Power Rankings: All-Time Best and Worst Academy Award Winners

            The Academy Awards turn 86 this Sunday, and just like any 86-year-old, some parts of it have aged well (like awarding Citizen Kane with Best Screenplay in 1941) . . . and some others not so much (like awarding How Green Was My Valley Best Picture of 1941 instead).  There are two central problems with attempting to evaluate the thinking process of past Oscar voters: Firstly, they lacked the luxury of hindsight when they cast their ballots, and although that isn’t a great defense for those who voted for An American in Paris over A Streetcar Named Desire in 1951, those voters were undoubtedly influenced by factors unrecognizable to modern movie audiences (such as popular tastes, genre conventions, and reputations of individual filmmakers and performers of the time).  The second problem is that critiquing movies is inherently a personal, subjective act.  I love Kramer vs. Kramer and I think it’s probably the best film ever to win Best Picture, but I also don’t deny that I’m in the minority there.

            Therefore, in order to attempt to erase as much annoying subjectivity as possible, I’ve structured this article in a particular way.  I will use each of the major eight categories (Original/Adapted Screenplay, Supporting Actor/Actress, Lead Actor/Actress, Director and Picture) to reconsider the best and worst individual decisions in Academy Award history.  Each category will have five all-time nominees, except for Best Picture, which will have between 5-10 nominees, just like the real Oscars.  In order to give proper consideration to the totality of Oscar history, each year will be represented by one past winner and no more (for example, as noted above, the 1951 Oscars had some questionable winners, but only one category from that year will be used).  I have tried to eliminate personal bias as much as possible and think more broadly about the general cultural consensus that exists about who deserved which award and for what reason.

            The final point of this article?  To wax poetics over the great (and not so great) movies that have graced Oscar history and get excited for this Sunday’s ceremony! 

            NOTE: Best Supporting Actor and Actress were not awarded until 1936.  The Screenplay Awards were not formally divided between Original and Adapted (at least, the way we recognize them today) only after 1940.  The lists here try their best to reflect those changes, but in some cases, the makeup of the categories is imperfect.

PART I:

The All-Time Worst Winners

Original Screenplay

1940: The Great McGinty over Foreign Correspondent and The Great Dictator

1956: The Red Balloon over La Strada, The Bold and the Beautiful, and The Ladykillers

1985: Witness over Back to the Future

1989: Dead Poets Society over Crimes and Misdemeanors, Do the Right Thing, and When Harry Met Sally…

AND THE WINNER IS:

1959: Pillow Talk over The 400 Blows, North by Northwest, and Wild Strawberries

            Preston Sturges’ lone Oscar win didn’t come for a particularly memorable film, and a 34-minute French film with no dialogue somehow beat out two of the great European screenplays of the 1950s.  Back to the Future lost out to an unexceptional Harrison Ford police procedural, while a clichéd, sappy ripoff of Goodbye Mr. Chips beat three of the most iconic screenplays of the 1980s.

            But the most unforgivable injustice here is Pillow Talk – a breezy but trivial and unmemorable Doris Day vehicle – somehow beating three of the most memorable and influential movies of all-time.  Put it this way: When the narrative structure of Wild Strawberries was refitted for contemporary audiences, it came in the forms of Crimes and Misdemeanors and Deconstructing Harry.  When Pillow Talk was remade, it was Down With Love.  Case closed.

Adapted Screenplay

1930: The Big House over All Quiet on the Western Front

1936: The Story of Louis Pasteur over My Man Godfrey and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

1937: The Life of Emile Zola over The Awful Truth

1955: Love Me or Leave Me over Rebel Without a Cause

AND THE WINNER IS:

1944: Going My Way over Double Indemnity

            The Big House was a slimy pre-code prison film with Wallace Beery, while All Quiet on the Western Front was the sound era’s first epic.  Louis Pasteur and Emile Zola were interesting French historical figures who each apparently looked like Paul Muni, but I doubt contemporary audiences would watch either of those biopics ahead of Mr. Deeds Goes to Town or The Awful Truth.  The screenplay division of Academy voters apparently loved Doris Day movies, but this one is even less-remembered than Pillow Talk, while every college dorm has a poster of James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause located in someone’s room.

            But Going My Way over Double Indemnity?  Don’t get me wrong, everyone loves Bing Crosby’s dopey singing voice and a happy, upbeat portrayal of the Catholic clergy, but Double Indemnity vaulted the noir film to immortality.  In addition, it happens to be probably the best American screenplay of the 1940s, somehow besting even the legendary James M. Cain novel from which it was based.  Of course, Going My Way also somehow beat Double Indemnity for Best Picture in 1944, which adds insult to injury but also gives us a better perspective of the distorted mentality of 1944 voters.

Supporting Actress

1949: Mercedes McCambridge, All the King’s Men over Ethel Waters, Pinky

1976: Beatrice Straight, Network over Jodie Foster, Taxi Driver

1992: Marisa Tomei, My Cousin Vinny over Judy Davis, Husbands and Wives

2004: Cate Blanchett, The Aviator over Virginia Madsen, Sideways

AND THE WINNER IS: 

2003: Renee Zellweger, Cold Mountain over the field (Shohreh Aghdashloo, Patricia Clarkson, Marcia Gay Harden, Holly Hunter)

            McCambridge was one of the most notoriously bad actresses of her era, while Ethel Waters was one of the most cruelly underrated due to her race.  Straight was onscreen for five minutes, while Foster exploded onto the scene in an unglamorous role few well-known child actors would have ever pursued.  Most people agree that Jack Palance was either drunk or had lofty expectations when he read Tomei’s name at the 1992 ceremony, while Blanchett’s glorified interpretation of Oscar’s all-time favorite performer doesn’t hold up to Madsen’s vulnerability and complexity. 

            But Zellweger winning is truly indefensible.  2003 wasn’t a great year for the Supporting Actress, but Zellweger’s performance as the outrageously colorful, zippy farmhand came off as either an odd imitation of Hattie McDaniel in Gone With the Wind or Oscar-baiting at its most shameless. It’s generally agreed that the Academy felt bad for her snubs for Bridget Jones’s Diary and Chicago, but that’s no reason to honor a hack job.

Supporting Actor

1987: Sean Connery, The Untouchables over Denzel Washington, Cry Freedom

1993: Tommy Lee Jones, The Fugitive over Leonardo DiCaprio, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and John Malkovich, In the Line of Fire

1994: Martin Landau, Ed Wood over Samuel L. Jackson, Pulp Fiction

1996: Cuba Gooding Jr., Jerry Maguire over William H. Macy, Fargo and Edward Norton, Primal Fear

AND THE WINNER IS:

1999: Michael Caine, The Cider House Rules over Tom Cruise, Magnolia, Michael Clarke Duncan, The Green Mile and Haley Joel Osment, The Sixth Sense

            Connery’s Irish-American brogue was voted the worst accent in the history of movies (beating out Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins – a feat almost more impressive than the Oscar win), while Jones basically played the same role he’s been playing since time immemorial, and in the process beat out one of the most memorable villains (Malkovich) and retards (DiCaprio) ever conceived on film.  Landou was amusing in Ed Wood until he dies midway through the film, while Cuba Gooding gave an acceptance speech that took more acting chops than the role he played.  Meanwhile, Jackson, Macy and Norton – three of the best actors of this generation – remain frustratingly trophy-less.

