Oscars 2021 and the beginning of a New Hollywood Era

Marianna Bukowski selects her favourite films competing at the Oscars and looks back at the past year as Hollywood, for the first time since the Silent Picture Era, fell silent. Perhaps the time has come for the rebirth of a new Hollywood, inspired by its more equal beginnings, some 100 years ago…

A little over a year ago, when I wrote last year’s Oscars review at the beginning of a new and promising decade, none of us could quite have imagined the world as we now know it. As the pandemic raged and the world closed down – so did the film industry. Productions halted, cinemas closed, new film releases were postponed. Hollywood, for the first time since its birth just over a 100 years ago, fell silent – once again. 

As in many other industries hit by the pandemic, people working in the Creative Industries have struggled as production and exhibit spaces closed. Simultaneously, the demand for consuming film and entertainment at home has soared and the steady rise of online subscription services has reached new heights. Film companies, such as Disney and Paramount, are expanding their distribution models into the field previously dominated by Netflix, Amazon Prime and HBO. This shift will unlikely end, even when people eventually spend less time at home and cinemas open their doors again. Hollywood is changing but this transformation began before the pandemic. 

In recent years, only films with gargantuan budgets are made by the big studios, that have all but abandoned more modestly budgeted films. Those mid-range ‘kind of stories’ are nowadays more likely to find their way into some television format or streaming service platform, where the new golden age of television continues to flourish. Hollywood may have backed itself into a corner. As an avowed cinephile and fan of old classic films since childhood, it still surprises me how many films from the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s often have leading female characters with vastly superior dialogue and story plotlines, compared to most films that are made today. 

As superhero films have taken over our cinemas, there is little room left for anything else – and the genre is a notorious ‘boys club’. Whilst there are exceptions to this rule, such as ‘Wonder Woman’ directed by Patty Jenkins (her previous film and feature debut ‘Monster’, won Charlize Theron the Oscar for Best Actress back in 2003), women generally do not get the same opportunities to direct big budget films – nor do they reap similar rewards or career trajectories from any success they may have, in the way that their male counterparts do. Looking at the statistics, the picture is bleak. And it is not just in Hollywood. As an independent documentary filmmaker also working in television, I can attest the same pattern follows in both television and advertising, where very few women manage to sustain a directing career. Or, for that matter, a career as a writer, executive producer, editor, composer, or cinematographer. 

Yet, it was not always so. At the birth of what would later become ‘Hollywood’ there were plenty of women making films – with no less visionary dedication than men. Early pioneers like Lois Weber, Alice Guy-Blaché, Dorothy Arzner… ‘Who?’, you may ask, and you would be forgiven for not knowing. As Helen O’Hara, author of ‘Women vs Hollywood: The Fall and Rise of Women in Film’, writes in her newly published book: ‘Hollywood has been writing women out of the picture since the talkies’. Turns out women directed, produced, and headed their own studios before they even won the vote. Silent era comedienne Mabel Normand had made some 100 films when she met newcomer Charlie Chaplin and helped him develop his ‘Tramp’ persona for the screen – by some accounts, she even taught him how to direct. Who knew? Charting the history of women in film, O’Hara’s book is a riveting read from start to finish and recommended to anyone interested in film from its early beginnings – to present day. And just like the pioneers of cinema over a hundred years ago, we too may find ourselves at the beginning of a new era. Digital technology is evolving at a revolutionary rate, at least allowing independent filmmakers to tell their stories with unprecedented visual quality, despite often limited financial resources. Movements such as #MeToo and #OscarsSoWhite are also questioning the old power structures, not just in “Hollywood” – but across the world. 

With the Oscars ceremony moved two months later than originally planned, this year’s Academy Awards on Sunday 25th of April suffer from a general lack of awareness – as audiences, despite this delay, have yet to see many of the films nominated this year. Nonetheless, many of the films are available to watch at home: some on Netflix, some released early on various other streaming service platforms and, most impressively, a few through collaborations with smaller independent cinemas that have adapted astonishingly well to the restricted conditions: offering online “Home Cinema” screenings. Although there may be less awareness of this year’s Oscar films – the nominations have proved unusually good for diversity representation and female filmmakers. Both Chloé Zhao (‘Nomadland’) and Emerald Fennell (‘Promising Young Woman’) have been nominated for Best Director. This is the first time that two women are nominated in the coveted ‘Best Director’ category. In total ‘Promising Young Woman’ received 5 nods, also including Best Original Screenplay for Emerald Fennell, who is perhaps so far best known for playing Camilla Parker-Bowles in Netflix’s ‘The Crown’. The story follows Cassie (played by Carey Mulligan, nominated for Best Actress), a smart medical school drop-out, whose life is stuck trying to avenge a past trauma. The film is a dark satire, its glossy, pastel-coloured veneer only masks the tragedy underneath for so long. Although its final act will leave audiences divided, the film is undoubtedly a fearless opening move for a first-time feature director. 

In turn, Chloé Zhao is nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Editing for ‘Nomadland’, which received 6 nominations in total.  The film follows Fern (played by Frances McDormand, nominated for Best Actress) who, after losing her husband and the very town where they lived, embarks upon a nomadic journey across the stunning, wide-open landscapes of America. Through everyday grit and beauty, Fern’s story is a personal journey in search of freedom, without the financial security and materialism of the American Dream.  

Perhaps the film that resonated most with me, amongst the nominations this year is, ‘Quo Vadis, Aida?’ – directed by Jasmila Zbanic and nominated for Best International Feature Film.  The film is set during the Bosnian War and tells the story of Aida (Jasna Djuricic), who works as a translator for the UN in the small town of Srebrenica. Amidst apathy and boredom, she fights to save her husband and two sons from the ensuing horror of the Srebrenica massacre in 1995, where more than 8000 unarmed Bosnian Muslims were slaughtered. The film succeeds where many war films often fall short; by creating a genuine underpinned tension in the protagonists. It gives us a sense of the silent panic and terror building-up inside people that are facing annihilation yet are met only by the bureaucracy and indifference of bystanders. ‘Quo Vadis, Aida?’ was edited by Jarosław Kamiński, who is perhaps best known for the masterpieces ‘Ida’ and ‘Cold War’. Although no Polish film is in competition this year, Cinematographer Dariusz Wolski (‘Pirates of the Caribbean’, ‘Sicario 2’, ‘The Martian’, ‘Prometheus’, ‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’) is nominated for Best Cinematography for his work on ‘News of the World’, directed by Paul Greengrass, and starring Tom Hanks and young newcomer Helena Zengel. The film is available on Netflix, along with ‘The Trial of the Chicago 7’ (6 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay for Director Aaron Sorkin), and ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’ (5 nominations, including Best Actor for the late Chadwick Boseman). 

‘Mank’, another lavish Netflix production, is leading the race with 10 nominations. In addition to Best Picture, it also secured nods for Best Director (David Fincher), Best Actor (Gary Oldman) and Best Supporting Actress (Amanda Seyfried). The film is a biopic about screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, a sharp-witted and jaded alcoholic who battles with everyone in Hollywood – including himself – whilst writing, what would generally become regarded as the greatest film ever made: ‘Citizen Kane’. Although ‘Mank’ may have somewhat limited appeal outside of cinephile circles – it stands a good chance in the competition for Hollywood’s golden knight, as there are no films that Hollywood loves more than stories about Hollywood itself. So, may this moment in time be the start of a fairer future, where more diverse groups will have a voice, too, and where women, in equal measure, will write – and direct – the Hollywood history to come.