We’re
here. Thank the Lord, at long last we’re
here. All the other major awards,
committees, and guilds have had their say, and that last bloated prestige
ceremony, the Oscars, is almost upon us, after which 2015 will officially and
forever be yesterday’s news.
Not
that this year’s ceremony will take place without the customary controversy
hanging over its head, and this year the debate has been particularly
contentious. For the second straight
year, every single acting nomination slot has gone to a white actor or actress,
and the Directing slot breaks up the homogeneity with a lone repeat nomination
for Alejandro Inarritu. Nothing for Tangerine or Chi-Raq (and the expected nomination for Idris Elba in Beasts of no Nation never materialized),
and the only nominations for the otherwise very well-received Creed and Straight Outta Compton went to prominent white people
involved.
This
immediately prompted a resurrection of last year’s equally-merited hashtag #OscarsSoWhite,
but this time things went even further when a host of prominent black film
figures (including Spike Lee and Will Smith) announced they would boycott this
year’s ceremony as a result. This, in
turn, prompted a surprisingly open announcement by the Academy President Cheryl
Boone Isaacs that she would push for substantial change in Academy membership,
including seeking to double the number of minorities among the voting ranks
over the next few years, and even floated the idea of culling voting roles of
anyone who hasn’t been active in the film industry for at least a decade.
And
in turn, this (unsurprisingly) led to the typical tone-deaf backlash against
the backlash, with older members claiming ageism and many publicly decrying
such moves like these as effort to paint anyone old and white with the brush of
racism- “I’m not racist! I voted to give
Sidney Poitier his Oscar all those decades ago!
I CAN’T be racist!”
Which,
as always, completely misses the point of why this is a problem, why people are
upset about it, and why the measures announced by Isaacs are an essential (if
only an initial and incomplete) step towards fixing yet another part of
American society that blindly perpetuates racial divides without even
realizing.
To
start off, no one is implicating any one individual or group of people as being
explicitly, overtly racist. To claim
otherwise is to stonewall real discussion and create a strawman argument the
ignorant can use to perpetuate their ignorance and avoid having to think too
hard about what is, and I grant this without reservation, a very complicated,
messy, and unpleasant topic to have to tackle.
And at any rate, individual or overt acts of racism are not the problem-
it’s the structure of an entire industry that mirrors the various inequalities
and white-skewing perspectives that nearly every other major American
institution was built on.
Acknowledging
that the current situation is what it is and that it needs to change, and that
we all might have been contributing to the problem up to now without even
realizing it, doesn’t make all of us awful people. It doesn’t make us “racists” (at least not in
the sense most people mean). It does
mean that we all need to think about why it is that an overwhelmingly old, white,
male elite buddy club only seems to find traditionalist movies about white
people doing great stuff worthy of getting “Best of the Year” labels, how we
got here, and what needs to change in order for the organizations that take it
upon themselves to celebrate the best of the best by handing out awards (and
yes, award recognition DOES play a HUGE role in what sorts of projects get
studio funding and what doesn’t). We
need to be honest, and we need to work really, really hard to make things
better. In the end, I don’t think that’s
asking too much.
Alright,
and now that we have the heady stuff out of the way, I have a confession I
really should make- I personally was somewhat relieved by this year’s group of
nominees. Yes, the whiteness of the main
categories is deplorable, but again, this problem is a longstanding structural
one and it would have been foolish to expect that an Academy capable of denying
Selma its due would come around and
be charmed enough by a Tangerine or a
Chi-Raq to offer it the time of
day. So I am disappointed, certainly,
but hardly surprised.
What
pleased me was that, although there were snubs aplenty this year, it is finally
NOT the case that the snubbery can be tied to one particularly bad movie eating
up a huge number of nomination slots.
Each of the last three years featured at least one completely average
and/or downright bad movie (particularly American
Sniper, American Hustle, and Silver Linings Playbook, in reverse
order) sucking in huge numbers of nominations, and denying precious ballot
space for far better films (I challenge anyone to argue that Bradley Cooper’s
awful Texan drawl in Sniper was
actually more memorable that Oyelowo’s breathtaking turn as Dr. King
in Selma). Sure, mediocrities like Joy and Fifty Shades
snuck in with a nom apiece, but that always happens. At least the multiple award-works are the
sort of films that deserve to be there, even if they aren’t nearly represented
enough of a world where over 500 new movies come out every year. So I choose to be grateful for the little
things in life.
