The last few months have been the usual gentle undulation of slight ups and barely detectable lows in the lead up to the 86th Academy Awards.
We saw 12 Years a Slave and Gravity shoot in to an early lead as favourites for the big awards and then…well, then they stayed there and still remain. We’ve had cheers (from me, when Nebraska finished) and tears (thanks in the main to the untimely and shocking deaths of Philip Seymour Hoffman and James Gandolfini).
But today the speculation/droning conjecture ends. Because today is the day when all the winners that we already know are going to win, finally win.
And with that kind of utter confidence, I guess I’d better nail the following predictions for all feature length contenders (because if it ain’t over an hour, I don’t give a fig). What I think will win is in gold, what I think should win is in bold and for both, well, it’s a classic gold and bold combo.
But despite my strong inclinations for a chubby Christian Bale in a bad wig and even stronger inclinations for a sensational Jennifer Lawrence in a flouncy dress, there must be only one winner, Capt…hold on…I mean 12 Years a Slave. It has the historical significance, weight and – without wanting to make the obvious gag – gravity, that the film of the same name just doesn’t have. But plaudits on its worthiness play down the fact that it is a beautifully told and shot drama, and one that is far more interesting than its showy galactic rival. Continue reading →
How does that old saying go again? Aha, that’s right…The Oscar nominations are like my lunch…They’re happening at about 1.30 this afternoon and I’m salivating just thinking about them.
If you remember anything about this time last year, it won’t be the horsemeat scandal; it’ll be my 100% Oscar nomination predictions. I can say that, of course, in the full comfort that: a) you’ll be far too busy/lazy/stupid to go back and verify the claim; and b) your memory cells will have been eroded sufficiently over the last 12 months by the consumption of burgers and burgers full of reformed horse bollock to remember.
So without aneigh further ado (splendid, just just splendid), here are some big shouts for this darn year’s Academy Awards nominations… Continue reading →
With little over a week until this year’s hot Oscar picks are shoved down our desperate and welcoming throats, its precursor awards continue to throw in their two-penneth worth and, with it, a glimpse into how the Academy may choose to lower its cinematic sword of relative power. The PGA, WGA, DGA and (frankly showing off with five initials) Bafta have raised their respective heads above the awards parapet and announced nominations aplenty.
The Producers Guild of America is on a hot streak of a magnitude only the WWE’s The Undertaker can fathom – and he’s a dead man, for heaven’s sake. It has correctly predicted the last six Best Picture Oscar winners and its nominations are a perpetually good guide for the five to ten films that the Academy will put up for the big one.
Last year was less than edifying for the other award-smiths however. Both the Directors Guild and Bafta popped a directing award on Ben Affleck’s mantelpiece, leaving Ang Lee’s Oscar with only the other he won seven years earlier to play with. The Writer’s Guild agreed with the Academy that Chris Terrio’s Argo adapted screenplay was best, but ignored Quentin Tarantino’s overrated Oscar winning Django original screenplay in favour of the utterly dreary one submitted by Mark Boal for Zero Dark Thirty.
You could find the full list of nominations for the PGA, DGA, WGA and Bafta by slamming your left mouse clickeroony on the respective links. Or you could read my well sage thoughts below. It’s a no-brainer…
…i.e. read the stuff below. Obvs.
1. There’s still hope for Marty, Woody and Spike…
Martin Scorsese directing Joanna Lumley and Leonardo diCaprio in ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ (Credit: Steve Sands/Bauer Griffin)
After being more or less snubbed entirely by the the Golden Globes (ok, so it got a Best Picture nomination, but so did The Tourist), Scorsese’s stock has gone through the roof, with directing nods from the DGA and Bafta for The Wolf of Wall Street.
Woody Allen and Spike Jonze have each received a similar boost by their inclusion in a very fruity WGA original screenplay list for Blue Jasmine and Her respectively, and all three see their pictures included in the PGA’s 10-strong shortlist.
2. …but a death knell for Llewyn Davis, Cecil Gaines and Philomena
It’s funny the way that some films gather substantial award word of mouth in the summer, only to run aground come the business end of the year. Surprisingly, this year’s candidate is the Coen Brothers’ Inside Llewyn Davis, which missed out on the PGA shortlist together with the critically-slammed schmaltz-festival The Butler.
