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January 26, 2014 —
The Oscar nominations were announced on January 16; and the New York Film Critics, the Los Angeles Film Critics, the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), the Critics’ Choice, the Producers Guild of America (PGA), and the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards have already named their winners. Each of these awards brings the winners one step closer to the Oscar in their respective categories, if they are nominated by the Academy.
I would like to look at the Academy Awards nominees in Best Movie, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director, Best documentary and Best Foreign Language Film categories, and the already-awarded winners from different associations in these categories.
Best Picture
American Hustle (Won the New York Film Critics Circle, Golden Globe in Musical or Comedy, and SAG Awards)
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity (Tie, Los Angeles Film Critics, and Tie, PGA Awards)
Her (Tie, Los Angeles Film Critics Award)
Nebraska
Philomena
12 Years a Slave (Won the Golden Globe in Drama, Critics’ Choice, and Tie; PGA Awards)
The Wolf of Wall Street
Incidentally, four of the films – Her, Nebraska, 12 Years a Slave, and Captain Phillips– out of nine were in the New York Film Festival 2013 program, which is organized annually by the Film Society of Lincoln center.
Her, directed by Spike Jonze, and Nebraska, directed by Alexander Payne are my favorites among the nominated movies.
Her is a love story about Theodore (a brilliant performance by Joaquin Phoenix) and Samantha (wonderfully portrayed through the voice of Scarlett Johansson). Theodore is a heartbroken, lonely man who is about to finalize his divorce from his childhood sweetheart. For a living, he writes personal letters for other people who are unable to express themselves. Samantha is a computer operating system. She is not just an OS voice, but also a fast learner, very funny, bright, sensitive and a good friend to him. Samantha and Theodore develop a relationship.
The black and white film Nebraska is a very touching take on the “road movie” genre. It doesn’t have a big cast. Woody Grant (Bruce Dern) an old man, his son David (Will Forte) and Woody’s less-than-docile wife Kate (June Squibb) – performances by all three are remarkable! — are the main characters of this film, along with some relatives and old friends of Woody. Woody, from Montana, believes that he has won a million-dollar prize in Nebraska, and wants to go there to claim it, no matter how –if necessary even on foot! His son finally agrees to drive him. The trip and the relationship between father and son are full of humour, intimacy and tenderness.
Do either of these films have a chance to win the Oscar for the Best Movie? It would be a very pleasant surprise if one of them gets it.
Captain Phillips, directed by Paul Greengrass, was the opening-night movie of the New York Film Festival 2013. It is based on a true story: a cargo ship, the Maersk Alabama, was hijacked by Somali pirates in 2009 in the Indian Ocean, and pirates took Captain Phillips as a hostage. The film is a big budget action movie showcasing efforts of a U.S. Navy destroyer and SEAL team to rescue Captain Phillips.
Last year at the New Directors/New Films 2013 festival, organized by MoMA and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, there was another movie, directed by Tobias Lindholm, called A Hijacking (Denmark) with the same subject. Somali pirates hijacks MV Rozen cargo ship in the Indian Ocean and ask money from the freight company in Denmark. In this film there is no Navy, there is no SEAL team, just intense negotiations between pirates who wants to get as much money as they can and the freight company authorities who want to pay as little as they can and bring the crew back home safely. It is a beautiful movie, and –I say –much better than Captain Phillips.
The Wolf of Wall Street, directed by Martin Scorsese, is the story of a New York stockbroker’s way of making money and his lifestyle (based on Jordan Belfort’s memoir). The three-hour movie, which is full of drugs, sex, and party scenes, is about Belfort’s rise as a rich stockbroker, his various corruptions, and the FBI’s pursuit of him, and his fall. . Leonardo DiCaprio who portrays Jordan Belfort is very good. And also Matthew McConaughey, at the beginning of the film, in a brief role as his boss Mark Hanna, is exceptionally good.
“Some of this actually happened.” This is how the American Hustle, directed by David O. Russell, starts. It is a clear indication that the movie is loosely based on a true story. But how much of it is true, and how much of it is fictional?
American Hustle tells the story of two con artists’ ways of making money and their relationships and lifestyle, and —again – corruptions and involvement of the FBI. If I were to have to choose which of these two films I’d prefer to watch again, for its strong acting, interesting costume, humour, and being only about two hours, I would definitely choose American Hustle.
