Hillbilly Elegy

[Sabin]

https://twitter.com/JDVance1/status/1380611143656484870

@JDVance1
Tucker Carlson is the only powerful figure who consistently challenges elite dogma—on both cultural and economic questions. That is why they try to destroy him. Don’t fall for it this time, or any other.

1. Guess he's running for office.
2. If you want to be a racist asshole, fine. But don't drag Glenn Close into it.

[Big Magilla]

Glenn Close should have won an Oscar for her first film, 1982's The World According to Garp, but was up against Jessica Lange who was just emerging as a serious actress in Frances for which she had no chance of winning against Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice so they gave her the consolation prize of supporting actress in Tootsie over Close whose revelatory performance was ten times more interesting.

They tried to make it up to Close by nominating her the next year for The Big Chill over co-star Mary Kay Place who gave the best performance in that film, but she had no chance of winning over Linda Hunt in The Year of Living Dangerously. The year after that they gave her a ridiculous nomination for The Natural in which she did nothing but looked fabulous opposite Robert Redford. There was no way she was going to win over Peggy Ashcroft in A Passage to India.

Three years went by and Close received her first Best Actress nomination for Fatal Attraction, a box-office phenomenon that people couldn't stop talking about. She was sure to get a Best Actress nomination but Holly Hunter in Broadcast News was the early favorite that year. Cher was an expected nominee, but she was a surprise winner.

Dangerous Liaisons may be considered Close's greatest performance in retrospect but it wasn't that high profile a film in its original release.

It was given an Oscar qualifying run in L.A. in early December and limited release in New York and perhaps other major cities in late December, 1978. HFPA members would likely have had plenty of time to see it before the Golden Globes nominations were announced on January 4, 1989 even if it wasn't specifically screened for them so it's just as likely it got lost in the shuffle as there were so many more high-profile films released at year's end.

Meryl Streep in A Cry in the Dark was the early favorite, but she had already won twice. Jodie Foster in the much talked about The Accused was a popular winner over a strong set of Oscar nominees including Close who everyone at the time thought would soon have another chance. No one thought it would take 23 years for her to be nominated again and no one thought she would win that time for Albert Nobbs over Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady. The Wife was the first time she was actually the favorite until Oliva Colman started winning everything in sight.

This year, who knows?

[Greg]

I wonder if 1987 was really her year. Fatal Attraction was in the zeitgeist, it had over-performed with six nominations, and it was Glenn Close's first Best Actress nomination coming closer off of her three-in-a-row series of nominations for The World According to Gary, The Big Chill, and The Natural (ironically, none of which received a Golden Globe nomination), and it was a bigger change of pace.

Based on Moonstruck's overall success, Cher probably had a fairly easy win. Also, from what I saw (I have not seen the Kirkland and Streep films), I would have given Cher her Oscar.

[MaxWilder]

Aw, thanks! I look forward to doing more in the coming weeks

[Sabin]

dws1982 wrote
If they had just given it to her in 1988 for Dangerous Liaisons we wouldn't have to be dealing with these continual Oscar bait attempts. It would've been an unimpeachable win for a Best Picture nominee, and Jodie Foster still could've gotten an impossible-to-argue-with Oscar just a few years down the line for The Silence of the Lambs. This one Oscar result I would definitely go back and change if I could, not because I'm a huge Close stan (I think she's never been the best nominee in her category and that Valmont is the better movie) but because it would've spared us so much down the line.

Edit to add, It's always great to see you posting Max!

Strangely, Glenn Close wasn't nominated for a Golden Globe for Dangerous Liaisons. The film itself received no nominations. You would think at the very least honoring Michelle Pfeiffer would be catnip for this crowd. Tha makes me a bit suspect that they didn't see it in time. But I don't pretend to understand the dynamics of these late 1980s years (pre-Miramax, post-NYFCC high water mark of influence).

Either way, the following actresses won a trophy over Glenn Close in 1988:
- Jodie Foster, The Accused (Globe--Drama [3-way TIE], National Board, National Society)
- Melanie Griffith, Working Girl (Globe--Comedy)
- Christine Lahti, Running on Empty (LAFCAA
- Shirley MacLaine, Madame Sousatzka (Globe--Drama [3-way TIE])
- Meryl Streep, A Cry in the Dark (NYFCC)
- Sigourney Weaver, Gorillas in the Mist (Globe--Drama [3--way TIE])

Glenn Close was the only actress in the eventual Best Actress five that didn't receive some kind of award. To me, that says something about the industry's regard for her performance as well as the film itself.

