Best
Original Score feels kinda wide open this year. Sure, you could
essentially eliminate the two nominees that aren't also up for Best
Picture, but of the other three, any of them could win.
Anna Karenina is, for my money, the finest score of the five. Dario Marianelli won this award a five years ago for Atonement, and his compositions in this movie are equally rich. However, the lack of a Best Picture nod is the kiss of death. For nine consecutive years this category has gone to a film also up for the big prize, so Marianelli will have to be content with the nomination.
A
film in prime position to take this award is Argo,
scored by the ceaseless Alexandre Desplat. A month or so ago when it
looked like Argo
wouldn't be winning any
Oscars, I thought this might be its consolation prize. They've thrown
a token win for Original Score to Best Picture nominees without the
goods to win other categories before (ie; Finding
Neverland, Babel,
Atonement), but now
that Argo is a
possible Best Picture winner, I wonder if the Academy might go a
different route.
Say,
the route of Life of Pi.
It's interesting to note that ten of the last sixteen composers to
win this category won it on their first career nomination. That bodes
well for first-time nominee Mychael Danna, who won the Golden Globe
this year. Hi socre's foreign flavour helps it to stand out from the
crowd, and with large segments of the film containing no dialogue, it
seems like a no-brainer on paper. I still think it's a pretty close
race, but the smart money is clearly on Danna.
The
third Best Picture nominee cited in this category is Lincoln,
scored by perennial contender and living legend John Williams. His
compositions for Steven Spielberg's biopic are much more dialled down
than what we've come to expect from him. I think it's hugely
beneficial for the film, but subtle music has a hard time winning
Oscars. It's entirely possible that general affection for the film
sweeps Williams to the podium for the first time in almost twenty
years, but several voters may consider the man rewarded enough. Five
Oscars is nothing to sneeze at. If he wins, I'll just go ahead and
consider it a belated victory for the Oscar he should
have won last year.
Rounding
out the five is Thomas Newman, one of Skyfall's
infamously un-Oscar'd crew, likely joining Roger Deakins and Greg P.
Russell in the losers circle once again. His nomination was something
of a surprise (I predicted him instead for Best Exotic
Marigold Hotel), but it really
shouldn't be. The score is terrific, leaning slightly on Monty
Norman's original theme, but finding plenty of different moods in
Newman's typically ethereal instrumentations. I'm indeed rooting for
him, knowing that he's doomed to watch somebody else walk up on stage
for the eleventh time.
Will
win: Life of Pi
Runner-up:
Argo
Should
win: Anna
Karenina
Should
have been nominated: The
Dark Knight Rises
