One Category at a Time: Actor

There will be plenty of suspense leading up to the opening of this envelope on Oscar night. The writing seemed to be on the wall early in the season, but a turning point at the SAG Awards had signaled a tight two-horse race (one made a little less tight by the BAFTAs this past Sunday). The other three nominees will have to sit back and enjoy the show. At least a couple of them can can count themselves lucky that they managed to squeak into the slate when high profile hopefuls Leonardo DiCaprio and Michael Fassbender were somewhat surprisingly shut out along with the films they represented.

The Artist cleans up with seven BAFTAs

The BAFTAs marked the one last pit stop for The Artist before its upcoming big night at the Oscars. The film won seven awards from the Brits: Best Picture, Director, Actor, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Costume Design, and Original Score.

While no one can say that The Artist winning was unexpected, I have to say that its dominance at the BFTAs was a bit more pronounced than I might have thought. I mean, seven? I have doubts that it can translate that many of its Oscar nods into wins, but you never know. Even though I'm currently predicting different films to come out on top in Screenplay, Cinematography, and Costume Design, those are all still reasonable gets for The Artist.

The Oscar-snubbed doc Senna enjoyed a pair of wins for Best Documentary and Film Editing (I'm very pleased for editor Chris King, who should have been in the Oscar discussion last year for Exit Through the Gift Shop). Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy also took home a deuce for Best British Film and Adapted Screenplay, a bittersweet moment for Peter Straughan, whose wife and writing partner Bridget O'Connor's win came posthumously. Hugo also won for Best Production Design (unsurprising) and Sound. I do feel that those sound awards at the Oscars are ripe for the taking, but I'm sticking to my guns on War Horse.

All winners after the cut.

One Category at a Time: Original Score

Along with Best Art Direction, this is the only other craft category that I think we can assume is locked up. And I have to say that I rather like the lineup, myself. Even with the silly disqualification of Drive and the inevitable snubs of Hanna and The Ides of March, the music branch still managed to pin down five of the year's best scores.

One Category at a Time: Art Direction

There are a number of categories this year where I have reasonable doubts about my predicted winner - too many categories. This is not one of them. There is a single obvious choice on which any sane Oscar-watcher should bet the bank, but it's only fair to give the other nominees their congrats:

One Category at a Time: Adapted Screenplay

As it is with Best Original Screenplay, the crop of Adapted Screenplay nominees this year includes the two legitimately best adapted screenplays of the year, but also a couple I could have done without. It's still a good lineup on the whole, and the race between the two frontrunners is just close enough for me to have an active rooting interest in this category.

BAFTA nominations

Nice shot in the arm for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, but is it too little too late?

Full list after the cut, plus my rationale for why Emmanuel Lubezki won't win the Oscar for Best Cinematography.

Best Film
"The Artist"
"The Descendants"
"Drive"
"The Help"
"Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy"

Best British Film
"My Week With Marilyn"
"Senna"
"Shame"
"Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy"
"We Need to Talk About Kevin"

ASC nominees

The American Society of Cinematographers nominees are:
The Artist, Guillaume Shiffman
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Jeff Cronenweth
Hugo, Robert Richardson
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Hoyte van Hoytema
The Tree of Life, Emmanuel Lubezki

Nice bit of love for Hoyte van Hoytema, who I'd have loved to see get an Oscar nom three years back for Let the Right One In. His work on Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is similarly nuanced and visually articulate. Very classy selection, ASC.

The other four were largely expected, and I predict will be chalked up for the Oscar.

The conspicuous absence of War Horse from the majority of guild citations so far might be a telling sign. While I still think Janusz Kaminski gets in with the Academy's cinematographers branch, the story these guild snubs tell for the film as a whole is rather ominous. With only a PGA nod (in a ten-wide field) under its belt, it's time to shift it from being a safe Best Picture bet to being on the bubble.

My Awards nominations: Ensemble

The best Acting Ensembles of the year are:

50/50:

Each member of Adam's social circle responds to his illness in a different way. This kind of character-driven film requires the very best from its ensemble, and all players nail their respective roles with naturalistic ease.

The Help:

The sincerity of the acting sells the sentimentality. Each performance is sharply realized by a splendid cast. All actors bring something different to the table, resulting in a rich blend of diverse characters.

The Ides of March:

Perhaps the greatest compliment that can be said of the supporting players is that no one of them stands out. They're all doing precise and distinct character work that always hits the target without screaming for attention.

A Separation:

There's not a mediocre performance to be found in this movie. Every character is superbly played with authentic dimensionality, both through solo scenes and when interacting with each other. A perfect, organic ensemble performance.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy:

Oldman and his tightly knit supporting cast (which includes the likes of Colin Firth, John Hurt, and Tom Hardy) give a collective performance that is quietly controlled, so as to keep the focus on the complex screenplay.

