With the new year, the Oscar Awards race begins. In addition to the candidates determined through categories such as cinematography, directors and actors, the messages given by the films in this period are also important.
Steven Spielberg’s ‘West Side Story’ is the film adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical of the same name. Spielberg reveals that the unfortunate love story of two young people, who are members of rival gangs of two different ethnic groups in New York, is as relevant today as it was 60 years ago.
“Divisions among dissidents are as old as history itself,” Spielberg said. The division between the two gangs, the Sharks and the Jets, which was the subject of the musical that took the stage in 1957, was also very deep, but not as much as the divisions we are in today.”
West Side Story will receive an Oscar nomination, according to Clayton Davis, editor of the Variety Film Awards.
Davis said, “This work can also take its place in the actress category because Ariana DeBose, who plays the character of Anita in the movie, is playing the role that Rita Moreno played 60 years ago. “DeBose’s chances of winning look pretty high, and if that happens, DeBose will be the second Latino ever to win best supporting actress.”
The psychological thriller, Nightmare Street, directed by Guillermo del Toro, is a work where the lines between fact and fiction are blurred. In the movie, Bradley Cooper plays the villain Stanton Carlisle as the runaway vagrant who attends a traveling carnival. Cate Blanchett also plays in the movie whose cast is full of stars. Director Del Toro wrote the script with his wife, Kim Morgan.
Guillerme del Toro said, “The film deals with the uneasiness of today. At least that’s what we thought when we were writing the script,” he says.
In director Adam McKay’s dark comedy ‘Don’t Look Up’, the world is at risk of being destroyed by the impact of a massive comet. Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence play two astronomers trying to persuade people to save the world before it’s too late.
Meryl Streep plays the demagogic American president who underestimates this great threat.
Clayton Davis points out that McKay’s production of this dark humor is very realistic.
Davis said, “I laughed all the time for the first 30-40 minutes of the movie. Then I said, ‘Wait a second, this story is so real,’ and I stopped laughing.”
Feel-good movies like ‘King Richard’ also attract the attention of both movie critics and audiences.
According to Davis, right now, especially at a time when Corona cases are increasing again, people don’t want to deal with depressive issues.
King Richard, the biopic directed and starring Will Smith, chronicles how two black girls living under difficult conditions in one of the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Compton become famous tennis players with the support of their families and especially their father, Richard. The subjects of the movie are world-famous tennis players Venus and Serena Williams.
“I think Will Smith could really get an Academy Award for this piece,” Davis says.
In an interview with VOA, Venus Williams emphasized that the message of empowering black girls is prominent in the film.
Williams said, “The movie was shot very well. The sequencing of the story is great. Of course, our family is in the lead role in the movie, but I hope this movie will inspire many people.”
Another favorite of movie reviewers is Kenneth Branagh’s ‘Belfast’. Set in the capital of Northern Ireland, the plot of the film is based on Branagh’s childhood. It tells the story of a 9-year-old boy named Buddy in 1969. Speaking to the Voice of America, Branagh pointed out that despite the political and sectarian violence in Buddy’s life, the main focus of the film is family and social ties.
Branagh says, “The film deals with feelings of respect and devotion and the welcome of different sides of people. “This is actually a very difficult and sensitive issue to address in the polarized world we live in today.”
The Oscar awards will find their owners on March 27.