Best Oscar nominated films to binge for International Women’s Day
The Academy Awards are on this weekend! Be sure to binge on the very best women-centric and queer female-themed films. There are more than a few this year!
TÁR
TÁR is one of the most fascinating, disturbing, infuriating-to-feminists, and brilliant films of the year — and it feels like Oscar winner Cate Blanchett’s magnum opus. As a self-described U-Haul lesbian conductor with a penchant for casting couch tactics, Blanchett portrays famed fictional conductor Lydia Tar as an exercise in the abuse of power— and it is one bitter, post-feminist, #metoo pill to swallow. And it’s a trip! Why should a gay female character become the avatar to make visible male hubris? Well, that’s the hat trick Todd Field pulls off with this original screenplay. Blanchett is the second favorite for Best Actress (after Michelle Yeoh) but if she does win, it will be her third Academy statuette and she’ll only be one little man behind fabulous bisexual Katharine Hepburn.
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Everything Everywhere All At Once is notable for so many reasons that are queer, from kick-ass action hero Michelle Yeoh to supporting performance by out queer actress Stephanie Hsu as her lesbian daughter, to LGBTQ ally Jamie Lee Curtis who we love and adore especially for her unwavering support of her trans child. Yeoh is the favorite to win Best Actress over Cate Blanchett, and it’s likely an Oscars first that two queer-themed films with strong female protagonists are vying for all the top spots in more than two categories.
Blonde
Speaking of bisexuals, Marilyn Monroe is the subject of the Netflix feature, Blonde. Andrew Dominik’s adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates’ semi-fictional biography of Marilyn Monroe believes the screenplay “feminist” despite other opinions ruling the film as victim-oriented. You decide! But we believe any actress battling the tide of sexism and cheesecake in the 1950s who maintains iconic status to this day must’ve had some grit!
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
We are always here for evergreen superhero Angela Basset and her work in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever on Disney+ is no exception. What a queen! And, side note, we’re always thankful for her sensitive portrayal of Whitney Houston and Robyn Crawford’s relationship in Whitney, which she executive produced.
Women Talking
Prime Video has a few female-driven movies up for Oscar nominations this year including the fabulous Michelle Williams offering The Fabelmans, and the Andrea Riseborough surprise To Leslie, and then women’s ensemble feature Women Talking starring the lovely Rooney Mara who dazzled us in Carol.
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
An incredible documentary that is epic, sprawling, urgent and compelling from Oscar winner Laura Poitras about the queer photographer Nan Goldin and her campaign against epic pill pushers, the Sackler family. This is a must-watch, cleverly weaving the history of downtown queer women artists with sex work, AIDS epidemic, and opioid epidemic.
Here are the nominees and their categories.