Just missed: Beginners, Bridesmaids, Midnight in Paris

My Awards nominations: Adapted Screenplay

Strong crop this year. Here's what I deem the best Adapted Screenplays of the year:

Drive (Hossein Amini):
The irrepressibility of one's true nature is a theme that's startlingly made in Drive. Amini minimizes dialogue and focuses more on implied backstory to illustrate the driver's character.

The Ides of March (George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon):
Clooney et. al. realize that making the actual politics the meat of this story would either alienate or bore their audience, so they wisely keep it on the side, keeping the screenplay lean, polished, and efficient.

Moneyball (Steve Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, Stan Chervin):
While not one that always pops, the script does brim with ideas. The dialogue willfully revels in awkward beats that force unspoken characterization. Anyone who can make baseball stats interesting has to be a good writer!

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughan):
This is a thoughtful and attentive screenplay that intentionally moves a bit slowly, but at least it allows its audience time to process all the little narrative cogs that compose the complex plot.

We Need to Talk About Kevin (Lynne Ramsay, Rory Kinnear):
The book's more objective narration is translated into a brilliant first-person character study that comes tinted with its character's guilt and confusion. Cleverly structured as a pseudo mystery.

Just missed: The Help, Project Nim, Tintin

WGA nominees announced

We have to remember not to put too much stock into these nominees. Many screenplays in the hunt for Oscar recognition were not signatories of the WGA, thus were not eligible. Anyway, here they are:

Original Screenplay
50/50
Bridesmaids
Midnight in Paris Being the only viable Best Picture contender, I imagine this is the winner
Win Win
Young Adult

Obviously, The Artist, which was ineligible, is likely to replace one of these on the Oscar ballot. I say Bridesmaids is the weak link. The Academy and I may not always agree but they usually try to keep it classy. However, Young Adult may be a bit too acerbic and sour to win them over, but if any branch is willing to give Diablo her fair shake, it's the writers.

Adapted Screenplay
The Descendants Here's your winner... (sigh)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Help
Hugo
Moneyball

The Adapted Screenplay situation looks fairly close to my predicted Oscar five. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy wasn't eligible, but I'd expect the Academy to prefer it to Dragon Tattoo. War Horse never was a writer's showcase, so it's still strong for a Best Picture nomination. But for the win? I don't know. A Screenplay nomination is uber important.

Documentary Screenplay
Better This World
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front
Nostalgia for the Light
Pina
Position Among the Stars
Senna Winner?

Disappointing that Project Nim didn't show up here. I thought it was quite well written. At any rate, Pina and If a Tree Falls are the only two nominees on the documentary branch's shortlist, and I seriously doubt Pina's chances anyway, so this doesn't help us much in predicting Best Documentary.

My Awards nominations: Production Design

Production design is on the mind today on account of the ADG nominations, so I'll follow suit and chalk up my own picks for the best Production Design, Set Decoration, and Art Direction of the year:

Captain America
(Rick Heinrichs, John Bush, John Dexter, Chris Lowe, Andy Nicholson):

This period-fantasy concoction is richly evoked; from the cozy, sepia-tinted confines of the good Captain's base of operations to the steely, serpentine corridors of Hydra's sinister research facilities.

Hugo (Dante Feretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo):

It cannot be understated that Hugo is a thing of beauty. The stunning recreations of 1930s Paris, the concealed corridors and compartments of the train station, and George Melies' old studio are wondrous to behold.

Kung Fu Panda 2 (Raymond Zibach, Tang Kheng Heng):

The beautifully rendered 2D prologue sets us up for the visual splendour of Dreamworks' gorgeous imagining of ancient China. Bold colours and stylized scenery, both urban and natural, fit the film's tone to a tee.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Maria Djurkovic, Tom Brown):

The details don't draw much attention to themselves in this nuanced period piece, but they form a completely convincing representation of time and place. The beauty is in the minutia, and the chilly Cold War atmosphere it imbues.

X-Men: First Class
(Chris Seagers, Larry Bellantoni, Erin Boyd, Sanja Klaus, John King, Dawn Swiderski):

Similarly to Captain America, the art department here melds period authenticity with fantastical influences to yield a polished alternative Marvel universe that we can believe took place in the 1960s.

Just missed: Anonymous, The Artist, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,
Harry Potter 8, War Horse

Reviews

As usually is the case for me this time of year, I need a space to catch up with capsule reviews I've neglected to post upon seeing the film in question. I'll update this post throughout the season as I see more films.