Best Director
David O. Russell (American Hustle)
Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity) (Won the Los Angeles Film Critics, Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice, and DGA Awards)
Alexander Payne (Nebraska)
Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave) (Won the New York Film Critics Circle Awards)
Martin Scorsese ((The Wolf of Wall Street)
A question to the Academy: Why are there nine contenders for Best Film but only five for all the others?” In my opinion, if there are nine movies worthy enough to be in the competition, there should be nine directors in the Best Director category as well.
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Christian Bale (American Hustle)
Bruce Dern (Nebraska) (Won the Los Angeles Film Critics Award)
Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street) (Won the Golden Globe in Musical or Comedy, and Critics’ Choice Award in Comedy)
Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)
Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club) (Won the Golden Globe in Drama, Critics’ Choice best Actor, and SAG Awards)
As I mentioned in Part One, In Hollywood if an actor/actress gets fat, gets skinny, changes his/her appearance for a role, it increases the odds of their being awarded, as it worked with Robert De Niro (Raging Bull), Tom Hanks (Philadelphia), Adrien Brody (The Pianist) Charlize Theron (Monster), Natalie Portman (Black Swan), Nicole Kidman (The Hours.) Although Christian Bale had gained 43 pounds for the role, Matthew McConaughey who portrays an AIDS patient, and lost 47 pounds for the role has a big chance to take the Oscar home. Leonardo DiCaprio who portrays Jordan Belfort is very strong also.
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Amy Adams (American Hustle) (Won Golden Globe in Musical or Comedy, Critics’ Choice in Comedy Awards)
Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine) (Won the New York Film Critics Circle Best Actress, Los Angeles Film Critics, Critics’ Choice, SAG Awards)
Sandra Bullock (Gravity)
Judi Dench (Philomena)
Meryl Streep (August: Osage County)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips)
Bradley Cooper (American Hustle)
Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave)
Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street)
Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club) (Won the New York Film Critics Circle, Los Angeles Film Critics, Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice, SAG Awards)
If Jared Letowho transformed himself completely, playing a transgender woman who is HIV-positive and did it brilliantly wins the Oscar, it won’t be a surprise. Besides he also lost almost 40 pounds for this role.
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine)
Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle) (Won the New York Film Critics Circle, Golden Globe Awards)
Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave) (Won the Los Angeles Film Critics, Critics’ Choice, and SAG Awards)
Julia Roberts (August: Osage County)
June Squibb (Nebraska)
June Squibb is my favorite in this category. As the character Woody’s wife, she doesn’t have a huge role in Nebraska, but her performance is scintillating.
Best Documentary Feature
The Act of Killing
Cutie and the Boxer
Dirty Wars
The Square (Director Jehane Noujaim won the DGA Award)
20 Feet from Stardom (Won the Critics’ Choice Award)
Foreign Language Film FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Broken Circle Breakdown (Belgium)
The Great Beauty (Italy) (Won the Golden Globe Award)
The Hunt (Denmark)
The Missing Picture (Cambodia)
Omar (Palestine)
This category must be a difficult one in which to choose a winner, since all the contenders are very strong.
The Hunt is about how, in a small town a little child’s accusation can change a respectful adult’s life.
The Broken Circle Breakdown (a 2013 Tribeca Film Festival selection) is a love story about a tattoo artist and a musician. They share their passion for music and are very happy on stage and off. They build a comfortable life together, but this is threatened when their daughter becomes sick.
Omar (a 2013 New York Film Festival selection), thought multi-layered is also basically another beautifully done love story, involving trust, deception, betrayal, self-sacrifice.
Just a wish list:
I would like to see that the Oscars go to:
BEST PICTURE: Tie, Her and Nebraska.
BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE: Bruce Dern. (Joaquin Phoenix should have been nominated in this category.)
BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE: Cate Blanchett.
BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE: Jared Leto,
BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE: June Squibb (Scarlett Johansson should have been on this list too)
DIRECTING: Tie, Alexander Payne and Alfonso Cuarón. (Sadly, Spike Jonze is not on the list)
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: Dirty Wars
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: The Great Beauty
This is not my predictions, but merely my “wish list.” Most likely – except for Cate Blanchett, Jared Leto, and Alfonso Cuarón – it won’t happen!!!
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