The Oscar-winning movies Luca Guadagnino can’t stand: ““Hated it. It’s so bad”
Some filmmakers find it hard to watch modern films, struggling to consume the work of their contemporaries and not compare themselves. Then there are people like Luca Guadagnino, who are just extremely picky when it comes to what they watch, and even less afraid to share their thoughts on movies made by other directors
Since making his debut feature, The Protagonists, in 1999, the Italian filmmaker has steadily elevated himself to a place among the finest directors of his generation, with the Oscar-winning film Call Me by Your Name catapulting him into the mainstream. With acclaimed films such as Suspiria, Challengers, Bones and All, and Queer following in quick succession, Guadagnino hasn’t let his vision falter, drawing audiences into worlds of obsession, infatuation, and otherness.
So, with a pretty strong standing in Hollywood, the director seems to feel little remorse about slagging off his contemporaries, and in all honesty, it’s refreshing to hear an artist be transparent, because there’s nothing worse than a kiss-arse.
In an interview with Fantastic Man, Guadagnino revealed his opinions on some recent Oscar winners, and there were only a few that he actually had good things to say about. He explained, “I don’t see much current cinema. The pattern of filmmaking has become so repetitive: I understand a movie after five minutes… In order not to be bored, I skip new films, but I like to see old films.”
So, asked about various movies, Guadagnino delivered some scathingly blunt reviews of certain cinematic hits, like The Revenant by Alejandro González Iñárritu, which earned Leonardo DiCaprio his long-awaited Oscar win, also winning ‘Best Director’ and ‘Best Cinematography’, but all Guadagnino had to say was, “Hated it. It’s so bad.”
The Oscar-nominated festive lesbian drama Carol, by Todd Haynes, is another movie that Guadagnino dislikes, and when the interviewer admitted to liking it, the Call Me By Your Name filmmaker replied, “Really? They offered me that film”, now that’s an alternative version of Carol that surely would’ve been interesting to see – and probably slightly more perverse.
La La Land, which took home six Oscars, including ‘Best Director’ for Damien Chazelle, was one of the biggest movies of 2016, but surprise, surprise, Guadagnino thought it was terrible. In fact, his response was, “Ugh, so bad. Cheesy.” Perhaps the filmmaker isn’t really into musicals. At least he liked the ‘Best Picture’ winner from that year, Moonlight, which he called “a very impassioned film”.
Don’t get the director started on Nocturnal Animals, either, which saw Michael Shannon nominated for an Oscar. The Tom Ford-directed film was praised by many for its seductive and psychological exploration of masculinity, but Guadagnino didn’t have the nicest things to say about it. “Too much in your face. Also, I don’t buy the turmoil of Amy Adams. Why is she in despair when she reads her husband’s fantasy? There’s no harm in that, I find.”
I guess to be a good filmmaker, you have to be a picky cinema-goer, because how else are you going to know what it is you, as an artist, want to make?