Stephen Frears’s splendid British underdog Philomena also missed out. And although it was included in the Bafta’s Best Film category, everybody knows that Bafta sticks with its own. Isn’t that right, Idris?
The Croods, Frozen, Monsters University and Despicable Me 2 are all nominated for Best Animated Motion Picture at the PGAs and also appear in this year’s Annies shortlist. That bodes well for all four, with the latter three also being nominated for a Bafta. That said, 2012’s Bafta list also included Tintin and Arthur Christmas, once again proving that the Brits are about as trustworthy as Amy Adams’s plummy English accent in American Hustle.
4. …whereas Best Documentary Feature is still wide open
‘The Act of Killing’
The critically adored bizarro-doc about Indonesian executioners The Act of Killing is a very strong frontrunner (like the Linford Christie of factual films) for this year’s category – being nominated for the PGA and Bafta and having built ahead of steam that seems impossible to stop (like the Va’aiga Tuigamala of factual films).
5. There’s a film called Lone Survivor. Apparently.
Yea, it sounds dead ace. Marky Mark, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch and Ben Foster are a quartet of SEALs, yeah. And they’ve got to hunt down this Taliban kingpin, right? And…well that’s all I know, because nobody’s ever heard of the thing (a statement I make in full acknowledgement of the 6 million viewed trailer below).
Thank you, WGA. Thank you for adding Lone Survivor to your list of other wacky historical nominations like The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Win Win, I Love You Philip Morris and Bend it Like Beckham. And again, thank you.
Hot on the heels of yesterday’s SAG nominations, the Foreign Press Association today announced their own Golden Globe nominations. As you’ll have predicted with weary acceptance, I’ve implored my lacklustre thinking cells to consider what the announcement means to 2014’s Oscars race.
I guess in many ways, you could say that today was yesterday’s tomorrow. And if you’re not saying that then can I recommend that you take the longest, hardest look at yourself in the nearest mirror (although the vicinity of the mirror is optional, I’m simply trying to endorse your very own convenience. My pleasure).
For the less able of you, I’m hacking on about the fact that a mere day after the SAG award nominations were announced, we have a complete and, indeed, longer set of filmy names to look at and consider. The dear, dear Golden Globes used to be a firm statement of intent upon the awards season, but has recently taken a lengthy sojourn to backlash city. Luckily for you however, my perpetual insistence to remain behind the times means that I’m still keen to consider them as a chief indicator for the Academy awards.
A real list of the nominations is here and my thoughts are down there:
1. It’s a shoot-out between Gravity and 12 Years a Slave
Ok, so we’ve probably known this for a good while now, but the Best Picture will more than likely be picked between these two. Having considered their best film nominations and nods for Cuaron and McQueen, and utterly cleared your mind of words like ‘argo’ and ‘zerodarkthirty’, they are dead certs for Best Picture nominations at the Oscars.
At this point, their competition seems to consist primarily of American Hustle, which looks like a jocular performers’ romp as opposed to a heavyweight contender, and Captain Phillips which is perhaps a little to Argo-ish to pick up the votes it will require. Nebraska is certainly a dark (black and white, indeed) horse, but it’s been a hell of a long time since Bruce Dern’s win at Cannes and it’s a pony that may well have bolted a long time ago.
2. Idris Elba is the Mandela
Idris Elba in ‘Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom’ (Credit: The Weinstein Company)
Call me a disgusting old cynic but absorb these card, hold spoonerific facts:
a) Nelson Mandela exited this earthy realm on 5th December 2013;
b) Golden Globe nomination ballots closed on 9th December 2013; and
c) Idris Elba was Golden Globe nominated for his role as Nelson Mandela on 12th December 2013.
Hey. Hey.
Now the bounce may not quite last until March, but may well secure Elba his first Academy Award nomination come the 16th January. And, for fear of reprisals, that’s all I’ve got to say about that.
