Month: December 2023

2023 Atlanta Film Critics Circle Award Winners

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Atlanta was one of the first major cities to release their winners for what was the best in film for the year of 2023.  Let’s see what won out on top!

 

Top 10 Films

  1. Oppenheimer
  2. Killers of the Flower Moon
  3. The Holdovers
  4. Past Lives
  5. Barbie
  6. May December
  7. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
  8. American Fiction
  9. Anatomy of a Fall
  10. Poor Things

 

Best Director — Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer)

Best Lead Actor — Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer)

Best Lead Actress — Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon)

Best Support Actor (Tie) —  Robert Downey Jr. (Oppenheimer) and Ryan Gosling (Barbie)

Best Supporting Actress — Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers)

Best Ensemble Cast — Oppenheimer

Best Screenplay — Oppenheimer

Best Documentary — Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

Best Foreign Language Film — Anatomy of a Fall

Best Animated Film — Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Best Cinematography — Oppenheimer 

Best Original Score — Oppenheimer

Best Stunt Work — John Wick: Chapter 4

Best Breakthrough Performance —  Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon)

Best First Feature Film — Celine Song (Past Lives)

2023 Critics Choice Awards Nominations

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One of the biggest critics groups (one that I hope to be a part of in the future) has released their nominations for their televised award show this year.  Check out what got nominated!

Best Picture

-American Fiction

-Barbie

-The Color Purple

-The Holdovers

-Killers of the Flower Moon

-Maestro

-Oppenheimer

-Past Lives

-Poor Things

-Saltburn

 

Best Actor

-Bradley Cooper (Maestro)

-Leonardo DiCaprio (Killers of the Flower Moon)

-Colman Domingo (Rustin)

-Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers)

-Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer)

-Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction)

 

Best Actress

-Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon)

-Sandra Huller (Anatomy of a Fall)

-Greta Lee (Past Lives)

-Carey Mulligan (Maestro)

-Margot Robbie (Barbie)

-Emma Stone (Poor Things)

 

Best Supporting Actor

-Sterling K. Brown (American Fiction)

-Robert De Niro (Killers of the Flower Moon)

-Robert Downey Jr. (Oppenheimer)

-Ryan Gosling (Barbie)

-Charles Melton (May December)

-Mark Ruffalo (Poor Things)

 

Best Supporting Actress

-Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer)

-Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple)

-America Ferrera (Barbie)

-Jodie Foster (Nyad)

-Julianne Moore (May December)

-Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers)

 

Best Young Actor/Actress

-Abby Ryder Forston (Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret)

-Ariana Greenblatt (Barbie)

-Calah Lane (Wonka)

-Milo Machado Graner (Anatomy of a Fall)

-Dominic Sessa (The Holdovers)

-Madeleine Yuna Voyles (The Creator)

 

Best Acting Ensemble

-Air

-Barbie

-The Color Purple

-The Holdovers

-Killers of the Flower Moon

-Oppenheimer

 

Best Director

-Bradley Cooper (Maestro)

-Greta Gerwig (Barbie)

-Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things)

-Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer)

-Alexander Payne (The Holdovers)

-Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon)

 

Best Original Screenplay

-Air

-Barbie

-The Holdovers

-Maestro

-May December

-Past Lives

 

Best Adapted Screenplay

-Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret

-All of Us Strangers

-American Fiction

-Killers of the Flower Moon

-Poor Things

-Oppenheimer

 

Best Cinematography

-Maestro

-Barbie

-Killers of the Flower Moon

-Poor Things

-Saltburn

-Oppenheimer

 

Best Production Design

-Saltburn

-Oppenheimer

-Killers of the Flower Moon

-Barbie

-Poor Things

-Asteroid City

 

Best Editing

-Air

-Barbie

-Oppenheimer

-Poor Things

-Killers of the Flower Moon

-Maestro

 

Best Costume Design

-Barbie

-Wonka

-The Color Purple

-Poor Things

-Killers of the Flower Moon

-Napoleon

 

