Punched By the Phoenix

Hi, I’m a researcher and PhD student studying unwanted sexual experiences on campus.  I am seeking research participants for a study for my dissertation. 

Awards season is in full swing.  Here are my picks for film awards for the Golden Globes. 

Best Original Song

I’m kind of torn between my obsession with the Greatest Showman soundtrack and love for Coco.  But I’m going with “Remember Me” for this one. 

Best Animated Feature

Coco

Best Screenplay

This is a tough one.  Molly’s Game was so great, but I would love Lady Bird to get recognition.  (also feeling mad that Get Out isn’t nominated here.) I’m going with Greta Gerwig for this one. 

Best Director

It’s an idea whose time has come.  Christopher Nolan for all the awards.  Dunkirk is an incredible achievement of storytelling, action, and drama.

Supporting Actor

Willem Dafoe is the frontrunner for Florida Project, but I could see Christopher Plummer sneaking in there for All the Money in the World. 

Supporting Actress

This is a really tough one.  I would love to see any of these great actresses win.  Mary J. Blige and Allison Janney make powerful transformations.  I also would be great for Hong Chau to win.  I’m just going to see what happens. 

Best Actor- Musical or Comedy

James Franco is mesmerizing in the Disaster Artist.  An incredible achievement as an actor and filmmaker. I would also love to see Danial Kaluya get some recognition here, but I have to go with Franco for the win. 

Best Actress- Musical or Comedy

Lots of good choices here.  For me it’s between Margo Robbie and Saoirse Ronan.  Robbie brings a pathos and relatable context to a media villain in I, Tonya.  Also the physical demands of those ice skating scenes puts her in the lead for me. But I’ve been a fan of Saoirse Ronan since Atonement.  Would be happy if either win.  I could also see a Dame Judi Dench surprise for her second turn as Queen Victoria. 

Best Actor- Drama

Gary Oldman or bust!  He soars as Winston Churchill.  I was totally fired up by Darkest Hour and impressed by his transformation. 

Best Actress

My pick is Jessica Chastain for Molly’s Game.  She was born to say Sorkin dialogue. I could also see a Meryl Streep win.  I wouldn’t mind another barn-burner speech.  

Best Comedy

Even though it’s not a comedy, I think Get Out should win.  This movie captured the mood of the year perfectly.  Jordan Peele directed the hell out of it, it has a perfect cast, and it’s the movie that has stayed with me the most over the course of the year.  

Best Drama

Leonardo DiCaprio at Golden Globes 2016

The only season that matters begins tonight: Awards Season.  Critics groups have been wavering between Moonlight and La La Land.  Tonight Oscar hopefuls gain momentum and try out for giving a great speech.  Here are my picks.

Best Motion Picture — Drama

Moonlight - I’m firmly on #TeamMoonlight. This film excels on every level.  The cinematography and editing create movement, intimacy, and urgency without being distracting.  The performances of Alex R. Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, and  Trevante Rhodes as Little, Chiron, and Black seamlessly create a whole person who feels as close as a family member at the end of the film. Mahershala Ali is fantastic and nuanced as Juan. 

Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy

La La Land- Well made and shot, Hollywood lovers of all ages will be supporting this film.  

Best Director — Motion Picture

Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)- See Above.  

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama

Amy Adams (Arrival)- Great category.  Natalie Portman may walk away with this, but Adams transforms the film’s complicated ideas of time and language into real emotion and stakes.  

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama

Denzel Washington (Fences)- So far Casey Affleck has racked up all the accolades, but Washington gives one of his best performances as Troy in August Wilson’s play. His imposing, wounded, and electric performance lingers long after his character exits.  

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture

Mahershala Ali (Moonlight)- As a huge fan of Ali in “House of Cards,” I’m so happy to see him get the recognition he deserves.  I hope a substantive leading role is in his near future.  

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture

Viola Davis (Fences)- It’s Viola’s year and she better win.  She’s always great and in Fences holds her own and even gets the upper hand on Denzel.  