3. The Best Original Song category could be an utter star-off
Coldplay, U2, Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake. No, it’s not the playlist for Radio 2’s upcoming ‘Middle of the Road’ Music Festival. They’re all nominated for a Golden Globe this year for their Original (the term is, of course, used in its lightest terms) Songs. Great news for my dad; a bummer for the rest of us.
If it makes it any easier to bear, Jon Bon Jovi, Keith Urban and Taylor Swift (I know…AGAIN) were all nominated last time around without troubling the Academy’s crimson carpet, so there is yet hope that Chris Martin and Bono can leave their dinner jackets in one of their many walk-in wardrobes.
4. Aha. There may be a Partridge amongst the paparazzi
While Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa’s dismally weak jokes meant that it was never in danger of a shock Oscar call-up, Steve Coogan may well still get an invite. As ventured in this very blog, his splendid screenplay for Philomena has impressed the Foreign Press Association sufficiently to garner a screenplay nod and this should be a good indicator that the Academy will duplicate the honour.
5. There’s still hope for my Mads
With 2012’s The Hunt inexplicably earning a Best Foreign Language Film nomination (yes, I know that it probably isn’t inexplicable and no, I don’t want your boring explanation as to why that is) and likely to do the same at the Oscars, there is yet a slim hope that the masterful Mads Mikkelsen may muster a mention from the Academy.
Ok, so it’s true that the last couple of days weren’t overly kind to him and the Best Actor category is, as ever, looking very strong (it’s got ruddy dead Nelson Mandela in it for crying out loud), Mikkelsen’s stock is pretty strong at the moment after his lead A Royal Affair was nominated last year and now that he’s Hannibal shitting Lecter. Stranger things may or may not have happened.
My super apologies, but I just can’t justify spunking reams of cyberspace on listing the nominees in full, so Wikipedia will have to be your friend. I’ll be back in due course with more films For Your Consideration, reviews and the Oscar nomination news. As no serious person ever says in all sincerity, peace out y’all.
With Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Judi Dench and Emma Thompson among its nominees, the Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations boasts some of Hollywood’s biggest hitters. But exactly who else is nominated, and how does the list affect next year’s Academy Award nominees.
Here you were thinking that the SAGs was just a hilarious name for your ageing year 10 geography teacher’s drooping mammary satchels. Well you were wrong, because it’s also the name of a movie awards ceremony of deep, deep import. Boasting an 86% accurate prediction rate for the Oscars acting categories (correct as of last year; I can’t be arsed to recalculate the statistics again), you’ll understand why I’m getting my rancid knickers in an excruciating twist.
As well as giving you the full list of film nominees (scroll down, fool), you also get to look at some of my well wise opinions in a run down divided 5 ways. Check THIS…
1. It’s finally Matthew McConaughey’s time
Matthew McConaughey in ‘Dallas Buyers Club’
Hollywood’s true renaissance man, McConaughey’s remarkable career arc has been a blessing for Radio 4 producers everywhere who are struggling for content. From chick flick go-to-gimp, his 40s have seen him utterly transformed into the southern U.S. creepazoid of choice. With acclaimed roles in Mud, Bernie, Killer Joe, The Paperboy and Magic Mike, the Academy has taken a while to catch up with the new hot-thing-who-used-to-be-an-utter-laughing-stock on the block.
But that persistent Texan bastard will keep on turning in great performances won’t he. And this year he gave Oscar two to choose from. Still tipped for a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his lunacy in The Wolf of Wall Street, the Guild has erred on the side of Best Actor for playing, and I quote Wikipedia here, a “homophobic, drug addicted rodeo cowboy Ron Woodroof is diagnosed with AIDS and is given 30 days to live” in Jean-Marc Vallée’s Dallas Buyers Club. Ooooooh, sounds complex.
2. Best Supporting Actor promises a debut winner
Unlike last year’s gold-heavy category, the SAGs suggest that we will see a completely new home for Oscar to curse in March. And what’s really odd is that the prospective nominees aren’t exactly fresh off the boat. An average age of over 38 and stacks of quality big-screen work among them (Michael Fassbender, Daniel Brühl and Jared Leto are the who I refer to here) betrays the lack of erstwhile Oscar love.
