Netflix’s Oscar-race ambitions might run stronger than ever this year with streaming being the place to watch all the movies during the pandemic. Certainly, we can expect Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial Of The Chicago 7 to draw multiple nominations, and Vanessa Kirby has emerged as a likely nominee in Pieces Of A Woman after snagging the Best Actress award at this year’s Venice Film Festival. The Martin Scorsese-produced film also got a nod for the festival’s Golden Lion honor, and it doesn’t look like an easy watch by any stretch, but Kirby’s performance might convince you to watch nonetheless.
Maybe you’re a Shia LaBeouf fan, too? Well, I’m not sensing a discernible way for him to go disturbingly method here, so for now, all eyes on Kirby. She and Shia portray hopeful first-time parents who lose their child during a home birth. As one can imagine, that scene was a grueling one to shoot, and as Kirby revealed to Entertainment Weekly, it happened as a thirty-minute take that made her feel like she and cinematographer Benjamin Loeb had “been to war together.” After watching Kirby throw down white-hot-yet-simmering rage in The Crown, I believe her.
From the synopsis:
Martha (Vanessa Kirby) and Sean (Shia LaBeouf) are a Boston couple on the verge of parenthood whose lives change irrevocably when a home birth ends in unimaginable tragedy. Thus begins a yearlong odyssey for Martha, who must navigate her grief while working through fractious relationships with Sean and her domineering mother (Ellen Burstyn), along with the publicly vilified midwife (Molly Parker), whom she must face in court. Directed by Kornél Mundruczó, written by Kata Wéber, and executive produced by Martin Scorsese, Pieces Of A Woman is a deeply personal, searing, and ultimately transcendent story of a woman learning to live alongside her loss.
Pieces Of A Woman streams on Netflix on January 7.