As
always, because I am loathe to try and predict how Academy voters think, the
following are not my predictions of who win what. These are the movies and people that I
personally feel deserve to win out of the nominated field. I look forward to being completely wrong come
February 28. Let us begin.
Writing:
Original Screenplay
Bridge
of Spies- Matt Charman, Joel and Ethan Coen
Ex
Machina- Alex Garland
Inside
Out-
Pete Doctor, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley
Spotlight-
Josh Singer, Tom McCarthy
Straight
Outta Compton- Jonathan Herman, Andrea Berloff
Winner:
Ex Machina
Oof. Right off the bat, this is an insanely hard
one to pick, because all of these were great movies. That said, I am giving this one to Ex Machina, since it was one of the
thematically heaviest films nominated. Inside Out certainly rivaled it in terms
of the screenplay’s brilliant depth, but that movie is already a lock for
another pick on this list, and I like to spread the love on my ballet around as
much as I can.
Writing
Adapted Screenplay:
The
Big Short- Adam McKay, Charles Randolph
Brooklyn-
Nick Hornby
Carol-
Phyllis Nagy
Room-
Emma Donoghue
The
Martian- Drew Goddard
Winner:
Brooklyn
Again,
this is a remarkably good lineup, with no real bad pick. However, I did just praise Brooklyn as my favorite book adaptation
of the year, so I will stick to my guns here and pencil it in for this
one. If I had to pick a second choice
(and one more likely to actually win), I would go with The Big Short.
Visual
Effects:
Ex
Machina- Andrew Whitehurst, Paul Norris, Mark Ardington,
Sara Bennett
The
Martian- Richard Stammers, Anders Langlands, Chris
Lawrence, Steven Warner
Mad
Max: Fury Road- Andrew Jackson, Tom Wood, Dan Oliver,
Andy Williams
The
Revenant- Rich McBride, Matthew Shumway, Jason Smith,
Cameron Waldbauer
Star
Wars: The Force Awakens- Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach,
Neal Scanlan, Chris Corbould
Winner:
Mad Max: Fury Road
And
once again, all the films here are worthy picks. However, no movie struck me as quite so
visually fascinating and unique (and colorful!) as Mad Max. While its liberal
use of practical effects and minimal CGI additions are laudable, what makes it
stand out is not just that they did it, but that both were perfectly balanced
in service of making a film that looked new and different, that really gave us
a different world we could sink into.
Sound
Mixing:
Bridge
of Spies- Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom, Drew Kunin
The
Revenant- Jon Taylor, Frank Montano, Randy Thom, Chris
Duesterdiek
Mad
Max: Fury Road- Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff, Ben Osmo
Star
Wars: The Force Awakens- Andy Nelson, Christopher
Scarabosio, Stuart Wilson
The
Martian- Paul Massey Mark Taylor, Mac Ruth
Winner:
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
It’s
amazing to see a Star Wars film back
and getting several awards nominations, so I think it should get at least one
of the big technical awards. Here’s
hoping that the next films keep expanding the narrative, so that down the line
we can get a Best Picture nomination, and (fingers crossed!) an acting
nomination for Daisy Ridley (please?).
Sound
Editing
Mad
Max: Fury Road- Mark Mangini and David White
The
Martian- Oliver Tarney
Sicario-
Alan Robert Murray
The
Revenant- Martin Hernandez and Lon Bender
Star
Wars: The Force Awakens- Matthew Wood and David Acord
Winner:
The Martian
Much
of what made The Martian so much fun
was its liberal use of classic disco jams (much to Matt Damon’s dismay), and
their coming and going was a great bit of work on the part of Ridley Scott’s
team.