            But Caine’s win in 1999 is particularly annoying.  I even remember the ceremony it happened, and thinking at the time that it was a grave mistake.  Caine already had an Oscar win (for a much better performance), had played the perfunctory “sage-but-loving mentor figure” Oscar loves handing Supporting Actor awards to, and the win occurred right in the middle of Miramax’s most egregious Oscar campaigning.  Adding to the frustration is the fact that not only have none of the other three actors approached the levels of their nominated performances of 1999, but will probably never be nominated ever again (given Duncan’s untimely death in 2012, Osment’s stints in rehab, and Cruise’s real-life craziness).

                                                                                                

Actress in a Leading Role

1931: Marie Dressler, Min and Bill over Marlene Dietrich, Morocco

1942: Greer Garson, Mrs. Miniver over Bette Davis, Now, Voyager

1965: Julie Christie, Darling over Julie Andrews, The Sound of Music

2011: Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady over the field (Glenn Close, Viola Davis, Rooney Mara, and Michelle Williams)

AND THE WINNER IS:

1950: Judy Holliday, Born Yesterday over Bette Davis, All About Eve and Gloria Swanson, Sunset Boulevard

            Dressler was a popular older character actress in the early sound era, but there’s no question between her and Dietrich who is better remembered and more important. Mrs. Miniver won Best Picture, and there were those great stories about Garson giving a 45-minute acceptance speech (it was actually only six minutes, although it still holds the record for all-time length), but when you think of star power in the woman’s film during the classical era, you think Bette Davis in Now, Voyager.  1965 voters went for “vogue” rather than “logical” in their selection of the sexy Julie over the singing Julie, while Meryl Streep’s imitation of Margaret Thatcher was in a mediocre movie no one saw. 

            But Judy Holliday’s win came over not just one of the all-time great leading actress performances in movie history, but two of them.  How did this ever happen?  Legend has it that Davis’ co-star in Eve, Ann Baxter, petitioned for a Best Actress nomination alongside Davis, which split the votes, leaving Holliday emerging as the victorious dark horse.  But this still fails to explain how Swanson lost – arguably, her performance is more memorable and iconic than even Davis.  And at the end of the day, All About Eve still won Best Picture, while Sunset Boulevard ranked #12 on the AFI’s top films of the 20^th Century.  Born Yesterday was remade in 1993 starring Melanie Griffith and John Goodman.  If anyone ever tried to remake All About Eve or Sunset Boulevard – and any current actress was cast as Margo Channing or Norma Desmond – they would be shot.

Actor in a Leading Role

1946: Frederic March, The Best Years of Our Lives over James Stewart, It’s a Wonderful Life

1967: Rod Steiger, In the Heat of the Night over Dustin Hoffman, The Graduate and Paul Newman, Cool Hand Luke

1974: Art Carney, Harry and Tonto over Jack Nicholson, Chinatown and Al Pacino, The Godfather Part II

2001: Denzel Washington in Training Day over Russell Crowe in A Beautiful Mind

AND THE WINNER IS:

1943: Paul Lukas in Watch on the Rhine over Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca

            March’s and Steiger’s wins make sense in retrospect, since the Academy swooned over their films and needed to give out some acting awards (although in the case of Steiger, he is overshadowed in his own film by Sidney Poitier).  No one in 1946 could have possibly imagined how deeply ingrained in the culture George Bailey would become, while 1967 voters probably knew how important Hoffman and Newman’s roles would be, but were probably hesitant to award films so quirky and progressive.  Carney is great in Harry and Tonto, but when you mention his name, you think “Ed Norton” before you think of the old guy with the cat that somehow beat out Jake Gittes and Michael Corleone.  And Denzel is powerful in Training Day, but instead of thanking the Academy, he should have thanked Russell Crowe’s unpopular outbursts and their effects on gossip-loving voters.

            Rick Blaine is the most iconic leading character in the history of motion pictures – maybe the most recognizable fictional figure in the history of American popular culture.  As for Lukas, I had to look up on Wikipedia who actually won Best Actor that year.

Director

1932: Frank Borzage for Bad Girl over Joseph von Sternberg, Shanghai Express

1964: George Cukor, My Fair Lady over Stanley Kubrick, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

2010: Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech over David Fincher, The Social Network

2012: Ang Lee, Life of Pi over Ben Affleck, Argo*

AND THE WINNER IS:

1968: Sir Carol Reed, Oliver! over Stanley Kubrick, 2001: A Space Odyssey

        According to Wikipedia, Bad Girl is a 1932 film about "the day-to-day lives and loves of ordinary people going about their ordinary lives."  Leave it to the Oscars to reward the dullest movie of the pre-code era instead of giving Best Director to one of the most visionary and unique scenarists of the classical era.  Everyone was shocked when That One British Dude Who Directed The King's Speech somehow beat out David Fincher, and even more shocked when Ben Affleck didn't receive an Oscar nomination for the film which ultimately went home with 2012's top award.  Instead, Ang Lee went home with the trophy.  If we could magically transport back to December 2012, what would have been the odds of that happening? 1000 to 1? 

       But the real loser here of course is Kurbick, who lost out to two laughably dated musicals, as well as a third loss in 1971 (when he was nominated for A Clockwork Orange).  None of those losses really make any sense, but especially not when Sir Carol beat him in 1968.  2001 was Kubrick's most widely seen and economically successful film (it was the top-grossing movie of 1968, earning nearly twice as much money as Oliver!).  No other director could have successfully married special effects and philosophical abstraction the way Kubrick did in 2001, and the film has subsequently set the basis for virtually all modern cinematic deep-space science fiction.  The only thing memorable about Oliver! was that it announced the death of the musical as a viable Best Picture, becoming the last of its kind to take Oscar's top prize for the next 34 years.

Picture

1933: Cavalcade over The Private Life of Henry VIII

1935: Mutiny on the Bounty over Top Hat

1938: You Can’t Take It With You over Grand Illusion

1951: An American in Paris over A Streetcar Named Desire

1952: The Greatest Show on Earth over High Noon

1990: Dances With Wolves over GoodFellas

1998: Shakespeare in Love over Saving Private Ryan

2005: Crash over Brokeback Mountain

AND THE WINNER IS:

1941: How Green Was My Valley over Citizen Kane

            1933 voters inexplicably decided the Brit they wanted to award was Noel Coward rather than Alexander Korda (although Charles Laughton won Best Actor in one of the more memorable performances from the early 1930s).  Top Hat is the penultimate Astaire-Rogers musical, while Grand Illusion a top-three pick on the Sight and Sound all-time list.  1951 and 1952 were atrocities, but were they worse than Dances With Wolves beating GoodFellas?  We can now chalk the events of 1998 up to a little studio called Miramax, but how does that account for Brokeback Mountain losing to a film that came and went during the month of May?  And even though I think Crash is the better film, the amount of fervor the 2005 race still causes on discussion boards and at Oscar parties is enough to seriously question whether, in this case, awarding the right film was even worth it in the first place. 

