In this episode, we continue our look at Oscar-nominated films. We will discuss three nominated films and a bonus film about men who have devoted their lives to show business. As they age, they look back at the sacrifices they had to make to fulfill their dreams.

Hello, this is Chris Young. Welcome to Episode 109 of Contemplating Life – Oscar Edition.

In this episode, we continue our look at Oscar-nominated films. We will discuss three nominated films and a bonus film about men who have devoted their lives to show business. As they age, they look back at the sacrifices they had to make to fulfill their dreams.

When I first saw previews for the film “Song Sung Blue” starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson, I was quite excited because it appeared to be a biopic about singing legend Neil Diamond. Then I saw Jackman on the Stephen Colbert talk show, and I was greatly disappointed that it was the true story of a man and his wife who formed a Neil Diamond tribute band.

Mike and Claire Sardia performed in the 1990s around Milwaukee and Chicago under the names Lightning and Thunder.

This film is based on a 2008 documentary also titled “Song Sung Blue.”

I was so disappointed that it wasn’t an actual Neil Diamond biopic that I wasn’t sure I wanted to watch it when it came to streaming. However, Kate Hudson received Golden Globe, SAG Actor, BAFTA, and Oscar nominations for her portrayal of Claire, so I had to check it out.

Although there are tragic moments in their lives, overall, it is a feel-good movie. The musical numbers will make you smile and sing along. I’m not just talking about “Sweet Caroline.” Hugh Jackman does an amazing job of channeling Mike channeling Neil Diamond. We know from other films that Jackman can sing well. However, on a few occasions, I thought I detected him deliberately singing ever so slightly off-key, which added realism to the performance.

Claire not only sings backup to her husband, but she also sings classic songs by Patsy Cline. Kate Hudson also does all of her own singing in the film and never misses a note. In preparation for the role, she stopped her usual skincare regimen, which had included occasional Botox injections. She also gained 15 pounds for the role.

The original documentary is available for free on YouTube. I have provided a link. Most of the major plot points in this drama follow the true story depicted in the documentary. Writer/director Craig Brewer only takes a few minor dramatic licenses with the ending of the story.

You can’t help but root for this hard-luck couple. Mike is a part-time auto mechanic, Vietnam veteran, and recovering alcoholic who has been sober for 20 years as the movie opens. He has a teenage daughter from a previous marriage who visits occasionally. Claire is a single mom with a teenage daughter and a preteen son who tries to make ends meet working as a hairdresser. In the documentary, it says that at one point she was on welfare.

You journey with them through highs and lows. Their goodhearted yet less-than-competent manager, played by Jim Belushi, accidentally books them in a biker bar, and a fight nearly breaks out when someone in the crowd yells, “Neil Diamond sucks!”

They bounce back when Eddie Vedder invites them to open for Pearl Jam at a Milwaukee concert.

Both of those incidents are depicted in the documentary.

Just when you think that their careers might be ready to take off, Claire is hit by a car in her front yard as she is working in her flower garden. She loses her lower leg in the accident and falls into a deep depression and becomes dependent on pain medication, which leaves her listless and lifeless.

Meanwhile, Mike struggles to stay sober and battles a serious heart condition.

For several days after watching the film, I couldn’t stop humming Neil Diamond songs. Just when I managed to get the songs out of my head, my sister watched the film, and it all came back again for several days.

You will laugh, and cry, and be thoroughly entertained by this film. I wholeheartedly recommend it. It’s currently available to stream on Peacock TV and to rent or purchase on Amazon and other services. I can also recommend the documentary.

I want to give a brief note about some of the special effects. For fans of special effects like me, I know that giving a person an amputated limb is relatively easy. You put a green sock over the limb, which lets you easily edit it out, and then add a CGI stump. But there is one scene where Claire is lying in bed and reaches down to scratch the end of her stump. I’m not sure how they did it. It left me with the impression that the special effects artists deliberately did that to make people like me wonder how they did it.

As previously mentioned, Kate Hudson is nominated for the Best Actress Oscar. IMDb reports 13 nominations and 4 wins. On an estimated $30 million budget, it earned $39 million in the US and Canada and $57 million worldwide.

