Visual Effects:
Gravity - Timothy Webber & Chris Lawrence & David Shirk & Neil
Corbould
What
the special effects team achieved with Gravity was truly something special this
year. Unlike the other nominees – accomplished though they may be – what
Gravity does with visual effects is something wholly different, unique and,
yes, ground-breaking. Through the blending of expert cinematography by Emmanuel
Lubezki, and painstaking 3-D work, which is truly the best of its kind I have
ever seen, the visual effects on Gravity place the audience right alongside the
Sandra Bullock character as she floats in space, in danger of simply floating
away. The visual effects place us in the same dizzying headspace – the same
visual expanse as the character. Watching the film is a theater is to get as
close as possible to floating in space as you can while still being in a
theater. It is exciting work – visionary work – and deserves to win this prize
easily.
Sound Mixing:
Gravity - Skip Lievsay & Niv Adiri & Christopher Benstead & Chris
Munro
For
those who do not know, Sound Mixing is everything we hear in a movie – the
complete aural experience. Even if I think there was great work done by other
nominees – notably the work on Inside Llewyn Davis – I have to say the work
done by the crew of Gravity is truly exceptional. Unlike many special effects
laden spectacles, Gravity does not hit us with non-stop noise – it has the
intelligence to even give us absolute quiet at a few moments – which makes the
sound work later hit even harder. The film blends together the special effects
noises, with Steven Price’s excellent score, expertly to create a film that
sounds as good as it looks – and given what Gravity accomplishes, that is
impressive indeed. 
Sound Editing:
Gravity - Glenn Freemantle
Sound
Editing is the special sound effects created for the movie. Again, some superb
work was done by other films – notably All is Lost, who in my understanding
pretty much created everything we hear in that movie – but the work done in
Gravity is truly the best of the year. I’m only three awards in, and I feel
I’ve already praised Gravity to death, but the individual contributions of the
sound effects editors cannot and should not be overlooked. They helped to
create a truly immersive cinema going experience.
Production Design:
Her - K.K. Barrett & Gene Serdena.
There
are things I could praise about most of the nominees this year – how everything
in 12 Years a Slave looked appropriately rugged and hand built or the opulence
of the work done for The Great Gatsby in particular, but when it comes to
Production Design, I keep coming back to the world created by work done on
Spike Jonze’s her. Perhaps it isn’t quite as noticeable as some of the other
work, but I thought it was brilliant. What they have done is essentially create
a world in the not too distant future – one that resembles ours in many ways,
but is still distinctively different, colorful and unique. It is a little
strange this world – with things so familiar, but not quite. It is a difficult
thing to pull off, and absolutely essential to the entire look and feel of Her.
It gives the characters a strange physical world to play around in – and it is
brilliant work.
Original Song :
Frozen – Let It Go - Kristen Anderson-Lopez & Robert Lopez.
It’s
too bad that this category has been subject of so much controversy this year –
it was embarrassing that the Academy voted in an awful song like Alone Yet Not
Alone from a movie no one had ever heard of because of some prodding on the
part of the songwriter – a former governor of the Academy and head of the music
branch. It’s even worse that they rescinded the nomination in what was a fairly
hypocritical move. The music branch certainly needs an overhaul. Having said
that, the song Let it Go from Frozen really, truly is the best song in a Disney
animated film in a long time – a wonderful ballad, sung with expert control by
Idina Menzel, and placed at the perfect moment in the film. It really is the
high point of Disney’s return to form animated film – and clearly deserves to
win.
Original Score:
Her - William Butler and Owen Pallett
First
after I insulted the music branch in the song section for simply voting for
their friends, let us commend them for nominating these two relative newcomers
to film work. My favorite work of the year – from Shane Carruth’s not eligible
Upsteam Color to Daniel Hart’s romantic work on Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, to
David Wingo’s Southern charm on Mud, to Cliff Martinez & Skillerex’s pulse
pounding Spring Breakers to Alex Ebert’s haunting work on All is Lost was all
overlooked. Oh well, the work done by Butler & Pallett on Her was the last
cut I made, and the best of the bunch nominated here. I do love the work by
Steven Price on Gravity as well, but I felt that Butler & Pallett’s work
helped to set the entire tone for Her, and as such, would make a fine winner.
By the way though guys – you don’t need to nominate John Williams for every
damn score he does. 
Makeup and Hairstyling:
Dallas Buyers Club - Adruitha Lee & Robin Mathews
There
is no doubt to me that the makeup work on The Lone Ranger and Bad Grandpa is
excellent – the aging effect on Johnny Depp in the former and especially Johnny
Knoxville in the later make them worthy nominees for this category. And yet,
I’ll go with Dallas Buyers Club for the win – for a very specific reason – it’s
harder to do the type of makeup work done on that film effectively than it is
the splashier, more attention grabbing work on the other two. Think about it –
how many times do we see sick people in a movie that is meant to portray that
illness realistically, and how often does the makeup call horrible attention to
itself? Often. But it doesn’t in Dallas Buyers Club. We believe McConaughey and
Leto – and the rest – are sick and dying, and that is at least in part because
the makeup work is so stellar. So the work done on Dallas Buyers Club gets my
vote.
