Tag: National Geographic

Oscar Predictions: The Tale of Silyan

Six years after her feature Honeyland was nominated for Best International Feature Film and Best Documentary Feature, Tamara Kotevska will try to achieve the same with follow-up The Tale of Silyan. The Macedonian production marks the filmmaker’s first solo effort as Ljubomir Stefanov was her partner on previous works.

Centered on a farmer nursing an injured stork back to life, Silyan played the Venice Film Festival and was picked up by National Geographic domestically. Reviews are impressive with 100% on RT and an 84 Metacritic. A limited (and Oscar qualifying) run arrives November 28th followed by a Disney+ release. Macedonia has already announced it as their selection for the international competition.

The combo of Nat Geo and the Mouse House campaigning could bode well for its prospects. I’ve yet to list this in either IFF or Doc Feature as a possibility, but that might change with my next update. I do feel it has a stronger shot in the latter as IFF is plenty crowded already. My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…

Oscar Predictions – Bobi Wine: The People’s President

Bobi Wine: The People’s President from directors Christopher Sharp and Moses Bwayo chronicles the Ugandan presidential campaign of the title character. Having originally debuted at the Venice Film Festival in 2022, it received distribution stateside last year via Disney+/National Geographic. It’s one of 15 shortlisted features for Best Documentary Feature.

Sporting a 100% RT score, Bobi‘s filmmakers are freshly nominated for the DGA prize for directing for documentary alongside 20 Days in Mariupol, Beyond Utopia, Kokomo City, and Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie. Only Kokomo is not eligible for Academy consideration.

This was under my radar for the majority of speculating season. However, it has sat at #9 in my last two rounds of predictions. I doubt it vaults into the top five when I make final picks later this week, but it’s certainly a viable contender for inclusion. My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…

Oscar Predictions: The Mission

Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss’s documentary The Mission is out in limited release after playing the festival circuit including Telluride and London. It examines the killing of American missionary John Allen Chau in 2018. The documentary arm of National Geographic produces.

The team behind The Mission have made acclaimed docs such as 2014’s The Overnighters and 2020’s Boys State. They have not managed to generate attention from the Academy. With an 89% Rotten Tomatoes score, reviews are fine. However, I’m not confident The Mission will represent their first shot at the big dance. This has not made my top 10 possibilities in previous write-ups. Yet the prospects shot up when the Critics Choice Association named it among their 10 best for 2023 alongside surefire contenders like Beyond Utopia, 20 Days in Mariupol, and Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.

Whether The Mission is mentioned in my next update remains to be seen, but it’s certainly on my radar now. My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…

Oscar Predictions: Retrograde

Documentarian Matthew Heineman is no stranger to tackling hot button issues and awards voters have rewarded his features in the past. 2015’s Cartel Land was an Oscar nominee for Documentary Feature. Additional acclaim was bestowed upon 2017’s City of Ghosts and last year’s The First Wave, which took us into a NYC hospital at the height of the COVID epidemic. Heineman’s lone fictional work was 2018’s A Private War, in which Rosamund Pike nabbed a Golden Globe Best Actress nod in the Drama competition.

His latest is the Nat Geo produced Retrograde, recounting America’s final nine months in the Afghanistan War. It’s out already on an awards qualifying run prior to a December 11th Hulu bow. Initial reviews are typical for the filmmaker at 96% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Both Ghosts and Wave didn’t make the Academy’s cut. If Retrograde can manage to make the shortlist, it could certainly vie for one of the five spots. Based on recent history, I’m not yet comfortable slotting it there. My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaabPkONJ4Q

Oscar Predictions: The Territory

From director Alex Pritz (making his directorial debut after serving as cinematographer on The First Wave) comes the documentary The Territory. Focused on an indigenous leader attempting to protect a region of the Brazilian Amazon, the Nat Geo effort first screened at Sundance to general acclaim.

With a 95% Rotten Tomatoes score, it’s scheduled to be released August 19th. Darren Aronfosky serves as one of the producers. I’ve discussed many times on this blog about how Best Documentary Feature is always a tricky category to project. For example, last year’s lauded The Rescue (also from Nat Geo) was surprisingly ignored by the Academy.

The reviews are certainly there for The Territory to mark its space among the contenders. It remains to be seen whether it’s on the minds of voters a few months from now.

Thirteen Lives Review

What kind of commitments did Peter Berg and Mark Wahlberg have that they missed the chance to make Thirteen Lives? It’s right up their disaster to screen alley, but instead Ron Howard is retelling the summer of 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue that seemed like a mission of impossibility.

In Thailand, a soccer team consisting of 12 preteen to teenage boys and their coach are stranded in the cavern when heavy rains follow their post practice journey to the dwelling. Their entrapment immediately brings thunderous media attention from around the globe and offers of assistance that ballooned to 5,000 people getting involved.  The Governor of the territory (Sahajak Boonthanakit) must walk the a fine line communicating to the panic stricken families and a curious throng of journalists and onlookers.

It’s two Brits who are a focal point for the operation with experienced divers Richard Stanton (Viggo Mortensen) and John Volanthen (Colin Farrell). Local villagers band together to divert ten of millions in gallons of water from submerging the cave. Richard and John must come up with a plan to get the team out before the coming monsoon creates that eventuality. This eventually involves brining in Aussie Harry Harris (Joel Edgerton), whose medical expertise will come in handy more so than his diving skills.

To put it succinctly – this film is an amazing story told capably. You may find yourself more wowed by it if you don’t know much about what happened four summers ago. This statement also holds true if you didn’t see the Nat Geo doc The Rescue about this assignment. Howard and screenwriter William Nicholson cover snippets of multiple facets of the 18 day ordeal such as the politics involved and the excruciating waits of the boys loved ones.

The most captivating parts involve the intricacies of the rescue and the claustrophobic methods for it to be successful. Mortensen and Farrell’s convincing interplay helps. We know the outcome and Lives can often feel a little repetitive. The 2 hour and 20 minute runtime feels occasionally bloated and the first hour in particular is bumpy. It may not be the best title dealing with the subject. It’s not Howard’s best movie with the number 13 in the name thanks to a Tom Hanks led mission much further above ground. This is still a worthwhile journey.

*** (out of four)

Oscar Predictions: Fire of Love

Romance and volcanoes dominate the doc Fire of Love, which debuted at Sundance over the weekend and already ignited a heated bidding war. The French offering from filmmaker Sara Dosa is one of the most discussed pics of the fest and the Rotten Tomatoes rating stands at 100%.

Centered on a couple and their devotion to capturing volcanic imagery, Love was quickly picked up by National Geographic’s documentary division and should be out later this year. It could follow a similar path to The Rescue, another acclaimed Nat Geo pickup that appears destined to nab a Documentary Feature nomination from the Academy in a couple weeks (and it could win).

Sundance has already produced a potential shortlist contender here and my Oscar Prediction posts will continue…