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Friday, February 3, 2012
AWARDS SEASON
2012
The Predictions Were Made Last Month. Now, My Picks
For The Deserving Winners Of The February 26 Oscars
Demián Bichir, seen here as Carlos Gallardo in "A Better Life", whom with Gary
Oldman are my joint personal choice for the best actor Oscar. I'd like to
see them both win, which unfortunately isn't likely.
Merrick Morton/Summit
Entertainment
by
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
FOLLOW
Friday,
February 3,
2012
There's always that fine line: the picks made by one who would like their
choices to win an Oscar are not, of course, necessarily the same as one
predicting who the Oscar winners will be.
My Oscar predictions, aka
who I think the Academy will pick, were made last month.
On this occasion, with the 84th Annual Academy Awards just over three weeks away
-- it's coming up fast -- here are my personal choices for Oscar, in
several categories:
BEST ACTRESS
Michelle Williams, "My Week With Marilyn"
Laurence Cendrowicz/The Weinstein
Company
In some ways very quietly Michelle Williams has "sort of" become
Meryl Streep:
a perennial nominee in the making ("Brokeback Mountain", "Blue Valentine", "My
Week With Marilyn") except with one sizable difference: Oscar hasn't accompanied
her home. Even in work not nominated by the Academy Ms. Williams has been
stellar: "Meek's Cutoff",
"Shutter Island",
"Wendy And
Lucy", "I'm Not There."
Of the five nominees in the lead actress category this year Ms. Williams not
only riveted in
"My Week With Marilyn" but offered distinct
facets in a complex and finely-disciplined crafting of Marilyn Monroe: persona,
vulnerability, sexiness, loneliness, insecurity, strength and power, and all
seamlessly, capturing the essence of a mysterious, often unattainable mega icon.
Ms. Williams performance is the most resonant of the five.
BEST ACTOR
Demián Bichir, "A Better Life" and/or Gary Oldman, "Tinker Tailor Soldier
Spy"
Jack English/Focus Features
On February 26 I'll be rooting for both to win.
Mr. Bichir
(top) and Mr. Oldman (directly above) give the best performances of their
careers on the big screen, and in their respective films their characters have
enormous restraint, often where the history or background giving rise to it is
unseen by the audience or not obvious in the films' stories.
In "A Better
Life" Mr. Bichir marshals a wealth of authority, despair and humility
and never milks any for a towering showcase or platform of acting.
Instead, Mr. Bichir's discipline, poise and intelligence emerge in an internal
and wonderfully moderated performance, making his character Carlos Gallardo, a
day laborer in Los Angeles, a palpable, authentic presence. Mr. Oldman is
quieter and more reserved as George Smiley in
"Tinker Tailor
Soldier Spy" but like Mr. Bichir's stellar work it's acting from the
inside out, with every emotion felt, almost thought out. There's a tragedy
and orderliness to Smiley that Mr. Oldman radiates. Several memorable
scenes bleed these qualities and traits so very well.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Janet McTeer, "Albert Nobbs"
Patrick Redmond/Roadside Attractions
Janet McTeer (who can currently be seen in
"The Woman
In Black") was nominated several years ago in the lead actress Oscar
category for "Tumbleweeds", and the actress is a towering, important presence as
Hubert Page in
"Albert Nobbs", directed by Rodrigo García.
The British performer displays masculine bravado, feminine bravery and
refreshing openness as the key figure in "Albert Nobbs". At once showy but
also compassionate and tender as Hubert, Ms. McTeer harnesses strength, and a
Rosie-the-Riveter can-do spirit, an anachronism for 19th century Ireland -- in
the role of Hubert.
Ms. McTeer uses guile, daring and unpredictability to make her Hubert a
fearless, sexy and inspiring character. She shows us a spirit of living in
oppressive times that is unabashed and beautiful. Ms. McTeer uses her
imposing size (she's over six feet tall) and effective acting to punctuate the
opposing existence of living life -- the one that the film's title character so
desperately wants to have. Ms. McTeer's Hubert balances out Glenn Close's
quieter, even morose Albert so well. Ms. McTeer's physicality and a jovial
sense of adventure is brought to her character with a relish that lights up an
otherwise gloomy, pedantic film. All the nominees in this category play
somewhat caricatured characters, but Ms. McTeer much less so. I felt a
strength and purpose to her work in "Albert Nobbs" that I didn't in any of the
other four nominees.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Jonah Hill, "Moneyball"
Melinda Sue
Gordon/Sony Pictures
I enjoyed how removed Mr. Hill's
computer-metrics baseball number-cruncher composite character Peter Brand seemed
from the events in
"Moneyball",
yet exercised such control over them. This is how real powerbrokers often
operate: they aren't always the loudest voices in the room but what they do
carries the day. Mr. Hill, who is evolving as a fine actor when he's given
the chance to ("Cyrus",
"Funny
People"), keeps climbing with his fine work in
"Moneyball". He shows us how much a fish-out-of-water Peter is, how
nervous he is underneath but how unafraid he eventually is to tell people forty
years his senior that they are wrong and people 100 pounds heavier and three
feet taller that they've outlived their usefulness. That's power,
and Mr. Hill wields it very well, if unremarkably as Peter, alongside the acting
powers of Brad Pitt and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and in a quiet, authoritative
way.
