Vladimir Rakhmanin
Staff Writer
…And the results are in. Once again we look back at the previous year to honour the highest achievements in cinema – and, in my personal opinion, the Academy did a pretty good job this time. There were no massive surprises – pretty much every award could have been easily predicted. Despite this, however, this year’s list is a solid one, with many great films and actors receiving the praise that they deserve.
We’ll start with the snubs. I have already vented my rage at the truly poor Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, so there is no need to repeat that that was a very misguided nomination. Let’s instead talk about the two films that could have easily filled the tenth spot on the Best Picture nominations list – Drive and We Need To Talk About Kevin. Drive was extremely stylish, sharp, and occasionally over the top with its violence, making it one of those cult films that will be watched years from now. It suffered a little from an inconsistent screenplay and occasional lapses in art direction (the scene with the mask is unbelievably out of place), but that doesn’t stop it from being a fantastic film worthy of a nomination for something apart from Sound Editing (that one nomination that it received is on the money, though – the sound editing is fantastic). Ryan Gosling also should have gotten a nomination for Best Actor; I could also have seen the film potting a nomination for Best Director.
We Need To Talk About Kevin was the most uncomfortable experience of this year – and that was a good thing. A meditation on the origin of evil and the true underlying relations between family members, this film featured an immensely powerful performance by Tilda Swinton, itself worthy of a nomination. The last scene is unbelievably devastating. To be honest, I think that the absence of these films in the nominations is due to the emotional message that the Academy wishes to send. Both of these films are nihilistic and dark, whereas the Academy wants films that are uplifting and joyous. Oh well.
The Best Picture category was predictable – The Artist received the main prize of the night, and rightly so. It pleased critics for its technical brilliance, and it pleased the public due to its feel-good atmosphere. At one point I was starting to worry that Hugo might win, which I though was great but not as good as The Artist – I’m pleased to see that the Academy made the right choice. The Artist also claimed another prestigious prize – Best Actor for Jean Dujardin. This is a little more debatable – both Clooney and Pitt were fantastic in The Descendants and Moneyball respectively (even though Pitt should have been nominated for The Tree of Life), and I was sure that one of them would win. Nevertheless, this still a respectable choice – as I stated before, it takes massive skill to act without speaking, and Dujardin manages to do this flawlessly.
The main controversy during this year’s Awards was to do with the Best Actress category, which went to Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady, as opposed to the favourite, Viola Davis, for The Help. I guess the main thing to remember here is the category’s title – ‘Best Actress’. Not ‘Best Film’. The award takes into account solely the performances, regardless of the overall quality of the film. While The Help may be a better film than The Iron Lady, there is no denying the uncanny quality of the great Meryl Streep’s transformation into Margaret Thatcher.
The Supporting Actor/Actress categories went by without much controversy – Christopher Plummer for Beginners and Octavia Spencer for The Help. Christopher Plummer was a favourite for the prize long before the results came in, so there were no surprises there – even though I could have seen the Academy giving the award to Jonah Hill for such a massive change in genre of his acting career. Octavia Spencer’s win was also expected – The Help was massively praised for its acting. In my opinion, though, if Jessica Chastain was nominated for The Tree of Life instead of The Help, she could have easily won in that category.
If I had my way, The Tree of Life would have won the majority of the awards – I knew, however, that the Academy wouldn’t recognise the true power of that film. I did, however, anticipate wins in the Best Director and the Best Cinematography categories . The Academy clearly disagreed, giving the prize for Best Director to Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist) and the prize for Best Cinematography to Hugo. While I could respect the choice in the Best Director category – all of the nominations were extremely well thought-out – I really think that The Tree of Life’s gorgeous portrayal of childhood suburbia was superior to Scorsese’s vision of early 20th century Paris.
Speaking of Hugo, that film picked up most of the technical awards (Art Direction, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Visual Effects) – and rightly so. The film was truly an example of modern technology done right. This should send Hollywood a message about not smothering children’s films with CGI animals. Some complained about the no-show of the final Harry Potter film, expecting something along the lines of the surprise wins of Return of the King, but I believe that while it is a fitting conclusion to the saga, the last Potter film did not have as much of an emotional impact as the book did. Rise of the Planet of the Apes should have gotten some sort of recognition for its visual effects, though, in my opinion – somehow, the film made us really care for a CGI ape, and that’s a real achievement in a time where CGI is used for explosions and superhero films.
Best Film Editing went to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. A fine choice, in my opinion – editing was always a strong point with Fincher’s films. For the first time in years, a Pixar film had not been nominated for Best Animated Feature – Rango won in that category this year. While it’s disappointing not to see the almighty 3D animation studio at the Awards, Rango’s win is well deserved. Best Foreign Film went to A Separation, which is a truly great film with a great screenplay. I will probably review it soon, hopefully with the award in hand more people will be willing to watch this Iranian modern classic.
The two screenplay awards are also predictable and well-deserved – Midnight in Paris for Best Original and The Descendants for Best Adapted. Woody Allen’s latest effort is intelligent and funny, while The Descendants is genuinely moving and sincere. Best Original Score went to The Artist, even though it should have gone to Super 8, which wasn’t even nominated. Even so, I suppose the 1920’s inspired soundtrack fit the film’s quirky tone well.
Finally, Best Original Song went to The Muppets for “Man or Muppet”, in what was perhaps the most sure-fire bet out of the entire show. Two weeks since I’ve seen the film, I still can’t get the damn song out of my head. Absolutely brilliant.
Overall, after last year’s disaster, the Academy Awards are back on track with a great list of films. Hopefully, this will set an example for the years to come.