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Comedy or Musical

No real stake in this race.  Would love to see Colin Farrell win for The Lobster.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Comedy or Musical

Emma Stone will probably win for La La Land, but I’d like to see Hailee Steinfeld win for The Edge of Seventeen.  

Best Motion Picture — Animated

Zootopia- I’m obsessed with this movie.  A clever and surprisingly powerful statement on privilege, power, and prejudice.   

Best Screenplay — Motion Picture

Barry Jenkins- Moonlight for all the awards. Although, I wouldn’t mind seeing Tom Ford win for Nocturnal Animals.  

Best Original Score — Motion Picture

After seeing this show pop up in Best of 2016 lists and Maureen Ryan’s comprehensive essay on the many pitfalls of television’s depiction of sexual assault, I checked out MTV’s new drama “Sweet/Vicious” and became instantly hooked.  The show focuses on Jules and Ophelia, two college women taking the problem of sexual assault into their own hands.  In the pilot, Ophelia stumbles upon a masked figure beating the crap out of a guy in an alley, who we later learn sexually assaulted another student.  Using her cyber sleuthing skills, Ophelia discovers the masked figure is Jules, a blond, bubbly, sorority woman.  The two team up and exact brutal and direct punishment to men and women who have gotten away with sexual assault.  The vigilante aspect hits you right away, but the depictions of the day-to-day experiences of survivors make this show amazing.   

As we learn in the pilot, Jules is a survivor of sexual assault and Ophelia is the only one who knows what happened to her, besides her attacker.  Seeing Jules struggle with nightmares, try to date without flinching from her new boyfriend, go about activities that used to be normal, and try to hide her trauma from her best friend Kennedy demonstrates the significant barriers and pain survivors face daily.  In episode 3, Jules says, “the only time I feel like myself is when I’m wearing that black suit.  i can barely remember the girl I was before I got raped, I just know that I miss her.”  Like Emma Sulkowicz’s Mattress Performance, “Sweet/Vicious” shows how sexual assault affects survivors and how this experience of trauma weighs on daily life, including and especially trying to get your college degree.   

“Sweet/Vicious” deftly translates statistics of campus sexual assault into vivid story points.  In one scene Ophelia talks to a woman who wants to report her assault, but has been waiting for hours, being shifted from room to room, and can’t get any assistance. Jules also hasn’t reported her assault, for reasons I won’t spoil here.  Instead of saying 30% of assaults are even reported, “Sweet/Vicious” shows some of the reasons, personal and institutional, of why more people don’t come forward.  

`Timing is everything.

In their excellent documentary, Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg document the grueling reality of high profile political campaigning and media frenzy through the comeback-turned-downfall of Anthony Weiner’s mayoral run. Like Client 9 detailing Eliot Spitzer’s fall, Weiner muses whether political figures are more prone to misdeeds and sexual impropriety.  But mostly as a function of when I saw it, Weiner already feels sadly outdated.  Sundance audiences nearly a year ago celebrated the film a triumph of access and political storytelling. After the New York Post revealed the worst of Weiner’s sexting sprees, summer audiences probably felt zero sympathy for the fallen politician and felt his conflicted wife, Huma Abedin, should have left him during the film’s events. 

Now, in the post election reality of a president elect who both boasted about and committed sexual assault, the disgust at consensual sexual messaging (except for the picture with his son- ugh) strikes me as quaint and incredibly depressing. The media and NY voters nailed Weiner at every public appearance about who, when, and how often he messaged with women, lampooned his nickname, and in the best scene, Lawrence O’Donnell asked him “What is wrong with you?”  Our next president, whose scandals were so many and much worse, seems invincible to the forces that disciplined Weiner.  Certainly a campaign coverage culture that treats emails and sexual assault as equally harmful didn’t help.  I’m both longing for the days of wanting moral behavior in candidates for public office and enraged Anthony Weiner got buried under his sins when he seems to have actual positions and plans for making New York city better.