2022 Academy Awards Reviews: Best International, Documentary, and Animated Features
Still from Encanto (Walt Disney Animation Studios). Encanto is nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Animated Feature, Best Original Score, and “Dos Origuitas” for Best Original Song.
For the second year, due to mostly working from home, I was able to watch all of the Animated, International, and Documentary features nominated for the awards this year, and I thought that all three categories were very strong! At least two of my favorite movies this year were international films and every movie in these categories was at least interesting. I’ve also noted where you can see each of them — you really should watch all of these if you can catch them!
Best Documentary Feature
Ascension (Paramount+): The “Chinese Dream” is a myth perpetrated by China to keep their middle- and lower-middle classes as obedient foot-soldiers who work away their lives for the promise of upward economic mobility that never comes, not unlike the modern-day American Dream (oof, this was a depressing sentence, sorry). The documentarian (Jessica Kingdon, a Chinese-American who is an excellent cinematographer as well) lets the shots linger: there isn’t a single talking head or narration in this film, it’s all raw footage of Chinese workers. The point is not that Chinese workers have bad working conditions or how they’re Third World or anything like that—it’s much subtler, simply showing that while the capitalist elites preach innovation and efficiency and productivity, it remains only the elites who are able to reap the rewards while everyone else hits dead ends. It’s a universal tale of income inequality and not meant to be specific to China. I found it fascinating and poignant, though maybe just a wee bit too long.
Attica (Showtime): This one is about the 1971 uprising at the Attica Correctional Facility in New York. Cross-stitching contemporary footage with modern-day interviews with former inmates 50 years later, the film chronicles the horrific conditions the prisoners were subject to and how they went about taking over the prison and negotiating with Governor Nelson Rockefeller for improvements. It also shows much of the evidence that was covered up, including how almost all of the dozens of people who were killed during the police assault on the prison (including 8 correctional officers) were killed by the police. If you’re looking for a slightly different type of true crime documentary that focuses more on corruption, this is for you. I liked it a lot.
Flee (Hulu): The first film ever to be nominated for Best International Feature, Best Documentary Feature, and Best Animated Feature all in the same year! That’s wild. Flee tells the story of an Afghan refugee trying to make his way to safety out of the war-torn country. His path zigs and zags, he returns to places he was previously, but through all of it he explains what it’s like to be a refugee and to have to make some really hard choices. It’s absolutely worth a watch, and the English version is voiced by Riz Ahmed and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who also produced.
Summer of Soul (Hulu): I’m a huge Questlove fan. I’ve seen The Roots multiple times, I’ve read his excellent memoir, I listen to his curated Spotify playlists, and I’ll even weather Jimmy Fallon for him every now and then. The man is truly a student of the game when it comes to music and culture, and nowhere is that better exemplified than in this masterpiece about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival. For the first time ever, footage from the six-weekend-long festival that took place at Mount Morris Park in Harlem that featured legends like Mahalia Jackson, Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, Sly and the Family Stone, and many more. The production team restored footage from the festival which had been long buried because broadcasters weren’t interested in “Black Woodstock.” Their loss, because Questlove takes this forgotten footage and places it in the context of the civil rights movement, showing the artists bleed with heart and hope for the community while providing Harlem a respite from the tumultuous times. The world could use something like that right about now. Instead, we have Astroworld. Anyway, this documentary was spectacular.
Writing with Fire (PBS): Treading on some similar waters as Ascension, Writing with Fire chronicles women Dalit (the lowest caste) journalists in India. It’s about how they push back against the caste system and report on anything they can in order to shine light on a lot of the corruption, cover-ups, and other urgent issues. They literally risk their lives to do so, and the courage they show is truly inspiring when I sometimes don’t even want to roll out of bed and go to my office job during the week. My issue with this one was simply that the documentary style was as cookie cutter as it gets, and I think a lot of the tension was lost in translation. There is an incredible story here, I’m just not sure that the style of the film did it any favors, though I did enjoy watching it.
