Thursday Movie Picks: Best Director Winners (Oscars Edition)

 

For the 18th week of 2021 as part of Wandering Through the Shelves' Thursday Movie Picks. We return to the subject of the Oscars in the Best Director winners as they’re the ones who take charge of the film and make sure everything work. While not every winner have been great choices, there are those that do create great work. Here are my three picks as these are based on films that my father loved in the last years of his life as these winners were all Mexicans though my parents are Honduran:

1. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu-The Revenant

My dad is a big fan of Leonardo diCaprio as he just loves his intensity and willingness to go beyond his good looks. My dad really was happy Leo won the Oscar for this performance as he also was happy for Inarritu as he liked a few of his films but really liked this one. He loved how intense it was and the fact that Leo was going into places that was grimy and did so many things that no actor should be doing in those extreme conditions. It became one of his favorite films though his favorite performance from Leo is in one of the finals he had seen in Django Unchained.

2. Guillermo del Toro-The Shape of Water

My dad liked the period where the film is set while he was taken aback by some of the film’s violence though he had to remind himself that the film is by del Toro. Yet, it is a film that kind of reminds him of the monster movies of the past while he also liked the fact that there was a lot more practical effects used instead of computer effects as he admits to not be into computerized visual effects. He was also into the story and liked the fact that it had some realism in the story though my dad thinks Pan’s Labyrinth is the better film.

3. Alfonso Cuaron-Roma

The area in which the film was set was an area my dad lived in during his time in college as the film did bring back some memories. He watched it during the Oscar season on his laptop (which he rarely used except for work and sports) as he and my mom watched the film. My mom found it to be boring but my dad was into it as it brought him back to a period in time that he reminded him of his youth. Especially in the social struggles of the time as well as the fact that things in Mexico were chaotic but also had this liveliness that will never be recaptured. He thought the film should’ve won Best Picture instead of fuckin’ Green Book.

© thevoid99 2021