One Category at a Time: Best Costume Design

As many of us have been thinking ever since the BAFTAs so judiciously spread the wealth nine days ago (right before Oscar polls opened), a La La Land crafts sweep is now more improbable than probable, and I'd argue the category where it faces the biggest uphill climb is Best Costume Design.

My Award nominations: Costume Design

Some of the Costume Design work this year reached levels of iconography that's hard for even one film to achieve in any year, and not even all of those films made my top five! The threads were just so perfect in so many films. Alas, only five can be nominated, and you can read the ones I chose below.

Costume Designers Guild weighs in

The busy day of precursor announcements soldiers on with the Costume Designers Guild. In years past, the costume designers and production designers within the Academy were all lumped into one branch that determined nominees for both categories. This year, however, they have finally split into two distinct branches, so its possible that the respective guild opinions are more predictive of the eventual Oscar nominees. Or perhaps not. we'll just have to wait and see.

Nominees in all three feature film categories (and my corresponding thoughts) after the cut.

Best Costume Design, Period
12 Years a Slave, Patricia Norris
American Hustle, Michael Wilkinson
Dallas Buyers Club, Kurt & Bart
The Great Gatsby, Catherine Martin
Saving Mr. Banks, Daniel Orlandi

I've been holding off on predicting Saving Mr. Banks in this category. The costumes just seemed so... bland to me. But after scoring with BAFTA this morning and now with the guild, it seems to be in the thick of it. Obviously, Catherine Martin remains the one to beat, both here and for the Oscar, and I can hardly argue with that. I was hoping that maybe, just maybe, we might see Mary Zophres score here for Inside Llewyn Davis. It was the last chance for the excellently dressed film to get some recognition in that respect, but I guess I'm banging the drum alone this year.

Best Costume Design, Contemporary
Blue Jasmine, Suzy Benzinger
Her, Casey Storm
Nebraska, Wendy Chuck
Philomena, Consolata Boyle
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Sarah Edwards

It's a delight to see Blue Jasmine and Her score here (although for the latter, you could even make a case for a Fantasy categorization, although this feels more appropriate), but I can't quite wrap my head around the Inclusion of Nebraska or Philomena. I might have preferred Sandy Powell's work from the Wolf of Wall Street to find a home here.

Best Costume Design, Fantasy
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Ann Maskrey, Richard Taylor, Bob Buck
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Trish Summerville
Oz the Great and Powerful, Gary Jones & Michael Kutsche

I've expressed my bewilderment in the past as to why the CDG doesn't honour five nominees in this category? There were more than three fantasy films in 2013, and some had better costumes than these three. What about Man of Steel or Pacific Rim?

Review - Inside Llewyn Davis

If I had wings like Noah's dove,

I'd fly up the river to the one I love,

Oh fare thee well, my honey, fare thee well.

There's a timeless quality to folk music that allows it to resonate for generations because its poetry finds new life with every re-imagining. “Fare Thee Well” (quoted above and throughout this review) can be traced back to 1908 Texas, but has been interpreted and reinterpreted by artists ranging from Pete Seeger to Bob Dylan to Jeff Buckley, and now the Coen brothers in their brilliant new film Inside Llewyn Davis. It's just one of several traditional folk songs masterfully curated and re-purposed by the gifted ear of T-Bone Burnett to breathe truth and illumination into this transfixing character study of a sour musician (Oscar Isaac) trying vainly to get his career and life on track.

One Category at a Time: Costume Design

It's said that the Academy in general votes for the craft categories in one of two ways: either it votes for the "Most" instead of the "Best", or it votes for the movie it likes the best.

If they're voting for the "Most", then I say Alice in Wonderland will win for Colleen Atwood's colourful (see: glaring, clashy) fantasy threads, since there's no decadent 18th Century royalty porn for them to vote for.

If they're voting for whatever they like the most, then it's obviously going to The King's Speech. Add to that the fact that, while not exactly like the royalty porn of the last four years, the film is technically about European monarchy, and thus can keep this category's streak alive. I'm venturing that Jenny Beavan will celebrate her first win in 23 years.

You could apply the same logic of a win for "Most" Costume Design to The Tempest and Sandy Powell's interesting costumes, but that movie is despised to an extent that makes even Alice in Wonderland look good.

