Warren BeattyPhoto: Mike Windle (Getty Images for GQ)
A woman has filed a civil suit against actor Warren Beatty for an alleged coerced sexual relationship in 1973 when the plaintiff was 14 or 15 years old and Beatty was 35, per Variety. Though the lawsuit does not name Beatty specifically, the suit accuses the Oscar-nominated star of Bonnie And Clyde, who played the role of Clyde.
Kristina Charlotte Hirsch claims that Beatty groomed and coerced her into a sexual relationship after meeting on a California film set in 1973. The lawsuit states that Beatty “used his role, status, and power as a well-known Hollywood Star to gain access to, groom, manipulate, exploit, and coerce sexual contact from her over the course of several months.” Hirsch alleges that he asked her questions about losing her virginity, gave her rides in his car, and invited her to his hotel room.
Furthermore, Hirsch claims that Beatty’s abuse has made it difficult for her to “reasonably or meaningfully interact with others.” This includes “those in positions of authority over Plaintiff including supervisors, and in intimate, confidential and familial relationships.” Her trauma has led to issues in her personal life, particularly with trust and control, causing “substantial emotional distress, guilt, anxiety, nervousness, and fear.” Additionally, the suit claims Hirsch suffered “physical manifestations of emotional distress including embarrassment, loss of self-esteem, disgrace, humiliations, and loss of enjoyment of life.” This distress has caused her to “sustain loss of earnings” and significant expenses on mental health treatment.
Though their interactions occurred nearly 50 years ago, a 2019 California law gave survivors of sexual assault over 40 three years to file a lawsuit against their alleged assailants even though the original statute of limitations expired. Before the law’s passing, victims had until age 26 to file a suit, which would allow them to recover damages over trauma inflicted by an adult when the plaintiff was a minor. The “lookback window” began on January 1, 2020, and will close on January 1, 2023.
Peter Weller in Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet Of CuriositiesPhoto: Ken Woroner/Netflix
At the start of every episode of Netflix’s latest anthology horror series, Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet Of Curiosities, audiences are greeted by the Oscar-winning director. Introducing each new tale in front of an actual cabinet of curiosities, the Pan’s Labyrinthfilmmaker immediately evokes both Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone. And the comparisons are apt, if readily welcomed. After all, del Toro’s first foray into television finds him playing host and tastemaker to a stellar roster of horror and thriller storytellers who remind us why this genre remains fertile ground for exploring today’s most relevant issues.
But maybe we should pause and explain why del Toro picked the “cabinet of curiosities” as both title and concept for the show. As he explains in the series’ opening episode (the Guillermo Navarro-directed “Lot 36,” written by Regina Corrado from an original del Toro story): “In centuries past, when the world was full of mystery and traveling was reserved for the very few, a new form of collection was born.” The cabinet of curiosities, which could be a building or an actual piece of furniture, housed any and all sorts of things. And tied to every one of its objects was a story. At the top of every installment, he opens up the titular wood-carved cabinet and offers us an object that will prove crucial to these stories (a set of keys, say, or a remote control).
These opening interludes help elucidate the way the series approaches its genre trappings. The cabinet of curiosities, after all, serves as much as a structural conceit as a metaphor for the anthology setup. Del Toro wants to remind us that scary stories can and do begin with the most mundane of objects—but also that the very act of storytelling, the craftsmanship of such narrative flair, lies on the filmmakers are the heart of this anthology series. It’s why every introduction places such objects next to carved figurines of the directors helming each episode.
Indeed, each installment, which boasts directors like Panos Cosmatos (Mandy), Jennifer Kent (The Babadook, The Nightingale), and Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen, Twilight), is, like the beautiful eponymous wooden cabinet, expertly crafted. The attention to detail in everything from thrill-inducing soundscapes that conjure dug-up graves to meticulously art-directed spaces that are truly haunting elevates these terrifying short horror tales about such timeless themes as greed, pride, and vanity, all while dredging up devilish takes on zombies, rat kings, vengeful demons, and, of course, the most horrific villain one can think of: capitalism itself.