I wonder if 1987 was really her year. Fatal Attraction was in the zeitgeist, it had over-performed with six nominations, and it was Glenn Close's first Best Actress nomination coming closer off of her three-in-a-row series of nominations for The World According to Gary, The Big Chill, and The Natural (ironically, none of which received a Golden Globe nomination), and it was a bigger change of pace.


Yup! Great to see you Max!

[dws1982]

If they had just given it to her in 1988 for Dangerous Liaisons we wouldn't have to be dealing with these continual Oscar bait attempts. It would've been an unimpeachable win for a Best Picture nominee, and Jodie Foster still could've gotten an impossible-to-argue-with Oscar just a few years down the line for The Silence of the Lambs. This one Oscar result I would definitely go back and change if I could, not because I'm a huge Close stan (I think she's never been the best nominee in her category and that Valmont is the better movie) but because it would've spared us so much down the line.

Edit to add, It's always great to see you posting Max!

[MaxWilder]

Let’s just give it to her for this so we can know that all it took for her to win was her worst script, her worst director, her worst film, her worst co-stars, 12 lbs of hag makeup, and a non-existent field (Girl from Borat! Grandma from Minari! Mean Girl from Mank!) and finally! Glenn Close will get the moment of her lifetime... over Zoom.

Perfect summation. (I adore Seyfried but her momentum has faded.) Close’s winning during a virtual ceremony feels appropriate given how not-for-this-performance her award will be.

[Sabin]

Mister Tee wrote
As I said elsewhere, I found Close respectable -- well better than I'd expected from the clips, the make-up and the character's name (maybe it's just my experience, but anytime I've seen a play or movie with a character named Mamaw, I can count on it sucking). I kind of get Sabin's "why not just get her Oscar over with?" attitude, but we've been through that recently with Gary Oldman, and I don't think it ennobled anyone. I've also lived through a lot more "when will it finally be his/her time?" scenarios, and a good number of them -- Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, Shirley MacLaine, Robert Duvall -- have ended up happening for worthy performances, so I'm not as fatalistic as to accept surrender.

Well, you know what? If I came of age in the 1960s and 1970s and heard people ponder “Will Jack Nicholson ever win an Academy Award?” I might share your attitude. Instead I get to hear it about Christopher Nolan.

I should say this about Glenn Close: she certainly shouldn’t win but when the film follows her character, it gets a little better despite the fact that it’s full of some of the film’s most foolish moments like Young J.D.‘s comically low-key “getting his shit together” montage replete with doing dishes (!!!). I won’t go so far as to say she hints at the movie this could’ve been because I don’t think that movie involves any of these main players but she doesn’t embarrass herself and she has some good moments.

[Mister Tee]

Since I never bothered to write about this when I saw it in November, a few words:

I never read the book, so I have no idea what political argument it was making, implicitly or explicitly. Howard and Taylor seem to have stripped whatever it was out, leaving what remains having no particular point. The only moment that got my back up was when the funeral procession was going by and Close's character said "We're hill people; we respect life". Pro tip: everyone alive respects life. Go fuck yourself if you think you're special in that regard.

The rest was blandness, if that adjective can be properly used to describe a junkie story. Ron Howard is probably the least down-in-the-gutter director of recent decades, so this is perfectly expected, but who thought it was a good idea to hire him for such material? The whole pick-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps element was something out of an after-school special.

I'd argue Amy Adams had one wonderful moment, early in the film, when she claimed credit for her son's academic achievements ("Who do you think you get it from? Me"). Her sly, self-mocking smile was her most likable moment in the film. The rest, to me, wasn't so much miscasting as a director unable to push an actor to go deeper, and a character whose scenes simply have no variety. If we'd had more scenes of the character in "normal" mode, Adams might have had a chance with her, but the relentlessness of the watch-me-be-loopy scenes undercut that hope.

As I said elsewhere, I found Close respectable -- well better than I'd expected from the clips, the make-up and the character's name (maybe it's just my experience, but anytime I've seen a play or movie with a character named Mamaw, I can count on it sucking). I kind of get Sabin's "why not just get her Oscar over with?" attitude, but we've been through that recently with Gary Oldman, and I don't think it ennobled anyone. I've also lived through a lot more "when will it finally be his/her time?" scenarios, and a good number of them -- Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, Shirley MacLaine, Robert Duvall -- have ended up happening for worthy performances, so I'm not as fatalistic as to accept surrender.