            But nothing comes close to 1941, which became immortalized by two events: The attack on Pearl Harbor and the release of Citizen Kane.  How Green Was My Valley is now remembered less as a motion picture and more as the answer to the all-time most-asked Oscar trivia question.  Here’s the real question: How much of Kane’s near shutout (it only won for screenplay) was a result of antipathy by Oscar voters toward Orson Welles and fear toward William Randolph Hurst’s publishing empire?  According to Emanuel Levy in his excellent book And the Winner Is…: The History and Politics of the Oscar Awards, Oscar voters opted for the safe ideology of John Ford over the downbeat, possibly libelous product of a 26-year-old enfant terrible who was popularly thought to win an award someday.  But this account still doesn’t explain how Oscar voters nonetheless awarded Citizen Kane’s screenplay, the root of its controversy.  Now it’s just funny to look at How Green Was My Valley beating out Kane not only in Best Picture, but also in Art Direction and Editing.  In addition, 1941 voters also completely looked past The Maltese Falcon, which went 0-for-3.  Yikes.

PART II:

The All-Time Best Winners

Original Screenplay

1960: Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond, The Apartment

1986: Woody Allen, Hannah and Her Sisters

2000: Cameron Crowe, Almost Famous

2002: Pedro Almodovar, Talk to Her

AND THE WINNER IS:

1934: Robert Riskin, It Happened One Night

            Major props given to the Oscars for awarding two deeply dark and cynical comedies (The Apartment and Hannah and Her Sisters) that have stood the test of time.  Almost Famous was far and away a better screenplay than Billy Elliot, Erin Brockovich, and Gladiator (!) but everyone knows how notoriously rare it is for the crowd favorite to actually win.  Talk to Her was the winner of an interesting year which also featured a Spanish-language nominee (Y Tu Mama Tambien) as well as a film masquerading as a truthful examination of Greek culture. 

            But Riskin’s screenplay for It Happened One Night is influential because it occurred at a crucial point in film history.  Sound had become standard practice in Hollywood films only five years earlier, and it had fundamentally shifted the mode of film production away from grand aesthetic spectacles and more dialogue-driven narratives.  It Happened One Night was the first comedy to win Best Picture because it showed the alluring power of high-quality dialogue.  It established standard tropes for what became known as “romantic comedies” and is still witty and entertaining today – due in large part to the talents of Frank Capra, Clark Gable, and Claudette Colbert, of course, but especially to its screenplay.

Adapted Screenplay

1953: Daniel Taradash, From Here to Eternity

1958: Nathan E. Douglas and Harold Jacob Smith, The Defiant Ones

1979: Robert Benton, Kramer vs. Kramer

1981: Ernest Thompson, On Golden Pond

AND THE WINNER IS:

1983: James L. Brooks, Terms of Endearment

            Taradash’s screenplay for From Here to Eternity may not feel state-of-the-art upon viewing, but if you consider that (A) it was adapted from a 900-page stream-of-consciousness novel, (B) major portions of the story had to be cut due to the Production Code Administration’s demands, and (C) it managed to delegate enough equal screen time among its all-star cast to lead to five acting nominations, then Tardash’s screenplay comes off as a considerable accomplishment.  The Defiant Ones was one of the few 1950s features to deal with race relations with grit and realism instead of sensationalism, while Kramer vs. Kramer treated divorce with subtlety over sentimentality.  On Golden Pond remains one of the best examples of a successful transition from stage to screen.

            But my vote here goes to Terms of Endearment.  Why?  Because with each passing year, the Academy’s praise of Terms of Endearment looks better and better.  Not too long ago, it was popularly remembered as a pedestrian and manipulative tearjerker-of-the-week, with overacting by Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger and some goofy antics by Jack Nicholson.  But for whatever reason, audiences now tend to look back on the film with greater favorability (a sentiment I’ve always had about the film).  Maybe this is the result of James L. Brooks’ tremendous success after the film, or maybe it’s because more people are realizing this kind of film is tough to make.  The truth is, the screenplay brilliantly manages to oscillate between high comedy and heartbreaking drama, and there really is not a moment of it that rings false in any fashion.  While other Oscar winners from three decades ago look stale, Terms of Endearment is still fresh and engaging, which is a reflection of the high quality of its witty screenplay. 

Supporting Actress

1939: Hattie McDaniel in Gone With the Wind

1957: Miyoshi Umeki in Sayonara

1962: Patty Duke in The Miracle Worker

1971: Cloris Leachman in The Last Picture Show

AND THE WINNER IS:

1973: Tatum O’Neal in Paper Moon

            McDaniel’s win is one of the legendary moments of Oscar history – a significant African-American performer receiving overdue recognition for what was a truly great performance in a truly great film.  A similar sentiment can be applied to Umeki, who won in an era when Asian characters and actors were extremely rare, and when they did appear, they were often in the form of gross stereotypes.  Duke’s Oscar came when she was only 16 years old, making her (at the time) the youngest winner ever in a competitive category, while Leachman won for an unglamorous, desperate role that was novel for the 1970s. 

            But O’Neal’s win stands out here for a few reasons.  One is that she was 10 years old.  Another is that she was clearly the best part of Paper Moon, a movie which holds up pretty well today, and even though her role was technically the lead, the Academy recognized that without her charisma and spark, the film wouldn’t have gone anywhere (and speaking of lead actress, which performance has stood the test of time better: O’ Neal’s, or Glenda Jackson in A Touch of Class, the lead actress winner in 1973?)  Of course, similar praise can be bestowed on Patty Duke and Anna Paquin in 1993, but because O’Neal carried so much of the movie on her own, her Oscar was particularly well-deserved.

Supporting Actor

1947: Edmund Gwenn in Miracle on 34^th Street

1978: Christopher Walken in The Deer Hunter

1988: Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda

2007: Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men

AND THE WINNER IS:

2008: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

            No other actor can sufficiently play Santa Claus without someone invariably comparing their performance to Gwenn (who really convincingly looked like Santa Claus) while recognizing a virtually unknown Christopher Walken in 1978 looks pretty prescient in retrospect.  Kline’s performance stands out as one of the funniest in movie history (which made it all the more unlikely that the Academy would actually award it), and Bardem was widely considered to be the most sinister villain modern audiences had ever seen . . .

            Until one year later, in 2008.  Heath Ledger’s death gave a startling mysticism to his performance as the Joker, a role which could have been treated as a throwaway comic villain. But Ledger treated the role as a tortured, sinister, psychopathic deviant.  Beyond simply applying unrecognizable makeup and using a startling voice, Ledger’s role now stands as the lone villain (with the possible exception of Hannibal Lector) by which all other villains – whether in superhero movies or not – are judged.  And let’s be honest – does anyone really remember The Dark Knight for anything other than Ledger?  And this was the film that was responsible for expanding Best Picture nominees beyond five.  With anyone other than Ledger, The Dark Knight is nothing more than a standard summer movie sequel (which is what The Dark Knight Rises ended up being, perhaps inevitably).  Ledger elevates the role and the movie to immortality.

           

Lead Actress

1929: Mary Pickford in Coquette

1945: Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce

1966: Elizabeth Taylor in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

1975: Louise Fletcher, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

AND THE WINNER IS:

1982: Meryl Streep, Sophie’s Choice

            Coquette wasn’t exactly Pickford’s most memorable role, but she was one of the few silent stars that the Academy had the foresight to give a competitive Oscar to.  Crawford and Taylor are exhibits A and B in illustrating the practice of glamorous actresses risking their popular images by taking on seedy, unpleasant roles – and winning well-deserved Oscars in the process.  Fletcher’s iconic performance stands out as possibly the greatest female villain in movie history, more than holding her own in what is typically remembered as “a Jack Nicholson movie.”

