I didn't know much about Ruth Bader Ginsberg. Sure, I knew she is a justice on the United States Supreme Court. And yes, I knew that a documentary came out in 2018 called RBG about her life (and I've been meaning to see it). But beyond that, I didn't know how she started her career in law or what she did to gain the skills needed to serve on the Supreme Court. So I went into On the Basis of Sex with limited background knowledge and quickly learned that wasn't going to be an issue because the film doesn't assume that viewers know about Ginsberg and her work.
Starting at the beginning of Ginsberg's career, as a first year law student at Harvard, the film explores how being a woman is constantly seen as negative. Ginsberg entered law school in 1956, a time when women were expected to stay at home and have children. Instead, Ginsberg seeks her own career and faces skepticism at best and outright anger at worst from her professors (or at least that's how it's portrayed in the film). The film progresses from her days in law school to her job at Rutgers where she is a law professor. It's not the job she wanted, but it was the only job she could find. Instead of fighting for women's rights in court, Ginsberg teaches students about how law and gender intersect. Not quite the job she had in mind.
Watching Ginsberg's early career and how she takes on a case (with the support of the ACLU) is inspiring for sure, but it left me with the realization that I didn't know just how bad it was for women prior to 1970. Sure, women could have jobs, but legally, they had no protection. For women, it was like being in the eye of a hurricane; things were calm but at any moment devastation would begin. I realized that not only have I benefited from the work women like Ginsberg did in the 1970s, I didn't know just how terrible life was for women before the laws changed. My life would be completely different today if not for her work. And yes, there were men who helped as well. But Ginsberg's tenacity is why so much changed. She didn't give up.
Ultimately, On the Basis of Sex is an inspirational biopic. I felt empowered afterwards and a whole lot smarter. But is this film one for the Academy to recognize? Probably not. And I'm okay with that. Sometimes it's just awesome to have a film that speaks to your soul.
Last year, Allison Janney won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for her role as LaVona, Tonya Harding's mother, in I, Tonya. As a fan of Janney from her time on The West Wingand the voice of Peach in Finding Nemo and Finding Dory along with my childhood obsession with figure skating, I, Tonya seemed like a logical choice for me to watch. And it was. Oh, it was.
In the early 1990s, I was a HUGE Kristy Yamiguchi fan. I watched the 1992 Olympics with my mom, and Yamiguchi's performances mesmerized me. Here I was, an unathletic kid who could barely rollerskate and had never ice skated, and Kristy Yamiguchi made me want to don a sequined leotard and tights and become a famous Olympic figure skater. Or at the very least, a performer at the Ice Capades. (It's probably for the best that this career never moved past the "When I grow up, I wanna be" stage since the Ice Capades ended in early 2000.) Just two years later and the Winter Olympics were coming back. I was so ready to see my favorite, Kristy Yamiguchi, take the ice, but alas, she decided not to return. So that left me with a choice: Nancy Kerrigan or Tonya Harding. I went with Kerrigan, but the choice was not satisfying. Kerrigan seemed aloof and unrelatable. But when the whole break-her-knee-so-she-can't-skate attack went down, I felt justified in picking Kerrigan, Clearly Harding didn't deserve my support. I was fully convinced she had something to do with the attack.
Fast forward twenty years and here I am as an adult, aware now that ice skating is better admired from my couch than actually donning the blades myself, watching I, Tonya. In some ways, the film was shocking. I had no idea that Tonya had such a horrible life, with an abusive mom (a role that Janney most certainly delivered in) and later an abusive husband. I also didn't realize her athletic skills and hard work or the way the figure skating community completely excluded her because of her background. I know I, Tonya is not completely true; it is, after all, a biopic and thus susceptible to exaggeration at best to outright incorrect information at worst. But what set this biopic apart from other ones I've watched is the inclusion of footage at the end:
The part that caught me the most at the end here is how Tonya looks when she's in the car with her ex-husband Jeff. She looks like she's uncomfortable, like something is wrong. Seeing that in the context of the film, I couldn't jump right to "well, she's uncomfortable because she's in on the attack." Instead, I wondered about the abuse. Was she safe with this man? Is that why she looks scared?
The film is about what is true or not, and it doesn't leave the audience with a definitive answer. Perhaps the truth will never be known, but at the very least, I think Harding deserves more than what the world gave her.