Our remaining films in this episode are not as uplifting as “Song Sung Blue.”

While we are covering films with the word “blue” in the title, let’s look at “Blue Moon.”

Director Richard Linklater and Ethan Hawke team up for their ninth film together. In this biopic, Hawke plays legendary Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart, who, with Richard Rodgers, wrote 28 musicals and over 500 songs.

The film has been in development for over a decade. Linklater wanted Hawke for the part but concluded he wasn’t old enough for the role. So they waited 10 years and spent the time polishing the script. That may seem like a long time, but consider that in one of their previous collaborations, “Boyhood,” they spread the filming over 12 years so that the main character could gradually age throughout the movie.

In this film, we learn that Lorenz Hart struggled with alcoholism and had a poor work ethic, which led Rogers to team up with lyricist Oscar Hammerstein to create the hit musical “Oklahoma!”

The entirety of the film depicts the events of March 31, 1943, the opening night of “Oklahoma!” Hart wanders out of the theater before the play finishes and goes to the famous Sardi’s restaurant, where preparations are underway for a party to celebrate the opening of the musical. There, he drinks and pours out his soul to the bartender, played by Bobby Cannavale, a piano player, and a delivery boy. He also discusses the art of writing with the famous author E.B. White.

Hart reveals his infatuation with Elizabeth Weiland, a 20-year-old Yale art student and aspiring production designer. After months of correspondence and an unconsummated weekend with Elizabeth, 47-year-old Hart believes this may be the night he finally wins her love.

Screenwriter Robert Kaplow based the story on letters that Hart and Weiland exchanged, but I don’t believe there is any claim that the events depicted in the film actually occurred. For example, there is no evidence he ever met E.B. White.

Kaplow is nominated for his Best Original Screenplay, which is very much deserved. I’m confused about why this isn’t an adapted screenplay, given that it is based on the correspondence between Hart and Weiland. Give me a break, a couple of years ago, Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach were nominated for adapted screenplay simply because the “character” Barbie was created by someone else. It wasn’t based on any other movie, TV show, or book about Barbie. It was a highly original take on the character. Oh well.

In this amazing screenplay and performances, we are treated to a magnificent exploration of the art of writing and the sad story of a lonely man who sees his career coming to an end. There are heartbreaking exchanges between him and Richard Rogers as Hart tries to pitch him an idea for a musical about Marco Polo with a love story that parallels his obsession with young Elizabeth.

Rogers suggests they could collaborate on a revival of their musical “A Connecticut Yankee,” but he shows no interest in any other collaborations. In real life, they did revive an updated version of that musical later in 1943. It was their final collaboration.

Seven months after the premiere of “Oklahoma!” Hart collapsed in the street and died a few days later.

Ethan Hawke delivers a truly Oscar-worthy performance. I thoroughly enjoyed this depiction of such a tragic character. I don’t think he has much of a chance against his other nominees, which include Leonardo DiCaprio, Timothée Chalamet, and Michael B. Jordan. Given the opportunity, Hawke would be getting my vote.

In real life, Hart stood just under 5 feet tall. The filmmakers used a variety of practical special effects to make the other actors tower over Hart. At times, I found this distracting, and it pulled me out of the story. Other than that, I loved it.

IMDb reports 73 nominations and 15 wins.

This made-for-Netflix film only earned $3 million worldwide and is still available for streaming on that platform.

Our final nominated film for this episode is “Sentimental Value.” This is a Norwegian film with dialogue in Norwegian, French, and English. I watched it with English subtitles.

It is the story of two sisters, Agnes and Nora, who are estranged from their father Gustav, who divorced their mother when they were children. There is a voiceover narration at the beginning of the film that tells the story of this family from the perspective of the house they live in. We see the sisters’ relationship and the failing one between their parents, which leads to him leaving.

We jump ahead to find adult Nora is a successful stage actress who suffers from nearly debilitating bouts of stage fright. Agnes is married and has a young son, Erik. She works as a historian.

