Who could overshadow Leonardo DiCaprio?
Guess you'll have to read and find out
In This Week’s Edition: another (very well reviewed) Martin Scorsese movie that’s longer than entire TV series aaaand a ton of trailers
“Get away from her, you bitch!”
-hint: the director pitched the movie to executives by drawing lines through the S in the title to make a dollar sign
I watched Netflix’s recent thriller Fair Play with my gf this past weekend and found it interesting how you could “tell” it wasn’t written / directed by a man1. Not because of any silly technical aspects, but because of how certain things played out or were portrayed (director Chloe Domont has mentioned it’s based on aspects of her life).
It’s hard to get too into it without giving spoilers away, but suffice to say, it contends with aspects of modern female / male relationships that are still far too common and insidious.
And while I enjoyed the movie, I bring it up not to recommend (though I do!), but to use it as an example of how I think the shift in who is telling stories, not only shifts which stories are being told, but how the stories themselves play out.
While last year was a bit of a backwards slide, 2021 had the largest representation of female directors ever in film. Now, to be clear, there’s still a loooong way to go (on many other aspects as well), but I find it really interesting how we’re starting to see this change affect capital C “Cinema.” It’s not that men and women can’t direct similar movies, of course they can. It’s just that different people have different experiences and those often get reflected in the stories they tell.
Like many things I bring up here, this isn’t a new thought. People have been saying something like this in far more compelling and eloquent ways forever. I just think we’re maybe reaching an inflection point where there are so many great movies with fresh points of view that you kinda have to pay attention.
Personally I find it super exciting. I’m really curious how films and shows (which are maybe even making bigger strides) will continue to evolve and also how it all reflects back on other projects - seeing as filmmakers are often some of the biggest consumers of film. Take this week’s big movie for example, Killers of the Flower Moon. It’s directed by Martin Scorsese, a man who has made plenty of great movies and who one might think would just do whatever the hell he wants. But a big storyline surrounding the project is how he and co-writer Eric Roth worked on a script for years only to scrap it because Scorsese and others involved in the project didn’t like the angle they were coming at it from because it wasn’t authentic to the people most affected by what happened, the Osage Nation. Would he have questioned this 15+ years ago? Maybe! But it just feels like the discourse in film is being fundamentally shifted in really compelling ways.
There’s a much larger discussion to be had about which people should be telling which stories, but I think at the very least, it’s cool to see people paying attention to either nuances or even whole perspectives that have never been considered before.
And I think we as a viewing audience are going to benefit. Big time.
NEWSY BITS 👾
The ‘Suits’ Effect: Netflix Eyes More Licensed Shows Following Success Of USA Network Legal Drama On Streamer (Full Article) - why interesting: big new shows get the marketing and headlines, but data shows older content drives much of the hours spent on streaming services. Suits was an excellent example of this and also Netflix’s ability to turn an old non-original show (that has also been on competing services) into a big driver of viewing hours - Deadline Hollywood
Netflix adds 9 million subscribers in third quarter despite Hollywood strikes (Full Article) - why interesting: shows Netflix is still doing well and that the addition of the ad-tier plan seems to be working, but has room to grow. Also noting because they announced they’re raising prices again - few bucks for most plans - LA Times
EXTRA CREDIT MOVIE(S) 📝
Old Dads - ready for some middle-aged “Gen Z” bashing? No reviews yet, but if you like Bill Burr, it’s probably worth a gander. Streaming on Netflix this Friday
The Persian Version - a daughter with an Iranian immigrant mother looks to rectify their relationship by digging into her mom’s past to see why she is the way she is. The reviews say it portrays the trials and tribulations of family drama quite well, focusing on aspects of familial relationships many of us encounter. Playing in Limited Theaters this Friday
Butcher’s Crossing - for those Nic Cage completists among us, here’s the fifth of six(!!!) movies Cage has coming out this year. While this Western about a bison hunt gone crazy looks just ok (if quite pretty because of the setting), be on the lookout for his finale of the year, cuz it looks to be a doozy. The reviews for Crossing are as noted, just fine, but Cage still gets some love for his committed performance (as per the usual). Playing in Limited Theaters this Friday
NOTABLE NEW RELEASES 🎟 & 📺
Let’s start at the end.