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Daphne Hoskins and Rupert Grint in Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet Of CuriositiesPhoto: Ken Woroner/Netflix
Any review of an anthology series—especially one as strong as this one—is bound to play favorites. And while I could focus on any one of the many standout episodes (actors Tim Blake Nelson and F. Murray Abraham, for example, make the entries they star in, “Lot 36” and “The Autopsy,” respectively, gripping performance showcases that double as meditations on what we owe the dead), we’d be remiss if we didn’t single out the one we’ve yet to shake off.
We’re talking about the Ana Lily Amirpour-directed installment “The Outside.” Written by Haley Z. Boston and based on a short story by comics author Emily Carroll, this horror-comedy take on the preyed insecurities of a young woman in a wintry nondescript suburban neighborhood is a knockout. The ’80s Christmas-set episode stars Kate Micucci (best known as one half of the musical comedy duo Garfunkel and Oates) as Stacey, an awkward bank teller whose love of taxidermy, not to mention her unfashionable sense of style, keeps her on the outs with her beautifully coiffed colleagues.
GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S CABINET OF CURIOSITIES | Official Trailer | Netflix
As with every other episode, the specifics of “The Outside” are best left unspoiled, but know that Micucci’s comedic sensibilities—as well as Dan Stevens’ penchant for playing outsized if alluring weirdos—are expertly deployed here once Stacey decides her betterment shall come in the shape of a beauty regimen that proves almost disastrously self-destructive … until it’s not. Just as she’s proven with her filmmaking credits, Amirpour is one of the most exciting voices working in horror today. With “The Outside” she manages to defamiliarize water-cooler gossip and office secret Santas with such skillful ease you’ll never believe anything is scarier than a gaggle of shoulder-pad-wearing women silently judging you while aggressively lotioning their arms with abandon. A darkly comedic fable about the impossible beauty standards women needlessly hold each other to, Amirpour’s directorial offering here is, above anything else, a fantastic chance to see Micucci shine. The extended shot that closes out the episode alone—which mocks and complicates an all-too-bleak ending—is a transfixing master class in the way comedy and horror make for perfect bedfellows.
As both a survey of contemporary horror and an ode to the timeless nature of its many concerns, Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet Of Curiosities is a welcome addition to the filmmaker’s oeuvre. Just as he’s proven time and time again, the Oscar-winning director is just as much a student as a master of horror, and here he is once more allowing audiences to revel in its many possibilities with a slew of entrancing and an times all too timely stories—and just in time for spooky season, no less.
Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet Of Curiosities premieres October 25 on Netflix.
The 94th Oscars are ready to reveal their results, and we’re ready to hear them—but first, we’d like to offer up some educated guesses as the various outcomes. The editors of The A.V. Club looked closely at the biggest categories from this year’s Academy Awards nominations list, and then we broke down each of those races into “will win,” “could win,” and, in a show of blatant bias, “should win.” While some of these picks may feel like no-brainers (hello Troy Kotsur), many of the categories are still very much up for grabs leading into Sunday’s ceremony. So grab your ballot and gaze into the crystal ball with us, and be sure to follow along with our liveblog on Sunday.
Best Picture
Nominees:Belfast; CODA; Don’t Look Up; Drive My Car; Dune; King Richard; Licorice Pizza; Nightmare Alley; The Power Of The Dog; West Side Story
Will win:CODA
Sian Heder’s coming-of-age drama about a child of deaf adults, or CODA, took home top prizes at the Sundance Film Festival and the Producers Guild of America Awards—the latter a critical precursor for success with Academy voters. The first Oscar-nominated film featuring deaf actors in key roles is more than just a representation win for the disabled community; its uplifting sweetness seems to be exactly what resonates with voters and audiences alike these days.
Could win:The Power Of The Dog
Jane Campion’s Western contains slow-burning tension, sprawling fantasy, psychological drama, and some of the season’s most cohesive performances. Which begs the question: Is Campion a filmmaker or an alchemist? Sunday night will reveal whether her unique combination of genres—and this film’s Netflix distribution—will take it all the way.
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Should win:Drive My Car
The first Japanese film nominated for Best Picture, Drive My Car is helmed by the masterful Ryusuke Hamaguchi, whose inclusion in the Best Director race signals strong Academy support. Voters may not reward another non-English language film (and a three-hour affair about grief to boot) so soon after Parasite’s dominance, but they should.