Film Editing:
12 Years a Slave – Joe Walker
I
fear that too often, the award for Film Editing goes to films where the editing
is very noticeable – like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo or The Bourne
Ultimatum, etc. But the real tricky part in editing is finding precisely the
right pacing for a film, to know where and when to cut to help the flow of a
film. On that level, of the nominees, I think Joe Walker’s work on 12 Years a
Slave deserves the win (it’s worth noting that none of my favorite five – Her,
Upstream Color, The Wolf of Wall Street, Inside Llewyn Davis or Spring Breakers
made the cut here). What Walker does in conjunction with Steve McQueen is find
the right pace for 12 Years a Slave, finds the right places to cut a shot, and
the right places to hold the shot, perhaps a beat or two longer than expected.
He makes us feel not only the agonizing moments pass, but also the slow years
go by as well. You could argue the work done on Gravity and Captain Phillips
deserves praise as well – I won’t argue (I will argue about American Hustle) –
but I think Walker’s work on 12 Years a Slave is perfect for the movie – even
if it doesn’t call overt attention to itself. 
Costume Design:
The Great Gatsby - Catherine Martin
I
wasn’t a huge fan of The Great Gatsby – I thought Baz Luhrmann was so in love
with the surface of the film, that he never got to what lies beneath that
surface, which has made the book such an enduring classic. But what a surface
the movie has! The costume by Catherine Martin are probably the single most
praise worthy element of the film – from the cloths DiCaprio’s Gatsby wears,
where he’s trying hard to project the illusion of old wealth, while giving away
his nouveau riche origins, to the gorgeous clothes that Carey Mulligan lounges
around in, oblivious to their opulence, to the more garish clothes of Isla
Fisher – and pretty much everything in between. Often I criticize the Academy
for rewarding the “most” Costume Design instead of the best – in the case of
The Great Gatsby it’s happily both.
Cinematography:
Inside Llewyn Davis - Bruno Delbonnel
There
is only one thing that even gave me slight pause before picking Bruno
Delbonnel’s excellent cinematography on Inside Llewyn Davis – and that is that
it would somewhat sadden me that a Coen brothers film FINALLY winning the
Cinematography Oscar – and it go to someone other than Roger Deakins – who has
worked with them 11 times (and received 5 of his 11 Oscar noms for his work
with the Coens) – especially since Deakins is a nominee again this year – for
Prisoners. Yet, as cruel as that would be to arguably the best living
cinematographer, Bruno Delbonnel’s work on Inside Llewyn Davis is so clearly
the best of the year, that there is no question it deserves to win (and also,
we all know he has not shot of actually winning, right?). From the bone
chilling cold he makes you feel in the streets of New York – to the desolate
roads to Chicago, to smoky, backlit performance scenes – Delbonnel’s
cinematography ranks amongst the best I have ever seen in a Coen film – and
considering that all of their films look great, that is saying something. I’m
sure Deakins will work with the Coen’s again – and get nominated and lose again
for his work – but this year, Delbonnel deserves to be the winner. 
Foreign Language Film:
The Broken Circle Breakdown - Belgium
I
am at a disadvantage here – I have not had the opportunity to see The Missing
Picture from Cambodia or Omar from Palestine yet – and I have a feeling that
either film may end up being my favorite once I finally do see them when they
are released later this year. So, I’m stuck picking out of the other three
nominees – and of those, I’ll take the bittersweet The Broken Circle Breakdown
over the over rated The Great Beauty, and even the quietly powerful The Hunt.
Like the best film of the year – Inside Llewyn Davis – The Broken Circle
Breakdown uses some great music – in this case, bluegrass – to advance and
deepen its story or an unlikely married couple who meet, fall in love, have a
daughter, and then struggle when she gets sick. The film has a complex (perhaps
too complex) back and forth in time structure, but mainly it works, and it
builds to an emotionally devastating climax, that at the same time feels wholly
earned. For some reason, the film failed to connect at the box office this fall
– it’s far and away the lowest grossing of the three films that have been
released – but it is deserving of respect. And, based on what I have seen, the
Oscar as well. 
