In less than 24 hours this weekend, I managed to watch what I would consider two very obvious Oscar contenders. The first was “Beautiful Boy” starring Timothee Chalamet and Steve Carell. Based off of books written by father and son dealing with the son’s addiction, this was very well done. Both actors commit to their respective rolls, especially that of Timothee playing the drug-addicted son. I also felt for Carell’s take on the grieving and helpless father still trying desperately to save his son falling back into addiction time and time again. Watching anything with needles just creeps me out, so this movie did well to further dispel me from ever using drugs. While I don’t know that this film specifically will get a best picture nod, I do think Timothee Chalamet will get a best supporting nod (especially since he’s Hollywood’s darling right now).
The next film I watched was “Boy Erased” starring Lucas Hedges, Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe, and Joel Edgerton. This film touched on a boy getting sent to gay conversion therapy after being outed to his very religious parents. Also based off of a real person, Garrard Conley, this was tough to watch, but a sad reality that I was surprised to learn still exists today. Overall I thought the acting was very well done, and I am a huge fan of Joel Edgerton, so this was great! The only artistic change I would have made would be how the movie itself flowed. There were some oddly timed and fading flashbacks that I felt should have come well before the conversion therapy parts. Otherwise, Nicole Kidman and Lucas Hedges were standouts. I’d be surprised if neither of them got noticed by the Academy for their work in this film.