Awards season is once again drawing to a close with Hollywood's Biggest Night, aka the Oscars.
True awards junkies have probably made sure to seeevery nominee, but even if you're not that intense about it, odds are you've caught one or two of the Best Picture nominees at least (especially considering that true box office hits likeOppenheimerandBarbieare in the mix this year).
Whether you were obsessed withPast Lives'subtle heartbreak or couldn't stop laughing at the comedic genius of the core cast ofThe Holdovers,odds are you have a favorite or two by now. If you've exhausted all of the awards bait, we have some ideas about what to watch next to craft the perfect double feature.
Here are 10 classic film pairings — match your favorite nominee with a throwback to create a winning double feature. Or why not envelop(e) yourself in them all? Surely, there's an award for that.
Margor Robbie in Barbie; Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer; Lily Gladstone in Killers of the Flower Moon.Everett Collection (3)
If you likedZone of Interest, watchJudgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Sandra Huller in 'Zone of Interest;' Maximilian Schell in 'Judgment at Nuremburg'.Everett Collection (2)
While the concept of displaying the banality of evil is not new,Zone of Interestbreaks new ground as a Holocaust film in its decision to put the horrors of the mass genocide just outside the frame, relayed only through some of the most terrifying sound design ever. With that in mind, it’s challenging to pair it with anything — but we’d suggestJudgment at Nuremberg,which similarly examines the complicity of everyday people who turned a blind eye to atrocities. When it premiered in 1961,Judgment was the first American feature film to show images of concentration camp survivors and victims.Zoneutilizes a similar approach in its conclusion but to a different effect. WhereasJudgmentuses primary sources to convey horror,Zonefocuses on the museum at Auschwitz to further its message of mundane activity occurring on the fringes of humanity’s greatest crimes.
If you likedPoor Things, watchA Matter of Life and Death (1946)
Emma Stone in 'Poor Things;' Kim Hunter and David Niven in 'A Matter of Life and Death'.Everett Collection (2)
WhileBarbiedirectorGreta Gerwigcited Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger'sA Matter of Life and Deathas one of her myriad influences, we’d actually suggest pairing the film withPoor Things.The Technicolor lushness of Powell and Pressburger’s distinctive style is an ideal match for the cotton-candy steampunk fantasy of Yorgos Lanthimos’ film. Both Bella Baxter (Emma Stone) and David Niven’s Peter Carter cheat death, only to discover the fascinating possibilities of being alive. In a surrealist landscape with plenty of absurdist plotting, Bella and Peter are saved by love and self-determination in their own parables of discovery.
If you likedBarbie, watch Working Girl(1988)
Margot Robbie in 'Barbie;' Melanie Griffith in 'Working Girl'.Everett Collection (2)
“I’ve got a head for business and a bod for sin” is basically the 1980s equivalent ofAmerica Ferrera’s feminist monologue inBarbie.The line, uttered by Melanie Griffith’s Tess, sums up the cognitive dissonance women face trying to make it in a man’s world.BarbieandWorking Girlboth tell the story of women plunged into a world far outside their own reality, only to bump their heads against the glass ceiling of the patriarchy. (Both also examine how the patriarchy can turn women — and men! — against each other.) While Barbierocks every shade of pink, Tess McGill is the queen of the power suit — and together, they prove that a world that doesn’t make space for women and their ideas is lesser for it.
If you likedPast Lives, watchBrief Encounter(1945)
'Past Lives;' 'Brief Encounter'.Everett Collection (2)
What if?is a potent question, particularly as it pertains to love and loss. BothPast LivesandBrief Encounterinterrogate questions of fate, love, and identity through the lens of a lost romance.Past Lives’Nora (Greta Lee) reconnects with her childhood sweetheart, Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), and finds uncertainty creeping into her marriage. InBrief Encounter,Laura (Celia Johnson) also questions the monotony of her marriage when a chance encounter with Dr. Alec Harvey (Trevor Howard) on a train platform spurs the beginnings of an emotional affair. Both films deal with liminal spaces, as the couples connect in crowded railway stations, the Staten Island Ferry, and lunch halls. There, they meet the cacophony of modern life with heaps of old-fashioned yearning, clearly torn between the man they married and the promise of something different.
If you liked American Fiction, watchBamboozled (2000)
'Bamboozled;' 'American Fiction'.Everett Collection (2)
WhileAmerican Fictionis an awards darling,Bamboozledplayed similarly with satire, race, and pop culture over 20 years ago and has only recently been reevaluated as a major work inSpike Lee’soeuvre. WhatAmerican Fictiondoes with literature,Bamboozleddid with television. InAmerican Fiction,Monk’s (Jeffrey Wright) novel is stuffed with every major Black literary stereotype he can imagine as a form of protest. But when the novel becomes an unexpected hit, he struggles to make peace with the turn of events.Bamboozledtakes a more extreme approach, as highly-educated TV executive Pierre Delacroix (Damon Wayans) pitches a modern minstrel show in a bid to get fired. Instead, he unwittingly creates a smash hit as audiences respond gleefully to the show’s racist tropes. Both films satirize Americans’ limited view of Blackness, predominantly through stories of oppression and violence — and they offer no easy answers about the choice between fame, fortune, and doing the right thing.
