BY SABA FIAZUDDIN ’21
The 91st Academy Awards took place on Sunday night, marking the culmination of a monthslong awards season. The Academy managed to land itself in so many controversies in the weeks leading up to the night that it seemed highly likely that the show would sink into oblivion before reaching Sunday. The fact that the show managed to be one of the most engaging Academy Awards ceremonies in recent years is a testament to its structural changes.
BY SABA FIAZUDDIN ’21
Director Hirokazu Kore-eda (“Like Father, Like Son,” “Nobody Knows” ) paints a poignant picture of a family that survives through theft in his latest film “Shoplifters.” Nobuyo (Sakura Ando), Osamu (Lily Franky), Aki (Mayu Matsuoka), Shota (Jyo Kairi) and Hatsue (Kirin Kiki) all sleep under the same roof in a shabby room, surrounded by other worn out apartment buildings in the sleepy suburbs of Tokyo.
BY SABA FIAZUDDIN ’21
Felix Van Groeningen’s “Beautiful Boy” is based on the memoirs of journalist David Sheff and his son, Nic. Van Groeningen treats the delicate subject of addiction with sensitivity, fully etching out the predominant emotions of grief, anxiety, terror and helplessness that mark an addict and their home.
BY SABA FIAZUDDIN ’21
“Bohemian Rhapsody,” directed by Bryan Singer (“X-Men”) is a biopic about Freddie Mercury, iconic frontman of the band Queen. The movie begins with Queen’s famous Live Aid charity concert of 1985, which catapulted the group into stardom and cemented their place in rock and roll history.
BY SABA FIAZUDDIN ’21
As the first biopic about Neil Armstrong, Damien Chazelle’s (“La La Land”) “First Man” is visually stimulating but fails to capture the context of the important social movements surrounding and impacting the first moon landing. The film, starring Ryan Gosling (“The Notebook”) as Armstrong, is based heavily on the almost 800-page biography written by James R. Hansen, “First Man.” The book chronicles the adult life of Neil Armstrong as he navigates harrowing personal struggles — from the tragic death of his daughter to his difficult marriage — all while trying to become the first man to walk on the moon.
BY SABA FIAZUDDIN ’21
The Mount Holyoke Film Society held their first event of the semester on Friday, a screening of the feature film, “Ocean’s 8.” The film stars Sandra Bullock (“Miss Congeniality”) as Debbie Ocean, the sister of the original franchise’s iconic character Danny Ocean (played by George Clooney, “Up In the Air”).