More than any of the nominees in the category -- the rest are veterans -- Mr.
Hill's work fits seamlessly into the very definition of "supporting role".
Peter Brant is unselfish and sometimes ineffectual even, yet has just the right
amount of definition and screen time to be noticed. He lingers in the film
long enough to make an impact. Mr. Hill plays Peter with confidence and a
knowing charm suppressed in awkwardness. He's much better in Bennett
Miller's film on second glance. Watch Mr. Hill's Peter solely and witness
the small things he does to make Peter memorable.
BEST DIRECTOR
Terrence Malick, "The Tree Of Life"
There's unmistakable authorship by a director in a film: the staging, crafting,
shaping, tone, mood and overall architecture of visual storytelling, and for me
Terrence Malick towers over each of his fellow nominees in these respects.
"The Tree Of
Life" is so meticulously crafted by Mr. Malick, and pushes further
and deeper than not only the other four directors in their respective ventures
but also any of Mr. Malick's prior work (most notably "The Thin Red Line", which
he was Oscar-nominated for in this category, and the somewhat unheralded "The
New World".)
We view the exploration of the subject matter in "The Tree Of Life" -- faith,
life, death, love, compassion, nature, grace -- with such patience,
universality, sensitivity and sincerity that we can only be witnessing a deeply
personal story. And it is. Mr. Malick has accomplished a brave feat
in reaching across time, planets, epochs and species, and his direction creates
a stream of memory that is pungent, captivating and vibrant. The direction
effectuates feelings and a sense of awe, curiosity and adventure that lacks in
the direction and depictions by the other four nominees.
BEST PICTURE
You can read
this very easily on an eye exam chart, even if you haven't seen it.
Fox Searchlight Pictures
I'll never get tired of saying how much I love this film or how many times in
the theater I've seen it (seven, including two press screenings; many more times
on Blu-Ray.) I haven't written more about a film ever I think, than I have
this one, including
a lengthy three-part essay. "The Tree Of
Life" is overwhelming not just for the incredible visuals but this
impressionistic story about a father, his son, life and guilt penetrates the
imagination and stayed with me long after it was over.
There are scenes in the film that I still think about, now almost nine months
later. In "The Tree Of Life" you get your money's worth, and seeing this
film on the big screen, a huge screen is highly recommended. If ever a
picture could paint or say a thousand words, it is this one. I was moved,
humbled, wowed, entertained and always thinking about the themes and issues Mr.
Malick's amazing film evokes. This film, is by far the best picture of
2011 not only in scale or magnitude but sheer ambition and scope. "The
Tree Of Life" is thoroughly deserving of the Academy Award for Best Picture, and
I, plus many others, will be ecstatic if it wins.
My personal Oscar choices in other select categories:
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Asghar Farhadi,
"A Separation"
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Bridget O'Connor & Peter Straughan, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Alberto Iglesias, "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"Man Or Muppet", from "The Muppets", Bret McKenzie
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
A Separation
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Undefeated
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Emmanuel Lubezki, "The Tree Of Life"
BEST EDITING
Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius,
"The Artist"
BEST ART DIRECTION
Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo,
"Hugo"
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Sandy Powell, "Hugo"
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler, John Richardson,
"Harry Potter
And The Deathly Hallows Part Two"
BEST MAKEUP
Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight, Lisa Tomblin, "Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows
Part Two"
BEST SOUND EDITING
Philip Stockton, Eugene Gearty, "Hugo"
BEST SOUND MIXING
Tom Fleischman, John Midgley, "Hugo"
The 84th Annual Academy Awards take place on Sunday, February 26 at 8:30pm
Eastern/5:30pm Pacific U.S. time at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood And Highland
in Los Angeles.
Previous Awards Season 2012:
Academy grants four producer credits for "The Tree Of
Life"
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