After watching 1952's Best Picture Winner The Greatest Show on Earth, I swore I would never watch another circus movie again. Well, that lasted about four years...
A co-worker recommended The Greatest Showman, so I borrowed a copy and watched it over my winter break. I had already listened to the soundtrack, and when I watched last year's Oscars, I saw the cast perform the Oscar winning song "This Is Me." I don't remember much of my reaction at the time, but within the context of the film, the song is a heartfelt, powerful reminder that people need to accept others for who they are:
With such an essential message in this song, I expected the film to focus on this message. And yes, that's part of the story. But the real story in the film is about P.T. Barnum (played by Hugh Jackman, who, as always, is enjoyable to watch), who comes across at times as a savior for the "freaks" he finds. Not thinking much about the film, that could be one interpretation. But take a moment and think about it: a regular guy must be the one to save these people who are just being themselves. They are persecuted because of their size, shape, color of their skin, and other physical qualities. Watching the film, I began hoping that the focus would move away from Barnum and be more about the stars of the show; after all, they are the ones people came to see. Barnum brought them together, but it's their talent and their uniqueness that drew people in. But even that is troubling for me because I had to wonder why the audience was there. Were they really interested in seeing talent? Or were they merely curious about what is deemed odd or freakish? I suppose the initial draw was the second reason and later it became about the talent. I don't really know.
As for the film, the story is predictable, so it makes for a good folding laundry film for me. I could look away from the screen and still follow the story. I didn't mind the predictability that much because the ending is happy, and sometimes I need a happy ending. Considering I had recently watched BlacKkKlansman, a predictable and happy ending film was the right fit for me. But I'm not telling people to see The Greatest Showman. It's fine, sure, and if you want something predictable, go for it. But you would probably be just as satisfied if you pulled up your favorite comfort food film and watched that, possibly even more so.
Spike Lee's newest film, BlacKkKlansmanis a film everyone must see. It's not an easy film to watch; actually, it's emotionally wrenching at times because of the hatred that has to be present to show just how horrible the KKK is. Yet my discomfort was one reason I needed to see this film; I need to understand better what it's like to be a person of color in this country. BlacKkKlansman is another step for me in understanding that experience more (and here I must acknowledge that I will never be done in taking these steps).
The film is based on Ron Stallworth's experience as the first black police detective in Colorado Springs in the 1970s. In 1978, he saw an ad in the newspaper for the KKK and decided to contact the group. Pretending to be white, he convinced the KKK to let him join (which required him to ask a white colleague to do all face-to-face meetings). Lee's film follows Stallworth's story to a point, taking creative freedom at times to develop characters and create engaging conflicts that make the film riveting. But the main premise, that a black police detective talks to David Duke (the head of the KKK) and Duke has no clue that he's talking to a black man, is true. And that is yet another reason why segregation and prejudice and racism don't make sense. We are all people who deserve equal treatment. Even a man who claims to be superior to other races and leads an organization centered on hatred and racism cannot figure out when he's talking to a person of color.
With a storyline like this and an innovative director like Lee, the film already has so much power. But the acting takes the film beyond amazing into the phenomenal level. John David Washington as Ron Stallworth shows the conflict that Stallworth must have felt working for the police while being a black man. Washington conveys Stallworth's discomfort at times while also making him a strong, honorable man who is trying to make the world safer and better. During the phone conversation scenes, Washington's facial expressions reflect Stallworth's true feelings toward Duke and other KKK members while maintaining a different verbal tone to keep up the undercover work. It's no surprise to me that Washington was nominated for a Golden Globe for best actor. I'm looking forward to seeing what else Washington does (and on January 22 I'm expecting him to be nominated for an Oscar). Adam Driver plays the white Ron Stallworth, and in this role, he must switch between being a cop to being a KKK member. What impressed me were the moments when Driver had to be at the meetings and act the part of being full of hate to convince the other members that he meant it. There are subtle moments where Driver shows the conflict he feels in this position, especially since his character Flip is Jewish, and those suspenseful moments drive the film forward, intensifying the danger both the real and fake Ron Stallworth is in.
I can't write much more without giving away more of the plot, so I'm going to end here. I'm so grateful I watched BlacKkKlansman. Now if only the Academy will give it the respect it deserves.
