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For the first time in awhile I’ve invested time and money to see a handful of Oscar-nominated films. In part, I owe this to my older children allowing me more free time. But it probably has more to do with my recent gig as an art director with the NYT Arts & Leisure team. By nature of the assignment, I had early access to the editors’ writers’ and critics’ ruminations on the best movies ending the year. I was determined to watch as many as I could. In light of yesterday’s Oscar nominations, here’s my humble impressions of some of Oscar contenders.

B**g Joon Ho’s PARASITE hit me the deepest — I laid awake more than one night, alternating between breaking out in a cold sweat from thinking about the desperate struggles of the Kim family and Moon-kwang and her husband and feeling a rising heat of agitation from thinking about the Park family’s oblivious existence to such turmoil. Of course, just as the director hopes, the cold sweats and the agitation have more to do with the state of the world and the ever increasing economic gap than with these characters. My husband joked that if it would make me feel better he could scan our basement to be sure no one has taken up residence. Laughing, I responded, ‘Honey, we don’t have a big enough basement to host another family plus if anyone was squatting in a basement it would probably end up being us. All kidding aside, I am grateful for what I have and thankful that helping those less blessed is part of our DNA.

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Greta Gerwig’s LITTLE WOMEN provided a much needed cathartic release from the endless to-do’s leading up to the holidays. For the entire 145 minutes tears spilled down my cheeks. Outwardly, they were in synch with the March sister’s joys and disappointments but internally I was mourning the loss of all my firsts but more so, anticipating the yet-to-be-firsts that my daughters will most likely experience on their journeys to womanhood. Because movies like this are being made with directors like Gerwig, my girls are growing up with more successful, determined, independent role models than when I was their age. However we still have a long way to go, evidenced by Greta’s best director nomination snub by the Academy (It’s the second year in a row, the nomination list is devoid of female directors).

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AD ASTRA, directed by James Gray, rescued me from all the heavy emotions but perhaps it went too far. Watching it, I felt as catatonic as an astronaut might feel on an 84 day journey, ALONE, through deep black space. Did I say ALONE? I wonder if there was a volleyball on the craft? And a sharpie? Obviously I’m not a sci-fi fan, even if it includes diving into male vulnerability, a father-son reckoning and glimpse of Liv Tyler’s classic features. Did I say, alone, for 84 days, in deep black space? Not even with a seat next to Brad Pitt, would I consider it.

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That said, I would sit next to Pitt in his beat-up Karmenn Ghia in ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD, especially traveling down LA highways at the speed Taratino was suggesting are actually possible in L.A. I thoroughly enjoyed this campy, poke-fun-at-Hollywood, time-warp farce, even to the violent (but humorous) end. Once Upon A Time definitely didn’t keep me up as many nights as Parasite but I couldn’t help draw similarities between the two movies—I can’t quite articulate it, but think about, and I think you’ll agree. Maybe.

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Just as Little Women caused me to reflect on my youth and look ahead to my daughters’ futures, Noah Baumbach's MARRIAGE STORY brought me face-to-face with my immediate reality. No, I don’t feel marginalized in my marriage and, no I’m not getting a divorce. But I am married, with children and with that comes a consistent, relentless, juggle–-nurturing my own growth as an individual while also looking out for that of my girls’ and sometimes, my family’s can be a tricky balancing act to maintain and more often than not I find myself looking around, trying to remember where I had left off in my journey.
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Beautiful illustration of B**g Joon Ho by and clever illustration by capturing the NYT Film critics’ piece on men opening up on screen (albeit only in the presence of other men). It was great to collaborate with you both.

Greta Gerwig shot by for the New York Times; Adam Driver shot by Eric Tanner for the New York Times.

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&leisure

The cast of the L Word Generation Q in today’s NYT. Thrilled to have had the opportunity to work with such beautiful and effortless-seeming portraits by @ New York, New York