3. There’s potential for a second posthumous Oscar winner in 6 years
James Gandolfini with Julia Louis-Dreyfus in ‘Enough Said’
“You wanna know how I got these crazy scars”. You all remember that one. Right? Yep, it was a line that Heath Ledger went and done said when he was in that film The Dark Knight. Yea, you remember. He was the Joker and Batman was also there. And then Heath Ledger died and then he won the Oscar. That’s it. Well done.
And now James Gandolfini might repeat that success in memoriam. Tucking away stacks of awards for utterly being Tony Soprano all those years, it is in death that big-screen prizes may be foisted upon him. And poignantly, if so, it will be for playing against type in the charming romantic comedy Enough Said.
4. Expect Academy royalty among female contingent
Tell me what you think of when you hear the names Dench, Roberts, Streep, Thompson, Blanchett, Bullock and Lawrence.
If you said something of utmost whimsy like, “That’s the seven dwarves, right?” then you can seriously go do one. The correct and rather more sensible answer is that they’re all nominated for SAGs and they’ve all won Oscars in their varying lengths of past. Got it? Good.
5. The Wolf of Wall Street got mugged right off
With a cast list longer than a cast-list-one-name-shorter-than-the-actual-cast-list-of-The-Wolf-of-Wall-Street, The Wolf of Wall Street promised to be a yet another Scorsese Academy love in. With stylised performances from the likes of DiCaprio, McConaughey, Jonah Hill and (snigger) Spoke Jonze, the odds were stacked firmly in favour of a nomination or two.
But alas, those SAG scallywags gone and pulled a fast one and went all snuberific. Not a nomination in sight.
But will the Academy agree with this or, indeed, any of what SAG had to say? The Golden Globe nominations follow tomorrow and we’ll have to wait until 16th January for the Oscar nominations. Wake me up then. No, but seriously, do; I’ve a dentist appointment in the afternoon that I DO NOT want to miss.
The full list of nominees
Best Film Ensemble
12 Years a Slave
American Hustle
August: Osage County
The Butler
Dallas Buyers Club
Best Actor
Bruce Dern for Nebraska
Chiwetel Ejiofor for 12 Years a Slave
Tom Hanks for Captain Phillips
Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club
Forest Whitaker for The Butler
Best Actress
Cate Blanchett for Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock for Gravity
Judi Dench for Philomena
Meryl Streep for August: Osage County
Emma Thompson for Saving Mr. Banks
Best Supporting Actor
Barkhad Abdi for Captain Phillips
Daniel Bruhl for Rush
Michael Fassbender for 12 Years a Slave
James Gandolfini for Enough Said
Jared Leto for Dallas Buyers Club
Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Lawrence for American Hustle
Lupita Nyong’o for 12 Years a Slave
Julia Roberts for August: Osage County
June Squibb for Nebraska
Oprah Winfrey for The Butler
So it’s all over for another year. Take the diamantes back to the unusually trusting jewellers; take a couple of nights of from watching movies; and please please PLEASE stop blogging. AND THE WINNER IS…
A full rundown of the winners is here, and below are some thoughts which, to my eternal shame, are substantially tainted by a haze of whisky and sleep deprivation.
The ceremony will be one of the least memorable in history (and, if my memory serves me correctly, it has some pretty forgettable competition).
Other than a couple of zingers, Seth MacFarlane – who courted much enthusiastic expectation beforehand – put in a flat performance. If we learnt anything from Hugh Jackman’s brilliant turn as host, song and dance men are far more successful than out-and-out comedians. The latter will always be judged on the strength of their one-liners, which are perennially tame.
Jennifer Hudson and, much to my surprise, Catherine Zeta-Jones were belting and the Les Mis set-piece was stirring, but no other musical number stood out (other than the “We Saw Your Boobs” one by MacFarlane which was an amusing diversion but not enough to redeem him). The Bond tribute was hugely under-cooked. A few clips we’ve seen a thousand times before (Andress/Berry/Craig emerging from the sea; Blofeld stroking a cat; some explosions; etc) and then one song by the admittedly awesome Shirley Bassey.