Short
Film (Live Action):
Ave
Maria- Basil Khalil and Eric Dupont
Day
One-
Henry Hughes
Everything
Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)- Patrick Vollrath
Stutterer-
Benjamin Cleary and Serena Armitage
Shok-
Jamie Donoughue
Winner:
N/A
Unfortunately,
as is the case every year, there are virtually no ways outside of the film
festival circuit to see the sort of movies that end up being picked for this,
so I am not in a position to pick a winner.
Short
Film (Animated):
Bear
Story- Gabriel Osorio and Pato Escala
We
Can’t Live Without The Cosmos- Konstantin Bronzit
World
of Tomorrow- Don Hertzfeldt
Prologue-
Richard Williams and Imogen Sutton
Sanjay’s
Super Team- Sanjay Patel and Nicole Grindle
Winner:
N/A
See
above.
Production
Design:
Bridge
of Spies- Adam Stockhausen, Rena DeAngelo, Bernhard Henrich
The
Danish Girl- Eve Stewart, Michael Standish
Mad
Max: Fury Road- Colin Gibson, Lisa Thompson
The
Martian- Arthur Max, Celia Boback
The
Revenant- Jack Fisk and Hamish Purdy
Winner:
Mad Max: Fury Road
For
my money, while this is as solid a selection as most of the other categories
this year, there’s no competition as to which film most deserves the
prize. The level of detail that went
into designing every facet of this beautifully bizarre world is as much a
marvel to behold as the terribly spectacular splendor of its action.
Music
(Original Song):
“Earned It” (Fifty Shades of Gray)- The Weekend, Ahmad Balshe, Jason Daheala
Quenneville
“Writing’s On The Wall” (Spectre) Jimmy Napes, Sam Smith
“Til It Happens To You” (The Hunting Ground)- Dianne Warren, Lady
Gaga
“Manta Ray” (Racing Extinction)- J. Ralph, Anohni
“Simple Song #3” (Youth)- David Lang
Winner:
“‘Til It Happens To You” (The Hunting
Ground)
God,
what a bleak bunch of entries this year.
And….nearly all kind of boring too.
I had more interest in the Lady Gaga song from the start (partially
because the subject matter of The Hunting
Ground is particularly important), but it also stands out way more than any
of the dreary stuff filling out the nominee roles (and I the only one immensely
disappointed that the James Bond song wasn’t this?).
Music
(Original Score):
Bridge
of Spies- Thomas Newman
Carol-
Carter Burwell
Star
Wars: The Force Awakens- John Williams
Sicario-
Johan Johannsson
The
Hateful Eight- Ennio Morricone
Winner:
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
All
due respect to Morricone, who also made my Favorite Scores list, but the power
of the Star Wars music is
undeniable. John Williams is more than
overdue for another statue.
Makeup
and Hairstyling:
Mad
Max: Fury Road- Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardegga,
Damian Martin
The
Revenant- Sian Grigg, Duncan Jarman, Robert Pandini
The
100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window and Disappeared-
Love Larson, Eva von Bahr
Winner:
The Revenant
This
is another agonizingly close choice- Mad
Max and The Revenant are both
movies that feature some remarkably ugly/dirty/beat-up visages, and utterly
believable ones at that, and that’s a trick all in the makeup. So here, both are worthy picks in my
mind. However, I am already dishing out
a lot of other awards to Mad Max, and
as I said, I do like to spread the love where I reasonably can.
Foreign
Language Film:
Embrace
of the Serpent (Colombia)- Ciro Guerra
Son
of Saul (Hungary)- Laszlo Nemes
Mustang
(France)- Deniz Gamze Ergueven
Theeb
(Jordan)- Naji Abu Nawar
A
War
(Denmark)- Tobias Lindholm
Winner:
N/A
I
was fortunate enough to see over 20 non-English language films this year, both
in theaters and at film festivals, including some fantastic Japanese works and
some genuinely groundbreaking new pieces from the German film industry. Sadly, none of them fell within the
depressingly narrow boundaries the Academy sets up for what movies are allowed
to qualify for this award, so none of them are among the nominees list. Hence, I am not able to pick a winner.
