Death Race 32, Sarah 24; 2 of 24 categories completed

I didn’t set out to pay very close attention to I Am Love; it’s nominated for Best Costume Design, so I didn’t think I’d have to. I settled onto the couch with a craft project, figuring I’d look up occasionally at the subtitles and the outfits.

The movie sucked me in, though, with an opening dinner party I felt relieved not to be attending, with a family I felt relieved not to be related to — it set up the relationships and Emma’s (Tilda Swinton) place among them so subtly. It made me pay attention. Occasionally it goes overboard with the atmospherics (the outdoor sex scene in particular seems to think its point is unmakeable without myriad Swinton-nipple shots), but it mostly works. The hard-right plot turn of the last 20 minutes, though, I don’t know. Swinton handles it well, and she’s fresh and unstudied throughout, making familiar emotional terrain new (or at least new to her), but the way things unfold feels to me like the script got stuck and didn’t know how to get free without a capital-T Tragedy. But like I said, I paid attention. It’s an interesting story; it should have trusted itself more.

It’s a little surprising that Swinton didn’t get a nomination, because she’s speaking Italian with a Russian accent (…theoretically; it sounded about right to me, but what do I know what that should sound like), but that quickly becomes the least interesting part of the performance: a perfect portrayal of a woman who suddenly realizes she’s never felt at home all that time. The film is not great, but it’s quite good, and if you like the Tilda, you should check it out.

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