85th Academy Awards Nominees: Best Actress

Jessica Chastain for Zero Dark Thirty

Jennifer Lawrence for Silver Linings Playbook

Emmanuelle Riva for Amour

Quvenzhané Wallis for Beasts of the Southern Wild

Naomi Watts for The Impossible

Have you ever heard the expression “Moveable Feast”?  I have, but only recently.  And it troubles me.  It seems like an extremely unnecessary analogy for “The nature of the thing that we’re talking about changes from time-to-time”.  Why feast?  Is there something about feasts that make them – over any other non-sentient entity – significantly less animate?  Is the idea of a large meal/ old-fashioned chocolate ice cream on a stick being anything but stationary such a mind-blowing concept that it requires its own adage?

Considering the above paragraph, it may surprise you to read that I neither know nor care.  But this year’s Best Actress Oscar race has, indeed, been a moveable feast/pebble/bollard.

Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty) lead the way early doors.  Her irritating portrayal of Maya, the tunnel-visioned, obstinate, Bin Laden hunter.  But since the Golden Globes, the plaudits have rather dried up as, presumably, voters finally saw the film and realised what a bland and uninvolving performance it is.

Then Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook) seemed to have it in the bag. The fusty old letches of the Academy love fresh-faced, nubile lead actresses and, so it emerged, do the Screen Actors Guild.  And it is a fine performance. Playing an emotionally and mentally unstable young widow, under director David O. Russell she could have cranked this right up to 11 (case in point: Christian Bale in The Fighter for which he won the Oscar). But she shows just the right amount of manic vulnerability, as well as, crucially, sufficient cleavage, which should allow her to take home the statue.

But there has been a groundswell of reverence for Emmanuelle Riva’s (Amour) technical but deeply affecting performance as a deteriorating stroke victim, which lead to last weekend’s rapturously celebrated victory at the Baftas. Despite Riva’s exceptional work, it could have proved for naught without an equally sensational leading man. Jean-Louis Trintignant’s heart-wrenching calm as the barely-coping husband makes Haneke’s work quite so affecting.  Furthermore, after Jean Dujardin’s win last year, I don’t imagine the Academy will rush back to honour another French performer this year.

Quvenzhané Wallis’s recognition as infant Hushpuppy in Beasts of the Southern Wild was perhaps the most surprising, and much has been made of the Hollywood-esque story of her being the youngest ever nominee alongside Riva’s oldest. But while her performance was an enchanting one, there are inherent ethical issues in nominating a 9-year old.

Naomi Watts (The Impossible) makes up the five, impressing her peers with the physical unpleasantness of her role.  Her wince inducing performance is grueling and sensitive, although, like the film itself, does have the propensity to spill over to melodrama.  Already looking forward to 2014’s race, Watts is likely to feature again as her lead in the Princess Di biopic hits screens.

If this year’s selection seems somewhat weak (which, by the way, it does) there was little else on offer to challenge, although there were a lot of raised eyebrows at Marion Cotillard’s omission for Rust and Bone; thought to be a dead cert as the amputee whale-trainer.  Helen Mirren (Hitchcock) is another former winner who looked likely to feature, but her’s was a bombastic show-stealing performance that deserved not to be recognised among the other Birds (splendid Hitchcock/sexist humour there).

Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook

I expect the Academy to make the right play and throw J-Law a (winter’s) bone at her second attempt.

What should win: Jennifer Lawrence

What will win: Jennifer Lawrence

85th Academy Awards Best Picture Nominees: Beasts of the Southern Wild

Like Thor Heyerdal on his journey across the Pacific from Peru to Polynesia (a marvelously crowbarred Best Foreign Language Oscar nominee reference there), my epic travail through this year’s Academy Award nominees continues.

But unlike poor young Thor (to my calculations, one of two Thors involved in nominated films this years), my mission is likely to one day spawn films in a language that some of us actually understand.  Have at you, Norseland.

As well as a rounding-up all of the categories – as and when they fall to my optical excellence (Sound Editing, you’ll be pleased to know, is almost in the bag) – I will cast a 300-odd word look at each of the Best Picture nominees.  By the end of this pilgrimage, I will finally reveal the answer to the question that mankind has sought to answer for millenia…what will Bloscars’ favourite film of all time that is nominated for Best Picture for the 85th Academy Awards to be announced in 2013 be.  At last.

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Courtesy of Anjoli Dey – http://www.anjolidey.co.uk – @anjolidey

When the Academy announced in 2009 that, from the 82nd Academy Awards onward, they would expand the quantum of annual Best Picture nominees to a maximum of 10, the move was met generally with applause.  The theory being that it would finally give big-budget heavy-grossing box-office fodder their time to bask in the awards sun.