Best Director
Nominees: Kenneth Branagh, Belfast; Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Drive My Car; Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza; Jane Campion, The Power Of The Dog; Steven Spielberg, West Side Story
Will win: Jane Campion, The Power Of The Dog
Will Campion become the third woman to win this category, just one year after the second? All signs, including the crucial Directors Guild Of America Award, point to yes. Long after her directing nomination for The Piano, it’s The Power Of The Dog that seems to finally square with Oscar voters’ tastes.
Could win: Kenneth Branagh, Belfast
The actor-writer-director-producer’s decades of hard work have paid off this year: He now holds the record for the most nominations in different Oscar categories, with seven total for his career.
Should win: Steven Spielberg, West Side Story
Spielberg has received his due over the years, including two previous wins in this category. But at age 75, he took on his first movie musical and gave it a mesmerizing cinematic scale, political and emotional sophistication, and some of the year’s best acting, singing, and dancing.
Best Actor
Nominees: Javier Bardem, Being The Ricardos; Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power Of The Dog; Andrew Garfield, tick, tick… BOOM!; Will Smith, King Richard; Denzel Washington, The Tragedy Of Macbeth
Will win: Will Smith, King Richard
As Richard Williams, the father of burgeoning tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams, Smith turns in the most Oscar-friendly performance of his illustrious career. And that’s no backhanded compliment. The Academy loves biopics, family dramas, and triumphant sports films, and King Richard is all three. Smith has captured several top honors already this season, including the Screen Actors Guild Award.
Could win: Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power Of The Dog
The Power Of The Dog received the most nominations of any film this year, but is it too strange for Oscar voters? Where do Sam Elliott’s out-of-nowhere criticisms factor into this race? Uncertainty aside, if anyone can overtake Smith, it’s the hardworking and genuinely riveting Cumberbatch.
Should win: Andrew Garfield, tick, tick… BOOM!
It’s not like Garfield is new to the Hollywood scene, or even the Oscar race. But between tick, tick… BOOM!, The Eyes Of Tammy Faye, and of course Spider-Man: No Way Home, this has been his season, the perfect time to showcase his charms both on camera and off.
Best Actress
Nominees: Jessica Chastain, The Eyes Of Tammy Faye; Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter; Penélope Cruz, Parallel Mothers; Nicole Kidman, Being The Ricardos; Kristen Stewart, Spencer
Will win: Jessica Chastain, The Eyes Of Tammy Faye
This year’s best actress race seemed like an uncertain one—the Twitter-released Golden Globe results likely won’t make an impact, while the British Academy Film Awards nominated six completely different women. Then Chastain emerged victorious at both the SAG and Critics’ Choice Awards, and those clues are all that’s needed to label her the Oscar frontrunner.
Could win: Penélope Cruz, Parallel Mothers
Cruz’s inclusion on the nominations list—without recognition from any precursor awards shows—signals strong support among the Academy’s membership. She’s already an Oscar winner, just not for a Pedro Almodóvar film. Considering that Parallel Mothers is their seventh collaboration, now could be the time to honor their extraordinary cinematic chemistry.
Should win: Kristen Stewart, Spencer
That Pablo Larraín’s impressionistic take on Princess Diana was shut out of all other Oscar categories doesn’t bode well for Stewart, whose acting, by her own admission, is not necessarily everyone’s cup of tea. But it should be. Spencer is Stewart’s most award-worthy performance in a career full of them, and it gave her a chance to inhabit the late princess’ authenticity, and, somehow, show off her own.
Best Supporting Actor
Nominees: Ciarán Hinds, Belfast; Jesse Plemons, The Power Of The Dog; Troy Kotsur, CODA; J.K. Simmons, Being The Ricardos; Kodi Smit- McPhee, The Power Of The Dog
Will win: Troy Kotsur, CODA
SAG plus Critics’ Choice plus BAFTA equals Oscar. The breakout star of CODA has charmed voters and Apple TV+ subscribers alike, earning well-deserved frontrunner status. Plus, a victory for Kotsur means the Academy doubles its total number of deaf winners (25 years after his co-star Marlee Matlin became the first).
