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The Book of Right-On: Day Eight



I read Kevin Maher's review of Celine Song's Past Lives in The Times at the departure gate at Birmingham Airport.  I was about to fly to Edinburgh to visit my brother and I thought I'd treat myself to a good old-fashioned newspaper.  The review did what I attempted to do yesterday.  It began brilliantly: 

Sometimes in cinema a director emerges with a first film and just, well, nails it.  

Yes they do.  Like Sofia.  

After noting that theatre-turned-film directors often have a lot of success with their debut feature (Sam Mendes for American Beauty, David Mamet for House of Games and Orson Welles for Citizen Kane), he goes on to write brief synopsis of the film and draws a comparison with Brooklyn, a 2015 film starring Saoirse Ronan.  It's a very valid comparison: while the origin country and the time period is different, the two themes are remarkably similar.  I saw Brooklyn for the first time only three or four weeks ago and I'm amazed I didn't pick up on it.  Still, Past Lives is the much better film.  I didn't much like the guy Saoirse Ronan's character ended up with.  

I smiled the whole way through this review.  Maher loved it as much as I did.  

The performances are impossibly strong and awards-season ready.  Anything other than a best actress Oscar nomination for Lee will be criminal.  

This film deserves to be huge.  Parasite levels of huge.  This glowing five-star review will get people talking and then the sky's the limit.   I hope it'll go on to be a massive hit. In the Mood for Love made $14 million (no Oscar nominations); Brooklyn made $62 million worldwide (three nominations, no wins); Lost in Translation made $118 million (four Oscar nominations, one win);  Everything Everywhere All at Once made $141 million worldwide (eleven Oscars, seven wins); Parasite made a whopping $262 million (five Oscar nominations, four wins).    Oscar nominations can do wonders for a film's box office returns, especially for world cinema titles, because English-speaking audiences draw confidence from the Academy's seal of approval and, as a result, are much more likely to pay the price of a ticket to see it. I hope it makes over $100 million and I think it will.  


   


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