But, other than for Pixar (Up and Toy Story 3 were nominated for the big one in consecutive years, almost 20 years since Beauty and the Beast was the last animation to trouble the category), it hasn’t panned out that way.  The omission of The Dark Knight Rises being a particular example of the Academy voters being off-message.

But while Christopher Nolan may be as disgruntled as Bane who’d been hoping for a pleasant game of tennis only for perfectly inclement weather to result in a last-minute cancellation, the Academy’s decision 4 years ago has proved a Joker card for Benh Zeitlin and his Beasts of the Southern Wild.

Despite its minuscule budget (reportedly less than two-million dollareedoos) Beasts is an ambitious and stunningly impressive debut from Zeitlin.  In some respects a fantasy, in others painfully real; it is the tale of a Hushpuppy who lives with her daddy in The Bathtub.

In a not-too-distant dystopian future, where the poor communities of the Southern states of the States have been completely cut-off and disenfranchised from the rest of the country, a 6-year old lives on the cusp of environmental disaster.  Living in a shack with her father, Wink, she plays, learns and exists with her fellow forgotten families.

When the inevitable Katrina-like storm destroys the township, Hushpuppy, Wink and a few stragglers are left to survive the flooded plains.  Only a raft and their spirit will help them defeat the despair of the situation.

The lynch-pin of the piece is the enchanting performance from 9-year old Quvenzhané Wallis.  Any film revolving around  an infant relies on a young lead boasting a combination of rarely found facets.  Among them are a youthful innocence, ignorant charisma and a vacuum in the annoying-little-shit department; all of which Wallis boasts mightily.  The movie succeeds or fails on the affability of Hushpuppy.  The movie succeeds in droves.

Its themes are well executed, if not entirely original or subtle.  The strongest is the well-sung verse of children being our future, teach them well and let them lead the way, etc.  In Hushpuppy, we see youth-hood taking the future well-being of the world in to its own hands.  The allusion to Katrina is vivid enough for Hushpuppy’s plight to resonate with a generation haunted by perpetual natural disasters that those science-talking guys reckon is because of that there global warmings.

Equally, the legend and advance of the ancient aurochs may be paralleled with the ‘myth’ of the greenhouse effect.  Hushpuppy, is an existentialist poster-girl for Darwinism over creationists.  She recognises that religious idealism will lead only to a slow death of the earth and dismisses it in favour of a stubborn, unrelenting love of living (a quality she shares with the protagonists of fellow nominees Amour and Life of Pi).

Beasts is a little film with a diminutive heroine, but with big ideas of huge importance.  It is difficult to begrudge its message and spirit, and it is a glorious thing to see such splendidly original film-making included among Hollywood’s hounararies.

Beasts of the Southern Wild; 2012; Dir: Benh Zeitlin; Stars: Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry; 93 mins; 9/10; 4 nominations (Best Picture, Best Directing, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay)

Bloscars’ Best Picture chart

1.  Beasts of the Southern Wild

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85th Academy Awards: The Nominees

Gadzooks.  Wasn’t it a drama.

No, I’m not talking about War Horse (which, infamously, contained barely any drama.  Except for when my good friend walked out half way through, struck with a hideous panic attack).

It’s last Thursday’s Oscar Nominations announcement (<—– linked to hither so that you can all enjoy the duo of treats that are Seth MacFarlane and Emma Stone) on about which I am bashing.

Well, it all got too much for me.  I’ve had to spend the last few days cooling off in Ben Affleck’s mood.  But now here’s some considered and, dare I say, splendid thoughts.   (Wow, I did dare to say.  Good for me.  Like many of the nominees, I didn’t see that coming).

As you will see, my ramshackle predictions beforehand were pretty much like something carefully designed and manufactured at the shod-factory.  But don’t let that stop you from trusting in my every word inherently.

And certainly don’t let it stop you from revisiting this old site frequently over the next month for reviews of the nominees, thoughts about their chances and the odd bit of artwork here and there too.  There’s literally something for everybody* (*Disclaimer – This comment assumes that everybody likes at least one of the Oscars, film reviews, my thoughts, artwork or bad writing).

Best Picture:

Amour

Argo

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Django Unchained

Les Misérables

Life of Pi

Lincoln

Silver Linings Playbook

Zero Dark Thirty

What a colossal treat.  Beasts of the Southern Wild.  Hurrah.  A divisive film, but one loved by this blog and I’m delighted that it got the recognition it deserves.

Great to see Michael Haneke’s grueling yet life-affirming Amour sneak in there too.  It is a testing work of the kind that the Academy should be recognising and, although it is the second consecutive year that the Cannes Palme d’Or winner has been nominated for the big one (following Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life) it is the first foreign languagenon-Hollywood film to make the grade since Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon twelve years ago.