And the presenters were utter tat; the highlight somehow being the underwritten exchange between Paul Rudd and Melissa McCarthy. That’s when you want to wheel out the funny folk. Where was Stiller? Where was Ferrell? Galifianakis? Jack Black? Fey? Gervais? Carrell? Even perky Emma Stone, who was the best bit about last year’s show. Captain Kirk’s appearance was amusing for about 10 seconds, but then that just got weird.
God, the more I think about it, the more annoyed I am. They have all year to plan the thing. They know its coming, but still they so consistently underwhelm.
But the results, regardless of their predictability, will be dredged up time and again by Oscar bores…like me:
– Daniel Day-Lewis, a proper actor rather than a Hollywood archetype, became the most decorated lead man in Oscar history.
– Best Picture went to a film not nominated for Best Director, for the first time in over 20 years.
– Jennifer Lawrence’s win will be the first of a good few.
– Adele is an Oscar winner (and Seth MacFarlane is an Oscar nominee).
– Michael Haneke finally picked up an Oscar after two Palme d’Ors.
– And is this the end of Spielberg? If Lincolnisn’t good enough, then maybe this is the voters’ way of telling the old war horse that he just isn’t relevant any more.
And that’s all I have to say about that. Stop typing…finally…any second…now
Being snubbed for Best Director is probably the best thing to have happened for Argo’s Best Picture chances. It has crashed through the British Bulldog awards season like a juggernaut. Lincoln is the rightful winner, but Argo’s momentum will see Affleck (and Clooney) getting his big moment tonight.
Waltz has collected most of the gold this season, despite some strong peers. But Tommy Lee Jones’s is a career defining performance, and he should be heading home with his second Oscar.
Best Supporting Actress:
Anne Hathaway for Les Misérables
Hathaway’s had this in the bag for about a year. Nobody’s going to touch her and that’s fine by me. Despite about only 15 minutes of screen time, she steals Les Mis.
Chris Terrio’s WGA win puts him in pole position, but Tony Kushner’s screenplay has everything and should take the award after losing out in 2006 for Munich.
Best Animated Feature:
Wreck-It Ralph
High on originality and fun and is slightly better than strong competition from Frankenweenie and The Pirates!
But No from Pablo Larrain is a more accessible work with more to say and style in abundance.
Best Original Song:
“Skyfall” by Adele and Paul Epworth for Skyfall
A genuinely brilliant and original Bond theme. Might be beaten by Les Mis but host MacFarlane looks set to lose out.
Best Cinematography:
Life of Pi
Claudio Miranda should win here at the second time of asking, after The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. His impressive graphics for Life of Pi should see off Roger Deakins for Skyfall – yet again.
Best Editing:
Lincoln
Spielberg’s long time collaborator Michael Kahn deserves his record breaking 4th win. He some how conjures up a parliamentary procedural drama to run swiftly and coherently in its 2-and-a-half hour running time.
Best Production Design:
Les Misérables
Eve Stewart brings the West End feel and cranks it up to the big screen. But its a shame that Anna Karenina’s creative theatre-bound setting will miss out.
Best Costume Design:
Mirror Mirror
Brilliant, innovative costumes for a dreadful, dreadful film.
Best Makeup and Hairstyling:
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Peter Jackson’s creation should be back on the Oscar stage after 9 years away. Certainly a lot better than Hitch’s ropey old fat suit.
Best Original Score:
Anna Karenina
Dario Marianelli won for Atonement and his Russian-influenced score should suit him out for another.
Best Sound Mixing:
Les Misérables
Les Mis’s original use of live mics should give it the edge here.
Best Sound Editing:
Life of Pi
All sea this and animals that. Another technical award for Life of Pi.
Best Visual Effects:
Life of Pi
All sea this and animals that. Another technical award for Life of Pi.
Best Documentary:
5 Broken Cameras
A remarkable insight into Palestinian/Israeli relations on the front line. Searching for Sugar Man is interesting in its own way, but lacks the transcendent resonance.
This is a very strong category and, other perhaps than Beasts of the Southern Wild whose success owes more to its distinct look and performances, it is easy to see all of the contenders walking away with it. Indeed, all 5 are up for Best Picture.