Could win: Jesse Plemons, The Power Of The Dog
The glue that holds Campion’s extraordinary ensemble together, Plemons gives one of the season’s most underrated performances in The Power Of The Dog. Joining his real-life partner Kirsten Dunst onscreen, and on the Oscar nominations list for the first time, he could have enough goodwill among Academy members to make him a dark horse contender.
Should win: Troy Kotsur, CODA
Kotsur brings a scruffy, sensitive charm to his role as a father and a fisherman in a film that picked up steam at just the right time this season. There’s one scene in particular, in which his Frank asks his daughter Ruby (Emilia Jones) to sing for him, that alone should clinch the deal.
Best Supporting Actress
Nominees: Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter; Ariana DeBose, West Side Story; Judi Dench, Belfast; Kirsten Dunst, ThePower Of The Dog; Aunjanue Ellis, King Richard
Will win: Ariana DeBose, West Side Story
Even if DeBose didn’t have the major precursor accolades already on her mantle, including SAG, Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice, and BAFTA, her twirling, belting, emoting Anita would still be a shoo-in. After all, she’s following in the footsteps of her West Side Story co-star Rita Moreno, who became the first Latina Oscar winner for the same role in the original film.
Could win: Aunjanue Ellis, King Richard
Ellis, who plays mother hen Oracene “Brandy” Price in this sports biopic, gives a performance that’s just as Oscar-worthy as that of her co-star, Will Smith. Ellis combines maternal grace with fierce competitiveness in a vivid portrait that could prove unforgettable for voters.
Should win: Kirsten Dunst, The Power Of The Dog
Dunst deserves a win, not just for her haunting performance as a woman teetering on the edge, but in recognition of a career full of nuanced portrayals.
Best Original Screenplay
Nominees:Belfast; Don’t Look Up; King Richard; Licorice Pizza; The Worst Person In The World
Will win:Belfast
Despite nominations in seven different Oscar categories during his career, Kenneth Branagh has yet to win. If anything can reverse that trend, it’s his semi-autobiographical tale of 1969 Belfast, which has already picked up Critics’ Choice and Golden Globe honors.
Could win:Don’t Look Up
Love him or hate him, the Academy’s track record with Adam McKay makes it clear how they feel. His Writers Guild Award-winning script about the all-too-plausible scenario of an apocalypse that almost no one takes seriously brings humor to the big screen and insights to the ongoing conversations about climate change (and its denial).
Should win:The Worst Person In The World
Writer-director Joachim Trier and co-writer Eskil Vogt’s rendering of this sometimes romantic, sometimes comedic, always philosophical rom-com deserves awards recognition for subverting audience expectations at each of the film’s 12 chapters. Plus, what a showcase they gave to breakout star Renate Reinsve.
Best Adapted Screenplay
Nominees:CODA; Dune; Drive My Car; The Lost Daughter; The Power Of The Dog
Will win:CODA
If Best Picture is a showdown between Apple’s CODA and Netflix’s The Power Of The Dog, and Campion is a Best Director lock for the latter, this category will likely be how Oscar voters honor BAFTA Award winner Sian Heder, who was left out of the directing race.
Could win:Drive My Car
It’s always notable when a non-English language film breaks through in a screenplay category, but the fact that Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe’s Drive My Car also notched nominations for Picture, Director, and International Feature boosts its chances here.
Should win:The Lost Daughter
After years of fascinating performances, Maggie Gyllenhaal proved just as adept behind the camera, and with the script, of her Elena Ferrante adaptation. Every line of dialogue in The Lost Daughter screenplay is dripping—or, like the misplaced doll crucial to its plot, infested?—with provocative subtext.
Best International Feature
Nominees:Drive My Car; Flee; The Hand Of God; Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom; The Worst Person In The World
Will win:Drive My Car
Whenever a film is nominated for both Best Picture and the International Feature prize, it’s pretty unlikely that it will lose the latter, regardless of its chances for the former.
Could win:Flee
Drive My Car isn’t the only film with recognition in other major Oscar categories this year; Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s Danish film Flee finds itself in the running here and in both animated and documentary feature races. There’s no contender like this gorgeously rendered refugee tale, which could mean voters are ready to honor it.