Other than those two, all of the suspected suspects are in there.  My prediction of Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom misses out, but it’s no great loss.  He will console himself with his second Best Original Screenplay nomination.  The only other real snub is for The Master, which only impressed the Academy’s acting branch (yep, Jonny Greenwood left empty-handed again).

On a side-note, my recollection is that the reason the Academy decided to increase the number of potential nominess to 10 was to allow blockbusters such as Skyfall, Avengers Assemble and The Dark Knight Rises to stand a chance of being nominated.  Clearly this is experiment has failed, and only Inception has benefited from the change since its, erm, inception.

My immediate hunch was that Lincoln , with its competition bettering 12 nominations, will take the big prize.  But with Argo succeeding at the Golden Globes, there will be plenty of time for me to chop and change my guesstimates a million and one times before issuing my ultimate predictions in late February.

Best Actor:

Joaquin Phoenix in The Master

Bradley Cooper for Silver Linings Playbook

Daniel Day-Lewis for Lincoln

Hugh Jackman for Les Misérables

Joaquin Phoenix for The Master

Denzel Washington for Flight

Amazingly, I managed to nail this category five for five.  And for me, Joaquin Phoenix is a deserved three-time nominee in this very strong category.

Best Actress:

Emmanuelle Riva & Quvenzhane Wallis (Credit: GODLIS)

Jessica Chastain for Zero Dark Thirty

Jennifer Lawrence for Silver Linings Playbook

Emmanuelle Riva for Amour

Quvenzhané Wallis for Beasts of the Southern Wild

Naomi Watts for The Impossible

There was more shocking glee to be had in the Best Actress category, both for me as well as for Amour and Beasts of the Southern Wild.  Much has been made of the fact that Riva and Wallis at 85 and 9 are respectively the oldest and youngest performance nominees.  And while Riva’s performance is quite incredible, I think there are certain ethical problems in rewarding Wallis in this fashion (on more, another time).

For the record, I was correct to say that the Academy would not likely back to foreign language actresses.  Just a shame that I backed the wrong horse.  No offence, like.

Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained

Best Supporting Actor:

Alan Arkin for Argo

Robert De Niro for Silver Linings Playbook

Philip Seymour Hoffman for The Master

Tommy Lee Jones for Lincoln

Christoph Waltz for Django Unchained

No surprises here.  And, as Emma Stone amusingly pointed out, exclusively previous winners (which, I understand, is a first for the Academy Awards).  Christoph Waltz seemed to be the last to sneak in, but has immediately amplified his chances by taking home another Golden Globe.

Best Supporting Actress:

Jacqui Weaver in Silver Linings Playbook, with fellow nominees Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro

Amy Adams for The Master

Sally Field for Lincoln

Anne Hathaway for Les Misérables

Helen Hunt for The Sessions

Jacqui Weaver for Silver Linings Playbook

Jacqui Weaver is pretty much the Academy’s only ‘wildcard’ in the performance categories, in a section again entirely consisting of previous nominees (including two winners).  Her nomination for Oscar-loved Silver Linings Playbook completes the full set of acting category nominations for the film – the first time that has happened since Reds 31 years ago (Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson and Maureen Stapleton).

Best Director:

Michael Haneke with his Best Foreign Language Film Golden Globe won for Amour (Credit: Jordan Strauss / Associated Press)

Michael Haneke for Amour

Ang Lee for Life of Pi

David O. Russell for Silver Linings Playbook

Steven Spielberg for Lincoln

Benh Zeitlin for Beasts of the Southern Wild

…and the surprise fun continues.  The only party that Affleck, Bigelow and Hooper are invited to is the snub-fest (oh, as well as the Academy Awards of course, what with Argo, Zero Dark Thirty and Les Mis being nominated in a host of other categories).  And it wasn’t even Tarantino who shut their butts out.  But instead David O. Russell, who is turning into something of an Oscar darling, Michale Haneke, whose spoof Twitter account is going to make the next month or so a laugh a minute, and newcomer Zeitlin.  Again, my gut instinct is for an Ang Lee victory, but I’m sure I’ll waver more than the winner of the annual Dumb Greetings Championship.

John Gatins is nominated for Flight (Credit: Joseph Jacob)

Best Original Screenplay:

Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola for Moonrise Kingdom

Mark Boal for Zero Dark Thirty

John Gatins for Flight

Michael Haneke for Amour

Quentin Tarantino for Django Unchained

John Gatins’s screenplay for Flight soared (gerrit?) into the nominations, at the expense of the blatant shunning of Paul Thomas Anderson whose The Master crashed and burned (probably dreadfully inappropriate after today’s awful events in Vauxhall).  Tarantino will surely fancy his chances to add to his Pulp Fiction screenplay win, although there’s clearly a lot of love for Haneke’s work and Mark Boal is another previous winner for The Hurt Locker.

