The Revenant

Oh Leo. The man is flawless. Someone give him an Oscar please. Leonardo DiCaprio is probably my favorite actor, so clearly I have to see every single film he is in. This man has been depriving the world of his incredible talent for two whole years. The last film he was in was The Wolf of Wall Street. However this year he reappeared on the big screen in Inarritu's The Revenant.

To be fair, I first decided to go see The Revenant simply due to Leo's starring role. I personally don't think the trailer was cut that well, and initially the film did not appeal to me. Not only did I want to see this film due to casting, but I wanted to see it beacause Inarritu is a phenomenal director. His film Birdman rightfully won Best Picture at the Academy Awards last year. His directing style is also beautifully demonstrated in one of my favorite films, Babel. Just for a point of comparison for The Revenant, I want to say a few words on Inarritu's directing style. In every movie I've seen by Inarritu, the casting is incredible, the storyline is rich, and the cinematography is breathtaking and unique. This filmmaker is exceptionally meticulous. His attention to detail is known to frustrate his coworkers (some crew members left the set), yet yields phenomenal results. In fact, many people initially attached to the film were known to drop out due to the extreme filming conditions Inarritu insisted on pursuing. Inarritu is a Mexican filmmaker who has directed countless marvelous foreign films, such as Amores Perros and 21 Grams. I am so glad that he has crossed from foreign films into films that attract much wider audiences, because everyone should be exposed to the stylings of Inarritu. In short, I am very pleased by Inarritu's choices in the film The Revenant.

The most impactful part of this film was Leonardo DiCaprio's portrayal of Hugh Glass, a frontiersman on a trading expedition in the 1820s. In order to make sense of my analysis of DiCaprio's portrayal, a brief synopsis of the film is necessary. Glass is on a fur trading expedition with his half-Native American son, who stirs a lot of controversy along the way. Essentially, early on in the film Glass is horrifically mauled by a bear and left to his own devices for survival. The Revenant, based on a true story, is entirely about survival. This further emphasizes my praise of Inarritu's meticulous directing style. His choices make DiCaprio's on-screen survival tactics seem unbelievably real. DiCaprio himself stated that this was the most challenging role of his career. He went to extremes to accurately represent his character's struggle. For example, DiCaprio, a vegetarian, actually ate a raw slab of bison liver. He also actually slept in a horse carcass for his role. Another aspect of DiCaprio's performance that makes him great was his facial expressions and body language. Throughout much of the film, Glass is by himself, and doesn't need verbal communication. DiCaprio is able to not only effectively, but impeccably tell a story through his actions.

The acting and directing is unbelievable in this movie, but the movie is raised to new heights due to its cinematography. It is beautifully done and the shots of nature are breathtaking. This film was shot only in natural light. This must have been an extremely challenging task, but was done to make the film as realistic as possible. This reinforces the notion that Inarritu's controlling tactics, while agonizing, are worth it in the end. Inarritu also insisted on not using computer-generated imagery. This film was shot in twelve different locations and in three countries. Also, it was meant to be shot chronologically. Ultimately, this couldn't be done due to weather conditions. Nonetheless, the extreme efforts made to shoot a beautiful film payed off.

Over all, I was highly impressed by The Revenant. It is difficult for a two hour and thirty six minute movie to fully capture an audience member's attention throughout its entirety, yet this film accomplished that. I barely even noticed that I was sandwiched between two fairly large old men at the movie theater! This film could easily attract a wide array of audience members. It depicts scenes of war, brutality, and survival for the gore-seekers. It projects a fascinating and often overlooked period of time in American history for history buffs. Beautiful scenery, fabulous performances, the list goes on and on. Go. See. This. Film. You won't regret it. If anything, see it for Leo. He deserves it.

Spotlight

It is officially my favorite time of year- Oscar season. The nominations were officially announced by the Academy earlier this week. Over all, I am less drawn to the nominations this year than I was last year. Nearly every 2015 Best Picture nomination blew me away. As a self-proclaimed movie buff, however, it is still my mission to see as many nominations as possible. Last night, I saw the highly-praised Boston-based film, Spotlight. This film, directed by Tom McCarthy, starred Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, and Rachel McAdams, told the story of how the Boston Globe uncovered widespread child molestation within the Catholic Church. The story was based off of true events that occurred in 2001. I was five years old at the time, and had little recollection of this. I was amazed at how McCarthy was able to capture the methods of journalism and how it can be used to uncover a major scandal. There was so much information to fit into a film, and I can understand how daunting of a task this could be for a filmmaker. However, the brilliant strategy behind Spotlight was to focus primarily on the journalism. In short, the film depicts a group of journalists, the "spotlight" journalists, who are in charge of and dedicated to working on a confidential project for an extended period of time. These journalists spent months uncovering the reality of sexual abuse among Catholic priests in Boston.

The reality of sexual abuse is an exceptionally challenging concept to portray respectfully on-screen. This was done very gracefully in Spotlight and the actors demonstrated that the journalists involved were doing their jobs, not trying to be heroes. It was clear that the reveal of truth was necessary for justice. The scale of the coverup of this scandal by the Catholic church was unbelievable. For decades, the church got away with abuse. People's lives were forever changed for the worse. The film was effectively able to demonstrate just how widespread and impactful this exceptionally well-hidden scandal was. This phenomenon of child abuse within the Catholic church went on undetected for decades, while the investigative reporting was ongoing for years. It would be hard to capture every detail of this in one film, which is why I believe Spotlight was so successful. It focused entirely on the journalism aspect. Victims as well as priests were interviewed by the spotlight journalists, which gave the viewer a unique look into the scandal. Everything that is uncovered is seen through the eyes of journalists. It takes a lot of talent to portray real people in a film, but the acting in Spotlight was exceptionally done.  Although the subject matter of this movie is intense, I think it is an important film to see. The viewer will be exposed to a moving storyline, impressive performances, and carefully done artistic decisions. This was one of the best films I've seen this year, and would gladly go see it again.