Should win:Drive My Car
Hamaguchi’s intimate epic about a theater maker, his car, and the woman hired to drive him should sweep its four categories. It’s as nuanced and sublime a portrayal of both human connection and isolation as you’ll ever see.
Best Animated Feature Film
Nominees:Encanto; Flee; Luca; The Mitchells Vs. The Machines; Raya And The Last Dragon
Will win:Encanto
In what could be one of this year’s tightest races, the Disney juggernaut is the safest bet. Encanto is the rare film to earn Oscar nominations for both score and original song, the latter of which might edge this past other worthy nominees.
Could win:The Mitchells Vs. The Machines
The Annie Awards—Hollywood’s foremost animation accolades, and a useful clue for Oscar prognosticators—opted for Mike Rianda’s frenetic Netflix comedy this year. Campaign materials for The Mitchells Vs. The Machines have underlined its emphasis on the joy of creativity and filmmaking, which isn’t a bad strategy for an awards voting body that especially loves movies about movies.
Should win:Flee
The most resonant and relevant entry in this race is also its most unique; the animated documentary format of Flee enables its protagonist, called Amin, anonymity as he recounts his fraught journey from Afghanistan to Russia to Denmark. It’s a hyper-specific refugee story as well as a universal tale of perseverance and love conquering all.
Best Documentary Feature
Nominees:Ascension; Attica; Flee; Summer Of Soul; Writing With Fire
Will win:Summer Of Soul
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson has added BAFTA, Critics’ Choice, Spirit, and PGA awards to his mantle for Summer Of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised). Considering how much Academy voters adore music documentaries, the love is not likely to stop there.
Could win:Flee
Animated documentaries are so unusual in awards history that it’s tricky to gauge how voters might feel about this one.
Should win:Summer Of Soul
Questlove’s ode to, and gorgeous depiction of, the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival joins the elite group of filmmakers with stunning feature debuts. You almost feel like he should have made the jump behind the camera sooner. His film brilliantly interweaves past and present with jaw-dropping footage and insightful interviews that linger in the mind long after credits roll.
Best Original Song
Nominees: “Down to Joy,” Belfast; “Dos Oruguitas,” Encanto; “Somehow You Do,” Four Good Days; “Be Alive,” King Richard; “No Time To Die,” No Time To Die
Will win: “No Time To Die”
A chance to crown a rising music star and a strong Oscar track record for Bond anthems makes Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell obvious frontrunners for this most unpredictable of Academy Award categories. Of the nominated songs, this one not only had the biggest commercial footprint, hovering on the charts and commercial radio, but it kept No Time To Die in moviegoers’ minds for almost 18 months ahead of its theatrical release.
Could win: “Dos Oruguitas”
Lin-Manuel Miranda would clinch EGOT status with this Encanto song—the one Disney submitted for this category over chart-topping hit “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” (which, despite its absence from the nominations, will be featured in the upcoming ceremony). Not that James Bond isn’t popular, but this Disney juggernaut of a movie is certainly fresher in voters’ minds.
Should win: “Be Alive”
How is Beyoncé not an Oscar winner? What are we even doing here, people? Even if “Be Alive,” her song for Venus and Serena Williams co-written with Dixson, weren’t terrific—which, of course, it is—the Academy should be clamoring to make sure they’re not ignoring the career of one of today’s most impactful artists.
Left: Issa López (Photo: Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for NALIP), Right: Barry Jenkins (Photo: Jesse Grant/Getty Images)
It’s been more than three years now since HBO rolled out a new season of True Detective, Nic Pizzolatto’s once-zeitgeist-seizing true crime anthology. And while we may be 8 years distant now from ubiquitous “time is a flat circle” jokes, breathless appreciations for bravura tracking shots, and fevered attempts to tie the franchise into the Cthulhu mythos, the series maintains a certain mystique—not least of which because of the work Mahershala Ali and his cohorts did on the show’s inconsistent, but interesting, third outing back in 2019
Now it sounds like the series might be coming back, with one of Ali’s old collaborators at the helm. Deadline reports that HBO is apparently gearing up for a revival, or possible spin-off, of the series—supposedly titled True Detective: Night Country—that’ll be headed up by Tigers Are Not Afraidwriter/director Issa López and Moonlight’s Barry Jenkins.