            But Streep gave the performance of a lifetime in 1982 in one of the few Oscar categories that can’t really be seriously debated anywhere.  She’s been nominated about 14 million times, but there’s no real question about what her all-time greatest performance is.  It’s also one of the few mainstream performances that’s mentally draining to watch.  The drama in Sophie’s Choice is incredibly unpleasant, and even Streep has said she can’t bear to watch parts of it. 

Lead Actor

1963: Sidney Poitier, Lilies of the Field

1970: George C. Scott, Patton

1991: Anthony Hopkins, The Silence of the Lambs

1995: Nicolas Cage, Leaving Las Vegas

AND THE WINNER IS:

1980: Robert De Niro, Raging Bull

            Poitier’s win came at a critical point of civil rights history that, as a result of giving him a well-deserved Best Actor award, the Academy ultimately ended up on the right side of.  Scott’s win was slightly different; everyone knew it was a great performance, but alienated himself from the Academy by criticizing them.  But the Academy ate up its pride and did the right thing, providing one of the more memorable moments in the category’s history.  Hopkins probably logged less actual screen time than any other Best Actor recipient, but anytime an actor plays the most memorable villain in movie history (as voted on by the AFI), he probably deserves some sort of Academy recognition.  And it isn’t just Todd who thinks Cage’s performance is one for the ages (and coming in a particularly stacked year too, with Richard Dreyfuss, Sean Penn and Hopkins giving excellent roles).

            But like Meryl Streep in Sophie’s Choice, there’s no one out there who can contest whether or not De Niro deserved the Oscar in 1980.  It’s simply not debatable.  The performance demanded enormous fluctuations in physical appearance (both health-wise and age-wise) as well as psychological depth.  As it stands today, Raging Bull is remembered as a technical marvel in terms of its cinematography and editing, but even those elements are overshadowed by De Niro’s once-in-a-lifetime performance. 

Director

1948: John Huston, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

1954: Elia Kazan, On the Waterfront

2006: Martin Scorsese, The Departed

2009: Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker

 AND THE WINNER IS:

1961: Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise, West Side Story

            Huston made The Maltese Falcon in 1941 and after World War II broke out, worked for the Army Signal Corps, making movies about the wartime experiences of soldiers.  When he returned to Hollywood, he had no problems picking up where he left off in genre pictures, elevating The Treasure of the Sierra Madre to one of the best Warner films of the 1940s (he also directed his father to an Oscar win – no easy task).  Kazan also directed a film which holds up very well for modern audiences, but like George C. Scott in 1970, awarding him the Oscar in spite of his controversial political actions was ultimately the right thing for the Academy to do.  Scorsese’s win in 2006 was a great moment, and it was nice that it wasn’t just an “apology” Oscar (like Paul Newman in 1986), but an award given for one of his truly best films.  And Bigelow’s win wasn’t just a great moment for women, but for independent directors in general.

            But Robbins and Wise stand out here because they are the only directors to share an Oscar (besides the Coen Brothers).  This reflects the fact that movies are about collaboration more than the single authorial and artistic faculties of an individual.  And could there be a better example of this than West Side Story – a film whose success is the perfected mixture of a brilliant story, fantastic dance sequences, and memorable music?  According to Roger Ebert, Robbins’ elaborate choreography took three months just to rehearse, and was frequently changed when the cast and crew went on location to shoot.  But you can see all the effort when watching the film, which is rife with not only spectacular entertainment, but unique and innovative interpretations of how dance is able to reflect mood and emotion.  Is it the best example of directing ever to win the Oscar?  Maybe not, but I still love what it stands for.

Picture

1969: Midnight Cowboy

1972: The Godfather over Cabaret

1977: Annie Hall over Star Wars

1984: Amadeus

1997: Titanic

AND THE WINNER IS:

1928: Wings wins “Outstanding Picture” and Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans winning “Unique and Artistic Production”

            In 1969, Midnight Cowboy defied the conventions of “safe, wholesome” entertainment by becoming the first (and only) X-rated film to win Best Picture.  In 1972, The Godfather defied the convention of the elaborate musical winning Best Picture, and this decision looks pretty wise four decades later.  In 1977, Annie Hall beat Star Wars for Best Picture – a major victory for all cinephiles who value intelligent writing over superficial glitz.  In 1984, Amadeus showed that Best Pictures could be as sophisticated works of high culture, but with blistering irony and satire.  In 1997, Titanic embodied everything that movies offer us – riveting, spectacular entertainment, star-making performances, and even the most iconic movie song of the last several decades – and over the years, its backlash has become gradually minimized.

            But I can’t help but go back to the first ever Oscars – yes, that 15-minute ceremony at the Roosevelt Hotel where tickets were five dollars and no one thought much of it at the time.  It remains the only Oscar ceremony to award two movies with top honors: The war epic Wings and the poetic love story Sunrise.  Both are films that hold up well (all the more impressive when considering that both are silent); Wings recently had a theatrical reissue as well as a Blu-Ray release while many scholars consider Sunrise the most important and innovative silent film of the 1920s.  But what is most commendable about the 1928 Oscars was that voters had the foresight to acknowledge that film constitutes as much a business as it does an art.  Some films are made to reflect the interests of mass audiences (such as Wings’ box office success at the heels of Charles Lindbergh’s transatlantic flight) while others are made to appeal to specific tastes of intelligent viewers (evidenced by Sunrise’s daring use of superimposition, deep focus and expressionistic sets and shadows). 

This is what modern Oscars fail to grasp.  Comparing 12 Years a Slave to Gravity isn’t exactly like comparing apples to oranges, but it comes close.  Both are important, potentially historically significant motion pictures.  Depending on which film voters pick on Sunday, the 86^th Academy Awards will take on significantly different meanings – either the Oscars still favor classical storytelling over special effects, or voters are becoming more progressive in their acceptance of CGI as a valid platform for cinema.  Both statements are reductive, and it’s a fallacy to extract a universal logic from voter’s choices (which this article is admittedly guilty of).  But both statements also have degrees of validity to them.  Does this mean we should become more pluralistic and separate Best Picture into different categories?  Absolutely not.  If we did that, we might never have polemic columns like this 86 years from now.  The Oscars do make a particular statement when they announce their selection for Best Picture, but that is only the first of two steps.  It is our job as audiences to seek out their selections to critically assess whether they were right or not.  We are the part of history that holds the Academy Awards accountable.
              Thoughts? Disagreements? Let me know below! 

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2014 Oscar Preview: Will Win / Could Win / Should Win

This is potentially the most unpredictable year in the 10 years since I started following awards season. There are very few categories that are completely wrapped up, and the Best Picture race is still somehow undetermined, despite one film taking every single relevant Best Picture award. There is also a sense of history with the potential outcomes of this year’s ceremony. 12 Years a Slave, the presumed frontrunner for the top prize, is probably only the favorite for one other category (Best Adapted Screenplay), which it actually lost at the BAFTAs. The last time a Best Picture had just 2 wins was 1940’s Rebecca. Since 12 Years lost the BAFTA for screenplay, it is also conceivable that the movie could win just the top prize, which would be the first time since 1935’s Mutiny on the Bounty.