Best Hair and Makeup

-Barbie

-The Color Purple

-Maestro

-Oppenheimer

-Poor Things

-Priscilla

 

Best Visual Effects

-The Creator

-Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

-Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One

-Oppenheimer

-Poor Things

-Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

 

Best Comedy

-American Fiction

-Barbie

-Bottoms

-The Holdovers

-No Hard Feelings

-Poor Things

 

Best Animated Feature

-The Boy and the Heron

-Elemental

-Nimona

-Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

-Wish

 

Best Foreign Language Film

-Anatomy of a Fall

-Godzilla Minus One

-Society of the Snow

-The Taste of Things

-The Zone of Interest

 

Best Song

-“Dance the Night” (Barbie)

-“I’m Just Ken” (Barbie)

-“Peaches” (The Super Mario Bros Movie)

-“Road to Freedom” (Rustin)

-“This Wish” (Wish)

-“What Was I Made For” (Barbie)

 

Best Score

-Poor Things

-Society of the Snow

-Oppenheimer

-Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

-Killers of the Flower Moon

-Barbie

 

2023 Alaska Film Critics Association Award Winners

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Already, another critics group has given out their awards, so let’s see what the Alaska Film Critics Association voted was the best of the best for 2023 in film.

 

Best Picture- — The Holdovers

Best Actor — Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers)

Best Actress — Sandra Huller (Anatomy of a Fall)

Best Supporting Actor — Paul Mescal (All of Us Strangers)

Best Supporting Actress — Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple)

Best Director — Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer)

Best Screenplay — Barbie

Best Production Design — Barbie

Best Cinematography — The Holdovers

Best First Film —  Past Lives

Best Music — Barbie

Best Editing — Anatomy of a Fall

Best Animated Film — Nimona

“The Deep Sky” Book Review

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General Information

Author – Yume Kitasei

Genre – Science Fiction

Publication Year – 2023

Synopsis – They left Earth to save humanity.  They’ll have to save themselves first.  It is the eve of Earth’s environmental collapse.  A single ship carries humanity’s last hope: eighty elite graduates of a competitive program, who will give birth to a generation of children in deep space.  But halfway to a distant but livable planet, a lethal bomb kills three of the crew and knocks The Phoenix off course.  Asuka, the only surviving witness, is an immediate suspect.

 

Review

For the Interstellar Book Club for the month of November, we chose the debut novel ‘The Deep Sky’ by Yumi Kitasei.  When one of the members of the book club said this was a thriller murder mystery with components of Among Us, I was immediately hooked.  And it turned out to be one of my favorite books of 2023.

 

Told from alternating timelines form Asuka, Earth is no longer as stable as it used to be, so EvanStar has taken a crew to travel to Planet X in hopes of saving the human race.  We see Asuka as a student training in the hopes of being selected to this elite crew aboard The Phoenix a decade in the making and during present day after launch.  After witnessing an explosion, she becomes responsible for trying to figure out what happened after three end up dead.

 

From the beginning, we are introduced to a fast-paced story that keeps you on your toes the entire time.  Everything is complete chaos after the explosion happens because it is discovered that this was not an accident.  The remaining crew members are now on edge as there is a murderer among them.  It goes from traditional science-fiction to thriller in a blink of an eye, and that is what keeps the story moving the entire time.

 

With the constant alternating between school-aged Asuka and her present role on their ship, we get to learn a lot about not just her but her friends and coworkers as they grew up.  You learn how their nationalities and sense of identity plays into their personalities.  Some are more competitive than others because countries are given a certain number of slots on the ship depending on how much they have decided to pay for.  The competition is already tough, but the slot number plus the boarding school setting brings out the worst in everyone, making each of these characters more compelling to dive into.

 

This novel has a stunning story on how complex it is to be a human.  How do you even evaluate what is important for survival when people can offer so much beyond the typical classroom setting?  That is explored in detail and really makes you think about what humanity needs to sustain a reliable future.  There is so much to love about people even though we see so much negativity but if you give everyone the chance to prove themselves they are going to not just survive but thrive.  The novel wanted to show how humanity can show its ugly side when there is competition, but in a time of crisis, everyone can bring something special to the table.