[mlrg]

This is a disaster, probably Ron Howard’s worst film. He just has no business directing this story. There’s no palpable sense of time or place. Ron Howard shoots Appalachia like Burbank. It cuts back and forth between the present and the past arbitrarily and monotonously, more a story assembled than told. It rings phony from minute one. Who on Earth thought Amy Adams would be well-cast in this role? I might have to take back what I said about Rami Malek being the most miscast actor of the year. She’s does what she can but she’s just dreadfully unpleasant as she flips her shit erratically on heroin for two hours. At least she’s not alone. It’s hard to tell whose worse: young or old J.D.

Totally agree that this is a disaster and horrendous. But it's horrendous on a camp level. For instance, Ma Rayne's... is horrendous and horrendously pretentious which elevates it to another level of dreadfulness.

[Sabin]

This is a disaster, probably Ron Howard’s worst film. He just has no business directing this story. There’s no palpable sense of time or place. Ron Howard shoots Appalachia like Burbank. It cuts back and forth between the present and the past arbitrarily and monotonously, more a story assembled than told. It rings phony from minute one. Who on Earth thought Amy Adams would be well-cast in this role? I might have to take back what I said about Rami Malek being the most miscast actor of the year. She’s does what she can but she’s just dreadfully unpleasant as she flips her shit erratically on heroin for two hours. At least she’s not alone.

I’m inclined to blame the producers who approves of this script direction. This material isn’t un-workable but in these hands? It’s a fool’s errand. Let’s just never speak of it again.

I hope Glenn Close wins for this. I’m tired of these “due” narratives. In my life, I’ve run the gamut of them between Martin Scorsese, Kate Winslet, and Christopher Nolan (first come to mind). Glenn Close obviously should have an Academy Award but not for The Wife when she’s up against Olivia Colman in The Favourite. I just want to put this shit to bed. Let’s just give it to her for this so we can know that all it took for her to win was her worst script, her worst director, her worst film, her worst co-stars, 12 lbs of hag makeup, and a non-existent field (Girl from Borat! Grandma from Minari! Mean Girl from Mank!) and finally! Glenn Close will get the moment of her lifetime... over Zoom.

[Big Magilla]

Saw it.

Not good, but not a total disaster either. The cinematography is excellent.

The politics has been removed, rendering it somewhat toothless. Without it, it is mostly two hours of watching Amy Adams go batshit crazy from drug overdoses. What got the former nurse that way is never made clear. Late in the film there's something of an explanation given by Vance's sister but it isn't totally convincing.

Glenn Close's character starts off as daughter Amy's enabler but has an epiphany after a stroke and turns into grandson Vance's saintly protector. It's a strong performance but even with the actresses' back story of never having won an Oscar despite seven previous nominations, it is not one that will guarantee her a nomination let alone a win.

The lesser known cast members, Owen Asztalos as the younger Vance, Gabriel Basso as the older Vance, Haley Bennett as his sister, and Freida Pinto as his girlfriend, all turn in strong performances as well. Bo Hopkins, as Close's husband, will be a revelation for anyone who hasn't seen him since Dynasty in the 1980s or even earlier as one of the guys in American Graffiti.

[Big Magilla]

Ok, but now we're getting into the reverse of what we did before - turning the predictions thread into a Hillbilly Elegy thread. We should probably save any further discussion about the race in general to the predictions thread.

[Sabin]

Big Magilla wrote
With Close out of the race, if she truly is, then supporting actress is up for grabs. Colman just won two years ago and Seyfried, unless she really knocks it out of the park as Marion Davies, is the kind of journeyman actress for whom the nomination might seem reward enough.

I have a feeling it will be an outsider, if not Youn, then Zengel. I see Bakalova as more of a critics' darling than an Oscar winner, but who knows.

I don't think there's any point to discounting Amanda Seyfried sight-unseen when pretty everybody who sees the film seems blown away by her. Mank seems like it's going to be up for a lot of nominations so I don't see why an acting win couldn't be in the cards, especially in a category with a long history of honoring the ingenue.

As for Olivia Colman, I'm not sure if she's a good bet to win a second Oscar in two years... but audiences really, really seem to love her. Since The Favourite, she's been very visible in The Crown and Fleabag and it feels like the industry has caught up with her entire oeuvre at once. A second win isn't likely but it's not inconceivable.

[Big Magilla]

With Close out of the race, if she truly is, then supporting actress is up for grabs. Colman just won two years ago and Seyfried, unless she really knocks it out of the park as Marion Davies, is the kind of journeyman actress for whom the nomination might seem reward enough.

I have a feeling it will be an outsider, if not Youn, then Zengel. I see Bakalova as more of a critics' darling than an Oscar winner, but who knows.