Oscar Contenders in the Hills of Virginia
Recap of the 2024 Middleburg Film Festival
For twelve years now, film lovers from all around the world have gathered just outside of Washington, DC to celebrate great cinema.
Nestled in the farm land of northern Virginia, sits quaint Middleburg. There may not be the glitz and glamour that comes with many other fall film festivals, but the lineup of films is just as good.
Last week I attended the festival for a few days & got caught up on a few of the buzzy titles playing the fall festival circuit. More importantly though, I gained a renewed appreciation for this art form we love so much.
Specifically, how much of a miracle it is that any movies get made at all.
During a Q&A following the screening of his film, “Better Man”, director Michael Gracey talked at length about how his first film, “The Greatest Showman” almost didn’t get made.
Hugh Jackman (the lead of “The Greatest Showman”) called Gracey on a Friday afternoon & explained that he wasn’t convinced the music for the film was good enough to make the movie. Jackman wanted to start from scratch.
Gracey knew that if the studio got wind of this by the time Monday rolled around that they would pull the plug on the whole thing.
Without a star like Hugh Jackman on board, there was no way the studio would take a chance on an original musical about P.T. Barnum.
To change Jackman’s mind, Gracey had to get creative.
Gracey knew how much pop star Robbie Williams meant to Hugh and also knew that his agent had a distant connection to Williams. And by distant, I mean like wife’s sister’s best friends niece, kind of distance.
By some miracle, a time was set up for Gracey to go over to Robbie Williams house that weekend and play him some of “The Greatest Showman” music.
When Gracey shows up to his house, Williams is looking at him like, “who on earth are you and why are you at my house”. Gracey explains the situation & plays him some of the music.
After hearing a few tracks, Williams told Gracey he enjoyed what he heard (he was even bopping his head while it was playing). So Gracey then asks Williams if he can record him telling Hugh Jackman how great the music is.
Robbie Williams reluctantly agrees.
After receiving the video, Jackman agreed to leave the music as is.
The studio never gets wind of it.
Movie saved.
Point being, it is a miracle anything gets made. If one of the most fun musicals of the past decade that grossed almost $500 million at the box office only gets made by the skin of its teeth, it is probably a sign getting a movie made is a near impossible task.
It is a good reminder why on this site I prefer to celebrate great films instead of trashing bad ones. Dozens of people dedicate years of their lives to making a film. Most of the time they don’t even get made. The ones that do make it over the finish line almost all have stories like the one Gracey shared about how they almost didn’t exist.
What a fun art form to champion!
Enough talk, lets get to the films I saw at the 2024 Middleburg Film Festival:
Anora (Directed by Sean Baker)
Premise - “Anora, a sex worker from Brooklyn, gets her chance at a Cinderella story when she meets and marries the son of an oligarch. Once the news reaches Russia, her fairytale is threatened as the parents set out for New York to get the marriage annulled.”
Noteworthy cast - Mikey Madison
My thoughts - Sean Baker strikes again! This time with the culmination of his previous work - a humorous & rollicking journey delving into the many layers of our transactional society.
What starts out as delightfully modern take on “Pretty Woman”, slowly morphs into a film that has much more in common with the chaotic energy of “Uncut Gems”.
At the center of this spectacle of chaos is Ani, a charming yet fiery sex worker (portrayed by the marvelous Mikey Madison). Madison gives a gutsy performance filled with so much emotion that at times, Ani seems invincible.
Yet, in one small & powerful moment, we see just how far from reality that is. It’s in that moment that “Anora” goes from a great film to one of the best of the year.
See this one in theaters if you get the chance. Sean Baker’s movies always have a bit of comedy in them, but in “Anora” it is much more in your face & plays so well with a crowd.
Rating - 4.5/5
When can you see it in theaters? - It will likely go wide in mid-November
September 5 (Directed by Tim Fehlbaum)
Premise - “During the 1972 Munich Olympics, an American sports broadcasting crew finds itself thrust into covering the hostage crisis involving Israeli athletes.”
Noteworthy cast - Peter Sarsgaard & John Magaro
My thoughts - Movies about real life events are quite hard to pull off. You immediately lose the element of surprise over the audience, there often are already other docs/movies exploring the events, and many times they aren’t even events that people want to experience again.
Which begs the question, what business does September 5th even have being made? Let alone, actually being good. In a world where “Munich” & “One Day in September” exists, one wouldn’t think there would be much of an appetite for a third film.
Thankfully, the filmmakers have an answer to all of those questions.
September 5th works because it isn’t interested in interrogating the acts of that dreadful day. It really isn’t even a movie about that day as much as it’s a movie about the media and how challenging events are covered.
Its not interested in the politics, it’s only interested in how the events where covered & what that meant for news going forward. It interrogates the relationship between the audience and news crew, while also exploring the ultimate responsibility of those behind the camera.
For something as uncinematic as broadcasting, September 5th plays much more like a taut thriller than a news movie. Behind the scenes looks at the disagreements between crew members, negotiations amongst networks, and infighting between news & sports make it one of the better journalism movies in recent memory. The short 91 minute runtime allows enough time to flesh out the nuts & bolts of the story, but not too much time to overstay its welcome.
