Netflix released the full trailer for Spike Lee’s upcoming film Da 5 Bloods. We last saw Spike in the Oscar race for the brilliant BlacKkKlansman. That film, of course, was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Adam Driver), Best Original Score, Best Film Editing, and won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. That marked Lee’s first competitive Oscar win.
Da 5 Bloods tells the story of four African-American Vietnam War vets who return to the country to find the remains of their squad leader and the gold he helped them hide. Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Norm Lewis, and Isiah Whitlock, Jr. play the vets. Chadwick Boseman plays their fallen squad leader. The film looks very strong, as you’d expect from Lee, as it tackles themes of nature and the legacy of the Vietnam War. It could prove to be 2020’s first legitimate Oscar contender.
Da 5 Bloods drops on Netflix June 12, 2020.
DA 5 BLOODS
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after 14 years, my pick for Best Picture of 2006 is Borat. Groundbreaking, thought-provocking, entertaining like nothing around, I know it had zero chances of winning Best Picture, but arguably came close to the nom (had they been expanded to 10, I think it would have been, as the Adapted Screenplay and Golden Globe nom – and acting win – certified). The Departed isn’t even one of Marty’s 5 best films, and I doubt anyone would rank it among the top 5. It was really, really lucky that among the NOT nominated for Best Picture, Borat aside, were The Prestige, Casino Royale, Pan’s Labyrinth (the one that could have probably won, if voted today), Children of Men, The Lives of Others, The Host, Marie Antoinette, Inside Man, Paprika, Shortbus, Volver and United 93… all of them, better films than The Departed, as Little Miss Sunshine and The Queen, among the Best Picture nominees…).
My top 10 of 2006 probably would be
1. Borat (Picture, Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Original Song)
2. Pan’s Labyrinth (Director, Supporting Actress Maribel Verdú, Supporting Actor Sergi López, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Foreign Language Film)
3. The Host
4. Shortbus
5. Marie Antoinette (Costume, Production Design, Make Up)
6. Little Miss Sunshine (Score, Film Editing)
7. Inside Man
8. United 93
9. Paprika (Animated)
10. Children of Men (VFX, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing)
My top 5 Marty… (you’re going to stone me, I know, and I don’t care!)
1. The Wolf of Wall Street
2. The Last Temptation of Christ
3. Raging Bull
4. The Irishman
5. Taxi Driver
An Honorary Award and a competition win in Adapted Screenplay, certainly are NOT enough recognition to such a gigantic filmmaker as Spike Lee, so influential and groundbreaking… it is a case like Marty, eventurally the Academy needs him to sweep, way more than he needs the Oscars. It is a matter of prestige.
By the way, when are we going to see John Carpenter’s honorary Oscar? Not that he cares that much, but it is another matter of justice… another of the most influential american filmmakers that there is.
I hope, but I rather have a “light” 2021 Oscars than a crowded 2022 race and a blank state for 2021