THE SHAPE OF WATER (WINNER)
1962 Baltimore. Elisa Esposito, found abandoned as a baby
with scars on her neck, has been mute all her life, that disability which has
largely led to her not having opportunities. Despite being a bright woman, she
works a manual labor job as a cleaner at a military research facility where she
has long been friends with fellow cleaner, Zelda Fuller, who often translates
her sign language to others at the facility. And she has had no romance in her
life, her major emotional support, beyond Zelda, being her aging gay artist
neighbor, Giles, the two who live in adjoining apartment units above a movie
theater. Like Elisa, Giles is lonely, his homosexuality complicating both his
personal and professional life, the latter as a commercial graphic artist.
Elisa's life changes when Colonel Richard Strickland brings a new
"asset" into the facility, Elisa discovering it being a seeming mixed
human/amphibious creature found in the waters of the Amazon. Secretly visiting
with the creature, Elisa is immediately drawn to him, and despite he having a
violent side as part of his inherent being, the two find a way to communicate
with each other and end up forming a bond with each other. Elisa has to decide
what to do when she discovers that although the reason for bringing the
creature to the facility is to test the possibility of him being sent into
space, Colonel Strickland, who has always had antagonistic feelings toward the
creature, ultimately wants to kill him, this following the systematic torture
he has inflicted on him. Elisa may have to balance her feelings on wanting to
be with the creature against what may be the greater benefit to him of being
set free back into the wilds of the water. Complicating matters are that the
Soviets are also aware of the creature, they having a secret agent who has
infiltrated the facility. In a mix of complex conflicts, can there be any
solution for the loneliness of Elisa or the freedom for the creature with a heart
full of love and vengeance?
CALL ME BY YOUR NAME
The tale of a
sensual and transcendent tale of first love, based on the acclaimed novel by
André Aciman. It's the summer of 1983 in the north of Italy, and Elio Perlman
(Timothée Chalamet), a precocious 17-year-old young man, spends his days in his
family's 17th century villa transcribing and playing classical music, reading,
and flirting with his friend Marzia (Esther Garrel). Elio enjoys a close
relationship with his father (Michael Stuhlbarg), an eminent professor
specializing in Greco-Roman culture, and his mother Annella (Amira Casar), a
translator, who favor him with the fruits of high culture in a setting that
overflows with natural delights. While Elio's sophistication and intellectual
gifts suggest he is already a fully-fledged adult, there is much that yet
remains innocent and unformed about him, particularly about matters of the
heart. One day, Oliver (Armie Hammer), a 24-year-old American college graduate
student working on his doctorate, arrives as the annual summer intern tasked
with helping Elio's father. Amid the sun-drenched splendor of the setting, Elio
and Oliver discover the heady beauty of awakening desire over the course of a
summer that will alter their lives forever.
DARKEST HOUR
A thrilling and inspiring true story begins at the precipice
of World War II as, within days of becoming Prime Minister of Great Britain,
Winston Churchill must face one of his most turbulent and defining trials:
exploring a negotiated peace treaty with Nazi Germany, or standing firm to
fight for the ideals, liberty and freedom of a nation. As the unstoppable Nazi
forces roll across Western Europe and the threat of invasion is imminent, and
with an unprepared public, a skeptical King, and his own party plotting against
him, Churchill must withstand his darkest hour, rally a nation, and attempt to
change the course of world history. Exploring a negotiated peace treaty with
Nazi Germany, or continuing the war. As the unstoppable Nazi forces roll across
Western Europe and the threat of invasion appears to be imminent, and with an
unprepared public, a skeptical King, and his own party plotting against him,
Churchill must withstand his darkest hour, rally a nation, and attempt to
change the course of world history.