Rating - 3.5/5
When can you see it in theaters? - November 27th
The Brutalist (Directed by Brady Corbet)
Premise - “When visionary architect László Toth and his wife Erzsébet flee post-war Europe in 1947 to rebuild their legacy and witness the birth of modern America, their lives are changed forever by a mysterious and wealthy client.”
Noteworthy cast - Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce
My thoughts - It doesn’t take long while watching “The Brutalist” to realize it is not only about a different time, but the film itself is quite literally of a different time.
The towering 3 hour 35 minute run time includes a 15 minute intermission in the middle.
It is the first American film since 1961 to be shot on VistaVision (a higher resolution, widescreen variant of the 35MM file format).
The sweeping story covers 30+ years of an immigrants life as he comes to America following the war.
It is quite jarring at first just how different it is from everything else released in theaters during this day and age. “The Brutalist” is very often the complete anthesis of modern cinema, in the best way possible.
You not only feel enveloped in the world that Corbet builds of post-war America, but you feel like you are watching the movie in that era.
A bold movie with bold ideas. An examination of the American Dream. An examination of the intersection between art and business. An examination about the enduring nature of art. An examination of the cause and effect of violence/trauma.
It is such a rich text.
A staggering achievement that shouldn’t be missed.
Rating - 4.5/5
When can you see it in theaters? - December 20th
Small Things Like These (Directed by Tim Mielants)
Premise - “In 1985, Bill Furlong, a devoted father, uncovers disturbing secrets at the local convent; as he investigates, he discovers shocking truths about his own past and life.”
Noteworthy cast - Cillian Murphy & Emily Watson
My thoughts - In a recent Letterboxd Favorite Four interview, an actor (can’t remember who it was), said that if they want to get preached at, you go to a church service. Movies are about thinking & it forces you to see the world in a different way.
Ever since hearing that, it has really stuck with me. Especially in a time when most filmmakers have to resort to preaching the point because they assume their audience is too stupid to pick up on what they are saying (or too distracted).
There aren’t many examples in modern film of a tough subject being delicately handled without preaching the point to the audience, but “Small Things Like These” is certainly one of them.
Far too often, when we look back on periods of history where atrocity occurs, we have hindsight bias. We think, well how did people let that happen in the first place? That would have never happened if I lived during that time.
This film is actually a great pairing with something like “The Zone of Interest” as both pull back the curtain on how tragedies can and do unfold. While “The Zone of Interest” is focused on showing that from the perspective of someone that is directly involved, “Small Things Like These” is showing it from the perspective of someone who is passively aware of it, but unwilling or able to do anything.
In “Small Things Like These” the audience gets to experience what a normal person in Ireland did during this tragic time. How systems organize and abuse their power. How grief can blind us. How individuals look the other way out of fear that their families will live a lesser life. How society peer pressures everyone into not biting the hand that feeds them.
The film is intentionally a quiet, slow burn. We get acquainted with Bill, his family, and his day to day life before we even start to contemplate that something may be awry. The film is set in the weeks leading up to Christmas, so there are some wonderful sequences of Murphy wondering a small town in Ireland as the town bustles getting ready for Christmas.
The subtleties of the script and how the story plays out won’t be for everyone, but there is no denying the power of choosing to tell a story this way. It leaves you sobered by not only this tragedy, but the tragedy that happens every day in our world. Long after the credits roll, you will even be questioning your own complicity in tragic events.
Rating - 3.5/5
When can you see it in theaters? - November 8th
Better Man (Directed by Michael Gracey)
Premise - “A singular profile of British pop superstar Robbie Williams.”
Noteworthy cast - N/A
My thoughts - Are there moments that feel absurd while watching a CGI monkey portray Robbie Williams? Absolutely, but there are almost equally as many moments where it really works with the tone Gracey is using for the film.
In a Q&A after the film, Gracey talked about how the idea for this bold monkey swing came from all of the sterile music biopics made over past couple of years. He wasn’t interested in making another biopic like Bohemian Rhapsody or Elvis. Sure, you can see that in the monkey choice, but you can also see this in how crass and harsh the film is about Williams & how honest it is about his ambitions to become famous.
It’s refreshing to see a biopic like this treat its subject as a real human with flaws and not like a god that can barely do wrong.
While I like the outside of the box thinking, I wish he would have taken it even further. Specifically with the corny, tedious third act.
Talk of the CGI monkey will dominate conversation around the film, but what will be overlooked is the distinctive talent that Gracey has in envisioning & executing a musical for the big screen. He proved it with “The Greatest Showman”, but he confirms it with “Better Man”.
There is one number in particular set on Regent street in London that is probably one of the best musical sequences of the past decade. It’s enough to recommend the film to those who love musicals or love Robbie Williams. I just wish there were a few more show stopping numbers like that to elevate it to an exceptional film.
Hope Gracey does another full blown musical next.
Rating - 3.5/5
When can you see it in theaters? - December 25th
That is all for now! I will be headed to the Virginia film festival next week to catch up on some other buzzy fall festival films.
As always, enjoy some great films until next time!
Aaron Nolan
It is a miracle anything gets made!!! Truer words have not been spoken. It comes down to all the right “yes’s” all the exact right decisions the right people at the right place at the right time…it is crazy to think about. Loved this article.