If you liked,Oppenheimer, watchDr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
'Oppenheimer;' 'Dr. Strangelove'.Everett Collection (2)
A more exact one-to-one withOppenheimermight be 1989’sFat Man and Little Boy,which also tells the story of the Manhattan Project and J. Robert Oppenheimer. ButOppenheimerisn’t merely a historical drama nor a biopic; it’s something much more complex in the ways it plays with time, space, and guilt. While it chronicles the invention of the atomic bomb, it’s more interested in studying Oppenheimer’s psyche and the existential threat of the atomic age. Nothing has plumbed that subject more effectively (or with such dark humor) as directorStanley Kubrick’s own response to the bomb —Dr. Strangelove.With a hat trick of performances from Peter Sellers, the film satirizes the American military-industrial complex and Cold War paranoia while finding a few laughs in the face of nuclear holocaust. It might even cheer you up post-Oppenheimerviewing. Kinda.
If you likedThe Holdovers, watchGoodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
'The Holdovers;' 'Goodbye, Mr. Chips'.Everett Collection (2)
A crusty old professor finding unexpected understanding and friendship in a student is a tried and true narrative arc, and it’s put to touching use inThe Holdovers.ButGoodbye, Mr. Chipsis where it all began.The filmfollows the life of Charles Edward Chipping (Robert Donat), an English schoolteacher who, over the course of 60 years, goes from a strict, disliked Latin teacher to a beloved fixture at the school. A lover of Latin puns (a trait shared with Paul Giamatti'sProfessor Hunham), Mr. Chips wins the love and affection of the boys at his school, even when younger headmasters try to push him out. It’s more sentimental and wide-reaching thanThe Holdovers,but the central story of a teacher-student bond that transforms lives remains the same.
If you likedMaestro, watchDe-Lovely (2004)
'Maestro;' 'De-Lovely'.Everett Collection (2)
Maestrois less an account of Leonard Bernstein’s life as a conductor and composer than a chronicle of his complicated marriage to Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan). Felicia was well aware of Bernstein’s (Bradley Cooper) bisexuality and dalliances with men, and the film highlights the strain this placed on their marriage until Felicia’s illness brought them back together. It’s intriguing in how it mirrors the story of another great American composer, Cole Porter, whose life and marriage to Linda Lee Thomas was chronicled in 2004’sDe-Lovely(and also in 1946’sNight and Day,a biopic with nearly zero basis in reality). Porter, as played byKevin Kline, reflects on his life, particularly his marriage to Linda (Ashley Judd), which sustained him emotionally and creatively despite his frequent affairs with men. BothMaestroandDe-Lovelyare music-driven odes to great American composers, but more pointedly, they are testaments to the women who loved them and the trials those women endured.
If you likedAnatomy of a Fall, watchAnatomy of a Murder(1959)
'Anatomy of a Fall;' 'Anatomy of a Murder'.Everett Collection (2)
Justine Triet’s twisty courtroom drama borrows its title from this 1959 Otto Preminger classic. Both are superb looks at the justice system, as well as issues of jurisprudence, witness credibility, and how misogyny and bias can shape the outcome of a case. InAnatomy of a Murder,there’s no question that Frederick “Manny” Manion (Ben Gazzara) murdered a local innkeeper. The issue at heart is whether Manny will get off with his attorney’s defense of “irresistible impulse,” a version of the temporary insanity plea.Jimmy Stewart’s Paul Biegler twists the jury and witnesses around his unassuming finger as he fights for his client, only for Biegler to be disillusioned by the result. Similar toAnatomy of a Fall,the courtroom arguments hinge on questions of sexual activity and infidelity, linking the potential murder to a troubled marriage. But Triet elevates it further inFall,making even Sandra’s innocence an open question and transforming the drama into a piercing examination of the very nature of truth.
If you likedKillers of the Flower Moon, watch The Heiress (1949)
'Killers of the Flower Moon;' 'The Heiress'.Everett Collection (2)
Killers of the Flower Moonis a historical drama about the murders of the Osage people and subsequent investigations into their deaths. But it's also a tale of a lonely, naive young woman who falls for a greedy, confused young man — and the havoc that wrecks upon them both.Martin Scorsese has pointed toThe Heiressas a major inspiration for the film and Lily Gladstone’s portrayal of Molly Burkhart in particular. On the surface, the atrocities against indigenous people at the heart ofFlower Moonhave very little to do with the 19th-century romantic disappointment ofThe Heiress.But both films trade on moments of casual cruelty, the ways that greed can twist love, and the masks humans often wear to manipulate those closest to them. Gladstone’s portrayal of Molly shares a great deal with De Havilland’s Catherine Sloper — women who have their hearts broken and the ways they can turn that cruelty back onto those who hurt them.
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