The 2021 Danny’s

Tonight, due to the virus that shall not be named, the Academy will be giving out their annual Oscars from a train station. We have not been as impacted here at the Danny’s. Our awards are still being given out from the Lay-Z-Boy where my rapidly expanding behind has spent far too much time over the last 13 months.

I have not been inside a movie theater since February 2020, a fact that makes me very sad. I watched all of this year’s films on my television. To be fair, it’s a very nice television, but it’s not something I want to do again. Movies are meant to be viewed on a big screen with an audience that generates a collective energy when the plot, dialogue, music, and sound effects come together just right.

Instead, I spent far too much money paying for a rapidly growing number of streaming services over the last year. And I still had to fork over another $50 just to rent a few more of the major releases. Still, I am grateful there was a way for so many movies to make it out into the world in these, let’s say it together, unprecedented times. A pandemic impacted Danny’s is better than no Danny’s at all!

I struggled with my Best Picture award in this virus-ravaged year and ultimately decided that the winner should be the movie that made me the happiest. There’s no doubt that was Palm Springs. I won’t argue that my choice makes any grand artistic statement, but it put a smile on my face every time I watched it. That counts for a great deal in a year plagued by so much horrible news. As does the fact it takes a massive amount of chutzpah to create a variation on the time loop comedy that Groundhog Day so masterfully established. Credit goes to director Max Barbakow and writer Andy Siara for coming up with a fresh take that also earns my Best Original Screenplay award. By making the experience of living the same day over and over again a communal one, the film is able to explore new depths on a familiar theme. And it’s damn funny too, with Andy Samberg, Cristin Milloti, and the always-welcome J.K. Simmons giving great performances.

It was a close decision for Best Picture, so I want to call out Nomadland as my Best Picture Runner Up. As a bit of a loner and wandering spirit myself, I could relate to the journey of Frances McDormand’s impeccably acted character. Based on real-life nomads who have given up a conventional life for one spent on the road, director/writer Chloé Zhao sheds light on a part of America that most people never see. Combining a deeply personal story with sweeping visuals showing off the country’s astounding natural beauty makes for a unique experience. In a world that is increasingly cluttered and loud, something simple and quiet is a breath of fresh air.

My Best Director is Emerald Fennell, whose Promising Young Woman could have been a warmed-over post-feminist Death Wish rehash. Instead, her singular candy-colored vision masquerades as a black comedy, but at its core is a horrible tragedy. Pulling off something this audacious would not have been possible without my first Best Actress winner, Carey Mulligan. She is equally fierce and wounded as her character tries to impose some kind of order on a world that has betrayed her. I will be the first to admit that the ending is not for everyone. It had me cackling with glee at one moment and then soberly sad the more I thought about it. Films this distinctive do not come along very often.

I also have two Best Actors this year (because I can do whatever I want!). The first goes to someone who is undoubtedly the biggest shoo-in since Heath Ledger won posthumously for The Dark Knight. Like Ledger, Chadwick Boseman’s life was also cut way too short. It would be hard to blame anyone for voting for him for his work in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom as a lifetime achievement award. However, his performance is truly outstanding. While the film overall struggles to escape its origins as a stage play, Boseman, as he often was, is electric on the screen, displaying a bravado that slowly morphs into something much more than tragic.

My second Best Actor goes to Anthony Hopkins for his heartbreaking work as a man suffering from the ravages of Alzheimer’s. Director/Co-Writer Florian Zeller’s inventive film literally goes inside the mind of Hopkins’ character as he tries to make sense of the world in a way that is no longer possible for him. Hopkins’ work is seemingly effortless as the circumstances of his reality are slowly revealed. The final scene is one of the more shattering things I have seen on a screen in a long time.

My second Best Actress is Julian Garner for The Assistant, which came out in January 2020, or what I like to call the “Before Time.” That early release date is probably why she was overlooked this awards season. As the personal assistant to a film producer modeled after the piece of human garbage that is Harvey Weinstein, her performance is quietly devastating as she slowly takes in the horror around her that everyone else tolerates as business as usual.

The Danny for Best Adapted Screenplay goes to The White Tiger. It’s a highly energetic look into the life of a young Indian peasant who does everything he can to escape a life of perpetual servitude. Written by director Ramin Bahrani, based on the novel by Aravind Adiga, it’s an engaging and entertaining glimpse into 21st century India that also tells a universal story of someone striving to break free from their circumstances in an unfair world.

The Best Scene of the year is hands down the final one in Another Round, Danish director Thomas Vinterberg’s film about four middle-aged men who resolve to stay slightly drunk all the time. This social experiment goes in many different directions but ends on an incredibly life-affirming note. What Vinterberg and leading man Mads Mikkelsen pull off in the last scene is guaranteed to put a smile on the face of even the grumpiest of filmgoers.

My Best Animated Feature is Pixar’s Soul. It’s always refreshing when that particular studio puts out something that’s not a sequel or a movie designed to set up one. While not the peak Pixar of Inside Out, I still credit directors Peter Docter and Kemp Powers with digging deeper than most movies dare. Ideas such as death and a human’s true purpose are weighty. Wrapping them in a package suitable for kids is no easy feat.

Best Documentary Feature goes to My Octopus Teacher, an intimate look into a damaged man’s friendship with an Octopus. Featuring some of the most gorgeous underwater cinematography ever captured, the film also makes you reconsider life on this planet in wholly unexpected ways.

The Ode to the Golden Age of Hollywood award easily belongs to Mank. The story of Herman J. Mankiewicz, the screenwriter behind Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane, will likely only resonate if you have seen that masterpiece. (And if you haven’t, ignore every other movie in this post and watch that first instead.) For film geeks like me, it’s a treasure trove. As always, Gary Oldman is phenomenal.

Best Sound Design goes to Sound of Metal for placing the viewer inside the ears of a heavy metal musician who goes deaf. The movie features an excellent performance from Riz Ahmed as well.

A few other films and performances to note:

Playing an icon must be a daunting challenge. That makes the work of the four main actors in One Night in Miami all the more superb: Kingsley Ben-Adir as Malcolm X, Leslie Odom Jr. as Sam Cooke, Eli Goree as Cassius Clay, and Aldis Hodge as Jim Brown. And a shout out to writer Kemp Powers. Along with his work on Soul, he had quite the year.

Sacha Baron Cohen pulled off a great double of his own with his portrayal of Abbie Hoffman in The Trial of the Chicago 7 and his improbably good follow-up in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm. Maria Bakalova also gives one of the year’s best comedic performances as Borat’s daughter. And a Worst Supporting Actor to Rudy Giuliani as well. Eww.  

Daniel Kalyuua’s work as Fred Hampton in Judas and the Black Messiah is towering. The movie itself is worth watching but not as insightful as it should have been.

Youn Yuh-Jung is memorable as a foul-mouthed grandmother in the affecting Minari.

Wolfwalkers is a stunningly animated film well worth your time.

My apologies to The People vs. Billie Holliday, News of the World, and Pieces of a Woman, which I have not watched yet. I meant to get to one of you last night, but, honestly, I was in a bit of a funk and decided to watch Palm Springs again.

With that, the 2021 Danny’s come to an end. I am fully vaccinated now, so if any of the winners want to pick up their award in person, feel free to come on by!