Film
Editing:
The
Big Short- Hank Corwin
Spotlight-
Tom McArdle
Star
Wars: The Force Awakens- Maryanne Brandon, Mary Jo Markey
Mad
Max: Fury Road- Margaret Sixel
The
Revenant- Stephen Mirrione
Winner:
The Big Short
While
Mad Max, Star Wars, and The Revenant all have a worthy claim to
the gold here, there was a particular art to how well the hectic cutting and
transitioning in The Big Short
brought across as much about the world of its subject matter as any of the
exposition could. Also, there are
precious few other categories where I can give this film an award, and The Big Short deserves at least one
statue.
Documentary
(Short Subject):
Body
Team 12- David Darg, Bryn Mooser
Chau,
Beyond the Lines- Courtney Marsh, Jerry Franck
Claude
Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah- Adam Benzine
Last
Day of Freedom- Dee Hibbert-Jones, Nomi Talisman
A
Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness- Sharmeen
Obaid-Chinoy
Winner:
N/A
See
the other Shorts above.
Documentary
(Feature):
Amy-
Asif Kapadia, James Gay-Rees
What
Happened, Miss Simone?- Liz Garbus, Amy Hobby, Justin
Wilkes
Cartel
Land-
Matthew Heinemann, Tom Yellin
The
Look of Silence- Joshua Oppenheimer,
Winter
on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom- Evgeny Afineevsky and
Den Tolmor
Winner:
Amy
This
one’s pretty straightforward- Amy was my favorite documentary of the year,
hence it easily earns the top prize in my book (although if I were in the
betting market, I would put my money on Oppenheimer getting the prize, since he
was denied last time around for The Act
of Killing).
Directing:
The
Big Short- Adam McKay
Mad
Max: Fury Road- George Miller
Room-
Lenny Abrahamson
Spotlight-
Tom McCarthy
The
Revenant- Alejandro Inarritu
Winner:
George Miller (Mad Max: Fury Road)
No
doubt for me here- there is something remarkably inspiring (much like
Scorcese’s inspired work a few years ago on Wolf
of Wall Street) in seeing an already long-established director come
storming back at an age when most of their peers are enjoying quiet retirement
to put fellow artists half their age to shame with work as good as anything
they’ve ever produced.
Costume
Design:
Carol-
Sandy Powell
Mad
Max: Fury Road- Jenny Beavan
The
Revenant- Jacqueline West
Cinderella-
Sandy Powell
The
Danish Girl- Paco Delgado
Winner:
Mad Max: Fury Road
Sticking
with my favorite film of the year on this one as well. Mad Max
all the way.
Cinematography:
Carol-
Ed Lachman
The
Revenant- Emmanuel Lubezki
Sicario-
Roger Deakins
The
Hateful Eight- Robert Richardson
Mad
Max: Fury Road- John Seale
Winner:
The Revenant
Yet
another packed category, and one of the hardest picks for me. I was sorely tempted to go with Mad Max again here, but I am already
laying heavy attention on it in other categories. I thought the opening shot alone for The Hateful Eight was one of the most
inventive uses of a camera I’ve ever seen.
But it’s hard to go against Lubezki, even though he won last year as
well, and DAMN, The Revenant just
looks so good.
Animated
Feature Film:
Anomalisa
Boy
& The World
Inside
Out
Shaun
The Sheep Movie
When
Marnie Was There
Winner:
Inside Out
Like
with Amy, this is an easy pick. Inside
Out was my favorite animated film of the year, and this year I expect the
Academy will actually agree with me.
Actress
in a Supporting Role:
Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight)
Rooney Mara (Carol)
Rachel McAdams (Spotlight)
Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl)
Kate Winslet (Steve Jobs)
Winner:
Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight)
I
really wish we had more of the cast from The
Hateful Eight to pick from in the acting categories this year, but sadly,
we don’t, so Jennifer will have to do. Her
treacherous Daisy is just one of the many acting delights this work has to
offer, and while she certainly isn’t the only reason to give the film a watch,
she sure helps its case.
