Oliva Coleman (The Favourite, The Father) continues her recent run of extraordinary performances in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut, The Lost Daughter, a movie about the pressures of motherhood. Set in the present day on an unnamed Greek island. Leda (Coleman), a divorced Italian Literature professor from the United States, is on a solo vacation at a lower-level seaside holiday rental managed by the affable and a tad eccentric Lyle (Ed Harris – The Abyss, The Hours). When first meeting Lyle, we think he might be in the movie; you might feel you are in store for another of Harris’s outstanding performances. But, unfortunately, he’s not much of a factor, and I wonder why he even chose to take this role.
Category Archives: Olivia Colman
The Father (2020)
Anthony Hopkins (The Remains of the Day, Amistad) gives the second-best performance of his career (The Silence of the Lambs) in a film that fails to overwhelm, like most of the other best picture nominees. Disguised by the outstanding performances of many of the other movies nominated for Oscar’s most prominent award of the night, The Father (Florian Zeller’s directorial debut) is a very well-made film that we should remember for its story, its performances, its execution, and its all too real haunting reality. I’ll concede to that if these things meet the checklist of a Best Picture-nominated movie. But there was something while watching this highly engaging film that felt like it didn’t deserve to be a movie that was one of the eight best in any year. With that said, 2020 as a whole did not generate many great films. In that regard, The Father merits its acclaim. The counter-argument is that the Academy doesn’t have to nominate up to ten films. Before 2009, only five films were able to receive a nomination. Since then, the fewest number of Best Picture nominated films for a given year has been seven (2018). 2020 would have been a year that warranted the minimum number of selections. However, the top movies, as a whole, were so poor that it would be just as challenging to distinguish five that are that much better than eight.
Them That Follow (2019)
Such a simple premise and simple story is co-directors Britt Poulton and Dan Madison Savage’s creepy faith-based community movie Them That Follow. You can almost exactly predict the story and the steps it takes along the way and still be surprised when they happen. That is the sign of a quality film with quality people working behind and in front of the camera. And that’s what we have here, with this simplistic, beautifully artistic film, far from perfect but captivating.
The Favourite (2018)
Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster, The Killing of the Sacred Deer) is not my favorite director. His latest film, the Olivia Colman (Murder On The Orient Express, Locke) led The Favourite, is not my favorite film. His style doesn’t work for me. I like creative movies. I like unique films. I sometimes like eccentric movies. But weird movies are hit or miss, and his are mostly a miss for me. Ironically, The Favourite is probably his most “normal” to date. But I found myself disinterested in it from the start. Just as ironically, the much lesser recognized Mary Queen of Scots, which was released within a week or two of this movie (and a film that I enjoyed), was widely disregarded by critics and audiences alike (63%, 44% on Rotten Tomatoes compared to 94%, 61% for The Favourite). I’m only reviewing this movie because it will likely get nominated for many Academy Awards, and sadly, Best Picture will be one of those.