When their mother passes away, their father Gustav, played by Stellan Skarsgård, returns to their lives because their childhood home is still in his name. He is a renowned filmmaker who is struggling to get his films made late in his career. He has written a film about his mother, who was a resistance fighter against the Nazis during World War II. She had committed suicide in that home. Gustav wants to film his movie in the home and tries to recruit his actress daughter Nora to the role.

She cannot forgive him for abandoning them when she was a child and refuses to even read the script.

Agnes is only slightly more open to a relationship with her father. He quickly develops a relationship with Erik, his grandson. Later in the film, he tries to recruit the boy to play young Gustav in his new film. Agnes had a part in one of his earlier films as a child, even though it was her sister who went on to have a career as an actress.

Along the way, Gustav meets a famous young American actress, Rachel, portrayed by Elle Fanning, who agrees to play the role that Agnes turned down. The problem is, if she takes the part, the film will have to be made in English. They debate whether she should attempt a Norwegian accent.

The film is filled with deeply dramatic scenes as the daughters and their father struggle to reconcile their past. There are quality performances all around.

It has received nine Oscar nominations. Best Picture, Best Foreign Picture, Best Lead Actress for Renate Reinsve as Nora, Best Supporting Actress for both Elle Fanning and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas as Agnes, Best Supporting Actor for Stellan Skarsgård as Gustav. Director Joachim Trier has a Best Director nomination, and with co-author Eskil Vogt, has earned a Best Original Screenplay nomination. Additionally, it has earned an Oscar nomination for Film Editing.

All the performances are worthy of their nominations. Again, I have to complain about the categories. Skarsgård is nominated for Supporting Actor, and indeed, the story is primarily about the daughters. However, he is the most prominent male character in the story. Does that not make him a lead actor?

IMDb lists 297 nominations and 64 wins. With an estimated budget of $7.8 million, it earned only $5 million in the US and Canada, but its worldwide total was a respectable $21.4 million. It is not yet available for streaming, but can be rented or purchased through Amazon and other digital download sources.

Even after I told you about all the Oscar nominations it has received and that they are well-deserved, watching a 2-hour 13-minute movie in Norwegian, subtitled in English, might not be your cup of tea. Let me offer you a similar alternative.

The Netflix film “Jay Kelly” stars George Clooney and Adam Sandler, both of whom received Golden Globe nominations for their performances. Clooney plays the title character, a famous actor whose career sounds a lot like George Clooney’s. He isn’t exactly playing himself, but it’s not at all difficult to find him credible in this role.

After decades of success, he begins to realize that life has passed him by, and like Gustav in our previous film, he tries to reconnect with his two adult daughters. He decides to ditch his commitments to his next film to chase his daughter across Europe as she travels with friends before going off to college. He wants to reconnect with her and make up for lost time.

Adam Sandler plays his manager. Laura Dern is his publicist. Billy Crudup plays an old friend who blames Jay for stealing a role from him when they were young, struggling actors together. Like several of the films I’ve reviewed over the past two years, this one explores the cost to those who attach themselves to driven people.

We get plenty of drama as Kelly struggles with his life choices and his unsuccessful attempts to reconcile things with his daughters. However, this is mitigated by many comedic moments that help carry you through this relatively dark storyline.

Director Nora Baumbach blends flashback scenes with current scenes as Kelly physically walks through his past, much like Scrooge is led through scenes from his past by the ghosts of Christmas.

Baumbach co-wrote the screenplay with Emily Mortimer, who has a small role as Kelly’s hairdresser.

Although Oscar passed it over, IMDb lists 37 nominations and 12 wins. IMDb does not list any budget or income figures. It was screened at multiple film festivals and only saw limited release in theaters. It is currently available for streaming on Netflix.

I highly recommend it, especially if Sentimental Value doesn’t appeal to you. This film is much more accessible and entertaining while remaining a poignant look at the struggles of balancing a career in show business with family relationships.

That wraps it up for this episode. In my next installment, I will take a look at four films that were perhaps my least favorite of the bunch, even though one of them is a major contender for multiple awards.

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I will see you next time as we continue contemplating life. Until then, fly safe.