 

Overall, this novel has a fun story that turns into a thriller real quick with characters you can never stop questioning until the very end.

2023 Golden Globe Award Nominations

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Man, as soon as December hits it seems like all of the awards contenders and competitions are in full swing with one thing happening right after another.  The Golden Globes are one of the first major indicators, I would say, that really help whittle the field down to what may be coming to the Oscars coming January for nominations.  Here are the nominations for this year’s ceremony!

 

Best Picture — Drama

-Anatomy of a Fall

-Killers of the Flower Moon

-Maestro

-Oppenheimer

-Past Lives

-The Zone of Interest

 

Best Picture — Comedy/Musical

-Air

-American Fiction

-Barbie

-The Holdovers

-May December

-Poor Things

 

Best Director

-Bradley Cooper (Maestro)

-Greta Gerwig (Barbie)

-Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things)

-Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer)

-Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon)

-Celine Song (Past Lives)

 

Best Screenplay

-Barbie (Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach)

-Poor Things (Tony McNamara)

-Oppenheimer (Christopher Nolan)

-Killers of the Flower Moon (Eric Roth and Martin Scorsese)

-Past Lives (Celine Song)

-Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet and Arthur Harari)

 

Best Actor — Drama

-Bradley Cooper (Maestro)

-Leonardo DiCaprio (Killers of the Flower Moon)

-Colman Domingo (Rustin)

-Barry Keoghan (Saltburn)

-Cillian Murphy (Oppenhiemer)

-Andrew Scott (All of Us Strangers)

 

Best Actress — Drama

-Annette Benning (Nyad)

-Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon)

-Sandra Huller (Anatomy of a Fall)

-Greta Lee (Past Lives)

-Carey Mulligan (Maestro)

-Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla)

 

Best Actor — Comedy/Musical

-Nicholas Cage (Dream Scenario)

-Timothee Chalamet (Wonka)

-Matt Damon (Air)

-Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers)

-Joaquin Phoenix (Beau is Afraid)

-Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction)

 

Best Actress — Comedy/Musical

-Fantasia Barrino (The Color Purple)

-Jennifer Lawrence (No Hard Feelings)

-Natalie Portman (May December)

-Alma Poysti (Fallen Leaves)

-Margot Robbie (Barbie)

-Emma Stone (Poor Things)

 

Best Supporting Actor

-Willem DaFoe (Poor Things)

-Robert De Niro (Killers of the Flower Moon)

-Robert Downey Jr. (Oppenheimer)

-Ryan Gosling (Barbie)

-Charles Melton (May December)

-Mark Ruffalo (Poor Things)

 

Best Supporting Actress

-Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer)

-Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple)

-Jodie Foster (Nyad)

-Julianne Moore (May December)

-Rosamund Pike (Saltburn)

-Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers)

 

Best Original Score

-Poor Things

-Oppenheimer

-The Boy and the Heron

-The Zone of Interest

-Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

-Killers of the Flower Moon

 

Best Original Song

-“Addicted to Romance” (She Came to Me)

-“Dance the Night” (Barbie)

-“I’m Just Ken” (Barbie)

-“Peaches” (The Super Mario Bros Movie)

-“Road to Freedom” (Rustin)

-“What Was I Made For?” (Barbie)

 

Best Animated Feature

-The Boy and the Heron

-Elemental

-Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

-The Super Mario Bros Movie

-Suzume

-Wish

 

Best Non-English Language Feature

-Anatomy of a Fall

-Fallen Leaves

-Io Capitano

-Past Lives

-Society of the Snow

-The Zone of Interest

 

Cinematic and Box Office Acheivement

-Barbie

-Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

-John Wick: Chapter 4

-Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part 1

-Oppenheimer

-Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

-The Super Mario Bros Movie

-Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour

 

 

2023 AFI Top 10 Films of the Year

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Every year, the American Film Institute releases their list of the Top 10 films of the year.  Here is what they decided was the best of the best for the year of 2023, listed in alphabetical order!