It is also noteworthy that the favorite for Best Picture has virtually no shot at Best Director (as opposed to simply getting snubbed, like 2012’s Argo). In recent years, like 2012 and 2005 with Crash, it appears that the Academy wants their top choice to win a minimum of 3 Oscars. They do not exactly go out of their way to shower the films with awards, but they give them the important ones, other than Best Director, which used to be a sure thing for the winner of Best Picture. What this tells me is that the Academy is finally doing its job. It is not just giving every eligible award to their favorites like they did in…say…in 2003 when Return of the King went 11 for 11. They have their favorites, no doubt, but they are also taking a good look at individual categories and really giving the awards to the best achievements. I love this because of how unpredictable it has made the race and how refreshing it is to not just keep hearing the same names called all ceremony (and all season long, for that matter).

With how this awards race has shaped up until this point, there is one Oscar race that stands out as being the clear doppelganger: 1972. The frontrunner (The Godfather, 12 Years a Slave) was the clear choice for the year’s best movie. It is hard to vote for anything else given how heavy and nearly perfect they are despite their huge aspirations. However, it was not really the best in any individual category. The Godfather won Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay. 12 Years will presumably win Adapted Screenplay and possibly Best Supporting Actress, at least that is its best chance at a third award (Best Costume Design could be somewhat of a consolation if that were the third). Why are they being passed up for the artistic/technical categories, the glorified stats stuffer categories? There is one artistic marvel that is brilliantly put together by a popular director who had yet to be rewarded. In 1972, it was Cabaret and Bob Fosse, which won 8 Oscars including Best Director. Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity will win Best Director as well, and it is hard to picture it winning any less than 4 additional awards. The other Best Picture nominees included a very controversial box office hit (Deliverance, The Wolf of Wall Street) that everyone underestimated and a low key road movie that no one saw (The Emigrants, Nebraska). The Best Picture winner is looked at as one of the best movies of its time and (later) all time.

Without further ado, here are my predictions and category breakdowns (if you need a list of the nominations to keep up, either pull up the OSCAR CHALLENGE or just go HERE:

Best Short Film – Live Action

WILL WIN: The Voorman Problem

COULD WIN: Helium

SHOULD WIN: N/A

SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED: Aningaaq – I am really terrible with the short categories, but if they Academy and everyone else was really that gaga over Gravity, then how could they snub the brilliant little companion piece written and directed by Jonas Cuaron? I guess it is just like how they traditionally snub the amazing Pixar shorts in the Animated Short category. Anyway, The Voorman Problem is a heavy favorite and will almost certainly take this.

Best Short Film – Animated

WILL WIN: Room on the Broom

COULD WIN: Get a Horse – If the Academy wants to go for nostalgia, which they do from time to time, then this movie with Mickey and Minnie Mouse would be the easy choice. Room on the Broom would be an upset, but rarely are the predetermined films the winners in these categories because such a small number of members see them and get to vote on them.

SHOULD WIN: N/A

SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED: N/A

Best Documentary – Short Subject

WILL WIN: Karama Has No Walls

COULD WIN: The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life, Cavedigger – I went with a virtually unknown short here. The Academy typically likes to award short docs about foreign countries and their struggles. That is really my only justification for this choice. If you want the safe pick, go with Number 6.

SHOULD WIN: N/A

SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED: N/A

Best Documentary Feature

WILL WIN: 20 Feet from Stardom – It seems to be the most accessible of the nominees, and since the category’s rules have been reshaped, we are likely to see a lot more conventional docs winning the award.

COULD WIN: The Act of Killing – It is right in that Exit Through the Gift Shop mode where it was a tremendous movie, but it is a bit too out-there and less of a documentary that the conservative voters didn’t really hop onboard.

SHOULD WIN: The Act of Killing – It is actually the only of the nominees that I have seen, but I was blown away by its creativity and unflinching nature.

SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED: Stories We Tell – Sarah Polley’s beautiful and personal documentary is one of the richest examples of storytelling from 2013. Her snub is frustrating.

Best Foreign Language Film

WILL WIN: The Great Beauty – All of the signs seem to be pointing to Paolo Sorrentino’s comedy-drama. It would certainly be a surprise if it lost. There haven’t really been any real upsets in this category recently, other than The Secret in Their Eyes.

COULD WIN: The Broken Circle Breakdown – It is really the only other film with the viewership and pedigree to win this award over The Great Beauty. There isn’t always a really great film in the mix, but this year there appears to be a few.

SHOULD WIN: The Hunt – It is the only nominee that I have seen to this point, but it shook me up when I watched it. I will have to wait and see the others before really proclaiming this as being the best one, but it was borderline top 10 of the year for me.

SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED: A Hijacking – In a year where Captain Phillips is able to get a Best Picture nomination, this was a very similar movie in story and theme that surpassed it in many ways. If it hadn’t been for that movie, then this would have probably gotten much more attention. I could have also included The Act of Killing for this one, but the Academy rarely, if ever, doubles up on these awards. Not even Waltz with Bashir was able to.

Best Animated Feature Film

WILL WIN: Frozen – It has won every relevant award, and it is a nice way to move back into the realm of Disney princess musical films that would have dominated this category every year if it had been in existence.

COULD WIN: None, but The Wind Rises is the closest one if they want to give an award to the groundbreaking director Hayao Miyazaki’s final film.

SHOULD WIN: N/A. I have only seen Despicable Me 2, which I gave a mild thumbs down to. I can’t really speak to the quality of the other films.

SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED: Monsters University – I always get a kick out of the Academy not nominating Pixar. Does anyone really think The Croods and Despicable Me 2 was better than this movie? Doubtful.

Best Visual Effects

WILL WIN: Gravity – This is the biggest lock of any category in years. Not only have Best Picture winners in this category not lost to non-Best Picture nominees in 43 years, but its achievements visually are as breathtaking as any we have ever seen.

COULD WIN: NONE

SHOULD WIN: Gravity – See above.

SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED: Ender’s Game – Now the movie wasn’t really any good, but the CGI visuals were really impressive. They are much better than those in Iron Man 3, which is a series that I am always scratching my head over when it gets included in this category.

Best Sound Editing

WILL WIN: Gravity – This is another ridiculous lock for the film. Aside from the visuals, the sound effects are really what made the film so authentic and real.

COULD WIN: NONE

SHOULD WIN: All Is Lost – There was no dialogue in a movie with one character that was trapped at sea. The movie was thrilling and horrifying because of the sound effects and how stark and real they felt. It was an astonishing achievement.

SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED: Rush – It is still hard to wrap my head around this movie getting shut out. Artistically and technically, it was as fascinating as any movie this year outside of Gravity. The sound effects were absolutely blistering.

Best Sound Mixing

WILL WIN: Gravity – Normally, the sound categories go to the same movie. Last year was an exception, but again, with the achievement in sound and how important it was to blend all of the talking, sounds effects, and music, it is hard to imagine this movie not running away with this one.

COULD WIN: Captain Phillips – If the Academy really loves the movie (which is weird to think about when they snubbed Tom Hanks), then they might want to give it an award or two. This would be an easy, inconsequential Oscar to shovel its way.

SHOULD WIN: Gravity – There is no doubt about this one. This might have been the most impressive technical element in any film in 2013.

SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED: Berbarian Sound Studio – It was a bit of an obscure movie, but for reasons obvious to those who are familiar with the film, it really should have been nominated in this category at every awards circuit.

Best Original Song

WILL WIN: “Happy” – Despicable Me 2 – It would be a big upset, but I can’t for the life of me tell you why. The Oscars love to act relevant, and there is not more relevant song than this one. It is on pop/hip-hop radio, it is on countless commercials, it is currently #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and it was even sung by a contestant on American Idol. It is the song of the year in movies, and it could get performer/producer Pharrell halfway to his EGOT.