Documentary:
The Act of Killing - Joshua Oppenheimer & Signe Byrge Sørensen
First,
let’s take a moment to chastise the Academy for overlooking Sarah Polley’s
brilliant Stories We Tell – a wholly unique documentary, in favor of some safer
choices. With that out of the way, let’s celebrate the Academy for nominating
something as truly daring, innovative and controversial as The Act of Killing –
and hope they do the right thing in giving it the Oscar this year. The Act of
Killing is a one of a kind film where director Oppenheimer essentially gives a
camera to people who were responsible for the death squads in the 1965-66
Indonesian “revolution” where thousands of people were murdered. I understand why
some object to giving these murderers a camera and asking them to recreate
their actions – but the results truly are stunning, and I do not think you can
accuse Oppenheimer and company from excusing their actions. What the film does
do is humanize people who committed atrocities – which makes those atrocities
all the more disturbing, because we cannot simply blame them on faceless
monsters, but on real people who did evil things – and have never had to deal
with the consequences of that. This is perhaps the most disturbing film of the
year – and that is how it should be.
Animated Feature Film:
The Wind Rises - Hayao Miyazaki & Toshio Suzuki
This
was not a banner year for animated films – less so for those who, unlike me,
were not lucky enough to see Hayao Miyazaki’s final masterwork at a film
festival before the end of the year. The greatest animator of all time,
Miyazaki is apparently retiring, and has decided The Wind Rises will be his
cinematic swansong. And what a way to go out. The film is less fantastical than
any of Miyazaki’s other films – but no less visually stunning because of it.
The film is basically about a Japanese aeronautical engineer who wants to build
beautiful planes, and ends up seeing his planes used as weapons of war and
death. To some, Miyazaki didn’t go far enough in decrying the use of the war
machines, but I think his subtle approach in doing so is more effective and
less didactic than the alternative. A fitting goodbye from one of cinema’s
living masters.
Original Screenplay:
Her - Spike Jonze
If
the word “Original” in Original Screenplay means anything, that I think Spike
Jonze should win an Oscar for his excellent screenplay for Her. True, I love
Bob Nelson’s screenplay for Nebraska – and like the film even more than I liked
Her – but what Jonze accomplished in writing Her is truly unique. What Jonze
does is take an idea that could have been play for laughs – could have been
completely ridiculous, as it was in an episode of The Big Bang Theory where Raj
falls in love with Siri – and instead crafted the most unique and touching
romance of the year. That the romance is between a man and an operating system
is no matter – Jonze’s screenplay makes you feel the connection between the two
of them. Jonze also doesn’t shy away from making his lovable loser Theodore,
played by Joaquin Phoenix, into a not altogether nice guy – he is somewhat
creepy, and he is more than a little responsible for his marriage ending. This
is a complex work – every bit as daring as the work Charlie Kaufman did for
Jonze in Being John Malkovich and Adaptation – but also more heartfelt. 
Adapted Screenplay:
The Wolf of Wall Street - Terence Winter
Most
of the praise for The Wolf of Wall Street has gone to Martin Scorsese and
Leonardo DiCaprio – and they are very deserving of all that praise – but I
think Terence Winter’s screenplay is every bit as good. If you’ve read Jordan
Belfort’s autobiography, you know it is basically him bragging about how rich
he was and what he got away with. What Winter’s screenplay does is take that book,
and take that larger than life persona Belfort tried so hard to make look cool
in his book, and instead makes it look absolutely ridiculous. This is a smart
satire and comedy from beginning to end, where the joke is ultimately on the audience.
Winter’s screenplay is great – and he deserves an Oscar for it. 
Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
Supporting Actor:
Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
I
know to some, Michael Fassbender’s performance in 12 Years a Slave was a one
note, snarling villain role. It’s easy to see why some thought that –
Fassbender is an actor not afraid to go big, and he does so frequently – yet
brilliantly – throughout his performance in 12 Years a Slave. And yet,
Fassbender’s real accomplishment in this movie is to make Epps into a human
character – cruel, sure – but also a man henpecked by his wife and tormented by
his desire for Patesy. Fassbender was probably better in both of his other
performances for director Steve McQueen – Hunger and Shame – but his
performance here comes close to those other two, and confirms that theirs is
one of the best director/actor combos currently working.
Actress:
Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
I
was impressed most this year by a trio of newcomers – Amy Seimetz in Upstream
Color, Brie Larson in Short Term 12 and Adele Exarchopoulos in Blue in the
Warmest Color – but seeing as how the Academy didn’t nominate any of those
three, I’m more than happy to throw my support behind (the almost certain
winner) Blanchett in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine. There was a danger in this
movie – that Allen’s play on A Streetcar Named Desire, with a slightly dubious
look at class – wouldn’t really work. But in stepped Blanchett to deliver one
of her best performances ever as the title character – a brittle woman, trying
to get her life back together after her Bernie Madoff-esque husband is arrested
and kills himself. Almost all of her problems are her own fault – she was
willfully blind to what her husband was doing – yet while there was a chance
that Jasmine could lapse into caricature, Blanchett’s tour-de-force performance
doesn’t allow that happen. She is one of the best actresses in the world – and
certainly deserving of a second Oscar by this point in her career. 
