Our next Best Picture nominee is Philomena.
What I’m doing is posting my five favorite moments from each of the Best Picture nominees. It’s a nice way to take a break from all the Oscar stuff to remind myself (and all of us) that once you take away all the competition and the awards, what we’re left with is great cinema. That’s what it’s about.
Here are my favorite moments from Philomena:
5. When she knows he was gay.
I love this moment. Normally this would be a big moment in the film. We see a picture of her son (who we know is dead) with his lover. The picture clearly shows us he was gay. And we all know, but we’re not sure if Philomena knows. And then she asks if he had any children, and the sister says, “He was gay.” And you see in that shot, Coogan is looking at her like, “Oh man, how is she gonna react to this.” And she just goes, “I know that, I was just wondering if he had any children.” And we find out later she knew all along that he was gay, from when he was a child. It’s not even a thing. Even to a devout catholic as herself. And I absolutely loved that moment. It’s one of the many ways the film surprises you.
4. The confessional.
It’s such a powerful moment. No words are said (not really), and it’s all just Judi Dench’s performance. She’s come to think that her son didn’t at all care about who his mother was or where he came from, and that pretty much ruins all of her hopes and crushes her. So she goes to confession, and this happens. It’s such a quietly powerful moment, showing her at her most vulnerable, the moment her faith at its biggest risk of being lost. It’s so powerful.
Which brings me to…
3. Judi. Dench.
Her performance is the reason this film works, and the only reason. She’s so insanely good here that she would be my only vote for the Oscar. She’s fucking terrific. To anyone who needs me to explain this any further, all I will say is — watch the film. You’ll see.
Judi Dench is a treasure.
2. The message.
This film basically says, “Religion is evil.” That’s the message. How religion makes people do terrible things in its name. And also forgiveness. But fuck that. That’s the takeaway from this movie. Religion, and especially religious people, are fucking crazy. Their beliefs get distorted because of centuries of backwards thinking and blind faith, and they can’t shut the fuck up and let people believe what they want and do what they want. They basically enslaved this woman for having sex, took her child from her, and sold him to Americans, along with thousands of other children, all because of religion. It’s so fucked up. So I’m glad to see a movie where religious figures are the villains, because, honestly — yeah.
1. The structuring.
It’s the unexpectedness of it all that works. You see the trailer and you expect the story to go a certain way, and then it doesn’t. Turn after turn, the movie doesn’t turn out the way you expect at all. We finally find out who he is — he’s dead. Then we find out he was gay. And then they’re about to leave, and Coogan has to try to convince her to stay, and we’re expecting that scene, but then it turns out she wants to stay. All your expectations are thwarted. And then we find out that Coogan met the son before. The whole story is so unexpected that you know this actually happened. And I love it. It didn’t for once feel like a movie. It didn’t take any of the usual movie turns, and it felt so refreshing. It’s a beautiful little movie, and I love that it got nominated for Best Picture. Now more people get to see this. I’m so happy about that.