 

COULD WIN: “Let It Go” – Frozen, “Ordinary Love” – Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom – Everyone is predicting Frozen to take this, and it very well might. I haven’t seen the movie, so I can’t speak to its importance to the film or anything. “Ordinary Love” would be a nice gesture award with Mandela’s recent death and U2 being the nominees for the brilliant song.

SHOULD WIN: “The Moon Song” – Her – There was no more important or sweet song in 2013 than this one. It is also sung onscreen live by the actors, which is rare for a non-musical.

SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED: “So You Know What It’s Like” – Short Term 12 – This was a show-stopping part of the tough indie drama. With mock drums and pure passion, Keith Stanfield raps a brilliant short song in the middle of the movie. It was the best original song in years.

Best Original Score

WILL WIN: Philomena – I am picking another upset here. Alexandre Desplat’s scores are always very obvious and important to the story. This one is loud, but it is so flawlessly placed that it fades into the background. It is one of the better scores of the year, and it would be the easiest way to award the British drama.

COULD WIN: Gravity, Her – Gravity is the heavy frontrunner here, and probably for good reason. Her would be a cool way to get a bit of relevance at the ceremony, which would award the Arcade Fire guys. If Gravity is our eventual Best Picture winner, then this will probably be one of its many (like 7 or 8) awards on Oscar night.

SHOULD WIN: Her – The score is subtle, yet memorable. That is a difficult thing to pull off. With Arcade Fire doing this movie and Trent Reznor doing the Fincher movies, it is becoming clear that rock stars really are as great of musicians as any composer. They need to keep doing movies.

SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED: Ain’t Them Bodies Saints – I saw this movie early in 2013, and this was one of the elements that stuck with me unlike any other. The score was so different, and it was vital to the development of the story.

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

WILL WIN: Dallas Buyers Club – The drastic changes that the actors and characters go through was truly remarkable. Going up against Jackass and The Lone Ranger, it is hard to imagine this movie not being called as the winner out of sheer principle.

COULD WIN: Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa – Then again, stranger things have happened. The makeup work here was just as impressive as in Dallas Buyers Club, but it was done for comedic effect. It looked legit, though. How awesome would this be?!

SHOULD WIN: Dallas Buyers Club – I just cannot deny what the makeup/hair guys were able to do with Jared Leto. Astonishing work.

SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED: World War Z – Zombie flicks are not always the popular movies to recognize, but especially after watching so much Talking Dead, it is clear that makeup is the most important part of making the undead look real. This movie did a fantastic job at just that.

Best Costume Design

WILL WIN: American Hustle – This would be a slight upset. It is probably in third place in terms of odds, but the authentic recent history costumes were so good that they might not be able to pass on it. The Academy normally loves older historical costumes, but this movie had such extravagant looks that it might be the exception.

COULD WIN: The Great Gatsby, 12 Years a Slave – 12 Years a Slave was able to win the Guild for period piece costumes, which was a pleasant surprise. This could be an under-the-radar way to give it that token third win. The Great Gatsby is the clear frontrunner with its beautiful costumes and how well they fit the period.

SHOULD WIN: The Grandmaster – It was the best element of one of the most amazing artistic movies of the past few years. You really feel like you are taken back to 1930s-1940s Hong Kong and watching real life. The costumes were exquisite.

SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED: Saving Mr. Banks – The costumes were the only thing that I really saw as being nomination-worthy from the film (aside from Emma Thompson’s excellent lead performance). In the mire of the predictability of the story, it still was able to at least look thoroughly appropriate and stylish.

Best Production Design

WILL WIN: The Great Gatsby – I cannot see this losing. They basically created an entirely new city for this movie, but still gave made it very clear where they were. It was beautiful.

COULD WIN: Gravity – This movie had essentially no set. Nearly the entire movie had its actor floating about, and yet it never looked less than breathtaking. They might also not want to give The Great Gatsby multiple awards…but then again, that didn’t stop them with Alice in Wonderland.

SHOULD WIN: Gravity – See above.

SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED: The Grandmaster – Watch any clip from this movie, and your jaw will be on the floor with its gorgeous set decorations.

Best Editing

WILL WIN: Captain Phillips – Winning the ACE Eddie award is telling. In recent years, it has been proven that you are foolish to pick against the winner.

COULD WIN: Gravity – There are a few legitimate contenders, but this is the only one that can really dethrone the ACE winner. The editing of Gravity is an undeniable achievement, but the Academy really likes Greengrass films and non-CGI thrillers in this category.

SHOULD WIN: Gravity – The movie really was able to put everything together in a fascinating way. When something is so otherworldly, yet very genuine at the same time, it is difficult to make every scene make sense and seem vital. This movie passed that test with flying colors.

SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED: The Wolf of Wall Street – They made a three hour movie seem like a two hour movie. They packed dialogue and events so tight that we saw even more than we ought to in a three hour movie. The pacing and film editing in this movie were simply miraculous.

Best Cinematography

WILL WIN: Gravity – Is it really possible for this to lose? Maybe, but I highly doubt it. The Academy has been in love with CGI movie cinematography recently.

COULD WIN: Inside Llewyn Davis – In any other year, this would probably be our winner. It still might be able to take it if the Academy feels bad about snubbing the Coens. There is not a single shot in this movie that doesn’t look like perfect photography.

SHOULD WIN: Gravity – The movie truly is something to behold. The movie is shot as clearly and skillfully as any I have ever seen.

SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED: To the Wonder – The cinematography is always amazing in Terrence Malick movies. This one is no different. Some of the shots are truly stunning, but it is not in an obvious way as in some of his other movies. This one is a whole new visual experience.

Best Adapted Screenplay

WILL WIN: 12 Years a Slave (John Ridley) – They have to give the film something. The screenplay is terrific, but it is not necessarily an achievement in screenwriting. It is a tremendous story, and normally that is enough for the Oscar favorites (Milk, The King’s Speech, The Hurt Locker, Precious, etc).

COULD WIN: Philomena (Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope), Captain Phillips (Billy Ray) – With the Surprise WGA victory for Captain Phillips, it has somehow gotten back into the race. Philomena won the BAFTA, not really to anyone’s surprise. The surprise was that it lost Best Picture, meaning that the voters actually decided not to vote for their favorite film in this category. Interesting developments…

SHOULD WIN: Before Midnight (Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Richard Linklater) – Obviously, this is my choice. It might very well be the best script of the series. It is flawless writing by three people who have lived with these characters for so long that they have seemingly become real people. It is a screenplay masterpiece.

SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED: The Spectacular Now (Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber) – I love movies about high school and nostalgia. This one, by the guys who also wrote (500) Days of Summer, is one of the most melancholy and bittersweet movies ever made about the subject. It is incredible.

Best Original Screenplay

WILL WIN: Her (Spike Jonze) – Spike Jonze has really turned into one of the most interesting voices in the industry. He won the important awards, including the combined Best Screenplay Golden Globe, and he is in the lead to take down the Oscar that he deserves.

COULD WIN: American Hustle (Eric Singer, David O. Russell) – Somehow David O. Russell is on pace to go home empty-handed again. He has made 3 movies in 4 years, each of which were huge hits. This screenplay seemed to be the proper place for him to get that elusive victory, but he is going to come in second. It would be even worse if Dallas Buyers Club takes this award, which would be very similar to Precious winning over the beloved Jason Reitman, who also went 0 for 3 in 2009 with Up in the Air.

