I know what you’re thinking. I honestly do. But it’s not only because of the psychic powers that I possess. Of course it isn’t that nonsensical baloney is clearly nonsensical baloney. No, the reason I know precisely what you’re thinking is because of my arch arrogance.
Now you’re thinking something different. Now you’re thinking: “Go on then, prove it, poindexter”.
Firstly, maybe you should join the rest of us in 2012. Nobody’s used the insult ‘poindexter‘ since 1950’s (except if you count films set in the 1950s like Grease).
Secondly, I will prove it then. I will. You were thinking: “What the what? Why the hell is this poindexter bashing on about the Gotham Awards when the winner of the London Film Festival’s Best Film award was announced last night in…you know…London, which is…you know…where he lives? At best it’s perverse. At worst, it’s a prurient indulgence of anti-jingoism gone mad”.
On a side note, you were also thinking about what a devilishly clever pun I came up with in this post’s title, but that’s another compliment for another day.
And now you’re thinking: “Hold tight, I didn’t even know I knew the words ‘prurient’ and ‘jingoism.” But of course you did; it’s within all of us to be so grandiloquent. You just need a poindexter like me me to help you discover that.
The answer to your subconscious query, by the way, is that the LFF still hasn’t shown itself to be a sayer of any seuths with regard to the Oscars (Best Film winners of the last two years being How I Ended This Summer and We Need To Talk About Kevin). Furthermore, this year’s winner, Rust and Bone, is unlikely to crack the canard, being a French language film that has been pipped as France’s Best Foreign language entry by Untouchable.
Bank on me commenting at some point in this post on the irony that The Dark Knight Rises hasn’t been nominated
Conversely, the Gotham Awards have earned a reputation for throwing erstwhile unlikely films straight into the Academy mixer.
Following a big double win at both ceremonies for The Hurt Locker, in 2010 Winter’s Bone built on its momentum from Berlin and Sundance to take the top prize. It would go on to be included as one of the Academy’s ten Best Picture nominees. Black Swan and The Kids Are All Right were also among both Gotham’s and Oscar’s top clutch, and Blue Valentine, too nominated in New York, scored Michelle Williams a Best Actress nomination.
>Something amusing about Debra Granik Winter’s Boning the rest of the competition<
Last year, The Tree of Life and Beginners shared Gotham’s top prize; the former being in Oscar’s top nine while the latter allowed Christopher Plummer to become the Academy’s most elderly acting winner. Gotham also favoured Alexandra Payne’s The Descendants, while Margin Call, which featured in one of Gotham’s other categories, was a surprise Best Original Screenplay nominee this February in Los Angeles.
So which of this year’s Gotham nominees will be a joker (gerrit?) in the pack come next year’s ceremony?
Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master for one. A sprawling look at Scientology-but-is-it-really-about-Scientology-yes-it-is-no-it-isn’t, the film made waves at Venice Film Festival and has had critics falling over themselves to hero-worship Mr Anderson as if he were the second coming of Dirk Diggler. Despite the fact that it has already been subject to the inevitable backlash, there is little doubt that The Master will be one of the favourites to take the big prize, especially after the incredible There Will Be Blood lost out to No Country for Old Men in 2007.
Wes Anderson (no relation to my knowledge but, if I’m wrong, Ander must feel so proud of his boys) will also feel buoyed by Moonrise Kingdom’s inclusion. Of course there will be the mandatory Best Original Screenplay nod to look forward to, but Anderson has never had a film nominated for Best Picture. Although heralded as a return to form after the apparent flops of The Life Aquatic and The Darjeeling Limited, I actually think that Moonrise Kingdom is weaker than the aforementioned duo. Further, its release date (back in May) doesn’t bode well for an Oscars push, but I would welcome Wes Anderson’s name to be bandied around during the awards season.
It’s been nearly 10 years since Richard Linklater has knocked on the Academy’s door, when Before Sunset saw him nominated for his screenplay. Bernie is a black comedy about the murder of a Texan millionaire by her gay employee, which is immediately some way off the ideal Oscar palate. But in a year when Seth MacFarlane is set to host and one of Bernie’s stars, Matthew McConaughey, is the talk of Tinseltown, it will be interesting to see if it will tickle the arthritic funny bones of the Academy high command.
The Loneliest Planet comes from Russian-born director Julia Loktev and has performed well at Toronto, London, Gran Canaria and Istanbul festivals. It stars Gael Garcia Bernal and Hani Furstenberg as betrothed backpackers who embark on a nightmarish trip through a Georgian mountain-range. Loktev has formally enjoyed Cannes buzz with her previous feature Day Night Day Night and there may be a similarities drawn with Winter’s Bone. However, it seems that the film’s theatrical release came in 2011 and so there may be doubt over the film’s eligibility anyway.
Perhaps most unlikely of the nominees is Middle of Nowhere, a story from Ava DuVernay about a wife of an imprisoned man, who drops out of medical school in order to campaign for his release. Precious, Winter’s Bone, True Grit, and The Help are examples of recent Best Picture nominees with determined, heroic women at their centre and to which comparisons could be derived. DuVernay was also honoured with the U.S. Directing award at this year’s Sundance, but that has not formally been benchmark for success at the Oscars.
So the current list of those movies throwing their hat in to the ring for 24th February is emerging nicely:
The Master
Moonrise Kingdom
Bernie
The Loneliest Planet (release date permitting)
Middle of Nowhere
Silver Linings Playbook (which topped them all at Toronto eh, and also picked up a lesser nomination at Gotham)
The Dark Knight Rises (because…well…you know, although it’s ironic that it didn’t feature at Gotham)
Lincoln (see above, except for the irony comment)
Bloscars 