Evelyn Rose is a sophomore and a reporter for the Fishers Tiger Times. Her views do not necessarily reflect those of the newspaper and Gavin Koontz is a junior and a reporter for the Fishers Tiger Times. His views do not necessarily reflect those of the newspaper.
Ten films will enter the arena known as the Oscars on March 3, 2025, and one film will be chosen as the Best Picture of the year. Today Evelyn Rose and Gavin Koontz will share their opinions on who should win the Oscar.
Evelyn Rose on Conclave directed by Edward Berger with 93% critics Rotten Tomatoes.
The plot of “Conclave” is based on the book with the same name by Robert Harris where the Pope ends up dead and they must choose one of the cardinals to be the new pope. The film turns into a thriller where at every turn, cardinals have secrets they do not wish to be revealed.
There have only been two films I have been late to viewing that were out of my control. The second time I was late was “Conclave”. Even though I was five minutes late and I am also not religious, I was not expecting much from it. The film was still mesmerizing.
Ralph Fiennes has one-of-a-kind performance of his career in “Conclave.” He plays Cardinal Lawrence, who has been dealing with his own faith and is no longer sure if he should be a part of the church.
Fiennes delivers all his lines with such feverous understanding of the severity choosing a new pope. The moment that shows why, in my opinion, the film deserves best picture of the year is the sermon scene. It is only thirty minutes into the runtime and lasts two minutes. Lawrence is chosen to be the cardinal that gives the speech on the first day of voting for a new pope. His speech delves into the idea that with faith there must be uncertainty.
Fiennes as an actor decides to have moments where Lawrence audibly swallows mirroring that he himself is uncertain. The sound designer, Ben Baird, decided to put an echo to the scene to show just how big the room is and how many people Lawrence is talking to in this scene.
Fiennes was also extremely adamant that the speech he delivers will have two stages to it. The first stage Lawrence speaks in Italian, being extremely formal and choosing politically correct words. The second stage of the speech is where he uses English expressing his doubt about the church.
The first stage uses wide angles giving the audience a sense of disconnection to the speech as if you are supposed to be zoning out, but once Lawrence switches to English the style switches to close-ups. The camera does a close-up of two characters Cardinal Lawrence and Sister Agnes [Issabella Rossellini] showing us these two characters are the ones most genuinely interested and believing in the church. Sister Agnes, however, is forced to sit outside so for her all of the words we hear from her perspective are muffled, subtly showing us how undermined the sisterhood is considering they cannot even sit in on the meetings.
This is where the film’s politics are interesting. The cardinals are forced to figure out if they want a conservative Pope or a progressive one who would be more tolerant of homosexuals and women in the church, which makes the audience reflect on our own politics while letting the film play out.
Ralph Fiennes is joined by Isabella Rossellini, who finally after eight years of being out of the limelight returns to the big screen. Rossellini plays Sister Agnes one of the nuns who decides to help Cardinal Lawrence in his quest to find the best person to be the next pope.
If Issabella Rossellini is to win for Best Actress, she will become the actress with the least amount of screen time to win an Oscar. This will be deserved because of the scene where Agnes decides to expose the fact that one of the cardinals intentionally requested a sister to appear out of the blue from a different continent to bring up an old adultery controversy. Sister Agnes has one of the most powerful monologue in which she explains that the church is held up because of the sisterhood even if they are an invisible force. Also, that they can expose any secret because of them being considered flies on the wall.
The monologue lasts 53 seconds but still impacts the viewer, being the most memorable scene in the entire film.
“Conclave” does not just have great performances, the cinematography is one of the best examples recently on how to shoot inside tight buildings and still have it be extremely interesting. This type of camera movement could be compared to the great “Twelve Angry Men.” Cinematographer Stéphane Fontaine also made an interesting choice to only move the camera when an important moment in the plot happens, that gives the audience a subtle hint that something significant was just said whenever the camera moves.
This, in turn, created an interesting pacing causing the film to never feel boring or repetitive. The final shot of “Conclave” is also the most memorable of the 2024 film lineup.
“Conclave” has been nominated for eight Oscars. If it wins any of them, it will be well deserved with powerhouse performances and beautiful cinematography alongside practical sets in an era of using CGI on every set; however, receiving the Oscar does not determine if a film is good. That is especially true for “Conclave”
Gavin Koontz on A Complete Uknown directed by James Mangold with 81% critics on Rotten Tomatoes
James Mangold’s “A Complete Unknown” is a 2024 film that follows Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) as he begins his career in Greenwich Village through his divisive switch to electric instruments in 1965. Dylan, who came to prominence in the folk revival scene in the early 1960’s, clashes with many in the scene for his gravitation to electric, rock and roll influenced sounds due to the traditional and minimalist values of many in the scene. As someone who has been a Bob Dylan fan for most of my life, I was intrigued and a bit skeptical of the idea of a true Dylan biopic, however, I was sufficiently impressed. The film has gone on to be nominated for eight Oscars, one of which being the nomination for Best Picture which I believe it should win.
The movie does an amazing job capturing the feeling of the 1960’s folk revival movement, which was spearheaded by Dylan’s mainstream success. It is elevated with unbelievable performances by not only its lead, Chalamet, but by Monica Barbaro’s portrayal of Joan Baez as well as Edward Norton’s portrayal of Pete Seeger, both of whom were nominated for Oscars, being Best Supporting Actress and Actor respectively.
Their performances are incredible, with each performing all their own vocals for the movie. Barbaro’s was my favorite portrayal in the movie, and she stole every scene she was in. Her introduction to the audience comes at a club, where, after some brief dialogue with her manager, she performs the folk classic “The House of The Rising Sun”, which has given me chills every time I have seen the movie.
Norton’s portrayal of folk legend Pete Seeger was amazing and emotional, showing rather than telling his conflict with Dylan’s musical direction during the latter half of the film. He represents a middle ground between the extremes of Dylan’s experiential fusion of folk and rock music, and the dogmatic and creatively stifling folk scene. This comes to a dramatic resolution during one of the last big scenes of the movie, when Dylan performs with electric instruments at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.
Timothée Chalamet was nothing short of amazing, bringing a captivating performance to one of the most enigmatic figures in popular culture. His evolution from a nervous young musician meeting his hospitalized hero Woody Guthrie (Scott McNairy) to the rebellious contrarian who plays exclusively by his own rules is fascinating to watch. His chemistry with Barbaro perfectly portrayed the tumultuous relationship between Dylan and Baez.
Everything from the sound design to the costumes was spot on, which led to a very vivid depiction of the 1960s. Each costume was, to my knowledge, a near perfect recreation of what would have been worn by every artist in the film. The movie sounds amazing, with each scene with music truly capturing the energy of a live performance in a way that very few biopics have captured, such as Dylan’s performance of the song “Maggie’s Farm” at the Newport Folk Festival.
The scene was complemented by the sound of Mike Bloomfield’s (Eli Brown) screaming blues guitar, which can only come from a cranked vintage tube amplifier. The scene just feels loud, contrasting with the mostly acoustic live performances shown previously. A standout scene for sound design was during the first half of the movie during the Cuban Missel Crisis. The sound of TV’s all over New York City being tuned to the exact same channel was done so well, and when mixed with the chaos and panic of the event, it really put into perspective the social and political climate that was so influential to Dylan’s early career.
Regardless of who wins, it will be good for cinema, as it will put the spotlight on the actors, actresses, directors and designers who keep the art of cinema alive. As Director Denis Villeneuve once said, “Long Live Cinema.”
