Academy Awards’ Special: Marriage Story

Last week the Oscar nominees were announced and, although they are not always a guide to what to see, they do give us an idea of what is happening in the film industry and what the Academy thinks about what is currently being done. This is why, as usual, we begin with this review to our Academy Awards special.

Marriage Story is one of the nominees in the Best Film category but in addition to this, it has four other nominations: Adam Driver is nominated for Best Actor for his portrayal of Charlie; Scarlett Johansson is nominated for her portrayal of Nicole; Laura Dern for Best Supporting Actress for the role of Nicole's lawyer; and Randy Newman for the soundtrack he put together for the movie.

It could be said that for the Academy it stands out from this film, especially, the performances. And yes, they really stand out because they are what gives a halo of reality and hardness to a rather everyday history and nothing out of normal.

What is Marriage Story about?

It's the story of Charlie and Nicole, a marriage that is getting divorced. It is not a fantastic story or with pretensions to impact the viewer. There are no heroes or villains, nor victims. Charlie is a theater director who has a small company in New York City and Nicole is a Los Angeles actress who stars in his plays.

They love each other, or at least loved each other, but in spite of that, things between them can no longer work. They want a quiet and civilized divorce, but they will realize that even if they both have good intentions, the complexity of their problems, which, again, are very daily, will not make things so easy for them or for their child.

Read also: These are the Oscar nominees

It is directed by Noah Baumbach, director of other films in which the city of New York is the scene of disappointments and joy, such as The Squid and The Whale and Frances Ha. Baumbach often explores in his films the simplicity of everyday life without needing too ostentatious visual proposals. Thus, Marriage Story goes in the same line of cleaning in the frames and visual simplicity. This is contrasted with the stories he decides to write, which although they are also clean and focused on everyday life, try to entangle these situations that we sometimes overlook, such as the grudges and fraudulent pacts of the marriage institution.

Marriage Story is simple like the other Baumbach productions but it has a couple of important scenes: it is narrated in a kind of crescendo, which can be shocking for the viewer because of its display of emotionality. It is quite refreshing to see a man out of boxes in the middle of an emotional crisis because we do not usually see them like that on the screen, while women are thus represented in comedies and dramas.

Marriage Story is available on Netflix for all of Latin America.