OSCARS WATCH 2025 – The Substance: Youth, Body, Women, Success (Part Two)

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OSCARS WATCH 2025 – The Substance: Youth, Body, Women, Success (Part Two)

This piece is part of a series of critical responses to the films nominated for Best Picture at the 97th Academy Awards. In this in-conversation piece, Do Own (Donna) Kim, Utsav Gandhi, and Gabrielle Roitman exchange critical, intercultural, and personal readings of The Substance (2024). In Part One, Donna opened the conversation with the “love yourself :(“ South Korean (henceforth Korean) Internet meme. Now, in Part Two, Gabrielle and Utsav expand on her reading by exploring other connections, from American pop culture to immigrant experiences and queer bodies. “Have you ever dreamt of a better version of yourself? Younger. More beautiful. More perfect….The one and only thing not to forget: you are one. You can’t escape from yourself.” (excerpt from “The Substance” product introduction video) Is “love yourself” the solution? Can we? How? We welcome you to join our conversation.

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OSCARS WATCH 2025 – The Substance: Youth, Body, Women, Success (Part One)

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OSCARS WATCH 2025 – The Substance: Youth, Body, Women, Success (Part One)

This piece is part of a series of critical responses to the films nominated for Best Picture at the 97th Academy Awards. In this in-conversation piece, Do Own (Donna) Kim, Utsav Gandhi, and Gabrielle Roitman exchange critical, intercultural, and personal readings of The Substance (2024). In Part One, Donna opens the conversation with the “love yourself :(“ South Korean (henceforth Korean) Internet meme. Then, in Part Two, Gabrielle and Utsav expand on her reading by exploring other connections, from American pop culture to immigrant experiences and queer bodies. “Have you ever dreamt of a better version of yourself? Younger. More beautiful. More perfect….The one and only thing not to forget: you are one. You can’t escape from yourself.” (excerpt from “The Substance” product introduction video) Is “love yourself” the solution? Can we? How? We welcome you to join our conversation.

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OSCARS WATCH 2025 – Anora

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OSCARS WATCH 2025 – Anora

This piece is part of a series of critical responses to the films nominated for Best Picture at the 97th Academy Awards. With this video essay, Green and Red perform a poetic analysis of both the style and content of nominee Anora, evoking Kogonada's use of the dotted line and the driving poetic force of Catherine Grant's "Carnal Locomotive."

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OSCARS WATCH 2025 – A Complete Unknown: A Conversation With Jonathan Taplin

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OSCARS WATCH 2025 – A Complete Unknown: A Conversation With Jonathan Taplin

This post is part of a series of critical responses to the films nominated for Best Picture at the 97th Academy Awards. The following is an edited extract of a recording made recently for the production of the How Do You Like It So Far? Podcast, hosted by Henry Jenkins and Colin Maclay. Our guest is Jonathan Taplin, an American writer, film producer and scholar. Taplin is the Director Emeritus of the Annenberg Innovation Lab at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and Chairman of the Board of the Americana Music Foundation. Taplin's early production work included producing concerts for Bob Dylan and The Band. In 1973, he produced Martin Scorsese' first major feature film, Mean Streets. In this excerpt from our upcoming podcast episode, we discussed A Complete Unknown (2024), what it was like to be at the Newport festival (which is the climax of the film), and how Taplin sees the current state of American popular culture. We will post here when the episode is released.

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OSCARS WATCH 2025 – Political Fears and Fantasies in Edward Berger’s Conclave

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OSCARS WATCH 2025 – Political Fears and Fantasies in Edward Berger’s Conclave

This post is part of a series of critical responses to the films nominated for Best Picture at the 97th Academy Awards. The political thriller is a genre that most effectively exists in close proximity to history. Regardless of whether its narratives are based on actual events, they draw on the political fears and paranoias of an era. It is why, historically, we have seen the genre congregate around moments of significant political tension or fear. We live in such an era now, with the divisive unorthodoxy of Trump being but the most prominent of numerous international examples of the growing divide between left and right and a breaking down of previously accepted political norms. That being the case, it should not be surprising to see a political thriller, Edward Berger’s Conclave, find its way into what is a notably political Best Picture field for this year’s Academy Awards.

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OSCARS WATCH 2025 – I’m Still Here: A Harrowing Retelling and Warning

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OSCARS WATCH 2025 – I’m Still Here: A Harrowing Retelling and Warning

This piece is part of a series of critical responses to the films nominated for Best Picture at the 97th Academy Awards. Fouquet weaves connections between nominees I'm Still Here, A Complete Unknown, and The Apprentice as well as real-world political events in Brazil and the United States. She questions whether we are ready today to prevent the tragedy that befell the Paivas and the hundreds of families affected by disappeared Brazilians, as there is every sign of history repeating itself.

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