American Fiction

Barbie

The Holdovers

Killers of the Flower Moon

Maestro

May December

Oppenheimer

Past Lives

Poor Things

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

2023 Astra Award Nominations

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The Hollywood Critics Association is another prominent show that tends to have a fun play into what will happen during awards season.  Rebranded to “The Astras”, here are this year’s nominees!

 

Best Picture

-Air

-American Fiction

-Barbie

-The Color Purple

-The Holdovers

-Killers of the Flower Moon

-Maestro

-Oppenheimer

-Past Lives

-Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

 

Best First Feature

-A.V. Rockwell (A Thousand and One)

-Adele Lim (Joy Ride)

-Celine Song (Past Lives)

-Chloe Domont (Fair Play)

-Cord Jefferson (American Fiction)

-Michael B. Jordan (Creed III)

 

Best Director

-Alexander Payne (The Holdovers)

-Ben Affleck (Air)

-Bradley Cooper (Maestro)

-Celine Song (Past Lives)

-Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer)

-Cord Jefferson (American Fiction)

-Emerald Fennell (Saltburn)

-Greta Gerwig (Barbie)

-Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon)

-Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things)

 

Best Actress

-Carey Mulligan (Maestro)

-Emma Stone (Poor Things)

-Fantasia Barrino (The Color Purple)

-Greta Lee (Past Lives)

-Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon)

-Margot Robbie (Barbie)

 

Best Actor

-Barry Keoghan (Saltburn)

-Bradley Cooper (Maestro)

-Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer)

-Colman Domingo (Rustin)

-Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction)

-Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers)

 

Best Supporting Actress

-America Ferrera (Barbie)

-Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple)

-Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers)

-Julianne Moore (May December)

-Rachel McAdams (Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret)

-Viola Davis (Air)

 

Best Supporting Actor

-Charles Melton (May December)

-Colman Domingo (The Color Purple)
-Dominic Sessa (The Holdovers)

-Glenn Howerton (BlackBerry)

-Robert Downey Jr. (Oppenheimer)

-Ryan Gosling (Barbie)

 

Best Cast Ensemble

-Air

-Barbie

-Killers of the Flower Moon

-Oppenheimer

-The Color Purple

-The Holdovers

 

Best Voice-Over Performance

-Ariana DeBose (Wish)

-Bradley Cooper (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3)

-Daniel Kaluuya (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse)

-Hailee Steinfeld (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse)

-Jack Black (The Super Mario Bros Movies)

-Shameik Moore (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Man)

 

Best Original Screenplay

-Air

-Anatomy of a Fall

-Barbie

-Past Lives

-Saltburn

-The Holdovers

 

Best Adapted Screenplay

-American Fiction

-Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret

-Killers of the Flower Moon

-Oppenheimer

-Poor Things

-Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

 

Best Casting

-Air

-American Fiction

-Barbie

-Oppenheimer

-The Color Purple

-The Holdovers

 

Best Cinematography

-John Wick: Chapter 4

-Killers of the Flower Moon

-Maestro

-Oppenheimer

-Poor Things

-Saltburn

 

Best Costume Design

-Barbie

-Chevalier

-Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3

-Killers of the Flower Moon

-Poor Things

-The Color Purple

 

Best Production Design

-Asteroid City

-Barbie

-Killers of the Flower Moon

-Oppenheimer

-Poor Things

-Saltburn

 

Best Editing

-Anatomy of a Fall

-John Wick: Chapter 4

-Killers of the Flower Moon

-Oppenheimer

-Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

-The Holdovers

 

Best Hair and Make-Up

-Barbie

-Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

-Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3

-Maestro

-Poor Things

-The Color Purple

 

Best Original Song

-“Camp Isn’t Home” (Theater Camp)

-“Dance the Night” (Barbie)

-“I’m Just Ken” (Barbie)

-“Peaches” (The Super Mario Bros Movie)

-“The Wish” (Wish)

-“What Was I Made For?” (Barbie)

