And the (predicted) winners are …
IT MAY make some sad and others glad but the most notable thing
about the field of films lining up for Oscars this year is the
grand lack of urgent political films dealing with post-9/11
America.
Filmmakers may have been eager to confront the complexities and
moral turmoil of this troubled era but Oscar voters proved far more
interested in pregnant teens (Juno), greedy oil men
(There Will Be Blood), crooked lawyers (Michael
Clayton), sex dramas from Britain (Atonement) and good
old-fashioned thrillers (No Country for Old Men).
The failure of Redacted, A Mighty Heart, In the
Valley of Elah, Lions for Lambs and Rendition to
attract much notice mirrored their dog-whistle performance at the
box office. Only Tommy Lee Jones for Elah got a nod.
But Oscar’s ability to reflect popular taste has come under fire
in the US, with some commentators arguing that the reason ratings
for the Oscars are waning is because the films they celebrate hark
mostly from the margins of popular culture.
In recent years Oscar has smiled more on smaller, independently
minded films such as Crash and Little Miss Sunshine.
Indeed, the Oscar success of blockbusters such as Titanic
and The Return of the King may have reminded us of a
long-gone time when Oscar did favour big, popular films such as
Ben Hur and My Fair Lady. But in the present film
climate, their Oscar sweeps appear as anomalies.
But Oscar can’t be blamed for this trend.
If anything is at fault, it is a studio system that insists on
making blockbusters that appeal to 12-year-old boys with short
attention spans rather than with the kind of adult quality that
tends to attract serious Oscar attention. That kind of dramatic
maturity resides mostly at the arthouse end of the spectrum.
But soft. Let us now scan over the main categories and pick the
winners.
Easily the surest bet in years is that Daniel Day-Lewis will
take out best actor as the Texan oil man in Paul Thomas Anderson’s
riveting drama There Will Be Blood. The power of his
performance suggests he was not so much cast for the role as cloned
for it.
While Philip Seymour Hoffman is a hoot as the foul-mouthed CIA
blowhard in Charlie Wilson’s War, it is veteran Hal Holbrook
who shall receive the best supporting actor award for his
heartbreaking work in Sean Penn’s Into the Wild %26#151; a de
facto Lifetime Achievement award.
Ellen Page wowed audiences as the pregnant teen in the hit
comedy Juno and Cate Blanchett screamed the paint off the
sets in Elizabeth: The Golden Age but the real contest for
best actress falls between Julie Christie for Away from Her
and Marion Cotillard for her powerhouse turn as Edith Piaf in La
Vie en Rose. And the little sparrow will get it.
Tilda Swinton’s nervous corporate executive in Michael
Clayton must win over Blanchett’s gimmicky turn as Bob Dylan in
the pretentious, overrated I’m Not There. Adapted Screenplay
will go to the superb The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
while original script will be chalked up by Juno.
Best director and film will essentially be a tussle between the
Coen Brothers‘ No Country for Old Men and Anderson’s
There Will Be Blood. Odds are that Anderson will get
director and No Country will take film.
As for the all-important Oscar for best sound editing, it simply
must go to Transformers for getting the sound of giant
robots wrestling in the middle of a busy city street exactly
right.
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