serve others while allowing herself to be happy too. i hope the academy will not only consider but award her with a well-deserved honor in the weeks to come.
We're here celebrating a 20th anniversary for a beloved film this week, listeners! After his longest break between movies to date, Quentin Tarantino delivered a samurai epic while trying to crack the script for another epic, Inglourious Basterds. That ultraviolent actioner, Kill Bill, would also reunite Tarantino with his Pulp Fiction star Uma Thurman, given a major showcase as an unnamed blood soaked bride bent on vengeance. But Tarantino made so much movie, it had to be split into two.
Vol. 1 arrived in 2003 and became a sizable hit, wild mild critical praise that didn't quite know what to do with its non-stop violence, time-hopping structure, and incomplete narrative arc. This episode, we talk about Kill Bill - Vol. 1's excellent female ensemble, its triumph at the MTV Movie Awards, and the all-timer needle drop "Battle Without Honor or Humanity".
Topics also include first experiencing the film's cliffhanger, its strong performance at BAFTA, and early aughts trailer descriptions.
La La Land is a 2016 film written and directed by Damien Chazelle.
The film tells the love story between a jazz musician and an aspiring actress, played respectively by Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, made a contemporary musical that pays homage to the classic musical films produced between the 1950s and 1960s. The film's title is both a reference to the city of Los Angeles and the meaning of being in the "dream world" or "out of reality". Chazelle wrote the screenplay in 2010, but couldn't find a studio willing to finance the project. Only after the success of his 2014 Whiplash did the project gain interest from production companies.
The film received universal acclaim from critics, who praised Damien Chazelle's direction, Stone's performance and the film's soundtrack, receiving top marks from many critics and proving to be one of the most popular films since its theatrical release.
It was the opening film of the 73rd Venice International Film Festival, where Stone won the Volpi Cup for Best Female Performance. It received 14 nominations for the 2017 Oscars, equaling the record of films such as All About Eve and Titanic, ultimately winning 6 statuettes. It won seven Golden Globes, out of seven nominations, the Audience Award at the Toronto International Film Festival and many other international awards, becoming one of the most awarded and appreciated films of 2016.
On a hot and busy Los Angeles highway, the first meeting takes place between Mia, an aspiring actress who works as a barista at a café in the Warner Bros. Studios, and Sebastian, a jazz pianist who dreams of opening his own place. After yet another failed audition, Mia's roommates, seeing her down in the dumps, convince her to go to a sumptuous party in the Hollywood Hills, at the end of which, walking home, she is attracted by music and enters the club where it comes from.
A few months later, the two meet at a party where Sebastian is playing in an 80s cover band, and it is from that moment that they begin to see each other as friends, despite the strong chemistry between them, discussing their passions and their respective projects for the future. Sebastian invites Mia to the cinema to watch Rebel Without a Cause and she accepts, forgetting a previous commitment she made with her current boyfriend Greg. The two end the evening with a romantic dance at the Griffith Observatory.
Only a few people attend Mia's show. Disappointed and embittered by the negative criticism received and by the lack of Sebastian, Mia decides to leave Los Angeles and her aspirations to return to her parents in Boulder City, Nevada.
Being also a musician, Damien Chazelle has always had a strong predilection for musical films. His vision for the film was to "take an old-fashioned musical, but portray it in real life where things don't always work out", as well as paying homage to all the people who move to Los Angeles to pursue their dreams. Chazelle conceived the idea for the film when he was a student at Harvard University, along with his classmate, Justin Hurwitz. The two explored the concept in their senior thesis through a low-budget musical about a Boston jazz musician called Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench.
Today, I share with you some great news! On January 7, in case you missed it, Blackfeet and Nez Perce actor Lily Gladstone made history as the Golden Globes' first Indigenous winner in the category of Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama. Gladstone, who goes by both she/they pronouns, brought an understated power to their portrayal of Mollie Burkhardt, an Osage woman struggling amid the murders of her family and community by greedy settlers, in Martin Scorcese's "Killers of the Flower Moon."
After beginning their acceptance speech with a traditional Blackfeet introduction and a round of thank-yous, Gladstone said something important and inspiring: "This is a historic win, but it doesn't belong to just me. I'm holding it with all of my beautiful sisters. And this is for every rez kid, every little urban kid, every little Native kid out there who has a dream, who is seeing themselves represented and our stories, told by ourselves in our own words, with tremendous allies and tremendous trust from with and from each other."
That last statement is filled with both truth and nuance. It's a beautiful sentiment, but Gladstone may also be acknowledging that Hollywood remains a place with rich and powerful gatekeepers. Even in 2024, non-Native filmmakers (allies or not) like James Cameron (the "Avatar" franchise) and Scorcese are most often still the ones helming stories featuring Indigenous People and perspectives.`
This needs to change. Allies are important, and representation is wonderful. Still, even the most positive representation on-screen is not the same thing as agency -- the ability to tell their own stories, centering their own narratives. And agency, particularly for the Native women without whom this story does not exist and the movie could not function, is largely missing for much of "Killers of the Flower Moon." When Native actors occupy the screen, the movie seems to vibrate at a different frequency. I'm left wondering what could have been had their characters' arcs been less peripheral.
Much has been written about the movie by Indigenous People across the nation. From a glowing review by Vincent Schilling, founder and editor of NativeViewpoint.com, to a scathing indictment from "Reservation Dogs" star Devery Jacobs, opinions on the movie vary widely -- and understandably so. The three-hour-plus epic, based on true events, is ambitious, messy, and devastating. Critics praise the movie's effort to highlight Osage history with Indigenous actors in prominent roles but express reservations about its graphic violence and lack of historical context, foregrounding of white characters and lack of an Indigenous screenwriter or director. One thing everyone seems to agree upon, though, is the powerful performances given by Gladstone and other Native People in supporting roles. I, for one, look forward to seeing more from all of them, especially in movies and shows written and directed by Indigenous storytellers.