SHOULD WIN: Her (Spike Jonze) – The screenplay, no matter how far-fetched it may have seemed, felt 100% authentic at all times. It all should be accredited to Jonze’s incredible writing and imagination.

SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED: Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen) – This movie was one of the Coen Brothers’ finest achievements. It is such a rich story and script. Every detail of the film feels true and genuine. When a fictional story seems more real than a true story, you know you have stumbled upon something special.

Best Supporting Actress

WILL WIN: Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle – This category seems similar to the 2011 Meryl Streep-led Best Actress category. Lawrence won the Golden Globe and BAFTA. She is an incomparable movie star and icon. The only thing going against her is that she just won last year. Streep won twice in 4 years when she was starting out, but she at least had a nomination in between. Will they make her wait, or will they just bask in the glow of her rising star?

COULD WIN: Lupita Nyongo – 12 Years a Slave – She seems to be playing the unfortunate Viola Davis to J-Law’s Streep. She won the Critics Choice and SAG. Those two are traditionally more important, but Lawrence is a special case. Her role was heartbreaking and filled with feeling. If she doesn’t win, then we are likely going to see some 75 year history go down at the Oscars, unless 12 Years a Slave winds up losing Best Picture that is.

SHOULD WIN: June Squibb – Nebraska – All of the nominees in this category actually deserve them, which is rare. Squibb was such a scene-stealer in the subtle comedy-drama. She did it with an elegance and effortlessness that was hard to really forget. She should be winning this with her first nom at age 84.

SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED: Scarlett Johansson – Her – I have never nominated a voice performance before, but this is an exception. She developed a character without us ever seeing her face. She is not just a computer. She is a person to Theodore, and later, to the audience as well. We feel for her the same as he does. All the credit in the world to Johansson…I don’t know who else could have pulled that off. Honorable mention to little Annika Wedderkopp from The Hunt, my personal Best Supporting Actress and one of the top 5 child performances ever. She very easily could have been mentioned here, but recognizing Scarlett seemed more important.

Best Supporting Actor

WILL WIN: Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club – He has won everything, except the BAFTA, where he and his film were completely and astonishingly unmentioned. He is still going to win. It just might be a bit closer than it should be.

COULD WIN: Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips – He, surprisingly, was the beneficiary of Leto missing out on the BAFTA. His speech was awkward, so he probably didn’t gather any more fans from that. There is sometimes a newcomer that wins an acting award, and this year seems like one where there could be a massive upset. Can this be it? I hope not.

SHOULD WIN: Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club – Playing a character like Rayon has been done from time to time. Never (I mean that) has it been done with such grace and authenticity as when Leto did it. After watching the movie, I could not stop thinking about how amazing he was. I still can’t.

SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED: Casey Affleck – Out of the Furnace – In the disappointing The Deer Hunter wannabe, Affleck played the equivalent to Christopher Walken’s Oscar-winning part. He ripped our hearts out. He has a way about him where he has such built up passion and energy inside, and what comes out onscreen is a presence that is unlike any other modern actor. This is one of his finest performances and the best supporting performance of the year.

Best Actress

WILL WIN: Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine – She has won each and every award that she has been eligible for. The only thing going against her is that she has won in the past, but that was 9 years ago. She needs to win another, and this is certainly her best leading performance to date. Look for a bunch of tears during her speech, as she will almost certainly dedicate it to the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman. That is if Jennifer Lawrence doesn't already take care of that.

 

COULD WIN: Amy Adams – American Hustle – Her nomination came at a surprise, but it was deserved…in the supporting category. Is there a bit of Kate Winslet in The Reader in Adams? Her part was equally difficult and wrongly placed. She has had 5 nominations now, this being the first one in this category. They may feel that she is overdue, even though her first nom was incredibly just 8 years ago. She is on a roll. This would be a downright shocker, but I am not counting her out.

SHOULD WIN: Sandra Bullock – Gravity – I have never been fully impressed with her until this movie. It was a one-woman show, and she made me feel just as vulnerable as her character. If she hadn’t won so recently, she might be in the hunt.

SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED: Elle Fanning – Ginger & Rosa – The best child actor in the world gave a subtle and fascinating performance that sadly far too few people saw. She will win her share of Oscars someday.

Best Actor

WILL WIN: Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club – Until that head-scratching exclusion at the BAFTAs, he had come home with every bit of gold he was up for. His performance is pure McConaughey, but it was a shade to him we had never seen before. He is just on fire in this movie.

COULD WIN: Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street, Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave – DiCaprio took home the Comedy awards at the Critics Choice and Golden Globes, plus his film has made a very impressive box office run amidst the controversy surrounding it. He will win one sometime…can it be this year? It is one of his best performances ever. Ejiofor won the BAFTA over DiCaprio, which may have only strengthened McConaughey. I am still putting the star of the likely Best Picture in contention, but do not buy too much into his stock. All of the nominees would be deserving winners.

SHOULD WIN: Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street – Leo had never done anything like this before. He was able to do his thing while making the audience laugh. His attitude and charisma carried the movie. It really would not have been anything too special without him and Jonah Hill working together at the movie’s core. They both deserve to be recognized for their work.

SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED: Michael B. Jordan – Fruitvale Station – This was another film that got unjustly shut out. Jordan is a born movie star. He has a Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler type of magnetism that you just cannot help but marvel at his presence on screen. It was a difficult role, and I am not sure there is another actor in that age bracket who could have done that role as much justice. He should be winning the Oscar.

Best Director

WILL WIN: Alfonso Cuaron – Gravity – This is just about wrapped up. The only thing going against him is that he might not be the director of the Best Picture winner. The same thing happened with David Fincher in 2010, when Tom Hooper snuck in and took Best Director at the last minute despite everything else going Fincher’s way (even the British votes). That was not as much of a slam dunk directorial achievement as this, though. Much like Bob Fosse in 1972, he is the conductor of the all of these ground-breaking elements. He brought it together. He deserves to win this.

COULD WIN: Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave – If there is another possible winner, it would be McQueen. His direction is so thorough and haunting. It is going to be strange to look back on this, much like we do with Francis Ford Coppola in ’72, and see that he did not win for his American classic.

SHOULD WIN: Alfonso Cuaron – Gravity – See above.

SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED: Spike Jonze – Her – Jonze is a striking visual director. With his previous films, it was very obvious when the director was leaving his mark on the movie. Here, it is much more about the story, and he lets it breathe. The movie would not work nearly as well if he were not the genius behind it. He creates his own world, and no one could have made this movie. It is a master class in directing.

Best Picture

WILL WIN: 12 Years a Slave – There you go: first time since 1940 that a movie will win Best Picture with only one additional award. It has yet to lose anything important (with the exception of the tie with Gravity at the Producers Guild of America). It is probably the best movie, and it will be remembered as the best movie of the year and one of the best of this era. Is that enough? Will the Academy really do this? I think so, but weird things happen at the Oscars. The door is still open for a couple films.

COULD WIN: Gravity, American Hustle – The case of Gravity has been made. It won the Directors Guild, which traditionally has the strongest correlation with the Oscar for Best Picture. It is going to win a bunch of awards, so they might as well just give it this one too. Sci-fi has never been the Academy’s thing, but this is the most popular one since Star Wars. In the case of American Hustle, it would be more about the other two films canceling each other out. It would be an easy, gutless, and safe choice for the Academy to hail it as the Best Picture of the Year, but I wouldn’t put it past them. They love David O. Russell, but they haven’t been able to show that with Oscar wins just yet.