Actor
in a Supporting Role:
Christian Bale (The Big Short)
Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies)
Sylvester Stallone (Creed)
Tom Hardy (The Revenant)
Mark Ruffalo (Spotlight)
Winner:
Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies)
While
I am not as high on Bridge of Spies
as a lot of awards committees have been, but it is a great piece of classic
Cold War thriller-drama from one of the greatest living filmmakers starring one
of the greatest living actors, so yeah, I can very well see where the praise
comes from. As much as I adore Tom Hanks
though, Mark Rylance’s unruffled, sober, and somewhat grim Soviet spy has left
an indelible impression on me. His
quiet, oft-repeated line, “Would it help?” and the meaning the film associates
with it has resounded in my head through a few hard personal situations, and
that’s the kind of subtle acting craft I feel should be rewarded.
Actress
in a Leading Role:
Cate Blanchett (Carol)
Brie Larson (Room)
Jennifer Lawrence (Joy)
Charlotte Rampling (45 Years)
Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn)
Winner:
Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn)
Brooklyn was one of the most emotional
theater experiences I had all year, and much of that can be attributed to
Saoirse’s carefully-crafted performance of a woman coming into her own through
sheer force of will. The performance
itself was every bit as much a work of art as the film, and it turned Saoirse
into one of my favorite actresses currently working.
Actor
in a Leading Role:
Bryan Cranston (Trumbo)
Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs)
Eddie Redmayne (The Danish Girl)
Matt Damon (The Martian)
Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)
Winner:
Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)
Alright,
let’s get this bit of unpleasantness out of the way: The Revenant is by no means one of DiCaprio’s best performances,
nor does it rank among the best films he’s attached his name to. Which means that, since it’s all but inevitable
he will finally win one this time around, the Academy is set to continue its
long tradition of its acting award picks being either downright mistakes, or
apologies for the mistakes, or apologies for past apologies for mistakes; see
Jennifer Lawrence winning for the mediocre Silver
Linings Playbook as an apology for not winning for the vastly superior Winter’s Bone, which was the year they
gave another Oscar to Meryl Streep as an apology for all the better past roles
they’d made the mistake of not awarding her for, as just one example of the
sort of endless cycle this creates.
That
said, this is a pretty weak year for male acting nominees in general,
especially compared with some of the greatness of the past two years, and
DiCaprio’s physical dedication to the role is never less than impressive. So while I wouldn’t consider DiCaprio’s work
to be among the best of the year overall, I did think it was the best out of
this particularly narrow selection we have to choose from. Which at least makes this one more in tune
with the spirit of the award than a simple pity selection.
Best
Picture:
The
Big Short
Brookyln
Bridge
of Spies
The
Revenant
The
Martian
Room
Mad
Max: Fury Road
Spotlight
Winner:
Mad Max: Fury Road
Surprise
surprise, my #1 film of the year is also my pick for Best Picture, and in a
just world, I could feel safe calling this a prediction too. Sadly, while I think the film will pick up a
few of the technical awards, I think will end up being way too out there for
the Academy to give it the top prize. If
this ends up being the case, I would also be fine with The Big Short, Brooklyn,
or The Martian as a second
choice. Just not The Revenant. Please, not The Revenant.
Phew. Done and done. That’s it!
My picks for the 2016 Academy Awards.
If you weren’t keeping score at home, here’s my final breakdown-
Mad
Max: Fury Road (5)- Visual Effects, Production Design,
Directing, Costume Design, Best Picture
The
Revenant (3)- Makeup & Hairstyling, Cinematography,
Leading Actor
Brooklyn
(2)- Adapted Screenplay, Leading Actress
Star
Wars: The Force Awakens (2)- Sound Mixing, Original Score
The
Big Short (1)- Film Editing
Ex
Machina (1)- Original Screenplay
The
Martian (1)- Sound Editing
The
Hunting Ground (1)- Original Song
Amy
(1)- Documentary Feature
Inside
Out
(1)- Animated Feature
The
Hateful Eight (1)- Supporting Actress
Bridge
of Spies (1)- Supporting Actor
Tune in for the Oscars with me (and follow my
exhaustion-fueled Twitter stream at https://twitter.com/NoahFranc)
to get good and angry at how totally off all my predictions will inevitably
be. Until then!
-Noah Franc
