Conclave (2024) As visitors to this site know, there's nothing that BQ despises more than 'Oscar Bait' films......movies that sit up like hungry puppies, begging for awards to be lavished upon them on the basis of their high, high pedigree....(top actors, writers, directors, blah blah blah....)
Almost always we find these films unwatchable, unfit for human consumption.....(does anyone even remember "Power Of The Dog" or "Nomadland"?)
But this one intrigued us and yes, it engaged and entertained us. Because nothing keeps an audience awake like a peek-a-boo behind the hidden curtains of the Catholic Church.
Filmmakers approach the Catholic Church in two major ways....
#1. The Church as a hotbed of scandal, corruption, hypocrisy, perversion and Byzantine backstage, backstabbing and politicking that would put Machiavelli to shame.
#2. The Church as a gushing wellspring of horror, overflowing with possessed children, satanic nuns, and backdoor entrances to hell itself.......
'Conclave' hits all the tropes of #1, as the College Of Cardinals meet to take multiple secret ballots to select a new Pope. The PowerBall winner of the Pope-Stakes must amass a two thirds majority. And just like our recent American election, there's a clash of ultra-liberals, traditional conservatives and extreme right wing wackadoodles.
Ralph Fiennes certainly deserves all the award nominations that will come his way for his tortured-soul portrayal of the College of Cardinals' Dean. No actor can match his close-ups as he's agonized and overwhelmed by the clash of temperaments, ideas and dark revealed secrets of the major players vying for Popehood.
This coterie of Cardinals includes Stanley Tucci (the gentle-hearted liberal), John Lithgow (the self-promoting suck up), Lucian Msamati (the Nigerian conservative with a jumbo skeleton in his closet), Sergio Castalitto (the back-to-Medieval-days right winger) and Carlos Diehz (the young 3rd World wild card only recently made Cardinal.)
In short, a real Pope Opera......with almost every candidate sitting on their own bombshell twist.
We can't deny some guilty pleasure chuckling as this grim melodrama is finally capped off by a Double Whammy, You Gotta Be ****ing With Me bombshell twist.
Based on your religious proclivities, you'll either find the climax ridiculous, inevitable, or the Catholic hierarchy getting its just desserts at long last.
Whatever you may think of the plot, 'Conclave' offers up good solid gripping drama for grown ups, the kind of middle-brow, moderately budgeted film that Hollywood used to pump out every week from the 1940's thru the 1960's......with literate scripts giving superb actors something to sink their teeth into.
Therefore 'Conclave can go right ahead and beg for all the Oscars it richly deserves. We won't mind at all. 4 stars (****).
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