Personal Ranking: Summer of Soul, Ascension, Flee, Attica, Writing With Fire
Best International Feature
Drive My Car (HBO Max): See my full-scale Best Picture review! I don’t think I can cram all of it into a single paragraph. Loved this one so much.
Flee (Hulu): See Best Documentary Feature!
The Hand of God (Netflix): This is a tale of two films. I had never seen a Paolo Sorrentino movie. This Italian coming-of-age story is apparently loosely based on the sudden deaths of Sorrentino’s parents and how soccer legend Diego Maradona played a role in saving his life as well. The beautiful setting (Naples) evokes a contrast and draws out the moroseness of the main character and makes you feel a distinct connection to him and to Sorrentino as well. It’s not the easiest watch but Sorrentino’s emotion bleeds through the screen. I’m definitely interested in watching some of his other films because of this one.
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom (Kanopy): People were upset this one got in over Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero, and while we here at MPM are big fans of A Separation, it seems like he might have plagiarized that. So I’m okay with Lunana, Bhutan’s first ever nominee in this category, grabbing the nod. It’s a story about a teacher who has to finish his certification by going to the most remote school in the world for a year. Of course he doesn’t want to go, and of course, the cute kids end up winning him over so much that he doesn’t want to leave. You’ve seen this movie before. But it was nice and charming and I liked it!
The Worst Person in the World (N/A): We watched this Norwegian film as part of our Sundance reviews last month and I fell in love with it. It was definitely my favorite movie we watched at Sundance. It’s about a millennial woman who can’t seem to get her life together, as she cycles through careers and boyfriends to determine what she really wants from her life. Everything wraps back around at the end, and it’s really well done. Renate Reinsve absolutely crushes it in her first lead role, and she’s worth the price of admission alone. It’s a shame the Academy makes it so hard for foreign actors to be nominated for awards, because just like Song Kang-ho for Parasite in 2019, Reinsve should arguably have been nominated for Best Actress this year. And I’d have put this one in the Best Picture category as well. Go watch this!!! It’s available to rent on VOD!
Personal Ranking: Drive My Car, The Worst Person in the World, The Hand of God, Flee, Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom
Best Animated Feature
Encanto (Disney+): I kinda wasn’t sold on Encanto for the first bit, but then “Surface Pressure” hit and that changed. I’m always happy when Stephanie Beatriz gets something cool to do - she should’ve gotten more to do in In the Heights, maybe I’d have liked that one more - so I’m glad to see her get some Disney money. You already know how good Encanto is, I probably have nothing to add! It was really, really good.
Flee (Hulu): See Best Documentary Feature and Best International Feature!
Luca (Disney+): Listen, after some of the harder-hitting, abstract Pixar entries like Soul (which I wasn’t a huge fan of! Sorry!), I was very happy to get a break from existentialism and just get a nice, fun, cute animated film about sea monsters in Italy. Not everything has to reinvent the wheel! I liked Luca a lot!
The Mitchells vs. The Machines (Netflix): Erin and I watched this over the summer while we were on a bus to Yellowstone from Utah and it was totally energetic and likeable and I could’ve watched 4 hours of the Mitchell family. The cast rocks, the movie is fun, and it was one of Bong Joon-ho’s favorite movies of the year! What else could you want? Go watch it if you haven’t, it rules!
Raya and the Last Dragon (Disney+): I feel like I remember people kinda crapping on this one when it came out, but I found it enjoyable enough. I really, really liked it for the first third, then I didn’t like it as much after the dragon came in. It just sort of lost some momentum. It did remind me a lot of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra with some of the character archetypes it used (Korra/Raya and Zuko/Namaari being two of the parallels), but it unfortunately didn’t have seasons to develop. It was fine enough though.
Personal Ranking: The Mitchells vs. The Machines, Encanto, Luca, Flee, Raya and the Last Dragon (I really, really liked this set of movies. Strong year.)