I Am Love is contemporary, so it's out, and no Western has ever won, so that should nix True Grit as well. That's not to undersell Antonella Cannarozzi and Mary Zophres' terrific work. Both of them, especially Zophres, did awesome jobs at using clothes to accentuate character, and it'd be swell to see one of them win, but keep dreaming.

Will win: The King's Speech
Runner-up: Alice in Wonderland

Should win: True Grit
Should have been nominated: Get Low

My Award nominations: Costume Design

It's that time of year again. Time to think back on the dozens of films seen in 2010 and decide upon the best of the best in all the usual categories. As it was last year, I'll be announcing my nominees for my awards one day at a time, leading up to the 24th (the eve of the Oscar nominations) when my winners will be announced.

Today's category is Costume Design, and there was plenty to choose from in 2010:

Black Swan (Amy Westcott,
Kate Mulleavy, Laura Mulleavy):
Nina Sayres' girlish soft pinks and whites give way to greys and blacks as the Black Swan within her starts taking control. I especially loved how fabrics and accessories were stylized to resemble feathers and wings! That's to say nothing of the gorgeous ballet costumes.

Get Low (Julie Weiss):
The period attire is precise. Materials and patterns are used smartly to help distinguish character; scratchy wools for Robert Duvall, pinstripes and argyle for Bill Murray, leather and tweed for Lucas Black. Everyone even has their own hat style!

Inception (Jeffrey Kurland):
Slick corporate threads wonderfully define character quirks; prim three-piece suits for Arthur, smart casual clothes for Eames, Asian-inspired formal wear for Seito, and so on. It's not terribly flashy, but still represents intelligent contemporary costume design.

True Grit (Mary Zophres):
Features appropriately gritty period and character details: burnt-out Rooster Cogburn's battered duster, boastful LaBoeuf's ornate rodeo jacket, and Mattie Ross' ill-fitting coat and hat that visually accentuate how ill-fitting she is for the adventure on which she is about to embark.

The Wolfman (Milena Canonero):
Character specificity rules the costumes of this Gothic horror; the lavish fur-trimmed jackets of Anthony Hopkins' hunter, the no-nonsense trench coats of Hugo Weaving's Van Helsing, and the constrictive corsets of Emily Blount's love-lorn damsel are all a perfect fit.

Just missed: Harry Potter, The King's Speech, Made in Dagenham

Review - True Grit

If it weren't for the end credits, one would never have guessed that True Grit had been made by the Coen brothers, for it has less of their cinematic idiosyncrasies than any film they've ever done. And maybe that was the best way to go about it.

Young Mattie Ross (wonderfully played by Hailee Steinfeld) has a blood vendetta against one Tom Chaney for gunning down her father. As determined as she is foolhardy, Mattie hires an acerbic U.S. Marshall Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) to help her track down the felon and bring him to justice, with the aid of a Texas ranger named LaBoeuf (Matt Damon) who also wants to see Chaney hanged, but with more fiscal motivations in mind.

While I do bemoan the film's overall lack of personality (surprising for the famously quirky Coens), I'd be lying if I denied that I had a great time watching it. This is an old-fashioned Western from top to bottom, and depending on how much you enjoy the genre, that may suit you just fine. The tradition of a group of lovable characters (if somewhat rough around the edges) on a rollicking adventure always brought a smile to my face in the films of Budd Boedecker and John Ford, and the Coens' adaptation of the Charles Portis novel is similarly delightful, even if artistically unremarkable.

It is a lovingly made picture, with detailed period sets and costumes from Jess Gonchar and Mary Zophres, a fine score from Carter Burwell, and elegant photography from the one-and-only Roger Deakins.

Nominations are probably coming for some of the craftspeople mentioned above, and also one for Haille Steinfeld, but I don't buy that Supporting Actress bullshit the studio is plugging. The role is a leading role, plain and simple. If she does indeed earn a Supporting Actress nomination (as some of us have been predicting since spring), it'll be a simultaneous triumph and embarrassment. I'm also hesitant on the Best Picture nomination so many see coming. Maybe I'm wrong, but somehow I don't quite see the Academy going for this.

*** out of ****