Details about the series are being kept under wraps, although HBO president Carey Bloys did hint recently that the network might be trying to get back into the “grim meditations on time, memory, loss, etc. through the lens of detective work” game. Per Deadline, López will write, direct, and produce the show’s pilot, while Jenkins will serve as an executive producer. (The Oscar-winner has been working a bit in TV of late; he was nominated for an Emmy for his recent The Underground Railroad.)
López has been an established novelist and filmmaker in Mexico for years now, although she’s just started to break into American markets through films like 2019’s Tigers. Given what a career-boosting effect earlier True Detective seasons have sometimes had for creators—and how divisive responses to the series have been across its various eras—it’ll be interesting to see what reception she’s greeted with here.
No word yet on what involvement, if any, Pizzolatto will have with the series. He most recently penned the screenplay for 2021 Jake Gyllenhaal feature The Guilty.
“Spidey who?” asks the cast of Cinderella.Image: Amazon
Never underestimate the scope of fandom. That’s a lesson the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is currently learning, if we’re to believe a report from Deadline last week. The trade said that while most assumed a popular comic book movie like Spider-Man: No Way Home or Zack Snyder’s Justice League, both of which have rabid online followings, would easily take the crown in the newly announced Oscars Fan Favorite category (as probably intended), the film leading at the end of last week was actually Amazon’s Cinderella.
Yes. Cinderella. Starring pop star Camila Cabello, Billy Porter, Idina Menzel, Pierce Brosnan, and others, it’s a film which Sony, the studio behind No Way Home, sold to Amazon Studios back in May of last year. According to the report, fans of Cabello “were simply flooding the Academy’s Fan Fave site” last week giving it more momentum, and votes, than any other film. Oh, and it gets worse. Johnny Depp’s fans did the same thing. Yes, Deadline also reports that fans of the troubled actor have also been voting for a film called Minamata which got a small Oscar qualifying release last year and was subsequently ignored by the Academy. “Let’s do it for Johnny,” people are supposedly tweeting.
To be fair here, Deadline’s report came out on Friday, February 18, before the long weekend, and it’s not clear where, specifically, the site got its data. So this could just be a expertly placed piece of public relations to encourage fans of Spider-Man and Superman to continue voting their hearts out. But if enough fans of Camila Cabello do, in fact, outvote superhero fans I think that’s great—it’s the perfect reminder that if you come up with a stupid idea odds are it will not usually work out in the way you’d hope.
Voting for the Oscar Fan Favorite continues through the beginning of March and you can vote, and read more, on the official site.
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Clockwise from left: Nightmare Alley (Photo: Searchlight Pictures), Dune (Photo: Warner Bros.), Don’t Look Up (Photo: Netflix), Drive My Car (Photo: Sideshow/Janus Films)Graphic: Rebecca Fassola
Yesterday morning, at a gruelingly early hour (as per tradition), the nominations for the 94th annual Academy Awards were announced. And for the first time in 11 years, they included a full 10 movies in the Best Picture lineup. Many words could be expended here on the fluctuating number of available slots in that top category, which over the last decade has allowed for as few as five or as many as 10, depending on the amount of consensus support the films got during voting. This year, though, the Academy changed its rules and explicitly set the lineup at an even 10 movies, which the organization hasn’t done since the dawn of the 2010s. Perhaps they were hoping a guaranteed full double-digit slate would nudge that gigantic Spider-hit into contention, the better to boost sliding ceremony ratings. They’ll have to make due with Dune, and also maybe the streaming smash Don’t Look Up.
Best Picture is a full spectrum of budgets and subject matter this year, ranging from that aforementioned sci-fi monolith to what has to count as one of the artiest and least likeliest of nominees in this category ever. (Hint: It’s the one all the Oscar bloggers were up in arms about critics’ groups honoring in the early days of our endless awards season.) The actual quality of the movies up for the big prize ranges, too—though, of course, that’s always true and always a matter of opinion. Consider the full ranking of the Best Picture nominees that follows simply one man’s opinion, formed after another year on the review beat, watching spectacles he loved, coming-of-age dramas he didn’t, and everything in between. Fair warning: The list starts with a blast crater of disapproval, and takes a few clicks to get much more forgiving.