 

Best Score

-Elemental

-Killers of the Flower Moon

-Oppenheimer

-Poor Things

-Saltburn

-Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

 

Best Sound

-Ferarri

-John Wick: Chapter 4

-Maestro

-Oppenheimer

-Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

-The Killer

 

Best International Feature

-Anatomy of a Fall

-Concrete Utopia

-Fallen Leaves

-Jawan

-Perfect Days

-Radical

-Society of the Snow

-The Taste of Things

-The Teacher’s Lounge

-The Zone of Interest

 

Best International Actor

-Christian Friedel (The Zone of Interest)

-Enzo Vogrincic (Society of the Snow)

-Eugenio Derbez (Radical)

-Gael Garcia Bernal (Cassandro)

-Koji Yakusho (Perfect Days)

-Mads Mikkelsen (The Promised Land)

 

Best International Actress

-Alma Poysti (Fallen Leaves)

-Juliette Binoche (The Taste of Things)

-Layla Mohammadi (The Persian Version)

-Leonie Benesch (The Teacher’s Lounge)

-Roberta Colindrez (Cassandro)

 

Best International Filmmaker

-Hayao Miyazaki (The Boy and The Heron)

-J.A. Bayona (Society of the Snow)

-Jonathan Glazer (The Zone of Interest)

-Justine Triet (Anatomy of a Fall)

-Tran Anh Hung (The Taste of Things)

-Wim Wenders (Perfect Days)

 

Best Animated Feature

-The Boy and the Heron

-Elemental

-Nimona

-Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

-Suzume

-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

 

Best Documentary Feature

-20 Days in Mariupol

-American Symphony

-Beyond Utopia

-Little Richard: I Am Everything

-Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

-Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour

 

Best Stunts

-Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

-Fast X

-Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3

-John Wick: Chapter 4

-Mission Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One

-Polite Society

 

Best Visual Effects

-Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3

-Mission Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One

-Oppenheimer

-Poor Things

-Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

-The Creator

2023 National Board of Review Awards

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Another winter day, another awards body giving out awards.  National Board of Review, established in 1909, was created to help support the film and other arts in the entertainment field.  A select group of individuals from within the entertainment industry vote upon their favorite films of the year.  Here are their results!

Best Film — Killers of the Flower Moon

Best Director — Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon)

Best Actor — Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers)

Best Actress —Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon)

Best Supporting Actor — Mark Ruffalo (Poor Things)

Best Supporting Actress — Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers)

Best Original Screenplay — The Holdovers (David Hemingson)

Best Adapted Screenplay — Poor Things (Tony McNamara)

Breakthrough Performance — Teyana Taylor (A Thousand and One)

Best Directorial Debut — Celine Song (Past Lives)

Best Animated Feature — Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Best International Film — Anatomy of a Fall

Best Documentary — Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

Best Ensemble — The Iron Claw

Best Films of 2023 (in alphabetical order)

Barbie

The Boy and the Heron

Ferrari

The Holdovers

The Iron Claw

Maestro

Oppenheimer

Past Lives

Poor Things

“The Killer” Movie Review

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General Information

Directed by – David Fincher

Written by – Andrew Kevin Walker

Release Year – 2023

Starring – Michael Fassbender (The Killer), Sophie Charlotte (Magdala), Tilda Swinton (The Expert), Charles Parnell (The Lawyer), Arliss Howard (The Client), Kerry O’Malley (Dolores) and Sala Baker (The Brute)

Synopsis – After a mistake on the job, The Killer needs to right his wrong before it becomes too much – both in his professional and personal life.

 

Review

Whenever you see David Fincher’s name attached to a film, you are going to be in for some type of wild ride.  You never know how the final product is going to turn out.  ‘The Killer’ is another entry of neo-noir films that will stand out over the test of time.

 

Based on the French graphic novel of the same name, ‘The Killer’ follows the titular character (Michael Fassbender) makes a mistake on the job as a paid assassin.  It is because of this that now his girlfriend, Magdala (Sophie Charlotte), is put in danger.  Now, The Killer is seeking revenge on everyone who caused this to happen to Magdala, making sure they know not to mess with him again.