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin are nominated for Beasts of the Southern Wild (Credit: Skip Bolen/Getty Images North America)

Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin for Beasts of the Southern Wild

Tony Kushner for Lincoln

David Magee for Life of Pi

David O. Russell for Silver Linings Playbook

Chris Terrio for Argo

As expected from my predictions, this never seemed like it was going to be a category ripe for surprise.  My self-indulgent outside bet on Beasts of the Southern Wild came good, although in retrospect, the Academy’s apparent love for the film actually made it something of a certainty.  This is a really hot category that could genuinely go to any of the five, particularly when you consider the Academy’s penchant for quirky, offbeat comedies (recent screenplay wins for The Descendants, Juno, Little Miss Sunshine and Sideways) and the fact that Silver Linings Playbook  is a quirky, offbeat comedy.

And the rest:

Everybody knows that the Academy doesn’t really care about tunes, graphics, noise, dressing up, sets, cameras, foreign muck, cartoons, real life or anything that lasts less than 40 minutes.  Famously, the only reason that there are any other awards at all is to dubiously justify the marathon running time of the ceremony.

But I care.  I really do.  To a degree.

Particularly, this year, about the Best Animated Feature category.  Let us repress the unwelcome memories of token nominees like Bolt, The Princess and the Frog, and Kung Fu Panda 2.  And let us embrace a new dawn of drawn, sculpted and computer generated  jam-packed quality.  Even the hotly tipped Rise of the Guardians and Golden Globe nominated Hotel Transylvania couldn’t place among a five-strong selection.

Although Amour appears to be a dead cert for Best Foreign Language film, the big talking point was that critic-proof French feelgood The Intouchables didn’t make the cut.  I was glad to see Danish period piece A Royal Affair included, if only because it partially recognises the brilliant Mads Mikkelsen, who was inexplicably not even whispered about this awards season for his performance in Thomas Vinterburg’s The Hunt.

Best Original Song is always susceptible to throwing up the odd oddity, and this year is no exception – Adele and Seth MacFarlane picking up nominations for Skyfall and Ted respectively (Wait a minute.  Strike that.  Reverse it.  Thank you).  Seth MacFarlane will be among a select (if not necessarily elite) crew of Oscar hosts who are nominated in the same year, comprising James Franco (for 127 Hours), Paul Hogan (for co-writing Crocodile Dundee), Walter Matthau (for The Sunshine Boys) and Michael Caine (for Sleuth).

And on the topic of Skyfall (the last paragraph mentioned it briefly, so that qualifies as being ‘on the topic’), much to the chagrin of many British fans, it failed to register other than in the ‘technical’ categories.  I sympathise with the argument and agree that if Skyfall doesn’t cut the mustard to make it into the ‘big 5’, then the Bond franchise will forever be omitted.

And here are all those remaining categories in full:

Best Animated Feature:

Brave

Frankenweenie

ParaNorman

The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!

Wreck-It Ralph

Best Foreign Language Film:

Amour (Austria)

Kon-Tiki (Norway)

No (Chile)

A Royal Affair (Denmark)

War Witch (Canada)

Best Original Song:

“Before My Time” by J. Ralph for Chasing Ice

“Suddenly” by Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg and Herbert Kretzmer for Les Misérables

“Pi’s Lullaby” by Mychael Danna and Bombay Jayshree for Life of Pi

“Skyfall” by Adele and Paul Epworth for Skyfall

 “Everybody Needs a Best Friend” by Walter Murphy and Seth MacFarlane for Ted

Best Cinematography:

Anna Karenina

Django Unchained

Life of Pi

Lincoln

Skyfall

Best Editing:

Argo

Life of Pi

Lincoln

Silver Linings Playbook

Zero Dark Thirty

Best Production Design:

Anna Karenina

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Les Misérables

Life of Pi

Lincoln

Best Costume Design:

Anna Karenina

Les Misérables

Lincoln

Mirror Mirror

Snow White and the Huntsman

Best Makeup and Hairstyling:

Hitchcock

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Les Misérables

Best Original Score:

Anna Karenina

Argo

Life of Pi

Lincoln

Skyfall

Best Sound Mixing:

Argo

Les Misérables

Life of Pi

Lincoln

Skyfall

Best Sound Editing:

Argo

Django Unchained

Life of Pi

Skyfall

Zero Dark Thirty

Best Visual Effects:

Avengers Assemble

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Life of Pi

Prometheus

Snow White and the Huntsman

Best Documentary:

5 Broken Cameras

The Gatekeepers

How to Survive a Plague

The Invisible War

Searching for Sugar Man

Best Documentary Short:

Inocente

Kings Point

Mondays at Racine

Open Heart

Redemption

Best Short Film:

Asad

Buzkashi Boys

Curfew

Dood van een Schaduw

Henry

Best Short Animation:

Adam and Dog

Fresh Guacamole

Head Over Heels

Paperman

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