DUNKIRK
It’s the darkest time for mankind. World War II is sending
call of duty to every doorstep in Great Britain. Unstoppable Nazi forces are on
the march all over the world. Axis forces have cornered hundreds of thousands
of British and French soldiers on the French coast at Dunkirk. A small number
of French soldiers are guarding the perimeter, where the British and French
soldiers are amassed, which is getting increasingly smaller as enemy forces
advance. Most of those British and French soldiers are now on the beach waiting
for destroyers to come and take them back to Britain. Each of the countries are
taking care of their own. The British are leaving first and among those the
wounded get first priority despite their taking up seven times the space of the
able-bodied soldiers. An issue with Dunkirk is that there is only one dock the
destroyers can access, which needs to be protected from the enemy bombs. As
such, Churchill, newly elected, has put out a call for civilian watercraft to
head to Dunkirk both to transport supplies and to transport soldiers from the
beach to the destroyers or back to Britain if at all possible. Within this
situation, four general stories are told. In one, Commander Bolton, the top
British naval officer on the ground, knows deep in his heart that the soldiers
are largely sitting ducks on the beach as the enemy planes fly over. He knows
that the situation is a Catch-22 for the British in that they need to bring as
many soldiers safely home as possible at the depletion of their military
resources, which in turn they need to preserve for the day if, but more likely
when, the enemies make their way onto British soil. In the second story, a
squadron of three RAF spitfires are among those limited air resources that are
embarking in dog fights with enemy planes, while protecting the soldiers on the
ground. In the process, they have to ensure their own safety in order to
provide what is needed for the ground soldiers, which includes knowing about
things like fuel levels and having enough to make their way back to home base
whenever required. In the third story, two soldiers meet on the beach, the two
of them knowing that the longer they remain on the beach, the likelier they are
not to survive this skirmish. As such, they try to do whatever they need to make
it onto one of those destroyers or any other watercraft making its way back to
Britain. However, making it aboard a ship does not necessarily ensure their
survival. And in the final story, Mr. Dawson, his young-adult son Peter and
their 17-year-old friend George are on Dawson's pleasure craft making its way
to Dunkirk to do their part in the war effort, all realizing the dangers
involved. They have to decide at each step along the way if they will focus on
personal problems or if they will continue on to assist in the war, as was
their first priority when they left Britain.
GET OUT
Chris Washington, a talented young African-American
photographer, prepares to meet his Caucasian girlfriend Rose Armitage's parents
during a weekend in their Lake Pontaco house. Chris and Rose have been together
for five months, and the Armitages are completely unaware that their daughter's
sweetheart is black. But when Chris finally meets Rose's mother during their
weekend gateway upstate with Missy and Dean, a psychiatrist who specializes in
hypnosis, and her father, a neurosurgeon, he would soon notice that he is
surrounded by black servants in the total privacy of their magnificent, yet
secluded estate in the woods. Little by little, as the friendly and polite
ambience gives way to an indistinguishable, rather unrecognizable threat, the
unsettling mood coupled with sheer dread raises fear and suspicion. What could
the Armitages be hiding? And why is there an off-limits, locked room that leads
to the basement? Chris feels unwelcome, considering there are only three other
African-Americans on the farm, and two of them work on it. As the weekend
progresses, some weird things around the farm take place. Surprisingly when he
snaps a picture of one of the family members, the man wakes up from hypnotic drowse.
The sense of uneasiness is in the air and it continues to grow as Chris finds
out the strange truth of what is really going on in this place.
LADY BIRD
Christine McPherson is in senior year of high school. She is
the second child of Larry and Marion McPherson. Outwardly. Like most other
teenagers she hates most aspects of her life. She hates that they have long
lived a life of barely scraping by, their situation all the worse now as they
as a collective are a victim of the poor economy. That economic reality has led
to Larry recently being laid off, Marion needing to work double shifts as a
counselor at a psychiatric hospital just to keep their head above water, and
Christine's brother Miguel and his girlfriend Shelly moving back home in the
McPhersons' small and already overcrowded house with one bathroom now for five
people. She hates that what her parents have decided to spend on her within
their already tight budget is an expensive Catholic private school education at
Immaculate Heart, solely because Miguel witnessed long ago some violence
outside Sacramento High, where she would have gone otherwise. At Immaculate
Heart, she has only two friends, equally poor Julie Steffans, they playing upon
their outsider status. She hates living in Sacramento, she who is determined to
go to a liberal arts college back east, preferably New York City, using
financial aid rather than go to a California college such as nearby UC-Davis
for which she would eligible for an in-state reduction in tuition, that option
already barely affordable. Whether she will even get into college is
questionable as she has placed little effort into her school work despite being
bright, except perhaps in math. But arguably what she hates the most is her
strained relationship with her mother, Marion who is always bad cop to Larry's
good cop in the parenting role. Marion and Christine's strained relationship is
exacerbated by both being strong willed people. Christine believes that her
mother may love her because she has to, but truly doesn't like her. In not
wanting to take things from her mother out of a natural course of family,
Christine has decided to rename herself Lady Bird, something she wants everyone
to call her from now on. As Lady Bird goes through some major events her senior
year - from discovering a new school extracurricular activity which includes
boys from neighboring St. Francis Xavier, to testing the waters of dating,
possible first love and the prospect of sex, to wanting to be part of the
in-crowd, to truly placing some effort into her short term post-secondary
dreams - she and Marion may only have a short period of time to express their
true love for each other, family or not, before it's too late.