In another year, I would be standing directly behind Silver Linings, as the screenplay categories tend to favour smart, offbeat comedies (much to the joy of Alexander Payne) and David O. Russell. And David Magee’s valiant effort at writing a screenplay based on an “unfilmable” book is rightfully nominated. It is faithful to the text (except for that odd bit where the eponymous protagonist has memorised the digits of pi to hundreds of decimal places) but still somehow makes it translatable to the screen.
That said, this should be a toss up between Lincoln and Argo. For me, Tony Kushner takes it. His script nails the ideal combination of drama, comedy, a commentary on the human psyche and, considering the plot mostly revolves around political procedure, it never once becomes a bore.
Chris Terrio (right, obvs) on the set of Argo (Credit unknown)
But, with the groundswell of goodwill, together with its win at the Writers Guild of America last weekend, Chris Terrio with his debut feature script will walk away with the Oscar at the first attempt.
I must disclose that I have a predilection to prefer this category over its sister. There’s something that appeals to me a little more about somebody who has come up with a concept, developed it and scribbled it down. After all, I doubt there’s many among us who haven’t thought to ourselves after reading the last few words of a novel who’ve thought: “They should make a film of this”.
Unfortunately, in my view this year’s crop are a rather weak bunch.
Although it will go in as favourite, particularly after its win at the WGA Awards, Mark Boal’s script is the worst thing about the torturously overrated Zero Dark Thirty. The only thing that lifts the movie is its last hour, in which Kathryn Bigelow flexes her muscles and delivers a barnstorming siege.
Conversely, Tarantino’s script is probably the best thing about Django (well it certainly isn’t his painfully dreadful cameo). The first hour in particular hosts some bloody good laughs together with some sharp set-pieces and it is only Q’s solipsistic propensity for self-indulgence that allows the film to run flabbily over the two-and-a-half hour mark. He picked up the Golden Globe and Bafta and it would not be a surprise to many to see Tarantino delivering one of his coke-feulled acceptance speeches on Sunday night.
I’m sure it can’t only be a contrarian streak that puts me at odds with the masses who think The Darjeeling Limited and The Life Aquaticwere missteps for Wes Anderson. For me, his supposed “return to form” in Moonrise Kingdom is his weakest film to date. He changes up the cute and curt quotidian, for an epic ending that doesn’t quite come off.
And it is no surprise to see a history of schmaltzy melodrama littering John Gatins’s back catalogue. The only things that take Flight from 19 inch to silver screens are nudity, visible drug taking, Denzel Washington and a horrifying plane crash scene.
Which leaves us with Amour. Probably the most worthy winner from the group. Despite his apparent difficulties to grasp the English language, Michael Haneke’s French screenplay requires patience, but its heartbreaking denouement has given some of the older members of the Academy something to take notice and should, by rights, carry it over the finishing line. A win would be the first foreign language winner since Pedro Almodóvar’s Talk to Her10 years ago. Before that, the last time was in 1966 when Claude Lelouch’s A Man and a Woman won. And who was its star? A young Jean-Louis Trintignant…
Mark Boal (right, obvs) on the set of Zero Dark Thirty (Credit: Jonathan Olley/Columbia Pictures)
We can rely on, at very least, these 7 unfortunate exhibits to prove just how strong the Best Actor category is at this year’s Academy Awards. And the great thing is that, despite the wonderful performances of these above gentlemen, the five who got the nod are no less deserving.
Plus, they’re all very different. Denzel Washington’s drug-addled alcoholic pilot shares similar traits to his two other Oscar-winning characters from Gloryand Training Day. Behind a smart-talking super confident facade there lies a deep trouble and ultimately false pride, which will eventually result in his demise. Bradley Cooper is also very believable in Silver Linings as a troubled soul overcoming inner-demons. And, talking of troubled souls, Phoenix is the very epitome of a mentally and physically lost child. Accused by some critics of chewing the scenery, I found his central role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s flawed treatise as utterly compelling and just a little disturbing. While Hugh Jackman’s Jen Valjean is the role the Australian was born to play (yep, a Frenchman with an American accent), and he plays it devilishly well. Why, he’s even better than Russell Crowe.