As in, the credits. A place at which you’ll arrive only after three hours and 26 minutes of moving pictures, but one that will feature such lauded names as director Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio. But also, Lily Gladstone. And while Gladstone is unlikely to be familiar to most people, she may be the most important person in this film. As she describes in her own words…
“I’m, in a way, an access point for the audience to fall in love with native women, and to care about native women in a really deep way.” - Gladstone on her portrayal of Osage member Mollie Kyle
Let’s pause for a second and go back to the beginning, or rather, a beginning. The story of this film started, as it often does, with a book - Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI. You’ll notice the movie title is the same except the subtitle has been exercised. That wasn’t just for marketing, but story purposes as well. See, when Martin Scorsese and Eric Roth (who also wrote a very different movie in Forrest Gump) started adapting the book by David Grann (The Lost City of Z and The Wager), they followed the narrative of the non-fiction book and focused their screenplay on the character of Tom White, an FBI agent investigating a string of brazen murders in the Osage Nation, who was originally going to be played by DiCaprio (now played by Jesse Plemons in a much smaller role). But over the years of working on it, and with DiCaprio’s pushing, they decided they didn’t have the right way of looking at it. They were focusing on the white law enforcement, and not enough on the people committing and affected by what has come be known as the “Reign of Terror.”
The Reign of Terror, in the simplest of terms can be described as yet another atrocity committed by white Americans against the Indigenous population. It started after the Osage tribe was forced to move to land in Oklahoma that eventually produced so much oil the residents there became some of the wealthiest people in the country. And where there’s money…
But when incidents like these are viewed from an outside perspective and cut down to plot points vs focusing on the human story, you start to understand why some kid in high school history class might tune it out (that is assuming it was even taught in most schools - it almost certainly wasn’t).
Which is something the filmmakers seemed to realize and thus they changed the script to focus on the relationship between Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio) a WW I vet who moves back to Oklahoma on his uncle’s (De Niro) direction, and Osage member Mollie Kyle (Gladstone). It’s not giving too much away to say the intentions of Burkhart and his uncle are less than pure. But I’d rather leave it up to you to dig in more or ideally, just watch the movie.
What I will say is that this shift in point of view looks to allow viewers to empathize with the Osage far more than they would have otherwise. Which is not just important from a human level, but a narrative one as well.
I mentioned Gladstone may be the film’s most important piece because even if all the violence and devious behavior can keep one’s attention, it could start to feel inert or meaningless if you don’t care about its ramifications, but reviews say Gladstone’s quiet, but incredibly compelling performance gives the movie heart and manifests the trauma of the Osage.
Scorsese’s noted he was nervous about incorporating more aspects of the Osage nation, feeling he wasn’t quite sure if he should be the one in charge of telling their history…
“I always said if I ever get involved with anything that has to do with Indigenous people, I’d better know who the people are or, at least, feel comfortable with them as human beings. When I first met Chief Standing Bear I was nervous. We went into his office. We started talking. I think what he needed from me was to know that I wasn’t going to take advantage of him, that I wasn’t going to sensationalize the story, particularly the victimization of the Osage, particularly the violence.” - Martin Scorsese on his trepidations around portraying the Osage community
But with all that said and my focus on Gladstone, you’re still going to see a movie where Leonardo DiCaprio, the movie star, is front and center for most of it. And it’s still a movie directed by Martin Scorsese, who doesn’t shy away from bad behavior and violence (though to be fair, that is a fundamental aspect). And one could argue this story might be better told, or maybe just told differently if it was ushered into existence by someone from the afflicted community.
But hey, some progress, is still progress.
Out: Friday
Where: Theaters
3 hrs 26 mins | R | 🍅: 95%
TRAILERS! ⏯ “Tell me like it is…”
American Fiction - Black writer writes a joke book about being “Black” that becomes a hit and then has to keep the bit going.
Napoleon - in the second trailer we basically figure out Napoleon was a sub and not a dom.
The Boat Boys - George Clooney reaffirms his love for old timey American stories with a lot of white people.
Leo - Adam Sandler made an animated kids movie where an old lizard escapes the school where kids torture him, only to end up helping the kids that tortured him.
Wonka - in the second trailer, we learn candy wasn’t even Willy’s first entrepreneurial effort.
Ferrari - in the second trailer we figure out the marketing department definitely should’ve waited for the VFX to get done (I mean seriously, check this shit out).
Eileen - Anna Hathaway sheds her nice girl persona in a movie about, um, I literally don’t know.
How to Have Sex - not the instruction manual the title implies, but instead a dissection of youth, friendship and coming of age within the context of partying and sex.
The Zone of Interest - the director of Under the Skin and Sexy Beast, Jonathon Glazer, (finally?) made another movie and it looks like it’s a good one.
Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain - the new The Lonely Island makes their own movie.
I’m well aware I say this is as a man and how that might come across 🙃
I am looking fwd to watching New Dads 🙈
I recently watched Living, after queueing it based on your recommendation. I wanted to go back to the edition where you talked about it but couldn't find it 🫠
Our memories are simultaneously getting infinitely deeper and preserved for longer, the caveat being we can no longer find them 🥵