PHANTOM THREAD
It's the 1950s. Confirmed bachelor Reynolds Woodcock is a
famed London couturier, clothing the rich and famous. His business is a one man
show on the design side. His genius can only be achieved within an environment
which he controls to his complete sensibility. On the business side is his
spinster sister, Cyril Woodcock, who maintains order within the household to
allow Reynolds to work within his controlled environment. She will, however,
not allow anything or anyone to upset the apple cart, including Reynolds losing
sight that it is a business, and not just a means to design and create fashions
solely for his own satisfaction without regard for the clients. That balance in
their work/live relationship has the potential to take a turn when Reynolds
meets waitress Alma Elson. She not only becomes his muse but his assistant and
lover. The entrance of Alma into Reynolds' life and thus the business changes
the balance between Reynolds and Cyril, especially as Alma has her own
sensibility of herself in Reynolds' life and in his business, which is often at
odds with that control that Reynolds and Cyril have worked so hard to create
and maintain.
The Post
In 1971, The New York Times has access to classified documents
about the Vietnam War. However, the government uses the justice department to
stop the distribution of newspapers claiming violation of the national security
laws. When American military analyst, Daniel Ellsberg, realizes to his disgust
the depths of the US government's deceptions about the futility of the Vietnam
War, he takes action by copying top-secret documents that would become the
Pentagon Papers. Later, Washington Post owner, Kay Graham, is still adjusting
to taking over her late husband's business when editor Ben Bradlee discovers
the New York Times has scooped them with an explosive expose on those papers.
Determined to compete, Post reporters find Ellsberg himself and a complete copy
of those papers. However, the Post's plans to publish their findings are put in
jeopardy with a Federal restraining order that could get them all indicted for
Contempt. Now, Kay Graham must decide whether to back down for the safety of
her paper or publish and fight for the Freedom of the Press. In doing so,
Graham and her staff join a fight that would have America's democratic ideals
in the balance. As the Nixon administration
and the former Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, try to silence the
shocking revelations, the Times' rival, the Washington Post, and its owner, Kay
Graham, wrestle with the amplitude of a devastating decision. Should Graham
publish and let the truth shine on the nearly 60,000 lost-in-action Americans?
Should she put in jeopardy not only her status but also her paper?
THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI
It's been already seven months since her daughter's hideous
murder, and the divorced mother, Mildred Hayes, is still grieving, refusing to
come to terms with her loss. In Mildred's case, nothing seems to be able to
take away the gut-wrenching pain only a mother feels when she loses a child; No
one is spared in this brave crusade, not even the ailing police chief,
Willoughby, as Mildred's bold black-on-red statements demand answers and the
culprit's head on a platter. Just how far is Mildred willing to go to appease
her rage? In an effort to track down who raped and murdered her daughter,
Mildred Hayes decides to take three billboards in rent outside her town of
Ebbing, Missouri. They accuse the Sheriff of doing nothing to catch the killer.
This leads to many complex situations that involve tragedy, anger, hate, love,
redemption and broken characters. Incident with the police personnel causes a
largely adverse, and diverse, reaction among the town's folk, after that
everything changes in the small town of Ebbing, Missouri.
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