And yet, despite the immense caliber of performances on show, somehow honest Abe still stands head, shoulders and stovepipe hat above the others. Once again, Daniel Day-Lewis has managed to metamorphosise himself from an ostensibly mild-mannered unassuming chap, to something completely unforgettable and iconic. To say that the performance for his inevitable third Oscar is on a level with his Christy Brown (My Left Foot) and Daniel Plainview (There Will Be Blood) is the highest and most reverential praise that I can bestow.
The measured yet authoritative portrayal of an almost legendary figure, is so beguiling, that not even the Wilkes-Booth ancestry would begrudge him the Oscar.
What do Norway, Denmark, Austria, Canada and Chile have in common? No, they’re not the countries in which Julian Assange sought amnesty (semi-topical satire for the win); they are actually the list of countries from which this year’s Best Foreign Language Film nominees are. From. Of course, you probably could have guessed that from the fact that they’re listed at the top of this post, but, in fairness, I did cunningly swap the order, so don’t be too hard in yourselves.
Amour is clearly the odds on favourite here, being – as it indeed is – nominated elsewhere. Every time that a film has been nominated for Best Picture and Best Foreign Language Film in the same year, it has won the latter category. That said, Pan’s Labyrinth recently picked up six nominations including three wins, without winning Best Foreign Language and, in a funny old couple of years, Swedish The Emigrants, was a losing nominee in 1972 but was then up for Best Picture in 1973. Thank heavens the Academy has now stamped out that kind of mind-bending shenanigans.
But Amour remains distant favourite and my thoughts on the film have been well documented. Here.
A Royal Affair also has love at its heart. But this is a much more passionate and – inevitably with Alicia Vikander and Mads Mikkelsen involved – sexy love. It’s a fairly nuts and bolts period piece set during the European enlightenment years of the late 18th century, and jam-packed full of the quintessential remarkable dresses, resplendent palaces, men in wigs and pantyhose, general misogyny and required quota of peasant whores. But excellent performances, a taste of erstwhile unfamiliar Danish history and well-handled commentary on the perils of successful revolution, set this above the average hoipolloi.
War Witch also stands on well-trodden ground. A familiar portrayal of how grim it is to live in war-torn Sub-Saharan Africa. Notwithstanding my rather unfair dismissiveness, it is an effective piece of cinema about a girl’s premature journey into womanhood after being left the sole-survivor of the slaughter of her entire village. It is lead by one of those seemingly-now-standard jaw-dropping amateur performances from debutant Rachel Mwanza.
Kon-Tiki would be a little more unusual, but for its striking similarity to this year’s Life of Pi. Although the acting is a little on the melodramatic side and the script tires under the weight of its own clichés, the cinematography transports this portrayal of anthropological endeavour. Depicting Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl and his crew’s epic journey on a balsa wood raft across the Pacific Ocean from Peru to Polynesia, it is a remarkably shot picture. Filmed in a huge tank in Malta, one is convinced by the intrepid travellers’ being surrounded only by deep blue salty stuff and dozens of very convincing sharks.
Similarly, were it not nominated in 2013 and did not star a very de rigueur (and superb) Gael García Bernal, one would be forgiven for thinking Pablo Larraín’sNo was filmed contemporaneously with Rain Man and Pelle the Conqueror back in 1988. It follows an advertising exec’s television campaign against General Augusto Pinochet’s re-election as Chile’s el presidente. No is an excellent film; a compelling drama laying bare genuine emotional – as well as political – conflict and intrigue. It looks fantastic; shot on the same 3:4 ratio film as in the late 80s, it seamlessly melds new film with archive footage from the time.
No directed by Pablo Larraín
And, for me, it says more about the human condition than Amour, which is the reason why (together with, perhaps, my semi-regular penchant for contrariness) it is my pick of the category.
His name's Adam Marshall and he LOVES talking about himself in the third person. He thinks he's an expert but the truth is that he probably just likes talking about the films and the Oscars and the such.
I hope...that is to say, he hopes...that you like the words that are written down.
Bloscars 