SHOULD WIN: Her – It is weird to say that this is my vote, but I went to my TOP 10 LIST, and this was the top-ranked one. I feel like I have been talking about this movie enough on this article as it is, but let me just reiterate once more. This is a special movie. There is not a movie in the world like it. All of the artistic elements are less than showy, but they are standouts. All of the actors are perfection. The story only exists in Spike Jonze’s world, but yet it feels very The Truman Show-ish, knowing that at some point in the not-so-distant future, our world could look an awful lot like his world. Masterpiece.

SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED: Before Midnight – My #1 of the year has been in place since May. It is a faultless, tough, hilarious, and devastating little movie. Put it together with its two predecessors, and it is even better. It is not as obvious of an achievement as the films that wound up getting nominated in this category, but it is better. Trust me.

Real quick: I need someone to confirm this up for me. Brad Pitt is a producer on 12 Years a Slave. If that were to win Best Picture, would he be the first person with 3+ acting nominations to win his first Oscar in some other category? He would have to be, right? Well, at least we would be able to call him “Oscar-winner Brad Pitt” from now on…

Predictions? Thoughts? Comment below and definitely join the OSCAR CHALLENGE! Happy balloting!

What Maisie Knew (2013) Review

 

            What Maisie Knew illustrates why plot synopses rarely do movies justice.  On the surface, this is a movie with a 6-year-old girl as a protagonist who is forced to endure a cruel custody battle between her selfish parents.  The story is told from her point of view, meaning the specific details of the adult characters’ lives are largely obscured, and instead we get scenes of little Maisie coloring pictures with crayons, playing with baby turtles and singing songs at school.

            And yet somehow at the same time, What Maisie Knew is most decidedly not a children’s movie.  It is full of sadness, and not just because we see a little girl get used as a pawn in the erosion of a marriage between two adults.  It’s sad because it shows the worst kind of cynicism in the adult world, which was of course the modus opporandi of the 1897 Henry James novella from which the movie is based.  Maisie (played by big-eyed Onata Aprile) is constantly sifted through various parents, stepparents and babysitters because no one has time to watch her and worse yet, maybe they don’t really care about her.

            But here’s a provocative question: Are Maisie’s parents supposed to care?  I don’t necessarily want to take the side of Maisie’s irresponsible parents, but stay with me for a moment.  Everyone wants to believe that children should be the primary interests of the parents that choose to have them.  But society teaches us that for the first 25-40 years of our life, we need to put ourselves first – our careers, our motivations, our own lives and responsibilities.  This is a contradiction.  Is it morally reprehensible to ask how adults who have found a great deal of success in their work are supposed to balance the demands of their job with the demands of home life?  It’s like that saying about people who are either married to their spouse or to their job.  Recent studies have shown that having children is the biggest cause of marital dissatisfaction and eventual separation – more than jobs, money or sex.  Then again, we don’t really need scientific research to show this when movies like Revolutionary Road, Blue Valentine, and even The Place Beyond the Pines illustrate it so vividly.

One theory suggests that children also tend to reflect the worst qualities of the caregivers that take care of them.  Adults who find daily success in their jobs aren’t used to dealing with such blunt and overt criticism from their child or spouse when they come home.  In little Maisie’s case, it is fortunate that she has only retained her parents’ best qualities (or, perhaps put another way, hasn’t yet picked up their worst features).  It is also clear that her bickering parents (Steve Coogan and Julianne Moore) are people who, despite their success in “the real world,” should have never had children.

I guess my sympathy with them goes as far as to suggest that they couldn’t have possibly known the depths of the misery that having a child would cause.  Then again, maybe their occupations suggested their incompatibility with family life: Moore’s character, Susanna, is rock ‘n’ roll musician who frequently goes on tour, while Coogan’s character, Beale, is an art dealer with clients in Europe.  Both are successful, wealthy individuals who are well-accustomed to the riches of life in posh Manhattan.  They are likely surrounded by other people whose jobs it is to give them words of affirmation.  A simple movie would have been content to show them as vapid, self-absorbed charlatans who only show affection for Maisie when it might benefit their divorce settlement. 

And this is what we think in the first half hour of the film.  But because What Maisie Knew limits the scope of what we know about Susanna and Beale to what Maisie is able to observe, we only see her parents’ best intentions.  We only want to project the best version of ourselves on to our loved ones, right?  Susanna and Beale may be self-centered, and their actions rarely appear to back up their loving words to Maisie, but beneath it all, we see two characters who are as disgusted with their ex-spouses as they are with themselves.

Two other prominent characters emerge.  One is the Scottish-born Margo (Joanna Vanderham), who was once hired to be a nanny to Maisie, but is also shown to be Beale’s lover and new wife.  Perhaps she is one of the causes for Beale and Susanna’s split.  Perhaps she is marrying Beale only for his money.  Or maybe Beale and Susanna are too invested in their daily routines to really give a shit.  In a refreshing deviation from “bitchy stepmother” caricature, Margo seems to genuinely care about Maisie, and spends time caring for and playing with her . . . but on the other hand, if she truly cared about the little girl, why would she ever allow herself to be put in such an awkward position between Beale and Susanna, knowing how much her presence would exacerbate an already toxic divorce? 

The same can be said about Lincoln (Alexander Skarsgard), who shows up one night at one of Susanna's parties and seemingly the next minute, becomes Maisie's new stepfather.  Susanna tells Maisie that she married him "for her" but we are not sure what this means or if we should believe her. Like Margo, Lincoln is quite a few steps below Susanna financially (he works as a bartender), but also seems to care deeply for Maisie, recognizing if he doesn't show her affection, there may be nowhere else in Susanna's life where Maisie can find it.

            At the heart of this movie isn’t Maisie or even Maisie’s parents, but Lincoln and Margo.  These are two complex, fascinating characters.  The fact that they both move into marriages so abruptly suggests deep-seeded emotional pain or fear of abandonment.  The fact that at a crucial moment in the film they recognize a sexual attraction to one another suggests as much vulnerability as instability.  Do they really think a relationship between them could work when their only shared interest is Maisie’s well-being?  Relationships, like jobs, demand a high degree of tunnel vision for them to work.  Throughout the film, Maisie becomes caught at the outside of this tunnel – first with her parents, and then, perhaps inevitably, with Lincoln and Margo.

            What Maisie Knew was directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel, whose previous films (The Deep End, Bee Season, Uncertainty) dealt with families in crisis.  This is a film with a more leisurely pace, episodic at times, reminding us that for young children, sometimes life’s most significant moments occur during ordinary days.  What I admire the film is how it manages to sidestep the sentimentality of the custody battle and instead become a mature character study about adults with good intentions who fall victim to their own personal shortcomings.  Just like Dustin Hoffman knew in Kramer vs. Kramer, kids bring out the best and worst in their parents.  Then again, audiences may not have that degree of sympathy for four adult characters so self-absorbed that a six-year-old girl spends a night with a complete stranger because they each assume someone else is looking after her.  But in a way, that’s what I like about the film: Like Maisie, we are forced to choose our role models from only among the imperfect adults we know.

   

Rating: 3.5 stars