Although life has kept me from blogging for another year now, there’s just something about the Academy Awards that cries out to me for comment every year, however brief those comments might be. Welcome to Oscar day, everyone!
On a side note of sorts, film–like our current world–is deteriorating. Not to be depressing, but it seems to be getting more difficult every year to find a movie that is well made and which portrays (or advocates, for that matter) what I’ll term morality. We either get heaps of profanity or gratuitous violence or graphic sexual content–regardless of what story the film is attempting to tell. And for me, the inclusion of those unnecessary, oftentimes unrealistic, and offensive elements degrades the film and often totally negates any worthwhile meaning it might have.
As the Academy tries to please everyone, in recent years it has become out of touch with the reality of what people want to watch. In its quest to honor “art,” it taps for recognition films that shock with what they think is creativity, but what is in actuality a coloring outside of the lines of normality and morality. Sometimes the past gets it right. Sometimes change is a bad thing.
So, stepping off my soapbox now, a brief discussion and some possibly erroneous thoughts about this year’s Academy Award nominees and tonight’s winners.
Best Picture Nominees
I do think the Academy did a better job this year of choosing a variety of films, several of which were actually widely viewed and enjoyed by average people in real movie theaters. I myself was able to see a good number of these movies, a couple of which I even found worth watching. Here’s how I would rank the BP nominees:
- CODA
- Belfast
- The Power of the Dog
- King Richard
- Nightmare Alley
- Don’t Look Up
- Drive My Car
Of the three nominees that I didn’t watch (West Side Story, Dune, Licorice Pizza), I think West Side Story would potentially crack my top three here–even though I’m not super fond of remakes of former Best Picture winners.
A bit of explanation of my rankings. What CODA offers, despite some language/sexual content, is a beautiful story of family. It is authentic, convincing, and beautiful. It is very funny while at the same time heartbreaking and emotionally moving. Yes, I cried just a little bit at the end. Why might it win BP tonight? For all the above reasons. Why might it not win? Because Academy voters might opt for something less white (such as King Richard), more LGTBQ friendly (like The Power of the Dog), or more “out there”/different from the norm (such as Don’t Look Up).
Belfast is also a movie worth watching. Jude Hill, who plays young Buddy, is fantastic (and adorable!); the story is interesting and meaningful as well. However, not being Irish myself, it can be difficult to decipher what the characters are saying at times, and the film seems almost too short to fully build its conflict and satisfactorily resolve it.
The Power of the Dog has some lovely cinematography and strong production design, but its plot is tough to follow in places (as are the mumbling words of some characters). It has a good plot twist at the end; but even there at the film’s most crucial part, it isn’t completely clear (or believable) how we got from A to B, if that makes sense.
West Side Story presents a very old tale (think Shakespeare and even earlier) with which we are all familiar. It might be a beautiful film, but it is also a predictable one. We’ve seen this story and already honored it with BP in 1962. Nightmare Alley is also a remake, albeit of a film with less accolades. The last 30 minutes or so of the Bradley Cooper flick were a bit twisty and interesting; but the earlier parts were very dark, disconnected, and un-beautiful.
I will never get back the hours I spent watching Don’t Look Up and Drive My Car, two of the stupidest films I’ve ever seen. I don’t understand the draw of credible actors like Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence purposely acting like they can’t act, nor can I comprehend how some people can compare Drive My Car to 2020’s BP winner Parasite. Basically, the only thing those two films have in common is the fact that they are non-English-speaking movies.
Who’s Going to Win
So, that brings us to some predictions. Again, disclaimer: I typically get BP wrong as I over-analyze the Academy’s thought processes and second-guess my own. But here are some thoughts anyway.
Actor in a Leading Role: Will Smith (King Richard): Smith has won quite a bit of hardware this awards season. He gives a good performance in King Richard, but a big factor in his nomination and his winning (if he does so) is the big stink he put up a few years ago when he wasn’t nominated when he thought he should have been. The Academy likes to appease its actors.
Actress in a Leading Role: Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye): This is a tougher field than the leading men have, in my opinion. Olivia Colman could win again, as could Nicole Kidman; but I’m going with Chastain, who won the SAG award this year.
Actor in a Supporting Role: Troy Kotsur (CODA): Kotsur would become the first deaf man to ever win an Oscar for acting, and he is very good in this film–hilarious and still able to tug on viewers’ heartstrings.
Actress in a Supporting Role: Ariana DeBose (West Side Story): DeBose has been accumulating a lot of awards this season as well. One critic noted her performance was the biggest positive in Steven Spielberg’s remake. Her win tonight might be the most expected one out of the four acting categories.
Directing: Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog): Campion comes into tonight’s show having already picked up a Golden Globe and a BAFTA for her film. Only two women have ever won in this category, including last year’s Chloe Zhao (for Nomadland). Could we see back-to-back wins for women in Directing? I think this is likely, even if The Power of the Dog doesn’t win Best Picture.
Best Picture: CODA: Okay, so maybe I’m leaning a bit too much on personal preference here, but I feel that CODA is the most complete movie in the BP field this year. I could see The Power of the Dog taking this award, but it was very slow at parts and not nearly as compelling and memorable as CODA. The idea that Drive My Car is perhaps a dark horse for BP seems absolutely ludicrous to me–but the unpredictability of the Academy Awards is one reason to love them, I suppose.
Enjoy the show, Everyone!