Fassbender knows how to captivate you from beginning to end as the character of The Killer.  With constant identity changes and moving from location to location, you would think it would be hard to connect with this ever-changing character.  But even without a name you can feel how human he is.  He is not the typical kind of paid assassin that comes to mind when you hear what he does for a living.  His pre-job yoga and playlist full of The Smiths makes him seem like a more real person rather than a killer.  Fassbender sells it too with how precise yet awkward his personality feels.  All of it works perfect for the story being told – a human who wants to protect his love.

 

While Fassbender dominates every second he is on screen, he is greatly supported by an outstanding cast.  Most of the sequences throughout the film focus on Fassbender interacting with just one other person.  Everyone feels like they have a purpose to the story that is being told.  The back and forth between Fassbender and his scene partners makes your heart race, whether or not an action scene is taking place.  The supporting performances elevate Fassbender and he elevates them just as much.  This cast is as compelling as it can get with constant chemistry and bouncing off of each other that plays perfectly to the story.

The story itself is perfectly paced from beginning to end that you would think you would feel lost but it keeps you wondering what will happen next.  Even with constant location changes that could be overwhelming, you know exactly where you are at and why these events are taking place.  Even with the serious nature of what is happening, we are met with moments of dry humor to perfectly break the tension.  It is a fun script that plays on the traditional stereotypes of this genre of film that matches what audiences are looking for in their entertainment.

 

Even though his character is not sympathetic due to his line of work, ‘The Killer’ has an amazing cast and fun script that plays on the noir genre for a refreshing film that will be remembered highly within Fincher’s filmography. 

“The Left Hand of Darkness” Book Review

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General Information

Author – Ursula K. Le Guin

Genre – Science Fiction

Publication Year – 1969

Synopsis – A groundbreaking work of science fiction, “The Left Hand of Darkness” tells the story of a lone human emissary to Winter, an alien world whose inhabitants spend most of their time without a gender.  His goal is to facilitate Winter’s inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization.  But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the completely dissimilar culture that he encounters.

Review

It is crazy to think how monumental a science fiction novel can still be sixty years after its publication.  There are a few that are able to stand the test of time, especially in this genre.  When this was selected as the monthly choice for The Interstellar Book Club, I was excited to dive in and see what all of the hype was about.  While I can see what made this novel so impactful at the time of its release, it felt like something was missing from the story overall.

 

Genly Ai, a human representative travels to the icy planet Gethen (also known as Winter) to convince them to join the coalition of humanoid worlds, Ekuman.  Upon arrival, Ai notices that the individuals of Winter are genderless, assuming this is the reason why their society has a lot of issues politically.  Throughout his mission, we see Ai travel to many worlds, experience hardships and learn to move past his biases as they are the prevention to his future safety.

 

This novel has been studied time and time again for its messaging that was so ahead of its time.  A big focus of the novel was the idea of what sex and gender mean in a society.  Those who live on Winter find the idea of gender pointless.  How one identifies should not be how we are judged when there are so many more important traits that make a person who they are.  With the novel being written in the late 60s, there are a lot of traditionally masculine traits that Ai has.  Over the course of the story, we learn alongside him how irrelevant it is of how someone identifies.  There are some moments when it seems like this well-meaning theme falls flat, bringing down the story as a whole on an enjoyment level.  While the credit is deserved for branching out and being one of the earliest works to focus on the message of gender identity, it still suffers from stereotypes of its time period.

 

The first half of the story is mostly focusing on Ai and him trying to complete his mission and a lot of it feels like it drags.  At times, it was a true struggle to get through.  But when everything goes wrong for Ai, the story picks up a lot.  Most of that is thanks to the side character we meet, Estraven.  The connection and bond they form is the best part of the novel, reminding you that there are good people out in the world.

 

With good themes and messaging, the story takes a while to build to its impactful moments, making you question if the journey was completely worth it in the end.