It feels like everyone on the internet is watching Netflix’s runaway hit Squid Game, and that includes a North Korean propaganda site, which praises the series for “exposing the reality of South Korean society, where weak meat and corruption has been on the rise and scoundrels are commonplace.”
The commentary comes from Arirang Meari (via Insider), and it’s exactly what you’d expect from a totalitarian state mouthpiece. The piece slams the inequality wrought by South Korean capitalism and a society where “people are treated like chess pieces.”
This is not the first time that North Korean propaganda sites have done something like this. According to Reuters, a North Korean daily also praised Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite for doing the same thing when it won the Oscar for Best Picture in 2020. It’s just, who exactly is all this grandstanding for?
As you might imagine, North Korea doesn’t have Netflix. (Though, it did create a Netflix-like app called My Companion 4.0 in 2017.) And though North Koreans do have access to smartphones, they’re limited to something called kwangmyong, or a state-controlled intranet that doesn’t have access to the outside world. Internet access as we know it in the U.S. is limited to those with special permission. Basically, the average North Korean citizen isn’t likely to have access to Squid Game. So either the propaganda is aimed at citizens, or it’s poking South Korea and the outside world… which doesn’t give a hoot what North Korea thinks about capitalism.
It is possible that Squid Game might make it across the 48th parallel. Activists have been known to send balloons with leaflets or USB drives containing K-dramas as a means of exposing North Korea’s bullshit. It’s a dangerous past-time, however. Those caught watching South Korean dramas face getting imprisoned, sent to labor camps, or executed. In 2014, at least 50 people were reportedly publicly executed for doing just that—including 10 officials from leader Kim Jong-Un’s own party. Kim Jong-un also recently called K-pop a “vicious cancer,” a move that was spurred by the fact that South Korean pop culture—of which Squid Game is a part—is becoming increasingly popular with younger North Koreans.
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Even if a person was brave enough to watch contraband content, it’s still a bad look for the regime. One of Squid Game’s fan-favorite characters, Kang Sae-byeok, is a North Korean defector whose main reason for entering the dystopian tournament is to earn money to bring her family to South Korea. Sae-byeok also hides her North Korean accent when speaking to South Korean characters, and is derided as a “commie” or “spy” when other characters notice. That’s in addition to the fact the whole series negatively portrays arbitrary violence and executions over rule-breaking.
The irony of all this is truly next-level self-ownage. Then again, perhaps no one writing the propaganda has watched the actual show.
Oscars producer Steven SoderberghPhoto: Amy Sussman (Getty Images)
After a year that’s seen the Hollywood Awards Machine struggle desperately to portray its participants as Glittering Gods, even as our collective desire to be Sweatpants Trolls has swept through film and television elites, one group has seemed most bullheadedly dedicated to keeping up the lie: The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences. Earlier this month, we reported on the Oscar-granting body’s efforts to keep up so-called “standards” by requiring attendees to this year’s show to show up in person, dress like fancy people, and talk about themselves in terms beyond their latest ideas for which snack chips to dip into what flavor goo to stave off existential ennui. Now, though, the Oscars producers—including director Steven Soderbergh—have relented on at least one of the realities of COVID-world, acknowledging that international attendees might not necessarily want to load themselves into metal tubes filled with aspirated spit in order to fly to Los Angeles to pick up a statue.
This is per Variety, which reports that, while plans for the big event—scheduled for April 25—are still being kept fairly quiet, there will be at least one event space in London where nominees can gather in order to participate in this year’s Oscar’s. And while other venues are reportedly being pursued in other European countries, the basic thrust is still the same: We’re doing this thing in person, dammit, for whatever definition of “in person” we can swing. So, for instance, all musical performances will reportedly be done live in L.A., all participants are expected to test themselves with Academy-provided kits and bubble-up ahead of showing up at the event, and—possibly—they might even try to rig a system where the nominees in question are rotated into the theater proper when it’s their turn to have their categories announced. All of which sounds a lot harder than just letting Jason Sudeikis wear his damn sweatshirt, but, hey, to each incarnation of entertainment industry snobbery their own, we guess.