Oscar December: the most important movie premieres you can’t miss

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December is the time of frosts and tangerines, as well as the month when the main contenders for the Oscar film award are released in order to be closest to the award ceremony. Which this time will take place on March 10.

In the new material for UP. Culture Kyrylo Troitskyi offers a selection of noteworthy December premieres with a chance to win awards at the 96th Academy Awards.

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The Sweet Life of Willy Wonka

It is probably one of the most popular December premieres the musical “Wonka”removed by Paul King with Timothee Chalamet in the main role. This film is a prequel to the original the novel Roald Dahl “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and at the same time to a certain extent “rhymes” with him, because if in the novel we could read the story of the “Christmas miracle” that happened to poor Charlie, who was able to get into the chocolate factory, then in this film we can see the story of the ups and downs of Wonka himself , who goes through many adventures on the way to becoming the world’s most famous chocolatier.

If you try to find the taste of this film, it will be exactly as sweet as the chocolate made by Willy Wonka: the clear rhythm of the musical scenes is combined here with the “perfect” frames, as if checked by Wes Anderson’s cinematography textbook (not yet written, but already widely recognized).

A frame from the trailer

The “sweetness” of this film is completed by its constant appeal to fairy-tale techniques, which to some extent makes it akin to “A Christmas Story” by Charles Dickens and its adaptations.

In the film, however, several flaws can be identified, such as a certain cliché or black-and-whiteness of the characters: the clearly “evil” and caricatured “chocolate magnates” are opposed to the “good” and full of magical charm of Willy Wonka. Because of this, a doubt involuntarily arises: can Wonka himself become the same “tycoon” in the future? Roald Dahl’s original novel answers: yes, it can! Let’s recall at least the Oompa-Lump natives, exploited at the Factory, but who in the last film are represented only by Lofty – an extremely likable trickster who eventually becomes the “head of the tasting department”, once again emphasizing the entrepreneurial virtues of the new version of Willy Wonka.

But despite certain shortcomings, the film is still a great viewing pleasure and has every chance to receive several golden “statues” – at least for the excellent performance of the actors or the extravagant Wonki costume.

Basque holidays

One of the most famous episodes of Marcel Proust’s epic novel “In Search of Lost Time” is the narrator Marcel’s visit to his native home, where he tastes a “madeleine” cookie, the very taste of which brings back to the narrator warm memories from his childhood. The new one works in a very similar way the film by the Spanish film director Estibalic Urresola Solahuren “20 thousand species of bees”, which tells the story of a Spanish family’s summer visit to relatives from the Basque Country. Just like Marcel Proust’s “Madeleine”, this film has every chance of returning the viewer to a cozy space of memories, especially given the Basque landscapes that are so reminiscent of the Ukrainian Carpathians.

A frame from the trailer

As with life in the mountain regions itself, this film is very slow and measured, it resembles a certain meditation rather than a story that has to move from point A to point B. Instead of plot progress, here we have psychological progress: the main character in the Basque Country gradually finds answers to questions of faith, physicality and gender identity.

The film was quite a critical success, winning awards at film festivals in Berlin, Malaga, Seattle and other cities, and was shortlisted for Spain’s submission to the 96th Academy Awards. And despite the fact that this film was not included in the final application, it is definitely worth your attention – at least because of its summer ease and measuredness, which are so lacking during the winter cold.

Death in the Alps

A typical alpine day. The boy Daniel – the only child in the family – returns home from a walk and sees his father Samuel, who has been dead for some time, under the house. Was it an accident? Maybe suicide? Was it premeditated murder? If so, who but Sandra, Samuel’s wife, could have done it? The plot develops around these questions thriller Justin Trier “Anatomy of the Fall” with Sandra Guller in the main role.

Despite a certain detective-thriller orientation, this film is unusual for the “court” thriller genre as such, because with the development of events we do not unravel the knot of a possible murder, but only get more confused, just as the characters of the film get confused: Daniel’s son gives with every testimony different from the previous version of what happened, and the prosecution at court is forced to resort to finding parallels between the novel that Sandra wrote and her own life, finally blurring the line between fiction and reality. For these reasons, there is a feeling that Justine Trier’s thriller “overachieves” its task, because the feeling of suspense and anticipation is replaced not by a logical resolution, but rather by an understanding of the impossibility of knowing the truth – a feeling that is very powerfully reinforced by the masterful acting of Sandra Guller.

Read also: “People can get used to all the horrors that are the cause of themselves”: Sandra Guller, the best actress according to the European Film Academy

This film was a huge success in critical circles, winning perhaps the most important festival award – the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival this year.

But despite such a stunning success, a certain controversy is connected with this film, because it was not this film that was nominated for the “Oscar” as part of the national application of France, but Chan Any Hung’s romantic drama “The Passion of Doden Buffan”. Some publications, including Variety and Vanity Fair France, citing “several French insiders”, linked this decision to Justine Trier’s anti-government speech at her award ceremony at the Cannes Film Festival. “The trio,” writes Variety, “may have been ‘punished’ for criticizing the French government in her fiery political speech in Cannes.” But be that as it may, the film has every chance to win several other awards at the upcoming film awards – at least for Sandra Guller’s impressive performance.

Parisian drama

On December 28, a new film will be released in Ukrainian cinemas Woody Allen’s comedy-drama “Fortunate Accident”. This film tells the story of a “love triangle” in Paris between a rich man Jean (Melville Poupaud), his wife Fanny (Lou de Laage), and Fanny’s old friend Alan (Nils Schneider).

Despite the fact that the premiere has not yet taken place in Ukrainian cinemas, Western critics have already noted the high quality of this film compared to Woody Allen’s previous films. So, Xen Brooks from The Guardian notes that the film “turned out to be the best of those [Аллен] released in the last decade,” with Variety’s Owen Gleiberman calling the film “the best [Аллена] since the release of “Jasmine” (and perhaps even “Match Point”).” The latter also gave the following description of the film:

“[Назва фільму] refers to the theme of luck that runs through the entire film. Alan continues to insist that all life is luck. Jean says that luck does not exist, that we create it ourselves. The truth lies somewhere in the middle. And the way it happens in the film is absorbing, captivating and brazenly satisfying.”

So, taking into account such positive reviews and the previous successes of Woody Allen’s films (seven of which received awards at the Oscar), it is safe to assume that the next Oscar ceremony will not ignore this film. And the Ukrainian audience will be able to rate the film drama of the famous director starting from the end of December.

Read also: The death of Princess Diana, the adventures of a drunkard and Godzilla: series you should not miss

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