Actor: Leonardo
DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
I
have long been of the belief that DiCaprio is one of the best actors of his
generation – a major movie star who uses his clout to get great movies, by
great directors, made with far more frequency than almost anyone else out
there. The one thing I did not expect about DiCaprio is that he could be as
great at comedy as he is in The Wolf of Wall Street – his larger than life
rants and pep talks are hilarious in their hubris, his Quaalude afflicted scene
in the country club is the great feat of physical comedy of 2013. DiCaprio has
always seemed like an intense actor – his previous best performance was in
Scorsese’s The Departed, where he essentially played a trapped animal trying to
survive. But in The Wolf of Wall Street, DiCaprio goes brilliantly over the top
and delivers one of the best performances of the year – and of his great
career. Yes, I would have loved to see Oscar Isaac get nominated and win for
Inside Llewyn Davis – but DiCaprio would be a great consolation prize. With
four nominations and no wins, he is due.
Director: Steve
McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
Ask
me another day and I may well say Martin Scorsese or Alexander Payne – hell I
don’t even really have a problem with Alfonso Cuaron (who will probably win)
for the brilliant technical achievement of Gravity. But at this moment, I’ll go
with Steve McQueen – and I pick him for a variety of reasons. The first is the
direction of 12 Years a Slave is stunning – he gets great performances out of a
large cast, and visually the film is striking – containing some of the best,
most memorable shots of the year (the fact that Sean Bobbit’s cinematography
was not nominated is an embarrassment). But there is another reason I would
vote for McQueen and it’s really simple: He took an extremely difficult subject
and not only didn’t shy away from it, he also didn’t compromise his own
artistic vision to make the film. What I worried about when I heard McQueen was
making a slavery movie is that what we would get is a sermon – another film
that plays on the audience’s guilt and sentimentality. But McQueen doesn’t do
that in 12 Years a Slave – he did not make a sermon of a movie, but a film that
continues the exploration of the human body, how they are used, abused,
exploited and treated as commodities. McQueen is more in line with a director
like Kubrick than he is with a director like Spielberg – this is why I
understand why some were left cold by 12 Years a Slave – a film that examines
the nature of slavery, violence and cruelty in an almost detached way, rather
than doing what most directors would do with the same material. There is
another reason why I would vote for McQueen as well – he’s one of the best
filmmakers working right now – and he’s almost one of the least commercial
ones. If he doesn’t win for 12 Years a Slave, I doubt he ever will, and if he
continues to make films as good as Hunger, Shame and 12 Years a Slave, that
will eventually become an embarrassment to the Academy – much like it’s embarrassing
that Kubrick never won the Best Director Oscar.. 
Best Picture: Nebraska
- Albert Berger & Ron Yerxa
This
choice will likely strike many as odd – after all, I didn’t choose Nebraska in
any other category, and yet I am choosing it for Best Picture? Yes, I am. Part
of that is because my two favorite films of the years (Inside Llewyn Davis and
Upstream Color) were not nominated – part of it is because I do think as
individual achievements, the cinematography of Inside Llewyn Davis, the
screenplay for Her, the performances by Lupita Nyong’o and Leonard DiCaprio and
direction of Steve McQueen – are better as individual achievements than those
nominated for Nebraska – not by much, but by a little. But when taken
altogether, I think Nebraska is the best of the nominees. In many ways, it is
the simplest of the best picture nominees (well, Philomena is probably simpler,
but it’s close) – a near perfect father-son road movie, in which Will Forte
finally gets to know what makes his dad, the brilliant Bruce Dern, tick after
spending days on the road with him – and in their old home town that they have
not visited in years. The black and white cinematography is wonderful – really,
the entire movie takes place in eternal grey, so it’s perfect. The performances
are funny, yes, but they are also heartfelt. Nebraska is a perfect example of
director Alexander Payne’s strategy of at first making you think his character
are caricatures, and then making them more complex than they first appear. The
Academy doesn’t much award movies like Nebraska – movies about normal people,
living out their lives full of tiny triumphs and failures – movies where things
don’t always turn out the way we want them to. The Academy gives Oscars to
movies about more important subjects or people – or ones with larger budgets
and casts that leave you awestruck. But there is something quietly moving, and
even a little profound about Nebraska and what it says about the way most of us
live of everyday lives.
For
the record, since the Academy now uses a Preferential ballot for the Best
Picture category – where you rank the nominees from Best to worst, here is how
I would rank the 9 nominees: 1) Nebraska, 2) The Wolf of Wall Street, 3) 12
Years a Slave, 4) Her, 5) Gravity, 6) Captain Phillips, 7) Dallas Buyers Club,
8) Philomena, 9) American Hustle
No comments:
Post a Comment