In this post I review 6 new films
including a Canadian feature as among the best. The Traitor (Italy/France/Germany/Brazil
2019 https://www.sonyclassics.com/thetraitor/) Veteran Italian director and co-writer
Marco Bellochio’s sprawling crime drama is based on the actual life of Tommaso
Buscetta (strikingly played by Pierfranceso Favino), a key member of the
Sicilian “Costa Nostra”, who had moved his family to Brazil when several sons
were murdered by rivals (during the internecine mob wars over control of the
heroin trade an on-screen body count clicks past 150).The flamboyant Buscetta, no stranger to
killing, became known as “the boss of the two worlds”.But after being arrested and tortured—there’s
an especially harrowing scene where his wife’s life is threatened—he was
extradited back to Italy where in the 1980s he became a protected key witness
in a famous series of anti-mafia trials, although he continued to regard
himself as a “man of honour” not an “informant”. Buscetta forged a …
First, about who and what got Oscar
valentines (for all the winners see: https://oscar.go.com/news/winners/oscar-winners-2020-see-the-full-list). I was so thrilled by the triumph of the South
Korean Parasite as best picture (as well as winning best director for
Bong Joon-ho, and original screenplay along with the expected best
international feature). Parasite topped my own list of the best
films of 2019 (https://gjschmitz.blogspot.com/2020/01/new-year-post-best-movies-of-2019-and.html). It had won the prestigious Cannes festival’s
Palme d’Or. But past holders of that
distinction were rarely even nominated.
In the age of Trump and “America First”, it’s the first best picture for
a non-English language, non-American movie in 92 years. [*Only one other Cannes Palme winner has gone
on to take the top Oscar prize—that was Marty
in 1955-56, but it was an English language American movie.] I was also relieved that 1917—my least favorite among the 9 nominees (although its legendary
cine…